《Otherworld Adventure》


 Chapter 1 - Before the Transfer

    The sun was shining brightly in the middle of the sky. It was obviously mid-day around 12 o clock to 1 p.m.


    There was a boy around the age of 13 swinging a large 2 meter long wooden sword, striking a wooden post almost three times his height. The big wooden sword was almost a size bigger than him. He swung the sword easily while striking the post with a loud sound.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    It was a repetitive strike on the left flank of the wooden post. After around 50 swings or so, he switched to striking the right flank of the wooden post.


    BAM!


    These repetitive actions continued until the boy''s arms grew weary. Sweating and finally feeling exhausted he rested the sword on the post and sat down flat on the ground while heaving, this was after completing 4 sets of 50 strikes for both flanks of the post.


    "Haahh, haaahhh¡­ damn that old man. Always so unreasonable." Muttered the boy.


    This boy''s family came from an old traditional martial arts family. One where the head of the family would inherit the preceding head''s, in this case, the boy''s grandfather''s martial skills and pass them down onto his heir.


    This boy was the heir of his family. Although he had many brothers and sisters, 3 brothers and 2 sisters in fact, the boy''s father named him as the heir, although he was the fifth born child.


    This was because of his talent and zeal in martial arts from a young age. His 4 older siblings weren''t too keen on inheriting the family because of how old the tradition was, considering this was now the modern age. They had trained when they were younger because of the family''s traditions, but they had other aspirations.


    His zeal and enthusiasm soon turned into one of the boy''s greatest regrets because of the unreasonable amount of a training he had to put in, in order to inherit all of his family''s martial skills by the age of 16, which in his family, would be called the age of a.d.u.l.thood.


    As a matter of fact, this tradition was really strange considering the modern age that the family lived in.


    A woman''s voice soon rang out across the field where the boy was resting.


    "Cecil! Wash up and eat! Lunch is ready!"


    The boy, Cecil, looked up to find a young woman standing outside the entrance of the field calling out to him.


    She had silky straight black long hair, which reached her legs. She had an oval face, with a healthy aged complexion. She had healthy white smooth skin. But the one thing that was prominent from the woman would be her height. She had a height more or less 150 cm.


    "Okay Mom!"


    That short statured beauty was in fact, his mother.


    Cecil picked up his wooden sword with one hand and started walking towards the woman. Mind you, the sword weighed around 30 kg. For a kid his age, being able to pick up a 30 kg object with just one hand was unheard of.


    This was of course due to the semi-hell like training that he had to endure during his very unhappy childhood.


    Other children would be running around playgrounds, playing with other children in kindergartens, being spoilt by their parents and whatnot.


    Not him.


    He was sent onto an uninhabited island that was owned and monitored by his family to train. There he faced the elements and other things that were deemed fatal for a 5 year old.


    Of course, he didn''t face this alone. Since this was considered training, he had his father, the current head of the family, and his grandfather, the retired head, with him.


    They were there to train him in survival. Survival against what you ask? It wasn''t anything special like dragons, unicorns, huge fiery birds, or multiple headed serpents and such. Although he had his hopes up for fighting against these supernatural creatures, these were, in fact, just something that his father and grandfather had fed him when he was young in order to brainwash the young Cecil.


    This was because the two were desperate to name a successor because the 4 older siblings of Cecil had renounced their rights for succession because they deemed them as old fashioned.


    So, after spending a few years on the island with his father and grandfather, the young Cecil, exited the island greatly despaired and had utterly hated his two seniors for ruining his fantasies and even feeding him that bullshit from the start.


    Of course this was just him venting, although his fantasies had been ruined, he never once did renounce his rights for succession. Just so you know, the other older siblings of his had directly renounced their rights after the island training.


    The eldest to the third born didn''t have any lies fed to them, but after the grueling training they just didn''t have any enthusiasm to continue. The fourth had renounced his rights because he had his fantasies destroyed.


    After the training and finding out that Cecil didn''t renounce his rights, the 2 seniors were belated and thus committed their second mistake which had earned Cecil''s whole-hearted resentment towards his father and grandfather.


    The mistake was that they had upped the training duration and intensity while shortening the time for when he had to inherit all of their skills. The 20 year period had been cut down to only 10 years.


    Having his training intensified, Cecil had no time to spend going to school and such. He had to devote all his time from when he finished his training on the island to now, when he finally reached the age of 13. In a few months, he would turn 14, marking the 8th year of his harsh training. When he finished his training in another 2 years, his age turning to 16, and he would stop his training and finally dive into society.


    This boy, Cecil, who was about to turn 14, had no contact with the outside world. Other than the things that his older siblings and other family relatives would tell him and the things he would see from the TV, which he would only have 30 minutes of time to watch.


    He knew basically nothing of the outside world. Well, nothing would be taking things a bit too far, but all he had was second hand information.


    Finally reaching to where his mother was waiting, they started walking together towards the building that was located adjacent to the training field. Despite the fact that their family had held onto a very old tradition, the family house was actually pretty modern in design.


    It was a two story mansion that you would find belonging to any rich and prominent family. Their family was in fact, very, very rich. Because of their long history as an old family, they had large and small businesses all around the world. These corporates were now being run by Cecil''s older siblings.


    With a family so well off, who in their right mind would want to inherit the family''s old tradition? Being the head of the family doesn''t mean that they would inherit everything that the family had. It just meant they inherited the family''s traditions.


    In fact, the businesses that the family owned were created and managed by the founding ancestor''s siblings and who, at that time, failed to inherit the position of family head.


    From then on, it became the role of the inheriting family head''s siblings to manage those corporations and businesses. This continued to this date.


    You may ask, what about the families of the non-inheriting siblings? At the time when the new heir to the family was announced, the siblings of the heir would be trained in order to inherit the businesses by the current heir''s siblings, in this case, it would be Cecil''s uncles and aunts.


    Their family would be given the proceeds that the family had earned throughout the time that they had run and managed the business.


    The sizeable amount of money they earned would normally be used to open up their own personal businesses, which although in name only, would be tied to the main family. This way, both the heir and his or her siblings'' families would be happy and live peacefully with each other without discord.


    Of course the main family would hold at least 50% of the shares in the big corporations that they owned, which is the sole reason why the family itself is rich.


    Though, most of the money would be channeled back into managing and keeping the business itself afloat. Because of this the main family was rich, but not overly rich to the point where the branch families would feel that the work they had done was only being used to enrich the main family. It was a give and take relationship.


    But with the times being more and more modern. The benefits of being the main heir started to look bleaker compared to being a non-inheritor.


    Not being able to focus on anything besides training from their early childhood from morning to evening, no contact with the outside world, no fun, nothing, just train, train, and train until the end of the inheriting period.


    Who in their right mind would do this, right? But, maybe it was because Cecil saw how pitiful his father and grandfather had looked when they thought he would renounce his rights, in the end, he reluctantly didn''t renounce them and instead accepted his fate.


    After arriving at the entrance of the mansion, the two separated. Mother Cecil was heading towards the dining room, while Cecil himself was heading towards the shower.


    "Mom, I''ll go shower first then come eat."


    "Alright, don''t worry. Lunch won''t start until everyone''s arrived, so take your time."


    "Okay."

 Chapter 2 - Mysterious Light

    After taking a 5 minute shower and changing into his normal wear, Cecil hurried towards the dining room.


    When he arrived, he found the figure of his father sitting at the head of the table.


    His father had a somewhat large build, with prominent muscles showing despite the fact that his father was wearing somewhat loosely fit clothes. Even while sitting, his father was a full 3 heads taller than him, clearly exceeding 2 meters in height if he was standing.


    This was of course attributed to the fact that he himself had also experienced the grueling training like Cecil did during his childhood. This was also because his father was inherently tall, probably due to genetics.


    While he, Cecil, was of a small stature. As a 13 year old he only had the height of 135 cm, more or less. Clearly, he wouldn''t pass the 180 mark by the time he was 21 years old no matter what kind of food or training he did.


    This was due to the fact that his mother was the so-called Loli.


    Even at the age of 40, his mother was still child-like. Whether it''d be from how she looked or how tall she was, she was indeed, child-like, a bonafide Loli. And that mother of his was sitting beside the largely built man who was his father.


    Also his father was only 42 this year. They literally only had a two year gap in age, but the contrast between the two made them both look like a father and a daughter, instead of husband and wife.


    The contrast between the two, if someone from outside the family saw, was totally mind-boggling. It also made one think of how weird his father''s taste in girls was.


    Not like he would care, or know, for that matter. He was already used to this scene, that for him, it was all a part of his common sense, that was clearly, not developed in the proper way.


    After taking his seat on the other side of his mother, he waited for his other siblings, his grandfather and grandmother, to come join them for lunch.


    A few minutes later, an old couple entered the room. Although they were supposed to be old, being more than 70 years old, they came walking in with a strong gait, laughing and teasing each other.


    "Haha, old coot, you still can''t beat me in a game of chess!"


    "Th-that was because I took it easy on you since you''re my wife!"


    "Says the man who couldn''t ever beat his wife ever since they met!"


    "Urk¡­"


    It was a fact that his grandmother was a genius at the game. When his grandmother was still in her youth, she was the world champion in chess for 5 consecutive years.


    Only after she grew bored of the game, that she renounced her title, passed it to the winner of the next championship, and declared retirement. She was only 25 at the time of retirement and she was official and unofficially, undefeated at the game.


    So all the talk about letting his wife win was just total and utter bullshit. It was just his grandfather trying to find an excuse to save face.


    They entered and sat down on the opposite side of his father, directly in front of Cecil and his mother.


    "So, how was your training Cel?"


    It was his grandmother who asked, Cel was the puppy name that most of his family called him by.


    "It was the usual. Repetitive and exhausting."


    "Well, we expect you to be able to inherit the skills by the time you''re 16 so¨C "


    "That''s just because you both are desperate."


    Seeing him complaining, his grandfather was about to lecture him again before being chided by his grandmother.


    "The both of you are the ones to blame for putting Cel in such a situation!"


    "Grandmother is right, fufufu."


    "Ugh¡­"


    "¡­"


    This was the normal happening when Cecil started complaining. Grandfather and father would try to lecture him, only to be chided and criticized by his grandmother and mother.


    He felt happy being defended as it was his form of revenge towards his father and grandfather.


    "Well, it''s not like I''m not against doing it¡­"


    And with these words, his father and grandfather''s expression brighten a bit.


    Right then, a young lady around the age of 20, walked into the room. She was tall, had shoulder length wavy black hair. She was wearing glasses and had a very cold expression on her face.


    She resembled Cecil''s mother. She was the so-called cold beauty and she also happened to be Cecil''s very doting, eldest sister, the first born of the Silvaria family, Fatima Silvaria.


    She walked next to Cecil and took her seat beside him.


    "Big Sis!"


    She smiled warmly, breaking the extremely cold expression on her face and nodded towards Cecil and proceeded to ruffle his hair.


    "Hehe, how was your day Sis?"


    "Nothing worth mentioning."


    "Heeeh, I bet it was much more thrilling than what I have to go through."


    "Mhm, work hard Cel."


    "Okay!"


    Fatima was especially warm towards Cecil. She felt a little bad for pushing all the hardsh.i.p.s of training towards her cute and adorable little brother.


    Her expression turned cold again before she greeted her parents and grandparents.


    "Grandma, grandpa. Mother... father."


    "Huhu, how''s my Fatima doing?"


    "I''m fine Grandma."


    "That''s good."


    The exchange between the 2 could be seen as cold from an outsider''s perspective. But for the family, this was considered a warm greeting from Fatima.


    Normally she wouldn''t exchange any form of greeting if someone even tried to talk to her. So for her taking the initiative to greet someone was considered really warm.


    The only exception would be her change towards her little brother Cecil. Unlike how her appearance suggests, she was very protective of her siblings. She cared so much for them that the actual reason for the other siblings'' renouncement of their rights was actually, mostly due to her persuasions.


    The only oddball would be Cecil, her youngest brother. She couldn''t bear to ruin her little brother''s enthusiasm for training, which resulted in the current situation where Cecil was the heir to the family''s traditions.


    "Is everything good with the company?"


    "Yes, father."


    "Keep working hard, honey."


    "Mhm, okay mama."


    "Although, you aren''t the heir, do remember to train once in a while. In a healthy body therein lies a healthy mind and soul!"


    "Yes, grandfather."


    Today''s Fatima seems to be in a good mood, thought Cecil. He''s never seen his eldest sister respond to each of them with a slight smile on her face.


    "Did something happen, Big Sis?"


    "Not really, it''s just nice to smile once in a while. Don''t you think so, Cel?"


    Fatima right away changed the subject. Cecil thought to himself that it would be better if his sister was smiling much more too, so he didn''t disagree to that.


    While they were talking 2 more boys, around the age of 16 and 15 respectively, came into the room. Again they were Cecil''s siblings.


    "Yo!"


    "Hello¡­Mother, father¡­ Granny, grandpa."


    The older one was called Matheus and the younger was Luca. Right after the two entered a 6 year old little girl ran in hugging a bunny doll in her arms, followed by another 15 year old boy who looked like an exact copy of Luca. The other 4 of Cecil''s siblings finally arrived.


    "Mummy!!!~"


    "Come here Angelia."


    "Hihihi~"


    *Yawn*


    The little girl ran towards Mother Cecil and jumped onto her. The boy who was the twin brother of Luca, Gabriel, walked in rather sluggishly after yawning aloud passing by Matheus and Luca and sat down near the end of the table. After which, Matheus and Luca took their seats.


    "Sis." "Big sis."


    "Mhm."


    After greeting Fatima they turned to look at Cecil.


    "Sup, Cel!" "Hey"


    "Matty, Luc. Gabriel."


    "Hm."


    Cecil greeted his brothers and only earned a grunt from Gabriel.


    Gabriel was the laziest of the 4 brothers, partly because he had his fantasies as a child ruined by Father and Grandfather Cecil.


    "Okay, now since everyone''s here, let''s eat!"


    After Father Cecil declared as such, everyone immediately started getting busy, serving themselves the already prepared food in front of them.


    After Cecil finished eating he quickly excused himself, remembering that he had to feed his pet dog, Silver.


    He went to the kitchen retrieving the already prepared, huge slice of beef and a big bowl of dog food and water. He then walked out the backdoor of the mansion and ran towards a somewhat large doghouse.


    "Silver! Come and get it!!!"


    After which, a 1 meter tall almost 2 meter long white silvery dog, no, it was more like a wolf, came out of the doghouse and sprinted towards Cecil.


    This silver wolf was none other than Silver. He was originally a wolf pup that Cecil saved during his days of training out in the wilderness with his father.


    After saving the wolf, it became attached to the young Cecil and started following him around throughout his training.


    "Rah, rah!"


    "Here ya go!"


    SSSSSSSSSSSSSSZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT


    An ear screeching sound rang out through the air.


    Covering his ears, Cecil looked around bewilderingly searching for the source of the uncomfortable ringing.


    It sounded like it was coming from the front of the Silvaria mansion. Cecil ran towards the front of his mansion with Silver and looked towards the source of the sound.


    Since the Silvaria estate was on elevated grounds, almost to the point where it was built on a mountainside, he was able to see the modern age city down below, that was partly engulfed in a piercing white light.


    The light itself seemed to be rapidly expanding, trying to engulf the entire area.


    "Cecil!!! Silver!!! COME BACK HERE!!!"


    He looked back and saw his mother waving frantically to him from the entrance of his mansion. Looking back towards the light, it was rapidly approaching his house.


    He was somewhat stunned, but quickly regained his bearings. He started sprinting back towards his mother alongside Silver.


    "MOM!!!"


    "CEL!!!!"


    The white light engulfed both him and Silver. The last thing he saw was his mother and father as well as the rest of his family running towards him, and then everything went white.

 Chapter 3 - A New World

    Day ¨C 1


    "Woof! Woof! Woof!"


    "Ugh, wha?"


    On the ground, a boy woke up with a start, hearing the sound of a dog barking next to him. When the boy got up and looked around, he noticed that it was only Silver, his pet wolf.


    "I''m up Silver. What the heck happened?"


    That''s right. The last thing that he remembered was looking at the white light that was enshrouding the whole city earlier.


    Then he remembered his mother screaming¡­ After that everything went white.


    ''What the hell happened?''


    The boy looked around and saw only greenery.


    "A forest?"


    Taking a look around the area, he noticed that it was all green with very huge trees shooting towards the sky. This was something that he normally saw back when he was 8.


    Training with his father and grandfather in the wilderness at the huge family island that they owned, so the scene wasn''t unfamiliar to him.


    "Did Father dump me back on the island after I fainted?"


    As he spoke out his thoughts, he immediately started cursing in his mind.


    ''Damnit, is this punishment because I fainted only because of the white light? That''s too cruel damnit! Is this seriously how you treat your son!?''


    After his inner monologue, he immediately calm down and assessed his situation.


    ''Okay, calm down. Remember what to do for surviving in the wilderness.''


    "First, gotta find a water source. Hopefully they didn''t dump me too far from the inland river or the shore."


    Cecil got up and took another look at his surroundings. Looking at them closely, he thought that they seemed bigger and lusher than the last time he was here. He found a tree that looked good enough to climb.


    He started climbing the tree agilely. With all his training, he was really adept and scaling trees, especially trees that had thick trunks and rough bark covering it. It made it easy since the rough bark acted as good scaffolds for him to use.


    "Silver, wait here. I''ll look around and find water."


    "Woof!"


    ''At least they didn''t leave me by myself on the island. Having Silver around will help me cope with plenty of situations, since I don''t have any sort of weapon on me right now.''


    After climbing for about 2-3 minutes, Cecil finally reached the top.


    ''Were the trees back on the island always this tall?''


    Reaching the edge of a very thick branch on the tree, Cecil started looking around, trying to spot the river he was familiar with. Very soon he found a very, very disturbing scene.


    "Wha, what the hell?!"


    What he saw was a vast greenery. The forest seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. Not to mention that he saw what appeared to be the silhouette of a very enormous tree in the distance.


    Although it was only a shadow, it loomed far into the sky. Even from a distance it looked huge.


    "This¡­ this isn''t the island!"


    Of course this wasn''t the island. Nor was he on Earth. How could he possibly be on earth? The huge tree over in the far distance easily trumped the tallest mountain on earth!


    Everest had a height of around 8,800 meters! But the huge tree in the distance easily surpassed that by at least another couple thousand meters.


    ''Heck! Being called huge would be an understatement for this tree!''


    From where Cecil was, he could only see the shadow of that tree''s trunk, but the most important thing was that even if he looked up into the sky, he still couldn''t see the branches of it.


    "Ohh man, where the hell am I?"


    Well, the good news is that Cecil actually spotted a river from the branch he was standing on. It didn''t seem to be too far away. 500 meters or so.


    "Let''s just head over there first, secure some water, and then try and make sense of this situation."


    After arriving back on the ground, Silver greeted him with a bark. He took a quick survey of the area and after confirming that the area was safe, he sat down on the ground.


    "I found a river around 500 meters to the north of here."


    Well, north would be hard to say, since he didn''t know the cardinal directions of this "world" yet, or where he was in the first place.


    "Okay, let''s go."


    Cecil started jogging in the direction of the river that he saw from earlier alongside Silver.


    After around 50 meters, Silver started barking and growling urgently. Turning his head back, Cecil noticed that Silver''s fur were standing on end.


    "Grrrrrrr¡­"


    "What is it, Silv?"


    He immediately stopped and looked around. After which a hair-raising sensation crawled up his spine.


    "What?!"


    "GROOOAAAARRR!!!"


    A 4 meter tall black bear with red glowing eyes appeared from behind a tree in front of them. It roared and started sizing the two up.


    "B-bear? How?"


    Although the huge tree already gave Cecil a reason to doubt if he was on Earth, but this bear in front of him, pretty much convinced him of it.


    It was huge, but not only was it huge, the 4 claws that retracted out of its paws, the meter long blade that was growing out of its elbows, and the menacing black blade on its head that looked like a horn, was already convincing enough that it was not a part of the animal species of Earth.


    ''Seriously, how the hell did this bear get so huge?! It easily trumps all the bears from earth! Now I''m convinced, this isn''t Earth at all!''


    "Prepare to fight, Silv!"


    "Grrrrr¡­"


    Receiving the an affirmative from Silver, Cecil quickly takes his stance. His form was from his family''s martial arts. This particular stance was used for defense and counterattacks.


    Of course he wouldn''t even dream of fighting this monster bear head on, it would be utter suicide. It would be better for him to figure out its attack patterns and habits, then go for a counterattack. Right now, this wasn''t training, his opponent was out for blood and preferably a meal too.


    ''One wrong move and I''ll be its dinner for the evening.''


    "Come at me!" Cecil taunted.


    "ROOOARRRR"


    The bear roared and charged at him. It charged at him on all fours, just like how a normal bear from Earth would when charging and chasing after its prey.


    ''Thank god my knowledge of animals from earth is applicable to animals from this world.''


    Of course, knowledge from Earth shouldn''t be heavily relied upon since this wasn''t Earth. It could prove fatal for Cecil if things turned out differently than he expected.


    ''I''ll just use that knowledge for reference and probe out the characteristics from the animals of this world.'' He thought.


    When the bear got close, it quickly stood up on its hind legs and swiped its claws at him.


    Cecil easily predicts that and moves back out of its range. Now that he was so close to it, the bear was really large in contrast to his small height. It was already about 2 meters taller than him when it was on all fours, but now that it was standing, it was at least 5-6 meters in height.


    ''Damn, I can''t win. We''re in a totally different weight class, not to mention that I don''t have any weapons on me!''


    "Woof!"


    Silver jumped onto the back of the bear and takes a bite at its neck. Blood splatters out and a small chunk of meat and fur was bitten off from the neck of the bear.


    ''What?! When did Silver get so strong?''


    Sensing the nuisance on its back, the monster bear waves its arm back.


    "Silver! Evade! Quick!"


    It was too late, the bear swung back its arms and the elbow blades sliced towards Silver.


    After quickly taking a bite at the bear, Silver was in motion to jump off the back of the bear, but the blades were already on its way, slashing towards him.


    The blades slashed at Silver causing his fur to be dyed in red. It was fortunate that Silver twisted his body and only had his left hind leg cut.


    It was a good thing that the blades didn''t chop off his leg. The wound looked deep, but he wasn''t in danger yet.


    Cecil quickly charged forward and struck at the leg of the bear trying to make it stumble and hopefully divert its attention from Silver.


    After successfully hitting its leg hard, Cecil quickly took evasive actions, learning from Silver earlier that the bear had quick reactions. In the corner of his vision, Cecil saw Silver successfully landing and limping away quickly.


    ''We can''t win, it''s too strong, and just one casual back slash already caused Silver to be severely injured like that.''


    Just one of the bear''s casual backhands caused Silver''s combat effectiveness to be cut in half. Without Silver''s mobility, the next attack from the bear might even kill him.


    "Silver, stay back!"


    After giving Silver an order, Cecil started to quickly look around the area, trying to find a way out of the bad situation they were currently in. Running was impossible, since Silver was injured and couldn''t possibly limp his way out of the fight, there was also no way Cecil would ever abandon Silver.


    ''What should I¨C''


    Cecil quickly spotted the vines that were dangling from the trunks and branches of the surrounding trees. He thought up a reckless plan that could possibly kill this bear.


    ''Damn... it''s do or die. Let''s just do it then!''


    After resolving himself, he quickly started executing his reckless plan. The first step would be attracting the bears attention.


    "Silv! Keep your distance! I''ve got a plan!"


    He quickly eyed the stones on the ground around him and started I picking them up by the handful. After getting enough, Cecil started chucking them towards the face of the monster bear.


    "GROOOOAAAARR"


    ''Good, I managed to piss it off.''


    After taking a glare at the slowly retreating Silver, the ''bear'' turned its attention towards Cecil who started chucking rocks at its face, especially towards its eyes.


    After chucking all the rocks he picked up earlier, Cecil quickly bent down to pick up a couple more while running around.


    He quickly threw the rocks he picked at the bear''s face, obviously trying to annoy and hopefully, injure its eyes. The monster bear started charging at Cecil on all fours again.


    On earth, a normal bear could easily chase down a human when it was charging. Too bad for the bear, although it was fast, Cecil started running in between and around the trees, taking advantage of the environment he was in.


    While doing so, he also took his sweet time picking up and chucking rocks at the ''bear'' while slowly collecting vines that were hanging nearby.


    The bear was fast of course, but every time it was about to catch Cecil, he immediately took a sharp turn behind a tree, or double backed on his direction if he found a large boulder that he knew the bear couldn''t break past with its charge.


    Due to this the bear constantly sped past a couple of meters ahead and had to turn around again and face him before charging at him again.


    This was a good strategy since the bear couldn''t cope with it after chasing him for around 30 minutes.

 Chapter 4 - Killing the Monster Bear?

    After about an hour of Cecil playing tag with the monster bear. The bear finally looked tired out from the chase. It was heaving, spouting out a white fog every time it exhaled.


    Cecil was also breathing heavily, he was clearly exhausted but not as much as the poor monster bear since he could take small breaks every time he ducked behind a tree and charged past him.


    All that running and charging around finally made the bear utterly exhausted.


    Cecil was totally elated and ran towards a particular tree and hid behind it, the tree was the had the largest trunk compared to the other trees in the surroundings. The monster bear was glaring at Cecil. Taking in his every move.


    It was cautious since the tiny little thing kept on chucking stones at its face for the past hour.


    Cecil matched its gaze while slowly weaving the vines that he had gathered into thick braids. These were the vines he was able to gather while constantly exhausting and annoying the bear from their earlier game of rock throwing tag.


    Of course Cecil didn''t carry the vines on him during the chase. It would just add an unnecessary burden to him, that could have costed him his life. So, after gathering them, he would quickly put them down by the trees in the surroundings and let the bear continue to chase him around in circles while he took his time gathering the said vines.


    After braiding the vines, he glanced back at the bear, making sure it was still lying in place. After confirming that the bear was just laying down on the ground with it''s eyes closed, Cecil slowly started to climb up the tree next to him, while still keeping his eyes on the bear.


    ''It''s time to put phase 2 of my plan into motion.''


    His reckless plan was to exhaust the bear, and try killing it by strangling the bear with the vines he collected from earlier.


    He already took into account the bears claws and blades when he was developing his plan. He can only hope that nothing would go wrong when he execute it.


    He had two braids of vines, with both ends of the vines tied to a boulder that he found earlier. It was somewhat large, weighing at least 40 kg. He had Silver slowly push it towards the tree he was at. It took awhile since it was heavy and Silver was also injured, but everything went without a hitch for now.


    ''Luckily this fella was close enough to the tree.''


    Reaching the top, Cecil quickly slung one end of the vine onto the thick tree branch while the other vine was still on the ground. From the top of the branch he slowly pulled up the boulder and placed it on the branch of the tree.


    He had Silver keep an eye on the bear resting in the clearing.


    He untied the braided vine from the boulder and continued braiding the vine until it was as thick as his waist.


    After a couple of minutes, he retied the vine onto the boulder and pushed down the other end of the vine onto the ground again.


    THUD


    ''Crap!''


    Since he re-braided the vine and made it thicker, when the vine landed on the ground it produced a huge thud. It was a good thing the bear''s only reaction was to twitch its ears.


    ''Phew, that was close.''


    Now all he needed to do was somehow wrap the vine that he tied in a loop, around the bear''s neck and have Silver pull the other end of the vine, bringing the rock down which would tighten the vine around the bear and strangle it.


    He quickly climbed back down from the tree using the vine he dropped earlier.


    ''Good, it could support my weight. Seems sturdy enough.''


    After reaching the ground, Cecil turned his eyes towards the monster bear. He found the bear still stationary where it was resting, eyes now closed. He had thoughts that he could probably make a quick getaway now that the bear was sleeping but¨C


    ''Run away? No way, not with how I can obtain sharp weapons from it if I can manage to kill it.''


    Silver slowly started limping his way towards Cecil, in its mouth was a bundle of vines that he had gathered and put behind the other trees in the vicinity.


    After reaching his side, Silver put down the vines and started keeping watch on the bear once again.


    Cecil took the vines and started braiding them again. The braids were much longer than the earlier ones.


    After he finished braiding them, Cecil slowly moved to the tree adjacent to the tree with the trap and wrapped the vines tightly around the tree''s trunk.


    After wrapping them around securely, he laid the vines down, a little closer to the tree with the trap.


    This vine he would use to tie up one of the monster bear''s arms . Since the tree was a bit far away from the trap, he hoped that it would somehow keep the arm of the bear stretched out so it couldn''t wave it around to try and cut the vine that was strangling it later.


    As for the other arm, he would try and draw its attention by repeatedly throwing sharp rocks at its face and eyes and hopefully make it raise its other arm to defend against the attacks.


    This wasn''t a fool proof plan, heck, it was a totally na?ve plan, but this was due to the fact that Cecil was only 13 years old and hadn''t really faced a real battle where his life was in danger of being reaped if he didn''t carefully plan things out.


    Thinking that things were okay, he proceeded with the plan. He hoped that it would go without a hitch.


    "Okay, everything''s ready. Silver, get ready and be on standby to pull the vine when I tell you to."


    "Woof!"


    Reaffirming the plan in mind and resolving himself once again, Cecil started picking up bigger sized rocks and gathering them around the area near the trap.


    After doing so, he picked up another handful of smaller rocks, and started walking towards the clearing where the monster bear was resting.


    After looking at it once more, he took a sharper looking rock and aimed. He took a stance and slowly drew back his arm. He aimed at the bear''s face, he couldn''t locate the eye since after the bear closed it, all he saw was a face full of fur.


    He started storing power in his arm making the muscles on his arm visibly swell. After acc.u.mulating enough strength into his arm, he threw the rock at the bear''s face, towards the area where he thought the eyes would be with all the might his small body could muster.


    SQUELCH!


    The result was a disgusting sounding impact.


    "ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR"


    The bear was rudely awakened! It started roaring and thrashing around.


    When Cecil took a look again, he found that the eye of the bear was actually punctured by the sharp rock he threw earlier. It looks like he busted its eye, it was bleeding and didn''t show any signs of stopping. He was surprised at first, but then he quickly regained his bearings and started yelling at the bear while throwing more rocks at its face.


    "HEY! HEY!! OVER HERE STUPID!!!"


    When the bear took another rock to its face and hearing him shouting, the monster bear turned towards Cecil with its remaining opened eye, and started charged at him while roaring angrily.


    "ROOOOOAAAARRRR"


    "That''s right. OVER HERE!!!"


    ''Good, the bear is moving according to plan.''


    Cecil continued chucking rocks at its face while running towards the trap he set.


    After arriving slid and caught the vine that was on the ground and ducked behind the tree. After ducking behind the tree, he quickly started climbing up the tree while holding one end of the vine where the loop was.


    Reaching a part of the tree trunk where there was a protrusion of what seemed to once be a branch, he waited for the bear to come.


    "ROOAAR"


    Seeing that Cecil playing the same tricks as earlier, the bear smartened up and slowed down. It turned around the tree but, couldn''t find where the tiny little bug that busted its eye.


    What the bear didn''t know was that a pair of black eyes glaring down at it from above. After positioning himself to jump off the tree with the vine in hand, Cecil heard Silver start roaring at the bear.


    "RAAAAAHHH!"


    The attention of the bear was momentarily directed towards Silver who came out of his hiding place. Cecil quickly thanked Silver in his heart. With the bear''s attention shifted on Silver, Cecil immediately jump down onto it.


    Having something heavy slam onto it, the monster bear was startled, it roared and tried to slash at the bug that landed on its back. But before it could do so, Cecil had already wrapped the loop on the vine around its neck and jumped off its back with the vine still in hand. With him jumping off, the loop started to tighten around the bear''s neck.


    "AAAHHHH"


    "WOOF!"


    That was the signal.


    Silver quickly bit down on the vine that was on the ground, pulled on it and started to run back quickly. Cecil landed on the ground with a roll and started to sprint towards the vines that he was going to use to wrap around one of the monster bear''s arm.


    Woooooshh~!


    It was the sound of the boulder falling.


    When Cecil reached the vines, the monster bear had its roar abruptly cut off.


    He quickly slid and picked up the vines, he kicked off the ground and bound towards the bear again.


    Thankfully enough, it was being strangled. Cecil saw one of its arms moving to cut the vine above, so he responded by quickly throwing the vine with one hand while his other hand threw a rock at its face.


    With some luck, the vine that Cecil threw was able to wound around one of its half raised arms. Seeing that it was hooked on, Cecil quickly pulled onto the vine and tightened the loop around it.


    Yeah, it only wrapped around the arm, it didn''t really restrain it all that much since the vine was longer than expected, but it was enough to hinder its claws or blades from reaching anywhere near the vine that was strangling it.


    Although it didn''t turn out as planned, it was enough. He quickly sprinted past it while chucking rocks at its face, aiming for its other eye.


    ''Damnit, the good eye is exactly at the opposite location where I gathered those rocks. Damn, another blunder.''


    Yes, it was another blunder. Cecil didn''t expect the bear to wisen up and slow down instead of charging past like it normally would. Still he had a couple of rocks on him and there were plenty scattered around the ground.


    Cecil kept chucking the rocks that he had on him towards the bear''s face while moving around to pick up more rocks and finding a better angle to aim for its remaining eye.


    "Haha, it''s protecting its face with the other arm!"


    It was pure luck that the rock from earlier had penetrated the monster bear''s eye causing the current situation where the bear had to focus on protecting its face from the projectiles launched by Cecil.


    The pain in its right eye reminded it of the injury the small bipedal creature had caused.


    It was a coincidence that worked to the benefit of Cecil and Silver. Cecil kept throwing rocks at it while waiting for the vine to choke the bear to death.


    "Just a little more, it''s already frothing.''


    Suddenly the bear jumped up in the air.


    "WHAT THE¨C!!!"


    BOOOOOOOOMMM


    The monster bear landed back down on the ground, causing a mini-quake. The jump surprised Cecil and the resulting quake caught him off guard, making him stumble and fall on his butt.


    "OH SHIT!"


    "WOOOF!"


    The vine was still wrapped around the neck of the bear, but it was no longer strangling it.


    "DAMN!"


    Cecil scrambled to his feet, but the bear had already turned towards him and started roaring.


    "ROAAR!!"


    SNAP CRACK BAM SNAP CRACK


    "Eh?"


    "Rah?"


    BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM


    SNAP! SQUELCH!


    Blood and gore flew across the air, landing just in front of Cecil.


    "Eh?"


    A thick tree branch landed at the area where the monster bear was standing on earlier.


    "What? What happened?"


    Although it didn''t really turn out according to what Cecil had planned, the subjugation of the monster bear was completed, somehow.

 Chapter 5 - Spoils of War

    It turned out that when the bear had jumped into the air, the vines that were braided by Cecil hadn''t snapped. It was the tree branch instead that was the one that snapped.


    Bearing the weight of the bear and the 40kg boulder, it was no wonder that the branch snapped although it was over a meter thick.


    Of course the whole branch didn''t snap off only a portion of it, and that portion was the thing that fell on top of the unsuspecting bear below it.


    When it fell, it landed on the bear''s head literally squashing its skull and snapping its neck, killing the monster immediately. It was a result that caused Cecil to release a sigh of relief.


    This battle had showed him how na?ve and foolish his original plan was. The only part that went according to plan was him attracting attention and successfully wrapping the vines around its neck and arm.


    The preceding events that he envisioned went way off. The rocks, the jump, and the quake, that followed after.


    When he was caught off guard and fell on his back, he thought he was a goner when the bear started roaring and charging at him. Only to then be saved by the branch that fell from the skies. He was only lucky to be alive now.


    "Haaahhh¡­ that was scary. I have to learn from this. I was so na?ve earlier which almost cost me my life."


    "Woof¡­"


    "Haha, don''t worry Silver, you did your part perfectly, not to mention you had distracted it for a split second!"


    "Woof!"


    Silver did his job well, while Cecil himself, almost died. If he died, then Silver would have been taken down along shortly after him.


    ''I don''t think I could stomach that even after I''m dead.''


    "Let''s take a look at your wounds Silver."


    "Raau¡­"


    Cecil got up and took another look at Silver''s wound on his hind leg.


    "What a relief. The blood has already clotted."


    After taking almost 2 hours to kill the bear, Silver''s wound had already stopped bleeding, it didn''t seem like Silver lost too much blood since he still seemed energetic. But he had to find a way to close the wound and let it heal faster.


    "Phew, there''s nothing I can do right now. So let''s take a look at the spoils?"


    Silver started barking in reply.


    Cecil walked up to the remains of the bear that was squashed to death by the branch.


    Except for the head, the rest of the bear was still intact.


    Was it also luck that allowed the blade on the top of the monster bear''s skull to be snapped off with all of its blade fully intact and just lying In front of the bears broken skull?


    Anyways, Cecil proceeded to pick up the blade. He examined it and found the base of the horn actually being smooth and only a couple of inches away from where the sharp part of the horn was.


    The smooth part fitted perfectly in his hand and it could act as an impromptu knife.


    "Haha! Awesome, lady luck is smiling on me!"


    After grabbing the horn, Cecil rolled the broken branch off the head of the bear.


    "Time to skin this thing."


    Having survived on the island for a couple of years, Cecil had picked up the know-how of skinning animals that he killed.


    It was a necessity because he had to skin the animals he killed in orders to access its meat for food. So he was able to skin the large bear after 20 minutes.


    The harvested fur was huge. He cut it up into two pieces and placed them on top of Silver.


    "Hold them for me, I''m gonna gather some of the meat so we can eat it later, okay?"


    Barking in reply, Silver seemed happy when Cecil mentioned meat. He started wagging his tail joyfully.


    Cecil took the knife and started to carve out some of the meat. He carved out 2 blocks of meat from its thick forearms and cut off the 2 paws of the bear.


    It was easy to break the bones around the wrist of the bear with the horn. After cutting them off, he grabbed a vine and tied it around the meat and paws and hung them up.


    He was draining the blood out of the meat. While doing so, he started prying out the claws of the bear with the horn blade. Gathering all 8 of the claws, he set them down beside Silver.


    After doing so, he took another look at the bear and remembered the sharp elbow blades of the bear.


    "They''re a meter or so in length, I could probably use them as swords if the bases are smooth like the horn."


    He went over and started carving out the meat around the elbows until he hit the bones. The blade was connected to the ulna bone of the bear''s arm.


    ''Good, I could use them as swords this way.''


    Clang!


    "Eh?"


    After carving out the meat that was around the forearm of the bear, Cecil tried striking the bone in order to snap it only to find himself recoiling from the strike. His hands were numb from the recoil.


    "Oh no¡­"


    The bones on the wrist of the bear were only small and somewhat brittle, but the bone in its arm was thick and strong. It seemed that there was no way for him to snap or cut it off.


    "Oh well, I guess I''ll just use the entire thing?"


    Saying that, he proceeded to carve out the meat that was stuck to the ulna bone all the way up to the wrist and pulled free the entire bone along with the blade.


    "Hmmm¡­ better than nothing I guess."


    The forearm of the bear from the elbow to the wrist was almost a meter long, adding that with the blade, it was almost 2 meters in length.


    It was taller than him if he held it upright. He could use it as a walking stick too since only half of it was sharp.


    He proceeded to do the same thing with the other elbow blade.


    "Good, now I have weapons to protect myself, next time I won''t be so helpless when I fight against another monster animal."


    He returns to the pile of claws that were next to Silver and start closely examining them. The smooth part was only around 2 inches long. He could use them as throwing knives.


    For now, Cecil didn''t have anything he could use to store them in so he could only make an impromptu holster-c.u.m-belt using the vines he had braided earlier.


    After loosening them a bit and cutting the vines so the length was just enough to wrap around his body twice, he pushed the claws into the spaces between the vines, holding them in place.


    He started walking, jumping, rolling and running around, testing if the claws would injure him if he did any other action other than standing.


    "Maybe I should make a bag from the other half of the fur¡­"


    Thinking of that, he remembered that he should also harvest the tendons of the bear.


    Using the tendons as thread, he could use them to knit himself a makeshift bag from the bear fur.


    He went back to the bear''s corpse to harvest the tendons. He aimed only for the tendons from its arms and legs, since they were easier to locate and harvest.


    After harvesting them, he started testing them out. They were very sturdy. Pulling and stretching them made him think it was rubber instead of tendons.


    After around 10 minutes he finished acquiring them.


    Cecil grabbed vines and some twigs, then he bundled up the meat, tendons, bones and other spoils around the fur and tying them together.


    Like this, he created an impromptu bag that he could sling onto his back. Cecil left the other half of the fur on top of Silver and used a bone blade as a walking stick.


    "Alright, I got everything I need, time to head towards the river."


    It was dangerous to linger around here, since the blood of the monster bear could potentially attract other monsters towards here.


    Cecil and Silver quickly make their way towards the direction of the river he spotted from earlier.


    Since he was only running in circles around the area from before, they hadn''t shifted too far from the place all that much.


    It was a river, so as long as they head towards the general direction of where Cecil saw it from, they would eventually reach the river despite not going back and traveling the exact same path from before.


    But, first they had to get out of the area quickly.


    They ran away from the area where the bear had died. After running and jumping for around 10 minutes. They stopped and started looking around the area.


    Seeing that Silver was keeping up with his speed even while injured, Cecil picked up his pace towards the river. The faster they got there, the quicker than could wipe off the lingering bloody scent on them.


    After around an hour of travel, the duo no longer met with any other monster animal. They also finally heard the sound of flowing water. They had finally arrived in the vicinity of the river he saw earlier.


    Cecil slowed down and rested for a bit.


    Normally animals would camp around and build nests near rivers to act as a water source. It was all a part of their instincts so he had to be cautious when approaching. He might stumble upon a nest of monster animals, if the animals of this world followed the logic of earth''s animals.


    Nevertheless, caution was needed even if they didn''t. It was better safe than sorry.


    As he quietly, but quickly crept forwards toward the river. He kept his steps light and tried to move from tree to tree and crawled under the green foliage.


    After around 10 minutes, he finally arrived at an area that had a wide view of the riverside.


    Cecil was observing the area from under the dense foliage of greenery. His eyes sharply surveyed the surroundings.


    "I shouldn''t commit another blunder now that I''ve finally arrived."


    After making sure that the area was clear from all other animals. He slowly walked towards the river, he told Silver to stay back so he could probe the area first, just in case something was actually there.


    After walking to side of the river, he looked around once again. Finding that there was no monster animal charging towards him, he let out a sigh of relief.


    "Come over Silver!"


    Silver quickly limped towards the riverside. After arriving next to Cecil, he quickly shook off the bundle of fur that was still on his back.


    "Sit here."


    Cecil untied the bundle on his back, took out the monster bear''s skull, or what''s left of it. Then started to wash the skull of the monster bear until it was somewhat clean. At least the bloody stains were all gone and the skull was now white.


    The skull was half crushed so he could only get the other intact part.


    Cecil started scooping up water from the river using the skull and poured it onto Silver''s wounded leg.


    *Whimper*


    "Don''t whine."


    Cecil quickly cleaned out the wound as best he could, he then took out the bears finger bones, he chose the thinnest one and started sharpening it. Then he began further thinning the bone with the horn knife.


    He cleaned the finger bone using the river water. While he was at it, he also started cleaning all the tendons and bones of the bear that he harvested earlier.


    He picked out a tendon that was longer than the rest and tied it to the end of the finger bone.


    His intent was to close Silver''s wound using this. Although he was somewhat worried about an infection, but since there was no fire to boil the river water he couldn''t ask for what''s not there right?


    He could start one, but that might attract attention instead.


    Besides, the water was really clear. So clear in fact, Cecil was able to observe the riverbed from the riverside.


    The deepest part seemed to be around 5 meters in depth, not too deep nor too shallow.


    There were also fish swimming around too. It seemed clean enough, so he cast all the worries aside.


    He then started to sew together the wound on Silver''s hind leg. He was whimpering only at the start, but soon got used to the pricking afterwards.


    After Cecil finished sealing the wound he looked at his handiwork. The stitching was very tight and a bit messy, but at least the wound was finally closed.


    "Great, it''s sealed. Hopefully it''ll get better in a couple of days."


    He grabbed the rest of the materials gained from the bear and started washing them in the river.

 Chapter 6 - Beast Girl?

    After Cecil finished washing all the loot, he searched around and found a good place with a great vantage point that allowed him to survey the surroundings of the river and wasn''t too far nor too close to the forest.


    This way I had enough time to prepare myself if any monster came from the river or the forest.


    He then created a clothesline with vines and hung the fur he washed to dry. There was a lot of dirt and filth that was cleaned out from the fur.


    ''After cleaning up all my makeshift weapons, the color changed from a dirty red to a pinkish-white color.''


    The make-shift weapons were no longer as dirty and disgusting, even the faint bloody scent from before had thoroughly disappeared.


    Staring at the absurdly long blades, he decided to use one as a walking stick. As for the other one he would try and shorten it.


    "Maybe I can wear away the bone using the sharp rocks by the river?"


    Thinking so, he went around looking for sharp rocks that could be used to whittle the bone part of the bone blade. It was hard to wield since only the blade part was sharp while the handle or the bone was longer.


    Having such a long handle would make it c.u.mbersome to use. It was like a spear with an absurdly long blade.


    There was no way he was going to use the bone knife to whittle at the bone. That would only dull the knife instead which would be a minus.


    Rocks were everywhere, he thought, smashing the smooth rocks on the ground or against other boulders; he could possibly create another sharper rock to wear down the bone blade.


    It was around midday from how the sun was positioned. So he decided to hurry, it''d be best if he could finish whittling the blade before the sun sets.


    ''I should also try and start a fire, it should be safe here since I haven''t detected any monsters nearby.''


    He started walking toward the forest again while looking for dry sticks and dry tree barks in order to start a fire.


    With a fire, he could also cook the ''blade bear'' that he slayed earlier.


    After around 30 minutes, Cecil came back to his camp site with a bunch of dry wood, sticks and also a handful of dry leaves. He also went around and gathered some of the rocks in the vicinity, dug out a small pit, and surrounded the pit with the rocks.


    He picked up a stick and flattened the edge. Then a pile of dried leaves and a piece of bark and started to try and make a fire.


    If done correctly, you could start a fire using friction from rubbing together the stick on top of the dried bark.


    The entire process took a long while, maybe close to an hour or more. He was able to produce enough heat that caused a smoke, but then got ahead of himself and failed horribly.


    It was only after he started to produce smoke on the third try that he was able to let the dried leaves on the bark catch on fire.


    After producing the fire, he then moved the fire into a pit he dug earlier, and started to arrange the dried leaves and sticks around the bark. A few minutes later a proper campfire was created in the pit.


    "Phew, finally done."


    It was the early in the afternoon judging by the position of the sun, Cecil walked towards the forest again and started searching for more leaves and sticks. After finding a sufficient amount, he finally started working on the bone blade.


    "Urk¡­ This is harder than I thought."


    After 30 minutes of cutting the bone with the rocks, it only wore away a miniscule amount of the bone.


    "I''ve got nothing to do so let''s just continue¡­"


    He already started roasting the bear meat.


    The meat was suspended above the fire pit using thick sticks that he picked up. The meat was cooking slowly, but even after being suspended above the fire for 30 minutes, they still didn''t seem to be fully cooked yet.


    Continuing with the grinding, it was only after another 30 minutes that the bear meat was finally cooked to perfection.


    "Time to dig in."


    "Woof!"


    Cecil stopped grinding and took down the huge cooked bear meat that was suspended above the fire.


    He then sliced up the bear meat in 2 portions, 1 portion was for himself while the other was for Silver.


    The size of the bear meat was huge, but due to his training he would normally eat a lot. Plus he was also pretty famished from the earlier fight with the bear.


    After giving Silver his portion of meat, Cecil then cut his up into bite size pieces and continued grinding at the bone blade while eating.


    The meat was good. It was greasy and didn''t have a bland taste, contrary to the fact that it wasn''t seasoned or anything.


    Cecil didn''t dare use any of the plants or herbs from the area since he didn''t know if they had any adverse effects if consumed or used as seasoning.


    He could find some rock salt, but since this is a new world, he wasn''t sure if the rock salts from earth are the same as the ones from here.


    ''If only I had a way of obtaining information. I''m an avid reader of fantasy novels and what not, since they''re somewhat like the bullshit that my father and grandfather fed me when I was still a child. But in those novels, the settings was somewhat like this, teleportation to another world and such, but the main character always had some game like element added to him after the summon!''


    Anyway, since he couldn''t identify any of the plants around, he couldn''t make medicine or seasoning.


    He could experiment, but on what?


    No way in hell would he use Silver or himself as guinea pigs, right? He could capture some animals and experiment on them, but if all the animals in this world were monster-like, the same with that earlier ''blade bear'', then that would just be playing with his and Silver''s lives.


    Before any of that, what should he do now?


    Referencing from the novels he''s read, the main character would be summoned to some majestic place and have the inhabitants tell him his objective, or their objective, in being summoned to that world. With that, the summoned person would at least have a goal to work towards too.


    Not him he was just dumped in the middle of a forest and had to face a ferocious beast minutes after arriving.


    ''It was a good thing that I was a trained harsher than my siblings. If I wasn''t, I''d be the one lying on the ground decapitated and mutilated. Speaking of which, what did happen to my family?


    In theory, since he was engulfed in that white light and summoned here, shouldn''t his family have experienced the same phenomenon?


    Maybe the same thing happened with the people in the city and the surroundings who were engulfed by the white light.


    ''Were they also summoned here to this world? Man, it''s all turning into a big headache, but if my family was summoned here, I have to find them, but without information, how am I even supposed to start?''


    "Ahhhhhh come on!"


    As Cecil was lamenting on his misfortune and bleak future, he suddenly lashed out and threw the stick he was playing with.


    "Hiiiihhh???"


    "Wha?"


    A sudden high pitched scream echoed out somewhere in front of him. Cecil quickly looked ahead and caught something hiding behind a tree in the distance, just a dozen meters or so from where he set camp.


    ''Damnit, how could I let my guard down, to think something was able to sneak up on me so close without me being aware?''


    "Silver! Get ready for battle!"


    Cecil grabbed the bone blade that he was whittling away earlier, took up a stance and ordered Silver to get ready.


    He then started moving closer to the tree where the sound came from.


    "Come out! I already know you''re there!"


    Not knowing what was behind the tree, he proceeded with caution.


    Judging from what made the sound, it didn''t sound like a monster animal.


    In his heart, Cecil hoped that the sound came from a human who was also transported here like him.


    "Hurry up and come out!"


    Cecil took a glance towards Silver and signaled him to go around the tree and flush the perpetrator out.


    Silver slowly made his way around the tree, making sure he didn''t make a sound. His injured leg was hindering him a bit, but he still managed to get close to the left side of the tree.


    "RAAAARRR!"


    Silver pounced and Cecil quickly moved up preparing to stab his bone sword at the enemy, but then he heard a surprised shout that made him hesitate.


    "KYAAAHHH!"


    BAM! THUD!


    Silver tumbled out behind the tree with something underneath him.


    It was small, so Cecil couldn''t see it from where he was standing. He alertly raised his sword preparing to attack, while moving closer to get a better aim at the target.


    As he moved closer, Cecil finally caught a glimpse of what was underneath Silver and was dumbfounded by what he saw.


    "Grrrrrr"


    "Hiiiihhh!"


    "Heel boy! Stop!"


    He immediately stopped Silver from trying to attack any further.


    ''I-its another person, right?''


    Well, the person was a young girl, around Cecil''s age. She had long platinum colored hair, a cute face that was scrunched up in a horrified expression.


    The only difference she had with Cecil were the 3 fluffy tails attached to the area near her butt and her ears weren''t on the side of her head like Cecil, but they were on top of her head. They also looked like animal ears.


    She wasn''t a human. She looked more like a half beast half human.


    "Wh-what are you?!"


    "Uwaaaahh, ***t ***l **!!"


    And that was how Cecil met the person who would become the most important person in his life.

 Chapter 7 - First Friend

    Cecil was thoroughly dumbfounded with the unfamiliar scene that he was currently witnessing.


    The girl that was right now underneath Silver was a half human half beast, the so-called demi-human from the novels he''s read.


    The girl had golden eyes and platinum hair. She screamed something earlier, but Cecil couldn''t make out what she was saying.


    It felt like she was screaming in a foreign language, it was probably the native language of this world.


    ''Crap, doesn''t this make information gathering and blending in even harder? If I don''t know this world''s language how the hell am I supposed to get by?''


    "Ugh, another problem added to my already long list."


    I mumbled as such while holding my head.


    "D*** ***l **! ****s*!"


    ''Ugh, there it is again. I really can''t understand a thing. I tell Silver to get off of her.''


    "Silver, it''s okay. She''s not hostile."


    Silver responds with a bark and gets off of the young girl. The girl, after being freed from Silver''s claws backs away quickly.


    "* *** ** ****y"


    "Ugh, I don''t understand¡­"


    "****?"


    "Can you understand what I''m saying?"


    "**** *** *** ******?"


    ''Crap, this is going nowhere. How the hell am I supposed to communicate with this girl.''


    "Raa!"


    "Huh? ** **** ********** **?"


    "Grrr, raaa!"


    "**** * **e, **** **** *** ** *** ** e****."


    "Woof!"


    Silver starts barking at the girl and she responds rigidly to Silver''s barks.


    ''Huh? Silver can communicate with her by barking?''


    "Woof!!"


    Silver turns toward Cecil and barks, indicating something to him. Cecil stared back at Silver dumbly.


    ''Silv, although you can understand what I''m saying, but I''m no dog! How am I supposed to get that?!''


    Judging by how the beast girl was ''talking'' to Silver, they seem to be holding a conversation.


    "Silver, if you can communicate with her, ask her who she is and what''s she doing here."


    "Woof! Woof, woof, woof!"


    "** **** ** **y, * ***** ********* **** *** * **** ** *** **** ** ***."


    "Woof! WOOF woof!"


    "Eeehh? ** *****t **********d w*** ** *****g?"


    "Woof!"


    "****, ** **** ****** **?"


    "Woof¡­ grrr woof!"


    "Oh! **** ** * **** ****!"


    The two seemed to be seriously communicating. Only problem with this situation is Cecil can''t understand what ever it is they were saying.


    With Silver barking and the beast girl blabbering on about something. Cecil shrugged and returned to sit by the fire while continuing to grind away at the bone knife with the rocks.


    Seeing that Cecil''s returned to sit by the fire, Silver comes back and lies down on the spot across from him.


    The beast girl follows behind Silver and sits next to him. Cecil thought that the girl would just up and leave when they let her off earlier.


    Cecil took another look at her, then shifted his focus back and continued grinding the bone sword with the rock.


    Suddenly the girl starts trying to talk to him again.


    "***! *** *** ****** *** **d******** * ***d ** *****g?"


    Cecil raised his head and looked at her with a confused expression.


    "** *** ***e¡­"


    ''What the heck, is this girl mocking me or something?''


    "Raahh!"


    After Silver barked something at the girl, in the next instant, her face changed and it looked like she just saw the most unbelievable thing in the world.


    With the girl''s change in expression, Cecil''s face turned even more confused. Cecil started wondering just what Silver said to her to make her face changed like that.


    ''Man, if only I could communicate with her somehow.''


    "Woof! Raahh!"


    "****, ** *** *** ** *** **** *** ***ch ***."


    "Woof!"


    The two started talking again and Cecil turned his focus back to grinding the bone sword.


    A little after that, Silver got up and came over to Cecil and nudged him on the leg.


    Cecil looked at him questioningly and Silver waved his head towards the bear meat still hanging close to the fire pit.


    "You want me to give her some?"


    "Woof!"


    Silver shakes his head up and down.


    "Okay."


    After receiving a confirmation, Cecil gets up and walks over to the roast bear meat and cuts off a portion.


    ''I guess this is enough for her to eat.''


    After cutting it up, he picked up a flat rock that he washed earlier and placed the meat above the rock.


    Since there were no plates, Cecil had found and washed a couple of flat-sided rocks. They acted as plates.


    Cecil then brings the meat to the girl and she accepts it with both hands.


    "Hey, careful. It''s still hot."


    "****? ***** ***!"


    ''Man, what a bother. I never thought it would be so hard to talk to someone.''


    After handing her the meat, the beast girl stares at the meat and then back at Cecil. She looked at him again and then pointed towards his waist.


    Cecil follows her finger and sees that she was pointing at his bone knife.


    "You need this?"


    "***!"


    She nods her head.


    "Hmmm¡­."


    Cecil glared at her vigilantly. Seeing Cecil looking at her like that, the beast girl starts panicking and waving her hands while talking in that indiscernible language again.


    "**! * **** **** *** ****! * **** ***** *** ** *** ****!"


    "What?"


    "Woof, woof!"


    Silver barks at Cecil, he glances back at him and Silver just stares back.


    ''I think he means it''s okay?''


    "Okay, here then."


    "***** ***!"


    After handing her the knife, Cecil thinks back on the words that the beast girl just said.


    ''I think it means thanks?''


    "Hey, does ***** *** mean thank you?"


    "****?"


    When Cecil asked her that, it was the girl''s turn to look back at him questioningly.


    "Raaahh! Woof, woof!"


    After Silver barks at her, the girl''s eyes light up. Then she starts nodding her head up and down quickly with a smile.


    "***, ***** *** ***** thank you!"


    "Okay¡­"


    ''Heh, my first word in another world was actually thank you.''


    Cecil smiles a bit and turns back toward his seat.


    Seeing him smile, the beast girl''s eyes light up even further. She then starts cutting up the meat and begin stuffing them down into her mouth vigorously.


    ''Woah, aren''t you one hungry little thing¡­''


    Cecil after seeing her puffed up cheeks and the wide smile on her face, involuntarily lets out a smile.


    ''Heh, how cute.''


    He then continue grinding the bone sword.


    In only a couple of minutes, the beast girl had finished the entire slab of meat.


    When Cecil was observing her eating, he turned astonished at how agile the girl handled his knife. It was plain to see that she was pretty adept with the knife, despite her young age.


    Not like he was one to talk, considering how adept he was at handling various weapons.


    "Heehh, you''re pretty skillful aren''t you?"


    "Thank you *** *** ****!"


    "You''re welcome."


    ''Well I guess practice makes perfect, maybe I can ask this girl to teach me the language of this world.''


    "Hey, can you teach me?"


    "****?"


    Cecil tries gesturing to the girl what he wanted.


    After 5 minutes of an exhausting back and forth exchange, she finally got the gist of what Cecil was trying to imply.


    "****, *** ***** *** *** ** ****!"


    She nodded her head in affirmation but then she pointed towards the pit, more precisely towards the slab of meat hanging above the pit.


    "Okay, I give you meat, you teach me."


    "****!"


    Cecil gestured towards her again, and the girl nodded her head vigorously while giggling.


    "Well, I guess I finally have a goal to work towards to for now."


    ''It''d be cool if I could follow this girl back to the place she''s staying at, but I feel like it''s too early since I can''t even communicate with her, what happens if there are others like her? It''d be pretty awkward and it might even cause a misunderstanding.''


    "Umu, ** **** ** ****!"


    "Huh?"


    After saying something, the beast girl walks over to Cecil and hands him back the knife. After that she grabs a hold of his outstretched hand and tries to pull him up.


    "What do you want?"


    The girl starts pointing to somewhere and tries to convey something to Cecil.


    "What? Do you want me to follow you?"


    "Woof!"


    "Huh?"


    Silver comes over and starts to nudging Cecil from behind. Silver was trying to push him forward, it was like Silver was telling him to follow the girl.


    "Okay then, if you say so Silver."


    After agreeing with Silver, Cecil then gestures to the girl to wait.


    He turned around and quickly packed up all his stuff.


    It was a good thing that the fur had already dried. The smoke from the fire had also flushed out any bugs that were still crawling on it.


    Cecil quickly stuffed all his belongings into his make-shift bag. He also grabbed a huge leaf from a tree and wrapped it around the bear meat and stuffed that into the bag too.


    After finishing all that, Cecil looked towards the girl. She was staring at him with curious look on her face.


    "What''s wrong? Let''s go?"


    Cecil gestured to the girl that he would follow her. The girl gave him a smile, grabbed his hand, and pulled him along while pointing at the direction from earlier.


    Cecil followed and let himself be dragged by this platinum haired 3 tailed girl.


    ''I don''t know where she''s taking me, but I have a feeling that it''s the place where she lives. If there are any other people like her, I hope my presence wouldn''t cause a misunderstanding.''


    The worst possible situation would be that her fellow kinsmen would attack him just because Cecil was a different race from them.


    The girl turns her head around and points at herself. Then she started saying something to Cecil.


    "Lu***."


    "Huh?"


    "L**ia!"


    "Lu*ia?"


    "**! Luci*!"


    "Lucia?"


    Having her name said properly, the girl gives a satisfied nod and says her name again.


    "Lucia"


    "Ohh, you''re Lucia?"


    Pointing at her, Cecil then says the exact same word he said earlier.


    She nods, and starts pointing back at Cecil while asking something.


    "*** ***?"


    Somehow, Cecil knew what she wanted. So he points to himself and says.


    "I''m Cecil."


    "Ce~cel~?"


    "CE-CIL"


    "Ah! Cecil!"


    Cecil smiles at her after she said his name right. Then he points towards Silver.


    "This is Silver."


    "Silver!"


    ''What the? Isn''t this just total bias?!''


    For some reason, Lucia was able to pronounce Silver''s name properly right off the bat, but had some difficulty pronouncing Cecil''s name.


    "Haha, Lucia, Cecil, Silver!"


    "That''s right, I''m Cecil, this is Silver and you''re Lucia."


    "Hihihi!"


    Lucia starts smiling and giggling happily after saying each of their names.


    Cecil thought, she looked real cute smiling and laughing like that.


    ''So my first friend from another world turns out to be this platinum haired, golden eyed, 3-tailed beast girl named Lucia, huh''

 Chapter 8 - Fauxe Village

    Cecil was following behind Lucia while keeping a vigilant watch of the surroundings.


    It surprised him seeing Lucia walking in the front so care-freely. It was probably due to the fact that she frequented the path they were taking and knew that it was safe, so she lacked any form of vigilance.


    ''Anyway, just in case, I won''t let my guard down.''


    Even though the path seems safe, considering how lacking Lucia''s awareness was, but nothing was absolute.


    They were still off the beaten path so that means a monster could still potentially attack them.


    As Cecil was vigilantly observing their surroundings, Lucia who was at the front, raises her voice in delight.


    "Cecil, **** ****!"


    "Huh?"


    Looking past her, Cecil soon spots a path up ahead, although it wasn''t paved with cement or anything, you could easily see a wide path that could fit 2 cars on it.


    ''The path seems like it was frequented by travelers and wagons or carriages.''


    The path had a lot of foot marks and line marks, which seemed to be the wheels of wagons or carriages.


    There were no monster-like marks on it. When Cecil looked further he saw a sign that was pointed towards the small path they were on. It had some letters that he couldn''t read on it.


    After walking onto the main path, Cecil then turned around and looked at the path they just left.


    Sure enough, the small path with the sign next to it, stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other areas of the forest.


    ''I guess it was frequented by a lot of people, I guess they would fetch for water or even fish in that river from earlier?''


    While he was thinking as such, Lucia grabbed a hold of his hand again and started dragging Cecil away.


    "Cecil, **** **!"


    "Oh, okay¡­"


    ''Man, although it''s nice to have a girl holding my hand while walking, but this feels more like she''s guiding a blind guy around the area.''


    They continued to walk on the path for a while. When they set out from the river it was deep into the afternoon. Looking up at the sky, Cecil sees that it had turned orange. Clearly it was almost the evening.


    ''The walk from the river to the road was pretty long huh?''


    While on the road, they didn''t come across any wagons or people walking on it even after walking for about an hour or so.


    ''Maybe people in this world don''t travel when it''s almost night time?''


    They continue walking for another half an hour before Cecil notices a fork on the road. The main road kept going straight straight. While the other road, being somewhat smaller, lead to the left going deep into the forest.


    Although the road was surrounded by trees, they were at least 5 meters away. But this path had trees lining right up by the side of it.


    Lucia immediately takes the path to the left.


    ''I guess her house is on the other end of the path?''


    Lucia seemed excited and starts running, of course with Cecil in tow.


    After running for around 10 minutes, the forest opens up into a wide field.


    They stop and Cecil was able to take in the view in front of them. He saw a village with wooden houses at the end of the path.


    Since they were on slightly elevated grounds with the forest behind them, Cecil was able to take a good look at the village.


    Lucia says something to him while pointing at the village.


    "Fa***!"


    "Fakse?"


    "Fauxe!"


    "Ohh, Fauxe."


    ''So this village was called Fauxe. Odd, it sounds almost like fox. Fox village? Come to think of it, in the novels, the beastmen always had a certain type of animal that characterized their facial and body features, you know, like lions, wolves, cats, dogs, lizards, etc. I wonder what Lucia''s is? She has triangle-shaped ears on top of her head which were somewhat like wolf or cat ears. I''m guessing hair and eye color isn''t attributed to the species, but she does have 3 fluffy tails. I wonder what animal she''s based off of. Crap, that''s bad, I shouldn''t say animal, it sounds really racist and wrong. It might even be considered a taboo here in this world. Better keep my thoughts and mouth in check when I learn their language.''


    They start walking down to the village.


    Cecil was getting pretty nervous, he was worried that something bad might happen. He didn''t want to get misunderstood and get driven out of the village.


    ''Hopefully everything turns out alright. Please, let it be alright.''


    They finally reach the village gate, the sun was about to set and the village was already lit up with what appeared to be lampposts.


    The lampposts were only a pillar and with a round sphere that was emitting bright light on top of it.


    ''So I guess they were lampposts, although I doubt that those spheres are light bulbs like back on earth.''


    When they finally got to the entrance, what awaited there was a group of villagers.


    At the head of the group was a very buff¡­ man? He looked somewhat feminine, but he was without a doubt a male considering he was very muscular and tall, almost 2 meters in height.


    He also had the same ears as Lucia but instead it was golden in color. His hair and eyes were also gold, and he was, at the moment, glaring sharply at Cecil.


    Behind the buffed man, who Cecil presumed to be the village chief, was a tall young woman who looked somewhat like Lucia.


    She had the same platinum colored hair as Lucia too, but her irises were red. She looked young enough to be Lucia''s sister.


    ''She''s probably Lucia''s mother, considering that she was looking worriedly at us. I mean I would too, since her daughter, maybe, has been dragging around an unknown human boy around her age behind her.''


    The rest of the group also had the same features as Lucia, the ears and tails were the same, but it seems that only Lucia and the young woman who resembled her had 3 tails.


    The rest of the group only had 1 or 2 tails at most.


    Stopping in front of the group, Lucia started saying something. The couple in the front, as well as the rest of the group had a somewhat surprised expression after Lucia said... whatever it is she said.


    The wary looks had also turned into looks of curiosity. With the exception of the buffed man. He was only glaring even harder at Cecil.


    ''Holy crap, he''s scary. I felt a little bit of bloodl.u.s.t there.''


    Sensing the faint amount of bloodl.u.s.t, it put Cecil on edge, but honestly, with how the man looked, it seemed impossible for Cecil to win in a fight against him.


    Lucia let''s go of Cecil''s hand and continues speaking to the group. Of course, Cecil couldn''t understand one word they were exchanging.


    The group had a back and forth conversation until everyone turned a curious eye towards Cecil. After they did that, Lucia started to frantically say something to them. She looked pretty fl.u.s.tered.


    ''How cute... Holy hell, this isn''t the time to be thinking that!''


    Cecil looked at the group and sees them staring back at him. The looks they were giving him were all varied. Some with disbelief, others with suspicion, but the most severe one was from the buffed man.


    He looked like he was about to eat Cecil alive.


    The man walked up and started saying something to Cecil, despite having a somewhat feminine face, he had a deep bass-like voice.


    "*** *** ****** **** * ****** ****?"


    "What?"


    "****?"


    When the man started speaking to Cecil, he could only stare blankly at him. Sensing that things were going nowhere Lucia said something to him and even Silver started barking at him.


    "*****! Cecil ***** **** *** *********!"


    "****?"


    "Woof!"


    "***** *******?"


    "Woof woof!"


    "**** ***** ****** * ** ****."


    After the man took notice of Silver, who was laying prone behind Cecil and out of sight, he looked somewhat surprised and started holding a ''conversation'' with Silver.


    It was a repeat of what happened back with Lucia. After an extensive ''argument'' between the buffed man and Silver, he turned towards Lucia and said something to her.


    "****, *** *** ***** *** **** *** ******."


    "***!"


    "*** ********, *** **** ** **** ************ ** ***!"


    "****!"


    Finishing his conversation with Lucia, he takes another look at Cecil and Silver.


    After that he turned back towards the group of beast folk and said something. After that the group of people all started to disperse, they were heading back to their homes.


    The people left at the entrance were only Cecil, Silver, Lucia and the buffed man and young woman who looked like Lucia.


    Lucia ran up and hugged the young woman. The woman also hugged her back with a smile.


    They said something to each other and Lucia came back over to Cecil and started dragging him, again, into the village.


    The buffed man and young woman turned around and started walking further into the village with Lucia following behind them with Cecil in tow.


    ''Well, I''m glad I wasn''t attacked and chased out? It still doesn''t solve the problem of me not knowing anything about this world''s language though.''


    "Hey Silver, you can talk to them right?"


    He responded with a bark.


    "Good, ask them if they can teach me how to speak in their language later, okay?"


    "Woof, woof!"


    The 3 people in front look back at Cecil who appeared to be talking to Silver.


    When Cecil looked ahead again, the man and woman had a softer look in their eyes.


    Although, the man''s glare was still a bit menacing, at least the faint bloodl.u.s.t from earlier was now gone.


    Like this, he was dragged deeper into the beast kin village by Lucia.

 Chapter 9 - Meet and Greet

    After making their way through the village, the group eventually arrived at a building that was somewhat larger than the rest.


    It was made of logs and wooden planks. It looked really elegant. The wood even looked like it was polished and waxed even. Although it wasn''t anything magnificent, it looked cozy to live in.


    As they got closer to the house, Cecil notices that the house''s front yard was well lit. He looked towards the source of the light and sees a ''light stone'' embedded in the wall just above the door.


    Since it was closer than the lampposts he passed by earlier, Cecil was immediately fascinated with it, pondering how could a stone actually emit such an intense light.


    As they enter the house, the buffed man mutters something.


    "****."


    In the next instant, the dark room of the house was lit up brightly. Cecil was surprised and started looking around.


    He saw that in the ceiling was another ''light stone''.


    It wasn''t only the front room, he noticed that all the rooms of the house had also lit up. For a second there, Cecil thought that the buffed man had used magic.


    His eyes started to brighten at the thought, but when he saw the ''light stones'' it instantly made him deflated.


    Cecil stood by the door with a blank look when Lucia dragged him into the living room.


    She sat him down on a couch.


    As soon as he was on the couch, Cecil snapped out of his disappointment, he put down his luggage by the side of the couch.


    Seeing that, Lucia then sat down next to him with Silver lying down on the floor by their feet.


    Remembering where he was, Cecil started to nervously look around.


    "Cecil?"


    "Huh? Lucia what''s up?"


    "**** ****** Cecil! Hihihi!"


    "Wha?"


    Lucia calls out to Cecil, but he could only respond with a confused look since he still couldn''t understand what she meant.


    Seeing his daughter try and make conversation with the strange boy, the buffed man grunts a bit to catch their attention.


    "**** *** * *** *** ** ******?"


    "* ***** Cecil ** *** ***** ** *** *****!"


    "******? ** ***** ***** ********* *****?"


    "***, **** ****** ********** ****."


    Cecil couldn''t understand a word they were saying, he only heard Lucia say his name once and the rest was gibberish to him.


    He started looking around again and saw that the woman wasn''t in the room with them.


    Cecil was just about to say something to Silver, but then he also joined in on the conversation the man and Lucia were having.


    A nerve was threatening to pop on in his head.


    ''This is really annoying! I feel like a mute! If this was back on earth, I had already learned many of the different major languages of the Earth! I would never feel this way even if my father dumped me in another country!''


    While the three were having their conversation, the woman walks back into the room holding a tray.


    She comes up by the man and lays the tray down on the table.


    On the tray there were steaming buns on a ceramic-like plate with crystal-like cups filled with black steamy liquid, by the side.


    It seems she was preparing this in the house''s kitchen earlier.The woman starts handing the plates and glasses out.


    After doing so, she goes back into another room, which was most likely the kitchen. She comes out a short while later with another tray.


    This time she comes over to Cecil''s, or more exactly, to Silver''s side.


    She puts down what was on the tray by Silver''s side. It was a bowl with big slices of dried seasoned meat. She also places down another bowl with water in it next to the meat-filled bowl.


    Seeing that, Cecil looks up at the woman and bows his head.


    "Thank you, Ma''am."


    "Heeh? ** *** **** *** ******? You''re welcome."


    Cecil said his thanks in their language, which made the woman surprised.


    It wasn''t only her, the man was also somewhat surprised when Cecil said his thanks. Although the pronunciation was still a bit awkward, but at least he was able to convey his gratitude.


    On their way to the village, Cecil asked and learned the words to "You''re welcome" from Lucia. She also taught him the words to leaf, tree, vine, wood, flower, rock, dirt, water, sky etc.


    Cecil could now at least identify the things he saw as they were passing by the forest, including some of the wild animals like birds and such.


    During their trek through the forest, he felt a huge since of relief. There wasn''t just monster animals that existed in this world, normal types of animals were also in abundance.


    He was frightened at the thought of all animals in this world being monster-like.


    Cecil had also asked Lucia about the things on him such as the bear fur, meat, bone, blade, knife etc.


    He also asked Lucia to teach him how to say yes and no.


    They were just basic things, so it was still an impossibility for him to hold or understand any form of conversation.


    After the surprise, the woman took her seat beside the man.


    Then with the exclusion of Cecil, the others continued their conversation.


    What rang in Cecil''s ears were the voice of the 3 speaking in an unknown language and Silver''s barking .


    He could pick up some of things they were saying. Things about a forest and river.


    Her parent''s were probably asking Lucia how she had met up with Cecil and Silver.


    Silver was also barking in between their conversation, probably giving them his 2 cents.


    During the conversation, the expressions of the man and woman kept alternating between seriousness and surprise.


    They kept glancing at Cecil from time to time too. With how they were acting, it seems Silver, had somehow explained to them about their circ.u.mstances and how they met up with Lucia.


    After an ''extensive'' conversation, Lucia''s parents looked like they had come to some agreement with Silver.


    The man said something to the woman and the woman got up and walked out of the room.


    He then turned towards Cecil and pointed at himself.


    "Za***."


    "Eh?"


    It was the same with how Lucia tried to tell Cecil her name.


    "Za*i."


    "Zaki?"


    "Yes, Zaki."


    ''Well, now I know Lucia''s dad''s name now.''


    He pointed to Lucia and pointed back at himself.


    "Lucia, ** ********."


    "Da****er?"


    "No, daugh**."


    "Ohh, daughter."


    A word he didn''t know, but it seems it means something along the line of daughter or child.


    So the man and woman were without a doubt Lucia''s parents.


    Lucia''s mother came back into the room holding a book and scrolls of paper, along with what looked like a feather quill.


    ''Stationery of this world I guess?''


    The woman smiles at Cecil and puts the book and stationery in front of him.


    Zaki then says something to the woman and she also tries to introduce herself.


    While pointing to herself she said her name to Cecil.


    "A***."


    "Anna?"


    "Yes, Anna."


    Anna then points at Lucia and says the same thing as Zaki.


    "Lucia is my daughter."


    "Okay."


    Cecil was gradually starting to understand what they were saying. A small sense of accomplishment was welling up inside him.


    Lucia nudges Cecil and smiles at him. Then she points towards Anna and Zaki and says a few words.


    "Cecil, this is my ****** and ******."


    "Uhm, m***er and fa****?"


    "*othe* and **ther."


    "Mother, father."


    "Yes!"


    That small sense of accomplishment was slowly growing bigger, only to then be coldly stomped on the next second.


    "Cecil, **** **** **** *** *****."


    ''NOOOOO!!! Damnit, right when I was feeling happy with myself.''


    After gesturing and saying somethings slowly, Cecil finally got what Lucia wanted him to do when she gave him the book.


    Taking the book in hand, it was somewhat thick.


    Cecil couldn''t read the title on the cover of the book, but after opening it, the book turned out to be a book for learning this world''s language.


    On every page of the book was an ill.u.s.tration of an object and a word below it, followed by a couple of sentences written right below the picture.


    "Ahh, isn''t this!"


    "Cecil, *** *** ***** *** ******** **** ****."


    Knowing the family''s kind intentions, Cecil looked up towards and stood up. He then bowed his head deeply and expressed his gratitude.


    "Thank you very much!"


    Cecil thanked them using Earth''s language, but they seem to understand what he meant.


    They all gave him a warm smile.


    Feeling that it wasn''t enough, Cecil went to his make-shift bag and rummaged through its contents.


    He took out what was left of the roasted bear meat and hands it to Anna.


    "Please take this as my thanks!"


    "Ara? **** **** ******** bear''s meat?"


    "****? ******** bear?"


    Zaki and Anna look at Cecil with astonishment and then with eyes as if they had finally believed something.


    It seems like Silver told them about how they killed the bladed bear.


    To Cecil, the expression of shock and surprise from the two looked a bit exaggerated.


    ''Was the bear really that strong? I mean, although I lucked out when I faced off against it, it had many glaring flaws that an a.d.u.l.t like Zaki could make use of.''


    Putting the thought to the back of his mind, he took out the already roasted bear meat leftovers wrapped in leaves and placed it on the table.


    He then opened the leaf and found that although it was now cold, a unique fragrance came from the meat as soon as it was exposed to the air.


    Smelling that, Lucia''s mouth begins to water and she immediately cuts up a small portion of the meat and stuffs it into her mouth.


    Cecil smiles gently at her and looks towards Zaki. He seems a bit embarrassed for the lack of manners his daughter had.


    Cecil didn''t mind it and gestured towards him to have a bite himself.


    With a smile, Anna stands up with the raw meat that Cecil passed to her in hand and said something to Zaki while walking towards the room that was probably the kitchen.


    Zaki looks at Cecil with a serious face and then smiles warmly. He then gets up and walks toward the same room that Anna had entered.


    Cecil turned towards Lucia who was stuffing her face.


    "Lucia, thank you."


    "Hehe, you''re welcome, Cecil."


    Cecil points towards himself and says something to her again.


    "Cel, you can all me Cel."


    "Ca~l?


    "Cel."


    "Cel!"


    Cecil turned his attention to the book again and grabbed a scroll and the quill.


    The book made things easier for him to learn. He looked through a couple of simple pictures such as rocks, grass, water, etc. and wrote the words on the scroll.


    He wrote a couple of words, almost filling in half of the scroll. He made sure to space the letters apart and then wrote down the equivalent meaning of the words in Earth''s language right below.


    It was harder than he thought. The words and letters didn''t exactly match Earth''s language''s equivalent. Just like the difference of words or letters between foreign languages


    Being a little stumped, Cecil stares hard at the paper and all of a sudden, Lucia grabs the quill from his hand.


    She starts righting down letters on a scroll and starts pointing at them while pronouncing what they sound like.


    "*!"


    "Ei?"


    "*!"


    "A."


    "Yes!"


    ''Why the heck didn''t I think of asking her to teach me? I feel so stupid now.''


    After Cecil went through this world''s entire alphabet with Lucia over and over again for about an hour, a delicious aroma drifted from the room that Lucia''s parents went into earlier.


    The trio''s nose begin to tingle at the delicious smell. Silver gets up with his tail wagging vigorously. Lucia cheers and leads Cecil by the hand to the room where the scent was coming from.


    ''The room really was the kitchen.''


    Cecil thought.


    The room had a table in the middle with a cupboard at the far end of the room where there was a stone box beside it and there was water running from a wooden tube above it into the box. This was probably the sink.


    Beside the sink was another long table. At the end of the table there was a pit on the ground with a fire burning in it. Above the pit was a hollowed stone structure that continued past the ceiling above.


    There was also an open door at the left side of the room from where they entered. Taking a peek inside Cecil saw a lot of plants and other foodstuffs.


    Finishing his observation, he sees Lucia''s mother setting the table and Lucia''s father lightly roasting the bear meat from earlier while sprinkling something on it.


    He was doing it skillfully. There weren''t even any burnt marks on it even after roasting the already roasted meat for so long.


    Lucia''s mother welcomes them and gestures for them to sit. She also prepared a small table for Silver at the side which had a big plate on it.


    Lucia pulls Cecil to a chair before taking her seat at the chair beside it. Cecil takes his seat while anticipating the meal to come. It would undoubtedly taste much better than the unseasoned meat he roasted earlier today.


    After a couple more minutes, Lucia''s father picks up the meat and settles it on the table at the side of the fire pit. He takes out a knife and starts cutting up the meat into smaller sizes.


    Lucia''s mother takes another plate brings it to the table and starts putting bread on it. She then heads back and grabs a pot that was steaming and brings it to the table.


    Lucia''s father also brings the cut up meat to the table. He also doesn''t forget to leave a large portion for Silver.


    After the food was set, Lucia''s parents take their seats in front of Cecil and Lucia. They say something aloud, but Cecil still couldn''t understand. Especially with how fast they talked.


    After they said something, the 2 including Lucia close their eyes and start chanting something together.


    ''A prayer?''


    Cecil follows them and closes his eyes. He then says a small prayer inside his heart.


    ''I hope my family is also saying their graces while having dinner right now.''

 Chapter 10 - Mana

    HUGE INFO DUMP FOR NEXT FEW CHAPTERS, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!


    ------------------------


    The morning sun''s ray illuminated a room inside the house of the Fauxe Village''s chief. A young teenage boy got up from the bed inside the room and started stretching.


    This boy was Cecil.


    Beside the boy was a wolf that had also just woken up from its slumber. This was none other than Silver, who was transported to this world alongside Cecil.


    The two had already been staying in this village for a little over a month.


    During the past few weeks, they hadn''t been lazing around.


    In the morning, Cecil and Silver had their usual training routine at the backyard of the chief''s house. The chief of the village was named Zaki. He was a muscular golden haired and golden eyed kitsune.


    The people of this village were beast-kin that were known as Kitsune or Foxmen.


    The daughter of Zaki, the person who had brought Cecil to this village was called Lucia. She was also Cecil''s first friend from this world.


    During his stay, Cecil had gained substantial knowledge of the world he was in, the most notable thing was that Cecil had finally learned the language of this world through his studies with Lucia.


    He was now able to hold a normal conversation with other people and it was to the point where it came out fluently just like with him using Earth''s language.


    Of course he still did have trouble reading, but it seemed he would be able to be fluent after another month or two.


    After getting to the back of the house, he started his training routine with Silver. By the side was a young female kitsune who was out drying clothes.


    This was Anna, the village chief Zaki''s wife and Lucia''s mother. When she saw the two going about with their normal routine she smiled and called out to them.


    "Good morning, Cecil. And you too Silver."


    "Good morning, Mrs. Anna."


    "Raah!"


    After greeting her, Silver and Cecil continue with their training. After an hour into the training, when the sun was rising even further into the air, a young kitsune girl walked out of the house.


    When she saw Cecil and Silver training, she ran towards them intending to join them on their routine. This was Lucia, after she had witnessed Cecil and Silver''s bizarre training method for about a week, she had also decided to wake up early and join them, not wanting to be left out.


    Of course, she couldn''t wake up as early as Cecil and Silver, but she still joined them even if she was an hour late.


    Seeing Lucia joining them, Cecil started to help her with the training and exercise. The training was still one that they normally did back then on earth.


    In the eyes of Lucia and her family, although it was a strange way of training and exercising, there were some similar training methods even in this world, so it wasn''t all that surprising.


    After they had trained for another hour, they made their way into the house all sweaty and tired.


    The 3 quickly went to the bath room to bathe. Of course, Cecil had to wait until Lucia was finished, but Silver went in with Lucia.


    This was a normal occurrence. Lucia was the main person in these past few days that gave Silver a bath. So they went in together to save time.


    After the two finished, it was Cecil''s turn to bathe. After the 3 finished bathing, they went to the kitchen and had breakfast along with Lucia''s parents.


    Ever since he came to the village, this was the daily morning routine for Cecil and Silver now.


    After breakfast they would normally go out with Lucia and hunt and scavenge in the surrounding forest for animals, herbs, fruits and such.


    The only thing that changed from the first week was that from the second week until now, they started adventuring deeper into the forest to look for monsters to fight.


    Cecil had wanted to keep fighting them in order to hone his fighting skills. Lucia was against this at first, but whatever she said didn''t seem to move Cecil at all. So in the end, she was forced to tag along since she was already with them.


    After doing this for over a week, she had already integrated this with her normal routine. They came back to the village at around an hour or so past noon.


    They had lunch back at Lucia''s house and continued with Lucia giving Cecil lessons about the language and various other topics of this world. The lessons lasted for 1-2 hours.


    After the lessons, Cecil had the idea of helping out with requests and work around the village. Cecil, Silver, and even Lucia started taking the requests of the villagers and completing them.


    Some of them were to help villagers with farming, foraging, herding and other miscellaneous tasks.


    Cecil thought this would be a good idea to do, since he didn''t want to be seen as a burden and a freeloader to the rest of the villagers. He wanted to pull his own weight and the village chief Zaki, respected that and gave him permission to do exactly that.


    While he was here, he had met up with other young kitsune boys and girls. Most of them were curious about who the person Lucia brought home with her the other day.


    It was a relief for Cecil that he hadn''t been bullied or anything, but that might be because of the presence of Silver that had kept following him around everywhere.


    Because the activities that Cecil and Lucia were doing around the village during the afternoon, it had turned into a kind of trend for the other children and teenagers of the village.


    The past few days, the work around the village had grown fewer for the party of three to do precisely because the other kids had started following their example.


    This had earned Cecil and Lucia the praises of all the other a.d.u.l.ts in the villages. Not only did it lighten the work the a.d.u.l.ts had to do, it also gave them more time to invest in other activities.


    Activities like hunting for animal meat in the forest or trading with the town located in the direction north of Faux village.


    From the main path Cecil and Lucia had first taken in order to get to the village, they had to turn the other way around and continue walking towards that direction for around half a day before getting to the town called Forest Hill Town.


    As the name suggests, it was a town that was built on and around a hill that was surrounded by a dense forest.


    After doing their work around the village, Cecil and Lucia always came back to the house before evening to have dinner. After having their dinner, they would take a bath and Lucia would continue teaching Cecil about the world''s language and letters.


    Only this time, she would focus on giving Cecil actual practice by letting him read simple books that were found in the library of the house and hold a conversation with her.


    This was Cecil''s daily routine after coming to this world.


    -------------------------


    After finishing his breakfast, Cecil was now sitting on the couch in the living room, thinking about what he was going to do for the rest of the day.


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "Cel? What''re you thinking about?"


    Lucia plopped down next to him and asked Cecil what he was pondering about.


    "Let''s not go into the forest today, Lulu."


    "Hmm~ Why~?"


    "Let''s just study magic and geography for today, there''s a lot I want to know."


    "Okay, Cel!"


    Lucia replied happily.


    It seems she was happy that they wouldn''t need to go deeper into the forest today.


    Of course, it wasn''t that she was scared or anything. By no means was this kitsune girl weak. Lucia was pretty agile and she even knew magic. That''s right, magic. This world which was called Alterna had magic.


    In the air besides the elements I know of, there was an additional particle called ''mana''. This ''mana'' was something that the people in this world could use to conjure magic.


    There were many different types of magic. Elemental, shadow, light, darkness, void, nature, summoning, space, etc.


    There were even race specific magic, the pale blue fox fire and illusion magic that Lucia uses was an inherent magic that was the characteristic of the fox-type beast-kins.


    The ''mana'' that was omnipresent was accessible to all forms of life, even sentient plants could use it.


    Cecil was all hyped up when he found out that magic was accessible to everyone in this world, which included Cecil himself, an otherworlder.


    Cecil only found out about this a week prior. It was when he first saw Lucia use magic.


    It happened when they were exploring deep into the woods and a treant, a sentient plant-race in the shape of a tree, suddenly attacked Cecil.


    It was the first time Cecil had ever saw one so of course he was caught off guard.


    ''I mean seriously, who the heck would be wary of a friggin'' tree? Right?''


    So the person who came to Cecil''s rescue was Lucia. She used the fox fire magic and repelled the treant. It seemed that the treant was wary of fire so it had backed off and turned away.


    Cecil was thoroughly surprised since Lucia didn''t continue with the fight. It was only until after the treant went away that she explained to him that plant-race life forms were especially hard to kill, sometimes to the point of them being undying.


    This was because as long as their roots or any part of their bodies that was able to suck in nutrients and mana, weren''t destroyed, they''d be able to live even if they were slashed in half. They''d only regenerate quickly after receiving any type of wound, so it was best to avoid a fight with them.


    Repel them, but never pick a fight with them.


    They were mostly docile anyway, the only reason the treant attacked Cecil was because he tried to cut off a branch from it to turn into firewood.


    This was a lesson to him so next time, he''d better start talking to the trees before chopping anything off. Better yet, it would be much safer if he just picked up the branches or twigs from the ground than piss off a plant-race creature.


    After coming back to the house, Lucia started to explain to Cecil about magic and the different races of this world. It was truly an eye-opener for me.


    The different races and life forms of this world were abundant. Lucia even told me that sometimes earth and rocks could gain sentience and become earth elemental life forms, stone giants, and even earth titans.


    The same goes for the air and water, though it''d be harder for them to actually come into being, compared to rocks and earth. Even places that had an abundance of fire could produce fire elementals, but they were confined in places with fires and a lot of heat such as volcanoes, underground areas with lava, etc.


    As for magic, since Cecil couldn''t use the fox-type magic he couldn''t practice it. But Lucia did give him the basic know-how of how to build up mana inside his body.


    It was just a breathing and meditating technique that had him focus his mind on the surrounding mana in the air and guiding it into his body while storing it inside his abdominal area, otherwise known as ''mana point'' in this world.


    It sounded like a Chinese cultivation thing Cecil had read in the novels back on Earth.


    If he was able to store mana inside his body, he would be able to start using magic!


    Although, he could still use magic by manipulating the mana in the air, probably because he wasn''t from this world he couldn''t understand what or sense the mana at all. After all, Earth was a mana-void planet.


    After attracting and settling mana into one''s mana point, the state of mana in one''s body could also reach a peak and transform from a particle gas to a liquid then from liquid to solid.


    This world would classify this into the initial, intermediate, advance, master, and perfect stage.


    Initial Stage means that the person could only use the mana in the surrounding air to conjure magic, this type of usage was the weakest and most people, even in this mana abundant world, would stay at this stage.


    The Intermediate Stage is when a person was able to guide mana and store it into their bodies entering what was called the mana vapor stage. Magic used in this stage is visibly stronger than when used in the Initial Stage.


    Advance Stage is when a person is able to gather enough mana inside his/her body and condense it into a liquid state. This stage was called the mana sea stage.


    Master Stage is when the mana sea inside the body is abundant in volume to the point the mana was able to gather together and compress into a solid state, this stage was known as the mana core stage.


    Finally, the Perfect Stage is when the mana core inside the body could manipulate the mana in the surrounding air naturally, as if by instinct. The feeling was somewhat like having the surrounding mana become a new organ or limb for the person. This way the person is able to form a cycle with the mana in the air, practically giving him/her free better control and usage of mana.


    For some races, they already have a high affinity with mana so the last stage would automatically be applied to them when they enter the Master stage, only the size and density of the mana core being not as strong as a person who was properly in the Perfect stage through bitter cultivation and training.


    After entering the Intermediate Stage or Mana Vapor Stage, a person would now have access to using spells.


    This would mean that the person had an affinity with mana higher than the average person and he/she could become a Spellcaster.


    Spells and magic in this world had a difference. Although they had similar meanings, but magic was used widely by everyone. For example a normal person, meaning someone who was only at the Initial Stage, could produce fire and water out of thin air. Summon a breeze or dig a small pit into the earth.


    But only Spellcasters could create and develop spells.


    Examples are like a spell that summons a fireball and shoot it with high velocity at an enemy, a spell that condenses an ice spike in the air and impale things with it, or even spells that manipulate the winds to be as sharp as a sword and cut at an enemy or harden the ground into a wall that could block arrows and blades.


    Unlike the stories, Cecil has read back on Earth, the usage of different magic elements in this world wasn''t limited, everyone could use all of the different elements of mana, but some tend to use the magic element they have the most affinity with.


    Most people would be limited to having good affinity with just 1 or 2 elements, while some very talented people would have good affinity with all 4 basic elements.


    The most frightening of talents had affinity with the basic elements and the extra elements. Extra elements are the type of magic element such as Space, Illusion, Demonic, Holy, etc.


    There are many different types of spells in this world, some are inherent while others have already been perfected and systematized by previous generations of Spellcasters and researchers.


    Of course, the systematic spells could be learned by all people who have entered the intermediate stage and enrolled in a magic academy.


    The present knowledge of mana, magic and spells has been systematized to let later generations of Spellcasters learn.


    Magic is seen as a talent, so many children, teenagers, and even a.d.u.l.ts go to an academy to learn the systematized knowledge of magic if they haven''t already.


    This exception was only for those who have inherent magic, because it seems that the basic knowledge of inherent magic would be understood by the time the person was able to use magic itself.


    It was like an instinct for them and this could be considered a cheat, but this wouldn''t mean they couldn''t learn the knowledge of the present magic system.


    Downsides to inherent Spell casters are that they have a hard time learning the modern magic system. Because they already have inherent knowledge of their magic, it was hard for them to adapt and learn the modern magic system''s spells. It was also due to inherent spell casters body constitution that made their body''s only strong affinity towards their inherent magical element.


    Although hard, it wasn''t impossible, all they had to do was put in more effort than normal spell casters did.


    Of course they could just imitate the spells form, effect and usage with their own magic, but this is limited. For example, Lucia could use fox fire and illusion magic. So technically, Lucia could also use the fire spear spell with her fox fire, turning it into a fox flame fire spear.


    Illusion magic was categorized as special magic, but the modern magic system could use water, fire, shadow, light, and even wind to imitate illusion magic. Technically, illusion magic was the pinnacle of illusions conjured from the modern magic system so it was useless for Lucia to learn them, but she could use their forms and usages as reference for when she uses her illusion magic.


    But since she only has fox fire and illusion magic, she wouldn''t be able to use the modern magic system''s water, wind, and earth magic system or even imitate the effects of them, because of her limitation in element, unless of course she studied them extensively.


    The upside to this is that because inherent magic users have an already basic all-encompassing understanding of their magic, they could easily develop and strengthen their inherent magic with practice.


    This is hard for modern Spellcasters because they weren''t the trailblazers of modern magic and their understanding of magic is only limited to the magic system of today.


    It was hard for modern spell casters to develop new magic or strengthen their own, but it wasn''t impossible.


    Lucia had mentioned that there were very strong Spellcasters that were titled by the people as Sages, these Sages were able to use powerful original magic that they had developed, and most original magic are unique to individual Sages.


    Of course, the study to strengthen and create original magic was something that every generation of Spellcasters strive for. There was never a stop to the research and experiments.


    Because of that, over the years there were some new spells, although not powerful, were able to make the living conditions in this world more convenient. These spells were given out to the public for use.


    A prime example would be the ''light stone''. This ''light stone'' was an original magic that was created by a Spellcaster who accidentally created a spell that combined earth system with light system magic. It created a perpetually glowing rock, which was now used for illumination in the dark.


    This magic replaced the need for torches and fire or fuel based lampposts. Even in dungeons, a light elemental would still be used, but the spell caster had to maintain the light elemental with their own mana.


    This ''light stone'' wouldn''t need that. After creating one, the light stone would continue to shine for 12 hours before disappearing, unless the caster, someone or something dispels it. Sounds like a light bulb right?


    But this is just but one example. There are plenty of others, but Lucia didn''t list anymore.


    Although there are examples of non-offensive, but useful magic, there were without a doubt some useless and failed products.


    There are also taboo spells, but Lucia doesn''t seem to know any of them. She only vaguely explained that there was a spell that permanently hexed people into other objects and evil spells like curses, necromancy, and etc.


    In conclusion, there are plenty of magic spells out there, some powerful, others useless, but they were, nonetheless, awesome in Cecil''s inexperienced opinion.


    So after finalizing their plans for today, Cecil followed Lucia into the library to learn more about this world, and especially about magic.


    ''I really hope I could use it soon, that''d be way too awesome!''

 Chapter 11 - New world, Alterna

    Entering the library that was in a room at the back of the house, there was long table in the middle of the room.


    The books lined up on the shelves inside weren''t all that much, but for a village, it was plentiful. The bookshelves lined up the 3 sides of the room.


    The shelf on the left side of the room was pretty long, almost as long as the wall itself. This shelf had books about magic, mana, magic research and other hand written research doc.u.ments.


    At first it made Cecil wonder why a fox village with their inherent magic had such a long line of books related to magic research and the modern magic system.


    It turns out that Lucia''s mother, Anna, was actually a very talented Spellcaster and magic researcher. She was able to adeptly use the modern magic system''s magic spells as well as her own inherent magic spells.


    She had graduated from a prestigious magic academy and continued with her research until she got married and settled down in Fauxe Village with her husband, Zaki.


    She still does some magic research now and then when she has time, but she mostly invests her time to housework and teaching all she knows about magic to Lucia. Now it was with the addition of Cecil.


    There were 2 bookshelves on the right side of the room and they were separated by a window. The shelf closer to the door had books related to history and geography, while the further shelf had books related to language and mathematics.


    The small shelf at the far end of the room by the side of a window was small and it contained the story books that Lucia loved.


    When Cecil first came to the library, the first kind of book Lucia showed him was precisely from this small shelf.


    It made her a little upset when Cecil directly ignored it and pulled out a book from the geography & history shelf while telling her to read it to him.


    At the time, although Cecil was already capable of speaking the language, it was still hard for him to read.


    She complained for a week after that, saying that he was a dull and boring person. But what could he do? Cecil seriously needed information about the world.


    Now he could read them by himself, but it was with difficulty. So in the end, Cecil still needed Lucia to help read the books for him.


    "Okay, stupid Cel, what do you want me to read?"


    "Hey, Lulu¡­ can you please stop calling me that every time we come into the library?"


    "Well, it''s not MY fault that Cel can''t READ, fufufu~"


    "Hey, that''s uncalled for!"


    "Bleeehh~"


    This always happens when they go to the library. Lucia now had the habit of calling Cecil, ''Stupid Cel''. It couldn''t be helped that he still couldn''t read well.


    Silver, seeing them settled, goes over to the window and lays down to sleep on the floor.


    "Just read me the books about the place we''re at."


    "Okay~"


    Lucia and Cecil go to the ''geo-shelf'' and grab a couple of books, after getting all the books about the topic, they come back to the desk and settle the books down. After picking a particular book, Lucia opens it up and waits for Cecil to finish preparing his quill and paper.


    Cecil has to take notes of course, the notes were in English. It was a normal thing for Cecil to take notes and he would always use English to write them.


    It was probably because she was curious, but Lucia had also started to learn English. Due to that, it was Cecil''s turn to see her struggle like him in learning each other''s'' respective languages.


    "Okay, let''s start then."


    "Un, the world we live in is called¡­"


    The world Cecil had transferred to was called Alterna. It was a world almost like Earth. It had 6 large continents, but Alterna was at least 10 or more times the size of Earth. Cecil was surprised that this world had the "world is round" concept.


    The 6 continents'' names are the human continent Midgard, the fairy continent Faerholm, the beast-kin continent Urrugdrasil, the demonkin continent Helaife, the artic continent Aizlandia, and the dead continent Non.


    The human continent was situated in the western hemisphere. Anyways, the Human Continent Midgard, as the name implies, is a continent where the majority of the population are human''s.


    The civilization there was also pretty advanced advanced, already having the technology to travel through the air on airsh.i.p.s and such.


    Cecil was currently on the Urrugdrasil Continent and was surprised to find out that the two continents were actually only separated by a 100 kilometer long ''river''.


    Legend states that Urrugdrasil and Midgard was once one whole super continent. It was only because of the constant wars between races that a ''God'', who was benevolent and wanted to end all the conflicts, used his/her sword and slashed a huge 100 km long and abysmally deep gouge across land, ultimately separating the two land masses.


    Of course, this was only a legend. The credibility wasn''t all that good and it was the propaganda that the religion at the border between the two continents spread.


    The two continents were peaceful in the coming days, even until this day, though this was only on the surface. There''s no way it would be peaceful after all that history of enmity.


    It was just like back on earth where wars were raged because of the differences between ideals and races. This applied even to the inhabitants of this world.


    For instance, even though trade was open between the two countries and the people from the two sides could come and go as they please using teleportation formations that were situated in the couple of major cities that were located around the border, the tension between the two sides were on the rise because the human side had started to kidnap people from the beast-kin side to be used and sold as slaves and such.


    Of course to prevent this, the beast-kin side would straight away kill the people who were caught kidnapping and even raid human cities to try and save their own kin.


    This was the information obtained from the merchants who came to the village twice a week. They said that small scale skirmishes had already started popping up, with the humans saying that they wanted to enact justice towards the beast-kin who had raided their cities.


    It was laughable considering that the humans themselves were the first ones who had raided villages and towns to kidnap the beast-kin.


    As human himself, he felt very shameful and disgusted towards how hypocritical his own race was. When the merchants spoke of the news, the town of course was full with worry.


    The merchants were even starting to worry about how the village was sheltering Cecil. The person who spoke up for Cecil was without a doubt Lucia. But Cecil for one, was even more relieved that the villagers themselves didn''t condemn him for being a human, they even defended him, explaining how he was different from those despicable people.


    It was also because of his contributions to the village that earned him the favor of everyone. Cecil was always helping out with the hunting and miscellaneous jobs around the village.


    Next would be the beast-kin continent called Urrugdrasil. Fauxe Village was located out on the far east side of the continent. So Cecil was a long ways away from the Urrug-Mid border.


    So why was the news about the conflict between the humans and already making their way far out here? This was because according to another rumor, there might be a war waiting to happen if things get too out of hand.


    The situation was actually so bad that there were also rumors about other beast-kin actually cooperating with the humans in kidnapping their fellow kin and selling them to the human slave traders.


    It was really cruel and hypocritical, but that''s what greed does to people, human and beast-kin alike.


    The Urrugdrasil had a variety of beast-kin species. This was the only continent that had the presence of dragons in it and also had their protection.


    The huge tree that Cecil saw on the first day he was transported to the Alterna was unique to this continent. It was called the World Tree, Urrugdrasil.


    The name of the continent actually came from the name of the World Tree itself. The World Tree was the guardian deity of the continent, and the protectors of the World Tree were the elf race.


    This included every species of elf such as the dark elves, night/moon elves, high elves, wood elves, sun elves, and many others. They each had a specific region around the world tree that they would protect, except for the dark elves and sun elves.


    The dark elves lived in caves that were connected to the underground and protected the roots of the World Tree from underground monsters while the sun elves lived directly on the large branches and leaves and tended to the trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits of the World Tree.


    The other beast-kin races were scattered around the continent and most lived in harmony with each other. There were a few races who couldn''t stand to even breathe the same air as their rival race.


    One example of beast-kin races that were in constant war with each other was the canine and feline types of beast-kin.


    This reminded Cecil of the love-hate relationship between cats and dogs back on earth. It was quite amusing to Cecil that the two couldn''t even get along even in another world.


    Also, it was exactly these warring races of beast-kin that was said to be kidnapping and selling each other''s kin to the human slave traders.


    The very people of the continent might be the ones sparking the war between the two continents in the future.


    ''Hopefully this doesn''t happen because I have to make my way from the east of this continent, to the west where the border is at.''


    If a war were to start between the human and beast-kin races him being a human wouldn''t really be a welcome at all if that time ever came. He might even be kidnapped or killed on sight.


    Next was Faerholm. Faerholm wasn''t a large continent. It was somewhat like Australia, just a couple times bigger.


    It was located at the "root" of the world. On earth, it was located where Antarctica was. The outer area of the continent was protected by the snow and the constant blizzards that happened all year long. There was never a time when the blizzards and snowstorms let up.


    The only reason that people knew it was the land of fairies was because old records stated that the land of the fairies were once a part of the demon continent Helaife, but because of the constant oppression from the demon-kin, the guardian deity of the fairies separated a portion of the land mass and moved it to the root of the world, cast an eternal spell of blizzard and snow, henceforth isolating and separating the fairies from the world.


    Not much was known about this continent because no one has ever made it past the frozen area, but it was believed that past the blizzards and snowstorms, was a paradise. Heaven on earth basically, a Shangri La.

 Chapter 12 - New world, Alterna 2

    The cause of the isolation was due to the fact that the demons and they lived in Helaife. This continent was vast and it was situated on the eastern hemisphere.


    Although demons did live on the continent it didn''t mean that it was barren and desolate. The Fairy continent Faerholm was also once a part of Helaife which means, Helaife itself was an abundant land of resources.


    The continent had a higher content and density of mana compared to any other continent, resulting in the demons having a greater control over mana itself.


    This caused the demons to be war mongers and resulted in internal fighting among the demons from ages past until this very day.


    Of course this was only limited to small and medium scale battles.


    Large and continental scaled battles rarely occurred because the demons knew that without the assistance of the fairies, if they caused a huge war that destroyed the environment of the continent, it would practically cause irreversible damage.


    The small and medium scaled battles were still tolerable because of the high density and content of mana unique to the Helaife Continent. The high mana content in the continent sped up the recovery of the environment after the destruction caused by the battles.


    In summary, it was a very chaotic continent, but the civilization didn''t lose out to the civilization of the humans and demi-humans even after the constant conflict that occurred.


    The continent of ice, Aizlandia, this continent was located opposite of the Fairy continent Faerholm.


    It was at the ''roof'' of the world and had a climate of eternal winter. The native races of this continent were unique and they were all elementals.


    The Ice Elemental Tribe and the Water Elemental Tribe and they lived in peace and harmony with one another. Because of the eternal winter, it was hard, but not impossible for other races to live there.


    Examples would be the races that have an inherent ice and water constitution, like the frost giants, ice elves, and water dragon type demi-humans. Even individuals who have abnormally high affinity with the water element and the derived ice element settle down there, and one such individual would be the Ice Emperor.


    He was the first human to ever journey there, made friends with the Ice and water elemental natives, and established an empire of ice and water that ruled the entire continent which shared the same name as the continent.


    There were in fact 2 royal bloodlines in the royal family of the empire. One was the ice royal bloodline and the other was the water royal bloodline.


    This was because the Ice Emperor had married two female elementals that were direct descendants from the tribe leaders of each respective tribe.


    Most people would think that this would cause conflicts to arise from the later generations down the line, but due to the traits and long lived affection of both tribes, this worry never happened.


    This was also because elementals were long lived. So even though the Ice Emperor of the past had long passed away, his two wives had brought up and guided their children in the traditions of the two tribes.


    The Ice Emperor had also set down a rule that the succeeding Emperors or Empresses may only have one child each, and every generation would take turns in ruling the Empire.


    So even until now, there hasn''t been any conflict regarding the succession rights for emperor or empress. There were probably also other rules that the Emperor had set, but they were only known to the insiders of the empire.


    The civilization level of the place wasn''t primitive at all since the Ice Emperor was able to unify to the continent. In fact, their magic technology, or magi-tech for short, was far ahead the other continents.


    They were able to create a sustaining barrier that used magi-tech, to keep a portion of the kingdom in a state where they were actually able to grow their own crops that required a warm-hot climate, and the people who processed this area were also none other than the Elementals themselves.


    How could these cold elementals stay alive in that warm-hot area?


    It was because they had also created magi-tech that allowed the water and ice elementals to live freely in that warm-hot climate that was inside the barrier.


    If they could create tech for water and ice elementals, wouldn''t that mean they could create tech that allowed normal races to live in the north also?


    Not to mention that this magi-tech could probably also be applied to other element Elementals.


    One thing that caught Cecil''s interest was that they had also created an "eternal" light source.


    Since it was winter all year long, that would mean that the light in the continent was only around for a few hours before dark clouds blocked the sun and a storm ensued.


    Since the weather was really unpredictable, one moment it''d be sunny and in the next, there would be a huge blizzard that would rage for days on end.


    They were able to create a light source that ran on a resource other than mana.


    This was something that Mrs. Anna had explained to Cecil and it made him think of an energy resource like electricity.


    In a world where mana was the main resource and reason that made the living condition more convenient for the people, a new energy resource could be seen as a technological and scientifically major advancement.


    Since the northern continent was able to find a new energy resource other than mana that helped them with their livelihood, then that would mean the northern continent was leaps and bounds ahead from all the other continents in terms of civilization level.


    Finally, the last continent is the dead continent Non. As its name suggests, it literally was a dead, uninhabitable continent.


    Although it was described as such, there were in fact, still some tribes of races that still lived on the continent.


    Let''s say you were to draw the whole world of Alterna onto a map. The continents of Urrugdrasil and Midgard would be on the left side of the map, while the Helaife continent would be on the right side. The continents of Aizlandia and Faerholm would be on the northern and southern hemisphere respectively, the rest would be all water.


    So, now you would have a huge empty space right in the middle of the map, in the middle of the map would be the Dead Continent Non.


    A very very long time ago, this place once had all the other continents connected to it, with the exception Faerholm.


    It was a land of abundance. Resources were scattered all throughout the land with the density of mana in the atmosphere being 100 times the density it was right now on the Helaife continent.


    This place was the paradise of all the races and once upon a time, all the races of the world lived on this continent in harmony.


    As for how the continent had turned dead, there were many theories and speculations.


    While most of these were all over the place, the oldest theory, one that Cecil found most agreeable, was one that actually spoke of a cause that was outside the realm of legends and gods.


    The theory stated that located right in the middle of the continent of Non was a huge sky-piercing mountain. It was thousands of meters taller than the World Tree Urrugdrasil and it was said that this mountain hadn''t existed at the start.


    It had suddenly fallen from the sky in a blaze and smashed right into the center of the Non Continent, resulting in the destruction of life and landscape of the continent. The once connected landmasses then split into 3 and drifted away due to the resulting shockwave.


    The thousands of races that were once living on the Non Continent went extinct and millions upon millions of plant, animal and monster species were wiped out of existence.


    The survivors of the initial impact and the cataclysmic after-effects weren''t lucky enough to be able to hitch a ride off the continent when the other 3 landmasses had broken off.


    Most of these survivors were actually situated far from the center, so until this day they had to adapt and survive on that dead and barren continent.


    The land mass of the continent is twice the size of all 5 continents put together, to the point if you drew the continents together on a map, the Non Continent would be considered the mainland while the rest could only be considered islands that dotted around it.


    At present, most of the races and tribes that survived past the test of time and adapted to the desolate environment, now only live on the outer edges of the continent. While the inner to central areas are dominated by the surviving monsters that mutated and adapted to the desolate environments.


    It was literally a continent where death was everywhere, even the surviving tribes fight against one another for the scarce resources.


    Not to mention that they all have to be worried about the strange and powerful monsters that occasional hunt after them.


    The people of the mega continent are nomadic. They travel all around the vast outer edges of the continent to hunt for resources. Some powerful tribes have actually managed to gain a foothold in the mid-section, but none dare venture into the inner and central areas.


    Also, maybe because of the impact from the apocalyptic meteor, there was no longer any elemental type mana present on the Non Continent.


    This meant that all the inhabitants of the continent have no access to fire, water, earth, wind, and other elemental attribute type magic.


    Probably due to the impact from the meteor, the surviving people over there are adept at using Void and Non-elemental mana and magics.


    The concept of Void magic is not well studied and there are few to none who actually use this type of magic, in the other continents. Even throughout history, there were no records of famous people who were actually adept at using Void magic.


    The non-elemental magic is magic used to strengthen the body and it''s applied by infusing mana into the organs, muscles, tendons, nerves, and blood of the caster.


    It gives the user enhanced strength, endurance, agility, processing speed which results in smoother control over the body for a period of time.


    Most warriors use these types of magic but instead of using non-elemental mana, they use techniques with similar effects using elemental mana. Using non-elemental would result in a more balanced and all-encompassing effect than with using elemental mana.


    Using elemental mana would cause differing effects depending on the type of mana being used. Fire would result in greater strength and explosive power, water results in greater defense, earth results in better endurance and wind results in greater speed.


    The people on the Non Continent take it a step further, the effects they apply to their body''s almost make them super human, but at the cost of a higher metabolism rate.


    This meant that if they use the spell or technique for too long, they might just die from bodily exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, etc. or in other words, nutrition deficiency.


    Cecil at first thought that it was pretty cool that you could suddenly go ''Super'', but then he heard from Mr. Zaki that the after-effects and consequences of going ''super'' was really scary.


    One such after-effect turns the caster into a gluttonous starving monster that''ll consume anything they see that could be used to re-balance the nutritional deficit in their bodies.


    The after-effect caused the user to eat and eat until they''re satisfied. If they can''t find any food, they''ll clean out a whole area of resources.


    Remember that the resources of the Non continent were already scarce, so these "monsters" are actually treated as hostile over there. Sometimes in the worst case scenarios, the affected may even start cannibalizing their own tribe. It was a double-edged sword.


    "... Okay, that was the last one!" said Lucia happily.


    "Oh. That was fast, time for the next book."


    Hearing such despairing words, Lucia began to whine.


    "Noooo~"


    "Hurry, hurry. The faster you read, the quicker it''ll end."


    "Cel~¡­"


    "Come on, I''ll brush your tails later okay?"


    "Really? Yay! Alright, next one''s about magic right?"


    "Yup."


    After Cecil successfully ''bribed'' Lucia to read the next book, they take a short break, consuming the snacks and drinks that Mr. Zaki brought.


    Finishing their short break, Lucia grabs another thick book from the small pile of books on the table.


    "Here, it is!"


    "This isn''t the Introduction to Magic... for dummies is it?"


    "Of course not, we already read that last week."


    "Good. Which is this then?"


    "How to use Magic for dummies?"


    "¡­ Why the ''dummies'' part?"


    "Oh, I just added that because Cel''s an idiot?"


    "Seriously???"


    "Kuhuhuhu~"


    After their light banter, Lucia adjusts to a more relaxed posture before she began reading.


    ''Finally, the main course.''


    Thinking such, Cecil listens intently and prepares to jot down notes.

 Chapter 13 - Mana and Magic!

    On Earth, there were various particles and elements in the air such as oxygen, CO2, light, UV rays and various others.


    On Alterna, it seems that those particles are also present, but with the addition of mana also being in the air.


    There was no evidence supporting whether mana is actually a particle or element that could actually be found in the air, but this is only because of the limited technology present in this world.


    If Alterna had a tool that could sense and prove the existence of mana in the air, maybe then, they could find evidence whether or not this was true.


    Of course, the people of this world didn''t have this theory in place. This was only something that Cecil spouted out involuntarily when he was listening to Mrs. Anna''s lecture.


    After listening to what Cecil said, Mrs. Anna made him explain what these particles and elements were. After listening to the, somewhat, in depth explanation, Mrs. Anna wore a very scary expression on her face.


    She then headed towards her study and hadn''t come out of the room until now. So Cecil had to learn about magic alone with Lucia.


    Now for the explanation of mana and magic, first off, there were 7 Elements of mana in this world, meaning that there were also at least 7 different kinds of elemental magic spells which an individual may use.


    The elements were fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, dark, and light. Mana was needed in order to use magic, so it was a given that magic was classified into different elements.


    So if there was more of the type of mana elements in a location, the stronger the magic that was used with the said element would be.


    For instance, near a volcano there would be an abundant amount of fire element mana, so if someone was to use magic here, the efficiency of the magic spell would be better as well as the output and power being higher.


    But, if you were to use other elemental attribute magic in this environment, although there would still be mana with the other elemental attributes, they would be less abundant in a place where the fire elemental mana is dominant in, resulting in the decreased output, efficiency, and power of other attributed elements of magic spells.


    Of course when considering elemental attributes there''s always that circle of rock-paper-scissors between their magic.


    Fire is weak to water but strong against wind, water is weak to earth but strong against fire, earth is weak to wind but strong against water, and lastly, wind is weak to fire but strong against earth.


    Lightning isn''t weak or effective against any other magic attribute, but it is an element that''s characterized by its versatility, rarity, and uniqueness in being a neutral element type magic.


    It''s really effective if you want to crush an enemy without worrying about being countered by their opponent''s elemental attributes or anything.


    Of course, the users of lightning magic are pretty rare because it''s still not part of the general modern magic system. Instead it''s categorized as special, the same with the dark and light attribute.


    Dark and light attribute are pretty common and not as rare as lightning and they are both weak and strong against each other.


    While light attribute is mostly for healing and purifying, dark attribute is used for cursing and siphoning. What is meant by siphoning is the siphoning of mana and life force of a target.


    Light isn''t needed to be mentioned as most healers use this attribute, but for dark attribute. This is a little special, since it''s seen as something unholy in this world and only the vilest of villains and monsters actually use this attribute.


    That''s all for elemental mana and magic. Next would be non-elemental magic and mana.


    Non-elemental mana would be the mana that was innately found inside a human''s body the moment they were born.


    It was only until the person grew up and became accustomed to one of the elements of mana that the person''s constitution would change into a more specific mana oriented one, that''s in exception to the people who were innately born with a specific mana constitution like the Ice Emperor.


    Non-elemental mana is also found in the air, but the amount is scarce. Non-elemental mana acts as an equilibrium that keeps the mana in the air stable so that it wouldn''t cause a mana calamity because a certain amount of the same attributed mana was too abundant in a place.


    The people who actually have non-elemental as their main attribute are even lower than the people who can wield lightning attribute magic, to the point where in a generation there might not even be more than 100 people on the planet that could wield it properly.


    This was the condition with the other continents excluding the Non Continent. Since the people of the Non Continent grew up in an elemental-less environment, their bodies couldn''t be attuned to any other mana element and they probably never had any contact with magic spells other than non-elemental ones.


    Non-elemental magic spells are mostly spells that are used for body-enhancing. Of course, other elemental type spells have body strengthening spells, but only non-elemental spells take this to the extreme, enabling the user to almost become super-human.


    Since non-elemental mana was extremely malleable, when using non-elemental body-enhancing spells, the casters could shoot out mana from their bodies as if firing a flame lance from the fire magic system. Fly in the sky by using their enhanced bodies as if using flight magic from the wind magic system. Destroy or change the environment with their bare feet and hands as if using magic from the earth magic system. Survive underwater or corrode objects as if using magic from the water magic system.


    People who use Non-elemental mana were inherently powerful and all-encompassing in their abilities, making it a rarity in Alterna.


    Non-elemental users were one in a billion, but there were people out there who could almost rival this rarity, although not as rare as non-elemental users and they were the people who could use Extra Attribute magic.


    There were two types of Extra attribute users, inherent users and racial users. Racial users are those whose race gives them direct access to extra attributed magic due to their lineage.


    But even then, in the extra attribute category there were also levels of rarity.


    For instance, the illusion extra attribute magic that Lucia could use were not all that rare since other races such as specters, demons, fairies, sirens and others can use it too.


    People who could use Space and time attribute magic are the rare ones. These people even throughout history could be counted on ones hands altogether. It was much rarer than the non-elemental users.


    Nature attribute magic is inherent to the protectors of the world tree, meaning the elves. Some people may also have the blessing of nature and use it as well.


    Abyssal and Radiant attribute magic are only usable by the people who are affiliated with a cult or church. But to Cecil, it only sounded more like an enhanced version of the dark and light system magic with the addition of being affiliated with a fanatic organization.


    That was a simple run-down of the magic that could be used in Alterna.


    There were many more magic like Void, Ancient, Taboo, and God''s Magic, but there were no books in the Lucia family''s possession that explained anything about them.


    Mrs. Anna too, had only given Cecil and Lucia the names of said magic and no explanations about them since she wasn''t researching any of those types of magic.


    Sometime later, Lucia had finally finished reading the book, How to Use Magic. Finishing his notes, Cecil started to ponder about the contents he just learned.


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "Cel?"


    "Hm..."


    "¡­"


    "It seems only live practice will actually be of any help."


    "Of course, books are only there to guide us. If you want to do anything, you have to actually experiment and practice, you know?"


    "Okay, let''s go to the back then!"


    "R-right now?"


    "The faster the better, I wanna try my hands on this magic thing!"


    Coming to such a conclusion, Cecil enthusiastically takes Lucia''s hand and drags her out of the library.


    On their way to the backyard, Lucia poured cold water on Cecil''s enthusiasm.


    "You seem awfully hyped up. Don''t get disappointed if you actually don''t have any aptitude for it, okay?"


    "Eh? What''s that?"


    "Don''t tell me you weren''t listening at all last time?"


    "But, you said that everyone could use magic right?"


    "No, I said everyone can use mana, magic is different."


    "Wha???"


    Hearing this, Cecil waits for Lucia to explain.


    "Anyone can use mana, but if you don''t have the aptitude, you can forget about ever casting a magic spell in your life."


    "Uwaahh!!!"


    Cecil immediately deflates and starts to worry about the unsettling news.


    ''Oh no! Wh-what would happen if I don''t have any aptitude for it??? Crap, I was all gung-ho about it that I didn''t pay attention last time! This is bad, I hope that I have aptitude for it, if I don''t, that''d be a total let down. Especially since I''ve been so hyped up ever since I heard about it¡­''


    It wasn''t something he should be thinking about now since he has taken an aptitude test yet. Thinking as such, Cecil turns optimistic.


    "Well, we can''t figure out anything without at least trying, right?"


    "Aren''t you overly optimistic?"


    "I wanna use magic!!!"


    Correct Lucia, optimistic to the point that he was borderline desperate.


    "O, okay¡­ Wait a bit, let me go call Mama."


    "Alright."


    Lucia heads towards the study that her Mom''s been holed up in for the last week.


    Mrs. Anna had the tools to test whether or not Cecil could use magic, but since she was holed up for a week, they couldn''t proceed with the tests.


    After a while, Lucia came back holding some peculiar objects in her arms.


    "Cel! Come to the back, Mama and Papa''s already waiting!"


    "Eh? Okay!"


    Cecil walks up to Lucia and takes the objects she was holding. It was only proper etiquette to help a lady.


    "Fufu, you''re just like Papa."


    "Am I?"


    "Yeah, he wouldn''t let me or Mama hold anything too heavy."


    "It''s just proper etiquette."


    "Fufu~"


    When they reach the backyard of the house, they see Mrs. Anna instructing Mr. Zaki to put down various tools and objects around on the ground.


    ''Was the test complicated?''


    "Uhm, Mrs. Anna? Where should I put this?"


    "Oh, just put those down over there. We''ll only be using that for the test anyway, the rest are just for testing out the theory you told me yesterday!"


    Hearing what Mrs. Anna said, Cecil was confused.


    "Yesterday? But, it''s already been a week¡­."


    "Rea~lly~?"


    Mrs. Anna responded by tilting her head and acted all cutesy.


    Cecil couldn''t really complain when she looks like she''s old enough to be his older sister.


    ''Wow, I didn''t expect Mrs. Anna to be such an airhead. To think she''d even forget about time when she''s doing her research. That''s scary.''


    Cecil started to wonder if she even had anything to eat or drink properly since then. What about bathing or stuff like that?


    Although, he did see Mr. Zaki going in and out of the research room with food and a basin from time to time. He started to sympathize with Mr. Zaki a bit.


    ''Man, she''s pretty worrying. Must be hard for Mr. Zaki sometimes, no wonder he''s so good with doing the house chores and cooking despite looking the way he is.''


    Fortunately for him the test wouldn''t be too complicated, since all those various unknown tools are actually only for Mrs. Anna''s experiment.


    The tools that were going to be used for his test were the things that Lucia retrieved earlier.


    After they finished setting up the testing tools, Cecil asks Mrs. Anna for instructions.


    "Okay¡­ here we go. So now what?"


    "Well, now you just have to put your hand on top of that white sphere."


    "Okay!"


    Without any hesitation, Cecil puts his right hand on top of the white sphere


    ''Hopefully I won''t be disappointed!''


    On the side, Lucia and Silver cheered for him.


    Not long after putting his hand on the sphere, it slowly starts to shine with a resplendent bright light!

 Chapter 14 - Non-Elemental

    As the sphere was gradually lighting up, the light emitted grew brighter and brighter.


    It grew so bright that Cecil and everyone couldn''t even see his hand that was placed on top of the sphere. Cecil shut his eyes and he could hear Silver barking while Lucia and parents raising a surprised voice.


    "Uwaaah!!!"


    "Is this supposed to happen???" He asked worriedly.


    He was worried if this fits the criteria of being able to wield magic or not.


    "Keep your hand on the sphere Cecil! It''s almost finished!" Mrs. Anna yelled excitedly at the side.


    ''This should be a good reaction, no?''


    Cecil held his position for about 2-3 minutes before the light started to fade away.


    "Was¡­ was that good enough?" he asked worriedly, still not sure if it was a success or not.


    Mrs. Anna walked over to him with sparkling eyes and shouted.


    "That was more than enough!! Fufu~ to think you could actually make the orb shine so brightly like that! It was even a silvery white glow too!"


    ''What a relief that means the test results was good.''


    "So? So!? Can I use magic?!"


    "Yes!"


    "AWESOME!!!"


    Not even having 5 seconds to be happy about the news, Mrs. Anna had a ''but''.


    "But, you do have a problem¡­"


    "Eh?"


    "The shine from the orb was really bright, much brighter than Lucia''s when she first tested her aptitude. In fact, that kind of shine is only found on people who have reached the solidified mana stage."


    "What? So doesn''t that mean it''s a good thing?"


    "Yes and no."


    ''If I have more mana doesn''t that mean I could similarly use more magic? What''s so bad about that?''


    "You see, the attribute that you have is a silvery white, which means it''s a non-elemental attribute."


    "What!? Really!???"


    ''Woah! Doesn''t that mean I can go Super? How sick is that!''


    "See, that''s the problem."


    "Wh, what problem?"


    "It''s because you have a high amount of mana that means the amount of mana you could infuse into your body would correspondingly be high as well."


    "Isn''t that a good thing? The more the better right?"


    Cecil didn''t see the problem with having more mana as a non-elemental attributed user. Mrs. Anna then continued.


    "Did you forget the side effects of what happens if you have infused too much mana into your body for even for just a short time?"


    "Of course, I still remem¨C"


    Remembering the consequences of using non-elemental body enhancement, Cecil soon arrived at a horrible conclusion.


    "NO WAY!"


    "Yes, way. With the amount of mana that you have Cecil, the mana you infuse into your body for even just a second would cause you to enter the first stage of the side effects. 5 seconds would turn you into a mindless devourer."


    "What!!! How come?!"


    "That''s because most¨C No. All non-elemental mana users, even the ones from the Non Continent, would only cultivate to the liquefied mana stage to keep themselves from being affected from the side effects of non-elemental body enhancement. Even then, they''d still be able to fight against a master or perfect stage enemy."


    "NO WAY!"


    "This is because no individual on the planet have any sort of delicate mana control to be able to control the amount of mana they are using in a spell or technique¡­"


    In Alterna, the might of a magic spell would increase depending on how strong your stage in mana cultivation is. The higher your stage, the stronger your magic spells and techniques.


    This was something still being researched by most magic researchers. This knowledge was something the mages and spellcasters of this age, desperately needed to find and confirm if they wanted to improve or have a major breakthrough in their magic.


    This was especially important to the sages and other individuals who have cultivated all the way to the perfection stage.


    Just having strong magic wouldn''t make any of these people truly strong, in a sense. Being strong doesn''t just mean having highly destructive spells, since it could also be a hazard instead.


    If these individuals had a way to better control the mana they use, then the advancements in magic that they could bring to Alterna would be near limitless. Just think, if these individuals could control mana so delicately and with the knowledge they have, what would happen to the current magic knowledge and magi-tech?


    The innovations and advances would change the people''s current way of life on Alterna. It''s just like back on Earth. If humans never learned how to control fire or any of the elements in nature, would the current Earth''s lifestyle be so pleasant?


    Of course, it''s not like the people couldn''t control their mana at all. It''s just that, the higher the stage you have, the difficulty in controlling the mana would rise as well. Some sages have a hard time controlling their mana that even the simplest of spells, basic spells such as fireball, aero blade, or even water bullet, would cause wide spread destruction.


    That''s why most researchers are actually people who are in the later stages of mana cultivation.


    As Cecil was despairing, he suddenly remembered that non-elemental mana users could still cast magic imitating the elemental magic systems.


    "Wait! What about using non-elemental magic without the body enhancing part!?"


    "That''s¡­ also impossible. You see, to shoot non-elemental mana like a fireball for example, it still requires the user to infuse mana into their body."


    "N-no¡­ my dream¡­"


    Cecil collapses on all fours dejectedly.


    How could he not despair? Having been fed fantastical bullshit from his two family seniors ever since he was a child, using something as mystical as mana would be a dream come true for Cecil.


    But now, knowing that he had the mana quantity, magical aptitude, and having such a rare mana attribute, he couldn''t use it? If he forced himself to use it, he could potential endanger his own life and everyone''s life around.


    Just the thought of being the cause of his loved ones deaths made Cecil determined to not use mana ever in his life.


    ''Crap, my dream... haaahh... nevermind, I''ve still got my martial arts.''


    Cecil came to a quick decision and promised himself that he''d never try and train to become a spellcaster.


    "Like I said, that''s only a problem for now. There are still plenty of ways you could train and eventually use mana in the future."


    "Really!?" said Cecil excitedly, his blank eyes now brightening up like the rising sun overhead.


    Oh how weak your resolve is Cecil. Not even 5 seconds after your resolve, your heart has already wavered.


    Cecil brightly turns his gaze up at Mrs. Anna and thought,


    ''Angel, she''s an ANGEL!''


    To Cecil, the fox woman in front of him who could grant him his dear wish of using mana was an angel.


    ''Please miss angel, please have the solution to my problem!''


    With his resolve thrown to the wind, Cecil asks hopefully.


    "So, what do I need to do?"


    "You just have to be able to control the amount of mana that you could infuse into your body!"


    "Eh? How do I do that?"


    "Practice, train, meditation."


    "¡­"

 Chapter 15 - Mana Sight

    Even in this world, Cecil still couldn''t escape training. He once thought that maybe he could skimp a little on his martial arts training and relax a bit since his family isn''t around to monitor him.


    Seeing the children of the village having fun and playing with friends made him envious, at their age, he was training in the middle of his family''s private island.


    Mrs. Anna continues her explanation.


    "It''s pretty hard to control mana like that though. In fact, it''s so hard that it''d be much easier to just stop using mana altogether than risk turning into a monster. The only people I know that could actually control mana to such a refined level are those people who were born with elemental constitutions."


    ''W-why not say so in the first place!''


    "I-is there no hope then?"


    Even after having his expectations dumped with cold water twice already, Cecil still had hope that the cold water dumping angel in front him would have a solution.


    "Well, the fastest way would be if you could actually see mana but ¨C"


    "See mana?"


    "Well, most mages can only feel the mana in the atmosphere, no one can actually see it like how you described in your theory."


    "Oh, well, that''s a given."


    If mana was like a particle in the air, then no human eye could see it. Even on earth, there wasn''t any sort of equipment that could let a person see a particle or element in the air. The most was a microscope that could let people see micro-organisms, cells, and such.


    "But! There are people who were specially gifted since birth. They have eyes that could actually see the mana in the atmosphere."


    "Huh? If there are, then how come the theory I had earlier gave you such a surprise?"


    "That''s because you described there being a method using a tool instead of being able to do so innately. Also there''s no precedence of a person with the mana sight being able to live past 10 years."


    "Eh? So all the people who could actually see mana never made it past childhood?"


    "Yes. But, the children who had mana sight displayed a high degree of control over mana. Research showed that these children could control mana as easy as breathing."


    "Wow, it''s like they''ve been blessed and cursed at the same time."


    "Yes, it''s a blessing, but at the same time it''s also a curse. The reason they couldn''t make it past 10 years old is because by the time or even before a child is at that age, the elemental property of their mana would have finally changed in nature."


    "What?"


    "Children with mana sight are basically children that have a small crystalized orb of mana in their eyes since birth. Basically, they have 2 mana cores giving them an advantage in both quantity and control over mana."


    ''What the hell. That means researchers have already dissected a child with mana sight before? If Mrs. Anna has this kind of information...''


    That was a frightening Cecil thought.


    Cecil concluded that the researchers on Alterna would practically do anything, even border-line inhumane practices, to further their research.


    "So? They have mana cores in their eyes, how is that fatal?"


    "Well, just think about it. What would happen if the neutral non-elemental mana crystal suddenly changed attribute to fire?"


    "Wouldn''t that just mean the crystal would¨C Oh my god!"


    Using the knowledge he acquired about mana elements, he arrived to a frightening conclusion.


    ''Wouldn''t that mean the fire mana crystal would burn up their eyes? Maybe not just the eyes, but it could affect their entire bodies?''


    Cecil immediately paled at the thought.


    Seeing Cecil pale up, Mrs. Anna was a bit shocked that he could come to a horrible conclusion just from the little bit of information he''s studied.


    ''What a sharp boy, he would make a good researcher,'' thought Anna.


    "If the element turns into fire, the transformation would burn up the individual''s eyes, but don''t forget that when the mana attributes change it''s always accompanied by a small surge of mana which signifies that their attribute has changed and the mana capacity of their bodies have also increased. Remember, these individuals have mana crystals not the initial mana gas in their eyes."


    "That would mean not only their eyes, but their entire head or even body would burn up or outright explode."


    "Exactly, if its water then they will freeze or liquefy immediately, lightning would mean they would be electrocuted although some survive, but then they would have to live the rest of their lives as a vegetable. Wind would mean decapitation, disembowelment, or implosion which is really gruesome, but the worst would have to be earth. At least the others would die right away without having to endure any pain, but for earth, the child would start turning into stone or disintegrating into dust from their feet, slowly and painfully."


    Cecil thought that the results were horrifying, even Lucia on the side started to pale and tear up after hearing her mother''s explanation.


    These were things that would eventually happen to children who had mana sight. Mana sight was more like a curse to these children.


    "Ugh, all those sound horrible. Since I''m not born with it that means this isn''t even a solution at all!"


    "You may not be born with it, but you and only you, can actually acquire mana sight!"


    Cecil was confused, what did Mrs. Anna mean by that?


    "Huh? So you want me to infuse mana into my eyes? Isn''t that dangero¨C"


    Cecil stops abruptly and started thinking.


    ''With my innate mana attribute being non-elemental, I wouldn''t have to worry about the dangers. This could work!''


    Seeing him think, Mrs. Anna thought ''This child really is brilliant.'' She then continues to explain giving confirmation to Cecil''s thoughts.


    "Like I said, the children who have this are people who have mana crystals in their eyes, so that just mean you would have to condense one in your eyes too."


    "Sounds simple and I also don''t have to worry about my mana since it''s inherently non-elemental, but that doesn''t sound so easy!"


    "Ara? Did you already forget that you have a mana quantity that rivals a person that has stepped into the crystalized mana stage?"


    "Eh?" Cecil replied dumbly.


    "You have mana at the gaseous stage that could rival a person''s mana in the solidified or crystalized stage. Normally a person can''t even acc.u.mulate that much at the gaseous stage because the mana would only disperse, but it seems that your body was well trained to be able to have such the capability to hold all that mana without it dispersing as per norm."


    Cecil thanked his two seniors for giving him such rigorous training in his heart.


    ''Grandfather, father. Your bullshit stories and unreasonable training was actually a blessing for me on Alterna. Thank you.''


    This was the first time Cecil actually thanked the two for all the suffering he went through.


    ''Since my brothers and sisters have also gone through the same training, wouldn''t they also have a good aptitude for magic? I just hope that their mana attributes aren''t like mine.''


    His family has also gone through the early training since childhood. Cecil came to a conclusion that just like him, his family should also have an edge when it comes to mana capacity and aptitude.


    For once, Cecil thought that his family''s martial inheritance was actually awesome.


    While Cecil was rejoicing in his heart for him and his family, Mrs. Anna''s explanation continued.


    "You have the ability to crystalize mana in your eyes quickly with the amount of mana you have. Of course, this could only happen gradually with training."


    While other people would experience bottle necks with their training, Cecil on the other hand, wouldn''t experience any of those until the mana core stage because his mana quantity already rivals individuals at that stage.


    Mrs. Anna continued.


    "Others can''t do this because of their mana attributes. Not to mention it''s impossible to condense elemental mana into your eyes for prolong periods of time without any side-effects. Many have tried and faced the consequences of doing so, at worst they end up with losing their eyes or just impair their sight. Not for you though Cecil, you can crystallize your mana into your eyes without worrying about any potential side effects or harm coming to you since your innate attribute is non-elemental, at least in theory."


    "In theory... I still want to try and crystalize mana in my eyes and gain mana sight! At least, in theory, I wouldn''t have to worry about the side effects since my innate attribute is already non-elemental to begin with! Mrs. Anna, thank you!"


    Cecil bowed deep towards Mrs. Anna.


    ''As I thought, she really is an angel~''


    "Fufu, like I said, this can only happen with more training."


    "Yes! I''ll be in your care then, Mrs. Anna!"


    Although there were some hiccups along the way, Cecil finally found a way to use mana and magic. For him, things weren''t any different from back when he was on Earth. He still had to train, train, train, and train!


    ''Let''s train hard for magic!''

 Chapter 16 - Training

    Cecil woke up early in the morning the next day. He quickly finished up his 2-3 hour routine, and then waited for Mrs. Anna to instruct him about magic.


    "You really are eager."


    "Of course, I take this seriously!"


    "All right, now let''s begin then. Lucia you too, come over."


    "Okay~"


    Lucia walks over and stands next to Cecil. Cecil also sees Silver sitting on the ground nearby, it seems he wants to learn too. With everyone ready, Mrs. Anna begins the lessons.


    "Now, pay attention okay~"


    ""Yes!""


    "Woof!"


    Using magic was pretty simple Cecil thought. He had read many fantasy novels containing magic and the explanations were somewhat similar.


    In order to cultivate magic, you have to first be able to sense the mana in the surrounding air. This proved to be somewhat difficult for Cecil since he once lived in a mana-void world.


    Lucia already had the basics drilled into her from since she was much younger, so she could already feel the mana in the atmosphere.


    On another note, it seems that Silver had a good grasp of how to sense mana too. Cecil wasn''t really sure how to tell, but Mrs. Anna had exclaimed when Silver started to "gather" the mana in the surroundings into his body. It made Cecil envious since Silver could do it right away while he was still groping around in the dark.


    ''Mrs. Anna said that it''s all about feeling it, but I''m not even sure what to feel. I mean, how would mana even feel like? It might as well be just like the air! How the hell would you feel that?''


    Cecil had trained his body to be able to feel the air pressure or the changes in the surrounding air by feeling it with his skin, but that took him almost his entire lifetime to do so. Not to mention he wasn''t even all that masterful about it!


    "Fuuuhh¡­ Mrs. Anna, how would mana even feel like? I mean, I can''t see it. I don''t even know what it is either, so where do I even start?"


    "Hmmm¡­ Well, you did once live in a world without the presence of mana, so it might really be hard for you¡­"


    "Ugh¡­ Well, I''ll figure out something."


    "I''m sorry, teaching a rare case like you really stumps me too."


    "It''s okay Mrs. Anna. It''s not your fault anyways."


    Cecil sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes. He started to meditate just like how he would back on earth before and after every training session.


    ''Feel the mana, how the heck am I supposed to feel it? I wish I could just see it. Maybe it works like how the nonsense my dad and grandpa used to keep saying about internal and external energy. Qi or chi or whatever.''


    Back on earth, Cecil''s father and grandfather would always keep babbling on and on about internal and external energy.


    They said that every human has it, but most couldn''t tap into it because of bodily limitations. It was also listed in the Silvaria family''s ancestral training manual about something like that, but to Cecil at the time, he felt that it was mostly bullshit.


    Of course back when he was younger, he did believe in it. His father said that he could use internal energy to crush rocks with his bare fists, heal bruises, cuts, and other injuries by just placing his palm and channeling the ''energy'' into the injury.


    His father even showed him once. So there was evidence from how his father had treated his bruises and other injuries he got from training, but as Cecil grew up, he started to doubt whether this ''energy'' really exists or not because his father hasn''t healed any of his injuries from training ever since he hit 10.


    His father kept saying to him that it was better for men to have some "war trophies" carved on his body. It was basically just an excuse.


    ''Well, I mean this could be a start to something right? It''s better than to just grope around blindly in the dark.''


    Cecil continued his meditation and concentrated his focus onto his whole body.


    ''Since I could light up the mana-testing sphere, that means I must have the mana somewhere inside my body. Mrs. Anna said that the mana-point was located in the navel area of the human body. Dad also said that internal energy also originates from the navel area and spreads throughout all our bodies. So it''s best I focus around that area.''


    Cecil kept meditating like that for almost an hour or so. He opened his eyes and looked around.


    Everyone was already doing their own things nearby. He even saw Silver shooting out pressurized wind from his claws towards a tree nearby.


    Mrs. Anna and Lucia are at the other end of the yard. Mrs. Anna was probably teaching Lucia about her innate magic and the general magic system, since Lucia was concentrating so hard just to produce a small ping-pong ball sized water ball in front of her.


    Seeing as everyone was working so hard, Cecil reaffirmed his goal.


    ''I''ll do it in within 3 days!


    He then closed his eyes again and started meditating.


    Before long it was already noon and Mrs. Anna had called for them to go and eat lunch. Cecil had to stop his meditation and training to go eat. No matter how serious he was with HIS training, he would never neglect food. In a healthy body therein lies a healthy mind as his grandfather would always say.


    After eating lunch with the family and Silver, Cecil rushed back outside and began his meditation and training once again. This continued on for a week¡­

 Chapter 17 - Results

    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Lucia was staring intently at the meditating Cecil, her gaze threatening to burn a hole on his face.


    "Lucia! Leave Cecil be."


    "But Mo~om, he''s been doing this for a week now!"


    "Well, that just goes to show how serious he is okay?"


    "Ceehh, no fun~"


    Cecil had already been repeating this routine of eating and meditating all day long for a week now.


    Although he had set his goal to be able to perceive mana in 2-3 days, it was much harder than he had expected.


    Of course, it wasn''t without results. To his surprise, Cecil was actually able to find the ''energy'' his father had mentioned. It was intangible, but he could surely feel that it did, in fact, exist inside of him.


    Cecil believes this to be mana, but no matter how much he tried to familiarize himself with this energy, he still couldn''t find that same feeling in the surrounding air.


    It was as if mana only existed inside his body and not anywhere else. This was a sign that he still hasn''t achieved his goal, so he kept on persisting.


    Silver, on the other hand, had grown more and more proficient in his use of mana, he could now cast wind and lightning elemental magic with ease.


    Of course when Silver started using lightning element magic, the family was really surprised. Not only that, but with Silver''s increasing proficiency in mana, it seemed to have some sort of impact on his body.


    In just this week, Silver had physically grown to twice his original size. Before he was only around 1.5 meters tall and around 2 meters long, but now he was 3 meters in height and 4 meters long.


    He had practically grown to a size that could compare to the monster animals of this world. In fact, he was practically one of them now!


    It was a good thing that nothing besides his mana proficiency and size changed, if he turned into a bloodthirsty monster that would seriously ruin Cecil''s heart.


    Cecil was of course proud of Silver''s achievement, but at the same time he used it as his motivation.


    If Silver could do it, then there''s no reason as to why he can''t. So Cecil only started to train even harder.


    Another week later,


    "¡­"


    Cecil was sitting on the ground, his entire consciousness focused on the faint ''energy'' that he felt in his body.


    After an intensive training session yesterday, Cecil was now able to perceive that not only was the ''energy'' located at the area near his abdomen, but it was actually equally distributed all around his body, permeating every cell of his being.


    This came to a surprise for Cecil since he only knew that mana could only be stored and found in the mana point of a person.


    Never was there any information about mana being stored all over a person''s body like in his case.


    Then again this ''energy'' might not necessarily be mana. It could be something else entirely.


    As Cecil kept his focus on this energy, without him noticing, the surrounding mana in the atmosphere started to act strangely.


    The mana started to revolve around Cecil''s body in a clockwise vortex. The more focused Cecil was, the stronger the vortex. Eventually it turned into a mini cyclone around his body that affected the surrounding air.


    If someone was to stand near Cecil, they would actually be able to ''feel'' the mana vortex that was revolving around him.


    With Cecil at the center, this phenomenon persisted for around 5 minutes, and then the vortex of mana started to converge on Cecil.


    Cecil wasn''t aware of the strange occurrence that was happening. It was only until when the surrounding mana started to enter his body, permeating throughout his entire body and settling down inside did he notice.


    Cecil was surprised and he immediately opened his eyes.


    "This¡­ could this be mana?"


    A large portion of the mana that settled down in his body was focused around his mana point, his heart, his eyes, and his brain.


    Although his eyes hadn''t condensed a mana crystal that could grant him mana sight, but with the abundant amount of mana that was already located in his body, adding onto the mana that settled down in his eyes, this was enough to give him the partial ability to see mana.


    Another reason why he could see the mana with his partial mana sight was because the density of mana in the air from the result of his training was enough for even a normal person to vaguely see the golden colored mana if they focused with their eyes.


    This was only the preliminary stage of mana sight that every person who was born with mana sight would develop while still being inside their mother''s w.o.m.b.


    This preliminary stage would soon develop into complete mana sight after the person was born. That would mean that Cecil would be able to gain mana sight after another 1-2 months of mana acc.u.mulation in his eyes.


    After acc.u.mulating enough mana into his eyes, it would then start to crystallize and he would then gain complete mana sight.


    Cecil didn''t know this, but he was still ecstatic to find out that he was finally able to sense mana and partially see mana now.


    "Finally! All that hard work wasn''t in vain!"


    If someone found out that a 13 year old boy had actually been able to sense mana only after a little over 2 weeks of training, then their minds would be blown away.


    The average person even in Alterna would take at least half a year to a whole year or even more. The talent that Cecil displayed could be called freakish, almost on par with the elementals that were born from the elements themselves and the monsters that could manipulate mana from birth like dragons and such.


    Of course, Cecil didn''t know this; he was now jumping up and down celebrating his accomplishment.


    "Yes! Now, let''s try and use magic!"


    "Cel~! It''s lunch time! Come eat already!"


    "Eh? Okay Lucia¡­"


    With the vast intake of mana that permanently resided throughout his entire body, Cecil was in dire need of food right now. His elation caused him to not sense how hungry he currently was.


    Only until Lucia snapped him out of his elation that he suddenly felt the hunger pangs his body was experiencing.


    "Strange? I feel so hungry all of a sudden¡­ like I haven''t eaten anything for a day or two."


    ''What the heck? Did something wrong happen?''


    Cecil was worried, but when he smelt the alluring aroma of the food from the kitchen, he immediately threw all his worries into the wind and rushed inside the house.


    While feeling the oddness in his body, Cecil ran to the kitchen to eat his lunch with the rest of Lucia''s family.

 Chapter 18 - Goodbye Fauxe Village

    Well, it''s been almost two months since Cecil and Silver arrived to this world and lived with Lucia''s family at Faux Village.


    He was thought that it was about time for them to go on the journey to find his family. Since he was transported here, there was a chance that his family may have also been transported into this world.


    "Uhm, Lucia, Mrs. Anna and Mr. Zaki. I think it''s been sometime since I''ve stayed here and I feel that I''ve been imposing on you¡­"


    "Eh? Cel? What are you saying?"


    "I believe that it''s time for me and Silver to continue our journey."


    "Eh?"


    Hearing Cecil, Lucia was confused at what he was saying. Only Mr. Zaki and Mrs. Anna responded.


    "Well, it''s only been a matter of time, you''ve already studied the common sense and general knowledge of this world, so it should be about time, I guess?"


    "Yes."


    "Ara~ well, looks like we should prepare for your departure. When are you going?"


    "Tomorrow morning."


    Hearing that, Lucia wanted to say something, but was immediately interrupted by her father.


    "Wai-"


    "Okay, then tomorrow it is then. Make sure you say your goodbyes to everyone in the village today."


    "Okay¡­"


    Cecil walked around the village after breakfast alongside Silver and a very quiet Lucia. It was pretty rare because Lucia''s always been loud even in the morning.


    Cecil guessed that she was saddened with him announcing his leave.


    ''I should cheer her up, but I feel that it would be insensitive of me, since we''ve been really close to each other ever since I arrived at the village.''


    It was also because of Lucia that Cecil had a place to stay right when he came to Alterna. He owed her a lot and with him announcing his departure so suddenly was really insensitive of him.


    ''I should have a talk with her about it later.''


    Cecil didn''t like seeing such a Lucia, so he tried to speak up.


    "Uhm, Lulu?"


    "¡­Yeah?"


    "Are you mad?"


    "Eh? No, I''m not mad at all."


    She said that while turning her head away.


    "Well, you should hurry up and tell everyone that you''re leaving..."


    "Okay then. Later, I''ll spend the rest of the day with you, alright?"


    "¡­ Okay."


    ''Wow that sounded weird for some reason.''


    Weird thoughts aside, this was bound to happen anyway. There was no way Cecil could continue imposing in on Lucia''s family''s hospitality. He also needed to look for his own family.


    Even if the chances of them being teleported to this world being miniscule, he wanted to believe that because he''s here, then maybe, just maybe, his family and everyone who was enveloped in that white light would have been teleported here too.


    ''It was like that with me and Silver. I really hope that this is true, if not, then it''s just another wild goose chase.''


    Cecil set his gaze towards the sky while thinking this.


    ''I hope that somewhere in this world, my family is also looking up at the exact same sky.''


    There was no way he could search the entire world for them so he had set himself an objective.


    He would first have to get to Midgard, the human continent. He heard the merchants that came to the village talk about rumors saying how people just suddenly appeared abruptly all over the central area of the Midgard continent.


    Hearing the rumors, Cecil thought that maybe his family was also over there. Since then, he started planning his journey to the Midgard continent.


    Lucia wasn''t there when the merchants talked about it, so she couldn''t have figured anything out.


    Cecil and Lucia walked towards the village''s blacksmith shop. The forge was outside and they could see a bulky small statured person manning the forge with a small child nearby.


    This person was the blacksmith of the village, and unexpectedly he wasn''t of the kitsune race, but instead he was a dwarf.


    The reason why he was living here in the village was because, surprisingly, his wife was a kitsune. When Cecil first heard about their love story, it made him respect this man deeply.


    For his wife, he abandoned his everything and eloped with his wife. Many problems occurred because of this, but eventually after going through thick and thin, the couple finally arrived here.


    The dwarf''s name was Argon and his wife''s name was Felice.


    They met only because Argon''s family shop was in an adventurer city which Felice had frequented. Felice was of course an adventurer at that time. It''s been 10 years since then and they now live a stable and happy life in Faux Village.


    "Hey, Gramps!"


    "Eh? Kid, so it''s you, and stop calling me gramps! I ain''t that old yet!"


    "Haha! Well, anyway, I came here to say my goodbyes."


    "Eh? So it''s time huh?"


    "Yup, is all my stuff ready yet?"


    "Well, everything''s finished. The leather armor you asked for is still having its finishing touches being done by my wife, so later you¨C"


    "Cecil! So you''re here! Well, your armor is finally finished!"


    "Never mind."


    Argon and Felice didn''t just run a blacksmith, but also a leather workshop together.


    Cecil had given all the materials from the Blade Bear fight to them 2 weeks ago to process into armor and weapons.


    Today was finally the day they would be finished and Cecil had planned to leave the day after the equipment were finished.


    "Darling~ is everything ready?"


    "More or less. Leather armor ready, swords and knives finished, gauntlets also¡­ hmm what else? Oh yeah, that cloak did you finish it, hon?"


    "That was the first thing I finished you know?"


    "Okay, then everything''s settled. The cost¡­ well we''ll waive that since you''ve been helping us procure materials for free."


    It''s not like Cecil couldn''t pay for it. He was able to sell the materials from the monsters and animals that they hunted in the forest to the merchants that occasionally come to the village, if the villagers didn''t need them.


    So he had some money on him.


    "Really? Thanks Gramps!"


    "Like I said, I''M NO GRAMPS! I''m still young despite looking like this! And do you even SEE my smoking hot YOUNG wife next to me!??"


    Argona made sure to emphasize on the ''young'' part. Cecil didn''t play dumb and replied,


    "Well, of course I can see that. I call Felice big sis anyway. Since she looks like she''s just a little bit older than my elder sister."


    "Ara ara~"


    "Then why am I gramps then?!"


    "Well¡­ you got the beard, the grumpiness and¡­ well... I thought it suited you haha!"


    "Why you!!"


    Just as Argon was about to blow his top, his wife came in to pacify him.


    "Darling~"


    "Kuh, yes?"


    "Cecil''s here to say goodbye you know? Come here Maxie."


    Maxie, the child who was quietly observing Cecil''s exchange from the side, walked up next to Mrs. Felice. This boy was their child.


    He had the characteristics of both his parents, sporting a small stout body with small pointed ears on top of his head and a tail. His hair was orange red like his father, but he didn''t have the beard.


    Maxie was somewhat introverted, but he still goes and plays with the other children of the village.


    The boy especially looks up to Cecil. The same goes for all the other boys in Fauxe Village. Ever since they saw Cecil single-handedly take down a Tusk Boar pack that accidently wandered out of the forest and attacked the village, they''ve looked up to Cecil as their role model.


    After the attack, the village had an abundant amount of meat for the following week or two.


    Cecil takes all the finished equipment from the two. The couple also graciously gave him a sturdy knapsack made from the excess leather from the Blade Bear.


    He totally forgot about making one, but thankfully Mrs. Felice was kind enough to make one without him asking.


    "I guess this is it, although I''ll be leaving tomorrow, I thought it would be appropriate for me to say so instead of leaving unaware."


    "Well, it was a good thing to have you around, boy."


    "Hehe, thanks Gramps."


    "You do good out there okay, kid?"


    "Okay, Mr. Argon."


    "Heh, so you can actually call me something other than gramps."


    "Mrs. Felice, thanks for the stuff."


    "No problem, Cecil, just make sure to look out for yourself."


    "Will do. Goodbye everyone."


    "Bye big brother Cecil!"


    With little Maxie bidding him farewell, Cecil walked away from the blacksmith/leatherwork shop and headed over to the grocery-c.u.m-butcher shop.


    What greets him as he enters the building was an old fox lady with glasses.


    "Hi Granny!"


    "Granny May."


    "Why hello there, Lucia and Cecil¡­"


    Lucia greets Granny May with a spirited shout while Cecil politely greets her. Cecil looks over at Lucia, relieved that she''s no longer sulking.


    ''Lucia''s more spirited now compared to earlier. It''s a good thing. I don''t like seeing Lucia like that.


    Lucia walks around the store while Cecil begins talking with Granny May.


    "Granny May, I wanna buy some seasonings, dried meat and also a water bottle and some containers."


    "Okay¡­ so are you preparing to set off?"


    "Eh? Yes, I am Granny."


    "When do you plan to leave?"


    As they were conversing, Cecil was busy grabbing all the stuff that he needed. He piled up a couple of stuff on the counter.


    "I plan on leaving early tomorrow."


    "Hrmm¡­ I suppose a parting gift is due."


    While saying that Granny May heads to the back of the store. A bit later, Granny May comes out with a box.


    "If you''re going on an adventure, then this is what you will need."


    "Hm?"


    She hands Cecil the box. Inside were tinder, a rock, bandages, a cutting knife, some herbs, and other miscellaneous things.


    "Woah! Thanks Granny!"


    "It''s something that we prepare for any youngster that leaves the village and goes on a journey."


    "Thank you Granny. I''ll make sure to use them well."


    "That''s good to hear, the other stuff is on me, go ahead and take them. Honestly, this amount is nothing compared to the meat and herbs that you give to my store."


    "Hehe, okay Granny, thanks again."


    "You take care of yourself alright?"


    "Okay!"


    "Bye Granny!"


    Cecil walks out of the store with Lucia and Silver in tow. Now that all his preparations are complete, all he has to do now was let the rest of the villagers know he was leaving.


    Cecil and co. walk towards the field where the kids of the village normally play at.


    When they arrived, Cecil saw that a lot of the friends he made during his stay at the village had gathered there playing something close to volleyball, except that the ball they used was a ball of fire.


    They tossed it up into the air and passed it around each other using their hands, feet, and tails coated with a thin layer of mana without letting the fireball touch the ground.


    The children immediately notice the group right when they arrive. The children immediately start running over, putting a stop to their little sport.


    ""Lucia! Cecil!""


    "Hi everyone."


    "Hey, guys!"


    The two greet them and tell them about Cecil''s departure tomorrow.


    "Eeehhh? Cecil, you''re leaving??? But what about Lu¨C"


    Lucia charged towards the girl that was talking and immediately covers her mouth with her hands.


    "Huh? What''s wrong Lulu?"


    "I, it''s nothing¡­ hahaha~"


    The girl whose mouth was covered was close in age with Lucia and Cecil. Her name was Frieda and she had long blue hair and a blue tail. Unlike Lucia, she only had 1 tail.


    In soft voice that only they could here, Lucia starts whispering to Frieda.


    "Hey, don''t spill the beans okay? He doesn''t know."


    "Eh? You didn''t tell him yet? He''s going to leave tomorrow you know! You won''t get your chance after he leaves!"


    "I know, but it''s not like¡­"


    Curious, a boy standing close to them raises his voice.


    "Uhm, what''re you guys whispering about?"


    "Shut up! Poka!"


    The one who interrupted the two who were whispering to each other, was a kitsune boy called Poka.


    He was someone who was always curious about things so he had the tendency to listen in on someone when they were talking, whether it was secretly or not.


    "It''s nothing! So go away Poka!"


    "Ehhh, but I heard something about not being ab¨C"


    With inhumane speed Lucia and Frieda slammed their palms to cover Poka''s mouth, but the force behind the two''s palms were a bit excessive and instead of shutting Poka up, they launched him flying away from where he was standing.


    "Eh?! You two?!"


    Cecil was totally surprised at seeing one of his friends fly away into the air.


    "Ignore him Cel."


    "Exactly, ignore him. No one saw Poka flying or anything."


    They said it with a pressure so fierce that even Cecil was forced to drop it.


    "O, okay¡­"


    After going through the ups and downs of his abrupt farewell, Cecil was finally able to end the day on a good note.


    Now all that''s left is to wait for tomorrow morning, when he would finally embark on his first adventure in the world of Alterna.

 Chapter 19 - Departure

    Early the next morning, Cecil woke up very early in the morning and did half of his routine.


    After the routine, he takes a quick shower and finishes eating the meal that Lucia''s mom made.


    After breakfast, Cecil quickly took a quick check on all his belongings. He then equipped the armor and weapons he received from Argon and Felice.


    He then packs up everything else he wanted to bring into his bag and head downstairs with Silver.


    Arriving at the door, they see that Lucia''s parents were already waiting for them. Cecil smiles and greets the two.


    "Morning."


    "Ah, yes. Good Morning."


    "Morning, Cel sweety~"


    "Well, it''s about time I go."


    "Yes."


    Cecil looks around and to his dissappointment, Lucia''s wasn''t around. Seeing the dissappointment in my his face, Anna quickly explains.


    "Lucia went out ahead already, so she''s probably at the village gate waiting for us."


    Cecil brightens up and smiles.


    "Okay, it''d be sad if she didn''t come and see me off."


    "... I wonder about that."


    "Huh? What''s that Mrs. Anna?"


    "It''s nothing~"


    Cecil couldn''t quite catch a part of what Mrs. Anna just said. But, since she said it''s nothing Cecil decided not to pursue it.


    ''It''s almost time for me to go.''


    Cecil felt kind of excited and scared, but mostly excited. He was really anticipating this journey.


    ''It''s not something I would even consider doing when I was back on Earth. I mean, what journey? You could just take a plane or some mode of transport and travel around the world.''


    Not this, this was a journey, an adventure. It wasn''t some trip or tour. But, a journey to find his family.


    Although the motive behind it is just simple, finding his family, but the nuance of the journey itself was filling him with excitement.


    ''There was a whole new world out there ready for me to explore.''


    While thinking such, Cecil walked forward and opened the door. It was still dark outside since he woke up very early. He planned on leaving before any of the villagers woke up. He smiled brightly and took a step out the door.


    Silver follows and walks alongside him. Lucia''s parents follow right behind.


    They make their way to the village gate. On the way there, even when it was still this early in the morning, they still met some villagers who were already up and about.


    They send him off with their blessings and smiles. Some of the parents even wake up their children. Waking up and seeing their ''big bro'' leaving the village, they immediately tear up.


    They finally reach the gate, just as the sun was about to rise up over the horizon. Cecil looks around the gate, but to his dismay, Lucia wasn''t there at all.


    Seeing her not there, Cecil turns around and looks at Mr. Zaki and Mrs. Anna who followed him all the way here. A bit dissappointed, he finally opened his mouth.


    "Well, I guess, Lucia''s avoiding me or something..."


    "She''s just like that, don''t worry, you''ll see her soon."


    It was a weird response. What did Mr. Zaki mean by ''you''ll see her soon''? He could no longer wait. The sun was already making its way up the sky. Cecil thought that if he sees the rest of the villagers, it might make him want to stay longer in the village.


    "Okay... anyway, I should go now. Thanks for your hospitality Mr. Zaki, Mrs. Anna. I''m very thankful of you for taking care of me and Silver until now."


    "It''s nothing, it felt like I had a son. So it was very much enjoyable."


    "Just think of us as your second parents here on Alternia~"


    "..."


    Hearing what the couple said, Cecil smiles brightly and bows real low.


    "Thank you so much... Mom. Dad."


    Mr. Zaki and Mrs. Anna were immediately surprised and brightly said.


    "Have a safe trip, son."


    "Have a safe trip, sweety~"


    Cecil looks up at them one more time and then he turns around and starts walking off.


    "Good bye! Take care!"


    Cecil waves back at the two while walking forward. He walks farther and farther while waving until he could no longer see them.


    Cecil reminisces at the time he spent here at Fauxe Village. It was really nice even if it was only for a month or so. He thinks back to Lucia who he hasn''t seen yet. It made him somewhat despondent.


    ''My first friend after coming to this world didn''t see me off. I couldn''t even see her for one last time.''


    Cecil continued forward while sulking a bit.


    ''I mean the least she could do was see me off you know.''


    Back on earth Cecil didn''t have many... never mind, he didn''t have any friends at all. He was too busy training and never got close to anyone, including the other trainees who were at his father''s dojo.


    While walking, Silver started barking at him.


    "Rawr!"


    "What is it, Silv?"


    "Rah, rah!"


    "Huh?"


    After barking Silver looks ahead and starts running forward.


    "Hey, wait up!"


    Cecil chases after him and not long after, he sees Silver stopping by the entrance to the forest where the small path continued towards the larger main road that would lead north towards Forest Hill Town.


    Silver turns back and barks at Cecil. He hurries over and stands beside him.


    Cecil looks up at Silver and thinks,


    ''All the training and eating that Silv''s been doing sure has made him big.''


    Silver now towers over Cecil at over 3 meters in height with a length of 5 meters from his head to his tail, his tail taking up about 1 meter of his overall length.


    You can practically mount him just like a horse. Actually he''s practically horse-size now. All Cecil needed was a saddle and he''d be able to ride on him.


    While thinking that, Cecil heard a high pitched yell growing closer and closer to him from behind.


    "STTTTUUUUPPPPPIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDD!!!"


    "Wha- bughhhhh"


    Just as he was about to turn around, a huge impact hit him right on his spine. Cecil was swept off his feet from the abrupt impact and flew forwards a meter or two and fell face first into the ground.


    "Hey, stupid. You didn''t think you could get rid of me that easily huh?"


    ''Gaah, I''m dying, I''m dying damnit... my spine...''


    "Ow, ow... wha?"


    Cecil struggles to turn himself around and look up at the perpetrator who knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying.


    "Lulu?"


    "Idiot Cel."


    ''Okay what? Did she just send me flying with a flying kick to my back?''


    "What the heck was that for?!"


    "Hahaha~!"


    Her only response was to laugh at him like he was some stupid moron. Cecil gets up and glares at her.


    Feeling the glare, Lucia''s only response was to tease back at Cecil.


    "Ohoho, scary~"


    "That hurt you know."


    "So?"


    ''What''s with this girl? You''re supposed to send me off with a smile, not send me flying with a kick!''


    Cecil took a closer look at her and noticed that she was wearing a cloak almost like his with a bag strapped to her back.


    "Hey, you couldn''t possibly¨C"


    "I''m coming with you!"


    ''I knew it.''


    "Hey, you can''t just say that you know. Did you already ask your parent''s about this?"


    "Yup, and they''ve already agreed. I was bound to go to the Mage academy in Sylvania in a year. So, why not just go on a journey with you instead?"


    "What?"


    Thinking back to earlier, Cecil suddenly remembered their talk from yesterday evening.


    ''Ah, so that''s what Lucia''s parents meant when they told us to take care of ''ourselves'' and they''d be leaving the ''rest'' to me.''


    "You could have at least told me about it yesterday during the evening! I was pretty bummed about you not showing up, alright!"


    "Well, you didn''t say anything about leaving the village at all to me either, so that makes us even steven."


    "Ugh..."


    Cecil couldn''t retort to what Lucia just said. On the bright side, it was much better to go on a journey with a friend instead of going around by himself.


    He would, of course, welcome the company. Silver barks up at the two and lowers his body down on the ground.


    Cecil quickly jumps up on him and turns toward Lucia and stretches out his hand to her.


    "Well, come on then Lulu."


    "...hehe"


    She giggles and smiles at him. Taking his hand she was pulled up and was sat in front of him.


    "Alright. Now that we''re set. Let''s go!"


    "Let''s go!"


    "Rawr!"


    Cecil points forward and tries to psyche everyone up.


    ''This is going to be a first for me and Silver, Lucia too even. To go on a journey towards the unknown, it''s really making me all hyped up.''


    With the excitement there''s also a little bit of fear. Cecil just turned 14 and the thought of travelling an unknown world would make him feel a bit insecure, but nevertheless this journey was bound to happen sooner or later.


    So why not make it sooner he thought.


    In a world this dangerous, it''d be better to go on this journey sooner so he could quickly adapt and learn more about the world. The faster he could adapt to the world, the faster he could go on a search for his family.


    He would rather journey now than to find out later that because he waited and took a long time, his family wasn''t even teleported here with him. Or even worse, find them dead because of how dangerous the creatures of this world are.


    Not to mention that the society and everything are completely different than to what it was previously back on Earth.


    ''I just hope that my family can quickly adapt to the changes and environment like I have.''


    "Hah, who am I kidding. There''s no way my family are weaklings. If anything, they''d probably strive in this chaotic world."


    Cecil mumbles to himself.


    "What''s that Cel?"


    "Haha, it''s nothing. I look forward to this."


    "Haha, me too,"


    Silver was already moving forward swiftly. Not long after, they reach the main road.


    "Okay, first stop. Forest Hill Town!"

 Chapter 20 - On the Road

    Cecil and Lucia were heading down the main road towards Forest Hill Town on Silver. There really wasn''t much to expect.


    ''I''ve been to Forest Hill Town once or twice already since I''ve been staying in Fauxe Village. Only this time it''s just me, Silver and Lucia.''


    Cecil planned on registering the group at the adventurer''s guild in town and take up requests to help around the town. Hopefully, monster subjugation quests or escort quests.


    He wasn''t sure how the system here works, so he would have to see it for himself.


    ''Although I''ve been to Forest Hill Town already, it was always with the village entourage and I never really took my time to head over to the guild in the past.''


    Cecil hoped that the guild in Alterna operated just like those guilds he''s read in the fantasy novels back on Earth.


    If it''s like that, then they may have to spend 1 or 2 months at the town just to raise their ranks and take on escort and subjugation quests after they reached the minimal required rank.


    Cecil wanted to emphasize more on escort quests since with those types of quests, the group would be able to travel around Urrugdrasil while at the same time earning money.


    They could go travelling around solo, but with the dangers of the continent being so high, it was better to take the safer way out, since they were still just a pair of 14 year olds.


    Although it would decrease their travelling speed, but it''s not like they were doing anything urgent.


    ''Finding my family is priority, but I won''t rush things since I can''t actually confirm if they were even transported to this world like me.''


    Cecil was in deep thought until Lucia snapped him out of his reverie.


    "...el...Cel!"


    "Huh? What is it Lulu?"


    "I called you a couple of times, but you were just spacing out. Anyway, after registering as adventurers, what''s our next plan?"


    "We''ll take on simple quests for 3 days or so. Get a feel on how being an adventurer is like. If there''s a ranking system, raise our ranks for a bit, then go take on higher level quests."


    "Okay, but how long are we planning on staying at Forest Hill?"


    "Not long, if we could quickly take on an escort quests, then we might only be there for 2 weeks or so. Anyways, it depends on how quickly our rank rises until we can take on those quests."


    "Okay."


    "What''s up Silv?"


    Silver barks at us, asking if he should start sprinting faster towards Forest Hill Town. I nod and tell Lulu to hold on tight.


    "Lulu, Silv wants to go faster, hold on tight!"


    "''Kay."


    Lucia responds by wrapping her tails around me and grabbing ahold of Silver. Seeing them ready, Silver dashes out at full speed.


    With the scenery quickly changing around them, it really felt like riding on a car instead of on a wolf.


    The last time Cecil went with the villagers to Forest Hill, it took the group about 3 hours or so on foot, but with the speed that Silver was sprinting at, they could make it in less than an hour''s time.


    Sure enough, in no less than an hour, the group already saw the walls and gates to Forest Hill Town in the distance.


    There was a line outside the gates with people queuing up. There was another reason why Cecil wanted to register as adventurers. It was for the ID.


    Normally when you wanted to enter or exit a town or city, you would have to provide a valid ID.


    If you were a citizen of said city or town, then you could easily apply for an ID at the City''s administration center as long as you had a house in, or at the vicinity of the town or city.


    For wanderers like them, then the next best thing would be having the identity of a merchant or having a recommendation letter from a village, like the one Cecil was carrying on him right now.


    Of course the recommendation letter could only be used once and the next time they wanted to enter the city they would no longer be able to use it.


    So, applying for an ID at the adventurer''s guild would be the next best thing.


    They could also apply for one at the merchant''s guild, but you would need a recommendation letter from a fellow merchant or from the town or village with 1000 credits on you.


    Speaking of credits, this was another thing Cecil found intriguing after arriving at Alterna.


    From the novels he''s read back on Earth, normally you would think that because the setting on Alterna is so fantasy-like and such; copper, silver, and gold should be the mainstream currency.


    Not here though. On Alterna, the currency used internationally, that''s right, internationally, is actually called credits.


    It was an invention from a magus that was experimenting on imbuing magic properties onto objects. Just like with the light stones from before.


    But, instead of something that was only activated once or twice and being a consumable, what this magus wanted was something that was perpetually sustainable.


    ''And that''s where this little card that I have on me came from.''


    The card that Cecil was holding was the size of an ID or bank card from back on earth and ironically this card, that was made out of some metal here on Alterna actually acted as, well, a bank card.


    The metal that was used to make this card was actually a common magic metal that had a high affinity with magic. After being enchanted with the spell that the previous magus invented, the card could forever hold mana inside.


    Then by enchanting a specific calculation spell on the card, it was possible to calculate how much mana was stored inside.


    Well, you then wonder, wouldn''t that make mages the richest people on Alterna since they can imbue magic infinitely into the card?


    Well, that''s the genius of the design. Not just any type of mana could be imbued into the card. A mage from the last era was actually able to convert gold into mana with the use of alchemy.


    Through the ages, this alchemy technique was further perfected and now the mana signature from gold, silver, or copper would then be imbued into this magic bank card.


    Since then, this is what this world''s currency became.

 Chapter 21 - Bank of Alterna

    The concept of credits was very convenient.


    It was so convenient in fact, that Cecil thought,


    ''You wouldn''t even have a need to go to a bank or ATM machine just to withdraw money. Since the money would be with you all the time!''


    Of course, there were still banks out there. It''s just that these banks would only be used to swap metal currency to credits. Track the flow of currency to determine any economic trends, which would then be relayed to the merchant''s guild and used according to their needs. Lastly, the banks were there to keep a record of bank card ownersh.i.p.s.


    The technique to swap metal currency and credits was given to all the banks of the world, but there was only one particular bank that was actually the source of this technique.


    It was the bank that the mage who perfected the currency exchange spell created and this bank''s name is the Bank of Alterna.


    The Bank of Alterna had the authority and power to actually have influence on every single continent on Alterna.


    This was because every kingdom and empire on every continent, with the exception of the Non Continent, had come to an agreement after this ''bank card'' was created.


    The agreement was called the Alterna Currency Accords. There weren''t really any specifics about these accords from Lucia''s family library, but there was one obvious agreement from these accords, and that was to acknowledge ''credits'' as the universal currency.


    You could still use metal currency in small towns and villages, but most upper-scale towns and cities would use credits as their currency. You could still bring metal currency with you, but it would be better to exchange it into credits at a local bank, if there was no branch of the Bank of Alterna in a town or village.


    There were many different banks in upper-scale villages, towns and cities, but the one thing all these banks had in common, was that they''d have some sort of affiliation with the Bank of Alterna.


    Without the Bank of Alterna''s permission, you wouldn''t be able to open up a bank. This was because without a license from the Bank of Alterna, you wouldn''t be able to use the currency exchange spell.


    Even if you wanted to find a backdoor, the problem was that the spell was so complicated that even trying to replicate it was almost impossible to do.


    Of course, there were some who succeeded in stealing or replicating the technique, but they had to face the consequences of their actions.


    Anyone without a license that used the currency exchange spell would have breached an amendment from the Alterna Currency Accords and would be hunted down and jailed.


    The Accords gave the Bank of Alterna permission to execute perpetrators on site if they were to resist arrest.


    Well, the bank cards were a neat feature of Alterna, and Cecil honestly thought that it''s way more convenient than back on Earth.


    Since the banks of the world kept a record of your bank card, you wouldn''t have any worry of being robbed of your wealth.


    Also the only way anyone could access a bank card was by using mana and every living being on Alterna had their own unique mana signature. This bank card had a bio-metric encryption on it, and it wasn''t even an intentional one.


    The functions of the bank card weren''t only applied on the currency of the world, but it was also applied on ID cards as well.


    While Cecil was left thinking back on the information that he studied in the past two months, the group finally arrived at the line where everyone was queuing up.


    Cecil and Lucia felt very much conspicuous while staying on top of Silver, so the two immediately dismounted.


    "Cel, catch me!"


    "Huh?"


    Hearing what Lucia said, Cecil, who just got his feet on the ground, quickly turned around and saw her jumping right off Silver.


    "Woah!"


    Cecil quickly grabs Lucia into his arms and places her down on the ground.


    "Hey! That''s dangerous!"


    "Hehehe~"


    Cecil shakes his head at her antics. He looks ahead and sees that they were lined up behind a wagon.


    The people ahead of them were really surprised to see a huge, silver monster wolf heading towards them at top speed from the distance.


    Even the town guards were rushing over from afar. But after seeing two teenagers dismount from the wolf and seeing as the wolf lie down soon after, the group turned back and only 2 town guards come over to inspect the situation.


    "Hey! You two!" said the guard.


    Seeing that their arrival startled many in the line, Cecil replied hesitantly.


    "Uhh, is anything wrong, sir?"


    "Just asking, but is this... wolf your pet?" asked the guard while stealing glances over at Silver.


    "Uhh, yes, he''s Silver and he''s our mount as well as our companion."


    "O-okay." Hearing the reply, the guard looked a bit relieved.


    Silver barks at the guards and looks away. Seeing Silver act so docile, the guard continued.


    "What''s your business in town?"


    "We''re here to register as adventurers. We have a recommendation letter from Fauxe Village."


    "Okay, but just a heads up. You won''t be able to take your pet inside of the town. You can only drop him off by the stable just outside the town''s gate. Another guard will show you the way when your credentials have been inspected later at the gate."


    "Alright, thank you sir."


    The guards quickly head back after taking another glance at the huge silver wolf. Cecil looks ahead and sees that the line is pretty long.


    ''This may take a while.''

 Chapter 22 - Forest Hill Town

    As Cecil and Lucia were waiting, the people from the wagon ahead of them sent curious glances at their group.


    One of the passengers, a cute kid with dog ears, jumps down and approached the group. He seemed to be around 8 years old.


    "Hey, big bro! What''s his name?"


    "Silver."


    "Silver~ Woah! He''s soooo big!"


    "Haha, yeah, he''s pretty big."


    "Can I touch him?"


    "Uhh, Silver?"


    Silver barks in response.


    "Really? Yay!"


    Silver gave his consent. The people on the wagon, especially the woman who had the same features as the kid, looked a bit worried at first, but after the bark from Silver, their expressions eased up.


    The kid immediately approaches Silver and starts stroking the fur on this foreleg. Silver stared at the kid and from Cecil''s perspective, Silver looked at him as if an elder looking at a child.


    ''What the heck? Just how old are you Silver?! You''re just the same age as me! Younger even!''


    After the child got his fill of stroking, he looks up at Silver, giggles, and runs back towards the wagon.


    After getting onto the wagon again, the child sits by the woman who was probably his mother and starts chatting with the woman. The woman looks at us and gives us a gently smile while bowing her head a little.


    Cecil smiles back and nods. After that, the line starts to move up again.


    Cecil glances up at the sky and sees that it looks to be about 8 o''clock or so. He thought that it would probably take a while so after moving up a bit, Cecil takes out some snacks from his backpack and splits them with Lucia.


    After another hour or so, it was finally their turn to be inspected.


    "ID?"


    "We have a recommendation letter from Fauxe Village."


    Cecil takes out the recommendation letter from his bag and hands it over to the guard that was inspecting them.


    It wasn''t really a guard, but more like an inspection officer. The person who was inspecting the line was a female beastkin with droopy dog ears that was wearing a uniform that looked somewhat like a police uniform from back on Earth.


    ''Wow, so uniform''s a thing here too, huh.''


    As Cecil was staring and thinking about something irrelevant, Lucia started to nudge at him, actually, it was more like stabbing him with her fingers.


    "Cel..."


    "W-what''s wrong Lulu?"


    "Nothing..."


    "If it''s nothing, then can you stop stabbing me?"


    "..."


    Lucia stops¨C okay, maybe not. Instead she starts stabbing him even harder.


    "Purpose of visit?"


    "W-we''re here, t-to register as, a-adventure-ERS!"


    "Is something wrong?"


    "N-nothing, ma''am!"


    With Lucia stabbing him from behind, it was really hard to answer the lady.


    "Okay, everything''s good. I would recommend quickly heading to the adventurer''s guild to get an ID issued."


    "Y-yes, of course."


    "The adventurer''s guild is on the west road after you reach the town square center."


    "Th-thank you, ma''am."


    "Also, your pet will be escorted to the ranch at the... west side of this town gate. You should accompany the guiding officer to the ranch."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    "Okay, next please!"


    After their group was finished, another guard came over to escort them to the ranch. After leaving for the ranch, Lucia finally stopped stabbing Cecil.


    "Ow, ow... hey, what gives Lulu?"


    "Nothing..."


    "How can that be nothing!"


    "...you were ogling at her..."


    "What?"


    He couldn''t quite catch what Lucia just said.


    "Like. I. Said. ITS NOTHING!"


    Cecil flinched at Lucia suddenly flaring up out of nowhere. With a huff, she walks past him and starts talking to Silver who was ahead.


    Cecil could only scratch his head in confusion and follow after them.


    "Alright, this is where you leave him. Please get a monster token from the ranch master."


    "Okay."


    Cecil head towards a house by the ranch and talks to the ranch master. After putting on a necklace-c.u.m-collar on Silver, they got a corresponding token that identifies Cecil as Silver''s owner.


    Cecil looks around and sees other huge animals or monsters idling around the ranch. Some were eating and others were sleeping. He looks around and sees that there were no monsters in conflict and relaxed. At least there won''t be any problems on Silver''s end.


    "Okay, Silv. Now that you''re here, we''ll head in. After registering, we''ll try and figure out how the guild works before coming back over."


    Silver barks back in response and heads deeper into the ranch. After walking over to a huge tree, he lies down and starts napping.


    "Okay, since Silver''s all settled, let''s head in Lulu!"


    "Okay."


    Carefully, Cecil asks Lucia about earlier.


    "Hey, you''re still not mad about... whatever it is you were mad about, right?"


    "Tch, figure it out yourself, stupid!"


    "Hey, come on! I didn''t do anything!"


    "See, that''s why your stupid, stupid!"


    Lucia walks toward the guard and I follow after.


    "Hey, just stop being mad okay? I don''t even know what I did!"


    "Hmph."


    Cecil quickly tries to pacify Lucia while they were returning to the gate. The guard in front looks back at them quarrelling.


    Cecil and he met eyes and the guard gave Cecil a wry smile and shakes his head. Cecil looks back at him with a confused look, but he quickly turns back his attention to the fussy Lucia and continues to pacify her.


    ''Seriously, I did nothing. NOTHING. Why are you mad Lulu?!''


    This never happened back at the village or back at his home on Earth, so Cecil had no idea what to do. It was like seeing his little sister throwing a tantrum at their dad for no reason at all.


    ''Now that I think about it, how did dad pacify Angel?''


    Since the situations were similar, Cecil thinks back at what his father did and tries to do what he did.


    They finally arrive back at the gate and Lucia was no longer mad at him.


    ''Good thing dad''s technique worked. Finally, something useful from the old man.''


    While walking past the gate, Cecil catches a glimpse of the female inspections officer from before.


    After looking at her, he looks towards the line and sees that it''s still as long as before. When Cecil turned around and starts walking forward.


    He somehow... sees a fuming Lucia glaring back at me. Thinking back to earlier, he hesitated a bit, but still carefully walks up to her.


    ''What''s wrong? She was just fine earlier?!''


    "L-Lulu, what''s wrong?"


    "..."


    Hearing that, Lucia glared even more harshly at him and turned around and starts walking into the town. Seeing that, Cecil could only helplessly follow after.


    As they head in, there wasn''t much to look at since nothing''s really changed from the last time they''ve been here.


    Stalls littered around the road towards the city center with people hawking their wares.


    It was really lively for a town, but this town acted as a hub for the surrounding area, since you would have to go through the Mesta forest just ahead of this town to get to Angla City, which was the next City that was to the west of this area.


    Angla City also happened to be the capital city of the kingdom Cecil was in right now. The kingdom was called the Anglaria Kingdom, run by the Arks royalty, which is a royal family clan of Lizardmen.


    As they head towards the center of town, the duo sees a variety of stalls selling foods and equipment.


    They also pass by the wagon that was just ahead of them during their queue. The wagon''s group seemed to be preparing a stall of their own.


    They were most likely going to sell merchandise from their village. This was also something that the villagers from Fauxe Village did when they came to the town a while back.


    "Cel! Look, is there some event going on?!"


    Hearing Lucia, Cecil looks up ahead and sees that the town square was really lively with all sorts of props and decorations set up around the area.


    "Uhh, maybe something important?"


    It didn''t look like a festival or anything. If there was a festival then the main roads would also be decorated.


    As Cecil was looking around the square, Lucia stopped walking and started tugging at his sleeves.


    "Cel, look over there, it looks like they''re recruiting people for something!"


    Lucia then started pointing at something excitedly.


    ''It looks like Lulu''s finally not mad at me. That''s good.''


    Cecil let out a sigh of relief in his heart, and then he looked towards where Lucia was pointing at and sees a stand with a huge banner over it.


    There were letters that were hard for him to make out right away. Cecil took another glance at it and read.


    "M, monster hun, ting."


    "Monster hunting!"


    Lucia finished it for him.


    "The people there are recruiting for monster hunting then?"


    "You got that righ''."


    "Eh?"


    That was obviously not Lucia, so Cecil looked towards the source and sees a middle aged gruff looking man who was behind a stall.


    Apparently he was the one who answered earlier. Cecil turned and walked towards him and asked.


    "Uhm, we''re new here. Can you explain?"


    "I can see ''at. Well anyway, thi'' something the town ''rranges ev''ry month."


    Lucia quickly asks,


    "Can anyone participate?"


    "As long ya got ID, ye."


    "Thanks, mister!"


    "No prob, lil lady."


    After Lucia said their thanks, the duo head towards the western road that leads to the adventurer''s guild.


    Walking down the road, the two finally see a large 3 story building that was practically screaming ''Here, me! I''m adventurer guild!''


    Cecil looked towards the entrance and see people who look like guild staff. There was the main door to the guild where people who he believes to be adventurer''s coming and going from.


    The people, who Cecil believes were guild staff, considering their uniform, were manning a booth where they received younger looking people.


    When Lucia sees this, she turns back towards Cecil.


    "Okay Cel, later I want you to just shut up and let me do the talking, okay?"


    "A-alright."


    ''When did you become so assertive?''


    They walk towards the booth and lineup. The line wasn''t so long so they didn''t have to wait for long. When it was their turn, the two finally see the staff behind the booth. It was a male and female lizard beastkin.


    They enthusiastically greet the duo.


    "Welcome to the Adventurer''s Guild!"

 Chapter 23 - Adventurer’s Guild

    As Cecil was looking towards the two guild staff behind the booth, Lucia begins asking how they could register as adventurers. The two kindly explained to them.


    Cecil never really paid much attention, but most of the beast kin that he''s seen around town are actually lizard kin.


    The Anglaria Kingdom is run by a lizard kin royal clan, so it was no surprise that the majority of the population is lizard kin.


    "Okay, thank you very much."


    "Your very welcome, miss. Please head in through this door to register as adventurers."


    After a quick conversation, the female lizard kin points them towards the door to the left of the booth.


    It wasn''t the main entrance, but it seems that for conveniences sake, the counter for adventurer \and quest registration was located in different areas of the guild building.


    "Come on Cel!"


    "Okay, okay. Aren''t you eager?"


    "Hihihi~"


    Lucia drags Cecil towards the door. She was really excited about this.


    After entering, they see 2 counters that were on the right area which had youngsters older or near the age as them queuing up.


    While on the left area there were 4 counters that had a variety of people queuing up.


    Cecil looked above and sees two boards that indicated what those counters catered for. As expected, the 2 on the right were for adventurer registration and the 4 on the left were for quest registration.


    Lulu and Cecil quickly head towards the left. They enter the queue and silently wait for their turn.


    While they were waiting, Cecil looked around the hall and see that it was somewhat high end and luxurious, especially for a town.


    The exterior of the building from a quick glance was made by materials that looked similar to bricks and concrete from earth.


    The interior walls however, were covered by a layer of polished wood. The beams and pillars that supported the ceiling were even made by highly polished wood.


    Everything inside was really shiny and with the light stones that were attached to posts and the huge chandelier that was over head, it made building interior look especially bright.


    This wasn''t like any of those clich¨¦d portrays of a guild in novels or manga from back on earth. Everything seemed so high end.


    Mind you, this was only a TOWN, how luxurious would the guild buildings be like in cities or even the capital city?


    However, Cecil was honestly, a bit disappointed.


    He thought there would be some kind of problem that they''d face before registering as adventurers. They''d fight bla bla bla. Guild master comes and the misunderstanding furthers, they show their prowess and receive recognition and whatnot. The clich¨¦d development.


    ''Well guess, that only happens in novels.''


    The reality of the situation was that, everyone here seemed so well-mannered! Everyone was just queuing up neatly.


    Although it wasn''t like the place was quiet or anything, but the voices from the people weren''t boisterous or anything. Everyone was talking to each other in normal room speaking voices without anyone yelling or cursing at each other.


    "Heh, not what I expected."


    "What''s that Cel?"


    "The place isn''t as what I was expecting, Lulu."


    "How so?"


    Cecil quickly explains to her what he''s read in the novels from Earth about how a guild was portrayed as.


    "Haha, what''s with that?"


    "Hey, it''s just what everyone back where I lived before thought how a guild would look like."


    "Well, not the adventurer guild, but maybe the mercenary guild or merchant guild would be like that."


    "Oh, there''s a mercenary guild?"


    "Yes, but unlike the adventurer''s guild. You can''t register unless you''ve graduated from a fighter or mage academy and if you''re over the age of 21."


    "What''s the difference anyway? There aren''t any clashing jobs with adventurers are there?"


    "For mercenaries they can only accept jobs in the area of escorts, subjugations, battles, and any other mercenary-like quests~"


    "The only difference is that they can''t take dungeon, gathering, and miscellaneous tasks then?"


    "No, Cel. Except for escorts, the subjugation requests and battle requests can only be accepted if the kingdom issues one. As for escort quests, they''re practically the same as the ones from the adventurers guild, except most requests are long term."


    "I see."


    "As for any other mercenary requests, I don''t know the exact specifics... but¨C"


    Lucia continues to explain to Cecil the differences.


    Basically, subjugation and battle quests are issued to mercenaries by the kingdom, meaning quests issued by the town or city''s government.


    Subjugation quests would be similar to the ones from the adventurer''s guild, except most subjugation quests for mercenaries would be for the subjugation of B-class pack-type monsters or monster waves.


    Battle quests are only quests issued when the kingdom was in war-time.


    While, for escort quests, mercenaries after taking one would normally be employed on a long term basis through a contract sign by both the mercenary company and the requester. While for adventurers, escort quests would only be a one-time thing.


    These were some types of requests that mercenaries can take. Adventurers handled much broader range of quests, no matter how ridiculous a quest sounds.


    Basically, adventurers are this world''s freelancers. To put it harshly, they''re just people who are unemployed and looking for jobs that they could take at their own leisure.


    While they were talking, the two notice that it was finally their turn. They head towards the counter and like before, Cecil kept his mouth shut and let Lucia do all the talking.


    "The both of us would like to register as adventurers!"


    "Here are the forms, there''s a 10 silver handling fee for registering as adventurers."


    "Here you go."


    Lucia takes out her bank card and quickly pays. He didn''t know this, but thank goodness Lucia had money on her.


    "How''d you know?"


    "I only found out when we talked to the two staff outside, but good thing mama issued my bank card when I was 10, so I''ve been able to save up quite a bit since then."


    "... I''ll pay you back later."


    "No worries Cel."


    Lucia gave Cecil a cheeky grin, her face practically begging to be complemented. Cecil looked back at her and smiled wryly.


    "Okay, let''s quickly fill in the forms. You need any help in writing, huh~ stupid Cel?"


    "I can do it myself, thank you very much."


    "Fufu~"


    Cecil takes the magic pen that the guild clerk handed over with the guild forms and quickly fills it. Name, age, mana level, expertise, etc. It was a pretty standard form.


    After filling in the form, Cecil looks up and sees that Lucia had also finished. He gave her the form and Lucia hands them both to the female clerk behind the counter.


    "Okay, thank you for registering, please wait by the lounge to your right for your guild cards to be issued, I will call you by name when the cards have been successfully issued."


    "Yes, thank you."


    "Thank you."


    After politely thanking the clerk, they head towards the lounge where they see many others like them who have finished registering and were waiting for their guild cards.


    The two quickly head towards the empty seats and waited for their cards.


    Looking around, Cecil sees others who have received their cards head towards the big double doors that was located just next to the lounge. He was guessing in his head whether the door leads to the main hall of the guild.


    As they were waiting, Cecil started chatting with Lucia.


    "So, Lulu about the guild... how''s the ranking system work?"


    "Ah, the ranking system for adventurers actually only have 4 that really matter."


    "4?"


    "Yeah, although there are 7 in total, only 4 really matter."


    "They are?"


    Lucia continues to explain to Cecil about the ranking system.


    There are 7 rankings in total, starting from Stone, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and lastly, Diamond rank.


    For requests under Bronze, any adventurer, regardless of their rank may accept those ranks of requests. So even if you''re just a Stone or Iron ranked adventurer, you could still accept Bronze ranked requests.


    Only for those requests higher than Bronze, meaning Silver until Diamond rank, can only be accepted by those in their corresponding tiers. You couldn''t accept any requests that were outside your tier starting from Silver.


    It was convenient, since low ranked escort quests were Bronze rank so Cecil and Lucia could take them even when they''ve just registered.


    By doing requests above their tier, they''d be able to easily promote their ranks to Silver rank.


    Now Silver rank is where the actual ''adventuring'' starts.


    Large scale subjugation quests, dungeon or labyrinth quests, and monster material collection quests start from here. This is why Lucia said that only 4 ranks actually mattered.


    The first 3 ranks were only for the beginners to adapt themselves for those bigger and much more difficult adventuring quests that were littered all over in the last 4 ranks.


    The rewards for all quests the adventurer''s themselves would take 90% while the remaining 10% would be given to the guild as commission fees.


    While they were talking, another group of teenagers that was around their age approached them.

 Chapter 24 - Scarlet Blaze

    While Cecil and Lucia were talking, a group of teenagers around their age approached them.


    Maybe they saw how enthusiastic Lucia was explaining things to Cecil, but ever since they''ve sat down and started chatting, the group had been sending glances towards Cecil and Lucia and seemed to be eavesdropping on their conversation.


    "uhm, hello!" Spoke the person who seemed to be the leader of the group.


    "Hi~" replied Lucia cheerfully.


    Lucia stops explaining and greets the group who came over.


    The person who was in the lead was a Lizardkin girl. She had red scales covering her arms and some on her youthful face. She had long red hair and her eyes were amber with slits like a reptiles. It was really fascinating looking at them.


    After taking a look at her, Cecil glanced toward the rest of her party. There were 4 of them in total. Besides the girl that greeted us, on her right and left were more lizardkin like her.


    On her left was a male lizardkin who seemed older than them by 2-3 years. He had red scales and amber eyes just like the girl who greeted us. He had a muscular build and Cecil saw that he had a pair of swords equipped to his waist.


    He had a gentle look in his eyes like a caring older brother. He also greeted us the same way the girl did.


    The one on the girl''s right was another male, he was shorter than the both of them, but he looked pretty wild. He had hair that was flaring all over like a lion''s mane. He had gauntlets on his fists and he was staring at Cecil and Lucia curiously, staying silent.


    The last one was a young girl who was a cat-kin. She had brown hair and a tail that had white ring patterns decorating it. She walked behind the 3 so Cecil only noticed her last.


    She was almost the same height as Cecil, but just a little bit taller. It was also because of her height that Cecil didn''t notice her quickly and thought that the group were only a party of 3 at first glance. The cat girl seemed to be the shy and quiet type; since she was clutching her tail insecurely and had her chocolate colored eyes were darting around everywhere...


    "Are the both of you in a party?"


    Cecil look towards Lucia and she glances back at him then replies to the girl.


    "Yup, it''s just a party with me and him, we also have a pet so that makes us a party of 3~"


    "I see, well, aside your pet, it''s only you two right?"


    "Uhuh."


    "Then would you like joining our party? The party limit is 6 anyway and we are only 4. Plus you 2, then we''d hit the limit of 6!"


    "Oh, uhm... Cel?"


    See that Lucia did not know how to answer; Cecil took it upon himself to reply to the girl''s invitation.


    "I''d like to ask, are you planning to have Forest Hill Town as your base?"


    "That''s the plan~, by the way, my name''s Milly, flame spellcaster. This is my older brother Miles."


    She points to the lizardman on her right. He smiles and introduces himself.


    "Miles, Swordsman."


    "And this is¨C "


    "The names Tyr, Martial Artist, how''s it going?!"


    Tyr, the wild haired boy that was on Milly''s left quickly cut in and introduced himself in a boisterous manner. Just like his hair, his attitude was a bit wild too.


    "Ok, settle down Tyr, no need to yell. We''re inside the guild so don''t start shouting all of a sudden. You''re being rude."


    "M''kay."


    "Tyr is my cousin. And the shy little kitty behind us is called Cathy."


    "Uhm... uhh... hello... Cathy, h-healer. Nice t-to meet you."


    "And the four of us are in a party called Scarlet Blaze!"


    "Nice to meet you all. My name''s Cecil and this is Lucia."


    "Hello~ I''m Lucia, novice spellcaster and enchanter. This dumbo is a magic swordsman~"


    "Ohhh, spellcaster and magi swordsman. So the two of you have been to an academy before? Does this mean you''re out to gain experience on the field?" Replied Milly expectantly.


    "Ohh, no~ We''re not from any academy, not now at least. We''re planning to register as adventurers before continuing our journey to enroll at the mage academy at the capital."


    "Ohh, I see."


    Lucia quickly replies to Milly''s enthusiastic response, but was met with a dejected reply.


    After our introductions, which in my opinion were kinda late. I quickly cut in and raise my initial question to Milly again.


    "So, back to my earlier question. Are you having Forest Hill Town as your base?"


    "Oh yeah, yeah. Well that''s the plan."


    Hearing that, Cecil had to reject Milly''s invitation.


    "I see... well I''m sorry, but I don''t think we can join your party."


    "Yeah, figures." Milly replied dejectedly.


    "Yes, we were only planning to register as adventurers here in Forest Hill and accept requests while moving on our way toward the capital city, Angla."


    "Haha, bummer~ it would have been great if you could join us."


    "Likewise, but we plan on being wandering adventurers for now. We have no plans of staying in one place for too long."


    "I see, I see. Well good luck with your journey to the capital! But, before going, are you guys planning on joining the hunting game?"


    "Hunting Game? Oh, you mean the Monster Hunting Event?"


    "Yes, that one. If you hunt enough monsters, you could earn a pretty penny just by selling the monster materials. Not to mention the winner gets a cash reward and if you enter using an adventurer''s ID, you could get promoted to a higher rank if you slay enough monsters!"


    "Oh... that sounds interesting."


    Hearing more about the Monster Hunting, Cecil''s interest was piqued.


    Especially the part where you could get promoted to higher ranks if you slayed enough monsters during the monster hunting event.


    It''d be much more efficient to win the event and raise ranks that way than to do low rank requests for a week or two.


    If Lucia and him could win the event, they could quickly raise their ranks, accept an escort quest and hurry on to the next town or city.


    "... does this apply to a party as well?"


    "Yes! That''s why we wanted to ask you two to join us!"


    Cecil suddenly came up with an idea.


    "I see, is it possible for us to join your party temporarily for this event only? We also plan on joining, but since its just us two, I feel that it would be safer if we partied with you, Scarlet Blaze."


    Milly quickly asked her older brother.


    "...Is that possible big bro?"


    "There''s no rule that doesn''t allow that. We could have them join our party only for this event."


    "Awesome! We''d love to have you both on board! Even if only once just for this event!"


    Since there were no rules against that, why not join?


    "Cool, then we''d be happy to join. What do you say Lulu?"


    "I''m fine with whatever Cel wants~"


    "Okay, then its set. We''ll join your party for this event. Please look after us, even if only for this one time."


    "Haha, ditto. We''re happy to have you on board!"


    Just as they finished talking, a guild staff calls over Milly and party''s names. It seems their guild cards have been successfully issued.


    "Oh, that''s us. We''ll see you later then! How about we meet up at noon at the town center?"


    "Okay, we''ll head over after our guild cards are issued and after we get something to eat."


    "Alright, see you later then~"


    After accepting their guild cards, the party members of Scarlet Blaze are now on their way to the town square.


    "Hey, cous. I was right wasn''t I?!!" Tyr shouted.


    "Hmm?"


    "They were strong right?! I told you, my instincts are never wrong. Especially that short kid. He was especially strong, he had a faint smell of blood lingering on him. He''s experienced in fights, that''s for sure."


    "Like your one to talk, your short too! But, yeah they sure were. The fox girl, Lucia, she had a strong mana emission. She says she''s a spellcaster, but she seems somewhat inexperienced. I guess that''s why they said they would be joining the mage academy at the capital." Milly said wonderingly.


    "Hmm. The boy had a sword on his back. Since he''s as strong as you''ve said Tyr, it''s no wonder such a small boy could wield such a large sword. I''d like to see how he''d do during the event." Miles also voiced out his thoughts.


    "Don''t be so serious Miles, I just hope with the addition of those two, we''d be able to cinch first place and rank up easy. I want to skip all that low rank hassle!" Tyr said carelessly.


    "I-it''s b-better if we b-be careful... d-during the event..." Cathy said worriedly.


    "Haha, no worries Cathy! With you there to heal and back us up, we''d be able to fight with ease."


    "Stop it Tyr, Cathy''s right. No matter how strong those two are and how good we are as a party. We''d still need to be careful. There''s no way the town would issue a monster hunting event if there was no crisis of a monster wave happening soon." Miles replied to Tyr''s reckless comment.


    "Yes, the amount of monsters in the forest would be much more higher than it would be normally, so caution is still necessary."


    "D-don''t push your s-self t-too hard... T-Tyr..."


    The party, Scarlet Blaze, were talking about their encounter with Cecil and Lucia. From what Tyr''s instincts picked up they assessed that Cecil, although young and short, felt like a seasoned warrior.


    Someone who had fought life and death battles frequently. This was an aura that Cecil subconsciously emitted through his gaze and stance.


    Although to others Cecil appeared to be lax and easy going, his aura spoke the opposite. He was always vigilant and ready to attack at a moments notice.


    Lucia on the other hand had a strong mana emission due to the fact that she learned a technique where she could store excess mana that couldn''t be stored inside her mana point into her 3 tails.


    They acted as a portable rechargable battery that provided her with mana anytime she needed them. As for the strong mana emission, this was caused by Lucia''s lack of understanding towards the technique.


    The tails couldn''t completely store the mana into her tails since she wasn''t proficient in it, she couldn''t make her tails act as complete mana points yet, hence the mana emission.


    This was an ancient technique passed down from her mother''s side of the family that was tailored for royal fox kin. The history behind this technique and lineage was pretty deep, but this is a story for another time.


    The party arrive at the town square amidst their discussion. They head toward the Monster Hunting registration area and take a registration form and wait for their two other party member''s to arrive.


    "So, it''s almost midday, let''s get something to eat and wait for Cecil and Lucia."


    "Hey! Let''s go eat at the shop we past by earlier! The food there smelled delish!"

 Chapter 25 - Abnormal, Uncle? 1

    After finally getting their guild cards, Cecil and Lucia exited the guild. The two were fascinated by the details written on the cards.


    Name : Cecil Silvaria


    Age : 14


    Class : Magic Swordsman


    Stage : Mana Vapor (5000 units)


    Rank : 1 Star ¨C Stone


    Name : Lucia


    Age : 13


    Class : Enchant Spellcaster


    Stage : Mana Vapor (1000 units)


    Rank : 1 Star ¨C Stone


    "How''d they predict our stage so accurately? They even quantified our mana without an assessment test!"


    "I thought there was going to be a test before we got the card too~"


    Both Lucia and Cecil honestly thought there would be some kind of assessment before having their cards issued.


    What surprised them was that the assessment itself was had begun the moment they picked up the magic pen to write their information down.


    The pen itself needed one to imbue magic into it in order to operate.


    When they started imbuing their mana into the pen in order to write, the pen started recording the amount of mana they had inside their mana points.


    It caught them unawares and when the guild staff gave them their guild cards, there was a strange expression on her face as well as a more respectful tone and attitude that she gave off when handing the cards to them.


    It was unusual of course, since the stage and quantity of mana they had inside their mana bodies weren''t in line with what a normal person''s quantity of mana when they were at the first stage of mana cultivation.


    Normal people at the Mana Vapor stage would have a mana quantity of 100 ¨C 500 units. Mana Sea stage would have 500 ¨C 1000 units and Mana Core stage would have 1000 ¨C 5000 units.


    Only people at the perfect stage of Mana Core would have a quantity as high as Cecil''s.


    This was Cecil''s amount while he was only at the Mana Vapor! Not to mention Lucia who had a mana quantity at the Perfect stage of Mana Sea while only being at the second stage of Mana Vapor.


    For Cecil, it was already explained before by Lucia''s mother, but Lucia herself had that large amount of mana attributed to the fact that her mother''s mana technique being so unique.


    The guild staff had already alerted the guild master of the two abnormalities that have just registered. So when the guild master came down to meet them, he halted when he laid his eyes on Lucia.


    After scrutinizing Lucia for a bit, the guild master had a brilliant smile plastered on his face. Then he told the guild staff that took their assessment that it was better if they kept things in a tight lid for now.


    After which the guild master followed the two out of the building.


    A while later inside the guild building''s cafe area...


    "Well, aren''t you two a promising duo."


    Said the elegant fox-kin male that was seated across from us.


    "Uhh, who are you again? We''re kinda in a hurry."


    "Haha, no rush, no rush~"


    "..."


    Lucia and Cecil were currently seated in a cafe across the guild building. After they finished ordering their food and handed the menu back to the waiter, a golden haired fox man abruptly sat himself in an empty seat at their table.


    The man had fox ears just like Lucia, but they were golden in color. He also had golden eyes just like Lucia''s father and if they took a closer look at him, he did somewhat resemble Lucia''s father.


    "We don''t know you, but aren''t you rude to not introduce yourself?"


    "Ah, where are my manners. I''m Kozaki. Guildmaster of the adventurer guild based in Forest Hill Town."


    "Wah?"


    "..."


    The duo speechlessly stared at the pretentious and shiny bastard that was in front of them. This guy... was the guild master?


    "...and what would the guild master want from two newly registered newbies?"


    "Haha~ no, it''s nothing. I thought I''d come down and see how my niece is doing~"


    "N-niece?"


    Cecil immediately looked towards the girl who was seated right beside him. She equally had a confused look on her face.


    "Haha~ I guess big brother doesn''t talk much about me huh~"


    "... you look a little like papa..."


    "Haha, that''s ''cause your papa''s my big bro~ which makes you my niece~"


    It turns out that the guildmaster of the adventurer guild in the town was Lucia''s uncle. As for why he rudely interrupted their lunch.


    "Well, a little birdy of mine came to report about two children with abnormal mana quantities~"


    "Abnormal? Oh yeah... I guess that''s us."


    "Yes~ well, when I saw my niece here, I figured how she would have abnormal amounts of mana, I guess sis-in-law taught you that right~?"


    "..."


    Taking a glance at Lucia, Cecil finds that she''s a bit uncomfortable talking to him.


    "What I couldn''t figure out was how you, a human boy, would actually have such an incredible amount of mana in you~ though I won''t pry, since you''re my niece''s boyfriend. Just make sure that you keep that hidden, alright~"


    "Wh-wha? B-boyfriend?! I-i-i, m-m-me w-w-with C-ce-Cel?!" Lucia exclaimed with a start.


    "Hah?"


    Cecil only responded with a dumb look on his face, while Lucia turned red as a tomato while trying to say something.


    "Mr. Uncle, please don''t try and embarrass Lucia."


    "Hoho~, well anyway boy~ you understand what I''m implying yes? The dangers and everything~"


    Although, Cecil was a bit confused, he remembered what his father once said. ''A man should always use 20 and hide the other 80.''


    He never understood what it meant, but the situation right now kind of clicked with what his dad always kept on saying.


    Not to mention the current tension the human and beast-kin continent were in right now. It was better if he kept a low profile and not attracts any attention towards himself. Attention and, as the guild master said earlier, danger.


    "Yes, I understand."


    The cards had the function to hide every other information on it with the exception of the name and rank.


    Lucia and Cecil were already planning to hide everything else besides their names and ranks, so even without the guild master''s warning, they would have done so anyway.


    "Good~, well I won''t keep you lovely couple from having your lunch~"


    "Uh, okay."


    "C-c-c-c-c-couple??!"


    Lucia has been inarticulate ever since the word ''boyfriend'' was said earlier. Cecil didn''t have any particular reaction towards what the guild master said though.


    It wasn''t any surprise however, since he never had any contact with relationsh.i.p.s and such so he couldn''t fathom the reaction Lucia had.


    "Hey, Lulu."


    "Y-YES!?"


    "Calm down, let''s just wait for our food and eat. Don''t pay attention to what your weird uncle said."


    Although he said that, Cecil himself pondered back at what the guildmaster said earlier, while waiting for the food to arrive.


    ''Dangers, huh''

 Chapter 26 - Abnormal, Uncle? 2

    Cecil was currently waiting for their food to arrive. While he was thinking, Lucia on the other hand was twiddling with her fingers and taking glances at Cecil.


    Seeing that he had no reaction whatsoever to her uncle''s previous statement and instead was thinking about something else, Lucia because a bit disappointed.


    ''Odd, normally this should have been a flag. The Guild Master finding out our true abilities, forcing us to do some super hard quest and whatnot, but this sure is unexpected.''


    It was odd indeed, normally the guild master would guide and recommend promising adventurers, but all he did was tell Cecil to hide his actual strength.


    ''Maybe has something to do with Lucia, since he is her uncle.''


    "Hey, Cel? What''re you thinking about?"


    "Just about your odd uncle, can''t believe someone like him is the Guild master."


    "Eh? Uhh, yeah. I''ve never heard mom or dad talk about him before."


    "Figures, I don''t think your parents wanted you to know about such an odd uncle, haha!"


    "Hahaha, I guess. Let''s hurry and eat. We still have to meet up with Scarlet Blaze after this~"


    "Yeah."


    ''But, hiding my actual strength huh''


    Cecil already had the thoughts to hide his actual strength. Since just by using his martial arts alone, coupled with the fact he could now integrate mana into his martial arts to some degree.


    It was no problem for him to face G-B ranked monsters single-handedly. And this was him being only 14 years old!


    This wasn''t the only thing he was hiding. On their way to Forest Hill Town, Cecil had asked Lucia to disguise his human features.


    So by using Illusion Magic, Lucia was able to disguise Cecil as a fox-kin just like her. The Illusion spell that Lucia used was a custom-made spell created by Mrs. Anna.


    It was a one-time cast spell that transformed the target into what the user imagined when the spell was cast.


    So right now, Cecil did not look human.


    Instead he was a three-tailed fox-kin just like Lucia. He had black triangular fox ears on top of his head. His tails were also black, but the tips were white in color. His pupils however were gold-colored just like Lucia''s pupils.


    It wasn''t anything special like him wanting to be the same like Lucia, but one time he saw his eyes while activating mana sight and it somewhat scared him.


    With mana sight active, his black colored pupils had a gold tint and a gold colored ring in his pupils that constantly pulsed, following his heartbeat.


    In order to not look weird, he asked Lucia to change his pupils color to be the same as hers. This way when he activated his partial mana sight, the weird change in his pupils wouldn''t be so noticeable.


    Of course, Lucia took this the wrong way. The small ''good'' misunderstanding earned Cecil a little kiss on the cheek from Lucia, which he of course, thought nothing of it.


    Looking at the pair, people from Earth would think Yin and Yang.


    With the food finally arriving, they quickly put a halt to their thoughts and started digging into their meal.


    "Hmm, taste okay. But it''s not as good as what Mrs. Anna makes..."


    "Haha, Mama''s dishes are always the best~!"


    As soon as they finished their meal, they get up and pay after which they quickly head towards the town square.


    Reaching the town square, they head towards the Monster Hunting Event, but quickly spot Cathy and Tyr waiting by the side of a stall near the Event Stage.


    They head on over to them and greet them.


    "Hey, Tyr. Hello Cathy."


    "Hi~"


    "Ah, Cecil, Lucia! Finished eating?!"


    "He-hello..."


    Tyr was as loud as always and Cathy only greeted them with a small hello.


    "Yup, so... where''s the other two?"


    "They saw you heading over so they went ahead and registered us into a party for the event."


    "Oh, okay then."


    After chatting for a bit, they spot Milly and Miles heading back over to them.


    "Hey! Cecil, Lucia! We took the liberty to register ourselves as a party already, you don''t mind right?"


    "No, it was our intention in the beginning."


    "Great!" Milly exclaimed with a huge smile.


    On the side, the quiet Miles speaks up.


    "The event will start tomorrow at 9 in the morning. We should all head back and finish up anything we''re doing. Prepare anything that needs preparing for the event then get a good night''s rest."


    "Okay then, Lucia and I will go bring food for our pet. We''ve already prepared everything we needed for a journey before even going to the guild. So, see you tomorrow."


    Cecil and Lucia head towards the gate they came in this morning with some barbecued meat that they bought from a stall near the guild building.


    Reaching the gate, they pass by the guards and notice that they are different than the ones that received them this morning. The guards all worked on shift so the morning and afternoon guards were different.


    They reach the ranch they left Silver at. They greeted the ranch master and headed towards Silver.


    Silver seemed to have picked up their presence from afar, so he was already waiting for the two by the ranch gate.


    "Hey Silv, sorry we took so long. Here''s your food."


    Silver replied with a happy bark and started gulping down the meat.


    After finishing the meal they take Silver out and hunt monsters in the forest surrounding the town.


    When evening approached, they headed back into the town. They find an inn near the town square that the party Scarlet Blaze recommended to them and checked in.


    Although they had a small mishap during the check in when Cecil asked for a single room with a double bed and Lucia over reacting to Cecil''s order.


    After the small episode the two were now sleeping on their beds... or at least they should be, but Lucia had climbed into Cecil''s bed and had fallen asleep clinging onto him.


    Even after all her embarrassment the entire day. When it was just the two of them, all the reservation in her heart seemed to have been tossed out the window.


    Tomorrow they would be joining the Monster Hunting Event with Scarlet Blaze. Cecil and Lucia were both excited at the thought, but that didn''t stop them from having their precious sleep.

 Chapter 27 - Monster Hunting Event 1

    The next day, Cecil woke up with Lucia clinging on to him.


    He wasn''t surprised since this was a common occurrence back when he was still living with Lucia''s family.


    They shared the same bedroom and just like this inn, they had different beds. But every single morning Cecil would always wake up and find Lucia clinging on to him.


    He was surprised at first, but then thought nothing of it. His little sister, Angelia, also did the same back on earth.


    Looking out the window, Cecil sees that it''s still a bit dark outside. He turns towards the girl clinging onto him and shakes her gently awake.


    "Hey, Lulu... wake up, it''s time for morning practice."


    "Hrmm... uhnm, five more minutes Cel~..."


    ''Hah, typical Lulu.''


    Seeing that the girl had no plans of getting up anytime soon, Cecil stops shaking her and moves his hand down slowly towards the girl''s waist.


    Sensing something ominous about to happen to her, Lucia''s eyes immediately snap open and she stares back at Cecil. Her golden colored pupils glinted brightly in the dark.


    Seeing her stare at him, Cecil stops his hand and stares back at her and asks,


    "What is it?"


    "...What were you planning on doing just now?"


    With his intentions seen through, Cecil decides to play dumb.


    "Milady, whatever is it that you are talking about?"


    "Gah! I knew it! Whenever, you talk like that, it''s only when you try to do something bad to me!"


    ''Wow, her reaction is almost just like Angelia''s''


    "Haha, so... are you getting up or not?"


    Since Lucia already knew what he was going to do, Cecil brazenly puts his hand on her waist while smiling.


    "F-fine, just don''t tickle me."


    "Hehe, good. We should never neglect our morning training no matter how tired we are."


    "...Meanie..."


    "Heh, if you just stayed on your bed then you wouldn''t need me to wake you up so early~"


    "NO!"


    With Lucia getting off of him, Cecil puts on his boots and walks over to the basin on a table near the corner of the room.


    "Lucia, help please?"


    "... Wait a bit."


    After combing her hair, Lucia walks up to Cecil, she extends a hand and concentrates. After about 2 seconds, she opens her eyes and say,


    "Aqua~"


    A small magic circle appeared above the basin. From Cecil''s partial mana-eyes, he could see that the mana in the air was flowing into the magic circle after which the mana started transforming.


    After the mana was swiftly transformed, water started to gush out slowly from the mana circle. Quickly the basin was filled with water.


    "You''ve gotten better using water now."


    "Yup~"


    Lucia smiles brightly after receiving his compliment.


    "Okay, so le¨C"


    Before Cecil could say anymore he was quickly interrupted by the smiling Lucia.


    "Haha, idiot Cel, are you seriously going to make a lady wait for you?"


    "...Lady''s first."


    "Glad you understand."


    Lucia washes her face first. After doing a quick wash, she empties the water into the sink next to the table and fills it up once more with water.


    "I''ll wait for you outside."


    "Okay."


    An hour later, after finishing up their morning training, the duo goes and takes a proper bath in the inn''s public bath area.


    Then they quickly have breakfast and hurry out the city gates.


    They head towards the ranch on the outskirts of town and feed Silver the food they ordered back at the inn.


    "Silv, we''re going to go back and meet up with our temp party. We''ll come back to pick you up when we go out for the hunting event."


    "Cel, you wait here with Silv. I''ll go and meet up with Milly and the rest and pick you both up later~"


    "Eh... okay? You sure, Lulu?"


    "Hehe, don''t worry so much~. Silv''s probably real lonely here by himself."


    "... Alright."


    "The event starts at noon, so I''ll come pick you up around that time~"


    ''What''s with her all of a sudden?''


    Lucia was already walking back to the town while Cecil was thinking. Normally the two would be inseparable so Cecil found it weird that she left him like that.


    ''It''s probably a girl thing.''


    "Hey pal, let''s go kill some time in the forest after you eat okay?"


    "Rawr!"


    Silver responds with a positive bark.


    After eating, the two head towards the forest close to the ranch. Cecil heard from the ranch master that although that part of the forest is closer to the town, it didn''t mean that it wasn''t dangerous.


    Actually, the reason why the administrators of the town built the ranch so close to the forest was to also act as a barrier and defense in case any stray monster came out of the forest.


    ''Well, at least we''ll get some exercise after our meal.''


    *************


    THWACK CRACK


    In the forest, a boy was currently in combat with an ape-like monster.


    The ape monster had barbed spikes that were spread all over the back of its body. It had sharply curled claws that were slashing towards the boy, threatening to disembowel him.


    Seeing the claws incoming, the boy quickly stepped forward and closed the distance between the ape and his body. With his body close to the ape, he extended a hand and smashed at the wrist of the ape.


    Seeing how the boy was doing something so foolish as to come closer to it. The ape was excited and didn''t pay any mind to the boy''s fist that accelerated towards its wrist.


    The ape instead tried to slash at the boy with his other hand, but before it could do so, the ape''s body suddenly went rigid and it quickly raised a pain-filled howl.


    The ape looked down at its wrist and saw that it was bent back in a way that it wasn''t supposed to be. The small boy had snapped the wrist of the ape with a seemingly light punch. The ape first felt pain and confusion. Then it morphed into rage.


    It quickly looked down at the boy and froze a little bit in fear.


    What it saw, were apathetic, gold eyes that gazed back. Right then and there, the ape felt a looming sense of death just by staring at the small creature''s gold eyes.


    After striking at the ape''s wrist, the boy leaned in with his shoulder and knocked the ape back.


    After a small knock-back he pulls back his fist and directs a punch at the ape''s abdomen.


    BAM


    Like a kite with its string cut, the ape flew back and smashed into a tree. It was fully embedded into the tree with all its limbs broken and blood seeping out of its orifices.


    ''Nice. It worked!''


    This boy was of course, Cecil.


    After the two had gone into the forest, they went deeper and started fighting a pack of Barbed Apes.


    Finishing his fight with the monster, Cecil takes a look around and sees Silver walking up to him.


    "Good work Silver."


    "Rawr!"


    Taking a glance behind Silver, Cecil sees over a dozen corpses of Barbed Apes on the ground. Some were disemboweled and others were split in twain.


    He looks back and sees his handiwork, there were only half a dozen spread around on the floor, up on the branches or embedded into the surrounding trees.


    What they all had in common was that at least 2 or more of their limbs were broken and they had blood leaking from their orifices.


    "Being able to incorporate a little bit of mana into my attacks really works wonders! There''s no way I could have done this back on Earth, haha!"


    It was such a scary scene surrounding the pair, but all that it earned was a light laughter from the boy.


    Looking up at the rising sun, Cecil estimates that it''s been at least an hour since they''ve gone into the forest.


    "Silv, let''s head back. We''ve done enough exercise and experimenting. We won''t need to be too worried hunting in the event. Besides, if Lucia doesn''t see us at the ranch by the time she gets back there... she''s probably gonna chew us up."


    "Raaah!"


    Giving a spirited bark, Silver leans down a bit to let Cecil jump onto his back. Confirming that Cecil was holding tightly onto him, Silver starts dashing straight for the exit of the forest heading back to the ranch.

 Chapter 28 - Monster Hunting Event 2

    After leaving Cecil and Silver at the ranch, Lucia was on her way to the town square.


    Passing through the gate, Lucia hurried on towards the agreed meeting place with Scarlet Blaze. When she arrived at the square she saw the party waiting by the event stage.


    It was pretty crowded, but the young party of four really stood out from the rest of the veteran''s that were crowding around the stage.


    Lucia walked towards them while calling out,


    "Milly!"


    Turning around, Milly, the flame lizardkin spellcaster saw a silver haired 3 tailed fox girl calling out to her.


    "Oh! Lucia! Quick come ''ere!"


    Walking up to the party, Lucia sees that Tyr and Miles are looking around. Upon seeing that Cecil wasn''t with her, Tyr immediately exclaimed.


    "Cecil''s not with you?!"


    Expecting a question like that, Lucia answers briefly.


    "He''s at the ranch with Silver. After the event starts can we go pick him up?"


    "Sure, sure!" Tyr answers.


    "Actually it''s pretty convenient. The area where we''re going to clear out is the forest close to the ranch."


    "Eh?"


    Hearing this Lucia starts to worry.


    ''Knowing Cecil and Silver... they might just go have a small training session in the forest...''


    Cathy sees that Lucia seemed to be worrying about something she tries to ask what''s wrong.


    "Uh..uhm... L-Lucia... is something, b-bothering you?"


    "Eh? N-no, it''s just that... knowing Cecil, he''d probably take Silver with him and train a bit in the forest near the ranch... since there''s supposed to be a lot of monsters in there, I''m worried if he goes too deep he might get in trouble..."


    "T-that''s b-bad isn''t it?"


    "Uhm... I''m gonna go back and check on them!"


    Seeing Lucia about to run back Milly speaks up.


    "Hey! Lucia, we''ll go too. The announcements just about finished so we''ll just go together and have a head start. Others have already skipped the announcement ceremony and are already hunting down the monsters in the forest."


    "WITH THIS, LET THE HUNTING BEGIN!"


    The lizard-kin on the stage that seems to be the mayor of the town announces the start of the hunting event.


    "Alright! Let''s go already, the announcements finished already!"


    Tyr was already running towards the gate of the town before he even finished yelling out his piece.


    Lucia and the rest quickly run after Tyr and quickly head towards the ranch.


    By the time they reach the ranch Lucia looks around frantically and sees that Cecil and Silver were nowhere to be found.


    "They''re already gone!"


    Milly starts prepping her party after seeing that Cecil wasn''t there.


    "Okay, formations as per normal. Lucia since you''re a spellcaster like me, just stay close to me later!"


    "Eh?! Uh, okay!"


    Not knowing what was happening, Lucia was caught in Milly''s flow and agreed to whatever it was she was instructed to do.


    "Alright, since we''re ready, LET''S GO!"


    Just as they were about to chase after Cecil into the forest, they hear someone shouting towards them.


    "HEY!"


    """Eh?"""


    The voice sounded familiar. The party quickly turns around and looks towards the person who was calling out to them.


    What they see was a huge 3 meter tall white wolf with a black haired 3 tailed fox boy riding on top of it waving his hand over at them. It was Cecil and Silver.


    The group quickly runs towards them and Lucia immediately began scolding the pair.


    "IDIOT! Weren''t you supposed to just wait at the ranch?!"


    Cecil wanted to tell Lucia about their small feat in the forest, but seeing as Lucia started flaring up at him for no reason, Cecil''s bright face darkened a little. Thinking that he didn''t do anything wrong, Cecil tried to argue back.


    "W-what''s wrong? It''s not like I made you wait for too long. I''m back already so why are you so mad?"


    "You just came back from the forest!"


    "Yeah, so?"


    Seeing him answer uncaringly, Lucia flared up even more.


    "IDIOT! It''s dangerous there! Don''t you remember why they even hosted the hunting event?!"


    "To hunt monsters... I''m not stupid Lulu. What''s with you anyway? I didn''t do anything wrong, so why are you yelling?"


    Hearing his careless remark and looking at his dull face. Lucia was just about to burst out at him again.


    "Cecil!"


    Seeing as the atmosphere was about to boil over, Milly immediately raises her voice. Remembering that Lucia wasn''t alone, Cecil started getting embarrassed that others were seeing them argue like this.


    "Oh, Milly...everyone... Sorry you had to see this. Quit it already Lulu, if you want to argue at least do it later... we shou¨C"


    "Cecil! Although we''ve only met yesterday, but you should apologize to Lucia right now!" Cathy immediately interrupted.


    Everyone was surprised. The normally stuttering and shy Cathy had raised her voice and spoke rather boldly without stuttering!


    Taken aback by Cathy''s sudden outburst, Cecil stammered in reply.


    "Wh-why?"


    "Look at her!"


    "Eh?"


    Cecil immediately turned towards Lucia.


    Lucia''s face was flushed red, she was biting her lower lip, and she had tears in her eyes. Seeing this, Cecil knew that he did something wrong.


    "L-Lulu? W-what''s wrong?"


    *Sniff* "I-idiot."


    Cathy raises her voice again, but this time it''s at Lucia.


    "And you Lucia!"


    "..."


    "I know that you''re worried, but you shouldn''t just flare up at him out of nowhere! How''s Cecil supposed to know why you''re mad if you don''t tell him why in the first place?!"


    After saying her piece, Cathy immediately realizes what she just did. Her face went red and she started clutching her tail in embarrassment.


    "Uhm... s-sorry."


    ''Okay this is confusing'' Cecil thought.


    "Wh-why are you mad anyway, Lulu?"


    Milly was the one who answered him this time.


    "The area of the hunt is at the forest you were just in... so basically that part of the forest is currently overpopulated with monsters."


    "Huh?!"


    Cecil remembered he trek through the forest earlier. Indeed the forest was overflowing with monsters even at the periphery. Cecil thought that it was just a common occurrence so he didn''t pay it any mind.


    He even went further into the forest with Silver and battled against a huge pack of Barbed Apes. After the fight, only then did Cecil find it unusual. Even on their way back the monsters seemed to be even denser than when he first went in.


    Thinking to here, Cecil finally realized where he went wrong and turned towards Lucia. He immediately did a 90-degree bow and apologized.


    "S-sorry Lulu... for making you worry like that."


    Lucia had already calmed down. Cecil was apologizing and she felt a little happy, but still very furious in her heart.


    "...Idiot."


    "Yes, yes. I''m an idiot. So please don''t be mad anymore okay?"


    "...Fine."


    Seeing the two make up. Milly butts in on their moment.


    "Okay, now that that''s out of the way. Let''s get to hunting!"

 Chapter 29 - Monster Hunting Event 3

    After resolving their problems, Cecil leads Lucia and Scarlet Blaze into the forest.


    "So... yeah, sorry about earlier again... I''ve already been through this part and cleared most of the monsters nearby so let''s use the path and go deeper into the forest and start our hunting."


    Hearing him say that, Lucia''s anger started boiling up again, but remembering that they should begin hunting now, Lucia calmed herself down.


    "So, Cel... did you get the proofs of subjugation from the monsters you defeated earlier?" Lucia asks.


    "Eh? Uh... no... I didn''t think the hunting event would be situated here..."


    "Even without the event, shouldn''t you still get the proofs? We could earn money from the guild remember! Stupid Cel?!"


    "Geh... sorry..."


    Cecil lowered his head in dejection. He really wasn''t thinking about that. He was elated at the results of his training that he only crushed all the monsters in his way and didn''t harvest any materials or even take the proofs of subjugation.


    Seeing the two, one black and one white 3 tailed foxkins, arguing like that, the party Scarlet Blaze felt that the duo were somehow fitting even when the scene in front of them was nowhere near harmonious.


    "Uh... you two... I think it''s alright. Cecil didn''t know, so how about we move ahead following Cecil''s path out. The corpses will still be there so we can just get the proofs and materials while we''re at it." Miles suggested.


    "YEAH! Let''s do that!!!


    "Keep it down, Tyr. Are you trying to attract all the monsters to us?!"


    "S-sorry."


    It was a good suggestion. Lucia started ordering Cecil to lead them into the forest. In the forest, Milly was a bit concerned that Cecil and Silver were the ones at the front.


    "Uhm, shouldn''t we have my brother in the front and Cecil and Tyr guarding us?"


    Milly asks Lucia.


    "No worries. Let them stay ahead. Later when a fight starts, observe how we fight first, so we don''t accidently get in each other''s ways." Lucia responds.


    "Makes sense. Later you should observe how we fight too."


    "Of course, Cecil and I will adjust ourselves with the party."


    "Okay!"


    At the front, Cecil raised his voice in alarm.


    "Forest ram! A dozen or so at our 10 o''clock!"


    Hearing the warning from Cecil, Lucia and the rest get ready for battle and said to Milly and the rest.


    "Remember, observe us first. If you think we need help, then you can back us up!"


    "Okay! You hear that everyone?! We''ll observe how they fight first! If they need help, only then we''ll help!"


    ""Yes!"" "Y-yes..."


    Scarlet Blaze distances themselves a bit and begin observing Lucia and Cecil''s fight. They don''t move themselves to far, just enough so that they could rush back to the fight just in case Lucia and co. needed their help.


    Lucia rushes up to Cecil standing a small distance behind him.


    "Silver! Don''t interfere in this one! It''s gonna be just me and Lucia fighting!"


    "Raaah!"


    Silver gives an affirmative bark and jumps back.


    "Okay, Lulu. Let''s do this!"


    "Yes!"


    Although the two had only been having arguments since yesterday until today, when a battle starts the atmosphere between the two looked like they could guess what the other was thinking even without words.


    Milly and the rest see this and give a nod of approval.


    Tyr, with his usual loud voice, immediately started shouting at his party.


    "SEE! SEE! I told you! They''re strong! They totally got this!!"


    The fight hasn''t even started, but Tyr was already shouting out their victory.


    "Settle down!" Milly scolds. "You might just attract more monsters with that loud voice of yours!"


    "''K-kay..."


    While they were talking, the Forest rams had finally arrived in front of Cecil and Lucia. The rams pause for a bit, but seeing that only 2 small children were blocking their way, the rams resume their stampede with a cry.


    The pack of 12 or so rams started charging at Cecil and Lucia.


    Without a word to Lucia, Cecil immediately rushes forward. Milly and the rest were surprised to see Cecil rushing forwards without even unsheathing his sword.


    As Cecil and the rams got closer, 6 fireballs flew past Cecil, heading towards the pack.


    "Explode!"


    Just before making contact with pack, the fireballs immediately exploded at Lucia''s command.


    The front most rams were caught in the explosion, while the ones behind were startled and tried to stop.


    Without stopping, Cecil rushed into the smoke caused by the explosion. His hands started glowing a bit and he jumped right into the middle of the pack.


    As he lands, Cecil strikes at the ground with his mana empowered fist. As his fist made contact with the ground, Cecil channeled the mana in his fist into the ground.


    "Ground Breaker!"


    BOOOOM


    With Cecil at the center, the surrounding earth collapsed and burst into shrapnel that sent the rams around him flying up into the air.


    Lucia was surprised seeing Cecil use an earth system spell, but she quickly regained her bearings and started chanting. Finishing her spell, she fired the spell at the helpless rams.


    "Fox Flame Lance!"


    The flame lances cut through the air impaling the rams into the ground or trees in the area.


    After taking out most of the rams with her earlier attack, Lucia quickly scans the battlefield and sends spells towards the rams who weren''t killed yet.


    Cecil also unsheathed a small knife on his leg and started dealing with the rams who weren''t caught in Lucia''s spell.


    There was nothing flashy about their battle, it started quickly and ended just the same. It was a quick and clean battle.


    Activating his mana sight for a bit, Cecil scanned the area and saw that there were no monsters in the vicinity and all the rams were defeated. He turned around and gave Lucia a thumbs up.


    "Nice one Lulu!"


    Hearing the compliment, Lucia relaxed knowing that the battle was over and started smiling back at Cecil.


    Seeing as the battle was already over, Milly and the rest who were standing a bit away from the pair were surprised at how efficient and quick the battle went.


    They thought that with the amount of rams in the pack, Cecil and Lucia would need their help at some point. They didn''t expect to pair to end the fight so quickly and cleanly.


    The party head towards the two and Milly exclaims,


    "WOW! That was so cool! The spells you used were simple, but you finished it all in 3 moves!"


    Milly''s party nods at her words. Miles continues,


    "I was surprised at first, seeing as Cecil rushed towards the pack without taking out his sword, but who would have thought that you would use a spell like that, that spell was ground breaker, yes?"


    Cecil replies, "Yes, it was suited for the situation. I create opportunities for Lucia and rely on her for offense. I help her set up an opportunity while she attacks and she cleans them up in one go."


    "That''s AMAZING! So that''s your usual style?!" Tyr asks.


    "N-not all the time... it depends on the situation... sometimes Cecil fights all the monsters himself if there''s only 4-5 of them." Lucia responds.


    "I-isn''t that d-dangerous?" Cathy asks worriedly.


    "We''re used to it. Besides, we always have Silver backing us up in case things go south." Cecil responds offhandedly.


    "O-oh.."


    Hearing Cecil respond like that made Cathy even more worried. She immediately asks Lucia.


    "A-are you okay with t-that... Lucia?"


    "I trust in Cel. Besides, he''s really strong you know!" Lucia replies with a happy smile.


    "Okay, next fight is our party''s turn!" Milly exclaims.


    "OUR TURN! OUR TURN!!" shouted Tyr.


    "Okay, we''ll stay at the back and back you guys up when needed!" said Cecil.


    "Alright! Let''s go!" With a spirited bounce, Milly starts leading everyone deeper into the forest.


    "Stop!" Miles exclaimed.


    "W-what is it Miles?"


    "A-aren''t we f-forgetting something?" said Cathy.


    "Rawr!"


    Even Silver was staying back with Miles and Cathy.


    Lucia immediately remembers what they forgot.


    "Shouldn''t we collect the subjugation proofs first?" said Lucia


    """Oh yeah!"""

 Chapter 30 - Monster Hunting Event 4

    It was already midday and Cecil and his temporary party were deep in the forest.


    During the past couple of hours, the group was constantly fighting the monsters that were densely packed together in the forest.


    They had already gone farther than Cecil had during his quick trek through the forest earlier in the morning.


    During this time, they had met other parties that were similarly hunting.


    There was an unwritten rule during the event that parties could help each other if it looked like a party needed or requested for help. But if not, then it was sensible to avoid each other to prevent problems like kill-stealing and such.


    A simple greeting was enough and each party would be on their separate ways soon after.


    Even though Cecil''s party was a bunch of teenagers, not one party they came across underestimated or looked down on them.


    Instead, the veteran''s that were participating gave them words of encouragement or even cautioning them about any strong packs that they sensed in the forest.


    Even though it was a competition everyone was acting amicable.


    "This seriously doesn''t feel like a contest or anything..." Cecil said.


    Hearing Cecil mumbling to himself, Tyr asked, "What''s that Ce?!"


    "O-oh... I''m just thinking that the event doesn''t feel like a contest."


    "Why''s that?!"


    "Well... every party we come across has practically been helping us out."


    Hearing what Cecil said, Miles raises his voice,


    "That''s because this isn''t a game. Although the event is a contest, we''re still putting our lives on the line trying to vie for first place."


    "Yeah, I guess you''re right." What Miles said made Cecil remember that this event wasn''t like any contest or event back on Earth.


    On Earth, every contest was just for sport and for fun. Here, even a simple contest like this could cost you your life.


    "Anyways, every party is expected to watch each other out on the field. You should never leave your fellow adventurer in the rut if they''re in trouble." Explained Miles.


    "Enough chitchat! I sense another pack coming right for us... they''re barbed apes!"


    Sensing a pack of monsters heading towards them, Milly quickly alerts the party.


    Cathy finished using her sensing spell and reported,


    "...15 o-or so... t-there could be m-more around the a-area..."


    "Let''s finish this quickly!" With those words, Tyr rushed to the front. Seeing him, Miles followed behind quietly.


    After fighting against the monsters in the forest for almost half a day, Cecil and Lucia were able to adapt themselves perfectly with the party, Scarlet Blaze''s fighting style.


    With Tyr and Miles as the vanguard, they had Cathy stay in the center of the group since she was the healer, while Lucia and Milly acted as the rearguard.


    Cecil and Silver were at the sides of the group and acted as support for both the rearguard and vanguard.


    Since Cecil and Silver had the most mobility, they acted as firefighters in case the group encountered another monster pack while still in combat.


    They bought time or directly took care of any additional monsters that were attracted to their fight.


    Readying her spell, Milly said to the fox girl beside her,


    "Lucia! Let''s take care of them quickly!"


    "Alright... Enchant ¨C Foxfire!"


    Lucia quickly casted an enchant spell and buffed Miles and Tyr''s weapons with foxfire.


    The barbed apes were now in the party''s visual range. They could see the apes charging towards them on the ground or swinging and jumping from tree to tree.


    Tyr quickly thanked Lucia and recklessly rushed at the monsters.


    "Thanks! Okay, here they come! Let''s crush them! HAHAHA!"


    Seeing as Tyr was already rushing towards the pack excitedly, Miles followed behind while tiredly saying,


    "...don''t get careless."


    Right when Tyr and the pack were about to collide, Tyr jumped and sent a flying kick at the front most barbed ape.


    "HIYAAAAHHHAHA!!!"


    Before the fight began, Tyr had already strengthened himself with fire-type body enhancement spells. By borrowing the momentum from his running kick Tyr had sent the ape he kicked careening back to its friends.


    The ape collided with the others behind him and halted the packs charge.


    The apes on the trees pounced down towards Tyr, but Miles had already arrived next to him and slashed the 2 apes in front, while the others were taken care of by Silver, Lucia and Milly''s magic spells.


    Silver sent out a wind blade bisecting 2 apes that were pouncing at Tyr, while the other 5 apes were impaled by Lucia and Milly''s flame lances.


    While everyone else was busy with their fight at the front. Cathy kept a look around the area while also paying close attention to the fight, so at a moment''s notice she''d be ready to cast a support or healing spell.


    Cecil on the other hand was on top of a tree branch. He was looking around with his mana sight, checking whether there were any other monster packs around them.


    After confirming that everything was fine, he was just about to jump down and join the fight only to see that it was already over.


    "...Hey, how come I''m stuck with the boring jobs?" Cecil asked exasperatedly.


    "Punishment... for not listening to me earlier~" Lucia said while collecting the barbed apes'' ears.


    "Come on already... if it''s like that, then Silver should also be doing the same!" He countered.


    "Hahaha~ no." Lucia deadpanned.


    Seeing the two at it again, Milly laughed and said,


    "You two really can''t give it a rest huh~. Well Cecil, it''s not that we don''t want your help, but if you joined then it wouldn''t be a ''hunt'' anymore."


    Hearing Milly, Cecil could only groan in displeasure. It wasn''t his fault. Cecil''s particular skillset just sort of changed their plans of hunting monsters.


    If Cecil did join in, it would no longer be a hunt... but a slaughter instead.


    A while back, when the group was fighting together, Tyr instinctively felt that Cecil was somewhat holding back.


    At first, Miles was upset since they were hunting with their lives on the line and Cecil was holding back. He thought that it would be an issue if a problem arose because one of them wasn''t taking the hunt seriously.


    At the time, Lucia wanted to say something only to have 3 packs of monsters suddenly ambushing them on all sides.


    Scarlet Blaze''s response was to put up a solid defense and sending an SOS using magic, but Cecil, Lucia and Silver quickly stepped in and resolved the crisis easily.


    Lucia''s tactics didn''t change. She kept firing her spells like a battery. Only this time the one setting up opportunities for her was Silver instead of Cecil.


    In the fight, Cecil was using an original spell he created which was called ''Mana Burst''.


    Mana Burst was a spell Cecil created so he could enhance his body with mana in short bursts. This way he could use the non-elemental body strengthening magic without destroying his mind or body.


    The trick was to quickly infuse mana into parts of his body in short time frames, merely a second or less, which he would then release it out into the environment.


    This kind of delicate mana manipulation was only made possible by his partial mana sight. Even then, Cecil had to be careful not to mistake his enhancement time. If he had perfect mana sight, then he was sure he would be able to use the Mana Burst spell for longer periods of time.


    With Mana Burst, Cecil was also able to imitate a limited amount of magic spells from other elemental systems.


    An example would be Cecil''s version of the Ground Breaker spell.


    In fact, the spell Cecil used wasn''t the Ground Breaker spell at all. The Ground Breaker was a spell of the earth element system. Cecil was a non-elemental user so there was no way he could have used the spell at all.


    What he used to match the spell ''Ground Breaker'' all relied on only the strength of his body after using Mana Burst.


    What Cecil did was he infused mana into his fist empowering it. Then he quickly punched the ground, the first impact would split the earth open around his first. After his fist was in the ground, Cecil would quickly channel the mana into the earth, he then manipulated the mana and made it explode, causing the ground to rupture.


    The only reason Cecil shouted out the name of the spell was because 1. He thought it was cool and 2. To prevent anyone from knowing he was a non-elemental user.


    Anyhow, by relying on his custom spell, Mana Burst. Cecil was able to dart around the battle at super high speeds by infusing mana into his legs and kicking off from the ground.


    He also repeatedly used ''Ground Breaker'', ''Rock Bullet'', and ''Wind Sickle'' and quickly dealt with the monsters that were attacking the group. The aftermath left Scarlet Blaze in a daze.


    Lucia was upset because she couldn''t ''practice'' her magic. So she banned Cecil from fighting with them unless they were in a life or death crisis.


    "... Are we going in any further?" Cecil asked.


    "Let''s quickly collect the materials and proofs then head further in." replied Milly.


    The group was already about done collecting their spoils. After a quick clean up, they headed further into the forest.

 Chapter 31 - Old Enemy 1

    Seeing that it was already high noon, Lucia asked the party,


    "Why don''t we take a lunch break? We''ve already hunted down a couple dozen packs of monsters already~"


    From morning until now, the party had hunted without breaks, hunting down one pack of monsters one after the other.


    The packs of monsters ranged from a mere 5 to as high as 20 or more. They had hunted plenty and it was high time they took a break.


    Milly immediately agreed with Lucia when she felt hunger kicking in.


    "Yeah, let''s eat first then go back to hunting."


    "A-are we g-going to eat h-here? O-or are we g-going back t-to the r-ranch?" Cathy stuttered.


    "It''s safer if we go back, but we''re already so deep into the forest..." said Miles.


    While everyone was debating about staying in the forest to eat or not, Tyr sat down and took out his lunch from his knapsack.


    "Let''s just eat already! I''m hungry!"


    "H-hey! It''s dangerous eating here in the forest!" Miles exasperated.


    Tyr was already digging into his lunch and ignored Miles'' warning. Seeing that one of them was already eating, Cecil immediately suggested,


    "Let''s take turns eating then. Tyr and you girls eat first. Miles, Silver and I will watch the area."


    """Okay"""


    "...*sigh* alright."


    Hearing the suggestion, the girls immediately plopped down and started eating their lunch with Tyr.


    Miles could only relent after seeing everyone taking their lunch out. So he kept watch of the surroundings with Cecil and Silver.


    "... shouldn''t you be eating Tyr?" Cecil asked in surprise when he saw Tyr was also keeping a look out with them.


    "What!? I''m done already! HAHA!"


    "..."


    Tyr only just sat down a couple of seconds ago. Cecil started wondering if he just shoved his whole lunch pack into his mouth in one go.


    Seeing Tyr going back to patrolling the area a bit, Cecil immediately activated his mana sight and quickly scanned the area.


    Upon noticing that there weren''t any monsters close to them, Cecil relaxed a bit.


    The girls were quick with their lunch and it was time for the guys'' turn to eat. Minus Tyr of course.


    Lucia handed Cecil his lunch and he immediately dug in. While he was eating, he saw Tyr eating beside him...


    "W-what the heck Tyr?!"


    "Hrmm? *munch* what''s up Ce?"


    "I thought you said you finished lunch?!"


    "HAHA! This is my second serving!"


    "..."


    Miles was on the side quietly eating his lunch. It seemed this was a normal occurrence for him. From time to time he would glance around the area and at Milly. Even while eating, Miles put the safety of the party and his sister first.


    ''As expected of an older brother'' Cecil thought.


    Cecil remembered how protective he and his brothers were towards their sisters. Especially towards the youngest, Angelia, the brothers literally pampered her to death and wouldn''t tolerate her being bullied or even crying.


    The brothers once started a ruckus at her grade school when Angelia came home crying with their mom.


    Cecil chuckled at the thought and resumed eating. He missed his carefree days with his family.


    Feeling someone staring at him, Cecil looked up and saw Lucia staring at him. After briefly making eye contact Lucia turned away and returned to keeping vigilant of the area.


    Cecil smiled and thought,


    ''It''s like having another younger sister. I wonder if my older bros would pamper Lucia the same way we do to Angel.''


    Cecil thought it was funny since they most certainly would, if it was a girl then they would protect, if it was a boy... well... let''s not go there.


    Cecil remembered the last time Fatima introduced the male vice-CEO of her company.


    ''Grandpa, Dad, Gabe, Matt and Luca weren''t pleased at all.''


    He wasn''t one to talk since the one with the biggest reaction of disapproval was actually Cecil himself. His mother had to placate him and kept on repeatedly telling him not to hack the man with his training sword.


    Cecil quickly finished up his lunch. He unbundled a huge steak from his bag and fed the steak to Silver. Silver finished the steak in one bite and went back to patrol the area.


    "Okay, let''s rest up for 30 minutes and continue our hunt! We gotta get first place everyone!" Milly exclaimed.


    The girls started chattering amongst themselves while the boys were polishing their weapons and glancing around the area from time to time.


    Cecil was sitting down with his eyes closed in meditation. He was quietly condensing mana into his eyes, trying to solidify the mana in his eyes.


    He only had partial mana sight so he wanted to use every moment he had to train and quickly gain perfect mana sight.


    As for his mana stage, he wasn''t too worried about that. He already had as much mana as the mana core stage, so all he needed to do was focus more on his mana sight training.


    The faster he gained mana sight, the faster he can resume his mana training.


    Not even 10 minutes into their break, Cecil sensed a disturbance in the surrounding mana. Not long after Silver came back and started barking at them.


    "Rah!"


    "I feel it too... everyone I think a battles happening somewhere to our west!"


    Cecil immediately notifies his party and waits for everyone''s decision on whether to check it out or to stay away.


    "Hmmm... maybe it''s only another party battling monsters, we shou¨C"


    Before Milly could finish her sentence, an SOS signal was fired into the air. It was coming from the area west to them!


    "Scratch that! Everyone hurry!" Milly yelled.


    She was already rushing towards the area where the SOS signal was fired from. Miles and Tyr quickly caught up to her and rushed ahead.


    Cathy and Lucia were running behind Milly while Cecil and Silver were bringing up the rear.


    It didn''t take them long to reach the source of the SOS.


    They arrived at a clearing... no it wasn''t actually a clearing. The reason why the dense forest had such a huge clearing was because the trees in the area were all hacked down.


    Tyr and Miles who were up front, quickly halted their steps and scanned the area. The area was devastated. Numerous gouges and pits littered the area. It was evident that a hard battle had taken place here just now.


    When the rest of the group arrived behind the two, they also scanned the area. What they couldn''t find though were the party that sent the SOS and whatever it was they were fighting.


    Right when Cecil was about to activate his mana sight again, a loud intimidating roar sounded out at their 2 o''clock direction.


    The party quickly dashed towards the direction of the roar.


    ''Oh SHIT!'' Cecil thought.


    "BLADE URSA!" exclaimed Tyr.


    "Damn, it''s a whole tribe of them!" Miles said.


    "I see the party! They''re being surrounded, let''s hurry up and help ''em!"


    Miles, Tyr and Silver were already charging towards the tribe of ursas right after Milly gave the directive.


    Milly started prepping her spell while Lucia started enchanting Miles and Tyr''s weapons. She quickly turned around and saw Cecil glancing around the area, after confirming that it was only the tribe around Cecil immediately charged forward.


    Seeing as Cecil was already charging ahead, Lucia started chanting and quickly fired her spells at the ursa tribe.


    "WE''RE HERE TO HELP!" Tyr quickly announced his and the party''s presence to the ursa tribe as well as the party who requested for back up.


    "T-thanks! Thank god!"


    The ursas were surrounding the party so Cecil and the rest could only here a ''thanks'' from behind the wall of monsters.


    The Blade Ursa was a monster in the shape of a bear with sharp claws, a blade like horn and had two sickles growing out of its elbows. It was 5 meters in height and was a very familiar monster to Cecil.


    ''Damn... I didn''t expect to see an old enemy here''


    Cecil smiled at the thought. He quickly unsheathed his sword and dashed towards the closest blade ursa. These were the monsters that he faced right when he was first teleported into Alterna.


    ''This time... I''ll kill you myself!''

 Chapter 32 - Old Enemy 2

    Cecil activated mana burst and kicked off the ground and dashed towards the nearest Blade Ursa.


    The thought of taking down the monster with his own hands excited him a bit.


    Cecil''s movement was so fast that it looked like he teleported behind an ursa from where he was standing.


    Cathy and Milly were naturally surprised seeing him move so fast, due to their surprise the two had involuntarily exclaimed,


    "Shukuchi?!"


    Only Lucia seemed calm after seeing Cecil move so fast for the first time. Earlier, Cecil had already secretly explained to her why he was suddenly able to use ground breaker.


    So Lucia was fully aware of all the details to Cecil''s Mana Burst. She only took a glance at Cecil and seeing him attack so eagerly, Lucia continued channeling her spell and sent them slicing towards the ursa Miles and Tyr were assaulting.


    Milly quickly snapped out of her surprise after seeing Lucia''s spell being launched at the monsters. She quickly followed suit and began firing at the ursas with flame lances.


    ''So he can also use wind magic spells.'' Milly thought.


    She took another glance at the small fox boy that was darting around at blinding speeds whilst slashing at multiple ursas with his sword.


    *sigh* ''He was holding back while he was already holding back.'' She lamented in her mind.


    Milly had already thought that Cecil was finally showing his 100% after ambush this morning, but it seems Cecil had only used a fraction of what he was capable of.


    On the side, Cathy mumbled to her,


    "C-cecil''s like a b-box of s-surprises..."


    "Haha, there''s more to him than this."


    She turned a surreptitious glance to Lucia who was not far from her.


    ''Even Lucia''s the same. Just where did these two pop out from?''


    While she was thinking so, Lucia turned to her and said,


    "Milly! Tell everyone to get back! I''ll make an opening!"


    "E-eh? Okay!"


    Lucia put a stop to her barrage and started chanting loudly,


    "Surge in multo igni¨C"


    "W-what?!"


    Milly recognized the chant right away. It was the chant to the intermediate fire magic spell Scorching Array. It was a spell only spell casters who had reached the Mana Sea stage could cast!


    ''I-isn''t she only at the Mana Vapor stage!''


    Seeing Lucia already halfway through her chant, Milly quickly shouted to the wolf and boys who were at the front.


    "EVERYONE! GET BACK! LUCIA''S USING SCORCHING ARRAY!"


    Tyr and Miles were surprised hearing that an intermediate spell was being used, they quickly backed off. The ursas that were attacking them tried to chase after, but Silver started stalling them by firing off Wind Sickles from afar.


    Cecil was still in the heat of battle, but he already felt Lucia gathering a huge amount of mana from the surroundings ever since she started chanting.


    Cecil upped his tempo and started indiscriminately slashing at any ursa around him. He was trying to bait some of the ursas so Lucia''s spell wouldn''t accidently hit the party they were trying to save.


    Of course, Lucia wasn''t that stupid enough to use the wide area spell and accidently affect her allies.


    But even so, Cecil wanted to make precautions. He continued slashing at as many ursas as he could, when he saw that he had successfully garnered their attention, he started to back off.


    The ursas were only monsters and didn''t think any further except to rend the bastard who sliced their flesh. They saw he bloodied sword that Cecil was wielding and realized that the small fox boy was the source of their pain.


    Seeing as the fox boy was backing off, the ursas immediately chased after him.


    Cecil didn''t activate his Mana Burst as he was backing off. He needed to lure the ursas away so he at least needed to be visible to them.


    While he was retreating, Cecil was thinking about his earlier bout.


    ''I still can''t slice them in half or chop off their arms even with the sword. I channeled enough mana into the blade so why can''t I?''


    Cecil was thinking about why, but then he suddenly felt that the mana in the air gather around his area quickly.


    ''Seems like Lucia''s finished.''


    He quickly activated his mana sight and looked around. He saw the mana in the air quickly forming into a spell crest. He activated Mana Burst and blinked away from the area.


    Cecil arrived next to his party and saw that the ursas were dumbfounded when the prey they were chasing suddenly disappeared. Next to him, Lucia quickly finished her chant and pointed at the ursas.


    "...¨C. Scorching Array!"


    With his mana sight still active, Cecil saw that the fire element mana in the air quickly gathering. The mana then changed into fire and a pillar of fire rose up from the ground where the ursas he lured out were standing.


    CRACKLE SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII


    A high pitched screech accompanied the spontaneous combustion of flames that rose from the ground. The crackling was the sound of ursa being cooked.


    ''Heh, magic can really create something out of nothing!'' Cecil thought.


    Well, creating something out of nothing was a little bit of a stretch here. The flames were still created from mana turning into fire so it wasn''t exactly ''nothing''.


    ''Anyway, since at least half of the pack is being roasted over there. Let''s deal with the other half.''


    Cecil leaned forward while activating Mana Burst again.


    "Hup!"


    With a shout he quickly disappeared from where he was standing. Silver also quickly dashed forwards to attack the remaining ursas.


    Seeing the two''s actions, everyone else besides Lucia, who was still channeling her spell, quickly remembered what they were supposed to be doing.


    Milly immediately exclaimed,


    "Lucia''s dealt with half the pack now! Let''s finish the rest and rescue that party!"


    "OU!"


    With a spirited shout, Tyr dashed towards the remaining ursas with Miles following right beside him.


    With half the tribe of ursa out of the way, they could now see the party that they were supposed to rescue. There were still at least 3 people fending off the ursas while 2 others were being dragged away from the fight by 1 of their party members.


    "CATHY!"


    "Y-yes..."


    Cathy ran forward while chanting a healing spell. Although they were far, as long as Miles and the rest attracted the ursa tribe''s attention, she should be able to get to a close, but safe distance to be able to use a remote healing spell on the two who were injured.


    Sure enough, with Cecil, Tyr and the rest attracting their attention, Cathy and Milly were able to get close enough to heal the injured party members.


    "Healing Wave!"


    Cathy finished her chant and pointed her rod at the two who were injured. As long as she was close enough and had visibility of her target, she would be able to successfully heal anyone!


    "T-thanks!"


    Surprised at the sudden healing spell, the boy who was dragging his two party members quickly looked up and shouted his thanks at them.


    The ursas who sensed the healing spell from Cathy immediately roared ferociously and turned towards her.


    This wasn''t the first time this had happened and she quickly retreated along with Milly who was now firing magic spells covering their retreat.


    "CECIL!"


    Before Milly even shouted, Cecil had already blinked in front of the ursa who was just about to charge at the duo.


    Cecil jumped up and kicked at the bear''s face. With its head suddenly snapped back, the ursa was disorientated and started falling backwards.


    Cecil wasn''t one to show mercy so he quickly started channeling mana into his sword. This time though, he channeled more than he usually did.


    ''If my last strikes didn''t work, then let''s add more mana then!''


    This was a reckless act on Cecil''s part, but he was in the heat of the moment so he didn''t care about the consequences.


    He channeled enough mana into his sword that made the blade light up and tremble.


    "URRAAAHH!"


    With a shout, Cecil slashed his sword at the neck of the ursa while he was falling from his jump.


    Cecil wanted to cleave off the monster''s head, but when he drove his blade across the monster''s neck, he felt as if he wasn''t even slashing through anything.


    ''W-what?!''


    BOOOOMMMMMMMM


    As Cecil was surprised at the sensation he didn''t feel from his hand, an explosion followed suit right after his momentary lapse of attention.

 Chapter 33 - New Skill! 1

    "Eh?"


    Cecil could only stare stupidly at the aftermath of his reckless decision.


    In front of him was a deep gouge and upturned earth that spanned 10 meters from his left to his right.


    The battle was put to a quick stop since all the ursas in front of Cecil had either disappeared, was dismembered, or had a part of their bodies missing.


    "W-what the f¨C"


    "WHAT WAS THAAAT!!!" Tyr had already run over to Cecil while questioning him with a shout.


    "..." Cecil was too confused to even respond to Tyr.


    ''What was that anyway?''


    Cecil raised his sword and saw the light from his blade receding. The mana that was infused into the blade was dissipating. Along with the mana, the blade of his sword was slowly crumbling into dust as well.


    "NO!"


    ''Crap. I forgot!''


    It was the most elementary lesson he learned from Lucia''s father, Zaki.


    Cecil was training one afternoon, he was training on imbuing his mana into the objects in his surroundings. This was his initial try at creating the Mana Burst spell.


    Mr. Zaki saw this and came to observe. Seeing as Cecil was imbuing mana into objects such as the earth, sticks, and other objects only to see him destroying them, Mr. Zaki went forward and gave him tips and directed his training a bit.


    "I see many swordsmen and fighters imbuing their mana into weapons, so I think this should be a little help. You shouldn''t recklessly imbue mana into things, Cecil."


    "How come?"


    "It''s because of what happened with the stone you injected mana into earlier."


    "It... exploded?"


    "Yes. If you imbue too much mana into an object that it passes the affinity threshold of said object, then the only result would be you destroying the object."


    "Ohh,.. I see... so then I should just do it in moderation?"


    "Yes and no. For you it would be a problem since you can''t control how much mana you imbue because of your vast amount of mana. The only other solution would be to find materials with high magical affinity and craft them into a weapon that could withstand your mana."


    "Ahah! I see... thanks Mr. Zaki!"


    Of course Cecil was able to control his mana a bit now, so he could imbue small amounts of mana into objects. But other fighters would normally craft weapons or buy weapons that have a high mana affinity threshold.


    The sword that Cecil had Mr. Argon craft was made from the first Blade Ursa he defeated. Since it was monster materials and Mr. Argon had also added some metals with high magic affinity into it, the mana threshold was enough for a normal average fighter to imbue his mana fully into the sword.


    Cecil had always imbued mana that would reach just below the sword''s breaking point, but because he had thoughtlessly injected such a huge amount of mana into the sword, it had now started to disintegrate when the mana that was holding it together dissipated into the air.


    Seeing as his thoughtless action ruined his sword. Cecil felt a little down. He ignored Tyr who was constantly chattering at him and sadly looked at the hilt in his hand.


    The blade part had fully disintegrated. Cecil was already lamenting sadly in his heart.


    ''Not even a week has passed... and I''ve already lost my weapon.''


    Seeing as the fight was over. The party that Cecil and friends had rescued came up to them. Milly went over to receive them.


    The catkin male that was supposedly the leader spoke up,


    "*cough* Thank you for the save. We nearly kicked the bucket earlier."


    Milly was just about to ask them if they were alright, but seeing as the leader was able to crack a joke, she concluded that everything was fine on their end.


    "No problem, us adventurers are supposed to have each other''s backs. So no biggie!"


    "Thanks. I guess this is the end of the line for us. We didn''t expect to run into a huge tribe of ursas. Although you guys are young, you sure do pack quite the punch! We''ll be going back to the town now. We''ll be rooting for you fellows!"


    "Thanks! Stay safe on the way back!"


    The party leader turned back towards his party and led them in the direction of the town. But before they walked away, every member including the leader, with the exception of the two who were unconscious, took a second glance at Cecil.


    They were of course shocked at the spectacle they just witnessed earlier. It was the first time they had ever seen such a bizarre, but deadly technique.


    They wanted to ask what the name of the skill that saved their lives, but seeing as the fox boy who had saved them was looking sadly at the sword in his hand... or at least whatever remained of the sword, they kept quiet and left.


    As they were walking back, a female member of the party who was around Cecil''s age said to her party leader,


    "He looks to be the same age as me, but he''s so strong!"


    The leader looked back and said to the catkin female.


    "Yeah, he''s the same age as you Aki, but he''s leagues ahead in strength!"


    "I wonder what that skill was called! Why didn''t you ask him earlier, Bram?"


    "...you should learn to read the mood sometimes."


    After responding as such, the leader, Bram, walked ahead.


    Back at the clearing, Cecil and the rest were quickly collecting the subjugation proofs of the Blade Ursas.


    After quickly collecting them, they handed them all to Milly for safekeeping. During this time, Tyr wouldn''t give it a rest and kept on pestering Cecil for an answer. The rest were likewise curious so they had no intention of stopping Tyr.


    Cecil was too busy lamenting in his head that he just kept ignoring Tyr.


    They continued collecting the Blade Ursa''s useable materials. The bodies that were left behind were in such a bad shape that they had a negligible harvest. The same went with the half that Lucia burnt to death.


    The ursas that Lucia scorched seemed to come out even worse than what Cecil did since the party couldn''t even collect the subjugation proofs or materials. Just a slight touch would make the Ursa''s corpse crumble into chunks of charcoal.


    Letting out an exasperated sigh, Milly could only tell the party to continue forward and keep on hunting. The event would only finish after 3 days anyway.


    The first day they would need to have one or more of their party members head back to town and turn in today''s subjugation proofs. This would be the same for the next two days.


    The committee would calculate how much proofs they had for the first day all the way into the last day. The total tally would then be calculated and summed. The party with the most proofs would be declared the winner of this monster hunting event.


    On their way to a new area, Cecil had already thrown away the hilt of his sword.


    ''I left my spare at the inn. Guess I''ll just use my fist like usual.''


    Cecil was letting out another sigh when Lucia came over to his side and handed something to him.


    "Here, stupid."


    Hearing Lucia talk to him, Cecil looked up and saw Lucia holding the spare sword that Mr. Argon crafted for him using the other elbow blade of the Blade Ursa.


    "I thought I left this back at the inn..."


    "That''s why you''re stupid. I went back earlier this morning before meeting up with Milly and the rest. I thought it would be good to bring it just in case something happened. I didn''t think you would be stupid enough to break your own sword though. Mr. Argon would surely be sad if he found out~"


    "Urk... thanks Lulu..."


    "You''re welcome, stupid Cel~"


    "Please... just please stop calling me stupid."


    "No~"


    With a cheery reply Lucia skipped ahead and began talking to Milly and Cathy. Cecil looked ahead and began thinking.


    ''That skill I used earlier was pretty cool... I have to master that since it''s also pretty powerful.''


    Cecil resolved to himself that the next time he used the skill; he would not destroy his sword. He then started mumbling to himself.


    "Guess I''ll name it Excal¨C, no wait that''d be copyright. Also I wouldn''t look cool shouting that."


    Cecil started thinking hard for what name he would use when he finally mastered the technique.

 Chapter 34 - New Skill! 2

    For the next two days the party hunted down monster packs in the forest.


    The person who was tasked as the courier was Cecil. He volunteered himself and he was also the fastest person in the party.


    Every evening he would shuttle back and forth from the town and the party''s campsite within the forest, bringing with him the proofs of subjugation to the town, while returning to the campsite with supplies he bought from the town.


    Cecil didn''t mind this since he wasn''t really able to do any hunting alongside the party. They would only ever need his help during rescue ops when other parties sent SOSs.


    During the two days of their hunt. Cecil was only going around helping the rest of his party occasionally, while most of the time he would be sitting down with mana sight activated and scouting out the area.


    He was also focusing and meditating on ways he would be able to perfect his new found skill which he dubbed as ''Mana Blade''.


    He was still experimenting with the skill, but he had finally found the direction where he should improve upon to be able to make the skill usable even without any good weapons that had a high mana affinity.


    During his experimentations in the past 2 days, Cecil concluded that by fully injecting his mana into an object, said object would only be able to hold the mana for a brief moment, around 1-2 seconds or so.


    If he didn''t launch the mana out of the object then the said object would explode. If he did launch the mana out, then the object would just disintegrate exactly how his previous sword had.


    If he injected too little mana in the blade then the amount wouldn''t even be enough to cause any significant damage to a tree, let alone any monster.


    The only way to cause any fatal damage and to trigger the ''Mana Blade'' was to forcefully inject at least 3-4000 units of mana into the object and launch the Mana Blade.


    It was a dilemma for Cecil since he wasn''t rich enough to use weapons as disposables. Although the technique was powerful, the price that came with its usage was too exorbitant.


    But just today he was able to discover a small trick that let him use a pseudo-Mana Blade, instead of the full powered one that eliminated the Blade Ursa tribe.


    The trick was to inject as much mana as he could into the object, but instead of overloading the object with his mana, he wouldn''t release the mana outside of the object and have it circulate around it, forming a cycle around the object.


    This way the mana would act as a literal blade around the object. Cecil first tested it out on a tree branch and used it to slice through a branch the size of his waist.


    Although he wouldn''t be able to launch the mana like the first time, at least this technique which was the by-product of the Mana Blade wouldn''t destroy the weapon Cecil was using.


    He named this the ''Mana Cutter.''


    It wasn''t anything special, since there were similar techniques as that, such as enveloping fire element mana around a sword or enchanting magic such as Lucia''s spells.


    The only real difference with this any other techniques was that it didn''t need any spell chants. All the technique needed was for one to have a delicate control of mana and create a cycle around an object then circulate the mana at high speeds.


    It was practically a mana chainsaw. Cecil''s knowledge from Earth inspired him to create this skill. It was no Mana Blade, but it was better than nothing and at least he got something out of destroying his sword.


    He was able to explain his theory to Lucia, but because of how taxing it was to keep up the circulation of mana around an object and how much concentration one needed to perform such delicate mana control, it was unusable for her.


    Although she understood the theory, Lucia didn''t have enough mana to create a full mana cycle around the blade.


    She also explained to Cecil that she would have a difficult time keeping her concentration on the skill while in a fight.


    Cecil took note of this and realized that in order to be able to use ''Mana Cutter'', you needed at least 2000 units of mana. Only then would you be able to have enough mana to create the mana cycle around an object.


    As for the concentration problem, for Cecil, controlling and manipulating mana was as easy as breathing to him due to the fact that he has mana sight.


    For others however, they needed to put their full attention on a chant in order to invoke a spell. Concentration was key for others.


    Using the Mana Cutter seemed implausible unless you had mana sight, an elemental physique, or you were specifically skilled at multi-tasking.


    Right now for Lucia, she wasn''t able to multi-task nor did she have an elemental physique or mana sight. She could only continue practicing her mana control and most importantly, cultivate her mana to 2000 units or more.


    From what Mrs. Anna said, since childhood Lucia had an abnormally good control over mana that it was only a few levels lower compared to some very powerful Perfect Stage Spellcasters and Sages.


    With due time, Lucia would also be able to use the ''Mana Cutter''.


    ''Looks like I''ll up her training a bit.''


    Cecil smirked at the thought and Lucia instantly felt a chill crawl up her spine. She looked around alertly thinking that some terrifying beast was currently eying their party.


    When she couldn''t find anything in her surroundings, she turned to look at Cecil wondering if he found something and saw that hideous smirk on his face. She knew all too well what Cecil was thinking with that stupid smile of his.


    Lucia instantly knew that it had something to do with training.


    ''He''s thinking something bad again... If it''s something stupid, I''m gonna knock him up good later.''


    Cecil and Lucia were currently on their way back to town alongside Scarlet Blaze. Today was the last day of the event and they were going to cash in their final amount of subjugation proofs just before the event ended.


    The results would be announced in 2 days after the committee behind the Monster Hunting Event tallied in all the participating parties and individuals'' amount.


    The rewards would be split between Parties and Individual categories. Cecil and the rest were aiming for the first place prize in the Party Category in the event.


    First Place would get 1000 gold credits and every member would get an opportunity to either pick a full set of equipment from the government''s vault or promote their party members individual ranks to Silver if said member were in the 3 lower ranks or promote 2 stars in a rank if they were an adventurer above the 3 lower ranks.


    The gold credits and the rank promotion was what Cecil and Lucia were after. As for the other place rankings'' rewards; Second Place gets 500 gold credits and one piece of equipment from the government''s vault and Third place only gets 250 gold credits.


    The individual rewards were also the same. Except the gold credits rewards would only be 500 for First Place, 250 for second, and 100 for third.


    Considering the vast amount of monsters and subjugation proofs that Cecil and co. had hunted and collect, they had confidence that they would be able to snatch first place in this time''s event.


    While everyone was pretty uppity with their harvest and were having conversation with each other, Cecil was still deep in thought.


    ''Although Mana Cutter is great and all, I still need to find a way to use ''Mana Blade'' without destroying any of my weapons... looks like the only way is to buy or craft a weapon that has enough capacity to hold all my mana without self-destructing.''


    The only conclusion he got for now was to find materials to craft a weapon that had the capacity to hold all his mana. Buying a weapon of that quality seemed too far for him right now since it seemed impossible to find such a weapon in Forest Hill Town.


    ''Maybe I''ll have some luck when I arrive at Angla City. Hopefully during our journey to the capital we''d be able to stumble upon materials with high magic affinity.''


    It was wishful thinking on Cecil''s part. Magic Materials isn''t so easy to find in Alterna, unless you go dungeon diving.


    Cecil and Lucia didn''t know this yet, but their first ever dungeon dive would be just around the corner.

 Chapter 35 - End of the Event 1

    By the time the party had arrived back at the town. It was already late into the evening and the gates were already scheduled to close for the day.


    Cecil and the rest hurried on into to the city and quickly headed towards the plaza. On the way, they could also see other parties heading towards the same direction.


    There were so many that if it wasn''t for the sky being dark, Cecil would have thought that it was still in the middle of the day during rush hour when the townspeople were hawking their wears or were working in the taverns, restaurants, and shops.


    When Cecil and co. arrive at the plaza, the entire place was packed with people. The races were diverse, but a majority of them were Lizard-kin after Cecil took a glance around. There were others like him and Lucia who were from the fox race. He also saw dwarves, elves, cat-kin and dog-kin.


    ''Wow.... this has got to be the coolest thing I''ve ever seen in my life!''


    Cecil''s eyes were sparkling as he looked around like the kid he was. He was so fascinated that the bull shit his father and grandfather had fed him as a child was actually now true and being displayed right before his eyes.


    The atmosphere was boisterous and everyone was talking creating a ruckus. Parties were comparing with each other on how much they had. There were also many parties like Cecil''s who were carrying monster materials with them.


    Cecil''s party stood out since they had a wagon with a whole bunch of monster materials in it being pulled by Silver.


    Right as they entered the plaza many of the adventurer parties directed a glance towards them. Many of them were bewildered at the sheer amount of materials that the party had.


    The wagon was practically overloaded with materials that it had formed a small hill. During the latter half of the day, Cecil had participated in the party''s hunt. So he went on a killing spree while experimenting with ''Mana Cutter'' and ''Mana Blade''.


    The result was the mountain of materials on the wagon.


    Actually, the wagon was only a small upgraded version of what was originally a cart. The party had created a cart at first, but then Cecil upgraded the cart to a wagon because of the sheer amount of materials he harvested after his experiments.


    Cecil''s party attracted a lot of attention, but most people didn''t put their attention to the party members. Instead they had their attention directed towards Silver who was pulling the wagon.


    A 4 meter tall and 5 meter long wolf would of course attract attention. But some of the adventurers seemed to come to some sort of realization after seeing Silver. The other adventurers seemed to have made the conclusion that the party of teenagers was only able to have such a bountiful hunt because of Silver.


    With this conclusion, they stopped paying attention the Cecil''s party while some even scoffed and directed a disdainful gaze towards them. Especially since they saw the small, black, 3 tailed fox that was acting like some curious child leading the party.


    Cecil was preoccupied with the sight before him so he didn''t register any of the other adventurers'' change in attitude. This wasn''t the same with Lucia and Scarlet Blaze though.


    Milly, seeing the change in atmosphere around them and the scornful gazes that were being directed towards them immediately scoffed.


    "Heh, they think all of this was because of Silver."


    "With Cel, acting like that... it''s not really a surprise though." Lucia responded.


    "Hmph, that curious child upfront is the exact reason why we''re in this situation in the first place. Not like they''d understand anyways. Anyway, why is Cecil like this though? It''s like his first time seeing such a gathering."


    "Well... it actually is though. He''s been living in the forest away from our village with his parents. So he was only exposed to society around a month ago."


    "WHAT?! Seriously!" shouted Tyr.


    Everyone was surprised hearing this, but Tyr as usual, couldn''t refrain himself from shouting.


    "Hmmm... that explains why he''s a bit introverted. He talks a lot with you though Lucia."


    "Hehe, that''s because I''m his only childhood friend."


    Lucia lied but she wasn''t entirely wrong. Other than her, there were only two other people, a boy and a girl, who Cecil actually played with during his free time back on Earth. It was only once so Cecil had already forgotten about them, since he had to go back to his arduous training soon after.


    Anyway, Lucia being Cecil''s only childhood friend was the back story of their relationship that Cecil spun up. He couldn''t go around announcing that he was an otherworlder now could he?


    So Cecil was Lucia''s childhood friend and his parents had passed away 4 months ago in an accident. Cecil began living with Lucia''s family in Fauxe Village only 3 months ago.


    Lucia''s parents found that Cecil had a high affinity with mana and he would be able to become a spell caster if he was taught the knowledge.


    So Lucia and Cecil were now on their journey towards Angla City, the capital of Anglaria Kingdom to enroll in Arks Royal Academy, which was the number one Magic Academy in Anglaria Kingdom.


    "I see, so because Cecil was living deep in the forest with his parents... that explains why he''s so adept at magical combat." Miles said.


    "S-so Cecil''s a-an orphan? ... h-he lived i-in such a d-dangerous place too..." Cathy said sadly.


    "No worries Cathy! Cecil''s already over it. He wants to live happily now for the sake of his parents! So don''t feel sad on his account, it''d only ruin his mood and remind him of bad memories!"


    "Y-yeah... g-good luck Cecil!" Cathy responded to Lucia.


    Hearing his name, Cecil turned around and asked.


    "What''s that? Someone call me?"


    "Eh?! N-no! J-just... b-be happy Cecil!" Cathy stuttered.


    "Uhm... okay? Haha! Anyway, this place is great! Shouldn''t we hurry and submit the rest of our proofs now? The booth is just up ahead, let me go. The clerk lady already recognizes me from my previous returns!" Cecil said cheerily.


    Hearing the word ''lady'' come from Cecil''s mouth, Lucia''s smile froze and cracked a bit.


    "Ha...hahaha... I''ll go with you, Cel..." Lucia said darkly.


    "Okay!"


    "Remember... just shut up and let me do the talking..."


    Seeing Lucia''s abrupt change from a warm smile to a cold deadpanned face, it was Cecil''s turn to stutter in response.


    "O-okay..."


    He put on a clueless face, wondering why Lucia suddenly looked at him like that. He shrugged and started looking back at the crowd of adventurers again.


    Milly and the rest could only smile wryly at the two. Unlike Cecil, the rest of them new exactly what was up.


    Lucia''s atmosphere would always change whenever some unknown female got close to or was mentioned by Cecil.


    Lucia took the proofs of subjugation from Milly and started dragging Cecil by the hand. Cecil of course was still clueless at the change in Lucia''s mood.


    Back to his curious fox mode, Cecil was constantly glancing at the adventurers around him while exclaiming words of fascination and awe in English.


    Others might not understand a single word he was saying, but Lucia after spending a month learning, had already grasped quite a lot about Cecil''s home language.


    ''This idiot...'' Lucia could only sigh. ''Whatever let''s just hurry and turn this in.''


    They were pushing their way forward into the crowd. They were moving really slow and with Lucia''s small frame, she was constantly being pushed around by the people in front of them. She was starting to get annoyed.


    While they were making their way forwards Lucia was abruptly knocked back by a group of adventurers who were ahead of them. The group was horsing around, but all they did when they saw the two was scoff at them, not bothering to apologize.


    If it wasn''t for Cecil quickly catching her from behind, she would have fallen hard on the ground.


    Lucia was infuriated. Right when she was about to raise her voice and shout at the people in front of her, Cecil had already stepped forward and stretched his arm towards the person who knocked her back.


    Lucia was alarmed and took a glance at Cecil. She saw that his usually smiling face was covered by a mask of cold indifference.

 Chapter 36 - End of the Event 2

    ''These bastards...''


    Cecil empowered his outstretched arm and pushed the person who had knocked against Lucia. He didn''t care whether the person did it intentionally or not, all Cecil saw was a group of idiots who had almost knocked down Lucia. If it wasn''t for him catching her, Lucia would have probably hurt herself, so he thought.


    The person who was pushed was sent tumbling into his group of friends. The tumble had also sent their friends colliding with the other people around them. A small clearing had formed in the crowd of people in front of Cecil and Lucia.


    "Move." Cecil said coldly. His voice immediately silenced the adventurers who had just got up and was about to start cursing at him.


    Cecil had started projecting his killing intent into the surrounding. The pressure that was coming out from his small body had caused the area to turn cold for a moment.


    He grabbed tightly onto Lucia''s hand and walked forward. The adventurers around them were bewildered at how such a small boy was exuding such a fierce amount of pressure.


    The pressure was enough to silence the man who was sent flying by Cecil. Although he was a grown man, he was sent flying like a ragdoll, frightened, and silenced by a child.


    His initial anger from being knocked away had turned into shame then it quickly turned into rage. He was about to draw his weapon and threaten the kid, but then he saw the cold look in the fox boy''s eyes. Unbeknownst to him, Cecil had arrived just a step from where he was standing.


    Cecil glared at the man and enunciated coldly, "Move."


    The man shuddered and moved out of the way quickly, his rage was quickly doused by the cold word Cecil had thrown at him.


    After pouring cold water over the adventurer, Cecil continued on his way towards the event booth while retracting his killing intent.


    Behind him, Lucia was staring at Cecil with a red face and eyes sparkling. She started giggling and smiling from ear to ear.


    Seeing as Cecil was heading towards them, the rest of the crowd obediently made way for the two.


    When they arrived at the booth, Cecil stepped back and pulled Lucia in front of him.


    "Let''s hurry Lulu... my mood''s been spoiled now." Cecil said with a light scowl.


    "Okay, Cel~" Lucia said cheerily and started talking with the lady manning the booth.


    ''Damnit, that bastard just had to ruin my mood.''


    Remembering the fool who dared to knock down Lucia caused an unexplainable fire to burn in Cecil''s gut.


    ''Tsk, what''s with me? I feel so stupid getting worked up like that. Lucia could have probably handled the situation herself easily.''


    While he was reflecting on himself, Lucia had finished turning in the proofs.


    The clerk lady was shocked at the amount of proofs the little fox girl had turned in. She quickly cast a spell and a numerical popped up on the board she was holding. She looked up again at Lucia and noticed Cecil frowning behind her.


    ''Ah, isn''t this the boy from that party?'' She thought. "Okay, so that''s another 176 for... Scarlet Blaze, yes?"


    Lucia was surprised hearing that the clerk lady already knew her party''s name before she even gave it to her, she then saw where the lady was looking at and turned back to look at Cecil. She then remembered what Cecil had said earlier.


    She quickly responded to the lady''s question. "Yes~"


    "Hmhm, good job. You little ones sure are diligent. Here''s today''s bonus for crossing the 100 and 150 milestone."


    The clerk handed Lucia 2 bank cards.


    "Oh... t-thank you. What''s this for?"


    "It''s the bonus for every adventurer party if they could hand over 100 proofs of subjugation in one day. And if I''m not wrong you''ve got yesterday''s bonus for the 100 milestone yes?"


    Lucia then remembered that Cecil had handed the party 2 bank cards yesterday which they had divided the amount equally amongst themselves. Cecil didn''t explain where he got it since he was too preoccupied with his meditation and experiments.


    The party only assumed that one of the bank cards was payment from the materials the party sold, the other card they didn''t know what it was for. Lucia concluded that it was from the milestone bonus.


    "Okay. The ranking announcements will be on the day after tomorrow. It will be announced in the plaza at noon. Don''t be late okay! I have high hopes for your party getting first place!"


    "Thank you, excuse us then."


    Lucia turned around and grabbed Cecil''s hand and walked back towards Milly and the rest.


    On their way back they didn''t meet with any problems from the other adventurers and Lucia made sure to stay clear from the previous group that Cecil had caused trouble with.


    She wasn''t worried that Cecil would cause any problems, but if the previous group pushed Cecil''s buttons in the wrong way, Lucia knew all too well what Cecil would do to them.


    They quickly met back with the rest of their party members.


    "SO! What should we do now?" Tyr asked.


    "Let''s settle these materials first, and then head back to our inns and rest." Miles replied.


    "Oh yeah, here''s today''s bonus for passing the milestones!" Lucia said while taking out the 2 bank cards from earlier and passed them to Milly.


    Milly however immediately pushed the cards back to Lucia.


    "Keep them Lucia. Today''s efforts were mostly due to Cecil anyways, so let him keep the bonus. He also lost a rather good sword on the first day. Besides, we''ll be splitting the materials equal ways remember? It didn''t sit well with me at first, but now that we can give the bonuses to Cecil, at least this will compensate his efforts a bit."


    "The sword wasn''t really that precious or anything, and it was OUR efforts, mind you. I didn''t do anything for the first 2 days remember." Cecil retorted.


    "Cecil, just take them. If we get first place, then it''s because of your last spurt today. We got half of what we hunted for the past 2 days today just by your efforts alone," said Miles.


    Even the always serious Miles agreed with his sister. Cathy and Tyr were also nodding in agreement.


    "...Well, if you insist. Thanks everyone." Cecil thanked the group and took the cards.


    He then took out his newly issued bank card and pressed them together. The cards merged and the credits inside the two cards were transferred into Cecil''s bank card.


    He took a look at the bronze colored bank card in his hands.


    **************


    Bank of Alterna - Bronze Card


    Name: Cecil Silvaria


    Credits: 150g (gold) 66s (silver) 854c (copper)


    **************


    The bank cards also had their own rankings. Starting from bronze card, the bank card ranks go all the way up to a diamond card. The way to upgrade them is by having the required amount of gold inside the card for upgrade.


    1 - 9,999 gold for Bronze rank.


    10,000 - 99,999 gold for Silver rank.


    100,000 - 999,999 gold for Gold rank.


    1,000,000 - 99,999,999 gold for Platinum rank.


    And lastly, 100,000,000+ for Diamond rank.


    The only benefit in having a higher bank card rank was the prestige and recognition one would get when using the card in any kingdom. A kingdom''s royalty would sometimes take notice of you if you had a high enough bank card rank.


    ''So we get 50 gold for every milestone. How generous,'' Cecil thought.


    "Alright, since that''s settled, let''s hurry to the guild. I wanna drop the wagon off then head to the ranch with Silver before the gates close." Cecil was already heading towards the adventurer guild before he even finished talking.


    Silver started moving and all the adventurers in front of the party made way for the colossal monster.

 Chapter 37 - On the Others’ Side 1

    While Cecil and everyone were heading towards the guild, let''s flash back for a bit to two months ago.


    A month after Earth''s mass transmigration incident, on an ever vast meadow in the No-Man''s land at the center of the Midgard Continent¨C a very very angry wife was currently berating her husband.


    Inside a large wooden cabin a loli-sized woman was currently fuming with anger at the large hulking man who was currently kneeling down on the ground.


    "It''s been so long now... How INCOMPETENT ARE YOU?! How can you NOT find MY SON YET?!!!" berated the short woman.


    The large intimidating man could only kneel in silence. Not having any ounce of courage to argue with the lioness who was currently fuming in front of him.


    It was somewhat comedic since although the man was kneeling, the woman was actually short enough to be looking straight at him instead of towering over him.


    This only fueled the woman''s anger. She slapped the back of the man''s head and yelled,


    "LOWER! You idiot!"


    "Y-yes ma''am."


    The man obediently bowed his head and knelt even lower. Even then, the woman was only just a head and a half taller than the man.


    Seeing her husband obediently listening to her, the woman''s heart somewhat softened and her anger was alleviated, though only by a very tiny bit.


    It could be seen how much the man loved the woman... or maybe even feared her.


    Even when the couple was back on earth, no matter how angry and unreasonable the woman was, the man would never yell or argue back with her. The man would only do his best to make sure that the woman''s anger was appeased, though it was rare since the woman was normally always happy and smiling.


    This couple was precisely Cecil''s mother, Anastasia Silvaria, and father, Kaiser Silvaria.


    "H-honey, baby. Please listen to my report first okay?" the man said. He was carefully picking his words so as to not further incite the small woman''s rage even further.


    The woman only glared straight at the man. Seeing as his wife was ''calming'' down, the man immediately began.


    "We''ve already searched through the plains and mountains around our immediate area. Food''s running low and everyone''s still in danger of being attacked by those... mutant animals. Just give us more time. We''ll be sure to find our son."


    Hearing the man''s excus¨C no, reasoning. The short woman could only heave a heavy sigh.


    "It''s been a month now... we''ve gathered almost everyone that lived in Edelesta and near our area was transported to this meadow... how is Cecil and Silver not here..." Anastasia said and sat down on a chair dejectedly.


    "Honey... it''s like I said. Our search scope is limited to only a couple miles from our current area. We need to hunker down for a while, build a base, secure food and supplies. Only then can we broaden our search area."


    The man reasoned. The small woman stayed silent and only nodded. Seeing his wife''s reaction Kaiser continued.


    "Those... mutant animals attack us day and night. There are even some people dying out there and even more are looking up to us for guidance. You know full well the power behind our family''s name, but we can''t just rely on our family''s forces to search for Cecil. For now, we should gather and guide everyone here. Prepare ourselves and then use our family and anyone who is willing, to help search for Cecil!"


    Kaiser was trying everything to reassure his forlorn wife. Listening to her husband''s words, Anastasia came to a decision.


    "Then we''ll help them. The time limit is 3¨C no, 2 months. Then we enlist their help to look for Cecil again. I don''t care what needs to be done. I want my baby boy at our side ASAP!"


    Kaiser could only nod in agreement, but hearing his wife''s words made him think.


    ''B-baby? The child could probably take down the mutant boar that was harassing us the other day with his bare hands!'' Kaiser very much wanted to rebuke his wife, but knowing the consequences of such actions, he kept his silence.


    Seeing as her husband was keeping his silence, Anastasia walked towards a cupboard, took down a roll of leather and unfurled it atop the dining table. On the leather was a rough hand drawn, but detailed sketch of a map of their surroundings.


    Shown on the map, to the north of their current position was an impossibly tall mountain that stretched far to the east and to the west. To their south was a vast plain that stretched as far as they could see with their eyes.


    A large forest was at their east. The forest stretched from the mountain''s base all the way down south to a medium sized lake that was around 300 meters in diameter.


    To their west was the same as their south, a vast plain that stretched as far as they could see, but there was a river that ran from the lake in the east all the way to the west going far into the horizon.


    Anastasia glanced at a certain part of the map where her daughter, Angel, had drawn a cute little mark near the mountain areas. The mark indicated the area at the mountain''s base.


    Shown on the map, the area of the mountains formed a sort of semicircular enclosure. A small stream ran from the mountain top, into the forest at the east and flowed into the lake.


    Natural barriers on 3 sides with a clean water source that ran right in the middle of the area, it was the perfect place to establish a permanent encampment.


    ''I have to hand it to Gabby and my little Angel. They were able to map out the area just by listening to the guards'' descriptions.'' Anastasia praised in her heart, but then she made a pained expression.


    Thinking about her children only reminded Anastasia about her currently missing child, Cecil, who was also the heir to the Silvaria family.


    "Oh Cecil... where are you..."


    Hearing his wife, Kaiser immediately tried to comfort her.


    "Honey, we''ll find him. I promise you."


    The promise only sparked Anastasia''s ire.


    "Instead of kneeling down there like an idiot... GO ROUND UP EVERYONE WHO''S WILLING TO FOLLOW US! We''re moving."


    "U-uh okay. Just give me an hour!"


    "HALF!"


    "Yes, yes."


    Kaiser immediately got up and head towards the door.


    When exited the cabin, Kaiser what comes into his view is his family, his uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and his only sister''s family. Since the Silvaria family was huge, the amount of people that gathered here wouldn''t be able to fit in the cabin, so they could only wait patiently outside.


    The subordinates of the Silvaria family were also lined up neatly at the back of the family''s crowd. The guards, trainees, servants, every person who was a member or was affiliated with the Silvaria family had gathered here.


    Kaiser''s brother, Cecil''s second uncle, Faren Silvaria walked up to his brother and asks.


    "Patriarch... how is the matriarch?"


    "She''s holding up. For now, gather everyone who''s willing to follow us. Bring them here in half an hour! My wife wants to make an announcement."


    "Okay... then, what about the SAR for Cecil?"


    "It''s on hold, we need to create a base first, secure food and supplies as well as make weapons or whatever... I don''t want what happened to third brother to happen again."


    Remembering what happened to their youngest sibling. Faren and Kaiser go silent. Faren looks up and says.


    "We''ll arrange everything as quickly as we can, but where exactly are we headed?"


    "To the east, we''re heading towards the semi-enclosed mountain base. We''ll establish an encampment there."


    "Alright."


    Faren immediately started ordering his branch family''s members. He also went to his third brother''s family and started giving them instructions.

 Chapter 38 - On the Other’s Side 2

    Kaiser stood alone in silence for a bit. Pondering god knows what. A moment later, Kaiser turns towards his other family members and give out instructions.


    After receiving them, the family members start walking towards the camps and houses in the area and begin asking whether the people wanted to follow their family.


    Fatima came up to her father and asked.


    "Sometimes father, I don''t know whether you''re the master of the family, or mom."


    "...darling, you know full well whose the master."


    "Yup, it''s mom."


    "... I''m the patriarch okay. While she''s the matriarch. The Silvaria family is a patriarchal family, which makes me the master... Why am I explaining this to you when you already know?"


    "This just proves that mom really is the master." Fatima sent another jab at her father.


    *Sigh* "Anyway, just go tell Angel to comfort your mother. As for you and the boys, go round up as many people as you can who''s willing to follow us. We''re moving to ''that'' place."


    Placing an emphasis on ''that'', Fatima immediately understands.


    "Okay... and Cecil?"


    "The SAR is on hold, for now. With our current situation, we can''t go around searching any farther than our current scope with our meager supplies and equipment."


    "...okay." Fatima went towards her siblings and began another round of explaining. She then went to the subordinate group and started giving out orders.


    Kaiser went towards his parent''s cabin and explained their next plan of action. Hearing their decision, Grandpa Silvaria spoke up.


    "Hrmm... yes, this is for the best... We shouldn''t repeat our foolhardy ways. Look at what happened to your youngest brother... *sigh* Anyway, we should prioritize ourselves first. Besides, that child, I bet he''s off hunting and killing those mutant animals as we speak! There''s no way he''ll pass up the opportunity to kill monsters that came out of books and myths! HAHAHAHA!"


    "You said it father, HAHA!"


    ""HAHAHA¨C GAHARGH""


    Grandma Silvaria couldn''t take the insensible nonsense her husband and son was spouting and harshly jabbed her fists into their sides.


    "Be more sensible you old coot! What happens if your daughter-in-law hears you! She''ll blow another fuse! Idiots! Both of you."


    Being reprimanded by the old matriarch, the father and son quiet down.


    "We''re just trying to lighten the mood, mother."


    "Yes, but use more sensible words!" Grandma Silvaria immediately retorted.


    Grandpa Silvaria turned towards his son with a rather serious face.


    "Son, just remember this. As long as we haven''t found Cecil''s corpse, that means there will always be hope. I figure that he wasn''t even transported to our region. We''ve nearly round up all the citizens from Edelesta, but we still haven''t found any trace of him or Silver."


    "...Old thing... didn''t I just say to be more SENSIBLE?!"


    "And I''m just stating the FACTS! It may be tactless and insensible, but at least what I''m saying is true. With no body, no corpse, then there will always be hope!"


    "..." Grandma Silvaria could not retort to that, so she stayed silent.


    Seeing his mother falling silent, Kaiser wraps up his conversation with his parents.


    "Anyway, father, mother. I should go help round everyone up... can you please go see my wife? She needs comfort from more... experienced people. I''m not so good with my words like father, but I''ll do all I can to support her. She''s the most devastated out of all of us. She had to see her own son disappear right in front of her."


    "Alright son, I''ll go talk with your wife, but you better hurry. The most comfort she could get would still be from her husband." said Grandma Silvaria with a smile.


    "...yes."


    Finishing up his talk with the old patriarch and matriarch, Kaiser gathers his subordinates and head towards the other areas of the temporary encampment.


    Thinking back to a month ago, Kaiser heaves out another sigh.


    A month ago, an abnormal light had enveloped the city of Edelesta. Every human being was then sent into a ''coma'' and when everyone came to; they found themselves in this vast plain in the middle of nowhere.


    The people didn''t have anything besides the clothes on their backs. It was so shocking when everyone finally noticed that there were 3 moons in the sky above them when night fall came.


    At first they thought it was just some prank, but what force on Earth could transport a whole city of humans onto the plains and cause a mass hallucination. The confusion soon turned into panic.


    ''It was a good thing that we quickly rallied our family. Those monsters that came during that time... it was unfortunate for third brother, but at least everyone else is safe. I just pray that Cecil''s safe too''


    Kaiser releases another sigh and looks up into the air.


    On the day of the incident,


    A petite woman slowly rose up from the ground. She turned towards her right and saw her husband lying down just next to her. She was about to wake him up, but then she saw the bedding that they were laying on.


    ''...Grass?''


    The small woman snapped her head up and looked around. What came to her vision was a vast plain that spread for as far as her eyes could see.


    She stood there dumbfounded at first then remembered what happened before she fainted.


    ''That light and... Cecil! Where''s Cel?!''


    The woman quickly looked around her. The rest of her family was lying sporadically on the ground around her.


    "Mother, father, Kai, Ima, Gabby, Angie, Luca, and Matty..."


    She found all of her family except two.


    ''Cecil and Silver''s not here!''


    She remembered the light that swallowed her son and quickly turned frantic, but she quickly collected herself and woke up her husband.


    "Kai, Kai! Wake up!"


    The man was beginning to stir, just as he was about to open his eyes¨C


    SLAP! SLAP SLAP!


    The loli woman only said a sentence and began slapping the man awake. Seeing her husband''s eyes opening, but sporting a somewhat dazed expression, she yelled.


    "I said, WAKE UP!"


    SLAP!


    "OUCH!"


    The man felt a throbbing on his cheeks. The pain from the slap had awoken him fully.


    "W-what was that for honey?"


    "Get up. Everyone''s here, but I don''t see Cecil or Silver anywhere." The small woman said coldly.


    The man looks to his surroundings and sees the unending plains around them.


    "Where are we?" he asked.


    "I don''t know... but I don''t think this is Earth."


    "What?!"


    The woman didn''t say anymore and only pointed towards the sky. The man followed her finger and was stunned at what he saw. Although it was still day time, the man could still clearly see the faint outlines of what appeared to be the moon hanging in the sky.


    The only problem was Earth had one moon. What he saw in the sky were 3 outlines of what appeared to be the moon.


    The man could only gawk in confusion. He composed himself and started looking around the area. Since he was much taller than the woman, the man was able to clearly see the situation around them.


    "It''s not just us, honey... there''s thousands... no, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people here on this plain."


    "What?" The small woman asked back in confusion.


    The man, Kaiser, quickly picked up his wife Anastasia with one arm, and rested her on his shoulder.


    Anastasia widened her eyes in surprise. All around her, she could see bodies lying all across the field around them.


    "Hey, I can see some familiar faces... aren''t those all our subordinates over there? And there, isn''t that the Heimdall family?"


    Kaiser''s eyes followed to where his wife was pointing at.


    "That''s them alright... just... what''s happening? With how many people I can see, it''s like all of Edelesta is here..."


    They thought back to the light that previously enveloped them. The couple could only conclude that that light was the cause to their current situation.


    "Can you see Cecil and Silver anywhere?"


    Kaiser squinted his eyes and made a 360 degree scan of the area around them.


    He frowned and said,


    "I... can''t see him anywhere."


    Hearing no response from his wife, Kaiser looked towards her and froze. She saw her wife make a very scary expression. Her face was deadpanned and her eyes were chillingly cold.


    Anastasia directed a cold gaze toward her husband and said word by word.


    "Then. Go. Find. Him!"


    *gulp* "Y-yes ma''am."


    Anastasia jumped down from her husband''s shoulder and started waking up the rest of her family. Her husband started walking off and waking up all their family subordinates while keeping an eye out for their son.


    ********


    "....arch... Patriarch!"


    "Hm?"


    "We''re at the Heimdall''s." said the butler of the Silvaria family, Charles Sciezle.


    "Hrmm..." By the time Kaiser snaps out of his reverie, he and his subordinates have already arrived at the Heimdall family''s cabin complex.


    Kaiser composes himself and walks toward the Heimdall family''s main cabin.

 Chapter 39 - On the Others’ Side 3

    Back at the Silvaria main cabin, Fatima and Angel were having a talk with their mother.


    "Mom... everything''s going to be fine, our Cecil isn''t so weak. You know that better than anyone." comforted Fatima.


    "...yes, but I still can''t help but worry Ima."


    Angel upon seeing her mother being so dejected speaks up to comfort her.


    "Mommy~ big bro''s strong!"


    While she was saying this, Angel was cutely flexing her nonexistent muscles and trying to smile just like her older brother.


    Anastasia faintly smiles upon seeing her little baby being all cutesy. She quickly replies to little Angel.


    *Giggle* "Yes, yes. He''s very strong!"


    "So cheer up! Okay mommy?"


    "Hmhmhm. Okay, sweetheart."


    "Yay! ...Mommy I''m hungry..."


    Hearing her little baby, Anastasia gets up, pats the little Angel''s head and walks toward the kitchen.


    "Wait a little bit okay?"


    "M''kay~" Angel responds happily with a huge grin on her face.


    Seeing their mother cheering up, Fatima ruffles Angel''s hair.


    "Good job, Angie"


    "Hehehe~"


    As they were waiting for their mother to finish cooking, Grandma and Grandpa Silvaria came in. Seeing that Fatima was sitting and talking with their youngest grandchild, Grandpa Silvaria went forward and said,


    "Fatima, shouldn''t you be helping everyone else?"


    "...I''ve already sent my subordinates to do the work."


    "Hmhm, that''s my girl."


    Upon seeing that his daughter-in-law not in the room, Grandpa Silvaria continues,


    "...where''s your mother?"


    Angel responds after seeing her two favorite grandparents.


    "Mommy''s in the kitchen~"


    "... Is she alright?"


    Fatima responds to her grandfather.


    "For now mother is okay. She''s only worrying, there''s no need to be so overly concerned. You know how father is. He''s always blowing things up in proportion when it comes to mother."


    *sigh* "...who''s the actual family head here?" Grandpa Silvaria shakes his head.


    "It''s obviously mother, right Grandma?"


    Grandma Silvaria could only smile at her granddaughter''s cheeky response. She speaks up in reply.


    "You''ve been more cheerful lately... more outgoing too. Did something happen, young lady?"


    "I-it''s nothing..."


    "Is that so? It doesn''t seem like ''nothing'' to me." Grandma Silvaria says while raising an eyebrow.


    Listening to her Grandmother''s persistent inquiry, Fatima falls silent and thinks.


    ''I can only do this to distract myself grandma... I might lose it if I don''t.''


    Although Cecil''s mother was greatly affected by his disappearance, his eldest sister was also similarly affected. But unlike their mother, Fatima couldn''t stomach the fact that her youngest brother had disappeared.


    Since she always felt guilty to him, Fatima also felt that it was her responsibility to look out for her siblings and felt she was at fault for Cecil''s disappearance, when in fact¨C it was actually no one''s fault at all.


    ''Even now, I''ve failed to protect him... again. What kind of sister am I?''


    Fatima''s expression almost cracks, but she quickly regains herself. She looks back up at her Grandmother and says firmly.


    "Nothing''s wrong, Grandmother."


    The slight change in address didn''t escape Grandma Silvaria''s ears. She also saw the split second where there was a slight change in her granddaughter''s expression, but seeing as her granddaughter was being so adamant in not sharing her feelings, Grandma Silvaria could only sigh and let it go.


    "If you say so honey, but just remember. If you have any problems, come to grandma okay? To other''s you may look fine, but your distress can''t escape my eyes, young lady. I know you''re forcing yourself to be like this, and that''s not good. That goes for you and for those around you."


    Seeing that her own facade had been seen through, Fatima could only nod her head.


    "Okay, that''s good enough for now. Let''s go help your mother out in the kitchen"


    "Yes grandma."


    The two head towards the kitchen and began helping Anastasia cook.


    Grandpa Silvaria was sitting down and playing with Angel while Grandma Silvaria and Fatima were having some ''girl'' talk.


    Half an hour later, the 3 woman had started laying down food on the dining table.


    "Alright, we''re finished. My husband should also be finished gathering everyone together. If not... then he''s SO gonna get it."


    After they finish setting the table and laying out the food, Anastasia heads out with her in-laws.


    Outside the house, a crowd of people had already gathered waiting for the Silvaria family''s announcement.


    The crowd immediately quiets down when the people see the Silvaria family matriarch and patriarch standing together at the front.


    Just the two''s presence alone garnered the crowd''s attention without them having to raise their voice.


    Seeing that the crowd''s attention had fully focused on to them, Kaiser announces in a booming voice.


    "EVERYONE! Thank you for gathering here. The Silvaria family has come to a decision today! We''re leaving this area and heading towards the mountain base! There, we will construct a permanent encampment and begin developing the area into farmlands and pastures! If you and your family are willing to follow us, then pack all your belongings and gather here tomorrow at dawn! We will begin our march when the sun shines down on this clearing! So don''t be late!"


    After finishing his piece, Kaiser turns towards his wife. Seeing her nod, Kaiser begins wrapping things up.


    "That is all, so you can now head back and begin preparing! Remember! Gather here tomorrow at dawn if you''re willing to follow us!"


    The crowd of people began to discuss and disperse after Kaiser gave the announcement.


    "At last, the Silvaria family is finally taking control."


    "Yes, it''s much better than listening to those stuck up fools from the government. They still believe this is Earth, can''t they see that everything''s changed already?"


    "Not all of them are like that though, just some of the higher ups that are having some stupid delusion that they''re better than all of us and ordering us to protect them from harm."


    "Isn''t that supposed to be their job?"


    "You said it. Some of them even want us to pay food taxes! As if hunting those beasts aren''t enough, we still have to listen to all that bullshit!"


    "At least the Silvaria family is still like how they''ve been like since back on Earth."


    "They have strong fighters. I''ve seen one of the Silvaria family''s bodyguards take down that monster boar and monkey!"


    "We''ll at least be safer following the Silvarias!"


    Listening to the crowd''s discussions, a smile creeps up on the old patriarch''s wizen face. The old matriarch could only shake her head in disappointment.


    "Even here, the people still look up to us for protection." The old matriarch sighed.


    "That''s a given."


    "They should rely more on the government."


    "Hah, with how incompetent they are, it''s no wonder the people are constantly looking up to us. It''s also those fools in the government that have prevented us from meddling in their politics. With our family''s talents we could have done a much better job! BAH. The people''s distrust is their just desserts. HMPH!" the old patriarch said with a huff.


    "... It''s only because of the Goldenia family that was suppressing us in the political field. They''re not present anymore. With the encampment being established, we need to make sure to keep the power within our family. It was sickening to watch the people''s situation back at Edelesta." replied the old matriarch calmly.


    "Hmph, the Goldenias were only lucky to venture into the political field ahead of us, establishing relationsh.i.p.s with others that suppressed us from all directions. They couldn''t even hold a candle to our businesses even when we let them venture into the economic field, but now that power is within our hands¨C "


    The old patriarch wrapped his hands behind his back and smiled while thinking about the future.


    "This is an opportunity for our family to rise higher up!"


    "Don''t be so delusional, we should still focus on the here and now. Let''s go to the main house and eat with the family. They''re probably already waiting."


    "Okay."


    The old couple quickly head into the main cabin for lunch.

 Chapter 40 - On the Others’ Side 4

    2 months later, in the valley at the base of the Sky-Piercing Mountains in the No-Man''s Land of the Midgard Continent.


    At the crack of dawn, Kaiser was looking down at the scenery from atop his house balcony. He was currently supervising his family subordinates'' combat training. In this world, strength was the deciding factor of whether one held power or not.


    The Silvaria family''s forces had successfully cleared out the valley at the mountain''s base of all mutant animals that threatened their safety. It took a long time because they had to be cautious when facing the monsters of Alterna.


    The Silvarias made sure to take every precaution to ensure that they preserved all of their fighting force, not letting even a single member of their combat unit die.


    After a whole month of arduous effort, the family was finally able to establish a foothold in the valley and create a settlement.


    After another half month the Silvaria family was able to stabilize the living conditions of the people who followed them to the valley.


    When the government factions had learned of their success, they immediately came and tried to take over control, which only resulted to them being beaten black and blue and having their asses kicked back to where they came from.


    Although the Silvaria family and the government faction didn''t get along, the Silvarias didn''t reject any of them from settling down in the valley as long as they abided by the laws and regulations the Silvarias placed.


    For the people who followed them willingly, there were no problems. The only problems came from the government faction and people who came after.


    There were many who opposed at first, but after another half month those people''s protests were immediate quelled in the face of danger and the Silvaria family''s overwhelming combat force.


    There were no stringent requirements actually. The Silvaria family only wanted the people that decided to reside in the valley to pay a 5% food tax of whatever they harvested or hunted per household.


    This was so the Silvarias could feed the people who were a part of their combat force. Since there were no firearms anymore, martial prowess was what decided whether you could survive or perish.


    There were monsters constantly attacking the valley and its surroundings, so the people needed protection¨C Protection which the Silvaria family could provide.


    So it was the bare minimum for these people that were under their protection to provide food for the men and women who were bravely fighting back the monsters and protecting them.


    The other laws and regulations were similar to the ones back on Earth, only some were slightly changed and others were cut out according to the circ.u.mstances of their current situation. Any ways, most of the laws implemented didn''t put anyone, at a disadvantage.


    The laws created by the Silvaria family made sure that everyone in the valley that was registered as citizens of the Silvaria Valley Settlement had equal rights and any form of effort was rewarded with the amount proportional to the work done.


    Unlike the society conditions back at Edelesta City where the strong exploited the weak and the rich cheated on the poor.


    The Silvaria family could do this if they wanted too. Who could protest in the face of their overwhelming might? No one, but this notion had never once crossed the minds of the elders and members of the Silvaria family.


    Even when they were back on Earth, the Silvaria family''s political members were always trying to create laws that helped all civilians of Edelesta city.


    The only problem was that their hard work and effort never paid off since the Goldenia family were constantly suppressing them in the political field.


    So now that they were given a chance, the Silvaria family tried to develop a fairer and more civil atmosphere in their settlement. Even though they were transported to god knows where, the people should at least try to maintain every shred of civility they had as humans.


    Their laws and kind intentions were greatly received by the citizens of the valley. Whether they were from the people who willingly followed them from the start and from the people who only settled down after the valley''s clearing battles.


    Everyone was now willingly following the Silvaria Valley Settlement''s laws not due to fear from the Silvaria family''s might, but due to the gratitude and trust they had in the Silvarias.


    Although not everyone was pleased, a majority of the Valley''s citizens were appeased.


    As for the factions who weren''t pleased, they would mostly be the government factions and the big and influential families who had settled down in the valley. They were used to being in power, so they couldn''t stand being below someone else.


    Although they weren''t please with the laws and circ.u.mstances, they had no choice but to follow. This was because the Silvaria was Martial Family and most of the modern day influential families no longer kept any martial traditions with them.


    The ''backward ways'' and old tradition of the Silvaria family had actually turned into a saving grace ever since they were transmigrated to Alterna.


    Just like Cecil''s circ.u.mstances, every member of the Silvaria family that received the minimal traditional training back on Earth, had experienced a breakthrough in strength ever since they began eating and training on Alterna.


    Because of this, every other family who settled down in the valley couldn''t and wouldn''t ever express their dissatisfaction.


    At first they wanted to bottle things up and gather more support from the citizens of the valley, but after 1 month of observations and biding their time. They could only put a stop to all their plans.


    Their observations only led them to witnessing the individual might of each Silvaria family member growing bigger and bigger. Not to mention as time passed, the valley citizens only started supporting the Silvarias even more.


    The unsatisfied families had to quell any notions of rebelling.


    Who would fight a human that had the strength to kill a Blade Ursa with their bare hands with the assistance of crude weapons? Without the aid of magic spells and mana augments, you would be out of your mind if you even tried.


    A Blade Ursa in the Alterna Bestiary is rated B-rank. So if you could kill a Blade Ursa with your bare hands, without the aid of magic spells and augments, then you would be registered as a 5 star Platinum ranked Adventurer.


    """HA! HA! HA! RAH!"""


    Observing the crowd of people training in the field at the front of their house, Kaiser''s lips rose in satisfaction. He raised his head and looked towards the horizon. The sun was slowly rising into the air, shining down rays of light which illuminated the valley.

 Chapter 41 - On the Others’ Side 5

    The Silvaria family''s main house was built on a small plateau near that was attached to the Sky-Piercing Mountains. The plateau was big enough to build a small housing complex and the Silvaria family claimed this land.


    The Silvarias built their main house here, which could oversee the entirety of the valley. The other family branches'' houses were also built on this plateau. The plateau was pretty vast that they could house all their family members and subordinates along with their families here.


    There was even enough space that after all the family and subordinates were settled, they created a medium sized pond at the edge of the plateau. The earth''s composition was different than back on Earth.


    Just digging through the earth was a difficult thing to do. The Silvaria subordinates felt as if they were digging through bedrock instead of soil. But because of this, there were no worries of the ground being unstable even after they dug out the earth to create the pond.


    The pond was connected to the water source that came from the mountain which ran through the valley. This pond acted as the Silvaria family''s water source, separate from the valley''s citizens.


    In the pond they raised the fish they caught at the lake close to the valley. At first the plateau was somewhat barren, but the Silvaria''s pulled up some trees in the valley and planted them around the plateau and at the edge of the plateau.


    With their family''s subordinates'' new found strength, although it was hard it was still doable. The project took the subordinates 3 weeks to finish.


    Now, there were trees growing around and on the plateau, since they were on higher grounds, the trees obstructed anybody''s view of the Silvaria''s Housing Complex. The only road up was the one the Silvarias created which was located at the east side of the plateau. It was still in development, but at least people could now walk up and down from the plateau.


    Before, they had to walk along the narrow path at the sides of the plateau to make it up there.


    In front of the main house was a large field. On that field were a large group of people currently training and sparring. It was very early in the morning, but more than 100 people were training on the large field.


    On the balcony of the main house, Kaiser was standing with his hands behind his back. His gaze was sharp as he observed his subordinates and family members training.


    As Kaiser was observing the training, his wife Anastasia, had finished preparing breakfast. She came out of the house and walked towards him with a wooden tray that had a bowl of steamy soup. In the thick soup were small bite-sized chunks of red-colored meat and a small array of finely diced vegetables.


    The meat was from the monsters that the valley''s hunting squad had hunted, while the vegetables were from the edible plants that the people planted in their fields.


    After 2 months of adaptation, the people in the valley were finally able to catalogue all edible and non-edible foods and vegetables. There were mishaps on the way, but at least no one died from experimenting and ingesting the herbs and plants in the valley.


    The people were also able to tame and domesticate some of the monsters in the valley. Not all of the monsters were carnivorous man-eating beasts.


    There were similar to some animals back on earth which were able to be domesticated by humans and brought up as farm animals¨C well in this case, farm monsters.


    Some examples of the livestock monsters would be the ones that look like cows back on Earth, except in this case, the monster cow had 3 pairs of legs, bristles on its back, and 2 curled horns on its head. The humans dubbed it the 6 Hoof Horned Bull. They were able to harvest milk and meat from it.


    Another example would be the Storm Horse, another monster in the shape of a horse that the people named. The Storm Horse was in the shape of a horse, only their sizes were much more different. They had a muscular build with a height of 3 meters and a length of 4-5 meters from head to tail.


    They sported 3 horns on their heads and although they seemed intimidating, the Storm Horses were in fact docile and well tamed.


    After a month of bonding with the humans, the Storm Horses had even grown fond of them and were willing to go out of their way to defend the humans from the monsters that regularly attacked the valley.


    Some of the humans even used these beasts as mounts and rode them into battle, but mostly, the Storm Horses were used to pull plows, carts, and wagons.


    Although the size and the horns were a big difference between a Storm Horse and the regular earth horse, the most prominent difference would be the Storm Horse''s unique ability to create lightning and fire the bolt out of their horns.


    The human''s in the valley had attributed this to the horse having some kind of electrical organ that enabled them to wield lightning. This was half true and half false. There were no special organ, it was just the mana core inside the horse that gave it the ability to use lightning elemental mana.


    Even after 2 months of being transported to Alterna, the humans that lived in the Silvaria Valley Settlement still haven''t had the slightest idea of mana''s presence.


    Although there was a noticeable change in their physique, the humans only attributed this to the unique foods and vegetables that they ate and the daily training that they did. This was true since all the foods they ate had mana in it.


    After arriving at her husband''s side, Anastasia places the tray on the table at the side and says.


    "Breakfast is ready, honey."


    "Thank you... ALRIGHT EVERYONE! ATTEN~TION!"


    The men and women, who were training, immediately stop. They quickly move and begin lining up and face their instructor.


    "This morning''s training has finished. Go home and have breakfast. The squads who are on patrol duty immediately begin patrolling after gathering together at the valley''s entrance. As for the other squads... we''ll continue our SAR for other humans in the area. ANY QUESTIONS?"


    A strong, well-built man on the front row of the line steps out and raises his hands and shouts.


    "What about the scouting squad? What are we going to be doing, SIR?!"


    Remembering that the scouting squads 2 day break had finally ended, Kaiser quickly responds.


    "They will continue scouting and mapping out the area from the last checkpoint. Don''t stray too far from the SAR Teams and immediately request back up when you need it. ANY OTHERS?!"


    The man quickly step back and fall in line after having his question answered.


    "No more? Alright then, DISMISSED!"


    The crowd of people disperse heading back toward their homes. The sun had finally started shining down onto the valley as the people were heading back. It was a beautiful sight that left many smiling and in awe.


    The sun was rising and so was the rise of the next era of humanity.

 Chapter 42 - Silvaria Valley Settlement

    In the hall of the Silvaria family''s main mansion, the entirety of the Silvaria family were gathered together to give their monthly report to the patriarch.


    Standing at the front just below the family master''s seat was Faren Silvaria, Cecil''s second uncle. He was currently reporting to the patriarch the valley settlements past month''s economic situation.


    It was a brief report since there was no noteworthy development happening in the as of the past month.


    "...that''s our current situation. Everything''s been running smoothly. Also since the mine is finally in full operation, we should begin thinking about issuing metal currency in the valley. The bartering between the valley''s citizens is too crude and many times problems occur due to other''s asking for more than what should be given or received during a trade."


    Finishing his piece, Faren waits for their patriarch to give a statement regarding his suggestion.


    "Yes, it''s a fine suggestion."


    Kaiser then turned towards his son Michael and asked.


    "Has the blacksmithing division finally managed to create a suitable furnace using the ore that were mined?"


    Michael immediately stood up and reported.


    "We''ve managed to create a prototype. We''re still testing whether it can withstand the high temperatures needed to melt down the gold, silver, and copper ores."


    "Hmmm... once you''ve created a suitable furnace, begin crafting the metal currency," he turned toward the rest of the people gathered and continued, "Is there anything else that''s needed to be reported regarding the valley''s situation?"


    The valley''s representative, Lucas Strafe, stood up and walked to the front.


    "Leader, the current situation in the valley is somewhat optimistic. The people no longer have any fear of their day to day situation with the valley''s guards constantly repelling the frequent monster attacks. It''s just... some of the people are concerned about their children. There are no schools established and many of the young boys in the valley have all started to treat the valley guards as idols and role models. The bolder ones and the ones who are now young a.d.u.l.ts have even started taking up arms and training to be like them one day. Many of the mothers are concerned about this and without proper guidance the children may just be throwing away their lives."


    Kaiser had already heard of this from his wife, Anastasia, so he wasn''t too surprised..


    "Yes... that is a concern. My wife has already notified me of the situation."


    Fatima who was seated in the crowd stood up and interjected.


    "Patriarch, if I may?"


    "Yes?"


    Seeing as her father has given the approval, Fatima stepped forward.


    "As you know, the matriarch and I make frequent rounds around the valley every day. So we''re already clear about the situation from before and have already devised a proper solution."


    Fatima paused to take a breath, she then continued.


    "We suggest to create two types of schools, the first type would be the normal school''s like back on Earth. With Luca''s eidetic memory and with the help of the former teachers and professors in the valley, we''ve already copied down textbooks ranging from the elementary to the high school grade."


    Everyone in the room who wasn''t a part of the Silvaria family let out voices of surprise, they never expected the family to be so capable and have such foresight that even before the problem was addressed, they had already managed to create a solid plan.


    Kaiser raised his hand and silenced the people in the hall, he turned towards his daughter with a smile of approval and said, "And the second type?"


    "The second type would be a military school. This school will teach willing and brave children that want to take up arms the ways of combat using cold weapons and martial arts. Also there will be a program where all the children of ages 10 and above in the valley, shall have a 1 month mandatory lesson on combat. The military school''s staff will be in charge of this. Also this will be carried out to all the children regardless of gender."


    Kaiser chuckled and said, "A fine solution. So has the framework been finalized yet?"


    "We''ve already recruited many people who were former teachers in the valley who are willing to become teachers of the Valley''s educational school. They''ve already finished creating a proper curriculum and lesson materials for all grades up to high school. They''ve also adjusted some parts to better suit our environment and situation."


    The patriarch nodded and gestured for her to continue.


    "We''ve also recruited many of our family''s people who are willing to teach the children combat. Half of our instructors are willing and they will provide the lessons later. The headmaster of the normal school will be Professor Ainz who was the headmaster of the Edelesta University. As for the headmaster of the military school, it will be our family''s own head instructor, Mitch. The only remaining issue would be the locations of the two schools as well as the manpower required to build the schools."


    After saying her piece, Fatima stepped back and waited for her father to give a solution, although she already a proper location in mind.


    Kaiser turned towards his wife. Anastasia stood up while bringing along a map, the butler followed along while hoisting up a small table. When she arrived by her husband, Anastasia immediately unfurled the map and placed it onto the table.


    She then pointed to the area at the end of the valley that was adjacent to the forest near the mountainside. Looking at where she was pointing, Kaiser frowned a little.


    "Isn''t that too close to the forest? The children would be in danger if a monster pack was to suddenly wander outside of the forest."


    The citizen''s representative also frowned while looking at the location, he turned towards his team of officials and saw that they also had concerns they wanted to voice out. He immediately turned towards the petite woman and said.


    "Madam, wouldn''t that area be too dangerous? If we were to build the schools there, many of the families might find themselves ill at ease with sending their children there. Also wouldn''t the teachers and staff have concerns too regarding the location?"


    Anastasia already saw these questions coming, just as the representative finished speaking, she immediately raised her voice.


    "That won''t be a problem. Fatima and I have already consulted with the teachers and staff of both schools. They have already agreed. Also the monsters at the periphery will be perfect targets for the children''s practical combat tests and do remember, the instructors at the military school are also my family''s martial instructors and the valley''s guard captain''s and lieutenants."


    With those words, although there were still some concerns, but most of the valley''s representative council had their worries put to ease and many of them had started to voice their support regarding the plan.


    "All that''s left would be the issue of building the school, yes?" Lucas asked.


    Anastasia turned towards him and asked.


    "Yes, that''s all. Regarding the issue, can we leave it to you?"


    "Yes, ma''am! We''ll put up a recruitment notice at the valley''s center plaza. As for the compensation, it would be best if we could use the metal currency as the wage for the people''s labor. This way we can begin introducing the new currency to the valley''s citizens."


    Anastasia smiled at the suggestion. She was glad that the valley''s citizens chose such a capable representative.


    At least she didn''t have to listen to the bullshit that the previous valley representative who was a part of Edelesta''s government faction.


    Compared to their current representative, Lucas, the previous one only kept on complaining and bringing up trivial problems and never once gave any acceptable solutions to any major problems or even gave out any noteworthy advice regarding the direction of the valley''s development.


    He was complete and total trash. Their meetings were always above board and every meeting''s result would be posted at the valley''s central plaza notice board. Of course, the citizens heard about how inept their representative was from the other officials.


    They immediately voted for a new representative to take the incompetent''s place.


    It was no wonder the old patriarch despised the government faction of Edelesta and how bad the people''s conditions were back at the city. Anastasia didn''t understand what was going on in the minds of the government for them to actually put in such incompetent people in their office.


    ''Were they deliberately trying to run the city into the ground? If it wasn''t for our family and all the other influential family of Edelesta keeping the economy afloat, the city would have already been run into the ground by them.''


    Snapping out of her thoughts, Anastasia turned towards her husband and nodded.


    "Okay, we''ll issue the recruitment notice after we''ve finished developing the first batch of metal currency then."


    He turned towards his son Michael again and asked.


    "Can I expect for the currency to be finished by the end of the week?"


    "3 days, that''s all we need."


    Kaiser turned towards the people who were the Government Division of the valley and said.


    "Alright, everyone is dismissed, this meeting is adjourned. Charles, send in the Military Division."


    "As you wish, Sir."


    Everyone who was a part of the valley''s government began walking out of the hall. The remaining people only consisted of the Silvaria family''s main family branch. Charles followed them and went out to call the people from the valley''s Military Division.

 Chapter 43 - Silvaria Valley Settlement 2

    Charles headed straight towards the building adjacent to the main mansion.


    He opened the doors and walked in. Inside the building were the men and women that were part of the Silvaria Valley Settlement Military Department who were currently waiting to give their weekly reports.


    There were only 10 people waiting in the lounge and they were the captains and vice captains of the 5 squads that were in charge of the safety and protection of the valley.


    The Scouting and Expedition Division''s captain Gabriel Silvaria, Vice-captain Madison Stromm. Hunting Division''s captain Goodwin Stromm, Vice-captain Ellias Coppernium. Guardian Division''s captain Delia Heimdall, Vice-captain Kun Silvaria. SAR Division''s captain, Roman Sciezle, Vice-captain Karen Heimdall. And lastly, Intel Division''s captain Luca Silvaria, Vice-captain Rhianna Argent.


    Everyone in the room was young. The oldest among them was only 25 while the youngest was Luca who was only 15.


    In their respective divisions every one of these young leaders had a senior advisor. It was part of Kaiser''s plan to nurture these young individual''s leadership and talents.


    In this world where life and death hanged in the balance, the old dudes had to step aside and let the young ones take the helm of leadership. You never know when one of them old guys kick the bucket when they were tasked with an assignment on the field.


    Charles immediately addressed them.


    "The Patriarch will meet with you now."


    The twin''s Gabriel and Luca stand up and say in unison.


    ""Finally, took ''em long enough."" Surprised, they look at each other and high five. They quickly head out of the building alongside everyone else.


    Madison, Gabriel''s vice-captain, walks next to him and reprimands in a low voice, "Gabe, please remember you''re now the captain of a division, make sure to show some formality later. Even though it''s your family, you''re in an official position now."


    "I get it, I get it. You''re starting to sound like our advisor, Maddy."


    Madison sighed and kept silent.


    They soon arrive at the Silvaria''s main hall. They take their seat and wait for the matriarch to address them, exactly, the matriarch, not the patriarch.


    The family had divided their roles so that the Patriarch would address the internal affairs with the Matriarch as an advisor, while the Matriarch would address military issues with the Patriarch being the advisor.


    On the main seat, Anastasia sees that everyone one from the military division were already seated with none of them absent.


    "Hunting Division! Your report, please."


    Goodwin stood up and gave his report. He quickly finished and sat back down.


    "Guardian Division!"


    "Intel!"


    "Scouts!"


    The reports were given quickly and only any major development and issues would be brought up during the meeting, all other issues that were deemed minor would be withheld and the matriarch would read them in the written reports that the vice-captains would submit later.


    Anastasia finally turned to the last division and solemnly asked.


    "SAR Division, are there any updates regarding the mission that was given?"


    Roman and Karen stand up together, but only Roman spoke.


    "Ma''am we''ve been able to find other traces of humans 200 miles from our settlement, but mostly only remains such as bodies and bloodstains. We and the scouting division have tried to head out even further, but we no longer are able to find any traces of living humans anywhere. Based on the Intel department''s population consensus, we''ve already rescued at least 80% of Edelesta city''s population. The remaining 20% have been concluded to be deceased or missing..."


    "... anything else?"


    "A-and... regarding your son. The Fourth young master and his pet Silver..."


    Roman locked eyes with his vice-captain, he could see the worry in her eyes. He sighed and continued,


    "We haven''t found any traces of them."


    He fell silent and waited for the Matriarch''s harsh reprimand. It was what the SAR division has been facing ever since its establishment 2 months ago. Not only them, but everyone else in the Military Division braced themselves to be yelled at.


    *Sigh*


    All they heard was a soft sigh. Everyone took a careful glance at the Matriarch. She was somewhat slumped down in her chair and her impossibly youthful face had a sad tinge to it. It was no longer serious or solemn as before.


    Anastasia already expected the report. She no longer wanted to reprimand the children who were working hard for their future. It wasn''t their fault that they couldn''t find Cecil. Anastasia regained her bearings and said.


    "List him and Silver missing and suspend the SAR mission on them. For now the SAR will work together with the scouting division and continue exploring and mapping out the area 1000 kilometers around us and even further. This mission also includes scaling the mountains and hopefully finding out what''s over them."


    Everyone including the Silvaria family members was surprised to hear her decision. Kaiser who was seated at the side immediately spoke up.


    "H-honey..."


    "Enough! ...it''s been half a year since we''ve arrived in this god-forsaken world and Cecil''s nowhere to be found. Not even a trace of him was found. No clues. Nothing... It''s pointless to continue searching! What we do know however, is that he and Silver are not dead!"


    By the end of her speech, Anastasia was somewhat heaving.


    Kaiser knew immediately that although that was what she said, his wife still couldn''t accept the fact that, despite after 4 months of searching after they''ve settled into the valley, Cecil was still missing.


    Anastasia then continued.


    "Thank you everyone. Today''s meeting is adjourned. Every division is to keep on with their normal routines and duties! SAR and Scouts are to remain behind and receive new orders."


    Everyone besides the 2 divisions stood up and left.


    "Alright, since we''ve already established the fact that nearly all the populace from Edelesta has been found and have settled in the valley or in the other settlements around us... It''s time for the SAR division to dissolve."


    It was a decision that everyone from the Military Department expected.


    "The scouting and expedition division will be separated. The scouting division will remain the same as before. Only the SAR division will now be called the Expedition Division."


    Anastasia paused and let her words settle in. She turned towards the new division''s captain and continued.


    "The expedition division is in charge of creating teams for long term journeys through the plains and into the mountains. Your jobs will be to explore and map out the areas that are farther away from our valley. It will be dangerous, but it is a necessity. We can''t have our selves blind to our surroundings. Explore the mountains and plains chart out any dangerous areas and any areas that we can mine and collect resources from."


    She then looked towards her son, Gabriel and said.


    "The scouting division will remain the same. Scout the areas that have been explored and create a detailed map of the area. Report on any new findings and create a team that will mine the resources from the areas that have collectable resources."


    Having received their new duties, the young leaders immediately salute.


    ""YES MA''AM""


    Satisfied with their response, Anastasia dismisses the two divisions and everyone in the hall.


    After everyone left the hall, she sighs and slumps down in her chair. Her husband Kaiser immediately picks her up in a princess carry and walks towards the garden in the back of the mansion.


    Looking around and finding that no one was around to watch them, Anastasia immediately starts groaning while pounding on her husband''s chest.


    When they arrive at the garden, Kaiser takes a seat on a wicker chair while still embracing his wife. Anastasia immediately starts to complain.


    "Honey... Cecil... he''s¨C"


    "It''s okay. It''s just like you said, there''s no way our son is dead. Heck, I bet he''s somewhere out there with Silver destroying hoards of those monsters! He''s strong, so don''t worry okay, he''ll be fine."


    Anastasia immediately laughs at her husband''s joke. She looks up to her husband who was also gazing down at her lovingly. She smiles back and says playfully.


    "They better be fine... or else I''m going to kill you~"


    Kaiser''s smile immediately stiffens and he sweats a little. Anastasia then closes her eyes and clasps her hands together.


    "I pray that the two of them are safe."


    And as for the two in question... they were currently doing exactly what Kaiser had just joked about with his wife.


    Back at the Urrugdrasil Continent, deep down in the 10th floor of the Angla Capital City''s public massive scale dungeon, Cecil, Lucia and Silver was currently duking it out with a large horde of lizard skeleton warriors and necromancers.


    Cecil was rushing towards the hoard while giving out orders.


    "Lulu! I''ve got the warriors! You and Silver take care of those pesky necros!"


    "Alrighty~!"


    "RAAAWWWWWRRRR!!!"

 Chapter 44 - The First Time was Disappointing

    10th floor, Anglaria Kingdom''s Public Dungeon


    Cecil and co. are currently facing off against a horde of skeletons. Cecil flashed into the horde head on. He raised his fist that was already empowered using Mana Burst. He struck the ground right in front of the horde.


    "FISSURE!!"


    The ground immediately ruptured and rubble was sent flying into the horde of skeletons burying a batch of them underneath the earth.


    The skeleton necromancers at the back had already sent fireballs the size of buckets flying towards Cecil. Instead of backing away, Cecil rushed on head first into the volley of flames.


    "LULU!"


    "SCORCHING WAVE!"


    After Lucia finished her rapid incantation, she fired her magic into the array of fireballs in front of Cecil. Lucia''s spell immediately overwhelmed and swallowed all the fireballs that were flying towards Cecil. The spell then continued and baptized the skeletons in its path in a tidal wave of fire.


    "RAWWRRR"


    On the side, Silver sent a tornado spell into the flames. The wind fed the flames and only made it stronger.


    The other half of the horde that wasn''t in range of Lucia''s spell was immediately caught up into its area of effect thanks to Silver''s spell empowering it.


    Cecil went around the battle field at high speeds using ''Shukuchi'' picking off any skeletons that weren''t caught in the fire storm.


    The fight didn''t take long for the party of 3.


    Cecil looked around at the scorched remains of what was left of the horde. He turned back towards Lucia and Silver and sighed.


    "There''s not much we can collect from fighting skellies. Isn''t this world way too realistic! Shouldn''t they drop mana stones or something?!"


    Lucia was already used to incessant nonsense that Cecil kept spewing since they dived down into the dungeon. She looked towards Cecil and said in exasperation,


    "Seriously, what are you expecting anyways and what do you mean by ''too realistic'' huh?! Dungeons are just like this! They''re even described this way in the books at home, didn''t you read all of them before we left, Cel?!"


    The dungeons on Alterna weren''t really anything special. All the fantasy novels on Earth described dungeons as something awesome.


    On Alterna however, they were nothing more than mines, very dangerous mines. From the books Cecil''s read, he had already come to this sad conclusion.


    Nevertheless, he still hoped that the actual dungeon experience was more exciting than his sad conclusion. The result left him disappointed.


    Other than the treasure chests that randomly popped up on the dungeon floors, the only other use of a dungeon would be to mine the ores, minerals, and mana crystals that were created in the lower floors of the dungeon.


    Since the concentration of monsters inside a dungeon was at least 10 times that of what''s in the wild, there were frequent dungeon requests issued at the adventurer guild.


    The kingdom''s army would occasionally clear out the monsters in the dungeons, but since the respawn rate of the monsters in the dungeon was too high, they let adventurers do the work most of the time.


    Cecil, Lucia and Silver had arrived a month ago in Angla City. They had separated from Scarlet Blaze 3 months ago after the Hunting Event was over.


    They unexpectedly finished 2nd during the event. The amount of monsters they hunted tied with the first place''s amount.


    They didn''t finish first because the quality of monsters they hunted was slightly inferior to the first place''s, but due to the tie breaker Cecil''s group were also granted the 1st place''s prize of promoting their guild ranks to Silver.


    After a week since they''re promotion to Silver rank, Cecil and Lucia parted ways with Scarlet Blaze and took an escort quest to the next town after Forest Hill Town.


    From there they took frequent requests to subjugate monsters and escort quests from every town and city they passed by, with each successful quest their ranks naturally rose.


    Gradually all the quests they took led them all the way to Angla City, the capital of Anglaria Kingdom.


    It''s been half a year since Cecil arrived at Alterna and it was almost time for them to register as students in the Arks Royal Academy.


    They still had 2 weeks left until registrations opened, so they took a dungeon quest to pass the time. Lucia had already said that dungeons weren''t anything special and they should take a different quest, but Cecil still insisted on diving into one before attending the academy.


    Of course, during the top floors they felt that the dungeon was magical. The moment they stepped into the 2nd floor, it felt like they stepped into a different world.


    There was actually a sun and sky on the second floor. It was interesting at first for the two of them, but that enthusiasm soon waned when they proceeded further into the dungeon.


    Other than clashing with the frequent monster hordes, nothing else happened. There was the occasional pit fall, monster nest and such, but it was pretty uneventful.


    Most of their time was spent walking through the dungeon.


    Cecil was honestly hoping that they would come across some secret monster room that had a legendary sword stuck in a rock waiting for him to pull out.


    They didn''t find any legendary sword, but on their 3rd day in the dungeon when they were on the 9th floor they did manage to find a legendary ore however. This was enough bring up Cecil''s spirits again.


    "Hey~ Cel... let''s head back now!" Lucia said while pushing Cecil in the direction that led to the 9th floor.


    "Okay, okay... it''s been 5? Or was it 6 days? Anyways, we should head back to the capital to try and craft the adamantium... I at least want a weapon that could hold my mana without breaking."


    "Well, it''s a good thing that Silvy found that piece of adamantium for us huh?" Lucia said with a grin.


    "Heh," Cecil grinned at the thought and called over Silver who was patrolling the area as usual. "Come ''ere Silv."


    Silver came up to them and leaned down. It seemed as if Silver had also heard Lucia''s suggestion and was in agreement, it was finally time for them to head back. He immediately offered his back to the two to travel faster out of the dungeon.


    "RAWR!"


    "Hahaha~ even Silvy wants to head back! Yosh, yosh... good boy~" Lucia laughed when she saw Silver bending down.


    "...Fine. Let''s go then."


    Lucia already climbed onto Silver''s back. As Cecil was climbing up Silver''s back, he muttered under his breath, "Traitor..."


    Silver looked back and responded with a bark. He wore a smug expression on his face. Cecil saw that and rolled his eyes at his friend. He immediately found it somewhat funny though.


    ''How is Silver acting more and more human? All his gestures and expressions are becoming way too similar to us.''


    "Alright let''s head back! Full speed ahead Silv!"

 Chapter 45 - Legendary Ore

    Cecil and co. had already spent 5 days in the dungeon and they were very tired from the experience. It wasn''t fun at all diving into a dungeon. Lucia for one immediately thought that the cons of dungeon diving outweighed the pros.


    All the 3 got was a fatigued mind and body, plus Cecil''s incessant complaints. The only positive thing was that they had a pretty decent harvest of monster subjugation proofs, mined a good amount of mana crystals and ores. Unexpectedly, they actually mined the legendary ore, Adamantium in the dungeon.


    Silver was the one that found the adamantium when they passed by an inconspicuous area on the 9th floor.


    They didn''t have any mining tools and Silver communicated to Lucia that it was a rare ore vein since he felt the mana emanating from the vein to be very dense and it held a unique feeling to it.


    Cecil had also activated his mana sight and saw the uniqueness of the vein. They had no choice but to mine the ore since it was rare. So Cecil used a very crude method of ''clawing'' the ore out of the ground.


    When they saw the ore, Lucia was able to identify the small piece of rock as the legendary adamantium to her surprise.


    The adamantium was chrome in color with a slight azure tint to it. It was also a very rare ore that boasted 100 times as much magic affinity than the three staple mana ores of Alterna which were violet gold, orichalc.u.m and mithril.


    Lucia said that they could turn in the ore to the kingdom or guild and they would be rewarded handsomely for doing so, but after hearing the word ''legendary'', Cecil immediately wanted to go ask a blacksmith to smelt the ore into a decent weapon.


    However, the ore was only around the size of a tennis ball. Cecil was disappointed since he wouldn''t be able to create a sword with the ore, but Lucia thought otherwise.


    She remembered hearing from her mother that the elven kingdom, Elfenheim, recently discovered an adamantium ore that was the size of an apple, more or less the size that they possessed, and the kingdom''s blacksmiths were actually able to smelt that small piece of adamantium into a whole armory of weapons, enough to equip one of the kingdom''s army battalion.


    Cecil was immediately psyched to hear that. He then started planning out the array of weapons he wanted to create, as well as a suitable katana for Lucia that could also act as her wand.


    He was already teaching her the Silvaria family''s martial arts which included swordsmanship, so why the hell not? She could be a magic swordswoman in the future.


    Besides, the thought of a fox girl wearing a battle dress or kimono while wielding a katana made Cecil very much excited. He had only seen something like that from the anime he watched during his short breaks in between training.


    He wanted to fulfill his small hope of seeing a live 3d version instead of a 2d version of his favorite character from the anime!


    The only problem was that they needed to find a trustworthy blacksmith that had enough skill to smelt their adamantium as well as being willing to keep the adamantium itself a secret from the kingdom and from other people.


    Since the guild and the kingdom was willing to reward someone handsomely if they turned in adamantium to them, Cecil figured that people who possessed adamantium and didn''t turn them in would be wanted because they possessed such a precious ore.


    Cecil already had a person in mind, so all that was left was to reach the capital city.


    Cecil was thinking and planning out their next course of action while atop Silver who was rushing his way out of the dungeon.


    They were still on the 7th floor after 3 hours of travel.


    "Don''t push yourself too hard Silv." Cecil said.


    Silver only responded with a spirited bark. Even after 3 hours of continuous full speed sprinting, he wasn''t anywhere out of breath.


    "Waaa~fuu~"


    Lucia who was seated behind Cecil tightened her hold around his waist. She also started rubbing her face on his back while giggling.


    Lucia had already cast a cleaning spell on them before they mounted on Silver 3 hours ago. Her water elemental spells after half a year of constant training was finally on par with her fire elemental spells, although she still prefers to use fire magic while in combat.


    Since her water element was proficient enough, Lucia had already started her training on using the earth element.


    Feeling Lucia rub her face on his back, Cecil felt a little bit ticklish.


    "Hey Lulu... that tickles stop it."


    "Ehehehehe~ nooo~"


    ''I''ve spoilt her too much,'' Cecil thought.


    Cecil could only leave her be while he shut his eyes and started concentrating on the mana cores in his eyes.


    After 4 months of constant training, Cecil had finally acquired perfect Mana Eyes. The color of his eyes had permanently changed to a golden color after he successfully condensed the mana cores in his eyes.


    Even without Lucia''s transformation magic, his eyes would still be gold in color. It felt weird for him at first, but he soon got over it.


    With his perfect mana eyes, his control over mana had reached the point where it felt like he had an extra limb.


    Cecil was now also able to use Mana Burst for as long as his mana allowed. He also constantly kept his mana circulating around his body. This way his body was always empowered 24/7 and it also served as a good method of training.


    Although it felt like the mana had become an extra limb to him, how to effectively and efficiently use this ''limb'' still eluded Cecil. So he concluded that he could only continue training non-stop to make this ''limb'' fully his.


    As he was training, he turned his focus on his mana point. The mana at his mana core was finally condensed into a liquid form, but he still felt that he wasn''t in the mana sea stage yet.


    In actuality, he was already at the mana sea stage, but because of his unique constitution where his mana was distributed all throughout his body, only the mana in his mana point was in a liquid form.


    Cecil wanted to turn all of the gaseous mana into liquid state. Only then would he acknowledge himself as finally stepping into the mana sea stage.


    Cecil opened his eyes and sighed, he then turned his head to look at the fox girl who was snuggling up to him.


    ''Lucia had stepped into the man sea stage a month before me... even Silver reached the mana sea stage 2 weeks ago! I can''t let myself fall behind!''


    Cecil resolved himself to train even harder. He had to catch up to Lucia and Silver no matter what!


    "YOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!"


    His shout startled both Silver and Lucia who was hugging him from behind.


    "W-what''s wrong Cel?!"


    Thinking that there was an enemy nearby, Silver grounded to a halt and Lucia started looking around the area. She even started chanting a detection spell while still hugging Cecil.


    Cecil immediately started to apologizing.


    "Sorry, sorry! My bad, I was only motivating myself!"


    Lucia sighed and said in exasperation.


    "Haaahhh? Come on already... stop being such an idiot, stupid Cel."


    "RAWR!"


    "Hehe, sorry, sorry!"


    After another bark from Silver, the group immediately continued dashing towards the dungeon''s exit.

 Chapter 46 - Why so smug?

    Cecil and co. had to spend another day inside the dungeon. They were down in the 10th floor of the dungeon so even with Silver''s speed they still couldn''t make it out of the dungeon before he exhausted himself from all the sprinting.


    On the next day, they were able to safely make it out of the dungeon without bumping into any mishaps along their way.


    Lucia was walking ahead of Cecil and Silver while stretching her arms out as they came out of the dungeon.


    "Ahhh~ finally we''re out of that stuffy place." She said with a smile.


    "Come on, it wasn''t that bad." Cecil retorted.


    "RAAH!" Silver barked in disapproval. He clearly chose to stand on Lucia''s side.


    "Not you to Silv!"


    With Silver backing her up, Lucia continued.


    "Come on Cel, you have to admit that it was pretty boring diving into the dungeon. What was the difference between that and hunting monsters normally in the field?"


    "..."


    Seeing as Cecil had fallen silent, Lucia continued to jab at him.


    "Besides... who was the one that kept on complaining in the dungeon~?"


    Cecil furrowed his brows at her words. Lucia smirked looking at his expression.


    Cecil had to admit that there really wasn''t anything special with hunting monsters inside the dungeon. It might even be more troublesome than hunting monsters out in the field since dungeon monsters always seemed to travel in packs and hordes.


    In fact, during their whole trip into the dungeon, everyone started to feel disgruntled by floor 5. They had to constantly fight fight fight and fight. There were little to no breaks in between.


    Cecil even started to mutter his complaints, he he did this from the 5th floor all the way down to the 10th floor, only Lucia and Silver kept mum.


    "Tch... you can''t blame me! All my hopes and expectations were dashed with this dungeon!"


    Cecil was honestly looking forward to their trip into the dungeon. He was hoping that the dungeons at least were the same as the ones described in the novels and shows back on Earth.


    In the end however, he was only met with disappointment. Everything did not go as he hoped or expected. So obviously he started feeling angry and kept on complaining.


    Cecil who was feeling irked by Lucia''s statements, took a glance at her and found her smiling smugly at him. She was totally mocking him with that look on her face.


    "What''s with that look huh?! Lulu!!"


    "Heh... it was like this when we first registered as adventurers. Now it''s happening again!" Lucia mockingly said.


    "Hohoho~ looks like someone wants to get punished huh?!" Cecil said while cracking his knuckles.


    "Oh boohooo~ I''m so~ scared~" Lucia mocked, she stuck her tongue out cutely and hid behind Silver.


    Cecil felt like he popped a nerve. He directed a glare at Silver and said darkly.


    "Silv, outta the way... haha... someone''s asking for a beating right now."


    "Grrrr..." Silver only responded with a low growl, indicating that he did not want to move. Cecil''s face immediately turned black at the response.


    Cecil only responded with a dark laugh and stalked forward.


    Lucia moved out from behind Silver and strutted bravely towards Cecil and said seriously.


    "Well, anyway. With that disappointing experience out of the way, what''re we gonna do... with ''that''?"


    ''That'' was referring to the adamantium. Cecil and Lucia already agreed that they wouldn''t say the word out loud, just in case someone overheard them which might cause them some troubles.


    Adamantium was a strategic resource for any kingdom and faction. Just by mentioning the word might cause you to get into trouble, whether it is from the people of the kingdom or from the underworld faction.


    Upon remembering that they had a legendary ore in their possession, Cecil''s attention was immediately averted from the previous mockery. His face turned serious and he spoke to Lucia in a low voice.


    "I already have someone in mind to smelt ''that'', but the capital is honestly too dangerous, even if we go to him, I''m not sure we can keep away any prying eyes. So maybe we should investigate the towns in the surroundings. It''s better if we can get a blacksmith who''s far from the capital that also can''t recognize ''that'' to smelt it for us."


    Lucia frowned at his suggestion.


    "Hey Cel, ''that'' can''t be handled by just any blacksmith. We need someone who''s magically capable as well as a good blacksmith with experience in smelting magic ore. If we handed ''that'' to someone inexperienced with handling magic ore, then they might even ruin it!"


    Cecil could only sigh after hearing what Lucia said. He spoke up powerlessly.


    "Well, looks like we can only go to him, right? But the capital... it''s still too dangerous though..."


    The two stopped and fell silent and began weighing their options. Cecil and Lucia really wanted to use the adamantium right away, the longer they held onto it the more they ran the risk of others finding it in their possession.


    An entourage was heading their way as the two stood still in the middle of the dungeon''s entryway.


    They didn''t realize the group had already walked right up to them. The lizardkin man who was in the lead, cleared his throat to catch their attention.


    "Ahem..."


    Lucia and Cecil turned towards the man and stared dumbly at him for a moment.


    "We''d like to pass."


    "Ah! S-sorry! Sorry!" Lucia immediately realized where they were standing and pulled Cecil to the side while apologizing.


    "Hurry up and move brats! You''re blocking the way!" One of the people in the group shouted at them rudely.


    Lucia furrowed her brows in annoyance. She turned back and glared at the person who shouted at them. The person turned out to be a smug looking teenaged male lizardkin.


    Seeing as Lucia was glaring angrily at him, the boy didn''t quite like that so he shouted back.


    "HAAAHH?? Got a problem ki¨C"


    "Stop it, Aiz! Like you''re one to talk being a brat as well! Remember, we didn''t come here to pick a fight!"


    "Tch..."


    The lizardkin teenager, Aiz, scoffed and turned away. The lizardkin who seemed to be the leader of the entourage turned towards Lucia and apologized.


    "Apologies, he''s still just a kid. We''ll be on our way now."


    "...Yes." Lucia responded curtly.


    The lizardkin group proceeded into the dungeon, the lizardkin who shouted at them, Aiz, gave them a dirty look and sneered before following the group into the dungeon.


    Lucia didn''t respond to him and only pulled onto Cecil and headed towards Angla City.


    "Hmph, clown! What''s to be proud of going into a boring dungeon?"


    "Ignore it, Lulu. There''s no point in thinking back on it."


    Cecil was dragged behind Lucia. He knew that Lucia''s mood had gone sour with their earlier encounter.


    "Hey, Lulu... remember, we still got some mithril from the dungeon, we could use it to craft some new equipment for us. Let''s hurry on back to the city and head to the city''s smithy."


    Lucia looked back and smiled a bit.


    "Okay! Let''s get going then!"

 Chapter 47 - Metropolis, Angla City 1

    Cecil and Lucia, who were riding Silver, arrived at the city and walked right up to the city''s checkpoint.


    In towns, you needed to leave your monster companions at ranches located outside the town. At cities however, all you needed to do was show some identification and the guards would give a collar to be put on your monster and let them in.


    The collars acted as a sign that the monster in question was tame and had an owner. If your monster caused any problems in the city, then the guards would hold the owner responsible.


    Of course a punishment would be in due course, but the punishment would only depend on how severe the offense was. The lightest punishment would only be a warning, while the harshest would be imprisonment.


    When they arrived at the gate''s checkpoint Cecil jumped down from atop Silver and showed his guild ID to the guards. The guards took a glance at the ID and brought out a small collar, handed it to Cecil and waved them in.


    Cecil took a glance at the collar. It was small enough to be a bracelet.


    With how small it was it didn''t seem plausible to wrap the collar around Silver''s neck, but the unique magic spell inside the collar would activate when it detected a monster''s unique mana signature and it would expand or contract to match the size of the monster in question.


    Cecil handed the collar to Lucia and she moved to wrap the collar around Silver.


    "Grrr..." Silver let out a low growl, he was not pleased.


    "Bear with it okay Silvy?" Lucia said while putting the collar on Silver.


    Silver whined a bit, but he still let Lucia wrap the collar around his neck. If he didn''t wear the collar then he would have to stay outside the city.


    "Come on Silv, it''s not like this is the first time you''re wearing this!" Cecil said. After the collar was wrapped around Silver''s neck, Cecil''s group went into the city, but just before going through the gate, Cecil focused his eyes a bit and turned his gaze to the ramparts surrounding the city.


    Cecil always did this because what he saw always astounded him. Through his eyes, magic crests of all size and color dotted the walls. It was awe-inspiring no matter how many times he''s looked. Naturally, the crests were the magic spells that were used to reinforce the walls.


    He deactivated his mana sight when they went into the pathway past the majestic gate that was gilded with gold and magic crystals.


    It was a bit dark inside the pathway so when they finally passed through the gate, Cecil had to raise his hand to block the sun''s rays that shone brightly into his eyes.


    When his vision finally adjusted, what came into his view was a majestically paved road with buildings made of bricks and cement lined on the sides.


    On the sides of the road were sidewalks that had small trees planted on it. The trees were evenly spaced apart and there were small bushes that filled in the space in between.


    The city was bustling with activity. On the road, Cecil could see wagons, carriages and even monsters moving along it.


    While on the sidewalks, he could see stalls that were selling foods and many other different products. The people were bustling down the sidewalks walking and chattering about.


    Added with the stall owners and peddlers constantly shouting and hawking their wares, it only added to the liveliness and boisterous atmosphere of the city.


    This was the capital city of the Anglaria Kingdom, Angla City.


    After taking a look around, Cecil smiled and jumped on top of Silver, seating himself right behind Lucia.


    "Okay, first we''ll go to the adventurer''s guild and turn in our quest and the subjugation proofs!"


    Cecil had to speak up loudly so that his voice wouldn''t be drowned out by the bustling environment.


    "Alright! You heard him Silvy, let''s go!" Lucia pointed forwards and Silver started trotting down the road heading towards Angla City''s adventurer guild.


    On the road, Lucia kept on looking left and right. Cecil knew she was looking for anything of interest. If she found something interesting in one of the stalls, Lucia would immediately pester Cecil into buying it for her.


    Most of the time it was only food, only rarely would she want Cecil to buy things like jewelry or clothes for her.


    While Cecil was staring at Lucia, he saw that her gaze was fixed on one of the stalls. Her eyes were sparkling. Cecil turned his gaze towards the stall in question and he saw that they were selling meat skewers.


    Cecil nudged at Silver''s sides. Silver looked up and saw the sparkly eyed Lucia and turned his gaze to the stall as well.


    Silver immediately went towards the stall and waited by the roadside. Lucia snapped out of her daze and immediately went red when they stopped by the stall she was gazing at earlier.


    "Wait here Lulu, I''ll go buy some. Which ones do you want, the spicy or the sweet flavored?"


    "Thanks, Cel~ just buy either one!"


    "Okay."


    Cecil went to the stall owner and purchased 5 of each flavor.


    He went back and gave Silver one spicy meat skewer before handing the rest to Lucia.


    "Yay~! Thanks Cel!"


    "You already said ''thanks'' earlier."


    "Ehehehe~"


    Lucia then happily ate the skewers. Seeing that Cecil was lying down on top of Silver, Lucia turned back to him and offered him a spicy skewer.


    "Here you go Cel! Say Ahhh~" Lucia happily said.


    Cecil only took a glance at the skewer and opened his mouth for a bite. A crafty glint flashed in Lucia''s eyes and she quickly retracted the skewer in her hand right as Cecil was about to bite down.


    Cecil''s face turned dark at her prank. Seeing him like that, Lucia immediately roared in laughter.


    "Nahahahahaha~!"


    "Tsk, if you''re not gonna give me one. Then don''t prank me!"


    "Nahaha~ I''m just kidding Cel! Here, here. Say ahhh~"


    Cecil narrowed his eyes cautiously at her gesture. Lucia saw this and said in displeasure.


    "You don''t want it? Fine then, don''t eat it! Hmph!"


    She turned her head and harrumphed. Seeing as she was starting to get mad at him, Cecil reluctantly said.


    "Fine, fine."


    Lucia''s face immediately brightened.


    "Say ahhhhh~ ahahahahaha!"


    Lucia pulled away the skewer again just as Cecil was about to bite down. She turned around and said smugly.


    "Hmph, you didn''t want it so now I''m not giving you any!" She then nibbled on the skewer in her hand.


    Cecil popped a vein at her antics.


    He moved and locked Lucia in a tight hug from behind while his hand grabbed onto hers. He quickly guided Lucia''s hand that was holding the skewer to his mouth and he bit down on the meat skewer. He took the meat into his mouth in one bite and chewed. He then turned a smug gaze toward Lucia.


    Lucia was nibbling happily on the meat so she was caught by surprise when Cecil started hugging her from behind. She was happy with the hug, thinking that Cecil was trying to coax her into giving him a skewer.


    So, she was late to react when the meat she was nibbling on was suddenly eaten by Cecil. She looked at Cecil''s mouth then towards the skewer she was holding. Her face immediately started blushing red in embarrassment.


    ''I-i-in... Indirect kiss!!!''


    She sat there frozen at the thought. Her thoughts were in a scramble, but she was nonetheless happy since she was smiling stupidly with her face red.


    Cecil didn''t pay her expression any mind and finished the skewer in Lucia''s hand. When he was done, he let go of Lucia and went back to lie down on Silver''s back.


    Seeing the empty skewer in her hand, Lucia''s red face darkened.


    "CECIL! MY SKEWER!"


    "Haha! Your fault, not mine! Hurry up and finish the rest so we can be on our way!"


    Lucia moved a bit away from Cecil while protecting the rest of her skewers. She began nibbling on them with relish while making sure she kept a close vigilant eye to Cecil.


    Cecil only chuckled at her cautiousness and he closed his eyes while he began concentrating on the mana cores in his eyes.


    Even when they were on a break, he would never neglect his training.

 Chapter 48 - Metropolis, Angla City 2

    After Lucia finished her skewers, the party ran swiftly down the road in the direction of the adventurer guild. It still took the party 15 minutes or so to get to the adventurer guild that was located in the middle district of the city.


    This was because the size of the cities in Alterna actually rivaled the metropolises back on Earth. Especially the capital cities, Angla City even boasted an area the same size as New York City!


    When they first got here, Cecil was in total awe of how huge the city was. There were no skyscr.a.p.ers, but there were plenty multi-storied buildings in the capital.


    The city was also divided into 4 main districts. They were the Outer District, Middle District, Inner District and Royal District.


    The Outer District was where most of the bustling activities of the city took place and mind you, the outer district wasn''t there to discriminate between the classes of the people. There was no such thing in Angla City, everyone with an ID was free to go to any district in the city.


    This was with the exception of the royal district since that was the area where the royal castle of Anglaria Kingdom was located.


    The Outer District was where most of the merchants, peddlers, and shops were situated in. The merchant guild and mercenary guild was also situated here.


    The housing of the citizens was located in the Middle District. The Middle District consisted of inns, pubs, craftsmen''s workshops and guilds. The houses of permanent residing citizens were also in this district.


    The adventurer guild was also situated here to provide ease of access for citizens and adventurers who wanted to take or issue a quest.


    The kingdom''s officials, soldiers, and magicians'' housing was in the Inner District. The Arks Royal Academy was also located here and they had a large plot of land all to themselves.


    The plot of land the Arks Royal Academy was situated on was big enough to build every possible facility that would make academy life convenient for the students.


    An arena, a smithy, weapons and armor shops, leather workshops, magic shops, the students'' dormitories, and everything else you could think of were on the campus'' land.


    The citizens of the city even categorized the land the Ark''s Academy was on as a separate district from the Inner District which they named the Academy District.


    The students of the academy were required to live on campus and with the conveniences provided; they did not even need to head into the city for anything.


    The Arks Royal Academy could even function as a separate small scaled city on its own. It had its own economy, guilds and military force.


    The economy was driven by the students themselves. Even the Academy''s military force was made up of the fighter and spell caster students. The academy was created for the students and was run by the students.


    Finally the Royal District of the capital was a small cordoned area where the Royal Castle of Anglaria Kingdom was situated at.


    The area was closed off from the public and only the royal family and people who were granted audiences with the kingdom''s royalty were able to enter the district.


    When they finally arrived at the guild, Cecil and Lucia brought Silver into the stable at the side and went together into the guild building.


    As usual, Cecil was required to ''shut up'' by Lucia and let her do the talking. It was already a normal thing for them since they''ve always been doing this ever since Forest Hill Town.


    Cecil and Lucia were already famous within the guild for being the youngest adventurers to have reached 5 Star Gold Rank, just one rank away from 1 Star Platinum Rank.


    Since Cecil was always quiet when they were in the guild, not letting even a little bit of his voice out, everyone thought that he was mute at first. Lucia was easy to get along with so she was popular with the other adventurers who were at their age.


    Although they were young, their strength and abilities were already proven to the rest of the adventurers. Cecil''s swordsmanship as well as his unique martial arts and Lucia''s fiery destructive spells were famous in the guild.


    Many young adventurers admired both Cecil and Lucia and since they were almost platinum rank, their admirers began giving them titles and started calling them with their titles instead of their names.


    Silent Sword and Inferno Witch were the titles given to the two based on their abilities and characteristics. The names spread throughout the guild so everyone started calling them that. Since they were given titles, Cecil and Lucia''s guild ID''s were also changed.


    ----------


    Name : Cecil Silvaria


    Age : 14


    Titles : Silent Sword


    Class : Magic Swordsman


    Rank : 5-Star Gold


    ----------


    Name : Lucia


    Age : 14


    Titles : Inferno Witch


    Class : Spellcaster, Enchanter


    Rank : 5-Star Gold


    ----------


    They kept their stages a secret so it didn''t show on the guild IDs, but Lucia was already at the Mana Sea Stage with around 550 units of mana while Cecil was at the Mana Sea Stage with 5015 units of mana.


    Of course at the start it wasn''t like this, in their first week at the guild, many other adventurers who were ranked at the same level as Cecil and Lucia were naturally jealous and small conflicts occurred occasionally. They were young so everyone felt that the two were pushovers.


    Naturally, they were proven wrong and Cecil packed the troublemakers up with ease.


    Apparently, the guild master of Angla City was a close friend of Lucia''s uncle who was the guild master of Forest Hill Town''s adventurer guild, so he was already paying attention to them from the moment they checked in with the guild.


    It caused Lucia to be puzzled at how influential her uncle was to have connections reaching all the way to the capital, but upon remembering her eccentric uncle, she tossed all thoughts and concerns to the back of her mind.


    The guild master was concerned about their constant rapid advancement and perfect track record of quest completions because unfortunately, instead of inspiring awe and admiration, their performance only attracted unwanted attention towards them at the start.


    So when it was time for them to advance in rank, the guild master issued a 5 Star rank promotion quest for the two.


    For promotion quests, the ranks would start from 1 star and ending at 7 stars. Normally, 5 Star promotion quests were issued only to those who wanted to advance ranks from gold to platinum.


    So for Cecil and Lucia who were only 5 Star Silver ranked at the time, it was hopeless for them to even think about advancing to 1 Star Gold rank.


    The promotion quest was a monster subjugation quest that required them to destroy the high golem that was located in the mountains to the west of Angla City.


    The guild master didn''t mean any harm, he only wanted to look out for the two when he heard that they attracted the jealousy and envy of the other adventurers of the guild and were constantly being harassed.


    He wanted to give them a small bump on their road and with the failure from advancing; the guildmaster hoped that it would stave off the bad attention that the two brought to themselves.


    After Lucia and Cecil received their promotion quest from the guild, they immediately rushed towards the mountains with Silver and they pulverized the target high golem in a half hour long fight.


    Swords and blades couldn''t damage the magic armor of the golem, so Cecil used his fists and legs to pummel the golem into the ground with Lucia and Silver supporting him with magic spells.


    So, when the two came back from the mountains with the high golem''s core and magic materials, the guild master and all guild personnel as well as the adventurers who were present could only watch the two in shock.


    Even a high golem was taken care of them and the most frightening part was the duration they took for the quest.


    It did not take Cecil and Lucia even a week to finish their promotion quest. The average 5 Star Gold Rank party that took on a 5 star promotion quest required anywhere between 3 weeks to 1 month to finish the quest. And this was for a party of 6, not 2.


    Since then, no one had come to them to look for trouble. The adventurers were no longer envious but rather frightened and in awe by their achievements.


    There were the occasional conflicts with newcomers, but that was only because they were ignorant. The newbies would immediately quiet down when the other veteran adventurers told them about the duos accomplishments.


    Just by finishing a 5 star promotion quest in less than a week showed everyone that although Cecil and Lucia were at gold rank, they had combat prowess that was on par with individuals and parties at the platinum rank.


    When it was their turn to go up to the counter, the guild receptionist lady greeted them with a big smile.


    "Welcome~! Lucia and Cecil, how are you two today~?"


    Cecil only nodded back and kept silent while Lucia immediately brought out the materials required for their quest and quickly greeted the receptionist.


    "Haiyo Mimi! We''re here to turn in our dungeon quest!"


    "As expected of the Silent Inferno~ it didn''t take long this time too."


    "Ehehehe~"


    Lucia laughed shyly. Silent Inferno was the name everyone started calling their party of two.


    The guild receptionist Mimi, took care of the materials and checked them. After making sure the two had fulfilled the requirement she stamped a piece of paper and handed the two their quest reward.


    "Here you go, thanks for your hard work as all ways~"


    "You too, Mimi!"


    "Speaking of work, aren''t you two suspending all guild work beginning next week?"


    "Huh? Oh... yeah, haha... how''d you know Mimi?"


    "The guildmaster naturally informed all the guild personnel. It''s really sad that you two would no longer be visiting the guild for a while. We''re already used to having you two around!"


    "Hehe, we have to attend the academy since that was our main objective for coming to the capital~"


    "Yes, but with your capabilities, everyone at the guild is sure that you two will pass the tests with flying colors!"


    "Thank you, Mimi!"


    Cecil who was listening in on their conversation from behind Lucia only let out a small smile of thanks. Mimi who was talking with Lucia noticed his smile and turned to him.


    "You''re welcome Cecil!"


    Cecil only nodded back to her. Since Cecil never spoke, Mimi and some other guild personnel who were close with them had already gotten used to reading Cecil''s expressions. He was somewhat of an open book.


    Lucia soon wrapped up their conversation and the duo walked out of the guild.


    On their way out, the other adventurer parties greeted them and gave the two their blessings for passing the academy''s entrance exams.


    They picked up Silver from the stable and road him towards the smithy they frequented. The smithy was run by Mr. Argon''s brother. So when they first arrived, Radon the owner started asking how his stupid brother was doing.


    Radon was the same as Argon, they were both friendly people. Radon''s smithy was pretty popular in the capital since it was run by a dwarf. All the equipment created and sold in the smithy were all top tier with their quality being guaranteed top notch.


    They were heading towards the smithy to craft both Cecil and Lucia''s new equipment from the magic ores they mined from the dungeon. Also, Cecil wanted to ask if Radon could craft the adamantium they had.


    Since Radon was Argon''s brother, Cecil hoped that Radon had the ability to craft their adamantium, as well as trust that the man would keep their adamantium a secret from others.


    ''Hopefully he can craft it. I want a weapon that could withstand all my mana.''

 Chapter 49 - Radon’s Smithy, the Ironforge

    Cecil and Lucia were atop Silver and heading towards their lodgings in the city. Where they were staying at was actually a smithy.


    When they finally arrived at the largest smithy in the middle district, a stout dwarf came out of the smithy holding onto pliers and a huge hammer.


    Upon seeing the three, the dwarf laughed and boisterously greeted the group.


    "WAHAHAHA~ Hey you 3! How was the dungeon? You get anything good for me?!"


    Cecil and Lucia smiled at the dwarf''s greeting.


    The stout dwarf who owned the largest smithy in the capital city was in fact, Mr. Argon''s little brother, Radon Ironforge. Ironforge was Mr. Argon''s rightful name, but he abandoned his family''s name in his pursuit of love.


    Cecil jumped down from Silver and caught Lucia who jumped down right after. After he put her down, he turned towards the dwarf and said.


    "Hey, Radon... please don''t remind me... it was nothing special AND it was boring!"


    Cecil said in exasperation, then he continued.


    "It was exactly how Lucia and the books described it! It was only an overly large mine!"


    "WAHAHAHA! Don''t look down on them now! Dungeons are a holy land for us dwarves!"


    Lucia giggled on the side and Silver bypassed the smithy and walked deeper into the building complex. He was heading towards his resting spot that Radon had built for him.


    "Well, we did get a good harvest, some mithril, mana crystals and some other mana ores... we also got... something special."


    Cecil paused and looked around.


    The smithy was the largest and most popular in the city so it was packed with people purchasing weapons, requesting jobs and what-not. Radon was the owner, but he had a whole bunch of employees and blacksmith apprentices and assistances so he was rarely busy.


    He would only work on his own craft and would only take orders if the Ark''s Royal family requested anything from him. He would also take some personal jobs from people who was close with too.


    Seeing that the place was as jam packed as usual, Cecil leaned towards Radon''s ear and whispered, "Me and Lucia found... a legend ranked ore... can we talk somewhere private?"


    Radon upon hearing the word ''legend'' immediately perked up. Cecil also nudged at his chest and in his hand was the adamantium wrapped in a cloth. Only a small part of the adamantium was visible, but when Radon took a glance at that small part, his eyes immediately lit up.


    He took a quick urgent glance around and hurriedly led the two into his office on the top floor of the smithy''s building.


    When they arrived at his office, Radon quickly ushered the 2 into the room, locked the door and activated a silencing spell.


    Cecil turned around and looked at Radon, with his mana sight he could see the magic crest that formed when Radon activated a spell.


    After the spell was activated, the sound of metal pounding on metal and the noise of the people from the smithy quickly died down.


    "Okay boy, I already activated a silencing spell. Quickly, quickly take that ore out!" Radon urgently said.


    Although he only caught a small glimpse of that chrome colored ore, he saw the azure glint in it and immediately knew what that legendary ore was.


    Cecil and Lucia sat himself down and Cecil placed the bundled cloth on the table. Radon quickly un-wrapped the cloth with trembling hands. When the chromatic l.u.s.ter shone out after the cloth was unbundled, Radon immediately exclaimed,


    "I knew it! HAHAHAHA! Who would have thought that I, Radon Ironforge, could lay my eyes upon such a holy artifact! ADAMANTIUM! HAHAHA it''s actually ADAMANTIUM!"


    Radon was shouting and holding the small piece of rock with both hands in the air. He was raising the ore into the air like it was some holy artifact.


    Radon gingerly placed the ore back down on the table. He turned his gaze towards the two foxkin and said seriously,


    "Boy... how did you get your hands on this?"


    Lucia, who had kept quiet until now, immediately spoke up.


    "Silver was the one who found it! It was when we were on the 9th floor of the dungeon."


    "HAH! So it was in the dungeon!! Man, the kingdom''s totally goin'' to be pissed missing out on such a thing! WAHAHAHA!"


    "Yeah, yeah! We don''t want to turn this in to the kingdom. Please keep this a secret, Uncle Radon!" Lucia said cutely.


    "BAH! Girl, you only call me ''uncle'' when you want something from me!"


    Lucia stuck her tongue out when her motive was exposed. Although Radon said that, he was all smiles when Lucia called him ''uncle''. He then continued.


    "I figured that when you came to me with the adamantium so secretly. Don''t worry even if you wanted to give this to the kingdom, I''d be the first to object for you! WAHAHAHA! So... what do you want me to forge?"


    Cecil heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Radon say that. He then spoke up.


    "Weapons and some other gear, I hear that from this small piece of adamantium you could forge a whole armory of weapons, no?"


    "Ai, it''s possible, but what are you going to do with an armory of weapons, boy?"


    "No, we don''t need an armory. Just some things like a sword, spear, knives and other things."


    "Hrrmm? Then what about the rest of the adamantium?"


    "After you finish crafting what we need, you can keep the rest... just take that as your commission and our thanks for taking care of us for all this time."


    "HAH! Boy, I don''t need your thanks! ... I''ll craft something nice for you with the leftover adamantium."


    "Uhm... okay Radon..."


    "Thank you Uncle Radon!"


    "HAHAH! Leave it to your Uncle, little Lucia! You too boy! This old man doesn''t need any thanks! You''ve helped around the place for the past month! It should be this old man giving you thanks!"


    Cecil smiled at Radon''s response. He remembered his time during the past month since staying at the Ironforge Smithy.


    Cecil and his party would always go out of their way to mine ores for the smithy when they went out to do a quest. Cecil only thought that it was fair since they''ve been staying at Radon''s place.


    A month ago they came unannounced, but Radon took them in only because of the letter Mr. Argon, his older brother, had asked Cecil and Lucia to deliver.


    Cecil and Lucia were surprised when they found out that the rightful heir of the Ironforge Smithy and Clan was actually Mr. Argon, and the current heir was actually his little brother.


    Lucia spoke up and asked Uncle Radon.


    "Uncle Radon! Is it possible to craft a wand with that?"


    "Of course, little one! In fact¨C "


    Before Radon could continue, Cecil immediately cut him off.


    "Radon! We''re not crafting a wand!"


    Hearing what Cecil said, Lucia immediately felt wronged and yelled,


    "Hah?! CEL!!!"


    "It''s not like that Lulu. It''s better if we create a weapon that could also act as a wand for you. You''re already learning martial arts and swordsmanship from me so why not?"


    "Eh? O-Okay..."


    After explaining as such to Lucia, Cecil turned towards Radon and began asking.


    "Is it possible to create a weapon that could also act as a wand for us?"


    "Oh? Not just for Lucia, but also for you, boy?"


    "Yeah, from my fighting style, Lucia''s been copying it, but because she has to use a wand it''s hard for her to use any of her martial skills in battle."


    "Hrmm... with the adamantium it''s possible. Unlike with a wand where you need to concentrate on channeling, the adamantium itself is already a good mana conductor so you wouldn''t need to entirely focus yourself on a spell."


    "Exactly, unlike me, Lucia finds it hard to multi task when using mana."


    "That''s because you boy, have some weird body constitution! Not everyone is lucky like you to have an elemental constitution!"


    Cecil smiled wryly. They had to spin up a lie to cover Cecil''s mana eyes.


    Mana eyes were rare and having an elemental constitution was the best cover up, since people that had either of those traits had strong mana control.


    Except mana eyes was no longer about mana control, but literally turning mana into an extra ''limb'' and there was no living person with mana eyes that past the age of 10.


    Radon then asked.


    "So, what is it do you want me to craft?"


    "I''ll make some blue prints first, and then give it to you later tonight."


    "Alright, go ahead and eat now. My wife has already finished making lunch."


    "Okay, Radon" "Okay, Uncle Radon!"


    "I''ll keep the adamantium locked up. Remember to keep this a secret from everyone else, don''t tell my wife also."


    Lucia and Cecil walked out of the office and started heading towards their rooms. Even in the smithy they shared a room at Lucia''s insistence.


    In their room, Cecil started taking off his armor and began hanging them on the armor rack on the side.


    Lucia only took off her robe and placed her wand on the bedside. She turned towards Cecil and smiled.


    "Good thing, Uncle Radon was able to craft the adamantium for us!"


    "Keep your voice down Lulu, remember ''that'' has to stay a secret. If someone found out, then not only us, but even Radon will get into trouble!"


    Lucia stuck her tongue out and knocked her head.


    "Oops~"


    Cecil face-palmed, after he settled his equipment he went towards the door with Lucia.


    "Anyway, let''s go eat now. I''m starving!"


    "Haiyo~"

 Chapter 50 - A Week

    A week soon had come and gone. As planned, Cecil and Lucia suspended all their adventurer activities.


    Cecil was either training with Lucia or was studying the magic research materials he had copied from Mrs. Anna''s research.


    Of course he had Mrs. Anna''s permission to copy those research materials. In fact, Mrs. Anna wanted to just give all her books to him, but Cecil wasn''t so shameless to take them.


    Although Mrs. Anna and Mr. Zaki thought of him as their son, Cecil knew how important those materials were to Mrs. Anna. So he settled with copying them instead.


    Of course, this came at the cost of physically carrying all those books with him, but he had Silver for that.


    Silver of course didn''t mind, since they weren''t heavy to him at all.


    So other than the training with Lucia and Silver, along with the occasional quests Cecil did during his journey to Angla City, the rest of his free time was spent on cultivating his mana and comprehending the knowledge from the research materials.


    During the week, Cecil checked in from time to time with Radon and observed the progress of the equipment that he wanted Radon to craft.


    Cecil had handed Radon rough sketches and blueprints of a long sword, halberd, and gauntlets for himself.


    They were all forged using 100% adamantium since Cecil wanted a weapon that could handle his mana. Radon suggested using only adamantium as the ore with no other ores being used as supplementary.


    As for the blueprint of the weapon that would act as a wand for Lucia, Cecil made it in the shape of a kodachi with the runes and magic crests of a wand engraved in it.


    The runes and crests that he wanted to engrave on the knife was one of his originals. The crests and runes were optimized to help Lucia use mana more efficiently and effectively during battle.


    This way Lucia would be able to fight using her swordsmanship taught by Cecil as well as use magic spells without the need to concentrate so much on manipulating the mana used in a spell.


    It would have been impossible for him to optimize and of the crests or runes, but with Cecil''s mana eyes, he was able to pick up the flaws of mana circulation when the mana flowed through the magic conduit of a wand or enchantment.


    Although the flaws were small, they still had an impact on a spell caster''s concentration and ability to fluidly channel their mana.


    With the magic research knowledge he learned from Mrs. Anna''s research materials, Cecil was able to make simple adjustments and fix these minor flaws.


    Of course, most of these flaws were caused by the sub-par materials used to create the wands or enchantments, but the adjustments made would be groundbreaking if he was to ever publish a book about them.


    Cecil was able to directly tamper and change some runes, strengthening their output or making them more efficient. Basically, Cecil had developed new runes from those old ones.


    If he was to delve deeper into the research, he could single-handedly push the magical knowledge of Alterna by a decade or two with the help of his mana eyes, but with him being 14 year old, all Cecil thought of was to help his best friend, Lucia.


    Sadly, for Lucia, everything that Cecil voluntarily did for her was always combat-related. With Cecil''s muscle of a brain, all he ever thought of was how to help Lucia fight more effectively.


    When Cecil told this to Lucia with a smile on his face, she wanted to slug him in the face. This wasn''t the first time Lucia had this impulse.


    There were plenty of times when Lucia would think of pummeling Cecil''s face in, but she endured and instead started slugging trees while imagining Cecil''s face.


    Even after all her ''signs'' and advances, all the muscle headed idiot ever thought of was how to help her better her combat prowess.


    Anyway, back to Lucia''s main weapon. Cecil wanted Radon to create a Japanese Katana for her.


    He had roughly explained the method of forging a katana to Radon. Although it was only a rough explanation of the ''folding'' and ''tempering'' method, but with Radon being a master forger he quickly got the gist of it.


    Not all the equipment would be finished by the time the two had moved into the academy, but Cecil at least wanted Lucia''s kodachi and katana as well as his sword and gauntlets ready before then.


    Radon didn''t fail to deliver, so it was all ready for them by the end of the week, all he had to do was put in some finishing touches.


    As for Lucia, during the whole week she had her full attention on solidifying and strengthening her mana stage.


    She gave up her endeavor of mastering a new element other than water and fire, and instead focused her attention on creating original spells from these two elements that she was more proficient with.


    Original spells were spells created by a Spell caster that by passed any sort of chanting, so no chant spells were mostly termed as original spells created by a spell caster for their personal use, but generally they were weaker than normal spells.


    Cecil was the one who suggested for Lucia to abandon her endeavor a month prior when he saw her struggle using earth and wind element spells.


    It was better for her to further perfect her mastery in water and fire than to be a jack of all trades and master of none.


    Lucia protested at first, but then heard how Cecil once tried to train like that and was reprimanded harshly by his father.


    Back on Earth Cecil wanted to master his use on every single weapon, but his father decided against it.


    "Listen son, focus on the weapons you''re more comfortable with! Don''t dabble in every single one and have a superficial comprehension of their uses! That''s not how we Silvarias train! We''re martial arts masters! Not performers! Remember that, son!"


    From then, Cecil only focused his attention on using all types of swords and spears.


    With the wise words from his father, Cecil was able to persuade Lucia into giving up on the other two elements.


    Since then, Lucia was able to create many spells that were tailored to her preferences and battle style. Lucia''s double layered Aquaflame Shield, Steam Pillar, Lava Bullet, and Geyser.


    Many of Lucia''s spells were inspired by the knowledge she learned from Cecil about Earth. Her Steam Pillar, Lava Bullet as well as Geyser spells were inspired from this knowledge.


    And right now, Cecil and Lucia were having a mock battle in a forest 2 kilometers away from Angla City.


    "GEYSER!"


    At Lucia''s shout, super-heated water erupted from the earth under Cecil''s feet.


    "YOU SHOULDN''T SHOUT LULU! You''re only giving yourself awa¨C "


    Cecil hurriedly dodged, but then felt that the area in front of him was also abnormally hot, Cecil kicked at the air and moved his body far to the side.


    While Cecil was able to dodge out of the area, multiple geysers erupted from the ground from where he was just standing at.


    Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief and complain, the ground from under his feet started to heat up.


    "Are you serious!!!"


    Cecil darted forward, but the ground all around him started to steam. Cecil spent the next couple of seconds dodging the multiple geysers that erupted from the ground.


    "RUN! RUN CECIL RUN NAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Lucia was laughing hysterically at Cecil''s plight.


    ''Hahaha, finally. I''m going to punch your face in!''


    Lucia was only supposed to be sparring with Cecil, but her frustration due to him from their long journey had finally peaked. Lucia wanted to punch Cecil''s face in, but it wasn''t with her fist.


    "Dance for me CEL!!!"


    "W-wait! Lulu!!!"


    The geysers had just stopped erupting from the ground, but then multiple spell formations formed behind Lucia. Since it was her original spells, she didn''t have to chant anything. All she needed was to focus and gather mana to create the spells.


    Original spells were normally an advanced technique used by veteran spell casters to give them time to chant more powerful spells.


    This was because most original spells were only sub-par copies from the systematized elemental spells.


    This was not the case with Lucia''s original spells. Every spell was backed with the knowledge and scientific principles from Earth thus making her spells powerful enough to rival or even surpass systematized elemental spells.


    "LAVA RAIN!"


    After Lucia shouted, multiple lava bullets shot out from the spell formations floating in the air behind her.


    "L-LULU!!!"


    As Lucia wanted, Cecil danced and avoided the lava bullets that were fired at him. He danced and danced to Lucia''s tune.


    Cecil was incensed at the one-sided battle, so he activated Mana Burst and rushed straight at Lucia.


    To his dismay however, the spell formations behind Lucia didn''t disappear after the first volley.


    "hehehe... I was waiting for that Cel~" Lucia said with a sadistic smile.


    "Dance for me Cel~ Lava Storm!"


    More spell formations quickly formed in the air all around Cecil. He took a quick glance around and found that there were more than 50 all around him.


    He groaned inwardly, ''Lulu, are you trying to kill me!?''


    Cecil heightened his senses and tightened his muscles. He prepared himself to dodge all the lava bullets with his Mana Burst.


    In the next instant, lava bullets poured out from all the magic formations in the air. They rained down on him and the worst part for Cecil, Lucia had somehow managed to add a homing and explosive attribute to all the lava bullets.


    ''DAMNIT! All the knowledge I taught to her is coming back to bite me in the ass!''


    As he thought this, Cecil kept on dodging all the lava bullets with a smile on his face.


    Lucia on the other hand had a dark face seeing him smile.


    "hehe... so it''s not hard enough for you yet huh?"


    Lucia started chanting the new spell she was finally able to use. With her chant, a large blue magic formation slowly formed in the sky.


    She soon finished her chant, and pointed her wand at Cecil who was still in the midst of dancing with the lava bullets.


    Lucia eyed the area around Cecil and spoke darkly.


    "Neeeh... Cel~ you do remember what you said would happen when water comes into contact with a super-hot material right~?"


    Cecil kept on dodging and replied with a puzzled face. "Of course, what do yo¨C"


    Cecil took a look around and felt that the air and ground around him was abnormally hot. He didn''t feel this since his body was enhanced with Mana Burst, but the temperature around him was easily over 100 degrees Celsius.


    While he was still dodging Cecil looked towards Lucia. He saw the Aquafire Shield surrounding her and the wand that was pointed at him. He then looked towards the sky and saw the large magic formation. It was blue, so Cecil knew that it was a water elemental spell.


    "S-since when?!"


    He dodged the last lava bullet and quickly turned towards Lucia.


    "LULU I DON''T KNOW WHAT I DID WRONG BUT PLEASE!"


    Lucia playfully cut him off and replied.


    "Tut tut, that''s not it Cel~"


    "P-please Lulu!"


    "Nahahaha~ checkmate." Lucia said plainly.


    Then she swung her wand down.

 Chapter 51 - Registering 1

    The next day at the Ironforge Smithy, Cecil and Lucia were just about to head out to the Arks Royal Academy to register themselves.


    They left Silver behind and started walking down the road in the direction of the Arks Royal Academy''s district. Along the way, Lucia was clinging onto Cecil.


    "Neh, neh!! Cel!!! Sorry okay! Stop ignoring me already!"


    Cecil kept silent and turned his head away. After their mock battle, Cecil had begun ignoring and stopped talking to Lucia.


    He wasn''t particularly mad though since he still won in the end. But Lucia, his best friend, had actually used him as a guinea pig to test her new spells.


    Not only that, she was actually ruthless enough to do so without any regard towards his well-being. There were even times during the battle where he saw his life flash before his eyes.


    "CEL! CE~EL!"


    Cecil didn''t respond and only kept walking forward.


    ''Idiot! Who was the source of all my frustration, if it wasn''t you! Hmph! Let''s see if you still dare to ignore me!''


    Lucia let go of Cecil and stopped walking.


    *sniff* *sniff* "Gusu..."


    Cecil was just about to continue forward until he heard Lucia start sniffling.


    Cecil took a small glance behind him and immediately regretted it.


    ''Haaahhh... here we go again... she''s ''crying'' ...''


    Cecil sighed exasperatedly and walked towards Lucia. He put his arm around her waist and said.


    "That''s cheating Lulu..."


    Since she was caught, Lucia stuck her tongue out at Cecil and huffed.


    "Hmph, your fault stupid!"


    Lucia then started pinching his sides.


    Cecil walked forward with his arm around Lucia''s waist, not minding her pinching. After a couple of paces he lowered his arm and walked ahead while saying.


    "How''s it my fault? I''m not the one who was trying to boil me alive!"


    Lucia grabbed onto Cecil''s arm and said playfully.


    "Like. I. Said! I was only testing out my new combo spell! You also agreed with it too~"


    "Tch... I agreed to test your spell out, not to be boiled alive!"


    "uhhh... Teehee?"


    "Don''t ''teehee'' me!"


    "Nahahaha~"


    "Stop laughing already! My butt still stings!"


    "NAHAHAHA!"


    Although Cecil complained and told her not to laugh, he actually started smiling after seeing her laugh so brightly.


    ''Tsk, I should be angry. Why the hell am I smiling?''


    Cecil started worrying if his orientation was shifting towards the ''dark'' side. He shivered and threw the thought into the back of his head.


    ''Whatever, better her laughing than crying.''


    As Lucia was laughing, she eyed Cecil''s expression and found that he was slightly smiling. She breathed a sigh of relief and thought.


    ''Phew... good thing he''s not mad anymore..."


    Lucia normally didn''t care whether she did anything bad to Cecil, but after the two went home yesterday, Mrs. Ironforge was patching up Cecil''s injuries which were caused by Lucia and said something to her.


    Mrs. Ironforge actually told Lucia that if she kept being so aggressive, Cecil might just run away from a violent girl like her.


    Of course, Mrs. Ironforge was only joking, but her words made Lucia start to worry.


    With Cecil also ignoring her, she started to really worry that he might run away from her if she didn''t correct her violent tendencies towards him.


    It''s not like she could help it though. After half a year of trying to make her feelings obvious to that stupid muscle brained genius, she gradually grew frustrated with him being so insensitive towards her.


    She even already told Cecil that she loved him, but all the idiot thought was about the affection love that one would have with their sister.


    "I love you too, Lucia. After all, you''re practically my sister!" Those words had almost made Lucia snap.


    When all the frustration peaked, Lucia would sometimes randomly flare at Cecil or even start firing spells at him with the excuse of having a mock battle with him.


    As for Cecil, he would always reciprocate the excuses without a second thought, but unfortunately not her feelings.


    *Sigh* "Who cares, at least he''s always with me!" Lucia mumbled softly.


    "What''s that Lulu?"


    "N-nothing, let''s hurry already! We''re going to be late!"


    Lucia pulled onto Cecil''s hand and started running along the road.


    It took awhile, probably around an hour or so, but Cecil and Lucia had finally arrived at the Arks Royal Academy''s district.


    The area was surrounded by high ramparts, so this was actually their first time seeing what it was like inside the campus.


    They reported themselves and handed their recommendation letter to the old gatekeeper. The recommendation letter was penned by none other than Lucia''s mother, Anna.


    Mrs. Anna said that she was an alumni and was somewhat important to the academy since she was one of the few who were researching magic after graduation.


    The gatekeeper took a look at the letter and turned a surprise eye at the two. He eyed Lucia and was somewhat astonished.


    The gatekeeper quickly bowed and respectfully handed the letter back to Cecil and ushered them in.


    "Okay... what''s with that guys attitude?" Cecil asked.


    Lucia was also puzzled and could only reply, "I dunno, maybe my mom was really important you know!"


    "Probably."


    The headed into the campus and was stunned by the scenery they witnessed.


    "Woah!" They exclaimed.


    On the main road that they were on, tall majestic buildings lined up on the sides of the road with trees and flowers decorating the area all around!


    It was just like their first impression of Angla City when they first arrived.


    "It really is like a mini-city!" Cecil exclaimed.


    The people that passed by them turned at his exclamation. Some scoffed while others laughed. Cecil was too fascinated with the scenery and atmosphere that he didn''t register any of the reactions the people around gave him.


    Lucia did however, she face-palmed and dragged Cecil away with her. Cecil just followed along while keeping his eyes glued to their surroundings.


    Lucia looked back towards him and helplessly smiled.


    ''Just like when we first arrived at Angla...''


    Lucia giggled and walked towards a bulletin board by the side of the street. On the board there was a map and she looked for the building that handled any new students'' registrations.


    She quickly found it and walked off with Cecil after she memorized the location.


    After they arrived at the center of the campus district, they took a left turn from the central plaza and soon arrived at a bustling road.


    The area just before the registration building was jam packed with people.


    On the right side of the road, there were children of all ages accompanied by a.d.u.l.ts standing on the roadside, sitting by the sidewalk or on the benches.


    On the other side, were children walking back towards the central plaza with their parents. Some were smiling happily, while others were crying or had grim expressions on their faces.


    Cecil had already stopped letting his eyes wander when they got to the plaza. He looked ahead and whistled.


    "Sure is a lot of people here."


    "Of course, today''s the only day during the whole year where students can enroll into the academy!"


    "Hmmm... it''s gonna take a long while then."


    "Not really. Don''t you see how fast the line is moving?"


    Cecil turned his head and observed the people on the right side of the road. They were supposed to be a line, but all Cecil saw was a jumble of people there and they were not idling around.


    The people were walking forward at a slow, but even pace.


    "... well that''s fast I guess?"


    "It''s fast Cel... let''s hurry up and line up with them."


    "M''Kay"


    Cecil and Lucia walked towards the end of the waiting line and lined up. In front of them were children or teenagers who had anticipating or worried looks on their faces.


    They had just lined up, but there were already many people lining up behind them. They moved at an awfully slow, but steady pace.


    They didn''t make conversation with the kids or teenagers around them since the two saw that everyone was either focused or worried.


    Cecil only hummed and said softly to Lucia.


    "Welp, we don''t need to worry too much. Let''s just get this over with."


    Lucia yawned and replied, "Yeah... I''m kinda hungry now too."


    It took the two another hour before they finally arrived inside the building. When they got inside Lucia and Cecil noticed that the long line branched out into 5 separate ones.


    Each line led to a desk with young a.d.u.l.ts dressed in uniform manning them. They appeared to be taking down the names of the children who were registering as students.


    After they jotted down the name, one of the people manning the desk would head into the room with the child or teenager who had just registered.


    The people looked quite young, probably only a couple of years older than Cecil and Lucia. Cecil guessed that they were the academy''s staff.


    "The staffs of the academy are pretty young, don''t you think?"


    "Uhuh, they look old enough to be students to me~"


    "My thoughts exactly."


    They randomly lined up behind one of the lines. It didn''t take long until it was finally their turn.


    The person behind the desk was a male foxkin with glasses. He had sharp eyes and looked intelligent, from Cecil''s observation he deduced that the guy was around 18-19.


    ''Older than Matty, but younger than Ima.''


    The intelligent looking foxkin looked up and saw that the two who were registering were also foxkin like him, one being silver and the other one black. He smiled amiable at the two and said.


    "Welcome, may I have your names please?"

 Chapter 52 - Registering 2

    "Cecil."


    "Lucia."


    The two promptly reported their names. Glasses foxboy noted down their names and began a lengthy explanation.


    "Okay, Cecil and Lucia, my name is Gregory. I''m a 2nd year in the academy''s Mage Division. Let me explain the registration tests for you. Here we have two types of tests, the Spell caster''s test and the Fighter''s test. You may choose to do both or just one of them. Spell caster tests are broken down into 3 sub-tests, namely, Magic Aptitude, Stage, and Mental Capacity. Fighters are divided into 2 sub-tests, Mana Affinity and Mock Combat."


    Cecil and Lucia were listening with rapt attention. Seeing as there were no questions, Gregory continued.


    "For the Magic Aptitude, you will be tested on what types of elements you can properly wield. If you already know which ones they are, please notify the examiner at the beginning of the test. Every examinee will be required to use a basic level spell of the element they are most in tune with. The Stage test, as its name implies, will be simply testing your stage level. The Mental Capacity test will decide whether your talent as a spell caster is of an adequate level to be admitted to the academy. This test is the most important and failing the test will guarantee that you will not be enrolled in the academy regardless of whether you do well in the 1st two tests."


    Gregory paused to take a breath and then he continued.


    "Moving on, the fighter''s Magic Affinity test will test an examinees magic affinity, which element they are in tune with and then the examinee will be required to use the most basic body strengthening technique of the element they have most affinity with. As for the Mock Combat, as the name implies, you will be having a mock battle with a C class monster that will be chosen at random. There will be an imposed time limit on the battle. The examinee can either defeat the monster or hold out until the time limit is reached to pass the test. If you are incapacitated, fall unconscious, or if your life is about to be be in danger, the examiners will stop the battle and you are deemed to have failed the test."


    Cecil and Lucia had gotten the gist of it. It was pretty easy in their opinions.


    "If there are no questions, than please decide which test you are going to take."


    Cecil and Lucia looked at each other and said in unison.


    "Both."


    "Oh? Let me reconfirm... You two are taking both exams?"


    "Ye~es" Lucia said with a laugh.


    Seeing that carefree smile, Gregory asked again.


    "Are you sure you want to take both exams? The consequences of failin¨C"


    Lucia had no doubts and was confident that she and Cecil would pass such an easy exam with flying colors. So she cut off Gregory before he could finish.


    "Just sign us up already. I''m hungry from all the waiting!" Lucia was indeed growing hungry, so she wanted this to be over with.


    Although the two didn''t know that you could take both the division''s test, they knew one thing that was for certain. If their grades stand out, then they''ll be placed in a top class in the academy.


    There was no need for them to lay low in the first place, so why not hurry it up with the test and finish with top scores?


    They were here to learn so why not compete to get better resources and attention from the teachers and instructors with their high entrance grades.


    Gregory was at first offended with the careless comment, but when he was about to reproach them, the words that he was about to say got stuck in his throat.


    He didn''t see any arrogance or ignorance from the two, but instead what he saw was an ironclad confidence.


    "...Okay, examinee No. 1560 Lucia and examinee No. 1561 Cecil will be participating in both the Spell caster''s and fighter''s examination!"


    Gregory gave the two a plate that had their registration numbers. After that, Gregory turned towards the cat-kin female that was beside him.


    "Katka, lead them to the 2nd floor, room SF01 and SF02."


    The catkin girl who kept silent the entire time seemed uncaring, but even she was astonished with the unshakable confidence that Cecil and Lucia exuded.


    She didn''t debate and simply said, "Okay."


    "You two, please follow Katka to your examination room."


    The cat-kin, Katka, beckoned the two and they followed her up to the second floor. There were plenty of rooms at the 1st floor so it puzzled Cecil and Lucia that they had to have their examinations on the 2nd floor.


    The crowd of people who were lined up saw that a 2nd year student was leading the two towards the 2nd floor. It caused a small discussion between the people who were still in line.


    "Hey, those two... are they taking the tests for both the fighter and spell caster division?"


    "What? You could take both?"


    "Hahaha, must be them not having enough confidence in clearing one of them so they decided to take both!"


    The last comment caused a small uproar of laughter between the people in the lines. The ignorant laughed while others stood their deep in thought.


    A female lizard-kin with golden locks and horns looked towards Cecil and Lucia who were now walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor.


    "Hmph... didn''t think there would be others like me."


    Other people would be ignorant of the matter, but not just anyone had the guts to take both exams.


    If you decided to take both exams, you could not fail in either one of them. If you fail in one of them, the academy would deny your enrollment, but you could still try again next year.


    However if you failed in both, then the academy would not you down and you would be barred from taking any future entry exams.


    The discussions continued


    "Hahaha! I might as well take both too!"


    "Hey... isn''t there a rumor that if you take both exams, you''d be barred from retaking any future entry exams?"


    "Huh? Then those two?"


    "They''re either stupid or they don''t know this."


    "Hmph... Ignorant fools."


    The last comment caused a small commotion in the line.


    The bunch of ignorant gossipers turned towards the person who butted in on their conversation. One of them immediately flared at the small girl who insulted them.


    "Say that again pipsqueak!"


    The person who insulted them earlier was the same lizard-kin girl with golden locks.


    "Like I said, you''re all ignorant. Only people with confidence would take both exams. Not like you fools who aren''t confident enough with your own abilities to pass even one of the exams!"


    "Grrr... why you!"


    "NEXT!"


    The girl with the golden locks stepped forward and reported her name to the student who was manning the desk.


    "Elizabeth Arks. I''m taking both tests."


    "A-arks?!"


    The student quickly became nervous and hurriedly jotted down her name and quickly went to escort her up to the 2nd floor.


    "SF03, that''s where you''ll be taking your e-exam! Y-your hi¨C"


    The girl quickly cut him off before he could finish.


    "Enough! Just lead me up."


    "Y-yes!"


    The people who caused a ruckus earlier quickly became silent.


    "S-shit! She was a royal?!"


    "D-damn... the p-princess actually came to enroll too?!"


    "Ohhh shit man... you''re so screwed!"


    The earlier fellow who raised his voice at Elizabeth Arks quickly started sweating. He was scared that he might have offended the princess.


    "NEXT!"


    The uproar didn''t settle anytime soon since everyone in line discovered that a royal was actually taking the exams with them.


    Even the students manning the desks were hyped up a bit and started working faster.


    Cecil and Lucia were already at the 2nd floor and they ignored all the commotion downstairs. They quickly reached their individual testing rooms and entered.


    "Cel! Finish quickly alright! Let''s hurry up and go have lunch!"


    "Yeah..."


    Lucia quickly entered her room. Just as Cecil was about to enter his, he saw another person arrive on the 2nd floor.


    It was the princess, Elizabeth Arks. Cecil took a quick glance at her.


    ''Oh... she''s taking both exams too? Weird, she looks like a lizardkin but she has horns? Haha cool, she looks almost like a dragon.''


    Cecil thought that she looked really cool, so he brazenly kept his gaze on her for a bit before walking into his room.


    Elizabeth took notice of Cecil when she arrived on the 2nd floor. She also saw him sizing her up.


    The gaze caused her to pause and just as she was about to glare back, the foxboy unhurriedly walked into his exam room.


    "...Hmph..."


    She scoffed and walked into her own room.


    Inside room SF02, Cecil took a look around and saw that it was empty. It was about 100 square meters in size, not too large and not too small.


    On the side there was a long glass window with 3 people inside. Cecil walked up to the window and waved at the people.


    The old lady who was in the middle spoke up and her voice rang in the room.


    "Examinee No. 1561, Cecil. We will now begin your exam. The first exam will be the spell caster''s Magic Aptitude test."

 Chapter 53 - Spell Caster’s Exam

    The old lady behind the glass window waved her staff and the floor in the middle of the room opened.


    A target dummy slowly rose from the opening.


    Cecil observed the dummy. He took another glance towards the examiners and raised his hand.


    ''Huh... so it''s only this...''


    Without the need for the examiners to say anything, Cecil concentrated his mana and sent his version of an air bolt towards the dummy.


    The examiners were astonished at Cecil''s lack of chanting. They immediately thought that he was using an original magic.


    The next scene however left the examiners apart from the old lady dumbfounded.


    When the ''air bullet'' came into contact with the dummy, the top part of the dummy was immediately blown away leaving only the base.


    "H-how is it that powerful?!"


    One of the shocked examinees exclaimed.


    Cecil turned back towards the examinees and waited for the next test.


    The old lady spoke once more, "Examinee No. 1561, Cecil. Was that an original spell based off of the air bolt spell just now?"


    Cecil responded honestly, "Yes, it was."


    It was indeed an original spell, but it was not based off the air bolt spell. All Cecil did was use Mana Burst and instead of focusing the mana into his body, he condensed it all onto his hand and fired it. The bolt of mana was pale gold in color, so other than the color the characteristics were similar to the air bolt spell. Cecil called it ''Mana Bolt''.


    Cecil also had a version of the Mana Bolt where he continuously fired them, he called it ''Mana Volley'' and there was another more powerful version where he continuously channeled the mana after firing the Mana Bolt, forming a wave or laser. At first he wanted to call it Kamehameha, but he settled with ''Kinryugiha'', since he wanted to sound original.


    The old lady only nodded slightly, since it was an original spell, the characteristics of the spell would not be the same as the normal one so the pale gold color did not bother her. She continued asking, "Are there any other elements you have a good aptitude with?"


    "Earth..."


    Cecil paused immediately and began thinking quickly, there was no way his mana could imitate an earth bolt. So he made something up on the spot.


    "I''ll also be using another original spell based off the earth spike spell." Cecil replied. On the outside he looked calm, but he sweating profusely on the inside.


    ''Crap! Why''d I have to open my big mouth?!''


    Cecil was a non-elemental user so he didn''t have any affinity with any of the elements. All he did was manipulate his mana into imitating the visual and effects of the elemental spells as best he could.


    It wasn''t so obvious with the wind element, but if he wanted to use the Earth element there was no way he could imitate an earth spell using the environment in the room. It''s not like he could destroy the floor of the exam room.


    Cecil just bluffed and hoped that because of the irreparable state of the dummy they would just proceed with the next test.


    The old lady took a look at the dummy and thought for a moment. She then said, "If the effects are the same as the original air bolt, then we will just continue onto the next test."


    Cecil released a sigh of relief inwardly and replied.


    "They''re almost the same."


    "Then we will move onto the next test, the Stage Evaluation test."


    Once again the lady waved her staff. The dummy or what was left of it disappeared into the floor and not long after a pedestal with an orb perched atop it rose from the opening on the floor.


    Cecil knew immediately what it was and before the examiners said anything, he was already walking towards the orb.


    ''It''s just like the one Mrs. Anna used.''


    Cecil stretched out his arm and concentrated. He was prepared to send his mana into the orb.


    ''Better not send all my mana in... 500 units should do it.''


    Although he and Lucia agreed to not hold back on the exams, but Cecil thought that injecting all 5000 plus units of his mana into the orb would be overkill.


    ''I just need enough so I can stand out in a good way.''


    Like the saying goes, the nail that sticks out will be hammered in. Cecil wanted to stand out, but not in an abnormal or bad way.


    Cecil sent his mana into the orb and the orb started to light up.


    The body of the pedestal started to glow and a violet bar shone on the bottom most part. As Cecil kept channeling his mana into the orb, the light bars on the pedestal shown blue, then green, while climbing up until it stopped on orange.


    This time even the impassive old lady had her eyes widened in astonishment.


    The pedestal would light up in color according to how much mana you injected into the orb on top. Violet was the lowest and it indicated that you were only in the initial stage. Blue indicated the early vapor stage, green was middle vapor stage and so on.


    Orange was the second highest evaluation possible on the pedestal. It indicated one being at the Mid Mana Sea Stage.


    Right when the first bar shone on the pedestal, Cecil had already planned to light up the pedestal all the way into the 2nd highest evaluation possible.


    What he didn''t expect though was that he had to inject almost 800 units of mana into the orb.


    ''Well, this should be a cinch for Lulu. Her mana is already close to mine.''


    Lucia''s mana if she added in the mana acc.u.mulated from her family''s unique mana technique would rival Cecil''s amount.


    After half a year of training, Lucia had already successfully condensed 3 authentic mana cores in her 3 tails. Each core could store 1000 units of mana, added with her 1000 units, Lucia would have over 4000 units of mana in total.


    Cecil sighed and thought ''Why am I even worrying? These tests are all too easy for us two.''


    Cecil walked back to stand in front of the long window and waited for the next test.


    The old lady examiner had regained her composure quickly and said. "Examinee No. 1561, Mid-Level Mana Sea Stage. Very good, very good now on to the last spell caster test."


    The old lady was happy to find such a promising seedling. She immediately thought that the days ahead for the academy would be very interesting indeed.


    She already heard rumors of the most talented child of the royal family enrolling into the school, but what she didn''t expect was that she was also able to find another child who''s talents didn''t lose out to the princess.

 Chapter 54 - Spell Caster’s Exam – Lucia’s side

    Meanwhile, as Cecil had just finished his spell caster exam''s second test.


    In room SF01, Lucia had just finished her Magic Aptitude evaluation. She took much longer than Cecil because she insisted on using both her fire and water spells.


    Just like Cecil, she used an original spell based off of the water and fire bolt spells.


    "Okay, on to the next test."


    Lucia only grinned when she thought about the Stage Evaluation test.


    ''I bet Cecil''s already stunned his examiners.''


    When the pedestal came up, Lucia immediately stepped forward and put her hand on top of the orb.


    She began channeling her mana into the orb and the first violet color bar shone on the bottom of the pedestal.


    ''Hoohh... I guess the higher the bar, the better it is then?''


    Lucia smirked and started channeling her mana faster into the orb. The orb quickly lit up all the way until it was yellow. Lucia''s original mana capacity without factoring in her mana cores in her tails was only around 500 units.


    Lucia frowned. She then began focusing her mind onto the mana cores in her tails.


    ''First Core, Release''


    Another surge of mana gushed into the orb and immediately the orange and red bar lit up, but because Lucia had released her First Core''s Seal all the mana inside her tail''s core ended up rushing into the orb with zero constraints.


    The orb kept on lighting up until eventually, it cracked.


    The examiners behind the window were already on their feet when the red, top most bar of the pedestal lit up.


    "High Level Mana Sea Stage!"


    "G-genius! Isn''t she only 14 years old?!"


    "No you fools! Can''t you see that the orb has already started cracking! She''s at the Peak Level! Just a short ways away from Mana Core Stage!"


    "What?!"


    "Impossible!"


    The examiners took a closer look at the orb that slowly started cracking. Eventually to their astonishment, the orb broke apart and the pedestal''s light immediately dimmed down.


    "M-mana core... she''s in the Mana Core Stage!"


    "A 14 year old at the Mana Core stage! This is unprecedented!"


    "A-Actually, wasn''t there someone like her before?! The previous headmaster''s talents practically rival this young girl''s! Also, wasn''t the previous headmaster also a silver haired foxkin?"


    "I-I''ve been thinking about this since earlier, but... don''t you think that this girl looks somewhat familiar?"


    The shocked examiners took a careful glance at Lucia. Lucia took notice of them sizing her up and felt annoyed.


    She had accidentally broken the orb so she thought that the examiners'' gazes were unpleasant. She thought that they wanted her to pay up for destroying their equipment.


    Lucia felt that she didn''t do anything wrong! It was the academy who was at fault for testing her with such trashy equipment.


    Lucia scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Then she started glaring back at the examiners but her expression and actions caused another round of discussion from the examiners.


    "Huh? look at her... she looks and even acts like our previous headmaster..."


    As the examiners were talking, Lucia made her way to the window and knocked on the glass in annoyance. Seeing as the examiners were busily discussing something and essentially ignoring her, Lucia cleared her throat and said loudly.


    "Ahem... next?!"


    The examiners were shocked and immediately turned towards the young fox girl. One of them spoke out hurriedly.


    "Eh... ah yes, yes... next is the Mental Capacity test."


    With a wave of the examiner''s wand, a desk with books on top rose from the floor.


    The examiner began explaining.


    "Here we have some intermediate and basic level spells, choose any from the table. They''re spells from every elemental system. We will test on how fast you can comprehend and use the spell you have chosen. You have 3 attempts. The timer will begin when you pick up the first book."


    One of the examiners was already holding onto a clock-like gadget. It was Alterna''s version of a stopwatch.


    "Okay." Lucia replied plainly and walked to the table. The books were grouped in colors, red for fire, blue for water, green for air, brown for earth, and purple for lightning. There was also a small amount of white and black books, probably for the light and dark elemental systems.


    Lucia went over to the red area and picked up a fire element spell book from the desk.


    She took a glance at the spell and found that it was the Scorching Array spell. It was the exact same spell that Lucia had used in the Monster Hunting Event that wiped out half of a Blade Ursa Tribe.


    ''Heh, Mama had this in her study and I could already cast this spell months ago.''


    Lucia only took a small glance at the book and placed it back onto the desk.


    She walked away from the desk and stood only a couple of paces away. Then she began chanting.


    "W-what?!"


    "No way, that fast?!"


    "...remember she''s at the mana core stage!" said one of the examiners with an understanding gaze.


    After the last examiner said his piece, the other two also nodded in understanding, it was expected of this talented young girl to be able to do this.


    Lucia quickly finished chanting and she released the spell right in front of her.


    "SCORCHING ARRAY!"


    A magic circle formed on the floor a few steps ahead of her and then a scorching pillar of flames rose from the ground.


    "The chant was also fast!" An examiner exclaimed.


    Lucia had already abandoned using this spell ever since she created her original spells, but that didn''t mean she would forget how to use it.


    Instead because of the influence of her original spells, Lucia was able to somewhat shorten her chant and quickly release the spell.


    After the spell subsided Lucia turned back towards the table, ready to pick the next spell she was going to use.


    But before she could pick up another book, the lead examiner quickly stopped her.


    "Examinee No. 1560, Lucia. You have already passed the test so there is no longer any need for you to use another spell."


    "Oh? Well, that''s the final Spell caster test right? So next is the fighter''s test right?"


    Sensing the impatience in her voice, the examiner stuttered.


    "Y-yes, ah, congratulations on passing the Spell caster''s test, right now you are probably the most promising student candidate from this batch of examinees."


    "Thank you, so let''s continue onto the next test?" Lucia politely responded.


    "Ah, for the fighter''s test there will be a new examiners. Please wait a bit. It won''t take long for them to arrive."


    "Okay~"


    The examiners quickly went out through a separate door in the room. Lucia walked towards the window and leaned on the wall beside it and crossed her arms.


    ''I wonder how Cecil''s doing. Hah, I bet he''s doing better than me!''


    Lucia could not be more wrong because right now in room SF02, Cecil had just barely finished the third and last exam of the spell caster division.


    "Holy crap... that was a close one, I almost got caught." Cecil said as he tiredly slump down on the floor.

 Chapter 55 - Fighter’s Exam

    ''Phew... that was close.''


    Cecil had barely finished the last exam. The spell he picked was the intermediate spell Float. This was the only intermediate wind spell on the desk and although there was another intermediate earth spell, there was no way he could actually use it.


    So Cecil could only bite the bullet and try to use Float.


    Since he couldn''t use the wind element it was hard for him to imitate the float spell with his non-elemental attribute.


    He panicked a bit and spent 10 minutes memorizing the chant and devising a plan to deceive the examiners.


    In the end, all Cecil could do was chant the spell and use mana burst to jump into the air. After he reached high up into the air, he then sent a continuous stream of mana shooting onto the ground below him.


    This way when he descended from the air, he would descend slowly, making it look like he was floating in the air.


    Float was only a spell to help spell casters glide in the air. It''s not like they could use the spell to fly around, so eventually the caster would still descend to the ground.


    If Cecil tried to glide around in the air, it would spell his doom since he would immediately fall to the ground.


    So instead of moving around, he just stayed in place while descending slowly to the ground.


    The examiners didn''t see anything amiss except for the old lady who narrowed her eyes at Cecil when he descended to the ground.


    Cecil was panicking inside, but kept a poker face. The old lady only chuckled and announced that Cecil passed the test.


    Cecil was sitting on the floor while he thought.


    ''Phew, good thing I didn''t get caught... When are the fighter division examiners going to get here?''


    Not long after, the door in the room where the previous examiners were at opened.


    Cecil observed from the other side of the window that 2 burly, muscular men came in with a s.e.xy harpy lady.


    The examiners all had weapons strapped to their backs or waists and they were fully geared in their armor.


    Cecil stood up in attention. He could see that the examiners were sizing him up.


    Soon a lazy female voice rang throughout the room.


    "All right~ Cecil was it? Let''s get your test over with~"


    Cecil was caught off guard from the lazy voice and stuttered in reply.


    "Y-yes!"


    The muscular tiger man on the harpy lady''s right stepped forward and shouted.


    "FIRST! The Mana Affinity test! Which category''s body strengthening can you use?!"


    Cecil grimaced at the loud voice that came ringing into the air. Cecil responded seriously,


    "Earth and Wind."


    "Hooh? Let''s see it then!"


    Cecil got in a stance and quickly activated Mana Burst. With the surge of mana, Cecil disappeared from where he was standing.


    "OH! Wind Element''s Shukuchi huh!"


    The examiners could only see a blur moving around the room, the tiger man immediately yelled.


    "That''s enough! Next EARTH!"


    Cecil''s body immediately appeared in the spot where he was previously standing. Cecil deactivated and reactivated Mana Burst.


    This was to trick the examiners'' eyes since every body strengthening technique would always be accompanied by a surge of mana from the caster.


    This time Cecil didn''t do anything and merely stood in place.


    The Giant who had kept silent since the start of the exam spoke slowly.


    "...Vajra?"


    His deep bass voice rumbled in the air. Cecil merely nodded in reply.


    Vajra was an Earth Element body enhancing technique that reinforced the body''s defense towards all types of attacks. You wouldn''t see the effects unless the person using the technique was assaulted.


    The giant nodded and turned towards his two companions and gave them a slight nod.


    The harpy lady''s voice rang once more in the room.


    "Okay~ first test finished~ Now onto the last test, the mock battle~"


    The Harpy Lady waved her arm and the room was immediately cleared. The desk and orb sank back into the ground and a large cage rose up slowly in the middle of the room.


    Cecil looked at the cage and saw a Metal Boar raging inside.


    ''...C class... what am I even expecting?''


    Cecil just gazed dully at the monster, not bothering to take up any stance. It was only a C-class monster, so there was no reason for him to be afraid or even take things seriously.


    Cecil and Lucia have been facing off against B and A class monsters since their debut as adventurers.


    Cecil had even taken down a B-class monster right when he arrived on Alterna, so a C-class monster was no threat to him.


    The examiners were surprised seeing Cecil''s lack of reaction, they even picked up a hint of disdain from his eyes.


    The boar roared and raged. It was constantly slamming its body onto the bars of the cage.


    The harpy quickly asked in a somewhat serious voice this time.


    "Examinee Cecil~ Are you ready?"


    Cecil didn''t mean too, but he involuntarily yawned.


    He quickly stopped himself from yawning and with tears in his eyes, he replied quickly.


    "Yes!"


    The examiners only thought was ''Did this kid just yawn?''


    After receiving Cecil''s confirmation, the harpy lady waved her hand again and the cage immediately collapsed.


    The Metal Boar sensed that it was finally free from its confinement and charged out of the collapsing cage.


    It took a look around with its blood shot eyes and spotted Cecil who was in front.


    "OH NO! We forgot to give the kid a weapon!" frantically shouted the Harpy lady "Damn it! It''s because of that kid''s lack of reaction that it slipped my mind! Quickly! Quickly stop that thing!"


    Just as the examiners were about to abort the battle, they saw Cecil rush at the boar.


    "What the¨C this kid!"


    But what happened next caused the harpy lady to quiet down.


    BOOM BANG BOOM BOOM THWACK


    *SQUEEEEEAALLLL*


    Cecil was using his martial arts to thrash the boar around the room.


    When he arrived in front of the boar, Cecil gave it an uppercut with his mana empowered fist.


    When the boar was lifted off the ground Cecil jumped up and slammed his elbow into the belly of the Metal Boar. He rotated his body and sent an axe kick on to the boar and slammed it back onto the ground.


    With the axe kick, the Metal Boar was embedded into the ground, but Cecil picked it up and sent the boar crashing back into the collapsed remnants of the cage.


    After he was finished, Cecil turned towards the dumbfounded examiners and simply said.


    "Done?"


    The Giant wasn''t so surprised. After all, he saw Cecil using ''Vajra'' and he knew immediately that Cecil would win the fight even without a weapon.


    Vajra was a high level earth element body enhancing technique that was leagues above the basic and intermediate earth element ''Metal Skin'' and ''Mountain Body''.


    Vajra not only upgraded the caster''s bodily defenses, but literally turned the casters body into a weapon.


    So why would a warrior need a weapon when his body itself was his weapon? The giant was also a master at using Vajra so he knew immediately that Cecil''s battle style was close to his.


    Coupled with the ''Shukuchi'' that Cecil used in tandem with Vajra, the outcome was expected. Only the Tiger Man and Harpy Lady were gaping in surprise.


    The Giant clapped his hands and said, "Well done examinee Cecil, I look forward to you participating in my class."


    His words immediately broke his companions'' astonishment. They quickly composed themselves and announced that Cecil had passed the fighter''s exam.


    Cecil bowed and thanked the examiners politely, "Thank you."


    Cecil then turned towards the door and walked out of the room.


    ''Phew, that was easier than expected. When was the last time I took care of a small fry C-class?''


    When he arrived at the hall, he saw Lucia leaning on the wall waiting for him.


    "Hahaha, what took you so long, slowpoke?"


    "Tsk, the 3rd magic exam gave me a bit of trouble."


    "Oh?"


    Lucia was a bit surprised, but then thought of Cecil''s plight. His inability to use elemental mana.


    "Nahahaha~ good thing you didn''t get caught! Right, stupid?"


    "Hey, I didn''t get caught so how am I stupid?"


    "You''re stupid because I say you''re stupid, hahaha~"


    "..." Cecil slump his shoulders while staring at Lucia.


    "Alright, let''s go! Let''s go eat now! I''m starving! It''s because you took so long, stupid Cel~"


    "Yes, yes... let''s go now. By the way, when are the results going to be announced?"


    "They''ll post the successful candidates on the large bulletin near the entrance of the Arks Academy district tomorrow."


    "Tomorrow huh... Guess we should start packing our bags later."


    "Yup! There''s no doubt we''ve passed! So after we eat, we should let some of our friends at the guild know and thank the Ironforge family for taking care of us."


    "Oh yeah, since we''ll be living on campus we''re gonna have little to no contact with the others outside huh."


    "Yup, yup, let''s hurry then, it''s already past midday!"


    Lucia and Cecil were heading towards the first floor, but behind them a certain princess was listening in on their conversation.


    Elizabeth had just finished her exam and was astonished to find the two foxkin from earlier finishing long before her.


    She wanted to go over and greet them, but the two seemed to be in their own world prompting others to not go and disturb them.


    "Hmph... how confident, but that''s expected of them... time to go home."


    Making sure that the two fox kin from earlier had already gone down to the first floor, Elizabeth Arks walked up to the higher floors of the building.


    When she arrived at the rooftop of the building, she jumped up into the air and from her back a pair of draconic wings spread out.


    She flapped her wings and flew higher into the air. Elizabeth made sure that she was far above the clouds so as to avoid drawing any attention from the people down below before flying towards Angla City''s Royal Castle.

 Chapter 56 - New Things

    It was finally the day of the Academy''s new semester announcement.


    Cecil and Lucia were already on their way to the Arks Royal Academy''s gate with their luggage. They had some new gear on them.


    Strapped to Cecil''s waist was the long sword that Radon had finished crafting for him. It was about 1.2 meters in length and the blade was about a foot wide near the hilt, but after a couple of centimeters down, the blade quickly shrunk to about four fingers in width until it reached the tip.


    As requested by Cecil, Radon didn''t make an overly flashy hilt and guard. It had a simple design and the guard was just straight and normal one. The wide part of the blade also acted as a pseudo-guard.


    There were no ornaments or gems embedded on the hilt or guard, the only unique thing about it was the faint veins of light pulsing on the sword whenever Cecil put his hand on it.


    They were the runes engraved onto the sword that helped made the sword function as not only a weapon, but also a wand or staff. Also the runes responded only to Cecil''s and Lucia''s unique mana signature.


    The runes were also a sort of lock that made it possible for only Lucia or Cecil to draw the blade from its scabbard.


    Cecil wanted to engrave runes that could act as an anti-theft mechanism, but he needed to research further into the proper runes that were required to make this mechanism. So for now, he could only settle with this.


    Cecil was also wearing a pair of gauntlets on his arm. The chrome colored azure tinted gauntlets had a somewhat draconic design. It imitated the large overlapping scales on the forearms of land dragons and flying earth drakes.


    Beside him, Lucia was also sporting a new look and equipment. She had her hair in a ponytail with a Silver ribbon tying it up. She had a katana and a kodachi strapped to the side and back of her waist.


    Cecil thought that it really suited her, but the current Lucia was holding onto one of her tails and was constantly giggling.


    "Instead of giggling like a creep, you could at least carry your own luggage..." Cecil said with a dull look in his eyes.


    Lucia didn''t seem to hear him since she was busy fiddling with the accessory on her neck and tails.


    She then turned towards Cecil and said happily.


    "What creep? A cute little girl like me giggling is in no way creepy! Instead people will think I''m cute, hehehe~"


    "Jeez... what''re you so happy about? They''re only tail bands and a necklace! Tsk... maybe it was better if I didn''t design any of these for you..."


    "Hmph! Say that again! You''ll be carrying my luggage for the rest of your life if you don''t take that back!"


    "Haaahh... it''s not like it''s gonna make a difference... at this rate I''ll be carrying everything for you for the rest of my life regardless."


    "Eh? W-w-w-wha-what are you saying?! Stupid Cel!"


    Lucia had stopped in place when she yelled at Cecil. Cecil sighed and turned back while saying.


    "Hurry up, Lulu... the place is gonna be jam packed again if we get there too late."


    After saying his piece, Cecil continued walking forward carrying both his and Lucia''s luggage.


    "Idiot... these were the first things you ever gifted me..." Lucia mumbled quietly.


    Cecil was too far away so naturally he didn''t hear her mumbling. He just kept walking forward.


    Lucia ran up to Cecil and hugged onto his arm while smiling and giggling happily. Cecil only took a glance at her and sighed.


    The necklace and tail bands were accessories that Cecil designed at the last minute using a little bit of the adamantium that was leftover. He asked Radon to craft them for Lucia.


    He designed the accessories with rune engravings that would further optimize Lucia''s mana circulation in combat. The motive behind the accessories was typical of Cecil.


    However, Lucia really treasured them because it was the first time Cecil had gifted her something that wasn''t a weapon.


    The necklace was in the shape of Lucia''s tails, but instead of three there was nine tails in total that looked as if they were blooming out like a flower. Cecil remembered that Lucia''s family technique would one day let her grow 9 tails in total if she was able to successfully train until the final stage of the technique.


    So with that in mind, Cecil crafted the necklace in the shape of nine tails hoping that it would serve as motivation for Lucia in the future.


    In the middle was a small topaz and on the surface of the topaz were small rune engravings that pulsed with a golden light.


    The rune engravings that dotted the entire gem caused it to shine with a gold colored and it matched well with Lucia''s golden colored eyes.


    The tail bands were simple bands that wrapped around the middle of Lucia''s tails. There were small rubies embedded on the bands.


    It was said that rubies were gems that were naturally imbued with fire element mana in it. Since Lucia''s favorite element was fire, Cecil had Radon embed the bands with rubies.


    And for the hair tie, it was woven from adamantium that was melted and spun into thin threads. There were also runes engraved in it and there were small sapphires embedded on the ends.


    As for himself, Cecil only asked Radon to craft him two armbands that would limit his mana output.


    This way he wouldn''t create any abnormal events when taking any practical exams when he was in the academy.


    In particular, his body strengthening was off the charts when using Mana Burst. The arm bands he had Radon create were engraved with mana inhibition runes, an original of Cecil''s. The runes on the bands would inhibit his mana circulation to the point where only half of the mana in his body would be activated when he used Mana Burst.


    The engravings were hard to do, but he was already working on the engravings ever since he and Lucia left Forest Hill Town. The same went for Lucia''s accessories. Cecil already had them planned out long before they got the adamantium.


    It was godsend that they stumbled onto the adamantium in their dungeon run. If not, Cecil would have had to settle with orichalc.u.m or mithril. But if he used either one of those ores then Cecil''s armband would be disposable and he would have to replace them once in a while.


    Lucia''s accessories would also have sub-par effects, but thanks to the adamantium everything worked out well in the end.


    Permanent armbands and super high performance accessories! In the end, the materials used to craft equipment would always decide whether the equipment was trash or not.


    You could have a master blacksmith crafting something for you, but even they wouldn''t be able to create a legendary sword using just ordinary rocks, right?


    With Lucia hugging onto his arm, Cecil arrived at the gate of the Arks Academy district.


    Even when he thought that they came early, the place was packed full of people who were looking at the large bulletin near the gate.


    There was also a spacious area on the side of the gate that was devoid of people, but there were all sorts of fancy carriages lined up there.


    Cecil sighed in exasperation.


    "Well, whatever..."


    Cecil quickly activated his Mana Eyes as well as Mana Burst. He focused all the mana into his eyes to enhance his eye sight.


    He looked towards the bulletin and saw the examinee numbers that were accepted into the academy. Cecil turned his eyes towards the top and started looking for their numbers from there.


    Cecil smirked when he quickly found his and Lucia''s numbers right at the top.


    1. Examinee 1560 SF


    2. Examinee 1561 SF


    3. Examinee 1602 SF


    4. Examinee 0002 SF


    5. Examinee 0200 SF


    6. Examinee 0001 SF


    7. Examinee 0505 SF


    8. Examinee 1091 SF


    9. Examinee 2000 SF


    10. Examinee 1234 S

 Chapter 57 - New Friend

    After Cecil found his and Lucia numbers, they immediately made their way towards the academy district''s gate.


    When they arrived the two showed their examination numbers to the student staffs who were at the gate.


    The staffs were astonished to see that the two top examinees had arrived together. They didn''t want to create any commotion so after Cecil and Lucia''s numbers were verified, they quietly let them in through the gate.


    The staff at the gate had even assigned someone to escort them to the dorms.


    When they arrived at the academy''s dorm complex, Lucia was sulking a bit. Cecil immediately asked her what was wrong.


    "What''s up Lulu?"


    "...we''re going to be separated..."


    "..."


    Cecil facepalmed and said wryly.


    "Hey, you make it look like we''re separating for life. When school starts, we''ll probably be in the same class, so cheer up."


    "...Fine."


    They arrived at the female''s dorm first. Cecil took a look at the building and thought that it was like a 5 star hotel. It was awfully luxurious, the lobby''s interior was also really spacious and decorated in a high class fashion. There was even a restaurant and convenient store on the first floor!


    The convenient stores in Alterna weren''t quite like the ones back on Earth. Although there were still some similarities, such as having snacks, some groceries, bathing essentials and such, there were also the added magical items, potions, simple alchemy ingredients and other items unique to Alterna.


    When Cecil handed Lucia luggage to her, the staff escort turned towards him and asked.


    "Shall I lead you to the male''s dormitory now?"


    "Oh... sure. See you in class Lulu."


    "Y-yeah... bye-bye Cel~"


    Lucia had perked up a little, so Cecil thought it was fine to leave her now.


    Of course, that was impossible. Inside Lucia was agonizing whether or not she should detain him right there and then, or even ask the staff that brought them here whether there was a mixed dorm.


    But, in the end, Lucia restrained herself.


    Since the academy had already assigned their dormitory rooms, she didn''t want to cause Cecil any problems. So she watched him walk off towards the male''s dormitory and only until he left her sight did Lucia finally walk into the building behind her.


    Lucia looked around and found that it wasn''t as crowded as she thought it would be. She then walked to the reception desk and checked her name in.


    "Examinee No. 1560, Lucia."


    "Okay, one moment please..."


    The female receptionist inputted her name onto the plate that she was holding. Cecil had always wanted to point this out, but wasn''t the plate similar to the tablets from Earth?


    The receptionist quickly found Lucia''s name.


    "Ah! So it was our top ranking student! Pleased to meet you, let me get your dorm key!"


    The receptionist turned around and waved her staff, it wasn''t long before a card flew out of the small openings that were on the wall behind the reception desk.


    "Here you are, Lucia. You will be in building S01, room number 101."


    Lucia took the card and thanked the receptionist. On the card there was some sort of serial number.


    "S01101, huh."


    Lucia was about to ask where the building was, but then a map suddenly formed on the small card. It indicated where she was currently at and where her room was.


    "Well, that''s convenient!"


    Lucia then followed the directions on the map. It was a surprise to her since her room wasn''t in the building she was currently at.


    Actually the building that acted as the lobby and check in area was the dorm''s administration building, on the card''s map it was marked AF01.


    When Lucia walked out of the AF01 building, she found herself staring at a large building complex that surrounded a park that was situated in the middle.


    "Woah..."


    Lucia was somewhat surprised, but she kind of expected this. The building she just came out of was large, but it''s not like it could house all the female students of the academy that numbered in the thousands.


    From what she saw from where she was standing, Lucia counted at least 10 buildings that had similar sizes to building AF01.


    "Okay... where''s mine?"


    She thought that since it was building S01 it should be close by, but the map only indicated for her to walk further and further into the complex.


    On her way, she came across some of the other female students who were either her upperclassmen or freshman just like her.


    Some greeted her and other''s just walked passed.


    Lucia was focused on her map, so when she got deeper and deeper into the complex, she didn''t take notice of the shocked and envious gazes of the other students.


    She finally arrived at building S01.


    "Tsk, it''s building 01, but why is it so far from the entrance!"


    Lucia was annoyed with how far she had to walk from the administration building all the way to her dorm.


    "A-anoooo... excuse mi-igh!"


    Lucia turned around when she heard someone call out to her. Behind her was a girl with similar height as her who seemed to have just bitten her tongue. She had tears in her eyes with one of her hands clasped over her mouth.


    Lucia took another look at the girl and thought that she was pretty. The small girl had long, wavy aqua blue hair reaching her buttocks. Her eyes were a bright emerald color. She seemed to be about Lucia''s age too, but the most astonishing thing would have to be her body.


    The girl and Lucia sported almost the same height and figure, only Lucia was a little bit taller, but the difference between their chest sizes was astonishing.


    Lucia wondered how a girl that should be the same age as her grew up to be that... well, big!


    Even as a 14 year old, Lucia''s chest was pretty well developed and she would probably have some huge knockers when she grew into an a.d.u.l.t. But, even Lucia had to admit defeat before the girl in front of her.


    Lucia started worrying since Cecil''s eyes would sometimes wander onto a woman''s chest whenever they met one with huge assets. The prime examples would be when they first met the guild receptionists in any city or town they stopped by.


    At first, Lucia had to stab Cecil''s eyes with her fingers just so that he wouldn''t let his eyes wander, but Cecil soon learned his lesson after numerous eye-blinding assaults.


    From then on, Cecil made sure that his eyes would never gaze at ANY girl they met for prolong periods of time, in fear of Lucia poking his oculus uterque out.


    ''Uwaahh... she''s dangerous...'' Thought Lucia. ''Better keep her away from Cel.''


    The blue haired girl grew worried when all Lucia did after she turned around was glare at her. She opened her mouth and asked worriedly.


    "I-is there something wrong?"


    Lucia snapped out of her train of thoughts and greeted the girl.


    "Haha, nothing, nothing~ my name''s Lucia. I''m a first year, nice to meet you!"


    The girl was surprised at Lucia''s abrupt change, but she quickly reacted and greeted her back.


    "N-nice to meet you! My name''s Aquafina Oceania Neftersea. Like you, I''m also a first year!"


    Even when she was just glared at, Aquafina only smiled back and introduced herself happily. Lucia grinned seeing the cheerful personality of the girl.


    "So~ Fina~ I can call you that right? Fina? Aquafina is pretty long! You can call me Lulu, all my friends call me that!"


    "O-okay! L-Lulu!"


    Aquafina giggled, she was very happy since someone who she just met actually wanted to be friends with her and even gave her, her first ever nickname.


    "Fina... Fina~ uhehehehe~" Fina was giggling and had a sloppy grin on her face.


    ''Woah, this girl sure has a lot of expressions~'' Lucia thought.


    Just a second ago, the girl in front of her just had a tearful expression from biting her tongue, a fearful one from Lucia glaring at her, then a cheerful expression from having their introductions done and finally the current sloppy, over-the-moon blissful expression from calling out her own nickname.


    She was cute... goddamn she was too cute. Even Lucia couldn''t help but want to hug, pet, and spoil this adorable little thing.


    "WAAAAAH MOOOEEEEE~"


    Lucia shouted and dashed up to hug the cute little thing in front of her.


    "Eh? L-Lulu?!"


    Fina was surprised at the unfamiliar term that Lucia just spouted, not to mention that she was also abruptly embraced by the beautiful fox girl who she just made friends with.


    Lucia started rubbing her cheeks on Fina''s and laughed.


    "Nahahaha~ I wouldn''t mind Cel being friend''s with you since you''re soooo cute and adorable~"


    Lucia would normally limit Cecil''s interactions with girls who were ''threatening'' in her eyes, but she made an exception for Fina since she was just too precious.


    "Uh o-okay? Uhehehe~" Fina was a bit bothered at first by the unfamiliar and unexpected skin ship, but she started giggling happily soon after.


    "Okay, so since you''re here too Fina, does that mean you''re also going to be living in building S01?"


    "Yup! My room number is 101! So come visit me if you have time!"


    "Eh? 101?"


    "Yup!"


    "What a coincidence! Mine is 101 too!"


    Fina, upon hearing this was simply overjoyed. Her first friend also happened to be her roommate.


    "Yay! Let''s go up to our room then!"


    The two walked arm in arm into the building, they checked in with the receptionist and quickly made their way to their room on the second floor while chattering about.

 Chapter 58 - An Apartment?

    Lucia and Fina quickly found their room on the 2nd floor.


    There were only 5 rooms on the floor so it was easy to find room 101.They unlocked the door with the key and shuffled into the room.


    The two looked around their accommodation and exclaimed, "WOAH!"


    "It''s BIG!" Lucia smiled and said happily.


    "..." Fina curiously explored the spacious room


    A room would be an understatement. If this was Earth, the room that they entered would be an apartment instead. In fact, it was probably an apartment anyway. It was no wonder there was only 5 rooms on the 2nd floor of the building.


    After they went through the small hallway after coming through the door, the two arrived at a spacious living room, about 25 square meters in size with table in chairs placed in the middle.


    There was a small kitchen area that was separated on the right side of the room and a balcony on the far side of the room that let the light of the sun shine into the apartment.


    On the left side was another small hallway and the girls could see that there were 2 doors there that were situated facing each other. At the end of the hallway was another door that led to the bathroom.


    When they each opened a door, inside was a room with a small bed, desk, and wardrobe. Apparently the academy let the students in building S have an apartment with separate rooms.


    "Fina! I''ll be taking this room!"


    "Okay, Lulu!"


    Lucia went inside her room and started unpacking. She placed all her clothes inside the wardrobe and all her personal belongings on the desk.


    There wasn''t really anything much since she and Cecil have been traveling for the past months. Other than a couple of souvenirs that Lucia bought with her money, the rest of her money was used to pay for equipment repairs and buying new clothes if her old ones were ruined.


    During their journey, Lucia had picked up a habit of collecting cooking recipes unique to the area they passed by. Since neither Cecil nor Silver could cook, it was up to her to take on this important task.


    So Lucia had compiled a few books worth of recipes which she placed neatly on the right side of the desk. Since there was also a kitchen in their apartment, she''d have plenty of time to flaunt her cooking skills which she painstakingly raised for months.


    After Lucia arranged all her belongings, she took a look around her room and chuckled softly.


    "... I have so little huh?"


    There was a small rack near the window in the room. Lucia thought it would be a good place to put her weapons and armor on.


    She took a look at herself and said.


    "Hrmm... I guess it''s better to change out of this. It''s not like I''m going into combat or anything."


    Lucia then started un-equipping her armor and weapons.


    She then began arranging them on the rack. First was her leather armor, shoulder guards and knee pads. Then her worn out travel boots and the spell scroll belt she had around her waist.


    This belt was something that Cecil had made for Lucia from a while back.


    When the two journeyed into the so-called Magic City of Anglaria kingdom, Mystea, Cecil found out that spells could also be activated by drawing the magic activation crests on mana-imbued scrolls.


    On Alterna, it was called quick-cast. After a magician drew their spell onto a mana scroll, in order to activate the spell drawn on the scroll only a short keyword was all it took. This keyword was called the ''trigger'' and they would normally be words like ''activate'', ''cast'' or even the spell''s name.


    To Cecil this had so much practical use, so he bought as much mana scrolls as he could for Lucia to draw spells on. The quick-casts on more than one occasions saved Lucia from a pinch.


    Of course, there was a downside to using this quick-cast and that was storage. It was c.u.mbersome for a spell caster to dig into their bag to pull a scroll out. So Cecil created the belt for Lucia so that she could have easy access to her scrolls.


    From time to time Lucia would draw spells onto the scrolls since it became a habit, but now it turned more into a hobby instead since she now had original spells in her arsenal.


    Finally, Lucia placed her katana, which she named Shirayuki, on the rack. She kept her kodachi, which she named Butterfly, with her since she felt awkward without it.


    Thanks to Cecil''s teachings, Lucia now had a habit of always carrying a weapon with her. Without one she felt awkward, like she was n.a.k.e.d or something.


    "KYAAAAAAHHHHH!!"


    Lucia turned around at the shout and was about to dash to Fina''s room, but she quickly halted when she found Fina standing by the door covering her face.


    "Fina? What''s wrong?"


    Aquafina peeked through her fingers and stuttered shyly, "L-Lulu... y-your c-c-c-clothes!"


    Lucia took a look at herself. With her armor and robe off, she was only wearing a thin shirt. Since she took off her belt; her battle skirt had also fallen down onto the floor, leaving only her underwear.


    So other than her top being covered by a shirt, her bottom was exposed. However, Lucia was puzzled at Fina''s reaction. They were both girls so there should be no reason to be so fl.u.s.tered.


    "Hrmmm... we''re both girls anyway. No need to overreact!"


    "B-b-but..."


    "..."


    Lucia silently went to her wardrobe and took out some casual wear and quickly dressed herself.


    "Do we have anything we need to do for today?" Lucia asked.


    After seeing her dressed, Fina had composed herself and quickly replied to her friend, "Other than registering into our dorms, nothing else."


    "Okay! Let''s go check out the rest of campus! We''ll go get Cecil too and go shopping! I''ll show you my cooking skills Fina!"


    "O-ou! W-wait! You can cook Lulu?!"


    "Nahaha~ of course!" Lucia put on a victory pose, then she waved her fingers at Fina. "Without me, Cecil would be hopeless during our travels!"


    "Amazing! Uhm... by the way... who''s this Cecil?"


    From their first interaction, Lucia had always kept on saying this name, Fina couldn''t help herself so she had to ask who this was and by the name, she also concluded that this ''Cecil'' was a boy.


    "He''s my childhood friend!"


    "Ah! Well, let''s go then! Since he''s a boy maybe we should go pick him up at the boy''s dorm?"


    "Good idea! One sec, let me go grab Shirayuki!"


    After Lucia strapped her katana to her waist, she walked out of the dorm with Fina.


    Fina was curious so she asked.


    "Neh, Lulu... is it necessary to bring a weapon around with you? I mean... we''re on campus so there are no monsters around..."


    "Oh? Nahahaha~ it''s just a habit of mine~"


    "Hmmm, alright~"


    Fina was observant and with the way Lucia carried herself, Fina concluded that her foxgirl friend was a veteran in battle.


    The aura that Lucia subconsciously let out for a split second when she touched her katana didn''t escape Fina''s observation.


    ''Hmmm... Lucia seems to be a warrior, but that sword... it looks slim. I''ve never seen such a thin rapier...''


    Fina had mistaken Lucia''s katana for a rapier since it was her first time seeing one.


    Fina happily locked her arms with Lucia''s and walked out of the building together and went towards the direction of the boy''s dormitory.


    Cecil on the other hand wasn''t having such a swell time. After he arrived at his dorm he picked the room that had the window and quickly unpacked.


    Now he was currently dealing with his troublesome and loud dorm mate.


    "HEY! Short stuff! You listenin'' ahhh?!"


    Cecil''s dorm mate was lizard-kin with crimson red hair and golden eyes who also sported a small horn on the middle of his head. He was much taller than the short Cecil and he was a little buff.


    If Lucia was here, she would have immediately recognized this snobby dorm mate of Cecil''s.

 Chapter 59 - New friend?

    Cecil was currently in a ''heated'' argument with his large dorm mate.


    "What is it?" Cecil replied plainly.


    "This is MY room now! So pack your shit and get out!"


    Cecil took a look back at his room, and then he turned to look at the large lizard kin boy in front of him.


    "Yours is over there." Cecil pointed at the room behind the lizard boy.


    "Wha?! Din''t cha hear me ya li''l shit! THIS is MY room." the lizard boy retorted rudely while pointing at Cecil''s bedroom.


    "..."


    Cecil didn''t like arguing, unless it was with Lucia. So all he did was close the door behind him and locked it. He then went straight for the dorm''s exit while ignoring the loud and rude dorm mate of his.


    Who was he to try and take something that now belongs to Cecil?


    When Cecil first arrived at his dorm apartment, there was no one there besides him. He took a look around and found that his dorm really did resemble the apartments back on Earth. He''s never been to one, but he recognizes them from the stuff his family shows him.


    So he was really excited and started exploring every nook and cranny of his new home.


    He noticed that there were two rooms in the dorm so he took the liberty of choosing the one that had the window. This way he could also enjoy the fresh air once in a while. So after he finished unpacking, he wanted to head out and find Lucia only to bump into his awfully rude dorm mate.


    His roommate had just inspected Cecil''s room and tried to lay claim to it, something Cecil didn''t like. It was first come, first serve. So he didn''t have any reason to give it up.


    "HEY! Don''t ignore me ya brat!" The large lizard dude tried to grab onto Cecil, but Cecil easily evaded him and replied,


    "I''ll be going out now. By the way my name''s Cecil. Pleased to meet you," Cecil said in monotone, but he politely bowed to his roommate.


    Although he didn''t want to deal with this annoying roommate of his, he still wanted to properly introduce himself nonetheless. He would be staying with this large dude for the rest of his academy life, so it wasn''t like he could continue avoiding him or anything.


    Ainz was caught in Cecil''s flow and started introducing himself properly. He even copied Cecil and bowed slightly in return, but every gesture carried a hint of nobility.


    "O-oh, my name is Ainz Bernstein, please to me¨C like hell! Open da damn door! We''re swa¨C"


    He quickly realized and started flaring up again, but he was soon cut off after hearing the apartment''s door open and close.


    "..."


    Ainz could only stare at the door incredulously. Then he started laughing uproariously. After which he went into the free room and started unpacking his belongings.


    ''Ugh... just my luck to have a disagreeable fellow as a roommate'' thought Cecil as he sighed.


    He quickly reached the ground floor while his shoulders slumped at the thought of his roommate.


    Just as he exited the building he heard someone call out to him.


    "Cel~!"


    The nickname and voice was all too familiar and only one person on campus would ever call him that. Cecil immediately perked up and turned towards the source of the voice, Lucia. She was there together with a cute girl by her side.


    "Hey, Lulu," Cecil greeted. "I was about to look for you too. You need something?"


    "Not really~ but let''s go sightsee around the campus! There''s nothing to do anyway!"


    "Sure, but who''s the girl?"


    Cecil agreed to Lucia''s proposal and then questioned her about the aqua haired girl clinging onto her arm.


    "Let me introduce you two! Cel this is Aquafina... something something... sorry~ I forgot her name~"


    "Neeh, Lulu! The least you could do was remembering my name! Also, please introduce me properly!" Fina said while pouting cutely. Her cheeks were inflated making her resemble a cute little animal.


    ''What''s with this adorable thing?'' Cecil thought after seeing her squirrel like expression.


    "It''s not my fault~ it''s just so long~" Lucia said apologetically.


    Fina sighed and took a step forward to introduce herself properly to Cecil.


    "My name is Aquafina Oceania Neftersea, you can call me Fina for short! I''m Lucia''s roommate, nice to meet you!"


    Fina extended her hand for a handshake. Cecil shook her hand and replied,


    "Y-yeah, my name''s Cecil Silvaria, nice to meet you too."


    "Heehhh, so you''re ''Cel'' huh?"


    "Uhh, yeah... it''s the name Lulu gave me ever since we were kids."


    "Can I call you that too?!"


    Just as Cecil was about to answer, Lucia abruptly cut in.


    "NO! That''s for my exclusive use only! Teeheehee~"


    "Aww, no fair Lulu."


    As Fina and Lucia were making a ruckus, a loud voice abruptly bumped in on their conversation.


    "Can I join as well?!"


    Cecil recognized the voice as the one belonging to his roommate, Ainz, except this time it was somewhat polite.


    Lucia and Fina turned to face the towering newcomer and Lucia immediately exclaimed with hostility.


    "IT''S YOU!"


    Ainz also seemed to have recognized the silver haired fox girl in front of him.


    Well, he did recognize Cecil so of course he would remember Lucia who was with him in front of the dungeon... the only problem was that Cecil however, had no inkling to who Ainz was since he didn''t pay any attention to him when they met at the dungeon''s entrance a week ago.


    "Heh, yeah it''s ME! Got a problem brat?!"


    "Pei, look who''s talking! BRAT! I can''t believe a stuck up BRAT like you managed to get yourself into S class!"


    "Wazzat?!"


    Cecil sighed. ''Didn''t he sound polite just now?'' Cecil turned towards his roommate and said.


    "Hey... Ainz. Finished packing? If you wanna join us then sure, I guess."


    "WHAT?! Cel! You can''t seriously be thinking about bringing along this brutish BRAT with us?" Exclaimed Lucia, she emphasized ''brat'' in hopes of pissing off Ainz and driving him away from their group.


    "Heh! I''m coming whether you like it or not! Brat!"


    "Idiot!"


    "Midget!"


    "Pea-brain!"


    The two''s back in forth exchange didn''t look like it was going to end any time soon. Fina walked towards Cecil and whispered to him.


    "Are you sure it''s okay to leave them be?"


    "...Lulu for one isn''t going to stop and I don''t see Ainz giving up either... just leave ''em be, they''ll tire themselves out eventually."


    "O-okay..."


    Fina seemed pensive at the idea, she turned to look at the fox girl and lizard boy who were now huffing at each other. Their back in forth had left them out of breath.


    Finally Ainz was the first to open his mouth and he said something he shouldn''t have.


    "Granny!"


    "Oh shit...." Cecil cursed and quietly activated Mana Burst and stepped forward to stop Lucia.


    Feeling the abrupt rise in mana levels coming off of Cecil, Fina widened her eyes in surprise and yelled.


    "Cecil?!"


    But, Cecil soon disappeared from beside her.


    "What''s that?!! I''ll incinerate you! La¨C"


    After the worst possible insult was sent to Lucia, she immediately raised her hand and aimed a Lava Bullet at Ainz. Lucia was always conscious of her white hair since on their journey an unaware child had once asked if she was like his granny since she also had white hair.


    Lucia of course didn''t mind the child, but then Cecil who was at the side had started laughing and pointing at her while saying "granny, granny".


    The end result was Cecil having a couple layers of his skin burned off and a ton of bruises on his face after Lucia beat him up after she roasted him. Cecil could of course escape from Lucia''s wrath, but seeing as Lucia started throwing a tantrum he just let her beat him up.


    So Cecil had already predicted that Lucia would certainly beat the crap out of Ainz after his insult. So without a second thought, he quickly flashed in front of Lucia, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before she could finish invoking her spell.


    "Wha?! Put me down CEL! I''m going to incinerate that bastard! PUT. ME. DOWN!!!"


    Lucia started kicking up a fuss and started beating her fist on him, but Cecil ignored her and started walking off while calling out to Fina and Ainz.


    "Alright everyone, let''s go and have our tour around campus now! Let''s go, let''s go!"


    "... you almost died there Ainz..."


    "Did she almost invoke a tier 3 spell without chanting right now?"


    "Yup... well let''s get going now. He''s leaving us behind. I finally have a clear picture to who Lucia is now."


    Fina ran to catch up with Cecil and Lucia. Ainz had also sensed the intensity of the spell that Lucia had almost cast at him. It was powerful and he knew that the end result was not just some mild burns for him.


    "Shit... that brat... is she the rumored number one?"


    Ainz pondered aloud. He quickly started running when the trio was almost out of his vision.


    "YO! Wait up!"

 Chapter 60 - All eyes on Her

    As Cecil and company were out touring the campus, the members of the Academy''s Student Council were currently gathered together in the student council office.


    In the office, sitting at the head of the table was the student council president. The president was a golden haired lizardkin male with dark horns on his head. He had red scales decorating the sides of his handsome apathetic face.


    The president was currently reading a report handed to him by his secretary. After reading the report on his tablet like device, he smirked.


    "Well, well. I did not expect the previous headmaster''s daughter to enroll at our academy at this time... didn''t we get information that she would enroll next year?"


    "That was only rumors, not credible info. The previous headmaster had gone off the radar and has only made minimal contact with her student, our current headmaster."


    The person who replied to the president''s question was a female rabbit-kin. She had pink hair and her long rabbit ears that drooped down the sides of her head were also pink in color. Her eyes were droopy as well and every fiber of her existence screamed of exhaustion.


    On the seat to the left of the president sat a young tigerkin boy. He opened his mouth and said arrogantly.


    "President Zephyr, why are we holding this meeting anyway if it''s only just for this one girl? It''s not like she''s going to threaten our positions, she''s still a first year remember?"


    Student Council President Zephyr chuckled at his vice-president and said,


    "Take a look at this."


    Zephyr tossed the report he was reading to his vice-president. Upon reading the contents the vice-president gasped in astonishment.


    "She broke the testing equipment? Doesn''t that mean she''s in the mana core stage?!"


    "Exactly, Alex, and that''s why we''re conducting this meeting. We can''t have her falling into the hands of another faction."


    "Tsk, then shouldn''t we go and meet up with her right now?! She''s probably already checked in her dorm by now!"


    "Now, now Alex, don''t be hasty... I heard from the instructors that she''s a bit... headstrong. Meeting her now would only work against us. It''s not like she has any idea about the power structure inside the academy."


    After hearing President Zephyr''s reasoning, the hot-headed vice president calmed down and began passing the report around to the rest of the council members.


    They too were rendered speechless at the report.


    The other members of the council began discussing about the girl on the report.


    "She''s only 14... But already at the mana core stage?"


    "As expected of the previous headmaster''s descendant, she was a freak as well."


    "The apple doesn''t fall far from the tree."


    "Do the other factions have this info about her?" one of them members asked with concern.


    "Most likely... but from the report she isn''t the only one who''s noteworthy... isn''t that right president?"


    "Yeah, isn''t your sister also enrolling this year? And the Ocean nation''s princess is also here because of the exchange student program! Not mention there''s also that rare elemental user!"


    Vice-president Alex didn''t join in on the discussion. He turned towards Zephyr and asked.


    "So? How will we proceed?"


    Zephyr only replied with a short sentence.


    "...We''ll use my sister."


    "..."


    "The best way to win someone over is to befriend them first. Coercion will only backfire considering this one''s...personality."


    "Headstrong, huh... More like arrogant and naive!"


    The droopy secretary who was silent after just one sentence finally spoke up again.


    "...a young girl with that kind of abilities will surely develop such an attitude. Using Elizabeth would work well since they''re both of similar age and gender... but president. I''m not so sure if Elizabeth herself would like the idea of being ''used'' by us."


    "Hmph. In the castle she can be as willful as she wants! But this is how society is. We''ll use her whether she likes it or not! So you can put your mind at ease, Serilla."


    "...okay."


    "Just make sure you keep things discreet. It''s better to use her without her realizing it! There''s no doubt that she''ll join our faction since she always wants to compete with me!"


    Alex chuckled at his president''s words.


    "A brother would surely know his sister well."


    The president quickly silenced the rest of his members and began discussing other important things. On the other side of campus however, in the personal housing district another similar meeting was currently in progress.


    "You can bet those bastards from the student council have their eyes on her as well!" said a foxkin male in lavish clothing. He had reddish orang hair and ears.


    He also had 2 tails on his back that was decorated lavishly with accessories and jewels. His expression was full of disdain and disgust at the mention of the student council.


    "No need to be so worked up about it. Once the princess knows where she''s actually from, there''s no doubt in my mind that she''ll join our faction."


    "Hmph. What makes you so sure Aurellia?"


    The arrogant foxkin male addressed the elegant female fox kin who was drinking tea sitting at the head of the room.


    "That''s because she''s part of MY clan." said the female foxkin. After taking another sip of her tea she then continued. "You could say that she''s a relative."


    "Huh? Part of the Aurielle tribe? But she''s nothing like you!" The arrogant fox boy said while directing a gaze at the girl.


    The elegant fox girl had golden hair and ears. She had one long bushy golden tail. When she opened her eyes, her golden irises coldly glared back at the fox boy.


    Seeing the glare, the boy did nothing to hide his gaze and glared back challengingly.


    "Hmph. Don''t get c.o.c.ky with me Aurellia. Don''t forget that I''m from the Myriad fox tribe and that I''m ALSO a leader of this faction!"


    "Then don''t direct that disgusting look at me Friedrich!" The girl countered menacingly, her eyes grew another level colder and the air around her started to tremble.


    The fox boy harrumphed and directed his gaze elsewhere. Seeing that Aurellia retracted her mana and then continued softly,


    "...she''ll surely join us if I go and recruit her."


    "Hmph. Then you better not fail. Her abilities and talents alone could shift the power scales of the academy... a 14 year old mana core stage expert. Not even I''m at the mana core stage yet... tch." Friedrich said, clicking his tongue in annoyance. He was obviously jealous of such a young genius.


    Then a timid voice interjected between the two foxkin''s heated argument.


    "Uhm... e-excuse me..."


    Hearing the soft voice, Friedrich sat back down on his seat, closed his eyes and ignored the voice. Aurellia however, immediately smiled and replied to the timid voice.


    "Ara? What is it my cute little Quri?"


    Quri, an orange haired young fox boy, who was addressed immediately stood up at attention and hastily replied.


    "P-p-p-princess! According to the report there was also another foxkin boy who was seen coming and going along with the... girl in question!"


    After saying his piece, Quri quickly sat back down and inwardly sighed in relief.


    "Hoohh... the black one yes?"


    Quri quickly stood up again and replied.


    "Yes!"


    "Hmph. He''s just some commoner tagging along with the... princess. Ignore him. Better yet, try and remove him from the princess'' side!"


    "Ara? Fried boy~ that''s not nice... he''s also one of us AND he might have a close connection to the princess~ driving him away might just drive the princess away as well~ not to mention. He''s second ranked among the first years."


    A mellow voice echoed in the meeting room. Hearing this voice and also the intimate yet mocking nickname, Friedrich immediately flared up and began yelling at the newcomer.


    "What did you just say, Delia? Bitch! I dare you to say that again!"


    "Arara~ our Fried is as hot-tempered as usual~"


    The person who just called Friedrich ''fried'' was a female foxkin who had just walked into the room. She was wearing a priestess'' garb and she walked in all smiles even after Friedrich had just cursed at her.


    One word could describe the female adolescent foxkin who just came in, white. She was pure white from head to toe. White ears, hair, and tail, even her pupils were a silvery white.


    "Hmph. I''ve never heard of a royal tribe that had black hair and fur. Why should we let some commoner join our Royal Fox Faction?"


    "Ara? Don''t forget that we still have commoners in our ranks. The boy could be the princess'' attendant, you know~"


    "Hmph."


    Aurellia who had kept silent finally opened her mouth.


    "I don''t think he''s an attendant."


    "Reason?"


    Aurellia looked back at the pure white fox girl and replied.


    "Her family kept away from the tribe... so she was probably raised as a commoner."


    "I see... then doesn''t this make it difficult for us? Her upbringing just doesn''t match with our ideals maybe~"


    Quri stood up ramrod straight and gave his opinion.


    "It''s not like we treat commoners any differently, so maybe it won''t matter!"


    After saying his piece, Quri once again sat back down.


    "... just let me deal with it. She''s my... cousin after all. And what can I say... as expected of my uncle and auntie. Even their daughter is as freakishly talented as they are. We can''t afford to lose such a talent, especially not to those council bastards!"


    "Hmph. For once I agree with you."


    Friedrich slammed the report down onto the meeting table and walked out of the room.


    The report on the table was the same one as the student council''s reports. On the report was the information on the top 10 examinees of this new semester.


    These two factions weren''t the only ones that had these reports. All 10 factions of the academy had similar reports and were conducting similar meetings.


    As for the top two examinees, they were currently eating cake at the academy''s shop district.


    "Thish ish sho good~" Lucia chewed blissfully.


    "Don''t talk with your mouth full Lulu..." Cecil said while wiping the cream off her mouth.


    Ainz who was observing the two''s interactions immediately thought.


    ''This girl... she''s totally doing that on purpose.''


    "Totally on purpose... right Ainz?"


    "Uwaah! HEY! Aqua brat! Don''t just go reading my mind like that!"


    The party of four was currently eating cake blissfully while unaware of the undercurrents that were caused by their enrollment into the academy.

 Chapter 61 - Factions 1

    After the group finished eating dessert, they were just about done exploring the shopping district of the academy.


    This Academy''s campus was pretty big so they couldn''t do a full tour around the campus in just one afternoon.


    By the time the group finished with the tour and buying any essentials from the shops, it was well into the evening and the sun was beginning to set. Cecil and the rest first arrived at the girl''s dormitory to drop off Lucia and Fina.


    As Cecil and Ainz were about to go back, Lucia stopped them.


    "Neh Cel, wanna have dinner at our place?"


    "M''kay, you cookin'' right?" Cecil immediately agreed to Lucia''s invitation.


    "Of course!"


    Ainz opened his mouth when he heard that Lucia would be cooking.


    "Hooh, so the fox brat can cook!"


    "What''re you still doing here? Go back already you punk!"


    "What''s that you brat?!"


    Fina quickly stepped in to try and stop their argument. It''s not even been a day since they''ve met, but the two had never ceased bickering.


    "L-Lulu! Come on let''s also invite Ainz over..."


    "No need! Not like I wa¨C"


    "Tsk, can''t take a joke can ya punk?"


    "What''s that?!"


    Cecil who was looking at them only smiled and walked into the building while carrying the girls'' shopping bags.


    "Hmph. For a friend, you seriously need to know when to take a joke! Come on, let''s go in~"


    Lucia said and bounced after Cecil.


    Fina was surprised and started giggling.


    "F-friend, huh... hmph."


    Ainz walked after the trio. A hint of a smile was on the corner of his lips.


    "I see someone''s happy~"


    "Shut it, aqua brat."


    The four made their way into the building. Lucia went to the receptionist to ask permission for the two boys to enter their dorms and was quickly told that any guests that were brought in by any of the residences of the dorms were their own responsibilities. There was no need for them to ask permission.


    "So we can have anyone come and go as we please as long as they''re with us?"


    "Yes, any other questions?"


    "No. Thank you Miss!"


    Lucia and Fina guided the boys towards their building. Along the way, it was inevitable that they would bump into others, especially when it was already the evening. By now, many other examinees that passed the exams had finally checked into their dorms, so it was much livelier than compared to earlier in the morning.


    Cecil was silently following behind Lucia, not minding the stares that were being directed at them.


    "Oi... Cecil, sure are a lot of beauties huh."


    Cecil turned to look at Ainz who was next to him. He honestly didn''t think that with Ainz''s character he would take the initiative to bring up this topic.


    Cecil took a look around and saw the other girls at the dormitory complex bustling about, staring curiously at them, or frolicking in the garden.


    "...Don''t care." Cecil apathetically replied.


    "Hah?! Listen here Cecil."


    Ainz began to silently point out the girls in the area who in his opinion had a ''beauty that could and should be appreciated''.


    Cecil could only listen since to Ainz''s in depth analysis based off of his observation of the girls in the area.


    Inwardly, he was sweating because in front of him. A rakshasi was glaring menacingly back at him.


    ''Ainz... please, just please shut up! I''m going to be killed! Murdered!''


    Lucia was close to them so even though Ainz was speaking softly, she could still hear what he was saying to Cecil and she did not like it. Not one bit.


    Fina who was next to Lucia started giggling at Ainz''s nonsense, but then she heard Lucia mumble something dangerous.


    "Poison? Yeah... I''ll poison him... Cerella flower added with vine solution and the hipocotus herb can cause paralysis and mild hallucination... I''ll also add a little demurus herbs and dried basilisk meat that''ll cause stomach ulceration... hehehehe... keep on talking you little punk... this''ll be your last supper, hehehe."


    Fina turned pale hearing Lucia speak about paralyzing and poisoning, she quickly turned back and stomped on Ainz''s foot before going back to pacify the evil rakshasi who was about to concoct a dangerous meal for him.


    "OUCH! What''s your problem aqua brat?!"


    "Neh~ Lulu, just make something simple okay?! Okay?!"


    "I''m only going to make soup later~"


    "Soup?!"


    Fina quickly imagined the possibility of Lucia pouring in something ''extra'' into Ainz''s soup and quickly tried to change the menu.


    "Nonono~ let''s just roast meat or something! Yes, let''s just do that! We had noodles earlier today remember?!"


    "Hmmm? Okay~ if you want meat then let''s eat meat for dinner~"


    Fina sighed in relief and glared back at Ainz and mouthed, ''Shut your stupid mouth idiot!''


    Ainz was puzzled since he didn''t quite catch what Fina mouthed, Cecil who just witnessed what happened immediately thanked Fina inwardly.


    Cecil placed a hand on his chest and lightly bowed at Fina. Ainz could only stare at him feeling puzzled.


    ''Thank god we have an angel in our midst... I almost died, he almost died. Thank you, Guardian Angel Fina.''


    Fina who was in front of them sneezed cutely, Lucia looked at her and asked.


    "You cold Fina?"


    "Not really, just had to sneeze all of a sudden."


    After their comedic exchange on the road, the group of four finally arrived at building S01.


    "So you''re in building S01 too huh brat."


    "...Hurry up and come in."


    Lucia was too tired to return an insult so she just quickly ushered them in to the building. The girls then led them to their dorm.


    After walking inside, she went towards her room to put away Shirayuki and change her clothes.


    Cecil looked around and went to the kitchen, he and Ainz placed the girls'' groceries down on the counter. Cecil then opened up the cooling magic device or in other words, this world''s version of a refrigerator and began arranging the groceries inside.


    Ainz went back to the living room and sat down onto the couch. Quickly the girls came out of their rooms dressed in casual wear. Lucia was wearing a plain light yellow one piece while Fina came out wearing a t-shirt with overalls.


    Lucia''s eyes immediately brightened and she quickly hugged Fina.


    "You''re soooo~ cute Fina~"


    Fina could only let the fox girl hug her while she giggled in her embrace.


    Lucia quickly let go of Fina and head towards the kitchen. Ainz only took a short glance at the girls and turned his gaze outside the window. It was finally dark and light rocks began illuminating the area outside.


    Lucia quickly began to get busy, preparing all the necessary ingredients for their dinner. She asked Cecil to grind down the boar meat that they purchased earlier and she packed and mixed them together with mashed fernions, Alterna''s onion''s, salt and other grounded down spices she had finished prepping.


    Lucia then added a bit of fat onto the mixture and molded the meat into a disk. Basically it was a burger, something she learned to make from using her knowledge about Earth''s foods.


    Ainz and Fina were observing as the two were working together to make their dinner. Fina couldn''t help but, comment.


    "...are they married?"


    "..."


    Ainz could only look at the girl in stupefaction. In what world would you find a married couple at the age of 14?


    You would find one neither on Earth nor on Alterna. So it was a pretty dumb thing to say.


    "The food''s a bit unusual don''t you think?"


    "Uhuh... but..."


    "It smells good!" the two said in unison.

 Chapter 62 - Factions 2

    "Thanks for the meal!"


    Fina and Ainz said with satisfaction.


    The dinner they had been otherworldly, figuratively and literally.


    The meat patties that Lucia made weren''t something that Alterna had. Here, it was either whole meat or chopped meat, not like this patty that was grounded meat pad together.


    The spices mixed in with the patty were good that one didn''t need any other condiments to go with it. Also the way the meat melted in their mouths which caused an explosion of flavors made them nearly m.o.a.n in pleasure.


    Lucia also made a lot, so Fina and Ainz had their stomachs filled up and both were extremely satisfied with their meals.


    The only one still eating was Cecil, since he always ate a lot, a whole lot.


    So while Cecil was still eating, everyone else had begun talking about random things. Eventually Ainz had brought up a topic that neither Cecil nor Lucia understood.


    "Factions?"


    "Yeah, Lulu... you didn''t know that?"


    "What''re those?"


    "Haha brat! I can''t believe you don''t know of such a simple thing! What''re you, stupid?"


    "Oi, punk, want me to scorch that pretty face of yours?"


    A crimson magic circle had already formed atop Lucia''s hands.


    "OIOI! I''m just kidding damnit! And here you said that I can''t take a joke!"


    Lucia laughed and said,


    "And I''m only joking as well! So... you gonna tell me about these factions?"


    "Damn... your jokes are way too dangerous brat!"


    "Hmph."


    Lucia scoffed and took a sip of her tea then she glanced at Ainz, "Well?"


    "There are 10 factions in the academy Lulu."


    Fina was the one who answered Lucia.


    "They are the Student Council Faction, Warrior Faction, Spell Caster Faction, Royal Fox Faction, High Dragon Faction, Dark Moon Faction, Alchemy Faction, Magical Research Faction, World Tree Faction, and the Ironforger Faction."


    "Okay... so what?" Lucia asked puzzled.


    Ainz who was on the side spoke up in a serious tone.


    "What I''m asking is what faction... will you be joining Lucia? You too, Cecil."


    It was the first time that Ainz called out to Lucia with her name instead of ''brat'' so he was speaking seriously right now.


    Lucia was puzzled and didn''t know nor did she care. She came to the academy with Cecil only to learn more about magic and spells in order to strengthen herself. The same went for Cecil.


    Cecil looked like he didn''t care at all since he didn''t even stop moving his hands or his mouth even when Fina and Ainz were discussing a serious topic with them.


    "Well? Which one?"


    "Yeah Lulu... have you decided? Joining a faction could very much alternate your course of life while you''re here in the academy..." Fina said worriedly.


    Knowing about her friend''s talent, any of the 10 factions would surely vie for her. She then turned towards Cecil and saw that the fox boy was still eating.


    ''Even Cecil would be greatly valued by the 10.''


    "Hey Cecil, what about you? Which faction you joinin''?"


    Cecil stopped for a moment and looked up. He looked at Lucia and saw that even she was eager to hear about which faction he was willing to join.


    Cecil gulped down the food in his mouth and asked.


    "What''s a faction?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Lucia only giggled at Cecil''s response, and then she told Cecil the 10 factions.


    "Oh... what''re they for?" Cecil asked, which Ainz happily responded to.


    "The factions are there to regulate the academy, keep the economy moving, protect the students, research magic, concoct potions, forge and research equipment, and many other things! You could say that they''re the lifeblood of the academy, the brains, the brawn, and the soul of this academy!"


    "Just as Ainz said, the factions are there to operate the school." Fina added.


    "What about the teachers?"


    "The teachers, professors, and instructors are only there to teach us about magic, research, and combat. Everything else, like running the academy is all done by the students who are in the factions."


    "Hooh... so these factions are important to the academy huh."


    "Exactly! And joining a faction is a privilege and honor! Not just anyone can join a faction!" Ainz said with vigor. It could be clearly seen that he wanted to join one of these factions.


    Cecil then turned towards Fina and asked, "... so what about the students who aren''t a part of the factions?"


    "They just go about their merry way, following all rules and regulations set by the factions and continuing on with their normal academy life."


    "Now that sounds much better! Better to stay away from them than to join em, sounds like those rotten political parties that my grandpa always talked about."


    "Huh?"


    Fina dumbly responded after hearing Cecil''s lackadaisical reply.


    "Y-you''re not going to join any of them?"


    Cecil began moving his hands and mouth again.


    "Well...*gulp* yeah. I mean, it sounds like a lot of trouble and stuff."


    Seeing as Cecil was resuming his dinner, Fina spoke out again.


    "It''s not just about managing the school, Cecil! Keep this in mind. The school holds an annual tournament where one is tested by the instructors and fight against other students of the academy. By winning this tournament you would then have the privilege to use the academy''s time magic formation to train for 1 months'' time! The top ten would get this privilege, but only the winner would get 1 months'' time! The second to ninth place would only get 3 weeks all the way down to 3 days'' worth of time to use this important formation! These 10 spots are what every faction vies for and not one of them would want to lose that spot!"


    Fina finished saying all that in one go. She paused to take a breath before continuing.


    "If a person was a part of the faction and they placed in the top 10, every member of the faction that the person represented would gain access to the time formation. A day''s time inside the formation amounts to a week on the outside! So, 1 months'' time amounts to 30 weeks which is over half a year''s time on the outside!"


    Cecil was immediately intrigued hearing about this time magic formation. It seemed that the formation accelerated the time passed inside of it. Cecil wanted to get stronger than he already was, but what he lacked was time.


    Technique and other practical knowledge he already had. Combat techniques from his family and the magical knowledge from Lucia''s family. All he needed was the time to digest and make these techniques and knowledge his.


    To perfect and hone his technique, what he needed to do was train and training required time. Using the formation that caused one month to turn into more than half a year was something very much tempting for him.


    Better yet, he could use it every year if he won the annual tournament. Cecil didn''t stop eating, but he smirked and glanced at Lucia. Lucia immediately knew what was on his mind.


    She turned towards Fina and asked,


    "So... all we need to do is win this tournament to use that formation?"


    "Huh? Well, yes, basically."


    "Heh, then we''ll win without joining a faction! Factions seem troublesome, and by what you said, it only turns out that I''d have to be shouldering responsibilities if I joined one of those factions. Cecil and mine''s training time would reduce if we did that!"


    "But Lulu, for the past couple of decades only the factions has ever made it into the top 10."


    "Oh? Why''s that?"


    "That''s because... the tournament isn''t meant for individuals... I mean, of course you could individually enter the tournament, but the tests and obstacles of the tournament wasn''t meant for one person to overcome... only the last segment of the tournament, which is the fighting segment, would be an individual event."


    "What?" Lucia frowned hearing this, "So... what''re the other segments?"


    "Actually, this tournament is set to start at the beginning of the next month! The tournament is divided into 5 segments. With the first segment beginning at the start of the curriculum, the segment is called Adventure. During this segment which lasts for 2 months, the participant, which is every student in the academy, is required to go out and do adventure quests issued by the adventurer guild inside the campus. At the end of the 2 month period every successful quests will be tallied and the score will be shown at the center monument of the academy."


    "That sounds easy." Lucia said care freely. She was a gold ranked adventurer that was on the verge of becoming platinum. The amount of quests that she''s cleared was a lot so clearing quests for 2 months was not much for her.


    "No, Lucia. You don''t get it. I said EVERY successful quest will be tallied, that means for a faction, which consists of a whole bunch of students, if all of that were to be tallied then the amount would be many times more than what a sole individual could possibly do."


    "What?! That''s no fair!"


    "Well that''s the advantage of being in a faction."


    "Awww, come on."


    Ainz who was silently listening to Fina, sneered and spoke up to mock Lucia who was now deflated hearing Fina''s explanation.


    "Give it up brat, we all have no choice, but to join one if we don''t want to miss the once in a year opportunity!"

 Chapter 63 - The Year Long Tournament

    "Of course, there are some individually strong students who register as groups to pass this segment. I forgot to mention, but the point system of the quests are like this."


    Fina took out a piece of paper and her magic pen and began writing.


    Stone rank quests ¨C 0. Iron rank quests ¨C 1-5 depending on the stars. Bronze rank quests ¨C 6-15. Silver rank quests ¨C 16-30. Gold rank quests ¨C 50-200. Platinum rank quests ¨C 500-1000.


    "Lastly, Diamond rank quests are 5000 points." Fina didn''t write the last rank because she thought it wasn''t necessary.


    "Of course, the last two ranks are impossible for us students. The highest in our academy is the student council president who''s probably at the 5-star gold rank." Ainz said a matter-of-factly.


    "Heh~ Gold rank huh..." Lucia smiled in disdain. She looked at Cecil who was busy eating and smirked.


    ''Cecil and I are only 2 5-star gold quests away from being able to take our promotions to platinum. Maybe we should go take on the last two quests and promote ourselves to platinum before the tournament starts~''


    Fina saw Cecil''s and Lucia''s brief interaction and could somewhat detect the dismissive attitude the two had.


    Well, Cecil was being dismissive and uncaring from the start, but Lucia''s despairing face from earlier had begun to turn smug after the mention of rankings.


    ''Could these two be high ranked adventurers?'' Fina thought.


    Ainz didn''t notice a thing and continued speaking.


    "Moving on to the next segment, oh and by the way, the scores from all the segments are acc.u.mulative, so individuals and small groups can forever kiss good bye any thoughts of miraculously winning the top 10 spots of the tournament."


    "Anyway, the next segment would be the dungeoneering segment. As the name implies, the participants of the tournament would need to go and explore a dungeon. As for how the scoring will be done, it all depends on how deep one could go inside of a dungeon. As well as clearing the dungeon itself. One floor equals 100 points and clearing a dungeon gives a bonus of 1000 points."


    Ainz paused to drink and turned towards Fina, "Hey, aqua brat. Continue."


    Fina only looked at him and continued his explanation.


    "A faction or group can only consist of a minimum if 1 ¨C 100 people. No individual or faction can have more than one group."


    "The academy will also give a faction or group a locater that would track the person carrying the locater in real time. This way the school''s faculty would be able to track the whereabouts of the locater when inside a dungeon. Also this locater would only stay active if the mana signature of the person bound to the locater was nearby. So you can''t cheat by sending a stealth-type familiar or pet deep into the dungeon while holding the locater."


    "Another thing to take note of, is that the locater is fragile. So if it happens to be destroyed in battle, then the school''s faculty will only take note of what floor the party was on before it was destroyed, if a group or faction kept on going deeper into the dungeon without the locater then it would all be for nothing since the score will not improve due to the absence of the locater."


    As usual, Fina''s explanation was very detailed and extensive. But she was cute, so Lucia didn''t mind and she didn''t fall asleep listening to her as she would when Cecil explained anything too detailed to her.


    After Fina''s explanation, Ainz spoke up.


    "The third, fourth and fifth segments are individualistic. So these segments would be used to determine which top 100 individuals of each faction would have the privilege to use the time formation when the faction won a place in the top 10."


    "Ever since the new President was elected, the student council had always won first. It''s not a surprise since they have a couple of ''Kings'' or should I say former ''Kings'' in their faction."


    Lucia picked up on that term, but before she could ask Ainz continued.


    "The second segment lasts for 2 months, but the third and fourth segments last 1 month each. The third segment is the magic games. A month long, magical tournament that randomly pits the students against each other, sometimes even students of the same factions would have to fight each other."


    "Oh! Magic games! What''re they?!" Upon hearing the word ''magic'' Lucia immediately perked up since it was her forte.


    "The magic games are a mix between a duel and a race. Once the random encounter happens, two students would then need to race from point A to point B and whoever reaches point B first wins the race."


    "Sounds easy."


    Ainz smirked disdainfully at Lucia upon hearing her words.


    "It''s supposed to be easy since it''s just a race... but, if you''re not in a faction then that would make things hard for you."


    "Why''s that?"


    "That''s because other members of a faction could directly interfere with your race! Instead of a race, it should be more of an obstacle race!"


    Lucia grimaced at his words. She then said.


    "...Let me guess... since it''s a ''magic'' race the other faction members could only use magic spells to obstruct the opposing side thus helping their own side win the race?"


    Ainz smirked and nodded.


    "That''s basically it! Of course, you can''t use any imprisonment type magic spells, but everything else goes. See now brat? You can''t win without joining a faction. That''s just how important factions are!"


    "Yeah, yeah. So what''s the next segment?"


    "The fourth segment is... the academic segment."


    "... okay?"


    "Well, basically this is just the academy wide exams."


    "Wow... something a little bit normal."


    "NORMAL? HAH! I think not!"


    "..." Cecil who had kept his mouth and hands busy was quietly thinking.


    ''What the heck? Are all schools like this? Even the ones back on Earth? Damn you father! I missed out on all the exciting school activities!''


    He was having his own misconceptions about the term ''school''.


    "It''s just a test, what''s not gonna be normal about that?!" Lucia complained.


    Ainz put his arms on the table and crossed his hands over his mouth and said seriously.


    "Listen well... the exams..."


    Lucia gulped and Cecil who was on the side also gulped... down his food.


    "The exams... are magically locked so you need a key to open them."


    "What?"


    ''What the heck?'' Cecil thought.


    "The academy would give you the key a month before the exams and that''s during the 3rd segment of the tournament. The key needs to be analyzed to decipher the incantation that draws out the magic spell needed to open the lock on the exams. If you were to do this individually then you wouldn''t be able to make it. But with a faction, the tasks are divided. The ones that don''t have a race going on would either help the racer or study the key. When the faction members get the incantation from the key, they would then distribute the incantation to the rest of their members. Not something small groups or solos have the luxury of doing, while still participating in the 3rd segment."


    "So... what happens to the ones that can''t take the test because they don''t have the key?"


    "They fail of course."


    "But, that''s the academy exams! Isn''t it supposed to be separate from the tournament?"


    Fina who was quietly sipping her drink finally spoke up.


    "The key itself is also part of the test, Lulu. For those who can''t figure out the key would fail to even answer one question on the exams anyway, so why not just prevent them from even taking the test of they''re just bound to fail."


    "... makes sense, I guess."


    "By the way, if you fail the academy''s test then you''ll have to take on a separate test and if you fail that test, you''ll get expelled from the academy."


    ''What a harsh system...'' Cecil thought.


    Fina then continued,


    "The last segment I already mentioned at the start."


    "...the tournament segment, the dueling part."


    "Yup, that''s the easiest part. Since even the factions can''t intervene in an individual''s match. You can only rely on yourself in this segment."


    "Finally... something normal..." Lucia sighed in relief.


    "Like I said Lulu, you should really consider joining one of the factions. A girl with your talent would be welcomed by any one of the 10 factions! So you don''t need to worry one bit! All you need to do is choose!"


    "...Yeah." Lucia turned to look at Cecil who still didn''t seem to be moved by the thought of joining a faction, even though he himself wanted to win the top spot so he could use the time magic formation for 1 month.


    "I''ll join whatever Cel''s joining~" Lucia said while leaning on Cecil.


    Cecil had finally finished his dinner. After he drank a glass of water he then asked Ainz.


    "Ainz, you said that there are also groups joining the tournaments that aren''t a part of the factions. Have there been any groups in the past that have successfully clinched a spot in the top 10?"


    "Hah, you must be kidding Cecil! There''s been no¨C"


    Fina quickly cut Ainz off, "There was one!"


    Cecil turned towards Fina and inquired further.


    "Really? When was it?"


    "I think it was... 3 decades ago. Long before any of us were born. There was a group of students who were individually powerful. They were led by a very talented young woman. Their small group of 10 was able to clinch first place for 4 consecutive years, up until the leader of that group graduated."


    "Wow... now that''s something~" Cecil said with a laid back smile.


    "The leader eventually became the headmaster of the academy. She was the headmaster just before our current headmaster and because of her the academy had welcomed a new era, the era of ''Kings''."


    "Yeah, you guys said that word before. ''Kings'', what are they?"

 Chapter 64 - Kings

    Cecil was intrigued by the word. King, it meant someone who ruled over all. Since someone was called a ''King'', then it meant that they towered over the rest of the student body, maybe even standing above the factions¨C no, they most likely did stand above the factions since the first party of ''Kings'' kept on winning the year-long tournament for 4 consecutive years.


    Lucia was also interested. A king would be someone that was strong and Lucia''s goal was to become the strongest in the academy. This way she could proudly stand by the side of the abnormally powerful Cecil.


    To her, Cecil wasn''t just the boy she liked. He was her teacher, best friend and role model.


    Cecil was unnaturally strong for his age and although he seemed cheerful and simple minded Lucia knew that there was another side to him, a darker side.


    On their journey, there were times in battle where the boy would exhibit a cold and calculative side of himself. A machine-like side that completely disregarded everything else with the sole purpose of efficiently eliminating whatever it was that he was targeting.


    Lucia didn''t like this side of Cecil because when he was like this, then no matter how many times she called out to him, Cecil wouldn''t respond. All he would do was intermittently mumble to himself while calmly staring at his target.


    It was this cold disregard and personality change that Lucia absolutely hated. The ''peaceful'' look in his eyes made her especially scared. Whenever she looked at Cecil when he was like this, she always felt like he was going somewhere far away and if she blinked her eyes for even a moment, he would suddenly disappear.


    Another thing that she noticed was that this side of Cecil would only come out whenever hers or Silver''s life was at stake. Though most of the time it was her life that was in a pinch and Cecil would come swooping in to save her.


    She was always grateful, but with how prideful Lucia was, knowing that her inadequacy and weakness was the cause of Cecil''s change frustrated her to no end.


    Hearing about these ''Kings'' made her hopeful. If she was able to reach this level of power where she could blatantly ignore the power of a faction that was comprised of numerous individuals, then maybe, just maybe she would take a closer step towards the power level that Cecil was at.


    She turned a determined gaze towards Fina, prompting with her eyes that she continue with her explanation.


    Seeing the two''s interest, especially Lucia''s, Fina continued explaining.


    "A King would be someone who stood above all the other students in terms of technique, skill, stage, and combat prowess."


    "Sure enough, it equates to the strongest." Lucia said excitedly.


    "There will only ever be 10 Kings in the academy. Of course, no one can self-proclaim themselves as a King. The only way someone could be recognized as a King would be through the acknowledgement of the school''s faculty."


    "So the teachers and instructors are the ones who decide?"


    "Yup, this system was something implemented by the previous headmaster to counterbalance the faction system that dipped more towards the side of a group''s prowess instead of an individual''s prowess." Fina said.


    Ainz interjected on her explanation, "The upsides to a group or faction are that it helps build responsibility, relations, and teamwork. The downsides are that most if not all of the individuals in the group lack individual strength and character. If you take a look at a faction, you will see the similarities between the members'' personality and thought process."


    "It''s the mob mentality." Cecil said.


    "Mob what?"


    "It means that an individual would respond, react or follow a group''s actions instead of doing their own thing."


    "Yeah, that''s basically it! So what I''m saying is, if a faction is strong then the members would also be strong. If a faction is weak, then the members would also be weak."


    Lucia nodded in understanding. "So the King''s would be there to change this, mob thingy right?"


    Fina liked the word so she corrected Lucia.


    "Mob Mentality, Lulu! Hmmm... Somehow it has a nice ring to it!"


    Ainz then continued explaining.


    "So to become a King, you can''t join a faction and you had to prove yourself to the academy''s faculty."


    Lucia smirked and said, "This King system suits me just fine!"


    "Yeah... that was only up until the current Student Council President broke it."


    "Huh?"


    "The current president is someone who''s part of the Arks Royal Family. He enrolled 3 years ago so he''s a fourth year now. On his 1st year he purposefully didn''t join any faction and by the start of his second year he was able to prove himself to be worthy of the King title. He was given the title Sky King. Then he broke the rules and was dethroned."


    "Dethroned?" Lucia asked.


    "Yeah, he joined the Student Council right after he was crowned King, he also persuaded 2 other Kings to join with him."


    "Is that even allowed?"


    "It shouldn''t have been, so when that happened the King''s System was further improved and that if you were crowned King, you would be banned from joining any of the 10 factions. The problem is, is that because the current Student Council President and the two others have the individual prowess of a King, the power balance of the 10 factions has shifted and almost every plan and regulations issued out by the Student Council have been approved because no one from the other factions could stop the president from implementing them."


    "Can''t they just rule out the rule that''s about to be implemented?"


    "They only way to rule out anything is through combat."


    "Ah... no wonder the student council has free reign of things."


    "Well, it''s not like the student council did anything radical that would change the school. It''s just that the other factions are disgruntled by the fact that some of their plans and regulations have been foiled or unapproved by them."


    The room fell silent. Lucia looked around and saw that everyone was thinking hard about which faction they wanted to join... except Cecil since it looked like he was about to doze off.


    "Okay, one last question. Who are the current Kings in the academy?"


    Fina and Ainz looked at each other.


    Fina was the first to open her mouth, "I don''t know. Other than the dethroned kings Zephyr, Lilith and Alex, I don''t have any info about the others."


    Ainz smirked at Fina and laughed. "HAHAHA! Looks like I one up you aqua brat! Listen here, fox brat. There are currently only 5 Kings in the academy."


    "The Disaster Queen, Audrey Flei. Sword King, Robert Stein. Nature King, Anixio. Nature Queen, Anixia. And finally... uhh sorry I don''t know who the last one is... the dude keeps a low profile so not much is known about him except that''s it''s a guy and he''s known as the Ghost King."


    Lucia put on a charming smile and stood up. "Hmph. Well you two should be honored then!"


    Cecil who was almost in dreamland was brought back to their plane when Lucia shouted.


    Fina and Ainz were also a bit surprised seeing Lucia stand up and shout so abruptly.


    "Before you both stands a future King AND Queen! Nahahahaha~"


    Fina only smiled gently at Lucia''s declaration while Ainz started mocking her, which of course earned him a few violent smacks to the face and an endless serenade of insults.


    Cecil, who was awoken, turned to look at his 2 new friends and Lucia.


    ''Confident as usual...''


    Cecil stretched and stood up.


    "Hey, Ainz... it''s getting late, let''s head back. I''m tired." Cecil yawned.


    "We''ll send you back~" Lucia said after she punched Ainz in the face one last time.


    Their day finally ended when Fina and Lucia walked Cecil out of the girl''s dorm complex. Ainz however was literally kicked out of the building by Lucia with a smile.


    On their way back Ainz started conversing with Cecil who looked like he was about to doze off. They were still walking back, so it amazed Ainz at the possibility of Cecil falling dead asleep even when they were still on the road.


    ''Would he just drop onto the ground asleep, or could he sleepwalk back to the dorm? Hrmmm...''


    Cecil perked up for some reason and turned to Ainz and asked, "You were thinking about something rude huh?"


    Ainz chuckled and said loudly, "HAHAHA, what are you saying brat?! Oh and by the way... that woman of yours sure is violent!"


    Ainz rubbed his buttocks that were still stinging after Lucia had kicked him out of the building. His face however was still in mint condition even after Lucia had slugged him in the face a couple of times.


    "Woman? You mean Lucia?"


    "Yeah! Her!"


    "Oh..."


    Cecil yawned in response, when the two finally made it back into their dorms. Cecil immediately plopped onto his bed and was immediately whisked away to dreamland.


    ''Ahhh, can''t wait for school...''

 Chapter 65 - Just before the Assembly

    Cecil got up real early the next day. Since he was now starting his academy life, Cecil had to adjust his schedule a bit so that he would not miss his morning training.


    It was the first time in a while since he''s been able to train alone. During their journey, Cecil would always be accompanied by Lucia and Silver during his morning routine.


    After his stretches, he began running. He had no particular route, so Cecil decided to just run a couple of times circ.u.mnavigating the entire academy district.


    Unexpectedly he met up with a certain silver haired fox girl during his run. It seems that Lucia also had the same idea as him, but it was unexpected since Cecil thought that considering Lucia''s sleeping habits, there was no way for the two of them to meet up so early in the morning.


    "Hey, Lulu... I guess you''re not skimping out on training huh? I thought you''d be relieved that I wouldn''t be there anymore to monitor you." Cecil teased.


    "Hmph. It''s not like I need YOU to coerce me to train!" Lucia snapped back and then continued softly,


    "...I thought you''d be lonely if you trained by yourself, it''s not like you would take the initiative to invite Ainz... anyways, be grateful that I took the time out of my beauty sleep to train with you!"


    "Haha! Thanks Lulu, but that''s not a bad idea! I guess I should invite Ainz next time!"


    The thought had never crossed Cecil''s mind until Lucia brought it up. He thought that what Lucia said was true and it did seem pretty lonely to train alone, since Lucia was no longer sleeping in the same room as him and Silver was staying back at the Ironforge Smithy.


    Cecil decided that he would surely invite Ainz to train with him in the morning. Maybe this way he could also get along better with that loud roommate of his. With this thought, he thanked Lucia once more in his mind and kept on running.


    "..." Lucia kept silent and smiled at him. ''This idiot!!! Invite Ainz and I''ll turn morning training into morning massacres!''


    Back at the boy''s dormitory.


    "ACCHHOOOO!" Ainz was woken up by an intense sneeze. He looked at the clock and saw that it was only half past five. He immediately went back to sleep since the academy''s morning assembly didn''t start until 8.


    "Too early..." he mumbled. A minute later his snores were what rang throughout his room.


    Back to where Cecil and Lucia were, the two of them had finally made one lap around the whole district, but the sun had finally risen above in the horizon.


    Cecil took a look at thought that their run took up a whole lot of time. The academy district was pretty big so of course it would take very long. However, he wanted to go for another lap, but decided against it since the other inhabitants of the district had probably already woken up by now.


    "Tsk... our run took too long... we couldn''t even train our forms or meditate."


    Lucia heard him and suggested, "Why not just do our forms while we run? This way we''ll still have a bit of time to meditate and cultivate our mana stages."


    Cecil brightened at the suggestion.


    "Hrmm... instead of just training our forms and stances let''s also spar along the way by only using our martial forms! I mean, it''d be pretty embarrassing if people accidentally saw us running around the district just practicing our forms! It''d be much more acceptable if people accidentally saw us sparring instead."


    Lucia didn''t think of that and thought that it would look strange and embarrassing if people saw the two of them practicing only their martial forms while running around the district. Her face flushed a bit and she hastily said.


    "Y-yeah! Let''s do that!"


    "Okay! Remember not to be late tomorrow morning! Or else I''m going to leave you behind!"


    "Tsk, with you dragging along a deadweight I won''t be surprised if I was the one waiting for you!"


    "Deadweight? Ah, Ainz you mean. Well, that''s if he agrees to join us of course."


    "Whatever... I''m heading back now. It''s probably 6 already and I have to practice that speech for later."


    "Oh! You mean the 1st year''s representative speech for the morning assembly?"


    "Yeah, that one~ I''m not used to doing something like this, so I guess I should go practice. I don''t want to embarrass myself after all~"


    "Okay, off you go then! But, I for one think you''ll do just fine!"


    "Thanks Cel~ bye bye~"


    Lucia walked off while waving at him. Cecil smiled at the receding figure of hers and thought that he should also head back.


    ''Although we did say that it''d be better to stand out a bit, but I didn''t think that she''d stand out like this!''


    Lucia had placed first and he second on their entrance exam tests. So it was already a given that the two would have some degree of fame when classes started, but now that Lucia would be presenting herself in front of the entire student body, everyone would know about her after that.


    Inexplicably, Cecil grew irritated at the thought.


    ''Weird... I''m happy for her, but it''s making me irritated for some reason...''


    The irritation sprouted after Cecil had thoughts of how everyone would have their eyes on Lucia once she presented herself as the academy first year''s number one.


    He was number two so similarly he would also receive some attention and notice, but he didn''t feel anything from it. However, the thought of people buzzing around Lucia just because she was number one irritated him.


    It was just like back at the guild when their abilities and prowess were exposed and their titles were finally acknowledged by everyone. Cecil thought nothing of the attention directed at him, but the attention directed at Lucia caused him to feel irritated for some inexplicable reason.


    He couldn''t explain why though because he himself didn''t understand why he was irritated. Cecil stopped himself from thinking about it since he only felt anger brewing in him if he continued to keep his mind on that.


    "Whatever, I''ll just punch away the source of this irritation when the time comes." A Cecil-like conclusion was reached after Cecil spent his entire time walking back to his dorm thinking about it.


    If Lucia found out about his thoughts she would no doubt be very much elated and irritated at the same time. Elated because the effort she spent on the idiot weren''t in vain and irritated because the muscle-head didn''t understand where that feeling of irritation and anger came from.


    When he arrived at the front of his dorm complex''s admin building, he saw a group of people unloading boxes into the building and the building''s staff moving about and unpacking the boxes. From where he was standing, he saw that the contents of the boxes were the academy''s uniforms.


    "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Our uniforms would be delivered this morning! I wonder if mine''s already arrived."


    Cecil rushed into complex and quickly arrived at the front of his dorm building. He dashed straight to his room on the second floor at the thought of his academy uniform finally arriving.


    Cecil had only seen his siblings wearing school uniforms and it greatly interested him since he thought that the uniforms were so much cooler than his training garments.


    Cecil never experienced school life or a childhood that any normal child would go through because of his family''s unreasonable tradition, so he was very much looking forward to experiencing academy life here at Arks Royal Academy.


    If the transfer never happened, Cecil wouldn''t have had the opportunity to experience something any other normal child would have already gone through.


    Although the circ.u.mstances that led to him being here were somewhat unfortunate and that it was also regrettable for him to be separated from his family, deep down he was also somewhat thankful.


    Cecil was looking forward to all the colorful experiences he would go through now that he was away from his family.


    Anastasia would probably cry an ocean if she knew what her beloved son was thinking, he wasn''t crying somewhere in a corner, fretting over whether he would be okay or his family would be okay. Instead he was taking his time enjoying his newfound freedom.


    Somewhere faraway from where Cecil was at, a man was abruptly awoken by the loud sobbing cries of his wife.


    "UWAAHHHH!!"


    "W-what is it honey?!!!"

 Chapter 66 - Interlude – Cecil’s Family Side

    Back at the Silvaria Valley Settlement, Anastasia woke up from a bad dream and started sobbing. Her husband was startled awake hearing her cry so early in the morning. The sun wasn''t even up yet.


    "Honey, baby~ please...tell me what''s wrong? Don''t cry okay? Okay?" Kaiser quickly embraced his sobbing petite wife, trying all he can to placate the weeping woman.


    "I...I dreamt that Cecil... he... he..."


    Hearing his wife say that he dreamt about their lost son, Kaiser quickly tried to reassure his wife that their son was alive and okay.


    "It''s okay... It''s okay... our son... he''s a strong child! He wouldn''t die okay! He''s still alive out there somewhere! So don''t cry anymore okay? How''s this, starting from today, I''ll take up the scout and expedition team''s former roles and act as an independent unit to search for Cecil okay?"


    "N...No... it-hic-it''s not that! Hic. I dreamt that he was alive!"


    "Oh... okay?"


    Kaiser was immediately at a loss since shouldn''t that kind of dream be a good thing for her. So now he was wondering why his wife was sobbing when she dreamt that their son was alive.


    "He... he..."


    "What is it honey?"


    Kaiser waited for her to calm down, but then Anastasia immediately shouted at the top of her lungs, and then she continued sobbing.


    "HE WAS HAPPY THAT HE WAS SEPARATED FROM US!!! WAAAAHHHH!!!"


    "Uwah... what?"


    "He was happy! He was enjoying his freedom!"


    "How can that be?! Our son, you know how filial our son is!"


    "Filial?"


    "YES! He would never rejoice at the thought of being separated from us!"


    "..."


    Filial, or filial piety. A term used to describe how dutiful a child was toward their parents. That word immediately stopped Anastasia''s sobs. She then started to repeatedly mumble the word ''filial''.


    On the side, Kaiser grew worried seeing his wife mumble something over and over.


    "...honey?"


    Anastasia turned a glare towards her husband and screamed.


    "FILIAL!!!"


    Surprised at his wife''s sudden outburst, Kaiser had let go of her and nearly fell off from their bed.


    "It''s EXACTLY why Cel''s so~ FILIAL that he would be grateful to be separated from US!"


    Anastasia jumped off the bed and went to grab her weapon that was hung on the wall next to their bed.


    She grabbed the slender sheath off the wall and unsheathed the weapon and menacingly pointed the tip at her husband.


    After half a year, the settlement''s forges had finally been developed to the point where the blacksmiths and craftsmen could now smelt and forge all sorts of metal objects, cold weapons included.


    Due to this development, the weapon in Anastasia''s hands was her personal favorite, one she had always used even when they were back on Earth, the tachi.


    The blade was a sky blue color with purplish streaks and because of the forging method of the sword; it looked as if there were drifting clouds decorating the blade.


    The blade was forged from top quality mithril and due to this the weapon itself emitted a pressure not seen before by the likes of modern man.


    At first, the mithril didn''t seem anything special to the forgers other than the fact that it was something that was never found on Earth.


    The mysterious pressure was exuded only after the blacksmiths had successfully turned the ore into a weapon.


    This pressure was the result of the mana circulating inside and around the blade.


    Due to a series of coincidences during the forging process, the blacksmiths had created a natural mana array inside the blade that even attracted numerous bolts of lightning which struck the blade right when it was completed.


    The thunder had struck at the most opportune moment which gave birth to the natural sky thunder array inside the blade. If one was to inject their mana into the blade, streaks of electricity would wrap around the blade.


    This wasn''t known to the humans inside the settlement because they still had no knowledge of mana.


    The tachi was presented to Anastasia as her personal weapon since it was unique and at the time she was the only one in the family that lacked a weapon after all this time.


    Although it was long, the tachi was light as a feather and when she swung the weapon she had the misconception that she would hear thunder at every swing of the blade.


    Apparently others couldn''t hear this, but what they didn''t know was that the sky thunder array that was hidden inside the sword could only be activated by people who had an inclination towards the lightning element.


    She didn''t know this yet, but Anastasia herself was a human with a naturally attuned electric body constitution. This was the reason why she could hear the sounds of thunder when she swung her tachi.


    Anastasia herself would only use it when she trained and she never once pointed the blade at someone else. Well, until now that is, and it wasn''t towards an enemy, but towards the man that she loves so dearly with all her heart.


    "H-honey... calm down... why are you pointing the blade at me?"


    "SILENCE!"


    "Wait a minute honey, just put the sword¨C" down, was what Kaiser wanted to say, but his wife cut him off with a howl.


    "IT''S BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR STUPID TRADITIONS THAT CEL WOULD BE HAPPY TO BE AWAY FROM US!!!"


    Accompanied by a flash of electricity, Anastasia dashed towards her husband at an abnormal speed while the backside of the blade in her hand started descending towards his head.


    Kaiser was surprised at his wife''s abnormal speed, but with his intuition he quickly rolled and dodged the attack. After getting up, he quickly dashed out of the room.


    Then for the next 2 hours until the sun finally shined down into the valley, the main mansion in the Silvaria Household Estate was sent into a state of chaos.


    The siblings didn''t mind it, but Fatima made sure that Angelia didn''t see the state that their parents were in.


    Fatima quickly prepared breakfast for her family and sent Angelia''s food to her room. At the dining table, the siblings could only sigh at the chaos caused by their mother.


    "...it''s because of Cecil huh?" Luca asked.


    Gabriel grunted in response while Matheus complained.


    "What else could it be? You know how much mother cares for him... though this was because of our stupid father being an idiot as well."


    "Matty..." Fatima had only called out his name, but Matheus knew exactly what she meant.


    "Sorry, sis, I know I shouldn''t be disrespectful, but don''t you think so? It''s because of our family''s stupid tradition! Cecil too, he''s just way too nice and simple. That''s why he was the one tricked into continuing our family''s tradition."


    "Remember that, that same tradition has saved all our lives and the people around us!" Fatima snapped.


    "I know, I know... but he''s my little bro. Just thinking about all the stuff he went through because WE didn''t want to take up that unreasonable responsibility irks me! I can totally get why mother is causing chaos around the house and¨C"


    "Chasing after dad with the Heaven''s Cloud?" Luca finished his sentence.


    "...Cecil should just hurry up and make his way back here... where is he anyways? He better not be doing what mother dreamt of... that would seriously make us all cry here..." Gabriel said dejectedly.


    "Enjoying his freedom huh?" Matheus fell silent for a moment then he continued. "He deserves it though... even if we''re the ones that have to cry later."


    The 3 brothers turned to look at their eldest sister worriedly. The three knew that their sis was really worried as well, but unlike their mother, she kept it all bottled away inside.


    Lo and behold, Fatima looked like she was indeed about to burst out in tears.


    Matheus sighed, he got up while saying.


    "If he is enjoying himself, we should be grateful. That means he''s still alive AND he''ll come back to us eventually! No matter what, he''s our brother and we all know for one what he''s like."


    "KIND AND GENTLE hihihi~"


    The 4 siblings smiled at those words. They turned towards their youngest who had just bounced and skipped merrily into the room.


    Gabriel quickly finished his breakfast. He stood from his seat and went over to pick Angelia up.


    "Hey there little one~ let''s go back into your room and start drawing again!"


    "Hmph. I''m not little! And I don''t want to draw anymore!" The angel in his arms pouted and turned her head to the side cutely.


    "Okay, okay~ How about we go outside and take a stroll in the garden? We can go and eat the gr.a.p.es too!"


    "Really? Yay! Let''s go, let''s go!"


    "Okay, but before we go, did you already finish breakfast?"


    "Huh? Oh... yeah... finished..." she said while dodging her brother''s gaze while fidgeting a little.


    From Angel''s response Gabriel knew that she didn''t finish her breakfast. Not minding it, he held her in his arms and went back to her room, after taking the breakfast that was only half eaten, he brought her in the direction of the garden.


    Back in the dining room, only Luca and Fatima were left.


    "Sis, just like Angel said, Cecil would no doubt be thinking about us. Although he might be out there somewhere enjoying himself, that''s probably because he''s just curious with everything around him. He was isolated ever since he was little..."


    Luca paused and gave his sister a hard look. He then continued confidently.


    "He''s surely trying to find his way back to us. So don''t feel so down. It''s not like it''s your fault or anyone''s fault in the matter that he was separated from us. Even the cause of the separation is still unknown reason."


    Luca was always the logical one, so he would always explain things according to facts and conjectures he''s come up with from observation. He knew how his little brother was like, so there was no doubt in his mind that Cecil was looking for ways to find them.


    Fatima knew how this little brother of hers was so she quickly finished her breakfast and got up.


    "Thanks Luca. Well... I better go and stop Mom''s rampage... seriously... all the craftsmen at the forges can''t keep up with the rate of Mom''s furniture demolition, haha~" Fatima joked.


    Seeing his sister finally smile and laugh, Luca smiled too and he teased, "I bet you''re the one who wants to go on a rampage the most, big sis."


    "I wonder about that~" Fatima started acting coy, and then she smiled dangerously and said to Luca.


    "Maybe I should go and have the smithies devel¨C"


    "Yup, I''m sorry. Don''t do that please. We''re already backed up with production now. Anymore and we''ll drop dead. So don''t please. ''kay, sis?"


    "Hehehe~ remember to wash the dishes little Luca~"


    Fatima gathered the dishes and put them into the sink. Accompanied by her bell-like laughter, she walked out of the room and went to go calm down the rampaging tigress.


    On her way out of the dining room, she ran into her grandfather.


    "Oh Ima, there you are. Where are your mother and father?"


    "Grandfather! Good morning. Currently mother is¨C"


    CRASSHHH


    "Stop. MOVING!!!"


    On the second floor, Anastasia was currently chasing down her husband with her tachi. Grandpa Cecil who saw that amusing sight chuckled and quickly made his escape while lamenting.


    "Haha, it''s so good to be young. Well now, I''d better be on my way Ima."


    "..."


    Cecil''s upbringing was also half of their grandfather''s fault, so seeing the rampaging tigress chasing down his heir, Grandpa Cecil quickly made himself scarce.


    Luca who was back in the dining room shrugged and continued on with his meal, he was the slowest out of them because he was eating while checking on the reports and developments of the valley''s metalwork.


    "I hope you''re having fun out there Cecil." Luca said softly, a hint of a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth.

 Chapter 67 - Opening Ceremony

    In a large coliseum-like stadium, the students of Arks Royal Academy had gathered for their new semester''s opening ceremony.


    On the podium the current headmaster, a young male elf with platinum hair and green eyes, was wrapping up his speech.


    "We are also proud to have the new semester''s students enrolling today. A total of 209 talented youngsters, it''s the highest number of students that the academy has accepted since a decade ago."


    The headmaster smiled gently and directed his kind gaze at the newly enrolled students, he then continued.


    "A total of 25 students have been accepted into our S-class this year! I have very high hopes for not only you, but for every student in this academy! Always look forward! Find the source, the root, the truth!"


    The headmaster then raised his right fist into the air and closed his speech.


    "Mana ur prosperat et Urrug!"


    Everyone in the auditorium-c.u.m-stadium raised their right fists into the air and echoed.


    """Mana ur prosperat et Urrug!!"""


    Cecil didn''t understand what the chant meant since it was in Ancient Common Language. The language was something that the people on Alterna universally used during the times when the planet''s continents were supposedly one whole super continent.


    It meant something like, to find the truth beyond mana or with mana we prosper? The ancient language could be translated into many different meanings using today''s beastkin common language.


    The headmaster smiled and walked back to his chair. After the headmaster was seated, the student council''s secretary walked up to the podium.


    To Cecil and the new students, the rabbitkin secretary looked so worn out that she might pass out any second.


    "Next is a speech from the first year''s student representative, Lucia... Yukihime..." Serilla, the student council secretary, said in an overly exhausted tone.


    Lucia, who was sitting beside Cecil, stood up and made her way up to the podium.


    As she passed by Cecil, she harshly trampled on his foot which earned her a questioning look from him.


    ''It''s your fault Cel! I wouldn''t be doing this if you didn''t hold back!"


    Just before the assembly, the students received a notice of their assigned classes. The notice was delivered in the form of magic data that was directly transferred to each student''s ID card that was delivered to them in the morning along with their uniforms.


    It was an ID card, but it was much bigger in size than the normal ID card that was issued by the city or guild. It was rectangle in shape with a length of about 12 inches and a width of 5 inches.


    When Cecil learned of the ID''s functions and saw its shape, he had involuntarily screamed "IT''S A PHONE!"


    Yes, the ID card or its official name, the Mana Network Integration Device or MID for short, practically had the same functions and characteristics of Earth''s modern everyday gadget, the smart phone. The only major difference was that there was no ''call'' function.


    So after the data was sent to her MID, Lucia found her profile that stated which class she was in, her mana stage and other details about her. She could also search for other students and she quickly tried to search for Cecil''s profile.


    She found that Cecil''s combat level was a tier or 3 ranks above hers. She smiled since it was something she expected. She was a B and Cecil was an A, but her expression soon darkened upon noticing that his stage was actually separated from hers by 2 ranks. She was an initial mana core while Cecil was an intermediate mana sea.


    The bastard had held back when the two made an agreement beforehand. The agreement was that they would pull all stops and do their best in the exams! Lucia was incensed since in her opinion, Cecil had broken their promise even though the end result was still to their satisfaction. The two were still first and second in the rankings.


    Cecil didn''t know how to use the device so he didn''t know why Lucia was in such a foul mood when the two met up again at the assembly stadium.


    Ainz helped Cecil with the gadget so he was able to safely find his class in the stadium hall. But with their dorms being in the S building, it was a no-brainer that they would be in the same class.


    Lucia finally arrived at the podium. Normally new students would take out the long speech that was prepared by the academy and read it aloud, but Lucia didn''t take anything out and recited the speech by heart.


    Every year the speech was always different with only a little bit of similarities. The one who prepared this speech must be a pretty talented spokesperson.


    After she finished her speech with just enough passion that it didn''t look like she was bored or being pretentious, Lucia raised her right fist into the air and recited the same chant as the principle.


    "Mana ur prosperat et Urrug~"


    After everyone echoed her chant, she bowed towards the academy''s faculty before heading back down to her seat accompanied by a roaring applause.


    While she made her way back to her seat in the front row, 10 particularly piercing gazes were directed at her. Lucia halted for a brief moment, before continuing.


    Lucia had honed her senses alongside Cecil during their close to half a year journey. So she was very sensitive to people or monsters that gazed differently at her.


    She felt uncomfortable and frowned. Cecil saw her expression and activated ''Hyper-sensory'', a new branch ability that he developed from Mana Burst.


    Like the name, Cecil''s Hyper-sensory was a technique that used mana to enhance his senses to a frightening level. With his senses enhanced by hyper-sensory, Cecil''s reaction and response to the changes around him were almost on a beast-like level.


    Although the downside to the technique is that his body''s actions couldn''t keep up with his brain''s commands. His brain''s reaction and response were beastly with it active, but it wasn''t the same for his body.


    Even with Mana Burst active his body still had trouble keeping up with his thoughts, he had yet mastered the technique to the point where he could use it in combat.


    So instead, it was temporarily turned into Cecil''s new detection spell until he could masterfully use it in combat.


    Although he had plenty of detection and sensory type techniques, such as his Mana Radar and Mana Eyes, the flaws were a bit too glaring.


    To Cecil, it was a pain to use mana like a radar since by using mana that way, it exposed his position to the monsters or people who were caught in the radar zone. As for mana eyes, it was his best sensory technique, but it was limited to his field of vision.


    So in order to eliminate that disadvantage, Cecil developed Hyper-sensory and by only using his super enhanced senses, he could create a clear mental image of his surroundings by sensing the flow of mana in everything around him. His effective range for this technique was a 500 meter radius around him.


    The detection area was smaller than Mana Radar, but at least this way he didn''t have to worry about exposing his position. He could also use it in tandem with his Mana Eyes.


    So after using Hyper-sensory, Cecil frowned when he found out the reason of Lucia''s discomfort.


    The 10 gazes belonged to the 10 people who were the leaders of the 10 factions in the academy.


    Cecil didn''t know this, but he noticed that from all the intense stares that were directed at Lucia, these 10 particular people had stares that were more annoying and irritating than the rest.


    The 10 leaders'' gazes that were directed at Lucia caused him to feel a bout of irritation. Cecil didn''t mean to, but he involuntarily clicked his tongue in annoyance and he coldly observed them for a bit before retracting his senses.


    That slight change in Cecil''s demeanor caused the 10 people to feel as if some intense, but cold gaze was directed at them. It prompted the 10 leaders to quickly survey their surroundings, trying to locate the source of the discomforting gaze.


    After being unable to locate the source of the earlier probe, one of the faction leaders soon became irritated.


    "HMPH! Looks like one of the kings have their eyes on the girl!" said a large muscular tigerkin. He had azure blue eyes and the fur that was on his arms was white with blue stripes. He had braided light blue hair that matched the stripes on this fur.


    This Tigerkin was named Leon Darkclaw and he was the current leader of the Darkmoon Faction.


    "Kings?" said a young female dark elf next to him.


    "Nothing, it''s just that things have gotten interesting."


    "...I see."


    The Dark Elf who spoke up was the current vice leader of Darkmoon, Almuri Treis


    In other areas of the stadium, something similar was also happening between the faction heads. Some were irritated and gloomy while others were amused and surprised.


    At the student council area, Zephyr frowned when he couldn''t locate the source of that probing gaze.


    "A king? But, how could a mere king avoid my counter probe?"


    Beside him, Alex chuckled since he too couldn''t locate the source of that cold gaze.


    "Hehe, things are sure to be interesting this year!" Alex said while turning an amused look towards Lucia.

 Chapter 68 - Mana Network and MIDs

    With the assembly finally over, the students were dismissed. Every student began heading towards to their assigned classes.


    Cecil was walking with Lucia when she suddenly asked him.


    "Hey stupid, did you have a look at your MID yet?"


    "MID?"


    "...it''s the device that was delivered alongside our uniforms."


    "Oh! It''s the phone-like thingy!"


    "...don''t tell me you don''t know how to use it?"


    "Nope! Not a clue! Hehe," Cecil laughed while scratching his cheek.


    Ainz, who was on the side, joined in and exasperatedly added, "He tossed the MID aside when he couldn''t turn it on..."


    Fina who was just about to talk to Lucia immediately went speechless hearing this. She couldn''t help but give Cecil an odd look. Lucia somewhat expected this and chuckled.


    "Cecil is Cecil afterall, stupid beyond redemption!"


    "That''s uncalled for Lulu... I''m not that stupid. I just didn''t know how to use it!"


    "Despite having read the manual 10 times over?" Ainz said with a distant look.


    Lucia immediately burst out in laughter. She took a moment to calm down. Fina who had been quiet finally spoke up after Lucia calmed herself.


    "Everyone, did you already register what classes you''re going to be taking?"


    "Of course, I have! The great Ainz would never commit such a blunder like forgetting!" Ainz said loudly.


    Lucia also responded with an affirmative and only Cecil remained silent.


    Seeing this, Lucia sighed and held out her hand.


    "Give it."


    "Hehe, thanks Lulu." Cecil took out his MID from his uniform pocket and gave it to Lucia who immediately turned it on and started fiddling around with it.


    Cecil couldn''t help, but take a second look at her. He thought that she looked rather splendid in her uniform.


    The academy''s uniform had a white and blue theme. Everyone wore a white robe that had a blue dragon head with a sword and staff crossed over it imprinted on the back. It was the academy''s symbol.


    For the boys, they wore a white button up long sleeved shirt on the inside with a blue and silver gilded vest on top. They wore long navy blue pants and had to choose between wearing a blue tie that had the academy''s symbol imprinted on it or a white and blue striped scarf over their shirt and vest.


    For the girls, they wore almost the same thing as the boys, except their colors were inverted. The shirt was blue while the vest was white. Instead of pants, the girls wore frilled miniskirts with thigh high socks white socks that had the academy''s symbol imprinted on the sides. They too had to choose between wearing either a scarf or a ribbon over their shirt and vest.


    Every student had academy issued foot wear and every student had a small silver ring on their fingers. On the ring was a small black gem on it, this gem was called the spatial gem.


    It was an interspatial ring. Every student in the academy was given one. The space inside was about a cubic meter in size. They could store all their books and school supplies inside the ring as well as anything else that the students deemed important.


    To use the ring, all you needed to do was inject mana into the gem. Then a detailed projection would be sent into the minds of the wearer and all you need was a thought to deposit or withdraw an item into or out of the ring.


    Cecil admired Lucia''s figure. She was wearing the academy''s uniform quite fashionably. She opted to use a bow while Cecil himself used a scarf. Lucia had her 3 tails wrapped around her waist and seeing the kodachi that was strapped onto her right leg and the katana that she hung outside her robe made her look heroic.


    "Your uniform sure looks good on you Lulu!" Cecil complemented.


    "Hmph. Of course!" Lucia said smugly. She twirled a bit and continued walking forward while fiddling with Cecil''s MID.


    "By the way Lulu, do you have any detailed info about the Mana Network?" Cecil asked. When he found out about the network, it immediately drew in his interest.


    He wanted to ask Lucia to moment they met up before the assembly, but unfortunately for Cecil, Lucia was in a foul mood. Seeing as Lucia wasn''t in such a bad mood now, Cecil finally found his chance to ask her.


    Lucia who was busy trying to input his classes into the schools mana-network data base responded without looking up.


    "It''s a network that connects all the MIDs together."


    "Details Lulu!" Cecil exclaimed.


    Lucia sighed and then began explaining.


    MID or Mana Network Integration Device, as the name implies, was a device that connected the owner to a mana network that was set up in Angla City. The one in Cecil''s possession was a MID that was connected exclusively to the network set up in the academy''s district.


    The academy''s network was also integrated with the mana network that spanned the entire city so the students could also access the city''s network through the academy''s network.


    There were plenty of things one could do with the MID. Access the latest news that circulated around the academy and city, accept adventurer quests, as well as many other things.


    Of course this wasn''t something that just everybody in the city had. The only reason why Cecil was able to have one in his possession was because the academy graciously gave every student that was enrolled in the academy this device.


    After Lucia explained in detail about this mana network, many of Cecil''s unanswered questions were finally resolved. He finally found out what those tablet-like devices that the guilds, shops and inns used. Unlike that academy issued MIDs, those were the standard issued MIDs and they functioned similarly close to Earth''s computers.


    Also, from the information that Lucia relayed to Cecil, the mana network wasn''t only present in Angla City. The network actually spanned the entire Urrugdrasil Continent, and Cecil''s immediate thought upon learning this was, "It''s the Internet!"


    This network wasn''t only present in the Urrugdrasil Continent, the mana network was present in every continent except for the Non continent. Each continent had separate mana networks and each network was encrypted with a unique mana signature so a continent''s inhabitants couldn''t just connect with the network of a foreign continent''s.


    In the city, practically only high ranked city personnel and well off citizens would have this sort of device. But, even with his experience back on Earth, Cecil still did not know how to use the modern-like device.


    It functioned similarly to the smart phones back on Earth, but it was tragedy for Cecil since he''s never touched or even used one! He''s only ever seen his siblings use them.


    Due to his training, he''s never had the need to use them thus far. It was only after Cecil finished inheriting his family''s martial traditions would he then learn more about the modern era. Too bad Cecil didn''t get this chance since he was teleported to Alterna a couple years before his training finished.


    Lucia finished her explanation as well as inputting Cecil''s classes. Other than the mandatory classes, Lucia took the liberty of inputting classes that were aligned with the ones she picked. The only courses that she didn''t let Cecil take that were the same as hers were the elemental class and the magi-tech class.


    Cecil had no use for learning the elements since he was a non-elemental to begin with and considering how hopeless Cecil was with anything that had to do with technology, she tacitly didn''t input these classes. She gave the MID back to him and left the last two classes for Cecil himself to pick.


    "Hrmm... magi-tech looks interest¨C"


    "No! Not happening Cel, pick a different class."


    "Eh?! But! This looks¨C"


    "Like I said, no, with how stupid you are, you''re not going to learn a thing there."


    Although it was harsh, Ainz and Fina could only second Lucia''s opinion. Cecil could only groan in complaint before having to choose a different class. He browsed the course selections and finally chose two that he found interesting.


    "I guess I''ll go with Mana Forging and Live Combat Class."


    Ainz who was on the side was surprised to hear Cecil choose Mana Forging.


    "Mana forging? Hey, Cecil, that class demands a pretty a high requirement in mana manipulation!"


    Lucia perked up hearing this and she exclaimed.


    "Now that''s a class that''s pretty much tailor made for you Cel!"


    "Haha, I know right. It looks interesting so might as well learn it."


    "Hey! Didn''t you here what I just said?!" Ainz exclaimed after seeing how laid back Cecil was, although he did find it odd that Lucia supported him and even said it was tailor made for him, Ainz still decided that it was right to advise his roommate.


    Lucia turned to Ainz and said.


    "Don''t worry about Cecil. If it''s about mana manipulation, then all I can say is that there''s no one on Alterna who could possibly be better than him!"


    "What?"


    Fina who was quiet immediately realized what Lucia meant.


    "Are you saying that Cecil has an elemental constitution?"


    "You could say that~" Lucia replied vaguely.


    The group finally arrived at their class. When the group walked into the class, they immediately garnered everyone''s attention.

 Chapter 69 - Homeroom

    With everyone''s sight trained on the group when they walked in, Fina quickly became timid and shrunk behind Lucia. Ainz however held his head high and arrogantly sauntered into the class, heading towards the back of the classroom and quickly taking his seat.


    Cecil didn''t mind the gazes and took his seat beside Ainz, he took out his MID and quickly began fiddling with it.


    Lucia was about to drag Fina along with her and take their seats in front of Cecil and Ainz, but before she could a lizardkin girl with golden locks and black horns approached her.


    "Hello, Lucia. My name is Elizabeth, nice to meet you." The lizardkin introduced proudly.


    "Hello Elizabeth, as you already know I''m Lucia! The one beside me is Fina!" Lucia replied with a smile while also introducing Fina who was next to her.


    "I''m Aquafina Oceania..." Fina introduced herself and then she added hesitantly, "...nice to meet you Elizabeth...Arks, I presume?"


    "Oyah? Well, I guess you would know since you''re a Neftersea." Elizabeth wasn''t all that surprised when Fina exposed her last name. She already knew who Fina was at a glance.


    "...yes." Fina said, her eyes darkening a little. The rest of the class other than Lucia and Cecil exclaimed when they listened to the two girls'' exchange.


    Lucia saw Fina''s reaction and furrowed her brows a bit then she asked worriedly, "What''s up Fina?"


    "Eh? Lulu, you don''t know?"


    Lucia tilted her head in confusion.


    "Hm? Know what?"


    Elizabeth looked at her incredulously and asked, "That means you don''t know about me either?"


    Lucia thought hard for a bit then replied, "I don''t think I''ve ever met you before~ so should I know you?"


    Elizabeth was a bit dumbfounded. In Angla city, everyone knew of what the name ''Arks'' represented, so it puzzled her since Lucia who was the first ranked student didn''t know who she actually was.


    She found it refreshing and when she saw the urgent and meaningful gaze Fina was directing at her, Elizabeth smiled and said.


    "Never mind, it''s nothing. Well, if you don''t mind me asking, is it alright if we became friends?"


    Lucia smiled brightly when she heard her, "Of course! Hehe~ the more friends the merrier! Come, I''ll introduce you to Ainz and Cel~"


    Lucia was in high spirits and she grabbed both Fina and Elizabeth''s hands and walked towards where Ainz and Cecil were sitting at.


    The rest of the class was surprised at seeing Lucia brazenly grab and drag the princess of the Anglaria Kingdom with her.


    Upon arriving at the boys'' seats, Lucia was about to introduce the two boys to her new friend, but Ainz had abruptly stood up when he saw Elizabeth.


    "Ah, prin¨C" Before Ainz could continue talking, he immediately stopped when he sensed the urgent glare that Elizabeth shot him. She then made a slight gesture towards him and then Ainz continued talking.


    "Elizabeth... long time no see." He said forcefully.


    "Yes, it''s been a long time indeed Ainz." Elizabeth replied


    "Oh! So you already know each other?"


    Elizabeth smiled and replied to Lucia, "Yes, you could say we were... childhood playmates, right Ainz?"


    Seeing the meaningful glare she directed at him for a split second, Ainz nervously replied, "Yes, yes. We are indeed childhood friends."


    Ainz carefully chose his words when replying. Although he felt that he chose his words correctly, he was still sweating nervously inside.


    Ainz was smart. So from their brief exchanges earlier, he knew that the princess didn''t want her identity exposed to Lucia. Although it didn''t matter since the rest of the class knew, so it puzzled Ainz since the genius Lucia should also know who Elizabeth was.


    Lucia smiled when she saw that the two were already acquainted, she pulled on Elizabeth and brought her before Cecil.


    "This is Cecil¨C Eh, wait... Cel, what''re you doing?" Lucia eyed the seemingly busy Cecil.


    Cecil was currently fiddling with his MID and didn''t pay attention to anything that was going on around him, so obviously he didn''t see Elizabeth and Ainz''s previous exchange.


    Cecil looked up when he heard Lucia call him. He smiled foolishly and replied.


    "I''m looking at what other things we could do with the MID!"


    "...all the functions were clearly explained in the manual... just read that you idiot!"


    "But Lulu, practice makes perfect, there''s no way I''ll understand how to use this thing if I just rely on the manual."


    Lucia facepalmed listening to Cecil''s reasoning. She then remembered that Elizabeth was next to her, so she awkwardly introduced them.


    "Cel, this is Elizabeth Arks, she wanted to become our new friend!" Lucia then turned towards Elizabeth and said, "Eli, uhm, it''s okay if I call you that right? Elizabeth is a bit long ehehe~ The idiot here is Cecil!"


    Elizabeth first replied to Lucia question, "I don''t mind Lucia. I''d prefer it if you called me that."


    She then turned towards Cecil and said, "My name is Elizabeth Arks. Like Lucia, you can call me Eli. It''s nice to meet you Cecil!"


    "Likewise Eli." Cecil said with a smile. Before the group could continue talking, a middle aged male beastkin walked into the classroom.


    "Alright class, quiet down and take your seats so we can begin homeroom already!" the man said with his gruff voice.


    Everyone in class S quickly quieted down and took their seats. The class'' interior was shaped so that the farther you are from the front of the class, the more elevated you were. It was shaped like this so even if you sat at the back, you could still have a clear view of the teacher who was at the front of the class.


    Cecil and Ainz were seated at the back and topmost level of the class, a level below them sat Fina, Lucia, and Eli with Lucia being sandwiched in the middle of the two. It was pretty spacious so it could definitely hold at least one more person, but no one approached to sit down beside them.


    The same went for Ainz and Cecil. It was only the two of them seated on their row at the back. It wasn''t that the group didn''t want others to intrude on them, but it was more like the atmosphere and aura of the group that made them somewhat unapproachable.


    When everyone took their seats the classroom felt a bit empty since it was too spacious for just 25 students. With the classroom''s capacity, it could easily hold 40 to 50 students.


    Seeing as everyone had taken their seats, the instructor opened his mouth to introduce himself.


    "Name''s Gongfu Jin, you can all call me Instructor Jin and I''ll be this year''s S-class'' homeroom teacher! I hope we all get along!" Instructor Jin said with a smile while gazing one by one at all the students in his class.


    "Without further ado, let''s begin with today''s fist activity. Introductions! So! Who wants to go first?"


    Everyone was a bit hesitant, so the instructor took the liberty of choosing one of the students himself.


    "Why don''t we have our first year''s representative go first?" He said while eyeing Lucia.


    Lucia sighed seeing as she had no other choice. She quickly stood up and introduced herself.


    "Hello everyone, my name is Lucia Yukihime." She bowed towards the class and was about to sit down before the instructor said dully, "Is that it? Just your name? Come on Lucia! You could do better than that! Give us a splendid introduction!"


    Lucia was a bit taken aback. She thought for a while before continuing.


    "I''m an initial mana core stage spell caster as well as a B rank warrior."


    Then, Lucia wordlessly lifted both her hands. 3 balls of water with streaks of ice and steam rotated on her left hand while on her right hand floated a globe of fire with lava circling around it.


    "As a spell caster, my main attributes are fire and water." She flicked her hands and the balls of water and fire blinked out of existence. She then grabbed both her weapons and continued.


    "As a fighter, I fight using my katana and kodachi... that''s all. Thank you." She then kept her weapons and bowed once again before taking her seat.


    Instructor Jin enthusiastically clapped his hands and it prompted everyone else in class to give Lucia applause. "Now that''s more like it! Alright everyone, remember to put in as much flare as Lucia did with your intros!"


    The instructor was really spirited. He then called out to the second ranked student in the class.


    But, after calling out for a while no one in class stood up, so Lucia took a glance back at Cecil and saw that he was preoccupied with his MID.


    The boy still hadn''t finished fiddling around with it!


    "Oe, Cel. Cel!"


    "Huh? What? What''s up Lulu?"


    "Instructor Jin called for you!"


    Cecil looked up and saw that the instructor was indeed looking at him. He was also smiling while waiting patiently. Cecil realized his blunder and stood up ramrod straight and stiffly introduced himself.


    "I''m Cecil Silvaria! Intermediate Mana Sea stage! A rank warrior! Please treat me well!"


    Instructor Jin chuckled seeing how awkward Cecil was acting.


    "It''s alright there Cecil. I''m a patient person, but it would do you well if you paid attention alright? Not every instructor is as patient as I!"


    "Yes, Instructor!"


    "Haha, alright take your seat now. Next! Third rank!"


    Cecil sighed and immediately took his seat. Lucia who was in front of him giggled upon seeing his relieved face.

 Chapter 70 - Tour around Campus

    When the instructor called out for the third ranking student, Elizabeth who was next to Lucia stood up and began introducing herself.


    "Elizabeth Arks, as a spell caster I''m at the intermediate mana sea stage. I''m also a B- rank warrior."


    Elizabeth copied Lucia and raised both her hands, she did a quick chant and on her left and right hands a layer of rock covered it. Circling around her right hand were wisps of fire and atop the palm of her left hand was a small wind tornado.


    "My main attributes are fire, wind and earth. I look forward to my time here with all of you."


    ''B-, that means she''s a rank below Lucia and 4 ranks below me, but 3 elements... how talented.'' Cecil thought.


    The combat ratings that the academy used started from rank D all the way to rank S. There were also plusses and minuses in each rank. So with Cecil being an A rank, it meant that Lucia who was B rank was 3 ranks below him and Elizabeth who was B- rank was 4 ranks below him.


    Combat ratings didn''t really matter though since it would only take into account a person''s warrior combat prowess. It had nothing to do with a spell caster''s combat level. In fact the two were separated since during the entrance exam, the instructors couldn''t really test the student''s magic combat level since it would require the student to unleash the highest tiered spell that they could cast.


    Obviously this wasn''t allowed to happen since a tier 5 spell could literally blow up the exam room.


    Like how combat prowess was ranked, magic combat prowess level were divided into 10 tiers. Tier 1 being the weakest and tier 10 being the strongest, a spell was also categorized the same. An initial level spell could be Tier 1-3, intermediate spells Tier 4-6, and advanced spells Tier 7-9. Tier 10 would mostly be forbidden spells or extremely strong original spells. A spell caster''s magic combat level was determined by what tier spell they could use without suffering a zero mana state.


    Zero mana state was a condition where a spell caster had almost a nil amount of mana in their body. Zero mana state could also cause the spell caster to immediately lose consciousness for several days or even suffer from mana sickness and in the worst case scenarios, even death.


    After Elizabeth''s introduction, Instructor Jin began calling out the rankings of the other students. After Elizabeth who was third rank, it continued on with the fourth ranking student all the way until the last ranking student in class S.


    Fina was rank 6 while Ainz was rank 9. It irked the proud Ainz since in their group of 5; he was actually the lowest ranked.


    Fourth rank was a gloomy tigerkin boy who had black fur with white stripes. He was a rare user of both light and dark elements and was an intermediate mana sea stage spell caster, but he only had a B- ranked combat level .


    The same went for the Fifth rank student. He was a large giant boy who specialized in only Earth elemental magic and body enhancing. He was pretty balanced being an intermediate mana sea spellcaster and having B ranked combat level.


    Sixth was Aquafina who, just like her name, specialized in the water element. She also could use light element and a little bit of wind element. She was an intermediate mana sea stage spellcaster and unsurprisingly, she had the weakest combat level in Cecil''s group, reaching only C rank.


    After Aquafina, the subsequent rankers were only at the initial mana sea stage.


    To Cecil and Lucia''s surprise, Ainz who was ninth actually specialized in all 4 major elements and had a combat level of C+ rank. He was only ranked lower than Aquafina since his mana stage wasn''t at the intermediate level.


    After everyone in class had finished introducing themselves, the instructor then went on to talk about all the different facilities the academy had. Instructor Jin also activated a projector like device that was in front of the class. There it displayed all the different buildings and facilities within the academy grounds.


    The stadium that the students were at earlier was also the academy''s arena. There they could spar and exchange pointers with fellow students.


    There was a separate building where the cafeteria was at. There was a large library building, the warrior training grounds, mage training buildings and there was also a building specially built for mana forging, mana crafting, magic engineering, and magic-tech classes.


    After having described what all the buildings represented and which area one would need to go to attend their selective class, Instructor Jin took the class out to begin a small tour around the academy.


    On their way, they also bumped in to all the other first year classes. Each class mostly had around 25-30 students. So in total there were 8 first year classes. S class, A class, all the way to G class.


    Other than S class that took the 25 top students during the entrance exams, class A to class G had the students randomly placed in them. This way, the students in G class which was thought to be the lowest wouldn''t actually be the weakest class.


    In fact, there were 6 students that were in the 26-50 rankings in this class.


    Class S made their way through the academy''s building with Instructor Jin constantly giving them explanations about what classes were being held in each building''s classroom.


    It took them all the way until it was lunch time to finish the tour. Instructor Jin took the class to the cafeteria. It was already bustling full with students eating their lunches and hanging out.


    The cafeteria had a whole building to itself. There were 8 floors in the building and other than the first and eighth floor, floors 2 to 7 were for the students.


    The first floor was where the cafeteria staff was at, and only on this floor would the students be able to order what foods they wanted from the cafeteria''s menu, which changed periodically every day. The eighth floor was reserved for the teachers.


    There was a sort of tacit understanding between each year''s students. Floors 2 and 3 were for the first and second year students. 4 and 5 were for third and fourth year students while floor 6 was for the academy''s 10 faction''s main members. So unless a senior brought a junior into the top floors, no lower year students would dare to go up to a floor that wasn''t meant for their year.


    Floor 7 was for the top 100 high ranking students and the faction leaders. The 7th floor was considered one of the academy''s holy grounds since only faction leaders and high rankers could get in.


    It sounded pretty exhausting to go up and down each floor using the stairs, but there were also levitating platforms on every floor that the students could use to go up and down levels.


    After the students finished their lunches, Instructor Jin let them go to freely explore the campus. He also said that there was no need to go back to the class since it was over for today. He reminded everyone again to quickly finish registering which selective classes they would take since tomorrow would be the deadline to upload the information on their MIDs.


    He then asked all the students to gather tomorrow in their combat uniforms at the academy''s stadium by 9 o clock. After leaving these instructions he bid farewell to class S.


    Everyone was suddenly left there. It caused the atmosphere to become somewhat awkward. The students then split into groups and went about their separate ways.


    There seemed to be some students who wanted to approach Cecil''s group, but then they immediately went away for some reason. Cecil who was observing this let out his thoughts.


    "What''s up with them? It''s not like we''re going to eat them or anything."


    "Ara~ you noticed too Cel?" Lucia replied while smirking at him. "With how stupid you are, I didn''t think you''d notice~"


    "Tch... Lulu I''m not that oblivious."


    "I wonder about that~"


    Fina who was watching their usual exchange spoke up.


    "Well, it''s not that they don''t want to approach us, it''s just... some of us here are... somewhat unapproachable..."


    She sneaked a glance towards Elizabeth and saw that she too had a helpless look on her face. Obviously she hinted that it was their fault.


    Lucia however turned to glare at Ainz.


    "It''s your fault Ainz!"


    Ainz, Eli and Fina were surprised at Lucia''s abrupt comment. Ainz who was called out by her was at a loss, he immediately tried to argue back and justify himself.


    "How is it MY fault? Don''t go around accusing me of something that I didn''t do, you brat!"


    "What? Isn''t it obviously YOUR fault! With how gaudy and pretentious YOU look and how arrogant YOU act! It''s no wonder others are too afraid to get close to us! It''s like they''re facing royalty or whatever with you being with us!"


    """...""" The three ''royals'' immediately turned silent. In fact Lucia wasn''t wrong. Aquafina was the crown princess of the Neftersea Oceanic Empire and Elizabeth herself was the second princess of the Anglaria Kingdom. While Ainz himself was from a Duke household so he was a noble of the Anglaria Kingdom.


    Every student in class would literally be facing royalty if they ever approached their small group.


    Lucia then turned towards Cecil who was pondering and said, "Isn''t that right Cel?"


    "Hrmm... I do kinda agree with Lulu here Ainz... the way you act is a bit too noble and makes you seem unapproachable."


    "What? But, it''s really not my fault!" Ainz directed his sight towards the two people who were the actual cause of their predicament, only to see them look away.


    "..."


    "That settles it! We''re kicking you out Ainz!" Lucia said with an evil chuckle.


    "HEY!" Ainz shouted while his face sported an exasperatedly look. He couldn''t expose the two princesses since that would literally be asking for death, but he also didn''t want to take this false accusation that was abruptly pinned on him! He was speechless as well as frustrated. He wanted to say something be he couldn''t find the right words to justify himself.


    Fina and Elizabeth were surprised when they heard what Lucia said. They wanted to speak up for Ainz since it really wasn''t his fault, but the two were interrupted by Lucia''s bell-like laughter.


    "You really can''t take a joke can you Ainz?" Lucia said with tears in her eyes. She also started slapping Ainz''s arm while pointing at him as she laughed. The sight of Ainz''s anguished face really cracked her up.


    "Why. You. Little. BRAT!!!" The pain of having his arm slapped and the humiliation from having lost his composure prompted him to send a fist flying towards Lucia. Lucia easily caught the fist and chuckled evilly.


    "Hehe..."


    Ainz immediately paled when he saw Lucia nonchalantly catch his fist. He felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the red magic circle slowly form around his fist.


    "It''s a joke! It''s a joke okay?!"


    Cecil was chuckling on the side because earlier he played along with Lucia''s joke, so before Lucia could create a searing tattoo on Ainz''s fist he stopped Lucia and said,


    "Let''s go, there''s a lot left to see in the academy."


    After saying that, Cecil turned around and started walking in a random direction. He took out his MID and began fiddling with it again.


    Lucia followed after him and Ainz walked next to Lucia and began complaining, which led to the two starting to bicker again.


    "...interesting people we''ve befriended. Don''t you think so, your highness?" Fina said with a smile.


    "Hmph."


    Elizabeth scoffed at Fina''s way of addressing her, but she chuckled and chased after the trio alongside Fina.

 Chapter 71 - Magic Assessment, First Segment

    Cecil and his entourage were touring around the campus district. With all the students and teachers wandering about, it literally brought life to the district.


    It was practically bustling with activity just like in the outer district of Angla City.


    Many turned their gazes to their group, but no one dared to approach them seeing the two princesses happily chatting away with the first year''s number one.


    Ainz was keeping pace with Cecil, but he couldn''t bring strike up a conversation since Cecil was busily fiddling around with his MID.


    After a long time of silence, Ainz couldn''t hold back anymore and said, "...Hey Cecil. Stop playing around with that already. Look at how enthusiastic everyone else is!"


    Cecil looked up and saw that the 3 girls were going from food stand to food stand and store to store buying up anything that interested them.


    "Huh? Oh... oh no! Ainz we should run. Like right now!" Cecil exclaimed urgently.


    "Huh?"


    Cecil hurriedly turned around and tried to get away from the girls, but before he could take a step forward an iron-like grip rested on his shoulder.


    "Neh... where are you going, Cel?" Lucia said darkly.


    ''How the heck did you get here so fast Lulu?!''


    "...bathroom."


    "Haha... yeah right, hold this!"


    After giving him a sly smirk, Lucia immediately thrust all her shopping into Cecil''s arms. On the other side, Ainz was cornered and forced to hold onto both Fina''s and Eli''s stuff.


    "...why didn''t you tell me sooner Ainz..." Cecil lamented sadly.


    "How was I supposed to know?!"


    Cecil just smiled and directed a pitying gaze at him.


    "Oi... what''s with that look? You''re also on the same boat!"


    They were indeed on the same boat, but Ainz''s inexperience just showed that this was the first time he went shopping with other girls.


    It took another hour of walking around until the girls were finally satisfied with their haul. They immediately went back to the dorms. Cecil and Ainz were dragged into the girl''s dormitory since the two were their baggage men.


    After settling the girls'' stuff down, Ainz had to go to room 102 to deliver Elizabeth''s stuff. Fina was curious and followed along with them.


    Back in room 101 only Lucia and Cecil were left inside. Lucia started preparing dinner and Cecil helped on the side.


    10 minutes into them cooking together, Cecil noticed that everyone else wasn''t back yet so he turned towards Lucia and said.


    "You''re really caring Lulu."


    "Hm? What do you mean? And, of course I''m caring! If I wasn''t I wouldn''t have learned how to cook for you!"


    Cecil chuckled and stayed silent. Lucia paused for a bit before saying, "They looked like they didn''t want us to mind their statuses."


    Lucia grinned and gave a sidelong glance at Cecil before continuing.


    "Besides, should we care where they''re from? They wanted us to be friends so why should we treat them differently? Remember. You were the one who taught me this!"


    The two already knew full well who Fina and Eli were. It''s just that they thought it wasn''t necessary for them to mind their statuses since they were the same as them, students of Arks Royal Academy.


    Whether they were royalty or not, Cecil and Lucia both didn''t want to mind that since the two princesses were the ones who wanted to be friends with them. So why should they treat their friends like strangers? Friends should treat friends closely and not estrange them because of their statuses.


    Cecil smiled since Lucia had the same thoughts as him, he slid the cut up vegetables and mashed spices he had finished prepping to Lucia and moved on to prepare the meat that they would be roasting later after Lucia finished with the stew.


    "... let''s just stay oblivious then. It''s not like it''s going to be detrimental for them. They seem happy with the way we act around them, anyway."


    "That''s what I''ve been planning to do since the start Cel! Pass me the salt and did you finish mashing the chili yet?"


    "Here, the chili is over there."


    The two were harmoniously cooperating in the kitchen and this scene was taken in by 4 people who came into the dorm.


    "...Lucia can cook?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Yup and the food she makes is delicious and unique!" Fina replied gently with a sloppy smile on her face.


    "YO! You two, what are we having for dinner this time?" Ainz said loudly, making his presence known to the two.


    "Quit being so loud, idiot. Just wait patiently! Oh... who''s this?"


    Lucia noticed that they had an additional person with them. It was a large tigerkin girl with white fur and blue stripes. She had blue eyes and had a slim, but athletic figure.


    "I''m Veli! I think I already introduced myself in class earlier? I''m Elizabeth''s roommate! But this is unexpected. I didn''t expect that our number 1 was so down to Earth! You even know how to cook! That''s so cool!" the girl exclaimed with clear admiration in her eyes.


    Lucia immediately recognized the new girl. She was the class'' 10th rank student, Velicia Darkclaw.


    Lucia smiled at her.


    "Well Veli, nice to meet you! Go ahead and sit down, wait a bit for me and Cel to finish dinner. I''m sure you''ll like it!"


    "Hehe, thanks!"


    Everyone went to sit down somewhere in the room. Fina however quickly came over to observe the two cooking. Elizabeth also came over and was very much surprised at seeing Lucia''s practiced movement.


    Dinner was soon served and everyone ate to their heart''s content. They didn''t linger too long since the class had to gather first thing tomorrow morning at the academy''s stadium so they all went back to their dorms after they finished eating.


    The next day, Lucia alongside Fina and Eli arrived first at the stadium. They looked around and saw that they were the first ones to arrive.


    Not long after, Cecil and Ainz came and all the other classmates trickled in until it was almost 9.


    The entire class was wearing their combat uniforms. Each gender''s combat uniform was somewhat the same. It was a tight fitting battle suit that was made from a sky wyvern''s skin. The material was elastic so it clung tight onto their bodies.


    They had leather pads covering their elbows and knees and nether regions.


    However, it was really hard for the boys. They didn''t know where to place their gazes when looking at the girls. Especially for these 14-15 year old boys who were going through puberty.


    Their faces blushed every time they looked towards the girls since seeing their curves made them a little bit excited. Cecil was the only exception since he was gazing blankly into the sky.


    They waited, but didn''t see Instructor Jin anywhere. Right when it was 9 on the dot, the instructor arrived falling from the sky like a meteor.


    ''So it was him up there.'' Cecil thought. ''It was a pretty cool way to arrive though.''


    Cecil had to give props to the instructor for the awesome way he arrived. Instructor Jin was actually waiting for them in the sky and arrived with a ''superhero'' landing when the time was exactly 9 a.m.


    "Hohoho! Looks like everyone is here," Instructor Jin grinned with satisfaction. "Come on, let''s head in! The other classes should also be here by now!"


    Indeed, it wasn''t just them who were there. They could see the other 7 first year classes making their way into the stadium from the other entrances.


    When they finally arrived inside the stadium, they noticed that there were other instructors sitting inside the stadium. The 8 first year classes were seated separately from each other.


    The homeroom teachers made their way to the middle of the stadium''s arena and waited. Not long after, a magic circle appeared on the ground of the arena and a spacial tunnel formed. The headmaster of the academy soon walked out of the spacial tunnel.


    "Woah! Space magic!" Ainz exclaimed in awe.


    All the first year students in every class were also excited seeing the headmaster. The headmaster looked around while smiling at everyone. He quickly spoke something to the 8 instructors and floated up into the stands, quickly taking his seat.


    Instructor Jin walked forward and said in a loud voice.


    "Today''s magic combat assessment will now begin! Every class will send 2 students each at a time and they will be tested here on the arena!"


    The classes immediately erupted into an excited bout of discussion.


    Instructor Jin looked around and grinned.


    "Quiet down!" After the stadium quieted down, only then did he continue. "Now listen carefully. The assessment will have two phases! The first phase will be a raw magical assessment! In this segment, each student will only have 2 chances to cast the strongest magic spell at their disposal!"


    "The scores will be publicly displayed on that magic screen up there!" Instructor Jin pointed above him and a large rectangular box slowly came down from the ceiling of the stadium. It stopped about 150 meters from the ground and silently floated there.


    "For those who can get a good score, we''ll be providing first place a mid-tier mana seed and a chance to select any intermediate ranked spell in the fifth floor of the academy''s library!"


    This immediately roused the fighting spirit of every student in the stadium. Most of the students turned to look at Lucia since she was most likely their strongest competitor.


    Lucia was calm and didn''t seem too excited. Her composure caused the other students who turned to look at her to feel even more uneasy.


    Instructor Jin raised a hand to silence the students again before he continued on with his explanation.


    "The second segment will be a mock combat against other fellow students. The whole assessment will take around three days! Today being the first segment while tomorrow we''ll continue on with the second segment that will go on for two days!"


    Instructor Jin smirked and raised his hand to the sky.


    "Now let''s get on with the assessment!!! First will be our first year''s representative! Lucia Yukihime!!! Come! Step right up to the ring!"


    Lucia sighed helplessly and shrugged. "Me again huh..."


    Cecil looked towards her and quietly said. "Don''t overdo it Lulu..."


    Lucia only chuckled at his words.

 Chapter 72 - Magic Assessment, First Segment 2

    Lucia unhurriedly walked to the middle of the stadium''s arena, every student in the stadium had their eyes fixed on her.


    "Second from the S class, we''ll have Armin! Step up boy!!!"


    ''So instructor Jin is sending our number 1 and 25 together... that means I''m next with number 24.'' Cecil thought.


    The other instructors quickly did the same and had two of their students come down to the arena. Soon, 16 students from class S to G had gathered together in the middle of the stadium''s arena.


    The instructors started casting a barrier around the arena. Instructor Jin walked right up to the 16 and asked.


    "Who wants the honor to go first?"


    Everyone involuntarily turned their gazes to Lucia. Lucia already knew that she would be the first to go so she had already stepped forward immediately after the instructor asked the question.


    "Alright, our first ranked student will set us an example! Now for the rest of you! Please proceed outside of the barrier."


    While the other 15 were walking out of the barrier, Lucia had begun stretching her body. Her actions earned her some doubtful gazes from the rest of the students. It wasn''t like she was going to do some extraneous activity. All she would be doing was casting her magic, but her stretching was welcomed by all the boys however.


    Cecil''s eyes turned cold when he noticed the odd glances the boys were sending her.


    Instructor Jin waited patiently until she was finished. After she finished, Jin asked her.


    "So, what spell will you be showing us Lucia?"


    "Instructor...Are you sure it''s safe for you to stay inside the barrier?"


    "WAHAHAHA! You don''t have to worry about me, little one! Just cast your magic without restraint! And don''t worry about the barrier! It''s able to withstand tier 6 magic so it will be absolutely fine for you to show us your strongest!"


    Lucia nodded at his words. "Alright... uhm... step back a bit instructor."


    Instructor Jin took a couple step backs and Lucia closed her eyes and began gathering her mana.


    ''I can''t use Divine Punishment here... Let''s go with Explosion.''


    Without any chants, Lucia stretched out both her hands and a crimson red magic circle formed above her right hand and an aqua blue magic circle formed above her left. She then threw the magic circles into the air like two disks.


    The blue magic circle stayed afloat in the air while the red magic circle fell to the ground. She then unsheathed Butterfly and pointed it at the two magic circles ahead of her. When she channeled her mana into the kodachi, the small magic circles immediately enlarged, almost encompassing the whole arena.


    The mana in the air immediately started to rumble.


    "Oh!" Instructor Jin exclaimed in surprise. It wasn''t only the instructor, but everyone in the stadium broke out in surprise at the sudden abnormal mana activity. The headmaster was really surprised and smiled gently. He was just about to stretch out his arm and reinforce the barrier, but he stopped and widened his eyes a bit seeing Lucia''s next action.


    Lucia concentrated and shrunk the magic circles to about a third of its size. Only then did the rumbling stop.


    "What superb control!" The headmaster smiled in appreciation.


    Lucia then started chanting, but it wasn''t like the normal chants of orthodox spells. It was an original chant that Lucia made only so that she could have a clearer picture of her spell as well as a better control of its output.


    "Scorched earth and frozen skies! Heed my call and obliterate my enemies¨CEXPLOSION!"


    The magic circles enlarged again by about 20 percent of its size before it blinked out of existence.


    Everyone was puzzled and thought that Lucia had misfired her spell. The students found that the activation sequence as well as the chant was somewhat odd and they immediately presumed that Lucia had failed in casting her spell. Some of the girls in the other classes even started smirking and gloating.


    Lucia however had immediately backed off to where Instructor Jin was standing and casted a lava and ice barrier around them. Cecil had also rushed in front of S class'' sitting area. He activated Mana Burst and quickly constructed a Mana Barrier around them. He also did his best to thicken and darken the surface of the barrier as well.


    "Cecil?"


    "Hey, brat!"


    "Eh?"


    "What''s the deal?"


    The class was puzzled at Cecil''s actions, but he didn''t pay them any mind and only focused on strengthening the barrier.


    Just as his barrier was almost complete, a loud screeching noise rang throughout the stadium and a white light blossomed at the area where the two magic circles had blinked out of existence. Then a large bright explosion engulfed the arena.


    Everyone''s ears started to ring and many were left disorientated. Some of the students in the other classes had outright fainted from the screeching explosion.


    Only class S was relatively okay. Other than the fact that some of them experienced mild nausea and a brief headache, they were all fine and fairing much better than the other 7 classes and this was because of Cecil''s Mana Barrier which dampened out most of the noise.


    The inside of the protective barrier that was encompassing the arena was still engulfed in a bright light. It wasn''t the first time Cecil thought this, but the loud screeching noise and that bright white explosion was similar to the odd phenomenon that brought him and Silver to Alterna.


    Fina and Eli who were witnessing this absurd spell immediately rose from their seats and ran to the edge of the seating area. Fina was anxious enough that she started calling out to Lucia.


    "Lucia! Lucia!!"


    Elizabeth who followed her tried to calm her down.


    "Calm down Eli, Lucia knows what she''s doing! There''s no way she would cast a suicidal spell..."


    Although she said this, even Eli herself wasn''t so sure and was mired with worry and unease.


    Cecil who saw the two worried girls spoke up to reassure them.


    "Don''t worry."


    "But... Cecil!"


    "Don''t worry, she''s okay. This isn''t the first time she''s used this spell. And do remember. She casted a barrier before the explosion happened."


    "But will that barrier be enough?" Fina worriedly asked.


    Cecil scratched his cheek while hesitating. He wasn''t used to talking very long with anyone other than Lucia, but decided to explain a bit about Lucia''s spell.


    "The spell Lucia used was her only original chanting spell that combined both her water and fire elements. It''s called Explosion. The barrier she used was also a spell she exclusively created to handle to repercussions of casting the spell at a danger-close distance. It''s her Glacial Magma Barrier spell."


    Cecil paused in hesitation. He didn''t want to reveal anymore of Lucia''s original spells'' details, but seeing how genuinely worried Fina and Eli were, he could only continue.


    "It''s her strongest barrier type original spell. It could easily handle tier 4 and tier 5 spells. It could also withstand the impact of a tier 6 spell to some degree, but the only problem is that her vision and hearing is seal inside the barrier, which in this case would actually be a good thing considering how noisy and bright Explosion is."


    Hearing how powerful the barrier spell was, Fina and Eli were finally put at ease. They only continued staring into the brightly lit arena barrier hoping to find the silhouette of their spirited fox friend.


    After about a minute, the light from Lucia''s Explosion spell died down. Just as Cecil said, Lucia and Instructor Jin were protected safely behind Lucia''s barrier. To every students and teachers'' astonishment however, was the destruction caused by the spell.


    The area that was affected was entirely destroyed. A large smooth crater that was about 5 meters deep at its lowest point was what remained of the arena. Lucia''s spell had cleanly obliterated more than half of the stadium''s large arena.


    The most astonishing part was that the barrier that encompassed the arena had signs of cracking. This meant that Lucia''s Explosion spell was close to Tier 7. It was safe to say that Explosion was a high ranked tier 6 magic spell that was infinitesimally close to low rank Tier 7 in strength.


    The ice and magma hardened barrier started to crumble and Lucia stepped out of the barrier and observed her handiwork. She smiled proudly and nodded in satisfaction. She turned towards instructor Jin who was also dazedly witnessing the destruction caused by her spell.


    "So, instructor... how was it?"


    "..."


    The stadium was silent so everyone heard Lucia. They could only send the monstrously talented girl a horrified look at how nonchalant she asked that question. The crowd was even more surprised at how composed Lucia was.


    Even after casting such a strong magic spell, she didn''t look the least bit strained. Judging by how high tiered the spell was earlier, it was bound to use up a sizeable amount of mana, but how come Lucia still looked so spirited even after that? Even for an initial stage mana core spell caster, wasn''t the amount of mana she had somewhat abnormally high?


    Such were the thoughts of stupefied students and instructors. Only the headmaster was smiling in appreciation at Lucia''s splendid performance.


    The students and teachers who weren''t in the know started suspecting whether or not Lucia was already close to the Mid stage mana core level and thought that she only needed a small push before stepping into that stage.


    That of course wasn''t the case. Lucia had used up the mana inside two of her tails to cast explosion. It was a lot of mana, about 2000 units worth. She would have to spend at least a day or two to acc.u.mulate and fill up the mana in her tails'' mana cores.


    Seeing that Lucia was okay, Cecil inwardly let out a sigh of relief and began walking back to his seat after he dispelled his Mana Barrier. Fina and Eli were also relieved seeing that Lucia was safe and okay. They smiled wryly after hearing Lucia nonchalant question and walked back towards their seat.


    Everyone in S class were silently discussing and admiring the strongest spell caster that was in their class.


    Instructor Jin snapped out of his daze and took a look at his teacher exclusive MID. The results of Lucia''s spell were sent to his MID from the active mana sensors that were distributed inside the whole stadium.


    The sensors were something unique to the stadium that was used to sense the spells invoked by the people inside the arena. It served to help quickly adjust the power output and strength of the arena''s barrier that encompassed the arena. It was only because of these sensors that the barrier had only cracked instead of breaking due to Lucia''s spell.


    "High Ranked 6th Tier spell! Splendid! Just splendid, Lucia!" his exclamation caused another round of astonished gasps from the students around and teachers.


    "Tier 6 mage, what the heck..."


    "Are you kidding me?!"


    "As expected of this year''s strongest... she''s already on par if not stronger than some of our seniors."


    "We''re way out of her league..."


    "Tsk... just look at how full of herself she is."


    "..."


    There were some who admired her and there were also others who frowned at her results due to jealousy.


    "This spell isn''t listed in our academy''s database. Is it an original spell, Lucia?" Instructor Jin inquired.


    "Yes! It''s an original, a combination of fire and water. It''s part of my Compound Magic Series! Its official name is Compound Magic Spell: Explosion!" Lucia said enthusiastically.


    "Compound magic... a combination of fire and water huh?" Instructor Jin smiled and then began tapping away at his MID.


    The instructor created a new spell sub-category under the original spell category in the academy''s database. He copied Lucia and named the new category Compound Magic and listed Explosion as the first ever magic spell in its category list.


    Spell : Explosion


    Tier : High Rank Tier 6


    Atttribute : Water and Fire


    Origin : Original spell created by Core stage Spell caster Lucia Yukihime.


    Chant : ''Scorched earth and frozen skies! Heed my call and obliterate my enemies''


    Instructor Jin then remembered that Lucia had shrunk the spell at the last minute, he then changed the tier.


    Tier : High Rank Tier 6 ¨C ?

 Chapter 73 - Magic Assessment, First Segment 3

    It took some time for arena to be fixed, but as soon as it was finished, the other 15 student began their assessments.


    Everyone had a good score, but their performances were eclipsed with Lucia''s previous stunt.


    It was soon Cecil''s turn and as expected, he and the 24th ranked student in class were the ones that Instructor Jin selected next.


    The instructors in the stands started a small discussion between themselves.


    "S class sure is something. Since the first ranked girl had such an outstanding performance, I''m very much anticipating this next student''s. I hear that the first and second rankers registered together!"


    "Two magically adept students huh... each subsequent year, the quality of the students are getting more and more ridiculous don''t you agree?"


    "It just goes to show how developed the progress of magic is now. Decades ago, things like this were never even heard of before. Back then everyone was still pioneering through."


    "Even though our magic system has been around for over a couple centuries, there seems to be no end to how magic can further progress."


    "Ah! There he is, the second ranked student. He''s even a foxkin like that Lucia girl! The foxkin tribes must be laughing in their sleeps knowing that they''ve got two enormously talented youngsters!"


    It took a while before it was finally Cecil''s turn to go up. They had him go last in fear of him also wielding enough power to decimate the arena just like Lucia.


    The worries were unfounded though since Cecil himself knew that he was nowhere near Lucia''s level in terms of magical capabilities.


    ''If I was the same as Lucia then I wouldn''t have struggled with the 3rd part of the exam...'' Cecil lamented in his heart.


    Seeing as the arena''s barrier was up, Cecil looked around and started thinking about what he should do.


    He was honestly clueless since there wasn''t one magic spell he could actually use. As a non-elemental user and a person who had successfully cultivated the Mana Eyes, he leaned more towards mana manipulation than magic manipulation.


    ''Guess I''ll just go with Kinryugi...or maybe... hmmm''


    Cecil was thinking and was having a hard time which technique he should choose to exhibit. He didn''t want to use anything too flashy.


    Seeing as Cecil hadn''t made his move yet, it puzzled everyone since it looked like he was staring off blankly into space.


    Instructor Jin reminded Cecil softly that he could begin anytime.


    "Uhm... Cecil? You could start now."


    Cecil snapped out of his daze. He didn''t say anything and only nodded. Up in the stands Lucia had her eyes on Cecil and seeing the clarity return to him she frowned.


    "Tch... he''s hesitating..."


    "What''s that Lucia?" Fina asked while glancing at the seemingly dissatisfied Lucia.


    "Nothing! It''s nothing ehehe~"


    Even though she tried to laugh it off, Fina was still skeptical since she did somewhat hear her mumbling.


    Cecil who was hesitating finally turned towards the Instructor.


    "Instructor, sir. Uhm... I''m not really all that adept at magic spells. My main focus has always been body enhancing techniques, so I don''t really know any conventional spells..."


    "Oh? Then what about originals?"


    "I... don''t have any either... only body strengthening originals..."


    "I see. But you did get to S class didn''t you? That means you should at least know some spells right?"


    "..."


    Cecil went silent after that. He sighed and turned around.


    ''Whatever, let''s just go with mana volley.''


    Cecil activated Mana Burst and slowly rose into the air.


    Instructor Jin raised an eyebrow at that.


    ''Didn''t he just say that he didn''t know any originals? A no chant flying spell...''


    Cecil levitated just before his head hit the barrier that surrounded the arena. He stretched a hand and aimed it at the ground.


    Cecil concentrated and began directing the mana in his body into his palm. It normally took him not more than a second to concentrate his mana to use a volley, but he decided this time to take his time and push his limits. It took him 10 seconds to form a globe of mana in his palms that reached the threshold of his mana control, anymore than it''ll cause a backlash to his mind and body.


    "HAH!!"


    With a shout, the globe of mana in his hands burst apart and mana bolts the size of wash bins rained down from the sky.


    For the next minute, Cecil continued channeling his mana and sent mana bolts bombarding the arena grounds.


    Once the dust settled, the aftermath of Cecil''s bombardment soon became visible.


    Craters ranging from 1-3 meters in diameter dotted the entirety of the arena. Although the destruction caused by the spell wasn''t as mind blowing as Lucia''s spell, it still caused the teachers and students to gape since Cecil had continued channeling the spell for so long.


    Cecil wasn''t drained at all after using mana volley since he had only used about 10 percent of his total mana, but he still had to act the part so as he was floating down, he began panting in exhaustion.


    Right after he touched the ground, Cecil turned towards instructor Jin.


    "I''m...I''m done now right?"


    "...yes."


    Without delay, Cecil started walking back to the stands while looking physically drained.


    Lucia, who was in the stands observing him, clicked her tongue and started pouting in annoyance.


    "Two-faced idiot, see how I''ll handle you later."


    Lucia mumbled in annoyance.


    "...Lucia?"


    "W-what is it Fina?"


    "You look dissatisfied somehow..." Fina asked, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes while she observed her fl.u.s.tered friend.


    "No. No I''m not! Haha~"


    Seeing how she only wanted to laugh it off, Fina started pressuring her friend with a hard gaze.


    Lucia quickly grew nervous and didn''t know what to do since this was the first time her seemingly timid friend was putting up a strong front.


    "Hey, guys... that sure was tiring. What''s up?"


    Cecil had arrived back at the stands, his group of friends greeted him and Lucia was saved.


    "Oh! Cel, good work," Lucia said, while inwardly releasing a sigh of relief. She didn''t know why, but lately Fina has been growing more and more inquisitive.


    "Yeah... channeling volley for over a minute took a lot out of me..." Cecil scratched his cheek while nonchalantly lying.


    Lucia turned a disdainful look at him. Lucia''s face showed that she didn''t believe a single word from him.


    The others however nodded in understanding.


    Elizabeth turned to him and asked, "That spell earlier... it looked like an empowered version of the air bolt spell."


    Cecil smiled, knowing that he had successfully pulled the wool over everyone''s eyes.


    "Yeah, it was indeed a stronger version of air bolt. I''m not really adept at using higher ranked magic, so I compensate that by empowering my low tier magic instead. That version of air bolt was just me condensing a large mass of air bolts in my palm and firing it out indiscriminately."


    Cecil explained.


    "I don''t have full control of each individual air bolts so they randomly fire at the general direction that I''m aiming. Each air bolt is as strong as a tier 3 or tier 4 spell, but it''s hard to use since I can''t aim it well."


    ''LIAR! LIAR LIAR LIAR!'' Lucia wanted to scream. Only she knew for certain that Cecil could precisely control each and every mana bolt individually. With Cecil''s mana eyes he wouldn''t even break a sweat! Not to mention that if he attached a homing function on each bolt then the concentrated mana bolts could chase after whatever it was that Cecil targeted, by then control would be meaningless. In fact, this function-attaching technique alone was the epitome of ''control''.


    She couldn''t stand Cecil downplaying his own technique like that. Not to mention that he was deliberately portraying himself as being weak in magic combat, so Lucia walked behind him and furiously started pinching Cecil as hard as she could.


    Although, ''weak'' was only relative to her understanding since Lucia hadn''t been in contact with anyone else that close to their age, but if they were to actually compare their fighting and magic capabilities with others, then Cecil and Lucia would be so many levels ahead of the people in their age group.


    Cecil had already foresaw that something bad was about to happen to him when he saw that Lucia was pouting, so even when he felt surprised at the sudden pain that originated from his back, Cecil made sure to keep his cool and not yelp out in surprise.


    Seeing as Cecil didn''t react to her pinching, Lucia started putting in more force in her hands.


    This caused Cecil to grimace a bit, he was already crying inside.


    ''Ow, ow, ow, ow...'' Cecil turned an apologetic look at Lucia who was pouting behind him.


    Lucia only scoffed and began pinching even harder than before.


    But, she soon stopped and helplessly sighed. Cecil''s circ.u.mstances were too special and it would indeed be hard for them to explain anything if his circ.u.mstances were exposed to everyone.


    Even though she didn''t like it when Cecil downplayed his abilities, she couldn''t force him to do otherwise though.


    The assessment continued and everyone had their turn showing off their magical capabilities. It was deep into the afternoon when the first segment of the assessment had finally finished.

 Chapter 74 - Magic Assessment, Second Segment 1

    The classes were dismissed and everyone began heading back to their dorms, but Cecil had Lucia accompany him alone after class.


    In a private room at a restaurant in the business area of the academy, a pouting Lucia and a helpless Cecil were currently having dinner together.


    "Lulu... you know why I had to do that..."


    "Tsk... so? It''s not like you didn''t have anything better to show."


    "If I did better, then what about you, Lulu?"


    "What about me?"


    "You held back too."


    "..."


    "Listen Lulu, you''ve seen the power levels and capabilities of all our other friends... even the ones in our class... we eclipse them no matter whether it is our combat capabilities or magic capabilities..."


    "I know that! It''s obvious isn''t it! Especially with how hard we''ve trained! How hard we... do you really have to undermine all our efforts when this is the place where we''re supposed to shine?!"


    Lucia was still a 14 year old child. Of course, she wanted others to know about the results of all their hard work and receive praise from that, but Cecil saw further past that. He wouldn''t have minded if this was before, but after the opening ceremony where those 10 irritating gazes had locked onto Lucia, Cecil had to be careful.


    Even if they were from the same school, he''s read too many light novels in his spare time to know that each and every one of those faction leaders had their own hidden agenda. He didn''t want Lucia nor him to be caught up in whatever it is they might be scheming.


    "Lucia...should we care about whether or not other people praise us?"


    "Eh?"


    "Listen, Lulu, with how hard and how fast we''ve trained and progressed, it will attract unwanted attention to us. Sure, it will attract some praise and admiration from our teachers, instructors, and friends, but it will also attract bad attention too!"


    "..."


    Lucia could only keep silent as Cecil lectured her. Although, she still looked aggrieved, she wasn''t stupid enough to not listen to Cecil''s reasoning, even though it was really paranoid of him.


    "I know I may sound paranoid Lulu, but what if something bad does come knocking on our door. Back on Earth there was this saying, the nail that sticks out will be hammered in. We may not want it, but if we stand out too much... you understand don''t you?"


    "...yes."


    "Even if we want to chase after a King''s title, we could do it without exposing too much of our abilities. Even your Explosion spell was overkill you know!" Cecil chuckled. This caused Lucia to let out a small smile in return.


    "Ok, Cel... I''ll listen to you."


    Cecil smiled and patted Lucia''s head.


    "Thanks Lulu. I''m sorry for calling you out here only to lecture you like this... how about I brush your tails the next time we have a free day from classes."


    "Really? Promise?! You better! Or I''ll..."


    "Yes. Yes. Now, let''s eat! It''s been a while since it''s been only us two!"


    "Yeah!"


    Cecil and Lucia happily began their dinner, after they finished eating they quickly returned to their dorms.


    The next day, back at the large stadium, the first year classes had once again gathered together. The layout of the stadium was a little bit different. There were now 5 small rings scattered across the large arena that were covered in a light transparent barrier.


    This time it wasn''t instructor Jin, but a different class'' instructor that was directing the students.


    "Alright maggots! This is the second segment of the assessment, Magic combat."


    The instructor of class A was the one that was directing this segment. He was a bit rough with his words, but he explained the details of the second segment clearly.


    The second segment, which was magic combat, was a mock battle between two students. A battle that not only consisted of using spells, but a battle where you could use training weapons, body enhancement techniques and other skills to win against your opponent.


    However, to keep things fair, the students were assigned to battle against the student who was next to them in rank, this way the battle power of the competitors wouldn''t have such a large divide if unluckily, rank 209 had to fight against rank 1.


    So, it started from the lowest rank, rank 209 pairing up with rank 208 to a match, all the way up until the highest rank. However, this meant that the first ranked student, which was Lucia, wouldn''t have any one to spar with.


    It was decided however that rank 1 would fight with whoever won from the match between ranks 2 and 3.


    This meant that either Cecil or Eli would spar against Lucia in the end.


    There was no penalty for losing, but the winner of the match would be given access to choose a battle technique, training manual, or spell from the academy library''s third floor with the exception of the top 10 ranked students.


    Regardless of whoever won or lost in their match, the top 10 would get the opportunity to choose a book from the library''s third floor and by top 10 and these were the individuals not from the student rankings, but from the magic assessment rankings.


    Lucia didn''t want to underestimate Eli, but she knew that Cecil would be the one who would most likely fight her in the end, so she began preparing her countermeasures against him.


    "Well Cecil. It looks like it''s either you or me who would be fighting our princess later." Eli said with a confident smile. "Hmph. I don''t plan on losing though!"


    "Same here Eli." Cecil responded with a faint smile.


    At the instructor''s cue, the first 5 pairs, rank 209 vs. 208, rank 207 vs. 206, rank 205 vs. 204, rank 203 vs. 204, and rank 202 vs. rank 201, went up to their stages and their matches quickly began.


    Everyone was watching intently at the ongoing matches. Colorful, but deadly spells flew through the air. Barriers shattered and weapons smashed against each other.


    To Cecil and Lucia, it was painfully obvious how inexperienced in combat the first 5 pairs were. For Cecil and Lucia, the way they fought was that every move and every spell had a meaning behind it.


    Whether it was for a feint to set up another more powerful spell, arranging smaller spells into an array, pushing back their opponents into a trap they they''ve set up while darting around the battlefield.


    Each and every action had a purpose behind it for those two. But looking at the people fighting it out in the 5 rings, it was just a show of total ignorance with each side trying to physically or magically overpower the other.


    Cecil sighed and gave Lucia a ''see I told you'' look.


    Lucia immediately became glum since it was true. She was also disappointed since as Cecil said, ''who cares if we received praise or not.'' Even if they showed any more of their abilities it wouldn''t make a difference, just the things that they''ve shown right now had already garnered the shock and awe of everyone.


    Lucia had to admit that it did not matter anymore. With how low every one''s standards were, showing any more would indeed just attract unwanted and unsavory attention to themselves.


    "You win Cel... but don''t expect me to hold back later."


    "I don''t expect you too."


    "Hmph. Well it''s not like our magic capabilities will have any further exposure, since it''s a fight between you and me. It''d be hard for either of us to actually cast a big spell."


    "..." Cecil stayed quiet and smiled at Lucia''s words.


    Not long after, all 5 pairs had finished their matches, with the losers and winners clearly apparent.


    As expected, it was mostly the higher ranked student taking the win since it was a match where each student tried to overpower each other. There was no way a lower ranked student could overpower a higher ranked one.


    The only way for lower ranked students to win wouldn''t be to face their higher ranked opponents head on, but to use strategy and wit to defeat them. It was listed clearly why they were lower ranked, so instead of using their muscles to win, they should use their brains.


    To Cecil this was but a simple thought for him since he was drilled with it ever since childhood. For other children of his age however, this wasn''t the case.


    After the first 5 pairs were finished, the next 5 went up and soon began their matches.


    The next pairs had no one changing their fighting styles, and to Cecil''s astonishment, they still went with the head-to-head approach.


    Cecil sighed exasperatedly at this. Even though it wasn''t him, but his martial spirit was what triggered him to feel so frustrated. He really wanted to yell out to those lower ranks to use their brains instead of stupidly using their brawn.


    ''At least learn from your failing predecessors!!!'' Cecil thought in frustration.


    "There, there." Lucia had already started patting Cecil''s head after she saw his anguished look.


    Fina, Ainz, and Eli were puzzled seeing Cecil''s pained look, but Lucia knew exactly what was up with him. Being a martial artist, Lucia knew it was frustrating for Cecil to see such a sloppy battle.

 Chapter 75 - Magic Assessment, Second Segment 2

    As the hours passed by, the students continued with their assessments. When it was finally lunch time, the academy''s cafeteria had brought in the lunches for the first years to the stadium.


    "So, how were they headmaster? Pretty good seedlings we have this year no?"


    "...yes. Pretty good indeed," the headmaster said while eyeing the students who were currently having lunch. "But, they lack... something."


    The instructors who were gathered around the headmaster listened intently at his words, but they were puzzled as to what the children were lacking.


    In terms of fighting capability and magic capabilities, all the children that were accepted into Arks Royal Academy were the best of the best. The cream of the crop, if any other academy had even one of these students accepted into their curriculum then it was a foregone conclusion that they would be at the top of their class.


    Arks Royal Academy''s criteria for acceptance were just that high. Only the elite would even think about enrolling into the academy and only the best among them would be accepted. Previous years'' acceptance rates have been very long sometimes not even reaching 100 students. This year''s acceptance ratings have been the highest, reaching a total of 209 students being accepted.


    So you could say, that this generation''s talents had blossomed and all 209 students were gifted in their own unique way. The criteria have never changed and the level of criteria has never lowered. So it puzzled the teachers at what could possibly be lacking of them.


    "Ah... experience. Yes. That''s what they lack. They lack any form of combat experience. They''re like home grown plants. They haven''t experienced the wear and tear of the wild."


    "Sir... they''re only 12-14 year old children."


    "Ah. I see, I see. I''m sorry it didn''t cross my mind!" The headmaster chuckled. He turned an eye towards the students of S-class.


    "But, not all of them seem to be home grown vegetables." The headmaster said while smirking. His eyes glinted in expectation when he eyed some of the students in the class.


    Back at the stands, in the seating area of class S, Cecil had subtly turned an eye towards the higher levels of the stadium.


    A particular gaze was directed at him and he turned to look back at its source. He briefly met eyes with the headmaster who had a smile plastered on his face. He immediately turned away after a short observation.


    "What''s wrong Cel?"


    "Nothing. Just hurry up and eat."


    "M''kay~"


    The group was eating together and Ainz finally couldn''t contain himself.


    "SO! Brats! What''d ya think about the earlier battles?"


    "Plain."


    "Boring."


    "Uncultured!"


    Everyone gave their opinions and only Cecil remained quiet, silently eating his food. Lucia was beyond bored after watching the slugfest while Eli wasn''t one bit impressed at the single-minded way their fellow first years were fighting.


    "Uh-uhm... they were okay? I think..." Fina was trying her best to sound a little nice, but her words started fading near the end. Even she wasn''t convinced that her fellow first years were doing good.


    "WAHAHA! Well, for people who haven''t had any combat training, of course they''ll have a lackl.u.s.ter performance!"


    Lucia raised an eyebrow at his words.


    "...and you''re saying that you''ve got training?"


    "Of course!"


    "Heh."


    "Don''t underestimate me brat!"


    Lucia scoffed and ignored the boasting Ainz. She turned towards Fina and Eli and began asking.


    "Have you guys taken combat training?"


    "Yes. It''s something that was required of us at the pal¨C I mean back at home."


    "Same for me, Lucia... I had to train because I live in the ocean. The monsters in the ocean are much more abundant and ferocious than the ones on land..."


    "Oh! That''s good! At least you won''t perform as miserably as those people!"


    "What about you Lucia?" Eli asked.


    "Hmph." Lucia gave a side-long look at Ainz and said, "Even if there were 10s of this guy coming at me. I''d blow away all of them with a stroke of my sword!"


    "BULLSHIT!" Ainz roared.


    "Heh. Try me!"


    Seeing as the two were about to bicker, Cecil sighed.


    "...finish your food Lulu."


    "Yeah, yeah."


    When lunch was over, the matches continued. They''ve been at it since morning, but only half of the students have finished their matches.


    "Looks like we''ll be fighting tomorrow..."


    "Yeah. The second segment was meant to be completed in two days anyway."


    Cecil was listening in on the rest of the class'' conversation. Many of them were anticipating their matches tomorrow.


    Since everyone knew who they were fighting against tomorrow, the vibe around the class grew a bit tense. Cecil looked around and smelled gunpowder in the air.


    "...why so serious..." Cecil mumbled.


    "Of course they''re serious Cel! Why wouldn''t they be?"


    "No... It''s nothing. I just wanted to try saying that once."


    Cecil had a faint grin on his face.


    "Cecil! A word please?"


    Cecil turned to look at the golden haired girl next to Lucia.


    "Sure."


    Eli got up and went to sit beside Cecil.


    "Although we''re friends... I won''t take it easy on you tomorrow!"


    "Yeah, I know."


    "That''s why¨C what?"


    "I know... and I expect you to take it seriously... you''ll lose if you don''t." Cecil said plainly.


    "Lose? Hmph! I don''t have any plans on losing to you! Even if I''m ranked lower than you I won''t lose!"


    Cecil smiled seeing the stubborn look in her eyes. Cecil turned towards his ''childhood'' friend and said, "That goes the same for you Lulu."


    "What?!"


    "I''ll crush you just like during training. Don''t think that just because your number one I''ll be lenient to you. You still haven''t one a single match against me." Cecil smirked.


    "Why YOU! Just wait for tomorrow! I''ll crush you!!!" Lucia yelled.


    "Lucia?! Why are you implying that I''ll lose to this piece of wood?!"


    "Huh? Oh... uhm... that''s not what I meant Eli!"


    Cecil smirked and walked away from them, he was heading out of the stadium since those unbearable matches would continue all the way until into the evening.


    The instructors wanted them to witness the different fighting styles of everyone so they could gain experience, but all Cecil could see was a slugfest. A test of strength and nothing more, it wasn''t worth his time staying in the stadium.


    When he got outside, Cecil looked up towards the orange tinted sky.


    "Let''s go see Silver."


    He activated Mana Burst at full power and disappeared from his spot.


    Back in the stadium, Lucia was currently giving Elizabeth details regarding Cecil''s combat style.


    "Listen well, okay Eli! That Cecil... he''s a total monster in combat! So never under any circ.u.mstances should you ever underestimate him!"


    "I can understand that Lucia... and besides I never underestimate my opponents, even when they seem weaker than me!"


    "That''s good. Cecil''s the one who trained me so it''s easy for me to anticipate some of his moves and actions, but... I''ll give you some advice, Eli. His every move, all his actions, you have to read further into them! Well, just enough so it doesn''t affect your performance!"


    "Huh? Why?"


    "One thing that Cecil''s taught me and has drilled into my head is that in combat, every action has to have a motive, a purpose, behind it!"


    "...?" Elizabeth still had a puzzled look on her face.


    "I''m saying that you have to be wary of all his actions, even a seemingly useless action could lead to something big if Cecil was the one doing it!"


    "Basically I should stay alert to whatever action he takes?"


    "Yes! Don''t forget this! Because if you don''t... you won''t know why you have lost once the match is over..."


    "...don''t write me off as if I''m going to lose to him... I don''t plan on losing to him or to anyone else, and that includes you, Lucia!"


    "...yeah. Let''s both give it our best!"


    "Of course!"


    The two smiled at each other, Lucia''s smile was a little wry because deep down she was convinced that Cecil wouldn''t lose. Not to her or to anyone else.


    If their combat standards weren''t at least on par with Lucia''s then it was going to be an easy win for Cecil.


    Cecil himself has taught Lucia, so Lucia herself could somewhat adapt and respond to his actions, but for others who have no knowledge or any intensive battle experience... then it will only be a one-sided match.


    ''I won''t lose to him though! This time, I''ll try and force him into a draw!'' Lucia pumped her fist and resolved herself. She knew herself that it was somewhat hopeless to expect to win against that training junkie, but if she could at least mete out a draw then it could be considered good progress for her!


    "WIIIINNNN!!!" Lucia abruptly yelled. "Guys! I''ll be going out now! I''ve got something to do!"


    Her abrupt war cry had startled the rest of the class, but before anyone could question her, Lucia had already bolted to the exit of the stadium.


    ''Just you wait Cel! I''ve been working on this one for a while! I''ll use it on you tomorrow!''

 Chapter 76 - Spear, Intruder

    As Lucia was heading out to train her new technique that she would be using against Cecil, the boy in question had leisurely made his way out of the campus grounds undetected.


    Cecil was on his way to the Ironforge Smithy to go have a look at Silver.


    It''s been a while since he''s separated from Silver so Cecil grew a little worried.


    When he finally arrived, the smithy was just as bustling as ever. Cecil made his way to the back of the smithy into the housing area. He didn''t see Radon or his wife anywhere so Cecil just went ahead towards Silver''s small house.


    When Cecil went through the door, he found a large ball of fur sprawled on the ground. Silver was lazily snoozing.


    Cecil''s mouth twitched a bit seeing the lazy Silver, "Oi, wake up Silv. What are you doing acting so lazy like this..."


    Silver didn''t respond and instead kept on snoozing away. Cecil walked over to him and began nudging the large wolf''s head.


    "Oi, wake up already. Don''t make me use mana bolt to wake you."


    Silver''s ear twitched a little and he slowly opened his eyes, clearly Silver was still a little too sleepy since he only blankly stared and yawned when he saw Cecil.


    It took another few seconds for Silver to sober up and see that it was Cecil standing in front of him. Silver got up and began licking his face slobbering it a little with his saliva.


    Cecil wiped it off and began petting Silver. "Wanna head out and roam a bit?"


    "Rawr!" Silver gave an affirmative and stretched.


    The duo was just about to head out before bumping into Radon and his wife, they seemed to have just got back from grocery shopping.


    Radon was surprised seeing the boy and quickly greeted him, "Hey sonny, what brings you here?"


    "Not much, I just wanted to see Silv here." Cecil greeted back and began taking the groceries from Mrs. Ironforge.


    After bringing it in, Radon pulled Cecil to the side, "Boy, I got your spear finished. Wanna take a look?"


    "It''s done? Let me see it!"


    "Come ''ere."


    Radon led Cecil into his private smithy room. He took down a long cloth that was hanging on the wall and placed it down onto a table.


    He began unwrapping the cloth and revealed what was hidden underneath.


    "Here it is boy! I must say, that this is my best piece yet! It''s even better than the sword I forged for you!"


    Cecil grabbed the 3 meter long azure tinted spear and examined it. The body was hard, but when he flexed it around the spear would bend ever so slightly. It was hard, but had a little elasticity. It greatly pleased Cecil when he found this property on such a sturdy looking spear.


    Cecil activated his mana eyes and began examining the spear in detail. He saw a natural mana array inside the interior. Cecil couldn''t help, but widen his eyes when he saw it.


    Seeing the astonishment in his eyes, Radon was immensely pleased.


    "How is it boy? My best piece yet , right?" He said while laughing uproariously.


    "Yes, it is. I can''t believe a natural array had even formed in the body''s interior."


    "Exactly! I can only say that it was a stroke of luck!"


    Cecil once again examined his weapon. He could see small runic patterns decorating the body of the spear. These runes were something that was naturally formed after the array had fully formed on the body of the spear.


    The blade of the spear was also sharp and it had a long triangular shape, about 30 centimeters in length. It had a slight grove running along the middle of the blade as well. Cecil smiled and channeled his mana into the spear.


    His mana flowed into the array and activated it. Right as the array activated, a pale golden storm of mana began raging around the body of the spear.


    Radon couldn''t help but step back a little in astonishment. The golden mana storm gave off a feeling that it was unusually sharp and Radon feared that it might even cut him if he got too close.


    Cecil, however, was curious seeing this. The mana storm had no effect on him seeing that his hands that were holding the spear weren''t damaged from the storm, but he still felt that the storm gave off a sharp feeling.


    Cecil very much wanted to swing the spear around and test the power of this mana storm, but upon remembering where he was, Cecil could only reluctantly deactivate the array.


    "It''s great Radon! I can''t thank you enough for this!"


    "Heh, don''t mention it boy! It also pleases me to be able to create such a fine weapon! Not every blacksmith out there can be as lucky as me!"


    Cecil chuckled and kept the spear. He asked if there was a case for it, but Radon was still in the process of creating one.


    He had just finished making it last night so he was exhausted and decided to cash in for the night. He was in a good mood since the morning so he gladly took the opportunity to accompany his wife out shopping only to return now.


    "I''ll leave this here then. I''ll come back again to take it along with its completed sheath."


    "Alright, but shouldn''t you still be in class? You shouldn''t go out and play hooky!"


    "Nah, I''m not ditching class or anything. It''s just our magic combat assessment that''s taking too long so I decided to head out for a bit. My turn isn''t until tomorrow anyway."


    "What? Then aren''t you just playing hooky then?!"


    Cecil smiled cheekily and went for the door, "Alright I''ll head back now!"


    "Mhm, bring little Lucia out to play the next time you decide to play hooky. Tell her that her uncle and aunt miss her."


    "What''s this? So its okay for Lucia to play hooky and not me? Playing favorites now are we?"


    "Hmph. Go already! Head back to class!" Radon harrumphed and shooed away Cecil from his smithy.


    Cecil smiled and walked out of the smithy. He met back with Silver on the ground floor, he bade farewell to Mrs. Ironforge and went out with Silver.


    He looked up to the sky and saw that it was still early in the afternoon. Cecil decided to head out of the city with Silver.


    "Silv, let''s on a short walk outside the city!"


    "Rawr!" Silver spiritedly barked and he lowered his body a bit and Cecil immediately jumped onto his back.


    Then the fox boy and giant wolf duo made their way to the gate of the city.


    Back in the academy grounds, Lucia was currently inside one of the mage combat buildings. She had asked permission to borrow a room so that she could train a bit.


    Inside the room, Lucia was constantly testing out her new spell. A large, dark purple spell formation was spread out on the ground in front of her.


    "MELTDOWN!"


    An ear piercing screech rang in the room before a large explosion ensued.


    "Tsk... this isn''t what I want..." Lucia muttered in disappointment.


    Lucia was just about to begin another round of experimentations before a clap rang out in the training room.


    Lucia immediately became alert and spun around to look at the source of the clapping. Lucia frowned when she saw a lone handsome teenaged boy with golden hair and dark horns leaning on the wall near the entrance of the room.


    Lucia raised a hand and a scarlet magic formation appeared in the air instantaneously.


    "Who''re you? Don''t you know it''s impolite to barge in someone''s training room?"


    The person stopped clapping and raised both hands in the air in surrender.


    "Sorry, sorry. I was just curious as to how our newcomer''s number 1 was like. Do accept my apologies." The handsome boy placed a hand on his chest and courteously bowed in apology.


    Lucia narrowed her eyes, and kept her hand raised still aiming her spell at the boy.


    "Get out."


    "Now, now. Let''s not get impatient shall we? Don''t you want to question why I rudely barged in on your training?"


    "I don''t care. Get out." Lucia uttered coldly.


    "My, you really are just as fiery as the rumors say."


    BANG


    Lucia had fired a lava bullet just to the side of the boy''s face narrowly missing him.


    "Get out. Don''t make me say this again."


    "...now it''s not nice to do that Lucia." The boy''s eyes narrowed dangerously and he abruptly dashed forward to Lucia.


    Lucia was already on guard so she made a quick response.


    As the boy dashed forward, Lucia had quickly jumped backwards and slammed her hand on the ground.


    Nothing happened at first which puzzled the intruder. He didn''t pay it any mind and kept dashing forward.


    Lucia''s eyes glinted coldly. ''Hmph, you''re slower than Cel and you think you can get close to me?''


    Lucia waved her hand and numerous crimson magic arrays appeared in the air.


    The intruder widen his eyes in surprise, "Uh oh~"


    "Die." With a snap of her fingers, Lava bullets poured out from the magic arrays, heading straight for the golden haired boy.


    With the lava bullets bearing down on him, the boy didn''t panic and only back away, but before he could take another step backwards the ground behind him had abnormally started to heat up.


    This time the nonchalant and complacent smile on his face finally wavered. Geysers erupted from behind him and lava bullets were heading towards his from the front. Seeing no way out, the boy could only brace himself to endure the devastating attack.


    Seeing the intruder being engulfed in her spells, Lucia scoffed and placed her hands on her h.i.p.s.


    After the bombardment subsided Lucia finally spoke out, "Don''t play dead. I limited the strength of my spells so that you won''t die."


    A light chuckle rang through the room. Once the steam and dust settled, Lucia was a little startled to see the unharmed boy emerge from the smoke.


    The golden haired intruder had 2 pairs of wings protruding out of his back and these wings were what protected him from Lucia''s spells. She could see that the intruder had enchanted defensive spells onto his wings and had successfully endured the magical bombardment.


    Although Lucia was somewhat surprised, she didn''t let her guard down and began preparing her next spell, only to stop when the intruder raised his hands once again in surrender.


    "Hey, let''s not be a little hasty okay? At least listen to what I have to say."


    "..."


    Seeing her stay silent, the winged intruder opened his mouth once again.


    "My name''s Zephyr Arks and I am the student council''s President."

 Chapter 77 - Magic Assessment, Second Segment 3

    Lucia narrowed her eyes after seeing her intruder''s introduction.


    "What do you want?" she said coldly.


    "Oh? Feel like talking now?"


    "..." Lucia''s response was a dense array of magic circles encircling the golden haired boy.


    "Calm down now, just let me finish speaking."


    "..."


    Seeing as how Lucia continued to remain silent while still having the magic circles threateningly hovering in the air; Zephyr could only shrug helplessly.


    "I''m here on behalf of the student council, and we''d like for you to jo¨C"


    "No thanks, get out."


    "A clear-cut rejection huh."


    "..."


    Zephyr continued to prattle on about the benefits of joining the student council, but was only met with Lucia''s silence to which he could only sigh at.


    "Well, now that you know the benefits, don''t you think it¨C"


    "Don''t care. Get out."


    "..."


    Lucia grew pissed at the president''s lack of response to her requests and she strengthened the might of her spells.


    The magic circles in the air began trembling and the air immediately grew hot.


    Zephyr only smiled at this and said.


    "You''ll know the benefits of joining a faction soon enough. If you change your mind by then, come find me. The Student Council will gladly welcome you with open arms."


    After saying his piece, Zephyr turned on his heel and sauntered out of the room.


    Lucia lowered her arm and dispersed the magic circles. Her mood was ruined and she had no desire to continue training.


    She meditated for a while before heading back to her dorm.


    It was the next day and the first year classes had once again gathered inside the stadium.


    After yesterday''s session, there only 20 pairs of students left that haven''t had their matches, 25 of them being from S class and the other 15 from the other classes.


    At the instructor''s behest the first 5 pairs quickly got up into the rings and immediately began their matches.


    To Cecil''s surprise, the first 5 pairs'' fighting style and methods had a complete change from yesterday''s slugfest.


    In fact, this was a change that happened from yesterday when the rankings had gradually made its way up into the 50-60 range.


    Cecil was impressed and began to seriously observe their combat methods.


    It wasn''t anything impressive and it was still crude, but at least the way they fought wasn''t as blind as the previous fights.


    Soon enough, the 5 ongoing matches had quickly wrapped up. The ones that used their brains and had a semblance of martial art mixed in with their actions were the ones that won.


    3 out of the 5 matches had lower ranked students defeating their higher ranked counterpart. It wasn''t that the higher ranked student was weaker; it was just that the combat prowess of the 3 pairs were so close to each other that in the end, the student who won was the student who prepared and sacrificed something in the fight.


    If this was a round robin tournament instead of an assessment, then Cecil could say for certain that the 3 lower ranked winners wouldn''t be able to continue with their matches and would have to forfeit in their next match.


    He wasn''t impressed with how they won since they had to sacrifice their bodies in order to mete out a close victory, but nevertheless, it just goes to show how tempting and how big of an offer it was for the students who got to enter the 3 floor of the academy''s library.


    Although he wasn''t impressed, Cecil had to give props to the 3 winners since in the end they still won.


    The next 5 pairs went up and the next pair had combat techniques that were much more refined than the previous five. It continued on until it was finally 10 o clock and finally, it was time for S class'' students to strut their stuff.


    The students in S class that were ranked 17-25 walked up to their rings, because of the odd number of students in their year being 209, the last ranked student in S class had to face against the ranked 26 student who was not part of S class.


    Not long after the instructors announced the start, spells arrays of all colors and forms began blossoming on the 5 rings.


    Each student from S class was magically and physically adept. Adrenaline inducing fights happened on all 5 rings, and the performances from all 5 pairs of students caused many of the instructors to nod their heads in approval while the students of all the other classes admitted that S class was in a league of their own.


    The 26-ranked student faired pretty well against S class'' ranked 25, but in the end it was the first match that was quickly settled.


    Cecil smiled brightly looking at how awesome the techniques his fellow classmates were using. It wasn''t just their magical techniques; even their combat techniques had him grinning in satisfaction.


    Cecil glanced towards Eli who was his first opponent. He was anticipating what kind of battle this golden haired girl was going to give him.


    Soon enough it was Ainz''s turn and unlike usual, he was very silent when he made his way to the ring.


    He was facing their 8th ranked student, Sor''ak Minur, a large red-skinned giant. He was a rare chaos giant, who was adept in fire and lightning magic. Although his combat rating was the same as Ainz, his unique lightning element was what placed him a rank ahead of Ainz.


    Once he made his way on to the ring, he focused himself and glared at his opponent. This side of Ainz surprised Cecil, but before he could mentally improve his impression of Ainz¨C


    "You should be honored to face me, Sor''ak!"


    "..." The giant only tilted his head in confusion at Ainz''s arrogant remark.


    "Know that you will lose, but don''t be ashamed. Since after all, you are facing the glorious ME!"


    "..." Cecil who was in the stands could only facepalm while shaking his head. Lucia who was next to him had ended up laughing uproariously after Ainz''s victory declaration.


    Fina was embarrassed and started burying her face into her chest, but her red ears told everyone that she was ashamed to call that boastful lizardkin down there her friend.


    Eli, to everyone''s surprise had only nodded her head, seemingly agreeing with Ainz''s statement.


    "Less talk! More fight small man!" With an annoyed battle cry, Sor''ak''s red muscular body began burning with orange flames. He dashed forward at an unbelievable speed contrary to his bulky size.


    Ainz wasn''t surprised. He calmly waved his wand and 8 magic circles of 4 different colors corresponding to their individual elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, quickly formed in the air in front of the charging giant.


    Cecil was surprised since he didn''t see Ainz chanting at all. He first thought that they were original spells, but when he took a closer look, he could see that Ainz''s lips were trembling very quickly.


    "...speed chanting?"


    "Ah, you noticed Cecil? You''re right about that, Ainz is speed chanting. He''s still not at the level of creating original spells, but his family''s technique "Hyper Chant" & "Parallel Incantation" helps with the speed of his spells activation." Eli explained after hearing Cecil mumble with uncertainty.


    "Oh! So it''s his clan''s technique! I see...that sure looks interesting!"


    "Of course, as a no¨C I mean, as someone who comes from the Bernstein clan this much at least is expected of him."


    "Are they a clan known for their magicians?"


    "Yes, they''re renowned for their magicians all being able to use the 4 basic elements and being very adept at using them."


    "Hoohh... I guess it wasn''t just Ainz being arrogant in learning all 4 elements then."


    "Of course, he has the skill the back up his arrogance! I can vouch for that since I''m his childhood friend!" Eli declared.


    Cecil turned his focus back to his roommate''s match.


    Sure enough, Ainz did indeed have the skills to back up his arrogance. After delaying his opponent''s charge with the 8 spells he conjured at the start of the match, he had already invoked a body enhancing spell that he used to move quickly around the battlefield.


    If this was a game, then Ainz was using the ''kiting'' strategy. While keeping his distance, Ainz had kept on firing spells of different elements at the large flaming giant.


    Ainz had refrained from using too many wind spells and opted on using more water and earth spells while he occasionally fired off a fire spell.


    Sor''ak wasn''t stupid and seeing as Ainz was leading him by the nose around the ring, he stopped in place and quickly chanted a lightning element spell.


    Ainz smirked seeing this, he casted multiple earth walls in front of him and began a long chant for an intermediate spell.


    Sor''ak saw the earth walls rise up in front of Ainz and without stopping his incantation; he dashed towards the walls of earth and began crushing them with his fists and the large hammer in his hands.


    When he finally crushed the last earth wall, his lightning spell''s incantation had also finished, he raised his hands to target Ainz, but he couldn''t see where his opponent was, he quickly looked around, but still couldn''t find Ainz.


    Just as he was about to take a step back, a large force had suddenly pushed against his back knocking him forwards.


    The impact of the spell only caused him to grunt in pain so he was able to quickly turn around, but to his astonishment, he saw a large 4 colored magic array appear in his line of vision with his opponent calmly standing behind it.


    "Rejoice! For you will now witness the grand technique of Bernstein family''s Flaming Winds Torrential Mountain Magus!"


    "RAHHHH!! Lightni¨C"


    "Quadra Element Flash!"

 Chapter 78 - Cecil vs. Elizabeth

    "..." Cecil was a little speechless at the result of Ainz''s battle.


    He did win, but the way he won was... unsightly. After his opening and ending speech that sounded more like a taunt, Ainz had volunteered to carry out his defeated opponent.


    Cecil himself was not sure whether Ainz was a gentlemanly prick, or was he a hypocrite. Normally, one''s mana element would have a major influence in determining what kind of person he or she would become.


    Most, if not all, fire element spell casters had fiery personality themselves. Take Lucia for an example, even Milly who they had partied together back at Forest Hill Town had a fiery and bossy personality when she was on the battlefield.


    Fina''s water element had caused her to be timid, shy and a little passive. Eli''s element of wind and fire had made her analytic, but at the same time determined and headstrong, but Ainz''s 4 elements... Cecil felt like Ainz was an enigma.


    His personality was literally chaotic. One second he would be polite, then the next he would be restrained and then all of a sudden he would act condescending and arrogant. Of course this was only a superstition that he heard a while back when he was in Magic City.


    It was based off a research of whether a person''s element was something that also determined their personality and traits. He thought that it was hubris since if that was so, then what kind of personality would he have if he was non-elemental?


    Cecil only laughed it off, but from the results of the research he was having an inclination to agree, especially when he heard about Lucia''s other personality. She was fiery, caring and passionate when they were together, but he''s heard from the guild and other acquaintances that Lucia would sometimes act cold, distant and uncaring if he wasn''t around.


    Now it happened again when he was observing his 3 new friends, he was further convinced when he saw how chaotic Ainz''s personality was.


    He snapped out of his thoughts when Ainz came back after delivering his fallen classmate into the stadium''s infirmary.


    "How was it? Awesome right? Now do you see how awesome I am?!" Ainz had his nose facing the sky and arrogantly asked for his friends to praise him.


    He turned an eye towards Lucia in particular since she said that she could defeat 10 of him if they had to fight in a match, but all he found was that the girl in question was clutching her stomach and leaning on Fina while laughing and pointing at him.


    "Pffftttt~ seriously, how can you be so shameless? Hahaha~ that victory speech, pfft, especially your ending speech, it was awful! The GLORIOUS ME! The Flaming Winds Tor¨C PFFTTT... hahahaha!"


    Lucia upon seeing his shameless act of wanting praise couldn''t help, but tease and mock the arrogant and shameless fellow.


    "Wha?! What''s wrong with that! I gave him a warning! AND! He should be honored to face ME THE Bernstein family''s Flaming Winds Torrential Mountain Magus!"


    "Pffft, there you go again! Haha~" Lucia seriously couldn''t stop laughing, even Cecil wanted to laugh, but he kept his mouth shut.


    If this was back on Earth, then it was safe to say that Ainz was suffering from 6th grade syndrome.


    Cecil could only smile wryly and say, "Ainz... I didn''t know you swung that way... but¨C"


    Cecil could only sigh and pat his roommate''s shoulder.


    The way Cecil put his words, it sounded like he was disappointed, but it puzzled Ainz and Fina since Cecil''s face didn''t have one trace of disappointment. Instead, all they saw was grief and helplessness.


    Even when Ainz wanted to retort, but seeing Cecil''s expression he could only swallow his words and look back at him questioningly.


    The most surprised however was Eli. Before the match ended, Cecil was praising Ainz''s use of spells and how great his technique and positioning was. At least, up until Ainz''s ending speech.


    Of course, Cecil didn''t have anything against chuunibyous, it''s just that his brother Gabriel was one and his elder twin Luca had to endure a whole lot of embarrassment when he was in school.


    It was also a part of Gabriel''s dark history and he very much regretted becoming one and he told Cecil that he should never, under any circ.u.mstances become a chuuni. It wasn''t Gabriel''s fault however since his grandfather and father had fed him lies of fighting against mystical monsters and celestial beings while in the end he would save the world from peril, all so that he would take up the mantle of inheriting their family''s tradition. In the end however, all it did was give others a way to exploit him.


    This was especially true when Gabriel, the smarter one of the twins, was exploited and forced to do his brother''s homework and chores after he recovered from being a chuuni, not mention sometimes even their eldest brother and sister would exploit him indiscreetly.


    "Ah, next is our turn... right Eli?" Cecil asked.


    "Oh, you''re right... let''s head on down then!"


    "GO ELI! BEAT CECIL INTO THE GROUND!"


    Hearing Lucia''s shout, Cecil snapped his head back towards her and displayed a look of betrayal.


    ''Do you want me to lose that bad?! Aren''t we supposed to be childhood friends?!''


    Lucia only stuck her tongue out seeing his expression.


    "Alright! Just wait for me to pummel him into the ground!" Elizabeth replied with a wave of her hand.


    "Oi, I''m right here!"


    Cecil seriously couldn''t believe these two. He was standing RIGHT THERE.


    ''If you want to pummel me, at least have the courtesy to not say it to my face!''


    After cheering on her friend, Lucia turned towards her best friend and cheered him on brightly.


    "Cel~ Do your best!"


    Cecil could only sigh, after telling her friend to pummel him, now she tells him to do his best. He could only nod in return.


    "Okay."


    "Don''t try too hard though!"


    "..." Cecil''s face blackened at her words.


    After cheering on her two friends, Lucia sat back down and mumbled softly, "If you try too hard, then Eli..."


    Cecil had made his way up to the ring. He could see that Eli was already waiting for him.


    "Okay, Cecil! As I promised to Lucia, I''m going to beat you into the ground!"


    "...you guys are pretty cruel."


    "Hmph! I won''t lose just so you know!"


    "...I don''t plan to either."


    She didn''t forget what Lucia had said to her and remembered to scrutinize every one of Cecil''s actions. If possible she should also take the initiative and make sure that the battle was going according to her pace and not Cecil''s.


    So before the match even began, Elizabeth was already on full alert. She had already pulled out her weapon, which was a rapier. The thin blade was red and it had golden runes etched on it.


    Cecil saw this and narrowed his eyes. He could see that the rapier was somewhat like Lucia''s Butterfly. It was a wand in the shape of a weapon. Taking another look at Eli''s form and posture, he could see that she was a seasoned warrior.


    With her weapon held at the ready, she was glaring straight at him.


    Cecil smirked and got into position, he had his body facing sideways relative to Eli''s position. His legs were spread out in a horse stance with one fist hidden from Eli''s view behind his waist while his other arm was stretched out in front of him.


    Eli was surprised seeing this, since she noticed that Cecil hadn''t bothered to take out his sword which he kept sheathed on the back of his waist, but she quickly focused her mind remembering Lucia''s advice.


    ''He''s not underestimating me, what could he be planning and that form, it''s... peculiar.''


    Eli was thinking as such. It wasn''t only her, but the rest of S class that was paying particular attention to their fight was also intrigued at Cecil''s combat form. It wasn''t like anything they''ve seen.


    Some were also bothered by the fact that Cecil had arrogantly not drawn his weapon and instead opted to fight the armed princess with only his bare fists.


    "How arrogant!"


    "Is he undermining the princess?"


    "This is THE princess we''re talking about! The youngest Sword Maiden!"


    "Cecil is ranked 2, he''s not that stupid. Maybe he... doesn''t need to? Or maybe he''s just playing mind games with the princess. I mean, she did falter a bit seeing Cecil not drawing his weapon."


    "Yeah, that has to be it! If not, then our ranked 2 is surely just playing arrogant here!"


    Lucia was listening to her classmates'' ramblings and couldn''t help but scoff at them.


    Fina was a little worried and she started nudging at Lucia.


    "What is it Fina?"


    "Uhm... is it really okay for Cecil to fight barehanded?"


    "... just watch."


    "But Lucia! That''s the Sword Maiden over there!"


    "Sword Maiden?"


    "It''s Elizabeth''s title. She''s also the youngest out of the 13 other Sword Maidens spread across Urrugdrasil..."


    "Oh... then have you heard of the Silent Sword?"


    "Silent Sword?" Fina tilted her head in confusion. Judging by her expression, Lucia deduced that she had no clue to what the title referred to. It wasn''t a surprise though since it was only an adventurer title.


    "...never mind."


    Lucia turned her attention back onto the ring. The instructor had finished observing the two''s preparations. He raised a hand in the air and swung it down.


    "BEGIN!"

 Chapter 79 - Cecil vs. Elizabeth 2

    Cecil quickly activated Mana Burst and kicked off the ground, dashing towards Eli. He hadn''t activated a full-powered mana burst so his movements were still visible to Eli''s and the audience''s eyes.


    Elizabeth had already got some information on Cecil''s combat style from Lucia so she had predicted that Cecil would dash towards her and engage in a melee.


    Elizabeth stabbed her rapier into the ground and multiple magic circles formed in the area in front of her. After doing so she dashed backwards and began chanting.


    After she quickly finished her chanting Eli waved her hand and quickly fired her spell at Cecil.


    "Blazing Sword!"


    A large flaming sword formed in front of Elizabeth and she directed the sword to shoot towards Cecil who had avoided her wind mine spells.


    The magic circles that formed in front of Cecil had prompted him to switch directions and take a roundabout way towards Eli only to be met with another obstruction in the form of a large flaming sword the size of a car shooting towards him.


    She immediately began conjuring more flaming swords and promptly firing them at Cecil all the while she began chanting another spell, but instead of an attack spell Eli had decided to use a body enhancing spell.


    This spell played a large part in her becoming the youngest ''Sword Maiden''.


    "Shukuchi! Overheat!"


    She had simultaneously used two intermediate ranked spells. Shukuchi which was a body enhancing spell, to enhance her speed and agility and Overheat, an enchantment spell, to add flames to her sword attacks.


    On Cecil''s side he had either evaded the flaming swords fired at him or he parried them with a wave of his mana covered hand. He had broken through Eli''s spells while still dashing towards the girl.


    After the flaming swords'' bombardment, Cecil was surprised to see Eli take the initiative to dash towards him and engage in close ranged combat.


    Cecil smirked and met her flaming rapier with his mana covered fists.


    Eli''s swordsmanship had consisted of multiple thrusts and slashes. With her body enhanced with Shukuchi, her thrusts and slashes were sent towards Cecil at blinding speeds. Eli had not forgotten to keep chanting and would occasionally send a fire bolt or flame lance towards Cecil.


    Cecil was constantly activating and deactivating Hyper-sensitivity and speeding up his thought process in order to anticipate Eli''s movements and predict where she would send her attacks.


    ''Throat, rib, chest, shoulder, chest, eye, waist, flame bolt left, wind sickle above, a sweep, stomach''


    Using Hyper-sensitivity this way enabled Cecil to fight at a leisure pace, he didn''t overexert himself and only used the right amount of force to parry or dodge Eli''s attacks.


    He didn''t forget to send a punch and jab while he was evading and parrying her moves. Eli was surprised seeing how accurate Cecil was able to evade and parry all her moves. Even while doing all that, he still had the room to send a few punches and kicks her way.


    ''M-monstrous... just like Lucia said he''d be!''


    She continued slashing and stabbing at him, the battle still flowed in her rhythm and she hadn''t seen Cecil use a spell yet. She had to keep the pressure up and make sure that Cecil had no time to cast a spell.


    "Kuh.... AHHHH!!!" With a spirited shout, Eli upped the speed of her attacks.


    She even started firing original spells at Cecil. Her originals were weak unlike Lucia''s originals, but it did serve as a headache for Cecil since he could no longer predict what spell Elizabeth would use since she stopped chanting.


    With only 30 percent of mana burst activated, he didn''t have the room to look around for the spell formations while dodging Eli''s accelerating attacks.


    ''Tsk... good for you Eli, you''ve actually forced me to use magic.''


    Cecil roused his mana and a mana bolt formed in his palm. Eli who was attacking at a blinding speed was still closely observing him, so the small golden ball that abruptly formed in his hands didn''t escape her vision.


    Eli widened her eyes and quickly started chanting. She slashed one last time at Cecil and kicked at him.


    Cecil saw the unexpected kick and quickly blocked it, Eli used him as a springboard and kicked off of him and flipped away from Cecil.


    Eli had shortened her chant and quickly put up a fire wall separating the two, but in the next instant a large hole was formed after she had landed. She had to throw her body to the right to avoid the mana bolt that was aimed at her.


    After tapping the ground lightly, she landed back on her feet and gazed back at Cecil who was still in the same posture when he had blocked her kick.


    "Heeh, nice reflexes" Cecil had a small grin on his face seeing Elizabeth dodge his unexpected attack.


    "..."


    Cecil got into his form again and raised a hand beckoning for Eli to come at her again. It was a light taunt, but Eli didn''t fall for it, remaining in her place while closely observing him hoping to find an opening.


    "...you sure you don''t want to come? If you''re not coming, then I will!" Cecil upped his mana burst to 50 percent and kicked off the ground. His speed was blindingly fast to Eli and everyone else. It seemed as though Cecil had disappeared from where he was standing. Eli could only trust her instincts and dash backwards in a hurry.


    It was a good move since when she finally saw Cecil reappear; he was already sending a fist slamming down at her previous spot.


    BOOOMMMM


    The arena quaked at Cecil''s attack and the ground ruptured at his punch.


    "Oops, sorry my bad, I got a little excited there." Cecil said with a smile. He lowered his mana burst back down to 30 percent and lightly said, "I''ll be attacking now."


    Eli began sweating inwardly. She couldn''t believe her eyes at the devastating effects of Cecil''s ''casual'' punch. She gulped and refocused her mind when Cecil lightly said that he would be attacking.


    Eli saw that Cecil was taking the same posture as before, she prepared herself for Cecil''s dash and began chanting a spell, but she had to quickly stop and dodge away from her spot when she saw Cecil not dashing towards her, but thrusting his hidden left arm at her.


    PWING BOOM


    "Heh. Take this!"


    PWING PWING PWING PWING PWING


    Cecil had started firing off mana bolts from both his palms, he even kicked up the debris from the ground he had ruptured with his fist and kicked them at Eli.


    ''Damn! So the punch wasn''t just to scare me!'' Eli inwardly cursed.


    Just like Lucia said, Cecil''s attacks all had a purpose behind it. He didn''t just crush the ground with overwhelming force to intimidate Eli, but he also did it to create large, ready to use projectiles that he could fire at her.


    Elizabeth could only use her rapier to slice the debris in half or use small spells to direct the flying debris away from her. She couldn''t stop moving however since Cecil was also firing mana bolts her way even while kicking large and small rocks at her.


    Now it was Eli''s turn to experience what it was like to dodge projectiles of varying sizes. Cecil wouldn''t hold a grudge, but payback was still payback.


    He fired off mana bolts and kicked the debris towards his friend. He wasn''t aiming them at Eli however.


    Cecil aimed to cut her off from evading any further so he was kicking the debris and arranging it to form obstructions in her path.


    "Checkmate Eli~" Cecil abruptly said playfully.


    "Oh noooo!" Lucia who was spectating abruptly cried. Fina who was seriously observing the fight next to her was startled. "What''s wrong Lucia?"


    "Eli lost!"


    "Huh?"


    "Look! Cecil''s surrounded her!"


    "What?" Fina quickly moved her gaze back to the ring and when she looked around, it was indeed as Lucia said. Their friend Elizabeth was surrounded. She was surrounded by the broken debris that Cecil had kicked towards her.


    "!"


    Back on the ring, Eli had widened her eyes in astonishment.


    ''How?!''


    She didn''t think any further however. Eli didn''t want to admit defeat even when she was trapped. So she decided to fight Cecil head-on. Just as she was about to turn towards Cecil and confront him, she saw that he was in the same posture only that both his hands were brought back to his waist.


    "KIN."


    SZZZT SZZT SZZZZT


    "RYU!"


    "What the?! CEL?!" Lucia who finally looked up and saw Cecil''s posture shot up from her seat in disbelief.


    SZZT SZZZZZZT


    "GI!!"


    "ELI RUN!!!" Lucia shouted at the top of her lungs.


    Elizabeth had also sensed the danger from Cecil''s technique and forgot the notion of confronting him. She instead turned to the side and started kicking off the debris, trying to get away from the encirclement and from Cecil''s attack.


    "HAAAAAA!!!"


    ''I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS!''


    The condensed mana bolt that was crackling in Cecil''s palms was fired at the debris that was trapping Elizabeth. Cecil himself knew that Eli could sense the danger from his technique and would take evasive actions.


    He also gave her time to dodge and deliberately charged up his Kinryugiha longer than what was needed. After making sure that Elizabeth was away, he finally fired off his mana wave.


    Unlike his usual mana wave, this time''s mana wave was condensed to a degree where even the sounds of crackling and buzzing rang in the air. When the condensed mana wave hit the area in the middle of the debris...


    BOOOOOOOMMMMMM


    A large explosion and a pillar of golden mana rose from the targeted area.


    The aftershocks of the attack had reached Elizabeth who was already far away from the area, the aftershock sent her tumbling further away and she could only stare back in a daze at the absurd attack.


    "What the... what the..." She could only mutter in disbelief.


    Lucia who was at the stands slumped down into her seat, "Phew..."


    Everyone was gazing at the beautiful, but deadly explosion and pillar of light that was caused by Cecil''s technique.


    Cecil was already regretting it since his attack had somewhat affected the other rings. It was a good thing that Cecil had dragged his fight on, testing Eli''s combat standards which made their fight the last match that was still ongoing in the arena. The other 4 matches had already finished and the participants were spectating Cecil and Elizabeth''s match on the side.


    After finishing his technique, Cecil dusted himself off and sauntered towards the dumbfounded Eli.


    "Are we continuing?"


    "Huh?" Eli snapped out of her daze hearing his question.


    "Are we continuing?" Cecil asked again.


    "N-no... I surrender..."


    "Okay!"


    With a bright smile he saw off the dazed Eli and turned his eyes towards Lucia who was slumped in her seat. Feeling his gaze, Lucia perked up and looked back at him.


    Cecil smiled and tilted his head, gesturing for her to come down.


    Seeing this Lucia''s eyes was lit ablaze.


    "HMPH!"


    She stomped her way down to the arena and passed by Eli who was a little downtrodden.


    "Eli!"


    "...Lucia."


    "I''ll get back at him for us!"


    Eli smiled and brightened up a bit. Then she said encouragingly.


    "Wipe that frustrating grin off his face for me Lucia!"


    "Yeah!"


    Lucia quickly made her way onto the ring and confronted Cecil.


    "I''m winning today and this''ll also be payback for Eli!"


    Cecil smiled and stayed silent. Then he turned around and walked off the ring.


    "HEY! Where are you going?!"


    "Uhm... Lucia..."


    "Huh?"


    Instructor Jin who would be acting as the referee for their match had spoken up from behind her.


    "Y-yes instructor?"


    "We still have to fix the stage, and we have to make it bigger since it''s a fight between you two. So... could you walk down from the ring first?"


    "Eh? AH! Sorry!" Lucia''s face reddened and she quickly ran down the ring. She ran up to Cecil and started bashing him when she saw him covering his mouth and holding back his laughter.


    "Idiot! IDIOT!"


    "Ouch, haha, sorry, haha! You just looked so serious so I didn''t wanna ruin your mood!"


    "IDIOT!"


    The bashing continued and so did the reparations of the arena.

 Chapter 80 - Cecil vs. Lucia

    With the arena finally repaired, Cecil and Lucia made their way up and stood about 30 meters away from each other.


    Cecil sported his usual dazed and leisurely look and Lucia was concentrating, glaring hard at the seemingly impassive Cecil.


    "Alright, the last match for our assessment. Rank 1 Lucia vs. Rank 2 Cecil!"


    A roaring applause erupted in the arena, and there seemed to be one to many people in the arena now.


    It was unknown when the other upper year classmen came to spectate, but it seems that they were already there when the first match of S class had started.


    The first year students were just so entranced with watching their fellow S class students'' matches that it slipped their mind when the audience had suddenly grew to an unbelievable size.


    Cecil and Lucia had tuned out everything else and were only focused on each other. The roaring applause was muffled out in their ears.


    Lucia finally opened her mouth after the long silence, "I''m taking you down Cel..."


    Cecil only smiled in response.


    Lucia pulled out her katana, Shirayuki, and positioned it in front of her. She then reached for her Butterfly and held it in her other hand. She was dual wielding and this caused the audience to look at her peculiarly


    "!"


    "Woah..."


    Then small exclamations rang through the audience. Lucia''s two weapons were not only unique, but they were also aesthetically pleasing and were the definition of beautiful.


    Fina, for one, was very surprised seeing Lucia''s main weapon. The slender long blade was different than what she imagined. It wasn''t a rapier, but a long, extremely thin and curved sword that only had one edge. It had a beautiful silver color with dark silver ''clouds'' or ''waves'' imprinted on the blade. There were also light azure colored runes flashing lightly on it. It was a beautiful weapon that had excellent and meticulous craftsmanship.


    "That sword... it was different than what I thought."


    "...I''ve never seen something like that before." Eli added.


    "Yeah, judging by her sheath, I thought it was a rapier at first."


    "Me too! But I have to say... that sword really is beautiful." Eli added wistfully.


    "That small dagger too, it''s like the smaller version of Lucia''s sword."


    The kodachi that Lucia held in her off-hand was designed just like her main weapon, the patterns were somewhat similar and so were the runes. The only difference was that the blade was not curved, but straight with one edge and it was entirely light green in color.


    Ainz was observing the two in the ring, then he said to the girls beside him, "Hey look. Cecil''s taking out his sword!"


    When they turned to look at Cecil, he was in the motion of unsheathing his weapon. When he pulled out his weapon, the sword''s sleek and sturdy, azure tinted blade that had light gold runes running along it, shone brightly.


    The meticulous craftsmanship shone completely and although it only looked like a plain broadsword with runes on it, the sharpness and mana that exuded from the weapon caused everyone to acknowledge that it wasn''t just any ordinary broadsword.


    Lucia smiled seeing Cecil pull out his weapon. "No warm up?"


    "I already had my warm up earlier."


    "...that''s mean."


    "Hehe, well..."


    "Never mind, let''s get this over with."


    It was a good thing that no one could hear what they were saying, because if Eli heard Cecil''s nonchalant and insensitive comment she would have broken down in tears. Her intense and serious fight that she put 100 percent of her effort into was only akin to a warm up for Cecil.


    "...I''m going full power from the start Lulu."


    "So am I!"


    "Good, then show me your progress." Cecil smiled and activated Mana Burst in full power.


    WOOOSSHH


    The air around Cecil immediately changed after he activated Mana Burst in Full Power. A faint golden aura had begun exuding from his body.


    Lucia herself also activated an original body enhancing spell that she created in imitation of Cecil''s mana burst. A faint dark red aura wrapped around her body.


    Cecil smiled seeing this, "So, you''ve perfected Elemental Burst?"


    "Almost, but for a serious fight with you Cel, I can''t afford to not use it."


    "Oh? Then, come!"


    Cecil got into his stance and waved a hand at Lucia, beckoning her to make her move.


    Immediately, the two fighters disappeared from their spots.


    CLANG!


    They appeared an instant later in the middle of the arena, blades clashing. Lucia was constantly slashing and stabbing at Cecil. She had incorporated all the martial arts that Cecil had taught her in her sword play.


    The beautiful strokes were aesthetically pleasing if she was showing off, but at her current speed the spectators only saw multiple flashes of light coming from Lucia that were accompanied with the sounds of blades clashing.


    For a moment, the two kept on flashing around the arena, trading blows with each other. However, neither of them was able to effectively hit their opponent.


    Lucia was the first to break away.


    She waved her kodachi and summoned multiple scarlet magic formations. She kept them levitating in the air and flashed in front of Cecil again. She kept on slashing and stabbing with her katana, and then she began using her kodachi in coordination with her katana.


    Cecil''s brow raised little in surprise. ''So she can dual wield more proficiently now.''


    Cecil was unintentionally smiling and this also caused Lucia to smirk as well.


    After Cecil parried a blow from Lucia he was just about to begin his counter attack, but then was forced to duck sensing a lava bolt heading his way.


    He had already paid mind to the magic formations that were idling around in the air and was already wary of when Lucia was going to fire it. He had planned to use that moment when Lucia jumped back to get out of range from her spells'' bombardment to commence his attack and end put her on the back foot, but he was forced to dodge out of the way.


    Seeing him dodge, Lucia sent a sweeping kick his way while slashing her kodachi at his face, along with the slash another lava bolt was fired at Cecil.


    "!"


    ''This girl! AHAHA!''


    For the first time in a while, Cecil''s expression had changed from his dull gaze to an astonished and cheerful one.


    He parried Lucia''s Butterfly that was aimed at his face and twisted his body and cut apart the 2 lava bolts that were aimed at his back. His twist put his body in a rotation and he sent a fist towards Lucia''s face, but was forced to retract his hand when he saw a lava bolt heading towards his own face.


    "HAHA!" Cecil fired his own mana bolt at the lava bolt and dispersed Lucia''s magic.


    Lucia didn''t let up and followed up with an underhand cut with her katana towards Cecil''s body. Cecil reacted quickly to this and quickly slapped his hand on Lucia''s shoulder. He used the momentum to push his body forward.


    The slap on her shoulder caused Lucia''s body to tilt which resulted in her missing her slash. If she didn''t falter earlier, then it would have at least resulted in Cecil''s leg being cut.


    Lucia clicked her tongue and waved her Butterfly.


    Cecil was just about to turn around when he saw from the corner of his eyes the multiple lava bolts flying towards him.


    Cecil jumped back, twisted his body and somersaulted his way out of the bombardment.


    Seeing him come out unscathed from the array of lava bolts caused the audience the gasp in awe and cheer loudly.


    Just when he landed and balanced himself, Cecil was surprised to see Lucia''s Shirayuki slashing down at his face. Cecil raised his sword and blocked the katana, but suddenly felt an impact on his stomach.


    Lucia had followed up with a kick to his stomach, launching him away. She immediately fired more lava bolts at Cecil.


    Cecil was in the air and he was smiling. He twisted his body in the air and began cutting up the lava bolts flying towards. He quickly landed back on his feet and raised a hand towards Lucia.


    He saw that Lucia was already dashing towards him so Cecil jumped back and sent a mana volley towards Lucia.


    "HYAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" With a spirited cry Lucia started quickly cutting up the bolts of mana flying towards her.


    She knew that they had a homing function and didn''t bother to evade, she had 3 weapons at her disposal so she made good use of them.


    She had the katana in her right hand, the kodachi in her left, and the array of magic spells that were floating behind her.


    With her coordination of spells and attacks she had successfully nullified Cecil''s mana volley, but right when she was about to dash towards him again, she found that her target was no longer in the distance ahead of her.


    Cecil had already flashed in front of Lucia and was already sending a slash towards her body. Lucia smirked seeing this and raised her tails in front of her.


    CLANG!


    "WHAT?!" Cecil exclaimed, but that was all he could do, he couldn''t do a follow up attack since Lucia used the momentum from his attack to back off.


    Cecil couldn''t pursue her and had to evade since the lava bolts surrounding Lucia were already heading his way.


    "Tsk"


    "BLOOM!"


    With Lucia''s shout a crimson magic formation formed under Cecil''s feet and immediately, a lotus-shaped flame blossomed into existence.


    It was Lucia''s original magic, Erupting Lotus.


    The audience was already on the edge of their seats seeing this high-end fight. The Headmaster was also smiling brightly seeing the fight. From the blossoming lotus he tried to look for the silhouette that was supposed to be enduring the searing flames, but then he looked towards the air a couple of meters above the blossoming flower of flames.


    "LAVA STORM!"


    In the air above the flaming lotus, another large magic formation had formed and then waves and waves of lava bolts rained down towards the ground.


    Lucia had predicted that Cecil would dodge upwards and had prepared a Lava Storm just above the Erupting Lotus.


    Sure enough, she could finally see Cecil''s body dodging in between the storm of Lava bolts.


    "HYA!"


    Lucia kicked off the ground and sent her body flying into the air towards Cecil and her lava storm.


    She waved her kodachi and immediately the lava bolts halted in mid-air and started aiming towards Cecil.


    "..." Cecil was quiet, seeing the determined girl flying towards him. The girl''s katana was already blossoming in flames and she was directing a slash towards him who was in the air.


    Cecil smiled gently. He was thoroughly pleased with Lucia''s progress. This was the first time that she went all out in a fight with him and he was both happy and in shock.


    It surprised him at how fast Lucia''s battle sense and combat prowess had progressed when they had only trained for a little less than half a year.


    She was a genius, not only in magic, but also in martial arts and combat.


    He chuckled softly and directed a sharp gaze at Lucia who was flying towards him and mumbled, "Come at me, Lulu."

 Chapter 81 - I win...

    Lucia was flying towards Cecil who was in the air, she had already enchanted her weapon and wrapped it in flames. She was determined to take down Cecil and it was the first time that she had pulled out all stops.


    Of course, like Cecil suggested, she still kept a couple of techniques a secret. Such as her Core Release and her other high-tiered spells.


    "TAKE THIS!!!"


    Lucia had already arrived in front of Cecil and she slashed her katana at him. She also clutched her other hand that was holding her kodachi and the lava bolts that were in stasis around her and Cecil blossomed to life and began shooting towards them.


    She wasn''t like Cecil who could attach a homing function on all his spell bolts, but Lucia had already donned a layer of glacial armor around her. She was certain that her spell would be able to block all the lava bolts that would hit her.


    She also conjured an ice field spell in the surroundings, this way she could cool down the lava bolts and when they cooled down into rocks it could cause Cecil some form of physical damage if he dared to take even one bolt of lava with his body.


    She was safe since her glacial armor spell was used to protect against physical attacks anyway. Earth lances and cool downed lava bolts counted as physical attack due to their physical nature.


    Cecil also sensed the abrupt drop in temperature and smirked. He didn''t bother dodging the lava bolts and Lucia''s attack.


    "HA!" With a shout, a wave of mana was emitted from his body in a spherical fashion with him as the epicenter.


    The mana wave pushed back Lucia and caused all the lava bolts that were fired at him to crumble.


    Lucia was falling towards the ground with a grimace, but then her eyes sharpened and became determined. She quickly sheathed her Butterfly and gripped her Shirayuki with both hands.


    The blade was still enflamed and Lucia started rousing more of her mana and injected it into her katana, causing a red aura to wrap around her blade while the flames raged out in response.


    A flaming mana storm was rotating on her katana and she waved her katana at Cecil who was looking at her in astonishment.


    "HAAA!!"


    It looked just like Cecil''s Mana Wave if he used it with his sword, but instead of a golden aura, Lucia''s version of ''Mana Wave'' was a scarlet flaming aura.


    ''She even copied that?!''


    The scarlet aura finally arrived at where he was and Cecil could only raise his sword to block it, but even then he was still hit squarely in the chest. It was already hard for him to move in the air and when he used his Mana Explosion, it caused a short momentary lapse where his mana couldn''t be roused.


    That momentary lapse was all it took to land a square hit on Cecil.


    "NICE! GOOD ONE LUCIA!" Eli shouted out in high spirits while pumping her fists in the air. It was SO satisfying for her to see Cecil take a square hit to his body.


    "...aren''t you being a little too cruel, princess?" Ainz said exasperatedly. Even if she was still spiteful from the previous loss, Cecil was still their friend.


    "HAAHHH, that felt sooo good!" Eli let out a refreshing breath.


    "..." Fina was observing the fight intently, but even after taking that attack from Lucia, she didn''t see Cecil''s body falling to the ground or move from the epicenter of the explosion.


    Lucia flipped in the air and landed back on the ground. She stabbed her katana into the ground and fell down on one knee, gasping in exhaustion.


    Her consecutive use of spells had almost drained her mana point of mana. She had to deactivate her Elemental Burst ¨C Fire since she was almost out of mana.


    She was extremely spent and she hoped that her last attack would have at least knocked Cecil out, but she knew that it was only wishful thinking since she only saw him taking her attack and not falling down from the sky.


    "*gasp*... guh... *gasp* he''s still not down... *gasp*"


    Indeed. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, Cecil was still floating up there in the sky.


    He was faintly smiling down at the girl who was now gasping in exhaustion. He still looked unruffled even after taking the attack.


    Lucia looked up and helplessly smiled. She stood up again and roused her mana.


    WOOOSSSHH


    A red aura had once again surrounded her.


    Although she knew that it was hopeless for her to win, Lucia didn''t want to just admit defeat without fighting until she couldn''t fight anymore. As long as she could still point her sword at her opponent she wouldn''t admit defeat.


    Cecil had gently landed back down on the ground, but this time the audience was silent. Although they couldn''t believe with their eyes that Cecil had somehow taken that devastating attack and come out unharmed, they couldn''t say anything when they saw the determined fox girl point her blade at the boy who was unruffled from her previous all-out attack.


    "Huuuu... here I come." Lucia breathed out and lightly said, her eyes flashing with a determined light.


    "Mhm."


    Lucia kicked off from the ground and engaged Cecil in a melee.


    CLANG CLANG WOOSH CLANG


    The two on the stage only fought with their swords and refrained from using any spells. Not long after, Lucia faltered and the red aura that was wrapping around her body vanished.


    She finally used the last drop of mana in her and could only continue fighting without it. She hadn''t fully zeroed out her mana, but the mana needed to activate Elemental Burst was no longer sufficient to sustain its activation so it automatically turned off.


    CLANG CLANG


    Even then, Lucia didn''t let up and continued fighting. Her swordplay was just as strong as when she started fighting. It was precise, sharp, and elegant. Even with Elemental Burst not active, the audience could still only see flashes of light from her swordplay.


    The only time they would see Lucia''s katana was when she had to block a strike from Cecil.


    Cecil himself didn''t let up and continued using only his swordsmanship to fight against Lucia. He even deactivated Mana Burst so that Lucia could keep up with him.


    The two''s swordsmanship had awed the crowd and they could only spectate in silence at the two who were performing a sword dance in the arena. No, it wasn''t a sword dance¨C it was a storm of swords.


    Eventually Lucia made a mistake since she was exhausted and Cecil flicked her weapon out of her hands.


    Lucia didn''t stop however. After Cecil flicked the katana out of her hand, she followed up with a sharp jab to his stomach. The strike was unexpected since Cecil thought that she would most likely give up after having her weapon disarmed.


    He didn''t have Mana Burst active so it was painful since it was a full powered punch coming from Lucia, he bent his body forward at the impact and Lucia used this chance to grab onto the hand that was holding his weapon and twisted it.


    CLANG


    The twist caused Cecil to let go of his sword and Lucia followed it up with a shoulder throw.


    ''Really?!''


    BANG


    *gasp* *gasp* *gasp*


    "I... I win..."


    "...haha, yeah. Good job Lulu." Cecil smiled looking up at the girl that had knocked him down.


    "Yaaaayyy~" Lucia exhaustingly cheered.


    After that, Lucia collapsed on top of him.


    "Phew." Cecil sighed helplessly and scratched his head. He raised his body and picked up the unconscious Lucia in a princess carry and started to walk down from the ring.


    Before Cecil walked down the ring, he extended his hand behind him while cradling Lucia in one arm. He channeled his mana, and then Lucia''s katana and his sword flew into his hand.


    "Instructor! I give up! Lucia won this one." Cecil plainly said before he sauntered off towards the stadium''s infirmary.


    The dumbfounded Instructor who hadn''t even said a word after the introductions could only nod his head in a daze. He hadn''t even given the signal to start, but the two fighters had already begun fighting and after a quick bout, the fight was already over.


    Instructor Jin could only dazedly stand there and say dispiritedly, "I didn''t even start the match yet."

 Chapter 82 - Declaration

    Not long after Cecil brought Lucia into the infirmary, Eli, Fina, and Ainz rushed in frantically.


    "How is she?" Fina asked, casting a worried look at her unconscious friend.


    "She''s okay. Lucia''s only exhausted a fair bit of her mana."


    "...the instructor said that its okay for you two to return after Lucia becomes conscious again. The ending announcement was postponed until tomorrow since the arena was... well, you know." Ainz said.


    "Okay."


    Cecil leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes, but then he felt a scorching gaze locked onto him.


    When he opened his eyes he saw Eli staring back at him.


    "...something wrong?"


    "...nothing."


    Cecil only looked back questioningly at her. After a brief moment, he shrugged and went back to meditate. Eli also turned away and walked back out the door after checking her friend''s condition.


    ''He was clearly the winner but...''


    Eli couldn''t keep her mind off of the results. No matter how she looked at it, Cecil won by a landslide. There was no reason for him to go at Lucia''s pace so if he kept up with the same intensity as he did when they first started the match... then Cecil would have won.


    ''Cecil''s like that only because it''s Lucia...''


    Eli could only conclude as such, but she could not be more wrong. Cecil did so out of respect for Lucia''s determination. Others couldn''t comprehend this and would only think that Cecil did it out of pity or affection.


    It wasn''t a life or death battle anyway and the result wouldn''t affect him or Lucia in any way. So Cecil kept pace with her to determine and test her growth. From the results, Lucia passed with flying colors and Cecil was very much satisfied with the outcome.


    Lucia understood this as well. She knew that Cecil was testing her at the start of the match and no longer cared about the result, only the process. In the end, she won with Cecil voluntarily forfeiting, but on the bright side at least now she finally had a single win under her belt against Cecil and that''s all that mattered to her.


    Ainz and Fina exited from the room after confirming Lucia''s condition. They would go out and get some lunch for the two.


    Back in the room, Cecil was meditating and circulating his mana, but he couldn''t stop thinking about the outcome of their match. Thinking about Lucia''s progress brought a smile to his face, but it also caused him to frown.


    ''Crap, now that I think about it. The two of us almost went all out against each other... yesterday I just talked about conserving our strength and laying low instead and now we do this.''


    ''Hypocrite'', that''s what he labeled himself. All the talk about yesterday''s not wanting praise and such was thrown out the window the moment Cecil and Lucia''s fight began.


    There were still plenty of techniques that they didn''t reveal to the spectators, but just from what they exposed in their fight, it was enough for them to be the hot topic of discussion around campus for the next period of time.


    ''How to resolve this... I''m expecting that by tomorrow the factions will probably begin making their move¨C heck, they might have already begun even¨C but our battle... should serve enough of a declaration to our standing... I hope.''


    Cecil could only sigh in worry. He really didn''t like the sound of joining a faction. Just thinking about the responsibilities he would have to shoulder gave him a headache. He hoped that their battle would serve as a clear-cut rejection to all the factions'' eventual invitations.


    ''I just wanna train in peace...''


    It''s what they came to do in the academy. If complications such as factions got in their way of training then it would have been better to just continue on as adventurers and train by themselves in the wild.


    Cecil sighed and looked at the girl who was sleeping in the bed. He grasped her hand and began stimulating the mana in the air using his mana eyes.


    Elsewhere around campus, the leaders of each faction were currently reading a report and watching a video on their MID containing the first years'' magic combat assessment.


    In particular, the videos were centered on the first years'' S class. Especially the video of Lucia and Cecil''s fight.


    "What a spectacular fight!" Friedrich exclaimed, "These two have completely surpassed the standards a first year should have. They''re completely in a league of their own compared to the rest."


    On a large screen inside the Royal Fox Faction''s meeting room was a video displaying Cecil''s and Lucia''s fight.


    "Ohoho, I didn''t think your cousin would be this strong princess!" the fox girl, Delia said airily.


    "..."


    Aurellia Aurielle could only remain silent and stayed focus on watching the video. When it finally ended, she sighed helplessly.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "...don''t you think this is a declaration?"


    "What is?" Friedrich asked.


    "This video, you idiot!" Aurellia snapped back in annoyance.


    "What''s that you wench?" Friedrich flared back in anger.


    "Now calm down Fried boy~ listen to what Aurel has to say, though I do agree with her. This is a declaration."


    "Tsk... so what''s this about a ''declaration''?"


    "...Lucia''s telling us and all the factions that she doesn''t need us."


    "...What?"


    "Just look at her. With those abilities she wouldn''t need a faction. Not to mention she partnered up with someone who''s even stronger than her."


    "..."


    "Those two are going down the path of Kings~" Delia added.


    This caused Aurellia to groan and Friedrich to frown.


    "So you''re saying we have no hopes in attracting those two into our faction?" Friedrich voiced out. His tone had a clear tinge of annoyance.


    "Basically..."


    "Haha... fools. Arrogant fools. Do they think that just relying on their puny abilities they can rival a faction''s power? Do they really think that the path of Kings is so easy to tread?"


    "...Friedrich, lay off. You know for a fact that those two are also still concealing their abilities. Especially that Cecil, the kid wasn''t ruffled at all from Lucia''s all-out attack near the end."


    "Don''t forget~ Lucia''s supposed to be in the mana core stage, but don''t you think that she only used up enough mana that only a mana sea stage expert would have~?"


    This caused Aurellia to widen her eyes in surprise. She nearly missed this important detail.


    "Those two... they really aren''t simple at all... at least we could still befriend them. Just make sure not to provoke them and get on their bad side. That goes for you especially! Friedrich!"


    "Tch, lay off bitch. I don''t need to answer to your orders." With a snort, Friedrich got up and walked out of the conference room.


    "... Quri."


    "YES MA''AM?" Quri''el who was silent since the start of the meeting, stood up ramrod straight when Aurellia called out to him.


    "Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn''t do anything stupid."


    "YES MA''AM!" After confirming her command, Quri''el sank into the floor and disappeared from his spot.


    "Now... how will the others respond..." Aurellia leaned back into her chair and rested her head on her palm. She looked up and saw Delia smiling at her. "Del, relay my orders to the faction. Make sure we don''t provoke those two. Try to get a friendly relation going on with them."


    "Okay Aurel~" After receiving her order, Delia floated and bounced out of the room.


    "Hehe... the ones with the biggest headache ought to be that stupid and condescending student council... hehe." Aurellia chuckled mockingly.


    Indeed, just as she predicted. The atmosphere in the student council''s conference room was heavy after watching the videos of the first years'' magic combat assessment..


    "...so what are we going to do president?" Alex said, clearly annoyed.


    President Zephyr remained silent while rhythmically tapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair.


    "Looks like we can only abandon those two... but take measures and make sure that they can''t interfere with our plans."


    "...are you sure about that pres?"


    "Why Alex? Do you find it unfortunate?"


    "Of course man! I mean two talents like that... phew, they could aid us greatly you know!"


    "...chess pieces that can''t be controlled are of no use to us on the chessboard."


    Alex shrugged while shaking his head in regret.


    "So what should we do then Zephyr?" asked a black scaled lizardkin who was seated at the right side of the table.


    "How about taking away some of the resources provided to them?"


    "Idiot, then that will affect the other students of their year!"


    "We can''t do much since they''re in S class, but we could obstruct those two in the upcoming tournament stages."


    "It''s not we ''could'', it''s we ''must''!" the black scaled lizardkin emphasized.


    Zephyr who had remained silent finally spoke up.


    "It''s just like Eric said."


    Eric was the black-scaled lizardkin who first spoke up. Zephyr stood up to walk out of the room.


    "Make preparation for recruitment. Remember those two aren''t the only outstanding ones in this group of first years!"


    "YES, PRESIDENT!" The rest stood up and saluted.


    Alex was still sitting down with his feet on top of the table, he smiled carelessly and thought.


    ''They indeed aren''t the only outstanding ones, but those two are the only special ones.''


    Alex turned his gaze towards the large MID hanging in the room. Seeing the battle video replay made him smirk playfully. A peculiar glint flashed across his eyes upon seeing Lucia''s splendid display of swordsmanship.


    He too stood up and walked cheerfully out of the room.

 Chapter 83 - Ouch

    When Lucia woke up she found Cecil sitting by her bedside meditating silently. She felt lethargic, but even then she still tried to sit up.


    Cecil was roused from his meditation at Lucia''s movements. He opened his eyes and saw the stubborn girl trying to get up from her bed. He quickly got up and helped her up.


    "Hey, how are you feeling Lulu?"


    "Uhm... drained. I guess..." Lucia said sluggishly.


    "You did use up almost all your mana..."


    Lucia groaned feeling the headache coming. She held her head with a grimace.


    Cecil saw this and felt pained seeing her pitiful expression.


    "You should have just released one of your cores, Lulu..."


    "Huh? No way, not after how you told me off yesterday! Ouch, owwie~" She protested, but soon held her head again in pain when a piercing pain assaulted her head.


    "..."


    Cecil had no retort for that. He was now slightly regretting telling Lucia to hide a partial amount of her powers after seeing the pitiful state that she was in.


    She was like this because she upheld her promise to him. After the pain subsided, Lucia quietly said.


    "Well... not like it matters anyway... now that I look at it Cel... wasn''t our battle... a little too... eye-catching?"


    "...I''m not gonna lie, our battle was indeed a little too conspicuous. Everyone now knows of our abilities. I told you that we''re far ahead of them, but we could have done that in moderation..."


    "It''s your fault for saying you''re going all out at the start! Ouch..."


    Cecil covered his hands in mana and began massaging Lucia''s head to help her relieve the pain. After a brief moment, Lucia''s pained expression quickly faded away like a lie and was replaced with a blissful one.


    "Thanks Cel~"


    "...don''t yell so much." Cecil said in exasperation.


    After resting for another 30 minutes, Cecil gave Lucia a piggyback ride out of the infirmary. Even though he wanted her to rest a bit more, Lucia kept complaining that it was stuffy inside the there.


    Lucia wanted to head back to her dorm to rest so without any other choice, Cecil was forced to carry her out of the infirmary.


    When they got out of the infirmary, Lucia had unwittingly fallen asleep on his back.


    ''Don''t force yourself awake if you can''t keep your eyes open Lulu..."


    Cecil had the urge to just throw her back onto the infirmary''s bed. It was only an urge though, since if he did so. Then the sleeping tigress would most likely chew him out later when she woke up again.


    Cecil was walking down the corridor with Lucia sleeping on his back when they bumped into a group of upperclassmen.


    Cecil bowed and stepped to the side to keep walking forward, only to be stopped by one of the upperclassmen who moved in his way.


    "...do you need something, senior?" Cecil asked with his usual deadpanned face.


    The person who blocked him was a male foxkin upperclassman, Cecil wasn''t able to determine what year he was in, but the foxkin didn''t respond to his question and only turned towards the person that Cecil almost bumped into.


    That person was an orange haired foxkin who had an air of flamboyance. Not only was the air around him flamboyant, so was his attire.


    "You''re the 2nd ranked Cecil aren''t you? And I take it that the person you''re carrying is the 1st ranked Lucia?"


    "Yes."


    "Good, come with me."


    After saying so, he continued walking forward.


    "No."


    That short reply was enough to make the flamboyant foxkin to stop. He turned around with irritation dyeing his voice and said, "What did you say?"


    "I''m taking Lucia back to her dorm. So please excuse me since I can''t follow you, senior."


    After saying his piece, Cecil politely bowed and walked past the foxkin who had first blocked his way. He was too stunned to try and block Cecil again since this was the first time that he heard someone reject his boss'' invitation.


    "HALT!"


    Cecil paused in his steps and asked, "Is there still something, senior?"


    "You... did you just not hear what I said?"


    "Yes, senior I did. But it''s unfortunate since I can''t go with you right now."


    "Well, I''m not ASKING! I''m ORDERING you to come with me!"


    Immediately after the gaudy senior said his piece, his underlings bypassed Cecil and blocked his way forward.


    "Kid, it''s best if you listen to our boss. You don''t want to cross us and our boss, Friedrich."


    "..."


    Cecil remained unmoved and his expression was still blank as usual.


    ''SO this is what those young masters act like! Oh gosh, I''m actually in a scenario straight out of a novel! COOL!''


    Thinking as such caused Cecil to smile a little, but this small change in his expression was seen as a mocking smile to the flamboyant senior.


    Seeing Cecil''s smile that seemed mocking, Friedrich''s temper immediately flared. He was about to shout to his underlings to capture and detain the ignorant junior, but was forced to swallow his words.


    FWIP


    That was all he heard. When he looked around in the corridor, the target of his rage was nowhere to be found.


    "W-where did that brat go?!" He screamed at his underlings.


    They were similarly confused since they too saw that one second Cecil was still standing there in the corridor surrounded by them, then in the next second it was like he blinked out of existence.


    "FIND HIM YOU FOOLS! How- HOW DARE HE MOCK ME!" Friedrich yelled in rage.


    Cecil heard his scream just as he turned at the corridors intersection, he could finally see the exit and calmly walked out of the stadium.


    ''Yikes, didn''t think it''d be like in the novels, haha~''


    "Man, that was mean of you Lulu~"


    "What''re you talking about Cel~?"


    "Pfft, no need to act coy Lulu, that illusion magic was too funny."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about~ I only got rid of a bunch of flies ruining my beauty sleep."


    "Sleep? I''m not your bed y''know..."


    "You are now! Muhnyah~" Lucia snuggled closer to Cecil and dozed off.


    "..." Cecil shrugged and walked towards the girls'' dormitory.


    Earlier when they bumped into Friedrich and his gang, Lucia was startled awake when Friedrich had begun yelling at Cecil. She was naturally pissed off at the bug who disturbed her sleep and dared to yell at her Cecil, so she silently casted an illusion magic array on the corridor and told Cecil to keep on walking.


    Cecil complied and was surprised to see the senior classmen and his gang just stand there staring blankly into space, he immediately caught on and figured that Lucia had casted an illusion magic on them.


    "WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"


    Cecil was startled from his thoughts and turned back to look at the stadium. Even from outside he could clearly hear the excited cheers of the people inside.


    "What''s up? Wasn''t our match the last one?" Cecil mumbled.


    He shrugged and continued on his way to Lucia''s dorm.


    "Ah, I hope I bump into Ainz and Fina... they were supposed to get lunch for us¨C"


    "Cecil?!"


    ''Speak of the devil.''


    Fina who was a distance away had recognized Cecil immediately and called out to him, Cecil stopped and waited for the girl and Ainz to come up to him.


    "Hey! Shouldn''t you be by Lucia''s¨C oh, there she is." Ainz said with a strange look.


    "I''m heading back to her dorm, let''s go."


    "Oka¨C wait!"


    "Yeah, Fina?"


    "Lucia should be resting!"


    "She is resting."


    "Sleeping on your back doesn''t count!" She yelled back in protest.


    "Well, it''s not what I want... Lucia was the one who insisted. She said that the infirmary was too stuffy so she wanted to get rest in her room."


    "...fine, let''s go then. But hurry, mana depletion may not be anything serious but..."


    "Hehe, thanks for worrying Fina, like you said, let''s hurry!"


    Cecil started jogging towards the girls'' dorm, but he made sure to keep his strides and posture steady so that he wouldn''t disturb the sleeping fox on his back.


    *YAWN*


    "Crap, now I''m tired too..."

 Chapter 84 - Here we go again

    "Ugh..." Cecil was currently in class and he was groaning in annoyance.


    It was the next day and Cecil had to attend class. School was a curiosity for him so he very much looked forward to everyday he spent in class. However today was different. It was a first for Cecil and he, himself, thought it was unthinkable for him, but right now he only had thoughts of running away from class.


    Why? This was because the rest of his classmates were all enthusiastically trying to crowd around Lucia and him.


    Cecil had to thank Lucia since she was, in a way, blocking the crowd of people flocking towards him.


    Lucia had fully recovered from her mana deficiency and earlier when they walked into the class their classmates had started crowding around them immediately and began expressing their admiration to yesterday''s battle.


    Some raised the question on how they were able to get so strong, to which Lucia answered simply, "We trained real hard."


    Then the questions barreled down from there. The first question led to a second, the second led to a third and so on.


    Questions like, how did they train? How did they cultivate their mana? What combat style did they use in yesterday''s match? What techniques and spells did Lucia use? How many original spells did she create? How did Cecil come out unharmed from Lucia''s all-out attack? What was the aura that wrapped around their bodies during the fight?


    Other such questions were asked and this caused Cecil to become annoyed even though he wasn''t the one answering them.


    It gave Cecil a headache so he grabbed Lucia and flashed to his seat and he was now cowering behind her in silence while fiddling with his MID.


    ''Annoying...''


    Lucia was patiently answering their questions to the best of her abilities right now. Cecil had to give her praise at how well she got along with other people and how patient she was.


    Although it was annoying, but on the bright side however, their classmates no longer avoided their small clique anymore. This was something Cecil welcomed, but the current overenthusiasm that his classmates had was unsettling for him.


    ''Where is the instructor when you need him?'' Cecil inwardly complained.


    "Lucia, that aura and mana technique, what exactly was that?" a curious harpy girl asked. The girl was called Aery Fenix and she was ranked 15th in class.


    "Oh that..." It was a question that Lucia kept on avoiding to answer. Before, another student would just ask a different question to which Lucia would immediately answer and avoid the aforementioned question.


    But now, with her answering all the other inquiries, only this question remained unanswered and the enthusiastic class was now waiting for her to give them an answer.


    "Uh... that''s Cecil''s technique! I learned it from him so you should ask him instead!" Lucia dodged the bullet and passed the baton over to Cecil.


    Cecil who was fiddling with his MID looked up to see that multiple curious eyes were gazing back at him.


    "..." Cecil was thinking on how to reply, but was quickly saved from the effort when Instructor Jin abruptly dashed into the class in high spirits.


    "GOOOOD MOOORRRNNIIIINNNGGG YOUNGSTERS!!!"


    Everyone quickly scrambled back to their seats and greeted the instructor.


    "GOOD MORNING INSTRUCTOR!"


    "Good! Haha, you kids. Seriously, you have given me a lot of face! WAHAHAHA!"


    After motioning for the class to sit down, instructor Jin continued.


    "I''m very pleased with all of your test results! Now, it''s time for morning announcements!"


    Instructor Jin began giving some general info about the school''s news, activities and that classes would finally start today. After the general announcement, it was finally time for the test result announcements.


    "Okay! Yesterday''s results were beyond satisfactory for our class! But, nevertheless there are some of you who have gone above and beyond! And that means there will be rewards due!"


    The students who won their match yesterday immediately became excited.


    "For the winners, the headmaster has given you permission to go to the academy''s library to pick a combat technique, magic spell, or mana cultivation manual! You can only pick one and you may freely choose one from the 1st to 4th floor of the library!"


    The winners in class immediately cheered, the losers however could only sigh in disappointment at the missed opportunity.


    "Now, now. Let me finish first, alright?!"


    The class immediately calmed down at the instructor''s words.


    "For the losers, don''t worry. The headmaster has agreed to give everyone a chance to choose a technique, spell, or manual from the 1st or 2nd floor of the library! Now, remember this, the techniques may have different grades and it goes without saying that the higher the grade, the stronger it is! But, keep this in mind. The stronger it is the more difficult it is to cultivate it! So pick a technique, spell, or manual that is compatible with you, don''t bite off more than you can chew! Now everyone, get up! We''re heading to the library!!"


    The class immediately erupted into a cheer and they followed the instructor out of the class room.


    At the back of the group, Cecil and his clique were currently discussing on what kind of technique they wanted to get.


    "What''re you getting Lucia?" Fina asked.


    "Dunno... I''ll wait and see if there are any good spells or techniques I want."


    "Why not choose a manual? Oh wait, I almost forgot you''re at the mana core stage."


    "Well, even if I wasn''t in the core stage, I''d still not choose a manual. My family has a traditional manual that we use and it''s something passed down in the family so I won''t consider changing my training method~"


    "Oh! So you''re just like me then Lucia?" Fina asked in surprised.


    "You have one too Fina? Haha, we''re the same then!"


    "I''m using my family''s manual too," Eli added.


    "Hehe, that goes without saying for me!" Ainz haughtily said, "Let''s choose a magic spell or technique later then! I''m going straight to the 4th floor HAHA!"


    "What about you Cecil? What''re you going to get?" Eli asked the fox boy next to her.


    "..."


    "Cecil?"


    Cecil who was deep in thought snapped his head back in their direction,


    "AH! W-what?"


    "... Eli asked what you''re going to get at the library... What''re you spacing out for, huh, Cel?" Lucia asked with a frown.


    "I was just thinking about what I should get... I have no need for techniques or spells, so I might get a manual for references sake."


    "Oh, you don''t have a mana cultivation method of your own?" Eli inquired curiously. She thought that Cecil was bound to have a top-notch cultivation method since his stage was high and he was able to leap stages and fight Lucia who was at the core stage.


    "No, I have one. It''s just I want another one for reference and comparison."


    His words caused his 3 friends to give him a puzzled look. Why would someone want a manual just for reference and comparison? Comparison for what?


    He was lying with a straight face, but only Lucia knew that Cecil actually didn''t have one. The only reason Cecil had an abnormal amount of mana was because of his body''s constitution.


    Cecil has actually never learned how to cultivate mana, and the meditations he''s been doing was only there to help him calm his mind and strengthen the foundation of his mana point.


    If he wanted a proper cultivation method then this was a good opportunity for him to get one. It''s been 5 months since he''s tested his mana quantity back at Fauxe Village and the amount of mana he''s gained from the 5 months of meditation was negligible and he was stuck at where he was.


    Silver was a monster so he didn''t need a cultivation method and all he needed was to acc.u.mulate mana inside his body''s mana point and quickly condense his beast core and cultivate it to raise his stage.


    Lucia had her mother''s cultivation method and went from Mana Vapor to Mana Sea in only 2 months after they left the village. Now, she was almost at the advanced Mana Sea stage after another 3 months of cultivation during their journey to Angla City.


    Cecil however had stagnated. His only saving grace was that his body had an abnormal amount of mana. Truthfully, Cecil was only at the pseudo mana sea stage. He hadn''t even properly stepped into the mana sea stage at all.


    The only reason that the academy''s testing equipment judged him and Lucia to be at a cultivation stage higher than what they really were in was because for Cecil, it was his abnormal amount of mana.


    For Lucia, it was because of her unique mana cultivation that gave her the ability to condense mana into her tails that would then act as an artificial mana core, which in turn deceived the testing equipment into giving her an evaluation of having stepped into the mana core stage when she actually wasn''t.


    Cecil had only been lucky when he had somehow condensed his mana inside his mana point into a liquid state. The rest of the mana inside his body however, was still in a gaseous state. Hence, he could only call himself being in the pseudo-mana sea stage since not the entirety of his mana had condensed into liquid form.


    ''Now that I think about it, my family''s martial arts manual may be a Mana Cultivation manual. I''ve been meditating, training, and breathing as usual, but sometimes my mana would automatically circulate inside my body when I did so. It''s strange, but if I can get my hands on a good mana cultivation manual inside the library, maybe I can find some similarities and clues. If it does turn out to be similar to a mana cultivation method then I might just have the chance to develop my own unique mana cultivation method using my family''s martial arts!''


    The thought of being able to create and own an exclusive mana cultivation method made Cecil''s face brighten and he began smiling slightly. His mood was so good that he even began humming.


    Cecil wasn''t very expressive so his out-of-character actions caused Eli, Fina, and Ainz to look at him in surprise. Lucia however had a tired expression on her face when she saw Cecil''s facial expression.


    ''Argh, I know that look... *sigh* here we go again.''

 Chapter 85 - Treasure Trove

    Class S finally reached the academy''s library after a short walk. When they entered, there were already many other classes waiting in the lobby area of the library.


    When class S arrived the other classes turned their eyes towards them. Admiration, envy, jealousy and many other feelings were present in the eyes of many of the other class'' students.


    Cecil had stopped caring about the stares people gave him and their group. So when they arrived in the lobby, he immediately searched for a place to sit and began fiddling around with his MID again.


    Lucia as usual clung onto him and his other friends joined him. Their group was kind of unapproachable. So when some of the students from the other classes tried to get friendly with the students from S class, they avoided Cecil''s group.


    "Hey, everyone''s getting all friendly with each other! Let''s join ''em!" Lucia said with a twinkle in her eyes while tugging on Cecil.


    "...no one''s stopping you Lucia..." Cecil frowned.


    "Cel~ it''s because your face is so scary that they''re avoiding us~"


    "Pfft, Lucia''s right you know!" Eli added with a laugh.


    "Y-you should smile more Cecil..." Fina hesitantly said.


    "...isn''t this how Cecil looks like normally?" Ainz said in confusion. He couldn''t find anything wrong when he looked at Cecil''s face. It was the same dull expression, except he was frowning since Lucia began tugging on him.


    Ainz looked around and saw that the lobby was beginning to become more noisy, he frowned and continued.


    "What''s the hold up? Shouldn''t we go and pick out our books now?"


    Eli looked around and counted the classes and said, "Yeah, all the first year classes are here, so what''re we waiting for?"


    Right after she said her words, the instructors of each class gathered together in front of the library''s entrance.


    After a moment, the doors of the library opened and in strolled the headmaster, Elufied Crescentia.


    "Welcome, headmaster!" The instructors greeted in unison.


    "WELCOME HEADMASTER!" The students followed in turn to greet the headmaster.


    "Now, now everyone, do remember where we are. Stay quiet in the library, unless you want Elder Tohrun to haul you out of the library, hohoho~" The headmaster joked with everyone, but still nodded back in greeting.


    He walked past everyone and stood just before the door that led into the inner area of the library, the area on the first floor where the manuals, spell books, and combat guides were kept.


    "Now students, this is a rare opportunity that the school has granted to you, so please do not waste it! Choose something that suits you and don''t pick anything that''s too high for your level. You know best of what you can do, so please choose something appropriate."


    The headmaster swept his gaze across all the students in the lobby, his eyes turned sharp and his voice turned severe.


    "You will only have one chance to choose something and you may not swap your choice after you have exited the library. So if you pick something too advanced for your level and you are not able to learn it after the 1 month time limit before you have to return the book, then you can only blame yourself!"


    Many of the hopeful and ambitious gazes of the students in the room immediately dimmed down. Many began to seriously ponder their choices again after having learned of the 1 month time limit.


    "Remember, choose wisely. This time is a freebie for all of you, but the next time you want to enter the library and take out a book, then you must use the academy''s contribution points or currency. You should know what these points and currency are by now, yes?"


    In Cecil''s group, apart from Cecil himself, everyone else nodded in understanding. Seeing this, Cecil looked around and whispered to Lucia.


    "Hey, Lulu... what''re contribution points?"


    "... Cecil, have you ever been listening to what instructor Jin says these past few mornings?" Lucia whispered back.


    "...no..."


    "Figures..." Lucia could only tiredly sigh at Cecil''s response.


    "I''ll explain later in class."


    "M''kay."


    "Now, children! Proceed into the library and make your choices wisely! Instructors please oversee the rest."


    "Yes sir!"


    The headmaster nodded his head to them and casted a warp gate next to him with a wave of his hand. He stepped through the black distorting gate and disappeared from the library.


    Cecil couldn''t help but wonder why the headmaster didn''t just appear inside the library the same way he exited the library.


    He would soon find out the reason later.


    The instructors began arranging groups, the winning students would enter first and only 15 minutes later would the other students head into the inner area.


    "Guys, let''s quickly head up to the 3rd and 4th floor! There''s nothing that will interest us here on the 1st and 2nd floor. The techniques are too low level for the likes of us." Ainz said in a haughty tone.


    "Shut it Ainz, can''t you see that the other students had begun avoiding us again! Now with your stupid, condescending remarks, they''ll think it''ll be beneath us to associate with them!" Lucia said with a scowl.


    "Hey, I''m just stating the facts! These techniques, spells, and manuals are too low leveled for us! And if they want to socialize with us then they should man up and just do it! It''s not like we''re monsters or anything!"


    "...we''re not, but our identities are pretty...monstrous" Fina quietly mumbled.


    "What''s that Fina?"


    "It''s nothing Eli..."


    While Ainz and Lucia were arguing like usual, but in a quiet voice, instructor Jin opened the door to the inner area of the 1st floor and a splendid and majestic sight came into Cecil''s view.


    "Woah..." The sight caused Cecil to unconsciously exclaim in admiration.


    The library had bookcases and shelves not only on the ground, but also some suspended in the air. Magic arrays and formations were constantly floating around or hovering all over the place.


    The first floor was brightly lit with light stones and the glows of the magic arrays and formations gave the floor a very surreal feeling and atmosphere.


    Cecil''s curious mindset immediately kicked in and he dashed towards the first bookcase he could see and pulled out a book.


    "Beginner tier 2 spell, Flame Torch." Cecil read the title aloud. He flipped open the book and tried to find the table of contents.


    He read through the table and found that not only did it introduce the spell''s incantation and uses; it also listed some possible variations and strengthening. The Flame Torch spell was also a type of interlinking spell to another tier 3 spell called Scorching Torch.


    ''Wow! The spells are actually interlinked! The variations and other stuff are also listed here!''


    Cecil was only surprised since this was the second time he saw an interlinking spell. The first was Lucia''s lava bolt, lava rain, and lava storm originals.


    Lucia had explained about these interlinking spells before, but he didn''t understand the concept. Reading the book he now had some inkling to what it was. It was similar to his use of mana bolt, mana volley, and mana wave.


    Cecil immediately put the book back and dashed to another aisle that had mana cultivation manuals.


    He picked up a random book and began skimming through its contents.


    ''What the? Aren''t these just breathing methods?'' Cecil frowned after he skimmed through the book.


    He looked at the title, "Breath of Flames."


    The manual was a breathing technique used to cultivate fire element mana inside one''s body. It was only for spell casters that had an affinity with the fire element.


    Cecil frowned and put the book back, he walked further in before picking up another book.


    "Iron Mountain Body Manual."


    Cecil once again skimmed through the contents and found that it was a mana circulation technique used to cultivate earth element mana. The results of the technique would greatly increase the cultivator''s bodily defense. It was a mana cultivation manual that leaned towards close ranged combatants that had an affinity with the earth element.


    The next manual Cecil took out was called Spirit of the Beast. It was mana cultivation manual that didn''t lean towards any element. The main focus of this cultivation manual was to help the spell caster or warrior in molding their mana into beast-like forms. For spell casters, it helped them in casting magic spells or creating original spells that had some sort of animal form.


    Some examples are the fire element''s Fire Hawk spell, water element''s Shark Torpedo, earth element''s Earth Demon Summon spell that summoned a hedgehog like animal created from dirt, mud, and stone. Then there was the wind element''s Storm Beast Summon spell.


    The manual would help with increasing these kinds of spells'' strength while lower the mana required in casting the spell. For the summoning types it would also increase the duration and durability of the summoned being.


    ''Damn... there are a whole lot of these mana cultivation types...''


    Cecil turned towards his dumbfounded friends who were staring at him in surprise. The zeal and concentration Cecil put in to read these low leveled mana cultivation manuals came as a surprise to his 3 friends.


    Lucia was skimming through some manuals with some interest. She didn''t take too long since the manuals couldn''t hold a candle to the one her mother passed down to her.


    "Cel, I''ll be checking out the upper floors okay?"


    "Yeah... I''ll catch up with you guys later so just go on ahead without me." Cecil was zealously skimming through another manual.


    Although it only looked like he was skimming through each page, it was the exact opposite however. When he flipped through each page Cecil would activate Hyper-sensitivity and speed up his thought process.


    This way he could read through the entire page in a short amount of time and quickly continue on to the next page.


    It was slow at first, but when he got used to the speed of activating and deactivating Hyper-sensitivity he only became faster and faster. They only spent 10 minutes inside the inner area of the first floor and Cecil was already on his 5th book.


    To Ainz, Eli, and Fina, it was as if Cecil was just flipping through the book and not taking its contents in at all. But when they heard him mumble and frowning like he had read through the entire book, they could only stare at him in surprise.


    "Okay, see ya later Cel~" Lucia bade Cecil good bye for now and pulled Fina and Eli with her to the next floor. Ainz looked back at Cecil and followed after the girls.


    "I''ll be going with them Cecil!"


    "Okay, I''ll catch you later..."


    Cecil said this while his eyes had not left the book he was reading.


    ''This place is a treasure trove of knowledge! I can''t waste any more time.''


    Cecil upped his reading speed to the point where each page didn''t take longer than a second for him to read and process inside his head.


    Unbeknownst to him, a pair of wizened eyes was staring at Cecil in disapproval.

 Chapter 86 - How Dare You!

    While Cecil was ''speed'' reading through the books a wizened old man was observing him. Disapproval was written all over the old man''s face.


    At first the old man was only curious at how focused Cecil was at reading the books, it wasn''t like the other students who only looked at the title and contents page before putting the book back on the shelf.


    But when Cecil began his ''speed reading'' the old man''s feelings of curiosity slowly turned into irritation and disapproval.


    Cecil was almost halfway through the aisle when the old man could no longer stand the ignorance and blatant disrespect Cecil was showing towards the books.


    He walked forward to confront the youngster and tell him off. In the old man''s opinion, it was better to just ignore the books like the rest of the students did after reading the title than to flip through the books in haste.


    In the old man''s eyes, there was no way the young boy could possibly gleam any sort of information with the hasty way he was flipping through the book.


    The books were pretty aged so he feared that Cecil''s way of handling the books would cause some damages to them and with the way Cecil was flipping through each page in less than a second, nobody would think that Cecil was actually reading and instead would think that he was only playing around.


    Cecil had just finished reading another manual and was about to put the book back onto the shelf when he noticed a shadow towering over him.


    Cecil looked up and saw a wizened elf wearing large rimmed glasses. Behind the lenses was a pair of eyes sharply glaring down at him...?


    Cecil was puzzled looking at the old man, he was even more puzzled at how the old man had approached without him detecting his presence.


    "May I help you Elder?" Cecil asked politely.


    "Boy... you better show some respect to the books inside this library!" The old man sharply replied.


    For an old man, he was speaking with vigor just like a middle aged person.


    Cecil smiled back in response and replied in a heartbeat, "Of course! This place... it''s a treasure trove of knowledge! I wish I could spend my time reading all the books inside!"


    "Eh?"


    Cecil''s immediate and serious response made the old man do a double take. He saw in the eyes of the boy that he was speaking truthfully and his words were indeed his heartfelt feelings. However, it wasn''t the response he was expecting from the boy. It seemed that he would have to reevaluate his opinion of the boy.


    Just his words of the library being a ''treasure trove'' made the old man want to smile. While he was deep in thought, Cecil began continuing his reading.


    Cecil bowed towards the old man and picked up another book to read. As usual he had activated hyper-sensitivity and began flipping through the pages, reading each pages contents with utmost attention.


    To him it was reading, but to the old man it just looked like Cecil was flipping through the pages without even actually reading anything.


    The way Cecil was ''reading'' the book caused a vein to pop on the old man''s head and his expression turned unsightly. He began glowering at Cecil.


    ''Even after what this young man said about the library, this is how he acts?! Still young, but this is how he acts? Completely disregarding me and blatantly disrespecting this library! How¨C''


    "DARE YOU!" The old man raised his voice.


    His shout attracted the attention of the other students that were still on the first floor of the library. Cecil who was next to the old man was even more startled.


    He was reading when the old man suddenly shouted. Cecil looked up at the old man in confusion. He saw that the old man was glowering and he turned to look behind him.


    ''Weird? No one''s behind... is he somehow mad at me?''


    Cecil could only look back at the old man in bewilderment.


    "Is something wrong Elder?" Cecil asked, but he was met with an angry reply.


    "How dare you boy!"


    "W-was it something I said?"


    "It''s something you did!" The old man huffed angrily.


    "Uh... uhhmm... Wha?" Cecil could only stutter in response, he honestly didn''t know what he did wrong. Actually, did he even do anything wrong? All he was doing since earlier was reading through the books.


    "C-can you tell me what I did wrong Elder?" By the time Cecil asked this, the other students who were curious at who was being yelled at had gathered near the aisle he and the old man were in.


    "I''ll tell you boy! It''s the blatant disrespect that you are showing towards the books, this library, and to me!"


    "D-disrespect? But Elder, I did nothing wrong?! I''ve only been reading since I''ve entered the library!" Cecil said in defense.


    ''What disrespect is this old man talking about? I haven''t done anything to disrespect anyone! M-maybe the old man has gone senile?''


    Thinking of this, Cecil was enlightened in the wrong way. He put on an understanding expression and thought that he should just let the ''senile'' old man berate him.


    "What''s with that face?! I haven''t gone senile you fool!"


    "Ueh??" Cecil was startled. ''Could it be that this old man can read minds?!''


    "Tsk, you still don''t know what you did wrong. Let me enlighten you! The foolish, ignorant, and undignified ways you read and handle the books are what''s disrespectful to me, the library, and most importantly, to the books!"


    "Huh?"


    "You pick up a book and just flip through it like a fool! Are you illiterate?! Why are you even in this academy if you are?!"


    "E-elder, please calm down, let me explain!" Cecil finally figured out what the Elder was so mad about.


    Now that Cecil thought it through, when he used Hyper-sensitivity to read the books, to others it looked like he was only noncommittally flipping through the books without even glimpsing at the contents.


    That was why his 3 friends from earlier gave him weird looks and why the Elder was now furious with him. He finally understood now.


    The students who came to observe the mess he was in were now murmuring quietly to one another.


    "Isn''t that the 2nd ranked?"


    "Yeah, Cecil''s his name if I''m not mistaken. Gosh, could it be that he''s really illiterate?"


    "I dunno, but earlier when I passed the aisle I saw him flipping through books at rapid speed... maybe he really is illiterate."


    "What? Now that''s embarrassing! Rank 2 and he can''t read!"


    The murmurs turned into small chuckles and soft laughter.


    Cecil was panicking now. ''Darn it! I''m not illiterate!''


    "Elder, please calm down. Let me explain first." Cecil said helplessly.


    "Calm down? Why don''t you put that book down?!" the old man demanded.


    Cecil looked down at the book and saw that he only had a small portion left. He quickly activated Hyper-sensitivity and quickly read through the last portion before putting it back onto the shelf.


    He turned back towards the Elder with a smile and was about to explain only to see the furious expression that was plastered on the Elder''s face.


    ''Oh... crap...''


    "You... FOOLISH BOY! Come with me!" The Elder yelled furiously. He then grabbed Cecil''s arm and began dragging him along.


    Instructor Jin who was on the fourth floor supervising had finally arrived back down on the first floor when he heard that one of his students had caused some trouble.


    He then saw the old man dragging Cecil deeper into the first floor''s area. He turned to look at where Cecil was being dragged to and saw that it was towards the door leading to the core area of the first floor''s library.


    Instructor Jin hastily dashed towards the Elder and Cecil.


    "Honorable Elder! Please, wait! Is something wrong? Did my student do anything wrong, sir?"


    The Elder turned towards Instructor Jin and glowered at him.


    "So this fool is YOUR student?"


    "Y-yes sir!"


    "Well I don''t know what you''ve been teaching, but this lad has shown blatant and utter disrespect towards me and the library!"


    "H-honorable Spirit Sage, sir! Please spare the boy, he''s just young and he most likely did not mean to do you any sort of disrespect."


    "Indeed it wasn''t towards me! But towards the books inside this library! Disrespecting my belongings is the same as disrespecting me!"


    "S-sir?!"


    Cecil was surprised seeing Instructor Jin act so respectfully and submissively towards the old man. Even towards the headmaster, the instructor would only address and act with respect, but never did he act submissively like he was now towards the old man.


    ''Spirit Sage?''


    "Ah!" Cecil widened his eyes in surprise.


    ''SAGE! This old man is a Sage!''


    Cecil was just about to activate Mana Burst to stop the old man from dragging him, but when he learned that the old man was a Sage, Cecil stopped rousing his mana and stared at the old man with sparkly eyes full of respect and curiosity.


    "HMPH!" The old man only harrumphed at the dumbfounded Instructor and continued on his way towards the door that led towards the core area.


    "Sir Spirit Sage! I¨C"


    Just as Instructor Jin was about to chase after the old man, he found that his legs were seemingly bolted in place. He couldn''t move his legs no matter how much strength he exerted. He looked down and saw green tendrils wrapping around his legs, holding him in place.


    Instructor Jin could only helplessly look at Cecil who was dragged into the core area of the library, but then his face turned confused seeing Cecil''s eyes that were brightly lit in respect and awe as he stared up at the sage who was dragging him.


    ''What the?''


    Just like this, Cecil was dragged into the core area of the library''s first floor by one of the 12 Sages of Urrugdrasil.

 Chapter 87 - Hey, guys!

    While Cecil was being dragged into the core area of the library, Lucia and everyone else had just finished picking out the skills or spells they wanted. Lucia picked up Inferno, a 6th tier magic spell that was suited for her stage.


    Tier 6 was the highest tiered spell on the 4th floor. If they wanted 7th tier or higher spells then they would have to enter the 5th or 6th floor of the library.


    Since there was no other higher tiered fire magic spells, Lucia decided on learning the Inferno spell. She had other originals that, in her opinion, were better than the Inferno spell. She could have chosen a combat skill instead, but took Inferno just wanted so that she could perhaps use it as reference for a new original spell.


    Fina had chosen a tier 4 spell from the 3rd floor called Hailstorm. Ainz chose one from the 3rd floor as well. Despite his arrogant remark of saying he''d only choose one from the 4th floor, the boy was left with no other choice since the spells on the 4th floor were mostly tier 5 or 6 spells.


    Eli chose a tier 5 combat skill called Ground Shrinker from the 4th floor. It was the enhanced version of the tier 3 Shukuchi.


    As they were heading down to meet up with Cecil, Velicia, Eli''s roommate, bumped into them and delivered some appalling news.


    "WHAT? Cecil''s been taken?!" Lucia exclaimed in surprise.


    "Y-yes... apparently he did something that disrespected the Spirit Sage... I can''t believe a Sage is actually present in our school! But what I can''t even fathom however is how the heck did Cecil piss one of them off! They''re called Sages for a reason y''know!" Velicia said puzzled.


    "Tsk... what did that idiot do this time...?" Lucia muttered gloomily. She was upset that some old dude took custody of Cecil.


    "L-Lucia! Don''t do anything rash okay! Maybe it''s not that big of a problem. Knowing Cecil, there''s no way he would cause problems for no reason..." Fina said, trying to dissuade Lucia from acting rashly.


    She already had an inkling of what her friend was going to do. Knowing Lucia, she would fearlessly stomp her way into the core area and take Cecil back from the clutches of the Sage, even if she had to offend the Sage in question.


    Indeed it was just as Fina feared. The only thoughts going through Lucia''s head at the moment was to take Cecil back from the Spirit Sage no matter the cost. She had already learned of how powerful these Sages were from her mother, but even then she wouldn''t cower.


    "It''s always Cecil saving me, so now it''s my turn to return the favor," Lucia mumbled. "Even if this Spirit Sage is as strong as what my mother says, I don''t care."


    On their way down to the first floor, they met up with other students and they were directing weird glances at their group.


    This was mostly due to the fact that Lucia was emitting a very deadly aura around her and the fact that a person from their clique had caused some trouble that even caused him to be taken away by the administrator of the Library, the ill.u.s.trious Spirit Sage.


    When they got to the first floor, Lucia looked around to see that most of the students had gathered and were waiting to exit the library.


    Lucia saw the instructors currently discussing something very seriously together. She only took a short glance at them and walked deeper into the first floor.


    Fina was worriedly following behind her while Eli was trying to talk Lucia out of what she was doing.


    "Lucia, please don''t do it, we know Cecil''s important to you, but it''s not like anything bad may happen to him! Even a Sage wouldn''t punish a junior too harshly. So, let''s stop okay? We shouldn''t cause any more problems! What happens if it affects Cecil in a bad way?"


    "...what do you think I''m going to do anyway?"


    "...you''re probably going to storm into the core area and send a lava bolt at the Sage if he doesn''t return Cecil?" Eli said in monotone.


    "What kinda person do you think I am?"


    "Oh, so you''re not going to that then?"


    They arrived at the door to the core area, other students were intrigued at their actions so some of them followed after the group. The instructors also saw this and turned to look at what was up, only to see Cecil''s group of friends currently standing in front of the door to the core area.


    Lucia then said with a bright smile, "I''m only going to apologize for Cecil and ask the sage to release him and if we could do anything to mend the problem then we''ll do it! That''s all, really!"


    Fina and Eli sighed in relief while Ainz smirked. The instructors who were just about to stop the group from entering through the door hesitated when they heard Lucia''s words. It was indeed better for them to apologize.


    ''Yeah right, from what Cecil''s told me about you, there''s no way that''s the only thing you''ll do.'' Ainz thought silently, there was no way he would actually say that since it would only result in him getting burns and bruises.


    "And if that doesn''t work..." Lucia''s eyes turned sharp and she quickly turned around and kicked the door open... that''s right... she kicked the door to the core area open.


    "What the?!"


    "LUCIA!" Fina and Eli exclaimed in unison.


    "I''ll take him back by force!" Lucia declared loudly.


    "I knew it." Ainz mumbled, he expected this and in his opinion this option seemed much more fun!


    After kicking the door open, Lucia stomped her way into the core area of the library''s first floor.


    "CECIL?! Where are you?!"


    Lucia looked around and saw that there were only shelves and desks in the room with scrolls and books strewn and piled up all over the place.


    She activated a sensing spell and found 2 heat signatures in the room beyond the room they were currently in.


    Lucia then made her way through the room and down into the corridor that led deeper into the area.


    Ainz happily followed behind while Fina and Eli were rooted down on their spot at Lucia''s brazen entrance. The students were and instructors were equally dumbfounded at the spectacle.


    It was only after Lucia and Ainz disappeared into the corridor did they snap out of their daze and chase after them. Velicia who was taking in the sight of the unusual occurrence happening in front of her quickly chased after them when the students around her started making a racket.


    The instructors quickly snapped out of their daze and quickly prevented any more students from intruding into the core area. The other S class students who were observing from a ways away were still dumbfounded at the odd event that just happened.


    Their 2nd ranked student in class was taken away by the Sage for causing trouble and now the 1st ranked student was on her way to rescue him... what the hell was happening? That was the only thoughts that spun around in their heads.


    When the instructors finally settled the area down, they urged instructor Jin to follow after his students and make sure no more problems sprung up, though it was too late by now since Lucia had already caused a large commotion when she kicked open the door and started yelling.


    Lucia was running deeper into the area to the place where she sensed the two heat signatures were at.


    ''Don''t worry Cel... I''ll definitely save you!''


    Lucia began circulating her mana and activated Elemental Burst. With her body enhanced, she kicked off the ground and dashed into the room.


    Ainz who was beside her was surprised at Lucia''s abrupt maneuver. He sprinted forwards, but then heard chuckling and laughter coming from the room ahead.


    Lucia who had dashed into the room was about to unsheathe Shirayuki, only to stop abruptly in place when she saw the Sage... and Cecil.


    "Ahahaha! Who knew that you had such a technique! Intriguing, very intriguing! The younger generation really is progressing in a good way! Ahahaha!"


    "No, Elder! I mean, it''s not that big of a deal! Even you can learn it if you want!"


    "Ahahaha, I''d be welcome to it, but I''m too old now!"


    "No way Elder! In my opinion you''re still in your late prime!"


    The Sage and Cecil were currently sitting around a table laughing and chatting merrily. Lucia''s abrupt entrance had startled Cecil and the Sage and they turned their head towards her, right at the time when Ainz had also run into the room.


    "Oh, who''s this young lady?"


    "Oh! Elder, this is the girl I was talking about earlier! The one who could do what I can do! She''s Lucia! My best friend and you can also call her my disciple!"


    "Ah, so this is the girl!"


    "Huh?" Lucia gawked in confusion. What''s this? This isn''t what she imagined the situation Cecil would be in!


    From the words of the students and Velicia''s report, Cecil was angrily dragged by the Sage into the core area with words like, ''I''m going to teach this ignorant fool a lesson'' and ''This insolent fool has disrespected me and this library!''


    So what the heck is with this spectacle?! Cecil was supposed to be beaten up or something, he was supposed to be ''taught a lesson'' by the Sage, wasn''t he?


    Ainz could only stare back at the Sage and Cecil in puzzlement as well. Not long after, Fina, Eli, and Velicia ran into the room, panting.


    "Oh! Everyone''s come too? Hey, guys!" Cecil greeted the group with a smile.


    "..."

 Chapter 88 - Spirit Sage

    Lucia and the rest could only respond with silence at Cecil''s greeting. The Spirit Sage beside him wareportedsmiling gently back at their group.


    He didn''t look like the scary elder that Velicia had . He only seemed liked the friendly next door grandpa that watched over the kids with a gentle smile.


    "Hey! What''s up? Come in and sit down! Elder Sage here was kind enough to lend me his ear and we''ve been exchanging magic knowledge!"


    "..."


    Their silence only caused Cecil to tilt his head in confusion.


    Just as he was about to open his mouth, Instructor Jin dashed into the room. He saw Lucia''s group and saw the Sage and Cecil sitting together around a small table.


    "H-Honorable Elder!"


    Instructor Jin''s presence caused the Elder to frown a little.


    "What is it?"


    "A-apologies! W-we apologize for brazenly intruding on your private space! W-we''re going to head back out now! A-and please do forgive Cecil for what he''s done!"


    Instructor Jin bowed down deeply, he turned to the side and saw Lucia''s group staring back at him in a daze. He hastily made his way over to them and began pushing down everyone''s heads, making them bow towards the Sage.


    Just as he was about to push down Lucia''s head he stopped seeing the stinging glare she was giving him.


    "Lucia, please bow and apolo¨C"


    "Enough."


    "E-elder?"


    "I''ll handle the children, you may go out now." The Sage said plainly.


    "B-but Elder!"


    "I said, you may go now."


    "Ugh..."


    The Sage''s authoritative tone caused Instructor Jin to hesitate. Seeing as he could do nothing, he only bowed once more and said, "As you wish, Elder. But, please they''re just¨C"


    "Tsk."


    Hearing the Sage click his tongue caused the instructor to halt his words. He quickly turned around and walked out of the room.


    Seeing the instructor exit the premises, Lucia''s group only stared at each other before turning their eyes towards Cecil and the Sage.


    The old man sighed and said, "Finally. The nuisance is out of the way."


    "?"


    Hearing the old man''s words caused Lucia''s group to do a double take.


    ''Nuisance? The instructor?''


    "Now, kids. Please, come, sit." The Elder gestured gently with a smile.


    Everyone hesitated at first. It didn''t take too much deliberation before they walked forward and began taking their seats around Cecil and the Sage.


    The gentle expression on the Elder''s face was what caused them to stop hesitating and take the friendly gesture. Only Lucia was still standing and she continued to glare back at the Sage.


    "Oh? Is something wrong little one?" The Elder asked.


    Seeing the gentle way the Elder addressed her despite her giving him a death glare, Lucia hesitated a bit and asked.


    "...Uhm... Cecil''s not in trouble... is he?"


    "Ohohoho, no. No, little one. He was before, but not anymore. So there''s no need for you to worry. Please, sit."


    Lucia stopped glaring at the Sage and instead directed a glare at Cecil who was innocently smiling back at her. Her glare caused Cecil to flinch.


    ''Crap!''


    Lucia deactivated Elemental Burst and the dark scarlet aura that was wrapping around her dissipated.


    "Ho~oh..." The Elder exclaimed in mild surprise.


    Lucia walked forwards and sat herself beside Cecil.


    Cecil was coldly sweating inside when he saw the dark expression on Lucia''s face after she glared at him.


    And just as he expected, the girl began pinching his sides harshly when she sat herself down beside him.


    Cecil could only grimace in response, it was his fault indeed since he caused Lucia to worry for him.


    The thought of being taken away by one of the 12 Sages of Urrugdrasil because he disrespected him was a frightening.


    It was no wonder Lucia was now angry at him since the sage did say he was in trouble before.


    After Lucia had her fill of pinching, she turned her eyes towards the Elder in front of her.


    Spirit Sage, the old man sitting in front of her was one of the 12 Sages. Sage was a title given to the people of a generation who had attained a transcendent level as a spellcaster. By transcendent level, it meant they had attained the pinnacle stage of mana cultivation as well as earned themselves the power to contend against kingdoms singlehandedly and were counted as apocalyptic level beings.


    Back on Earth they would be termed as strategic level weapons, like a nuclear warhead.


    The Sages were people who attained the pinnacle in the area they specialized in. The 12 Sages were the most respected and feared existences in the continent. These Sages were also there to protect their continent from attacks from catastrophe level monsters and attacks from other continents.


    On Urrugdrasil, the transcendent level mages were called Sages. The transcendent level fighters were called Braves.


    Below them were the 8 Arch Mages, 10 Weapon Kings, and 10 Shamans, totalling 28 individuals, that were spread throughout the continent tasked with the same mission as the transcendants; the protection of their continent.


    These 40 people were the main force against other continents. Although intercontinental wars rarely happened since each continent had similar individuals which served as huge deterrent.


    Incidentally, each continent had their own unique titles of transcendent level beings. Midgard''s title for Mages were Arcanes while fighters were called Champions.


    As for the old man in front of them, he was the oldest Sage in Urrugdrasil, the Spirit Sage. It was said that the Spirit Sage excelled in nature magic. This was a given since the Spirit Sage was an elf. Moreover, he was a High Elf, the race of elves with the highest affinity with nature magic.


    Just like the Spirit Sage said, he did find fault with Cecil at first, but after listening to his explanation and finding out about the unique skill that Cecil used to enhance his cognitive thought process, he was immediately intrigued.


    He didn''t take Cecil''s word for granted since he thought that the boy might lie to him so he tested Cecil. He asked him about the contents of the 67 books that Cecil had read back in the library''s inner area.


    The Spirit Sage was the owner of all the books inside the library and he memorized all the contents of the books and manuals after 200 years of reading.


    So when Cecil recited the main contents of the 67 books that he ''skimmed'' through, the Sage was really surprised.


    He took out another book for Cecil to read and decided to test him on the spot. The results only stupefied the Elder since Cecil correctly recounted every word with accurate precision after he only spent 1 minute ''reading'' the book.


    This caused the Elder to ask more about the principles behind Cecil''s technique to which Cecil happily responded to. He didn''t have to tell anything about his fundamental technique, Mana Burst, and only explained the principle and activation process of Hyper-sensitivity which was a branch skill of Mana Burst.


    From there, Cecil and the Spirit Sage kept on with their discussion and lost track of time. The previous altercation and misunderstanding that Cecil caused was thrown to the back of their minds.


    They spent their time discussing the various applications and uses that ''Hyper-sensitivity'' could bring to the beastkin race, Cecil''s application of ''Mana'' was also intriguing and it caused the Spirit Sage to be lost in thought.


    He proceeded to ask Cecil about how he did about with using mana the way he did. It sounded similar to how monsters used mana, so it was incomprehensible for the Spirit Sage and just as the discussion was about to continue, Lucia and the rest barged in the room.


    The Elder Sage waved his hand on his seat and a small treant walked into the room carrying a tea set on its branches. The treant then began serving the 5 newcomers. After its duty was finished it walked to the side of the room and stood there, stationery in place by the wall.


    The Spirit Sage smiled and opened his mouth, "Please, relax. Young Cecil and I were just about to continue our discussion on the applications of Mana and the intriguing way Cecil uses mana to speed up his thought process. I''m pretty sure our discussion will have a good influence on you youngsters."


    The Lucia and the rest were surprised hearing the Sage talk to Cecil with such high regard. The 2 were actually discussing about theories and applications of Mana? How was Cecil able to keep up with the Sage in this regard?


    Lucia however, was surprised for a different reason.


    ''The intriguing way Cecil uses mana? Does he know?!'' Lucia shot a worried look at Cecil only to see him smiling back at her.


    "It''s okay Lulu, it''s only about Hyper-sensitivity."


    "Oh!" Lucia sighed in relief. As long as Cecil''s secret was kept, anything else didn''t matter.


    "Now shall we continue, Cecil? You young ones should treat this as an opportunity. Treat it as listening to a listen delivered personally by me!"


    "Woah!"


    "Y-yes!"


    "Thank you Elder!"


    The rest expressed their thanks and astonishment to which the Spirit Sage only responded with a light laugh.


    "Hahaha, at least you have the courage to come in to check on the well-being of your friend! Not only that you had the courage and guts to confront a Sage! Those other hesitant ones just can''t cut it I''m afraid..."


    The Elder smiled at the group, then he turned a teasing smile towards Lucia and said, "Especially you, lass. You even kicked open the door and stormed in to look for young Cecil here! Ahahaha~"


    "I! Uhm... I! I didn''t mean to! It''s just... Cecil always causes trouble and I always have to look after him..." Lucia said while blushing.


    "Hahahaha, just like a little brother right?"


    "Huh? N-no, not at all... more like a troublesome childhood friend..." Lucia discretely turned her eye towards Cecil who was beside her. He was smiling while munching on a biscuit.


    "Ahahahaha!" The Elder only chuckled in response when he saw Lucia correct him.


    "Well Elder. Let''s continue?"


    "Yes! But before that, I should properly introduce myself to your friends!" The Spirit Sage said with a chuckle.


    "I am Tohrun Natura, a high elf spell caster. To others however, I''m also known as the Spirit Sage of the 12 Sages of Urrugdrasil."


    After his introduction, everyone else began giving introductions as well. When they finished, Elder Tohrun finally addressed his and Cecil''s earlier discussions.


    Cecil and the Sage explained what they were discussing to Cecil''s friends first so they could be on the same page before


    "Now, the way Hyper-sensitivity works, it stimulates the... nerves? In the brain by using mana to speed up the nodes that pass commands in the form of electrical pulses..."


    Their discussion on the inner workings of Cecil''s technique continued on for almost half a day. Their group had essentially skipped out on classes today and was instead being privately given a lecture by both the Sage and Cecil.

 Chapter 89 - A Normal Day

    It was the next day and Cecil and his group were attending class normally this time.


    After yesterday''s stint, the rest of Cecil''s classmates would constantly send him weird glances. Cecil of course didn''t care, but it couldn''t be said the same for the girl sitting next to him though.


    Lucia was happy that Cecil got to befriend such a famous character and even thought it was such a good opportunity for him, but Cecil didn''t want what actually happened behind the closed doors of the library''s core area to be spread, so he asked his friends to keep mum about it.


    So when the other classmates came to inquire about what happened yesterday at the library, they brushed it off as just a misunderstanding and nothing really happened. As proof, they just said to look at Cecil, he wasn''t harmed or anything and he even got his hands on a training manual when he was the one personally dragged away by the Sage.


    Since Cecil was fine, they explained that there were obviously no problems at all and the Sage only asked their group to clean up the core area as punishment for barging in without permission.


    Most of the class accepted this as the truth and only some were skeptical, but the ones who were most skeptical were the leaders of the factions who had received a report about what happened and the instructors present at the scene.


    If this was all concluded as a ''misunderstanding'' then wouldn''t it mean that the Sage had only mistakenly apprehended Cecil and he was the one at fault, not Cecil? These people wouldn''t believe that of course. There was no way that the Sage made a ''mistake'' since there were many witnesses that heard the Sage say that Cecil had done something to blaspheme the books in the library which then angered him.


    So, to chalk it all up to a misunderstanding and saying that it was a mistake on the Sage''s part even after this? Not likely. There was definitely something more to this incident than what Cecil''s group had let on, but the group was tight lipped about it and only brushed it off when their classmates and instructors asked about it.


    It was only after 3 days had passed had the commotion towards this incident died down. Since Cecil and his group were attending class normally so they could only conclude that it was just a misunderstanding after all.


    Back in class S, the teacher was currently teaching the fundamental principles of mana and magic to the class.


    It was class S so most, if not all, of the students here had already had the basic and fundamental knowledge taught to them before even enrolling into the academy.


    Of course, the academy wouldn''t do something so pointless like re-teaching the students these basics that were borderline common sense to them. Instead the fundamentals they taught were the academy''s results of intensive research and study towards the basics and underlying principles of mana and magic.


    Just this alone caused many in class to seriously listen in attention... except for 2 individuals however. These 2 were a certain foxkin duo. One had his full attention to the book he was reading while the other was scribbling incomprehensible magic arrays, crests, and formations on a magic scroll.


    These two were Cecil and Lucia. Although the lesson that was being taught was really intriguing to the point where even Ainz, Eli, and Fina were listening in rapt attention, it couldn''t be said the same for the duo.


    Why? This was because in their eyes, the lesson being taught was too rudimentary and simple. The theories, facts, and principles being taught were basic knowledge for these two.


    At first, Lucia and Cecil were very much looking forward to these classes just like everyone else, but soon their interest died since oddly, the materials being taught were very similar, if not the same, as the results of Lucia''s mother, Mrs. Anna''s, preliminary research into the Principles of Mana.


    The materials being taught were literally only scratching the surface of Mrs. Anna''s entire research results which she had finished only recently.


    She was at a bottleneck in her research, but after Cecil shared his knowledge regarding atoms, the building blocks of all matter and life, she then made a large breakthrough in her research.


    After Cecil and Lucia left on their journey, it took another 3 months of research and testing for Lucia''s mother to finish her research which she called the ''Principles of Mana''.


    In the current age, Mages only attributed to the fact that Mana existed in the world in an all-encompassing incorporeal state. It was there because it was there. Although many magic researchers wanted to find the actual reason to why and how mana existed and in what form, they didn''t have the necessary tools to aid them in their research.


    Mrs. Anna was the same. She didn''t have any tools to help her research move forward, however, she had Cecil. When Cecil read through her research he had involuntarily explained that back on Earth they also did research on something similar. This explanation lead towards him explaining the theory behind atoms and particles as well as the tools used to prove their existence.


    Of course, Cecil couldn''t explain things in detail since he only had basic knowledge about the topic, maybe if he had his brother, Gabriel''s, brain then he could have contributed more to Mrs. Anna''s research, but just the basic knowledge he imparted to Mrs. Anna had given her the necessary outlook and direction of where to proceed with her research.


    So, after Cecil and Lucia left, Mrs. Anna gave her all and together with her husband, had successfully created a magic tool that helped her determine the ''color'' of mana. The tool was similar to a microscope, but instead of amplifying vision, all it did was detect the mana in the air and give it a visible appearance through the magic tool.


    The tool was complex and Cecil didn''t understand at all on how it worked. All he knew was that the magic tool worked similar to one of his Mana Eye''s abilities. For now, Cecil had determined that Mana Eyes had 2 functions.


    The first was Mana Control. Cecil was given full control of his Mana after he gained Mana Eyes. The second was Mana Vision, it was the ability that let Cecil see mana through his eyes.


    The magic tool took Cecil''s second ability and let the user ''see'' mana. The mana in the air after looking through this magic tool showed that the mana had a multitude of colors, but it was dominated mostly by a golden color, exactly like what Cecil saw through his Mana Eyes.


    So if they abided by the current knowledge''s theory of mana being incorporeal then that would mean that there was no way it could have a color if it was viewed through the magic tool that Mrs. Anna developed.


    But since there was color, then that meant that mana existed in a corporeal state. You could touch it, physically manipulate it, etc. Just this knowledge was groundbreaking. If Mrs. Anna could somehow create a magic tool that could physically manipulate mana, then by using this magic tool, a person would then gain access to Cecil''s ability, Mana Control.


    Mrs. Anna was able to doc.u.ment more knowledge, facts and raise more theories and hypotheses on Mana, it was to the point where one question beget another. It was an endless loop so she could only send Cecil her current, up-to-date, version of her new research.


    She wrote in her book that Mana existed in the air not in a formless incorporeal state, but instead it was present everywhere in the form of particles. On Earth, there were 3 types of particles, electrons, neutrons and protons which formed an atom.


    Mrs. Anna however changed ''atom'' to ''mana'' instead. Though this was still only a hypothesis, Cecil wanted to believe this to be a fact since if mana was the equivalent of atoms then it was safe to say that Mana was the building block of all matter and life on Alterna.


    With this theory, it could be hypothesized that every living organism and object on Alterna was created by mana. This could then explain the reason why every living creature had mana inside their bodies and when they grew more mature this mana would take on an attribute which then explained the colorful silhouettes in Cecil''s Mana Eyes.


    This was the same for the color of the objects he saw through his Mana Vision. The rocks, dirt, and terrain were a mix of gold and brown with brown being the dominant color. The same went for the air and water. For air, it was a dominant shade of green with gold mixed here and there. As for water it was different shades of blue with gold dotting it.


    The world in Cecil''s eyes when he activated Mana Vision was full of color and it was always fascinating for him to observe the world this way. The color of each elemental attribute of Mana, every shade of red for the fire element, blue for water element and so on. However, a golden color was present everywhere.


    This golden color most likely represented the non-elemental or the attributeless type of mana. When Cecil observed his body through Mana Vision, he would see his body being gold in color. Lucia was a mix of red, blue and violet. Fina was teal in color, Eli was green and red while Ainz... well, he was a chaotic mix of red, blue, green, and yellow that kept swirling in a circle which would cause Cecil a headache every time he looked at his friend.


    Anyway, Cecil and Lucia decided to just do their own thing during this lesson since they''ve already read Mrs. Anna''s new research results tens of times over the moment they were delivered to them by the adventurers Mrs. Anna had commissioned and this was a month ago when they were still at the Magic City.


    Since the materials of the lesson was only the downgraded version of Lucia''s mother''s research, the two decided to just forgo listening to the lesson and go about doing their own things in the meantime.


    Cecil was reading a mana cultivation manual called Breath of Mana. It was a cultivation manual that helped with the circulation of mana. There were other better breathing type cultivation manuals, but this manual was special since it didn''t have any preferred element. In fact, mages and fighters could use this manual regardless of their element and since Cecil was non-elemental, the manual was perfect to serve as reference for him.


    Beside him, Lucia was creating quick-casts for her new original spells. The formations and arrays were much more complex than before. If someone who was inexperienced with quick-casts was to take a look at what she was drawing, they would most likely pass out from confusion.


    Even Cecil had a headache after taking a small glimpse at Lucia''s parchment. The complexity of the finished scrolls looked like it was a mini-large scale magic array than a simple quick-cast scroll.


    It was a good thing that they looked like they were seriously taking notes and not doing anything else so the teacher didn''t call out to them for not listening to the lesson. So they were able to ''peacefully'' not listen to the lecture.


    However, this ''peace'' couldn''t last... not after the teacher started walking around the class while continuing with the lecture.


    When he got to Cecil and Lucia''s desk and saw how busy they were taking notes he was inwardly admiring the two, but then he saw what they were actually doing and his impression of the two immediately took a nose dive.


    The instructor was a young female elf, Gal''ania Sunchaser. She was a member of the famed Sunchaser clan, the wood elf clan that tended to the branches and leaves of the world tree, Urrugdrasil.


    When she stomped her way to the podium in front of the class her face was smiling, but at the same time everyone in class could since the air of irritation she was emitting.


    They were all puzzled since only a moment ago the teacher was happily giving her lecture. Just what could be the cause of her sudden irritation?


    While everyone was looking at each other and discussing in small voices, the two who were the cause of the teacher''s change was obliviously continuing their activities.


    Seeing this, Gal''ania clicked her tongue in annoyance.

 Chapter 90 - Abnormal Knowledge

    "Cecil! Lucia! Please stand!"


    "!"


    At the teacher''s sudden call, Cecil and Lucia were startled and looked up questioningly at the instructor. Seeing their dumbfounded faces, the instructor continued,


    "Please stand! I want you to recount my explanations to the entire class. I''m pretty sure this is easy for you two since the both of you are such ge~niuses."


    Teacher Gal''ania''s voice had a clear tinge of annoyance and sarcasm. Cecil stood up while scratching his head, what could he say? The lecture to him was literally pointless since he already knew it, but it was still his fault since he disrespectfully didn''t pay attention.


    Lucia stood up next to him and rubbed her eyes. It was clear that she was tired since she had to put extra effort in focusing her mind to write all those complex arrays and formations.


    Seeing the duo stand up, the class was once again sent into another round of small murmurs.


    "Again? Cecil only just offended the Sage a couple of days ago. Now another problem?"


    "...I guess they''re too smart for this class?" Snickered another.


    "Shut it, they''re the top ranked in our class for a reason. Maybe they already know the contents of the research..."


    "Pfft, don''t kid yourself. The lesson materials were created and compiled from the research results of the academy and those are supposed to be top secret!"


    "Man... even Lucia was dragged into this, probably because of Cecil right? Those two are always together... don''t you think he''s being a bad influence for her?"


    "..."


    Fina, Eli and Ainz were surprised that the teacher was irritated because of both Cecil and Lucia. Fina turned a worried gaze towards her two friends, while Ainz was snickering at Lucia. Eli only took a glance and just waited.


    Unlike her two friends, she had confidence in these two. She was sitting beside Lucia today and she herself saw the two gradually grow bored at the lecture.


    This couldn''t be attributed to the fact that Lucia and Cecil was being lazy since the girl beside her started doing something even more unbelievable than not listening to the ''advanced'' lecture.


    She was taking out magic scrolls from her spatial ring and drawing complex formations and arrays on it while constantly murmuring to herself even more complex and indescribable knowledge regarding the lecture the teacher was giving.


    Eli only heard a sparse amount of her murmuring, but even then she still couldn''t understand what it was that Lucia was muttering. All she knew was that her friend''s knowledge regarding the Principles of Mana was much more advanced than the lecture''s materials.


    As for Cecil... she wouldn''t worry at all since the boy in question could have heated conversation regarding magic research with the Spirit Sage. Just this feat was a clear affirmation to Cecil''s advanced knowledge regarding magic and mana.


    "Please, explain to the class. Who wants to go first? What about our 1st ranked?"


    "Okay~" Lucia replied.


    Seeing this Cecil sat back down and continued reading his book. This caused a small vein to pop on Gal''ania''s head.


    "Well, where to begin huh... anyway the material is pretty outdated anyway."


    "...What?"


    Everyone in class did a double take at what Lucia said. Outdated? The academy''s research material was outdated? Laughable!


    "Hah...hahaha. Outdated you say? Please explain, how is it outdated?" Gal''ania was too angry to get mad. She only laughed at Lucia''s words. Outdated? The academy had years upon years of stacked up research.


    Other than the magic research teams of the northern continent of Aizlandia, it was safe to say that their research was cutting edge and they were literally at the forefront of magic research.


    To call them outdated? Only a fool or an ignoramus would say this!


    "Okay, well based on my mother''s recent research results, they are really outdated."


    "Your mother? Haha, and who is your mother? Is she some leading magic researcher? Hah! She''s probably just some nameless woman. Just based on what do you say that the academy is outdated? How conceited! Are you sure that your mother''s so-called research isn''t flawed?!"


    Lucia frowned when the teacher started debasing her mother''s research.


    "Hmph. I''ll have you know that my mother''s research is levels ahead of what the academy''s at, especially in regards to this ''Principle of Mana''. Hmph, even the name''s the same, are you sure that the academy didn''t plagiarize my mother''s research?" Lucia responded coldly.


    Lucia was surprised at first when the material that they would be learning for the next period of time was called Principle of Mana, the same name as her mother''s research, she found it amusing that the downgraded version of her mother''s research had the same name, but now she found it irksome.


    How could such a low, degraded version be called the Principle of Mana? It was clear which one was superior in theory and her mother''s recent findings was way ahead of the academy''s.


    Before the instructor could berate her for her accusation, Lucia then continued,


    "Since you want an explanation then I''ll give you one." Lucia said while walking to the front of the class.


    She wanted to take the magic pen and start writing a small portion of her mother''s research and show it to the class, but when she saw that the pen was in the hands of the instructor she wrapped her finger with mana and began writing letters on the board.


    This feat was an eye opener for everyone in class; this included the teacher, Miss Gal''ania.


    "Listen up, the principle of mana from the academy can only be called a downgraded version of what my mother researched, though before her recent breakthrough it was oddly the same." Lucia said dissatisfied.


    "Mana exists as particles in the air. It exists in a corporeal form! This is a proven fact since my mother was able to create a magic tool that could let the user ''see'' mana."


    Lucia then began explaining the new knowledge she gained from her mother''s research. Of course, she didn''t explain the entirety of Mrs. Anna''s Principle of Mana and only the portion that was related to the lecture materials that Miss Gal''ania explained to them.


    Even then, her explanation alone took a long time. By the time she finished, there were only a couple of minutes left before the class ended.


    "Hmph. See? Like I said, outdated," Lucia said coldly before returning to her seat.


    ''Ouch... never insult her family. That''s one thing you should never do.'' Cecil thought inwardly.


    At first he wanted to stop her from doing anything rash, but the cold look she gave him when he was about to stop her deterred him from doing so.


    Cecil only shrugged and thought, ''what''s done been done.''


    Everyone could only stare in surprise at Lucia. The ''lecture'' she gave to the class was indeed much more profound than the academy''s.


    Just as she was about to take her seat, Teacher Gal''ania raised her voice behind her.


    "L-Lucia! Your mother... w-who is she?"


    "Huh? Why would you care?"


    "Her name. Please, tell me her name..." Gal''ania pleaded.


    Seeing this, Lucia frowned and reluctantly opened her mouth.


    "Anna. Her name is Anna Yukihime."


    "Big Sis?!"


    "Hah?"


    Hearing the name caused Gal''ania to involuntarily cry out in response which earned a questioning look from everyone in class. She quickly covered her mouth and recomposed herself.


    "Who''s your big sis?" Lucia scoffed and sat down in annoyance. She was just about to resume her inscriptions before the teacher suddenly bowed to her.


    "I-I''m sorry... to think I called your mother a nameless woman... please accept my apology."


    "What?"


    Lucia was wide-eyed in astonishment. She didn''t expect the teacher to actually bow down to her and apologize. She was expecting the teacher to scoff at the incomprehensible knowledge that she had written on the class'' board.


    It was out of her expectations so she was fl.u.s.tered and didn''t know what to do.


    "U-uhm... i-it''s okay..."


    "My gosh, it''s no wonder though, since SHE is your mother. I wouldn''t expect any less from the daughter of big Sis!"


    "Huh? Like I said, who''s big sis?"


    "Hahaha~ nothing, nothing~ anyway... this research..." Teacher Gal''ania brushed off everyone''s questioning gaze and turned her attention back to the board where Lucia had scribbled all sorts of incomprehensible knowledge.


    Everyone in class turned to look back at Lucia with a gaze asking what happened, to which Lucia only responded with a shrug. She similarly had no idea what was happening.


    The teacher was a moment ago berating her and insulting her mother, the next moment however she suddenly started apologizing and even praised her while calling her mother ''big sis''.


    "Hmph... there''s no way I have such an annoying aunt... not to mention we''re from totally different races..." Lucia mumbled quietly.


    "You never know Lulu~" Cecil teased on the side.


    "Shut it. How come I''m the only one who had to this?"


    "Not my fault... you''re the one who lost your temper."


    "..."


    Lucia resumed her inscriptions, but not long Teacher Gal''ania addressed her and the class.


    "Please wait, I need to inform the headmaster of this! Don''t erase the board okay?!"


    After saying this, Gal''ania dashed out of the room accompanied by a gale after casting wind magic to enhance her speed.


    "...What the heck''s happening?" Ainz asked incredulously.


    "..." Eli was speechless at the odd development while Fina...


    "L-Lucia~" directed a questioning look towards her best friend who was now nonchalantly inscribing complex magic arrays and formations onto a magic scroll.


    The girl in question only shrugged her shoulders since she too didn''t know what was happening.


    Cecil was humming at the side, seeming to be completely oblivious to the commotion that Lucia caused.


    ''Hmhm~ never a dull moment~''

 Chapter 91 - She’s my...

    After Teacher Gal''ania left, the class was sent into another round of heated discussion. This time they were wondering who Lucia''s mother actually was.


    Just the mere mention of her name could cause the teacher to actually bow down and apologize to Lucia.


    The class was curious and the same went for Lucia''s close friends. Velicia actually came over from the front of the class where she was sitting with her other friends just to find out more from the person herself.


    "Neh, Lucia! Who is your mother actually?" Velicia asked with eyes sparkling with intense curiosity.


    Eli remained silent, but she had her attention on them. Fina was actually just about to ask the same question except Velicia beat her to it.


    Ainz went ahead to Cecil and asked him instead. From the beginning to the end he saw that Cecil wasn''t at all startled to see someone act respectful just at the mere mention of Lucia''s mother''s name, so he figured that Cecil knew something.


    Why didn''t he ask Lucia? It was simple really. With how Lucia treated him, she would probably just brush him off to the side.


    "Hey, Cecil, do you know who Lucia''s mother actually is?"


    "...she''s my mother I guess..."


    "WHAT?!" Ainz replied stupefied.


    "WHAAAATTTT!!!!?????" The 3 girls who were just about to listen to Lucia''s explanation similarly turned to Cecil and exclaimed in surprise.


    The class who was in heated discussion turned their eyes towards their group. Although they didn''t hear what Cecil said, they had their full attention on them since they figured that Lucia had spilled the beans on her mother''s identity.


    "C-Cecil... didn''t you say that your parent''s had already¨C"


    Fina asked hesitantly. She didn''t want to reopen any of Cecil''s scars, but if what Cecil said was true... then wouldn''t that mean it was Lucia''s mom who actually...


    Cecil looked up and shrugged, "Well, she is y''know..."


    "Cel~ that''s pretty misleading if you put it that way~" Lucia interjected.


    "?"


    Cecil only tilted his head in confusion at Lucia words, this caused her to sigh and explain.


    "My mother and father took in Cecil as their son after he came to live with us in the village. So it''s not what you guys are thinking~"


    "Oh, so it''s like that!"


    Her words gave her friends some understanding, they then turned to Cecil and saw that the boy only shrugged and turned his head back to the manual he was reading.


    Seeming to have gained some sort of revelation, Ainz turned towards Lucia and asked something really insensible.


    "So Cecil''s like... your foster brother?"


    The word ''brother'' made the air around their group drop a couple of levels. Eli was startled and Fina shivered. The two began glaring at Ainz, but the boy only turned a teasing smile towards Lucia.


    Lucia turned a meaningful smile towards Ainz and said, "Ahaha, nope. He''s just my childhood friend..."


    "But¨C"


    "He''s just my childhood friend." Lucia emphasized with a chilly smile which immediately stopped Ainz from opening his mouth.


    Ainz quickly turned towards Cecil as if to escape. He bent down and whispered.


    "Cecil, you still didn''t answer my question," Ainz looked up and made sure that Lucia and the rest didn''t hear him.


    Cecil didn''t get why he was whispering, but he replied in a whisper as well.


    "Well... during my time with Lucia''s family, mother was the person who taught us about magic..."


    "...that''s it?"


    "Yeah! Haha!" Cecil laughed and turned his attention back to his book.


    Ainz saw this and could only helplessly let out a breath. Asking Cecil anything that was unrelated to training was the same as asking a rock where the direction of the mountain was.


    Ainz could only walk back to his seat and pretend to rest his head. His full attention was directed to the girls who were sitting just across from him.


    "...Ainz you could just listen in if you wan¨C" Lucia said teasingly.


    At her words, Ainz immediately stood up from his seat and with a speed that looked like he teleported arrived right next to Fina.


    "WAH!" Fina exclaimed in surprise and started smacking Ainz with the text book she was holding.


    Lucia snickered seeing Ainz make a fool of himself.


    "Ouch. Okay, now ta¨Couch¨Clk," Ainz demanded.


    "Jeez, you''re a boy, but you sure like to gossip!" Velicia teased.


    "Hah! I care not of your words! Now... talk!"


    "Shut it Ainz. Another word and you can go back to your seat." Eli said coldly.


    "...yes, ma''am."


    Lucia was looking at Ainz with an amused expression, she turned her gaze and glanced at the class, everyone had their attention on her.


    "Well...my mom is Cecil''s and my master... I guess... she taught us all we know about mana and spells. She''s also a researcher, but most of her research is alien to me... Cecil would know more since he''s been helping my mother with her research before we left the village."


    Lucia paused and continued, "Other than that... she''s just my mother~"


    "Gah!"


    Ainz fell from his seat and the rest of her friends only looked back at Lucia with a little frustration.


    "Hey, come on. You could at least tell us who your mother actually is!" Ainz desperately asked, "She must be some sort of important person judging from Teacher Gal''ania''s reaction!"


    Lucia only shrugged in response, "I don''t know~ to me, my mother''s just my mother! There''s nothing special about her except that she''s given birth to a genius like me~ Nahahaha~"


    Lucia laughed it off and just as she was about to continue with her inscriptions, a black gate opened in the front of the classroom.


    "WAH!" From the gate, out stumbled Gal''ania. After her was the headmaster, Elufied Crescentia.


    "Ahaha, please excuse my intrusion everyone~" The headmaster leisurely greeted the class. This caused the class to burst into an uproar.


    "The headmaster actually came!"


    "That means!"


    "The research materials from Lucia!''


    Lucia just looked up at the headmaster and resumed her inscriptions once again. She couldn''t careless really. It was only just a small portion of her mother''s research results, it was nothing special.


    The headmaster took a while to observe the board, during this time Gal''ania tried to calm down the class.


    The headmaster finished reading and recording the materials on the board. He then turned around and addressed the class.


    "Well, this seems to be a very important piece of information~ so please do keep things under wraps for a while okay~"


    He smiled gently at the class and turned to look at Lucia who was busy with her scrolls before calling out to her.


    "Lucia!"


    "...Yes?" Lucia raised her head and responded. She just finished inscribing her last formation.


    "Could you please come with me?"


    "..."


    "Haha~ don''t worry I won''t bite."


    Lucia turned her eyes towards the boy next to her. Cecil saw her and just shrugged, he made it clear to her that she should decide for herself whether to go or not.


    Lucia thought for a moment before nodding her head and standing up.


    "Okay..."


    She waved her hand and the magic quill, pen, ink, and scrolls disappeared into her spatial ring. She tapped the scrolls on her desk and they quickly rolled themselves up and she strapped them onto her belt.


    The headmaster raised an eyebrow seeing her actions, he smiled gently before waving his hand and opening a spatial gate. He glanced backward and saw that Lucia was already standing behind him. Then he turned and gave a slight nod to Gal''ania before walking into the gate.


    Lucia turned around and took a quick glance at Cecil before she followed the headmaster into the gate. She felt her body being swallowed by an unknown force and she felt lightheaded.


    Back in the classroom, not long after Lucia walked into the gate, it blinked out of existence.


    "Will Lucia be okay?" Fina asked worriedly.


    "Don''t worry so much, the headmaster probably just wants to ask her about her mother. I mean look, Cecil doesn''t look worried at all." Ainz replied while giving a glance at the calmly reading Cecil.


    "...okay."


    "Does this mean class is over?" Velicia asked while taking a seat beside Eli.


    Ainz went to sit next to Cecil, he only took out his MID and took a look at the time.


    "Yup, we''re done. HEY TEACH!"


    "Y-yes?"


    "We''re done now right? I guess it''s time to go to our next class?"


    "Oh!" Gal''ania took a glance at the time on her MID and nodded her head.


    "Class is dismissed. Please go to your next class and tell the instructor that Lucia has permission to be absent."


    "Okay! Thanks instructor!" Ainz replied.


    After Gal''ania walked out of the classroom, everyone packed up their things and walked out.


    "Let''s go Cecil! We can''t be late for our next class." Fina urged hastily seeing Cecil still focused on his book.


    "Okay."


    "Next is practical combat class so you''ll have to put away that book Cecil." Eli informed. She was waiting at the entrance of the class for her friends.


    Cecil shrugged and kept his things. He stood up and walked out of the class with his friends, heading towards the academy''s training grounds.

 Chapter 92 - Mom’s your Master?!

    Inside the headmaster''s office in the main administrative building of Arks Royal Academy, Lucia was currently sitting down on a couch drinking tea made from the world tree, Urrugdrasil''s, leaves.


    The leaves had a nourishing effect and with every sip Lucia could feel her mana circulating faster in her mana circuits.


    Not only that she felt that with every full circulation, the mana inside her mana point grow ever so slightly.


    ''Oh! It''s like a week''s worth of meditation!'' Lucia''s eyes brightened and she felt it was regrettable since she had already finished the tea she was drinking.


    "Haha, here you go!" The headmaster who was sitting in front of her laughed gently seeing her expression. He then started pouring her another cup.


    Lucia''s face brightened at this, but then she started frowning.


    "Uhm... I''m pretty sure you didn''t call me here just so that we could drink tea, right?"


    The headmaster only chuckled in response to this.


    "No rush, no rush. Let me take a good look at you."


    The headmaster then gave her a long hard glance. It was only after Lucia began to feel uneasy did the headmaster chuckle and took away his gaze. He stood up and walked to a cabinet and began rummaging through the contents, looking for something.


    "How''s your mother Lucia?"


    Lucia was surprised hearing this, she halted her hands that were about to reach for the cup of tea on the table.


    "...she''s doing well. Do you know her?"


    "Well... knowing her could be said to be an understatement..." The headmaster turned around and walked back to sit down in front of her again.


    Hearing his words caused Lucia to become confused. Just what was her mother to this elf?


    "Anna Yukihime, I''m actually her disciple! She''s my master hahaha~"


    "..."


    ''What the?''


    Lucia''s eyes widened hearing this revelation. The headmaster''s master... was actually her mother?


    Lucia put a hand on her forehead, she was desperately trying to digest the bombshell news that the headmaster just dropped on her.


    "Ah, I can recognize master''s research anywhere. But wow, she actually got to this point already huh! Mana..."


    Lucia''s head started to ache when she saw the headmaster start acting all familiar with her. Here she was trying to find a good way to react to the fact that her academy''s headmaster was actually a student of her mother...


    ''How is HE, mama''s student? I mean mama... well... she''s just mama!"


    Lucia tried to think back at how her mother was like... she was just so carefree and at home... she was basically just a housewife! Father doted on her, and whenever Lucia came back home from playing with her friends she would sometimes catch her mother acting all spoiled to her father, clinging onto him like a child and whining.


    Other than the occasional times when she would head into her research room for a day or two, there weren''t any indications of her mother being any sort of ill.u.s.trious character! Especially not Elufied Crescentia''s master!


    "...you''re not playing games with me are you, headmaster?"


    "Oh? Haha, what makes you say that?"


    "Uhm... well... it''s just..."


    Lucia took a deep breath before yelling, "There''s no way that MY MOM could be YOUR master!"


    "Ahahahaha~" The headmaster only laughed in response.


    "Oh, little one, do you know what your mother was called back when she was still the head of the academy some years ago?"


    Another bomb was dropped once again onto Lucia.


    "...my mom was what?"


    "Ahaha, I guess your parents never told you~ You see, your mom was the previous headmaster of the academy before me! I only succeeded her because I was the strongest disciple under her and that made me the strongest candidate to be the next academy''s head!"


    "..."


    "Anyway, your mother was a really powerful person... it''s just that no one would have expected that only after 4 years of staying in office as the academy''s head would she suddenly drop it all and abandon her position. She went ahead and eloped with the Aurielle clan''s first young master and disappeared together with him."


    Bombshell after bombshell, Lucia was too stupefied at the news regarding her parents'' ill.u.s.trious past that she no longer cared whether to be surprised or not.


    The headmaster for some reason broke his character and kept on chatting and chatting about her mother''s feats and legends. The tirade seemed endless to the point where Lucia was now beginning to be annoyed.


    "Just so you know Lucia, your mother¨C"


    "Enough."


    "Eh?"


    "If all you''re going to do is boast about my mother''s past then can I go now?"


    "Hah? Don''t you want to know more about your mother?"


    "All I know is that my mother''s the carefree, doted upon, family loving housewife and that she''s my role-model and the person who I call mama. I don''t need anything else other than this."


    Lucia said a matter-of-factly.


    "...ahahaha~ I guess you''re right! Anyway, let''s get to the main reason why I called you here."


    After nearly a quarter of an hour of the endless ''your mother'' stories, the headmaster was finally going to bring up the main topic.


    "This research, the principles of mana... this was obviously something done by your mother. The principles of mana that the school teaches in the classes are based off of all her past research materials."


    "Yeah, I could see that. They were practically the same things that my mother taught to me, but the new materials she sent to Cecil made these far outdated."


    "Cecil? Oh! Your little boyfriend, huh," the headmaster teased.


    "W-w-w-what?!" Lucia immediately blushed while raising her voice at the headmaster.


    "Oh, was I wrong?"


    Lucia wanted to deny it, but she didn''t want to. She felt happy, but embarrassed at the same time. She began fidgeting shyly and she lowered her head, not daring to eye the headmaster.


    "Ohohoho~"


    The laugh was pretty annoying that Lucia forgot about her embarrassment for a moment. She raised her head and began glaring at the headmaster.


    "Haha, I''ll stop teasing you~ anyway what does this have to do with Cecil?"


    "Well..."


    Lucia frowned when the headmaster began talking seriously again. If she told him that all the new research material results were with Cecil, wouldn''t that drag him in here with her.


    Although Lucia did want to bring Cecil here, she didn''t want to cause him any trouble. Cecil wanted to stay inconspicuous and his recent actions had already earned him too much attention which he of course, did not like. If people found out that the two were called in by the headmaster, then the spot light will once again shine on him.


    ''I... I shouldn''t trouble him anymore...''


    "I-it''s nothing... if you want the materials then maybe you should just go ask mom to give them to you?"


    The headmaster narrowed his eyes a little after seeing Lucia''s odd reaction. He had a little suspicion about what it was so he just let it be.


    "Okay, I''ll go ask your mother than. Don''t worry I won''t bother you or your boyfriend any more~"


    "H-headmaster!!!"


    "Ahaha, you should hurry and make it clear to him you know~ you never know when someone else might just come and steal him away from you~"


    "Ah?"


    "Okay, I''ll go ask master about this. Since master was able to actually prove all this, then it would send the magic world into an uproar. Just imagining the possibilities and innovations we can create!"


    Lucia just stared back at him deadpanned.


    Feeling the gaze the enthusiastic headmaster smiled apologetically at Lucia.


    "Sorry, sorry. I get excited just thinking about this~ Let me send you back to class now Lucia. Hrrmmm... If I''m not mistaken your class should be having practical combat class at the fighters ground right now."


    The headmaster stood up and waved his hand, summoning a black spatial gate in front of him.


    "Off you go, little one."


    Lucia took another look at the unfinished tea that she left on top of the table. She quickly took a gulp and finished the entire cup. She bowed down towards the Headmaster who was laughing at her antics, before she ran into the spatial gateway.


    "Ahaha, what an interesting lass... just like master!"


    The headmaster walked back to his office desk and sat down into his chair, leaning in while closing his eyes.


    "...I shouldn''t bother the kids anymore."


    The headmaster sighed, "Looks like I should pay a small visit to Master... I hope she doesn''t kick me out this time..."


    The headmaster looked a little worried. Thinking back at his last time''s visit that ended with him being blown away from the village made him shudder a little.


    He had only stepped a foot into Fauxe village''s gate before a large force abruptly sent him flying up into the air, shooting faraway from the village. It was clear that his master didn''t welcome him the last time.


    The headmaster gritted his teeth and resolved himself.


    "The materials are too important... even if I have to grovel on the ground I''ll definitely ask master to share her research with me!"


    "There''s no need for that." A cold voice rang inside the room.


    "?!" The headmaster quickly stood up from his seat, he looked around the room and quickly found the source of the cold, but familiar voice.


    Standing by the large window on the side was a beautiful woman with silver colored hair, fox ears, and eyes. She was wearing a long black mage robe that perfectly accentuated her beautiful and s.e.xy figure. She had 3 beautiful tails swaying behind her and she was currently staring down at the academy''s grounds.


    "Master!!!" the headmaster immediately scrambled forward and did a 90 degree bow, but he was only met with a cold reprimand.


    "Shut it, El. I''m no longer your master. Remember that you''re now the Headmaster of Arks Royal Academy. Act like it you idiot."


    "B-but¨C"


    "I''m just an ordinary housewife now!" The woman replied cutely.


    "..."


    This woman was Anna Yukihime. Lucia''s mother and Cecil''s foster mother.

 Chapter 93 - Master and Disciple

    The headmaster raised his head and looked up towards the woman.


    "It doesn''t matter... in my heart you will always be my master." The headmaster said resolutely.


    Seeing the determination in his eyes, Anna could only sigh helplessly.


    "Whatever. Anyway, I''m here to give you a little warning~" the coldness in her voice dissipated and she said playfully.


    "W-what is it, master?"


    "Don''t go bothering my daughter and son now~"


    "Ah! Of course, I won''t be bothering them. The thought never crossed my mind! But... son? I thought you only had a single daughter, master?"


    "Ahaha~ well he''s not really my~ son. But he soon will be~ in a couple of years, maybe. For now he''s just my foster son... Cecil, you should know him right?"


    "Ah! Lucia''s boyfriend!"


    "Oh? Boyfriend?" Anna raised an eyebrow at Cecil''s ''title''.


    "Well, that''s what everyone on campus says anyway~ those two are always stuck to each other like glue so it was obvious? Although the boy in question seems to always have his head up in the clouds and his mind focused on training. However, Lucia''s feelings are painfully obvious to everyone around her though."


    "Ahaha~ it''s just like Cel to be like that. Those two will end up together anyway so I have no problems~ anyway. Don''t go around bothering them anymore. Here''s the stuff you want."


    Anna placed her hand on top of the headmaster''s office table and dropped a pile of doc.u.ments on top of it.


    The giant mound of doc.u.ments that came out of Anna''s spatial ring was enough to fill up almost half of the space on the headmaster''s large desk.


    "It''s the new materials on my research into mana. Just so you know this will be the last time I''m helping the kingdom. Tell the king to make sure he puts his attention away from my children. Or I will sell off this info to the Oceania Kingdom or even to the folks on Midgard."


    "Y-yes master! Don''t worry. I''ll make sure I convey your orders to the king..."


    "Good, I''m counting on you Elufied."


    "Yes, master!"


    The headmaster bowed down and hesitated a little, he raised his head and asked, "Do you want me to look after the two?"


    "No need. Let the kids find their own path forward. I''ve already directed them on the right direction and all you people need to do is observe. I don''t want you meddling in their growth!" Anna strongly objected.


    Anna knew that the current direction of both Cecil and Lucia''s growth was the best they could take. Along with her occasional letters of advice and guidance, Lucia''s original magic development based on knowledge from Earth that she gained from Cecil, was groundbreaking. The output and power would only grow as Lucia kept on developing even stronger and higher tiered original spells.


    Cecil''s own body constitution and elemental affinity was hard for any instructors to teach him normally. It was better for the boy to find his own path forward. He had his Mana Eyes which would help him greatly. Not to mention that his family''s martial arts was also unique in itself.


    If he could successfully turn it into a training manual that encompassed breathing, fighting and mana cultivation technique altogether, then he would finally be able to properly step onto the path of a mage.


    As a warrior, Cecil was hands down much stronger than people from his generation. His body constitution coupled with his near perfect manipulation of mana made him almost superhuman. The only flaw was that Cecil couldn''t yet raise his mana stage and increase his mana quantity inside his body.


    Anna didn''t know the specifics, but from the letters that Cecil kept on sending back which voiced his worries and thoughts, Anna knew that she couldn''t do anything more, but to give some superficial advice on how he should proceed with his training. Anymore was all up to Cecil himself to forge a path forward.


    All she new that their current path was the best for them. Their current fighting prowess alone could help them jump up levels to fight against people on mana stages far above their current stages. Anna wanted to see just where her two children could take their current power and transform that into something better... or something worse.


    It was all up to those two to figure out their path forwards. It was the same with her and that''s also how she taught all her previous disciples. Just look at where Elufied was now. It wasn''t just him, Anna''s two other disciples were in an equally important position thanks to her teachings.


    Finally understanding his master''s intentions, Elufied bowed.


    "Yes, master!"


    "I''ll be going now. Don''t tell my kids that I was here~" Anna waved good bye to Elufied.


    By the time Elufied raised his head to bid his master farewell; Anna was no longer inside the room.


    It''s like she wasn''t even there to begin with. The only proof that she was ever inside the office was the large mound of doc.u.ments still present on top of the headmaster''s desk.


    At the fighters training ground Area 3, class S''s students were currently listening to the instructor''s instructions and were warming up or stretching their bodies. Others were swinging their chosen training weapons and some were even holding mock battles around the field.


    A black spatial gate formed not far from the grounds. The students stopped what they were doing and eyed the gate.


    Not long after, Lucia stumbled out of the gate alone. She shook her head and looked around the area. She quickly found Cecil practicing his martial arts not far from where she was. Eli, Fina, and Velicia were also not far from where Cecil was.


    Ainz was currently running around the whole grounds. He was out of breath and was panting like a dog. It was his fault for asking Cecil to guide him in training his body. The first thing he told Ainz to do was run around the training grounds.


    Ainz had asked how many times and Cecil''s only response was to run until he collapsed. Cecil wanted to determine how high Ainz''s endurance and stamina was as a mage. There were many times when Ainz wanted to stop since he already felt that he had wanted to collapse.


    Cecil only laughed and kicked him and told him to keep on running. He''s still conscious so it wasn''t his limit yet. So now, it was already his 20 something times running around the grounds.


    This caused many of his classmates to eye Ainz weirdly. Ainz ignored this since he acknowledged Cecil''s strength as a fighter. The only way for him to grow stronger was to accept the guidance of an expert such as Cecil.


    As for the girls, they wanted to do the same, but Cecil stopped them. It was better for Lucia to train them instead. He didn''t want to take responsibility later when there were 4 corpses collapsed all around him.


    It was okay for Ainz however since... Ainz was Ainz. Cecil felt no guilt at all with pushing Ainz until he collapsed onto the floor like a corpse.


    Lucia walked to her friends and greeted them. They wanted to ask about what the headmaster wanted with her, but she said that she would explain later. She then turned her eyes to Cecil who was practicing.


    Cecil felt Lucia stare and he spoke up without stopping his training.


    "Wanna join?"


    "...Kay"


    Cecil stopped his training and took the starting form of his family''s martial stances and waited for Lucia. After she took her place beside him, the two began moving together according to Cecil''s martial arts forms. The two moved slowly at first, they moved smoothly and gracefully.


    Their movements flowed and connected well together like water, they were also moving in sync and this caused many to turn an eye towards them. Even the instructor who was about to stop the class from their activities couldn''t help, but stop and observe the two''s unique way of warming up.


    Ainz had finished a lap and stopped to observe the two as well. He walked up to the girls who had stopped stretching and were currently turning a curious and fascinated eye towards the two foxkin.


    Slowly, their movements began flowing even faster. They began putting more power into their punches, kicks, and their body movement when switching to different stances began radiating with power and vigor.


    Their mana had even begun to flow involuntarily and it caused their body to be lightly wrapped around by an aura.


    Lucia''s was a dark red while Cecil''s was a gold color. It wasn''t noticeable at first, but the more they moved and exerted power in their movements, the more visible this aura became.


    Cecil and Lucia were oblivious to this change since they were too focused with their movements. After a couple more sets of movements, they finally stop and the aura that was wrapping around them slowly dissipated.


    "Phew, that felt better than usual! Don''t ya think Cel?" Lucia said with a smile, she was lightly sweating from their short workout.


    "Yeah... how odd..."


    "Hey, the instructor wants us to gather. Class is finally going to begin." Ainz called out to the two who had just finished.


    "Okay... let''s go, Cel?"


    "Yeah, right behind ya..."


    Cecil was following behind Lucia while deep in thought... he was wondering what that mind-calming, ethereal sensation he had felt just now. It was good and he could feel his body improve at a good rate and even the mana inside his body was stimulated and now the amount of mana had even increased, even if only by a little.


    It was better than his previous state when his stage and mana cultivation was stagnant!


    Cecil could also feel that some of the mana that wasn''t in his mana point was beginning to condense into a liquid form.


    ''Whatever it is... I wanna experience it again!''

 Chapter 94 - New Year

    It was a weekend and there were no classes today. Cecil was alone walking down the main campus road.


    He was currently wearing a black cloak and covering his face to mask his identity. Cecil had sneaked off without informing Lucia or any of his friends. He lied and said that he would be going out to the forest near the school to train by himself.


    When Cecil got to the entrance of the academy district, he walked off to the side. He went behind a building and made sure that no one was around. He activated Mana Burst and disappeared from his spot.


    He then magically appeared in front of the Ironforge Smithy not long after.


    ''Phew, I''ve been using this technique for a while now, but the strain on my body is still a little much.''


    Cecil thought with a grimace. The technique that he used to almost teleport to his location was his new combat skill that was an upgraded version of his ''Shukuchi''. He called it Blink, since from an outside perspective he literally blinked out of existence before appearing somewhere else.


    ''Even with my trained body that''s enhanced with mana I''m still feeling the strain. There''s no way this could be used in battle anytime soon, but I guess it''s a good way to move around discretely...''


    Cecil walked into the smithy''s housing area and headed towards Radon''s private smithy. As he got closer to the place, Cecil could hear the rhythmic clanging and pounding of metal against metal.


    He smiled hearing this, "The old man''s busy today..."


    Cecil arrived at the door and knocked. After a moment, the clanging stopped and the door opened.


    "Oh, it''s you boy!"


    "Yup! Is my spear ready?"


    "Ahaha, that''s the first thing you ask? No greeting for your uncle?"


    "Good morning gramps, how are you. Doing fine? How''s the smithy?" Cecil said in monotone with a deadpanned expression.


    "Tsk, never mind."


    "Just kidding gramps, besides I see that everything is going well. Business is good and all."


    "You bet! We just got a batch order from the kingdom... though it''s a little suspicious..."


    "Hm?"


    "Well, they''re asking for a 100 sets of armor, swords, spears, shields... well practically everything in 100 sets. It''s almost the end of the year so they asked us for it to be ready by the start of summer next year."


    "Okay... other than the abnormal amount of equipment they want and the close to unreasonable deadline, what''s so suspicious about it?"


    "Well lad... since you''ve been staying at the academy for a while now, you haven''t heard about the recent rumors have ya?"


    "What is it?"


    "The Midgard continent has been frequently sending attacks on Urrugdrasil''s borders."


    "...is that true?"


    "I can''t confirm for sure, but the rumors from merchants and immigrants from the border areas can''t be just for fear-mongering..."


    "...tsk."


    This was obviously bad news for Cecil. He planned to only stay in the academy for a year or so before he dropped out to continue on his journey.


    If a war was to break out between the Midgard and Urrugdrasil continents... then with just his meager amount of strength there was no way he could safely cross into the Midgard continent in the midst of wartime.


    "The deadline is at the beginning of summer next year right?"


    "Yeah... although it''s only speculation, but I hear that the Midgard continent has been attacking so frequently in order to take the beastman race''s population and turn them into slaves. Also, this was something I inadvertently heard from when I was visiting the palace last time, butapparently the beastmen who aren''t in the best relations with us beastkin, have even come to negotiate for our assistance..."


    Radon stopped to wipe the sweat on his forehead. He then went to grab a long plain looking box before continuing,


    "Anyway this is only speculation, but I think it''s the truth since the kingdom''s been making some sketchy movements lately... not to mention these abnormal orders and considering the beastkin immigrants who are most likely refugees flowing into our city."


    "...let''s just hope that war doesn''t break out... I planned to travel and roam around the Midgard continent after I''ve finished seeing all the places here on Urrugdrasil!"


    "Oh? Now that''s pretty adventurous of you!"


    "Haha, well is this my spear?"


    "Sure is. Here, I made the case using 1000 year old malorken wood. The wood will absorb mana from the surroundings so it can maintain the condition of the spear to some degree as well as keep the natural array in the spear in top condition at all times. I also made it as plain as possible."


    "Thanks, gramps!"


    "Yeah, yeah... by the way, I don''t see Lucia anywhere?"


    "Oh, I actually sneaked off by myself! I wanted to do some lone training for now."


    "...Don''t go and make my niece sad now Cecil."


    "Hah, how could I make her sad? Besides, she''s out with her friends right now!"


    "Alright then, make sure you tell her to stop by every now and then."


    "Sure thing old man."


    "Off you go then."


    "See ya later gramps!"


    Cecil walked out of the private smithy and headed towards Silver''s dog house. He called out to his friend and the two left the smithy heading out of the city.


    On the road just outside of the city, Cecil was looking at a map of the surroundings. The map also had marks that indicated where the habitats of monsters were located.


    "Alright Silv, I''ve got today and tomorrow free from class so let''s head up to the mountains and do some training!"


    "WOOF!"


    With the resounding roar that startled the people nearby, Silver roused his mana and dashed forwards, leaving behind a mighty gale.


    Back at the academy, Lucia and her friends were currently roaming around the district looking for something interesting to do. It was a rare day of rest for Lucia and she wanted to hang out with her friends for once.


    She wanted to call Cecil, but decided against it. She wanted to try hanging out with only her girl friends.


    They were going around in their casual clothes, but it was a bit clear that Lucia''s clothes were a bit too plain and simple. The girls decided to go out shopping for things for their fashion-less friend.


    "Hey, Lucia... who picks your clothing?" Velicia asked.


    "Hm? I do? Why?"


    "How come it''s... a bit plain?"


    "Oh! Well, Cecil suggested not getting anything too gaudy or pricey since we were traveling all over the place. I''d just ruin it and there weren''t any times when I could actually use them if I had any!"


    "No wonder..."


    Everyone now had an understanding as to why such a beautiful girl like Lucia had no sense of fashion.


    "Well since you''re in the city it''s time you dress like one of us y''know!"


    Lucia shrugged and said, "Whatever you say~ I don''t really care though~"


    "Good, since you don''t care then we''re going to go and dress you up!"


    "Consider it our new year''s gift Lucia!" Fina added with a smile. On the side, Eli nodded in agreement.


    After that, the group of girls dragged their friend from clothing store to clothing store to dress her up in new clothes. They purchased whatever they found nice on her insisting that it was a gift.


    Ainz was spending the last day of the year out on the training field running laps around it. He wanted to train with Cecil, but his friend had something to do so he was told to go train by himself.


    All in all, today was a great and normal break day, except for the plots and undercurrents that were currently brewing over at the Midgard continent.


    In a majestic castle''s council room in the Tempest Kingdom''s capital city, Tempest, on the Midgard continent, a wartime council was currently being held by all the human nobles of the kingdom.


    "The time is nigh! With all the transcendent level figures being preoccupied with next year''s centennial void sealing for the next 5 years... it''s time for our kingdom to conquer those hapless animals over at Urrugdrasil!" declared an old man with a kingly air.


    This man was the current king of Tempest, Volsung Alexandre Tempest.


    The Commander of the Tempest''s royal army voiced out a concern,


    "My lord... although we can conquer those animals, but what will happen when the void sealing ends?"


    "Hmph. It''s not like we plan to take over their lands. After we conquer those animals, we''ll only take their people and enslave them. We need more free laborers to finish excavating the ruins and create the star tower. With the tower, even a transcendental level figure will have to think twice if they want to attacks us in retaliation!"


    "...the star tower... its considered taboo and the construction plans of those towers were long lost... Your majesty, don''t tell me that the ruins you found?!"


    The king only chuckled in response. He turned his eyes and imperiously gazed around at the other nobles inside the room.


    They bowed down in response to the king''s gaze.


    "Remember! All those years ago when those animals dared to attack our borders! They didn''t want us to establish trade relations with the Oceanic Kingdom of Neftersea and they massacred our people!"


    The King''s eyes were now burning with fury.


    "...my wife died in that tragedy... and I''m sure that many of your family members who were there to attend the banquet to celebrate with my queen were also caught up in those animals'' selfish schemes!"


    "We''ve been enduring for the past 10 years and now we''ve finally amassed our forces! It''s time we strike! Will all of you follow this king to battle?!"


    "YES, YOUR MAJESTY!" The nobles inside the room responded loudly.


    "GOOD, NOW GATHER YOUR MEN! WE STRIKE NOW! BEFORE THE WINTER ENDS, WE''LL DELIVER A RESOUNDING BLOW TO THOSE ANIMALS!"


    The meeting continued and they began discussing their battle tactics and plans. Not long after, the king dismissed the nobles and headed into his private study.


    The commander was following behind the king.


    "Do you feel that going to war is a mistake?" The king asked in a tired voice.


    "...I''m not sure Your Highness..."


    The king chuckled, "Don''t be so stiff Cain. You''re still my son-in-law despite having lost the princess in that tragedy..."


    Cain Miltaer, the commander of the royal army removed the helmet that was covering his face. Under the helmet was a youthful and handsome face. The handsome blonde haired commander had a sad expression plastered on his face at the mention of the late princess.


    "If I may be frank, father..."


    "Mhm."


    "This war... is indeed a mistake..."


    "You are right... it is undoubtedly a mistake... but I will still go through with it. My queen and my daughter may not want this but... where the hell am I supposed to direct all this grief and anguish that''s been smoldering in my heart for the past 10 years?!"


    The king yelled furiously. A spark of madness could be seen flashing in his eyes.


    "My king... no, father... whether it is a bad choice or not, I will follow whatever it is that you choose." The Commander, Cain, responded resolutely and kneeled.


    "...Good. How''re the negotiations for cooperation from the surrounding border kingdoms going?"


    "As of today, we''ve successfully ''acquired'' the cooperation from all the small kingdoms bordering the Urrugdrasil continent. My king, on your command they will set off with all their forces and launch a blitzkrieg on those beastman kingdoms and settlements."


    "Excellent, contact them. On the day of Void Sealing we''ll launch our attack!"


    "Yes, Your Highness!"


    The Void Sealing was a centennial event that happened on the very first day of the New Year. Every transcendent powerhouse in every continent on Alterna had to attend. It was a ritual to seal a calamity and it was something that no powerhouse could miss.


    Year 4099, on the 1st of the Month of Beginnings, Sartuar, exactly on the day of Void Sealing where the transcendent level figures of both the Midgard and Urrugdrasil continent were attending the ritual, the Royal Kingdom of Tempest and the border kingdoms of the human race launched an all-out attack on Urrugdrasil.


    The results were an overwhelming victory on the human''s side. They attacked swiftly and without warning. The next day was supposed to be the celebration of the New Year, but all that was celebrated was the news of a massacre.


    Historians would label this day as the Hundred Year Massacre.

 Chapter 95 - The Tournament Begins

    It was over a month after Cecil and Lucia had enrolled in Arks Royal Academy, the duo along with their party of friends were currently completing a hunting quest that was issued by the adventurer guild in their academy''s district.


    "Ainz watch your back!"


    "Ouh!"


    At Cecil''s warning, Ainz jumped forward while sending a wind blade behind him. The wind blade passed through a flying demon hawk that was pouncing towards him.


    "Alright, let''s clear the rest of ''em away!" Ainz shouted while casting spells with incredible speed.


    Cecil dashed into the group of monsters alongside Elizabeth and the two wreaked havoc, cutting down the demon hawks in droves.


    The demon hawks that the group was currently hunting were individually a C-class rated monster, but the adventurer guild had deemed the quest to be ranked A since a flock of more than 10,000 of these birds had appeared in the forest close to a village near the kingdom''s capital.


    There was supposedly even a Monster King leading the flock.


    The focus of the demon hawks were centered on their 2 vanguards which were Cecil and Eli. The flock nearly blocked the rest of the party''s sights of their two friends, but the constant screeching and falling of the monsters indicated that the two were in no trouble at all.


    Nevertheless, the sheer numbers of the flock was nearly endless to Cecil''s group. They have been fighting intensely for almost half an hour already since they''ve first encountered the flock.


    Although Lucia and Cecil weren''t exhausted yet, but Ainz and the rest were beginning to show signs.


    "Tsk, these birds seem endless." Lucia clicked her tongue.


    "Y-yeah... at this rate, I don''t think we''ll be able to clear it all in one go without first exhausting all our mana..." Fina added timidly.


    "Don''t worry so much Fina! We can just retreat before we even exhaust ourselves!" Velicia assured her from the side.


    Lucia and Velicia were tasked with the protection of the party''s 2 mages and the two were currently fending off the multitudes of demon hawks that were swooping down to attack them.


    After another 5 mintues, Cecil and Eli burst out of the encirclement of demon hawks that were surrounding them. They quickly regrouped back with the rest and decided that it was time to retreat.


    Cecil was shouldering Elizabeth who was visibly exhausted.


    "Eli almost over drafted her mana earlier, we should retreat for today." Cecil said calmly.


    "I-I''m okay..." Eli refuted.


    "Come on, let''s go. I''ll bring up the rear, Fina support me. Ainz, Lucia, open up a path for us."


    "Okay~"


    "Roger."


    Cecil entrusted Eli over to Velicia and defended their rear with Fina.


    "LAVA BURST"


    "OMEGA FLARE!"


    2 tier 5 spells were fired into the flock of demon hawks, disintegrating them into dust. The 2 spells created a large opening to form in the encirclement.


    "LET''S GO!" Ainz shouted.


    Everyone enhanced themselves using a combat skill and dashed together out of the flock of birds.


    For a while the flock of demon hawks chased after them, but with Lucia and Ainz constantly sending out mid-tier spells to slow down the flock, the group was able to successfully break away from their pursuit.


    When they arrived at the village close to where the flock inhabited the nearby forest, the group quickly checked into an inn and collapsed on their beds.


    Cecil and Lucia only washed up the grime and sweat that they acc.u.mulated from the entire day of fighting. The two quickly met up in front of the inn and went out to the local grocery shop to buy ingredients for their dinner.


    "Cel... shouldn''t we tell them now?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "You know full well what I mean you idiot!"


    "Ahaha, nahhh... they''ll figure it out once we''ve finished this quest."


    "...we lied to them though..."


    "Oh? How did we lie?"


    "We said we''d only be taking on a Gold ranked quest!"


    "Well, isn''t this a Gold ranked quest?"


    "It''s a Gold ranked PROMOTION quest! The difficulty is already borderline Platinum ranked maybe even higher!"


    Cecil just shrugged in reply. "A Gold ranked promotion quest is still a Gold ranked quest Lulu."


    "That''s just sophistry!"


    "Ahaha, what''s up Lulu? It''s not like this quest is hard on the two of us. If we wanted, the two of us alone could have just blown away that entire flock of pigeons anytime we wanted. Why do you need to worry so much? Besides, don''t you think that this is an opportunity to train our friends?"


    "But... oh.... alright..." Lucia dejectedly responded. There was no fault in Cecil''s words. The flock of ''pigeons'' according to Cecil did in no way, pose a threat to him or Lucia. A quick tier 7 spell would be enough for the two to annihilate the flock in a blink of an eye.


    This was a rare opportunity for their friends to train and experience what it was like to take up an almost platinum ranked quest.


    So, why are Cecil and Lucia doing adventure quests when they were supposed to be having classes in the academy?


    This was because the Arks Royal Academy''s Year-Long Tournament had officially begun, 3 days ago.


    During the past month, Lucia and Cecil stayed away from any factions'' invitation and only kept a good relationship between each faction.


    Eli, Fina, and Velicia also wanted to join a faction, but seeing as their two friends avoiding the factions the 4 people were caught in a dilemma.


    Some of the factions that they wanted to join had special conditions attached which applied only to them, one such condition was persuading either Cecil or Lucia to join their faction alongside themselves.


    So, up until when the tournament started, the 6 people have still not joined any faction. Eli held no interest in joining a faction if Cecil and Lucia weren''t in it so she made up her mind to just form a small party with the two.


    Fina found it regrettable, but she still decided to join their small party. Velicia wanted to join a faction with her other friends, but she was barred from joining if she couldn''t convince her friends, Cecil or Lucia, from joining together with her.


    Since this was the case, Velicia went ahead to join their party since she was left with little to no choice in the matter, the only good news for her was that her friends were able to join the faction without any problems.


    As for Ainz... at first he did join the student council, but was then kicked out afterwards. He never participated in any preliminary tournament events alongside his faction since he joined. He also opted to continue training with Cecil during his free time and this caused him to be somewhat estranged with his faction.


    When the other members of the student council''s faction questioned his membership and loyalty, Ainz plainly said that he was joining the faction in order to get stronger and obtain more benefits. He also had Cecil as a friend who helped him in his training so why should he stray away from such an opportunity.


    Of course, this earned him the enmity of a couple of fellows and his treatment in the faction went spiraling down into the drain. It was to the point where he was pretty much the errand boy. Considering his pride, he could no longer take it. The last straw however was the fact that some of the senior members of the faction began insulting his friends.


    He wouldn''t take it lying down so Ainz also returned the insults, calling them weak fools who wouldn''t be able to handle the intense training that he was currently conducting under Cecil''s guidance.


    This of course caused the higher ups of the faction to be infuriated with him and they kicked him out of the faction. They also threatened that they would do all they can to hinder his and Cecil''s attempts in the tournament.


    Ainz only laughed it off and immediately joined Cecil''s party since there wasn''t much benefit in joining another faction starting as a grunt member. There was also no guarantee that he would be treated any better than what he experienced back with the student council.


    Ainz shared his short experience in the faction, but all Cecil heard was contributions, contributions, contributions. They start out small as a grunt and they could only move up the ''social'' ladder using contributions in the form of donating rare resources to the faction or completing quests issued by the faction.


    They were too busy trying to chase after contributions that they had little to no time to train by themselves.


    So, Cecil''s small party of 6 formed an individual group outside of the factions and participated in tournament this way.


    The first segment of the tournament was the adventurer segment so the party formed an adventurer party that they named, ''Little Kings''.


    When the party was registered, Lucia and Cecil kept their ranks secret so the party''s rank was based off of the current known highest in their party, which was Eli who was a 3-star Silver ranked adventurer.


    Since the party''s rank would be based on the member with the highest rank, Cecil and Lucia didn''t want to announce there''s yet since they may cause another uproar within the academy if their ranks were publicly known.


    It also had to be known that this was a tournament, so competition was everywhere. If it was known of how high their ranks were, there was bound to be a multitude of people who were going to be dead set on obstructing their progress in this segment of the tournament.


    Particularly people from the 10 factions, Cecil and Lucia long knew about this problem so they kept things secret. Eventually, their party members would find out about their ranks, but by then Cecil and Lucia would have finished their preparations to counteract the obstacles that the factions were bound to send their way.


    "Come on Lulu, let''s hurry. I bet our friends are probably starving to death by now."


    "...yeah. But don''t you think this ''training'' is a little too harsh for them?" Lucia asked worriedly.


    "Oh, come on. They''ve at least passed my test. This much isn''t going to kill them."


    "KILL??"


    "AHAHAHA~"


    Lucia prayed for her friends, this was only the prelim training for them. Once they start the REAL training... they might actually die.


    This was one of the preparations that Cecil and Lucia were conducting. Just like Lucia''s mother, the two were going to create a party whose every individual had strength on par or close to a King or a faction''s overall strength.


    They might not win with quantity, but at least they''ll be able to win with quality.


    If every member of Little Kings were able to complete a high-tier Gold or low-tier Platinum ranked quest individually, then the points they would stack up in this segment of the tournament would be astronomical.


    When the two finished shopping, it was almost evening. The two went back to the inn and picked up the 4 corpses of their friends and brought them out of the village.

 Chapter 96 - Demon Hawks

    Just before the sun peaked its head over the horizon, Cecil''s party, the Little Kings, were already heading back out into the forest to finish their quest.


    This time they had a plan and it would revolve around Ainz and Lucia''s area attack spells.


    "Remember okay, Eli, Veli, and I will lure the flock into the open field in the middle of the forest, after that I''ll ''Blink'' the three of us out of there. Once we''ve cleared the area, Ainz will cast Tornado and Lucia will follow up with Crimson Pillar."


    "Okay~"


    "Alright."


    Everyone gave their affirmative with only Fina raising her hand in the air. Cecil turned towards her and asked, "What''s up Fina?"


    "W-what will I be doing?"


    "You''re on support, just in case something unexpected happens and we get stuck in the middle of the flock later, I want you to cast an Aqua and ice barrier on us. So even if we fail to get out in time, we''ll at least be able to endure the flames from Lucia''s spell until we can break out of there."


    "Okay!"


    "Say... don''t you think that''s a little dangerous?" Lucia frowned.


    "Like I said, it''s only a backup plan just in case something DOES happen. All we have to do is make sure we don''t screw up later. Although not everything will probably go as planned, but at least we should take measures to prioritize our safety while at the same time make sure we complete our mission."


    "...Alright."


    As they were talking, the group finally arrived at the clearing where they would stage their plan.


    "Okay, Eli and Velicia go to the east and lure the flock over. I''ll head west and lure that part of the flock. Ainz, Lulu, get ready."


    "Let''s go Veli."


    "Gotcha~"


    Eli and Velicia moved towards the east of the forest to lure the flock of demon hawks, Cecil took a glance at the rest and nodded. He activated Mana Burst and disappeared from his spot.


    Ainz whistled seeing this, "Man, I never get tired seeing that."


    "Enough, let''s prepare."


    "Alright." Ainz began chanting, Lucia however didn''t. She took out her magic pen and ink then began writing inscriptions on her magic scrolls.


    It was quick and after she wrote them she started placing them around the field. She also asked Fina to help her with this.


    "Lucia? What are these for?"


    "Plan B, just in case Plan A goes wrong."


    "Oh! A contingency!" Fina exclaimed.


    "Just like Cecil said, we should prioritize our safety while at the same time finish our mission. At least I hope this will help."


    "Mhm!"


    Ainz had finished chanting his spell when Lucia came back to begin chanting hers. Ainz was concentrating to delay the activation so he didn''t have any spare time to observe what Lucia and Fina had been doing earlier.


    Over at Eli and Velicia''s side, the two were drawing near the area that the flock of demon hawks had nestled down upon. When they arrived, they could see that many of the hawks were just awakening from their slumber or still asleep.


    Elizabeth and Velicia stopped at a safe distance. Elizabeth turned towards Velicia and whispered.


    "Okay, here should be good enough... let me cast a Flame Sword to attract their attention. Veli keep an eye out."


    "Okay!" Velicia whispered in reply.


    Elizabeth quickly finished her spell and she locked onto the area where the most demon hawks were congested. She pointed her rapier at her targeted area and yelled,


    "FLAME SWORD!"


    WOOOSHHH BOOOOOOOMMM


    The flaming sword cut through the air and quickly struck at the flock of demon hawks and exploded.


    Many charred corpses of the hawks rained down from the air and littered the forest floor. Her scream and the resulting explosion from Elizabeth''s spell startled awake the entire flock.


    The entire flock of demon hawks began cawing and screeching in fury. The monsters quickly located their attacker and rushed towards the two girls.


    The sheer amount of demon hawks that flocked towards the two girls would have caused anyone to freeze in fear.


    This had happened to almost everyone in the group when they first encountered the flock. The majestic, but deadly sight of hundreds of thousands of monsters rushing at them aiming for their life caused everyone in the Little Kings party to freeze in fear, all except for Lucia and Cecil.


    This wasn''t the first time they had to deal with a horde of monsters, so the two were able to quickly respond and cast spells to delay and hinder the flock of monsters'' assault. Their actions caused the rest of the group to snap out of their fear.


    Since this was already the second or third time the two girls were facing such a situation, they had already adapted and no longer froze in fear at the spectacle.


    Velicia was on lookout and had already casted a combat skill on herself, she quickly grabbed ahold of Elizabeth and turned around to run. Elizabeth was currently sending more Flame Swords at the flock, trying as hard as she can to attract the attention of as many demon hawks as she can while being carried by Velicia.


    After her 4th Flame Sword, Elizabeth began casting a combat skill. After her body was enhanced with the skill, Velicia quickly threw her forward. While in the air Elizabeth started sending flame lances and fire bolts at the flock of demon hawks.


    After Velicia caught up with her, Eli turned around and the two began to run towards the clearing where they would spring the trap on the flock.


    Over at Cecil''s side, he had already located his flock of birds, but there was a problem. The Demon Hawk King was currently present in his part of the flock.


    The bird was huge. Cecil speculated that it stood at least 3-4 meters in height if it was standing on the ground. The 2 large wings on its sides were adorned with black steel-like, razor sharp feathers. Its dark claws were also glinting with a greenish light. It was painfully obvious that it had a poison claw attack in its arsenal.


    The red and yellow crown-like plumes on its head was also an indication of the status it had in the flock of demon hawks.


    "Tsk... this could pose a problem... oh, what''s that?" Cecil was currently eyeing the majestically slumbering Demon Hawk King when he suddenly spotted 2 fruits radiating mana intensely on the tree where it was nesting on.


    He quickly activated Mana Vision and saw that the fruits had an intense amount of mana stored inside.


    "Woah, I''m guessing that should be a treasure?" Cecil began to think, even if he lured away the flock, there''s no way the Demon Hawk King would step away from the tree with those two fruits.


    "Let''s deal with the other small fries first, once it''s only that oversized chicken that''s left, we''ll swoop in and claim our prize!"


    Cecil made up his mind and quickly dashed towards the northern area of the forest. He decided that it was best to leave this part of the flock for last since the demon hawk king wasn''t accounted in their current plan.


    Cecil arrived at the northern side really quick, he didn''t hesitate and sent a mana volley into the area that was most densely packed with demon hawks.


    He didn''t stop there, he kept on firing mana volley after mana volley, he killed many of the hawks, but even more were still heading his way.


    Cecil smirked and started dashing backwards, he didn''t stop sending mana volleys into the surrounding area, hoping to attract more and more demon hawks his way.


    Back in the opening, Lucia, Ainz and Fina finally noticed the commotion that was currently heading their way.


    The commotion originated from the east where Eli and Velicia had headed off to, but the other one was originating from the north. They frowned at this.


    "D-did Cecil... p-perhaps¨C"


    "No." Lucia abruptly cut off. "There must be a good reason why he''s deviated from the plan, let''s just trust him."


    "Alright..." Fina nodded.


    Ainz had already sensed the commotion, so he adjusted the area at where he would cast the Tornado spell.


    "Good thing that I set up all those inscriptions earlier, judging by how huge of the commotion Cecil''s caused from the north, there seems to be twice¨C no, three times as much birds he''s lured out compared to Eli''s and Veli''s."


    "...yeah, but will he be alright?" Fina worriedly asked.


    "Hah, it''s Cecil, what could possibly happen? Ahaha~"


    "..." Fina could only smile wryly at that.


    "Get ready, here they come."


    Not long after, Eli and Velicia rushed in from the east part of the field, along with them an ocean of black followed behind. As soon as they appeared, so did Cecil from the north side of the field.


    Just as Lucia said, the flock of demon hawks that were chasing after him was at least 3 times the size of Eli''s.


    "GUYS! PHASE TWO! GO GO GO!"


    At Cecil''s shout, the 3 ''baits'' rushed into the middle of the clearing, after quickly grouping up. Cecil paused for a moment to let the flock of birds get closer. Just as the hawks were about to collide with them, Cecil quickly grabbed onto the two girls and the 3 disappeared from where they were standing, leaving behind the flock of birds to crash into each other in confusion.


    They appeared a couple of meters away from the collision area. Seeing this, Lucia immediately commanded,


    "AINZ NOW!"


    "RISE! TORNADO!!!"


    At the word, a small gale formed in the middle of the clearing just above the area where the demon hawks had collided into each other. The wind from the gale started spinning faster and faster. Not long after, a large tornado formed pulling in the demon hawks in the surroundings.


    "CRIMSON LOTUS!"


    The flock of demon hawks was much bigger than what Lucia and the rest first expected, so instead of Crimson Pillar, Lucia casted her original spell Crimson Lotus.


    As the flaming lotus bloomed in the middle of the tornado, the winds picked up the flames and the tornado turned into a flaming tornado that caused devastation to the flock of monsters.


    The flaming tornado''s suction force kept on dragging in the demon hawks into it. The monsters were charred to ashes. Ainz controlled the tornado to move around and suck in more demon hawks.


    Seeing their plan work, Cecil shouted, "OKAY, PHASE 3 EVERYONE!"


    Fina and Lucia quickly began casting aqua barrier onto their party''s 3 vanguards. Once the aqua barriers were up, Cecil, Elizabeth, and Velicia charged forward and began picking off the demon hawks that weren''t caught up in Lucia''s and Ainz''s combo spell.


    Lucia and Fina had also begun sending lava bolts, frost bolts, and aqua bolts at the flock. There was also an unexpected development during their assault.


    When Fina''s aqua bolt had accidently missed and was sent flying into the flaming tornado, a large explosion ensued. This caused even more damage to the flock and Lucia and Fina began casting aqua bolts into the tornado.


    With this development, the party was able to quickly finish off all the demon hawks that they had lured.


    Once they were finished with the first round, Cecil and his party sat down to rest.


    "Okay, we''ll just have to keep doing this for the northern and eastern part. We don''t have to eliminate them entirely, just enough so that we''ve thinned the flock to a more reasonable level."


    "...why not just kill them all?" Ainz asked.


    "We shouldn''t," Cecil said solemnly. "If we kill them all off, then another group of monsters will just come in and take their place. I saw the Demon Hawk King earlier at the western side of the forest. If there''s a king that''s willing to reside here in the forest that means that the forest itself is a largely contested nesting ground for monsters."


    "... I still don''t get it."


    "Think about it, if we kill off the entire flock. Another group of monsters lead by a monster king will just come in and occupy the forest. We won''t be helping the villagers this way. All we''re doing is destroying the monsters and letting in new ones to come and terrorize the surrounding villages."


    "Hmmm, well whatever you say lead. Let''s hurry up though, I''m starving!" Ainz laughed.


    "Hold on, I''m not finished. The demon hawk king I saw earlier was guarding some sort of tree, and on the tree were 2 red brown fruits that were radiating mana intensely. When I got closer I was able to sense that the mana stored inside the fruits was huge!"


    "Red brown fruits? Ah, are you saying that you saw a maroon demon fruit?" Fina asked excitedly.


    "I dunno, all I saw was the demon hawk king guarding those two fruits."


    Fina stood up excitedly and exclaimed, "If what I''m thinking is true, then those fruits are bound to be maroon demon fruits! We''ve struck it rich you guys!"

 Chapter 97 - Demon Hawk King

    After a couple of more rotations of the party''s baiting plan, they were able to successfully clear out a majority of the demon hawks in the forest.


    It took them almost half a day to finish this. The party started from early in the morning and now it was almost midday.


    They quickly took a rest and ate lunch in the clearing. It wasn''t pleasant since the abominable smell of charred corpses was lingering in the air. Ainz and Eli were able to alleviate this to some degree with their wind magic, but the disgusting smell still permeated in the air.


    They couldn''t enjoy their lunch so they quickly finished it in order to quickly begin their Demon Hawk King raid.


    "Alright everyone, remember the west side of the forest is still untouched. So there''s still an abundant amount of demon hawks. Also don''t forget that the demon hawk king might summon the rest of the flock from the other areas of the forest to come and assist."


    "That''s why I said we should have just eliminated every single one of them before we fight the king!" Ainz added.


    Cecil shrugged, "Well, if we did that then we would have to take the entire day to clear out the remaining forest. That''s too tedious. Besides with the demon hawk king calling out to its brethren, we can just eliminate as much as we can when they come and attack us all at once!"


    "Woah... don''t you think that''s pretty extreme lead?"


    "Pfft, why? Got cold feet now?"


    "Hah, no way!" Ainz smirked confidently. "The more the merrier I say!"


    "Alright, so here''s the plan..."


    Cecil began explaining their positioning and roles in the coming raid, once everyone got a clear picture of what they were supposed to be doing, the party quickly set off.


    Cecil and Eli would be the two who would attract the attention of the Hawk King''s attacks, while Velicia would be in charge of protecting their Mages from the small fries.


    Ainz will be their main source of damage while Lucia would be on the side supporting Ainz and dealing with the flock of demon hawks that were going to be attacking them.


    Fina would help out with Velicia while also on standby, at the ready to quickly cast healing spells on anyone who was injured.


    As they headed in deeper into the eastern area, Cecil had everyone stop while he went ahead to scout out the area. It was already midday so there was no way the Demon Hawk King would still be asleep.


    Not to mention all the commotion their group had caused, the entire flock of demon hawks would have already all woken up and would be vigilantly watching the surroundings.


    Once he got closer to the area where he first spotted the demon hawk king, it was just as he predicted. The entire flock of birds was alert of their surroundings.


    ''Just as expected...'' Cecil looked around the area and thought that their only choice of action was to head straight in for a frontal assault.


    ''Or we could just wait it out until sunset and launch another ambush at night...''


    Cecil shook his head at the thought, ''No, we have to finish the quest by today. The tournament''s ongoing and if we keep on delaying the other groups and factions will only pull farther and farther ahead of us.''


    Making up his mind, Cecil quickly rushed back to his party.


    "Guys, from what I saw earlier. Our only choice is to do a frontal assault."


    Eli frowned and said, "Hey, isn''t that a little dangerous?"


    "We could also wait it out until the evening and launch a night assault, but that would greatly limit our vision and if we delayed our attack until tomorrow morning to do an ambush like today, then we''d fall farther behind in the tournament."


    Eli clicked her tongue at Cecil''s reasoning, what he said wasn''t wrong. They could also just give up and not raid the Hawk King, but according to Fina''s explanation of the Maroon Demon Fruit, it was too big of an opportunity for them to miss out on.


    The fruit could be eaten raw or processed into a potion that could help increase an individual''s mana quantity. For people who are looking to proceed to the next level, the fruit could be used as a catalyst to help condense their mana into the next form.


    For Cecil this was something he didn''t want to miss out on. He could use the fruit to help him condense all the mana inside his body into liquid form so that he could officially step into the mana sea stage.


    "...let''s just do it. Ainz switch with me. I''ll attack the bird and you deal with the small fries. Don''t worry Cel, I won''t be using fire magic. I''ll stick with water magic this time around."


    "...okay."


    The reason why Cecil put Lucia as the secondary attacker was because of her preferred use of fire magic, he was worried that she might burn down the King along with the tree and the fruits.


    Seeing as they had to do a frontal assault, it was best to hand the attacking role to Lucia so she could quickly finish things off.


    "Let''s move out, we''re having that bird for dinner!" Cecil spiritedly exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh.


    "Ahaha, having a hawk king for dinner, huh? Now that sounds appetizing!" Ainz laughed.


    "...are they edible?" Eli skeptically asked.


    "Of course! If Lucia and Ainz didn''t scorch those birdies into ashes earlier we could''ve had ourselves a chicken buffet!" Velicia replied in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "L-let''s just be careful later, okay guys!"


    "No worries Fina! I''ll finish things in a jiffy!" Lucia reassured.


    The group carefully made their way towards the monsters'' nesting grounds. When they arrived, it was just as Cecil had described. The birds were all flying in the air or perching on the trees vigilantly observing the surrounding forest.


    When the group got close to the area, the Demon Hawks began screeching and some had started swooping down from the skies and trees to assault them.


    The monsters were easily dealt with by the party. They progressed further into the area and finally arrived at the spot where the Demon Hawk King was nesting. It was looking down at the party dismissively.


    It screeched into the air and the surrounding forest immediately began to bustle with activity. From afar, Cecil could sense and see that the demon hawks in the forest were making their way towards their king with the help of his Mana Vision.


    He immediately whispered to his friends in warning, "Guys, here they come... get ready."


    Everyone began to silently get into position. Seeing this, the Hawk King screeched at them, and then it flapped its wings and flew into the air.


    Cecil immediately burst into action. He activated Mana Burst and flickered into the air. He appeared just above the Hawk King and hacked down with his sword at the monster''s wing.


    The Demon Hawk King felt the danger and tried to shift its body away from the attack, but Cecil''s strike was still able to connect and the aura wrapped blade sliced off a portion of the Hawk''s left wing.


    With its wing sliced apart, the hawk plummeted to the ground while screeching in pain. The pained cry from the king caused the surrounding demon hawks to burst into a mad frenzy. They immediately began to assault Cecil''s party.


    Cecil who was in the air readjusted his body to face towards the flock of demon hawks coming in from afar. He grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands and positioned it behind him. He wrapped a large amount of mana onto the blade and swung the sword upwards.


    "ASCENDING BLADE!"


    The Mana that was wrapped around the sword immediately flew forward and smashed into the flock of demon hawks. As the Mana passed through the flock, the demon hawks began disintegrating.


    Cecil plummeted to the forest floor and gazed at the battle that was ensuing.


    ''Okay, that should buy us a little more time."


    Lucia and Elizabeth were currently assaulting the Demon Hawk King with wind and water elemental spells and sword strikes. Their figures constantly flashed around the monster at incredible speeds, but the hawk king wasn''t a called a king for nothing.


    Even as they were moving around and striking it at speeds where sight alone couldn''t possibly keep up, the Hawk King was calmly responding to it with spells and blocking the sword strikes with its mana enhanced feathers.


    The only reason why Cecil was able to successfully cut apart the Demon Hawk King''s wing earlier was because he had caught it off guard. The king hadn''t yet reinforced its body with mana and took on Cecil''s crippling attack with its body alone.


    Ainz and Velicia were dealing with the demon hawks that were occasionally swooping in to interfere with Lucia''s and Elizabeth''s battle. Fina was on the side casting aqua barriers on Ainz and Velicia while also forming water walls and ice ramparts in the surrounding air to hinder the other hawks.


    Upon landing, Cecil immediately rushed into the fray. The Hawk King quickly turned even more vigilant when it saw the human that had cut apart its wing. It screeched and swung its uninjured wing at Cecil, sending forth a flurry of razor sharp feathers flying at him.


    Cecil dodged or parried the feathers flying at him. Not missing this chance when the monster''s attention was momentarily taken away, Elizabeth dashed in and sliced at the bird''s feet.


    CLANG


    It only resulted in her rapier being repelled, but in the next instant Lucia had also come swooping in and slashing at the exact same spot where Elizabeth had struck at the monster''s feet.


    The sound of metal cutting through flesh rang in the air. Elizabeth''s attack was able to momentarily cut apart the mana that was wrapping around the bird''s feet, enabling Lucia''s subsequent attack to perfectly connect.


    SCCCREEEEEECCCCHHHHH


    The demon hawk screeched in pain and furiously thrashed about with its body, sending blade-like feathers flying all around it.


    Fina quickly moved her ice ramparts in front while everyone else dodged and hid behind them.


    The feathers struck powerfully into the ice ramparts creating cracks or directly gouging the entire rampart apart.


    Fina grimaced, but channeled even more mana into her ramparts, preventing them from thoroughly shattering into pieces.


    Once the flurry of feathers had stopped, the demon hawks in the surroundings were flying away in fear. When Cecil took a quick glance at the surroundings, the feathers had also struck dead some of the unfortunate demon hawks that were in the projectiles'' paths.


    Cecil smirked, "Nice, friendly fire."


    He then turned to look at the demon hawk king in the distance. It was vigilantly look at their group, but it still looked visibly tired. Cecil smiled and encouraged his party, "It''s exhausted itself! Let''s bring it down now!"


    Cecil pulled out his spear and activated the array inside. The spear was quickly wrapped in a golden aura. He dashed out from behind an ice rampart and threw the golden spear at the Demon Hawk King.


    The Demon Hawk King saw the flying projectile and raised its wing to defend, but the golden spear powerfully pierced through its wing and embedded itself into its chest. Cecil quickly arrived in the next instant, he kicked the butt of the spear and embedded it deeper into the monster.


    With both its wings impaired, the Demon Hawk King visibly panicked. Seeing the opportunity Cecil created for them, with only Fina as support and Velicia watching their backs, the rest of the party began to assault the weakened monster king.


    Not long after, the party was finally able to bring down the Demon Hawk King.

 Chapter 98 - Actions Speak Louder than Words

    After finally getting rid of the Demon Hawk King, the rest of the flock scattered away into the forest sensing that their leader had been killed.


    Lucia, Eli and Ainz began burning the unusable corpses of the demon hawks while Fina and Velicia began collecting proofs of subjugations and materials from the usable corpses. Cecil was currently taking care of the Demon Hawk King''s corpse.


    It took another half hour for the entire party to take care of the cleanup. Cecil was able to harvest the claws, feathers and crown plumes of the Demon Hawk King. He also collected a couple vials of its blood and most importantly, the Demon Hawk King''s monster core. All that was left of the corpse was a n.a.k.e.d body that Cecil cut up into tiny pieces and stored into his spatial ring.


    Like he said, they''d be having the oversized bird for dinner later. After finally taking care of everything, the group turned their attention to the large tree that the Hawk King had nested upon.


    Up in the branches of the tree they could make out the 2 reddish brown fruits that were emanating a large amount of mana.


    ''Hmmm, these things are pretty huge.'' Cecil thought to himself.


    Now that he was able to take a much closer look at the fruits, they were indeed, very big. Each fruit was at least half a meter in size and according to Fina, these fruits were right for the pickings.


    It was unfortunate for the demon hawk king since if it had just a little bit more time, it could have used the fruits to perhaps evolve and grow a stage stronger. Too bad that Cecil and co. just had to barge in and kill it before the hawk king could do so.


    "So... do we just pick it from the tree?" Cecil asked.


    "NO! Don''t do that! Just wait for it to fall! From what I see, it could fall any second now!" Fina suggested.


    "Why do we have to wait?"


    "Because if we don''t and we pick it prematurely, the entire tree will wilt and die! Not just every tree can grow a demon fruit y''know!" Fina replied strongly.


    With how assertive she was, Cecil shrugged and complied with her suggest.


    "So, it''s good that we preserve the tree then? Talk about environment friendly."


    "Huh? Oh, of course not."


    "What?"


    "Once the fruit has fallen, we''ll be cutting down the tree. They''d make good materials to create wands, staffs, and even bows."


    "...so that''s your objective huh" Cecil said with a look not knowing whether to cry or laugh.


    The girl didn''t want to preserve the tree. She just didn''t want it to wilt so that they could harvest the wood.


    "We won''t be using the entire tree, so the excess we could sell and get funds from... since we''re a proper adventurer party now, we need to have a collective fund to function our party! You don''t expect us to take money from our personal funds to buy potions, repair equipment and buy rations now do you?"


    "Urk... sorry I hadn''t thought about that." Cecil replied guiltily.


    On the side, Lucia was looking at their exchange and she whispered towards Eli.


    "When did Fina become so outgoing?"


    "...beats me." Eli shrugged.


    "Maybe she was just like that! Except she was shy since we didn''t know each other so well!" Velicia added.


    Ainz who was on the side laughed and said,


    "A proper party huh... this is way better than joining a faction!"


    The party waited until it was almost deep into the evening before the fruits naturally fell from the tree. They carefully collected the fruits and stored them into Fina''s spatial ring. Cecil''s was full with the demon hawk king''s materials while Ainz, Lucia and Eli didn''t have any room to spare since they had to store the demon hawks materials and subjugation proofs.


    They quickly felled the tree and cut it up into smaller pieces and they stored it into Velicia''s ring. The group quickly made their way back towards the village and rested for the night. They planned to set off back towards Angla city first thing tomorrow morning.


    The girls were able to sleep at the village''s inn, but Cecil and Ainz had to camp outside. There just weren''t enough rooms for their party of six.


    "Oi~i, Cecil, you awake?" Ainz called out from his sleeping bag.


    "...what is it." Cecil yawned in reply.


    "This party... Little Kings. Do you think we''ll be able to go far with just us in the tournament?"


    "...I dunno."


    "Hey! Be serious about this! If we''re just going to be half-assed about this then we''ll be throwing away a huge opportunity!"


    "...do you see any of us here being half-assed?"


    "..."


    "Lucia and I... we''re seriously gunning for 1st place y''know? I can see the same goes for everyone else in the party... including you."


    "...you don''t honestly believe we can actually pull it off do you?"


    "Of course I do... just wait until we get back... then we''ll show you just how serious we are."


    "We, as in?"


    "Lucia and me... we''ll show you our resolve." Then Cecil fell asleep. Even after Ainz called out to him, Cecil no longer woke up.


    Ainz sighed a little in frustration. Although it was much better than his time in the faction, he couldn''t help, but doubt that their small party of 6 could make it anywhere in the tournament.


    He did doubt, but Ainz still resolved himself to fight for the champion''s spot with all his might, just like everyone else.


    ****


    It took about two days for the group to get back to Angla City. Cecil thought that it took way too long since they were traveling by foot.


    He wanted to bring Silver out with him, but Silver couldn''t possibly carry all 6 of them on his back.


    Once they arrived back in the academy district''s adventurer guild. Cecil used his privilege as a Gold Ranked Adventurer to use a private booth.


    This feature was reserved for only adventurers at gold rank so everyone besides Lucia was very much surprised to see this.


    Cecil turned to look at his dumbfounded friends and smirked, "What? Surprised? Haha, you ain''t seen anything yet. I told you Ainz, I''ll show you our resolve. Like they say, actions speak louder than words."


    Not long after, a familiar female guild staff came into the room. Cecil and Lucia immediately recognized the woman.


    "Big Sis Mimi!" Lucia exclaimed in pleasant surprise.


    "..." Cecil as usual stayed silent.


    "Arara~ why isn''t it our two upstanding prodigies! I didn''t think that Silent Inferno would be back at adventuring only after a month of absence~" The harpy, Mimi, laughed in response.


    Mimi was Cecil and Lucia''s personal receptionist, to some degree, back when they were still actively adventuring at Angla City''s adventurer guild.


    "How come Big Sis is here now?"


    "Well~ a certain troublesome duo happened to come back into service again~ so the higher ups reassigned me as your personal handler now... especially since you two did something unreasonable again~"


    "Ahaha, sorry~" Lucia laughed apologetically.


    "..." Cecil kept silent.


    Their exchange was surprising for the rest of their party members. It could be seen that this wasn''t the first time Cecil or Lucia worked on a quest. Since the two had kept their ranks a secret, no one in their party were privy to this information.


    "Well, two gold ranked quests in just 1 week, and now you guys go ahead and do your promotion quest without even informing big sis~ I''m a little hurt y''know~"


    "Ayaya, we had to do it in secret! I mean... Cecil wanted to keep things under wraps so..." Lucia immediately tossed the ball Cecil''s way.


    Mimi only took a look at Cecil and saw the usual expressionless face. Cecil only nodded and Mimi immediately got the message.


    "I see~ well, it''s no biggie." She then began hugging the two youngsters and said, "At least I get to see my cute little juniors now~"


    "..."


    "Ahahaha~"


    While Lucia was laughing with Cecil remaining silent, the rest of their party members took in the information that the guild staff, who was now apparently their personal handler, had inadvertently said.


    "Wait, what promotion quest are you talking about, miss?" Ainz asked on behalf of everyone else.


    "Oh? Did you guys form a party?" Mimi turned towards the rest of their party members and asked with mild surprise.


    "Yeah! We registered only a week ago! We''re the Little Kings!" Lucia happily informed.


    "Wah, my two little juniors finally made their own party! Oh! I see that even the renowned Sword Maiden is in your party as well!" Mimi said after carefully observing every member in the room.


    "Are all of you classmates?"


    "Yup! We''re all part of S class!"


    "Ahaha, as expected of you two!"


    "Uhm... like I said... what promotion quest?" Ainz asked once again. He really couldn''t keep up with the frequent change of pace in their conversation.


    "Well, I guess we should all sit down first yes?" Mimi invited everyone to sit down before she began her explanation.


    "Well, first of all. On behalf of the entire guild, we congratulate both Lucia Yukihime and Cecil Silvaria in their successful promotion to Platinum Rank!"


    Mimi clapped her hands and cheered. Not long after, another guild staff walked into the rooms and presented Cecil and Lucia their new guild badges.


    Although it had the same color as the silver adventurer badge, the silver adventurer badge was a dull silver color, while the platinum badge was a shiny metallic silver. On the badge was a single gold star etched on it.


    Cecil and Lucia took their badges and kept them in their spatial rings. On the side, Ainz, Elizabeth, Fina, and Velicia were staring dumbfounded at their two friends.


    "Y-y-y... you two are PLATINUM RANKED?!" Ainz screamed in surprise.


    Cecil kept his usual taciturn silence when he was in the guild, while Lucia started to laugh smugly at her dumbfounded friends.


    "Didn''t we tell you guys? We''d show you our resolve! And like Cecil said, actions speak louder than words!" Lucia replied smugly.


    This saying would later on be the motto of their party, the Little Kings.

 Chapter 99 - Surprise after Surprise

    The four other members of Little Kings just sat there, flabbergasted at the news of their two friends'' promotion to platinum rank.


    It was already known that the highest ranked adventurer in the academy was the student council president, Zephyr Arks. He was a 5-star Gold ranked adventurer, but even he would need at least another couple hundreds of low-tier gold ranked quests or only tens of high-tier gold ranked quests to gain the qualifications to promote to platinum rank.


    But now, their two friends, who were much younger than the president were now already at the platinum rank.


    "By the way, this is for you!" Mimi took out a brocade box from out of nowhere and presented it to the party.


    Once Cecil opened the box, inside laid a small black ring with runic inscriptions decorating it. It was a spatial ring! And from the looks of it, it was a high ranked one.


    "This is a high rank spatial ring. It has a storage space of 10 cubic meters. It''s a commemoration gift for our two cuties for being the youngest in history to promote to Platinum rank!"


    "!" The party was surprised hearing the news. The ''youngest in history''... what¨C what the f¨C?!


    "Thanks big sis!"


    "That''s not all! Since you''re also in a party, the party''s rank will also be platinum! You''ll now have the privilege to have access to raid-type dungeons! Hooray!"


    "Raid dungeons?" Ainz asked.


    "Raid dungeons are a little different than your typical dungeons. The dungeons are a little magical and they appear and disappear in set intervals. The guild will provide the information to your party on where a raid dungeon will appear!"


    Mimi stopped and let everyone take in the information before continuing, "Once a raid dungeon pops up I highly recommend you to try it out! Although it will be dangerous, the rewards of a raid dungeon are just too great to miss out on! Rare ores, herbs, magic weapons and even dungeon monster eggs that you could hatch and form a pact with and so much more! There''s too many to list so it''ll be better if you just experience it firsthand!" The harpy lady exclaimed with fanfare.


    Lucia then voiced her concern, "Those raid dungeons... they''re a whole lot different than normal dungeons right? I mean... they''re not going to be as boring as a normal dungeon right?"


    "Of course not!" Mimi exclaimed, "Rest assured everyone, a raid dungeon is much more different than a normal dungeon! It''s also much more dangerous as well, but it would be better to experience it since it would be hard for me to describe it~"


    "...does this mean that big sis has also entered one before?" Lucia asked.


    "Of course!"


    "..." Cecil stayed quiet, but the raid dungeon did pique his interest. ''Maybe it wouldn''t be so bad to try one out.''


    "OKAY! On to the next reward!"


    "THERE''S STILL MORE?!" Velicia exclaimed in surprise.


    "Why of course! You guys still haven''t received your high-tier promotion quest rewards yet~ since the quest that Cecil and Lucia had picked happened to be the most difficult promotion quest at the moment, you can expect that the rewards are pretty abundant~"


    "... oh god..." Ainz and Veli held their head in pain... no wonder the monsters that they had to subjugate numbered in the tens of thousands! There were many situations where the group could face death at any moment if something bad happened. They even had to face a monster king in their quest


    Now that the guild staff, Mimi, informed them of the difficulty of their quest, it was no wonder they had to go through so much difficulty to clear just one quest!


    Fina and Eli had a helpless expression on their face, but the thought of their abundant rewards made their expressions lighten up a bit.


    "The monetary rewards for the quest are inside this bank card!" Mimi presented a black bank card to Cecil.


    Cecil turned towards Lucia and eyed her meaningfully.


    "Uhm, big sis, this card can we¨C"


    "Of course! This is a part of the reward y''know! The reward for your promotion to a platinum ranked party! There''s also more inside the ring so you should check it out later when you have the time!"


    "Thank you!"


    Cecil took the card and handed it over to their party''s nominated treasurer, Fina. Once Fina took the card and had a look on the amount stored inside, she gasped in surprise.


    "H-h-hundred..."


    "A hundred? That seems a bit low." Ainz said with a frown.


    Fina merely raised the card to Ainz and it caused his eyes to widen.


    "A HUNDRED THOUSAND?!"


    Eli and Velicia also turned to look at the bank card, indeed the total amount inside the card was one hundred thousand credits. It was only a couple of days ago that Fina was worrying about their finances, but then a hundred thousand credits just came falling down onto their lap.


    "You guys should know, that this is the normal amount of reward me and Cecil get after completing high tiered gold ranked quests~ we''ve at least amassed over a million in funds from all our time adventuring~" Lucia added.


    "...so you guys are rich... like hella rich..." Ainz m.o.a.ned.


    "Of course! Besides, we don''t need much so there are a lot of credits that we''ve saved. Even if we had problems with our party''s funds me and Cecil could just take out a small amount from our personal funds to help, it''s no big deal really~"


    Mimi clapped her hands to get everyone''s attention.


    "Alright everyone, this is the last reward for today. May I please have the proofs of subjugation?"


    "...aren''t you supposed to take that before you announce our quest completion?"


    "Ahaha~ don''t worry~ Cecil and Lucia has NEVER failed a quest that they set out on!"


    "..."


    Cecil took out the demon hawk king''s subjugation proof and presented it to Mimi. She smiled after confirming it and handed the proof over to the other guild staff that came in earlier with Cecil and Lucia''s badge. He quickly took the item and was just about to get up and leave before Lucia stopped him.


    "Wait! There''s more!" Lucia poured out all the subjugation proofs of the demon hawks that they hunted and gestured for Ainz and Eli to do the same. Once the entirety of the table was full of proofs Mimi could only smile wryly and motion for the collector to take it all.


    "As expected of your party... well, it looks like we''ll have to add more to the rewards. Okay, since the quest is over. Now~ do you guys have anything to sell?"


    "Haha~ we''ve been waiting for this, big sis!" Lucia said and she happily poured out all the demon hawk materials in her ring, she also signaled for Ainz and Eli to do the same.


    Once all the materials piled up in the room, Mimi tiredly sighed, "You two... always doing something unreasonable... the quest only asked for you to subjugate the demon hawk king... did you guys just go and massacre the entire flock while you were at it?"


    "What?! LUCIA! CECIL!" Ainz yelled.


    "Uhh... teehee?" Lucia jokingly replied while bumping her head.


    "..." Cecil remained quiet to everyone''s surprise, normally he would give some sort of retort, but oddly enough, he''s been quiet ever since Mimi had entered the room. He only smiled wryly.


    Seeing Cecil''s smile, Ainz once again yelled out in exasperation.


    "YOU TWO ARE INSANE!"


    The other 3 could only nod in response.


    "By the way... are you guys not selling the demon hawk king''s materials?" Mimi asked.


    Lucia was the one that quickly responded.


    "Nope! We''ll be using the materials to craft some equipment for our friends!"


    "Ah! Radon''s helping out I presume?"


    "Of course! Uncle Radon always helps us out!"


    "R-Radon? You don''t mean Radon Ironforge do you?" Eli asked in surprise.


    "That''s him alright! Don''t worry! Uncle Radon will help us if we ask him nicely!" Lucia replied with a smile.


    "..."


    The party could only sigh at the surprising news, they no longer had the energy to be surprised at every little thing their two friends did anymore. Calling the number one blacksmith in the kingdom their ''uncle''... if it was anyone else, the kingdom renowned blacksmith would have most likely smacked them out of the smithy.


    "So, big sis... how much do we get from selling all these to the guild?" Lucia inquired.


    "Well... it''ll take some time to inspect all these materials... come back tomorrow and I''ll hand over the rewards. I guess you can expect maybe... fifty to a hundred thousand credits... maybe even more!"


    "Alright then, see you tomorrow! Let''s go everyone! We should go celebrate our success!"


    "Wait a minute Lucia! Remember, we need the points stamp from the guild for our tournament!" Fina said in a hurry.


    "Oh yeah! Almost forgot!"


    The party turned towards Cecil and the boy took out a parchment from his spatial ring. There were two high tiered gold rank stamps already on it.


    "Woah, our party already has 400 points!" Ainz exclaimed.


    "And with this promotion quest it''s worth the same as a low-mid ranked platinum quest so it''s another 600 for you guys~" Mimi said while giving the group another stamp.


    The two gold stamps were gold in color with 5 stars hanging above it. The new stamp was silver colored with 2 golden stars above it.


    "Hooray! That makes 1000 points for us! We''re already ahead in first place with a 500 point difference from second~" Lucia cheered.


    Mimi then walked them to the door and the party walked out of the guild''s private room. Outside there was a large crowd of students walking in and out of the guild building. Every one of them were quickly taking up quests or turning them in.


    Seeing the group of 6 walking out of the private room caused everyone to gasp in amazement.


    "Hey! Those guys could use a private room! That means they''re gold ranked! Woah!"


    "Damn... gold ranked? Which faction are they from?"


    "I dunno man, but look! They''re all so young! They must be first years!"


    "...isn''t that girl Lucia? The first year''s ranked 1?"


    "You''re right! Now that I look at them, aren''t those guys the recent trouble makers? I hear that their group turned down every faction''s invitation and they formed a small group of their own!"


    "Hmph... how arrogant, just because one of ''em is a gold ranked they think that they could stand a chance facing off against an entire faction?! Don''t they know that the student council president is also gold ranked?"


    "Well, who cares? They''re just digging they''re own graves."


    "...we better report this back to our faction. Hurry and inform the student council!"


    "Us too, we better go and tell the dark moon''s president!"


    "Our princess will surely want this piece of news... you two, go back and report this to princess Aurellia!"


    "..."


    While everyone was making their moves, Cecil and his party just strolled out of the guild and began heading outside of the academy''s district.


    Cecil who was finally out of the guild began talking once again, "There''s someone I want to introduce you all too."


    Lucia smiled and asked, "Radon?"


    "Him... and also Silver! We should get a carriage now with the money we''ve earned."


    "You''re right! Walking all around the place sure is tiring... I miss riding on Silvy~"


    The other four could only follow behind after the two foxkin. When they heard the name Radon, the group prepared themselves for another round of surprises. Except this time, no matter how much they prepared, they would sure jump in surprise at the second ''person'' Cecil would be introducing to them.

 Chapter 100 - How is He a Dog???

    Cecil and the rest arrived at the Ironforge smithy. As usual it was bustling with activity. The clanging and the yelling was already something that Cecil and Lucia were used to. Ainz and everyone else however were fascinated at the scene of so many forgers working their iron.


    They wanted to continue looking, but Cecil and Lucia were already on the move. Ainz and the rest could only follow after them. They bypassed the smithy and headed to the housing area behind it.


    The group bumped into Radon just as he was walking down from his private smithy room.


    "Boy, you''re here!" Radon greeted to which Cecil only responded with a nod.


    "Mhm."


    "Uncle Radon!" From behind Cecil, out popped the brightly smiling Lucia.


    "AH! My niece! You''ve finally come to pay your uncle a visit, ahaha!" Radon came over and gave Lucia a tight hug.


    Lucia only responded with a giggle. Everyone behind the two was just watching the renowned blacksmith spoil their friend like a grandpa would to his granddaughter...


    "...I''m not surprised anymore."


    "I''m too tired to be surprised."


    "I know right..."


    "..."


    The four behind only laughed it off. They immediately stepped forward, wanting to introduce themselves to the number blacksmith in the kingdom.


    "Oyah? You 2 brought guests! Come, come, come! Let uncle here take a good look at you!" Radon said and began scrutinizing the 4 kids.


    "Hey, aren''t you¨C" Radon said skeptically after seeing Elizabeth.


    Eli quickly stepped forward and bowed towards Radon in greeting.


    "My name is Elizabeth Arks! I''m Lucia''s classmate from class S and Lucia''s my best friend! Please take care of me!"


    "Oh? Best friend huh?" Radon smirked meaningfully at the girl.


    "I''m Aquafina Neftersea! I''m also from Lucia''s class and I''m also her best friend and roommate!" Fina introduced quickly.


    "I''m Velicia Darkclaw! I''m also Lucia''s friend and we''re from the same class~"


    "Ainz Bernstein! I''m these two troublemakers'' friend. I''m from the same class and I also happen to be Cecil''s roommate!"


    "WAHAHAHA~ since you''re all these two''s friends then you also have my thanks! Thanks for taking care of these two troublemaking kids! I''m Radon by the way, you could say that I''m these two''s uncle!"


    "More like gramps..." Cecil said under his breath.


    "I HEARD THAT YOU PUNK! WHAT PART OF ME DO YOU THINK IS OLD?" Radon roared.


    Cecil took a serious look at the dwarf and said seriously, "Hrmm... everything?"


    "WHY YOU!"


    "Uncle! Where''s auntie?" Lucia quickly asked on the side.


    "Oh! My wife''s upstairs! You kids just came at the right time! Your aunt''s still fixing lunch so wait a bit alright?"


    "I''ll head upstairs and help out then!" Lucia quickly turned around and dashed up the stairs.


    "Ohoho~ a meal made by my lovable niece... it''s been awhile!"


    "It''s only been a month..." Cecil retorted.


    "Oi, you... can''t you at least act a little bit more lovable like Lucia?"


    "Heh."


    "Pfft..." Fina involuntarily snickered.


    Eli and Velicia also started giggling. Only Ainz was foolishly staring at the two old and young men bantering together.


    The mood was good so Cecil brought up the reason why they came.


    "Gramps, our party just hunted a demon hawk king and we were able to secure an abundant amount of top quality materials from it. Think you can craft something good from it?"


    "Heh! So this is the reason why you came back huh!" Radon said dismissively.


    "Oi, Cecil!" Ainz called out.


    "Well, whatever. Lemme see it." Radon waved his hand.


    "Alright, come on guys. We''ve got that demon tree wood, so let''s leave it to Radon to craft something good for us."


    "...is... is it alright? We''re not being a nuisance are we?" Fina asked worriedly. She didn''t want to be too imposing to the kingdom''s number one blacksmith. Since he was a famous blacksmith he was bound to be busy.


    "No worries girly. If it''s a request from my niece''s friends then I''ll get it done in a jiffy!" Radon reassured.


    "O-okay... Thank you very much uncle Radon!" Fina bowed. This prompted the other 3 to bow as well.


    "WAHAHAHA~" Radon roared happily at Fina''s way of addressing him. He motioned for them to follow him up to his private smithy.


    "So these kids are your party members huh?" Radon asked Cecil with a wide smile.


    "...yeah. Our party, Little Kings, will surely grab the first place spot in the year-long tournament!"


    "Haha!"


    They quickly arrived at Radon''s private smithy and Cecil quickly took out the materials he harvested from the Demon Hawk King.


    The 4 crown plumes, 180 iron-like feathers, 6 talons and the Hawk King''s beak. Last but not least the 10 tail feathers.


    Radon exclaimed in surprise seeing the materials.


    "Well, kid... you sure got one hell of a harvest!"


    "What can you make with these?"


    "Hrmm... 4 magic robes from the 194 feathers... as for the beak and talons... I''d probably be able to create some knives, daggers, or even claws, but if you had some good quality wood I might just be able to create a staff."


    "Wood? Veli! Take out the demon wood."


    Veli quickly took out the cut up pieces of wood from the tree that grew the maroon demon fruits.


    "Oh! Good quality wood alright!" Radon said while grabbing one of the large pieces of wood and inspecting it.


    "Do you have the hawk king''s blood and monster core?"


    "Here."


    Cecil waved his hand and 10 vials of blood dropped onto the table as well as a basketball sized green monster core.


    "Good, very good! I''ll go ask my enchanter friend to help prep the orb for me... by the way what kinds of runes do you want engraved on the staff''s body?"


    "Here, use these. These are the ones that I was able to improve during my free time in the academy." Cecil plainly took out a scroll that was filled with his recent improvements on rune engravings.


    "You never cease to amaze me boy!"


    Cecil shrugged and began arranging all the materials into a neat order on the table.


    "Alright, you kids can come again at the end of the week! I''ll have the robes and staff ready for you. By the way, who''ll be the one using the staff?"


    "What element would the staff enhance once it''s finished?"


    "Hmmm... judging by the monster cores type... I''d say wind and... Maybe earth and wood since the wood is greatly imbued with these two types of mana."


    "Ainz, it''s for you then." Cecil said while turning his head to look at Ainz.


    "What? Is that alright? I mean... we could just sell the staff for money y''know?!"


    "Nah... Why let our water flow into another field?"


    "What?" Ainz asked, puzzled.


    "Never mind, you''ll use it since you''re the only pure mage in our party."


    "...thanks."


    "The robes will go to Fina, Lucia, and also to you too Ainz."


    "What? But I''ve already got the staff?!"


    "No worries man. We''re a party remember. Besides, the robes will probably enhance your wind magic to some degree as well as add better protection for you guys. I can''t use it since I''m the vanguard. Same goes for Velicia and Eli, right?"


    "Yup~"


    "It''s just as Cecil said... so just take the robe and staff gratefully Ainz." Eli said plainly.


    "Don''t worry Ainz we''ll just deduct the cost from the monetary rewards that we''ll distribute later!" Fina said with a smile.


    "...alright. Thanks everyone!"


    "Ahem." Radon cleared his throat and gained the attention of everyone in the room.


    "About the talons... what should I make? Daggers or what?"


    Cecil eyed their only brawler in the party. "Make claws from them, we''re giving it to Veli."


    "Eh? Me?"


    "Yeah... it''s not like we could make daggers from the talons. I mean what for? We don''t have anyone in the party specialized in daggers... although I could use them, but I already have my sword and spear."


    "O-okay then... eheheh~ thanks everyone!"


    "It''s nothing. This is what you deserve Veli!" Eli smiled.


    "Well, it looks like us two won''t be receiving anything this time Eli. Let''s wait for our next hunt." Cecil said.


    "Okay."


    Once everything was finalized, Radon began ushering everyone out of the room.


    "Lunch is probably finished by now, so just head down to the dining room!"


    "Alright." Cecil said and walked out of the room, everyone else bowed to Radon before following suit.


    As they were heading down, Cecil passed by the dining room and continued on to the ground floor.


    "Hey, Cecil! Where are you going?" Velicia called out to him when she saw that Cecil had only passed the dining room.


    "One sec, I gotta go see Silver."


    "Silver?"


    "Hey guys~ food''s ready come and eat!" Lucia called out from inside the dining room.


    The aroma of the food was pretty tempting and everyone walked into the room to begin lunch. Cecil returned to the dining room not long after.


    Once the group finished their lunch they thanked the Ironforge couple and were just about to walk out of the smithy only to stop at the sight of the large white wolf slumbering on the floor, blocking the exit with its large 3 meter tall body.


    "WHAT THE? A MONSTER?" Ainz said and quickly took out his wand from his spatial ring.


    Fina jumped back and was prepared to cast an ice rampart only to see Lucia giggling.


    "Hey, don''t be so alarmed! That''s Silvy!"


    Silver, whose eyes were closed, opened them. His large blue eyes observed the 4 unknown people who were standing next to his master and mistress.


    After sizing up the 4, Silver roared out powerfully.


    "ROAARR!!!"


    Silver''s roar made Fina and the other 3 flinch in response. Silver then yawned and his body started sparkling with light and a large magic circle formed underneath him, further illuminating his body.


    Once the light died down from Silver''s spell, a small and chubby dog-sized wolf came walking towards the group.


    "WOOF!" Silver barked cutely.


    "..."


    Silver''s new spell enabled him to readjust his body size. The current small sized, white furred and chubby Silver was his pet form. The previous large and majestic form was his battle form.


    Cecil bent down and picked up Silver and he turned towards his party members.


    "This is my pet dog and friend, Silver."


    "HOW''S THAT A DOG?!" Ainz screamed while pointing at the small wolf currently in Cecil''s embrace.


    Ainz was still a little shaken from Silver''s earlier roar. The girls however were currently eyeing the cute pet formed Silver with sparkling eyes.


    "C-can I hold him? N-no, can I at least pet him?" Fina asked hopefully.


    "Here." Cecil passed Silver over to Fina and she smiled brightly. Fina began petting Silver and she rubbed her face into his fur.


    "Waahhh~ so soft~"


    "...crap." Cecil looked away while covering his face with a hand.


    "W-what''s with this cute thing?" Lucia exclaimed while hugging onto Fina.


    Veli was crowding around the two, taking in Silver''s cute figure with curious, sparkling eyes.


    "...Fina and that dog... what a deadly combi..." Eli said while she tried to tear her eyes from the cute spectacle.


    "Like. I. Said. HOW IS THAT A DOG?!!" Ainz once again asked, but to his dismay, he was completely ignored.

 Chapter 101 - Eat my Dust

    It was the next day. Today was the beginning of the weekend so Cecil and his party had no classes.


    At the moment, Cecil and Ainz were currently at the Ironforge smithy. The two were checking out and making adjustments to the carriage that their party had bought yesterday using the money they had earned from the quest.


    "Hey... Cecil... what''re these rings, iron balls and spiral things for?"


    "Those? Well just make sure you put them together the way I showed you! It''ll help stabilize the carriage so they won''t shake so much. Although magic can help, but there''s a limit to our mana and needlessly using mana to stabilize the carriage just doesn''t sit well with me."


    "Oh...okay. As usual, you come up with the weirdest of things... by the way, since I''m doing this... just what the heck are you doing?"


    "Rune engraving... of course we could swap if you want."


    Hearing the foreign topic, Ainz groaned, "Ugh, never mind then."


    "Hey you two! We''re back!!"


    Hearing the familiar voice, Ainz yelled back, "Great! Now come help me!"


    Velicia came over and glanced at what Ainz was doing, she was a little intrigued seeing him fiddle around with the wheels of the carriage.


    "What can I do?"


    "Uhm... here, can you put this and that together like shown on the paper? Should be easy right?"


    Ainz handed Velicia a piece of parchment and she took a look at the drawings on it. She could see that it was a step by step drawing on how to put together the contraption that Ainz was currently working on.


    It looked pretty easy so she sat down and began helping him.


    Lucia came over to Cecil and said, "We retrieved the additional rewards from the monster materials. It''s a total of 117,600 credits. Big Sis Mimi helped negotiate with the guild so we were able to get more!"


    "Really? Well, we should thank her with something the next time we visit the guild."


    "Absolutely!" Seeing Cecil busy with engraving runes all over their carriage, Lucia offered to help.


    Fina also helped out since she was somewhat familiar with rune engraving. The runes they were engraving on the carriage were something that Cecil created and called ''air conditioning'' and ''heating''.


    Once again, it was something incomprehensible to the group, but all they knew was that the runes engraved in the interior of the carriage functioned to cool or heat up the carriage''s cabin.


    There were also defensive runes that Cecil had already finished engraving all over the exterior of the carriage.


    Cecil was adding some convenient features from Earth''s vehicles onto their carriage. Cecil also had Lucia and the rest keep some of the feathers from the demon hawks that they had so that he could create some cushions for the seats inside the carriage.


    The group quickly finished their modifications of the carriage and had lunch.


    "So, what quest did you guys pick out?"


    "It''s a low-tiered platinum ranked quest. Should be easy, it''s only a monster subjugation quest. The monsters are the Armamite Golems in the Alka Mountains. It''s a bit faraway but, with Silver we can probably arrive during the night." Lucia replied.


    "Did you already buy our supplies?"


    "Fina took care of them all ready."


    The girl in question was currently carrying pet form Silver in her arms. She was eating and occasionally feeding Silver.


    When she heard her name, she raised her head and gave the two an ''okay'' sign.


    "Alright, let''s get this over with then. We have to get back before the school day when classes start again."


    "Okay~"


    The party quickly finished their lunch and boarded the carriage. The interior of the carriage was really luxurious. It was also the largest 6-wheeled carriage that was available for purchase, so the cabin space was almost the same size as their dorm bedrooms.


    It was spacious enough for everyone to sleep together side by side on the floor.


    Cecil added a small modification and raised the ceiling of the carriage a level higher. He added some boards to the top where they could store their excess luggage that didn''t fit inside their spatial rings. It also acted as a separate sleeping level.


    This was where the two boys would be sleeping. As for the girls, they would be laying down their heads on the floor of the carriage once they spread a futon over it.


    Cecil fastened the modified harness over Silver. Once it was firmly secured, Cecil leaped onto the driver''s seat and told Silver to head out.


    "Alright Silv! It''s your first adventure with the party so let''s set off!"


    "WOOF!"


    *******


    A suspicious group of people were currently tailing behind Cecil and co.''s carriage. Cecil of course had already long sensed them, but he honestly didn''t care. It''s not like they could keep up with Silver''s speed once he began dashing out into the open road.


    Unlike the domesticated monsters that were pulling their cages, Silver was a unique monster that could use high tiered spells and combat skills. Not to mention Silver was intelligent enough to understand human speech and he could somehow communicate with Lucia.


    So, if they did try to chase after them, their speeds wouldn''t be able to keep up with Silver''s and if they did force the issue, then their carriages will have first broken down even before Cecil would feel the need to do anything.


    Once the party''s carriage had exited the gates of the city, Cecil smiled and told Silver, "Alright Silv, let''s have these pests eat our dust! FULL SPEED AHEAD!"


    "ROOOOAAAARRR!!!"


    Silver roared in response. A large green magic formation appeared under him and a large gust of wind began to blow all around his body. Silver lunged forward and shot off into the distance dragging the carriage behind him.


    Cecil was caught off guard and he was sent stumbling backwards into the carriage''s cabin from the driver''s seat.


    "UWAAAHHH!!! OUCH!!"


    Cecil had hit the back of the carriage after being thrown into the cabin. He then looked around at the rest of his party.


    It wasn''t only Cecil who was exclaiming in surprise, everyone inside the carriage was also startled at the abrupt acceleration.


    "LIKE I SAID. THERE''S NO WAY HE''S JUST A DOOOOOGGGG!!!" Ainz screamed while tightly holding onto his seat.


    Eli was stably sitting on her seat. When Silver had abruptly accelerated earlier, she used her wings to stabilize and hold her body firmly in place. Veli was also wrapped inside her wing so she was sitting stably as well.


    Oddly enough, Lucia AND Fina were leaning out of the carriages cabin and poking their bodies out on the driver''s seat, screaming and laughing happily.


    "NAHAHAHAHAHA~"


    "KYAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    The two were enjoying the wind blowing in their faces.


    Far behind them, the group that was trailing the party had stopped just outside the gate and were staring dumbfounded at the carriage that was now far off into horizon.


    Just how in the heck were they supposed to complete their missions if they had already lost their targets right from the start?


    "...let''s just head back?"


    "But..."


    "You wanna follow that? By the time we finally see them, they''d probably be already on their way back to the academy..."


    "... damnit... this is SO unreasonable!"


    *sigh* "Tell me about it... let''s just head back and report to the president that we couldn''t chase after them. They got a modified carriage and the humongous monster wolf with them..."


    "Tch, fine..."


    The group could only head back dejectedly. It wasn''t only them. But, many similar groups who were lying in wait could only turn back at the unreasonable sight of the carriage that, in only 10 seconds, had disappeared far off into the horizon.


    There was one person however that didn''t want to give up. It was a male fat tigerkin with black fur. He was wearing heavy plate armor and was shouldering a mace and shield. He was pulling on a stubborn land basilisk that had large backpacks mounted on its back while shouting,


    "Y-young Miiiiiiiisssss!!! Please waaaiiiitttt!!!"


    The fat tigerkin jumped onto the land basilisk and urged it forward, but it only thrashed about which caused the fat boy to fall off its back.


    "GAHACK!"


    He glared angrily at his mount and yelled, "I''LL FEED YOU TO THE BIRDS IF YOU DON''T MOVE!!!"


    The basilisk only snorted in reply, and then it began walking off into the distance. This caused the boy to fume with rage. He chased after his mount and jumped onto it once again, only for it to thrash about once again and throwing him off its back.


    The duo continued on this way until they disappeared into the horizon, heading in the same direction as Cecil''s carriage.

 Chapter 102 - Everyone’s Progress 1

    The group arrived at the Alka mountain range when it was deep into the night. The group quickly headed towards the pre-designated campsite that they had agreed upon. They would camp near the river that was running down from the Alka Mountain Range.


    It took another 15 minutes or so for their group to arrive at the campsite. When the carriage stopped moving, Ainz quickly jumped off and ran towards a tree before he began throwing up.


    Cecil had fallen asleep on the road, so it was Fina and Lucia who were driving the carriage. Oddly enough, it was only the girls who had enjoyed the trip.


    "Nahahaha~ Ainz you''re soooo weak!" Lucia mocked.


    "Sh-shut it! Oop! BLERRRGGHHH!!!"


    "Ew, disgusting! You better burn all that and clean up after you''re done! I don''t want to smell the disgusting stench of your lunch later!"


    "D-damn it!!! BLEEERRRGGHHH!!"


    Cecil finally woke up from his slumber, the first thing he saw was the white furred face of his pet looking down on him.


    "What is it Silv?"


    "WOOF!"


    "Hm?"


    Cecil quickly got up and took a look around, it was dark with only the stars in the sky illuminating their surroundings. He turned towards Lucia and the girls who were setting up camp.


    "We''re here?"


    "Yup! Go wash your face in the river. Also, please go help out Ainz over there... he''s just too pitiful to watch now." Lucia replied while pointing at Ainz.


    "Huh? What''s wrong with Ainz?"


    Cecil looked towards his friend and saw him pale faced and in the midst of throwing up all his lunch.


    "Ugh..." Cecil grimaced, but he still made his way over to Ainz.


    He quickly rubbed his back and pressed some pressure points on his body. Cecil also began lightly kneading his friend''s temples.


    "Urgh... thanks Cecil... phew, I feel much better now. What the heck was that?"


    "It''s just some technique my parents taught me, helps me get better from sickness quicker."


    "Woah, you can actually fall sick?"


    "...I''m only hum¨C I mean, beastkin y''know...I''m no god." Cecil replied.


    "Ahaha~ yeah I guess." Ainz turned towards the vomit on the ground. He raised a hand to cast a fire spell and burnt away the vomit. He then cast a wind magic and cleared the air of the disgusting smell.


    The two boys quickly washed their faces in the river and fetched some water for the girls.


    After having a quick dinner, the group quickly went to bed. They had already established their night watch rotations with Cecil being the first to keep watch since he had already slept on the carriage earlier.


    When the sun finally rose up into the air, the group was already ready to begin their hunt.


    "Today''s target is... 20 golems? Well, let''s make it 30. It''s a good opportunity to train so everyone will be required to take down 5 golems on their own. Bring their cores as proof! Once we''re finished, we''ll quickly head back to the city!"


    "So we''re all doing it alone this time?" Eli asked.


    "Yup, any problems?"


    "No, not really... but what about Fina? She''s our support and healer..."


    Cecil turned towards Fina who was staring back at him with a determined look in her eyes.


    "Don''t worry! I can handle it! If it''s too much for me, I can just run away!"


    Cecil nodded and turned towards the rest.


    "No one else has any objections?"


    "Haha, 5 is too little for the great me! I''ll be done long before lunch!" Ainz said, he turned around and began walking deeper into the mountains.


    Eli shrugged and followed suit. Velicia stretched a bit before she too, pounced into the mountain range.


    "Fina, if you want. I can assign Silver to you so that he can keep you safe."


    "Hmm... although I do welcome the thought, it''s okay. I''ll do it alone this time. Besides I''m a Water Mage too remember! I have the elemental advantage against these golems!"


    "Haha, you''re right. Well, don''t overdo it and remember to keep your safety as your number one priority!"


    "Thanks, Cecil! Don''t worry I''ll do my best!" Fina confidently said. She turned around and eyed the mountain range. She took a deep breath and began walking up into the mountains, searching for her targets.


    "...I''ll go and keep an eye on them?" Lucia asked.


    "Sure, just make sure they don''t know you''re there."


    "That''s simple." Lucia said, and began casting an illusion magic on herself. Cecil stared at the back of the girl who in the next second began to fade away.


    Cecil whistled while rubbing his fox ears. "Well, that''s really convenient... I didn''t think illusion magic could be so useful."


    Ever since he got used to staying in his fox form, Cecil formed a habit to rub his ears every now and then. It really felt like they really were his ears and not just some illusion. The sensation coming from his 3 tails also felt real. There was no way that it was only just an illusion. His fox form ''illusion'' was more like a ''transformation'' instead. Cecil even began wondering if Lucia''s magic was only limited to just Illusion magic.


    Cecil turned towards Silver who was lying down by the carriage, "Silv, keep watch of our stuff! I''ll be heading off now."


    "WOOF!"


    "Alright, let''s go hunting."


    Cecil activated Mana Burst and disappeared into the mountains.


    ******


    Over at Ainz''s side, the lizardkin mage was currently trekking through the rugged mountain range. He had cast a body enhancement spell on himself and was easily leaping from place to place.


    He quickly spotted a lone golem that was wandering around a small plateau like area. He quickly hid behind a boulder and began casting his magic.


    Once he finished his incantation, he jumped out from behind the boulder and pointed his staff at the ground under the Armamite Golem.


    "Permeate into the ground and trap my enemies! Quagmire!"


    The ground under the golem began to soften and a large quagmire formed. The heavy golem began sinking into the ground right away. It began to struggle and tried to move out of the quagmire, but before it could do so, Ainz had already sent his next spell flying towards it.


    "Flame Lance!"


    There wasn''t just one Flame Lance... Ainz had sent a flurry of Flame Lances shooting towards the golem. When the spell struck the golem, there was no visible damage that could be seen from just one lance striking its body, but the multitudes of flame lances caused the surface of its iron like body to heat up.


    The once glistening surface of the golem''s body was now glowing red with heat.


    "Heh! I learned this just recently. Know that you have the honor to be the first to fall from my new technique!"


    "TORNADO! FLAME PILLAR!"


    Ainz parallel casted two mid-tier spells. Once the Tornado formed around the golem, a pillar of roaring fire rose from the ground under the golem.


    The tornado quickly picked up the flames of the Flame Pillar and turned into a raging tornado of flames.


    "Combo Spell! Raging Flames Tornado! WAHAHAHA!!!"


    ''...oh my gosh.'' Lucia thought while holding her forehead. ''He really is just so unbearable to watch...it''s no longer funny anymore.''


    Lucia quickly turned away and activated her sensing spell. Once she found Velicia, she began making her way hastily towards her.


    On Velicia''s end, she was pouncing around her targeted golem while sending punches and kicks at it.


    The large golem was c.u.mbersome and couldn''t match her speed, but its defenses were also too great for her to cause any substantial damages. In fact, her punches and kicks served only to cause damage to her hands and feet instead.


    "Ahhhh... it really is hard to beat these things up..." Velicia sighed helplessly. "I wish I knew that aura technique that Cecil and Lucia use... I bet I could beat these guys up with that!"


    "...need help Veli?"


    "WAAH!!!" Velicia jumped in surprise at the abrupt voice that answered her rant. She quickly turned around and saw Lucia standing not far from her.


    "L-Lucia! Don''t scare me like that! Geez!"


    "Ahaha, sorry I didn''t mean too. So, do you need help?"


    "Eh? Ahh, it''s alright. I''ll find some way to beat these things up!"


    "Okay... by the way, that aura technique you mentioned..." Lucia paused for a bit, but then decided to give her a hint. "All me and Cecil do was WRAP our bodies in mana. It''s pretty simple once you''ve got the hang of it..."


    "!" Velicia widened her eyes in surprise. Then she smiled hearing the advice. She quickly thanked Lucia and turned her attention back towards the golem that was lumbering slowly towards her.


    Velicia immediately tried to wrap her fists in mana, but it was difficult to do since she wasn''t adept in mana control. She found it hard, but she kept her distance from the golem and continued to try.


    Lucia smiled seeing this. She walked away and activated her sensing spell once again, this time she was searching for Eli. Except, she didn''t find her, all she found was Fina. So she decided to head on over to her instead.


    "Everyone''s growing stronger and stronger... by the time the 3rd segment of the tournament begins, I''m pretty sure they''d be able to hold their own against the guys from the faction all by themselves~"


    Lucia happily skipped her way towards Fina''s location, but suddenly a large golem blocked her way. Lucia kept her smile and simply slashed out with her aura wrapped katana. The golem paused where it stood and Lucia skipped her way around it.


    The golem immediately began to collapse into a heap of rubble, Lucia extended her hand and the golem''s core quickly flew into her outstretched hand. She nodded lightly and kept the core into her spatial ring.


    "Ehehe~ I can do it now too Cel~" Lucia smiled happily and skipped away leaving behind the destroyed golem, not bothering to collect its materials.


    Far up on the tree tops, Cecil was sitting down on one of the tree branches observing Lucia and his friends through Mana Sense.


    "Uwaaahh... she got unreasonably strong again..."

 Chapter 103 - Everyone’s Progress 2

    Lucia made her way over to Fina''s location. When she arrived she was somewhat surprised at the spectacle she was witnessing.


    Fina was currently holding her own against an Armamite Golem. Although the golem was on the smaller side, the size also made its speed somewhat quicker than the previous golems she witnessed her other friends fighting.


    It wasn''t only this. What made Lucia stand there in surprise was the 2 wolf shaped blobs of water that were standing by Fina''s side.


    "What are those things?" Lucia mumbled in thought.


    "Blu! Lake! GO!" Fina shouted and pointed her staff at the golem that was charging her way.


    The two wolf shaped blobs of water dashed to the sides of the golem, initiating a pincer attack. This caused Lucia to be somewhat worried since this left Fina wide open.


    She was relieved the next instant since Fina casted a large Ice Rampart in the golem''s path.


    "Ice Rampart!"


    CRAAASSSSSHHHH


    The golem didn''t stop and just smashed right through the rampart and was about to continue charging towards Fina, but the golem couldn''t find its prey.


    "HAILSTORM!"


    Fina was already on top of one of the trees just ahead of the golem. Earlier, she used a small ice platform that she created using ice rampart and floated her way up to the branches. Once she was up there, she immediately began casting the Hail Storm spell and just as the golem smashed apart the earlier Ice Rampart, she finished her spell and immediately sent it towards the golem.


    The hail of ice bombarded the golem''s body and on the side, the two wolf-like water apparitions were attacking it with aqua bolts.


    Once the aqua bolts made contact with the golem''s body, the icicle hailstorm immediately froze the drenched body of the golem.


    Fina knew that this wasn''t enough so she quickly jumped down from the tree before the golem broke free of the ice. She sprinted her way behind the golem. When the golem broke free of the ice, it charged towards the tree she was once on and knocked it down.


    It stood back up and glanced around. Seeing that its prey had once again escaped, the golem began to thrash around in a rage. Suddenly a flurry of Ice lances landed on its body.


    It turned around and saw the girl with her two apparitions standing not far from it. It roared in rage and charged towards the three.


    Lucia was confused seeing this. ''Why is the golem enraged?''


    When Lucia continued spectating Fina''s battle she finally found the reason. It turns out Fina was repeating her strategy over and over again on the golem. Except every time, she would only open up with same moves, but freeze it using different water spell combinations.


    It seems like Fina was testing out some spells to optimally take down the golem. The repetitive battle and harassment that Fina caused towards the golem was what enraged it.


    Lucia thought it was okay, but was worried that Fina might exhaust all her mana before she could even destroy the golem. It was an unfounded worry however since the golem was visibly slowing down its assault as time passed on.


    The continuous bombardment of ice and water spells caused it to weaken and eventually after another 5 cycles of her strategy, Fina was able to safely take down the golem, although she too, was visibly spent.


    Fina took her time to rest. She floated her way up towards the tree branches and had her apparitions watch the surroundings. Seeing this Lucia smiled and began searching for her last friend.


    "Oh! Eli''s already that far into the mountains huh." Fina exclaimed in mild surprise when she found her last friend.


    Eli was already high up into the mountains and was currently facing off against 2 golems simultaneously.


    Once Lucia arrived at the battlefield, the fight was already over.


    "A.." Lucia began pouting. She really wanted to see how strong Eli had become after undergoing Cecil''s initial hell-like training and magic theory lessons that were well above what the academy was teaching.


    Just looking at how much stronger her 3 other friends had become, she really anticipated to see how far Eli had progressed since from the start, she was already the strongest of the bunch.


    Lucia turned to look at the sun, it was already above her head and it seemed it was going to be another couple of hours before midday.


    "Let''s go hunt the 5 golems quickly and go back to the carriage and prepare lunch~"


    Lucia quickly made her way further into the mountain range and quickly spotted 5 golems crowding around a cave.


    ''Oh, what''s this?''


    Lucia beamed at the golems and snuck towards them. She peered into the cave and saw that there was a clear glistening pond inside. The walls of the cave also seemed to be rich with ore veins.


    ''Let''s get rid of them?'' Lucia rushed towards the golems and flickered in between each golem, felling each golem with a single strike of her aura enhanced blade.


    Lucia began whistling happily and she collected the broken monster cores. "Whoops... oh well, the guild only wanted the cores, so it doesn''t matter if they''re broken or not~"


    Lucia walked over the golems'' bodies and proceeded into the cave. Inside the cave the ceiling was littered with ores that were radiating light. She also noticed that there were smaller sized versions of the large Armamite golems that she had just felled inside the cave.


    They were harmlessly roaming around the interior. Even as Lucia walked close to them, all the small golems did was look up at her and walk past. She also saw some of them eating the ore that were embedded in the walls of the cave.


    "So it''s a golem nest?" Lucia smiled while looking around, she also bowed in apology. "Sorry, I think I just killed your parents."


    She went towards the pool of water and found that it was radiating mana. She took a sip of the water and found her depleted mana recovering.


    "Hmmm, let''s gather some~"


    Lucia took out a couple of water jugs from her spatial ring and stored some of the water into it. There was so much water in the pool that even after she filled up 10 jugs, the water level of the pool hadn''t changed one bit.


    She found it odd, so Lucia used a sensing spell to search inside the pool. It was unfortunate however, since the mana radiating from the pool of water prevented her sensing spell from reaching too deeply into it. The good thing however was that she detected no danger inside the pool, so Lucia took off her clothes and immediately dived into the pool.


    ''OH!''


    The pool of water was actually pretty deep, but it wasn''t all that deep since the light from the ores embedded in the cave''s ceiling was able to illuminate the pool''s floor.


    She cast another sensing spell, but she found that the mana in the pool was interfering with her spell. She frowned and finally noticed that the density of mana in the water at the floor of the pool was awfully dense, so dense that the mana began to permeate into her body.


    ''Urgh...'' Lucia felt her body prickle with pain, but she didn''t float to the surface since she noticed that her mana level was rising quickly.


    "!" Her eyebrows raised in surprise. She began circulating the mana inside her body according to her mother''s mana cultivation manual and the mana inside the pool of water began rushing vigorously into her body.


    "AH!" Lucia became startled at the abrupt change. She opened her mouth in surprise and the water quickly rushed in. She started suffocating and she tried to swim out of the pool only to find that her limbs had become stiff.


    She could only helplessly cast her eyes, that were tearing up in fear, upwards. ''Cel! Help...''


    Lucia soon fainted and fell to the pool''s floor.


    *******


    High up on one of the mountains in the Alka Mountain Range, Cecil was startled awake from his meditation.


    He had kept his Mana Sense on all his party members and found that Lucia''s presence was suddenly erased. Normally, even if Lucia used her illusion magic to disguise and camouflage her presence, she still wouldn''t be able to escape from his Mana Sense.


    But oddly enough, this time Lucia''s presence was completely erased when she entered a small cave on the mountain side.


    Cecil frowned and stood up. He disappeared from his spot and flashed towards the direction where he last sensed Lucia.


    It didn''t take him long until he found the cave that Lucia disappeared into. He noticed the five golems that were collapsed motionless at the entrance. Cecil rushed into the cave and found that the cave was full of smaller golems.


    They were harmless so Cecil didn''t attack them. He looked around the interior and found it rich with ores and minerals. He also spotted a deep empty pit in the middle of the cave.


    When he got closer to the pit, he peered inside and saw Lucia collapsed unconscious in the middle of the pit.


    "LULU!"


    He quickly used Blink and appeared at her side in an instant. Cecil carefully held her up, he was relieved to find that she was still breathing. Lucia had only fainted!


    What he found odd however was that Lucia was n.a.k.e.d. It wasn''t the first time he saw her n.a.k.e.d so he didn''t pay it any mind. He plainly took out a spare robe from his spatial ring and wrapped her up in it.


    "What the?"


    Once Cecil picked her up, he finally noticed something odd about Lucia.


    "1, 2, 3...4? 5???" He counted and exclaimed incredulously.


    Somehow, Lucia had gained 2 additional tails. With her 3 initial tails, Lucia now had a total of 5 tails that were presently wrapping around Cecil''s body the moment he picked her up in a princess carry.


    "Uehehe~ Cel~" Cecil was startled and looked at the sleeping girl''s face. Her eyes were still peacefully closed so she was only sleep talking.


    ''What in the world?''


    Cecil could only stare in wonder at the sight of Lucia''s 5 tails wrapping around him.

 Chapter 104 - Everyone’s Progress 3

    Cecil made a mental note of the cave''s location and rushed back towards his party''s camp.


    When he got there, Silver was lying down by the side of the carriage in his battle form. The large white wolf opened its eyes and his two ocean blue eyes stared questioningly at him.


    Silver saw the n.a.k.e.d Lucia wrapped up in Cecil''s robes in his embrace. It ''smirked'' and ''bemusedly'' barked at the boy.


    "Woof!"


    Cecil only looked back at his friend with a questioned look.


    "What?"


    "Woof!"


    Cecil shrugged since he didn''t understand. He went into the carriage and placed Lucia onto the seat to let her sleep.


    "What happened to you Lulu?"


    As he was about to stand up, the 5 tails that were wrapping around him suddenly tightened, he was surprised and collapsed on top of Lucia who responded by hugging him back.


    ''Mnyah~ Cel~"


    "Hey! Let go Lulu... what the heck..." Cecil became a bit fl.u.s.tered. He tried to pry off the tails from his body, but they only tightened around him in response.


    He could easily escape if he wanted to, but that would mean causing unnecessary harm towards Lucia.


    He helplessly sighed and pinched the middle of his brows.


    Cecil sat upright with Lucia''s clinging tightly onto him.


    He could feel Lucia''s breathing down his neck. It caused him to tingle a bit. He frowned at this and began tickling her, but unfortunately the only response was her tails tightening around him.


    ''Hmmm... It usually works.''


    Cecil changed his strategy and pressed a couple of pressure points on Lucia''s arms and body. It caused her arms and tails to become powerless for a moment and Cecil used this chance to slip away.


    He quickly took out a blanket and placed it over Lucia. He also carefully readjusted her body and made sure he stayed away from her tails and arms that were, for some reason, searching for him.


    If he didn''t confirm the fact that Lucia was indeed asleep, Cecil thought that the girl was only playing a prank on him.


    When he was about to exit the carriage, he heard Lucia mumble his name, "Ce~el..." He looked back and saw that Lucia was sleeping normally. He walked out and spread his Mana Sense into the mountains once again.


    He quickly found his friends. He looked up and saw that it was almost lunchtime. "I guess I''ll cook this time..."


    Silver who heard him mumbling started whining.


    "Tsk, hey! It''s not that bad y''know! I can grill a good meal y''know!"


    ''Yes, and that''s literally all you could do, grill'' was what Silver expressed with the pitiful look in his eyes.


    "Tch... it''s not my fault. Lucia fainted for some reason and it doesn''t seem like she''s going to wake up anytime soon."


    "Woof!"


    "Yeah, yeah..."


    Cecil quickly started a fire. He took out the meat that the group had prepared for their lunch. It was still the demon hawk king''s leftover meat.


    The corpse of the monster king was pretty large, so even after a couple of days cooking and eating the meat there was still some left over.


    He used the remaining bird meat and began cutting them up into small pieces. He pulled out a small basin and the sauce he had prepared and stored inside his ring at all times. He never got to use it though since it was always Lucia doing the cooking.


    He poured the sauce into the basin and dumped the small chunks of chicken meat into it.


    Cecil waited for over an hour before he began skewering the meat onto thin wooden sticks he had already prepared. Cecil quickly stuck the skewers over by the fire and waited for it to cook.


    With the fire going, the smoke that rose into the air served as the signal for the rest of his party to come back and have lunch.


    First to come back was Ainz, he was still as high spirited as when he first left, although he did look a bit battered. He washed his face in the nearby river and sat around the fire and waited for the rest of his party to come back.


    Not long after, Velicia and Fina came back together. The two were visibly exhausted. Velicia had a couple of cuts and bruises all over her body. Fina was extremely pale. She didn''t have any visible wounds, but her mana had sunk to a dangerously low level.


    Eli came back a while later. She looked completely unruffled. She came back in the same condition as when she first set off, but Cecil knew that she was the one who pushed herself the most amongst the rest of the party members.


    She would fight multiple Armamite golems at the same time and she would quickly fell them without too much difficulty. Her quota of 5 golems were long since achieved and she stayed in the mountains to train and hone her skills and spells. She also had the leisure time to pick some herbs that Lucia said would be great for crafting potions, salves, or even used as food ingredients.


    Once everyone had arrived, Cecil served the meat skewers he had grilled. They ate ravenously, but felt that it was somewhat different than Lucia''s usual meals. They also looked around and found that the girl wasn''t even there.


    "Cecil, where''s Lucia?" Fina asked


    "Huh? Oh, she''s asleep in the carriage." Cecil said and pointed at the carriage. Silver barked in response.


    "Woof!"


    "Oh, is she okay? Did she not get enough sleep last night?"


    "No, it''s not that. She just had a breakthrough with her mana cultivation and she fell asleep."


    "Oh that''s good!"


    "How come she fell asleep though?" Eli asked skeptically.


    "It''s just a side effect of her cultivation method, don''t worry about it. She always sleeps like this."


    "...okay."


    Cecil didn''t want to reveal that something unusual had happened to Lucia, so he just chalked it all up to some side effect of her mana cultivation method. This was a lie of course, but Cecil didn''t want his friends to worry.


    Once the group was finished with their lunch, Fina had rested enough and her mana had recovered. She quickly cast a healing spell onto Velicia and healed her wounds, she also cast one on Ainz, Cecil and Eli just in case. After that, the 4 teenagers presented to Cecil the monster cores that they each had.


    Ainz had 4 and he was only one core away from reaching his quota, he couldn''t fulfill his earlier promise. He wasn''t discouraged by that though. He only said that he was currently testing out some new spell combos and that if he used his normal spell compositions then he would have definitely finished his quota already. Velica and Fina had 3 each and only Elizabeth had 5.


    Cecil nodded and he opened his hand and 10 more monster cores appeared. "This is mine and Lucia''s. Alright, Fina, Veli and Ainz, head back up and finish your hunts."


    "Okay!" The three replied in unison.


    "Once you guys get back, I''ll continue explaining my mana manipulation method and we''ll begin our training."


    The three people quickly started heading back up into the mountains again.


    Cecil turned towards Eli who was seeing off her friends and asked, "What about you Eli? Since you''re already done, what do you plan on doing now?"


    "...let''s spar?"


    "Haha, okay! But, no magic! We''ll polish your sword skills today!"


    Eli smiled in response, "Great!


    Cecil walked a bit away from the campsite and pulled out his sword. He motioned for Eli to do the same.


    Eli quickly unsheathed her rapier and focused her mind. She breathed out and turned her focused gaze onto Cecil.


    Seeing this, Cecil smiled and said, "Start!"


    "HAAAAAAAAA!!!" Eli lunged forward with her rapier piercing towards Cecil. Cecil parried the rapier with his sword while at the same time turning his body.


    Eli stomped her foot to stop her forward momentum and swung her rapier to the side. Cecil blocked the swing and raised his foot to kick her.


    Eli blocked the kick with her free hand and began to continuously stab her rapier at her friend. Cecil calmly blocked each stab with a slight smile on his face.


    ''Good, she can now chain her stabs continuously without creating an opening! Good, very good!''


    Cecil focused and began blocking and parrying her attacks while at the same time intentionally trying to breaking her stance. He wanted to see how Eli would react to this and whether or not she would unintentionally create an opening for him.


    In the beginning Cecil''s blocks and parries did cause Eli some problems since all her stances were repeatedly broken and she had to readjust herself before attacking again. Gradually however, she was able to adapt and after 30 minutes of the back and forth bout, Eli was able to somewhat maintain her stance stably even after Cecil intentionally tried to break them.


    "Urgh, you''re so annoying..."


    "Ahaha, well this just means you have to train more. I''ll be adding punches and kicks now~"


    "..."


    Eli refocused her mind on the battle. She took the initiative and dashed towards Cecil once again. It was a repeat of their earlier bout, but this time Cecil mixed in punches and kicks after he blocked or parried her attacks.


    Cecil didn''t show mercy anymore and he would punch or kick her if Eli showed even the slightest bit of an opening.


    ''It''s better if her body got used to it~ so please forgive me Elizabeth~''


    The two''s spar kept on going until Eli collapsed onto the floor all battered and bruised from Cecil''s attacks.


    "Ahaha... sorry about that Eli..."


    "Urk... no... It''s fine... ouch..." Eli shakily got up and began walking back towards the campsite. Cecil stretched and sheathed his sword before catching up with her.


    "Well, how was it? Technique and skill matters a lot right?"


    "...how many times have you told me this?"


    "Ahahaha! Well, you are progressing well. Your rapier skills are becoming much more polished and refined compared to a month ago. Keep training hard Eli."


    "...Of course."


    Eli sighed helplessly looking at the training freak telling her to train harder. ''Geez, I''m a princess and this is how you treat me.''


    She always felt it funny that this boy next to her and her friend that was currently asleep treated her just like they would treat any other girl. Eli knew for certain that Cecil and Lucia were well aware of her identity as the kingdom''s princess.


    Even then, the two didn''t give her any preferential treatment. The same went for the other princess in the party. The two treated Fina and her the same way they would treat a friend.


    Although, there were times when Eli would complain in her heart at Cecil''s unreasonable method of training, but she was even gladder to find friends that treated her genuinely, without any ulterior motives.


    She really didn''t like the moniker of being a princess affecting her relationsh.i.p.s with the people close to her, so she very much welcomed the treatment even though she wanted to complain and whine sometimes.


    "Hey Eli... what the heck is that?" Cecil patted her shoulder while pointing in the distance.


    "Huh?" Elizabeth eyed the direction at where Cecil was pointing. She found a dust cloud rising in the distance and it seems that the source of the dust could was moving in the direction that they were in.


    "Let''s quickly head back. That may be trouble."


    "Okay."


    The two quickly made their way back to the campsite and put out the fire. Cecil quickly packed the things into the carriage or into his ring and he vigilantly waited for the dust cloud to approach.


    Eli was next to him and she had already applied some healing salve and drank a healing potion. Her hand was on the hilt of her rapier, ready to draw it at a moment''s notice.

 Chapter 105 - Fatty

    As the dust cloud approached Cecil and Eli were somehow able to hear an indistinct screaming. When the two trained their ears onto the sound...


    "WAAAAAHHHH STOP STOP YOU STUPID BEAST!!!"


    A pitiful screaming was what found their way into their ears. The two looked at each other dumbfounded.


    "..."


    "...Cecil."


    The two nodded and waited for the dust cloud to approach. Cecil saw that it was set for a collision course with their carriage, so he stepped forward and extended a hand.


    A strong semi-transparent golden barrier formed in front of him and he waited for the dust cloud to come colliding into his barrier.


    DWAAAANNNNGGGG


    Just as he expected, whatever was causing the dust cloud didn''t have any intention to stop and collided head on with the barrier. The object rebounded and was sent flying upwards and backwards away from the duo.


    "ARRRRGGGHHHHH?!!"


    "RAAAAAWWWWRRR!!!"


    A pitiful scream and roar of pain ensued.


    ''What the hell?'' Cecil only stared back in confusion.


    "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..."


    *Whine*


    "Stop whining you idiot! I told you to stop you stupid fool!"


    "ROAR!"


    "WHAT? YOU WANNA HAVE A GO?!"


    "?" At the weird exchange that was happening inside the cloud of dust Cecil could only stare stupidly in response.


    Once the dust settled a large basilisk monster that seemed to be a mount was currently having a stare down with a large tin can that had his weapons drawn.


    "Uhm... excuse me?" Cecil spoke up hesitantly.


    "Ah?" The tin can broke his glare from his mount and looked towards the boy.


    "OH! You''re that Cecil right?! The second ranked amongst the 1st years?!" The tin can asked in a gruff voice.


    "Uhhh... yeah?"


    "Ah... finally... that means I made it!"


    "..."


    When Eli heard the words ''I made it'' she immediately went into the motion of drawing her rapier.


    The tin can upon seeing this immediately became fl.u.s.tered.


    "Ah wait wait wait!!!" He immediately dropped his shield and mace before raising his hands up in surrender. "I-I-I¨CI''m not here for any trouble!"


    "Okay, so what are you here for?" Eli asked menacingly.


    "Hold on! Let''s not be hasty!" The tin can expressed hastily.


    "First off, you can begin by introducing yourself... tin can."


    "T-t-tin can?!"


    "Hurry up! Before I change my mind and cut you down!"


    "Yes, yes..." The tin can carefully took off his helmet. Underneath the full plate helmet was a chubby faced dark furred tigerkin. He placed the helmet on the ground and introduced. "My name is Lucius Yulgaria Darkfang. I''m a second year at the academy... I''m also part of the... Alchemy faction."


    "Faction?" Eli narrowed her eyes and glared menacingly at Lucius.


    "Hold on, hold on... I''m not here to cause trouble! My fianc¨¦ only asked me to come out here and help with something."


    "Fianc¨¦?"


    "Yes! Uhm... if I''m not mistaken... this party should be the ''Little Kings'' right?" The tigerkin asked.


    "Yes..."


    His expression immediately brightened after receiving Eli''s affirmation


    "Then I didn''t come to the wrong place! My fianc¨¦ is definitely a member of your party!"


    Cecil and Eli already had an inkling to who this tin can''s fianc¨¦ was. The only tigerkin in their party was Velicia... so it goes without saying that this tin can named Lucius was... Velicia''s fiance?


    "So... you''re saying that Veli is your fianc¨¦?"


    "Veli? You mean Velicia? Yes, she''s the one! My Angel! My beautiful fianc¨¦! Ahhh..." At the mention of Veli''s name, Lucius immediately had a longing and love-struck expression plastered all over his face.


    "So you''re Veli''s fianc¨¦? Well... she''s in the mountain hunting for Armamite Golem''s right now, so¨C"


    "ARMAMITE GOLEMS?!" Lucius screamed in disbelief.


    His abrupt scream caught both Eli and Cecil in surprise.


    "Y-yeah..."


    "My Veli-tan is hunting ARMAMITE golems... all by herself?"


    "Veli?"


    "Tan?"


    "GRAAAAHHH!!! Veli-tan!!! I-I''m coming! I''ll come and save youuuuu!!!" Lucius declared. He quickly swiped up all his equipment that were lying on the floor and dashed his way into the mountains.


    "..." Cecil wanted to stop him, but the fatty had already disappeared so his hand only froze awkwardly in mid-air.


    "...Shouldn''t we have stopped him?"


    "..."


    "He doesn''t even know where Veli is..."


    "..."


    "Cecil?"


    "...right now. I honestly don''t care whether he loses his way inside the mountains or not."


    "CECIL?!" Eli exclaimed in surprise.


    "But he is Veli''s fianc¨¦¨C"


    Before Cecil could say anything further, "WAH LUCIUS?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"


    "VELI-TAN!!! I''M HERE!!! COME GOLEM! FIGHT ME!!!"


    "..."


    Even from the campsite, the two heard the loud voices of Velicia and her fianc¨¦ echoing deep from the mountains.


    "...How the hell did he find her so quickly?" Eli asked, astonishment dyeing her tone.


    "...you''re asking me?"


    The two immediately rushed into the mountains towards Velicia''s location.


    Deep in the mountains, Velicia was currently standing dumbfounded at the scene in front of her. Her fianc¨¦ had somehow appeared in front of her and he was currently bashing the golem with his mace into the ground.


    "RAH! RAH! HOW! DARE! YOU!" Lucius was smashing the golem with utmost vigor while shouting, "HURT! MY! VELI! TAN!"


    "..."


    Lucius continued smacking around the golem until it no longer moved. He opened the visor of his helmet and looked towards Velicia.


    "Are you okay?"


    "..." Veli raised her hands to cover her blushing face while nodding in response.


    "Ah, that''s good!"


    Lucius immediately walked towards Velicia and his stride looked awfully cool in her eyes.


    By the time, Cecil and Eli arrived at Velicia''s spot. The battle was long over and they had to witness the scene of Velicia blushing and fidgeting at the sight of Lucius''s ''heroic'' figure.


    "...Why did we even come..." Cecil facepalmed and immediately flickered back towards the campsite.


    "Hey! Cecil! Is this okay?" Eli quickly chased after Cecil. "Lucius might interfere with Velicia''s training!"


    "Argh... after seeing the way that fatty acted. Would you like to try convincing him to not help Veli now?"


    "..."


    "Yeah, thought so."


    Once they made it back down to the campsite, Cecil began taking out the stuff he had put away earlier. Once he was finished setting up the campsite again. He turned towards Silver who was vigilantly eyeing the basilisk that Lucius had brought along earlier.


    Cecil saw that the two were currently having a staring contest. He shook his head and walked into the carriage to check in on Lucia.


    "Zzz...zzz...Cel~ uehehehe~..."


    "Oi~i Lulu. Wake up now... you have to eat lunch."


    "...zzz...zzz..."


    Cecil scratched his head helplessly and jumped back out of the carriage. He looked around and sighed.


    "Man... this sure is boring..."


    He looked around to find Eli, but saw that she was nowhere to be found. He activated Mana Sense and scattered his sense into the mountains, quickly locating his friends.


    "Veli''s with her fianc¨¦. Oh. Eli''s with Fina and Ainz... he''s finished? But what the heck is he doing?"


    He retracted his Mana sense and walked away to an empty space near the campsite and began practicing his family''s martial arts.


    ''I''m so close to making my own mana cultivation technique. The feelings there, but I don''t know where to go from there...''


    Cecil was indeed one step away from turning his family''s martial arts technique into a mana cultivation technique that also encompassed breathing techniques and combat skills. He was just at a loss on where to take the final step.


    The sensation that he felt a month ago during class he was able to grasp again and again, but he still felt that he was missing something.


    After a month of practice, almost all of Cecil''s mana had fully condensed into liquid form. Only a small fraction was left, but this small amount was like a bottleneck to him. If he couldn''t find out what was wrong with his technique then Cecil knew that somehow, he wouldn''t be able to take that final leap towards the Mana Sea Stage.


    ''Just what is it am I missing? I''ve already referenced all the low-tiered to high-tiered mana cultivation techniques in the library''s 1st to 4th floor... so what the heck am I missing?''


    Cecil contemplated in frustration.


    He kept circulating his mana while practicing his forms and once again he was able to enter that ethereal sensation.


    ''Here it is again.''


    He kept practicing, and soon his mind quickly went blank. All he felt was the natural flow of his movements and the harmony it had with the elements in the air.


    Unaware of the changes to his surroundings, Cecil single-mindedly practiced. His forms became increasing powerful. His aura rose and fell with his every breath. Cecil felt a feeling of liberation and freedom.


    Cecil kept this up until the sun set and the moon shone in the night sky. When he finally felt satisfied and stopped. That feeling of freedom and harmony also vanished. He felt 7 intense stares directed at him. Cecil quickly turned his head to look at the source only to see that his friends were also looking back at him in disbelief and awe.


    "What is it?"


    "..."


    They only pointed back at him and he became puzzled.


    Cecil looked at his body and at the surroundings. He gaped in shock at the scenery that filled his eyes.

 Chapter 106 - Problem

    Cecil could only gape in shock. The scenery around him was filled with an intense golden aura that didn''t dissipate even after a while.


    The dark night was illuminated brightly by this golden aura that was surrounding him. The aura held a trace of his presence so Cecil immediately knew that it originated from him.


    This never happened before. Cecil also noticed that the golden aura that seemed to have originated from him had also somehow caused a geological change to his surroundings. The empty lot he was in had somehow dropped a level in elevation.


    Cecil noticed that the ground had lowered in elevation by about half a meter with him at the center.


    The once grassy area was now an empty, barren land.


    "Did... did I do this?" Cecil asked.


    His friends could only nod in reply.


    Cecil immediately jumped out of the crater he had created and walked back towards the campsite.


    He checked out his body and made sure that nothing adverse had happened to him, but to his pleasant surprise he found that all the mana inside his body was now flowing like a raging river.


    "I...I did it..." Cecil once again checked his body to make sure he wasn''t hallucinating. He even smacked his face just to make sure it wasn''t a dream. He laughed in surprise once he made sure that it wasn''t a dream.


    "AHAHAHAHA!!! I DID IIIIIITTTTTT!!!"


    Cecil started circulating his ocean like mana and a golden aura immediately wrapped around his body. Cecil glanced at the changes to his body and smiled.


    Cecil did notice this aura envelop him when he activated Mana Burst sometimes, but this time, even without the activation of Mana Burst the aura had already appeared.


    Cecil immediately felt his body strengthening with each circulation of his mana. He felt... free... and unrestrained. The euphoric feeling almost felt like a drug. Cecil immediately turned around and struck his palm out into the air.


    "HRAH!"


    WOOOSHHHH BOOM


    His golden aura immediately flew out like a large mana bolt and a tree that was at the end of where he aimed his palm abruptly snapped in two and crashed down to the ground.


    "WOAH!" Cecil exclaimed in surprise, but suddenly his body and even his mind felt empty. All Cecil felt was an insatiable hunger and desire slowly enveloping his conscience. He tried to hold back the feeling, but to no avail.


    His body began twitching in response to his rational thinking colliding with the instincts and commands his body was sending to his brain.


    "AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!"


    "CECIL?!"


    "OI! BRAT!"


    "EH?"


    "ROAR!"


    At Cecil''s abrupt howl and his subsequent collapse onto the ground with his body twitching, his friends quickly were about to quickly rush forward, only to hear an even louder and more anxious shout originating from behind them.


    "CEL!"


    Lucia who had awoken from who knows when rushed out from behind the group and quickly made her way towards Cecil who was collapsed onto the ground. When she got closer, Lucia saw a rising, maddened look surface inside Cecil''s eyes.


    She quickly embraced him and covered his mouth while she began circulating her mana and channeling it into Cecil''s body.


    "It''s okay. It''s okay. It''s okay. I''m here. I''m here." Lucia kept on repeating while doing her best to restrain all of Cecil''s limbs with her tails, while she cradled the almost maddened boy.


    "Lucia! W-what''s happening to him?!" Ainz asked when he arrived by their side.


    Lucia glared up at him and yelled, "BACK OFF RIGHT NOW!"


    "Uh?"


    "I said. BACK OFF!!!"


    "Wait a minute. Lucia! Y-you don''t need to flare up like that!" Eli said as she got closer to them.


    "BACK OFF!!! ALL OF YOU!!!"


    Seeing the girl that was cradling their collapsed friend and shielding him away from them like a tigress would do for her cub, the rest of the party was at a loss at what to do.


    Earlier their friend was laughing happily at something and then in the next instant he was collapsed convulsing on the ground.


    When they wanted to go check up on Cecil''s condition, their sleeping friend had rushed out and began defending him. They didn''t do anything wrong so they could only look on, not knowing what to do.


    "Please... just stay away for now..." Lucia pleaded, her eyes glistening with tears.


    "!" Seeing this, the group quickly backed off.


    "...don''t hesitate to ask if you need anything, Lucia." Fina said. She saw her friend nod before she finally went back towards the campsite in reluctance.


    At the campsite around the fire, the group was glancing worriedly at the duo that was close by. Silver got up and walked towards his master. He quickly lay down next to them and wrapped his body around theirs.


    The rest sighed helplessly and looked at each other.


    "What was that?"


    "...I dunno..."


    "Cecil... had a breakthrough right? So... what happened? He was laughing earlier, and then he suddenly collapsed..." Fina asked worriedly.


    "Did you guys see Lucia? It was like... this wasn''t the first time this happened." Velicia added.


    "..."


    Her statement caused everyone to fall into silence... even Lucius wasn''t able to speak up after looking at the oppressive atmosphere.


    "So... can any of you guys cook?" Ainz asked.


    "...can you only think with your stomach right now? Our friend just collapsed earlier and all you can think about is food?" Fina said disapprovingly.


    "It''s not like that aqua brat... we should at least prepare dinner not only for us, but for them too... I don''t think that those two have eaten yet."


    "..." Fina couldn''t retort to that so she stayed silent.


    "Ainz is right at least... so... who among us can cook?" Eli asked.


    "..."


    An awkward silence ensued and finally Lucius who was silent from the beginning raised his hand.


    "Uhm... I can, but I don''t have any ingredients."


    Fina smiled and took out the cooking ingredients their party kept inside their party''s spatial ring.


    "Here you go."


    "Oh! Thank you. With these...I guess I''ll make a soup?"


    "Sure, as long as its edible, big guy!" Ainz laughed.


    "By the way... are you really Velicia''s husband?" Fina asked.


    "Yaaaahhh!! H-he''s my fianc¨¦! He''s not my husband...yet...ehehehe..." Velicia blushed shyly on the side.


    She had a smile plastered on her face.


    "...woah... so it''s true!" Ainz exclaimed.


    Lucius smiled while he began prepping the ingredients. The two girls immediately began interrogating their friend while Ainz just stared at his friends who were currently in the clearing nearby. He sighed and looked up at the night sky.


    At the clearing, Cecil''s body had stopped convulsing and he was currently resting peacefully in Lucia''s embrace. His face was pale and he was sweating profusely.


    Lucia sighed in relief seeing this. "At least it wasn''t as bad as before..."


    This indeed wasn''t the first time Cecil had this happen to him.


    It was many months before, just after the two had left Forest Hill Town. Cecil was still developing his Mana Blade technique which he now called Ascending Blade and the resulting tests and experimentations had burnt a hole through their wallets.


    It also inspired him to test the upper limits of his Mana Burst and so he proceeded to do a very dangerous experiment using his body.


    He activated Mana Burst to his utmost limit and tried to find the threshold of which his body and mind could no longer support the activation of Mana Burst. The results were a little unsightly since had fallen into a mana depraved state. His mana and instincts had almost consumed his mind and he began rampaging about like a wild beast.


    It was a good thing that Lucia was nearby to keep an eye on him and the girl was able to restrain Cecil at a...small cost. In the end, Lucia was able to channel her mana into Cecil''s body and help him satiate his mana hungry state and calmed him down.


    She did lose a tail in the process, but at least her beloved friend was okay. Cecil had a full recollection of the event and he agonized over the fact that he had devoured one of Lucia''s tails in order to appease his mindless state of hunger for mana.


    Cecil also immediately made a mental note and set a limiter on his Mana Burst and skills so that he would never ever fall into that state again.


    Cecil also gave Lucia a bracelet that let her track his mana levels and made sure that she would always remind him whenever he was close to the red. Unfortunately this unforeseen event had somehow depleted his mana in an instant and he was dangerously close to losing his mind.


    The bracelet had let out a shock spell and the spell alerted Lucia, who was asleep, of Cecil''s dangerous state. The only fortunate thing was that Cecil''s mana was only slowly depleting into the red zone and by the time Lucia got to him, she was able to save Cecil before he fell deeper.


    This times result ended with only Lucia being somewhat exhausted of her mana. At least this time she didn''t lose a tail.


    She immediately relaxed her tails and she hugged Cecil tighter and began to silently sob. Silver only stared at the two before he howled into the air.


    "AAAAWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!"


    The party that was beside the campsite turned their attention towards Silver. The food was ready and a flavorful aroma rose from the pot that Lucius was currently handling.


    He looked up and called out to the rest, "The soup is ready everyone... if someone can call over those two... please do so. It''s better to eat it while it''s hot."


    "I''ll go!" Fina volunteered.


    She made her way over and heard a slight restrained sob when she got closer.


    ''Lucia''s crying?''


    Fina hesitated to take a step further. Silver turned his head over to her and invited her forward with his gaze.


    Fina somehow understood Silver so she took a step forward and called out, "Lucia? Cecil? The food''s ready...best if you eat it now while it''s hot..."


    "Eh? Oh... okay!" Lucia replied and quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Cecil''s still unconscious... but can you get Ainz over here and help him bring Cecil into the carriage?"


    "O-okay!" Fina replied and ran back towards Ainz and dragged him over.


    Ainz went around Silver and he shouldered Cecil with Lucia. To two made their way towards the carriage and quickly put Cecil down inside.


    "Man... first it was you. Now it''s this brat... just what the heck''s wrong with your mana cultivation techniques?"


    "..." Lucia only smiled sadly at that.


    They exited the carriage and gathered together again at the campfire.


    "...sorry you guys... about earlier." Lucia quickly bowed and apologized.


    "Eh? I-it''s okay! Instead of apologizing... could you at least explain what happened?" Velicia said in response.


    Eli and Fina also nodded. Ainz didn''t seem to care too much and only proceeded to take a bowl to scoop up the soup that was finished. He took out some bread from his spatial ring and began eating silently.


    Lucius began distributing bowls of the cooked soup to the rest. They quickly began eating while waiting for Lucia to explain.


    "Uhm... well... it''s a long story..."


    "We have all night." Ainz plainly respond.


    Lucia hesitated a little, but she still decided to explain.


    "Uhh... it has something to do with his constitution."

 Chapter 107 - The Cursed Eyes

    Lucia immediately began explaining while also not disclosing the real truth behind Cecil''s unique body constitution that had his mana distributed evenly inside every part of his body.


    "Cel has an abundant amount of mana inside his body. That''s why all his techniques and skills are always like they broke past some sort of invisible limit."


    "His speed, strength, and just about everything else are passively amplified by his abundant mana. Mana Burst, a skill that he created, activates and overdrafts his mana and further amplify his physical condition... but that''s where the problem lies."


    Everyone had stopped eating and was currently listening to Lucia''s explanation. She looked up and saw that they were urging her to continue with their eyes.


    "You see... when Cel activates his skill, Mana Burst. The mana inside his body quickly depletes at a frightening rate, but because he has so much mana, the rate of depletion is not so much of a burden for him... if it was us, then only after 5 seconds of using Cel''s Mana Burst we''d already have run out of mana..."


    "WHAT?!" Ainz exclaimed in surprise hearing this.


    Everyone else widened their eyes hearing this and only Lucius had a pondering look on his face. Lucius decided to ask Lucia a question. "So...if let''s say that Cecil''s mana was to empty out... what would happen? Would he just fall into a mana exhausted state like everyone else and experience mana sickness? Or..."


    Lucia smiled helplessly hearing this, "If only that were the case... then I wouldn''t have freaked out like earlier." She sighed and continued, "When Cel goes into a state of zero mana... he''ll turn into a ravenous monster that''ll constantly seek out and devour mana to satiate the mana deprivation in his body."


    "..."


    "Hmm... it''s much more serious than I thought... sounds almost like..."


    "Yes, it''s just like those rumored ''Non-elementals'' in the Non Continent..."


    "Oh! Those berserk man-eaters... is Cecil a descen¨C"


    "NO! He''s absolutely not from that place and so aren''t his parents!" Lucia immediately cut him off and denied.


    "What I''m going to tell you... you better not tell anyone else! It''s only been a month since we''ve met... but I know that I can trust everyone here!" Lucia said before she eyed the newcomer, Lucius.


    "Not sure about you though." She said and narrowed her eyes. "Actually... who are you anyways?"


    "L-Lucia! Don''t worry! My Lucius is very trustworthy! He won''t leak anything out! And if he does...I-I-I''ll break off our engagement!" Velicia said while seriously staring back at Lucia.


    "Veli-tan?!"


    Lucia didn''t get it, and this thing about an engagement was news to her, but she turned towards the fatty and said.


    "You heard her...Lucius... what''ll it be?"


    "...well if it''s a secret then I promise I won''t tell a soul. Although I''m part of a faction, I only joined so that I could get my hands on all the alchemy materials easily. I have no attachment to my faction whatsoever."


    "...It''s not just your faction. You better not tell anyone else. Because if I find someone snooping around for Cel''s secret...I won''t hesitate to kill anyone... even if you are a royalty from the kingdom." Lucia said coldly.


    "Don''t be so uptight brat... you''ve already seen how we are and you know for a fact that we''re trustworthy." Ainz coolly responded.


    "...Cel has a non-elemental constitution. His entire body houses non-elemental mana."


    "Eh?"


    "..."


    "Well... this is something indeed." Lucius said with an interested smile.


    "Lucia, isn''t... non-elemental mana something only those people from the Non continent have? Are you absolutely sure that Cecil''s not from that place?"


    "I''m positive... I can''t say the reason, but he''s definitely not from the Non continent." Lucia said seriously. Of course, Cecil wasn''t from the Non continent... nor was he from any of the continents of Alterna for the matter.


    "Well... what''s the deal then? It''s just Non-elemental mana..." Ainz said, clearly not understanding why it was supposed to be a secret.


    "With non-elemental mana... what else comes to mind?" Lucia asked.


    "?" Everyone only had a puzzled look and looked at each other for an answer. Even Lucia was somewhat not expecting this sort of reaction. What she didn''t know however, was that Mana Eyes was something that only leading magic researchers knew.


    Thanks to her mother and Cecil, she too had knowledge of this topic, but for her other friends. There was no way for them to know of this.


    ''Should I tell them?'' Lucia contemplated for a moment, but she made up her mind since she already spoke a little bit of Cecil''s secret.


    "Have you guys heard of something called Mana Eyes?"


    Everyone still had a look of bewilderment... all except for Elizabeth. The girl opened her mouth and recited, "The golden eyes of absolute control. The eyes that could see, feel, control, and manipulate the source of mana to their bidding...Eyes of disaster whose possessor''s only fate is that of an agonizing death and destruction."


    "..." Lucia remained silent hearing Eli.


    "What''s that?"


    "They''re eyes that could manipulate and see mana. Golden eyes that are...bequeathed upon a select few, it''s not so much of a blessing than it is a curse." Eli said with a sad smile. "My older sister had it..."


    "!" Lucia''s eyes widened at her words.


    "What? So it''s not a big deal then? So what''s with the secrecy?" Ainz laughed in response.


    His words caused Lucia to glare at him coldly.


    "What?" Ainz uneasily asked.


    "...I''m sorry Eli..." Lucia expressed her condolences.


    "Ah... it''s nothing really... she already passed on years ago. So it''s okay... but to think Cecil actually has these... accursed eyes..." Eli said.


    "Dead? What do you mean Eli? Isn''t your sister still alive and well?" Ainz asked. He was her playmate since they were young so Ainz had obviously seen all her siblings already.


    "It''s my eldest sister. She was 5 years older than me and 3 years older than big sis... let me explain in detail what these Mana Eyes are."


    Eli began explaining the detailed functions and consequences of having been born with mana eyes.


    "...so they die gruesomely before they reach 10 years of age... I see why you say they''re a curse instead of a blessing... but wait! Then how come you say that Cecil has these eyes Lucia? If he did have them... then shouldn''t he be dead?!" Ainz exclaimed.


    "Cel''s eyes... they are indeed mana eyes... but they aren''t the natural ones... because of his non-elemental attributed mana, he cultivated those mana eyes."


    "That''s possible?"


    "Apparently it is... haven''t you seen his eyes?"


    "I thought they were naturally gold? I mean, there are a lot of people that have golden eyes like his, but they don''t have these ''Mana Eyes''.


    "Well, duh! I mean, have you ever noticed that sometimes Cecil''s eyes would contract weirdly and a weird pattern would appear in his pupils for a moment?"


    "Well, no... I mean... who would even care to look?"


    "...I suppose that''s true... not to mention that he only activates it when he needs it."


    "What? Cecil can turn it off and on?" Eli asked in astonishment.


    "Uhh... yeah?"


    "That''s incredible! My...my late sister... she couldn''t turn hers off... if she could... wouldn''t it mean that she could have survived her day of awakening?"


    "...I''m not really too sure about the details of Mana Eyes since the research done by anyone have never had any substantial progress. They''re only filled with speculation since no one can live long enough to actually try out all the functions of the eyes." Lucia said.


    "Except for Cecil..." Fina added quietly.


    "Exactly... it''s something rare... so just think about what would happen if people knew that Cecil had this... ''Gift''," Lucia said while eyeing everyone around the fire.


    "The gift would no longer be a gift... but a curse. My mom''s a researcher, but even she said that she was tempted to do some experiments on Cecil."


    "..."


    "To be treated as a guinea pig in a lab... sad right? Also, don''t even get me started on all those people who would do anything to get their hands on this power. Just think about the benefits of having these eyes. Not just the direct benefits, but also the indirect benefits."


    Lucia''s expression began to turn worse as she kept on spitting out the consequences if Cecil''s power was known to everyone.


    "For the kingdom it would mean another magical asset while for other''s they might try and exploit Cecil for his abilities."


    By the time she got to her last statement, her eyes were already burning with fury and she was clenching fist so tightly and gritting her teeth in anger.


    "Okay Lucia... just stop. Don''t think so negatively. We won''t tell anyone. We promise." Eli grabbed her hand and reassured her.


    Fina and Velicia nodded resolutely.


    Lucius went along as well and only Ainz remained silent... seemingly deep in thought, it was only after a while later that he opened his mouth and asked.


    "So...since Cecil cultivated these eyes... does it mean we can too?" Ainz eagerly asked.


    A vein definitely popped on Lucia''s head. She smiled and said, "Please go ahead. Here''s the first step, infuse your mana into your eyes, every day and make sure you maintain it all day long!"


    "Really? That easy?" Ainz smiled and immediately tried to do so.


    "STOP, YOU IDIOT!" Eli stood up horrified and moved to stop the fool.


    "If you do that, you''ll burn your eyes out you stupid fool!" Eli said in frustration, "Haven''t you been listening to what I was explaining earlier?! What the consequence of having these eyes are? Explain to me what would happen if someone who had these eyes reached the age of 10?!"


    "Well... they die right?"


    "Yeah! And how do they die?"


    "Well, for fire element, they''re eyes begin to immolate and then the immolation spreads to their brains and head! For wind, they''re head and body gets dismembered. For water, they melt or freeze! For, earth th-th-they..." When Ainz got to the last one he visibly paled and began stuttering.


    "They what? Go on!" Eli urged with a cold glare.


    Ainz only gulped and apologized, "Sorry..."


    "Ugh, idiot! Now do you see the significance of Cecil''s non-elemental constitution?! THIS is why Lucia wants to keep it a secret! He won''t experience those consequences BECAUSE he has no element! Also, since you cultivate all 4 elements... then your death would be the most gruesome if you were actually born with these cursed eyes!"


    Ainz paled further until his entire face was ghost white. "D-d-d-d..."


    Eli sighed in exasperation seeing the stupid fool finally realize the folly of his actions.


    "So, this explains why Cecil''s never used any elemental system spells."


    "Yeah, and his ''air bolt'' was actually just a ''mana bolt''." Lucia explained.


    "To today''s magic researchers... Cecil would indeed be a fine specimen... I can see why you two want to keep things a secret... I bet your Mother also insisted on this... Right, Lucia?" Lucius asked.


    "Yes... even a magic researcher such as my mom who''s revered by even the academy was tempted to experiment on Cecil... it''s a good thing that it was my mother who first found out about this... our familial ties are what kept her from doing anything untoward to Cecil, so she warned us about exposing too much of our powers. Just imagine what would happen if another researcher found out and only viewed Cecil as an object."


    "..."


    ''The manhunts and bounty for Cecil''s head would be plastered all over the mercenary guilds'' quest boards."


    "So... please... please keep this secret." Lucia stood up, bowed and pleaded towards her friends.


    "Like. I. Said," Ainz said, emphasizing every word, the boy was quick to recover from his earlier blunder that almost cost him his life. "We''re buds, you can trust us! As for Lucius... although he''s new, Velicia already gave her word that her husband''s trustworthy so let''s just believe them!"


    "H-h-he''s not my¨C"


    "Husband... yet, right?" Ainz finished with a smirk.


    "Urk..."


    "Thank you everyone!"


    "Yeah... thanks everyone" An exhausted voice sounded behind the group.


    "!"


    "CEL?!" Lucia immediately stood up and rushed to the side of the pale faced boy.


    "Eheh, sorry for the trouble guys." Cecil said with a wry smile.

 Chapter 108 - Alchemist

    "Are you okay?" Lucia asked worriedly.


    "Yeah, I''m fine. Well, at least there''s some good news though, ahaha!" Cecil laughed weakly in response.


    "..."


    "Don''t look at me like that, it''s not like I''m going to die."


    "...Well, what''s the good news?" Ainz asked.


    "I''m finally at the Mana Sea stage! Hah... after 3 months of being stuck in the Mana Vapor stage, I''ve finally set foot on a higher level!" Cecil said, somewhat excitedly.


    "...Mana."


    "Sea?"


    "Stage?"


    "Congrats Cel!"


    "..."


    Everyone could not help but take another look at the 2 foxkin who were in high spirits. Mana Sea? Wasn''t Cecil''s evaluation already IN Mana Sea?


    "Hold on there... are you saying that you weren''t even in the Mana Sea Stage Cecil?" Ainz asked, wanting to know whether he heard earlier was right or not.


    "Yeah, I just advanced earlier. Didn''t you listen to Lucia''s explanation earlier? I have an abundant amount of mana."


    "And this mana... at the vapor stage is enough in quantity for the testing equipment to evaluate you as a Mana Sea stage expert?"


    "I guess? Well, it''s the same for Lulu too. She''s only in the initial stage of Mana Sea, there''s no way she''s in the mana core stage."


    "WHAT?" The revelation was a bit too much for the group.


    Their two highest ranked students were actually the ones the lowest level in Mana stage? What kind of concept was this?


    "...explain. Now," Eli said seriously.


    "Well, for me it''s because of my abundant amount of mana. I was able to inject as much mana into the testing equipment that it mistakenly evaluated my stage as in the Mana Sea. As for Lucia..."


    "It''s because of my cultivation method. I''m not like Cecil who has a naturally abundant amount of mana, my tails acts as a mana storage area on my body. I can store at least 1000 units of mana in each tails."


    "1000 units... in each tails?"


    "Yup! Since I have five now... I have at least 5000 units of mana without counting the mana inside my mana point!"


    "...freak." Ainz added silently.


    "Hmph. Cecil already has 5000 units to begin with! The idiot didn''t inject more into the testing equipment because he thought only the orange level was enough!"


    "..."


    "I''m too tired to be surprised anymore." Velicia stated.


    "Ohoho~ so you two have actually hidden yourselves so well! This is news indeed! Ahaha~ don''t worry though, I''ll be keeping this to myself!" Lucius chuckled.


    "Anyway, let''s go get some rest. Cecil, you should hurry up and eat! You don''t have to take watch tonight." Fina said while looking at the time.


    "Alright... sorry that I couldn''t begin our private lessons today..." Cecil said apologetically.


    "No, it''s fine. We have tomorrow or even the next day after that. Just get well soon so you can quickly begin training us again." Eli responded. She quickly got up and went inside the carriage.


    "Here you go Cel~" Lucia quickly scooped up a bowl of Lucius''s delicious soup and began feeding him.


    Cecil only silently ate his dinner and quickly cashed in for the night.


    ******


    The next day, their group of 9, Lucius and his mount added, were heading back towards Angla city. With their quest fulfilled they no longer had anything more to do at the Alka Mountain Range.


    The group was traveling more slowly in consideration of Lucius''s basilisk, who obviously wouldn''t be able to keep up with Silver''s speed if he went full throttle. On the way, Cecil asked Lucius the purpose of why he followed after them, currently the fatty was riding in their carriage along with them.


    "Ah! Silly me I can''t believe I forgot my real intention of quickly seeing you guys."


    "Yeah, why did you come and find us Luc?" Velicia asked.


    "Eh? Wasn''t it you who wanted me to come?"


    "...Oh! Right! But... I didn''t mean for you to come find us... we''d go and look for you once we found the time to."


    "Haha! No can do! Why should I let my fianc¨¦ go to the trouble of finding me?" Lucius replied while shaking his finger.


    "So, what is it that you asked him to do Veli?" Fina asked.


    "Well, we did get those two fruits from our last adventure, right? Cecil said we were looking for a trustworthy and skillful alchemist, so I thought that Luc here fit the bill."


    "Woah, you''re an alchemist fatty?" Ainz asked in surprise.


    "Ye¨C"


    "HEY!" Velicia yelled, she turned a glare at Ainz and continued, "Don''t call my Luc fatty!"


    "Okay, okay... geez. I was just messing around."


    "Well, I don''t like it!"


    "Alright, well... so is Lucius a good alchemist?"


    "Of course! I''ll have you know that Luc here is the alchemy faction''s number one alchemist in his year! Although there are other that are much more skillful, that''s only because they have access to higher grade studies than Luc!" Velicia said confidently.


    "Ahaha, now this is embarrassing. Well, I''m not that masterful or anything... I heard from Veli that you guys recently acquired a Maroon Demon Fruit, yes?"


    Fina pulled out one of the fruits and handed it over to him.


    "Ohoh! This sure is a Maroon Demon Fruit! Heck, it''s even such a high grade one too!"


    "Well, can you craft a good potion from it?" Cecil asked seriously.


    "Which potion are you referring to?"


    "We have two fruits, 1 of those fruits please use to craft a batch of Essence Gathering Potions. As for the other one, use the entire fruit to create a Level 3 Beast Ascending Potion."


    "Hmm... for the Essence Gathering Potion... does it matter what grade it is in?"


    "We''ll leave that to your judgment, if you need any additional ingredients to raise its grade, don''t hesitate to tell us. We''ll procure it for you at all costs."


    "Well, with the size and quality of the fruit... I can probably make at least a dozen or so Essence Gathering Potions... as for the Level 3 potion... It''s hard, but if you guys can help me get these 5 ingredients than I''m sure I can successfully craft one for you."


    "Alright, just point us in the direction and we''ll quickly set off next week."


    "Okay. Just let me get their locations first when we get back later. I''ll have my assistant hand them over to you."


    "Okay."


    Once the deal was finalized, the party ended the serious talk and began having idle conversation with each other or just rested or meditated.


    "By the way Lucia...how come you have 2 more tails?" Fina asked while eyeing the two additional tails behind her friend''s back.


    "Hm? Oh... well these... you could say they''re a by-product of my cultivation method."


    "Sorry, I don''t follow..."


    "Well, my method lets me store mana inside my tails, so the more tails I have, the more mana I can store. Just so you know, I originally had only 1 tail, but because of my mana cultivation method, I can grow up to 9 tails when I reach the later stage of my cultivation!"


    "... So in the end you can store 9000 units of Mana inside your tails alone?"


    "Well, from what my mother says, once I have 9 tails, I won''t need to store mana anymore. The tails will just naturally attract all the mana in the air to me and let me use it to my disposal."


    "Eh? Isn''t that somewhat like..."


    "A monster? Yes, the concept is something like that. But, no one in my family''s ever cultivated until 9 tails so we don''t know whether or not it''s true."


    "For some reason, I find that your cultivation method is much more profound than my kingdom''s..." Fina said, but her voice trailed off at the end.


    "Hm?"


    "Ahaha, your cultivation method sure is profound Lucia!"


    "I guess?"


    It took the group 3 days to make it back. They had essentially missed out on a half weeks'' worth of classes.


    Instructor Jin did scold them for putting too much emphasis on the tournament than on their studies.


    On the surface they appeared apologetic, but deep down they no longer cared. The lessons for S class were supposed to be advanced, but Cecil''s training method, mana theory classes, and his explanations on the unique knowledge from Earth, which they only held internally in their party, were much more advanced than the academy''s lessons.


    With each passing day, their group strayed farther and farther away from the rest of the class. It didn''t sit well with Lucia since she wanted more friends, but the rest of class seemed to put their group on some sort of pedestal.


    The clear difference in power and knowledge became even more apparent after the first month. The class rankings had a clear change during their end of the month internal ranking competition.


    Cecil''s entire group took the first to sixth place respectively. Cecil being first, Lucia second, Elizabeth third, Ainz forth, Velicia fifth, and Fina sixth.


    The scores and levels were stretched so far from rank six and seven that the rest of the class practically had no hope of ever catching up with their group. Although there were some that were jealous, there were even more that looked up at the 6 in awe and respect.


    Many of their classmates treated the 6 hardworking fellows as role-models. Even instructor Jin had nothing but praise for them.


    Velicia had it a bit better than the rest. She had a separate clique of friends long before she joined Cecil''s group, so she became the outlier in which Cecil''s offhand knowledge would be shared from.


    Cecil didn''t mind this, actually he preferred if his classmates just straight up and asked him. He''d be more than obliged to answer and help them, but the rest of the class was too afraid to approach him for some reason.


    It wasn''t like he portrayed himself as someone cold, during class he would talk and laugh normally. He''d also help out his classmates during practical classes if he found anything they should correct. So he still couldn''t figure out why they never approached him.


    Lucia was a bit popular in class since she was outgoing and constantly interacting with the rest of the class. The ones that had it the worst were Ainz, Elizabeth, and Fina... Cecil could guess why though. It had something to do with their identities, but it''s not like Cecil could change the mindsets of the other students.


    The week quickly went by and it was finally time for the group to head out again for the weekend. Lucius''s assistant had already delivered the information of the extra ingredients'' locations and Cecil had the party take on quests that were at the locations or were within the vicinity of said ingredients.


    This way they''d be able to collect the ingredients while at the same time complete quests, killing two birds with one stone.


    Their first ingredient was a White Elfen Tree''s Sap. It was located in an elf''s forest that was currently being terrorized by a pride of Fanged Demon Lions. The monsters were individually A+ ranked and a pride was S-- rank.


    It was a simple task for the group and the S rank monsters had an ingredient that Lucius needed for the Beast Ascending Potion. The core of an A ranked monster. This time''s outing would net the group 2 out of 5 ingredients, so Cecil quickly took the quest.


    This time however, the group was bound to face some... problems.


    ********


    A day before, in a forest just outside Angla city, a group of individuals were gathered and seemed prepared to set off to who-knows-where.


    "Heh, as expected of the leader... we finally found the info on their next quest."


    "We''ll head to the location ahead of them. We have to remember that their monster is faster than ours. We don''t want what happened last time to repeat."


    "Aiya, what''s there to be so afraid of? This time we''ve got their quest location, we can just ambush them on the way back if they do arrive before us."


    "..."

 Chapter 109 - Sabotage?

    Cecil''s group took it easy on their way to the quest location. The group used a whole day to learn from Cecil while on the road.


    He was explaining some physic concepts that he learned from Earth. Although it was only middle school level material, it was enough to fascinate everyone on the carriage. Of course with the exception of Lucia since she was at the high school level now.


    "Hey, Cecil... where in the world did you learn all this?"


    "Well... I guess you could say that my parents were something like... explorers I guess?"


    "...Explorers?"


    "Well, from what I know. My parents were traveling all around the world before they had me. When they settled down nearby Fauxe Village, my house was filled with incomprehensible books and notes taken by my parents."


    Cecil had activated his hyper-sensitivity and accelerated his brain''s thought process.


    ''Crap... this is why I''d rather not have to teach these classes...''


    Cecil quickly spun a story in his head and lied to his friends with a straight face. On the side, Lucia was turned around and holding back the urge to laugh at Cecil'' nonsensical story.


    ''Pfft...Kukuku, Cel you should become a story teller instead of a mage!''


    By the time this session''s lesson was over, Cecil was mentally drained. He didn''t want to lie to his friends, but it was better if lesser people knew about his origins.


    It was early the next day when they finally arrived at the Elf''s Forest Village, Calum. Just like the village''s name that was situated inside the forest, the forest''s name was also Calum.


    When their group arrived, Cecil exclaimed when he took in the sights of the elves'' unique houses. The village wasn''t located on the forest''s floor, but high up in the tall tree tops. Every tree was interconnected in the vicinity of the village.


    Of course, they weren''t connected naturally, but the elves had used nature magic to manipulate the branches of the trees to intertwine with one another and create a footing that acted as the roads in between each tree.


    The large tree tops were also hollowed out in the middle and that''s where the elves built their residences and facilities.


    Obviously there was no smithy located in this village. The ''plazas'' of the village were entirely made up of intertwined tree branches and vines. It was a village of trees in a literal sense.


    Cecil and the rest were welcomed into the tree tops. The mode of transport to relocate to the top of the trees lied in a special 2-way gateway that was located inside a hollowed tree.


    "...are all elf villages like this?" Cecil asked incredulously. Even in a small village there was actually a fixed spatial gateway.


    "This is nothing, if you''ve been to Elfheim or Sunchaser city, then you''ll see just how ''amazing'' the elven country is." Eli replied.


    "I wanna visit an elf city soon." Cecil said with an expectant smile.


    "We may visit one soon enough... did you hear about the changes the academy''s doing to this year''s tournament?"


    "Changes? What changes?" Cecil asked the lizardkin girl next to him.


    "I''ll answer that!" Ainz interrupted from the side. "At the third segment, the Magic race, the academy has decided to do a collaboration on this year''s tournament with the Elves'' Urrug Academy, the Beastman''s Royal Beast Academy, and the Seafolk''s Oceanic Azure Academy."


    "...so it''s going to be a joint tournament?"


    "Yes, the first 2 segments are the qualifiers and the tournament will straight on jump into the 5th segment."


    "They''re skipping the 3rd and 4th segments?"


    "No, the 5th segment became the 3rd segment. While a new joint 4th segment was created, I''m not sure about the details yet, but it has something to do with exploring an ancient ruin?"


    "As for the last segment, I hear it''s related to beast hunting."


    "So... in conclusion... this year''s academy is going to be fun, right?" Lucia smiled; clearly she was anticipating this year''s joint tournament.


    "There''s going to be a lot of competition..." Fina said worriedly.


    "Oh, by the way. Fina, since there''s a Seafolk''s academy... why didn''t you enroll there? Why come all the way out to the Anglaria Kingdom to enroll in Arks Royal?"


    "Uhhh... well, you could say I''m an exchange student?" Fina replied, with an unsure tone.


    "I see! Well, don''t hold back on your own people when we meet them later in the tournament! Just so you know, I plan to blast away everyone that stand in our way!" Lucia raised a fist and confidently said.


    "Y-yeah... of course!" Fina also followed suit and raised a fist.


    "Me too, me too!" Velicia joined in on them.


    "...we have to make it past the qualifiers first..." Eli added.


    "It''s in the bag! So don''t worry so much Eli!"


    Lucia grabbed her friends hand and also raised it up into the air. Only the boys were inching away from the girls at the moment. Cecil quickly pulled Ainz to the side of the carriage.


    "Shouldn''t we join them?" Ainz asked hesitantly.


    "She just declared that she''d blast away all the competition, that includes the elves... where are we right now?"


    "At an.... Ohhhh!!!"


    "Okay, enough with the jokes. Should be safe now." Cecil said while he kept his eyes on Lucia''s group. "Listen, Ainz. I''ve been feeling a strange gaze directed at us ever since we crossed the gate into the village..."


    "Really? Where''s it from?"


    "I don''t know... I can''t even find the source using my Mana Sense... this has never happened before and it''s a little annoying." Cecil said with a frown. "Don''t tell the girls. Let them stay like that so we don''t draw suspicion from whoever''s spying on us."


    "Okay... what''ll you do Cecil?"


    "I''ll keep my Mana Sense spread out to find the source. Just act normally."


    "What we''re doing isn''t exactly normal by the way."


    "Don''t worry about that, Lucia''s already noticed as well and she''s casted an illusion spell. So, to whoever''s spying on us, we''re still with the group."


    "Okay..."


    "Let''s head back, just make sure you keep an eye out."


    "Alright."


    "Don''t make it too obvious though." Cecil reminded again. The two made their way back to the group and when Lucia saw this she dispelled her illusion.


    "Okay, let''s have breakfast first and then we''ll go report to the village chief. After we''ve reported to him, we''ll immediately head out and find the monsters."


    Everyone gave their affirmation and the group had a quick breakfast. They made their way to the village chief and reported their quest.


    "Ah, so it''s you kids who are going to be doing this quest?"


    "Yes."


    "I can''t believe how young you are?! Kids your age... already at the platinum rank...my gosh."


    "Well, we have the ability, so you can leave the rest to us, chief. The reward is the tree sap, so we''ll present you the head of the pride''s leader and you''ll give us the sap."


    "Yes, of course... but, there''s a slight problem..."


    "Hm?"


    "Last night, some group broke in and stole all the remaining sap."


    "..."


    "We could create more, but the pride of lions had decided to make our White Wood tree plantation their nesting grounds..."


    "Don''t worry... like I said, we''ll take care of the monsters. As for the sap... I guess we can collect our reward another time?"


    "...I deeply apologize." The elf chief bowed.


    "Don''t worry about it chief! But... let''s say we find these thieves... can we keep all the sap if we catch them?"


    "Of course! The sap was originally meant to be your reward, so it''s alright if you keep it if you do find those abominable thieves!"


    Cecil smirked and stood up to exit the house. His party followed suit and they made their way to the village''s spatial gate.


    "I feel like someone''s deliberately sabotaging our quest." Lucia said annoyed.


    "This isn''t the first time someone''s tried... except this time they arrived ahead of us." Ainz said.


    "Despicable."


    "You said it, Eli... but how''d they get our quest location? Could they have known of the quest we''d take beforehand?" Velicia asked with her hand on her chin.


    "The messenger... he leaked the info." Fina said quietly.


    "Yeah, it''s definitely him." Cecil affirmed.


    "Then... was Luc in on it too?" Velicia paled, her eyes colored in disbelief.


    "Nah, he''s clean. Don''t worry Veli. Hey, guys. How about we go snatch Lucius away and have him join our party?" Cecil suggested with a sly smile.


    "Hoho, I like the idea." Ainz said in agreement.


    "How ''bout you girls?"


    "No complaints here~"


    "Better than having our info leaked."


    "Luc in our party? I totally agree!"


    "An alchemist that can also act as our tank... he''s welcome."


    Lucia, Elizabeth, Velicia, and Fina agreed.


    "Well, we''ll do that when we get back. Those factions... they''re starting to get annoying." Cecil said while walking through the gate.

 Chapter 110 - Pride of Lions

    The group went out and headed towards the White Wood Plantation, the area where the pride of monster lions had nested upon.


    When they got to the plantation, it was indeed infested with many lions and lionesses. They numbered in the hundreds and Cecil wondered how such a large number of lions had even made their way to the place.


    It was reported that there were only 50 or so in the pride, but the amount that they were witnessing had at least doubled or tripled.


    "Yeah... this is totally sabotage." Ainz said in exasperation.


    A vein popped on Cecil''s fore head. "Bastards... if the trees weren''t in the way we''d be able to clear the whole area out with a wide scale area spell."


    "Can''t do that though~ the chief will probably become furious if we destroy the trees~" Lucia said with a smile.


    "Why are you so happy?"


    "Hehehe, I''m going to go and test my new original on these oversized cats~"


    "..."


    Lucia jumped out from behind the tree they were hiding and raised her finger and formed a gun with her hand. The lions nearby noticed her and moved closer to surround her. Lucia smirked seeing the lions come closer. She pointed her finger at one of them and concentrated.


    From the tip of her index finger a large amount of fire element particles gathered and soon a small red orb formed. Once the red orb formed, Lucia then yelled,


    "Red Laser!"


    The highly concentrated laser of fire elemental mana was fired from the orb and it pierced through a lion that was about to pounce on her.


    The laser punctured through the lion and continued onwards to the monsters behind it, it only stopped after piercing 2 other lions behind the initial lion.


    "Yes! It worked!"


    Not long after the lions collapsed, their bodies immediately began to immolate. Lucia proceeded to point her finger to another lion that flinched when it saw her pointing at it.


    "BLUE LASER!"


    A small blue orb formed on her finger and another laser shot out. This time however, the laser was blue and it was formed from water elemental mana.


    This laser didn''t pierce the lion, but instead once it made contact with the monster, it immediately froze it.


    "Hehe~" She quickly blew her finger, posing like a cowboy after a shootout.


    "...let''s go support her, there are still more of those things coming." Cecil said and took out his weapon from his spatial ring.


    He pulled out his spear and quickly took his stance. He activated Mana Burst and he aimed at one of the lions and flickered forward.


    After Cecil pierced through the sides of one of the lions, he began flickering and moving around the battle field at high speeds, piercing and killing every Fanged Demon Lion in his sights.


    The rest of the party immediately got into action. The group made sure that they didn''t damage any of the trees in the surroundings while they were fighting. Since they didn''t want to damage any, the mages of the group played a supporting role while the close combatants were the main force this time around.


    Fina arrived by Lucia''s side who still firing her laser beams at the lions, carefully avoiding the ones that were too close to the trees.


    Velicia equipped her new weapons, the Vorpal Claws that Radon had crafted for her and jumped into battle, slashing and rending each and every monster in her way. It was kinda reckless so Ainz was behind her to support her and help create openings.


    Eli was flashing around the battlefield like Cecil and cutting down the lions in an orderly fashion.


    The A+ ranked monsters were... somehow weak. At least those were the thoughts that were going through every one''s head, except for Cecil and Lucia.


    Of course, it wasn''t that the monsters were weak. If any other party were to face against the hundreds of lions, their first thoughts would be to run away and abandon the quest. The monsters appeared weak right now because of Cecil.


    His tips to mana control and the unique skill that he inadvertently helped everyone learn, Aura Manifestation, was what gave everyone the edge to easily defeat these A+ ranked monsters.


    Aura Manifestation, it was the downgraded version of Cecil''s Mana Burst and Lucia''s Elemental Burst. In reality, the skill couldn''t actually be described as a skill in Cecil''s eyes. The skill was only a by-product of Cecil''s lesson''s to mana control.


    The user of the skill only had to simply wrap Mana around their bodies to manifest the aura. It wasn''t complicated like Cecil''s and Lucia''s Bursts. Nevertheless however, the aura created from Aura Manifestation served as major physical enhancement to their friends.


    The skill enhanced the user''s physical level to some degree at the cost of Mana, while at the same time it also acted somewhat like a barrier against attacks. The aura mitigated a small degree of damage dealt to the user''s body.


    The person who unintentionally developed this skill was Eli. She was intrigued with the way Cecil and Lucia enhanced their bodies, so when she was observing them fighting the other day, and the way the two were wrapping mana around their weapons to create the aura, she tried the same, except instead of her weapon, she wrapped mana around her body. The results lead to a skill that somewhat copied Lucia and Cecil''s Bursts.


    Unlike conventional body enhancement spells and skills, this skill didn''t need the complicated chants and precursors for activation. Just wrap your body in mana, maintain that, and you''re good to go. The output was also on an all-round scale, much better than the specific body enhancing skills.


    Velicia and Elizabeth were very adept in the technique since they were fighters, using the skill they were able to display a higher level of fighting ability. This lead to the misperception of the A+ ranked monster being weak.


    When the group cleared all the lions in the periphery of the plantation, they headed deeper in and slowly cleared the monsters in the inner areas. When they finished the inner area, they had a quick lunch break before continuing.


    Outside the plantation a group of individuals were witnessing the quick speed in which the Little Kings were clearing the monsters.


    "What''s with this?!" One of the persons in the group said in disbelief.


    "Just... they''re just kids!"


    "...damn... the info provided by our clients were wrong! They were totally wrong!"


    "They wanted us to obstruct their quest... with just us?"


    "Boss...you sure that our client isn''t working for one of our enemies? This request is a total trap! Even if they''re just kids...I can say for certain that I''ll be killed if I fight with that boy wielding the spear."


    "Who said we were fighting them? Our client only wanted us to OBSTRUCT them... leading all those lions into the plantation is more than enough to complete our mission. The client never told us to make them fail."


    "Oh? So, can I hear more about this client of yours?"


    "Huh?"


    An unfamiliar voice rang in the midst of the group. They immediately turned towards the source of the voice and saw a boy holding a bloodied spear standing close to them.


    "I''m guessing you bastards are the ones who are sabotaging us, yes?"


    "..."


    "...listen kid, we don''t want your life. We were only sent to cause hindrances to your quest."


    "I see...can''t be helped right?" Cecil nodded in understanding, before he smiled eerily and continued, "Can I also assume that you were the ones who stole the Tree Sap?"


    "..."


    The group remained silent and they began eyeing each other discreetly. Cecil took their silence and reactions as an affirmative.


    "Well, if you only lured the monsters then I wouldn''t mind. They''d just be there to help our friends practice, but now you actually stole our reward... now that''s a problem~" Cecil said playfully.


    He channeled his mana inside the spear and the array activated. The spear immediately became enveloped in a golden storm of mana. The group immediately became alarmed at Cecil''s obvious display of hostility.


    They immediately unsheathed their weapons and readied themselves for a fight. Cecil chuckled seeing their actions.


    "Ahahahaha... do you all honestly believe you''ll be able to put up a fight?" Cecil was angry enough to the point where he deliberately taunted them. He wasn''t exactly angry at their actions of obstructing their quest, since they too were only issued a quest to cause his party problems.


    But stealing from him? The rewards would be given to him for his quest completion so in a sense they were his to begin with, but now some idiots had gone and stole it. Cecil hated that, especially since the reward was something essential for their training.


    "Conceited little brat!" One of the men dashed forward in response to his taunting.


    Cecil only stared at him and thrust out with his spear. The golden storm of mana flew out and smashed into the man, eviscerating his body and sending him crashing into a tree.


    "ATTACK! KILL THE BOY IF YOU HAVE TO!" The leader quickly yelled in command.


    Cecil smiled coldly and he took up a stance with his spear pointed at the ground


    "Just so you know... I won''t kill you people... I''ll hand you over to the furious elves who had their treasure stolen. I''ll let them deal with you bastards."


    After Cecil said his piece, he flashed forward appearing at the back of the group. He swung his spear at the two people who were apparently their mages. The golden storm flew out once again and smashed the two mages away who were in mid-chant.


    After Cecil quickly incapacitated their mages, he rushed towards the rest and quickly took each individual down.


    "Tsk... weak... monsters are much more of a challenge than these fools." Cecil mumbled in disappointment.


    Cecil took out a rope from his spatial ring and quickly bound the infidels. He whistled and Silver came rushing. He handed the bound group of people to Silver and checked the spatial ring that he looted from the leader.


    "Hmph. They did steal the sap..." Cecil retrieved the 3 jars of tree sap and stored them inside his spatial ring. He rummaged around inside the of the leader''s spatial ring, trying to find anything else of value that was worth taking.


    "Eh? I guess these people weren''t all that useless after all." Cecil smiled and took out a monster core. "They''re the ones that actually killed the Monster King... no wonder there weren''t any other movements from the pride even after we went on a rampage in the inner area."


    Their leader was already dead, so the entire lion pride couldn''t coordinate their attacks and only the monsters close to each other were the ones that came to support the lions that were being attacked by their group.


    "The claws, fangs, fur... tails, and its head. Okay... looks like that''s all." Cecil quickly took out the Monster King''s materials and stored them inside his ring. He tossed the ring back to the unconscious leader and headed back towards his party.


    Silver quickly dragged the unconscious group of people and headed back towards the village.


    Back at the inner area of the plantation...


    "So, did you get them?" Lucia asked.


    "Yeah, they were weak, but they were strong enough to take down the monster king."


    "They killed the fanged demon lion king?"


    "Yeah, I''ve already taken the materials and the sap with me."


    "Heeehh~"


    Cecil shrugged at Lucia. He didn''t say anything more and returned to killing the lion monsters.


    "Hurry up Lulu, let''s clear the plantation before nightfall. We still have one more quest to do closeby."


    "Alright~"


    The group upped their clearing speed and they were able to safely finish their quest before the evening.

 Chapter 111 - Monster Heart and an Army?

    It was the next day and the Little Kings were currently on their way towards their next destination.


    The party had completed the lion hunting quest and they successfully acquired the tree sap and the A ranked monster core. Two out of the five additional ingredients were procured and they were currently headed to the location that housed their third ingredient, the monster heart.


    "Hey, this monster heart... is it like a literal, monster heart? I mean if it was... then couldn''t we get that anywhere?" Ainz asked.


    "Monster Heart, it''s a type of plant that high tiered monsters love to eat. The reason why it''s called Monster Heart is because the flower the plant blooms has the shape of a heart. It''s a red purplish colored flower and it''s highly toxic to us people if we ingest it, but to a monster it''s an incredibly irresistible delicacy and for alchemists it''s a wonderful catalyst to create pet enhancing potions." Fina explained.


    "Oh... so all we have to do is pick this flower then?"


    "Basically, but I hear that high tiered monsters protect the flower all year round."


    "We''ll just kill the monsters and take the flower for ourselves!" Lucia declared.


    "Bulldozing through with strength again..." Eli smiled helplessly.


    "The person with the biggest fists has the final say in everything!"


    Cecil smiled at Lucia''s remark. It''s just as she said, the person with the biggest fist has the final say. Since they were strong, they could just eliminate every weakling and just take. There was no need for any excess thinking or plotting.


    ''But is this okay? I feel like we''ve become way too complacent...'' Cecil had his own worries. Things were going great for them indeed, but he kept on thinking was this okay?


    Of course, it wasn''t like things were easy for them to begin with. The group had trained and trained madly every day. They constantly trained and upped their combat capabilities.


    They were much stronger than their peers, and the people who could contend with them were probably only a handful. Even a.d.u.l.t adventurers and mercenaries couldn''t hold a candle to their party anymore.


    The party wasn''t platinum ranked just for show. By Cecil''s estimates, each individual of Little Kings literally had the power of a King now. All they needed to do was report to the headmaster that they wanted to take the test to be dubbed kings of the academy. The only thing that caused Cecil to frown and worry was that they acquired this power in only over a month''s time of training.


    Of course, he could be wrong and maybe the powers of the Kings were much stronger than what they have now, but Cecil didn''t believe in that possibility. He witnessed for himself just how serious his friends had trained and even he was proud to say that they were ''strong'' individuals now.


    *****


    Before midday the group arrived at the location of their third ingredient.


    "Okay guys, let''s split up in groups of 2 and search for the fruit."


    "Okay~ Fina with me~" Lucia said while hugging Fina.


    Fina opened her mouth and said, "I''ll go with Veli this time Lulu..."


    "Eh?"


    "Well, if it''s us two... then you''ll be the one doing most of the fighting..." Fina said with a helpless smile.


    Lucia immediately understood what Fina was getting at. The girl wanted to train as well, and she didn''t want to always rely on Lucia to be there to save her or help her.


    "Oh okay... then I''ll go with Eli then!" Lucia said while she bounced towards Elizabeth and hugged her.


    "Okay, so it''s you and me Fina! Let''s find that flower before everyone else!" Velicia said while pumping her hands in the air.


    "Okay!" Fina closed her eyes and chanted a spell. After she waved her staff, 2 magic formations formed on the ground in front of her. A blue, watery wolf formed slowly as the magic formations raised themselves from the ground.


    Once the two water familiars formed they howled and one of them immediately rushed out. The remaining water wolf bent its body down and Fina climbed onto its back, she pulled Velicia up too and the two girls rushed out following the previous familiar.


    Ainz whispered in amazement at Fina''s new spell. "Woah... this is the first time I''m seeing that!"


    "Fina used that spell when she was hunting the golems~" Lucia said. "So, shall we go Eli?"


    "Yeah." Elizabeth spread her wings open and she took to the skies. Lucia used her steam magic and raised her body in the air and quickly followed after Elizabeth. She turned around for a moment and waved her hand at the two boys on the ground.


    "...when could she do that?" Ainz said while pointing stupidly at Lucia who was flying next to Eli.


    "Long before we came to the academy." Cecil plainly said. He was unfastening Silver''s harness.


    "Shall we get going as well?" Ainz asked.


    "Wait a bit, let me free Silver first, he''ll help us find the flower too, since he''s also a monster."


    "Okay... but is it alright to leave the carriage unattended?"


    "Lucia already cloaked the carriage with an illusion spell. Didn''t you see her wave her hand earlier?"


    "What... that was for the illusion spell? Dang, I thought she was taunting us." Ainz laughed.


    "She''s not that petty."


    Once Silver''s harness was release, he stretched and bent his body down. Cecil and Ainz quickly jumped onto his back and the 3 shot into the distance.


    "Hey, Cecil... that flower... since it''s supposed to be guarded by a group of monsters shouldn''t we just go and look for the place that has a high concentration of monsters in the area?"


    "Good idea." Cecil immediately spread out his Mana Sense and tried to locate the area with the highest concentration of monsters.


    After 15 minutes of searching he began to frown.


    "I can''t find any places like that."


    "Hm? Well... maybe we should focus on the quality of the monster then. I guess, not just any kind of monster can guard the flower. The weaker ones would most probably be driven away by the stronger ones."


    Cecil released his Mana Sense once more and began scouring the area of high leveled monsters. After an hour of searching using Mana Sense and their eyes and other spells, the three still weren''t able to find the flower.


    "...are we even in the right place?" Ainz asked skeptically.


    "This better not be another one of those sabotaging plots again... it''s beginning to annoy me."


    Ainz said dejectedly hearing him. "I thought this place was supposed to be filled with high leveled monsters all year round? How come not even a B-ranked monster is around? There are only C-ranked fodders and normal livestock monsters here..."


    "Tsk...Let''s continue searching."


    The two were about to continue their search, but then Silver began acting strangely.


    "Woof! Grrrr..." He kept growling and pawing at his nose.


    "What''s wrong Silv?"


    "Grrrr...Woof!" Silver directed a fierce gaze in the forest in front of them and began stepping backwards. It wasn''t out of fear, but because he felt disgusted or something.


    "?"


    "What''s with him?" Ainz asked. He turned towards the forest ahead and pondered.


    "Cecil!!!"


    Fina''s voice came out from the forest and the 2 looked ahead. From the forest came Fina and Velicia riding on the water wolf familiar.


    When the two came close to Cecil, he was able to spot the peculiar flower in Fina''s embrace.


    "I found it! Haha!"


    "Really? Great!" Ainz said excitedly. "It looks like we don''t need to go to the trouble of finding the flower anymore."


    Cecil was a little skeptical of the situation. The area they were searching was supposed to be filled with high ranked monsters. How the heck did the area just suddenly emptied out of monsters when the flower was clearly still located in the area.


    "GUYS! GUYS!!!" Lucia came from the sky screaming in alarm. Eli was behind her and she was also flying frantically back towards them.


    "Hey, Lucia! We found the flower already!" Fina said with a smile.


    "Eh? Awesome! As expected of Fina! Wait¨C now''s not the time for this! We have to get outta here now!"


    "Huh?"


    "Yeah... we... we have to get away." Eli added while panting.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "Do you know why there aren''t any monsters here? It''s because some sort of army was clearing the place!"


    "What?"


    "It''s true, we saw the army with our own eyes... it was a beastman army. It was full of werewolves, werecats... the leading general seems to be a werelion...I think it was General Leonidas of the Orca Empire."


    "...what''re the beastmen doing all the way out here?" Cecil asked skeptically.


    "They seemed to be killing the monsters and collecting their remains. No one spotted us earlier I think, but I think it''s best if we hurry on out of here." Eli urged.


    "Okay, let''s hurry back. Everyone get on Silver, it''ll be much fast this way."


    "Woof!"


    Silver barked in response and he further enlarged his body. His size was now as big as a 2 story building and the party of 6 was able to fit on his large broad back. After confirming that the kids on his back were grabbing onto him firmly, Silver activated his speed enhancing spell and quickly dashed away.


    *******


    At a hill not far from where the party was at, a large werelion and a werewolf were observing the kids making their escape.


    "Milord... should we give chase?"


    "...No...They''re just kids. And did you not see that lizardkin¨C no, dragonkin girl earlier? She''s obviously part of the royal family of Anglaria. We don''t want any trouble with them, especially now that those despicable humans are attacking us." The large, golden mane werelion said as he eyed the large white wolf dashing away from them on the plains.


    "Yes Milord." The werewolf bowed.


    "Come, Wul''von. We''ve got much to do."


    The two turned around and immediately headed back towards their army on their black steeds.


    Cecil who was now far away from their original location turned to look back at the hill where the 2 beastmen were just standing on.


    "..."

 Chapter 112 - Why Hide?

    The group made it back to the city in the evening. The area they were searching earlier was somewhat close to Angla City, though on foot it was still 2 days away. It was a good thing that they had Silver and the modified carriage.


    What would normally take people days to travel would only take their party a couple of hours to do. Of course, they had Cecil to thank for modifying the carriage. All the reinforcement runes and enchantments helped keep the durability of the carriage even after Silver''s reckless pulling which would normally damage an ordinary carriage.


    They were resting for the rest of the day after they turned in their quest. As usual the high leveled quest wasn''t known to the outside, but people were constantly seeing the high leveled quests being constantly cleared every week.


    The faction scouts were constantly keeping track of the quest completions, but even they couldn''t give a clear answer to who or what, were clearing these high leveled quests. Of course, there were some factions and individuals who were privy to the party that kept on clearing these high ranked quests.


    They sent many to cause problems on the group''s quest, but their attempts were only for naught. The factions wanted to do more, but even the leaders were beginning to feel helpless at the power that the particular group displayed.


    Cecil only smiled and thought that it was better for them to spring the surprise to the rest of the students after the academy announced the results. Their powers were now far above everyone else, so he felt that it was now safe for them to reveal just how powerful their little group was.


    If problems came then just like Lucia said, the guys with the biggest fists have the last say.


    "Hmph. We''ll just power through all our problems~" Cecil grinned.


    "What''s up Cel? What''s with that dubious smile?" Lucia asked.


    The two were currently resting on top the carriage''s roof at the outskirts of the city. Ainz and the rest were currently training or sparring with one another.


    "Nah... I just thought it was kinda pointless for us to hide our strength..."


    "Oh! Have you finally come to your senses?" Lucia asked happily.


    "Tsk, it''s actually your fault y''know!"


    "How''s it my fault?!" Lucia asked indignantly.


    "Just think about how high profiled we''ve been during our entire time since we''ve enrolled in the academy, our magic evaluation battle, the magic research event, and everything else!"


    "HEY! It''s not just my fault! Even your little stint with the sage caused many eyes to turn to us! And how was our battle MY fault?! YOU were the one that decided to use Mana Burst in our fight!"


    "..."


    "Hah! Can''t retort now can we?" Lucia said with a smug smirk.


    "Tsk..." Cecil turned his body away and tried to fall asleep.


    Despite all the hubris he said about being low-profiled, their past actions just weren''t in line with what he had intended. Cecil just thought that it wasn''t his fault that their fellow peers were just so weak.


    "...it''s not my fault that everyone else is so weak." Cecil mumbled.


    "Exactly! It''s not OUR fault! So why the hell should we sink to their level?" Lucia responded to his rhetorical question.


    "...you didn''t have to answer that."


    "Well, I want to! Seriously... trying to hide our powers was the most stupid decision we ever took. Even when we were adventuring we had no reason to hide anything! Seriously, why should we fall to the level of weaklings when we''re strong?"


    "..."


    Seeing as Cecil kept silent, Lucia continued, "It''s okay to be low-profiled since the attraction we attract to ourselves come in good and bad, but if there are fools who want to try anything on us... can''t we just eliminate them? It''s not hard! A single tier 7 spell and buh-bye fool!"


    "I get it, I get it.... jeez... I just thought it would be better for us to ''fit in''."


    "Fit in?"


    "Well, it''s something I learned back on Earth... it''s something I heard from my siblings."


    "Ooohhh!! Story time!"


    "Ahaha! Well, listen then if you want. Back on Earth, the schools there weren''t so accommodating like our academy... if you stood out, then the rest of the class was bound to hammer you in."


    "?"


    "Like I said, if you stood out, whether it''s in a good way or bad way, the rest of the class doesn''t like that."


    "What? That''s stupid!"


    "Yeah, it is stupid. I didn''t experience it personally, but my brother Gabriel did... also my eldest sister did as well."


    "..."


    "In Gabe''s case, he had his twin, my brother, Luca by his side. Fatima, my eldest sister was innately cold so she didn''t care about what everyone thought of her. But Gabe... even with Luca''s help became pretty introverted after all the bullying..."


    "Hmph. If they bully you, then you should just bully them back!"


    "What happens if the entire class was the one that bullied you?"


    "...well..."


    "Yeah, if it was on Alterna, then Gabe could have just beaten the shit out of everyone in the class. He''s strong y''know? My entire family practices martial arts so there''s no reason for him to not be able to crush those fools under his foot."


    "So why didn''t he?"


    "The schools on Earth are a little different. They have a system that doesn''t condone to any sort of violence." Cecil paused for a moment before continuing.


    "Unlike at the academy, if there are two people or a group who don''t get along then you could just settle it with a duel and that''s the end of it. On Earth however, there''s no such thing. Even the teachers can''t do anything about it. The only way they ''help'' is by saying some stupid superficial advice that in no way helps out with the student''s situation. It''s stupid and I''m honestly glad I didn''t go to school, although I was still extremely curious about it."


    "...Well you''re lucky then Cel~"


    "Oh? How so?"


    "You got to go to school in Alterna! And! You''ve met a whole group of oddballs that are just as unreasonable as you are!"


    "Pfft... Ahahaha!!!" Cecil laughed uproariously at her words. He couldn''t deny that. Cecil turned an eye towards his friends who were now staring back at him, wondering what made him laugh out loud like that.


    "A group of oddballs huh... that doesn''t sound so bad..."


    "Hihi~" Lucia giggled at his words. She jumped down from the top of the carriage and landed on the ground. She turned her head upwards and called out to Cecil.


    "Hey! Cel~ let''s go a round!"


    "...why not." Cecil followed suit and jumped off. The two made their way to an empty space close to the area where their friends were training.


    The two stood a few meters apart from each other, the two didn''t take out any weapons and planned to fight barehanded.


    Lucia''s eyes immediately changed to a fierce glare. She activated Elemental Burst and her body began emitting a dark crimson aura. She took a stance from Cecil''s martial arts and waited for him.


    Cecil saw this and did the same. The two were mirroring each other, one enveloped in a dark crimson aura while the other was wrapped in a golden aura.


    The dashed towards each other and immediately began exchanging blows. Each punch, each kick, rang loudly in the air when they blocked each other.


    Their mana enhanced body flickered and flashed across the field. Their speeds, that they no longer had to put a limiter on, were way too fast for the n.a.k.e.d eye to keep up. Their friends were currently observing their fight, but they didn''t even know what to look at.


    They were moving too fast that the only indicator that they were actually sparring were the loud booms and the occasional afterimage that flickered in the field, when they clashed.


    Cecil had the upper hand in the fight since they were essentially fighting using his family''s martial arts. Lucia was able to adapt to some degree to his assaults using her talent and combat sense, but even then she was always on the back foot in their entire bout.


    Cecil was enjoying the fight until all of a sudden Lucia stopped.


    "CEL STOP!"


    "Huh?" Cecil immediately halted, he was staring questioningly at the girl in front of him.


    "Your mana!" Lucia said while pointing at her bracelet that tracked Cecil''s mana. It was glowing in an orange color. It was close to the red, anymore and Cecil would fall.


    "Crap..." He immediately deactivated Mana Burst and retracted his aura. Lucia did the same and worriedly asked.


    "Are you okay? Do you need my mana?"


    "No. I''m good." Cecil sighed, "Phew... I didn''t feel the side effects at all...strange."


    "You''ve stopped feeling it after your breakthrough."


    "Yeah... I''m not sure if this is a good thing or not."


    "It''s better to be safe than sorry... I don''t want you turning into a monster..."


    "Ahaha, well, I''m pretty much already a monster judging by others'' standards!" Cecil joked.


    "...y''know what I mean idiot." Lucia said while pouting.


    "Don''t worry about me, but you sure have gotten stronger."


    "Hehe~ Of course! Though, I''m still far from your level." Lucia shook her head helplessly.


    "You''ll get there... eventually."


    "By the time I''m there, you''d probably be at a higher level already!"


    "Maybe..." Cecil replied with a smirk.


    The two walked back towards their friends who were now looking at the incredulously.


    "Hey... you two... what on Alterna was that?" Ainz asked with wide eyes.


    "...just us fighting with no restraints." Lucia replied simply.


    "No restraints? So you''re saying you''ve been holding back all this time?"


    "Basically, well we could go a level higher if we added magic into the equation."


    "..."


    "Tsk, looks like we''re still far apart." Eli said in frustration. She went back to her training and began doing the monotonous sword strikes that Cecil had her do.


    He wanted her to find some form of enlightenment and awaken her sword intent. It was some vague term that his father constantly told him, but he knew that there was a degree of truth to his father''s words since he himself has one. Cecil was still in the process of awakening his sword intent, but he had already awakened his spear intent from a young age.


    Cecil was a natural genius when using a spear, the only reason why he''s been using a sword more often was so that he could awaken his sword intent.


    A Weapon Intent was an invisible force that a martial artist could emit when they attacked with their weapon of choice. Unlike, an aura that needed mana to activate, weapon intent was something that could be generated passively simply by holding a weapon.


    Cecil has never used a spear when facing anyone before, but from his experience he knew that a Weapon Intent was important. Just the pressure and change of presence one would emit from releasing their intent was frightening.


    If Cecil had ever used his spear while releasing his intent then he could with a one hundred percent certainty freeze his opponent in place relying on pressure alone and just walk up to him a strike him down. That''s just how potent Weapon Intent was.


    Cecil has already tested this during his stay on their family''s private island back on Earth. Whenever he held a spear and emitted his intent, the animal he was hunting would just freeze in fear and he''d just walk up and stab it.


    This was also what Cecil wanted to help his friends achieve, this ethereal realm where just by relying on their presence alone, strike fear in their enemies. Since he could do it when he was still a child, there''s no reason why his friends couldn''t do the same, right?


    He could only train, Lucia, Eli, and Velicia in this aspect since they were fighters. As for Ainz and Fina who were mages, there wasn''t much he could train them in in regards to martial arts, but his magic theory and knowledge from Earth was enough to satisfy the two.


    Cecil looked towards his friends who had went back to train more seriously than ever. It seems that their fight had ignited a flame in their friends.


    "...we''re totally going to win this tournament."


    "That goes without saying." Lucia smiled seeing her hardworking friends.

 Chapter 113 - Weapon Intent

    Everyone began training seriously again. Cecil was on the side observing them and giving them pointers.


    "...Hey Cecil... this intent... are you sure it''s something we can learn?" Eli asked a little frustrated.


    "Eh?"


    "Well... I''m not expecting for any of us to learn it anytime soon but... this is the first time I''m hearing something like this...I''ve asked some instructors about this, but even they''re clueless."


    "Well, I''m not lying. It''s... a feeling I guess... I''m not sure how I can describe it... all I can say is that it''s a feeling."


    "...feeling?"


    "Yeah, it''s a feeling! Uhm... oh! I know! I can just show you!"


    Cecil asked Velicia to come closer as well, so that he could show the two what he meant by Intent. He didn''t ask Ainz, Fina, or Lucia to come. Ainz and Fina don''t need to learn about it while Lucia''s already seen his Intent on multiple occasions during their journey.


    "Okay, since it''s hard for me to explain, I might as well just show you!"


    Cecil took a couple steps back and stood at a distance from the 2 girls. He pulled out a long case from his spatial ring and set it on the ground. He opened the case and took out his spear.


    Lucia decided to stay close just in case since she knew what would happen when Cecil directed his intent towards her two friends.


    "Hey, Lucia... why is Cecil taking out his spear?"


    "Hm? Well... from what I know, Cecil is much stronger using a spear than a sword."


    "Eh?"


    "Yeah, most of the time he''s using a sword because he''s trying to awaken his Sword Intent, I''ve never actually seen him get serious when using a spear, but from our last quest didn''t you see him use his spear and almost clear the whole inner plantation area of monsters by himself?"


    "..."


    "So... he was always holding back even when he''s fighting you?" Velicia asked ruefully.


    "Ahaha, of course! If he went all out, I''m pretty sure I wouldn''t even hold on for a minute!" Lucia replied with a laugh.


    The two girls sighed hearing this. Cecil cleared his throat and got their attention.


    "Alright... uhm... brace yourselves, okay!"


    Cecil didn''t take a stance. All he did was just hold his spear with a relaxed pose, but in the next instant the atmosphere around him immediately changed.


    "Ugh...!"


    "!"


    "..."


    An invisible pressure immediately began radiating from Cecil who was just standing there in the clearing. He only had his calm gaze directed at them, but the 3 girls stood frozen in their spots. Their faces began to pale and their breathing began to stagnate. They felt as if some sort of monster was eyeing them maliciously.


    Velicia was the first to fall to her knees in fear. Her face was so pale that she even began to tear up.


    Seeing this Cecil immediately retracted his spear intent and rushed towards the girl.


    "Oh, crap! Sorry. Sorry! Ahh... this is why I didn''t want to show you guys..." Cecil said while propping up the pale Velicia who now had tears streaming down her face.


    Next to her, Eli was struggling to even stay standing. Her face was pale and although she wasn''t crying, she was sweating profusely. She didn''t even register when Cecil had approached them.


    Lucia had it the easiest. This wasn''t the first time she''s felt Cecil''s spear intent, so all she did was close her eyes and clear her head, trying to maintain a calm mind. She knew that if this was a battle then she would have already lost.


    When Cecil retracted his intent, Lucia opened her eyes tiredly. Even from her previous experiences, she still couldn''t get used to having his Intent directed at her. Lucia quickly reached out towards the pale-faced Eli and helped her down to sit.


    Near the carriage where Ainz and Fina were practicing, the two in question were currently also pale faced even though they were standing far away from where Cecil and the girls were at.


    "H-h-hey.... b-b-brat... d-did you f-feel that?" Ainz asked while stuttering.


    "..."


    Hearing no response, Ainz turned to look at Fina. He found that the girl was pale-faced, shivering from head to toe and was just staring blankly ahead in fear.


    The two were originally focusing on their practice, but seeing their 4 friends gather together they naturally got curious. When Cecil released his intent, they too were caught in its pressure. Although it wasn''t as bad as Eli and Velicia who were standing closer to Cecil, Fina was thoroughly shaken up while Ainz only felt the terrifying pressure originating from Cecil.


    "...damnit. What the hell..." Ainz struggled to get up. He stumbled, but quickly made his way to Fina''s side.


    He didn''t know what to do and could only awkwardly stare at the girl. He quickly looked around and found pet form Silver who was now awake after seeing his master release his intent. Ainz stumbled towards Silver and quickly picked him up. He made his way back to Fina and placed Silver down next to her.


    Silver was still staring ahead at his master and didn''t register when Ainz had carried him up. The next thing he knew, he was beside the little merfolk girl that was always grooming him and feeding him for the past few days.


    Silver looked up and saw the girl was frozen in fear. He barked and transformed his body into a larger size, and then he quickly wrapped his body around the fragile looking girl.


    Fina snapped out of her fear when she registered the warmth that was wrapping around her. She saw Silver looking back at her worriedly and she smiled in relief before she began patting him.


    "Ugh..." Fina groaned listlessly. She took a look around and saw the somewhat pale faced Ainz sitting across her.


    "A-Ainz... w-what was that?"


    "Cecil said earlier that he was going to show the girls what Weapon Intent was... I''m guessing that''s what he was referring to?"


    "...it''s scary."


    "Yeah... even from here it felt like Cecil was holding his spear to my throat... Oh crap! I gotta go help those 3!" Ainz said after realizing that it wasn''t just them that were affected. The 3 people who were closest to Cecil had to have had it worse.


    Ainz quickly made his way towards Cecil and the rest and found that out of the 3 girls only one of them had broken down in tears. Velicia was currently being hoisted up by Cecil and the boy quickly eyed him.


    "Hey, Ainz just in time, sorry about earlier... Help me bring Velicia back to the carriage... I''ll help Eli and Lulu back."


    "O-okay..."


    Cecil quickly handed Velicia over to Ainz and he lent his shoulders to both Lucia and Eli and the group made their way back to the carriage.


    When they got there, Cecil sat the two girls down and he quickly took out some bread and water. He gave it to his friends and told them to calm their breathing before telling them to drink some water and have a little bit of bread to calm their minds.


    "...Well that was Weapon Intent... Spear Intent in my case," Cecil said after he saw his friends finally calmed down.


    "Like I said, it''s just a ''feeling'', the only way to awaken this ''feeling'', this Intent, is to have some form of enlightenment. I had mine when I was only 9 years old, but I can''t explain clearly how I was enlightened... it just came to me one day and that''s it."


    "..."


    His friends could only listen on in silence. Even his absurd mentioning of gaining this terrifying ability when he was 9 only garnered a slight nod in reply.


    "...you never said anything about it being so terrifying." Eli added in a hoarse voice.


    "Y-yeah... I... I thought you were going to kill me..." Velicia said meekly, with tears forming again in her eyes.


    "..."


    "Well... that''s the thing... Weapon Intent is supposed to cause fear in the minds of your opponent''s when you use it. This time I only wantonly released it so the effects were a bit diluted, but if I had¨C"


    "WHAT?! THOSE WERE ONLY THE DILUTED EFFECTS?!" Ainz exclaimed in disbelief.


    "Y-yeah. Calm down Ainz let me explain..."


    Cecil began explaining to his friends the known effects Intent had towards an enemy. Intimidation, pressure, and other such things were the things that Cecil simply explained. Even for Cecil, there were still many things he didn''t know about Weapon Intent, so what he explained was only the superficial and tangible effects.


    Once, he finished his explanation, Ainz quietly opened his mouth.


    "...that''s absurd."


    "It is, and that''s why I want these 3 to awaken theirs quickly! I did it when I was young so I''m pretty sure you guys can too."


    "...we''re not freaks like you Cecil." Eli replied in exasperation.


    "Yeah... e-even if we learned only a little bit of this intent... I''m pretty sure we''d be strong enough already..."


    Velicia added, but her voice clearly still held a tinge of fear within them... fear towards Cecil.


    "Veli... you don''t have to be afraid of me. I''m your friend not some monster."


    "Y-yeah... I''m still a bit shaken from your display... honestly. I can''t believe someone of our age can produce such a terrifying ability..."


    "Actually I''m probably the youngest here?"


    "Eh?"


    "Wha?"


    "Well, Lucia and Fina have their birthdays near the start of the year... I just turned 14 during the Month of Closing, Enduar... so... yeah. I''m the youngest in our group!"


    Everyone became quiet again, even after Cecil''s lame attempt at uplifting the mood. Cecil felt a little helpless at this.


    "Sorry everyone... I really shouldn''t have done that..."


    Lucia immediately responded when she saw the dejectedly look on his face.


    "No, it''s fine really... although we''re all a little shaken up. At least we know that this ''Intent'' that you''ve been constantly rambling about is real. This actually makes us more eager to obtain it for our own... right guys?"


    "Yeah!"


    "Mhm..."


    Ainz and Fina smiled in relief seeing their friends'' resolute response.


    "That''s great then! Ah, I''ve just got a great idea! If I release my intent on you guys during training, I think it''ll help¨C MMPHH!"


    Lucia immediately slapped Cecil''s mouth shut and covered his mouth with her hand. She gave him a death stare and slowly said, "Are you trying to train us or scare us off?"


    "..."


    "No Intent. Just train us like you normally do."


    Cecil nodded his head repeatedly after seeing the deathly stares his group was giving him.

 Chapter 114 - Assignment

    After the demonstration, a week slowly passed by. During the week the Little Kings were put through Cecil''s even stricter training regimen. They also gathered the 2 remaining ingredients and Lucius had begun concocting the potions.


    Today was a normal school day, Cecil and friends were currently attending classes. However, everyone in class was constantly sending their group strange glances.


    Well, it was something to be expected... since everyone except for Cecil and Lucia were looking as pale as a ghost. Their complexions were horrible that everyone was concerned for their well-being.


    Just what in the hell were they doing every day to warrant such an adverse affliction to their health? The only person among the 4 people who had it better was without a doubt Fina. She was currently cuddling Silver in her arms and her complexion wasn''t as pale as her 3 other friends, but nonetheless her complexion was still a little out of sorts.


    Velicia was sitting with her other friends in front of the class and they were concerned about her as well. Velicia only brushed it off as having done too much training.


    "Hey... Cecil. No rest for today?" Ainz asked bitterly.


    "Eh? No, today''s a rest day. I can''t have you 4 die on me."


    "...die, huh..." Ainz responded with a rueful look on his face.


    "Don''t worry! I''m only training you guys to the limits of each of your bodies can take. It''s not going to affect you guys in anyway. Actually, the process of training you until near collapse and recuperating will only serve to help improve your physiques and stamina!" Cecil responded in a low voice.


    "..."


    The 3 people ahead only responded with silence while Velicia who was in the front row had a chill run down her spine, she quickly turned her head back and saw Cecil who was smiling and immediately paled even further.


    "N-no... that... that evil smile," Velicia hugged her arms and immediately began shivering.


    "V-Veli?? A-are you okay? Are you sick?" Her friend asked her.


    "The...the devil''s coming... he''s coming..."


    "Huh? Devil?"


    DING DONG DING DONG


    "Alright class. Remember that today''s materials will be on the end of the week''s test! So you better remember this! Also, don''t forget to do the assignment! I''ve already sent the party configurations to your MIDs so make sure you get the assignment done and hand in the report by next week!"


    After the practical combat instructor Mr. Suo, a highland giant, reminded the class of their assignment, he turned to leave the classroom.


    Everyone immediately began checking their MIDs and found the party configurations that the instructor had sent.


    "...it looks like we''ll be separated this time." Ainz said while taking a look at his MID.


    "Yeah... but it''s alright. At least with this we''ll be able to interact with our classmates." Eli added.


    "...I''m not with Cel..." Lucia replied dejectedly after seeing her party.


    Cecil took a look at his MID and found that everyone in their party, Little Kings, was indeed separated from each other. In fact, the party leaders of the class'' first 5 parties were them, except for Fina who was in Cecil''s party.


    Cecil stretched his body and stood up to look for the other members of his class'' party.


    "Uhh... party number 1? Gather here please." Cecil called out while raising his hand in the air.


    It was somewhat unexpected and everyone lagged in response. Fina checked her MID and saw that she was with Cecil, so the girl quickly stood up and went towards the side of the class where Cecil was standing. Cecil called out once again and immediately the other 3 members walked over.


    "Alright everyone, since we''re all in a party; please take care of me," Cecil said while taking a look at the rest of his party members. "I''ll be acting as the captain so let''s get this job done."


    Seeing Cecil quickly gathering his party members, the rest of Little Kings began to do the same. Once everyone gathered, the party leaders brought them out of the class to have their own discussions.


    Inside S class'' classroom, Cecil wanted everyone to reintroduce themselves to one another.


    "Well, I''ll start. I''m Cecil, and as you all know I''m a magic swordsman."


    "Fina here! I''m a support-type mage and healer." The merfolk girl exclaimed while hugging the pet form Silver in her arms. Silver looked at everyone and gave a cute bark.


    "...Light Moonclaw... mage. Former 4th rank, I guess I''m 7th ranked now?" A gloomy white haired tigerkin said. He took a long pause before continuing, "It''s an honor to be... in the same party as our first rank..." He was smiling slightly, but his droopy eyes were blank with no emotion.


    "Lu Garulle. I''m a shield warrior. 25th ranked in the class." A large ape-kin teenager said. He had dark skin and his face had white tribal markings on them. His large size almost made him look like an upper year student, but the boy was only 15.


    "Nice to meet you guys!" Cecil said while stretching his hand out for a handshake. The two boys each took his hand and smiled at his friendly demeanor. They also shook hands with Fina and one another.


    Cecil turned towards the last person in the group. It was a female elf who had her arms crossed the entire time.


    "Uhm... how about you?" Cecil asked carefully. He saw that the girl had been frowning the entire time after they had gathered.


    "...Ghina Windfall... magic archer. Former 7th ranked... I''m 9th ranked now..." The elf girl lightly introduced. Cecil stuck out his hand and Ghina was surprised, she hesitated a bit before shaking his hands lightly.


    Cecil smiled at this and Fina also quickly moved up to shake her hands as well. The serious looking elf was helpless seeing the cute little merfolk girl. She had no choice, but to quickly shake her hand as well. This was followed by the Lu Garulle and Light doing the same.


    "Okay, since everyone''s been reacquainted. Let''s discuss how we''ll do our assignment!"


    "Okay!"


    "First of all... what exactly was our assignment again?" Cecil asked dumbly.


    He was never paying attention in class. He was always busy doing his own things and he only relied on Lucia to help him with his homework and assignments.


    "...what are you doing in class all the time?" Ghina asked with a confused and almost annoyed tone.


    "Ah, sorry... I was always busy with... other stuff."


    "Busy? With what?" Ghina snapped back in response.


    "Eh? Well... rune engravings... rune enchantments, forming training regimens... stuff like that."


    "Huh? Rune engravings? Enchantments?" the elf girl looked backed in confusion.


    Light who was silent opened his mouth and addressed Cecil''s earlier question.


    "It''s about our dungeon exploration assignment... the combat instructor wanted us... to right a report about our experiences... inside a dungeon..."


    "Oh... dungeon huh... how boring." Cecil replied with a bored look.


    "Boring? How is it boring?" Ghina asked back.


    "Well... Uhh..."


    Fina was the one who answered instead of Cecil.


    "Ah, you see. In the past I heard that when Cecil and Lucia were still active as adventurers before they became students, the two had dived into a dungeon once."


    "What? So you already have experience in dungeoneering?" Lu Garulle asked with surprise.


    "Well... yeah... honestly it''s nothing special... in fact, it was so boring that half the time spent in the dungeon was for traveling in between floors and observing the scenery..." Cecil said with a bored look.


    "...just what in the world were you two doing before this?"


    "Hm? Didn''t Fina say we were adventurers? Anyway, the dungeon isn''t anything special. The only conclusion I got from the dungeon was that it was just an oversized mystical mine. Let''s just head over to Anglaria Kingdom''s dungeon and get the assignment over."


    Cecil quickly began giving out arrangements and preparation instructions to his teammates. Once everyone received their tasks, they couldn''t help but admire their young friend. He was the same age as them, but he had much more experience than all of them put together.


    At least now they knew that this indeed wasn''t his first time dungeon diving. In fact, his meticulous preparations and arrangements gave him the air of a veteran in the adventuring business.


    Fina smiled seeing the admiring looks the rest of her teammates gave to their leader. She felt proud that she was a member of Little Kings. Everyone in the year knew that their little group of troublemakers had formed a party, but what they would never expect was that they had created an official party that was also ranked high amongst the various adventurer parties in the kingdom.


    As of now their party, Little Kings, were officially ranked 20th among the 30 platinum ranked parties in the Kingdom. Of course they did start at rank 30, but after their constant feats of performing mid to high ranked platinum ranked quests, they steadily climbed up the rankings.


    They were only low on the list because their party was relatively new. Cecil planned to make their party rise up to 1st place in the rankings and then take their advancement quest into Diamond Ranked.


    "Alright everyone, here''s a list of supplies that you should go buy later. We''ll set off tomorrow morning. Meet up at the academy''s district gates in the morning at 8." Cecil made sure that his teammates had registered his instructions before continuing.


    "We''ll head out early so we can come back early as well. Even if tomorrow''s the weekend, I''m pretty sure everyone here has their own preparations and plans for the tournament, right?" After saying that, his party members began nodding one by one.


    "Okay, everyone''s dismissed! I''ll see you guys tomorrow."


    ''Waah, his way of dismissing everyone is the same as usual'' Fina smiled wryly.


    Cecil was so used to leading that he just naturally took up the leader''s role. The aura he exuded while acting as a proper leader left no room for objections that even his new teammates could only nod seriously in response to his orders.


    When everyone dispersed, Cecil quickly went back to his desk and packed his books into his ring, he turned towards Fina who was waiting for him and said, "You can go back first Fina. I''m gonna drop by Lucius''s place and see if the potions are ready or not."


    "Oh...okay Ceci¨C actually, wait. Let me go with you."


    "Hm? Okay. Let''s get going then."

 Chapter 115 - Idle Time

    The two quickly went towards the 2nd years'' wing and arrived at Lucius''s classroom. When they got there some of the upperclassmen still in the class turned a curious eye towards the two.


    Fina had a stiff smile plastered on her face when all that attention was directed towards her. She was still holding onto Silver so she quickly tightened her hold on him, trying to stave off the growing anxiety bubbling up inside her.


    "Woof!"


    "!" Fina looked down towards the cute pet formed Silver and relaxed considerably. She smiled and began petting him, oblivious to the many sparkling eyes staring at her.


    Cecil looked around the classroom to find Veli''s fianc¨¦, but unfortunately he couldn''t find him.


    ''Eh? He''s not in? Or did he already go back?''


    A female half-elf came up to the two and asked while smiling gently, "Are you two looking for someone?"


    Cecil eyed the half-elf and replied, "Yes, I''m looking for big bro Lucius. Is he not here?"


    "Lucius?"


    "Yeah... y''know...fat black furred tigerkin."


    "Hahaha, well he just rushed out earlier. I''m not sure where he''s headed, but it seemed that he was called in by his faction."


    "Thank you very much." Cecil bowed towards the half-elf and turned around.


    "Thank you!" Fina thanked the upperclassman and followed after Cecil.


    For some reason, Cecil thought he heard disappointed sighs coming from the classroom behind him.


    "Fina..."


    "Yeah?"


    "Where''s the Alchemist Faction again?"


    "...sorry Cecil. I don''t know either." Fina responded with a helpless laugh.


    "Figures... actually I don''t even know where the heck any of the factions are, haha!"


    "That''s just like you... you really don''t care about anything unrelated to us huh?"


    "Yup, why would I care anyway?"


    "True... you''re just like Lucia... or maybe Lucia''s just like you."


    Cecil only smiled back hearing this. He took out his MID and tried to find the information about the factions.


    Fortunately he was able to quickly find them and he acquired the location of the Alchemist Faction. He dragged Fina along with him towards the Alchemist Faction''s HQ. It was located in a large building complex in the residential area.


    When they got there, the two youngsters saw many people in dark green robes with the faction''s insignia walking in and out of the main building.


    "Uh oh... do we need to be a member to go in?" Cecil thought aloud.


    "I, I dunno..." The two eyed the area and the people passing by. Everyone was wearing the same green robes with the red flower insignia on the back. There wasn''t anyone in the vicinity not wearing this robe.


    It made the two of them stand out... and in a bad way at that. Most of the people passing by turned a blind eye towards them, but there were some that turned a hostile glare their way.


    Cecil only sighed and decided to contact Lucius later. He headed back towards the dorms. He dropped off Fina and left Silver with her. He arrived back at his dorm and found that Ainz still wasn''t back.


    He changed into his casual clothes and sat down on the sofa lazily. "Wow... this is the first time that I''m actually just sitting around doing nothing..."


    Cecil smiled ruefully and closed his eyes to rest. There really wasn''t much for him to do lately. Other than supervising his friends'' training, he had nothing else to do.


    His cultivation had finally reached the Mana Sea Stage and he was able to stabilize it much sooner than he had thought. The only problem was that if he went into battle while activating Mana Burst or circulating his mana according to his, family''s training manual that he finally created, his effective combat duration was severely cut down to only a couple of minutes.


    Even last week''s spar with Lucia tested the limits of his combat time and to Cecil''s dismay, he was only able to battle for a maximum of 5 minutes before his body''s mana levels depleted to dangerous levels.


    It frustrated him, but the upside was that as he cultivated according to his new training manual, he could feel his body improve at a frightening rate. His speed, strength, reaction, just about everything basically, was constantly improving.


    Cecil had a feeling that given enough time, his normal combat prowess would soon likely rival his prowess when he activated Mana Burst. Once he''s at that level... what would happen if he activated Mana Burst then?


    Cecil was very much excited at this thought and he very much anticipated the time when this would become reality.


    Today however, he would rest. He let everyone else rest so he himself had to as well. If he overclocked their bodies and pushed his friends, it would only be detrimental to them. It would ruin their bodies as well as their determination.


    Cecil greatly admired his father and grandfather''s training methods, although he didn''t really like the two as parents. Tricking their young son into sacrificing his childhood for his family''s tradition... it left a bad taste in his mouth whenever he thought about it. Especially now that he''s tasted a little of what a normal child would have experienced during their childhood.


    ''It was a good thing that I''m not an a.d.u.l.t yet... I''d probably resent them more...'' Cecil chuckled lightly.


    Cecil did, however, resign himself to become the family head when the time came, but he didn''t want to act this way towards his future children. Letting his future kids experience the crap that he had to go through...


    "Yeah, not happening, I bet my future wife would scold me to no end just like how Mom and Granny do to father and grandpa..."


    Cecil spread his body down onto the sofa and closed his eyes to rest. ''What the heck am I thinking? I''m still a kid... I''ve got lots of time before then... for now I should enjoy... this.''


    The boy soon fell into a deep sleep on the sofa with a peaceful smile on his face.


    ********


    "Cel~ Cel~ wake up~ Cel~!"


    Hearing the familiar voice, Cecil slowly opened up his eyes. He groggily stared back at the brightly smiling face of his ''childhood'' friend.


    He began rubbing his eyes and turned his head to look around the room. He found the rest of Little Kings, as well as some additional people, inside the room sitting and chatting. Ainz was at the dining table eating with a red-skinned giant.


    If Cecil wasn''t mistaken then this giant was the one that Ainz had knocked out in last month''s magic combat assessment.


    ''I think his name was Sor''ak... or something''


    The room was pretty lively, but Cecil still felt exhausted for some reason. He quickly started swaying before almost collapsing back onto the sofa. Lucia quickly caught him before he fell over. The girl smiled helplessly and quickly helped him into his room.


    "Geez... you haven''t even eaten yet. The other guys in class even decided to drop by but here you are, sleeping away."


    After pulling the blanket over Cecil and tucking him to sleep, Lucia was about to walk out of the room before she saw the appalling state her friend''s room was in.


    Strewn all over the desk and the floor... as well as hung up on the walls, were parchments and scrolls that had rune enchantments and formulas on them. For some reason, Cecil''s sword and spear were also out of their sheaths and placed on top of the desk. It wasn''t only his main weapons, all his daggers, needles and other small weapons he always kept on his body were strewn all over the desk.


    Lucia helplessly sighed before she began tidying up his room. While she was doing this, Ainz appeared by the door and saw her cleaning the room. Along with him were also the rest of Little Kings and some of the friends they invited back to their dorm.


    Lucia looked back at them and only gestured for them to be quiet. They nodded in reply and quickly peeked around the room. It was the first time anyone in Little Kings saw their leader''s room.


    It was a really messy. Scrolls and parchments that seemed to be research notes were all over the place. They saw the variety of weapons on top of the desk and the weapon rack that was redesigned to be an open cabinet full of rare metals and materials.


    "Hey Eli... isn''t that moonlight ore over there?" Fina whispered.


    "Y-yeah... do you see that blue one? Isn''t that blurite?"


    "There''s also a piece of chimerite next to it..." Velicia added softly.


    "...where in the world did he get these?"


    While the 3 girls were eyeing the precious stones and ores on the cabinet, Ainz was staring at the weapons on the table. He never really took notice, but his friend really had a variety of weapons equipped all over his body and he''d use it all with skillful technique.


    "Cecil... he''s pretty outrageous huh?"


    "Well, we already know that." Fina replied.


    Ainz laughed, "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder why he appears so exhausted though... he was pretty energetic during class..."


    The 4 quickly went back towards the dorm''s living room. Everyone had just finished eating Lucia''s home-cooked dinner and they too were just as surprised as everyone else had been when they found out that Lucia had great culinary skills.


    When Lucia finished tidying up the room, everyone else was just about ready to head back. Lucia turned to look back at her sleeping friend and she took a quick glance at her wrist.


    She eyed the bracelet that kept track of Cecil''s mana levels and was relieved to see that the bracelet''s color was still green. It hadn''t changed at all ever since they separated today at class. She was worried to leave Cecil alone and find that he had secretly went out to train by lonesome and accidentally overuse his mana.


    But during the whole day when she kept a constant eye at the bracelet, the gem embedded on it had never changed color. It looks like Cecil was only tired today due to other reasons.


    "Good night Cel." She closed the door and together with the girls went back towards their dorm.

 Chapter 116 - Once more, into the Dungeon

    Cecil woke up early the next day. He felt oddly refreshed and he vaguely felt that Lucia was in his dorm yesterday.


    ''Not sure if it was a dream or not, but the others were here as well, right?''


    He went about his morning activities, making sure he didn''t forget to go grab Ainz from his room and do their morning training routine together.


    ******


    It was almost 8 now and Cecil was already waiting with Fina at the academy district''s gates. It didn''t take long before the two finally saw the other 3 people of their class'' party.


    "Good morning!" Fina greeted brightly with a cute smile.


    "Good morning, Fina." Ghina greeted in return. The other two also responded to the little girl''s greeting.


    Cecil cleared his throat to get everyone''s attention. Once he got their attention he quickly addressed them, "Good morning everyone. Today we''ll be setting out to the Anglaria Kingdom''s Dungeon. We might take 1-2 days exploring the place and write our report. So I''m sure everyone has already bought the items that I listed yesterday?"


    "Yes, we''ve got them inside our spatial rings." Lu Garulle affirmed.


    "Great! Now then, let''s go!"


    The group quickly turned on their heels and Cecil led them all the way out. Cecil and Fina had decided to hop onto a carriage or wagon bound for the dungeon''s town instead of riding on Silver.


    They didn''t want to surprise their friends since the 3 only knew that Silver was a small puppy wolf that Fina carried around all the time recently. If they knew that the seemingly harmless wolf was in fact a majestically huge monster with capabilities that rivaled S ranked monsters...


    So the two decided to drop Silver off by Radon''s before they left.


    Once they were on the carriage bound for the Kingdom''s Dungeon Town, Cecil began reminding everyone of their positions and roles in the party. He made sure that they got a clear picture of what they were supposed to do later in the dungeon.


    Although the dungeon was a boring place for Cecil, he knew that the place was still dangerous for the likes of his 3 teammates. So in order to make sure that they weren''t put into danger due to their own inadequacies, Cecil kept on reminding them.


    He didn''t really want to help out too much later during their dungeon run. He wanted to only do the bare minimum and let his friends experience firsthand what it was like to dive into a dungeon. This assignment was supposed to be a task to help the students experience what a dungeon was like in preparations with next month''s tournament segment.


    If Cecil did all the work and didn''t let his friends experience the struggles of dungeoneering then if they actually did dive into a dungeon next month, they''d be disillusioned to think that a dungeon wasn''t really anything special and that it was easy to explore.


    "Okay guys, let''s head on in!" Cecil said while pumping his fist into the air.


    "Yeah!" The party responded back in unison.


    While the party was heading into the dungeon, Cecil noticed that there were other parties that were wearing uniforms just like theirs. It wasn''t just them who had the thoughts of diving into the Arks Kingdom''s Public Dungeon, but other students had the same intent as well.


    After taking a casual glance at the 10 or so parties that were from the academy, Cecil led his party into the dungeon.


    When they arrived at the first opening in the dungeon, Cecil felt that everyone aside Fina had begun tensing up. He smiled slyly and continued walking ahead.


    When they came up to a corner, Cecil who was at the front quickly ran ahead as if he saw something. His party members tensed up in confusion, after a moment''s hesitation they quickly chased after him. When they got past the corner...


    "RAAAAHHH!!!"


    "KYAAAH??!!"


    "GUH?!"


    "...!!"


    "...Cecil..." Fina said with a helpless smile.


    "Ahahahaha~" Cecil laughed uproariously at his 3 teammates'' reactions.


    "CECIL! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" Ghina screamed at him after she saw that their party leader had played a childish prank on them.


    "...Crap, I thought something serious was about to happen..." Lu Garulle said while releasing the breath he was holding in since earlier.


    "..." Light just stared at his two teammates before looking back at Cecil who was still trying to stifle his laughter.


    Ghina began pouting at the side and Lu began chuckling. Light turned towards Cecil and let out a relaxed smile and thanked him.


    "Thank you, Cecil."


    "Why''re you thanking him Light?!" Ghina asked incredulously.


    "Well, we shouldn''t be so tense after just entering the dungeon... Cecil here just relieved us of that tension."


    "Hm? Haha~ no biggie, just relax! If you tense up so much, you''re just going to exhaust yourselves~" Cecil smilingly responded, but then right behind him, a cave creeper fell down from the ceiling.


    Cave creepers, they were large gecko-like monster humanoids that had large curved claws and long wretched fangs. They inhabited the ceilings and walls of most labyrinth-type floors of dungeons.


    Cecil seemed oblivious to the monster that was falling towards him. When the cave creeper got a little closer, it began screeching, releasing a sonic wave using wind elemental magic to disrupt its prey''s senses. In this case, Cecil''s senses, the monster then extended its claws with a clear intent to plunge it deep into the boy''s skull.


    Light and everyone else immediately noticed this and paled, they were just about to take action when suddenly a blue wolf jumped out from behind them and intercepted the monster that was still in mid-air.


    When the blue wolf came into contact with the cave creeper, it suddenly expanded and enveloped the monster into its body.


    "Freeze." A small voice sounded from behind the Ghina.


    Ghina turned around and saw Fina extend her hand that was holding a unique blue colored staff. Immediately, the ''blue wolf'' that was now a big ball of water froze in response. The monster inside naturally froze along with it.


    Cecil gave Fina a glance and smiled, "Thanks Fina!"


    "Un."


    "Well guys, like I said. Just relax, we''ve got more ground to cover and if you''re already this tense you won''t last until the 5th floor~" Cecil said nonchalantly. He was so unperturbed that it made the previous monster attack feel so insignificant.


    "H-hey! How could you be like this?! Aren''t you being a little too careless?!" Ghina called out when she saw their leader turn around and began advancing further into the dungeon.


    Cecil turned around and scratched his head, "This is only the beginning of the dungeon... these are only small fries, so don''t sweat it. And remember, we''re in a party, we''ll have each other''s backs."


    "But... shouldn''t we be more careful now? That monster... it dropped outta nowhere..."


    "Hmmm..."


    A Cave Creeper was only a C-ranked monster. It was only a low class mid-tier monster. It was actually so weak to Cecil that he himself categorized it as only a D rank, but from how slow his party''s response was to the monster''s attack, with the exception of Fina, he did have to reconsider their party''s strategy now.


    ''I didn''t expect everyone else in class was so... weak. But I guess it''s only because of their lack of experience and training.'' Cecil thought while taking a quick glance at Fina.


    ''Yeah, even Fina was hopeless at first, but after almost 2 months with us she''s now able to hold her own in a fight.''


    Cecil clapped his hands and replied to Ghina''s question, "Alright, let''s do this a little differently. Lu, you''re on point, we''ll follow your lead. Ghina, you''re our spotter, make sure you keep an eye on our surroundings. Light and Fina, you two are our mages, so you''ll be our attackers!"


    Ghina nodded with a smile at Cecil''s commands. They were now taking the safer approach and having their tank on point. Before it was just going to be Cecil with Lu Garulle acting as a support.


    Other than the members of Little Kings, no one knew of Cecil''s actual strength. Normally Cecil would always be on point with everyone else following behind him and they''d just bulldoze through everything standing in their way.


    Since Cecil wanted his 3 classmates to properly experience a dungeon he had to take this more seriously and apply other strategies.


    "Uhm... Cecil what will you be doing then?" Lu asked after they got into their new formation and began walking further into the dungeon.


    Cecil was currently at the rear of the party.


    "I''ll act as back up and I''ll watch our six. You guys just focus on what''s in front. I''ll handle the back!" Cecil waved.


    "Okay..." Lu Garulle turned his attention away from Cecil and narrowed his eyes, it was obvious that he was focusing his total attention towards the path ahead.


    "Remember, relax. Don''t be so tense!"


    "Yeah!"


    The party progressed slowly like this. On their way to the second floor, the party would encounter a Cave Creeper or two that fell from the ceiling, a giant monster rat pack, or a small flock of demon bats and other cave inhabiting monsters.


    Whenever they encountered any monsters, Ghina would alert them beforehand and Lu Garulle would go forward to attract attention. Then Light, Fina, and Ghina would coordinate their attacks to quickly dispatch the monster or monsters.


    If by chance a monster got passed Lu when they faced against multiple monsters, Fina would use her water familiars and make short work of them. Cecil didn''t have much to do. Other than the occasional times where he would send a knife flying towards a monster that almost harmed his classmates, he''d just observe their fight, and then after the fight, Cecil would quickly dismantle the monster bodies and store it inside his spatial ring.


    It took them about 8 hours since they walked into the dungeon to arrive at the stairway towards the 2nd floor. Cecil gave them a small reminder that the monsters would be a little different than the first floor''s monsters.


    Lu walked down the stairs carefully. He was totally focused at what was in front of him that Cecil could only sigh helplessly seeing the rest of his party get all solemn and serious. Even Fina was swallowed up by the atmosphere and began tensing up.


    When they finally stepped foot onto the 2nd floor, Cecil''s teammates all let out an involuntary cry of surprise at the scenery they witnessed.


    "H-how?!"


    "This isn''t the exit is it?!"


    "!"


    "C-Cecil?! How is this boring??" Fina turned around and asked the boy who had an uncaring expression on his face.


    Cecil shrugged and replied, "You''ll get used to it... once you''re used to it... then it''s just gonna be a cycle of boring fights on different backgrounds."


    "..."


    The scenery in front of them was that of a beachside. When they turned to look back, they saw a large cliff side that extended far into the ''sky''. On this cliff side was the staircase that they traveled down on.


    Not far ahead of them, there was this dungeon floor''s rest stop. Although it was called a rest stop, it was more like a small settlement.


    "So, what do you wanna do? Rest for a bit before continuing?" Cecil asked the party.


    "...We''ve been fighting for a while... and I am a little exhausted." Lu responded.


    Cecil nodded at this. Their large ape-kin friend was on constantly high alert during their entire time traversing the first floor. He was also the one who was tasked with tanking and attracting the monster''s assaults, so of course he was bound to be more exhausted than the rest.


    "Yeah, we should rest... I think Light is almost out of mana?" Ghina agreed and turned to look at the slightly pale Light.


    "Only a little..."


    "Okay, we''ll rest for a bit. Then we''ll quickly set off." Cecil said and led the party into the rest area.


    When they got to the settlement, they had a little run in with another party.

 Chapter 117 - Conflict

    When the party arrived at the settlement, they bumped into another party, similar to theirs. It was a party composed of students from the academy. Cecil saw this particular party at the dungeon entrance earlier.


    He didn''t put them in mind though since it was only in passing. However when this party saw theirs, a couple of the students in the party smirked and blocked their way.


    The leader, a tiger-kin and 2 others who were also tiger-kin walked in front of the rest. They were somewhat surprised seeing that Cecil was the one leading the party.


    "Well, what an honor. To meet the first ranked." The leader said with a clear tinge of sarcasm in his tone.


    Cecil tilted his head and began thinking, ''Did I offend this dude somewhere?''


    "But, even with you in this party, I''m guessing it''s nothing special. You guys still took this long to get here. Haha, I mean... my party arrived here before you guys." The leading tiger-kin said while shaking his head, he turned towards his party and the members began echoing his words, saying that Cecil''s party was nothing special.


    "What''s that?" Ghina said while eyeing the opposing party coldly.


    "Oh? I''m sorry if I offended you... maybe it''s not that your party is slow or anything, but somebody was probably dragging you guys down, right?" The leader said with a sneer. He threw a condescending look at Light who was in the back with his head down.


    "Hey~ isn''t this little ol'' Light. How''ve you been?" The leader walked over and slung his arm over Light, which caused the latter to be visibly appalled.


    "Hey... what''s with that look huh? Not happy to see your brethren here?"


    Cecil started frowning seeing the pained look Light had on his face. Fina had already begun glaring fiercely at the party leader.


    "N-no... it''s not that Vale... I was just... injured earlier." Light said with a forced smile.


    "OH! So you were injured? How careless of you! Here, let me see your wound! I''ll treat it." The leader, Vale, replied in fake surprise. He then sneered and said, "So it''s like I thought... you''ve been dragging your team down."


    "!" Light flinched at his remark. "N-no! I¨C"


    "Tsk, tsk... Light what did our Young Leader always educate you about? You should NEVER, under any circ.u.mstances, be a burden to your teammates! How could you be such deadweight to them? What''ll you do if they fail with the assignment?"


    Light started paling at his words, he turned his eyes towards his friends and saw Cecil''s cold expression, the furious Ghina and an angry Lu Garulle that was just about to raise his mace and pound the idiot who was next to him.


    Before any of them could make a move however,


    "GWAH?!"


    The leader who had his arm slung around Light was suddenly sent flying away.


    "Eh?"


    "LEADER!!"


    Vale''s party began panicking seeing their leader being launched far away. They glared at Cecil''s party and ran towards the collapsed tiger-kin who had crashed into the dungeon rest area''s walls.


    "Hmph." Fina snorted coldly. "Irritating freak."


    Cecil whistled and laughed, "Haha! Well... I didn''t know you had such a temper Fina."


    "Tsk, I couldn''t take that stupid freak''s words anymore... Light was clearly contributing a lot to the party... and that bastard said he was a burden? Hmph!"


    Fina once again snorted while eyeing the collapsed Vale and smiled in satisfaction at her handiwork. She then turned towards the stupefied Light and said, "And you! Light! At least say something! What''s with you clamming up like that?"


    "Eh? Oh..." Light snapped out of his surprise and turned towards the small, but fierce girl that was pointing her finger at him.


    Normally Fina was quiet and timid, but even she had times where the beast within would rear its head. She didn''t like the fact that people were degrading their classmate like that. Cecil however knew the actual cause to her little outburst.


    In their party, you could say that Fina was the ''weakest'' of the bunch. She was really talented at support magic, but she often felt a large sense of inferiority to her friends. Ever since, Ainz, Eli, and Velicia had gotten stronger, the support needed from Fina was becoming more and more unneeded.


    She was dispirited and felt that she was no longer necessary to her friends. She even had negative thoughts such as leaving the party since she didn''t want to become a burden, especially since the party''s name was ''Little Kings''.


    The name alone implied that every member would have a combat prowess of a ''King'' level character of the academy. At least, that was what Cecil and Lucia envisioned. This expectation soon became a large factor to Fina''s insecurities.


    She didn''t feel this at first, but with every quest that didn''t require her support she became increasingly insecure, but it was a good thing that Lucia noticed this and quickly addressed the problem.


    -----


    So one day while they were training, Lucia gave her ''wise'' words of encouragement to the insecure little girl.


    "According to Cecil, if you''re in doubt, just punch your way out!" Lucia said seriously to her, but then she crumpled into a fit of laughter when she saw Fina take it so seriously.


    "L-Lucia?!"


    "Nah, it''s just funny seeing someone actually take this advice so seriously! But in your case... this may just be the solution to your problem."


    "..."


    "Well, if you find yourself insecure being with us... Fina should just get stronger!"


    "...How?"


    "I dunno, that''s for you to decide! Look! Eli and Velicia could do it! Heck! Even Ainz, that idiot could do it! So there''s no reason for you to not be able to! No friend of mine is weak, especially not my cutie best friend!" Lucia said while hugging onto Fina.


    "...Get stronger... for me to decide... okay! Thanks Lulu!" Fina responded with a determined look.


    Lucia was smiling happily when she saw her friend get up on her feet, "Ahah~ you even started using my nickname~ it''s about time though. But! I won''t permit any of you to call Cecil, Cel, since it''s for my exclusive use only!"


    ------


    After that, Fina''s magic prowess became increasingly powerful. Her confidence returned and although she remained quiet and timid, she smiled and talked a lot more even if it was only with her party members from Little Kings.


    "Chin up Light! If you''re strong then show it! Who cares about what others say, but make sure that you don''t doubt yourself!" Fina saw the change in Light''s eye and continued, "If you''re in doubt, just punch your way out! That''s something my precious friend gave me for advice, though it did come from her boyfriend~"


    "!" Light''s eyes brightened, he nodded and thanked the girl, "Thank you Fina... I''ll... try and not doubt myself anymore."


    "Mhm, good then, now let''s go in. I got tired after seeing that freak''s clownish act."


    "..."


    "Ahaha! Well said Fina!" Lu said and followed after her.


    "...was she always that fierce? I thought she was more of the quiet type..." Ghina said in surprise, she turned towards Cecil who seemed to be deep in thought.


    ''Precious friend... Lucia? Eli? But.... they don''t have a boyfriend¨C Ahh! It''s Velicia! How could I forget that tin can?''


    Cecil followed after the rest of his party. He quickly got to Fina''s side and said, "Well... I can''t believe that the fatty had such nice words to say! Though, he did always give off that older brother vibe."


    "?" Fina turned a puzzled looke towards him.


    "Hm?"


    "What''re talking about?"


    "It''s about your words earlier, the one from Velicia''s boyfriend right? Oh, fianc¨¦''s a better word. When in doubt, just punch your way out. I like the ring to that. Didn''t think it''d come from Lucius though."


    "What?" Fina became increasingly confused at Cecil''s words, but then she quickly realized something before she facepalmed and mumbled, "Ugh... I feel sorry for Lulu..."


    "What''s that Fina?"


    "Nothing... but you better get your act together Cecil... You never know when someone else just might steal her from you." Fina advised seriously.


    "Steal? Steal what?" Cecil responded a bit confused.


    "..." Fina became increasingly worried for her friend.


    "Well, I don''t care who it is, but no one can steal anything from me! The last time someone did, it didn''t end so well for them! So I''ll just beat anyone up if they come stealing something from me!"


    "...ahaha..." Fina dryly laughed. ''Good luck, Lulu.''


    Just behind them, Light who was in deep contemplation finally had an understanding look on his after hearing Cecil''s barbarous reasoning.


    "...Ah, so it was from Cecil..." Light murmured in the back in realization. "So, Fina meant Lucia... well, I guess that was obvious."


    Light began nodding to himself and looked at his party leader in admiration. "Punch your way out huh... hehe."


    "Why''re you laughing like that?" Ghina asked.


    "Nothing, but don''t you think our party leader''s a bit cool?"


    "Cecil? Well... he''s strong... smart... has that leader-like aura when he''s actually serious, but most of the time... he''s never serious! It''s like he''s always playing around or something! Ugh, it''s so frustrating sometimes! You''d never notice this at the academy since he''s always so serious with classes. I''d hate to be the girlfriend of such a playful person... I almost feel sorry for Lucia."


    "...I guess... well everyone has their preferences, but I think Cecil''s like this because he''s strong." Light said and looked at their ape-kin friend. "Don''t you think so, Lu?"


    "Yeah, no doubt, his first rank already tells us everything!"


    "Yup."


    ''And, there''s no way that a person who would say that line wouldn''t be strong.'' Light added in his heart.


    "Well, whatever, although I do agree. Cecil is strong, without a doubt. I''m glad he''s our party leader. I learned a lot from his commands and arrangements since we''ve grouped up. It''d be more perfect if he was more serious though."


    Their banter didn''t escape Cecil and Fina''s ears. Fina was smiling proudly since her party leader was being praised, while Cecil was chuckling helplessly while scratching his cheek.


    "Am I really playful?"


    "Other than the times when you train and lecture us, like a demon, you''re like a free spirit doing whatever you want."


    "...demon?"


    Fina only smiled back in response, leaving Cecil not knowing how to respond.


    They checked into an inn-c.u.m-diner and ate a very late lunch. They had neither the time nor luxury to have a lunch break while traversing the dungeon so they could only eat now.


    The previous unpleasant event that the party was subjected to was tossed to the back of everyone''s minds when they began eating. The party rested for another hour after their lunch before they walked out of the rest area to continue their dungeoneering.


    ------


    "Th-that little creep! Ack!" A despondent Vale cursed when he saw Cecil''s party exit the rest area happily.


    "Boss! Careful, your wounds might open up!" A tiger-kin underling said.


    "Tsk. Just because he''s got a little back up he actually dared to raise a hand against ME?!"


    "...Well, boss... it wasn''t actually him, but the little merfolk girl in their party..."


    "SHUT UP!"


    "..."


    "Tsk... I won''t take this lying down. Just you wait you stupid entitled failure, how dare the clan''s humiliation raise a hand towards me?!" Vale spitefully said.


    "What''ll we do boss?"


    "We''re tailing after them! But, we should just track their whereabouts. I heard that the First Ranked has some sort of detection spell. We should keep our distance."


    "Yes boss!"


    Once they made their plans, an hour after Cecil''s group left, Vale''s party began tracking them. Once they found their trail, the party would begin moving, trying to get ahead of Cecil''s party.


    "...should we even be doing this?" A member asked worriedly. He and the last member of Vale''s party wasn''t a part of his clique. They were only there to fill in the spots after the teacher had arranged the class'' party.


    "Let''s just do what they want... it''s not like we can finish the assignment alone."


    "But... tsk, never mind..."


    Vale''s plan was to track the direction in which Cecil''s party was heading and hopefully get ahead of them. Once they were ahead, Vale would begin setting up traps that lured monsters onto their path.


    "Hehe, just think of this as payback, you little shits. No hard feelings, really." Vale said as he angrily gritted his teeth.


    He then eyed the pouch inside his ring and smiled sinisterly.

 Chapter 118 - Blast Your Way Through!

    With a target on their backs, Cecil''s party unknowingly continued with their assignment. They only had to get to the 5th floor of a dungeon and write their findings and observations.


    The report wasn''t anything complicated, only the dungeon diving part was the challenge, except in Cecil''s case, it was only a boring event. Of course, to anyone else it would be a novel experience. Something none of them would ever forget.


    It didn''t take the group long to arrive at the 3rd floor''s staircase. The party had a leisure time during their second floor run. It was because of the rest area that the floor always had a low quantity of monsters.


    When they got down to the 3rd floor, the party was once again in awe at the scenery before them.


    "How could the scenery change so quickly like this?" Lu Garulle excitedly said while taking in the view.


    "Magic~" Cecil said while performing a weird hand gesture.


    The gesture caused his party members to laugh in response. Cecil smiled seeing their reactions. This time around he led the party through the 3rd floor.


    The third floor was a vast plain with rocky outcrops littered everywhere. The rocky outcrops were actually potential areas where people could mine minerals and ore from. The monsters on the floor were filled with stone golems, prairie beast wolves, and the occasional flock of wind eagles.


    They didn''t meet any mishaps on this floor. The party did bump into some other student parties similar to theirs and Cecil did offer a helping hand if a party was in some degree of danger. With Cecil leading the party, they bull dozed through the 3rd floor and quickly arrived at the 4th floor''s staircase.


    Just as they were about to head down, Cecil noticed that plenty of student parties had tagged along with them. They were farther behind and they were hitching a bus ride on Cecil''s party. He didn''t really care, but the same wasn''t for the other members.


    "Tsk... how shameless. They''re having the time of their lives hiding behind us while we have to do all the work... doesn''t it bug you, Leader?" Ghina asked with an annoyed look on her face.


    "Let them be. It''s only possible because it''s the 3rd floor. The fourth floor goes back to being a labyrinth-type so it''d be hard for anyone to follow us then."


    "...it sounds like you''ve been here before?"


    "Of course... before I registered in the academy, I was an active adventurer. My... party has already gone down to the 10th floor of this place... or was it the 9th? Anyways, I forgot. Nonetheless, it was a very boring experience." Cecil said dully.


    "...10th floor? What the heck... I heard that the monsters get increasingly stronger in rank the deeper you go down!"


    "Well, yeah... but, they were all weak. Nothing worth more than a small geyser field, the monsters only came at us in droves so it was easy for us to take care of them all in one go. It was pretty monotonous and boring as this cycle just kept repeating itself."


    "..."


    The others listened on in silence as Cecil began explaining his first and most disappointing dungeon dive experience. The others felt a little awkward by this point. It sounded like Cecil was just boasting, but with the dull and clearly unsatisfied look on his face, the party thought otherwise.


    "...was it really that boring?" Light asked with a forced smile.


    "Well... for me and my party, it was unbelievably boring. The only thing we got from the trip was an abundant harvest of ore and monster materials."


    "Yes... for you and her, it would probably be boring... but don''t forget Cecil, not just anyone can destroy a horde of monsters with a snap of a finger as easily as you guys could." Fina added on the side.


    "Yeah... I guess. Anyway, let''s hurry it up now. Lu, you''re back on point. I''ll stay behind and watch the rear. Formation will be the same as on the 1st floor."


    "Okay!"


    Everyone quickly psyched up and got into formation and began their 4th floor''s run. They proceeded slowly at first, and just like Cecil said. It was indeed back to being a dilapidated labyrinth.


    The parties that were trailing after them quickly followed from behind. Cecil''s party soon encountered a large horde of skeleton warriors and archers. The horde rushed at them and the 2 forces quickly clashed in the narrow labyrinth corridor.


    Cecil moved up a bit and provided support with his mana bolts. He would occasionally fire them at the skeleton archers at the rear of the horde. Although the corridor was narrow, just the 5 of them couldn''t possibly block the entire horde of skeletons.


    Since Cecil''s party was already surrounded from all sides with their backs behind the wall, the idle skeletons continued running past them and quickly clashed with the parties that were following their party.


    "WAHHH!!!"


    "Get them! Get them!"


    "W-what the hell are those guys doing in the front?!"


    "Idiot! Can''t you see that they''re also tied up?!"


    "DAMN!"


    "Mages! Archers! Target those skeletons at the ba¨C ack!"


    Cecil already began to hear the sounds of panicking and the fl.u.s.tered shouts originating from the parties of students that were following behind theirs.


    "Well, you''re just gonna have to get through this on your own~"


    Cecil then turned towards his party members that were somewhat struggling to cope with the endless horde of skeletons rushing at them.


    "C-Cecil!" Fina shouted in panic. She already had 3 water wolf familiars surrounding her. There were also 2 others by the sides of Light and Ghina. The water wolves were casting frost bolts or small ice ramparts in an effort to impede the large horde.


    "Fina, prepare a large ice rampart on our sides, I''ll clear a path for us. After that, we run like hell! EVERYONE GET READY!"


    "!"


    "YEAH!"


    Cecil began gathering mana into his hands. Quickly two large golden orbs of mana enveloped his hands.


    "LU! GET BACK!"


    At Cecil''s command, Lu Garulle quickly used a combat skill.


    "EARTH SMASH!"


    He smashed his mace onto the ground causing a large shockwave to form from the impact. The shockwave pushed back all the skeleton warriors in front of him and the Ape-kin powerfully jumped back, landing close to his party members.


    Cecil flickered to Lu''s previous position and sent a powerful mana wave at the skeletons.


    "FLASH CANNON!"


    BOOOOOMMMM


    The mana wave skill, Flash Cannon, blasted through the entire horde of skeletons in front of Cecil. Everyone in his party, except for Fina, was thoroughly surprised at Cecil''s show of force.


    "RUN!"


    At Cecil''s shout, the party members quickly snapped out of their awe and excitement and quickly dashed through the opening that Cecil had created for them.


    Fina didn''t forget to detonate the ice ramparts after the party was clear from their previous spot. The detonation caused the skeletons that were behind the ramparts to shatter into pieces. The explosion also caused various degrees of damage to the surrounding skeletons that were further away.


    This somewhat helped the parties that Cecil and friends had left behind. The explosion was also Fina''s small show of kindness for her fellow students.


    Once Cecil and the rest quickly shook off the horde, they were able to arrive at a small room inside the large undead labyrinth and rest for a bit.


    Everyone except for Cecil and Fina were visibly exhausted. The exhaustion came not only from the physical strain they had to endure when they were defending against the horde of skeletons, but also from the mental pressure of seeing the previous unending horde.


    "So... how was it? It''s pretty different right?" Cecil asked his exhausted party members.


    "T-that... previous attack you did...what the hell was that?!" Ghina exclaimed.


    "That? It was an original skill, nothing fancy."


    "Nothing fancy?" Ghina said with an incredulous expression.


    "Cecil... that attack just destroyed every skeleton in our path... how was that not... fancy?" Light said with a strained smile.


    "Well, if you wanna see something really fancy... that''s nothing then." Cecil plainly said.


    "..."


    "It''s as expected of our leader! Strong indeed!" Lu Garulle exclaimed happily despite his exhaustion. The ape-kin was bound to be the most exhausted out of the group. He was tanking the entire horde for a while and he had piled up a bit of injuries.


    The others also had some minor injuries, but not like the ones on Lu. He had multiple arrows stuck onto his torso, but even then he was still laughing and yelling boisterously. The person himself said that it was nothing since ape-kin had plenty of muscle on their bodies. The arrows wouldn''t be able to do any significant damage and it only caused superficial ones since the skeleton archers were weak. Not to mention that there was no combat skills used to back the arrows.


    The injuries were quickly taken care of by Fina, a quick cast of healing light and all the wounds that the party had suffered were quickly healed. Fina was especially happy to use her healing magic since it''s been a long while. Normally when she was with the Little Kings she''d never have this chance anymore.


    Of course, it wasn''t anything sadistic like Fina wanting her friends to have injuries or anything. She wasn''t that cruel of a person. In fact, in the party, Fina was the singular angelic figure in there.


    If others were to describe it, Cecil''s group of friends was all a little... eccentric. Not that anyone minded it though.


    "Alright guys, rest up and we''ll continue our exploration." Cecil said.


    He quickly took his seat and grabbed a small snack out of his ring. Everyone else also began to relax and they too took something out to eat as a snack.


    Cecil kept his Mana Sense spread out and continued monitoring the corridor just outside of their room.


    He soon felt picked up movement from his Mana Sense and frowned.


    ''It''s those jerks... I guess Fina was being a bit lenient with her attack earlier.''


    The group that Cecil picked up on his Mana Sense was the previous group that harassed Light. He got ready for a confrontation, but then he turned a little puzzled seeing the group continue onwards, completely ignoring the room they were in.


    "?"


    Cecil was a little confused, were they just ignorant? Or did they have some ulterior motive?


    He already experienced the problems caused by another party''s malicious intents a week ago during his party''s quest. Cecil only contemplated on it for a moment before shrugging.


    "Whatever, they better not try anything funny. Although, we''re from the same academy, I won''t sit back if you do something unreasonable." Cecil mumbled to himself.


    "What''s that Cecil?" Fina asked on the side, she was actually talking to him earlier, but Cecil was focused on his Mana Sense that he hadn''t paid attention.


    "Nothing, what were you saying earlier?"


    "...After this floor, it''s the 5th floor. Are we heading towards the staircase and declaring our assignment finished, or are we exploring the floor first before heading back?"


    "No, there''s a rest area on the 5th floor. We''ll head there, write the report and then head back."


    "Ok, the assignment is pretty easy, right? Well, other than that previous skeleton attack."


    "Yeah, I told you that a dungeon wasn''t anything special. By the way, we should mine some ore on the 5th floor. There''s a mithril vein that Lucia and I secretly found a long while ago. If it''s still there we should mine a bit before heading back."


    "Mithril?! Then we have to go! That''s a rare magic ore!"


    "Mhm."


    Once everyone was a little more rejuvenated, the party continued their trek through the 4th floor.

 Chapter 119 - Furious

    The party made their way through the fourth floor labyrinth area and soon arrived at the fifth floor''s staircase.


    "Let''s go... make sure everyone pays attention to the surroundings on the 5th floor, this way we won''t miss anything later when we write our report." Cecil said.


    "Okay. I''ll write the report later." Ghina offered.


    "Great, we''ll leave it to you then."


    The group proceeded to head down the flight of stairs, when they arrived at the 5th floor area. The party members were no longer exclaiming in surprise anymore. They had already gotten used to it.


    Cecil smirked when he saw everyone''s lack of reaction when they saw the frozen wasteland ahead of them.


    It was chilly and Cecil reinforced his body using Mana Burst. He adjusted the output to a low degree so only a small golden aura rose from his body. Fina did the same. Although she wasn''t all that adept with Aura Manifestation, she and Ainz had the bare minimum mastery to use the technique.


    A small light blue aura rose from Fina''s body. Everyone else wasn''t expecting this kind of environment so they were a little helpless at what to do. Then they remembered the previous list of items that Cecil had handed to them. They quickly took out large thick coats from their rings and quickly put them on.


    "Wow... you even anticipated this..." Light said with appreciation.


    "Well, the environment on the 5th floor is ever changing. Right now it''s a wintry wasteland... but the last time I came here it was a blazing desert. When we came back up only then did it turn into this frozen landscape." Cecil replied.


    "How come you and Fina aren''t wearing anything..." Ghina asked skeptically. After carefully observing the two only then did she notice the slight aura rising from their bodies, "What''s... that?"


    Fina was the one that answered the question.


    "It''s a technique called Aura Manifestation. An original skill developed jointly by our party!" Fina said proudly.


    "W-What''re the e-effects?! H-how come y-you two aren''t even f-feeling this biting c-cold?!" Lu Garulle asked with his teeth chattering from the cold.


    Cecil turned a weird eye at Lu. Everyone else was somewhat okay after wearing their coats, but Lu looked like he was still freezing cold, it was as if the coat had no effect in mitigating the low temperatures of the dungeon''s floor.


    "D-Don''t mind m-me... us Ape-kin a-aren''t so good dealing with the c-cold..." He replied after seeing Cecil''s odd look.


    "Oh! I see..." Cecil nodded. He then began walking ahead, "Alright everyone, let''s get going."


    He dodged his party member''s earlier inquiry. Cecil didn''t want the effects of Aura Manifestation to be known by outsiders and he thought it''d be a pain if other people began begging their group to teach them the all-encompassing body enhancement skill.


    Cecil turned a discrete glance at Fina and she got the message. She only nodded back in response and kept her silence. Her 5 familiars followed after her, the water familiars soon froze over and became ice sculptures, but they kept on moving nonetheless.


    Fina saw this and was immediately inspired.


    "Ah, Ice familiars are plausible too! How could I forget that," Fina said while knocking on her head cutely. She waved her hands and soon smaller butterfly-like ice familiars formed in the air.


    "Keep an eye on the surroundings for us." Fina said softly. The ice butterflies flew up high into the air and hovered around them. The familiars would send Fina a mental response to her via Mana when they spotted anything.


    With the new familiars, Cecil was able to deactivate his Mana Sense, alleviating his mana expenditure to some degree, though it actually didn''t matter. He was only being lazy.


    Even on this floor''s frozen wasteland, the group was able to have an easy time thanks to Cecil''s preparations and Fina''s familiars. The wintry environment had also empowered Fina''s familiars as well as her own powers.


    The group quickly found the rest area that Cecil had mentioned. It was located inside a large cavern situated by the side of a large mountain in the middle of the dungeon''s floor.


    The group went in and rested in the warm and cozy cavern. They did have it easy on their way here, but the biting cold still took a toll on everyone. Cecil and Fina were the only exceptions however.


    When they settled down, Ghina quickly began writing their report. Light and Lu Garulle were besides her, helping with the details that Ghina might have missed during their descent to the 5th floor.


    She was their spotter so it was natural that she took in more of the dungeon''s details than everyone else, but there was a chance that she might have missed something since she was also busy with detecting whether any monsters were close or not.


    They also had to write their personal opinions, but Cecil only said that it was boring, while Fina said that she would write her own later.


    Cecil and Fina excused themselves from the busy group and they walked out of the large cavern. Cecil had his Mana Sense deactivated so unbeknownst to him, a small group of people followed after them.


    When they got further away from the cavern, Fina released her familiars again and Cecil led the way towards the mithril vein that he and Lucia had discovered during their last trip inside the dungeon.


    "It should be on the far north side of the floor. Hopefully no one''s discovered the place. We should mine the whole vein this time. I don''t plan on coming back here any time soon."


    "...is that okay Cecil? You know, we''d get a pretty hefty reward if we gave this info to the guild!"


    "For what? Better if we used it ourselves than give it to the guild. Please remember that we do have the Gramps to help us forge some stuff with the mithril." Cecil retorted.


    "Haha, I guess you''re right. When you have the number 1 blacksmith in the kingdom as your uncle, giving away a mithril vein is pretty stupid and pointless."


    "Let''s hurry. We don''t want our friends to notice that we''ve been gone for too long."


    "Alright."


    Cecil began running in the direction that he last remembered the vein was at, behind him Fina had activated Aura Manifestation and was following after him. She didn''t have a good mastery of the technique, but at least she could achieve the bare minimum of enhancing her body when she used it.


    It was that she just couldn''t use it in tandem when she was casting spells, so if it was just running it was no problem for her to maintain the skill.


    Behind them...


    "Hurry! Make sure you don''t lose those two!" Vale said as he trailed far behind the two. "That little bitch is also with him. This saves us some trouble. Too bad that incompetent Light isn''t with them...Where''s Dahn? Is he ready with the trap?"


    "Dahn''s currently gathering the monsters with the powder you gave us earlier. He and Mane are probably almost done by now." A lackey answered.


    "Good. Tell them our location. We''ll lead the monsters towards the area those 2 are going."


    "On it." The lackey answered and went in the direction of their party members.


    "..."


    "What? You scared?" Vale said, turning towards the last, clearly hesitant, member of his party.


    "N-no... it''s just...is this the right thing to do?" one of them asked.


    "Tsk, if you''re going to back down... then disappear from my face now! Get back to the surface on your own!"


    "N-no... pretend I didn''t say anything..."


    "...Hmph. Spineless!" Vale disdainfully replied.


    A blizzard soon began to kick in as Cecil and Fina kept on traveling northwards. When they arrived at the cavern where Cecil and Lucia had mined the mithril ore, the blizzard was in full storm.


    "Phew, good thing we got here before the blizzard had properly set in..."


    "We might... be here for a while." Fina said worriedly.


    "Don''t worry, we won''t take long here. And if we really had to, I''ll just blow away this blizzard."


    "...you could do that?"


    "No probs!" Cecil responded confidently.


    ''Punch your way out indeed.'' Fina thought. She currently had a strained expression, not knowing whether to laugh or cry at Cecil''s unreasonableness.


    This time around Cecil came prepared. He took out a large pick axe from his ring, something that Radon had forged using a little bit of the adamantium they had.


    Once he got a good feel on the pickaxe, he quickly located the mithril vein and saw that it was still untouched like before. The previous signs of destruction caused by their haphazard way of mining from last time were still present even.


    Cecil began mining with the pickaxe. It was awkward for him at first, but as he got the hang of it he adjusted his posture and technique. He began to quickly and more efficiently mine the mithril. Fina was on the side quickly storing the mined mithril ore into their spatial rings.


    It didn''t take long for Cecil to mine all the visible mithril in the large cavern. He used Mana Burst to quicken his mining speed so it only took him around an hour or so to complete the task. Outside however, the blizzard was still raging magnificently. The winds caused by the blizzard rang throughout the cavern, making it pretty noisy for them.


    "Hey Fina... do you hear that?" Cecil asked in a low voice.


    "Hm? Hear what, the blizzard?" Fina answered jokingly.


    "...No, but... it sounds like a monster cry...No wait!" Cecil quickly got to his feet when the sound he was listening to came closer and closer.


    When he got closer to the entrance of the cavern, the loud noise caused by something other than the blizzard was much more audible. Even Fina could hear it too. Not to mention the large vibrations coming from the ground originating by whatever it was that was causing the commotion.


    "C-Cecil... the ground... do you feel that?!"


    Cecil had already activated Mana Sense and he was able to detect and visualize what it was that was causing the noise and vibrations. His face turned gloomier by the second as he saw the large pack of monsters heading their way.


    "Th-these vibrations... what''s causing this?!"


    "It''s a stampede... a Frost Mammoth stampede..."


    "Huh?!"


    Cecil began grinding his teeth in anger. ''Which bastard... it''s that Vale and his party!'' Cecil quickly picked up something else on his Mana Sense, and it was the bastard Vale and his party that was lying in wait from far away.


    He grew incredibly angry when he saw this. Their satisfied smiles and relieved looks angered him to no end.


    "Just because Fina hit you... you send this large horde as payback?! Ahahah... damn you..." Cecil darkly said. A sinister expression soon began creeping up on his face, but then it suddenly disappeared. A cold and apathetic expression soon replaced it.


    "Fina... stand back... let me get rid of this rabble."


    "Eh? C-Cecil?" Fina was unnerved seeing the abrupt change to the boy''s demeanor. She had never seen such a Cecil. The cold vibe and the unapproachable aura Cecil was exuding...were unsettling.


    Cecil walked just outside of the cavern. He began circulating the mana inside his body. A large golden aura soon enveloped his body. Streaks of what seemed to be lightning also flashed around his body. Cecil was also activating Mana Burst, using the skill to regulate the mana output.


    He made sure that his mana expenditure after using his next technique was just before his Mana fell into a dangerously low level. Lucia wasn''t around so he had to be careful.


    He didn''t want to cause any problems to Fina. He knew that he wouldn''t forgive himself if he did something ghastly towards Lucia''s best friend. He also wouldn''t know how to face Lucia if something did happen to Fina because of him.


    Once he was ready, Cecil spread his arms out and focused the Mana into his palms. Once he felt that he had channeled just enough, Cecil brought his hands forward and faced the incoming stampede of Frost Mammoths.


    It was clear that the amount was insanely large. Even Lucia would have a hard time dealing with the large stampede currently present in front of him.


    Cecil gritted his teeth at the pain coming from the large surge of mana in his arms and hands.


    "I''ll eradicate you all... DISAPPEAR! OVER FLASH!"


    A deafening silence ensued in the next instant. The absurdly large golden beam of mana that Cecil shot in front of him caused all sounds to become mute. The sounds of the Frost Mammoths, the blizzard and the wind, everything became mute.


    Fina who was behind him, stared in awe at the beautiful golden beam of death shooting forwards.


    From afar, Vale and his party could only look on in horror at the large golden beam that just barely grazed past their location. Vale and his 2 confidents immediately paled and one of them even fainted.


    Vale was struck frozen on the ground in fear, the two other hesitant members had already begun crying and breaking down screaming in fright, but no sound exited from their mouth since the empowered Flash Cannon had obliterated all the sound waves in the vicinity.


    The golden beam continued forward and didn''t stop, it obliterated any obstacle that stood in its way and only stopped until it reached the large mountain in the middle of the dungeon.


    BOOOOOMMMMM


    BZZZZTTTTT SSZZZZZZTTTTTT


    After it crashed into the mountain, the air in the area that the beam had passed by was superheated to a high degree that it began exploding spontaneously.


    BOOOM BBOOOM BBBOOOM BOOMMMM


    Everyone in the cavern shelter was startled at the large explosions and they quickly exited the cavern and witnessed the appalling yet mesmerizing scene of the air exploding. It was like having fireworks close to the ground.


    Back at the cave entrance where Cecil had fired off the beam, he exhaustingly let down his arms and kneeled down on the floor, panting.


    Fina quickly snapped out of her awe and rushed towards him.


    "CECIL!"


    "Urk... hah...hah...hahaha... take that you bastards...just wait for me to deal with you." Cecil completely ignored the worried Fina and he stood back up and began dragging his feet towards the area that Vale''s party was at.


    Cecil had purposefully directed the blast close to them to teach the insufferable bastards the meaning of fear.


    Now it was time to actually deal with them. Cecil was furious and despite his exhaustion he trudged his way towards the hapless group with a worried Fina in tow.

 Chapter 120 - Emergency

    Dungeons, a type of mining or harvesting environment that was magically created from the overabundant mana particles in the surroundings. These mana particles would often times create a sort of natural formation that would trap monsters inside its vicinity. The monsters inside these formations known as dungeons, gain some basic intelligence due to the high concentration of mana in the environment.


    Thus it became known that monsters inside dungeons tend to group together in small or large communities. These communities would often interact with other different monster communities to wage war, share resources and many other not yet known interactions.


    The overabundance of mana would also tend to create various types of environments inside a dungeon that would suit the living conditions of the monsters inside each formation.


    There are also mainly 2 classifications of dungeons, the area class and the floor class and then there are the 3 sub types. The first sub-type, namely, the Cave-type dungeon, these dungeons are the most widely known dungeons on every continent. The Angla Public Dungeon was considered a cave-type dungeon and it fell into the second category of dungeons.


    The second sub-type, an Ocean-type dungeon, these dungeons are mostly found inside large bodies of water. It could be inside a lake, or an underground reservoir or river channel.


    But, the places to find these types of dungeons are namely, inside the oceans of Alterna. Ocean-type dungeons were the most abundant of dungeons on Alterna. There was an ocean-type dungeon close to the Oceanic Kingdom of Neftersea called the Unending Maelstrom. It was considered a SSS-class dungeon that few would dare explore. It was also one of the rarer field-class ocean-type dungeons.


    Then lastly, there was the Forest-type dungeon. These dungeons, like in its name, would be found in ancient heavily forested areas. Not all high-mana forests would become dungeons and only a very rare amount would turn into one. These types of dungeons were the rarest of dungeons and it''s hard to believe, but the forest-type dungeons encapsulated both field-class and floor-class dungeons.


    An adventurer that came across such a dungeon could choose to proceed further into the dungeon''s area or go deep into the dungeon''s upper or lower floors.


    And currently, our cute little foxkin is exploring this type of dungeon with her party.


    The Great Erlutian Forest, it was an ancient forest that withstood the test of time. This forest had witnessed the Great Collapse of the super-continent Mespotheim. It was a large super ancient forest that''s been around for thousands of years. The roots of the trees inside the forest reached deep into the ground and the branches and treetops reached high into the sky.


    Inside the 5th area of the Great Erlutian Forest, Lucia and her party were currently fighting against a bunch of Bloodwood Treants. These treants were large 5 meter tall blood-sucking monstrosities.


    They had a high vitality level that even after cutting the monster into pieces it could quickly regenerate itself and continue fighting, to add to this was also the bloodsucking ability of these treants.


    The ability would drain the blood out of its victims to heal itself or bolster its already large level of vitality. The Bloodwood Treants had an insatiable hunger for blood, so it would attack and pursue any creature that it has laid its eyes on. It would never stop its pursuit until it could fulfill its insatiable thirst for blood. Thus, they were hard to kill and also hard to escape from.


    "Aery! Gale Storm! I''ll follow it up with a Flare Storm!" Lucia commanded.


    "Kay~"


    A harpy girl said in response.


    "Dell, Altris! You guys okay?" Lucia said while turning towards a pair of boys, a cat-kin and dwarf respectively, who were tanking and drawing the attention of 3 other Bloodwood Treants.


    "We''re good!!"


    "Ouh!"


    Lucia was currently drawing the attention of another Bloodwood Treant, she kept slashing apart the vines and branches that were smashing their way towards her, but to her dismay more just kept replacing them.


    Once Aery finished their chant, Lucia backed off and while pointing her Butterfly at the monster in front of her. The Gale and Flare Storm combined together and created a blazing tornado that spun around the Bloodwood Treant that they were fighting.


    The treant screamed in pain and collapsed down into a heap of charred firewood.


    "Ack!"


    "Oi! Dell!"


    Dell had made a mistake and accidently turned his attention towards the girls'' battle when the flaming tornado appeared. His lapse in attention had let a Bloodwood Treant''s vine strike at his body, sending him tumbling away.


    The dwarf, Altris blocked the treant that was in pursuit of Dell, but it was a little too much for the young dwarf to handle alone since now he had to face 3 of them together.


    "DELL!" A shorthaired cat-kin screamed anxiously. She began chanting a spell and waved her staff at the injured boy.


    "Cure!"


    A small light enveloped Dell''s wounds and they immediately healed up. He quickly flipped back up and dashed towards Altris.


    "Thanks Mell!"


    "Be careful next time, big brother!"


    The cat-kin named Mell, was Dell''s little twin sister. Unlike her brother who was a swordsman, she was a shaman that specialized in healing.


    Lucia quickly made her way towards Altris and Dell and lured another one of the treants over to Aery. They used the same strategy once again and quickly felled the treant. The party did this 2 more times with the remaining treants and quickly ended the battle.


    "PHEW! Man~ this is tiring... talk about a bad match up!" Dell complained while fanning himself. Next to him Altris was sitting down quietly with Mell treating his wounds.


    "Thank you Mell."


    "No problem! Uhm... Lucia, Aery... do you need any treatment?" Mell said after fixing Altris up. She was currently scrutinizing the 2 girls who appeared to have no visible wounds.


    "Nah, we''re fine. Just a little tired." Lucia said.


    "Hmmmppphhh...well, these monotonous battles are pretty boring once we keep using the same strats over and over again." Aery added while stretching her body.


    Lucia who was on the side smiled slightly. Although it would have been much easier if she just took care of them all, but then this assignment wouldn''t be called a group assignment if she did so.


    The Bloodwood Treants were only B-ranked monsters, so she didn''t want to use her high-tiered spells on such small fry. Also the assignment was there so that the students in class could experience what a dungeon was like. If she did everything it would take the fun and effort away from her classmates.


    "Let''s get going, you guys. The rest area should be just ahea¨C"


    PING


    "!" When she heard the slight chime, Lucia quickly brought her right arm up in a hurry. Her eyes widened in horror and she started paling.


    "L-Lucia?" Mell softly asked when she saw the horror-stricken Lucia abruptly freeze mid-sentence.


    "Lucia?" Aery said as she got close to the girl. She turned to look at the bracelet on her arm and saw that it had a very intricate runic array engraved all over it. There was also a glowing gem embedded in the middle of the bracelet and it was currently glowing orange.


    It was a deep orange color with faint traces of red in it. The gem was surprisingly beautiful that Aery couldn''t help but gasp in amazement.


    "What a beautiful bracelet! Hey Lucia~ who gave that to you huh~?" Aery asked in a playful tone with one of her brows raised.


    "A-Aery no! That''s¨C" Mell tried to pull Aery back. She couldn''t understand how this friend of hers couldn''t read the mood.


    Lucia''s gaze immediately turned cold after her horrified expression faded. She turned towards her party and said with a forced smile, "Let''s go, we''ll head to the settlement."


    Lucia then smacked her hand on the forest floor and a faint dark red wave of mana spread from her hand. She then stood up and looked towards a particular direction.


    "It''s over there. Hurry, let''s go!"


    "Eh? Lucia?"


    "Uhm..."


    "..."


    Her party was bewildered at her sudden actions, but they couldn''t do anything since the girl in question had already bolted towards the direction that they assumed was the direction of the forest dungeon''s rest area.


    The group could only follow in silence, along the way any monster that suddenly blocked their path was quickly cut down by the girl leading at the front. Even the earlier Treants were swiftly and cruelly blown to bits at the hands of the anxious foxkin. They bulldozed their way through, leaving behind a trail of corpses and scorched and frozen earth behind them. Not long after, they quickly arrived at the dungeon''s rest area.


    "...may I leave the report to you guys? I...I have somewhere I have to be..." Lucia said when they arrived at the entrance of the settlement.


    "Sure! But... are you okay Lucia? You seem to be out of it." Mell asked worriedly.


    "Yeah! You were just fine earlier!" Aery added with a frown.


    "You have to tell us if you''ve got some sort of problem! Maybe we can help!" Dell said.


    "..." The dwarf Altris only nodded. He had a clear look of concern in his eyes.


    "I-it''s okay... I''m sorry to leave you guys here... but it''s an emergency!" Lucia said while giving a worried glance at the bracelet on her wrist.


    "Then go! If it''s an emergency then why''re you still here? We can take care of the rest, so hurry on up to where you''re supposed to be!" Altris said.


    "...thank you." Lucia bowed and turned around. She quickly activated Elemental Burst and a dark red wave of mana rose from her body. Her change surprised the party behind her and then in the next instant she disappeared from her spot. The party only saw her when she was at large distance away from them. She was speedily heading towards the exit of the forest dungeon.


    "...I wonder what''s up." Aery said while turning towards everyone else.


    "She began acting strange when the gem on her bracelet turned orang all of a sudden." Mell said. "It was green at first and every now and then Lucia would turn an eye towards the bracelet. It seems like it''s something very important to her."


    "Huh? You mean it wasn''t always orange? That gem?"


    "Well... yeah. I noticed the bracelet immediately since the engravings on it were beautiful and mystifying. You do know that my elective is on the study of runes."


    "Oh..."


    "So when the gem turned orange she began acting strangely? Could it be some sort of indicator then?" Altris asked while rubbing his chin.


    "Most likely," Mell said. "There were plenty of runes that I didn''t recognize, but there were 3 that I knew of. A mana force rune for keeping track of mana levels, a tracing rune for tracing the source of mana infused inside the gem, and a fortification rune to maintain the integrity and condition of the engraved runes and the bracelet."


    "Well, those are the only recognizable runes! There were plenty more that I''ve never even seen! Like the rune that changed the color of the gem or the rune that caused that chiming noise! Or even that large runic array engraved all over the bracelet! I''m pretty sure it isn''t recorded anywhere inside our reference books or any book inside the academy for that matter!" Mell said in excitement.


    "Well... since there''s a mana force rune and a tracing rune... doesn''t it mean that Lucia''s going to go and save someone then?" Dell ignorantly added, though he was very close to the truth.


    "Hah? What''re you talking about, stupid brother?" Mell said with scornful look on her face.


    "Just saying, I mean... why else would she just rush off like that. Also you said there''s a rune that changes the gem''s color right? If green was a safe color, then wouldn''t orange be a danger color?" Dell said, sharing his deduction.


    Altris'' eyes widened a bit and an understanding look slowly crept up on his face.


    "Wow... I didn''t expect my stupid brother would say something so smart..."


    "Hey! What''s that supposed to mean?!" Dell asked back, he then stopped to change the subject, "Well... let''s say what I''m saying is true... then doesn''t that mean the person that Lucia''s going to rescue must be someone weaker than us right?"

 Chapter 121 - Wraith?!

    "...I guess. I mean she did leave us here at the 5th area knowing that we''d making it back on our own just fine. So you could be right that the person she''s going to save is probably weaker than us." Altris said.


    "Hey, hey~ who do you think it could be?" Aery asked playfully.


    "...Maybe it''s her boyfriend, you know, that Cecil guy." Dell said.


    "Pfft, you were smart just earlier but how come you suddenly turn stupid?" Mell scornfully rebuked. "Please remember that Cecil is currently our first ranked student. He''s even stronger than Lucia herself, and there''s no way that he''s weaker than us."


    "Oh... oh yeah, ahaha sorry my bad~ then maybe it''s a person from her clique then?"


    "..."


    "...idiot... didn''t you just say it was someone weaker than us?" Mell muttered while helplessly looking at her stupid big brother.


    "What?"


    "Every member of Lucia''s group is ranked in the top 6. They''re all currently the 6 rising stars of our academy so how on Alterna are they weak?!" Mell coldly replied.


    "Hrmmm... you do have a point...well, who could it be then?"


    "Y''know, although our tasks are only to go to the 5th floor of any dungeon... there are times when a dungeon break or something unexpected might happen... maybe it could be someone from her group of friends." Altris said.


    The group began talking a bit longer trying to figure out why their party leader had abruptly left, but they quickly stopped upon remembering that they had a report to finish.


    The party leader in question however, had just made it back out of the Great Erlutian Forest Dungeon.


    The red aura was still wrapped around her body and she quickly dashed away into the distance.


    "Wait for me Cel... even if I have to use all the mana in my tails I''ll quickly get to you soon." Lucia said while gritting her teeth.


    ''I shouldn''t have left him alone... darn it... just what could have caused him to lose so much mana... he''s only going to the Angla Public Dungeon''s 5th floor... what could possibly go wrong?''


    The distance from the Great Erlutian Forest to the Angla Public Dungeon was about 3 days on carriage. Lucia used Elemental Burst to travel at high speeds rivaling that of a modern sports care from Earth. She was much fast than any carriage and she estimated that it should take her a couple of hours to reach the dungeon if she maintained her speed.


    She arrived at the dungeon after 6 hours of travel, not taking any breaks along the way. Whenever her mana ran low, she would release the seal on her tails one by one and used that to maintain her Elemental Burst.


    She looked very weary and travel worn. Her silver white hair was in a mess and her eyes were bloodshot, it was clear that she was overwhelmingly exhausted. She departed during the afternoon so it was almost midnight when she finally arrived. The dark red aura around her also caused an eerie and ghastly vibe to encapsulate her sudden arrival.


    Even the dungeon guards were horrified at seeing her. They froze a little in fear, but then when they blinked their eyes, the terrifying figure was nowhere to be found. All they felt was a chillingly cold and eerie wind fly right by their bodies.


    "W-what the hell was that?!"


    "G-ghost? A ghost?!"


    "SHIT!!!"


    The sleepy guards were now fully awake as if they were injected with chicken blood. They quickly woke up the rest of the guards and described the exact appearance of the ghost that they had encountered at the dungeon entrance to their guards captain.


    The guard captain upon hearing that the ''ghost'' was surrounded by a dark aura quickly had every member of the town''s guard patrol the area and make sure that the residents were safe and sound. They even caused a commotion by checking up on every house inside the town when the guards went from door to door, knocking and waking the residents up.


    Back at the guards station...


    "That... that must have been a wraith," the captain said solemnly.


    "Wraith?"


    "Yes. They are high ranking undead monsters at the S-rank. Since you saw a female wraith then it was most likely a SS-ranked creature. You two... you''re lucky to be alive right now..."


    "What?!"


    "A female wraith are beings who resent the living, especially males... they''d suck out the life-force of any male creature they encounter... that''s why I said you two are lucky to be alive."


    "M-mother in heaven... thank you lord for saving your child... I''ll go to the shaman temple and donate this month''s salary to them!"


    "M-me too! Oh my god... we almost died back there Alph!"


    The guard captain ushered the two out and quickly contacted the guild authorities inside the town and informed them of the potential hazard. This caused the guild to put up a late night emergency quest for town patrol and for the subjugation of the female wraith.


    The emergency quest was labeled as 5-star Platinum ranked difficulty quest, although everyone could take on the quest regardless of their ranks since it was an emergency quest.


    The ''wraith'' however, was currently on her way towards the dungeon''s 5th floor. Any monster in her way was slashed apart, frozen or blown to bits. She left a bloody trail of destruction behind her as she dove deep into the dungeon.


    When she finally arrived at the dungeon''s 5th floor 30 an hour later, she quickly headed towards the rest area since that was the place that the bracelet''s tracking rune was indicating Cecil was currently at. When she arrived she frantically looked around the area and frantically made her way towards a particular house.


    She quickly bashed open the door and entered while frantically shouting, "CECIL!"


    "WAH?!


    "HOLY MOTHER OF¨C!"


    "K-KYAAAAAAHHHH!!!"


    "!!!"


    "LUCIA?!" Fina cried in surprise upon seeing her friend that was looking worst for wear.


    "F-Fina! W-where''s Cel?"


    Fina quickly grabbed her arm and led her to a room inside the house. When they entered, Lucia could see the sleeping Cecil on top of the bed. She then took a glance at her bracelet and saw that the gem was now yellow-blue in color.


    Lucia quickly felt the tension leave her body and soon the exhaustion kicked in. She collapsed on the floor and released a relieved sigh. Then her eyes began to water. She covered her face with her hands and quickly felt someone softly embrace her.


    "Don''t worry Lulu... he''s alright."


    "Mhm, thanks Fina." Lucia responded with a light nod. After wiping her eyes, she quickly gazed up at her friend and asked, "What happened?"


    "I''ll explain later... it''s almost midnight and you look like you need a bath and a meal." Fina said with a helpless look on her while eyeing her dirtied and travel worn friend.


    It was only then that Lucia took a look at herself. She saw that she was indeed a bit ¨C no ¨C she was totally dirty. There were splotches of blood and dirt all over her clothes, her face was probably in the same condition as well.


    She did brutally destroy everything in front of her when she made her way over. Any monster or obstacle was destroyed as long as it was in her path.


    Lucia nodded lightly and Fina led her to the house''s bathroom. The rest of Cecil''s party could only look on in wonder as Fina carefully led the ghastly wraith-like girl around the house.


    When Lucia was in the bath, Ghina finally came over to Fina and interrogated her.


    "Who...who was that... gh- person?" Ghina asked, she clearly wanted to say ghost, but seeing as Fina knew the person there was no way she was a ghost.


    "It''s Lucia. Lucia Yukihime, our 2nd rank." Fina replied, not minding Ghina''s abrupt change in question.


    "Lucia? What the... I thought her group was at the Great Erlutian Forest? How the heck did she get here?"


    "She probably rushed over after she found out Cecil collapsed."


    "You told her? When? How?" Ghina inquired.


    "No, I didn''t tell her. She found out because of the bracelet on her hand."


    "Huh?"


    "It''s a bracelet that Cecil made to track his mana levels, if his mana falls to a dangerously low level, the gem on the bracelet would change color and let Lucia know. Also, there''s a tracking rune installed on the bracelet that lets the owner track down the source of the mana infused inside the gem." Fina explained briefly.


    "O-okay... but that doesn''t explain how fast she got here! Cecil collapsed only a couple of hours ago... if she found out that his mana levels had abruptly dropped... then that was almost half a day ago! So how in the heck did Lucia get all the way over here from the Great Erlutian Forest?! That''s a 3 day journey on carriage!" Ghina exclaimed incredulously.


    "Well... I... don''t know?" Fina replied. She too didn''t know how her friend got here so quickly, though she did have an inkling as to how.


    On the couch, Light and Lu Garulle were eating some late night snacks together. Although they were surprised at first when Lucia had abruptly smashed her way into the house, they didn''t put it to mind after knowing that Fina knew who it was.


    Moreover, it was the 2nd ranked student in their class, Cecil''s alleged girlfriend, Lucia. Everyone in class had already acknowledged this considering how close the two were. The ''normal'' interactions that the two were constantly doing were very intimate in the eyes of the rest of the class.


    "Who cares, it''s actually very awesome how the two lovers actually meet up like this when one of them is in a crisis!" Lu Garulle exclaimed with a laugh.


    "Lovers huh... I can see that Lucia very much adores Cecil... but the guy in question..."


    "Hmph. I doubt the fool even sees it!" Ghina scoffed.


    "..." No one could retort to that, even Fina was at a loss in how to defend her friend, since in a sense it was true.


    "Well... anyway guys... you don''t mind if she stays for the night right?" Fina asked.


    "Why would we? Actually I welcome it, she''ll be staying with us on the second floor right? Gossip time," Ghina smiled and said in response.


    Fina forced out a laugh at her words. She also had to explain how Cecil had fallen into such a condition. She was also a little bit guilty since in a way, it was her fault. If she didn''t blast away the fool who made fun of Light, then maybe they wouldn''t have tried to find trouble with them.


    Once Lucia finished with her bath and put on her sleeping wear, Fina served her some dinner. She quickly ate it, the girls then moved to the second floor and walked into their large shared bedroom.


    Lucia quickly sat down next to Fina, quickly making herself comfortable and waited for her to explain. Fina smiled wryly seeing this. She then opened her mouth and began explaining.

 Chapter 122 - What Happened

    Let''s take this back 6 hours ago, just before Lucia''s bracelet warned her of Cecil''s depleted mana level.


    Just as Cecil finished firing his Over Flash, the enhanced version of his Flash Canon, he trudged his way over to where the instigators of the Frost Mammoth''s stampede.


    He had fired off the blast and made sure to fire it close to the general area that the perpetrators were at. He carefully directed the blast just so that it would only graze the general area that they were in, not directly hitting them.


    The after-effects of the Over Flash was still ensuing, the large aerial explosion silently rang in the air. The sound waves in the vicinity was still being pushed back by the explosions that it caused the area where the beam passed by to become mute of sound.


    Cecil himself was surprised at the destruction his Mana Wave had caused and he was somewhat in disbelief at the sight. He also eyed the place where the beam had stopped and saw the large mountain that was supposed to be kilometers away from where they were at.


    ''What in the¨C how? Just how? I... I didn''t even put that much mana into the blast!''


    Cecil thought incredulously. He wondered how his Flash Canon ¨C Over Flash had even caused such wide spread destruction.


    ''Did...my mana levels go up? If this was before...I''d have to exhaust all my mana to generate the necessary power to cause this much destruction...''


    It was indeed so. Ever since his family''s martial arts was successfully converted into a Mana Training Manual, Cecil''s mana levels kept soaring in large quantities every time he trained and circulated his mana using his family''s martial arts.


    The only reason why he hadn''t felt any substantial increase was because he was now in the mana sea stage. Every revolution of his mana caused the mana in the surroundings to be attracted into his body and permanently reside inside.


    The mana infused into his mana point as well as all over his body, the increase felt insignificant because the vapor-like mana was only adding to the thick liquid mercury-like mana inside his body.


    It wasn''t only that, but the pathways inside his body that his mana was coursing through had abruptly changed in nature. They were gradually transforming into a higher level of mana pathways known as Mana Circuits.


    These Mana Circuits were actually a more efficient form of Mana pathways inside the body that provided a faster more efficient form of circulation. The activation of mana was also enhanced and it provided the owner of the circuits to have an increased efficiency and speed when cultivating their mana levels.


    Cecil wasn''t aware of this since even the Mana Circuits themselves were actually a rare occurrence that happened to only the very fortunate. It couldn''t be cultivated, but oddly enough, due to his family''s martial arts Cecil was able to cultivate these circuits himself.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to measure my mana levels later when we get back... I''m glad I''m not in the red yet...''


    Cecil arrived at the area where he last sensed Vale''s party was hiding at. Fina was also behind him following after in worry. Cecil didn''t know it, but he wasn''t walking. It was more like he was stumbling and dragging his feet.


    He looked around and saw the party of fools that he had frightened. They were in a very sorry state, many of them were collapsed onto the floor. One of them was crying and wailing in horror. Another had directly fainted while standing.


    Cecil made his way towards the frozen Vale. He was pale in fright and hadn''t even registered Cecil at all even when the boy was standing right in front of him. It was only when he felt a deadly glare directed at him that the frightened teenager raise his gaze.


    When he saw the person glaring down at him, he immediately paled and shrieked in fright.


    "GAAAAHHH ¨C Uhuk!"


    Cecil cut off his shriek with a kick to the boy''s face. He laid sprawled over the floor and began begging for mercy and forgiveness.


    "Please, please spare me! I''m sorry. I''m sorry! I... I didn''t mean to! I''m sorry I''m sorry! Have mercy, please have mercy!" He kept on repeating while tears streamed down his face.


    Cecil was surprised seeing this, he then turned towards everyone else who was part of Vale''s party and saw that they were looking back at him in pale terror.


    It was like they were looking at a monstrosity instead of a person. Cecil wavered a little and even thought that he may have over did it a bit. He was lost in anger earlier and after having kicked Vale in the face, he somewhat calmed down and thought back at his absurd actions.


    ''Damn... maybe I was a little too excessive.''


    Excessive was an understatement. Cecil eradicated the stampede of Frost Mammoths as well as the surroundings using Over Flash, not to mention the deadly beam of mana didn''t stop there. It flew all the way to the middle of the dungeon and smashed right into the main mountain and everything in its path was also obliterated.


    He had essentially changed the terrain of the dungeon''s 5th floor.


    ''Crap...'' Cecil thought with a frown.


    His frown however held a different meaning towards the 6 people in front of him. Other than the one who had fainted while standing, the others immediately dashed forward and began kowtowing, desperately begging for mercy and forgiveness.


    Cecil was helpless seeing this, but gradually he began to become annoyed. The constant screaming and pleading was annoying him. It was loud and he honestly didn''t like seeing 5 grown boys pleading to him like a girlfriend who was suddenly dumped after being in a 10 year long relationship with days before her wedding date.


    ''Why the heck am I comparing them to that?'' Cecil thought stupidly. ''I guess that stupid look on Fatima''s boyfriend is still haunting me...''


    Yup, instead of girlfriend, it was actually Fatima''s boyfriend. They were in a secret relationship for a long time, but suddenly just before Fatima was about to announce to their parents that she was going to get engaged to the boy, she found him cheating on her.


    With how prideful she was, Fatima only disdainfully blessed them with a long healthy relationship. She quickly abandoned the cheating bastard and returned to the family. The man in question chased after her. Even all the way to their ancestral home where Cecil witnessed a scene from a drama that he''d never forget.


    The man had kneeled down crying and begging for forgiveness, to which of course Fatima didn''t hesitate to give. Except, the parents... and brothers didn''t agree... the next scene however...was indescribable.


    To actually be able to take part in the tearing away of two couples had left Cecil with a bad taste in his mouth, although the experience was still enjoyable to some sense since he was able to protect his beloved older sister from such a cheating bastard of a man.


    What the fools in front of him were doing reminded him of such an event and he was very much annoyed.


    "Disgusting... you idiots made me remember that... shut up."


    "!"


    At his words, the parade of tears in front of him quieted down. Cecil then opened his mouth and asked, "Whose stupid idea was this?"


    "!"


    "He¨C"


    Once again a cacophony of noise rose in front of him. The boys immediately began throwing the blame onto each other, but most of them were directing the blame towards Vale, saying that it was all his idea and he was the mastermind behind all this. Vale himself blamed everyone else for not stopping him and actually carrying out the orders.


    Cecil tapped his foot onto the ground in annoyance. The light tap felt like a thunderclap to the boys and they immediately became silent.


    "Should I just kill these idiots?" Cecil mumbled.


    "CECIL!!!" Fina gasped in horror. Although it was only a soft mumble the girl was just behind him and had inadvertently heard him.


    Cecil turned back and thought, ''They were clearly targeting Fina... but I just happened to be there.''


    "What do you want to do with them Fina?"


    "Uh... just... just let them go... I think they''ve already received their punishment..." Fina replied softly after she took a light glance at the pitiful state Vale''s party was in.


    "Okay." Cecil then turned towards the fools in front of him and said.


    "I won''t kill you fools because we''re from the same academy and it''d leave a bad taste in my mouth if I did... and I disdain the thought of having to dirty my hands with your disgusting blood."


    "..."


    "So right now... you idiots should go and apologize and thank your savior." Cecil said and pointed towards the girl behind him.


    Immediately the 5 boys scrambled towards Fina and began apologizing and thanking her. Fina was at a loss at what to do. She turned a look towards Cecil and saw that he was beginning to grow pale.


    Cecil growled, "Now that you''re done, get the hell out of my face! AND! If I find out that you leaked what happened here today... I''ll find you all again... and I''ll seriously send you to hell."


    "Y-yes!"


    "Get out of my face now."


    "..."


    The Vale''s party immediately scrambled away while carrying their unconscious friend with them.


    Once Cecil made sure that they were far away, he walked towards a rock wall and slumped down.


    "Damn... what the heck... I thought I wasn''t in the red..." Cecil cursed.


    Fina quickly ran to him and asked worriedly, "Cecil! What''s wrong?! You... you''re not¨C"


    "Don''t worry... it''s not that... I just feel... exhausted all of a sudden... let...let me rest a bit." After that Cecil straight away fell asleep.


    *****


    "After that, I had to carry him all the way over here..." Fina said, finishing her recount of what happened to her and Cecil.


    "...well, since everything''s okay now... I''ll leave it at that..." Lucia said.


    "So... those huge explosions and that reason why terrain earlier was reshaped was because of Cecil?!"


    "Ah... sorry Lulu... I forgot Ghina was here..." Fina said apologetically.


    "Hey!" Ghina exclaimed with a hurt look.


    "Just kidding Ghina! Hihi~" Fina giggled.


    "But Ghina... please keep this a secret okay." Lucia said.


    "O-Of course... but man... to think that Cecil... already had the power of a King... no wait, that''s an understatement... he''s far surpassed a King... maybe he''s already as strong as most of our instructors and teachers..." Ghina said thoughtfully.


    It was indeed so, in fact, most if not every member of Little Kings had power and knowledge that was on par with most of the Instructors at the academy. Though they had no way of knowing since they''ve never seen any of the instructors actually put their power up for display.


    But it was safe to say that the Little Kings had far surpassed the other students in the academy. Maybe not every member, but it went without saying that Cecil and Lucia both were already above them.


    "Let''s get some rest... we have to quickly get back to the city and check on Cecil''s condition. Although he only looks like he''s sleeping, who knows if his over-usage of mana had left any lingering effects on his body," Fina said.


    "Alright...good night you two," Ghina said and went back towards her bed.


    Lucia also bade the two good night before she too, fell asleep on top of her bed.

 Chapter 123 - Rankings 1

    Once Cecil woke up, the party, with the addition of Lucia, immediately set off back towards Angla City.


    Cecil was still a little lethargic from the after-effects of using Over Flash. If he had to, Cecil never wanted to use that technique again. Just one shot and he was rendered incapacitated soon after.


    It didn''t suit his fighting style, but he did think that it could be used as a last resort... if he ever needed it for that matter.


    Lucia was bugging him and fretting over his condition the entire journey back towards the city. The rest of Cecil''s party could only smile wryly looking at the couple. One was constantly worrying over the other while the other one was only brushing it off lightly.


    "Well... 12 is the normal age where noble children get engaged right? Then are Cecil and Lucia nobles?" Ghina whispered towards the merfolk girl sitting next to her.


    "No...Well, at least I don''t think so. I mean... the two of them don''t look like it."


    "...yeah, you gotta a point there."


    "Well, maybe their parents arranged for it. I mean even commoners do the same too, you know."


    "Oh! Yeah, you''re right!" Ghina said in realization. "Though, I do feel bad for Lucia..."


    The two girls turned their attention towards Cecil and Lucia who were having an argument.


    "Like I said, stop worrying already! I''m fine now, sheesh! What''re you my mother?" Cecil said while backing away from the foxkin girl leaning close to him.


    "Hah! In what way is that pale looking face of yours fine?!"


    "My face is always pale!"


    "Pfft, last time I checked it was a bit tan!"


    "Well, now it''s pale! I spent awhile in the dungeon and had no contact with the sun after all!"


    "You''d only be pale if you didn''t have contact with light at all! And the dungeon is full of light you idiot!"


    "So now I''m an idiot? Aren''t you being too harsh towards a sick person?!"


    "Now you admit that you''re unwell?!"


    "NOPE!"


    "Well, TOO BAD! YOU ARE SICK SO SHUT UP AND SLEEP!" Lucia said and abruptly sent a chop towards Cecil''s neck.


    Cecil easily blocked the chop, but didn''t expect her other hand to come flying at him as well. It was even enhanced with Elemental Burst so it came pretty fast that Cecil couldn''t block it in time.


    "Gah¡ª"


    Her chop struck him on his nape and Cecil immediately fell unconscious on top of Lucia''s lap.


    "Good boy~"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...Lucia..." Fina had a strained smile on her face.


    The rest of the party could only stare dumbfounded at the couple. The boy was sick! And Lucia just sent him to sleep with a karate chop! He was just being stubborn, but was there a need to be so unreasonable, was there?


    The girl in question even had a satisfied look on her face as if her previous act of aggression wasn''t anything bad.


    "...How unreasonable..." Ghina softly said.


    "Strong!" Lu Garulle smilingly exclaimed.


    "I guess even Cecil loses sometimes." Light said wryly.


    The group arrived at the city an hour later. Somehow, Silver was waiting for them in front of the gate as if he knew that his master was currently in bad shape.


    "Silvy! Good boy~ come carry your stupid master. He did something unreasonable again so he fainted!"


    ''You''re the one that made him faint!'' the rest retorted in their heads.


    The small puppy-formed Silver immediately changed his size and grew bigger. Ghina, Light and Lu were very much surprised to see this. Lucia quickly loaded the unconscious Cecil onto Silver''s back and the group proceeded into the city, heading back towards the academy.


    When the group got back to the academy district, Ghina opened her mouth to speak.


    "Fina, the report''s already finished. I guess we''ll separate now?"


    "Okay! We''ll hand in the report once Cecil''s written down his opinion."


    "We already wrote his. He did tell us to just right down that it was boring."


    "Nonono~ we can''t have that! I''ll make sure to tell him to right a proper one!"


    "Uhm...okay."


    "Okay everyone; we''ll see each other tomorrow! Party dismissed!" Fina declared, imitating Cecil''s way of dismissal.


    When everyone dispersed, Lucia giggled and said, "That was a good imitation of Cel! Party dismissed! Hehehe~"


    "Ahaha! I just thought it''d be proper!"


    "Let''s head back Fina, we still have to take care of this sleeping idiot."


    "...you''re the one that smacked him to sleep."


    "Hm? Did you say something Fina?"


    "No~pe!" Fina replied with a playful grin.


    ******


    It was the end of the week and everyone in S class had finished their assignments. This week didn''t have any classes since the instructors had to give the first year students time to finish their dungeon explorations.


    Cecil and his class party had already turned in their report. Lucia and everyone else''s party had done so as well. Cecil''s group had submitted a report about Angla''s Public Dungeon, Lucia''s group report was about the Great Erlutian Forest Dungeon and Velicia''s group was the same, but instead of the forest area which Lucia''s group had explored, Velicia''s party went up to the upper floors of the dungeon. Ainz''s group also went to the same dungeon as the two girls, except he went to the underground floors instead. Eli''s group went to the Wyrm''s Lookout, which was a field dungeon based high up in the Anglaria Mountains close to Angla City,


    Everyone had a nice experience dungeoneering with their classmates. To many of the students, it was their first time dungeoneering. It was a good thing that everyone made it out there safe and sound.


    The funny thing was, that after returning from the dungeon, Light was now constantly by Fina''s side when they weren''t in classes chatting her up.


    Fina appreciated the company while Eli, Velicia, and Lucia were constantly sending her meaningful and playful looks, which of course the girl in question did not quite understand.


    Cecil was still feeling a little downtrodden however. For some reason, his arms were semi-paralyzed until now. It was hard for him to move his arms and there were short bouts of intense pain being transmitted from the mana pathways in his arms. It was already 3 days after he had used Over Flash, but there were no signs of it healing.


    ''What the hell''s wrong with my arms?''


    Cecil of course didn''t tell any of his friends about his dilemma. Especially not to Lucia, who knows what kind of unreasonable fit she might throw if she found out.


    ''Crap... I''m never using that skill unless I''m about to be killed! Darn... the pain''s killing me...that''s ironic.'' Cecil retorted at his own thoughts. He wouldn''t use the skill unless was going to be killed, but the pain coming from the after-effects was killing him instead.


    It was a good thing that Cecil could control his facial expressions, if not he''d be wearing a dark frown all day long with the short grimaces of pain flashing every now and then.


    ''I hope my arms heal before the next segment starts.''


    When all the classes for today were finished, the academy had every student assemble at the large stadium before they went back to their dorms.


    Instructor Jin explained that the headmaster would be announcing the ending results of the tournament''s first segment today. There was also a slight change to the second segment of the tournament and the headmaster would explain to the student body regarding those changes.


    *****


    In the stadium, the headmaster was now on top of a podium addressing the student body.


    "My young students... it''s been 2 months since the start of the school year and here we are at the end of the tournament''s first segment! I congratulate you all for doing such splendid work for this past month!"


    "WAHHHHH!!!!"


    The students cheered at the headmaster''s words. It was kinda funny though since technically the students had been doing community service for the past one month. Adventurer quests had rankings and low ranked quests mostly had miscellaneous tasks like finding a pet, mowing the grass in some areas or picking up the trash in the city area, basically community service-like quests.


    But it was a good thing for the academy since it helped build a positive image and it showed that although the academy had its own isolated district they still cared and played a large part in the city''s system.


    "Today I will announce the top 10 rankings for our tournament''s first segment!"


    The large, aqua screen monitor floated down from above the stadium''s arena. Immediately the screen lit up and the rankings from 1-10 were displayed. With no due fanfare, the headmaster immediately exclaimed.


    "Rank 10!"


    At the headmaster''s words the placing for rank 10 lit up and letters began to form next to it.


    Cecil looked up at the monitor and saw the party''s name, ''Natural Disaster? What kinda team is that?''


    "Audrey Flei, Anixio Las, Anixia Las, Barth Flux and the other members of the party! Please come up to the podium!"


    From the 3rd years'' seating area, a beautiful, s.e.xy, red and yellow feathered Harpy drifted down to the podium where the headmaster was standing on. Behind her, 2 identical, child-like half elves followed suit, as well as 7 other students, totaling 10 people.


    "Woah, 3 Kings... seriously?" Ainz exclaimed.


    "3 Kings... but they''re only 10th ranked." Fina said anxiously.


    "Look at the score! It''s only in the 8000s!" Velicia exclaimed.


    Everyone around her began eyeing her differently. It was ONLY in the 8000s? A small group of 10 were able to acc.u.mulate over 8000 points... that alone was noteworthy already!


    Lucia smirked and so did Eli. They had kept track of the numbers and tiers of quests that their party had done in the past month. It was safe to say that their points were well over 8000.


    "Hehe... we got this." Lucia said smugly.


    "Isn''t that a given?" Eli responded similarly.


    The headmaster smiled at the 10 students and turned his attention back to the front. He opened his mouth and exclaimed,


    "Rank 9!"


    The rank 9 placing lit up and words once again began to form.


    "Alchemist Faction!"


    "A production faction actually cinched 9th place?!"


    Everyone was in awe at this. Normally production factions such as the Research, Alchemist, and Ironforge factions were never able to get a spot in the top 10. Just what could have happened that shot up their points?


    "They have over 9000 points!"


    "It''s over 9000!!!"


    "PFFFTTT!!!" Cecil started laughing immediately after he heard that.


    ''Who the heck said that?!''


    "What''s wrong Cel?" Lucia asked.


    "N-nothing... pfft... man, didn''t think I''d hear that on Alterna..."


    "Hear what?"


    "Nah...It was just something funny from Earth." Cecil snickered as he whispered to Lucia.


    The leader of the Alchemist faction with 9 others walked down towards the podium. The principle continued announcing the next rankers.

 Chapter 125 - Rankings 3

    The footage for the Student Council''s amazing feat was displayed on the monitor. It showed the 3 former Kings and the core members of the Student Council facing a colossal Earth Titan. It stood 15-20 meters or so in height and it had a very, very large body.


    It was practically a miniature mountain. Although there were only 9 members fighting, multiple high-tiered spells flew and landed on the Earth Titan. Large explosions, tidal waves, huge tornadoes and hill-sized boulders bombarded the Earth Titan''s body. The melee fighters of the Student Council were flitting all over the top half of the Earth Titan, slashing and cutting at the face or body, sending down large slabs of earth down with each successive strike.


    The footage was long. It took 15 minutes of play time, but clearly the fight took much longer than that considering that many parts of the video was cut off, only showing the highlights.


    Seeing the high end fight on the video, the entire student body began cheering and yelling. Even members from different factions couldn''t help, but cheer at the high end fight. When the ending came and the Student Council successfully felled the Earth Titan, every student in the stadium was now on their feet cheering and applauding.


    Even the leaders and members of the factions who were on the podium couldn''t help, but turn towards the Student Council members next to them and give them applause of appreciation.


    The heroic sight of every member gallantly fighting was forever etched into everyone''s minds. It was no doubt that the subjugation of the Earth Titan was a Platinum ranked quest. In fact, Cecil''s group had also done such a quest to take the Earth Titan''s core and fashioned some boots for Ainz.


    Except... their fight didn''t last so long...


    While everyone was applauding and cheering, Cecil''s party was silent.


    "...that''s it?" Ainz was a little smug.


    "...we...we took down ours pretty quickly..." Fina softly said.


    "H-how come our fight seemed boring compared to theirs?" Velicia had a disbelieving look on her face after the footage ended.


    "..." Eli was quiet. She looked down at her brothers who were standing on the podium. In her eyes, even though Zephyr was calmly smiling, she knew that he was in fact a little furious. Getting 2nd place wasn''t in his style and he never liked getting 2nd best. There was also her other brother that was leading the Draco Faction.


    "Hmph. Sorry big bro... but we''re taking that spot." Eli quietly muttered.


    "Hmhm~" Lucia was smiling from ear-to-ear. She couldn''t contain her happiness since she knew that they got 1st. It was without a doubt, since their party hadn''t been announced yet and there''s no way some other random party or the Research Faction could get ahead of them.


    "Okay everyone! Settle down!" The headmaster said, despite himself. Even he was applauding when the Earth Titan was felled by the Student Council.


    "Next... FIRST RANK!!!" He said strongly. The headmaster didn''t even wait for the entire stadium to quiet down before he yelled, but with this yell alone, every student quieted down and sat back down on their seats. It was clear that everyone was wondering who it was that took first place even after the student council''s amazing feat of felling an Earth Titan.


    First the points began to form.


    "!"


    "HOLY CRAP?!"


    "3-30,000?!"


    32,300 points...that was how much points the first ranker acc.u.mulated. Zephyr and all the leaders'' eyes on the podium widened horrifically seeing that absurd amount of points.


    The headmaster was also excited and involuntarily began giving a little introduction about the first placed ranker.


    "This party, I must say... was a blessed and gifted group of individuals. Their feats alone were enough to awe even me, the Headmaster. Not to mention how young these talented individuals are."


    Everyone immediately became surprised, the headmaster had just clearly said ''party'' and not ''faction''.


    Unlike before, the name of the first place ranker immediately formed without suspense.


    Little Kings.


    "Little Kings?"


    "What an arrogant name!"


    "Woah, woah, woah... this is only a party right? A party full of Kings?"


    "But... there are only 5 King''s in the academy... and every King is already standing up there on the podium!"


    "Then... are these the new Kings of the academy?"


    "But there was no announcement!"


    Once the Little Kings'' name was shown on the monitor, Ainz, Eli, Fina, Lucia, and Velicia immediately began to silently celebrate. Cecil stretched his body in his seat and stood up. His act caused everyone around him to stare.


    "Let''s go guys."


    "Yeah!"


    "Mhm!"


    "Alright!"


    "Hmhm~"


    "Okay!"


    The members of Little Kings stood up and walked down towards the podium from their seat. Ainz and Velicia were clearly excited and they were smiling proudly. Fina was holding onto pet form Silver and she was smiling adorably. Eli and Lucia were excited, but they kept up a serious front.


    Cecil was leading the way, he had his arm resting on the hilt of his sword and the other was in his pants pocket. He yawned lightly and led his party up onto the podium. They arrived at the podium plainly with no fanfare.


    The entire stadium was staring incredulously at the young party of 6. They could hardly believe that a group of first years were the ones that actually took first place away from every faction in the academy, even from the Student Council.


    Zephyr couldn''t believe his eyes and so couldn''t the leaders of the other factions. A group of 6, a small group of young first years beat them. The members behind them were about to yell out in protest, but then the stadium darkened a little, the aqua screen expanded and on the now larger monitor the footage of Little Kings began to slowly play.


    The first part was a fight with the overwhelmingly large flock of Demon Hawks. Everyone in the stadium paled when they saw the huge flock descend onto the small party of 6, but in the next instant everyone exclaimed when only 2 people stood forward to deal with the monsters.


    Ainz and Lucia''s humongous blazing tornado soon filled the screen and the entire flock of demon hawks was incinerated into ashes.


    Then the footage skipped to the Demon Hawk King battle, Cecil''s Ascending Blade, which annihilated the large flock of Demon Hawks, left everyone in the stadium in awe once again. Then the coordinated attacks of the party which quickly felled the Monster King ended the first part of the footage.


    The monitor blackened and soon lit up once again, this time it showed the group''s feat of destroying the Lion Pride. Lucia''s red and blue laser widened everyone''s eyes once more and Cecil''s constant flickering around the battlefield with his golden spear caused everyone to liken the feat closely to the Ghost King''s method of killing the wyverns.


    Then the screen darkened again and lit up, this time it was the party''s feat of felling an Earth Titan, just like what the Student Council did. Everyone began to anticipate this fight, but they were sorely disappointed.


    The battle wasn''t anything flashy like the Student Council''s battle. This part of the footage started quickly and ended quickly as well. It started with the Little Kings'' members incapacitating the Earth Titan by destroying each of its limbs.


    Eli took care of the right leg and Velicia had rended apart the Titan''s left leg. Fina and Silver worked in tandem to shatter the right arm and Lucia alone melted down the Titan''s left arm.


    After that Cecil blasted apart the Earth Titan''s body using Kinryugiha and Flash Canon in quick succession, it was followed up by Ainz''s incredible multi-elemental beam of death that blasted apart the Titan''s core, quickly killing the monster.


    This part of the video didn''t take more than 2 minutes to finish, it was simple and cleanly done. Unlike the hard put effort from the Student Council. It looked so simple that people began to wonder if the monster that the Little Kings had faced was the same as the one the Student Council had taken down.


    Next the last part of the video started playing. This time it wasn''t about the Little Kings. The video started at a cave entrance and only two members of Little Kings were present.


    Cecil widened his eyes when he saw this, he turned to look at the headmaster and saw that he was looking back at him with a mischievous smile. He turned towards Fina and saw that she too was also horrified when the last video started.


    ''Damn!''


    Cecil began gathering his mana into his arm in order to fire a mana volley at the large monitor, but flinched at the sudden pain that coursed through it. He immediately stopped and looked on helplessly at the screen.


    "Cel!"


    "Cecil..."


    "Tsk...Damn this headmaster."


    Other than Lucia and Fina who began fretting, the rest of the party only stared up at the monitor. Wondering when they did this sort of quest together and why only Fina and Cecil were being displayed.


    Suddenly the footage shifted to display what was outside of the cave and the overwhelmingly large stampede of Frost Mammoths was shown. There were short gasps of shock and exclamation coming from the students in the stadium.


    Frost Mammoths were A+ ranked creatures that were found in dungeons. Dungeon Frost Mammoths that gathered together in herds were rated as an S- ranked threat and the large herd of Frost Mammoths that was being shown on the monitor easily trumped a normal sized herd.


    Judging by the large herd it was at least an S+ or maybe SS- ranked threat. Everyone began wondering what in the world Cecil and Fina were going to do about the large herd. How would they cope with all that?


    The answer was soon going to show itself, Cecil walked forward, enveloped in a large golden aura with two large golden globes of mana on both his palms. He brought his arms forward and said,


    "I''ll eradi¨C"


    SCHHHLACCCKKK CRACK


    The screen was abruptly cut off and the entire monitor shut down. When everyone gazed up at the monitor floating overhead a large purple flaming spear was pierced through it. Everyone turned puzzled, but then the students began complaining at the sudden interruption of the footage.


    Cecil''s party was staring up in wonder at the large flaming spear. What kind of fire was in that color?


    The headmaster however was sweating bullets. In his mind he was repeating the same phrase over and over again.


    ''Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!!!''


    In the mind of the Headmaster rang a coquettish voice that had a faint trace of displeasure.


    "That''s a nono El~ what did I tell you about troubling my kids? Hmmm~?"


    "N-no master... I-I didn''t mean to... I thought... it was just good to show th¨C"


    "Well, you thought wrong~ looks like you''ll need a little punishment~"


    "NO! Please no! Master, I''m sorry! I''ll immediately hand over the Urrugdrasil tea leaves and the wine created from Urrugdrasil''s roots over to you as compensation!"


    "Hmmm~ give me the wine, give the leaves to my children~"


    "Yes, at once!"


    Once Anna''s voice disappeared from his mind, the headmaster wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and sighed in relief.


    He immediately silenced the students and said that the monitor was being overused so it suddenly shut down. The students could only stare back at the headmaster stupidly.


    It was the lamest excuse ever since the broadcast was abruptly stopped because a large purple flamed spear pierced right through the monitor, forcefully halting the video. The headmaster however insisted on his earlier excuse and wanted the maintenance team to quickly fix the monitor.


    The headmaster then continued the ranking ceremony and gave each ranker their intended prizes. Cecil''s party was given free access to the library''s 4th and 5th floor as well as a Mana Seed for every member.


    The Mana Seed was a pill, contacted by the academy''s alchemists. If one was to ingest the pill, it would help raise the mana levels of the individual by 500-900 units at any stage. It was a miraculous pill that helped people breakthrough mana stages as well as helped stabilize their stage at the same time.


    For everyone in the party it was an awesome pill since with more mana they could fight longer and execute their skills or spells with mana to spare for more.


    The headmaster also gave Cecil''s party an additional reward, the Urrugdrasil Tea Leaves, something that Lucia had already once experienced.


    The group was very much happy at this since just like the Mana Seed Pill, the Tea Leaves could also enhance their Mana levels. There was a large amount of leaves so it could last them for quite a while.

 Chapter 126 - Not From You Guys~

    The ranking ceremony was over and the students returned to their seats. Everyone was in awe at the young group of six as they made their way back towards their seating area. Their classmates were screaming and cheering as the 6 made their way back.


    As a part of Class S everyone was naturally proud of them, especially now since they just finished the raid assignment and had bonded closer with one another.


    When the group got back to their seats, the rest of class began crowding towards them giving them their due congratulations.


    The members from the class parties began grouping up together with their leaders and they began talking and asking about their incredible feats and experiences over the past month.


    Ainz was enthusiastically telling his story, Eli and Lucia were talking with their groups and only Velicia was causing a small uproar with her posse and party.


    Cecil smiled at them and he sat down next to Fina who was currently being surrounded by his class party. The little girl was at a loss of where to begin her explanations and could only stutter and stumble to get any words out.


    The headmaster who had finished arranging for the monitor''s repairs stood back up onto the podium.


    "Attention, Students!"


    His exclamation caused everyone in the stadium to quiet down and turn their attention back to him.


    "Now I will begin explaining the changes we are having for our tournament''s second segment!"


    The headmaster paused and looked around the stadium. He made sure that everyone had their full attention on him before he continued,


    "This year''s tournament is a little different since we''re having a joint tournament with other Kingdoms'' Magic Academies from all across Urrugdrasil. The main tournament will be held a month from now, so we will have to adjust to the changes!"


    "And since this is a joint tournament, we can''t have everyone in the academy participate now can we?! So that''s why... we''ll be hosting our last segment for our tournament''s second segment!"


    His announcement caused the students to widen their eyes in surprise. The last segment, which was the dueling segment, was going to be the next segment in place of the usual dungeoneering segment.


    "The Dueling Segment will begin in 2 week''s time! Each Academy is only allowed to bring 100 of their students for the Joint Tournament! The top 100 rankers in the next segment of the tournament will be given the privilege to come join the Urrugdrasil Continent''s Magic Academy Tournament!"


    Cheers began to erupt inside the stadium, many of the students were looking forward to this. It was one of only 2 individual styled segments inside the entire Arks Academy Magic Tournament, so many strong and capable students were rearing to go head to head and claim a spot in the top 100 for themselves.


    "The prerequisite to join the next segment is that you MUST be part of the parties or factions that placed in the top 10 of this segment''s rankings!"


    Cecil and his party had confident expression on their faces. Since it was a test of an individual''s might... then it was safe to say that the spots in the top 10 already had their names written on it. The 6 members of Little Kings were confident in their own individual abilities to take a spot in the top 10. Any less than that would tarnish their reputations as the ''Little Kings''.


    Even Fina was looking forward to the tournament. She silently swore in her heart that she would get a good ranking.


    "The entire segment will only go on for about a week! Then the last week of the month will be used to help prepare the 100 individuals going to the Joint Tournament! OUR ACADEMY MUST GET A GOOD RANKING! THE ACADEMY''S HONOR, THE KINGDOM''S HONOR AND YOU''RE HONORS AS WELL, ARE RIDING ON OUR SUCCESS IN THE COMING TOURNAMENT!" The headmaster spiritedly declared in a very loud and spirited voice.


    Cecil was smiling brightly on the side, his smile was a little devilish and every member of Little Kings felt a chill run up and down their spine. They immediately turned towards Cecil and saw the smile on his face.


    "CRAP!" Ainz exclaimed.


    "Oh no..." Eli had a strained look on her face while Velicia paled in silence.


    "..."


    Lucia only sighed and began psyching herself up, Fina was a little scared, but when she saw her best friend getting mentally prepared for the hellish training coming at them in the next 2 weeks, she too resolved herself and began pumping herself up!


    ''I''ll do it! I''ll definitely get stronger!!''


    "Now Students! Will it be you?! Or you?!" The headmaster continued while pointing at random students.


    "Step forward and show everyone your might! Come with me as we bring the highest of glory back to OUR ACADEMY! OUR KINGDOM!!!"


    "WAAAAAAHHHHH"


    The students in the stadium began cheering and applauding once again, the heat in the stadium was turned up to the highest level after the Headmaster''s encouraging and moving speech.


    The students were soon dismissed and the stadium was cleared out, the students began gathering in their own factions and soon went back together to their HQ, clearly every student was anticipating and were already in the midst of their preparations for the Tournament''s Dueling Segment.


    The students of Class S also dispersed. Many of them had joined factions so they were heading towards their respective factions. It was only the Little Kings that were left standing alone near the stadium''s gateway.


    Everyone was laughing and was without a doubt elated at taking first place during the 1st adventurer segment.


    The prizes for first place were also abundant. Besides the aforementioned prizes, the headmaster had also given the party a spatial ring that contained many herbs and plants that could be concocted into potions or pills.


    The library passes to the 4th and 5th floor were also inside the ring, it was late already so the group decided to head back and gather again tomorrow to head together to the library. It''s been a while since they''ve last visited the Sage, so they might as well drop by.


    Just as the group was heading back, a couple of individuals blocked their paths.


    "Little Kings, I presume?" The person standing in front of the rest asked.


    "Yes, it''s an honor to finally meet you, Student Council President Zephyr." Cecil replied.


    The leading person was indeed the student council president. Zephyr smiled in response to Cecil''s polite greeting. Contrary to his beliefs, Cecil didn''t seem too difficult to talk to.


    Cecil then turned towards the rest of the 10 individuals that were blocking their path. Cecil greeted each individual one by one politely.


    Warrior faction''s Gus August, Mage faction''s Lala Naito, Alchemy Faction''s Manden Krulle, Research Faction''s Lizzy Andar, World Tree Faction''s Sol''ai Sunstrider, and Ironforge Faction''s Onyx Blackhammer


    There was also Draco Faction''s Lance Arks and finally Royal Fox Faction''s twin leaders Aurellia Aurielle and Friedrich Nabi. The 2nd leader of the Royal Fox Faction was previously acquainted to Cecil and Lucia, though in a bad way.


    He was currently giving a deathly glare towards Cecil, but he flinched all of a sudden when he felt a cold piercing glare directed at him. He shifted his sights to beside Cecil and saw Lucia eyeing him dangerously.


    Friedrich snorted and took back his gaze. The exchange didn''t escape Aurellia who was next to him. She started frowning at this. There was some sort of enmity between the two parties that she didn''t know of. This caused a mild headache rise in her head.


    Cecil''s party also greeted all 11 individuals politely. Then Cecil opened his mouth to address why they approached them.


    "So... is there something we can help you all with?"


    "It''s simple. We''re here to recruit you six into our factions." Zephyr said.


    "Oh?"


    "Don''t worry about the divisions, we already decided that beforehand, we''d evenly divide you up amongst ourselves, of course preferably it''d be better for you guys to choose which faction you want to join."


    "Hmmm..."


    "Well, take your pick. Do be quick about it since we have to head back soon and begin preparations for the next tournament''s segment." Zephyr continued with a smile after seeing Cecil''s look of contemplation.


    His contemplating look caused the rest of his party to frown in worry.


    Ainz was the first to speak up, "Oi, Cecil!"


    "Quiet Ainz, let me think..."


    "What?!"


    The exchange caused the leaders to smile. Cecil was the de facto leader in Little Kings and everyone listened to his orders most of the time. This was what the leaders deduced after seeing the brief exchange between Cecil and Ainz.


    The Dark Moon Faction''s Leader spoke up abruptly, "I commend you 6 for showing your talents and prowess, but was there a need to actually create such a small group?"


    Cecil only smiled back in response. This caused the leader to smirk back at him and chuckled. "Honestly, if you guys wanted to get some attention, there could have been a better and easier way."


    "Ahaha... yes, we did attract a lot of attention with our small stunt." Cecil responded.


    "Tsk, can you hurry up already! We don''t have all day!" Friedrich, one of the leaders of Royal Fox, said in displeasure.


    "Shut it Friedrich!" Aurellia reprimanded him with an annoyed frown, she then turned around and walked away while saying, "We''re withdrawing from this."


    "Huh? What''re you saying Aurel?!"


    Friedrich looked back at Cecil''s group and then chased after Aurellia. Everyone else was surprised at her abrupt withdrawal. Even Cecil was mildly surprised seeing this, but it looks like the girly had gotten the picture.


    ''At least someone''s smart~''


    Another impatient faction leader spoke up after Aurellia and Friedrich left, it was the leader of the warrior faction, "We want you, Cecil, to join our faction. Is there a need to even think? A warrior like yourself would fit perfectly with us!"


    "Since the Royal Foxes aren''t here anymore, can I assume that Lucia would like to join our faction?" The leader of the Spell Caster Faction said slowly.


    Cecil smiled hearing this, he then opened his mouth.


    "We did want to attract attention, but not from you guys~" Cecil smilingly said.


    "What?"


    His words caused everyone to narrow their eyes. This kid, it seems like he had no intention to join any faction.


    Cecil''s party members all let out a long withheld sigh of relief. Lucia was the only one who didn''t seemed worried at all. The rest regained their confidence and began smiling again. The previous tensed expressions on their faces were now gone.


    Zephyr who was in the front of the rest narrowed his eyes dangerously and asked with a tinge of annoyance in his tone.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    Cecil''s only response was his usual lighthearted smile.

 Chapter 127 - You’ve Worked Hard

    His tone tinged with a trace of annoyance caused Lucia to frown. She began circulating her mana in preparations for a confrontation.


    The dark red aura began to slowly rise from her body. Seeing Lucia''s reaction to the question, Eli and Velicia also began channeling Aura Manifestation. Their respective auras began to surround their bodies and they looked pretty cool like that.


    Ainz was surprised seeing the 3 girls'' reactions. He was at a loss at what to do. These were the leaders of the 10 factions, although the twin leaders of the Royal Foxes had withdrawn earlier, there were still the remaining 9 leaders. Was it really a good idea for them to offend all 9 of them? Couldn''t they just politely decline?!


    Fina who was next to Ainz seemed to see through his thoughts and she spoke up softly, "A simple decline won''t be enough for those factions to back off Ainz..."


    She waved her hands and her 2 wolf familiars were brought into existence besides her. Then she waved her hand into the air and small frozen butterflies formed in the air and the butterflies began to move around to surround their party.


    Ainz only sighed in resignation and prepared for the confrontation, but then Cecil suddenly chuckled.


    "There''s no need for that guys~" He said lightly as he turned to address his uptight party members.


    Their quick and decisive actions caused the faction leaders in front of them to falter a little. They were also surprised to see the aura skill that was unique to Cecil and Lucia being used by Elizabeth and Velicia. Velicia''s brother Leon Darkclaw was especially surprised.


    A top-tier unique aura combat skill like Cecil and Lucia''s was actually being used by his little sister. Lance and Zephyr were also surprised to see their sister being able to use the same skill as well. Lance only sighed in resignation and decided to give up pulling his sister into his faction.


    Zephyr however started frowning in anger at this point. He was about to snap his fingers, a clear indication to whatever action he would do in case Cecil''s party did decline, but then a loud booming voice interrupted them.


    "STOP!!!"


    "He was talking about us!" A young boy''s voice rang out, it was then echoed by another young girl''s voice, "Yupyup, he wanted our attention~ not yours!"


    5 individuals approached the two groups who were in a confrontation.


    They were the current Kings of the Academy. The Sword King Robert Stein accompanied by the silent and petite Ghost King¨C Ghost Queen, now that her gender was finally determined, the Disaster Queen Audrey Flei and the twin Nature King and Queen, Anixio Las and Anixia Las.


    They walked forward and stood in between the two groups and confronted the faction leaders. Sword King Robert then greeted the student council president.


    "Zephyr..."


    "...What do you guys want?"


    "Let''s drop it shall we? It''s clear that those 6 don''t want to join a faction."


    "Hmph. What makes you say that? We haven''t even begun our... negotiations..."


    Cecil then perked up and said in a playful tone, "Do those negotiations involve the 50 students that are surrounding us?"


    "!"


    Zephyr had a mildly surprised look on his face. The Kings turned their attention back to the boy and smiled slightly.


    "Hehe~ King-level perception. Let''s stop this okay, Mr. President?" Disaster Queen Audrey said airily.


    The silent Ghost Queen spoke up softly, "The headmaster already asked us to come and pick them up... you shouldn''t get in our way..."


    "Hah... so they''re already going to be crowned Kings and Queens huh? Fine, I expect a good cooperation between us during the Joint Tournament though."


    Robert only grunted in response.


    Zephyr sighed and turned away, taking with him the 50 individuals who were surrounding the area with him. The rest of the faction leaders held a helpless and rueful expression as they left as well.


    "Now that that''s out of the way~ follow us! The principle''s asking for you 6~" Audrey Flei smiled and invited Cecil''s party cordially.


    Cecil turned an eye towards his party members and saw that each one began retracting back their auras and dispelling their spells.


    The foxkin then turned towards the academy''s 5 Kings and said, "Sure, take us to him."


    Robert nodded and turned on his heels and the Ghost Queen quickly disappeared from her spot. Cecil''s eyes were able to keep up with her speed and his mouth twitched a little. Ghost Queen Alice Mayden had flickered into Sword King Robert''s cloak.


    He could already guess what she was doing. The girl was obviously snuggling and clinging onto the Sword King again just like earlier during the awards ceremony.


    ''Thank goodness Lulu''s not like that...actually... why would she even be like that?'' Cecil had involuntarily compared the two, but then thought otherwise. It was clear that the Ghost Queen was head over heels in love with the Sword King, so why would Lucia ever try and do that to him? They were only friends so there was no reason for her to do so.


    Cecil shrugged and walked forward. Behind him, Lucia was staring at the spot where the Ghost Queen was at and then she stared at the Sword King. After that she turned a discrete glance towards Cecil and thought, ''Must be nice...''


    She too had picked up the location where the Ghost Queen was now hiding in and thought that it must be wonderful. She felt a little envious seeing that the Sword King was obviously not against the Ghost Queen''s actions.


    Cecil''s party followed after the 5 academy Kings had headed towards the Academy''s Main Staff Building.


    They quickly entered the building and got onto the magic platform situated in the middle of the large building floor. They rode the platform all the way to the top floor and got off.


    They then walked through the passage in front of them and arrived at a large magnificent double door entrance.


    Sword King Robert knocked on the door and said, "Headmaster! It''s us. We''ve brought the 6 King candidates."


    A faint voice invited them in, "Come in."


    Robert pushed open the double doors and led the group into the room. The room was really spacious, but it was lightly decorated. The only thing that made the room seemed a little cramped were the long bookcases aligning the two sides of the room.


    Ahead of them was a long desk and the headmaster''s chair was currently turned around with Headmaster Elufied probably sitting... wait no. Headmaster Elufied was actually standing next to the chair behind the desk and was currently waiting on the individual who was on the headmaster''s chair.


    "Sir, we''ve brought them." Robert reported.


    "Thank you, I''m sure the faction leaders didn''t give you a hard time, did they?"


    "Not at all."


    "Okay, you 5 may go and sit down."


    "Yes."


    Robert led the other 4 Kings to sit down at the sitting area in the middle of the large room. Cecil''s party stayed put and was now waiting for the headmaster to address them.


    Cecil and Lucia however were frowning a little. They felt it strange that the headmaster was standing and not sitting. The two also felt a presence currently sitting down on the chair that was currently not facing towards them and...it was a familiar presence as well.


    "Congratulations! The 6 of you have been successfully chosen to be our academy''s King candidates."


    "Oh...yes."


    "Mhm."


    The party gave a somewhat lackl.u.s.ter response to this. They already saw it coming and didn''t think much of it.


    "Eeehhh... at least sound a little surprise you guys..." The headmaster said a little exasperated. He then cleared his throat and continued, "Well, anyway. We''ll now issue each of you a trial that you will have to complete on your own! Please submit the completion and evidence once you''ve finished, hopefully before the Joint Tournament begins, okay?"


    "Yes."


    "Alright."


    The Little Kings only nodded in response.


    "But your names... Little Kings, it''s quite the ambitious name~ but, I''m glad every one of you have lived up to such a tall name. A wish you all success in your trials."


    Fina quickly raised her hand up.


    "Yes?"


    "Uhm, Headmaster... I remembered that the school was only allowed to have 10 Kings... if you add the 6 of us with the 5 of them, we''d have 11 Kings in the school..."


    "Ah, you''re right~ what to do... well it''s no problem. 3 of those Kings are going to be graduating this year so you''ll be down to 8 Kings after that! So don''t worry about it. Just quickly finish your trials. Remember! Prioritize your safeties! A King Title is important, but most important are your lives!"


    "Yes! Thank you headmaster," Fina said and bowed in thanks.


    "Alright you''re all dismissed! Take back the 5 others with you! You can ask them for some advice for how to complete your trials! I''ve already sent the details of your individual trials to your MIDs so please check them later."


    "Thank you, Headmaster! We''re leaving now." Cecil said and was about to turn on his heels before Headmaster Elufied stopped him.


    "Cecil and Lucia, please stay for a bit. I have someone I want you two to meet." Elufied said with a gentle smile.


    "...okay."


    "Mhm..."


    Cecil turned towards his friend and told them to go ahead. They nodded in response and walked out of the room alongside the other 5 Kings.


    "Well, you two. I''m pretty sure you''ll be surprised to¨C"


    "Oh, shut it El." A woman''s voice interrupted from behind the chair.


    The chair was immediately turned to face the two foxkins and just as the two had expected...


    "Mama!"


    "Mrs. Anna!"


    "Kids!"


    Anna Yukihime was indeed the person sitting on the headmaster''s seat. The beautiful foxkin woman walked towards the two and spread her arms open for a hug.


    "My children... you''ve worked hard and Cecil! What did I say before?"


    "...Mother..."


    "That''s a good boy. Now come here."


    Lucia immediately lunged forward and went to hug her mother and Cecil followed suit. The heartwarming reunion was currently being witnessed by the smiling Elufied who then quickly made himself scarce after Anna sent him a piercing glare.


    "Lulu... Cel... I''m very proud of you two."


    "Hihi~"


    Cecil smiled slightly in response.


    Anna quickly brought them to the side where tea and snacks were prepared. It seems that Anna wanted to have a long talk with her two children.

 Chapter 128 - Underlying Reason and the Ring

    The trio was now having afternoon tea time inside the academy headmaster''s room. After some idle banter, Lucia finally asked the question that she and Cecil wanted to ask.


    "Mama, why are you here?"


    "Hmmm...Well, mommy wanted to see how her children were doing~"


    "Uhm... mother, is that really all?" Cecil asked unconvinced.


    "Hmhm~ well, basically. I also wanted to inform you two about the reason for the upcoming tournament and why the changes."


    "Oh...okay."


    The two listened on in silence. Basically, the reason for the tournament''s changes this year was because apparently on the 1st day of the New Year, the Tempest Kingdom of the Human Continent, Midgard, had suddenly launched a brutal assault on the beastmen kingdoms near the borders.


    It was an awful assault that completely caught the beastmen kingdoms off guard, it was swift and clean. The armies of the human kingdoms swept through almost all the border kingdoms. Apparently they''ve stopped, but reports from the Orca Empire stated that the humans were rounding up all the beastmen in the conquered territories and were planning on shipping them into Midgard. Apparently, the humans were bringing them back as slaves.


    Cecil frowned upon hearing the news from Anna. He felt that it was a shame that the Midgard Continent and Urrugdrasil Continent were now at war. He had wanted to take Lucia on a trip to explore the Midgard Continent and look for his family once they were done with the Academy.


    "Well... looks like I can''t do that now..."


    "Do what Cel?" Anna asked.


    "Uhh... I wanted to take Lucia on a trip to the Midgard Continent and look for my family after we finished with school and all... I was hoping to graduate early since after I learnt all I needed here, there''s no point to sticking around for the full 4 years."


    "Hmmm, I see... we''ll talk about it again after you graduate."


    "Ok... so what''s up with the tournament changes?" Cecil asked. "Why go and have a joint tournament when there''s a war going on?"


    "Ahh, I forgot. Well you see, the Orca Empire was the one that suggested this. Since it was rare for the two continents to actually go to war, the Empire wanted to open the World Tree''s heritage grounds and send in some of their young talents to bring back some treasures or some other things to help them with the war."


    "Huh? Why not just ask for reinforcements from the other Kingdoms?"


    "They''re too prideful for that. You see, the beastmen are prideful warriors that won''t back down nor ask for help when presented with a fight. The ''assistance'' that they asked for was only to help them open the World Tree''s sacred grounds."


    "I see... and how is this related to the tournament?"


    Anna took a small sip of her tea before continuing.


    "Opening the heritage grounds is a feat that needs to be performed by the rulers of each of the 6 guardian races of Urrugdrasil which are the dragons, elves, werebeasts, dwarves, giants, and the beastkins. Each represented holds a key and art that is used to open the grounds and after opening the entranceway you would have to pick the people to go in."


    "Alright, so the tournament is there to help select the most suitable candidates to go inside the grounds and retrieve the treasures within... doesn''t that mean it''s not only the Magic Academies that are participating?" Lucia asked.


    "Oh, nono~ only the Magic Academies are allowed to send people in."


    "Why''s that, Mama?"


    "Because only individuals with an age below 20 may enter the premises~"


    "I see... so that''s why the Kingdoms turn towards the Academies who obviously house the most amount of talented young individuals who are eligible enough to enter the World Tree''s Sacred Grounds..." Cecil said in understanding.


    "Yes... so Cecil, Lucia... I want you guys to go in without the burden of having any connections to any kingdom or faction."


    Cecil and Lucia didn''t understand what she meant. What kind of burden was she talking about?


    "Huh?"


    "What do you mean, Mama?"


    Anna smiled gently at the two. She took them into her gaze and softly said.


    "I know that the both of you are strong... much stronger than anyone from your generation. Cecil, I have to thank you for that."


    "Eh? Oh... don''t mention it mother..."


    "Anyway, I know for a fact that if you two were to enter the sacred grounds, then you both are bound to take hold of many treasures and opportunities... These treasures, I want you to keep for yourself. You have neither the obligation nor the need to hand over those treasures to the Kingdom or anyone else. Do you understand?''


    "Huh? Isn''t that a given? Why would we give something of ours over to someone else?" Cecil asked.


    "...once you two are selected to participate in the Joint Tournament, I''m pretty sure the Kingdom or some other factions will try and contact you."


    "Why?"


    "The treasures from the sacred grounds are tempting enough to make a transcendent level character go after them. But unfortunately for them, they''ve already lost the chance to actually enter the place due to their ages."


    "So they''ll turn to us."


    "Precisely, not just those transcendent characters, but also the Kingdom''s and other factions will try to lure you to their side, with false rewards and flowery promises."


    "...they''re mistaken if they think they''ll be able to persuade us." Lucia frowned.


    "Yes... that they are... but it''s not just persuasion. Threats, blackmails, and any underhanded methods may be used if you decline their offer."


    "Then I''ll just crush the problem as they come by." Cecil declared coldly.


    "Hahaha~ that''s just so like you Cel~" Lucia laughed in response to his muscle-headed solution.


    "Yes, you could do that... but what happens if it''s a problem that you can''t simply ''crush''? What will you do then? For instance, what would happen if they kidnapped Lucia and threatened you with her?"


    "Huh?"


    "Mama! I''m not that weak! I definitely won''t be kidnapped!" Lucia said indignantly.


    "Of course you aren''t sweetie~ but I''m just presenting a case, never mind Lucia, but what happens if your friends from Little Kings are the ones that were kidnapped? And the kidnappers blackmailed you to work for them?"


    "..."


    "Ah..."


    The two foxkin became silent upon hearing such a situation. The two were individually strong and they believed that they could handle any problem that was thrown at them despite being at such a young age, but that couldn''t be said the same for their friends.


    "...Well, I guess, you two are pretty stumped too huh?"


    "..."


    "Then don''t worry! Mommy here will guarantee yours and their safety!"


    "Mama!!! Why couldn''t you say that earlier?!" Lucia whined.


    Cecil bitterly smiled. This was the first time that he was put into a situation where even he couldn''t find a solution to the problem. It vexed him, but he could see why his foster mother did this.


    She wanted them to think for themselves, it was obvious from the start that she would back them up, otherwise, why would she go through the trouble of explaining anything to them?


    "Hmhm~ I just wanted to see how smart my two children have become after so long~ but apparently, you two still need to learn much more~"


    "...yes, mother," Cecil said as he bowed his head deeply. Lucia saw this and did the same, though she still didn''t understand why her mother put them through such a thing.


    "Okay you two, here''s a little present from Mommy. You''re bound to have to enter a faction or side. Otherwise, the kingdom and any other affiliation with power won''t look too kindly upon you two. Not to mention that you''ll be scrutinized and strictly monitored after you come out of the World Tree without turning anything over~"


    Anna pulled out two objects from inside her robe. Cecil saw that the objects were a pair of white rings.


    "Mama?! Wh-wh-wh-what are those for?!" Lucia squealed as her face turned a couple of shades redder.


    "Huh? Oh you~ Fufufu~" Anna gave a teasing look towards her daughter, this caused Lucia to heat up even more and her face turned redder and redder.


    "It''s not what you think though, fufufu~"


    At her mother''s words she immediately froze up.


    "Eh?"


    "These are ''White Rings'', they''re the gifts I''m giving to you both."


    "White Rings? What''re they for?" Cecil asked as he took the rings, keeping one for himself and passing over the other to Lucia.


    "You two do know about spatial rings by now right?"


    "Yes, of course. We each own one. The Academy gave it to us."


    "Look at your rings, they''re black in color."


    "Yeah... they''ve always been black."


    "White Rings are also spatial rings, but unlike the black ones, these are made solely for personal use only."


    "Okay... but aren''t all spatial rings like that?"


    "Ahahaha~ of course they are, but that''s not what I mean." Anna giggled a bit and paused to eat one of the desserts that she prepared for their little tea party.


    "What I''m saying is, Black Spatial rings aren''t anything private. If someone else was to take or steal your ring, they''d be able to rummage through your belongings. White Spatial Rings, or White Rings for short, don''t allow this."


    "Oh? Now that you mention it..." Cecil thought back to his previous experiences using the spatial rings. There was the time where he looted those troublemakers back at the Whitewood Plantation. There were also the times where his entire party would take turns to use the Little Kings'' spatial ring to withdraw or store their supplies and money.


    "In order to use the White Ring, you''d have to bind it to yourself first."


    The two kids were confused at Anna''s words.


    "Hm?"


    "Bind the ring using a drop of your blood that''s been infused with mana. Go on, try it."


    "Okay."


    "Mhm."


    Lucia took out her Butterfly and made a small cut on her index finger, once she saw that a drop of her blood had flowed out, she handed the kodachi over to Cecil, who also did the same.


    They focused and channeled as much mana as they could into that singular drop of blood. When the blood became infused with their mana, it started glowing. Lucia''s glow was a dark violet color, while Cecil''s was the usual golden color.


    They then dropped the blood onto the white rings in their hands. The blood drop soon disappeared into the ring, like the ring itself was consuming the blood. There wasn''t a trace left after a couple of seconds.


    Then, the rings began to change color. The once white ring changed to the color of their mana when they infused it into their blood. Cecil''s white ring turned golden while Lucia''s turned a dark violet.


    Anna exclaimed happily when she saw the binding process finish.


    "There, now you both have your very own personal spatial rings~ I''m glad that the camouflage function worked~ now no one will be able to tell that it was originally a white ring~"


    "?"


    "Don''t worry children! Now that it''s functioning properly you won''t have to worry about other people finding out that you have white rings! Just so you know, this is Mama Anna''s personal, specially-made, custom-colored, white spatial ring!"


    "O-okay?"


    "Now only you two will be able to access the spatial rings in your hands. No one else will be able to! Also, if you happen to lose it, remember this spell!"


    Anna handed over a piece of parchment to Cecil and on the parchment Cecil saw a short phrase for a spell incantation.


    "You can use it too Little Cel~ just recite the incantation and the spatial ring will immediately teleport back onto your hand!"


    Cecil memorized the incantation and immediately he threw his ring across the room. This act caused Anna to be surprised. Cecil quickly chanted the incantation and the ring that was still in the air flashed with a small white light and disappeared, and then Cecil felt that he was gripping something in his hand.


    He opened it up and the golden ring was laying there in his palms.


    "Wow, so convenient!"


    "Ah...ah..." Anna was trying to mouth out some words, but nothing came out.


    In order to test the incantation, Cecil actually chucked a national-grade level treasure across the room like it was an ordinary rock. Lucia began giggling when she saw her mother''s disbelieving expression.

 Chapter 129 - They’re Ready

    Anna pinched her brows and had a troubled expression on her face seeing her son act so recklessly.


    She had a helpless smile on her face since she knew this was just how her son was, as long as it was practical and efficient, anything goes.


    "Alright you two, you can go back now. I bet your friends are beginning to worry."


    "Yes, mother."


    "Okay, mama... when... when will I see you again?" Lucia was clearly unwilling to separate with her mother just yet. It''s been almost a year since they''ve seen each other and it goes without saying that she dearly missed both her parents.


    "Don''t worry, honey. You''ll see me real soon."


    "And Papa?"


    "Papa as well, now go, stay with Cecil alright?" Anna gently said.


    "Mhm. Bye-bye mama!"


    "Bye-bye, pumpkin~" Anna said, but the she quickly leaned in to Lucia''s ear and whispered, "Make sure you don''t let any other foxes steal your Cel~"


    Lucia blushed madly at this and only bobbed her head up and down shyly.


    "Hahaha~ off you go now."


    "Mhm."


    Cecil was waiting for Lucia near the door. The girl quickly arrived by his side and pushed open the door for them. Cecil paused a little and turned back, he could see the gently smiling Anna waving them good bye.


    Cecil smiled and said, "Good bye, mother."


    Anna smiled back in reply, "Keep my daughter safe, sweetheart. Oh! I almost forgot... I left a little something in your ring, be sure to take a look at it. It''ll help you with your current... problem"


    Anna eyed Cecil meaningfully and gave a discrete glance to his arms. Cecil widened his eyes in surprise and bowed once more to his foster mother. It seemed like nothing could escape her attention.


    Cecil then turned around to catch up with Lucia. On their way towards the moving platform they met up with a lonely Headmaster who was currently sipping his tea on a bench close to the platform.


    "Headmaster." Cecil and Lucia bowed in greeting.


    "Oh~ are you 3 finished?"


    "Yup! We''ll be going now, sir! Thank you for sparing us your time!"


    "No problem kiddo! Ah! Don''t forget about the trials! I look forward to when you kids come and turn them in!"


    "Yes, please look forward favorably."


    "Of course~"


    After the short chat, Cecil and Lucia got onto the platform and headed straight down. They quickly exited the building and went back towards their dorms. It was already late in the evening by then.


    Along the way however, Lucia was tightly holding onto Cecil''s hand as they walked. Cecil was just puzzled at her actions, but he let her be. He was currently scrutinizing the information that he received on his MID.


    "Hmmm... doesn''t seem so hard." Cecil mumbled and Lucia agreed as well.


    "Mhm... they''re pretty easy."


    Cecil''s trial was only to bring back an A-grade level natural treasure and submit it to the academy. Lucia''s trial had her bring back the core of a manticore, an A+ level monster. It honestly wasn''t anything hard for them.


    The monsters they faced during their quests were much harder. As for the trials, they thought nothing of it. The same couldn''t be said for their friends however. They had similar trials with similar difficulties as Cecil''s and Lucia''s, but the trial was meant for only a single person to do.


    They had experience facing monsters on A+ to S grade, but that was when the party was facing it together. Completing such a feat by themselves made the difficulty shoot up much higher.


    It was only until the next day that the other party members voiced out their concerns to Cecil and Lucia. Telling Cecil about their worries was something they were going to regret for the rest of their lives.


    Once Cecil heard their concerns he devilishly smiled and announced that they would immediately begin their hellish training.


    "Alright guys let''s begin your tortu¨C keheum, training." Cecil said with a smile.


    "...this brat..."


    "He was about to say torture wasn''t he?" Eli said with a blank look.


    "Owh... here we go again..." Fina tiredly said.


    "Hic... n-no... I wanna go back!" Velicia screamed in horror, just as she was about to escape, Cecil grabbed onto her tiger tail and stopped her in place.


    "Hohoho~ I''m sorry... but since you guys are complaining only because of these low level small fries... looks like you need some serious training to be done."


    "How?! How could a person of our age be such an unreasonable devil?! AND! A Grade monsters aren''t small fries!!!" Velicia yelled.


    "Oh really now~ but, I''m no devil. I''m your trainer~"


    Thus began their hellish training. The 4 friends were bashed, mashed, and thrashed by their demonic trainer. Lucia only offered her prayers in silence and went ahead to go finish her trial with Silver.


    It didn''t take long for her to finish it. She quickly took care of the manticore with a Red Laser and collected its monster core. She was able to finish her trial in only 3 days thanks to Silver''s traveling speed.


    The manticores were found much farther away than any of the places the Little Kings had previously visited. It was close to the Magic City''s domain. Usually, the journey was 5 days by carriage.


    Good thing she had Silver, the 5 day journey was cut down to only a little over 1 thanks to his speed. The fight didn''t take long as well, so it was about a 3 day round trip back to the city.


    When she got back to the Academy, she immediately went to look for Cecil. She searched around the Academy once and couldn''t find her party members, so she injected her mana into the bracelet Cecil gave her and tracked the source of his mana.


    She found that it was outside of the city deep into the forest where they normally trained after finishing a quest.


    Lucia hastily made her way over and found 4 corpses lying in the middle of the clearing. She then saw the ''Devil King'' leisurely sitting next to a campfire close by. Lucia took another look at her 4 friends'' corpses and saw that they were still alive and breathing.


    They were only knocked out from the harsh training. Lucia made her way towards Cecil and jumped on him.


    "Cel~"


    "Oof!"


    Cecil was a bit too focused on making the food in front of him he didn''t notice that Lucia had approached him from behind. Well, he did notice a presence come into the vicinity, but since there was no malice in it, he didn''t pay it any mind.


    Lucia wrapped her arms around Cecil and looked at what the boy was doing. She saw that he was making some sort of stew.


    "Whatcha doin''?"


    "Cooking of course, but I can''t seem to remember to recipe... are you done with your trial?"


    "Yup~"


    "Okay."


    "Do you want me to make it?"


    "Hm? Sure, perfect timing actually. I''m pretty sure those 4 were in need of something good to eat. They were complaining that they had to eat barbecue all day long for the past 3 days, so now they wanted something else for a change."


    They had Cecil to blame for that. All the time he spent on his family''s private island learning about survival, the only skill he got in regards for cooking were related to barbecuing and roasting.


    "Alright~"


    Lucia took over Cecil and immediately began to get busy. Cecil went over to his friends and carried them up with Silver over to the campfire. He asked Lucia to cast a cleansing spell on all 4 of them before he quickly took out blankets and some bedding.


    He laid them down and let them rest so they could recover from their exhaustion.


    "How are they? Are they good enough now to take on their own trials?" Lucia asked while she was cooking.


    "Hmm... actually they already are. I can imagine them winning against any A Grade monster that they encounter on their trials, but they seem to lack the confidence in doing so. It''s mostly been our entire party fighting against A to S Grade monsters, so I can see why they''d lack confidence in doing it alone."


    "I see... it''s better if you just tell them to go do their trials now. They won''t be building any confidence if you keep thrashing them around like this."


    "...you may be right. It''s decided then. We''ll have the 4 go and do their trials starting tomorrow! I''ll let them rest for today. Let''s consider the trial also a part of their training~"


    "...Okay. You should get yours done quickly as well."


    "Of course," Cecil replied with a smile.


    "The stew''s done. Just serve it to them when they wake up. Let them rest for now."


    "Sure... Wanna go for a round or two?" Cecil asked while pointing towards the open field.


    "...we''re going to wake them up if we cause such a ruckus."


    "No mana, skills, or magic. We''ll only use our martial arts."


    Lucia grinned and flickered towards the middle of the clearing. Once she arrived at a good spot, some tens of meters away from the campsite, she took her stance and beckoned Cecil over. Cecil flashed a couple of meters ahead of her. He got into a similar stance and waited.


    The two didn''t move from their spots and waited for the other to make their move. Lucia was the first to become impatient. She quickly dashed at Cecil with a soft cry and sent her palm towards his chest.


    Cecil blocked and rotated his body. He backhanded his fist sending it straight to Lucia''s side. The girl blocked it with her arm and kicked at him.


    The two''s martial arts were one in the same since Cecil was the one who taught Lucia hers. So they kept on evenly exchanging blows over and over.


    Over time, Lucia was beginning to become more and more proficient with the Silvaria family''s martial arts. She never neglected her training and now she grew to the point where she was able to evenly fight it out with him.


    To Cecil, this was very good news. Whenever Cecil finished his mana training, he didn''t always like spending his remaining time doing meaningless body training. No matter how much he trained his body, it wasn''t going to get any better than it already was.


    He was still too young and his body wasn''t fully developed yet, so there were various limitations to him training his body. Cecil opted to hone and train his techniques instead, but he never found a worthy opponent to spar with. But now that Lucia, the genius that she was, had finally arrived at a level where she could proficiently fight with him without using mana, Cecil didn''t have to waste his time anymore.


    The two kept going at it for over an hour and only stopped when Lucia couldn''t handle it anymore. Without the enhancement of mana, Lucia''s physique was much lower leveled than that of Cecil''s. So with every hit, block, and parry, Lucia''s body was acc.u.mulating more damage than that of Cecil''s.


    In the end, Cecil won since his body was much more fit and tolerant than Lucia. Of course, he held back using any advanced techniques on her so he was fighting on her standards. This way he could help Lucia quickly improve and rise further so that her skill level may quickly reach his standards.


    Cecil picked up Lucia into his arms and walked back towards the campsite. At the camp, Cecil found that his 4 friends were already awake and were currently eating their soup with some bread... while at the same time they were spectating the two''s spar.


    "Hmm... so how was it? It was pretty awesome, right? We didn''t even use mana." Cecil said in a smug tone. He quickly put down Lucia and began massaging the areas that were bruised or hurt from their earlier fight.


    "...you two are just abnormal." Ainz said.


    "Well... your styles are really unique... but it seems that it may be hard to pick up, even if we wanted to learn."


    "Yeah... what Eli said, although, it does look interesting." Velicia added.


    "It''s a shame that I already have my family''s techniques engraved in me... it''d be hard to transition into using your fighting techniques." Eli regretfully said.


    "Well you guys should just stick to your own methods. Lucia and I have been doing this since looong ago. So it''s been engraved into our bodies, the techniques and skills. You should just train and hone yours so that it''ll catch up to our standards." For Cecil it indeed has been a long time, but for Lucia it''s only been half a year or so.


    "It''s easier said than done." Eli retorted, to which Velicia profusely agreed.


    "Right, right!"


    Cecil smiled at them. He was still massaging Lucia, but the girl had fallen asleep comfortably while he was doing so.


    "Anyway guys, this should be enough training for you. Tomorrow, you should hurry up and go do your trials."


    His statement caused everyone to widen their eyes in surprise.

 Chapter 130 - He’s my Uncle!

    The next day, Cecil''s party had gathered together at the city''s gate. Each member of Little Kings was now ready to go about completing their individual trials. While everyone else was still fretting, Cecil was smiling leisurely at them.


    "Don''t worry you guys. Just go out there and do your best. I''m sure you''ll be able to come back with favorable results."


    "Easy for you to say Cecil... we have to hunt down A+ ranked monsters... they''re borderline S ranked y''know!" Ainz worriedly exclaimed. The other 3 also echoed out their worries, but Cecil only smiled and reassured them.


    "Hey, don''t sweat it. Have a little more confidence in your abilities. I mean, you guys did survive my training after all!"


    "...so if we failed, then we weren''t going to survive at all?"


    "Well... nothing that drastic."


    Cecil''s words made the 4 members of Little Kings reflect back onto the training that they had to endure for the past month or so. Now that they carefully thought about it, the group were constantly facing S ranked monsters together, sometimes only fighting in teams of 2 or 3, and yet, they were able to take down such monsters.


    There were also times where Cecil had dumped them deep into the wilderness or mountains alone and told them to fight their way out. The environments where he dumped them were teeming full of B-A ranked monsters, and even then, they also survived.


    The trials this time were only to hunt a singular A+ ranked monster and retrieve a specific item that''ll act as proof of their subjugations and trial completions.


    The group''s expression immediately brightened and they became full of confidence once again.


    "Yeah! We did survive this brat''s training after all! We could totally do this!" Ainz confidently exclaimed.


    "...I''ll be going now. Don''t worry, and wait for the good news." Eli said as she departed for her destination.


    "D-don''t worry! We got... we totally got this! I did survive that demon''s training after all..." Velicia muttered as she psyched herself up. The girl then let out a cute tiger roar and dashed for the hills.


    "Ah! Veli! We were supposed to grab a carriage!!! Wait for me!!!" Fina said as she chased after the aura covered Velicia. She quickly summoned a large ice wolf familiar and dashed after the overly spirited tiger girl.


    "...Wow, that was fast." Lucia said as she stared after her departing friends.


    "Well, I guess it''s time for me to get going then. It''s a bit far away, but I think I can get back by tomorrow or the day after."


    Lucia smiled and said, "Take care, Cel~"


    "Yup! See ya later Lulu!" Cecil waved good bye and in the next instant he disappeared from his spot.


    "Phew, hopefully he won''t be too reckless with his mana." Lucia said worriedly. She walked back into the city with the pet form Silver in her embrace.


    "Hey Silvy~ let''s go kick back today! It''s rare that we could get a day off from anything~"


    "Woof!"


    Silver barked in agreement and wriggled his way out of Lucia''s arms. He transformed his body to the size of a horse and gestured for Lucia to get on. The girl giggled and hopped onto his back. Then the two took their leisure time to walk around the capital city.


    Since Lucia had an abundant amount of money in her bank card, she splurged a little on food, snacks and some girly clothing.


    "Oh yeah! There was that auction thingy that Cel told me about the other day. Maybe I''ll go visit~" Lucia mumbled with a sandwich in her mouth. "Cel did say there were many high leveled materials for magic ink the last time he went."


    Lucia finished her skewer and said, "Alright, let''s go Silvy! To the auction house!"


    "Woof!"


    The two quickly dashed towards Angla City''s auction house. When they arrived, the two unexpectedly bumped into a certain person.


    "Oh? Lucia?" A golden foxkin called out.


    "Eh?" Lucia turned towards the person who called out to her and saw a golden foxkin girl waving at her.


    Lucia was a little confused since this was only the second time they met. It was Aurellia Aurielle, the female leader of the Royal Fox Faction.


    Since their last encounter with the 10 factions, Lucia didn''t look so favorably upon them, although the Royal Foxes did pull out before the standoff.


    Aurellia approached her and smiled gently, like a big sister would when they looked at their young and rowdy little sister.


    "I didn''t expect to see you here, Lucia. Are you going in too?" She asked gently.


    "Uhh... yeah. Well, excuse me then." Lucia said a little awkwardly, she wasn''t used to others talking to her so gently, like they were family or something. She turned around and walked to the auction house''s door.


    "Halt!" The two guards in front of the doorway stopped Lucia just as she was about to go in.


    "Eh?"


    "Membership Pass, please. Today there''s a private auction so all visitors must have a pass to attend today''s auction!"


    Lucia was at a loss, it was her first time visiting so there was no way she could have a pass or would she know that today there would be an event.


    "Uhm... I don''t have a pass? I just came to take a look at the normal auctions."


    "Then do you have an invitation?"


    "N-no..."


    "Then please turn back young miss. Today''s auction has been reserved for the private auction. Normal auctions will begin again tomorrow afternoon. Please come again at that time."


    "Ohh... okay..." Lucia said sadly. Her fox ears and 5 tails drooped down dejectedly and her pitiful, yet adorable appearance caused many of the visitors to look at her sympathy. Many of the young male scions who were specially invited to this auction were about to make their moves and invite the girl in, but then someone beat them to it.


    "She''s with me. Come on, Lucia. Let''s go in." Aurellia said as she flashed her pass and invitation.


    "Oh! Miss Aurielle, please, head in." The guard said respectfully.


    Aurellia then walked beside Lucia and grabbed her arm intimately and she led the confused girl into the auction house.


    "Eh?"


    "Sisters should look after each other no?"


    "S-sisters? But, I don''t¨C"


    "Ah, silly me~ Well, you could say we''re cousins! But, since we''re close in age, and I''m a bit older than you, you won''t mind me calling you little sis, yes?" Aurellia asked.


    "C-cousins? You''re my cousin?" Lucia asked back, a little puzzled.


    When did she have a cousin? The only relative she met was that weird Uncle back in Forest Hill Town. He was the Guild Master of the Adventurer Guild and he looked pretty young. There was no way that eccentric Uncle of hers would have a daughter as big as Aurellia.


    "Ah, let''s head to our private room first! I''ll explain everything when we get inside!"


    "...okay." Lucia was naturally curious and she was also grateful to the girl for bringing her along into the private auction.


    When they arrived at the lobby, a female staff walked towards them. Aurellia showed her the member pass and the invitation. The staff smiled and led the two up to the higher floors of the auction house.


    They were led up to the 3rd floor and arrived at private booth number A06. The staff opened the door and led them inside. The room was luxurious with many decorations and expensive looking furniture decorating the interior.


    Lucia was not used to this so she only stood their awkwardly. Aurellia smiled seeing her expression and dragged her to sit down on the sofa in the middle of the room.


    The staff then explained to the two that if they needed anything, they only needed to inject mana into the small bell-like construct in the middle of the table in front of them. Then a staff member will come in to take their requests.


    Aurellia told the staff to send them some fruits, drinks, and snacks. Lucia just looked on and thought, ''She must be used to this.''


    She then turned her attention to the room''s interior, after satisfying her curiosity, she turned towards the black screen in front of her.


    "...why''s it black?"


    "The auction won''t start until after another 30 minutes. For now, let me explain how we''re related, Lucia!"


    "Okay!"


    Just before Aurellia began her explanation, there was a knock on the door, to which Aurellia gave the confirmation to enter. A couple of auction staff came in and brought the confectionary, drinks, and fruits that she ordered earlier.


    "That was quick!" Lucia exclaimed. It hadn''t even been a minute since the previous staff member left and now their orders were already here.


    Aurellia giggled and grabbed a gr.a.p.e-like fruit on the table and popped it in her mouth. The girl then gestured for Lucia to also have some. Lucia grabbed a Lu''u fruit and began chewing on it. The Lu''u fruit was a pear-like fruit with a purplish blue skin with the meat under it being red in color.


    Silver also jumped onto the table and began grabbing fruits and some confectionary. He placed them onto a small platter and once he was satisfied, he brought the platter over to the sofa where Lucia and Aurellia were sitting and began eating.


    Aurellia giggled seeing Silver''s intelligent antics. "What a smart wolf!"


    "Hehe~ yup! His name is Silver!" Lucia introduced.


    "Hello, Silver."


    "Woof!"


    Lucia quickly finished her fruit and asked, "So... Aurellia, can you explain now?"


    "Aurel is fine. Okay. Now... where to begin..." The girl pondered for a moment. "Ah! Your father is Uncle Zaki right?"


    "Zaki? Yes, Zaki Yukihime..."


    "Well... I figured uncle would have changed his name..." Aurellia smiled sadly.


    "Huh?"


    "Uncle Zaki''s real name is Zaki Aurielle. He was the former chieftain candidate that was most likely to lead our Golden Fox Clan. He''s also my 1st uncle!"


    "Wha?!"


    "Woof?!"

 Chapter 131 - Auction 1

    Lucia stared dumbfounded at the sudden news. Her father was actually a young master of a prominent clan based in the Anglaria Kingdom.


    "Wait, wait... I don''t follow. What do you mean by former?" Lucia said."


    "Well, uncle Zaki, your father, was actually the first born son of Grandpa Maki, who was the former chieftain. Uncle Zaki was supposed to inherit his position as chieftain. He was the most talented warrior in our clan back then and he was also very adept in management and political affairs. He was a genius."


    "..."


    "He relinquished his inheritance when he met with your mother at the academy... back then he was the Royal Fox''s grand leader and we were a very strong faction. Actually, back then when Uncle was leading, we were the strongest faction... until Auntie Anna kicked every faction off of their pedestals and thrones."


    "...Mama?"


    "Well, did you know that Auntie was actually the previous headmaster?"


    "Eh?!!!?!!!!" This was an even bigger shock to her than finding out that her father was a member of the Golden Fox Clan.


    "Mama...was the headmaster?!"


    "Yup! Ehehe~ of course that was before she got married to Uncle Zaki~"


    "Oh...Oh!...Oh???"


    "Your mother was the creator of the Kings system. When she was still a student, she formed a party full of Kings and knocked down every faction or power standing in her way. It was a legendary feat, similar to how you and your boyfriend are performing now."


    "Uhm... Cecil''s not my boyfriend...yet..." Lucia shyly said.


    "Ahaha~ then you won''t mind if I make a move on him do you?" Aurellia said smilingly.


    "NO! I WON''T LET YOU!"


    "Ahahaha~ I''m just kidding~"


    "..."


    "Anyway, your father fell for your mother during their school years. After that for the next couple of decades he kept on chasing after Auntie, even when she was acting as the headmaster of Arks Academy. The clan of course, didn''t look so favorably at this."


    "Huh? Why? Mama is strong! Why wouldn''t the clan look favorably at such a union?"


    "Because, Auntie wasn''t part of any of the royal fox clans in Anglaria... she was supposedly a rogue foxkin that had no affiliation with any clan whatsoever. She had multiple tails, but she wasn''t part of the Multi-tailed Fox Clan, she had white fur and hair, but even then, she wasn''t part of the Moon Fox Clan."


    "Oh..."


    "And Yukihime... it''s a name that originates from the Helaife Continent..."


    "Huh?!"


    "Yeah... the clans expected her to be a spy from the Helaife Continent. Uncle of course knew this, but even then he didn''t stop his courting. Eventually, they did get married, but Uncle had to forfeit his candidacy for chieftain."


    "Ah!"


    "After that, Uncle disappeared with Auntie. Even until now, we don''t know where they are... I''m guessing only the current headmaster knows where they are."


    "Huh? Why would the headmaster know?"


    "Because the current headmaster is your mother''s disciple, he was also... somewhat close to Uncle... since the two were love rivals."


    "WOAH!!!" Lucia widened her eyes and exclaimed.


    "Anyway, for the past couple of decades, Auntie and Uncle had disappeared... also this story was something that my father, the current chieftain, told me about!" Aurellia said.


    "He very much admired your father and felt that it was regrettable for him to leave. The clan has been searching everywhere for your family so that they may reconcile. Of course, nothing came of their search, but then you showed up."


    Aurellia smiled gently upon looking at the seriously listening Lucia.


    "Lucia Yukihime, the silver haired, golden eyed, multi-tailed foxkin genius, who also happened to share the same last name as Auntie."


    "..."


    "The clan already knows about this...I''m guessing that they haven''t approached you yet because Auntie and Uncle did something to interfere with them..."


    "Oh..."


    "When I first saw you, I knew that maybe this was Uncle''s daughter. It''s a relief since you are. It''s nice to know that I have such a cute and adorable younger cousin! You won''t mind if I call you little sister right? Right?" Aurellia squealed in delight as she began cuddling Lucia.


    "Uh... okay?"


    "Yay~ you can call me big sis too! Don''t worry about joining any faction! You''re already walking in the footsteps of Auntie so that''s much better! Just so you''re aware, please treat our faction as friends! We won''t ever do anything hostile towards you or your friends!"


    "Okay...thanks, I guess..."


    "Hihihi~"


    The two began to talk about some mundane topics, like what confectionary stores were good inside the capital, the locations of good food stalls, or recommended stores that sold clothes and such.


    It wasn''t until after a whole hour had passed since the two girls arrived at the auction house did the private auction begin. It took longer to start than what Aurellia had initially said.


    The dark screen in front of them soon lit up with a small light and Lucia finally saw what was below them. It was actually a large auction hall. The light was coming from the stage and she could make out the heads of many individuals in the seating below.


    In the spotlight on the stage, a butler-like lizard-kin with a long beard began greeting the auction participants.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! Good day to you all! Finally, our main event for today! The Royal Family''s private auction will finally commence!"


    "Eh? It''s the royal family''s auction?!" Lucia exclaimed softly.


    "Haha~ yup, that''s why we not only needed platinum membership passes, but also an invitation." Aurellia explained.


    "That means there are bound to be many rare and exotic things for auction!"


    "Yup~ did you bring enough money, Lucia?"


    "Eh..." Lucia pondered for a moment and scratched her head. Then she began smiling slyly. She took out 2 cards from her black ring.


    "Hehe~ good thing I was in charge of our party''s bank card today~ sorry guys, but this is important! I''ll properly apologize after this." Lucia said softly and inwardly sent an apology towards her friends.


    "I''m good! Huhuhu~ we''ve been making great progress with our quests lately, so you can say that I''m a little rich~" Lucia smirked as she waved the two bank cards.


    "Ahahah~ okay! If you still lack any funds, don''t hesitate to ask~ Big sis here will lend you some~"


    "Okay! Thanks, sis! But, aren''t you also here to get your hands on some of the items?"


    "Hrmmm~ I guess, but I just came here to take a look! My father was supposed to come, but he had something urgent to do back at the clan, so I came in his place. It''s an act of respect for the Royal Family who specially invited us."


    "Oh! I see! Well, then I won''t hesitate to ask if I really do need to borrow some~"


    "Alright."


    The butler-like MC finished all the formalities and greetings. He then officially started the Royal Family''s Private Auction.


    "The first item is a part of the Royal Treasury, a Frost Wyrm''s egg!"


    From the side, 4 women in maid uniforms pushed in a large bluish white egg that was on top of a luxurious trolley into the center of the stage.


    "The wyrm egg has already been incubated for the past 100 years! It''s currently in its last stage of incubation before hatching! All one needs is to inject their mana into the egg, bond with it and then wait for it to hatch!"


    After his explanation, the unimpressed crowd immediately burst into an uproar. Normally a wyrm egg would need over a hundred years of incubation before it would hatch. So the prospect of buying the egg wasn''t so attractive...that was until they heard that it was in its final stages just before hatching.


    "The starting price¨C"


    "Hey, Announcer! Just skip this! My family clan will take this egg off from your hands!" A young boy''s voice echoed from one of the private booths on the 2nd floor.


    "Oh, but we still need to go through the proper¨C"


    "Just shut up and take my money!!" The arrogant young voice yelled again. If Cecil was here, he would probably have started laughing uproariously at the voice''s words.


    "Wow... how arrogant," Lucia distastefully spat and she turned her attention to the booth on the 2nd floor.


    "Hmmm~ most of the people invited to the auction are prominent people, and from what I heard, only the young scions and current heads are attending, even then, the heads are only here to accompany the young ones... so there are no elder level characters here~"


    "Hmmm... so that means even if I offend that fool... no one can find fault in this right?"


    "Eh? Are you going to bid as well?"


    "Maybe~"


    There was a short argument between the 2nd floor''s private booth B02 and the auction staff, but then the auction continued on formally.


    "The starting bid begins at 100,000 gold credits! Each bid increment can be no less than 10,000 credits!"


    The voice from the booth number B02 immediately shouted, "200,000!"


    Immediately after the person from B02 placed his bid, another voice followed suit. It came from a booth on the 2nd floor, "210,000!"


    "What? How dare you¡ª250,000!"


    "260,000!"


    No one on the ground floor joined in on the bidding, it was obvious that they didn''t want to offend anyone in the private booths. The back and forth bidding ensued until the price of the Frost Wyrm Egg scaled to 330,000.


    "Kenta!!! I know that''s you!!! Are you really going to fight it out with me today?!!" The arrogant voice yelled, it was clear he knew who it was that was engaging in the bidding war with him.


    "Waahh~ I didn''t think you''d find out~" the voice came from a boy and it seemed that he was acquainted with the arrogant one from booth B02. He said it so flippantly like he didn''t care at all.


    "Fine~ I''ll stop here."


    "...340,000."


    "400,000."


    "!"


    "BWAHAHAHAHA~" The boy, who was apparently named Kenta began laughing. The arrogant boy couldn''t say anything because the bid came from someone on the 3rd floor.


    Aurellia was giggling next to Lucia who had just placed the bid. Lucia looked a little bored since the kid on the second floor no longer continued to bid after her. The long silence ensued until finally the MC opened his mouth.


    "400,000 going once! Going twice! Are there no other bids?!"


    Only silence answered his question and finally the MC knocked his hammer down and announced, "The Wyrm Egg goes to the young lady at booth A06! Congratulations! Please come collect your item after the auction is over!"


    Lucia smiled and thought, ''Hehe~ this''ll go well with Fina~'' the girl''s happy grin caused Aurellia who was next to her to smile gently.


    The next items of the auction came forward, but Lucia wasn''t interested in any of them.


    "Blurite... Cecil has a bigger chunk with him... meteorite? Ah, that''s not comparable to Chimeratite or adamantium. Pass... a 4 leafed clover? Agh... didn''t we get a whole bunch of those back at the Magic City?"


    Lucia kept mumbling and commenting on the rare materials that were displayed. She had a look of boredom on her face since the items were something that she and Cecil already had. There was even a Mana Seed, but the ones they got from winning the tournament''s first segment was of a higher grade.


    Aurellia had sensitive ears and she could somewhat hear what the girl was mumbling about. It honestly surprised her, since the rare ores and materials were something that the girl said she already had on her.


    Finally, there was an item that mildly piqued Lucia''s interest.


    "Oh! It''s a flame-source magic stone!"


    "Hm? Did you want this Lucia? Let Big sis here buy it for you!"


    "Eh? Oh nonono, I already have this! It''s a bit smaller, but the flame-source is of a better grade and quality. Here let me show you."


    Lucia quickly pulled out a similar stone that was a little bit smaller, but the stone was emitting a much purer flame-source than the one currently being displayed up for auction.


    "...oh..."


    "Well, I could use another one... but I have at least 10 more of those with similar grades... not to mention that they''re expensive... maybe I should sell some of mine for a quick buck?" Lucia said while rubbing her chin.


    "...10 more?" Aurellia was dumbfounded hearing this.


    Just what did Lucia''s party do to acquire such rare materials and items? Unbeknownst to her or anyone in the Academy, Cecil''s party was already a 2-star Platinum ranked adventurer party. The places they had to visit around the Kingdom to complete their quests contained many high-tiered monsters and materials.


    The group was constantly on the move for the past month or so. So the rare materials of the Anglaria Kingdom were piled up in abundance and collecting dust inside their spatial rings.


    The only reason they hadn''t used them yet was because Radon was currently busy with the Kingdom''s order.


    If he had the time, Cecil and his party wouldn''t hesitate to dump all the rare materials onto him and ask the blacksmith to craft whatever suitable equipment that their party currently needed.

 Chapter 132 - Auction 2

    The flame-source magic stone was quickly auctioned away to someone on the same floor as Lucia and Aurellia''s booth.


    It went for as high as 500,000 credits, much more than the previous Frost Wyrm''s Egg. This caused Lucia to frown a bit since something like a Mid-grade flame source magic stone was something she had in abundance on hand. Not to mention the ones that her other party members had.


    "Hmm...Maybe I should sell a couple..." she mumbled.


    On the side, Aurellia who was constantly listening in on her mumblings had thought it be best if she spoke up.


    "Uhm, Lucia?"


    "Mhm?"


    "If you really do have an abundance of those mid-grade source stones, don''t sell them. You''ll attract unwanted attention if you do so... not to mention that those mid-grade source stones are rare materials that could be used in artifact crafting, smelting, or even rune engraving."


    "Yeah, I know... but you''re right. I don''t want to attract any attention to our party... that''d be really bad and Cel would scold me..."


    Aurellia giggled at her reason. The auction continued until it was already deep into the evening. Lucia hadn''t bid for anything after the first auction article, the Frost Wyrm''s egg. She planned on giving that to either Fina or Ainz, whichever one wanted it.


    From its name she could tell that it was a water-elemental monster that one of those 2 could tame and contract as a battle pet. Of course, she could use it as well, but Lucia thought it''d be best if their mages had some extra protection. She was a magic swordswoman so she didn''t really need that extra protection.


    She was just about tell Aurellia that she was going to go back to the academy, but then the lights of the entire auction hall lit up brightly and the MC now had a very serious look on his face.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! Thank you for staying with us until this evening! Now it''s time for our main article, the highlight of this private auction!"


    After some fanfare and nonsense, 4 strong men came up on stage pushing in a large covered-up cart. The cart was constantly shaking and low angry roars could be heard from beneath the cloth. It was obviously some live monster, but what kind of monster could actually be the highlight item of the auction?


    Whatever it was that was trapped inside the cloth covered cart was definitely angry. It kept bashing against the side of the cart that the 4 strongmen that were pushing. They had to take precautions and make sure that the cart itself didn''t topple over.


    The low roars began turning into louder more ferocious ones. It was a little unsettling for the audience on the ground floor, but many people on the higher floors were showing more and more interest in the beast hidden under the cloth.


    Once the cart was finally pushed to the middle of the stage, the men withdrew a couple of feet away from the cart and surrounded it on all four sides. The bashing and thrashing immediately stopped once the men took a distance.


    The MC once again opened his mouth and loudly exclaimed, "Here it is Ladies and Gentlemen! A creature caught by the Royal Family''s Royal Army! We have not found any sort of reference to this rare monster! It is one of a kind and we are not even sure of its race! I present to you..."


    One of the men immediately pulled away the cloth and the monster inside the cage was finally made visible to the audience.


    "The legendary Serpent Dragon!!!"


    "...serpent dragon... what the heck?" Lucia said pensively. She eyed the creature that was inside the cage and mumbled, "Isn''t that just a sea serpent?"


    The creature inside the cage had the characteristics of a sea serpent. It had azure colored scales and a long, thick serpentine body. It was currently being restrained by specially crafted monster suppressing chains, which caused it''s aura to weaken considerably, but the intimidation it gave off as it swept its golden eyes across everyone in the room caused the atmosphere to palpitate oppressively.


    Lucia continued observing the ''serpent dragon'' and saw that it had 4 short limbs on what she thought was the monster''s upper and lower bodies. It had 5 claws on each limb and now that she took a closer look at it, the azure scales on its body was much more prominent than the ones on a typical sea serpent, actually sea serpents don''t even have scales, and their bodies were just sleek and smooth.


    The monster''s head also had antlers on top of it not something a sea serpent would have. It had long whiskers growing near its snout as well, something that was also not characteristic of a sea serpent.


    The peculiar looking sea serpent greatly piqued her interest.


    "I want that!" Lucia abruptly exclaimed. Aurellia was surprised at her sudden exclamation.


    "Eh??"


    Lucia finally remembered where she heard about such a creature. It was from Cecil!


    One day when the two were traveling towards the Anglaria Kingdom''s capital city, Cecil had asked her about what kind of family ruled the Kingdom. Lucia simply explained that it was the Arks royal family consisting of dragonkin.


    There were many dragons on the Urrugdrasil Continent, but only one family had taken up a ruling role on the continent, and that was the dragonkin''s Arks Family. But it had to be known that the dragon''s Lucia described to Cecil were like the western dragons from Earth.


    Cecil told Lucia that on Earth there were two types of dragons, according to legends, there were the Western Dragons and the Eastern Oriental Dragons. The Western Dragons were just like the dragons on Urrugdrasil, they had large bodies with huge wings on their backs, a long thick neck and a head that had large curved or straight horns on it. They also all had a breath attack according to their elemental affinity.


    The Eastern Oriental Dragons were different. They had long slender serpentine bodies, 4 short limbs with 3-5 claws, depending on how pure their bloodlines were. Then there were the characteristic long antlers on their heads and the long whiskers near their snouts.


    The ''serpent dragon'' in front of her perfectly described the oriental dragons that Cecil had told her about. Naturally, she only thought that it was an ''Earth Dragon'', something that originated from Cecil''s world, so no matter what, she had to have it!


    "The starting bid will begin with 1,000,000 gold credits! With each increment no lower than 100,000!"


    "1,100,000!"


    "1,200,000!"


    "1,500,000!"


    "1,600,000!"


    Right after the MC finished his words, the bidding war immediately began. No one on the ground floor said anything and only those from the 2nd floor were currently participating in the bids.


    The 3rd floor remained silent and it was until the price went up to 2,000,000 gold credits that the 3rd floor occupants finally started participating in the bids.


    "2,500,000." A middle aged voice echoed from booth A01


    "2,600,000." Another voice came from a booth on the 3rd floor.


    Even with the 3rd floor occupants joining in on the bid, the participants from the 2nd floor didn''t back down and the auction became much livelier.


    Lucia had kept her silence. It wasn''t that she didn''t want to speak up, but before she could speak, another person would have already stolen the words right from her mouth. Lucia began pouting in her seat.


    She decided to wait until only a few people dared to bid before she started hers. She took a look at the money in her bank card and smiled.


    "Cecil never cared about such monetary gains, so he gave most of the reward money from quests to me... this should be easy... I hope."


    For the past quests even before they enrolled in the academy, Cecil would always give Lucia the bulk of the reward, since most of the time she was the one going out buying their daily necessities. It was especially so since they departed from the Magic City and Lucia began using her quick-casts.


    Those were money eating expendables and Cecil thought that she needed money more than him, so even until now, most of Cecil''s reward money from quests or from the materials they sold were given to Lucia.


    Ever since Lucia no longer had the need to use quick-casts anymore, the girl would always save up the money inside her bank card. Cecil could have started keeping his reward money to himself, but it had become a habit to just give most of his up to Lucia.


    Before enrolling in the academy, Cecil and Lucia didn''t have any spatial rings to store their belongings. So, on their journey they would have to carry whatever stuff they got on hand.


    This included the rare materials and monster materials they got from their quests. Cecil would only keep a high-grade piece to himself as a memento for their adventure, and thankfully, they had Silver, so it was easy for them to move about, but because they couldn''t store the excess materials they just wound up selling most of it off.


    And because of that, Lucia had a little more than 11 million gold credits inside her bank card. She would have had more if they sold off many of their treasures, but now they would store any excess materials into their convenient little spatial rings.


    The bids finally entered the 4 million ranges and Lucia was growing impatient. It''s just some unique, never-before-seen monster, why all the fuss? The bidding finally entered 5 million credits and Lucia could no longer wait.


    "5.5 million!" She immediately yelled out.


    The abrupt jump from 5 million to 5.5 million caused everyone on the 3rd floor to lag a bit, but then a young female voice echoed from booth A05 just next to them.


    "5.6 million."


    "6 million," Lucia countered immediately.


    "..."


    It was clear to the others that whoever it was inside booth A06 wanted the beast no matter what the price.


    Down below on the second floor, the arrogant boy from Booth B02 immediately recognized the voice that had just increased the bid. It was the girl who snatched the Frost Wyrm Egg from him. He smiled slyly and called out,


    "6.1 million!"


    The middle aged man next to the boy stared incredulously at his son. "What are you doing, you fool?!"


    "What? I''m just getting a little revenge... that wretch dared to steal something that belongs to me!"


    "Idiot! What happens if the girl stops her bid right now?! How''re we going to pay that bid you just thoughtlessly shouted out?!"


    "Uh..."


    Thankfully for him Lucia was only a little pissed. She clearly heard the bid coming from the second floor booth B02 and knew that whoever it was that just bid was messing with her.


    Aurellia who was on the side tried to calm Lucia down, but the girl only loudly said, "8 million!!"


    "..."


    "..."


    The huge jump immediately caused everyone in the venue to quiet down. Some of the masters from the clans in the booths started chuckling.


    "Whoever''s daughter this is must be spoiled beyond belief."


    "It''s just some unique looking sea serpent, why so serious?"


    "The little one must not be that experienced, at least she''s rich enough to throw money around. Just whose prominent daughter is this?"


    While the a.d.u.l.ts were laughing, the youngsters were curious at who it was that threw around such a large amount of money. Other than this large bid, adding with the previous bid that the girl from A06 made, the total amount of money she spent was already over 8 million gold credits.


    Not even a year''s worth of allowance was enough for them to rack up that many gold credits. When people began paying closer attention to the booth, they were reminded that the person inside was supposed to be from the Golden Fox Clan.


    "...were they always that rich?"


    "The Golden Foxes sure have hidden themselves deeply. Do they perhaps know a thing or two about that monster?"


    "..."


    Thanks to Lucia''s reckless spending, many began to turn a curious eye towards the Golden Fox Clan''s private booth.


    "Uh oh... uhm... sorry... Aurel..." Lucia apologized after she realized her impulsive action had done something unfavorable for her new friend.


    "Ahaha~ it''s okay. Well, I guess this should wrap up today''s auction, yes?"


    With the third and final knock from the MC, Lucia had successfully won the auction for the last article, the Oriental Dragon. The MC announced the conclusion of the auction and asked for the successful bidders to come to the rear hall to pay and pick up their items.


    Lucia was just about to stand up, but suddenly Aurellia grabbed her hand.


    "Wait, Lucia... here, put this on."


    Aurellia took out a black hooded cloak and handed it over to Lucia. The girl immediately got what Aurellia was hinting at and dr.a.p.ed the cloak over her. She pulled on the hood and covered her face. She picked up Silver and stuffed him underneath the cloak as well.


    Once she was finished, Aurellia led the girl out of the booth. The hallway was already filled with people coming out of their booths. Aurellia could make out many of the prominent clans based in the Anglaria Kingdom at a glance.


    They too eyed the girl and then shifted their gazes to the cloaked person behind her. They were naturally curious, but they knew that it was better not to pry. Although the Golden Fox Clan had some ups and downs in the past couple of years, they were still among the top 5 family clans in the Kingdom.


    No one dared to mess with them and since the girl in the cloak was a guest or member of the clan; it would be disrespectful of them to probe. Of course, this was only on the surface. In the dark, they would without a doubt try to figure out this person''s identity.


    It was obvious that the cloaked person was a female and she was still very young, considering her height and the youthful voice they had heard earlier when Lucia was bidding.


    They needed to figure out whose daughter this was since she could easily throw around such a large amount of money. It was obvious that the girl wasn''t part of the Golden Fox Clan, because if she was, then there was no need for her to hide her identity under a cloak.


    She had to have come from some other prominent family outside of the Kingdom.


    Lucia and Aurellia wordlessly, but confidently made their way down towards the back hall.


    Lucia quickly flashed her bank card and easily paid the 8.4 million gold credits that she owed the auction house. She picked up the Frost Wyrm Egg and weighed it on her hand. From afar, a jealous gaze was eyeing Lucia who was holding the egg.

 Chapter 133 - Yunaria

    Lucia quickly stored the egg into her white ring. She had the rings on the same hand so she could do it discretely without anyone knowing.


    She then turned towards the cage that had the dragon and wondered how she would bring it back with her to the academy without attracting attention. She couldn''t store it inside her ring because it was a living creature so she was stick in a dilemma.


    "Hmmm... what to do..."


    ''Oi, girly...''


    "Eh?"


    A voice suddenly sounded inside her head, it was the voice of an unfamiliar woman. The voice obviously didn''t come from Aurellia who was next to her. Lucia quickly looked around, trying to find whoever it was that just talked to her.


    It was only Aurellia that was close to her, there was no other person nearby. She looked confused, but then she just shrugged her shoulders.


    "Maybe I''m just hearing things."


    ''Yeah, you''re hearing me.''


    "!!!"


    The dragon that was inside the cage was currently eyeing her and Lucia looked back at the serpentine dragon.


    "Y-you?"


    ''Of course, it''s me. Hrmmm... I like your soul, it''s pure. Now hurry up and let me out of here.''


    "Uhhh..." Lucia only stared back in amazement. The monster could actually communicate with her!


    Aurellia told Lucia that she would go and collect her items and left her there next to the cage.


    "You can talk!"


    ''Of course I can! Well, maybe not talk, but I can still communicate with you.''


    "Cool! It''s just like what Cel said!"


    ''Listen girly, you can just communicate with me using your mind. Don''t speak up so loudly, I don''t want the others to know...''


    "Oh!" Lucia then began focusing and communicating with her mind. ''Okay!''


    ''Quick learner, well come on. Let me out. And unbind these wretched things!'' The dragon said as it wriggled its body uncomfortably. The chains restraining its body were obviously not to her liking.


    ''But... you''ll runaway...right?''


    ''Hah? Well, I don''t have the strength to do so! And besides those guards will probably restrain me if I try anything.''


    ''How do I know you''re telling the truth?''


    ''A dragon cannot lie!''


    ''...''


    ''...''


    The two remained silent and Lucia began scrutinizing the dragon, staring deeply into its eyes. Seeing as the dragon was only staring back at her calmly, Lucia shrugged and pulled out her katana.


    A staff member nearby saw this and quickly scrambled towards her.


    "M-miss! This is an incredibly rare creature! You don''t plan on simply... killing it do you?"


    "Hah? No way, I bought this thing using my money, why would I kill it?" Lucia retorted.


    "Eh? So... why pull out a... sword?"


    "Oh. I just wanna release it now, since it''d be hard to push the cage around."


    "R-release it?"


    "Yeah."


    "Did you form a pact with it already? If you already have, we can immediately unlock the cage and remove its restraints. If not, then please leave it inside the cage. The last time we tried to move it to a bigger cage, it started to rampage around."


    "..."


    Lucia turned silent and quietly eyed the dragon. It looked a bit anxious. The dragon lowered its head and spat something out. The object flew out towards Lucia and she quickly caught it.


    The object in her palm was a drop of azure colored blood. The staff member widened his eyes seeing this and Lucia turned her attention back towards the dragon and asked,


    ''What''s this for?''


    ''That man said we needed a pact, so I''m forming a pact with you.''


    ''...with me?''


    ''Yes! At least your soul is pure... I don''t want to form a pact with a tainted or uncultured soul, actually I don''t want to form a pact with any of you beings!''


    ''...''


    ''But, it seems that I won''t gain my freedom if I don''t do so. So hurry up girly, drink the blood and form a pact with me. This way I can be freed from this awful place.''


    Lucia nodded silently and quickly drank the blood. The staff next to her was about to stop her, but then regretfully shook his head once he saw the blood go down her throat.


    Inside her cloak, Silver felt a little uncomfortable and popped its head out from underneath the cloak.


    The dragon saw the white pup and it widened its eyes.


    ''A Fenrir?!''


    Silver tilted its head in confusion and barked back at the dragon. Meanwhile, Lucia''s body began to feel a little bit hot and she felt a little uncomfortable after she ingested the dragon''s blood.


    After a short moment, Lucia''s body returned back to normal. She felt something pricking the skin on her upper arm. She quickly rolled up the cloak and saw an azure tattoo forming on her arm.


    It had a simple design much like the dragon in the cage''s figure. It was a coiling oriental dragon tattoo that was azure in color.


    ''That''s the symbol of our pact. Now can you please let me out of here?''


    "Sure... hey, I''ve formed a pack with her. Please let her out now."


    The staff looked a little regrettable, but he quickly complied with her orders. The staff quickly unlocked the cage. He called out for some guards to come over and they helped him unlock the bindings that were restraining the dragon.


    The dragon didn''t go on a rampage after its bindings were undone. Once the staff member and guards backed away a little, the dragon slowly got out of the cage. The dragon coming out of its cage caused a small commotion to erupt. Now that its body was finally free, Lucia saw how big the dragon actually was.


    The dragon''s body had a length of at least 10 or so meters. It was pretty long despite being able to fit snugly inside that cage, Lucia looked up at the dragon and asked, ''Hey, is this just how big you are or can you adjust your size just like Silver here?''


    ''Hmmm? You mean that Fenrir? I guess I can, but I have a better option... though I don''t want to transform in front of all these... things.''


    ''Transform?''


    ''Let''s head out, girly.''


    ''My name''s Lucia by the way! Stop calling me girly all the time!''


    ''...okay.''


    Aurellia came back in a hurry when she saw the commotion. She paled a little when she saw the dragon out of its cage, currently floating in front of Lucia. To her, it seemed as if the dragon was staring down at the girl menacingly, when in fact the two were only communicating with their minds.


    Aurellia was about to call out to Lucia when suddenly, the dragon began moving its body. It moved in a circle around Lucia, spinning in a clockwise direction. Mist began pouring out of its body and soon it enveloped the dragon and the girl together.


    The a gust of wind began blowing in the large hall and the mist began to glow faintly, then suddenly, the wind stopped blowing and the hall returned to its peace. As the mist began to fade, everyone finally saw that the girl in the black cloak and the serpentine dragon was no longer present inside the hall.


    The two had suddenly vanished! Aurellia immediately began panicking. She rushed forwards and found no trace of the girl or the dragon. She quickly dashed out of the auction building and immediately began searching for the girl. She even contacted her faction and issued an emergency faction quest.


    "Search for Lucia Yukihime! Any info about her whereabouts will earn you all faction points! Depending on the info, you''ll receive more points! Also, don''t anyone try and harm or force her! This is only a search so keep that in mind!!"


    Many of the idle members of the faction saw the new quest that was put up and they immediately got busy. Though they were puzzled why their faction was making a move on the one person their leader told them not to provoke.


    The entire faction immediately set off to do the quest, but their movements and actions didn''t escape the prying eyes of the other factions. They began wondering why the Royal Foxes were looking for the girl. They could only speculate and not find the real reason.


    The girl in question however had just arrived at a rocky terrain. When the dragon began spinning around her, Lucia was naturally curious and asked which the dragon responded that she would bring them out of the auction house.


    Lucia took a quick look at her surroundings and felt that it was a little familiar. Like a place where her party had been to before when doing a quest.


    "Ah! Isn''t this the Anglaria Mountains close to the city?"


    ''That''s right gir¡ªLucia.''


    "Well, since we''re all alone now, explain what you meant by ''transform''!"


    Right after her words, the large dragon''s scales began glowing in a brilliant azure light. Lucia shielded her eyes since the light was a bit glaring. Once the glowing stopped Lucia took a look ahead and couldn''t find the large body of the dragon anymore.


    In its place was a n.a.k.e.d young and voluptuous young lady. She didn''t look much older than Lucia, maybe just 3-4 years older. Lucia''s eyes widened a little and she immediately asked.


    "Are you that dragon?!"


    "Yes I am. My name''s Yunaria, nice to meet you, Lucia."


    "Ah! Nice to meet you too, Yuna!"


    "Yuna? Hmmm I like the sound of that. By the way... you wouldn''t happen to have any spare clothes around would you?" the humanoid form Yunaria asked unabashedly.


    "Oh! Here you go!" Lucia quickly took out some clothes that she had just bought earlier today and gave them to the n.a.k.e.d girl. Yuna quickly donned the clothing, but felt that they were a little too tight.


    "Don''t you have anything else?"


    "Sorry, I don''t have anything your size...let''s just head back to the city and go buy some!"


    "...alright, though I disdain to go back to such a place."


    "Don''t worry. We won''t be going back to the auction house. We''ll be shopping in a different store."


    "..."


    Lucia took another look at Yuna. The humanoid form of the dragon was a really stunning beauty. Yuna seemed to be around 17-18 years old and she had curves at just the right places, her face was decorated with small azure scales on the sides of her cheeks and also on the top of her long elf-like ears. She had antlers on top of her head and her hair was a wavy azure color that stretched all the way down to her buttocks.


    Lucia didn''t see the whiskers which she thought would be a little amusing if Yuna did have those on her face. The girl had golden eyes, similar to Cecil''s. She also had a long dragon tail growing out from her rump, it was covered in brilliant azure scales and she could see that her fingers and feet were also covered in the same scales and her nails were claw-like.


    After taking in her features, Lucia then spoke up,


    "I''d like to ask... but what''s a pact?"


    Yuna was just about to walk in the direction of Angla City, but then she stumbled after hearing Lucia''s question.


    "Y-you... you formed a pact with me without even knowing what it was?!"


    "Uhuh~ so, what is it?" Lucia innocently asked.


    Yuna had a dumbfounded look on her face. She began pinching her eyebrows a little in exasperation and began explaining.


    "A pact... is something that''s mutually formed between 2 individuals. One can form a pact using an intermediary like blood or some other object. A pact ties the two individuals together in a bond that entwines their souls together."


    "...okay."


    "Simply put, it means that my life is your life and your life is my life."


    "I see. Is there anything else?"


    "What do you mean by anything else?! Do you even understand what you just did?!"


    "Well yeah, it means that our lives are connected now right? So if I die, you die and vice-versa, right?"


    "...yes, except since I was the initiator of our pact, your life won''t be in any danger if I die. You''ll just experience a momentary pain of loss that originates from your soul."


    "Okay~"


    "...You seriously don''t get what I meant by my life is your life do you."


    "Nope~"


    Yuna let out another exasperated sigh at her uncaring response. The dragon girl began explaining in detail what it meant by them forming a pact.

 Chapter 134 - Pact

    Yuna began explaining to Lucia the details of the pact. After the explanation, Lucia was immediately enamored by the sudden gains that she got from forming a pact with the Oriental Dragon.


    "That''s amazing! I can use all your skills and spells then?" Lucia exclaimed excitedly.


    "...that''s the gist of it." Yuna replied, a little out of breath.


    "I''d like to test them, but we should go back and get you some clothes first~"


    "..."


    "Oh yeah! The mist-like teleportation magic, can I use that too?!"


    "It''s called Misty Gate and yes, you can use it, but the mana needed is a little on the steep side."


    Yuna began explaining the method to activate the Mist Gate and Lucia quickly understood. It was similar to the Headmaster''s Space Gate.


    "So all I have to do is visualize the place I want to go to right?"


    "Yes, it has to be a clear and precise image! If it''s off by even a little bit, then the gate won''t open at the exact spot that you want, but somewhere near the area you visualized or sometimes it won''t activate at all! In worst case scenarios the gate might just teleport you to somewhere else entirely. So remember! Clear image!"


    "Okay!"


    Lucia closed her eyes and began picturing her dorm. Once she got a good visual she immediately began circulating her mana. Unlike Yuna who only needed to activate it on a whim, Lucia had to chant an incantation to activate the Misty Gate.


    Once she finished with the chant, mist began to gather around her body and form a ''door'' in front of her. Once the Misty Gate took shape, Lucia opened her eyes and smiled in satisfaction. She quickly jumped right into the gate.


    "W-wait! Oh... this girl!" Yuna was exasperated by her reckless behavior. Lucia didn''t even check to make sure that the coordinates were correct before jumping into the gate. Yuna sighed and followed after the girl.


    When she exited the gate, Yuna found herself inside a cozy living room. There were neat decorations in the room. She looked around and found Lucia taking off her cloak in the middle of the room.


    "...where is this?"


    "This is my dorm! I''m a student in the academy."


    "Okay..."


    Lucia then went into her room and left Yuna and Silver alone in the living room.


    "...hey, fenrir... you got a name?" Yuna asked the pet form Silver.


    Silver nodded his head and barked, "Woof!"


    "...Silver huh. What''re you doing with that foxkin girl?"


    "Woof! Woof, woof!"


    "She''s the mistress? Wait, you mean she''s not your owner?"


    "Woof!" Silver replied as he bobbed his head up and down.


    "Oh... so where is your owner?"


    "Woof!"


    "Out? And he left you here?"


    "Woof!"


    "...so you''re here to protect your mistress... well she won''t be needing you anymore since I''m here now."


    "RAWR!"


    "Hmph."


    When the two finished their exchange in a huff, Lucia exited the room with a black cloth in her arms. She then went up to Yuna and handed the large black cloth to her.


    "Here Yuna, use this for now. It''d be really awkward if you went out in those tight fitting clothes."


    "...yes."


    Yuna took the black cloth and dr.a.p.ed it over her body. The black cloth was actually the cloak that Aurellia had given to Lucia earlier. Lucia had modified it a bit so that it could at least cover Yuna to some degree.


    After that, Lucia took a look outside and saw that it was getting dark. "We should hurry! The store might close any minute if we take too long!"


    Lucia grabbed Silver and then took Yuna''s hand and quickly dashed out of her dorm. She made her way out of the dorm complex, dashing straight for the academy district''s shopping area.


    Along the way, she found people pointing at her and exclaiming. Some even tried to block her path while telling her to stop. Lucia just pushed them away using her steam magic and her newly acquired ''mist'' magic.


    Yuna the Oriental Dragon didn''t actually specialize in any of the 7 major elements. As a dragon she had her own unique draconic magic, but she did lean towards the water and wind element to some degree.


    The mist magic that she''s shown Lucia was a combination between the water, wind, and her unique draconic elements.


    With their pact, Lucia was also able to use this draconic element of hers. She didn''t really know the underlying principle or traits that endowed this draconic element, but in time she would explore and make this element hers.


    Now, with the addition of the unique draconic element, Lucia could now use fire, water, and wind elemental magic. Wind was an elemental that she had little affinity with before, but after ingesting Yuna''s blood and forming a pact with her, she felt strangely in harmony with the wind element now. This was something she greatly welcomed, since her goal from the start was to master all 7 major elements!


    Lucia and Yuna quickly arrived at the store that Lucia was heading to and made their way inside. It was a little empty since the store was about to close. When the staff saw the two girls walk in, they immediately stepped forward to service the two.


    Lucia left the choices to Yuna since she didn''t have any sense of fashion. She also didn''t know what type of clothes Yuna liked, so she left it for the dragon girl''s own discretion, telling her not to worry about the price. Even after spending so much earlier at the auction, she still had a little over 2 million gold credits in her bank card.


    Yuna quickly asked for some recommendations and the staff helped her pick out some clothes. Once she saw them, she didn''t think twice and just asked to pay for them. After taking a couple of sets, they went to look for some lingerie.


    This time Yuna personally picked them. After she was satisfied, they paid for the clothing and walked out of the store. Lucia had kept all the clothing into her black ring while Yuna had put on one of the sets of clothes that she liked before walking out of the store.


    When they arrived outside, a large crowd greeted them.


    "...?" Lucia looked around a little puzzled, Yuna did the same. The dragon girl leaned down towards Lucia and whispered, "Weren''t these the guys that you pushed away earlier?"


    "...Oh? Yeah, you''re right!" Lucia then turned towards the crowd of people and asked with a smirk, "What? You wanna fight?"


    "!"


    "..."


    "N-no! Nononono!"


    Many in the crowd immediately became fl.u.s.tered. A small boy came forward and saluted while shouting.


    "Our faction leader requested us to look for you! Can you please wait as we inform her?!"


    "Leader?"


    "Yes! We''re from the Royal Fox Faction!"


    "Oh! Big sis Aurel?"


    "B-big s-sis?" The little boy stumbled at her words, but then he regained his composure. "Yes! Leader Aurellia asked us to look for you! So can you please wait here?!"


    Lucia remembered that she accidentally ditched Aurel back at the auction house. Yuna had abruptly taken her away, so she didn''t have the time to inform her.


    Lucia then walked to the side where a nervous food stall owner was selling some meat patties and said, "Hey, mister! Can I have 5 please?!"


    "Eh? Uh...sure...here you go young miss!" the stall owner quickly wrapped the patties in a bag and handed it to Lucia. The girl paid for the food then walked to a bench just next to the stall and began eating quietly. She beckoned for Yuna to come sit beside her and handed her some as well.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The crowd in front of them became a little confused and looked at each other in silence. The small child who first saluted to Lucia quickly got the hint and said to his faction members,


    "Hey, one of you, go and inform the leader..."


    "Already did boss."


    "...okay...everyone else. You''re dismissed. I won''t forget to mention you all later."


    The crowd immediately dispersed, leaving only the small boy together with a handful of people staying behind. Lucia saw this and shrugged. She didn''t mind them and continued eating her meat patty.


    Not long after, a fl.u.s.tered Aurellia appeared running down the road towards them. She had a very worried look on her face. The golden foxkin quickly ran towards Lucia, ignoring her subordinates who just greeted her. She began inspecting the girl for any injuries and heaved a sigh of relief seeing that she was okay.


    "Lucia! How come disappeared like that?!"


    "Oh... uhm... gulp. The dragon brought me away with its magic! Well I''m fine now so it''s alright!"


    "Oh... so where''s the sea serpent?"


    When the words sea serpent came out of Aurellia''s mouth, Yuna immediately frowned and spoke up,


    "I''m not some low grade sea serpent!"


    "Eh?"


    Aurellia finally noticed the beautiful young lady next to Lucia who was also in the midst of eating a meat patty.


    "Pardon?"


    "I said I''m no sea serpent. Those worms aren''t even fit for comparison! So it''d be tactful of you to call me a dragon instead of some serpent."


    "???"


    "Ah, big sis, this is nom nom gulp... Yuna! She''s actually that dragon that I bid for earlier!"


    "Huh??!"


    "Nice to meet you, girly, I''m Yuna. Just like Lucia said I''m that dragon you saw earlier at the...auction." Near the end of her sentence Yuna began gritting her teeth in chagrin.


    "Uh? Oh... he-hello... I''m Aurellia...ah?"


    While Aurellia was standing there in confusion, Lucia and Yuna continued eating their meat patties happily. Seeing the two eating so happily, Aurellia released a sigh and went to order some too, she then sat next to Lucia and began eating as well.


    She called out to her subordinates and told them to take some as well. She''d be the one paying for them. The handful of people cheered and they walked to the stall owner and took some patties.


    While everyone was eating, Lucia and Aurellia began talking about random topics. Aurellia was honestly too tired to ask any more questions about Yuna.


    As they were eating, the student council president suddenly appeared in front of them. "Well, well... what''s this?"


    "Hm?"


    "?"


    "...what do you want Zephyr." Aurellia tiredly spat.


    "Hmph. I thought it was weird that you withdrew from the confrontation last time... it seems that she''s already joined your faction huh?" Zephyr said derisively.


    "Wrong." Aurellia flatly countered.


    "Oh? So why is she not out doing her trial quest when her friends are currently doing theirs?"


    "I''m done~" Lucia said while standing up. She had finished her patty and waved at Aurellia, completely ignoring the student council president.


    "Big sis Aurel, I''ll be going home now~ take care!" Lucia said and cast a Misty Gate to her dorm. Once the gate formed, Lucia jumped through. Yuna stood up and nodded at Aurellia, and then she too walked through the gate.


    The two faction leaders were amazed seeing the Gate, it looked exactly like the Headmaster''s Space Gate, except this one was formed from mist.


    "What the?!"


    "Lucia?!"


    The two exclaimed, but then the Misty Gate began to slowly dissipate. The two could only stand stock still in astonishment. Aurellia''s subordinates were also staring incredulously at the space where the two girls had just disappeared from.


    "Just when did she learn the headmaster''s spell?!" Zephyr exclaimed, a clearly disgruntled expression was present on his face. He clicked his tongue, eyed Aurellia and turned away on his heels.


    "..."


    Aurellia just stood there for a while, before she regained her bearings. She let out a tired sigh and said to the small boy Quri''el, "Quri, tell everyone the mission''s been completed, award any participants their due rewards. I''ll be going back to my dorm now."


    "...alright big sis," Quri''el responded loudly with a salute.


    ******


    This was in an area far away from the capital.


    It was currently late into the night, but you could find a silhouette flickering down on the moonlit road at a high speed.


    "Alright, I''ll be able to make it by tomorrow afternoon!" The person who was traveling at such blinding speeds was Cecil. Although, Lucia kept on warning him to keep his mana in check, Cecil was wantonly using Mana Burst right now.


    He had activated Mana Burst and kept it active from the time he had departed all the way until now without rest. He felt that he could still keep pushing through since his mana didn''t seem to have been decreasing to the red levels yet.


    "I can''t believe my mana levels have improved so much! Ahahahaha!!" Cecil laughed happily. He kept flickering down the road at high speeds, aiming to reach his destination by tomorrow.

 Chapter 135 - Mana Circuits

    Cecil was exhilarated as he traveled through the road at super high speeds. If this was back on Earth, his current movement speed could rival a modern car traveling on a freeway.


    Cecil was currently breaking the known limits of mankind on Alterna, he was traveling using his body alone at a top speed of almost 100 km/h.


    The boy really had to thank her foster mother for this. The items that Anna left for him inside his White Ring really helped him.


    The items inside the ring had cured him of the constant pain he was feeling in his arms. His mana circulation was also hastened as they traveled through the Mana Pathways in his arms. There was a written doc.u.ment in the ring that perfectly described why this was happening.


    It was the Mana Circuits that had now fully formed in his arms. Cecil''s reckless use of Mana had pushed the Mana Pathways inside his arms to transform and evolve into a higher level known as a Mana Circuit.


    Cecil had no prior knowledge to this so he only thought that the pain was actually some internal injury of sorts. To his surprise it was only his pathways that were currently undergoing an evolution to a higher form of Mana pathway.


    The doc.u.ment also pertain the many functions and advantages of having a Mana Circuit. Though the prerequisite of cultivating Mana Circuits was to first reach the Perfected Stage in Mana levels, but for some reason, due to Cecil''s physique he was able to skip all this and directly cultivate the Mana Circuits.


    He welcomed this, since now that he had these Mana Circuits, his efficiency and output of mana was much higher than it was previously. The only downside was that he had the Mana Circuits in only his arms and not on every part of his body.


    He still needed to cultivate his mana pathways and transform them into circuits. Cecil was giddy with excitement when he thought of this.


    Since he already knew the most direct method of cultivating the circuits, all Cecil had to do was implement them into this training regimen. That''s why at the moment, Cecil was constantly overusing the mana pathways in his legs.


    Just like how he overused his pathways in his arms when he used Over Flash, Cecil was currently trying to do the same for the pathways in his legs.


    Cecil had fully activated Mana Burst and he had been constantly pushing his overly abundant liquid mana flowing through his legs.


    It did hurt and ache, but Cecil gritted his teeth and continued. He hoped that by the time he reached his destination, his pathways would have either evolved or were finally in the process of evolving.


    Cecil also remembered to take the medicine that helped heal his pathways that he got as a gift from his foster mother.


    "I should craft a beautiful rune engraving necklace for mother... she''ll absolutely love it. I should ask Lucia when mother''s birthday is so I can give it to her as a present!"


    On the road, Cecil would sometimes see campsites on the sides of the road. As he passed by these campsites, he would kick up a large amount of wind which somewhat startled the people at the camps. He didn''t feel tired yet so he kept pushing onwards.


    *****


    It was only until noon the next day that Cecil arrived at his destination. He was somewhat exhausted from traveling all night. He entered a town close to his trial''s objective and slept at the inn for a bit.


    After having a quick early dinner, he set off heading straight for his trial''s objective. Cecil''s trial required him to collect an earth-source magic stone of any grade from the Lian Mining Valley.


    The Lian Mining Valley was an abandoned mining site that was overdriven by a super large-scale monster tide many years ago. The kingdom had always wanted to clear the valley of the monsters, but unfortunately before they could do so, the Mining Valley had turned into a dungeon.


    It was pretty regrettable for the Kingdom, but now adventurers had another place of convenience to earn a quick buck. The place was a popular sight since many adventurer commissions kept rolling in from the nearby Magic City and Dwarven Tribes that kept requesting for source stones, unique ores found in the mines or for an escort into the dungeon.


    Cecil arrived at the valley''s entrance and saw that it was bustling with activity, even when it was this late.


    To find or mine an earth-source magic stone, one needed to head deep down into the dungeon''s 10th floor. It was a good thing that this particular dungeon wasn''t a floor type, but a field type. The mining valley had shafts that led deep down into the last floor of the mining site, which was the 10th floor.


    For Cecil this was good news since he could just rush down to the 10th floor and not have to explore each floor''s area to look for the stairs that led to the next floor.


    Just as he was about to head into the valley, a party of adventurers called out to him.


    "Hey! Hey!"


    "..?" Cecil turned towards the person who seemed to be calling out to him. He looked around making sure that it was indeed him who the person was calling out to.


    "Hey! You''re the Silent Sword right?!"


    His title was called out so he knew that it was indeed him who the person was calling out for. Cecil remained standing in place and waited for the party to come up to him.


    "Ah! You really are the Silent Sword!"


    Cecil only nodded in response.


    "Haha! Just like your name, you sure are silent!"


    Cecil didn''t have any particular response to this and just stared back at the person. The one calling out to him was a young teenaged tigerkin girl who seemed to be a warrior, judging by her attire, axe and shield that was on her back.


    The other party members were 2 tigerkin and another 2 catkin, making it 5 people in total with the tigerkin girl in front of Cecil.


    "So, Silent Sword, what''re you doing here? By the way, where''s the Inferno Witch?" The girl began looking around when she couldn''t find Lucia. To the adventurer guilds near Angla City, it was common knowledge that these two were an inseparable party so it was weird seeing Cecil alone.


    Cecil only grunted and pointed at the valley.


    The tigerkin seemed to understand what he was saying and she only nodded her head.


    "Alone I see. You still remember us don''t you?"


    Cecil only responded with a negative shake of his head.


    "Ah...figures... Anyways, a while back, you and the Witch helped us during a pinch! It doesn''t matter if you forgot, but we won''t!"


    Cecil nodded again.


    "My name''s Jena! This is Earl, Lemy, Anta, and Milla! It''s an honor to finally make your acquaintance, Silent Sword Cecil!"


    Cecil nodded to each and every one of the party as a form of acknowledgement. Then he gestured that he would be heading into the valley.


    "Ah wait! You won''t mind teaming up with us for a bit? We''d like to properly express our thanks! We can help you finish your quest!"


    Cecil looked back at them and pondered for a moment before nodding his head in affirmative.


    The party immediately cheered and Cecil began walking into the valley. The 5 members of his temporary party trailed behind.


    Although he wanted to make things quick, Cecil didn''t know the exact situation inside the valley. With people who seemed to have been frequenting the valley, they''d act as a reliable guide.


    The tigerkin girl named Jena walked up to Cecil and asked, "So which floor are you heading to?"


    Cecil raised a finger and made a circle with his other hand.


    "The 10th floor? Are you looking for the earth-source magic stones?"


    Cecil nodded.


    "Alright, we can immediately take you down! We''ve been very active in the mines lately so we know the ins and outs of the place! We''ll guide you through the most efficient way down to the 10th floor!"


    Cecil once again nodded, this time to express his thanks.


    The group quickly made their way down into the valley''s mines. On the way they encountered other parties and some monsters which Cecil promptly took care of. He was training his pathways in his legs so he activated Mana Burst and only focused on the mana in his legs.


    He quickly took care of any monster in the party''s path using only his legs to attack. With each circulation of his liquefied mana coursing through his mana pathways he felt the pain and aching become stronger and stronger. It felt just like how it did for his arms.


    All he needed to do was endure until the mana no longer began to leak out of his pathways. Only then would he be sure that the pathways were already on a straight course for evolution. Once that happened, he would take the potions his foster mother had given him to help heal and speed up the evolution of his pathways.


    ''Crap... it''s painful, but there''s no way I''m turning back now! I''ll make sure all the pathways in my body turn into Mana Circuits! Until then...I can only endure...''


    Cecil gritted his teeth and resolved himself to face the coming pain. After his legs, he would then focus on the pathways in his other body parts. He''ll transform them slowly.


    Actually, in the doc.u.ments that Anna gave him, the most optimum way to cultivate the Mana Circuits was to start with the ones on his torso and abdomen.


    Too bad for Cecil, he wasn''t at the Perfected Mana Stage yet, so when he tried transforming his torso pathways, the assaulting pain almost made him lose his mind. The same went for his abdominal pathways. It felt like his stomach and intestines were being twisted and wrenched apart.


    The pain was too much for Cecil to take. He could forcibly endure, but there was no way he would subject himself to such torture. So he decided to start with his legs instead. His arms were already transformed, so why couldn''t he do it with his legs.


    If Cecil was at the Perfected Mana Stage, his body would''ve already formed pseudo mana circuits and he wouldn''t have been subjected to such torturous pain. He didn''t want to halt his growth so he just took the second best route.


    The group quickly made it into the mines with only Cecil doing the work of fending off the monsters. Although the rest of his party wanted to go forward and help, Cecil was constantly flashing and flickering around the battle field and quickly dispatching the monsters long before his party members could begin attacking.


    Jena and everyone else could only sigh in amazement.


    "Silent Sword... we could help too if you give us the chance."


    Cecil only responded with a shake of his head, he then grunted and began walking ahead again.


    Jena only shrugged and said to her party.


    "Looks like Silent Sword won''t need our help, but we''ll still give him a hand if the monsters prove to be too much for him later!"


    "Alright."


    "Yes."


    The others gave a nod and the group followed after Cecil into the mine.

 Chapter 136 - The Guardian

    Cecil and his party made their way into the mines in a hurried manner. Although Jena and everyone else felt a little uneasy at the speed they were traveling through the mines, Cecil thought otherwise.


    ''We''re making good progress, good thing I agreed to them guiding me.''


    Each and every monster that they encountered was swiftly dispatched by Cecil. He only used his legs to attack. He kept pushing his mana pathways and had Mana Burst constantly active. Other than the time he had slept, he hadn''t stopped using Mana Burst since the time he had departed from Angla City.


    Of course this was only possible because he was limiting the activation to only the mana inside his legs. If he had Mana Burst activated in full the entire time then he would have already fallen into the red.


    He used his family''s martial arts throughout the whole trip through the dungeon. He didn''t let up and made sure to limit his attack to only his legs, even when he was put through some difficult situations.


    The party behind him could only sigh in constant amazement at Cecil''s absurd combat prowess. This was the Silent Sword! He was already so strong AND he hadn''t even taken out his sword yet!


    The monsters that Jena''s party had some degree of difficulty in taking out were being treated as ordinary small fry by the young boy.


    As they continued progressing through the dungeon, they had soon arrived at the 7th floor. Just a little more and they would reach the 10th and final floor of this field dungeon. Cecil had the group stop to take a rest when he saw that his party members were a little winded.


    Cecil asked them to rest while he would go and roam around the floor a bit and continue training. He departed from the small room Jena''s party stopped and began exploring the floor a bit.


    ''It''s indeed just a normal mine.''


    Cecil took a look around the floor and saw abandoned mining carts and mining equipment everywhere. They were all rusty, but he found some to be in good condition when he searched deeper inside what he thought to be storage rooms.


    Many have already found these rooms, but they didn''t deem it necessary to loot the equipment. Cecil scratched his head at this. The pickaxes and other equipment had runes engraved on it so they should have some value when sold.


    He didn''t think about looting them however since there was no need for it. Cecil continued roaming around, dispatching any monster he saw. He also searched for any valuable ore veins. Maybe he could get lucky and find some mithril or orichalc.u.m.


    He kept searching for a while longer, but only found black steel and magic iron. Then he remembered the info that Jena''s party had told him about the mines and shook his head depreciatingly.


    ''I forgot... these mines are only here to mine intermediary level magic ores...''


    The ores in Alterna were divided into 2 different categories, normal ore and magic ore. Normal ores were just like the ones from back on Earth with some differences. Then there was the Magic Ore. Magic Ore was divided into 4 grades, namely, Basic, Intermediary, Advanced, and Top grade.


    Basic magic ores didn''t have much use in refining or forging. They would only be used when creating basic rune engravings for weapons or as supplementary ores when forging. Intermediary magic ores would be used as the core component when forging some mid-grade level weapons, armors, or artifacts.


    Advanced grade magic ores are mainly used by the Kingdom or government of a settlement. These ores are what''s mainly used to craft the army''s weapons and armors as well as any artillery or war weapons.


    Top-grade ores, now that''s something like the adamantium that Cecil and Lucia found the other time. These ores are used as the core components to forge high-level or maybe even legendary-level equipment.


    Lucia''s kodachi and Cecil''s spear fall into the legendary category, while their sword and katana fall into the high-level category. Of course, the two people didn''t know this and only treated these national-level treasures as normal weapons, not caring whether or not they would break when used.


    Cecil returned back to Jena''s party and they went further into the mines. It didn''t take long for them to reach the 10th floor. Cecil was able to quickly find the Earth-source magic stones. He pulled out his adamantium pickaxe and quickly mined the stones out of the walls.


    He mined more than enough and then when he was just about to stop, Cecil suddenly he felt a strange mana pulse coming from the wall where he was mining.


    "?"


    The pulse came again before he was finally sure there was something unusual about the wall he was mining.


    ''What''s this?''


    Cecil continued mining the walls until finally he hit something hard.


    CLANG CLANG CLANG THUNK


    "Oh?!"


    Cecil saw a large ruby colored crystal once he cleared away the surrounding debris. It was large 1 meter sized round crystal.


    ''This''ll be the perfect gem to use to create mother''s necklace!''


    Cecil happily began mining and chipping away at the surrounding walls. The ruby itself was pretty hard. There wasn''t even a scratch on it after taking a hit from Cecil''s full-powered pickaxe strike.


    ''I''ve never seen this kinda gem before! It''s emitting an absurd amount of mana. It''d make the perfect vessel for carving the runes I have in mind!''


    When the earth that was surrounding the large crystal was finally cleared away, Jena and her party approached Cecil from behind and were dumbfounded when they saw the lad mining away. The moment they saw the crystal Jena''s party immediately paled in fright.


    Jena quickly shouted at Cecil, fear clearly tingeing her voice, "Silent Sword!!! S-stop! Stop mining that crystal!!"


    "?"


    Cecil turned around and looked questioningly at Jena. He saw that they didn''t have any greed in their eyes, but...fear?


    ''What''re you guys so afraid of?''


    Behind him, the large red crystal ''blinked''. Jena''s party paled even further when they saw this. The dungeon floor immediately began to rumble and the wall behind Cecil immediately began to crumble.


    "?"


    Cecil looked back at the wall and finally saw the large red crystal ''blink'' once more.


    ''...I don''t think crystals are supposed to do that...''


    "Silent! Run!! That''s the dungeon''s guardian! It''s the crystal-eyed Orobos!" Jena warned. Then she and her party immediately began retreating.


    Cecil followed suit, but he felt a ''gaze'' constantly following him. He turned back and noticed that a ''pupil'' had formed in the crystal and it was following his body.


    ''...''


    Cecil flashed next to Jena and asked in a small voice.


    "The Orobos... is it strong?"


    "Huh??" Jena and her party were genuinely surprised when they heard Cecil talk for the first time. Honestly, every adventurer that knew of him, thought that Cecil was a mute. Jena lagged for a moment before she quickly responded to Cecil''s question.


    "Yes unbelievably! It''s the guardian of the dungeon for a reason! The Orobos is a large golem type nightmare eye! Unlike a normal nightmare eye that uses illusions and beams to hunt, the Orobos uses petrifying beams and earth-elemental magic. Also since it''s a golem you have to destroy its core to defeat it, otherwise it''ll just keep on regenerating endlessly!"


    Cecil nodded hearing this. It was a unique monster that also had a name given to it by the guild. He then asked another question, "Core?"


    "You''ve seen it already! The red crystal is its core or more precisely, the small black pupil!" She said as they kept on dashing towards the ninth floor.


    Cecil contemplated for a moment. The red crystal that he had struck earlier was indeed hard. His strike with the adamantium pickaxe that was backed with at least 80 percent of his power didn''t even leave a scratch on its surface.


    Of course he didn''t have Mana Burst active, but Cecil was currently weighing his odds of defeating that monster by just relying on his legs alone. He had no plans of using anything else other than his legs.


    ''Hmmmm... I won''t know unless I try. Let''s just do it.''


    Cecil came to an abrupt stop and he quickly turned around.


    "Silent?!" Jena exclaimed seeing his turn around.


    Cecil looked back at the party who had also stopped. He gestured that he would go back to fight with the Orobos.


    "T-that''s reckless!! The Orobos is a SS- ranked monster! Another half-grade and it''ll be considered a natural disaster! You''d need a large party to take that thing down!"


    Cecil only nodded and said, "Don''t worry. I''m strong."


    Then he disappeared from his spot leaving behind only the whistling wind of his departure.


    "WAIT!" Jena had her arm stretched out at the empty space. She was at a loss, not knowing what to do.


    "...Jen... I think we should head out."


    "Huh?"


    "Yeah... we should go back."


    "And leave him here?!" Jena exclaimed incredulously. She couldn''t believe what her party was saying to her. The person that left was one of their saviors. How could they be so heartless as to just leave him by himself to face off with the Orobos?


    The Orobos has been constantly claiming the lives of multiple adventurers and people that have braved their way into the mines. The Orobos was never stationery. There were times when even on the first floor it would abruptly show up and claim the lives of the adventurers and people quietly mining.


    It was the Mine''s guardian monster and the bane of all adventurers that came to the mines.


    "He''ll get killed you know!"


    "And that''s exactly why we should quickly head back!"


    "Huh?"


    "We have to head back! Get some reinforcements, hurry back and support Silent Sword! With just us 5 here, what can we do?!"


    "...you''re right... sorry I wasn''t thinking straight. Let''s go! We have to hurry and put together a team and hurry back! We can''t waste a single second! Milla! You go ahead first. You''re the fastest one here, so go back as quickly as you can and inform everyone in the guild!"


    "A-alright!"


    "There are many who know Silent Sword''s name so make sure you tell them!"


    The catkin Milla quickly activated a wind elemental combat skill and dashed away towards the exit of the dungeon. The party also followed suit and chased after.


    *******


    Back at the large cavern where Cecil first mined the red-eye Orobos'' eye, he and the monster finally met each other face to face.


    "Yo~ sorry about your eye, but I kinda like it. Too bad that I''ll have to destroy now," Cecil greeted with a flippant attitude.


    "GROOOOAAAARRRHHHH"


    The monster issued a loud roar of anger, like it had somehow understood him. Cecil took a look at the Orobos. It had a black iron like body. It was spherical in shape with a large diameter of roughly 5-6 meters. The large red crystal was surrounded by a black iron-like shell. Its shape was reminiscent of an eyeball, except that the ''eyelids'' had sharp spikes growing out of it and the exterior also had similar protruding spikes.


    Cecil smirked seeing this.


    ''I''ll have to push my limits when using only my legs. But this shouldn''t pose a problem for me.''


    Cecil kicked off from the ground and sent his body into rotation as he soared through the air. He quickly arrived in front of the Orobos.


    Cecil channeled the mana from his mana point into his legs and powerfully slammed the Orobos. His rotation along with the Mana that empowered his kick caused the Orobos'' iron shell to crack apart as it was sent flying across the room.


    The monster roared in anger at the sudden surprise attack. Cecil scoffed sensing that the monster was ''saying'' it was a cheap shot.


    "I was right in front of you, what the heck to you mean by chea¡ªwoah!" Cecil''s words were abruptly cut off when a red beam suddenly flew straight at him.


    He quickly dodged out of the way. Cecil was surprised to see the aftermath of the deadly red beam.


    The area that the beam had passed had transformed into a strange white color and then the affected area immediately started crumbling.


    Cecil strained a smile seeing this.


    ''I have to be careful... that looks dangerous.''


    Cecil kicked off the ground and immediately resumed his assault. The fight ensued once again with increasing ferocity as Cecil and the monster began unloading attack after attack on each other.

 Chapter 137 - Orobos

    BOOOM BOOM BANG


    PZZZZTTT SPPZZZZ FWOOOSSSH


    The back and forth exchange between Cecil and the Orobos went on for about another 5 minutes. Cecil was constantly dodging and landing his kicks onto the monster. During their 5 minute exchange, the exterior shell of the monster was cracked and broken down in many places.


    Cecil didn''t let up and constantly pulverized the monster. Many of the protruding spikes were already shattered and broken from the boy''s kicks.


    Throughout the entire fight, Cecil kept to his words and never once used anything other than his legs to attack the monster, although he did kick debris or any broken spikes back at the Orobos, but he still kept using only his legs.


    The Orobos was constantly screeching in pain and agony as well as frustration. Since the start of their fight, it hadn''t once landed an attack on Cecil. The boy was constantly flickering around the monster and dodging its beams that only came from the single opening of its shell.


    As the fight ensued, the cracks and destroyed parts kept piling up on the Orobos'' steel-like exterior, Cecil pushed all the mana in his mana points into his legs and kept up the intensity, not once backing off to take a quick breather.


    He felt pain coming from his legs, but the boy only gritted his teeth and continued his onslaught.


    ''Crap... it''s hurting more and more.''


    Cecil began to grimace when he landed another blow onto the Orobos'' shell. His pathways felt like they were about to split apart and his legs began to tremble in pain.


    He channeled more mana into his legs and landed another follow up kick onto the Orobos. The kick sent it flying into the wall, embedding itself deeply in there.


    Cecil quickly backed off to the far side of the cavern and took a quick breather. The Orobos was still struggling to get itself out of the wall so Cecil checked on the condition of his legs.


    "!"


    ''I...don''t think it''s supposed to look like this...''


    Cecil had activated Mana Sense and examined his mana pathways...and the sight was a little ugly for him to witness.


    The pathways were practically crumbling with many gaps now formed in small intervals on his originally connected pathways.


    ''No wonder I felt that my mana was leaking out more than usual... is... is this a bad sign?''


    Cecil began to worry. The doc.u.ments that his foster mother had sent him stated that his pathways would strengthen and mend itself, forming a stronger link and transform into the Mana Circuits which would then lead to a decrease in mana wastage and leakage.


    The gaps in his broken pathways suggested otherwise, so he felt seriously worried about this. Not to mention that his legs were throbbing and aching in pain as he kept his Mana Burst active. The coursing mana in his pathways also leaked out much more than before.


    Cecil felt like instead of helping his pathways evolve, he had instead just crippled them.


    ''Crap this is bad... maybe mother was right?! I should have started with the pathways on my torso and abdomen first!''


    GHHHHHHRAAAOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR


    The Orobos had finally freed itself from the wall and began thrashing around in fury. It turned its body and its big red crystal eye glared furiously at Cecil. It roared once more and a changed appeared on its crystal eye.


    The ruby red crystal began to crack apart and just like how you would peel an onion, the top red ''layer'' of its eye fell apart and a new amethyst purple ''layer'' took its place.


    Cecil widened his eyes a little, astonished seeing the change. He quickly took a stance and prepared to fight. The Orobos, with its new purple eye, only glared at the boy and once again it roared.


    The red broken crystals that had fallen onto the floor began to levitate into the air and fly towards the Orobos. The crystal fragments smashed into its shell and embedded itself on it. The new form of the Orobos no longer had the protruding spikes on its shell. Instead it was covered with red crystal fragments.


    Cecil took out the potion medicine that Anna had given to him and quickly took a gulp of it.


    ''It''s supposed to heal and mend the pathways, I hope it helps.''


    He directed his Mana Sense to check on his broken pathways and saw the medicine working its magic. Indeed just as Anna had stated in the doc.u.ments, the medicine did heal the pathways. Seeing this Cecil immediately took another 2 vials of the medicine and quickly gulped it down.


    "Phew, let''s go! Round 2!" Cecil shouted.


    Once more he kicked off the ground and flew straight towards the Orobos.


    "HHRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"


    *****


    As Cecil was intensely fighting against the Orobos, Jena''s party had finally arrived outside of the mines. They quickly dashed back towards the Lian Valley''s Adventurer Guild.


    When they arrived, a large commotion was currently ongoing inside the guild hall. The source of the commotion was from the rowdy adventurers who were now questioning Milla, one of Jena''s party members who had gone ahead of the rest.


    "What do you mean the Silent Sword is attacking the Orobos?"


    "Hey, Milla! We know you''ve been active here for a while, so why the hell didn''t your party stop him from fighting that monster?!"


    "Are you crazy?! How could you let him throw away his life like that?"


    The adventurers were constantly shouting and yelling at the catkin girl who was now on the verge of tears.


    Jena immediately rushed forward and yelled.


    "STOP IT!"


    "You!"


    "Jena! It''s you! How could you people do this??!"


    "Let me explain you idiots!"


    The receptionists were helpless in keeping the rowdy crowd of adventurers in check when they heard the sudden news. They kept bombarding the catkin, Milla, with questions and criticism, but now at Jena''s sudden shout, the entire crowd immediately settled down.


    "Silent Sword¡ªno¡ªCecil...he stayed behind to block the monster so that we could escape."


    "Yeah, we heard that already. But why in the world did you guys even go down that deep?!" An adventurer yelled.


    "It wasn''t my idea! Silent Sword had a quest to do that required him to obtain an Earth-source Magic Stone!" Jena countered.


    "Yeah! And please remember that the Orobos randomly appears inside the dungeon, so being on the 1st and 10th floor wouldn''t have mattered!" Earl, the only male member of Jena''s party, immediately shouted in support of his party leader.


    "Tsk... still... bah, never mind..."


    "We could only say that it was their bad luck..."


    "Yeah... the Orobos hasn''t been spotted for weeks already, so it was bound to be somewhere... who knew it was on the 10th floor..."


    "That''s why no one has spotted it yet! No adventurer party has dived down that deep recently!"


    Jena raised her voice once more to stop the crowd from their discussions.


    "Enough! Right now, Silent Sword is still probably fighting that monster as we speak! We have to go down there and support him!"


    "...who''s to say that the monster hasn''t already taken care of him?" A skeptical adventurer voiced out.


    "What''s that?! Hey! I''ll have you know that the Silent Sword is a strongly renowned adventurer! His rank is already enough to prove that he''s abnormally strong! AND! We''ve seen his strength already when we were traveling together earlier!" Jena shouted back.


    "..."


    "We have to help him." A largely built bearkin adventurer said. He had just come down from the 2nd floor of the guild.


    "Yeah. No matter what, he''s an adventurer. He''s one of us!" Another echoed out in agreement.


    "Let''s go! All in favor of going quickly gather outside of the guild and we''ll set off together!"


    The bearkin adventurer whispered something to the guild receptionists and one of them immediately opened her mouth and shouted,


    "The adventurer guild has also sent out an emergency quest for search and rescue! Also if you''re able to destroy the Orobos there''s an additional reward! Any participating adventurer will be rewarded 100 gold credits for the successful rescue of Silent Sword Cecil and an additional 1,000,000 gold credits for the subjugation of the Crystal-Eyed Orobos!"


    The receptionist''s announcement immediately caused the adventurers in the guild to roar and many in the hall walked forward to register for the quest. After quickly registering, the adventurers immediately grouped together in front of the guild.


    Jena was in front of everyone as well as the bearkin adventurer from earlier. His name was Douma and he was like the older brother of every adventurer that was active in the Lian Valley Mining Town.


    "Let''s go Jena! You lead the way!" Douma said.


    "Okay!"


    The large group of adventurers immediately set off towards the mines as fast as they could possibly go.


    They encountered many monsters along the way, but the front most adventurers, other than Jena and Douma''s party, would break away from the large group and hold them off and then the larger group would keep advancing forwards.


    It took a whole 30 minutes for the large group to finally arrive at the 10th floor. With the Orobos now active, the monster activity in the dungeon had upped a level so now their large group was reduced to only a group of 20 adventurers.


    3-4 parties were left from the previously large group of 60 or so adventurers. Their group was cut down by more than half in numbers since many of them broke off to deal with the monsters that the group encountered on the previous floors.


    But what were left was the most outstanding parties that were active in the Lian Mining Valley. When they arrived at the 10th floor, it was oddly quiet.


    Jena and everyone thought that they would hear the deafening sounds of combat when they arrived, but it was strangely quiet to the point of unsettling.


    Jena and her party immediately paled when they thought of the worst case scenario. Douma saw this and immediately reassured the party.


    "Don''t give up yet! He may have not lost, but has only temporarily retreated! We won''t go back until we can confirm his corpse if he''s dead or until we can bring him back with us if he''s alive! Now chin up! Hurry and lead us to where you last saw him!"


    "Y-yes! Th-thanks Douma." Jena and her party thanked.


    "No problem, but let''s hurry! Every second counts!"


    Jena nodded and quickly led the group towards the large cavern room that they last saw the Orobos.


    When they arrived, every member of the group was left astonished at the scene in front of them.


    The entire room was in total destruction. Debris, deep gouges, craters and large cracks decorated the entire cavern. They walked into the place cautiously, but they couldn''t sense nor find Cecil or the Orobos anywhere.


    "D-Douma! Come here!" A member of Douma''s party quickly called out. He was currently holding a large red crystal fragment.


    "I-isn''t this a fragment of the Orobos'' eye?!" Douma exclaimed.


    "N-not just that boss... Look over there." His party member pointed at a location at the far side of the cavern.


    When the group walked over to the location, they saw many crystal fragments littering the ground. There weren''t only red colored fragments, but also purple and black colored fragments as well.


    "...Just, what in the world, happened here?" A member of the group softly said in wonder.


    "...Jena...over there, look," Earl pointed at a crater in the wall close to them.


    "Oh my gosh!" Jena exclaimed with widened eyes as she covered her mouth.


    Everyone in the group also gasped in astonishment at what they saw.


    Inside the crater in the wall, was a large black metal sphere that had many of its areas broken and crushed. The group walked a little closer and saw a large opening on one side of the large sphere. There was also a large empty socket inside that seemed to have held some sort of spherical object in it.


    "...it''s the Orobos..." Douma solemnly said.


    "It''s corpse to be exact." Another member chimed in.


    "The Silent Sword actually beat it!"


    "Yeah... but where IS the Silent Sword?" Douma said as he looked around the cavern.


    The cavern was totally empty. There was no sign of Cecil and the only thing that was proof of his existence was the destruction caused by the aftermath of his fight against the now dead Orobos.


    "Could it be...mutual destruction?"

 Chapter 138 - Another Level of Power

    "Ouch, ouch, ouch..."


    Cecil was currently on a carriage that was heading back towards Angla City. It took him some time to destroy the Orobos by only relying on his legs.


    "Tsk...What kind of guardian was that thing... it was more like some end game boss monster." Cecil grumbled.


    He pulled out a small black crystal from his white ring and rolled it around his hand. "Can''t believe this little thing was actually that monster''s nucleus..."


    Cecil thought back to his fight with the Orobos. It was the most difficult fight he had gone through ever since he arrived on Alterna, other than his first encounter with the Blade Ursa.


    The Orobos had 3 different forms, reminiscent to the boss monsters in games that he''s seen before while on breaks with his brothers.


    The Orobos'' first form was the spiky exterior red crystal form. The next form was the purple crystal form that had the red crystals covering its outer shell. It lost its spikes, but the disgusting part about its second form was that it could shoot petrifying death beams from all the red crystals that were dotting its outer shell.


    The purple crystal was also a pain in the ass to deal with. The large purple beam that it shot out had the ability to bring life to the surrounding earth. Basically the Orobos was splitting its consciousness with the earth and creating smaller versions of its self to assault Cecil.


    The fight only became hard with the red beams of petrification flying about and the mini-orobos'' moving around erratically and smashing itself onto his body. It was a hard fought second round, but Cecil still pulled through.


    The final form of the Orobos was actually kind of easier. The black small nucleus that Cecil was holding in his hand had actually flown out of its protective crystal shell. Then the mini-orobos'' were reinforced by the Orobos'' nucleus with the earth in the cavern so there were 4 bigger mini-orobos'' by the time Cecil finished the fight.


    While still dodging the red beams of death launched from the Orobos'' main body, he waved his way through and solely focused on destroying the small black nucleus.


    The problem was that it turned out to be much harder than he had anticipated. Cecil could only break his promise and pull out his spear. He then kicked the spear and it flew, piercing through the black nucleus.


    Of course, he justified it as him using his legs to ''kick'' a projectile which then ended the Orobos'' life.


    The crystal, after being punctured by the spear, lost control of the 4 mini-orobos''. They crumbled into dirt once more while the main body just fell down from the air powerlessly. The odd part of the nucleus was that after Cecil pulled out his spear, the nucleus quickly recovered into its original shape, only turning a little smaller.


    It began to harden from its polymorphic state and was now the small, fist-sized crystal currently in his grasp. It resembled a piece of obsidian and Cecil now had the perfect ''gem'' to use to craft a necklace for his foster mother.


    He didn''t tarry and quickly made his way out of the mines, he almost came across Jena''s group while he was heading back up to the exit, but they just missed each other on a corner.


    Cecil was going back up the way he came down, but Jena''s group was cutting corners and taking shortcuts through heavily infested monster areas to quickly head down and back up Cecil, thus the two parties missed each other.


    After the tension died down, Cecil didn''t forget to check the condition of his aching legs while he was on his way up. It was surprising but at the same time disgusting. He smelt a foul odor coming from his legs on his way back up. He quickly ripped open his pants and saw thick black-colored foul smelling liquid oozing out of the pores of his legs.


    It almost caused him to retch in disgust. Cecil thought that he must have really damaged his legs to the point of no return. He quickly pulled out some of the potion medicine his foster mother gave him and quickly drank a couple of vials.


    It did help alleviate the aching pain he was feeling, but it only caused the black liquid to ooze out even more than before. He had to use some of his drinking water to wash out the black liquid sticking to his legs.


    To his surprise however, once the oozing stopped, Cecil felt his legs brimming with energy. He tried testing his kicks and felt them much more powerful than before. His kicks even caused the mana inside his body to flow and circulate naturally, which in turn enhanced his kicking power and damage.


    After scanning his legs with Mana Sense, he found the pathways inside his legs had already healed back up. They had also successfully transformed into Mana Circuits.


    It was fortunate that he wasn''t actually crippled or anything. The black liquid that was oozing out of his body just turned out to be the impurities that had piled up inside his lower body.


    The process was actually the marrow cleansing that his elders have always been ranting on and on about. It was his first time experiencing this, but he felt awfully good after all the pain he went through.


    It was odd however that his arms hadn''t gone through the same process, but he could only let it rest since such an occurrence couldn''t be foreseen or controlled.


    With his powers upgraded Cecil happily got onto a carriage and decided to kick back for the rest of his return journey to the city.


    After this, they would be participating in the Dueling Tournament. There was much to hope for, but Cecil thought he could at least unwind during the tournament. Using only his martial arts and no mana would be thrilling.


    At first he was planning on just bulldozing through the tournament with his abilities, but after fighting with the Orobos and limiting himself, he felt that the tournament would be more fun if he didn''t use any mana at all.


    Cecil also wanted to test his newfound body, his legs and arms had upgraded and he thought it was high time for him to just grit his teeth and endure the pain. He had to quickly cultivate the Mana Circuits inside his torso and abdomen regions.


    The awesome feeling of control that he got from channeling his mana through the circuits in his arms and legs were something he yearned for. Since he couldn''t upgrade his body anymore, then maybe he should upgrade his insides.


    The Mana Circuits, his organs, bones, and everything, it was possible! All of it was. All of this was possible through mana. Mana wasn''t something that could only be used for casting spells or a temporary enhancement in physical ability. From his findings alone, Cecil felt that he could practically transform and change his body using mana.


    His legs were already living proof of this. Although he was supposed to cultivate on the Mana Circuits, but with the mana that leaked from his broken pathways, it had somehow washed his muscles, bones, and ligaments, upgrading his body into a higher level.


    Unlike his usual body training where he would develop his muscle mass, resilience, and power, the washing of mana on his legs were like a qualitative transformation. It was very painful to do, and he literally had to destroy his mana pathways in order to achieve it, but the resulting transformation was something he dearly wanted.


    The only problem was that... it was really painful. Just from destroying the pathways in his legs, it had almost caused him to be disabled. If not for the medicine his foster mother had given, he wouldn''t know how to heal back his pathways and not become a cripple.


    It was even more dangerous for him to do it on the pathways on his torso and abdominal region. Just from overusing the pathways it had caused him so much pain, just thinking about what kind of pain he had to endure to break open his other pathways... really frightened him.


    Also, he had to procure more of the potions since they seemed to be the only things that could heal and patch up his mana pathways.


    ''Once I get back to the city... I better write a letter to mother...I hope she has more of that, if not I''ll try and help her gather the ingredients so she can craft more.''


    It was already deep into the evening by the time his carriage had set off, so now they were going to camp out for the night.


    Cecil quickly set up his sleeping bag and quietly went to sleep. It was a good thing that the carriage had hired adventurers to escort them back. None of the adventurers recognized Cecil as Silent Sword however.


    If they knew, then his presence would surely cause a commotion. Since just earlier today, there was an emergency quest that was issued for his rescue.


    Cecil of course didn''t know this and just silently snoozed away.

 Chapter 139 - Dragon

    Once Cecil got back to the city 3 days later, he was now sitting together with Lucia in his dorm. The girl had come after learning that Cecil had come back yesterday.


    She was also pouting and scolding him because after hearing about Cecil''s recklessness when he was fighting the Orobos and the subsequent near-loss of his legs, it really frightened the girl. She didn''t see the bracelet fall into the orange levels, but that was because of Cecil''s mana manipulation.


    Cecil was helpless and Lucia kept on scolding him, he didn''t have any way to retort since in other people''s perspective, what he did was really dangerous. Fighting a SS ranked monster while limiting yourself was beyond stupid. A small mistake and Cecil would have been petrified and turned to dust.


    Another reason why Cecil couldn''t retort to Lucia was because half of his attention was on something else... it was towards the other girl that was presently inside his dorm.


    Someone that Cecil had never seen before. An azure long haired girl with antlers on her head, she had similar colored scales decorating her cheeks and a long scaly tail growing from her rump. She was sitting next to Lucia like it was the most proper thing to do and quietly sipping on her tea, like it was nobody''s business.


    Cecil had wanted to ask Lucia who the...azure girl was, but he couldn''t get a word in.


    "Stupid! Are you listening! Stop staring so much at Yuna and look here!"


    "Uweh?"


    Lucia had stomped over next to Cecil and brought his face facing hers, she was glaring at him and Cecil was at a loss.


    "Uhm... Lulu, before you continue scolding me... you mind explaining who she is? And what''s she doing in my dorm? And why she''s sitting there like it''s nobody''s business?"


    "..."


    "..."


    The two stared at each other for a moment before Lucia released his face with a huff.


    "Hmph. Well, I guess I should tell you about Yuna first, but still... our business isn''t over. You''re getting another earful from me after this!"


    "Yes, yes..." Cecil said as he rubbed Lucia''s fox ears, which earned him a cute blissful smile from the girl.


    ''Ah that healed me.''


    Lucia slapped Cecil''s hand away right after, she thought it was only his way of trying to escape his punishment later.


    "Well, first of all, let me introduce you to my new friend! Her name''s Yunaria! You can call her Yuna for short! Guess what Cel, she''s actually an Eastern Dragon!"


    "Oh... dragon... dragon? Eastern Dragon?!" Cecil lagged a little when he heard the word ''dragon''. He snapped his head to the young lady who was sipping her tea elegantly. "Woah! So you''re a dragon? You sure don''t look like one!"


    "Hmph. How rude, this is just my humanoid form," Yuna said as she rose from her seat. "Anyway, nice to meet you, Cecil, I''m Yuna. I''ve been hearing a lot about you from Lucia...hrmmm... so I guess you''re the master of the fenrir huh?"


    "Hm? Well, nice to meet you too! When did you guys meet?" Cecil asked turning towards Lucia.


    "We met at the auction! She was actually going to be sold off, but I bought her instead!"


    "...what?"


    "L-Lucia! Please... don''t talk about that anymore... what a disgrace... to be treated as an object like that... kuuuuhhhh..." Yuna''s face blushed red in embarrassment. She started clenching her fists together. That was a pretty humiliating experience after all.


    "Uhm... so like, you''re a dragon right? How the heck did you get caught and placed as an auction item?" Cecil asked.


    "..." Yuna''s face turned dark and she showed a conflicted look. "A-actually... I didn''t get caught because I was weak or anything. I was actually taking a quick rest stop on top of the mountains close to this city. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was inside of a cage..."


    She explained with an awkward expression. Cecil started laughing when he heard this.


    "Ahahah~ a dragon? Caught in her sleep? That''s waaayyy to funny!"


    "Sh-shut it! Do you want to be blown to bits?!"


    Hearing Yuna threaten Cecil, Lucia naturally had to speak up.


    "Hey, Yuna."


    "Hm?"


    "...don''t threaten him. He''s stronger than me and he''ll probably beat you to a pulp..."


    "Huh???"


    "Trust me... I don''t want to lose a friend. The last guys that tried to threaten him... didn''t come out so well..." Lucia said solemnly.


    "..."


    "Hey, hey! What''re you trying to do Lulu? Why''re you scaring Yuna like that?! I''m not some devil! And beside we''re only playing around!"


    Yuna and Lucia have sparred with each other during the past couple of days. Yuna didn''t want to, but Lucia wanted to assess her combat capabilities. To the dragon girl''s surprise however, Lucia was actually able to keep up with her.


    And to her astonishment, she was actually forced to a draw when they were only comparing magical combat abilities. Yuna had praised Lucia for being a young and accomplished mage, but the girl said that she was more of a melee fighter than a mage.


    Now that this talented young girl had actually said that the boy in front of her was much stronger than she was... Yuna could only silently stare back and think, ''where did these two monsters come from?''


    Magical capabilities rivaling that of a dragon and physical prowess that practically makes them superhuman, she first thought such a unique existence was only limited to one person, her master. Now she found out that there was one more, an even stronger one at that.


    "So...you''re just like Lucia? But stronger?" Yuna asked hesitantly.


    "Well... I guess you could say that. I did train her after all," the boy replied with a grin.


    "..."


    While Yuna turned speechless, Lucia was smiling proudly at the side.


    "By the way, I hear that the dragons on Urrugdrasil are mostly those of the winged and large bodied type. If you''re an Oriental Dragon like Lucia said you are, that means you have a long body like that of a snake''s right?"


    "Hm? Yes, that''s exactly how I look like in my dragon form... what of it?"


    "You don''t happen to know anything about a place called Earth, do you?"


    "Earth? What''s that?"


    "...never mind. Let me ask something else, the dragons on Urrugdrasil are mostly that of the winged type, so are the dragons like you rare or something?"


    "Not really. In every 10 dragons, there will be at least 1-2 that are born with body features such as mine. We''re not that rare. It''s just we''re a bit unique and after we''ve grown up, our kind mostly go out and live in the oceans or skies, rather than stay here on the ground."


    "Ah! It''s no wonder the auction house couldn''t identify you!" Lucia exclaimed.


    "...yeah."


    "So, why are you here and not at your home Yuna?" Cecil asked.


    "Well, you see. I was interested in the world as a whole. So I decided to go around traveling. I''m still young you know. I don''t wanna live my life cooped up in the skies and ocean all the time."


    "Ah, so you''re just a wander-l.u.s.t dragon then!"


    "Uhmmm... adventurous is the better name!"


    "Hahaha!"


    "..."


    "Great timing then, me and Lucia here, are planning to travel to the Midgard continent after we graduate!"


    "Oh!! I lived in the skies above the Urrugdrasil Continent, so I''ve never seen the next continent over. Huhu~ it looks like I won''t be regretting forming that pact with Lucia!"


    "Hey! What''s that supposed to mean?!" Lucia quipped after hearing Yuna.


    "Ahhhh... finally I have something to look forward in this long life of mine..." Yuna happily hummed.


    "Long life? How old are you Yuna?" Lucia asked, a little curious.


    "Hmmm... ever since I was hatched... I''m at my 176th year!"


    "1-176?!"


    "...how is that... young?" Cecil asked incredulously.


    "Hey! I''m still young! Don''t you see that my humanoid form is close in age to you guys?! In your time scale, I''m still 17 years old! I''ll soon be turning 18, but that''s in another 4 years!"


    "..."


    "...well, whatever, I guess. You''ll be sticking with us now, Yuna. But you''re gonna have to wait another year or two before we set off for the Midgard Continent."


    "No biggie, a year or two will pass by quickly for me~"


    Cecil smiled slightly. With another member added to their party, it''s going to become even more rowdy now.


    "Ah! Yuna! Why don''t you enroll into the academy as well? It''ll be a good time killer and you won''t have to wait on us when we go to class!"


    "Oh? That does sound interesting."


    "Right?! Then it''s settled, we''ll have you enroll here! We can go ask the headmaster to enroll you right away!"


    Lucia quickly stood up and was just about to drag Yuna over to the headmaster, but Cecil stopped her.


    "Hey, Lulu, wait a moment."


    "Hm? What is it Cel?"


    "Let''s wait for everyone else to come back first. We still have to turn in our trial quests remember? We can talk to the headmaster then. It''d also be better for us if we introduced everyone to her before we approach the headmaster."


    "Okay!"


    "Wait... there''s more of you?"


    "Huh? Oh yeah, we have a party! We have 4 other friends with us!"


    "D-don''t tell me they''re all abnormally strong like you two..."


    "Hahaha, no way~ they still have a long way to go before they catch up to us, but they''re strong in their own right!"


    "Oh...okay."

 Chapter 140 - Kings!

    It was a couple of days after and the Little Kings was now inside of the Headmaster''s office. Each and every member of Little Kings had safely made it back and has successfully completed their individual trials.


    They all came back with more confidence than when they left. It was just like Cecil had said, Ainz and the rest had all grown to a level where they could safely solo hunt an A ranked monster.


    While the girls who came back had grown more confident, but still reserved, Ainz however had grown much more brazen. Since he soloed an A ranked monster his ego and his chuuni has gotten much worse.


    The boy had even crafted a memento of his amazing feat from the bones of his defeated monster, a wyvern. He had slung on a bracelet created from the claws and fangs of the wyvern he killed, this worst part about it was that every half an hour or so he''d boast all about it to Cecil and the rest of his party.


    No one could blame him, even the girls felt like doing so as well, but they learned from Lucia and Cecil to become much more reserved. Ainz was just much more expressive, and even now, while they''re standing and reporting to the headmaster...


    "Headmaster! Look at this, this bracelet of mine! Crafted from the bones of the wyvern that I SINGLEHANDEDLY killed! WAHAHAHA!!!"


    "Hahaha~ that''s very good Ainz, but isn''t this like the 5th time you''ve already said that?" The headmaster said with a strained smile. He turned towards the rest of Little Kings, but they either averted their eyes or just shrugged.


    "A-anyways... you have all completed your trials. A very admirable feat," The headmaster continued on, not minding Ainz who was still chattering on the side. "You 6 have all been formally acknowledged as Kings of the Academy."


    "OOHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ainz cheered.


    Cecil laughed seeing the over enthusiastic Ainz while the rest of the party had strained or exasperated expressions on their faces.


    "Hey, settle down Ainz, the Headmasters talking serious now!" Lucia scolded.


    "Yes, yes~ hehehe..."


    Headmaster Elufied turned a gratefully smile at Lucia. "There are some benefits to becoming a King. First of all, you 6 will be given the privilege to own your own living space inside the academy grounds!"


    "...we''re moving out of the dorms then?" Fina asked.


    "Yes, you all have been delegated to houses on the north side of Academy District. Please check your MIDs for the coordinates of your new homes."


    Everyone nodded their heads and the headmaster continued explaining more benefits of becoming Kings. First was the private living quarters. Second, the 6 of them were given a unique uniform that separated them from the rest of the students.


    It was pretty nifty, unlike the previous blue and white colored uniforms. The new uniforms were a gold and white colored scheme. There were little differences except the colors and the additional white gilded overcoat that could be worn over the uniforms.


    Cecil didn''t understand the need for the overcoat, but it was pretty cool. With the additional piece of apparel and the different color scheme, they were bound to stand out now. Now that they thought about it, the other Kings were wearing similar uniforms. It''s just that they hadn''t paid any particular attention to it.


    The next benefit was that, just like the factions, Cecil and his friends would be receiving cultivation resources allocated by the academy every month. This was very welcome for the Little Kings since they always spent their weekends out hunting for resources, now they could use that time to train and do some magical research or other things.


    The last benefit was the free access to all academy facilities. This included the library''s upper floors, namely the 6th and 7th floor and, most importantly, the Academy''s Accelerated Time Formation.


    The time allotted for every King was only 12 hours every week. The factions also had the same time allotment. It''s just that, unlike the Kings, they had to share that time with the entire faction.


    This was why every member of the faction was always gunning for more contribution points since only the top 20 members could have the privilege to enter the formation with the core members of the faction.


    The reason why the Academy''s tournament was so important to the factions was that the winner would be given a whole month''s worth of time to privately use the formation and every member of the faction could head inside to cultivate.


    This was a welcome surprise for Cecil and the rest. They entered the tournament in the first place so that they could peruse this formation. 12 hours may not be a long time, but since a day''s worth of time inside the formation amounts to a week then those 12 hours would turn into a full half weeks'' worth of time!


    "So, who''s the young lady here?" The headmaster asked as he turned an eye at the Dragon girl, Yuna.


    Lucia was the one that answered him.


    "Headmaster! This girl is my friend! She just got to the city a couple of days ago and wanted to stay with me! We brought her here to ask if you can enroll her into the school with us!"


    "Your friend?" the Headmaster turned an appraising eye at Yuna. After a moment, he shrugged and simply said, "Alright, I''ll allow it. Bring her over to the administrative building once you''re done here."


    "Thanks Headmaster!"


    "No problem kiddos! Anyways, the identification keys for the houses have been sent straight to your MIDs. All you need to do is wave the MID over the scanner at the front gates of your houses and it''ll unlock by itself! You can go now, don''t forget to look at the library and use the time formation. Get as strong as you can before the National Tournament. I have high expectations for you 6."


    "YES!" the Little Kings responded in unison. Cecil bowed to the headmaster one more time and led his friends out. After a quick bow, they followed right after Cecil.


    They had clearly picked up many of his habits. The bow of respect was also one of them and now every member of Little Kings would similarly bow before politely excusing themselves if they were talking to an a.d.u.l.t. Even Yuna was doing it too.


    For many of the instructors and teachers, having the Princess of the Kingdom and the Princess of the Neftersea Oceanic Empire bow to you in respect was a little shocking, but the 2 girls thought nothing of this. They only remembered Cecil''s words.


    "All teachers are like your parents. They look after you and teach new things, so give them their due respect, just like you would to your mother and father, since they too are your very first teachers in life," Quoted from Cecil''s mother, Anastasia Silvaria.


    The 6 quickly went back to their dorms and packed their things into their spatial rings. After which they met up once again and together they walked over to their new living quarters.


    It was at the north of the district, at the best location of the residential area. When they arrived, rows of large houses greeted them. The houses were pretty big, rivaling the size of the nobles'' mansions in the City''s Inner District.


    Cecil began to frown when he saw the large houses. "How are we supposed to each live in one of those?"


    "What''s up Cecil? Not used to this kinda thing?" Ainz leaned in and said with a smug grin.


    "No... But don''t you think it''s a waste of space? I mean, from the floor plans of the house we saw in our MIDs... the house would be too big for just one person to live in!"


    "Waste of space? Ahahaha~ Cecil, this is what living privileged is like! You''re going to have to get used to it." Ainz chuckled as he turned and headed towards his own house.


    "..."


    Lucia turned to look at Cecil then at the large house, she was about to open her mouth before Cecil interrupted her, "Don''t even think about it Lulu."


    "Huh? I haven''t even said anything yet!"


    "I already know what you''re going to say."


    "Oh yeah? So what was I going to say?!"


    "You were just about to say, ''Why don''t we live together then Cel~''," Cecil said in a singsong voice. "...am I right?"


    Lucia came over and punched him in the gut while blushing.


    "Oof!"


    "I wasn''t going to say it like that!"


    "Y-yeah... but you were planning to ask something like that, right?"


    "...maybe."


    Cecil sighed at her answer. He then waved his MID on the gate''s scanner and walked in. After walking in for a bit, he opened his mouth,


    "...Lulu... what''re you doing?"


    "...nothing."


    "...riiiigggghhhttt." Cecil said as he eyed the girl who was following behind him like it was the most natural thing to do. Yuna was also behind her which caused Cecil''s face to twitch when he saw this.


    ''At least stop her!''


    The group had already brought Yuna to the Administrative building before coming to the residential district so she was now an official student of Arks Royal Academy, she didn''t have to go through the aptitude test since the Mana emitting from her body showed that she was at the Mana Core stage just like Lucia.


    But, unlike Lucia, Yuna was a genuine Mana Core Stage expert. Plus she had a young appearance showing that she was still a teenager so the Academy administration placed her in the first year''s S class. They were very much glad to have another talented student enrolled in their Academy.


    Cecil quickly opened the door to his house and went inside. He took a look at the interior and it was well decorated. There was also a chandelier in the middle of the room that Cecil presumed was the living room.


    He sighed seeing just how big the place was and thought aloud, "Just how am I supposed to clean this place?"


    His grumblings didn''t escape the ears of Lucia and Yuna. The latter turned a weird eye at him, while the former only giggled in response.


    Cecil went and explored around the house. The house had a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, and bathroom, the usual. But unlike normal houses, this one had a magical study full of books and notes from the academy''s research department.


    There was also a bas.e.m.e.nt that acted as a private training grounds and a mana cultivation chamber that had a formation which gathered the ambient mana in the surroundings and channeled it into the chamber, raising the mana density inside to a higher level than what was outside.


    "Wow... this place has everything."


    "Woof!"


    Silver barked as he comfortably lay down on top of a cushion chair.


    "...so... when are you two going back to your house?"


    "In a little bit, jeez..." Lucia pouted.


    Cecil shrugged and slumped down onto a sofa in the living room.


    "Sure is comfortable... you can stay if you want Lulu..."


    "!"


    Cecil closed his eyes to rest when he suddenly felt a weight on top of his body. He cracked his eyes open a bit and saw the fox girl on top of him. Her 5 tails were wagging back and forth. She was clearly happy receiving his approval.


    Cecil sighed and closed his eyes to rest.


    ''Let''s rest for today... I''ll start training tomorrow.''

 Chapter 141 - Meeting

    It was the next day and Cecil was currently training by himself in the bas.e.m.e.nt''s training grounds. He was solely practicing his family martial arts, perspiration wetting his entire body.


    Yuna was on the side gazing at the boy. She was intrigued at his peculiar way of training, much different than what she was used to. The dragons only needed to cultivate their mana and grow stronger in stages. As for close combat, they would rely on their innately strong body to crush their enemies.


    "Wanna join Yuna? I can teach you." Cecil called out.


    "Hm? No thanks, although I can see it''ll be of great help, but I''m not a close combatant. Although I could fight to some degree, but I''d prefer using my magic."


    Cecil nodded hearing this and focused back on his training. Not long after, Lucia called out to the two from the ground floor.


    "Hey, you two~ Lunch is ready! The others are here as well! Cel, go and take a bath before you eat!"


    "...your wife''s calling." Yuna teased.


    "Can it."


    Cecil quickly finished his last set of movements. He took a towel and wiped off his sweat, Yuna had already gone up so he was left alone down in the bas.e.m.e.nt.


    He spread his Mana Sense and sensed his other party members were already in the living room. Then he directed his sense into his body.


    Cecil turned to take a look at the mana pathways on his body and smiled a little. He was trying to evolve his torso and abdominal region''s mana pathways into mana circuits and he was using the same method he did with his legs.


    It was excruciatingly painful, but Cecil found a way to alleviate this pain and that was by training and rotating his mana using his family''s martial arts instead of using Mana Burst.


    He limited the flow of mana only to the pathways in his body so he wouldn''t overdraft his mana. Cecil saw that his pathways were slowly being baptized by his mana and transforming. It was slow, but steady.


    At least he saw some progress and he didn''t have to experience the torturous pain of overusing his pathways.


    After he finished inspecting his body, Cecil walked up to the ground floor and quickly headed into the bath. The bath was already prepared and he took a quick dip.


    "...she''s acting like my mother..." Cecil mumbled while inside the bath. Ever since Lucia began living together with him under the same roof, the girl''s been babying him. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all things she prepared, even his bath was already ready whenever he needed to go have one.


    It was nice, but Cecil felt like Lucia was behaving more like a mother instead of his friend. Cecil did address this earlier today, but Lucia said that she wanted to do this. In exchange Cecil would be in charge of cleaning the house and going out to buy their groceries if they ever ran out.


    Cecil shrugged and thought that it was an okay exchange so he let it be, but then Yuna began teasing him and calling Lucia his wife or something.


    When he was done, Cecil quickly went towards the dining room and saw everyone was already eating together.


    "Hey, Cecil, come eat!" Ainz said while stuffing himself with the pasta in front of him.


    "Pasta?" Cecil said as he raised an eyebrow.


    "Yeah! I finally figured how to make the noodles!"


    "Woah... let me taste!"


    "Come try it!"


    Cecil quickly sat down and Lucia brought a plate of pasta for him. He quickly took a bite of it and he widened his eyes at the nostalgic taste.


    "Wow... it''s...it''s the same!"


    "Yay!" Lucia cheered, only she understood what Cecil been by the ''same''.


    Cecil began to happily eat his meal and even Silver was wolfing down his food right next to him. Ainz was eating ravenously, but in a noble-like manner. The girls were also the same. It was a first for them, since they''ve never eaten pasta before.


    The meal was great and everyone completely cleared all the food that Lucia made, they could only shower the cook with praise for the great and unique meal. The foxkin girl was always surprising them with new and strange cuisines every now and then.


    "Okay, since we''ve finished eating... let''s get the meeting started." Cecil said after seeing that everyone had finished eating and were all beginning to relax.


    Everyone became serious at his words. Today they would be holding a meeting, since tomorrow was going to be the start of the Dueling Tournament and also the selections for the participants of the National Tournament.


    "Ainz, did you get the info?"


    "Yes, here it is. It''s the bracket formations for all the fights happening during the first 5 days of the qualifiers."


    Ainz quickly transferred Cecil the data that he had secretly acquired which showed the order of fights for the tournament.


    Cecil was a little confused since he didn''t see any of the Little Kings'' names. He could only wait for Ainz to explain the reason.


    Ainz stood up and began explaining to everyone after he sent them the data. "There are 10 qualifier brackets in total, with 100 participants in each bracket, which means that there will be 50 matches in every bracket.


    Every participating faction has sent anywhere from 100 to 200 students to participate in the tournament, half of them will be participating in the qualifiers while the other half along with the faction leaders and Kings will be seeded into the Tournament''s main stage matches. We''ll only be participating in the main stage matches on the 5th day of the tournament when the top 3 from every qualifier bracket have been selected to participate in the main stage."


    Ainz finished his report and sat back down. Normally the boy would be joking around boasting, but when there was a need to be serious he was as serious as anyone could get. He also had a very good information network in the academy, so he was able to get this information for the party.


    Cecil nodded and smiled in appreciation, "We''re all seeded and it seems the main stage matchups haven''t been decided yet, and let''s just hope we won''t bump into each other until the latter half of the tournament... unfortunately only Yuna wasn''t seeded since she''s not a King."


    Everyone turned towards the newest member of Little Kings, the dragon girl Yuna. Only Lucia and Cecil knew about her actual identity of being a dragon while also being in a pact with Lucia. Everyone else only knew her as Lucia''s friend from Fauxe village.


    Yuna was currently eyeing the data in her MID and she shrugged. "Well, there''s no helping it. I''m no King, but I can guarantee a spot in the qualifiers. I''m super strong after all!"


    Everyone smiled seeing her confident response.


    "We''ll come and cheer you on!" Lucia said.


    "Yeah! We''re all right behind you, Yuna!" Fina added.


    Everyone else nodded and gave her words of encouragement. Yuna was confident in her abilities and felt no need for it, but she was still happy receiving the support, her dragon tail was waving back and forth in delight.


    "Okay, now we''ll talk about whether or not we should preserve and hide some of our abilities." Cecil said.


    "Yes, we should just do enough to make sure we win! We shouldn''t overdo it and show too much of our capabilities. Remember, this is only the Selections, our real goal is the National Tournament." Eli said while reminding everyone.


    Everyone in the academy already knew they were strong. Their King Titles proved it all. Now they should just do the bare minimum to guarantee a spot for themselves. Their main objectives were to win the National Tournament. This time even Lucia was in agreement, as was everyone else.


    "Okay, first off. Aura Manifestation and Burst, we can''t hide this anymore since everyone''s already seen it before. Just use it if you need to." Cecil said. Then he continued,


    "Next is the high tier magic spells, I''m pretty sure everyone agrees with me when I say..."


    "Off limits!"


    "I second that."


    Fina and Eli were the first to open their mouths, they voiced to conceal their ability to use high tiered spells. Of course, many have already speculated that they could use such spells from the footage shown during the First Segments Awards ceremony, but it was better if they didn''t expose too much.


    Everyone else also nodded in consent.


    "...good, so we''re all in agreement. Honestly, high tiered spells are a little overkill. I mean, it''s not like we''re trying to kill our opponents, right? That includes your Lasers Lucia!"


    "Yeah, yeah, I know." Lucia gave him the white eye; it''s not like she was that unreasonable.


    "Weapons?" Velicia asked.


    "Well, we can''t really hide that now can we? That''s unless of course, you guys plan to take down your opponents with your fists like me." Cecil wryly said.


    "Yeah, we''ll just use them as we see fit."


    "Yup."


    "Finally, we have our pets...the tournament does allow us to use them, but what should we do? Are we going to use ours?" Fina asked as she eyed Silver and the Frost Wyrmling perched on her shoulders. She had named the little fella Little Ruru, since the Wyrmling always cried out ''Ruuu'' whenever it wanted anything.


    The Frost Wyrm egg that Lucia bought at the auction was given to Fina since Ainz said he had found a newborn wyvern hatchling when he was doing his trial. The hatchling in question was currently in Ainz''s arms, being slowly fed with liquid food that Lucia had specially created.


    "Well, I can''t have Maxi here fighting now can I? He''s still a child," Ainz said as he continued feeding the little monster. He had already formed a pact with the wyvern and named it Great Wyvern Maximillion Ainzdu Bernstein. It was a long, cringe inducing name and he would always call out to it in its full name...but it was only until Cecil forcibly stopped him from doing so that he settled with just Maxi instead.


    Since he had already bonded with the wyvern, Ainz only needed to continue feeding the little guy with food while nourishing the monster with his mana to help it grow.


    Fina''s Frost Wyrm, Little Ruru, was the same. They were still young and had no viable combat capability whatsoever. Sure they could use some basic spells, but they probably won''t have any impact on the match. The only concern was Silver, but there was no way Cecil would have him assist in his fight.


    "...I guess we really don''t have to discuss this right?" Velicia said.


    "Yeah...only Silver will be able to fight, and knowing Cecil... there''s no way he would allow Silver to fight his battles." Lucia agreed.


    "Now let''s talk about the tournament rules... Ainz, you''re up again."


    "Mhm. Well, it''s the same as any other tournament. The match has a 30 minute time allotment. Each student will be wearing academy issued safety gear that will block 1 attack that could incapacitate the person. Once their gear''s protective enchantment has been broken, the fight ends.


    If you send your opponent off the stage then that will be counted as your victory and the match will end. In the case where your opponent sends out a pet, you will only have to incapacitate the monster to achieve victory, or just directly knock out the owner."


    Ainz stopped and began thinking.


    "Yeah, I think that''s all. Oh, forgot, one more thing, since personal equipment is allowed, no instant-use potions or poisons are allowed to be used. If you are found to have used a potion or a poison then you will automatically be disqualified, and for the poison offender, he''ll be imprisoned in the academy until further notice."


    Cecil nodded after hearing all the rules, there were some other smaller rules in the information that Ainz had sent them, but they were inconsequential. It was pretty loose and the rules didn''t constrain the participants as much.


    Cecil dismissed the meeting and everyone went back to the living room to sit around and relax. It was clear that they were all anticipating the start of the tournament. Although their matches were only until the 5th day of the tournament, it was still very exciting to wait for.

 Chapter 142 - The Tournament Begins

    "MATCH 1, START!"


    At the signal, two students of the Arks Royal Academy dashed at each other. They were part of the Warrior Division and they brought their weapons forward in an attempt to break their opponent''s protective enchantment.


    One was using a spear while the other a great sword. From a distance it looked like the Great Sword wielding student had the advantage, repelling each stab, sweep and strike of his opponent, but it was the exact opposite.


    The student using the spear was much more nimble than his counterpart and he led the other student around by the nose. It wasn''t until the great sword wielding student was exhausted that his opponent had rushed in to deal the finishing blow and knocking him out of the stage.


    "MATCH 1! Winner, Alanta Silverclaw!"


    The winner raised a fist in celebration and walked off the stage. The other student was currently being carried away by the Student Council''s healing unit towards the infirmary.


    The Little Kings were currently in one of the smaller stadiums in the academy and observing the Dueling Tournament''s matches.


    That''s right. The Dueling Tournament had officially started. While the entire party was seated together inside a private room on the upper floors of the stadium, they didn''t escape the attention of the other students in the stadium.


    It was just yesterday when an announcement came that 6 individuals had now qualified to hold the moniker of Kings in Arks Royal Academy. These 6 individuals were the very same ones that won the first segment of the tournament and were now observing the matches in stadium 03.


    "Hey look... isn''t that Cecil and his party, the Little Kings?"


    "Yeah, that''s them alright."


    "They''re all seeded participants so why are they here?"


    "Not sure, but I hear the Little Kings recently acquired a new member!"


    "Really? Do you know who it is?"


    "Not sure, I only heard that the person was a girl and she was a total hottie!"


    "Damn! So that means the newest member of the Little Kings will be participating in a match in stadium 3 then?"


    "Most likely! It''s the only plausible reason why all 6 members of Little Kings would even be here!"


    "By the way, have you guys heard of the King titles those 6 have?"


    "It wasn''t part of the announcement, but I guess the Academy''s holding off until they get a better grasp of their characteristics before giving them a proper title, but I heard Ainz Bernstein already has his title! He''s apparently the Elemental King."


    "Elemental King?"


    "Yeah, I mean, he''s probably the only one in the academy that specializes in all 4 major elements!"


    Ainz, who was seated beside Cecil, was currently empowering his hearing with mana and eavesdropping on all the gossip going on around the stadium. After he heard his name and his title being discussed, he immediately puffed up his chest and a stupid grin was plastered onto his face.


    Eli who was beside him, quickly jabbed the boy in the gut with her elbow and stopped him from looking any more foolish than he already was.


    "UGH!"


    "Tsk, get over it already. Stop being such a disgrace!" Eli scolded.


    "But!"


    "No buts!"


    "..."


    Lucia grinned when she saw how Eli handled the chuuni. His overly hyped up mood was beginning to annoy her and she was also about to give him a piece of her mind, but Eli beat her to it.


    "At least learn some modesty, Ainz. There''s no good in strutting around on your high horse like that, you''ll only attract the ire of the students to us!" Lucia said with a scornful look.


    "Tsk, you''re all just jealous because I got mine first!" Ainz rebutted.


    "...that just means the teachers didn''t put in too much thought when giving out your title." Fina offhandedly said.


    Her words cut like a knife into Ainz''s pride and ego. He opened his mouth to rebuke the little girl, but no words could come out.


    "Ouch... that''s gotta hurt," Velicia snickered.


    Cecil only smiled wryly when he heard their exchange. Today they were together at stadium 03 in order to watch Yuna''s match.


    She was scheduled to fight in the 4th match of the morning and there would be another match in the evening. The tournament only started a couple of hours ago, so currently only the first match of the day had started.


    There were a total of 5 smaller stadiums that surrounded the main stadium where the assemblies normally took place in. Each smaller stadium hosted 1 bracket matches while the main stadium hosted 5 bracket matches at the same time.


    Since over half of the entire student body was participating in the tournament, they had to separate the brackets into the stadiums and start each match simultaneously to quicken the pace. The National tournament was starting in another 2 weeks so that had to be quick about this.


    The Academy planned to finish the Dueling tournament in a week, so the remaining week would be used to cultivate and train the selected students for the National Tournament using the Accelerated Time Formation.


    This was an opportunity for the participating students so they gave their all in the tournament. Even the first match was quite high end. There were only 2nd to 4th year students participating, no other first year students other than Cecil''s party were qualified to join the tournament.


    However, the majority of students were those of the 3rd and 4th year, while only a select few who boasted great talent were from the 2nd year. The rest of the non-qualifying students had a 1 week break from classes because of the tournament.


    The Academy had also opened their gates and allowed the citizens of the Anglaria Kingdom to come watch the tournament. This was the reason why the entire stadium was chock full of people. The only reason why Cecil and everyone else were able to make it into the stadium was because their seats were reserved in the VIP section.


    It was said that the King himself and many members of the Royal Family had also come to watch the proceedings. The news caused Eli to be a little anxious, but nevertheless the ones who should be anxious wasn''t her. It would have to be her two older brothers.


    There was also news that the previous Headmaster, who vanished along with her husband, had reemerged and would also be spectating the matches.


    Lucia was pleasantly surprised hearing this, she wanted to go find her mother and father, but Cecil stopped her and only said that they would come find them later. Their identities as Kings had already given them a high enough profile as it was.


    If the people in the academy and city found out that the two were also the children of the previous headmaster... well, Cecil didn''t really like the thought of that. It was enough for only the Headmaster to know. No one else, including their friends, had to be privy of this information.


    There was a lot riding on these selections and with how important the National Tournament was; all the aristocratic families in the Kingdom had sent representatives to watch, including the family heads of each major family in the Kingdom.


    The Golden Fox Family, the Dark Moon Clan, the Ironforge Dwarves, the Windstrider Elves, the Whitetail Rabbit clan, even Ainz''s family Duke Bernstein''s household, and many more prestigious families had come. Many, if not all of their younger generation were enrolled in the academy, so it was important for them all to come and give some emotional support.


    Of course, this didn''t matter to Cecil, Fina, Lucia, or Yuna. Lucia and Cecil''s family wasn''t known to many and Fina wasn''t even a part of the Kingdom of Anglaria. She was only sent here as a foreign exchange student with Anglaria Kingdom''s second young Princess, who was Eli''s older sister.


    It was the end of the 3rd match in stadium 03 and finally, it was Yuna''s turn to go up. The dragon girl walked up gracefully to the stage, many students and spectators ''oohed'' and ''aahed'' at her beautiful and unique appearance.


    She crossed her arms and waited for her dumbstruck opponent that was still standing outside the arena. The referee quickly urged the student to make his way up onto the stage.


    "MATCH 4, Yunaria Yukihime vs. Andor Windstrider! START!"


    When Yuna''s name was said, many of the students were surprised. She had the same last name as Lucia Yukihime, one of the newly crowned Queens. Even the members of her party were surprised to hear this, only Cecil was excluded.


    This was because of the pact that the two forged. Since Lucia was the Master, while Yuna was the contracted, she had to take the name of her Master as her own. The pact tied the two together as close as¡ªor even closer¡ªthan familial bonds.


    In Cecil''s eyes, the bond of two souls was much stronger than the bond between bloodlines. At least, that was his opinion.


    Not minding the shocked crowd, Yuna stood in place with her hands crossed. She didn''t bother taking out her wand. She just stood there and lazily sized up her opponent. The person she was facing was a half-elf with harpy characteristics.


    She knew of the Windstrider family. It was the half-elf aristocratic family that had a half harpy bloodline. The members of the house would have both elf and harpy characteristics with either one of them being more dominant than the other.


    ''They specialize in Wind elements, let''s end this quickly.'' Yuna pointed a finger at her opponent and sent a tirade of wind bullets at him.


    The no-chant magic spell surprised the half-elf and he hastily retreated while defending himself. However, the barrage of wind bullets were too much for him and Yuna''s technique easily overwhelmed him.


    The half-elf was launched flying off the stadium after being hit by multiple wind bullets. Yuna turned around to walk off the stage, but before that she waved her hand, sending a small wind cushion under the blown away half-elf. The wind cushion allowed the half-elf to land softly outside the arena with no further damages done to him.


    The stadium immediately burst into a roaring cheer. Although it was a quick and one-sided battle, the graceful execution of the simple technique caused many to cheer. Not to mention the person who won was a beautiful young girl, all the more reason for the many male spectators to cheer.


    The female spectators were also cheering, and Cecil even heard some of them calling Yuna, ''Big sister'', in a reverential manner.


    ''Woah... so even fanboys and fangirls are present in another world.''


    "Let''s go and meet up with Yuna, her next match is in the evening so we''ll go out and relax for a bit. If any of you have plans then go ahead and see to them. Lucia and I will be waiting at the La''flay until Yuna''s evening match."


    Everyone nodded. Eli, Velicia, and Ainz separated from the party, leaving only Lucia and Fina next to Cecil.


    "Let''s go?"


    "Hai~Hai~" Lucia cutely exclaimed while raising her hand.


    ''Where''d she learn that from?''

 Chapter 143 - Ignored

    Cecil and the two girls quickly met up together with Yuna. They walked out of the stadium together and quickly headed towards La''Flay, a restaurant-c.u.m-lounge that the group frequented many times during their breaks.


    The foods and desserts served in the shop were some of the tastiest in the Academy. On their way out many students eyed them with admiration, and many of the spectators recognized the earlier match''s winner, Yuna.


    Ainz had gone to visit his family and so have Velicia and Eli. So they had separated from the group.


    Cecil and the rest quickly arrived at La''Flay and they quickly ordered some food. Since the place was also like a lounge, the party loved to just relax in the place for a long time whenever Cecil declared that they would take a break from training.


    They slowly ate the food and snacks when they arrived. Lucia and Yuna were talking about the latter''s earlier match. Although it was easy and one-sided, Yuna wanted to reflect back on her actions and wanted opinions from her Master and her new friends, asking them if she could have done it better or not.


    Cecil didn''t have an opinion because he wasn''t a proper mage, but from what he saw, using a low-tier spell, like wind bullet, to force her opponent off of the stage was brilliant and efficient. Use the right tools at the right times, use the right spells at the right occasions, simple as that.


    Lucia and Fina also gave their two cents, and now the 3 girls were talking about possible originals that Yuna could create based off of her Wind Bullet barrage earlier. Fina had the opinion that it was similar to Cecil''s Mana Volley, so she wondered if Yuna could also create a Mana Wave, using her magic.


    While they were discussing, an unexpected guest dropped by.


    "Lucia, I knew I could find you here!"


    The voice came from a golden fox girl. It was Aurellia, who Lucia and Yuna were previously acquainted with.


    "Oh, hey Aurel... is there something you need?"


    Cecil eyed the girl who had just arrived. He recalled that this golden fox girl was the female leader of the Royal Fox Faction. He only frowned a little, but didn''t say anything since it seemed that Lucia knew the girl quite well.


    "Oh, hey, there''s Yuna and the other members of your party! Oh, there''s only a few of you. Where are the rest?" Aurellia asked.


    Lucia pulled the girl to sit down beside her and said, "They''re visiting their families. We''re here just to chill out since we have nothing to do~ Yuna''s next match isn''t until the evening."


    "Hey, I almost forgot! I met with your parents earlier, Lucia!"


    Fina widened her eyes when she heard this while Cecil only raised his brow slightly. Lucia was elated and she quickly asked, "Really? Where? And when?"


    "Earlier this morning, our clan elders and chief personally came to receive your parents!"


    "O~OH!"


    "I wanted to go over and look for you, but your mother said that she''ll be looking for you and... Cecil later after she''s greeted the King." Aurellia said as she eyed Cecil. She didn''t know the connection between Lucia''s family and Cecil yet, so it struck her with surprise when she heard her Aunt mention Cecil''s name.


    "Ah! Cel, you hear that?! Mama and Papa are here!" Lucia said excitedly.


    "Mhm. I told you, they''d be looking for us later. Just sit tight for now, I bet mother already knows where we are."


    Lucia began nodding her head up and down in elation. The girl began taking more food off the table and stuffing herself happily. She invited Aurellia to join them in their small feast, but the foxgirl had somewhere else to be.


    She only came to find them to inform the two about Lucia''s family''s arrival.


    "Okay, I''ll see ya around Aurel~"


    "Yup! Oh, Yuna, good luck in your matches!"


    "Mhm." Yuna nodded silently. After a short grunt in reply, she turned her attention back to the food in front of her and resumed her feasting. It was food that she normally never tasted since Ancient Dragons like herself only needed mana as nourishment in place of food. So it was a novelty and pleasure to have such delicious tasting food to eat.


    After Aurellia had left, Fina began asking Lucia what her parents were like. The little merfolk girl was also very curious about their social statuses since her best friend''s parents had the position and power to go and ''greet'' the king of Anglaria.


    Lucia explained that her mother was actually the previous headmaster of the Academy. It was bound to come out sooner or later, but it was better for her to inform her friends than to let it be a surprise later on.


    "Really?! She''s that legendary figure?! Even back in my home country, we''d hear plenty of news about the genius headmaster that helped bring the magical research of Urrugdrasil¡ªno, the entirety of Alterna¡ªforward by a couple of decades or even centuries!" Fina exclaimed in shock.


    "Eh? I''ve never heard about this..." Lucia said with a pout.


    "...that''s because mother never explained those things to you." Cecil said. "Although I haven''t known her for long, just from the magical research notes that she gave me, I could see that they were pretty advanced. How come you didn''t notice this, Lulu?"


    "Eh~? Well, they were so complicated... I never really paid much attention to the ones that you never explained for me~"


    "...typical." Cecil sighed in exasperation.


    Although Lucia was a genius in her own right, it seems that magic research wasn''t her forte. Cecil had a really high interest in this topic and would many times ask Anna to teach him more when the two were still back at Fauxe Village.


    They leisurely spent their time at La''Flay. Lucia was getting a little anxious since her parents still hadn''t come to meet up with her and Cecil. Cecil only reassured that they''d come in time.


    It was already evening and Yuna''s match was close, the group quickly headed back to stadium 03 and Yuna went towards the waiting room as soon as they arrived.


    Yuna already told them to just wait outside and not come in. She said that she wouldn''t be long. Cecil shrugged at this. He brought Lucia and Fina to stay outside of the stadium to wait.


    They went towards a nearby bench and the 3 just sat there waiting. Lucia had Silver in her arms and was grooming him with a brush, while Fina was playing with the young Frost Wyrm by conjuring small butterfly familiars which the little guy would chase as he flew about in the air.


    Cecil was a little bored, so he began channeling Mana into his pathways. He conjured a small mana bolt and began playing with it, manipulating the golden globe of mana to fly in between his fingers or circle around his hand.


    Lucia quickly became drowsy despite the loud noises coming from the stadium. She leaned comfortably onto Cecil, who didn''t seem to mind, and closed her eyes for a nap.


    From afar a group of foxkin teenagers turned their attention towards the 3 who were relaxing on the bench.


    "...is that her?" the leading foxkin boy asked to another next to him.


    Friedrich looked over and saw both Lucia and Cecil, there was a slight tinge of annoyance present in his eyes, but he still answered.


    "Yeah, that''s your clan''s princess."


    "...who''s the boy then?"


    "Hm?"


    Friedrich saw that the young master of the Golden Fox clan didn''t seem to know about Cecil. He smiled slyly and said in mock surprise.


    "Huh? Young master Ariel, could it be that you don''t know? I know that you haven''t enrolled in the academy due to clan matters, but hasn''t your clan''s First Princess told you about this?"


    "...enough with the babble just get to the point!"


    "Well, everyone in the academy knows this, but that young boy is the princess'' boyfriend!"


    The young master of the Golden Fox clan frowned when he heard this. His father, a member of the elder council had ordered him to have a cordial relationship with the princess, and hopefully one that would lead to a more intimate relationship.


    He was spoilt since he was young and always got what he wanted, no one ever asked him of anything and this was the first time his father or anyone had wanted something from him. At first he thought that it was beneath him to go court some girl, but after seeing Lucia, he began having different thoughts.


    As a young girl she was already very attractive, not to mention her own personal strength was a great bonus. She was also the daughter of the former chieftain candidate; the current family chieftain''s respected elder brother.


    Ariel no longer had any qualms with getting closer to Lucia, hoping to form a more intimate bond between the two, but the black foxkin boy next to Lucia would pose a problem.


    Ariel began walking towards Cecil who was still playing around with the mana bolt in his hand. As he got closer, he finally saw Lucia intimately leaning on to the boy, napping so defenselessly.


    His face twitched a little seeing this, but he had to admire the very attractive girl.


    ''She really is beautiful...alright; I''ll definitely make you mine!''


    He arrived just a couple of steps away from Cecil and called out, "Hey, you!"


    Fina and Silver turned towards the newcomer and eyed him suspiciously. What did he want?


    Cecil who was being called out wasn''t paying attention at all. His focus was entirely on the mana bolt he was weaving around his hand. Even while the boy began rambling haughtily in front of him, Cecil didn''t give him any sort of response.


    On the side, after hearing what the boy was rambling on about, Silver began to turn hostile while Fina''s mood also plummeted as she began to get angry.


    The boy had rambled on and on about how a commoner like Cecil should stay away from the princess of the Golden Fox clan. Of course, no one associated Lucia with the Golden Fox clan since only people of the clan knew about her status.


    Fina didn''t know, so she thought that the boy was referring to Aurellia Aurielle, the faction leader of the Royal Foxes as well as the first princess of the Golden Fox clan. Fina was angry because in the first place, Cecil wasn''t close to Aurellia at all! They had barely even met and besides he already had Lucia! Now this unknown golden foxkin boy was badmouthing her party leader and her best friend''s loved one.


    Just as she was about to yell and give the ignorant fool a piece of her mind, Cecil abruptly squeezed the mana bolt in his hand.


    BAAANNNGGG WOOOOSSSSHHHHH


    The resultant outcome was a loud bang and a strong repulsing wave of mana that pushed back everything with Cecil as the epicenter. The repelling mana wave caused the rambling foxkin to stumble a couple of steps back as well as the group that was behind him.


    Fina also exclaimed in surprise as she too was pushed back, just as she was about fly out of her seat, Silver dashed behind her and held her in place. Lucia was okay since Cecil had quickly grabbed onto her shoulder when he felt the repelling mana wave.


    The loud bang had startled the sleeping girl awake. She opened her eyes and began rubbing it.


    "Mmmnnnn... Cel~ what''s wrong~" Lucia yawned, her eyes still a bit unfocused.


    Cecil just stared back at her and said, "Maybe you should go sleep back at the house."


    "...yeah...Haaaaaauuuuhhh....mnyah?" Lucia yawned once more before she waved her hand in the air. A Misty Gate quickly opened and she sleepily walked through it.


    Cecil turned towards Fina and asked, "Are you going as well?"


    "Eh? But then what about Yuna...?"


    "...Let''s just go back now. I''m a little tired myself and sorry about the commotion earlier. Silv go tell Yuna to just open a gate back to the dorm, we''ll head back first."


    "Woof!"


    "O-okay... but is it alright? You''re not mad are you?"


    "Mad? Mad about what? Shouldn''t you be since I almost blew you off of the bench?" Cecil replied in confusion.


    "...never mind. Let''s just go back." Fina stood up and carried Ruru with her, and then she quickly began pushing Cecil into the Misty Gate.


    "...?"

 Chapter 144 - Serious Talk

    When the Misty Gate disappeared, Cecil, Lucia and Fina were no longer there. Ariel, Friedrich and the rest of the foxkin group could only stare ahead incredulously.


    "What kind of magic spell was that?!" A foxkin asked in excitement.


    They were all here to see the princess and many were stunned seeing her. Now they were more amazed when they saw the high-leveled magic spell that the girl just so casually conjured. Ariel now had an even firmer resolve to make the girl his.


    "...a space gate... what the hell." Friedrich mumbled with conflicted amazement.


    "What''s that, Friedrich?" Ariel asked.


    "Nothing..."


    ''Damn that Cecil... just a small spell repelled all of us...''


    While everyone else was amazed at Lucia''s Misty Gate, only Friedrich was concerned about the repulsing mana wave that Cecil had ''directed'' at the group.


    "Is this okay Ariel? Didn''t you hear what they said earlier? They''re going back to the princess'' private residence."


    "So what?"


    "Didn''t you see that Cecil also walked through that magic spell and disappearing?"


    "..." Friedrich''s words caused him to frown in displeasure. He scoffed and turned around. He was first going to report to his father about this before taking any further action.


    While only Ariel seemed to have an ulterior motive, the rest of the foxkin group was purely there to just meet and greet the new princess. They had heard all about the chieftain''s respected elder brother, and how he along with his family would return to the clan.


    The children of the clan that couldn''t get admitted to the Arks Magic Academy had heard news about how their new princess had actually become one of the Queens of the Academy. Such a feat was unheard of considering her age and how it''s only been a couple of months since she had enrolled.


    She was directly walking on the path that her mother had treaded before, and even more spectacularly at that. No one wanted to offend such a character and they all wanted to befriend her, since technically, they were now family.


    ******


    Back at the private residence, as Lucia walked out of the Misty Gate, she stopped in surprise at the scene in front of her. Cecil and Fina walked out from the gate and almost collided into her. Cecil quickly sensed the presence of others inside the living room and quickly scanned the area with his eyes.


    To his surprise he found a familiar couple sitting down on the couch in the room staring back at them with a warm smile.


    "Papa! Mama!" Lucia exclaimed and lunged right at her parents. She dived straight into her father''s embrace. Zaki gently caught her and began rubbing her little head.


    "Haha, how''s my daughter?"


    "Hihihi~ I''m great! Why didn''t mama and papa find me earlier today?" Lucia asked with a slight pout.


    "We were going to, but we didn''t want to ruin your fun!"


    As Lucia was being spoilt by her father, Cecil walked forward and said lightly, "Mother, Father."


    "HAH???!!!"


    This caused Fina to exclaim in surprise. They were actually siblings?! How could they be so intimate then?!


    "Ahahaha~ it''s not what you think, little one." Anna said gently, when she saw Fina''s shocked and pale face.


    "Cecil here is just our foster son~"


    "O-ohhh...phew..." Fina sighed in relief. It would have been bad if they were blood related. She would have had to lecture her dear friend about...many, many things.


    Zaki turned towards Cecil and smiled, "How are you, Cecil? Doing great as well?"


    "Yes. Academy life is...interesting." Cecil smiled.


    "Ahaha! That''s good!"


    "So... what brings mother and father here?"


    Anna was the one who replied.


    "Well, isn''t it obvious~? We''re here to cheer on our two children and bear witness to the moment when they take the top 2 spots in the tournament~" Anna said a matter-of-factly.


    Fina wryly smiled when she heard this. Even their parents knew about how powerful the two were. They were just on a whole other level compared to anyone in their generation. In fact, the people 1-2 generations above them might not even be able to compare with their present strength.


    This was how they were as 14 year olds. Just imagine how strong they would become when they finally turned into a.d.u.l.ts. Fina felt a little bit of pride swell up within her since she too was also categorized as one of them.


    Although she wasn''t as powerful, but she knew that she could most definitely win against people much older than her.


    "Uhm... Fina, yes?" Anna gently asked.


    "Y-yes ma''am!"


    "Uhm... would you mind if our family can talk with each other privately?"


    "Oh! Y-yes, of course! I''ll just... head to the study!" Fina was fl.u.s.tered. She quickly stood up and went to residence''s study room.


    Lucia''s mother, Anna, was awfully beautiful and Fina grew very shy when such a woman was addressing her so gently.


    "...? Mama, Papa, what''s wrong?" Lucia asked when she saw her mother


    "Honey, we have something to tell you..." Zaki solemnly said.


    Anna had already cast a silencing barrier around them, so now no one can hear what they were talking about.


    Cecil was amazed at the ease and fluidity that Anna had casted the barrier. Seeing the flow of mana surrounding the air intrigued him. He was able to see that the mana was circulating in a peculiar way that forced the sound from going in or out of the barrier.


    "Cecil, this concerns you too~" Anna said trying to grab his attention


    Cecil turned his attention to Anna and Zaki. He sat down in front of them and quietly listened to Zaki''s explanation.


    "You''re actually a member of the¨C"


    "Golden Fox clan? Yeah, I know~" Lucia said, finishing her father''s sentence.


    "...Okay?"


    Anna was giggling on the side and Cecil just took the information in stride, no changes to his expression whatsoever.


    "Where did you learn about this?" Zaki asked with a smile.


    "Aurel told me about it a week ago~"


    "Aurel? Aurellia Aurielle?"


    "Yup, that''s her. She''s my cousin right?"


    "Yeah... haha, my baby girl is so smart~" Zaki said as he dotingly stroked Lucia''s head.


    "...not surprised Little Cel?" Anna asked.


    "Not really. It''s not like this changes anything," Cecil mildly responded.


    He did notice these past few days that Aurellia Aurielle, the female faction leader of the Royal Foxes, was acting real chummy with Lucia.


    But, since the girl in question wasn''t actually against anything and was even accommodating for the new friend, Cecil didn''t pay any particular mind to it. He was actually happy that Lucia found another friend.


    "More importantly... this barrier is really something...the mana flow is so intriguing!" Cecil said as he once again eyed the silencing barrier around them. "How did you do it?"


    Anna only smiled at this and simply told him it was a wind elemental spell, which then bummed him out. He couldn''t use any elemental spells and manipulating the mana to do as the Silence Barrier did looked pretty hard.


    Zaki smiled at Cecil and continued explaining to Lucia the reason behind them being accepted back into the clan. It was mostly due to Lucia, since she was now one of the Queens of the Academy. Being so high profiled like that, outside sects and families were bound to recruit such a young talent.


    Since her parents were unknown and no one had any information about her being a part of any aristocratic family in the Kingdom, they would do many things to come and entice her into their sects or families.


    The same went for Cecil. He was actually much more desirable. The young boy had talent and absurd combat prowess. Not only that, he had created a party and trained its members to become superpowers in their own right.


    He was doing what the Academy instructors and teachers might not be able to and he already produced results in less than half a year. This factor alone caused Cecil to be very coveted by the different factions and sects in the Anglaria Kingdom, but the unstable factor was that if one sect or family was able to acquire him, then the rest would do their all to impede his and the sect or family''s growth.


    Whether it was elimination, abduction, blackmail, they''d do just about anything apparently. Of course, nothing had happened to Cecil during this entire time and that was because of Lucia''s parents.


    However, there was only so much that two people could do. So the couple decided that it would be best to just take shelter under an umbrella, and that umbrella would be the Golden Fox Clan which Zaki was originally a part of.


    The Elders of the clan had already agreed with Lucia''s family coming back to the clan. So everything was already set in stone.


    Lucia took the information in stride and just nodded obediently when Zaki told her about the clan rules, duties and obligations she had to fulfill as a member of the clan''s young generation.


    Cecil listened as well, but he felt a little disconnected. He only saw Anna and Zaki as his guardians and no one else, he wouldn''t even bat an eye if an Elder of the clan told him to do something he didn''t want to do.


    Of course, he would remain respectful as he always did, but he wouldn''t get too involved in their clan matters. Most of the stuff he heard about was something close to what he''s been taught as a child when he was named as his family''s successor.


    "Cecil? Are you okay with all this?" Zaki asked.


    "Well, it''s nothing new actually. In my family, I was named as the next successor and I was groomed to become the next leader ever since I was a child...so I get the gist of it."


    "!"


    "Oh?"


    "Huh?!" Lucia was the most surprised when she heard this.


    Cecil remained nonchalant, but Lucia immediately began questioning him right after.


    "H-how come you''ve never told me about this?!"


    "Huh? Well...there wasn''t the need?"


    "Don''t you think this is important information?!"


    "Well... I''m not really sure where my family is...until I find them then wouldn''t this be unimportant? What family would I lead if they''re not here?"


    "This is important!!"


    While Lucia was listening to her father''s explanation, she was also warned not to get too close to anyone in the family besides her father''s immediate relatives. The branch families always wanted to find ways to climb up the social ladder in the clan so they''d resort to arranged marriages or whatnot.


    When she heard that her father also had his marriage pre-arranged by the Elders of the clan and why he had fallen out with his family over her mother, it was a very touching love story since he, as the next family head, had abandoned his status and everything to marry her mother.


    Since Cecil was also groomed to be the next head of his family then wouldn''t that mean he too had an arranged marriage or something similar to that? This posed a problem to Lucia, but Cecil didn''t understand, nor did he know anything about this.


    This was simply because arranged marriages were only a thing for the Business side of his family. His side, the traditional martial side, had no such thing.


    "Well, I was only groomed to lead the family. The martial section at least. Other than that, I had no other obligations. I only had to learn and pass down the martial arts of my family to the next generation. Nothing complicated like your clan, Lucia."


    "..."


    "What? What''s wrong?"


    "That better be it...if I find any..." Lucia began slurring and mumbling at the end of her sentence. Cecil only tilted his head and leaned back on the sofa. It seems that all the serious talk was finally over.


    "Cecil, like I''ve already told you before. I''ve left my daughter in your hands. Please continue taking care of her." Zaki said as he eyed the disinterested Cecil.


    "Hm? Of course, nothing''s changed father. Lucia''s still Lucia even if she''s joined some clan."


    "You might get some competition~" Anna added teasingly.


    Cecil didn''t get what she meant and all he did was raise a fist and said, "Competition? Hmph, in my generation, there''s no one left to compete with...except Lucia of course."


    The girl had already gathered her mana into her fists, planning to smack the arrogance out of the boy''s mouth, but stopped and began giggling when she heard the last part.


    Anna and Zaki only smiled wryly at this. Cecil didn''t understand what they meant by ''competition''. Though, in a sense, what he said was true.

 Chapter 145 - Favorite Food

    With the serious talk finally over, Cecil and Lucia began preparing a home-cooked dinner for their parents.


    Seeing the two working together in harmony in the kitchen brought bright, warm smiles to Anna and Zaki''s face.


    The two quickly finished cooking a meal, it was another dish from Earth and it was the infamous Ramen.


    Of course, when Cecil learned that Lucia had successfully replicated the noodles from Earth using ingredients from Alterna, he just had to have them. They had been experimenting and creating various combinations of seasonings for the ramen and finally, Cecil had found one that was acceptable and close in taste to one of his favorite ramen flavors.


    Thus for dinner, he had to have his foster parents have a taste of his world''s dishes. They had called out Fina to join the family for dinner, but before they started, a Misty Gate had suddenly opened up in the middle of the room.


    Zaki and Anna turned a curious eye at the gate.


    "Hey! Yuna''s back!" Lucia said, as she made her way to the gate. In the next moment, Yuna walked out with an over-sized Silver following behind her. Silver quickly shrunk back down to puppy sized and Lucia picked him up.


    "Hey, Yuna~ what took you so long?"


    "Ugh... some annoying flies came buzzing around. Good thing Silver came along and swatted them away..."


    "Flies?" Lucia tilted her head in confusion. Shouldn''t Yuna be able to swat any kind of fly away?


    "...it''s a long story. Never mind that, I smell something very delectable!"


    "We''re having Ramen for dinner~"


    "Ooohhh~ another one of those unusual dishes you two create!" Yuna immediately noticed the unfamiliar couple that was also at the table when she looked over.


    Lucia saw where she was looking at and she quickly introduced.


    "Those two are my parents!"


    "O-oh!! The mother and father of Lucia," Yuna quickly walked forward before giving the two a gesture of respect in Ancient Draconic. "It''s my pleasure to finally meet you two, Ma''am, Sir."


    "Hmhmhm~ who knew, that an Ancient Dragon would actually be a friend of my little girl~" Anna said as she returned the gesture. Zaki copied his wife and did the same.


    Yuna was naturally surprised seeing this. Normally, no one would know how to return such an ancient gesture of respect. Furthermore, Anna actually knew about her identity as an Ancient Dragon even when she was in her humanoid form.


    Anna smiled and did another gesture which only Yuna seemed to understand.


    "!"


    "Heheh~ how''s the old man these days?"


    "...Ancestor is... well, same old same old. I didn''t actually think that¨C"


    "Now~ let''s have dinner?" Anna quickly cut her off and asked the rest.


    "Oh, wait mama! I''ll go fetch everyone else, wait a bit."


    Lucia turned towards Cecil and extended her hand. Cecil naturally understood what she wanted so he grabbed her hand and activated Mana Sense. He quickly spread his sense to the entire academy district and quickly located their 3 friends.


    Once he gave Lucia the visual feedback from his Mana Sense, she quickly waved her hand and opened a Misty Gate, to Anna and Zaki''s surprise, and stepped through it. Cecil had tried to grab onto the girl, but was a little too late. It seemed that he still had something to say to her, but Lucia was already gone.


    Cecil could only shrug and think in his head, ''It''s not my fault Lulu, totally not my fault."


    The first one Lucia met was Velicia. After a couple of minutes, Lucia came back with the tigerkin girl. She repeated the process one more time and fetched both Ainz and Elizabeth together in the same manner.


    When everyone was there, Lucia immediately began apologizing to her friends for taking them away from their family gathering. For Velicia, there weren''t many complications, just the initial surprise when suddenly some weird magic had opened up in the middle of the room and a foxkin girl walking out of it.


    It was much more awkward when she had to go fetch Ainz and Elizabeth. The two were together in the same place and they were in a hall together with many nobility of the Kingdom, including Eli''s father, the current King of the Anglaria Kingdom. Technically, Lucia was trespassing and many of the King''s Guards had raised their weapons at her.


    It was a good thing that Eli quickly stepped in and cleared up the misunderstanding. She then asked for permission from her father so that she and Ainz may be dismissed from the ''gathering''. Lucia was able to see Lance and Zephyr as well as many other people of the Arks Royal Family. She pretended to stay oblivious to all this however.


    But, even after all of Eli''s explanations, some people in the hall had still wanted to detain Lucia, most likely due to the unique magic spell that she used when she teleported into the hall, but they were met with a cold, deathly glare from Elizabeth.


    The dragonkin girl had gained power much stronger than most of the people in the hall. Besides the King, the Royal Guard Captain, the Headmaster and the Kingdom''s Sword Saintess who were present, no other person would be able to stop her if she wanted to walk out of that hall.


    The King only took one glance at Lucia and let them go. Lucia thanked the King and opened another Misty Gate which brought them to Cecil''s residence.


    "...Headmaster Elufied... is she the one?"


    "Yes, your majesty."


    "Hmmm... she knows magic similar to your Space Gate."


    "Yes! It''s the first time I''m seeing it though!"


    "...as expected of a Sage''s daughter... Oh sorry, maybe I should say Demon Empress?"


    "Ahaha~ please don''t associate master with that title anymore. She''s peacefully living her life here. It''s best not to provoke such a character."


    "Hmhm...I guess you''re right." The King chuckled in response.


    *****


    "Jeez, Lucia! What were you thinking barging in like that?!" Eli reprimanded right when they got back to Cecil''s residence.


    "S-sorry... I didn''t think you two were at some gathering..." Lucia apologized with an awkward smile.


    "Tsk, brat, you almost made me lose face earlier! What''s with the ''Hey guys~ dinners ready?'' Seriously, and you say I have no tact!" Ainz exasperatedly said.


    "H-how was I supposed to know! Cecil''s mana sen¨C" Lucia narrowed her eyes and turned an eye to the boy.


    Cecil was doing his best to hold back a smile and laugh. He tried, but the tears welling up in his eyes gave him away.


    "CEEEEEEELLLLLLL!!!"


    Lucia immediately pounced on him and began biting his face and head.


    "O-ouch! S-stop, I didn''t do it on purpose! Ouch! Cut it out!"


    As the two were quarrelling, Ainz, Eli and Velicia quickly introduced themselves to Lucia''s parents. They took their seats and waited for the two foxkin to stop quarrelling.


    "Jeez, I was just about to tell you, but you just had to hastily go through the gate," Cecil grumbled as he began eating his ramen.


    "Hmph. The least you could do was come with me!"


    "How?! You came and went so quickly!"


    "Tsk... excuses."


    "They''re logical excuses."


    "Hmph."


    "..."


    Cecil pinched his brow, but the decided to continue eating his ramen happily. Lucia saw this and immediately began kicking him under the table.


    Cecil only turned a helpless look at her, but all Lucia did was harrumph and continuing kicking him while eating her noodles.


    Lucia''s parents were smiling warmly at the two, while their friends were busy wolfing down the deliciously unique ''soup pasta''.


    "Hey Lucia, Cecil, slluuurrrpp, this soup pasta, sluurrrp, ish really tashty!!" Velicia commented while eating.


    "Don''t speak with your mouthful Veli," Fina said as she handed the girl a napkin.


    "Yeah, Vel... but this pasta sure is tasty! The soup is awesome too!" Ainz said.


    Hearing them call the Ramen, pasta, Cecil had to correct them.


    "It''s called Ramen, not pasta you guys."


    "Raw men?" Velicia replied dumbly.


    "R-A-M-E-N...Ramen!" Cecil exclaimed. Velicia''s response made his face twitch uncontrollably, but he couldn''t get mad at her. "If ramen''s too hard to say then just call them noodles!"


    "...Nude elves?" This time it was Eli who responded.


    Cecil smacked his forehead in agony. His favorite food was being reduced to a new level of low. While Cecil was holding his head in agony, Lucia was already laughing at him.


    "Hahaha~ Cel, Cel!!! Your favorite food! Hahaha~ it''s... pwahahaha~"


    "Lucia, where are your table manners?" Anna softly reprimanded.


    "S-sorry mother...fufufufu~" She tried stifling her laugh, but to no avail. Cecil gave her a blank look which earned him another round of stifled laughter.


    His shoulders drooped and he quietly continued eating his Ramen. This was the last time he would reproduce an Earth dish that had an easily misunderstood name.


    Still, he was happy to see that everyone was enjoying the food, although Ainz was being stupid and drinking the soup with a straw. Who drinks soup with a straw?! This isn''t a drink!!!


    Cecil laughed helplessly and relished in the warm atmosphere. The nostalgic food caused him to remember his family.


    ''I hope you''re all okay...''


    *******


    Silvaria City, 10 months after the Transmigration Incident, the entire valley settlement had officially transformed into a self-sufficient city. With the Silvaria family at the helm, the population of the city was able to prosper and claim more land around them.


    Inside the large valley, a large-scale city with walls surrounding it was found within. The sturdy metal ramparts that surrounded the city gave off a very powerful feeling of deterrence and intimidation.


    Outside of the city''s walls, up on a plateau on the mountainside of the Sky-piercing Mountains, was another rampart-surrounded complex.


    This was the Silvaria Family''s private grounds. The Main household and the martial arts field of the Silvaria family were housed on these cordoned grounds.


    To the populace of the city, this area was hallowed grounds. Any person from the city that had the fortunate opportunity to be selected to train inside the place for a month would come out as a whole new person.


    Inside these hallowed grounds, a petite woman wearing a large straw hat was tending to the garden situated just behind the Main Household''s mansion. It was Cecil''s mother, Anastasia Silvaria. The little woman was still a little despondent, but she was much livelier than when they first came to Alterna.


    It''s almost been a year since she was separated from her precious son, but she had to pull herself together for her family. It wasn''t only Cecil who needed her attention, but also the rest of her sons and daughters who were still with her.


    Over the past months, the city was completed and the system, security, politics, economy, and agriculture had been fully established to a functional degree. With the high adaptability of humans and with the leadership of the Silvaria family, they were able to re-establish a functioning government.


    The lives of the populace were finally stable and safe. No longer was there anyone that would suddenly die due to illness or monster attacks. There was a bigger emphasis on the military section in Silvaria City, however.


    With the occasional attacks of monster waves and the establishment of the Military Academy alongside the normal schools, martial prowess and individual combat strength had become a huge norm in society now.


    This was also why the Silvaria Family''s Private Grounds, or better yet known to the populace, the Silvaria Martial Sanctum, was viewed as an important place in the hearts of the people.


    The Silvaria family was always training martial artists to counteract and fend off the monster waves that attacked the city. Without them, the future of the settlement would have been very bleak.


    "Phew... looks like I''m finished for today... let''s go pick up Angel from school~"


    The petite woman got up and quickly dusted herself off. She picked up the gardening tools she was using and placed them inside a woven basket and went back towards the Main Mansion.


    She looked up at the clear blue sky and saw the two moons. She was reminded of Cecil somehow so she smiled brightly and said,


    "Little Cel... wherever you are in this world, I hope you''re enjoying yourself~"

 Chapter 146 - Silvaria City

    Anastasia was leisurely walking through the streets of Silvaria City as she took in the magnificent sights of the city.


    With the previous populace of Earth and the quick establishment of the city''s government and management, they were able to quickly construct a magnificent city. It''s not like the people became stupid just because they were transferred to another world.


    They still retained all their previous knowledge and expertise. All they needed was the time to adapt to their new living environment and condition. Then all that was left was the management and materials to construct the current magnificent city.


    Although many constructs and buildings in the city weren''t quite finished yet, but the current situation was much better than when they first arrived on Alterna, this mysterious new world. Maybe because it was due to the now present presence of mana, but the physiques and health of the Earthlings had improved to a high degree.


    Old men and women in the age range of 70-80 had experienced an upgrade to their physiques. After a consensus, many inhabitants of Silvaria City have said they felt like they''ve grown 10-20 years younger.


    The old men and women were now fit to work on the fields or even help out with the construction of the city. This improvement was even more so to the people who were middle aged or still in their 20s and 30s.


    It was only because of this unexpected development that the current Silvaria City was present in the No-man''s Land of the Midgard Continent.


    This was only for the ordinary citizens. As for the Silvaria Family whose every member was a martial artist, the improvement was much more prominent. Crushing boulders and moving large obstacles with their bare hands, it was now all possible.


    Also, because of this development, Grandpa Silvaria and Father Silvaria were now gloating and in high spirits. Their nonsense from back on Earth, they were now living through all that nonsense.


    Anastasia could only sigh when she saw the smiling faces of her city''s citizens. Who would have thought that only after a little less than a year, things would have developed in such a positive direction.


    Anastasia quickly arrived in front of the Silvaria Martial Academy. Along the way, many of the citizens greeted her with courtesy and respect. This woman was one of the main reasons that they could now live a happy life even after the Transmigration Incident.


    They also felt very sorry for her. She had lost a child, who was said to be the next head of the Silvaria Family. The loss had devastated her for a long time, but because she put the people in mind, she had to shelve it away in the name duty.


    While Anastasia was waiting in front of the school''s gate, many parents also began to trickle in. They too were there to pick up their children. Most of them were woman while a select few were men.


    A couple came up to Anastasia, the woman greeted her with a slight smile.


    "Oh my, Anastasia, I didn''t think I''d see you here, how have you been?"


    "Hi, Sara, I''m doing fine, you?"


    "Same as you, are you here to pick up Angelia?"


    "Yes."


    Sara Argent, she was the young mistress of the Argent family, a prominent family back in Edelesta City on Earth. They were now also a prominent family in Silvaria City. Their family served in the Council of Six, the high council that managed Silvaria City with the Silvaria Family as the head.


    The man next to Sara bowed politely and took a step back. He was a butler of the Argent family. Seeing that it would still take a while before the children came out, Sara and Anastasia began conversing to pass the time. The conversation was mostly about trivial things, until Sara touched up on a sensitive topic.


    "By the way, I''m sure you already heard about the pathway leading to the other side of these mountains, no?" Sara whispered making sure her voice was only loud enough so that only she and Anastasia can hear.


    "Yes, the advance team has also already secured and cleared the area of monsters. We''re planning to build an outpost before exploring the area on the other side of the mountains."


    "That''s great! Ana, don''t you think this is great! Maybe you son was actually¨Cah!" Sara was really elated for her friend, but she inadvertently touched upon a very sensitive topic.


    She quickly covered her mouth and was about to apologize, but Anastasia smiled brightly and said, "It''s okay Sara. At least now, there''s a greater chance of finding him..."


    "Yes! That''s right! There''s a better chance now!" Sara replied in encouragement. She regretted begin so thoughtless, but there was now a no doubt at least a bigger hope for the mother to find her son.


    The Earthlings hadn''t fully explored the entire area on their side of the mountain yet. They found the area to be much bigger than they had first estimated. The mountains stretched so far away on the left and right sides of the valley that it was only after many months of exploration did the scouting team finally reach the ends of each side of the mountain range before they began curving inwardly.


    They were actually inside an enclosure with mountains surrounding them on all sides, but from the area they mapped out, the mountains began curving in only after stretching to the east and west for over 100 kilometers each in distance. So if they did the math, just trying to explore and map out the whole place would probably take years on foot.


    It would be different if they had an automobile of course, but with things as they are, there''s no way they could even make such a thing. Although the knowledge and materials were there, but with no tools to help them, then how could they proceed with that?


    Not to mention... they still hadn''t found any viable source of fuel yet. Even now, the people were living without any form of electricity or convenience. The city only looked good on the outside. On the inside, there were still many things they were lacking and need improving.


    Aside from plumbing and sewage control, electricity, transport, gadgets, machinery and almost every sort of convenience from Earth were currently not present in the city. The only good thing they had going was the fact that they had roofs over their heads, clothes to wear, food to eat, water to drink, and the safe haven of the city''s ramparts protecting them from the monsters. But nevertheless, the Earthlings were still optimistic about the future.


    "Mommy~!" A cute voice called out to Anastasia, she turned around and saw her little Angel waving at her with a bright smile.


    Apparently, she was very popular since there were many children surrounding her. Angelia quickly bid good bye to her friends and dashed towards her Mom.


    "How was your day, honey?"


    "It was great, Mommy, the training isn''t as hard as it is back at home, but it''s pretty fun training and fighting with my friends!"


    Anastasia smiled and led her daughter back home. It was pretty funny however, since when the two were walking next to each other, they looked like sisters because Anastasia was awfully short and youthful for her age.


    When they got to their home, Anastasia couldn''t help but notice that many of the disciples training under her husband were gathered together at the training field. It wasn''t only them, but even the military of Silvaria City were present on the large field.


    On top of the stage, Kaiser Silvaria alongside the other 5 leaders of the Council of Six, were present.


    From what Anastasia heard, they seemed to be addressing the newfound path to the other side of the mountain. Kaiser was delivering the orders that the Council of Six had agreed upon, it was to explore the area on the other side of the mountain.


    Kaiser had been pushing for this and the other family heads also agreed, it was better to know what was outside. On their side of the mountains, they have mostly categorized the monsters and fauna in their region. They also had a large detailed map of the explored area.


    The other side however was still a mystery, so it was better to get information ahead of time to prepare for anything. Kaiser also had another reason. It was so that they could explore the place in hopes of finding his lost son.


    He knew that his wife was still grieving over the loss. It wasn''t confirmed yet, but many already thought that Cecil was most likely dead. They haven''t found any trace of him for almost a year now, despite their meticulous searches.


    Even Anastasia herself was beginning to believe that Cecil was now dead, but with the path to the other side of the mountain having been found, a small sliver of hope had formed once again.


    Once Kaiser finished addressing the disciples and military personnel, he entertained the important personages in the main mansion. After some time, the people started heading back to their homes in the city and Kaiser quickly found his wife.


    The first thing Anastasia did when she saw her husband was to pounce and cling onto him. Kaiser was surprised and embraced her gently.


    "...thank you."


    "Hehe... what''re you talking about? You''re not the only one who''s worried or hopeful."


    While the couple was being intimate, the door of the mansion opened up and a young woman''s voice rang through the mansion, "I''m home!"


    Fatima had arrived home from her work, but she was immediately subjected to the pair of lovebird''s intimate moment. She turned a blank look at her parents and sighed.


    "...At least go do it in your room..." Fatima said a little annoyed. Here she was, in the prime of her youth, single and alone while her parents were still as lovey-dovey as when they had first met as teenagers.


    "Hahahaha!! Sorry about that honey!" Kaiser said in his booming voice.


    Anastasia smiled gently with a little blush on her face, but she was still clinging onto her husband and that husband was still embracing her gently.


    Fatima''s face twitched a little, she walked up to the mansion''s second floor to her room in order to get changed. When she passed by her parents she remembered something and asked, "Mom, Dad. The path to the other side, is the expedition team already full?"


    "Hm? Well, we''re having the military clear the way and quickly build the outpost. The expedition team will only set off after the outpost has been built."


    "Oh... okay. I want permission to participate in the expedition."


    Anastasia was surprised hearing this and tried to object,


    "Eh? Honey, we should just leave this to the professionals¨C"


    "No! I''m tired of waiting around doing nothing but work. There''s finally hope that we can find Cecil, so how can I sit by and wait?!"


    Fatima''s sudden outburst caused her parent to be surprised. She too was surprised, but she quickly regained her composure before continuing.


    "Just let me do this, please. As the eldest sister, I''m also very worried about my youngest brother... I don''t believe he''s dead. There''s just no way and I have a gut feeling telling me that he''s still alive and well."


    "...alright, you''re already an a.d.u.l.t. So do as you see fit. But I have a condition. You have to be able to defeat at least 1 of my best disciples before you can go. Only then will your mother and I be free from worry."


    "Haha~ who do you think you''re talking to father? Other than Cecil, then wouldn''t you say that I''m your BEST disciple?"


    "Hmph. After years of not training, we''ll see if you can still say that later!"


    "Heh, we''ll see about that. Bring in as much as possible or else it wouldn''t even be a warm up!"


    Seeing their daughter so confident, the husband and wife laughed and Kaiser let go of his wife and quickly made his way back to the Silvaria dojo to prepare.

 Chapter 147 - The Fiercest Flower

    Kaiser quickly got his top 10 disciples ready at the Silvaria Family''s dojo. Many people in the family and branch families heard about Fatima''s challenge, so many people had gathered in the dojo to watch.


    Fatima''s siblings were also there, but they seemed a little disinterested.


    "Hey, Matty...she''s going to thrash them right?" Luca quietly asked.


    "Uh huh, ever since we''ve been transferred to this place, sis has begun training again in secret with mother. I''m not sure how she''ll fare against our little monster of a brother, but I don''t think she''ll have any problems crushing these people." Matheus, the eldest of the brothers responded as he took a look at his fired up eldest sister.


    She was currently sitting down with her legs folded in uniform. She was waiting for their father to finish with the preparations.


    "...is dad just asking for his disciples to be shamed or something?"


    "Uaaahhh...Ahy ah we e''en he''e?" Gabriel asked with a yawn. Angelia who was sitting on his lap turned her head up to look at her brother and cutely said, "We''re here to cheer on big sis!"


    "Hehe~"


    The siblings were getting along well and the other younger generation of the family came over and sat around the 4. Normally this would rarely happen back on Earth since the branch families were living separately from the main family.


    None of the branch families had any martial background since only the main household was required to train in the family''s traditional martial arts, so many of them, besides the family heads, were scholars, businessmen, doctors, or some other profession.


    The preparations were soon complete and everyone was ready. Fatima made her way to the middle of the dojo and bowed once to her father. She then waited for her opponent to step forward.


    One of the men standing to the side stepped forward and saluted to his master, Kaiser, before walking in front of Fatima and cupping his hands in salute. The man then took a stance, one that was very familiar if Cecil and Lucia saw it. It was the normal fighting stance from the Silvaria Family''s martial arts.


    Not everyone in the dojo could learn this, only the top 10 disciples would be granted permission to learn this directly from Kaiser, the head of the Silvaria Family. The normal disciples would only learn different martial arts, a simplified version of the Silvaria Family''s core martial arts techniques. The current opponent that Fatima would be facing was the 10th ranked disciple in the dojo.


    Fatima cupped her hands in response before getting into a different stance, not one the Silvaria famliy''s disciple was familiar with.


    Seeing the stance his daughter was taking, Kaiser raised a brow in surprise. Then he announced the start of the match. The first stance and form of the Silvaria Family''s martial arts was mostly about defending and counter attacking. It was a stance that was used for responding to situations and for self-defense purposes only.


    The stance and form that Fatima used was the most aggressive form of the Silvaria Family''s Martial Arts. It was the form that Cecil mainly used and the one that he taught to Lucia. It wasn''t something that was passed down to the dojo''s disciples.


    The aggressive stance and form that they would learn was a different one. Fatima''s opponent calmly waited for her to approach, once she got into range the disciple quickly adjust his body to respond to Fatima''s attack.


    It was a mistake however. Just before her fist was caught, Fatima quickly rotated her body and sent a back kick straight towards the disciple''s face. The change was too quick and the kick connected and the disciple was sent flying across the dojo''s floor.


    He was knocked out cold. The series of movements were so fast that it only happened in the blink of an eye. The other disciples in the dojo didn''t even register when their fellow disciple was knocked flying.


    Fatima''s speed and execution was flawless, even Kaiser couldn''t help but sigh in appreciation.


    ''This girl...she would have been the most ideal family head... it''s a shame, but she does have her own dreams.''


    Kaiser began applauding and so did the rest of the people inside the dojo. Fatima''s only response was to take her position once again, not paying any mind to the audience.


    This time, the other top ranking disciples were clearly hesitant. They already knew they wouldn''t be able to beat her. Kaiser chuckled seeing their hesitation. He stood up and made his way in front of Fatima to everyone''s surprise.


    "Fools, look closely and engrave what you''re about to see in those things you call eyes!" Kaiser loudly yelled. He turned towards his daughter and got into the same stance that she used earlier.


    Fatima only frowned and got into her previous stance. Once Kaiser saw his daughter do this, the atmosphere around him immediately changed. It was similar to when Cecil began fighting. Not only that, but Kaiser was releasing a slight intent that caused Fatima to freeze up a bit.


    Kaiser''s intent wasn''t like Cecil''s Spear Intent. Unlike Cecil who needed a weapon, Kaiser released his intent relying on only his body. Kaiser, upon seeing his daughter coping with the slight intent that he released, smiled slightly in appreciation.


    "Good, very good," Kaiser said. "Now... here I come!"


    Kaiser kicked off the ground and dashed towards Fatima, the man sent a fist flying straight towards his daughters face.


    Fatima gritted her teeth. She rushed forward and moved to deflect the fist. Once she got into range, she swiftly lifted both her hands and smacked aside Kaiser''s fist. She had to use both hands since she knew how strong her old man was.


    Once the punch was deflected, Fatima quickly leaned in, putting all her body behind her elbow strike directed at her father''s chest. The elbow was quickly blocked by Kaiser, but the resulting force from her strike was enough to push his big body back a little.


    Fatima quickly picked up the short gap she created in between her strike and followed up with a side kick to her father''s waist. The kick connected, but she felt like she struck a hard wooden log.


    Using the momentum from her kick, Fatima kicked off the ground with her other foot, while the foot that was still planted on her father''s waist she used as a pivot to direct a roundhouse kick to her father''s face.


    Kaiser was smiling proudly throughout the whole exchange.


    ''Thank goodness... I won''t have to worry about her anymore.''


    The fight continued for another 5 minutes, the resounding and powerful attacks that Fatima sent to her father rang throughout the dojo. After sending the first attack at his daughter, Kaiser had only kept on defending while sending small jabs and kicks at his daughter to which Fatima smoothly blocked and counterattacked with even greater force.


    It was only after another minute or so that Fatima lost as she collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion. She was innately a competitive person, so she felt very frustrated at her loss, but there was just no way for her to win in this match.


    She had proven herself to be above any of the disciples trained by her father, but the person she was facing was the man himself. The same person who had once trained her as a child, the one who would and could never lose to his children.


    Her father''s defenses were so sturdy that no matter how hard or how clever she attacked; her father was still able to calmly block it all. The most dastardly thing was that with every attack she delivered, it felt like she was the one being damaged instead.


    Despite her father not attacking her, Fatima was the one that collapsed on the floor, battered and bruised.


    "Ugh..." Fatima tried to raise her body up, but then she felt weightless. She looked up and saw her father''s smiling face close to hers.


    "You did a good job, little one. Now it''s time for you to rest. OI, ALL YOU IDIOTS! DID YOU SEE THAT?! YOU FOOLS CAN''T EVEN COMPARE TO MY DAUGHTER! A GIRL! HOW CAN YOU FOOLS EVEN LIVE WITH YOURSELVES?!"


    After his exclamation, the dojo''s disciples all saluted to their master and to the young woman in his arms. The other family members who were spectating applauded and Anastasia quickly made her way towards her daughter.


    "Honey, are you alright?"


    "Yes, mom... haaauuhh... a little bruised, but it''s okay. I felt like I kept hitting a metal plate every time I attacked dad." Fatima mumbled.


    Hearing the word ''metal plate'' caused Anastasia''s face to darken. She coldly glared up at her husband and said.


    "Did you...tighten your muscles every single time your daughter attacked you?"


    "Eh? Huh? Y-yeah..."


    "IDIOT! Don''t you know that it''ll only hurt her?!"


    "A-ah! S-sorry honey, it was a...a conditional response! It was reflex! I can''t control that!" Kaiser said in his defense.


    "Then how come when I hit you, you don''t tighten up your muscles?!"


    "Th-that''s because... uhm..." The wife''s reply made the husband speechless. He couldn''t explain it.


    "I-it''s like this, I don''t want to hurt you so I don''t do it on reflex¨C"


    "So you''re saying it''s okay to hurt your own daughter?!"


    "W-wait, NO! NO! That''s not what I meant!"


    "Ohh, you''re gonna get it later." Anastasia hissed.


    "..."


    "Now, hurry up and bring my daughter to the main mansion!"


    "Y-yes, ma''am."


    The disciples could only stare in awe at the little woman. No matter how grizzly their dojo master was, he would always turn meek and become teddy bear in front of this woman.


    Fatima was blushing red as a tomato. She was very much embarrassed to be caught in the middle of her parents'' spat.


    From the outcome of the match, it was finally decided that Fatima would be the one leading the expedition force that was going to explore the areas on the other side of the mountain range.


    What they found would then be the next turning point for the Earthlings. The discovery of mana and magic was just around the corner and it would soon bring huge advancements and improvements to the city and its inhabitants. The Digital Era had finally come to pass and it was now time to welcome the dawn of the Magic Era of Humanity.

 Chapter 148 - The Opening Match

    Back at the Arks Academy on the Urrugdrasil Continent, the Little Kings were waiting for their matches.


    A couple of days had past and now all the tournament matches were being held in the main stadium. The bracket matches have all finished with the top 3 from each 5 brackets selected to participate in the main stage tournament.


    Yuna was first placed in her division. She had swept through the competition with ease, making her a favored dark horse. The faction leaders and Kings had also turned their attention to her, but when they saw her with the Little Kings, they immediately knew that the girl was likely a new member.


    This was all but confirmed when they saw her hanging out with Lucia and Eli on her breaks between matches. They could only ruefully sigh since another talent had been taken away from them. The Kings however were more than happy to see that another person may potentially join their ranks soon.


    In the waiting room 01, all the Kings of the Academy were gathered together, with Yuna being the only non-King present. There were other waiting rooms in the stadium, but they had all been divvied up by the Academy''s factions.


    There weren''t any lucky individuals who weren''t a member of the factions or Kings that had qualified for the Main Stage Matches, naturally with the exception of Yuna. Many have already dubbed her as a King-candidate, so technically she was still affiliated with one of the powers in the Academy.


    As they were waiting, the formalities and ceremonies in the stadium had finally finished. They had announced the start of the Main Stage tournament and the winners of the qualifiers. Yuna was naturally up on the stage with the other 14 qualifying students.


    Once the ceremony was over Yuna quickly made her way to the King''s waiting room. The people inside quickly greeted her as she came in, but they soon turned their attention back to the stadium''s stage.


    The Headmaster and the Anglaria Kingdom''s King were now on the stage announcing the beginning of the tournament. Once they had officially declared the start of the tournament, the entire avenue erupted in thunderous cheers.


    "Heh, everyone''s so hyped up." Ainz said with a smirk.


    Eli turned a side long glance at him and huffed.


    "W-what?!"


    "...nothing."


    He always had to say the most obvious things at the most stupidest times. While everyone was concentrating and focusing their minds for their upcoming matches, here he was leisurely being an idiot.


    Eli let out another exasperated sigh before turning her focus to the Anglaria Kingdom''s King who was walking down the stage alongside the Headmaster.


    "..."


    Fina and Velicia turned an eye to the girl, but they couldn''t figure out what she was thinking.


    CLAP


    The noise startled everyone in the room and they quickly turned towards the source of the sound. Seated on a sofa at the back of the room, Cecil was grinning playfully as he took in the surprised looks of his friends. The boy had clapped his hands to get his tensed party''s attention.


    "Hey guys~ relax~ why so tense? Look, even Ainz has the right mindset." Cecil leisurely said.


    "Pfft, more like he''s too nervous to the point he''s spewing nonsense out of his mouth," Lucia teased playfully.


    Yuna was silent throughout the entire time. She had lived for a fairly long time so she didn''t really feel any tension, but the atmosphere in the room had affected everyone''s mood. She was just about to tell Lucia who was leisurely eating some snacks beside Cecil, but the boy had already made his move.


    "Just relax guys. Being too focused and tense won''t help you win. Do that when you''re in the ring."


    "..."


    "Okay."


    "Mhm."


    "Y-yeah."


    The other Kings were smiling at their interaction. They had no reason to be tense like them since they have already participated in the Dueling tournament in their previous years. The only ones that were mildly tense were the twins, the Nature King and Queen. The two elves were only in their 2nd year so it was understandable.


    "Guys~ no need to be so tense! You''ll only ruin your focus later during the match~" Disaster Queen Audrey said in support of Cecil.


    "Mhm. Focus later, relax and calm your minds now." Sword King Robert added.


    "Mnyah...better...if you went...to sleep..." Ghost Queen Alice said as she clung to Robert and snoozed away. This caused Robert''s ears to twitch in response.


    Since their seniors and party leader had given them advice, it was only natural that the Little Kings had to comply. They were right, a tensed mind before a match would mostly likely lead to a screw up later.


    It might not happen in the first match, but then what about the subsequent matches? It was just as Sword King Robert said, relax and calm your minds.


    Very soon the first match up for the tournament was called. To everyone''s surprise it was someone from their room.


    "Cecil vs.¨C"


    "What?! It''s Cel?!" Lucia exclaimed in surprise.


    "Woah...the opening act being a main dish right away," Anixio said in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "Not main dish~ Cecil isn''t a food, brother." Anixia giggled in response.


    "Hmhm~ looks like I''m up. Let''s get this over with." Cecil said as he stood up and stretched his body a little.


    "Hey, Cel. Don''t do anything to flashy."


    "Ah, don''t worry. I won''t even use mana or a weapon, how''s that?"


    "...fine."


    Before, Lucia would have most likely said to beat the crap out of his opponent, but now she had knowledge of some distasteful things, she didn''t want Cecil to expose too much anymore.


    What happens if someone tries to take him away from her? That''d be pretty devastating. Though, it wasn''t like they could actually do anything to forcibly take him away. But what about things like...arranged marriages or something like that?


    "Nonono...I''ll blast away any fool who tries to get close." Lucia dangerously mumbled. Fina who was next to her paled a little and began to reason with her.


    It was too bad Lucia''s head was a little muddled. She forgot that using no mana or weapons to take down someone was much flashier than using moves that deliberately added some flare to the match.


    When she realized this point, it was already too late. Cecil was no longer in the room.


    The boy had already made his way onto the stage. His opponent was waiting for him, but he had a grimace on his face.


    The entire stadium was full of people, in the high up seating areas where the private rooms were located; the royal and noble families were seated in these rooms. This included the Golden Fox family.


    Anna and Zaki were seated with the current Golden Fox Chieftain. When they heard their son being called to the stage, they smiled together and focused their attention on the boy.


    Up on top of the stadium''s monitor, Cecil had his usual leisurely smile pasted on his face. His opponent had an obvious grimace and everyone could tell that he wasn''t confident at all, but he made no move to surrender.


    The referee asked if the two were ready, Cecil responded with nod and his opponent, a large tigerkin from the Moonclaw clan, grunted before taking out two large war axes. He began swinging them around as a warm up. Cecil only stretched his neck and body a little.


    Once he felt his muscles loosen a bit, he cupped his hand to his opponent in greeting then he quickly took his martial stance. Seeing the boy not taking out a weapon caused the audience to raise cries of surprise and jeers. He was fighting him barehanded, not even a glove or bracers were taken out to cover his hands.


    Once the referee saw that the two were ready, he immediately began the match.


    "FIGHT!"


    The tigerkin roared at Cecil and activated a body strengthening combat skill. He reinforced his body with Iron Mountain, Herculean Strength and quickened his speed using the Fleet Foot combat skills. The multiple parallel-activated strengthening skills caused the crowd to roar and cheer.


    High up in the royal families private room, the King let out an impressed hum. The Moon Claw clan were all smiling proudly, even if the opponent was an Academy King, there was no way their clan member would lose so easily.


    But to everyone''s surprise, Cecil only stayed still in his position, not bothering to activate any sort of skill or magic. He just waited. His opponent saw this and thought he was being looked down on. He roared angrily and charged, swinging his axes at Cecil.


    Cecil still had that dull look in his eyes and just as the two axes was about to land on his head, Cecil''s eyes sharpened immediately. He swiftly raised his hand and deflected one of the axes with a palm strike. He kicked off the ground and sent a kick to the other axe, smacking it away.


    He spun his body in the air and delivered an upward kick to the tigerkin''s chin. The kick flung his opponents head away, breaking his stance and nearly lifting him off his feet. Cecil smirked and continued sending kick after kick onto the tigerkin, slowly raising his body into the air with each successive attack.


    The barrage of kicks disorientated his opponent rendering him helpless to even retaliate. Cecil finished it off by sending a roundhouse drop kick to the tigerkin''s gut. It broke the protective enchantment and sent him flying off the stage. The entire series of attacks were executed swiftly and beautifully.


    Once he confirmed that his opponent was properly off the stage, Cecil turned around and walked back to his waiting room. The entire fight had just begun and it had quickly ended. The audience was still cheering for the tigerkin who had coolly rushed up to confront Cecil, but the fight had already ended.


    The audience lagged in their response, but when the monitor showed the beautiful execution of Cecil''s moves and repeated it in a slower speed, they immediately erupted into excited cheers.


    Cecil turned around and saw the monitor and thought, ''How cool...it''s like watching an NBA match, except we''re using magic and weapons.''


    Cecil hummed and quickly arrived at the Kings'' Waiting Room. Up in the private rooms, everyone, except for the Moonclaw clan, had amazed expressions and were discussing how great Cecil''s combat prowess was.


    The martial arts he used were very peculiar, and there was also the fact that he fought his opponent without any strengthening skills. He piqued everyone''s interest and attention, but they could only lament the fact that they wouldn''t be able to recruit such a talent.


    News had spread that the boy was the foster son of the previous headmaster of Arks Royal Academy, Anna Yukihime. She had also finally reemerged with her husband and declared that they would be returning to the Golden Fox Clan.


    The Golden Fox Clan was the most fortunate of the families right now since they had gained two unparalleled talents. Their rise in strength and prestige were all but confirmed and the other families could only look on in envy.


    In the waiting room, Cecil was confronting the somewhat mad Lucia.


    "Hey... you said you wouldn''t do anything flashy..."


    "But... I didn''t?"


    "That was overly flashy you idiot!! No strengthening skills? No mana-enhancements? What are you thinking?"


    "Uhh..."


    Now that he thought about it...going head to head against another person that was strengthened by multiple skills was indeed quite inconceivable. He quickly activated mana sense and found that the audience was indeed discussing that.


    "Uuuh... sorry?"


    "Tch... now more people will be paying attention to you..." Lucia said dejectedly.


    "Ah...ahahaha?"


    Cecil only responded with a strained laugh.


    The next match soon begun and everyone turned their attentions to the proceedings. It was going to be a long day and from the matchups the Academy had finally shown, it was only until after another 10 matches was someone from their room going to be called up.

 Chapter 149 - Ainz’s Turn

    "Looks like I''m up next," Ainz said. It was finally his turn to go up after waiting for 10 matches. Compared to Cecil''s ''quick and easy'' match, the subsequent 10 matches were blood boiling and adrenaline-inducing fights.


    The talented students of Arks Royal Academy had put on their best and it was a dazzling show of magic, combat skills, and martial arts. Although none of them left any sort of impression on Cecil and his friends, they were still really good matches nonetheless.


    Even Cecil had some words of praise for his fellow students. Next up was Ainz''s match and he would be facing off against a core member from one of the factions.


    "Ainz Bernstein vs. Lanmu Razorfang!" The announcer called out.


    Ainz quickly made his way up to the fighting stage and waited for his opponent. Lanmu was a grey tigerkin that was part of the Razorclaw tribe who was a subsidiary clan of the Darkclaw Clan. Lanmu was currently the treasurer of the Dark Moon Faction and he was pretty well known as having strong combat prowess on top of having a good head on his shoulders.


    Ainz''s opponent was slowly making his way up to the stage. His weapons were already equipped, two iron claws on each of his fists. He was a core member of a faction so he knew better than anyone that it wasn''t wise to underestimate a King.


    Although his opponent, Ainz, was only a new addition to the Kings dubbed as the Elemental King, this title alone was something that he needed to be worried about. Not just anyone could become a King obviously.


    Ainz had his confident smirk on his face. He readied his staff and stood a couple of meters away from his opponent in leisure. It was a good thing he didn''t say anything chummy or chuuni this time.


    The entire Little Kings would be losing face if he did. It was a good thing Eli had chewed him out just before the start of the match. He could only agree to the princess'' demands.


    The referee asked the two if they were ready, Lanmu grunted in response while Ainz waved his staff around like a spear and pointed the tip at his opponent.


    The referee nodded before loudly declaring, "FIGHT!"


    Ainz quickly activated his magic and a chaotic jumble of colors quickly formed a magic circle just at the tip of his staff, then a blade of multi-colored mana extended from the tip of his staff. Then at least 8 types of different colored magic formations appeared on his body.


    They were all strengthening magic spells and skills. The magic spells boosted his mana output, casting speed while the strengthening skills upped his physical abilities.


    Cecil raised a brow and hummed in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "Hmmmm~ looks like Ainz is going for close combat this round~"


    "Eh?"


    "What?"


    Velicia and Eli both exclaimed in mild surprise. Lucia turned to look at Cecil and said insipidly,


    "...you did something again, huh Cel..."


    "Hm~? Whatever do you mean?"


    Fina smiled wryly on the side. It wasn''t only Ainz...she too had asked to be taught martial arts and combat skills from Cecil. They perused the Time Acceleration Formation for this. The 3 spent all 12 hours of their allotment together in the formation learning all they could about Cecil''s weapon arts. Ainz had trained in Cecil''s spear arts while Fina was taught sword and knife arts.


    Fina was also a rare talent that Cecil actually envied. She was ambidextrous. She had good hand-eye coordination with both her hands so Cecil thought she would be good at dual wielding. The boy could hardly contain himself when he thought of this.


    Just imagine, a petite, adorably cute girl like Fina... being a dangerously skilled dual-wielding swordswoman that handled blades and swords created by mana! Just how awesome was that?!


    Even Ainz! Right now, the posture he was using to wield his staff-c.u.m-spear was epic! Cecil felt like he had ants in his pants, he just wanted to stand up to dance and cheer for his friend.


    The tournament was going to be their debut as magic warriors and Cecil was proud to have taught them the necessary combat skills¡ªno, proud wouldn''t even cut it. Cecil couldn''t describe the feelings he was currently harboring in his heart, but he was sure that his friend''s performance was going to surprise everyone in the stadium.


    Ainz had multi-casted several spells and skills all at once. This in itself caused many to be in awe at the boy''s ability. Even his opponent, Lanmu, couldn''t help but widen his eyes in surprise and awe.


    Ainz smirked and opened his mouth, "Hey! Are we going to fight or are you just going to stand their gawking at me?"


    His provocation was met with a chuckle. Lanmu quickly activated his skills and strengthening abilities. He readied himself and was just about to pounce at Ainz, but his opponent had made his move first.


    After Ainz saw that his opponent had properly finished his preparations, he flickered in front of him in the next instant.


    Ainz pulled back his spear-slash-staff and swung it at his opponent. Lanmu was surprised at Ainz''s speed, he quickly raised one of his claws to block the attack, but then he was sent further into astonishment at the weight and power he felt behind Ainz''s attack.


    "Dammit!"


    "Heh!"


    Ainz didn''t back down. After he smacked Lanmu back a couple of steps he followed up with another swing before he began stabbing his staff''s mana blade at the tigerkin. Lanmu clicked his tongue in annoyance, he continued to parry each of Ainz''s attack, but to his dismay, he couldn''t find any openings to initiate a counterattack.


    The torrential rain of mana spear blades that Ainz unleashed using his strengthened body was too overwhelming. Cecil had only taught Ainz the basics of the Silvaria Spear Technique, but he emphasized mostly on the techniques that were easy to chain together into a singular wave of attacks.


    For Cecil it was a little too simple and crude, but at least it worked. The best evidence was the current fight where Ainz was constantly pressing his opponent without letting up or giving his opponent any grounds.


    The crowd burst into cheers and the stadium''s atmosphere erupted. The show of force and technique displayed by Ainz was well received by the crowd. High up in the private rooms, the Bernstein family''s head was bursting out in laughter.


    "WAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT''S MA BOY!"


    "Tsk, honey, please be quiet. It''s loud enough already, don''t you go adding to the commotion."


    "Y-yes, dear."


    A dragonkin woman with s.e.xy proportions chided the family head. This was Ainz''s mother...Elizabeth Arks'' third aunt.


    Although, Ainz''s mother had chided his father, there was a clear look of pride present on her face. She was smiling slightly and it could be seen that she was very much proud of her son. She turned towards the children sitting next to her and gently said,


    "That''s your big brother down there! Mama wants the 2 of you to become big and strong like him one day, okay?"


    "Yes, Mama!!!" The little dragonkin girl cutely bobbed her head up and down, while the lizardkin boy was raising a ruckus at how cool his brother was.


    "Big bro is sooo cooooolll!!!"


    In the Royal Family''s private room, the King chuckled while saying, "I guess my sister is probably laughing in her booth right now... such a talented child...he hasn''t even used any magic spells yet!"


    That was right. Ainz hadn''t used any magic spells other than the initial strengthening spells. He was originally a mage, but right now he only relied on the spear arts he learned from Cecil to back his opponent against a wall.


    "Hoooh~!" The King exclaimed, impressed at the sudden development down on the fighting stage.


    After Ainz had pressured his opponent with his attacks, Lanmu believed he couldn''t stay like this. If he only kept on defending then there was no way for him to win at all! He tried to forcefully create an opening and somewhat succeeded.


    However, Ainz only smirked at his attempt. He slammed the floor with his foot and a pillar of earth rose right from underneath Lanmu.


    "GAH?!"


    ''There was no chant?! HOW?!'' Those were Lanmu''s thoughts before he saw Ainz''s figure in the air right above him.


    "Crap..."


    Ainz had finished a chant and howled, "ELEMENTAAAAAL! SPEAR!"


    He slashed down with his staff and the mana blade at the tip of his spear enlarged and smashed down onto Lanmu''s body.


    The attack quickly broke the protective enchantment on Lanmu''s body and sent him flying outside of the stage, unconscious. Ainz waved his staff and casted a whirlwind spell that safely brought Lanmu down onto the ground.


    Ainz landed on the stage coolly and raised his staff high in the air, announcing his victory. Down at the waiting room, the Little Kings all had their hands on their heads or covering their faces.


    "I-it''s...just too embarrassing..." Velicia said covering her face.


    "Y-yeah..." Fina agreed and averted her eyes.


    "Hahaha!!! Look at that pose, Elementaaaal Spear! PFFFTTTT HAHAHAHA!!!" Only Lucia was the one that was still laughing and crying at Ainz.


    "Does he think this is the Finals or something? And why''d he have to use Elemental Blaze? That''s a pseudo high ranked magic spell," Eli said with a hand on her forehead. "Even after all I said...he''s still being an idiot."


    "Well... what can I say? That''s Ainz...it was bound to happen?" Cecil said.


    "...what''s so wrong about that? I think he looked pretty cool there." Yuna was the only one who complimented Ainz''s behavior. Indeed, to the crowd he did look cool. Everyone was bursting into cheers and applause.


    It had to be said, Ainz was a natural-born crowd pleaser. Ainz waved at the crowd and quickly got down from the stage. He made his way back to the waiting room and announced his victory to his party.


    "I WON!"


    "...if you lost, I would have pummeled you into the ground." Eli monotoned.


    "Geh..." Ainz flinched at the cold remark, but he turned towards Cecil and pumped his fist forward with a grin. Cecil shrugged and bumped fists with him.


    "HA! HA! HA!"


    "Don''t encourage him Cecil!" Eli said exasperatedly.


    "S-sorry...but you have to say, he does deserve praise for that spectacular win!"


    "Hrrmmmm..."

 Chapter 150 - Eli Awakens 1

    After another 5 matches, it was Eli''s turn to go up on stage. The dragonkin girl turned really tense when her name was called. It was only natural since she was the princess of the kingdom so a lot riding on her shoulders.


    From the very start of the main stage tournament, Eli seemed to be always on edge. Like something was chasing after her. She tried to act normal, but her friends could completely see through her.


    They''ve been spending so much time with each other that a small change like this was easily discernible. Lucia was the first to walk up to Eli and give her a tight hug.


    "GYUUUUUU~"


    "...uhm... Lucia? What''re you doing?" Eli asked as she was surprised at the sudden hug.


    "Hihi~ relax Eli. Remember, you''re strong! Much stronger than anyone else here in this tournament! So relax and do your best," Lucia assured. "Don''t worry about your father or your family! Just remember, you''re doing this for yourself. You have nothing to prove since your friends here already know."


    Lucia whispered the latter half and it caused Eli to widen her eyes at the girl. She smiled and her tensed expression loosened up.


    "Thanks, Lulu."


    "Hihi~ no problem~"


    Lucia let go of her and Velicia and Fina stepped up to give their friend some words of encouragement. Eli happily received them and turned towards her party leader.


    "I''m going."


    "Yup, break a leg."


    "Huh?" Eli''s mouth dropped at the ''insidious'' words. Cecil saw this and explained in a fl.u.s.ter.


    "I-It''s a figure of speech! It means to do your best! Not actually go and break legs," Cecil said with a strained expression.


    "O-oh! Okay! I''ll do my best then!"


    "Yup, off you go now."


    Eli exited the room and went into the hallway. Just before she made her way up to the stage, she took a deep breath to recompose herself. Her friends were right, she was way too tense. She had no longer had anything to prove.


    She already proved her strength to her friends, so all that''s left was to showcase her improvement to her family.


    Eli''s eyes burned with a determined look, ''this isn''t the finals, nor is it the National Tournament. Let''s just do things moderately.''


    She grinned and an air of confidence began to exude from her body. She powerfully stepped her way up to the stage.


    The audience which was still roaring with cheers began to quiet down when they saw Eli''s figure striding up to the stage.


    The aura she exuded was... indescribable. Even the King had to widen his eyes in astonishment when he saw his daughter. He smiled in approval as he bore witness to his daughter''s change.


    The Little Kings were also surprised seeing this.


    "...Lucia, what did you say to her?" Velicia asked.


    "N-not much... I only told her to not be so tense..."


    "R-really? Then... how come she''s like that?!"


    "How am I supposed to know?! But... her next opponent''s going to have a hard time..."


    "Hehe... this match should actually be a finals match, but who would have thought they''d meet this early in the tournament!" Cecil smirked as he eyed Eli''s opponent.


    It was actually the Student Council Presdient, Zephyr Arks, Eli''s brother. It was no wonder why she was so tense.


    "AH! It''s him!" Lucia exclaimed.


    "No wonder she was so tense earlier!"


    "Geez... this should be a finals match... did the academy make a mistake?"


    Fina and Velicia looked on worriedly at her friend, but seeing the confident aura around her, they were able to settle their worries to some degree.


    "Don''t worry. She''s going to win. I know it." Ainz said as he eyed the stage. ''She has to, there''s just no way, no way, that she''d lose to that bastard of a brother.''


    Ainz clenched his fists and yelled, "DO IT! BEAT HIM! BEAT HIM INTO THE GROUND ELIIII!!!!!"


    The audience had quieted down so Ainz''s cry had rung sonorously throughout the stadium. Everyone in the room was surprised with his sudden outburst. Even the boy himself froze in his tracks, when he realized what he just did.


    "Oooohhhh shiiiiitttt!!!"


    "Wow, Ainz... I didn''t know you..." Lucia covered her mouth as she begun nudging and teasing the boy.


    "Nonononono! It''s not what you think! She''s my cousin! My cousin!!!"


    "Yeah~ and Cecil''s my brother~"


    "WHAT?!!" Ainz cried with a mixed expression of horror and shock.


    "Foster brother." Fina added quickly.


    "O-oh...huh?"


    Down on the fighting stage, Eli''s previous confident aura had vanished as her face began to turn red as a tomato. ''Th-that dumb idioooot!!!''


    Zephyr who was standing in front of her turned his eyes to the waiting room on the ground floor that housed all the Kings. He quickly found Ainz and eyed him coldly.


    Zephyr scoffed and directed his attention back to his sister.


    "So...you''re going to beat me into the ground?"


    "Uh... please don''t listen to that idiot..." Eli responded with a strained look on her face.


    "Hmph. I''d like to see you try." He scoffed.


    "..."


    Once the referee asked the two if they were ready, Eli pulled out her rapier and readied herself. Her brother waved his hand and extracted a large black great sword from his spatial ring.


    Zephyr eyed his sister coldly. It was like he was looking at a monster. Killing intent was clearly present in his eyes and even his body somewhat exuded it.


    Lucia who in the waiting room frowned when she saw this, ''Is he treating her as an enemy?''


    Eli flinched when the killing intent was directed at her. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms and a chill ran down her spine. She began to waver, but then her eyes focused and sharpened.


    She glared back at her brother, and then the air began to grow heavy. Everyone around the stage began to feel suffocated.


    Cecil was already off his seat as he walked forward to the front of the room. Everyone turned their attention to him and only saw a large, almost maniac, grin on his face.


    "Hahaha! She did it! She actually did it!"


    "W-what did she do?" Anixio asked feeling a little suffocated.


    Ever since Eli regained her composure and pointed her blade at her brother, the atmosphere turned really heavy and suffocating for some reason.


    "Weapon Intent...she actually awakened her weapon intent." Cecil said with a grin.


    "Weapon?"


    "Intent?"


    The twins asked.


    "NO WAY!"


    Everyone turned their attention towards the girl who shouted. It was Lucia. She had an incredulous expression on her face as she eyed Cecil. Then she turned towards her friend who was on the stage and confirmed it with her own eyes.


    "Hahaha... Oh gosh..."Lucia said, she felt a little conflicted, but happy at the same time.


    She had been trying to learn to awaken this intent from Cecil for almost a year, but then her friend beat her to it and she only learned about this Weapon Intent from Cecil only a couple of months ago!


    "Are you kidding me?!" Ainz yelled.


    "No...That''s genuine weapon intent alright... man, she actually did it!" Cecil exclaimed. He was without a doubt elated.


    Everyone in Little Kings was surprised when they heard Cecil confirm it. It was unbelievable! Before it was only Cecil who had it, the party even thought that it was going to be impossible for them to even attain it themselves, but now Eli had proved them wrong.


    It was possible, and she was the living proof of this possibility. Velicia and Lucia began grinning and their fighting spirits had ignited.


    "I WON''T LOSE!" Lucia yelled.


    "ME TOO!" Velicia echoed.


    The two pumped their fists in motivation and returned their attention to Eli who was on the stage. Since she had suddenly acquired the intent, then they might be able to pick up clues on how to obtain it themselves if they watched her fight.


    The other Kings were puzzled at their elation and motivation. They had no idea what they were talking about. But they were most astonished at how these 5 individuals weren''t affected by this unknown, suffocating pressure.


    "Y-you guys can''t feel this? It''s like a boulders have been placed on my chest or something..." Audrey grimaced.


    "Huh? Well no, I mean¡ªah! That''s right! Cel, Eli still doesn''t know how to control her Intent yet!" Lucia said in realization.


    "Hm? Oh yeah... I better step in then." Cecil said in realization. The boy then walked out of the room. It was clear where he was headed.


    The audience felt suffocated and many began to feel faint, but suddenly the oppressive atmosphere suddenly vanished.


    When they turned their eyes back to the stage, the two combatants were still standing in place, but they saw another person close to the stage.


    It was Cecil, and the boy had a beautiful silver spear resting on his shoulders. Was he going to jump in the stage and fight?


    The referee who had finally regained his bearings turned to eye Cecil questioningly.


    "Ah, don''t worry about me. I''m just here to stop the Intent from flowing to the audience. You know, that heavy feeling you felt on your chests earlier." Cecil said with a grin.


    The referee was a little skeptical, but seeing as Cecil had no intentions of doing anything other than standing there, he only nodded in response. "Okay."


    "Hmhm~"


    He turned towards the two on the stage and finally announced the start of the battle.


    "Elizabeth Arks vs. Zephyr Arks! FIGHT!"

 Chapter 151 - Eli Awakens 2

    "M-my King... d-did you feel that?" asked the Rabbit-kin woman who was next to the King of Anglaria.


    This woman was the current Sword Saintess of the Anglaria Kingdom, Celia Lunarts. She was a member of the Lunar Rabbit-kin Tribe. Even as a Sword Saintess, one of the very few people who were just below the Transcendent Level, she felt the oppressive aura released by the princess who was on the stage.


    It was mindboggling because she couldn''t do anything about it. The King only grunted in reply. This daughter of his kept on surprising him over and over again. Just what was this skill or technique that allowed her to pressure not just him, but practically everyone inside the stadium?


    He could already here the loud discussions and bewilderment of his citizens.


    "My King... what will do about this?"


    "...we''ll talk to her after the match."


    "Yes, your majesty." Celia bowed and backed down, returning to her seat. But the woman couldn''t sit down. She was very much anticipating the fight between the prince and princess. She knew for a fact that Zephyr was powerful, since she had personally trained the boy, but for some reason, she had this gut feeling that it was his sister that would emerge victorious in this fight.


    Anna and Zaki were surprised when the oppressive pressure descended in the stadium, but Anna only frowned and waved her hand, quickly dispelling the pressure around her and her husband.


    When she looked back down at the stage, she saw her son down there and after he extracted a beautiful silver spear from his spatial ring, the pressure inside the stadium immediately disappeared.


    She suddenly realized something and smiled, this ability was something that Lucia had written to her in one of her letters.


    "Weapon Intent... I didn''t think the princess would get this ability before my own daughter~ what a lovely surprise."


    "What''s that dear?"


    "It''s the ability the little dragon girly''s using~"


    "Oh...Cecil''s Intent?"


    "Yes, that''s the one."


    "Ah, I thought so. It felt strange when the pressure had abruptly appeared, but I guess that explains it... I''m guessing the girl still doesn''t have complete control over this ability, no?"


    "Yesh darling~" Anna said with a cheesecake stuffed in her mouth.


    Zaki could only smile at his adorable wife, but he turned his attention back to the fighter''s ring. After Cecil and the referee said something to each other, the ref immediately announced the start of the match.


    "FIGHT!"


    ******


    Down on the stage, Eli immediately activated Aura Manifestation after the referee announced the beginning of the match. A red aura rose and enshrouded her body. She still wasn''t aware that she had released her very own Intent, but for some reason she saw a pained expression on her brother''s face.


    Eli continued chanting and 3 large flaming swords rose from behind her. After she completed her preparations, she pointed her rapier at her brother. This caused Zephyr to grimace even more, but he gritted his teeth and forcefully tried to push back the immense pressure he was feeling.


    "RAAAAHHHHH!!!"


    After the shout, he immediately activated several combat skills and strengthening spells. He then raised his black great sword and dashed towards his sister with a battle cry.


    "COME!"


    "Hnnn..."


    Eli buckled down and braced herself for the impact. She quickly wrapped mana around her rapier, causing it to be wrapped in a red aura as well. Then she received her brother''s sword.


    CLAAAAANNNGGGGG


    The thin and flimsy rapier had shockingly blocked the large great sword. The audience had already thrown the earlier discussions of the unknown pressure to the back of their minds and had refocused on their attention on the ongoing battle.


    The sight of the princess blocking the prince''s great sword with only her thin rapier was...astonishing. The crowd roared in excitement and the battle continued.


    After blocking the sword strike, Eli punched the sword with her other fist while at the same time pushing her rapier up at the sword and she was able to repel the heavy sword away.


    Zephyr flipped up in the air and extended his wings, he dove back down while sending wind blades, earth spears and flame lances at Elizabeth.


    "TAKE THIS!"


    "Tsk..."


    Eli clicked her tongue and dodged away, but Zephyr followed after her and slammed his great sword at her again.


    This time Eli didn''t try blocking it. Although she could, but the time needed for her when she had to push it back was clearly enough for her brother to chant multiple spells at once.


    Eli extended her wings and flew up into the air. She sent her 3 flame swords to receive the sword strike while she flew up to the side and tried to pincer her brother.


    Zephyr obviously saw through this ploy and sent more spells to intercept her. Eli backed off while chanting. Once she completed her chant, the girl sent her spells to intercept the wind blades and earth spikes flying at her.


    Next to the stage, Cecil began frowning when he saw Eli fight.


    "She''s too cautious..."


    That''s right. Since the start of the battle, Eli hadn''t once taken the initiative to attack. She had only responded to Zephyr''s attacks and acted according to the situation.


    "Come on Eli! You''ve already awoken your intent! Use that and quickly end this farce!" Cecil impatiently said. He began tapping his fingers on his spear, clearly showing his impatience.


    The battle continued and Eli was constantly on the defense. She hadn''t once taken the initiative to attack. Although there were many times in the battle where Cecil saw that she could have directed her intent on Zephyr and attack, but Eli hadn''t done so, she only backed off and cautiously conjured more flame swords around her.


    Cecil clicked his tongue in annoyance, but then he felt that the intent suddenly began to fade as the battle continued. It was then he suddenly realized something.


    "D-don''t tell me...she hasn''t realized it yet?!"


    After observing a little bit more, Cecil was now certain that his friend hadn''t realized her awakening yet.


    The referee did say he wasn''t allowed to interfere, but if this kept up... Eli was going to lose the match.


    It wasn''t only him who realized this, but every member of Little Kings began to realize it as well. They were helpless to do anything to help. Lucia turned a pleading took to Cecil. The boy felt her gaze and he turned his eyes to her.


    ''Jeez...you''re telling me to do the impossible.''


    Cecil gave a wry smile, but he nodded his head. He turned his sights back onto the stage. Then he began to slowly release his intent, directing it only to Eli who was still fighting.


    As the intent began to envelope her, Eli started to feel strained and oppressed.


    ''H-how come... I feel...so bad?''


    It hadn''t even been 10 minutes since the start of the match, so how could she feel exhausted already?


    ''Damn...it feels like...I''m being pressured by Cecil¨Chuh?''


    She finally noticed someone near the edge of the stadium. It was Cecil and currently he was glaring coldly at her. Eli immediately felt frightened, and her intent immediately vanished.


    This caused the oppressed Zephyr to widen his eyes and smirk at his sister.


    "Hehe, so that stupid pressuring technique of yours has duration. Now, get ready to lose, sister."


    Cecil was just about to open his mouth to say something when he saw Eli''s attention directed at him, but then he heard Zephyr open his mouth.


    Eli widened her eyes when Cecil''s intent suddenly disappeared and after hearing what Zephyr said, her eyes widened even further.


    ''Pressuring...technique?''


    She realized something and turned her eyes to Cecil. The boy only smirked and nodded in response. This caused Eli''s face to brighten. She closed her eyes and tried to find the feeling and sensation she felt earlier.


    When Zephyr saw Eli close her eyes, he naturally thought that his sister had finally accepted her defeat. He gave her a gloating smile and said, "You can''t blame for this little sis¡ª"


    He was abruptly cut off however when the terrifying pressure from earlier resurfaced. This time however it was much more oppressive than earlier. He felt like he had a mountain placed on top of his chest, making it hard for him to breathe.


    No, it wasn''t only his chest; it felt like weights had been put all over his body. He found it difficult to breathe and move. It was even hard for him to flap his wings and stay airborne.


    The Intent had begun to spread to the audience and the roaring audience was immediately silenced when the terrifying pressure reemerged. It was even much stronger than before!


    "Oops, forgot about that." Cecil immediately awakened his intent once more and began counteracting and containing Eli''s intent.


    "Now you''re gonna get it, elder brother~ don''t make fun of a girl... that''s trained so hard in her life just to receive her family''s approval." Cecil playfully said.


    Eli had opened her eyes, she felt...different somehow. She felt like she was in control. She let out a breath and began reveling in the sensation.


    "So this is Intent huh...it feels good."


    She finally took a look at her body and found her aura and mana flaring around her. Even the ambient mana in the air was gravitating towards her. It felt good. No, it felt great!


    She was still staring at the mana flaring around her and then she raised her rapier. She saw the Intent and aura combining, circulating in a peculiar fashion around her weapon. She suddenly found inspiration for a new sword skill.


    She turned towards her brother who was forced to the ground. The sudden change in the battle had surprised everyone in the stadium.


    "...I''m going to end this." Eli softly said.


    "Guh...arrrrggghhhh!!! Like hell you will!!!" Zephyr raised an angry roar in reply.


    "..."


    Eli readied her rapier and stretched her sword arm behind her. She leaned her body forward and aligned her shoulders perfectly with her weapon. She began channeling her mana into her rapier and circulated it in the same peculiar manner as her intent and aura had moved.


    A change happened on her weapon, the aura, mana, and intent began to blend together and the rapier began to shine brightly in the color of her aura. The stadium''s temperature began to rise up immediately.


    Then the mana circulating around her weapon began to flow back to her body and it moved in an uncomfortable manner.


    Eli felt odd, but it was like the mana was compelling her to do something. So Eli followed this feeling and readjusted her body''s posture.


    She straightened her body, aligning her shoulders with the rapier with her other hand stretched and pointed forward at her target, Zephyr. She leaned slightly forward and finally felt the mana circulate around her comfortably.


    Her aura spiked up and largely flared around her. This sudden changed caused everyone to widen their eyes in astonishment.


    Cecil was already grinning when he saw Eli''s change as he cried in his mind, ''You feel it too don''t you Eli!''


    "This is more comfortable... now..." Eli eyed her brother. She narrowed her eyes and dashed forward.


    She disappeared and suddenly arrived about a meter in front of Zephyr in the next instant, it was like she had teleported. Zephyr was still surprised at her sudden disappearance that he hadn''t even registered the fact that his sister was already in front of him.


    "FLASH! CRIMSON SKIES!!!"


    Eli yelled out her new sword skill and she moved her sword arm to thrust in front of her. It felt excruciatingly heavy to move her rapier.


    But, what she didn''t understand was that she was moving too fast, her entire body had already been enhanced with the mana intent. The change was only temporary, but the enhancement was out of this world.


    It was just like how Cecil felt when he tried to move when he had ''hypersensitivity'' active.


    Eli gritted her teeth and yelled as she stubbornly tried to move her body.


    "RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 152 - A Vague Feeling

    SSSCCCHHHLLLLLKKKKK PING


    In her hypersensitive state, Eli had successfully brought her sword arm forward. She had thrust her rapier right at her brother.


    The skill would have killed him...if it hit. But there was no way Eli was going to kill her brother. No matter what, that was her beloved brother Zephyr. Although he became twisted as he grew up, he was still the eldest brother that had once pampered her as a child.


    He was also the one who had comforted her when their eldest sister had died. With their genius eldest sister now dead, it fell upon Zephyr''s shoulders to take her place. Eli''s brother wasn''t a genius, but he was a hard worker. All she remembered was the brother who kept striving to improve himself, but it was a shame.


    Somewhere along the way, he became twisted and power hungry. He also became more controlling and began looking down on others. He recruited other people, but only viewed them as tools, pawns to his own chess game.


    Zephyr was now standing stock still in shock. He was faintly trembling as he eyed his little sister. Her rapier was resting atop his shoulders. He felt a sting on his face and felt something hot trickle down the side of his face.


    It was obviously blood. He sighed and raised his fist. Eli saw this and she closed her eyes, but then she felt something warm land on top of her head.


    She slowly opened her eyes and saw her brother smiling gently at her.


    "Good job, Eli..."


    She was stunned. It''s been a long time since she''s seen that face. She smiled back and moved her rapier away from her brother. The protective enchantment had already broken apart, so it was her win.


    She felt tired, so when she relaxed her tensed muscles, it felt like she might collapse in relief right then and there.


    Zephyr looked up towards the referee and asked, "Aren''t you going to announce the verdict?"


    "Huh? Oh! Y-yes, of course, ahhum...WINNER! ELIZABETH ARKS!!!"


    After the referee declared the winner, Cecil kept his spear into his ring and flashed atop the stage. He injected his mana into Eli and she immediately began to feel better. The lethargic feeling disappeared and her face turned peachy once again.


    "Thanks Cecil."


    "Hey, no probs, but wow... you actually awoken your intent, that''s awesome! Let''s hurry back to the rest of them. You''re gonna get a real earful later!" Cecil said with a chuckle.


    "Ugh..." Eli walked off the stage with Cecil, leaving behind her brother. Zephyr smiled and walked off back to his faction''s waiting room.


    Up in the Royal Family''s private room, the Sword Saintess had already turned her back on the stage and walked back towards the King.


    "Your Majesty! Did you see that?!"


    "Yes, I saw Celia, I saw..."


    "I-it felt like magic, but at the same time it felt like it was a combat skill!"


    In the Kings'' waiting room, Eli eyed her friends who were all smiles and backed away slowly. Lucia and Velicia immediately clamped their hands on her shoulders preventing her from running.


    "Eli~"


    "Hehehe, Elizabeth~"


    Her two friends were starting to scare her a little. She could only turn her face away and ask hesitantly.


    "w-what..."


    "Hehe~"


    While Eli was about to be interrogated by her 2 friends, Cecil was currently explaining the pressuring phenomenon from earlier to the other Kings.


    "Weapon Intent huh..."


    "Umu..."


    The Sword King and Ghost Queen looked to be in deep contemplation. Well, the Sword King anyway, Ghost Queen Alice was only clinging onto him as sleepy as usual.


    "Wow! This is something new!"


    "Something new, something new!"


    "Hoooh~ seems interesting~"


    Cecil looked at the Kings and slowly said, "It''s not something that can be acquired through practice and training..."


    "Hm? So, how does one...attain this ability?" Robert asked. He was a weapon user, so naturally his interest was piqued. Not to mention the overwhelming ability that Eli displayed earlier was a good cause for motivation.


    Anyone with ambition or drive would strive to get stronger or better. Even Alice was looking straight at Cecil for an answer. Her normally sleepy looking eyes had a clear tinge of curiosity and desire in them.


    The other 3 Kings weren''t as enthusiastic as them, but they had shown interest in the answer.


    "It can only come through enlightenment."


    "Enlightenment?"


    "...what''s that?"


    Robert and Alice immediately pressed Cecil for an answer, but even he himself couldn''t properly explain what ''enlightenment'' pertained. Every person would have a different form of enlightenment.


    This was obvious considering Cecil and Elizabeth both attained their Intents through different conditions. Cecil gained his from the need to procure and hunt for food when he was a child, while Elizabeth was enlightened in the midst of battle against her brother.


    "I...I''m not really sure how to explain this to you two... Enlightenment is like... it''s a feeling. Like you gained an understanding of something and then everything else would just fall into place. Even I''m not sure how to tell you guys about this since I''m pretty sure everyone would have different forms and conditions for enlightenment. Also, even if you somehow did attain enlightenment, it''s not certain that you''d even awaken your Intent."


    "Oh... well, can you at least give us some examples?" Alice asked back.


    "Examples...Ah, well, I attained my Intent when I was a child, around when I was 9 or something."


    "9?"


    "Yeah, it was during one of my training sessions with my father. I was pretty starved that time so when I went out hunting, I happened upon a creature that... was pretty hard to catch. As I grew more and more frustrated, something just clicked in my head all of a sudden. My only thoughts at that time were that my spear was definitely going to pierce through that creature''s body."


    Cecil explained his feelings when he attained his Weapon Intent in the best way he could describe. Behind him, his party members had also moved in closer to listen. This was especially true for Lucia and Velicia.


    "The next thing I knew, the creature froze up and I was able to casually pierce my spear through its body...anyway it''s a vague feeling, I know. But it''s definitely there! I mean, Eli''s gained her Intent so there''s no way it''s not true!"


    "Hm... actually I had the same feeling as you too Cecil."


    "Eh?"


    Cecil quickly turned around and saw his friends behind him. Everyone''s attention immediately turned to Eli who had just spoken up.


    "I felt the same thing as Cecil... when I was standing in front of my brother... His... eyes... were what triggered me. I just wanted him to look at me like before. Not that cold and unfeeling way he did when he directed all that killing intent on me..."


    "Ah! So that''s why after your brother directed his sword at you, you suddenly changed like that!"


    "Y-yeah... anyway I can''t really explain it. After I saw his eyes, something in my head just clicked together... just like Cecil said. Although at first I didn''t understand it and I was oblivious to the fact that I awakened my Intent, but thanks to Cecil I was able to realize it before the match ended."


    "Hmm...It''s too vague... but I sort of understand it." Robert said.


    "Well, there''s no use in pondering too hard about it...umu...Robby~ hu~ug~" Things became too complicated now so Alice flickered under Robert''s cloak and resumed her napping.


    Robert''s face twitched at this, but then he sighed and let it be.


    "Well, at least I know something like this exists. I''ll try and strive for this... ''enlightenment'' you keep talking about."


    "Mhm. Good luck then."


    "Yeah."


    Lucia and Velicia pulled on Eli, the two girls brought her down to sit together and immediately began talking again, Yuna followed after them and sat down besides Lucia, it seemed interesting so she wanted to know more. They also pulled Fina over for discussion. She was the smartest out of all the girls so maybe she could gain some understanding that''ll help those two if she was also listening.


    Cecil brought Ainz out to look for some food. The next tournament match was already on going, after another 2 matches Ghost Queen Alice went up.


    Cecil and Ainz brought back some food, but while they were gone all the previous Kings had already went up for their battles. It was a shame that they missed it. Velicia had also already gone up and so had Lucia.


    Lucia was pretty bummed because her opponent had straightforwardly surrendered and didn''t even bother walking up to the stage.


    It was someone from the fox clans of the Kingdom, so they might have known about her status. This caused many in the stadium to be disappointed. Especially Anna and Zaki, the two wanted to see their daughter fight and gloriously triumph over her opponent.


    "Hey~ what took you guys so long?" Lucia asked a little dispirited.


    "Well..."


    "S-so much... people..." Ainz said. He was clearly out of it.


    The sea of people just outside the stadium made it hard for them to exit and enter. When they wanted to walk out they couldn''t, but when they decided to turn around, the crowd of people pushed them forward until they were finally outside of the stadium.


    The same thing happened when they wanted to enter. Right when they were about to give up, the crowd of people shuffled and pushed until Cecil and Ainz suddenly found themselves back inside the stadium''s hallway.


    Of course, they could use spells and skills to force their way through, but the Headmaster had enforced the non-usage of skills and spells by the students other than when they were on the fighter''s stage.


    If a case was found then they would be disqualified from the tournament.


    "Well, what''d we miss?" Cecil asked as he began handing out the food, snacks and drinks he bought earlier to everyone in the room.


    "Everyone''s already gone up to fight...all that''s left is Fina, apparently she''s participating in the last match for today."


    "Wow... we sure missed a lot."


    "N-next time... we should just...buy or pack food..." Ainz said tiredly.


    "Yeah... we should do that..."


    "NEXT! The last match for today! Aquafina Neftersea vs..." Fina stood up when her name was called, she began to circulate her mana and stretch her body when finally her opponent''s name was called out. "...Manden Krulle!"


    "Eh?"


    "Seriously...the academy''s staff must be tripping!" Ainz said in exasperation.


    "Another King vs. Faction leader..."


    "These matchups..."


    Fina was startled when she heard who her opponent was, but the girl pumped herself.


    ''I''m a King! I won''t lose! HMPH!''


    Her cute face as she was trying to psyche herself up caused everyone in the room to look at her warmly.


    Lucia rushed up for a hug and said, "You can do it Fina~!!"


    "Yes!"

 Chapter 153 - Fina’s Debut

    With the last match''s contestants announced, Fina quickly made her way to the stage.


    Opposite of her was the Alchemy Faction Leader, Manden Krulle. The person was a... tall bearkin female with long black hair and cute little black bear ears on her head. She seemed pretty laid back despite being on the stage.


    The faction leader only nodded her head in greeting and she then began chanting an incantation. From what Cecil could see, it was most likely spatial magic. A large black magic formation formed in front of her and a large Blade Ursa materialized on top of it.


    "WOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    The entire crowd immediately began cheering when the large Blade Ursa appeared. Just like every alchemy faction participant, Manden Krulle would also be using a battle pet to fight her match. Once the Blade Ursa was summoned, Manden took a step back. It was clear she wasn''t going to participate in the fight and would only let her pet do all the battling.


    The Blade Ursa was a little unique, not like the typical ones you would see in the wild. This Blade Ursa was at least 2 meters larger and was equipped with armor and weapons. The most frightening part of the equipment was that all of them were magically enchanted and engraved with complex runes.


    Just the sheer amount of money put into the bear''s equipment was frightening, but that''s just what''s expected of the Alchemy Faction''s Leader, right? With her skills she was bound to have a large amount of wealth stored up.


    Fina felt a little intimidated. Not because of the bear, but because of the equipment. The amount of wealth put into this creature was mindboggling. She turned to look at the custom national-grade robe and protective armor on her and thought, ''Even I''m not that well equipped.''


    Fina pulled out her wand and summoned her familiars around her. She then quickly put her wand away and waited for the referee to start the battle.


    "Ready?!"


    "Mhm."


    "..." Manden only nodded her head in response. The Blade Ursa roared powerfully and began directing an insane amount of blood thirst at Fina.


    "Urk..."


    ''Nonono... I won''t lose to this bear!''


    Once the referee got their confirmation, he quickly announced the start of the battle.


    "FIGHT!"


    "ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!"


    The Blade Ursa immediately rushed forward, the crowd was already roaring along with the monster, but there was also some of the audience who feared for the little girl that was facing against such a monster.


    "I-is the little one going to be okay?"


    "I don''t think I can watch this!"


    "Hey Ref!!! You better not let anything happen to the cute little girl!!!"


    Fina who was just about to rush forward to meet the bear stumbled when she heard the audience. ''I-I''m not some helpless little girl...''


    Well, who could blame them? Fina looked more like a non-combatant like Manden Krulle, but from her outfit she seemed like a mage. When the spectators saw her conjuring water familiars all around her this just confirmed it.


    What they didn''t expect though was that Fina would put away her wand and take up a fighting stance like a close combatant. This only piled up onto their worries when the girl stumbled and almost tripped just as she was about to dash forward.


    "ROOOAAARRRR!!!"


    The Blade Ursa however did not care. It had already arrived in front of the little girl and swung its magi-steel covered claws. The claw weapons that the monster was using immediately lit up with a green glow in mid-swing.


    Fina quickly backed up and dodged to the side. She just barely dodged the wind blade that flew above her head. Fina quickly rolled away and stood back up. She glared back at the bear and recomposed herself.


    "Wooh...let''s do this."


    Her eyes sharpened and she circulated mana into her arms.


    "Deploy, Mana Armament: Sword."


    With a short chant and a wave of her hand, mana began to gather together and coalesce into a solid form. When she grabbed at the air in front of her, a blue aura shaped short sword formed in her hands.


    The wavering bluish aura began to stabilize and a solid blue short sword quickly formed. The crowd was surprised at this, and so was every important personage in the private rooms. It was obviously an original spell, but it was one that was unheard of before.


    "F-Fina...did she just create a weapon from mana?" Velicia asked incredulously.


    "Yup~" Cecil answered with a grin.


    "W-what the heck?"


    "It''s her original magic," Cecil eyed his bewildered friends and continued, "It''s based off of her familiar summoning magic. I heard that it was her family''s core technique. They''re able to condense mana and give it form.


    The concept is this same with her familiars, but this time I asked her if she could create weapons from them. She never tried it before, but as you can see, it''s plausible. I call them ''Mana Armaments''."


    The battle ensued and Fina enhanced her body using combat skills and strengthening magic just as Ainz did in his match.


    "Once she creates them, just like her familiars she won''t have to sustain them using too much mana, and if they''re destroyed she could just simply recreate them. The best part about it is that the Armaments can act as a replacement for her wand. She could also add additional properties and attributes onto her Mana Armaments."


    Lucia was deep in thought as she began mumbling to herself.


    "...that means add an explosion factor, throw them while adding a homing property, apply the freeze attribute and¨C"


    "Ah! There it is!" Cecil said while pointing back at Fina''s fight.


    The little girl was darting dangerously close around the Blade Ursa, and as if to prove all of Lucia''s words, she was constantly throwing her Mana Armaments at the monster. Fina didn''t even need to aim as she had already applied a homing property onto her Armaments.


    Also, as every Armament struck the Blade Ursa, it would freeze the part that it had struck. It didn''t even matter if it was a direct hit or not. Just a small graze was enough to leave behind a patch of ice on the Blade Ursa.


    The Alchemy Faction''s leader was finally beginning to panic. She thought it was going to be easy since Fina was mostly renowned as the Little Kings'' support mage, but she couldn''t be more wrong now.


    How could this sword throwing little girl that caused freeze-inducing hits even be considered a support-back up mage?


    It wasn''t only Fina who was attacking however. The familiars that she had summoned in preparations before the start of the match were also sending Ice Arrows, Water Bolts, and other low-tier magic spells at the Blade Ursa.


    The ice wolf familiars were coordinating their attacks with their master. They swarmed together as one, overwhelming the large monster to the point where it couldn''t fight back and could only endure their freezing onslaught of spells.


    After about 2 minutes of throwing Mana Armaments at the bear, Fina finally stopped. Manden thought that she had finally exhausted her mana and she quickly ordered her battle pet to launch its counterattack.


    "RRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR!!!"


    After enduring so much pain, the Blade Ursa was obviously now in a very bad mood. It had even gone berserk as it roared out at Fina. The little girl however wasn''t even fazed at this. She dispelled all her familiars with a wave of her hand.


    Then she raised her hand at the Blade Ursa and chanted, "Northern Winds embrace mine enemy, Winter''s Embrace."


    SNAP


    With a snap of her finger, all the Mana Armaments that were surrounding or were embedded on the Blade Ursa''s body immediately exploded.


    BOOOMMMMMM


    A silvery cloud of cold air burst in the middle of the stage where the monster was located at. The temperature in the stadium immediately plummeted. Finally, when the cloud cleared up, the audience saw the Blade Ursa encased inside a solid block of ice.


    It couldn''t move nor could it do anything. Manden Krulle was dumbfounded when she saw the state that her bear was in. She quickly activated a spatial magic to recall her battle pet to wherever it was that she called it from and quickly announced her surrender to the referee.


    "WINNER! Aquafina Neftersea!!!"


    The crowd erupted into a thunderous applause. Fina grew startled again at this. She ducked her head and quickly ran down the stage in a fl.u.s.ter. When she made it back into the waiting room she slammed the door behind her and slumped down onto the floor.


    "S-s-s-s-s-scaarrryyy..." It wasn''t the Blade Ursa that was scary. She meant to crowd of people.


    Fina''s was always timid and she never liked being in the spotlight. She nearly blanked out when the thunderous applause rose up around her earlier.


    All the girls rushed over at the little girl and cheered.


    Lucia patted her head and said, "Nice one Fina... see what''d I say? You could get strong if you wanted to, right?"


    "!"


    "Hihi~!" Lucia grinned when she saw Fina widen her eyes at her.


    Seeing that, the little girl immediately cried in response, "YEAH!"

 Chapter 154 - Apocalypse

    The tournament continued on until the final day.


    The Academy wanted to speed things up a bit, so the faculty had decided to host 6 matches at the same time. 5 matches would be going on in the smaller stadiums and 1 match at the main stadium.


    So the tournament was able to progress all the way until the Finals after only a day.


    The Academy also changed up the format a little to speed things up. The match ups would now all be at random and students with a record of at least 10 wins would be able to participate in the Finals of the Dueling Tournament.


    This was because the random matchups from 2 days ago had pitted 4 seeded students against each other in the first round. With the Alchemy and Student Council Presidents gone, it would without a doubt affect the Academy''s overall performance in the National Tournament.


    Losing 2 gifted students just because of an unfortunate matchup didn''t sit well with the Academy and the Kingdom. There was a little bias and favoritism shown here, but at least now all the students of the academy had 3 chances to be placed in the Finals.


    Every student would be required to fight 15 total matches. Win 12 of them and they would be guaranteed a spot in the Finals, lose 3 then its good bye.


    Once the Finals were over and there were still some vacant spots remaining from the 100, the Academy would pick the students with the most wins from the second day and place them to fill in the remaining spots.


    Basically, if you made it to the Finals of the Dueling Tournament, you would already have a ticket to go and participate in the National Tournament next month.


    Although the tournament format changed a little, it meant nothing to the Little Kings; they won every single one of their matches totaling 15 straight wins. Lucia simply overwhelmed her opponents with her magic combat. Velicia won using her fighting techniques. Ainz and Fina defeated theirs using the two''s new fighting styles and Eli crushed her opponent using her newly awakened Intent.


    Her matches were simply too one-sided that it was harrowing for her opponents. At least with the other Little Kings, their opponents could at least fight back or do something. But Eli''s opponents... just stood their ground pale in fear. They couldn''t do anything. Some of them even fainted on the spot once Eli unleashed her Sword Intent. Once it happened 1 or 2 times more, her subsequent opponents had just give up without a fight.


    As for Cecil...It was just like he had promised no mana, no weapons, no skills, just pure goodness-to-honest martial arts. He punched and kicked his way to the Finals and because of this he had finally received his King''s Title. The Academy dubbed him the Combat King.


    It was a fitting title for Cecil, and the boy very much liked it. It wasn''t only him, by the time the Finals began; everyone from Little Kings had officially received their King''s Title. Lucia was named the Apocalyptic Queen, Fina was the Aquafrost Queen, Velicia was the Queen of Destruction and Eli was the Crimson Sky Queen.


    As for why they got names like that, it was pretty obvious for Fina and Eli. Fina was mainly using water and ice magic so it was an appropriate title. Eli''s aura and Intent-fused rapier were always crimson in color. Coupled with her new sword skill that she always used to defeat her opponent, it was fitting.


    As for Velicia... she got her title from the way she battled. Whenever it was her turn to fight she would just...destroy. Literally, destroy everything. Magic, she would punch through, combat skills she would break, battle pets she would pummel. And she would always, in one way or another, destroy the arena whenever she fought. Her single minded and simple, yet very effective way of fighting was what gave her the nickname ''Queen of Destruction''. Exactly, it was a nickname that the audience had chanted and for some reason, the academy had taken it as her title.


    As for why Lucia had such an ominous title...well let''s take this back to the second day since the main stage matches started.


    Lucia had asked Cecil for permission to test out a new spell that she had just recently created. Cecil gave her permission, but told her not to overdo it. It was a decision the boy would soon regret making.


    It was during Lucia''s 15th match. She had finally landed an opponent that was worth fighting, who also didn''t give up right away. It was the Spell Caster Faction Leader, Lala Naito. Lucia thought it was a perfect match up. Surely a strong mage such as her would be able to withstand her newly developed spell, right?


    Wrong. It was so wrong that Cecil nearly jumped into the ring to berate the girl for using an over-tiered high ranking spell.


    For some reason or another, during their training sessions inside the Accelerated Time Formation before the tournament started, Lucia had somehow fused her fire and water elements together and created a new element all together.


    The new element was in the form of a purple colored flame or liquid. As a flame it was extremely hot and as a liquid it was absurdly cold. She called it the Solaris Fire and the Lunares Water.


    As for the magic spell she would use to earn her Apocalyptic Queen title... the spell required Lucia to fuse these two new elements together during the incantation and cast the spell onto her target.


    She called it, Apocalypse. Why was it named Apocalypse? This was because during her experiments with the two elements she had accidentally caused near irreversible damage to the Accelerated Time Formation''s independent space.


    The purple flaming meteors and dancing plumes of fire plus the randomly falling purple glaciers and ice explosions that her spell caused as a precursor before its full activation had literally put her into a doomsday setting. It was powerful, but she had lost control of the spell and it ran rampant.


    Her isolated space inside the formation had nearly collapsed in on itself, nearly trapping her forever inside the formation. It was a good thing that she had quickly escaped and cancelled her spell before it could fully activate.


    The mana backlash from her forcibly canceling the spell put her bedridden for a couple of days. Cecil and friends asked her many times about the cause, but she wouldn''t spill the beans.


    So that brings us to Lucia''s match versus Lala Naito. Right when the match started, Lucia and Lala at first competed with their magic spells. Throwing in originals and regular low to mid-tier spells at each other.


    As the magic fight reached a peak, Lucia jumped back before chanting her new original spell. She had her aura active during the entire fight. The red crimson aura surrounding her was blazing strongly as ever, but the moment she began chanting her new spell, that aura began to blaze even stronger and it slowly changed color into a dark violet color.


    On her 5 foxtails blossomed flickering purple flames and undulating water orbs. As her aura changed color her physical abilities experienced an even greater enhancement. Lucia''s opponent, Lala, obviously wouldn''t wait for her to finish casting her spell, but no matter how many spells Lala fired, Lucia was able to calmly and easily evade or neutralize them while she continued her incantation.


    She learned from last time and after days of practice, she was able to finally gain complete control over her spell, at least, that''s what she thought.


    As the last words fell on Lucia''s incantation, she pointed her tails and Butterfly at Lala and powerfully announced her spell''s name.


    "Blazing suns and arctic moons, lay waste to the world, APOCALYPSE!"


    Just the name alone caused Cecil to have a bad premonition and sure enough that premonition came true. Shit, happened. The entire stadium nearly collapsed from her spell.


    If it wasn''t for the combined forces of every capable magician in the stadium who reinforced the protective barrier that protected the audience... then maybe that day''s joyous tournament would have turned into a tragedy.


    Lucia only realized this after her last words fell. The output that she thought she could control which, by the way, in her honest-to-goodness explanation and apology, was set to the bare minimum which was 800 units of mana, but that alone was enough to blast open the ground and eradicate everything inside the barrier.


    It was a good thing that Lucia was able to flash towards the referee and her opponent in time and swiftly bring them outside of the barrier. There were no casualties, but the aftermath of the destructive magic had left behind a large crater inside the barrier that replaced the previously glorious fighting stage.


    If that wasn''t the worst of it, Lucia''s Apocalypse had also ruined the structural integrity of the stadium''s protective barrier and they had to halt the tournament for almost a quarter of the day. They had to repair the rune engravings and enchantments then they had to restore the fighting stage.


    This was also why the tournament format had a last minute change where multiple battles had to be conducted all at once that day, just so they could keep the schedule moving.


    It was a good thing that over half of the matches that day had finished so they only had to rush the last several matches before they pulled the curtain down on the second day of the tournament.


    Lucia received an earful from both Cecil and her mother. Then she went to apologize towards the Headmaster and the King. Fortunately the King was a pretty laid-back guy. He had actually thanked Lucia for showing him a magnificent and interesting spectacle and thus, Lucia was pardoned with only a bump on the head from Cecil.


    Cecil couldn''t stay angry at Lucia. Plus, her friends were practically on his case now since the boy lectured her to the point where she began crying and apologizing.


    So now we arrive at the present time, Final Day of the Dueling Tournament, Kings'' Waiting Room.


    "...Cel...sorry..."


    "..."


    "...please... say something."


    Lucia was pitifully clinging onto a very, very silent Cecil. Since the incident from yesterday, Cecil had kept his mouth shut ever since they came home. Even this morning he stayed silent. Although the boy didn''t actively avoid anyone, his silence alone was enough to express his dissatisfaction. At least, that''s what everyone thought.


    As the primary offender, Lucia felt horrible and tried everything to make him speak again. Actually, even Cecil himself didn''t know why he was angry. In fact, could this even be called anger?


    Cecil only felt like he was throwing a tantrum... but at what? Why? Was it because of Lucia''s thoughtless display of might from yesterday? No, he had already come to terms with that, Lucia as a person, just didn''t know restraint and he''s long accepted that. Also, it was Lucia, how could he stay mad at her.


    So, since this morning, he''s been trying to find the answer to this question, but even until now, he still hasn''t found it. That''s why he''s been staying silent. He didn''t respond to anyone because he was deep in thought, as for Lucia who was always pestering him to talk, he would only turn an eye at her and frown a little.


    Not because he was mad, but because the irksome feeling in his heart was appeased whenever he looked at her face. He didn''t want this odd feeling to disappear yet, so that''s why the boy kept his silence.


    ''...this is stupid... I blame my parents for this... couldn''t they have educated me normally?''


    Cecil thought as his frown deepened, this only caused Lucia to tear up pitifully.

 Chapter 155 - Combat King

    ''AH! It''s jealousy!''


    Cecil''s eyes brightened up when he thought of this. He was jealous! That was the only explanation.


    Jealous at what you ask?


    Well, this irksome feeling had actually started since Ainz''s match. After that, the feeling kept on piling up on each other with each subsequent match his friends had won.


    During their training in the Academy''s Accelerated Time Formation, Cecil had taught Ainz and Fina his family''s weapon arts. When he saw his two friends using them to a sufficient level during their battles it caused him to feel proud, but yet there was that odd feeling.


    Ainz''s show of might, coupled with his magic spells, then there was Fina who used her custom fighting style that integrated the Silvaria Weapon Arts with her familiar summoning magic which overwhelmed her opponent.


    Then there was Eli who had actually awoken her Weapon Intent as well as the new combat skill she created on the spot following her awakening, the Crimson Skies Sword Skill. Then there were Yuna and Velicia, he was able to bear witness to the new magic spells and combat techniques the two learned during their training.


    And finally... there was Lucia''s recent battle where she unveiled her new elements and spell, Apocalypse. They had all experienced a visible increase in strength. Their progress was clear not only to Cecil, but to everyone around them.


    And he was jealous. They had all taken a leap in progress where he...had practically stopped in place. This was only his opinion though.


    "GAAAHHH!!! I knew it!!! I was jealous! This...this disgusting feeling is actually jealousy?!"


    Cecil exclaimed when he finally gathered his thoughts.


    "EH?!"


    "CEL?!"


    "W-what?"


    "???"


    "?"


    "..."


    Everyone in the room had a face that read ''what the hell is this guy saying?''


    Lucia''s face brightened when she saw that Cecil was finally willing to talk, but then it scrunched into a frown again when she remembered the words ''jealous''.


    "Cel...what do you mean by ''jealous''?" Lucia asked.


    "I said I was jealous...because of you guys!!!" Cecil loudly declared.


    "...eh?"


    "Y-you...you all have had a substantial increase in power after our training in the Time Formation... I''ve taught all of you my family''s weapon arts, new knowledge and concepts that upgraded all of your strengths... but me? I''ve been standing in place... there''s no progress at all on my end!!!" Cecil finished, anguish clear on his face.


    When he finally finished saying his piece, everyone in the room looked back at him incredulously.


    ''Progress?''


    ''Jealous?''


    ''Seriously?''


    ''This guy...''


    "..."


    The nerve... this abnormal idiot had the audacity to be jealous at their progress? At their strength? And what was this about standing in place? He could just stand there for all they cared and it still might not be enough for them to reach his level of power any time soon!


    Yet, this idiot had the cheek to say he was jealous of them? Absolutely shameless! Although the other Kings in the room only laughed at Cecil''s declaration and explanation, the Little Kings however sat down together in silence.


    It was their turn to stay silent and ignore this bumbling moron. The pain, suffering, and effort that they had to exert to reach their current power levels during their hellish training in the Time Formation...were something that this training freak was jealous of?


    They were too speechless to even say anything. Even Yuna, their new member, had nothing to say in response at this unreasonable fool. There were many times during their training session where he would sometimes curse or blame his elders for putting him through such a troublesome childhood, yet here he was, still training! Training even harder than them even!


    As Cecil''s weird tantrum had finally stopped inside the waiting room, the tournament''s announcer had officially started the last day of the Dueling Tournament. It was the Final stages, and by the end of the day. The Winner and Runner-up of the tournament would be determined, as well as the 100 individuals who would then continue on to participate in the National Tournament.


    The first match of the Finals was opened up once more by Cecil. This time he would be facing off against the Student Council''s Vice President, Alex Silverfang.


    On the stage,


    "Aiyah~ such bad luck...to be paired with the Combat King right off the bat!"


    "..."


    Cecil still had his usual blank look as the two met on the stage. Although Alex sounded like he was complaining, the boy didn''t seem like he was upset at the match up at all. He was also a former King, so he had some confidence in his skills.


    The referee asked if they were ready and the two responded with a nod.


    "FIGHT!"


    At the signal, Alex dashed straight towards Cecil while he activated numerous strengthening skills and spells. He waved his hand and summoned a large black-as-night halberd from his spatial ring and slammed it down towards Cecil.


    Cecil braced himself. He lowered himself into a horse stance and raised his arms defensively. Once the halberd''s blade was finally in reach, with his hyper-sensitivity activated, Cecil shouted and caught it with his bare hands.


    "HAH!"


    "...you monster..." Alex said in shock.


    Cecil had clamped down with both hands onto Alex''s halberd and stopped it dead in its tracks. All of this was done with no visible strengthening skills or spells used by Cecil. He solely relied on his body to do all this.


    With the upgrade to his mana pathways into Mana Circuits in his arms, Cecil didn''t even need to use mana actively to enhance muscles. Although, he didn''t want it, but Cecil''s mana had passively and involuntarily activated whenever he concentrated on his arms.


    As for the force caused by the sword''s downward swing, Cecil was able to disperse all that using his family''s martial arts and redirect it all into the ground. This was why the floor around Cecil''s feet had numerous cracks after he caught the blade of the halberd.


    Of course, this redirection skill would place a heavy burden onto his body, but ever since he began baptizing his body with mana every day, Cecil''s body had undergone a qualitative leap in quality.


    Although, his torso and abdominal pathways hadn''t evolved into Mana Circuits, the constant usage of mana had brought great benefits to his body. He could freely use the Force Redirection at will now.


    Before it wasn''t plausible since he would put an enormous strain on his small body. His small body stature was what limited him in practicing this technique, but with his body being constantly changed by mana, he was now able to use and apply this technique in battle.


    "HAAAAAHH!!!"


    With a shout, Cecil twisted his hands and pushed away the black halberd. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick and smashed Alex right in the gut.


    His kick was heavy and it caused Alex to momentarily blank out due to the pain.


    ''H-how does his kick hurt so much?! I strengthened my body with Vajra!!''


    "GAHACK!"


    Cecil''s kick blew away Alex, but he quickly regained his bearing while soaring in mid-air. He slammed his halberd into the ground and he was able to stop his body from flying out of the ring.


    "D-damn...you really are a monster."


    "...here I come."


    The battle continued, but it was obvious at a glance which of the two was at an advantage. The crowd loved watching Cecil''s fights. Although there weren''t any flashes of magic and skills, Cecil''s ingenious fighting abilities made him a crowd favorite.


    The match was over once Cecil was finally able to land a clean hit onto Alex that finally broke through his protective enchantment.


    "WINNER! CECIL!"


    Cecil cupped his hands in respect towards his opponent and walked down from the stage. Alex had to be carried off from the stage since he sustained some pretty heavy damage.


    When Cecil made his way back to the waiting room, everyone congratulated him on another spectacular win.


    "Nice one, Combat King!"


    "Yeah, it was a real spectacle, Combat King~"


    "Hihi, the Combat King sure knows how to please the crowd," The Nature King said.


    "Please the crowd, please the crowd, Combat King can~!" Nature Queen Anixia added.


    Combat King, Combat King, Combat King. It was clear that everyone in the room was only making fun of him.


    "...can''t you all just say my name?"


    "No~pe! Now that you have a title, it''s more appropriate this way~" Audrey insisted. "Now everyone, on the count of 3~ 1, 2...3~!"


    "COMBAT KING~!!!"


    "...give me a break." Cecil said with a helpless look.


    They were totally doing this just to spite Cecil. He was jealous? Hah! He had no right to even think about the word, let alone say it! It was decided that for the rest of the day, as punishment, they would avoid saying Cecil''s name and only call him by his title.

 Chapter 156 - Wafu!

    The matches continued and all of the Kings had made it into the next round of the finals. Once again it was Cecil''s turn to fight.


    Just before he got out of the room, Silver, who was in Fina''s embrace, jumped high into the air and landed on top of his head. The puppy formed Silver looked down at his master and immediately began to whine and yelp impatiently.


    Cecil tilted his head, while Lucia and Yuna eyed the little pup. In the room, it was only these two that seemed to be able to understand him. Fina could as well, but she was like Cecil. They couldn''t understand what he was actually saying like Lucia and Yuna could.


    For Yuna, it was most likely because she was a sacred beast. That was probably why she could communicate with monsters like Silver. She could also communicate with Little Ruru, Fina''s Frost Wyrm, and Ainz''s Wyvern, Maxi.


    Lucia could do the same, but it was unknown why she was able to communicate with them. It wasn''t as if she was like Yuna, a sacred beast. Anyway, from what Cecil could understand, Silver wanted to fight as well. He wanted to get in on some of the action.


    It wasn''t fair that only his master and his mistress could have their fun while he was stuck waiting on the sidelines. What was the point of him growing stronger and stronger if all he did was wait on the bench whenever a fight broke out?


    Cecil shrugged and brought the puppy out with him onto the stage. It was shocking since his friends knew that Cecil didn''t like others fighting his battles.


    "...maybe he grew bored." Lucia said.


    "Yeah, knowing him, he''s probably bringing out Silver just to spice things up." Eli added.


    It was a perfect match up anyway. Cecil''s next opponent was someone from the Alchemist Faction and they would normally go up on stage and have their battle pets fight the match.


    On stage, Cecil''s opponent had already summoned his battle pet, a large Venom Mist Land Wyrm. These monsters were found at the Anglaria Mountain Range. The Venom Mist Land Wyrm was a mutated rare monster whose original form would be a Poison Fog Land Wyrm. They were categorized as A+ ranked monsters and the mutated version was an S ranked monster. Cecil''s opponent could be considered very lucky to have landed himself such a rare mutant battle pet.


    Moreover, just like with all the previous Alchemist Faction Participants, this battle pet was similarly geared in battle pet equipment. Also, maybe because it was the Alchemist Faction and his opponent was an alchemist, the poison and threat that Cecil detected radiating from the Venom Mist Land Wyrm was abnormally much stronger than what he had expected, well, not like it actually mattered to him.


    There was no change in Cecil''s demeanor even after seeing this monstrous battle pet. It couldn''t compare to the danger Cecil sensed from the Alchemist Faction Leader''s Blade Ursa. Now that was a monster.


    If it wasn''t because of Fina''s specific set of magical spells, her specialization in speed after her training and the fact that she had kept her distance, Fina would have most likely lost. It was Manden Krulle''s bad luck that she ran into Fina, the only mage in the Little Kings that specialized in crowd control magic.


    If she had run into Ainz, well... it would have been hard to determine who would actually clinch the win in the end. Ainz specialized in a head on confrontation, so it would have been a bad match up if he had faced the Ursa.


    The Venom Mist Land Wyrm roared powerfully and announced its presence. It glared menacingly at Cecil and Silver. It exhaled and from its snout a purplish green cloud of poisonous mist flowed out.


    The mist didn''t dissipate. It had instead lingered in the air around the battle pet. When it grazed the ground, clear sounds of sizzling rose from the affected area and it began to smoke and blacken.


    "Ohhohoh...that looks dangerous," Cecil said. "Hey, actually... that''s pretty smart! This way, I wouldn''t be able to close in and pummel that thing! Wow...props to you senior bro!"


    Hearing Cecil praise him, the Venom Mist Land Wyrm''s owner had taken it to be mockery instead. "Hey ref! Hurry and start the battle! Are we going to fight? Or are we going to just stare at each other?!"


    "...Combat King Cecil, are you ready?" The referee asked.


    Cecil twitched at the 2 words that announced his title. He had enough of hearing those two words. After his first fight of the day, his friends wouldn''t stop calling him by his title even after the fact he implored them to call him by his name.


    "Those guys...they''re clearly holding a grudge...but what the heck did I do?" Cecil grumbled. He looked to the little guy on top of his head and asked.


    "Ya up for it Silv?"


    "Wafu!"


    Silver gave a cute bark in reply. The puppy jumped off his head and landed just ahead of him. Then it began barking cutely at the large battle pet in front of him.


    The Venom Mist Land Wyrm seemed to have taken the gesture as provocation. It roared back at the small silver puppy in rage. Whatever Silver had said, he clearly succeeded in pissing off his opponent.


    Back in the waiting room.


    "Pffftttt!!! Hahaha~ wow~ Silvy''s vocabulary is pretty toxic!" Lucia said as she tried to restrain her laughter. She then turned an eye towards Yuna and laughed again.


    "..." Yuna''s face was twitching. Whatever Silver had said had not only pissed off the Land Wyrm, it seemed that even Yuna was triggered.


    "Little thing...see how I''ll take care of you later." Yuna said darkly.


    Back on stage, the two monsters were growling and roaring at each other. The large intimidating roars from the Land Wyrm invoked fear from the audience. Silver''s cute barks and yelps only attracted the infatuation and protective instincts of the female audience.


    "Hey! Kid! Don''t do this!"


    "Yeah! How could you! Don''t you feel sorry for the little guy?!"


    "Be a man! Pummel the monster with your fists like you normally do! How could you let that adorable little thing fight for you?!"


    "Aren''t you his master?! Where''s your heart?!"


    "ANIMAL ABUSE! I CALL ANIMAL ABUSE!"


    "Gah! How do we not a have any animal protection laws?!"


    ''That''s because all the animals on Alterna are monsters!!!'' Cecil retorted in his head.


    He was pretty amused seeing the reactions from the audience. Even the referee was hesitating to start the match because of this.


    "Oi, ref. Start the match already," Cecil said, looking up to the referee who was at a loss.


    "A-are you sure? I mean you don''t pl¡ª"


    "Just start it...even senior bro over there is growing impatient."


    "...fight..." The referee announced in a subdued voice. His declaration to start the match only earned him the berating from the female audience. Silver was just too cute, too precious. They obviously didn''t want to see the little guy getting hurt.


    Not to mention, that his fur and everything seemed to be so well groomed, courtesy of Aquafina Neftersea. He didn''t look anything like a battle pet at all. There was no menacing battle pet equipment. Silver was just there, bare furred.


    "Silv...stop messing around. The fight''s started." Cecil said with a yawn.


    "Wafu!" Cecil turned around and replied. Then he walked forward and stepped a couple of meters away from the Venom Mist Land Wyrm.


    "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh¡ªWWWWWWWOOOOOOO!!!"


    What started as a cute howl soon turned into a powerful roar that rang inside the entire stadium. The ambient mana began to rush and gravitate towards Silver as he unleashed the mana inside body.


    Sparks of golden lightning flashed all around his body, he was entering his battle form, but he did this in the most eye-catching way possible.


    "Haha, showoff," Cecil said, he then turned around and walked to the edge of the ring. He took out a chair from his spatial ring and sat on it.


    No one paid attention to this because currently, everyone''s eyes were on Silver. His battle form transformation slowly enlarged his body. The flashes of golden lightning around his body only further accentuated to his eye-catching transformation.


    Along with the enlargement of his body, Silver''s aura began to grow as well. His claws and teeth grew out. The beautifully groomed fur on his body began to flare around. The lightning sparks began to strike at his body and his muscles enlarged.


    His tail grew and the fur on it seemed to have solidified together and his eyes changed. No longer was the adorable and naive puppy eyes present, it was replaced by a cold, menacing and intimidating gaze.


    After his transformation, the small little puppy was nowhere to be seen. What replaced it was a large powerfully built white wolf. Silver''s height stood at 6 meters and his body length was almost twice that.


    A steel-like powerful tail that had a shape reminiscent of a curved blade, black steel-like claws on all four of his paws, menacing large and sharp teeth that poked out from his mouth and an intimidating pressure that caused everyone''s breath in the stadium to be stifled.


    "S-shit!"


    "Puppy?! You call this a puppy?!"


    The female audience was no longer complaining at Cecil. They were still complaining, but at something else.


    "Bring back our cute little puppy!"


    "What did you do? What did you do?!!"


    "Ahhh!!! Our cuteness! Give us back our little white wolf cub!!!"


    Cecil''s face turned dark hearing this... just how unreasonable can you get. First you say don''t let him fight, and now you want him back? Make up your damn mind already!


    "...Silv, I don''t care if you wanna play around, but hurry up already."


    "AWWWOOOOOO!!!"


    Silver unleashed a howl and slammed his right forepaw onto the ground. A large magic circle quickly formed right under the Venom Mist Land Wyrm.


    At this point, the overflowing intimidation that Silver was radiating had frozen the battle pet in fear. His owner wasn''t any different; he had already fallen on his butt. It was only after the green magic circle had formed under his battle pet that Cecil''s opponent quickly snapped out of his fear.


    "DODGE IT!"


    It was too late. The magic spell had already been casted and the Land Wyrm was turned into an Air Wyrm.


    Silver''s magic spell had pushed it up into the air. Silver lowered his body and jumped into the air, giving chase. Multiple magic circles formed on Silver''s body and in the next instant, his speed accelerated and he split into 8 copies of himself.


    There were now 8 Silvers in the air and they were sky-stepping their way to the air borne Land Wyrm. All 8 Silvers smashed their claws, tails or bodies onto the hapless Land Wyrm.


    It was already stunned at being thrown up into the air, it couldn''t make any proper response and Silver''s assault had come too suddenly.


    The 8 Silvers quickly joined back together to form one. He was positioned just above the Land Wyrm and his tail began to glow green and the wind began kicking around him. The wind gathered around his tail and it formed a tornado.


    "ROAAAAARRR!!"


    With a roar Silver slammed his Tornado Blade onto the Venom Mist Land Wyrm. Throughout the entire fight, the poisonous mist had never once dissipated around it, but Silver''s wind had pushed it far away from his body, so no harm could be done even if Silver assaulted the monster with a physical attack.


    The Venom Mist Land Wyrm powerfully slammed into the ground causing a mini-earthquake in the stadium. It was embedded into the stage and it looked like it couldn''t get back up again. Silver had descended from the air and howled in victory.


    Once again, the flashes of golden colored lightning formed around his body and his large body slowly returned to his puppy form.


    "Wafu!"


    Silver jumped on top of Cecil''s head once again and made himself comfortable.


    "Had your fun?"


    "Wafu~!"


    Cecil quickly kept his chair and walked down from the stage.


    "WINNER! CECIL!"

 Chapter 157 - Top 32! 1

    With Silver''s powerful finish, the subsequent matches only boiled over in excitement. The academy wanted to spice things up a bit more and had decided that if a contestant wanted to fight with their battle pets then they could do so together.


    The winning condition was still the same, one could either incapacitate the pet or the owner and they would win.


    It turns out that it wasn''t only the Alchemy Faction that had powerful battle pets. The matches after Cecil''s featured many contestants summoning their battle pets and fighting together on stage. The spectacle was really mind-blowing.


    Cecil even thought, ''Live-action Pokem*n?''


    Instead this time, even the ''trainer'' would fight as well. Not everyone had battle pets, but the ones that did were gaining an advantage in their fights. However, it wasn''t enough for them to win if they were facing off against opponents that far outclassed them.


    Whenever any of the Faction Leaders came up on stage, it was always up against another faction''s members. They would easily overwhelm them using their spells and skills, even if their opponent had summoned a battle pet and made it a 1vs2.


    The same went for all the Kings...except the Ghost Queen. Ghost Queen Alice actually had a really powerful battle pet. It was an Illusion Wing Dark Hawk King. This battle pet of hers was a unique monster that she raised from young.


    It was originally a normal Dark Hawk King that she had fortunately hatched when she was still a child. This Dark Hawk King grew up with her and after being fed an Illusion Spirit Fruit, it had mutated and evolved to be able to use Darkness Magic spells as well as Illusion Magic Spells on top of its already powerful wind magic.


    After the rule changes, Ghost Queen Alice relied on her battle pet to fight all her matches while she comfortably napped inside Sword King Robert''s robes. Many times, the Dark Hawk King would use his Illusion magic to quickly end the battle. It was pretty uncanny to see a battle pet and his owner suddenly turn blades and fangs at each other.


    The Illusion Magic of the Dark Hawk King wasn''t as powerful as Lucia''s Illusion Magic that was practically borderline Soul Magic. Lucia''s Illusion Magic was really powerful even if it was only an innate ability of her bloodline. Her Illusion Magic had bewitching, mind-tampering, and soul searching abilities. Only Cecil and her parents knew of this. Her mother had banned her from ever using her Illusion spells because some of the spells were considered taboo, especially the mind-tampering and soul related ones.


    The only spell she allowed Lucia to use were the basic illusion spells and the Illusion magic that ''changed'' Cecil''s race from a human to foxkin. In Cecil''s opinion, it was no longer just Illusion magic; it was practically transformation magic instead!


    Everything felt so real! The sensations coming from his fox ears and tails! It was hard for him to believe that it was only an illusion.


    With the addition of the battle pets, the Academy had successfully spiced things up. It wasn''t long until the final 32 participants were determined.


    All the faction leaders and Kings had made it into the final 32.Yuna was also part of the name count and she was without a doubt the most prominent dark house of the tournament.


    It hadn''t even been one month since she had enrolled and here she was fighting head to head with the academy''s best. Many people cheered her on and she was a crowd favorite.


    The random match making for the quarterfinals were finished and the large stadium screen displayed the participants.


    1st match, Apocalyptic Queen vs. Warrior Faction Leader


    2nd match, Disaster Queen vs. Student Council Vice President


    3rd match...


    Many of the Kings were even up against each other in the first round. Ghost Queen Alice was even up against Queen of Disaster Velicia. Sword King Robert his first match against Student Council President Zephyr.


    "Hmm...Where am I?" Cecil mumbled as he skimmed through the match ups. "Ah, there I am! Last match in the quarter finals huh?"


    Cecil was up against the Royal Fox Faction Leader Friedrich. It was unfortunate for the Faction Leader, but he was bound to lose.


    In the Royal Fox Faction Waiting room, Aurellia had turned a sympathetic gaze towards her counterpart.


    "Well, better luck next year."


    "Whose side are you on?!" Friedrich yelled back.


    "It''s okay Fried~ Big sis is here to console you when you come back~" The big b.r.e.a.s.ted foxkin Delia said in comfort.


    "I don''t need your consolation! AND! Why do you think I''M going to be the one who loses?!"


    "Well~ it''s him you know...the Combat King~"


    "SO WHAT?!"


    "Reporting sir! Based off of all his previous matches, he hasn''t once used his famed aura technique, combat skills, strengthening skills or magic, and most importantly, he hasn''t once used his specialized wind magic nor has he drawn his weapon! You are bound to lose miserably if he fights you!" Quri''el reported in his usual loud voice.


    "SHUT UP!"


    Even before the match started, his fellow faction members were already consoling him. Even his childhood friend was offering her big b.r.e.a.s.ted chest in consolation!


    "Dammit! I won''t lose you hear me!" Friedrich announced before he stormed out of the room.


    ******


    The participants of the first match were called up to the stage after a 30 minute break.


    "Apocalyptic Queen vs. Warrior Faction Leader!"


    The referee had begun announcing the participants using their titles now. Practically everyone in the remaining 32 spots besides Yuna and one other had a title. The 32 finalists consisted of all 11 Kings plus Yuna, and every faction leader and vice leader except for the Research Faction were present. The remaining spot had actually been given to someone unexpected.


    It was the female rabbitkin secretary of the Student Council, Serilla Lunarts. Yes, Lunarts, she was part of the Anglaria Kingdom''s Sword Saintess'' family clan. In fact, this young girl was actually the daughter of the Sword Saintess.


    You never could judge someone by their appearance. She was a genius sword master that had the same sword arts as the current Sword Saintess, she was even more powerful than her mother back when she was still the same age as her. Many expected her to be the next Sword Saintess of the Kingdom.


    She was also a close friend of Elizabeth''s since the two had trained under the same master, Celia Lunarts, the current Sword Saintess.


    As for why she was by Zephyr''s side, this was because, just as the King had the Sword Saintess by his side, the future King-candidate had the future Sword Saintess-candidate by his. This alone only further solidified Zephyr''s position as the next King of Anglaria.


    Eli was working towards this goal of becoming the next Sword Saintess as well, but even her skills weren''t up to par against Serilla. Well, at least before it wasn''t. Ever since she had awakened her Weapon Intent, it felt like she had stepped into a new realm of understanding.


    She had finally surpassed her friend and rival, but Eli herself no longer sought after the throne of Sword Saintess anymore. After sparring with Cecil, who also had Weapon Intent, and losing miserably despite her new found powers, she now only had her eyes set for a higher realm of sword skills.


    Just being a Sword Saintess wasn''t enough, she had to find the power and realm to be able to match up to Cecil''s power. She already saw the level Cecil was at, all she had to do was chase after and set foot onto that level herself.


    Cecil brought many changes to his surroundings and most if not all was positive ones. Later in the future, these connections would serve as the turning point in the conflict that the Earthlings would face here on Alterna.

 Chapter 158 - Top 32! 2

    Lucia''s match was announced so she went up to the stage. Her opponent, the Warrior Faction Leader, Gus August was already waiting for her. He was large golden haired dogkin.


    He had a large sword strapped on his back along with a large kite shield. He had an eager look on his face.


    When Lucia was finally in front of him, he quickly got his weapons ready and waited for her. Lucia stretched a little before pulling out her Shirayuki and Butterfly. Just like Cecil, Lucia always had her weapons strapped onto her waist instead of storing them inside her spatial rings.


    She quickly got into stance and it was very much similar to Cecil''s martial form. It was much different from Fina''s stance when dual-wielding. When Fina saw this she couldn''t help, but question Cecil.


    "How come Lulu''s stance is different from mine even though we dual-wield our weapons?"


    "Oh, that''s because she doesn''t need to be in the Silvaria Sword Stance anymore," Cecil answered.


    "Eh? How come?"


    "That''s because she''s long since passed that stage. She''s mastered the Sword Arts, Knife Arts, and Dual-wielding arts to the point where she''s capable using them instinctively in whatever form she''s in."


    "Ah?"


    "Right now she''s using the Silvaria Fierce Tiger Stance. It''s my family martial arts'' most aggressive stance. Watch, she''ll use the attacks in this stance while at the same time incorporating all of the sword and knife arts into it."


    "...She''s strong."


    "Yeah, she is. It also shows just how much of a genius that girl actually is, a genius in both magic and martial arts. You know, it hasn''t even been a year since she''s started learning my martial arts."


    "..."


    "Now, all she needs to do is build upon that foundation and further hone her technique and battle sense. I can''t wait for her to reach my level..."


    Fina smiled at this. Even when Cecil was as strong as he was, he never once looked down on his friends nor his opponents for being weaker than him. For his opponents, he would just simply beat them down.


    For his friends however, he would sincerely guide them forward and strengthen their combat prowess. Fina was really glad to have such a friend, mentor, and party leader.


    "Then I can finally have a full on bout with her! Hahaha~ you guys too! Hurry up and reach where I am!" Cecil brightly said.


    "...I take that back." Fina began to cry inwardly. All her respect and sentiments...please return them! This idiot only wanted to guide them to his level just so that he could fight with them!


    The referee saw that they were in combat form and raised his hand and announced the start of the match.


    "FIGHT!"


    Just as Lucia was about to dash forward, Gus August called out to her.


    "Hey, Apocalypse Queen!"


    "Euh...what?"


    "How about we put some restrictions on our fight, just to spice things up, yeah?"


    Lucia frowned, "What do you mean?"


    "I''m saying that we should limit ourselves. Look, you and I can use magic spells yes? So, how about we limit ourselves to using only combat skills and strengthening skills?"


    Lucia smirked at his proposal, "Sure, why not? It''s not like it''s going to change things...HAAAAHH!!!"


    She gave a loud shout and a large crimson aura began flaring around her body. Lucia lowered her body into her previous stance once more and waited for Gus to use his strengthening skills.


    Gus was surprised seeing the mana fluctuations coming off of the girl in front of him. He grinned and began activating his skills. Multiple combat skills were activated all at once and his mana fluctuations rose in response.


    Once they had properly strengthened themselves, Lucia was the first to attack. She disappeared from her spot and quickly arrived behind Gus. She was fast and Gus was surprised at the speed that she used to arrive behind him.


    Gus jumped forward and swung his shield behind him on instinct. Lucia''s katana only managed to cut into his shield before it recoiled back.


    "Heeh, nice reflexes¨C"


    "!"


    Lucia hadn''t even finished speaking. She had already flashed right in front of Gus and swung her Shirayuki at him once more. Gus stomped his feet and blocked Lucia''s strike with his sword and repelled her follow up hit with his shield.


    Lucia kicked Gus'' shield away, she spun her body swung her Butterfly at his face. Gus bent his body back and narrowly dodged it, but then Lucia planted a kick on his open body and sent him stumbling a couple of meters back.


    The foxkin girl didn''t relent and pressed her attack, sending kicks, slashes and thrusts at her opponent. She was overwhelming him. The stark contrast between their height and build was almost like David vs. Goliath, but this time, David was overwhelming Goliath.


    A storm of attacks assaulted Gus August and it seemed that he couldn''t break free from it. He was the leader of the Warrior Faction, but he was being overwhelmed in terms of combat techniques.


    The audience could scarcely believe their eyes. The Apocalyptic Queen that they thought was a mage was actually warrior with combat prowess that put even the strongest of knights to shame.


    Up in the Royal Family''s private room, the Sword Saintess was observing the fight in awe. The ingenious sword arts and martial arts that Lucia used in her flurry of attacks astounded her. Just where did this girl learn to fight like this?


    There was also a faint resemblance to the martial arts that the foxkin boy, Combat King Cecil, used.


    "Hmmm...It seems¡ª"


    "Familiar?" Headmaster Elufied finished.


    "Yeah...there are faint semblances of the Combat King''s movements and techniques in her sword arts."


    "Well, that''s true. Since the person who taught that little missy her sword arts was apparently the Combat King himself~"


    "Oh? No wonder. I''ve never seen that kid pull out his sword from his waist, so I''ve never seen his sword arts before...so his and this girl''s sword arts are the same then?"


    "Exactly," Elufied affirmed.


    "Hmm...It really looks powerful." The King added.


    "Yes, it is indeed. As you can see, she doesn''t only use her sword, but that little dagger in her left hand is moving in sync with her sword as well. She also uses every part of her body as a weapon. Even if she has to temporarily drop or throw her sword or dagger and punch with her fists, the girl utilizes every part of her body to the utmost efficiency."


    "Yes...it doesn''t follow the norm in the way we wield our weapons."


    "The creator of these... martial arts?" Celia said, not sure of herself.


    "Yup, that''s what Cecil calls it."


    "Well, the creator must be a grandmaster in the art of body refinement. To think that even a child at her age is able to exert such an incredible amount of power and technique. It''s scary to think what would happen when she grows older! I doubt many in my Knights Order could even contend with this young girl."


    "..."


    The King remained silent. He quietly spectate the ongoing fight; his thoughts were unknown to everyone around him.


    In the Golden Fox Clan''s private room, all the youngsters inside were exclaiming in awe and admiration at Lucia''s fight.


    "Can you believe this?!"


    "She''s not only a powerful mage, but she''s even a skilled fighter!"


    "A Sword Master!"


    "She''s practically on par, if not stronger than all the Sword Maidens in the Kingdom, right?"


    "Woah, doesn''t this mean she could even rise up to be the next Sword Saintess Candidate?"


    Their excited discussions didn''t escape the elders and other family members of inside the room.


    "Brother, Sister-in-law...your daughter, she''s just like the both of you!" The Chieftain, Azaki Aurielle exclaimed.


    "Well~ we have to thank Cel for that!" Anna hummed delightedly.


    "Yes...our foster son was the one who taught her those martial arts."


    The other members of the family began to voice their admiration to the couple. Many even wanted to know if Lucia would be willing to teach a thing or two to their own children and grandchildren of the opportunity presented itself.


    "OH NO!"


    The exclamation from one of the Golden Fox clan''s younger generation caused everyone to turn their attention back onto the fight. Gus August had activated the battle skill, Punishing Howl. The skill focused mana into the user''s vocal cords and when they shouted out, it emitted a large sound wave that would push back and disorientate their opponent.


    Lucia was just about to smash her foot into Gus'' face when the Faction Leader had suddenly used this battle skill. The sound wave pushed her faraway from Gus and it caused her ears to ring.


    Lucia began shaking her head to re-orientate herself, but Gus had already rushed up and slammed his shield at her.


    The shield slam smashed her back and Gus followed it up with a Vorpal Slash, a battle skill that infused wind elemental mana into one''s weapon. When they slashed out the mana would form a wind scythe that would cut at their target.


    Lucia felt the approaching danger and quickly infused her aura into Shirayuki. She tossed her Butterfly into the air and grabbed Shirayuki with both hands. When she felt the katana tremble from the aura being infused into her weapon, she slashed out powerfully.


    "Ascending Blade!!!"


    It was the same Sword Skill that Cecil used. Her shout alone caused every student in the stadium to cheer out loud. The visual of the Ascending Blade that Cecil used during his party''s Demon Hawk extermination video was awe-inspiring.


    Gus paled when he heard Lucia. He quickly activated Shukuchi and flickered away. All thoughts of a follow up attack were thrown out the window since the large crimson beam of death had just passed by his earlier position.


    Lucia''s attack missed her opponent, but she blew away the Vorpal Slash. She had executed the skill in a panic, so she hadn''t properly adjusted the power. So when the sword beam smashed into the protective barrier it caused large numerous cracks to form.


    The audience grew pale when they saw this, but the cheers didn''t stop. The barrier quickly began to mend itself and down on the fighting stage, Lucia had finally orientated herself. She took a look at her ''masterpiece'' and stuck her tongue out.


    "Oops!"


    She then refocused her mind and tried to look for her opponent. The entire stage was a wreck and it was quite befitting for her title, Apocalyptic. An attack launched in a panic had caused so much devastation. It was a good thing that Gus August had quickly decided to dodge away. If he hadn''t then there was no doubt that he would have lost then and there.


    "...this girl...she panicked and almost lost control of her skill..." Cecil said with a grimace.


    "...Ascending Blade...isn''t that your skill Cecil?" Eli asked.


    "Yeah...apparently she can use it now too. She didn''t spend her time in the Time Formation for nothing."


    "...Teach it to me next time, okay?"


    "Sure, I''ll have you learn it before the National Tournament!"


    Eli smiled and turned her attention back to the stage. Lucia quickly spotted Gus and had already flashed in front of him. Gus looked a bit pale, but he still put up his guard and once more received Lucia''s onslaught of attacks.

 Chapter 159 - Top 32! 3

    Lucia''s fight continued and this time since the cat was out of the hat, Lucia sent small scaled Ascending Blades using her Butterfly straight at Gus in point-blank range. He was constantly smashed around the stage until finally his protective enchantment broke.


    "WINNER! LUCIA YUKIHIME!!"


    "Haha! Thanks Apocalyptic Queen! That was a fun match!" Gus August merrily said before his Vice Leader shouldered him off of the stage.


    Lucia did a martial salute just like Cecil would do and walked off the stage. She arrived back at the waiting room and plopped down next to Cecil and began hugging him.


    "...what''re you doing?" Cecil asked, not understanding why she''d suddenly do this.


    "Recharging..."


    "...what''re you a battery?"


    "Hmu..."


    The next match was quickly announced and Audrey got up from her seat. She walked to the stage and waited for the Vice President of the Student Council.


    The battle began as soon as the Student Council Vice President got onto the stage. The entire fight comprised of Audrey maintaining her distance as she fired spell after spell at her opponent. Any normal student would have long since been defeated, but Audrey''s opponent was a former King.


    He was a person whose power was on par with hers. Even though the fight looked like it was tilting in the favor of Audrey, but Alex wasn''t one to easily give up. He had already experienced a huge loss to Cecil and he didn''t want to be further humiliated.


    Alex fired combat skill after combat skill at Audrey in retaliation. The skills and spells either clashed together in mid-air or cancelled each other out. If not, then they were deflected and sent veering off to the side, causing immense damage to the stage.


    Both sides hadn''t once landed a clear blow onto the other. The situation soon changed when Audrey had momentarily paused in firing out her spells. Alex capitalized on this momentary gap and flickered next to Audrey.


    He caught her off guard and slammed his halberd onto her body. The Disaster Queen had swiftly set up a wind barrier around her in hopes of repelling or deflecting the attack, but Alex had still managed to land a blow onto her body.


    Audrey was sent smashing down towards the ring, but she cushioned her fall using wind spells and shouted.


    "TEMPEST!"


    This shout alone caused Alex to widen his eyes in a panic. Around him a large 2-fold green magic formation formed. The air began to twist and turn and soon a large gale storm was formed in the air above the fighting stage.


    Alex was exactly in the middle of this storm and he could only toughen up his body and grit his teeth. He endured the pain from the magic spell and thankfully for him, his protective enchantment hadn''t broken despite all the damage. He was still in the game!


    "Damn...I fell for your trap Audrey...but now, you can''t do much! HAAAAAHHH!!" Alex came out with plenty of cuts from the Tempest Spell, but at least he was able to endure though it.


    Audrey, who had finished casting such a big spell, was very low on mana. The weakness was visible on her face, so when Alex rushed down to her, swinging his halberd at her face, Audrey could only try to delay by flailing her whip at the Vice President.


    Alex didn''t give any regard to the weak whip lashes and pressed forward. He quickly arrived in front of Audrey and smashed his halberd into her side. The Disaster Queen had run out of mana from her previous spell so she was helpless.


    She had set up a meticulous trap for her opponent, but she didn''t think he would be able to endure through her Pseudo High-tiered magic spell. Her body was smashed out of the ring and the protective enchantment immediately broke and she lost consciousness.


    Anixio and Anixia worriedly rushed out of the room and soon arrived by her side. The two carried their big sis over to the infirmary. Anixio left Alex an ultimatum stating that he would definitely take revenge and beat him!


    Alex only laughed at it and said, "I probably won''t make it past the next round y''know~ I''m facing the Apocalyptic Queen after all~"


    "Cheh..."


    "WINNER! Alex Silverfang!!"


    Unfortunately, a King of the Academy had finally lost a round. Everyone had kept a clean win-streak and it was the first that someone from their echelon had lost a match.


    "Well...you win some, you lose some." Cecil said.


    "It was inevitable." Sword King Robert said.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Audrey...she was the weakest of our generation''s Kings. Alex Silverfang, Serilla Lunarts, and Zephyr Arks, the 3 former Kings, were all much more powerful than her."


    "Oh, I see...what about you Robert? You think you can defeat Zephyr?"


    "Not sure...back then he was stronger than me. But recently when we fought, we couldn''t determine the winner even after we had fully exhausted ourselves."


    "So you''re about even?"


    "Not sure...Zephyr''s a shrewd fellow. I can''t guarantee that he went all out during our fight. Just taking a glimpse at Zephyr''s power during his fight with Elizabeth...he has without a doubt grown much more powerful, and I feel like he''s still hiding some things from everyone."


    "...Yeah. I feel the same. He''s strong that''s without a doubt. But, you shouldn''t down play yourself. I''m pretty sure you didn''t pull out all stops when you sparred with him a while back, right?"


    "Of course, it was only a spar after all."


    "Exactly, now you can use all your skills without restraints up on that stage, so don''t sweat it!"


    "Hahaha... To hear that from the Combat King, I''m gratified." Robert chuckled.


    Cecil shrugged and returned to his seat at the back of the room. Lucia immediately began to hug him again in the name of ''recharging''. Recharging what? Even Cecil didn''t know, but he felt it was okay to let Lucia act spoiled. She did do a good job in the last battle.


    The third battle went on; it was a fight between two vice presidents. The 4th battle finished quickly, it was the vice president of the Ironforge Faction and he was up against Anixia. Anixia made quick work of the non-combatant participant and ended the match early.


    The fifth match was Yuna vs. the Alchemist Faction''s Leader, Manden Krulle. It was a shame, but Yuna''s skill set was similar to Fina''s.


    They both specialized in crowd control magic. Yuna''s fight was similar to Fina''s. All she did was keep her distance and froze, cut and battered the Blade Ursa with wind and water elemental magic spells.


    She didn''t even use her unique Mist magic. The battle pet was quickly dispatched. What can you say? Manden Krulle just had bad luck with the match ups. Although she had steered clear away from Fina and wouldn''t have met her until the Semi-finals, she just had to face against Yuna whose fighting style and skillset were somewhat similar.


    A day was a little too short, so Manden didn''t have any time to readjust or strengthen her battle pet to help her face off against opponents who were similar to Fina.


    "WINNER! Yunaria Yukihime!!"


    Yuna quickly made her back into the waiting room. She sat down in a seat and said,


    "Well, I''m done. Next is..."


    "Me...huff... time to go." Fina said as she stood up.


    Her face was determined and she walked off towards the stage.


    "Aquafina Neftersea vs. Serilla Lunarts!!!"


    It was a matchup between the sole support member of Little Kings and the next Sword Saintess candidate.


    Lucia was no longer clinging onto Cecil. Instead she was sitting in the front of the room with Eli and Velicia. They were worried for their friend, since she had to face off against a Sword Maiden who might become the next Sword Saintess.


    Not only that, Serilla Lunarts was also a former Academy King. Her abilities were already on par with Fina, if not stronger. Fina''s 3 friends couldn''t help, but worry for her. No matter what, they wanted Fina to win!


    Up on the stage, Fina had begun stretching and loosening her body. She quickly summoned her 2 mana armaments. Then more mana armaments formed in the air around her. They levitated around her and began orbiting around her defensively.


    *Yawn*


    The Sword Maiden, Sword Saintess-candidate, former Academy Queen and Student Council Secretary Serilla Lunarts yawned loudly in exhaustion. Then she began mumbling inaudible complaints, while she readied her slender single-edged long sword.


    She pointed the tip at Fina and her drowsy eyes and exhausted demeanor immediately changed. It was like she had turned into a magic sword that was pulled out of its scabbard. The dangerous air that surrounded her gave the misconception that she had no openings at all.


    Fina tightened her grip onto her 2 armaments and she lowered her body into the stance that Cecil taught her. Her body lit up with many strengthening spells and skills. The same was likewise with Serilla.


    The audience was already boiling over. The two fighters were both cute and silent girls, but the serious and intimidating vibes that they gave off only served to enhance their charms.


    The referee saw that they were ready and announced the start of the match.


    "Aquafina Neftersea vs. Serilla Lunarts! FIGHT!!"

 Chapter 160 - Loss

    Once the referee announced the start, Fina was the first to rush forward. Serilla only waited for her to get closer then she quickly raised her sword overhead took half a step forwards and swung it down on Fina.


    Fina quickly dodged to the right and swung her short swords at her opponent, but she was surprised to see a flash of light at the corner of her vision.


    She stopped her swing and raised her two swords.


    CLANG


    "Kuh..."


    The sword strike felt heavy. Fina jumped back to lessen the impact and created a distance between them.


    "..."


    Fina frowned when she saw that her opponent was still standing in the same spot with the same posture. She thought that she had successfully dodged the first attack, but who would have thought that Serilla''s follow-up attack was just as fast.


    "Hmmm~ you''re good..." Serilla said.


    She raised her sword overhead once more and smiled provocatively. Fina frowned seeing this.


    ''She''s fast... and strong...''


    Once more she dashed forwards to meet her, and just like earlier Serilla swung down and Fina dodged. This time however Fina decided to put the flying swords around her to good use.


    She manipulated her flying swords to block Serilla''s next strike while at the same time sending 2 of them to strike at her back.


    It was like she had eyes on the back of her head, but Serilla swung her sword at Fina while at the same time moving in a manner that either helped her dodge the flying swords or coincidentally allowing her sword swings to block them.


    It was like she was dancing around the stage. No matter how many time''s Fina tried to close in and strike, she was always repelled away, but neither of them could get a solid strike in.


    Serilla relied on her skillful swordsmanship to counter Fina''s numerous mana armaments. Probably because she''s seen Fina''s previous match and her original spell, ''Winter''s Embrace, every mana armament that struck close around the area of the rabbitkin was promptly destroyed.


    They were in a stalemate, but everyone with a discerning eye could see that the two were still probing each other. The two were waiting patiently for the one who would snap and make a mistake first.


    Fina began to use magic spells using her mana armaments as the casting medium. She would now use 5 of her mana armaments to attack Serilla from all angles while at the same time leaving 5 other armaments to shoot magic spells at Serilla from afar.


    Fina had to split her consciousness into her 10 mana armaments. Although it was something unthinkable for the old her, but after constantly improving herself under Cecil''s tutelage, she was now able to summon and control more familiars and mana armaments now.


    The pressure rose for Serilla who was only using one weapon to block and dodge Fina''s assault. While it looked like she was being forced into a corner, the girl had the same dull look on her face as when the match started.


    After getting the hang of controlling all 10 armaments, Fina felt a little less burdened so she too joined the fray. With her in the picture, the coordinated attacks with her armaments caused Serilla''s expression to finally change a little.


    "You''re good..."


    In the midst of battle, that was all Fina''s opponent kept on saying and it started to annoy her.


    "Yeah...well you''re not half as bad yourself!"


    Fina pressed her attack and Serilla responded by dodging, blocking and occasionally sending an attack her way, to which Fina would easily parry.


    The battle began to look completely one-sided at this point, but Fina didn''t dare let her guard down. For her opponent was someone who would most likely become the next Sword Saintess.


    As the fight dragged on, Fina still couldn''t finish off her opponent. No matter how many strikes she was able to land, it was never anything substantial. It was only a graze or a small cut. Although the area she struck would freeze a little, but in the next instant it would immediately melt.


    Serilla was constantly using the magic spell, Flame Guard, a low tier fire spell, to keep herself from being affected by any of Fina''s freezing hits.


    "...Alright... I''ve had my fun." Serilla abruptly said with a slight smile on her face.


    "Huh?"


    Suddenly, Fina started to feel a pressure that she was all too familiar with emanating from Serilla.


    Fina quickly backed off and created a distance between.


    "Hmm...This...is harder than I thought..."


    "N-no way! How?!" Fina cried out.


    Down in the Kings'' Waiting Room, Cecil raised a brow in surprise.


    "Hooh...she has it too."


    "...Weapon Intent...right?" Lucia said with a grimace.


    Cecil only nodded in response before getting up and exiting the room. Everyone in the room knew where he was going.


    "..." Eli had a conflicted look as she stared at her long standing rival on stage. She too had awakened her Weapon Intent, but how? Up until recently the term had been unknown to everyone.


    The oppressive pressure began to spread into the audience and once again Cecil appeared with his spear to counteract that pressure.


    Serilla turned an eye towards Cecil who was by the stage and smiled. Yes, that usually dull face of hers had a smile on it...a rather...affectionate smile. Cecil looked back at her and tilted his head in wonder.


    "Huhuhu~ I want him..." Serilla mumbled.


    "!" Fina widened her eyes when she heard it. It wasn''t audible to anyone else off stage, but she was close to her so she couldn''t help but over hear it.


    "You can''t! He''s already taken!!" Fina yelled.


    "...Taken? Then...I can just take him away for myself, no?"


    "Huh?"


    "Anyway... I should really thank Elizabeth and that charming young man over there~ I was stuck for a while in my sword comprehensions, but then...they just so kindly opened up a new door for me."


    "...Hmph."


    "Oh my~ you don''t seem to be all too affected?"


    "I''ve had it worse...this pressure compared to Cecil''s...is nothing!" Fina yelled and dashed forwards.


    Since her opponent had finally revealed her true skills, Fina no longer had any reason to hold back. She threw one of her mana armaments at Serilla and quickly extracted her wand from her spatial ring.


    She chanted and conjured more familiars around her. Her mana armaments could act as a wand, but for some reason it was only easy for Fina to use them to cast low tiered spells and to summon more armaments.


    As for using them to cast mid to high tiered spells or summon other familiars, it didn''t seem like it could work. She still needed to train and study harder so that later, she would no longer have to use her wand to cast spells, but instead rely only on her mana armaments to do so.


    Once she summoned enough familiars she began chanting an upper mid-tier magic spell, Frost Rain. She ordered her familiars to cast low-mid tier magic spells at Serilla. She also sent her mana armaments to go in and pin down Serilla in place.


    Once she finished chanting her spell, she waved her wand and large magic circle quickly formed under Serilla''s feet.


    Then sharp long icicles erupted from the magic circle. Normally, one would cast this spell and aim it at the target, but Fina learned from Lucia and instead pre-designated an area from where the spell would conjure itself.


    This way she wouldn''t need to worry about aiming if she only placed it under or above her target. She could also spread it out to encompass a wider area.


    "One more thing, you can''t have him! Cecil already has Lucia!" Fina growled.


    The storm of icicles cut into Serilla''s body as she was caught off guard. She didn''t have Eli''s Aura Manifestation combat skill so there was no way for her to merge her intent with her mana to act as a protective screen around her body.


    "Oh my~ it''s not like they''re married or anything~ doesn''t this mean I still have a chance~?"


    "Shut up!"


    Serilla only smiled at the exchange and she did her best to cut down and evade all the magic spells that were flying at her from every direction. She imbued her intent into her sword and slashed out.


    A wave of sword intent flew out and cut apart all the magic spells, mana armaments, and familiars in front of her.


    Fina gritted her teeth and summoned more familiars and armaments. She started using her mana wastefully, and this caused Cecil to frown.


    ''What''re you doing Fina?''


    The icy spectacle and the sword waves which cut down all that stood before it astounded the audience. The cheers grew louder and louder with each passing second. The hype was real and everyone in the stands were on their feet, cheering the two contestants on.


    Serilla kept on defending and made sure she only took minimal damage. She also kept on sending sword waves after sword waves at Fina.


    Fina could only continue dodging and running around while summoning more familiars and armaments. Her endless barrage of attacks and spells never stopped, but it wasn''t like she was dealing any significant damage to her opponent.


    Serilla only calmly blocked or dodge and Fina was beginning to turn faint from mana exhaustion.


    "Haa...haa...haaa...."


    "Oh my~ done already?"


    "N-no! Not yet!"


    SWOOSH


    "!"


    "It seems to me you already are..."


    Serilla''s voice came from behind Fina. Fina had lost track of her opponent and she could only stand there in shock when she felt a sharp sensation resting on her neck. She looked down and saw Serilla''s sword on her neck.


    "Kuh..."


    She began to tear up as the exhaustion and frustration began to kick in.


    "You''re strong, I''ll give you that. No one''s ever been able to keep me on the defense for so long...if I hadn''t awoken this...Weapon Intent, as I recall you guys saying, then I would have most likely lost~"


    "..."


    Serilla swung down with her sword and broke Fina''s protective enchantment. With this, the match ended and finally, a member of the Little King''s had experience a loss.


    "WINNER! SERILLA LUNARTS!!!"

 Chapter 161 - Declaration of War

    Back inside the Kings'' waiting room, Fina was sitting down feeling very much mortified. Her friends were around her trying to cheer the little girl up.


    She had lost. Although it wasn''t her first ever loss from fighting in a match, she didn''t expect to lose to anyone other than her friends from Little Kings.


    Yes, it was a conceited thought, but the amount of effort and training that she put in had given her the confidence to think like this.


    But, in the end she had lost. And it was to someone who had obvious designs on her best friend''s boyfriend.


    Her friends were comforting her, and Lucia was even hugging her. When she got back to the room, there were no tears or cries of frustration. She only walked towards her seat and plopped down in silence.


    It was worrying for her friends since normally during their training sessions, Fina would be the one that would take the most amounts of losses whenever they sparred with each other. By now they thought that the girl could take on this minor setback, but it seems they were insensitive and wrong.


    "It''s alright Fina, you did your best." Lucia said in comfort.


    "...but...I still lost...and to her..." Fina mumbled.


    "!"


    Lucia raised a brow in surprise, what did she mean by that? Were these two previously acquainted? Did they have some sort of history before all this?


    "What do you mean? Is there some sort of grudge between you two?"


    "N-no...nothing like that...it''s just...she said something that irked me during the battle..."


    "...oh..."


    "Ah...no wonder you started fighting so recklessly in the latter half of the match." Cecil cut in.


    "...Cel, could you be a little more considerate? She''s hurting y''know. Why''re you being so insensitive?" Lucia scolded.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean it like that. It''s just, although the match seemed to look bleak after Serilla revealed her Intent, it wasn''t like Fina was put in any disadvantage. I mean, she''s been taking my concentrated Intent all throughout our training, so an untrained Weapon Intent like Serilla''s couldn''t possibly hinder her in anyway." Cecil reasoned.


    "Your point being?"


    "Fina lost due to inexperience, that''s all. She was taunted during her fight, and she lost her composure, which then led to her losing the match. I should have taken in this aspect when we were training. Sorry, it looks like I didn''t prepare enough." Cecil replied with a sigh.


    "N-no! That''s not it Cecil!" Fina quickly said. "It''s not your fault or anything! It...It was my own fault. And just like you said it was also because of my inexperience..."


    "...alright, so can you explain why you lost your cool?"


    "U-uhm...that... well, it''s because...she said something really horrible about Lucia..."


    "Huh?"


    "...what?" Cecil asked, feeling an unknown rise of anger boiling within him.


    "Well...she said something about...taking an important person away from her..."


    "What?" Cecil''s anger immediately calmed. ''So she wasn''t insulted or anything? Jeez, what the heck was I so worked up for?''


    "An important person...?" Lucia said in deep thought...then she turned to look at the girl standing next to Cecil and realized. "Oh...I see, so then this explains why this girl is here in our waiting room...right?"


    "Y-yeah...actually wait...WHY ARE YOU HERE?! GET OUT!!!" Fina exploded.


    "Woah!"


    "!"


    Everyone in the room was immediately taken aback by Fina''s sudden outburst. She was feeling down earlier, but when she saw a certain someone, she suddenly exploded in anger.


    "Oh my~ am I not welcomed?" A pink haired rabbitkin girl said airily.


    "NO! So get out!!" Fina yelled in response.


    "Oh dear~"


    Fina turned towards her friend with a worried look.


    "Lulu! Shouldn''t you be worried?! She''s here to steal...him away y''know!"


    "...well, I guess this explains things...but I''m glad you were worried about me Fina, ehehe~" Lucia replied with a carefree smile.


    "Lucia!"


    Serilla Lunarts, Fina''s opponent in her earlier match was currently inside the Kings'' waiting room. In fact, the person who brought the mortified Fina into the room was actually her.


    Fina had exhausted a lot of her mana so she was feeling lethargic, just as Cecil was going to go on stage to fetch her, Serilla had actually flashed towards her side before she collapsed and carried her into the waiting room.


    Cecil shrugged at this and let her be, she was lending a helping hand so there was no need to be impolite and reject it. She simply stated that she wanted to help Fina since she very much admired the little girl for her abilities.


    Now with Fina''s explanation, Lucia and the rest of Little Kings, with the exception of Cecil, had learned about another ulterior motive. Serilla was here for Cecil.


    "S-shouldn''t you be a little bit worried?" Velicia asked as she turned a wary eye towards Serilla who was standing a little too close for comfort next to Cecil.


    Eli had a complicated look on her face. The other side was her best friend, while the other side was a childhood playmate, rival, and a person who could practically be called her sister considering how close they were.


    Ainz was meditating and getting into gear since his match was after another 2 matches.


    Lucia gave a provocative smirk at Serilla who was standing beside Cecil and said, "Why should I be worried? Considering how dense ''he'' is, he wouldn''t even get the clue!"


    Everyone turned a discrete eye towards the boy in question. Cecil already had a feeling that something was up when he heard the reason behind Fina''s lack of composure during her match. He didn''t understand, however he was still curious to know who Lucia''s precious person was.


    But after hearing the ambiguous way they were talking, Cecil felt bored so he went ahead and sat himself down next to Ainz. He was yawning while watching the ongoing match.


    Serilla who was standing next to him had a thoughtful expression on.


    ''No wonder he seemed so oblivious.''


    Serilla looked back towards Lucia and gave a sly smile while looking at her smug face.


    "What happened if I did this?"


    The rabbitkin girl marched in front of Cecil and grabbed his face with both her hands. Cecil had just finished yawning so he was surprised at the suddenness of her action. He thought that it was Lucia at first, but the scent was a little different.


    "Huh?"


    Serilla tilted Cecil''s head upwards to face hers, she bent down and...


    "Chuuuuuu~"


    She...kissed him. It wasn''t the normal lip-to-lip, she even had the courage and audacity to slip in her tongue into the boy''s mouth and tangle it with his.


    "!!!"


    "OI!"


    "GAH!!!"


    "Oh gosh..."


    "Damn! Can''t you guys shut uaAHHH¡ªHOLY SHIT!!!" Ainz exclaimed in shock. His meditation had been interrupted by the sudden noise everyone in the room was making. He opened his eyes only to witness the horrifying scene in front of him.


    Serilla finished her kiss and smiled seductively at the dumbfounded Cecil. The boy was overwhelmed. He heard from his mother that this kind of activity could only be done between a boy and a girl who were in love with each other.


    "I like you, Cecil. Won''t you be mine?" She said while leaning closer to him. It seems that she wasn''t done with her kiss just yet.


    "Wuh?" Cecil''s brain had short-circuited that he couldn''t give an answer, but he didn''t need to. Just as Serilla was about to kiss him again, she suddenly pulled away and brandished her sword.


    CLANG!


    "...you don''t need to answer that Cel..." Lucia said darkly.


    "Oh my~ are you finally feeling threatened?"


    "..."


    Serilla''s remark caused Lucia''s aura to immediately change from a crimson color to a dark purple color. She was mad¡ªno, she was furious.


    "Lucia!"


    "Hey!"


    Lucia pressed her weapon closer to Serilla. Her katana''s blade was closing in on Serilla''s neck, but the girl only had that same lazy smile on her face. Her face also had a little blush on it and this caused Lucia to be even more furious.


    Serilla was just about to push back, but then she quickly backed away when she saw Lucia''s Butterfly flying towards her face.


    Lucia didn''t pursue her. She instead sheathed both her weapons and quickly turned towards the dumbfounded Cecil.


    Cecil was still stupidly staring ahead of him. This caused Lucia''s eyes to feel a little pained, but then her eyes solidified, like she had resolved herself for something. Serilla saw this and her two rabbit ears rose in surprise.


    "Ohhoo~"


    Lucia did the exact same thing that Serilla had done earlier to Cecil. She grabbed his face with both hands, tilted his head up and planted a kiss on his lips.


    "!!!" Cecil widened his eyes in surprise.


    Lucia pried opened his mouth and stuck her tongue inside and tangled it with his. When she finished, there was a happy expression on her blushed face. She was blushing and for some reason Cecil thought that this expression was...lovely.


    Lucia backed up and turned towards Serilla, "Hmph. He''s mine!"


    "Huhu~ well, take this as me declaring war~"


    "Just give up already! He''s MINE!"


    "Sorry~ but I won''t back down, especially since the man I chose is so exceptional~"


    The bunny girl sheathed her sword and flashed next to Cecil and began hugging his arm.


    "HEY!"


    Not wanting to lose, Lucia grabbed onto Cecil''s other arm.


    "Hands off!"


    "No way~"


    "CEL!!! Are you okay with this?!!" Lucia shouted at the boy.


    "L-Lucia," Ainz said with a pained expression. "I don''t think he''s listening..."


    "Huh?"


    "Actually, I don''t think he even can..." Ainz continued while pointing at the boy that the 2 girls were hugging.


    "..."


    You could practically see the smoke coming out of his mouth and ears. Cecil''s brain had crashed from the 2 consecutive passionate kisses. First was from a very beautiful upper classmen and then the second was from his very precious friend.


    "Cel? Cel?? Cel!!!" Lucia shouted as she rocked him back and forth.


    "Oh my~ufufufu~" Serilla continued to hug Cecil while giggling in amus.e.m.e.nt.

 Chapter 162 - Allies

    Moments later, Cecil woke up inside the infirmary. He sat up and shook his head groggily.


    "Wh-what happened?"


    Cecil tried to recall what happened before he fainted. His recollection caused his face to blush.


    "...was that a dream?"


    He looked around the room and saw that it was empty. Looks like there were no other people inside except for him, he smiled depreciatingly.


    "Never thought I''d ever come here as a patient."


    Cecil turned his attention towards the door. He heard a commotion approaching and he tilted his head in confusion.


    "Is there some kinda problem?"


    He was just about to spread his mana sense out, but then then the infirmary''s door suddenly flew open.


    "Hmph! He doesn''t need your help!"


    "Oh~ are you scared that I might take him away?"


    "Hah~? Why would I, be scared of YOU?!"


    "Oh! So since you''re not scared, then doesn''t that mean you shouldn''t be worried about me being close to Cecil?"


    "This and that are two different things! I don''t like seeing you near him!"


    "Well too late, we''re here already~"


    "Tsk, stay out of the room!"


    "Hmhm~ do remember that I''m part of the Student Council. I can have any uninjured person prohibited from entering the infirmary~"


    "Kuh..."


    "Ah! Cecil~! You''re awake, here''s some porridge~"


    After the two finished quarreling with Serilla coming out on top, she was the first to notice that Cecil was already awake. The girl approached him and presented the dumbfounded Cecil a bowl of delicious smelling porridge.


    "Uhhh...?"


    "Cel! Here, eat mine! It''s your favorite!" Lucia said while pushing a bowl of chicken porridge in front of Cecil.


    "W-wait!" Cecil started massaging his forward with his hand. ''So...it wasn''t a dream?''


    Cecil turned to look at the two girls in front of him. These two had performed an intimate act with him. It was incomprehensible to him. Why? Why did these two girls do that? They weren''t even his wife!


    ''Wait...aren''t I too young to get married?''


    Cecil learned about these kinds of things from his mother. So to him, kissing was something only done by two people who were married and in love with each other.


    The fact that the two girls in front of him had done something that accentuated the fact that they were, supposedly married to him was odd, like, when did he ever get married?


    ''Hmm...Lucia''s my friend and the other girl...this is the first time we''re meeting face to face...so how could¨C''


    Cecil groaned in thought.


    "Cel? Is something wrong?" Lucia asked worriedly.


    "Do you want me to feed you?" Serilla asked. She took a spoonful of the porridge she cooked and blew on it. "Here, ahhhnn~"


    "Ah! No fair!" Lucia exclaimed as she also did the same thing. "Ahhn~"


    Cecil could only look back at these two girls and with a puzzled look, question what they were doing.


    "What''re you two doing?"


    "Feeding you obviously~"


    "Yeah, Cel! So here, open your mouth!"


    "...I can eat by myself. Also, I''m not hungry."


    "..."


    "..."


    "By the way, I honestly don''t get the connection between sick people and porridge. Like, if I was actually sick, I''d prefer eating meat the moment I wake up IF I was hungry."


    Serilla smiled, but it looked a little strained. "I can feel your hardship now, Lucia..."


    "...you have no idea."


    "?"


    Cecil only had a puzzled look seeing the two''s exchange. He got up from the bed and stretched a little. Cecil circulated his mana and found nothing wrong with his body. He was about to exit the room, but then saw the two girls looking very dejected.


    "Hrrmm..." Cecil groaned. He walked towards the two and grabbed the two bowls of porridge in their hands. He poured one of them into the other bowl and began gulping it down. He quickly finished it and this earned him two cute smiles.


    "...crap."


    Cecil blushed seeing them. He turned tail and exited the room like he was escaping.


    "...maybe I should have kissed him a long time ago." Lucia said after seeing Cecil''s fl.u.s.tered expression.


    "Then shouldn''t you be thanking me Lucia~?"


    "...thanks..."


    "Hihi~ does this mean we can be friends?"


    "Don''t push your luck..."


    "Aww~ come on. Pursuing a guy as dense as him, it''d be better if you had more allies, no?"


    "...do whatever you want, but know this: I''m not yielding him to you or anyone!"


    "Hm? You don''t have to y''know~ I mean, if you want, I can settle being the second wife~"


    "P-p-polygamy?!"


    "Is that a problem?"


    "Of course it is!"


    "Really? I see no problem if we both can have him~ it''s not like it''s against the law." Serilla said with a smile.


    "B-but..."


    "As girls who like the same guy, shouldn''t we be helping each other~?"


    "...?"


    "Ohohoho~ you''re so cute Lucia~ pure and innocent!" Serilla teased.


    "S-so what?!"


    "Just think, with me here, we can constantly try and corner him so that he''ll finally realize the feelings we have towards him. From what I see, you''re too shy to do that yourself~"


    "Kuh..."


    "So how about it? Why not we help each other? I love him and so do you, I see this as a win~"


    Lucia began to ponder Serilla''s proposition. It''s true; she would be way too shy to directly display her affection towards Cecil alone. If it wasn''t because Serilla had kissed Cecil earlier, there was no way she would have found the courage to do the same.


    As strongly as Lucia wanted to deny it, Serilla did have a point. Instead of having an extra enemy, it would be better to gain an ally who had the same objective as her. She''s been at it for almost a year, but the dense idiot still hadn''t realized anything.


    With their earlier kiss, she finally saw some progress considering that Cecil couldn''t even meet her eye and immediately began to blush by just staring at her face. He had even escaped in a fl.u.s.ter earlier!


    Just like Serilla said, this would only lead to a win-win situation if they teamed up.


    "F-fine...but...only between us! I won''t tolerate another person joining us!"


    "Yes~yes~ so just us two, yes~? Huhu~ I look forward to the future with you, Lucia~"


    "Y-yeah..."


    "So I guess it''s time for a proper introduction, no?" Serilla said with a smile. "My name is Serilla Del Lunarts, please to make your acquaintance."


    After her introduction, Serilla waited for Lucia to do the same.


    "My name''s Lucia Yukihime...nice to meet you..."


    "Hmhm~ well Lulu, it''s okay if I call you that right? You can call me Seri in return~" Serilla said while excitedly taking her hand. Despite her obvious excitement, Serilla still had that same exhausted expression on her face.


    "O-okay...Seri..." Lucia called out, a little reluctantly.


    "Hihi~ well, Lulu, please take care of me~ also, let''s work hard together okay~"


    "...yeah..."


    A somewhat odd pair of friends had formed with a mutual objective of prying open Cecil''s heart. The dense idiot in question had arrived back inside the Kings'' Waiting room.


    He felt the odd gazes his friends were giving. He could only sigh in response. Cecil was normally busy with training and never had any thoughts related to the heart, but with Lucia and Serilla''s earlier act of intimacy, he could no longer ignore or remain oblivious to it.


    "...does this mean those two like me?" He thought aloud.


    "FINALLY!"


    "Oh my gosh..."


    "You realize this now?"


    "I feel bad for Lucia..."


    Everyone in the room had heard Cecil who had voiced his thoughts. This caused the older Kings to laugh in amus.e.m.e.nt while the Little Kings all gathered around Cecil and gave him an earful.


    "W-wait, you mean this has been going on for a while?!" Cecil asked in a fl.u.s.ter.


    "Lucia''s so pitiful~" Anixio snickered.


    "Pitiful~ pitiful!!" Anixia echoed while laughing.


    "...i-it''s not my fault!" Cecil replied in defense.


    "Dude, take it from a friend, it''s totally your fault here." Ainz sympathetically said as he placed a hand on his friend''s shoulder.


    "...kuh..."


    "This is because you''re a training freak!" Velicia said.


    "Yeah, Cecil, you practically have nothing else on your mind except for training, training and training!" Eli nodded in agreement to Veli''s statement.


    "...it actually took a kiss from Lulu for you to realize this...I feel really bad for her..." Fina exasperatedly said.


    "H-hey! I''m not psychic! How am I supposed to know about something if she''s doesn''t tell me!"


    "Can''t you infer it from her actions?!"


    "W-well...she''s always been like this after we left the village..."


    "You mean she''s been like this for almost a year and you still hadn''t realized it?!" Fina shouted back incredulously.


    Her outburst put Cecil in an awkward position. "S-sorry..."


    "You shouldn''t be saying this to me! Say it to Lulu!"


    "O-okay! J-just stop shouting at me," Cecil said, his ears were practically ringing at Fina''s consecutive shouts.


    "Jeez...so now you at least know! She''s been working hard to earn your affection for a year now! So you better not make her cry!" Fina said with her hands on her hip.


    "Y-yeah..." Cecil replied while blushing a little. He honestly had no idea how he should respond. He had to give an answer not only to Lucia, but also to the other girl that kissed him, Serilla Lunarts.


    "Actually...how am I supposed to respond to this?" He asked.


    "...what?"


    "Well, I mean... y''know... A kiss is only performed by two people who are married right? Since those two kissed me... how am I supposed to respond to them?"


    "Wait, hold up...married? What''re talking about brat?" Fina asked a little speechless.


    "Huh? Well...a kiss is something that''s only done between married couples, right?"


    "..." Fina groaned in pain. What has this guy learned?


    "Where did you hear this from?"


    "My mother!"


    ''Cecil''s mother...what did you teach him?'' Now it wasn''t only Fina who was groaning, Eli and Velicia had joined in as well.


    Now they understood why Cecil had never shown any interest to someone of the opposite gender. If the most basic form of intimacy between a couple was portrayed as something sacred that was done by only married couples, then the concept of boyfriend and girlfriend was something far gone from Cecil''s understanding.


    "...Now, you listen here Cecil. A kis¨C"


    Fina was interrupted by the door that suddenly opened. Lucia and a beaming Serilla walked in together.


    They turned to look at Cecil who was surrounded by the rest of Little Kings. Yuna who was by the door turned to look at her master and she raised an eyebrow in surprise.


    "Uhm...Cel..."


    Cecil once again grew fl.u.s.tered when Lucia called out to him. Luckily he was saved by the tournament''s announcer. When Cecil had fainted earlier, the matches had continued and now it was the last match of the top 32.


    "Next match! Combat King Cecil vs. Royal Fox Faction Leader Friedrich Nabi!"


    "Th-that''s me guys! Gotta go!" Cecil loudly said while dodging Serilla and Lucia''s eyes.


    "...Cel?"


    "Cecil~?"


    At the two girls call, Cecil blushed even further. He quickly activated Mana Burst and used Blink. He quickly disappeared from the waiting room and abruptly reappeared on top of the stage.


    "Woah?!"


    "!"


    The people left behind in the waiting room exclaimed in surprise when Cecil had disappeared and suddenly reappeared on the stage.


    "What technique was that?!"


    "Shukuchi? No...It''s much faster than that..."


    While they were busy discussing, the audience were also shocked when they suddenly saw Cecil appear, but far from the cheers and excitement that everyone else had, Lucia and Serilla were left standing there in silence.


    "..."


    "..."


    "...if he does this one more time...I''m gonna smash him."


    "L-Lulu, remember this is progress! Didn''t you see his fl.u.s.tered expression when he was escaping~?"


    "..."


    "It''s not like he can keep running away~"


    "Mhm." Lucia nodded and went to take her seat. Serilla did the same and naturally sat down with a smile next to her. With her exhausted expression, it looked like she might even just fall asleep where she sat.


    Seeing the two who were at each other''s throats earlier suddenly act all friendly with each other caused many brows to rise in the room.


    "FIGHT!"


    With the starting word from the referee, Cecil''s fight against Friedrich immediately began...and it immediately ended...?

 Chapter 163 - Quarter Finals

    After the referee started the match, Cecil was still muddleheaded. It was only when a large flaming ball of fire was approaching him did he snap out of it.


    Cecil instinctively reacted to the attack. He subconsciously activated Mana Burst and disappeared from his spot.


    "Eh?"


    "Huh? I thought Cecil said¡ª"


    "With this, the match has already ended..." Ainz said.


    "Oh my~ what did he do~?" Serilla asked.


    Voices of surprise and bewilderment rose from the Little Kings. Just like Ainz had said, the match ended.


    Cecil appeared right in front of Friedrich in the next instant. He leaned forward and placed his palm on Friedrich''s chest and pushed.


    BOOOOMM


    Friedrich''s body soared through the air in the next instant. He smashed into the wall near the fighting stage and he fell unconscious from the impact. His protective enchantment had also broken apart and that spelled the end of the match.


    "...eh?"


    Cecil had done all that subconsciously. He took a look at his outstretched hand and saw the golden aura rising from it.


    "Oh noooo!!!"


    He had just broken his promise of limiting himself by not using mana at all during the tournament. The abrupt end of the match made the referee lag behind in response. He could only stupidly stare at the back of the boy who had just shouted out loud in dejection.


    "W-winner!! COMBAT KING CECIL!!!"


    He couldn''t understand. Why was the one who had won put on a face like he had just lost the match? He clearly won, so why the look of dejection?


    The audience was still unsure on how to respond. The fight had just started, but then before anyone could react, it had immediately ended. It hadn''t even been a good 5 seconds since the match started, but it had already ended...


    Then there was also the winner of the match, Combat King Cecil, who had a clear look of dejection on his face like he was the one who had lost the match. Not to mention the earlier cry of lamentation that came from the boy.


    As the boy got off the stage with a clear look of dejection, the audience didn''t even know what to do...should they cheer and roar in applause or what?


    Cecil was just about to land his foot off of the stage, but then he felt a presence¡ªno, 2 presences walking towards him.


    He looked up and immediately flinched.


    Lucia and Serilla were walking towards him.


    "Hey, Cel¡ª"


    "Sorry!"


    FWOOSHH


    The audience was still paying attention at Cecil, so when they saw him abruptly disappear again, they exclaimed in response. The once quiet stadium had once again turned noisy.


    "..."


    "Ahaha~ Lucia? Let''s go back~" Serilla said with a giggle.


    "...the next time I see him...I''m gonna smash him."


    "Oh my~ surely there''s no need for that~"


    "Just watch, Cecil and my fist are going to have a date later."


    "Ufufufu~ let''s go back~ I''m tired," Serilla pulled Lucia away and the two went back into the Kings'' waiting room.


    When they got inside, Ainz immediately asked where Cecil was.


    "Hey, where''s the brat?"


    "...dunno." Lucia replied tepidly


    "W-what happened?"


    "Dunno... he saw us and then he just, poof, vanished. Next time however, I''m gonna smash his face in if he tries to run away again." Lucia said in a threatening manner.


    She quickly sat down, clearly feeling annoyed. ''It was only a kiss, why was he so fl.u.s.tered to the point where he''s openly avoiding me?!''


    Lucia couldn''t understand it. She was the one that should be embarrassed. After all, she was the one who kissed him. Lucia turned her head to look at the girl beside her.


    Serilla had laid her body down on the sofa and was snoozing away, completely at ease. ''Even Seri is doing fine...''


    "Aggghhh!! Man up Cel, you idioootttt!!!"


    Lucia''s sudden outburst surprised her friends who were around her, but then they turned a sympathetic look towards her. Even they thought that their party leader should man up already and face these two girls head on.


    What''s the point in running away? It''s not like he could keep doing that...unless of course he had the intention to suddenly leave the party, but this was impossible because they knew Cecil''s character.


    Lucia grew more and more annoyed as time passed. The tournament continued and the next round had begun.


    It was the top 16 and everyone who had advanced once again went up to face off against their opponents. Lucia was first and unfortunately for Alex Silverfang, the student council vice president who was her opponent, she was annoyed.


    She had to vent and Lucia took it all out on Alex. By using only her Elemental Burst, Solaris Flame and her Shirayuki, the girl turned the vice president into her punching bag.


    The matches continued and Lucia only turned more and more annoyed. Cecil still wasn''t back! She nearly blew her top when Cecil came back for his match, quickly defeated his opponent and once again used Blink to run away.


    "CEEEEELLLL!!! IF YOU DON''T COME BACK NOW! I''M GOING TO PUNCH YOU!!!" She yelled in frustration.


    It was a little comedic since even if Cecil did come back, Lucia''s fist would no doubt start flying. She had just vented her annoyance earlier on the vice president, but now it had only gotten much worse.


    She didn''t blow her top only because her friends were constantly trying to calm her down. Even Serilla helped out for a bit before going back to sleep.


    Once the top 8 was confirmed, the final stages of the tournament had finally begun. The Top 8 were none other than, Combat King Cecil, Apocalyptic Queen Lucia, Crimson Sky Queen Elizabeth, Sword King Robert, Ghost Queen Alice, Student Council President Zephyr, Student Council Secretary Serilla, and unexpectedly, the dark horse Yunaria Yukihime.


    The matchups were randomized once again. To everyone''s surprise, the first match of the top 8 was Student Council President Zephyr vs. Sword King Robert.


    It was the ex-representative of the Kings vs. the current representative of the Kings. The Kings'' Representative was somewhat like the leader of the Kings but, he had no authority to order any of them around.


    Once the matchup for the first match was determined, the second, third, and subsequent matches were immediately listed on the stadium''s monitor.


    1st Match, Zephyr Arks vs. Robert Stein


    2nd Match, Lucia Yukihime vs. Alice Mayden


    3rd Match, Yunaria Yukihime vs. Cecil Silvaria


    4th Match, Serilla Lunarts vs. Elizabeth Arks


    High up in the supporting beams of the stadium, Cecil heaved a sigh of relief. His heart nearly dropped when he read the name Yukihime. Good thing the first name was Yuna and not Lucia.


    "Safe...if things keep going, then I''ll meet her in the finals."


    Down in the waiting rooms, Robert was grinning and everyone knew why. The large rabbitkin was always looking forward to a match with the student council president.


    Unlike his regular spars with Zephyr, this time Robert and he would take their fight into an official setting. They could both go all out now because all that mattered now was winning. No bullshit like exchanging pointers or something like that.


    It was a bout where their reputation and honor were on the line and their skills were put to the test. There would be other people bearing witness to it. They could finally settle the score and both Robert and Zephyr were looking forward to it.


    The two met up on the stage. Robert had a grin on his face while Zephyr had a slight smile on his.


    "Finally...right?"


    "Hehe..."


    Zephyr only replied with a chuckle. He seemed uncaring, but present in his eyes were the fires of war. He was looking forward to this match just as much as Robert.


    The two extracted their weapons. Robert grabbed the large sword behind his back and gave it a swing. Zephyr extracted his black great sword from his spatial ring and got into a sword stance.


    The atmosphere around the stage was ignited, but the audience couldn''t even cheer or roar in response. It was so tense that it was like the audience had a mutual agreement with one another, focus on the fight and shut the hell up.


    Two great sword users were just about to pit their wit and skills in the ring and everyone was anticipating an awesome fight.


    "Quarter Finals First Match! Zephyr Arks vs. Robert Stein!!!"


    The referee eyed the two contestants and loudly declared.


    "FIGHT!!!"

 Chapter 164 - Swords Collide

    Let''s take this back just after Cecil''s match against Friedrich Nabi.


    Inside the private room of the Royal Family, the King, the Headmaster, and the Sword Saintess were all discussing about Cecil''s technique.


    "Did you see that? He disappeared again." The headmaster said.


    "Hmmm... yes. What a peculiar technique. I''m sure that''s not Shukuchi, yes?" The King asked.


    The Sword Saintess responded with a nod of consent. There was no way that near teleportation skill was Shukuchi. Shukuchi only enhanced the speed of the user, but this... this was beyond that.


    "I can''t help but notice that just before he disappears, a golden aura rose from his body."


    "Yes, Your Majesty. My, you still have such sharp eyes! I nearly missed that little detail." Headmaster Elufied said with a chuckle.


    "Hmmm...It doesn''t seem to be a magic spell either."


    "Yes, there was no chant nor was there any magic formations conjured. The mana in the air was also not disturbed." Elufied analyzed.


    The ambient mana wasn''t disturbed and he couldn''t sense any changes to the mana in the area. There was no precursor or sign that appeared when Cecil disappeared or reappeared, so it couldn''t have been spatial or wind magic. Which means...


    "It''s like he''s relying on solely his physical body to move around that fast." Celia said, a little unconvinced.


    "...what a mystery...too bad I can''t inquire more. It''s been awhile since I''ve been fascinated by a technique."


    "...we could just go ask the boy, Your Majesty."


    "That''d be inappropriate Celia. As much as I am the King of this country, but that woman wouldn''t allow anything to happen to her children...even if it was only a step child."


    "...how is a woman like her not a sage?"


    "..." Elufied stayed quiet when the King turned an eye towards him. It was obvious that they were talking about his master, Anna Yukihime.


    "There are circ.u.mstances that I can''t say. All I can say is that she''s not an enemy, so we shouldn''t do anything to provoke her into becoming one."


    "...yes."


    At the Golden Fox Clan''s private room, many of the younger generation were looking down in awe. Cecil had just won his match so quickly. They all had heard that the boy was actually Princess Lucia''s boyfriend.


    "They match so well!"


    "Right? Both of them are strong! Who could ask for a better pair?"


    "Yeah! But did you see that at the end?"


    "The Princess was clearly near the stage waiting on him, but why did he suddenly disappear like that?"


    "Princess Lucia''s face also darkened after they exchanged a short word with each other earlier..."


    "Maybe..."


    "A lover''s spat?"


    "Most likely, hahahaha~"


    The young teenagers'' discussion and gossip didn''t escape the ears of the older generation. Once again they began fawning and buttering up to Anna and Zaki, a strong daughter and an even stronger step-son.


    The step-son also turned out to be the Princess'' future husband, just how lucky could this couple get? Possessing not only 1, but 2 talented children!


    "...that last skill."


    "It''s Blink." Anna said in reply to her husband''s question.


    "Hm... I read about it from Lucia''s letters. This ''Blink'' skill...it''s almost like teleportation, but instead of using a magic spell, Cecil uses his physical body that''s been enhanced with mana to perform this near teleportation like ability. Truly astounding!" Zaki praised with a smile.


    He himself was a fighter, so he was most familiar with strengthening skills and the like. But this technique totally toppled his entire understanding in regards to body strengthening skills.


    "It''s because of his constitution and Cecil''s Mana Burst."


    "Yes, it''s because of that. My, we have sure raised one monster of a child."


    "...why''re you being so happy? He''s the one who did everything by himself!" Anna teased.


    "Ahahaha~ as his step-father, aren''t I allowed to be proud of my son?"


    "Hihihi~ who knows?"


    "Look, even you''re smiling in delight!"


    "Ufufufufu~"


    The chieftain could only stare in admiration at this golden couple. Two geniuses gave birth to a genius daughter, and then they took in a son who was also a genius who would soon turn into their son-in-law.


    The chieftain began grinning in delight. With his brother finally rejoining the family, he brought with him a beautiful and strong wife and also two geniuses of the younger generation! What more could he ask? The clan''s prosperity and rise was only going to begin now that they had Zaki''s family.


    Zaki and Anna supporting their generation, while Lucia and Cecil would support the younger generation.


    Everyone in the room was also thinking something similar and they were delighted. There was only one in the room who had a strained expression. It was the father of Ariel, a person who was part of the Golden Fox''s Elder Council.


    He had planned on pushing forward his son into a marriage with the new princess, but now all of that had to be scrapped. The son-in-law that Zaki and Anna had found was without a doubt far superior than his own son. There wouldn''t even be any competition if the two had to be compared to one another.


    ''Looks like I have to change my plans a bit...but I guess it wouldn''t harm anyone if my son only built a close relationship with these two, right?''


    As the father was quickly adjusting his plans, the son was doing the opposite. He was strengthening his plans to quickly befriend Lucia and win her heart over. It was too bad for him that he was 100 steps too late for that.


    Lucia''s eyes were already on Cecil and after her aggressive expression of affection; she was now even more dead set on him. Not to mention that the girl didn''t want to lose to her belated ally-c.u.m-love rival, Serilla.


    The top 8 had finally been announced and the matchups were shown, the first match between the Sword King and the Student Council President had just begun. Once again, everyone in the stadium turned their attention towards these two young contestants.


    "FIGHT!!!"


    ******


    With the starting gong, Robert activated multiple strengthening skills and magic. The same went for Zephyr.


    Robert was the first to make a move, his activation of skills and magic was a step faster than Zephyr so he immediately flickered forward. He raised his large great sword and slammed it down on Zephyr who had just finished applying his skills and spells.


    "HAAAHH!!!"


    BOOOOOOMMMMM CRAAACCKKK


    Zephyr quickly raised his great sword and blocked Robert''s attack. The two swords collided and the ground below Zephyr smashed apart from the resulting force. Zephyr held his grounds, but with Robert pressing down on his blade, he was slowly sinking down into the stage''s floor.


    Zephyr took longer than Robert to finish his strengthening, but there was a reason. A storm of wind elements began to rage around Zephyr. Robert quickly jumped back and put a distance between the two.


    Zephyr had been parallel casting his strengthen skill and magic with the top mid-tier magic Windstorm.


    After repelling Robert with the Windstorm, Zephyr dashed straight towards him, bringing along the storm of wind elements with him.


    Robert''s response was to send multiple combat skills at his approaching opponent. Vorpal Slash, Crimson Cut, Mountain Splitter, Ground Slam. He unloaded as much combat skills as he could in that short period of time just to keep Zephyr away.


    Robert knew that if he let Zephyr approach him with that Windstorm, he''d only be trapped later when Zephyr finished conjuring a Wind Domain, a magic spell that chained together with Windstorm.


    Wind Domain created an area of wind elementals that worked in the favor of the caster. The wind elements in the domain would constantly harm any opponent within it and it could not be dispelled.


    Not to mention that the spell could even last for over 1 hour if it wasn''t interrupted beforehand. That''s why Robert did all he could to stop Zephyr from approaching. It was this combat style that Zephyr normally used whenever he sparred with Robert.


    The Wind Storm died down after receiving Robert''s outburst of combat skills. Seeing as the Wind Storm was dispelled, Robert once again dashed in and the two contestants began to exchange sword blows.


    CLANG CLANG BANG CLANG BOOOOM


    The resounding blows continued for a long while, it was literal a slugfest of sword skills from this point on. The two didn''t bother conjuring any magic spells. They only exchanged blow for blow with their sword skills.


    The unrelenting onslaught continued and the two contestants began to pile up wound after wound. Along with the wounds, fatigue and mana depletion began to catch up with them.


    "Haaa...haaa...ha..."


    "fuuu...fuuu..."


    As the two were panting in exhaustion, Robert smirked and he opened his mouth.


    "Haha, this is really refreshing!"


    "Heh...you said it."


    "This next blow will end it."


    "I could say the same thing to you!"


    After Zephyr''s reply, the two readied their swords once more. Robert raised his sword overhead while Zephyr brought his sword behind him.


    "HEAVEN CLEAVER!!!"


    "SPACE BLADE!"


    The two combat skills collided and the arena burst apart as the mana raged at the epicenter of their clash. When the dust settled, there was only one contestant left standing.


    In the Kings'' waiting room, Ghost Queen Alice was gripping her hands tightly, as she gazed worriedly at the stage. All the other older Kings had solemn looks on their faces as they waited for the results to be announced.


    While in the Student Council''s waiting room, every member was already on their feet, even though everyone had absolute faith in their President, they still couldn''t help but be on edge. The President had already experienced a loss at the hands of his sister, they couldn''t help but grow worried at the thought that he might once again lose.


    This was Sword King Robert! Although they couldn''t determine whether Elizabeth or Robert was stronger, but it was well known that Robert and Zephyr''s strength were practically on par with one another.


    Up in the stadium''s support beams, Cecil was looking down on the stage with his Mana Eyes.


    "Oh...what a pity."

 Chapter 165 - This is Bad!

    On the stage, both of the contestants, Robert and Zephyr, were still standing. It was unfortunate however since although each fighter still looked like they could continue; the referee still had to announce the verdict.


    Just as the two boys were about to lunge at each other one more time, the referee immediately put a halt to the match.


    "STOP!"


    "Kh!"


    "Uh!"


    The two quickly turned their heads towards the referee questioningly. The ref only took one glance at them and announced.


    "The fight is a draw! Both contestants'' protective enchantments have been broken!!!"


    "What?!"


    "!"


    Robert and Zephyr quickly took a look at their armor and noticed that it was just as the referee had said. Both their enchantments have been broken. Their earlier techniques had cancelled each other out, but the resulting shockwave had destroyed not only the arena, their protective enchantments had also been destroyed.


    "Dammit!"


    "Tsk..."


    The two felt helpless at such an unexpected outcome. This match should have been the deciding fight between the two, but it ended in such an unpleasant way.


    "Nothing we can do...right?"


    "Bah...who cares, it''s not like we won or lost to each other. Now I can proudly declare myself as the new representative of the Kings."


    "Hah. Idiot, you''re about to graduate, how short-lived."


    "Tsk...If only you didn''t do what you did then we¨C"


    "Yes, yes, get down already Robby. I need to naa-ahhp..." A lazy voice interrupted.


    Robert turned to the side and noticed Alice waiting there for him. He took one last look at Zephyr and walked off the stage.


    Zephyr shrugged uncaringly and went off as well.


    "What a shame...looks like you two are only about equal." Another voice suddenly echoed next to Robert and Alice.


    The two looked towards the source of the voice and it turned out to be the missing Cecil.


    "Yeah, it was regrettable. I wanted to at least beat him once in an official match before graduating." Robert helplessly said. Then he added, "By the way, I don''t think you should stay here any longer."


    "Huh?"


    Cecil immediately felt danger and he quickly ducked down.


    SWWWOOOOSSSH BBOOOM


    "DON''T MOVE, IDIOT!"


    Cecil quickly turned around and caught the other fist that was swinging towards his face.


    "Lulu, please calm down."


    "Not yet, not until I pummel that stupid face of yours!"


    "C-come on, don''t be so unreasonable."


    "Wash your face, Cecil Silvaria! I won''t be satisfied until I at least pummel you once!"


    Robert and Alice only sighed seeing the couple having a lover''s spat. They quickly went towards the waiting room. Inside everyone greeted the Sword King and praised him for a spectacular match.


    Not long after, a furious Lucia stormed into the room. Cecil wasn''t around so everyone knew that he had once again escaped.


    There was a short intermission before the next match began. It was between 2 Kings, Apocalyptic Queen Lucia and Ghost Queen Alice.


    Once their names were called the two quickly head up to the stage side by side. Alice was lazy as usual, but Lucia was radiating an aura of immense blood thirst. This aura wasn''t directed at Alice, but more like towards the foxkin boy up in the supporting beams of the stadium.


    "...crap, that''s scary." Cecil mumbled.


    Even before the match, Lucia was already emitting a reddish aura from her body. She was pissed and it was clear she needed an outlet.


    Even if Alice was a fellow King, it didn''t look like Lucia was going to make things easy for her.


    "Sorry Alice...but I''m going to win...then I''m going to kick that fool''s face in." Lucia darkly said.


    "Umu...well, if you want to win...you''re going to have to work for it..."


    Lucia nodded and pulled out only her Shirayuki. She got in stance and focused. All the anger she felt towards Cecil, she channeled into her mana and the color of her aura immediately began to change.


    From the scarlet red into a deep purple, she was using her new element to power her Elemental Burst.


    Her senses sharpened and she felt in complete control of her body and her surroundings. She tuned out all of the roaring and hubbub that the audience was causing and she focused herself to this moment, this match.


    Alice grimaced a little when she saw the girl''s change. Lucia never exhibited such concentration and pressure in her previous matches.


    "Hmm...This is gonna be troublesome..."


    Alice retrieved her weapons from her spatial ring, a pair of daggers that also acted as brass knuckles.


    The handle had rings that Alice could put her fingers through and they were also sharp. For Cecil, it wasn''t an ideal weapon since his family''s martial arts were focused more on the body of the practitioner rather than the weapon.


    His dagger arts needed ones hands and weapons to be flexible and dexterous. These daggers weren''t compatible to use in his martial arts.


    Alice however was different. She was an agility-based fighter, so having a firm grip on her daggers while moving at incredibly high speeds was ideal for her. Alice readied herself for the match.


    This was bound to be her toughest battle yet, but she didn''t shy away from it. She was instead slightly smiling in anticipation.


    "FIGHT!"


    Once the referee gave the cue, the two girls on stage immediately vanished from their spots. The crowd was bewildered at the sight, but in the next instant multiple scars began to decorate the stage''s floor.


    The loud clangs of metal hitting metal resounded in the stadium. These sounds originated from the arena, but no one could see the cause of all these noise.


    "Gosh...they''re moving too fast! Can''t these two fight normally?! How are we supposed to enjoy this fight?" Audrey complained.


    It was just as she said, the two girls were moving way too fast. To the ordinary crowd, Alice and Lucia had disappeared from their sights, but to the trained people inside the stadium, their eyes could still keep up with the speeds of those two girls.


    Some of the untrained people in the audience were beginning to complain, so Headmaster Elufied had to step in.


    He casted a space-time magic around the arena. It was a barrier that visually slowed down what was happening inside it. It wasn''t a practical magic since it could only be used for diversion and such, but in the current situation it was an ideal solution.


    The audience could finally see what was happening. Although, it wasn''t in real-time the audience was able to see the exchanges the two girls were conducting at high speeds.


    The barrier didn''t affect the time inside it so technically, what the audience was witnessing was actually the afterimages left behind by the two girls. The actual battle was already many steps ahead of what was visually shown.


    Alice was already smiling widely when the fight finally kicked into motion. She finally had someone who could keep up with her speed in battle, and fight evenly with her. Neither Zephyr nor Robert could keep up with her speed.


    Their only countermeasure when facing her was to indiscriminately bomb the area around them with magic spells or battle skills, but not Lucia. Lucia was exchanging blows with her evenly! She was even matching her speed with Alice even when the rabbitkin girl accelerated even faster.


    "This is so fun!"


    Alice pulled out an array of fine needles and throwing knives from her spatial ring. She flicked her hand and shot them at Lucia in tricky angles and timing.


    Lucia clicked her tongue in annoyance. Alice was fast, very fast. She wondered how her opponent could actually keep up with her when she was using Elemental Burst that was being powered by her new element.


    Now to top things off with her speed, Lucia''s opponent was also a master at throwing weapons. This day couldn''t just get any more annoying for her. First she meets a love rival, after that Cecil began to openly avoid her, and now this.


    "GRAAAAH DAMMIT!"


    Lucia let her emotions take the better of her and she exerted even more mana into her Elemental Burst. She quickly released two of her tails'' mana cores and her aura grew more defined and sturdy.


    The projectiles that were aiming at her halted a couple of inches away from her body. The aura surrounding her had grown more substantial and it displayed small signs of becoming a natural mana barrier.


    Alice was surprised seeing this. She laughed and lunged straight at Lucia. Her dagger slashed straight through that thick aura, but it was blocked by Lucia''s katana.


    Lucia then wrapped more of her aura onto her katana''s blade, she then kicked Alice back and quickly swung her weapon.


    "Ascending Blade!!!"


    The blade beam flew directly at Alice, but she flashed away and appeared next to Lucia. Seeming as though she had anticipated this, Lucia already had her kodachi, the Butterfly, in her left hand.


    "Lava Storm! Geyser! Crimson Lotus!"


    She sent 3 magic spells at point blank range towards Alice.


    "Tch..."


    Alice flashed away and got out of range, but the magic spells were danger close to Lucia that she should be affected by the spells.


    At least, that''s what Alice and many others thought. But to their astonishment, the spells that were supposed to hit Lucia had actually turned back into mana which she then reabsorbed into her tails. She shouted and sent more Lava Storms at Alice.


    Lucia also sent Glacial Meteors at Alice. She basically decimated everything in the surroundings as long as Alice was there. Even after using many top middle-tier magic spells like drinking water, she didn''t even seem to be out of breath or exhausted of her mana.


    She sent them out like a torrential rainfall, to the point where the arena was destroyed beyond recognition.


    "Tsk...If you''re just going to dodge...then let''s use something that you can''t avoid!!!"


    Lucia gathered her mana and multiple large magic formations appeared all around the arena. To make sure that Alice wouldn''t take advantage of her ''safe'' position where none of her spells affected her, Lucia began to move around the arena at high speeds once more.


    Lucia released another one of her tails'' cores and exerted even more mana into her Elemental Burst. She pushed herself to move even faster, it was to the point where even Alice struggled to keep up with her. In the next instant, Lava Storms, Ice Pillars, Geysers, Meteors, Crimson Lotuses, and other mid ranked magic spells that Lucia knew erupted inside of the arena''s protective barrier.


    It was a literal scene of what an actual apocalypse would look like, fire raining down from the skies and erupting from the earth, ice blasting into the air or storming around the area. The scene was even more visually shocking than her Apocalypse Spell.


    By the time all of the spells had subsided. Lucia appeared once again in the middle of the stage. Not long later, a battered and wounded Alice appeared not far from her.


    "You sure are unreasonable..." Alice expressed with a strained smile.


    "...Sorry, I was just annoyed...I shouldn''t have taken it out on you..." Lucia said remorsefully. She had exploded in annoyance and she regretted it as soon as she saw the condition Alice was in.


    "It''s no biggie; just promise me you''ll do much worse towards your Cecil later, alright?"


    "S-sure...that''s what I intend to do..."


    "...so this isn''t your worst?"


    "N-no...at least, I don''t think it is?"


    Alice smirked and looked up above. She then giggled and stuck her tongue out before striding off of the stage. Robert was already waiting for her nearby. She jumped into his embrace and Robert carried her straight towards the infirmary.


    "WINNER! LUCIA YUKHIME!!!"


    "Phew..." Lucia calmed herself and walked off of the stage. Although she had vented her annoyance somewhat, she still was fuming mad at Cecil.


    Up on the beams of the stadium, Cecil was already fretting...


    "C-crap...this is bad!"

 Chapter 166 - His Strongest

    After the protective barrier and arena was restored, the next match immediately began.


    Yuna was already waiting on stage and in the next instant Cecil once more reappeared on the stage.


    He looked a little gloomy and helpless. Near the arena, Lucia was glaring fiercely at him. It caused the hairs on his arms to rise up in alert and multiple chills to run down his spine.


    Cecil gulped nervously. He could feel the cold sweat slowly dripping off of his chin.


    "H-hey Yuna...she''s furious...isn''t she?"


    "...what do you think?" Yuna sarcastically replied.


    "I-isn''t there some way to relieve her anger?"


    "Of course, why not let her punch you a couple of times?"


    "Eh? But, that''ll hurt way too much," Cecil replied with an awkward smile.


    Yuna shrugged and said, "Beats me. Master is furious because YOU keep running away. Why not just man up and confront her already?"


    "But I don''t know what to say!"


    "Jeez...you''ve seriously had some problems in your upbringing..."


    "I blame my father for this! He wouldn''t let me have a normal childhood!"


    "...but I heard you say your mother teaching you those affairs of the heart, no?"


    "My mother''s the kindest person in the world! And what she taught me was something from back when I was only 10 years old!"


    It was at the time when he finally returned from his training in on their family''s isolated island.


    "...oh..." Yuna grew a little frustrated hearing this. She could no longer blame Cecil''s mother since Cecil was still only a child at the time. Even she herself wasn''t unreasonable enough to teach a child about...THAT!


    The fight had already started, but the two contestants were only exchanging words with each other. The crowd was hoping for another blood-boiling battle. Especially since the match up was the dark horse Yuna vs. the Combat King Cecil.


    "Hey! Why aren''t those two fighting yet?!"


    "They''re only...talking!"


    "What''s with this?! Hey, ref! Hurry up and tell ''em to fight!!"


    "Yeah! Tell them to fight already!"


    "Hurry up!"


    The crowd soon started getting more and more rowdy. They naturally couldn''t hear the conversation and despite all this, Cecil and Yuna still didn''t seem to have any intentions to fight each other.


    Since Yuna finally figured out the flaw in Cecil''s common sense, she decided to lecture him about some...things, things regarding THAT.


    "Ohhhh!!! So that''s what it was?"


    "Yeah...do you get it now?"


    "So...I don''t have to be married to kiss someone?"


    "Nope, but it''s not like you could just kiss anyone okay?"


    "Yeah, I get you! Even I wouldn''t want to do that to just anyone. I mean, if it''s Lucia then I guess it''s alright."


    "Hmmm, good~ now moving on, next is about s.e.x."


    "S.e.x? You mean gender?"


    "...this is gonna take a while."


    The audience was growing noisier and annoyed, but Yuna''s counseling still continued despite all this. At the end of her explanation, Cecil was already blushing madly.


    "W-w-w-w-w-what the heck?!!"


    "Well, those things are only natural for any intelligent and non-intelligent species."


    "Th-th-then...does Lucia?" Cecil turned an eye towards the furious girl near the stage. His face immediately popped red and ''smoke'' exited from his ears.


    "Hey! You''re a little too young for that!"


    "Y-yeah..."


    "Anyway, if you really want to do that, you should at least wait a couple more years and get married first!"


    "...okay..."


    "Alright, now the necessary education has been given, shouldn''t we start our fight?"


    "Yeah...sure..." Cecil said exhaustingly. The information that he learned from Yuna was a little too much for his innocent and naive brain to handle.


    "Damn...so Lucia...with me? What the heck?"


    "Oi lover boy, you done blushing?"


    "..."


    "I know I can''t beat you, but since I''ve taught you something nice, why don''t you reward me a little."


    "Alright, what do you want?"


    "I''d like to see you at your strongest."


    "Huh?"


    "I''ve never¡ªno. No one''s ever seen you fight at your strongest. Lucia explained to me a little why, but I''d still like to see it for myself," Yuna said, looking very much interested.


    It was just like she said; no one''s ever seen Cecil go all out. Like, literally all out. Lucia had already explained to her the ''shackles'' that Cecil put on his body which limited his strength. Of course, it wasn''t like he was being conceited or anything, but it was more of a precautionary measure. It was to make sure that his mind doesn''t collapse from overusing his mana and destroying his body.


    Cecil thought for a moment and opened his mouth, "I''m sorry, but I can''t show you my ''strongest'' because of circ.u.mstances, but I can at least show you my strongest just before I breach my ''shackles''."


    "Alright, that''ll do. I don''t want Lucia to hate me anyway."


    "Okay."


    The audience was already annoyed at this point. The battle had long started, but the two on stage have only been talking for the past 20 minutes!


    The fight had a time limit of 30 minutes, but two thirds of that time was actually spent on talking, it was no wonder the audience was very dissatisfied.


    The referee couldn''t even do anything to urge the two to fight. They were engaged in their conversation so seriously that they hadn''t heard a single word from anyone around them.


    Well, this wasn''t because they were so serious, but it was because Yuna had set a sound barrier around them. It isolated any sounds going in or out. This was because even Yuna didn''t want anyone to know that she had been lecturing Cecil about certain things that a.d.u.l.ts do.


    It''d be way too embarrassing if anyone else heard. They''d be wondering if this was a public s.e.x.u.a.l education course or the Dueling Tournaments quarter finals'' 3rd match.


    Yuna quickly dispelled the barrier and now they could hear all the dissatisfied shouts and complaints that the audience was directing at the two.


    "Hahaha, looks like we kept them waiting," Yuna chuckled.


    "Yeah...should I start now?"


    Cecil had jumped back a couple of steps and placed a 20 meter gap between them.


    "Sure! Now show me what you got!"


    Yuna crossed her arms and relaxed, she didn''t have the posture of someone waiting for a fight. It was like she was about to watch some sort of spectacle.


    And that was exactly what she was doing! Yuna had no intentions of fighting. The outcome was already decided the moment Cecil became her opponent. She was going to lose no matter what she did.


    The two had already sparred multiple times during the Little Kings'' training session inside the Academy''s Time Formation. She lost every single one of her battles so easily, to the point where she hadn''t even managed to land a single blow on the boy.


    Since this was the case, she might as well help Cecil a little bit and have him show her his ''strongest'' as a reward.


    Cecil limbered up his body and relaxed. His earlier uneasy mood swiftly changed and he was back to his relaxed demeanor once more.


    Cecil took a deep breath before exhaling. He tuned out all of the noise coming from his surroundings. He looked towards Yuna, his friends inside the waiting room, and lastly towards Lucia.


    He smirked and thought aloud, "I''ll only show this to you guys once. Engrave it into your minds, so hurry up and reach my level..."


    His words weren''t heard, but somehow his expression as he gazed at his friends was understood and they wondered; what was he up to?


    Cecil got into a horse stance and began channeling his mana using his self-created Silvaria Family''s Mana Cultivation Arts.


    All the mana inside his body activated and began rushing through his Mana Circuits and Mana Pathways. A golden aura began to rise from his body and it started to flare around him in a grand manner.


    His change caused everyone in the stadium to immediately quiet down. The pressure and suffocation they felt from the mana being radiated from Cecil was overwhelming. Cecil didn''t stop this, but instead exerted himself even more.


    The golden aura rose around him. The pressure he was exerting almost rivaled the pressure he released when unleashing his Spear Intent. Even the Little Kings were affected by the pressure, not to mention anyone else who wasn''t accustomed to it.


    Up in the Golden Fox Clan''s private room, Anna smiled gleefully and said, "Oh dear~ my son is putting on a show of force, I should help out a little~"


    Anna waved her hand and the pressure that was overwhelming everyone in the stadium immediately vanished, but this didn''t mean no one was affected anymore. Even with the pressure gone, they still felt their breaths stifled, but at least they no longer had any difficulty breathing.


    "HAAAAAAHHH!!!"


    Cecil roared and the golden aura stabilized around him and it shrunk into his body. The aura was still present, but it was no longer flaring around wildly. Instead it was flowing around his body in a stable manner.


    "Urk..."


    He started to feel it...the pain started being transmitted from the mana pathways in his body that hadn''t turned into Mana Circuits.


    "Hoooohh...this is my... current strongest," Cecil exhaled a breath and said while faltering a little.


    The pain was honestly a little too much. Cecil raised a hand and aimed it at Yuna. "You should dodge."


    "..." Yuna lowered her body and prepared to block the attack.


    Cecil saw this and only nodded. He gathered his mana into his outstretched hand until it formed a ball of golden mana.


    "Flash Cannon."


    At his words, a golden beam of mana was launched from his hand. It quickly flew straight towards Yuna and she was immediately alarmed.


    The density of the mana flying at her was significantly much denser than the time Cecil had used Over Flash in a fit of anger. This time, he compressed his mana and fired a simple Flash Cannon.


    Yuna immediately felt that if this golden beam hit her...the result wasn''t something that anyone could just laugh about. She might lose an arm or leg, maybe even her life. It was a good thing Cecil didn''t purposefully aim it at her.


    He gave her enough time to dodge away, Yuna wanted to try blocking Cecil''s attack at first, but she immediately changed her mind when she saw the power behind the Flash Cannon that Cecil had fired.


    With Yuna dodging away, the Flash Cannon continued uninhibited and smash right into the protective barrier, it didn''t take long before the barrier was immediately smashed apart. This alarmed everyone, but Cecil waved his hand upward and the golden beam of mana flew up in a reverse parabola.


    The trajectory of the beam changed and it was flying back towards him. When the beam finally reached his spot, Cecil pushed out both his hands and controlled his mana beam. He manipulated it to spin in place.


    With each revolution, the mana began to disperse into the air until it was small enough to fit into his hand. Once it was small enough, he grabbed and crushed it.


    BOOOOMMMM WOOOOSSSSHHHH


    A strong repulsing wave of mana flew out from Cecil and it caused Yuna to be pushed out of the arena. Of course she could have stopped herself, but she needed an excuse to lose the match. A simple surrender might earn her the ire of the crowd.


    "...W-winner! Combat King Cecil!"


    The audience couldn''t applaud to this. Cecil''s show of might was a little too astonishing and it made them all speechless.


    Cecil''s face was a little pained by now. He stopped channeling his mana, but his mana pathways were aching and screaming in protest.


    "Damn...shouldn''t have done that..."

 Chapter 167 - The Way to Move Forward

    Cecil was a little exhausted since he had exerted his mana a little too much. Lucia who saw the pained countenance of Cecil''s immediately grew worried.


    She turned her eyes towards the bracelet on her wrist and checked the gem. It was yellow in color, meaning it was 3 levels away from falling into the danger zone, so Cecil was still safe.


    Lucia was just about to rush up onto the stage, but Cecil immediately straightened himself and looked towards her. He turned red a little and smiled before mouthing something to her and then suddenly disappearing.


    Lucia was surprised before she began to smile brightly. Her previous fury was all but gone, like it was some sort of illusion. She skipped happily back towards the waiting room alongside a puzzled Yuna.


    Yuna released a tired sigh, she lectured Cecil for a bit and thought that the boy would have manned up by now, but he still went and disappeared. She couldn''t be mad at him though, since whatever he said to her master had apparently appeased her anger.


    "Something good happen, Lucia?"


    "Hmhm~ that''s a secret~"


    Yuna chuckled in response. As long as her master was happy then everything''s all good. It was much better than her glowering in rage earlier.


    The next match soon began after the protective barrier was quickly fixed, the two friends and rivals, Elizabeth Arks vs. Serilla Lunarts.


    Many in the stadium anticipated this match up. Two Sword Maidens who had high potential in becoming the next Sword Saintess were about to duke it out in the arena.


    Cecil''s previous fight caused the atmosphere within the stadium to dampen immensely, but the next match immediately raised it sky-high once again.


    The two girls faced each other on top of the stage, Serilla had her sword in hand and Elizabeth had her rapier at the ready.


    "FIGHT!!!"


    At the referee''s starting shout, Serilla and Eli released their Sword Intents. The two Intents clashed in the air and the sound of metal scraping against metal sounded in the air.


    It was a magical phenomenon which caused everyone in the stadium to wonder what was happening. Were the two girls moving at a fast speed just like in the earlier speed match between the Ghost Queen and the Apocalyptic Queen?


    But that wasn''t it. The two Sword Intents were clashing and trying to wear the other down. It all depended on whose willpower was stronger and apparently, both girls had equally strong willpower.


    The fight continued even as the two girls were only standing in place. Neither of them wanted to lose, so they were now in a stalemate.


    "Let''s get this started?"


    "Let''s~"


    The two stopped their invisible clash and focused their intents onto their weapons. Eli activated her Aura Manifestation and a crimson aura rose from her body. She then fused her Intent with her aura and this caused a drastic change to the pressure that Serilla was feeling.


    This caused Serilla to smile and say, "Going all out from the start~?"


    "Yes....there''s no need to probe...I''m pretty sure we''re already very much familiar with each other."


    "Of course~ since you''re my friend Eli~"


    "Shall we compete with our swords only?"


    "That''s exactly what I intended from the start y''know~"


    "Alright then...HERE I COME!"


    Eli was the first to make a move. She kicked off of the ground and flickered straight towards her opponent.


    She quickly arrived in front of Serilla and stabbed her rapier straight towards her opponent''s neck.


    CLANG


    Serilla parried the stab and slid her sword along the blade of Eli''s rapier. She then moved in and sent a punch straight at Eli''s face.


    This wasn''t her normal style of fighting. She had been observing the Little Kings'' fights and had picked up their unusual combat methods and techniques. The fact was that Serilla was learning all this in-real time and it caused Eli to be mildly surprised.


    She blocked Serilla''s sword with her rapier''s guard and deflected her fist. She then sent bent her arm and sent her elbow straight at Serilla''s cheek.


    Her opponent flung her head back, narrowly dodging the elbow strike. She dislodged her sword from Elizabeth''s rapier and jumped back while sending a Vorpal Strike.


    Eli simply raised her Intent-fused rapier and slashed out, immediately slicing it apart. She dashed forwards in pursuit. The two girls clashed weapons once again, but instead of applying Cecil''s unique way of fighting, the two girls seemed to have come to a silent agreement and relied only on their swords and combat skills.


    The two were raised and trained by the same master, Celia Lunarts, so they had the same fighting style and almost the same set of combat skills. Before, Eli had advanced a level higher than Serilla since she awakened her Intent, but not too long after, Serilla showed that she too had awakened her Sword Intent and this caused them to be placed on the same level once again.


    Now it only depended on which one of the two was the better swordswoman and that soon came to light. Serilla was pushing Elizabeth back. Even with her Intent-fused Aura enhancing her physical capabilities, Serilla overwhelmed Eli in terms of technique and skill.


    Serilla''s skills and sword arts were a notch higher than Eli''s and this caused the dragonkin girl to be put at a disadvantage.


    ''N-no! I trained so hard! How come I''m still inferior?!''


    "Y''know Eli, you shouldn''t try and chase after me~"


    Her words broke Eli''s thoughts.


    "What?"


    "The sword is not your path, well at least the Sword Saintess isn''t."


    "What''re you talking about?!"


    Eli shouted, she swung her rapier hard and sent an Aura Blade, a skill usable only when Aura Manifestation was active, straight at Serilla.


    "...I saw your change during your match with the President. You don''t want to be the Sword Saintess anymore, right?"


    "Urk..."


    "I knew it. I''m not saying that your sword is weak or anything, but you should really let go of that shackle called ''Sword Saintess'', it''ll only hinder your development."


    Serilla responded to Eli''s attack by sending a blade wave using her intent. The two sword waves smashed into each other which resulted in a shockwave.


    "I stopped constraining myself to the limit of obtaining that title. Honestly, it''s meaningless to be so focused on that. Just let go and devote yourself to the sword. That''s the better¡ªactually, that''s the only way to progress."


    "..."


    "Don''t you understand? You yourself have already chosen the path to abandon the title, but you''re still indecisive. I''ve already awoken a Sword Intent, the same as you. If you don''t acknowledge your own change, then I''ll only get more and more stronger than you~"


    Eli was silent as she digested her friend''s words. After a moment she clicked her tongue in annoyance.


    "Tsk...I hate how you know me so well..."


    "Well, I''m your friend~ shouldn''t I be able to do this much?"


    "Hehe...well, I lost this time...but I won''t lose next time."


    "Oh? You''re giving up?"


    "Mhm. There''s no point continuing, I''m agitated now and you''re just going to toy around with me until I''m exhausted and finish me just like how you did with Fina..."


    It was just like Fina''s match against Serilla. The rabbit girl''s words had stabbed her and Eli was no longer in the right state of mind. If this continued then it''ll only be a repeat of Fina''s battle. Of course, she could try and regain her composure and then restart the match, but Serilla might keep on saying more which will only further agitate her mind.


    "Oh my~ I''m sorry...should I have kept my mouth shut?"


    "No...And thanks Seri, I''m really glad to have a friend like you."


    "Hihihi~ it''s my pleasure, Princess~"


    "Tsk, don''t call me that!"


    Elizabeth smiled and announced her surrender. The two girls sheathed their weapons and walked off the stage. Despite the lacking finish, the audience was still cheering and roaring in excitement.


    The fight alone showcased the Kingdom''s two strongest Sword Maidens. Their high-end sword fight sated the appetite of the audience who was craving for action.


    With the final 4¡ªno, 3, contestants finally advancing, the Semi-finals had arrived. Lucia had received a bye and automatically advanced into the finals since Zephyr and Robert had tied against each other and neither of them advanced.


    There were no tie-breakers in the tournament''s format, so Lucia received a free ticket to advance to the finals, so now the fight would be between Combat King Cecil and Sword Maiden Serilla.


    The two met up in the arena, Cecil had a strained expression on his face, while Serilla was smiling bashfully at him.


    "Hi Cel~"


    "H-hi..."


    "Hmhm~ I hope you enjoyed our kiss earlier~"


    "Y-yeah...it wasn''t...unpleasant."


    "I''m sure it wasn''t~ I for one enjoyed it~"


    "..." Cecil only smiled back awkwardly with a faint blush on his face.


    "I won''t be holding back even though I''m in love with you however~"


    "O-okay..."


    Once more, Serilla extracted her sword from her spatial ring. Cecil was about to raise his fist and get into stance, but then he shook his head.


    "Against a swordswoman of your caliber...I should show some respect," Cecil said seriously. He grabbed the hilt of his sword and unsheathed it. The beautiful blade glimmered as Cecil slowly pulled it out.


    "WOAH!"


    "No way?!"


    "He''s finally getting serious!!"


    Exclamations of surprise rang through the stadium. Cecil, who had never once used a weapon throughout the entire tournament, had finally drawn his sword. The students of the academy roared in excitement while the normal audience was puzzled.


    "So the kid uses a sword?"


    "Earlier I saw him pull out a spear."


    "...hmmm."


    On stage, Serilla widened her eyes a bit. She then smiled happily and said, "Hihi~ I love you~"


    "Gah!"


    Cecil nearly tripped when he heard this.


    "P-please be serious!"


    "I am! I love you~"


    "...urghh..." Cecil was in agony. Finally equipped with some form of common sense, he found it even harder for himself to receive the love and affection of another person who wasn''t his family.


    "I-I don''t have sword intent, so don''t think I''m looking down on you later when I don''t release one, okay?"


    "Oh? So you don''t have one?"


    "Y-yeah...I''m still trying to awaken mine...I only have Spear Intent, but I won''t use my spear."


    "Okay~"


    Cecil got into his family''s Sword Stance. He turned his eyes towards Fina who was inside the waiting room. The girl felt his gaze and she grew more focused.


    Cecil smiled and he turned his attention back towards the girl in front of him. Although he didn''t have any Sword Intent, the pressure he was releasing just from his presence while holding the sword caused Serilla to turn cautious.


    "Semi-finals match! Cecil Silvaria vs. Serilla Lunarts!"


    The audience roared and everyone focused their attention to the two on stage.


    "FIGHT!"

 Chapter 168 - A Lesson

    Serilla released her Sword Intent and did her best to try and direct all of it onto Cecil. The pressure came, but Cecil looked undisturbed.


    He just held his sword in his stance, no changes happening to his countenance whatsoever. Serilla grinned happily upon seeing this.


    "As expected of the man I chose~!"


    "..." Cecil released a tired sigh. She looked so serious earlier, but...


    Cecil raised his sword overhead and slashed down. Without using any Sword Intent, a sword wave flashed out from his Adamantium sword and flew straight for Serilla.


    Serilla was shocked seeing this and she hurriedly dodged away.


    "S-sword Energy! H-how?!"


    "Hm? So you know about this as well?"


    "Th-that''s something...only the sword saints and saintesses should have!"


    "Really? Hah, it''s nothing special. Especially for someone who''s already awoken a Weapon Intent. This ''energy'' is just a degraded version."


    "D-degraded?"


    "Here, let me show you."


    Cecil extracted his spear. He stabbed his sword into the arena''s floor and held his spear with both hands. He lowered his body and leaned back. The spear''s tip pointed straight at Serilla and a fearsome pressure enveloped her body and froze it in place.


    It was Cecil''s spear intent.


    Cecil grunted and stabbed his spear forward. His intent was ejected out of his spear point and flew straight at Serilla. The intent brushed the side of her face and continued forward, slamming straight into the arena''s protective barrier.


    SWWWIIIIPPPPP


    A small hole cracked open in the barrier and the intent continued to fly and pierce into the stadium''s wall, creating a small hole.


    "...that''s Intent...and this¡ª" Cecil swung his spear in a wide arc and a wave of spear energy flew out slamming right into the arena''s protective barrier.


    BOOOMMM


    "¡ªis Energy. It''s nothing special, only an inferior, embryonic form of a Weapon Intent. I should commend you and Eli, since the two of you skipped Energy and straight away stepped into the Intent Stage."


    Cecil''s ''lesson'' was over and he put away his spear. He walked up to his sword and pulled it out of the ground. He swung it around and got into his stance again.


    "Lesson''s over...shall we fight now?"


    What he was explaining was only something that he learned from his family''s martial arts. It was all written down in his family''s manual. He couldn''t understand how Alterna''s martial society didn''t know this.


    They were ways ahead of Earth''s martial knowledge. Shouldn''t things like this be more common for them?


    "...s-so you''re saying...I''ve already surpassed the level of a Sword Saintess?"


    "Hm? Yeah sure, at least in terms of comprehensions, I''m not so sure about technique, skills, and experience though."


    "Ha...haha...oh gosh~" For some reason Serilla was giggling happily.


    "...?"


    "Hmhm~ the man I chose is actually above my mother~ huhuhu, I definitely won''t let you go!"


    With those words, Serilla did her best to direct her Sword Intent at Cecil and dashed straight towards the boy.


    Cecil responded with a wave of his sword. He sent his energy flying at the girl and she responded by releasing an Intent-fused sword wave.


    Just like Cecil said, Sword Energy was only the inferior version of the Sword Intent. Cecil''s sword wave was immediately broken through and Serilla''s Intent continued forwards.


    Cecil dodged and dashed towards Serilla. He couldn''t win when comparing Sword Realms with Serilla; he hadn''t even awoken Sword Intent yet! Cecil decided to just engage in a melee instead.


    He swung his sword at Serilla and the girl parried it and counterattacked with a stab. The two exchange blows for some time, but as the seconds passed Serilla was put at a disadvantage.


    Serilla''s Sword Arts constrained her into only using her sword to fight. Not Cecil. He used his entire body to fight. He swung his sword and his fists, kicked with his legs, pushed with his shoulders or struck with his elbows and knees.


    It was natural that Serilla would be put at a disadvantage. They were in a melee so she didn''t have enough time to gather her Intent into her sword and swing it at Cecil. The boy didn''t give her this chance.


    Not long after, the fight became too one-sided with Serilla taking more and more hits. Cecil took into consideration that she was a young lady so he never struck at her face or use his sword to cut at her when he succeeded in creating an opening.


    But the blows that Cecil delivered were painful nonetheless. Cecil was aiming to break Serilla''s protective enchantment, but he started to feel worse and worse as the fight continued. Serilla''s painful groans and her small yelps of pain began eating at his conscience.


    This was a girl who proclaimed her love to him, but he was beating her around like a punching bag.


    "Tsk..."


    Cecil gathered mana into his palm and slammed it onto Serilla''s stomach.


    "GAH!"


    She flew across the stage and landed outside of the ring. Seeing her pained expression, Cecil had an awful look on his face.


    "Damn, how come to enchantment hasn''t even broken yet?"


    Cecil didn''t understand this, but the enchantment would only break if a stronger force of mana struck it. All this time, Cecil had been using only his bare hands to fight so there was no way that he would ever break the enchantment.


    Even his last mana-infused palm was too weak to destroy the enchantment. Most of the time he would straight forwardly beat his opponent and send them out of the stage. He tried doing the same with Serilla, but the girl was stubbornly clinging onto the stage, doing everything she could to stop her body from being sent flying.


    "W-WINNER! Cecil Silvaria!!!"


    Although he won, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Cecil scowled and moved to pick up the fallen girl, but another person beat him to it.


    "I''ll take over from here." It was the Student Council President, Zephyr Arks.


    The dragonkin picked up the fallen girl and brought her straight away to the infirmary. Before he strode off, he had a complicated look on his face as he stared at Cecil who at the edge of the stage.


    The next fight was about to begin so Cecil decided to stay on stage. The referee looked at him a little puzzled and asked.


    "D-don''t you need a break?"


    "Hm? Nah, just get the last match over with."


    "But..."


    "Hey, ref! Aren''t you going to announce our match yet?" A female voice sounded out just below the stage.


    The referee turned his head and noticed that the other contestant was already waiting by the ring side.


    "Wait! Doesn''t Cecil need a break before the match?"


    "Hm? No? Why would he?" Lucia answered back.


    "Eh?"


    "Hey, ref. I don''t need a break. Hurry up and start it." Cecil added.


    "O-okay?"


    This caused the two foxkin to smile. The referee cleared his throat and began announcing the next battle, the final battle.


    "FINAL MATCH! CECIL SILVARIA VS. LUCIA YUKIHIME!!!"


    The crowd roared in response. It was the Undefeated Combat King vs. the Undefeated Apocalyptic Queen. It was bound to be a very great fight!


    Up in the private rooms, the Sword Saintess had a worried look on her face. Unlike most of the normal audience who couldn''t hear the exchange between Cecil and her daughter, many in the private rooms heard them.


    "Hohoho~ looks like the boy''s pretty capable! Wouldn''t you say, Headmaster Elufied?" The King said in a teasing tone.


    "Why yes! He successfully stole the heart of a sage level character''s daughter AND the Sword Saintess'' daughter! My, oh my~" Elufied replied in a similar teasing tone.


    Sword Saintess Celia heard the two and couldn''t help, but direct a glare at them. She then remembered their statuses and bowed in reluctant apology.


    "Please forgive me, esteemed ones..."


    "Hahaha~ we''re just joking around Celia, but wouldn''t you say that the man your daughter picked is pretty exceptional?"


    "...yes, but someone else already owns the boy."


    "Own? I don''t see it like that. That boy is his own person, nobody owns him. I''d say your daughter may still have a chance, even if she''s going up against Master Anna''s daughter." Elufied replied.


    "Hmmm..."


    "Aiyah~ why so skeptical Celia? Don''t you think this is a blessing? Didn''t you hear their conversation earlier? Sword Energy is actually ''inferior'', can you believe that?"


    "..."


    "Well, the boy did show evidence of the two, but this is the first time I''ve heard about this ''Intent''," The King replied with a smile.


    "Yes...and apparently my daughter and the princess also has this... ''Intent''," Celia said with a doubtful look.


    "We''ll ask about it later~ I''m sure Master Anna won''t be too opposed to this!" Elufied said.


    The King and Sword Saintess only responded with a nod, and then the two turned their attention back to the stage. It was the Finals and it was between the two children of the previous Headmaster, Anna.


    "Oh my~ my daughter and son are going to fight each other! Who should I root for~?" Anna said worriedly with a hand to her cheek.


    "Let''s just root for them both." Zaki replied with a smile on his face.


    "Yes~ let''s do just that! Go, go Lucia! Go, go Cecil~ Yay~!" Anna cutely cheered.


    This caused Zaki''s smile to widen even further as he looked on lovingly at his wife.


    ******


    Back on stage, Lucia was smiling with her Shirayuki and Butterfly in hand. It was such a bright smile that everyone watching her couldn''t help, but think that she was genuinely happy to be in the finals.


    To the Little Kings and especially to Cecil...this smile was terrifying. Cecil was already sweating bullets. He thought that his earlier words had appeased her fury to some degree, but it was all a facade.


    She was still burning with anger, and now that they were scheduled to fight, she could let out all that anger onto her intended target, Cecil.


    "L-Lulu...before we start, calm down okay? Deep breathes!" Cecil began to inhale and exhale, trying to coerce Lucia into doing the same, but the girl just kept her smile.


    The smile turned even brighter with each passing second, and this caused Cecil to become more and more frightened.


    "Let me hit you, just once, okay?" Lucia tilted her head and said brightly.


    "..."


    This was unreasonable! If Cecil said yes, then there was no doubt that Lucia would most likely send an Apocalypse straight at his face. If he said no, then an Apocalypse would no doubt be the reward for his rejection.


    Either way, he would still receive an Apocalypse to his face.


    "Uhm...how about I let you...k-kiss me?"


    "Oh?!" Lucia exclaimed in surprise. This wasn''t like him at all, shouldn''t he be running instead? "Hihihi~ I''d like that~ but not now, I want to hit you~ so let me? Okay?"


    "...th-that''s unreasonable!"


    "Is it~?"


    "...crap..."


    The announcer cut in and loudly asked after his long-winded introductory speech.


    "READY?!"


    "Yes~" Lucia replied.


    "N¡ª"


    "He''s ready¡ª"


    At Lucia''s words, the referee paused and looked towards Cecil. He was just standing there so the referee shrugged and declared loudly.


    "FIGHT!!"


    "¡ªFOR A BEATING!!" Lucia shouted and dashed straight at Cecil.

 Chapter 169 - The Finale!

    Lucia activated Elemental Burst using her Solaris Flame and Lunaris Water. It was the first time she was going to use them at the same time to power her Elemental Burst.


    She experienced a sensation like never before. Her current Elemental Burst enhancement exceeded her previous versions that were only powered by using a singular element.


    Lucia felt the world slow down, but her body was still moving forward, albeit slowly.


    ''Hyper Sensitivity!'' Those were the words that came to mind. It was Cecil''s technique that enhanced his perception.


    In the next moment, the world returned to normal and she nearly ''Blinked'' right in front of Cecil! Lucia swung her Shirayuki at Cecil''s face.


    "WOAH!"


    In that split second when Cecil was caught off guard by Lucia''s speed, he quickly activated Hyper Sensitivity. The world slowed down and he quickly gathered his thoughts.


    ''Okay, I can dodge this, but what the hell! How come she''s so fast?!''


    Then Cecil noticed a peculiarity on Lucia''s body. The aura surrounding her wasn''t the flaming purple that he normally saw. This time it was much calmer, more condensed. It wasn''t flaring wildly around her.


    It was like it had calmed downed and condensed into a thin barrier that surrounded her, almost like how Cecil''s mana condensed just above his skin when he used Mana Burst in tandem with circulating his mana using his family''s mana cultivation technique.


    Cecil grew excited when he thought this, ''She''s recklessly using her mana, but she''s took another step closer to me!''


    Cecil deactivated his Hyper Sensitivity and quickly ducked his body. He avoided Lucia''s katana and slammed his mana-infused palm onto the ground.


    CRAAAACCCKKK BBOOMMMMM


    Lucia was forced to ''Blink'' away from Cecil. The shrapnel caused from his attack would give Cecil an opportunity to strike back at her, so it was better to back off.


    "HAH!"


    With a roar, the dust and rubble was immediately blown away. Standing on the wreckage that he created, Cecil had his sword in hand and a golden aura was condensed around him.


    "Come on, Lulu! I''ll let you hit me all you want later! So let me enjoy this first!"


    Cecil yelled excitedly. He used Blink and arrived right in front of Lucia with his sword swinging.


    Lucia also ''blinked'' away, but just enough to avoid Cecil''s attack. She glared at him because of what he said and swung her katana at him.


    "Don''t play around!!!"


    CLANG CLANG CLANG


    The two exchanged blow after blow. Cecil was swinging his sword over and over again while Lucia did the same. The area around them was soon decorated with numerous sword gashes.


    Lucia felt that her mana was draining away much faster than usual. It was probably because she was using her two new elements to empower her Elemental Burst. She decisively unsealed all 5 tail cores and began casting magic spells on Cecil.


    Even if she was going to lose, she would make sure that she at least landed a very, very solid hit on that stupid, yet handsome face of Cecil''s.


    Solaris Meteors, Lunaris Glaciers, Purple Geysers, Purple Lava Storms, Purple Lasers, and practically every spell in her arsenal whether they were originals or not, Lucia used them.


    During the entire battle, Lucia''s mouth never stopped moving. With the aid of her Hyper Sensitivity she was able to fight using her normal spells and originals as well as her martial arts.


    This caused Cecil to feel pressured. Cecil''s excited mood finally cooled down. Lucia was really gunning for a clean hit. Every dangerous spell that he knew that Lucia knew was being sent straight his way.


    She was even using all her high-ranked spells!


    ''I-is...she trying to kill me?'' Cecil began to fret. ''Was running away from her really that bad of a thing to do?!''


    The two were moving at speeds much faster than when Lucia had fought against Alice. They were using Blink over and over again. The only thing the audience saw was the multiple bombardments of spells that Lucia conjured and fired at Cecil.


    It was literal hell on that stage, even the protective barrier was beginning to crack and waver. The audience was in awe, but they were also a little frightened. Is the barrier going to last until the two are able to finish fighting? Many doubted this.


    The many participants in the Dueling Tournament had already returned to their waiting rooms or was spectating the final match in the stadium''s seats. They were more at awe than frightened.


    They couldn''t believe that these two monsters were actually their fellow schoolmates. The entire arena was wrecked! In fact, it was so wrecked that it was already leveled to the ground. There was no longer any distinction between the stage and the out of bounds area.


    Lucia and Cecil didn''t care about this. They used the entire area inside the protective enchantment as their battlefield.


    While Lucia sent magic spells his way, Cecil responded by firing mana bolts, mana volleys, mana waves, Flash Canons, and Kinryugihas at the girl.


    Whenever Cecil used Ascending Blade, Lucia would also respond with her own Ascending Blade. Whatever sword skill Cecil used, Lucia would match it. She had learned all her sword skills from Cecil and she was putting it all into good use in this match.


    It was only during these times that Lucia and Cecil would be visible to the audience inside the stadium. During the times where they engaged in a melee, it was only then that they would suddenly vanish from the stadium with only the sounds of metal slamming against metal was evidence of their fight.


    The battle continued until the arena''s protective barrier was already at the brink of collapse. Multiple cracks were already present and it seemed that just one more technique from the two fighters would destroy it. By this time, 4 of Lucia''s tails were already exhausted of their mana.


    The two were facing against each other in the middle of the destroyed arena. Their blades were pointed at each other. The two had multiple injuries on their bodies and they were panting in exhaustion.


    However, in their eyes, the fires of battle still hadn''t died down. They were still so eager to continue. The two had also cheated a little. With multiple high-tiered spells and abilities landing on each other, their protective enchantments should have long been broken apart.


    But, Cecil had tampered with the runes during the battle on Lucia''s behest. The enchantments wouldn''t break unless a super high-tiered spell landed on them squarely.


    "Hahaha~ how''s your face Cel~?" Lucia taunted with a bright smile.


    "Heh, like you''re one to talk!"


    "Oh, really?" Lucia looked at her reflection on the blade of her katana and smiled. There were only splotches of dirt and dust, nothing like Cecil''s who sported multiple cuts and bruises. "Nothing''s wrong?"


    "...that''s because you kept aiming your attacks on my face."


    "So~? I did tell you to let me hit you once, but you wouldn''t listen~"


    "Urk..."


    During the entire fight, Lucia always aimed her strikes at Cecil''s face. This was why it was battered with bruises and cuts.


    "Ha~ah! I feel refreshed already! I''ll have that kiss now, if you don''t mind~"


    "..." Cecil let out a helpless sigh hearing this.


    Lucia was a little worried, she took a quick glance at her wrist and saw that the gem on her bracelet was already flashing with a deep orange color.


    "C-Cel! Let''s stop now! You''re almost in the red!" Lucia yelled in a fl.u.s.ter.


    "Y-yeah... I can already feel it...that''s why I already stopped using mana a while ago."


    "Huh?"


    "Do you really think I would have all these bruises and cuts if I kept up with your speed?"


    "O-oh...no wonder it felt like you weakened a bit."


    "Phew..."


    Cecil was exhausted, he had almost overused his mana and he was fatigued from repeatedly using Blink in battle. He couldn''t understand how Lucia was still fine despite using Blink as well.


    When he activated his Mana Eyes to take a look at Lucia, he couldn''t help but widen his eyes in fear.


    The mana in her body was circulating around abnormally.


    "L-Lucia?!"


    "Hm? What''s wron¡ªgahack?" Lucia suddenly began coughing up blood from her mouth.


    She collapsed right on the spot as her mana began to rampage around inside of her body. Cecil immediately Blinked right to her side. He put away her weapons into his ring and activated his Mana Sense.


    He quickly located Anna and Blinked to her side.


    "M-mother!"


    Anna was already waiting for them. She immediately grabbed onto Cecil and said,


    "Let''s go!"


    Cecil activated Blink and brought Anna with him to his private residence. He blinked multiple times until he reached the mansion despite being critically low on mana.


    Back in the stadium, the referee was dumbfounded. The fight didn''t look like it was going to end just yet, but then Lucia suddenly collapsed and without a second word, Cecil appeared next to her, picked her up and then vanished together.


    He was at a loss at what to say, but since Lucia was the one who collapsed first, he decided that Cecil was the one who won the match.


    "WINNER AND CHAMPION OF THIS YEAR''S TOURNAMENT, CECIL SILVARIA!!!"


    With this, the curtains drew to a close on this year''s Academy Tournament.

 Chapter 170 - Teaching

    Inside an empty field of gray, a couple of students from Arks Royal Academy were training together.


    Some were meditating in the empty grayness while others were sparring with each other. There were also a few who were listening to a young foxkin''s lecture.


    "So that just about wraps things up, Sword Energy or Weapon Energy is pretty easy to use. If you have a good enough control over mana, all you need to do is wrap your mana around your weapon and fling it out."


    "That''s easier said than done...sir." One of the listening students mumbled.


    "Really? Well, I''ve always been subconsciously using it, I mean don''t you guys use it too? I mean you do use those combat skills and all."


    Another student raised their hands and said,


    "That''s different, combat skills use mana in a pre-ordained way. Energy is like the free unrestricted form of that."


    "Yes, I understand. Well then, the only thing you can do to achieve that ''Energy'' is to learn how to control your mana!"


    "..."


    "Look here."


    The young foxkin boy who was giving the lecture was Cecil. At present he was currently in the Academy''s Accelerated Time Formation, teaching his fellow students how to achieve Sword or Weapon Energy.


    It was his third day inside the formation teaching them. Not many Instructors or teachers in the academy had grasped this form of power, the kingdom wanted the Sword Saintess to teach them, but they had an even better option in the form of Cecil.


    Since they were of the same age group, Cecil thought that it would be hard for him to teach, but after him winning the Dueling Tournament along with his insane display of might, the students of the academy only felt awe and admiration towards the boy.


    Because of this, the lessons proceeded with no trouble whatsoever. The students also wanted to become even stronger so it served as motivation for them since Cecil was the one who was teaching.


    Cecil demonstrated a way for them to train their mana manipulation. He conjured a small orb of mana on his palm and began moving it around his hand.


    "Look, if you can do at least this much then you''ll already be close to being able to use Sword Energy!"


    As the ball of mana moved around his hand, Cecil upped the speed until it became a golden glow that enveloped his entire palm.


    "As you can see, this skill of mana manipulation is also a prerequisite in order to use the Aura Manifestation skill that my party, the Little Kings, is known for."


    "Ohhh!!"


    "Doesn''t that mean everyone from Little Kings can use Sword Energy?"


    "Yeah, I guess so. Well, it''s not something that amazing per se, what''s more amazing is Intent!" Cecil replied with a grin. He waved towards Eli who was taking a break from her spar with Serilla.


    Eli got up and walked over. "What''s up Cecil?"


    "I want you to demonstrate your Sword Intent for our friends here."


    "...alright."


    Eli unsheathed her rapier. She then focused and released her Sword Intent. The pressure came briefly and it also receded just as quick.


    Just that brief moment of pressure caused every student who was seated down around Cecil and Eli to become pale.


    "Now that''s Sword Intent. If Sword Energy is a manifestation of mana control, then you could say that Sword Intent is the manifestation of your will being projected out into the world. It''s much more advanced and much more powerful!"


    Everyone seated nodded their heads seriously, but they still didn''t understand what Cecil meant by a projection of ''will''.


    It was a vague term and even Cecil himself still didn''t understand much of it, it was something he learned from his family''s martial arts and had accidentally acquired. The person who needed to be praised for acquiring Sword Intent on her own was Serilla Lunarts.


    The girl had actually gained her Sword Intent through understanding and not enlightenment. This basically overturned Cecil''s assumption that Weapon Intent could only be gained through chance.


    Cecil was able to confirm this when he noticed that Serilla had an even easier time learning how to manipulate and control her Intent than Eli. Since she understood how she acquired her Intent, she understood the simpler path in how to cultivate it.


    Because of this, for once in his life after coming to Alterna, Cecil got to experience becoming a disciple once again, a person who was being taught, not the one teaching.


    After a couple of more explanations and demonstrations Cecil wrapped up the class and dismissed everyone, telling them to go practice. It was much better for them to try it out themselves, rather than just look and listen.


    Cecil took one last look at everyone and walked out of the formation. It was odd, just a week ago every super power in the Academy was at each other''s throats. Now everyone was willing to sit together and learn from one another.


    "I guess the National Tournament is pretty important."


    Right when he got out of the formation Cecil immediately used Blink, he was going back to his private residence to rest.


    ******


    When he got home, an alluring aroma wafted into his nose. "Is this...pizza?"


    Cecil immediately rushed into the house and saw a young foxkin girl with silver hair waiting in front of an oven inside the kitchen.


    The alluring and nostalgic smell came from the kitchen and indeed, it looked like Lucia was able to replicate making pizza using ingredients from Alterna.


    "Woah, you made pizza Lulu?"


    "Hm? Oh, Cel! Done with classes?"


    "Yup, got nothing much to do, so I thought I''d take a break."


    "Hmm~ that''s rare coming from you."


    "What is?"


    "Taking a break," Lucia smirked.


    "Ah, come on. Even I need a little R&R sometimes!"


    Lucia came over next to Cecil and snuggled up to him. Ever since the girl had directly announced her affection to the boy, Cecil became more aware of her. Even if he still felt a little bit weird, he didn''t dislike it.


    He just accepted it for what it was and just let her do what she wanted. The problem was that Serilla was also the same. Cecil hadn''t had much time to get to know her, so the sudden confession had somewhat thrown him out of the loop.


    She was also unrelenting in getting closer and becoming more intimate with him that it actually began to frighten him.


    ''Lucia''s not a problem since I''ve known her for a while...Serilla however...well, I don''t know how to push her away! She just keeps coming back no matter how many times I try and openly avoid her! She doesn''t get mad, she doesn''t even yell at me like Lucia! Aggghhhh...''


    While Cecil was agonizing over his...options. He felt a moist feeling land on the top of his lips and something wet trying to pry open his mouth.


    "*&#%!!!"


    Cecil immediately backed away and blocked Lucia''s mouth from advancing.


    "What the heck Lulu?!"


    "What~ the face you were making was practically begging for a kiss~"


    "..."


    Along with her confession, Lucia had also become much more aggressive.


    "Please stop doing that! It feels really weird!" Cecil exasperatedly said.


    "But you don''t dislike it do you~?"


    "N-no...but still!"


    "Then I see no problem, hmph." Lucia turned away from him and focused her attention back to the oven. The pizza was just about done.


    Cecil shook his head and went up to the second floor of the house to take a bath. When he finished, he returned to the kitchen and saw a sumptuous meal placed in front of him.


    "Hihi~ time to eat~"


    "Is your body okay now Lulu?"


    "Yup~ I''m good now. Actually, I had fully recovered a couple of days ago, but Mama told me to keep on resting for a while."


    "Okay...that''s good."


    The two began to eat their meal while chatting, it was a nice calm. Like a calm before the storm. After another couple of days the 100 students who had passed the selections would head towards the Elven Capital City to participate in the National Tournament.


    They didn''t have much time left to train, but everyone did all they could do to strengthen themselves before then. Only Cecil and Lucia had the leisure time to kick back and relax. It wasn''t that they were being conceited or anything, but the aftermath of their finals match had left them in a somewhat destitute state.


    They needed time to recover from their injuries and their mana exhaustion. It was great for Cecil since he could finally relax...except for the fact that Lucia was being overly clingy.


    He was helpless to do anything and just let her be. It wasn''t like he minded it. Now that he thought about it, wasn''t this just like any ordinary day for the two? They''ve been acting like this for a long time now minus the kisses.


    It was only until recently that Cecil became more aware of things and that''s why he felt a little awkward.


    After he finished his meal, Cecil decided to go out and train a little with Silver.

 Chapter 171 - The Elven Capital

    The days passed by and it was finally time for the Academy''s selected students to depart for the Elven Capital City, Elfheim. That was the location for the gathering of the National Tournament.


    Cecil felt that it was somewhat odd. It was only the location for the gathering, not the actual location of the tournament''s venue.


    ''Are we going to transfer to someplace after we''ve gathered?''


    Every one of the 100 students had gathered inside of the Academy''s main stadium''s arena. All the students who weren''t a part of them had also gathered inside the stadium to send everyone off.


    The Royal Family and many of the aristocratic families were also present to send everyone off. It could be seen just how important this tournament was for the kingdom.


    "Our Kingdom''s hopes lie on the shoulders of each and every one of you youngsters who are present! I pray for the success of every participant! May the fortunes of the Goddess be with you!"


    The King finished up his brief ''pep talk'' and handed over the reins to the Academy''s Headmaster.


    Elufied was smiling down at everyone present.


    "My students!" Elufied exclaimed.


    "I''m sure everyone knows the importance of the tournament, for you yourselves and the Kingdom! I won''t pressure any one of you to fight for the win. I just want everyone to give it their all! And return with your heads held high, knowing, that regardless of the outcome! You all did your best, for your families, friends, and for the Kingdom!!!"


    All of the 100 students roared and cheered in response to the Headmaster''s words.


    "Now, LET''S SET OFF!!!"


    The Headmaster began to conjure a Spatial Gate in front of him. Next to him, two girls, Lucia and Yuna, were also doing the same. A day before, Headmaster Elufied had taken the two girls to the teleportation spot that was designated for their academy in the Elven Capital City, Elfheim.


    It was godsend for him since now with 2 additional teleportation gates, he wouldn''t have to ferry all the students using only his own. It was a large burden on the Headmaster''s mana to teleport 100 individuals over a long distance.


    It was a good thing that two other students had similar teleportation abilities so they helped lighten his load.


    With the singular Spatial Gate from Elufied and the two Misty Gates from Lucia and Yuna, the students of the academy were quickly transported over to the Elven Capital.


    Cecil and the Little Kings decided to hang back. They waited until every student had walked through the gates before going in themselves. They were all still worried about Lucia, especially when they saw her cough up blood and immediately faint just after her fight with Cecil.


    She had actually ruined her mana pathways, but it was a good thing that her mother had just the right medicine to cure it. After her recovery, although the pathways hadn''t changed into Mana Circuits, but they had become more robust and now Lucia had a much better time circulating her mana and controlling it.


    It was a blessing in the disguise of a disaster. She was also lucky that her mother had just created a batch of potions to help with Cecil''s cultivation. Cecil was left with only 5 vials of potions, but at least Lucia was safe and she hadn''t crippled herself.


    Despite her full recovery, her friends were still worried about her. She had fainted and didn''t wake up for 2 days! So of course they would be worried, regardless if she had recovered or not.


    Fina was practically bawling her eyes out during the entire time and Cecil felt that he was at fault for pushing Lucia to that extent. Even Serilla dropped by to check on her condition and she had even helped out during her recuperation.


    This greatly puzzled Cecil and Ainz, since weren''t those two supposed to be rivals?


    The girls however had already extracted the necessary information so they knew that the two girls were in an alliance to win over Cecil''s affection and to prevent any other girls from sinking their claws into the innocent boy.


    Because they spent more time with each other, the girls of Little Kings began to treat Serilla as one of their own, despite the fact that the girl said she wouldn''t be leaving the Student Council even after Eli had invited her to join them.


    After making sure that the last student passed through the gate, Cecil and the rest walked through and the Misty Gate quickly closed behind them.


    When their vision became clear once again, a majestic sight entered into their eyes. For the ones who had never come to Elfheim before, the gigantic trees that they were on, the squares made of intertwined branches and vines, the buildings created from the hollowed out tree trunks, the radiating sunlight peeking out of the dense foliage above them, and ambient mana that was in abundance and the soothing aroma and atmosphere of the city shocked each and every one of them.


    This was especially so for Cecil. His curious nature took the better of him that he actually began to Blink all around the place, going right up to the things that had attracted his curiosity.


    This of course startled the many elves that were in the surrounding areas that Cecil had blinked to.


    It was only until Lucia blinked to his side and pulled on his ear that he was forcibly stopped and dragged back towards their group.


    The Little Kings were laughing since they were used to seeing this. Whenever anything of interest piqued Cecil''s attention, he would just straight forwardly go over and investigate without the slightest bit of shame or embarrassment.


    "Hahahaha! Alright now, I know that many of you are curious, but we still have to go to the gathering spot and report ourselves to the Kingdom! After that every one of you will have free time to explore the city!" Headmaster Elufied announced.


    The large group quickly walked down the main tree branch road of the city and arrived at a large square. There were already many groups of students present inside the square, all bunched up together.


    Cecil counted at least 5 groups of students including theirs. This meant that there were 5 Royal Academies that were qualified to participate in the National Tournament. Of course there were other academies present in every kingdom, but apparently they weren''t at all qualified to participate as representatives of their kingdoms.


    Cecil grunted and observed the other groups. There was a group filled with Elves of all species. The Moon Elves with their light purplish skin and hair, the Sun Elves that were basically radiating with light, the Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves and many other elven species.


    "Okay, so that''s the Elven Kingdom''s Royal Academy, next is..." Cecil turned towards a group of large bodied students.


    By large, he meant the over 3-4 meter in height bulky-figured large. This was apparently the Gigantes Kingdom''s Royal Academy Students.


    The Gigantes race and Kingdom encapsulated all of the large sized demi-humans. The Minotaurs, Giants, Sentient Golems, Demi-dragonoids, Treefolk, and other large bodied species were a part of this Kingdom ruled by the Highbornes, a race that had fairy-like characteristics, but were 4-5 meters in height.


    They were the exact opposites of fairies and pixies who were small-figured. Cecil was able to see the many large-bodied species, they looked intimidating and they all seemed to be warriors with only a select few wearing the garbs of mages.


    He turned to look at the other Academy students. The Oceanic Kingdom of Neftersea''s Royal Academy, they had merfolk just like Fina, sharkmen, murlocs, Nagas, serpentkin, and many others.


    Fina and Eli were also looking towards this group of students. They seemed to be searching for something, or someone. Cecil could already guess who or what they were looking for. Eli was obviously looking for her older sister who was sent as an exchange student with Fina, while Fina was probably looking for her siblings...if she had any.


    Cecil took a look at the final group of students. Now this was what he was expecting of a ''fantasy'' world. Beastmen! He saw were-lions, werewolves, lizardmen, were-cats, dragonewts, and other were-beast students.


    This was the difference between the Beastkin and the Beastmen. Beastkin people leaned more on the human side while having animal like features, an example would be Cecil himself, he looked human, but had fox ears on top of his head and sported 3 tails on his rear end. The same went for Ainz, he looked completely human, except for the fact that he had red scales on the side of his face and he had curled horns growing from the sides of his head just above his ears.


    The Beastmen however had more animal-like features. They were basically just the ''were''-people that were depicted in many of the fantasy themed stories back on Earth. The were-wolves, a race of people who were bipedal canines, were-lions, a race of people who were bipedal lions or lionesses, and then there were the lizardmen, bipedal lizards and finally the were-cats, bipedal felines that looked a little naughty and mischievous.


    Actually, it was much better for Cecil that he had accidentally landed in the Beastkin kingdom upon arriving on Alterna, because if he had landed in the Beastmen Kingdom, who was known for their hatred against the humans, then Cecil would have had a rough time starting out.


    The Headmaster left the role of leading the students to Zephyr and he strode over to the center of the plaza where a couple of important looking figures were gathered around.


    "Good day everyone~ I''m sorry I''m late."


    "Hmph, its good of you to actually show up Elufied," A dragonewt harrumphed.


    "Now, now, everyone, let''s get along, Khukhu~" An elderly Tauren said with a booming chuckle.


    "Tsk, so the halfling has finally shown up," a beautiful elf lady said with clear...hate? in her eyes.


    "Oh my~ Arlentia, aren''t you growing more and more beautiful!" Elufied countered as he brushed off the insult like it was nothing.


    "Wh-what are you saying?!" The elven lady, Arlentia, blushed as she received Elufied''s nonchalant compliment. It was clear that there was some...history between these two Headmasters.


    "Where''s the King? Shouldn''t he be here to address us?" Elufied asked.


    "The King is in preparations to open Urrugdrasil''s inner sanctum..."


    "Hm? Then what about the tournament?"


    "It''s a last minute change, but the tournament was scrapped and the 100 students of every representing academy will be allowed to enter the World Tree''s trial grounds directly," Arlentia said as she informed her fellow headmasters.


    "I''m pretty sure you all know, but when the students walk past that gateway, they will be teleported randomly inside the World Tree''s trial grounds."


    "Oh...okay. How come this wasn''t relayed beforehand?" Elufied asked with a troubled smile.


    "It was only today that I received news from the King, but apparently the World Tree''s Administrator will open the grounds on the day after tomorrow, so we had to quickly readjust the schedule."


    "I see, well, I guess I should go tell my students."


    "Mhm."


    Elufied and the other headmasters walked back to their students and began explaining the changes towards the Tournament''s format.


    Cecil was excited, not because of the tournament, but because after the headmaster announced the changes, the Elven Kingdom had escorts bring them towards their temporary housing. Urrugdrasil''s trial grounds will be opened up the day after tomorrow, so this means that he had today and tomorrow to go explore Elfheim City.


    After they settled down in their accommodations, Cecil immediately took off to explore the city. He went alone since no one could react when he decided to Blink off to somewhere.


    "Alright! Elfheim City here I come!"

 Chapter 172 - Elfheim City

    As Cecil explored the city of Elfheim, he came across many peculiarities. The plants and flowers that were growing everywhere in the city were filled with a whole bunch of mana!


    Even a street flower had mana that rivaled a 100 year-old herb. When asked around, it turns out that this was caused by the blessing of Urrugdrasil. Any plant that was grown within the vicinity of Urrugdrasil''s influence was blessed with life and mana.


    They had an accelerated growth rate and the quality of mana stored inside their bodies were above anything Cecil had ever seen. Every plant or flower in Elfheim could be used as a top quality ingredient in alchemy or medicine concoction.


    He asked the local elves if he was allowed to take some with him, and to his surprise they were actually so cordial and friendly. Not like the arrogant elves that were described in the stories from Earth.


    Cecil of course wasn''t shameless enough to take every single plant within his sights. He didn''t want to intrude too much on the elves'' kindness so Cecil only took one of every species of plant he saw that piqued his interest.


    There were many unique plants and flowers as well. It was actually pretty interesting to see flowers with rainbow colored petals, or mandragoras that actually sang instead of scream. There was even a vine type plant that had flowers and fruits of all different kinds growing on it.


    This blessing of Urrugdrasil that imbued everything with Mana and Life energy...Cecil wondered if he could acquire such a blessing. It''d probably be an upgrade to his strength if he could obtain it.


    Cecil continued to explore the city. He chanced upon an exquisite looking restaurant and decided to stop by for a meal. To his dismay however, the elves'' meals were just as the ones described in the stories from back on Earth.


    They were all vegetarians! It wasn''t that he had a thing against vegans, but Cecil preferred to eat meat with vegetables on the side. It was his first time eating a dish that only had vegetables in it.


    Despite all this, he actually enjoyed his meal. The dish had a unique taste reminiscent of Earth''s fruit salad. However, Cecil didn''t see any kind of fruit on his dish, but he still felt like he had eaten a fruit salad.


    "Woah, this actually tastes really good!"


    As Cecil was eating his dish happily, a group of students from the Elven Royal Academy entered the restaurant.


    Cecil was eating pretty ravenously that he didn''t feel the gazes that had locked onto him. One of the waitresses had seen Cecil eating with gusto that she came over and asked whether he would like a second helping.


    "Sure miss! I''d like 2 more of these, the pickled fairy flower dish, the spicy mashed potatoes, and this mock meat vegetable dish please!"


    "F-five more dishes?"


    "Yes! The food here all sounds delicious! So I''d like to try more of them! Also, please send my compliments to the chef!"


    "Yes sir!"


    The waitress smiled happily after Cecil''s large order, she quickly went back to the restaurant''s kitchen and relayed Cecil''s order.


    The group of students standing by the entrance walked over to a table nearby Cecil''s and sat down. They eyed the foxkin boy who was eating happily and some of the females of the group grew a little interested in him.


    The guys however scoffed and looked at him with scorn.


    "Hmph, how barbaric! Does he have no manners?"


    "Oh shut it, Selem, he actually looks kinda cute if you ask me~"


    "Hmph."


    "At least this one appreciates the things that our proud kingdom provides, have you seen those Gigantes? My god are they annoying!"


    Another one of the elves added in.


    "Yeah, they''re loud and rambunctious! They totally ruin the peaceful atmosphere of the city!"


    "We have very friendly relations with the Beastkins and Merfolk, so they can come to appreciate our culture, not so sure about those Gigantes and the wild ones."


    "You mean the Beastmen, Argo."


    "Yeah, yeah..."


    Cecil couldn''t help but overhear what the elven students were saying, he shrugged and continued eating. Not long later, his 5 additional dishes were served and he began resuming his eating in gusto.


    The large helping of food placed in front of the small boy caused many of the patrons to turn an incredible eye at him. Even the group of elven students next to Cecil''s table was look at him in astonishment.


    "What is this guy? A ravenous ghost?"


    "Ufufufu~ how cute~"


    Cecil quickly finished all the food in front of him and hummed in satisfaction. Everyone in the restaurant wondered just where he put all that food into.


    "For a small guy, you sure eat a lot~" The elven girl who kept on saying that Cecil was cute spoke up.


    "Hm?"


    "My name''s Cleo, nice to meet you," The elven girl named Cleo said as she stuck her hand out in greeting.


    Cecil wiped his hands with a wet napkin and dried it using mana. Then he shook hands with her and introduced himself.


    "My name''s Cecil, nice to meet you too!"


    Cleo''s group had their food brought to them and the rest of them began to eat elegantly. Cleo was still engaged in a conversation with Cecil.


    "So Cecil, I guess you''re a student of the Beastkin Academy, yes?"


    "Isn''t that kind of obvious?"


    Selem who was eating on the side couldn''t help but overhear Cecil''s somewhat rude remark.


    "Hey kid! Have some respect! That''s no way to be talk¡ª"


    "Oh shut it, Selem. He can talk to me in any tone he wants!"


    "B-but¡ª"


    "I told you, to shut it."


    "Y-yes, ma''am..."


    Cecil was wearing his uniform so it was kind of obvious to tell at first glance. He could also tell that the group before him was also part of the Urrugdrasil Magic Academy because of the uniform they were wearing.


    Cecil called for the waitress that had been serving him earlier. He asked for the tab and paid for it with his bank card.


    To the Elven students'' surprise, the bank card that Cecil pulled out actually had an exquisite gold lining around it. This indicated that Cecil''s bank card was a gold card and he had a couple millions of gold credits inside it.


    The waitress took the card with trembling hands and quickly made for the register. She quickly waved it above a magic tool created by the Alterna Bank and brought the card back to Cecil in a hurry.


    "Th-thank you for your patronage, young master," The waitress bowed deeply with thanks.


    Cecil was a little unaccustomed to this and so he only replied stiffly, "Huh? Yeah, sure..."


    Cecil quickly stood up and bade farewell to the new elven friend he made. Cleo sent him off with a light greeting and began to eat her meal.


    "Woah, Selem, you almost bit the dust earlier!"


    "..."


    "With the way he acted, I didn''t think he was actually a part of the Anglaria Kingdom''s aristocratic families!"


    "We bumped into quite the fellow here, haha~"


    "Well at least he had some status to back up his lacking manners in talking with the princess."


    The elven group turned to look at their princess, Cleo. Cleo Clarentine, she was the high elf princess whose family administrated the Kingdom of Elfenheim. They took charge and united all the elven species under the banner of the kingdom.


    Their only objective for creating the kingdom was to care for, nurture and protect the World Tree where they, the elves, resided upon. Urrugdrasil was their life blood and their patron guardian.


    As a race, they enjoyed the World Tree''s abundant blessings and gifts. So it was only natural that they would take care of it. Before this, during the times of war and dispute, many demons would venture over to their continent via teleportation and sea voyage and attack the World Tree, Urrugdrasil.


    Since it had an abundant amount of mana, the warring race of the demons naturally wanted to take it for themselves. The elves banded together under one rule and defended the World Tree. Because the elves didn''t seek out power they had the Clarentine High Elf Family be their ''administrators'' and not ''rulers''.


    The Clarentine Royal Family was in fact only the representatives of the elven race to the outside races. They had a government closer to a parliament than that of a monarchy, like what was present in the Beastmen, Beastkin, Gigantes, and Merfolk Kingdoms.


    Cecil walked out of the restaurant and continued his explorations all the way until the evening. He only came back to the Arks Academy''s lodgings when the curfew was close.


    "Man~ what an eventful day~"


    Although the capital city Elfheim seemed pretty peaceful, there were plenty of wrong doings happening all over the place. Cecil was kind enough to help out whenever he could.


    "Oh, Cel~ you''re back. I made some ramen, call everyone in to eat. They''re all on the balcony goofing around."


    "Alright~"

 Chapter 173 - Before the Trials

    The next day quickly came and passed, Cecil and friends spent the day relaxing or exploring the city.


    It was finally the day when the Urrugdrasil''s Trial Grounds were opened. All 5 Academy groups had gathered together at the large Tree Palace at the northern end of Elfheim City.


    Just beyond this palace was the trial grounds that would be the place where the National Tournament¡ªno, the Urrugdrasil Trials would take place.


    The Headmaster said that the trials taken place inside the World Tree was always at random. There were 5 stages in total and each subsequent stage would only be harder than the last. Danger was present everywhere during the trials.


    It wasn''t just any normal kind of danger; it was the danger that could take away one''s life at a moment''s notice if they were careless. The participants also had to be wary of one another. It was normal to find participants trying to kill each other when vying for a treasure while inside the World Tree.


    Anything goes while inside the trial grounds, it wasn''t unusual to find someone, if powerful enough, that tried to kill everyone inside just to minimize or completely erase their competition. Of course, the repercussions for doing so would be to incur the wrath of every Kingdom on the Urrugdrasil Continent.


    There were only 3 precedents of such events occurring. The first time was during the ancient era where no kingdoms had been erected and every place was still lawless. The second time was when a Sage-level character''s disciple tried to steal the World Tree''s blessing while the 3rd time was not written in any of the history books of the Elfenheim Kingdom.


    However, what was in common was that every perpetrator turned out to be one of the Elfenheim Kingdom''s own people, the banished Blood Elves. The Blood Elves were banished to the Demon Continent, Helaife, after they committed these 3 infractions.


    Now they were better known as Vampires and they ruled a part of Helaife as one of the 12 Great Demon Clans. The Blood Elves were a stain to the Elven race''s history and they were sworn enemies now.


    The Blood Elves were known as a weakened part of the Elven race since they had to live forever underground, hidden away from the sunlight that were potentially fatal to them. The Blessing that was stolen from the World Tree gave the Blood Elves the ability to walk unharmed in broad daylight.


    At first, this was only limited to the bloodline of the Blood Elf that had stolen the Blessing, but as the years passed by, this stolen blessing was proliferated to the entirety of their race and they changed their names from Blood Elves to Vampires.


    It was written history that Cecil had discovered during his adventures inside Elfheim. The first day he arrived, Cecil had mostly explored the entirety of Elfheim thanks to him using his Blink all the time.


    The second day was spent visiting historical sites and the library. The library was where Cecil learned about the history and dark history of the Elfenheim Kingdom.


    It was intriguing and all, but the most intriguing part was the place currently in front of him, the entrance into the World Tree''s Trial Grounds. After going through a couple of teleportation gates, the entourage had finally arrived.


    They were basically standing on the humongous roots of the World Tree and they were now standing just before the trunk of Urrugdrasil.


    Cecil brought his eyes up. The trunk seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky! He couldn''t even see the tree tops! There were only faint silhouettes of the branches far up into the sky.


    ''If the branches are up there...that means the leaves are too. So how in the heck does the sunlight shine down here?!''


    Those were Cecil''s thoughts upon witnessing this...colossal tree. The tree trunk also spread out to the left and right of Cecil''s that it looked more like a wall than a tree trunk.


    Standing on top of a protruding root, the Elven King, Androsa addressed everyone present.


    "Academy students!"


    With his voice enchanted by magic, he quickly caught the attention of everyone. The Academy Headmasters were standing a step behind the sides of King Androsa respectfully.


    "Today you will all participate in Urrugdrasil''s Trials! Once you get inside, please listen to the administrator''s instructions!


    Although...killing will be permitted inside, but please refrain from doing so if possible. Every one of you youngsters is an asset to each of our Kingdoms and Empires...especially now that those humans have begun an invasion on our continent."


    His last words induced uproar to the students.


    "So it''s true! They are invading!"


    "Pfft, you peaceful elves know nothing! They''ve been causing destruction and mayhem to our lands, and here you all are playing house!"


    "What''d you say you beast?"


    "Haaah??!! Say that again pointy, I dare you!"


    While the beastmen and elves began to throw insults at each other, the Gigantes and Merfolk were discussing among themselves.


    "So this year''s trial was sped up to help the Beastman Empire?"


    "Seems so, I heard from my father that the Emperor actually advocated for the early opening of the trial grounds. I hear that the Beastkin were also pressured into backing up the Empire."


    Cecil''s group couldn''t help but over hear things. Eli was frowning when she heard it.


    "What pressure? If it wasn''t because my father owed a favor to the Emperor we wouldn''t even bother helping those animals!" She hissed.


    "Woah, woah, woah! Eli, is that really what a prin¡ªI mean the Sword Maiden should be saying?!" Ainz exclaimed in surprise.


    "Drop the act Ainz. We already know that she''s the princess." Lucia said.


    "O-oh...okay then, well anyway, that''s really unbecoming of you Princess!"


    "So what? Just the sight of those animals sickens me," Eli growled back.


    "..."


    "What''s up with Eli?" Cecil whispered to Lucia.


    "Apparently at one time, one of the Empire''s princes had wanted to ask her Eldest Sister in hand for marriage, but after she passed away, that prince turned his sights onto Eli herself."


    "O-oh... I see, but...why is she so mad?"


    "Because apparently, after Eli''s father, the King, turned them down, people from the Empire tried to kidnap Eli away. It wasn''t only on one occasion that happened. Eli told me that there were at least 10 times such an incident had happened after the Empire''s prince turned his sights onto her."


    "Oh...that sounds awful!"


    "Well yeah! Who would want to be kidnapped and forcibly married to some random prince that they don''t know anything about? Hey, look over there Cel~ you see that skinny, unkempt Dragonewt? Apparently, he''s the one that has his sights dead set on Elizabeth~"


    "Oh? Hey, I thought the Empire was ruled by a Were-lion family?"


    "And like any Emperor, they of course have a harem~"


    "H-harem?!"


    "Well, yeah~ I heard that the current Beastman Emperor has 10 wives and 8 concubines~"


    "W-what the hell?!"


    "Actually every ruler on Urrugdrasil is like that~ all except for the Beastkin, Merfolk and Elven Kingdoms of course. Unlike everywhere else, our kingdoms advocate monogamy instead of polygamy. It''s much more enforced in the Elven Kingdom though.


    It''s actually pretty lenient at Anglaria, you could have one or more wives if you''re able to support them."


    Lucia explained.


    "Exactly~ so you can take both me and Lulu as your wife, Cecil~" A lazy voice cooed gently right by Cecil''s ear.


    A chill ran up Cecil''s spine and he quickly flashed behind Lucia. Right where he was just standing stood a pink haired rabbit-kin girl. It was Serilla.


    "W-wh-what do you mean by that?!"


    "Eh~? Didn''t Lulu just explain to you~?"


    "Uhm...well..."


    "Ah, so you did understand right?"


    Serilla flickered next to Cecil and caught his arm.


    "Gotcha!"


    "Uwaaah!!!"


    Lucia only sighed tiredly. Even though she wanted to monopolize Cecil, but no matter how many times the boy rejected her love rival and ally, Serilla would just keep coming back for more. It was now to the point where Cecil would sometimes just give up when he was accidentally caught by the rabbitkin girl.


    "Hihihi~"


    "Cecil, Lucia..." A voice greeted them.


    When they turned to look, it was the student council president, Zephyr Arks.


    "Oh, what''s up Prez?" Cecil answered.


    "Here, these are trackers," Zephyr took out a small badge that was in the shape of Arks Royal Academy''s crest.


    "I''m guessing these are for when we get separated later?" Lucia asked.


    "Yeah. Every tracker can trace each other as long as they''re in a 1000 meter distance of each other. This way, if there are others close to your area, you can quickly meet up with them." Zephyr said, and then he leaned in closer and whispered.


    "I hear that this year''s trials will get very bloody. The Empire''s been invaded so they want to maximize all the benefits they can get during the trials...they''ll resort to anything, stealing and killing is also one of their options...stay vigilant later, trust only those from our academy."


    "Thanks for the tip, prez!"


    After Cecil thanked him, Zephyr went ahead and began to personally give the tracking crests to every single member from their academy. He would also lean in and whisper what he just said to Cecil and Lucia.


    After the tournament, Zephyr became a little more...mellow. He wasn''t so uptight and edgy anymore. One good thing about the students from Arks Academy was that everyone was compact.


    They had all trained together under Cecil and the instructors. They grew closer together and probably thanks to this, they no longer viewed themselves as individuals grouped together into factions, but a single entity under the name of Arks Academy.


    The Beastkin had no fear of anyone of them betraying each other. The faction settings inside the academy played a large role in their ''all for one'' line of thinking. Now everyone was united under one name and banner, it was all the better for them.


    This couldn''t be said for the other academies however. Even from a glance Cecil could see that they were divided amongst themselves. He could now understand why. Since the other Kingdoms'' Kings had many wives and concubines, the many offspring would of course vie for the throne.


    Why would they bother helping each other out especially when they were in the trials, where everything was permitted? The Elven Kingdom wasn''t any better. They were closer to a parliament and each elven race represented themselves individually. There was no need for them to help each other out unless the situation calls for it.


    It was different for the Beastkin Kingdom. Since the crown prince, Zephyr Arks, was already decided, the other children of the King were required to pursue a different goal. For instance Eli, she was trained to become the next Sword Saintess along with Serilla. Then there was her older sister, she was educated to become the Kingdom''s next Court Magician, their younger brother, Lance, was trained to become the next Kingdom General.


    The monarchy of Anglaria Kingdom was so thorough in their placement of roles that it didn''t invite any sort of conflict between the royal siblings. It even amazed Cecil at how such a thing was possible. Every stereo-typical monarchy would surely have some sort of power struggle, right?


    Well, not in Anglaria. It was maybe due to the wisdom of the dragons that this sort of thing was made possible, but this might be a biased conclusion on Cecil''s part. Anyhow, Cecil had to praise the Arks Royal Family for this. He was friends with Elizabeth Arks, a princess of the Kingdom. Cecil honestly didn''t want him or Lucia to be embroiled in a power-struggle for the throne.


    ''Good thing our Kingdom is a peaceful one. The problem is...''


    "WON''T YOU TWO STOP CLINGING ON TO ME?!" Cecil released a frustrated shout.


    "What~? No way~? You''ll only run away again~" The rabbitkin girl on his left said in a singsong voice. To which the foxkin girl on his right agreed to.


    "...Seri does have a point there..."


    "Ah, come on!"

 Chapter 174 - A Detestable Fellow

    Eli and Fina broke away from the group. They brought along Ainz with them and made their way to the Oceanic Kingdom''s Academy group.


    The two found the people they were looking for, Fina was looking for her sister and so was Eli. Eli went over to a red-scaled intelligent-looking lizardkin girl who was wearing glasses. She looked like she was a year or two older than Elizabeth.


    "Big Sis!"


    "Oh? Eliza! You''re here too? Goodness, I didn''t see you! I only saw Lance and Zephyr earlier!"


    "Ahaha~ I was in the back of the group with my party!"


    "Ahh no wonder! Anyways, congratulations Eliza! I heard from mother and father that you became an Academy Queen! The Crimson Sky Queen, right? Ufufufu~" Eli''s sister giggled happily while she teased Elizabeth.


    "J-jeez, don''t tease me, big sis Nora!"


    Manora Arks, the second princess of the Anglaria Kingdom, the 2nd daughter of the Arks Royal Family.


    The two began to catch up with what they were each doing in their individual academies. While they were catching up with each other, Fina was currently being squished to death by a tall merfolk lady.


    "Aiyah~ my cute little sister''s here~!"


    "Ugh...sis...I-I''m dying..."


    Fina was being squeezed in between two large ''mountains''. The lady who was squeezing her in a tight hug was Fina''s older sister, an instructor of the Oceanic Kingdom''s Royal Academy, Odelia Oceania Neftersea.


    "I didn''t think my precious little sister would be able to take part in the trials! I thought only the 100 strongest of the academy was selected?" Odelia asked with a thoughtful expression while still hugging onto her little sister.


    Fina began to struggle and she was able to escape from her sister''s tight hug. She stomped on the ground while pouting.


    "What''s that supposed to mean, big sis?!"


    "But...Fina''s not that strong?"


    "I am strong!!!"


    "Fufufu~ isn''t that a given now? You are here after all!"


    "Ueh?"


    Fina''s anger immediately deflated when her sister suddenly praised her.


    "Hmph...I kept writing letters to you...didn''t you bother reading them?"


    "Hihihihi~ I''m just teasing you, my precious little sister! Of course I''ve read them...you worked rea~lly hard, didn''t you?"


    "Y-yes..." Fina replied shyly. She was really happy receiving her sister''s praise. Finally, she was praised for something other than her cuteness.


    "But still! Where''s that Cecil fellow?"


    "H-huh? Cecil? Wh-why''s sister looking for him?"


    "He must take responsibility!!!"


    "R-responsibility?!" Fina immediately misunderstood, "He already has two people who love him! One of them is my best friend too! There''s no way I''ll betray her!"


    "...I didn''t mean that kind of responsibility, huhuhu~" Odelia playfully smirked at her little sister. Seeing this Fina started pouting.


    "Stop teasing me!"


    "But you make such a cute face when you get angry~ Anyways, I''m serious about him taking responsibility!"


    "For what exactly?!"


    "He dared...to put my cute little sister through all that harsh training!!! He MUST take responsibility for all that!"


    "W-wha?!"


    "So...where is this boy?"


    "N-not telling!"


    Odelia looked up and turned her eyes over to the Arks Academy''s group. Not long later she turned towards her sister and asked, "It''s that black foxkin boy, right?"


    "Wha?! N-no way!"


    "Yup, that''s him alright. You just said so didn''t you? He had two girls who love him, and judging by those two girls in his arms, that''s most likely Cecil!"


    "No way, no way, no way!!! That''s definitely not him!!!"


    "Oh, please. With the way you''re defending him, that''s without a doubt the boy!"


    "Urk..."


    "Now, come with me Fifi~ we''re going to seek some justice for you!"


    "I don''t want that justice!"


    "Well, too bad! You''re getting it whether you like it or not!"


    They quickly went over to Cecil and Odelia immediately engaged in a conversation with the boy.


    Back where Eli was, she finished talking to her sister and had turned her attention to the ruckus Fina and her sister was causing. She couldn''t help but laugh after overhearing.


    "Hahaha! I didn''t think Fina''s sister was so doting!"


    "Well, instructor Odelia is only like that when you bring up her siblings...she''s actually very strict when she teaches, but she''s very good at what she does."


    "Oh? She''s actually an instructor?"


    "Yeah, she''s a magic researcher as well."


    "She''s a princess right?"


    "The FIRST princess even...but she''s so carefree! The Oceanic Empire is a matriarchy! She''s supposed to be the next Empress!"


    "W-woah! I admire her for being so free!"


    "Tell me about it...look at what that responsibility did to our brother. Zephy''s so cold now that he no longer talks to big sis~" Manora said while pouting her lips a little.


    "Heheh~ but lately...Zephyr has been more easy going...he''s no longer so cold like before..."


    "Hm? Did something happen?"


    "...I beat him during the selections..."


    "Oh? I didn''t hear about this?"


    "Probably father didn''t want to tell you about it, haha..."


    "Hmmm... well if he''s changed for the better after losing to his precious little sister, then that''s okay. I prefer the warm Zephy than the current cold one."


    "Well, he''s been smiling a lot more after the loss!"


    "Hihi~ that''s good. Well, you should go over there, you''re friend looks a little helpless," Manora giggled while she pointed to Cecil who was bowing real low towards Fina''s elder sister.


    Eli bade her sister goodbye and made her way back to the group with Ainz in tow, but midway the two were blocked by a group of beastmen.


    "Ahh, my Princess, so you were indeed here!" A scruffy voice sounded.


    When the two girls clinging onto his arms were distracted from the voice, Cecil was able to Blink away.


    "Oh~?"


    "Ah! He escaped!"


    The two girls only sounded a little lost, but they didn''t mind Cecil running. They instead turned towards the unfamiliar voice.


    "Agh...it''s him, tsk," Serilla clicked her tongue in distaste.


    "..."


    "The Prince that tried to kidnap Eli on multiple occasions," Serilla pointed towards the gaudily dressed dragonewt.


    He had beautiful dark purple colored scales, but the boy seemed a little...unhealthy? Maybe scrawny would be a better word.


    The scrawny dragonewt came over to Elizabeth and bowed dramatically. Eli had a clear look of disgust on her face. She coldly glared at the boy with eyes full of scorn and disdain. Eli didn''t even bother to respond to his greeting.


    "My princess! Surely, you''ll give some face to this prince, yes?" The prince didn''t mind, but the way he looked at Eli was like he was staring at a piece of delectable meat.


    This caused Eli to shiver in disgust, "Get AWAY from me!"


    Eli turned around and walked away. She wanted to rush back to her sister, but just as she was about to move farther away she was suddenly surrounded by the prince''s cronies.


    "My Princess! I''m sure you can spare me a minute or two?"


    "Never! Why should I give you even an ounce of my time?!"


    Ainz moved in front of the beastman Prince and blocked his way. He glared at the Prince with open hostility.


    "...move out of the way, dog."


    "Dog? Heh, aren''t you blind? Take another step and I''ll burn you," Ainz replied coldly.


    "Hmph, insolent punk! Who''s this, my Princess? May I get rid of this dog?!" the prince snarled.


    Even though he was clearly asking a question, he had already waved his hand and his lackeys began pulling out wands and a couple of them moved in closer.


    Headmaster Elufied saw this and frowned. He was going to move in, but a voice interrupted him, "Now let''s leave the conflicts of the young ones to themselves, yes?"


    "...What do you mean by that, Barka?" Elufied glared at the large black furred Bearman next to him.


    "It would be unbecoming of us elders if we had to step in and resolve the conflicts of the youngsters, no?"


    Barka said this and began circulating his mana, showing a clear intent of stopping Elufied from interfering.


    "Tsk..."


    He could only turn an eye to the Elven King. "Your Highness!"


    "It is as Barka said...we should let the young ones resolve their own problems. This also means that later if any of you have missing students...I''m sure you should let the ''young ones'' resolve their own grudges, no?"


    "..."


    Although the Elven King didn''t directly lend a helping hand, but what he implied was that any further conflicts that happened after the students came out of the trials should be resolved amongst themselves.


    If the headmasters wanted to intervene later, then they might incur the wrath of the Elfenheim Kingdom later.


    "Yes, that''s exactly as it should be! You hear that, Elufied?" Barka said with a taunting tone.


    "Hmph. You better not regret this later! That idiot of a prince just offended the wrong person!" Elufied smirked with disdain. He had openly insulted the Empire''s royalty and he didn''t even care!


    "What? You! You take that back!!"


    "Pfft, look, my students will soon take out the ''trash'', haha!"


    Elufied smirked and laughed loudly. He wanted to resolve the problem himself so later when the students enter the trial grounds they won''t incur any animosity from the other groups of students, but since the Beastman Empire''s Headmaster had stepped in to stop him, he could only leave it to the students to resolve the problems themselves.


    It was sad for the Empire''s Prince though. He just offended a girl who had really, really strong connections, both figuratively and literally. Eli was best friends with a girl who was dubbed an Apocalypse...he was surely in for a bad ending.


    Sure, enough. Lucia immediately stepped in when she saw her BFF being bullied by some random, weak looking fool.


    "Stop."


    Lucia flashed into the beastmen encirclement and released her Elemental Burst. The presence she was giving off was enough to stop everyone from moving forwards. The cold and dangerous atmosphere even caused some of the beastmen to stumble and back away.


    "Wh-who are you?!"


    "Me? I''m Eli''s friend...I don''t like seeing people bullying her, so you better back off while I''m still asking nicely." Lucia coldly replied.


    "H-how insolent!"


    Lucia frowned and was just about to send a lava bolt at every beastmen surrounding them, but then all the beastmen were suddenly sent flying through the air.


    PAK PAK PAK PAK PAK PAK


    Not long after, every beastmen in the vicinity was sent flying back towards their academy''s gathering area. The Empire''s Prince wasn''t exempted from this.


    "Lulu, for these kinds of people, it''s better if you take action first. Words won''t persuade them," Cecil said as he dusted off his hands.


    "Hrrrmmm...I wanted to have some fun y''know~"


    "Well, we shouldn''t. Those important figures are looking over at us. Let''s hurry back to the group. We''re catching the attention of everyone around."


    Cecil turned around and made his way back to Arks Academy''s gathering spot. Ainz, Eli, and Lucia followed after him.


    "Hey Eli, are you okay? That was the prince that''s been trying to kidnap you, right?"


    "Y-yeah..." Eli shivered with disgust.


    "Why not just beat him up? You know you''re more than capable enough to do so?"


    "Huh?"


    "Eh?"


    Ainz immediately interjected and helped Eli brush the question off.


    "Hmmm~" Lucia had a thoughtful looking when she saw the pale and disgusted Eli.


    ''What''s wrong?''

 Chapter 175 - Entering the Trial Grounds

    Zephyr and Lance had just noticed the situation and they quickly rushed over to Eli''s side.


    "Elizabeth! Are you okay?!" Lance worriedly asked.


    Eli was a little pale, but she forcefully smiled and nodded her head.


    "Y-yeah...Cecil and Lucia quickly came to help..."


    "Tsk, that damned bastard...how dare he!"


    Zephyr kept his silence and only stared at Eli. Once he made sure that she was perfectly okay, he turned around and left.


    "What''s with him? He could at least say something!" Lucia said.


    "Oh, don''t worry. Despite him being cold and callous, he''s probably the one who was most worried!" Serilla said as she came up to Cecil''s side.


    "Hm?"


    Serilla leaned in to the group and whispered, "Despite his uncaring look, he''s actually been battling it out with that stupid Empire prince! The kidnap attempts at Elizabeth have numbered way more than just 10!"


    Serilla smiled meaningfully as she eyed the pale Eli. Eli who heard this blushed a bit and smiled.


    "Hehe~ good for you Princess, you''re really loved by all your siblings!" Ainz teasingly said.


    "Shut it Ainz, I don''t wanna hear that from you!" Eli scowled.


    "Hmph!"


    Over at the Beastman Academy''s group, Cecil and co. could see that the Prince was causing a ruckus. He was yelling and berating everyone around him, telling them to go get revenge for him.


    Which of course, not many of them cared, not everyone in the Beastman Empire was a brainless fool like the Prince. Many in the Academy even detested this particular prince because of how dirty and underhanded he was.


    Other than his underlings, most of the other Beastman students out rightly ignored him. However, a small group of beastmen detached from the group and made their way over.


    Zephyr alongside Alex and the rest of the student council came forward to meet with them. Serilla was still next to Cecil however.


    "Shouldn''t you be with them over there?" He asked.


    "Hm? Nah~, I don''t want to~"


    "...you are the student council''s secretary, no?"


    "I won''t do what I don''t want to do~"


    "..."


    Cecil enhanced his senses and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation. To his surprise, the Beastmen that came forward were actually apologizing for the Prince''s rude behavior. Cecil was a little disappointed though, if a fight broke out, he was totally eager to come forth and participate.


    It wasn''t like he was trying to find an excuse to run away from Serilla and Lucia, no, of course not! He purely wanted to help out with any conflicts that arose.


    "You''re thinking about running away aren''t you?" Lucia poked at him from the side.


    "Huh?"


    "That stupid, disappointed look on your face tells me everything, Cel. You wanna run away again," she said and began pinching his sides.


    "Ouch!"


    *****


    The group had to wait another hour or so before the Elven King finally brought them over to the Urrugdrasil Trial Grounds'' entrance.


    At first glance the entrance was only...a platform? At least, that was what Cecil thought it looked like. There was no majestic gate or entrance or whatever. It was just a large, circular platform that looked like a cut-off part of the World Tree''s roots.


    "Everyone! Step onto the platform!" The King exclaimed.


    Around the large platform were 12 smaller platforms that had a squadron of 7 Elven Mages on each of them.


    When Cecil got on top of the platform, he finally noticed the faint traces of what seemed to be a super-sized magic formation that encompassed the entirety of the platform he was standing on.


    He looked at it curiously with his Mana Eyes and noticed that it had a similarity with the teleportation gates that the group used to arrive at the trunk of the World Tree.


    "It''s a teleportation formation! Woah! It''s huge!" Cecil exclaimed in shock.


    Everyone who heard his words turned to him and they too were astonished.


    "So, that''s why we''re here...we''re all going to be teleported straight into the trial grounds!" Ainz said.


    "Hey...doesn''t this mean we''re going to be separated now?" Fina worriedly asked.


    "Remember everyone! Once you get inside! Make sure to quickly activate the crests! If you find anyone around you, quickly make your way to them and stick together!"


    From the middle of the group, Zephyr had risen into the air and reminded everyone. The group immediately became solemn and waited for the formation to activate.


    Once every academy''s group was standing on the platform, the Elven Mages in the smaller platforms began chanting.


    Magic formations on the smaller platforms began to glow with a green light. The mages poured in more mana into the formations and it began to link up with the larger magic formation on the platform where the students were on.


    It took another 20 seconds before the teleportation formation began to activate and the Elven King chanted an ancient cryptic line.


    "Et inven tor ish kat fili en dur kha!"


    After his chant, the formation activated in full and it brightly illuminated the surroundings. The piercing light from the formation caused everyone to tightly close their eyes and in the next moment, they all felt a strong, pulling sensation on their bodies.


    "!!!"


    FWWWWWIIIIIIIPPPPPP


    The light died down on the platform and the 500 students on it were no longer there.


    "With this, the Urrugdrasil Trials has officially begun!"


    The King loudly declared.


    ******


    When Cecil came to, he was lying down on top of a tree stump. The boy shook his head and felt a little dizzy.


    "Man, I thought I already got used to teleportation!" Cecil felt like he was about to throw up. The teleportation formation that he went through was super-sized and it felt like he was tossed into a washing machine before being spat back out.


    "Urgh..." Cecil calmed himself down and quickly adjusted his condition. He took a look around the area before he quickly activated his academy''s tracking crest.


    "...no response. I guess I''m alone here," Cecil frowned. "Now...where am I?"


    He quickly activated Mana Sense and spread his awareness into the area 500 meters around him.


    "Uwah!"


    He was surprised at what he was sensing. Monsters, monsters everywhere!


    "I thought this was supposed to be INSIDE the World Tree? How come there are corrupted ents, Maruboros, and Vinazes?"


    All the monsters around his area were corrupted or tainted beings. This was supposed to be the sacred World Tree, right? Cecil was expecting monsters with normal attributes.


    "Well, whatever...for all I know, this might not even be inside Urrugdrasil at all..." Cecil cast his eyes to the tree tops.


    His Mana Eyes pierced through the foliage and finally saw what was hidden above all that. "We''re underground?"


    The light that was seeping through the tree tops were coming from a mineral that was embedded into the ceiling of where he was. It looked like it was sunlight, but it actually wasn''t.


    When he took a cursory glance at the tops of the trees, he couldn''t help but notice the bloodterpillars and gloom fungai living on top of those large leaves.


    "Hah! There really IS danger everywhere! My type of place! Huhuhuhu~" Cecil began grinning and he unsheathed his Adamantium Sword.


    "First, let''s make our way out of this place. The King said that we should listen to the World Tree''s administrator, but where is it?"


    Cecil began dashing through the forest. He cut down every single monster that stood in his way with his sword. He was a little disgruntled however since the monsters he killed didn''t leave behind any harvestable materials.


    Once they were killed, they disintegrated into particles of light that seeped into the ground. He also found out that the A+ and S ranked creatures weren''t strong at all as well. Their power only ranged about B+ or A.


    "I thought they were supposed to be stronger?" Cecil skeptically said as he cut down a Maruboros. A Maruboros was an S ranked creature. It was a vine-type monster that had a nucleus that acted as its eye.


    This nucleus would also act as the main body and multiple corrosive vines grew out of it. One of the reasons why this monster was categorized as S rank was because the main body could burrow deep underground and use only its vines to attack unsuspecting travelers that came into its range of activity.


    The Maruboroses that Cecil encountered did exactly the same. Cecil''s countermeasure was to first sense it and then send a large mana bolt at it to force the main body out of the ground. Then he would Blink to its side and immediately cut it down.


    The problem was...it should have taken a little more effort. Once out of the ground, the Maruboros would attack with its tentacle vines in frenzy. It would rampage around until it could reenter the ground.


    The Maruboros that Cecil encountered didn''t do so. It only dumbly stayed in place and sent its vines at Cecil. There was also no corrosive liquid being secreted from the vines and this greatly reduced the monster''s danger level.


    The other monsters were also like this. The normal behavior that Cecil had read up or personally experienced didn''t apply to these monsters. There were also some unique characteristics of the monsters that weren''t present in the ones that he fought inside the trial grounds.


    "...this is boring."


    When Cecil cut down his 20th corrupted Ent, Cecil suddenly heard a voice inside his head.


    [Kill 20 degraded Maruboros, 20 degraded Ents, 20 degraded Scorpion Beetles, 20 degraded Vinaz, and 20 degraded corrupt fairies, completed. Please follow the trees to the Beginning Plaza!]


    "Eh?"


    He looked around and couldn''t find the origin of the voice, but he did notice some of the trees lighting up ahead of him. Cecil tilted his head and decided to follow after the trees that were lighting up.


    "I guess, I''ll just listen to the voice...I''m guessing that''s the administrator? So the first trial is to kill those degraded monsters...degraded, no wonder they were so weak."


    Cecil followed the trail of brightly lit trees, as he passed one tree after another he couldn''t help but notice that the light they emitted would immediately die down.


    "It looks like this is the only way forward," Cecil also noticed that after the voice sounded in his mind, he no longer encountered any monsters as he made his way towards the ''Beginning Plaza''.


    When Cecil arrived at this plaza, he couldn''t help but find himself once again alone.


    "Uhh...I''m the first?"


    [Congratulations, you are the first to arrive at the Beginning Plaza. Please collect your reward!]


    The ground in the middle of the plaza began to overturn and out popped a chest that was wrapped up in some roots and vines.


    "...Okay? This is like a game I see. Alright, at least the rewards are pretty straight forward. Complete the task, be first and you get the reward. Awesome," Cecil said as he made his way over to the chest.


    He quickly opened it and found a piece of parchment inside.


    "...the heck is this?"

 Chapter 176 - Beginning Plaza

    The piece of parchment that Cecil got as a reward turned out to be a map, a very detailed map.


    "It''s a map...of the trial grounds?"


    Once Cecil took out the map, the chest was immediately pulled back down into the earth and the dirt began closing up the hole that the chest had created.


    "..."


    Cecil glanced at the map and it showed the Beginning Plaza and some other places that were around it.


    "Second Treetops...Third Monster Wave and Fourth Hidden Roots...this map shows all the locations of the next trials...there are also some miscellaneous areas where you can get some other rewards...Neat!"


    Cecil activated Hyper-sensitivity and quickly memorized the contents of the map. He then stored it away inside his white spatial ring. It was better if other people didn''t see such a thing, it would undoubtedly raise jealousy and envy to him.


    On the map were the locations of getting other rewards from the trial grounds. He wasn''t sure what the rewards were for, but it was likely that these other locations were the targets of every Nation''s Academy group.


    [You have acquired the Urrugdrasil Trials Map! Restrictions released, you may proceed to freely roam about the trial grounds!]


    "Wha?"


    When Cecil had arrived, he noticed that the path towards the next trial locations and the other paths leading to the surrounding areas were blocked off by a light wall, but after the notification sounded in his head, the light began to dim down and some of those lights flowed into Cecil''s body.


    It was strange, but he felt like he could pass through those lights that most likely acted as a barrier.


    "Does this mean I had to wait for the other participants to arrive at the plaza before I could continue? Well, that sucks! Not anymore though...good thing I arrived first!"


    Cecil chuckled and made his way to the pathway on the west side of the Plaza. He came from the south so it was likely that every other participant of the trials would come from there. The north pathway was the direction of the second trial, but Cecil opted to walk down the west pathway since he could get some extra rewards if he completed the extra trials.


    Cecil whistled merrily and made his way down the path.


    About five minutes after he disappeared from the Plaza, a group of students had finally appeared from the southern path of the Beginning Plaza.


    "Hey! We''re first!" A girl exclaimed.


    The group made their way into the middle of the Plaza and waited for the administrator''s announcement.


    "I heard that we can get a map of the trial grounds since we''re the first to arrive! Then the restrictions will be lifted and we''ll be free to roam the area. Good thing our King and Headmaster informed us of this!"


    The group that had arrived was composed of Elves. It was no wonder why they had quickly arrived at the area despite not being given instructions to kill the monsters right when they arrived.


    All the elves had been given a handicap in the form of information that their predecessors had given them.


    Even though the trials would always change each time the grounds were opened, one thing in common was that the first person to complete the first trial would always get a map and the restrictions placed on them would be removed.


    The group of elves waited and waited, but no new notifications were given to them.


    "H-how could this be?! Was our information wrong?" The leading elf girl exclaimed.


    "No! It''s more likely that someone or some group had arrived long before us...do remember that those kids from the Beastkin Kingdom handed out tracking crests to each other before entering. They probably grouped up as soon as they made it inside and quickly cleared the first trial."


    "But it still doesn''t make any sense! If this was the case, then they''d be put at a disadvantage instead! The amounts of monsters that you would have to kill if you grouped up would rise each time you have a new member in the party!"


    "Y-yeah... our group of 5 had to kill over 800 of those monsters before we were given the notification to proceed..."


    "...that means that this trial had a drastic change...or single, powerful individual cleared the first trial by themselves and got here before us..."


    "..."


    Not long after, Lucia and her group of 8 arrived at the plaza. There weren''t any members of Little Kings with her, but she did somehow meet up with Zephyr and Manden. With the 3 powerful members they had quickly destroyed the monsters in their area and were immediately notified of their trial''s completion.


    "We aren''t the first...too bad, I''m pretty sure we''d got some sort of reward if we did," Zephyr clicked his tongue. He didn''t know that the monsters that they would have to kill if they grouped up would rise with every member, but it wasn''t like he was going to change his plans and leave them behind.


    It wasn''t only the monsters that had to be wary about. The other students participating in the trials that weren''t a part of their academy were also a threat to them.


    "Hmph, those Elves arrived first...I bet they got some info beforehand about the trials." Lucia scoffed.


    "Really? But didn''t the headmaster say that the trials would be different every single time?" A party member asked.


    "The predecessors can still share their experience. No matter how different the trials are, having a good picture of it before they start would be of help no matter if it was relevant or not." Lucia answered.


    And this was true. When they first arrived, the first things on their minds were to activate the tracking crest and meet up with anybody around their area before proceeding with the trials. Not the Elves however. They straight forwardly started to kill the monsters around them and if they were lucky enough to meet up with other Elves they would then group up and complete the trial together.


    It didn''t take very long until more participants arrived at the Beginning Plaza. The Little Kings were quickly reunited and from the students of Arks Academy, around 80 had arrived at the plaza.


    "Where''s Cel?" Lucia asked while looking around.


    "Yeah...where is he? The brat''s not here!" Ainz exclaimed.


    The Little Kings began to look around, but couldn''t find the boy. Finally, after another small group of beastmen arrived at the plaza, the administrator''s voice sounded in their heads.


    [Congratulations! You have all safely passed the first trial!]


    "Eh?"


    Everyone present...had safely passed the first trial, but the Little Kings and everyone in Arks Academy couldn''t help but notice...their strongest member wasn''t present!


    "W-where''s Cel?!"


    "He couldn''t have failed...right?"


    "No way! Those monsters were easy! There''s no way he could have lost!" Lucia immediately denied.


    But no matter what she said...the fact that Cecil wasn''t here didn''t change.


    "Hahaha! That just means he didn''t pass the test! Or better yet, he was unfortunate enough to land in the corrupted area by himself! He probably died already! Hahaha!" A smug voice sounded out.


    "What was that?!"


    Lucia immediately glared at the person who said that. It was the Empire''s 13th Prince. The person who got his ass kicked by Cecil.


    "Oh my~ aren''t you a beautiful little thing! Won''t you be my concubine? It''s much better than pinning your hopes onto some dead body! Hahaha!"


    Lucia''s anger immediately flared. She was just about flash forward to disembowel the disgusting fool, but then Zephyr immediately pulled her back.


    "Stop, Lucia. This is the Beginning Plaza. I heard from the Headmaster that this is a safe zone! The administrator doesn''t tolerate violence here and they might disqualify you from proceeding in the trials if you take action!"


    "Tsk...You better wash your neck you disgusting, scrawny, weak, lizard dung! When we get out of here, I''ll separate that scaly disgusting twig you call a throat from that bean sprout of a body!"


    Her menacing words and the dangerous pressure she exuded immediately shut the Prince up. He even began to back up in fear and this caused everyone in Arks Academy to laugh at him.


    The Beastmen students didn''t quite like this. Even though they didn''t care about the person who had been insulted, but being laughed at by the Beastkins didn''t suit them. Just as they were about to speak up, their Student Body President spoke up.


    "Relax...they''ll get what''s coming for them later."


    "..."


    The beastmen students cooled down after listening to their student president, but it still didn''t appease the discomfort and humiliation they felt.


    [The first trial rewards will be given to you now! Please wait patiently in one spot and do not move around!]


    The administrator''s voice sounded out once again. The students in the plaza immediately stopped moving around and waited in place.


    The ground immediately began to shake and rumble. Then small roots rose up from the earth and in their grasp was a miniature sized chest.


    Each student opened up theirs and inside was a pile of spatial rings.


    [Please select one ring to take away.]


    The students started choosing at random. All the rings looked the same. They couldn''t find out any differences.


    Lucia took one look at her friends and whispered.


    "Activate Aura Manifestation and concentrate it on your eyes like we practiced. Maybe we''ll be able to tell the difference if we enhance our eyes to see a little bit of mana."


    Over the past days when Cecil was training them inside the Accelerated Time Formation, Cecil and friends were able to create a technique that somewhat copied what his Mana Eyes could do.


    The trick was for his friends to activate Aura Manifestation and focus it into their eyes. It was harmful if they had channeled mana into their eyes, but by using Aura Manifestation, a combat skill that Eli created to enhance their physical capabilities. The enhanced body was somehow able to endure mana being channeled into the delicate parts of their bodies.


    Such as the eyes, brain, and some other organs, if they channeled the aura into their brains then they''ll be able to speed up their senses and enter a pseudo hyper-sensitivity state. If they channeled it into their eyes, then they''ll be able to gain temporary Mana Vision!


    It wasn''t something that Cecil thought up on the spot. He noticed this peculiarity whenever he had a spar with Eli. Whenever the girl used her Intent and fused it with her Aura, Eli said that she would enter a state similar to Cecil''s Hypersensitivity.


    This piqued his interest. Since Intent was the manifestation of someone''s Will being projected into the physical plane. Since Will originated from the brain, if Eli fused her Intent with her Aura... that meant she had basically channeled her Aura into her brain.


    Since that was possible, why not try it with their eyes? Cecil only said it as a passing thought, but Eli had dangerously decided to do so right then and there. The results... were pretty good! They had created a combat skill that imitated Cecil''s unique skill and sight.


    The Little Kings activated Aura Manifestation and used the pseudo-Mana Vision. The group immediately noticed a change occur when they casted their sights on the rings inside of the little box.

 Chapter 177 - Difference in Rewards

    There were about 15-20 rings inside of the small box. When Lucia turned her pseudo-Mana Vision onto the rings, she immediately discerned the difference in Mana density radiating from each ring.


    There were rings that had absolutely no mana being emitted while one of those rings had an absurdly large mana emission.


    "Jackpot!"


    Lucia immediately grabbed onto the ring that emitted the largest amount of mana. After grabbing onto the ring, the box closed and the roots pulled it into the ground. The earth that was turned over immediately moved back into place and it closed the hole.


    "Did you guys see it?"


    "Yeah!"


    "Awesome!"


    "Shhhh, be quiet! I don''t want the other academy students to know!"


    Lucia immediately hushed Ainz and signaled to her other friends. They moved about and went over to their fellow students who still hadn''t picked up a ring yet. For the ones who already did, they could only blame themselves for being too hasty.


    Lucia went next to Serilla. The girl was about to grab a ring from the box, but Lucia quickly grabbed a hold of her hand.


    "Lulu? What''s wrong?"


    "Wait, let me pick for you..." Lucia whispered.


    She turned her eyes into the contents of the box and helped Serilla to pick the one with the highest mana density.


    "Choose the top left one...no not that one, the other one!"


    "This?"


    "Yup, pick that one!"


    "Okay~"


    Serilla immediately picked up the ring that Lucia pointed out. Then she turned her eyes towards the girl to inquire.


    "What''s up Lulu? Did you find something?"


    Lucia leaned in and whispered, "Yeah! It''s a skill Cecil and Eli recently created. We''re able to see the density of mana using our eyes now. I had you pick the one with the highest mana density. Hopefully, the reward is better!"


    "Oh? Can I learn it too?"


    "Ask Eli! She''ll teach you the Aura Manifestation technique...I''m sure Cecil won''t mind if you learned it." She winked.


    "Hihihi~ thanks Lulu~"


    Lucia separated from Serilla and began helping out the other students. It wasn''t long before she began hearing cheers and curses from the other academy groups.


    When she turned an eye to them, she smirked happily when she found that the ones who cheered were the people who had luckily chosen a ring with a higher mana density. The ones who were cursing were the students who picked rings that had low mana density or none at all.


    "Hmhmhm~ good thing!"


    She couldn''t see what their rewards were, but from her observations she could now guarantee that their academy''s rewards were bound to be the most bountiful!


    Lucia quickly finished her rounds. She also explained to Zephyr what she and the Little Kings were doing. It was a good thing that Zephyr wasn''t hasty, while he was deliberating on which ring to choose, his sister came over and picked it out for him.


    Zephyr immediately ordered the student council members to hush everyone and make sure that they didn''t exclaim or do anything that might leak out their bountiful harvest.


    Jealousy, envy, and greed were bad things, especially when they were directed at you. Zephyr didn''t want their academy to become a public enemy just because they had a better harvest than the other academies.


    Thankfully everyone was willing to comply and despite having opened up the rings and widening their eyes in astonishment, no one cheered out loud or anything. Instead some had even begun to curse and frown.


    The ones who were too hasty all had bitter faces however. This caused the other academy groups who had turned their attention at Arks Academy to smirk in ridicule. They had seen the inconspicuous acts of Lucia and the Little Kings helping their friends pick out a ring.


    They didn''t understand the meaning behind it, were these individuals just lucky or what? But after seeing the lack of response from the students who had their rewards picked for them, they scoffed and turned their attention back to their own groups.


    "Good, we didn''t arouse any suspicion...I''m guessing many of us have good rewards?" Zephyr lightly asked.


    "Yes, President...I actually got a replica of the World Tree''s 11th thorn..." A student council member replied in a hushed tone.


    "What?"


    "Yeah, take a look President." The member immediately handed over his ring and Zephyr took a quick peek inside.


    Inside the ring was a metallic, purple colored, 3-foot long wooden sword. It had silver runes engraved on its blade and grooves on both sides of the 4 inch wide blade.


    "It really is the World Tree''s Thorn! The 11th Thorn, Purity!"


    "It''s only a replica, President. When I unlocked the ring, the administrator''s voice sounded in my head and gave me a notification."


    "I see...let me see what''s inside mine."


    Zephyr took a look inside his ring and his eyes flashed with surprise, but it disappeared immediately.


    "...I just got a World Tree sapling..."


    "Oh my gosh!"


    "A gold mine!"


    World Tree Saplings were offshoots of the World Tree, Urrugdrasil. It could be grown outside of the World Tree''s area of influence and it could provide the World Tree''s blessing onto a small area once it grew over 10 meters tall.


    The leaves of the World Tree''s Sapling could also be used to brew tea or medicine that would help with Mana Cultivation.


    The Headmaster of Arks Academy had a sapling himself and it was the source of all his tea leaves.


    The roots of the sapling were used to create the Wine that the Headmaster once gifted to Lucia''s mother, Anna, as compensation for almost exposing her foster son''s power.


    Just the World Tree sapling alone made this trip into the World Tree''s Trial Grounds worthwhile. The Anglaria Prince no longer needed any other rewards since just this sapling was enough.


    "I must thank the Little Kings for this."


    "Y-yeah...if it wasn''t for them...we probably would have picked out the wrong rings!"


    "Make sure to tell everyone to keep a tight lid on this. The rewards are theirs and theirs alone. No one can take them away...but if the other academies find out..."


    "Yes, we understand!"


    Zephyr''s subordinates immediately went around and began warning everyone once again. The President himself went over to the Little Kings'' gathering spot.


    "I have to thank you all...we made such a bountiful harvest from only the first trial thanks to you 6," He said with a smile.


    "Hey, don''t sweat it Crown Prince Zephyr! We''re only doing all we can to help the kingdom and our fellow students!" Ainz replied righteously.


    Zephyr once more expressed his thanks and went over to the middle of the plaza when he saw the other Academy Presidents and representatives gather together.


    "This is great and all...but I can''t help worry about Cel...there''s just no way he''d fail the first trial! And what was it that the stupid trash was talking about? Corrupted Field?"


    "Corrupted Area...I heard from the headmaster that it''s a dead zone that''s full of corrupted monsters. They''re much harder than those C and B ranked monsters that we encountered, but I''m not sure just how strong," Eli said.


    "Hmph! Even if the monsters were A or S ranked, Cecil wouldn''t have any troubles!" Velicia quipped.


    "Yes...but I heard that the trial on that particular area requires one person to destroy 100 or so monsters by themselves...I think that the other participants who couldn''t make it past the first trial had most likely landed in the Corrupted Area."


    "Arrgghh!!! It still doesn''t make any sense!"


    Ainz had a thoughtful look and then it was as if a light bulb had lit up in his head, he opened his mouth.


    "What happens if he''s already cleared the trial long before any of us did?"


    "Eh?"


    "...?"


    "That...could be possible...I mean...It IS Cecil you know?" Fina said, subtly agreeing with Ainz''s opinion.


    "Yeah...yeah! That must be the case! Cecil might have already passed the first trial long before any of us!"


    Velicia''s voice wasn''t loud, but the ears of the Elves were pretty sharp. The elves that had first arrived at the plaza couldn''t help but over hear this.


    "...Did you hear that?"


    "Yeah...this Cecil kid...they make it sound like he''s very strong or something."


    "If he is as strong as what they''re saying...then he might have passed the trial long before us...if that was the case. Then the map is obviously with him!"


    "Yeah...but how are we supposed to snatch it from him? His restrictions have been released, so he''s probably gone off to the next trial ahead of us!"


    "Yeah, he''ll probably monopolize all the first clear rewards!"


    "Damn!"


    Although the elves did have some insider information, what they didn''t know was the additional locations of the extra rewards being separated in this trial. In the past trials, the extra rewards were given to the people who had cleared the trials first, but in this time''s trials. The extra rewards were all separated from the first clear rewards.


    Cecil, who was far ahead from the rest of the group, had slashed and hacked his way through monsters and shrubbery to reach the extra trials'' location.


    "Phew...took me some time to get here...Can''t believe this forest actually has some sentience...those trees'' vines and roots are really annoying!"


    On his way over to the first extra trial, the trees on his path had obstructed him from moving forwards. They wound their roots and branches to form barricades or walls that blocked Cecil''s path, or they began leading the monsters in the area over to Cecil and some had even directly tried to tie up Cecil using their vines or roots.


    Cecil couldn''t cut the trees down because no matter what kind of skill or attack he used on the trees, they would just quickly restore themselves. They weren''t an ent or any kind of plant-type monster, but the forest had its own sentience and apparently, their main objective was to obstruct anyone from going over to the extra trials'' location.


    He was a little troubled, but then just decided to straightforwardly smash his way though. If the student in the plaza had been paying attention and weren''t so boisterous in their reward claiming, then they might have felt or heard the subtle vibrations and explosions deep from within the forest.


    Cecil used every wide area combat skill that he knew of and blasted his way through the forest and quickly arrived at the first extra trials'' location.


    Once he arrived at the small clearing, the trees in the area no longer tried to obstruct or bother him.


    "Now...what do I do?"


    He took a look around the clearing, but only found a small...chair made of branches and vines in the middle of the clearing.


    The chair looked like an old throne...Cecil wondered if he should go and sit on it.


    [Welcome, challenger! This is the first trials'' extra trial! Would you like to proceed?]


    "Yeah...sure."


    [Please sit down on the throne!]


    Cecil shrugged and sheathed his sword. Then he went forward and sat down on the wooden throne.


    Then...nothing happened.


    "Oka~ay...?"


    After a moment the branches that made up the wooden throne began to wriggle around and then they entangled themselves onto Cecil''s appendages.


    "W-woah! Hey!"


    Cecil tried to struggle, but to no avail. The branches began to curl around his body and eventually he was wrapped up in a bundle of branches and pulled underground.


    "W-WOAAAAAHHH!!!"


    [Extra Trial, Underground Hell. Participant: 1]

 Chapter 178 - First Extra Trial, Underground Hell

    When Cecil woke up, he found himself inside a nearly pitch black environment.


    "W-what the hell?"


    There was very little illumination around. Only small, phosphorescent bugs and flowers lit up the surroundings.


    "Tsk..."


    Cecil conjured a small mana bolt on his palms and was able to illuminate his surroundings.


    "No wonder the ground felt wet..."


    Cecil was standing in the midst of what appeared to be a marsh.


    He noticed that he was inside what appeared to be a deluge of trees that were towering him in a dome.


    There were 8 gaps inside this tree dome. Cecil sent a mana bolt into one of the gaps and it kept on flying far, far away.


    "The heck?"


    He did the same for the other 7 gaps and determined that they were like long pathways that lead to wherever it was that''s at the end.


    Cecil was caught in a dilemma...which path should he choose? No matter what path he looked at, they were all the same. Even when he activated his Mana Eyes he could see no difference.


    "What am I¡ª"


    [Welcome Challenger, to the Underground Hell.]


    "...Underground hell?"


    [In this trial you will be required to survive. Survive for as long as you can. Only an hour will have passed in the outside world once you have cleared this Trial regardless of how long you take!]


    "Survive?"


    [Now, let the trial commence!]


    At the administrator''s last words, monster cries began to emerge from all 8 gaps of the tree dome.


    "Oh man...you have got to be kidding me!"


    Cecil immediately flashed towards the center of the tree dome and he sent one mana bolt into every gap.


    "SHIT!"


    The mana bolts illuminated the pathways beyond the gaps and he finally noticed the source of the screeching and roaring that was coming closer to the dome.


    Cecil paled a little seeing the creepy and disgusting scene. It was a large group of vines, roots, and tentacles that had eyes on the ends.


    Cecil panicked and quickly unsheathed his Sword.


    "DAMMIT!"


    He quickly activated Mana Burst in a hurry and sent an Ascending Blade into one of the gaps. The blade beam disintegrated the vines and tentacles, but there were still 7 other gaps that had those things charging right at him!


    Cecil spun around and sent more Ascending Blades at the gaps, just as the last of the tentacles were about to reach the dome, Cecil tossed his sword into the air and sent a Flash Cannon, immediately clearing the tentacles.


    He caught his sword and was about to heave a sigh of relief, but his mana sense immediately picked up on something.


    "NO WAY!!!"


    To his dismay, the tentacles that he had destroyed...was only a small part of whatever it was that''s attacking him.


    He hadn''t wiped out the tentacles, but had only destroyed a portion of it and the rest kept on slithering and charging at the dome. He continued sending his long ranged skills at the gaps, but there was no end to the monster tentacles.


    "I''ll only get exhausted if this keeps up!"


    If he stayed like this then he''ll be overwhelmed sooner or later once he''s run out of mana. Cecil kept pulling in the ambient mana into his body to supplement his recovery, but his output far out matched his recovery.


    Cecil sent a final Flash Cannon into one of the gaps and charged out into it.


    "I can only go and destroy the source of these tentacles!"


    Cecil pushed his mana and accelerated his speed. He slashed all the tentacles in his path and sent mana bolts or Flash Cannons ahead of him.


    He was able to breathe a little and he couldn''t help but notice, that to the left and right of him sprouted large intertwining trees that served as a wall.


    "It really is a path! Whatever is at the end of this path had better wash its neck for me!" Cecil grinned and he upped his speed.


    SCCCREEEECCCHHHH


    A loud screech began to sound out behind him.


    "Oh shit!"


    Cecil had almost forgotten about the tentacles and vines from the other pathways. Since he was no longer inside the dome, then of course those things would come and pursue him!


    "Well, at least it''s better than being attacked from 8 different directions!"


    Now he was attacked from only 2 directions, in front and behind him. Cecil alternated in sending a skill to the front of him and to the back.


    He kept this up for what he felt was like an hour before he arrived at a clearing.


    "It''s the end!"


    Cecil concentrated and sent a dense Flash Cannon into the pathway behind him, obliterating the tentacles that were chasing after him. He kept channeling the Flash Cannon for 2-3 seconds before stopping.


    He quickly turned his attention back to the source of the tentacles from this pathway.


    "That should buy me some time...now let''s cut you down, you disgusting freak!"


    Cecil shouted and dashed towards the monster.


    It was a...Elf? At least, that''s what Cecil thought it was. The ''elf'' didn''t have legs and the lower half of its body was composed of roots, vines, and tentacles. The roots and tentacles were connected to the ground, so Cecil determined that the monstrosity was stationary.


    The upper part was that of a voluptuous female elf...it was also n.a.k.e.d so its b.r.e.a.s.ts were flailing around in the air.


    "Goddamn this lewd monster!"


    Cecil couldn''t even keep his eyes on the monster. It was a little too stimulating for the young boy. Ever since Lucia and Serilla began kissing out of nowhere, he became more conscious of the opposite s.e.x.


    If it was before, the n.a.k.e.d monster wouldn''t have fazed him at all and he would have immediately dashed in to engage the thing in combat.


    "Whatever...this thing''s the cause of all my problems, so why don''t you just DIE FOR ME!!!"


    Cecil dashed towards the monster and the thing sent its tentacles at him. Cecil flashed and dodged each tentacle as he quickly made his way to the monster.


    He would have used Blink, but the skill used up too much mana. Since Cecil was able to find the source of the tentacles that were attacking him, he was now sure that there were 7 other tentacle elf monsters apart from the one in front of him.


    He had to conserve his mana in order to take down every single one of them.


    Cecil rushed forwards, dodging and cutting down the tentacles in his path. When he got close enough, he flashed right in front of the monster.


    The monster widened its eyes and was about to scream, but Cecil immediately waved his sword and cut its head off.


    Cecil landed and he was just about to turn around, but then he quickly flickered away. Sharp tentacles and spikes bombarded his previous spot.


    "What?"


    The monster elf wasn''t dead yet despite Cecil cutting off its head. The monster''s body turned towards Cecil and tentacles began to sprout from the stump of its neck. The tentacles shot out from the neck and it quickly reached its severed head.


    The tentacles brought the head over to the body and the head reattached itself onto the neck.


    "...Ew..." Cecil grimaced. He gagged looking at the disgusting visual.


    Despite the situation being serious, Cecil still had the time to joke around like this.


    "Ugh...if cutting your head off isn''t enough... how about I¡ª" Cecil activated his Mana Sight and noticed a part of the monster''s body emanating a large amount of mana. He smiled and flashed forwards.


    The monster was just about to laugh at the boy for his futility, but she suddenly noticed that Cecil had disappeared from his spot and reappeared just in front of her body.


    "¡ªPierce your core?"


    SCHLICK


    Cecil didn''t use Blink, but his empowered version of the Shukuchi combat skill. It wasn''t as instantaneous as Blink, but considering that he was still pretty close to the elf monster''s body, it was enough to arrive right in front of it with a similar speed.


    "GOOORAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"


    With its core stabbed the monster began to wail in anguish and it began rotting from its head down.


    When the monster had fully rotted away, Cecil brought his sword up and noticed the thing that he had pierced.


    "It''s a wooden...slab?"


    Cecil''s sword hadn''t pierced the slab, but the mucous-like membrane that surrounded it. As Cecil pulled his sword out of the membrane, it began to corrode away and what was left was the wooden slab that emanated a large amount of mana.


    Cecil was just about to leave and head for the other pathways, but then he decided to take the slab.


    "I don''t want that thing to regenerate again! Better take this along with me!"


    Cecil stuffed the thing into his White Spatial Ring and made his way back to the tree dome.


    He blasted through the path and into the tree dome and went down another pathway. Just like he thought, at the end of the pathway he encountered another similar looking tentacle elf monster. It was female just like before.


    Cecil already found the best way to destroy the monster so he quickly activated his Mana Sight and pinpointed its core.


    He quickly pierced it and the monster similarly rotted away just like with the first one. And like the first one, the nucleus had a similar wooden slab surrounded by a membrane. It was a little different than the one already in his possession, but he still took it with him.


    Cecil repeated the process of going down the paths and killing the monsters another 6 times before the administrator''s voice echoed in his mind.


    [An Extraordinary Achievement! Destroyed 8 Corrupted Dark Wood Elves!]


    [Final Hidden Phase of the Trial has begun! Please destroy the Dark Wood Elf King and put him to rest!]

 Chapter 179 - Corrupted Elf King and the Second Trial

    Once the notification rang in his head, the marsh he was on began to rumble and the trees that made up the pathway began to rot away.


    The marsh waters began to drain and dry up, but what''s peculiar was that it didn''t seep into the ground, but rather it was gathering towards where the tree dome was at, the first place that Cecil arrived upon entering the extra trial.


    "Dark Wood Elves...I didn''t know they were an elven species. The books at the library didn''t note down any information about them..."


    GROOOOOAAAARRRR


    Once the area was completely devoid of all trees and water, a loud angry roar sounded from where the tree dome was at.


    The roar had even caused a shockwave and when it hit Cecil''s body he couldn''t help but grimace and puke out some blood.


    "Shit!"


    Cecil wiped his mouth and began regulating his mana flow and his breathing. The shockwave had attacked his internals and he felt disorientated.


    If he knew that was coming he would have prepared a barrier, but the surrounding were now pitch dark with only his small mana bolts illuminating his surroundings.


    He had 10 mana bolts flying in his surroundings, but they had winked out of existence when he was attacked by the shock wave.


    After he quickly checked and readjusted his condition, Cecil conjured 10 more mana bolts and had them float around in the air.


    After the roar, nothing else happened. It was dark and Cecil couldn''t see anything beyond the light that his mana bolts provided for him.


    "Where is this King?"


    Cecil''s Mana Sense quickly picked up on something and he paled in fright. He turned his sights up above him and sent a couple of mana bolts into the air.


    Up in the air he could see vines and tentacles waving about and he nearly cried out in shock when he saw the cold, deathly glare that an elf monster was giving him.


    The black, hollow eyes that screamed ''death to all who oppose me'', the creepy and dark atmosphere plus the disgusting tentacles swirling and twirling in the air made Cecil just want to give up on the trial.


    "...this is gonna give me nightmares..."


    Cecil readied himself. He activated Mana Burst and he didn''t hesitate in channeling as much mana as he could into his skill.


    The mana that emanated from the monster in front of him was enormous. It far surpassed any S or SS ranked monster he has ever encountered.


    "Could this be the rumored SSS class monster?"


    Cecil''s Mana Burst illuminated the surroundings and his mana''s light shone on the Corrupted Dark Wood Elf King. Luckily for Cecil, just like the name of the monster, it was a KING, which means it was a male.


    "At least I won''t have to look at two towering mountains! A flat plain is much better!"


    Cecil grinned and he wrapped his aura around his sword.


    "ASCENDING BLADE!!!"


    His shout marked the beginning of the fight. The sword beam smashed right into the Elf King''s body and it shrieked in pain.


    "Hahahaha! Come!!!"


    Cecil sent more Ascending Blades smashing onto its body. He kept his Mana Eyes active and tried to look for the monster''s core. He assumed that it would similarly have a core like the other monsters, but what he saw made him frown.


    The entire monster''s body was emanating the same amount of mana levels and not one place stood out from the rest.


    "Could this be a normal monster?"


    Cecil used Blink and arrived right next to the monsters head. He slashed down furiously at its neck and he severed its head off.


    He landed back down on the ground, but the monsters vines and tentacles began to rampage around in the air. Cecil moved and dodged the thorns, acid and tentacles that were sent his way.


    "Ugh..."


    The acid that was spat at him from the tentacles that had mouth-like openings began to corrode the ground.


    When Cecil continued to dodge the monster''s attack, he noticed that from the stump of the monster''s neck, tentacles had sprouted and was reaching down to its severed head.


    "Blegghh... not again."


    Just like from his first fight with the Corrupted Dark Wood Elf in the first pathway, it connected its head back to its body. Then it opened its mouth and roared.


    "!"


    Cecil widened his eyes and quickly put up a barrier around him.


    "HAH!"


    PING PPING PING PPING


    Another shockwave smashed into his barrier and immediately broke it apart.


    "Shit! That''s strong!"


    Cecil sent more long ranged attacks at the monster. No matter how hard he tried to close the distance, the numerous tentacles in the air would always obstruct his way forward.


    He used Blink multiple times and tried everything. Cutting up the main body, slicing and dicing it, disintegrating the body with a Flash Canon, everything!


    But all he got was the disgusting visual of the Dark Wood Elf King''s Body regenerating again and again. Then it was accompanied by a subsequent roar and shockwave.


    "Tsk...how do I kill this thing?!" Cecil exasperatedly yelled.


    The monster roared once again and sent more and more tentacles along with spells and skills his way. Cecil did his best and kept on dodging and evading all the attacks.


    "This is going nowhere!"


    He was vexed. No matter what he tried, he couldn''t kill the monster. There wasn''t even a clue. He had his Mana Eyes active the entire time, but he still couldn''t find anything that resembled a core.


    "...don''t tell me I have to obliterate the entire body?"


    The entire body meant the vines and tentacles that were connected to it. Cecil grimaced and checked the amount of mana he had left.


    "...it should barely be enough for an Over Flash...but..."


    Cecil was worried. If he used Over Flash now, his remaining mana would completely zero out and he might fall into madness.


    His Zero Mana state was much different than his friends. When they zeroed out their mana they would only fall into a state of exhaustion, but him...he would fall into depravity and might even lose his mind from the dangerous state of having no mana present in his body.


    "I''ll drag things out...gather my mana first and fire off an Over Flash after I''m safe enough to use it."


    Cecil made up his mind and began to fight passively, not sending any big skills flying at the monster. He conserved his mana and began recharging his depleted mana as the fight continued to drag on.


    ******


    While Cecil was underground in the first extra trial, Lucia''s group was making their way over to the second trial''s location.


    When they passed through the northern gate, a mist began to flow from the depths of the forest and it covered everyone.


    "Guys! Stick together!" Lucia shouted.


    The Little Kings immediately grouped up together and tightened their formation. Serilla was with the Student Council and when they saw Lucia''s group quickly move together everyone around them followed suit.


    It was unfortunate however that despite being within arm''s reach of each other, when Lucia turned around to grab onto any one of them, her hands passed through and her friends dissipated into mist.


    "G-guys?!"


    Lucia panicked. She quickly activated her pseudo mana vision and noticed that the fog was emanating mana.


    "It''s not normal fog!"


    Lucia began to circulate her mana and she activated her Elemental Burst. A crimson aura rose from her body, it formed a barrier around her body and repelled the fog from getting close to her.


    Since she had lost sight of her friends, Lucia decided to just keep walking forward slowly. It was relatively...peaceful.


    No monsters showed up even after she had kept walking forward for over 30 minutes.


    "Hmmm... could I be inside an illusion?"


    Lucia was skeptical, there''s no way the trial would be this...un-suspenseful. The first trial required them to kill monsters, but now all they had to do was walk through the fog? Wasn''t this too easy?


    Not long after, Lucia arrived at a... house. It was a little weird looking, but if Cecil saw it, he would immediately think that it was a house from modern Earth. She was just about to step forward, but the door of the house quickly opened.


    From the house a young, handsome black haired foxkin man walked out and noticed Lucia standing there. He turned his eyes over and gently smiled.


    "What''re you doing, Lulu? Come in, you must be tired."


    "Huh?"


    Having her name called out so familiarly, Lucia blanked out for a moment. The man had very similar facial features to Cecil. He was much taller and more mature, but his voice was a little familiar.


    ''Is that...the a.d.u.l.t Cel?''


    Such were Lucia''s thoughts when she looked at the handsome young man walking over to her. When the a.d.u.l.t Cecil came over, he immediately stretched his arm over to her shoulder in an intimate fashion and pulled her next to him.


    "Let''s go?"


    "Uh..."


    The a.d.u.l.t Cecil chuckled and pulled her into the house. When Lucia passed through the unfamiliar house, there was a mirror just next to the door. When she looked over, she couldn''t help but notice that she too, had turned into an a.d.u.l.t.


    A beautiful and young foxkin woman was staring back at her. She had beautiful, silky silver hair that reached her ankles. There were also 9 fox tails peeking out from under her deluge of silver hair. The young woman had a voluptuous body, but Lucia couldn''t help notice that her belly was bulging a little.


    Standing next to her with the handsome young man, the two couple looked very well matched.


    "How''s the baby? You just got back from the doctor''s right? I''m sorry I couldn''t accompany you. Eli needed help with a monster problem the Kingdom was facing."


    "Huh?! B-baby?!"


    "Hm?"


    "Ehhh...uhhh??"


    Lucia was immediately fl.u.s.tered when she heard the word ''baby''. She looked down onto her bulging belly and an unknown feeling of happiness began to well up in her.


    ''This is...Cel and mine''s...baby?''


    Lucia began to smile happily. She noticed someone getting closer to her. When she opened her eyes, the a.d.u.l.t Cecil''s face was slowly closing in on hers.


    ''C-Cel''s about to kiss me!!!''


    She couldn''t help but grow extremely happy at this. Finally, the stupid idiot was taking the initiative!

 Chapter 180 - The Damned Second Trial

    Just as Cecil was about to plant a kiss on her luscious lips, Lucia''s eyes immediately snapped wide open and she pushed the a.d.u.l.t Cecil back.


    "Uwah...wh-what''s wrong, Lulu?" The a.d.u.l.t Cecil quickly asked.


    "...y-you...You''re not Cel!!!" Lucia screamed in response, tears were already welling up in her eyes threatening to fall down.


    "W-what''re you talking about?! Of course it''s me! I''m Cecil Silvaria, your husband!"


    Lucia smiled painfully at the a.d.u.l.t Cecil''s words. They were very sweet words to her and she wished that she could actually hear it come from the mouth of the REAL Cecil.


    "This is just an illusion...you don''t even smell like my Cel..." Lucia smiled sadly. Then her face twisted into rage.


    "How dare you...taint my Cel like this..."


    Lucia immediately reactivated her Elemental Burst. The crimson aura rose up around her.


    She tried to pull out her Shirayuki, but she noticed that it wasn''t anywhere on her waist. She didn''t have any of her weapons!


    Lucia grew fl.u.s.tered and the a.d.u.l.t Cecil approached her in a worry.


    "L-Lulu, please calm down! What''s this all about? How am I not, your Cel?"


    "Sh-shut up! Don''t talk to me! I won''t be deceived!" Lucia yelled back.


    Lucia began activating her bloodline''s magic. She used a mind-tampering spell on herself and suddenly felt sick. Her head started to hurt unbearably.


    "U-urgghhh...GAAAHHH!!"


    This never happened before, but when she tried to stop the magic, it wouldn''t stop and the pain started to hurt even more.


    Lucia crumpled onto the ground and she suddenly felt wet, the pain receded and she quickly snapped her eyes open.


    "!!!"


    She woke up just outside of the Beginning Plaza''s northern pathway with her body being dangled in the air inside the mouth of a...plant.


    Lucia quickly activated her Elemental Burst.


    "Get off of me!!!"


    She shouted and by just using her aura she disintegrated the ''man-eating'' plant that had her in its mouth.


    "Argh...disgusting..."


    Lucia landed, but she was drenched in a disgusting slimy liquid that smelled sweet. She took a short whiff and her mind began to turn hazy, but then she bit down on her tongue and woke up from the haziness.


    "S-so I was really in an Illusion!"


    The liquid that the plant had splattered on her body was what caused the illusion. Lucia used her aura to dry and clean off the illusion-inducing liquid from her body.


    She looked a little sad when it was all indeed just an illusion. When will the day come when that beautiful and blissful illusion turn into reality?


    "Haaahh...it''ll take forever if I wait for that idiot..." Lucia sighed tiredly.


    She quickly heard the groans of the others above her head.


    Lucia quickly turned her eyes up and saw her other friends being dangled in the air. It wasn''t only them, but practically everyone from the academies was up there inside the mouths of the disgusting man-eating illusion plants.


    She frowned and pulled out her Butterfly. She wrapped aura around her blade and sent an Ascending Blade to the plants that held her friends captive.


    She quickly cut them loose and blasted the plants away from her friends'' bodies. She activated her Mind Magic and woke her friends up.


    "O-ouch..."


    "Aggh..."


    "Ih...Ow..."


    Her friends began to open their eyes and groan in pain.


    "Hey, get up every one! We have to go save the rest of our friends!"


    Lucia began to notice that some of the students up above flashing green and then disappearing. It meant that they failed and were about to die from the illusions.


    Unless the participant was directly killed, the administrator would still be able to save them and pull them out of the trial and send them outside.


    As the flashes of green grew more numerous and the students began to disappear, Lucia quickly tried to cut down as many of the students from her academy as quickly as possible.


    Some of the students she cut down would have disappeared when they landed on the ground. Many had failed during this part of the trials.


    This part of the trials where it showed an illusion of what the affected person wanted the most was very scary.


    Not just everyone could break free from the illusion like Lucia did using her own power. Even she wanted to just let things be and enjoy the blissful married life with Cecil in the illusion. It was what she wanted the most, but knowing that thickhead, it''d probably take a long, long time before the proposition of marriage even flash through his mind.


    She wasn''t sure what the illusions her friends had seen were, but many who had awoken from them had very sad, regretful or lost expressions.


    If Lucia hadn''t acted quickly enough, many from her academy would have obviously failed on this unexpected 2nd trial.


    When Lucia and the rest were able to save 40 others from their academy, the other academy students began to open their eyes, some roared in anger while others simply began to cut down the surrounding plants and tried to save their friends.


    "Quickly! Quickly cut the others down from those plants and separate them! This damned abominable trial!" The Beastman Academy Leader roared.


    "Hurry! Cut your fellow students down from those plants!" Another Academy leader began ordering around her students.


    The Academy Leaders had all awoken from their illusions and began cutting down and instructing the students from their academies to help out. If they didn''t hurry, more and more of their students will fail the trials.


    This was only the 2nd trial! They still had 3 more to go and they couldn''t afford to lose so much just from this trial.


    How could they hope of ever completing all 5 trials and getting the ultimate reward if half of them were eliminated just from the 2nd trial?


    Zephyr was already getting busy, and with the early aid from the Little Kings, Arks Magic Academy was able to preserve many of their numbers. There were some unfortunate ones that despite being saved and separated from the illusion plants, they hadn''t awoken from the illusions.


    They were already too deep into the illusionary world and not long after, they disappeared in a flash of green light. They had been eliminated and taken out of the trial by the administrator.


    "Damn!" Zephyr struck one of the trees in the surroundings with his fist. He looked at the pitiful amount of students left in his group.


    Lucia looked around with a grimace and noticed that the other academies also hadn''t fared so well. Lucia sighed tiredly and plopped down onto the ground.


    After the second trial, the 480+ students were slashed down to only a little more than 250. Almost half of the students that passed through the first trial had failed to get through the second trial.


    "...Let''s get going! This is obviously the 2nd trial! Since we''ve cleared it, we should immediately head to the 2nd Plaza! Who knows what''ll happen if we linger here!" Zephyr shouted, quickly getting the attention of all the other academies.


    "Yes...those illusion plants might come back and ensnare us once again." The Elven Academy Leader agreed with him and began rounding up the rest of the elves.


    The Gigantes, Beastman, and Oceanic Academy Leaders silently agreed and began arranging their students. Once everyone was ready, they immediately set off in a hurry.


    The atmosphere was downtrodden, whatever it was that everyone experienced today had brought them all to heaven and quickly sent them straight to hell in the next moment.

 Chapter 181 - The Thorn and Blessing

    With the atmosphere the way it was and the condition of the students, Lucia couldn''t help but grow worried.


    The students that she and her friends had saved for some reason were...a little weakened.


    The liquid secreted by the illusion plants hadn''t only induced illusions, but also had weakening properties. If the third trial required them to fight monsters then many of the students present would fail or maybe even die.


    As the academy groups were making their way over to the 2nd plaza, suddenly a large explosion sounded off not too far from them and then, a large golden beam of mana flew up from the foliage just a distance away, destroying everything in its path.


    It continued to rise up and smash right into the ceiling of the trial grounds.


    "AAAHHHH!!!"


    Everyone who had passed the second trial and were currently recuperating while trudging forwards couldn''t help but scream in panic.


    "Wh-what''s that?!"


    Everyone was bewildered seeing the powerful golden beam that rose into the air. It originated from a place not far from where they were.


    "No way!" Fina exclaimed when she saw the golden beam.


    "Fina? What is it?" Lucia asked.


    "Lulu! Quickly! Check your bracelet!"


    At her words, Lucia quickly checked her bracelet and her face paled. The green gemstone quickly began turning into a deep orange color. It was about to enter the red.


    "C-Cel!"


    "I knew it!"


    "Huh?"


    "Cecil...he used Over Flash!"


    "Over Flash?"


    "It''s the technique that he used to obliterate those Frost Mammoths...you still remember that video right?"


    "Y-yeah...but why could he have used that skill for?"


    "..."


    Everyone was still in a panic, but the Little Kings were a little relieved. Cecil was still in the trials. He just wasn''t with them.


    Lucia turned her eyes to the bracelet. The bad thing was that ever since she entered the trial grounds, the mana connection the bracelet had with Cecil was severed. She couldn''t use the bracelet to sense Cecil''s position at all.


    At least now she knew that he was still in the trials, but the gem had turned a deep orange...Cecil might be in trouble.


    "Should we go take a look at the place where that beam came from?" Serilla came over and asked. It seems that she had already deduced the source of the mana beam from earlier. There was only one person that everyone knew used golden beams to attack and that was Cecil Silvaria.


    Lucia whispered, "Its Cecil no doubt...that''s his Over Flash skill..."


    "..."


    Serilla turned her attention to the other academy''s students. The leaders or representatives had already gathered everyone together and they looked like they too were about to go to the source of the golden beam, despite many of them being in a weakened state.


    "We should make haste. We don''t want Cecil to be alone when he confronts all those people."


    Zephyr, Lance and all the Faction leaders had come over already. They each nodded in reply and they gathered the remaining students and quickly made their way over to the location of where Cecil was supposedly at.


    *****


    *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*


    A pale looking Cecil was currently sitting down on the ground in exhaustion.


    "Ugh...that disgusting piece of shit...good thing it died after being incinerated by Over Flash..."


    Cecil was circulating his mana and quickly trying to speed up his recovery. He could feel the pangs of madness eating away at his consciousness.


    "Tsk...I should have gathered even more mana...this sword better be worth all that trouble..."


    Cecil turned his eyes towards the sword in his hand.


    When Cecil used Over Flash he had successfully obliterated the Corrupted Dark Wood Elf King, down to the last vine and tentacle. The core of the monster was actually high up in the ceiling, totally covered up by the huge, monstrous body of the Corrupted Elf King.


    His Over Flash blasted through the large body and struck the core of the monster, killing it altogether. The blast smashed through the ceiling and kept flying upwards. Eventually, the dark underground was illuminated by the light shining down through the massive hole Cecil''s Over Flash had created.


    The core of the monster dropped down and Cecil picked up the final wooden piece. It was actually in the shape of a sword hilt. Cecil had a thought and he quickly brought out the rest of the wooden slabs and they immediately resonated with each other.


    They gathered together and began to connect with each other, forming the wooden, black colored sword in his hands.


    When the Sword was formed, the Trial ended and the administrator announced the reward.


    [Thank you for liberating the soul of the Dark Wood Elf King. The reward is in your hands. The World Tree''s 1st Thorn, Corruption.]


    Cecil took a look at the ancient, rune-engraved black wooden sword. It had golden runes decorating the blade. It looked dull, but when he waved the sword to slice a vine, it surprisingly sliced through it cleanly.


    "Hmm...It''s actually pretty cool looking. It even conducts mana better than the Adamantium Sword...the natural mana array inside the blade is also a plus..."


    Cecil waved the black wooden sword around. He didn''t try activating the mana array since he would need to inject mana into the array.


    Cecil stored the sword into his white ring and checked his other reward.


    He gained the Dark Wood Blessing of the World Tree. The blessing allowed him to manipulate vine-like plants just like the Dark Wood Elves.


    Cecil waved his hand, branches, vines, and roots rose from the earth. He had to use some mana so he quickly fashioned a chair and sat down on it to recuperate his mana.


    He leaned into the chair and closed his eyes. Cecil was exhausted from the battle, his mana levels were dangerously low so he didn''t sense the presences that arrived at the top of the hole that he had created.


    *****


    "What caused this?" an elf wondered.


    The first group of students that arrived was the elves. They wondered what could have made the large hole.


    The hole emanated an absurd amount of mana, but they understood that this was only the leftover mana that originated from the previous golden beam.


    "Maybe a natural treasure was formed?"


    "...that might be possible..."


    Not long after, the Beastkin group arrived. Lucia looked at the elven group and turned her attention back to the hole. The mana that was radiating from the hole was very familiar to her.


    "It really is Cel!" Lucia exclaimed happily.


    She looked at her bracelet and saw that the deep orange color had lightened a little and faint traces of yellow were replacing the red.


    "Good!"


    Lucia looked around and the other academy groups arrived one by one.


    "Guys, I''m pretty sure Cel is down there. He''s probably recuperating right now. The gemstone began to change color to yellow already."


    The girl looked around once more, every student present was hesitant on going down the hole or not.


    No matter what, the hole emanated a monstrous amount of mana, whatever it was that was down there was a total monster.


    Lucia nodded towards her friend and she quickly jumped down into the hole with Yuna following after her. The other members of Little Kings followed suit. Eli opened up her wings and carried Velicia down with her.


    Fina deployed a mana armament. She jumped on and floated down. Ainz walked over and simply dropped. Midway a tornado formed around his lower body and he slowly lowered down into the hole.


    Serilla shrugged and just told everyone to wait up here. Everyone was still exhausted from the weakening liquid that the plants from the second trial. It was the same with the other academy students.


    The only reason why Lucia and the Little Kings weren''t weakened was because they had woken up relatively faster than the rest. The weakening effects didn''t affect them for too long so they quickly recovered after a brief moment of recuperation.


    The other academy''s had reluctant looks, but some of them decided to follow suit and jump down into the hole while others just stayed in place.


    When Lucia got to the bottom of the hole she quickly sent an Ascending Blade onto the floor and caused a shockwave that pushed her up into the air once again. She flipped and landed onto the dried up ground.


    Yuna landed not long after. As a dragon, she had the ability to fly naturally through the air regardless of whatever form she was in.


    Ainz, Eli, Velicia and Fina arrived not long after. They frowned when they saw the darkness around them.


    The hole was pretty deep, so the light from the rocks in the trial grounds'' ceiling was a little dim at the bottom.


    "Fina?"


    At Lucia''s call, Fina walked forward and began conjuring light orbs. She created 20 orbs and sent them into the surroundings, quickly illuminating the area.


    The other students who had decided to follow after Lucia''s group landed on the ground not long after. One of the students had consumed all their mana during the descent and they plummeted into the floor.


    It was a gruesome scene and Fina immediately paled from fright. The unfortunate student was a Gigantes student. He was pretty arrogant when he jumped down, saying he didn''t need mana to help with his landing.


    The hole was a little bit too deep for his body to handle the fall. The result was him meeting his end when he arrived at the bottom despite him activating multiple strengthening skills.


    Lucia only frowned when she saw the student kill himself. It wasn''t long that the group saw a ''throne'' fashioned from vines and roots.


    "Hey! What''s that? It looks like a throne!" A were-cat said.


    Fina had spread out her light orbs in all directions and the were-cat who had a better vision in the dark was able to immediately make out the throne that Cecil had fashioned.


    He didn''t deliberately make a throne, but he only remembered the previous tree throne he sat on when he was dragged into the trial. He was exhausted and had subconsciously made his chair in the shape of that throne.


    Everyone turned their attention onto the throne and Fina directed all her light orbs over.


    The students immediately noticed the pale person sleeping on top of the throne.


    "CEL!" Lucia exclaimed.


    Cecil''s consciousness was a little hazy, but he still heard Lucia call out to him. He struggled to open his eyes.


    ''H-how come...I feel so exhausted?''


    Through the gaps of his eyes, Cecil was able to make out his friends. Lucia saw Cecil twitch his eyes open, but was too exhausted to completely open them. The other students around them turned their attention onto Lucia''s group after she exclaimed.


    One of the students immediately dashed towards Cecil, he assumed that whatever reward or treasure that had formed was naturally in the hands of the pale looking foxkin that was sitting on the throne.


    Lucia saw this and grew furious. She was just about to rush forward, but then Yuna immediately pulled her back.


    "STOP!"


    "Let go Yuna!" She roared back.


    "Look!" Yuna quickly pointed ahead.


    When the student arrived 10 meters away from Cecil, the ground burst and vines immediately popped out and wrapped themselves around him and pulled the student into the ground.


    His screams were immediately cut off once the ground closed. This caused everyone present to pale and rethink their actions.


    Just getting close to Cecil was dangerous, but then a change occurred on the throne. The vines and branches that the throne was made of began to wriggle around and wrap themselves around Cecil.


    "WHAT?! NO!!!"


    The vines wrapped around Cecil and pulled him underground. Lucia was just about to rush forward, but Cecil was already gone.


    She arrived at the spot where Cecil disappeared into and began blasting the ground with Lava Bolts.


    But no matter what she did, the ground was as pristine as it always was. No amount of lava bolts had even broken through the earth.


    "CEL!"

 Chapter 182 - Third Trial

    The last thing Cecil saw before he lost his consciousness was the scene of the student rushing over to him and being pulled into the ground, and then the scene of Lucia screaming at him.


    Cecil didn''t know how much time had passed when he finally regained consciousness.


    "Ugh...where am I?"


    Cecil took a look around and found himself back on the extra trials'' entrance. He was seated on the wooden throne once more. He stood up and the throne immediately returned into the ground. Now the entrance to the extra trial was sealed.


    "Maybe it was because I cleared it?"


    With that thought, Cecil was just about to go back to the Beginning Plaza through the path he used to arrive here. He had to quickly make his way back to the group.


    He was just about to walk back onto the path, but then the shrubbery to the right of the clearing began to shake and move around. The trees and plants began to move back and form a new path while the previous path he took had closed up.


    Cecil quickly took out the trial grounds'' map and noticed a change. The path that he used to get here had disappeared and a new one had appeared. The path led straight towards the 3rd trial directly skipping the 2nd trial.


    "Oh, cool."


    Cecil hummed and began walking down the new path after he stored the map. Cecil couldn''t help but notice that his mana had fully recovered.


    "Woah! Normally, it''d take at least half a day for me to recover all of my mana if it got that low!"


    He then remembered the administrator say that regardless of how much time had passed by in the extra trial, only an hour would have passed outside.


    "When I lost consciousness, maybe half a day really did pass? Though, it didn''t look like too much time had passed out here."


    Cecil noticed that the stones illuminating the area were still as bright as before, he couldn''t really tell if only an hour had passed, but he guessed that he should just take the administrator''s words at face value.


    He quickly made his way towards the 3rd trail''s location, but instead of arriving at the primary trial area, he had instead arrived at the extra trial''s location.


    "Weird...does this mean I can just go through all the extra trials to pass the World Tree''s Trial?"


    Cecil didn''t think any further. He had arrived at the clearing and could see an active teleportation gate. He quickly walked through it and he was teleported away.


    *****


    Lucia and the rest had long since got out of the hole Cecil was previously at. They had now arrived at the 2nd Plaza. Everyone who came to the bottom of the hole had reported their findings to their groups and now every other academy group had turned a wary eye towards Arks Academy.


    However some of them were gloating at their misfortune. The supposedly strongest member of their group was killed and it was all due to his own greed. This was what they naturally thought when they heard the reports of the other students. Cecil was pulled down underground by the roots so they naturally concluded that he had died.


    Lucia and everyone thought this as well, but the mana bracelet in Lucia''s possession stated otherwise. If Cecil had indeed died then the mana inside the gemstone would have long since dissipated. However, Cecil''s mana was still present inside the gemstone.


    "He''s alive. Remember that Cecil had cleared a Corrupted Area, maybe he was sent to do a different sort of trial than the rest of us."


    "Mhm." Lucia nodded at Serilla''s words. It was evident that he was still alive so there must have been a reason why he was pulled down into the earth.


    While others were gloating over at the Arks Academy''s misfortune, the Elves weren''t. They had grown worried since after the report from the elves that had dived down into the hole, they were more certain that Cecil was the person in possession of the trial grounds'' map.


    "Dammit! His restrictions were lifted and the World Tree is protecting him!"


    "Yeah...it killed that beastman student who was rushing at him and pulled him into a safe place... just what could that boy have fought to make him so exhausted?"


    "I''m not sure...but it must have been powerful. I overheard from those beastkin that he was apparently the strongest student in their group. I know of Zephyr, but I''ve never heard of this foxkin kid."


    "That doesn''t matter...what matters is that, that kid had successfully passed the trial he was given. The reward he must have gotten from that will sure be great...but how can we take those from him?"


    "...we''ll worry about that later...let''s focus on the here and now. We have to pass through this trial first before even thinking about anything else."


    "Yeah! Just look at how careless we got...over half of our brothers and sisters failed the 2nd trial!"


    After the academy students cleared the second trial, they were given rewards in the form of random ancient magic spells and skill books.


    Lucia had received a high-tiered flame spell, Meteor Fall. Eli was given the lost high-speed combat skill, Shunpo. Ainz was given an array spell book, something he didn''t understand so he just tossed it into his ring.


    He''d ask Cecil about it later since the boy was pretty much obsessed with runes and magic array formations.


    The others also received some powerful magic spell or combat skill, some had received a random lost book about knowledge that they didn''t understand. Those people lamented on their misfortune, but if Cecil saw the books he would without a doubt be very interested in them.


    No amount of high-tiered spells could replace the importance of knowledge lost in the passing of a bygone era.


    In Cecil''s eyes, the luckiest one of the group was undoubtedly Velicia. She had actually acquired a tome regarding lost magi-tech!


    As everyone was either rejoicing or cursing at their rewards the next trial began right in the plaza.


    [Third Trial, survive until the end!]


    It was a simple explanation. Survive, but survive from what?


    The area around the plaza began to rumble. From the four paths leading into or out of the plaza the students noticed a large group of monsters heading straight towards them.


    "Razor-horned Rhinos!" A beastman exclaimed.


    The monsters stampeding towards them were large sized rhinoceros-like monsters. Their bodies towered over 8 meters in height. They were huge, but from what Lucia and the rest could see... there were tens to hundreds of these monsters rushing towards them.


    "EVERYONE!!! PICK A PATH AND DEFEND IT! ELVES PLEASE PROVIDE BACK UP!"


    Zephyr was the first to take command. He immediately began instructing the Arks Academy students and chose the path closest to them, the western path.


    Just as he was arranging everyone into formation, the beastman academy students obstructed their way forwards.


    "WHAT''S THE DEAL?!"


    "We''ll be taking this path, Zephyr. Why don''t you pick another one?" The Beastman Student President chuckled in reply.


    "Fool! Can''t you see that you''re closer to the northern path?!"


    "Oh? Sorry, my eyes weren''t looking over there. I just saw the west path first and naturally asked everyone to make our way over!"


    "..."


    Everyone from Arks Academy grew furious at the frivolous reply. Can''t these idiots see that there are more important things at hand?!


    Lucia spat at the ground in front of her and flickered her way over to the northern path. She was already pissed when the beastman student tried to take advantage of the weakened Cecil during their time in the hole. She so wanted to blast these imbeciles away, but she remembered that the administrator didn''t take too well with violence between participants when they were in the plazas.


    When she arrived at the northern gate, she unsheathed Shirayuki and got into a stance everyone in Arks Academy was familiar with.


    She activated her Elemental Burst and used her Solaris Flame to power it. The purple aura rose from her small body and she furiously wrapped it around her katana.


    "ASCENDING BLADE!!!"


    She shouted and slashed her sword at the monsters that were just about to enter into the plaza.


    There was a slight delay before a humongous purple beam of sword energy flew out and smashed into the rhinos.


    The beam obliterated the gate and incinerated all the rhinos that came charging at Lucia. When the sword energy beam smashed into the back of the rhino pack it blew up and rose into the air.


    "..." Lucia was seething with fury. Those stupid animals kept on causing their group problems. She turned an eye towards the Beastmen Academy who was struggling to keep the rhinos at bay. She scoffed and sheathed her weapon. She then sat down on a slab of stone and waited for the next wave of monsters to come over.


    "...you didn''t have to do that, Lucia." Zephyr came over and said with strained smile.


    "..."


    Seeing as the girl didn''t respond to him, Zephyr released a sigh and began organizing the rest of the students.


    The other academy groups were still busy trying to stave off the monster wave. The Elves who were famed for their archery and magic were providing support to all 3 fronts, but it still took a while for them to clear out the monster wave.


    Everyone couldn''t help but turn an incredulous eye at the Beastkins.


    "That skill..."


    "It looked similar to that golden beam of mana that created the hole..."


    "..."


    Now they understood what ''strongest in their group'' meant to the Beastkin. That golden beam wasn''t caused by the formation of a natural treasure, but it was actually a skill that the Beastkin''s strongest had used.


    They were honestly glad that this person had perished inside the hole. Being dragged into the ground by those vines only meant death to them. If this character was still present with them, then the beastkins could just kick back and relax.


    In the middle of the plaza the earth began to rumble and overturn. Then a stone pillar rose from the ground and it displayed some words on its edifice.


    1. Razor-horned Rhinoceros: 100 killed, 20 fled. Most kills: Beastkin, Lucia Yukihime


    2. Second wave in 30 minutes.


    3. Pending


    4. Pending


    5. Pending


    6. ...


    7. ...


    8. ...


    The list kept going down until the 50th. What everyone inferred from this was that there would be 50 waves of monsters that would continuously assault the plaza.


    Yuna stretched her body and plopped down next to Lucia.


    "...looks like we''ll be staying here for a while."


    "Mhm."

 Chapter 183 - The Repetitive Trial

    When Cecil arrived at the other side of the teleportation gate, he couldn''t help but close his eyes do to the piercing light flashing into his eyes.


    After Cecil''s eyes adjusted themselves to the brightness, he observed his surroundings. It was windy. Like very, very windy. No, it was like he was standing next to a giant tornado.


    Before he was down underground most likely in the World Tree''s roots, but now he was high up on top of the branches.


    The bright piercing illumination was from the sun high above his head, but because he was high up on the World Tree''s branches the sun looked much larger and its rays were much more glaring.


    "...Ugh," Cecil groaned from the piercing sunrays. He struggled to just open his eyes, not to mention it was also extremely hot.


    Cecil was a little bewildered. The mana density high up on the branches was really dense, and he felt that they originated not from the World Tree, but from the sun''s rays.


    "Could mana...be originating from the sun?"


    If this was true then it was no wonder the mana density rose exponentially when he got higher up into the sky. The closer one was to the sun, the more mana there would be.


    No wonder such a large tree was able to thrive and not cause problems to the surrounding areas. A large tree like Urrugdrasil would undoubtedly need an absurdly large amount of nutrients. If it sucked up all the nutrients from the ground then the area where the Elven Kingdom was located on would have turned dead and barren long ago.


    Now Cecil understood why the Elven Kingdom was able to thrive and the World Tree was all healthy. This sun was providing an abundant amount of mana to nurture the tree so it wouldn''t need to suck up any from the earth.


    Cecil began to explore the area. He was surprised that he wasn''t blown off of the branches due to the wind. The idiot even tried to jump and see if the wind might pick him up and blow him off of the branch. Of course, it didn''t work and he just dumbly landed back onto the branch.


    "...good thing no one saw me."


    Cecil began blushing in shame, but he was feeling a little disappointed. If Lucia was here, she would have probably smacked the living daylights out of the fool.


    "Well, enough joking around...just what, am I supposed to do now?"


    Cecil looked around. In front of him, the branch continued to expand far into the distance. Behind him, was a wooden wall that he assumed was most likely the large tree trunk? The boy turned his eyes forwards and began walking.


    "No other way but forward~ tree tree tree~ I''m walking on a large tree~" To stave off his boredom, Cecil began to sing a tune he randomly came up with.


    It didn''t take long until bird-type and insect-type monsters were attracted to his voice. Cecil unhurriedly took out his sword.


    Only the monsters that dove down to attack him would Cecil cut down. As for the ones that kept their distance, Cecil sent a mana bolt to greet them. It was a fatal greeting that sent the monster plummeting down to the earth if they were unfortunately hit.


    The trial was...easy? He only had to deal with the monsters that swarmed at him from the skies, the extreme heat, and the annoying illumination. Normally, if anyone wanted to pass through the trials it would take much more effort. The winds that blew in the tree tops, the extreme heat, and the bright surroundings obstructed many mages'' and warrior''s ability to retaliate against the horde of birds and insect-type monsters.


    The winds also caused the trajectory of most spells and long ranged attacks to deviate. Not Cecil''s though. He didn''t know any spells and only used his mana to attack. He also attached a homing function onto each of his mana bolts and they would soar straight towards their targets.


    Sometimes they would explode in mid-air because of the strong wind drafts, but it was inconsequential to him since he could just send more mana bolts over.


    As for the diving monsters, Cecil''s close combat abilities were too overwhelming. He didn''t have to worry about falling off the branch if he decided to jump up to attack. He already tested it and the winds couldn''t carry him off the branch if he only decided to jump straight up.


    Cecil countered the bright environment by simply closing his eyes and using only his senses to fight off the monsters. His Mana Sense was practically a cheat on this trial. He leisurely made his way through the branch while singing and cutting down the monsters swarming at him. It took him about 2 hours or so to arrive at the end of the branch and find another teleportation gate.


    Cecil walked through it and arrived at another branch. This time however he was at the end of the branch. He would have to walk back towards the World Tree''s Trunk since that was the only way forward.


    "Phew...this is exhausting instead of challenging..."


    Cecil walked forward and he had to deal with swarms of flying monsters soon after. It was an unrewarding fight since the monsters would immediately dissipate into light after he slashed them down or blew them up.


    When he arrived at the trunk, Cecil was greeted by another teleportation gate. He walked through it and another tree branch greeted him.


    "..."


    He was about to turn around and walk back into the teleportation gate, but he noticed that it was no longer active!


    "...you''re kidding...right?"


    Cecil thought that the administrator might just say ''nope'' in his head, but no notification of the sort echoed in his mind. He released a tired sigh and continued to walk forward.


    The branch he was on was a little different than the rest, it wasn''t straight like the previous two, but it twisted and slanted upwards a little. The monsters swarming at him in hordes were annoying him now. The sounds of birds screeching and insects buzzing were pushing him to the brink of crazy.


    "Maybe the goddamn trial was actually to endure through the maddening noise and solitary environment that the participant was subjected to." He thought aloud.


    Cecil trudged through the trial while single-mindedly killing the monsters coming his way. He continued walking for an absurdly long amount of time. He passed through 20 teleportation gates and walked through 20 branches.


    Cecil felt he had been walking for almost a week now, but the end of the trials was nowhere to be found. During the times when he was hungry, Cecil would pull out some of the food he had prepared inside his ring and sit down to take a break and eat.


    He would sleep or rest only when he was close to the teleportation gates since the monsters weren''t present when he lingered around them. It was a safe zone and Cecil thanked the administrator for it, though he was constantly cursing him or her in his mind for giving him such an unreasonable trial.


    This continued on for what Cecil felt like was over half a month or so, perhaps 15 or 20 days. Cecil had lost count after the second week since the buzzing and noise from the monsters forced him to turn his focus into his mind and block out all the noise from the surroundings.


    He relied only on his sight and battle sense to fight the monsters. Although the difficulty grew when stronger monsters began to show up, but it was better than him going mad from the constant noise.


    If it was any ordinary man, they would have been driven into a corner after the 5th branch by now, but Cecil persevered.


    After an unknown amount of time, Cecil finally made it past the 50th teleportation gate. This time however he wasn''t sent to another tree branch, but instead he had arrived at dome that was made with intertwining tree branches. Sunlight peeked out from in between the narrow gaps as it illuminated the inside of the dome.


    Cecil was exhausted and he immediately plopped down onto the ground. He felt dirty and uncomfortable. He hadn''t taken a shower for god knows how long! He didn''t have any magic to create water so he couldn''t just wash himself whenever he wanted to like Lucia, Ainz and Fina.


    He was also almost out of drinking water. When he had the strength to stand back up, he couldn''t help but notice the fountain full of water at the right side of the tree dome. The boy immediately rushed to the fountain and began pulling out empty canisters. He quickly filled them up with the fountain''s water.


    The water was rich in mana and it didn''t seem contaminated since it was crystal clear. After filling up all his canisters, he took off his clothes and dipped himself into the water and took a bath.


    It was unethical, but Cecil didn''t care. He was dirty, sweaty and uncomfortable. When he dipped into the crystal clear cold water he groaned in pleasure.


    "Hooohhh...this is great! I''d prefer hot water, but who gives a damn!"


    Cecil was about to begin scrubbing off the dirt he had acc.u.mulated, but suddenly felt his body was cleaned just from stepping into the fountain''s water.


    Cecil dove into the waters and stepped out of the fountain when he felt that he was completely clean. When he turned to look at the water, it was already murky with dirt and impurities.


    "I''m sorry," Cecil said as he bowed down in apology, but then the fountain began to gurgle and the water was drained from the fountain. Then more water began to spout out from the top of the water fountain and it was immediately filled once more with mana-rich, crystal clear water.


    "Oh!"


    Cecil went over to the fountain once again and began washing his dirty clothes. He was humming happily and saw the dirt and stains being magically erased just as he dipped his clothes into the fountain''s water. He was worried that the clothes might stay stained, but the water was really effective and the dirt and stains were completely erased.


    Cecil''s uniform returned to its pristine condition not long after, he dried them and immediately put them back on. Once again the fountain emptied itself out and clear water refilled it.


    He smiled at this and thought it was a pretty convenient tool, when he activated his Mana Eyes and observed the fountain he found all sorts of runes and arrays in the interior of the fountain.


    "Woah! It''s actually a lost magi-tech!"


    Cecil really wanted to uproot the fountain and bring it back with him, but if he did so, then he might destroy all the runes and arrays engraved on it.


    He quickly took out a Magic Tome from his spatial ring and began jotting down the runes and arrays he saw. Once he made sure he got all of them down, Cecil finally turned his attention to the center of the dome.


    At the center of the dome was a pedestal made entirely of branches and wood. On the pedestal was another wooden sword, similar to the Corruption that he got during the previous extra trial.


    Cecil walked up to the pedestal and read the inscriptions on its face.


    "...The World Tree''s Third Thorn, Perseverance..."

 Chapter 184 - The Academies’ Trial

    Cecil was fascinated while looking at the wooden sword. Unlike the Corruption, the World Tree''s First Thorn, the wood on the Third Thorn was a red color. It still had the same golden runes engraved in it, but the grooves on the blade were a little different.


    The size shape and engravings were the same, the only difference were the grooves and color of the blade.


    Cecil walked up to the pedestal and had a funny thought.


    "The sword in the stone...haha~" Cecil smirked thinking about the legendary sword. "One day, I''ll go gather the best ores and materials out there, then I''ll ask Radon to craft me another sword and I''ll name it Excalibur...huhuhu~"


    Cecil snickered at the thought, "Then I''ll make a sword skill exclusively for the blade and name it Excalibur as well!"


    With that passing thought, Cecil clenched both his hands over the hilt of the wooden blade and pulled.


    To his surprise, it didn''t take him much strength to pull out the sword. Just as he was able to pull out the entirety of the sword out, Cecil felt something rush into his body through his hands.


    "Wah?!"


    Red colored mana began flowing from the pedestal into the sword and into Cecil''s body. It was very painful, but even when he tried to loosen his hands around the sword''s hilt he couldn''t.


    "GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"


    As the red colored mana entered his body, he felt it eating away at his own mana. His mana was present all around his body, permeating every single cell of his being. The pain of having all of that mana being devoured was unprecedented to Cecil.


    He felt like his body was slowly being grinded down into meat paste, but he could nothing to stop it. Cecil tried to endure the pain, but it was too maddening for him. It was the first time he was subjected to something like this and he was panicking.


    Unknown to him, the exact same thing happened when he had gotten ahold of Corruption. Black colored mana had flowed into him, but he couldn''t see this due to the dark environment and he didn''t feel this excruciating pain because Cecil''s mana was very low at the time.


    Now that his mana had been fully recovered and he had so much of it, the pain of the devouring was more prominent to him.


    Cecil couldn''t handle the pain and dropped to his knees. The weakness began to spread all throughout his body and he fainted soon enough. Even while unconscious, he was still groaning and intermittently spasm in pain.


    While still holding onto the sword, he fainted leaning over the pedestal. The red mana flared up and continued to flow into his body uninhibited.


    *****


    Down at the 2nd plaza where the 3rd trial was being conducted, it was unknown how many days had passed, but the students had finally reached the 50th and last wave of monsters.


    On the pedestal there was a record of the time, monster kills, and the person with the most kills during the wave engraved on it.


    The person with the most kills during the wave would be given a random reward at the end of the wave.


    What was common in all of these records were that the name of the person with the most kills was always the same.


    Lucia had monopolized all of the most kills and their rewards. She didn''t want to do this, but during the 5th and 6th waves, some students of the other academies wanted to cause trouble for the Arks Academy since they had begun to monopolize the kill rewards.


    Lucia had only taken the kill rewards during the 1st wave. The next couple of waves she let her friends from Little Kings take the most kills while she went around and helped all her fellow students if they were placed in danger.


    Because of this, they earned the ire of the other Academies. The Beastmen were the first to try something during the 5th wave. They sent some of their students to try and kill steal their monsters.


    Of course they said it was in the name of cooperation since the Ark''s Academy had the least amount of students remaining. They had only 40 students left while all the other academies had 50-55 of theirs left.


    Zephyr let it pass since Ainz was still able to take the most kills during the wave. The next wave was Fina''s turn and this time the Gigantes had come to play, along with the Beastmen. Fina only barely got the most kills during this wave and this was only because she decided to give them some payback.


    Fina conjured multiple familiars and mana armaments. Then she sent them over to the Beastmen and Gigantes'' lanes and stole their kills. They complained of course, but it was a good thing that the Neftersea Academy stepped in.


    Obviously because they were picking on their very own Princess, of course they had to come and defend her!


    But, the continued interference lasted until the 10th wave and this caused Lucia to explode in fury. The 7th and 8th waves were given to the Neftersea Academy. Then during the 8th wave, the Neftersea Academy and Arks Academy let the Elves take over their lanes. The elves were at the most disadvantageous position since they were required to support everyone, so the two academies let them have a chance.


    Because of this, the Gigantes and Beastmen Academies became more brazen and directly tried to put their hands on the two academies'' gates. Lucia could no longer hold back and decided to just simply end the wave in her lane with an Ascending Blade.


    Since she single handedly took down an entire lane''s wave, she of course got the most kills once again. Lucia continued to do this for another 5 waves and it finally caused the two academies to band together and started to berate the Arks Academy and show open hostility to them.


    Since they couldn''t use any violence against each other when inside the plaza, a furious Lucia shut them up by sending two Ascending Blades directly into their lanes, literally taking away all hopes of them getting any sort of reward.


    The reward system of the 3rd trial didn''t only reward the person with the most kills, but everyone with any amount of monster kills would get a reward even if it was just one monster. Though, the reward was not as great as the person with the most kills.


    Because of Lucia''s open threat, the two academies immediately backed down. They still tried to send some men to interfere with the Arks Academy, but Lucia put a stop to all that by cleanly wiping the monster waves with every single skill and spell in her arsenal.


    If one Ascending Blade didn''t wipe the monsters then she would send two. If that wasn''t enough, she would continue sending more and more down the lane in a fury.


    The multiple sword energy beams that decimated the lanes of monsters destroyed the plants and terrain in the Arks Academy''s lane. Her name Apocalyptic Queen wasn''t just for show. When she was angry enough, she could cause a mini-apocalypse to happen.


    The best thing about Ascending Blade was that it used up very little mana. Elemental Burst''s aura was used to power the skill so although there was a sizable amount of aura used, it wasn''t all that much compared to Lucia''s abundant reserves of mana.


    That''s why Lucia was able to spam the skill without worry about depleting her mana. Even if she somehow did use up her mana inside her mana point, then she could just release one of her tails'' cores and use that mana instead.


    This incredulous and mind-boggling scene finally put a stop to the two academies'' scheming and they finally knew about another thing, there wasn''t only one monster present in Arks Academy. Although everyone from the other academies thought that the other monster had perished, there was still another that took his place.


    Lucia had furiously taken the most kills starting from the 11th monster wave. She gave no quarter to anyone around her. She was too furious to even share the rewards with her friends.


    Her only thoughts were to quickly end the trial and meet back up with Cecil or try and find him since he was still somewhere in the trial grounds.


    The intervals between waves increased 30 minutes after every wave and for the 50th wave the rest period was over a day long, 25 hours to be exact. During the previous wave, the academy students had to face against multiple colossus titans of different elements.


    Earth Titans, Magma Titans, Artic Titans, Storm Titans, Dusk Titans, and Dawn Titans, they were a tricky bunch of monsters that complemented each other when they worked together.


    Many students began to die or directly failed during this monster wave. The students began to falter starting from the 40th wave. The previous waves were child''s play compared to the 40th wave.


    From then on, the casualties and failures only continued to rise. This time the monsters had even been able to breach into the plaza and all the academies had to band together to take down every single monster.


    It was tough even for the Little Kings, but they still managed to kill off every monster in their lanes. They had even requested for Zephyr to leave the lane up to them and go help out the other academies if they required it.


    Of course, the Gigantes and Beastmen didn''t want it, so they helped out the Neftersea Academy students. But as the waves continued, the two academies began to pile up even more casualties than the Neftersea, Elven, and Arks Academies put together.


    They had no choice but to request for help. The only lane that was still going strong was the northern lane where the Little Kings had decided to take control of.


    The party was used to dealing with these kinds of high ranked monsters. From the 40th wave, S ranked monsters began to pour in and finally on the 49th wave when they faced against the individually ranked S titans, the threat that they were exposed to rival SS ranked monsters because the Titans were in a pack and they were coordinating very well with each other.


    It took them over a day of constant rotations between members to clear the 49th wave and they were given 25 hours of rest time to prepare for the last 50th wave.


    The casualties and failures were so high for every academy that the total amount of students left was barely a little over 100.


    Arks Academy still had 26 students left, their numbers being slashed almost by half. The remaining students were all the faction leaders, the Arks Academy Kings and some very strong or lucky students left behind.


    The other academies didn''t fare any better, having only 20 to 40 students left. Arks Academy was no longer the one with the least amount of students, but the Gigantes instead.


    This was mostly due to the fact that the Titans were magic based monsters. For the Physically strong Gigantes, their strength meant little to the Titans and many of the close combatants were immediately put down by the monsters.


    The third trial was already so hard. None of the remaining students had any hopes of clearing the last monster wave. They were all prepared to wipe during the last wave.


    [Time left until final wave: 2 hours 12 minutes


    Please make the appropriate preparations. Monster wave incoming: Corrupted Dark Wood Elves]

 Chapter 185 - The Final Wave

    With the final hour leading to the last wave approaching, Lucia had finished recovering all her mana. Fina and the healers that were able to survive until the last wave had also finished healing everyone and were recuperating their mana.


    The Academy Presidents were gathered together in the middle of the plaza holding a meeting. Now that it was finally the last wave, they no longer could afford to hold any ulterior motives to one another.


    They had to be aboveboard and fair with each other in order to eke out a win in this final trial. They were discussing just what kind of monster the Dark Wood Elves were.


    The Academy Leaders naturally turned to the elves since the monsters also had elf in their name. Cecil didn''t find any information about these elves, but it didn''t mean that the Elven race''s young generation were deprived of this knowledge.


    They knew full well what these elves were. The second stain of their race after the Blood Elves who now called themselves vampires.


    "The Dark Wood Elves were originally the caretakers of the World Tree''s roots alongside the Drows...but, during the last ancient war when the demon race had invaded our continent, they were somehow tempted to join the demons and tried to steal the World Tree''s Blessing for them."


    Cleo Clarentine, the High Elf that Cecil had met during his outing in Elfheim, was actually the true leader of the elves. The Sun Elf Alanda Sunstrider had stepped down since she was only a temporary substitute since Cleo liked to remain inconspicuous and maintain a low profile.


    But since the situation called for it, she had to step forward and take command. She explained the history of the Dark Wood Elves to the others and the characteristics of the corrupted elves.


    "Hmmm... so they control vines and dark magic?" Zephyr asked once more.


    "Yes, at least that''s what was recorded in the books," Cleo replied, she then looked towards Zephyr''s group and tried to find the person she had met during her outing.


    "Uhm...wasn''t there a black haired foxkin boy within your academy?"


    "Hm? You mean Cecil?"


    "Yeah, that''s him!" Cleo smiled when she heard the familiar name.


    "...didn''t you know? He was the person who was pulled into the ground inside that large hole..."


    "Huh? So...you mean that boy was the one who created that large hole?"


    "Yeah...he''s our strongest student...it''s a shame that he isn''t here...the trial would have been much easier with him," Zephyr regretfully shook his head.


    Of course, he didn''t believe that Cecil had failed or died. Since Lucia said that his mana inside her bracelet was still active and she felt his presence was very close on the day just before the 3rd trial began, but the connection was suddenly cut off afterwards.


    It was cut off during the time when Cecil had stepped through the teleportation gate that sent him to the next extra trial.


    The distance was just close enough for the bracelet to create a connection with Cecil, but since he was sent far off into the branches of the World Tree, the connection was severed once again.


    But at least they knew that Cecil was still alive and was somewhere in the trials.


    "Ah...what a pity...he was an interesting fellow..." Cleo sadly said.


    "Hmm..."


    "Hmph! Why are we talking about a dead guy anyway? We have more pressing matters!" The Beastman Academy President, a werelion named Reinhart Orca, interjected with a reprimanding tone.


    "..."


    "We should be discussing how to defeat these Corrupted Elves!"


    Zephyr looked at his counterpart and simply said, "I''m leaving the northern lane to my Academy''s Little Kings, we won''t need to worry about that area."


    "Little Kings?"


    "The party of six that crushed the monsters in the northern lane during the 40th to 49th waves," Zephyr replied while pointing towards Lucia and her party.


    "...that girl..."


    "You better not piss her off again. In our academy, she''s called the Apocalyptic Queen for a reason."


    "Hmph, you and your ''Kings''," Reinhart scoffed.


    "Heh, I''m only leaving this warning since that girl can keep a grudge." Zephyr scoffed in reply.


    The Gigantes Leader, a giant named Mal''norr Fik, the Neftersea Academy''s president, a merfolk girl named, Eva Quorra, and Cleo Clarentine turned an eye towards the foxkin girl who was sitting down and frowning while glancing at her bracelet.


    "She''s a great asset," Cleo smiled.


    "A great warrior and mage, Mal''norr, respects," the giant said as he pounded his chest twice.


    "Hey, Lucia! Come over for a sec!" Zephyr called out.


    Lucia looked up at him and walked over.


    "What''s up?" Lucia asked plainly.


    "Can I leave the northern lane to your party?"


    "...Mhm." Lucia nodded and turned around.


    The leaders looked at the girl''s back. She showed no respect to Zephyr or to any of the leaders present. She hadn''t even bothered to glance at them or greet them.


    "Hmph, arrogant!" Reinhart said in dissatisfaction.


    Cleo and Eva only chuckled while Mal''norr smiled widely, in his opinion a strong warrior should be like her. A person with little words, but had unprecedented strength.


    Zephyr only shrugged and said, "She knows full well that I''m the Crown Prince, but she doesn''t even care to show me any sort of respect, so don''t expect her to give any of you any sort of attention. The only ones she''ll show any sort of reaction to would be the members of her party and her fianc¨¦."


    "Oh? That girl''s engaged?" Eva asked.


    Cleo and Mal''norr were also intrigued. Just what sort of person could capture the heart of such a strong individual?


    "Well, I''m pretty sure you know by now, it''s their party leader, Cecil Silvaria," Zephyr answered.


    "Hah! The dead guy!" Reinhart laughed. But then he felt a sudden chill. He quickly turned around, but found no one there.


    "...you better not antagonize her," Zephyr warned.


    "..."


    Lucia had moved back to the northern gate with the rest of Little Kings. Ainz and the rest suddenly felt the girl release an enormous amount of bloodl.u.s.t before she reined it in.


    "What''s wrong Lulu?" Fina worriedly asked.


    "...nothing," Lucia replied.


    "..."


    It was obviously not ''nothing''. Lucia was mad at something, but they didn''t know what so they could only drop it.


    "Let''s just focus on the task at hand...these dark wood elves, I can tell that they are some species of elves that''s been corrupted," Lucia said solemnly.


    With her change in gear, every member of Little Kings became serious.


    "Let me explain what they are," Yuna suddenly raised her voice. Everyone''s attention turned to her and the dragon girl began to explain in detail all the information she had about the elves.


    "...so they are monsters now?"


    "Yeah, during the last ancient war, that species of elves were tempted into the demon''s side and they were corrupted, the World Tree stripped them of their blessing and cast a curse on their bloodline, turning them into monsters that protect the World Tree''s roots."


    "..."


    Yuna then began to explain the abilities of the Dark Wood Elves. Fina then planned out their battle arrangements to counteract and quickly take down the monsters.


    "Remember, we need to take them down as quickly as possible. We still have to help out the rest of the academies. If we take too long and they are wiped out, we''ll be surrounded and besieged on all sides later," Fina solemnly reminded her friends.


    They nodded in response and Ainz began prepping the terrain to work in their advantage. The other academy students saw them getting ready for action and they mobilized as well. They quickly created earth ramparts, trenches and pitfalls with earth spikes at the bottom in the lanes.


    They did all they could to prepare for the final wave. When there was only 30 minutes left until the last wave, they had one last meal to fill their bellies. Then the Academy Leaders rallied everyone together and began to give them words of motivation and encouragement.


    Once the last second of the timer ticked away, the administrator''s voice sounded in everyone''s heads.


    [3rd Trial''s Final Wave! Corrupted Dark Wood Elves!]


    Once the announcement was made, from afar the students could see 5 Elves appear in the distance. The difference between these elves and the normal elves was that they had a n.a.k.e.d upper body with their lower bodies composing of numerous corrosive tentacles and vines.


    Zephyr saw this and he immediately raised a cry.


    "Everyone! Get ready!!! Here they come!"

 Chapter 186 - Markings

    The mages began to cast mid to high-tiered spells and bombarded the monsters from afar. The melee fighters began to buff themselves with combat skills and spells and they braced themselves for contact.


    Up at the northern lane, the Little Kings had all straightforwardly rushed head on to meet with the five monsters.


    Lucia was at the forefront and just before they made contact, Lucia flashed forwards and launched a large Ascending Blade at the monsters.


    With that skill as the opening attack, the rest of Little Kings rushed forwards to attack their assigned monsters. Each of them confronted one Dark Wood Elf while Fina was at the back giving support to every one of them.


    Magic spells and combat skills flew at the monsters and they retaliated with their corrosive vines and dark elemental spells.


    "Hurry! We have to kill them quickly!" Fina yelled.


    With her incentive, Lucia and the other 5 increased the intensity of their assaults. Fina and her familiars sent spells to support the 5 while she herself rushed over to Yuna''s aid since the dragon girl wasn''t a melee fighter.


    Lucia was able to slice off the monster''s head, but it still didn''t die. She then began cutting apart the monsters entire body, but she still couldn''t kill it. It only regenerated its injured parts and continued attacking her.


    Just as she was about to yell something, Yuna quipped up before her.


    "Guys, I think there''s a core that powers these monsters! Activate Mana Sight and find it!"


    Lucia had her Mana Sight already activated and the rest of Little Kings followed suit. Just like Yuna said, they were able to find a part of the monster''s body that was constantly moving around that emitted a higher density of mana than the rest of the monsters'' body.


    "Found it!" Lucia flashed close to the Dark Wood Elf''s body and stabbed her sword into it.


    "KIISSSSHAAAAA!!!"


    The monster began to shriek in pain and it soon began to rot away. Eli saw this and she quickly jumped back.


    She released her Intent and lowered her body. "CRIMSON SKIES!"


    Eli disappeared and reappeared right in front of her monster''s body. She stabbed forwards and the lower body of the dark wood elf she was facing disintegrated into nothing with a flash of red.


    Her rapier had stabbed into its core that was covered in a protective membrane. Her monster shrieked and also began to rot away.


    The other members of Little Kings began to activate their strongest skills and destroyed the dark wood elves'' core that they were facing. Ainz destroyed the entirety of the monster he was facing using his Elemental Blaze.


    Fina and Yuna coordinated with each other. Yuna opened up a Misty Gate just behind her dark wood elf and Fina jumped through it and pierced her mana armament into the monster''s core.


    Velicia was more straightforward. She pulled up one of the trees in the surroundings and began pounding her monster into the ground. Eventually she was able to crush the core and kill the monster as well.


    "Guys! Grab the cores! I think there''s some kind of reward inside!" Lucia exclaimed when she took another look at the cores with her Mana Sight.


    "Keep them in your spatial rings! We have to hurry and support the other lanes! Since we know how to kill them now; Lucia, Eli you take the eastern lane, Ainz and Velicia take the western lane while Yuna and I will go support the southern lane!" Fina yelled. She had Yuna open a Misty Gate to the southern lane and the two stepped in and teleported away.


    Lucia opened up a Misty Gate into the center of the plaza and brought the rest over. When they reached the plaza, the 4 split into 2 groups as per Fina''s arrangement and went to support the lanes assigned to them.


    ******


    Back up on the tree tops, inside of the 3rd extra trial''s tree dome. Cecil had finally regained consciousness.


    "Urgghh...what happened?"


    He was slumped on the pedestal so when he woke up he stumbled down and fell on his back.


    "Ow!"


    Cecil shook his head, but the piercing headache wouldn''t go away. He took a look at the wooden sword still in his hand and shook his head.


    "Man, the shit I go through just to get this one sword...sheesh," Cecil groaned and complained.


    After the headache went away, he stood up and dusted himself off. Cecil wasn''t sure how long he was out, but that didn''t matter.


    Cecil stored the Perseverance into his white spatial ring and looked around the dome, but didn''t see any sort of exit. He returned to the pedestal and tried to see if he could find something.


    He began touching the pedestal all over. Then he tried pushing it and to his surprise it actually gave way.


    He continued pushing until finally it fell off from the small wooden platform it was on. With the pedestal gone, Cecil finally found some sort of array on the small platform that was blocked by the pedestal.


    He activated his Mana Eyes and saw that it was another teleportation formation.


    "Just what''s up with the World Tree and teleportation?"


    Cecil shook his head and injected his mana into the formation. The formation began to glow and the teleportation soon activated.


    Cecil''s body lit up and he was teleported away.


    In the empty tree dome, vines began to grow around the small platform and they coiled around the fallen pedestal and carried it back on top of the platform. Then the vines receded back down into the tree dome''s floor and silence returned to the dome.


    *****


    Cecil was teleported back to the clearing where he first entered the trial. He stretched his body and yawned.


    Once again the forest parted way and formed a new path forwards. Cecil walked onto the path and followed it towards the next trial.


    He took out the map and noticed that this was the final extra trial.


    "Let''s get this over with..."


    He arrived at the final extra trial''s location, but...there was nothing there.


    Cecil decided to wait until something showed up or when the administrator notified him of something.


    He grew a bit bored while waiting. He decided to take out his two rewards, the World Tree''s First and Third Thorns, Corruption and Perseverance.


    "They really are identical," Cecil said as he observed the two swords.


    The shape of each sword was the same. A plain wooden sword with a 5-inch wide blade that was roughly over a meter and a half or so in length, the two edges and tip looked a bit dull, but they were sharp enough to cleanly cut through a thick tree branch.


    The golden runes were also the same and only the strange grooves on the swords were different. The color was also another difference. One was black while the other was a maroon red.


    Cecil had both swords in each hand. They felt...oddly comfortable to wield. It was like they should naturally be in his hands and not anywhere else.


    It was a peculiar feeling. Cecil began to move around the clearing in a sword dance. He was waving and slashing with the two swords in hand using his family''s sword arts.


    "Man...These swords feel good..." Cecil grinned happily.


    After he finished a round of his sword dance he stopped and kept the swords into his white ring. He then sat down cross legged and activated his Mana Sense.


    "It''s about time I see what happened to my body," Cecil said as he turned his sense into his body. Earlier, he felt like his mana was circulating according to his family''s mana cultivation technique while he brandished the swords.


    The circulation was involuntary. It was like the swords invoked the circulation when he began wielding them. To his surprise, Cecil actually felt that his mana''s circulation was more robust and the speed of the circulation was much fast than before.


    When he finally observed the condition of his body, he was surprised to find that all his mana pathways had evolved into Mana Circuits. He now had a complete set of Mana Circuits.


    "Woah!"


    The pathways had all changed and the Mana Circuits were the reason why his mana circulation was much more efficient and robust. He also couldn''t help but notice that his circuits had a slight tinge of black and red in them.


    "...could this be the mana that flowed into my body through the swords?"


    Cecil deduced that a similar thing must have happened when he first got a hold of the Corruption. He just didn''t experience the pain that accompanied the process of obtaining the sword.


    He didn''t know why, but it might have something to do with his mana-exhausted state. It didn''t matter since it only brought benefits to him. His long awaited Mana Circuits were here!


    He wasn''t even at the Mana Core stage, let alone the Perfected Stage, but he already had Mana Circuits! This was a blessing no matter how he saw it. Enduring that pain and completing the trials was all worth it now.


    This was the first time Cecil experienced such a huge windfall that directly increased his strength.


    "Is this the rumored ''opportunity'' that I''ve read from those novels? Hehehe~ it feels good to actually experience it myself!"


    While he was rejoicing, Cecil finally noticed a peculiarity on his body.


    "Wh-what are these?!"


    Cecil finally noticed the weird markings on his body. They were faint at first, but after he circulated his mana, the markings became much more prominent with every circulation. After he had finished a full cycle, the golden marks on his body had solidified.


    Cecil quickly took off his top and observed the markings in horror.


    "T-tattoos?! Mom''s gonna kill me if she sees this!" Cecil exclaimed.


    The golden markings on his body were reminiscent of tribal tattoos. They had a weird design that was somewhat familiar. Cecil widened his eyes and quickly pulled out the two World Tree''s Thorns.


    "They''re the same!"


    The golden runes on the two wooden swords were identical to the markings on his body, except his body''s markings were like an enlarged version of the golden runes on the swords.


    "..."


    With both swords in hand, Cecil was observing his body in horror.


    "CEL?!"


    Cecil immediately heard a familiar voice sound out from behind him. He turned around and saw the familiar foxkin girl staring straight at him.


    "Oh? Lulu? Sup!"


    Cecil raised a hand and grinned at her. Lucia quickly flashed over and pulled him into a tight embrace.


    "You''re safe!"


    "Hehe~ Of course! Who do you think I am?!"

 Chapter 187 - Reunited

    While the two were having a heartwarming reunion, Cecil felt a weight on his back all of a sudden.


    "Don''t forget about me~"


    "Gah?! Serilla!"


    Cecil immediately exclaimed and he tried to flicker away. Normally it wouldn''t work, but for some reason, this time he actually found himself staring at himself and the two girls?


    "Huh?"


    "Eh?"


    "C-Cel?!"


    The 3 were bewildered. There were actually 2 Cecils!


    "Uhhh...okay, what?" Even Cecil himself was bewildered. He was obviously standing over here, but why, was there another him standing right in between the girls.


    His answer was soon answered when the ''Cecil'' standing in between the girls began to transform into wood and collapse.


    "Waahh!"


    "!"


    While the two girls exclaimed, Cecil only raised an eyebrow in surprise. For some reason information began to flow into his mind.


    "Nature''s...Shift?"


    The new information that suddenly popped into his head was a combat skill. By using nature as a medium, the user could teleport from place to place as long as what they were standing on was connected to the earth.


    "Ahah, cool! When did I get this?"


    Cecil tried to remember when he got this as a reward from the trials, but nothing came up. Then he remembered the mana that flowed into him when he first grabbed onto the two swords.


    ''Ah! It was probably then!''


    He got one combat skill from one of the swords, so that means there was still another skill that he got!


    While he was thinking, Lucia and Serilla flashed over to his side and the two began to ask just what the skill he used earlier to escape was.


    Cecil only grinned in reply and didn''t answer. It was his secret. He finally had a technique to escape from the clutches of these two ladies.


    While he was smiling like an idiot, more people began to appear in the clearing.


    "Hey, it''s Cecil!" Fina cried.


    "Brat! I knew you were still alive!"


    "Cecil!"


    "..."


    "Hah! I knew it! There''s no way leader would kick the bucket!" Velicia said and walked over to the 3.


    The Little Kings were reunited with their party leader and the rest of the people who had arrived at the clearing couldn''t help but turn an eye towards the boy.


    Cleo was astonished when she saw him.


    "Th-those markings!"


    She quickly made her way over and finally noticed the two swords in his hands.


    "The World Tree''s Thorns!"


    "Hm?"


    Cecil turned towards the girl and found a familiar face.


    "Ah, it''s you! That elf girl...what was it again...ummm... Cl...Cl...Chloe?"


    "It''s Cleo!"


    "Yeah, yeah! Cleo! What''s up?"


    The girl hastily corrected him, but then she turned her attention back towards the two wooden swords in his hands.


    "Th-those...are they...the World Tree''s Thorns?"


    "Oh these? I dunno, but I did get a notification from the administrator saying that these two are called Corruption and Perseverance. They''re pretty neat!"


    "C-corruption? Perseverance?"


    "Mhm~"


    "The First and Third Thorns...how did you get them?!" Cleo said while pointing at Cecil.


    "They were rewards for the trial I went through."


    "...a separate trial?" After hearing his words, Cleo began to mumble to herself. Then she couldn''t help but notice the golden markings on Cecil''s body.


    "!"


    She rushed forward and began touching them.


    "UWAH!!"


    "Urrugdrasil''s markings! Ah, you actually got them as well! The markings of 1st and 3rd Thorns..."


    Cecil felt ticklish and he wanted to teleport away, but then Lucia and Serilla pulled him back away from Cleo.


    "Hmph!"


    "Sorry, but we can''t allow you to do that~"


    Cleo was a little surprised, but then she remembered her unsightly conduct.


    "Oh? Ah! S-sorry! I didn''t think someone other than an elf could get the World Tree''s Markings! I was a little overwhelmed! Please forgive my rudeness!"


    With her apologizing, the elves that had made it to the clearing finally noticed Cecil''s peculiarity. The Markings of the World Tree was essentially the Blessing of the World Tree.


    They then noticed the two wooden swords in Cecil''s hands. Many of them displayed looks of shock and disbelief, some of the elves couldn''t even conceal the greed and envy that flashed in their eyes.


    Cecil frowned when he noticed other people coming into the clearing. He quickly fixed his clothing and stored the two wooden swords into his ring.


    "Ah!"


    "H-how disrespectful!"


    The elves began to cause a ruckus after Cecil brazenly stored the two swords into his ring. He frowned once more and glared at the elves.


    Cleo waved her hands and immediately silenced the elves behind her.


    "P-please don''t take offense, Cecil! Normally the owners of the Thorns would keep the Swords by their sides and not store them away!"


    "Hm?"


    "Uhm...I''m pretty sure you feel it as well, right? The compatibility and familiarity of the swords when they''re in your hands," Cleo explained.


    "Oh! Hmm, you sound like you''ve held one before."


    "N-no...only a replica," she then shifted her body and Cecil finally noticed the wooden sword on her hip.


    "...Perseverance?"


    "Yeah, it''s only a replica though."


    Cecil widened his eyes when he saw the familiar red sword. The only difference was that the golden engravings were a black color instead and the presence it gave off was much different than the one he owned.


    Cecil nodded. Then he turned to look at the other students who had arrived at the clearing.


    "How come there''s so little of you left?"


    "..."


    His question caused many of the leaders to quiet down. The Beastman Academy''s President, scoffed.


    "Heh, unlike you, we had to actually go through hell to reach here!"


    Yes, compared to Cecil and the people who had arrived. Cecil looked like he had it real easy. He was clean and looked completely pristine. While the students who had arrived looked like they had just crossed through a field of blades and hellfire.


    They were dirty, injured and many of the students'' clothes were no longer intact. The same went for Cecil''s party members. He finally noticed that they''re clothes and appearance were a little worse for wear.


    "Oh...I see," Cecil nodded with a thoughtful expression.


    "Hmph!"


    Many of the people who had just arrived heard Cecil''s offhanded remark and they grew dissatisfied with the boy.


    But they didn''t know about the hell that he went through and Cecil didn''t bother explaining. It was too tiresome.


    The Arks Academy students, or at least what was left of them, were relieved to see him still alive and kicking.


    "Well, if the next trial is another battle then let me take over for a bit. You guys look like you''ve been through hell!" Cecil chuckled.


    "Haha, and you haven''t?" The Fighter Faction''s Leader, Gus August, chuckled and retorted meaningfully.


    "Hmm~ well, at least what I went through didn''t put me into a sorry state! I mean look at you guys! Just what the hell happened?"


    Zephyr came forward and explained the situation and events that had unfolded while Cecil was separated from them.


    "Oh...that means...many died?"


    "Yeah...unfortunately," Zephyr tiredly sighed.


    "By the way, the last wave was the Dark Wood Elves?"


    "Yeah, do you know about them?"


    "Hmmm... I can see why so little of you actually made it...if you don''t destroy the cores they just won''t die," His offhanded remark caused everyone around him to widen their eyes.


    Cecil was still looking at the rest of the people who were left. There were only 70 people left. 13 from Arks, 14 now with Cecil added. There were 10 Gigantes, 18 Beastmen, 13 Elves and 16 from the Neftersea Academy.


    With Cecil now added into the mix, it was a total of 71 people who had made it all the way to the 4th trial. Compared to the initial 500 that had first arrived, not even a fifth of the students were able to pass through the 3rd trial. Some had failed during the 1st and 2nd while others had even perished during the 3rd.


    "You sound like you actually had to face these monsters?"


    "Hm? Oh yeah, it was during my second trial. I had to face 8 of them alone inside a pitch black environment. Took a while until I noticed that they had cores, and then there was the King...I had to actually use Over Flash just to beat that thing...it was a creepy monster too."


    His confirmation immediately silenced the people around him. Compared to what Cecil went through, it seems they were the ones that had it easy. Fighting those tentacle monsters with very limited vision? It wasn''t only dangerous and disgusting; it was practically a nightmare-inducing situation!


    "As we thought, you were indeed the one responsible for creating that large hole," Aurellia said with a stiff expression.


    "Hm~ the situation called for it...and I had no other choice...by the way...Friedrich?"


    "Ah...he...failed during the 3rd trial..." Aurellia replied a little in dejection.


    "I see...well, at least he''s not dead, better to fail than to perish like the other unfortunate people..."


    "Yeah..."


    It wasn''t until an hour later that the administrator''s voice echoed in their heads again.


    [Congratulations for perfectly clearing the 3rd Trial, challengers! You have been granted the opportunity to enter the 5th Extra Trial! This will substitute as the 4th and 5th Trials!]


    That was the notification that rang in the other students'' minds. Cecil''s notification was slightly different however.


    [Final Trial, The World Tree''s Vision. Experience the future that the World Tree, Urrugdrasil, has predicted.]


    "?"


    Cecil was bewildered. The last trial...seemed like a trial, but it wasn''t actually a trial. All he had to do was ''experience'' the World Tree''s future. This means that there won''t be any battles and he would most likely be induced into experiencing an Illusion.


    So what was the point in this last trial? It seemed a little too easy. It seemed like there was more to the Urrugdrasil Trials than what everyone thought it''d be.


    It wasn''t just about hacking and slashing down monsters and getting abundant rewards...for Cecil it seemed like the Tree was trying to tell him something.


    Corruption...Perseverance...and then some kind of vision... what did the World Tree want to relay to the challengers?


    Cecil was about to voice his thoughts to his friends, but then he suddenly felt his consciousness fading.

 Chapter 188 - The...Future?

    When he came to, Cecil found himself lying down on a pile of rubble. His body was aching as the pain finally kicked in.


    When he took a closer look at his body, he found that he was injured with many ghastly wounds. There was a hole in his stomach where his bowels were practically spilling out of and he could see his arms and legs also having wounds where the bones on his body were eerily visible.


    It would be impossible for him to survive if a powerful shaman didn''t come along and heal his wounds.


    Cecil began to panic. The pain was too real and even though he knew this was an illusion, the feeling of being on the brink of death scared him.


    "H-help! Help!!" He shouted coarsely in a panic.


    But his shouting only served to aggravate the wounds even further. He gritted his teeth and tilted his head upwards.


    What came into his eyes was a sky that was dyed a deep red. It wasn''t like the skies of Alterna or Earth. It was ominous and oppressive.


    When he focused his eyes a little, he could finally see the multiple Elves, Merfolk, Beastmen, Beastkin, Gigantes, and even Humans, fighting alongside each other against...some sort of weird looking monsters.


    It wasn''t like the monsters on Alterna. These monsters had a sleek black body with sharp, sword-like arms and legs. Their faces were also twisted, but Cecil could still make out the eyes, mouth, nose, hair, and ears of the creature.


    When he looked down on his wounds, he finally noticed the holes punctured in his body might have been caused by the sharp, sword-like appendages of the monsters high up in the skies.


    "What the hell?"


    Cecil turned his head to the side and he widened his eyes in horror. The scenery that came into his eyes was...a battlefield full of corpses.


    Corpses of the monsters he saw earlier up in the sky and the corpses of all the native races of Alterna.


    Finally, his sense of smell kicked in.


    "Ugh..."


    Cecil wanted to vomit as the strong, foul stench of blood and corpses assaulted his nose. But only pain was transmitted from his abdominal region.


    ''Oh yeah, I have a whole in my stomach...but...''


    "What the hell is this?!"


    Even though the scene around him was appalling, Cecil didn''t avert his eyes. He glanced at every corpse around him, trying to find if his friends were amongst them. To his gratification, Cecil didn''t find any of his friends amongst the piles of corpses.


    He also noticed that the corpses of Alterna''s native races were much more numerous than the twisted, black sword-limbed monsters.


    Actually, the monsters didn''t only have sharp sword-like limbs. There were also some that had axe, scythe, hammer, and cannon-like limbs.


    What was common on every one of these corpses was that they''re heads were all severed and they didn''t ooze out any kind of blood, but instead some rotten pus-like substance that also had a very disgusting smell.


    "Y-you over there! Are you alive?!"


    A voice called out to him and Cecil struggled to make a sound.


    "Y-yes¡ªahack, gahack!" Just raising his voice caused him to cough up blood. His injuries were worsening and he would probably soon die.


    "Ohh shit...this sure is scary..."


    He heard hurried footsteps approach him. A beautiful elf woman with light green hair appeared in his vision.


    "G-great! Your still alive! Wait a moment¡ª" The elf lady began to chant and quickly cast a healing spell. "¡ªRejuvenate!"


    A light green aura began to pour into Cecil from the lady''s outstretched hand. As the green aura poured into his body, Cecil could feel all the wounds on his body quickly close and heal back up.


    ''Woah! What kind of healing spell is this?!''


    On Alterna, this kind of healing spell would most likely be ranked as Ancient or even God-tiered. Most of the shamans'' healing spells would only close small wounds or stop the bleeding from large open wounds.


    Then, they would have to use a supplement spell to close the large wounds and it would take a long time for them to do so. However, the spell that the Elf Woman just used on Cecil was able to quickly and easily close up all of Cecil''s wounds while simultaneously heal them!


    Whether they were the fatal looking ones or the small cuts on his body, when the healing spell finished, Cecil still felt a little weak and lethargic, but he already had enough strength to stand up on his own.


    "Great! You''re okay now...hurry we have to get back to the World Tree! Restock on supplies so we can quickly come back and help with the battle!"


    Cecil remained silent and only nodded his head. Return to help? He almost died, yet this lady was telling him to hurry back into the battle after resupplying?


    ''What the hell...''


    Cecil could only follow behind the lady. As they moved through the field of corpses, the elf lady was able to save a couple of more people. Beastkin, Elves, Humans, it didn''t matter what race, as long as they were alive, the Elf Lady, who Cecil finally found out that her name was Melanie, administered her healing magic and saved them all from the brink of death.


    The boy was also very surprised at the reverence and respect that the healed up people gave to the woman. It turns out that she was a ''Saint''.


    And she was with this era''s Hero Party. The new term was something Cecil couldn''t comprehend.


    ''...am I...missing something here?''


    Cecil could only follow along after the now large group of revived warriors and mages. While on the way towards the World Tree, Cecil feigned amnesia and he was able to acquire some information from the saved people.


    By the time the group arrived at the World Tree, Cecil finally found the details and information he needed. First of all, all the races of the world were currently at war with an unknown species.


    The prominent figures of every race called them the Fallen. They originated from the center of the Non Continent. The legend about a large meteor falling onto Alterna and decimating the Non Continent turned out to be true.


    The impact of the meteor had only decimated the landscape of the continent, but the absence and destruction of the mana that could have been used to heal the continent was the results of the Fallen Race that fell along with the meteor.


    They were an extra-terrestrial entity that invaded Alterna. They had unique characteristics of being able to corrupt the environment and literally destroying the natural mana of Alterna.


    ''So...this is the past?''


    At least, that was what Cecil thought, but then he had to deny the thought.


    ''Why would the World Tree show me a realistic vision of the past when the administrator clearly said that this was a future that the World Tree had predicted...?''


    He was puzzled. If this was the future... then how come the Alternian races...were losing? Cecil noticed that the Fallen were a barbaric race and they seemed to have no intellectual will. They only fought and killed based off of their instincts.


    They were no different from monsters. Heck, even some monsters with high Mana Cultivation Stages had more intelligence than these...slaughter puppets.


    If these things'' power was only limited to this, then he would have no problems destroying the entire horde of Fallen that he saw high up in the sky.


    But instead of him being in the sky and destroying them, he was helplessly sprawled on the ground nearly at the brink of death. He also noticed that his body wasn''t actually his body.


    It was like his spirit had come to possess another person and he was only an observer. It didn''t matter if he died back there because his spirit wouldn''t so he could have just moved onto another body and possess it.


    He wanted to try that, but it seems that once he''s possessed a body, he wouldn''t be able to freely exit it. Cecil had to wait until the body perished before he could go and possess another one. The problem was that the sensations a normal body should have, he would experience it in full despite only being a spirit.


    That means the pain, fear, anger, and other emotions that the body felt, he too would also feel. Just like earlier when he was mortally wounded, the pain he felt was real and the thought of him dying had also scared him immensely.


    He didn''t want to try and go ''kill'' himself just so that he could go and possess another stronger body. He might not die, but Cecil felt as if something in his soul might die along with the possessed body.


    The heroes that he had learned from asking around were actually just normal people who had gained the blessings of each continent''s guardian deities.


    Namely, the World Tree Urrugdrasil from the Urrugdrasil Continent, the Magi-tech Spirit Kur''kanish from the Midgard Continent, the Daemon Goddess Hella of the Helaife Continent, the Spirit Queen Freya of the fairy continent Faerholm, and finally the Artic God Azurong of the northern Aizlandia Continent.


    The heroes were also accompanied by the Elven Saint, Melanie, who was also Urrugdrasil''s Prophet, the Five Sacred Guardians, and lastly, the last living Ancient from the Non Continent.


    As for how many heroes there were exactly, Cecil couldn''t find out. He assumed that there would only be around 6-8 since the people did say the heroes'' ''party''.


    ''Well, if this IS the future, I''m surprised I''m not in it!''


    Although Cecil couldn''t find the names of the heroes, he did however, acquire the descriptions of the heroes. None of them resembled him or any of his friends.


    ''Future me~ what the hell are you doing? There''s an awesome fight happening right now and you''re not here~''


    The thought of him dying hadn''t crossed his mind. Actually, it did, but he profusely denied such negative thinking.


    ''Ah! The sure-fire way to actually know if this is the future or not, would be to just ask what year it is! Gosh, how could I be so stupid?''


    Cecil immediately perked up. He walked over straight to Melanie.


    "Saintess! Could I ask what y¡ª"


    Just before Cecil could continue asking, his consciousness was immediately cut off and he fainted once again.

 Chapter 189 - A Pinch

    Cecil''s eyes immediately snapped wide open and he jumped up.


    "!"


    He immediately turned his attention to his surroundings and noticed the sounds of fighting and students yelling.


    "What?"


    Cecil found himself back in the clearing of the last Extra Trial. He was standing right in the middle of the clearing with the other students forming a large encirclement around him. To his surprise the monsters that they were facing were actually the Fallen that the World Tree showed him.


    The Academy students including his friends were having a hard time dealing with them. This surprised Cecil. Even Lucia was having a hard time. The two girls who had awoken their Weapon Intents were also struggling to fight back the monsters.


    ''No way!''


    Just as Cecil was about to pounce forward, he finally noticed that he was holding onto something.


    When he lowered his eyes to the thing he was holding, it turned out to be another wooden sword, identical to his Perseverance and Corruption.


    [You have witnessed the future that the World Tree predicted. The Final Trial has ended. Clear the wave of Fallen and proceed towards the Last Plaza, the Plaza of Rest.


    Reward: The World Tree''s 12th Thorn, Providence.]


    The wooden sword had a dull gray color with the same golden runes engraved on the blade. The sword''s shape was the same as the other Thorns and only the grooves on it were different.


    Cecil noticed the gray colored mana surrounding the sword. When his attention was turned to it, the mana began to circulate and rush into his body''s Mana Circuits. The pain first started from his hand and it slowly moved up his arm.


    "N-no! Not yet!"


    Cecil tried everything he could to prevent the mana from coming into his body. Even though it was a blessing, the pain that accompanied it was too much. Not to mention that his mana would be entirely devoured and it would render him useless in combat.


    He had to first help his friends before he could receive the sword''s blessing. The only way he could think of stopping the gray mana was to block it with his own mana. He circulated his mana and tried to create a wall in the Mana Circuits in his arms.


    The wall worked perfectly, but Cecil couldn''t help but notice that the gray mana was eating away at it slowly.


    "This should give me a couple of minutes...or seconds..."


    Cecil activated Mana Burst and rushed straight into the fight and quickly cut down one of the Fallen that was assaulting Lucia and Eli.


    "Cecil?!"


    "Cel!"


    "Use your auras and cut their heads off then smash apart their brains! That''s the only way to kill them!"


    He briefly informed them about how to kill the monsters. Simply cutting the heads off wouldn''t suffice to kill it. The core of the monster was located in its brain and as long as it was still functioning, the Fallen could keep on regenerating.


    The problem was that the head of the Fallen were pretty sturdy despite looking only like flesh and bones. Another problem was their resistance. The mana resistance that these creatures had was absurdly large.


    Mid-tier and low ranked high-tiered spells couldn''t even put a dent on their bodies. So obliterating their heads using magic spells wasn''t doable.


    Except for Ainz however...he quickly noticed that his mid-tiered spells didn''t work so he began rapidly casting high-tiered spells. The other mages followed suit, but they were quickly exhausted of their mana.


    Only a select few were still able to keep on chanting and casting high-tiered spells.


    Cecil rushed forwards and flashed in between each Fallen and brandished the World Tree''s Thorn, Providence, to hack apart their heads.


    Thankfully for him his Mana Bolts were still able to damage the monsters when he injected more mana to power the blasts.


    He also went around the battle field and quickly informed the others of the monsters'' weakness, but his constant use of mana had weakened the barrier he formed in his arm and the gray mana from Providence quickly rushed into his body.


    "Guhh...damn..."


    Cecil cursed and quickly flashed behind the encirclement of students. The mana exhausted and injured students were protected inside and Cecil directly collapsed next to them.


    "What?!"


    "H-hey!"


    "Is this guy okay?!"


    They all saw Cecil collapse and groan in pain. A gray aura was also beginning to surround his small body and Lucia couldn''t help but grow worried when she saw this.


    The students alongside their battle pets were putting up a struggle as they pushed back and slowly killed the Fallen.


    The only problem was that the Fallen had many more numbers than them! This was true even when all of their battle pets were summoned. The pets were also put in a disadvantage. Some of them were too weak to fight or block the Fallen and they were fatally wounded not long after.


    Some of the battle pets had even died before their owners could dismiss them back into the pet plane. The situation was turning hopeless and it was then that Fina remembered something.


    "Th-that''s right! Lulu, tell Cecil to summon Silver! Hurry!" Fina frantically yelled.


    "O-okay!"


    During his academy''s training in the Accelerated Time Formation, Cecil was able to learn the summoning and dismissing spell that the non-combatant class students had used to summon and dismiss their battle pets.


    Of course, Cecil still couldn''t use any sort of magic spell, but he did find a way to substitute his lack of ability to use spells. Instead, he learned how to draw the spell formations that would appear when someone casted a magic spell.


    The spell formations were normally very, very complex for mid to high-tiered magic spells, so they were rarely used when crafting a quick-cast, but thankfully for him, the Battle Pet Summoning and Dismissing Spells were only low-ranked magic spells despite them using the principles of spatial magic.


    The way for him to use a spell was to use his non-elemental mana as a medium and draw a spell formation onto the air or on the ground. After he quickly finished drawing it, Cecil would then inject as much mana as he could into the formation until it started to activate.


    It was totally different from the quick-casts that Lucia used to inscribe using monster materials and quality magic materials. Since he was using his mana for the inscription, he had to pour in even more mana for the spell to activate successfully. If he didn''t then the inscribed magic formation would slowly dissipate not long after.


    This new form of magic casting was actually ground breaking since it was another way for mages to cast magic without the need of incantations. Normally, original spells were the only spells that didn''t require any incantations, but they were generally weaker than the normal spells.


    However, Cecil had kept this form of spell casting to himself. He didn''t want others to find out about his inability to cast any sort of magic spells.


    Cecil had totally forgotten about the Battle Pet Summoning ever since he arrived at the trial. The trials were putting him to the test all the time so he didn''t have any spare time to even think about it. So right now, Silver was still waiting patiently in the private pet plane that Cecil had created and sealed him into.


    Lucia quickly dashed next to Cecil and shook him awake.


    "Cel! Cel!! If you can hear me, please summon Silvy! W-we''re trying our hardest, but there are too many of them!" Lucia said in a panic.


    Although his consciousness was about to fly because of the racking pain he was feeling, Cecil was still able to hear Lucia. A small golden orb of mana formed on the index finger of his left and he struggled to quickly draw a spell formation on the ground.


    Lucia saw this and quickly dashed back to support her friends. It took Cecil 30 seconds to finish the inscription and another 30 seconds to channel just enough mana into the formation so that it could activate.


    Thankfully, the formation didn''t dissipate too quickly even though it took him a long time to activate it.


    When the formation activated, the small golden magic formation quickly expanded in size as it shone brightly. In the next instant a towering, majestic figure materialized on top of it. It was a 5 meter large, handsome white furred wolf.


    Its clear blue eyes looked around the battle field and shone with delight. After a long, long time, his master finally summoned him and it was in the midst of an intense battle!


    Silver looked around the battlefield and saw his master''s friends, but he couldn''t locate Cecil anywhere. It was then he heard a groan from under him. He lowered his head and finally found his master.


    Cecil was twitching and groaning in pain with a grayish aura permeating around him. Silver roared at him, trying to get his attention.


    Cecil struggled to open his eyes and mouth.


    "S-Silv...monsters...fight, head...crush...g-go...urk¡ªand protect...friends..."


    Cecil struggled for the last time and finally fainted from the pain.


    Silver received the command and roared. His powerful roar was infused with his mana and it caused a shockwave to emanate from his open mouth.


    The shockwave pushed back the Fallen, but it also caused everyone present to stumble and cover their ears in pain.


    The battle was pulled into a lull and Silver dashed forwards to meet with the Fallen. Round two was starting and once again the Academy students didn''t have Cecil''s help, but many of them started to feel hopeful once more when they saw the battle pet that he had summoned.


    The leader''s quickly shouted and readjusted their battle formations.


    "Come on! Don''t give up! We can do this!!!"


    "We''re not going to die! Defensive Formations! Grind them down! Let''s go! Let''s go!"


    The leaders tried to boost everyone''s morale and the Fallen once more charged back at them. Magic spells were casted and bombarded the Fallen. The warriors grouped up together and held their grounds. Soon enough their weapons collided with the Fallen.


    Probably due to the desperate situation, everyone was able to cooperate and coordinate fairly well with one another, regardless of their species.


    With Cecil informing them about the Fallen''s weakness, everyone began to aim at the monsters'' heads. Some fell, but more quickly took their place. The injuries and casualties on the students'' side slowly began to pile up.


    This time, there wasn''t any teleportation glow that sent the fatally wounded or injured outside of the trial. Most of them died on the spot or fell from their injuries not long after.

 Chapter 190 - Struggle

    Silver ran around the battlefield beheading and crushing any of the Fallen that came close to his master''s schoolmates.


    He sent storms of wind elemental mana, fired off wind elemental magic, and surprisingly thunder elemental magic as well.


    Silver acted as the backup and support for the Arks Academy''s front liners, he rushed to protect anyone from Arks Academy who was in danger.


    Lucia and the Little Kings regained their vigor with the help of Silver. They pushed forward and crushed the Fallen that stood in their way, but no matter how they looked at it; the battle was going to be an uphill struggle.


    With each fall of the monsters they took down, more would just take their place. If one fell, the two would take its place. There seemed to be no dents to the number of Fallen still alive on the battlefield.


    If the bodies of the Fallen didn''t disperse into a green light after they were killed, then maybe the students could use those bodies to form obstructions for the monsters.


    As they were now, it seemed impossible to carry on defending while being attacked on all sides! There weren''t much of the students left and as time passed by, they would only exhaust themselves of their stamina and mana.


    "Silver! I got this side! Go help out Seri and the Prez!" Lucia called out.


    "RAARRR!!"


    Silver released one final Gale Storm spell before dashing towards Zephyr and Serilla. He sent a Lightning Blade with a flick of his tail and beheaded the group of Fallen that Zephyr and Serilla were struggling to stave off.


    "Thanks Silvy!"


    "Th-thank you!"


    The two expressed their thanks and rushed back into the fray. They couldn''t afford to dawdle. The longer it took for them to defeat these monsters, the lower the chance that they''d be able to clear the trial.


    This trial was an extra trial that acted as both the 4th and 5th final trial. Since it was two trials combined into one, it was no wonder why the difficulty had suddenly spiked.


    "Dammit...Cecil''s still out of commission...it''s a good thing he informed us of their weakness...but still, it doesn''t make it less difficult to just aim for their heads!" Lance roared as he pummeled and chopped down the Fallen in front of him.


    "Ugh...this is way too repetitive. These monsters don''t seem to have an end to them!"


    "Less talk, more chant, Friedrich!" Aurellia shouted.


    "Yeah, yeah! Storm of flames¡ª" Friedrich and all the other academy leaders were frantically trying their best to stave off the Fallen. The Kings were also doing a great job. Alice and Robert were working together and they held off a large portion of the Fallen by themselves.


    Anixio and Anixia were constantly creating and repairing the wooden ramparts that they conjured around the battlefield.


    Audrey was firing off wind spells after wind spells from behind the ramparts. She didn''t send anything too big, but medium scaled spells that sent the Fallen into the air and in disarray. This way, the other students were able to quickly finish them off with a slice to the head.


    The other Academy students fared a little worse off. They didn''t have the Little Kings or a powerful battle pet such as Silver to help them out.


    Most of the battle pets summoned could only serve as a meat shield for them. They were constantly being pushed back and the encirclement continued to shrink on their side.


    Lucia saw this and sent some of her spells their way. She couldn''t help all too much, but she did try to do everything she could to help out, even if only a little.


    Cecil and the injured were behind them so she was helping only for the sake of ensuring his safety.


    ''What''s wrong with you Cel? Please wake up...please wake up...we need your help!''


    "Tsk...I can''t use Apocalypse...everyone might get caught in it..."


    Fina who was next to her immediately quipped up.


    "P-please don''t Lulu! Even if you could, you''d use up too much mana! We can''t afford to lose another combatant! Not to mention we can''t be sure the monster wave will end even after you wiped them all out with Apocalypse!"


    "O-okay! It was only a thought¡ªwatch out!"


    Lucia flashed next to Fina and blocked one of the Fallen''s attacks with her Butterfly. She sent a kick towards its gut and pushed it off of the ground, she spun around and slashed her katana onto its neck and successfully beheaded it.


    "Th-thanks!"


    "Step back a bit and catch your breath! I''ll hold them off for a bit!"


    "Okay!"


    "Also...can you do something about those other Academies? Look at them...the beastmen and Gigantes are pathetic...can''t they learn from the Elves and Oceanfolk and work together?!"


    "Ugh...I already told them earlier...but they wouldn''t listen to me! Only the Gigantes, Elves, and Oceanfolk academies even bothered to listen, but with how the Gigantes are...they''ve been caught up in their frenzy to even think about working together with the others!"


    "Tsk...They''re only causing trouble for the Elves and Oceanfolk...the beastmen are the worst. Even if they have the largest numbers, can''t they cooperate?!"


    The Arks Academy students were all doing relatively fine. The Elves and Oceanfolk were able to work together to fend off one side of the encirclement, some of the Elven Shamans were acting as healers for all the battlefronts.


    The only problems were the beastmen and gigantes. The gigantes were able to cooperate with the elves and oceanfolk for a while, but soon their battle frenzy and blood thirsty nature took over. They were now only rushing forward to attack and no longer cared about cooperating with the rest.


    The beastmen were even worse. Yes, they did have the most numbers, but they at least should have the decency to work together with everyone!


    Can''t they learn by now that by relying only on themselves, they''ll only continue to cause more casualties to not only themselves, but also everyone here!


    The same thing happened during the previous trial. Lucia couldn''t understand why the beastmen were so stupid. Was it maybe because they were closer to monsters that their brains were still on the same levels as them?


    "Tsk...Pathetic...Who care about them, but can we do something to at least calm those big brutes down? If we lose them, we''ll seriously be lacking some firepower on the other battle lines.


    Right now, the academy group had formed a somewhat large encirclement with 3 battle lines, one area was defended by the beastkin, another by the beastmen, and the rest was defended by a joint coalition of the Elves, Oceanfolk, and Gigantes.


    However, there were Elven shamans spread across the battle lines to help with recovery and healing. There were also some beastkin and elven mages going around the battle lines to repair and create more ramparts to obstruct the Fallen and to act as defensive structures for the academy group.


    Suddenly a small incident occurred that further shrunk the encirclement.


    "HELP! WE NEED BACKUP! THE MONSTERS HAVE BROKEN THROUGH THE RAMPARTS!!" A dragonewt roared. It was the Empire''s 13th Prince.


    The elven mages, Anixio, Anixia, and Audrey quickly went over to back them up. They tried to repair the ramparts, but the beastmen had already retreated and their frontlines were pushed back.


    "Dammit, can''t you idiots hold out for a bit?! It''s only a small hole, why did you f.u.c.k.i.n.g retreat?!" Audrey yelled in annoyance.


    "What? You expect us to throw away our lives?! Like you''re one to talk! One of your guys is out of commission since the start! Your so-called ''Strongest'' sure is useless!"


    "What?!"


    Anixio quickly called out, "Sis! Don''t waste time on them! Let''s just create more ramparts around the beastmen and quickly head back to support the rest!"


    "Yes, sis! Wasting time is a no no~ I don''t even want to waste my breath on these idiots~" Anixia added. She conjured more wooden ramparts around the beastmen''s frontlines. Once she was done, she quickly ran back towards the Arks Academy''s battlefront.


    "Tsk...stupid fools," Audrey cursed and sent some magic spells to support the beastmen, after making sure that the elven mages and Anixio had successfully created more ramparts, she pulled Anixio back to the Arks Academy''s area.


    "Tsk..." Reinhart could only click his tongue in annoyance. The beastkin were having it easy with that white wolf going around helping them out. Compared to their battle pets, the large wolf was like a mobile turret. It defended the entire beastkin battle line. It wasn''t only a meatshield like theirs.


    "Continue to shrink the battle lines! We have to be tight knit on our defenses! We can''t continue on like this! Since those beastkin want to help everyone out so much, we''ll shrink the battlefront over to their side!"


    The other beastmen only nodded at his orders. They fought back against the tides of Fallen, but slowly and surely the battle lines were slowly shrinking and the encirclement was growing smaller and smaller.


    Yes, it did have a positive impact and made defending much easier, but it also caused some problems and unwanted casualties to occur...

 Chapter 191 - The Outcome

    When Cecil woke up, the fight had already ended.


    "Urgh..." He painfully struggled to raise his body upright.


    "Cel...you okay?"


    He heard a despondent voice next to him. Lucia had an exhausted look on her injured face. Small cuts and injuries were decorating her pretty face.


    Cecil then turned towards the girl currently resting on her lap.


    "Fina?!"


    Fina was resting on Lucia''s lap. He noticed the insane amount of blood staining her clothes. He quickly activated his Mana Eyes and saw a huge gouge on the side of her stomach.


    Lucia''s eyes were red and it seemed like she had just stopped crying. Cecil was relieved to find Fina still alive. She was breathing, albeit faintly.


    The bleeding had stopped and only the open wound was left behind, but he could see through his eyes that nature magic was slowly regenerating all the tissue and muscles of the wound. Cecil then turned his attention to the surroundings.


    The 70 students were cut down by almost half... he saw close to 20 corpses laid down on the western area of the clearing. The dead bodies were not in great shape. Many had their heads smashed or had missing appendages and holes on their body.


    It was gruesome to behold. He quickly looked around and thankfully found the rest of his friends still alive. They had many injuries of all sizes on their bodies. Velicia had it the worst. There were at least 3 holes on her body and another on her thigh and forearm.


    "Hah! Look, sleeping beauty''s awake! Why hello ''strongest'', did you have a nice nap? Like what you see?" A cynical voice sounded.


    It was an obvious taunt. Cecil turned his eyes over to the person who taunted him and just like he expected it was the Beastman Academy''s President.


    The injured beastman stalked over in a fury and grabbed onto Cecil''s collar.


    "Asshole, while we were fighting with our lives on the line, you had the cheek to actually go and fall asleep!"


    Cecil frowned. He didn''t like being cursed at.


    "Oh? What? You angry?"


    Cecil lightly grabbed the were-lions hand and twisted.


    CRACK


    "GAAAAAHHHH!!!" Reinhart screamed in pain.


    "Don''t touch me...I''ll kill you next time. Also, don''t blame me for you yourself being weak."


    Cecil directly snapped the were-lion''s wrist and shoved him back.


    Although he did feel bad, it wasn''t like it was his choice that he fell unconscious. His trial was naturally different than the rest of theirs. Sure, casualties did pile up and even some of the people from his academy died.


    The Dark Moon Faction''s leader was killed and Velicia who was the most injured amongst their party was still sobbing over the loss of her older brother. When she noticed that Cecil had finally woken up she didn''t come over and find fault with him.


    The other students saw their exchange and heard Cecil''s words and couldn''t help, but grow disgruntled.


    But they didn''t dare say anything. Just remembering how easily Cecil picked apart the monsters that they had to struggle facing in just the brief moment he was awake proved that he was much stronger than anyone present.


    It was unfortunate that he had fallen unconscious again, but it was just like he said, they shouldn''t blame him for it. If they could, then they should have handled the monsters themselves and not pin the blame on someone else for their inability.


    Cleo walked over to Cecil. She looked relatively fine compared to the others despite the faint scars and gashes still present on her body.


    "Did you receive the World Tree''s Blessing?"


    "...yeah, I think..." Cecil responded.


    "No wonder you fainted..."


    "Yeah...the feeling of my mana being eaten is not pleasant," he frowned.


    "The same thing happens even with a replica...but it''s not to the point where one would faint." Cleo said.


    "Haaah...I''m not going to say sorry...originally my trial was different from you guys," Cecil replied while scratching his head.


    "Mhm, we Elves could see that...we saw a large amount of nature energy being injected into your body right after the announcement just before you fainted...did the World Tree show you something?"


    "...nothing. It only pulled me into an Illusion and I tried my best to break free from it," Cecil lied. He didn''t want to say anything yet. The ''future'' that he saw wasn''t a guaranteed occurrence.


    Actually, he wasn''t even sure if that was the future or the past even with the administrator''s notification, it might even be some sort of alternate reality or just some illusion that was part of his trial. In any case, he wasn''t sure. This wasn''t the first time something otherworldly happened to him, it was better not to mention this and spread fear to the people.


    If it turned out to be nothing but an illusion, then he might be branded as a criminal for causing mass unrest and hysteria. A ''vision'' from the World Tree would hold that much sway on the Urrugdrasil Continent.


    Of course, he could just tell them just in case it really was going to happen. This way everyone could prepare themselves for what might come, but he wasn''t a prophet. Cecil also felt that he had no obligation to tell anyone of what he saw.


    There was also something he was worried about. What happened if he did tell them about the illusion? Wouldn''t the Elven Kingdom try and detain him? Cecil wasn''t sure, but he wasn''t going to test his luck and find out.


    Ever since he was a kid, Cecil was always following the arrangements of his elders and he had very limited freedom. Ever since coming to Alterna and experiencing it for the first time, Cecil grew to love this sort of free and unfettered feeling. Ever since then, he''s never liked having his freedom restricted. So if there was a possibility of the elves capturing him, then he wouldn''t have it. Then again, this was all just ''what ifs''.


    Cleo didn''t press him for answers despite his vague answer. She went around the place and began casting healing magic to help the injured.


    ''I''ll deal with it when it comes...''


    Cecil kept the news to himself, but he decided to tell his party once they made it back to the Anglaria Kingdom.


    It was a good thing that the Fallen Corpses had dissipated into green light once they were killed. If not, then judging by the disgusting smell that Cecil experienced in his illusion, the entire clearing would have been permeated with that foul, rotting stench.


    It took another hour or so before the shamans were able to heal everyone back to an optimum state. The administrator had already announced the end of the trial and a new path had formed on the north side of the clearing.


    It obviously led to the 5th and final Plaza, the Plaza of Rest.


    The corpses of their schoolmates were stored into each academy leaders'' spatial rings. It was better to bring them out and give them a proper burial.


    Arks Academy had lost a couple of people. Velicia''s brother, the Dark Moon Faction leader, even the Ironforge''s Leader had also perished. The other members who weren''t a part of the factions of Kings were also amongst the casualties. Even Lance Arks, Zephyr and Eli''s brother, was among the fallen students...


    The other academy''s had it worst. Unlike Arks Academy that had the overpowered Little Kings and Silver, they didn''t have such good protection and their numbers dwindled to only a handful of people.


    Silver was also greatly injured. He had multiple opened wounds and gashes on his body. Most of it was caused by him going to the aid of the Little Kings and the other Arks Academy students. Silver tried his best to keep everyone alive, but there was only one of him while the Fallen were numerous in numbers.


    He did what he can, but there were still many casualties. These were the academy''s elite of the elites, but even then, some of them still perished.


    Cecil had long since stored away the Providence into his white ring. He then led his academy onto the path. The ones who were too injured to move rode atop Silver''s back. Seeing them move onto the path, the other academies followed suit.


    They wanted to place their injured atop Silver as well, but the large wolf didn''t allow it. Cecil wanted him to make a concession, but even then Silver didn''t relent. The boy was a little dumbfounded when he saw this.


    Lucia then explained why. Silver was apparently holding a grudge. During the battle, seeing as how Silver was protecting all the Arks Academy students, some of the other academy students moved over and used them as shields.


    Silver was forced to involuntarily help them as well. At first, Silver didn''t particularly mind, but since he wasn''t obligated to help them Silver only prioritized the safety of his master''s academy''s students. His master also only ordered him to fight and protect the Arks students and not anyone else.


    Although Silver was burdened, he still did his best. However, his goodwill was abruptly stepped on when some of the more cowardly students that were hiding behind the Arks Academy students. They took things a little too far and it infuriated Silver.


    They began to literally treat the Arks Academy students as meat shields and some of them had even pushed the Arks Students forwards in hopes of having Silver save them from any attacks that the Fallen directed at them.


    Of course, not all of the other academy students were like this, only a select few and most of them were still alive even. However, the most shameless of them were the beastmen and some of the casualties from Arks Academy had been caused by the beastmen cowering behind the Arks students and using them as meat shields.


    If everyone in the group was as cowardly and stupid as them then it was no doubt that everyone might as well have died during the final trial. Many of the Academy Leaders were infuriated with this, but only the Beastman Academy Leader said it was no helping it. The majority of the offenders were beastmen after all so he did step up to defend them.


    "Ohh...no wonder..."


    "Yeah...and that leader of theirs even had the cheek to get mad at you...good job snapping his wrist Cel~"


    "...you can still joke around despite being seriously injured?"


    "Hihi~"


    Lucia was currently being carried by Cecil. The second most injured person in the party was Lucia. When Fina was grievously injured, she used her body to block some of the Fallen''s attacks and drag Fina behind the encirclement.


    It was a relief that she had Elemental Burst so despite the multiple Fallen attacking her unprotected back; only a small few had been able to actually deal any substantial injuries to her.


    Cecil only felt regretful that he couldn''t have been there to fight alongside his friends, but who could he blame?


    The administrator had specifically given him a different trial to complete. Right from the start, if he hadn''t persevered and let his mind fall to the unbearable pain and despair he felt from the body he was possessing...Cecil didn''t know the consequences, but he felt that he might have lost something important in that illusion.


    The group continued walking on the path and thankfully no monsters had jumped them during their long trek.


    They had to stop and rest during their trek through the forest. The injured weren''t in any condition to move around and despite some of the beastmen''s protests and demands to have Silver help them carry the wounded, Silver only roared furiously in response and directly beheaded one of the complaining injured beastmen.


    Cecil didn''t even have any time to stop him before Silver killed the person. It was actually the stupid empire prince that had been bothering them since day 1. He had been fortunate to survive until now, but he had the misfortune to aggravate the currently furious Silver.


    The abrupt execution immediately shut everyone up and they could only slowly make their way towards the Plaza.


    They should actually be thankful. If Cecil hadn''t purposefully matched their pace then he would have long since left them behind.


    After the death of the prince, Cecil began to regret not leaving them behind. It would''ve been better if they just left those fools behind. This way Silver wouldn''t have had to stain his paws with the dirty blood of a fool, but other than the Beastmen, there were also the Neftersea and Elven Academies who have constantly been keeping up a friendly relation with the Beastkin.


    Cecil sighed tiredly, ''If only I was able to clear out just a little bit more Fallen...''


    With those lingering regrets, the group finally arrived at the Plaza of Rest.

 Chapter 192 - Marrow Cleansing Once Again!

    When the group finally arrived at the Plaza of Rest, everyone was thoroughly exhausted.


    Cecil was amazed to find that the plaza was actually a large complex of multiple tall tree buildings. He scouted out the area and when he entered one of the buildings, it was actually some sort of inn or resting area. The numerous rooms had a bed, shower, and everything.


    Cecil quickly reported his findings to Zephyr. He informed everyone who was still able to move to quickly bring the injured into the building.


    The rooms in the building were also filled with nature mana that had a healing and soothing property. Just being in the presence of this mana had sped up the recovery of the injured. Once everyone had settled in, the academy leaders decided that they would rest up for the day before they explored the place.


    In one of the rooms, Cecil was lying down on the bed.


    "...what''re you guys doing?"


    "...sleeping..."


    "Resting~"


    Cecil''s mouth twitched at the double response. In one of the rooms, on top of the bed was Cecil...and to his left and right were both Serilla and Lucia respectively.


    "...I don''t even need to rest...so why the hell am I even here?!" Cecil had been tricked by Lucia. She wanted him to carry her into one of the rooms, but when he did, the door abruptly closed behind him and he finally noticed another person inside of the room.


    Before he could respond, Lucia pulled him down onto the bed and Serilla pounced and pinned him down as well.


    Then the two sidled up next to him and began to hug him. He was just about to teleport away using Nature''s Shift, but he noticed the two girls beginning to tear up.


    ''NOOOO FAAAAIIRRRRR!!!''


    And so, here he was...in the current situation. He wanted to escape, but didn''t have the heart to do so. It wasn''t only because the two girls were tearing up, but because they had to go through such a harrowing experience.


    He was never considerate, but Cecil felt that his ending wouldn''t be a pretty one if he left them here. It wasn''t that he had finally grown more aware of his surroundings, but it was just his instincts screaming at him not to move an inch.


    It wasn''t only that, but from what Cecil had heard from Ainz, Velicia and Fina almost died. Even Eli had nearly been killed when she jumped in front of Serilla to help her block a surprise attack from one of the Fallen. Although Lucia had been injured during the time when she tried to pull Fina back, it wasn''t all too fatal. Ainz and Yuna were relatively okay since the two were mages and they were attacking from behind the vanguards.


    Cecil let them be and not long after the two quickly fell into a deep sleep. He loosened their hold around him and sat up. He turned an eye towards Lucia and brushed her hair...


    "You did a good job..."


    He turned around to Serilla and hesitated before ultimately patting her head.


    "You as well..."


    Their crumpled expression began to loosen up after his touch and they slept with a serene expression.


    Cecil got up and exited the room. Pet-form Silver was waiting for him just outside the door.


    "Hey, Silv...you did a great job protecting everyone," Cecil bent down and picked him up. He then began brushing his fur with his hands. It was a good thing that Silver''s healing capabilities were much stronger than the rest of the students since he was a monster.


    His injuries had all closed up when they arrived at the plaza and after spending some time in the building that had high density nature mana permeating its walls, Silver''s injuries had all been healed up, mostly at least.


    "How about me and you go explore the place?"


    "Wafu!"


    After giving his assent, Cecil went down to the ground floor of the building. He was currently on the top most floor of the building, the 10th floor. Cecil and Silver road down a floating platform to reach the ground floor.


    When he walked off the platform, he could see the academy leaders and some of their relatively uninjured people gathered together in the lobby.


    Zephyr noticed him and waved him over. The boy walked over with Silver in his arms and heard what they were gathering for.


    "With the injured recuperating, we should take this time to explore the plaza..." Cleo said.


    "Hmph. We were already going to do so with or without you!" Reinhart briskly said. When he noticed Cecil arriving he turned his face away, too scared to even look at the foxkin.


    Eva looked over at Cecil and nodded at him. She was grateful that Cecil had summoned Silver and protected their Empire''s Princess. She had seen Fina getting grievously injured and she also had profusely thanked Lucia when the battle was over.


    Mal''norr kept his silence and only pounded his chest in acknowledgement when Cecil came over. Despite knowing that Cecil hadn''t fought in the last battle, he still acknowledged him because he was the master of the powerful Battle Pet, Silver.


    "Let''s get going then! Our rewards hadn''t even been given yet! It better be worth it since we lost many of our strongest fighters," Reinhart scowled.


    Cecil opened his mouth to respond to his statement, "This plaza is the reward."


    "Hrrmmm?"


    "When we first arrived, I did a brief scout of the other buildings and spread my sense inside, this building is the healing ward, the northern building is the armory, and the southern building close to the entrance is the library filled with ancient records, skill books, spell tomes and mana cultivation manuals..."


    Cecil continued to explain his findings to the rest of the Academy Leaders. The Final Trial''s reward was the plaza. The armory in the north, the healing ward at the center of the plaza, the library in the south, a spiritual herb garden to the east and finally a magi-tech building in the west.


    On the very top of the magi-tech building to the west was also the location where the teleportation gate that could transfer them out of the trial grounds.


    The Academy Leaders other than Zephyr didn''t understand what Cecil meant by him ''spreading his sense'', but they took his words at face value and believed him.


    They immediately split up and went to explore the plaza with their small group of able bodied students.


    Cecil separated from Zephyr. The student council president brought his small group and walked over to the library. The beastmen were also heading over there as well. The Elves went over to the herb garden and the Gigantes went to the armory.


    The merfolk went to the western building where the magi-tech was located at. It was surprising since Cecil didn''t think that the merfolk would prefer magi-tech over weapons, skill and spell tomes.


    He was also intrigued with the ancient magi-tech, but he had a more important place to go to. He didn''t tell the rest, but the healing ward had an additional place that Cecil didn''t bother informing them about.


    He walked back to the platform and pulled out the World Tree''s Thorn, Providence. He then walked to a small slit on the center of the platform and stabbed the wooden sword into it.


    Gray colored mana began to cover the platform and it lit up. Then the platform began to shift and slowly move downwards.


    "There''s a bas.e.m.e.nt level?"


    The floor above Cecil''s head began to close up and the platform he was on brought him further down the underground shaft.


    It didn''t take long before the platform finally stopped and a hallway presented itself in front of Cecil.


    Cecil pulled out the Providence from the platform and stored it into his spatial ring. Then he walked into the hallway and arrived at a large room.


    When he looked around, he was reminded of the tree dome that he was in when he finished the 2nd Extra Trial.


    He saw the gushing fountain full of mana-rich waters and at the center of the room was another small platform that had a pedestal on it.


    In that pedestal was another World Tree''s Thorn that was stabbed into it. Cecil walked over to the pedestal and read the inscription.


    "The World Tree''s 7th Thorn, Serenity."


    The wooden sword was the same as the other ones, but it had a dark green color. It also emanated a large amount of nature mana. Cecil grabbed onto the hilt of the sword and pulled.


    Just like before he was able to easily pull out the sword from the pedestal. The mana around the sword began to stir and Cecil braced himself for the pain that was coming. He widened his eyes in the next moment because instead of pain, he felt comfort and warmth flowing into his body.


    The mana that shone with a dark green light which flowed into his body through his hand felt comfortable and warm. There was no pain at all and this surprised him.


    But then, in the next instant he felt his body beginning to itch. The itchiness first appeared on his hand and it slowly rose up to his arm, then it began to spread all over his body until it was unbearable.


    He tried to scratch his body, but the itch was everywhere! He couldn''t even stand straight anymore and he collapsed on the ground. He started rolling around in agony because it was really unbearable.


    Then he remembered the fountain from earlier. The water inside was cold! It should help somewhat!


    Cecil immediately struggled to get up. He then quickly rushed over to the fountain and plunged right in. The cold water abated the uncomfortable itch, but it didn''t make it go away. He could only curse in his mind.


    ''Why the hell are the World Tree''s ''blessings'' always accompanied by some unbearable pain?! These aren''t blessings, but more like curses!''


    He closed his eyes... Well, at least that''s what he thought he did. The surrounding waters had actually turned pitch black all of a sudden. He thought that it was dangerous so he quickly jumped out of the fountain.


    "What the hell?"


    Cecil finally noticed that the itchiness had subsided, but when he took a look at his body and especially his clothes, they were all dyed black.


    His skin was oozing out a pitch black substance that had an appalling smell.


    "It''s marrow cleansing!" Cecil exclaimed in surprise.


    This time it wasn''t only his legs, but his entire body was experiencing the cleansing. The nature mana that poured into his body from the wooden sword had catalyzed the cleansing!


    The water fountain was quickly drained and more water began to spout out from the top of the fountain. Cecil quickly stripped his clothing and once more stepped into the fountain. He placed his dirtied clothes in the fountain as well and saw the black stains quickly wash away when the fountain waters splashed onto them.


    "This water is really, really convenient."


    The black substance continued to ooze out of Cecil''s body, but the fountain waters continued washing them away. This continued for another half an hour before the last drop of blackness stopped oozing out of Cecil''s pores.

 Chapter 193 - The Magi-tech Building

    When the cleansing was finished, Cecil checked up on his body. He felt that all his senses had sharpened.


    He clenched his fist and golden streaks of mana flashed around it. His body experienced a qualitative leap in advancement. He felt stronger and in more control.


    Cecil began to punch and kick. He felt the speed of his strikes had risen exponentially. He hadn''t even activated Mana Burst yet and he was already this fast. He then began running around the room and he noticed that his speed was also much faster than before.


    If he enhanced his body with Mana Burst, he would naturally be much stronger than before. His dream of becoming a ''Super'' like the non-elemental users from the Non Continent was coming closer and closer to realization.


    Actually, compared to those ''Supers'' Cecil was already way ahead of them in some aspects. It was just that he didn''t know about this since he never had any other ''Super'' to compare himself to.


    Cecil''s physical capabilities were almost on par with them while using his Mana Burst. Although, he hadn''t equally reached their capabilities just yet, but he was still ahead of them because Cecil could still push himself to another level if he exerted his Mana even further.


    He also didn''t have to worry about turning into a ravenous monster and this was a major advantage when using his non-elemental mana. The downside of losing his mind once he''s lost all his mana had been completely erased because of the World Tree''s recent blessing, but for now, Cecil didn''t know this.


    He was slowly transforming into a powerhouse in his own right. The only stage he hadn''t stepped into was the Transcendent stage and this was only because he hadn''t stepped into the Perfection Stage in his mana cultivation.


    Cecil immediately put his clothes back on and kept the Serenity inside his white ring. He then pulled out the Providence and walked back towards the platform, but then he stopped.


    "I forgot...maybe I should push the pedestal again?" Cecil snickered and walked over to the platform with the pedestal on it.


    He kept his sword and tried kicking the pedestal off the platform. To his surprise, it easily fell away.


    "Eh?"


    Another teleportation formation was hidden underneath the pedestal and Cecil immediately injected his mana into the formation and activated it.


    *****


    Cecil materialized in the lobby of the healing ward. His sudden appearance startled the other students who had just come down from the upper floors.


    Cecil looked around and shrugged. He didn''t see anyone he was familiar with so he walked out of the building and went towards the western building, the building that housed all the ancient magi-tech.


    When he arrived inside the building, Cecil noticed that the merfolk were still here. Some beastmen students were also present.


    Cecil made his way deeper into the building and arrived at a place that stored scrolls and doc.u.ments of ancient magi-tech knowledge and blueprints.


    Some of the people around him were struggling to decipher the letters on the doc.u.ments, but for some reason he could perfectly read and understand them.


    It was incredible since the contents of the doc.u.ments were written in the long lost ancient common language. It was a language the races of Alterna used long before the large meteor from the heavens decimated the Non Continent and the Fallen had appeared.


    ''Wait...since the Fallen are actually real...are they currently present inside the Non Continent then?''


    Knowing how that race operated, it was surprising that the other continents hadn''t been assaulted by those monsters in the past thousands of years. At least in the records and history books that Cecil''s read, he found no depictions or records of the Fallen attacking.


    Cecil pushed the thought to the back of his mind and continued reading through the doc.u.ments.


    "Woah! This is...that fountain thing!"


    Cecil was surprised to find the blueprints of the magical water fountain that he had encountered twice during the trials.


    He was disappointed the next instant because the materials to create the fountain were no longer available in the present age of Alterna.


    "The magicium core needs to be made by the ancient magic race...they''re already extinct so I can''t get any magicite to create a magicium core..."


    It was saddening, but Cecil still decided to record the blueprints onto his large magic tome so he could take it out with him. The large magic tome was a gift from his foster mother for when he won the Dueling Tournament.


    The magic tome was officially called the Magic Tome of Infinite Pages. The magic tool had a function which endlessly created pages so Cecil will never run out of writing space! He could also access any of his previously written pages with but a thought. He could also select the page he wanted to jump to if he went to the TOC page. It was a really convenient magic tool!


    The administrator had informed him just before entering the building that doc.u.ments, equipment, and crafting materials inside the buildings weren''t allowed to be taken away.


    Only the library, herb garden, and armory allowed people to take away a single item from its confines. However, there was a small loop hole that Cecil noticed. The administrator never said anything about copying the doc.u.ments and bringing out the copy with them.


    Cecil immediately began to get busy and he wished that he had more arms and eyes to help him with the copying. He even started cursing himself for not learning how to write with his feet.


    During his time reading and copying down the doc.u.ments, Cecil was actually able to find blueprints to a more advanced version of the present era''s MIDs. The ancient MIDs even had a communication function! It was literally like a phone!


    Again, the materials to create the ancient MID were long lost, but Cecil copied every single detail down onto his magic tome.


    The people around him were astonished to see him record all the details of the doc.u.ments onto his book, then a light bulb popped in their brains and they too took out writing utensils and began copying Cecil.


    They didn''t understand, but maybe their elders might be able to help them!


    Cecil found numerous blueprints which he quickly copied down. After he copied the noteworthy magi-tech onto his book, he moved onto a different section of the building. Sure, he could copy down all the magi-tech blueprints he saw, but that would be inefficient.


    Most of the magi-tech he saw was useless and only a select few were actually useful. The ancient MID, magic water fountain and a handful of other ancient magi-tech were recorded by Cecil. He did however still record some of these useless magi-techs down. Some of the techniques used to create them seemed pretty complex and complicated, Cecil thought it might do him good to copy them down just in case.


    The ancient civilization that created the magi-techs was very smart and advanced, but at the same time, to Cecil, they seemed to be very, very stupid. The useful magi-tech only numbered a few, while all the miscellaneous magi-techs were in abundance.


    Like a magic tool that only spat out some non-lethal flames that would then explode in the air. It was basically a magic tool that created fireworks. Then there was another tool that was used to warm up a bed.


    Or another tool that was used to launch a person through the air, what was the use for such a thing other than to commit suicide?


    Of course Cecil didn''t know that back then flying in the air was normal for the people. They used this ''cannon'' tool to propel them into the air and give them a starting velocity much faster than when they would normally rise into the air.


    It was a convenient tool back then, but to Cecil, who was living in the present age, it was only a tool used to murder idiots that were stupid enough to actually lie down inside the barrel or for hopeless bastards that wanted to commit a thrilling suicide and end their lives.


    To Cecil, the ancient race''s magic researchers were idiots. He was hoping to find some kind of magi-tech that could replicate the machines from back on Earth. All those conveniences like electric ovens, refrigerators, cars, airplanes, and the like.


    If he had blueprints of magi-tech with similar functions...then he would go through fire and ice, heaven and hell, to try and create it. Unfortunately he couldn''t find any.


    "Tsk...At least have the decency to record the blueprints of teleportation gates!" Cecil grumbled.


    Cecil walked to the upper floors of the building, but still couldn''t find what he was looking for. He did find some pre-made magi-tech in the rooms he entered, but he couldn''t bring them out with him, so they were essentially useless to him.


    As he travelled to the upper floors of the building, entering and exiting every room he came across, he was still able to find some information that was worthwhile enough for him to copy down.


    Theories, concepts, and written plans to develop some convenient magi-tech, he copied down everything that he felt was noteworthy.


    He also stumbled upon unfinished plans for an airship! Cecil immediately copied down all the relevant information regarding to the completion and planning of the airship into his Magic Tome of Infinite Pages.


    Cecil reminded himself to slowly sift through the knowledge once he returned to the Anglaria Kingdom.

 Chapter 194 - The Spiritual Garden’s Array

    What surprised Cecil as he went through the Magi-tech building was that as he got to the higher floors, the more advanced was the knowledge that he could gleam from the doc.u.ments. Naturally he copied them into his Magic Tome.


    Even if it was miscellaneous knowledge, as long as it was interesting enough and advanced, Cecil would copy it down. Who knows, maybe someday this knowledge might help him later.


    "Hohohohhh...There''s gonna be a whole lotta stuff I''ll be studying when we get back!"


    The basic information in regards to magi-tech development was found on the first floor and Cecil had long since copied them into his book. The basics were always important and the introductory knowledge would help him build a foundation when he would eventually have to study the advanced knowledge he was currently copying down.


    For some reason, Cecil found it enjoyable when he was going to study about magi-tech. He was already naturally attracted to his MID so now that he had the opportunity to learn about its inner workings and the knowledge used to create such a device...he was naturally ecstatic!


    Cecil continued copying the doc.u.ments and he finally reached the top most floor of the building. There was only one room on the floor and it most likely led to the teleportation gate. He made his way back down to the first floor and noticed that there were more and more students coming and going.


    Cecil exited the place and walked over to the herb garden. When he entered he noticed that the nature mana in the garden was much denser when compared to outside of the garden.


    He walked around and didn''t find anything of interest. Cecil activated his Mana Eyes and noticed the magic array that was encircling the entire garden. It attracted the ambient nature mana into the garden and trapped it inside.


    It also seemed to function to accelerate the growth of the plants and herbs inside the garden. It was fascinating, so Cecil decided to sit down and try to copy the formation into his book.


    Naturally, the Elves in the garden that was cultivating their mana noticed him. Cleo noticed the boy and naturally grew curious when she saw him stare out into space and writing down on his book non-stop.


    She walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, "Cecil?"


    "Ueh? O-oh! What''s wrong Cleo?"


    "What''re you doing?"


    "Me? Oh, I''m just copying down the garden''s magic array! It''s really fascinating!"


    "...?"


    Cleo looked around the garden, but couldn''t find this magic array. When she turned to look at Cecil again, she noticed that the boy was looking off into space. She tried to align her sight with his, but still couldn''t see anything.


    "What array? I don''t see anything!" Cleo asked. She then began to pout when she noticed Cecil ignoring her.


    He was so focused on writing in his book that the boy didn''t register Cleo asking him something. She naturally turned her eyes onto the book in his hand.


    The array that Cecil was drawing was pretty big and detailed. He had to use up two whole pages to inscribe the entirety of the array. Even then, he had only copied down about 1/5th of the array onto his book.


    There was at least a million runes composing this magic array and it would surely take a while for him to inscribe the array into his book. Not to mention that he had to double, triple, and maybe even quadruple check it. Just to make sure that it wasn''t wrong and was a complete and exact copy of the herb garden''s array.


    Two hours later, Cecil had finished inscribing half of the array. It took him this long because he was also checking his work as he continued writing down, making sure there wasn''t a mistake in his copy.


    Cleo was sitting next to him the entire time looking at him working. She tried calling out to him a couple of times, but Cecil was unresponsive.


    "...this blockhead is so focused that he''s basically blocked out any outside interference..."


    She also looked at Cecil''s focused eyes and was somewhat enchanted.


    "Such beautiful eyes..."


    Cecil''s golden pupils seemed a little unique to Cleo. It was like there were small runes glimmering in his eyes.


    "Cel?"


    From behind a voice sounded out and Cleo turned her body to look at the voice. A beautiful foxkin girl with silver hair came into view and she was staring directly at Cecil and her. Then her face crumpled into a frown and the girl made her way over to them.


    Behind her was pink haired rabbitkin girl that followed after. Cleo remembered who the two girls were, the second strongest person from Arks Royal Academy, Lucia Yukihime and the Arks Academy''s Student Council Secretary, Serilla Lunarts.


    She remembered that these two girls hung around Cecil and it was obvious that they liked the boy.


    When the two arrived next to Cleo and Cecil, they finally noticed that Cecil was writing down something very seriously. They didn''t want to disturb him so they turned towards Cleo.


    "What are you two doing here?"


    Met with such a question, Cleo''s eyes shone with a little surprise before she smirked back at the girls.


    "I''m accompanying Cecil~"


    "...to do what?"


    "Uhm...Sightseeing?"


    Cleo''s excuse caused Lucia to frown and Serilla to giggle.


    "Hmm...Cel''s obviously doing something important...you shouldn''t bother him."


    "I know that~ I''m just sitting next to him and cultivating quietly...I''m sure I''m not a bother. Look, even Cecil isn''t saying anything!"


    "..."


    Lucia''s attempt at trying to shoo away Cleo ended with her defeat. She didn''t want to look overbearing and high-handed so she just let the elf girl do whatever.


    Lucia plopped down next to Cecil and peered over. She noticed that he was inscribing some kind of runic magic array into the two pages of the book. The other page was already filled and he was currently just starting on the next page.


    Cecil snapped out of his focused state and stretched his body. He then stood up and turned around before he plopped back down onto his butt. It was then that he noticed the three people around him.


    "Eh?"


    "Heya~!"


    "Cel!"


    "Hmhm~"


    Cecil only gave them a short glance before turning his attention back to the magic array.


    "Don''t bother me..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    His words caused the 3 girls to blank out for a bit. Lucia was the first to recover. She wanted to explode out and smash the idiot in the face, but when she saw his focused and serious look, it was clear that what he was doing was very important, important to the point where he even coldly told them not to bother him.


    "Hmph. Fine...I won''t say anything...not until you''re finished at least," Lucia grumbled quietly. She didn''t get up, but decided to stay sitting down next to Cecil. Serilla sat down close by and closed her eyes to meditate.


    Cleo was a little disgruntled by Cecil''s reply, but she sighed and closed her eyes to resume her cultivation. She had spent two hours just staring at Cecil, seeing how the two girls beside the boy had promptly sat down and begin to quietly cultivate, she followed suit.


    Cecil was using his hyper-sensitivity to take a long look at the array before he swiftly continued to draw, he would then glance up again and use the skill to make sure he didn''t create any mistakes when copying down the array.


    He continued doing this for another 6 hours. Then he used another hour and a half to check his completed copy. When he made sure that there were no mistakes, he finally noticed how exhausted he was.


    He had used up a lot of his brain power during the almost 10 hours he used to inscribe the array. Cecil tiredly got up and quickly made his way to the healing ward. He quickly entered into a room and plopped down onto the bed.


    He was mentally exhausted. Silver plopped down next to him and quickly closed his eyes, but then he raised his head and barked and Cecil.


    "What is it, Silv?"


    "Wa! Wafu!"


    "Huh? I...forgot something?"


    "Wafu!"


    Cecil tried to think about something, but he couldn''t recall himself forgetting anything. He checked and rechecked the array he inscribed and he was 100% sure that it was an exact replica without any mistakes.


    He also had all the magi-tech knowledge stored inside his Magic Tome of Infinite Pages. What could he have forgotten?


    "...No, Silv...I didn''t forget anything...just hurry up and sleep...we still have to visit the Armory and Library... I also forgot to take out something from the garden so I''ll revisit the place tomorrow..."


    Cecil fell into a deep slumber. He was too exhausted to keep his eyes open. Silver barked one more time. He made a pitiful expression that read ''you''re digging your own grave master...''and indeed, Cecil probably just did dig his own grave.


    Back at the garden, the girls had long since stopped their cultivation when they noticed that Cecil had finished his work. They wanted to call out to him, but the boy seemed a little listless. He didn''t pay any attention to them and straightforwardly walked out of the garden, with Silver in his arms.


    They sat there quietly in place as the wind blew. Lucia''s face was dark and she looked just about ready to explode.


    Serilla was panicky as she tried to calm her down. Cleo was the only one who had the nerve to laugh at their predicament.


    After finishing his inscribing, Cecil had directly left the girls behind without even giving them a single glance. It was the first time Cleo experienced being neglected and it caused her to laugh at the situation.


    "Ahahahahaha~"


    "Cel! You''re dead!"


    "Now, now Lulu, calm down~"

 Chapter 195 - The Ancient Library

    Cecil woke up the next day. When tried to raise his body, he felt oddly heavy. He was still rubbing his eyes, but he did feel a weight on his chest. He figured that it was probably Silver sleeping on top of him.


    The wolf loved to jump onto him and sleep atop his body when given the chance. He wanted to pick Silver up and remove him from his chest, but when he grabbed onto Silver, the sensation that he felt was oddly soft and squishy.


    "?"


    It was comfortable to touch so he kept groping the soft and squishy thing.


    ''When did Silv become so soft?''


    "Ah~ uhm...nn...uhhh..."


    "Eh?"


    Cecil heard a female voice as he kept squeezing and groping the soft thing in his hand. He quickly stopped rubbing his eyes and opened them.


    "...oh...so that''s why it was squishy and comfortable..."


    Lucia was on top of him and Cecil was currently groping onto her chest. Despite being only 15 years old, Lucia had a pretty abundant chest. Mrs. Anna had a voluptuous body so Lucia''s genes were obviously superior in that area.


    Lucia continued m.o.a.ning until she eventually woke up. Cecil didn''t stop groping however. It was pretty comfortable so why should he stop?


    "C-Cel? Ah! Mmmhmm..."


    "Good morning, Lulu... Why are you in my bed again?"


    "N-no reason...mhm...ah...c-can you please stop...g-groping my chest?"


    "Hm? In a little bit, it''s kinda nice to touch!"


    Cecil continued groping Lucia''s chest. She continued m.o.a.ning and eventually her face turned red and she began to pant.


    Cecil was finally satisfied so he quickly tried to get up. Then he felt a piercing stare come from his left.


    "S-Serilla?!"


    Serilla was also sleeping next to him and he jumped off the bed in surprise. The rabbitkin girl looked towards the blushing and panting Lucia opposite of her.


    "Y-you can grope my chest as well, Cecil..." She shyly said as she brought her chest forward.


    "No thanks!"


    Cecil quickly dashed out of the room. He didn''t forget to grab Silver before he got out.


    He entered another empty room and quickly took a shower inside. He also gave Silver a nice wash down.


    "Hmmm...As I thought...without the presence of shampoo...it''s a little lacking..."


    Cecil was thinking that it was a little inconvenient. He could simply clean his hair using the mana-rich waters, but he still felt something missing. Alterna did have scented bar soap, but for some reason shampoo still wasn''t invented.


    It got kinda icky whenever his hair began to get all dried up and oily sometimes. It was lucky that Alterna had the Cleanse Spell. Without it, Cecil''s scalp would have begun to itch and feel very uncomfortable a long time ago.


    He always had a couple of Cleanse quick-cast scrolls at the ready, but he recently found out that the mana-rich waters inside the healing wards'' rooms and the magic water fountains had cleansing properties as well.


    You didn''t even need to scrub the dirt off your body or clothes, just simply wait under the water spout and let the mana-rich waters clean you.


    This magic tool that created the mana-rich waters was a very convenient piece of magi-tech. Cecil had to find a way to reproduce it when he returned back to Anglaria.


    "I''ll ask Mother Anna to help out..."


    After he finished showering, Cecil hastily made his way out of the building. He bumped into Serilla and Lucia on his way down. Serilla greeted him, but she was pouting. Lucia greeted him as well, but she was oddly shy about it.


    Cecil brought the two over to the library in the southern building. On the way, Cecil apologized to the two for leaving them behind yesterday, but for some reason, whenever he tried talking to Lucia, the girl would always blush and respond bashfully.


    She also had trouble meeting his eyes and she would always try to avoid speaking to him for too long. Normally, she''d do everything she can to try and grab his attention.


    It wasn''t her normal behavior and it caused Cecil to frown. He asked her if something was wrong, but the girl would only respond with a shake of her head.


    "Lulu?"


    "I-it''s nothing! Really!!"


    "It doesn''t feel like nothing...are you still mad because I left you behind yesterday?"


    "N-no! No..."


    "Then why''re you acting like this? This isn''t the normal you," Cecil frowned.


    "J-just leave me alone already! W-we''re at the library now! I''ll go in first!"


    Lucia quickly evaded his question and rushed into the library. It was his first time being left behind. A sour feeling began welling up inside him and Cecil thought, ''Is this how she feels whenever I run away?''


    Cecil wanted to chase after her, but Serilla tugged on his arm.


    "There''s no need to chase her~"


    "Huh? But I''m worried y''know!"


    "It''s alright~ she''s just bewildered and doesn''t know how to respond when you;re the one that''s begun to act so aggressively~"


    "Huh?"


    "Hihihi~ now, let''s go in?"


    "...sure..."


    With Serilla in tow, Cecil walked into the library. When he entered into the main hall, he looked around in awe. The library was HUGE! Cecil could count about 30 or so floors making up the large ancient library.


    It was really awe-inspiring and he could see some vines in the air storing or bringing down books to the other students currently present in the library.


    There was a small stone slab that had small engravings at the middle of the library''s ground floor. Cecil walked up to it and read the engravings.


    [The World Tree''s Library


    Choose 1 Book to take out with you.


    Ask the Vines to bring you the Book you require.]


    It was very simple instructions. Pick a book, any book. Ask a vine to assist you while you look. Made your decision? Then get out with your selected book.


    Further down the slab was a simple map of the library''s ground floor. When Cecil activated his Mana Eyes and concentrated, he could make out similar stone slabs on each of the library''s floors.


    "Probably the floor maps..."


    Cecil turned his attention back to the map on the stone slab on the ground floor. The map on the front of the stone slab showed the categories and locations of the books on the floor. While on the opposite side of the stone slab, it showed the book categories on each floor of the library. The ground floor mostly had books about historic records and such.


    To most of the students who participated in the trials and arrived at the Final Plaza, this was the most useless floor to be on in the library. Why would they bother to read or pick out a book that was only related to ancient history?


    "Cecil, what floor are you going to?"


    "...I''ll stay here. I don''t actually have any specific book that I''m looking for. Combat Skill, Magic Spells, and Cultivation techniques...I don''t need those."


    "Hmhm~ Yeah, you could just create your own skill and spells~ I also heard that your mana cultivation technique is a unique, self-made one as well, no?"


    "Yup! That''s why no other books attract me in the library. I''ll maybe go to the second floor later. I wanna read up on the books about runes they have on that floor.


    "Okay~ then I''ll head up to the 15th floor, I''ll see you later Cecil~"


    The second floor had books about runes while the 15th floor had books regarding sword arts, sword skills, and other topics related to swordsmanship. It was obvious that a sword fanatic like Serilla would be attracted to go there.


    Cecil spread his Mana Sense to the entire library. He quickly located Lucia on the 28th floor. If he wasn''t mistaken, the 28th floor had books about high-tiered original spells. Starting from the 25th floor, all the books in the subsequently higher floors began to reduce in amount. The 30th floor was empty with only a door on the eastern side of the floor which was actually locked and no one was able to gain access to it.


    Cecil remained on the ground floor and he began to read all the historic records about the beastkin that he could find. He asked the vines to assist him in bringing them over.


    He plopped down in an inconspicuous corner on the first floor and began reading. He also had his Infinite Page Magic Tome out and would regularly jot down notes and details he found interesting as he read through the historic records.


    Cecil spent a week on the first floor to finish reading through all the records about the beastkin. Some of the students couldn''t help notice him even when he sat there alone in a well hidden corner of the library''s ground floor.


    The numerous vine activities had attracted some of them and they thought something mysterious was happening, but it only turned out to be a foxkin boy reading the historic records while jotting down notes in his book.


    They didn''t see any meaning in doing so, but the boy didn''t pay any attention towards anyone or anything around him. He single-mindedly just kept reading the records.


    He would read all the way until he felt mentally exhausted before he went back to the healing ward to sleep. He ate his meals while reading and slept only when he felt very, very tired.


    When he went to sleep, he no longer bothered to care whether Lucia or Serilla crawled in with him. Actually, he even began to accept it and during the past week he would hug Lucia to sleep...while groping her chest.


    He said it was soothing and it helped him sleep better. Lucia could only let him do as he pleased and Cecil was more than happy to oblige. This of course earned him piercing stares from Serilla, but he was adamant in not touching Serilla.


    He felt an odd sense of danger if he actually did grope her chest. So despite him letting her sleep in the same bed, he made sure not to put a finger on her even when she snuggled up to him.


    It was a little torturous for Lucia since Cecil''s lewd hands kept groping her before she slept, but she felt blissful despite all that. Her affection finally got through to him and he actually became a lot more aggressive.


    Cecil continued to read in the library and this kept going on for about a month or so.

 Chapter 196 - The Library’s 30th Floor

    A month had passed since the students had arrived at the Final Plaza. The administrator never set a time limit on the length of their stay.


    Of course, the students were limited by the amount of food they had packed in their spatial rings, but most of the Academies had the students pack enough food to last themselves 2-3 months while inside the trials.


    The Urrugdrasil Trials were almost random and sometimes the trials could take a week at the shortest and 3 months at the longest.


    The Academy leaders had all decided to stay inside the Last Plaza for as long as possible. This was good news for Cecil since in the past month; he was only able to finish reading all the historic records on the 1st floor.


    Cecil learned many things about the races of Alterna. Their history was very intriguing and it enriched his brain. He could proudly say that he had an in depth knowledge regarding all the history behind every race on Alterna. This included some of the races that were extinct from the present era.


    Cecil hadn''t started reading any of the Runic Array books on the 2nd floor yet, but since they were going to stay for another month, Cecil naturally took advantage of this extra time. He quickly went to the library''s 2nd floor and began reading the knowledge of the Ancient Runic Arrays.


    The runic arrays were also essential in creating the magi-tech that Cecil was so fond of. He also wanted to upgrade the runic array on some of his weapons if he found better versions of it in the books.


    With his Mana Eyes, he might even be able to upgrade some of the Ancient Arrays.


    While Cecil was busy with his reading, Lucia and the rest were cultivating inside the healing ward''s building. It turned out the building wasn''t just for the student to rest and recuperate, but it was actually a cultivation building.


    The ambient mana inside the building was exponentially higher than what was outside of it. It took a while for anyone to realize this because they were too busy exploring the other areas. It was only when Velicia, who was by far the most injured person at the time, had kept staying inside the building.


    She was also despondent over the loss of her older brother. When she finally got over her sadness and resolved herself to improve, she decided to shut herself inside and cultivate her mana stage.


    After a month, she finally came out and to everyone''s surprise; she had reached the Mana Core stage! She was already a stage higher than both Cecil and Lucia!


    Originally, the academy leaders wanted to leave the trial grounds after a month had passed, but they revised their plans knowing that they could speed up their cultivation while inside the trial grounds.


    Everyone began to frantically cultivate after they found out the benefits of the healing ward which was now dubbed as the cultivation building.


    Cecil didn''t care about that however. He was the only student who still stepped out of the building and head towards the library.


    The library that was full of people in the last month had become barren. Only Cecil was there in the quiet stillness of the library. It suited him perfectly since now he could concentrate on his reading.


    He opened a book called Advanced Studies of Runes. Written inside were all sorts of different runes that were new to him. He quickly jotted down all the new knowledge into his Magic Tome.


    From the new runes he found, he was actually not able to find a single one of them that needed improving! The ancient runes were all in their most optimal and perfect states and it seems that present day runes were only the degraded versions of the ancient runes.


    "No wonder!"


    Cecil eagerly began to learn. Not long after he began to experiment with the runes and found a rune combination that cooled down the object it was inscribed on. Cecil was ecstatic, but he still felt that it wasn''t enough.


    He needed to find more runes to supplement the combination and form a runic array. This way he could create a perpetual cooling array, but he couldn''t find any runes that could supplement his combination.


    Cecil could only stop his experiments and continue reading. It didn''t take long for him to finish scrutinizing all that was written inside the book, he used his hyper-sensitivity to read the book with lightning speed.


    He quickly tossed the book over to a vine and grabbed another book that a vine had brought over to him.


    His peculiar way of reading was really mind-boggling. It looked like he was only flipping through the pages and not reading anything. It was no wonder the Old Library Sage back at Arks Academy''s Library flipped out when he saw Cecil''s way of reading.


    Before when there were still other students inside the library, Cecil didn''t dare to use Hyper-sensitivity. He didn''t want to attract any attention to himself, but since no one was around anymore, Cecil could do as he pleased.


    "I''ll finish up the 2nd floor in a week then I''ll go over to the magi-tech building and experiment on the runes and try and make one of those Ancient MIDs."


    Cecil smirked then he voiced his thoughts out loud, "The administrator said that we can''t take anything out of the building, but he didn''t say that we weren''t allowed to create something and bring it back with us...right?"


    He shrugged and thought it was worth a try. It was better than not doing anything. If he was indeed able to make the ancient MID using the materials present inside the Magi-tech building and bring it out with him...that''d be super!


    The extinct materials were in abundance inside the magi-tech building, that treasure load of materials were within reach, but he couldn''t even bring it out! Now that he found a plausible way, he just had to try it out no matter what!


    Cecil quickened his reading speed and notes taking. A week passed and just like he planned, he was able to successfully finish reading and copying all the books on the 2nd floor within a week.


    Just before he decided to head back to the cultivation building, he still had one more place to visit.


    "Let''s head up to the 30th level."


    During his time while inside the library, Cecil had checked every level of the library before reading over the books on the 2nd floor.


    When he got to the 30th floor, he was surprised to find another similar gap in the door leading to the 30th floor that was identical to the one he found in the cultivation building''s moving platforms.


    He hadn''t opened up the door yet because there were still many other students inside the library during that time. Cecil didn''t want to attract any unneeded attention so he had planned to secretly open the 30th floor, but thanks to the students now cultivating in the center building, he could now open the door at ease.


    "Let''s see what''s behind door number 30 shall we?"


    Cecil pulled out Providence and stabbed it into the door''s gap. Nothing happened, but when he twisted the sword a little in order to pull it out and try again, the door''s mechanism seemed to have activated. He was startled and let go of the Providence, but then the sword twisted a full 360 degrees clockwise twice and 4 times counter clockwise by itself. Then a large clunk was heard and the door slowly opened itself.


    Behind the door was a singular podium with a book enshrined on top of it. It looked pretty ancient with the cover and bindings being all worn down.


    Cecil walked over to the podium and grabbed ahold of the book. Just as his hands touched the book, a dark green colored mana rose from the book and began rushing into Cecil''s body.


    "Ahhhh...not again."


    Once again, Cecil''s consciousness was cut and he collapsed right in front of the podium with the book in hand. The door to the 30th floor slammed itself close and not long after, a wizened old elf slowly materialized inside of the room.


    The elderly male elf lowered his eyes onto the collapsed boy and smiled gently. "You were not a part of this old one''s vision...have the Gods granted us mercy and sent your people to us?"


    The elderly elf rubbed his long white beard and extended a hand. He began to gently caress Cecil''s hair. "Receive my Ultimate Blessing young one..."


    The elf''s hand that was stroking Cecil''s hair began to glow with a rainbow light and the light started to seep into his body. A cocoon of rainbow light surrounded Cecil and once he saw this, the elderly elf stood up and smiled in satisfaction.


    "I leave the future to you young ones..."


    The old elf then disappeared in a flash of dissipating light particles.


    ******


    When Cecil woke up, he was surrounded by white threads. He panicked a bit, but when he pushed away at the threads, they immediately collapsed away easily. He emerged from the cocoon and he quickly stood up.


    "..." Cecil could only sigh in frustration. He didn''t know what happened to him or why he was suddenly inside of a cocoon. After fainting, he completely lost control of his surroundings. He felt oddly comfortable though while in his sleep, but waking up inside of a cocoon was not something he wanted to experience ever again.


    "Whatever...let''s take a look at the...book?"


    Cecil finally noticed that the book he was supposedly holding tightly on to was nowhere to be found. Just as he was about to look for it, he suddenly felt a piercing headache.


    "AH??"


    He felt like a boat load of information was being forcibly squeezed into his brain. Cecil collapsed while grasping his head in pain. The pain came so suddenly, but it was fortunate that it quickly vanished after only 5 seconds. To Cecil however, those 5 seconds felt like an eternity.


    When the pain subsided, Cecil was surprised to find some new information inside of his brain.


    "World Tree''s Final Blessing?" He mumbled, but then in the next instant he exploded in fury. "What blessing, goddammit! What kinda blessing puts me through such agony?! It''s a curse! A curse I tell you!!!"


    While yelling to no one in particular, Cecil checked up on the ''blessing'' he had received. "Healing Arts? Woah!"


    Cecil was surprised to find that the book that he had ''lost'' was actually floating inside his brain. With a mere thought, a flash of green appeared in front of him and the old book materialized in his hands.


    When he opened up the book, the boy discovered many lost and ancient healing magic spells inside. The unique thing about these healing spells was that they needed use light elemental mana, but nature mana instead.


    "There''s even a way to cultivate nature mana!"

 Chapter 197 - Life Energy, Ki

    Nature mana or Life Energy, as what the ancient book described, was actually the life force of every living being. It was different, yet similar to mana that was the fuel or energy that sustained all the lives of every organism on the planet.


    Mana helped strengthen and nurture the environment and organisms on Alterna. Life Energy was similar, but the sources of these two powers were different. While Mana existed in the environment and everywhere on Alterna, Life Energy was something that existed only from within a living being. Only those who cultivated Life Energy were able to manipulate and feel it.


    Each living being''s Life Energy is unique and not one would be similar to the other. Mana had different elements that differentiated their types, but Life Energy was entirely different from one organism to another.


    The reason why Cecil had mistaken the life energy in the trial grounds with normal mana was because he hadn''t known of its existence yet. The ambient Life energy came from the World Tree, Urrugdrasil.


    Since the trials were located inside the area of the World Tree, the life energy it emitted was naturally more abundant in the air. It began to mix with the ambient mana and that''s why Cecil had mistakenly thought that the unique energy was nature mana, which the elves exclusively had, when it should have been Life Energy.


    Although they had mixed together, but mana was mana and life energy was life energy. The two were different. While one originated from the environment, the other originated from a living being, in this case, the World Tree.


    The elves had been living in the vicinity of the World Tree so they were more sensitive to life energy than most races. The elves weren''t aware of this, but they were born with the ability to sense life energy right from the start.


    There were no records of life energy cultivation so they had mistakenly thought that the unique energy was only the blessings from the World Tree. They ignored cultivating it and only opted to cultivate mana instead. They then mixed the mana and life energy together to form nature mana which was used in the unique elven nature magic spells.


    This combination of life energy and mana wasn''t yet at the step of creating ether, but it was close. If the elves were able to balance the life energy and mana then they would be able to successfully create Ether.


    They had such an overwhelming advantage against the other races, but it was too bad for them that they had no knowledge of it.


    Cecil''s Blessing where he was given the ability to control vines and branches was a form of life energy manipulation, but unlike the elves'' nature magic, his vine manipulation wasn''t formed through the combination of mana and life energy to conjure a spell. He merely manipulated the vines and branches in the surrounding area to his will.


    Let''s say the area was barren of trees. Then it was only natural that his plant manipulation skill would be rendered completely useless since he had no plants to manipulate. Life Energy was only present within LIVING beings. This meant that the dead didn''t possess this unique energy.


    Cecil could freely manipulate live plants, but there was no way he could manipulate a dead tree or something similar.


    The ancient book had a complete description on the difference between mana and life energy. Life energy or Ki, for short, originated from the very soul of a living organism. Normally, one wouldn''t be able to feel or cultivate Ki until they reached the Perfection Stage in the present era.


    However, during the ancient era, it was much more common to find people cultivating both mana and ki at the same time. The two energies were virtually on par with each other, not one being more important or stronger than the other.


    Cultivate Ki from within and Mana from without. The two cultivation systems complemented each other and the energy that resulted from the perfect combination of the two was called Ether.


    Ether was also the ultimate form of energy that the current era''s Transcendent-level characters cultivated.


    While everyone else was still stumbling with Mana Cultivation, Cecil had just found a new path for him to tread.


    "Ki! I''ll definitely cultivate this!" He exclaimed in excitement.


    Similar to Mana, Ki also had only 4 stages of cultivation which were Ki Formation, Ki Condensation, Ki Crystallization, and finally Ki Transformation. Once one was able to finally cultivate all the way to Ki Transformation, they would then be able to merge Perfected Mana with Transformative Ki together and produce the higher form of energy, Ether.


    "This Ether...sounds pretty powerful..."


    Cecil spent some time reading the book. After the section that had the World Tree''s Ki Cultivation Technique, Cecil continued reading and finally found the healing arts of Ki. Life Energy or Ki was really only good for healing. There were no offensive skills or arts inside the book.


    There was however some explanations and details to the proper usage of Ki other than for using it to heal yourself or someone else. Ki originated from the body, so naturally Ki could be used to strengthen the body.


    By strengthening the body, it wasn''t the temporary body enhancement of body strengthening skills, but a passive, more permanent type of enhancement.


    Cultivate the Ki and let it settle and permeate inside all of the organs, muscles, and cells of the body. Cecil''s body was permeated with mana throughout all of his muscles, organs and cells. Ever since he got the Mana Circuits, Cecil hasn''t once stopped baptizing every organ, tissue, and muscles inside of his body with mana.


    His affinity with mana naturally grew with each passing mana baptism and he did feel an improvement with his physique, but for some reason it wasn''t like what he had hoped. His physique had largely improved in regards to mana affinity, but there was no qualitative change that directly strengthened his physique''s power and strength.


    At least, not until he experienced his second Marrow Cleansing, he finally understood what catalyzed his Marrow Cleansing in the first place. The first time he had experienced Marrow Cleansing was during his excursion to the Mining Valley and after facing off against the Oroboros.


    He had overused his leg''s mana pathways and had directly ruined them. The medicine he drank from his foster mother didn''t stimulate his mana and cause the Marrow Cleansing, but the medicine instead had stimulated his Ki and this was what caused his first cleansing. The Ki was also the factor that had helped heal and transform his Mana Circuits!


    "Mother''s a genius!"


    Cecil couldn''t help but reevaluate the genius of his foster mother. There was no doubt in his mind that his foster mother, Anna, was a Transcendent. She just had to be! Considering that she was able to brew medicine that could directly stimulate one''s Ki.


    "Her knowledge in this aspect must be pretty high since she could concoct medicine like that! I should ask more from her later!"


    There''s no way a person like her wouldn''t be a Transcendent and even if she wasn''t, Cecil concluded that she at least had to be infinitesimally close to that level and was most likely just a small step away from achieving it.


    Cecil finished reading the book and immediately tried to cultivate his Ki. He first calmed his mind and readjusted his posture. He sat down cross-legged and tried to feel the Ki inside of him.


    It didn''t take him long before he could feel it.


    ''Is this it?''


    Unlike with Mana which was located in his mana point on his navel, Cecil was able to locate his Ki in the center of his chest.


    ''It''s faint, but it''s there.''


    Cecil''s ''faint'' wasn''t faint at all. The amount of Ki he had inside his body was in fact very abundant. He did after all receive the World Tree''s Blessings. It was also due to the blessings that he was able to quickly feel his Ki.


    The only reason why Cecil felt that the Ki was ''faint'' was because he was only able to locate the Ki in his chest. The chest area where the Ki Point was located at was the easiest place to initially feel out one''s Ki. If he was to concentrate hard enough and turn his attention to other places inside his body, Cecil would find an abundant amount of the white colored ''light strands'' everywhere.


    In fact, the amount of Ki inside his body was already enough for him to reach the second stage of Ki cultivation, Ki Condensation. All he needed to do was gather up all the strands of Ki inside his body and condense it at the spot in the center of his chest, close to his heart.


    Cecil tried to manipulate the Ki inside his body and began circulating it around the Mana Circuits inside his body. Despite being called Mana Circuits, Ki was able to move just fine inside of them.


    "Hmm...Calling them Mana Circuits seems a little off. I''ll just call them Energy Circuits instead. Sounds more general since eventually I''ll be using Ether after I combine Mana and Ki together," Cecil hummed with a nod.


    Cecil couldn''t help but notice that his small strand of Ki was growing bigger and bigger with every cycle it ran through the Circuits. He noticed that numerous strands of Ki would abruptly jump inside the Circuits as the strand of Ki ran through it and combine together.


    After 10 cycles, the strand of Ki was no longer just a strand. It was now pretty thick and long. When Cecil tried circulating it inside his Circuits, both ends of the long strand were able to link up together.


    When he continued to circulate his Ki like this, the Ki began leaving his Circuits and slowly gather into the center of his chest.


    "...isn''t this the sign that I''m stepping into the Ki Condensation stage?" Cecil said in confusion.


    He didn''t stop the circulation and finally all the Ki in his body had gathered at the center of his chest and condensed from the light strand into a white liquid, similar to Cecil''s golden liquid mana in his mana point.


    "Okay...that was easy."


    Without him doing anything, the Ki began to spread out throughout his body. The liquid Ki settled in every part of his body.


    Cecil suddenly felt really lively. His senses had once more sharpened. This time it wasn''t the subtle sharpening, but more like a direct enhancement. Everything looked clearer in his eyes and when he concentrated, he could hear things that he couldn''t have before.


    He felt like he could actually hear the breath of the World Tree, slowly inhaling before exhaling a deep and gently breeze of Ki into the air.


    He could even feel the subtle vibrations of the air on top of his skin. He never felt more at ''one with the world'' as he did now.


    Cecil while feeling the gentle caresses of air that wrapped around his body, the boy exerted both his mana and ki, he felt like he could manipulate this air. When he punched out, Cecil manipulated the air around his body to flow along with his fist.


    FWIP


    FWIP FWIP


    He tried the same while kicking. The speed of both his punches and kicks were lightning fast. Only a blur resulted when he repeatedly punched and kicked. He had even kicked up a small whirlwind just from just this!


    "WOW! This is great!"


    Cecil laughed happily and continued experimenting with his newfound powers. The Ki that had settled inside his various body parts had enhanced his body and senses. He hadn''t even activated his Mana Burst, yet his attack speed was already so high!


    Not to mention his body seemed impervious to low level attacks now. He was even able to emit a transparent barrier around his body using only his Ki. Cecil wasn''t sure how strong it was, but he reckoned that he''d be able to stop numerous mid-ranked magic spells with this barrier alone and maybe one or two high-ranked spells if he layered his mana barrier on top.


    What he found most astonishing was the rate of his mana replenishment. When Cecil had begun cultivating Ki, he noticed that his mana recovery had grown exponentially. He began circulating his mana in accordance with his family''s technique while also activating Mana Burst.


    He was surprised to find his mana replenishing at nearly half the rate it was being used up! He continued circulating his mana at full power for over half an hour, but he still didn''t feel strained at all.


    Normally, it''d only take him 10-15 minutes of using his mana this way before he would nearly zero out his mana.


    "This is great! Hahaha!!"


    Now he never had to worry about zero-ing out his mana if he pushed his Mana Burst or skills to the limit, not like he had to worry anymore in the first place, but since the boy still didn''t know the more amazing benefits of cultivating Ki, he still didn''t know that he no longer had to worry about being driven into madness from mana deficiency.


    "Alright, I should go back and rest up~" Cecil smiled. He quickly opened the door and walked out of the library. "Ah! I should also tell my friends about this once they''re all done cultivating~"

 Chapter 198 - Magi-tech!

    After resting up back at the cultivation building, Cecil went over to the magi-tech building the next day.


    He went straight up to the 5th floor where he found the vault that contained all the magi-tech crafting materials. He picked up some spatial rings inside the vault and stored every single material that he found into the rings.


    He put similar types of materials inside one ring and separated them. The ores went into one ring, the magicite into another, and so on. Like this he cleanly swept through the vault.


    No one was here to see him, so he didn''t care at all.


    "I''ll do what I must! There''s no way I''ll just give up on all of this!"


    Cecil proceeded over to the 6th floor where the workshops were at. He entered a room that was filled with all sorts of apparatus.


    During the time he was copying the doc.u.ments in the magi-tech building, he was able to learn about the uses and functions of the tools. He also spent some time to learn how to use them.


    He didn''t have any experience, but with the abundant amount of materials inside the spatial rings that he hoarded from the magi-tech material vault, he could experiment all he wanted and gradually build up experience!


    "Yosh! Let''s get this started!!"


    Cecil rolled up his sleeves and quickly got to work. He shut the door behind him and not long after the sounds of machinery began to echo throughout the entire building.


    The once empty and silent magi-tech building turned lively and noisy once again.


    It took Cecil over two weeks of repeated experimentation and failure to finally be able to proficiently use the apparatus.


    He hadn''t once stepped out of the room and to the people who were seriously cultivating, he was long since forgotten. Even Lucia was so immersed in her cultivation that she didn''t even notice that Cecil had not once come back to the room.


    Cecil ate and slept inside the workshop. All around the floor of the workshop were ruined materials that had runic arrays engraved on them. They were no longer usable and since Cecil found it a hassle to clean up, he just tossed all the ruined materials that he experimented with onto the floor.


    There were even some arrays and materials that directly blew up in his face and this caused him to become all dirty, but he persevered and didn''t bother to go back to the cultivation building to wash up.


    He still had a couple of bottles of mana-rich water that he stored inside his numerous water bottles, so he just simply used those to wash and keep himself clean.


    Cecil also had long since taken off his clothes. Since there was a risk of an explosion to occur, he didn''t want to further ruin his uniform so he took it off and only left his pants on.


    The golden markings of the World Tree were still present on his body, but he no longer cared and found them aesthetically pleasing now.


    "Alright...today''s the day!" He roared.


    "Today''s the day!!!"


    Cecil calmed himself and brought out some magicite, black mithril, orichalc.u.m, and etherna ink from the spatial rings with him.


    "Today''s the day I finally create my personal MID!"


    With a determined look in his eyes, Cecil quickly began to get busy. He used the apparatus inside the workshop and began cutting up the black mithril into very small identical pieces. Once he was finished, Cecil brought over the large piece of orichalc.u.m and cut it into a rectangular shape.


    He cut out two identical pieces. Then he tossed the rest of the orichalc.u.m into the furnace next to him and melted it down. He also tossed in some of the magicite into furnace and quickly mixed the two together.


    With this, he created a magic ore that supposedly had the same mana conductivity as adamantium. He brought out the ore and quickly cooled it down. Then he turned his attention back onto the small black mithril pieces.


    He brought out the etherna ink, a high quality magic ink that was used to draw runes. He poured the ink into one of the hanging apparatus on the workshop''s walls. He then lowered it over the small black mithril pieces.


    He activated hyper-sensitivity and manipulated the tool with his hands to begin rune engraving. Cecil didn''t need to use the pen-like apparatus to draw runes, but he needed to use it in order to create runic circuits on the black mithril.


    Runic circuits were somewhat like computer circuits from back on Earth. Instead of using machinery however, the runic circuits were created by engraving runes onto the interior of a magic ore.


    The apparatus he was using was able to draw the runic circuit directly inside of the small, thin piece of black mithril. That''s right, not on the black mithril, but the inside of it.


    He always messed up on this part, but after gaining enough experience over the past two weeks, Cecil was now confident he would be able to perfectly create the runic circuit without failing.


    He didn''t dare be hasty. Using his hyper-sensitivity, he slowly and carefully began creating the runic circuits. It took him 30 minutes to create the runic circuit on only one of the black mithril pieces...he still had 20 more pieces to create.


    If all the runic circuits were the same then he would have been able to finish quickly, but unfortunately for him, all the runic circuits he had to inscribe on each of the mithril pieces were unique.


    They had their own individual functions that would add to an operational feature for MID. In Modern Earth terms, those black mithril pieces were like an app. So Cecil had to be very, very meticulous.


    He wanted to create a unique MID just for himself, he gleamed all the information about the ancient MID and the features he could make. In total there were 20 and he wanted all of them.


    Cecil slowly completed the rest of the runic circuits. If he messed up, Cecil would simply trash the mithril piece, cut out a new one and try again.


    Unbeknownst to the boy, it actually took him over 3 days just to finish the 20 runic circuits. He rested for a bit, and just as he was about to begin creating the MID''s runic circuits, he heard a knock on his door.


    Cecil opened the door and his friends were actually all waiting outside. Further behind them he could see the other academy students loitering around the floor. Cecil deduced that they all had finished their cultivations and were planning to head out now.


    When they all arrived at the magi-tech building, the sounds coming from Cecil''s workshop attracted them over.


    When Cecil''s friends all saw his pale and unkempt appearance they gasped in shock. Just what happened to him?


    Lucia was the first to ask him to explain his condition.


    "Cel, what happened?!"


    "Ehh...uhh...not much?"


    "N-not much?! You haven''t been coming back to the cultivation building have you?!"


    "No...probably...3 weeks now?"


    "...What''re you doing?"


    "D-don''t bother me right now...I''m at a crucial point and I need to concentrate..." Cecil replied.


    "...we''re all about to head out of the trial grounds now..."


    "Oh...okay...I''ll head out once I''m done..."


    "..."


    Cecil turned around and sat back down onto the work bench. He readjusted his mind and activated Hyper-sensitivity. He began manipulating the apparatus and proceeded to create the runic circuits for his MID''s main body.


    The main body was created from the orichalc.u.m he melted down mixed with the magicite. The two cut out pieces of orichalc.u.m he made beforehand only served as molds. Cecil carefully began to create the runic circuits.


    Lucia could only stare at him incredulously, but she couldn''t stop him. She gave up and looked around the workshop.


    The rest of her friends naturally grew curious of what their party leader was doing so they went into the workshop to see what was up, but they didn''t dare go close to Cecil.


    The vibe he gave off was so focused and serious. They also noticed that for some reason, the very air around their friend had condensed to form a flimsy barrier.


    "Man...This place sure is dirty..." Ainz softly said.


    He picked up the scrapped ores on the ground and noticed all the small runes on it.


    "Just what has Cecil been up to I wonder~" Serilla commented with a giggle.


    Everyone in the room turned their attention back to Cecil who was quietly working. He still had his upper body bare and this naturally attracted the gazes of both Lucia and Serilla.


    The muscular build of Cecil''s small frame was especially attracting towards the two young girls. The golden tattoos that now decorated his upper body also added a sort of charm and mystery. The two girls couldn''t help but stare.


    "...is it just me...but doesn''t Cecil''s body look... a little different?" Fina asked.


    "Huh?"


    "Hm~?"


    The two girls'' turned their attention towards Fina. Seeing their predatory gazes, Fina stiffened a little before she frantically explained herself.


    "I-I mean just look at him! Don''t you think he''s a taller than before?! Also, I know this may be inappropriate, but he also smells nicer? A-a-and, his mana! Yes, his mana''s also changed y''know!"


    The two girls turned their attention back onto Cecil. Now that they looked at him, there was a significant change to his body. His skin was a little lighter and they couldn''t help but think that it might also be softer to touch.


    As for his height, they couldn''t really tell since he was sitting down, but his sitting posture was much higher than before, so he might have grown taller.


    Velicia came over to Fina and whispered to her playfully, "Huhuhu~ you almost stepped on a landmine there Fifi~"


    "I-it''s not my fault...I just couldn''t help but notice you know...I mean...Cecil was originally the same height as me...but earlier I couldn''t help but notice that he was almost a full head taller than me now..."


    "Oh? Now that you mention it...when Lucia was talking to Cecil earlier she was no longer staring down at him..."


    "Ye-yeah! Right! I told you! They''re practically the same height now! Actually, Cecil seemed to be a little bit taller than her!"


    "Hmmm..."


    While the two were reveling in their discovery, the other academy students began to appear at the door of the workshop. Some even straightforwardly walked in.


    Cecil was way too focused to care. He had his Hyper-sensitivity activated and had long since tuned out the sounds in the surroundings. Right now, he could only hear the sounds of the apparatus while constructing the runic circuits, his breath and his heartbeat.


    ''Almost finished...''


    One of the beastmen that came in couldn''t help but notice Cecil on the workbench. He noticed that the boy who was said to be the ''strongest'' hadn''t had any upgrade in his mana cultivation level.


    He was still in the initial-level of the mana sea stage. Everyone who had been cultivating inside the cultivation building had all risen in level. Most of the stronger students had directly stepped into the initial-level of the Mana Core stage.


    This was especially true for the Little Kings. Everyone besides Cecil had stepped into the Mana Core Stage. Lucia had also grown another tail and she had 6 tails now. She had reaped the most rewards during their 1 month cultivation session.


    The beastman received some sort of signal from Reinhart, the Beastman Academy President, and he brazenly walked over to Cecil.


    Just before got close, two figures flashed right in front of him and blocked his way.


    "I wouldn''t approach him if I were you~" Serilla said with a giggle. Her exhausted countenance was no longer present. Her complexion had turned rosy and healthy ever since she arrived at the last plaza.


    She was very beautiful and charming. Without the presence of the bags under her eyes, her scarlet colored eyes were spirited and bright. There was a hint of a mischievous and playful glint in them.


    Lucia was only staring coldly at the werewolf. She released a menacing aura as she stared at him.


    "Turn back...if you don''t want to die..."


    Her words caused the werewolf to flinch. This girl already had a mana cultivation stage at the middle-level of the mana core stage. She had the highest cultivation level present amongst all the students.


    With her blocking the way, the werewolf could only literally tuck his tail between his legs and make a quick escape.


    "Hmph...Trash," Lucia scoffed coldly. She had seen enough deaths all throughout the trials. She no longer had an aversion to it and if she had to, Lucia had resolved herself to cut down anyone that tried to do something untoward to her or her friends.

 Chapter 199 - Cecil’s MID!

    Zephyr walked in and noticed the members of Little Kings loitering around the workshop and Cecil who was busy using the apparatus on the workbench. He went over to Lucia and asked about what the boy was doing.


    "What''s he up to?"


    Lucia only shook her head in reply, "I''m not sure, but he needs some time to finish...everyone else can go up to exit the trial grounds before us...we''ll wait here until Cecil''s finished."


    "Hmm...We''ll wait, it''s not like we can''t wait any longer. Just inform me when he''s done. I''ll tell the others."


    "Alright, thanks again, President."


    "No problem...honestly, you lot from Little Kings are the biggest contributors during this trial...I should be thanking you, but frankly I don''t even know where to begin...but still, thank you."


    "Hihi~ like I said, it''s no biggie, President Zephyr!"


    Zephyr smiled slightly and looked towards his little sister. He then turned around and walked out of the room. His back looked a little desolate. In the trials...Zephyr''s and Eli''s brother was also part of the casualties during the final battle against the Fallen.


    They both lost someone precious to them and although Zephyr never really expressed it, he was the person amongst the siblings who really treasured each of his brothers and sisters.


    With this, the royal family''s heirs were cut by 1 again...and only 4 of the siblings were left. Zephyr himself, Eli, the older sister who was saved by Lance during the Fallen battle, Manora, and their youngest brother, Memphis, who still only 9 years old and still playing around inside the castle.


    Eli and Manora were the most devastated when they couldn''t save Lance from his injuries. Manora was the most remorseful, but eventually they had to move on. They could only bring back his body and properly hold a funeral for him back at the kingdom.


    Serilla could sense the sadness in Lucia''s eyes and she couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Everyone''s lost something during the trials...we should be grateful that nothing happened to us..."


    "...yeah..."


    Serilla patted her back and Lucia looked up and smiled at her. She couldn''t help but chuckle at herself. The two were supposed to be rivals, but they had instead turned into allies. After going through life and death together, the two bonded even more strongly together and they began to appreciate each other.


    "If we do get married to Cecil...now, I really won''t mind sharing him with you..."


    "Oh? Did this mean that before you were trying to find a way to kick me out?"


    "Ahaha~ yeah, I guess," Lucia honestly replied. "But now, I think Cecil could use a person like Serilla by his side...I mean, it might be exhausting to just hang around an overbearing girl like me..."


    "Hahah~ so you acknowledge yourself to be overbearing?"


    "...a little."


    "Hihi~ thanks, Lulu~"


    Just as the Lucia was about to speak up again, Cecil rose up from his seat and smashed his fist down onto the workbench.


    BOOOOMMMMM


    His fist strike resounded loudly in the workshop and people could even hear the loud boom from outside of the workshop.


    "C-Cel?!"


    "Haaaaahhhh..." Cecil let out a tired sigh.


    The members of Little Kings couldn''t help but have a negative thought. Did he fail whatever it is he was doing?


    But then they turned their attention to Cecil''s fist imprint on the work bench. The materials to create all the furniture and equipment inside the building were very sturdy, but to their astonishment Cecil had left a deep imprint on the tough-looking workbench.


    "Finished! Hahaha~" It was in the next moment that Cecil released a loud joyful laugh.


    Lucia walked over to him and smashed him in the back of the head with a fist.


    "If you''re happy then don''t just randomly hit things!!!"


    "..."


    Her friends could only stare at the unreasonable girl and they all thought. ''Like you''re one to talk!''


    "Ouch...geez, you don''t have to hit me, Lulu..." Cecil grumbled.


    He then turned around and decided to hug the girl in joy.


    "Finally finished! Yes!!!"


    "Uh? Huh? Whuh?"


    Cecil immediately released her and turned his attention back to the silver rectangular block on the workbench.


    He then picked up the black mithril pieces and walked over to another smaller workbench. There were two magic circles engraved on it, a small one on the left and a bigger one on the right.


    Cecil placed the thin silver block in the center of the right magic circle and placed a black mithril piece on the smaller magic circle.


    His friends were naturally curious and they all gathered around. Cecil didn''t mind that and he quickly raised his finger over the magic circles. A small golden blob of mana appeared on his finger.


    The others couldn''t help but notice that the tattoos on his bare upper body began to glint faintly.


    Cecil''s finger quickly began to dance in the air and a magic formation quickly formed in the air in front of him.


    Cecil then chanted a short incantation.


    "Inbedia."


    In the next moment, the two magic formations on the table immediately lit up and began activating.


    The black mithril piece in the smaller magic circle began to liquefy. Then the small blob of liquid mithril flew over to the air just above the larger magic circle and it slowly fell down onto the silver box in the middle of the circle.


    When it came into contact with the silver box, the black blob was absorbed into the silver box.


    "Alright!" Cecil exclaimed joyfully.


    Cecil''s Manual Casting, at least that''s what he called it, was something that he had gained alongside being able to use Ki. With the permanent enhancement that Ki had given to his body, his mind and brain was also influenced. Right now, he nearly had an eidetic memory and the processing speed of his mind had experienced a large increase.


    Long before, Cecil had a thought, since those magic formations were something that were always conjured whenever a spell activated, couldn''t he simply just try and replicate the formation and cast elemental magic this way?


    Cecil had been observing the activation of magic spells with his Mana Eyes for a long time now and he had always noticed the similarities when they activated. Once the spell finished its incantation, the magic formation would always appear and it would attract the ambient elemental mana that would be used in the spell that was being casted. Once the mana flowed into the magic formation, only then would the spell activate and that acc.u.mulated mana inside the formation change shape and forms the desired magic spell.


    He had tried it out before to see if he could cast magic using this ''written'' casting. It did work, but it was much too slow for him to use in battle or anywhere else! Just writing the runes and forming the spell formation took him almost half an hour to over an hour to do and this was only for a low-tier spell!


    As for the mid and high-tiered spells that had much larger magic formations and numerous runes...it could only be a pipe dream for him to even think about using such spells with the ''written'' casting. There was also the problem where he would sometimes forget which rune to write in the next sequence so he had messed up plenty of times and failed to even activate the spell. 9 times out of 10 he would fail forming the spell formation because he had drawn the wrong rune.


    Once again this was only for low-tier spells. If he formed numerous mistakes just from drawing out the spell formation for low-tier spells, then it would be impossible for him to draw the spell formations for higher tiered magic spells.


    At least, that was until he gained Ki. With his near eidetic memory and newly empowered thought process, he was able to memorize all the runic sequences that he had to draw in order to form a low-tier spell''s formation.


    He first experimented with the low-tier spell formations he already knew like Fire Ball, Water Ball, Air Bullet, and the like. Cecil was astonished when he actually finished drawing out the spell formations in less than10 minutes so adeptly without committing even a single mistake.


    At first he thought it was only a fluke, but after repeated experimentations, he was now sure that he was able to cast low-ranked elemental spells using this new and unique way of casting! Now all he needed to do was improve his hand speed.


    It had to be remembered that since Cecil was always writing in his magic tome for most of the time he spent inside the Final Plaza, this caused his hand speed to improve faster and faster. With the help of Hypersensitivity, he was able to speed up his Manual Casting. He could now complete a low-tiered magic formation under 2 seconds.


    The mid-tier magic formation from earlier took him 10 seconds to complete. He''s never tried drawing a mid-tier magic formation before, but 10 seconds was pretty quick in Cecil''s opinion considering that most incantations for mid-tier spells took anywhere around 5-15 seconds to chant. Cecil still couldn''t complete a high-tiered magic formation however. The complexity of the spell formation was too high for him even with his newfound abilities. He did try and finish one, but when he finished it, it actually took him over 2 hours.


    Since it wasn''t currently plausible, Cecil decided to just stick to low and mid-tiered magic spells. He could figure things out later when he had the spare time.


    Everyone in the party including Serilla knew about Cecil''s inability to use Magic Spells. So seeing his unique way of casting magic caused everyone to widen their eyes in surprise.


    The spell he used was unfamiliar to them, but they could tell just based on the magic formation he created, it was most likely a mid-tiered magic spell.


    They wanted to ask him about the peculiar way he casted magic spells, but they refrained from doing so seeing that he still wasn''t done yet.


    Cecil continued the earlier process another 19 times for the remaining black mithril pieces.


    Once he finished, Cecil slowly picked up the silver box. He then injected his mana into the box and one side of the silver box lit up.


    "Yes!!! It worked!! It finally worked!!!"


    Cecil cheered joyfully.


    His friends were still unsure of what he was so joyful about. When they looked at the unique silver box in his hands...they couldn''t help but think of a certain magi-tech.


    "A MID?" Fina hesitantly asked.


    Cecil immediately turned around and said, "Ohhh!! You can tell Fina?! Yup, you''re right! This is a MID! My very own personally crafted MID! Wahahahah~"


    Now this was news, they were really shocked hearing his confirmation. The creations of MIDs were kingdom specific secrets. Not just anyone could manufacture a MID, but their friend had actually created one and judging by its unique sleek shape and color, it was much, much more different to the ones currently in their possession.


    "C-Cecil...is that...really a MID?"


    "Yup! Ah, I almost forgot!"


    Cecil immediately rummaged into his pants pockets. During his use of the workshop''s apparatus, Cecil had taken off all the accessories he had on his fingers, his two spatial rings, and put them inside his pockets. He didn''t want anything to affect his hands'' stability during the runic circuit creation.


    When he finally pulled out his black spatial ring, Cecil extracted a couple of similar looking MIDs and tossed them over to each of his friends. He also created one for Serilla, but in fact it was just an extra, a backup just in case he failed in creating his personal MID.


    "Here ya go! Those are all MIDs I created for you guys. They have the normal functions of the academy issued MIDs, but I also added a few other functions. Check ''em out later alright~"


    Cecil had a thought and fiddled around with his new MID.


    "I guess I should show you guys one of the new functions."


    Cecil looked around and saw that Yuna was the person farthest from him. He then tapped on his MID''s screen. Not long later Yuna''s MID began to vibrate all of a sudden. The dragon girl nearly dropped the thing in surprise.


    "W-wha?"


    "Yuna, just tap anywhere on the screen," Cecil instructed.


    "O-okay..." Yuna tapped the screen and it turned black.


    "...?"


    "Now bring it up to your ear!" While saying this, Cecil began to rapidly Manual Cast a silencing barrier around himself.


    With the magic casted, he tried to shout, but no one could hear him. He then spoke into his MID and to Yuna''s astonishment; she could actually hear his voice.


    "Heya, Yuna! Can you hear me~?"


    "Cecil? H-how come?"


    "Ahahahaha~ so it worked! That''s a relief!"


    Once he found that the function he had installed on the new MIDs were working perfectly, Cecil dispelled the silencing barrier and he addressed his friends.


    "I added a communication function to the MIDs! When it vibrates like earlier the name of the caller will show up on the screen and all you have to do is tap anywhere on the screen to accept the call, if you want to reject it, just simply tap anywhere on the back of the MID.


    Now regardless of how far we are, as long as theirs mana in the environment, we''ll be able to communicate with each other through our MIDs!"


    Cecil smiled widely and took in the incredulous looks his friends gave him. Today, on the 27th day of the Month of Life, Livven; Cecil had successfully created a magi-tech tool that had similar functions with modern Earth''s cellphones.


    The first ever Alternian cellphones were created inside the Urrugdrasil Trials'' Last Plaza, specifically inside of the Magi-tech building.

 Chapter 200 - Information about Teleportation Gates!

    The new MIDs really intrigued Cecil''s friends. Normally for long distance communication, such technology was kept exclusive for only the Kingdom''s royalty and government for when they needed to contact other kingdoms, cities, towns and the like.


    There was no precedence for normal civilians to have such a tool. And yet, there was one casually presented to them.


    "Cecil, h-how did you make this?!" Eli asked in shock.


    "He, he!" Cecil laughed smugly with his nose pointed towards the sky, "I¡ª"


    Before he could begin any explanation, the boy immediately collapsed on his back onto the ground.


    "CEL!"


    "H-hey!"


    When his friends rushed over to his side, they were glad to find that he had only fallen asleep.


    "Just...what was this brat doing?! It''s like he hasn''t even slept for almost a week now!" Ainz said as he quickly shouldered the sleeping foxkin.


    "..."


    Lucia could only stay silent at his words. The two shared a room, but it was only recently that she found out that Cecil hadn''t been returning to the cultivation building, and according to him, he''s been away from the building for almost 3 weeks now!


    "Ugh..."


    "Don''t feel bad, Lulu~ he''s just up to his crazy stuff again~" Serilla patted her back and comforted.


    Ainz brought Cecil out and headed towards the cultivation building. He''d let the boy sleep and recuperate in there. The Little Kings informed the other academy students that they needed more time, a day or so.


    Zephyr naturally agreed and so did the others. Only the Beastman Leader had voiced being against it, but with everyone else voicing their agreement to wait, he could only put it to rest and reluctantly follow along.


    It wasn''t until 2 days later that Cecil woke up.


    "Nnggghhh~ after 5 days of not sleeping...I feel really refreshed now~" Cecil hummed happily as he and his party members were heading into the direction of the teleportation gate that would take them out of the trials. It was located on the top most floor of the magi-tech building.


    When Cecil needed another day to rest, the Beastmen naturally protested, they decided that they would just exit the trials by themselves, but unfortunately for them, they couldn''t open the door into the teleportation gates'' room.


    A key was needed to open the room, but no one knew where to find it. It was only when Cecil woke up, read the inscription on the door, and found out that they needed to craft the magi-tech key from the materials readily prepared inside the building.


    Everyone else was clueless on what to do since they couldn''t read the ancient language that were used in all of the building''s doc.u.mentation, not to mention that no one in the group had any knowledge in magi-tech crafting.


    It wasn''t a problem for Cecil though, when he saw the requirements to open the door, Cecil quickly rushed back to the workshop he was using. He found the spatial rings that nobody bothered to take and quickly took out some materials.


    The crafting blueprint for the key was engraved on the door and he had already memorized it. It took him half a day to craft the key. His knowledge and ability to create magi-tech was finally known to everyone.


    At first, no one besides the Little Kings knew what exactly he had been doing inside the workshop, but when he came out with the unique looking key, they were finally aware of his ability to read the ancient language and his magi-tech craftsmanship.


    Many wanted to ask questions, but Cecil only lightly brushed off their questions and told them that there were more important things like opening the door and exiting the trials.


    When Cecil opened the door, the interior of the room was finally revealed to everyone, and to Cecil''s astonishment...there wasn''t only the teleportation gate in the wide room. He was actually able to find blueprints, records, and research doc.u.ments in the crafting, history and development of teleportation gates!


    Just as everyone was heading over to the gates, Cecil was already all over the large bookcases in the room. With Hyper-sensitivity activated, Cecil had immediately begun his speed reading.


    "HOOOOHH!!! IT''S HERE!" His sudden outburst and weird actions caused everyone in the room to turn an odd look at him.


    The academy leaders quickly walked over to his side and saw him rapidly flipping through the pages of the book he was holding.


    Cecil quickly finished a book. He then extracted his Magic Tome and writing tools before immediately copying down the information. He activated Mana Burst and his writing speed immediately quickened.


    "H-hey, Cecil, what''re you doing?" Zephyr asked lightly.


    Everyone else was about to ask the same thing, but Cecil quickly and coldly replied, "Don''t bother me."


    He didn''t lift his head and continued writing. His words caused everyone to blank out for a minute. While the others only felt a little awkward, only the Beastman Leader was red with anger, but he didn''t dare to do anything however since he felt two piercing glares boring into his back.


    Zephyr saw how focused Cecil was and only chuckled. He had already gotten used to his eccentric behavior. He went next to him and pulled out a thick book from the book case, and began flipping through the pages.


    He didn''t understand anything that was recorded, but from the ill.u.s.trations he saw inside, he could infer that it had something to do with teleportation gates. Zephyr widened his eyes in shock when he came to this conclusion.


    If Cecil was recording all of this down...then very soon in the near future, the Anglaria Kingdom would most likely have a teleportation gate of their own. It would no longer be an exclusive magi-tech limited only to the Elfenheim Kingdom!


    Zephyr shook his head and smiled at the fervent foxkin who now had piles of books scattered in his surroundings. He couldn''t understand how Cecil could flip through those books so rapidly and copy down what he saw with such rapid speeds.


    Cleo was standing next to Cecil and couldn''t help but look on in shock at the speed of Cecil''s writing and reading.


    "...wow..."


    The students once again had to wait for Cecil. It was only after a full day of nonstop writing that he had finished recording all the knowledge into his Magic Tome. He noticed that there was no one around by the time he was finished.


    He looked over at the teleportation gate and saw that it hadn''t been activated. Cecil walked out of the room and saw Lucia and Serilla waiting for him just outside.


    "Hey Cel, are you done?" Lucia asked.


    "Yeah...where''s everyone else?"


    "They decided that they''ll wait until you finished, another ''key'' was needed to activate the teleportation gate."


    "Again? Ahh geez..."


    Cecil turned around and walked over to the teleportation gate. He noticed a stone slab with letters on it just to the right of the gate.


    "Oh...it only requires the previous key..."


    Cecil walked back out and along with the 2 girls, returned to the cultivation building. Everyone else was inside meditating.


    Cecil went into one of the unoccupied rooms and thought that he should reorganize all of his rewards that he''s gotten through the trials. He had been so busy that he never bothered to check what other skills or abilities he''s acquired from obtaining the World Tree''s Thorns and Blessings.


    The problem was...


    "...are we really doing this again?"


    "What do you mean Cel~?" Lucia asked with a bright smile as she forthrightly followed him into the room.


    "Yeah, darling, what do you mean~?"


    Serilla''s intimate way of calling him made Cecil''s face twitch.


    "Hey! That''s no fair, Seri!" Lucia spoke up protest.


    "Why? You get to call Cecil, Cel, so shouldn''t I have a cute nickname for him as well?"


    "But...darling''s a bit...hmm..."


    "Hihihi~ it''s decided then, okay~?"


    "..."


    Cecil could only tiredly massage his brows. He hadn''t slept yet, but he still felt energetic.


    ''It''s probably because of the Ki, right?''


    Now that he thought about it, Cecil had actually gone 5 days straight without sleep, food, or water. Normally the consequence for such a thing to a normal human being was pretty severe, but all he did was fall asleep for two days before waking up feeling refreshed.


    It was the same this time, he had done nothing but write all day long and for some reason, he didn''t feel tired or drained at all!


    "Whatever, let''s just see what other things I got from the World Tree''s Blessing..."


    Cecil mumbled and went over to sit down on the bed inside of the room. He sat crossed legged, activated Mana Sense and finally took a look at his own body.


    "!"

 Chapter 201 - Eli’s Worries

    When Cecil directed his senses into his body, he found some peculiarities hidden within. His Energy Circuits had been dyed by the previous maroon, black, and grey colored mana, and now there was an additional green color.


    His previously uncolored Circuits were now dyed in various colors. There wasn''t anything wrong with it, but he did feel that his Energy Circuits had become much more powerful.


    The previous blessings that Cecil had acquired were already known to him. The ability to manipulate plants that he received from Corruption, Nature Shift that he acquired through Perseverance, the ability that he still wasn''t sure of from Providence''s Blessing and finally, Serenity''s Blessing.


    Cecil didn''t receive any information on what kind of ability that he gained from Providence of Serenity''s Blessings. There was no new information that was directly transmitted into his brain when he received them.


    Cecil could only conclude that Serenity''s blessing was probably the chance to experience Marrow Cleansing. He couldn''t possibly receive only abilities from the World Tree''s Blessings, right?


    Cecil then remembered about the enhancements Ki had brought to his body and the healing arts stored away inside the ancient tome inside his head.


    "Let''s experiment a bit..."


    With those words, the boy pulled out a knife from his spatial ring and made a small cut on one of his fingers, blood hadn''t even begun to drip out before the wound quickly closed. Cecil frowned and tried again.


    "Cecil?!" Serilla who was still bantering with Lucia was the first to notice him harming himself.


    "W-w-w-what''re you doing?!"


    Lucia immediately turned around to face the boy when Serilla started screaming.


    "Hm?" Cecil only looked at the two, puzzled.


    The second wound that Cecil gave himself was quite large. Instead of cutting only the tip of his finger, the boy instead made a large cut on his palm. This of course caused Serilla to be worried.


    Was the stress getting to him? Was he trying to inflict self-harm because of something? Maybe it was her fault that he''s like this? The negative thoughts only piled up on top of each other until the girl began to tear up.


    "Look," Cecil turned his attention back onto his bleeding palm. He raised his finger that had a small blob of Ki and ran it down the injury.


    "Isn''t that¡ª"


    "It''s not Nature Mana, but Life Energy or Ki," Cecil replied.


    In the next instant the wound on his palm closed and he was good as new. Cecil marveled at the spectacle. Although the wound wasn''t deep, but the way it healed was practically instantaneous. It was much faster than the Elves'' healing arts using their nature mana.


    "Hoooh...the gains from the trial grounds sure are something! Now all that''s left is to confirm the Providence''s blessing," Cecil hummed.


    Serilla released a sigh of relief knowing that Cecil had only performed a small experiment to test his rewards. Everyone knew that the boy had gotten the World Tree''s Blessing, however, the only known people to have acquired the blessing were the Elves and most, if not all, of the Transcendent level figures of the Urrugdrasil Continent.


    Cecil took out the Providence and tried to experiment a little. The two girls continued watching him in wonder. They didn''t understand what he was trying to do, but if he decided to do something dangerous to himself, they''d step in and make sure the idiot didn''t do it.


    "This is weird...the first two blessings I got gave me direct information on how to use them...the 4th blessing was most likely the Marrow Cleansing...but how come there''s no info for the 3rd blessing?"


    Cecil continued mumbling to himself and continued trying to activate the skill or ability that accompanied the blessing, but it was to no avail. No matter what he tried, the 3rd Blessing''s ability or skill just didn''t manifest itself.


    "Don''t tell me that vision was the reward..." Cecil''s face turned dark when he thought of this. He wasn''t even sure if what transpired in the vision was real or fake. How could such a thing be the reward for the blessing?


    He quickly denied it and decided to shelve the matter. He''ll try and figure it out later.


    Cecil stood up from the bed and walked over to the desk just beside it. He plopped down onto the chair and said to the two girls, "You guys can go ahead and rest...I wanna read some of the stuff I recorded earlier..."


    Cecil extracted his Infinite Page Magic Tome and began reading the information on the teleportation gate. His focused demeanor made the girls speechless.


    He had just returned from copying down all the books and records from the teleportation gates'' room and now, instead of resting up, he wanted to read?


    "Cel...I think you should take a break..."


    "Huh? No way, I''m not even tired yet," Cecil instantly replied. He didn''t take his eyes off of the tome.


    Lucia''s mouth twitched when she saw him like this. She stealthily snuck behind the boy and activated Elemental Burst.


    When Cecil sensed the sharp spike of mana behind him, it was too late. Lucia quickly grabbed ahold of his arm and did a shoulder throw. She tossed him onto the bed where Serilla, who had activated Aura Manifestation, was waiting.


    The girl quickly caught him and pinned him down.


    "Gah! Wh-what''re you two doing?!" Cecil yelled.


    "Rest! Idiot!" Lucia simply said before flashing over to his side and helping Serilla pin him down. She then continued in a threatening manner, "If you dare use Nature Shift..."


    "Alright, alright!"


    He released an exasperated sigh. He could only close his eyes and sleep. Just as Serilla and Lucia were about to speak up, they suddenly heard his calm rhythmic breathing.


    "Hmph. You were tired after all," Lucia grumbled. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.


    Serilla only giggled and snuggled a little closer before falling asleep as well.


    ******


    While the 3 were resting, Eli was currently sitting alone in the middle of the Herb Garden on the east side of the plaza.


    "Hey, Eli...so this is where you were," Ainz called out from behind her. He had been looking for this cousin of his. Ainz plopped down next to her and asked, "What''s wrong? You''ve been awfully quiet ever since we''ve arrived at the last plaza..."


    "It''s nothing..."


    "...is it about your brother?"


    "..."


    "Lance...passed away because he jumped to protect Manora..."


    "I know that! But...it''s those beastmen...they''re the ones who put her into a dangerous situation in the first place!"


    "...yeah..."


    "Moreover...it was that disgusting bastard..." Eli growled.


    "..."


    "When I saw Lance die and that asshole still alive...I really wanted to go over and cut off his head¡ª"


    "But you''re too scared to do that right?"


    "!"


    Ainz sighed. He scratched his head not knowing how to reply. It was a mystery why Eli was so averse and frightened by that prince even though it was already a given that she was much more powerful than him.


    "I''m not sure what caused it, but you shouldn''t be so afraid of him...actually you don''t even need to be afraid of him at all! The bastard died already!"


    Ainz said in attempt to cheer her up. Silver had already taken care of that asshole. There''s no reason for her to be afraid anymore.


    "It''s not him that I''m afraid of...it''s the Empire," Eli replied dejectedly.


    "..."


    "You should know about that one time where they had successfully kidnapped me...right?"


    "...yeah... I heard about it from Mother..."


    "Well...they showed me...something...I¡ª"


    "Stop right there," Ainz quickly raised a hand and stopped her.


    He saw the pained expression on her face as she continued talking. He couldn''t bear to make his cousin continue.


    "If it''s too hard to say, then just don''t. I get it. They did something to traumatize you. I''m not such an asshole that I''d be willing to open up your wounds just so that I may satisfy my curiosity.


    Just remember, now that that prince is gone, you no longer need to fear about them trying to kidnap you again."


    "But¡ª"


    "As for their retaliation for us killing the Prince? Pfft, they have too much on their hands. The humans are invading them and don''t forget about the person standing behind the brat!"


    His words caused Eli to widen her eyes in surprise. She then smiled slightly and replied, "Alright..."


    "Come on, your sister''s been looking for you. She even pulled me in and ordered me to look around. Honestly, you people are so overbearing at times," Ainz said tiredly.


    Eli stood up and smacked him on the back, "Hihi~ thanks for cheering me up, Ainz!"


    "Yeah, yeah...that hurt y''know."


    "And what''re you gonna do about it~? Are you gonna strike back? At the princess~?" She replied playfully.


    "..."


    Ainz could only speechless look at her and mumble.


    "Tch...lucky..."


    From afar, Manora saw the two in the garden. Seeing that Ainz was able to cheer her little sister up, Manora walked back towards the cultivation building while humming happily.

 Chapter 202 - End of the Trials

    "But still Ainz...I don''t want to cause any trouble to Cecil or Lucia..." Eli said worriedly.


    "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to them...also, didn''t you see?"


    "Hm?"


    "Cecil...he knows how to read the ancient language written in those records inside the magi-tech building...I also saw him vigorously recording all the knowledge down inside his magic tome..."


    "Th-that...wouldn''t that make him a national, no¡ªa continental treasure?"


    "Precisely, even if those bastards from the Empire want to do anything to him...they''ll have to ask whether the other Kingdoms will allow them to do that."


    Eli nodded. What Ainz said made a lot of sense, but Eli noticed a problem.


    "But...since he''s part of our kingdom...then we''ve basically monopolized all the benefits and knowledge...not to mention that Cecil''s apparently been taking part of some hidden trials and getting more rewards than the rest of us..."


    "Yeah...we''ll have to leave the negotiations to your Father...but I''m sure he''ll understand the importance and benefits that Cecil will bring to the Kingdom...I also heard from Mother that Cecil''s foster Mother, Lucia''s birth Mother, is a pretty powerful figure. Even your Father has to respect her to some degree," Ainz said.


    "Hmm...I hope that it''ll be enough...you know very well how the Orca Empire can be..."


    "Yeah, but with Cecil gaining the World Tree''s Blessings, I''m not sure if it''s possible, but he might be able to gain the protection of the Elfenheim Kingdom just because of it. We also have friendly relations with them and don''t forget, our allies, the Neftersea Oceanic Empire. I''m sure that Fina wouldn''t take things lying down if her best friend''s boyfriend was getting picked on." Ainz smirked.


    Eli could only giggle at his words. Whether if it was luck or not, Cecil had made friends with many powerful figures. With Silver publicly killing the Empire''s prince in the trial grounds, it could be said that Cecil had displayed open hostility towards the Empire.


    It was worrisome, but his connections and the friends that he''s made, were also pretty powerful people. Not to mention that once the boy has come out of the trials, he''ll be pretty influential himself since he''s acquired the ancient knowledge from the World Tree''s Trial grounds.


    All Eli could hope for is that things would proceed in a manner that would only benefit him and their kingdom.


    Although the Kingdom was ruled by dragons, the dragons were all inherently opposed into meddling with the mundane world.


    They''d rather keep to themselves and observe the changes of the passing times. They were a long lived race after all, much longer than any of the other races of Alterna.


    The Anglaria Kingdom was powerful, but without the certain backup of the dragons, many other powers such as the Beastman''s Orca Empire and the Gigantes'' Titanic Kingdom, didn''t see them as a threat.


    The Empire was also somewhat hostile to them. The Anglaria Kingdom''s rulers hadn''t once been in conflict with them in the past, so they couldn''t determine why the Empire was always so hostile and overbearing to them.


    What most people could deduce was that...the Empire simply hated the Kingdom because of their similarities with the humans. In the eyes of the Empire, the Beastkin were simply just humans with beastman features.


    Of course, this was only speculation and no one could actually confirm if this was true or not.


    The beastmen and humans were always at conflict. This dated back all the way into the ancient era. What sparked the conflict had already been long forgotten, but the blood feud continued nonetheless.


    Normally it was the beastmen who initiated the attacks on the human continent, but it was surprising that this time the humans had actually taken the initiative. The only thing that people from the Urrugdrasil continent could deduce was that the human kingdom, Tempest, had been the one pulling the strings behind this invasion.


    On the surface, the motive was purely for revenge, but was this really the true reason? It seemed a little unnatural, but they could also attribute it all to human nature. It was only natural to take revenge for a past transgression, but did the humans have to wait 10 years before doing so?


    *****


    When everyone had stopped and awoken from their cultivation or resting, the Academy Leaders quickly gathered everyone together and made their way back up to the teleportation gates'' room.


    When they got inside, the leaders turned their attention towards Cecil. It seemed that only he was able to read the ancient language so they could only rely on him.


    Cecil shrugged and walked forward when he saw them urging him with their eyes. He walked up to the stone slab and took out the key that he had used earlier to open the door.


    He inserted the key into a small opening just below the stone slab. He twisted the key to the right 2 times before a small click was heard.


    Then the stone slab started to crumble away and a pedestal, that Cecil was all too familiar with, appeared in its place.


    There were no words or instructions on what to do next, but Cecil already knew what to do. As everyone was puzzled why the gate hadn''t activated yet, Cecil pulled out the Providence.


    He liked this one the most because its name was pretty cool and the blade had a cool grayish color. Cecil then stabbed the sword into the pedestal and gray colored mana began flowing from the sword and into the pedestal.


    The teleportation gate began to power up. It didn''t take long before it was fully activated.


    "Alright...go on." Cecil said as he turned towards the Academy Leaders.


    Mal''norr only pounded his chest in response before leading his small group of students into the gate. The Beastman Reinhart didn''t bother to say anything and led his students into the gate. Cleo and Eva thanked Cecil before going through the gate.


    "Alright, let''s get going." Zephyr said. He then brought the remaining students from Arks and walked through the gate.


    Only the Little Kings were still waiting just in front of the gate. Cecil pulled out the Providence and walked over to his friends. The gate was beginning to power down after Cecil pulled out the sword, but it still had enough energy to power one more jump.


    Cecil turned around to take one last look at the trial grounds. He smiled when he thought about all the things he went through while inside.


    "Let''s go Cel~"


    At Lucia''s words, Cecil led everyone through the gate and they all quickly exited from the trial grounds.


    Not long after Cecil and his friends walked through the gate, a person materialized inside of the room. The person was a middle-aged male elf. He had a powerful presence and was standing ramrod straight with his hands behind his back.


    "Hmm...He took 4 of the World Tree''s Thorns and the magi-tech that he himself had personally created...what an intriguing child. So why wasn''t he inside of the World Tree''s vision then? I can tell he isn''t part of our world...and so weren''t those ''heroes''..."


    If the trial participants were still here and they were able to listen to the middle-aged elf''s voice, they would all have found it very familiar. It was the voice of the World Tree''s Administrator. This elf was actually the Administrator that the Elven King had informed them about before the start of the trials.


    "Hmm...It does not matter. Whether that boy dies in the coming conflict, or if he''ll be the harbinger of hope, all of the World Tree''s 13 Thorns have been taken. These trial grounds are no longer needed."


    The elf waved his hands and the buildings and plazas in the trial grounds began to crumble. The forest began to emanate a luminous green glow and in the next instant the environment changed.


    The trial grounds were no longer present. In its place was a lush, underground forest teeming with life. The monsters that the trial participants had encountered weren''t present and only docile and harmless animals were left inside of the forest.


    The Administrator sighed and he too began to glow with a green light. "It looks like my task has been completed...I pray that that youngster may survive...the other Thorn owners should have sensed it by now..."

 Chapter 203 - After the Trials

    "Boring..."


    A boy said while relaxing atop the leaning trunk of a coconut palm tree by the seashore. The seagulls in the air were squawking and the sky was a clear blue.


    The long pinnate leaves of the tree was blocking out the sun''s rays. The temperature was a high 35 degrees centigrade.


    "Ugh...hot AND boring..."


    The young boy, who looked to be about 9 years old flipped up and crouched down atop the tree trunk. He had dark brown eyes, a youthfully plump face with wavy black hair. He looked a little unkempt with small twigs and leaves stuck in his hair and small patches of dirt on his face. The boy''s stomach began to growl in the next moment and it caused him to snicker at himself.


    "Let''s go a hunting~," the boy hummed. He jumped off the tree and when he landed, he quickly grabbed the small wooden spear leaning close to the base of the tree trunk.


    "Ugh...I should also take a bath!"


    The young boy quickly rushed into the large forest ahead and disappeared in between the foliage.


    ********


    "..." Cecil woke up inside the room of his private residence in Arks Magic Academy. He woke up from his dream of when he was younger and training on his family''s private island.


    "...those were my most miserable days," he grumbled, but then began smiling.


    Cecil got up from his bed and took a look around. He was alone. That''s right, alone. Cecil released a relieved sigh and began preparing for his morning routine.


    It had been about 10 days since the Urrugdrasil Trials had ended. The academy immediately departed right after the students came out of the trials.


    Zephyr straightaway informed the Headmaster of roughly what went on inside of the trials, and they swiftly left the Elfenheim Kingdom soon after.


    Headmaster Elufied knew of the complications that would happen if they decided to stay another day inside of the Elfenheim Kingdom. It was a good thing that Elufied had Lucia and Yuna to help, so they were able to beat a speedy retreat.


    The other kingdoms hadn''t even been able to respond when they finally noticed that the Beastkin were no longer there.


    It was a good thing too since not long after, the Beastman Empire had publicly announced that they wanted an explanation from the Arks Royal Family regarding the death of one of their Empire''s Princes. The Arks Royal Family countered with a similar demand for an explanation since the cause of death for 2nd Prince Lance was also because of the deceased empire prince.


    Until today, nothing had been resolved and the Empire had been putting more and more pressure onto the Anglaria Kingdom. Of course, it was all within tolerable range for the Kingdom because the Empire still had to deal with the invading humans.


    Although the larger force from the Tempest Kingdom had made a hasty retreat after launching their initial blitzkrieg, the border kingdoms were still present and invading the Orca Empire''s lands.


    Another dastardly thing was that the Empire had released news that a certain individual from the Anglaria Kingdom had reaped the most rewards and had taken the lost knowledge found inside of the trial grounds. They demanded to be handed a portion of the rewards in the name of aiding in the continent''s efforts to repel the human invaders, but of course, the Anglaria Kingdom played dumb and denied the claims.


    When Cecil first heard of the news, Anna had already quickly rushed to his aid. With her acting as the intermediary, Cecil and the Royal Family had come to a secret agreement that he would translate the ancient language and share the knowledge that he had copied from the trials, in exchange that the Kingdom would protect him and deny the Empire''s claims.


    With the humans still invading their lands, the Empire wouldn''t dare launch an assault on the Kingdom. Not to mention that the Anglaria Kingdom''s military force wasn''t anything to scoff at. The Empire did decide to try and pressure or goad the other Kingdoms into helping them out, but it was somewhat of a bust.


    The Elfenheim Kingdom and the Neftersea Empire remained neutral in the conflicts, no one was sure why though. Only the Gigantes'' Titanic Kingdom wanted to put a step in to the muddy waters.


    The fight was now on the political front and it had nothing to do with Cecil and the rest. They continued on with their normal lives, but they felt a little detached because of the events that had taken place inside of the trials.


    The 100 students that went had dwindled down to roughly 50-60 when they came back. As for the others...it was obvious what happened to them.


    The Kingdom had arranged a ceremony to honor those fallen students, and the families of said students were not compensated, but instead rewarded for their children''s honorable and meritorious sacrifices for the Kingdom.


    ******


    Cecil had finished his morning routine and was heading back into his mansion. He couldn''t help, but notice the activity happening in the kitchen.


    "Lulu?"


    "Oh! Good morning Cel~"


    "Yeah, G''morning," Cecil replied to the girl currently making breakfast.


    "...did you hear anything from Mother?"


    "She said that you don''t have to worry. ''Just focus on the academy and let Mother take care of things~'' those were her exact words," Lucia said while roughly imitating Anna''s tone of voice.


    Cecil smirked. He went up to the 2nd floor and quickly took a shower. He didn''t scrub or do anything, he was only waiting under the water and magically, the dirt, sweat, and everything were washed off of his body!


    Cecil looked up at the shower head and chuckled stupidly. "Hehehe...I was actually able to make it with the substitute materials that Radon recommended."


    That''s right, the magic water fountain that was found inside of the trial grounds that Cecil perused, had been successfully replicated by him soon after he arrived back at the Anglaria Kingdom.


    It didn''t take him long since the runic circuits were much easier than compared to the MIDs that he had created. The tools to engrave runic circuits in this era were also much easier to use and were more efficient than the ancient ones that he used back inside of the trials'' magi-tech building''s workshop.


    Radon had also introduced him to a skillful magi-tech craftsman. In the current era, magi-tech craftsman were also called Magi-tech Artificers or simply Artificers.


    The artificer Radon introduced was getting old on his years, and at first the old artificer didn''t take so kindly to Cecil, but after the boy shared the blueprints of the water fountain that he had wanted to replicate using this era''s materials, the artificer was immediately hooked.


    With the artificer''s help and experience, Cecil was able to make the prototype water fountain in only 2 days. Cecil then modified it a bit and created one that was in the shape of a shower head. The replacement for the magicium that acted as the magi-tech''s energy core was replaced with a monster''s magic core.


    They also tuned down and readjusted the runic circuits so that it wouldn''t extract too much energy from the monster core with every use. Of course, the mana water that came out of the ''magic shower'' wasn''t as great as the magic water fountain, but it was still enough to invoke the cleanse function of the water.


    The Magic Water Fountain''s original purpose wasn''t for showering, drinking, or for ordinary daily use, but instead for crafting and refining purposes, such as curing leather and other high-grade leatherwork or clothing materials, the quenching of magic metal used during forging and other similar uses. This was so that it''d upgrade the materials'' quality and mana conductivity.


    Once Cecil and the old artificer made the shower, they also made a sink. The drainage wasn''t a problem since the Magic Water Fountain already had a runic circuit specifically for the drainage. The runic circuit for the water fountain was divided in two, one for creating water from the energy core when it was activated, and the other circuit was for turning that water back into mana which could somewhat resupply the energy core.


    It was very convenient and the new Magi-tech tools that he had crafted with the artificer, Cecil brought back home for immediate use. He gave the original blueprints for the magic-tech shower and sink to the artificer since he had already copied them down into his Magic Tome.


    Today he would be heading back to the Magi-tech Artificer''s workshop once again to try and develop more magi-tech tools alongside him. As for classes...Cecil no longer required them so he just didn''t attend anymore.


    The rest of Little Kings still went about their days normally, only Cecil was the exception.


    After having eaten breakfast with Lucia, he immediately rushed over to the Artificer''s workshop, today the kingdom''s artificers would also gather there. The royal family had received news of Cecil''s activities so they immediately made preparations for their artificers.


    Cecil quickly arrived at the Kingdom''s Middle District while riding on Silver. He arrived at a large 5 story building. The building''s front had a golden crest in the shape of a wheel with a rectangular box and pen crossed together in the middle that symbolized the Kingdom''s No. 1 Artificer Workshop. Under the crest and crafted from silver hung the words ''Magnum Artifex''.


    Cecil immediately pushed open the door, inside were merchants and nobles currently shopping or looking at the wares. They didn''t pay any heed to the young boy who had just walked in. Some were attracted to him only because he was wearing the Arks Academy''s uniform.


    Cecil hurried up to the stairs on the left. He quickly showed a metal plate to the guard and he was quickly allowed entry into the upper floors. Cecil continued to walk up until he reached the 4th floor.


    The 4th floor of the Magnum Artifex was the place where the artificers of the workshop would craft or develop the Magi-tech. Cecil quickly showed the badge again to the two guards that were guarding the double doors which led to the crafting area.


    When he stepped inside, what greeted him were numerous men and women of all ages. There were only a couple that he still remembered since he was acquainted with them through the 2 days he stayed at the workshop to finish his 2 magi-tech tools.


    As for the others, he could only assume that they were the artificers that the royal family had sent over.


    "Oh! It''s the boy! Hahaha, come on over!" An old ape-kin man said. He was wearing thick-rimmed glasses and had a wizened face. His hair and fur was all grey with some streaks of black in it.


    "Hey, Old Man Tars!" Cecil said with a polite bow. Tars Magnum, he was the owner of the Magnum Artifex as well as the head Artificer. This was the man that had helped Cecil craft and developed the Magic Sink and Magic Shower.


    The old man walked over to Cecil and pulled him over to one of the work benches situated at the front of the large room.


    The artificers that Cecil was familiar with greeted him to which he responded politely. They all loved how polite he was. The artificers from the kingdom were puzzled to see the top workshop''s artificers treat the young boy so amicably.


    Some of them however realized who this kid was and nodded their heads in understanding. He was their ''library''.


    Old Man Tars walked up to the front of the room and addressed everyone inside.


    "This young boy at the front is Cecil Silvaria. You all know as well as I, that he''s the courageous young man who has brought us the lost knowledge of the Ancients'' Magi-tech! The kingdom has specified that everything here is strictly classified and kept secret!"


    Tars said authoritatively. Despite being an old guy, he was kicking around as if he was still in his mid-30s.


    "The Kingdom has requested that everyone here be required to put on these tracking and observations devices." Tars passed around a tray of small marbles. Cecil was intrigued when he saw this.


    When one of the artificers picked it up, they placed the marble on top of the chest and the thing melted into their clothes.


    ''AH! So that''s how the headmaster has gotten the footage of everyone!''


    This marble had the function to track the whereabouts of the thing it had adhered to and also record the situation around it. This marble thing was probably also adhered to his academy uniform.


    Once everyone had taken their own marble, Tars invited Cecil to step forward into the front of the room.

 Chapter 204 - Cecil’s Plans

    Cecil was still a little troubled however...since the marble only adhered to one piece of clothing. Then what would happen if the next day that person was wearing something else?


    Seeing the worry on his face, Tars smiled warmly and whispered, "I know what you''re worried about, but don''t mind it. This room is equipped with the marble''s sensors. So if a person walks into the room without one, we''ll be immediately notified."


    "Ok...but, is there a possibility that it''ll be deactivated?"


    "Don''t worry about that, although there''s a possibility, but the King had arranged people to secretly keep an eye on everyone individual inside of this room. This includes me as well," Tars reassured.


    He had already heard the problems that Cecil was facing because of the Empire. Since the young man was so willing to share his knowledge, it was only natural that he as the receiver of said knowledge should help him out.


    It also had something to do with his pride as an Artificer, but Cecil didn''t understand anything about what it meant.


    Artificers themselves had worked on, created, and developed their own Magi-tech over the years. Of course, many of them would want to monopolize the crafting methods and techniques for themselves so that they could reap a profit from it if it was a convenient and much needed tool.


    For someone like Cecil who had gained the knowledge of long lost ancient magi-tech to go ahead and willingly share them, was something that a modern artificer would never do. Only an idiot would do such a thing, but Cecil wasn''t an idiot.


    Indeed, Cecil did say that he would share the magi-tech knowledge with the kingdom...but they didn''t specify what it was that he had to share. Cecil decided to share all the knowledge except for the ones regarding the teleportation gate, the magi-tech cannons and weaponry.


    Zephyr and everyone who had been inside the trials knew of Cecil holding the knowledge regarding the teleportation gates, but no one knew that he had taken the magi-tech weaponry''s knowledge with him.


    If the kingdom or empire did pressure him for the teleportation gate, then he would just simply give it to them, but since no one knew about the other, more dangerous magi-tech inside his magic tome, he just wouldn''t say a word about it.


    It was better for everyone if they didn''t know about it. If the Empire knew that he had gained knowledge about long lost magi-tech weaponry...then they might even start a war just to acquire them.


    Of course, this didn''t mean that it would stop him from trying to develop those ancient magi-tech weapons. He still wanted to experiment and create them. And if at all possible, perhaps further upgrade the weapons.


    If the illusion from the World Tree that he experienced was indeed the future, then Cecil might as well prepare for it. He didn''t need to save everyone, just the people close to him.


    Cecil needed more experience and knowledge, the ancient knowledge regarding magi-tech crafting wasn''t enough. Just the 2 days he had been together with the Kingdom''s top artificers had broadened his horizons by a lot.


    He needed to learn and experience everything that he can from his seniors, only then could he try and acquire his own private workshop and start doing things on his own.


    It was a little bit selfish of him, but what did he care? He''s not part of the Kingdom or anything, and after the school year Cecil had already decided that he would leave and head on over to the Midgard Continent to look for his family, if they were here on Alterna that is.


    He''d scour the entire planet if he had too. Cecil would make sure of things before settling down somewhere.


    He wanted to take his friends with him, but that seemed impossible since many of them had direct affiliations with the kingdom''s of Urrugdrasil. Eli was the Princess, while Ainz was from a Duke House. Velicia was also a part of the Kingdom''s aristocratic families and now, Lucia was as well.


    Fina was the Princess of the Neftersea Oceanic Empire and Yuna was in a Pact with Lucia. For now, he''ll do all he can while still remaining in the Kingdom. The only problem was...how to break it to his party members that he would be leaving.


    Should he just leave quietly? Or should he tell them about his plans before then?


    "Ahem, Cecil?"


    "Eh? S-sorry, I was spacing out earlier, haha!" His train of thoughts was broken when Tars spoke up.


    He remembered what he needed to do right now. Cecil turned his attention towards the many artificers in the room and spoke.


    "Uhm, as you all know, I''m the student who brought back the lost knowledge of the ancient magi-tech from the World Tree''s Trials. Over the next month or so, I''ll be tasked with sharing all these with everyone here and together we''ll be developing new magi-tech for the Kingdom."


    Cecil paused and took a look at all the artificers in the room; some were listening seriously while others were a little uncaring or greedy, some also had eyes full of yearning.


    ''Heh, how pure,'' Cecil thought before taking note of the uncaring or greedy looking ones. ''Whatever, I''ll have Tars do the explanations while I''ll only do the translations and hand him the blueprints.''


    Right now, Cecil had a lot on his hands. It wasn''t only the magi-tech. There was the knowledge of runes that he had also taken from the trials'' library.


    The runes and runic circuits from the magi-tech went hand-in-hand. If studied a bit more, he might be able to develop new runic circuits for the magi-tech. This was another thing that Cecil had no plans on sharing.


    The ancient runes were much stronger than the new era''s runes. It''d be a hassle for him to give a copy of all the knowledge he had about the runes. This time, it wasn''t because he was selfish, but simply because he was too lazy.


    He''d share it with his foster mother, but he wouldn''t go out of his way to tell it to anyone else. While all the other students were cultivating, Cecil alone had been off collecting knowledge. Selfish or not, it was his privilege and choice to share it with others. If he didn''t want to, who could blame him? Obviously, no one, not even Lucia or Serilla knew that he had been recording down knowledge while he was within the library.


    Despite seeing him taking down notes inside his magic tome, Lucia, Serilla and all the other students who had seen him had only thought that the boy had recorded down the ancient history and knowledge from the 1st floor of the library.


    As for all the other floors...no one was the wiser. They also didn''t think he''d go out of his way just to do all that. Not to mention it''d take years to transcribe all the books inside the library down into his magic tome. A month or two just wasn''t enough.


    Cecil let Tars take over. He then returned to his seat and quickly brought out stacks of doc.u.ments from his spatial ring. The large stacks finally caused every artificer in the room to turn serious.


    Cecil had spent the last couple of days translating the ancient language into the current common language. He had Anna''s help with this, despite the woman supposedly being busy with the Kingdom''s negotiations.


    Cecil of course found it odd that his foster mother was able to dip her hands into the Kingdom''s affairs, but he didn''t care to ask.


    "These are some of the translated doc.u.ments. This will be the first batch, and the Kingdom has required that we first develop a prototype of every magi-tech tool before we continue on to the next batch." Cecil informed.


    Cecil had separated the magi-tech tools into 4 different batches, each batch being more difficult to create than the last. The Magic Fountain was relatively easy to produce and Cecil had placed its blueprints into the second batch.


    The first batch was all just simple tools that had little to no use in the current era, but since the Kingdom wanted it all, Cecil naturally obliged. Who knows, maybe the artificers in the room might have a stroke of inspiration and develop a magi-tech tool that had actual use.


    Cecil would be the one that would benefit since he could just simply jot down all the new blueprints into his magic tome. This was one of the agreements that he had with the kingdom. The useless ancient magi-tech might be transformed by the modern artificers into something more useful and he would reap the rewards.


    Tars had his assistants quickly duplicate the doc.u.ments using magic and hand them out to all the artificers. All of them were intrigued when they read the doc.u.ments. Although the tools had very little practical use, the runic circuits and the crafting methods were unique. This was what attracted their attention.


    Tars smiled when he saw how serious everyone had become. "My boy, you''ve done this kingdom and its artificers a great service."


    "Yeah..."


    "Don''t worry about the Empire. The Kingdom won''t let its benefactor down!"


    Cecil only smiled. He then moved over to one of the empty work benches at the side and sat down. Tars followed after him.


    "I want to create a freezing and cooling box."


    "Hmm...Don''t we already have those?"


    "Yes, but they''re not efficient. The current ones require a magician to periodically channel their mana into the runic circuit to supply it with power. I want to create one that''ll run on an energy source just like with our previous Magic Sink and Shower."


    "Ohoho~ I like this idea. Normally, monster cores and magic stones are used to power magic arrays, act as supplement materials during forging or crafting and other stuff. The demand is low, so they''re pretty cheap to buy and sell. Only the high-grade ones are worth any sort of fortune," Tars said while tapping his chin. It was a habit he always had while deep in thought.


    "Yup...and do remember that the monster core we used for the Magic Shower and Magic Sink was only a low-grade core. Even after a week, it''s still able to supply the two magi-tech tools with energy!"


    "...alright then, let''s do it!"


    "Here, the ancients also had a cooling box. Theirs is a little big, but we could probably do something about that."


    The two''s heated interaction naturally drew the attention of the other artificers in the room. To see a young kid and the best magi-tech artificer speak to each other as equals...this was a little unusual to some of them, while some others were disgruntled.


    "Hmph...What could a kid know? Just because he was lucky enough to get all this, doesn''t mean he''d be able to understand anything inside of it! Does he even know how refined the runic circuits of these blueprints are?"


    "Yeah! Despite the uselessness of the tool, the methods used to craft them are very refined and advanced!"


    It was sad that these artificers didn''t know that Cecil was able to learn all there was to know about ancient magi-tech creation in only a month''s worth of time. He had also created an ancient MID that wasn''t like any of the MIDs in modern times. Heck, he even upgraded and added more functions to the ancient MID.


    There were only 8 of these unique MIDs found in Alterna and they were all in the hands of his close friends. Cecil was also planning to create a down-graded version of his upgraded MID so that he could give it to Lucius, his foster parents, Radon, and all of his other close acquaintances.


    This way even if he did leave for the Midgard Continent later on, he''d still have a way to contact them.


    The two were still in discussion, but unknown to them, one of Tars'' assistants was secretly holding a small dark marble and pointing it at Cecil and Tars'' direction.

 Chapter 205 - The Empire’s Response

    "I told you! Those bastards were lying!"


    A large dragonewt roared.


    The current location was in the Orca Empire''s Imperial Castle''s Meeting Hall. A group of beastmen was gathered together and watching a certain footage that had just been delivered from one of their spies situated in the Anglaria Kingdom.


    "They were indeed lying...but the knowledge regarding those ancient magi-tech is somewhat...underwhelming," A were-lion dressed in noble attire said while looking up from the doc.u.ments he was reading.


    "So what, Leonidas? The fact that they were lying to us gives us the justification for them to hand over that knowledge!" The dragonewt roared in return.


    "Knowledge? More like playthings! These...magi-techs have little to no functions! Is it worth it to further agitate our relations with the beastkin? We have more pressing matters! How''re we supposed to counteract those humans'' guerilla attacks?!"


    The were-lion Leonidas and the dragonewt began to bicker with each other. At the head of the table, a Were-lion wearing high-grade attire sighed tiredly. The robes he was wearing were made of the finest silk found in the Empire. It was a deep red color that had a unique golden motif decorating it. The robes also had a crest of a sword and staff crossed behind a golden lion''s head imprinted on it.


    It was the Empire''s Royal family''s coat of arms. This was the Emperor''s robes and the person wearing it was the current Emperor of Orca, Romulus Orcadia.


    "Leonidas, Ankhs, that''s enough!"


    Upon hearing the Emperor''s words, Leonidas and the dragonewt he was bickering with, Ankhs, immediately stopped their arguments.


    The dragnewt, Ankhs, immediately bowed towards the Emperor and voiced his opinion.


    "Your Majesty, with this we finally have definite proof that the Anglaria Kingdom has been lying to us! We must quickly seize this chance and acquire that knowledge! Despite what General Leonidas has said, just the unique methods and runic circuits that are used in creating those magi-techs are what we need to further develop and enrich our great Empire''s magi-tech!"


    The Emperor raised his hand and stopped Ankhs from saying anything further. He closed his eyes and began contemplating his subordinate''s words. While the Emperor was thinking, the beastman next to him spoke up.


    "The uniqueness of these methods are indeed important...from what I''ve heard over the past 2 months, the Anglaria Kingdom have been creating more new and convenient magi-tech that aid in the welfare of the Kingdom''s people," the werewolf who was next to the Emperor said.


    The werewolf was the current advisor of the Emperor, and he was also the Empire''s Minister of Civil Affairs.


    "...so what''s your take on this, Incra?" the Emperor said while turning to his advisor who had just voiced his opinion.


    "We don''t want to antagonize the Anglaria Kingdom due to the humans, but we also need the magi-tech''s knowledge for the welfare of our citizens. The moving economy of the Anglaria Kingdom in the past month alone is more than enough proof of the demand and conveniences that the new magi-tech devices bring for its people!"


    General Leonidas'' frown loosened once he heard the words of the advisor. At least he advised that they shouldn''t antagonize the beastkin.


    "Economy? What does this have to do with the Empire''s need to acquire those magi-techs?" The Emperor asked.


    "Anglaria has begun trade relations with the Neftersea Oceanic Empire and the Elfenheim Kingdom. The new magi-tech are being traded and sold off as we speak. The military power of the Anglaria Kingdom hasn''t changed, but with the influx of credits coming into the Kingdom, their economic might has already rivaled or even surpassed the two Empires."


    Incra signaled to one of the beastmen in the room and a werewolf woman stood up from her seat. "My Emperor, what Minister Incra has said is true. The economy of the Anglaria Kingdom has seen an exponential rise in credits being circulated into the Kingdom."


    The werewolf woman walked up to the Emperor and presented a report regarding the Anglaria Kingdom. The Emperor read through it before nodding.


    "I see...so Incra, what do you think is Our next best course of action?"


    "We open trade relations with them, and negotiate in acquiring those magi-tech blueprints. We could also present them the evidence of their lies, but I don''t think it''ll help. The Arks will just attribute it to the fact that they had a talented artificer help them create and innovate new magi-tech for the Kingdom."


    "Hmmm..."


    "Your Majesty! With our military might, we can just seize the knowledge ourselves! Why waste time in trying to negotiate with those lying bastards?!" The dragonewt, Ankhs implored.


    "Like. I. Said!" Leonidas roared. "We have those humans in our front yard! Do you also want the beastkin at our backyards as well?!"


    "Enough! It''s decided. We shall open trade relations with the Anglaria Kingdom. I''m sure that the head of our Magi-tech Department could gleam some information from the tools once we have them in our hands, no?" The Emperor said as he turned an eye towards Ankhs.


    "Yes, Your Majesty," Ankhs bowed down in compliance.


    "Good! Incra, We want you to take some men and act as an envoy! Bring the news to the Kingdom and tell them that We want to open trade relations with them. Leonidas, Ankhs, stay behind...We have something to discuss."


    The Emperor immediately dismissed everyone else. Only Leonidas, Ankhs, and the Emperor were left behind.


    "The situation in the Empire is in a mess with the humans running amok... General, We leave this in your hands, take care of it as soon as possible."


    "Yes, Your Majesty," Leonidas responded.


    "But...the fact of the matter is...those Beastkin still lied to Us."


    "Your Majesty?"


    "We want you to work with Ankhs and try to secretly acquire the lost magi-tech knowledge from the Kingdom, We will permit the Nocturne Lions to mobilize," The Emperor said.


    His words caused Ankhs'' expression to brighten, while Leonidas couldn''t help but frown.


    "My Emperor...is this alright? We''ll be antagonizing the Kingdom if we do this..."


    "We understand this, but that information is much too important. From what We know, ancient magi-tech weapons might already be in the hands of the Beastkin."


    "Y-Your Majesty! The footage and doc.u.ments only showed the development and records of insignificant magi-techs! They can''t possibly have magi-tech weapons! If they did, then wouldn''t our spies have already caught wind of it?!"


    On the side, Ankhs scoffed at him. "Leonidas don''t be naive. You know as well as I that there were news of ancient magi-tech weaponry inside the World Tree''s Trials. Whether or not they have them, it would be better for us to confirm it ourselves! Just relying on the words of the beastkin? Hmph, who knows if that boy may have also fooled them?"


    "..."


    Leonidas was frowning. When the Empire had specifically asked if the Anglaria Kingdom had any knowledge regarding ancient magi-tech weapons, the kingdom only denied it firmly. Who knows if they were lying or not?


    And just like Ankhs said, what if the boy who had taken the knowledge out of the Trials and was secretly keeping it away for himself?


    They had no way to confirm this. Leonidas turned his eyes onto the table where doc.u.ments pertaining Cecil''s information lay scattered about.


    "He''s just a boy...are we really going to such lengths just to confirm if he has it or not?!"


    "It''s better to be sure than not," Ankhs replied.


    The Emperor stayed silent throughout their exchange. He waited until Leonidas had calmed down a bit before saying, "General, I know of your worries. So this is why We are having the Nocturne Lions mobilize."


    "But, Your Majesty. The people protecting this child...they are the ones that are problematic, not him! We''d be offending the Anglaria Kingdom, the Neftersea Oceanic Empire, and not to mention a potential Transcendent-level figure!"


    The Emperor waved his hands and suddenly a werecat immediately appeared right next to him. The werecat who was covered in a black garb kneeled down and asked, "What is it do you require, Your Majesty?"


    "This boy, We want you to extract information from him. Find out if he has knowledge regarding ancient magi-tech weapons. No need to kidnap him for too long. Be quick and extract the necessary information. Also, make you keep things under a day or two. We don''t want to alert the Anglaria Kingdom''s forces."


    "Yes, by Your will." The werecat then disappeared in the next instant.


    The Emperor turned towards Leonidas and asked, "Will this at least absolve some of your worries, General?"


    "Yes, Your Majesty...as long as they don''t take too long, the Beastkin might not notice his disappearance...but, that boy. In the doc.u.ments they say that he is strong, much stronger than your average fighter."


    "Don''t worry, General. I''ve mobilized the First Fang."


    "..."


    Leonidas didn''t say anything and only bowed. Ankhs walked forward and bowed, "What is required of me, Your Majesty?"


    "You will go along with the Nocturne Lion''s First Fang...you will be tasked with the boy''s questioning. You''re an artificer just like him, so it will be easier for you to extract the necessary information from the boy."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!"


    "Meet the First Fangs near the Empire''s Anglaria-Orca Border. You will follow them into the Kingdom and wait. The Fangs will bring the boy to you."


    Ankhs bowed low in affirmation. The Emperor exited the room and returned to his chambers.


    Back in the Meeting Hall, Ankhs was smiling. "Leonidas, Leonidas. You have to understand that the Emperor is only thinking for the wellbeing of the Empire! If perhaps we do get information on those magi-tech weapons...then wouldn''t it be good for you? With the weapons, we can quickly clear those human sc.u.ms from our lands!"


    "..."


    Leonidas stayed silent and walked out of the room. Ankhs was smirking and laughing inwardly.


    "Hehe, brat...you''ll get what''s coming for you! You dare kill my beloved nephew and hurt my sister! You''ll experience hell once you''ve fallen into my hands!"

 Chapter 206 - Two Months

    2 months had passed since Cecil began helping out the Kingdom''s Magi-tech Artificers. Spring had long since ended and it was already mid-summer now. At least, it would be if he was still back on Earth.


    It was the 7th month of the Year, Solen; the Month of the Sun. And just like its name...the days during the Month of Solen was hot, extremely hot. Cecil wasn''t sure what temperature it was like outside, but luckily for him, he was still working on another magi-tech device inside of the Magnum Artifex workshop.


    Oddly enough, despite being a much larger size than Earth, Alterna still had 12 months a year, 30 days a month, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Cecil didn''t bother trying to find the reasoning behind this since it was much too complicated.


    The months of Alterna began on the Month of Beginnings, Sartuar. On Earth, Sartuar would be January. The 2nd month Vealen, 3rd month Blumen, 4th month Fluar, 5th month Livven, 6th month Rahen, 7th month Solen, 8th month Altuar, 9th month Freyen, 10th month Hautuar, 11th month Winden, and finally the 12th month Enduar.


    During the past two months, Cecil and the kingdom''s artificers had been constantly churning out new and unique magi-tech.


    Most of the new magi-techs were tools or appliances that Cecil replicated from Earth. For instance, the current temperature inside of the room was much cooler than what it was outside.


    This was because of the 3 unique, rectangular box-like magi-techs hanging up above on the room''s ceiling. A cold and refreshing breeze was constantly flowing out from the openings on the bottom face of the devices.


    They were magi-tech that copied the conveniences of Earth''s Air Conditioner. When last month began, the month of Rahen, the temperatures on Alterna suddenly spiked up. It turned extremely hot to the point where most of the kingdom''s citizens would be walking out of their homes while constantly casting water-element spells to cool down their bodies.


    When Cecil had first arrived here on Alterna, it was during the third month, Blumen. Since Fauxe Village was located on the north-eastern part of the Urrugdrasil Continent, during his journey towards the center regions of the continent, Cecil hadn''t felt much change in the temperatures. When he finally arrived at Angla City, it was already the 11th month, Winden and the temperatures were cool.


    It was his second time experiencing summer on Alterna, but his second experience was one of literal hell. The lizardkin, dragonkin and other beastkin didn''t seem too affected by the heat. As for the people with fire elemental affinity, they found the days quite refreshing and lax.


    But for those that weren''t of fire elemental affinity, it was a little bit unbearable. Fina who was from the Oceanic Kingdom was practically like a roasting fish whenever she walked outside. She walked like a drunkard with her face being always red.


    It was a good thing that Ainz and Lucia were always there beside her. Along with herself, the 3 provided a triple-layered cooling spell on her and she found the days much more bearable.


    Everyone was bearing the heat in their own ways, but for Cecil, despite looking like a foxkin, he was still a human underneath all that. No matter what kind of body enhancing skill he used, he was dying from the heat and thought, ''Man...If only I had an AC...''


    That thought alone immediately gave birth to the first Air Conditioner on Alterna. Using his frenzied and cornered mind, Cecil, with the help of numerous artificers, was able to put out the first prototype in just a week''s time. The final, tested version came out another week later, when they added a heating function so that the magi-tech could double as both an AC and a heater. This way it could be used during the summer and winter season of Urrugdrasil.


    Cecil first put the magi-tech to use when he installed a couple of them to cool down his mansion. When Fina saw the magi-tech that was cooling down Cecil''s house, she was immediately enamored. She asked him where he got it and the girl quickly went over to the Magnum Artifex to buy a couple of them for her own residence.


    At first it wasn''t very popular since there were many people who could cope with the heat. Not to mention it was a little bit expensive, but it was still affordable even by the common people if they scr.a.p.ed enough money together. It wasn''t until the classrooms of the Academy began using the magi-tech AC/Heaters that it soon became popular.


    The students of the Academy would of course tell their parents, and then their parents would go to the Magnum Artifex to see what it was all about. The parents bought it out of curiosity and personally experienced the convenience it provided. Then they would begin talking to people from their social circles and the news just kept spreading.


    Soon, merchants got ahold of the news and they quickly went over as well. Then by word of mouth, the new magi-tech was spread and it soon became popular to the general populace.


    And not long after, the production was no longer able to keep up with the demand with every newly stocked magi-tech AC/Heaters being bought off the shelves just as they were put out on display, but by the end of the two months, at least two-thirds of the households in Angla City had one or two of the magi-techs.


    Once the situation stabilized, the Arks royal family even opted to trade the new magi-tech with their allies, the Elfenheim Kingdom and the Neftersea Oceanic Empire. Even the Neftersea Oceanic Empire was subjected to the summer heat, and it was all the more popular for their people.


    In fact, the temperatures in the Neftersea Empire were much higher than the temperatures at the center regions of Urrugdrasil. This was because the Empire was located on a vast, tropical archipelago. It was only natural that the temperatures were much higher over there.


    The Anglaria Kingdom also sold the manufacturing methods of the new magi-tech to the two superpowers at a high price, but they didn''t explain about the origins or inventor of the new magi-tech.


    It wasn''t only the Magi-tech Air Conditioner that they made over the past 2 months. The cooling box or refrigerator was also completed. Although Alterna already had their own version of the refrigerator, it wasn''t very optimal. The new Magi-tech refrigerator ran on monster cores to power them. Low-level monster cores at that; so now the saturated, useless low-level monster cores in the market finally found its place.


    With new items being bought and sold, the economy of the Kingdom experienced a rise. They imported cheap monster cores from outside and sold it inside the kingdom for a price that gave merchants a pretty good profit. By word of mouth, merchants from all over began moving to the kingdom and conducting their trade there.


    With more support from the Kingdom, the magi-tech artificers were able to develop and create more new magi-tech or improve on the older ones. The new MIDs that Cecil was able to create by simply improving the old, modern MIDs were also a hit.


    He created them using the ancient''s techniques while replacing some of the high quality materials with mid quality ones which essentially cut down the funds used to actually complete it by more than half. The new and improved MIDs were much cheaper and had better functionality than the older MIDs.


    Presently, almost all of the mid-class and high-class citizens who were well off, had a MID in their possessions. The new Call Function was the highlight, and the original purpose of the MID, which was to access the Mana Integrated Network that spanned the continent, was now being accessed by more and more people. And with more and more people, new information, whether it was of any importance or not, began circulating.


    The Adventurer Guild also saw the potential in this information sharing and had ordered a bunch of MIDs for their offices and branch offices. They began posting their quests on the Mana Integrated Network, and with adventurers now also possessing MIDs of their own, it became much easier for them to pick up work and quests.


    The offices of the Adventurer Guilds began losing more and more adventurers, but this was because most of them were currently outside doing quests! The ones that did drop by were only the adventurers that had come to pick up their rewards for finishing their quests.


    Slowly, but surely, Cecil was changing the society of Anglaria. The conveniences that he provided were beginning to turn Anglaria into a modern age city from Earth, but it wasn''t like the boy knew of this because he hadn''t once set foot into Earth''s society so he didn''t know what it was like.


    With the changes happening to the Kingdom and the new magi-tech being brought to the people, the other Kingdoms began to get envious. Of course, this goes without saying that the Orca Empire and Titanic Kingdom were without a doubt envious.


    The Elfenheim Kingdom and the Neftersea Empire weren''t however. They had an alliance with Anglaria and they were openly trading with one another. Some of the magi-techs'' manufacturing plans have even been sold off to them. So there was no need for them to be envious of the Anglaria Kingdom since they were willing to share.


    Of course, the Arks Royal Family said it was in the name of friendship and peace, but in Cecil''s eyes it was more like a bribe so that the two superpowers would side with them and not the Orca Empire, who was practically demanding that they''d share the new magi-tech with them.


    ''Pfft...Wishful thinking... You think I''d bother staying on Urrugdrasil if you fools tried to take things from me?''


    It was easy for him to sneak out of the continent, since all he had to do was go over to the Orca Empire''s lands, dispel his foxkin transformation and blend in with the humans once he''s found them. Then he''ll just hitch a ride over to the Midgard Continent when he found the chance.


    Presently, inside of the Magnum Artifex''s fourth floor workshop, a large group of artificers were busy at work.


    "Recently, I heard that the Orca Empire and Titanic Kingdom wanted to open trade relations with us. Did you hear about that, Cecil?" Tars asked the young boy who was currently embedding runic circuits onto a processed magic ore piece.


    "Really? I haven''t heard anything about it," Cecil replied.


    "I''m not sure if this is a good or bad development..."


    "How so?"


    "On the surface, it seems that we''ve been able to establish friendly relations with the two superpowers, but I think there''s more to this than what''s being let on..."


    "..."


    "Remember Cecil, you''re the source of all these new magi-tech. With the power of the Orca Empire and the Titanic Kingdom, I''m pretty sure they''ve already caught wind of you being the inventor who developed these magi-techs."


    "Well, if f there''s smoke then there''s a fire...and if there''s a fire, then there''s bound to be a culprit who caused it..."


    "Hmm...Something like that," Although it was an idiom from Earth, Tars was able to understand it. "Cecil, you should be more careful."


    "Mhm."


    Cecil didn''t lift his head and only replied with a grunt. He played ignorant earlier however, Anna had already told him about the news of the two powers wanting to open trade relations with Anglaria. She also told him to stay on his toes. With the Beastman and Gigantes merchants coming in, there was no telling whether other ''people'' would cross Anglaria''s border along with them.


    ''Mother already told me that those people might try something...I also won''t be getting any help if they do something covertly.''


    Cecil clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly. The golden sparks of mana that pulsated around his fist reassured of him a little.


    ''I''m stronger now. Hmph, whatever comes let them come. I''m not afraid."

 Chapter 207 - His Changes

    Cecil was heading back towards his residence in the Academy district. It was late in the afternoon and he had finally finished up with today''s batch of magi-tech orders.


    He helped out the Magnum Artifex''s artificers build the new magi-tech and in exchange, they would help him out with developing new magi-techs as well as pay him for his work.


    Cecil was walking alongside Silver with a large bun in his mouth.


    "Hey Silv...I heard from Matty and Ima that this is called ''work''. Ima''s always been complaining about it and so was Matty, but I think it''s kinda cool!"


    "Raah!!"


    Battle form Silver barked in response to his mumblings. He hadn''t even experienced graduating from school, but he was already working now in a big and prestigious firm. Normal people would have complained from the large orders of magi-techs, but Cecil found it new and refreshing.


    Of course, he did think that if he was told to do it for the remainder of his life, he''d think that it''d turn boring one day. But for now, it was all new experience for him and he cherished that.


    "I''ve basically covered all the new modern knowledge about magi-tech creation...I guess I should start focusing my attention onto the runes. I should develop new runic circuits before continuing the development of new magi-techs."


    Cecil mumbled out loud. He and Silver crossed into the Academy district and he hopped on top of Silver and the two rushed straight for his private residence.


    It didn''t take long for the duo to arrive. Just as he was about to open the gate to his residence, Cecil''s MID had suddenly begun buzzing. Cecil picked it up and saw Lucia''s name written on the screen of his MID.


    He tapped the screen and Lucia''s voice was immediately heard.


    "Cel? Are you coming home late again?"


    "I''m already at the front gate, what''s up?" Cecil spoke to her through his MID. He opened up the gate and walked into his residence.


    He couldn''t help but notice that their party''s carriage was parked just beside his house''s front door. They haven''t been using it lately because of the recent events and it was supposed to be parked just outside of the Radon''s place, the Ironforge Smithy. The door to the house immediately swung open in the next instant and Lucia walked out.


    "Hey Lulu...what''s up with the clothes?" Cecil asked as he observed Lucia''s attire.


    "Do you like it?" Lucia asked as she twirled her body.


    The clothes she was currently wearing was a beautiful crimson colored dress. It had a silver flowery motif decorating the skirt part of the dress.


    "Hmmm...Red and silver...suits you well, Lulu."


    "Ehehehe~ thanks Cel...you should hurry and go get changed. Mama and Papa are waiting~"


    "...I forgot, but where are we going again?"


    "..."


    "...Hehehe..." At her silence, Cecil could only awkwardly laugh in response. Lucia shrugged like she had given up.


    "Oh well, what could I expect....We''ll be going to the Aurielle family for dinner tonight. Since Mama and Papa are now a part of the Kingdom''s aristocratic families, we have to attend this kinda thing occasionally...I''ve been holding things off because of you, but Papa was pretty adamant about making us go this time..."


    "Oh, okay... wait a bit."


    Cecil quickly rushed up to the second floor and quickly took a shower. When he got back to his room, he couldn''t help but notice the formal wear hung on his wardrobe''s door.


    "...I have to wear this?"


    "Of course!" Lucia walked into the room. She eyed him suspiciously before saying, "I bet you were planning on wearing your normal clothes, right?"


    "Well...what else am I supposed to wear? It''s not like I actually had any of these...formal wear."


    "Just wear that..."


    "But...it doesn''t look easy to move in...Also, what happens if a fight¡ª"


    "It''s just dinner, there''s no way a fight will break out, idiot!"


    Cecil was a little apprehensive, but she was right. It was only a dinner, right? What could possibly go wrong? It''s just, since it was only dinner, why did he have to wear such formal clothes?


    "...I feel like I''m being tricked...is this really just a dinner?"


    "Yeah! That''s what Papa told me!"


    "Alright then," Cecil finally relented. It''s not like Zaki would lie to them.


    Cecil quickly put on the clothes. It fit him just perfectly. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn''t help but smile a little. Lucia came over and smiled in satisfaction, it was then that Cecil couldn''t help but notice.


    "By the way Lulu...when did you become so short?"


    "Huh?! It''s not me who''s short! It''s just you who got taller!!" Lucia replied in annoyance.


    Before she was taller than him, it was the only thing she could proudly say that she was able to beat him at. However, after coming out of the trials, it''s like Cecil had a growth spurt! His height just kept on growing where he was almost a full head taller than Lucia!


    "Hmm...You''re right...I wonder why?" Cecil pondered why this could have happened. He thought that he''d probably stay short for the rest of his life. His mother was short after all and height-wise, he leaned towards her side, but now he was growing taller!


    Cecil grinned happily and looked at himself once again in the mirror. With Lucia next to him, they did make a pretty cute couple. He couldn''t help, but blush furiously at this.


    Noticing his face turning red, Lucia was about to ask if he was sick, but when she saw their reflections from the corner of her eyes...she began blushing as well.


    "Ehh...should we go now?" Cecil asked while scratching his cheek.


    "Ye-yeah..."


    Cecil robotically turned his body and was about to walk outside. Lucia had been a little bit hopeful that he''d do something, but quickly became disappointed just as he walked past her.


    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucia turn dejected. ''Ahh shiiittt...''


    "Alright, let''s go!" Cecil quickly grabbed onto Lucia''s hand and shouted out loud. He was clearly trying to mask his embarrassment.


    Seeing him take the initiative to hold her hand, the fox girl grinned happily and responded with a shout, "Yeah!"


    Cecil escorted Lucia down to the carriage and quickly got on. Her parents were already waiting inside and they couldn''t help, but smile brightly when they saw the pair. By the way, Silver was acting as the carriage''s horse for tonight and Yuna was the driver.


    "G-good evening, Mother and Father..." Cecil greeted awkwardly. He and Lucia were sitting in front of Anna and Zaki, but for some reason Lucia still hadn''t let go of his hand even after sitting down.


    "Ufufufu~ you two look great! As a mother, I''m proud to see that my two children have grown up! I''m pretty sure your mother would be jealous Cecil~ since I''m the first to see you like this and not her~"


    Her joke loosened up the awkward atmosphere in the carriage. Zaki opted to stay silent, but even he couldn''t help notice the two holding hands. He only shook his head and thought that her daughter is already leaving her nest now...well, she actually already did since a year ago.


    "Ahahaha! Yeah, she''d probably be biting her nails and beating up father right about now, if she found out!"


    "Oh? Beat up your father? I didn''t expect your mother to be the violent type~"


    "Yeah, my dad''s a pretty strong guy. I was never able to beat him in a fight, but he''s totally a weakling in front of mom!"


    "Ohoho~ so she''s a kindred spirit~"


    Zaki had begun sweating bullets at this. Cecil as well, he turned to look at Lucia and couldn''t help but notice.


    ''Haven''t most of the girls I''ve come into contact with...are exceptionally violent?''


    He felt a subtle pain on his sides after the thought.


    "Hey...you were thinking about something rude right now, right?" Lucia said while strongly pinching his sides.


    "No I wasn''t!"


    "Yeah, right! That stupid look on your face tells it all!"


    "Am I that easy to read?!"


    "So you admit it!"


    "Huh? No I didn''t!"


    The two began bickering and this only caused Anna and Zaki to smile warmly at them. They finally noticed the two elders smiling at them and they quickly stopped bickering. Cecil ears however were already red while Lucia''s face was the same.


    "Oh look, we''ve arrived. Come now everyone."


    With Silver''s speed, the carriage had been rushing quickly down the lanes. It didn''t take them long before they were able to arrive at the Inner District and stop right in front of a luxurious mansion.


    Cecil couldn''t help but notice that there was numerous luxury carriages parked all around the place.


    "...is this really just a dinner?" Cecil asked skeptically.


    "Of course~ a dinner party~" Anna smirked as she emphasized the last part.


    Cecil turned to look at Lucia, but the look on her face told her that she too didn''t know anything about this.


    "W-what''s all this for?!" Lucia asked.


    "Come, we should head inside. We''ve been putting things off since you two have been so busy for the past 2 months, but it''s time you two actually made a debut~"


    "What?"


    "Huh?"


    What was this about a debut? Zaki who had kept his silence, was the one who answered.


    "Well, it''s not something we arranged, but the Family Head absolutely wanted to give you a welcoming party to also announce that you two are a part of the Aurielle family."


    "...is all that necessary?" Cecil asked.


    "For us, not really, but for the nobles, it''s something necessary."


    "Ugh...oh well, since we''re here let''s get this over with." Cecil replied helplessly. He opened up the carriage''s door and let Anna and Zaki go down first. He stepped out, but from behind him Lucia couldn''t help but ask.


    "Cel? Aren''t you normally adverse to these kinds of things? You don''t have to force yourself!"


    "...Yeah, I am actually...I don''t like these kinds of things at all...I could make better my time and research on runes or cultivate my mana and ki instead..."


    "Y-yeah...so let''s just go back...I''m pretty sure Mama and P¡ª" Before she could finish, Cecil cut her off.


    "But...wouldn''t it''d be such a shame?"


    "Huh?"


    "Y-you did get dressed up for this...I-I thought it''d...be such a shame to not see this through just because I didn''t like it..."


    With each word, Cecil was growing redder and redder in the face.


    "?!"


    He grabbed his head, but it seemed he made up his mind on something.


    "You look really beautiful tonight. Let''s go already...I can tolerate this much for your sake Lulu..."


    His words were the trigger and she jumped straight into his arms. "W-woah! That''s dangerous! Just get down from the carriage like normal!"


    From afar, Lucia''s parents were observing the duo.


    "Ufufu~ it''s good to be young~"


    "Hmm."

 Chapter 208 - Attention

    After observing the two love birds, Zaki and Anna turned around and walked into the estate. Anna had her arm wound around her husband''s. Zaki had a gentle expression on his face as he escorted his wife into the estate.


    Cecil finally noticed that his foster parents had walked in ahead of them.


    "H-hey, Lulu! We''re going to get left behind!"


    "...5 more minutes..."


    "5 more minutes of what? Hugging me?! You''re not sleeping so you can''t say that!"


    Cecil gently pushed Lulu away. She pouted in dissatisfaction. Cecil''s brain began to hurt. He sighed and stuck his arm out.


    "Not going in? We can leave now if you want," He said.


    Lucia immediately wrapped her arm around his and smiled delightedly.


    "Hehe~"


    He didn''t mind the girl acting so childish. Cecil stepped forward and just like how Zaki did, he escorted Lucia into the estate, they quickened their pace and managed to arrive just before their parent''s walked in through the door.


    Behind them, Yuna went to park the carriage to the side and unfastened Silver''s harness. Silver quickly transformed into his pet form and jumped into Yuna''s embrace.


    The dragon girl was a little disgruntled at how child-like this legendary Fenrir was acting.


    "Oi, show a little dignity as a Fenrir will you?"


    "Wafu?"


    "...you have no idea what you are huh?"


    "?"


    Silver only tilted his head in confusion. What did his mistress'' servant mean? He only cutely barked back at her and raised his paw to the front.


    "Okay, okay..."


    Yuna, with Silver in her arms, quickly rushed forward and arrived just behind Cecil and Lucia in the next instant. The guards at the door seemed to have recognized their group and they respectfully escorted the family into the premises.


    Cecil couldn''t help but marvel at the large estate. The mansion they were in was lavishly decorated. Many paintings of foxkin were hung in the hallway. There was also a painting that depicted the founding of the Anglaria Kingdom. Many antiques and skillfully crafted pieces of art were also decorating the mansion.


    Cecil and the rest were brought to a large hall at the east wing of the large mansion. Just before entering the hall, a foxkin steward, who was most likely part of the Aurielle family, quickly loudly announced their presence.


    "The Chief''s Honored Brother, Zaki Aurielle, and his wife, Anna Yukihime has arrived!!!"


    All the nobles inside of the hall looked towards the entrance and saw a cold faced, but dignified golden-haired foxkin man walk in. In his arms was a beautiful, silver-haired foxkin woman walk in with a bright, enchanting smile.


    Behind them another pair followed. The steward lagged in response because of the powerful and dignified presence Zaki and his wife exuded upon their entrance, he fumbled a little before loudly announcing,


    "The 8th Princess of the Aurielle Family, Lucia Yukihime...and her companions, has arrived!!!"


    Cecil lifted an eyebrow in surprise, "Hoh~ 8th Princess, eh?"


    "Sh-shut it Cel!" Lucia blushed at his teasing.


    Zaki was the eldest in his family. He had 2 brothers and a sister. His second brother was the current head of the family, Maki Aurielle. His third brother was someone that Cecil and Lucia had already met the eccentric Guildmaster of Forest Hill Town, Kozaki Aurielle, and finally the youngest sister, Komaki Aurielle.


    As the first brother, Lucia should have been the First Princess, but considering that he had disappeared and had essentially cut ties with his family, Lucia was instead dubbed as the 8th Princess when Zaki came back.


    The chieftain, Maki, had 4 children. The firstborn, Aurellia, who was the 1st Princess of the family, her other siblings respectfully held the 2nd, 4th, and 5th titles. Komaki, the youngest sister of the 4, was already married as well. She was married to the Multi-tailed Foxkin Tribe that Friedrich was a part of.


    She had 3 children and they held the titles of 3rd, 6th, and 7th Prince or princesses. The 3rd brother was still a free spirit so of course he didn''t have any children. So that left Lucia with the title of 8th Princess.


    Cecil only snickered at Lucia''s embarrassment. Neither of the two was accustomed to such formality and thus, they did not have the proper etiquette that was required of a noble. Their banter was fully witnessed by everyone present. Some thought it was cute, while others thought that they were being rude.


    Cecil could feel the scorn and dissatisfaction in some of the people present, but he didn''t bother to care. He simply followed after his foster parents and they walked all the way up to the front end of the large and lavishly decorated hall.


    They arrived just in front of the main family members of the Aurielle Clan. Lucia and Cecil didn''t recognize many of them, but they did however see Aurellia waving at them in a friendly manner.


    Lucia waved back and Cecil only nodded in response. His nod earned him a couple of weird looks and glares.


    He felt them and leaned in towards Lucia and whispered, "What did I do?"


    "Huh?"


    "I can feel pretty mean glares directed at me."


    "What? Where?" Lucia began looking around and glaring at everyone present that was giving her and Cecil an odd look.


    In front of them, Zaki only chuckled and Anna merely cautioned her daughter.


    "Lulu, behave okay? Don''t worry about the odd looks, they''re all just curious~"


    "But...oh alright," She replied.


    Lucia gave it rest, and Zaki began speaking to his brother. Another attendant walked over to Lucia and Cecil and escorted the two as well as Yuna and Silver over to the table that Aurellia was at.


    Anna smiled and waved them off, telling them to go and mingle with the children close to their age. It was much better than staying around and listening to the boring talks of the oldies.


    Upon arriving at the table, Aurellia immediately stole Lucia away from Cecil.


    "Hihi~ hello, little sis~"


    "Hi, Big sis Aurel!"


    "Hmhm~ I''m glad that you two actually came! Knowing Cecil, I thought he''d pull you away to train and not bother coming here to attend," She said as she eyed Cecil suspiciously.


    "What? Why''re you blaming me?"


    "Well...it''s you, you know, the guy who wouldn''t even let his girlfriend get a break?"


    "Wh-what''re you talking about?! I am totally NOT like that!"


    "Yeah, sure you are~"


    Their casual banter attracted the attention of the many younger generations around their table. Unlike the elders, the young ones were deeply attracted to Cecil and Lucia''s strength. They didn''t care about their lack of noble etiquette or manners.


    Many of the teenagers around them had watched the Academy''s Fighting Tournament and these two stood out strongly. One was the champion while the other was the runner-up. Unlike the elder nobles, these noble children didn''t care about the political sides of things. As long as they admired the person, they wouldn''t mind being friendly with them.


    Lucia was pulled away by Aurellia, the girl began introducing Lucia to the people in her social circle. After observing the two for a moment and seeing that Lucia was having an easy time mingling with everyone, Cecil smiled and was going to go grab some grub, but he was suddenly stopped by a couple of people.


    "H-hey!"


    "Hm?"


    Cecil turned around and saw that a group of young foxkin. They didn''t seem hostile, but instead were stiff as a board. It was a little amusing.


    "What''s up? You need something?"


    "Y-you''re Combat King Cecil, right? Right?!" The young foxkin boy who was at the lead of the group asked over excitedly.


    "Woah, woah, woah! Calm down. I am him, alright. You guys need something from me?"


    "C-can we be friends?! We all admire you!"


    "Hah?"


    The foxkin group nodded their heads repeatedly. Cecil noticed that they were mostly young boys and teenagers. It was the first time in his life that someone had asked him for permission to become friends.


    "Ahahah~ no one''s stopping you. If you''re friendly to me then I''ll be friendly to you!" Cecil chuckled in response.


    "O-ooohhh, so then, c-can I shake your hand?!"


    "Sure?"


    Cecil stuck his hand out and the young boy grabbed onto it eagerly and began shaking his hand up and down with vigor.


    "M-my name''s Clay! Clay Aurielle! My older sister is the one over there with your fianc¨¦!" Clay said while pointing at Aurellia. He also dropped something that Cecil couldn''t ignore.


    "Woah, wait! Fianc¨¦? Who?"


    "Uhh? The new princess? Lucia?" Clay confusedly replied.


    "Woah, there, she may be someone I like, but we''re NOT engaged, okay? We''re too young for that."


    Clay nodded his head in understanding. The group behind him rushed up to Cecil once their conversation ended. They began introducing themselves, and it turns out. Many of them were the direct siblings or cousins of Lucia. The 2nd, 3rd and 6th young masters of the Aurielle family were present in the group.


    They had all come to watch the Dueling Tournament and they grew to admire both him and Lucia. Many of them assumed that the two were engaged already, but after confirming that they weren''t, they still thought that the two were an item.


    Cecil was pulled into their flow. He responded and answered many of their questions and was introduced to many of their friends.


    Seeing as how he was so amiable and friendly, not to mention polite although a little crass. Many of the young children and teenagers gathered around him. Most of them were boys however, since they were close in age and admired his strength.


    Many of the girls had gathered around Lucia. The two were mingling well with the people of their age group. Cecil''s side was particularly rowdy.


    "Haha, look there Lucia~ your Cecil''s already really popular with the guys!" Aurellia laughingly said.


    "Yeah! Good thing no girls are getting close to him..."


    "Hihihi~ I wouldn''t be so sure~ look at them over there," Aurellia said while pointing to the side.


    Her finger pointed towards some female foxkin and other types of beastkin. They obviously wanted to go and talk to Cecil, but unfortunately all the boys were hogging him to themselves.


    "You''re lucky that the guys are shielding him away from them~"


    "Muuuhhh...honestly...Cecil''s been attracting way too many eyes from the girls!" Lucia complained.


    "Even during the time when we were in the Elfenheim Kingdom, that elf girl was attracted to Cecil! He really has to get his act together! I don''t want any more people swarming around him!"


    "Well, that''s the perk of being a strong and attractive character~"


    "What perk?!"


    "Hihihih~"


    The other girls around the two quipped up and joined in on their conversation.


    "But you have it good Lucia!"


    "Yeah, I know right! I mean the way you two made your entrance!"


    "It was totally like you two were engaged!"


    "You''re both geniuses and you''re always both together as well."


    The other girls expressed their envy and praise and this caused Lucia to blush in embarrassment. After a while, the Aurielle Head, Maki stood up and addressed everyone present.


    "Today, my eldest brother has finally returned to us along with his family! Today''s dinner party is to announce his return and introduce everyone to them!" At his words, Anna and Zaki stood up from their seats and everyone''s attention was turned to them and they applauded. Maki smiled in satisfaction and continued.


    "Please! Do enjoy the food prepared tonight! Next we''ll be commencing the ball! Enjoy yourselves for the rest of the evening!"


    At his words, the attendants in the hall began waving their wands and the area in the middle where the food tables were located at, lifted into the air and floated to the empty side areas of the hall.


    A group of musicians appeared on top of the hall''s stage and began to play a melody. Many of the youngsters around Cecil and Lucia turned excited. They began separating and forming pairs to go dance.


    Cecil was finally freed from their grasps. He let out a tired sigh and sensed that some girls were about to approach him. He played ignorant and opened his MID. He feigned a surprised expression and suddenly disappeared in the next instant, causing many of the girls who were about to approach him become disappointed or shocked at his sudden disappearance.


    Aurellia was straining herself to hold back her laughter. She and Lucia had made a bet with Lucia saying that Cecil''s going to be approached by some girls later and asked to dance while Aurellia said that he''ll ignore all of them and come for her.


    It was too bad they both lost since Cecil had suddenly vanished. Or more accurately, high tailed it out of there!


    Aurellia was laughing while Lucia''s face turned dark.

 Chapter 209 - Border Problems

    Lucia could only sigh in annoyance. At least he didn''t go and get caught up with another girl again.


    There were some boys that approached her and asked for a dance, but she simply declined. She walked out of the hall and onto the side terrace. She found an empty spot and began quietly eating the food she picked out earlier.


    She had separated from Aurellia since the girl was asked to dance with someone. Aurellia didn''t decline out of courtesy, but Lucia didn''t care one bit about giving others face. She declined all the beastkin that had wanted to dance with her.


    While she was eating by her lonesome, a voice sounded out from behind her.


    "Yo! You alone?"


    "...Cel?"


    Lucia didn''t bother turning around to face the familiar voice. Despite changing the way he talked, Lucia''s ears were pretty sharp and had detected the familiarity in the voice.


    "Hmm, you could at least act surprised, Lulu," Cecil flipped over the stone railings and landed right next to her.


    "Hmph, I''m not talking to you," Lucia turned away and continued eating her food.


    "What? Is this about me running away instead of going over to you?"


    "Hmph!"


    Cecil shrugged. "Okay, so if I asked you...then what? I don''t even know how to dance! I''m not gonna go and embarrass myself now."


    "..."


    "I bet you don''t know how to dance as well, right?"


    "Guhh..." Lucia''s face turned red at his words. It''s true, even if Cecil did ask her, they''d only go and embarrass themselves on the dance floor.


    "W-weren''t you supposed to be the young heir of a prestigious family, Cel?!"


    "Hey! Don''t blame me! I was only taught martial arts!"


    "Well, it''s not MY fault!"


    "Aren''t you supposed to be the Aurielle''s 8th young princess?"


    "I just recently became one!"


    Even Lucia, as a child, was only ever taught spells and knowledge regarding mana. As for these...''fancy'' hobbies and activities, it was obvious that she too, would have no clue on what to do.


    Magical combat was their forte, but give them something else to do and these two would be too clueless.


    "Well, let''s save ourselves the embarrassment and just hang around here!"


    "Hmmm..."


    "What? Disappointed?"


    "Oh! Was that not Ob.vi.ous?" Lucia replied in chagrin.


    "S-sorry..."


    Lucia sighed, "Well, it''s not your fault. Can''t help it since you''re always training or doing something else everyday..."


    "Yeah..."


    The two stood there in silence. Lucia continued eating her food. Cecil conjured a small mana bolt in his hands and began moving it around his hand. It became a small habit for him whenever he had nothing to do or was lost in thought.


    The first melody being played ended after a couple of minutes. The two heard an applause coming from inside of the hall.


    "...I don''t think I can get used to this..."


    "Haha, my thought''s exactly, Cel~"


    Lucia giggled, she went back inside the hall to return the plate and didn''t take long to return. She went over to Cecil again and asked.


    "Let''s get out of here?"


    "Sure?"


    "Hihi~"


    Lucia stretched her arms out, Cecil got the gist of what she wanted and simply picked her up in a princess carry.


    "Oh? You actually knew what I wanted?"


    "..."


    "Normally you''d just play dumb, Cel~"


    "I''m not that dense...I think..."


    "Hmhm~ sure you aren''t, took you a year to figure out how I feel, that''s not dense at all. That''s SUPER dense."


    "Ugh, whatever...Silv, Yuna, we''ll be heading out now~ make sure you take back mother and father to the residence later."


    Yuna who was close by with Silver in her arms simply nodded in response.


    This should be reminded, but these two weren''t the only people on the side terrace. When Lucia went in earlier, some of the youngsters had noticed her going out again and they followed her. She then went over to Cecil and was now being carried up in his arms.


    The couple finally noticed that there were other people around them. The two blushed, but Cecil simply turned around and stepped on the stone railing. He activated Mana Burst and jumped, launching his body straight into the air.


    "Woah!!"


    "H-hey! Are they supposed to do that?!"


    "This party still hasn''t finished yet!"


    Their exit had left the people behind clamoring. Anna and Zaki couldn''t but help overhear the commotion. While the elders around them had somewhat dark faces and were a little disgruntled, the mother and father pair only laughed.


    "Well, that''s our children. I was expecting something like this to happen~" Anna giggled.


    "I honestly thought they''d not even step through the front door of the mansion, they did a good job enduring all the way until now," Zaki added with a profound nod.


    "Ahahah~ let the children be! They''re simply not used to things yet. By the way, Eldest Brother, I heard that Cecil has been..."


    The family head, Maki, quickly diverted everyone''s attention to a different topic. Cecil and Lucia had escaped from the party and were heading back to Cecil''s private residence.


    He could have simply used Blink to move back, but he thought it was nice to soar through the night sky by jumping from building to building.


    A full moon was high up in the air and it was a beautiful night. The pair soared through the air in silence, enjoying the nice calm of the night.


    ******


    It was the next day. This time however, Cecil was walking in the direction of his classroom alongside his friends.


    It was the first time after 2 months that he''ll be attending class. The air was hot and it was pretty unbearable if not for the fact that Lucia, Ainz, and Fina were constantly using cooling magic.


    "Jeez...the days really are unbearable!" Cecil exclaimed.


    "T-tell me about it...I feel like I''m being cooked alive...why couldn''t you make an AC big enough to cover the sky, Cecil???" Fina replied while being carried on Ainz''s back.


    "Ahahahah! That''d be impossible Fina!"


    "Fifi''s a merfolk, that''s why she''s more susceptible to heat than us!" Velicia added. The girl was currently clinging onto a fatty. It was the long absent Lucius, the fat alchemist!


    "Hey, Lucius, I was always wondering, but what''s been going on lately? It was like you had vanished all of a sudden! I didn''t see you anywhere after the first time we saw you!" Ainz asked.


    "Humhum...well I was actually pretty busy! There was a small problem back at my clan. I had to go back and settle some things...I missed the tournament and Urrugdrasil Trials because of it...what a shame."


    "Family issues, huh? I won''t pry, but do you need any help?"


    Cecil offered a helping hand. Lucius smiled at him, but chose to reject it.


    "Don''t worry about that. It''s all been taken care of. We''ve just had to deal with some beastmen invaders on our lands. My family''s territory is pretty close to the border, after all."


    "Okay."


    The Empire had been pressuring the Anglaria Kingdom right from the start of the New Year so there were bound to be some border problems, it probably had something to do from when the humans first invaded the Orca Empire''s lands.


    It''s been a couple of months since then, but now with the Empire wanting to exploit and take away the new magi-tech that Cecil had created for the Kingdom, could they seriously have stopped encroaching on their lands?


    Cecil thought that this was unlikely. He could still detect to distress that was present in Lucius'' eyes. There was no way the problems were resolved. In fact, things might have gotten even worse after the trials.


    Although they were from the same continent, the beastmen have always been overbearing in doing things.


    They acted to their own wishes, but only during times of crisis where their interests were being harmed would they try and humble themselves to the other powers...or take the drastic route of putting pressure onto the other powers until they caved in to their demands.


    This was what''s currently happening to the Anglaria Kingdom, constant harassments and encroachment on the borders. Despite being at war with the humans, the Empire still had the time, energy, and man-power to cause trouble for another kingdom.


    All of this was still tolerable to the Kingdom, but Cecil honestly thought that the Royal Family should be stricter and more intolerant to this kind of harassment.


    The Empire was disturbing the peace and stability of the people residing at the border areas. If Cecil was given the choice, he''d like his shot at those beastmen. They''ve been really annoying ever since the trials.


    The group separated from Lucius once they arrived at the academy''s main building. They quickly arrived at their classroom and everyone was pleasantly surprised to see Cecil gracing them with his presence this time around.

 Chapter 210 - Blow up!

    Class was currently in session and Cecil was doing his own thing as usual. He was flipping through his infinite page magic tome, reading up the knowledge he copied from the World Tree''s ancient library.


    "Hmmm...So if I add in this rune to my previous runic circuit, then..."


    Cecil was mumbling to himself and not paying any attention to the class. The instructor only let out a helpless sigh when he saw him. It wasn''t the instructor''s fault. Cecil was probably the only one in class who had knowledge way above his current grade.


    The current class was related to runes, a topic that Cecil was very much adept in. He no longer needed to learn about all the low grade and elementary runes that the instructor was currently explaining to the class.


    He had long since surpassed that stage. He had even upgraded those degraded elementary runes to a better form.


    The current rune being explained was the shock rune. A rune used to create electrical currents. There was a similar looking rune in the ancient library that had the same function, but the shape and form of the ancient rune was much more complex.


    The rune being shown by the instructor looked like a cheap knock-off compared to the one Cecil was currently looking at in his book. He''s been using this rune so much in his runic circuits that he could probably draw it in his sleep.


    Cecil was currently looking at the more advanced version of the shock rune, the electric wave rune. Right now, he was secretly developing a runic circuit that could fire out pulses of electricity and light.


    He was secretly trying to upgrade a magi-tech weapon''s runic circuit right now. The name of the weapon was the Storm Howler Mk.I. It was in the shape of a large stationary canon. The SH Mk.I was not the final version and it was in the process of being upgraded and perfected.


    It was a shame that whoever was trying to further develop the designs of this canon hadn''t been able to finish it. Cecil wanted to prepare for when the time came when the Fallen wanted to launch an attack on the world, IF they were real that is.


    During his time inside of the World Tree''s illusion, Cecil noticed that during the battle most of the magic spells and combat skills that the warriors in the sky were using to combat the Fallen were light, lightning, and fire based.


    There were little to no wind, water, or earth elemental magic being used, so Cecil figured that it was most likely one of the Fallen''s weak points.


    The designs of the canon were already fixed and no longer needed any improving, except that was only on the standards for the ancients. Cecil needed to find time to explore more places to search for and obtain substitute materials since most of the materials needed to craft the aforementioned canon were no longer present in the current era.


    While he had to worry about that for the future, the current problem he was facing was the runic circuit development for the Storm Howler Mk.II, the upgraded version of the Mk.I. He was still looking up and studying more about the ancient runes that were needed to complete the circuit.


    He had been learning and experimenting for the past 2 months while at the same time he was developing those modern conveniences from Earth for the Anglaria Kingdom.


    The best he could create was a runic circuit that performed 2 times stronger than the previous runic circuit, but the plans for the improved version of Mk.II boasted an upgrade of 7.5 times the strength of the Mk.I.


    Cecil couldn''t understand how the ancients went about planning for this! The plans only stated that the improved version would have a theoretical boost of 7.5 times, but from the experiments Cecil''s been conducting, he could only manage to improve it by 2 times. It was totally far off from the conclusion that the ancients had reached.


    He had been stuck on this for over two months, but it might be due to the fact that he still hasn''t gone through and learned the entirety of the knowledge he had copied down from the ancient library.


    "I should find more time to read those notes...2 times the strength of a quadruple Flash Canon is pretty good already...but 7.5 times would be much better..."


    Cecil continued to nonchalantly flip the pages of his tome after dropping those frightening words. Everyone around him was shocked and had immediately snapped their heads to look incredulously at the boy.


    Just what kind of technique was the overpowered monster trying to create next?!


    Even Lucia who was next to him had her mouth hung open at his words.


    "...I should probably experiment later..."


    "!"


    "!!!"


    Another bomb was dropped, everyone in the class paled and Lucia couldn''t help but yell at him.


    "OI! Idiot!!! Are you trying to blow up the school?!"


    "Hah?"


    Cecil only responded with a bewildered expression.


    "What''re you talking about? Blow up the school? Why would I blow up the school?"


    "Didn''t you just say something about a technique that was 7.5 times the strength of a QUADRUPLE Flash Canon?"


    "What technique?"


    "What?"


    "?"


    "Keheum, keheum!!"


    The instructor at the front was also a little pale. Being a rabbitkin with long ears, he had naturally overheard Cecil''s initial mumbling. He was also startled, but continued on with this lesson until the boy dropped his second bomb.


    Now that Lucia had finished berating him, the instructor settled the class down and told Cecil off about not doing anything too dangerous. Cecil of course was still confused at what he meant. Was he going to do something dangerous?


    "Alright, class is dismissed. Make sure to remember to turn in your assignment by the end of the week!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "And, uhm, Cecil?"


    "Huh? Yeah?"


    "Don''t go blowing anything up okay? Especially not the school," the instructor emphasized once again.


    "...Okay?"


    The instructor nodded in satisfaction and walked out of the class. The Little Kings naturally all gathered together around Cecil once the instructor made his exit.


    "Hey, brat! What''s this I hear about a quadruple Flash Canon?"


    "Yeah! 7.5 times stronger, what''re you trying to do this time?"


    Ainz and Fina asked in quick succession.


    "Woah, wait! What''re you guys talking about?"


    "Stop playing dumb! We all heard you mumbling earlier!"


    "Huh?"


    Cecil thought long and hard about what they said and finally a something snapped to place in his brain.


    "O~oh, that~! It''s not a technique! It''s just a runic circuit I''m trying to create!"


    "Eh? Runes again! Jeez, will you give it a rest already? You''ve been going on and on about that for 2 months already!" Ainz quipped.


    "Hahaha~"


    "But still...to have power 7.5 times that of a quadruple Flash Canon..." Eli said while staring at Cecil in amazement.


    "I''m not talking about destructive power, but energy or mana density."


    Cecil was lying through his teeth, but his serious expression didn''t let anyone pick up on his lie...except for a certain foxkin girl.


    She was giving the boy a clear look of disdain, Lucia clearly didn''t trust his words. That expression he was making explained it all to her. It was his look when he was spouting bullshit from his mouth and spinning his brain to create even more bullshit.


    Cecil began explaining about the runic circuit he was creating and its ''true'' purpose. He wanted to create a new type of magi-tech that''ll draw in the ambient mana of the world and store it inside the circuit.


    It could then be saved up and used for another time. Basically, it was a battery and Cecil wanted to create one that could store up and acc.u.mulate mana 7.5 times that of the mana used in a quadruple Flash Canon.


    This part was true. The true purpose of the runic circuit was to act as a battery, except it was a battery for an energy canon.


    Of course, if Cecil wanted to, he could create a normal battery using this runic circuit. Except, what would he use it for? The batteries in Alterna were essentially the monster cores and magic cores.


    If he created a battery now, it would totally disrupt the economic foundation of the Kingdom, no¡ªthe continent.


    Eli and Fina were the first to understand this.


    "C-Cecil! If you happened to create even this...then wouldn''t¡ª"


    "Oh, don''t worry about it. I plan on sealing this magi-tech since I know the implementations it''ll cause if I were to circulate such a thing..."


    "Manufactured energy sources...that could recharge itself with time...you''d make all the magic cores useless..."


    "Yeah...I would...but if I can find a runic combination that''s able to extract the mana inside a magic core and transfer it into the battery runic circuit, then those magic cores will be in more demand than before!"


    "Y-yeah! That could work...but¡ª"


    "BUT! I haven''t been able to make one yet...actually, I''m not sure if I even can! I''ve been going through all the notes and doc.u.ments I copied from the ancient library, but I can''t seem to find a plausible combination for a mana extraction runic circuit...it''s so frustrating that I might as well just give up and lock away this battery circuit!"


    This time, his words were 100 percent true. "Oh? A problem even you can''t solve, Cel?"


    "Y-yeah...my brain''s hurting just thinking about it, Lulu...I already asked mother, but she''s still studying the records and doc.u.ments I gave to her..."


    "Well, just shelve it for now. Come back to it later once you''ve gained the necessary know-how," She replied simply.


    "Yeah...so how about we go and grab something to eat...it''s already lunch time and we''ve spent almost half an hour wasting our time here!"


    Everyone agreed with Cecil''s words. They all prepared to go to the academy''s cafeteria, but then a fatty appeared at the classroom''s door.


    "Hey, Velicia, it''s your fianc¨¦!" Fina said while pointing at Lucius who was blocking the door with his body.


    "Ah! You were about to head out? Good thing I didn''t come late then!" Lucius said with a grin.


    "Are you coming to eat with us, Lucius?" Velicia asked.


    "Sure, why not. But first, Cecil, may I have a word, please?"


    "Sure."


    "...alone?"


    Cecil turned to look at his friends and shrugged, "Sure, why not. Wait a bit, okay guys?"


    "Sure, sure, go already, but make it quick brat!"


    "Hmhm..."


    "..."


    The talk seemed to be important, judging by the way Lucius wanted to speak to Cecil alone. They all thought it had something to do with his faction or something.


    Cecil and Lucius walked away from the classroom towards the small indoor garden just next to the class.


    "What''s up Lucius?"

 Chapter 211 - Bad News

    "It''s about your earlier offer for help..."


    "Oh! So do you need it?"


    "...As reluctant as I am about it, I would really appreciate it if you could help me with something..."


    "Hey, hey, no need to be like that! You''re a friend Lucius, so you can ask me for help anytime! I''ll gladly help you out as long as it''s within my ability to do so!"


    Lucius still seemed a little reluctant, he sighed powerlessly and continued, "Look, Cecil...what I''m about to tell you isn''t any good news, and not just for the Kingdom, but for you as well!"


    "Huh?"


    "Listen, during the past couple of months when I was absent, my family and I was combating some of the Empire''s spies and incited beastmen that were sent into our territories. Of course, this wasn''t something that happened only to my family''s territory, but throughout all of the territories bordering the Empire."


    "Okay...but since you''re back here, doesn''t that mean everything''s good now?"


    "No, it''s far from it."


    "Huh?"


    "I came back to ask some of my friends to help me concoct some medicinal pills and strengthening pills for the territory...we''re facing casualties now ever since the Empire and Kingdom agreed to open up their borders in order to start trade relations..."


    "Wait? Shouldn''t these trade relations bring about fewer problems for the Kingdom?"


    Lucius looked a little frustrated at his words. This happy-go-lucky fatty was displaying a look totally unbefitting of his usual behavior and character.


    "We let those Empire merchants come in to trade with us, but strictly only to the major cities at the borders...but lately, we''ve been finding some unsavory people mixed in with those merchants...spies, assassins, informants, you name it. They''re all crossing into the borders with these merchants in the name of ''trading''."


    "Assassins? Spies? What the hell?"


    "Yeah, what the hell...I''m not sure what the Empire is thinking. Don''t they know this might cause the trade agreements to fall apart?!"


    "..."


    "It''s gotten worse now...some of the spies and others are even resisting arrest and have started combating the guards or adventurers!"


    "...this is all bad news...but what''s it got to do with me?"


    "They''re all after your head..."


    "What?"


    "Or at least...what''s inside your head."


    "What do you mean?!"


    Cecil was puzzled at his words. Just what could those people from the Empire want from him? Was it the knowledge about the magi-tech? But the Kingdom has already agreed to begin trading those magi-techs with the Empire!


    The Empire should have many artificers, so once the magi-techs landed in their hands, they''d be able to reverse engineer the tool and start duplicating it for themselves!


    They''d be able to gleam all the information regarding their creation if they were able to do at least that much!


    ''No wait...could it be?''


    Cecil''s eyes darkened and he frowned. ''But how? I didn''t leak any of that out...I didn''t even tell foster mother or anyone about it...''


    Seeing Cecil''s darkened expression, Lucius naturally assumed that he was furious. No one wanted to be hunted.


    In a way, the Kingdom had failed Cecil. Since the Empire''s now after him, they had failed in keeping his contributions to the new magi-tech a secret, not like it could be helped.


    But Cecil didn''t care about any of that. Even with him contributing to the new magi-tech, all of those convenient magi-techs were easily replicable once studied.


    He could only think of one thing that would make the Empire desperate in trying to capture him, and that was the knowledge about the magi-tech weapons.


    ''Could the Empire already have known about its existence? Then that could be the reason why the Empire pressured and persuaded the various powers into opening the Urrugdrasil Trials much sooner than the previous times...''


    This was a problem for Cecil. He didn''t want to leak this knowledge out to anyone, whether it was the Anglaria Kingdom or the Orca Empire, or any super power for the matter.


    It''d be dangerous for him if people caught wind of his knowledge regarding ancient magi-tech weapons. Everyone would be desperate into trying to pull or kidnap him over to their side, and they''d also be desperate in extracting any and all of the relevant information inside his brain.


    "Tsk...I''ll wait and see...if those Empire bastards force me into a corner...I''ll just leave..." Cecil mumbled.


    His words weren''t heard by Lucius, but seeing his nasty expression, the fatty thought that he might have failed the Kingdom. If he kept this information to himself and let the Kingdom handle things, then maybe things will work out.


    But as Cecil''s friend and the friend of his beloved fianc¨¦, he didn''t want to leave Cecil in the dark. If worst comes to worst and things got out of hand, Cecil not having any info about all of this might be disadvantageous for him. He might actually be kidnapped by the Empire.


    By letting Cecil know, Lucius at least gave him the time and mindset to stay ever vigilant against any of the Empire''s schemes.


    "S-sorry, Cecil."


    "What? No, I have to thank you Lucius...if you didn''t tell me this...I would still be in the dark. I did receive some warnings from my foster parents and my fellow artificers from the workshop, but I didn''t think it''d be this serious...once again, I thank you, Lucius."


    Cecil smiled back at this fat friend of his. Despite being separated for so long, this senior brother had the camaraderie to come back to the academy to inform him of such horrid news.


    "Let''s go back now, I bet everyone''s getting pretty impatient by now~"


    "Eh? O-okay..."


    "Oh, yeah...I almost forgot. What about the help you needed from me?"


    "Hm? Oh, I almost forgot about that!"


    Lucius had almost forgotten about the request he wanted from Cecil. The bad news he delivered diverted much of his attention from the main reason why he had called the boy out.


    "Well...here''s where the problem starts...I just told you about that bad news...I know this might come off as shameless, but...I need your help in combating those... unsavory people..."


    "...What?"


    "S-sorry...you can decline if you want! I mean...you''d be putting yourself in danger..."


    "...ugh...Well, I did say I''d help if I was able to...even if there''s danger I''m still capable of helping out..."


    "Y-you don''t have to force yourself!"


    "...Nah...It''s alright, I''ll come and help. I''m suspecting that you want everyone else''s help as well, right?"


    "Y-yeah...but it''s okay if the Princess, Fina, and Veli don''t come..."


    "Hey, hey...I get the thing about Fina and Eli, since they''re important figures and all, but aren''t you being a little too protective of your fianc¨¦?"


    "Of course I am! As a man, I''d never want my beloved to jump into danger!"


    "Huh? But don''t you think this is a good time for her to train herself?"


    "What?"


    "I mean, come on! We''ll be fighting against bad guys! This is the perfect chance for her to pile up live-combat experience!"


    Lucius couldn''t understand the familiar, yet incomprehensible words coming out of Cecil''s mouth. Experience? Perfect chance? What the hell is this guy trying to put his fianc¨¦ through exactly?!


    It was then Velicia''s words rang inside his head.


    "Sh-she was right! You are a training freak¡ªNo, a training demon!"


    "Hey~ don''t you think that''s a little uncalled for?"


    "Wait...Don''t tell me that you order Lucia to jump into battle as well when something like this pops up?!"


    "Well...why not? It''s the perfect chance to get some training in~"


    "C-Cecil! This isn''t training! This is LIVE COMBAT! They might fall into a precarious situation and DIE! Are you even thinking straight?!" Lucius had already grabbed onto Cecil''s shoulders and began shaking him back and forth, hoping to stir up the boy''s common sense.


    Cecil naturally knew about this, but during these kinds of mortal combat situations would be when a fighter''s hidden potential can be stimulated and they''d make quicker breakthroughs. There was no way he''d miss out on the chance to further strengthen his friends, as well as himself.


    "Ahh, come on~ the worst won''t come to pass. I''ll be there to keep an eye on them! And do remember that everyone from Little Kings is powerful in their own right! They won''t fall to some scrubs."


    "Oh goodness..."


    Cecil sympathized a little with Lucius. If he had the choice, he wouldn''t want to send his friends into an obviously dangerous situation.


    "No worries, Lucius...we''ve all experienced so much life and death during the trials...this won''t make us flinch or cower one bit..."


    "Y-yeah...I guess you have a point...I heard the casualties were pretty steep this time...even Prince Lance fell in the trials..."


    "Yeah...Veli''s brother did as well..."


    "...Big bro Leon..."


    "Right now, everyone that came back from the trial has been feeling restless and detached from the academy life..."


    "...considering what you all went through...it''s a given, I guess..."


    "Mhm. This is especially so for the Little Kings...although not all of us, but plenty of us had lost precious people during the trials...right now, they''d all jump at the chance to improve their strength...and to let off some steam."


    "Let off some steam...huh...Ahahaha...I guess this is the perfect chance...right?"


    "Yup...that''s why we should go...it''s not about moving on or anything, but it''s about venting and moving forward to ensure no one else from our group experiences something like what we all went through in the trials..."


    "..."


    "I''m sure this isn''t the last of any tragic events that our group will experience...but they all want to do all they can to try and prevent any such events from happening again...this includes me as well."


    Lucius released a helpless sigh.


    "I''ll go and tell them later then."


    "Sure! Now...let''s go grab the guys and hurry on to the cafeteria!"


    Seeing Cecil return to his usual self once again, Lucius shook his head and followed after him.


    "Oh, don''t tell my bad news to the guys later, alright? It''s better if we kept that information strictly between us two~"


    "Alright," Lucius affirmed with a nod.


    The two walked back to the classroom and quickly fetched the rest of the Little Kings. There was only an hour left from their break before the next class started, so the group quickly hurried over to the academy''s cafeteria.

 Chapter 212 - Patrol Quest

    A week had passed since then and the academy''s adventurer guild had issued out a border patrol quest to the students.


    It was a 5 star gold ranked quest, so not many in the academy could take it. Apparently, Lucius and a few other students had lobbied with Headmaster Elufied and were successful in putting up the quest.


    Despite it being a border patrol quest, the true purpose behind the quest was for Lucius and the few students who had their territories situated on the borders to have a legitimate reason to request back up from the academy students.


    They couldn''t just go and request for help. The students needed to have a legit reason to take leave from classes. First years didn''t have this option and only 2nd years and above could take time off lessons for practical experience on the field via taking adventurer quests.


    Cecil and his friends would graduate from being 1st years in two months, then their vacation would start and this would last another month or so before the next school year begins. However, despite being 1st years, the Little Kings Adventurer Party was currently out on a mission even though they had classes.


    Of course, they had received permission from the Headmaster and the Academy. It was also because they were Academy Kings that they were given the option not to attend classes.


    ******


    On a highway heading towards the Darkfang territory, a unique carriage being pulled by a large white wolf was speeding down the large and congested road. Many carriages were moving along this highway, but this particularly unique carriage was speedily passing by every carriage like a gust of wind.


    "Hmhm~ the wind feels good~"


    "The breeze is great, but..."


    "BLEUUARRGGHH"


    The carriage was the unique transportation vehicle of the Little Kings. Everyone was having a great time feeling the wind blowing on their faces, but only one person, a fatty, was having a hard time.


    "H-hey...Lucius, you okay?" Velicia asked while patting her fianc¨¦''s back.


    "I-I''m fine Veli...I''m just not used¡ªblarrghhh"


    More rainbows flowed out of Lucius'' mouth. He was currently slumping down by the window of the carriage, freely showering the other carriages that the group was passing by with colorful rainbows.


    "Haha~ I''m sorry about this Lucius! You did say we should make for the Darkfang territory post-haste!"


    "Y-yeah..."


    "Should I ask Silv to slow down?"


    "N-no! The faster we make it there...the quicker we''ll be able to complete the quest!"


    Cecil nodded. He then had Silver pick up his speed. Silver activated his wind magic to manipulate the air resistance that affected his body and the carriage then he shot forward at an even faster speed!


    If Yuna or Lucia had been to the Darkfang territory before, they could have easily reached the place using the Misty Gate, but it was too bad that neither of the two had ever been there.


    "WOOOOAAAHHHH¡ªBLEEERRGGHH"


    "Uhh...Eli, you recently learned levitation magic right? Could you place one on Lucius? At least this way he won''t feel the carriage rocking too much..."


    "It''s rocking?" Eli replied in question.


    The upgrades that Cecil put on the carriage had literally stopped all forms of shaking and instability that a normal carriage would have to go through when traveling at the party''s ridiculous speeds.


    Theoretically, no one should have even felt any form of ''motion sickness'' while on the carriage, but for some reason Lucius was an exception.


    "D-don''t mind me! I''m alright¡ªughh..."


    "I say...you''re far from it," Ainz snickered.


    "Shut it, Ainz!!" Velicia returned his snickering with a yell.


    "Heh!"


    Lucia was sitting next to Cecil who was holding on to Silver''s reins. She turned towards the boy and whispered.


    "Hey...are you sure about this?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "You know full well what I mean..."


    The day when Lucius became the bearer of bad news, Lucia had interrogated Cecil when the two got home.


    Reluctant as he was, Cecil was still forced to explain to her about the news he received and also about his intentions on going out to the border in order to help Lucius out.


    Lucia was against the notion of course, but she was conflicted about not wanting him to go there or not. Lucius was a friend and Velicia''s fianc¨¦, turning him down now when he had gone all this way to request for help would no doubt leave a bad taste in their mouths.


    She could only reluctantly agree to help out, but with the condition that Cecil doesn''t do things on his own. No matter how strong he was, it''d still leave him in a bad position if he fell into a trap and his abilities were rendered useless.


    For instance if he fell into an illusion, or he was forced to fight until his mana fell into critical levels, Cecil wouldn''t be able to punch his way out of that.


    They''ve been going about their adventures safely for a long time now, but who knows what kind of tricks the Empire would pull once they found out that Cecil was at the border.


    For now only Lucia knew about his predicament. The boy still hadn''t informed his other friends about any of it just yet and Lucius had also kept his mouth sealed.


    For all they knew, the party was only going out to help Lucius with the conflicts in his family''s territory.


    It took the group another 5 days before they reached the border territories, even when they were traveling at high speeds. Lucius had gotten used to the high speed movement after only a day, so in the end, he was still able to enjoy the carriage ride to some degree.


    Along the way, they stopped by some places to look for alchemy ingredients. This didn''t take too much of their time, but even then it still took them 5 days just to get to the border territories.


    Then, it took them another 3 days to arrive at the main city of the Darkfang territory. This was because they had to stop by a couple of towns and villages to pick up packages of alchemy ingredients and foodstuffs being contributed to the territory.


    The people were pretty united in combating the foreign threat. It didn''t seem like any one of the villages or towns were being forced to hand over a share of their monthly yields.


    "The beastkin are a really close-knit bunch of people~" Cecil said while observing Lucius'' past interactions with all the village chiefs and town mayors. They were all friendly to the young master of the territory and Lucius was also very amiable to them as well. He didn''t act like an arrogant young master, but more like a humble envoy that was requesting help from the people.


    Currently, the Little Kings were now inside of the Darkfang Family''s Estate within Darkfang City and Lucius'' elders were currently speaking with Eli who was the Princess of the Kingdom.


    Before coming here, Eli had visited the castle and came back with a royal decree. It should''ve been a great help for Lucius'' parents to request additional supplies from their territory citizens, but it seemed it was all unneeded. The people of Darkfang Territory didn''t need to be pressured by a royal decree to help out the administrators of their homelands; they had all contributed in some way on their own accords.


    While Eli and the elders were talking, Cecil pulled Lucius over to the side and asked him about the quest''s completion criteria.


    It was a bit vague on the quest board so he needed to know the specifics.


    "So, how are we going about this ''patrol'' quest? What''s the criterion for us to successfully complete our mission? Remember that the academy gave us a 1 month time limit, this excludes the time needed for us to get here."


    "Yes, this is the limit the headmaster and our group had previously agreed upon...as for the completion criteria, we want you guys to just patrol the borders and keep an eye out on any suspicious groups or individuals."


    "Alright."


    "With the royal decree backing us up, we can freely detain anyone we deem suspicious. For the ones that try to resist arrest...you can use force to detain them...and if it gets too out of hand...kill them if you need to." Lucius declared coldly.


    "What? But wouldn''t this antagonize the Empire if we simply began killing their citizens, just because they looked or felt suspicious?"


    Ainz asked in shock.


    "It doesn''t matter...the Empire was the one who made the first move...do they really think us beastkin aren''t easily provoked? If they think that blatantly sending these shady characters into our territory is something we''ll easily overlook, then they''re sorely mistaken."


    "..."


    "Like I said, with the royal decree, we''ll have the authority and power to detain anyone we deem suspicious. As for the killing, keep it to a minimum and ONLY do it if their resistance might threaten your lives!"


    Cecil and the rest only responded with a nod.


    "So, we''ll only be doing this for a whole month then?"


    "Yeah, basically...even then, this will be a big help. We''re currently still in the process of completing a network that''ll monitor and keep any future individuals from the Empire from doing anything."


    ''Oh? Like a police network huh?'' Cecil thought, but couldn''t they just use the guards?


    "Why not just use the guards?"


    "The guards won''t cut it...they do their jobs properly of course, but we need people in the dark to handle...the dirty jobs..."


    ''Oh, so maybe not the police, but like a personal assassin unit.''


    Handle the criminals with¡ªwell, maybe not criminals, but people who won''t mind getting their hands dirty.


    "Well, that''s good and all, but are you sure you can set this all up within a month?" Lucia asked.


    "We''ve been prepping all this since the Empire began pressuring us. The Kingdom was the one that decreed it, so all the funds are being supplied by the royal family. All we had to do was recruitment and training."


    "...so the King wasn''t as tolerant as he seemed then."


    ******


    With the arrangements settled, Cecil and his party members were escorted to their living quarters within the Darkfang Estate.


    They were staying in the west wing of the estate, close to the core family members of the Darkfang Clan.


    When Velicia showed her face to them, they all greeted her happily. This young girl was going to be the next mistress of the Clan, so they treated her with respect.


    Although it wasn''t set in stone just yet, since many things could change before the young master and the young mistress do get married, but with the way those two interacted, it seemed things were progressing smoothly already.


    "Let''s get some rest. We''ll be starting our rounds at dawn," Cecil said to his teammates.


    Ainz, Eli, Yuna, and Fina quickly went to their rooms. Only Velicia had a different room. She frequented this place when she was young so she already had her own private room in the estate.


    Cecil entered his room to hit the hay. He also bade Lucia good night before going to sleep.


    "Good night..."


    "Mhm. Good night..."


    "Say..."


    "Hm?"


    "...are we really going to do this again?"


    "...?"


    "Don''t act stupid! Why are you even in here?!"


    "Because...I should be?"


    "..."

 Chapter 213 - Suspicions

    The next day, the Little Kings split into two parties. Cecil, Yuna, Veli, and Lucius were in one party, while Ainz, Eli, Lucia, and Fina were in the other.


    The party was split this way so that each team had 1 individual that could use both Blink and Misty Gate to quickly back up each other in case one of the parties encountered a situation they couldn''t cope with.


    Because of the pact that they had formed, Lucia and Yuna could share each other''s vision. This was a unique perk that Yuna had recently told her about. The benefits of the pact were that Yuna''s being was directly connected to Lucia''s. So sharing vision, mana, and magic spells were also part of the benefits.


    There were still many other perks to the pact, but even Yuna and Lucia still didn''t know most about it. The knowledge regarding pacts that came from Yuna''s unique dragon knowledge was limited to only what was known in the current era.


    There were far more benefits to a pact than what was known by present day people. It''s just that the not many people still had knowledge regarding pacts. The best people would do was create bonds and turn monsters into their battle pets.


    Pacts were a long lost ancient art of beast taming that was now only known to the long lived races. And by long lived, this meant the several millennia long lived. Only the dragons and guardian deities were known to live that long.


    Even elves and other similarly long lived species only lived up to 500-800 years. Just take Yuna for an example. She''s 170+ years of age, but even then by the normal species standard, she was only in her late teens. She was still a long way from young a.d.u.l.thood.


    The party separated and began patrolling their assigned areas. During the first few days, all they caught were smugglers, thieves, and bandits, none of the dubious individuals described by the Darkfang family.


    It was a little boring since the people that were caught were just your petty, everyday criminals. It was a little discomforting that it wasn''t only beastmen perpetrators that were caught, but even some beastkin were also part of the list of criminals.


    "Looks like not all the beastkin are united...just like in every society, there''s the good and the bad..." Cecil said as their team caught yet another few bandits who were just caught raiding one of the Empire''s caravans.


    The group of bandits Cecil caught this time were a mix of beastkin and beastmen. It''s like these people wanted to disrupt the delicate peace that was earned by the two powers on purpose.


    "Hey, Cecil...just look at them..." Lucius said while nodding his head over to the captured criminals.


    "..."


    "Not a single one looks remorseful or even begging for forgiveness. They''re even smirking like they''ve accomplished something."


    "...is there some kind of internal problem happening in the Kingdom?"


    Lucius pondered for a moment, but nothing seemed to come to mind. There was one thing he was unsure about however.


    "I''m not really sure...but there have been rumors about how the Empire will launch an invasion on us once they''ve cleared out the humans, right? With how the King is being a little passive on the surface, the citizens didn''t take it too well..."


    "Hm? Well, this is only conjecture, right? I mean the King already had a proper response and you guys are currently carrying it out."


    "Yeah, but the people don''t know this. The King doesn''t want to openly antagonize the Empire, so we''re doing things in the dark. On the surface, the King is only playing a passive stance and my guess is that some of the populace didn''t take it too well."


    "...then what about those beastmen mixed up with them?"


    "They''re probably also there to lend a helping hand with the chaos...who knows, maybe the Empire were the ones that even bribed them to cause problems at the border. See how most of the caravans being attacked are from the Empire and not the Kingdom?"


    "...yeah."


    "Well, what could they possibly be carrying that''ll warrant the bandits to attack them when they''re coming in? Most of the magi-techs being exported are in the caravans of the Kingdom, so shouldn''t our people be the ones being attacked the most and not them?"


    "...they really do resort to anything, huh?"


    "Yeah...it must be pretty tiring for you since you''re also one of their targets..."


    "Yeah...but I''ll put my trust in the kingdom''s royal family, Eli''s family..."


    Yuna walked over to them and interrupted their conversation.


    "Cecil, Lucia and the others...they met with some resistance and were forced to kill. They''re requesting for help with the cleanup."


    "Tsk...Maybe I should just start killing all these bastards without asking questions...maybe this''ll deter them from doing anything stupid!" Cecil spat angrily.


    "Eh?"


    "Forcing Lulu to dirty her hands like this..."


    Hearing his dangerous words, everyone now understood why he was royally pissed off. His girlfriend had her hands dirtied because of those fools and he didn''t like it. Everyone thought it was amusing because he was normally running away from Lucia and Serilla whenever they got too close. Not to mention he was previously clueless so it was kinda frustrating to watch, but now...


    "Take us to them, Yuna."


    "...alright."


    Yuna waved her hand and conjured a Misty Gate in front of the party. Cecil was the first to walk through, followed by Velicia, Lucius, and lastly, Yuna herself. The guards at the station where Cecil had turned in the criminals were surprised to see the spell. The Misty Gate soon closed after Yuna walked through.


    *****


    When the team walked out of the gate, the smell of blood wafted into their noses. Cecil frowned and looked at the battlefield. Lucia and the others were currently busy piling up the corpses of beastmen onto one side while Ainz was busy repairing the damaged land with magic spells.


    "Yo brats, you''re finally here. Come help me with this, Lucius, the rest of you should go help the others out." Ainz said as he filled a large crater with dirt and soil.


    "...I''ll go help, I''m the only one here that uses Earth magic after all...and Veli, you don''t have to touch the corpses if you don''t want too."


    "Please, I can take care of myself just fine! Go ahead and help Ainz, we''ll take care of ''that'' cleanup." Veli responded with a dismissing wave. It wasn''t her first time facing death and corpses. Her fianc¨¦ should lighten up a little.


    "...alright."


    Lucius went over to help Ainz and the rest quickly made their way to Lucia and the others.


    "Any of you guys injured?" Those were the first words Cecil asked. There weren''t any bloodstains or visible injuries, but who knows.


    "No, they were pretty weak, we didn''t even break a sweat," Eli said while she used wind magic to raise a corpse into the air before flinging it onto the somewhat large pile of corpses not far from them.


    "...how come there are a lot?" Veli asked.


    The amount of corpses in the pile was indeed questionable. The ones that they caught previously were only in small group of 10-15 people, but this group that Lucia annihilated was more like a company of soldiers. There were at least 50 people in that heap and most of them were wearing some pretty decent armor.


    "...all of them are beastmen too..."


    "Uhuh...and they were pretty well coordinated as well, but they were still pretty weak." Eli answered. Fina also added, "They couldn''t even stand upright when Eli unleashed her Intent."


    Lucia and the rest finished up the last of the cleanup. Now all they had to do was wait for the territory''s guards to come over and finish it.


    Cecil once more looked around the area. He spread his mana sense and didn''t pick up anyone on his radar, but it seemed that what Lucius said was right.


    "Looks like he''s right..."


    "Who?" Lucia had already arrived next to Cecil when the boy started mumbling.


    "Lucius...he said that the criminals here are only harassing the merchants, mostly the Empire''s, because they want to spark conflict between the Kingdom and Empire."


    "Hm?"


    Cecil turned his attention back onto the heap of corpses and pointed,


    "Look, those guys you just killed earlier, they''re wearing pretty decent equipment...bandits and thieves won''t have the funds to equip a whole team of 50 plus people with those. Not to mention you guys said that earlier they coordinated pretty well with each other."


    "...mhm."


    "They''re obviously not soldiers, but they''ve also received some form of training...its painfully obvious who''s behind this..."


    "The Empire..."


    "...maybe we really should just start killing all these nuisances. This way we''ll at least be able to scare off any potential criminals from acting up here."


    Hearing his words, everyone was shocked.


    "!"


    "H-hey, Cecil! Isn''t that a little extreme?!"


    "Y-yeah!"


    "And if we were to do that, then wouldn''t they just run off to another territory and¡ªhey! You can''t possibly mean¡ª"


    "Yup...we run across the entire border killing off every one of those groups or individuals. We''ve got the means to transport ourselves quickly across the area...so why not?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear Cecil''s radical suggestion. Surely, there wasn''t the need to do that, right?


    "...is it because of that?" Lucia asked.


    "..."


    During the previous days, Cecil had been feeling that there were multiple pairs of eyes constantly monitoring him. Whenever he tried to search around, they would all quickly vanish without a trace in the next instant.


    It caused him to feel uneasy, but then again it could just be his imagination. However, his instincts and senses have never failed him before, so they weren''t obviously going to fail him now.


    If he were to take drastic measures from an early point, then maybe it''ll scare off any potential kidnappers from making a move on him.


    Suspicious? Then kill without question. If he took this kind of approach and blatantly showed his actions to the ones observing him, then they wouldn''t be able to take the subtle approach.


    Their only way was to go at him from head on, and for Cecil, fighting a visible enemy was much easier than fighting against an invisible one.


    "Haah...We''ll only take those kinds of actions if even a SINGLE ONE of us is endangered during our time here...I will not be lenient towards my enemies if they mean to endanger any of our lives..."


    "..."


    "..."


    His cold declaration was only met with silence. However, his friends could finally see that something was indeed bothering the boy. They turned towards Lucia, but even she only shook her head at their silent inquiry.

 Chapter 214 - Night Attack

    It was currently midnight and Cecil was not in his room sleeping. He figured that Lucia was purposefully staying with him to keep tabs on him, but today''s activities had thoroughly exhausted her and she was currently in a deep sleep.


    Cecil had switched into a darker garment. He was currently jumping from rooftop to rooftop, making a beeline towards the forest areas that served as the Orca-Anglarian border.


    When he got past the city''s walls, Silver, who was perching on top of his head quickly jumped forward and transformed in mid-air. Cecil flipped on top of him and the two flickered into the distance.


    "Let''s make this quick Silv...we''ll crush those bastards and give those fools targeting us a warning. Good thing I''ve got Nature''s Shift."


    Cecil inwardly thanked the World Tree for giving him such a convenient ability. The technique allowed him to move around without leaving behind any trace of his mana. This way he was able to shake off the eyes that were observing him for the past couple of days.


    It was unsettling at how covert those people were. Even when he spread his senses out, they were able to detect him doing so and quickly disappear from his radar.


    Whatever technique or tool they were using for counter-reconnaissance, it was without a doubt effective against Cecil''s Mana Sense.


    He couldn''t even move freely during the past few days since he arrived at the city. His enemies were playing around in the dark while he was in the open. Cecil took the safe approach and heeded Lucius and Lucia''s advice, taking precaution in whatever he was doing.


    He never strayed too far from his friends, but now he had grown tired of it. This was because of the previous event where Lucia and the rest had to dirty their hands because of a couple of fools who didn''t care for their lives and only wanted to sow discord between the Empire and Kingdom.


    In Cecil''s opinion and personal deduction, the Empire had played a hand in the current ruckus being caused at the borders.


    Since they wanted to sow discord, Cecil thought that he might as well just wipe out the mediums causing the discord.


    Cecil and Silver quickly arrived at the border areas and the two dived straight into the forests. The boy quickly dispersed his senses into the surroundings and picked up on a band of people.


    Judging from their gear, numbers, and the fact that they were all beastmen with no visible cargo or trade goods, they were the enemy.


    "Let''s clean them up..."


    Silver howled and rushed straight towards the direction Cecil was telling him to go to. What the boy was doing right now was without a doubt radical and extreme since he was going to go hunt for the lives of people who may or may not be innocent. People who may or may not yet have committed any infractions towards the kingdom.


    It wasn''t like he felt any sort of radical patriotism for the Anglaria Kingdom, but it was some kind of inexplicable gut feeling, like this was the best and only course of action for him to ensure his safety.


    He wasn''t only doing this because of some shallow reason like Lucia and his friends tainting their hands with the blood of others. That''d be too narrow-minded of him. No matter what, in this world where power reigned and the person with the largest fist had the largest say, Cecil and his friends will one day with no shred of doubt, have to dirty their hands...


    The real reason he was doing this was because ever since he''s left the trial, there was a constant nagging feeling in the back of his head. Like an itch he couldn''t scratch.


    At first Cecil couldn''t figure out what caused this, but whenever he trained and was practicing using the World Tree''s Thorns, the nagging feeling would suddenly grow exponentially stronger whenever he held onto Providence.


    Then there was that one time during training while he was using Providence and he had suddenly blacked out during the middle of it. Cecil then had a clear dream of something...bad happening to him a week later.


    To others, they wouldn''t actually call this a bad thing, but in the dream, Lucia and Serilla were going to slip into the bathroom while he was bathing and do something weird to him. At first, Cecil thought that it was only a dirty dream. After all, he was already at that age where a boy''s imagination would run wild because of hormones. However a week later, his dream, or nightmare, had actually come true!


    It was a good thing that he had quickly escaped using Nature''s Shift just before the two girls could latch onto him.


    Cecil experienced a couple more dreams like this. Of course, it wasn''t only bad or lewd things that he dreamt of, but some good things like that one time when he dreamt of picking up someone''s lost MID. The MID turned out to be Fina''s and she had accidentally dropped it while walking in the blazing heat of summer.


    Or the dream where he was sparring with Ainz and he was suddenly caught off guard by a new technique that Ainz had secretly developed in order to surprise him. When the actual event happened the next day, Cecil was able to successfully counterattack the new skill.


    This caused Ainz to be thoroughly dejected. Even with a new secret technique he still couldn''t even lay a finger on his friend. Cecil apologized secretly because Ainz''s secret wasn''t much of a secret since he had dreamt of it already.


    It was then that Cecil had found out that the dreams were like visions of future events that would most likely happen. The dreams weren''t all accurate though! There were some events that didn''t enact precisely like it did inside his dreams, but this was only about 10 percent of the time. The other 90 percent would most likely happen and Cecil had begun taking those clear, lucid dreams seriously ever since.


    It was most likely one of the abilities he gained from the World Tree''s blessing that came from the Providence.


    This time, while in the Darkfang Estate, Cecil had a dream of him being tied onto a chair inside of a dark room and he was currently being tortured by someone. He couldn''t see who it was, but he definitely knew that the person who was on the chair all tied up was him without a doubt.


    Ever since then, the nagging feeling grew stronger and stronger as the days passed. It grew particularly strong and alarming just today, while the party was out patrolling the borders.


    It soon died down when Cecil regrouped with his friends to help with the cleanup. It grew strong again during the evening, especially during the time when he was about go to sleep in his room with Lucia.


    He was able to persuade the girl to go sleep in her assigned room instead of his. Naturally, Lucia pulled him along because she didn''t want to leave him alone. This time, Cecil didn''t even complain and just followed along.


    When Cecil spread his sense into the room, he couldn''t find anyone inside, but he felt that if he entered the place, something bad was seriously going to happen to him.


    The feeling disappeared when he entered Lucia''s room, but even then he couldn''t fall asleep and had kept his Mana Sense activated. Lucia had hugged him to sleep, but Cecil didn''t mind this. He instead hugged her back strongly before disappearing with Nature''s Shift.


    His Nature''s Shift had grown much more powerful as he kept training with it using both his Mana and Ki. When he activated it, Cecil now had the ability to leave behind a trace of his Ki inside the clone that he left behind after using the skill. The left behind Ki was able to sustain his clone for a long while before it would then crumble into a heap of dried wood.


    With this, he was able to sneak out of the Darkfang Estate and quickly spread out his Mana Sense into the surroundings. Luckily for him, this time he was able to catch a glimpse of the people observing him.


    They appeared to be beastmen wearing dark colored gear. He also noticed that there was some sort of insignia imprinted on the left shoulder that had a mark of a grey colored fang. Cecil didn''t know what this meant, but he knew, that these beastmen meant trouble.


    After he had activated his Mana Sense, it was like these people had picked up on it and they quickly disappeared. Cecil naturally chased after them, but they had disappeared suddenly.


    The last known direction he sensed them going to was the border forests. He returned to Lucia''s room and ensured that the girl was sound asleep before heading back out with Silver.


    ******


    Cries of fear and screams of pain rang throughout the border forests. Tonight was bound to be the bloodiest night in all Anglaria and Orca history. A massacre was currently being conducted inside the border forests.


    This wasn''t only the border forest near the Darkfang Territory, but throughout all the border forests. Cecil and Silver were indiscriminately killing every beastman or beastkin group that he deemed were suspicious.


    Anyone that didn''t have an adventurer''s or mercenary''s badge on them was killed and traveling beastmen that didn''t own a space ring or weren''t escorting any cargo was also killed.


    The grim reaper was roaming the night and he was currently out for blood. Cecil didn''t understand how, but for some reason, he felt no remorse for killing all those people. Some of them might have been innocent and some might not have been, but regardless, Cecil didn''t feel any tinge of repentance or regret from doing so.


    Just remembering the dream where he was being tortured fueled his irrational desire to kill those people that might play a part in him being captured.


    "...I won''t let that happen to me...I''ll kill them before they get to me..."


    Cecil strongly gripped onto Corruption and continued roaming around the border forests while using Nature''s Shift. All the bodies of the people he had killed in the forest were dragged into the ground by roots and vines with the help of his plant manipulation.


    He made sure to not leave a trace of the bodies behind, but he left all the signs of struggle and blood alone. The bodies were gone, but the battlefield was still full of evidence. Since Cecil had Silver help out with the massacre, the people who would eventually come across the scenes of carnage would most likely attribute it all to monster attacks.


    After cleaning up another battlefield, Cecil moved on. He spread his Mana Sense as far as he could, and when a group came into his radar, he''d teleport over to observe them first before taking any action.


    Silver followed after his master, but his eyes were filled with worry. Why was his master acting so irrational? Silver couldn''t help, but grow wary whenever he stared at the wooden sword in his master''s hands.

 Chapter 215 - Regret, Decisions, and Complications

    Cecil made his way back to the Darkfang Estate only when he felt the insatiable bloodl.u.s.t disappear and his rational mind finally returned to him.


    When he remembered what he just did last night, it caused him to pale greatly.


    "W-what did I do?"


    "...wafu..."


    Cecil turned towards his partner and he couldn''t help but notice his bloodstained fur and claws. Silver''s mouth and fangs were also tainted with a crimson color red that reeked of blood.


    The scent of blood didn''t only come from Silver, but also from him. In fact, it was even stronger on himself than his partner.


    Cecil quickly spread his sense and tried to find a river or some water source in his surroundings. He found a small pond that was nearby and quickly rushed over.


    When he arrived at the pond, Cecil jumped right in and began splashing the water onto his body. He scrubbed his arms and hands as hard as he could, but he couldn''t wash away the reeking stench of blood from his body.


    "Silv! You come over as well! Clean yourself up!"


    Silver responded with a low growl and entered into the pond as well. The pond wasn''t that big so he had to transform into his pet form. Cecil picked Silver up and began washing the blood off of his body.


    He made sure the bloody smell was thoroughly washed off before he continued trying to do the same for himself, but no matter what he did...he couldn''t completely clear away the stench.


    "S-shit...shit...shit..."


    "Wafu!"


    "Huh?"


    At Silver''s bark, Cecil snapped out of his delirium.


    "Raah!! Rah, rah!!''


    "..."


    Cecil walked out of the pond and went towards the one thing near the pond that strongly reeked of blood.


    The dark colored blade of the World Tree''s Thorn, Corruption, had a slight change on it. The once golden colored runes had turned into a crimson red and Cecil felt like it was pulsing as if they were blood vessels.


    "...The Corruption...I guess its name was that for a reason..."


    Cecil didn''t know what came over him last night. Even if he did have a vision of a detrimental event that could maybe happen to him in the future...there was surely no need for him to have taken out his frustration on the people he had killed.


    He didn''t know why he couldn''t stop himself. That nagging feeling coupled with the inexplicable desire to vent pushed him over the edge and made him do something irrational.


    "...I''m beginning to think that the World Tree''s ''Thorns'' have another meaning behind its name..."


    Thorns, a particular part of some plants that would cause harm to a person if they were to touch it. There were many beautiful flowers that would have thorns on their stems and if someone were to carelessly hold it, they''d likely injure themselves.


    The World Tree''s Thorns might also have some sort of consequence for their usage. Ever since he began training with Providence, he''s been having those weird future visions. He also started growing restless and battle hungry ever since he began using Corruption more and more as well.


    Then there was the Perseverance. Cecil wasn''t sure if it was bad or not, but whenever he started having problems in his rune and magi-tech research, he would sometimes just stubbornly trudge forward knowing that maybe taking a break was the better idea.


    Of course, there were times that this stubbornness of his would bear fruit and he''d make a breakthrough in his research, but most of the time he''d just exhaust himself and would be given an earful from Serilla and Lucia, who would find him collapsed in the study because he had gone days without any rest...or food.


    Slowly, his personality was being influenced by the new weapons he had acquired without him being aware of it at all. The only safe weapon was probably the Serenity. Whenever he practiced with it, he''d always feel calm and at ease.


    Whenever he finished practicing with the Serenity, he''d be able to clear up his mind and feel at peace. After that, whenever he continued with his research, he''d always suddenly understand a part of the problem that he previously didn''t understand. Because of this, the sword he had frequently used was Serenity.


    Lately, he had rarely been using Serenity so maybe that was why his mind was so easily affected.


    "This has to be the case...if not, I wouldn''t have felt so ill-at-ease these couple of days...I should have calmed my mind down with the Serenity...instead I went around patrolling the area with Corruption and practiced with the Providence whenever we got back..."


    It was probably due to force of habit, but he would always train using the Providence first before using any of the other Thorns. As for why he used Providence first, it was mostly because that particular Thorn was his favorite.


    "Haaahh...I should have known things wouldn''t have been that easy...I earned so many rewards from the World Tree''s Trial, but they all came at a price..."


    His Thorns other than Serenity had problematic side-effects if he continuously used them. His magi-tech knowledge was being sought after by the Empire and now, he couldn''t even catch a break with people aiming for his life.


    Cecil had grown much too complacent after exiting the trials. He had immersed himself in his research and magi-tech creation that he had neglected to properly investigate his rewards from the trials.


    All these weapons, blessings, and power were all external factors until he could properly utilize them. He had just committed a serious crime that totally went against all of his morals and bottom lines.


    "When we get back...I should put a halt to all the research and properly make this all my power...I don''t want something stupid like this to happen again...being controlled by my own weapons...pathetic..." Cecil berated himself.


    He smiled depreciatingly and vowed never to let this happen again. Even if he was preoccupied with all the research and magi-tech crafting, he should have first properly examined all his earnings before doing anything else.


    Could the magi-tech boost his power? Could it save him from his current predicament? No! Of course not! Instead, it was the source of all his current problems.


    "I don''t care what the Kingdom thinks of me later...my own power should come first before their interests. If they think otherwise...I''ll just walk away. It''s not like my life is tied to the Kingdom." Cecil mumbled. He then stored the Corruption and decided to seal all his World Tree weapons except for the Serenity until after he gets back to the capital.


    "Besides, I''ve contributed plenty enough...what more could they ask of me?"


    With that, the boy nodded as if convinced of himself. He jumped onto Silver, who had transformed himself again, and the two quickly made their way back towards the Darkfang territory''s main city.


    Cecil pulled out his trusty Adamantium Sword and placed in on his waist. He felt more reassured with his long-time partner once more on his side.


    "...Lucia''s probably freaking out right now..."


    Cecil looked up at the sky. It was the dawn of a new day, but he didn''t feel like appreciating the sight. He still reeked of blood and he felt very uncomfortable.


    "What a horrible way to start the day..."


    It didn''t take him and Silver to quickly arrive back at the Darkfang Estate with the speeds Silver was traveling at.


    When he got there, Cecil expected a furious Lucia to come out and start berating him, but instead what he got was a bawling girl who had suddenly rushed into his arms. His was at a loss and could only hug her back tightly. Cecil had shared his future vision with Lucia and this had put the girl a little on edge.


    Despite her not totally believing him, Lucia feared the worst when she couldn''t find him next to her early this morning. At first she thought that Cecil was simply outside training as usual, but after walking through the entire estate and not finding him, she finally panicked.


    Lucia quickly woke up her friends and told them that Cecil was missing. She also told them about the weird vision that the boy had told her. The party grew worried and began a thorough search throughout the city. They had turned the entire city upside down in search for him.


    Cecil felt relieved and he couldn''t help but thank his lucky stars that he had such good friends with him. Of course, this didn''t stop Lucia from giving him a powerful punch to the gut. Of course if she could choose, she''d rather have kissed him instead, but the urge to punch him overwhelmed that.


    Cecil felt that it was a well-deserved punch and he accepted it with zero complaints.


    He didn''t tell anybody about what he did the night before, but it was odd that not one of his friends could smell the horrid stench of blood reeking from his body.


    When he asked if they felt uncomfortable with him around, his friends only gave him puzzled looks. He even asked them whether he smelled a little funny or not.


    Lucia was the first to answer him and told the boy that he smelled just like his normal self. Then as if something had suddenly clicked in her mind, the girl suddenly smashed her fist into the boy''s gut one more time for no apparent reason. The girls however seemed to understand why, but Ainz and Lucius were just as clueless as Cecil.


    He was gone for an entire night and then he began asking whether or not he smelled weird... this obviously caused multiple misunderstandings to happen.


    "...idiot..."


    "Wh-what did I do wrong?!"


    "If you''re going to be like that Cecil... you better stay away from Lucia and Serilla from now on." Eli said.


    "Y-yeah...you''re being pretty mean...and insensitive," Velicia added.


    Only Fina was the one that tried to defend him.


    "C-Cecil''s probably not asking for THAT kind of reason, right? Right? I mean...it IS Cecil after all!"


    Her words once more puzzled the boy and he couldn''t help but exasperatedly yell out,


    "What did I do?! I only asked whether I smelled weird or not!"


    "Hmph!"


    "Ahh come on... Don''t be like that Lulu!"


    Cecil tried to appease the displeased fox girl, but she only huffed in annoyance and turned away. He also didn''t have the energy to continue their argument since the boy felt awfully sleepy. He didn''t sleep at all last night, but normally he''d be able to go at least a day or two without sleep.


    He felt odd that only one sleepless night had left him on the brink of collapsing from exhaustion. His body didn''t feel tired, but his mind did.


    "I...I gotta go sleep...I''m exhausted and I didn''t sleep a wink last night..."


    "!?"


    "!!!"


    "Oh no..."


    "I''ll be in my¡ª"


    Lucia who was just about to walk away suddenly flashed right in front of Cecil and...


    "¡ªGAHAACCCCKKKK!!!"


    Sent a powerful kick straight into his gut; sending the poor boy flying away.


    "ARRRGGHHHH!!!" Lucia screamed in frustration at him before trudging away in annoyance.


    Eli, Velicia, and Fina sent Cecil complicated gazes before chasing after Lucia.


    "Ainz...Lucius...what did I do?" Cecil asked while struggling to open his mouth.


    "That..."


    "Well..."


    Ainz and Lucius were clueless as to how to answer, but it was Yuna who answered the boy instead.


    "It''s because you said something stupid and it let your poor, little wife to misunderstand~"


    Yuna picked Cecil up and placed him on top of Silver and said to him, "Bring your stupid Master back to his room...he looks like he''ll faint any minute now."


    "W-wait¡ª"

 Chapter 216 - Ankhs Plot

    The news about Cecil''s massacre from last night quickly spread throughout the border territories of the Kingdom and the Empire.


    The disappearances of the people and the bloody scenes from within the forests were all speculated to be caused by a rampage of monsters.


    What was strange about all this was that it had happened in all the forest areas throughout the border and wasn''t concentrated on only one place.


    The border guards were still patrolling the areas and investigating just what might have caused monsters'' sudden rampage. The places where the signs of a massacre had happened were closer to the periphery or areas that were marked safer than the core areas where the monsters inhabiting the forest took as their homes.


    This was all strange and no one could come up with a proper explanation. They could only attribute it all to the monsters'' having a sudden rampage and it was just bad luck for the people in the forests.


    *****


    In the Orca Empire''s territory, inside a wooden cabin near the borders, a dragonewt was cursing and smashing the things inside the cabin apart.


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SLIPPED AWAY?!"


    "..."


    "Dammit! We''ve been waiting for over a week already! I thought the First Fang was supposed to be the strongest hidden card of the Emperor!"


    "..."


    "Answer me, goddamn you!"


    "..."


    "Tsk...Hurry up and bring that boy to me...NOW!"


    "...The boy...has caught onto us...hard to move now..."


    "I. Don''t. CARE!! Get this done, you incompetent bastards!"


    "Massacre...not investigate?"


    "Hah, massacre? More like incident! Those monsters are all unpredictable! You can only blame those idiots for their misfortune!"


    "...but...you hired...them."


    "Tsk, I don''t need you to tell me that. Just hurry up and bring that boy to me! He actually came to the border, how lucky can we get! The gods are on our side and they''ve served the child to us on a silver platter...you fools better not mess this up! Remember...the Emperor tasked you with this! Not me!"


    "..."


    In the next instant, the black clothed beastman disappeared from within the cabin. The dragonewt, Ankhs, was the only one left inside. He found a chair and slumped down into it.


    All the trouble being caused on the borders by the bandits, thieves, loyalists, and unhappy beastkin were all supported by this man. When he received a report that the target had actually arrived at the border territories, he was immediately elated.


    The boy was actually here to patrol and back up the border territory''s guards. It was the perfect chance to nab him. He needed to create more chaos on the border and what better to do it than with money.


    Ankhs pulled out the funds that the Emperor had provided him with and immediately began hiring mercenaries, bribing thieves and bandit groups, sponsoring disconcerted and unsatisfied beastkin to cause trouble at the border territories.


    He moved a massive amount of funds to cause trouble in not only the Darkfang Territory, but to every territory bordering the empire. This way he wouldn''t arouse suspicions when only the Darkfang Territory was the only one experiencing more problems than the other territories.


    The Nocturne Division''s First Fang tracked down their target''s whereabouts and carefully observed his daily routine for almost a week, but even after a week, the First Fang still couldn''t capture their target. The opportunity should have come the previous night, but for some reason, the boy was able to evade the trap laid down by the Nocturne Lions that was placed inside his room.


    They wanted to knock out both Lucia and Cecil with the sleeping incense that they had spread throughout the room beforehand. They would then only take Cecil away and leave Lucia alone.


    They''d extract the information from the boy as quickly as possible before the night ended and swiftly return him back to the Darkfang Estate so that no one will know that he was suddenly captured.


    Of course they''d drug him first so that he''d be more complaint during the interrogation and when he woke up he''d only think that the previous interrogation was only an illusion or dream, should he remember of it.


    It was a good thing that Cecil''s unsettling feeling had acted up when it did, otherwise who knows what could have happened to him if he had entered into that room.


    However, there was more bad news that came to Ankhs earlier this morning. All the mercenaries, thieves and bandits he had sponsored using the Empire''s money, had all suddenly vanished the previous night.


    Reports showed that they had all been wiped out thoroughly by what appeared to be a monster rampage during the night.


    The cause of the rampage wasn''t known, but the missing bodies and still intact, blood-filled scenes were a testament to the way monsters would attack when going on a hunt. There were even large claw marks and gashes in the earth that further supported all this.


    These marks were obviously caused by Silver using his claws, fangs, tails, and wind magic to attack all the people Cecil was killing.


    No one could have guessed that the killing that happened throughout all the forests at the border was caused by a singular, mad, bloodthirsty foxkin.


    "Tsk...Nothing changes...we still have to capture that kid...but, it seems that the new magi-tech that our Empire has created in anticipation for when we''d make a move on that kid is turning out to be of great help," Ankhs smirked derisively.


    The Empire had early on investigated the background and abilities of their target, Cecil Silvaria. His every known ability was thoroughly investigated and despite being only a young teenager, the boy was given a SS ranked threat level, formally issued by the Empire''s investigators.


    His strength and versatility, alongside his arsenal of unique magic spells and combat skills were dangerous even towards the powerful Orca Empire. A platoon of soldiers would easily be wiped out by the child if he so wished it.


    Approaching the Anglaria Kingdom by means of warfare just might turn back to bite the Empire in the ass since they could employ such a destructive child into the battlefield.


    Of course, the Empire didn''t know this, but Cecil would have chosen to abandon the Kingdom if they had tried to force him into participating in a war between the Empire and the Kingdom. He didn''t advocate for peace, but why would Cecil try and go out of his way to solve the Kingdom''s problems?


    Sure, he could help for small problems like border troubles, monster extermination and stuff like that, but a war? He wouldn''t dirty his hands for the Kingdom even if they begged and paid him to do it.


    "The Empire''s Mana Detector sure has come in handy against that kid...but who would have thought that he''d be able to manipulate his mana to act like a sensor...talented indeed...too bad he''s just some lowly beastkin."


    The Mana Detector was the magi-tech that the Empire had created in order to counteract Cecil''s detecting abilities. It would also help them quickly locate the boy, since it was speculated that he had a body constitution that was highly compatible with mana.


    It was because of this tool that the First Fangs were able to elude Cecil''s Mana Sense and quickly track down his whereabouts.


    All they had to do was follow after the people who were radiating a high amount of mana. They had miscalculated this part as well because ever since Cecil had cultivated his Ki, the boy was able to balance the mana inside his body and let very little of it leak out.


    The only reasons why the Empire''s people were able to locate him were because of his party members. Everyone beside Cecil had broken through to the Mana Core stage and this sharply increased their mana.


    Cecil''s stage was currently the lowest in his party, but he was still the strongest of the bunch. Mana Stage is great and all, but he had Ki and a full set of Mana Circuits. Just his Mana Circuits alone put him above anyone else in his generation and the previous generation.


    With his Mana Circuits, Cecil was able to utilize his mana to a more efficient degree. Not to mention that he also had Ki now. His body quality and physical capabilities was much higher than everyone else''s, if he added his unique strengthening skills, then he''d pull farther away from them.


    Ankhs could only sigh in defeat at how the beastkin were able to acquire such a talented and promising young seed, but too bad he was with the enemy. If he was with the Empire, there was no doubt that the boy would bring forth a new age for the beastmen.


    "Don''t blame me kid...blame your parent''s for giving you the wrong race...and the fact that you killed my nephew..."


    ******


    Cecil was currently resting for today so only his friends were out patrolling the area. The boy kept his partner, Silver, close to his side. After finding out about the people who were spying on him last night, Cecil was even more cautious than before.


    Silver was currently watching over him and the surroundings, constantly manipulating the wind elemental mana in the air to scope out the entire estate and its surroundings. Silver couldn''t sense any of the suspicious individuals that his master had described to him, but he kept his guard up and continued sensing the surroundings.


    His master had fallen into some sort of delirium last night, and Silver attributed all of this to those suspicious people that were after his master. If those people were after his master''s life, the wolf wouldn''t spare them.


    Just like what Cecil had done the previous night, Silver resolved himself to massacre anyone that was after his master''s life. He''d never let his master fall into his previous bloodthirsty trance ever again.


    If his mistress ever saw such a master...Silver didn''t want to even think about the outcome.


    ''Master has finally found a good mate...Ah! There''s also that other bunny girl. I won''t let anyone get in the way of Master''s happiness!''


    Without Silver knowing, he was gradually growing more and more intelligent as the days passed. Coming to Alterna seemed to have triggered something within his blood. The wolf was growing more powerful and intellectual as he spent his days traveling with his master.


    After a couple of hours of monitoring, Silver suddenly picked up something from his wind element sensing.


    ''Grrr...Who are they?''

 Chapter 217 - Turmoil in Darkfang Territory

    Silver picked up some people surrounding the estate. They were exuding a whole lot of ill intent and were sending probing spells into the estate. Once the spells passed by the room Cecil was currently resting in, Silver could sense the people immediately begin moving.


    A few walked over to the estate''s guards and began chatting them up, obviously in an attempt to distract them since the others surrounding the estate had quickly dashed into the compounds.


    Silver let out a low growl. He began manipulating the wind elements and memorized each of these suspicious people''s scents.


    ''Grrrr...If they are after master...kill...''


    Silver quickly reverted back into his pet form and hid under the desk next to the bed. If the people were indeed after his master, Silver would take quick actions and end their lives. He''d leave one of them alive so that his master may question them later.


    *****


    While Silver was lying in wait inside of the room for the perpetrators, Lucia and the girls were out patrolling the city.


    Her earlier outburst of frustration had already passed. With Fina explaining her reasoning, Lucia was able to calm down. She was now more concerned by what Cecil had ACTUALLY gone and done last night. There was news of a terrible massacre the previous night and this caused Lucia to be worried.


    Although, the massacre was concluded to be caused by rampaging monsters, but when she remembered how ill-at-ease Cecil was this morning, she couldn''t help but think that maybe he played a hand in the massacre last night.


    "I better ask him later¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Lucia felt worried and uneasy. An odd pain was prickling at the back of her neck and all her tails were standing in alarm.


    "Huh?"


    She couldn''t help but turn her sights at the direction of the Darkfang Estate. She frowned. It was the first time she felt this way.


    The only thing that could cause her to worry that was still back at the estate...was Cecil. Her friends came to a stop with her and noticed that the girl was staring off into the distance.


    Fina couldn''t help, but worriedly ask, "What''s wrong, Lulu?"


    "I...feel uneasy...I''m worried about Cel..."


    "Cecil?"


    "You were just mad at him earlier, Lulu...Are you going to forgive him already?" Velicia asked.


    "Uhm..."


    "Let her be Veli...that''s just how Lucia is...she just can''t stay mad at her beloved Cecil," Eli said while giggling at her foxkin friend.


    "Ehehehe..."


    "Let''s go back, mas¡ªLucia...I feel uneasy as well, not to mention that wolf brat is currently expressing a strong amount of bloodl.u.s.t right now..."


    "Huh?"


    "Silver...he''s emitting a whole lot of bloodl.u.s.t...I''m not sure if you guys can feel it, but it''s making me worried. That brat is normally mild; despite being a Fenrir...this is the first time he''s acting up like this."


    "Y-Yeah...I think something bad might happen to Cel...let''s hurry back."


    BBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM


    "!"


    "!!!"


    "WAH!!"


    A large explosion suddenly resounded from the Darkfang Estate then a loud howl ensued.


    "AAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!"


    After the loud roar sounded off, the ground began to shake suddenly. It was then that Lucia and the rest suddenly heard something come from outside of the city.


    "ROAR!"


    "GRAWR!"


    "SQUEEEEEE!!!"


    "BBBZZZZZ BZZZZZZ"


    Lucia and Yuna quickly jumped into the air, Eli snapped open her wings and followed suit. The two turned to look outside of the city and noticed an appalling scene. Monsters of all kinds were dashing out of the forests and currently heading towards the city.


    "Oh no..."


    "Lucia! Look!"


    Eli quickly grabbed onto Lucia as the girl was beginning to descend back down. She then brought her friend''s attention to the scene behind them.


    In the distance, at the location of the Darkfang Estate, a large entity had broken through the skies of the estate and was poking its head into the air. The large entity towered over a dozen meters in height and there were around 5-8 black silhouettes darting around the figure and sending magic spells at the entity.


    Once the dust settled, it was then that Lucia noticed who that large figure belonged to. The large figure was that of super enlarge Silver. Lucia also saw the small body currently resting atop his head.


    "Silver! Cecil!"


    "Yeah...it''s them alright...but who''s attacking them?!"


    "It''s them! They were the ones Cecil was so worried about!"


    "What?!"


    "Let''s go! We have to go help them!"


    "Then what about the monsters outside?"


    "...tsk..."


    Lucia almost forgot about the monster wave coming from behind. It looks like the monster massacre from last night was true, and it was only the prelude to the current monster wave!


    "We''ll split into 2 teams, I''m sure the boys are still at the estate with Cecil. Veli and I will make our way back. Yuna, you, and Fina will quickly head over to the city''s walls and help out with the defenses!"


    "Alright, will you 2 be okay though?"


    "Don''t worry, we''ll quickly finish things up there and come to support you guys. Remember to announce your presence, make sure it''s as flashy as can be! When the guards see that a royal princess such as Eli is even standing firm and helping them defend the walls...I''m pretty sure they''ll have their morale boosted!"


    "Alright, hurry and go then!"


    Lucia gave a signal to Yuna and the dragon girl immediately dashed for the walls. Eli dropped down and placed Lucia onto the ground before quickly taking off with Fina in her arms.


    "W-what''s wrong, Eli?!" Fina immediately yelled upon being abruptly taken into the skies.


    "Just look ahead! You''ll soon understand!"


    Fina looked ahead and immediately paled at the sight.


    "Does this mean the last night monster massacre was true?!"


    "Apparently!"


    "Okay, first things first, we have to boost the city guards'' morale!"


    "Got it covered!"


    "Okay!"


    *****


    As Fina was prepping their battle plans, down on the ground, Lucia and Velicia were quickly dashing back towards the Darkfang Estate. On the way, Lucia quickly explained the situation to Veli.


    "So those are the people inside Cecil''s...future vision?"


    "Most likely! Sorry we didn''t tell you guys...Cecil didn''t want everyone to be excessively on guard...but at least this proves that his dreams are indeed events that may happen in the future!"


    "...What a convenient ability! When did he get it?"


    "He''s still not sure, but Cecil thinks he may have gotten it from the World Tree''s Trials!"


    "Makes sense! Let''s hurry! Maybe it''s those people who''re attacking Cecil and Silver are the ones that caused the monster wave and last night''s massacre!"


    "Yeah! Maybe..."


    Lucia was still skeptical at the conclusion. She felt that maybe Cecil and Silver had played a large part in the massacre. Right now, Lucia was able to feel the madness and rage currently permeating the atmosphere. It was all coming from the enlarged and the seemingly enraged Silver.


    ''I hope it''s not true...''


    But even if it was, Lucia wouldn''t care. There was bound to be a reason why Cecil and Silver had done it.


    "Lucia! Why not use Misty Gate to teleport over?!"


    "Huh?! Ah, you''re right!"


    Lucia was panicking so she had nearly forgotten. The girls quickly stopped and Lucia opened up a Misty Gate to the estate.


    *******


    "Shit! Lucius, what the hell''s happening?!"


    Ainz shouted as he fought off a beastman wearing dark clothes. It was unsettling at how strong these people were. If it wasn''t because he had back up from the estate''s guards, he''d be pushed up against the wall.


    Not to mention that these beastmen''s targets weren''t even him! They were all attacking Silver and trying to attack Cecil who was on top of Silver''s head. The foxkin boy looked like he was struggling to keep himself awake and couldn''t do anything at the moment.


    "I don''t know who these people are! But they''re obviously after Cecil and Silver! We have to do all we can to obstruct them! Guards! Coordinate with each other and lock down at least one of these guys!"


    "Yes, Young Master!"


    The guards replied to Lucius loudly and began moving in groups of 5 to combat and lock down at least one of the black clothed beastmen.


    "Damn...they''re all individually powerful as well...this''ll be hard." Ainz quickly switched from using his spear-staff and began casting mid-high level spells.


    "Take this, bastards!"


    A while later, a guard from the city walls arrived riding a basilisk. He quickly jumped off and immediately reported the situation at the walls to the estate''s guard captain.


    "What? Is this true?!"


    "Yes sir! There are multitudes of monsters pouring out of the forests and heading towards the city! We have the Sword Maiden and 2nd Princess Elizabeth Arks on the front lines helping us defend the city walls! There''re also her friends helping out! But...at this rate sir...we''ll be overwhelmed..."


    "Damn...I''ll report this to the young master...you lot! Hurry up and find the Master! I need to report on the situation on the walls! We''ll take further action once the Master gives us an order!"


    "Yes sir!"


    The guard captain quickly made his way over to Lucius and reported the situation at the walls. Lucius was shocked, but was relieved that Eli and the rest had gone over to help out.


    They could at least rest easy for now and hurry up and quickly deal with the situation in front of them.


    "Hurry! We have to quell the uproar here and go help with the situation at the walls!"


    "B-but young master! Shouldn''t we direct some reinforcements to the walls?"


    "No! We''ll deal with the situation here first! Princess Elizabeth and the rest can handle the situation on the walls until we get there! Don''t forget, she''s a sword maiden and her party is a platinum ranked adventurer party!"


    "...yes sir!"


    "Also, go send a war eagle to the Capital and the surrounding territories, request for support! Hopefully only our territory is experiencing the monster tide...if every territory at the border is experiencing this...then it''ll be a disastrous event for the Kingdom..."


    "Yes, young master, at once!" The guard captain immediately bowed and went to find the Master, but before he went he directed a subordinate guard to go send the messages to the Capital and the border territories.


    Lucius continued throwing vials of alchemy potions and pills at the black clothed beastmen. He followed it up with a magic spell and blew up the potions and pills.


    He grew furious at the timing of these bastards. He already concluded that these beastmen were the cause of last night''s massacre, and although it was mostly beastmen who went missing, there were quite a few beastkin who went missing as well. They were all most likely dead.


    Just thinking about this caused him to grow even more furious.


    "Damned bastards!"

 Chapter 218 - Monster Tide

    Over at the walls, Eli and the rest quickly arrived and sent a greeting towards the monster tide.


    The 3 girls used their largest area spells and sent them hurdling towards the tide of monsters. Numerous flaming swords, blue mana armaments, and a tornado of mist struck the monsters hard, clearing a large area of them out.


    The soldiers at the walls were astounded at the power of the spells. They all looked up at the source of these magic spells.


    Fina had quickly landed on the ramparts with Yuna. She ignored the soldiers around her and continued sending her magic spells and mana armaments at the monsters.


    Eli who was still up in there air loudly raised her voice, "Darkfang City Guards! Hear me! I''m the 2nd Princess of Anglaria, Elizabeth Arks! The instigators of the monster tide are currently attacking the Darkfang family''s estate! Look to the back! The colossal wolf and my party are currently combating them as we speak!"


    The soldiers turned their attention to the large wolf in the middle of the city, at first they thought that the menacingly large wolf was the cause of the monster tide and they thought it was currently assaulting the city from within.


    When the guards took another look at the large wolf, they seemed to find it familiar. It was only until one of the guards shouted that the large white wolf was the Princess'' party''s battle pet that the rest of the city guards finally realized.


    And when some of them strained their eyes and activated sight enhancing combat skills, they were able to somewhat make out the small black figures darting around the large wolf''s body and sending combat skills and magic spells at it. The black figures were all unidentifiable and they were also throwing out spells and skills without regards to the surroundings, damaging buildings and houses with their attacks.


    The Darkfang family had no secret corps, coupled by the fact that those people were also causing damage while attacking the large wolf the guards were fully convinced of Eli''s words. Those black figures were the ones that had caused the monster tide in order to take advantage of the chaos to assault their city!


    "DAMN!"


    "Those bastards, my family live here!"


    "Shut up! Listen to the Princess!!"


    Eli''s words had stirred up the guards and many began cursing. They didn''t let up their assault on the monster tide however, but many of them were distracted nonetheless.


    "If you can see them, then you''ll know! The black figures assaulting the large white wolf are the ones who caused the monster tide and are most likely the ones that have caused last night''s massacre! They used the monsters as a diversion in order to assault the Darkfang family and send the territory into turmoil!"


    Eli yelled once more, she then turned her eyes towards the monster tide and loudly continued,


    "We''ll let the estate guards handle the situation inside the city! What we all need to do now is protect the walls! Behind us lie our friends, family, and loved ones! We MUST defend these walls!"


    Eli didn''t say anymore and began chanting another spell, it was the lost ancient spell that she learned from Lucia.


    "¡ªlet heaven''s wrath descend! Meteor Fall!"


    A super large-scaled magic formation appeared high up in the sky, it encompassed almost the entirety of the area just outside the walls. From the magic formation, a large flaming meteor descended slowly onto the ground.


    Eli immediately began feeling her mana draining from her body as the meteor slowly descended. She didn''t care and poured in more of her mana into the spell formation and the meteor began to descend even quicker. When it made contact with the ground, the large flaming meteor burnt and ground all the monsters into dust and ash.


    Eli had summoned the meteor a good distance from the city walls, so the front most monsters were able to escape from the spell''s impact, but they were quickly felled by the multiple attacks and projectiles fired from the walls.


    The monsters at the back however were erased. When the spell died down and the flames and smoke subsided, a large portion of the monster tide was erased. More monsters still poured in from the forests, but at least this gave the city guards some room to breathe.


    "FOR THE KINGDOM!" Eli once more roared and raised her rapier into the air.


    "FOR THE KINGDOM!"


    "FOR THE KINGDOM!!"


    "LONG LIVE THE PRINCESS!!!"


    "LONG LIVE THE PRINCESS!!!"


    Her actions immediately boosted the morale of the soldiers and they all began roaring and chanting. The captains immediately started rearranging the battle lines, taking swift action to repair some of the damaged siege weapons and bringing back injured soldiers to the barracks.


    Eli felt drained. She slowly descended and landed on the walls. Fina quickly walked over to her and held her up. She brought out a Mana Restoration Potion and fed it to her friend. The Guard Commander also quickly made his way over.


    "Princess, thank you for your help," The tigerkin commander said with a deep bow. "The monsters are still numerous, but Your Highness has bought us some room to regroup and readjust our soldiers. Please rest and restore your mana before rejoining us, Your Highness!"


    "Yes, I will. Please hold on until the chaos in the city subsides, the Darkfang family will quickly send support over, so hang on until then. My friends and I will help you with all that we can!"


    "Thank you, Princess. Your assurance and presence on the battlefield will give the soldiers a peace of mind. We''ll protect this city with our all!"


    Eli smiled and nodded. The Commander immediately saluted in respect before taking his leave.


    "Good job, Eli."


    "Thanks Fina...Yuna? Are you okay? You look a little pale..."


    Yuna was currently staring off into the distance, towards the large white figure currently roaring and raging around in the middle of the city.


    "...Fenrirs...do you know about them?"


    "Fenrir?" Fina asked, as she took a glance at the slowly paling Yuna.


    "They''re an ancient creature from the ancient eras...their race has long since gone extinct, but I heard rumors about a community of them hiding somewhere in this world..."


    "Uhm...okay?"


    "At times, they''re a symbol nobility and victory...but also that of calamity and destruction..."


    "F-Fina...do you feel this?!"


    "!!!"


    An ominous distortion began weighing heavily in the air, the monsters in the distance were howling and roaring with even more insanity and they resumed their maddened charge at the city''s ramparts.


    "A Fenrir''s uncontained anger...can cause the monsters and sometimes even the people around it, to be influenced by their enraged aura..."


    "Huh?"


    "A Fenrir will be born with either a beautiful pelt of white fur, almost like that of the full moon...or a pelt of black fur as dark as the night sky on a new moon...however...there are some who can change back and forth from white to black and from black to white."


    As Yuna continued her explanation, Fina and Eli were beginning to sense the origin of the ominous distortion. It was coming from the large white wolf in the distance.


    Eli also finally noticed something...but Silver''s fur was slowly beginning to grow dark. She still remembered his luminous white fur, but when she took a look at the large figure in the distance, that fur had somehow grown a couple of shades darker. It was now grayer than it was white.


    "W-what''s happening to him?! How come the aura seems to be coming off of Silvy?" Eli yelled as the oppressive and ominous atmosphere weighed down on them.


    She turned around and noticed that the city guards were also being affected by the atmosphere. Their movements were slowing down and some of them had even begun to turn enraged and started to continuously fire attack after attack at the monster tide in wild abandon.


    The monsters in the tide were also growing more frenzied. Despite Eli''s earlier display of might, the monsters were still charging at the city ramparts without regard for their lives and this time with renewed vigor.


    It didn''t take long before another wave of monsters slammed into the walls. They turned towards Yuna and noticed that she had started a short incantation.


    Yuna finished her spell and raised her hand in the air. A magic spell formation appeared on her palm and mist began pouring out of it.


    The oppressive atmosphere was immediately dispersed once the mist permeated into the surroundings.


    "I''m not sure if you all know this...but Silver is indeed a Fenrir...I''m not sure how Cecil was able to acquire such a partner, and from what I heard he was with the boy ever since they were young..."


    "Silver is..."


    "A Fenrir?"


    Yuna looked around and made sure that no one else was there that might perhaps over hear them.


    "Silver is the cause of this monster tide...it''s a unique skill of the Fenrirs called Beast Calamity..."

 Chapter 219 - Rage

    Turn back the time a little just before the monster tide had struck the city. Back at the Darkfang estate, the Nocturne Lions'' First Fang squadron had all mobilized in order to capture the Empire''s target.


    Because of last night''s massacre, Ankhs had begun rushing the squad to quickly produce results and bring Cecil back with them.


    He wasn''t sure whether the massacre might cause the boy to leave the borders with his party so he had the First Fangs hasten their mission.


    It was their luck that today of all days, their target was finally alone. The party members that the boy was usually surrounded with had all gone their separate ways, especially that problematic foxkin girl who was stuck to him like glue almost every day.


    The First Fang quickly made their move and surrounded the estate. They probed the compounds with their detection spells and quickly found the target resting inside of his room.


    "Alpha...will we be using the same trap as yesterday?"


    "Yes...we still have the incense after all."


    "Alright..."


    The members of the First Fang quickly began mobilizing. They sent some from their squadron who were disguised as citizens to go distract the estate''s gate guards.


    The rest of them stealthily made their way into the compound and soon, they arrived at Cecil''s resting quarters.


    They quickly released the knockout incense into the room. They were just about to back off and let the incense take effect, but a sudden change occurred inside of the room.


    Their target had actually somehow awoken and was immediately able to detect their presence. The magi-tech tool that they were using to counteract and avoid their target''s detection ability was acting up and they all knew that they''ve been discovered.


    "Delta, Beta, move in now! Secure the target! The target should still have been somewhat affected by the incense since it''s a fast acting regent!"


    "Yes!"


    "Moving in!"


    They immediately broke into the room and found the boy waiting for them with his weapon in hand.


    "Hah...I knew it...you guys were after me all along...Urk..."


    "Hmph. This doesn''t change anything...the incense has already taken effect...so stop your pointless resistance and come with us quietly!"


    "Heh...I ain''t going down without a fight!"


    "Then so be it...Knock him out!"


    Cecil''s assaulters immediately took action. They dashed towards him with their weapons and sent combat skills and magic spells at him.


    Cecil felt sluggish and couldn''t respond really well. He felt his mind turning hazy and the attacks immediately landed on his body just as he was thinking about dodging.


    He was thrown back by the Pulse Imprint that the leading beastman sent at him and slammed into the wall. The following magic spell from the other beastman slammed into his abdomen and he felt the wind being knocked out of his body.


    "GAHACK!"


    "Heh...you wouldn''t need to go through so much pain if you only obediently followed us."


    "Urk...hah, you call this pain? I''ve tasted worst..."


    Cecil tried to rouse the mana inside his body, but for some reason it didn''t respond.


    ''Damn...what''s wrong with my body? I can''t¡ª''


    "You were thinking about what''s wrong with your body, right?


    "!"


    Seeing the surprise look on the boy''s face, the leading beastman scoffed and said derisively.


    "Hah! The incense we drugged you with doesn''t only put you to sleep, but it also hinders your cognitive thinking and motor functions by plunging your mana flow into chaos. Even if you''re thinking about dodging, your body will be too late to respond..."


    "Damn..."


    Cecil blocked an attack and tried to retaliate, but just like the First Fang''s Leader said, his body couldn''t react properly to his thoughts. One of the beastmen slammed a fist into his face and kneed him in the gut.


    "Urk..."


    "Just because you''re strong...it doesn''t mean we don''t have the means to deal with you."


    "Ack!"


    Another spell landed on Cecil and he was once again embedded into the wall. The fighter beastman rushed up to him and poured a flurry of blows onto his defenseless body.


    "..."


    "What? Not struggling anymore?"


    "..."


    "Hmph. Take him away!"


    Cecil''s mind was too hazy. He felt his hand loosen, but he immediately tried to grip onto his sword. If he lost his weapon, he''d be helpless.


    ''Shit...I thought I took all the necessary precautions...I''m still going to be taken away like this? Dammit...where are Lucia and the others? How come¡ª''


    "!"


    ''N-no way...they...couldn''t have...''


    Cecil thought of the worst possibility. Just as he was about to muster up his strength a loud roar immediately filled his ears.


    "GGGGRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"


    ******


    Lucia and Velicia immediately exited from the Misty Gate and landed just outside of the estate''s entrance.


    "Lucia, look... Silver''s fur is changing!"


    From close up, Silver''s change was much more noticeable. When Lucia turned to look at her colossal friend, she immediately noticed the change in color.


    Silver''s snow white fur had slowly turned into a dirty gray. She didn''t know the cause of this, but as the change slowly happened, Lucia and Velicia were able to sense the oppressive and ominous atmosphere exuding from Silver''s body.


    They felt their mind''s being affected by something. Lucia didn''t know how, but she was able to understand Silver whenever he tried to converse with her through his monster language.


    And right now, the roaring and howling that Silver was releasing wasn''t interpretable. It was just loud chaotic roars of anger and rage, rage that was being directed fully towards the black figures attacking him and Cecil.


    "Let''s go Veli! We have to back Cecil and Silver up! I won''t let those people take Cecil away from me!"


    "Y-yeah!"


    The two quickly passed through the gates to the estate and they were immediately met with the chaos inside of the compounds. The two girls immediately noticed the black clothed people the soldiers were all uniformly taking on.


    Lucia wasn''t so surprised to see that those black figures were indeed beastmen. It was just like how Cecil had described in his dream. The person who had caught him was beastman and it made sense right now that the people who looked like they were only aiming to take him away were also beastmen.


    "Lucius! Where''s Cel?!" Lucia immediately flickered towards the familiar figure of the fatty when she noticed him. Lucius was currently tossing alchemy potions and pills at the beastmen and detonating them using magic spells.


    The alchemy potions and pills either exploded, ignited, or burst out smog of what seemed to be poisonous, paralyzing, or sleep-inducing fumes.


    "Lucia? Veli! You both are here! Why?"


    "When Silver transformed, we saw that he was being attack by some people, me and the girls quickly split into 2 teams. Us 2 came back to support you guys while Eli and the rest went to support to soldiers at the walls." Velicia reported.


    Lucius nodded in understanding and pointed his finger at the black clothed beastmen currently assaulting Silver.


    "Those guys seem to be only after Cecil. They only sent attacks and a couple of people to obstruct us. They coordinate very well with one another and they''re individually powerful as well! Be careful later and make sure you don''t get caught up in a pincer!"


    "Noted, I''ll head out now!" Lucia briskly replied. She disappeared in the next instant after being wrapped up in a purple aura.


    Ainz quickly noticed Lucia had come to help. He activated Aura Manifestation and followed after the girl.


    Lucius turned his eyes back to his fianc¨¦ and said, "Go after them, those two will need your help."


    "Okay!"


    "Just...be careful alright."


    "Roger!"


    Velicia activated her own aura and flickered away as well. She quickly caught up to Ainz and Lucia who were now engaging a couple of black clothed beastmen.


    "TASTE MY FISTS!"


    *****


    Cecil was knocked out by the sudden roar from earlier. When he came too, he suddenly noticed that he was in a really high place.


    "Agh...I still can''t...move well..."


    Cecil struggled to lift his body up, but his arms and body felt like they were being weighed down by 2 ton weights. He also noticed that he was lying down on a comfortable rug of gray fur.


    "Is this...Silv?"


    When Silver noticed his master awakening again, he howled once more and sent more magic spells at the figures assaulting him.


    Cecil looked around and saw the beastmen that had attacked him earlier, but there were even more of them however. The Empire sure was desperate in trying to capture him.


    ''Damn...with my body in this condition...how can I help Silv?''


    Cecil gnashed his teeth in frustration. If this had happened the night before, he would have no doubt awoken in an unfamiliar room and currently being interrogated and tortured.


    "Dammit...move...MOVE!!!"


    He tried to urge his body to move, but none of his arms, legs, or muscles budged an inch. It was frustrating to see these bastards assault his partner. He grew more and more furious, but Cecil didn''t notice that the color of Silver''s flawless fur was slowly turning darker and darker.


    "Dammit...just you bastards wait...I''ll kill you...I''ll kill all of you!"

 Chapter 220 - Miasma 1

    Lucia, Ainz, and Velicia had pressed on forward in the midst of the Nocturne Lions'' and Silver''s exchange.


    They didn''t see any attacks coming from Cecil and this puzzled them. Shouldn''t he be darting around the battlefield right about now? There''s just no way he would miss such a fight.


    "There''s something wrong with Cel..."


    Lucia said as she blocked an attack from one the beastmen and slashed her katana across their neck only to be blocked by another beastman who came to support the one she was attacking.


    "Tsk...These guys are really annoying!"


    "Tell me about it! They''ve got strong mages and warriors. The mages support and the warriors just come rushing at us in abandon!" Ainz replied as he sent numerous elemental bolts at the surrounding beastmen.


    "They¡ªHAH! Aren''t even¡ªtake this! Focusing on us¡ªHIYAH!!" Velicia punched her way through the beastmen, but time and time again she was forced to back off.


    Despite all 3 of the beastkin supporting each other, they couldn''t go past the blockade of black clothed beastmen.


    Yes, they were outnumbered 8 to 1, but even after blasting their opponents with some pretty deadly spells and rushing at them, they still couldn''t break past.


    The 3 knew that these beastmen were only buying time since some of them had the audacity to even turn their backs on them and send an attack or two at Silver.


    "I''ve had enough...Ainz, Veli...we''re going in for the kill."


    "Huh? Shouldn''t we leave some of them alive to question them later?"


    "Who cares?! They want Cecil and I''m NOT letting them have him! Cover me! It''s about time I let these bastards know how wrathful I am if they aim for my Cel!"


    Lucia backed away, Ainz and Velicia formed a 2-man wall in front of her and the girl began mustering up her mana.


    "Let''s see how you''ll deal with this!"


    "L-Lucia! Th-th-the residence!"


    "Dammit, we''ll figure that out later!"


    "O-ohhh..."


    Lucia and the rest had been holding back a little. They''ve only relied on high-tiered mid ranked spells and haven''t resorted to using any high ranked spells yet. The foxkin girl had grown impatient at their stubborn resistance and decided to just wing it.


    What irked her most was the handful of shamans in the enemy group who possessed pretty potent healing spells. Even when she and Ainz sent multiple deadly spells to bombard them, the beastmen would move to protect their bodies from any fatal damage and let their shamans heal them back up to perfect health.


    Lucia had sheathed her katana and was currently only holding onto her kodachi. She pointed her finger at the front and concentrated her mana into her finger. A large purple orb of mana formed just in front of her finger and she fired it straight at the beastmen.


    "TURN TO DUST!!! SOLARIS LASER!"


    She aimed her first laser at the front most beastman''s heart. The laser instantaneously pierced the beastman''s heart and continued piercing through the other 3 unfortunate souls behind him. Lucia then quickly cut off her mana and aimed her finger at another beastman.


    She didn''t dare let her laser run rampant inside the estate since she might hit an ally, or worse, Silver.


    Lucia continued to fire laser after laser at the beastmen. They thought that the spell''s damage could be healed easily, but they realized too late that the struck beastmen had all instantly died. For the ones that were pierced later, their wounds wouldn''t heal even after casting healing spells and they would die from being immolated by the purple flames.


    The uniqueness of the Solaris Flame was that it wouldn''t extinguish itself unless Lucia willed it. The beastmen tried to dodge the lasers, but once Lucia had a clear aim, the laser was able to pierce through their bodies regardless of how fast they moved to dodge.


    Most of the time, the laser would have already pierced their bodies without the beastmen even realizing it.


    Lucia was using her 2-element fusion Elemental Burst and she was using the hypersensitivity that came along with it to take aim at her opponents.


    The beastmen changed their approach and tried to attack Lucia, but with Ainz and Velicia obstructing them it was now their turn to experience the suffering of not being able to break through a thick wall.


    Some did succeed in making it past the two, but they would soon collapse dead on the ground with a hole through their heads or hearts.


    After another 5 minutes, all the beastmen obstructing the 3 had all fallen dead on the ground.


    "Haahh...haaahh...I used up a bit of mana for that..."


    "Let''s go! There are still a lot of those bastards attacking Cecil and Silver!" Ainz said as he pulled up the exhausted Lucia.


    "W-wait...Release!"


    Lucia released one of her tails'' cores and resupplied herself with mana. Vigor returned to her and the group quickly rushed further into the compounds of the estate.


    Velicia was looking around the place with a rather apologetic look. There were multiple holes inside the surrounding buildings. Lucia''s earlier rampage hadn''t affected the buildings and areas much deeper into the estate, but the ones closer to their earlier battlefield were all nearly at the brink of collapse or were wrecked beyond repair.


    "I''m sorry Lucius...but you can''t blame us, it''s those beastmen that are to blame!" Velicia offered a silent apology to her fianc¨¦.


    ******


    Elsewhere, Lucius was currently pinning down the other black clothed beastmen, but he still saw the multitudes of purple lasers being fired off into the skies and he could also hear the sounds of destruction coming from the area Lucia and the rest had gone off to.


    "Oh goodness..." Lucius who saw this immediately began crying inwardly. How would he explain things to his father once he''s seen the damage caused to their home?


    "Agghhh!! It''s these stupid beastmen''s fault! Men! Use higher ranked spells!"


    "Young master, what about the estate?!"


    "Ah who cares about the estate now?! They''ve gone and ruined it already! What''s the problem in just ruining it altogether?!"


    "B-but¡ª"


    "No buts! I''ll take responsibility for it later! The faster we take down these bastards, the faster we can end the conflict here and go support the men at the walls! Besides, this place could use some remodeling!"


    Lucius took out ominous vials of concoctions from his spatial ring and threw them at the beatsmen.


    BANG BOOMMM BBBAAAAAANNNGGGGG


    Large explosions deafened the surroundings. Lucius'' earlier attack had blasted away many of the beastmen assaulters dead. The buildings and areas near the impact zone were wrecked. Seeing their young master take the lead, the estate guards began using higher ranked magic spells and combat skills.


    Their earlier passive approach had turned much more aggressive and the beastmen were caught off-guard.


    Many of them instantly fell from this abrupt change of pace, but they soon quickly regrouped and continued obstructing the guards.


    "LEAVE NONE OF THEM ALIVE! KILL THEM ALL!!" Lucius roared as he threw more potion vials at them and blasted them with mid ranked spells.


    "Y-young master, shouldn''t we leave at least one of them alive so that the Master can question them later?"


    "Hahahahaha! NO! We''ll leave the capturing to my fianc¨¦ and her friends! We don''t have that leeway! Just go in for the kill! Let''s teach these audacious bastards the consequences of provoking and assaulting our family!!"


    "Y-YES!"


    The guards responded vigorously, but after the initial surprise, they still couldn''t get anywhere. Instead they were met with an even stronger retaliation. The beastmen were strong and the estate guards were now experiencing more and more casualties.


    Suddenly, a large black wave of mana bombarded the beastmen in front of Lucius and the guards.


    "AAAHHHH!!"


    "OWAAARRRGGGHH!"


    Screams of pain and agony were raised from the beastmen currently engulfed in the black wave of mana.


    When the screams subsided and the black mana dispersed, what remained of the beastmen were bones and a large pit of corroded earth.


    "What?!"


    It was then that black smog began permeating the air and it was coming from deep within the estate''s compounds.


    Lucius raised his head and noticed the towering wolf...which now had a thick coat of black fur. Silver''s change was now made apparent to everyone in the city.


    Even from afar, Eli, Fina, and Yuna noticed this change. The maddening aura and the oppressive atmosphere had grown twice as strong as earlier.


    Lucia and the others were in the thick of it and they couldn''t help but worry. For some reason, all the beastmen around them were currently being corroded by the black smog. They however were still fine.


    Lucia, Ainz, and Velicia all had barriers of aura protecting their bodies, but the aura was sizzling and being corroded by the smog as well.


    "M-Miasma?!" Ainz shockingly exclaimed.


    "Miasma?"


    "This black smog is miasma! It''s extremely poisonous and corrosive!"


    "W-why would something like that be here?!" Velicia asked in worry.


    "G-guys! Look! Silver...something''s wrong with Silvy!"


    Looking over at what Lucia was pointing at, the three saw the black furred Silver towering above them and Ainz immediately raised his voice.


    "What''s happened to him?!"


    "I don''t know, but let''s hurry! Silver and Cecil might be in trouble!"


    "Y-you guys go ahead! I''ll go back and warn Lucius and the guards! If this is miasma, then it''s fatal to them!" Velicia said as she separated from the two and quickly dashed back towards Lucius'' location.


    "It''s a good thing we have our auras..."


    "Let''s go, Ainz!"


    The two quickly made their way over to where the sounds of battle and the cries of pain and agony were being raised.


    They kept their eyes on Silver and noticed that the large wolf was slowly shrinking. When they finally arrived at the battlefield where Silver was at, the two saw an appalling scene.


    Multitudes of beastmen were collapsed onto the ground writhing in agony with many of them were crying out in despair. Lucia and Ainz noticed that their bodies were slowly being melted down.


    The fur of the beast men were all turning black and their skin was peeling off slowly. Some of them already had their flesh being melted off of their bones. The two could practically imagine the pain they were experiencing and couldn''t help but tremble in fear.


    "Wh-What happened?" Ainz looked around and asked. Even for their enemies, this was just a little too gruesome and appalling.


    "Cel! Silvy!" Lucia quickly found the two people she was looking for. Cecil lay collapsed on the ground with a large black wolf circling around him protectively.

 Chapter 221 - Miasma 2

    Back on the walls, Eli and the rest were still pouring down numerous spells on the monster tide. Many of the monsters fell, but more would take their place. Ever since Silver''s fur had turned black, the monsters had grown even more frenzied than before.


    They charged at the walls in reckless abandon and single-mindedly began throwing attacks at the walls and the soldiers guarding them.


    With more monsters assaulting the walls, the more casualties the soldiers experienced. The 3 girls tried their best to minimize the casualties by setting up barriers all around the walls, but there were only 3 of them so there was a limit to what they could do.


    "Everyone...the ominous aura has grown thicker..." Yuna informed.


    "Y-yeah...look at all the monsters...they''re all berserk!"


    "Hey, what happened to Silver?" Fina asked.


    At her words, Eli and Yuna turned their eyes back at the Darkfang Estate. They could no longer see Silver''s towering figure, but instead a black smog was hanging around the air where Silver was previously at.


    "I can''t see him anymore...but what''s with that black smoke?" Eli asked.


    "It''s miasma."


    "That smoke is miasma? Then...wouldn''t Lucia and everyone there be in danger?!"


    "Don''t worry about them. Remember, they''ve all got that aura so it''ll repel the dangerous miasma. We should be more worried about the other people in the area..."


    "!"


    "If the miasma spreads, innocent people will die."


    "S-Silver''s causing this?"


    "Yes...but I bet it''s not what the brat intended. He''s young and still doesn''t have full control over his power...It''s also probably the first time he''s changed."


    "...You should teach us more about what kind of monster Silver is! I know that he''s strong and intelligent, I mean, you and Lucia for some reason could even converse with him! He''s definitely not just some ordinary wolf..."


    Yuna sent a wind scythe at a monster that had just jumped onto the ramparts. The dragon girl followed it up by conjuring a large tornado to sweep away the monsters climbing the walls.


    The soldiers cheered and were given a short time of respite. Yuna turned around again and frowned when she saw the miasma spreading further into the area.


    "We''ll talk about that later...Can I leave you two here to help with the defense? I''ll go over to the estate and see what I can do about that miasma..."


    "Yeah, we''ll manage somehow! Just hurry up and stop that smoke! And quickly bring Lucia and the rest over to help!" Fina shouted. She quickly cut down another monster on the walls and rushed to a different section.


    "Hurry and go Yuna...we''ll take over from here. But please hurry!"


    Yuna nodded. After which, she conjured a Misty Gate connected to the estate and walked through.


    ******


    "Silvy? Silvy, it''s me, Lulu..." Lucia said as she slowly approached the wary Silver. His eyes were glowing with an ominous red and he was growling and roaring at everything that was trying to approach the unconscious Cecil.


    Lucia and Ainz weren''t an exception. Ainz nearly had his arm bitten off when he had dashed straight for Cecil upon noticing that the boy was unconscious.


    "W-what''s with Silver, how come he''s attacking even us?!" Ainz yelled.


    Earlier, there were still some beastmen who were able to stand. When they rushed at Silver and Cecil they were immediately ripped apart by the ferocious wolf. Ainz and Lucia tried to approach, but Silver had begun roaring at them as well.


    Lucia was now trying to approach the black-furred Silver, but he tried to bite off her hand when she tried to get close.


    "Silvy! Please, let me take Cecil away! This miasma is hurting him!"


    Lucia had long since noticed that Cecil was being affected by the miasma. Even though it wasn''t as quick as the beastmen, the boy''s skin was corroding and flaking off little by little.


    She could see patches of his flesh on his arms and face. If they didn''t take the boy out of the miasma, his body might just corrode and melt down like the other beastmen.


    "Silvy!"


    "RAAAWWWWRRRR!!!"


    She was only met with a furious roar. The aura surrounding her and Ainz was beginning to falter as time passed by. They could only continue supplying the thin aura barrier around them with more mana, but their reserves were quickly depleting.


    Ainz was already struggling. "L-Lucia...I don''t think I can keep this up..."


    "Then get out of here! I''ll handle this!"


    "A-alright...sorry Lucia, hurry up and take the brat out and calm down Silver! There''s definitely something wrong with him!"


    Lucia nodded and Ainz quickly departed from the area, he didn''t forget to look around to see if there were still some surviving beastmen. He should at least take one of them back. Now that they were all weakened and on the verge of death, he thought the least he could do was take them out.


    It wasn''t anything noble; Ainz just wanted to extract some information out of them. To his surprise, he actually found a beastman struggling to crawl out of the area. If Cecil saw who the person was, then he''d remember that the beastman was the one giving all the others orders. He was Alpha.


    Ainz walked over to him and saw that half of his face was deformed and one of his arms was severed at the elbow. Blood was pouring out of it, but it was mixed with melted flesh and bones.


    Ainz conjured a flame in his hands and singed all the wounds on his body.


    "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" The beastman raised an agonized cry and fainted.


    "Well...you deserve this, so don''t blame me."


    Ainz picked him up and wrapped aura around him as well. Then he quickly dashed out of the area, making a beeline towards the outside of the estate.


    He was able to quickly meet up with Lucius and Velicia who were dragging some of the guards out of the miasma''s area of influence.


    Ainz also saw the other Darkfang family members outside as well and he released a relieved sigh.


    "Good, everyone''s out. Wouldn''t want some of them to die a gruesome death like those beastmen..."


    Ainz quickly approached the group. He noticed that the guards were also going around the surrounding areas and residences and telling the people to flee from the dangerous miasma.


    "Ainz, you''re back! Where''re Lucia and Cecil?" Velicia asked as she was the first to notice him.


    "She''s still in there, Silver seems to have gone berserk and won''t let anyone approach Cecil...I brought this guy out of the place. We can question him later."


    Ainz threw down the beastman he was shouldering. Lucius immediately had the guards tightly restrain the unconscious beastman and they quickly took him away.


    Lucius dragged Ainz away and quietly asked, "Is something wrong with Silver? We all saw his fur suddenly change to black...then the miasma came gushing out of the inner areas of the compounds..."


    Ainz replied quietly, feeling a little worried as well, "I''m not sure, but there''s definitely something wrong with Silver. He wouldn''t even let me or Lucia approach Cecil... he was acting all hostile to anything that moves..."


    "What about Cecil? What''s happened to him?" Velicia asked.


    "He was unconscious...and the miasma was affecting him. If Lucia can''t bring Cecil out of there..."


    FWWWOOOOSSSSSHHH


    A Misty Gate suddenly appeared close to where they were, they thought that Lucia was able to successfully bring back Cecil, but it was Yuna who came out of the gate.


    "Yuna!"


    "Mhm."


    Yuna quickly took a look around. Upon noticing that her master wasn''t there, she immediately asked, "Where''s Lucia?"


    "She''s still inside the miasma...Silver''s acting all hostile and we couldn''t bring out Cecil unless we calmed him down." Ainz answered.


    "I see...I''ll do something about the miasma, but could one of you go in again and check the situation inside?"


    "I''ll go inside again, just let me recover my mana!"


    "Alright, I''ll leave it to you Ainz." After Yuna said that, she immediately rose into the air.


    Then she began chanting in ancient draconian. After a full minute of chanting, Yuna grandly waved her arms and a thick barrier of mist engulfed the surrounding area. The mist formed a dome that covered the miasma and prevented it from leaking out.


    Everyone was relieved to see this. The miasma hadn''t yet been spread to the surrounding areas, but they were already on the verge of doing so. If they couldn''t do anything about it, the miasma could affect some of the innocent people who had yet to evacuate from the area.


    Now that the mist barrier was containing the miasma, the estate''s guards could go evacuate the residents with a peace of mind while the others could go and support the defense at the walls.


    Even from here, the sounds of the battle and the roars of monsters could be heard.


    "Lucius, we should let Ainz and Yuna handle the situation here. We have to go support Eli and Fina at the walls!"


    "Right, I''ll go talk to my father and the rest. We''ll round up all of our family''s warriors and mages. I''ll leave a small portion of the guards to go patrol the area around the estate and evacuate the citizens to the middle districts."


    "Let''s hurry then!"


    The two separated from Ainz, while the boy himself sat down on the ground and began meditating. After training with Cecil and them, his mana recovery and mana control had grown exponentially. Ainz felt that he only needed 10 minutes or so to recuperate all of his mana.


    Up in the air, Yuna couldn''t help but cast a worried look into the misty barrier. Using her shared vision with Lucia, she could see that the girl was struggling to calm down the enraged Silver.


    "Tsk...He''s still young and he has no control over his power...he''s let rage take over him. Just what could have happened that''s made him so angry?"

 Chapter 222 - Man’s Best Friend

    Rollback time a little to when Cecil was first assaulted by the Empire''s Nocturne Lions'' First Fang, Silver was currently in his pet form silently observing the black clothed beastmen intruding into his master''s room.


    He sensed the people outside first placing some sort of incense burner in front of the door and using a wind magic spell to blow the smoke into the room before backing away. When the smoke had wafted into the room for a couple of seconds, Silver felt uneasy and was about to use his wind magic to blow away the smoke, but suddenly his master had awoken.


    Silver could see his master stumbling and nearly fall down onto the floor. The boy pulled out his Adamantium Sword and the intruders quickly bust open the door.


    After saying something about going along with them quietly, the beastmen started attacking his master. Silver was about to pounce out, but saw his master eyeing him.


    ''Master?''


    His master''s eyes conveyed everything. Don''t interfere. Go to Lucia, tell her to come back. That''s what Cecil''s eyes were telling him.


    Silver couldn''t understand it. His master didn''t want him to interfere, but the more he waited the more pain and torture his master was going through.


    It was obvious that there was something wrong with his master''s body. He couldn''t move it very well and he was always late to respond to attacks he normally wouldn''t have a hard time dealing with.


    Silver also sensed that the mana inside his master''s body was in total disarray. He wanted to rush out and help, but remembering what his master had told him to do, Silver waited...and waited.


    He grew angrier by the second when he saw the black clothed beastmen beating and toying with his master. They could have long since taken him away, but they didn''t. They just continued to attack Cecil and it seemed like they were saying some derisive things to him.


    His anger grew and Silver soon felt enraged. A lethal attack landed onto Cecil''s body and his blood splattered across the room. Some of the blood landed near the bed, just in front of Silver.


    The blood smelled familiar and Silver knew that it was from his master. In the next instant, it wasn''t only the blood on the ground that turned red, but everything in Silver''s vision had also turned red.


    ******


    "RROOOARR!!"


    "SILVY! SNAP OUT OF IT! CALM DOWN!"


    "GRROOOOAARRRR!"


    Lucia and Silver were currently facing off against each other. Lucia didn''t want to hurt Silver, but the enraged wolf just wouldn''t let her approach the unconscious Cecil.


    Cecil''s body was beginning to corrode as more and more of the miasma began affecting him. If this kept up, Cecil''s body might be permanently damaged or worse, he might even die.


    Thinking about this, Lucia resolved herself to attack Silver, but that resolve was immediately broken, whenever Silver let out a roar.


    Now that they were closer, Lucia could somehow make out the indiscernible message Silver was releasing with every roar. He wasn''t saying anything, but his feelings were conveyed.


    Silver was confused, scared, and angry, he didn''t know what he was doing. All he knew was that everything approaching his master was an enemy. He couldn''t even identify that the girl confronting him was actually Lucia.


    "Silvy...please, don''t make me hurt you...look at Cecil...he''s already getting hurt by you!"


    Silver still didn''t break his eyes away from the girl. He stared menacingly at her and was adamant about not letting anyone approach his master. In his mind, they''ll only hurt him.


    It was the first time Silver ever saw his master so helpless. His master was the strongest, and he always powered through everything obstructing his path.


    Silver knew that the people that had attacked his master had done something to him beforehand. That''s why his master was helpless. His rage took over and he resolved not to let anyone go near his master ever again.


    They''ll only do something underhanded to him and take advantage of his weakness to hurt him, just as the beastmen had done earlier.


    Even this fox girl in front of him...


    "Grrr...?"


    "S-Silvy? Can you hear me Silv?! Please...please stop! Everything''s okay now, you''ve defeated all the bad guys, look!"


    When Lucia saw the confusion in Silver''s eyes after she had repeatedly called out to him, she immediately tried talk to him again.


    "Look! All the bad guys are dead now! No one''s going to hurt Cecil anymore!"


    Silver''s enraged eyes looked around the area. All the black clothed people that were attacking his master and him...were all collapsed on the floor. He finally saw the melted down bodies of his enemies.


    "Grrr...raahhh..."


    "Yes, calm down, Silvy...everything''s okay now...let me take Cecil away...okay?"


    Silver turned around and walked over to Cecil. He began nudging his head.


    "..."


    Lucia slowly approached the two. Silver turned his head up to look at her. Lucia stopped immediately, but Silver didn''t lash out at her anymore. He simply lay down next to Cecil and began nudging his body again, but his master still didn''t stir awake.


    "Silvy, the miasma in the air is poisoning Cecil...let me take him away from here, alright?"


    Lucia had walked up next to Silver and began petting him. The hand that had made contact with Silver''s fur immediately began to sizzle. The aura surrounding her hand was being corroded even further from her just touching Silver.


    Lucia couldn''t help, but grimace when she saw that. ''I hope Silvy''s transformation isn''t permanent...I won''t be able to hug him anymore...''


    Lucia slowly lifted Cecil up and placed his arm over her shoulder. She turned to look at Silver, but the black wolf didn''t move. He just stayed there on the ground with his head looking at the two.


    "I''ll be back, Silvy...calm down first, okay?"


    "Grrr..."


    Lucia smiled at the wolf and she quickly dashed away from the area. Silver appeared a little lonely, just lying there in the middle of the place surrounded by the miasma and corpses.


    *******


    "Good, master''s got Cecil." Yuna mumbled and she quickly descended to the ground.


    She waited at the edge of the misty barrier for her master and Cecil to come out. She waited only for a short time before she waved her hand and opened a hole in the barrier.


    Lucia then rushed out of the opening with Cecil on her back.


    "Mas¡ªLucia! Are you two okay?"


    "Hey, Yuna...I''m alright...but Cecil and Silver..."


    "Don''t worry about Silver. He''s managed to calm down now. Give him a day or two and he''ll return to normal."


    "Really? Hoohhh...that''s a relief," Lucia said as she released a relieved sigh upon hearing that.


    "We have to make sure that no one enters the barrier, or else they''ll be exposed to Silver''s miasma."


    "Yeah, but Cecil...he was directly exposed to it...will he be okay?"


    "...I''m not sure. Normally, if someone was exposed to a Black Fenrir''s corrosive miasma, they''d quickly melt down and die. Cecil''s been in there for a while, but only his skin and small patches of his flesh was corroded. It''s a miracle, but I think he''ll be fine..."


    "That''s good...I''ll put Cecil in the care of the Darkfang family...we should go ahead and support the defense at the walls!"


    "Yes. The maddening aura is also slowly dissipating, so things will eventually calm down. However, that''ll take some time...once monsters go berserk it''s hard to stop them unless you wipe them all out..."


    "Mhm." Lucia didn''t understand what Yuna meant by the aura, but she did feel something creep into her mind earlier. It had gotten even worse when she moved closer and closer to the enraged Silver.


    The feeling was going away now, but she kind of understood the cause of the monster tide now.


    ''So it was because of Silver...those two...were they also responsible for the massacre last night?''


    She felt worried, but there had to be some reason why the two did what they did.


    ''I''ll ask Cel later when he wakes up...for now I should help the city.''


    Lucia quickly found the Darkfang family''s temporary command center. It was in the middle district''s largest marketplace. The members of the family had all moved here and they had gathered most of the evacuating citizens here.


    All the citizens had noticed the commotion already, but it was a good thing that the city''s guards that were on shift to patrol the city had acted quickly to quell the citizen''s worries.


    Now that the family''s leaders were taking direct command, the citizens were now at ease and were only waiting for the outcome of this disaster.


    "Hey...did you here? The beastmen were the cause of the monster attack and the attacks on the Darkfang family''s estate..."


    "Yeah! I heard it from one of the soldiers, apparently the Kingdom''s 2nd Princess is also on the walls defending the city and she was the one who confirmed that the beastmen were the cause!"


    "Tsk...Damn those beasts! We let them into our kingdom and territory in order to trade for all the new magi-tech that our artificers have painstakingly created... and the first thing they do is attack and send a monster tide at us, those ungrateful bastards!"


    "They''re obviously declaring war on us!"


    "Yeah!"


    "I heard that the humans were attacking them, and the Emperor was pressuring the nearby kingdoms to help out with their problem!"


    "Bah! Is this how you ask an ally to help out? By invading their country?! Screw them! I say, we attack their lands! With the humans on the front and us at the back, that''ll show those beastmen!"


    While the more hot-headed and easily provoked beastkin were calling out for war, some of the other more mild-tempered beastkin were worried that things will devolve into such a state.


    "Are you suggesting for us to go to war with them?! What about our families? Our children are the ones going off to fight them y''know!"


    "Urk..."


    "...I don''t think the kingdom will go to war, but we must seek some answers for this transgression! If our city wasn''t powerful enough...then that monster tide would have most likely wiped out everyone here!"


    "It''s a relief that we have the Princess of Victory with us!"


    "Our Kingdom''s very own princess is defending the walls! We''ll pull through this! I don''t want war, but with the princess here, the beastmen will have to provide us a satisfactory answer to this transgression!"


    The citizens weren''t sure of how large the monster tide was, but when they witnessed the large scale high ranked spell that Eli had previously used, they immediately thought that the threat was over. They still weren''t particularly worried since they all thought that the 2nd princess'' spell had wiped out the entire monster tide.


    However, to their dismay, the roars and howls of the monsters had only begun to grow more and more numerous and the sounds of battle at the walls didn''t die down, but had instead intensified. Despite all that, the citizen still weren''t all that worried since they had the Princess of Victory defending the walls for them.


    This new title that Eli had earned for herself was being circulated around the ordinary citizens and injured soldiers who had come down from the wall and bore witness to the awesome might of Elizabeth''s performance. Her entrance followed up by her Meteor Fall spell had quelled the unease that was creeping up in the citizens'' hearts due to the monster tide.


    Lucia was walking through the market place hearing all the gossip from the citizens she passed by. She couldn''t help but grimace at their words, but at the same time she felt relieved and proud of her friend.


    "Hmhm~ Eli''s got a new title huh? Princess of Victory, that sounds so cool!"


    Lucia also thought about the beastmen who were attacking Cecil and Silver earlier and couldn''t help but scoff in derisively.


    ''I''m sorry, but you beastmen are just going to have to take the blame...it''s your fault that you tried to attack Cel and enraged Silvy...''


    With that thought, Lucia quickly opened up a Misty Gate connected to the city''s ramparts.

 Chapter 223 - An Unrelenting Assault

    The monster tide continued, after Lucia had left behind Cecil in the Darkfang family''s care. She quickly used her Misty Gate and teleported to the walls.


    Yuna didn''t go with her. She instead made her way back to the Misty Barrier surrounding the Darkfang estate and monitored the situation.


    She needed to make sure that Silver had indeed calmed down and his transformation was reverting. If not, then the Darkfang family estate may turn uninhabitable as of today.


    If the miasma permeated into the earth, then it''ll turn the land into a dead zone. The barren land would begin to fester and exude poisonous miasma and anything within the land would wither and eventually die.


    "He''s calmed down alright...and the miasma''s beginning to grow thin. Good job brat...you can rest well now knowing that you''ve successfully protected your master."


    Yuna continued observing Silver through the barrier. She couldn''t help but chuckle at the fact that Silver had gone through such lengths just to keep his master, who hadn''t even formed a pact with him yet, safe.


    "Those two should really form a pact soon..."


    *****


    At the city''s ramparts, Lucia had finally arrived at the battle front. She could see the numerous monsters in the distance, but there were already some monsters that had made their way up to the ramparts and had begun engaging in a melee with the city''s guards.


    She saw Velicia constantly flickering from place to place kicking down monsters or crushing their heads in. Ainz was also doing his part keeping the soldiers safe from unexpected monster attacks.


    Lucius was directing the guards with the commander. Lucia could see Eli and Fina dealing with all the flying monsters so she quickly flashed over to their sides.


    "Eli! Fina!"


    "Lucia, you''re here! Is Cecil alright?!"


    "Yeah, he''s just fainted."


    "Okay, can you help us out here? We''ll deal with the airborne monsters. You help Velicia and the rest deal with the monsters on the ramparts!"


    "Alright."


    "By the way, where''s Yuna?"


    "She''s monitoring Silver; we don''t want him to go on a rampage again..."


    "Okay, but what happened to the beastmen? Did they all escape?"


    Lucia remembered the numerous bodies surrounding Silver and the thick poisonous miasma that could melt away the flesh and bones of the living.


    "...they''re dead...all of them."


    "..."


    Seeing the two lull in response, Elizabeth immediately quipped up.


    "We''ll continue this later! We have to quickly put an end to the monster tide! I''m nearly running out of mana now..."


    "What? Eli you take a break then! Lulu, forget the earlier arrangement. Help me out with the flying monsters until Eli''s recovered!"


    "Alright!"


    Lucia conjured numerous lava bolts in the air and began aiming them all at the aerial monsters.


    She rained a frightening storm of lava on the monsters. For a time, the aerial monsters were pushed back until not one of them could get past the city''s walls.


    Now that Lucia looked at it, the flying monsters that were able to bypass the city walls have already caused some chaos and destruction inside of the city. Numerous outer district buildings were wrecked and collapsed in a heap of rubble.


    She also saw the bodies of some citizens, soldiers, and monsters in the outer district areas near the ramparts.


    Lucia continued firing her lava storm at the airborne monsters. It didn''t take long before Fina exhausted her mana as well and she had to take break. Ainz stepped up to replace her and despite not having fully recovered, Eli took over Ainz''s duty to back up the guards.


    She mostly used her sword intent and fought with her rapier against the monsters on the city ramparts while at the same time pushing her mana recovery to its limits.


    The party continued to rotate their battles just like this and soon the sun set and they sky became dark. Even after Silver''s maddening aura had long since dispersed, the monsters in the tide had not retreated.


    They instead kept on assaulting the city in wild abandon. The Little Kings could only take turns sleeping and fighting. It was a good thing that by the end of the day, the Darkfang family had already quelled the chaos within the city and had come to reinforce the city''s defenses.


    The adventurers and mercenaries of the city were also given an emergency quest and many more people were now defending the walls against the monster tide. The guild master of the city and the mercenary guild leader had also stepped forward to take command of the adventurers and mercenaries.


    This gave Lucia and the rest the much needed breathing space to actually have a proper rest.


    The monster tide continued for another two days. It was hard to believe, but it wasn''t only the monsters from the surrounding forests that had come. Even the monsters far off in the mountains and the other territories had rushed over to assault the Darkfang territory.


    This caused the many villages and towns that were in the way of the monsters path to suffer major damages and the countless numbers of beastkin that fell or went missing were in the tens of thousands.


    Lucia paled when she heard the news come from Lucius. Silver''s aura had spread throughout the kingdom''s borders and had affected all the other territories as well. The other territories'' armies couldn''t respond to their support request because of this, but the kingdom''s army would arrive approximately tomorrow in the morning.


    This was thanks to Headmaster Elufied and Lucia''s mother, Anna, who helped set up a massive single-use one-way teleportation formation within the capital to teleport the Kingdom''s Army oveer to the Darkfang Territory. The preparations would only finish today and the activation would be held tomorrow in the morning.


    Right now, Headmaster Elufied was currently making haste towards the Darkfang territory to set up the transmit point of the formation. He already asked for the Little Kings'' help with this.


    Despite the crisis that the Kingdom was experiencing, the Orca Empire''s lands were all safe however. Only the Kingdom was facing this monster tide problem as more and more monsters made their way from their habitats over to the Darkfang Territory.


    If the people were to take a look at the situation from an outsider''s perspective, it was as if the monsters were all going on a rampaging pilgrimage to the Darkfang Territory. The villages and towns the monsters passed by were all devastated, but that was only because it was in their way.


    However, as the days passed and the monsters continued causing havoc all throughout the border territories, the beastkin grew more and more furious at the situation. Based on the info from the 2nd Princess'' report, the beastmen were the cause of the monster tide.


    At first it was limited to only the Darkfang Territory, but when they got the news of the monster activities in their regions, the beastkin took this as the Empire''s scheme to weaken the defenses of the Kingdom''s borders in order to launch an attack.


    This was also the reason why the Kingdom''s army was being sent over to the Empire-Kingdom border in full force. The King took his daughter''s words at face value and the reports of the Empire''s Nocturne Lions First Fang assaulting the Darkfang Estate and was aiming to kidnap or kill Cecil, confirmed of this even more.


    Since the Empire was playing their hand, then the Kingdom wouldn''t just sit back and let them smack them across the face. They had put up with the Empire''s constant pressuring until today and they had even agreed to open trade relations with them to circulate the new magi-tech the Kingdom had created over to the Empire.


    The Kingdom did this out of the goodness of their hearts and this is what the Empire repaid them with, a monster tide spanning the whole border territories. Well, this was literally the last straw. If they had to, the Kingdom was willing to even go to war with the Empire.


    When the Emperor heard of the news, he had nearly thrown a fit. He called back Ankhs from the border and demanded an explanation.


    ******


    Inside the Imperial Castle of the Orca Empire, inside the Emperor''s Grand Hall, a dragonewt currently bound in cuffs was being forced to kneel in front of the Emperor.


    "Didn''t We say to leave it to the First Fang?!"


    "Y-your Majesty! I, I had nothing to do with this!"


    "BULLSHIT! You had everything to do with this!"


    "My Emperor! Please don''t listen to those nasty, lying beastkin! They''re...they''re just trying to frame me! They brought this onto themselves!"


    "Hah! Do you think We will believe you?! Fool! Was it a mere coincidence that a monster tide just so happened to attack the city right when the First Fang were clearly about to complete their mission?!"


    "E-Emperor¡ª"


    "Shut your mouth! We have not finished speaking!"


    "..."


    "It matters not if this was caused by you. The fact is that the Anglaria Kingdom have already pinned the blame on Us! The Empire! Even if this was just a coincidental natural disaster, the blame has already been pushed onto the Empire!"


    "..."


    Ankhs could say nothing. He did not think that his actions had caused this. He had only hired some mercenaries and bandits to create chaos on the borders! Could it really be possible that one of those groups had stirred up something to cause this monster tide?!


    Even if they did, then how come all the monsters were only on the move to attack the Anglaria Kingdom?! It wasn''t logical, but then again, the First Fangs might have done something to cause this.


    They couldn''t ask them now since from the reports, the entire squadron was wiped out during the mission and not a single one was able to escape alive.


    It was somewhat ironic that the Empire''s choice to try and open friendly relations with the Empire had instead backfired on them. Their decision to kidnap Cecil had caused all their plans to go awry.


    Now they couldn''t get their hands on the magi-tech at all, whether it was from kidnapping Cecil, or trying to reopen trade relations with the Kingdom. Even now, the Kingdom was already sending their army over to the border to quell the monster tide.


    The Emperor had a headache thinking of this. Once the army was there...it was highly unlikely that they would soon depart. With the humans attacking their front yards and the beastkin now threatening their backyards...the Emperor couldn''t see any sort of good ending if he only half-assed his way out of this.


    "Take him to the dungeons..." He waved off the guards and they roughly held up Ankhs. The guards then brought the unfortunate dragonewt into the dungeons.


    "Hmm...We have no choice..."


    Nearby, Leonidas looked on at his Emperor. No one could tell what he was thinking.

 Chapter 224 - Aftermath

    After the meeting in regards to Ankhs'' punishment was adjourned, Leonidas walked out with a heavy look on his face.


    He sighed tiredly, "This is the worst possible scenario...Now, not only do we have to worry about the humans, we''ve got the beastkin baring their fangs at us..."


    "General Leonidas!"


    Leonidas halted his steps and looked back towards the person who had called out to him. It was the Empire''s Minister of Civil Affairs, the werewolf Incra Baltors.


    "What do you think about the Emperor''s decision?"


    "...to lock away Ankhs?"


    "Haha! You know what I mean." Incra laughed at the General''s ''joke''. "The Fangs will be in charge of the human cleanup operation while a portion of the Army will guard the Orca-Anglaria Border..."


    Leonidas sighed. "It''s not the best decision, but in our case, it''s the only proper plan of action...with the beastkin now pinning the blame on us for the monster tide, we can''t even refute them because we lack the evidence to even prove our innocence!"


    "Yes, you are correct...even if we did try to reopen negotiations with them, I did hear about the things Ankhs did at the border. Although the beastkin probably don''t know about it, but they probably already have suspicions...now this monster tide happens. Things just haven''t just haven''t been looking good for us these days."


    "Tsk...He could have done things differently!"


    "You do know that the target for his...''operation'' had killed his only nephew inside the Urrugdrasil Trials, right?"


    "So putting his own selfish interests above the collective interests of the Empire is justified?!"


    "No, I did not say that, General. What I mean is that, Ankhs did his best to create an opportunity for the First Fang to capture the target. Don''t forget that it seemed like the heavens were on our side at the time since the target had oh-so conveniently waltzed on over to the border...He wouldn''t miss this chance even if he had a sword hung above his head."


    "And that led us to here."


    "Unfortunately, the outcome is just as so."


    The two walked out of the palace and were about to board their personal carriages. Incra looked around before whispering to Leonidas, "A little birdie told me that a large black wolf had appeared in the middle of the city on the day the First Fangs made their moves."


    "Hm?"


    "It was exactly when the wolf appeared that the monster tide had suddenly sprung out from the forest. I suspect that the large wolf was the cause of the monster tide, but who knows. We can''t confirm anything now since every member of the First Fangs had died in battle."


    "...are you saying that the Kingdom''s just using this as an excuse to stop the trade relations?"


    Incra shook his head, "No, this is just mere speculation. Maybe the First Fangs really did do something to cause the monster tide...at least, that''s what all the beastkin are saying."


    Leonidas scoffed at Incra and said, "If you aren''t even sure then you''d better shut your mouth. For all we know, the First Fangs might have done something in the first place at the command of Ankhs! And besides, even if what you said was true, would it matter now? Would the beastkin even listen to us at this point?"


    Incra understood what Leonidas was getting at. Essentially, the Empire had forced the trade relations to happen. This incident was just a good way for the Anglaria Kingdom to break it off while standing on a moral high ground.


    And at this point, if the Empire did try to pin the blame on the monster, it''ll only look like they were trying to find an excuse to weasel their way out of a conflict with the beastkin.


    Incra continued, "Yes...it doesn''t matter now. All we can do is mobilizing the army to defend the borders."


    "...and the beastkin might misinterpret this as us continuing our offensive after devastating their lands with the monster tide..."


    "It''s unfortunate, but that is indeed so. Though I can''t say for sure whether the First Fang or Ankhs had actually done something, on a moral high ground we are indeed at a disadvantage..."


    "We''ve already caused some friction with the other nations because we were pressuring them, and now this..." Leonidas let out a frustrating sigh.


    He boarded his carriage and went off. Incra only stared at his receding carriage and couldn''t help, but shake his head.


    "A man too righteous for his own good...he would have made a fine Emperor if not for his brother being the crown prince..."


    ******


    Back at the Darkfang Territory of the Anglaria Kingdom, the King''s Army had already arrived. With the added forces of the kingdom''s army, the monster tide was quickly eradicated.


    After quelling the rampage at the Darkfang Territory, the army then began splitting into squadrons to eliminate the remaining monsters wreaking havoc inside of the border areas.


    With the coordination of the local lords'' armies, the entire ordeal was immediately put to rest a week later. The monsters were being systematically eliminated and the Kingdom was given but a moment''s respite.


    Garrisoning a portion of the soldiers into each territory''s main city, the King had over half of the army remain at the borders.


    It didn''t take long before news spread about the Empire''s Army showing up at the border. This had of course enraged the residents in the border territories since with the Empire''s actions, they had basically affirmed of 2nd Princess'' allegations towards the Empire.


    At the time it was merely speculation, but with the army now present, it had turned into cold hard facts. The Empire had been the cause of the monster tide. It was only but an impulsive statement on Eli''s part to rally the Darkfang Territory''s soldiers. Now however, it had become much more serious.


    During this entire time, Cecil still had not awoken. After being attacked by the beastmen and having his defenseless body exposed to Silver''s miasma, his condition neither worsened nor did it get any better.


    Speaking of Silver, the wolf had turned back into his normal self the day before the Kingdom''s army arrived. The miasma had long since dispersed and it was a good thing that the Darkfang estate hadn''t been exposed for too long to Silver''s miasma.


    Now all they had to do was rebuild the destroyed place. The estate was thoroughly broken apart, but the Kingdom had decided to compensate them for holding out against the monsters and thwarting the beastmen''s plans to kidnap Cecil.


    Eli and the rest naturally reported to the Headmaster and the King about the attempted kidnapping. However, they didn''t say a word about Silver''s black transformation. They only stated that the wolf would change into that form when it began using dark elemental magic.


    If the party did tell the truth about Silver''s transformation then the Kingdom will most likely find out that the monster tide may have not been necessarily caused by the Empire.


    *******


    "Lucia? How''s Cecil?"


    Fina walked into a temporary housing place for the Little Kings inside Darkfang City. After the monster tide defense, many of the city''s infrastructures had been severely damaged. Even some sections of the walls had been penetrated by the monsters, but fortunately, not many civilian casualties had occurred, however, the numbers of soldiers lost were numerous.


    The Little Kings couldn''t help out with the defense all day long, they too needed some rest. It was during these times when the airborne monsters went left unchecked and bypassed the city walls to head directly into the city and spread havoc among the populace.


    Most of the city''s guards were at the walls defending the city, but many of the Darkfang estate''s guards and adventurers were patrolling the city to eliminate the numerous aerial monsters that flew past the walls.


    However, there were too little of them so casualties were bound to pile up. It was only when the Little Kings rejoined the defense that the situation improved a bit. With a party of Mana Core Stage experts, the pressure on the defense lightened up a little.


    Lucia looked up at the girl who had just entered the room and said in reply.


    "He''s okay, still asleep however. I had mom check up on him and she said that Cel''s mind had been poisoned and that''s why he''s taking a little bit longer to recover...the poison had mostly dissipated so he should wake up in a day or so..."


    "His mind was poisoned? Lucia, don''t tell me..."


    "No, it''s not because of Silvy...Mom said that she also found something else other than the poison. Some sort of disarray in his mind that caused his mana to go out of control when he tried to exert control over it..."


    "Then...those beastmen did something to him before Silver''s miasma got to him?"


    "Yeah...the miasma only made it worse, but he''s already recovering! Mom already said so there''s no need to worry!"


    "Alright..."


    "By the way, where are the others?"


    After the defense against the monster tide, Lucia had stuck close to Cecil within the infirmary ever since and she had only seen her friends, other than Fina and Yuna, visit only once.


    "Ainz and Eli have gone out to help the Kingdom''s army with the monster cleanup and haven''t come back yet. However, Eli did call me to tell you that if Cecil has already awoken, we should head back to the capital first if they haven''t made it back yet."


    "...okay. Then the others?"


    "Velicia and Lucius are helping out with the territory''s repairs and cleanup, Yuna and Silver were together earlier, but the two went off somewhere." Fina said in reply.


    "Did Lucius and Veli say anything?"


    "Same as Ainz and Eli, head back to the capital once Cecil''s awoken if they take too long to regroup with us."


    "Alright..."


    Lucia gripped tightly onto Cecil''s hand. He was obviously still breathing, but...his body felt eerily cold.

 Chapter 225 - Bad News

    Even after half a month, Cecil still hadn''t awoken from his coma. It was odd that considering all the blessings that he acquired from the World Tree, something like this was happening to him.


    When Anna received news of the grievous condition his foster son was in from her daughter, she immediately came over to check up and monitor his condition.


    After all, she knew about the boy''s constitution more than anyone else and she already deduced the cause of his coma.


    His injuries on the outside weren''t anything too severe but inside, the disorder in his mana flow was causing major problems to his body.


    The beastmen''s concoction that sent his mana flow into disorder proved to be much more deadly than it seemed for the boy. Unlike a normal person''s body, where their mana would only flow inside their Mana Point and Mana Pathways, Cecil''s mana flowed throughout his entire body.


    It permeated his very being. Every cell, organ, tissue, and muscle was filled with mana. When this very mana was sent into disorder and was chaotically flowing throughout his body, it caused many problems for him. The rampaging mana was damaging his organs and it impacted his heart and brain the most.


    To add insult to injury, the miasma that Silver had exuded from his body which he was exposed to further worsened his condition.


    Anna and some other physicians had long since noticed that Cecil was seemingly poisoned by something very potent.


    They deduced that it must have been the black miasma that had appeared inside the Darkfang Estate during the beastmen''s assault on the city.


    Only the Little Kings knew about the real origin of the miasma, but everyone else attributed the source and cause of the sinister miasma as the beastmen''s concoction and plot to ruin the kingdom''s lands.


    It was a good thing that Yuna had stopped the proliferation of the miasma, but if everyone knew about the real source of the miasma, then it''ll cause many problems for both Cecil and Silver.


    This was the reason why the Little Kings didn''t disclose any information about this even when they knew the truth.


    In a way, it was because of the beastmen that Silver even transformed into his blackened self and began exuding the miasma, so conveniently, it was their fault anyway.


    *****


    "Muhhh..." A rabbitkin girl grumbled in annoyance as she struck down a monster.


    "Something wrong, Serilla?" Zephyr asked when she noticed the girl''s annoyed expression.


    "...why am I here?"


    Zephyr looked around at the battlefield full of monsters and soldiers, he awkwardly scratched his head and answered.


    "Well...isn''t it obvious that you''re here to help the Kingdom with the monster extermination?"


    "Tsk..."


    His reply only earned him an annoyed response.


    "I heard he''s still in a coma..." Serilla said sadly.


    Zephyr felt pained when she saw Serilla''s expression. "...You should go then..."


    "Hm?"


    "Go, it''s not far from where we are anyway. You could easily get there eas¨C"


    "Serilla!" A voice cut off Zephyr from continuing his words.


    Serilla and Zephyr turned towards the source of the voice and saw Elizabeth and the rest of Little Kings rushing over in a panic.


    "Oh hey guys! What''s up?"


    "C-come with us! Q-quickly!" Eli grabbed onto Serilla''s hand, she also eyed her brother and grabbed onto his hand as well. Yuna who was at the back quickly opened up a Misty Gate. Once the gate fully materialized everyone hurried through.


    *****


    Back in the Darkfang Territory, Lucia was currently sitting down on a bench just outside of Cecil''s room.


    Just a moment ago, the inside of the room was bustling with activity as numerous beastkin doctors and nurses came in and out of the room in a hurry.


    Even Anna was inside just a moment ago, but now she was sitting next to her daughter.


    A Misty Gate opened up next to the two and out walked the Little Kings alongside Serilla and Zephyr.


    "Ah...you''re all here..." Lucia said when she saw everyone.


    They wanted to respond, but couldn''t help notice the heavy feeling hanging in the air.


    "..."


    Everyone remained silent and only Serilla replied to her. However, she couldn''t help but notice Lucia''s despondence.


    "W-what''s wrong, Lucia? Where''s our darling?"


    Lucia stood up and grabbed Serilla''s hand and walked her into the room. In the next instant, two girls'' sobbing could be heard from inside...it was loud enough that people outside could hear them.


    Serilla was sobbing the loudest, but this was because Lucia already had her fill of tears.


    "N-no way...is he dead?!" Zephyr exclaimed in complete disbelief. Even the rest Little Kings were shocked when they heard him. They didn''t want to believe it, but with Serilla and Lucia crying like that...


    They did receive some bad news from Lucia, but they didn''t think it was this serious. Everyone quickly rushed into the room and saw the two girls crying next to Cecil''s bedside.


    Anna walked inside in the next moment and said sadly, "He''s not ''dead''...but you could say he died...FROM LAUGHTER BECAUSE THIS IS JUST AND APRIL FOOLS CHAPTER! WAHAHAHAHAH~"

 Chapter 226 - Awake

    It took Cecil over half a month to wake up from his coma. It was odd that considering all the blessings that he acquired from the World Tree that something like this happened to him.


    His injuries weren''t anything too severe as well. There was only a disorder in his mana flow, but that surely couldn''t have caused him to stay unconscious for that long, right?


    The problem was likely the miasma that Silver had exuded from his body. Anna and some other physicians had noticed that Cecil was seemingly poisoned by something very potent and judging from the reports that people gave about the situation, it was because of the black miasma that was proliferating during the battle between the beastmen and Silver.


    Only the Little Kings knew about the origin of the miasma, but none of them wanted to disclose that information. It might cause problems not only for Silver, but for Cecil as well.


    That Black-form of Silver''s was something new to them and no one knew what it meant. It was only until Yuna explained the exact species of what Silver was that everyone finally understood.


    Silver was a Fenrir, a legendary, ancient-level monster that was thought to be extinct. Moreover, he was a variant that had both the light and dark sides of the legendary Fenrir.


    Once the Little Kings heard about this tidbit of info from Yuna, they all decided to keep silent about Silver. They could now affirm that the wolf was indeed the cause of the monster tide, but his transformation was induced by the beastmen''s assault on Cecil, his master.


    So in a way, it was still the beastmen''s fault that any of this happened. So Eli''s ''fortunate'' misunderstanding when she declared that the beastmen were the cause of the monster tide was not wrong.


    *****


    "Muhhh..." A rabbitkin girl grumbled in annoyance as she struck down a monster.


    "Something wrong, Serilla?" Zephyr asked when she noticed the girl''s annoyed expression.


    "...why am I here?"


    Zephyr looked around at the battlefield full of monsters and soldiers, he awkwardly scratched his head and answered.


    "Well...isn''t it obvious that you''re here to help the Kingdom with the monster extermination?"


    "Tsk..."


    His reply only earned him an annoyed response.


    "...look, I know you want to be by your beloved''s side...but this also takes priority, right?"


    "I heard...that he was almost abducted..."


    "Y-yeah, but¡ª"


    "Cheh!" Serilla very audibly expressed her dissatisfaction. She was here in the field exterminating monsters, while Cecil was still in a coma. She wanted to rush over to his side right away and take care of the boy.


    She did receive news from Eli who was also out in the field exterminating monsters that Lucia was currently taking care of the boy so Serilla thought that it was unfair that only Lucia was there next to him.


    Serilla went back to monotonously striking down the monsters around her. The Kingdom''s soldiers were all around doing the extermination as well, but the Headmaster had called for an immediate mobilization of the Academy''s students.


    It was a good chance for everyone to finally experience some combat and with the army being there, the students'' safety were all but ensured.


    Zephyr could only scratch his head when he saw the way Serilla was acting. He decided to open his mouth to help out his longtime friend.


    "Y''know what, I''ll take care of this area...why don''t you move over to the Darkfang Territory and take care of the situation there, Seri?"


    Serilla''s deflated rabbit ears immediately perked up when she heard this.


    "Really, Zeph?! I can go?!"


    "S-sure..." Seeing the enthusiasm the girl expressed, Zephyr could no longer take back his words.


    "Alright! I''m off then!!!"


    "...and there she goes..." Zephyr saw off his friend. It wasn''t even a minute after he gave his approval, but the girl was already disappearing off into the distance on horseback.


    "Phew...let''s go and clean this place up...this''ll help my image as the future King...but to think that the beastmen actually did all this just to abduct Cecil? What are they even thinking?"


    "You said it...they should at least be satisfied that we even bothered to open trade relations with them~" A young boy''s voice echoed from behind Zephyr.


    "Oh! It''s you Alex, you done already?"


    "More or less, since I happened to see our President give permission to a certain someone to leave this place to him, I thought I''d come and help out~" The tigerkin smiled in response.


    "Let''s clear this place up then."


    "Ouh!"


    *****


    Back in the Darkfang Territory, Cecil had finally awoken from his long sleep. He felt a little lethargic, but after a full cycle of his mana and ki, it quickly disappeared.


    "Shit...what happened?"


    He felt like he had a long dream... but he couldn''t remember what it was about though. Cecil checked his body''s condition and couldn''t help but notice that he was wrapped up in gauze and bandages.


    "The mana disorder in my body has disappeared...but who have thought it''d be enough to make me faint...I should stay more wary of the weird inventions those beastmen created..."


    It turns out that Mana Disorder was much more severe for him. For normal people, having a Mana Disorder would only cause the person to have trouble circulating their mana and they''d have a slight discomfort biting at their minds.


    But for Cecil whose mana permeated his entire being, it caused severe effects on him. He felt faint throughout his entire fight against the black clothed beastmen and he couldn''t even control his body properly. His senses were also disorientated and he felt his very own mana injuring him as it rampaged around inside his body.


    With his mana flow disrupted, even his Ki flow was disrupted as well and that further injured his body. Most of the injuries during his fight weren''t even caused by the beastmen''s attacks, but it was due to his own mana and ki.


    "Shit...this is scary...to think that the power I desperately cultivated for so long actually came to bite me in the ass..."


    ''Good thing I discovered this beforehand...if this happened during a fight...I''d probably die, I bet those beastmen didn''t think the potency of whatever drug they created against me would be so effective.''


    Cecil got out of the bed and began moving his body around.


    "...I should hurry and leave the continent...it''s getting too dangerous for me to hang around now with people targeting me..." He mumbled.


    *CRASH*


    "Huh?!"


    Cecil immediately turned around when he heard the sounds of something breaking. He saw Lucia standing there by the bedside with a dropped tray on the floor in front of her. He walked over to the girl and began picking up the shattered cups and bowls that she had dropped alongside the tray.


    "Geez, please be a little more careful! These look pretty expensive..." Cecil said as he cleaned them up.


    "C-Cel...you''re awake!"


    "Huh? Well, obviously?"


    Lucia immediately threw herself onto the boy and Cecil caught her.


    "W-woah! Careful! I''m still holding onto these broken shards!"


    "You''re finally awake!"


    Hearing her words, Cecil felt a little odd. ''Finally, awake?''


    "H-hey...Lulu...how long was I out?"


    "O-over half a month, it would have been the 18th day today if you still didn''t wake up!"


    "...what?"


    "A-after the beastmen attacked you and Silver stepped up to defend you, you fell unconscious after that...a-a monster wave attacked the city so we had to¡ª"


    "W-woah, woah, explain it to me slowly...what happened after I was knocked out?"


    Lucia immediately began explaining what had transpired after Cecil fell unconscious. Silver became big and he also transformed into black furred Silver and repelled the beastmen abductors, then about the monster tide and the Kingdom and Empire''s response.


    "Th-that much happened?!"


    "Yeah..."


    "Phew...I missed out on so much interesting stuff..."


    "I-interesting?! INTERESTING?!" Lucia immediately began roaring when she heard Cecil''s response.


    "W-woah, calm down, Lulu..."


    "Interesting, huh?! Interesting how you almost got abducted?! Interesting that we all nearly died because of the monster tide?! Interesting that¡ª"


    "O-okay! Sorry, sorry..." Cecil immediately hugged the girl and she could only protest in her muffled voice after being pulled into Cecil''s embrace.


    "Sniff..."


    "Lulu?"


    "It''s not interesting or funny at all...if something went wrong, then you''d probably be in the hands of the Empire right now..."


    "Y-yeah...sorry about that...it was pretty thoughtless of me..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two stayed quiet like that for a bit. Until a small cough suddenly broke the silence.


    "Ahem..."


    "!"


    "Woah!"


    Cecil and Lucia immediately snapped their attention towards the door. The rest of Little Kings were standing there witnessing the two''s intimate moment. Fina and Eli smirked meaningfully and began teasing.


    "So, he''s finally not chickening out~"


    "Hihihi~ that''s good for you, Lulu!"


    "No Cecil...th-that''s hell you''re walking into!" Ainz said jokingly.


    "Shut up, Ainz!"


    Ainz was launched away by a kick to the gut from both Eli and Fina. Everyone was glad to see that their party leader was finally awake. Silver came up from behind the party and trotted over to Cecil''s feet.


    "Hey, Silv...thanks for the help!"


    Cecil picked him up and placed him on top of his head. Silver only let out a small growl in response before closing his eyes and falling asleep.


    His master was safe now, so all was good.


    Yuna walked forward and said, "Cecil...I think we need to discuss about what we''re going to do with...Silver..."


    "Hm?"


    "As I thought...you don''t know what he actually is..."

 Chapter 227 - What Happened?

    Fenrir, an ancient creature thought to be extinct in Alterna. They are massive wolves that have either black or white fur.


    If a Fenrir had white fur, then it meant that the wolf was aligned towards the good or lawful side. They were symbols of victory and hope. They also served as protectors to one particular ancient kingdom.


    Fenrirs that have black fur were symbols of chaos and destruction, they weren''t inherently violent or anything, but compared to their white furred counterparts, they tended to be more cruel and bloodthirsty once provoked. They''d normally behave just like any other white furred Fenrir, but once provoked their bloodthirsty nature immediately awakens and they''ll wrought everything around them with chaos and destruction.


    White Fenrirs have lightning and wind type elemental attributes and they could use all forms of magic pertaining to those two elements. Black Fenrirs have Dark elemental attributes and could use spells aligned with this element. They could also use Soul Magic to some degree.


    Black Fenrirs also have a poison and corruption attribute that they unintentionally leak out which causes the land around them to wither and die.


    A Black Fenrir''s Soul Magic could also let them control or bring out the bloodthirsty nature of the monsters around them.


    Once Cecil heard about this explanation from Yuna, he turned up to look at Silver who was napping on top of his head.


    "So...Silver''s a Fenrir?"


    "Yes, but he''s not just your ordinary Fenrir...he''s one of the rare hybrids that are able to freely transition between White and Black. They''re called Astral Fenrirs."


    "Woah! That''s a pretty cool name~"


    "Stop joking around...this is serious...Silver''s still a child and he''s got absolutely NO control over his powers...he nearly wiped out this Kingdom''s border territory in his rage!"


    "Wh-what?"


    "I did tell you earlier that Black Fenrirs can use Soul Magic right? They can control the minds of the monsters around them or make them go wild and bloodthirsty..."


    "Don''t tell me..."


    "When he first transformed, he began howling madly into the air, but what Silver didn''t know was that he was subconsciously mixing in Soul Magic with his roars and that caused the monsters in the border regions to riot and gather together where he was at."


    "..."


    "He caused the monster ti¡ª"


    "Does anyone else know about this?"


    Cecil immediately cut Yuna off and asked everyone else who was in the room. His party members only shook their heads. None of them had bothered to report this to anyone and they all kept it to themselves.


    "Good..."


    Eli looked at him and shrugged.


    "Don''t worry, we won''t say anything. Besides, we found a decent scapegoat~"


    "Who?"


    "The Empire''s taking the entire fault for the monster tide!"


    "Why?"


    "...Ehehehe..."


    Eli began laughing nervously at Cecil''s question. Fina was the one who explained it to him.


    "It''s because Eli made a rather ''convenient'' mistake and shouted out that the beastmen were the ones who caused the monster tide."


    "What? Why?"


    "Because right when the monster tide came, the beastmen who were attacking you and Silver were misunderstood as the culprits...just imagine, when the city''s being attacked by the beastmen, then all of a sudden a monster tide ensues..."


    Cecil immediately understood what she was getting at.


    "The beastmen''s assault was pre-mediated and they had planned to distract the city''s guards with the monster tide while they were attacking the Darkfang Family''s Estate.


    "Exactly... Technically it was only a misunderstanding, but it''s pretty convenient for us, right?"


    "Right...nice going Eli," Cecil gave a thumbs up to the girl.


    Elizabeth only smiled awkwardly at Cecil''s praise. It wasn''t like she wanted to do it. Look at the situation now, the already strained relationship the Kingdom and Empire had was now at a boiling point where the Kingdom might just launch an attack on the Empire''s borders.


    "There''s also an update...the Empire''s Army was spotted garrisoning in various border territory cities just a couple of days ago. This strengthens the misunderstanding even further. Why would the Empire''s Army be at the border if they hadn''t planned to launch an attack while the Kingdom was still recuperating from the losses?" Ainz said.


    Cecil understood this as well, but...


    "Even with that, couldn''t the act also be seen as an attempt to ensure their safety since the Kingdom might attack them? Also, it might just be a precautionary action to defend against a monster tide in case another one followed and it was aimed at their territory..."


    "The second reason is plausible, but first and foremost, they should have sent an ambassador or someone to clear up the situation if things were indeed a misunderstanding and those beastmen who assaulted the Darkfang Estate were only a bunch of rogues trying further ruin our already fragile relationship..."


    "You mean they didn''t?"


    "Nope, they just sent the army to the border... funny, right?" Ainz derisively added.


    "...They didn''t even try to deny the accusations...that means those beastmen were really a part of the Empire''s forces...they seemed pretty well-coordinated, not to mention those weird tools they used..."


    "Speaking of that...what happened to you? Other than the corroded wounds on your body caused by Silver''s miasma...we also found traces of bruises, cuts, and gouges on your body...were you beaten up by those beastmen?"


    Cecil didn''t know where to begin. It was indeed a little humiliating for him to explain, but he felt that he should.


    "They...drugged me, I guess."


    "Drugged you?"


    "Yeah, they put some sort of incense into the room that disrupted my mana flow and made me experience Mana Disorder..."


    "Huh? Only...that? Hey brat, Mana Disorder only makes you feel a little nauseous and tipsy! Sure, you can''t use your mana for a while, but you''ve still got your martial arts, right? So how were you beaten up so badly then?"


    "That''s the thing...what I experienced was indeed Mana Disorder, but it''s like...it was amplified a hundred, no¡ªa thousand times over! I seriously couldn''t move how I wanted to, I felt disorientated, confused, and my senses were all over the place, one minute they were dulled in the next they were amplified a hundred or a thousand folds, my response and movements were also lagging and I seriously couldn''t control my body at all..."


    "Huh?"


    Everyone was bewildered when they heard his explanation. Mana Disorder wasn''t supposed to be that severe...you''d only feel a little drunk and be incapable of using Mana for a minute or two.


    It wasn''t supposed to do all the things that Cecil had experienced, so how was he different?


    "Cel...it''s probably that..." Lucia spoke up.


    "Huh?"


    "Y''know...you have it ''everywhere''..."


    With her emphasizing like that, Cecil immediately understood. Unlike a normal person, Cecil''s mana wasn''t only located inside his Mana Point near his navel, but instead it was present all throughout his body.


    Unlike what normal people experiences, Cecil would instead feel like his entire body was unresponsive to his commands and his senses would be in total disarray.


    It''s like if a person had enhanced smelling and you placed them in the middle of a very smelly environment, then that enhanced sense of smell would no longer be a perk, but instead a disadvantage.


    "Damn...this is one large upset..."


    No one else understood what the two were talking about, but seeing how grim Cecil''s expression had become, they didn''t know how to respond.


    "Shit...I have to fix this..."


    "No rush Cel!"


    "What do you mean NO RUSH?!"


    Cecil snapped back at Lucia and she was shocked.


    "I-I..."


    "...sorry," Cecil apologized.


    He turned to his friends who were also shocked at his anger. The party never actually saw him being angry at anyone, except maybe for Fina, but it shocked them that Cecil had actually snapped at Lucia for no reason.


    "Sorry guys, thanks for visiting. I''ll go out and stretch for a bit, haha~" Cecil said before he vanished from the room.


    Lucia was still there on the bed where she was sitting next to him. Once Cecil disappeared, tears began to drop from Lucia''s eyes.


    "W-woah?! Brat?!"


    "Lulu?!"


    "Eh?"


    Lucia immediately began to wipe her eyes, but the tears wouldn''t stop.


    "S-sorry..."


    It was the first time that Cecil had ever been seriously angry with her and she felt scared.


    "I-I''ll return to my room now!" Lucia made a fl.u.s.tered escape. She quickly opened a Misty Gate and jumped right in.


    "W-wait, Lucia!" Yuna called out, but the Misty Gate had already closed before she could chase after her.


    "...what the hell?"


    "..."


    "I don''t know what happened...but it was totally Cecil''s fault..." Velicia said with a frown.


    "Uhm...let''s not jump to conclusions, okay? Cecil had that scary expression before and it seemed pretty serious..." Fina replied.


    "Yeah, but that didn''t mean he could just snap at Lucia like that?! She was probably only trying to console him or something?!"


    "..."

 Chapter 227 - Leaving

    Cecil was currently with Silver at the top of the Darkfang Estate''s tallest building''s rooftop...or what was left of it.


    There was still no one here since nobody was sure whether or not the miasma from Silver had fully dissipated or not. Yuna had already confirmed that everything was fine, but the Darkfangs wanted to take some precautionary measures and decided to wait for another week before moving back and rebuilding their Estate.


    "The place turned into a pile of ruins..."


    "Wafu!"


    ''What''re you doing Master? Mistress was obviously trying to console you, but you snapped back like a moron!''


    "What''s that Silv?! I''m a moron?!"


    Silver responded with a nod.


    For some reason, after having woken up, Cecil was able to understand what Silver was saying despite him just barking. This was probably the Soul magic of the Black Fenrirs that Yuna had explained about earlier.


    "Yeah...I''m a moron...I think I made her cry too..."


    "Wafu!"


    ''Total moron! Now, Master moron, go and cheer up your beloved!''


    "..."


    "Wafu?"


    ''What''s taking so long, Master Moron? Go! Time''s a-wasting!''


    "...I preferred it when I didn''t understand you."


    "Wafu!"


    "I know! I''ll get going...but...shit...I know it was my fault...but was afraid y''know...I''ve never felt so powerless, I couldn''t do shit and I was literally dancing in the palm of their hands..."


    Cecil paused for a moment.


    "I have to resolve this shitty condition my body''s in... My only answer lies with the Ki I have...I''m sure if I strengthen my Ki, my body will strengthen to the point where I can ignore this stupid Mana Disorder."


    "Wafu!"


    "Okay! I''ll go!"


    "Wafu!"


    Silver gave a final bark in satisfaction before he began napping again on top of Cecil''s head. Cecil spread his Mana Sense and found Lucia back in the building where he had awoken from.


    She was in a different room with her head buried inside her sheets.


    "Oh shit...I really did make her cry..."


    Cecil immediately used Nature''s Shift and teleported in front of Lucia''s room. He hesitated a little before knocking.


    "Lucia?"


    Cecil could hear the girl fall out of her bed and stumble towards the door and opened it. Lucia only popped half of her head out and asked with the brightest voice she could muster.


    "W-what''s wrong Cecil?"


    "..."


    ''She called me Cecil...''


    The boy immediately pushed opened the door. Lucia stumbled back and Cecil walked in. He closed the door shut and picked Lucia up in a princess carry.


    "Eh?!"


    Cecil flashed towards the bed and laid her down before he also plopped down beside her.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two remained quiet for a bit, and ultimately, it was Cecil who spoke up first.


    "Sorry...for yelling at you..."


    "Huh? N-no...i-it''s my fault...I...I didn''t think before I said something so thoughtless..."


    "...Yup, that was your fault, alright..."


    "H-huh?!" Lucia was expecting Cecil to forgive her, but...his response caused her to tear up again.


    "Don''t cry...I was really scared at that time, when I was facing them. I couldn''t do anything for the first time in my life and it freaked me out..."


    "...sniff..."


    "That''s why next time...please don''t go punching me and running off somewhere..."


    Cecil said and hugged her.


    "S-sorry...If I was there..."


    "Don''t worry about it...I''ll do something about this stupid Mana Disorder...Didn''t think my biggest asset would also become my biggest weakness..."


    Lucia grabbed onto Cecil tighter and said, "I promise I''ll stop hitting you and running away..."


    "Hm? Well...that''s good...y''know it really hurts when you do~"


    "It''s supposed to, idiot..."


    Cecil smiled hearing this...then he spoke up about his plans.


    "Lulu...I plan on leaving Urrugdrasil and head over to Midgard..."


    "Huh? Oh...it''s that time huh..."


    "Wuh?"


    "Well...our stop at the Academy was only temporary, remember? You''re the one who said you wanted to take me on a journey around the world to search for your parents..."


    "Ahaha~ I almost forgot!"


    "...Idiot..."


    Cecil smiled and he began stroking Lucia''s hair and ears.


    Lucia hummed in delight and asked, "...Are we telling the others?"


    "...I''m not sure...but I don''t think we should."


    "When are we leaving?"


    "Before the end of the year...early Enduar..."


    "How''ll we get over there?"


    "We''ll cross into the Empire and you disguise us as beastmen, then we''ll try and find those invading humans and hitch a ride over to Midgard."


    Cecil made a small oversight and this concerned Lucia.


    "Okay...but...will the humans still even be there?"


    "Ah! You''re right...Looks like we''ll have to make our move pretty soon..."


    "Y-yeah..."


    Lucia faltered a little.


    "What''s wrong? You don''t want to come?"


    "No, it''s not that...but what about Seri?"


    "What about her?"


    "Are we...gonna bring her?"


    Cecil was a little puzzled at the question.


    "What do you mean? Haven''t you always wanted me to yourself?"


    "Of course I do! But...I feel like I might have cheated if we just left without telling anyone..."


    "...In my opinion, I think I''ll be able to wholeheartedly love you...but if we have to take Serilla with us...I don''t want to hurt her by acting half-heartedly..."


    "...you can''t love both of us?"


    "Sorry, but I don''t think I can..."


    "..."


    Cecil was a little put on the spot there. Serilla was a kind and honest girl and if Cecil hadn''t met Lucia he would probably have fallen for her instead, but then again, this depended on whether or not the two would even meet in the first place.


    Actually, if he hadn''t met Lucia then he wouldn''t even have any thoughts of going to the Academy and ever meeting any of his current friends. It pained him to think that he''d just up and leave all of a sudden without informing them...but he had to continue his journey.


    Staying in one place for so long wasn''t his style, especially since he''s already got an objective he wanted to fulfill and he''s practically gained all he could from the Magic Academy. Anything else was for him to pioneer and explore.


    The limits of Magic and Mana weren''t visible to Cecil and he knew that magic could do much more than what it could currently do. He''d have to research all this, but that would take time. He also didn''t have carry it out while in the Academy and he could just do it while out traveling the world.


    "...Lulu...let''s leave...tonight."


    "Huh?! A-aren''t you being a little too hasty there, Cel?"


    "Ahahahaha...yeah, I know...let''s round up the guys and tell them. We''re about to graduate from being 1st years anyways and I don''t see what else we could learn from the Academy at this point...isn''t it about time we continued our journey?"


    "Y-yeah...but..."


    "Remember Lulu, I didn''t start out on this journey just to settle down somewhere in the capital...we made friends and had a blast with them...but it''s about time we get moving."


    "...Okay..."


    Seeing her saddened face, Cecil smiled and said, "If you want to stay behind, Silver and I can go ahead on our own¡ªmmph?"


    Lucia immediately covered his mouth and glared at him reproachfully.


    "Don''t you dare say that..."


    "Mhhmm..."


    ******


    "You''re leaving?!" Ainz burst out in shock.


    "W-wait! Please Cecil...if it''s because of the kingdom then let''s talk about this!"


    "Y-yeah! I''m sorry that I dragged you all the way out here! Because of me...you had to go through all that..."


    Eli and Lucius immediately followed up. The abrupt news about their departure had totally shaken the other members of Little Kings.


    Cecil had gathered his party together alongside Lucius and told them about his and Lucia''s plans to leave the kingdom. He had only begun talking and his friends had immediately begun to panic.


    "Calm down~ let me explain, alright?"


    Once he made sure that everyone was listening, Cecil explained his and Lucia''s circ.u.mstances. Why they started out on their journey and that their stay at the capital while attending the Academy was only temporary.


    "S-so you''re saying...you only came to the Academy... out of curiosity?"


    "Yeah, but since we''re about to be second years now, I thought it''d be best to leave now...especially since we''re already at the border!"


    "But...can''t you wait until graduation Cecil?" Fina asked with obvious sadness dyeing her voice.


    "...Sorry, Fina..." Lucia was the one who replied.


    "Isn''t this just a little too sudden? I mean...we only became friends and...and..."


    "..."


    "...So the brat is looking for his parents...phew, I can''t ask you guys to stay when you give me that as a reason...but why are YOU going, Lucia?" Ainz asked.


    "Hm? Isn''t it obvious?"


    "?"


    "It''s because I''m supposed to! And this idiot would be helpless without me while on the road!" She answered as a matter-of-factly.


    Everyone chuckled a little at her words, but the downtrodden atmosphere still didn''t dissipate from the room.


    "Well, I''m really sorry to break it to you guys like this...but don''t get me wrong, it''s not like I''m fed up with the Kingdom or anything because of recent events...I just thought it was the best time...since the humans are still on the continent, I just had the idea that it''d be great if we can hitch a ride over to Midgard using them..."


    Everyone in the room except Lucia looked at Cecil like he was some big idiot.


    "...hitch a ride?"


    "...are you going to purposefully let yourself be enslaved Cecil?"


    "Think about Lucia you idiot!!! Do you know what those slave traders would do to her?!" Fina yelled angrily.


    "Hahaha~ woah, woah~ Calm down there everyone..."


    Fina was still fuming while Velicia and Eli glared furiously at Cecil.


    "Tsk...Idiot, let me explain." Lucia immediately interjected and took over.


    She snapped her fingers and in the next instant, Cecil''s beastkin features began disappearing and he returned to his original human self.


    "A...A human?!"

 Chapter 228 - I’m Coming With You!

    "Cecil''s a human?!" Fina exclaimed in shock.


    Everyone was shocked. Even Cecil was shocked! He didn''t expect Lucia to suddenly reveal his secret to everyone like that!


    Just as he was about to ask the girl for an explanation, Cecil turned to face her and noticed a beautiful silver haired human girl looking straight back at him.


    "...what?"


    Now everyone was flabbergasted. Cecil and Lucia were both...humans?!


    "Wh-what the hell?!"


    "What''s the meaning of this, you two are actually humans?!"


    "You''re both humans?!"


    Their friends immediately began to panic and jump at them, demanding explanations.


    "We''re NOT humans...it''s just my illusion magic...or what Cecil says, Transformation Magic."


    The unfamiliar words caused everyone to be confused. Even Yuna, who was tied with a pact to Lucia, was surprised to hear of this.


    "W-wait...Transformation...Magic?"


    "Yeah, it''s a bloodline magic that came from my mother''s side...most likely..."


    "Most likely?"


    "My mom''s good at illusion magic as well. It''s just that, doing what I can," Lucia pointed at herself and Cecil, "She can''t do."


    "O-okay?"


    "...what the heck..."


    "Look, I can even transform you guys as well~" Lucia snapped her fingers and everyone in the room transformed into human counterparts of themselves.


    Lucius and Velicia lost their fur, tail, and ears and were now just white and black haired humans. Fina lost all her blue fins, rainbow scales, and the unique long ears she had similar to the elves were also gone and were replaced with normal human ears.


    Ainz and Eli lost their red scales and horns. Eli''s tail and wings had also disappeared and she almost fell on her butt when she lost her balance. It was a good thing that Ainz was there to catch her before she fell.


    "W-woah, you okay Eli?"


    "Y-yeah...thanks...Ainz?"


    "Woah...what the hell?! Where''re your horns?! Your wings and tail as well?!"


    Everyone was reveling in their human appearances and turned towards the girl who caused all this.


    "W-wow...this is amazing Lucia! I...I''m basically a human now, aren''t I?"


    Cecil chuckled at everyone, it was sure as heck fascinating, but what kind of human would have their eye color and hair colors?


    "Hahaha~ you guys would sure as heck pass off as humans! But, I don''t think there are humans out there with our...unique hair colors... Well, I guess mine and Veli''s are pretty common since its black...but red, blue, and white? Hahaha~ I don''t think so!"


    Actually, it wasn''t all that uncommon for humans to have their hair colors, but what Cecil meant by red, wasn''t actually just red. Eli and Ainz''s hair were indeed red, but near the ends of their hair was a little orange and yellow color. It was like they had literal flames as their hair or something.


    Fina''s was even more ridiculous. Her blue was practically every shade of light blue, blue, and violet you could imagine. Despite all that, Cecil thought it was really beautiful.


    Then there was Lucius and Lucia...their ''white'' wasn''t literally snow or paper white, but more like the white you would find from an elderly person''s hair color. It was totally unnatural for teenagers at their age. If it was a platinum blonde or some very, very light shade of blonde then they could pass it up as a part of their genetics, but not this.


    "Well, okay then...we know that you have disguises for going over to the human continent...I won''t have to worry about you guys crossing over to the Orca Empire since Lucia can just transform you two into beastmen...but how exactly are you going to ''hitch'' a ride to the Midgard continent?" Eli asked.


    It seemed that she had already come to terms with it. No matter how they try to persuade their two friends, they wouldn''t be able to change their minds.


    "I''m still against you guys leaving...I just made two good friends...and now you''re going to be leaving like this....but...It''s not like I can stop you two..." Fina dejectedly said.


    "I''m sorry, Fina..."


    "If you''re sorry Cecil, then don''t leave!"


    "Ahahaha~ sorry, not happening~"


    "Tch...It was worth a try...Hmph..."


    Cecil smirked at her and Fina began pouting. Seeing her like this, everyone in the room was suddenly healed. A pouting Fina was a cute Fina.


    "Anyways, we plan on crossing over to the Empire and ''hunt'' the humans as a pretext to find them. Once we''ve made contact, we''ll blend in with the humans and make our way to the Midgard continent when they retreat."


    "O-okay..."


    "A pretty solid plan...I can see why you guys wanna leave now...if you wait too long, then the humans might have all retreated back to the Midgard continent," Lucius analyzed. What he said was pretty much on the spot. This was practically the perfect timeframe for them to leave.


    "But then...how''ll the Kingdom see this when you two just suddenly up and disappear?"


    "..."


    "The royal family will think that you guys ran away because Cecil didn''t like staying anymore because of the recent events at the border..." Eli said.


    Cecil turned towards the girl and smirked.


    "That''s why we have you Eli... Please tell your family that it wasn''t their fault or anything. It''s just that we have to continue on our journey now."


    "But Cecil...you do know that by now, you''re practically a national asset to the Kingdom...not to mention that once the Empire hears of this, they''d do everything in their power to track you down and detain you...right?"


    "I know that, but it''s not like they''ll be able to find us."


    Thinking back to Lucia''s overpowered Transformation Magic, Eli sighed in defeat.


    "That''s true...well...I can only pray for you guys'' safety on your journey...and that you''ll be able to find your family on the Midgard Continent..."


    It was then that Ainz had a flash of brilliance and asked, "Hey, brat...how do you even know for sure that your family is on the Midgard Continent?"


    Cecil couldn''t answer this question. He couldn''t actually explain to them about the weird rumors he heard all those months ago at Fauxe Village.


    "I don''t actually."


    "...Eh?"


    "What?"


    "I''m just going there to scour the entire lands to find them!"


    "S-so basically...you''re going on a wild goose chase?"


    "Hmm...I wouldn''t say that~"


    "It''s basically that, you brat!"


    "Ahahaha~"


    Everyone couldn''t believe this. These two were going about their journey with basically no plan whatsoever.


    "Well, the last known place I heard my parents were going to was the Midgard Continent, so that''s a clue at least...if they aren''t there, then I''ll just search around all the other Continents..."


    "..."


    His words were unbelievable, just how long would he take then? To scour the entire planet for his parents, not to mention he was also basically dragging along Lucia with him. It seemed kinda unfair to the girl.


    "C-Cecil...to search the entire planet for your family...it''ll take a lifetime!" Velicia stated.


    "Yeah, and don''t you think it''s a little unfair to Lucia?" Fina berated.


    Lucia was happy to see Velicia and Fina worry about her, but she had already made up her mind the day she set off from Fauxe Village.


    "Don''t worry~ it''s not like we can''t get married on the road~"


    "...How optimistic..."


    "O-okay...if you say so Lucia..."


    Now it was Cecil''s turn to say something about this.


    "Ho-hold on...marriage? Seriously?"


    "I''m going to kill you if you say otherwise~"


    "...well...I already did confess, so what the heck..."


    It was then that a certain individual burst into the room.


    "I''M COMING WITH YOU!!!"


    "Woah!"


    "What the hell?!"


    "Wh-who?! SERI?!"


    When the party looked at the girl who had just burst into the room, they noticed that it was their pink bunnykin friend, Serilla.


    "Wh-wh-wh-what the hell?!"


    Serilla exclaimed in shock when she looked at everyone in the room.


    "Wh-why are their humans here?! I thought I heard Cecil and everyone''s voice coming from here?!"


    Lucia immediately realized that her Transformation Spell was still in effect and she quickly snapped her fingers and dispelled it and activated the Transformation for Cecil''s foxkin form.


    "Eh?"


    After a round of explanations, it was then that Serilla finally understood everything.


    "Oh~ it was only Lulu showing off again~ please don''t scare me like that~!"


    When Cecil saw the girl, he could feel a headache threatening to assault his brain.


    "Uhm...Seri, can you explain to us what you just said earlier?"


    "Huh? Oh~ that! Well, exactly how I said it! I''m coming with you, darling!"


    "Uh shit..."


    "Yay!"


    Lucia jumped up and hugged her friend. It seemed that another person was set to journey off with the duo.

 Chapter 229 - Final Lesson

    It was morning the next day and Cecil and his friends were currently at the outskirts of the city. His plans to leave last night were scrapped thanks to a certain someone.


    Currently, Cecil was having a huge headache dealing with the extra accessory currently attached to his back.


    "I''M COMING!"


    "NO!"


    "I''m coo~ooming~"


    "STOP. SAYING IT LIKE THAT!"


    He didn''t understand why, but the way Serilla was saying it sounded kinda wrong to him and it caused him to feel embarrassed.


    "Please, understand your position a little here, okay?! Aren''t you supposed to be this Kingdom''s next Sword Saintess?!"


    "NO! I''d rather be this world''s next Silvaria!"


    "What the hell?!"


    "I''m coming!!!"


    "Oh. My. God!!! Will you stop SAYING THAT?!"


    At the moment, Serilla was clinging onto his back like a koala. Her legs and arms were wrapped around Cecil''s now tall and well-built frame.


    "Please...don''t be unreasonable. You''ve been eavesdropping on our conversation already, right?! Then don''t you know that I''ll be leaving and going on journey for an indefinite amount of time?!"


    "Yes! And that''s why I wanna cooommmeee!!"


    "Think about your family and your parents!"


    Serilla immediately rebutted him.


    "They won''t care if I''m gone! They''ve got plenty of children already!"


    "What the heck?! What kind of parent wouldn''t care if their child suddenly disappeared?"


    "Well, I''ll just tell them I''m eloping with my beloved...So, I''m coming, I''m coming, I''m coming~!"


    "ARGH! Stop. Saying. That!"


    "NO!"


    Cecil grabbed his hair in frustration. He turned to the side and looked at his friends and especially towards Lucia.


    His face was practically screaming and begging for help, but Fina, Eli, Ainz, and the rest only avoided his gaze while snickering.


    Lucia was smiling brightly and her face read ''give up already Cel~''


    "Damn...seriously, YOU''RE 18! HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE THIS?! LIKE A CHILD!"


    "So what?! I''m coming!!!"


    Cecil through his hands up in the air and surrendered.


    "That''s it...I give up...I give up, do what you want."


    Cecil immediately sat down on the floor and lowered his head into his hands as he let out a frustrated breath. He couldn''t believe how unreasonable this young lady was! She was almost 4 years older than him basically the same age as his eldest brother, but how could she act so childish?! It was such a stark contrast to his eldest brother who was so mature and rational.


    "Really?"


    "..."


    "I can do what I want?"


    "...hmmm..." Cecil half-heartedly responded.


    "Yay! Yeeeaayyy!!"


    Serilla began to jump around Cecil like a child. Seeing her so happy, Cecil grew even more frustrated, but eventually all that frustration immediately disappeared for some reason and it was replaced with a sense of profound helplessness.


    "...don''t regret this later..."


    "I won''t~"


    "...whatever, I''m leaving tonight...so if you have any regrets and don''t want to follow, take the day to think about it."


    "I won''t regret anything~ AND! I''m coming~"


    "...seriously, stop saying the last part like that..."


    "Why~?" Serilla said with a sly smirk.


    "I dunno, alright?! It...Just sounds weird..."


    "Hihihi~"


    Serilla patted Cecil on the head and smiled brightly, "Take care of me from now on, Cel~"


    "...Yeah, likewise..."


    "Hihihi~"


    Serilla and Cecil were practically the same height now. Before Cecil was still a little bit shorter than her, but after some time, he had already caught up. He was also half a head taller than Lucia now.


    Cecil couldn''t help but think, ''Hm~ I''ve actually grown much taller huh? Hehe, that''s good! I wouldn''t want to stay short for the rest of my life! And...''


    He looked back at the infatuated bunny girl in front of him and at Lucia who was now making her way over to them and said inwardly.


    ''Man...It''d be embarrassing to have these two towering over me all the time...''


    His previous height was really appalling. The sight of these two girls sidling up beside him and towering over his short height caused him to feel extremely bothered.


    ''Thank goodness I grew taller...sorry mother, it''s not that I''m rejecting your shortness, but I''d really like to be as tall as dad one day...well, not as tall, but at least taller than I am right now.''


    Since their plans were already decided, Cecil thought it was best to prepare for the journey ahead. He checked his spatial ring and decided to transfer all the items inside his black ring into his white ring.


    Since he was leaving, the ring obviously had to be returned to the Academy. Also his Academy-issued MID and all the resources he got from the Academy he kept inside the black ring and tossed it over to Ainz.


    "Hey Ainz, take it back to the headmaster for me. You can have all the resources inside since I won''t need them anymore."


    "Eh? Oh yeah, sure..."


    Seeing him do this, Lucia and Serilla did the same and gave their rings over to Fina and Eli. Fina couldn''t help but tear up when she saw the ring in her hand.


    "Y-you''re really going..."


    "Yeah...sorry for being selfish, but y''know...where he goes, I go..."


    "I understand..."


    Fina sighed and faced Cecil with a hardened face.


    "Cecil...you better take good care of her...or else."


    WOOOSSSHH


    "Woah!"


    Cecil immediately ducked away and avoided the barrage of Mana Armaments sent his way.


    "Hold. Still!"


    Fina yelled as she continued pursuing Cecil with her armaments. Cecil dodged away and laughed as he did.


    "Ahaha! Fine! Let this be the last lesson!"


    Cecil smirked and jumped into the air. He looked down at his party members and he locked onto Ainz.


    "Shit!"


    Cecil flashed in front of Ainz who had swiftly taken out his staff and defended against his attack.


    "Take this!"


    Cecil continued kicking and punching at Ainz all the while he was dodging Fina''s attacks. He sent mana volley after mana volley at Fina to keep the little girl away. He locked eyes with Eli and Velicia, Cecil backed off from Ainz and fired a Flash Canon at the two girls.


    "HAH!"


    "Oh, now you''ve done it!"


    "You''re going down today Cecil!"


    Lucius was just about to back away before he noticed a large mana bolt flying his way.


    "Hey! Are you kidding me?"


    "NOPE! You ain''t going anywhere fatty!"


    "No one calls my Lucius fatty!" Velicia immediately said as she flashed in front of Cecil and sent a barrage of kicks and punches his way.


    "Jeez...Veli was right...you ARE a combat and training freak!" Lucius said as he began prepping his concoctions and spells.


    The battle was totally chaotic. Eli had her rapier out with her Intent-fused Aura wrapping around her and she was sending attack after attack at Cecil. Fina was behind her providing support and sending Mana Armaments towards Cecil.


    Ainz and Velicia would sometimes jump into the battle and take over when Eli''s guard was suddenly broken apart by Cecil. They covered for her and pressed the assault on the boy.


    Lucius was there sending spells and concoctions his way while coordinating with the others. Only Serilla and Lucia were sitting this one out.


    "...Is he...always like this?"


    "Yep~"


    "Hmmm...Can''t imagine how he''ll be like in bed..."


    "Wh-what''re you saying Seri?!" Lucia replied in shock.


    Serilla giggled in response and replied, "Well, I heard from my mother that a man''s way of fighting directly reflects how they''ll be like in bed~"


    "Wh-wh-wh-what?!"


    "Hihihi~ Just imagine him going all out on us 2~"


    Lucia was just about to imagine it, but then it suddenly hit her...what...was she supposed to be imagining actually?


    "Uhm...what is it am I supposed to be imagining again?"


    "Eh? Ahahaha~" Serilla almost forgot that they were only 1st years. That kind of education still wasn''t given until they were in their 2nd year. Since it was during that age when the students would start to seriously develop and pursue relationsh.i.p.s and whatnot.


    Serilla found it quite funny to see the still pure Lucia. When she was shocked earlier, it was most likely because of the aggressive things Cecil had begun to do, but things like ''that'' weren''t still in her understanding as of yet.


    She leaned in and began explaining all about ''that'' to Lucia. Cecil had his explanation given to him by Yuna, but Yuna didn''t expect her very own master to still not be aware of the things only a.d.u.l.ts would do.


    Speaking of Yuna, she was currently out with Silver procuring some of their travel goods inside the city.


    "Th-th-th-that''s what we''ll be doing when we get married?!"


    "Shhhh...Lulu, don''t go announcing it to the world now!"


    "B-b-b-b-but...but...I thought...."


    Lucia''s face was fully dyed red now. Her previous understandings of marriage and love had received a wakeup call. Her ''understanding'' had broadened even further and she felt a little ashamed.


    "Agh...so...that means...with Cel...we..."


    "Yep~ well, we want his affection and that''s our end goal when we marry him~"


    "Uhm..."


    "You do want his children, right?"


    "O-Of course!" Lucia exclaimed.


    "Well then, no need to be so shaken up over this...right?"


    "R-right...right...but...uwaaaahhhhh!" Lucia still couldn''t wrap her head around the new knowledge she had gained. She thought that kisses, hugs, and the stuff that Cecil''s been doing to her whenever she crept into his bed were the limit, but no, that was just the tip of the iceberg.


    "Don''t worry, Lulu~ big sis here will take care of everything~"


    "Hmmm...Big sis huh...you definitely are older than me...but I don''t think I can get used to calling you that..."


    "It doesn''t matter~"


    The two girls turned their attention back to the fight and saw that Cecil was slowly being pushed back and cornered by everyone else.


    "Hm? Cecil''s...losing?" Serilla tilted her head in confusion.


    "He''s going to get serious now...watch, he still hasn''t used Mana Burst yet."


    "Eh?"


    At Lucia''s words, a large golden aura pushed Ainz, Eli, and everyone else back. The golden aura condensed around Cecil and the boy laughed before rising once more into the air and dropping an axe kick onto Eli.


    Eli immediately dodged and the ground where Cecil struck immediately erupted with a bang. The fight once more resumed, but this time, it was Cecil who was pushing everyone back.


    "Ohh...I didn''t see his golden aura yet~ no wonder~"


    "...he gotten stronger again...no fair..." Lucia complained.


    ******


    When the sky was dyed in a red orange hue, everyone was sprawled around the broken battlefield, panting in complete exhaustion.


    There were no visible injuries on their bodies since Cecil had healed them all up using Ki and the healing arts he mastered from the book inside his inner mind. So all they were feeling was the fatigue their minds and bodies had acc.u.mulated after a whole day of fighting.


    "Haha! That''s going to be our last lesson together. Make sure you guys keep training, alright! If one day I come back, I wanna spar with all of you!"


    His words caused everyone to laugh despite their exhaustion. Their party leader really was leaving, but it seemed that it wasn''t for forever. He did say he was coming back and this gave them a sense of relief.


    Lucia walked over and casted a water and cleanse spell on Cecil and everyone else.


    "Thanks Lulu."


    "Mhm."


    Cecil turned to look at the sky the sun was just about to set over the horizon.


    ''Guess it''s almost time...''

 Chapter 230 - Setting Off

    The sky had turned dark and Cecil alongside his travel companions was now at the edge of the forest with Eli and the rest seeing them off.


    "Looks like this is where we part guys..."


    The rest of Little Kings looked saddened at their departure. Fina, Velicia, and Eli came over to hug both Serilla and Lucia. Lucius and Ainz only stood next to Cecil while they stared at the girls'' moving farewell silently.


    "I ain''t giving you guys no hug," Cecil jokingly said.


    "Pfftt, it''s not like we''re asking for one, you brat!" Ainz replied with a chuckle. "Anyways, take care of Lucia and Serilla...as well as yourself, Cecil."


    "Thanks for everything, Cecil...take care now."


    "Yeah! You guys too! Remember, I expect a better fight when I come back some time in the future!"


    "You betcha, next time, I''ll be the one standing!"


    "Hehe!"


    Cecil lifted his fist and urged the two boys to do the same. He then gave each of them a fist bump.


    Over at the girls'' side Fina had already burst into tears and Velicia was desperately holding hers back. Only Eli was not tearing up, but her voice was cracking whenever she spoke.


    "Hey~ no tears, alright?"


    "Like you''re one to talk! You''re crying too Lulu!"


    "I know!"


    "Ahahaha!"


    "Hihihi~"


    The boys couldn''t understand the girls. One second they were crying, now they were laughing.


    "Take care on the road."


    "Yeah."


    "I probably won''t have to worry about you two since you both have Cecil and Silver to protect you...actually, what I''m wondering about is why Yuna is also going with you guys..."


    "Oh...that...well..."


    Yuna sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Mist began pouring out of her body and it enveloped her. When the mist subsided, a coiling oriental dragon was what greeted everyone.


    "W-woah!"


    "A serpent?!"


    "No...I''m an ancient dragon."


    "Y-Yuna?!"


    When the voice of their friend began ringing inside their heads, the girls once again looked back at the dragon. Ainz and Lucius were also surprised seeing this.


    "I''m Lucia''s contracted beast...we''re in a pact..."


    "You''re a contracted beast? Woah!"


    "Ah! Now I see why you''re going with them!"


    Seeing how their friend Yuna was actually Lucia''s contracted beast came as a shock, but it now all made sense why the girl was actually much more knowledgeable than what her appearance let on.


    Her backstory of being a childhood friend of Lucia''s from the same village was a little suspicious since she seemed much wiser than everyone else. Now that the party knew she was actually a 100 plus year old monster, it all made sense.


    "Alright, let''s get going," Cecil said towards Lucia and the rest. He turned towards the rest of his party and continued.


    "I''ll be leaving our carriage with you guys! Remember, that''s the Little Kings'' carriage, so take good care of it!"


    "Right!"


    "Okay...see you guys...sometime in the future?" Velicia asked while trying her best to restrain from bawling out.


    "Definitely!" Lucia replied.


    "Alright, let''s get going~" Serilla looked at Eli and said, "Tell my mom that I''ll be going on a journe¡ªactually, tell her I''m eloping with my hubby~"


    "Eh?"


    "What?! Serilla, be serious now!" Cecil blushed in embarrassment when he heard the girl''s declaration.


    "What~ but I''m serious y''know~"


    "Jeez...alright, see ya guys in the future."


    "Okay!"


    "See ya later, brats!"


    "Bye!"


    "Take care!"


    Cecil took a step into the forest and remembered something.


    "Guys...back in the trials; I was shown a vision by the World Tree. Those monsters that you all fought in the last trial, they were going to invade someday and lay waste to the land..."


    "Huh?"


    "I''m not sure if it was a prophecy or some future vision, heck, it might have just been an illusion placed for my trial, but at least I''ll tell you all this just to prepare yourselves. Don''t let up on training. If this threat is real, then I want every one of you to be prepared."


    "H-hey, what''re you saying all of a sudden Cecil?!"


    "Just listen. I''m not sure if it was real or not, but just be prepared okay. Also, I left a little something with my foster mother, so be sure to ask her about it. Alright, it''s about time we get going."


    Cecil walked over in between Serilla and Lucia and wrapped his arms around their waists.


    "Eh?"


    "Cel?"


    "Silv, take Yuna."


    "Wafu!"


    Silver wrapped his tail around humanoid-form Yuna and placed her gently onto his back.


    "Alright, see ya!"


    In the next instant, Cecil and Silver both disappeared from their spots. The rest of Little Kings could see their silhouettes flashing deeper and deeper into the forest.


    "W-wait..."


    "Did that idiot..."


    "Just drop a bomb on us again?"


    "...seems like it..."


    "That brat...it''s just like him to do that to us!"


    The Little Kings could only stand there with their heads beginning to ache at Cecil''s last words. Instead of leaving them behind with a peace of mind, he instead throws a bomb at them.


    ******


    Deep inside the forest, Cecil and the rest were now sitting on top of Silver''s back as they shot through the forest at high speeds. Lucia couldn''t help but ask about Cecil''s earlier words that he left behind for their friends.


    "Cel...was what you said earlier true?"


    "...yeah, I didn''t announce it back then because I wasn''t sure about the vision, even now I''m still unsure about it...but, it doesn''t hurt to have our friends stay vigilant, right?"


    "Y-yeah...but...that wasn''t something you should have told them as a farewell..."


    "Ahaha~"


    The two girls behind the boy could only smile helplessly at his uncaring attitude. He just dropped some important news before the boy just up and left them. It was a serious case of irresponsibility no matter how they looked at it.


    He didn''t even give them a proper explanation before he bolted out of there!


    "Well, it doesn''t matter to us since we''ll be focused on something else...but it''s not like we won''t be growing any stronger during our journey...in fact, we''ll probably grow much, much stronger!"


    "...how optimistic~"


    "It''s just a fact!"


    It didn''t take long for the group to arrive at the other end of the forest. From here on out, the party would be stepping into Orca Empire lands, beastmen territory.


    "Lulu, if you''ll do us the honors?"


    "Yes, yes~"


    Lucia waved her hands and immediately everyone in the party began to transform. Cecil and Lucia''s face grew out and fur began to sprout all over their bodies. Their nails began to grow out and turned into claws and their teeth grew into fangs. The multiple tails on their rumps combined together to form one big, bushy tail.


    Cecil looked towards Lucia and literally saw a bipedal white fox with golden eyes. He turned to the side and saw a pink furred were-rabbit looking straight back at him.


    When he thought about it, 2 foxes and a rabbit...it was pretty ironic.


    Looking further behind, a light blue scaled dragonewt with antlers on her head was now sitting at the back staring back at him.


    "...I don''t think I like this..." Cecil immediately voiced out. This was followed by Serilla and Lucia''s opinions as well.


    "Me too..."


    "Y-yeah...I feel weird..."


    The 3 felt really uncomfortable transforming into beastmen. It wasn''t because of their previous experience and encounters with the beastmen, but more like it just utterly felt wrong to them.


    "...let''s hurry and find the humans..."


    "Yeah, I agree..."


    "Mhm...I wanna change out of this appearance quickly...Cel looks more frightening than handsome in this form..."


    "Ugh...is that really the problem here?"


    "Yes!" The two girls replied in unison.


    Anyhow, with their forms completely changed, Cecil and the group boldly walked into the Orca Empire''s lands.


    Lucia had also cast a transformation spell on Silver. His white fur had turned into a pitch black and this made him look like he was in his black form.


    Even though Silver did have the option to change into his black form, but the side-effects of doing so wouldn''t be too welcoming for the party.


    "Okay, our first destination should be the beastman border town called...Urub...alright Silv, take us away!"


    "Rah!"


    Silver sped up and quickly dashed in the direction Cecil pointed out.


    Cecil, Lucia, and Silver had once again start out on another new adventure, this time they were accompanied by two new people, Serilla and Yuna. Their first objective was to find the humans, and their first destination was Urub.


    "Okay, first stop, Border Town Urub!"


    "Hahaha~ you''re repeating yourself Cel~"


    "I know! Hahahaha!"

 Chapter 231 - Wanderers

    Cecil and company had quickly arrived at Urub and were currently lounging around in the adventurer guild.


    It wasn''t really much different than the one from the Anglaria Kingdom, except for the fact that beastmen had replaced the beastkin.


    Thanks to Cecil, all the adventurer guilds had begun perusing the Mana Integrated Network to post adventurer quests. It made things much easier for everyone, except of course for the people in the Orca Empire.


    Cecil''s generalized MID still hadn''t circulated around in the Empire''s populace so not many had MIDs like in the Anglaria Kingdom. This was why it was currently very busy inside the adventurer guild with many beastmen moving about.


    There were only a small few parties like Cecil''s who were lounging around and browsing the adventurer guild''s Network Board on their MIDs.


    "He~ey, Cel, I found an escort quest leading to the Empire''s Capital, should we take it?" Lucia said while fiddling around with her MID.


    "Hm? Yeah sure, we are heading there after all."


    "Huhuhu~ deep within enemy lines and we''re heading straight for the capital~ this is exciting~" Serilla added.


    The party quickly took up the quest. They didn''t have to register as adventurers again since the adventurer guild was a universal organization. All they had to do was present their adventurer ID and accept the quest.


    "Sure is convenient being an adventurer~ just showing our IDs and we''re able to just waltz on in anywhere!"


    "Cel, we should go meet up with the caravan that we''ll be escorting. It says that the quest will start first thing tomorrow morning, so it''s best we show our faces to them."


    "Sure, let''s go!"


    The party got up and walked out of the guild. Silver was currently in his pet form and being carried around by a tall dragonewt. This dragonewt was obviously the beastman-disguised Yuna.


    "Sheesh, I really can''t get used to seeing you, Serilla, and Yuna as beastmen..." Cecil said towards the were-fox girl next to him


    "Deal with it Cel. Besides, it''s only until we''ve found the humans..."


    Cecil felt uncomfortable seeing Lucia and the rest as beastmen. It was a little unsettling for him since all his life he was used to seeing human-like creatures... not bipedal, talking animals. Though from another perspective, he thought the beastmen were cool-looking.


    He was only uncomfortable seeing his companions as beastmen because he was used to seeing them as beastkin.


    "Haha, that''s true. Let''s hurry up then. I''m sure we''ll find out the location of the areas the humans are attacking in the capital...though we could go to some other city closer to the continental border, but I''m pretty curious to see how the Empire''s Capital City is like~"


    "Hmmm...You and your whims again...please remember you''re being chased after by the Empire."


    "You''re transformation magic is flawless~ so we won''t need to worry about getting caught or anything!"


    "Hmph."


    Seeing the two go off in their own little world, Serilla decided to be the bad guy here and but in.


    "You guys are so mean~ leaving me out like that!"


    "J-jeez, don''t you creep up on me like that! It was okay back when you were a beastkin, but it''s honestly very frightening when you''re a beastman..."


    "He~eh...fine then, I''ll hold off on being all clingy...seeing as Lulu''s doing the same...let''s hurry up and go meet this caravan then."


    Following Lucia''s lead, when the party arrived at the town''s largest inn, Cecil asked,


    "Is this the place?"


    "Yeah, all the adventurers taking up this quest are apparently already gathered together on the 1st floor''s dining hall...the caravan owner is hosting a feast for all of the participants."


    "Oh yay~ free food."


    When they entered, a beastman quickly took notice of them and approached the party.


    "Are you adventurers participating in the Kil''gor Caravan Escort quest?"


    "Yes, we are." Lucia replied.


    "This way please, I''ll lead you to the reception hall where the gathering is being held...this makes 6 now, so you are the last party."


    The beastman led them into the reception hall of the inn. Cecil normally didn''t pay attention to this slight detail, but the cities and towns of Alterna were super-sized compared to Earth''s. A town on Alterna nearly rivaled the size of a small-scale city from back on Earth.


    "I''ve never actually been to a hotel, but I''m pretty sure only high class hotels have reception halls...but man, an ordinary inn on Alterna literally defies all that reasoning...Come to think of it, I''ve been pretty lax about all these small details...maybe I should pay more attention to it..."


    Hearing Cecil mumble, Lucia of course asked what was up.


    "What''re you mumbling about?"


    "Nothing, it''s just...things seem so BIG now that I''ve taken a proper look at things..."


    "...?"


    Seeing her questioning look Cecil immediately replied, "What?"


    "You really are an idiot, aren''t you?"


    "Huh?!"


    "I mean...we''ve been on a journey across the beastkin kingdom for over half a year...and it took you THIS long to notice?"


    "..."


    "Hmmm...You were all gung-ho about training, so I guess I can''t blame you..."


    Cecil felt a little disgruntled at her words. Sure he was only focused on training while on the journey, but he couldn''t help it back then. He wasn''t as strong as he was now so he obviously couldn''t go about his journey so care freely as he could now!


    "Oi, can you two just like NOT drift off into your own little world again?" Serilla quipped up.


    "Ehehehe~ sorry, Seri! Y''see, Cel''s just being an idiot~"


    Serilla felt a little left out, so Lucia promised to share some of their stories with her from before the two had arrived at the Academy later after the gathering.


    "We''re here." The beastman said as he arrived in front of a large doorway. "Please head on in and sit wherever you like, Caravan Leader Kilna will address all of you shortly."


    "Okay, thanks," Cecil said lightly before leading the party inside. The girls followed after him and they found a table and sat down together. The party soon became the center of attention.


    "Hey...is it them?"


    "That platinum ranked party?"


    "Yeah...I think it''s them...but..."


    "They''re all just brats!"


    Cecil could only helplessly smile when he heard the quiet discussions of all the other parties. It was true that their party was apparently the highest ranked party currently taking on this quest.


    Cecil and Lucia were Platinum ranked adventurers after all, so they made a new party since they couldn''t use the name ''Little Kings'' anymore. Their new party was called Wanderers. As for why it was named that, it''s because Cecil offhandedly gave them that name since they really were just that, wanderers, people with no clear destination.


    Also, he didn''t want to deliberate and create a cool name for them since after all, it was only a temporary party that probably wouldn''t be remembered since they were just using the Orca Empire as a pit stop before heading on over to the Midgard Continent.


    Cecil and the rest weren''t going to spend so long in the Orca Empire, maybe a week or two. They wanted to find the humans first and join up with them so they could find a travel route to the Midgard Continent.


    However, if they couldn''t find any of the humans within the timeframe of 2 weeks then Cecil decided that they''d just find a way on their own. They did have Yuna after all, so if worst comes to worst and they couldn''t find a way, the party would just hop on the Yuna Express and fly over to the Midgard Continent.


    Actually, that''s what Yuna suggested, but Cecil, being the whimsical idiot he was, wanted to actually meet up with the Midgardian humans and look around the Beastman Empire before heading over to the Midgard Continent.


    The party didn''t have to wait long before a gaudily dressed beastwoman walked into the room. The slender were-leopard woman walked straight to the front end of the room and addressed everyone inside.


    "Welcome adventurers! I thank you for taking up my quest. My name''s Kil''na and I am the current President of the Kil''gor Merchant Company."


    She paused for a moment and let the information sink in before continuing.


    "Well, if you all don''t mind, it''d be nice if I could get all of you to introduce yourselves?"


    The adventurer parties were a little surprised to hear this. Normally, a merchant company wouldn''t need all these formalities. They''d just get straight to the point and tell you about the quest details and specifics.


    The adventurers hesitated for a moment, but seeing as the Kil''gor Merchant Company''s leader waiting patiently, a party of 10 beastmen immediately stood up and began their introductions.


    "I''m Sak''arh, Morux''s Party Leader." A black-furred bearman said.


    The rest of the party quickly introduced themselves as well and Kil''na nodded to them in acknowledgement.


    "The 4-star Gold Rank party, the Kil''gor Merchant Company thanks you all for participating."


    "No problem. We''re adventurers so if it''s a job, we''ll gladly complete it to the best of our abilities," Sak''arh answered.


    "Mhm...Next party?"


    Cecil looked around for a bit and waited to see if another party was about to stand up and introduce themselves. Lucia nudged him and said, "Let''s introduce ourselves and get things over with."


    "Sure~"


    Cecil immediately stood up and everyone in the room turned their attention to the fox beastman boy.


    "My name''s Cecil, Wanderers'' party leader, nice to meet you."


    When Cecil announced his party''s name, Kil''na was a little surprised.


    "Hoh? The Wanderers...that Platinum ranked party?"


    "Hm~ that''s the one."


    "Oh my, you''re all...so young!"

 Chapter 232 - News About Their Departure

    Back in the Anglaria Kingdom, Elizabeth, who was now the party leader of Little Kings, had just informed her father about Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla''s departure.


    "WHAT?!"


    "..."


    "They...they left?! Just like that?!"


    "Calm down Father...Cecil and Lucia was already planning to head out when the school year ended. They just pushed their plans ahead since things turned out this way..."


    "But, why did Serilla..."


    "..."


    The Anglaria King, Art Anglaria, now had a major headache. A nation asset had actually just disappeared all of sudden. He was planning on giving the boy a noble status to tie him together to the Kingdom, but it seems all of that went up in smoke.


    He looked back at his daughter and couldn''t help but sigh helplessly.


    "Elizabeth...how do you feel about that boy, Cecil?"


    "Pardon?"


    "We ask you, how you feel about that boy, you''re former party leader, Cecil Silvaria."


    Eli was a little puzzled by the question. How did she feel?


    "Well...Cecil was a good teacher...leader, and an outstanding friend. Although he has plenty of flaws in regards to his common sense, but as a warrior, I respect him very much."


    Hearing her words the King couldn''t help but let out a long sigh once again. He wished that this daughter of his was a little more...proactive. She obviously had the beauty, but Eli only accepted Cecil as nothing more than a friend and mentor.


    There were obviously no romantic feelings going on between the two.


    "You don''t...feel even a little bit of anything towards the boy?"


    "Hm?"


    "No romantic feelings whatsoever?"


    "Uh..."


    "You may speak frankly Eliza...right now I''m your Father, not your King!"


    "Y-yes...well, I...don''t think I can feel any of those feelings for him."


    "You can''t?"


    Eli felt a little awkward at the direction where their conversation was going, but she continued answering nonetheless. It was rare for her father to express any interest to her private life.


    "I mean, Cecil already has Lucia...now he also has Serilla, I guess..."


    "Yes, for a young man of such caliber, it''s not a surprise to see woman flock to him."


    "Y-yeah?"


    "And you are not one of them?"


    "Hm? Oh, no way! He''s a great person, but as a potential love interest...he''s got a few screws loose somewhere. I honestly can''t see him that way. To me, he''s more of a mentor and sparring partner."


    "I see...a pity. If we could tie him together with our Kingdom it''d be great...Your sister already has someone, so I won''t force her, but it seems you don''t feel anything for him."


    Eli only shrugged at this. She turned to look at Ainz who had his arms crossed over his abdomen with his face turned away. It was obvious that he was doing all he could to not laugh.


    ''...I really wanna smash him...''


    "Oh! Now I understand why Lucia''s always a bit violent sometimes~"


    "What''s that Eliza?"


    "Nothing Father~"


    King Art smiled at his daughter and patted her head before walking out of the hall. Elizabeth walked over to Ainz and punched him in the gut.


    "GOWAH!!"


    "...that actually felt good..."


    "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"


    "Nothing...let''s hurry on back to Fina and the rest. We''ve already completed our task here."


    "W-wait! I asked you what the heck that punch was for?!"


    "Drop it, Ainz. Or do you want me to give you a second serving?"


    "..."


    The party walked out of the castle and made their way over to the academy district''s adventurer guild. They quickly met up with Fina, Velicia, and Lucius.


    "Hey guys! How''d it go?" Fina asked.


    "Father...took it well, I guess."


    "El, don''t forget the part where he began asking you those weird stuff about Cecil!"


    "Shut it Ainz!"


    "Pfft!"


    Fina tilted her head in confusion, but knowing that the King had taken the news well, Fina moved on to their next topic of conversation.


    "We should go to the Aurielle family''s residence...and inform Lucia''s parents..."


    "Y-yeah...but how will we break it to them though?"


    Now this was a tough part. With their children just suddenly up and leaving them, it was without a doubt going to sadden the parents, right?


    "Let''s just truthfully tell them...it''s better than agonizing on how we''re going to break it nicely to them, since after all, this news isn''t anything ''nice''..." Lucius answered.


    He was right about that. Before they went off to find Lucia''s parents, Ainz asked the 3, "Did you already change the party members?"


    "Yeah, we took off Cecil and Lucia''s names and added Lucius into the party...are we going to look for new party members?" Fina asked.


    "...We''ll see...if they show any potential we''ll take them in... and train them." Eli answered.


    She still kept in mind the bomb that Cecil had abruptly left for them. Eli thought that there was little she could do to prepare for the oncoming calamity, if it was real.


    Everyone in the party was still a little skeptical at Cecil''s revelation since the boy himself was also a little doubtful of it. However, just knowing about it was good enough since they could prepare for it in their own ways.


    Eli didn''t tell her Father, the King, just yet. Once she''s heard of any potential sightings of the Fallen, even if it was only a rumor, it could be confirmed that Cecil''s words were in fact, the truth. It was only then would she inform her Father of the potential crisis that would fall upon them.


    As for whether her Father needed any convincing, just the words ''it was a prophecy from the World Tree'' was enough for her Father to mobilize the entire Kingdom''s forces to prepare for the Fallen''s Invasion.


    She could have told her Father earlier about it, but if things turned out differently than what Cecil had said, then it was going to be a waste of time and resources for her Kingdom to prepare for something that wouldn''t occur. Not to mention they were still preoccupied with the Orca Empire.


    *****


    The party arrived at the Aurielle family''s residence and immediately asked them for an audience with Lucia''s parents.


    They were waiting in the reception hall while talking with Friedrich and Aurellia. The two were a little surprised when they saw the whole party come, minus the 2 members who were now a part of the Aurielle family.


    "Where are Cecil and Lucia?" Aurellia ended up asking.


    "That''s...what we''re here to talk about. Let''s wait for Lucia''s parents to arrive then I''ll explain," Eli answered.


    They didn''t wait for long since after another 5 minutes or so, the doors to the reception hall opened. A regal man and a beautiful woman walked in arm in arm.


    "Ara~ it''s Cecil and Lucia''s friends~ what can I do for you sweeties today?"


    Eli stood up to receive them, but when she heard Anna''s inquiry she hesitated a little.


    "Eh...uhm...y-you see ma''am...Cecil and Lucia...they¡ª"


    "Left?" Anna answered with a smile.


    Eli paused a little in confusion before replying, "Uhh...yes?"


    "Ehehe~ I already know~ Cecil had spoken to me about it a while ago! He also gave me a call and informed us that they were heading off to continue their journey~"


    "Huh?"


    Anna waved the customized MID that Cecil had given to her and the Little Kings immediately understood what she meant by ''call''.


    "W-wait...you mean...he can reach you from all the way over in the Empire?!" Ainz exclaimed.


    "Why yes~ Cecil did say that as long as the Mana Integrated Network was present, he''d be able to give me a call even if they were on the Midgard Continent~"


    "What the heck..."


    Aurellia was shocked to hear that Cecil and Lucia had left the Kingdom. The party didn''t need to explain to Zaki and Anna since apparently, the two had already known before hand and received a call from Cecil, but Aurellia immediately demanded an explanation.


    The party explained the reason behind Cecil and Lucia''s decision to leave and how it was about their journey to go find Cecil''s parents who were said to be traveling around the world and was currently at the Midgard Continent.


    "Aww...little sis didn''t even come back to say good bye..."


    Friedrich didn''t feel much when he heard that the two had left, but when he heard that they had taken along Serilla, he was immediately floored.


    "W-wait a minute! Don''t those two know the prestige and pedigree that Serilla holds for the Kingdom?! They just took her away so wouldn''t that be considered a crime? I mean...she is the likely candidate to become the Kingdom''s next Sword Saintess!"


    Eli smiled wryly at his words. When she explained to her Father and Sword Saintess Celia about Serilla''s departure, they had freaked out even more than when she informed them of Cecil and Lucia''s departure.


    Eli thought that telling them about Serilla''s departure would cushion the shock they''d get from Cecil and Lucia''s, but instead the King and the Sword Saintess had shown a stronger reaction to it.


    The girl was the most likely future Sword Saintess and she had the responsibility to uphold that title, but now she had decided to go off and pursue her man instead.


    Serilla''s mother, Celia, was especially worried. Her daughter hadn''t even informed of her departure.


    Now that Eli had the means to contact Cecil and Lucia via their customized MIDs, she wanted to go back to the castle and call them. Once they hand over the MID to Serilla, the girl would be able to explain herself to her mother.


    "Well...please keep this between us only, okay? We don''t want the beastmen to catch wind of this. For now we spun up a story that those two are off training somewhere."


    "O-okay...we''ll make sure to keep this news to ourselves, you hear that Friedrich?!" Aurellia yelled.


    "Yes, yes...you don''t have to explode in my ear."


    "Good, so now where will you guys head off to?"


    "...I''m gonna go back to the castle and call Cecil...Serilla should at least explain herself to her mother...I mean, it was the first time I saw the Sword Saintess freak out..."


    "Oh?"


    "Honestly, it was a little scary...funny enough though, the Sword Saintess had also acquired Weapon Intent. I''m pretty sure Serilla gave her mother some pointers or two there...but seriously, her Intent practically rivaled Cecil''s Spear Intent...it was scary."


    "W-woah..."


    "Although I''ve never really experienced this ''Weapon Intent'' I''ve seen how powerful it is when you used it Eli."


    "Yeah...so imagine the Sword Saintess possessing it as well..." Eli shivered at the thought.


    "You should get going then, put the Saintess at ease. Honestly, that Serilla...she''s so inconsiderate of her family!"


    "Well, who could blame her...she''s lived her life following her heart and sword...now that her heart belongs to Cecil...it''s obvious that she''s going to follow him."


    "Ahahaha~ so carefree!"


    "Yeah..."

 Chapter 233 - Talk

    "One more time!"


    "Y-yes!"


    A little girl replied in a high pitched voice as she once again began swinging a short wooden sword. After completing a set number of swings the little girl immediately dropped the sword and collapsed down on the ground.


    "...tired already?"


    "B-but...its break time..."


    "Hm...That''s for you to decide. If you think you can keep going then keep going, but if this is all it takes to tire you out...then you''re dream of becoming a Sword Saintess will only amount to that, a mere dream!"


    "..."


    The little girl stood up and picked up her wooden sword. She began swinging the sword while moving around in the set of movement techniques her mother taught her.


    "Later today, I''ll be introducing you to my second apprentice. She''s a girl just like you, but she''s shown much more zeal over the sword than you. Please watch over her and don''t disgrace your mother by showing her that earlier pitiful performance."


    ******


    After a couple of years, that same girl was brought to the castle and was placed next to the crown prince as an aid.


    "Is something wrong, Serilla?"


    "...nothing."


    The young Zephyr smiled at her and said, "Lighten up a little, it''s been a while since you''ve last visited. I''m sure Eliza would be very happy to see you! She''ll be even more ecstatic to hear that you''re going to be living here with us."


    "Yes...I can''t wait to see her."


    "Then go."


    "Your Highness?"


    "Just go, and, don''t act like a stranger! Just because you''re here under the King''s decree doesn''t mean you should start acting any differently like you used to!"


    "...okay."


    "Good, Eliza would be sad to see you treat her this way. I recall you two being very close friends, almost like sisters, right?"


    The young Serilla smiled. She bowed and took her leave to go meet up with her friend, the Kingdom''s Princess, Elizabeth Arks.


    She found the girl currently practicing with her rapier at the castle''s training grounds. The soldiers had just finished their training routine and it appeared that Elizabeth had also participated with them.


    Evidence of it was the heavy perspiration and rough breathing the girl was sporting. With how she normally trained alongside Serilla under the tutelage of their master, the Sword Saintess, just doing light swings wasn''t enough to exhaust her.


    So Serilla deduced that Elizabeth had once again gone against her father''s orders and trained with the soldiers. It wasn''t like the soldiers or the captain could stop her from doing so. Elizabeth was the princess after all.


    "Eliza!"


    "Hm?" The young Elizabeth froze mid-swing and turned to look at the source of the familiar voice. She saw a pink-haired bunnykin girl waving at her.


    "Seri! You''re here!" Elizabeth rushed over to Serilla and was just about to dive in for a hug, but remembering that she had just finished training with the soldiers earlier, she stopped.


    "W-wait...let me shower first! I just finished training!"


    "Ehehe~ okay."


    Elizabeth quickly rushed off to take a shower and Serilla waited for her at the training grounds. She looked around and sighed tiredly.


    Remembering her friend practicing as zealously as ever, Serilla couldn''t help but grow envious.


    "I''ve reached the end of the road...other than experience; I''m not sure what else to gain from training anymore..."


    At the young age of 14, Serilla had already fully understood the sword arts that her mother taught to her and she had long since entered into the ranks of a Sword Maiden, the potential candidates who would become the kingdom''s next Sword Saintess.


    She found training to no longer be useful since she couldn''t improve no matter how hard she tried. She needed experience and live combat in order to improve any further. Training alone won''t suffice and sparring with other people besides her mother proved to be of little use as well since they were too easily defeated.


    She wouldn''t be able to gleam anything from a spar like that and her mother couldn''t always accompany her every day to spar.


    Her dream and aspiration as a child was beginning look more and more unattractive as the days passed. She aspired to be a Sword Saintess just like her mother since she admired and deeply loved her.


    However, as Serilla grew older, the monotonous training to become a Sword Saintess and the duties tied to the title was instead eating away at her motivation to the point where she no longer sought after that dream.


    "I don''t want to be the Sword Saintess anymore...since Eli''s still going at it...I''ll let her have it..."


    Right now, she only saw the current end of her sword path and that''s what''s causing her to feel unmotivated as of late. However, even though she found being a Sword Saintess unappealing now, she still dearly loved the sword and continued to training daily in hopes of finding a way forward down her path.


    But despite the long days of training, she still couldn''t find a path forward and thought that she had really reached the end.


    Serilla was frustrated at the thought that she could no longer learn anymore and walk further down her path. She was desperate to find a way forward, but no matter how and where she looked, she couldn''t find it.


    At least, not until 4 years later when she met a certain someone who immediately opened up her eyes and showed her a much vaster world.


    ******


    "So because you reached the end of the road...you almost gave up?" Foxkin-form Lucia asked.


    "Yup...I know it''s pathetic, laugh all you want!"


    "I won''t laugh...I haven''t reached that point yet in my training so I don''t have any right to laugh at you, Seri. After all, I can''t even begin to imagine how frustrated you were at that time...especially since no one was helping you at all..."


    Serilla smiled sadly. During those times, she had to practice alone because her mother was always busy with her duties as a Sword Saintess and she had to guide Elizabeth with her training as well as the other pupils that her mother took in.


    She looked up at Lucia and smiled brightly. That was then, and this was now. She finally found her way forward and she was ever so thankful.


    "...Thanks, Lulu...also...THANK YOU DARLING!" Serilla jumped up from her seat and dove onto the bed where Cecil was currently reading his magic tome in leisure.


    "W-woah!"


    Serilla landed on top of Cecil and moved to kiss him.


    "Stop! Not. Now!" Cecil said as he pushed away the rabbitkin''s face.


    "That means later is okay?"


    "NO!"


    "Awww~"


    "Why are you being like this?!"


    "Because~ I wuv you~"


    "..."


    "Ehehehe~ it''s because of darling that I was able to take a step onto my own sword path!"


    "...You''re welcome?"


    "Hihihi~"


    The party was currently staying at the inn where the Kil''gor Merchant Company''s gathering was held. They were staying inside one of the rooms that the merchant company had reserved for their party with their disguises dispelled.


    Cecil was currently in his ''human form'' and had already told Serilla about his backstory and how he got here. Since they were going to be traveling together, he thought he should get that out of the way so as to not cause any misunderstandings later down the road.


    Serilla was of course very much surprised to hear about Cecil''s story and circ.u.mstances, but she was even happier at the fact that he shared it with her. This meant that the boy trusted and had opened up to her.


    ''It''s only a matter of time before darling falls for me as well, right?'' Those were her thoughts when she took in the information of Cecil being an actual human and a person not of this world. It didn''t matter where he was from because the Cecil right now was the person she dearly loved.


    This was also why Serilla had shared her stories from childhood to her two travel companions. The girl had just finished and was about to express her thanks to her beloved, but was once again blocked.


    Ever since Serilla had gotten away from the beastkin kingdom, she became very clingy and bubbly all of a sudden. Of course this was only when the 3 were alone. On any other occasion, Serilla would retain her calm and big sister-like attitude.


    Although, it seemed that Cecil was preoccupied with something else, he was still listening in on Serilla''s story about her past. He found it intriguing. If Serilla at such a young age had already faced the ''wall'' then what would have happened if they had met earlier?


    Serilla wouldn''t have had to waste her time in stagnation. Just thinking about it caused Cecil to feel bothered for some reason. He also wanted to reprimand the old Serilla for giving up so easily like that.


    If her current path had ended, then she should have just turned back and walked down another path! There was more than one way forward. If one path had ended go down another, if that path was blocked then just crush the obstacle and continue forwards!


    At least, that was what Cecil did when he was young. He was able to master many of his family''s techniques at an early age and at one point in time he did feel his progress stagnate no matter what he did.


    However, through sheer force of will, coupled with many life threatening experiences he had gone through while on his family''s private island, he was able to break past many of the bottlenecks he had come across and continued walking down on his martial path.


    It was a little sad to find that Serilla''s mother, Celia Lunarts, the current Sword Saintess, was always too busy with her duties and obligations to the kingdom that she couldn''t continue to guide her very own daughter down her martial path.


    Cecil didn''t blame her since everyone had their own circ.u.mstances, but he did sort of blame Serilla for giving up too early.


    However, it was a relief that the girl herself had realized how stupid and childish she was back then and had now found her very own path to walk on, not one that her mother forged for her.


    "Y''know Cel, you should at least indulge and spoil Seri a little..." Lucia came up to Cecil''s side and snuggled up to him.


    Serilla brightened up and looked at Cecil hopefully when Lucia spoke up to support her. Cecil''s brow twitched a little seeing her expression, but there was something more important to ask here.


    "There''s something even more important to address here," Cecil said in all seriousness.


    "And that is?"


    "Why...are you two in my room?"


    "?"


    "Hm?"


    The two girls only responded with a puzzled look and this caused Cecil''s face to twitch a little.


    "...the merchant company had reserved rooms for every participating member of the quest...so you two have your own rooms..."


    "And?"


    "Yeah, and?"


    "And that means...GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"


    "NO!"


    "Noooo~"


    Lucia responded by wrapping her arms tighter around his body while Serilla wrapped her arms and legs around him. Then the two said in unison.


    "We belong here!"


    Cecil grew exasperated at their synchronized response and just as he was about to say something, his MID began ringing.

 Chapter 234 - Heated Conversation

    Cecil took out his MID from his pocket and tapped on the screen.


    "Hello?"


    Eli''s voice came screaming out of his MID. He brought the MID away from his ears and Lucia snatched it out of his hands.


    "Eli~ you finally called us!"


    "Lucia, is that you?"


    "Yup!"


    Hearing her friend''s voice, Eli began giggling in delight.


    "Hihihi~ I almost forgot about this convenient function that Cecil put on all our MIDs."


    "So, what''s up?"


    Serilla got off of Cecil and moved next to Lucia and listened in on her conversation. Cecil was relieved that the 2 girls'' attention was diverted from him. He felt an odd sense of loss, but he still stood up and walked over to a chair and continued reading his magic tome.


    Lucia and Serilla were both listening to Eli and speaking to her. The girls were very animatedly talking back and forth with each other. Upon seeing this, Cecil couldn''t help but think back to the days on Earth.


    When his mother or sisters were ever on their phones, they would talk on and on without end. He couldn''t understand how they were able to talk for so long with someone on the phone.


    ''I guess girls have the special ability to make small talk with their friends that could go on for hours, huh?''


    Cecil shook his head and turned his attention back to his tome.


    "Hahahaha~ the King said that? Really? And you replied like that?"


    "Thank goodness, I thought I would have to share Cecil with you as well, Eli!"


    "About him?"


    "Hihihi~ how''s it going with him anyways? Oh yeah, how''re everyone else?"


    "You''re right! I''ll ask that question again when it''s a month or a year later!"


    "She sure is! She''s right next to me and has been listening in on our conversation!"


    "Okay~"


    Lucia handed the MID over to Serilla and she took it. After a couple of words with Elizabeth, she finally heard her mother''s furious voice over the MID.


    "NO WAY!"


    "I''m not going home!"


    "Nope! As long as my darling''s not coming back, I''m not going!"


    "I gave up on that a long~ time ago!"


    "Mom, couldn''t you tell?!"


    When Serilla began yelling into the MID at the Sword Saintess, Lucia and Cecil were totally floored. They never expected this pair of mother and daughter would actually be so...headstrong. Well, to rudely put it, hot-tempered.


    The two didn''t expect that Serilla actually had this side to her. What was even more surprising was her mother had the very same attitude. Cecil and Lucia have never personally met the Sword Saintess, but from Elizabeth''s description of the woman, she was a calm, icy-cold and aloof woman.


    She had a singular focus on the sword much like her daughter, but it turns out there was more to the person than what she let on to the people around her. And all of that was spilling out and unfolding in front of the two.


    The Sword Saintess'' loud voice was echoing strongly from the other side of the MID and Serilla was responding in kind with her own hot-tempered responses. It wasn''t the calm and cool exchange that Cecil and Lucia had expected.


    "No way you old hag! AND! Cecil is NOT a womanizer!"


    "I''d like to see you try!! And for your information, he did NOT seduce me! I fell in love with him and his sword! Through him I also saw my way forward and I can finally continue pursuing my way of the sword!"


    When Cecil heard Serilla''s mother, the Sword Saintess, say she was going to stab him. He began to tremble, not from fear, but excitement.


    "Ohohoho~ I''ll be fighting the Sword Saintess? I can''t wait!"


    "Cel, I don''t think that''s something to be happy about...she''s your future mother-in-law y''know..."


    This heated back and forth throwing of insults and arguments continued for over an hour before Serilla and her mother finally lost their breaths.


    "...I did not think Serilla actually had this side to her..."


    "Seri''s so cute~ right, Cel?"


    "...sure..."


    "Look! She''s been defending you from the start of her back and forth with her mother! She really, really loves you!"


    "..."


    "Come on Cel~ be happy a little, you have two future wives who love you so~ much!"


    "...All I can see is a future full of headaches with you two by my side..."


    "Ah! So you''re looking forward to our future~? Hey, wait a minute... What do you mean by that?!"


    "Hehe, isn''t that response kinda late?"


    Cecil was amused with Lucia. He patted her head and turned his attention back to his magic tome. Lately, he was enjoying their interactions. He never took the time to actually appreciate such a thing before.


    He eyed Serilla who had now calmed down and was having a much more calm and civil conversation with her mother. He couldn''t help but think, ''...I guess I should give her a chance?''


    He immediately regretted thinking that, "Nononono...If I do that...Uhhh, but if I didn''t...uhm..."


    While Cecil was in deep contemplation, he suddenly felt something warm and moist come into contact with his lips. Then something warm, wet, and slippery pried opened his lips and invaded. He then felt a weight on his lap and he immediately snapped open his eyes in shock.


    "!"


    "Seri~ that''s no fair!"


    "Muah! Ehehehe~"


    "..."


    Cecil was a little shocked when she saw the girl sitting down on top of his lap.


    "Darling?"


    It took him a while before he responded.


    "@*$&%&!!!"


    "Ahahaha~"


    "Nahahaha!"


    The two girls were amused to see Cecil''s freaked out response.


    "STOP. DOING. THAT!"


    "No~"


    "I agree with Seri there~"


    "..."


    Once again, Cecil felt like he lost something very important, though he didn''t understand what it was he actually lost.


    Seeing as the girl was happily laughing while still sitting on his lap, Cecil for some reason grew irritated. He pulled her in and planted a deep kiss on her lips.


    Serilla widened her eyes in surprise. Her mouth was pried opened and Cecil''s tongue flew in and began its invasion. She felt a shock run up her spine and was at a loss at how to respond.


    When Cecil finished and separated himself from her, he felt oddly refreshed like he had just taken something back and accomplished something. Lucia was also very surprised and began pouting.


    "Wow! I felt I just won something! Hahaha!" He picked up and placed the dazed Serilla on the chair he was just sitting down on. Cecil stored his magic tome and went to bed.


    "Cel! Cel~! What about me? Me?!"


    "...Fine..."


    Cecil pulled in Lucia and did the same thing he just did to Serilla. Lucia responded aggressively and twirled her tongue around Cecil''s own. When she was satisfied she laid next to Cecil and giggled happily.


    "Please return to your room now..."


    "No~"


    "I just gave in to your request, so shouldn''t you respond to mine?!"


    "I''m sorry Cel~ but it doesn''t work that way~ Seri! Come over, we''re sleeping now!"


    "No! Do NOT come over!"


    Serilla snapped out of her daze when Lucia called out to her, she turned to face Cecil and she immediately blushed before diving under the sheets next to him.


    "Oh my¡ªdammit..." Cecil wanted to run, but when the two girls'' arms and legs began wrapping around him he knew that running away would only cause them to do some weird stuff to him tomorrow.


    Lucia began drawing circles on his chest while saying, "Give up Cel~ you''re sleeping with us tonight whether you like it or not~"


    "Honestly, I''ve never actually seen or heard of a man who''d reject sleeping with two beauties like us, right Lulu?"


    "Well you''ve seen and heard of one now! So, GET OUT!"


    "Hahaha~ no~"


    "No~pe~"


    Cecil gave up. He closed his eyes and just outright isolated his mind from his senses. Lucia knew all too well how he was like when he was in that state. No matter what they did, Cecil would NOT respond to any of it.


    And this was the opportunity the two were waiting for.


    "Psst...Hey, Seri...Cecil''s isolated his mind and partially shut off his senses...it''s dangerous, but he''ll let down his guard like this since we''re here..."


    "Really? Heh~ I felt it was odd whenever he just suddenly fell asleep while we were doing something like this! He was only closing off his mind! Actually...isn''t that pretty amazing?"


    "Yes, it is amazing, but Seri...don''t we have something more important to do?"


    Remembering about their ''objective'' for tonight, Serilla immediately grew serious.


    "Yes, we''re going to check ''that''," she said in all seriousness.


    "Y-yeah..." Lucia responded, slightly blushing.


    Lucia took a deep breath and eyed Serilla, they nodded at each other and then the two dove under the blanket...

 Chapter 235 - Nothing Happened?

    When Cecil woke up the next day, he felt oddly sluggish. The girls however were still sleeping soundly next to him.


    He brushed Lucia''s hair and turned to look at Serilla. He sighed and in the end he did the same to her as well.


    Cecil was just about to get up and go about his normal morning routine, but remembered that he was still in his human form.


    "...Ah, I forgot to tell her," He mumbled.


    Since he couldn''t go outside, Cecil decided to just go back to bed and wait for Lucia and Serilla to both wake up.


    "Eh? Why is..."


    The boy turned his attention to his nether regions and frowned.


    "...What the heck?"


    Cecil felt oddly excited and his member was actually standing up straight.


    "Okay...this is a first..." He marveled at the sight, wondering if ''it'' was always able to do that.


    "Hmmm... kinda hurts..."


    It was stretching inside his pants and it hurt a little. He felt uncomfortable so he tried to readjust his body, but when he turned his body over, Lucia''s face was suddenly in front of his.


    For some reason, that sleeping face was much more attractive than usual and when Cecil''s eyes wandered to her lips...it was oddly enticing.


    "?!"


    ''What the hell am I thinking?"


    He pushed back those weird thoughts and began meditating, circulating his Mana and Ki inside his body. Gradually, he calmed down and so did ''that''. He continued meditating for a while until the two girls stirred awake.


    "Hmmm... Cel?"


    "Darling?"


    Cecil stopped his meditation when he heard the two. However, when he opened his eyes, his face darkened when the two were sleepily clinging onto him.


    "...Get up already, and Lulu, put our disguises back up."


    "No~"


    "I want my darling to kiss me first~"


    "Yes, kiss first~"


    Lucia and Serilla whined which caused Cecil''s face to twitch. He immediately used Nature''s Shift and escaped from their hold.


    "Enough! Hurry and put it back up Lucia!"


    "O-okay..." Lucia immediately snapped awake and replied in a quivering voice.


    Whenever Cecil raised his voice, Lucia became scared of it immediately. She didn''t want him to yell and be mad at her like before.


    She immediately did as she was told and transformed everyone into beastmen.


    "Jeez, if you don''t want me to get mad then please listen a little more, okay?"


    Lucia nodded silently while biting her lip.


    "Listen Lulu, it''s not that I''m trying to sound demanding or anything, but please understand our current situation. We''re literally DEEP behind enemy lines. One slip up and they''ll pick up on our trail. Then...you might have to watch as I get taken away by the Empire, do you want that?"


    "N-No!" Lucia exclaimed.


    "Good, I don''t want that either. So please, be a little more obedient?"


    "Mhm..." Lucia nodded before smiling brightly at him again. Cecil patted her head and this only caused her giggle in delight.


    Serilla saw the two''s exchange and smiled.


    "Alright, enough with that; let''s go grab something to eat!"


    "Heh, I thought you guys still wanted a kiss?" Cecil teased, he smiled a little a bared his fangs.


    "...We''ll pass on that... you look really scary smiling like that darling~"


    "Yeah, scary~"


    "Since you know I''m scary then please stop asking for those again!"


    Cecil had Lucia cast Cleanse on everyone before they walked out of the room and they bumped into another party just as they were walking out.


    "Crazy night, hey kid?" The leading beastman said with a meaningful smirk.


    "Huh?" Cecil only looked back at the beastman in confusion. "What happened? Was the town attacked?"


    Behind him, Lucia and Serilla began blushing furiously, but the beastman only laughed in reply to Cecil''s question.


    The rest of the beastman''s party walked past Cecil and all gave him knowing smirks and chuckles while some of the female members whispered something to the girls which caused the two to shout, "No! He''s mine!"


    Which only earned them a round of giggling and laughter, and Cecil...he was just clueless the entire time.


    Even when they were eating breakfast he received weird stares from the other parties and he began feeling uncomfortable.


    "What the hell?"


    "C-Cel... just ignore them, okay?" Lucia said with a stutter.


    "...What did you guys do?" Cecil said as she eyed the two blushing girls. "And why are your faces red?"


    "It''s hot?"


    "..."


    "Ehehehe~"


    Seeing as the two girls remained mummed, Cecil could only drop it and quickly finish his food. The caravan was going to head out later this morning so Cecil thought he could get some quick morning training in.


    He went over to an empty lot close by the inn and spread out his sense to make sure that no one was close by. It was still very early in the morning so there were still not much people roaming about on the streets.


    "I should take another look at the Corruption, Providence, and Perseverance...I don''t want a repeat of what happened back then..."


    Cecil took out Corruption. The runes on the blade had turned back into their original golden color and the ominous feeling it gave off during that morning, half a month or so ago, was no longer present.


    "Hmm..."


    He infused his mana into the sword and began concentrating his senses on his mana.


    ''There''s only one thing that''s flowing in and out of this thing, and that''s my mana. If there''s anything that could affect my mind then it''s probably that...''


    Cecil continued infusing his mana into the sword, but nothing changed. The mana array inside the sword activated as per normal and his mana flowed back into his body with no changes to its attributes. It didn''t even affect his mind or anything.


    "?"


    He tried doing the same thing to the other Thorns, but came up with nothing, just like with the Corruption.


    "...that''s weird...If nothing''s changed...then how was my mind affected?"


    Cecil wanted to continue experimenting, but suddenly felt a group of people approach the area. He quickly stored the Thorns back into his ring and used Blink to instantly get back into his room at the inn.


    When he appeared inside, the girls only looked at him and smiled. They were already pretty used to seeing Cecil blink in and out of their sights like that.


    The boy noticed that the girls were packing up their stuff and he took a quick shower before having Lucia once again cast Cleanse on him. He felt a little dissatisfied at the fact that he didn''t bring that Magi-tech shower with him...not like he could.


    The thing was a little big, so it was implausible and inconvenient to bring along. Plus, it would take up too much space inside his spatial ring.


    Speaking about spatial rings, the party needed to play the part of an experience adventurer party. So despite having the rings, they kept the minimum amount of baggage inside their travel bags. It was just for appearances'' sake since they didn''t want to look like a group of inexperienced brats going out playing ''adventurer''.


    Their party was Platinum-ranked so they had to at least play the part. Also, Cecil wanted to curb anyone''s greedy desire of their belonging, since after all, spatial rings were rare in this world and no measly adventurer would even possess one of their own.


    Mostly, nobles and well-off families would possess one or two and besides, Cecil and Lucia were already familiar with traveling this way since during their earliest journeys when they both didn''t have a spatial ring.


    Cecil kept his Adamantium Sword on his waist and pulled out his spear from his ring. He wiped the blade and stored the case. He then wrapped a cloth around it and tied the spear to his back.


    Lucia and Serilla eyed the boy and thought he was a little cool like that, but they had to retract the thought when they saw the frightening look present on his face.


    "...I really can''t get used to his beastman face..."


    "Me too..."


    "Hurry up, they''re all gathering down there."


    "M''kay~"


    Cecil went out first and met up with Yuna and Silver. Yuna was wearing mage robes while holding onto a large steel staff and had Silver in her arms. The dragon girl didn''t really need a staff to give her an easier time to use magic, so instead that steel staff was there just in case she found herself in a melee situation and needed something to swing at her foe.


    "Morning, Yuna! Morning, Silv!"


    "Wafu!"


    ''You too master!''


    "Good Morning, Cecil. Where are Master and Serilla?"


    "Still inside preparing, let''s head out. By the way, I didn''t see you guys this morning during breakfast..."


    "Ah, I was teaching Silver something. We already caught and ate our breakfast during daybreak."


    Cecil nodded in understanding then asked, "What were you teaching him?"


    "How to initiate a pact ritual," Yuna replied with a slight smile.


    "A pact ritual?"


    "Yes, a pact ritual. I think it''s about time the two of you formed a pact."


    "Ohhoh! Well, if it''s alright with Silv¡ª"


    "Wafu!"


    ''What''re ya saying, Master?! Of course it''s alright!"


    "I''ll take that as a yes~" Cecil chuckled in reply. "We''ll perform the pact ritual after we finish this escort quest...and when we''re far away from the beastman capital."


    "Yes, of course. The pact may cause quite a stir in the surrounding mana, so it''ll attract too much attention if we do it in a populated area."


    Cecil raised a brow when he heard this. Didn''t Lucia and Yuna perform a pact in a very populated area themselves? So he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Really? But I heard that you and Lucia formed a pact right when you first met? And she told me it was in the auction house, right in the middle of the city!"


    "Ah that...well...let''s just say that the disturbance caused by the two of you performing the pact ritual will be more prominent than mine and Lucia''s."


    "Why''s that?"


    "It''s because of how pure you and Silver''s mana are! Not to mention, Silver himself is an ancient beast, so his pact ritual will be much more different from mine!"


    "Oh, okay..."


    It didn''t take long before Lucia and Serilla came out of the room fully geared from head to toe. Lucia had her usual leather equipment on with her Shirayuki and Butterfly strapped to her waist. She did a few readjustments yesterday on everybody''s gear since they were now in different body forms.


    Serilla had her sword strapped to her waist and she was wearing light scale armor. It looked pretty sophisticated and Cecil thought that whoever created the armor put a lot of thought and dedication in making it.


    Seeing Cecil eye her curiously, she looked down at her gear and smiled back at him and said, "My dad made this!"


    "R-really? I didn''t think your father was a blacksmith!"


    "He isn''t! He''s only a swordsmith, but he did dabble a little in armor-crafting. This was something he created as my graduation gift, but I found out about it and demanded it from him right away!"


    "...Your father sure spoils you a lot..."


    "Not as much as my other siblings~"


    Next to her, Lucia immediately asked while eyeing Serilla up and down, "How''re the adjustments? Is it okay? I didn''t do anything to the scale armor areas since I''m not experienced with any of that. I only did simple adjusts to readjust the size to your current form, but is it okay?"


    "Relax Lulu~ I already tried moving around intensely yesterday while sparring with you, my movements weren''t any different than before, right? And it was pretty sturdy enough to handle me moving around so recklessly!"


    "Phew...that''s good. Honestly, I didn''t think our disguises would change our body shape so much that it was hard to put on our equipment..."


    "Don''t worry about that. Besides, my current body size isn''t all that different from when I was a beastkin, although I''m a bit taller, and once we find the humans we can just change things back!"


    Cecil and the rest quickly made their way out of the inn and regrouped with the other adventurer parties. Together, they made their way over to the town''s northern gate and met up with the Kil''gor Merchant Company''s caravan.


    "Alright, since everyone''s here, let''s set off!" Kil''na loudly declared.

 Chapter 236 - Escort Quest 1

    Cecil was walking while all the girls were riding on Silver. They were discussing about something, but he couldn''t understand what they were saying. Apparently though, Lucia was complaining to Serilla about something.


    "Seri...my jaw still hurts..."


    "That''s because you overdid it!"


    "How come you''re fine?"


    "Because...I wasn''t as intense as you..."


    "Uhhh..." Lucia groaned.


    ''What''re they talking about? Were they training?''


    A voice called out to him and Cecil snapped out of his thoughts.


    "Hey, kid."


    "Hm?"


    A large bear-type beastman riding on top of a large lizard approached him.


    "Stay sharp kid, we''re entering the mountains where our journey''s the most dangerous! You may be the only platinum ranked party in our presence, but you guys sure don''t act like it!"


    "Uh, yeah...I''ll keep that in mind." Cecil replied.


    "..."


    Cecil recognized the beastman. He was the party leader of the Morux party, the second highest ranked party participating in the escort quest after their party, Wanderers.


    The beastman only took one more glance at Cecil and the rest of his party who was on top of Silver. He saw the party''s unchanged, laidback attitude and clicked his tongue before turning around to leave on his mount.


    "Tsk, just a bunch of spoilt brats!" The beastman said under his breath.


    With Cecil''s enhanced sense, he could easily hear what he said and he only smirked at his receding back.


    "Heh, not to be condescending, but even without you guys, our party would be able to finish this quest easily~"


    Cecil picked up a small group of flying monsters heading towards the caravan on his mana sense coming from the east. He used Nature''s Shift and teleported to the area just below the group and fired off a Mana Volley into the air, accurately striking each of the monsters and killing them instantly.


    "...phew, C ranked monsters are too easy..." Cecil said wryly before teleporting back to the caravan.


    Upon arriving back and manipulating his clone to quickly merge into the ground, Lucia called out to him.


    "You done Cel~?"


    "Hmm."


    "What was it this time?"


    "Just a flock of White Chassows."


    "He~h, only C ranked?"


    "Yeah...maybe I should only move to stop those A ranked and above monsters, huh?"


    "Please, do that! At least give me and Seri a chance to get some exercise!"


    "Sure, sure~"


    Anything else under A ranked was only exercise to their party. Cecil wondered why he was going out of his way to even take out those low-ranked monsters when he had other adventurer parties participating in the quest alongside his.


    If he did all the work, then wouldn''t the other parties be riding on a free bus to quest completion? He can''t have that now, can he?


    "Actually, I''ll leave the A ranked to you guys as well! I''ll move out if there''s an S ranked or above, okay?"


    It was highly unlikely that an S ranked monster would suddenly appear, but Lucia and Serilla agreed to it nonetheless.


    "Sure, let us take care of them! We want to get stronger too, right Seri?"


    "Totally, after all I don''t want to look like a pampered and sheltered young lady! Especially not towards my darling~"


    "...just a heads up, but I still know how much of a sword fanatic you are!"


    "Hihihi~ how embarrassing~ as expected, my darling knows me the best~"


    "Geh..." Cecil stumbled when he heard her.


    A monstrous roar rang through the air which originated from the front of the caravan. Cecil''s party, the Wanderers, was situated at the rear of the caravan. They were supposed to be at the front, but the Gorux party leader, Sak''arh, insisted that they would take the front.


    Cecil relented to their demands since it was less work for them and decided that they would bring up the rear, while the rest of the adventurer parties would guard the middle sections.


    The front and rear of the caravan were the locations that would be most susceptible to monster attacks, so the two strongest parties were the ones that took up the positions.


    "Hmmm...It''s only a small group of ordinary Forest Ursas...C+ ranked," Lucia reported after taking a leap into the air. "Should we go help out?"


    "No, leave it to the Gorux Party." Cecil immediately replied. "Since we''re tasked with bringing up the rear, that''s where we''ll focus on. We''ll only help out if the situation looks bleak."


    "M''kay~"


    "Jeez, Lulu, you''re so impatient~" Serilla teased.


    "I can''t help it! We''ve been taking it easy for the past couple of days so I''m a little restless!"


    "Even after what we did last night?"


    "Urk...th-that''s different!" Lucia immediately blushed in reply. She turned to face Cecil and blushed even more.


    Cecil only tilted his head in confusion, "You okay there Lulu? You look sick..."


    "I-I''m fine! It''s just the heat!"


    "Really? It''s pretty windy if you ask me..."


    The skies were clear and the gentle breeze was relaxing. If they ignored the shouts and sounds of fighting originating from the front of the caravan, then it was a pretty peaceful and wonderful day.


    "If you guys are training at night, don''t overdo it." Cecil said as he turned his attention to the front and observed the Morux party''s battle using his mana sense.


    When the two girls heard his advice, they immediately blushed furiously. It was a good thing that Cecil wasn''t facing them or he would have to ask more questions and maybe even check up on their health.


    The two were indeed training, but not like the training that Cecil was implying. It was a more...special kind of training.


    When the sounds of fighting died down, the caravan began moving again after a couple of minutes.


    When Cecil and the rest passed by the cleaned up battlefield, they took notice of all the stripped monster corpses on the sides of the road.


    "Pretty professional," Serilla said, to which Cecil responded.


    "It''s what you''d expect from a gold-ranked party."


    "Hmm~ I''ve never gone out and become a proper adventurer so I''m not really well-versed in all of this! But I can at least tell that they took care of the battlefield pretty well!"


    "Mhm." Cecil nodded in agreement, then he turned to face Lucia and said, "Lulu, burn the remains."


    "Alright~"


    Lucia snapped her fingers and a purple flame ignited on all the corpses of the battlefield and burnt them to ashes. Professional was professional, but they shouldn''t just leave the corpses out like this.


    Bury them if you must, but even though you''re on a tight schedule, you shouldn''t leave them out in the open like this. Sure, some other monsters will probably take care of the remains, but if none did, then the corpses will only spread out disease or even turn into undead.


    Cecil explained why he did this to Serilla and the girl took note of it down, she then turned towards Lucia and asked her.


    "I can''t believe you guys like this as well~"


    "Well, we have been traveling as adventurers long before we came to the academy, Seri! Plus, we reached 5-star gold ranked even before we enrolled!"


    "Ah! No wonder you two were able to quickly create a platinum ranked party!" Serilla exclaimed.


    "Yup~ in fact, the Little Kings'' only platinum ranked members were me and Cel~" Lucia thought a little before saying, "If I remember correctly, only Ainz was the gold ranked adventurer before we created the party!


    "He was still 5-star silver ranked!" Cecil shouted from down below.


    "Well, he was almost gold! I''m guessing that after taking up all those quests as a member of Little Kings, Ainz should almost be platinum ranked, probably..."


    "He''s still 4-star gold!" Cecil added once again.


    Lucia only shrugged at his words and Serilla giggled in response.


    "I''d like to hear more about your adventures together...I''m sure that last night''s stories weren''t the only ones, right?"


    "Yup~ those were only our earliest adventures~"


    Cecil stretched his body and yawned, "Why bother? We''re going to make our own adventures now! What''s the point?"


    "Hihihi~ darling knows just exactly what to say~"


    "?"


    "Hehe~ Cel''s grown to become such a smooth talker~"


    "What''re guys saying?"


    The caravan travelled for another couple of kilometers before they were once again stopped. This time it was a large pride of Blackspine Mountain Saberlions. Individually B+ ranked, but while in a pack of 20 or more, they were elevated into an A ranked threat.


    The problem here was that the pack of Blackspine Mountain Wolves in front of them easily numbered over 50.


    "There are 88...plus the Alpha, which makes it 89 monsters in total...A++ ranked threat," Cecil said with a yawn.


    The large pride of saberlions was surrounding the entire caravan from front to rear. Cecil looked around dully before saying to the girls who had already jumped down from Silver''s back.


    "Happy hunting~"


    "Hehe~ I can finally stretch my body a bit!" Lucia said as she unsheathed both her weapons and began limbering up her body. Serilla was doing the same, she then turned towards Lucia and asked.


    "Whoever kills more gets to kiss darling later?"


    "You''re on Seri!"


    "Oi..."


    With that ridiculous wager, Lucia and Serilla immediately dashed forwards to cut down all the monsters while the other adventurer parties were preparing for a long, arduous defense.


    "Lulu, only sword techniques are allowed! No skills or spells!" Serilla yelled.


    "That''s just how I like it!"

 Chapter 237 - Escort Quest 2

    The Gorux party leader, Sak''arh, saw the two girls rush straight at the lions in different directions and quickly yelled out in exasperation upon seeing the two reckless young ladies.


    "Hey! Don''t be reck¡ª"


    Before he could even finish his words, the sounds of pained lion roars resounded in the air. The scene in front of him was too absurd for his and anyone''s eyes to take in. The bodies of the large lions began to fall one by one.


    Large sword wounds decorated their bodies and some even had their heads decapitated or their hearts stabbed through.


    Kil''na had also stepped out to help with the defense since other than being the Kil''gor President she also doubled as quite the decent mage.


    "Huaaahhh...so boring..." Cecil yawned as he witnessed the girls rampaging about the battlefield.


    As per their agreement, the two girls didn''t use any skills and only relied on their sword techniques to clean up the saberlions.


    Serilla was flickering around the battlefield at high speeds, wielding her longsword and hacking apart the lions. Before the other adventurers could even react, multiple lions had their heads decapitated.


    Lucia was on the opposite side of the caravan that Serilla was on and she was also quickly dispatching each monster with a swing of her katana and her kodachi.


    Unlike Serilla who was more clean and straightforward in her fight, Lucia was going around the edges of the battlefield, kicking or punching any of the lions and rounding them up together. Once they were bunched up together, Lucia jumped into the air and quickly slammed into the ground, crushing every lion in the vicinity with her pile drive drop kick.


    She didn''t use any skills like usual, but she had unconsciously used a little bit of mana to generate the shockwave that crushed all the lions in her impact radius.


    "Lulu, that''s cheating!!!" Serilla yelled when she immediately noticed the loud bang and the small leak of mana coming from Lucia''s side of the battlefield.


    "Hahaha~ sorry, it was reflexive!"


    "Muuuhhh...I''m using my Intent then!"


    Serilla released her intent and quickly sent sword waves at the faraway wolves, quickly cleaning up the rest of the monsters on her side.


    Now that the girls were fighting unrestrained, the lions were quickly taken care of. Lucia and Serilla met up together where the Alpha wolf was at once the last of the lions were killed. The monster in question was currently trembling in fear and was slowly backing away when it saw the two girls approach it.


    It was also nervously roaring and growling at the two. The adventurers who saw this couldn''t help but feel a little sympathy and pity for the monster.


    "Hey Lulu, how much you get?"


    "44..."


    "Same here."


    "That means..."


    The two glared menacingly at the alpha lion and said together, "Whoever kills this one wins!"


    Just as they were about to rush at the wolf, it suddenly collapsed.


    "Eh?"


    "Cel! No fair!" Lucia turned back and yelled.


    At the rear of the caravan, Cecil was leisurely resting on top of Silver and had his finger pointed at the two girls, or more precisely, at what was behind the two girls. He had fired off a concentrated mana ray from his finger and quickly ended the alpha lion''s life.


    "Hmph, no way I''m letting you guys win. Let''s leave it at a draw so that no one wins! Seriously, using me as a reward..."


    "I don''t get you Cecil...shouldn''t you be happy?" Yuna said in wonder from behind him.


    "Should I be?"


    "Well...those two are beautiful in their own right... so how come you''re not one bit interested in eating them up?"


    "Eating them up? Hey, I''m no cannibal!"


    "...That''s not what I meant..."


    "Then what did you¡ªwoah!"


    Cecil immediately flashed away and avoided someone''s kick.


    "Cel, why''d you butt in like that?" Lucia said while pointing at Cecil who had escaped.


    "Because... I don''t want either of you two to win..."


    The two girls who had just arrived immediately misunderstood his meaning. They thought that instead of competing for his kiss, he''d just give it to both of them, but...


    "Since it''s a draw, that means your wager is null. So no one won, that means no one will be kissing anyone...heh," Cecil ended his sentence with a smug smirk.


    Seeing his accomplished, smug face caused Lucia to fume silently, but Serilla already knew from seeing her silent reaction and tried to calm her.


    "Lulu, calm down~"


    "Guhhh...I wanna bash him in the head..."


    "Yeah, but you''re going to have to catch him first..."


    "...That''s gonna be hard..."


    Silver growled and Yuna agreed with him.


    "Yup, that master of yours is hopeless. When someone else comes around to take away these two...I wonder how he''ll respond."


    Silver let out an amused growl and Yuna laughed with him. "Haha, that''s probably true!"


    As the party was having their usual conversation, Sak''arh and Kil''na approached them.


    "Cecil! Thank you for that timely help!" Kil''na gratefully said. If they didn''t have Cecil''s party, then although they would have most likely made it through alive, but who knows how much damage to lions'' assault would have done to their cargo or to anyone in the other adventurer parties.


    With Lucia and Serilla''s quick response, they were able to safely make it through the battle without any casualties and damage to their caravan.


    "Hm? Don''t thank me, thank the girls, they did the most of the work! All I did was take care of the Alpha..."


    "What? When? I only saw you here at the back taking it easy while leaving all the fighting to the girls!" Sak''arh exclaimed.


    "You don''t need to know about that~"


    Sak''arh frowned when he heard Cecil. He was just about to speak up again, but Kil''na immediately cut in.


    "Nevertheless, I have to thank your party for taking care of the entire lion pride, as expected of a Platinum ranked party! Even an A ranked threat is nothing to you guys!"


    "Don''t sweat it. We took on your quest so it''s our duty to protect the caravan as per the quest requirements."


    Kil''na smiled then turned towards the girls and thanked them. After which she went back to the front of the caravan and began making preparations to continue their trek through the mountains. The caravan was still at the base of the mountain so it was still a long way up.


    Seeing as Kil''na had walked away, Sak''arh cleared his throat and spoke up.


    "Ahem, well...we need to harvest all the materials from the¡ª"


    "Just take ''em if you want to, we have no need for the monster materials," Cecil replied before Sak''arh could finish. He didn''t put these B ranked monster materials in his eyes since he had an abundance of higher ranked materials stashed away inside his spatial ring collecting dust.


    "Hey! I was just going to ask you if your party wanted help and if you''d be willing to¡ª"


    "Like I said, just take it all. Divide it up with the other parties, we don''t need it." Cecil said once again.


    "..." Sak''arh went silent at his words, but he immediately said in the next moment, "We can''t just take it all! None of us did anything after all!"


    Cecil couldn''t help but be impressed at the beastman''s character. Although he was very prideful and had in fact looked down on his party just earlier, but he did pay to mind the principles of an adventurer and conducted himself properly.


    While Cecil and Sak''arh were having their conversation, the other party leaders approached them and Cecil turned to address all the leaders present.


    "Fine, we''ll do this. You guys can take all the monster materials from the ordinary wolves, just leave the Alpha for us."


    Cecil decided to compromise and did this instead. The Alpha Lion did have higher ranked materials than the normal lions, but even then it still wasn''t something that interested Cecil at all.


    "I-If that''s okay with you..."


    "T-thanks..."


    "...have it your way, kid." Sak''arh said before turning around and instructing his party members to quickly get busy.


    The other leaders also began directing their members and began collecting the monster materials.


    Cecil shrugged and walked over to the front of the caravan where the Alpha Lion''s corpse was. He pulled out a knife and began to expertly skin and strip the corpse of all usable materials.


    Lucia and Serilla had followed after him, and Serilla was immediately intrigued at Cecil''s adept actions.


    "Wow! Darling can really do it!"


    "...Didn''t we tell you that earlier?" Cecil replied without looking back.


    "But it''s so cool to actually see you do it! A man at work is handsome after all! Even though you look like that right now..."


    "Really now...? Heheh~"


    Cecil let out a light chuckle at her words. He once heard her mother say the exact same thing when she went out to observe his father training one day.


    "...I look handsome huh..."


    Then he felt a piercing stare next to him and Cecil immediately looked to the side to see Lucia crouching down next to him and boring a whole into his face.


    "W-what''s wrong?"


    "You seem to be happy at Seri''s compliment..."


    "S-so?"


    "How come you''re never happy whenever I praise you?"


    "...have you ever? You mostly want to crush my face in or bash me into the ground!"


    "That''s my show of affection!"


    "Then show it in a different way!"


    "M''kay~"


    Lucia was just about to pounce at him, but Cecil immediately clamped onto her head and stopped her.


    "Stop, I''m still busy."


    "Later then?"


    "..." Cecil only replied with a blank, silent stare to which Lucia only giggled at. He turned his attention back to the wolf corpse and finished stripping it of all usable and sellable materials.


    "...Like I thought...there''s not much we can use..."


    "Should I start creating quick-casts again?"


    "I guess...I mean, we can always sell them whenever."


    "Then gimme the blood! The alpha should be an A ranked creature, right? I''ll be able to create some mid ranked quick-casts."


    Cecil handed Lucia the bottles of blood that he harvested from the wolf and she discretely stored them into her spatial ring.


    "Now that''s settled, burn what''s left of the corpse and head back to the rear." Cecil used Blink to arrive back on top of Silver and Lucia quickly cleaned up the remains.


    It took another half hour before all the adventurers were finished stripping the monster corpses of materials. The caravan immediately departed after the remains were disposed of by Lucia.


    Kil''na came back to talk with Cecil and his party. She wanted them to act as back up for everyone else other than the Morux Adventurer Party later up in the mountains. It wasn''t that the others were useless, but it was for insurance since Cecil''s party did have the means to move around quickly.


    Since it was a request from the quest giver, Cecil naturally obliged. Kil''na was going to reward the party with some extra gold for taking up the request anyways, so he didn''t see the point in rejecting.


    Besides, it wasn''t like an S ranked monster would just suddenly pop out of nowhere, right? The route they were taking was indeed risky, but it was the safest route through the first checkpoint on their trek to the Empire''s capital.

 Chapter 238 - You Jinxed It!

    The caravan was now deep into the mountains and everyone was resting for the night. The party leaders and Kil''na were gathered together in discussion at the caravan''s main tent.


    "We should be halfway up the mountain now. We''re at the first rest stop that the Empire created. There should be another near the summit and one more on the other side of the mountain." Kil''na informed.


    "Does that mean we''ll be taking 2 days to pass through the mountain?" Cecil asked. He wasn''t familiar with how the caravans travelled in the empire, but estimating that it''ll take at least 2 days just to pass over the mountain was a little too fast in Cecil''s opinion.


    "We might take even longer...who knows what kind of monsters might pop out to attack us," Another party leader said.


    "That''s good, we shouldn''t rush things. It''d be bad if we prioritized speed over our safety. So, if we don''t make it to those rest stops, where will we be camping?"


    The distance between the base and summit of the mountain was pretty far and Cecil doubted if they could make it to the summit in just one day. Since there were no other ''rest stops'' in between, just where would they camp out at?


    Unlike other mountain ranges, this particular one that the caravan was passing through didn''t have any safe mountain passes. Actually, it didn''t even have a mountain pass at all! The only way through to the other side was to go up and over the mountain.


    Kil''na pointed at the blue marked areas on the map on a large table in the middle of the tent and explained, "These blue areas are the places we should try to make for before sundown. Those are the relatively safer zones on the mountain."


    Cecil nodded in understanding. He saw half a dozen blue areas marked on the map just on this side of the mountain. There was also another concern that Cecil wanted to ask about.


    "I heard that there was a SS ranked creature living near the mountain tops. What are the probabilities of it appearing on this route?"


    "You mean the ''Night Plague''?" Sak''arh asked.


    "Yeah, the big spider monster. It is a spider, right?"


    "...yeah, the spider...well, it''s called the Night Plague because obviously, it only attacks during the night. As for the plague part, it''s because it attacks with its little offspring before coming out itself."


    "Okay."


    "The probability that it''ll come out during the late-summer season is highly unlikely. The Night Plague loves the cold and it lays its hatchlings only during the winter. That''s why all travel is prohibited during winter season because of the Night Plague and other high ranked monsters'' increased activity."


    "I see...but then again, aren''t there rare cases of something like a Night Plague attack happening during the summer? I did read about it before participating in the quest."


    "Yes, those stories are true...but then again those were only exceedingly rare cases!"


    "...I see."


    For references'' sake, the Empire was actually divided into 2 sections by a large mountain range which spanned through the entirety of the Empire''s lands, thus separating the vast lands of the empire into 2 sides, the eastern and western side.


    And during the winter, communications between the two sides was literally cut off since the blizzards and snowstorms near the mountain range heavily impacted travel. Not to mention the rise in activity of all the higher ranked monsters in the mountain range during this time.


    The mountain range was called the Beast King Mountain Range since many high ranked monsters inhabited the mountain tops. Since time immemorial, the monster activity would only rise during the winter season and for some reason would lower during the summer season.


    However, there were some instances where high ranked monsters such as the SS ranked Night Plague, which was a monstrous spider of incredible size and deadliness, would sometimes roam around the mountain range during their, supposed, inactive period due to some force of nature.


    It was hard to predict when these ''disasters'' would come about, but Cecil just wanted to stay on his toes. The route they were currently traversing on was the territory of the monstrous beast and who knows, it might actually pop out during his trip to the Empire''s Capital.


    Although he wasn''t actually hoping for it to come out, but he was a little interested in fighting it. One of the reasons was because he wanted to at least harvest one of its eggs and have Lucia cook it for him.


    There was a small passage in the Empire''s Bestiary that stated that the Night Plague''s eggs, legs and eyes were a tasty delicacy. It did freak Lucia and Serilla out when they heard that he wanted to try tasting it at least once.


    Cecil did live his childhood on his family''s private island and there were times when he couldn''t secure any game. So when he was desperate enough, he would resort to eating all sorts of bugs found on the island.


    At times he''d get sick, but he would always tough it out. Luckily enough, he never died from eating those insects, but he did develop an iron stomach and now anything could go down the hatch.


    It was only recently that Lucia and Serilla found out about this weird side to Cecil. Even during Cecil and Lucia''s journey together before coming to the academy, Cecil never ate anything weird and would only eat Lucia''s cooked meals.


    It was the first time he actually demanded something from Lucia, so the girl reeled in her disgust and decided to cook him some of those Night Plague Eggs, Eyes, and Legs...IF they happened to meet one and kill it.


    Although it was a little unsettling, but at least the two now knew that they wouldn''t have to worry about what to feed their future husband. After all, anything could go down into his stomach!


    Of course, they would never try and feed him something weird and disgusting. They were only relieved that he wasn''t picky with his food.


    ******


    After a couple more rounds of discussions, the meeting disbanded and Cecil returned to his camping area. Lucia had just finished cooking a couple servings of broiled ursa meat when he arrived back.


    She exchanged some gold for the ursa meat from the Gorux adventurer party. They had an excessive amount so Lucia lightened their load a little.


    Lucia also made a broth using wheat, wild mountain vegetables, and ursa meat. She was able to season it pretty well and it helped warm the party''s bodies. It was pretty cold and windy in the mountains, especially during the night when the summer heat radiating from the sun was no longer present.


    While he was eating with relish, he couldn''t help but notice something odd.


    "...How come there are only 2 tents left..."


    Lucia and Serilla looked at each other in confusion before replying.


    "Hm? What''re you talking about, Cel?"


    "Yeah, darling, aren''t you remembering wrong?"


    "I REMEMBERING PITCHING 3 TENTS!" Cecil replied fiercely.


    "Eh~?"


    "Uhm, darling...there are only 2 tents here..."


    "You two obviously took down the other one!"


    "But...I was cooking!"


    "And I was helping Lulu cook!"


    Cecil frowned and turned his head over to look at Silver and Yuna.


    Yuna only looked back at him like he was stupid, while Silver had just awoken from his sleep and was staring deep into the trees behind their camp area.


    "...IF that Night Plague actually attacks us, I''m going to force you two to cook and eat its eggs, legs, and eyes with me later!"


    "Eh?!"


    "Hey, no fair, we didn''t do anything darling!"


    Cecil''s brow twitched at how shameless these two girls were. It was obvious that they were the culprits of the missing tent...


    "Grrrr..." Silver let out a low growl and turned his head to look at Cecil.


    "Rah!"


    ''Master, there''s something in the forest!''


    "!"


    In the next instant Cecil''s eyes widened in shock, he had picked up something on his radar when he suddenly spread out his mana sense into the forest after Silver had warned him of something.


    Cecil dropped his food and quickly moved next to Lucia and Serilla. He grabbed onto the girls and quickly lunged away.


    "C-Cel?!"


    "Uwah!"


    The area where Lucia and Serilla were previously sitting at had been demolished. The earth had ruptured and formed a large crack in the ground.


    "Wh-what was that?!" Lucia yelled.


    "...It''s the Night Plague..."


    "Huh?!"


    "N-no way...righ¡ª" Just before Serilla could complete her sentence, the sounds of people screaming and yelling rang throughout the camp.


    "MONSTER ATTACK!!!"


    "I-i-i-i-it''s...IT''S THE NIGHT PLAGUE!!!"


    Lucia and Serilla looked towards Cecil who was now visibly excited.


    Cecil smirked and licked his lips upon seeing the large pitch black spider leg extending from deep within the forest which struck the previous location that Serilla and Lucia was at.


    "Huhuhu~ Lulu, Seri, we''re having Night Plague Legs tonight!!!"


    "You idiooottt!"


    "Darling, you jinxed it!"

 Chapter 239 - Night Attack

    "Darling, you jinxed it!!!"


    "Hahaha~ this is where the fun begins!" Cecil unfurled the cloth around his spear and got into stance.


    "Lulu, Seri! I leave the campsite to you! I detect around a couple hundred spiderlings attacking the camp! I''ll go after the Night Plague and bring back its legs, eggs, and eyes!"


    "Shouldn''t you be saying you''ll be bringing back its head instead, Cel?!"


    "Nope! We''re eating this thing tonight!"


    "Ewwww!!!" The two girls screamed in disgust, but they quickly pulled out their weapons and moved to defend the camp.


    "Yuna, Silver, you guys go help, but unlike those two, prioritize on defending our clients and the cargo!"


    "Affirmative," Yuna then turned towards Silver and said, "Let''s go Silver, it''s about time we stretch a little."


    Silver let out a low growl and picked Yuna up with his tail and placed her on his back before dashing towards the central area of the campsite to defend Kil''na and the cargo.


    Cecil spread his senses out into the dark forest and quickly found a large mana source deep within.


    "Guess that''s my target," Cecil licked his lips and flickered into the forest, heading straight towards the large mana source he picked up. "I can''t wait to have me some barbequed spider legs!"


    ******


    "Seri, the Murox party are in the northern area, I think we can leave that place to them, we should go back up the east and west areas!" Lucia said.


    "Gotcha, I''ll take east!"


    "I''ll go west!"


    The two girls separated and quickly met up with the adventurer parties in their respective locations.


    There were some corpses of beastmen adventurers being dragged away or eaten on the spot by the Night Plague Spiderlings. The initial surprise from the night raid had taken many off guard and claimed their lives.


    From what Lucia could see, the west side had a few casualties, but it was a good thing that the party leaders were able to quickly regroup everyone together and the still standing adventurers had banded together in an attempt to at least stave off the spiders'' attacks.


    "Y-you! You''re that Platinum ranked girl!" A party leader exclaimed when they noticed Lucia rushing over.


    "I''m here to help! Just focus on defending, I''ll take out the spiders!"


    "What about the southern side?"


    "My husband''s got it covered~"


    "H-husband? You mean that kid?"


    Lucia didn''t bother replying and quickly flashed forward with her katana set ablaze with purple flames.


    She weaved in and out of the densely packed group of spiders and cut them down in droves. The flames splashed out onto the spiders that weren''t cut down and burnt them to death.


    The sharp screeches of pain and agony rang through the air. It was causing Lucia to feel a little annoyed hearing these spiders screeching like that, the sound was ear-piercing and numb-inducing.


    "Tsk...I have to shut them up somehow!"


    Lucia jumped back out of the horde of spiders and landed behind the defensive line created by the adventurers piling up the spider corpses or crates of monster materials that they had harvested from their previous trek to the mountain.


    She stabbed Shirayuki into the ground and began chanting.


    "¡ªburn to ashes, Flaming Vortex!"


    Lucia used a regular medium ranked spell powered by her Solaris flame. A large vortex of purple flames sprang in the middle of the large horde of spiderlings and this time, the spiders didn''t have any time to screech since they were directly burnt to ashes.


    Lucia was just about to sheath her weapons, but noticed that more spiders were still coming out of the surrounding forest.


    "...tsk, looks like this won''t be easy..."


    ******


    Over at Serilla''s side, the bunny girl was sending sword waves and cleaving away at the multitudes of spiderlings.


    Just like on Lucia''s side, the adventurers had all gathered together and had effectively created a defensive line and were constantly defending and attacking the spiders. It was a relief that the casualties on this side was nil, so there were many more adventurers here than on Lucia''s side.


    "The spells are ready!


    "Retreat! Then fire!"


    Serilla commanded before quickly flashing behind the defensively line. Once fighters retreated behind the defense line, the mages launched their attacks into the spider horde.


    Wind blades, flaming spears, ice balls, and chunks of earth were hurled at the spider horde, quickly decimating the ones caught within the impact area.


    "It''s not enough, keep it coming!" Serilla commanded.


    "You heard her! Begin chanting again!"


    "Fighters, with me!"


    Serilla once again led the close combatants outside of the defense line and began engaging the spiders in melee combat.


    With so many people around, she couldn''t release her Intent. Unlike Cecil, she still hadn''t mastered her Sword Intent to the point where she could reel it in and concentrate it on specific points or targets.


    If she were to release it, the adventurers around her would be rendered useless, so she could only settle with using sword energy for now.


    When Serilla saw the large flaming tornado at the direct opposite of her location, she couldn''t help but grow envious of Lucia.


    "I wish I was a better mage like Lulu...these spiders would be easy!"


    "Let me help."


    Hearing the familiar voice, Serilla turned around and saw a Misty Gate.


    "Yuna?!"


    The dragon girl popped out of the gate in the next moment and reported to her.


    "Silver''s defending the perimeter in the central campsite, so I''m free to roam about and help out the other areas."


    "What about the southern side?"


    "...Cecil''s basically taken care of that area. When I went back to check out the situation just in case, all I saw was the cut up corpses of multitudes of spiderlings and no other monsters came from the forest after I waited for a while."


    Serilla was relieved hearing this. That was just one more thought off her shoulders.


    "Phew...just leave it to darling to take care of a single side by himself~"


    "Hm, that boy''s power is something else. I''m more surprised why he''s still at the Mana Sea Stage while already wielding that much power."


    "My darling''s strong!"


    "...Do you need help here?"


    Yuna asked as she sent mist bullets into the spider horde.


    "I think you should go support the northern side, we''re good here!"


    "Alright, Serilla, Mas¡ªI mean Lucia is doing okay, so I''ll go support the north side."


    Yuna once again conjured a Misty Gate and stepped through it. Once she disappeared, Serilla once more began commanding the adventurers again.


    "Fighters, retreat! Mages, fire once we''re behind the line! Let''s keep this up and clear this rabble!"


    ******


    At the southern side of the camp, deep within the forest, Cecil was pinpointing all the spiderlings that were rushing to the camp with his mana sense and leisurely firing off homing Mana Volleys into the surrounding area.


    "Hmmm~ come out already, my delicious spider legs! These little things aren''t enough of a warm up!" Cecil hummed as he began massacring all the spiders inside the forest while slowly making his way deeper.


    When Cecil first flickered into the forest, he had long since noticed the overly abundant amount of spiders rushing towards the campsite. He decided to use them as warm up, but the sheer amounts of spider monsters were too much that it became annoying for him.


    "Tsk...I can''t just let these guys run loose...but how do I get to the Night Plague at this ra¡ª"


    Cecil quickly flickered away from his spot right as a large black spire smashed into his previous location.


    "Haha! So you''ve decided to come to me! This makes things easier, dinner!"


    KKIIIIIISSSSSSHHHHHIIIIIIAAAAAAA


    An ear-piercing cry rang through the forest, but Cecil had long since shielded his body from the shockwave that accompanied this loud screech.


    "Woah~ aren''t you a big one!"


    Cecil looked overhead and saw the source of the ear-piercing cry. It was a large, black colored, monstrously large spider.


    The spider looked a little weird since it didn''t abide by the normal physical appearance that a spider should have from Earth. This Night Plague Spider had 3 abdomens placed side by side connected to its large cephalothorax.


    Cecil could see that the central abdomen was constantly spewing out some kind of white thread while the other two abdomens were spewing out tens of dozens of large eggs which cracked open after a few short seconds upon making contact with the ground.


    Each egg had spawned 1 or two spiderlings at once and Cecil immediately knew why the spiders attacking the campsite were large in numbers. The monster in front of him was a freaking walking w.o.m.b!


    "Hmm... I''m sorry for killing your kids, but I want you for dinner so do forgive me~"


    The large spider only responded with another angry screech while sending its large legs stabbing and sweeping at the boy.


    Another thing that was different about this large spider was that it actually had 6 pairs of legs instead of 4.


    There was an additional 2 pairs situated on the thorax and this gave the spider more legs to attack Cecil with while still having enough to keep its body upright.


    As the fight continued, Cecil was having some difficulty dealing any substantial damage to the monster, its attacks were pretty tricky and there were times where he had to back off and evade the attacks rather than taking them head on and counterattacking right away.


    The monster even came down to bite him with its venomous fangs and spray some poisonous mist or acidic fluids at Cecil from time to time. The Night Plague was also able to manipulate its threads to attack or try to entangle him.


    It was a good thing that Cecil kept his Mana Sense up and constantly flitted through or cut apart the threads. He was also surprised to find that the threads were very sturdy, almost steel-like.


    If he didn''t use any mana to cut it apart then just by relying on his spear wouldn''t be enough for it to cut through the threads because not only was it sturdy, but it was also flexible. And even then, he had to exert a substantial amount of force from his strikes to break through it.


    "That would make a good material for clothes!"


    Cecil immediately began running around the battlefield storing the cut off threads of spider silk into his ring.


    "Hmhm~ I''m sure Lulu will be happy to receive such high-quality threads~"


    The Night Plague began screeching in anger when it saw the small bug running around it and picking up its threads.


    "Shut it! You''re annoying!"


    Cecil aimed a Flash Canon at the monster''s head and fired. A large explosion ensued and Cecil smirked when he heard it shut up, however his facial expression immediately froze when the explosion subsided.


    "Eh?"


    To Cecil''s surprise, his usual finisher actually didn''t damage the spider even one bit! With his enhanced senses, Cecil was able to notice a particular detail that he had overlooked since the start of the battle.


    "Well, aren''t you smart, wrapping your body with a thin layer of that thread! Looks like... I''ll have to cut it apart first!"


    Cecil readied his spear and dashed straight up to the Night Plague''s body while avoiding the poison-infused threads, its legs, acidic sprays and poisonous mist.


    He quickly landed on top of its body and stabbed down with his spear.


    "Take this!"

 Chapter 240 - A Grueling Fight

    30 minutes into the fight, Cecil was flashing and flitting all over the Night Plague''s body while stabbing and slashing down on its body.


    It was pretty difficult since the armor-like thread that was layered on top of its large body was acting as a good magic resistor and armor.


    Cecil''s mana attacks weren''t effective at all and only by using his spear could he deal any significant damage to its thread armor. Once again, this was only its armor. Even until now, Cecil still hadn''t done any substantial damage to its body.


    He could keep on stabbing and slashing away all night and still wouldn''t be able to kill the Night Plague''s at this rate.


    It was the first time he was facing such a tough opponent. He found it odd that the Empire''s bestiary only labeled this as a SS ranked monster! It should be ranked SSS instead!


    "Damn...this is difficult," Cecil cursed under his breath as he once again stabbed his spear into the monster''s body after cutting away the thread armor.


    After stabbing down a couple of times and injecting his mana into the wound before detonating it, Cecil jumped away before a large spray of acid and webs landed on his previous spot, covering the wound he had just opened. Now he couldn''t go back and attack that area again!


    "Tsk, so annoying!"


    He continued this for a bit and despite the large wounds created from his mana explosions which he directed straight into the monster''s large body, the attacks didn''t seem to have fazed it even a little bit!


    The Night Plague was still as vigorous as before and all the injuries that Cecil caused to it only served to enrage the monster even further.


    "Shit!"


    The attacks coming from the Night Plague only increased in intensity. Cecil was now dodging and running more than he was attacking. Even when he tried to attack the spinnerets of the monster that was constantly spewing out eggs and threads, nothing came of it.


    He stabbed his spear into the large spinnerets and sent his mana inside and detonated it soon after, but it only caused a slight pause in the flow of threads and eggs coming out. From what Cecil could see, there was no substantial damage he had done to the monster despite seeing all the large wounds decorating its humongous body.


    "What the hell! How am I supposed to kill this thing?! Even gouging its eyes out or stabbing into its head isn''t doing anything!"


    Cecil tried to dismember some of the monsters legs, but that proved to be a bust as well. When he was actually able to penetrate through the thread armor, the carapace on the spider''s legs were harder and tougher than the carapace protecting its body!


    He could only leave a small cut mark on the area that he tried to slash through even when he attacked using his full power.


    "Damn...this thing is definitely SSS...how the hell did the Empire made such a mistake?! That SS Oroboros I faced back then with only my legs wasn''t even half as difficult as this bastard!"


    "KIIIISSSHHHHAAAA!!!"


    The spider began screeching again and Cecil moved away from it. Whenever the monster began screeching like this, the thread armor layered on top of its body would expand and engulf the area around it. During this time, the armor would be highly poisonous and corrosive.


    Cecil had a small taste of this defensive attack during the early stage of the fight. He didn''t expect the thread armor to do that and accidentally came into contact with it. He tried punching through it, but all it did was cause a small injury on his hand.


    He quickly healed it with his Ki healing arts before the poison and corrosion was able to spread, but the worst part about this attack was that during this time when Cecil couldn''t approach the monster to attack, the thread armor would repair itself and Cecil would have to repeat the process of penetrating the armor again before being able to attack its body.


    He this happened only twice during their 30 minute fight. The wounds on its body didn''t heal or anything, but the constant repetition was getting on his nerves.


    "Damn, here I thought I could take on practically any monster...but this thing..." Cecil felt frustrated, but he couldn''t restrain himself from grinning in excitement.


    "This is just like back then when I was on the island... the frustration...and the thrill... Hehe, I didn''t think I''d enjoy the feeling now than feel repulsed by it..."


    Cecil smirked and was just about to find a way to rush back in to engage the Night Plague in battle once more, but suddenly a familiar voice was raised behind him.


    "Cel!"


    "Hm?"


    Lucia appeared behind Cecil and couldn''t help but gasp in shock at the colossal spider monster in front of her.


    "I-is that the Night Plague?"


    "Yeah, I''ve been fighting it for so long, but it still won''t fall...hehe, this is the first time I''m feeling frustrated fighting a monster! I can''t beat it no matter how many blows I''ve managed to land!"


    Lucia was shocked hearing this. A monster that even Cecil couldn''t beat, just what kind of monstrous existence was this thing?


    "H-how can that be?! Wasn''t this thing only rated as a SS?"


    "Well they were terribly wrong! This thing''s minimally a SSS...maybe even a SSS+!"


    Serilla arrived in the next instant and she quickly asked, "What''s that about a SSS?"


    "Seri, you''re here!"


    "Yup, the preparations for the retreating is currently underway, we can leave in a couple of minutes!"


    When Cecil heard her words, he immediately spoke up, "Retreat? What do you mean?"


    "The caravan''s retreating. We already cleared out the last of the spiderlings just now, and they''re in preparations to retreat! Kil''na said that they couldn''t stay another second in the area since the Night Plague actually showed up!"


    Cecil nodded in understanding then said, "Yuna, you go back and tell the caravan to go ahead without us!"


    Serilla and Lucia quickly turned around when they sensed a familiar presence pop out of nowhere. Yuna had just arrived through a Misty Gate when Cecil gave down the order. The dragon girl only gave the Night Plague a glance before nodding and walking back through the gate.


    "You two, with me, we''re taking down this thing!"


    "Oh!"


    "Hihi~ darling''s asking for my help~"


    "Enough with the jokes, get ready, the armor''s just about to patch up again. So listen closely." Cecil began to quickly explain all he knew about the Night Plague''s attack patterns and defensive capabilities to the two girls.


    Once he finished his explanation, the thread armor had shrunk down onto the Night Plague''s body and the fourth round of the fight was going to begin. This time however, Cecil had two helpers.


    "You both understand what to do, right?"


    "Yeah, so leave it to us!"


    "Yes~"


    "Good, I don''t believe this thing''s immortal, so if we can damage it enough, I''m sure we''ll be able to bring it down eventually!"


    Lucia and Serilla began preparing to rush into battle. Cecil looked towards the two and couldn''t help but smirk.


    ''Having assistance is better than going at this alone.''


    "Here we go!"


    Cecil was the first to rush forward when he saw the Night Plague shift its body towards his location. He aimed straight for the head and threw his spear at it.


    Cecil had already fused his mana, intent, and ki into the spear and activated the natural array inside it.


    The bright golden mana that was swirling around the spear made it look like a lightning bolt had been launched from his hands.


    The spear aimed true and penetrated the Night Plague''s thread armor and head altogether. It lodged into its head and Cecil''s mana detonated in the next instant, causing sending a large explosion straight into its skull.


    The explosion caused the spear to dislodge and it flew away from the monster''s head, landing somewhere deep in the forest. The Night Plague raised an agonized screech of pain and Lucia and Serilla took this as the signal to rush into battle.


    They flickered onto the monster''s large body and began slashing away at the armor. Lucia infused her flames into her sword and burnt away the thread armor. Her attacks were much more effective than Cecil''s had been.


    Just a stroke of her katana and kodachi was enough to burn away a large patch of the monsters armor. Serilla would follow it up with a sword intent-fused strike onto the spider''s bare body. Her sword pierced through its carapace and stabbed deep into its body.


    It was odd, but both Cecil and Serilla''s Intents hadn''t caused any effect on the Night Plague''s movements. They couldn''t help but think that this monster was immune to fear or something, but the attacks that were fused with their intents were dealing substantial damage to the monster''s body.


    With Cecil''s spear flying off into the forest, he quickly pulled out his sword and rushed forwards, keeping the monster occupied by constantly attacking its head and thorax.


    He kept the monster''s attention away from Lucia and Serilla. He was doing a good job at this since the monster''s attacks and attention was fully trained on him.


    "Oh no!" Cecil exclaimed.


    "W-what is it Cel?!"


    "The eggs! The spiderlings! I forgot about them!"


    During his solo fight with the Night Plague, Cecil had been sending mana volleys and mana bolts at the eggs that were dropping from the monster''s rear end, but now that he was preoccupied with keeping its attention on him, he had stopped sending mana bolts their way.


    "Don''t worry! Silver and Yuna''s got that covered!" Lucia replied.


    Cecil slashed at the monster''s head before backing off and sending his mana sense into the forest behind him. Sure enough, Yuna, Silver, the Morux Adventurer party as well as some other higher ranked parties were inside the forest forming a tight perimeter making sure that not one of the spiderlings passed through it.


    "Awesome!" Cecil turned his attention back to the Night Plague and flickered to its face once again.


    "FALL ALREADY!"


    Cecil slashed down with his sword, but this time the Night Plague raised two of its legs to block the sword. Cecil only smirked and continued cleaving down with his sword upon infusing more mana into it.


    He would cut straight through it or at least push it back, however, something unexpected happened.


    The two ends of the monster''s legs which moved to block his sword strike had split in the middle and formed pincers which managed to catch his sword in between.


    With his sword lodged in between the pincers, his attack was successfully blocked and he couldn''t dislodge his sword from the Night Plague''s clutches and this surprised him.


    "?!"


    In the next instant, the monster''s head quickly rushed towards Cecil and he couldn''t help but widen his eyes in surprise. Its poisonous fangs and acid-slobbered mouth were closing in and he could clearly observe the raging malice inside the remaining eyes of the Night Plague.


    Lucia and Serilla saw Cecil''s plight. They immediately abandoned what they were doing and quickly flickered towards him.


    "Cel!"


    "Darling!"


    But no matter how fast they rushed, the Night Plague''s head, which was already closer to him, would be the first one to arrive and not them.


    Cecil quickly let go of his adamantium sword and kicked off the pommel, quickly putting some distance between him and the jaws of the monster. The Night Plague chased after him with its large, disgusting head and widened its mouth even further.


    Cecil was prepared to take on a pointblank shot of corrosive acid to the face, but only saw the head approaching even closer.


    ''This thing wants to swallow me?!''


    When he saw the fearsome monster''s head closing in, Cecil subconsciously pulled out the Corruption from his ring and roared.


    "NOT TODAY ASSHOLE! YOU''RE THE ONE THAT''S GOING TO DIE!!!"


    Cecil raised Corruption high into the air and cleaved down furiously.

 Chapter 241 - The New Apocalypse

    When Cecil cleaved down on the Night Plague''s head with Corruption, an ominous aura wrapped around the World Tree''s Thorn as it moved down.


    As the blade made contact with the Night Plague''s horrifying head, the struck area melted away and Cecil easily sliced through.


    "Eh?"


    The unexpected ease caused him to respond stupidly. It was also at that moment Cecil felt a pulsating on his body, but now wasn''t the time to be absent minded. The monstrous head continued on its way and the Night Plague swallowed him.


    The head of the Night Plague was huge, so despite Cecil melting away a part of it, the area covered by the Corruption was only but a ''scratch'' on its large head.


    "NO!"


    "CEL!!!"


    Serilla and Lucia panicked when they saw Cecil being devoured whole by the Night Plague. The Night Plague only screeched in victory and moved its legs to slash away at the two incoming pests.


    The two girls immediately moved to avoid the attacks. In her rage, Lucia immediately let loose her Elemental Burst and immediately began chanting the verse to Apocalypse.


    "L-Lucia?!" Serilla panicked when she heard that ominous, but extremely familiar incantation.


    "Heaven and Earth shall fall¡ª"


    Serilla immediately moved ahead to cover for Lucia who was already in the middle of her chant. Lucia still remembered Cecil''s words regarding the Night Plague''s high resistance to mana and spells, but she didn''t care.


    No matter how high a monster''s resistance was...she just had to break through it with one powerful spell and the Apocalypse was the one for the job.


    "Lay waste to the World and¡ª"


    "Yuna, Silvy, if you can hear me! Help! I can''t¡ªurk¡ªhold on for much longer!" Serilla yelled out towards the forest.


    Serilla continued to flit around and block the Night Plague''s attacks that were aiming at her and Lucia, but she was having a hard time since she needed to protect Lucia from the attacks. The girl was vulnerable since she was chanting.


    A Misty Gate appeared not far from the girls'' location and out popped Silver, roaring in all his glory. As the wolf began running towards the girls, his body began shining and it slowly enlarged.


    By the time Silver arrived right in front of the large Night Plague, his body size was already big enough to rival the monster. Silver slammed his powerful body onto the Night Plague and successfully slammed it backwards a couple of meters.


    Silver roared in anger and fired off multiple wind blades from his tail and rushed forward to bite at the monster''s body. Serilla heaved a sigh of relief and dashed forwards to support Silver.


    She took one last look at Lucia before rushing forward and couldn''t help but be surprised at how long the girl was taking to finish the spell. It seemed much longer than the previous time she used it at the Dueling Tournament.


    This was indeed true. At the time, Lucia had only used a downgraded version of her Apocalypse spell. The true power from the spell wasn''t unleashed since she didn''t want to burn down the entire stadium and potentially hurt innocents with her spell and most importantly, she still didn''t have full control over her spell back then. Even the downgraded version at the time was still hard for her to control.


    But not now, Lucia had gained full control over her spell and knowing that there won''t be innocents by her spell, she was going to use it unreservedly.


    The sight of Cecil being swallowed by the Night Plague had also enraged Lucia. Of course, she didn''t believe that Cecil had died just like that. There was no way that boy was going to go down without a fight.


    He was probably fighting as they were speaking and hacking away at the innards of the monster. However, Lucia was still enraged nonetheless. She was putting her full power behind this Apocalypse and she was determined to burn the damned monster into ashes.


    While Serilla was attacking the Night Plague alongside Silver, she couldn''t help but feel the large change happening to the atmospheric mana. Even she, as a person who wasn''t all that adept with magic spells, could strongly feel the gravitating sensation.


    "All that mana...it''s gathering around Lulu!"


    When she turned her head back to look at her friend, her eyes widened at the awe-inspiring scene. Multiple large-scale magic formations were surrounding Lucia and as she continued her incantation, more magic formations slowly formed in the area around her.


    In the deep of night, Lucia had somehow become a dazzling sun that shone with a bright light. Even the adventurers in the forest that were engaging the Night Plague spiderlings noticed the strong light being emitted by the girl.


    "Is this...Apocalypse?" Yuna mumbled in shock. This was the first time that her master was using her mana to such a degree and fully displaying the powerful might of her ultimate original spell.


    "W-what is this?!"


    "This frightening pressure...is it that boy''s doing?!" Sak''arh exclaimed in shock.


    Yuna gave him a sidelong glance and scoffed, "Cecil isn''t capable of performing a spell that generates this much pressure and gathers this much mana."


    "So...who is it?"


    Yuna didn''t feel the need to answer his question so she just continued firing her spells at the surrounding spiderlings. "We have our own battle to focus on. Don''t get distracted by something irrelevant!"


    With her words, the other shocked adventurers immediately refocused themselves on the current battle. Their duty at the moment was to prevent any of the spiderlings from breaking through their perimeter.


    Back where Lucia and the others were combating the Night Plague, the monster itself was beginning to rampage around when it felt the dangerous aura emitting from Lucia''s nearly complete spell.


    It was trying to run away, but Serilla and Silver had been hindering and locking it down in one place. The Night Plague wasn''t that fast when moving around and was only agile when it was attacking, so the two had it easy just locking it down.


    "Destruction of all life¡ª" Just before she finished the final incantation, she sent a message through her mind to Yuna who was in the forest.


    ''Yuna, please teleport Seri and Silvy out of here!''


    Yuna quickly got the message through their pact connection and hurriedly opened up a Misty Gate.


    When she stepped over to the other side, she immediately called out to Serilla and Silver who were still engaged in battle.


    "Serilla! Silver! This way! Lucia''s done with the spell!"


    When Silver heard this, he immediately shrunk while buffing his body with wind elemental mana before grabbing onto Serilla with his tail and making a break towards the Misty Gate.


    Once the Night Plague was freed from the two, it hastily tried to run away, however once all 3 of Lucia''s comrades made it through the gate, she immediately pointed her kodachi at the fleeing spider and finished her spell.


    "APOCALYPSE!"


    With that final chant, the multiple magic formations surrounding Lucia blinked out of existence before suddenly appearing around the distant Night Plague.


    "Have a taste of my upgraded Apocalypse, you stinking bug!"


    Lucia had added a new aspect to her Apocalypse spell, and that was the current magic barrier forming around the Night Plague and the mana channeling attribute that she added to further empower her spell by allowing her to pump in more of her mana into the spell.


    The monster tried to strike down the barrier, but all its attacks only bounced off of it and caused no damage whatsoever. The monster panicked when it saw its attacks completely ineffective against the barrier and began to thrash about.


    "It''s useless you disgusting bug...time to die!"


    Lucia released her tails'' cores one by one and continued to channel all her mana into the spell causing it to grow larger and more powerful.


    Just before Lucia pumped the last of her mana inside the spell, she immediately stopped and the inside of the barrier where the Night Plague was trapped in immediately blossomed into a purgatory of hellfire and abyssal ice.


    The purple hell of her unique Lunaris Ice and Solaris Fire bombarded the Night Plague and it could only screech in despair. The monster could feel its body slowly disintegrating into nothing, so it began rampaging around desperately trying to break the barrier that was trapping it.


    "It''s...useless..." Lucia gritted her teeth in pain. The mana channeling attribute was a double edged sword. It let her strengthen her spell, but it also established a link between her and the spell. Since she was ''linked'' to her spell, the rampaging the monster was doing while striking the barrier was also hurting her.


    The earth continued to shake as the Night Plague rampaged about, but it didn''t take long until its final struggle ended.


    When Lucia felt it stop moving, she immediately cut off her link and mana from the spell. She didn''t want to thoroughly disintegrate the monster since she might harm Cecil in the process.


    Once the light from her spell slowly died down and the flames and ice of Apocalypse subsided, Lucia immediately rushed forwards, paying no heed to any of her injuries.


    When Yuna noticed that the light from Apocalypse had died down, she immediately opened another Misty Gate and rushed through it with Serilla and Silver. When they saw Lucia rushing towards the Night Plague''s unmoving body¡ªat least what''s left of it, they quickly followed her.


    When Lucia arrived next to the large body of the monster that had now lost all 12 of its appendages, half of its right and left abdomens and the entirety of its head, yet she couldn''t help but notice that the thing...was actually still alive.


    "W-what kind of vitality does this thing have?!" Lucia exclaimed in shock.


    "L-Lulu!"


    "Master!"


    Serilla and Yuna quickly arrived by Lucia''s side. They checked up and bandaged her injuries before turning their attention to the Night Plague''s large body.


    "I can still feel its life force... how is this thing still alive?!" Yuna exclaimed in shock.


    Taking on Lucia''s Apocalypse spell yet still being able to maintain its life, if the monster still had its appendages then there was no doubt that the thing would have made a last ditch struggle to escape from its terrifying hunters.


    "Even without its head...it can still live?" Serilla said in disgust. She looked around the area and couldn''t find Cecil.


    "W-where''s darling?! Don''t tell me...he''s still inside that thing?!"


    "H-he probably is...I just hope he wasn''t affected by my spell..."


    "Let''s look for him!"


    "Yeah, let''s start gouging out the insides of this disgusting monster and pull Cel out of there!"


    The two girls were just about to start dissecting the monster, but suddenly a large tower of dark green blood rose in the air from the middle of the spider''s thorax and Cecil immediately jumped out.


    "Ugh...disgusting...tsk, I didn''t think the heart was located in a different spot...if I knew that I¡ª"


    "Cel!"


    Cecil turned towards Lucia who had just called out to him and waved his hand. "Hey, thanks for the save! I felt your Apocalypse spell earlier."


    "A-are you okay?!"


    "Yeah, I''m alright, but could you please cast a cleanse spell on me? I feel disgusting."


    "..."


    "D-darling...you scared us earlier..."


    Cecil looked at the two girls and felt a little apologetic. He didn''t want to be swallowed by the monster, but at the time he was shocked to see the change on Corruption as well as the change to his body and mind at that time.


    He had finally figured out what caused his mind to be affected by the World Tree''s Thorns, but he paid the price of being swallowed by the Night Plague whole.

 Chapter 242 - Night Plague Down

    Once Lucia casted a cleanse spell on Cecil, the boy stretched and heaved a relieved sigh.


    "Phew...it sure as hell was disgusting while being inside that thing..."


    "..."


    "D-don''t talk about that anymore...it wasn''t pleasant to see you being swallowed by that thing..." Lucia mumbled.


    "Hey, I''m still alive right? But yeah, I guess you''re right..."


    "Mhm..."


    Lucia released a tired sigh before looking around at the large body of the Night Plague. After Cecil had destroyed the monster''s heart it was now totally dead.


    "What''ll we do with the remains? Most of the carapace and everything else are no longer usable after Apocalypse hit it..." Lucia said as she walked closer to the corpse.


    Cecil immediately began to move after he heard her words, but before that, he took one last look at Corruption. The runes had changed into an ominous red and it was emitting that malicious aura again.


    After storing the ominous weapon, Cecil made his way to the somewhat intact middle abdomen, but he remembered that his sword and spear were thrown far away by the Night Plague earlier. He immediately spread his senses out and quickly found both his weapons.


    Once Cecil pinpointed their locations, he stretched his arms out and manipulated his mana to latch onto the two weapons and pulled them into his hands. Once they were in his hands, he immediately checked to make sure that they weren''t damaged, but that was an unfounded concern.


    The two weapons were created from adamantium, Alterna''s strongest metal. Not just anything could damage an item created from that ore.


    Lucia and Serilla were really surprised when they saw Cecil''s weapons suddenly fly into his hands from afar. It was a sight to behold and they thought he had used a spell, but they didn''t see him use his runic casting method.


    Cecil did use it once before during the tournament, but many had overlooked this fact.


    "Cel, what was that?!"


    "Yeah, darling, how did your weapons suddenly fly to your hands like that?"


    "Hm? I only pinpointed their locations, latched my mana onto them and pulled them towards me. It''s pretty simple to do!"


    The two girls could only stare at him in confusion. That level of mana manipulation was anything but simple. Being able to materialize mana and have it latch and pull onto an object was not just something anyone could do.


    "Now, let''s get back to business. There are still some harvestable stuff we could get from this SSS ranked monster, like the monster''s silk! Lucia, you could totally use that to make us some clothes that could also double as armor!"


    Lucia was elated to hear this, but she then remembered that most of the corpse was ruined by her spell, so she didn''t have any high hopes that they''ll be able to find something still usable.


    "But...will there still be anything left? I mean, the silk seemed to be easily flammable and I just used Apocalypse to attack this thing..."


    "Uh oh... Ah, who cares, we should first take a look inside its abdomen. Maybe we could still find some usable silk."


    "Okay...s-sorry Cel..."


    "Hey, don''t be! Lulu, you saved me and even took down this monster with that one spell, there''s no need for you to apologize!"


    "Yeah...but it didn''t look like you needed saving..."


    "But you did so anyway, right?"


    "..."


    "Well, it is a pity that I can''t eat it anymore...you disintegrated its legs, head and probably destroyed all the eggs inside its two side abdomens..." Cecil said regretfully as he eyed the corpse of the Night Plague.


    Hearing this, Lucia was a little grateful that she had decimated the entire corpse. She really didn''t want to cook such disgusting looking food for Cecil even if it was a request from the boy himself.


    Lucia took a look at the corpse again and hid her smirk from Cecil when she saw that everything other than the middle abdomen, where the monster''s silk was located in, was practically all destroyed.


    The two side abdomens innards were thoroughly destroyed. All the legs were gone, and so was the head. A third of the cephalothorax was charred to ash and the entirety of the monster''s carapace had been scorched black.


    When Cecil arrived at the middle abdomen''s spinnerets, he was disappointed to see that they were also destroyed beyond repair.


    "Ah, crap...I''m not sure how spiders are in Alterna, but I don''t think we can harvest any silk from it anymore..."


    Lucia who was previously smug at her work immediately deflated when she heard this. "S-sorry Cel..."


    "Hey, what''d I say earlier?"


    "Uhm...well..."


    Cecil thought for a moment. He didn''t want to give up so easily. The Night Plague''s silk was just too precious of a material. He did retrieve some of it during the battle, but it was too little to create any sort of clothing.


    "Hmm...Let''s just dissect the entire middle abdomen...who knows, we might find something."


    The 3 began their dissecting operation and Yuna went back to the other adventurer parties still waiting in the forest. All the spiderlings were cleared out and since the source was now dead, no more had spawned.


    Cecil told Yuna to tell the adventurer parties to go back to the caravan. The party didn''t want anyone to find out that they had successfully taken down the Night Plague, so they had Yuna lie and say that the previous spell was only able to scare off the Night Plague. The monster was still alive so everyone should hurry and retreat with the caravan as soon as possible.


    As for Cecil''s party, they would catch up later after they took care of the spiderlings still in the area and made sure that the Night Plague was no longer chasing after them.


    With their alibi set, the party quickly began their work. It didn''t take long before the entire middle abdomen was completely dissected.


    It was surprising, but Cecil actually found a chamber inside the lower half of the abdomen, separate from the spider''s large silk gland, that actually had ready-made silk stored in it. This silk chamber was connected to some sort of tube that led to the other two abdomens and Cecil immediately understood what this silk was for.


    The silk would be processed into cocoons as well as being changed into the weird slime-like substance that accompanied the spider eggs when they were ejected out of the other 2 abdomens.


    This find was a lucky break and Cecil immediately collected the silk. There were some near the edges of the chamber that weren''t usable because they were charred black, so he only collected the usable ones near the center area.


    It wasn''t that much compared to the rest of the stored silk, but due to how big the monster was; the harvested silk was more than enough for Lucia to craft a couple sets of clothing for Cecil and the rest.


    "We got so much! I could totally work with this, and do you feel that! The thread conducts mana really well and I could probably try and add a flame resistant attribute to it! This way we can eliminate the silk''s only weakness!" Lucia exclaimed happily. She was very happy to receive such excellent materials.


    Lucia hadn''t only picked up cooking and quick-cast crafting during their travels, but also sewing. Cecil was always reckless during his training and fights with monsters so he would ruin a lot of his clothing.


    Since Lucia wanted to save up their money, she learned how to sew and she would repair Cecil''s ruined clothes as best as she could. Through experience, she was able to get better and now she was able to create clothes for her and Cecil to wear.


    She did put a stop to it while in the academy, but she would sometimes go over to Radon''s smithy and learn a thing or two from Radon''s wife who was a tailor. With her technique improved, she was now able to create some fashionable clothing that could also serve as armor if she used the right materials.


    Now that she obtained very excellent SSS ranked crafting materials, she was excited to get started on making clothing for the party very soon.


    "That''s good. So, I can expect something good sometime later?"


    "Yup!"


    "Don''t forget about me Lulu!"


    "Hihihi~ I''ll make a couple sets of clothing for everyone. If I start now...it''ll take a month or so before I can finish one set!"


    The party quickly dissected the rest of the body and tried to find anything else usable. The blood from the Night Plague was a little corrosive and very much poisonous, so it couldn''t be used for anything.


    The only reason why Cecil wasn''t affected by the corrosive and poisonous blood was because he was constantly circulating his Ki to counteract their effects while he was inside the monster''s innards.


    His Mana Burst also acted as a barrier that prevented the poisonous blood from coming into contact with his body.


    Once the party found what little materials that were still usable from the corpse, Lucia quickly reduced the corpse into a pile of ashes and Cecil used his plant manipulation to clean up the battlefield to some degree and create the illusion that the monster had escaped from the battlefield.


    Once the tracks of the Night Plague were created and checked to make sure everything was as authentic as it could be, Cecil nodded in satisfaction. He turned to Lucia and asked her to take them back to the campsite.


    When they stepped out of the Misty Gate, the campsite had long since been abandoned and Cecil couldn''t sense anyone still inside the forest.


    "Lulu, ask Yuna to come and retrieve us."


    "Already did."


    A Misty Gate appeared just ahead of them and the trio stepped through and appeared at the rear of the caravan.


    "Phew...that was tiring..."


    Silver was there to greet them in his normal, 5 meter tall battle form and not his colossal form. He quickly picked up everyone and placed them on his back.


    Silver gave a low roar to his 3 masters on his back


    ''Good work Master and the two Mistresses.''


    "You too, Silvy~"


    "Same to you, Silvy!"


    Cecil only responded by stroking Silver''s fur. He checked up on Lucia''s condition and healed her with his healing arts before lying down on Silver''s back to rest. It was still in the dead of night and after that exhausting fight, he was totally gassed out.


    Sak''arh and Kil''na immediately showed up not long after once they received a report that the 3 adventurers were back.


    "Cecil and you two girls, are all of you okay?!" Kil''na immediately asked in worry.


    Seeing as Cecil was asleep and Lucia was still sluggish from her lack of mana, Serilla was the one who jumped down and reported to her, "We''re fine. We managed to drive away the Night Plague, but we should hurry away from this place. Who knows if that monster will come back for revenge...Cecil and Lucia are exhausted and somewhat injured from the previous fight..."


    "Yes, we should hurry away from here!"


    "Damn, so that large-scale magic spell wasn''t enough to kill the monster?" Sak''arh asked anxiously. He was honestly impressed that such a young girl like Lucia was able to use such a destructive spell, but according to Serilla and Yuna, the Wanderers Party was only able to drive away the monster and not completely kill it.


    "No, unfortunately we couldn''t kill it...it sensed the power of the spell and despite our efforts to hold it in place, we were only able to barely land the spell onto its body. We did manage to take out one of its abdomen so it was too scared to fight back and quickly fled."


    "That alone is an accomplishment! You all have our thanks for once again protecting our lives!" Kil''na quipped up in amazement.


    Even Sak''arh was astonished and could hardly believe what the young lady just said, but he knew that the girl in front of him didn''t have anything to gain from lying to them.


    Well, the Wanderers did lie since the monster was already dead. However, the party didn''t want to attract attention, especially not in the Beastman Empire, but apparently taking out one of the Night Plague''s abdomens and forcing it to flee was already a very noteworthy achievement!


    "Don''t worry, we''re already heading towards the farthest safe zone from this area that''s also closest to the summit, it''ll take a couple of hours for us to travel there in the middle of the night, so you guys should get some rest. The other parties will handle anything that pops out, but please help out if things get out of hand."


    Sak''arh also nodded his head in acknowledgement to Kil''na words and he turned around to head back to the front of the caravan on his mount.


    Kil''na exchanged a couple more words with Serilla before heading back. She sighed and leapt back onto Silver.


    "Wow Seri~ you sure have your way with words now~!" Lucia teased when her friend landed back on top of Silver.


    "Well, I learned from the best!" Serilla giggled as she eyed Cecil before continuing, "At least darling doesn''t lie to us, right Lulu?"


    "Yeah, because if he did, I would know, and if he ever lied to me, I''ll punch him!"

 Chapter 243 - Hidden Abilities

    The caravan was able to safely arrive at the next safe zone and everyone was able to get some rest.


    Cecil woke up early the next day and moved away from the campsite to check his discoveries from yesterday. He pulled out Corruption and noticed that the blade''s aura as well as runes was back to their normal states.


    "If I remember correctly... I have to evoke the runes on my body and the runes on the Thorn at the same time for it to work..."


    Cecil began circulating his mana and ki and tried to activate the runes. It took him a couple of tries, but he was eventually able to do it.


    "Ugh...so this...was why... my mind..."


    There it was again, the ominous aura coming from Corruption and the sensation of his mind being invaded by something.


    ''Kill...kill...kill...kill..."


    Cecil frowned, but didn''t break the connection between the runes just yet. He let the Corruption continue to affect his mind and he tried to keep himself in control.


    "If I can stay... in this condition without being affected..."


    Cecil wanted to stay in this condition for as long as possible and resist the Corruption''s control. If he could do this then he''ll be able to use the Thorn normally at its full power. It was going to be hard and arduous, but Cecil welcomed this.


    There was also another benefit that he didn''t overlook. He could temper his mind by resisting the Corruption''s control. There was a passage inside his family''s martial arts texts which stated that the tempering of the mind and body were needed to advance into a higher realm of power.


    He didn''t know whether this was the kind of mind-tempering that the texts meant, but now he could test things out with the Corruption and make sure. If there was indeed a change to his mind after enduring the Corruption''s mind influence, then Cecil would have a good way to temper and train his mind.


    After enduring the Corruption''s influence for about 30 minutes, Cecil immediately cut off the runes'' connection and exited out of that state. He collapsed on his butt and wiped the sweat on his brows.


    His face looked a little pale, but when he spread his Mana Sense, one of the few techniques in his arsenal that was directly linked with his mind, the boy smiled in satisfaction.


    "It worked...haha...ouch, my head..." Cecil immediately retracted his sense when a piercing pain assaulted his mind.


    Once the pain subsided, Cecil waited a bit before he continued training again. After another hour or so he finished up and moved back towards the campsite.


    Lucia greeted him and had already filled up a large basin of water for him to shower. She also cast cleanse on him afterwards as usual.


    The caravan was ready to move after another couple of hours and the group began making their way up the mountain again. As usual, C-B rank monsters occasionally attacked them, but since everyone was still uptight and alert, there was no damage done to the cargo.


    The other adventurer parties were still wary of the Night Plague coming back to attack them, but it was an unfounded concern since it was truthfully, already dead.


    Cecil and the rest had a leisure time going up the mountain and it took them another 2 days before they finally reached the rest area at the mountain summit.


    After taking a break for the whole day, the group continued their trek down the mountain. And just like their way up the mountain, the journey down the mountain took 3 days as well since there were no mishaps.


    "We''re finally down the mountain! It''s a good thing the Night Plague didn''t come back to attack us!"


    "I know right? I can''t believe those kids actually drove away that disaster! I was totally prepared to die that night when the monster raided us..."


    "They''re a platinum ranked party for a reason! We were lucky to have them on this time''s journey. Just imagine if they hadn''t applied for this quest..."


    Many of the adventurers grew relieved and began to talk among themselves and expressed their heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Cecil''s party.


    Cecil couldn''t be bothered, so he kept meditating and continued to spread his mana sense into the area. The quest wasn''t over yet, and who knows whether they''ll face any more unfortunate ''disasters'' on the rest of their journey.


    During the past few days, Cecil continued training with Corruption and his mind was tempered to the point where he could resist the weapon''s influence for a full 15 minutes before he had to stop.


    His mana sense was now able to spread in a radius twice as large as before. Previously, Cecil had trained his sense till it could spread to a radius of 1 kilometer around, but now that had doubled to 2 kilometers.


    Cecil continued to temper his mind and upgrade his mana sense, but the gains weren''t as substantial as when he initially started however there were still improvements, albeit a little minor.


    He tried to test out the other Thorns and just like he thought, whenever he evoked the runes on both his body and the Thorn, he''d be able to activate the hidden ability and full power of the sword.


    Corruption had the ability to corrode and corrupt everything that made contact with it. It also would try to influence Cecil into doing something destructive, but it also helped in tempering his mind.


    Providence, just like Cecil thought, allowed him to ''dream'' or ''see'' the future. It wasn''t a set future since every time he evoked the runes; the vision would always be different. The most useless thing about the future vision was that sometimes he would see events too far into the future or events that weren''t anything major, like him suddenly tripping over and falling on top of Serilla and accidentally groping her b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ''Better avoid that.''


    There wasn''t anything that tried to influence his mind when he activated the Providence''s runes, but Serenity did however. Just like Cecil had predicted, the weapon calmed his mind and let him fall into a deep state of meditation when he activated the runes.


    There weren''t any other effects, but Cecil did gain the most out of activating this Serenity''s runes. He finally gained his long-awaited Sword Intent from just one round of meditation using the Serenity. Cecil had been so excited that he went out of his way to ask Serilla to spar with him using their Intents.


    Cecil was already adept at using Intent in battle so he emerged victorious, but ever since then Serilla and Lucia had been asking him to spar with them using only Sword Intent. Lucia did it in hopes that she too could awaken hers if she was exposed to it on multiple occasions while Serilla wanted Cecil to be her whetstone so that she could improve and better control hers.


    Cecil was more than happy to oblige. At least this took their attention off of any weird things they wanted to do to him.


    The odd one out of all his Thorns was Perseverance. When he activated the runes, his mind and senses were directly influenced and he couldn''t even resist it. Cecil also labeled the Perseverance as the most dangerous of the Thorns that he acquired.


    With Perseverance''s runes active, in a positive light, he became tough and unyielding, but in a negative way of putting it, Cecil became dull or sedated, he could still move however, he wouldn''t feel anything.


    He tried experimenting during their journey down the mountain, and Lucia had furiously flared out at him once the experiment was finished.


    In this state, Cecil fought very, very recklessly. He''d fight with no regards to his life and try to efficiently take down the monster he was facing despite receiving injuries in the process. And he''d continue doing this until all the monsters around him was thoroughly wiped out.


    Then he''d just stand there like an unresponsive idiot until the runes effects wore off. He wouldn''t even feel any pain from his injuries and no matter how much Serilla and Lucia called out to him he wouldn''t reply and just blankly stare around.


    Serilla had him seal the sword and if he so much as touches it, the two girls threatened to flip out in anger and cause problems for him the entire day. It wasn''t as though Cecil needed them to remind him since he himself also didn''t like the state his body was in. He could clearly observe what was happening, but he couldn''t control his body, like it was on autopilot or something.


    He decided to never use the Perseverance, except in cases where he was heavily injured, but needed to move his body no matter what.


    The group traveled through the western side of the empire for another week and a half before they were able to finally make it to the capital.


    "It''s the capital!"


    "We made it! Thank the gods!"


    The adventurers cheered when they finally saw the silhouette of the city walls far off in the distance.


    During their journey towards the capital they were besieged by plenty of monsters and on 2 occasions they were attacked by large sized bandit groups. When things got out of hand, the Wanderers would step in to control the situation.


    Cecil and Lucia were already used to this, but Serilla was exhausted from the constant traveling and the nights of light sleep where she couldn''t even fully immerse in a deep sleep because of the need to stay alert just in case a night attack happened.


    When Serilla saw the city''s walls, she couldn''t help but tear up and cheer.


    "We''re here!!!"


    "Yeah...now we can finally get some hard earned rest..." Lucia added as she stretched her body.


    "We can''t. Remember we have to quickly find information on the humans'' whereabouts and quickly make our way out of the capital." Cecil said in a lowered voice.


    "W-why?!"


    When Serilla heard this, she couldn''t help but cry out in distress.


    "Remember...we''ve gained a bit of fame from driving away the Night Plague, so we can''t stay inside the capital for long. Most importantly, if the adventurer guild sends a recon party to check on the situation in the mountains, then they might find out that the monster is dead, so we have to leave quickly. Later, I want you, Lulu and Yuna to go and search for the humans'' location."


    "And you Cel?" Lucia asked.


    "I''ll look for a carriage. Once I find a suitable one, I''ll spend the whole day modifying it so you guys can rest on the journey. So bear with it for a while okay?"


    "...Okay..." Serilla replied a little deflated.


    "Hehe, I know you''re not used to this yet, Seri. But lighten up. It''ll only get harder from here on out and you''ll quickly adapt to it." Cecil said as he patted Seri''s head gently.


    After another couple of hours of traveling, the caravan finally made it to the city''s gates and passed through it after showing the guards their papers and identification.


    Once everyone arrived at the adventurer''s guild, they were immediately paid handsomely. Cecil''s party received a little extra and some of the parties reported to the guild about their journey and how Cecil''s party, the Wanderers, had successfully repelled the Night Plague.


    Before the guildmaster or any of the administrative guild staff could get a hold of them, Cecil and the rest had long since fled the guild. They didn''t need the attention and went about to find information about the humans.


    Lucia handed everyone large cloaks that they could use to cover their face and bodies so as to avoid meeting up with anyone that could identify them. They didn''t want anyone to be dragged back to the guild.


    However, the best place to look for the information about the humans was obviously the adventurer guild, but they couldn''t do that so Lucia and the rest decided to go to a tavern or listen around to some gossip in the marketplace to find the info instead.


    After Cecil found directions, he made his way over to the capital city''s crafting district to search for a place that sold carriages. On the way, he looked around and took in the sights of the city.


    "Hm, other than being bigger and having beastmen civilians, not much is different..."


    There wasn''t much difference in the magnificence between Anglaria Kingdom''s Capital, Angla and the Orca Empire''s Capital, Orcus.


    "Ah, there''s the place!"

 Chapter 244 - The Wanderer and The Little King

    When Cecil entered the large store that was more of a warehouse, he was immediately greeted with the sight of various sized carriages and wagons.


    The shop clerk immediately noticed him since currently there were no other customers in the shop.


    "Dear customer, what can I be of service today? Would you like to buy a carriage or a wagon? Or do you need maintenance on one?"


    "I''d like to buy... a wagon," Cecil replied. He looked around and saw that a carriage wouldn''t be suitable for their long travels. A wagon would be much more practical. They were larger and Cecil could do some large modifications to it and make a mobile home for his party.


    He reminded himself that Serilla still wasn''t used to traveling yet. She''ll adapt, but even then he wouldn''t want his 2 girlfr¡ªahem, 2 companions to feel uncomfortable throughout their journey together.


    He had basically dragged them away with him so he needed to make a semi-permanent home for them. Sleeping out in the wilderness is fun and all, but he wouldn''t want to experience that for days on end since he didn''t even know where his parents were in this giant world.


    The store clerk nodded happily and began leading Cecil around.


    "Then please have a look, or do you have any specifications?"


    "I need one that can be easily modified, can be pulled by a wolf-type monster, and has substantial room in it to hold some cargo."


    "Ah, we have some already in stock or you can also have one custom-ordered, but it will take time," The clerk replied.


    Cecil only replied that he''d just buy one that''s already been made. While looking through each one, the salesclerk was incessantly talking and giving him the usual sales pitch that any salesman worth their salt would do. It was a little annoying, but nonetheless helpful.


    He quickly picked out the largest wagon available in the store after he inspected the craftsmanship and materials used to create it. He was both satisfied AND surprised to see that the wagon he picked out was actually made from A-rank monster materials.


    It was very expensive, but to Cecil and his party who regularly hunted S-rank and above creatures, money was but a number.


    Once he paid, the shop clerk asked if he wanted the shop''s delivery service to send his wagon over to whichever place he was staying in. Cecil declined and just straightforwardly pulled the large and heavy wagon out with a single hand.


    On the road back to the inn, he felt strange gazes directed at him. It was odd to see a lone beastman pull a wagon behind him with one hand, even if it was brand new. Cecil had forgotten to take Silver with him and left him together with Yuna and the girls.


    "Ugh, what was I thinking not bringing Silv with me...now look, I''m the one pulling the wagon...a Cecil-drawn wagon... Heh," He chuckled at himself. The boy wasn''t bothered with the peculiar gazes people were giving him. They couldn''t see his face since it was covered by his cloak so why did he need to feel embarrassed?


    It took him an hour or so to arrive back at the inn the party was staying at since he couldn''t actually rush along the street while dragging the large wagon behind him. Once he arrived though, Cecil immediately pulled the wagon over to the inn''s back lot and began modifying the wagon.


    He pulled out all the necessary tools from his spatial ring and began inscribing the runes he had done for the Little Kings'' carriage on the wagon. His runes had went through a substantial improvement so the runes he was carving onto the wagon was more advanced than the ones on the Little Kings'' carriage.


    "Hmm, maybe I should name it this time around. Let''s name it, the Wanderer, just like our party''s name, and the previous carriage shall be called the Little King! Ah, I should have carved out its name somewhere before I left..."


    Cecil took about half a day''s time to finish inscribing all the runes he wanted to put on the Wanderer.


    When it was deep into the evening, Lucia and the girls had arrived back at the inn. They looked around inside to find him before going out to see whether he was at the back lot.


    "Ah! There you are Cel!"


    "Oh, hey you guys...how''d it go? Were you all able to find something?" Cecil asked as he did the finishing touches to improve the wheels, axle, and etc. It took another hour or so for him to finish.


    Everything became easy to modify ever since he gained the knowledge of an artificer. Cecil had even installed a small Magi-tech air conditioner inside of the wagon''s interior.


    He had closed off and sealed the interior of the wagon by bordering up the opened spaces with high quality wood that he had bought along his way to the inn. The only way in and out of the wagon''s interior was through the wooden doors that Cecil had created which he then reinforced with runic arrays.


    One could also break through the windows that Cecil installed on the wagon, but he made sure that they were triple-reinforced by his runic arrays. He even took the extra mile by actually inscribing spatial runic arrays inside of the wagon''s interior.


    These runes were the ones that took him the longest to finish and they enlarged the interior''s space by 4 times the original space it had.


    When the girls opened the door and stepped inside, they couldn''t help but marvel at the large space inside the wagon that was disproportionate to the outer appearance of the wagon.


    "Cel! What''s this? What did you do?! There''s so much space inside!" Lucia began hopping around and asking in excitement. Even Serilla wasn''t exempt from expressing her amazement and awe.


    "D-darling...how did you do this?"


    The two girls were looking around in amazement. The interior was still empty, but the space inside was large enough for the party to actually put in furniture in to decorate the place.


    He looked proudly at the girls and explained.


    "I inscribed spatial runic arrays inside the interior. It took a while for it to fully function, but now it seems that its 100% up and running. I have to thank foster mother for giving me her spatial runes and arrays. Now we have a ''mobile'' home!"


    "Wow~! Our very own home! Yay~" Lucia cheered.


    Serilla walked over to Cecil and hugged him tightly. "Thanks darling~"


    She had long since noticed his thoughtfulness and knew that she had played a major part in creating this ''mobile'' home for their party.


    Cecil patted Seri on the head and said lightly, "We''ll be using this guy for a long time on the road. Since you''re not used to traveling and sleeping in the wild, I just thought to make it more comfortable for all of us since I have the means to do so."


    Serilla embraced him even tighter and began to gleefully rub her cheeks on his. Lucia smirked at the two and began looking around while picturing something in her head.


    "Hmm, we can even put a small kitchen in here~"


    Cecil nodded at her words. He patted Serilla''s head once more before going outside. It was getting dark, but he still thought that it was time for them to continue on their journey.


    "Let''s eat and shower at the inn, then we''ll head out right away. On our way out, we''ll buy up the things we need to decorate the wagon''s interior."


    "Okay~"


    ******


    After their meal and shower, the party was now in their new ''home'' and slowly making their way out of the city. Silver was pulling the wagon while Cecil and the girls were on the lookout for home appliances and decorations for the wagon.


    Lucia quickly found a portable stove and other portable kitchen appliances and immediately bought them up. The party also purchased a thick large rug made by Elurian fur, a large B-ranked rodent-type monster that was known for having the softest fur in Alterna.


    It was a luxury, but since the party could afford it, Cecil directly bought it. They also bought up 2 long couches that would substitute for the wagon''s benches, 2 tables, a few chairs, and some other stuff. The party also bought sufficient blankets and pillows, Cecil even allowed the 2 to buy beds for everyone.


    Actually, they only bought 2 beds, a small one for Yuna and a medium-sized one for the two girls. Cecil said he could just sleep on the couch, but the girls obviously had others plans for buying the bed.


    The space was large enough, and the party could all fit and sleep comfortably inside the wagon. After buying up a couple of more stuff, the group quickly finished their shopping and made their way to the city''s gates.


    The guards of course gave them weird glances since they were heading out when the sun was setting, but they didn''t move to stop Cecil and the rest after they showed their platinum-rank identification.


    Once they were out of the city, Cecil had Silver rush out for an hour or so before stopping. He had bought a couple of wooden boards earlier and wanted to make partitions inside of the wagon.


    He separated the left and right of the carriage into the kitchen-dining room and the bedroom, while the center would act as the main area where they would sit around at, it was basically the living room. There was also the lavatory situated here.


    Cecil of course had to remodel some of the wagon''s interior to create the drainage, but for now he would just partition an area out and finish the remodeling tomorrow morning.


    He also created a large partition at the top area of the carriage where they could store some cargo. It was unnecessary since the party had spatial rings, but Cecil didn''t want the wagon to look all empty inside.


    Sure, they did have a lot of portable kitchen appliances and whatnot, but the interior of the wagon was BIG. It was 20 square meters in size so it was practically a small house...or apartment.


    It was larger than what Cecil had intended it to be, but since it was already like this, he couldn''t do anything about it and decided to just go for the extra mile. The kitchen-dining room area was big enough for Lucia to comfortably move around in. The bedroom area was divided into 2 spaces, one for Yuna and the other for Lucia and Serilla who were going to be sharing the medium-sized bed.


    Cecil would just sleep in the center area on the couch or on the carpet floor. But like what was mention earlier, Lucia and Serilla had other plans in mind. They''d drag the boy to their bedroom no matter the cost.


    Once the sections were created, Cecil pulled out all the monster materials that the party got from the previous quest and began storing them up on the upper storage area. He already had Lucia cast cleanse to remove the smell, blood and dirt off of the materials.


    He could have sold them earlier at the adventurer guild, but they had quickly escaped from that place and didn''t do so.


    The inside of the wagon was also brightened up by Cecil''s magi-tech invention that was practically Earth''s light bulbs.


    He didn''t want to use light stones since they were expendable items, but he did have a large one placed in the center section of the carriage. Cecil wanted to have the awesome feeling of turning off the light with a snap of his finger when he was going to bed.


    Once the modifications were set, Cecil gathered everyone into the center area to hear the information that they found about the humans.

 Chapter 245 - Clues and...

    While searching around in the city''s taverns, Mercenary and Merchant Guilds, as well as listening from the gossips from the market, Lucia and Serilla were able to roughly find the whereabouts of the human invaders.


    Of course, other than the information from the Merchant and Mercenary guilds, the rest weren''t credible since they were only rumors and hearsay, but at least they had a general idea of where the humans operated and could just search for them in those areas.


    "So, they''re mostly in the northern area''s Midgard-Urrugdrasil border..."


    "Well, that''s what we can deduce from combining all the credible info from the merchant and mercenary guilds and the rumors from the streets. We should at least start looking there," Lucia said in reply.


    Cecil nodded and immediately decided, "Alright, we''ll start from the north and just comb down the entire border and see if we can meet up with them. Our time limit is the same, one month. If we can''t find them, then we''ll head over to Midgard on Yuna."


    "Okay, but honestly Cel, we could just take the easy way out and go on Yuna..."


    Cecil chuckled at her response and said in reply.


    "Lulu, where''s the adventure in that? Shouldn''t we enjoy our trip around the world? I mean, it''s such a big place, just moving around without appreciating the scenery is kinda boring, don''t ya think?"


    "Hmph, says the idiot who spent most of his time single-mindedly training during our earliest journeys!"


    "Ahaha~ don''t sweat the small stuff, Lulu~"


    "Hmm... well, whatever. I''d rather enjoy our time together anyways~"


    "Yup~ darling said we would be making new memories together, right~?"


    The two girls grabbed onto either sides of Cecil and hugged him. The boy only groaned, but didn''t do anything.


    Yuna stood up, picked up Silver and walked to the bedroom area. "I''ll be hitting the hay now, good night everyone."


    "Mhm."


    "G''night~"


    "Good night, Yuna."


    They stayed together like that for a while before Cecil began hearing the calm breathing from the two girls.


    "Oi...you two better not have fallen asleep."


    "..."


    "...zzz..."


    With the girls now asleep, Cecil sighed helplessly and used Nature''s Shift. They were now sleeping on his clone''s shoulders. He silently picked up Serilla and brought her over to her bedroom.


    Yuna''s was on the left and Cecil could see that she was already asleep with Silver napping silently next to her.


    He smiled gently and carefully placed Serilla down on the bed. He quickly made his way back to Lucia and brought her into the room as well. It was a good thing that they were fast asleep otherwise they would have kicked up a fuss and forced Cecil to sleep together with them.


    He turned off the lights and went back to the central area alone. With a snap of his finger the center partition was engulfed in darkness. Only the starlight shining in from the doors'' windows at the front and back of the wagon illuminated the interior.


    Looking up at the clear night sky through the window, Cecil could see the multitudes of beautifully sparkling stars. He activated the carriage''s barrier and early warning system arrays before pulling out his blanket and pillow from his ring and lied down on the couch.


    He wanted to read something from his magic tome, but he decided against it. With the calm of the night accompanying him, Cecil slowly fell asleep.


    ******


    Push back time and let''s head over to the Midgard Continent.


    "My lady~ we are you going?" A frivolous voice called out.


    A woman in her early twenties only looked back coldly at the young man who called out to her. She couldn''t help but release an annoyed breath when she saw the man walking up to her.


    "Lady Fatima, where are you going?"


    "To class, shouldn''t Your Highness be heading off to class as well?"


    "Ahaha~ it matters not if I am late, I would like to accompany milady to her class. May I?"


    "...do as you wish, I can''t actually stop you since you''re the Prince of this...country."


    "Hmhm~ then I shall do as I wish!"


    The young woman briskly walked away and moved through the large stone corridors of the victorian-styled building she was currently in. This young lady was Fatima Silvaria, Cecil''s eldest sister, and she was currently in an Alternian Human Kingdom.


    During the first expedition out of the Sky-Piercing Mountains, the Silvarian expeditionary force was able to successfully establish contact with humans from Alterna.


    Of course there were some altercations at first due to the inability to communicate between the two human species, but Fatima was able to quickly learn the Alternian humans'' language after studying it for over a month. Of course at that time, she still wasn''t fluent in it, but she could use it to a suitable degree where communication was possible.


    After being able to communicate with them, Fatima finally found out that she was currently in a small village called Skriar, the only village that was located close to the mountains which surrounded her family''s city, Silvaria City.


    She also learned that the area where her family was currently in was called the no-man''s land and the encircling mountain range that closed off the area from the rest of the continent was called the Sky-Piercing Mountain Range.


    After sometime, Fatima and a couple of other Earthlings were able to finally speak the language fluently. The expeditionary force also periodically brought goods to the village to trade for this world''s currency and other things.


    It wasn''t long before an entourage from the village''s reigning power came for an inspection. The ruling power had received a report from some merchants that frequented the village regarding the strange humans who had suddenly appeared and began conducting trade with the villagers.


    When the Kingdom''s entourage entered the village, Fatima immediately found out from the people she placed to monitor the village''s surroundings of monsters.


    During the first couple of months, they not only conducted trade and interacted with the villagers, but were also discretely protecting them from any nearby monsters. Sometimes, even Fatima herself would head out.


    The Kingdom''s entourage was headed by the Kingdom''s 3rd Prince, it was a little unexpected for Fatima since she couldn''t believe how backwards the society was in Alterna, it adopted a ruling system that came from the feudal age where Kingdom''s and Empire''s reigned, but this fact ultimately proved to her that she and her family was indeed sent to a place that was not Earth.


    The village elder had her meet up with the Kingdom''s Prince and from the Prince she found out that the Kingdom she was in was called the Regulus Kingdom.


    The Third Prince, whose name was Rowan, was also a lad who was at the same age as her and unlike what she had first thought when she heard something about a Prince; he wasn''t haughty or pompous.


    Prince Rowan interacted amiably with Fatima and didn''t overstep any boundaries or look down on her for being a woman. Rowan didn''t have any need to since he could see the powerful people that were following the young lady.


    All the people that followed Fatima on the expedition to the outside world were naturally the most powerful people from Silvaria City.


    She didn''t disclose anything about where she was from, but only said that she came from a faraway country and got lost during their travels. With their belongings gone missing, she didn''t have a map and couldn''t find her bearings.


    Rowan didn''t believe it and wanted to test her so he brought out a map of Alterna and asked where she was from. Fatima was a perceptive person so she naturally knew that the prince was trying to probe her out. She took a quick glance of the map and randomly pointed out to an island just off the coast of Midgard''s western area.


    The large island and the surrounding smaller ones were marked as the Bertrian Island Nation. From Fatima''s poker face, the prince couldn''t determine whether she was telling the truth or not. Naturally, the prince only shrugged it off and believed her story of being attacked by monsters and losing their possessions.


    This part was the most suspicious because the Prince could discern the power of the people following Fatima. They were strong, and no B-C ranked monsters would pose a problem to their group. But since he couldn''t find the truth and observed that Fatima and her group didn''t seem to hold any malicious intentions towards his kingdom, he decided to place a minimal amount of trust in the young woman.


    The Prince went back after and would periodically come back to the village every other week. From what Fatima could see, the prince had somehow grown fond of her. Fatima was a beautiful young woman, so it wasn''t that much of a surprise.


    In reality, what attracted Prince Rowan to her was the way she carried herself. Fatima exuded an aura of nobility that seemed to be ingrained deep into her bones and this caused Rowan to be curious about her.


    He was also surprised at how powerful she was in battle. The village had one day been besieged by a monster wave that was coming from the mountains. Thankfully, it was on a day when the prince had come to visit the village.


    He had brought his personal Knight Order with him as well as some adventurer parties, but they were in for a shock when Fatima mobilized her forces and swept through the monster wave like it was nothing.


    The most important fact was that they didn''t use any magic and only relied on their unique weapons, fists, and legs to sweep through the monster wave.


    A couple of days after the event, the Prince couldn''t help but ask why Fatima and her people didn''t use any magic while fighting. Inwardly, the girl was shocked when she heard about the existence of magic and mana from Rowan.


    Fatima didn''t let it show, but she needed to find out more about this ''magic''. Apparently it wasn''t those magic tricks from Earth, but those things from the fantasy books that Gabriel was so fond of reading.


    She only gave a perfunctory reply and did not let her shock leak out. However, what the prince said next did cause her to express the shock she was trying to reel in. Rowan had invited Fatima to his Kingdom as a guest.


    His excuse was that he wanted to reward Fatima for protecting the village and repelling the monster wave. Fatima didn''t see any reason to refuse so she agreed.


    From there she was able to meet with the Kingdom''s royalty. It was all good at first until she met the Kingdom''s 2nd Prince. From the start of their meeting, the bastard introduced himself with the intention to bed her and this caused her to immediately snap. Royalty or not, she was a proud woman and a dumb fool like this needed to be taught a very, very bitter lesson.


    After interacting with Fatima for so long, Rowan could naturally pick up the subtle nuances that Fatima would express from time to time. She was normally cold and poker-faced, but his brother''s thoughtless words had clearly enraged her.


    Before Fatima could do anything, Rowan had stepped forward to berate his brother and announce that Fatima was his beloved, which of course earned him a frighteningly cold and hostile glare from the young lady.


    After a lengthy amount of explanations and apologies, Fatima was able to forgive Rowan for doing something unnecessary, but she also had to thank him because if he hadn''t done what he did, there would have been an additional eunuch present inside of the kingdom''s castle.


    So after a couple of months staying in the capital city of Regulus, Regalia, Fatima enrolled in the kingdom''s most prestigious magic academy to learn about magic. Since Fatima looked rather young for her age, she could still barely pass off as a high school girl, if you cut out the mature and cold aura surrounding her character.


    It had to be mentioned that the annoying 2nd prince had followed after her, trying to do his best to court her despite knowing that she was his brother''s ''fianc¨¦''.

 Chapter 246 - Fatima’s Academy Experience

    It''s been about 2 months since Fatima had enrolled in the Regulus Magic Academy and today was the day that Cecil and his friends had finished the World Tree''s Trials.


    She was heading off for her practical magic combat classes. During the past two months since coming into contact with magic and mana she was able to quickly grasp many spells and strengthening techniques.


    However, just like Cecil, she couldn''t actually use them. Fatima would also give a periodic report of her situation to her family and it''s also been over half a year since she''s last seen them.


    "Haahh...there''s still no news about Cecil even after for so long...just where is he?"


    Fatima had her people from the expeditionary force look around the kingdom for news regarding her brother, but even until now, nothing came up. As the days passed, she only fell deeper and deeper into desolation knowing that her brother couldn''t be found.


    She uplifted her mood with the magic classes she was taking since they were interesting and her interactions with the cordial and well-mannered Prince Rowan, who now straightforwardly expressed his deep admiration and affection for her.


    Fatima was of course flattered, however her thoughts were focused on finding her brother and she didn''t dare or want to respond to any of Rowan''s advances because she didn''t want to implicate herself with the politics of the kingdom.


    The Prince could also see that there was something constantly gnawing on the young lady''s mind, but he could never muster up the courage to ask her what it was. Rowan also thought that he should let Fatima open up to him and tell him herself.


    He wanted to help her, but Fatima''s attitude towards him was still just as cold and indifferent as when they had first met, rarely would she display acts of warmth towards him.


    Fatima''s ''good days'' were spent learning and distracting herself from the stressful thoughts of not being able to find her youngest brother through her studies. If she didn''t have to deal with the annoying Second Prince, then everyday would be a ''good day''.


    *******


    Fatima walked into her classroom and sat herself in the front row. The 2nd prince, Armano, only stopped outside of the classroom before heading off to his own class.


    She didn''t like that prince one bit. After their first interaction where he brazenly asked if she would allow him to bed her, Fatima''s first impression of the prince plummeted from neutral to complete hostility and utter disgust, though she did well to hide it.


    Only Rowan could see the subtle changes to Fatima''s mood and actions whenever his brother, Armano, was hanging and buzzing around her like a fly.


    It was too bad that the rodent was part of the royal family because if he wasn''t, Fatima wanted to gouge the eyes that stared at her lewdly, sew the mouth that spoke to her indecently, and crush the pitiful third leg of the bastard.


    Fatima quickly pushed all the infuriating thoughts about the lecherous prince to the back of her mind and took out her books from the spatial ring that Rowan had gifted her. It was a peculiar object that went against all of the principles of Earth''s science.


    It was a truly magical object that Fatima found to be quiet convenient and handy. The space inside the ring was around 4 cubic meters or so and she could store plenty of things inside.


    The ring''s space could also only be accessed by the person who had bound it with their blood, in this case, Fatima. She didn''t know this, but the ring that Prince Rowan gave to her was a White Ring, the same as Cecil''s and Lucia''s spatial ring.


    Rowan had basically given her a national grade treasure, but she didn''t know it. Fatima was also oblivious to the fact that the ring was in fact a dowry that the royal family had Rowan deliver to her because she was his ''fianc¨¦e''.


    Fatima also didn''t pay it too much mind since it was a gift from her friend. She was able to gain her very own portable storage box and she couldn''t help but lament at the thought of being able to own such a thing when she was still back on Earth.


    "Carrying all those heavy doc.u.ments from home to the office would have been so easy..."


    "Good morning Fatima, how are you today?"


    A voice called out from behind her and Fatima smiled lightly at the girl who had now moved to sit beside her.


    "Good morning to you as well Clara, I''m fine, how about you?"


    "I''m great~ but, are you sure you''re fine?" The girl named Clara asked. She had seen the person who escorted her friend to the classroom just earlier. She knew for a fact that this cold friend of hers did not like the 2nd Prince.


    "Yeah...of course I am." Fatima replied in her usual tone of voice.


    Since enrolling in the academy, Clara was the only person that Fatima could call a ''friend''. The other people in class were either too afraid of her or scorned her because of Fatima''s unknown social status.


    There were others that were also jealous of her close relationship with the Kingdom''s 2 princes. Many were especially jealous of how close she was with the handsome and kind Third Prince Rowan.


    "Huhu~ it''s tough being ''popular'', huh?"


    Fatima only shrugged and remained silent. Clara was already used to how cold Fatima was, but she found it interesting to interact with her. That''s why she stuck around Fatima and befriended her.


    Clara was a part of the Kingdom''s Velentia Marquis House so she had a pretty high social status. While others fawned over her, only Fatima was the person who remained indifferent and uncaring. Fatima treated her like any other person and this fresh treatment, coupled by the unknown charm that the young lady possessed, was what attracted Clara to her.


    Despite not having many friends and receiving the jealousy of the other classmates, Fatima found it beneath her to even respond to the jealousy and lament on her ''friendless'' state.


    She had more important things to do and worry about, like her youngest brother''s current whereabouts. Fatima only decided to stay in the academy for a couple of months or for as long as she needed before she got a good grasp on what magic was before she would drop out.


    For 2 months, she focused all her attention on studying and was able to attain many substantial gains which she would then compile into a long doc.u.ment and have her people send back to her family.


    When the academy first evaluated her mana stage and elemental affinity, they were surprised to find that she was a non-elemental user and that she had an abundant amount of mana already present inside her body.


    This was unprecedented, but even though the researchers wanted to interrogate her as to why this was possible, her status as the 3rd Prince''s ''fianc¨¦e'' deterred them from being too forceful and disrespectful.


    Fatima naturally saw the fervor in their eyes and chose not to answer even a single question. She already knew that she was special, but the eyes of the researchers looked like they wanted to dissect her and this caused Fatima to have a low impression on them.


    Give them an inch and these people will want a mile. That''s the impression she got from the researcher, so she decided to stay mum and indifferent to all their inquiries.


    Also, the mana that Fatima possessed rivaled that of people in the Mana Sea Stage. She hadn''t trained as hard as Cecil had so it was understandable that she had less mana than him, but nevertheless, a person who has Mana Sea Stage cultivation while only being in their twenties was considered a person of immense talent.


    Rowan was curious about her elemental affinity, but he didn''t dare ask when he saw how coldly the girl rejected all inquiries from the researchers. When one of them tried to be a little too touchy-feely things naturally went bad for the researcher.


    Rowan could only withhold his curiosity and instead be happy for her since she now also had the prestige of being a young prodigy, but Fatima at the time was still clueless on what it meant to have Mana Sea Stage cultivation at her age.


    She even thought that it was a shame and a disadvantage that her non-elemental affinity was the cause of her inability to use normal elemental spells. If she had the choice, she''d rather have an elemental affinity instead so she could at least try using a magic spell.


    Fatima tried to use a simple Fireball spell one time, but she couldn''t invoke it no matter how much she chanted and circulated her mana. It was infuriating, but there was also some gains that she was able to discover for herself through trial and error.


    By rotating the mana inside her body using her family''s martial arts ''inner force'' method, Fatima was able to physically enhance her body by a great deal. And just like Cecil, before he acquired that unique written casting method, Fatima still couldn''t use a single elemental spell to this day. She didn''t have any knowledge on how to cultivate Mana Eyes like Cecil did so she was grasping around in the dark for a way forward.


    She did however somehow manage to conjure a Mana Bolt by herself. The Mana Bolt resembled the Fireball spell so she continued practicing to use that and it soon enough became her main spell. Fatima called it the Lightball spell, since the thing that she conjured from her hand was a literal ball of golden light.


    If Cecil knew that the Mana Bolt spell that he patented had been turned into the ''Lightball'' spell by his sister, he would lament at how uncool the name sounded.


    During Fatima''s early days in the academy when she didn''t know how to properly manipulate and control her mana, she had difficulty keeping up with the classes. This was also another reason why her classmates had alienated her from the rest. No matter how high her Mana Stage was, if she couldn''t even use the simplest of spells, then she was garbage.


    Gradually however, she was able to gain a better control over her mana and she no longer struggled in practical classes like she did before. Comprehensive classes were her forte so she didn''t even struggle one bit with these kinds of classes after she had a firm grasp of the basics.


    When the instructor came in, he notified the class of a change in schedule. Their class, R3, would be holding a joint practical magic combat class with classes R1 and R2.


    Once Fatima heard the instructor''s words, she couldn''t help but click her tongue in displeasure. Clara who was next to her naturally heard it and she couldn''t help but giggle.


    "It''s the Prince''s doing again~"


    "..."


    Fatima''s countenance became even more impassive and colder than usual. She only nodded light in acknowledgement to her friend''s words.


    It was most likely the 2nd prince, who was in class R1 that arranged for this joint class. As for why class R2 was joining, it was probably because Rowan had caught wind of his brother''s antics again and was coming to protect his damsel in distress...


    Well, maybe not in distress, but more like a damsel who was close to shoving a foot long dagger up his brother''s ass. So in a sense, he was there to protect his stupid brother from his very dangerous ''fianc¨¦e''.


    "That stupid prince is so willful; he''s disgusting and annoying. Oh, I wish I could just shove a..." Fatima said under her breath, but she didn''t finish her sentence.


    "What''s that Fatima?"


    "Nothing...let''s go get changed for the class..."


    The class went down to the academy''s combat fields to get changed inside the locker rooms. Fatima changed out of her uniform and wore a tight-fitting combat uniform that pretty much accentuated her busty figure.


    ''That lecherous bastard...I''ll gouge his eyes out one day...'' Fatima frowned in thought as she looked in distaste at her own reflection.


    The stupid prince probably just wanted to ogle at her body. Since she trained, her body was naturally fit and athletic. Her body''s proportions were the most ideal for her stature and she had curves in just the right places.


    When she first enrolled in the school and had to wear the combat uniform on her first practical combat class, many of the boys ogled at her body and she could feel their disgusting, lecherous gazes. This was also one of the reasons that invoked the other female classmates'' ire and jealousy.


    Once everyone was done changing, they moved to the field. Classes R1 and R2 were already present. As per usual, Fatima found a quiet place to stand in and wait for the instructor. Naturally, Clara was next to her and she was chatting with some of her friends from class.


    Fatima didn''t join in on their conversation and stayed mum. Some of them didn''t like her anyway, so she didn''t bother trying to befriend them either.


    It wasn''t long that another character walked over to where she was and this elicited the excited squeals from the girls next to her. Clara leaned in and whispered, "It''s THAT prince again."


    Fatima only responded with a subtle nod. She had her eyes closed and was busy circulating her mana. It was Fatima''s form of warm up whenever she needed to use her mana or ''spells''.


    "Ladies, please let me through. Haha~ I''ll get to you all later, please do forgive me, my beauties~"


    "Prince Armano, why go to such lengths for that ice cube? She doesn''t even respond to anyone when she''s like that!"


    "Yeah, Prince, come stay with us~"


    "Why would you ever say such harsh things, my flowers? This beautiful lotus just needs time to open up to all of us that''s all~"


    When Fatima heard this, the temperature around her immediately fell. Clara couldn''t help but feel the chill emitting from her silently annoyed friend and while every other girl was able to perceive this abrupt drop in temperature, only the prince was stupidly oblivious.


    Just as he was going to continue approaching her, a large hand landed on his shoulder and the voice of his brother sounded from behind him.


    "Brother, the instructor is here. As class R1''s representative, shouldn''t you go and organize your fellow students?"


    "Oh, Rowan...you''re here." Armano looked around and saw that the instructor had indeed arrived. He turned to look at Fatima who still had her eyes closed and was completely ignoring him. Armano called out to her lightly before turning around to head back to his class.


    "My lady, I will be back later~"


    Rowan couldn''t help but frown when he heard his frivolous brother''s words.


    "Brother, please don''t forget that she''s MY fianc¨¦e," Rowan said coldly in a lowered tone.


    Armano glanced at him lightly before humming and drifting away, acting as if he was completely oblivious to his brother''s words. Rowan walked past Fatima and quietly said, "Do forgive me..."


    Fatima only responded with a light nod and continued to focus on circulating her mana.


    When the instructor called everyone to gather around, he began explaining to them what they were going to be doing.


    "We''re going to be conducting a mock battle today so please separate into 4-man cells! After that, we''ll be moving into the forest combat field to conduct the mock battle!"


    Clara immediately grabbed onto Fatima''s arm and said, "Fatima, team up with me~"


    "...Mhm."

 Chapter 247 - The Agreement

    Fatima and Clara were just about to go and search for two other people to join their team, but two individuals had already approached them.


    "Lady Fatima, may I join¡ª"


    "No," Fatima coldly cut off as she replied to 2nd Prince Armano.


    "Ah, please don''t be like that milady." Armano replied with his usual dashing smile. Maybe to other girls, that smile might seem refreshing and handsome, but to Fatima, it was disgusting to look at.


    Nothing was more repulsive to her than this depraved human being currently standing in front of her. If this man was not the prince of the kingdom she was currently in, Fatima would no doubt have put this creature in its place.


    Armano was just about to continue insisting, but the person a few feet beside him interrupted. "Brother, you should stop bothering her, do remember that she''s my¡ª"


    "Alright, alright~ and here I can''t have a casual conversation with my brother''s beautiful fianc¨¦e~"


    Rowan widened his eyes when he heard his brother say that out loud and Fatima''s countenance also darkened.


    Clara who was next to her couldn''t help but reel in shock at the 2nd Prince''s words. She pulled Fatima back and questioned her, "Did I hear that right just now?! You''re Prince Rowan''s fianc¨¦e?"


    It was only in-name and Rowan did it so that Armano would stop harassing her, although it still didn''t deter the fool from making advances on Fatima.


    Fatima gnashed her teeth silently and apathetically replied, "...yes..."


    Since this status was false and there was actually nothing going on between the Prince and her, she wanted to make sure that the news stayed inside the castle and had asked Rowan to help her out with it.


    Rowan of course agreed, though he was a little reluctant to do so. He made sure that the news about his ''fianc¨¦e'' was kept only within the castle grounds and only between the people who were present during Fatima''s audience with the royal family.


    There were only rumors about the Third Prince having a fianc¨¦e, but nothing could truly be confirmed. However, now that his brother had deliberately announced the two''s relationship to everyone around, the students began to burst out in discussion.


    "That peasant...is the Prince''s betrothed?"


    "N-no way! That ice cube...they''re totally not a match for each other! Though I loathe agreeing, but she is beautiful, however with her cold personality...the prince couldn''t be that shallow, right?"


    When Fatima overheard the discussions of the students around her, normally, she wouldn''t have given a care for whatever nonsense the aristocratic students were talking about behind her back, but currently she was not in the right mindset and was stressed out.


    Fatima was irritated at the fact that she couldn''t find any news about her brother despite having spent a couple of months in the lands outside of her family''s domain. And right now, she wanted to vent.


    She was close to smashing the 2nd Prince in the face, but her rationality kept her from doing so. She reined in her anger and her usual indifference returned.


    However, Clara who was right in front of her couldn''t help but notice that for a moment, Fatima''s face had turned awfully scary.


    "Fatima, w-what''s wrong?"


    "...It''s nothing... you can let Rowan in the team, since you now know he''s my fianc¨¦, as for that other insect...you better keep him away from me or I''ll crush his face in." Fatima responded coldly. So cold in fact, that even the obliviously stupid prince couldn''t help but shiver.


    "Hooooh... Why did I feel a chill all of a sudden?" Armano asked while looking around. The skies were clear and it wasn''t all that windy. He only laughed it off and once more turned to Fatima, but couldn''t help but frown a little when he saw his brother close to her.


    Rowan had approached her from behind to ask if everything was okay, but he had overheard her quiet threat. While Clara immediately tried to persuade her friend from attacking the 2nd Prince, Rowan paled at her words.


    He knew how exactly this ''fianc¨¦e'' of his was like. After many months of interacting with her, Rowan had long since noticed that behind the cold indifference she wore, there was also an air of majesty and nobility concealed underneath. The girl mostly expressed this in the way she carried herself and in her mannerism, but it was obscured to most people due to how cold she normally acted.


    Rowan believed that Fatima was in fact a Princess of another Kingdom who was currently out adventuring and traveling the continent. This was what he deduced, and a big giveaway was also the men who were following her. They treated her as if she was royalty, though their way of expressing it was a little peculiar in his eyes.


    Also, from what he deduced, those men and women under Fatima should be her guards, not that she needed them for that matter.


    Rowan had already witnessed how powerful Fatima was and it could be said that he was smitten by her because of that. It was a bit underhanded at the time, but he did thank his brother in his heart for s.e.x.u.a.lly harassing the girl and giving him the chance to step up onto the starting line to pursue her heart.


    He still didn''t have much progress on that part, but he had interacted enough with the girl to know that once she said she would do something, she would do it. Smashing her fist or foot into his brother''s face was the least of his worries. The problem was how to make sure it was only his brother''s face that was smashed and not anything else.


    "F-Fatima...please pardon my brother, I know this isn''t the first time he''s offended you, but please...for my sake," Rowan walked around to face her and quickly grabbed onto her hand and pleaded.


    Fatima only eyed him coldly before nodding.


    Rowan released a relieved sigh, but immediately began to pale once again. There was another thing that he knew about the young woman, she didn''t like it when people she wasn''t familiar with approached her and tried touching or grabbing onto her as if they were close.


    It was okay for him since Fatima trusted him to some degree, but it was definitely NOT okay for his brother, and unfortunately for him, that was what Armano had just done. He placed a hand on Fatima''s shoulder while calling out to her in his usual frivolous voice. He even had the nerve to light stroke Fatima''s hair, it was clear that he was trying hard to grab her attention away from his brother.


    In a way, he had been successful. Rowan was just about to smack that hand away, but he was a little bit too late.


    "Hey~ you let Rowan onto the team so why not¡ªCRACK¡ªGAAAAAHHAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!"


    Fatima had reflexively grabbed onto the hand that had touched her, pulled on it and smashed her elbow into the perpetrators ribs.


    The impact of her elbow strike had mostly likely fractured a rib or two and had sent the poor prince flying backwards.


    He fainted even before he landed heavily on the ground. He even comically rolled for a bit before stopping with his face in the dirt. The students around that witnessed Fatima''s audacious assault couldn''t help but gasp in horror.


    "Sh-she...she just attacked...the prince..."


    Fatima looked back apathetically and scoffed before turning her head away while mumbling quietly, "Insect."


    Rowan only smacked his forehead helplessly at the sight. He motioned to some people from his class and they immediately broke out of the crowd and approached the fallen prince. They quickly picked him up and brought him in the direction of the academy''s infirmary.


    "Fatima...that was a little..." Rowan said while turning towards the apathetic girl.


    "A little what?"


    "...nothing..."


    Rowan couldn''t argue back at Fatima''s cold response. He too had also experienced something just as painful when he had done something similar in the past.


    "I know he''s been harassing and making advances on you despite knowing that you''re my fianc¨¦e, but...did you have to do that?"


    "It was reflexive. And remember, that''s in-name only," Fatima replied coldly.


    "...it doesn''t have to be..."


    Fatima looked back at him indifferently and remained silent. Rowan already knew what she meant by that and he couldn''t help but sink his shoulders in dejection.


    Clara who was close to the two couldn''t help but overhear that and she immediately began asking for an explanation from Fatima and the Prince.


    Fatima remained silent, but Rowan had begun explaining to her when he got the girl''s silent consent.


    "S-so, you''re only doing this to keep Prince Armano from making moves on Fatima?"


    "Yes..."


    "It doesn''t seem to be working out that well."


    "I know..."


    "It''s probably because he knows that you two aren''t actually an item~"


    "Uhh..."


    When Fatima heard Clara''s words, she couldn''t help but silently think that there were some truths in her words. Maybe Armano had somehow found out that they were only putting on an act and nothing was going on between the two.


    This could explain why he didn''t care about his image towards his parents and continued to try and court her.


    Fatima turned to look at Rowan and began judging him. ''He''s handsome...I guess. Smart, well at least smarter than his brother...has a good personality and it''s pretty obvious that he has feelings for me... he also seems to be the loyal type.''


    She decided upon something and immediately spoke up, "I can consider removing that ''in-name'' if you agree to some of my conditions..."


    Rowan widened his eyes when he heard this. "R-Really?! But...are you okay with this? I feel like...I''m just taking advantage of your circ.u.mstances to force you into this..."


    Hearing his words, Fatima couldn''t help but give an inward nod of approval, "Shouldn''t you be taking every advantage that you can? If you really were serious with me, then shouldn''t this be your big break?"


    "Eh...but..."


    "Enough, you decide whether you want to do this...just remember, after I''ve finished learning here, I''ll be continuing my travels to look for my broth¡ª"


    "I''ll do it! If that''ll make you stay..." Rowan immediately replied.


    Fatima only shrugged and Clara squealed in delight at the unfolding romance happening in front of her.


    "Here are my conditions: first, you help me find my brother with your resources and secondly, if you are to wed me, you need to get my father''s approval," Fatima said with a sly smirk.


    Even though it was a smirk, in a way, it was still a smile, and that completely charmed Rowan. "Y-yes, I''ll do whatever it takes!"


    ''Sorry to do this to you, Rowan, but if you can beat my old man then I''ll seriously think about marrying you''


    Fatima had decided to only consider marrying someone who was stronger than her. Since her father was much stronger than her, anyone who could beat him was qualified to court her.


    But with how Rowan was, he''d lose by a long shot.


    "Just a heads up, Rowan, but that last monster wave that took all of us to wipe out, my father could do that easily with one hand tied behind his back while fighting barehanded."


    Rowan was immediately shocked to hear this. However, he wasn''t going to back down now. So he firmed his resolve and pushed back his nervousness and anxiety and replied, "I''ll train!"


    "Sure~, but no amount of ''training'' could bring you to his power level...you''re not as strong as me probably..."


    "Ugh...t-then I''ll train 10¡ªno, 100 times as hard!"


    "Heh, you do that...just don''t forget our agreement, you help me find my brother first then I''ll bring you to challenge my father when you feel that you''re ready¡ª" Fatima paused for a moment and thought about something deeply before continuing, "As long as I''m still not married, you can try as many times as you want."


    Rowan was immediately elated and firmly resolved to train himself as hellishly as his body could take. This was a once in a lifetime chance, he wouldn''t let go of it no matter what. And thus began the prince''s training in order to court the ice-cold princess of the Silvaria Family.

 Chapter 248 - A Lead

    After the Instructor came back from taking the injured prince from the infirmary alongside the other 2 students who brought him, he was just about to yell and berate Fatima, but immediately found out that she was actually the 3rd Prince''s fianc¨¦e from overhearing the students talk about it.


    "Uhm...young lady, next time, please tone down on the violence... anyways, class will begin now! If all of you have already grouped up together we''ll move to the forest field now!"


    The instructor only reprimanded Fatima with mild words since he didn''t dare disrespect the prince. Berating her was the same as berating the prince.


    "Hm, what a convenient title..." Fatima said lightly.


    "Ugh..." Rowan had a pained look on his face when he heard this. Clara looked at with sympathy and casually patted his shoulder without thinking.


    "Oh! P-prince, I''m sorry, I didn''t mean any disrespect..."


    "No, it''s okay Clara...you''re Fatima''s friend so you can treat me as you would treat her...haaah...I can''t believe she just said it was a convenient title..."


    "Well...you''re in for a hard time, Prince Rowan."


    "Please, just Rowan is fine...but yeah...I guess..."


    "Hurry up, are we going or not?" Fatima said as she looked back at the two people who were lagging behind.


    They only had 3 people, but Fatima didn''t care. She couldn''t be bothered to recruit another random weakling and both Rowan and Clara didn''t make any notions of recruiting others either.


    Just like this, the 3 moved to the forest field to conduct their class and let''s just say that Fatima practically massacred every other participating team with her fists and wits.


    ******


    Time passed and it was the present. Fatima was staring up into the starry skies just like Cecil, but instead of resting in her room, she was currently inside a large ballroom.


    "...If he''s out there then he''s probably looking up at the same sky..."


    "Ima?"


    When she heard the familiar voice, Fatima turned around and eyed the handsome young man approaching her.


    "You should have waited inside, what''re you doing out here? It''s cold." The young man said as he took off his suit and dr.a.p.ed it over the girl.


    "I''m just...enjoying the night sky..."


    "Still thinking about your brother?"


    "...yes..."


    "We''ll find him soon... and since I know he''s YOUR brother, I''m sure he''s safe."


    "Thanks Rowan." Fatima replied with a small hint of a smile. The handsome young man talking to her was her ''fianc¨¦'' and the 3rd Prince of the Regulus kingdom, Rowan Regulus.


    "I heard that you''re second brother is coming to the Kingdom..."


    "Yes..."


    "I just hope he''s not like my second brother. I believe we haven''t met yet, right?"


    Fatima lightly chuckled at his words. This caused Rowan to widen his eyes a little in shock. From what he knew, it was immeasurably hard to even humor this young lady.


    "No, you two haven''t. He was too busy dealing with the factories the previous time you visited."


    Rowan nodded in understanding. Then he couldn''t help but chuckle as he remembered his first ever visit to his fianc¨¦e''s ''kingdom'' a month ago.


    "I didn''t think that you were actually from the no-man''s land. Meeting your family was pretty nerve-wracking, not to mention, you were actually a Princess yourself. No wonder you carried yourself with such nobility!"


    "...I lied back then, I apologize for that. Also, I''m no princess."


    "Haha, it''s alright, you had your reasons back then, but now I''m glad you''re more trusting in me...but are you sure you aren''t a princess? With the way the citizens inside your city treat you, not to mention all those warriors training in your family''s private land, you sure seem one to me." Rowan replied with a teasing smile.


    "I''m not one, okay?"


    "Well, you''re going to be one soon!"


    "Heh, keep dreaming lover boy," Fatima replied while rolling her eyes at him. Rowan only smirked and asked while looking around.


    "By the way, where are Clara and Karen?"


    "Clara''s off with her boyfriend somewhere, and Princess Karen was pulled away to join the ball..."


    "Hm, you don''t have to address my sister so formally...she''s going to be your sister soon. Also, from what I know, aren''t you two close?" Rowan asked with a teasing smile.


    "Hmph, we are friends, but please remember this is the castle. I can treat her casually outside, but spare me from doing it while I''m here. And don''t forget, you still haven''t once beaten my father in a match. Whether it was in chess or in a spar, don''t think you''ll be marrying me anytime soon!"


    "Hahaha~ it''ll be soon though! I won''t keep you waiting for long, Ima."


    "...Whatever," Fatima scoffed in reply, but she had light blush on her face. After interacting and getting to know the prince for a while, Fatima had indeed grown a little fond of him. At least he had the guts to actually chase after her unlike the men in her city who would only fawn over her from afar.


    Fatima turned around and gazed up at the night sky once again before she decided to head in. Rowan stuck his arm out and Fatima wrapped hers around his as if it was only natural.


    Cecil would be surprised to know that there was actually a man who had caught her eldest sister''s interest while at the same time was able to endure the ''abuse'' his father and brothers rained on him when the man visited his family.


    Previously, every man who wanted to court Fatima would be beaten down and degraded into the Silvaria family''s punching bag until they quit in frustration.


    However, whether it was luck or not, but when Rowan went for a visit, the only person he met was their father who at that time was being reined in by their mother from acting up. His brothers were all out working while Cecil himself was missing, so Rowan actually dodged a couple of bullets there.


    As for grandpa, grandma had that covered. Rowan was able to survive the Silvaria family''s traditional ''beat down'' because he was able to avoid meeting the ones that would beat him down.


    ******


    Cecil woke up pretty late the next day. He had a good, deep sleep last night and had even dreamt about seeing his sister in the castle of a human kingdom called...Re-something or whatever, he couldn''t recall the name. He only remembered that it was a kingdom called Re-something something.


    "I hope that dream was real... if there really is a kingdom called Re-whatever, I''ll be sure to check it out first."


    He got up and stored his blanket and pillow into his ring before noticing a nice smell coming from the wagon''s kitchen.


    Cecil went over for a peak and saw Lucia making breakfast for everyone.


    "Morning."


    "Oh! Morning Cel~ you were sleeping pretty deeply today~ I didn''t expect to actually wake up before you did!"


    "Yeah, I had a...dream last night..."


    "A dream?"


    "About my eldest sister, she was in a human kingdom called Re-something or whatever."


    "Hmm...Well, at least we have a lead now! Even if it''s only a dream we should check it out just in case it turns out to be true! Remember, you did have those ''future dreams'' before!"


    "Y-yeah...but I haven''t been having them lately."


    "Oh?"


    "They''ve stopped after I quit using the Providence."


    "Hmm...well enough of that. Go call the others in and tell them that breakfast is ready."


    "Okay...they all outside?"


    "Yup~ you were the last to wake up! We didn''t want to disturb you since you were sleeping so soundly for once!" Lucia replied with a gentle smile.


    Cecil nodded and walked out of the Wanderer. Outside, he saw Serilla training in the distance with Silver and Yuna. She was currently having a mock battle against the two.


    He used Nature''s Shift to silently approach and spectate the fight. From what he saw, Serilla was doing a good job holding her own against the 2.


    After a few rounds of back and forth, Serilla released her Intent. When this happened, Silver and Yuna were finally having some difficulty. In the end though, Serilla exhausted herself before she could land an effective blow on Silver and was pinned under the large wolf''s paws.


    Yuna''s support was just too effective and Silver was able to fight without needing to pay any mind to his defenses.


    After standing up, Serilla stretched her body and retrieved her sword that Silver was able to know away. It was a little humiliating for her since it was the first time that her trusty partner was knocked away from her hands.


    "Phew...fighting you both is still too hard for me..." Serilla said while reflecting on her earlier battle.


    "Well, it''s a two against one. Of course, you''re gonna have some difficulty."


    Hearing the familiar voice, Serilla immediately jolted in surprise before she quickly turned around.


    "D-darling, you''re awake! Good Morning!"


    "Yeah, g''morning...well, breakfast is ready, so let''s head in."


    "M''kay~ but...I''m too tired...carry me, please?" Serilla pleaded with a cute whine.


    "...Sure..." Cecil picked her up and the girl was immediately elated. She was just about to revel in the moment, but was then suddenly put back down.


    "Eh?"


    "We''re inside already, go ask Lulu to use cleanse on you. I still haven''t quite finished the drainage system for the bathroom so please bear with it for a while. I''ll get it done as soon as possible."


    "...Okay..." Serilla replied, a little unsatisfied. She was hoping that Cecil would carry her up to the carriage, but he instead had just used Nature''s Shift to teleport inside of the carriage, cutting their lovey-dovey moment short to the point where it was literally over in the blink of an eye.


    Once the group finished their breakfast, Silver began pulling the carriage towards their next destination. Cecil went to the bathroom partition and began working on making the drainage system and the small bath.


    Well, it wasn''t anything too complicated. All he had to do was drill a hole into the carriage''s floor and make sure that it doesn''t affect the spatial runic array inside the carriage.


    It did take him a while to finish, but now that the drainage was done, he just needed to create the Magi-tech shower, create a small bath tub and toilet, with that their bathroom will be completed!


    "I''ll do that tomorrow, let''s go make sure we''re heading to the right place and since we aren''t taking any adventure quests, we can kick back for a bit."


    Cecil walked out of the bathroom and noticed that both girls were only lounging around in the living room area and doing their own things while Yuna was out on the driver''s seat keeping Silver company.


    Lucia had set up a small table in the middle of the room and was busy sewing their equipment while Serilla was meditating with her sword placed across her lap.


    "Lulu, where are we heading?"


    Lucia answered him without raising her head from the work she was doing, "We''re heading to Garlhorne. It''s a city that''s had the most sightings of the humans for a while now. Judging by our speed, we might make it there in a week or so."


    "Okay."


    Cecil sat down on the couch across Serilla and pulled out Corruption. He activated the runes on the sword and began tempering his mind.


    He was able to endure it better now so Cecil also began training his Mana and Ki at the same time. He circulated both energies within his body and closed his eyes to meditate while also concentrating his Sword Intent around his body.


    There was another thing that Cecil noticed while he was training with the Corruption and tempering his mind, his Sword and Spear Intents had sharpened and improved. It wasn''t only his Mana Sense that improved, but everything related to his mind had experienced a large improvement.


    His thinking capacity, thought process, Mana Sense, Weapon Intent, and everything else had improved. He felt more in control and it was a good feeling to know that his abilities had visibly improved greatly.


    The progress wasn''t as fast as before, but Cecil still continued cultivating this way. If he piled up those small amounts of progress, it''ll someday lead to a big gain, and that''s just how cultivating was. He had to persevere and train hard in order to acquire even more strength.


    He cultivated his Mana and Ki, while tempering his mind and his Intent with the Corruption. He was literally killing a couple of birds with a single stone right now.


    Their days on the wagon passed just like this and the party didn''t meet much trouble during their travels, other than the occasional monster attack and whatnot which they easily repelled. Before they knew it, a week or so had come and gone and the party finally reached Galhorne safely.

 Chapter 249 - Taking Revenge

    Whether because it was because of luck or by the will of the Gods, Galhorne was actually being attacked by humans!


    "Are you serious right now?" Cecil stared incredulously at the ongoing war between the humans and the beastmen. Right in front of the party, the human army was actually besieging the city of Galhorne.


    "Wow...aren''t we lucky, right Cel?"


    "Uhm, should we help the humans? Or the beastmen?"


    Cecil was looking around the battle field with his mana sense and frowned. He didn''t quite like how the humans were wantonly killing all the beastmen regardless of whether they were elderly or young.


    It was rumored that the humans took hostages and kept the beastmen alive in order to send them back over to Midgard to use as slaves, but from what Cecil was seeing, it wasn''t the case.


    Old and young, men and woman were being slaughtered. Cecil didn''t see any **** or anything because of obvious reasons, but it was a good thing he hadn''t or it might have scarred him for life. Seeing a human and essential a bipedal ''animal'' getting it on wasn''t the prettiest of scenes.


    Cecil quickly made up his mind and decided to just wait things out and follow after the humans when they were done with their attack.


    He felt pity for the beastmen who were being slaughtered, but Cecil didn''t want to go out of his way to help them. They did try to kidnap and torture him after all and he was still holding a grudge for that.


    "We''re helping neither side. Silver take us around and bring us to the rear of the human army. When the humans make their retreat, we''ll follow after them."


    "Rah!"


    Silver gave his response and began heading towards the rear of the human army. It was a sizeable army and since they were winning, the retreat might actually take a while. Cecil had Lucia dispel the party''s beastman transformations and changed it to their human transformations.


    Being in their humanoid forms was much better than staying as a beastman. Serilla stretched happily and began clinging onto Cecil.


    "Serilla, not now, I''m still observing the battlefield."


    "Just a bit, okay~?"


    "..."


    Cecil sighed helplessly and let the girl be. He continued monitoring the situation with his mana sense and made sure to steer clear from battle, but something odd was caught under his radar.


    "Beastmen?"


    He noticed a large concentration of beastmen hiding in the forests just behind the human army. There were a lot of them and Cecil couldn''t help but notice the familiar designs of their uniform.


    "So it really was the Empire''s scheme!"


    Cecil gnashed his teeth in anger when he saw the familiar black clothed beastmen. They were a little different than the ones he encountered back then since the insignia on their clothes had different number of fangs on them.


    When he saw the were-wolf commander in the back directing this army of beastmen, he knew that without a doubt it was a part of the Empire and not some rogue bandit group that the Empire had claimed these black-robed beastmen to be when the Kingdom had asked the Empire for an answer regarding the monster tide and why beastmen were the ones that caused it.


    Cecil was angry, but he was still able to think straight. He didn''t want to fall into a trap like before. However, he found it odd that these beastmen didn''t notice his probing.


    The previous ones that attacked him were able to detect his Mana Sense probing and would immediately run away when they noticed it, but these ones didn''t.


    "...That means they prepared those specific magic tools just to capture me... Hehe, I guess it''s time I take a little revenge for what you guys were going to do to me back then..." Cecil mumbled under his breath.


    He deduced that the weird tools that the previous beastmen had used against him weren''t present so it was time for a little payback.


    "Lulu, Seri, Yuna, Silv...get ready for battle."


    "Hm?"


    "There''s a large army of beastmen hidden in the forest just behind the human army. We''re going to wipe them out."


    "Eh?"


    "Darling?!"


    "This is just a little payback," Cecil said as he got ready. "It''s those black-clothed beastmen who tried to kidnap me..."


    "!"


    "I-I thought they were dead! Didn''t the Empire also say that those black clothed people were terrorists that tried to sow discord between the Kingdom and Empire?!"


    "Well they lied. I won''t forget the stupid insignia on their clothes. These beastmen have the same insignias as the ones who attacked me before. They''re a little different, but the design is the same."


    "..." Serilla looked on at Cecil''s frightening countenance and wanted to speak up but couldn''t. Lucia saw her hesitation, but she had different thoughts than her.


    "I''m right behind you Cel...I won''t forgive those bastards who tried to take you away from me! You''re with me on this, right Seri?!" She was still holding a grudge against the beastmen for trying to harm Cecil. If this could act as revenge and closure for both her and Cecil, she''ll gladly help out her beloved in enacting his revenge.


    Serilla was a little hesitant, but seeing how Cecil looked ready to rush out at any moment, she reluctantly could only agree with Lucia.


    "Y-yeah! They tried to hurt, darling! Now that we know for sure who was behind the attack, i-it''s only natural that we take revenge!"


    Serilla wanted to say something else, but she couldn''t open her mouth seeing the cold, unfeeling look on Cecil''s face. Lucia saw her and quietly said,


    "Seri...I know this is wrong, but..."


    "I get it Lulu...let''s just support him after this is over...he has to experience it himself..."


    "..."


    Cecil coldly observed the beastmen army and quickly formulated a plan. He immediately informed Silver to proceed as is, but move a bit closer to the rear of the human army.


    "...we''ll act as the rearguard for the human army. This way we''ll be able to earn a favor from them and it''ll make it easier for us to blend in later."


    Lucia asked Cecil to stop for a bit before they continued onward. Cecil was a little impatient, but seeing the unyielding look the girl was giving him, he conceded and had Silver stop.


    Silver immediately received the order and stopped the wagon. Lucia began to quickly hand out some of the new equipment she was able to make in the span of a week to everyone. She also readjusted Serilla''s armor to the way it was before she made the readjustments for her beastman form.


    "What''s with these clothes, Lulu? Aren''t they a bit too...casual?" Cecil said as he assessed his new attire.


    "What''re you talking about Cel? I just made them practical and easier to move around in!"


    "But...these are just your normal, everyday clothes!"


    Lucia had handed Cecil a pair of pants, a shirt, and a coat which were all white in color, just like the spider threads originally were, and for some reason, the clothes kind of reminded him of his academy uniform.


    "Isn''t this...almost like our uniform?"


    "Hehehe~ I modeled it after the Academy Kings'' uniform! I have a set for myself and Seri, but it''s still not finished yet! I still have to work on the vests, your scarf, and our ribbons~!"


    Cecil felt that the accessories weren''t needed, but it was Lucia''s call because she was the one who was making it.


    "...But Lulu...the enchantments on the uniforms are what made it usable during battle¡ª"


    "I know that! But the natural toughness and flexibility of the Night Plague''s silk is already enough to rival the uniform''s defenses alone. Also, I had you set up that flame array and I''ve been bathing the silk in my Solaris Flame using that array ever since!"


    Lucia said excitedly, before pulling out an unfinished piece of clothing that was most likely Cecil''s scarf.


    "Look closer! The silk conducts mana really well and after bathing in the Solaris Flame-powered array, it has grown incredibly resistant to flames! The only weakness of the clothes has been extenuated. Since it conducts mana really well, much better than that of the academy''s uniform, all that''s left to do is have you inscribe your runic arrays onto the clothes and presto! We have clothes much stronger than any other armor or equipment!" Lucia excitedly and proudly announced.


    Cecil nodded in understanding. The design was finished, only the enchantments weren''t placed just yet, but it was still usable as is since the material itself was strong to begin with.


    "I''ll inscribe the runes later. Why didn''t you tell me about this before?"


    "I-I forgot...and, you were training all the time with Seri, so it was hard to bring up, ehehehe~"


    "Jeez, don''t hesitate next time. Our gear is equally as important as our training," Cecil said as he patted the girl on the head.


    Cecil changed his clothes and put on the new equipment that Lucia had made for him.


    "Hmmm... It''s comfortable, but it does feel weird to be wearing it without the vest..."


    "Ehehe~ I''ll finish them quickly! For now we can just head out like this. I also want to test out the performance of the equipment and see if I can further improve it later. We have plenty of Night Plague Silk after all~"


    "Hm. I''ll give you a report later."


    "Me too, Lulu~ also, if you have time, I want you to modify the armor my daddy made for me! I don''t care what you do, dismantle it or whatever, it''s up to you! I just want you to combine it with the gear you''re making for me!"


    "R-really? Are you sure about that Seri?"


    "Yup~"


    "Okay, nice! I''ll just combine and remodel some parts of Seri''s clothes with the armor!"


    "I''ll look forward to it later Lulu~ as for now, thanks for letting me have this!"


    Once the party was fully geared in their new equipment, Yuna and Silver had some things created for them as well, the party continued to make their way over to the human army''s rear.


    When they got into position, Cecil sensed that the beastmen army hidden away in the forest were about to make their move.


    He stepped out of the wagon alongside Lucia and Serilla with their weapons drawn, waiting for the army.


    Cecil turned to look at his two companions and couldn''t help but worry that their equipment looked to be a little lacking in places. They were only wearing skirts and stockings, no leg armor. Also, for some odd reason, Lucia''s upper garment that was under her cloak was...a little revealing.


    It showed her skin around her abdominal area and it didn''t fully cover the area above her chest. The girls back in the academy didn''t wear a vest, but Cecil was sure that this wasn''t a part of their academy uniform, so where did she get that design from?


    He was relieved that at least Serilla was fully geared in armor. Although Lucia would be modifying it later and combining it with her father''s armor, she would have all her parts covered, including her legs later on. Cecil was very concerned for Lucia, but he had to throw the thought to the back of his head because the beastmen army began to move.


    The hidden beastmen army had long since noticed the 3 humans who had stepped out of the wagon with their swords drawn as if they were waiting for them to come out.


    "...What are they doing?"


    "They seem to be waiting..."


    "For us?"


    "I don''t know how, but it seems like it...these 3 children somehow got wind of our location..."


    "This changes nothing! How foolish. If they had gone to warn the rest of their army then they''d be able to retreat before it was too late! But not anymore! Let''s make an example of these 3 death-seeking fools!"


    "Right!"


    "GO! SLAUGHTER THE HUMANS!"


    "RAAAAHHHHH!!!"


    A deafening battle cry originated from the forest and the humans immediately noticed it. The human army''s commander turned to look back and saw the large army of black clothed beastmen rushing at them from their rear.


    "What?! This was a trap?!"


    "How vicious, they left the city and its inhabitants as bait just to lure us out and strike at us from behind! Quickly, call back the soldiers!"


    "Yes, commander!"


    "Sound the horn for retreat! And prepare the back lines to defend against the beastmen''s charge!"


    "S-sir! That...what''s that wagon or carriage doing back there?!"


    "Huh?"


    The commander looked around and saw the wagon sitting at the back of the army and a large wolf with a girl on top of it pacing around the wagon while growling and roaring at the beastmen who were charging at them.


    When he saw the human girl sitting on top of the beast, he couldn''t help but exclaim. "That foolish girl, what does she think she''s doing?!"


    "S-sir, what do we do?!"


    "Send out a detached force to rescue that girl! Once our forces in the city have regrouped with us, we''ll slowly retreat while attacking the beastmen army! We do not leave one of us behind! We are not like those beastmen!" The commander righteously declared.


    "Yes sir!"


    Just as the adjutant was about to go hand down the order, a large magic circle appeared below the large beastmen army and an explosion ensued right after.

 Chapter 250 - Taking Revenge 2

    Once Lucia cast her Explosion on the army surging towards them, Cecil immediately activated his Spear Intent and Mana Burst. He circulated all his Ki into his arm and took aim.


    Once all his powers acc.u.mulated and coalesced on his spear, he furiously hurled it out, aiming straight for the army commander that he had singled out using his Mana Sense.


    With the natural mana array inside the spear activated, his spear flew like a golden bolt of lightning straight for the beastmen army commander.


    The commander could only widen his eyes in horror when he saw the golden spear rip apart his men as it continued to fly straight at him. He tried to dodge, but when the spear struck the area he was in, the intent-fused mana that Cecil had channeled into his spear immediately exploded and destroyed everything within range of the explosion.


    When Cecil saw the outcome of his spear throw, he scoffed derisively and pulled out all 4 of his World Tree''s Thorns and unsheathed his Adamantium Sword. He materialized his Sword Intent and controlled his swords relying only on his Intent and Mana.


    "Wow Cel! I didn''t know you could do this!" Lulu exclaimed when she saw the swords floating and rotating around Cecil. It was similar to Fina''s use of her mana armaments.


    "It''s almost like Fina''s Mana Armaments!"


    "Heh, I was the one who taught her that, it''s only natural that I can use it as well. Of course, she has a natural advantage due to her family''s unique magic. Also, I only just got the hang of using it and it''s also a really good application of Sword Intent, and Seri, you can use it to some degree as well, right?" Cecil replied as he stretched out a hand and his Adamantium Spear flew straight back to him. He quickly caught his spear and flared it around him.


    Serilla stepped up and smiled, "I can''t let myself be outdone by you two~ now, look at big sis'' sword!"


    Serilla released her Sword Intent and flung her sword out. It flew straight into the crowd of frightened beastmen and cut them apart like butter, reaping their lives as if they were but wheat stalks in a grain field.


    When Serilla willed it, the sword immediately flew back to her and cut down the beastmen in its path.


    "Hehe~ I can do what darling did too~" Although she was a little conflicted, Serilla tried her best to keep herself cheerful and unperturbed in front of Cecil...just like what Lucia''s currently doing.


    Cecil only chuckled and turned a cold glare at the dumbfounded beastmen. "I don''t like killing, but what you guys did to me... I''m paying it back now."


    He rushed head on into the beastman army and began striking down the beastmen around him. Flashes of Ascending Blade, Mana Volleys, Flash Cannons, Sword Waves and his Spear Arts bombarded the army and no matter what they did, the beastmen army couldn''t contain nor cope with Cecil''s furious assault.


    Lucia and Serilla were fighting together in a different part of the army, but they weren''t as flashy or ruthless as Cecil. They only attacked the ones that were still surging forwards and left the fleeing ones alone, though not many were running away for that matter.


    Lucia struck down any beastman that approached her with her weapons and sent magic spells into the large crowd farther away. Serilla was guarding her back and also handling the beastmen in her own way.


    She sent waves of Sword Intent at the beastmen and occasionally flung her sword at the beastmen. Whenever she did this, Lucia would toss her katana over to her and focus on using spells to attack the beastmen.


    The two were working in sync, but they knew they couldn''t keep this up. Even as they kept on cutting down the beastmen around them, there was no end in sight. They only continued to do this and wait until Cecil had finished venting his anger.


    They also weren''t fighting to kill. The two girls strictly struck down any beastmen that were radiating killing intent towards them and only injured the ones that weren''t. Lucia''s spells that she sent into the crowd of beastmen were also only the time that severely injured a person and not the insta-kill type.


    "Cel really knows how to keep a grudge¡ªGeyser!"


    "Yeah, but after this...we need to support him, okay Lulu?"


    "Yeah...I know...he''s going to feel bitter after all of this..."


    Even while in battle, these two still had the leisure to banter among themselves. This greatly unsettled the beastmen warriors and they felt that they were being mocked.


    It wasn''t their intentions, but Lucia and Serilla''s actions angered some of the beastmen greatly and they began to stupidly charge at the two in reckless abandon. Some were provoked by the girls'' actions and because of it, they quickly lost their lives. Others however, tried to explicitly avoid the two slaughter maidens by going around them or just running away.


    While those 3 were straightforwardly attacking the army, Yuna and Silver were working together to keep their mobile home safe. Yuna would open up Misty Gates and send unsuspecting beastmen into them. The exits were placed somewhere in the sky so occasionally one would see a beastman falling to his doom on the battlefield.


    Silver wasn''t in his colossal form and was only smacking and whacking away the beastmen that were close to him and the wagon.


    The beastmen weren''t as strong as the Nocturne Lion''s First Fang and this was a fact that Cecil immediately knew instantly as he was fighting.


    They were pretty good at coordinating with each other, but it wasn''t like the flawless coordination that the beastmen who attacked him had.


    "I know that you aren''t the ones who attacked me, but this is disappointing...it''s like I''m reaping the lives of ants. Monsters are stronger than you insects."


    Cecil said in provocation, but not one beastman in his area retorted. They were too afraid. Their commander was taken out right from the start, and they didn''t have anyone commanding them anymore.


    Not to mention that the boy''s apathetic and cold gaze fiercely intimidated everyone around him. This was not the gaze of a human teenager, but that of the grim reaper.


    Many beastmen wanted to retreat while the more hot-headed ones didn''t even take the situation into account and just rushed head first into death''s embrace.


    "At least use your brains and know when to f.u.c.k.i.n.g run." Cecil spat. He readied his swords and twirled his spear, just as he was about to shoot forwards, Yuna called out to him from behind.


    "CECIL!"


    "Hm?"


    Cecil paid no mind to the beastmen around him and turned his gaze back to the wagon. He noticed that a group of humans had actually detached from the main army and gathered around the wagon, defending it alongside Yuna and Silver from the attacking beastmen.


    "Heh, a rescue squad, I''m impressed."


    Cecil decided that he would stop here. He was done venting and didn''t want to take any more lives. When he looked down on his clothes, he noticed that the entirety of his equipment was stained red with blood.


    He only frowned in distaste and turned around to walk back to the wagon. He looked at the beastmen surrounding him and said coldly, "If you don''t want to die, I suggest you retreat."


    Hearing his words, some of the beastmen unconsciously nodded and began backing away in fear. Others grew furious and rushed at him, but Cecil quickly took care of them by sending his swords their way.


    When Cecil arrived back at the wagon, Lucia and Serilla were already their waiting for him. Unlike his red-stained clothes, theirs were still a beautiful white.


    "C-Cel! Are you okay?!"


    "Darling?!"


    The two girls immediately rushed up to the boy in haste, but Cecil lifted a hand and stopped them from approaching. He reeled in his bloodl.u.s.t before approaching his party.


    Lucia immediately cast a cleanse spell removing all the blood on Cecil. She frowned when she saw that it didn''t remove the blood staining his clothes. She was just about to cast another one, but Cecil stopped her.


    "Don''t, Lulu, I rather like the color red..."


    "I''ll dye it red later! I''m not letting you wear that disgusting blood-stained¡ª"


    "O-okay, here, please clean it..."


    "Yeah...are you okay now, Cel?"


    "...I...don''t feel anything. Neither the sense of accomplishment nor the sense of fulfillment... I guess revenge really just leaves you with an empty feeling..."


    "..."


    "Nothing ever comes out of desiring revenge darling...You should just let it go. That empty feeling isn''t so great, right?" Serilla said as she pulled Cecil into her embrace and began to pat his head lovingly. It soothed him and he felt much better.


    Now Cecil felt that it was better to not have held onto that awful grudge. It was only eating away at him, and thinking back to how he was acting just earlier, wasn''t he being a little hypocritical?


    Just before he was expressing his distaste at the humans'' actions when they were assaulting Galhorne City, but here he was massacring the beastmen like they were monsters. As he thought of this, it was then that all the remorse flooded in and completely erased his earlier relief. He then remembered the awful feeling from the night he massacred all those people in his frenzy while being controlled by the Corruption.


    "...Shit..."


    Serilla immediately noticed that Cecil had begun trembling. The boy was just about to push her away, but she tightly hugged him and said soothingly,


    "It''s okay, darling~ it''s okay. Next time, you can still vent your anger, but let''s not do something like this again, okay?"


    "Y-yeah... Damn...I did something horrible again..."


    ''Again?'' Serilla immediately grew worried when she heard him mumble those words. She continued patting his back and stroking his hair until Cecil''s trembling began to calm down.


    She was acting like a big sister now and Lucia only smiled gently at the two, but unfortunately for them, there were other people present as well.


    "A-ahem, w-we''re here to rescue you? Our commander wants to bring you back to regroup with the Army. I''m guessing you guys are adventurers, right? How did you arrive back here?" A soldier said. Judging from his attire, he was probably high up in the chain of command.


    Cecil immediately separated from Serilla, and addressed the people who had come to their ''rescue''.


    "Thank you for coming. Our wagon had broken down on the way here, and when we finally fixed it, we were left behind by the army. We arrived just as the beastmen army attacked."


    "I-I see...which adventurer party are you?"


    Cecil pulled out his ID and passed it over to the captain-like person.


    "P-Platinum?! N-no wonder you guys are so strong!"


    "You flatter us, if we hadn''t luckily sniped the army commander, then we would have most likely been overrun sooner or later."


    "I see...I think we should head back and regroup. We don''t know whether or not that army would retreat only temporarily and attack us again later so we should back off before we fall for another one of those beastmen''s dastardly traps."


    "Yes."


    "My name''s Karnis Burnam, First Battalion Leader of the Midgardian Unified Border Army!" Karnis said with a military salute.


    "Cecil Silvaria, platinum ranked adventurer and this is my party, the Wanderers."


    "Wanderers?"


    "Ahaha, we just like to travel a lot, so we settled down with that name."


    Karnis nodded and ushered them to follow after. The soldiers quickly got onto their mounts and began riding back to the army.


    Cecil fastened Silver''s harness back on and quickly jumped onto the driver''s seat. He had the girls remain inside of the wagon. He didn''t like the looks of some of the soldiers who were sent down to ''rescue'' them.


    ''They''re mine...don''t even thi¡ª"


    "Woah... did I just actually think that?!"


    Cecil made a surprised face. Lucia he could understand, but Serilla...


    "Ah...looks like she''s found a place in my heart as well...this sure is troublesome..." Cecil smiled helplessly and resigned himself, but he resolved to himself that Serilla would be the last one.


    He looked at the unprotected backs of the soldiers in front of him and felt a little relieved that they didn''t have their guards up or were wary of their party.


    ''They don''t seem to be suspicious of us and other than some of the soldiers; most of them seemed serious with what they were doing. The Battalion leader seemed like a nice person. Let''s just hope that there are no problems later.''


    Cecil thought inwardly as his wagon quickly approached the army of humans.

 Chapter 251 - Split Up

    Cecil didn''t know if it was because he was lucky or not, but after regrouping with the human army, the commander only thanked him and the girls for holding off the beastmen.


    Although every one of the High Commander''s adjutants and lieutenants commented on how young Cecil and the rest were, they didn''t dare try to undermine them because of their age. They all saw the power these 3 had displayed when they fought back the army of beastmen.


    If they happened to annoy or provoke even one of these 3 individuals, it might spell the end for their own army. Besides, the powerful were respected in this world and this gave Cecil and the rest some favorability in the eyes of every high-ranked personnel in the army.


    Better to have another friend than another enemy. Cecil thought this was favorable for him as well since he didn''t need to do much to gain the favor of the humans.


    After Cecil had given a curt report regarding the beastmen and his party''s condition, he was dismissed by the High Commander and was sent to regroup with the army''s 11th division which just so happened to be the mercenary battalion. There were also a few adventurer parties present in this division so the Wanderers were able to fit just right in place.


    "Hmmm... Maybe we should register as a mercenary group when we get to Midgard." Cecil said as he was lying down on the sofa...while resting his head on top of Serilla''s lap. The girl was stroking his hair lightly.


    "What''s that darling?"


    "I think we should form a mercenary group when we get to Midgard."


    "Why?"


    "I overheard from the other mercenary groups and adventurer parties that the condition on Midgard isn''t as peaceful as it is on Urrugdrasil."


    "Is there some kind of war going on?"


    "It seems so. It''s not on the eastern side of the continent where will be initially touching down on when we get there, but many mercenary groups are planning to head over to the wars that are apparently going on in the western regions once they''ve settled their activities here. I think I heard them say it was some war between the Regulus Kingdom and the Merkruz Kingdom."


    "Okay...but why are we heading over to the battle?"


    "That''s because Regulus is one of our objectives." Cecil replied.


    Serilla was a little surprised to find out that Cecil already had a destination in mind. Didn''t he say that they were just going to search around Midgard with no clear plan in mind?


    "I had a ''future dream'' a week ago... I saw that my sister was living in a kingdom called Re-something...I''m can''t recall, but from the information I acquired from the human adventurers and mercenaries, there are only 2 Kingdoms on Midgard that begin with the letters R and E."


    "There are two huh...are we going to visit them one by one?"


    Cecil sat up on the couch and pulled out his magic tome. Earlier, he was able to befriend an adventurer party that lent him a map of Midgard which he had quickly memorized and transcribed into his tome.


    "This is the border and over here are the Regulus Kingdom and the Revertia Holy Kingdom." Cecil pointed out on the map inside his magic tome.


    Serilla leaned in closer and saw that the Regulus Kingdom was all the way on the western regions of Midgard. It was at the opposite location from where they would first arrive on the human continent, the Chaotic Eastern Border Regions, where multiple small powers would fight and vie for power over one another.


    The Revertia Holy Kingdom was also on the western side, but it was on the southwestern area, opposite of the Regulus Kingdom that was on the northwestern area.


    "Hmmm... That means we''ll be making 2 trips?"


    "...I don''t know yet...but I plan on separating the party into two..."


    "...Eh?"


    "D-don''t worry! I''ll have a proper talk with both of you before we officially decide things! I-I won''t do this unfairly..."


    "..." Despite his words, Serilla''s eyes were beginning to brim with tears and this shocked the boy.


    "D-don''t cry okay? I''m not doing this so I could separate myself from either one of you...You''re precious to me too. Okay, Seri?" Cecil said and leaned in for a quick kiss.


    "!" Serilla''s eyes widened in surprise and her previous sadness was swept away like it was nothing. She immediately pounced on Cecil and continued their kiss.


    "Hm!"


    Cecil was about to push Serilla away when her tongue began invading his mouth, but he let her be and responded by kissing her back.


    "Ahem!"


    The two were interrupted after a while as Lucia walked in from the kitchen in her apron.


    "Jeez, no fair Seri! You''ve been hogging Cel since earlier!"


    "Ehehe~ sorry Lulu~ I couldn''t help myself!"


    "Muuuhhh..." Lucia began pouting, but quickly told them that lunch was ready.


    The army was currently on the move right now. Yuna was acting as the driver and keeping Silver company while the other 3 spent their time inside the wagon.


    On the dinner table, the 3 were enjoying their meal when Cecil brought up his earlier ''discussion'' with Serilla.


    "Uhm, Lulu, Seri...I hold both of you dear. But for the latter half of our journey once we''ve set foot on Midgard, we''ll have to part ways for a bit."


    Lucia froze in place and her spoon dropped onto her plate with a clang.


    "W-what''s that?"


    Cecil pulled out his magic tome and spread it across the dinner table on the empty area he had cleared in the middle. He opened up the Midgard Continent map and pointed towards the two kingdoms that he wanted the party to visit.


    "There are 2 kingdoms that begin with ''Re''... Lulu, you already know that my sister is in one of these 2 kingdoms. I don''t want to waste time by taking unnecessary detours between those two kingdoms so we''ll separate once we''ve reached the western regions."


    "O-okay?"


    "..."


    Cecil saw Serilla''s lack of response and smiled gently at the two girls. "It''ll only be for a couple of months. Remember, we still have to get to the western regions before we split into 2 teams. We''ll be spending a long time together before that!"


    "Y-yeah...but..."


    "It''s okay Lulu...you guys should go together and I''ll split into a different team with whoever Cecil decides to assign me with..." Serilla said in understanding.


    "W-wait Seri, now that''s just unfair to you!"


    "...What''re you guys talking about?"


    The two girls snapped their attention to Cecil when they heard his insensitive comment. "We''re discussing the allocations, you idiot! If this was before when it was only us two Cel, I wouldn''t care! But now, no matter how I see it, it''ll be both unfair if either me or Seri gets paired up with you!"


    "Huh? Well, the two of you aren''t pairing up with me..."


    "Eh?"


    "Huh?"


    "I already decided. To make things fair, you two will be going together. I''ll head off on my own and take Silver with me... We''ll get a different monster to pull the Wanderer for you guys later on."


    Lucia was a little dumbfounded at the allocation.


    "Me and Seri..."


    "Will pair up...?" Serilla finished.


    "Yup, you two together while I''ll go alone. Of course, it goes without saying that the Wanderer stays with you two."


    The two girls immediately began pouting, but then they began giggling. Cecil had these placements in mind so that he wouldn''t act unfairly to either one of the girls. These two understood that so they had no objections to his decision.


    This at least showed that he cared for both of them now. Of course, Serilla was immediately elated when she thought up to this point.


    "He~eh, Cel already accepted Seri, huh?"


    "Eheheh~ I wuv you darling~"


    "Enough....finish your food already," Cecil replied curtly as he stored his magic tome. He didn''t deny it, but from his actions, he had certainly acknowledged it.


    The lunch started on a surprising note, but it ended with a good atmosphere between the 3.


    "For now, we should make preparations to head over to the Midgard Continent. I overheard the high commander saying that the border powers were planning to retreat back to Midgard by the end of next month."


    "Mhm."


    "Also, most of the adventurer parties that had come over to Urrugdrasil have already gone back to Midgard. The ones in the army right now are all planning to head back by the end of the month, so we should follow them."


    "Sounds like a plan~" Serilla added.


    "Phew, looks like we''ll officially start our adventures in the Midgard continent soon! This is exciting!"


    Lucia was excited to know that their new journey would begin. She was also anticipating the moment when she and Seri would finally meet Cecil''s family. It was going to be a totally nerve-racking moment, but she was prepared.


    "I can''t wait to meet your family, Cel~!"


    "Me too, darling~"


    "Hmm...Yeah, me too," Cecil said with a faint smile. The faces of all his family members flashed in his mind one by one and he felt a large sense of excitement bubbling up from within.


    "We''ll definitely find them!"

 Chapter 252 - Hi-ho Silver, Away!

    "Cel! We''ve finished registering the mercenary company!" A silver haired young lady said while waving a small card towards a tall youth standing in the distance. Walking beside her was a pink haired young women that was curiously taking in the scenery around her.


    The youth that was called out to was of course Cecil, and the two girls walking towards him were of course Lucia and Serilla. They were currently in their human guises so they blended well with the other humans around them.


    Cecil and the girls had successfully crossed over to the Midgard Continent just yesterday. At the end of Freyen, which was a week ago, they were able to hitch a ride on an airship to fly over the ocean separating the two continents and touched down just yesterday at the largest airport in the eastern border regions.


    Just the travel duration between the two continents took over a week to do and this was when the two continents were a little bit close to each other. They had to periodically stop and land from time to time on the small landmasses spanning across the separating sea between the two continents.


    This was because they had to avoid all the sea monsters and aerial predators that could potentially cause harm to the airship.


    They had just settled in and were staying at an inn just a while ago, but Cecil decided that they should begin their ''journey to the west'' right away.


    He had Lucia and Serilla go register their mercenary group under the same name as their adventurer party, the Wanderers, before they went about their journey. While he went around the border city that the party was currently at, Hustolte, and began collecting information so that he could finish planning out their travel route.


    Cecil had finished info gathering after he paid a visit to the adventurer guild and was currently waiting for Lucia and Serilla to come back with Yuna and Silver.


    He was leaning on Silver''s broad back when he noticed Lucia call out to him. As for Yuna, the dragon girl was resting inside the wagon right now. It was a little late, but she was currently resting in preparations for the when Cecil and Silver would form a pact.


    They should have done this back on Urrgudrasil, but one thing led to another and now they were here on Midgard. It was a good thing that Yuna reminded the boy, if not, Cecil would have totally forgotten about it.


    "Oh, Lulu, Seri are you two done with the registrations?"


    "Yep~ no problems back there since we''ve got our platinum adventurer rank to back us up!"


    "Well, let''s get going then. We''ve spent enough time dawdling around here. Let''s head westward now!"


    "He~h? We''re going already? And here I wanted to take in the sights!" Serilla quipped up from the side.


    Cecil walked over and pinched both of the girls'' cheeks before taking the mercenary card from Lucia. He stuffed it into his pocket and began strapping on Silver''s harness after waking the large wolf up.


    "Hmm~ don''t you think Cel''s being sweeter to us as the days pass by, Seri?"


    "...It''s probably because we''re going to separate for a while, right?"


    "Then that means¡ª"


    "He wants to stay close to us as physically possible before that time!"


    "Yeah!"


    "Hehehe~ I''m going to shower darling with lots of love tonight~"


    "Me too, me too~"


    While the two girls were beginning to hatch out their obviously e.r.o.t.i.c plans for later, Cecil quickly called out to them from the wagon''s driver seat.


    "Hey! You two coming or not?! I''m going to leave you guys behind if you don''t get on right now!"


    "Wait idiot!"


    "Darling, don''t be so mean~!"


    The two girls quickly shelved their thoughts and scurried into the wagon. Once Cecil confirmed that the two were on, he immediately had Silver set off from the city.


    He turned to look back at the large walled city and made sure to imprint this scenery in his mind.


    ''The first city I visited on Midgard.''


    Cecil smirked and looked back forward before shouting, "Hi-ho Silver, away~!"


    At his weird shout, Silver immediately roared in response and picked up his pace. The wagon immediately shot into the distance and Cecil was laughing wildly on the driver seat, totally not minding the odd stares that the people on the road were giving him.


    He also ignored the two hot stares that were currently boring holes into his back. Cecil quickly checked his magic tome and began to properly create their party''s travel plan.


    "First we''ll head to Tempest, after that we should stick to the northern side of the continent and make our way to Regulus from there...we''ll be passing by the Machina Reggio Empire and the Inderior Principality."


    On the map, there were large spaces that separated each kingdom''s territory. He was able to learn that the empty area in between were just vast wildernesses that have monsters and bandits living within them.


    These lands were unclaimed lands that the major powers of the Midgard Continent didn''t want to capture because it served as a good buffer region that''ll let each power know in advance whether another power was going to attack them, if a war so happened to be waged between said powers.


    It even served as a large border between each kingdoms and it was also neutral area where there were no laws. Cecil and his party would have to pass through numerous numbers of these areas before arriving at Midgard''s western regions.


    He just hoped that in these ''lawless'' regions, no trouble would come knocking on his door. Cecil wasn''t afraid of trouble, but since he know had a destination that he needed to get to as soon as possible, he didn''t want any hindrances to pop up on their journey.


    He was a little unsettled at the fact that the journey might take a whole year or two. The continent was vast and this was the time he roughly calculated after he compared his over 6 month long tripe from Fauxe Village to Angla City.


    Cecil himself should be considered pretty lucky. When he was first transported into this world, he happened to land in the western regions of Urrugdrasil. If he had somehow landed in the eastern regions of Urrugdrasil, then he wouldn''t have even set off on a journey to find his family.


    The journey from Fauxe to Angla city took him over 6 months...and from his estimate that was his travel time that spanned maybe a fourth or a fifth of Urrugdrasil. They did waste time on the road because of training and all, but it still took a pretty long while.


    He also didn''t have a wagon or mode of transport at the time. Cecil and Lucia did ride on Silver for most of the journey, but they weren''t traveling as lightly as they did now and Silver wasn''t as strong as he was presently.


    Urrugdrasil was larger than Midgard by only a little, so taking that into reference Cecil calculated that it might take him a year or 2 to reach the western regions of Midgard with their current travel conditions. He was fretting at the thought that by the time he arrived in the western regions 2 years later, his sister and maybe even his family will have long since moved out of the area.


    He couldn''t be sure about this and it might just be an unfounded worry on his part, but he wanted to hasten the trip since the thought of being able to meet up with his family was making him pretty eager and anxious at the same time. It''s been almost 2 years since he''s last seen them so it was understandable that he misses them a lot, despite him not actually showing it outwardly to the girls.


    Cecil knew however that he had to keep himself level headed. If he rushed the journey, then he and his party might find themselves in a dangerous situation someday. He quickly packed his magic tome and moved inside of the caravan.


    Just as he was about to call out to Lucia and Serilla, he was suddenly pounced on.


    "Hey¡ª!"


    When he felt something invade his mouth and the silver hair in his vision, he knew that a certain someone had just assaulted him.


    "Muah, ehehe~ took you long enough to come back in!"


    "My turn~ my turn~"


    Cecil immediately blocked Serilla''s face with a hand and said in exasperation, "Save it for later, dammit! Behave first and let''s discuss our travel route!"


    "Ehh~ darling, no fair~"


    Cecil gave Serilla a quick kiss before he easily slung both girls up on his shoulders and sitting them down on the couch. He sat himself opposite of them and placed his magic tome on top of the table in between them.


    When he looked up, he noticed that the two girls were no longer in sight and immediately felt a weight on both his shoulders.


    "...you two..."


    "Yes~?"


    "Hm~"


    "GET A GRIP ALREADY!"


    After putting the two girls in line, Cecil immediately began discussing their travel route. After the girls got the gist of things, Lucia immediately said, "Hm~ this journey will take a long while!"


    "Exactly, I predict that it''ll take us 1-2 years...maybe more..."


    "A-are you okay with that Cel?"


    "I''m fine with it and I don''t want to rush things. If we hurry too much, we might miss something or worse, find ourselves in a dangerous situation."


    "Yeah, that''d be pretty bad."


    Cecil nodded and began stroking Lucia''s hair. She was currently resting on his lap while Serilla was clinging onto him from the side. It wasn''t the position to be holding such an important talk, but the girls were basically just listening to Cecil''s plans at this point.


    They''d follow wherever he went and didn''t mind not having to plan anything out with the boy. It was a new continent for them as well, so they would have no idea what to do or where to go anyways.


    "What I''m more concerned with, is that are you two okay with this? This is a going to be a 2 year-long journey... If you guys wanna turn ba¡ª"


    Before Cecil could finish, Serilla had planted her lips onto his. She didn''t like it when Cecil began talking that way so it was a pretty good way to shut him up while at the same time she was able to enjoy herself.


    "Stop with that, okay? You should know by now our answer!"


    "Okay..."


    "Ehehe~ let''s continue that."


    "Continue what?"


    "This!"

 Chapter 253 - Time to Teach the Girls Ki

    It was night time and the party was currently resting in their rooms. Right now, Cecil was inside Serilla and Lucia''s room sitting on the bed, while the two girls were both kneeling on the floor.


    "Now listen here! I agreed to sleep with the both of you starting today, but we''re going to be establishing rules, alright?!"


    "Yes..."


    "May I object darling~?" Serilla asked cutely.


    "...No, you may not!" Cecil replied in a stern tone.


    "O-okay..."


    Now that he''s properly subdued both girls, Cecil began giving out his conditions.


    "First, you can''t just spring a kiss on me like earlier today! That applies to both of you!"


    "NO!"


    "I object strongly darling!"


    "Well, guess what my loves~ YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO OBJECT! I''m not asking you, I''m telling you!"


    "Uwah!"


    "L-Lulu!"


    The two girls were excited after hearing Cecil''s words. They didn''t care about his ''no objections'', but that small word just before it was all that mattered. The two pounced onto Cecil and toppled him onto the bed.


    "H-hey! I said listen to me first!"


    "We will~ but could you really bear to have us kneeling on the ground for so long~?"


    "...it''s only been 5 minutes..."


    "That''s long!"


    "Whatever, anyways, no more surprise kisses...except when we''re in the bedroom."


    "Hmm... Since Cel has made a concession, we''ll agree to that, anything else?"


    "Hmmm...I''m not really sure...for a while now, that''s been the only thing that''s been bothering me."


    Serilla immediately quipped up when she heard this, "That means we can do anything else besides that right?"


    "Huh? What do you mean by ''anything else''?"


    "Well~ things like suddenly hugging you and stuff like that!"


    "...As long as it''s not during times when I''m doing something important then you can do whatever you want, except kissing. That''s all I ask. Save that kind of stuff when we''re somewhere private. And by private I mean inside a bedroom! This may be our ''house'', but don''t you guys feel embarrassed if Silver and Yuna see you?!"


    Lucia and Serilla thought hard for a moment, but both of the came to the same unanimous decision that it didn''t bother them at all and didn''t cause either of them to feel embarrassed.


    "Those two will understand~ actually, Silver is even happy for you Cel~ he keeps saying to hurry up with it!"


    "Hurry up with what exactly?!" Cecil exclaimed in shock. "Sheesh, that kid, he''s totally gonna get it later. He''s been clinging onto Yuna lately and would constantly spend his time around his big sis more than with me!"


    Serilla who was on the side giggled and said, "Well, duh! Silvy''s found a big sis to rely on so of course he''s going to cling onto her! Haven''t you had that kind of feeling before, darling?"


    "Nope, I''ve spent my childhood training nonstop. I''ve only ever seen my siblings during my breaks and we normally don''t interact much. Though, we don''t need to for some reason. I''ve always felt a certain closeness to my siblings and I got along well with them whenever we met and played together."


    "Hmm~ well, you did say you had an elder sister, were the two of you close?" Serilla asked.


    Cecil was a little unsure as how to answer the question. His sister Fatima was a pretty cold person, but she would show her warm side to everyone in the family. It wasn''t like she treated anyone of his siblings, including him, specially. Well, except for Angelia, his baby sister was the princess of the family and everybody spoilt her rotten, this included Cecil himself of course.


    He would always give in to any of Angelia''s whims and even his steel-hearted father couldn''t bear to make the family''s cute little angel train in their martial ways. Even if he did, Cecil was pretty sure that the family''s goddess, his mother, would have surely beaten the heck out of this father. As for grandfather, grandma had that covered. So thus, Angelia was the only child in the family that had successfully escaped their strict family traditions.


    Remembering how his eldest sister was like, Cecil smiled a little and said in reply.


    "Well, she was a very cold person on the outside, but to our family, she was the warmest and most caring out of all of us. She was the big sis that every one of us siblings looked up to as a role model and the person we would go to whenever we needed help with something...well, except for me; I handled all of my problems by myself..."


    "So, what did you look for your big sis for?"


    "A spar, she was the strongest after my father. So it was always great to fight with her in the family dojo." Cecil replied with a light chuckle.


    "Ahahaha~ for some reason I thought that might have been your answer, Cel!" Lucia replied.


    The 3 continued talking about Cecil''s family until they got too tired to talk. The girls were especially intrigued about the boy''s family and they wanted him to continue their conversation tomorrow when they were going to bed.


    For now, Cecil pulled the blanket over them and the two girls snuggled up to him and they fell asleep happily in his embrace.


    ''Phew, looks like I''ll have to get used to this...it doesn''t feel all that bad though.''


    Actually, Cecil felt that it would also be awesome if he could hug one of them to sleep, but right now he had one arm around each of them. It felt a little awkward and it looks like he''ll have to bring this up tomorrow before bed.


    ******


    Half a month had passed since then and the party had finally arrived in the territory of the Tempest Kingdom.


    Lucia stuck her head out of the wagon and was looking around. The scenery hadn''t changed, but she felt that the weather was slowly turning colder as the days passed.


    Yuna who was up front on the driver seat immediately asked her, "What''s wrong, Master?"


    "Hmmm, it''s almost the end of fall and winter will soon come... Looks like I should start making some winter clothes for all of us!"


    Yuna looked around and indeed, the weather was getting chillier. It was already mid-Hautur so it was understandable.


    "I see..." Yuna closed her eyes for a moment and immediately informed the girl, "Master, fall is soon ending. Probably in a week or two, I believe¡ªah, there''s also going to be a shower tomorrow, so make sure you keep the laundry inside."


    "Thanks, Yuna!"


    Lucia immediately moved back into the wagon and sat herself on the couch. She took out the spider silk that she still had in abundance of and immediately began working. She had already finished the party''s equipment just yesterday, so she was happy she could work on something else now.


    "What''s up Lulu?" Cecil called out to her from across the room.


    "Fall''s fast approaching and winter''s almost here Cel~ since we''re going to be traveling in the north, I thought it''d be good to prepare some winter clothing for everyone!"


    "Oh, you do have a good point there. Just don''t forget to cultivate and train, okay? You don''t want to fall behind me and Seri, now do you?"


    "Of course not! I practice using my mana delicately while sewing too y''know!"


    "Hmhm~ that''s good."


    Cecil sat himself down and began cultivating. He felt that his mana had reached a point of saturation already and he could feel himself breaking into the Mana Core Stage any moment. He had been constantly suppressing it, but he could feel that it was no longer possible anymore.


    As for why Cecil was suppressing his mana cultivation stage, this was because it was written in the ancient text still present in his mind about the most efficient method to cultivating both his Mana and Ki, and that was the method of Ultimate Suppression.


    This method of ''Ultimate Suppression'' was labeled the best and most effective way to simultaneously train Mana and Ki during the ancient times. Once a person couldn''t hold back their cultivation from advancing, then that meant they couldn''t do anything anymore while on that stage and they''d be able to advance while having the sturdiest foundation they could attain.


    Cecil could have actually advanced into the Mana Core Stage a long time ago, but after he learned about this new cultivation method, he had been suppressing himself the entire time while he kept piling up more and more mana inside his Mana Point.


    While he was cultivating in this way, he was able to feel that his Mana Point was somehow ''expanding''. As the days passed by where he cultivated this way, the Mana Point had continued to expand and he''d feel an overabundance of mana welling up within his body.


    The last time he checked his mana in the guild, it had actually swelled well above 8000 units. This was only the mana inside his Mana Point. He still hadn''t factored in the mana inside the rest of his body.


    Right now he had reached a point of saturation and Cecil predicted that his mana was probably at 10,000 units and this was the limit that his body could take. If he continued to forcefully suppress himself, then it''ll result in a backlash that could kill him.


    While he kept his mana stage suppressed, Cecil tried to quickly advance his Ki cultivation, but he made no headway and it was progressing kind of slowly compared to his Mana cultivation.


    He wanted to at least have both his Ki and Mana advance at the same stage tier together, but that looked to be no longer possible since his Mana was going to advance any time now. The only thing he could do was suppress himself in the Mana Core Stage and quickly have his Ki catch up and try to advance into the Perfected Mana Stage and the Ki Transformation Stage at the same time.


    For now his goal was to get his Ki into Crystallization stage. Now that he thought about it, shouldn''t it be time for him to begin teaching Lucia and Serilla about Ki?


    Those two were already at the Mana Core Stage and if he taught them any later, it''ll greatly delay their cultivation if they had to start any later. He also decided to tell the two about the Ultimate Suppression method.


    "Seri, come here! Lulu, put those down for a second," Cecil said as he broke his meditation.


    Lucia was a little surprised when she saw Cecil stop cultivating after only sitting down for a minute or so.


    "Something wrong, Cel?"


    "Nope, but something good is about to happen for you and Seri!"


    Hearing this, Lucia immediately got excited and asked,


    "Huh? Really? Are you going to¡ª"


    "¡ªFinally, marry us darling~?!" Serilla finished her sentence as she quickly dashed into the central partition.


    "..."


    Cecil could only stare blankly at the two. When did ''something good'' equal marriage?


    "Ahem, no it''s not that. And please stop thinking about that! You guys should first at least meet my parents before we even begin discussing about that!"


    "Then, then...after we meet your parents, you''ll marry us, Cel?!"


    Serilla also grew excited and the two eager girls began to creep towards Cecil slowly. The boy could see the fire in their eyes and he knew immediately that something dangerous would happen if he let them be.


    "M-maybe?" Those words only aggravated the girls, but just before they could pounce on him, Cecil continued, "O-okay! I will, just don''t pounce on me! You guys promised, remember?!"


    They totally wanted to pounce on him, but they had to hold onto their promise since Cecil had been keeping his.


    Seeing that the girls had settled down a little, Cecil immediately said in exasperation, "Enough, let''s get to the point already, sheesh."


    "Hehe~ we''re just teasing you darling~ you don''t have to be so serious like that! But at least we know that you have the intention to marry us someday!"


    "Yup~ our Cel''s finally taking responsibility!"


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever, anyways, today I''m going to be teaching you 2 about Ki!"


    Hearing the unfamiliar term, Lucia and Serilla immediately turned serious.

 Chapter 254 - The Rice Is Cooked

    Cecil immediately began explaining to the two girls about Ki and how it was an energy that could be cultivated alongside Mana. He also explained to them the higher form of energy that could be cultivated when both Ki and Mana are combined together, Ether.


    The girls were immediately intrigued and after half a day of guidance, both Lucia and Serilla were able to gain an initial grasp and understanding of Ki.


    The energy came from within the body, so it was much easier to sense than Mana, which was outside of the body at first.


    "So...you mean you''ve been using Ki to cast those healing arts that you acquired from the World Tree''s Trials?" Lucia asked when after they finished their cultivation session.


    "Yeah, I''ll teach you two how to do it once you''ve reached the Ki Formation Stage," Cecil said as he manipulated his Ki to gather around on his hand.


    Normally, it wasn''t visible, but whenever Cecil casted his healing arts that required him to use Ki, his hand would glow and emanate that soothing energy.


    "Darling look, I...I think I''ve already reached the Formation Stage!"


    "Huh?! Is that true Seri?!" Lucia exclaimed in amazement.


    "Let me see!"


    Cecil immediately arrived next to Serilla and grabbed her wrist. The only way to check on a person''s Ki Cultivation stage was to feel their pulse while sensing it with one''s own Ki.


    "I-it''s true! You''re already in the Formation stage, Seri! That''s incredible, you haven''t even practiced for a day, but you''re already in the first stage!"


    "Ehehehe~" Serilla laughed bashfully at Cecil''s praise.


    "Guuuhh...I-I won''t lose! I''ll continue cultivating Cel! You just wait! I''ll get to the first stage before the day ends!"


    Cecil took a look outside and noticed that it was already evening. "Uhh...Lulu, that''s fine and all, but what about dinner? Do you want me to make it?"


    "Huh?"


    Lucia took a look out the window and finally noticed that the sky had turned dark. The carriage had also stopped by the road side since who-knows-when. Lucia immediately scrambled to her feet and dashed towards the kitchen.


    "Ahh! I didn''t realize we took so long to cultivate! I''ll quickly make dinner before going back to cultivate my Ki! Just wait a bit, okay guys?"


    "S-sure, just take your time and don''t rush."


    "Hmhm~"


    Cecil turned to look at Serilla and noticed that she had once more begun meditating. He finally noticed that the girl was emanating a large amount of Ki while she cultivated. It was like she already had a lot of it inside her body and she only needed to tap into that reservoir to bring it out.


    This could only be attributed to Serilla''s talent in cultivating Ki. Cecil had long since noticed that Serilla wasn''t all that good in cultivating her mana. She was already 18, but was only at the Mana Core Stage. Compared to Alex, Robert, and Zephyr who were the same age as her, she was clearly lacking.


    Those 3 had long since stepped into the Mana Core Stage while Serilla needed the boost from the World Tree''s Trial grounds in order to reach the same stage.


    "Wow...I didn''t expect Seri to be so talented in cultivating Ki...jeez, one of my wives is talented in cultivating Mana while the other is talented in cultivating Ki¡ªWoah, Woah! That thinking''s dangerous, better not let¡ªurk," Cecil abruptly stopped when he saw a certain girl smirking at him slyly.


    "S-Seri, you heard nothing."


    "Ohohoho~ I heard EVERYTHING~"


    The girl began crawling over to Cecil while he scurried back in fright when he saw the coquettish look Serilla was directing at him, however, where could he go? It wasn''t long before his back hit the wall and Serilla quickly caught him.


    She moved and sat herself on top of his lap, staring straight into the boy''s eyes with an alluring gaze. Cecil regretted saying his thoughts out loud, but the current situation he was in was pretty e.r.o.t.i.c and he couldn''t help but have a reaction. The reaction a normal teenager his age would have when faced with this kind of situation.


    "!" Serilla was surprised to feel something poking at her ''spot'' and she smirked teasingly and said, "Ohoho~ my darling''s grown naugh~ty~"


    "W-what?!"


    "Hihihi~ I''m glad to know that I can evoke a normal reaction from my darling~" As she leaned in closer and breathed into his ear. Serilla then moved her face in front of Cecil''s and began nibbling at his cheeks seductively while slowly moving closer and closer to his lips.


    "H-hey Seri, you still remember our promise, r-right?"


    "Of course I do darling~ but I''m not violating it, right? And besides, you gave us permission to do whatever we wanted to do other than kissing if you weren''t doing anything important~"


    "Y-yeah, but..."


    Serilla shifted her body a little and roughly brushed past the ''thing'' poking her bottom. This immediately caused Cecil to stiffen up in response. He was still clueless and didn''t know why his body was reacting this way so he didn''t know what to do or how to respond.


    It was kind of muddling his mind, but it didn''t feel harmful. In fact, he was feeling hot all of a sudden.


    "Phew...how come I feel hot all of a sudden?"


    Serilla giggled at his response and whispered into his ear, "Do you want to know why?"


    "Y-yeah?"


    Just as Serilla was about to answer, Lucia called out to the two from the kitchen.


    "Hey guys? I''ve heated up some leftovers, is that okay? It''s sort of late to start cooking anything new!"


    Lucia''s voice broke the intimate atmosphere Serilla and Cecil had going on, but Serilla only laughed lightly in response.


    "Hehe~ I want to eat darling instead~ but let''s stop here. We should go eat dinner now!"


    "Huh? Oh, yeah..."


    For some reason, Cecil felt regretful all of a sudden. He didn''t understand why, but he was thinking that he wanted Serilla to continue whatever it was she was going to do. Seeing his obviously disappointed face, Serilla began teasing him again.


    "Oh my~ darling don''t look so obviously disappointed! Ufufufu~ we can do it later! You can do it with me now, but if you want to do it with Lulu, you should probably wait for another 2-3 years~"


    "Eh? What''s this got to do with Lulu?"


    "It has EVERYTHING to do with Lulu~"


    "Okay?"


    Serilla planted a kiss on top of Cecil''s lips before she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Cecil felt his mind was muddled for a moment there. He closed his eyes and meditated for a bit to calm his fl.u.s.tered mindset.


    Once he felt calm enough and his body''s ''weird'' condition had returned to normal, he made his way to the kitchen and had his dinner with the other 2 girls. He also didn''t forget to call Silver and Yuna to have dinner with them.


    Those two would only have breakfast and dinner together with the rest, while they''d have lunch separately.


    When Yuna arrived at the kitchen-dining room with Silver in her arms, she turned towards Cecil and said, "Don''t forget Cecil, we''ll be performing the pact ceremony tonight. The timing is just perfect since the full moon is out. It''ll be the most perfect condition to form a pact between you and Silver, who''s a Fenrir!"


    "Oh? We''re finally doing the pact now? That''s great!" Cecil replied while stuffing himself.


    "Yeah, finally, we had to wait for a bit so that the ceremony would take place during the most optimum time. We missed last month''s, so we have to do it tonight!" Yuna emphasized.


    "I get it. Let''s eat first before we do the ceremony."


    "Don''t worry, there''s no rush. We''re going to perform the ancient pact ceremony at midnight anyway. So you better prepare yourself, Cecil."


    Cecil nodded in response. He was prepared and ready for it. He knew for himself that this would be a special turning point between his and Silver''s bond.


    They wouldn''t just be bound by familial bonds, but by a magical bond known as the Pact. He''d be gaining a portion of Silver''s abilities and Silver would also gain a portion of his. The Ancient Pact was different than the normal Pact that Lucia and Yuna had performed.


    The outcome and post-pact reaction would be much different than Lucia''s and Yuna''s pact. Yuna herself wasn''t sure of what might happen after the two formed an Ancient Pact, but from what she knew, it was the only way for Cecil and Silver to truly bond together. An ordinary pact wouldn''t suffice.


    She didn''t require an Ancient Pact, in fact, she didn''t even know what an Ancient Pact was until Silver himself had explained things to her.


    When Silver had begun explaining to Yuna about the information that he had which popped up in his mind after his black transformation had ended a while back, Yuna was able to get the gist of things regarding the Ancient Pact Rite.


    It was performed similar to how a normal pact would, but there were strict conditions that had to be met. Like the timing and other such factors. Silver had been spending time with Yuna for a while now and had been explaining to her the most optimal time for when he and Cecil should perform the Ancient Pact Rite.


    Today at midnight, when the full moon hung at its highest point was one of the best days to perform the pact. There was a similar day last month that had similar conditions, but the party had been too preoccupied with something else and missed it.


    More importantly, this day actually had much better conditions than the previous time so it was alright. Silver was greatly anticipating this day and he could no longer wait anymore.


    "Rafu!"


    ''Master, we have to do it tonight! Any later and the conditions might change!''


    "I hear ya Silv, don''t worry, there''s nothing stopping us from performing the rite," Cecil replied.


    "Alright you 3, enough with the talks, eat up already!" Lucia demanded. She had only reheated some leftovers and if they kept talking like this, it''ll become cold again.


    It wasn''t long until they finished their meal and begun waiting for the time when Cecil and Silver would initiate their Ancient Pact Rite.


    Yuna was outside with Silver while preparing all the materials needed for the pact. They were told not to interfere so right now they had some time to kill before the agreed time.


    So how did they spend this time? A while back, the girls had come to another agreement and that was how they would take turns sleeping while embracing Cecil. This was actually brought up by Cecil himself and it delighted the girls. This finally gave them both an excuse to act intimate with him when they went to bed.


    Tonight was Serilla''s turn and right now, while Lucia was outside observing Yuna and Silver making their preparations, Cecil and Serilla were in bed continuing what they were previously doing.


    "Hmhm~ shall we continue what we were doing before darling~?"


    "Uhm...s-sure..."


    "Hehehe~"


    For the next 2 hours, Cecil was ''taught'' what it meant to be a ''man''. Age-wise, he shouldn''t be doing this, but physically, after he acquired the various blessings from the World Tree''s Trials, he was ready.


    It took him 2 hours to calm down and during those two hours, he made a total mess of Serilla.


    "Oh my god...did...that just happen?"


    "Hmmm~ darling~" Serilla mumbled sleepily as she clung tighter around Cecil.


    "Wow..." Cecil couldn''t help but exclaim in shock at how beautiful Serilla was right now. He also couldn''t believe that he had done what he had just done earlier. He didn''t regret it, but he thought that he probably shouldn''t do it with Lucia just yet.


    While he was busy contemplating, Lucia called out to him from the front door of the wagon.


    "Cel, the two are finished with the preparations and it''s time!"


    Cecil immediately responded with a shout and moved to get up, he separated himself from Serilla who was still clinging tightly onto him and this stirred her awake.


    "Hrmmm... Darling, where are you going?" Serilla said as she got up. The blanket that was covering her body immediately slipped off and her large b.r.e.a.s.ts were exposed to Cecil. He immediately grabbed onto the blanket and wrapped it around the sleep girl and gently pushed her back down onto the bed.


    "You can go to sleep Seri. I''m just going out to perform the Pact with Silver."


    "Hmm...I wanna see. Carry me, please~"


    For some reason, Cecil couldn''t refuse her. After the two got dressed, Cecil carried Serilla out of the bedroom. When he turned to close the door, Cecil couldn''t help but notice the red ''stain'' on the bed. He looked down at Serilla who was in his arms and the girl blushed furiously, but was looking straight into his eyes with a gentle expression.


    Cecil brought Serilla to the driver''s seat and placed her down. Lucia was already there and she greeted the two before telling Cecil to hurry on over to Yuna and Silver. Once he was gone, Lucia immediately began interrogating Serilla.


    "Hey, Seri~ what were you two doing in bed~?" Lucia asked with a teasing smile.


    "Eh? Uhmmm...L-Lulu...d-don''t get mad okay?"


    "It''s alright~ I know already. You two ''did'' it, right?"


    "Y-yeah...s-sorry that I cheated...I really couldn''t help myself...especially when darling was acting so timid for once, ehehehe~"


    Lucia actually didn''t mind it much. She''d also experience it eventually, but she was naturally curious and couldn''t help but ask her ''sister''.


    "S-so, how did it f-feel?"


    Serilla gave Lucia a pat on the shoulder, she leaned in and whispered, "It felt so good~"


    "...I wanna do it too..."


    "You can''t! Well, at least not yet!"


    "Y-yeah...but..."


    "Just wait for a couple more years, Lulu! No one''s taking him away from us~"


    "Hehe~ you''re right. Soon, we''ll be sisters!"


    "Aren''t we already~?"


    The two girls giggled together and quickly turned their gazes towards the boy in the distance.


    "I hope things go well with Cel and Silvy''s pact!"


    "Yup!"


    The full moon was hanging high up in the clear night sky. With multiple stars shining down on them, Cecil and Silver were at the eve of forming their pact.

 Chapter 255 - Long-awaited Pact

    Cecil walked over to where Yuna and Silver were at and looked around.


    There was a large ancient magic formation engraved on the ground with some sort of red liquid running inside the shallow engravings.


    "What''s all this?" Cecil asked curiously. There was a pool in the middle of the large formation that had a large concentration of the red liquid and when Cecil took a closer look, the moonlight shining down on the liquid had actually caused it to flash purple for some reason.


    "This is the Ancient Rite''s magic formation. This is needed for a person to establish a Master-Servant pact with a legendary Fenrir."


    "Master-Servant?"


    "Yes, it''s the only kind of pact available for a Fenrir it seems, at least that''s what Silver explained to me." Yuna replied. She then scrutinized Cecil once more and said, "Hmm... You seemed to have just lost...something..."


    Cecil blushed in response to her words. Seeing this, Yuna nodded in approval. "It looks like Serilla did as I asked."


    "Eh?"


    "Rafu!"


    ''Hahaha! Finally, Master, you did it!''


    "W-wait! What do you mean by that?!"


    "Don''t think so much into it. Serilla did it of her own accord and she wanted to do ''it''. Besides, the pact also requires you to lose ''that'' first. And the blood..."


    Yuna waved her hand and opened a Misty Gate. She stuck her hand in it and pulled out an all-too-familiar white piece of cloth with a red stain on it and tossed the cloth into the pool of red liquid in the middle of the formation.


    It began to immediately dissolve and melded into the magic formation.


    Cecil looked back at Serilla and saw the girl happily waving at him. He sighed helplessly and let it go. If she decided to do it in this way, then he shouldn''t be the one complaining. Serilla was the one that lost something more important than him after all.


    "Well, this weird ceremony better be worth all this. I hurt Seri because of this..."


    "Really now? I think you made her into a much happier woman from what I''m seeing," Yuna stated plainly before she walked outside of the large formation and began chanting a cryptic incantation.


    When Cecil looked back at Serilla, no matter how dense he was, it was indeed true. Serilla was practically glowing right now and was literally radiating with happiness. But Cecil still felt like he was at fault for some reason.


    "Rafu!"


    ''Master, don''t think so much about it. Look, Lady Serilla is happier now! Let''s hurry up and get this Ancient Pact Rite over with. Step into the pool of blood and place a drop of Master''s blood into it!''


    "Wait...this red liquid is blood?! Who''s blood?!"


    "Rafu!"


    ''It''s mine, Master...''


    "Why?"


    ''It''s necessary for the ritual, come now Master. The time is nigh.''


    Silver let out one final bark in response to Cecil''s question before raising his head and howling into the air. On the side, Yuna had finished her incantation and a large amount of mana had gathered on her palm. She lowered her hand onto the magic formation and the blood inside the engraved formation began to react to the mana and start bubbling out of control.


    The blood rose into the air and the thin stream of blood suddenly formed blood walls all around Cecil and Silver who were in the center of the formation.


    "!"


    ''Don''t fret, Master. Come, stand in the blood pool and drop your blood into it to complete the Pact.''


    Silver said directly into Cecil''s head. The boy only nodded his head before walking up to the pool of blood, cut open a small wound on his thumb and squeezed out a single drop of blood into the blood pool before it closed up.


    "Done, is that it?"


    ''Wait Master, let the blood react with the formation first. This is only the first step.''


    "Okay, but man, I can see why Yuna wanted to do this in a place far from people. Just look at the commotion we''re causing." Cecil said as he observed the tall walls of blood surrounding him and Silver.


    He could somewhat see past the walls and could make out Lucia and Serilla who had rushed over just next to formation. Cecil waved a hand at them to signal that he was okay. The girls waved back worriedly, but were relieved to see nothing bad happening to him or Silver.


    "So...what''s Seri''s blood used for in this ancient rite?"


    ''It is only a catalyst Master, we needed another source of pure Ki, and the Lucent Rabbitkin race is just what we needed. I have to say, Master is really lucky to have 2 mates who are both talented in Ki and Mana. Don''t worry, Master, nothing will happen to Lady Serilla or Lady Lucia.''


    "Wait, Lulu as well?"


    ''We asked Lady Lucia for a drop of her demon fox blood as well. Her race is that which holds a pure amount of mana in their blood so it''ll act as the mana catalyst while Lady Serilla''s acted as the Ki catalyst.''


    "Why the need for that... Isn''t my blood enough? More importantly...couldn''t you have asked Seri for her blood the normal way as well?"


    ''Huhuhu~ it wasn''t my call. Lady Serilla wanted to do ''that'' with Master, so we let her be.''


    "...Whatever, anyways, it''s good that nothing will happen to them."


    ''They''ll form a minor bond with me, so I''ll have you as my primary master and Master''s two wives will be the secondary masters.''


    Cecil nodded in understanding and waited for the ritual to continue.


    After a moment, the blood surrounding Cecil and Silver immediately crystalized and turned gold in color. Silver howled into the air and Cecil could somehow understand that what he was doing wasn''t just simple howling, but instead Silver was chanting something.


    Once Silver''s long howl finished, the walls broke apart and the gold crystals began shooting towards Cecil and Silver.


    Cecil was surprised to see this, but just as he was about to pull out one of his swords, Silver stopped him.


    The crystals slammed into his and Silver''s body, but he didn''t feel any pain. When the crystals came into contact with him, they had dissolved into a golden liquid and melded into his body.


    Once all the crystals finished merging with him, Cecil was able to find a small change from within him. He felt some sort of bridge connecting him with Silver in his mind.


    "Master, with this the pact is formed. All that''s left is for you to bestow me a name and tie the pact together."


    "A name? But don''t you already have one?"


    "Yes, however this time, bestow me a name that''s bounded by the pact."


    "Silver...from this day forward, bounded by our Ancient Pact, you shall be called Silver."


    Once Cecil recited the words that had suddenly popped into his mind when he made his decision, Silver''s forehead began to glow with a golden light and a pattern formed on his pristine white fur.


    When he saw the fully formed 8-star pattern on top of Silver''s head, Cecil suddenly felt a stinging sensation on his right hand. When he looked down, he noticed that a crest with the same shape as Silver''s pattern had formed on the back of his hand.


    Cecil was just about to ask Silver whether or not the Ancient Pact Rite ceremony was over, but he noticed that his partner was staring straight up into the sky, right at the moon hanging above their heads.


    Cecil looked up as well and noticed that the moon had somehow...turned gold? It wasn''t long before a large golden ray of light struck down on top of Cecil and his party.


    Cecil was able to feel a stinging sensation on his skin when the ray of light came into contact with him. He immediately grew worried for the girls and rushed over to where they were.


    "Lulu! Seri?!"


    "Don''t worry Master, this is a blessing. It''ll sting a little, but this will help everyone advance their cultivation levels." Silver called out to him from behind.


    "Eh?"


    Now that he took a better look at it...Silver was able to talk now.


    "W-when did you learn how to talk?!"


    "When Master and I formed a pact, I gained some new abilities of my own. Talking is but one of the few. Hehe~ sure feels nice being able to talk with Master instead of just communicating through telepathy."


    "...Say, can you turn human just like Yuna?"


    "Hm? Sure I can Master, but I think I''ll save that for later. I don''t want to appear n.a.k.e.d in front of big sis Yuna, Lady Lucia, and Lady Serilla..."


    "Oh...yeah, you''re right. That would be a problem."


    "Hm~"


    It was uncanny to see his large wolf ''talking'' with him. Cecil could see his mouth open and close, but it felt weird to see words come out of that large snout.


    When the golden ray of light died down, the stinging sensation on his skin subsided and he quickly checked up on the girls. They were alright, except for the fact that their skins were all red, like they had been scalded by hot water or something.


    Cecil noticed that his skin was also in a similar state. He tried using his healing arts to see if he could heal it, but it didn''t work. Silver, alongside Yuna, walked over to him and spoke,


    "Master, the redness on your skin signifies that your bodies have taken in a large amount of ether. Currently, that ether is being processed by your bodies to change into Ki and Mana."


    "Woah, where''d you learn all that Silv?" Cecil asked in amazement.


    "I don''t know Master. One day, all this information just appeared in my head like it was there all along."


    "Heh, that''s pretty cool, but ether huh...so that golden ray of light from the moon was a large beam of ether?"


    "Exactly, once the ether''s been processed, your cultivations will experience a large rise in power. The Ancient Rite was performed spectacularly. Master''s blood that had an abundant amount of pure Mana and Ki coupled with the Ladies'' blood were able to call down the largest Moon Pillar in all of history! Muhehehe~ as expected of my Master and his wives!"


    Behind Cecil, the girls were staring in amazement at Silver who was now able to talk. He had a youthful and slightly mischievous voice which made him sound like a cute little kid.


    "Wow! Silvy can talk now!" Lucia rushed up and began hugging Silver''s large head. Serilla walked over as well and began stroking Silver''s head gently.


    "You did a good job, Silvy, you too darling~"


    "Uhm, yeah..."


    The party immediately walked back to the wagon since Yuna urged them to quickly leave this area right now. The large amount of pure Ether that shot down from the moon would attract monsters to their area.


    Also, even if they were currently in the middle of nowhere, they couldn''t be 100 percent sure that there were no humans nearby.


    When Cecil turned around to check the Ancient Rite''s formation, he noticed that the pillar of ether had destroyed all traces of it and only a lush patch of grass was what replaced the previous area they had used to perform the ceremony.


    "Let''s get going then, Silv, you''ll be okay to run throughout the night, right?"


    "Don''t worry Master. I''m fully energized after receiving that huge amount of Ether."


    "Alright, then, I''ll leave it to you."


    Cecil quickly fastened Silver''s harness and the large wolf evoked a magic spell on the carriage that levitated it off the ground, then Silver began sprinting and suddenly clouds began to gather around his feet and he stepped into the air.


    "WOAH!"


    "ARAHAHAHAHAR~ how do you like my Aero Step, Master?!"


    "Awesome!"

 Chapter 256 - I’m an Earthling

    Another week had passed since Cecil and Silver''s Ancient Pact Rite ceremony. During this entire week, the party was oddly energized and no one in the party had slept at all. They instead cultivated all week long without the need for food or rest which was VERY abnormal.


    Cecil attributed this to the large intake of Ether, which was then converted to both Mana and Ki that the party had acquired from the ritual last week. It had replaced their need for any sort of sustenance. This had happened to him once before when he received a large concentration of Ki from the World Tree''s Trials.


    It was unsurprising for him, but the girls didn''t seem to like it very much. They wanted their beauty sleep, but couldn''t even fall asleep over how giddy and energized they felt. The two could only turn to cultivation to try and quickly process all that energy bundling up inside them.


    Although there was that weird side-effect, but for the Wanderers, this was a very large boon. Lucia''s Ki cultivation had catapulted into the Ki Condensation stage despite her trying desperately to suppress it using the Ultimate Suppression method that Cecil had taught to her.


    The same happened to Serilla as well, her Ki cultivation had reached a similar stage to Lucia''s, but unlike her friend, Serilla''s Ki cultivation stage was at the peak of Ki Condensation, while Lucia''s was still at the middling stage.


    Cecil''s had the largest jump. He was already in the Ki Condensation stage and the Ether he had received catapulted his cultivation to the early Ki Crystallization Stage, despite him trying hard to suppress it. Now his goal of having both his Ki and Mana at the same cultivation stage had been reached.


    A surprising thing was that when his Mana and Ki had reached equilibrium, they actually began to slowly meld together. It was shocking for him to suddenly find mana leaving his body, but when Cecil felt this minute change occur to him and the melding of his energies together, he knew that he was on the right track to cultivating ether.


    Once this happened, Cecil strongly advised Lucia and Serilla to suppress their Mana Cultivation stages so that their Ki could quickly catch up. Then, after the two energies caught up, they would balance each other out and slowly combine together to form ether.


    It was much different than what the World Tree''s Ancient Healing Arts recorded, but if this meant he''d have an advantage against other people, then he''d totally push for both Lucia and Serilla to have the same advantage as he did.


    It was a good thing that both Lucia and Serilla''s Mana cultivations were at the Mana Core so the influx of ether wasn''t enough to push their stages into the next level when they suppressed it.


    Because of this large boon, the party had been cultivating continuously for the past week. On another note, Silver had been traveling through the air for a full week now, and when Lucia and Serilla finally noticed that, they became so surprised and excited from being able to travel in the air when they weren''t even on an airship.


    All Cecil had to say to this was, "Welcome to Silver Airlines." Of course, the two girls didn''t understand what he meant by that but, anyways, the Wanderers had essentially gained their very own ''airship''.


    There was another thing that had to be mentioned, after receiving the large amount of Ether, the two girls had experienced Marrow Cleansing not long after. It was a windfall that significantly improved their physiques.


    For Lucia, after she experienced the Marrow Cleansing, she found it easier to circulate and control her mana while at the same she discovered that it had become much easier for her to cultivate Ki.


    As for Serilla, the effects were roughly the same for her as it was for Lucia except unlike her counterpart, Serilla found it easier to cultivate mana while her Ki became more active and the passive boost to her physique was much more prominent.


    Also, for some reason or another, Serilla became aroused after the marrow cleansing. Because of this, she and Cecil had been performing ''that'' more often for the past week. The Ether that catalyzed her marrow cleansing had made her pretty horny.


    So whenever she had the opportunity to pounce on Cecil, she quickly took it. Of course, she only did it whenever Lucia was cultivating and not around. Serilla naturally didn''t want to push Cecil into an awkward situation. She might not mind it, but her beloved would.


    Cecil wanted Serilla to restrain herself, but the girl wouldn''t take no for an answer and whenever she asked for it, he somehow couldn''t refuse. Even though his head told him no, his body didn''t comply and he indulged in Serilla''s whims and the pleasure that it brought.


    He would always cast a silencing barrier before performing the deed because Serilla was pretty loud and intense while having s.e.x.


    After a week, the Ki had settled and Serilla no longer had the strong urge to do that anymore, but of course, this wouldn''t stop her from occasionally asking Cecil for it when given the chance. For some reason though, while Serilla was s.e.x.u.a.lly hyperactive, Lucia didn''t experience any of that. Cecil could only attribute it to the fact that Lucia hadn''t done ''it'' yet or just Serilla being Serilla and she took advantage of him...not like he minded it much.


    The only good thing that came out of this was that Serilla had become much more content with herself and was more focused on training since she didn''t want to be left behind by her darling. Seeing Serilla like this, Lucia was much more focused in cultivating because she especially didn''t want to lose out to either one of her companions'' cultivation.


    ******


    "Silv, let''s touchdown in the forest, then we''ll continue on the ground towards the city." Cecil said as he took a look at the majestic city in the distance from high up in the sky.


    If they were still traveling on ground with the wagon, it would have taken the party at least a fortnight to reach the Tempest Kingdom''s Capital, Tempest City.


    "Sure is faster in the air than on the ground..." Cecil mumbled


    "That''s right, Master. Well, that''s why Earth had airplanes in the first place."


    "That''s true. Now we have you! Looks like our journey will be cut short."


    "Not necessarily, Master." Silver said in reply. "I''m only able to keep this continuous flight for up to 2-3 hours before I need to rest. The only reason I''ve been able to fly nonstop until now is because of the Ether."


    "Ah, too bad then," Cecil said regretfully.


    "I''ll only need a similar amount of time to rest and recuperate before I can go at it again, so we''ll still be able to cut our journey short!"


    "That''s great! Wait, since this ability is your own...doesn''t that mean I could use it too?!"


    "Of course, Master. After all, you did gain the ability to use lightning, wind, and dark elemental magic from our pact."


    "N-no way...I can use magic normally now?!"


    "Yeah."


    "Sweet!"


    Cecil immediately grew excited after hearing Silver''s confirmation. He totally had to check his new abilities later. The past week was spent cultivating, so now it was time to process all that.


    Since they now had a better method of transportation, they could rely on Silver''s newfound flight capability to arrive at Midgard''s western regions much earlier than what he had initially estimated. All he had to do now, was find another monster to pull the carriage while Silver was resting.


    "I''ll be purchasing or catching another monster for us. It''ll replace you in pulling the wagon when you''re resting."


    "Alright, Master."


    Shortly after, Silver dove down into the forest just below them and landed in the middle of a clearing. Cecil had already checked with his Mana Sense that there were no humans within a 2 kilometer radius around them before landing. A flying wagon would attract a whole lot of attention and that was something his party didn''t want.


    Once on the ground, Cecil jumped down from the driver seat and stretched a bit. He sent his sense into the surrounding forest and picked up only D-C ranked monsters within the vicinity.


    With Silver''s dominating aura, those monsters wouldn''t even dare try to approach them. After a short rest, Silver began pulling the carriage towards the city.


    After breaking out of the forest they quickly made their way onto the highway. Cecil could see that it was already bustling with activity from afar.


    Many caravans, carriages, monster mounts and other modes of transportation were constantly running up and down the kingdom''s large highway.


    It was peculiar to see a wagon come from the forest so many passersby cast a curious look at the wagon. Yuna had taken over from Cecil after she had finished cultivating so people were astonished to see the beautiful young woman manning the driver''s seat, but they were a little intimidated to see the large majestic white wolf pulling the vehicle.


    Silver nonchalantly got onto the highway and leisurely made his way to the city. After quickly showing their guild IDs to the gatekeepers, the party was able to quickly head on into the city with no problems.


    Before that, they asked the gatekeepers directions to the city''s monster ranch. The Wanderers were only stopping by the city just to purchase a monster suitable enough to pull their wagon. If they couldn''t find one in the city, then Cecil would just go out and catch one for them.


    After receiving the directions, they immediately went in, but before that, they were given a warning that the Kingdom was currently in a state of high alert with many areas of the city currently under lockdown.


    Apparently, a small group of beastmen had invaded the kingdom and was causing havoc within the city. They were also told that any adventurers that were heading into the city were required to complete the compulsory quest issued by the kingdom via the adventurer guild.


    According to the soldiers guarding the gate, the quest''s contents were about investigating the recent multiple destructions of villages and towns near the outer regions of the kingdom.


    As the Wanderer made its way to the Tempest Kingdom''s monster ranch, Cecil and the girls were currently gathered in the living area discussing about the compulsory quest''s contents.


    "This...seems familiar..." Serilla said.


    "Yeah, I bet the beastmen group inside the capital city isn''t the only group that has invaded the kingdom," Cecil replied while deep in thought.


    On the side, Lucia was finishing a pair of gloves that she had been knitting together in her free time from cultivation. She looked up at the two who were deep in thought and said.


    "Hm~ in my opinion, the humans are getting their just deserts! They invaded first and this is the beastmen''s retaliation. Besides, we''re a mercenary group as well, so technically, we don''t even need to go out of our way to accept the compulsory quest!"


    Cecil nodded at her words since they made sense. In a war, there''s no way only one side would experience losses or assaults. Since the humans took the initiative to start this war, the beastmen would of course retaliate.


    However, when Cecil was reminded of the gargantuan black pillar situated ominously in the middle of the city, he couldn''t help but think that the beastmen were going to be the ones on the losing side of this war.


    The humans had already gotten the jump on them and their retaliation came a little too late. Also, during their brief time in the Orca Empire, Cecil couldn''t find any large retaliatory movements from the beastmen. From what he last recalled, most of the beastmen army was sent over to the Orca-Anglarian Border.


    Unless of course this was nothing but a feint and the Orca Empire had long since been prepared to retaliate against the humans and were only biding their time until the moment presented itself.


    But from what Cecil could see, the Orca Empire was playing it a little too passively and only quelling the chaos within their territory. He only found out now that the beastmen had already launched their retaliation. What more, they were giving the humans a taste of their own medicine. However, in his opinion, this was unlike how he''d imagine the empire would retaliate.


    From what he remembered of the empire, they were very, very overbearing and did things in a high profiled manner. If retaliating through guerilla warfare and only giving the humans a taste of their own medicine, then this was most likely NOT the Orca Empire''s main assault.


    From the information Cecil got from the gatekeepers, the beastmen were performing guerilla attacks on the kingdom and never have there been any large skirmishes that pitted the Tempest Kingdom''s army against the beastmen.


    Cecil didn''t want to get wrapped up in all this since he was tight on the clock. He made his decision and informed the girls.


    "After we head over to the monster ranch and purchase a monster, if there are any suitable ones, we''ll immediately head over to the mercenary guild and take on the mission that I heard about from the mercenaries while we were still on Urrugdrasil."


    "Is this alright darling?" Serilla asked.


    "This is the humans'' problems, not ours."


    "But Cel...you''re also a human." Lucia added.


    "Hmph, don''t forget, I''m an otherworld human, actually I''m an Earthling. Besides, I don''t want to waste my time with their petty squabbles. I need to hurry up and find my family so we don''t have the time to play hero."


    Lucia shrugged and continued knitting the pair of gloves she was working on. "Well, I''ll follow whatever decision you make Cel!"


    "I as well, darling~"

 Chapter 257 - Aira Family’s Thousand Fiend Monster Ranch

    Silver pulled the wagon in the direction of the monster ranch. When they arrived at the place, Cecil and the girls were immediately astonished to see the large prairie that was inside the city''s walls.


    Just behind him was a bustling city, but all of a sudden it hard turned into a vast prairie with monsters roaming about peacefully.


    Cecil was surprised to see the multitudes of ferocious monsters grazing on the prairie so tranquilly. In the wild, these monsters should already be at each other''s throats. Seeing the monsters acting so docile caused Cecil to be amazed and at the same time worried.


    As they made their way down the large and wide pathway in the middle of the prairie that was surrounded by tall wooden fences, Cecil and the rest passed by adventurers, mercenaries, merchants, and people from all sorts of occupations and standings.


    As he saw the monsters'' behavior as these people brought them out of the ranch, Cecil''s worries grew more and more.


    "This...may be bad..."


    "What''s that Cel?" Lucia, who was sitting next to him on the driver''s seat asked.


    "The monsters....don''t you think they''re all too docile?"


    "Y-yeah...I kind of had that feeling. Though it''s a bit cute, but are they going to be okay as battle pets? They seem more like normal pets to me..."


    "Exactly, that''s what I''m worried about..."


    "Should we turn back and go capture one by ourselves?"


    "Nah, since we''re here, let''s take a look around first before we make our decision. We might luckily find one that''s suitable for our purposes. If not, then we can just head out of the city and capture one."


    "Mhm... Well I just hope that this isn''t a wasted trip!"


    "Come on Lulu, aren''t you also fascinated to see all these monsters acting so amiably despite some of them being the predators of others? I mean, look at that over there!" Cecil exclaimed as he pointed towards a pack of monsters in the distance.


    It was a pack of velociraptor-shaped monsters called Venomfang Raptors. These were B-ranked carnivorous monsters that ate anything with meat on it, monsters and humans alike. Black Borgres, large boar-type monsters, were naturally their prey, but what Cecil was pointing at was a pack of these Venomfang Raptors running around a small herd of Black Borgres.


    Normally, these raptors would pounce on the boar-like monsters without a moment''s hesitation. But here they were, coexisting peacefully.


    "I-it''s a little interesting..."


    "I know right, I wonder just how they tamed these monsters!"


    "...Yeah, but the people running this ranch have basically pulled their claws and teeth out. What good are they in battle if they''re all so meek?"


    Cecil could only nod at her words. She was right. What they needed was a multi-purpose battle pet that could pull their wagon and fight alongside them. However, he couldn''t help but wonder why during his time on Urrugdrasil, he hadn''t once seen these kinds of large scale monster ranches.


    He''d only seen ranches for people to leave their monsters at when they entered a town or city, but never one like this which directly raised monsters and sold them to the public. Well, it wasn''t like he was going to pry into it any further so he just threw the thought to the back of his mind.


    Cecil wasn''t going to begin an internal debate about the differences between two different species of people. It''d be pointless because humans and demi-humans were naturally, not the same. He''d be stupid to try and weigh the differences between them.


    In the distance, Cecil was able to see a large establishment in the middle of the prairie which had multiple wagons and carriages parked around it. This was most likely the management and reception office of the monster ranch.


    There was a large sign near the establishment that read: ''Thousand Fiend Monster Ranch''.


    Cecil had Silver park their wagon near the large mansion that plenty of people were walking in and out of. As Silver arrived, his might and majestic presence naturally attracted the gazes of people in and out of the mansion.


    Up on the mansion''s third floor balcony, a young lady wearing a fashionable dress was curiously observing the large white wolf in fascination.


    "Such beautiful well-groomed fur, coupled with that mighty aura. This is without a doubt a top-quality monster raised not in captivity but in the wild."


    When the young lady saw the teenaged boy and two girls step down from the wagon, she took a closer look at their attire and noticed that they were adventurers, but she deduced that they were of noble peerage.


    "A group of nobles playing adventurer~ I wonder what they could be doing in my establishment?" the young lady said playfully before calling out, "Mora!"


    From behind her, a maid stepped forward and asked gently, "What can I do for you, my lady?"


    "Relay to Tristan. Receive those 3, esteemed guests, into the mansion courteously and send them to my office."


    "Yes, my lady."


    The maid quickly excused herself from the balcony. She quickly made her way to a speaker-like instrument inside of the office and relayed her lady''s orders to the mansion''s butler, Tristan.


    Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla were the only ones who disembarked from the wagon. Yuna had stayed behind to accompany Silver. After she took off his harness, Silver immediately transformed into his pet form and jumped into Yuna''s arms. She then took the wolf back into the wagon.


    Naturally, this surprised the young lady still observing the party from the balcony.


    "Oh my~ how interesting, a shape-shifting wolf!"


    When Cecil and the girls walked into the mansion, a young butler walked up to receive them.


    "Mister and the two Missuses, the Lady of this establishment would like to invite you 3 esteemed guests into her office. Please, follow me." The butler said.


    Cecil looked at the two girls beside him in question, but they only shrugged back at him so Cecil decided to just follow the butler.


    Whoever this person was that wanted to meet them seemed to be the owner of the monster ranch. Cecil didn''t see any harm in meeting up with the ranch''s owner. This way, maybe things will proceed much faster and he''d probably be able to strike a good deal with the owner.


    And obviously, he''d be able to ask the owner where the ''real'' battle pets are. He didn''t categorize those docile monsters that he saw out on the prairie as ''real'' battle pets. They were only ''pets'' in his eyes.


    The butler brought the party up to the top floor of the mansion, the third floor, and brought them to a room. When he opened the door, he immediately gestured respectfully for Cecil and the girls to head on in.


    "Please, the Young Lady is already waiting inside."


    "Mhm, thank you," Cecil nodded at the butler and said his thanks. The two girls behind him also did the same and this caused the butler to awkwardly stand there not knowing what to do.


    Normally, nobles wouldn''t talk to a servant. They''d just follow after them aloofly and say nothing. They were of different statuses so this was a given. Receiving thanks from not 1, but 3 nobles caused the butler to be at a loss.


    "Y-you''re welcome?" By the time he responded, Cecil and the girls were already inside the office. He could only chuckle at himself awkwardly and think, ''What a strange bunch of nobles''.


    Well, of course they were strange. First of all, they weren''t nobles, they were adventurers. There''s no way they would know how nobles acted here on Midgard. Serilla was an aristocrat herself, since she was part of the Lunarts Family of Anglaria, but she wasn''t one to carry herself in that kind of mannerism. What more Cecil and Lucia?


    Butler Tristan walked in and quickly closed the door behind him. He began preparing tea for his lady and the guests. The maid called Mora from earlier was already preparing some confectionery to go along with the tea.


    Cecil looked around the lavishly decorated room and finally noticed the young, blonde-haired lady walking in from the balcony.


    "It is not every day that my establishment receives such esteemed guests like your noble selves. My name is Benedicia Aira. I am the owner of this establishment, the Aira Family''s Thousand Fiend Monster Ranch. May I ask what you 3 are looking for today?" The young lady said as she hid her part of her face behind a folding fan.


    "Well, we''re here to purchase a battle pet. Your STRONGEST battle pet," Cecil emphasized.


    The young lady only let out a peal of laughter in reply, "My, my~ of course, our strongest yes?"


    "Yeah..."


    "So~ shall we get down to business, right away? Or would you like some tea before that?"


    "Let''s just get straight to business," Cecil replied instantly. He wasn''t one to waste his time doing something other than what he had already planned.


    If he had come here without any objectives, then he wouldn''t mind thinking about it through a round of tea, but he already had a clear objective to why he came.


    "Okay¡ªbut before that, if I may ask, who is it that raised that splendidly majestic wolf that was pulling your wagon?"


    This was a no-brainer and Cecil immediately replied, "Me."


    "I see...you don''t perhaps have any intention of selling that wolf? Why not sell it to me? I will naturally give you a wonderful price for such a wonderful wolf." Benedicia said as she pulled out a golden rimmed Bank Card.

 Chapter 258 - The Storm Colt

    Hearing the young lady''s words, Cecil frowned and immediately replied, "He''s not for sale."


    "Oh my, are you sure~? I can provide a very wonderful proposition for you," Benedicia countered as she placed the golden rimmed card onto the table and pushed it towards Cecil.


    Cecil''s brow twitched in response to this. He smilingly pulled out a platinum-rimmed card and waved it in front the young lady.


    "You see...I have no need for money. It''s all just a number for me, and thus, my partner is NOT for sale!"


    "!"


    Benedicia widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the higher ranked bank card being waved at her. She blushed in embarrassment and quickly had the maid take her card back.


    "Hmph... well, I see that you have no need for money... but are you sure¡ª"


    "Yes, I''m sure." Cecil replied curtly.


    This caused the young lady to pout cutely at Cecil.


    "Tsk, even though we''re the same age..."


    "Sorry, but I''m most likely younger than you. I''m 14."


    "Tsk, no tact! You call yourself a noble, but you''re comparing your age with mine?! I''m a lady you know!"


    Cecil wanted to reply that he was not a noble, but that would probably cause problems. From what he could see from the way Benedicia acted, this girl was a genuine, spoiled young lady from an aristocratic house.


    If she found out that Cecil wasn''t an actual noble, he''ll lose his current privileged treatment. Since he was being treated as nobility, then he''d squeeze out everything he could from this misunderstanding and strike a good deal for him and his party.


    "Like I said, we came here to purchase the strongest battle pet your establishment has to offer. Like you can see," Cecil once more showed off the platinum rimmed bank card in his hand, "We have little worries in the financial department and let me emphasize, I want the strongest, not the most expensive, but the strongest battle pet. My party has no need for any of those ''pets'' that are out on the grasslands."


    "Hmph, fine, but before that, can you at least tell me who it was that raised such a fine wolf?"


    "Didn''t I already tell you? I''m the one who raised him," Cecil retorted.


    "...I find that unconvincing," Benedicia countered as she skeptically looked Cecil up and down.


    Since it was like this, he could tell that the young lady wouldn''t drop it until he gave an answer that satisfied her, so he reluctantly began explaining.


    "Me and Silver, that''s my wolf''s name by the way, have been together ever since we were young. I picked him up during my training and we''ve been together ever since. I raised and cared for him like he was my own little brother, so I have no reason to lie."


    Sensing the unshakeable confidence radiating from the young man standing in front of her, Benedicia could only relent and take his words at face value. Like he said, Cecil had no reason to lie to her.


    "Fine, I''ll believe you. And since you''ve raised such a fine battle pet for yourself, I''ll give you a nice deal~"


    "Thank you."


    "Hmhm~ I like people who treat their battle pets preciously, let''s go shall we?" Benedicia stood up and gestured for Cecil and the girls to follow after her.


    Benedicia began talking up Cecil on their way down from the mansion''s top floor. Behind them, Lucia and Serilla followed after them. Lucia, who was quiet since earlier, couldn''t help but whisper to Serilla, "Tch, that girl''s been eyeing Cecil differently after he said he was the one who raised Silvy!"


    "Hmm~ well, darling''s grown to be the natural charmer~ but we''re not gonna let him go and attract some random cat into the house anymore, right Lulu?"


    "Yeah, the two of us are enough for Cel!"


    Benedicia led the party outside of the mansion. They walked towards the forest at the back of the mansion and before they knew it, they arrived at a walled off area.


    "Back here is where we keep our most precious battle pets. Because they aren''t as tamed as the ones outside, we obviously can''t have them roaming around freely."


    Cecil nodded in understanding. It was odd to see no monsters acting violent inside a large establishment. There had to be at least one or two of those problem monsters that couldn''t be tamed, but it turns out all of those monsters were cordoned off in their own area.


    When Cecil and the rest stepped through the small doorway that led to the other side of the walled area, the ferocious howling and powerful roaring of numerous monsters bombarded their ears.


    "Now this is more like it," Cecil said with a slight smirk.


    He could feel multiple killing intents locking onto him and his companions. While he, Lucia, and Serilla had no problems coping with this meager amount of killing intent, it couldn''t be said the same for Benedicia.


    The girl was beginning to sweat and her face looked a little pale. She was obviously straining herself, however Cecil didn''t see this, but Lucia and Serilla did.


    "I''ll call the warden, he and his team will¡ª"


    "Alright, let''s head in." Cecil said.


    "W-wha?"


    Cecil ignored Benedicia as he used Nature''s Shift to move past the tall iron fence barring them from going further into the area. He spread his Mana Sense and locked onto all the monsters around him.


    Unlike, the outside where everything was all peaceful and full of rainbows, the cordoned area he was in right now was more like the normal forests that he would find in the wilderness.


    It was literally like the difference between heaven and hell between this cordoned area and the outside prairie.


    Being left behind by the boy, Benedicia could only stamp her feet in exasperation. "Hey, idiot!!! Do you even know what you''re looking for?!"


    Despite calling out to him, Cecil had already walked deep into the place and couldn''t hear her over the sounds of the monsters roaring. Also, when she flared up like that, what greeted her in return was the ferocious howling of the monsters inside the area.


    Benedicia paled at the roaring and quickly covered her ears with her hands. Lucia only looked at the girl and snapped her fingers. She sent a small wave of mana out and this immediately silenced the monsters in the forest.


    "W-what did you do?"


    "...Nothing, I just told them to shut up for a bit."


    "...is that boy going to be alright?"


    Lucia only glanced at her for a moment and shrugged in reply.


    "T-then, shouldn''t we call for help?! Those monsters aren''t tamed yet! They''re still feral and will attack him!"


    "Heh," Lucia only responded with a light chuckle.


    "Don''t worry about Cecil, he can handle himself just fine~" Serilla said in reassurance.


    "H-how can you girls be so laidback?! If he dies in there, it''s on him! I''m not taking any responsibility!"


    Lucia was a little displeased that this girl said her Cel would die to these low-leveled mutts.


    "Hmph, just so you know, we''re a Platinum-ranked party! Do you honestly believe that we should be worried about these pitiful mutts you call monsters? They''re at best C-B ranked. They won''t even count as warm up for us! Even if there was an A ranked monster, those could barely be considered a warm up!" Lucia scoffed and waved her adventurer ID card at the girl.


    Benedicia couldn''t help but be surprised when she heard this, however, she had to believe it because there was physical evidence of the girl''s claim being waved right in front of her. She had only thought that these 3 were nobles playing adventurers, but they weren''t just playing, they were the real deal moreover the 3 were high ranked even.


    "I-if you''re all platinum ranked...then surely you could go and catch a much stronger monster, why would you come here?"


    "...Because it''d be a hassle to look for one, we''re on the clock and we need one ASAP." Lucia replied.


    "Uh...okay..." After giving that short reply, Benedicia remembered how rude and un-composed she was just now. She cleared her throat and apologized to the 2 young ladies. She invited them into the large house close by for a cup of tea while they wait for Cecil to come back.


    It was the building for the warden and caretakers of this cordoned area that also acted as the waiting area for people like Cecil and the rest who were looking for actual battle pets.


    When Benedicia walked in, the staff inside immediately greeted her politely. Lucia and Serilla saw that there were other people who appeared to be customers inside the building waiting for something.


    Benedicia brought the two up to the top floor and they entered a lounge where the young lady''s butler and maids began preparing tea and snacks for them. They had tea and chatted with each other for about 2 hours before Cecil came back with a large black stallion trailing behind him.


    Cecil looked around and saw that the girls weren''t there. He spread his senses out and found them in the nearby building''s top floor. He turned towards the large horse next to him and plainly said, "Stay."


    The horse only neighed before walking around and lying down near the edge of the iron fence. Cecil used Nature Shift to get back behind the fence before making his way to the building.


    When he entered the building he found that it was somewhat quiet despite there being a lot of people who were obviously waiting for something.


    Cecil didn''t pay them any mind and proceeded to walk up to the second floor, however he was blocked by the guards waiting by the sides of the staircase.


    "Sir, you can''t pass here."


    "Oh? Well, if I can''t pass, can you please tell Lady Benedicia that I''ve already finished choosing the battle pet that I want?" Cecil asked in reply.


    "Lady Benedicia?"


    "Yes, if I''m not mistaken, she just came in here earlier with 2 of my companions?"


    Remembering the two girls that Benedicia had brought up with her, the guard nodded in confirmation. Since this young man in front of him was a most likely another one of his Young Lady''s esteemed guests, the guard politely asked Cecil to wait on the ground floor while he quickly made his way up and informed the young lady.


    Cecil didn''t have to wait for long before he was invited upstairs. He was quickly escorted to the room Lucia and the others were in and saw that the girls had somehow grown closer after his brief absence.


    "So I heard you''ve already picked a monster?" Benedicia asked once Cecil sat himself in between Lucia and Serilla who had made space for him on the couch.


    "Yes, it''s a rather rare breed. Didn''t think I''d actually see it here. It''s a Black Tri-horn Storm Colt." Cecil said.


    "Eh? One of the few A ranked monsters on the ranch...you want that?"


    "Yeah, sure, it''s already waiting down there for me anyway."


    "What?" Benedicia immediately got up from her seat and looked out the window. Down below, she could see the large horse lying down in wait beside the iron fence.


    "Y-you...how did you¡ª"


    "I just subdued him. It''s the easiest way to tame a monster."


    "S-subdued?"


    "Hmm..."


    Lucia and Serilla walked over to the window and looked down at the monster that Cecil had choosen.


    "Oh! It''s a black horse! Nice going darling~"


    "Hmmm...Will it be strong enough to pull the wagon, Cel?"


    "Yeah, it''s more than capable of doing that. So Lady Benedicia, let''s settle the bill." Cecil said as he pulled out his bank card.

 Chapter 259 - Not Like That!

    "Hmm... how about you take it for free?" Benedicia offered with a smile.


    "...Why?" Cecil was a little puzzled at her proposition. Surely as a businesswoman, offering something like the monster he had just picked out for free would be an absurd thing to do.


    "Let''s just say that I''ve taken an interest in you~"


    "Sorry, but Lucia and Serilla are the only two women I will ever love in this life time," Cecil bluntly replied.


    He resolved to himself that Serilla would be the last so he''d swiftly and firmly shoot down all others that take ''interest'' in him.


    "Wha¡ªit''s not like that you idiot!!!" Benedicia immediately flared up when she noticed that she had been misunderstood. "And, what the hell are you doing by moving all the way over there?!"


    Benedicia pointed at Cecil in exasperation. When she had finished her words earlier, the boy had suddenly backed away in the blink of an eye and stated his rejection. It did hurt her pride a little, but that wasn''t what she meant by ''taken an interest''.


    "I mean that I''m interested in forming a connection with you and your party! I just found out from your wives that your party is actually platinum ranked!"


    Cecil immediately returned back to his seat. He only did this as a precaution since he didn''t want a second coming of Serilla to happen again.


    "Sorry, I was...traumatized once before," Cecil said as he side-eyed Serilla who was already trying her best to suppress her laughter. Lucia was just the same. Couldn''t they have at least informed him beforehand? This way, he''d avoid embarrassing himself and Benedicia.


    "Ahem, anyway, I meant that I''ve taken an interest in your party. After all, you guys are platinum ranked. In all of Tempest, there have only ever been 5 parties who achieved this rank and only 2 parties who have achieved an even higher rank. The current 5 parties, I know all of them, but I haven''t met you guys yet, and most importantly, you''re all very young."


    "And?"


    "And that means you guys have the potential to become Diamond ranked!"


    "...so?"


    Witnessing his lackl.u.s.ter response to all of this, Benedicia immediately grew vexed. "Hey, Cecil, just so you know, Diamond ranked parties are treated by the kingdom on the same level as Earls! Platinum ranked parties is just a step below that, Counts!"


    "Should I be happy at this news?" Cecil replied, a little unsure of himself, should he really care about a nobility rank when he wasn''t even going to be staying here for long?


    "...Honestly, are you just that clueless or are you just uncaring?"


    "Honestly, I don''t care," The boy immediately replied.


    "..."


    ''This confirms it. This is totally a party of nobles. They don''t care about the honor or peerage that accompanies their ranks! If they were commoners, they''d be ecstatic to hear this!''


    She was already inclined to think they were nobles when she interacted with Lucia and Serilla earlier. Serilla''s mannerism and speech was practically screaming to her that this one right here is a noble. Lucia was no better, although she talked a little crudely, but her misunderstanding further deepened with how nonchalant Cecil was acting.


    In a sense, she was correct. Lucia and Serilla were nobles, but not human nobles. They were beastkin nobility. Cecil wasn''t taught any of that mannerism, but his polite way of talking was a little noble-like.


    Another thing that strengthened the misunderstanding was how rich Cecil was. He pulled out a platinum bank card like it was just a piece of paper and waved it around without a care. Not to mention that all 3 of them had spatial rings.


    Despite them ''pulling'' out things from their bags, they couldn''t deceive Benedicia''s eyes. She had long since noticed that the ''plain'' looking rings on each of the Wanderers'' fingers were in fact spatial rings, what more, they were all white spatial rings.


    This was something only the royal family or a duke family would have. She immediately inferred this information from what she had seen, but the problem was, as a noblewoman herself, she has never seen these 3 individuals in front of her, so naturally they must be nobles from another kingdom who were out adventuring.


    "Well, I want to sell you the monster for a favor, is that okay?"


    "A favor?"


    "Yeah, I''ll probably require your help sometime in the future, so let''s just say I''m gifting you this monster so that you''ll help me later," Benedicia said.


    Cecil frowned a little at this, they were going to be moving far away from this kingdom so whatever favor this young lady wanted to ask from him and his party would probably be unfulfilled later.


    "I don''t think we can help you, let''s just settle the bill normally," Cecil declined her offer.


    "Eh?"


    "You see, we''ll be departing for the western regions after we purchase the monster, we''re not just an Adventurer party, but also a mercenary group. We''ll be participating in the Regulus-Merkruz conflict that''s rumored to happen in the next couple of years or so."


    "What? But...the western regions are so far away! It''ll take you guys at least 4-5 years to make it there under if you begin traveling now! Winter is about to set in so it''ll be dangerous to being your travels during this time!" Benedicia argued.


    "Doesn''t matter, we''ve already made preparations for the journey. We''ll be setting off right away, so if you want to buy a favor from us, it''s highly likely that we wouldn''t be able to fulfill it. So let''s just settle things the normal way, yes?"


    "..."


    Benedicia still wasn''t convinced, but seeing as Cecil wasn''t going to relent any time soon, she could only reluctantly take Cecil''s card and charge him the required amount for selling off the rare breed of Storm Colt to him.


    Benedicia sighed regretfully when she handed Cecil his card back, "I just missed out on having a future Diamond Ranked Adventurer Party owe me..."


    "Haha, you can post a personal quest for us at the adventurer guild. If we receive word of it and if it''s possible for us to do, we''ll take it up. Naturally, you''ll have to reward us with some¡ª" Cecil ended his sentence by rubbing his two fingers on his thumb.


    Seeing the gesture, Benedicia shrugged and said, "Naturally, if it''s a quest from me, the reward will naturally be high!"


    "Hm, we''ll be going now. Thanks for doing business with us."


    "Likewise, do drop by sometime."


    "That''ll be pretty hard to do, this may even be the last time we see each other."


    Benedicia led the party outside and they waited for the warden to come. He was currently inside the forest with his team of tamers and they were apparently trying to find the monsters that the people waiting inside the building were asking for.


    Cecil didn''t want to wait for so long. He had already spread his Mana Sense inside the forest and saw that the warden and his team were still going around finding one final monster to take out.


    He walked close to the fence and told the party''s new Storm Colt to stay put and to not worry. He began manipulating the roots inside the ground and carefully began encasing the Storm Colt inside a capsule made of roots before pulling it into the ground.


    "W-what?!" Benedicia exclaimed in surprise when she saw Cecil''s plant manipulation.


    Cecil carefully pulled up the Storm Colt to the other side of the fence. He made sure to place the roots he used earlier into their original spots and return the upturned earth into their original places.


    "Y-y-you! You used Nature Magic! T-that''s¡ª"


    "There are things better left unsaid, right Lady Benedicia?" Cecil said with a smile.


    "Ugh..."


    Seeing Cecil''s meaningful smile, Benedicia nodded in reply despite being full of questions. She also turned to look at her butler and her 2 maids. They only nodded in return and this satisfied Cecil.


    It wasn''t like they were going to be staying in this kingdom any longer, as long as it wasn''t the royal family of the kingdom or whatever, it didn''t matter to him whether or not someone found out and spread the news. His party would be long gone by then.


    "Huhuhuhu~ our Cel''s showing off again~"


    "Darling, you''re only going to attract attention to yourself if you''re being so high profiled like this!"


    "And whose fault do you think this is? I''ve been living my life on the low, but some girl came barging into my life and told me that it was stupid and illogical to live life like that!"


    "Hey! I''m not just some girl y''know!" Lucia said with a pout.


    "Yeah, you''re my girl," Cecil replied plainly. His response made Lucia smile brightly at him.


    Cecil led the party''s new monster to the carriage after they bid farewell to Benedicia. The girl did invite Cecil and the girls to a cup of tea, but he politely declined. He wanted to quickly leave the kingdom as soon as possible.


    They''ve completed their objective for coming into the city so there wasn''t much else to do. Now they had to continue on their journey. It also seemed that his earlier prediction of the trip being only 2-3 years was a little too optimistic.


    Even Benedicia, a native of Midgard said that it would take the party 4-5 years. Cecil hadn''t factored in the terrain condition they''d be traveling through that would obviously provide some form of impediment. There was also the weather that needed to be taken into consideration and the danger areas that they''d have to either go through or avoid.


    "Crap...looks like I was too optimistic..." Cecil mumbled.


    "Something wrong Cel?"


    "Yeah...it seems our journey will take much longer than expected..."


    "Oh...that''s okay, Cel! This just means we''ll be able to spend more time with each other!"


    "Yeah, I guess it does," Cecil said as he patted Lucia on the head. He really liked her optimism. She liked to see the bright side of things.


    "Hmhm~ we can make more memories with darling during these 4-5 years together~"


    "Well, lady Benedicia did say that it might take 4-5 years, but I''ll do everything I can to cut down our travel time. After all, I want to meet my family much sooner than 5 years!"


    Lucia had remembered something and she quickly quipped up, "By the way Cel, while you were out finding this horsey, me and Seri were able to exchange some info with Benedicia earlier!"


    "Oh? And what''s this info about?"


    "We''ll talk about it later on the wagon!"


    Cecil nodded in reply and the party arrived next to their wagon. The people around who saw the group of 3 bring out a large Black Trihorned Storm Colt with them were astonished at the sight. It didn''t have any restraints on it and was only calmly walking behind the 3 individuals obediently despite the monster clearly radiating an immense amount of ferocity.


    Many people had heard about the few A ranked monsters kept on the ranch that was still untamed, but they didn''t expect to see one walking out so calmly without kicking up a fuss.


    Yuna exited the wagon from the back door and greeted everyone. Silver was naturally in her arms happily resting in between her two large b.r.e.a.s.ts. Cecil was beginning to think that Silver was having it way too comfortable nowadays.


    Now that he found a replacement for him, he''d now have much more easier days ahead.

 Chapter 260 - The Young Silver Haired Cecil

    The party made their way out of the city after registering themselves on the mercenary war mission for the Regulus-Merkruz conflict, as for which side they chose, it was still undetermined.


    Since they were mercs, they could just switch sides depending on the situation as long as they haven''t formally enlisted in either one of the two powers'' army.


    "Hmhm~ this is nice~"


    A young boy said while his long white hair fluttered gently in the wind.


    "You like the new form Silv?"


    "Hehe, yeah~ it feels really good to have your hair fluttering in the wind! It was pleasant on my fur as well, but it was tiring since I had to run."


    "I''ll head in now, take care of Sleipnir."


    "Sure~ Uh, Master...can you call Big Sis Yuna?"


    "Huh? Why not call her yourself?"


    "Eh? N-nevermind..."


    Cecil eyed the young boy with long white hair that reached all the way to below his waist in puzzlement.


    The white haired young boy who appeared to be around 10-12 years old was actually Silver. Once the party''s new monster, the Black Trihorned Storm Colt, who Cecil named Sleipnir, after the legendary horse from Earth''s mythologies, which by the way, he was hoping to ride one day as a child, became the one pulling the carriage, Silver was free to transform into his humanoid form.


    The girls naturally got a kick out of this. Human-form Silver was a total lady-killer. His adorable face coupled with his big blue eyes which radiated innocence and curiosity, made the ladies swoon over him.


    Since his master was Cecil, naturally when Silver took on human form, his base appearance was that of Cecil''s. He also had Lucia and Serilla as secondary masters, so their features were added a little to the mix.


    This was why he looked like a more feminine version of a younger Cecil with white hair and due to his long hair, it was hard to actually determine at a glance whether Silver was a girl or a boy.


    The only defining difference would be that despite being a small boy, Silver had a lot of muscle underneath his clothing.


    He was copying his Master''s body when he was at that age. The best part about Silver''s appearance being so similar to his Master and his secondary Masters was that when he and Lucia stood together, the two looked like actual siblings.


    Matching white hair with minutely similar facial features, he looked like Lucia''s little brother... actually, he looked more like Cecil and Lucia''s child instead.


    Lucia was so elated that she had suddenly gained a ''sibling'' so she immediately called her parents and told them about it. She was a little too excited that she had worded it wrongly at first which of course led to a huge misunderstanding that naturally involved Cecil in it.


    Lucia told them that the party was going to have an adorable little kid, who looked like Cecil and her, traveling with them now.


    Anna and Zaki were shocked when they heard this. They immediately called Cecil and asked him if Lucia had given birth to their grandchild already. He naturally denied this and it earned him an earful. It felt like half a day had passed before he and Lucia were able to clear up the misunderstanding.


    Oddly enough, this disappointed the two parents and they even told Cecil to hurry up with it. They wanted a grandchild soon. This gave him a large headache and he could only promise the two that he''d give them one sometime later in the future.


    Lucia and Serilla wanted to spoil Silver a lot, since he looked just like a young version of Cecil. However, the one who spoilt him the most was naturally his ''caretaker'', Yuna.


    When Yuna finally saw the human form Silver, her motherly instincts immediately kicked in and she began spoiling him rotten. This naturally made Silver himself happy. The person he admired a lot was treating him so kindly, just who in the world wouldn''t want that?


    Lucia and Serilla however saw something else. Unlike the dense Cecil, they saw that Silver had other feelings besides admiration for Yuna. The dense one this time was actually the girl and not the boy.


    They wouldn''t interfere with the two and decided to let nature take its course, but they were rooting for Silver.


    ******


    When Cecil went back inside, he made sure to tell Yuna that Silver was looking for her. The dragon girl happily dropped what she was doing and made her way to Silver.


    "Hehehe~ those two sure get along!" Lucia smirked as her eyes followed after Yuna who was making her way over to Silver.


    Cecil thought that it was only naturally for them to get along, "Isn''t that a given?"


    "Oh, Cel, you still don''t understand, do you?" Lucia said as she patted him on his shoulder.


    He didn''t understand what Lucia was going on about so he only shrugged and sat himself down on the couch. Cecil was just about to begin cultivating, but he suddenly found two weights suddenly drop onto his shoulder and lap.


    "...uhm...I''m going to cultivate now. Shouldn''t you two do the same?"


    "At least let us take a break darling~ we''ve been cultivating nonstop for the past week!" Serilla pouted in dissatisfaction.


    "That''s because we had to!"


    "I know~ but now, its break time! Also, we still have that info we want to tell you about!"


    "Y-you guys take a break. I wanna cultivate first so I''ll listen to the info later!"


    Lucia began rubbing her head on his back while crying out, "Party pooper~ Cel''s an idiot~!"


    "Lulu, I thought you said that you wanted to quickly catch up with Seri''s Ki cultivation?"


    "I know, I know! But what Seri said was right! We need a break!"


    "Okay, so you two take your breaks then!"


    "With you of course!"


    "No thanks!"


    Cecil immediately declined. He had been feeling some weird stares being directed at him from the girls. They weren''t just weird, but also frightening enough to send a chill down his spine. He began feeling this when Silver had come out of the room with him in his humanoid form.


    He had to avoid whatever it was that was coming for him, so he turned to cultivation. Cecil quickly closed his eyes and totally ignored the girls who were leaning on him. He began circulating his Ki and Mana slowly at the same time.


    The girls upon seeing that Cecil was already beginning his cultivation and was fully immersed in it could only give up on pestering him.


    They knew that cultivation was important to Cecil so they didn''t want to bother him and make him mad. Lucia sat on the side and pulled out the unfinished winter clothes she was making for the party and began working. She now also had to make a few sets of clothing for Silver.


    The little boy was currently only wearing some of Cecil''s old clothes before his sudden growth spurt. Since they didn''t fit him anymore, Cecil gave it to Silver, but Lucia wasn''t satisfied with this. She didn''t want to let Silver wear some hand-me-downs, so she decided to hurry up and create a few pair of cute casual clothes for Silver.


    Serilla went over to Lucia and the two began chatting about mundane things together. It was during times like these that the two girls would spill their thoughts and bond closer together.


    Cecil on the other hand had tuned out everything else and was fully focused on his cultivation. He slowly circulated the 2 energies inside his body together.


    He made them flow together inside his body''s Energy Circuits and he could slowly feel the two energies meld together little by little which resulted in the formation of Ether. That miniscule amount of Ether he gained separated itself from the 2 streams of energies and made its way to a gathering point located near his solar plexus that housed all the Ether he had already cultivated during the past week.


    The size of his Ether that was gathered over the past week of cultivation was really small. It was probably the size of a grain seed, more or less, probably less.


    Cecil focused his attention onto his Ether and began trying to observe the differences and changes it had from his Mana and Ki. He couldn''t quite put his finger onto it, but the energy was rather peculiar.


    It was obviously the combination of Mana and Ki, yet he couldn''t find any similarities. The unique life force radiating from Ki and the malleable power he could sense from Mana wasn''t present inside Ether.


    Ether felt rather...empty. It felt empty, but at the same time it felt ''big''. He couldn''t quite put into words what he was feeling, all he knew that it felt ''big''. It was like that one time during his childhood when he saw a doc.u.mentary on TV regarding Earth, the Milky Way, and the Universe.


    The profound and immense feeling he got at that time when he learned more about the planet and galaxy he was living in, how big the Earth was and how many living creatures lived in it, and how that large piece of rock he was living on was nothing more than a small piece of dust in the even larger galaxy he was in.


    This kind of profoundness and immensity was the very same feeling he felt when he was observing the Ether inside of his body. Unknown to the boy, while he was delving deeper and deeper into this train of thoughts, the circulation of both his Mana and Ki hastened and so did the transformation and combination of the two energies.


    Cecil was in a trance and he entered a deep state of emptiness where he became one with the world and his conversion of Mana and Ki into Ether hastened. The Ether inside his body continued to grow larger and larger in quantity and it began to transform his body slowly from the inside.


    This continued on for about a month before Cecil snapped out of this cultivation state.

 Chapter 261 - Waking Up

    When Cecil opened his eyes, he felt that only a brief moment had passed by, but his entire body felt a little stiff. He started stretching and limbered up his body a bit. He was just about to continue cultivating again, since he felt that it was too short, but he suddenly heard Lucia and Serilla''s cries.


    "Cel!"


    "Darling!"


    Cecil only looked up at the girls and saw the worried look on their faces which was odd.


    "Oh hey, sorry I''m still not done cultivating, I''ll be done before dinner so please don¡ª"


    "IDIOT!!" Lucia immediately pounced on him and began pulling his cheeks back while Serilla flashed behind him and began hugging tightly onto his back.


    "Wraiii??? Stahhhp purrringg ma cheeeksshhh Ruru!!"


    "Idiot! You''re stopping right now! You''ve been cultivating for a whole month without stopping! You haven''t even eaten nor done anything else, but sit there like a statue!!!"


    "Wraht?"


    "That''s right, dummy... you just sat here like a statue for a whole month! If we didn''t feel your pulse or sense the circulating Mana in your body which indicated you were cultivating, we thought you might have died!"


    "Huh? Buh, I onry cuhlevahed a riherl biht," Cecil said in response.


    He turned his sense into his body and what he saw astounded him. There were way too many changes that occurred inside his body in that ''little bit'' of time he had been cultivating.


    During this entire month of selfless cultivation, his body was transformed by the Ether inside his body which had grown to the size of a walnut and many changes occurred to his body.


    His organs were the first to transform after being baptized by the Ether. They strengthened themselves and he was more impervious to internal damages, poisons, and diseases.


    Also, the hidden impurities that couldn''t be cleansed out of his body by marrow cleansing were fully expelled after his month-long cultivation. They weren''t expelled from his body in the form of black ooze, but they were directly erased by the Ether from within.


    Cecil also noticed that all his Energy Circuits had expanded and they were able channel much more energy than before. The amount of Mana and Ki inside his body had also grown substantially despite a small portion of them being transformed into Ether.


    Both his Mana and Ki cultivation were about to step into the middle stages of their current stage. He wasn''t sure what level his Ether cultivation was since there were no records or information he gained that described Ether cultivation, but he was sure that he had made a large step in that area as well.


    Opportunities like this were hard to come by and Cecil knew that this was probably a once in a lifetime chance. He could only pray and count on his lucky stars that he''d be able to experience it again. Thinking back to his thoughts during his ''brief'' cultivation, Cecil felt enlightened and thought to try something out.


    When he opened his eyes, he saw two red faced, teary-eyed, pouting girls in front of him.


    "Uhh..."


    "You were totally ignoring us just now!"


    "W-we were so concerned...but you..."


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry! I only wanted to check my body''s condition okay? I wasn''t going to cultivate again! I''ll take a break, I''ll take a break!" Cecil replied in a fl.u.s.ter. He knew that cultivation was important, but he didn''t like seeing these 2 cry, especially if it was because of him. He felt like a total shithead at the moment for making them cry and worry so much.


    ''Crap, l-let''s just spend time with them for the 3 days before I even think about cultivating again.''


    Cecil quickly hugged both girls until they calmed down. He was just about to lean back and continue hugging them, however, he then remembered the girls saying that he had been cultivating for a month.


    This meant that he hadn''t eaten, drank, excrete, or even cleaned himself for one whole month. He should be awfully filthy right now. Cecil paled at this thought and he gently pushed both girls back before standing up silently.


    "Uhm, let me go shower and clean myself first...I haven''t done that in a whole month, right?" Cecil said awkwardly.


    Lucia and Serilla both smiled at him and pulled him back down onto the couch and clung tightly to him.


    "Don''t worry darling~ we made sure to clean you every day~"


    "Yup! We cleaned you VERY thoroughly, Cel~"


    "Huh?"


    ******


    A wagon was being surrounded by a pack of monsters and a small party of 3 was clearing them out.


    Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla were quickly cutting down the pack of Venomfang Raptors that were surrounding the Wanderer.


    Another half month had passed by and the weather had long since experienced a massive change. It was now snowing heavily and the snow piled up high on the road which hindered the party''s travels while on the ground.


    It did little to affect their travels in the air however. It was a good thing that Cecil had installed a couple of his magi-tech AC-Heaters in the wagon early on so despite the freezing climate outside, they were able to stay warm and cozy while inside the wagon.


    Only Silver had to take the freezing weather head on while they were flying. It was saddening, but he was a big boy and he could take at least that much. Besides, when he was resting, he would be laying in the warm embrace of his big sis.


    As for Sleipnir, the rare breed of Storm Colts that the Wanderers had taken in, he would be placed inside the pet plane by Cecil and would only be called out when it was time for him to feed or pull the carriage.


    Serilla had taken a liking to the large colt because she had a similar horse-type monster back at home who was her mount. Other than being a student and the Sword Maiden, Serilla was also a knight of the Anglaria Kingdom so she naturally owned a monster mount that was uniform with the rest of the kingdom''s army.


    Serilla offered to take care of it and Cecil naturally let her do so. Sleipnir was naturally glad to have someone take care of him. He was also a good asset in battle and just like its name; Sleipnir was able to use Wind magic. In battle, Serilla would ride him and the two would trample and cut down on the monsters that tried attacking their party.


    "Well, that''s the last of ''em...Lulu, clear the path forward." Cecil said as he saw Serilla cutting down the last of the Venomfang Raptors.


    "Hmhm~"


    Lucia tapped her foot on the ground and the snow covered road ahead of them immediately lit up in purple flames.


    "Alright, this should keep us going for a couple hundred meters." Lucia said. It had started snowing a month or so ago, during the time when Cecil was still cultivating like a statue.


    It was a good thing that Lucia had already finished preparing their winter clothes before then so they were able to stay warm even when they had to go out of the wagon and into the snow.


    From afar, Cecil could see dark clouds looming on the horizon. If he wasn''t wrong, a blizzard might kick in soon. This wouldn''t be the first time he experienced one. On the day he woke up from his cultivation, the party was besieged by powerful blizzard not long after and they had to quickly take shelter for a few days before the storm subsided. However, while it was drop dead cold outside, it was pretty steamy inside the wagon, for various reasons other than the heater.


    Cecil saw the dark clouds as a bad omen while the girls saw it as an opportunity for them to take a break from cultivation and let Cecil spoil them.


    "We should hurry and find cover. A blizzard might hit us soon. If it''s just a mild snowstorm, we''ll continue pushing for a while and see how it goes. If it doesn''t let up we''ll stop and take a break."


    "Okay darling~ don''t push Sleipnir to hard now! Even he gets cold sometimes!" Serilla called out to him as she approached on Sleipnir''s back.


    Cecil smiled at her and replied, "Don''t worry, I''m not that heartless. Besides, he also has you to take care of him."


    "Hihihi~ and I have you to take care of me!"


    "..."


    "Hey guys, we should really be going now! Look, those storm clouds are fast approaching!" Lucia called out to them.


    Cecil immediately fastened Sleipnir''s harness and the Wanderer quickly moved away. Lucia sat next to Cecil on the driver''s seat and maintained a heating spell on the both of them.


    Whenever she saw the dry road end in the distance, Lucia would quickly flash on to the road, melt the snow before quickly flashing back onto the wagon.


    They would only stop if monsters attacked them like earlier, but most of the time, this was how the party traveled while on the ground.


    After another couple of hours, a blizzard or snowstorm didn''t kick in, but they had to stop the wagon and take shelter. This was because it had started hailing instead.


    "Haaahhh...just our luck, it hails instead..." Cecil said while looking out the wagon''s front door window.


    He turned around and saw the girls looking hopefully at him. He sighed and walked over to the both of them. The two immediately clung onto him and Serilla laid her head down on the boy''s lap and began napping.


    Lucia pulled out a quilt she had just recently finished and dr.a.p.ed it over the sleeping girl. She pulled another one out and went to sit beside Cecil before she wrapped him and herself together with the larger quilt.


    This was how they spent their time waiting for the storms to subside. It took anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. During this time the 3 would stop cultivating and just spend time with each other, doing whatever they pleased.


    It was shame that Cecil didn''t think about making any of Earth''s entertainments before going on the journey. Making playing cards or a chessboard would have been good. Now that he thought about it, since it was already snowing, Christmas should be just right by the corner.


    He didn''t remember it last year because in his brain, ''snow'' equals ''almost time for Christmas'', and it didn''t snow back in Anglaria Kingdom so he missed it.


    ''I guess I should prepare a gift. I wonder what the girls would like...''

 Chapter 262 - History Lesson

    Winter had come and gone, soon Spring set in. A couple of months later, Cecil and his party finally arrived at the Tempest Kingdom''s border.


    Once they passed through the checkpoint, they would officially step into the lawless, neutral territory. Their next destination was the Machina Reggio Empire, which was said to be a superpower whose foundation was built entirely on Magi-Tech.


    A scientifically advanced civilization, Cecil couldn''t wait to see how it was like. He wondered if the cities and towns would look like Earth''s towns and cities.


    According to the information that Lucia and Serilla were able to get from Benedicia, the young lady boss of the Thousand Fiend Monster Ranch, the average merchant caravan that travelled between the Tempest Kingdom and the Machina Reggio Empire would take at least half a year to over a year to travel from either one of the 2 powers.


    Of course, it wasn''t like these neutral territories didn''t have any powers managing them. In fact, there are small factions trying to gain control over some territories of the neutral areas. There are even some rumors of Transcendent level characters taking residence in these neutral areas.


    Most of the Transcendents don''t like being tied down to a superpower so they hide away in the neutral territories, cultivating in seclusion. They would only ever come out of hiding during the times of Void Sealing when all Transcendents were required to participate.


    As for what that event was for, even Cecil didn''t know what it was. He only heard about it one time from his foster mother, Anna, and even she didn''t go into detail about that event so naturally he wouldn''t know about it.


    There was also another thing that Lucia and Serilla were able to get from Benedicia. They found out the reason behind the war that was scheduled to happen between the Regulus Kingdom and the Merkruz Principality.


    It was just another petty case of revenge. It turns out that the current Royal Family of the Regulus Kingdom was not the founding family''s main line successor. The current Royal Family was only in power during the past century. They did of course have Royal Blood dating back to the original Regulus Royal Family.


    The founding family''s main line was actually now the rulers of the Merkruz Principality. As for why this happened, it was because of a rebellion which happened over a century ago.


    Back then the Regulus Kingdom wasn''t all that harmonious and prosperous as it was now. Before, it was indeed prosperous, but that was only if you looked at the nobility''s side of the picture. The rest of the kingdom''s populace was poor and oppressed.


    Poor in living conditions and oppressed by the greedy nobles. Of course, not all of the kingdom''s aristocrats were like this and so, the nobles were divided into 2 opposing factions, the Supremacists and the Altruists.


    One side leaned more towards enriching themselves while the other wanted to enrich not just themselves but every citizen in the kingdom.


    Naturally, the royal family at the time was a little bit incompetent and couldn''t keep either faction in control. The current King and the Crown Prince was also leaning more towards the Supremacist faction and this didn''t sit well with one of the Kingdom''s Princesses.


    Seeing how her people were being oppressed every passing day, she sided herself with the Altruists and staged a coup, quickly taking down the current royal family at the time and banishing them out of the kingdom. As for the noble supremacists, they were all purged and executed for crimes such as human trafficking, slavery, murder, and other much more horrible crimes.


    Not one supremacist noble was spared and with the loss of a significant number of nobles, the kingdom was plunged into dark times where things were very chaotic. The banished royal family used this chaos to their advantage and had set up a new kingdom in the nearby neutral territory which at present was now called the Merkruz Principality, named after the banished prince, Prince Merkruz Regulus.


    The princess didn''t change her kingdom''s name and kept it as is. As for why the Regulus Kingdom let such a threat develop so close to their kingdom was because during that time, they had to expend all of their manpower and resources to settle the turmoil and chaos that was happening internally and had no time or manpower to spare on outside forces or threats and it was also the last form of mercy the current Queen of the Kingdom had bestowed upon the people she once called her family.


    Because of this they had lost much of their lands to some of the surrounding powers and hidden powers in the neutral territories. What remained were the current lands of the Regulus kingdom which had lost about a third of their original lands.


    It didn''t matter though because the internal turmoil was finally quelled after years of effort on the Queen''s part. Now, 100 years had passed since that time and the Merkruz Kingdom was finally launching a large scale attack on the Kingdom in the name of claiming back their rightful place on the Regulus Throne.


    From what Cecil saw, this was just a sibling dispute! A brother and sister didn''t get a long and the sister smacked the brother down from his position of power and replaced him as the rightful heir before banishing him out of the kingdom for his misdeeds against the people.


    That was already an act of mercy, if it was like any feudal kingdom back on Earth, Cecil was pretty sure that they''d be executed instead of facing banishment.


    "That''s one ungrateful prince," Cecil said.


    "Yeah, tell me about it. He was lucky that his sister didn''t out right kill him!" Lucia said


    "Well, their feud was passed down to their descendants. From what I found out from the guilds we passed over during our journey, the Merkruz Principality is actually pretty wealthy and well managed, I just don''t see why they''d ruin their economy by going to war," Serilla added.


    Information about a kingdom that was practically thousands of miles away from where they were circulated freely in the Tempest Kingdom, it was odd how even a noble like Benedicia would know about the history of another kingdom.


    "Naturally, that''s because the nobles in all the superpowers were required to study the history of the entire Midgard Continent, not just their own kingdom''s history, at least, that''s what Benedicia explained to us, right Seri?" Lucia explained to Cecil when he asked.


    "Yup, pretty extensive, huh?"


    It was pretty extensive, but not as much as Earth''s education system. From what Cecil could remember, his twin brothers, Luca and Gabriel, were required to learn world history during their time in high school.


    Alterna''s children had it easier since they were required to only learn about their own continent''s history, but now at least Cecil knew which side he was going to have his party pick.


    "Well, let''s just hurry through this check point, at least now we know whose side we''re going to be on for the upcoming conflict." He said.


    "Regulus, right darling?"


    "Yup. Revenge is empty and I don''t want to help a kingdom that''s basing their actions off of something so empty and petty."


    "Hehe~ good boy~" Serilla said as she hugged and patted Cecil on the head.


    "Hm...Seri, did your b.o.o.b.s grow bigger?" Cecil said as he groped the girl''s large b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    "D-Darling?! N-not here!" Serilla said as she quickly separated from Cecil. They were both currently on the wagon''s driver seat. Lucia was on the right side of Cecil while Serilla was on the left.


    If this was inside of the wagon, Serilla wouldn''t mind Cecil groping her, but in this situation, she was much too shy for that.


    Cecil wasn''t acting on some horny impulse, he just thought it was true since he was suddenly pulled into her embrace and could feel the large mountains pressed together on his body.


    "Well...I guess they did grow bigger, but that''s because it''s all darling''s fault!"


    "Hmm...I guess Lulu''s going to need to make you a new pair of bras?"


    "D-Darling! Stop saying such embarrassing things out in the open!" Serilla said in a fl.u.s.ter as she quickly covered her man''s mouth.


    "Nahahaha~ oh my gosh, this is too funny! Cel''s accepted our feelings, but his bluntness is kinda hard to face, huh Seri?" Lucia whispered to Serilla.


    "Ugh, his denseness and bluntness is too much!"


    "Well, at least he''s much more honest about his feelings to us, right?"


    "Y-yeah...but still, he should at least learn when to say and do things and when not to," Serilla grumbled.


    "You mean he should learn some tact!"


    "Yeah, exactly!"


    "Hey, what''re you two whispering about?" Cecil asked.


    "I''m not talking to you darling, hmph!" Serilla said as she turned her head away.


    Cecil turned to look at Lucia and she only smiled slyly and shrugged.


    Inwardly, Cecil was scratching his head. Did he do something wrong? He could only ask Serilla later because now it was finally his party''s turn to submit their IDs and exit the kingdom''s borders.


    The process didn''t take long and before they knew it, the Wanderer was already being pulled away by Sleipnir, heading farther and farther away from the Tempest Kingdom''s checkpoint.


    "Alright, let''s hope we don''t run into trouble!"


    "Oi, oi, oi, why don''t you stop right where you are pretty ladies~"


    Cecil had just exclaimed that he didn''t want to run into any trouble, but apparently he just jinxed himself and trouble had straightaway came knocking only milliseconds after he finished his sentence.


    "...shit..."


    "Cel, you jinxed it..." Lucia said while she calmly observed the group of people that was slowly surrounding their wagon.


    "It''s just a coincidence!"


    "This is because darling has no tact! This is karma!" Serilla added.


    "S-Seri? What did I do wrong?!"


    The group of bandits that had stopped and surrounded the party, grew agitated and infuriated when they saw the 3 teenagers straight out ignore them and were squabbling amongst themselves.


    The angry bandit leader immediately called out to them in anger, "OI! Do you NOT see US?!"


    "Why don''t you shut the f.u.c.k up asshole! My girlfriend''s angry and I need to set things straight with her! Now f.u.c.k off to the side before I sic Sleipnir and Silver at you bastards!" Cecil roared back in anger at the bandit leader. He turned his attention back to Serilla and saw the girl looking back at him with sparkling eyes.


    "W-what?"


    "Darling called me his girlfriend, yay~!"


    "..."


    "..."


    All the bandits around them could feel a nerve pop in their heads as their blood pressure rose due to their anger. They immediately began roaring in fury and charged at the wagon.


    Cecil quickly picked up on the bloodl.u.s.t and reacted instantly, just before he left, "Let me take care of these bastards, you two just sit tight."


    "M''kay~"


    "Alright darling~"


    Cecil disappeared from his spot and multiple afterimages flashed in front of the bandits before they were sent flying backwards into the air. He didn''t take their lives and only knocked them all unconscious.


    "Not even a day out and we''ve already been attacked," Cecil shook his head as he made his way back towards the wagon. To his surprise, he saw Lucia and Yuna on the driver seat, with the sky guardrail already set up.


    It was the safety equipment that Cecil created for the wagon. He didn''t want anyone accidentally falling off of the wagon''s driver seat while they were flying. The rails were also had safety belts that the two girls used to secure themselves.


    This was a rule that Cecil established. They had to follow these safety measures in order to ride the wagon and sit on the driver''s seat while it was airborne. Lucia especially enjoyed this because she loved the feeling of being able to soar through the skies.


    Yuna was there because...Silver was there. Lately, those two have been stuck to each other like glue. Cecil found it very touching because in his eyes, Silver had found himself a sister-figure. This was a total misunderstanding on his part though because Lucia had inadvertently walked in on the couple going at ''it'' one night when she accidentally walked into the wrong room in her drowsiness.


    She couldn''t help but envy Yuna for finding her own partner and how fast they had progressed in their relationship. Lucia would still blush whenever she remembered that night when she saw Silver and Yuna together.


    Sleipnir had been placed into the pet plane by Serilla and he was replaced by Silver. It looked like they were going to be taking to the skies now since he was rested up.


    "Cel~ Seri wants to see you, she''s waiting inside," Lucia said to him with a grin on her face. Cecil only nodded in reply. He was just hoping Serilla wasn''t still mad at him.


    "Uh...y-yeah...she''s still not mad at me right?" Cecil asked.


    "Who knows~ why don''t you go in and ask her?"


    "O-okay..."


    Cecil didn''t find anyone inside, but he already knew that Serilla was waiting behind the door. He deliberately played dumb because he didn''t want to further anger the girl. He was just about to ''inadvertently'' turn around, but the door slammed shut and he was suddenly toppled onto the bed.


    "Darling~"


    Cecil looked up and saw Serilla in her birthday suit.


    "Uh...S-Seri, you''re not angry anymore?"


    "No~pe," Serilla replied as she licked her lips.


    "G-good then...uhm, what are we doing right now?"


    "Hihihihi~ darling are you purposefully acting stupid?"


    "M-maybe?"


    "Hmhm~ let me tell you what I''m going to do," Serilla came close and Cecil could feel her two large mountains press against his chest.


    He immediately began blushing and his red face made Serilla giggle as she whispered into his ear, "I''m. Going. To. Eat. You. Darling~"

 Chapter 263 - The Little Angel and the Bird

    Cecil and the rest were making good time during their travels through the neutral territory. Other than the occasional bandit or monster raid, it was a pretty laid back ride.


    Not much could threaten the party. The monsters were only C-B ranked and the humans who attacked them were too weak to even put up a fight.


    If it wasn''t because Cecil didn''t care about taking their lives, not a single one of the bandits who attacked would have been able escape from his party''s retaliation.


    "Hey Cel, lunch is ready!"


    "Okay!"


    Cecil was currently driving the wagon. Sleipnir was a smart enough battle pet that didn''t need much instructions from the party, as long as they pointed out the way, he would just keep on moving until someone told him to stop or change directions.


    Sleipnir had pretty good stamina as well so he could keep running for as long as Silver needed to fully rest up and start their trek through the air.


    There wouldn''t have been many hindrances to their journey if not for the frequent monster attacks and the occasional bandit raids, which frankly, have been getting on Cecil''s nerves.


    If he could, he wanted to just rip their bodies apart and be done with it.


    Looking up at the sky, Cecil couldn''t help but lament at the thought that he''s already been here in this world for over 2 years.


    "...I''m 15 now...I wonder how my family''s doing..."


    ******


    In the Silvaria family estate, a young girl was running through the corridors of the main family branch''s mansion while a small white bird chased after her.


    "You can''t catch me, Chi!"


    The bird only chirped in reply before it suddenly sped up and landed right on top of the girl''s head.


    "Aw, I got caught again!"


    This little girl was Angelia Silvaria, Cecil''s little sister and the Silvaria family''s youngest. She was 8 years old now and due to the large advancements that her family''s city had undergone in the past year since its establishment, she should be attending her primary school right now.


    "Angel! Where are you?"


    Angelia heard someone call out to her so she quickly took the small bird perching on top of her head and went to hide somewhere in the house.


    "Hmph, It''s big brother Matty, he''s probably here to bring me to school!"


    "Angel! Where are you! Don''t you dare hide from me now, okay?! If I find you, I''ll stuff you in a bag and send you off to school!"


    "Bleeeh~ you''re not gonna find me, stupid big brother!"


    Angelia ran out of the house when her brother went to search for her on the second floor. She made sure to keep out of sight and made her way down the cordoned area her family was living in.


    She couldn''t understand why her family was isolated away from the city while everyone else that they took in was able to live inside the large city that had now spanned the entirety of the valley they were in.


    The little girl could see from afar, that on the sides of the valley were large walls and watchtowers currently being constructed. She knew that her daddy was currently working and monitoring the construction of the valley''s walls.


    It was for everyone''s protection and it was even her very own idea to build them. Angelia had seen the large monsters that would sometimes climb down from the valley''s sides and attack their city so she had offhandedly suggested to her daddy to just build walls around the valley.


    Kaiser was a little skeptical at the idea, but Matheus thought it was brilliant and the most straightforward answer to their problems. He even guaranteed that with their current metal and material production, they would be able to start building the wall and have it finished in 2-3 years. They built the walls using large rocks and cement while the watchtowers would be created using refined metal ores.


    Silvaria City had been taking in people that the exploration teams were able to find from their travels deeper into the No-man''s Land so they had enough manpower to construct the walls. Of course, they didn''t just take in anyone they found.


    Each new refugee they found was put through a strict screening before being accepted into the city. There was a time when they had taken in anyone they found and it had led to a very unfavorable outcome.


    Probably due to living for so long in the wild and seeing many things that plunged people into a state of irrationality, some of the refugees who were saved by the Silvaria family''s exploration teams began committing acts of injustice while inside the city not long after being rescued.


    Kaiser and city''s council only had one requirement from their citizens. That was to uphold justice and the dignity of their people, pitch in to help with the city''s development and never, under any circ.u.mstances, should a human being try to harm another one of their own kin.


    The world they were now living in was NOT Earth. Monsters lay afoul everywhere and people''s lives were easily lost in this chaotic place which made it all the more valuable. It wasn''t uncommon to suddenly find a large horde of monsters attack the city from out of nowhere which would sometimes lead to a great loss of life.


    Every person present in the city has one life and that life was very, very precious. So when Kaiser found out about a group of people that ''acted'' as some sort of underground gang or mafia in the city, he naturally went and swung down his iron fist on them.


    If they thought that there was going to be the ''law'' or the ''police'' that would keep Kaiser and his people in check, then they were totally wrong. In Silvaria City, they were the law, they were the police.


    If you didn''t abide by their rules, then you''d be purged from the city and exiled out of the valley. The Silvarias didn''t need useless people who only caused harm to their citizens'' wellbeing. Yes, they did sound like a tyrant, but that''s what the current Earthlings needed.


    A benevolent president wasn''t going to cut it in this chaotic world where a person''s life could easily be lost. There were threats everywhere, threats that could easily take one''s life.


    Kaiser did try his best to be as benevolent and wise as he could, but there was a limit to how nice he could be. Rather than having one bad apple in the barrel, he might as well just throw that one out and save the rest, right?


    It was cruel, but he had to be the one to make the correct decision, no matter how bad it was.


    The other representatives of the city couldn''t act on it, so Kaiser took it upon himself to pull the plug on those people. Naturally, there were criticism directed at him, but Kaiser took it in stride. He didn''t respond to any of them and continued doing his job, protecting the city.


    Now that a temporary peace had been given to the earthlings, stuff like this was bound to happen. They didn''t understand that without the Silvarias helping them, that city they were living in would be as good as a sitting duck in the face of the monsters.


    This wasn''t something that Angelia understood yet, but that was why the Silvarias cordoned themselves away from the city. If one day they were to be pushed out of the city''s ruling powers, they''d at least have a place to fall back to. Once this happened, Kaiser decided that he''d only protect those important and loyal to him.


    Of course, this was all a contingency. Kaiser didn''t actually hope any of that would happen, but he''s already experienced that sort of thing once before on Earth, so he was only preparing for when it might happen here in this new world they were in.


    ******


    Angelia travelled by herself all the way out into the crop fields that the people had developed inside the valley. Her brother constantly warned that nothing outside of their estate was safe so she shouldn''t be wandering outside by herself.


    She had her white bird with her, so technically, she wasn''t alone. Monsters could attack at any time and Angelia knew that they were scary and they could easily take away her life, but she had a secret.


    "Okay, Chi! We''ll go look for another friend today!"


    The small bird on her shoulder chirped happily in response. It immediately flew down and landed on the ground before its body suddenly began glowing brightly.


    When the light died down, what replaced the small bird was a large white eagle around 4 meters in size. It had a beautiful light yellow plume on its head that looked very similar to a crown. It lowered its body and Angelia immediately climbed onto its back.


    If Cecil was here, he would have immediately identified this large white bird as a Sky Monarch. These were A ranked monsters in the shape of large raptors, they were ferocious beyond compare and a predator of the skies that could wield wind elemental magic up to low-tier high rank.


    This Sky Monarch, which Angelia had named Chi, was a monster that she had saved from death. It was one of the monsters that had recently attacked their valley and it should have died. It was sniped out of the sky and by chance it fell into the Silvaria family''s garden.


    She was playing in the garden by herself despite the ongoing chaos outside, so she was quite surprised to see the large bird suddenly fall down from the sky. Angelia didn''t know when, but after her 8th birthday, she suddenly found herself wielding a unique power.


    She first discovered it when she had injured herself while playing. The large wound that she got was quickly healed and patched up when a warm energy was emitted from her palms. Ever since then, Angelia had been constantly playing around and testing this new power of hers.


    She would feel faint after using this power, but it didn''t take long for her to recover. Angelia was able to easily heal broken bones, fractures, cuts, and other such injuries so naturally, when she saw the large injured birdie, Angelia went over to quickly heal it back up to good health.


    It immediately took off into the air after it was healed, but occasionally it would come back and fly around in the air above the Silvaria family''s estate to look for the young girl that saved her. So here we are now at the present, the small bird that''s been hanging around Angelia was actually the Sky Monarch that she had healed.


    No one in the family knew about this and it was Angelia''s little secret. Today, she decided that she would head out of the valley and go look for another friend for Chi. Once in the air, Angelia was practically on cloud nine. She found it so much fun to fly while sitting on her pet''s back.


    "Hey Chi, flying is so fun~ weeee~"


    The Sky Monarch called Chi, was a female and she had already used a wind spell to affix the little girl onto its back so even when it did barrel rolls, loops and other such aerobatic maneuvers in the air, she wouldn''t fall off.


    Angelia very much enjoyed these days when she would escape from her brother and ditch school. She honestly didn''t like school. The things she learned in primary school were only stuff that she already learned from her brothers. Rather than spend her time in school, she''d rather be up here in the skies with Chi having the time of her life.


    "Chi, Chi! Look down there! I think I see a little kitty!"


    The Sky Monarch screeched loudly before it dove down to the grasslands below. It landed and began looking for the ''kitty'' that its master had saw from high above.


    Chi didn''t let her master dismount. She knew that the grasslands outside of the valley were very dangerous so even though it brought her master out here, it would do everything in its power to keep the little girl safe.


    "Oh! There it is! That''s the little kitty!"


    Angelia pointed towards a black silhouette in the distance and Chi began walking towards it. The ''kitty'', that Angelia saw turned out to be a large black panther that was resting on top of a large rock.


    It had scars all over its body and when it sensed Chi approaching, it opened its eyes and glared savagely at the bird.


    "Hi there, little kitty, you look injured, do you need help?"

 Chapter 264 - The Little Angel and the Kitty

    The large black panther only roared back at Angelia in response. It locked its bloodl.u.s.t onto the large bird and the little girl on its back as it readied itself for combat.


    Angelia didn''t mind the immense ferocity that the panther was directing at her, she instead giggle in delight and cutely roared back.


    "Hihihi~ raawwwrrr~!"


    "!"


    The panther was a little startled at the puny roar and it only turned to look at the adorable little girl who was now slowly climbing down from the Sky Monarch''s back.


    Chi obviously didn''t want her to go down so it blocked her way with its wings, but Angelia only reassured it that nothing was going to happen to her. They were only words coming from her Master, but Chi relented because for some reason. It had a feeling that everything would indeed go as what the little girl said.


    Once Angelia landed on the ground, she immediately began to walk towards the large black panther. The monster only roared back at the girl ferociously, but this didn''t cause Angelia to falter one bit.


    She continued to approach the panther with her hand outstretched. The monster continued to roar and slowly back away from the small girl. If it wanted to, it could have just pounce onto her and immediately tear the little girl''s head off, but for some reason, it was reluctant to do so.


    It could sense a warm and gentle energy radiating off of the girl''s body and it was more inclined to let the small girl get closer to it. Eventually, it stopped backing away and only growled lowly at the girl.


    Seeing as the panther wasn''t as hostile as it was before, Angelia stopped just a short distance away from the large monster and say, "It''s okay, come here, I won''t hurt you!"


    Hearing her words, the panther began to inch closer and closer to her. The large nose began to sniff around Angelia''s small hand for a bit before the panther licked it and slobbered her hand with saliva.


    "Ahahaha, ew~ that was gross!"


    Angelia laughed cheerfully when she knew that she had finally gained the monsters trust. It was like this the first time she encountered Chi. At the time, Chi was heavily wounded, but it was screeching and crying out at her ferociously, but not long after it was acting pretty obedient to the point where it let her pet it.


    Angelia quickly took out a handkerchief from her pocket and immediately cleaned up her hand. She quickly tossed it away before she began stroking the large head of the monster in front of her.


    The panther lied down on the ground and let the little girl pet it. Angelia began walking around its large frame and traced the large wounds that were all over its body. She could see that while many of them had long since closed and healed only leaving behind a frightening scar, there were some wounds that looked like they were just recently created.


    The black panther in front of her had probably just finished hunting or battling with another monster before it started resting here on the large rock.


    "Okay, I''m going to heal you now, so stay still!"


    As if it understood what the little girl was saying, the black panther lowered its large head and relaxed its body, laying there without moving at all. The only thing moving was its tail which was slowly waving back and forth.


    Seeing the obedient panther, Angelia giggled and nodded in satisfaction. She immediately tried to feel out that unique power inside of her and tried to bring it out like she usually did.


    Her hands started glowing and a warm energy began emitting from them. They flowed into the large panther and slowly, the new wounds it had received closed and began to heal up.


    After 5 minutes of channeling this energy into the monster, Angelia grew exhausted and stopped. She looked at the monster and saw that all the recent wounds and some of its old wounds had healed up.


    She was happy to see that the large ''kitty'' was healed and patches of its once scarred body had been replaced with a thin layer of fur. There was only a large scar on its eye that hadn''t yet healed up and a couple of scar on its tail that had only been lightly mended.


    Angelia was a little dissatisfied, but she couldn''t muster up any more strength to continue healing the kitty.


    "I can finish healing you later! Do you want to come with me?"


    The panther gave a low roar of agreement and this earned it a bright smile from the little girl.


    "Can you turn small? Chi will take us back home, but my daddy and my family will probably be scared if they see you this big!"


    The panther grunted before it poked its large claw on Angelia''s arm, drawing a little bit of the girl''s blood.


    "Ouch!"


    "Grrr..."


    The wound immediately began closing and the drop of blood on the panther''s claw rose in the air and it flew into the panther''s mouth. After a moment, it let out a large roar as its body slowly began to glow.


    When the light subsided, a small cat walked up to Angelia''s feet and it slowly climbed up onto her head. The black cat a scar on its face and there were multiple shallow scars on its tail. Angelia immediately knew that it was the new friend that she had just made earlier.


    "How come the two of you are the same? Do you have to take a small drop of my blood before you can turn small?" Angelia asked curiously.


    The same exact thing had happened to her before Chi was able to turn into her small bird form. What she didn''t know was this was the initiation of a pact. Not all monsters could initiate a pact on their own since normally, the person was supposed to be the one to initiate the pact with their battle pet, not the other way around.


    However, Angelia had this sort of instinct that could find monsters that had the ability to initiate a pact. These would normally be a trait from monsters that had ancient blood running through their veins.


    The normal monsters of this era wouldn''t be able to do this since they didn''t have that ability, and Angelia here, could sense whether a monster had ancient blood in their veins. It was a unique trait that even she herself wasn''t aware of yet, but for the time being, it suited her perfectly since she was a little girl who loved animals.


    After Cecil, she was the one that was very close to Silver, but her doggie friend was no longer here so she could only find other ''friends'' to play with.


    "Mreow~"


    "Oh, never mind then. Let''s go home! Chi, let''s go!"


    The little girl quickly climbed back up onto her pet''s back and quickly took to the skies.


    "Oh yeah, I''ll name you! Hmmm... what should I call you? How about Mao? That''s a good name, right? From now on, your name is Mao!"


    The cat on top of Angelia''s head only purred in satisfaction at its new name. Whenever she finished naming the monster she acquired, the pact would immediately form and a connection would be established between her and her battle pets, in this case, Chi and Mao.


    From this connection, she could immediately determine their genders and in this case, Chi was female while Mao was male. She was able to also determine their other characteristics, such as their unique abilities and such.


    She didn''t know much about this ''magic'' thing, but she understood that Chi was able to manipulate the wind according to her will and Mao was able to shape the darkness and earth to act as he wanted.


    To the young girl, these were only super cool abilities that made them special, much more special than those ordinary cats and dogs she''s seen on TV back on Earth.


    One thing had to be mentioned, and that was the fact that the pact Angelia formed with her two monsters, Chi and Mao, were significantly different to the ones Cecil and Lucia had formed with Silver and Yuna.


    Unlike Cecil and Lucia whose pacts were categorized as the symbiotic type, Angelia''s pact was one where she was the master and the two monsters were her servants. She was the dominator of their pact and hence, there was no symbiosis so she naturally didn''t gain her monsters'' abilities.


    In exchange, she had gained their undying love and loyalty. Her every word and every whim, was like the heavenly decree to the two monsters that had formed a pact with her. They would unconditionally obey her every command as long as it did not cross their bottom lines. What this ''bottom line'' was differed from monster to monster, however as long as her command didn''t cross it, whatever their master willed, they would carry it out no matter the cost.


    This didn''t mean that the monsters that formed a pact with her had turned into Angelia''s puppets. They still had their own thoughts as monsters, but their bond with Angelia had basically maxed out their obedience and loyalty so they''d fulfill her every command as long as it was within their capability to do so.


    Also, unlike Cecil and Lucia, Angelia was somehow able to form more than one pact with a monster. Normally, a pact could only be done between one individual with one monster for their entire lifetimes, but for some reason, Angelia had broken this rule and had 2 pacts with 2 monsters and by the looks of it, she might even create more pacts with more monsters if she found them suitable.


    "Hmmm~ flying and adventuring is fun~ but I really should head back! Big brother will probably yell at me again so I''ll have to put on my best sad face and escape from big brother''s lecture!"


    Being the most spoiled daughter in the family, Angelia had naturally picked up on how to subdue her older siblings by acting cute or super sad in times when she wanted something or wanted to escape from a scolding.


    She would still feel very sorry if she had made a very serious mistake, but most of the time, she''d get in trouble for suddenly disappearing or pulling pranks on her siblings. However, her sad or silly face would be her get-away-scot-free ticket.


    "Remember Mao! No matter what happens at home, you can''t and will not transform unless I tell you to, okay?!"


    Mao only responded by brushing his tail on Angelia''s cheek.


    It didn''t take long before Angelia arrived back within the valley. She always landed in a forest so she thought she was safe, however, she couldn''t have been more wrong.


    "ANGELIA VALENTINE SILVARIA!"


    "Eeep!"


    Angelia immediately froze up in shock at the loud, but familiar cry. She robotically turned around and saw a large amount of her family''s soldiers surrounding her and Chi.


    She saw her furious mother at the forefront and she paled in fright.


    "Young lady, you come over here right this instant!!!"


    "M-Mommy, I...I can explain!"


    "Oh you''ll be explaining yourself later! Right now Mommy''s going to give you a spanking, so get your butt over here!"


    "Y-y-y-yes mommy..."


    Angelia knew that she couldn''t get away from this one. She could deal with her brothers and her father, but she was powerless against her grandmother, mother, and eldest sister.


    Angelia looked around and saw that the soldiers were still cautiously surrounding Chi and it looked like they might even attack once she stepped away from her pet.


    She looked up towards Chi and it immediately began to glow and shrink down into its small bird form.


    The light that suddenly began emitting from Chi raised the soldiers'' wariness since they all have already seen some monsters use unique abilities to fight against them. Many of these abilities were very lethal so the soldiers didn''t want to take any risks and immediately began to take out their weapons and move in to kill the large monster before it could finish its technique.


    "STAND DOWN!" Anastasia commanded


    "Ma''am it''s not safe here, let us take¡ª"


    "I''ll determine whether or not it''s safe! And have you lot forgotten that my daughter is over there?! Are you going to shoot your arrows at her?!"


    "..."


    When the light died down, the large bird had disappeared and all that was left was an empty space with Angelia still standing there with her downtrodden expression. The soldiers were puzzled, but Anastasia immediately understood something.


    She had been constantly observing her daughter and lately, Angelia had been going around the house and school with a pet bird that she said she picked up on the streets. Anastasia didn''t believe this because all animals in this world weren''t normal.


    There were no small birds in this world and the little white bird that constantly followed after her daughter was the first ''normal'' animal she had seen since coming to this strange world.


    When Anastasia saw the large white bird that her daughter had dismounted off of earlier, her suspicions grew and after seeing the flash of light and the small bird that suddenly appeared on her daughters shoulder, she immediately knew that the large white bird was in fact the pet that had been following after Angelia since a while back.


    This also meant...


    "So young lady, do you have anything to say for yourself?"


    "I-I''m sorry..."


    "Hmph, we''ll be talking later at home! You''re going to explain to your father and apologize to your brother!"


    "Y-yes..."


    "So...is that ''pet'' the same like Chi?" Anastasia eyed the black cat who was curiously looking around the area while still resting on top of Angelia''s head.


    "!"


    Anastasia only smiled slightly when she saw the surprised look on her daughter''s face.


    "Don''t worry. It''s our little secret, okay?"


    "Y-yes, mommy!" Angelia smiled up brightly at her mom. She was seriously hoping that this cute and radiant smile would at least alleviate a little bit of her punishment for later.


    "Hmhmhm~ don''t think that this adorable smile will make your punishment any lighter, missy~"


    "..." That radiant smile faded and a devastated expression replaced it.


    "You skipped school, ran away to play by yourself, crossed the border and went out of the valley. Hmmm, what will daddy say whe¡ª"


    "Okay mommy stop~! I''m sorry, I''m sorry!"

 Chapter 265 - The Little Angel and the Bear

    Back at the Silvaria family estate, a small little girl was currently kneeling down in front of a large bear-like man.


    The little girl was none other than Angelia and the bear-like man was her daddy, Kaiser Silvaria.


    "I-I''m sorry..."


    "What are you sorry for, Angelia?"


    "Uhm...I...I skipped school..."


    "And?"


    "A-and...I went to play instead of studying..."


    "And?"


    "I also ran away from big brother Matty...I''m sorry..."


    "Oka¡ª" Kaiser thought that was the last of her crimes, but next to him, his wife Anastasia immediately opened her mouth and cut him off, "And?"


    "What? There''s more?" Kaiser asked in shock.


    Angelia began to fidget a little, clearly unwilling to say anymore.


    "Angelia, sweetie, what else did you do wrong?" Anastasia asked with a smile that wasn''t a smile.


    "M-Mommy..."


    "Good girls admit their wrong-doings. I raised a good girl, right?"


    "Y-yes Mommy..."


    Anastasia took a deep breath and rapidly said her last crime, "Iwentoutofthevalley, I''m sorry!!!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Sweetie, d-did you just say...you went out of the valley?" Kaiser asked as his benevolent father face began to slowly crumble.


    "Y-yes..."


    With her word of affirmation, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.


    "Young...lady... You. did. what?"


    "I...I..."


    "Honey, get me the stick..."


    Anastasia was only going to make Angelia admit all her wrongs, but she didn''t think her husband would actually take such severe disciplinary actions. She was at a loss at what to do, but Gabriel immediately objected to his father''s decision.


    "Father, isn''t that unneeded? She''s still¡ª"


    "Silence!"


    "But Father! It was just a mistake on her part! She wouldn''t do it again! Right, Angel?"


    "Y-yes..."


    "See! She said she won''t do it again!"


    "Yes, she did say that..."


    "So you don''t have to¡ª"


    "But those are only her words..."


    "Uh..."


    "Without consequences, Angel will only do it again."


    "..."


    "Honey, bring me the stick."


    "D-Dear...isn''t this a little too severe? She didn''t mean to, and it wasn''t even that far off! She was only playing in the fore¡ª"


    "AND WHAT IF A MONSTER HAD COME?!"


    "..."


    His roar immediately silenced everyone in the room who was about to open their mouths, this included Grandmother and Grandfather Silvaria.


    "What if we lost her today? Don''t tell me you''re prepared to lose another one of our children?! We still don''t know what happened to Cecil, but...if Angelia went missing now...then there''s only one outcome to that, RIGHT?!"


    "D-Dear..."


    "Anastasia, don''t make me repeat myself!"


    Anastasia could only look down in obvious regret. If only she hadn''t forced her daughter to say that final bit, then it would have ended at a light spanking, and not this.


    "Angel, you have to understand. Mistakes have consequences to them, and severe mistakes are accompanied by severe consequences. You recklessly went out of the valley today, what would have happened if you had encountered a monster? Do you know how sad me, your mother, your brothers, your family, would be if we lost you?"


    "I-I''m sorry..."


    "That''s just not going to cut it Angel! We''re still uncertain about the fate of your brother, but let me be blunt with you...with all of you..."


    Kaiser turned to look at the rest of his family. His wife, his 3 sons, his parents, and his youngest daughter, Fatima wasn''t present because she was out of the valley.


    "From the latest news that I got from Fatima who''s been staying in the Regulus Kingdom...she still hasn''t found a single trace of Cecil anywhere...there''s also no other rumors about humans who can''t speak their language, and no sightings of a boy who looks like Cecil, so this could mean one thing... Cecil...may have passed on..."


    "!"


    "..."


    "This is a cold hard fact...he''s been missing for over 2 years now! Fatima can''t even find him even when she was able to incorporate the help of the Regulus Kingdom''s prince! Of course, he could still be alive and somewhere out there, but think for a moment...this world is DANGEROUS!"


    "H-Honey...please...stop..." Anastasia was already sobbing, she too had already heard about the grim news her eldest daughter had brought for them. Even she couldn''t help but think that this was the only conclusion left. It''s been 2 years and even now they haven''t been able to find Cecil.


    "N-No way...But...but Fatima, she said she''s still looking! She''s still looking father! There''s...there''s just no way¡ª" Gabriel yelled as he looked at both of his parents. He couldn''t believe this, no, he didn''t want to believe this.


    "Gabe..." Luca came up to his twin and gripped his shoulder.


    "Brother Cel? Dead?" Angelia''s face immediately blanked when she heard this. As the person closest to Cecil''s age, she was closer to him than the rest of the siblings.


    "I...I don''t believe that, he''s definitely still alive...my coolest big brother is not dead..." Angelia covered her ears and tried to stifle her tears, but they came cascading down.


    "That''s only one of the conclusions that we can reach...I''m not saying we''re giving up on him, even Fatima is still trying to search for him, but Angie...how do you feel right now? It hurts right? Then think about what would happen if Cecil was still alive and he came back, but suddenly found out that his sister was killed because of her own reckless actions..."


    "..."


    Seeing the silently sobbing little girl, Kaiser heaved a heavy sigh.


    "...let''s forget about the punishment...I''m no longer in the mood." Kaiser said as he got up and left the room.


    Anastasia went over to pick up her daughter who was pale faced and tear-stricken. Her daddy''s words had hit home and she had nothing to say for herself. She was still only a child so she couldn''t understand why her father was being so severe to her earlier, to the point where he would even punish her with the stick, but she now understood why.


    Just thinking about how horrible she felt when her father had scared her with news that her beloved big brother might have died...she felt like her world was collapsing.


    She loved her family dearly and as a child she had a simple mind, as long as everyone was around, everything was alright. The only problem was that her brother had been missing for so long.


    During the past 2 years, her family only told her that her brother was off training as usual, but she would overhear some things in the city and sometimes at home. Cecil wasn''t off training, he was missing.


    "I-I won''t do anything bad anymore, I won''t, I promise! I''ll go to school and be good girl! So please, please bring big brother Cel back Mommy..."


    "Don''t worry darling, daddy was just trying to scare you so you wouldn''t do that again, Cel is just off training..."


    "B-but...I-I heard some of the aunties at school say that Cel was missing!"


    "That''s because they don''t know anything! They just aren''t used to our family''s traditions so they think he''s missing when actually, he''s just out there training!"


    "...R-really? He''s not dead? He''s not missing?"


    "Yes sweetie, mommy wouldn''t lie to you," Anastasia hugged her daughter tightly and continued, "Now, remember your promise, you won''t do anything bad anymore, right? You''ll go to school and behave, right?"


    "Yes mommy..."


    "Good girl, now don''t worry, I won''t tell daddy or anyone else about your two little pets!"


    "Okay..."


    "Now, go to bed. Tomorrow, mommy will teach you how to protect yourself okay? Remember to come to the dojo after school!"


    "Okay, mommy!"


    "Good girl, even though you promised me that you wouldn''t go out of the valley, but I know you won''t keep that..."


    "Huh?! N-no, I will!"


    "Don''t worry, Mommy isn''t mad, mommy will teach you how to protect yourself so even if you do go out of the valley, you won''t be in danger! Besides, you have 2 big helpers to look after you, right?"


    "..."


    "I won''t tell Daddy, but make sure you don''t get caught!"


    "Okay, Mommy... but...is...is it really okay?"


    Anastasia sighed, but put on a reluctant smile, "I know that the world''s changed and it''s become much more dangerous. You''re dad wants to build a place that will shelter you all from that danger, but in Mommy''s opinion, all of you should face these dangers head on! Nothing good will come from being a sheltered flower!"


    "..."


    "So, before you learn how to protect yourself, you have to promise Mommy that you won''t go out of the valley until you do, okay?"


    "Okay!"


    "Good girl, now hurry on to bed, oh! Remember to take a bath first!"


    "Yes, mommy!"


    Anastasia exited the room a moment later. She went towards her bedroom and saw her husband waiting for her inside the room.


    "...Did you tell her?"


    "Yes."


    "Good... even though this will make me look like the bad guy...it doesn''t matter..."


    Anastasia approached her husband from behind and grabbed his head. She then fell back onto the bed with Kaiser''s head falling in between her b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    "I like bad boys though~"


    "...Honey..."


    "Hmhm~" Anastasia licked her lips and planted a kiss on her husband.


    "A-Ana¡ª"


    "Shhh~" Anastasia placed a finger over her husband''s lips before saying, "How many times have we done this already? So how many times are you going to act like an idiot?"


    "But..."


    "Can''t I at least comfort my husband? You can do whatever you want with me tonight~"


    Not long later, the sounds of Anastasia screaming in pleasure resounded on the top floor of the large mansion. It was a good thing that their bedroom was on the top floor while their children''s rooms were two floors below them on the 2nd floor.


    If not, the siblings would probably be too scared to even face their father. The father who was usually so meek in front of their mother was actually making that iron-fisted mother of theirs scream out in ''agony'' during the night?


    Just what kind of punishment was their mother going through every night then? Was she being punished for acting so high-handed to their father?


    If they overheard those screams that were echoing on the top floor, they wouldn''t be able to connect that to something which had to do with baby-making.

 Chapter 266 - Four Years

    "Young lady, you get back here right now!" Anastasia called out to a young girl who was now racing out of their family''s estate.


    "See ya Mom, love you Mom, I''ll be back later after class~~!" The girl called out as she raced away on top of a large black cat.


    This young girl was Angelia Silvaria and the black cat was her pet panther, Mao. 4 years had passed by and she was now about to turn 12 years old. She was heading off to school and she had already promised her friends that she''d be partying up with them later when they ventured out of the valley with the teachers.


    As for why Anastasia was yelling at her to quickly come back, this was because Angelia had tricked her into signing the dungeon exploration request that every student in school needed to have their parents sign in order to be let into the dungeon that was found near the back of the valley.


    Unlike the normal dungeons that were teeming with materials with a sporadic amount of monsters, this dungeon was filled with monsters and would only open up during set intervals. This was something known as a Raid Dungeon and these dungeons contained rare monsters of varying ranks whose bodies obviously had rare materials waiting to be harvested.


    As for why a school would be having their excursion in such a dangerous place, this was because from the info that was obtained after numerous explorations into the dungeon, the rare monsters found inside were only those of D-C rank, monsters that could be easily handled by students who were trained to use their mana.


    Over the past 4 years, Fatima was able to provide many materials and ideas to the city from the outside that helped advance their people''s knowledge, power and individual combat prowess. New technologies were created using this knowledge and the education system of the earthlings had undergone a massive overhaul.


    The students were now not only learning about normal knowledge like mathematics, science, and social studies, but also about martial arts, mana, runes, magi-tech, and the like.


    They were also required to learn the common language of the new world they were in so that later when anyone decided to adventure out into the world, they''d be able to communicate with the people outside.


    Angelia was speeding through the valley''s highway on Mao. She passed by steam-powered wagons, carriages, bikes, and sometimes other monsters who were traveling on the highway.


    Many things have changed after 4 years. The humans were able to build steam engines that didn''t run on coal, but rather, fire magic. This was something that Fatima had been able to acquire for her people during her time outside of the kingdom.


    There was also another thing that had to be mentioned. The large valley that Angelia''s family had been managing has officially been acknowledged by the Regulus Kingdom as the Silvaria Kingdom.


    Since a year ago, her family had somehow become royalty and she was now a legitimate princess. The King and Queen were her parents and oddly enough, the entire population had even acknowledged this as well. It was funny, but she even heard that her eldest sister would be marrying the Regulus Kingdom''s 3rd Prince.


    This was also why she would sometimes find a charming young man at their family''s estate, which was now practically their castle, who would come and challenge her father to a duel in the name of proving himself worthy to take her eldest sister''s hand in marriage.


    Up until today, that man was on a constant losing streak, but even then he would return at least once or twice a month to challenge her father.


    "Uhm... big sis should already be at the school by now... I hope she hasn''t returned to the Regulus Kingdom...that awful war has already lasted for a year by now... those people better not think about taking advantage of big sis and have her move out to the frontlines again to act as their strategist...I don''t care if he''s a prince, I''ll have Mao rip his face off if he dares put my sis in danger!"


    "ROAR!"


    "Right?! I knew you''d agree with me, Mao~!"


    Angelia didn''t take long to arrive at school. Her school was very large, it was practically a campus that integrated primary, middle, and high school together. The college, for anyone who wanted to continue their education, was located only next to their school campus.


    Her entrance caused quite a stir, but people were already used to this. She quickly found her friends waiting for her by the school''s water fountain so she kicked off of Mao and landed right in front of them.


    "Morning!"


    "Holy¡ªdammit, Angelia, can''t you arrive normally?!" A boy cried out in shock when someone suddenly landed right next to him.


    "Morning, Angelia~"


    "Morning!"


    "Let''s go in guys!" Angelia said. Mao had transformed into his small cat form and was already on the girl''s shoulder.


    "Good Morning, Mao!"


    "Hello, little Mao~ you want a cracker~?" A young girl with frilly, dirty-blonde hair asked as she waved a cracker in front of Mao. Mao only looked at it and ignored the cracker. He was totally uninterested in that unappetizing looking thing.


    "A.. he ignored me..."


    "Hehehe~ Mao is just like that, don''t be sad Xin!"


    The young girl name Xin only sighed in response. "You''re so lucky Angie, you''ve got a battle pet! I want one too, but my parents won''t let me keep a pet in the house!"


    "Well, they are pretty expensive to buy and take care of!" The other girl said. This one was a little taller than the rest of her friends. She had short hair and sported an athletic body build. Her name was Marylyn Stromm, and she was a daughter of the Stromm household, who was a part of the city council.


    Xin was the same. Her full name was Xin Argent and she was from the Argent household. The families who were a member of the city council had basically become duke families if they were going down the hierarchy.


    Kaiser naturally didn''t want to implement such a backward system, so he made sure to keep the noble peerages limited to only the people in the city council and the ones appointed by them. Each duke could appoint one marquis family.


    The Generals in the army would be appointed Counts. The governors of the cities that were outside of the valley were appointed as viscounts while the mayors of the towns outside of the valley were appointed barons.


    These titles wouldn''t be hereditary or inheritable. They were only attached to their occupations so while the governors and mayors were still in office, they''d be viscounts and barons. Once they were replaced, these titles would be inherited by the next person in office.


    The army Generals'' conditions were the same, except that even after their retirement, they''d still receive the benefits of being a count, just not the title. The marquis were managed by the dukes so it wasn''t the Silvaria family''s problem on how to manage them.


    The only thing that Kaiser demanded from the dukes was that there could only ever be 1 marquis family under them. If a family decides to relinquish their duties then their titles and power would be stripped and the duke families would have to appoint another to take their place.


    As for the dukes, their titles were hereditary. As long as they remained on the council, their descendants would forever be dukes. Another thing, the council themselves could appoint or remove another duke family as long as they get the votes of more than half of the families on the city council.


    Actually, it shouldn''t be called city council anymore. It was now the Kingdom Council.


    Each of the other 5 duke families manages a single sector of the kingdom''s governance. Only the Silvarias had a hand in each sector and this was something absolute since they were essentially the royal family of the newfound kingdom.


    The members of the Kingdom Council were the Silvaria Family, the head of the Council and the Kingdom''s Royal family; the Heimdall family, which manages the Internal Affairs of the Kingdom; the Sciezle Family, which manages the Kingdom''s Foreign Affairs; the Coppernium Family, which manages the Kingdom''s Economy; the Stromm Family, which manages the Kingdom''s Military; and Finally, the Argent family, which manages the Kingdom''s Educational Sector.


    There were some other sectors, like the Magical Research and Development Sector, but those were personally managed by the Silvarias. Later when they get more capable hands to help, they''d naturally appoint them to take on the position of being a duke family.


    "Hey, Robin, did you see my sister coming to school this morning?" Angelia called out to the only boy in their 4-man group.


    The delicate looking boy wearing glasses was Robin Coppernium. He was one of the few boys in Angelia''s circle of friends. He looked at Angelia and replied while yawning,


    "I saw her come in early this morning. She was with her fianc¨¦ if I''m not mistaken."


    "Tch, that bug again."


    "B-b-bug?! Angie! Watch your words, that man is a genuine prince from an actual royal family!" Robin said as he quickly moved to cover the girl''s mouth.


    "Hey Robby~ don''t you know that what you''re doing right now is disrespectful to THIS kingdom''s royal family~?" Xin teased.


    "C-crap!"


    "Save it Robin...it''s something that happened a year ago, even now, I still don''t feel like anything''s changed at all!"


    While the group was taking their leisure time to get to class, the students around them suddenly started to make haste to eagerly get to class.


    "Let''s hurry to class! Today Miss Fatima is going to be teaching a joint class!"


    When Angelia overheard their words, she was mildly surprised. Her sister was indeed a teacher at the school, but she hardly ever taught classes anymore. It was probably because the war over at Regulus Kingdom was intensifying that she moved back here and most likely suspended her search of their brother.


    "Let''s go!"


    ******


    When class was over, Angelia pulled her big sis over to the side and began asking questions.


    "Sis, how long are you planning on staying? Much longer than the last time I hope!"


    Fatima was already a fine young woman 4 years ago so that short amount of time hadn''t really changed her much. She still looked the same as she was years ago, only her demeanor had gotten a little softer and much gentler than before. She wasn''t as cold as she was back then at least.


    "I''ll be staying for around a month or so before I head back to Regulus with¡ª"


    "That bug?"


    "Eh?"


    "W-wow...that really hurt..." A voice said from behind the two girls.


    "Oh, Prince Rowan...I didn''t see you there," Angelia replied curtly.


    "R-Rowan... I-I... Angel, I want you to apologize right now!" Fatima said as she scolded her sister.


    "No thanks sis! I''m not going to apologize to some dude who suddenly comes up to our door to take you away!"


    "Angie...I''m turning 25 this year...do you really want to keep your sister single forever?"


    "Hmph, don''t care! You still haven''t fulfilled our promise! You still haven''t found big brother Cel, yet! Anyways, I''m not going to approve of this! Our entire family needs to approve of him! That includes big brother Cel!" Angelia said before she stomped away.


    "A-Angie, wait a minute!" Fatima quickly turned to Rowan who had a helpless expression on his face.


    "Don''t worry Ima, your sister is just really attached to you, I see that she really loves you so it''s alright." Rowan replied with a gentle smile.


    "S-sorry, Rowan..."


    "Don''t be, and besides, Angel is right, I''ll earn your entire family''s approval before I wed you! Don''t worry. I''ll earn it without fail so the first thing we should do is quickly find your brother!"


    "O-okay...but do you even have time? I mean, with the war and all¡ª"


    "Don''t worry about that. The war and this are 2 different things. Besides, my father and my elder brothers are taking care of that!"


    Fatima nodded before she went and chased after Angelia. Rowan who was left behind could only sigh a little in defeat.

 Chapter 267 - Four Years 2

    "Angie! Wait up!"


    Angelia had a sour face on, but she inwardly felt relieved that her sister had chased after her.


    "Look Angie, I''m still not giving up on finding Cecil. Don''t worry about that okay?"


    "I know...sorry, I guess I just don''t want to lose you..."


    "Oh, Angie... I''m not going anywhere, eventually when Rowan gets the approval of everyone in the family, he''ll be the one marrying into our family. He''s the 3rd prince of Regulus so he''s only 3rd in line for the throne."


    "Okay...but why him? Why didn''t you pick someone else? We have a lot of disciples in our family dojo that are way~ stronger than him!"


    "Eh? Well...hmmm... I wonder why... I''m not sure, but somewhere down the road, I fell in love with him," Fatima said as she thought deeply about her sister''s question.


    "Gosh, why him though? Well, whatever. Just make sure you get everyone''s approval first! That includes big brother Cel''s!"


    "Okay, c''mere let me hug you for a bit," Fatima said as she pulled her adorable little sister into a tight embrace.


    "S-sis, you''re b.r.e.a.s.ts are crushing me! I can''t breathe!"


    "Ufufufufu~ hold your breath a little longer~"


    "NOOOOO!!!"


    ******


    After separating from her sister, Angelia continued on with her classes and eventually it came the time for their school''s excursion. The students who were given permission to dive into the dungeon would form parties of 6 and spend 2 hours inside the dungeon.


    "Are you guys ready?"


    "We''re good all good here, what about you two?" Robin replied before he asked the other two people who were allocated to their party.


    "We''re fine, thanks for letting us into your party."


    "No probs, our princess here didn''t mind so why would we?"


    Angelia grew annoyed at hearing him tease her with the title ''princess'' again. She brandished her spear and directed the tip just below her friend''s neck.


    "Say that again, Robby~?"


    "Haha, I''m just teasing you, Princess~" Robin immediately backed away and hid behind Xin and Marylyn.


    "As the Princess of Silvaria, I command you to stop right there and let me poke a few holes in you!" Angelia demanded.


    "With all due respect, Princess~, I decline!"


    "Graaaahhhh!!! Stay put!"


    The instructors began filing into the large gymnasium not long after and so the two kids had to put an end to their cat and mouse chase and quickly file in line.


    Once the head instructor saw that the students had all lined up perfectly, he finally opened his mouth.


    "Students, today, all of you will be going out on the school''s compulsory excursion! Some of you are going to the forests outside of the valley, while a select few of you...will be heading into the dungeon!"


    The instructor looked around and saw how serious all the children were. They were all instilled with the importance of this event since it was like their initiation to becoming true warriors. Ever since the people were transferred into this unknown place, they were constantly besieged and harassed by monsters you would normally see from novels and movies.


    Many lost their friends and families, but this had helped the children mature much faster than normal. The usual complacency one would see from a child on modern Earth wasn''t there anymore. For the past couple of years since the school''s establishment, these kids have undergone training by the Silvaria family''s martial instructors and were well tested in simulation combat.


    Now they would have to experience what it was like to actually fight those monsters. For the ones that have lost family members and friends, they were eager to have a go at these monsters.


    "Finally, we''re out to kill those things...I''ll rip those things apart..."


    "...quiet man, the instructor is still talking..."


    "My hands are itching..."


    "Ah, please, not you too..."


    The head instructor immediately silenced the noisy students with a loud stomp of his foot.


    "Since you''ve all split into your groups, the ones going to the forest gather around and file in line outside of the gymnasium! As for those going to the dungeon, remain where you are!"


    The head instructor and a few others exited the gymnasium along with the students that were going to the forest for their excursion. What remained were only 5 groups of students with each group consisting of 6 students totally to 30 students in all.


    There were exactly 5 instructors remaining inside the gymnasium and one of them happened to be Fatima. When she was not in front of her family, she put on a cold and aloof front. She walked over to Angelia''s party and immediately addressed.


    "Are all of you ready?"


    "YES!" The group responded in unison.


    Fatima nodded and said, "Then, follow me... remember to keep your wits about you later in the dungeon!"


    "YES MA''AM!"


    Fatima led Angelia''s party to the dungeon''s entrance. It was a 15 minute ride on a wagon. During this time, Fatima asked if everyone had already decided on their roles and yes, they had already done so.


    Angelia was the leader and she was going to act as the mobile unit in the party, she would support the rear and the vanguard depending on the situation while at the same time monitor the battle situation while relaying orders and warnings to her party.


    Her friends, Xin and Marylyn, would be the archer and mage respectively. Their party was actually pretty lucky since one of them was a ''mage''. The spells she could use was limited to only being mana bolts and some variations, but she was one of the few individuals in the school who had a good grasp on how to manipulate their mana and control it so it''ll manifest outside their bodies.


    One of the 2 boys that were added to their party would act as a scout while the other one would be the tank alongside Robin. That''s right, Robin was going to play a tanking role despite how delicate he looked, the boy seemed more like a back liner rather than a front liner.


    Fatima nodded in appreciation. She was glad that her sister''s party was very competent. She wanted to be the chaperone of their party precisely because she was worried about her little sis, but that seemed to be an unfounded concern.


    All that''s left was to see whether or not their party was competent in a live-battle situation. If needed, Fatima and the other instructors would step in to protect the students in the case that the situation got out of hand and couldn''t be handled by the students.


    "Instructor, we can use everything that''s our power...right?" Angelia asked her sister when they arrived at the dungeon.


    "Yes, of course. Holding anything back will not be tolerated. Please remember, that in the dungeon, a small mishap or oversight might result in someone''s life being lost!" Fatima said seriously.


    The students nodded solemnly at her words. Even though this was but an excursion and they had their instructors there to protect them, everyone''s lives were still at stake here. A simple mishap might result in one of their party members losing their lives.


    Angelia nodded before she began smiling smugly.


    "Mao, Chi, we''re going."


    Mao, who was still in his battle form, replied with an excited howl while the small bird on her shoulder began to glow and enlarge, 1.5 meter tall bird replaced it. It wasn''t her full battle form, but this size was ideal since they would be fighting in a dungeon.


    "CHIIIIII!!!"


    "GRAAAAHHH!!"


    The two monsters'' battle cries startled everyone near the dungeon entrance. Seeing the two monsters, Fatima belatedly realized what her little sister meant by ''using everything in their power'', she should have known better.


    "A-Angelia...isn''t that a bit..."


    "Well, it''s not cheating Instructor! These two are my companions!"


    "Y-yeah...but..."


    "Don''t worry~ they''ll only be helping out! They won''t be actively participating in the fights! After all, the whole point of this excursion is to let everyone experience how a real battle is like!"


    "It''s good that you know," Fatima replied. She raised her hand to the people around to show that the two monsters summoned by her sister didn''t mean any harm.


    Not many people knew about Angelia''s other title as the Silvaria Kingdom''s ''Monster Princess''. These 2 ''friends'' of hers weren''t the only ones she ''befriended'' during the past couple years.


    "Alright, let''s head in."


    ******


    While the students of Silvaria Kingdom''s school began their excursions to get their first live-combat experience, at the border checkpoint of the Regulus Kingdom, a unique looking metal wagon passed through.


    A handsome young man was currently manning the driver seat with a beautiful white haired young woman sitting next to him. The entire time they were passing through the checkpoint, many heads would turn to gawk at the beautiful lady.


    These two were naturally Cecil and Lucia. After four years, they had fully matured into 2 respectable young a.d.u.l.ts.


    Cecil had decided to grow his hair out, so it was a little long and messy. Added with his well sculpted face and his sharp gaze, it made him all the more attractive, especially towards the two women who were travelling with him.


    Lucia who was next to him had fully grown in many places. Hidden under her armor and clothes was a body that evoked the wild desires of men. She had grown into a woman that was very much like her mother, Anna, who was very well endowed.


    Her hair had grown longer, reaching all the way to her knees and she tied it up with two ribbons that Cecil had gifted to her on the party''s first ever Christmas celebration a couple of years back. Cecil had managed to create shampoo and soap, so Lucia''s hair was carefully taken care of. Just using Cleanse wasn''t enough to make her hair look so healthy and smooth.


    However, Cecil would sometimes worry that her long hair might get in the way of her fighting so he wanted to cut it, but Lucia treated it so preciously to the point where she declared that she wouldn''t cut it, ever.


    Over the past years, her wild-temper and brash attitude faded and she was much more level-headed.


    This was very good news for Cecil since he no longer had to endure her abuse. Well, at least most of the times. It was a different story if Cecil had actually done something wrong to her. In this case, her fists would always be the first to fly, but with Cecil now blocking and dodging her every blow, it would turn into a mock battle instead of an argument by the time they were done squabbling.


    "Cel! We''re finally here!"


    "Yup..."


    "Hm? Why so glum?" Lucia asked.


    "Well...now that we''re here... we have to separate...remember?"


    "What''s this? Is our Cel upset~? Ufufufufu~"


    "...Tsk..."


    "What~? Can''t bear to separate from your 2 beautiful wives?" Lucia poked Cecil''s face as she continued to tease him.


    "Yeah, so what? Got a problem?"


    "Hmhmhm~ well this was YOUR plan. We''re finally here so we should hurry up and search for your family. Just leave things here in Regulus to me and Seri, while you go to the Holy Kingdom."


    Cecil replied with a sigh, "Fine, I''ll make it quick."


    "Yeah, but make sure you make it thorough!"


    "Mhm. Let''s stop by the town for a bit then we''ll split."


    Cecil immediately urged Sleipnir to gallop towards Regulus Kingdom''s border town, Rezit.

 Chapter 268 - Four Years 3

    Once they were in Rezit, Cecil immediately had the party rest up at the town''s best inn.


    Inside one of the inn''s rooms, Cecil was sitting down at a table glaring down at a map. He was thinking and planning the quickest route for him to make a round trip from Revertia Holy Kingdom back to Regulus.


    He broke from his train of thoughts when someone suddenly hugged him from behind and began to gently stroke his head.


    "What''re you thinking about so hard, darling?"


    "It''s nothing, Seri...I''m just thinking about our next step... Now that we''re here, we have to go our separate ways for a bit..."


    "Mhm... you already decided upon that a long time ago, when will you be leaving?"


    "...Tomorrow, the earlier I go, the earlier I can get back."


    "Alright."


    "I''m counting you Seri to take care of the kids."


    "Haha~ they aren''t kids anymore, y''know!"


    "Tsk, they are in my eyes! My stupid apprentice and that useless guide... just why did we even take them with us?"


    "You''re the one who let them~ and please remember, the guide is now our family''s butler y''know~"


    "Please don''t remind me..."


    Serilla sat down on Cecil''s lap and wrapped her arms around him. Serilla had grown into a beautiful woman and through some ups and down, Cecil was finally able to appreciate the two treasures he had in his arms.


    Looking at the woman in his arms, the young Serilla had matured, she had much more womanly features and her eyes were especially enchanting to him. Her personality had also mellowed out and she was no longer the teasing big sister-type. She instead began to feel like a mother to everyone in the party. She patiently took care of everyone and made them feel safe, it was like wherever she was, that was home.


    Another change was that on Serilla''s hand, there was an additional ring besides her spatial ring. It was the beautifully crafted silver ring she was wearing on her left hand''s ring finger and as for what this ring represented, it was the unshakeable and unbreakable bond between her and the man she was wrapping her arms around, her husband, Cecil Silvaria.


    Lucia also had a similar ring on her finger as well. As for why this happened, it was obviously because Cecil had finally popped the question and they got hitched.


    He didn''t understand how marriages worked on Alterna nor on Earth for that matter, but apparently in Alterna, all one had to do was report to an administrative body that they were going to get married, go to a temple, receive a blessing, and be officially registered as a lawfully wedded couple.


    He had found out about this during his time in the Machina Reggio Empire. Cecil thought long and hard about things before finally deciding that he should just marry the two girls after going through a couple of events that finally made him aware of the feeling called jealousy.


    Cecil didn''t understand about the certain steps to a marriage, so when he ''proposed'' it was more like he declared that he would marry them, and so obviously, it was kind of lack l.u.s.ter.


    The girls wanted something romantic, but they got something closer to a declaration, not a heart-throbbing romantic proposal. They did get mad at him, but the two were happier at the fact that Cecil himself had taken the initiative to marry them. They quickly went through the procedures of their marriages while in the Machina Reggio Empire. So for 3 years now, Cecil with Lucia and Serilla were officially married.


    There was no fancy ceremony or anything. It was just the ceremony for the blessing with the Empire''s official overseeing it and registering their marriage, and that was basically it. The only witnesses to their double wedding were Silver, Yuna, the Machina Reggio official, the priest who blessed their wedding and Cecil''s newly appointed apprentice, but the girls weren''t sad, instead they were elated at becoming Cecil''s lawfully wedded wives and immediately called their family and friends to tell them about the good news.


    On Lucia''s side, everyone was only happy for her, but Serilla''s side was a little thorny. Apparently, mother Celia wanted to gut Cecil now, however Serilla subdued her mother by saying that she was pregnant and she would get a grandchild soon and if she wanted more, then she had to accept that she was now married to him.


    Of course she wasn''t pregnant, but it did make mother a little more accepting of Cecil. However, Celia wanted them to come back home so they could conduct a ceremony. The party only promised that they''d come back some time in the future.


    "Darling~ we''re so close to finding your family, so can we have a child now?"


    "Eh?"


    "C''mon darling~ you promised!"


    "S-slow down a little Seri! W-we''re still very young y''know... wait, don''t tell me you''re already..."


    "I''m not, dummy. You did have Lucia place that contraceptive magic array on me...so how can I get pregnant?"


    "O-oh... W-well, I''m not saying I don''t want you to get pregnant, but you know how dangerous our journey is! And besides, I''m still not even sure I''ll be able to find them in those two Kingdoms! It was only a clue I got from a future vision, but remember, the future is ever changing!"


    "Okay, okay~ but, we can do it...right?"


    "Uhm...it''s still kind of early?"


    "Lulu already gave me the green light, she and the rest are out gathering info and buying supplies! And besides, I''m~ in~ the~ mood~"


    Hearing this, Cecil carefully picked Serilla up and walked over to the bed. She smiled enchantingly at him and this smile only served to stoke his fire.


    ******


    When Lucia and the rest of the party came back from their shopping and info gathering, they all gathered together at a restaurant close to the inn they were staying at.


    Inside of the restaurant''s private room, the Wanderers had all gathered together. Cecil and his two wives, Lucia and Serilla, were sitting together, Yuna and Silver were sitting together and there were 2 additional people in the room as well.


    The first one was a young man in his early teens sitting alone by himself. He had a delicate build and was wearing a thick black robe. His head was in a book and if you looked at the contents, they were ancient magic runes and formations; the knowledge that Cecil had taken out from the World Tree''s library.


    The other one was a man who looked to be in his late 20s. He had a suit on and was standing like a guard next to where Cecil and his wives were sitting at as he waited for Cecil to address the party.


    "Everyone, today we''ll be discussing about our plans from here on out. First of all, I''ll be splitting the party into two. I''ll be heading over to the Revertia Holy Kingdom while Lucia and Serilla will continue looking for information about my family members in Regulus. We''ll each head towards the 2 Kingdoms'' capital cities and look for info there."


    "Hm~ this is expected, so who''s going with you and who''s remaining here with us?" Lucia asked as she popped a gr.a.p.e-like fruit into her mouth.


    Cecil looked up at the teenager and said, "Ren, you''re coming with me." He then turned towards Silver and Yuna, "Silver and Yuna as well."


    He looked at the man sitting next to the teenager and said, "Quinn, I leave my 2 wives in your care."


    The man in the suit responded politely with a bow, "As you wish, my Master."


    "Finally, we''re separating from these two noisy women¡ªO-ow! That''s my head!" The teenager named Ren responded as he glared up at Lucia who had flashed over next to him and given the kid a knock on the head.


    "That''s what little boys get when they''re rude."


    "Cih..."


    "Oh, now you''re scoffing at me? Looks like you need some disciplining!"


    "N-no! I-I''m sorry, I''m sorry!"


    "Hmm... you better not misbehave knowing that you''ll be away from us!" Lucia replied.


    "Lulu, that''s enough~ let poor little Ren off the hook, he''s still just a child," Serilla spoke up in Ren''s defense.


    "I''m 14 this year..." Ren retorted in a very small voice.


    "Tsk, naughty children need to be disciplined, don''t think that just because you''re Cel''s disciple that I''ll let you off easy!"


    Ren only crossed his arm in dissatisfaction, but ultimately didn''t say anything. He wasn''t going to win, he never once did. His master would bail him out sometimes, but even then, he''d still get scolded. On the times when his master did have his back, he''d implicate his master and they both would wind up getting scolded by Lucia.


    Lucia returned to her seat in satisfaction seeing that the boy wasn''t behaving rudely anymore. Cecil only shook his head, but it was amusing to see Lucia act like a big sister. Looking at the two new members of the party, Ren and Quinn, the younger one was his disciple and the other one was his family''s self-appointed butler.


    As for how they were able to join his party, we''ll have to take things back a couple of years ago.

 Chapter 269 - Empire in the Skies

    3 and a half years ago, when Cecil and his party first arrived at the Machina Reggio Empire after making their way through the neutral territory separating the Empire and the Tempest Kingdom, they arrived at the only city located in the Empire.


    This Empire was very unique because there were no villages, towns, or any other city besides the capital city.


    When one passed into the borders of the Machina Reggio Empire, they would be greeted to a land full of mountains. The entire empire''s lands were located within a super large mountain range which had active volcanoes in it.


    The capital city, Mecca, was built over a large super volcano. This city drew power from this volcano to keep things in the city running. As for where this capital city was located, it was high up above the mountains.


    That''s right, high up above, not on, but above. Mecca was located in the skies just above the super volcano called Br¨¹tts¨¢uger. What was unique about this floating city was that it was a chain of floating fortresses connected together through teleportation gates left behind from the ancient era.


    Right when one entered the Empire, they would be teleported up into the floating fortresses in the sky collectively called Mecca from the border checkpoint. The Empire was a power filled with genius artificers that were able to replicate ancient flying fortresses and create them using modern day runic arrays, magic formations, and materials.


    They created 50 flying fortresses which roamed about in the skies of the Machina Reggio Empire in predetermined flight routes. When Cecil and the party first arrived, they were amazed at how technologically advanced the Empire was.


    Cecil especially, he was in awe of EVERYTHING the Empire had to offer. Each flying fortress was like a city of their own, but they were instead labeled as Districts and not cities. With the original flying fortress plus the other 50 created by the Empire, the superpower had 51 Districts in all and the only way to get from one district to another was via teleportation gates.


    First time visitors would arrive at district 50 and they''d be able to freely move around between Districts 30-49. The rest of the Districts were for Empire citizens only and the Imperial Family was located in District 0 which only citizens from District 1-10 would have access to.


    ******


    When the party arrived in this magnificent place, the first thing on Cecil''s mind was, "Let''s go to the Library!"


    "Aww, Cel, no!"


    "Darling come on! At least take us out on a date or something!"


    The two girls naturally complained when they saw that his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Visiting a new place that had plenty of tourist attractions in the districts they were given access to, Cecil didn''t think about taking them out to go sightseeing, instead he wanted to stuff his brain and Magic Tome full of the Empire''s knowledge.


    "Cel, you already have all that ancient knowledge from the World Tree and you even told me that the modern day''s magi-tech advancement was very lacking, do you really expect to get anything from their library that practically has obsolete knowledge? Not to mention the more important stuff is probably locked in the Imperial Family''s library!"


    Cecil was hoping to get some of the Empire''s advanced magi-tech knowledge that they developed in this age, but thinking about what Lucia had said, that kind of knowledge was most likely a tightly kept secret available only for the Empire''s most trusted people. He was just an adventurer totally unrelated to the Empire, there''s no way they''d share that kind of knowledge with him.


    "Ugh...you''re right..."


    "Darling, remember, we''re only here to stop by the Empire, we have to continue our journey soon!"


    "Y-yeah...okay..."


    "So~ since we''re here, the 3 of us should go on a date!" Serilla added as she locked arms with Cecil. She eyed Lucia and the girl immediately caught on. She flashed next to Cecil and wrapped her arm around his.


    "...You guys are just preventing me from running away..."


    "Uhuh~" The two replied in unison.


    "Sheesh, I''ll take you both on a date, but are you alright with this? Don''t you want to take separate dates?"


    "It''s fine with me~ what about you, Seri?" Lucia asked as she turned her attention to the other girl next to Cecil.


    "I''m okay with it~ let''s just go go go~!"


    "Wait! At least let''s check into an inn first! Then we''ll go on our date!" Cecil said as he quickly ordered Sleipnir to head towards the nearest inn.


    It was astonishing, but the civilization on Mecca greatly resembled that of Earth''s. All around him, Cecil could see tall buildings created from either metal or concrete. The roads were paved, they had streetlights, and he actually saw city patrol guards carrying something that resembled rifles on their backs!


    When they arrived at one of the inns inside district 50, Cecil couldn''t help but think that the inns greatly resembled that of hotels which had multiple floors and numerous rooms.


    Once they check into one of these ''hotels'' Cecil immediately went out with the girls on their date.


    "Silv, Yuna, we''re going out. We might teleport to another District, so can I ask you to stay here?"


    "Sure, Master, I guess big sis Yuna and I will go on a date as well!" Silver answered cheekily. Cecil only laughed this off as the kid acting like a cheeky little brat, but he didn''t see that Yuna was actually blushing when Silver had practically announced their relationship to the party.


    Lucia already knew about this, but Serilla was immediately surprised. Over the past half year, she did have her suspicions when she saw how intimately close the two were, but with Silver''s somewhat vague, yet straight-forward announcement, she immediately connected the dots and silently congratulated Yuna and wished the couple well.


    "Alright, Silv, we''ll be going now so you better not cause trouble for Yuna, y''hear? Yuna, please look after him!" Cecil said as he exited the hotel with the two girls.


    Silver only rolled his eyes at his master, Lucia and Serilla had already caught on, but he couldn''t believe how stupidly dense his master was.


    "Big sis, shall we go out?"


    "Hm~ How about we go back to our room? We can go on a date tomorrow~"


    ******


    Cecil took the girls out to go sightseeing. The Empire''s large flying fortresses were amazing. From down below, Cecil only saw it as a large flying castle built from steel and iron, but on the flying cities, he saw a very complex and advanced civilization. He even saw wildlife and artificial wildernesses present on the flying fortress.


    They walked past the walls separating the large city and this artificial wilderness and Cecil thought that it was pretty interesting.


    When he spread his Mana Sense into these artificially created wildernesses, he actually saw adventurers gathering materials or battling against monsters. What was surprising was that the materials being collected were pretty uncommon ones while the monsters all ranged from ranks D to S.


    He actually saw S ranked monsters leading large communities of other monsters inside the flying fortresses.


    "Woah, they''re so advanced and confident...doesn''t the Imperial family know that S ranks are pretty dangerous? Actually, all the monsters are dangerous...if one happens to evolve into a rank higher then S...it could spell trouble for the district that spawns this monster..."


    "I don''t think you need to worry, Cel... Look at those large cannons..." Lucia pointed up at the walls that were separating the wilderness and the city. "That''s the thingy you were trying to develop all this time, right?"


    Cecil turned back and saw cannons poking out of large openings on the city walls. From what he saw, those cannons looked similar to the old model of the magi-tech cannon he was currently developing.


    "Holy shit...that''s the Storm Howler Mk. I!" Cecil exclaimed in shock when he saw the real life version of the blueprints stored inside his magic tome.


    "Oh~ so that''s what it''s called... is it powerful?"


    "O-of course it is! It''s not as powerful as the one I''m developing, but these humans actually created this thing?!"


    "So darling was creating those ''battery'' things for these cannon?"


    "Well... yes, but the one I''m creating is for an enhanced version, the Storm Howler Mk. II. Theoretically, it should be a couple of times stronger than this one. However, I didn''t think it''d be possible to actually build these things using modern times'' materials and techniques... I mean¡ª" Cecil started talking about incomprehensible things that didn''t make sense at all to the girls.


    Material this, material that, technique this, crafting method that, rune formation this, and magic array that, it was all greek to the 2 girls, but they only smiled at him gently. They really loved looking at this kind of Cecil who was enthusiastically explaining things to them.


    "I''m guessing that the output is going to be the lacking compared to the ones in my blue prints, but that''s inevitable. I have to say though; the Empire''s craftsmen and artificers are really talented and resourceful to have created this thing!"


    Serilla and Lucia only nodded at Cecil''s words. They didn''t understand a single thing he was rambling on since before, but they were proud to have such a smart and capable boyfriend. As Cecil was still marveling at the large cannons, a young voice suddenly interrupted his chain of thoughts.


    "Hey! What do you mean by that? These magnificent Mag-Cannons'' power are lacking?!"


    When Cecil turned around, he saw a young boy yelling and pointing at him. He was wearing a very baggy black robe and was a little skinny for his age.


    "Hm?" Cecil looked around in confusion, but the little boy immediately quipped up, "I''m talking to you buddy! The know-it-all that just said my Empire''s cannons are lacking!"


    "Oh, I said that? You must''ve heard wrong! Hahaha, well, we''ll be on our way now. Lulu, Seri, let''s go."


    He was about to head back into the city, but the young boy from earlier blocked his path and demanded, "I''m not done talking with you!"


    Cecil raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Kid, just forget you heard anything."


    "No way! Not when you just bad-mouthed my Empire!"


    "Bad-mouthed? Kid, that''s hardly bad-mouthing anything!"


    "Nuh-uh, those cannons are the pride and joy of my Empire''s artificers! They have a¡ª" The little kid began a long tirade about the Empire''s Mag-Cannons'' specifications, and this drew Cecil''s attention in a little.


    He decided to listen to it all, but in the end, the specs were lacking compared to the one described in the Storm Howler Mk.I''s specifications.


    When the kid ended his explanation, he immediately yelled at Cecil, "They are Alterna''s most cutting edge magi-tech weapons! Yet, you just said they were lacking! What do you mean by that?!"


    "Sorry, did I say that before? I don''t recall. Anyway, we''ll be going now." Cecil played dumb and walked around the boy. The girls were only giggling at him as they followed behind. They honestly thought that Cecil would start a long explanation about what the cannon was lacking and utterly destroy the little boy''s self-confidence in the Empire''s magi-tech weapons.


    "Hey! I told you, I''m not finished with you! Don''t think that just because I''m a kid you could fool me by playing dumb!" The boy turned around and chased after Cecil and the girls. "I heard what you said earlier! The techniques and methods, also those lost materials that you listed! I can tell you''re an artificer just based on your knowledge, so explain to me what my Empire''s cannons are lacking!"

 Chapter 270 - The Artificer Prodigy

    Even after making their way into the city and teleporting to another district, the young boy kept on following after Cecil and continued pestering him for an answer.


    "Hey, Mister, give me an answer already! What was that about the¡ª"


    "Kid, just let it go. I said nothing and you heard nothing, alright? Also, I''m not that old, so don''t call me Mister!" Cecil said, cutting the boy off from finishing his sentence.


    "I can go all day, mister! I won''t stop pestering you until you give me an answer!"


    "Tsk, you''re so persistent..."


    Cecil was already starting to get annoyed by this little fellow who was practically acting as the fourth wheel to his, Lucia''s and Serilla''s date.


    Although he hadn''t intended for it, but Cecil was honestly beginning to enjoy his date with the girls, however, now someone was spoiling his fun and it really annoyed him.


    Cecil was just about to grab both Serilla and Lucia and make a run for it, but Serilla suddenly went over to the young boy and began patting his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "Hehehe~ aren''t you a stubborn little fella~"


    "H-hey! Don''t treat me like a kid!" The little boy said as he tried pushing away Serilla''s hand.


    "Oh my~ how cute~"


    When the little boy heard that he became fl.u.s.tered and started blushing in embarrassment, but when Cecil heard that... it caused him to click his tongue in annoyance and displeasure.


    "Tch, I''m obviously cuter¡ª"


    "Eh~? Is my darling jealous~?" Serilla teased when she heard Cecil voice out his displeasure.


    Although he did say it under his breath, Cecil had forgotten that with Serilla''s physique, she could easily pick up the whispering of someone who was close by. What more Cecil who was practically just standing behind her.


    "Hmph, Why would I be jealous of a kid? Hey kid, you seem to be a local, do you know where the Empire''s library is at?"


    The little boy brightened up a little when Cecil finally replied to him.


    "I''ll tell you where it''s at if you give me my answers!"


    "...Fine."


    "Cel! Are you stopping our date now?!" Lucia asked with clear displeasure in her tone.


    "What? No! I''m just asking for directions now so I can visit at a later time!"


    "I?!"


    "We! So WE can visit at a later time!"


    "Oh, that''s okay then~"


    This little girl really exasperated him, but Cecil only patted her head and turned his attention back to the kid.


    "Sure, I''ll provide you some answers so out with it."


    "Y-you better not be lying!"


    "Don''t look down on me kid, I''m a man of my word!"


    The little boy scrutinized Cecil a little bit before finally relenting.


    "Fine, I''ll tell you, the Empire''s Great Library is located in District 7."


    Hearing that, Cecil could only sigh in defeat. As he was an adventurer, he wouldn''t be able to get access to District 7 with the little bit of time he had.


    "Oh well... there go my visiting plans..."


    Cecil turned around and began walking away after the kid answered. The girls looked at him before looking back at the boy with a smile and followed after. Seeing this, the boy blanked out momentarily before realizing he had been duped. He nearly burst out in tears and was about to yell at him, but Cecil suddenly turned around when he was a couple of paces away.


    "You coming or not? Quit gawking there and follow me."


    "Wha?"


    "We obviously can''t be talking out on the road. I''m hungry and so are my girlfriends, so let''s head over there," Cecil said as he pointed to a bakery.


    The boy immediately brightened at his words and chased after the party. When they arrived inside the bakery and ordered some bread, cakes, snacks, and drinks, the boy was already impatient and began urging Cecil to hurry it up.


    "No rush, kid. Eat a little. We''ll talk as we eat."


    "O-okay..." The boy replied as he began eating a little bit of the food presented to him.


    While the girls were eating and talking among themselves, Cecil started his explanation.


    "Alright, well, here are your answers. First of all¡ª"


    Once Cecil started his detailed and lengthy explanation, the young boy had his full attention on Cecil''s words. He pulled out a small notebook and even began jotting down notes. Every detail regarding the flaw in the crafting method, battery creation and runic arrays, Cecil explained everything without missing out on a single detail.


    He did promise the kid after all, so despite him knowing that he wouldn''t be able to gain access to the library, he kept his word.


    By the time he finished his explanations, Lucia and Serilla had already finished 2 plates of the cake they ordered.


    "O-oh! I-I didn''t know about this! But that runic array and the runes described, aren''t they lost runes?!"


    Cecil merely raised a finger into the air and began drawing the runic array in the air using his mana.


    Seeing his actions, the young boy widened his eyes in shock. This was the first time he''s ever seen someone draw a runic array using only their mana. Not to mention that Cecil was doing it without using a medium like magic parchment or an artificer pen.


    "W-wow, Mister¡ªN-no, Master! Master, you''re runic technique is amazing!" The boy exclaimed with brightly lit eyes full of admiration.


    Cecil was smug when he heard his praise. So smug that he actually missed the difference in the way the boy addressed him.


    When he finished drawing the runic array, Cecil pointed at the boy''s book and the floating array shot into an empty page and engraved itself inside the book.


    "That''s the array that should be used for the battery. This runic array is something I personally developed to increase the cannon''s output while also making the battery rechargeable!"


    It wasn''t the complete battery runic array that Cecil was still in the midst of developing. It was one of his early prototypes that he already scrapped, however if the empire were to replace the arrays inside their cannons, it would boost the performance and power by at least 50%.


    The young boy had his full attention on the new runic array inside his book, but he didn''t understand a single thing about the very complex array.


    Seeing his confusion, Cecil began pointing out the runes in the array one by one and began explaining their functions. It didn''t take long before the young boy gained a partial understanding of the complex runic array.


    "W-wow!"


    "Despite what I said, your Empire''s cannons are plenty powerful enough. Besides, all of my explanations are only that regarding of ancient magi-tech cannons. Even if I was able to build one using modern times'' materials, I''m not sure I can completely replicate the power of the Storm Howler Mk. I."


    The little kid had a solemn expression on his face after listening to all of Cecil''s expositions. All of the new theories, knowledge and concepts he got from Cecil were mind-boggling to him. Most of the things the young mister, who was probably not half his artificer mentors'' age, explained to him were things he couldn''t understand, but he did know that his methods and concepts were much more advanced than his mentors.


    In all his life, he was termed as the next up and coming genius of the Empire. He was going to be the next successor of the Empire''s Great Workshop and his predecessors hoped that he''d be the person who would lead the Empire into a new era.


    As a baby, he was able to learn how to read, walk, run, and talk well before he was 3 years old. By the time he actually did turn 3, he was able to understand many complex magi-tech formulas, runic arrays, and other things regarding magi-tech creation.


    When the higher ups of the Empire''s Workshop saw such a talent, they naturally took him in and nurtured him to become their successor. In the next couple of years until now, when he hit the fine age of 10, he had been studying under the great artificers of the Empire and was constantly creating magi-tech and artifacts for the Empire. He was the Empire''s Artificer Prodigy.


    He wasn''t forced to do this. Rather, he loved learning, creating, and developing new magi-tech, but lately, he had grown frustrated with himself and his seniors.


    All the knowledge regarding magi-tech seemed a little off to him. Ever since he''s read all the books inside Royal Family''s Archives regarding magi-tech, he began feeling that the Empire''s magi-tech knowledge being insufficient and flawed. This was because of the existence of the ancient times'' magi-tech knowledge being lost from their present era.


    Although many of his seniors said that his worries were unfounded since no one could compare the knowledge of this era and the ancient era''s since the latter''s knowledge was lost, no one could determine which was better.


    They also somewhat disparaged the ancient era''s knowledge because no one knew whether or not the historians of past didn''t exaggerate the technological achievements of the ancients.


    This indeed could be the case, but the young boy didn''t believe in this. He firmly believed that the ancients'' past achievements weren''t exaggerations. The biggest evidence was the remnants of their civilization which would sometimes be unearthed all across the world.


    The techniques and runes used in these remnants were much more advanced than the present eras'' so upon seeing Cecil''s unique and obviously more advanced runes and techniques, the young boy''s passion and determination immediately ignited. He was indeed termed as a prodigy, but looking at this other young prodigy in front of him, the little boy inwardly made a decision.


    "Oh my~" Serilla smiled and began chuckling when she saw the boy''s determined expression. She had long since noticed the change in the way the boy addressed and treated Cecil. She could infer from the child''s expression that he seemed to have come to a decision with himself.


    As she predicted, the boy stood up from his seat and walked over next to Cecil before he kowtowed to him.


    "Master! Please acknowledge me as your disciple!"


    "Huh?"

 Chapter 271 - Ren Maki

    "Oi kid, the hell you doing? Get up now!" Cecil said as he picked the kid up.


    He was placed in an awkward situation, but when he picked the boy up, the little kid stayed in the kowtow position so it only looked like Cecil had picked up a bundle of clothes.


    "..."


    "Ahahaha~!" Lucia couldn''t help but laugh uproariously at the sight. She was genuinely surprised when the little boy wanted her boyfriend to acknowledge him as his disciple, but this scene was just way too funny.


    While they were eating earlier, Lucia and Serilla were already attracting the attention of many patrons because of how beautiful they were, but now their party was attracting attention in a weird way.


    "K-kid, please stop this alright? I don''t have any plans of taking on any disciples, so you can just give up now!"


    "W-why?! Am I not good enough?" The boy exclaimed when he was put back on the ground.


    "Well..."


    "I can help you get access to the Empire''s Great Library!" The little boy quickly followed up.


    "Oh? Can you now?"


    Seeing that he had succeeded in drawing Cecil''s attention, the young boy brightened up and nodded his head frantically up and down.


    "...Alright, kid, I''m listening."


    "F-first of all, sorry for the late introductions, Master," The little boy bowed deeply this time instead of kowtowing. He walked up to the table and began pouring tea for his master and offered it to him.


    "W-woah, what''re you doing?" Cecil said in puzzlement as he gazed down at the cup of tea the little boy offered to him.


    "Eh?"


    "What''re you doing?" He asked again.


    "Uhh... in the Empire, this is a gesture of a disciple acknowledging his Master! It''s a show of respect!"


    "Hold up, we don''t need that, just tell me how to get access to the library and I''ll give you a chance to be my disciple."


    "R-really!"


    "Yes, but it''s only a CHANCE, I''m not saying that I will."


    "That''s great! I just need a chance to prove myself to you!"


    Cecil nodded before he urged the boy.


    "Before that, Master, I''m very sorry for my late introductions. My name is Ren Jilbraltr Maki. You can call me Ren, master." The little boy named Ren said as he bowed deeply in respect.


    Cecil was a little surprised to see how refined his motions were. It seemed like this little boy wasn''t just any ordinary citizen.


    "Well, Ren Maki, care to explain what you meant by helping me gain access to the library?"


    "It''s simple Master. All you have to do is win the Empire''s annual Artificer Competition!"


    "Hm?"


    Ren pulled out a flyer and handed it to Cecil. Cecil looked at the contents and saw that it was for some sort of competition. The prize was 1 million gold credits alongside rare artificer materials that totaled around another 1 million gold credits, then there was the access to all floors of the Empire''s Great Library, a tour of the Empire''s Artificer Workshop, the chance to enroll in the Empire''s Great Artificing Academy, and lastly, the opportunity to sign a working contract with the Empire that''ll employ the winner as an Empire Artificer after he or she has graduated from the Academy if they were able to be admitted.


    Cecil only found the monetary reward and the library access to be appealing, but in order to get this, one needed to be the winner of the competition. There were prizes for 2nd and 3rd place, but obviously, they weren''t as great as the 1st place prize.


    Also, only the 1st place prize would grant the winner access to the library. There were some strict requirements to take part in the competition, but as long as someone got a recommendation from a trustworthy person, they''d be able to participate without going through the lengthy procedures.


    "This seems pretty interesting..." Cecil said with a smirk.


    "Oh! When is the competition?" Lucia asked as she peered at the flyer in Cecil''s hands.


    "In 3 days...wait a minute! The registration period ends today!" Cecil said in a fl.u.s.ter with he saw the deadline on the bottom of the flyer.


    "Don''t worry about that Master! We can just head on over to District 25 and register now!" Ren said in reassurance.


    "Hey Ren, if you hadn''t noticed it yet, but me and the girls are adventurers, we can''t possibly go to the District 25 which is restricted to citizens only!"


    "Don''t worry Master! With me here, we can get you registered, easy-peasy, and with how profound your knowledge and techniques are, you''ll undoubtedly win!"


    "...so this is what they meant by the recommendation...without a citizen to vouch for us, outsiders can''t participate in the competition which leaves only natives to compete..."


    "Yes, Master. This way, the Empire filters out all those wannabe artificers and unqualified people, but occasionally there are some that can participate by getting a recommendation letter from District 40''s Artificer Guild! However, they have to take a very strict test!"


    "I see...but with you vouching for me, I can skip all those procedures."


    "Yup! But not just any citizen can vouch for a participant!" Ren said with a proud smile.


    Cecil only nodded his head in understanding and affirmed that Ren''s identity really wasn''t that of an ordinary citizen.


    "Alright, let''s go then. The deadline is today so we should hurry. It''s already the afternoon. By the way, can I take my¡ª" Cecil gestured towards the two girls waiting next to him. They were staring at him like they''d chop him into pieces if they couldn''t tag along.


    "No problem Master, you can most definitely take your wives with you!"


    "Ufufufu~"


    "Heh~ you''re such a sensible little kid, Ren~" Lucia said with a bright smile while Serilla only chuckled at the little boy''s words.


    "Ren, they aren''t my w¡ªOOF!" Cecil was interrupted when Serilla suddenly jabbed him on the side.


    "Woof?" Ren tilted his head in confusion.


    "O-ow! Seri, what was that for?" He didn''t expect this. Normally, Lucia would be the one to hit him, but Serilla actually did it instead while Lucia was readying a spell to fire at his face which only caused him to break out in sweat. It was better to receive a jab instead of a lava bolt to the face.


    Seri only smiled meaningfully at him while Lucia smiled menacingly. Cecil immediately got the picture, he stood up and paid for the party''s food and quickly went out.


    "Let''s go Ren. You lead the way."


    Ren nodded happily and began leading the party to District 25. When they passed through the teleportation gate, Ren, Cecil and the girls arrived at a floating city that was totally different than the ones they were at previously.


    "This place...sure is different..." Cecil said as he observed all the tall buildings around him. Unlike the other places he visited. These buildings seemed to all be craftsmen workshops.


    "District 25 is also referred to as the Workshop District. All the Empire''s craftsmen gather and open their workshops here. This district will also be the competition venue."


    "Is the Empire''s Great Workshop here as well?"


    "Yup! It''s that large tall castle-like building looming over us!" Ren pointed at the largest building in the district which was literally towering over the rest.


    "I see, well, let''s go then."


    Ren lead the party to the Artificer Guild HQ that was located in this District and hurriedly helped Cecil sign up for the competition.


    The guild staffs were surprised when they saw the young child walk in, but they were exceptionally welcoming and respectful to him. Ren didn''t care about the courtesy and quickly made sure that Cecil''s registration was in order before bringing him out of the guild.


    "That was easy..." Cecil said as he looked back at the guild.


    "Told ya so Master! Now you can just wait for the competition to begin! There will be 3 phases spanning 3 days. The first day you will participate in the first phase, the written assessment and the second phase, the practical skills assessment. The third phase will be held during the last 2 days, Artificing!"


    "So we''ll have to create an actual magi-tech..."


    "Yup, and the one who creates the most profound magi-tech will be declared the winner!"


    "Hm... Seems easy enough, but what about the materials?" Cecil asked.


    "All materials will be provided by the empire for the sake of fairness. All the competitors have to do is pick which materials they want before the 3rd round begins and the materials will be prepared in the workshop assigned to you later!"


    Cecil nodded in understanding and looked up at the sky. It was already deep into the afternoon and it was probably high time for them to quickly get back to their accommodations.


    "We''ll part ways here Ren. It''s getting late and we should return. You should do the same as well."


    "O-okay Master..."


    "We''ll see you in 3 days."


    "A-alright!"


    Since Cecil was already participating in the competition, the artificer guild had given him a token that granted him free passage from the outer districts to District 25. So he wouldn''t need Ren''s help the next time he needed to get back here.


    Cecil bade Ren farewell and left with the girls. Once he arrived back at the hotel they were staying at, they saw Silver and Yuna come down.


    "You guys are back, Master." Silver greeted.


    "Yeah, are you two going out?"


    "Yup, we''ll see you later, Master!"


    Cecil only nodded and lightly told Yuna to make sure Silver doesn''t cause any trouble. Lucia and Serilla were envious when they saw Yuna''s glowing complexion. They were able to infer from her blissful and happy expression that they had just finished doing something ''incredible''.


    The two honed their sights at Cecil and the boy sneezed and felt a chill run up his spine.


    "The heck? Please don''t let me catch a cold right before an important event!" Cecil said as he entered the moving platform with the girls while rubbing his arms.


    He began circulating his Ki and made sure that his body was kept in a healthy state. He hadn''t once caught a cold ever since he arrived in Alterna due to the large change to his physique, but he grew worried that he might catch one now.


    Lucia looked enviously at Serilla who was next to her. She saw her sister eyeing Cecil rapaciously and she could guess what''ll happen later tonight.

 Chapter 272 - The Eager Boy

    Over the next couple of days, Cecil accompanied Lucia and Serilla to go exploring the flying fortresses as they waited for the competition to begin.


    During this time, Ren would sometimes pop up out of nowhere, most of the time ruining the girls'' date with Cecil which sort of earned him a little enmity with them. Cecil himself didn''t particularly mind because he would only stay and chat for a bit with him before disappearing, but for the girls, it sort of ruined the atmosphere.


    When it was finally time for it to start, Cecil and his party went over to District 25 and met up with Ren.


    "Master, Master, over here! Follow me to the venue!"


    "Hm."


    When Cecil took a look around, the district was bustling even more with activity. It was only during these 3 days during the whole year would District 25 be open to the public, and by public this naturally meant only those people who weren''t citizens.


    There of course would be some security concerns, but seeing the large robots and automatons patrolling the city streets while scanning all the individuals around, Cecil could only release sighs of amazement at how technologically advanced the Machina Reggio Empire was.


    From some of the things he manipulated Ren into telling him, Cecil found out that despite the Empire being so powerful, they weren''t warmongering nor did they hold the desire to expand their territory.


    This was because every one of Mecca''s Districts needed power from the main flying castle, which was District 0, in order to fully function. This power was naturally the energy drawn from the super volcano that District 0 was hovering stationary above.


    Without the power provided by the volcano, the fortresses wouldn''t be able to stay for long in the air and this was also another reason why the Empire didn''t hold any desire to expand out. Their fortresses were limited and so were their range of operations, thus, holding any more land would be useless for them.


    Ren led the party into the largest workshop in the District, the Empire''s Great Workshop, where the competition was going to be held. From all around, Cecil could see a sea of people making their way over as well.


    He noticed that while most of them were spectators, there were a select few who were participants judging by their attire and the air they exuded.


    When they got into the building, some attendants immediately noticed Ren and led the boy inside. Ren only asked of those people to quickly bring Lucia and the rest over to a VIP booth that he reserved for them and himself while he would lead Cecil over to the participants'' waiting room.


    It was amusing, but when Cecil and Ren passed by the general waiting area that was full of participants, Cecil was informed by the boy that he was given his own personal waiting room. Now Cecil was intrigued and was curious to find out just what identity this little boy had.


    "Well, Ren, it''s nice that you think so highly of me, but I won''t guarantee that I can win later."


    "I have utmost confidence in you Master!"


    "Hm~"


    "My, my~ if it isn''t little Ren," Someone said.


    Cecil turned his eyes over to the person who had intruded in the room and saw a human who was most likely a couple of years older than him.


    The young man immediately noticed Cecil, who Ren was conversing with, and cast a disdainful glance at him when the newcomer saw his attire. Seeing this, Cecil disinterestedly turned his gaze away, not bothering to acknowledge the guy.


    Ren similarly only cast a dismissing gaze at the young man before turning his attention back to Cecil and began animatedly conversing with him again.


    The young man gritted his teeth in annoyance when he saw the 2 people not bothering to acknowledge his presence.


    "Ren!"


    "What do you want Emil?"


    "...Tsk, I want to use this room."


    "Can''t you see we''re already in here?"


    "Surely you can spare some room for us? This place is big after all!"


    Ren turned his gaze behind the young man and saw 2 people, a teenaged boy and girl.


    "Suit yourself, I don''t care what you do just don''t bother me and Master," Ren replied plainly before turning his attention back to Cecil.


    Even when the boy and girl nodded to Ren as a form of acknowledgement, the little kid didn''t care and only told them not to bother him and Cecil. He placed no importance to anyone and only continued to converse with Cecil.


    He wouldn''t miss the opportunity to have a one-on-one talk with Cecil regarding artificer techniques and runes. Cecil was also explaining the basics of the ancient runes to Ren earlier before they were interrupted, so the little boy was obviously pissed when Emil and the 2 others with him suddenly barged in.


    The trio at the doorway only frowned in displeasure when they saw Ren''s dismissing attitude. He gave them no face at all, but they found the topic they were talking about quite interesting.


    "What''s this? The great prodigy Ren is actually learning from a commoner?" Emil voiced in derision.


    Being interrupted and having his master insulted, Ren immediately grew furious. Just as he was about to yell back at the imbecile, Cecil waved his finger and began casting a spell.


    He cast a Silencing Barrier and quickly cut off all the noises around them. He was enjoying the talk with Ren, but someone just had to barge in on them. The way Cecil cast his spell was similar to the way he engraved runes in the air so Ren''s attention was already fully focused on him.


    By the time he noticed that everything around him had been silenced, Ren couldn''t help but exclaim in wonder.


    "Master, what was that?!"


    "I have trouble casting spells using incantations, so that''s how I cast spells," Cecil replied.


    "You can cast spells with runes?!"


    "Well, yes, I mean, runes are what make up the spell formations of magic spells."


    "I didn''t know this!"


    "Well, now you know. That''s also a reason why¡ª"


    When the three people outside of the barrier saw Cecil and Ren''s inaudible conversation, they couldn''t help but grow puzzled at what he had just done. He only waved his hands very quickly in the air earlier and formed some kind of runic array that looked more like a spell formation before their conversation could no longer be heard by the 3.


    "What did he do?"


    "I think he put up a Silencing Barrier...?"


    "..."


    While the pair behind Emil exchanged surprised exclamations, Emil himself was gritting his teeth in anger when he saw the commoner boy dare to disparage him like that.


    He marched over next to the barrier, but as he was about to walk through, he was pushed back by a rebounding force. Cecil only eyed him for a moment before ignoring the young man. He resumed his conversation with the eager Ren and continued explaining how runes were intricately connected to magic spells.


    Emil could only stomp his feet in annoyance and sit down somewhere in the room. It wasn''t long before another pair of people walked in the room. The leading person only eyed Ren who was animatedly talking with Cecil inside the barrier before bringing his companion to sit down in the room.


    2 more groups arrived as well and Cecil finally understood that this was not HIS personal room, but a VIP room for people who got invitations or recommendations by a character of the Empire''s Workshop. He ended his conversation with Ren and immediately dispelled his barrier.


    Cecil looked around the room at his fellow competitors and knew that since these people were able to get recommendations like him, they were most likely skilled in their own right.


    "Hopefully the stuff I learned back at Magnum Artifex will be usable here..." Cecil mumbled to himself.


    He obviously wasn''t going to use his Ancient Artificer knowledge to beat his competitors. Those were things that even a prodigy like Ren was immensely attracted to, what more the other artificers in the empire. Heck, even the Empire and the Emperor himself would likely be interested.


    Cecil didn''t want any troubles. So if possible, he would try to win the competition using the artificer knowledge he got during his time working at Magnum Artifex. However, if needed, he wouldn''t hesitate to use his ancient knowledge.


    It didn''t take long before the first phase of the competition began and Cecil as well as the other competitors were gathered and separated into rooms inside of the workshop with about 20 people per room.


    They were going to take the Written Assessment and Cecil likened it to a school test. Cecil scratched his head awkwardly when he was presented a not-too-thick book that held questions which he had to answer.


    "The first phase, the Written Assessment, will test the participants'' general knowledge regarding artificing! If you can''t get 90 percent of the questions right, you will be eliminated!" The competition staff informed after everyone in Cecil''s room had received a book.


    "You may begin!"


    Cecil flipped open the book and began reading the questions. He was a little stumped when he saw that the questions were a little too basic.


    "The main and supplementary runes to the Mana Conducting Array... functions of the Shock Rune and denominations of¡ªhmm... this''ll be easier than I thought!"


    He felt a little relieved since he didn''t have to use any of the runic knowledge he obtained from the World Tree. He was bound to attract attention, but it would be better if it was only attraction due to him winning and not because of the weird concepts and answers he wrote on the test.


    As for his artificing methods he would be using later in the second phase, it was inevitable that he''d have to reveal some things, but he''d just take it in stride and make sure not to do anything too flashy.


    As for the last phase, he already had something he wanted to create, and from the information he got from Ren, the materials the Empire provided for the competition would be enough for him to complete his magi-tech.


    His finished creation would surely attract attention, but he''ll deal with that once he''s crossed that bridge.

 Chapter 273 - Recruitment

    Cecil quickly finished the test and exited the room. He was the first to finish in his room, but even when everyone noticed this, they only sneered at him in disdain.


    Being the quickest didn''t mean he knew everything on the paper. They all thought that he finished first because he only answered the questions without giving it much thought, people like him would only be eliminated in the first round of the competition.


    They were right about one thing, Cecil did answer the questions without much thought, but he had answered every single question so specifically that his paper could probably be turned into an artificer''s personal experience log.


    The examiner was an aged old man, but he looked the part of a veteran artificer. So when he got ahold of Cecil''s answers, he was planning on only flipping through the paper since he too thought that Cecil had answered his questions incorrectly, but when he saw the very detailed and lengthy answer of the very first question, he actually saw some newfound concepts in it that even enlightened him.


    He was a veteran artificer so he already had a broad understanding of magi-tech crafting and runes, but even he was enlightened by the answers that Cecil had given. The examiner immediately rushed out to try and catch the kid who had just exited, however he couldn''t find anyone in the corridor.


    "Ah, crap...these are the answers of a genius...we probably already found our winner..." the examiner mumbled. He returned back to the room and noticed that the examinees were all puzzled at his earlier actions.


    "Continue the test, don''t mind this old man."


    He sat down and began reading the rest of Cecil''s answers and couldn''t help but voice out his shock and awe as he continued reading the answers.


    "I...I have to show this to Head Artificer Sola!"


    The old man quickly rushed out of the room and went to find someone to replace him before going to the higher floors of the Empire''s Workshop.


    When he got to the Head Artificer''s Office, he immediately burst in without even knocking.


    "Head Artificer Sola!"


    In the room, a busty young woman in her 30s was currently enjoying a cup of tea as she stared proudly at the rifle on display in front of her, but was suddenly startled by the old examiner''s abrupt entrance.


    "Goddammit! Which bastard¡ª"


    "Forgive me for my rudeness, but please, you must take a look at this!"


    "Tsk, this better be worth barging into my office Osman!"


    "Please!"


    When the book was presented to Sola, she looked at the title and nearly threw the book back at Osman in a fit of fury.


    "Look at the contents before you chuck that back at this old man," Osman chuckled as he said when he saw a nerve pop on Sola''s forehead.


    "..." Sola only glared back at him menacingly, but old Osman only continued chuckling in response, not minding the clear hostility present in the woman''s eyes. This niece of hers was as fiery as usual.


    As Sola opened the book and began reading the answers, her countenance brightened visibly and her attention fully focused on the book, not minding that her uncle had sat down comfortably and poured himself a cup of tea while clearing away the snacks on the table. After reading through the book another 2 times, she put it down and solemnly looked towards Osman.


    "Whose answers are these? I see that the examiner''s name is Cecil, but I don''t find this name familiar."


    "Yes, the person who took the test seems to be an artificer outside of our kingdom who has gotten a recommendation, and what''s interesting is that the person who vouched for him is our workshop''s little prot¨¦g¨¦."


    "What?"


    Osman presented a tablet version of a MID to Sola and they saw the registration info of Cecil and his recommender, Ren Maki.


    "This kid... just where did Ren find him?"


    "I asked yesterday, but it seems that little Ren is prepared to acknowledge the boy named Cecil as his master."


    "WHAT?! That little brat! He won''t acknowledge me, but some random kid from the streets?!"


    "Ahem, I don''t believe he''s just some ''random'' nobody, it''s clear that his knowledge in Artificing and Runes are beyond our understanding."


    "..."


    "We should try to rope in this boy."


    "Yes! We should do that! Where is he now?!"


    "Well, the first phase assessment is still ongoing, but he finished very quickly and just left. I have no idea if he''s still in the venue or not."


    "Then find him!"


    "I already tasked someone to¡ªoh, speak of the devil, we just found him." Osman said as he tapped his own MID and showed it to Sola. "He''s still in the venue...but he''s at the spectator''s seat for the 2nd Phase..."


    "Let''s go," Sola said as she got up from her seat. She took her coat and dr.a.p.ed it over her shoulders and walked out. Osman closed the door to her office and trailed behind.


    In a VIP booth in the spectator area, Cecil was resting by Lucia and Serilla''s side. He got bored from waiting so he actually slept to pass the time. Ren was in the room as well. He didn''t expect his master to-be to have finished the assessment in record time, taking only 30 minutes to finish all 150 questions of the test.


    Ren was in totally disbelief at his master''s feat, but he firmly believed that his master had answered all 150 questions correctly. Ren even had one of the competition staff provide him a copy of the test for the assessment and he quickly asked for Cecil''s guidance in answering all the questions.


    For him, it was all basic questions that he could easily answer, but he wanted to see the answers from his master''s perspective of understanding. He wanted to see what and how his master answered the questions. Ren already knew not to compare his master''s methods to his own or any of the methods he''s learnt up until now.


    So after taking advantage of Cecil''s brain and kindness, he was now fully immersed in reading all of his master''s answers.


    Cecil felt a certain sense of kinship with the little kid and found him quite likeable. It was like he was looking at himself as a child so he had answered the questions using some of the knowledge he obtained from the World Tree. This way, the answers were much more profound and totally different than the ones on his original assessment paper.


    After he answered all the questions again for Ren, he immediately hugged Lucia and began resting his head on her lap. He had been spoiling Serilla lately so he thought that Lucia deserved some of his attention now.


    Just as Cecil''s mind completely relaxed and he fell into a deep sleep, the private booth''s doors were immediately swung open.


    "Is Ren and the kid named Cecil here?!" A woman asked in a loud voice as she made her way into the room.


    Ren was immediately startled and he dropped the answer book he was reading. Sola''s eyes sharply picked up the familiar book and handwriting. She focused her eyes at the answers and couldn''t help but notice that they were different from the ones she saw earlier.


    "Th-this..."


    Just as she was going to pick up the book, it suddenly flew in the air and into Lucia''s hand. The girl glared at the woman and stored the book into her spatial ring. She was angry that this woman had suddenly barged into their room so rudely and nearly disturbed Cecil''s rest.


    "Can we help you?" Serilla asked politely. She too was a little angry, but she didn''t show it.


    "M-Mentor! W-what''re you doing here?!" Ren asked as he stared fearfully at the woman.


    "Hmhm~ if it isn''t our little Ren~ I heard that you were trying to gain someone''s acknowledgement to be their disciple, hmmm?"


    "Ah...errr...Y-yes, I am! S-so what?!"


    "Ohohoho~ you wouldn''t even acknowledge me as your master...yet here you are..."


    Ren gulped and backed away from the Head Artificer as he stuttered in reply, "Y-yeah...s-s-s-s-so?!"


    Sola only nodded at him before turning her attention towards the young teenager sleeping in Lucia''s embrace. When Sola had barged in earlier, Lucia had quickly wrapped her arms around Cecil''s head and covered his ears.


    "Is this the kid named Cecil?"


    "Yeah, what about it?" Lucia replied curtly.


    "Hmph, how rude."


    "You''re the one who''s rude."


    Lucia glared at the woman and Sola only returned her gaze with an indifferently before saying, "I have business with that kid. Do you mind handing him over?"


    "Yes, I do mind."


    "If you''re looking for him for business, then why don''t you just tell us what you need from him? We''ll tell him later when he wakes up," Serilla hastily replied when she saw that Lucia was only growing more and more hostile by the second.


    "Hm? And what right do you have to inform him of MY business?"


    "The two of us are his wives. Surely, that gives us the right?"


    Sola raised an eyebrow at her Serilla''s declaration. She smirked at the young lady and said, "Really? On his registration bio, he''s single though?"


    "..."


    "Just hand him over, I''m not going to take long."


    "Hmph, no can do. I''m not handing over my husband to some rude old lady!" Lucia immediately spoke up.


    "Old...lady?" Sola''s countenance darkened when she heard Lucia''s snide remark. She circulated her mana and was about to punish the little lady, but suddenly a large golden spear of mana materialized in the air just below her neck.


    "..."


    "Lady, if you need something, shouldn''t you be ask politely?" Cecil said as he got up. He let his guard down when around his lovers so he didn''t wake up earlier when Sola had barged into the room, but when he detected the faint bloodl.u.s.t directed at Lucia, he immediately snapped awake and retaliated instinctively.


    If he hadn''t quickly noticed that the person who was emitting the faint amount of bloodl.u.s.t towards Lucia was actually a human, Cecil would have no doubt skewered the woman into the wall by now.


    Sola raised her hands, signaling that she meant no harm. Cecil quickly dispersed the Mana Lance he created and rubbed his eyes tiredly.


    "Tsk...It was the first good nap in a while..." Cecil mumbled as he looked around the room before turning his attention to the unfamiliar woman. "Do you need something?"


    "Yes, I do. Do you mind stepping out with me?"


    Cecil waved his hand and the door closed, shutting out Osman who was still standing just outside the door. "We can talk here if you want."


    "Fine..." Sola said as she quickly took a seat, she took out a unique looking crest and continued, "I''m the Head Artificer of the Great Workshop and I''m here to recruit you."

 Chapter 274 - Disciple

    "You¡ª"


    "Hahahaha! You want to recruit our Cel? Not on your life, lady!"


    Sola only glanced at Lucia before prompting Cecil for an answer, "As you can see from my badge, I represent the Empire, and I''d like to formally accept you as one of our artificers! I''m sure you''re aware of the many benefits that you can gain by joining us, no?"


    This was too troublesome, Cecil thought. He could only conclude that this lady here wanted to recruit him because of his answers on the assessment. He initially thought that his answers wouldn''t draw any attention towards himself, but it looks like he thought wrong.


    "Sorry, but I have no interest in joining," Cecil replied. He checked the time and there were about another 2 hours or so before the first assessment finished.


    He sat next to Lucia again and was about to rest his head on her lap again before Sola stood up in a hurry to persuade him.


    "Boy, do you know what you''re missing out on? You just rejected the formal invitation of the Empire!"


    "So?"


    "The Empire has always gotten what it wanted."


    "Not this time."


    "You¡ªfine then, we''ll stop here, but I do want to know where you learned about this," Sola said as she tossed his answer sheets on the table.


    Cecil only glanced at it and shrugged. "Read it in a book."


    Sola scoffed at him and probed, "Read it in a book? Knowledge like this is only found within the Empire''s Royal Library. An adventurer like you would have no access to the library in District 0!"


    "And?"


    "We recently had a Prince die out in the field, he was a renowned artificer in the Empire and many targeted his life and the knowledge inside his brain... reports say he died from monster attacks...but I''m not so sure right now," Sola said as she eyed Cecil. She knew for a fact that she was clearly only bluffing. It was a very recent event and it was true that a Prince had died while out exploring, but he wasn''t an artificer. In fact the Prince was just the washed-out trash of the Royal Family.


    His death was planned by someone higher up and it was indeed caused by monsters and had no connection with Cecil and his party whatsoever, but the knowledge which she glimpsed from the answers that Cecil had provided was something the Empire coveted. If she was right, this boy in front of her had knowledge regarding Ancient Artificing and runes because there was no way a kid at his age would have such a deep and profound understanding of Artificing if not for that.


    She was the Head Artificer and didn''t need to plead or beg for Cecil to share the knowledge with her. She had already extended an invitation for him to join the Empire and even politely asked about it earlier, but she was met with an unfavorable reply. So, she could only resort to her last method, threatening him using the Empire''s name.


    Cecil already knew that this woman was lying. She just coveted the knowledge inside his head and wanted him to make a choice, to join or be forcibly conscripted by them. There were little things in Alterna that he feared after gaining his current level of power, he and his party weren''t weak and if they wanted to, it wouldn''t be impossible for them to level a District or 2.


    "Hehehe, I know the laws of the Empire so I''m not afraid of you. Also, you want to pin the blame on me? You''re the Head Artificer, so try using your brain a little. My party and I only arrived 4 days ago, the prince died long before I arrived. Oh, and another thing. You wouldn''t be desperate to get what''s inside my head if your Empire already has it," Cecil replied scornfully.


    "Hohoho... pinning the blame is easy for someone of my stature and peerage, y''know?"


    Cecil opened his eyes and smirked at the lady. He released a little bit of his Intent and froze the space in the room.


    Sola immediately turned pale at the immense pressure weighing down on her. Her breath stifled and she couldn''t help but fall to her knees as she broke out in cold sweat while gasping for air.


    In his anger, Cecil had forgotten, about the little boy observing on the sidelines. When Ren felt the change around his master, he was immediately blasted with the angry pressure Cecil was exuding. His breath was cut short and he found it difficult to breathe or stay conscious.


    This was the first time the young boy saw the mild-mannered Cecil suddenly turn scary and as he was about to faint, Serilla immediately flashed next to him and shielded the boy from the intense pressure Cecil was exuding due to this anger.


    "Darling..."


    Cecil reeled in the minute amount of anger he had. It was more like a show of strength on his part, but he still felt a little angry that he was being threatened. The woman thought that he, being an artificer and all, was but a weakling that couldn''t fight.


    Many artificers weren''t combatants despite having high magical ability, but Cecil shouldn''t be grouped with them. To him, Artificing was only a hobby. His prime interest was always in combat and to obtain even more power through cultivation.


    He wasn''t a power-hungry villain, but having more power wouldn''t be detrimental to him at all. Cecil helped Sola off the ground and sat her on a chair. He sat across from her and eyed the pale and frightened woman before he said.


    "I don''t mind sharing the information I have, but let''s be clear about something. This is a business deal, so both sides have to give and take, alright?"


    Sola only nodded at him listlessly. "Good, so that''ll be our transaction. I give you the information I have and you give me access to the Empire''s Great Library in District 7 and the 1 million gold material rewards, but I''d like to specify which items I want. These are the only 2 things I want."


    When Cecil began talking business, Sola regained some color in her face. She thought deeply about his conditions, but she had her doubts.


    "How will I know that the information you give me is legitimate? I did just threaten you, after all, so you might try and swindle me out of spite."


    Cecil smirked at Sola, "This is why you should have approached me like you wanted to conduct a business deal. Everything in the world can be bought except for family and love, don''t you think so?"


    "..."


    "Don''t worry, I don''t like swindling others, if you can provide me with what I want, then I won''t swindle you."


    "...Fine, but is that really all you want? Judging by your skills, I''m sure you can win this competition."


    "I probably can, but now, I don''t want to."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Since from this small test, where I revealed only a fraction of my skills, I was able to attract the attention of someone like the Head Artificer, then if I win the competition, then I''m bound to attract the attention of people higher up in the food chain...I don''t want that." Cecil plainly replied.


    "..."


    "I don''t plan on lingering too long in the Empire, so I don''t want to attract too much attention to myself."


    "...Alright, we''ll have it your way."


    "Also, this kid apparently seems hung up on having me as his master. I don''t particularly mind, but I can tell he''s someone of importance so will it be a problem if he were to suddenly leave the Empire?"


    "...It... might pose some problems. He''s currently under training as the next Head Artificer Candidate. There are others like him, but Ren''s the only one who''s shown the most promise."


    "I see... Ren, where''s the book I gave you earlier?"


    "Uhm..."


    "It''s here Cel," Lucia said as she took the book out of her ring and handed over to Cecil.


    "Here, that''ll be the down payment. Once I''ve gained access into the library, I''ll hand in the rest at that time."


    "...Alright. Wait here. Let me get a contract for both of us."


    Cecil nodded and simply waited for Sola. It didn''t take long before the contract was presented to him. He didn''t quite see the need for the written contract, but it was better than a verbal agreement.


    According to the laws of the Empire, a court could be held in the case that somewhat breached the agreements stated in a contract. It was insurance on Sola''s part, but it wasn''t like Cecil was planning on reneging on their deal.


    They negotiated the terms for a long while and once they came to a final agreement, it was written that Cecil would hand over information about specific topics regarding runes and artificing while he would also take Ren as his disciple to teach and guide him until the boy reached an appropriate age where he would then come back to take the test to inherit the role of the Empire''s Head Artificer. As for Sola, using her authority she would grant Cecil full access to the Empire''s Library, grant him free passage to the Empire''s Great Workshop, and hand him the following list of materials or their substitutes, if they did not have them. She would also have to keep their agreement and exchange confidential as well as not leak any info about Cecil and his party.


    As for the consequences of breaching the contract, it was all omitted, but plainly it had things to do with a huge fine, imprisonment, and etcetera.


    Once he read over the terms and made sure that nothing was wrong with it, he immediately signed his name and so did Sola. Cecil shook hands with Sola and looked over at the little Ren.


    "You''re in luck kid. Looks like you''ll be sticking with me as my disciple."


    "Awesome! Please take care of me, Master!"


    "No probs, kid. Let''s get along in the future."


    "Yes!"


    "Alright, since we''re done here, I should get going. I have a competition to ''lose''," Cecil said as he got up to leave the room.


    "Do your best Cel~" Lucia cheered.


    Seeing that her man was planning on losing the competition purposefully, Serilla chimed in.


    "I don''t like seeing my darling lose!"


    "...shit..."

 Chapter 275 - Cecil’s New Sword

    Back then, Cecil required a lot of rare materials for a reason. On the surface, it did seem like he was losing out on the deal, but in Cecil''s opinion, he was the one winning.


    Knowledge was great and all, but what was the use of him having it if he could not use it? If he did not have the materials to implement his knowledge to upgrade his gear or create new magi-tech, then what use did he have for it?


    Cecil lost the competition later that day, but he didn''t lose because his creation lost to anyone else''s. He lost because he forfeited when he found out that his name was going to be announced as the winner. As for how Cecil found out, he had his disciple to thank for that.


    This way, he lost not because he didn''t have the ability, but because he chose to. Serilla was a little upset after this. However, she was quickly pacified when Cecil engaged in a little night-time activity with her.


    Once Sola delivered her end of the bargain, Cecil immediately fulfilled his. He didn''t give anything too mindboggling to the Empire, just some unimportant crafting methods and inconsequential ancient runes and runic arrays. Although they were not too important for him, Sola didn''t see it that way when she completed their transaction.


    Seeing Cecil''s sincere attitude in the way he conducted business with them, Sola had even forcibly appointed him as one of the Great Workshop''s honorary elder. Now, not only did he have access to the library and the workshop, he even had access to all the other districts except for District 0.


    The materials he acquired through the transaction were something that he had been eyeing ever since he saw the Empire''s Mag-Cannons.


    Cecil was already planning on developing and upgrading his Adamantium Sword, his longtime partner. He didn''t want to swap weapons and he just found the best inspiration for the modifications to add onto his sword for the upgrade after taking a look around the Empire.


    When he took a look at his disciple who had grown up to be a splendid teenager and the sword strapped to the back of his waist, he couldn''t help but smile proudly.


    Cecil''s Adamantium Sword had practically undergone an overhaul in design, functionality, and practicality. It could no longer be called just a sword, but more like a Gun Sword.


    Cecil, with the help of his disciple, Ren, had used artificing methods to redesign the blade and extended it to be much longer than it originally was. It was extended by another 30 centimeters reaching 1.5 meters in length and the gun barrel ran about half a meter long on one side of the blade which was modified to perfectly fit the barrel.


    Near the sword guard, was where the chamber was located and Cecil could load in the cartridge of the magi-tech bullets he had personally designed. Due to the limitation of how he designed the bullets and the gun, he could only load in one bullet at a time.


    The gun he designed didn''t shoot out bullets or mana like the rifles designed by the Empire, instead, they shot out magic spells.


    The bullet cartridge''s hollow insides weren''t filled with gunpowder, but were instead replaced with a small mana crystal which would be needed to activate the complex set of runes which were engraved on the walls of the cartridge. So because of this, the cartridge was pretty big, it was about the size of a chicken''s egg give or take.


    Thanks to Ren''s help, Cecil was able to quickly finish the battery that he had been developing. This battery was what supplied his magic gun sword with mana so he didn''t need to use a single drop of his mana whenever he fired the gun.


    Since the battery could store mana that was equal to 5x his mana, Cecil had redesigned and created accessories for both of his wives. This way, even in a desperate situation, the two wouldn''t run out of mana.


    He also made one for Silver, Yuna, and his family''s butler, Quinn. Ren of course, already had one since he was gifted with a magi-tech gun that Cecil had specially create for him which could fire off magic spells just like his gun sword.


    Of course, the creation of the bullets was very money consuming and since they were disposable, Cecil and Ren always had to keep on creating more. It was a good thing that Sola had gifted to Cecil one of her most prized runic arrays which she had personally developed, the replication array.


    Using this array, all Cecil had to do was provide the materials needed to create his bullets and an original finished version of his bullet. The array would do the rest by replicating the bullet using the materials he provided. He now understood why an ambitious woman like Sola could achieve her spot as the Empire''s Head Artificer.


    Sola had essentially created the Empire''s industrial production line. Sola had thought that this formation array wouldn''t be of much use to Cecil since there was probably not much he could use it for.


    It''s not like he could use it to replicate any complex magi-tech since the array itself was limited to only things that were of basic and simple design, like a bullet or parts to a cannon and such. However, she didn''t know was at the time, Cecil had already been planning to create a gun sword for himself when he saw the rifles the Empire''s soldiers had on them.


    It was a godsend for Cecil since he had skipped many of the difficult phases of creating his bullets. He currently only had 5 different types of bullets, a Lava Rain Bullet, a Geyser Bullet, a Cyclone Bullet, an Ice-Fire Barrier Bullet, and a Healing Bullet.


    He wanted to create more kinds of bullets, but for now, these were the only ones he deemed were worthy of his creation since he couldn''t engrave more complex arrays on his bullets that could be replicated by the Replication Array.


    Of course, he did create a limited amount of bullets that could invoke spells like Lucia''s Apocalypse though only on a smaller scale. He also had a bullet for Lucia''s Meteor Fall. Once again, the spell was only on a smaller scale. Despite it being on a smaller scale, Cecil could use all of Lucia''s high ranked spells with the special bullets he had created.


    These bullets couldn''t be replicated using the Replication Array due to how complex their spell formation was so he only had about 1-2 of each kind. The amount of runes needed to create the spell formation was too much for even Cecil. If it wasn''t because he wanted to at least try it out and see if it was possible to create or not, he wouldn''t have even tried creating a bullet for any of Lucia''s high ranked spells.


    In the end it did work, but Cecil never wanted to create another bullet apart from the limited ones he already had. Its creations were too time-consuming and it would take him weeks just to complete one bullet and if messed up even a little bit, he''d have to start all over again from scratch.


    As for why he upgraded his sword into a magic gun sword, it was mostly on a whim and for practicality''s sake, Cecil''s usage and invocation of magic spells during battle were a little too slow for his taste, so the instant invocation of his magic bullets were very much welcomed.


    He could easily deal with monsters using his physical abilities and mana, but he wanted more options to his attacking methods.


    ******


    It had been about a week after he had separated the party into 2 teams. Cecil was rushing so he was able to reach close to the Kingdom''s borders while riding on Yuna through the air nonstop.


    Unlike Silver, Yuna could fly through the air for as long as she wanted, at least until she was too tired to continue flying, but flying for a couple of days without rest was something that she could easily do and this was why his team was able to arrive at the border regions of Regulus so quickly.


    "Silv, I know I''m pushing your big sis Yuna, but¡ª"


    "Don''t worry Master, Yuna and I understand. Besides, you want to quickly get this trip over with and hurry on back to the wives, right?"


    "Thanks, Silv. Thanks, Yuna."


    "No problem Master."


    "It''s nothing."


    By now, Cecil had already discovered the intimate relationship Silver and Yuna had going on.


    Behind him, Ren was clinging tightly onto Yuna''s large back in fear at the moment. He didn''t think that his leisurely travels with his master would turn into a roller coaster ride through the air.


    "D-daaaammmiiiiittt! I hate flying!!!"


    ******


    While Cecil and the rest were rushing to the Revertia Holy Kingdom, Lucia and Serilla had already arrived at the next city over and heard some interesting news.


    "The War Saintesss will lead our kingdom to victory! Long Live His Highness, the Third Prince!" A person was shouting on the streets of Ahnor gathering the attention of many passersby. Ahnor was the city Lucia and Serilla were currently at.


    "Hey, Lulu, who do you think this War Saintess is? And why are they saying long live the prince? Shouldn''t it be princess?"


    "Wait, let me ask."


    Just as Lucia was about to exit the wagon, their butler immediately stopped the wagon and quipped up.


    "Madam, let me do that in your stead," Quinn jumped down from the wagon and immediately began inquiring one of the people who had stopped to listen to all the propaganda. He was able to find out a few things about this War Saintess after asking around.


    "The War Saintess is the Third Prince of the Regulus Kingdom''s Fianc¨¦e, her name is Fatima."


    "Really? Being called a War Saintess must mean she has pretty decent ability," Lucia replied.


    "Yes, not only does she have outstanding combat ability, her wits and strategies are also one of the major factors that have led the Regulus Kingdom in victory after victory. It wasn''t until only half a year ago that the War Saintess had stepped onto the battlefield to lead the kingdom''s armies. Before, the kingdom was on a long losing streak in the neutral territories and was beat back until they nearly had to fight within their kingdom''s borders, but with the War Saintess'' help, they were able to repel the Merkruz Principality''s armies and now their battles have once again remained on the neutral areas." Quinn reported.


    "Hmm... so the war situation we were able to get from the mercenary guild wasn''t all wrong then. Honestly, I thought that we might have joined the losing side, but apparently, the Regulus Kingdom still has some tricks up their sleeves." Serilla said.


    "I want to meet her! She seems interesting!" Lucia added with a grin.


    "Lulu, we can''t just meet royalty, but if she''s on the frontlines of the battlefield, I''m sure we''ll cross paths with her eventually."


    "Let''s hurry on to the capital then! We should quickly register ourselves, look for information about Cel''s family, but if there isn''t any, we''ll join the war to pass the time until Cel comes back!"

 Chapter 276 - Lending a Helping Hand

    "Madams, should I bring us straight to the capital?"


    "Yes, Quinn, by the way, how are ya holding up?" Lucia asked.


    Quinn was a little puzzled at her words, "What do you mean Madam?"


    "Well, you just decided to suddenly follow us back then. We''ve been giving you a pretty hard time..."


    "Hahaha, Madam, please don''t worry about that. It is indeed hard to accept this ''con artist'' of a guide, but every day has been fulfilling ever since I''ve been able to fulfill my family''s and mine''s life-long dream of serving a family worthy of our services."


    "Hm~, well, I won''t argue with you since you''ve constantly been helping us out and you have no connection with the Empire."


    Quinn bowed his head respectfully at his family''s Madam. This man was originally supposed to be their guide to the Merkruz Principality, but it turns out it was only a lie on his part to get close to Cecil and his family.


    At first they thought that he had ulterior motives and was an Empire spy sent to monitor Cecil''s situation and steal any of his Artificer Knowledge. Cecil didn''t care about him since he now had another helping hand around their mobile house, but Lucia and Serilla were very much protective of Cecil, especially after they had just married him and were sensitive to the people around.


    The two made things very, very difficult for Quinn at the start, but after a few events which had proved his loyalty to their family, the girls gradually accepted him as the butler of their family.


    "Well, let''s head on to the capital now," Serilla said from inside the wagon.


    "Right away Madam Serilla, Madam Lucia, all of that is in the past. Right now, I''m just genuinely glad to be of service to Master and you Madams." Quinn bowed respectfully before he urged Sleipnir to quickly head out.


    Lucia went back into the wagon and sat down next to Serilla.


    "Seri...I miss Cel already..."


    "Ahahaha~ it''s only been a week, Lulu!"


    "I know...but..."


    "He just called earlier remember. Darling and the rest are already close to the border and he''s even flying in the air on Yuna. This just shows that even he''s anxious to get back to us!"


    "Ehehehe~ yeah, you''re right. Well let''s also hurry to the capital. Hopefully we find something related to Cel''s family later."


    "Mhmm..."


    ******


    Two days later, while Lucia was heading over to Regulus Kingdom''s Capital. She looked over to the east of their present location and couldn''t help but marvel at the long mountain range that they''ve long since seen during their journey here.


    It was her first time seeing it closer up. These mountains have been looming over the party since the latter half of her journey. They first noticed the long mountain range only after they had exited the Machina Reggio Empire''s lands and entered the neutral lands between the Empire and the Merkruz Principality.


    "Seri, that''s the Sky-Piercing Mountain Range, right?"


    "Yup, we''ve been constantly hearing about it during our travels. It spans through the entirety of Midgard''s central regions, just like how the World Tree''s branches and roots span through the entirety of Urrugdrasil Continent''s central lands," Serilla responded to her sister''s question.


    "Wow, I''m guessing that all the continents have something like this in their lands, huh?"


    Serilla only shrugged and replied, "Maybe."


    "Madams, the capital city is about a week away. We''ll be traveling a little bit closer to the mountain range, so you''ll be able to see it much more clearly."


    "Thanks for the update, Quinn!"


    Quinn nodded before turning his attention on the road. Up ahead he couldn''t help but notice that an entourage of people was being assaulted by a large group of monsters. He once more turned back to the interior and informed Lucia and Serilla of the situation.


    "Madam, up ahead there seem to be a few people being assaulted by a pack of monsters. The monsters seem to be Undead, should we help them?"


    Lucia immediately poked her head out to see the commotion, seeing the group of people being pushed back by the horde of skeletons and zombies; she couldn''t help but feel a little giddy.


    "Neh, Seri, let''s go help them!"


    "I bet you just want to fight, Lulu."


    "Y-yeah, but still, we should help them!"


    Serilla sighed when she saw the eager girl getting her weapons ready for battle. It had been a long time since they''ve met any real action, so it was understandable that Lucia had been growing restless.


    "I''ll be off then Seri~"


    "Take care, and make sure you don''t stain your clothes too much! We''ll have a hard time cleaning it later!"


    "Alright!"


    Over in the distance, the knight-like people that were currently combating the large horde of undead immediately noticed the large steel wagon heading in their direction. The commander had to hastily come to a decision, the people inside the carriage they were escorting was of very high peerage and if anything were to happen to them, they''d have most likely had to offer up their heads.


    "C-Commander, what do we do? If this keeps up, we''ll probably be overrun!"


    "...Be prepared, we''re going to forcibly break through the front! We''ll drag those skeletons over to the wagon that''s approaching and use them to buy us time to get away!"


    "S-sir?!"


    "We have no other choice! If the lady were to come down from the carriage and take care of this for us, then what''ll we have to answer to his highness when we meet them on frontlines later?!"


    "..."


    "Get ready."


    "Commander," A woman''s cold voice resounded from within the carriage. "I just heard what you said, are you sure that''s the only option?"


    "M-Milady, please, you have to understand. We can''t have you stepping out of the carriage. Please stay inside and protect her highness!"


    "...Fine, but I''ll be reporting this later."


    "Y-yes..." The Knight Commander said as he broke out in cold sweat. He couldn''t help but curse at the Necromancer that had summoned this horde of undead. The knight commander had already deduced that these monsters were familiars from a strong necromancer because there was no way that his horde of undead would have appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the day.


    If they had sprung out suddenly during the night, then he would attribute this attack to their bad luck, but with circ.u.mstances as they seem, this was a preplanned attack to hinder their entourage from reaching the frontlines in the neutral territory.


    The only way around this was to break through the encirclement and use the approaching wagon as a decoy for them to make their escape.


    "On my signal!" The Knight Commander immediately rallied his knights when he saw the wagon drew closer. To his surprise, he noticed a beautiful young lady standing on top of the peculiar wagon wielding 2 weapons in both hands with one of them pointing in their direction.


    "Hold!"


    ''Just what in the¡ª''


    His thoughts were immediately interrupted when large spell formations began appearing in the air the peculiar-looking wagon, and then large flaming meteors began materializing from those formations before they rained down from the sky.


    The young lady seemed to have yelled out something, but the knights couldn''t hear it over the sound the large explosions happening all around them.


    A frightened shriek could be heard from inside the carriage the knights were protecting. That shriek was raised by the other individual inside of the carriage. After the large explosions from the meteors impacting the ground subside, the other woman inside the carriage immediately began inquiring the commander.


    "What''s happening Commander?!"


    "M-Milady, t-there''s nothing to be worried abo¡ª"


    The door to the carriage immediately opened up and a young woman immediately exited. She coldly glanced at her surroundings and began analyzing the situation they were in. Seeing the large horde of skeletons, she frowned in displeasure.


    "I should have brought my men with me..."


    "L-Lady Fatima, please, don''t step ou¡ª"


    "Quiet, Randolph. You guys may be the Knight Squadron assigned to protect me, but it''s not like I have to obey you."


    "M-Milady!"


    "I know you mean well, but I''m not about to sit around and do nothing, so step aside," Fatima said as she coldly eyed the middle-aged commander.


    "Y-yes..."


    "C-commander! L-look! Th-that girl, S-she''s¡ª"


    "What?! What happened?!"


    Upon hearing that a girl had stepped out to battle, probably from the wagon that had been approaching them earlier, Fatima immediately rushed out to battle, however, just before she could jump into the fray, she couldn''t help but widen her eyes in surprise when she saw the large horde of undead being systematically burnt into ashes, frozen into popsicles, and disintegrating into nothingness from the attacks from the girl darting around the battlefield.


    Lucia flipped in the air and landed a distance away from Fatima, she immediately sheathed her kodachi and readied her katana. She gripped the handle with both hands and spun around while slashing out with an Ascending Blade, completely disintegrating all the undead in front of her.


    "Hehehe~ this is too~ easy."


    Fatima who was behind her couldn''t help but gasp in shock when she saw the clean sweep of the girl''s blade that erased all the monsters in front of them.


    Lucia looked around and made sure that there were no undead around them before she sheathed her katana. She had sent her Meteor Fall at the rear of the carriage that the knights were protecting earlier so she had cleared out all the undead attacking them from behind and she dealt with all the undead in front.


    Seeing that she had finished her job, Lucia started walking back to the Wanderer while humming happily.


    "W-wait!"


    "Hm?"


    Hearing a woman''s voice call out to her, Lucia immediately turned around and saw a lady that at first glance she thought looked pretty similar to Cecil.


    "Huh?"


    "Ahem, I thank you for coming to our aid."


    Seeing the black hair on the woman in front of her and her beautiful, melodious voice, Lucia smiled back and said, "No problem~"


    "D-do you mind? I would like to thank you somehow!" Fatima replied.


    "Ahaha~ no worries! You look pretty similar to my husband so just take it as me doing a good deed! I have to be going now, I''m running on a tight schedule and I have to get to the capital!"


    Seeing that Lucia was insistent on not receiving any rewards for rescuing them, Fatima immediately rushed forward and grabbed onto the girl''s hand.


    "May I ask what do you need to do at the capital? My companion and I may be able to help you with that! Please, don''t reject our offer. A favor must be repaid in kind so please allow us to help you!"


    "Companion?"


    "Yes, I''m traveling to the neutral territory with a friend, but as I said, we can probably help you finish whatever business you have at the capital if you mention our names!"


    "Well...if you insist, by the way I didn''t quite get your name yet did I! My name''s Lucia!" Lucia said as she struck out her hand in greeting.


    The Knight Commander had already approached them from behind and was vigilantly monitoring the surroundings. He couldn''t help but frown at the young lady''s attitude as she addressed Fatima.


    Fatima didn''t pay it any mind. She smiled when she was finally given the okay to repay this young lady''s kindness for saving them.


    "Nice to meet you Lucia, my name''s Fatima."

 Chapter 277 - The War Saintess and the Quirky Princess

    Once Lucia heard the woman''s introduction, she couldn''t help but grow excited and immediately ask, "Fatima? Does that mean you''re the War Saintess?!"


    "Huh? Oh...uhh, well that''s what the people have been calling me lately..." Fatima answered a little bashfully.


    She found the nickname and the title a little too overwhelming and embarrassing for her taste. Just because she had planned out a good strategy and guided the battle in the Regulus Kingdom''s favor she was now being dubbed as the War Saintess and the Saintess of the Battlefield for some reason.


    Behind her, the knight company that was tasked to protect her had walked over with Fatima''s companion being protected in the middle.


    The young lady walked over to Fatima and asked in a frightened tone, "Big sis, a-are we okay now?"


    "We''re fine now Karen, this lovely young lady helped us out earlier and cleared away all the monsters," Fatima gestured towards Lucia who smiled back at the newcomer.


    Karen''s face immediately brightened when she saw Lucia''s beautiful face and figure. She quickly approached the girl and grabbed onto her two hands and said, "Thank you very much for saving us!"


    "Haha, no problem~"


    "I''d like to ask, but would you like to be my lover?!"


    "Eh?"


    "W-wait, no¡ª" Fatima sighed in exasperation when she forgot to restrain her dear friend from making any weird remarks.


    It had to be known that the First Princess of Regulus was a little quirky and eccentric. She loved and coveted both s.e.xes and didn''t find it weird to fall in love at first sight at a beautiful person.


    On the side, Quinn immediately dashed forward and separated Lucia and Karen before taking a step back behind Lucia. The knights around immediately moved forward with their hands on their weapons when they saw the rude actions of the man who was now standing subserviently beside Lucia.


    "You! Do you know who you''ve just offended?!" The Knight Commander said as he moved to unsheathe his sword, but he immediately froze in place when he saw the sharp glare Quinn had sent him.


    The pressure he felt just then was like a predator that was staring down at his prey. If he had unsheathed his weapon earlier, he felt that his throat or wrist might have been immediately cut in the next instant.


    "Ah! M-my apologies! Quinn, what the hell are you doing?!"


    "My mistake Madam," Quinn said as he bowed in apology to Lucia.


    "You shouldn''t be apologizing to me!"


    Quinn only turned to look at Karen, who flinched when he cast a cold look at her before he bowed slightly without saying anything.


    Lucia nodded her head in approval and turned to look at Fatima and Karen. "Sorry about that! Our family''s butler is a little protective, so I hope you''ll forgive us for our offense!"


    "Don''t worry. It was our mistake in the first place. Karen, show a little restraint will you!"


    "Eheheh~ sorry Sis, I was just so smitten by her beauty~"


    "..." Lucia looked back at the blushing girl in confusion, but suddenly something popped into her head. "Oh! So you like women?!"


    "!"


    The Knights around her couldn''t help but grimace and frown in displeasure when they saw Lucia address their Princess'' quirk so openly.


    Karen only laughed it off and affirmed her statement. "Yes~ I like all things beautiful! So, how about it? Would you like to become my lover? I promise I''ll treat you well~"


    "Ahahaha~ sorry, but I''m married you see~" Lucia happily responded as she showed off her wedding ring.


    "Ah, what a pity," Karen regretfully replied.


    Fatima was relieved that Lucia wasn''t disgusted with her friend''s behavior, but she had to immediately address the reason why her friend had come out of the carriage when she specifically told her not to get out.


    "Karen, didn''t I tell you not to get out of the carriage?"


    "Sorry, Ima, I didn''t mean to, but the knights said it was no longer safe to stay inside the carriage since it had broken down!"


    "Huh?"


    "The back wheel of the carriage was struck by debris and broke!"


    Lucia immediately leaned to look at the broken carriage behind the group and saw the large chunk of earth that had flattened the rear while of the carriage and grimaced.


    "Oooh...sorry, my bad..." Lucia said apologetically. Her reckless use of Meteor Fall had accidentally broken down their carriage.


    Fatima only responded that it wasn''t her fault. It was something unavoidable since the magic spell she had used was a little too powerful and had erased all the undead attacking them from the rear so they should be grateful for that instead.


    Better the carriage than their lives.


    "Commander, it looks like we''ll have to travel to the front line on horseback. Release the horses that were pulling the carriage, me and Karen will ride them!"


    "But...Milady,"


    "We''re only a couple of days away from Ahnor, we''ll get a new carriage there!"


    "Yes, Ma''am..."


    Lucia heard about their predicament and their objective so she couldn''t help but ask, "You guys are going to the frontlines, right?"


    Fatima turned her attention to the girl and replied, "Yes, that''s where we''re heading."


    "Ah! Then that''s great! You see, we''re a mercenary group that''s decided to join the Regulus Kingdom''s side for the war!"


    "Oh? Is that why you are going to the capital, to register your mercenary company?"


    "Yup~"


    "I see..." Fatima took a look behind the wagon but frowned when she saw no other wagon or transport following behind this large and strange...steel wagon.


    Seeing this, Lucia immediately spoke up.


    "We don''t have anyone else, our mercenary company is a small group of only elite individuals~"


    Fatima raised an eyebrow at the confident words of this young lady while the knight commander and the other knights only let out looks of disdain or scoffed at Lucia''s words.


    Lucia immediately reached out behind her and pretended to pull out something from her pocket and showed it to Fatima. It was their party''s mercenary ID card.


    When Fatima saw the mercenary group ID, she couldn''t help but be surprised that Lucia''s confident words had some merit to it. Their mercenary company, the Wanderers, was a platinum ranked mercenary company that only had 7 members.


    Before she could read the names of the 7 individuals, Karen immediately snatched it from her and couldn''t help but exclaim aloud when she saw the info on the card.


    "Woah! You guys are a platinum ranked mercenary company!"


    The knights around them couldn''t help but do a double-take when they heard their Princess'' words.


    Lucia smiled smugly at their surprise and asked for her card back. Karen immediately handed it over carefully and the knights couldn''t help but be more respectful when they faced this delicate-looking girl who seemed pretty harmless.


    "...Now there''s another woman who''s just as unreasonable as our War Saintess..."


    Fatima wanted to take a look at the ID card again because she thought she caught sight of a familiar name on it, but she decided against it. It was a little disrespectful, but now that she understood why Lucia wanted to head to the capital, she found the perfect way to repay her kindness of saving them.


    "Well, as you now know, I''m the War Saintess, I can immediately enlist you in our army under my name. You won''t have to travel to the capital to complete the registration procedure."


    "Really? That''s great then! Well, I guess since that''s the case, we can also give you a ride on our wagon to the frontlines!"


    "I was just about to ask that, we agree then?"


    "Yeah, I was going to offer a ride anyway, but with this, we can save time~"


    Fatima nodded and Karen was delighted at being able to travel with the beautiful lady. She was a little saddened when she found that she was married, but traveling with a beautiful lady still uplifted her mood a bit.


    When Fatima had finished the arrangements and had the knights gather the personal items inside the carriage that she couldn''t hold inside her spatial ring, Quinn insisted on bringing the belongings onto their wagon.


    He didn''t want the knights to see the interior or even dirty their home with their presence. He didn''t like the incompetent knights who put her family''s First Lady in danger so he didn''t want them to step into their house.


    When Lucia and the 2 others stepped into the wagon, Fatima and Karen couldn''t help but exclaim at the large decorated and homely space inside.


    "What''s this?! H-how come, how come..." Karen was rendered speechless at the sight of the interior which was completely different to how it should appear when they looked at it from outside.


    During their travels across Midgard, Cecil and Ren had been constantly upgrading the Wanderer and continued expanding the space inside. It was literally like a small home inside the wagon now after the multiple upgrades.


    The central partition was now totally like a living room, the kitchen and dining area was separated but still located on the west side of the carriage while the rooms were still located on the east with there being a total of 5 rooms now instead of 2.


    2 of the 3 new rooms were Ren and Quinn''s bedrooms while the last room was Cecil and Ren''s small little workshop. The bathroom which was originally located in the central partition had been moved to the east side and the space inside was further expanded to accommodate a larger bathtub and showering area.


    The girls requested this from Cecil because after they were married, they always wanted to enter the bath together with him, but since the previous bathroom was a little too small for all of them, so Cecil and Ren expanded it together using the new spatial runic array that they had developed from tweaking and upgrading Anna''s spatial array.


    Lucia looked proudly at them and said, "This is our wagon, but at the same time it''s our home!"


    "H-home?" Karen asked while looking around in excitement.


    "Yup, it''s all thanks to my husband that we can live so comfortably while traveling around!"


    "You guys like to travel?" Fatima asked.


    "Yup~"


    "I see, that seems nice," Fatima replied with a smile. There was a little tinge of envy in her voice, but she had masked that pretty well.


    Upon hearing the unfamiliar voices coming from the entrance, Serilla stepped out of her room while drying her hair. She had taken a bath earlier while Lucia was out eliminating all the monsters.


    It wasn''t that she was heartless and left Lucia to deal with the horde of monsters, but she thought it was overkill to go out with her sister to deal with that measly bunch of D-B ranked monsters.


    "Lulu?"


    The 3 girls turned their attention towards the newcomer and once again, Karen''s eyes brightened as she lovingly stared at the beautiful woman who had just walked out of the east wing of the wagon home.


    Seeing this, Fatima immediately placed a hand on her shoulder and held her in place. Karen could only look back at her friend in dismay, but Fatima only whispered to her, "Be respectful! They offered us a ride, we shouldn''t be rude!"


    "Okay..." Karen was a Princess, so she was used to behaving imperiously.


    Serilla walked over next to Lucia and eyed the two unfamiliar women.


    "Seri, these are the two people that I just rescued earlier from the monsters! Guess what, she''s the War Saintess, Fatima!" Lucia said as she introduced Fatima to her sister.


    Serilla made a surprised expression and greeted Fatima amiably, "Nice to meet you, Lady Fatima, my name is Serilla. It is a pleasure to meet you, War Saintess."


    Her noble-like introduction had Fatima responding similarly to her introduction. She couldn''t help but be surprised at the way this new girl carried herself. Fatima deduced that this wasn''t your ordinary mercenary party.


    Besides being a platinum ranked company that had an individual as strong as Lucia, it also had a butler who was strong in his own right and another woman who had obvious noble upbringing and an air of confidence around her.


    This air of confidence didn''t lose out to her friend Karen''s, so Fatima couldn''t help but assess the woman in front of her who seemed to be close to her age and think that maybe this girl too was a princess?


    Karen immediately similarly introduced herself and since it was her first introduction, Lucia and Serilla couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow when they learned of her name.


    "Karen Regulus...so you''re part of the Regulus Kingdom''s royalty?" Serilla asked.


    "That''s right, now with the introductions out of the way¡ª"


    "Karen, no¡ª"


    Too late, Karen had dashed in front of Serilla and grabbed onto her hands and immediately asked, "Beautiful Miss, would you like to become my lover?!"

 Chapter 278 - The War Saintess and the Quirky Princess 2

    Unlike with Lucia, Karen was asking Serilla with eyes full of l.u.s.t. Although Lucia was beautiful in her own right, but Karen could instinctively feel that this lady in front of her was a ''woman'' in a different sense.


    She felt the same vibe exude from Lucia earlier, but Serilla was exuding a more womanly air than her. As her breathing grew heavy and her gaze turning more and more l.u.s.tful, Fatima and Quinn each grabbed onto one of her ears and pulled her away from the confused girl who was at a loss at what to do.


    It was only until Lucia whispered something into her ear that Serilla immediately understood what Karen was implying earlier.


    Karen was a little despondent after being pulled away from Serilla, in all honesty, she wanted to devour the beautiful woman right in front of her, but with the butler''s piercing glare and her friend''s chilling gaze, Karen knew that if she were to act up, things would not end well.


    After being stared at so l.u.s.tfully by a person, Serilla only chuckled and couldn''t help but lament.


    ''If only darling looked at me like that~''


    "Well, if these two friends are going to be traveling with us, I guess we should get going, yes?" Serilla stated gently.


    Her words helped dispel the chilling and awkward atmosphere looming in the air. Quinn only cleared his throat before he began moving to the wagon''s driver seat.


    "Ah, Quinn, I have a task for you," Lucia said as she stopped the butler.


    "Yes, Madam?"


    "Well, since we''re going to head back to the neutral territory from here, I need someone to continue ahead towards the capital and look for information about Cel''s family."


    Quinn immediately nodded his head in understanding. He was just about to agree, but immediately turned a menacing glare towards Karen before saying, "Will you be okay by yourself Madam?"


    Lucia only smiled and turned to look at Serilla who was now conversing amiably with their 2 guests. "Don''t worry, we can manage."


    "Alright, Madam, I''ll get it done swiftly and return to your side."


    "I''ll give you 3 days to look around the capital, if by then you still can''t find any information about Cel''s family, immediately come back to regroup with us."


    "Yes, Madam," Quinn replied as he bowed down before disappearing from the wagon in the next instant.


    His sudden disappearance startled Fatima and Karen, but Serilla had overheard Lucia and Quinn''s exchange so she quickly reassured the two that everything was fine.


    "So...you did have business in the capital other than enlisting your mercenary company," Fatima said as she looked a little bit regretful.


    "Don''t worry about that. Our butler will naturally take care of things." Serilla replied.


    "Seri, I''ll be manning the wagon, so please entertain our guests."


    "Mhm."


    Lucia sat down on the driver''s seat and immediately steered Sleipnir back towards Ahnor. The plan was to only rest up for a day before they immediately set off for the neutral territory and regroup with the frontline army being led by the 1st and 2nd Prince.


    "I heard that you''re engaged to the 3rd Prince, Fatima, where is he? Is he not traveling with you?" Serilla asked as she began making conversation with Fatima and Karen.


    "He''s already waiting for us at the border. We''ll meet up with him and together, we make our way to the main army."


    "I see."


    "Nevermind about us, let''s talk more about you!" Karen interjected.


    Serilla merely chuckled at Karen''s pushy behavior. She gently smiled and asked, "Wait a moment, let me get some snacks and refreshments from our kitchen."


    Once Serilla came back with a few plates of snacks and drinks that Lucia had created for the party, Fatima couldn''t help but feel a sense of familiarity from them.


    ''...Chocolate cookies, potato ch.i.p.s¡ªwait isn''t that pizza?! Also, isn''t this soda?!''


    Fatima felt a little overwhelmed when she saw all those familiar foods and drinks from her world. When she picked up a few ch.i.p.s and bit down on a slice of pizza and took a sip of the soda Serilla poured out for her, Fatima nearly burst out into tears at all the nostalgic tastes.


    The one thing the earthlings in her kingdom regretted was that they hadn''t found a way to replicate the foods of their past world because of the limitation in their understanding of their current world''s plants and animals.


    Everything in the kingdom was moving along a good track, but only the food and beverage area was still in a deadlock.


    Monster meat and the native plants and vegetables were good and all, but it was slowly growing bland as time passed by. Being in an isolated area, the kingdom didn''t have much access to the widespread of ingredients outside of their lands.


    Things only made a turn for the better after the kingdom was formally acknowledged as a power of the continent, but trade relations were still only ongoing with the Regulus Kingdom so the items they could get were still limited.


    Seeing Fatima, a grown woman with a clear cold disposition, suddenly tear up after ingesting the snacks Serilla had prepared, she couldn''t help but grow worried and astonished.


    "I''m sure Lulu had just made these yesterday... could they be spoilt already?!"


    "D-don''t mind me Serilla," Fatima said as she cleared away the tears welling up in her eyes. "It''s just, this food is a little nostalgic so I couldn''t help but tear up, ahahaha~"


    "O-oh..."


    Karen who was on the side was stuffing her face, but elegantly befitting that of a Princess. However, even she was shocked when she saw her friend suddenly tear up out of nowhere.


    After gulping down the snacks in her mouth, she immediately asked worriedly, "A-Are you sure you''re okay, Ima?"


    "Don''t worry I''m fine. Like I said, the taste was just so nostalgic that I was reminded of things," Fatima replied as she smiled brightly before she began putting more of the snacks into her mouth.


    Serilla smiled when she saw her guests enjoying the hospitality, but Karen was shocked to the core when she saw the bright and wide smile Fatima had let out earlier. Karen was sure that even her brother has never seen this fianc¨¦e of his smile so brightly.


    Karen was about to say something, but seeing that her friend was slowly clearing away the table of snacks, she threw her thoughts to the back of her head and exclaimed, "Hey, no fair!"


    "Don''t worry, there''s still more," Serilla laughingly replied.


    "Anyway Serilla, can we get back to what I was asking you earlier? Tell us about yourself, about your party!" Karen urged. She didn''t have any ulterior motives when she asked this. She was just purely curious about this beautiful woman that she had set her eyes on.


    "About our party? Hmmm...well, all I can say is that our party is not much of a party. It''s more like a family~"


    "Family? Tell me more!"


    Seeing her pure curiosity, Serilla didn''t mind divulging some things about their family.


    "Well, first of all, you should know that in our party, I''m the second wife, while Lucia is the first wife."


    "Eh?"


    "What?"


    Serilla raised her hand and showed off her wedding ring as she bashfully said, "Lucia and I are sisters tied together by our marriage to our husband."


    "NOOOOOOOO!!!" Karen wailed aloud in frustration.


    "K-Karen?!"


    "?"


    "What''s wrong?!" Lucia shouted from the front.


    Serilla didn''t expect Karen to suddenly burst out like that. She suddenly saw the girl tear up and Fatima was holding her head in exasperation as she hugged her in consolation.


    "I-I...I thought that...that you were unmarried..."


    "Oh? What made you think that?"


    "W-Well..."


    "Ufufufu~ our husband is just that great, actually I was the third wheel in my sister''s relationship one time, but our husband was able to acknowledge me before we eventually got married."


    Fatima was still a little unused to the ethics of this world despite having spent almost 6 years in it. Seeing that Lucia and Serilla had no disputes amongst each other, she couldn''t help but inquire.


    "Is your married life going good for you both? I mean, you two sisters don''t get into fights over your husband and stuff?"


    "Hm? Oh no~ Lulu and I already have an understanding. We''ve been friends for a while so our relationship between us has been good. We do argue sometimes, but it''s never related to our husband."


    "I see...can you tell me a little about your husband? He seems to be quite the capable man since he''s able to tie down 2 women of your ability."


    Karen, who was exasperated since she heard that Serilla was already a married woman, wouldn''t stand for it. She didn''t want to hear about the person who had ''stolen'' away the two beauties she had just met. "Who cares about that Casanova! Grr...I still can''t accept that he''s stolen away two beauties from me!"


    "Karen, these two were never yours to begin with..."


    "I don''t care!"


    Serilla only laughed at the two girls'' banter. This wasn''t the first time that Cecil had acquired a love rival, but it was the first time that he acquired a love rival that was of the same s.e.x as his wives, so it was amusing in Serilla''s eyes.


    The group, alongside their knight escort, quickly made their way towards the border. They had rested up at Ahnor for only a day before departing early the next morning.


    It took them a little over a week to arrive back at the neutral territory border.

 Chapter 279 - Another Silvaria

    When the entourage arrived at the border, Fatima guided them towards the rendezvous point that she and the Third Prince had agreed upon beforehand.


    Just before they got there, Fatima was a little surprised that her two new companions weren''t asking questions or getting excited at the chance to meet a prince like her fianc¨¦.


    "Uhm, you guys aren''t going to ask me any questions about my engagement?" Fatima asked.


    "Huh?"


    While Lucia only responded with a questioning look, Serilla asked her what was up.


    "Why would we, Fatima?"


    "Ahahaha, no reason really," Fatima chuckled at the two girls'' lackadaisical response before continuing, "Most of the people who get to meet the Prince through me always get giddy in excitement or have some other motive in approaching the Prince."


    "Really now?"


    "Well, yeah, most of the time at least."


    Lucia scratched her cheek and said, "Well, we''ve had our fair share of princes and princesses so we''re not too bothered by it. Oh yeah, you''ll have to excuse our disrespect later."


    "No worries about that. Rowan doesn''t care all too much about formality and etiquette," Fatima replied.


    "Haha, great!''


    "Lulu, even though Fatima said that we should still be mindful of the way we speak and greet the Prince later! In fact, don''t speak! Only speak when you''re spoken to!" Serilla reminded seriously.


    "Okay~"


    Fatima only let out a wink of a smile when she saw the refreshing way these two girls interacted with each other. Even though they were married to the same man, they treated each other amicably and with respect.


    Fatima could tell that it wasn''t just a front that they put on to impress outsiders. These two were genuinely friends, best friends even. She couldn''t help but wonder just which formidable person was able to subdue and chain down these two women.


    ''Must be one heck of a person, I never got their husband''s name though.''


    With that thought in mind, Fatima was just about to ask the girls, but suddenly a voice interrupted her from outside the wagon.


    "Milady, I believe we''ve arrived at the rendezvous point, I can see the Prince''s entourage, but they seem to be under attack!" Knight-Captain Randolph urgently reported.


    Fatima had to shelve her inquiry as she immediately went over to the driver''s seat and observed the situation her fianc¨¦ had fallen into.


    In the distance, she could see the Prince''s entourage being attacked by a mix of monsters and humans. If she didn''t see it incorrectly, the humans attacking the prince had the Merkruz Principality''s coat of arms imprinted on their armor.


    "It''s an ambush! Hurry! We have to support them!"


    "As you command! Men! Charge!" Randolph immediately ordered.


    Lucia walked out of the wagon and ordered Sleipnir to follow suit. She had left the wagon on ''autopilot'' earlier. Sleipnir was a smart monster so he didn''t need anyone to drive him.


    Upon receiving his order, Sleipnir immediately let out a loud, excited cry and charged forward.


    Lucia flipped up to the roof of their wagon and aimed her finger at the enemies in the distance. Serilla, who had just arrived outside, looked up towards her and reminded, "Lulu! Be careful not to hit any friendlies!"


    "Don''t worry! I''ll use Hyper Sensitivity to guide the laser!"


    "What? What is she doing?" Karen asked when she saw the weird stance Lucia was in.


    Fatima widened her eyes a little, she was all too familiar with that pose.


    ''Is she...shooting something?''


    In the next instant, a large concentration of mana began to visibly gather at the tip of Lucia''s finger. Once she locked onto the monster with the strongest mana signature in the distance, she immediately fired off her Laser.


    "BANG!"


    In the next instant, a thin, concentrated beam of purple-colored mana shot into the distance. It curved in the air a little before striking true at the monster Lucia had been aiming for.


    The Prince and his assaulters had long since noticed Fatima''s group arrive in the distance. The attackers had stepped up their efforts, but the purple beam that suddenly struck the S+ rank monster in their midst had put a momentary halt to the battle.


    "W-what?!"


    Seeing the monster hit by the beam and immediately disintegrating into nothing, the Merkruz Soldiers as well as Prince Rowan''s soldiers were dumbfounded.


    It wasn''t until more lasers began firing off from the distance that the dumbfounded people snapped out of their shock and began scrambling around.


    "SHIT!"


    "NO RETREAT! WE HAVE TO AT LEAST KILL THE PRIN¡ª" The shouting commander was immediately struck with a laser and silenced in the next instant. With his death, this only hastened the turmoil and confusion within the Merkruz soldiers'' ranks.


    Prince Rowan''s troops capitalized on this opportunity and pressed their attack. Now it wasn''t them on the back foot.


    Lucia retracted her hand and stretched her body a bit.


    "Phew, let''s get some exercise in."


    "I''ll be heading out first~" Serilla said as she eyed her sister.


    "Eh? Aww...okay..."


    "You''ve had your fun, Lulu~"


    "Fine..."


    Lucia immediately sat down and sent her sister off. Karen and Fatima were confused by their actions, it wasn''t until Serilla jumped onto Sleipnir and kicked off his back and vanishing without a trace that they understood what was happening.


    "L-Lucia?! Are you letting Serilla go out on her own?!" Karen exclaimed in shock and worry.


    "Look," Lucia replied as she pointed at the distance.


    "!"


    Over by Rowan''s side, he was surprised to see that a pink-haired lady had suddenly appeared above their formation. He immediately ordered his soldiers to defend and prepare for an attack from the newcomer, but what happened next shocked him.


    Serilla had flashed from the wagon to the airspace above where the two sides were fighting with Supersonic, an original combat technique she created. It allowed her to move from one point to another instantaneously.


    It was a copy of Cecil''s Blink, but instead of using mana to activate the skill, this one used Ki. It was a technique that put a large strain on Serilla''s physical body, but she was blessed with high talent in Ki cultivation so her body''s physique was already much stronger than Cecil''s.


    Serilla''s cultivation was higher than her husband''s, despite him starting long before her. She had caught up and surpassed her husband''s cultivation over a year ago and if it wasn''t because Cecil had constantly reminded her to suppress her Ki cultivation and let her Mana cultivation catch up, her Ki would have already reached the last stage, Ki Transformation.


    Once she arrived in the air above the two forces, Serilla immediately kicked off the air and slammed down onto the ground with her Intent-wrapped Sword.


    The ground erupted from her attack and killed all the Merkruz Soldiers caught within her range and the debris caused by her attack injured the soldiers farther away.


    "Hello, boys~"


    There obviously weren''t just men present in the army, but when they saw the gentle smile of the demoness who had just literally descended upon them from the air, the Merkruz forces began to back away in fear. Even the monsters were no exception to this. They only roared and growled menacingly and cautiously at Serilla.


    Behind her, Prince Rowan''s forces could only halt their advance and stay back so that they would not get caught in the dangerous woman''s attacks.


    "Watch my sword~"


    If Fatima was nearby and saw the stance that Serilla had taken, she would have immediately recognized it. It was a stance from her family''s sword arts.


    Serilla released her Sword Intent and the immense pressure she was exuding froze everyone around her, this included the Prince''s forces. She eyed the area with the most concentrated amount of Merkruz Soldiers and monsters before unleashing her attack.


    She wrapped Sword Intent around her body and moved using Supersonic. Serilla slashed out and moved past the Merkruz soldiers, but nothing happened. However, when she flicked her sword and sheathed it, a large concentration of Sword Intent exploded in the air and under the ground of the area she had just flashed by.


    The explosion of Sword Intent destroyed the space where Serilla had passed by and as for the people caught within its range, they were all sent to meet their maker. As for the people and monsters in the periphery of her attack, they were struck by the lingering Sword Intent and were either cut apart and died or had a part of their bodies dismembered and were lying on the ground injured, struggling at death''s door.


    After clearing away nearly half of the Merkruz Forces, Serilla stretched her body and stopped. She wasn''t going to massacre every single one of the enemies for the Prince, that''ll only scare her allies instead.


    She only helped out her new friend, Fatima, and now that her aid was delivered. Serilla nonchalantly made her way to the wagon that had arrived just behind the Prince''s forces.


    Fatima and Karen had already rushed over to Rowan who was on the frontline of the formation and was shocked to see the devastation caused by the single woman who was walking towards them from the distance.


    "I-Ima...is she a friendly?" Rowan asked stutteringly.


    "Yeah...she''s a mercenary that had just enlisted in our army and she offered us a ride when our carriage broke down..."


    "I-I see... she''s powerful..."


    "Yeah, but most importantly, we should quickly deal with the rest of this riff-raff!"


    "Of course! Men! CHAAAARRRGGGEE!" Rowan immediately snapped awake from his shock and immediately ordered his men.


    Everyone immediately regained their bearings and started charging towards the remnant Merkruz soldiers and monsters that were now too scared to even do anything.


    Rowan was also about to rush into battle, but Fatima pulled him back and made him wait in place.


    "Ima?"


    "Let the men take care of it. We should at least thank Serilla for her help!"


    "Serilla...so that''s that woman''s name?"


    "Yes..."


    Rowan nodded and continued to observe the beautiful pink haired lady walking towards them. Serilla had to halt her steps and wait for the prince''s army to move out of her way before she could continue walking forward.


    She saw the wagon parked in the distance and Sleipnir rushing out to meet her. When she turned to the side, she also saw the trio who were waiting for her.


    Serilla walked over to them and Fatima was the first to open her mouth before anyone else.


    "Serilla thank you for your help earlier."


    "No problem. We''re mercenaries remember? Since we''ve enlisted as a part of the Regulus army, so we naturally must do at least this much."


    Sleipnir arrived next to Serilla in the next moment and he nudged at her.


    "Ahaha~ sorry, Slei, I didn''t bring you out to battle. I promise we''ll head out together next time~" Serilla said as she stroked the monster horse''s mane.


    Sleipnir only nodded in agreement, it wasn''t all too sad that his master didn''t bring it out to battle.


    "Serilla, I guess I should introduce him to you. This is the Third Prince of Regulus, my fianc¨¦, Rowan Regulus."


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, milady. Your awesome display of power earlier has left this prince dumbstruck!"


    Serilla responded with an elegant greeting of her own. She''s been living in Anglaria Palace for a long time so she naturally picked up the royal etiquette of the people around her. Rowan and Karen couldn''t help but raise a brow at her greeting.


    "My name is Serilla Lunarts¡ªactually; it should be Silvaria now, nice to meet you."


    "Huh?"


    "S-Silvaria?"


    Karen and Rowan immediately turned to look at Fatima, but only saw a shocked look on her face when she heard the name which was exactly her last name.

 Chapter 280 - Another Silvaria 2

    When she had introduced herself to the two women the first time, Serilla had only stated her first name. However, because she was being formally introduced to royalty, Serilla had to announce her full name.


    "Silvaria?"


    "Ahaha~ sorry I didn''t state it the first time. My name is Serilla Silvaria, formally a Lunarts. My sister, as you can now tell, her full name is Lucia Silvaria, formally a Yukihime. We changed our last names after we married our husband."


    "..."


    "..."


    Fatima couldn''t believe her ears. These two girls were Silvarias. She wasn''t sure how many ''Silvaria'' families there were out there, but from what she found out; there was no precedent or any present family in any of the native human powers that had her family''s name.


    This could only mean one thing... the person who was their husband was without a doubt a person from her family. None of her brothers have gotten married yet, they were all still single. As for all her male cousins, the ones that had gotten married recently had already introduced their wives to the main family so Fatima knew about their spouses.


    She''s never seen a Silvaria man marry the two girls that she had just befriended, so there was only one conclusion that Fatima could arrive at...


    "S-Serilla, that husband of yours, what''s his name?"


    "Hm? We didn''t tell you? His name is¡ª"


    "Your Highness, we''ve spotted a larger force of Merkruz soldiers in the distance to the northwest of us! They''re heading straight our way at top speed! Please give us an order, Your Highness!"


    "What?!"


    Their talk was interrupted when a soldier had approached the group and informed them of another update.


    Serilla turned her attention towards the direction that the soldier reported and enhanced her sight. She could see a large company of soldiers and monsters indeed heading their way. She made a rough estimate of about 3000 thousand soldiers and 5000 monsters of varying ranks.


    "There are about 3000 soldiers and around 5000 monsters ranging from rank D-B," Serilla reported.


    "Huh?" Rowan immediately frowned when he heard the woman''s words. He was a little skeptical at the report since she was obviously next to them and had only observed the approaching force for a moment earlier.


    "Trust me, Your Highness. I have abilities that aren''t just limited to combat."


    "...We pull back. They caught wind of Fatima heading back out to the frontlines, I''m sure they''re trying to prevent her from aiding our main force because they are afraid she''ll lead us to another victory. As for the remnants of the Merkruz forces, leave them behind!"


    "Yes, Your Highness!" The soldier saluted before he went back to report to his Prince''s orders to the commanding officer.


    Rowan took out a horn and blew into it. A magic formation formed just above the horn and amplified the sound. Hearing the signal for retreat, the Prince''s soldiers immediately started retreating and regrouping back with the Prince.


    Serilla separated from the Fatima and her group and made her way back towards the Wanderer. Lucia had already seen the large Merkruz force moving towards them from the distance and immediately helped Serilla fasten the wagon''s harness onto Sleipnir.


    "Lulu, get ready to support the Prince''s army later!"


    "Gotcha!"


    Right now, Fatima could only shelve the questions she had and support Rowan within directing their retreat. They made a clean break away from the remnant forces of the attackers who had initially ambushed Rowan and his troops.


    The pursuing army was still a ways away in the distance so they were able to retreat safely. It was regrettable, but the Prince''s army had experienced some casualties within their ranks. The ambush from the Merkruz forces had taken a good chunk off of the Prince''s forces.


    His initial 1000-men army was reduced to around 800. The ambushing force was only around half their numbers, but getting caught off guard had cost them.


    Serilla was on their wagon''s driver seat while Lucia was vigilantly sending out her Detection Spell, making sure that there were no hostile forces around them. They followed behind the Prince''s army and Lucia kept an eye on the Merkruz Army which was in the distance.


    Lucia''s eyes flashed in the next moment. She had picked up a large concentration of mana gathering and soon a spell formation formed above the Merkruz army.


    "YOUR HIGHNESS! MAGIC SPELL INCOMING!"


    "DAMN!"


    Rowan spun around and grimaced when he saw the magic formation, he couldn''t tell what kind of spell it was, but it was undoubtedly a long-ranged spell. Judging by its light purplish color, it was a lightning element spell and from the arsenal of spells that could strike them from that distance...Rowan gritted his teeth and immediately had his mages begin conjuring a barrier around their forces.


    "It''s a lightning spell! Barrier! Mages hurry and create a Barrier!"


    A barrier was quickly created, but as the mages were only beginning to strengthen the barrier, the enemy''s spell had finished activating and a large bolt of lightning came shooting at them. Halfway before it could reach them, a large purple beam intercepted it.


    A large explosion occurred in the distance and Lucia shouted towards the army which had halted in place.


    "KEEP MOVING!"


    Rowan glanced at the young lady standing on the roof of the wagon his beloved had just arrived in and nodded towards her. He immediately ordered his troops to make haste with their retreat as Lucia continued to defend them from all of the enemy''s magic spells.


    Seeing that their spells weren''t effective and the Prince''s Army which was already retreating far into the distance, the Merkruz forces stopped their attacks and immediately turned back after their routed ambush forces regrouped with them.


    "Your Highness, they are retreating!"


    "Continue moving! We''ll head into the forest just ahead and rest up there!" Rowan commanded after receiving Fatima''s advice.


    "I''m sorry Ima, it looks like the enemy has somehow gotten word of your impending arrival."


    Fatima nodded and explained to Rowan about the undead ambush that they had experienced which led to them meeting with Lucia and Serilla.


    "Damn...so they already knew about our plans."


    "We might have a spy within our midst..."


    "...Most likely..."


    "We''ll continue our discussion after we''ve set up camp in the forest. Gather the injured together, we''ll treat our wounded before doing anything else." Fatima said.


    "I''ll keep the troops in high alert. Commander!"


    "Your Highness?"


    "Post some of our scouts outside the forest. Make sure they stay alert and if they detect anything, report back immediately."


    "Yessir!"


    Fatima nodded in approval at Rowan before she turned around and began asking the Prince''s Personal Guards about the situation before she had arrived there with the reinforcements.


    After Rowan finished organizing his soldiers, he turned to look at the strange wagon in the distance and the two unfamiliar women who were conversing with each other. From the introduction that the pink-haired woman had given earlier, these two women may have a connection with his fianc¨¦e''s lost brother.


    He turned his attention towards Fatima who was busy sorting out the news she had just received from the reports of his subordinates. Even when she had a belly full of questions, Fatima still put work ahead of her personal feelings. Seeing her like this, Rowan couldn''t help but feel a little exasperated.


    "Ima..."


    "Hm? Yes?" Fatima asked without turning around.


    "Let me take over that, I''m sure you have something more important to do than this."


    "N-no, I''ll finish it fir¡ª"


    "Ima!"


    "!"


    "Just go," Rowan said gently.


    "O-okay..." Fatima nodded sullenly. If she were, to be honest with herself, she wasn''t quite ready to learn anything about her brother.


    She wasn''t even sure if the man that Serilla and Lucia were married to was indeed her little brother. Like, she couldn''t even imagine that her quiet and introverted little brother would have the audacity to marry not one, but 2 women!


    Of course, she wasn''t sure what had happened to her brother during the past few years and he was bound to have grown up in ways that she couldn''t even imagine, but still, she didn''t want to get her hopes up too high.


    If the person the 2 women were talking about didn''t turn out to be Cecil, but instead some other character who coincidentally had the same last name as her family, then despite having a strong mental fortitude cultivated over the years of her life, Fatima knew it in herself that she''d probably break down and cry due to the pent up frustration built up over the past years.


    Fatima steeled her heart and approached the two women casually conversing in the distance. They seemed to be oblivious, but from Fatima''s observations, the entire camp had their attention on the two women.


    Whether it was due to curiosity or the fact that both of these women were powerful, she didn''t know. However, from what she saw, it was simply because of how beautiful these two were that they attracted the gazes of admiration and longing from many in the camp. This included both the bachelor men and women within their army.


    Fatima let out a light chuckle at her thoughts. In this world, the strong were revered and worshipped. She shouldn''t be too surprised that these 2 strong individuals were being eyed as potential spouses by the many nobles in the army despite them being nothing but ordinary commoners.


    Fatima also thought that once their accomplishment of single-handedly saving the Prince''s army as well as repelling the strike force sent by the Merkruz Principality, the King might even award these two with a peerage.


    It was too bad for the people who had thoughts of courting them, these two were already taken. And hopefully, they were taken by none other than her missing brother, Cecil.


    Lucia noticed that Fatima was approaching them from the distance. She waved at her with a bright smile. Fatima smiled back and hastened her steps over to them.


    "Hey, you two, on behalf of everyone here, including the Prince, I''d like to thank you," Fatima said as she bowed down in thanks to the two women.


    "H-huh?!"


    "Ahaha~ there''s no need for that Fatima," Serilla quickly replied and pulled Fatima up. In the eyes of everyone here, both she and Lucia were only commoners. Having a person of high stature like Fatima suddenly bow to them and express her thanks publicly was very flattering and all, but it went against the royal code of conduct.


    "I know this is against basic mannerism of royalty, but as a human being this is just what''s natural!" Fatima insisted as she once more bowed in thanks.


    Seeing her so assertive, Lucia and Serilla were at a loss and could only receive her thanks.


    "I-it was nothing...we only did what we should have done as mercenaries..." Lucia replied awkwardly.


    Fatima smiled at the modesty these two showed. Just judging on appearance, temperament, character, that she was able to glean from their short time together, not to mention their power if these two were indeed her younger brother''s wives, she had no complaints at all.


    The only complaint she''d have was for her little brother. How dare he have the audacity to seduce two women and even marry them! This just went against society''s moral principles and she''d no doubt scold him for it later, IF he turned out to be the husband of these two women.


    "So, Serilla, Lucia...there''s something I''ve been meaning to ask since earlier, but can we talk in a private place?"


    Her sudden seriousness puzzled Lucia, but she quickly agreed, "Hm? Sure!"


    "Let''s head into the wagon then," Serilla said as she gestured for them to enter the wagon.


    "I-is it okay to bring Rowan with me?"


    "Rowan? Oh! You mean your fianc¨¦! Sure, it''s alright!"


    After receiving Lucia''s permission, Fatima quickly went back to drag Rowan over. Serilla went in to prepare some refreshments for the guests while Lucia remained outside to wait for the guests.

 Chapter 281 - It Really Is Him!

    Lucia saw Fatima and the Prince approach. She waved at them and invited the two inside their home.


    When they entered the wagon, the Prince had the same reaction as Fatima and Karen when they first entered their home.


    After a quick round of explanation from his fianc¨¦e, Rowan was able to get the gist of how something so incredulous could be created.


    Serilla had finished preparing the refreshments and the 4 people were all seated in the living room. Just before Fatima began talking seriously to the 2 girls, Rowan went out of his way to personally thank the two girls for their help earlier.


    Once that was out of the way, Fatima asked them the question she had been wanting to for a while.


    "Uhm...Lucia, Serilla, this husband of yours, he''s a Silvaria, right?"


    "Well, of course! If he wasn''t we wouldn''t be Silvarias as well!"


    "I-I see...c-can you tell me his name?"


    "Hm?"


    "Ah! I-it''s nothing! I was just curious!"


    "Oh! Well his name is Cecil Silvaria!" Lucia replied with a bright smile.


    When she heard the familiar name, Fatima couldn''t help but feel like an explosion had gone off in her head. She felt a little faint and couldn''t help but slump back into the couch. Tears began streaming down her face and she couldn''t help but choke at the overwhelming emotions she was feeling right now.


    After searching for so many years, finally...finally she found something about her brother. Seeing her like this, Rowan was naturally happy for her and he pulled her close into a gentle embrace.


    Lucia and Serilla were naturally shocked and puzzled when they saw Fatima suddenly break down into tears when they announced their husband''s name. They couldn''t help but grow fl.u.s.tered and at the same time suspicious at her reaction.


    "I-I''m sorry, I just felt overwhelmed, ahahaha..." Fatima said as she regained her bearings and reeled in her emotions.


    Seeing the two''s suspicious looks, Fatima quickly began asking them about the description of their husband. Lucia was cautious, but Serilla explained when she saw the pleading look on the woman''s face.


    ''I-it is him! Ahahaha! It looks like I have to do a reintroduction to my two sisters-in-law ~''


    Hearing more about her brother, Fatima was beaming from ear-to-ear. Once Serilla finished her explanation, Fatima was sure that the person she was describing was indeed her little brother. Despite there being many changes to his description based on his looks, but this was understandable since he naturally grew up after 6 years.


    However, the description of what kind of person he was, his characteristics and habits that Fatima would chime in from time to time which the two girls would excitedly agree with her, made Fatima certain that this husband of theirs was indeed her little brother.


    After their long discussion, Fatima suddenly stood up and said, "This may be late, but I think I should reintroduce myself. My name is Fatima Silvaria. And yes, just like my name, I have the same last name as you and your husband. That''s because that husband of yours is my little brother."


    "Huh?!"


    "Hmmm... I had a little suspicion of it, but it turns out this was the case." Serilla said calmly once her suspicions were confirmed while Lucia was shocked to hear Fatima before she immediately grew happy and excited in the next instant.


    "Th-that means you''re Cel''s family!"


    "Cel? Ahahah~ so you call him by his puppy name too?"


    "Y-yeah! I''ve been calling Cel that ever since we met back at my village...w-wait if you''re his sister...doesn''t that mean you''re our sister-in-law?!"


    "L-Lulu, aren''t you being a little too slow on the uptake?" Serilla said in exasperation.


    This sister of hers had really quick reactions in a battle, but whenever someone said anything too shocking, it''d take a while for her to process it despite her being smart in her own right.


    "Haha, yes, this is indeed the case. I am your sister-in-law, but it''s such a surprise though! To think that my stupid little brother would have 2 beautiful wives! I wonder how my mother and father would feel when he comes home with you two in each of his arms?! Ahahaha~ that would no doubt be an amusing scene." Fatima said with a bright laugh.


    Rowan was smiling gently at her. Ever since the burden of finding her brother was lifted off her shoulders, she had been smiling more and the cold mask she would normally put on had crumbled off her face.


    "Wait a minute...these two are your brother''s wives?!" Rowan said after he processed something in his head.


    "Wow, Rowan... I didn''t know you were slow as well!"


    "..." Rowan turned speechless at the news. He had wanted to introduce at least one of these girls to his subordinates in hopes of a romance blooming which in turn would tie them to his side, gaining him another capable subordinate.


    But now, he heard that his fianc¨¦e''s brother wasn''t married to just one, but both of these girls! His plans now had to be scrapped.


    ''Sorry, Chris, it looks like I won''t be able to introduce them.'' Rowan silently apologized in his heart to his right-hand man, Chris, the person which Fatima had asked earlier for the report on the prince''s army, who was single and had inadvertently fallen in love with Serilla on first sight.


    Now he was a little worried since these two girls were so formidable, just what kind of person could this future brother-in-law of his be like?! If he was able to tie down these two girls to himself, not to mention how loving they looked when they were talking about him just a moment ago...his abilities must at least be on par or even stronger than these two!


    Thinking up to here, Rowan couldn''t help but sweat a little and gulp nervously. Despite him losing to Fatima''s father over and over again, he had still gained his future father-in-law''s consent because of how persistent and serious he was in pursuing Fatima, but even then, this was because Fatima and her mother had chided her father, Kaiser, for being too high-handed and strict.


    As for Gabriel, Matheus, and Luca, he had been able to gain their approval after proving himself to them, the only person he still hadn''t gain approval from was the youngest sister and brother, who until now was missing.


    While he was fretting alone, Fatima hurriedly asked the two girls the current whereabouts of her brother.


    "He''s not with you... so, where is he?"


    "Ah...about that..." Serilla had a strained smile on her face.


    Lucia was a little exasperated that things had ended this way. She should have forced the issue and not allow Cecil to separate the party. Now look, because of Cecil''s idiocy, his family reunion was delayed!


    Instead, Lucia and Serilla had been put in the awkward position of reuniting with their in-law before their husband.


    "Well, because of how stupid our husband is at times, he had this great idea to separate the party in two so that he could go investigate another kingdom about your whereabouts. He left this kingdom to us and went on over to the Revertia Holy Kingdom. He should be flying in the neutral territory right about now..." Lucia explained.


    "Revertia? That''s 2 months away from our kingdom if you used the airship to travel there..." Rowan replied before asking in shock, "Wait, when did you guys separate?"


    "About 2 weeks ago."


    "2 weeks ago...and he''s already over the neutral territory?"


    "Well, he''s flying over not on an airship, but my familiar," Lucia answered.


    "I-I see... if he''s that fast...then we''ll have to wait a month or two before he realizes that his family isn''t there before heading back to us." Rowan analyzed. This wasn''t good. He wanted his fianc¨¦e and her brother to reunite as soon as possible.


    He''d be hard-pressed to do anything right now. Sending a messenger to go look for the young man wouldn''t be plausible since that would take too long.


    "Don''t worry, we can just call him and tell him that we''ve found you! I bet he''ll quickly rush back here once he''s heard the news!" Lucia said while whipping out her MID.


    "Call? Wait, is that a MID?" Rowan asked.


    "Yup~ but, unlike a normal MID, this is a customized one created by my husband! It can be used to communicate with others over a long distance!"


    "Ah, so it''s like a phone!" Fatima said in understanding before she turned to Rowan and asked, "How come you don''t have one?"


    "I do, Ima! But I can''t use it to communicate with others! It''s a device that''s only used to interact with the Mana Integrated Network which spans the entire world! This is something the ancients created and this device is used to gain access to that network." Rowan explained as he took out his own MID. It looked similar to Lucia''s, but the functions were worlds apart.


    "Okay? But then how come Lucia''s can?"


    "That''s what I want to know!"


    Since Lucia was on the MID calling Cecil, Serilla was the one who explained.


    "My husband is an artificer, he developed and upgraded the existing MID so that it could communicate with other MIDs that have the same function about 4 years ago. He''s still trying to upgrade it, but since he''s taken on an apprentice, he had to put a temporary halt to that and focus on training and mentoring."


    "I-I see...so he''s an artificer...does this mean you guys are from the Machina Reggio Empire?"


    "From? Ah, no, we''re not from the Empire, but we did pass by the Empire to arrive here."


    "So your husband is a rogue artificer?" Rowan asked.


    Seeing the glint that flashed in the Prince''s eyes, Serilla chuckled lightly and said,


    "Hmhm~ well, I guess. It''s only his hobby though so you shouldn''t have any expectations of recruiting him. We aren''t affiliated with the Empire, but he was given the position as an Honorary Elder of the Empire''s Great Workshop. His apprentice also happens to be the next candidate in line to inherit the position of the workshop''s Head Artificer."


    "!" Rowan couldn''t help widen his eyes in shock upon hearing this. Such an important character like the next Head Artificer candidate was placed in his fianc¨¦e''s brother''s care as an apprentice. This attested to Cecil''s ability as an artificer yet despite all that, it was only a hobby and not something that he took seriously.


    This only strengthened Rowan''s worries. Just what kind of monster did he have to gain the approval of? While Rowan had grown worried, Fatima was glad that he was doing well.


    "Wow~ hearing this about my brother, it makes me proud as his sister!"


    Lucia, who had been trying to call Cecil, looked at her MID with a frown before telling the others in the room.


    "My call can''t connect..."


    Serilla was a little confused, but she quickly took out her MID and tried calling Cecil. Just like Lucia, the call wouldn''t connect and this further confused her.


    "This...has never happened before..."


    "I-I can''t access the Network!" Lucia suddenly exclaimed.


    Serilla tried on hers but found that it was just like in Lucia''s case. Rowan also tried doing the same, but even he couldn''t access the Network on his MID.


    When he saw this, he paled a little and immediately tried chanting a magic spell, but when he finished the incantation and tried to invoke the spell. The spell formation formed, but nothing happened and it immediately broke down causing him to grimace due to the backlash for failing to invoke the spell.


    "N-No! How? I thought..." Rowan immediately dashed out of the wagon and looked around the air. Although he couldn''t see it, he sort of felt it. The girls followed after him and Lucia immediately felt a change in the air.


    From afar, the commanding mage of Rowan''s forces immediately scrambled towards him and reported in haste.


    "Y-Your Highness!"


    "I know..." Rowan replied gloomily.


    Behind him, Lucia tried to cast a normal lava bolt but suddenly found that she couldn''t. The spell formation formed, but her magic spell didn''t.


    "Mana...there''s no mana..." Lucia said in bewilderment as she focused her senses.


    "That''s right...the atmosphere is void of mana..." Rowan answered.


    "H-How can that be!"


    "It''s a weapon created by the Machina Reggio Empire...I didn''t think that the Merkruz Principality could buy it from the Empire!"


    "What weapon?!"


    Rowan turned towards the girls and answered gravely, "It''s called the M-Jammer."

 Chapter 282 - M-Jammer

    "M-Jammer, short for Mana Jammer, is something that the Empire had been able to develop only recently."


    Rowan quickly explained to the girls about the functions of the M-Jammer. The weapon was created only recently by the Empire and he had been able to get information about this because of the Kingdom''s information network.


    There was also some news about the weapon on the human''s Mana Integrated Network, but they were mostly just rumors and hearsay. However, the kingdom was able to confirm that such a weapon indeed existed.


    It functioned to jam and block the mana in the air. This meant that magic spells, which needed mana from a person, could also be jammed. To invoke a spell, a mage needed to exert control over his mana, bring it out of his body and create the spell formation using said mana by way of incantation.


    Because the M-Jammer could block all mana forms of mana in the air, this naturally meant that magic spells couldn''t be used. Any kind of magic tool that was powered by mana would also cease functioning.


    Rowan honestly didn''t believe that the Merkruz Principality could buy off such a weapon from the Empire, so this could only mean one thing, the Empire was using the Principality to conduct experiments for the development of their weapon.


    What better experiment could there be other than live testing?


    When Lucia and Serilla heard this, they too couldn''t help but be astonished...and at the same time remorseful. The Empire was able to develop this weapon only recently...and this could only mean one thing...


    "I-I''m sorry..." Lucia said quietly.


    "Huh?"


    Serilla was also a little uneasy. "W-well, you see, back when we were passing by the Empire, we had struck a deal with them. They would give us resources and access to their Empire''s library in exchange for the knowledge Cecil had in his brain about artificing..."


    Rowan was still puzzled, but he immediately widened his eyes in understanding.


    "S-so...this knowledge that Cecil gave to them was what enabled the Empire to develop the M-Jammer..."


    "Y-yeah..."


    "Oh...gosh, I don''t know what to say to that...but all I know is that it isn''t his fault, so don''t mind it," Rowan replied. He could get why the girls were a little apologetic, but in all honesty, it wasn''t theirs or Cecil''s fault.


    "Ima, we have to get moving...I''m not sure how wide the range for this weapon is, but we have to get out of this range...I''m worried about our main forces on the frontlines, this weapon could spell disaster for them."


    "Yes, we should get everyone ready then."


    Rowan and Fatima immediately went to go rally their forces, leaving Lucia and Serilla behind.


    "Seri, can you still use your body enhancement?" Lucia asked.


    "I can still use my Ki, but not my mana..."


    "..."


    "Lucia, how are you? You rely on mana the most in our party..."


    "I can''t use any of my skills anymore...my Ki body enhancement isn''t as great as yours, I''m no different to an ordinary soldier right now...well, maybe an elite soldier...I can still fight using my weapons."


    "...this is bad..." Serilla said worriedly. Without her mana, Lucia was vulnerable. If anything were to happen to her...Serilla didn''t even want to think about it.


    Seeing the worried look on her sister''s face, Lucia immediately grinned and said, "Hey, Seri! Don''t worry so much, I can take care of myself just fine!"


    "Y-yeah...but how is Quinn going to find us?"


    "O-oh yeah...I almost forgot about him...the tracking bracelet for the Wanderer probably isn''t functioning anymore..."


    "Don''t worry Madams, I''m already here," Quinn said as he suddenly popped out from behind the bushes.


    Some soldiers who were on patrol immediately noticed him and moved to surround him. Quinn merely ignored those soldiers and walked towards Lucia and Serilla. His intimidating glare had frozen the soldiers so he was able to saunter out of their encirclement with ease.


    Fatima who saw the commotion was able to recognize the butler and had the soldiers stand down.


    "Quinn! You''re here!" Lucia exclaimed.


    "Yes, I have returned Lady Lucia... I was able to make a quick investigation and I found out that¡ª"


    "Don''t worry Quinn! We already found Cel''s family!"


    "¡ªYes?"


    Lucia quickly pointed at the young woman who was busying herself in distance and said, "Remember Fatima, the War Saintess? It turns out that she was Cecil''s elder sister! We found Cel''s family!"


    "I-I see... congratulations Madams, you have found Master''s family as well as your own, yes?" Quinn congratulated as he bowed respectfully towards the two women.


    "Ah! You''re right!"


    "Quinn, did you find anything else in the capital?" Serilla asked.


    "Yes, I was able to find that there were already people looking for Master Cecil. When I made contact with them and told them that I was serving under Master Cecil, they asked for his whereabouts and gave me information about how to contact them or his family."


    "Really? They didn''t interrogate you on how you know Cecil?"


    "They did, but my answers and explanations were able to alleviate many of their suspicions."


    "That''s good then."


    "Here are the information I was able to get from them." Quinn handed over a written report to Serilla. Lucia scooted over to her side and read through his report together.


    "Silvaria Kingdom...so that''s where his family is at?"


    "Yes, Lady Serilla. It would seem so. I came back in a hurry once I acquired this."


    Serilla nodded before she began explaining the current state of affairs and why they couldn''t contact Cecil just yet.


    "I see...so Master''s knowledge was what lead to this...and this M-Jammer is what''s hindering us from communicating with Master?"


    "Yes, that''s indeed the case."


    Quinn nodded in understanding before he excused himself to prepare the wagon for his two Madams.


    After Fatima and Rowan organized their forces, they immediately began marching out of the forest and decided to take a roundabout route to the kingdom''s main forces on the frontlines. The injured were treated to a fair degree by the army''s priests so their marching speed wasn''t hindered.


    Since Lucia wasn''t able to scout out the area around them using her mana, Serilla took it upon herself to act as a lookout. Fortunately or unfortunately, she wasn''t able to find any large Merkruz forces after marching for days until they eventually met up with the Regulus Kingdom''s main force.


    It was fortunate because they didn''t have to experience any attacks, but it was unfortunate because this meant they couldn''t go and try to destroy the device that was jamming their ability to use mana.


    They did come across small contingents of Merkruz soldiers, but it was obvious that they were only coming to hinder their march towards the main army. It did impact their speed to some degree, but they were still able to regroup with the main army.


    Lucia and Serilla could simply go back to the kingdom and try to contact Cecil there since by then, they were sure that they''d be out of range of the M-Jammer, but Fatima had received reports that a large detachment force from Merkruz had appeared near the border checkpoint and had begun to siege the fortress located there.


    The force was much larger than the ones pursuing them the first time, so Rowan decided to go regroup with his kingdom''s main force. Lucia and Serilla followed their arrangements because in their current circ.u.mstances, they wouldn''t be able to forcefully break through the large army of Merkruz soldiers.


    Without mana, Lucia wouldn''t be able to use any of her spells and a majority of her Sword Skills. Despite her Ki cultivation being on the same stage as her Mana cultivation, but her usage and control over Ki wasn''t anything commendable.


    Lucia struggled to properly control her Ki to use in combat and had only relied on the passive upgrade to her physique all this time. Everybody had something they were good and bad at, and this was something Lucia was bad at.


    She had genius talent in using her Mana, but was a total idiot when using her Ki. It was vice-versa with Serilla, she was a genius at using her Ki, but was a little slow with her mana. Only a freak like their husband could be talented in using both Ki and Mana at the same time.


    Even now, Cecil was hardly even using Ki or Mana in combat. He had started using Ether to power his techniques and skills which only served to increase his combat prowess even further.


    "Lulu, have you tried using your Ether?"


    "I did try...but the quantity is too little that I''m only able to use my Elemental Burst and none of my spells..."


    "At least with Elemental Burst you''ll have some form of protection...it''s better than not being able to use it at all!"


    "Yeah, you''re right...I wish I was as good with Ki as you are Seri... I also wish I had my Weapon Intent already! At least this way, I won''t be so useless in combat!"


    Even after 4 years of training with her katana, Lucia still hadn''t been able to grasp her Weapon Intent just yet...she felt that she was close and only needed one final push to attain it, but this final bottleneck was hard to cross.


    She could only remain hopeful and motivated, but right now, Lucia desperately wished that she already had it. This way, she''d at least be able to better help Serilla and Quinn in battle.


    Fatima was surprised to see that despite not being able to use mana, Lucia''s group was still able to fight normally and contribute to the skirmishes that they fought during their march to regroup with the main army.


    Fatima was extremely surprised to find that Serilla was able to use Weapon Intent, something that was doc.u.mented in her family''s martial arts manual. Her father had it and so did her little brother.


    To see that even her sister-in-law had it only further improved Fatima''s favorability of Cecil''s wives. Although Lucia didn''t have it, Fatima''s favor of the girl still grew when she saw that Lucia was fighting her battles using the Silvaria family''s sword arts.


    They were refined to perfection and Fatima could already tell that Lucia had seriously practiced her family''s techniques. If not, then how would Lucia have such refined swordsmanship?


    The more she looked at the two girls, the more she approved of them. Fatima was really glad that both women were of great match to her brother.


    Once the Prince''s forces had regrouped with the main army, Fatima and Rowan separated from their contingent and went to report to Rowan''s older brother, the First Prince of Regulus, Albert, who was the high commander of Regulus Kingdom''s main army.

 Chapter 283 - He Grew Up

    While Fatima, Karen, and Rowan went to report their situation to Albert, Lucia and Serilla were relaxing at home. Quinn was serving lunch and they were enjoying themselves.


    It had been a while since Lucia had cooked anything and this was because their butler, Quinn, had begun taking care of all the mundane chores in the house.


    Of course, it wasn''t like Quinn could take over immediately. He still had to learn about the peculiar recipes that Lucia would always cook for the party. Cecil hadn''t divulged any of his secrets about him not being a human of this planet to Quinn or Ren.


    He probably would never tell Ren, but he decided that he may tell Quinn about it one day. So for now, the butler still wasn''t privy to any of the deeper secrets of Cecil''s family.


    "Madams, today''s lunch will be Monte Cristo."


    With his outstanding memory, Cecil was able to record every kind of recipe he had eaten after coming back from his training on his family''s private island. After years of eating odd-tasting things, he was very particular about his foods. So anything that he found tasty, which was practically everything that didn''t have insects in it, was worthy of him memorizing their recipes.


    His mother had made this Italian sandwich for him before and it was very memorable because it was the first thing he ate after returning from his training.


    While Lucia and Serilla were happily eating their lunches, someone knocked on the door to their wagon. Quinn opened it and upon looking at the person, he immediately let the young lady in.


    "It''s sister-in-law!" Lucia exclaimed happily.


    "Did you have lunch yet?" Serilla asked while motioning for Quinn to hurry and make more.


    "Come join us if you haven''t!"


    Lucia immediately patted the seat next to her and invited Fatima to join their lunch.


    "Is that...Monte Cristo?"


    "Yup!"


    "Haha, Cecil loved that sandwich..."


    "Yup! He said that it reminded him of his family a lot so we occasionally have it from time to time~"


    Karen was also trailing behind Fatima and couldn''t help but salivate at the delectable smell of Lucia and Serilla''s lunch.


    Seeing this, Serilla had them sit down before telling them to wait for a moment. It didn''t take long before Quinn came back and served the two the same lunch menu as Serilla and Lucia.


    After finishing their lunch, just as Fatima was about to excuse herself from the wagon after talking to Lucia and Serilla more about Cecil, a gentle knock was heard from the door before it was followed by a frivolous voice that Fatima knew all too well.


    "Lady Fatima? Are you in here?"


    Lucia and Serilla eyed Fatima and saw that her bright expression from earlier had somehow darkened by a few levels. Fatima looked at the two with a strained smile and explained.


    "Lucia, Serilla, that''s the Second Prince of Regulus, Armano Regulus. He''s Karen and Rowan''s older brother."


    "Bleh, though I hate to admit it, but that pest is, unfortunately, my brother," Karen said with a look of displeasure.


    "?"


    "Is there something wrong with your brother?" Serilla couldn''t help but ask.


    "He''s just an annoying fly who keeps buzzing around! He''s also frivolous and naturally loves to engage in debauchery, he''s a disgrace to the royal family''s name!"


    "Ahem," Fatima cleared her throat as she eyed the young lady who had just spoken.


    "Hey! Ima, I am not like that! At least I take my relationsh.i.p.s seriously!"


    "That''s the only thing separating you from him!"


    "But at least I''m better than he is! He changes his partners like he changes clothes! Yet, he still has the nerve to try and court you despite knowing you''re brother Rowan''s fianc¨¦e!" Karen said indignantly. It could be seen that she wasn''t fond of this elder brother.


    "He''ll stick his face into anything that looks good...Ah! Lucia, Serilla! You both better hide! If he sees the two of you, there''s no doubt that he''ll come pestering you two later!"


    Lucia only shrugged while Serilla smiled gently and thanked Karen for her warning.


    "Don''t worry about us...you should be more worried about your brother..."


    "Eh? Why''s that?" Karen responded in question.


    Serilla eyed Fatima who was similarly confused and said with a strained smile, "Our husband, Cecil... he''s the jealous and possessive type..."


    "Oh?"


    "Oh my, little Cecil grew up to be like that?" Fatima raised an eyebrow when she heard this.


    "Y-yes, Sister-in-law... originally, he wasn''t like this, but due to some events which led from one thing to another, Cecil''s been particularly protective of us ever since..." Serilla replied.


    "O-okay?"


    Lucia eyed Karen and tepidly said, "You should keep your brother restrained, if Cel finds out. Just know that he wouldn''t care whether he''s royalty or not, your brother''s ending wouldn''t be pretty, he may not die, but..."


    Lucia didn''t finish her words, but Karen could already get the meaning of it. Fatima however was shocked, her little brother Cecil had grown to be a little scary.


    "Just for reference''s sake, Serilla had once been drugged one time and some people from the Empire nearly had their way with her... let''s just say that an entire district was nearly razed to the ground and Cecil nearly impaled a duke when he was demanded to compensate for the damages. By the way, the duke''s son was the one who drugged Seri and he didn''t meet a favorable end~"


    Serilla blushed when her sister recounted her embarrassing past. She wasn''t traumatized by the event because her fear of it was immediately washed away with a night of passion with Cecil, so she only recalled it as an embarrassing event where she had let her guard down and caused her husband some troubles.


    "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, but the Emperor had to take things into his own hands and even he had to concede to our infuriated husband who was only 15 at the time~" Lucia giggled when she remembered how Cecil threatened to raze even District 0 to the ground when the Emperor had initially sided with the duke from his Empire.


    As for how he got away with the offense, let''s just say that the party''s teleportation and Cecil''s destructive capability, which was already proven, had made them out more of a threat than the rebellion of a duke house.


    There was also the fact that Cecil was an honorary elder of the Empire''s Workshop and the current mentor of the Workshop''s next head artificer. Sola had also sided with Cecil in the proceedings and her title alone was on par with that of a duke house, not to mention she was also a member of one of the 5 duke families of the Empire.


    "Since Cel isn''t afraid of the Empire''s Imperial family, he wouldn''t be afraid of your royal family~ and I''m not trying to sound arrogant or anything, but our Serilla here has similar status to that of a Princess~" Lucia ended her words playfully and meaningfully eyed Karen.


    "A-a princess?! Really?"


    "N-no! Nothing like that! Lulu!" Serilla yelled in embarrassment as she eyed her sister who was snickering at her. Her face was burning up so she couldn''t help but take a pillow and hide away her face.


    Karen wasn''t stupid. After hearing Lucia''s meaningful words, she knew that these people weren''t ones to be offended. She wasn''t sure as to how strong this husband of theirs was, but he surely wouldn''t be any weaker than them and since he had the audacity and confidence to offend the Machina Reggio Empire and had the power to walk out of it unscathed, this alone attested to how threatening he was to the point that even the Empire had to concede to him. If their royal family offended these 3 powerful individuals, then only problems would arise later.


    "Since that''s the case, no worries then, I''ll make sure I reel in that stupid brother of mine. I''ll also ask Brother Rowan for support as well!"


    "...okay..." Fatima was still a little shocked at the fact that her brother had offended an entire Empire just for his wife. It was admirable, but at the same time reckless. There was another thing that made her contemplate deeply. Just how powerful had her little brother grown to be able to offend such an enormous power yet have the ability to walk out of the conflict unharmed and, from what Lucia had briefly described, feared?


    Through the entire recount, Serilla had her face buried in a pillow due to her immense embarrassment. In a sense, she had been the cause of all those events back in the Empire. It was something that she didn''t want to remember.


    "Lulu...you''re so meaaaannn..."


    "Eheheheh~ sorry Seri, I didn''t mean to, but honestly, I find it beneath me to hide away from some weakling," Her words caused Karen to let out a strained and dry laugh.


    One had to know that every member of the Regulus Royal Family was powerful in their own right. Her second brother, despite being such a flirt, was renowned in the kingdom for his swordsmanship and magic, which was unbelievably much stronger than Rowan''s.


    At least, that''s the information on paper. Armano was stronger than Rowan, but if the two princes were to spar with each other again, Armano was bound to lose miserably. Sure, he was talented, but Rowan had undergone strict ''training'' under the Silvarias.


    He trained and normally sparred with Fatima''s father bimonthly, so his combat prowess had spiked up in the recent years and Rowan was even ahead of his first brother, Albert, in terms of swordsmanship and magic.


    Quinn was still waiting on the side and didn''t move to open the door. When he heard the unfamiliar voice and the description that both Karen and Fatima had given about the one knocking, he was disinclined to let such a person into their house.


    He''d be betraying his Lord''s expectations and orders if he let such a flirt into their sacred haven. Quinn shivered at the thought of his master growing angry if he found out that such a person was let into the house.


    However, the person was still the prince of the kingdom so he had to show some form of courtesy, else he offended the kingdom.


    "Lady Fatima, should I open the door?"


    Fatima looked at the careful butler and smiled at him, "No need, Karen and I were just about to head out. I''d rather not let that sc.u.mbag see my two beautiful sisters-in-law. They have no fear since Cecil is their husband, but I rather not let that fool pester them."


    "Yes, Lady Fatima. Shall I escort both you and Lady Karen out?"


    "Thank you."


    "Lucia, Serilla, we''ll be going now! I''d like to drop by for lunch next time I get the chance~" Karen happily bid the two girls farewell and exited the wagon with Fatima.


    Once the two girls walked out, they immediately saw Armano waiting for them, or more like, he was waiting for Fatima. Before Quinn was able to shut the door in time, the prince was able to take a glimpse of the two beauties that were lazily relaxing inside the wagon.


    "Lady Fatima? Who were those inside the wagon?" Armano inquired.


    "What do you want, Sir Armano?" Fatima answered his question with a question of her own.


    "Hmhm~ they were beautiful," Armano only said this before he turned around and walked away.


    Fatima narrowed her eyes when he saw Armano act like that. She could only sigh and inwardly apologize to both Lucia and Serilla.


    "Karen, remember what you promised my two sisters-in-law..."


    "Don''t worry. The consequences of offending your little brother seem to be very heavy and I don''t want to become collateral damage because of my brother''s thoughtlessness."


    Fatima only nodded slightly before making her way over to Rowan who had just arrived.

 Chapter 284 - The Lecherous Prince

    Lucia and Serilla were enlisted as mercenaries at the start, but after finding out that the two were her sisters-in-law, Fatima had assigned them to be part of her unit which was under Rowan''s army division.


    After about half a day''s meeting and strategizing, the First Prince decided to split the army into two. There were 10 divisions in the Regulus Army in all and each division consisted of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers.


    3 of those divisions will be sent back to support the border army currently defending against the ongoing siege from the Merkruz forces while the rest would be marching to meet the main army of Merkruz Principality.


    Karen was in charge of this support army and when she donned her battle armor, she now looked the part of a commander and warrior. Lucia was impressed since, during their trip, all she knew about Karen was that she acted like a spoilt little princess.


    Inside a tent, Fatima was currently debriefing Lucia about the arrangements that she had made for the Wanderers.


    "So, we''ll be heading out to the main battlefield?" Lucia asked.


    "Yes, since your mercenary company hasn''t been formally registered as part of the mercenary division, I took the liberty to assign you to my unit instead," Fatima answered as she revealed the arrangements she had prepared for them.


    "Alright, anything works with us. We''ll just follow your commands later, Captain~"


    "As long as you both have no complaints," Fatima replied before handing out 4 emblems to Lucia. "Place them somewhere on your equipment and place one on your wagon. It''ll identify your group as part of our army."


    "Okay~ I''ll go let Seri know about the arrangements."


    "Lucia, before you go..."


    "Hm? Is there something else?"


    "...I know that both of you are powerful, but later in the battle...don''t display too much of your strength."


    Lucia looked at her puzzled, "Why?"


    "Although Rowan already knows and accepts that you''re my sister-in-law, the royalty of Regulus...could sometimes be forceful about things."


    "Hm?"


    "If you and Serilla both show your abilities later, they might try to forcefully recruit you into the army or try to tie you down with them..."


    "...Is that how you were dragged into the battlefield despite not officially becoming a part of the Regulus Royal Family?" Lucia asked with a frown.


    "A little bit...it was also because I just couldn''t sit around and decided to be a busybody."


    "Hmph, well, you won''t have anything to worry about, big sis-in-law," Lucia replied with a carefree smile. "If they try to do something, they should be the ones worrying about the consequences, so just use us as you see fit, we''ll follow your orders only."


    Fatima smiled at her response. In truth, she was somewhat forcefully put into the position of the kingdom''s strategist because she had advised Rowan offhandedly one time and the results of the battle had turned in their favor.


    Although Rowan did try to be discreet in asking for her strategies and advice, Prince Armano had somehow found out and had informed First Prince Albert and the King about Fatima''s strategies and contributions to the war effort.


    From then on, she was ''asked'' to go to the frontlines and direct the battle. Formally, she was ''asked'', but her men had found out that the king had begun snooping around for information about her family members and Cecil.


    When she heard that even the king was now looking for info about her lost brother, Fatima knew that something was up. Rowan had even informed her of the king''s actions and the fact that he had an ulterior motive behind looking for her missing brother''s whereabouts.


    On the surface, the king wanted to repay Fatima by adding in extra manpower for the search, but in fact, the king wanted to search for Cecil and hopefully find him before she does. This way, the king would be able to play the ''family'' card if Fatima one day refused to head out into the battlefield.


    They didn''t know how long the war would last, but by employing all of their information networks in the nearby surrounding powers, the king believed that his chances of finding Cecil were much higher than Fatima''s who was only looking into the Merkruz Principality and the surrounding neutral territories.


    Of course, nothing came up even after a full year of searching, and now that Fatima had a concrete lead that her brother was still alive and nearby, she no longer worried about the king''s schemes.


    She was still anxious to meet her brother, but right now, Fatima needed to find a way to extricate herself from the war. They were employing her help for free and now that they were winning, the kingdom had demanded Fatima to lead their armies into the Merkruz Principality so that they could thoroughly wipe them out.


    This was something Fatima didn''t want. Defending her fianc¨¦''s land was good and all, but aiding the kingdom to invade and conquer another power? There were no benefits to that for Fatima.


    ******


    When Lucia was heading back towards the Wanderer, she happened to pass by the Second Prince. Armano had placed some of his men to watch the wagon and when Lucia had come out, one of them had come to inform him. Ever since then, he had been waiting for the girl to come out of Fatima''s tent.


    Now that Lucia was out, Armano naturally walked up to her and began trying to flirt with her.


    "Hello, pretty lady~" Armano said amorously as he strode up to Lucia.


    Lucia gave him an indifferent glance before walking past him. She already knew who this person was. It wasn''t like she and Serilla didn''t take notice of the people who were constantly watching their wagon.


    It didn''t matter to her whether this person was royalty or not, even if she was under the influence of the M-Jammer and couldn''t use her mana, she''d still send him flying if he kept on pestering her.


    "Ohohoho~ the cold treatment right from the start, you''re just like Fatima," The Prince laughed as he caught up to Lucia who had left him behind. "I am Armano Regulus, Second Prince of the Regulus Kingdom."


    Lucia didn''t respond to his introduction and just continued walking away. Armano only chuckled at her behavior.


    "May I at least have the honor of knowing your name?"


    "..."


    Lucia remained silent. No matter what the Prince said, she didn''t give any response and soon enough, they arrived at the wagon.


    Quinn was outside, feeding Sleipnir. When he saw Lucia walk over with a bug buzzing around her, he immediately frowned.


    "Milady, as you know, I''m part of this Kingdom''s royalty. It would be an offense if you continued ignoring me," Armano warned.


    Even with the ''warning'', Lucia continued ignoring him and was about to walk into the wagon. Armano was about to grab onto Lucia''s arm, but Quinn immediately flashed next to him and blocked his way forward.


    Armano frowned when he saw this man blocking him. "Who the hell are you?"


    "I am this family''s butler. Please sir, it would be in your best interest if you leave our family''s madam alone," Quinn responded in a flat tone.


    "Heh, and it would be in your best interest if you moved out of the way. No one blocks royalty!" Armano scoffed in reply.


    Quinn only smiled at him and replied, "And no royalty would go around harassing a married young lady."


    "A good dog doesn''t block the road, now move out of the way, peasant!" Armano demanded loudly.


    Lucia was just about to open the wagon''s door, but immediately froze in place when she heard Armano insult Quinn. She was just about to turn around and put the prince in his place, but the door immediately opened.


    "Quinn, that''s enough. Lulu, stand down," Serilla ordered as she walked out. Seeing the newcomer, Armano''s eyes widened and he couldn''t help but cast a l.u.s.tful gaze at Serilla''s body. She was wearing her casual clothes so her s.e.xy body was in perfect display.


    Quinn''s eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw the lecherous look the Prince was casting at his Madam. Just as he was going to stab those disgusting eyes with his fingers, Serilla gripped his shoulder and said, "That''s enough. He''s still this kingdom''s prince."


    "...Yes Madam," Quinn responded respectfully, but with clear reluctance in his tone.


    "...Madam?" Armano questioned.


    Serilla ignored his questioning look and greeted him. "How do you do, Your Highness."


    Bowed and signaled Lucia to head into the wagon. Lucia furrowed her brows, but upon seeing the meaningful look Serilla was giving her, she relented and walked straight into the wagon and closed the door.


    Quinn remained outside and took a few steps back to stand respectfully behind Serilla. Lucia was still by the door and eyeing the Prince dangerously. If he so much as placed a hand on Serilla, she''d immediately rush out and cut it off.


    Serilla was already used to dealing with nobles and royalty. She knew her way around these things. She knew that her sister and husband weren''t particularly good at handling these kinds of troublesome characters, so it was always up to her to deal with them.


    If she let Lucia deal with the Prince, the only outcome would be the scene of the prince flying through the air and a large group of soldiers surrounding them due to her reckless actions. If Cecil was still here, Serilla wouldn''t have cared about this outcome because from just one look already, the Second Prince''s character was one that she hated. Also, Lucia was still unable to use her mana, so with the way things were right now, she couldn''t allow her sister to run amok.


    It wasn''t possible for Lucia, Quinn, and her to face off against a multitude of soldiers without mana, they''d exhaust themselves very quickly. Serilla herself wasn''t affected, but she''d have to divide some of her attention into protecting her family members if they got into a brawl.


    "Ah, another beautiful woman, I am Armano Regulus, Second Prince of the Regulus Kingdom. May I have the honor of knowing your name?" Armano asked.


    "My name is Serilla Silvaria," Serilla responded.


    "Silvaria?"


    "Yes, Silvaria."


    "Are you Fatima''s sister?"


    "I am her sister-in-law," Serilla confirmed.


    "So you are married then?"


    "Yes, I am indeed married, Your Highness."


    "Ahahaha~ is that so, well it matters not! May I take you out for a drink, milady?" Armano asked with a smile.


    "Your Highness, I think that would inappropriate."


    "Why? Is it because you are married?"


    "We are currently in the middle of battle preparations," Serilla immediately replied as she gestured to her surroundings.


    All the soldiers were currently packing away their tents, checking their equipment, readying the horses, carts, and wagons. Everyone was preparing to march and so it was hardly the time to go and have a ''drink''.


    The 3 divisions who were sent to back up the border army had already finished their preparations and under Karen''s lead had already begun marching back towards Regulus'' border.


    "..." The Prince eyed the busy surroundings and couldn''t help but shake his head in regret.


    "Well, this is such bad timing. Let us postpone this date, yes?"


    "Aha, you jest, Your Highness," Serilla responded calmly.


    "Oh no, I do not jest. Please accept, it is just a harmless drink. I''d like to...get to know you better. You are after all my brother''s future sister-in-law."


    Serilla only smiled and didn''t respond. Armano smiled back and asked, "I haven''t seen your husband. May I at least greet him before heading into battle?"


    "My husband isn''t present with us, he''s out on a mission and he''ll be joining back with us soon."


    "Oh, so your husband isn''t here, yes? What a shame! To think he left his beautiful wife behind, how foolish." Both Quinn and Serilla felt like they popped a nerve.


    ''How dare this bug insult darling!''


    ''How dare this bug insult, my Master!''


    The two thought in unison.


    "Then before he comes back, I''d like to share a drink with you," Armano eyed Serilla meaningfully, his gaze still lecherous as he eyed Serilla''s body up and down.


    Serilla felt disgusted being stared at by this disgusting bug in human form. She immediately opened her mouth and rejected the man''s invitation.


    "I apologize, Your Highness, but I don''t think I''m in a situation where I can just move about freely, I''m only a mercenary, after all."


    "Then I shall allow¡ª"


    "Seri, we''re tasked with protecting and escorting Lady Fatima. We''re assigned to her unit so we have to move now." Lucia said as she got down from the wagon. "Quinn, prepare Sleipnir. We''ll move to join Lady Fatima right now."


    Armano was a little upset when he was rudely interrupted. However, he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow when he heard Lucia''s words.


    "As you can see, Your Highness, I''m not in the position to be roaming about. Orders are orders and our mercenary company has to quickly regroup with our unit, I''m afraid I cannot accept your invitation¡ª"


    ''¡ªand obviously, I can''t and won''t go because I''m married you asshole! If darling was here, he''d gouge your eyes out for staring at me so dirtily!'' Serilla added in her mind furiously.


    Armano was just about to continue saying something to try and coerce Serilla into accepting his offer, but he stopped when he saw Fatima striding over to them from the distance with a frigid look on her face.


    One of her subordinates had reported back to her that Armano was pestering her two sisters-in-law and she immediately went to pick them up. Fatima didn''t think that Armano would move so quickly, but now the only thing to do was minimize the bastard''s contacts with her brother''s two wives.


    "Ah, Fatima, you are here~"


    "Yes...I''ve come to fetch my two sisters-in-law. Are you both ready to set off?"


    Lucia and Serilla both nodded in confirmation.


    "Good, we should go then. Prince Armano, I believe that the Supreme Commander has requested your presence. The march is about to begin."


    "Alright then, this prince shall be going then, and Serilla¡ª"


    "Serilla, Lucia, let''s go," Fatima quickly cut him off and pulled Lucia and Serilla with her.


    Quinn immediately jumped onto the wagon and began following after the 3 girls slowly. They left behind the Second Prince who was now awkwardly just standing there.


    Armano only chuckled and licked his lips, "If the soft approach doesn''t work, then shall I go with the hard approach?"


    He curled his lips wickedly and turned around. Unlike with Fatima, who was his brother''s fianc¨¦e, these two girls were only married to Fatima''s brother. He had already received a report that Fatima''s 3 brothers were all unmarried, so Armano assumed that it was a lie that those 2 girls were married to anyone.


    As for the missing younger brother, Armano hadn''t received any reports of this elusive one''s whereabouts so it was obvious that he was still ''missing''. Armano didn''t even consider the missing one to have returned because if he had, then there was bound to be at least one of his subordinates reporting to him about it already.


    Armano could only assume that these two were just women under Fatima''s protection so he wouldn''t mind forcefully taking them away from Fatima. The woman still needed the kingdom''s help in finding her brother, so she wouldn''t fall out with them over two random servant girls.


    "Gildart, I have two women that I want... please prepare ''that''."


    It seemed as if Armano was only talking to himself, but a reply was heard from out of nowhere.


    "Yes, Your Highness."


    When he heard the reply, Armano only lifted the corner of his mouth. He couldn''t wait until the time he''d be able to have a taste of those two delectable fruits.

 Chapter 285 - Strategy Meet

    Once Lucia and Serilla grouped up with Fatima''s unit, the rest of the army had finished reorganizing neatly into their ranks. The infantry at the vanguard, the cavalry in the center, and the bowmen and war weapons at the rear, the army began to march and Lucia couldn''t help but feel a little bit in awe at the situation they were currently in.


    Serilla was already used to this kind of thing because she was once a part of Anglaria Kingdom''s army as a knight. It was a first for Lucia so she was a little giddy with excitement when she saw the large army move uniformly on the road.


    The Wanderers were placed near the center of the formation where the 3 princes were at. Fatima''s unit was trailing just a little bit behind them.


    It took about a week or so of marching before they finally came across the main army of the Merkruz Principality. After suffering from defeat after defeat, the Merkruz forces had constructed a fortress for themselves in the neutral territory to act as a bastion to stave off the Regulus army''s attacks.


    First Prince Albert had indeed sent a few of his divisions to attack this fortress during its construction, but the Merkruz army was able to constantly repel the attacks and constant harassments until it was finally finished.


    The royal family had dragged back Fatima into the battlefield again because they needed her help to take down this obstacle.


    They began setting up camp on a large hill overlooking the hastily built fortress. It was made of a mix between rocks, concrete, and steel. It looked haphazardly built, but Fatima could tell from the distance that it was pretty sturdy.


    She didn''t have Mana Eyes like Cecil, but she could acutely feel that the fortress was covered in a thick layer of mana, meaning that the entirety of the stronghold was layered in innumerous magic formations.


    Fatima frowned when she noticed this. Right now, they were still under the influence of the M-Jammer so she couldn''t understand how the Merkruz Forces were still able to use mana. She could only hope that it was limited to those magic formations layered onto the fortress.


    If even the soldiers were able to use mana, then the upcoming battle was bound to be an uphill struggle.


    A few of the kingdom''s scouts reported back to camp and immediately informed Prince Albert of their findings.


    "Damn...so this M-Jammer is only affecting us?"


    "It appears so, Your Majesty," A scout reported with a bitter look on his face. While doing their scouting earlier, the scout''s squadron had nearly been wiped out when they tried to return.


    The Merkruz forces were still able to use mana, but from the reports, they had only used low-tiered magic and the casualties were mostly because of the scouts'' negligence so they were caught off guard by the enemy.


    They were complacent since they thought that the enemy was also in a similar situation as them. Even if this was the case, the scouts should have still been on alert. This could only be attributed to the fact that they lacked training and discipline.


    The times of peace had blunted these warriors'' sense of danger and battle sense. Fatima couldn''t help but shake her head inwardly at this. It was a large contrast to her family''s kingdom. Silvaria Kingdom was now protected by the walls constructed on the outer edges of the valley so the monster attacks have been occurring less and less since the walls were completed.


    However, her father, the overseer of the kingdom, had nonetheless made sure that their soldiers were still in tiptop shape. Kaiser always personally inspected the training of the troops and this only caused all of them to stay more alert since Kaiser would punish anyone who was being negligent.


    "Fatima," Prince Albert called out.


    "Yes?"


    "How do you propose we fight this battle?"


    Fatima stepped forward and hesitated for a moment. The geographic layout was a little to the enemy''s advantage. The fortress was built in a location where two of the neutral territory''s major rivers intersected.


    This place was originally a neutral force''s city, but when the Merkruz Principality passed through, they had directly conquered this force and taken over the city. It was only recently that they had reconstructed the city into a fortress.


    They also had the advantage of being on the defense while the Regulus Kingdom was on the offense. With the use of magic and mana being out of the picture, the siege was just going to be that much more difficult.


    "Your Majesty, can we have someone test whether or not we can still use low-tier spells just like the enemy?"


    "Conrad," The Prince called out.


    The court magician of the kingdom stepped up and tried invoking a low-tiered spell, Fireball.


    It took a while, but once the minute amount of mana gathered into the spell formation, the Fireball was invoked. Seeing the slow invocation of the spell, Fatima furrowed her brows.


    "Your Majesty, I think we can leave the use of magic out of our battles. The mages can still try and send spells over, but low-tiered magic spells have a low range so it''s still not plausible to use them effectively. I also have other plans for them if they aren''t usable for the battle later, is that alright?"


    The Prince nodded at Fatima and so did the other generals in the tent. Once she got their agreement, Fatima immediately gave the Prince the simplest strategy that she could come up with.


    "We can try poisoning the rivers and slowly push them out of the city."


    Many in the room frowned at Fatima''s words. This was indeed a war, but to rely on poisoning the enemy to win the battle was a little underhanded. Also, there was the problem of whether or not the water was able to be purified by the enemy. The river was also the only source of water that the Regulus Army could get water from so it was a double-edged sword.


    "Your Majesty, if I may add," Conrad said.


    "What is it?"


    "Cleanse is an intermediate-tier magic spell. The possibility of them being able to use it is nil since they are being obstructed by their weapon."


    "You have a point...but what happens to us? We also rely on that river to get drinking water. The enemy also knows this so they''ll be on high alert and would also want to protect the river...is there no other plan?"


    "That''s just the most effective and quickest strategy, Your Majesty," Fatima said. "We can also try to flood both rivers and use Mother Nature to do the work for us."


    "Oh?" Albert grew interested in this plan. "Tell me more."


    "It''s like this, Your Majesty," Fatima began explaining the plan using the map stretched out on the table.


    The battle plan was to split the army into 3. 2 divisions would split off from the main army and travel to two specific locations on the river that Fatima had specifically picked out. The two locations that Fatima picked out had a lower elevation in comparison to the other places.


    As for how she got this information, Fatima had already asked her men to investigate the rivers long before the army had reached the fortress. She was already strategizing for the battle even before they arrived.


    With the information on hand, she was able to pick out the specific areas that the army divisions would use to build a dam. It wasn''t too far or too close to the Merkruz Fortress, just at the right distance where a flash flood would be able to affect the fortress and the enemy soldiers'' movements.


    To maximize the water quantity, she also tasked the soldiers that would split off with the duty to make an artificial basin by digging out the ground around the river so that it would accommodate more water when it was dammed up.


    It was going to be an arduous task which would require days to fulfill, but the Prince was satisfied with this arrangement. Conrad however still had some doubts.


    "So we build a dam...but even if we fill the artificial basin full of water, how long are we going to wait? This plan is indeed brilliant, but if the enemy notices what we''re up to, then they''ll send people to destroy the dam before it can accomplish its goal."


    Fatima nodded in understanding at his concerns, that''s where the magicians and the main army would come into play.


    "We''ll have the main army keep the Merkruz Forces in check. If they indeed catch wind of our plans, the main army will be there to hinder their forces from advancing up and down the rivers. Also, the mages will be split into two and accompany the two divisions in this undertaking. The mages will also contribute by moving the earth and hastening the construction of the artificial basin. After that, they''ll create water using low-tier magic to help fill the basin and they''ll also be tasked with destroying the dam."


    "Ah!"


    "Brilliant! Water ball is only a low-tiered magic spell and simple earth manipulation is well within low-tier magic standards. If it''s destroying the dam, then a few fireballs can be used! Now, our useless mages can play a large part in the upcoming battle!"


    "Yes, we can still use the mages like this. Also, we''ll leave a portion of our mages here with us. Just in case we do need to poison the water, we''ll have them create and store water for us." Fatima added.


    "A contingency plan...alright, we''ll proceed as how you''ve suggested," Albert said in appreciation. He couldn''t help but lament that his little brother was so lucky to meet such a fine woman like Fatima.


    If he was the one to have met her first, Albert wouldn''t hesitate to crown her queen since she had the beauty and the brains worthy of the title. He was envious, but there was little he could do since even the King had already given his consent on the couple''s marriage. All that was needed was for Rowan to gain the Silvaria Royal Family''s consent.


    Albert couldn''t help but frown at how arrogant the Silvarias were. His brother, a member of the Regulus Royal Family needed to gain another family''s approval to wed a woman. He was also dissatisfied with his brother for letting such an offense pass.


    ''Whatever, that''s his decision.''


    "General Lewis and General Blake, prepare your divisions. You will be the ones in charge of this undertaking. Make sure not to fail!" Albert commanded.


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" The two generals responded firmly in unison. The two walked out to prepare for their march and the strategy meeting for the main army''s duties ensued in the next moment. Fatima was still the one talking while others in the tent would give their opinions and suggestions.


    Lucia and Serilla couldn''t help but stare in awe at the way their sister-in-law had taken command of everyone in the room, which naturally included all the nobles, generals, and the two princes, Albert and Rowan.


    These two had been invited to come as escorts and bodyguards for Fatima. Fatima had caught wind that the 2nd Prince wouldn''t be attending the strategy meeting because he planned to chase and flirt with her two sisters-in-law.


    To prevent the stupid prince''s advances, she took the two with them as guards. Naturally, Lucia and Serilla were covered in a black cloak so they could hide their identities. Of course, the prince will catch wind of this sooner or later, but at least he wouldn''t be able to openly flirt with the two since Fatima and Rowan would be around to keep Armano in check.


    "Our sis-in-law is so capable!" Lucia whispered in excitement.


    "Yeah...she can come up with such a plan...I didn''t even think about using those two rivers to our advantage...she even prepared 2 ways of using them! Also, I think that sis-in-law even has another use for them," Serilla nodded back and quietly said.


    "Really?"


    "Yeah...it''s a hunch, but I think sis-in-law has one or two more plans she could use which would revolve around the river...then there are those other strategies which don''t include the use of the river..."


    "O-oh! Our husband''s family seems to be filled with all sorts of talented people!"


    "Mhm..."


    Serilla was correct. Fatima did have plenty of other strategies she could use to her advantage, but the ones she suggested were the most efficient and less time-consuming.


    If she had full command of the army, she''d have them construct traps just outside of the fortress and then have the army split up. One half would stay on this side while the other half would cross over to the other side, effectively surrounding both sides of the fortress on either side of the rivers. She''d then send some of her soldiers to build a dam on the two rivers and simply wait until the people in the fortress either died of thirst or ran out of the fortress.


    Sure, they probably had the means to create water from magic, but just how many mages were there in the enemy army? How much water could they produce before their mana ran dry? Fatima knew that it wouldn''t be enough and sooner or later they would crack.


    Once they turned desperate and try to look for a source of water outside of the fortress, Fatima would simply lead the army and engage them in combat outside of the fortress, taking away their home ground advantage.


    Between an army that was weak from dehydration and an army that was fully prepared and rested, it was obvious which side was going to win. It was a little bit inhumane, but if that was what it took to get the job done, Fatima wouldn''t hesitate.


    She had long since figured out how this world worked. It wasn''t like Earth. Here, the strong survive while the weak perish. Fatima was using this war as a means to whet herself because now that her family also had a kingdom, there was bound to be conflict knocking on their door someday in the future.


    If she hesitated then it would only bring harm to her family. This war was a way for her to abandon any hesitation when it came to making the hard and bitter decisions.


    It was only after the discussions had finished that the Second Prince had appeared. When he saw the two black-cloaked individuals who were at Fatima''s side, his brow couldn''t help but twitch as his face visibly crumpled in annoyance.

 Chapter 286 - Another Danger

    The Second Prince wanted to tear off those black cloaks so that he could see the beautiful appearances of the two women he had met a few days ago, but he had more important things to report.


    "Brother, there seems to be a small contingent coming out of the fortress. They seem to be setting something up in the middle of their battle formation!"


    "Let''s go see what this is all about," Albert said airily. He was confident in Fatima''s strategies and it was only a matter of time before they won this battle.


    He led everyone out of the tent and went to see what Aramano''s report was all about. In the middle of the enemy''s battle formation, outside of the fortress, there seemed to be a lot of activity going on.


    Taking a look at the situation down below, the Regulus army knew that the Merkruz forces had manipulated the landscape to their advantage. They had shaped the land so that there was a large semi-circle earthen wall that circled the front of the fortress with only one way in and out. Just behind these walls, the terrain was dug out to form large trenches and holes, with wooden and earthen barricades placed in front of them.


    It was similar to the things that Fatima had first introduced to the Regulus Army. Now the enemy was copying them and the Regulus Army generals couldn''t help but scoff at this. Even if they did put out these defenses, their soldiers already had experience in maneuvering around these things.


    Then there was a clear path down the middle of the battlefield which led directly towards the fortress'' gates. When everyone saw this, they only thought that it was most likely some kind of trap set up by the Merkruz Principality.


    It was then that Albert saw a large contraception being pulled out and set up in front of the fortress'' gates, right at the end of this path. The large contraception that was being set up was not something they had previously seen before.


    It was large and had a cylindrical body with a hollow inside. The contraption was a cannon, and when Lucia saw this, she couldn''t help but exclaim in shock.


    "It''s a Mag-Cannon!"


    The people around gave her a curious look after her sudden outburst. Lucia couldn''t help but scold herself inwardly and Serilla could only sigh. Despite having warned Lucia to not say anything, she still couldn''t stop her sister''s impulsive actions.


    Albert noticed that the black-cloaked person who was supposedly Fatima''s guard was in the know of what that large contraption was. He immediately demanded an explanation from Lucia.


    "You know what that is?"


    "..."


    "Tell us now, what is that thing!"


    Lucia eyed Fatima and she only nodded silently in reply.


    "Your Majesty, that thing over there, is the Empire''s Mag-Cannon, short for Magic Cannon," Lucia reported.


    "The Mag-Cannon? Damn! Those bastards got a hold of this too?!"


    Armano raised an eyebrow at Lucia''s response. This girl somehow knew about the Empire''s weapon.


    "Tell us more about this!"


    "...???


    "It''s okay Lucia," Fatima said in reassurance.


    Lucia didn''t know every single detail of the Mag-Cannon, but she still learned snippets of the cannon''s specifications from listening to both Cecil and Ren talking about it from time to time.


    "Alright...well, the Mag-Cannon is a weapon from the Empire that boasts of high destructive capabilities. The crystal mana battery inside the Mag-Cannon powers this weapon so it can minimally fire off 5 rounds before the battery needs to be swapped..." She continued explaining all she knew about the cannons before finishing. "Naturally, this weapon runs on mana, but¡ª"


    "Hah! So we do not need to worry about this then! The M-Jammer will interfere with this weapon''s activation!" Armano cut in with a smug laugh.


    "No, that thing will be able to fire without a doubt. Why would the enemy set up a weapon if it wasn''t going to work? Also, if the Empire can create a device that interferes with mana, couldn''t they also create a device for their soldiers so that they''d be able to use mana even under the M-Jammer''s interference?"


    Lucia''s words immediately sent everyone into a quiet shock. What the girl said had some merit and it could spell trouble for them later.


    "D-Don''t incite panic little girl! You don''t know for sure if this is true or not!" A noble hastily said in an uneasy tone.


    More began to berate Lucia, but Fatima immediately silenced them.


    "SILENCE! What she said must be taken into consideration. If the enemy can build a weapon to interfere with mana, then they can easily build a weapon for their soldiers to operate under this condition!"


    "But...wouldn''t that mean all our preparations would be meaningless?!"


    "Maybe...but remember, the Empire isn''t our enemy. It''s the Merkruz Principality. We can''t know for sure if the Empire has sold the device that will enable them to use mana even under the influence of the M-Jammer, but that doesn''t mean that the Empire''s Mag-Cannon doesn''t have it!"


    "Urk..."


    Her words immediately shut up the panicky nobles while all the generals present turned solemn at her words.


    Albert nodded in understanding. What Fatima and the cloaked girl said was true. Why would the enemy begin constructing the weapon if they weren''t going to use it?


    "What Fatima says holds merit! We shall proceed with our plans, but we''ll proceed with caution. Has General Blake and Lewis already finished preparing yet?!"


    "N-No news from them yet, sir!"


    "Have them set off immediately after their preparations are complete. We should hurry and begin our plans before that weapon is fully complete! We''ll drag their attention over to us while the 2 divisions sneak away! Prepare for battle!"


    "Yes, Your Majesty!"


    Just before Fatima was going to lead her people back to their unit, Prince Albert stopped them.


    "Fatima."


    "Yes, Your Majesty?"


    "Your subordinate...she''s contributed a little to our cause by providing us with vital information about that weapon. May I thank her?"


    "...Of course, Your Majesty."


    Albert turned his gaze over to Lucia who was hidden underneath the cloak. He immediately thanked her and just as Lucia was going to say something, one of the Prince''s advisors immediately quipped up in annoyance.


    "Having your face veiled before His Majesty is an offense! At least have the courtesy to take off your hood!"


    Lucia couldn''t help but glare at this loudmouth busybody. The Second Prince also quipped up at her manners so she had to reluctantly pull down her hood.


    When her face was revealed, Albert couldn''t help but widen his eyes a little at Lucia''s beauty, her beautiful silver hair which was flowing behind her back like a frozen waterfall and her sharp, fox-like eyes which was piercingly observing everything around her made Lucia look enchanting and at the same time witty and dangerous.


    Many were momentarily entranced by this girl''s beauty, but they quickly snapped out of it because Lucia swept everyone around her with a menacing glare.


    Lucia didn''t like the way she was being stared at like some kind of rare commodity. It wasn''t until Serilla nudged her on the side that Lucia immediately stopped and cast her eyes on Albert.


    "There''s no need for thanks, Your Majesty...I''m just doing what I think should be done."


    "Ah...yes, well, appreciation is most definitely due. I wouldn''t like it if our soldiers marched into battle without knowing what they were up against."


    Lucia bowed to him before stepping back behind Fatima.


    "Your Majesty, if that is all, we''ll head back to make our preparations."


    "Yes, of course. You''ll be in charge of this first assault Fatima. May the fortunes of war be with you," Albert said.


    "Thank you, Your Majesty." Fatima bowed before turning on her heels. "Let''s go."


    Lucia and Serilla followed closely behind her and Lucia immediately pulled up her hood, hiding away her face again.


    "Tsk... what a beautiful lady, a shame that she is married," Armano said abruptly.


    "Hm?"


    "That woman and the other one in the cloak are married to Fatima''s ''brother''."


    "They are? To which brother? As far as I know, none of Fatima''s brothers have gotten married." Albert asked with a frown.


    "I''m not sure either. I think this is all just a ruse and Fatima''s only covering for them because she doesn''t want us to poach the people under her."


    "Hmph, if they are unmarried... well..." Albert didn''t finish his sentence, but he was indeed a little attracted to the woman he had seen earlier. He didn''t quite catch her name though.


    "Oh? Has brother taken a fancy towards that young lady from earlier?" Armano asked as his eyes flashed chillingly.


    "..." Albert remained silent, but his brother already knew from the look in his eyes that he was indeed interested in Lucia.


    ''Hehehe~ since brother also wants her...I won''t have any qualms of taking them later.''


    He was going to enact his plans later after the battle. Since Fatima was going to be the one leading this initial attack, those two would probably be sent to the frontlines as well. Once they came back, exhausted from the fight, he''d make his move then.


    "Hmhm~"


    ******


    The battle started once Fatima gathered all the generals together. She stayed in the back, directing everyone''s battles while Lucia and Serilla insisted on going to the frontlines to make sure that her plans went on without a hitch.


    All they needed to do was divert all of the enemy forces'' attention on them so that the two selected divisions would be able to sneak away. The grass close to the banks of the rivers were tall, so if the two divisions did things right, they''d be able to sneak away unnoticed.


    The two selected divisions were mostly infantry so they didn''t have many cavalry units. As for the ones that were cavalry, they were left behind with the main army under Fatima''s orders.


    Once the battle started, Lucia and Serilla immediately dashed towards the chokepoint in the wall surrounding the fortress. At first, the ally soldiers were worried that there may be some traps waiting for them ahead, but Serilla and Lucia just darted into the danger zone and smashed the enemy''s defense line.


    The Merkruz army had long since deployed their troops when their scouts caught wind of the Regulus Army''s arrival. Though they had the terrain and home ground advantage, Lucia and Serilla simply smashed through all these impediments with their swords.


    With them preoccupying a part of the enemy''s frontline forces, the rest of the Regulus army was able to quickly follow after Lucia and Serilla''s lead without getting into march harm since the enemies were focused on trying to repel the two women who were wreaking havoc on their frontlines.


    Some of the bolder and courageous soldiers even stayed on the main path and tried to flank the enemy. The cannon still hadn''t finished setting up, but Fatima had specifically warned them to stay away from the main path.


    Seeing that some people had gone against her orders, Fatima immediately grew furious and had one of her adjutants go and relay the orders again to the people at the front. The Generals around her only told her to take it easy because the cannon still wasn''t ready.


    "We can''t leave them out there! Once the cannon is ready, we''ll lose every single one of our soldiers that are on the path!" Fatima yelled furiously at these ignorant people. Every soldier''s lives were important. Losing even one meant forever losing a battle-hardened warrior. They didn''t just grow on trees and training up another one took years. She immediately forced all the other generals to quickly send messengers to inform the soldiers on the path to move away from there.


    If they didn''t comply, only military punishment waited for them after the battle. It wasn''t long before the soldiers quickly got word of this and began to move away, but just before all of them were clear from the path, the cannon had suddenly fired a shot.


    A silence immediately descended upon the battlefield in the aftermath of the cannon fire. Every creature that was on the path had been killed and all that remained were scorched earth and corpses.

 Chapter 287 - Serilla’s Prowess and the Feast

    Part of the Regulus Army was also obliterated from that one shot. There were still some soldiers moving in the chokepoint of the large wall that the Merkruz Forces had constructed outside of their fortress.


    Fatima already knew that this chokepoint was probably within the range of the cannon, but before she could get any indicator that the cannon was ready, it was abruptly fired and she couldn''t even relay any orders to temporarily stop the troops from moving in.


    "Damn!" Fatima smashed her fist on the table in front of her. At least a quarter to almost half a battalion of soldiers was lost from that one attack.


    She remembered from Lucia''s explanation that this thing could fire off 5 shots in one go before the battery needed to be replaced. She couldn''t help but grit her teeth in anger. With the cannon aiming down the path and at the chokepoint, Fatima couldn''t send any more soldiers in... And the soldiers already inside couldn''t get out...


    "Where are the mages?! Send them to the front lines and have the earth mages chisel a hole in that goddamned wall!" Fatima ordered.


    All the earth mages that were left behind immediately set out to the front on her orders. Once they got to the wall, they began to slowly grind it away. The wall was about 10 meters thick, so it would take a while before the mages could create a large hole on that wall, but she needed to at least do something.


    Her brother''s wives were stuck inside that place and if anything happened to them¡ªno, Fatima didn''t even want to think about that. Just as she was eyeing the battlefield and coming up with a plan, a large part of the eastside wall immediately began to crumble and a large gash opened up.


    "Did our mages do that?! Are we able to use mana again?" One of the generals exclaimed in excitement.


    Fatima was also puzzled, but in the next instant a pink-haired lady appeared on top of the large opening before she swung her sword down onto the ground.


    Serilla had infused her sword slash with her intent and carved out another portion of the wall which opened up the gash to the ground. Once the task was complete, Serilla looked towards the general direction of where Fatima was supposed to be at and raised her thumb in the air.


    "Hahaha! Nice one Serilla! Have the soldiers on the eastside march into that opening!"


    "Yes Ma''am!"


    The battle once more resumed. The ones on the west side couldn''t do anything, but once Serilla opened another path on the wall, the Regulus soldiers began to stream into the battlefield. When most of their forces that were sent as the vanguard had successfully gotten into the battlefield behind the walls, the battle quickly turned in the favor of the Regulus Army.


    Just as Fatima thought that maybe flooding the rivers weren''t needed, large black cylinders began popping out from the battlements on the fortress. She widened her eyes in horror when she saw those mini Mag-Cannons.


    Now she understood why the large Mag-Cannon didn''t even need to bother rotating to aim at another location other than the main path. When she saw the disastrous outcome of the Mag-Cannons'' first volley, Fatima decisively sounded the horn for the retreat.


    "Lulu, let''s get going! That''s the call for the retreat!"


    "Alright...but I think we should at least do something about that stupidly large cannon!" Lucia said as she eyed the large Mag-Cannon sitting comfortably in front of the fortress'' gates.


    "I''ll go and crush the power relay and try to destroy the cannon. You head back, now!" Serilla ordered.


    "Okay, Seri...just be careful!" Lucia said as she cut down another enemy soldier before retreating.


    Serilla made her move once she saw that her sister had retreated. She enhanced her body and senses with Ki and immediately flashed towards the large Mag-Cannon situated in front of the fortress'' gates while dodging the mini Mag-Cannons'' shots.


    She appeared right below the large cannon and her figure was visible from where Fatima and the rest were overseeing the battle.


    "W-what is she doing?!"


    "Serilla!"


    Serilla spun around and sent sword waves all around her and immediately dispatched all the large cannon''s operatives and any enemy soldier around her. She had even sent some sword waves to attack the soldiers manning the mini Mag-Cannons on the fortress'' battlements.


    Having a little bit of room to breathe after taking out some of the soldiers around her, Serilla slashed upwards and cut off the cannon''s barrel. She then jumped back and concentrated a large amount of her sword intent and a little bit of her ether onto her sword before slashing out.


    "Ascending Blade!"


    A large energy wave was ejected from her sword and it immediately bisected the Mag-Cannon and the fortress''s gate behind it.


    Serilla felt a little exhausted from using this technique. The Ascending Blade was also much different than how Lucia and Cecil used it. They would send a large beam of sword energy and mana to destroy everything in front of them, but Serilla''s Ascending Blade was a razor-thin sharp sword beam that easily bisected anything she attacked.


    Unlike Lucia and Cecil who used Ascending Blade with mana, she had to use hers with Ether, or Ki, and Sword Intent, which naturally, took a toll on her mind and body.


    However, Serilla didn''t have the luxury to rest at the moment. Once the enemy forces saw that their cannon and gate was destroyed, all the mini cannons on the battlements immediately directed their aims at Serilla and began blasting her.


    Serilla immediately began to nimbly dodge the cannon fire and hastily make her escape. The entire sequence of her approaching the cannon to when she had destroyed and made a hasty retreat was observed by all the generals and soldiers who weren''t at the vanguard.


    Seeing the favorable outcome, they all roared and cheered at the woman''s heroic feat. The enemy was dismayed at the loss of the large Mag-Cannon, but the Regulus Army''s cheers were cut short when another similar Mag-Cannon was dragged out on top of the fortress''s walls, it aimed at the soldiers who were making their way back out from behind the earthen walls constructed by the enemy.


    It fired off one shot and another part of the Regulus Army was obliterated.


    At the army''s Main Tent, Albert roared as he stood up from his seat when he saw another one of those cannons.


    "Shit! How many more of those things do those bastards have?!"


    He had just been elated at the fact that Serilla had successfully destroyed one of those cannons, but now another one showed up and replaced it.


    "Brother, we should retreat for now. Fatima''s call was correct, her plan only needed us to act as a decoy for the other 2 divisions, we''ve already completed this and we should just wait until the preparations are complete." Rowan said.


    "Yes...now we shall wait. Those cannons are useless if there isn''t anything they can fire upon!"


    "Yes, but brother, have you noticed?"


    "Hm?"


    "Those cannons, their power seems to be much stronger, but their range also seems to be much lower than what we had initially predicted. They can''t even reach us from here. It''s like they swapped for power at the cost of the weapon''s range."


    "...You''re right...these are probably just proto-type cannons for ground usage. The ones in the Empire aren''t as powerful as this and the range was much farther. I don''t know if this is a blessing or not, but we should try and acquire one of those cannons for ourselves once the battle is over!"


    "Yes, brother," Rowan said in agreement.


    "But that woman...who is she?" Albert asked curiously.


    Rowan frowned. He knew that his brother likely referred to Serilla who had just taken down one of those cannons singlehandedly.


    "That''s Fatima''s sister-in-law," Rowan said.


    "Sister-in-law?"


    "Yes, she''s married to Fatima''s brother."


    "Which brother are you referring to?"


    "The lost brother that Fatima had been searching for," Rowan replied. "He''s currently not here. He''s headed to Revertia to look for his family, but he didn''t think that they were in Regulus."


    "The lost brother huh... you seem to know about her."


    "Yes, I had the good fortune of befriending them. I wanted to try and rope one of them in, but it turns out that the two of them were already taken."


    "Two?"


    "It''s the silver-haired girl that you met earlier. She''s also married to that lost brother. Fatima''s brother appears to be very capable, judging from the praises I''ve heard from his wives."


    "...I see." Albert couldn''t help but furrow his brows in disappointment. Seeing the clear disappointment in his brother''s eyes, Rowan released a relieved sigh and turned to walk out of the open tent.


    "I''ll head out now, brother. I should help Fatima in preparing our camp''s fortifications."


    "Alright," Albert responded as he saw his brother out.


    Right after Rowan walked away, Armano drifted next to Albert''s side.


    "Brother, I see the regret in your eyes. You didn''t expect such a beautiful woman to already be taken, yes?"


    "...And you''re point?"


    "Huhuhu~ brother, having a small taste of her wouldn''t be that bad, right?"


    "..."


    "Don''t worry the ''husband'' isn''t even here. I''ll deliver her to your tent tonight, brother. The pink-haired girl from earlier is the one I want, just host a banquet later and award those two for their feats on the battlefield. Take this and have someone spike that silver-haired girl''s food with it. She''ll be as horny as a whore soon after and once you have your way with her, the drug''s secondary effect will make her forget about what happened that night!"


    Albert only glared at his brother, but Armano didn''t mind the glare and just stuffed the small bottle of drugs into his hand.


    "You... what will happen if Fatima finds out about this," Albert said in a low voice.


    "Fatima? Heh, what can she do? She''s only a princess of some backwater kingdom. Why treat her so seriously? Her kingdom is probably only on the same power as those in the neutral territories! It''s hardly anything we should care about!"


    "..."


    "Just sit tight brother, I''ll deliver you your present later tonight~," Armano said as he walked away.


    ******


    "Looks like someone wants to die..." A man quietly mumbled as he observed the two princes talking to each other. He eyed the younger one dangerously before he disappeared from his spot.


    The man next to Prince Armano immediately whipped his head behind and frowned. Gildart thought that he just felt a cold, venomous gaze cast onto him and his liege.


    He was a little suspicious, but he was once a renowned assassin and sensing that there was no one around, Gildart thought it was only his paranoia kicking in.


    This symptom would always happen whenever his liege was going to do something unscrupulous again.


    ''It''s just my imagination... There''s just another year left before our contract expires then I''ll leave this pathetic excuse for a prince. Other than his face and sword arm, this worm doesn''t even have any other redeeming feature.''


    Gildart inwardly thought as he cast his gaze at the Second Prince. He couldn''t help but lament at his misfortune for actually being saved by this person and being tied into a contract with him.


    ******


    Serilla and Lucia had regrouped with Fatima and their sister-in-law was commending them for their achievements on the battlefield and invited them to join the banquet that the First Prince will be hosting later.


    The First Prince wanted to award Serilla for her achievement of taking down the walls surrounding the fortress and the destruction of the first Mag-Cannon.


    Later that night, after the awards, Lucia and Serilla were slowly eating the food placed in front of them. Quinn was standing behind the two girls and he was personally serving the food for them. He didn''t allow anyone to pour drinks or place food on their table.


    "Quinn, what''s up with you? Just kick back and relax." Lucia said.


    "Lady Lucia, this is just naturally my duty as your butler. I serve you food, I won''t allow anyone else to do so," Quinn replied.


    "Suit yourself~"


    Armano was smirking at the protective butler and he eyed one of his men. This person nodded and immediately went to the Wanderer. The person quickly found Sleipnir sleeping by the wagon and shot an arrow onto his rear end.


    This naturally startled Sleipnir awake and he began kicking up a ruckus in the middle of the camp. One of Fatima''s people informed them of the situation and Quinn had to go check what happened to their horse.


    "S-sorry, Your Majesty," Serilla and Lucia both apologized.


    Lucia couldn''t help but frown suspiciously. Sleipnir should be asleep right now and there was no way that he would suddenly kick up a fuss without reason. She reminded Serilla of this and the two girls began to cautiously eat their food.


    What no one knew was that everyone''s food was already spiked with the drug. Armano had arranged for this without his older brother''s knowledge and so he couldn''t help but smile in satisfaction when he saw that Lucia and Serilla were both eating so much earlier. Their butler had even served them the drugged food and he couldn''t help but chuckle in satisfaction.


    They did grow cautious when Quinn went away, and although they began to eat their foods cautiously and didn''t let anyone serve them, they hadn''t stopped eating.


    He was anticipating the moment when they fell into a stupor later when they fell asleep inside their wagon. Armano would have his men move in, take them out of their wagon, and bring them to his tent. As for the butler, he''d have Gildart quietly and quickly take care of him.


    He''d have a taste of them both before he would deliver Lucia to his brother. He also eyed Fatima who was also eating the drugged food in the banquet before a dangerous and avaricious glint flashed through his eyes.


    "Hmhmhmhm~ maybe I''ll take all 3 of them tonight," Armano let out a devilish smile and chuckled. He took a sip of wine from his wine as he waited patiently.

 Chapter 288 - Failure and Persistence

    When Quinn stepped out of the tent, Armano immediately eyed Gildart and the man nodded before walking out of the tent to trail after the butler.


    When Quinn arrived on the scene, the soldiers around were pointing their weapons at the raging Sleipnir, and he could see that Sleipnir himself was poised for battle and noticed that an arrow was sticking out of his butt.


    "Sleipnir! Stop!"


    Quinn immediately rushed past the soldiers and arrived in front of the angry Sleipnir. The soldiers around were still wary, but when they saw that the beast had calmed down under Quinn''s coaxing, they all lowered their weapons.


    Quinn immediately asked around about what had happened, but all the soldiers said was that Sleipnir had suddenly gone berserk for no reason at all. Quinn only furrowed his brows. He took a look at the arrow in his hand and crushed it.


    He nonchalantly glanced at an empty spot near the wagon and let loose a small amount of his killing intent. Gildart, who was eyeing the man murderously, immediately disappeared from his spot as he flashed away.


    When he saw Quinn glaring at him, Gildart broke out in cold sweat when the killing intent locked onto him and he immediately knew that his position had been compromised. He decisively chose to retreat because he felt that if he stayed there and forced the issue, he''d be the one who would meet the maker.


    He now felt a strong sense of danger radiating from the once inconspicuous butler. Gildart thought that he was only a pretty face and your typical ordinary butler, but having felt that deadly and chilling killing intent, which even pressured him, a veteran assassin, into retreating. Gildart couldn''t help but think that he had misjudged this person.


    Quinn only eyed the man hiding in the dark before decisively heading back to Lucia and Serilla after he made sure that Sleipnir had completely calmed down.


    When he arrived back at the banquet, Serilla immediately asked him what happened to Sleipnir. The horse was her responsibility so Serilla was naturally worried that something bad might have happened to him.


    "What happened, Quinn?"


    Quinn looked around and leaned in to whisper into Serilla''s ear.


    "Lady Serilla, I believe that this may be one of the Second Prince''s schemes."


    "Why do you say that?"


    "Sleipnir was enraged because he had been struck by an arrow. Earlier, I was also trailing the prince as per your request and overheard some...unsavory things."


    Serilla prompted him to continue so Quinn immediately reported, "The Second Prince was talking with the First Prince about drugging both you and Lady Lucia before later taking you both into their chambers..."


    The air around Serilla immediately dropped in temperatures for a brief moment when she heard her butler''s words. She didn''t let her fury show on her face and quickly readjusted her mind.


    "Is that all?"


    "Yes, Madam," Quinn nodded before he backed away respectfully. He already knew that Serilla, who was normally always smiling, was furious right now.


    Serilla turned to look at Lucia who seemed to be a little out of it and knew that something was up. She immediately began circulating her Ki and with every circulation, she felt her anger rising. Serilla stood up and asked the First Prince to be excused from the banquet.


    The First Prince eyed his little brother discreetly. Once he saw the slight nod Armano gave him, he allowed the two girls to leave. This discreet exchange didn''t go unnoticed by Serilla and the look she gave Albert had turned frigid, though she was able to cleverly mask it away from the man.


    "Lulu, we should head back now."


    "Hueh? Okay~"


    "Quinn," Serilla gestured towards Lucia as she called out to the butler.


    "Yes, Madam," Quinn walked up to Lucia and immediately helped her up.


    They bade farewell to Rowan and Fatima, who looked a little tipsy and red. Serilla gave Fatima a subtle warning, but it was a good thing her sister-in-law was able to pick up on it. Quinn had also slipped a small note into Fatima''s hand and when she read it, Fatima immediately cast Armano a rage-filled glare. It was only for a brief moment so no one noticed it, but she immediately decided to head back to her quarters with Rowan.


    There were no mishaps on the way back. Lucia and Serilla were able to safely arrive at their wagon and they both took a quick bath and quickly went to bed.


    Quinn could already tell that there was something wrong with his two Madams and the air around him immediately turned frigid once the two women closed the door to their bedroom.


    The wagon''s protective arrays were rendered useless right now due to the M-Jammer, but Quinn made sure to check the locks on the door and place some traps before heading into his room. However, with the dangerous air, he was exuding, it was obvious that Quinn didn''t plan on sleeping tonight.


    *****


    A while later inside Lucia and Serilla''s bedroom, Lucia was feeling a little hot and uncomfortable. Her body was burning and it felt unpleasant. She was tossing and turning in her sleep, but next to her, Serilla also wasn''t having a good time.


    She already knew what was up. Their food had been laced with an aphrodisiac and that''s why they were burning up.


    Serilla had it easy, her Ki had reinforced her body and she was slowly pushing out the aphrodisiac out of her system, but it was inevitable that her concentration was wandering around due to the heat she was feeling from her crotch.


    "Damn... if only darling was here... haahhh ahhhh...when was the last time...we had s.e.x...urk..." Serilla tried to regain her focus by biting down on her finger, but it only made her hornier.


    "Uhhh...darling would sometimes let me bite his hand...I want my darling..."


    Serilla couldn''t forgive herself. She had somehow blundered and fallen into someone''s scheme. She didn''t even know when they had ingested the drug, but judging by how everyone in the banquet seemed to be a little out of sorts, she deduced that everyone''s food was laced with the drug and not just theirs.


    She couldn''t help but commend and curse at the Second Prince for his idiotic scheme. The fool had laced the food of all the high ranking army commanders with a drug just so that he could get into her and her sister''s pants.


    "Why can''t that asshole think with his brain and not with his crotch? What if the enemy attacks us tonight?! We''ll be like sitting ducks out here because of him! I''ll make sure to let darling know about this! Unlike me, darling isn''t afraid of offending any of the human powers!" Serilla cursed under her breath as she tried to endure the effects of the drug. Next to her...


    "Seri~ I feel...so...so hot...help..." Lucia wasn''t having such a swell time. She didn''t have a physique like Cecil or Serilla, so naturally the drug was working wonders on her.


    "Lulu, we have to endure this. Use your Ki to slowly push the drug out of your system, hurry!"


    "U-urk...w-where''s Cel...I want my Cel...hic," Lucia began tearing up a little.


    "Come on Lulu, think of this as training! We can get through this! Once we finish this training, darling will naturally reward both of us later!"


    "Cel? Reward?" Lucia replied in a daze.


    "Yes! He''ll reward us later!"


    "O-okay~ ehehehe, reward~" Lucia closed her eyes in the next moment and began to concentrate and circulate her Ki inside her body.


    Once Lucia was focused on the task, Serilla released a relieved sigh and began focusing on her Ki. Quinn was still in the wagon and she hadn''t seen him take a single bite out of the food so she deduced that he must be okay.


    "Yeah, Quinn is still okay, he''ll protect us from the Second Prince throughout the entire night, but what about Fatima?"


    ******


    Inside Fatima''s tent, the grunts of a man and the m.o.a.ns of a woman were currently ringing out in the air.


    Fatima didn''t have the mental fortitude and body constitution that accompanied a Ki cultivator, so she had succ.u.mbed to the aphrodisiac''s effects. The only upside to this was that the man she was currently riding was her fianc¨¦.


    When they got back and Fatima informed Rowan about the drug that had most likely been slipped into the food they were eating and Rowan immediately grew appalled. He didn''t want to take advantage of Fatima, but just as he was about to exit her tent, he was suddenly pushed back down onto the bed.


    It wasn''t like they hadn''t done it before, but Rowan knew that doing things in this situation was wrong. He didn''t want to take advantage of his fianc¨¦e when she was currently not in her right mind, but Fatima didn''t particularly mind. She had been stressed for the past couple of days and her head nearly exploded when she heard that Armano had drugged Serilla and Lucia.


    She didn''t have to worry about those two because the wagon they were living in had a very sophisticated defense system and also, the butler that was always moving in the background near Lucia and Serilla was there as well.


    Fatima saw the respect that the butler had for his two madams, so she didn''t worry that the butler might have other thoughts and take advantage of those two. Fatima felt that this butler had some secrets and he was a very powerful individual himself. She didn''t have to worry about the two girls'' safety with him there.


    That''s why she was currently releasing her pent up frustrations on the poor man under her.


    "H-Honey? N-Not so¡ª"


    "Do you want me to stop~?"


    "N-No..."


    The Prince''s retainers were guarding the perimeter tightly and they couldn''t help but sigh in relief when they heard the questionable sounds coming from the tent. They were worried that Rowan had a one-sided love for Fatima because of how cold the woman treated their prince.


    Also, there were no rumors or sightings of Fatima and Rowan ever sleeping together in the same chamber so now that things had developed in this way, the retainers were happy for their Prince. It wasn''t like they had never slept together, but they did it so secretively that Rowan''s retainers never once saw them being intimate together.


    When anyone tried to approach the tent, the soldiers would immediately stop them, they didn''t want their Prince and Princess'' romantic time together to be interrupted so because of this, none of Armano''s men were able to come and secretly kidnap Fatima from her quarters.


    ******


    On Lucia and Serilla''s side, Quinn was currently outside of the wagon wiping down the bloodied dagger in his hand.


    While Lucia and Serilla were dealing with their problems on their own, Quinn had taken the liberty to kill all the people that were eyeing their wagon since a while ago. Once he cleaned the dagger, Quinn opened up a vial and poured its contents onto the corpse near his feet.


    The contents of the bottle started to disintegrate the corpse and soon, nothing was left. Quinn checked the surrounding area for any more foolhardy people that were looking for death. Once he made sure that was the last of the people, he walked into the wagon and closed the door behind him.


    ******


    "Useless...utterly useless!!! All of you!!!" Armano roared in anger at Gildart and the other men present in his tent.


    "Are you saying that all the men we sent died?!"


    "Yes, that is indeed the case," Gildart reported. He then proceeded to report to the prince how exactly his men had died and this caused the prince to rethink his actions, but in the end, he still wouldn''t give up on those two girls.


    Gildart could see this and inwardly, he shook his head. He had seen for himself the butler-like man personally dispatching all the men Armano had sent to take Serilla and Lucia. Gildart was also in horror when he saw the quick and clean way the man had taken out all the people. Even Gildart himself didn''t know or see what had happened before Armano''s men began dropping to the floor like flies.


    Quinn could have remained hidden and let the corpses rot for all he cared, but he had purposefully revealed himself in the end and perfectly cleaned up the scene of his massacre. Quinn only eyed Gildart as if to say ''go report to your master''.


    Gildart knew for sure that Quinn had purposefully let him escape so that he would report back to Armano and let him know, that this time was only a warning. The next time, he''d massacre everyone.


    His Madams couldn''t openly attack Armano, but he was letting the prince know that he could do so at any time AND he wouldn''t ever be found out.


    Seeing the corpse dissolve under the odd liquid that Quinn had poured onto the corpse earlier caused Gildart to involuntarily shiver in fear. Without a body, no one will know whether or not the Second Prince had been killed, kidnapped, or simply if he had left like he normally did every once in a while.


    Armano also got the hidden message that Quinn implied behind his actions, but even so. He still wanted to take Lucia and Serilla for himself. He didn''t want to give up and was envious of the luck of those two''s husband.


    "Gildart... looks like we''ll have to get rid of that butler..."


    "...My liege..."


    "Quiet...I don''t care how it''s done. I want that man dead," Armano said in a frigid tone.


    "...Yes, my lord," Gildart was reluctant. How was he supposed to get rid of that man? It was more likely that the butler will get rid of him and this imbecile instead.


    The prince got the message, but how was this imbecile still not willing to turn back before it was too late? He wanted to decline, but having been bound by that contract...he wasn''t in any position to disobey his contractor.


    ''If I die, then I die...I should have been killed all those years ago anyway...'' Gildart thought gloomily to himself.


    He turned around and quickly walked out of the tent and left the prince to continue raging and cursing by himself.

 Chapter 289 - Not Going as Planned

    The silent night continued, but the next day. Lucia and Serilla refused to come out of their wagon. They were infuriated and if they saw Armano''s face or the First Prince''s face, the two might accidentally swipe their swords across their necks.


    Serilla would normally be able to reel in her anger, but not this time. She had half the mind to send Quinn over on a mission to assassinate this repulsive creature.


    When Fatima had come over to look for them, she immediately apologized to the two for the trouble that had happened last night.


    Upon seeing how Fatima was somehow glowing and the exhausted Rowan on the side, the two girls immediately smirked at the couple.


    "Huhuhu~ looks like you two had fun last night~"


    Fatima only chuckled at her teasing and said, "While I had fun, you two look like you haven''t gotten much sleep..."


    "We''re alright...but I''m only going to say this...we''re retracting our participation in this war..." Serilla said.


    Fatima nodded in understanding. They were only mercenaries and they could come and go as they pleased. After experiencing what had happened last night, it was only natural that the girls didn''t want to help the Regulus Army anymore.


    "Once this battle is over, you''re free to go back. For now, just stay within our ranks. You both no longer need to participate in this war, but stay by my side and act as my guards."


    Lucia and Serilla both nodded at her words. They could come and go as they wished, but this didn''t mean they could run away from a battle, that''d be desertion. Fatima''s suggestion was the only solution so that Serilla and Lucia wouldn''t be branded as deserters while at the same time allowed them to not participate in the war.


    Since they would act as Fatima''s Personal Guards, no one could force them onto the battlefield later.


    And that''s exactly what they did for the following few days before the construction of the dam and artificial basin were finished. Many questioned Fatima''s decision to keep them off of the battlefield, but she only replied that the two girls were her guards and only the first day''s battle was an exception where she let them participate in the battle.


    During these couple of days, the girls and Rowan were alert and on guard against any of Armano''s schemes, but for some reason, the days passed peacefully. They didn''t even see Armano at all and thought that the Prince had disappeared again like he usually did, or he had just given up, but they knew that this wasn''t likely.


    It didn''t matter what the prince was planning, but Lucia and Serilla were honestly glad that they hadn''t caught a glimpse of that imbecile, out of sight out of mind.


    The past few days'' battles were only small skirmishes compared to the first day''s battle. The army would only bombard the fortress with their siege weapons from afar because it was too dangerous for the kingdom''s soldiers to approach the fortress because of those black cylinders hiding behind the battlements.


    However, just like Fatima had dreaded, the magic formations bolstering the defenses of the fortress were active while even under the M-Jammer''s influence so their long-ranged attacks were doing little to no damage on the fortress.


    Thankfully, Fatima''s flooding plans were almost ready and they would need just about another day or so before they could commence the operation. However, Fatima was a little worried at how lacking the Merkruz Principality''s actions were.


    They should have at least noticed the dams being built by the visibly lower water levels of the river, but the principality hadn''t once sent any of their soldiers to go inspect the cause of this.


    Despite being on the defensive, the principality''s actions were a little too passive. The soldiers that were supposed to be stationed in the front of the fortress walls just behind the earthen walls that had created were all pulled back into the city and would only ever come out when the kingdom sent their troops behind the earthen wall.


    Fatima couldn''t help but grow suspicious at this. If all the troops were inside the fortress, later when the flash flood comes, wouldn''t they all be thoroughly wiped out?


    It was too convenient for them so Fatima wanted to check what was happening behind those walls, but it was nigh impossible to send anyone into the fortress without being noticed.


    With things falling into a stalemate, Fatima and the kingdom army could only wait until their plans were completed before they''d be able to launch their attack.


    And soon enough, the day when they could enact their plans arrived and this time, Albert was going to lead the charge alongside Armano who had finally come out of hiding. His gaze as he eyed Lucia and Serilla, who was hidden behind their cloaks, had grown ever more obsessed and possessive.


    Lucia had to use every ounce of her mental strength to hold back her body from immediately attacking the lecherous prince when he had showed up.


    Once Fatima received the confirmation that the water level behind the dams had reached the point where it was overflowing the river and dug-out basin, she immediately gave the 2 divisions the go-ahead.


    After her orders were relayed, it didn''t take long before the once empty river began to surge with water once again, but instead of the usual flow of water, it was like two large water dragons were surging furiously in the rivers as they rushed towards the city.


    When the flash flood struck against the fortress, everyone could visibly see that a small part of the fortress had collapsed due to the initial impact. The soldiers cheered when they saw the city being flooded.


    Fatima, however, couldn''t help but frown when she noticed something odd about all this. The magic formations on the fortress hadn''t activated and there were no screams from the enemy soldiers.


    Just before she could tell the First Prince to prevent the army from charging into the city, Albert had already raised a battle cry and was the first to rush into battle. He led all the soldiers to charge behind the earthen walls and straight-up march towards the fortress gates.


    After a few attacks, the gate was immediately broken down and a large amount of water surged out of the gates. The soldiers had already taken shelter and they let the water flood into the trenches and holes that their enemy had set up.


    Once the water stopped flowing too strongly from inside the fortress, Albert immediately led the soldiers into the fortress.


    Fatima and the girls followed after, but they were near the back of the formation so it took a while before they could get inside. When they got inside, Fatima knew something was wrong when she saw the entirety of the fortress was devoid of all human beings.


    "RETREAT! IT''S A TRAP!" Fatima yelled out as she blew the horn to sound the retreat.


    Albert wasn''t slow and he immediately knew it was a trap the moment he came in and saw no one firing arrows or attacking them. Fatima was one step ahead of him, but he immediately had his adjutant sound the horn for retreat as well.


    A part of the kingdom''s army was already inside the city and it would be hard to get back out now since the place was flooded and the only way in and out of the fortress was too small for the sea of people inside to quickly exit.


    It was then that a large beam of mana struck the soldiers near the gate. Fatima immediately snapped her head at the weapon that had caused this and noticed that it was the same Mag-Cannon that should have been set up on the walls.


    This Mag-Cannon was currently mounted on the other side of the fortress'' walls. When Fatima turned around and saw the other cannon still up on the walls close by, she cursed under her breath, "Those bastards have 3 Mag-Cannons!"


    With the Mag-Cannon killing many of the soldiers near the gate, the remaining ones inside immediately scattered into the fortress and began to take cover behind buildings while the ones outside could only retreat and continue to fall back.


    This was because some Merkruz soldiers had suddenly appeared on the walls from out of nowhere and immediately began manning the mini Mag-Cannons positioned on the walls. They began firing volley after volley of cannon fire onto the kingdom''s soldiers.


    Lucia and Serilla immediately flashed onto the city walls and tried to take out as many enemy soldiers as they could, but there were too many soldiers suddenly appearing on the wall so Lucia and Serilla couldn''t possibly deal with all of them.


    "Just where did these people come from?!" Lucia yelled anxiously.


    "They were hiding in the walls of the fortress...somebody leaked out our battle plans and so they had long since prepared for the flood! That''s why their defenses over the past few days were a little too passive!" Serilla responded solemnly as she sent sword waves at the enemies around her. She took a look at the unmanned cannons near her before quickly giving Lucia an order. "Lulu, go back down the walls and have Fatima guide some of our soldiers up here so they can man these cannons and use them against the enemy!"


    "O-okay! I''ll go let sis-in-law know!"


    Lucia immediately rushed down the walls and quickly made her way to Fatima. She immediately informed her sister-in-law of Serilla''s intentions and Fatima quickly began organizing the soldiers around her.


    Once they were ready, Fatima''s unit immediately rushed up to the walls where Serilla and Lucia had already taken down all the enemy soldiers who were manning the cannons. They met a little bit of resistance when some enemy soldiers began popping up from inside the walls and onto the walkway, but Lucia quickly made short work of them.


    It took some time before Fatima and her soldiers were able to figure out how to fire the weapon, but once they knew, they sent a large volley of mana beams over at the unsuspecting enemies who were happily shooting down their allies.


    Once the first few volleys connected, Fatima immediately had her unit stop using the cannons and split into two teams. One side would run along the east side of the walls while the other would run along the west side and sweep through all the enemies on both sides of the wall.


    It was dangerous, but staying in one place to fire the cannons was even more dangerous. When Fatima saw that Rowan and Albert were leading some soldiers onto the walls, she immediately let out a sigh of relief, however, she couldn''t find Armano anywhere.


    Fatima only frowned at this, but she didn''t have the time to think about that fool right now.


    "Lucia, Serilla, with me! We''re going to attack the west side! Randolph, I leave the east side to you!"


    "Yes Ma''am!"


    "Alright, let''s move!" Fatima loudly ordered.

 Chapter 290 - There’s No Going Back

    Fatima led her contingent across the west side of the wall and began cutting down all the enemy soldiers in their path. They had to beware of the cannon fire from the east wall, but it was fortunate that Albert and Rowan were able to preoccupy some of the enemy soldiers on that side.


    "Stop!" Fatima halted her troops and glared menacingly at the human blocking their way.


    "Ah~ isn''t it the War Saintess, I knew that we''d meet on the battlefield again~," The man blocking their way said as he waved around the large glaive in his hand.


    "Hmph, General Harold... I thought you would have died by the water already!"


    "Wahahahaha! That strategy was indeed good, but it seems you have some disloyal bastards in your ranks! It did destroy some of the magic formations on the walls, but unfortunately for you, we already prepared for it!"


    "...Tsk..." Fatima grimaced at the enemy general''s words. Her suspicions were true and a spy had indeed informed the enemy of their plans.


    "Well, I''ll have you stop here now. The Mag-Cannon we bought from the Empire is aiming at you all right now. You can either surrender or turn into charred corpses like those fools down there."


    Fatima eyed the battlefield still taking place in the middle of the fortress. Some enemy soldiers had hidden in the upper floor of the buildings and had now come out to engage the kingdom''s forces.


    Serilla immediately informed her that some of the troops who were chased out earlier were able to get in and reinforce the ones on the ground, but the large Mag-Cannon would occasionally fire off a shot and eliminate some of the unfortunate soldiers who didn''t make it past the gate in time.


    As for the large magic cannon near them, it had its power relay and battery switched out and couldn''t be used. Now that the large cannon was aiming at them, Fatima furrowed her brows as her mind immediately began thinking and processing all the information around her, trying to devise a plan, but no matter how hard she thought, that large cannon was a clear obstacle.


    ''Should we rush for the General? They won''t fire the cannon at their commanding officer, right?''


    ''But...what happens if they do fire regardless of him being there? This isn''t the first time that vicious bastard sacrificed his people to win a battle...''


    The bastard she was talking about was naturally the current ruler of the Merkruz Principality, Johann Merkruz. This middle-aged ruler was ruthless to himself, his kingdom, and more so, to his enemies, but under his rule, the Merkruz Principality had achieved their golden age where the principality''s economy, domestic affairs, and military power were at an all-time high.


    It was just that his cruel methods and iron-grip on his principality made him out to be more like a tyrant. He didn''t tolerate any incompetence and it wasn''t unheard of for him to execute any of his generals or ministers if they failed to do a task.


    So in Fatima''s mind, the general in front of her who had lost battle after battle against her and should have long since been killed by that tyrant yet, he was still alive.


    He was now blocking Fatima''s path forward and even had a Mag-Cannon aiming for their location...this only meant that the general was already prepared to risk his life to eke out a win and hopefully even kill her, the cause of all his losses.


    "Sis-in-law, let me deal with the cannon''s attack later, you and Lucia just rush up and quickly take care of him," Serilla whispered solemnly as she eyed the large Mag-Cannon that was powering up in the distance.


    "What can you possibly do Serilla? That thing''s too far away! We can''t destroy it from here!"


    Serilla smirked at her and leisurely said, "Who said that I can''t?"


    Lucia also quipped up from the side, "If I could use my mana, that stupid cannon wouldn''t even be a threat!"


    "Huh?"


    "Just leave it to Seri, she''ll take care of that thing! Sis-in-law, we should focus on the task at hand and quickly kill this pest." Lucia said as she readied her katana.


    Seeing her take up a battle stance, General Harold only raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "Hah, so you''re willing to throw away your life? For what?! If you just surrender, I''m sure that our King will spare your life and you''d have a much better future by his side and serving under him!"


    Fatima decided to put her faith in Lucia and Serilla since the two didn''t seem to be scared and seeing that Serilla was so confident in ''taking care'' of the Mag-Cannon, she refocused her mind on their initial battle plan.


    "Serilla, we''ll leave that cannon to you. Lucia, help me deal with this pest," Fatima said slowly. Ironically, her weapon of choice was the same as Cecil, a spear. However, unlike Cecil, Fatima''s spear was a Qiang or a flexible spear.


    When she pulled out the weapon from her spatial ring, General Harold frowned in displeasure. He had already lost to this young lady multiple times in a battle of wits and strength. The soldiers behind him were also cowering a little when they saw her pull out this unique weapon.


    The Qiang or flexible spear was an unusual weapon in the eyes of the alternian humans since it had a flexible wooden body that could probably be easily cleavable by a sharp blade. However, Fatima''s spear was a little special. It was crafted from an unusual tree found only within Midgard''s No-Man''s Land.


    This tree was incredibly sturdy and had a hardness that rivaled even dark Mythril, a unique ore that the Silvaria Kingdom was able to mine from the Sky-Piercing Mountains. It was hard, but at the same time still limber and flexible after being processed into a rod.


    It was an ideal choice of material to create the Qiang and Fatima had this weapon with her for a long time now, but it was her first time taking it out in battle in front of Lucia and Serilla.


    Fatima would normally stay in the back and direct the soldiers. Until now, she had only been using a standard issued sword that the Regulus Army''s soldiers were using and the girls thought that this was her weapon.


    Seeing the unique spear in her hand, Lucia grinned and thought that the Silvaria siblings had the same kind of preferences.


    "I never got to see sis-in-law in battle~"


    "I''ll take care of the general, please handle the rest of them," Fatima replied to Lucia.


    "Alrighty~"


    Lucia immediately flashed forwards and immediately attacked the closest soldier that was behind the general. Harold could only widen his eyes in shock at the girl''s speed.


    Lucia indeed couldn''t use mana, but her Ki-enhanced physique was much better than these humans who hadn''t cultivated their Ki. It was the first time that Fatima was battling alongside her sisters-in-law, so she too was also surprised at the speed and power that Lucia had just displayed.


    Seeing it from up close was much different than seeing it from afar. So she was a little shocked, however, she immediately gained her bearing and charged straight at the enemy general.


    From afar, the soldiers who were manning the large Mag-Cannon immediately saw the general engaging the enemy. It seems that their threats didn''t work so they could only proceed in the next stage of the plan.


    They were going to fire the cannon, regardless of whether the general would get caught in its range. The cannon operatives had already begun powering up the cannon since earlier so all that was needed was to fire it.


    While Fatima, Lucia, and the other allied soldiers were engaging the enemy, Serilla had empowered her body with Ki and immediately made her way to the large Mag-Cannon in the distance.


    None of her sword arts could reach the cannon from the distance she was at earlier so she needed to move closer. She jumped from building to building and shortened the distance between her and the cannon.


    Just as the large Mag-cannon was about to fire, Serilla immediately stopped and readied an Ascending Blade when she saw the muzzle of the cannon glow.


    She didn''t spare an ounce of her Ki and had even infused a little bit more ether into this attack than her previous one. Serilla needed to cleave the beam in two and hopefully redirect it to a different location.


    When the cannon''s beam was fired, Serilla immediately swung her sword. Her attack directly cleaved the beam in two, successfully directing the blast away from Lucia and Fatima''s location. One of the two beams struck the enemy''s forces, while the other struck some random area behind Serilla.


    She didn''t know whether she had accidentally diverted that beam at an enemy or an ally, but she didn''t have the time to care about that. As long as Lucia and Fatima were safe, then her mission was already half-complete.


    Serilla continued dashing from building to building and had quickly arrived at the Mag-Cannons location just before it could fire off another beam.


    She had already destroyed one of these before, so Serilla quickly dispatched all the enemy soldiers around the cannon and was just about to cleave the cannon in two, but a voice immediately stopped her.


    "STOP!"


    "Hm?"


    When Serilla turned around, the person who had stopped her was the Second Prince, Armano. She didn''t understand how the prick had gotten all the way here, but she frowned at the prince''s ambivalent command.


    "Why should I stop?"


    "We can use this weapon to our advantage! All we need to do is defend this place and have our men quickly learn how to operate this thing!" Armano hastily argued.


    His words had some merit to it so Serilla lowered her sword and gestured for him to quickly get it done.


    Armano ordered some of his men to quickly go and operate this machine, but his gaze the entire time didn''t leave Serilla''s body. He eyed Gildart who was next to him. The man seemed a little reluctant, but he immediately flashed forwards and arrived just behind Serilla.


    "Huh?"


    Being caught off guard, Serilla was just about to raise her sword and defend, but Gildart was faster and he jabbed the pommel of his dagger on the back of Serilla''s neck, knocking her out unconscious.


    "Yes! Haha, yes!" Armano laughed gleefully. He immediately picked up the unconscious girl and hastily moved down into one of the empty buildings nearby.


    Gildart was already on full alert and he couldn''t help but curse in his mind.


    ''F.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k...that man...I haven''t seen him in the past few days, but I keep feeling that we''ve been under constant observation...''


    Gildart felt an impending sense of danger envelope the air around the building they were in. When he took a glance inside the room the prince was in, he noticed that Armano had fed something to Serilla and had started stripping off her clothes and armor.


    "F.u.c.k..." When those words left his mouth, one of the soldiers outside of the building collapsed and the door into the building immediately blew open.


    "I thought...I warned you already..."


    A man slowly walked into the room as he was choking one of the soldiers. He twisted his hand slightly and the soldier''s neck immediately snapped. This man who was enveloped in a murderous air was wearing a neat suit befitting that of a butler.


    He took off the glasses he was wearing and neatly placed it into his pocket before two daggers appeared in his hand.


    "There''s no going back now since you''ve touched the Madam..." Quinn said coldly. With a flick of his wrist, the daggers in his hand flew out and embedded themselves into the throats of two random soldiers inside the building.


    "If you block my path, I will kill you."

 Chapter 291 - Master will Deal with You

    Just as Serilla was about to be r.a.p.ed by the Second Prince, Quinn immediately busts through the door of the room she and the prince were in.


    Quinn immediately saw the Prince who was trying to defile his Madam and just before he could pierce into Serilla, Quinn immediately flicked his wrist and sent a dagger flying at the Prince''s crotch.


    "GAAAAAAHHHH!!!"


    The Prince immediately squealed like a pig when the dagger chopped off his member.


    "F.U.C.K! W-What have you done?! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G ANIMAL?!" The Prince roared in a mix of rage, humiliation, and horror.


    Quinn only calmly walked over to the prince and slugged him in the face. He was just about to pierce the heart of the prince with a dagger but immediately stopped upon thinking about something.


    The prince saw his hesitation and started begging for mercy, "N-n-n-no, please, please spare my life! Please, I...I can''t die yet! You can''t kill me! I''m the prince! I''m the Second Prince of Regulus! Killing me will only cause you problems! P-please spare me!"


    "..." Quinn eyed the pathetic worm and scoffed. "The only reason I''m not killing you yet is so that my Master will have the chance to deal with you."


    Armano inwardly sighed in relief before the pain coming from his crotch attacked his senses. "A-ARGGGHHH...P-please, h-help me stop the bleeding!"


    "Shut up, worm," Quinn said coldly.


    "..."


    "You better wash your neck. Once my Master finds out what you''ve just done, you''re going to die, whether you are a prince, or not. So just wait patiently for that day to come."


    Quinn immediately smashed the pommel of his dagger on Armano''s forehead and knocked him out cold. He immediately took out a clean piece of cloth from his spatial ring and wrapped it around his unconscious Madam.


    Quinn placed a hand on Serilla''s stomach and channeled his Ki into her body, forcing out the substance that Armano forcibly had her ingest earlier. Serilla coughed out the liquid and she slowly regained consciousness.


    "Ugh... Q-Quinn? I...What happened?"


    "It''s alright Madam, nothing happened to you."


    Serilla took a look around the unfamiliar room and noticed the unsightly collapsed prince. He was half-n.a.k.e.d and had his genitals cut off and was bleeding out. She widened her eyes in horror and immediately started to frantically check her body. Tears were already streaming down her face at this point.


    "Madam, he wasn''t able to do anything to you. I was able to arrive just on time," Quinn reassured her.


    "Hic...t-thank you Quinn... is... is he dead?"


    "...No, Madam. I don''t think it''s my place to deal the finishing blow."


    "Good..."


    Serilla glared hatefully at the prince and she immediately stomped over next to him and smashed her foot onto his face.


    "Disgusting prick!!! Only, my darling, can do this, to me!" Serilla said as she continued stomping on the prince''s face until it was bleeding, battered, and bruised. She immediately searched for her sword using her intent and immediately pulled it into her hand from the top of the wall where she had previously dropped it due to being knocked out by Gildart.


    Just as Serilla was about to stab her sword into Armano''s chest, Quinn stopped her.


    "Madam, if I may?"


    "What is it Quinn? Don''t tell me you want me to spare his life?!"


    "Yes, Madam," Quinn immediately replied. Serilla glared coldly at him and Quinn continued saying.


    "Why not let the Master deal with him? I''m sure Master Cecil wouldn''t want you to dirty your hands with this imbecile''s blood."


    Hearing this suggestion, Serilla reeled in her rage and calmed down. It was better if her husband dealt with this thing. Killing him now would only end the suffering he would experience if he was still alive and her husband caught wind of what he had just done to her.


    "Fine, we''ll leave him alive. Do something about this...unsightly thing."


    Quinn nodded. He dragged the prince out of the room and roughly broke a potion vial onto the prince''s bleeding stump and stopped it from bleeding. He grabbed one of the sheets in the room and tossed it over the prince''s unseemly body.


    Inside the room, Serilla began undressing and taking out bottles of water from her spatial ring and immediately cleaned her body. She felt dirty and uncomfortable. Even though she was unconscious, but knowing that she had been held by the prince, it left her feeling very disgusted.


    Quinn stayed outside the door and guarded the building. He had already disposed of the corpses of the soldiers he had killed. He hadn''t killed everyone present and let free the ones who didn''t move to block his way.


    Gildart was spared, but he had lost an arm. Quinn had seen him lay a hand on the Madam so it was a form of mercy on his part. As for why the butler hadn''t made his move then, it was because he needed to have a legitimate excuse with proof to attack the prince.


    He had been recording the entire exchange of when Prince Armano had ordered Gildart to attack Serilla up to the point where he nearly defiled her. Quinn was feeling very conflicted and when he heard Serilla''s muffled sobbing through the door his heart felt like it was being gouged out.


    ''I''m sorry Madam...''


    Quinn was ready to report this incident to Cecil and have him deal with the prince... He also steeled himself for the punishment Cecil would give to him because he had put Serilla through such a trauma-inducing experience.


    Quinn meant well, but he knew that he had gone overboard. The recording of the crime was good and all, but his Master had told him to protect his wives and he had failed in doing so. He honestly didn''t think that the Prince would make his move during the battle because it was insensible and untimely.


    He had been trailing behind the prince''s entourage since the start of the battle so Quinn didn''t expect to see his Madam suddenly appear near the cannon. What happened next was also something out of expectations, but Quinn was glad he was there to protect Serilla.


    If he hadn''t trailed after the Prince''s entourage, who knows what would have happened to his Madam.


    The door behind him slowly opened and Serilla walked out slowly. Her eyes were still a little red. Quinn immediately knelt in front of Serilla and expressed his remorse for his incompetence.


    "I''m sorry, Madam... I have failed you..."


    "What? N-No, Quinn! If anything, you saved me and I thank you for it..."


    "..."


    "Please, raise your head. No one will blame you, it was my fault for being negligent and lowering my guard around that bastard."


    "...Madam, we should hurry back to the cannon. I sense that more soldiers are already heading over to start operating it again. Lady Lucia and Lady Fatima will be in danger if we don''t destroy that weapon."


    "Yes...let''s get back to work. I''ll let darling deal with him." Serilla coldly said as he glared at the unconscious prince. She felt disgusted just looking at him and scoffed when she recalled that he had been castrated.


    "Good job, Quinn."


    "Madam?"


    "Nevermind, let''s go."


    "Yes."


    The two immediately rushed up to the walls and began dispatching the soldiers that were trying to start up the cannon. This time, Serilla didn''t hesitate and immediately cleaved the Mag-Cannon in two.


    The First Prince had just arrived on the scene and he was dismayed to see the ruined cannon. Just as he was about to call out to Serilla, the woman eyed him dangerously before walking away.


    Albert flinched when he saw that glare but was then immediately angered. He was about to yell at Serilla, but the woman had already flashed away and was jumping from building to building alongside Quinn. They were heading back towards Fatima and Lucia.


    Albert only clicked his tongue in displeasure before he began moving his men into the city to support their troops who were still stuck in a deadlock with the enemy soldiers.


    Rowan had taken notice of Serilla''s cold glare, but he also saw that her eyes were red, like she had just finished crying or something. He felt that something was off so Rowan separated from his brother and led his unit to move in the location of Fatima and the others.


    One of his men reported that the Merkruz army was retreating out of the city through the other entrance, but he didn''t make any orders to block them. That was up for his brother to decide and he just had to make sure that the Mag-cannons stationed on the walls were being diverted from his brother''s location.


    It didn''t take long before Fatima and Rowan''s units met up. He noticed the cold atmosphere permeating the air around Fatima and knew that something was wrong.


    "Ima? What''s wrong?"


    "What''s wrong? Your brother is what''s wrong..." Fatima coldly replied.


    "My brother? Armano? Wh-what did he do this time?!"


    "Hmph..." Fatima only scoffed at him and didn''t bother replying. Rowan turned to look at Serilla and Lucia, but the two girls hadn''t even registered his existence and had their attention placed somewhere else.


    Quinn stepped up in the next moment and presented him with a recording crystal. He took the crystal and placed it on top of his MID, after which, a video began playing on his MID. The contents of the video were appalling and his brows furrowed in anger.


    Rowan immediately stopped the recording and moved next to Serilla and bowed down deeply in apology.


    "I''m very sorry!"


    "..."


    "I don''t expect you to forgive him...but please accept my apology."


    Serilla remained quiet and didn''t even bother acknowledging Rowan''s apology. Even though they were two separate people, but the person in front of her was still that bastard''s brother.


    "Also, I thank you for your leniency in not killing him..."


    Serilla scoffed when she heard this. "Not killing him? Don''t get me wrong. It''s not like I let him off the hook. His life was already forfeit the moment he made a move on me! I''m just going to let my darling handle him and believe me. No matter where you hide that bastard and no matter what kind of status he possesses. He. Will. Die."


    "P-please think this through! By killing him, you''ll be offending our kingdom!" Rowan exclaimed.


    Serilla laughed at him when he said this, "Hahahaha... My darling will make sure of this! He''s not afraid of the Machina Reggio Empire, so what makes you think he''ll be afraid of your puny kingdom?"


    Rowan flinched when he heard her words. He didn''t know how powerful this husband of theirs was, but deep down, he was still not of the opinion that the man held the power to go against the authority of a kingdom.


    He was but a single individual. Surely he wouldn''t be able to hold his own against the Regulus army, right?


    Serilla eyed the prince coldly. She already deduced what his thoughts were and turned to walk away.


    ''We''ll see when the time comes. Just don''t regret it because now your chances of marrying Fatima have fallen.''


    Lucia sighed and shook her head in regret. "You were such a good marriage candidate...but too bad that your luck might have just run out. Don''t expect to gain Cel''s approval in this lifetime~ sis-in-law, you should also look for another husband now!"


    Lucia left those words behind before she chased after Serilla. Quinn nodded at Rowan and bade his farewell to Fatima.


    "Lady Fatima, since the battle is nearly over, we''ll take our leave. We''re going to head over to the Silvaria Kingdom and wait for Master Cecil to get there. We''ll also inform your family."


    "Wait! Please let me clear things up with the First Prince and allow me to take you back to my family!"


    "...I''ll let the Madams know about your decision."


    "Thank you."


    Quinn bowed in respect before he turned on his heels and walked after his two Madams.

 Chapter 292 - He’s the Crown Prince

    "Fatima...I''m sorry."


    Fatima was still giving him the cold shoulder, but she eventually sighed tiredly.


    "I know it''s not your fault but...to think that that stupid bastard would have the audacity to commit such a felony!"


    "But...Serilla was still sa¡ª"


    "Continue those words Rowan and I will break off our engagement. I don''t care about the outcome, but the fact that Armano had put Serilla through that experience..." Fatima gritted her teeth angrily when she thought about it.


    Rowan immediately shut his mouth after listening to Fatima. He cursed at this brother inwardly. Things were going so well between him and Fatima, but all because of his brother''s stupidity, Fatima had started to treat him coldly again.


    He wanted to complain about the injustice he was facing. He wasn''t the one who tried to **** Serilla, but in the end, he was the one that received the brunt of Fatima''s anger. Rowan could only silently take it all in and try to cajole Fatima slowly.


    Rowan had heard Lucia''s words, but he wouldn''t give up. He wouldn''t let Fatima''s brother stand in the way of their marriage. It was an admirable thought and notion, but Rowan didn''t know that he needed the power to back up such ideologies.


    Once Cecil found out about what happened to his dear Serilla... the Regulus Royal Family might face extinction.


    From the corner of her eyes, Fatima saw the worried and sullen, but resolute expression Rowan had on. She sighed once more and opened her mouth.


    "I know it''s not your fault, but as my man, shouldn''t you at least be able to take my anger? I mean, who would you rather have me take out my anger at, you or Armano?"


    "Me of course!"


    "Hmph, if you know that much, then don''t put on such a sullen face. As for my brother...I''ll try and work things out with him... I''m not sure how scary he''s become over the past years and I don''t want to find out since Serilla said that Armano will undoubtedly die under his hands once Cecil gets this news... I just hope he doesn''t do anything too reckless like try to fight your entire kingdom over this offense..."


    "...From what your sisters-in-law said, it might come down to that..."


    "Ugh... I need something to deal with this headache... just what have your parents taught that brother of yours? And how are you such a gentleman compared to him?! Don''t you think that the king has neglected and overlooked that idiot''s actions for too long now?!"


    Rowan immediately covered Fatima''s mouth. It was a crime to talk about the king or a member of the royal family like that.


    "Please calm down Ima..." Rowan hastily said. Once Fatima had calmed down a little, Rowan released his hands covering her mouth and spoke.


    "He was the son of the imperial concubine... so I haven''t been in contact with him for long...All I know is that he somehow had gotten into the good books of my eldest brother due to his talent in swordsmanship, but... I''m not exactly sure how he was brought up that he became such a debaucherous person..."


    "Tsk... that brother of yours only causes problems for the people around him! Just look at this mess! Your brother has essentially made enemies with the crown prince of Silvaria Kingdom!"


    "Crown Prince?"


    "Did I forget to tell you? My youngest brother Cecil is the next successor of the household, essentially making him my kingdom''s crown prince!"


    "W-what?! I... I thought that Luca or Matheus was the crown prince for sure!"


    "No, they do have the ability and brains, but Cecil is leagues ahead of them in terms of combat prowess, even when he''s much younger. Not only that, he willingly took the mantle of successor and he''s been training ever since. He''s a genius in combat and he''s able to learn things quickly."


    "..."


    "Because of his lack of ambition, he was the most ideal candidate to be the next successor since he just followed what Father and Grandfather had arranged for him..."


    "So...he was like a pupp¡ª"


    "Finish that and I''ll pull your tongue out!"


    "..."


    Hearing Fatima''s threat, Rowan immediately silenced himself.


    "...He wasn''t a puppet. Cecil was the kind of person who just couldn''t say no. Especially if it was his family who were the ones asking..."


    "...I can see why he''s also the most protective." Rowan replied with a grimace.


    "Don''t worry about my little brother. I''ll deal with things on his side so that he''ll approve of you. What I''m more worried about is what he''ll do to your brother when he gets back." Fatima already knew of Cecil''s nature. Even if he had grown up over the past few years, his fundamental character wouldn''t have changed that much.


    ******


    "Hey, Master, how do you think Lucia and Serilla will be able to identify big sis Ima?"


    "Huh?"


    High above the clouds in the neutral territory between the Regulus and Revertia Kingdoms, Silver had abruptly asked this question to Cecil who was meditating. Cecil immediately furrowed his brows when he heard his little bro''s question.


    "Oh shit... I''ve never really talked about what they looked like to those two, haven''t I?"


    "I dunno," Silver replied with a shrug.


    "Crap...They know that her name is Ima, but that''s only her nickname! Damn, I''m so stupid. I should call them now and tell them."


    "You do that, Master. Honestly, 4 years had passed, and still, you''re the same stupid Master as before..."


    "Hey! We had a lot on our plate during those 4 years so I haven''t talked to them about my family all that much! Besides their nicknames and the fact that they have the same last names as me, Lulu and Seri probably don''t know anything else!"


    "Well, you did talk about their characters, Master!"


    "Yeah, but then again, that''s just from my perspective from what I see of them from the house! What happens if they act differently when they go out? How am I supposed to know about that?"


    "Tsk, this is why you''re stupid Master. You just had to focus on your martial arts all your life that you essentially became a shut-in!"


    Cecil shook his head and roughly tousled Silver''s head, making a large mess of the properly groomed hair that Yuna had just brushed for him.


    "Master! That''s rude! Big Sis Yuna just combed my hair for me!"


    "Oh shut it, I just helped you out!" Cecil replied before leaning in to whisper, "You should be thanking me! This way you have an excuse to act intimate with your big sis Yuna later~"


    "...Master...not only have you grown smarter over the past years, you''ve also grown much more sensible." Silver praised in a deadpanned tone.


    "Heh, you don''t even sound sincere!"


    "Bleh, well shouldn''t you call your wives now? Seriously, Master, you''re such an idiot."


    "Oh shut it. Yuna! Can we stop for a bit! I''m gonna call Lulu and Seri!"


    "Sure," Yuna replied.


    She immediately swooped down to the ground and landed. It was also a good time to take a break so Cecil had the party rest up. Ren was glad and he immediately deployed his tent from his spatial ring that he received from his Master after a year of becoming his apprentice.


    He already had a spatial ring, but the one Cecil gave him was a white ring. So naturally, Ren swapped out his black ring for the white ring his master gifted him. After deploying his tent, he went inside to rest his head. Now that he was in his adolescence, Ren needed more privacy for himself.


    Cecil couldn''t help but chuckle at his disciple. The way Ren acted was much different than how he was during that age, so it was funny to Cecil, but his wives said that he was the funny one because Ren''s actions were what a normal teenager would do.


    He had once caught Ren masturbating while mumbling out Serilla''s name, but he didn''t particularly understand what Ren was doing at the time so he didn''t know whether he should have gotten angry or just laugh it off.


    Serilla also found out and this caused Ren to hole up in his room for over a week. And he became much more cautious around Serilla after that.


    Serilla was flattered that Ren''s first love was her so she couldn''t help but dote on the boy. That puppy love soon faded however as Ren became more and more immersed into Cecil''s teachings.


    Cecil had corrupted Ren with his way of thinking. Now Ren valued training, learning, and experimenting much more than anything else. He was beginning to grow more and more like Cecil and everyone else in the party couldn''t help but lament that another youth had officially turned abnormal, just like Cecil.


    Silver and Yuna had also entered their tent and upon seeing the suggestive look Yuna was giving Silver, Cecil couldn''t help but raise his brow at the little fella.


    ''Well aren''t you having the time of your life.''


    Cecil chuckled and tried calling Lucia. He waited for a bit but the call couldn''t get through. He frowned at this because normally Lucia would immediately pick up whenever he gave her a call.


    "Maybe she''s busy with something or she''s out training, let''s try Seri," Cecil tried calling Serilla and he was a little excited. He hadn''t heard their voices in quite a while and he dearly missed hearing them.


    To his dismay however, Serilla''s MID couldn''t be reached as well as his MID kept on ringing and ringing. Even after waiting for 10 minutes, it kept on ringing, but the call didn''t connect. Cecil optimistically thought that maybe those two were busy.


    He waited for another hour before trying again, but the same thing still happened, both of his wives'' MIDs couldn''t be contacted.


    He waited for 3 more hours and tried again, but his calls still couldn''t connect. It was then that Cecil thought that maybe something was wrong. He was in a dilemma right now. The Revertia Holy Kingdom was already so close, probably just another half a week to a week''s journey before they arrived, but his gut was telling him to head back immediately.


    Cecil couldn''t understand it, but he felt that if he didn''t go back this instant, he''d probably regret it for the rest of his life. He resolutely pulled out Providence from his spatial ring. Cecil wanted to use the Providence''s clairvoyance to see if something bad would happen to his wives.


    After 4 years of owning the World Tree''s 4 Thorns, Cecil had mastered how to use their special abilities to a sufficient degree that the side-effects would no longer affect him as much, except for the Perseverance. Up until now, that Thorn''s ability was something Cecil couldn''t handle.


    No matter how many times he tried to endure its effects, his mind would immediately be taken over and his body would go into autopilot mode. The bad thing about him using the weapon repeatedly was that the duration of the autopilot had increased, but a good thing was that Cecil could forcibly exit out of that state at the cost of him losing consciousness for a day or two.


    Once he set up his tent, Cecil immediately entered and sat down crossed-legged before he activated the runes on the Providence.

 Chapter 293 - On His Way Back

    When Cecil exited from his tent a few hours later, he was unknowingly releasing his killing intent all around him.


    The pressure that engulfed his surroundings caused all the small insects and animals to quiet down as they prostrated in fear at the human.


    Silver and Yuna who were hugging each other intimately by the campfire was and publicly displaying their affection for each other were startled at the fierce killing intent radiating from Cecil.


    Ren had learned how to handle Cecil''s Weapon Intent to some degree through training, but he couldn''t withstand his unbridled pressure which Cecil was currently releasing. Silver immediately rushed out of Yuna''s embrace and arrived by his Master''s side and worriedly asked,


    "Master, w-what''s wrong?!"


    "We''re heading back..." Cecil calmly replied. He tried to reel in the rage and killing intent he was radiating, but this only caused Silver to gulp nervously. If his master was angry and he was outwardly displaying his displeasure, then all was good.


    However, once his Master tried to reel in his anger and keep it bottled up inside him then that was just a recipe for disaster. His Master, Cecil, was a ticking time-bomb just waiting to explode right now.


    "Master, at least tell me what''s wrong! We''re only half a week or so away from Revertia!"


    "Forget about Revertia, Lulu and Serilla are in danger..."


    "But...what about¡ª"


    "Speak no more, Silver, our family''s not there, they''re all somewhere in Regulus."


    Once Cecil reeled in all his anger, his face became apathetic and indifferent.


    "Did... you use Providence Master?"


    Cecil only nodded and began packing away his tent and checking on his sword and the bullets strapped to his waist.


    "Alright, then Master, should we fly back?"


    "No, we''ll use the Misty Gate."


    "Alright, Big Sis, can you manage a teleport gate from here back to Regulus?" Silver turned around and asked.


    "We''ll need to jump a few times and rest in between teleports. My mana and mind can''t handle the distance needed to make a single gate from here back to Regulus."


    "Alright, Yuna, we''ll go at your pace," Cecil replied. He desperately wanted to rush back to Lucia and Serilla, but he wasn''t so heartless as to force Yuna to open Misty Gates consecutively without rest.


    Mana wasn''t a problem for them since they had the Magi-Tech Battery, but if they overdraft Yuna''s mind that''d be detrimental to her. Cecil also didn''t have the heart to hurt Silver''s precious person.


    "How odd..." Yuna suddenly said in confusion.


    "What''s wrong?" Cecil asked.


    "I... can''t seem to connect properly with Master..."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Something is interfering with the connection, I can still establish our linked vision, but I can''t properly see what Master is seeing...like everything is all blurred out."


    "Then there''s something disrupting mana over at Lulu and Seri''s location," Cecil calmly analyzed.


    His MID couldn''t connect a call to Lucia or Serilla so Cecil figured that something was interfering with the mana in those two''s locations since even Yuna''s shared vision with Lucia was being interfered.


    Also, the scene he saw in his vision was disturbing. Cecil wanted to let loose his rage, but he reeled it in and would take it all out on the bastard he saw in his vision.


    ''Whoever you are... you''re dead, you dare to touch my woman...'' Cecil gnashed his teeth in fury when he remembered the vision he saw earlier.


    Once everyone had finished packing their things and was about to head off, a white carriage suddenly appeared in the distance, not that far away from Cecil and his group. The carriage was being chased by a large group of monsters.


    Cecil wasn''t a Samaritan, but he was angered right now and needed a place to vent. When he saw the monsters rushing at them from the distance, or more like chasing after the carriage, Cecil found a good thing to vent his anger on.


    "Wait here...let me take care of those bugs..."


    "Master Cecil! Shouldn''t we¡ªumph" Ren was trying to dissuade Cecil from helping the carriage, but Silver covered his mouth from speaking anymore. When he heard that Lucia and Serilla were in trouble, Ren also wanted to hurry up and head back.


    Lately, he has been finding those two a little bit troublesome, but more than that, one was like an annoying, yet attentive older sister to him while the other was like a doting young mother, who also happened to be his first crush, so he wanted to hurry back and help them.


    Silver stopped him from continuing his words because it was futile. His Master was angered and he could see and feel that through their bond and pact. Venting his anger was the only thing to do right now so that he wouldn''t explode later and do something irrational.


    "It''ll only take a minute. In the meantime, Yuna, start focusing and gathering your mana for the Misty Gate. We leave once you''re ready."


    "As you wish," Yuna briefly replied before quickly concentrating her mind and mana on opening the Misty Gate.


    Cecil readied his gun blade and socketed one of his bullets into the gun chamber. He raised his sword and took aim, the carriage driver was already heading their way and Cecil could see that the driver was trying to use them as a decoy to make a getaway.


    Normally, Cecil wouldn''t tolerate this, but he let this one slide because he needed someplace to vent. He could also see that the driver was apparently in conflict with the person riding the carriage. It seems like one of the passengers didn''t want to drive their way and use them as a decoy.


    ''Alright, since you''re so righteous, I guess I''ll help you out.''


    Cecil immediately fired his gun sword. The bullet shot forth and struck the ground just behind the carriage. A red-blue magic formation appeared on the ground and Lucia''s Ice-Fire Barrier immediately appeared in the next instant.


    Cecil emptied the cartridge from the chamber and prepped another bullet. He shot this one into the air and numerous Lava Bullets showered the monsters behind the Ice-Fire Barrier.


    The carriage driver and the passengers inside were shocked at the sudden development. Being in his state of shock, the driver wasn''t looking and the carriage was heading for a collision course with Cecil.


    Cecil flashed past the carriage just before it hit him. From inside the carriage, a beautiful pair of eyes locked onto his side profile as he rushed by. A woman stuck her head out in the next moment and witnessed the absurd scene of Cecil single-handedly massacring the monsters behind them.


    The carriage started slowing down before reaching a full stop and a few people stepped out of the carriage. The driver was worried and kept on urging the people who had just stepped down to quickly get back in, but they adamantly refused.


    The woman who had stuck her head out earlier to take a look at Cecil was fervently staring at him as he flashed in between the monsters.


    With each stroke of his sword a monster would fall. Cecil let loose all his pent up anger on the poor monsters, and he thoroughly wiped them out to the last creature. He finished off the runners with an Ascending Blade.


    Once the job was finished, Cecil sheathed his sword and walked back towards Silver and the rest who were waiting for him, he saw that the Misty Gate was ready, but Yuna''s face was a little pale.


    As Cecil walked past the people who were near the carriage, the driver who seemed more like a guard placed a hand on his sword and vigilantly put up his guard. Cecil only glanced at him dismissively before continuing on his way. Before the guard-like man could stop her the woman from earlier immediately hopped next to him.


    "Thank you, Sir!"


    She looked quite young, probably around Lucia''s age. She had beautiful blonde hair which was tied into pig-tails and left dangling above her chest and was half a head shorter than Cecil so she was pretty tall for a woman. She was a little lacking in the chest area compared to either of his wives, but her face and figure were on par with them at least.


    From what Cecil could deduce from this young woman''s attire, she was likely someone from high standing since there was some kind of crest decorating the mid-section of her white dress.


    "You''re welcome," Cecil responded before quickly making his way to Silver.


    The woman was a little taken aback at his curt response, but immediately moved to catch up to him.


    "Uhm, I''d like to thank you for the help! Are you busy?"


    "No need, I have somewhere to be."


    Another curt response, but this only caused the young woman''s eyes to shine brightly.


    "Where are you going?"


    Cecil didn''t respond and soon he made his way over to Silver and the others. The Misty Gate shocked the girl and she couldn''t help but exclaim, "Is that a Spatial Gate?!"


    Cecil only eyed the girl curiously. Not many people know what a Spatial Gate looks like. No one responded to the girl''s exclamation, Silver and Yuna were the first to walk through the gate and Ren soon followed after them anxiously.


    Cecil was just about to step through, but the girl grabbed onto his arm and immediately asked.


    "Where are you going?"


    "Can you let go?" Hearing his cold tone of voice, the girl immediately flinched and loosened her grip around his arm.


    Once his arm was released, Cecil immediately stepped through the gate.


    "C-Can I at least get your name?!"


    "...Cecil."


    The Misty Gate collapsed once Cecil made it through. On the other side, the young woman started mumbling Cecil''s name over and over again before she started blushing and smiling happily.


    "Missus, please don''t just walk up to strangers like that!" The guard-like driver said in a hurry after the young woman walked back to the carriage.


    The girl ignored the man and just walked into her carriage with a smile on her face. Her attendants looked at each other when they saw the good mood their young missus was in. They immediately filed into the carriage and once more took off onto the road.

 Chapter 294 - No More Pretenses, No More Courtesies

    Back on Fatima''s side, the battle had quickly ended. With the initial fear of being drowned by the two rivers and now that their general was killed and their weapon dismantled by Serilla, the Merkruz Forces immediately began retreating out of the city.


    Albert chose to pursue the stragglers, but Rowan stopped him from doing so. He wanted to report the issue of Armano''s attempted assault on Serilla. Now knowing that his brother had essentially assaulted the wife of Silvaria Kingdom''s Crown Prince, things could go bad for his engagement and the Regulus Kingdom might also make another enemy with a nearby kingdom.


    Although the King and the First Prince haven''t yet seen the combat prowess and military power of the Silvaria Kingdom, they should know by now that no matter how ''backwater'' their kingdom was, Fatima''s presence alone could single-handedly deter any assaults or machinations their kingdom had for the Silvarias.


    Her clever brain and her military strategies should already be a large deterrent force for the kingdom to engage in any sort of hostilities with the Silvaria Kingdom. As for the plan of holding the missing brother hostage when they found him? That plan had already flopped the moment Lucia and Serilla showed up and declared themselves as the missing brother''s wives.


    Rowan had already seen the military might of the Silvaria Kingdom. Although their soldiers were only a few tens of thousands, nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops that the Regulus Kingdom could mobilize, but each man of the Silvaria army could hold their own against B ranked monsters.


    Not to mention this was only the minimum requirement that Kaiser had placed on his soldiers, which was something that Rowan had learned the hard way when he first arrived at the kingdom.


    Once Albert was informed of his brother''s folly, he appeared indifferent and had ordered a search party for his brother. It wasn''t long until they found the battered and castrated body of the second prince.


    Seeing the condition that his body was in, Rowan shook his head inwardly, while Albert was enraged.


    "WHERE ARE THEY?!"


    "B-Brother?!"


    "BRING THAT WOMAN TO ME! No one castrates and disrespects the royal family!!"


    "Brother! He was the one that committed the crime! He''s lucky to still even be alive!"


    "What?! You''re saying that we should allow this offense?! Only because she''s the servant girl of your fianc¨¦e?!"


    "S-Servant girl? Do you mean Serilla?! What are you talking about brother?!"


    "Serilla?! Is that her name?! Bring her to me, NOW!"


    "Brother what do you think you''re doing?! She''s not just some girl! She''s the crown prince of Silvaria Kingdom''s wife!"


    "What?"


    Albert eyed his brother suspiciously. "Didn''t you just say that that girl was the wife of the missing brother?"


    "That''s what I''m trying to say, Fatima''s missing brother is the Crown Prince!"


    "What? You mean that fellow...Matheus, who had previously come to our kingdom as a guest wasn''t the Crown Prince?"


    "No, apparently he wasn''t. Now it also makes sense why Fatima''s family has been desperately searching for their missing sibling!"


    "...It does not matter...regardless of what status that woman possesses, she still committed the crime of assaulting a member of the Regulus Royal family!"


    Albert ordered some men to carry back Armano before bringing his soldiers over to where the girls were at. During the entire journey, Rowan continued to dissuade his brother from taking such actions against the girl.


    He didn''t want his kingdom''s relationship with the Silvaria Kingdom to sour. Serilla had indeed attacked Armano, but it was in the form of self-defense. There was hard evidence of Armano''s attempted **** so they were not on the moral high ground.


    They couldn''t just detain Serilla just because she had attacked a member of the royal family because in a sense, Armano had committed the same crime as well. His crime was much more serious, he had tried to **** Silvaria Kingdom''s Crown Prince''s wife, the next Queen of Silvaria!


    Armano should have been killed instead of just being castrated. Then there was the matter of whether Serilla would come quietly... or grow infuriated at Albert''s demand to detain her.


    After having been nearly r.a.p.ed by Armano, Serilla had dropped all pretense and decorum with anyone related to the man. So there was no way Serilla would comply with Albert''s demands.


    Rowan''s attempts to dissuade his brother were all futile and when Albert and this entourage arrived at the Wanderer, he immediately took notice of both Lucia and Serilla, Fatima was also there.


    Fatima also happened to notice the large entourage that Albert had brought along with him as he menacingly drew closer to them. She decided to clear things up with the Prince and immediately told Serilla and Lucia to head into the wagon.


    Serilla didn''t even bat an eye to the people who were making their way over as she made her way to the wagon''s door. Just as she was about to enter the wagon...


    "Woman, you better stay where you are! Don''t think that you can get away wi¡ª"


    Just before the Prince could finish his words, Serilla''s sword suddenly appeared just below his neck. The sword closed in and the tip pricked his neck causing the prince to freeze in place and break out in cold sweat.


    He hadn''t even seen when Serilla had moved, actually, now that Albert took a better look at the situation in front of him, Serilla''s sword was levitating in the air. Serilla herself hadn''t even moved one muscle away from her previous spot.


    Rowan immediately went pale at Serilla''s actions while Fatima heaved a sigh of defeat at the development. Now all plans of negotiations had flown out the window. The soldiers around snapped out of their shock and immediately began surrounding the wagon.


    "Y-You...this is assaulting a prince, it''s a crime! Do you know the repercussions of¡ª"


    "Shut up... you stupid insect..."


    "I-Insect!"


    "Insects, don''t, talk!" Serilla unrestrainedly unleashed her Sword Intent. The pressure caused all the soldiers around to fall to their knees while the Prince, who was receiving the brunt of it, was forced onto his knees with his face planted on the ground.


    "That''s better."


    This was the first time Lucia had ever seen her sister genuinely angry. Sure she''d get mad at her for some of the antics and problems she''d cause in their house from time to time, but that couldn''t be counted as getting mad. It was more like how an elder sister would scold their younger sister for misbehaving.


    This was the first time for anyone to see her angry to the point where she had started to emit not only her Sword Intent but also her killing intent.


    Rowan who was now standing next to Fatima was barely holding on. He couldn''t help but grow pale at this frightening pressure that he was all too familiar with. It was the same pressure that Fatima''s father, Kaiser, would emit whenever Rowan faced him in a spar.


    Fatima had it easier since she had already been trained to hold her ground against her father whenever he used his Weapon Intent. Fatima''s Sword Intent was naturally much weaker than her father''s, however, Fatima couldn''t help but widen her eyes in pure shock that someone, other than her little brother, had acquired Weapon Intent at such a young age.


    Serilla was around her age and yet she had attained a realm that she wasn''t quite at yet. Lucia was about to go help out her sister-in-law but was surprised to see Fatima cope with it all on her own.


    "Ah, as expected of my sister-in-law!"


    Once Serilla made sure that everyone around her, except for her family members, was kneeling to her. She finally turned to address Albert.


    "If I didn''t hear you wrong...you said that assaulting a prince is a crime? Then wouldn''t assaulting a princess be a similar crime?"


    "U-Urk..."


    "I spared that puny little insect''s life, however, don''t expect my husband to spare his life once he''s heard of this."


    "Y-You! You dare¡ª"


    "Silence," Serilla said as she increased the pressure on the prince.


    "My husband wasn''t even afraid of attacking the Machina Empire''s Emperor and noble families...what makes you think he''ll hesitate to attack your kingdom? You, a puny kingdom, what do you possibly have that can compare with an empire?"


    "..."


    "Power? Hah, just so we''re clear. If it wasn''t for my sister-in-law and my actions of taking down the Mag-cannon, your pathetic kingdom would have already lost the battle," Serilla mocked. "And now, you want to detain me. Hahahaha, in what scenario did you think that I would comply with your stupid demand? Simply foolish... how could a weak man like you desire to be with my sister, Lucia?"


    "Eh?" Lucia c.o.c.ked her head in confusion at her words. She turned to look at the man beneath his sister''s feat and put on a visibly disgusted face.


    Albert tried raising his head a little and when he saw Lucia''s disgusted face, his ego took a big hit, but an immense amount of pressure assaulted his body in the next moment and his face was once again smashed down into the ground.


    "Did I allow you to raise your head?"


    "Y-You...you!!!"


    "...pathetic," Serilla said as she eyed the man.


    She turned around and gesture for everyone to get on the wagon. Quinn had already fastened Sleipnir''s harness and they were ready to go anytime.


    Lucia went in first and Serilla followed after. Quinn waited for Fatima who appeared a little hesitant at first, but then decisively entered the wagon. Things had already fallen apart to such an extent that she knew that it was no longer possible for her to stay in Regulus.


    She had already achieved her objective anyway, so it was now time to head back home. Fatima turned around to look at Rowan who was helping his brother up.


    "R-Rowan... will you come with me?"


    "...Ima..." Rowan had a conflicted look on his face. He looked back at his brother and the beautiful woman before him.


    "Brother, we should have the army retreat. We''ve already successfully pushed them back to their borders."


    "You...What are you saying?!"


    "...Armano was completely at fault this time. As a prince, he should know better and conduct himself more properly..."


    Rowan walked over to Fatima and quietly said to her, "Wait for me...I''ll be at your side as soon as I''ve finished taking care of things in the Kingdom... I won''t let my brothers falsify a report on the exact situation that occurred here."


    Fatima only smiled gently at him and nodded his head. He stepped back and Quinn closed the door to the wagon, separating the couple. Just before Rowan could head back, Quinn walked over next to him and slipped something into his pocket.


    "Use this to communicate with us, I''ve already given Lady Fatima a similar MID so you can call each other. I''m not sure what the future has in store for you, but as my Master''s sister, I shall respect Lady Fatima''s decision in choosing you."


    Rowan eyed the butler and thanked him, "Thank you."


    Quinn bowed slightly to him before he quickly got onto the wagon and drove it away. The soldiers assigned to Fatima were already waiting on standby close to the wagon, but they were at a loss.


    Their Lady had just gotten into a conflict with the first prince, so there were concerned about what to do next, but Rowan quickly cleared up their hesitation.


    "What are all of you still doing here?"


    "Y-Your Highness?"


    "Regardless of the conflict, just know that she''s still my fianc¨¦e and you''re still assigned to protect her."


    "W-We''ll be on our way then, Your Highness!"


    "Good, now hurry up, they''re getting farther and farther away!"


    "Yes, Your Highness!" Captain Randolph replied before ordering his men to quickly follow after the wagon.

 Chapter 295 - Ambush

    A few hours later, Armano finally regained consciousness and began cursing and trashing everything around his tent when he checked that his little brother had been killed.


    At first he thought it was only a sick nightmare, but that nightmare was reality. Now he wouldn''t be able to have his way with any more women and indulge in any carnal pleasure.


    Albert quickly made his way to Armano''s tent once he caught news of his awakening. When he arrived inside, Albert saw the mess his brother had created.


    "F.u.c.k... F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K THAT BITCH AND THAT BUTLER!!!"


    "Calm down you fool!"


    "B-brother! Brother! You have to avenge me! They...they took away¡ª"


    Albert smacked his brother''s face harshly and Armano was sent sprawling on the ground with his hands clutching his cheek. His face was still injured from Serilla''s thrashing and hadn''t quite healed yet. When he saw his reflection on a piece of shard glass on the ground, he screeched out in horror once again.


    "Silence, Armano! Look at how unsightly you''re acting!"


    "M-my face...my face..."


    "Tsk... that wench...she''s much more powerful than what I expected... This M-Jammer that the Merkruz forces have doesn''t seem to be affecting her abilities..."


    "R-right, where... where is that bitch? And that f.u.c.k.i.n.g butler?! He, he did this to me!"


    "...they''ve already left. Thanks to your stupid actions, we lost one great asset of this kingdom!"


    "Asset? Fatima''s nothing more than some bitch from a backwater kingdom!"


    Rowan was just about to enter the tent when he suddenly heard Armano scream and insult.


    "Hahaha! It won''t matter anymore! Those f.u.c.kers, they''re all going to die!" Armano said manically.


    "What?"


    "I sold out the information about our attack plans to the Principality in exchange that they would deliver those 3 girls to my chambers! Now this works perfectly well! I''ll torture them once they''re caught, those f.u.c.kers are dead! Hahahaha!"


    "You...you sold our strategy to the enemy?! YOU BASTARD!" Albert immediately grew infuriated and he smashed his fist onto Armano''s face and sent him sprawling onto the ground once again.


    "GAHAAACCKK!! Bastard! Don''t think you aren''t part of this! You l.u.s.ted after that other bitch as well! You''re no different from me!"


    "I may have l.u.s.ted after her, but I didn''t do such a disgraceful thing like attempted **** and selling out one''s country to the enemy! You...I should have you put to death! Your actions are equivalent to treason!"


    "Bah, f.u.c.k you Albert! If it wasn''t for me, do you think you''d be able to sit comfortably on your chair as crown prince?! Everyone in the kingdom knows that Rowan''s a much more capable candidate than you!"


    "SHUT UP!"


    Rowan, who was still outside, couldn''t help but stumble back in horror. He was just about to turn around and chase after Fatima''s entourage, but one of his men immediately rushed up to him and reported.


    "Your Highness, Lady Fatima''s entourage has encountered an ambush on their way back to the kingdom!"


    "What?!"


    "One of the soldiers assigned to Fatima''s escort had rushed back and reported it!"


    "Damn! Armano, you bastard!" Rowan was just about to rush out again, but he ultimately steeled himself and walked into the tent his two brothers were in.


    Albert had just finished punching and berating Armano when Rowan walked in.


    "Rowan...what do you want?"


    Rowan took a look at his battered brother and only eyed him coldly before reporting, "Brother, it appears that Fatima''s been ambushed on their way back. One of the soldiers I assigned to her has just reported back to me."


    "I see..."


    "We have to support her brother!"


    "We?"


    "Y-yes!"


    Rowan tried one last time to put his trust into his brother, but he was dismayed at Albert''s response.


    "What does that have to do with our Kingdom?"


    "...What?"


    "Her sister-in-law''s actions earlier were a direct slap to our kingdom''s face, and they''ve essentially fallen out with us. So tell me why I should send my precious troops to go save them?"


    "She''s my fianc¨¦e! Fatima''s still a part of our kingdom, our family! Have you already forgotten her contributions to our kingdom?!"


    "We''ve repaid all that by helping her in her search for her missing brother," Albert responded.


    "Repaid? You call that repayment?!"


    "I see that as a fine repayment. She''s already found her brother and now we have no debt to each other."


    "No debt?! We didn''t even do anything?! All the kingdom has done is use her to fight our battles time and time again! Not only did we not repay her, we''ve responded to her kindness with enmity!"


    "And what of it? Fatima is your fianc¨¦e, is she not? Shouldn''t it be her obligation to help us without expecting anything in return?"


    "..."


    Albert shook his head at Rowan. "This is why you aren''t fit to become king. You are too nice, too gentle. You won''t be able to survive in the kingdom''s court with such naive thinking."


    "So you''re not going to help her?"


    "I''ve already made myself clear¡ª"


    "Fine!"


    "..."


    Rowan glared at his brother and walked out of the tent.


    "Where are you going?"


    "To save my fianc¨¦e."


    "Save? I heard this was all a plan concocted by Armano to steal away your woman and those other 2. The forces ambushing them are most likely big. They want to take away Fatima from the scenes because she''s a hindrance to their plans of conquering us."


    "And she''s also the only reason why those bastards haven''t conquered us yet! Instead of going out to save her, you plot with Armano on how to take away her life!"


    "I had no hand in his plot, what he''s done is essentially treason against our kingdom!"


    "Then why are you refusing to help her?! What? Was it only because your puny little pride and ego was damaged? You are weak!"


    "Rowan, you take that back or I will¡ª"


    "Will what? Fight me? Just know that you will lose. I''ve already crushed Armano once before and he was supposed to be the best of us 3, oh wait, I guess that makes me the best now..."


    Albert halted in his tracks when he heard this. He''s been wondering why Armano had begun to tread lightly around Rowan during the past few months, but now he understood. Armano was defeated by their little brother and Albert could guess that Rowan fought with Armano because of Fatima.


    "Hmph," Rowan sneered at his brother and began relaying orders to his men.


    "You, on whose authority are you to mobilize this kingdom''s troops?! I''m still the high commander!"


    "Keep your puny army. Without Fatima and her strategies, we''re only a paper tiger anyway! Years of peace and complacency has blinded you, brother. You place more importance on authority and pride than what''s right and what''s wrong! Even after Armano has committed the crime of attempted ****, what sort of punishment will you give him later, imprisonment?"


    Albert flinched when he saw Rowan glare at him angrily.


    "Heh, I knew it. Such leniency, all because he''s a member of our family, you and father tolerate all his wrongdoings and constantly clean up after him. Isn''t it tiring?"


    "..."


    "This is the path you''ve chosen brother. A path of oversight and complacency, remember, once those Merkruz bastards have finished dealing with Fatima, they''ll resume their attacks on you. What will you use to escape then? You won''t have Fatima or anyone to help you."


    Albert remained silent. Rowan could only shake his head in dismay at his brother''s response. The least Albert could do was take back his orders and send some troops with Rowan to support Fatima and get her out of her tight situation.


    "I''ll be leaving now," Rowan said as he mounted his horse.


    "You''ll be leaving behind all your authority as a prince if you leave now! We''re still fighting a battle and this amounts to desertion!"


    "I don''t care! This war has already been lost the moment we offended Fatima!"


    "You! You''ll regret this!"


    "I probably won''t! Why do you think Merkruz attacked us now during our time? It''s obviously because they''ve seen us weaken to our current state!"


    Rowan left behind those words before he rushed off into the distance, bringing with him a small company of his private soldiers.


    ******


    Over at Fatima''s side, the Wanderer and the men assigned to Fatima were currently running away from a large contingent of Merkruz soldiers.


    "Madam, please be careful! They have an M-Jammer with them!" Quinn reported hastily to Lucia who was just about to flip onto the wagon''s roof.


    "Dammit... it''s that annoying thing!"


    "Lulu, you stay put with sis-in-law! I''ll protect the wagon!"


    "O-okay, Seri!"


    Captain Randolph was riding alongside the wagon and was ordering everyone to quickly surround it from behind in a V-formation so that the enemy''s attacks would not reach their Lady.


    The enemy forces were still some ways away in the distance, but the problem was is that the Merkruz army was driving them away from the Regulus border. The enemy had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and it caused some casualties to occur within Fatima''s group, but they were able to safely break away.


    However, it was now a cat and mouse chase with neither side gaining ground against the other. This was because the Merkruz forces had deployed the M-Jammer and with no mana, this naturally lowered the speed of all the mounts caught within the weapon''s area.


    Sleipnir was no exception, but because he was an A-ranked monster, he was naturally much faster than the standard-issue warhorses that the Merkruz cavalry was using. Sleipnir was able to stay far ahead of the enemy, but he had to slow down to let the Regulus soldiers escorting them keep up.


    The chase continued until they arrived close to the border, but they saw that the Merkruz army was still sieging the border. When they appeared, it was as if the Merkruz army already knew about their impending arrival and had sent a contingent of soldiers to pursue them. With the enemy at the front and behind, they could only divert their direction to the Sky Piercing Mountains.


    Over the past years, Fatima had her men scout out the areas in the Sky Piercing Mountains and was able to create a detailed map of the mountains''. When they changed their course earlier, Fatima planned to use the complicated terrain of the Sky Piercing Mountains to lose their pursuers.


    It was dangerous because of all the high ranking monsters present inside the mountains, but it was much better than getting caught in a pincer between those two Merkruz armies.


    If Lucia wasn''t affected by the M-Jammer, they could have tried to break through the Merkruz army assaulting the border and regrouped with Karen, but with Lucia in her helpless state, it was much too dangerous to try something so foolhardy.


    Once they reached deep within the mountains, Fatima expected that the Merkruz army wouldn''t pursue them that far, but contrary, the army had stubbornly followed after them. She didn''t know what their goal was, but seeing how many attacks were directed towards the Wanderer, it was clear as day that the Merkruz army wanted to take either her or Serilla''s life.

 Chapter 296 - Pursuit

    "Hahahaha! Last time, I was striking a deal with your brother...now I''m striking a deal with you, the Crown Prince! Oh, how far have you fallen~," said a tyrannical-looking man as he eyed the first prince of Regulus.


    "Watch your mouth, Alexandre, if it wasn''t because of Rowan leaving so abruptly and some damn mercenaries causing turmoil within our ranks, do you think we would have stopped our assault?!"


    The man sitting in front of Albert was the tyrant ruler of Merkruz, Alexandre Merkruz.


    "Hah! That''s the funniest thing I''ve heard! Without your strategist, how will you even continue your pitiful assault?"


    "Why you¡ª"


    "You think you''re worthy to sit there across me?" Alexandre interrupted.


    "Without the aid of that woman, your kingdom would have already fallen!"


    "..."


    "Pitiful, this is just how low your kingdom has fallen. Even the Second Prince can get away scot-free after committing an act of savagery and treason!"


    "Shut up!"


    "Hahahahahaha! Why don''t we get down to business?"


    "...Tsk..."


    "Now, now, we both have the same goal right now, so why don''t we put aside our hatred for a moment. We both have the same target in mind, Fatima Silvaria of the newfound Silvaria Kingdom."


    "..."


    "I honestly don''t understand you. Why would you not help that woman in her time of need, but instead strike a deal with me to ensure her death?"


    "That''s none of your business."


    "I thought she was your third brother''s wife?"


    "..."


    "Tsk, tsk, a family feud, eh? How stupid. You have us knocking on your front door, but here you all are attacking each other like rabid dogs. I''m questioning myself if I should have started this war in the first place when all I needed to do was wait until you guys eventually kill each other off!"


    "Don''t spout nonsense!"


    "Pfft, if it wasn''t because of those stupid elders in my kingdom''s court, I wouldn''t have even started this war, but now that things have escalated to this degree, I naturally can''t forgive the bastards who took away many of my kingdom''s fine soldiers!" Alexandre replied.


    "Are you still going to war with us then?"


    "I wish I could, but unfortunately I''ve lost too many in this war due to your brother''s wife! What I want is her head!"


    "Didn''t you already strike a deal with my treacherous little brother already?"


    "I have, but now I want to strike a deal with you."


    "What do you want?"


    "We want passage into your kingdom so that we may attack the Silvaria Kingdom hidden deep within the Sky Piercing Mountains."


    "You want passage? And then once you get that you''ll just straight-ahead attack our lands! You think I am foolish?!"


    "Relax Albert, at least listen to what I have to say."


    "..."


    "I want that woman''s head, but I want her more as a bride... a talented young woman like her should naturally stand next to someone as gifted as I!"


    Albert scoffed at his words, "Don''t flatter yourself."


    "Hmph, in exchange for the passage, we''ll sign a treaty of non-aggression for the next 10 years. How about it? I''ll give you some time to build your forces and stabilize your rule over the kingdom before I consider attacking you again."


    "..."


    "Isn''t this a perfect opportunity? You won''t have me breathing down your neck for the next 10 years, and if I''m in the mood, I''ll even destroy or just hand over the Silvaria Kingdom to you on a silver platter! All I want is the girl."


    "...You''re sounding more and more like my stupid little brother..."


    "Your little brother is just a lecherous fool. What I want is not just her body, but also her head."


    "...Then you''ll just use her to attack us after the treaty."


    "Pretty sharp, aren''t you? So that''s why you should build your forces properly for the next 10 years. I heard that the Silvaria Kingdom has been trading many precious ores and raw materials to your kingdom..."


    "..."


    Since the Regulus Kingdom became allies with the Silvaria Kingdom, they''ve been receiving a large intake of precious materials and ores through their trade with Silvaria. He had been eyeing these precious resources of the Silvaria Kingdom, but the kingdom was so cut off from the world that even until now, no one other than Rowan knew about the Kingdom''s actual location within the Sky Piercing Mountains.


    Rowan was also the only person who has ever step foot into Fatima''s kingdom. Albert had long since found the mountain pass leading into the No-Man''s Land, but the mountain path had many branches leading to who-knows-where and it was naturally populated by a dense amount of monsters. Any form of search party or expedition had been wiped out so there was no one to report about the route leading to Silvaria Kingdom.


    Only Fatima and Rowan knew. Fatima would naturally not share such important information and whenever he asked Rowan, his brother would always give an excuse to not leak the info. None of his retainers knew about the passage as well, so the Silvaria Kingdom''s precise location had remained a mystery.


    "Albert," Alexandre called out and interrupted Albert''s thoughts.


    "...What?"


    "My men have been pursuing the woman''s entourage deep into the mountains. They''re probably heading back to their kingdom to regroup and strike back, but I''ll soon have the precise location to their kingdom."


    "They made it past the border?"


    "No, they didn''t. The woman had instead bypassed the border and went straight into the mountains. She most likely has another route to her kingdom. Once I find this new route, I''ll just use that instead."


    "W-wait!"


    "I won''t wait. We either strike the deal now or not at all. But remember this, once I''ve finished dealing with the Silvaria Kingdom, you''re kingdom will be next."


    "...Fine, then... I''ll agree to your terms." Albert said through gritted teeth.


    "Hmph, you should have agreed from the start."


    ******


    After their agreement, Albert had immediately issued for his kingdom''s border army and Karen''s army to cease any ongoing aggressions with the Merkruz forces and Alexandre did the same. Now both kingdoms have stopped attacking each other and the Merkruz army was only waiting stationery in front of the Regulus Kingdom''s borders.


    When Karen got wind of the treaty that her older brother had signed with Merkruz''s ruler, she couldn''t help but question her brother''s intentions. They were sacrificing an alliance with the Silvaria Kingdom only because Fatima''s family had disrespected the royal family.


    She couldn''t understand how this had happened, but when she heard the full account from one of Rowan''s men, Karen was immediately infuriated. When Karen went to find her second brother, she couldn''t. It was like that person had suddenly disappeared from the face of Alterna.


    Albert was the only person who knew where Armano was. He had locked Armano inside a tower in the palace to undergo rehabilitation and healing.


    Rowan wasn''t able to catch up with Fatima so he decided to just head over to Silvaria by himself. He brought along only his trusted subordinates and the private army that he had been secretly raising.


    ******


    A few days later, Rowan was able to arrive at Silvaria with his small army. It was a good thing that Silvaria''s border guards were able to quickly identify Rowan or else they might have begun attacking him with their new weapons, modern Earth''s cannons.


    These weapons which closely resembled the Mag-Cannons that Rowan had seen during their attack on the Merkruz fortress caused him to widen his eyes in shock. He didn''t expect that the Silvaria Kingdom also had these weapons.


    The weapons were only similar in shape, but not in function. The Mag-Cannons launched magic bullets at their enemies, while Earth''s cannons only launched cannon shells.


    Rowan quickly went to have an audience with Kaiser, but right after receiving his report, Kaiser and Anastasia were shocked to hear that Fatima had fallen out with the First Prince and that Cecil''s wives were with her.


    "W-wait! What do you mean Cecil''s wives?! Is this some kind of joke you''re pulling on us, boy?!" Kaiser yelled furiously.


    "N-No sir! What I speak is the truth! Two women had suddenly showed up one day and saved Ima on her journey to the frontlines. One thing led to another and when they revealed their identities, they called themselves Silvarias and stated that their husband was someone named Cecil Silvaria!"


    "Impossible!"


    "Sir, please hear me out. What I''m saying is true. Ima had asked for their husband''s description and she was able to confirm that the person who''s those two women''s husband was undoubtedly her brother!"


    "S-so...He''s alive...Hahaha...He''s alive! Honey, c-can you believe this?!" Kaiser roared in happiness as he turned around to face his wife.


    "T-two...women? You mean that...my little Cel has two wives?" Anastasia asked to no one in particular.


    "Eh?"


    "Wait...now that I think about it...you said two!" Kaiser turned his attention back to Rowan and roared.


    "Y-yes..."


    "So he has two wives?!"


    "F-From what I''ve been observing, those two have proclaimed themselves as your son''s wives. If I''m not mistaken, the first wife''s name is Lucia Silvaria and the second wife''s name is Serilla Silvaria..."


    "..."


    The rest of Cecil''s family members from the main branch and all the other branches were currently present so when they heard Rowan''s words, a deadly silence befell the hall.


    "My big brother...already has a wife?" Angelia said with a despairing look in her eyes.


    "Two wives, Angel," Gabriel corrected her with a snicker.


    "Ohohohoh, looks like our little Angel is no longer number one in our youngest brother''s heart~"


    "NOOOOO!!! Shut up stupid Luca!"


    Luca only snickered in response, while Gabriel was still as absentminded as usual. Only Matheus was nodding his head in approval at the news.


    "Not only does our youngest brother come back to us, but he even brings back two women with him."


    Cecil''s family from the main branch were all elated that the successor had finally come back while the elders and family members from the other branches only paid attention to the fact that the successor had brought back two women as wives, something that went against tradition.


    Normally, the wife of the successor would be selected and introduced by the elders, but Cecil had gone against traditions and chose his partner, or partners, himself. It was unprecedented and unheard of for the successor to have chosen his partner or have more than 1 partner.


    The main branch''s elders, Cecil''s grandparents didn''t seem to particularly mind because after being sent into another world, they were separated from Cecil from the start and had long since lost the chance to introduce anyone to him.


    Knowing that he had found a partner to spend the rest of his days with, the two elders were naturally happy for him, although they couldn''t help but frown a bit at the thought of that little rascal having found 2 wives instead of just one.

 Chapter 297 - Saving the Daughters

    "Boy...where is my daughter right now?"


    "About that..." Rowan said uneasily.


    "She''s not here with you..." Kaiser eyed Rowan menacingly.


    "...She was ambushed on her way back from the kingdom...currently, all I know is that Ima and the two wives are in the mountains heading our way with a contingent of Merkruz forces on their tails..."


    The atmosphere in the hall immediately turned cold as Kaiser became visibly upset and angered. His killing intent began roiling in the air, but Anastasia immediately stepped forward and calmed him down.


    "Honey, calm down. Instead of being angered, we should hurry up and find her."


    "I know...but this...bastard. How dare he have the cheek to report this to me?! Boy, shouldn''t you be by her side as Fatima''s fianc¨¦ right now?!"


    "I''m sorry sir... Things became complicated when Fatima fell out with my brother...I couldn''t chase after her and for some reason, all hostilities between Regulus and Merkruz have been put on hold after my brother signed a non-aggression pact with the ruler of Merkruz."


    "If that is so, then why are those Merkruz bastards still chasing after my daughter?" Kaiser asked furiously.


    "I''m not privy to the details behind the pact, but I feel like the Merkruz Principality wants to get rid of Ima...because she''s the cause for their failed attempt at conquering Regulus..."


    "Bah, any idiot can deduce this! What I''m trying to ask is why your kingdom still hasn''t sent responded to this?! If there''s a pact, then this should already count as a breach to that pact!"


    "...It''s most likely because of my brother...he''s trying to cut our line of connection because he''s been eyeing the Silvaria Kingdom''s resources."


    Kaiser nearly slugged Rowan after hearing his words, but Anastasia immediately stopped him.


    "Honey, stop! If what Rowan said is true then both Merkruz and Regulus have been eyeing us! Since he''s here, that means Rowan has essentially forsaken his title as prince of Regulus to warn us about all this!"


    "...Tch!" Kaiser clicked his tongue in displeasure. He began calling out to some of his family members before walking out of the hall.


    "I''ll deal with this myself! Honey, you keep an eye on things here! I''ll go get our daughter and daughters-in-law!"


    "Alright, Rowan dear, please come this way. Have your men garrison in the city, we''ll naturally provide the lodgings. I thank you for standing on our side...but can you tell me what caused the fallout?"


    "Thank you, ma''am... well...it all started because of my second brother..."


    Anastasia dismissed everyone else from the hall only leaving behind the main family members inside before she let Rowan finish his story. Anastasia was eyeing everyone who had walked out and noticed that some of the branch elders and families were discussing among themselves. She could already tell that they were trying to put some fault in her son for breaking the tradition.


    "Now dear, please tell me everything."


    "Alright, ma''am...but...it''s not going to be very pleasant..."


    Once Rowan finished talking about the reason behind the fallout, Anastasia still had her poker face on, but the palpitating aura she was exuding told tales of how infuriated she was. Her son was nearly cuckolded by some bastard.


    "Is she alright?"


    "Yes, she''s alright. That woman was really powerful and there was a butler who was similarly powerful that was always trailing behind the two women. He was able to prevent my brother from defiling your son''s wife..."


    "That''s good but... oh dear, to be put through such a traumatic incident..."


    "I am very sorry..."


    "Don''t be Rowan. It''s not your fault how your brother was brought up."


    "..."


    "I was sure that Cecil would be the one to protect his wife, but why was it the butler?"


    "Ah, Madam Ana, that''s because your son Cecil was currently not with them..."


    "...What? Then, where is he?"


    "From what I heard, your son is currently on his way to Revertia, the next kingdom over. He''s been looking for his family as well, so he''s been scouring the continent kingdom by kingdom. He left Regulus to his wives to investigate while he left for Revertia..."


    "Oh my... I know that this world is big and so is this continent...I just can''t imagine the hardsh.i.p.s he had to go through to find us!"


    "...We''ve only been searching through the nearby kingdoms...while your son was searching the continent..." Rowan smiled depreciatingly. Not just anyone would look through the entire continent just for their family. Only the powerful could do this and in Rowan''s mind, Cecil was without a doubt powerful.


    "Aha! No wonder we couldn''t find big brother Cel! He was looking for us as well, so he probably got lost and began wandering!" Angelia quipped up with a laugh.


    The other family members in the hall laughed at Angelia''s deduction. The heavy atmosphere permeating the hall was dissipated and now everyone was just glad to hear about their lost family member.


    "Since he''s going to Revertia... won''t that take months? A round trip might take a long time!" Anastasia said in concern.


    "No worries ma''am. From what I heard, your son is traveling in the air on one of his wives'' familiar," Rowan replied.


    "Familiar? Oh! So, there''s someone like me in brother Cel''s group?!" Angelia asked excitedly.


    "It would seem so, Princess."


    "Uhihihihi~ how fun~"


    As for the woman in question, Lucia was currently slashing down enemies left and right. Serilla, Fatima, Quinn, and the rest of the entourage were currently trying to push back their pursuers.


    It was unexpected, but the Merkruz army that was pursuing them had managed to catch up with them just as they were about to step into the main mountain path which led directly next to Silvaria Kingdom''s valley.


    Serilla was enduring a lot of pressure from protecting the group and initiating counterattacks. No one could use mana so they had to rely on their shields and armor to protect themselves, Lucia, Serilla, and Quinn had a thin layer of Ki covering their bodies so they had better protection against the enemies'' attacks.


    Serilla was moving around the battlefield at high speeds as she cut down enemy after enemy while occasionally sending out a sword wave. They had started this cat and mouse chase over a week ago and the persistent Merkruz army kept it going until now.


    They had been a little negligent due to their weariness, but it was enough to let the Merkruz forces catch up and corner them like this. Serilla was exhausted from the nights of short sleeps.


    The group was constantly on the move and they would only take short breaks now and then so that they could stay ahead of their pursuers. However, a moment of negligence had sent them into their current situation.


    "E-everyone, we''re almost there! All we have to do is get over that ridge and we''ll be able to see my kingdom!"


    "Just over that ridge?!" Serilla asked?


    "Y-Yes!"


    "Okay, I''m going to cleave apart that ridge; surely the commotion will attract your family, right?"


    "C-Cleave it apart?!"


    Serilla didn''t respond and only flashed deep into the enemy lines while readying her technique. Once she had fully charged her blade with a majority of her Ki and Intent, Serilla immediately sliced down.


    She carefully avoided her allies and made sure the trajectory of her attack was directed only on her enemies. The large sword wave that was ejected from Serilla''s sword flashed past all the enemies ahead of her and directly killed them.


    It cleaved past and struck where the ridge was at and collapsed the ground around the area, sending debris and rocks off the mountain.


    From down below, Kaiser was just getting ready to mobilize his men to scour the mountain pass for his daughters, but was immediately attracted by the alarming crash and the sudden expulsion of debris from the mountainside just outside of the valley.


    He furrowed his brows and immediately redirected all his men to that area. Kaiser had a hunch and a gut feeling that his daughter and two daughters-in-law were over there.


    It didn''t take long for Kaiser and his troops to scale the mountainside. Anastasia, Rowan, Angelia, and the other Silvaria siblings had also tagged along when they saw the debris flying from the secret pathway they found a while back.


    The pathway was a secret area where Angelia and the brothers would go to when they wanted to find some monsters to fight and it was also a place where Angelia would sometimes find some monsters from the mountains to form a pact with and at to her already large collection of ''buddies''.


    When the family reached the destroyed ridge area, they immediately noticed the fight which was taking place in the distance. Angelia and Rowan were the first ones to spot Fatima and they immediately rushed in to support her.


    Angelia had brought only 3 of her buddies with her this time. Chi and Mao were naturally there, the third friend was a golden snake monster that had 3 heads who Angelia named Orochi.


    "Get em guys!" Angelia said as she mounted Mao. Just before Mao could shoot forward, Kaiser grabbed onto Angelia''s collar and placed her back on the ground.


    "You stay here! Let us grown-ups deal with this!"


    "Booooo...I wanna fight too..."


    "If these were monsters, I wouldn''t care, but they''re humans! Are you positive that you''re ready to stain your hands with the blood of humans?"


    "Urk..." Angelia flinched when she heard her father''s words. He was right, she wasn''t ready.


    "Be a good girl and stay here. You can still have your 3 friends help us," Kaiser patted Angelia on the head before turning to his men. "Everyone! GO! KEEP THOSE BASTARDS AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTERS!!!"


    Kaiser charged out and so did Anastasia, Matheus, Luca, and the dull-faced Gabriel.


    "You three, prioritize Ima''s safety! Don''t let anything happen to her!"


    "Got it mom," Luca replied. Gabriel only nodded his head tiredly while Matheus just hurried his steps.


    Kaiser jumped into the air and landed right in front of Fatima. He gathered his energy into his fist and punched out, sending a strong wave of energy out which blew back all the Merkruz soldiers in front of him.


    "Father!"


    "Ima, get back! We''ll take over from here!"


    "O-okay! But, Lucia and Serilla are still in the middle of the enemy formation!"


    "Lucia and Serilla?" Hearing those unfamiliar names, Kaiser was confused at first before immediately understanding that these two were probably the names of Cecil''s wives.


    "Hah, that cheeky brat," Kaiser smirked before he charged into the enemy formation and began sending people flying into the air.


    Anastasia had already flashed into the crowd of Merkruz soldiers and began weaving in between them. Every person she flashed by immediately dropped dead on the ground, her eyes were constantly searching around and she finally noticed a silver-haired girl struggling against a few Merkruz soldiers.


    She looked visibly exhausted and next to her was a man in a butler''s uniform who was constantly defending against the attacks directed at the silver-haired girl while also taking giving space for the girl to launch an attack of her own.


    "That''s probably the butler and one of Cel''s wives," Anastasia mumbled. She immediately made her way over to the two and with a wave of her Tachi, she felled on the soldiers surrounding Lucia and Quinn.


    Lucia widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden development. When she saw the petite woman appear just behind the line of fallen corpses, she loosened her nerves when she noticed that the woman didn''t display any hostilities towards them.


    Lucia tiredly raised her katana and threw it at another Merkruz soldier in the distance before retrieving it with her Ki.


    "M, Miss...My sister... she''s..." Lucia said while pointing in the distance.


    "Hm?" Anastasia looked in the distance and saw a pink-haired woman moving nimbly around the enemy soldiers. ''Oh, that must be the other one.''


    Anastasia nodded in approval after she saw both girls. ''My son certainly has good tastes.''

 Chapter 298 - The Silvaria Family

    Kaiser had also noticed Serilla in the distance, he was just about to rush over to her side, but suddenly stopped when he noticed a familiar pressure envelop the air.


    "Weapon Intent?!"


    Serilla had gotten into a stance for her Divider and Kaiser widened his eyes in surprise at the familiar sword stance.


    "DIE!"


    Serilla disappeared in the next instant and appeared a distance away, the weapon intent that was pressuring everyone earlier had disappeared, but before the enemy soldiers could move, the ground under them exploded and the air that Serilla had flashed through was bombarded by exploding Sword Intent.


    The technique that Serilla had just used had depleted most of her Ki so she used what little she had to retreat to Lucia and Quinn.


    When she arrived back to where Lucia was using Supersonic, Serilla immediately began to cough up blood before she directly fainted. Her body began bleeding once she fell onto the ground. Her last Supersonic had dealt direct repercussions to her body and the constant use of her big techniques had also caused a backlash to her body.


    "SERI!"


    "MADAM!"


    Quinn immediately rushed forwards, but another person had arrived next to Serilla before he could.


    Anastasia pressed onto a few of Serilla''s pressure points which immediately stopped her hacking and bleeding. "I''ve stopped her bleeding, but her bodies in bad shape..."


    "Dammit..." Quinn punched the ground and immediately helped Serilla up. Lucia had wobbled over and she helped Quinn.


    "You, the butler, go get your wagon ready, I''ll help this little lady~" Anastasia commanded. Quinn was immediately startled, but hearing the authority and forcefulness behind the small woman''s voice, Quinn involuntarily complied with her orders.


    "Y-yes, Madam..."


    "Alright, up we go~"


    Lucia only stared at Anastasia in puzzlement. This woman was so nice to them even though they had only just met.


    "Th-thank you..."


    "No worries dear~ I should blame my son for putting you both in this situation, sheesh, he should at least be here when his wives are in trouble! What a troublesome child~"


    "S-son? Wait... are you Cel''s mother?!"


    "We''ll talk about this later dear~ you all seem so exhausted, so we''ll have you rest up in our residence before we talk again~"


    "Y-yes...t-thank you!"


    "No need for thanks dear, this is what family should do~"


    Quinn had already finished preparing the wagon and he compromised this time by letting all the injured onto the wagon. Many were surprised when they saw the interior of the wagon, but it wasn''t time for that so they all found a place inside the ''house'' to place the injured.


    "How homely~" Anastasia commented when they got inside. They moved Serilla to the bedroom and let her rest, once the last of the injured were place inside the wagon, Quinn immediately drove the wagon in the direction which Matheus was guiding him to.


    Angelia was inside the wagon as well and was healing all the injured soldiers before finally moving on to heal Serilla.


    The other soldiers had much lighter wounds so she quickly dealt with them first, but Serilla''s injuries were internal and external so it was naturally going to take much longer.


    Inside the bedroom, Fatima was helping Lucia bandage her arm, while Angelia had half of her focus on healing Serilla and the other half on Lucia. She had a belly full of questions that she couldn''t wait to ask.


    "Thanks, big sis Fatima... I''m guessing that the people who came earlier are your family''s people?"


    "You mean ''our'' family''s people," Fatima corrected.


    "Eh? Ahaha, yes... our family..." Lucia replied with a strained laugh before she started coughing. "Ugh... this is so embarrassing...I can''t use mana so I showed such a poor performance in front of my in-laws..."


    Fatima chuckled and patted Lucia''s head. "Don''t worry about that. Just rest, for now, we''ve been through a lot so we deserve this hard-earned rest..."


    "Okay...you should rest too big sis..."


    "Yeah, I will."


    ******


    Kaiser and everyone was able to quickly dispatch the remaining forces of the pursuing Merkruz army, but bad news immediately reached his ears from one of his people stationed within the Sky Piercing Mountain Pass that led to their kingdom.


    The Merkruz Main Army was heading straight for their kingdom, they had somehow found the right passage and were cleverly avoiding all the monsters in the path and inching closer and closer to their kingdom.


    It was a good thing that the mountain pass was situated at the back of the valley and they had already constructed a thick wall early on. It was the place where most monsters would come through to attack the valley so it was naturally one of the first places that the Silvaria Kingdom had erected a wall.


    The wall was repeatedly upgraded and constantly under maintenance to improve its defense. A majority of the Silvaria Kingdom''s cannons were located on this wall so it was the most heavily defended area.


    Kaiser immediately began preparing his men and had sent out some to begin placing traps and mines in the areas in front of the gate and also on the path that the Merkruz Army would pass by to get to their valley.


    He received reports that the Merkruz Army was at least 200 thousand strong and this was the number that the Merkruz Army had after Fatima had dealt them loss after loss in their war against Regulus.


    The Silvaria Kingdom only had around 50 thousand trained soldiers and a few thousand trainees. There were many able-bodied men in the kingdom, but they weren''t battle-ready and Kaiser naturally did not want to use them.


    It would take around 2-3 days before the Merkruz forces came knocking on their walls, but Kaiser hoped to extend that by a few more days with the traps he had his men plant in the mountain pass.


    Kaiser wanted to slow them down and at least take a hit on their numbers. 50 thousand against 200 thousand, Kaiser only saw a loss waiting for them no matter how he looked at it.


    *******


    A day later, Lucia and Serilla had fully recovered from their injuries thanks to Angelia and during their time together, Angelia was able to bond with the two women.


    Angelia had constantly been questioning them about Cecil, but she was pleased to find out that her big brother Cel hadn''t changed all that much. He had indeed matured but his basic nature hadn''t changed all that much.


    He was still the same caring, boring, and hardworking brother she knew. After finding out about her brother, Angelia immediately began asking more about the girls instead and she gave them her approval of being Cecil''s wives after a lengthy conversation.


    Angelia had hogged both the girls and kept her parents, siblings, and other family members from interacting with them. It wasn''t until they had fully recovered that the Silvaria family was able to sit down and have a face-to-face talk with the two women.


    Inside a room in the main mansion of the Silvaria Estate, Lucia and Serilla were sitting down on a couch with Angelia sitting in between them. Kaiser, who should have been arranging things on the frontlines, had taken time off to be at this important family meeting.


    Sitting next to Kaiser was Anastasia while the grandparents were also next to them on the long couch, curiously observing the two beautiful, but nervous women.


    Luca, Gabriel, and Matheus were also observing these two and couldn''t help but nod in approval at their little brother''s taste in woman. Luca who was the most outgoing naturally whispered to his brother, "Cecil''s wives are gorgeous, do you think they''d happen to have any single friends that they could introduce to me?"


    "Shut up Luca, you''re embarrassing yourself."


    "Hey, Matty, drop the act, I bet your just as vexed as I am! I mean look, Cecil married before any of us! We''ve just lost to him! Don''t tell me your pride as a brother hadn''t taken a hit from this?"


    Matheus disdainfully eyed his brother and chose to remain silent. Luca turned to Gabriel, but his twin only replied with a yawn and a shrug. The laziest kid in the family didn''t care.


    Fatima and Rowan were naturally there as well and Rowan couldn''t help but have a large sense of deja vu hit him. He had been put in a similar situation a long time ago and he couldn''t help but feel a sense of camaraderie with the girls.


    "So, before we continue, I think we should properly introduce ourselves!" Anastasia said with a clap of her hands as she broke the awkward atmosphere in the room.


    "My name is Anastasia~ you both can call me mom since I''m your husband''s mother~"


    "O-Okay, it''s nice to meet you, m-mom...I''m Lucia?!" Lucia responded nervously contrary to Serilla who had responded calmly.


    "Nice to meet you mother, I''m Serilla, the second wife. My sister here is the first wife."


    Lucia nodded nervously up and down at Serilla''s words.


    "So, Seri and...?"


    "Lulu, you can call me Lulu, mother!"


    "Umu, Lulu and Seri~ I honestly thought the order was the other way around~"


    "Ahahaha, my husband met my sister before me, and I sort of barged in on them..."


    "Oh my~ so it looks like our Cecil didn''t want to lose either one of you~"


    "A-Actually...he was a little indifferent..." Serilla nervously replied while playing with her fingers.


    "Oh? Well, he is a little slow~"


    "Ahahaha..."


    Anastasia nudged her husband, but Kaiser was observing the two women before him seriously. He was able to notice that their bodies were athletically built so this meant that they had received some form of training.


    He also noticed earlier while on the battlefield that Serilla and Lucia were both using his family''s martial arts in battle, and it probably came from Cecil. He nodded in approval at these two girls before he introduced himself.


    "I''m Kaiser Silvaria, you can both call me father or whatever. You both seem strong and have also trained in our family''s martial arts. Was it my son who taught you both?"


    "Y-yes, father! Cel taught me his martial arts during our travels! Most, if not all, of my sword techniques and battle styles use the Silvaria family''s martial arts!" Lucia nervously reported.


    Kaiser nodded at her before turning her attention to Serilla. He was intrigued by this wife because of the sword art that she had displayed on the battlefield. It was his family''s Divider and she had used it with Sword Intent and had displayed a power much stronger than what was written inside her family''s traditional manual.


    "My martial arts are not as proficient as my sister since I''ve only recently started learning."


    "I see, but you have Intent, don''t you?"


    "Y-Yes, yes I do..."


    "Hmhmhm~ another genius like my son, he sure has chosen you well. Drop by the dojo sometime, I''ll help sharpen your Intent."


    "Y-Yes, father..." Serilla bowed her head in thanks.


    "And Lucia," Kaiser said as he turned his attention back to Lucia.


    "Yes, father?!"


    "You just need a little more training. I can see that you have almost acquired your Intent so just keep working hard."


    Lucia''s eyes brightened and she immediately nodded happily, "Un!"


    The rest of the family introduced themselves and everyone got to know each other better. Lucia and Serilla were able to quickly warm up to the family and soon they had begun talking about Lucia''s adventures with Cecil back on Urrugdrasil.


    The girls decided to be frank with their new family and told them about their origins.


    "So you both are from Urrugdrasil, the next continent over?" Anastasia asked in surprise.


    "Yes... we also know that none of you are humans of this world..." Lucia said in reply.


    "I see...Cecil told you all about us then."


    "Yes, he wouldn''t hide anything from us since we''re his wives," Serilla answered.


    "Also...we''re not humans..."


    "Eh?"


    Lucia snapped her fingers and dispelled her transformation magic on herself and Serilla.


    Everyone in the room, including Quinn, was surprised to see Lucia and Serilla''s forms.


    "Oh my goodness, how adorable!" Anastasia exclaimed when she saw Lucia and Serilla''s beastkin features. She wasn''t appalled to see Lucia and Serilla''s fox and rabbit ears. Anastasia was instead pleasantly surprised at this development.


    Kaiser only stared at them curiously, but there was no disgust or aversion in his eyes. The same went with everyone else in the family. Angelia was especially intrigued and she couldn''t help but squeal in delight when she was permitted to touch Serilla''s bunny ears.


    "Wow~ my two new big sisters are so pretty~!" Angelia exclaimed delightfully.

 Chapter 299 - So Close

    "Y-You both are demi-humans?" Rowan couldn''t help but ask suddenly.


    "We''re beastkin, thank you very much!" Lucia replied.


    Hearing her words, Rowan immediately began apologizing. It was his first time seeing beastkin so he was similarly surprised, but he didn''t show any disgust, just curiosity like the rest of them.


    Quinn however was shocked beyond compare. He had been traveling with his two Madams for 4 years, yet this was the first time he knew about their secret. Quinn wasn''t familiar with the beastkin culture so he was worried that he had inadvertently offended his two Madams in the past so he hurriedly began apologizing.


    "Ah, my two Madams, I...If I have shown any disrespect in the past due to my ignorance I¡ª"


    "That''s enough, Quinn. You haven''t disrespected us in any way. Revealing our true selves isn''t going to change your attitude in serving us, no?" Serilla cut him off and said.


    "Of course not, my Lady!"


    "Then just continue as you have been doing."


    Angelia had her arms wrapped around one of Lucia''s fluffy tails. Over the past couple of years, Lucia''s cultivation in her family''s technique had reached the stage where she now had 7 tails. Only 2 more stages before she was able to have 9 tails like her mother.


    "Angelia, would you like to transform into one of us?" Lucia asked.


    "Transform? You mean I can look like you two as well?!"


    "Yup~"


    "Then...then... what did my brother transform into when he was on the other continent?!"


    "Naturally, he was like me~"


    "Then I wanna look like my brother!"


    Lucia smiled and cast a transformation spell on Angelia.


    Two cute fox ears popped up on top of her head and 3 tails sprouted from her rump. She looked just like the girl version of their husband when he was still 13 and the two women couldn''t help but swoon at Angelia''s cuteness.


    "Huhuhu~ you look just like darling when he was young~"


    "Yeah! Except you have long hair!"


    "Nahahahaha~" Angelia raised a happy laugh and she began to curiously touch her ears and tails.


    "Mom, look! I look cute right?!"


    "Yes, you do honey~" Anastasia replied as she curiously began rubbing Angelia''s ears.


    "Hihihi~ that tickles~"


    Kaiser was eyeing the way Lucia had suddenly transformed her youngest daughter. She only lightly waved her hand in the air and snapped her fingers before her daughter suddenly transformed.


    "So...is this magic? You can use mana, Lucia?"


    "Naturally¡ªeh?"


    "Lulu!"


    "M-My mana! It''s back!"


    Her exclamation raised some question marks in the room, but Rowan and Fatima were able to understand her.


    "Lucia! Shouldn''t you be able to call Cecil now?!" Fatima exclaimed.


    "Y-yeah! Wait a sec," Lucia immediately pulled out her MID and called Cecil, but she suddenly sensed Yuna trying to connect with her.


    ''Master!''


    ''Yuna!''


    ''Master, are you okay?! We couldn''t contact you these past few weeks! Is something wrong?!'' Yuna asked worriedly.


    ''I''m currently trying to call Cel, we''ll talk later!''


    ''Okay, Master! I''ll immediately let Master Cecil know.''


    Right after Yuna disconnected her mind connection to Lucia, she immediately informed Cecil. Cecil immediately pulled out his MID and saw Lucia trying to call him and he connected the call.


    "LULU!"


    Back at Lucia''s side, when everyone heard the familiar yet unfamiliar voice that came out of the small device in Lucia''s hands, they could all immediately tell that it was the grown Cecil''s voice.


    "It is him..."


    "Big brother!"


    "Cel! Where are you?! We need you to get back here quickly!"


    "I know! Is Seri with you?! Is she alright?!"


    "Seri? Yes, she''s alright."


    "...Good...nothing bad happened to her...right?"


    "Eh? Uhm..."


    "I used the Providence and I saw something... she wasn''t hurt right?"


    Lucia immediately understood what Cecil meant so she quickly replied, "NO! Nothing happened to her. Quinn was able to save Serilla on time!"


    "... Is that bastard still alive?"


    "He is!" Serilla answered in Lucia''s stead.


    Cecil released a relieved breath when he heard Serilla''s voice.


    "...Wait for me. I''m already close to Regulus."


    "Cel, we aren''t in Regulus anymore!" Lucia immediately answered.


    "Huh?"


    "We found your family! And, we''re currently staying in their kingdom..."


    "Kingdom?"


    "Yes, it''s located inside the land behind the Sky Piercing Mountains!"


    "Okay."


    "Do you want to talk to your family?"


    "...It''s better if I talk to them face-to-face..."


    "Oh...okay...by the way. We''ve landed ourselves in a small problem..."


    Lucia immediately began explaining to Cecil the situation she and their family was in, the Regulus Kingdom''s treachery and the Merkruz Principality''s army which were now baring their fangs on the Silvaria Kingdom. Kaiser also gave her the current update that the kingdom was in and Lucia informed Cecil all about it


    On the other side, Cecil''s gaze immediately grew cold when he heard Lucia''s recount.


    "Give me your location and I''ll get there soon."


    "We''re at¡ª"


    The call suddenly disconnected and this caused Cecil to frown. He tried calling Lucia again, but the call wouldn''t connect. Yuna was also unable to connect with her master again and Cecil immediately knew that this Merkruz army was already at his family''s doorstep.


    "Yuna, we need to speed up! Through your connection, were you able to see where she was?"


    "I-I''m sorry! I was too frantic that I only asked questions and didn''t take a good look around!" Yuna immediately apologized.


    "It''s alright, even if our connection''s cut, we already know the general direction. Lucia said that there was some sort of mountain pass in the Regulus Kingdom that goes through the Sky Piercing Mountain Range which directly leads to the Silvaria Kingdom. This is the pass that the Merkruz army has taken. We''ll head into this pass as well and catch them from behind!"


    "Time to kill, Master?"


    Cecil eyed Silver and looked ahead coldly, "If we must, but I want you and Yuna to send Ren over to my family''s side before you guys even think about joining the battle. Remember, these people seem to have some sort of weapon which interferes with mana! If my family has the same bodily constitution as me..."


    "Then they won''t be able to use mana or aura!" Silver exclaimed.


    "Yeah...so I need you 3 to help in the kingdom''s defenses. I''ll take care of the rear. I alone am enough...I''ll crush everything in front of me..."


    "Just don''t overdo it, Master, we''ve finally found our family so you should head back home without spilling too much blood..."


    "...yeah..." Although he said this, Cecil was inwardly suppressing the roiling and massive amount of killing intent he was bottling up. He could feel Corruption reacting to his killing intent, but Cecil suppressed it stubbornly.


    "Not yet... not yet... I''ll make those bastards pay for touching my wives..."


    A few days ago, Cecil had once again used Providence and he saw the scene of Lucia, Serilla, and Quinn putting up a desperate fight in the secret mountain path that was outside of the Silvaria Kingdom''s valley.


    He saw the state that his family was reduced to and the sight of it all angered him to the extreme. The more he thought back on the scene when Serilla began coughing up blood and bleeding, and Lucia''s battered and injured body, more and more killing intent kept on piling up.


    Cecil was slowly losing his composure, but he didn''t outwardly show it. The first vision of seeing his wife nearly r.a.p.ed by some unknown man had triggered him, and then the second vision of seeing them in such a helpless and injured state nearly blew his fuse.


    All he wanted to do right now was enact justice and take revenge for all the injustices done to his wives. Serilla didn''t deserve to have been nearly r.a.p.ed and injured to the point where Cecil thought she might have died.


    Then there was Lucia who had a despairing look as she looked on helplessly as Serilla fell in front of her. Those eyes were the last straw because Cecil thought that Serilla had died in the vision.


    Hearing her voice from the MID had eased up his mind and heart by a whole great deal, but his bottled up killing intent hadn''t lessened. It only grew and it continued growing with every day he was away from his two wives.


    And now, there was the news of the Merkruz Principality attacking his family. If they attacked, then there was bound to be some casualties. He heard the numbers that Lucia had informed him about. The Merkruz Army had around 200 thousand soldiers while his family only had around 50 thousand.


    If the Merkruz Army were able to break into his family''s kingdom, then they would most likely massacre everyone inside. His family which he hadn''t seen for close to 6 years or so would be wiped out if he didn''t do something.


    Cecil was just so close to meeting with his family, but bad news always had to accompany good news. As if it was sensing his emotions, the Thorns inside Cecil''s spatial ring began to stir. The Corruption was already trying to invade Cecil''s mind and feed on the killing intent he had kept bottled up in his heart.


    Cecil only frowned when he saw his weapons acting up again. He circulated his Ether and began suppressing his weapons as well as his emotions. He tried to remain clear of mind, but the fact that his heart was bottling up all the killing intent and negative emotions couldn''t be hidden and the Corruption continued to feed on it.


    "Damned weapon just wait a little longer!" Cecil cursed under his breath. He couldn''t help but begin berating himself inwardly. He was losing control again even though he had promised to himself and his wives that he wouldn''t let his anger get the better of him.


    The last time he let his anger consumed him, the borders of Anglaria experienced a nightmare, and a district in the Empire had nearly been razed to the ground.


    "Damn... how the hell am I supposed to suppress my anger when I know my family''s in danger? F.u.c.k... I shouldn''t have separated from them... How come I was so stupid?"


    Silver could somewhat hear his master''s mumblings, but he could feel all the turmoil and negative emotions inside his master''s heart through the pact''s connection. It had begun affecting him as well since he could feel the madness he felt on the day his master was assaulted back in Anglaria Kingdom and he had first transformed into his black form.


    Seeing the slowly graying hair on his head, Yuna came over and hugged him. She was trying to do all she could to soothe her little wolf.


    "T-Thanks Yuna..."


    "It''s okay, I''ll try to focus myself on recovery, we just need to teleport one last time before we reach Regulus Kingdom''s border."


    "Don''t push yourself too hard."


    Yuna smiled at Silver gently before she kissed him on the forehead and began combing through his hair with her hands. It was immensely soothing for Silver and the grayish hair on his head slowly began to turn back to his original white.


    Cecil had seen the state Silver was in and he also tried even harder to reel in his emotions. He didn''t want Silver to turn into a mindless monster again.


    Silver could keep his mind if he chose to enter his black form, but if he was forced into it like the last time, Silver would just go on a rampage and attack everything around him without regard to whether they were ally or enemy.


    ******


    Back at the Silvaria family''s side, Kaiser was overlooking the large army in the distance which was slowly closing in on their kingdom''s walls.


    No messenger or the like was sent over to negotiate any sort of surrender or a possible cease-fire. Instead the Merkruz forces began setting up camp in the distance and had also started to reassemble their siege weapons.


    It was clear as day that the enemy didn''t want to negotiate and just wanted to wage war against them.


    "Bastards... we haven''t even done anything to you... suits us well, it''s not like I''ll agree to any form of compromise or surrender when you bastards are the ones who came knocking on our door!"


    Kaiser waved his hand and the black barrels of their kingdom''s cannons began to pop out one by one from the walls and their muzzles began redirecting themselves to the enemy army far ahead.

 Chapter 300 - Defensive Battle

    Kaiser immediately ordered his men to fire the cannons. Multiple shells flew straight at the enemy army who were leisurely and arrogantly setting up camp.


    When the first volley struck, the Merkruz army received a substantial amount of casualties. It was the first time that the Alternians had ever experienced weapons created from gunpowder. Of course, the Earthlings hadn''t used gunpowder in their cannons, but instead had created something close to gunpowder by simply grinding down Flare Stones, a unique ore that could be mined from the Sky Piercing Mountains.


    The Flare Stones were easily combustible rocks that could produce a flame or an explosion if someone simply injected the required amount of mana into them. Through trial and error, the Earthlings were able to create the right amount of ''Flare Powder'', the name for the grounded down Flare Stones, which could produce the same effects as gunpowder from earth.


    The process of creating Flare Powder was also much easier than creating gunpowder since all the earthlings needed to do was mine and grind down Flare Stones. These Flare Stones were also what the blacksmiths in the kingdom used as a replacement for coal.


    The best part about these stones was that they didn''t produce residue or waste such as smoke and the like because mana was used to create the flames. In a sense, these cannons that the earthlings had created could be termed as magic cannons, but instead of firing large concentrations of mana, like the Mag-Cannon, they instead fired cannon shells which had Spark crystals stored in them.


    These Spark crystals were a type of ore that could be mined from within the No-Man''s Land. There was a mine just located inside the valley that had a ton of these crystals. One crystal could produce a substantial amount of electricity when enough force was applied to them.


    So, the Research Department of Silvaria had the brilliant idea of packing together a few tens of these crystals inside an enclosed space and tried to see the outcome of what would happen. The result created a sort of plasma field that would vaporize anything within its area of effect once they were triggered. There was no need for mana to fuel this process because the spark crystals only needed a good amount of force or impact to trigger them.


    It was dangerous at first, but the Research Department was able to develop specified cannon shells that could prevent these crystals from triggering during the firing process. The cannons were very practical during monster wave defenses... and also in their current predicament.


    Kaiser never really put much emphasis on the creation of small caliber guns because they didn''t have much use against the monsters. Cannons, however, were a different story. The large shells and crystals stored within them were able to penetrate the tough hides and muscles of the monsters and potentially vaporize their innards, which led to a quick subjugation.


    Ever since gaining an increase in their physics, the Earthlings had begun relying on martial arts and cold weapons crafted from the unique ores found within the No-Man''s Land and Sky Piercing Mountains to fight their battles against the monsters. However, Kaiser didn''t want to neglect to create any of the earth''s weapons.


    The cannons were naturally not only good for defending the kingdom against monsters, but they were also very good against repelling humans.


    Volley after volley of cannon fire bombarded the Merkruz Army and for a while, they were taking a one-sided beating and losing many of their soldiers. Alexandre frowned when he saw all those ''Mag-Cannons'' on the city wall.


    ''Do they also have the Empire''s weapons? No¡ªthose things don''t fire mana, but instead some sort of metal shaped cone which triggers some sort of High-Ranked Magic Spell... damn, that''s so ingenious! Firing magic spells instead of mana! Did the Empire already know about these people and feel threatened by their existence so they created the M-Jammer?'' Alexandre pondered inwardly, now he wanted to ally with these people, but seeing the situation where each side was baring their fangs against each other, he could only put a stop to such thoughts.


    ''I''ll take away their cannons and their people once I''ve conquered them. I won''t let those Regulus bastards or those Empire schemers have them!''


    "Increase the output of the M-Jammer! These bastards seem to only be using low-tier magic-spells!" Alexandre commanded.


    His subordinates immediately increased the M-Jammer''s effects and the cannons on the walls immediately stopped firing.


    "What''s wrong?" Kaiser urgently asked.


    "S-Sir! We can''t seem to use mana anymore! Without mana, we won''t be able to trigger the firing mechanism!"


    "...Tsk, it''s that M-Jammer Fatima was talking about. How odd...we could use it fine earlier, did they increase the output?"


    "Sir, what will we do now?" A soldier asked.


    Kaiser looked forward and started thinking, ''If we can''t use mana anymore, then those bastards over there can''t either...''


    "Prepare the anti-monster traps and weapons! We''ll use the trebuchets and the ballistae to fight!"


    These were the earliest defensive weapons that the Silvaria Kingdom employed when they first fought back the monsters attacking their valley. It wasn''t until later on that they were replaced by the cannons and other modernized defensive weapons that the earthlings were able to create using the limited tools and materials they had.


    "Reporting, sir!" A soldier exclaimed as he arrived next to Kaiser.


    "What is it?"


    "The scouts have reported that the enemy soldiers are bringing in their siege weapons from the rear of the army! They''ve also retreated a few hundred meters from their previous location and they are out of reach from the ballistae, but we can still reach them with our trebuchets!"


    "Hmph... Predictable, tell the engineers to deploy the armored plating, those rock shooting trebuchets won''t be able to put a dent on our walls! We won''t let them take this wall, remember men, behind us, lies all our families and friends! These bastards want nothing more than to kill us all or enslave us! So we fight until the last man! Their army of 200 thousand can''t attack all of us at once! So this will be a battle of attrition!"


    Kaiser left these words behind before he quickly descended from the walls and walked towards the command post in the distance. When he entered inside, he immediately asked Fatima how their investigations for this M-Jammer were going.


    "We still can''t identify which weapon is the M-Jammer...we''re not even sure if it''s big or even just pocket-sized!" Fatima replied.


    "Our scouts who are on the mountains..."


    "Ever since the M-Jammer was deployed, we''ve lost our abilities to enhance our bodies. Our scouts can''t take a look at anything too specific since they''re so high up on the mountainside!"


    "..."


    "We can try and send an elite team to ambush their commander, but we don''t even know who the person is! Unlike the Regulus army, the Merkruz Principality''s King is pretty smart. He had all his men dress in uniform so not one among them stands out..."


    "Our cannons are useless and so is our mana... we can only face them head-on and defend the walls using the ballistae and trebuchets... if we get lucky, one of the trebuchets might just hit the M-Jammer," Kaiser joked as he tried to lift the heavy atmosphere in the command center.


    "...that''s a little too optimistic, Father," Fatima said with a strained smile.


    "We can go look for it," Serilla stepped forward, Lucia who was behind her also stepped up and nodded readily in agreement.


    "Hm?"


    Right now, the two were in their human forms. Earlier, before the M-Jammer''s output had been increased, Lucia used what little mana she could to transform herself and her sister back into their human forms. Angelia, however, opted to stay in her foxkin form because apparently, her ''buddies'' preferred her that way.


    Right now, that ''Monster Princess'' was actually out on her private ranch which housed all her monsters and were currently prepping all of them for battle.


    When Anastasia heard Serilla offer such a suggestion she firmly denied her, "I won''t allow that! I know that you both are powerful, but currently, we all can''t use mana. It''s too dangerous to send you behind enemy lines like this..."


    Serilla was expecting this to some degree so she immediately turned to her mother-in-law and said, "I''m... not that good in using mana in the first place, but unlike my sister, I don''t use mana, I use Ki instead."


    Serilla raised her foot and stomped on the ground. Her dainty foot smashed straight through the ground unimpeded and cracked the area around her. She only realized too late that this was the command center and she had just destroyed the flooring.


    Serilla apologized immediately before saying, "Ki is another type of energy that you can find here. Not many people know about it because not many people cultivate it."


    "Oh? This is the first time I''m hearing this," Kaiser said as he eyed Fatima and Rowan.


    The two in question were similarly puzzled at this new energy that Serilla was talking about. There were no records of it in any of the kingdom''s books, but the evidence in front of them was impossible to deny.


    Seeing their puzzled looks, Serilla immediately opened her mouth and answered,


    "It''s not something anyone in the modern age would cultivate. The first person who cultivated it in this age is probably my husband and he''s the one who taught us how to do it."


    "Cecil?" Fatima said with a thoughtful expression.


    "Hah! That boy, always doing the most unexpected," Kaiser roared with laughter. "Fine, I''ll let you go find it, but on the condition that once you do find it, please don''t do anything rash. Report back first and we''ll all come up with a plan to destroy it! My son would most likely be upset if I let anything happen to you! Wahahahaha!"


    Receiving his approval Serilla nodded back with determination. She turned to Lucia and quickly said, "You stay here, Lulu!"


    "Huh? Why?!"


    "Tsk, you know why! You can''t use Ki that well so you should stay back here! If you follow me, you''ll only become a burden."


    Lucia began to pout, but eventually she relented to her sister''s demand because she was right.


    "Aw...Alright..."


    "Just defend the walls with our family okay?"


    "Mhm..." Lucia nodded sullenly.


    "We only have to endure until darling gets back, he''ll take care of everything once he''s back!"


    "...Alright."


    Anastasia was still worried so she couldn''t help but ask, "Are you going by yourself, Seri dear?"


    "Y-yes, mother...actually, I''ll be taking my butler with me. He can also use Ki and he''ll be there to guard me."


    "...Okay," Anastasia already knew that she wouldn''t be able to persuade Serilla from going so she could only send her off with her blessing. Before that, she made sure to give some ''pep talk'' to Quinn.


    The family saw off Serilla and Quinn as the two immediately began nimbly scaling the mountainside with precision and speed. The family couldn''t help but raise a brow when they saw the superhuman-like feat that the two were displaying. Skipping the man-made trail and just jumping up the mountainside from ledge to ledge.


    "My, my~ all my little Cel''s wives are so capable~" Anastasia hummed happily as she returned to check on her youngest daughter. She also pulled Lucia over with her because she was worried to Lucia might recklessly try to follow after the 2. It was written all over her face and Anastasia quickly picked up on this.


    "Don''t do anything rash Lulu~ I know you want to help, but please have faith in your family," Anastasia gently reprimanded.


    Knowing that she had been caught, Lucia playfully stuck out her tongue and apologized, "I''m sorry mother~ Ahaha, it''s like all mother''s how some kind of superpower, how could mother-in-law and mother both figure out what I''m thinking by only looking at me?"


    "Hmhmhm~ that''s because all mothers have a special connection to their children. I''d like to meet your mother someday Lucia."


    "I''ll bring her over for a visit sometime!"


    "Then, it''s a promise! Now, let''s go see what our family''s little trouble maker has been up to." Anastasia said as she pulled Lucia along to Angelia''s ''zoo''.


    ******


    Over on Serilla and Quinn''s side, the two individuals followed the route that the Silvaria Kingdom''s scouts had taken and it didn''t take long before they arrived at the location which was just above the central section of the Merkruz Army.


    While Serilla and Quinn were carefully observing the soldiers below, Quinn couldn''t help but say amidst the silence.


    "The Queen is very... fearsome..."


    "Hahaha, she only asked you to properly protect me," Serilla chuckled in reply.


    "It sounded more like the Queen was threatening me..."


    "Isn''t that just like how darling would ask you?"


    After making a brief comparison in his mind, Quinn exclaimed quietly, "Ah, now that you mentioned it, Lady Serilla...the Master indeed always similarly ordered me when it was in regards to both you and Lady Lucia''s safety."


    "Like mother, like son, no?"


    "The correct expression should be ''like father, like son'', my Lady...but..."


    "Darling doesn''t resemble father that much, right?" Serilla said what was on Quinn''s mind.


    "Y-yes...the King is a boisterous and steadfast person... Master isn''t as boisterous, but he is steadfast...or single-minded..."


    "Oh? Are you insulting your Master in front of his wife?"


    "N-no milady! I would never! It''s just...I couldn''t find the right word to describe¡ª"


    "Hahaha~ I''m just playing with you Quinn, I know how my darling is! He''s loyal to a fault, but he''s indeed a bit simple-minded and has a one-tracked mindset like you say...anyway, let''s get back to finding that M-Jammer!"


    "Yes, milady."


    "Once we''ve cleanly swept through this part of the army, we''ll slowly proceed to scout further back. Make sure you stay low, although we''re up here, someone might take notice if we act too conspicuous."


    ******


    Over at the frontlines of the Merkruz army, their siege weapons were fully deployed and were showering the Silvaria Kingdom''s walls with a rain of boulders and rocks.


    Just like Kaiser deduced, the enemy couldn''t use mana as well. Their only plan of action was that while their siege weapons were attacking, the Merkruz army''s vanguard would slowly and cautiously approach the walls and directly try to scale them and fight the Silvaria kingdom''s soldiers head-on.


    The Merkruz forces were going to try and overpower their enemies using the one advantage they had, their overwhelming numbers.

 Chapter 301 - Defensive Battle 2

    The Merkruz Army continued their bombardment on the walls as their infantry began to rush towards the walls to try and scale it. Kaiser had immediately moved back to the interior of the walls and began observing the enemy rushing towards them.


    He immediately had his men begin replacing the Plasma Cannons to the ballistae and ordered them to immediately begin firing at the rushing soldiers.


    The damage done wasn''t as great as what the cannons had done, but at least it deterred some of the soldiers and had even destroyed some of the scaling equipment that the enemy soldiers were carrying on them.


    Once the enemy soldiers reached closer to the walls, the enemy siege weapons stopped firing while the Silvaria Kingdom''s trebuchets started their attacks.


    Kaiser didn''t want any unnecessary damages done to their soldiers and weapons so he waited until the enemy stopped firing their siege weapons before they began firing theirs.


    Now the enemy soldiers had to face the dangers of the flying rocks and boulders. Alexandre who was observing all this from the back couldn''t help but click his tongue in displeasure.


    "Just what the hells is with that wall? That black armor can withstand the attacks of our siege weapons? I thought the Magic Arrays were completely shut down by the M-Jammer?"


    "Sir...they may be using some kind of hard material to create that armor... reports from the Regulus Kingdom have stated that the Silvaria Kingdom has constantly been providing some unique ores and materials as trade products so this armor might be created from those unique ores and materials."


    "Dammit, if I had known about this, then I wouldn''t have agreed to let the Regulus Kingdom occupy their lands once we''ve finished conquering them..."


    "We can just forego that¡ª"


    "Quiet, fool, we''ve already signed the contract and the repercussions for reneging on that contract would be the loss of trust between us and the other kingdoms around us. How do you expect for us to employ the Empire''s help once we''ve mustered enough strength to attack the Regulus Kingdom once the pact has ended?"


    "..."


    "We''ll take all the advantage we can get once we''re through with them. We''ll empty all of the Silvaria Kingdom''s coffers before we retreat to our territory. For those that surrender, we''ll take them with us. I won''t let those idiotic Regulians benefit from their smart minds."


    ******


    Upon the mountainside, Serilla was able to identify the King of Merkruz. She didn''t know if this person was the King, but he was acting all high and mighty earlier so Serilla deduced that this person was most likely the Merkruz Army''s High Commander.


    "Quinn, do you see that arrogant prick down there?"


    "Oh! That''s the Merkruz Principality''s ruler!"


    "Huh?"


    "I''ve been constantly looking out for news about everything around us. We did after all pass by the Merkruz Principality on our trip, so I took the liberty to find some information about them. That man down there is the Merkruz Principality''s Lord."


    Serilla eyed the arrogant and cold looking man and smirked, "If we can take care of him..."


    "Milady! Please, you promised King Kaiser that we wouldn''t do anything rash!"


    "Alright... but I''m sure that the M-Jammer is located somewhere around this man..."


    "Yes, so let''s just keep on the look¡ª"


    Quinn immediately grabbed Serilla and jumped away from their current location. A large boulder had suddenly struck the place they were at before and an arrogant man''s voice echoed from below.


    "Hahahaha, I thought that I sensed two rats hiding up there!" Alexandre yelled loudly. His eyes firmly affixed to Serilla and Quinn.


    "Dammit, milady, we''ve been compromised!"


    "Retreat! Now!"


    "Ohohoho, you two aren''t going anywhere!" Alexandre quipped up.


    The siege weapons that were being pushed back to the center of the army had already begun aiming for their location and soon, boulders and rocks began showering the area that Serilla and Quinn were in.


    Another damned thing was that there were Mag-Cannons located at the back of the army which Serilla and Quinn had just finally noticed when they were also assaulted by bullets of mana being fired from these weapons.


    Serilla and Quinn were dodging out of harm''s way and also cutting down the large boulders aiming at them.


    Seeing their incredible feat, Alexandre raised a brow in surprise. This woman wasn''t Fatima, but she had similarly good combat prowess.


    "Hey lady, why not surrender and become my bride? I''ll allow you to stay by my side because a flower such as you deserves to stand beside an equally capable man!"


    Serilla only eyed Alexandre coldly before she swung her Intent-imbued weapon and sent a large sword wave at him.


    Alexandre immediately dodged out of the way and ordered for his men to quickly up their bombardment and have some scale the mountain and bring that woman back to him.


    "Milady! We can''t stay like this! I''ll buy you some time so please hurry and leave!"


    "But, Quinn¡ª"


    "Please! You have to get back! I''m your servant so it''s only natural that I stay back and provide cover so that my lady can get back to safety!"


    "..."


    "Hurry! Milady, you must report this to the King and Queen! Also, please think about how devastated Master Cecil would be once he came back and found out that you were captured!"


    "...Be careful Quinn. Once I''m clear from danger, you have to get away as well!"


    "Yes, Lady Serilla... NOW GO!" Quinn yelled as he abruptly enhanced his body with Ki. He wrapped his arm under Serilla, spun around and launched Serilla away with a strong swing of his arms.


    Serilla was able to take one last look at Quinn just before more boulders and Mana bullets bombarded the area he was in.


    "Ohohoho~ even the servant is quite skilled... kill him. Have the men pursue that woman. There''s bound to be a path up there that''ll lead into the enemy''s back lines. Find it!" Alexandre commanded as he glared at the back of the quickly disappearing woman who was moving at speeds not possible without mana.


    "This woman... is she unaffected by the M-Jammer? How interesting..."


    The infantry soldiers at the rearguard started trying to scale the mountains, but they were all greatly impeded by the butler who was moving towards them and attracting the cannon and trebuchet fire over.


    "Quickly kill that bastard!"


    The Merkruz Soldiers stopped trying to climb the mountain and began putting in all their efforts to try and quickly kill the butler.


    "None shall pass!" Quinn roared as he threw a few daggers onto a trebuchet and Mag-Cannon. The soldiers only scoffed at his futile efforts, but not long after the daggers struck the weapons, they exploded and severely damaged the weapons and injured the soldiers around them.


    "Tch, must I do everything here?!" Alexandre roared as he rushed up the mountainside and began engaging Quinn in a melee.


    Quinn was surprised to find that Alexandre was able to put up a fight with him who was cultivating Ki. They exchanged a few blows, but soon, Quinn was placed on the back foot because he had been acc.u.mulating too many injuries from the previous attacks sent his way.


    He had used his body to tank some blows for Serilla earlier and now that he was by himself, a few of the concentrated attacks from the Merkruz army had grazed or struck his body. He was able to cope with some of the injuries due to his Ki, but as the injuries kept on piling up, it took a toll on both his body and his Ki reserves.


    Fighting against a skilled warrior such as Alexandre was taxing on his body and it was the final straw on the camel''s back. Quinn had made faltered for a moment when he was dodging one of Alexandre''s attacks which led to the man capitalizing on the moment to send his opponent flying away from him and into the range of the Mag-Cannons.


    "KILL HIM!"


    At Alexandre''s command, the Mag-cannons immediately fired and struck the area where Quinn was at. He glared back at Alexandre as he struggled to get up, but in the next moment, he was engulfed in the light of the multiple mana bullets fired from the cannons.


    "Finally, another pest taken care of, what a pity, he would have made the fine combat butler if he were to join my side," Alexandre dismissively said as he began ordering for his men to scale the mountain and find the path which Serilla and Quinn had used to get to where they were earlier.


    *******


    The battle ensued for a few days and the Merkruz Army was able to find the path that Serilla, Quinn, and the Silvaria Kingdom''s scouts had used and were able to get behind the walls.


    The fighting was now on two fronts, the mountainside and the Silvaria Kingdom''s walls. The Merkruz Forces were slowly pushing back the Silvaria army, but once Angelia and her monsters joined in the fray, the Silvaria army was given some breathing room as Angelia''s monsters pushed them back.


    Without mana, the humans naturally were at a disadvantage fighting against monsters. The Monster Princess lived up to her name as she commanded her multitude of buddies and struck hard at the Merkruz forces.


    Currently, Angelia had around 40-50 monsters she was contracted with, all of them being monsters that had a trace of their ancient bloodlines. The ones that she had contracted the earliest, Chi and Mao, were able to tap into their ancient bloodlines and evolve past their current forms.


    Chi was no longer just an ordinary Sky Monarch. She had evolved into an 8-winged Angelic Crane and her power had significantly risen past her previous form. Mao was the most mysterious of her monsters, the monster didn''t appear to have gone through any significant changes besides the fact that it kept on growing larger and larger over the past years.


    In its normal state, the black panther was hill-sized. He could freely manipulate his body size but naturally, the larger he became, the stronger he was. Mao''s size was only capped at his normal hill-size.


    For a time, Angelia''s monsters were able to dominate the battlefield. However, once the Mag-Cannons were brought into the picture, her precious monsters began to experience some casualties.


    With every monster she lost, it was like some sort of backlash manifested on her body and soul. Whenever she lost one of the pact monsters, Angelia''s body would be wracked with unbearable pain, and her soul was attacked by an unbearable sadness and despair.


    When Kaiser saw what was happening to his daughter, he immediately commanded her to quickly have all her monsters retreat. The Mag-cannons which could still function despite being under the influence of the M-Jammer was a huge obstacle in their defense.


    It was hard for the Silvaria army to approach and destroy those weapons, so they could only turtle up and passively defend themselves from the cannon fire. The only good thing was that the cannons were too heavy to be brought up the mountainside so the Merkruz Army could only concentrate their cannon fire on the Silvaria Kingdom''s walls.


    The armored plating which could withstand the attacks of A-ranked monsters and siege weapons were slowly crumbling under the intense assault of the Mag-Cannons.


    Once the armored plating was compromised, then the Mag-Cannons could easily bring down the concrete walls that were under it. The battle was slowly tipping into the Merkruz Army''s favor.

 Chapter 302 - He’s Close

    Lucia and Serilla were also on the frontlines battling the Merkruz soldiers that were on the mountainside.


    Now that Angelia''s monsters were being restricted from heading into battle, it was up to them and the Silvaria army to defend the mountain path which led behind the walls.


    After making it back a few days ago, Serilla had reported all her findings. This included the fact that the Merkruz Principality''s Lord was here and the multiple Mag-Cannons situated in the back of the army.


    The Silvaria forces prepared for the eventuality that would come, but even they weren''t prepared to withstand the amount of firepower that the Mag-Cannons provided for the Merkruz Army.


    On the wall''s battlefront, they were suppressed and were put on the back foot. They couldn''t even try to retaliate amidst the cannon fire and they couldn''t even go out to repair the armored plating.


    Serilla also reported that Quinn had placed her safety in front of his and bought time for her to get back. She was now very worried about Quinn because after a few days had passed, he still hadn''t returned.


    She feared for the worst, but Lucia kept on reassuring her that Quinn was alive. They''ve been lending their power in the defense for the past few days, but it wasn''t enough now that the Mag-Cannons were put into use.


    Neither Lucia nor Serilla had the confidence to try and attack the array of Mag-Cannons placed in front of the gates. It was such an ingenious formation that let the cannons in the two front rows replace each other during their downtimes to keep the bombardment going while the cannons placed further back would aim up on the mountainside to prevent the Silvaria Kingdom from trying to pull a fast one.


    Lucia and Serilla had once tried to attack the Mag-Cannons sneakily, but they were quickly met with a large bombardment of mana bullets. Lucia had even injured herself and this stopped any further plans of trying to attack the Mag-Cannons from the mountainside.


    Going in for a frontal assault was also impossible because the Mag-Cannons kept on rotating and not once have there been a lull in the bombardment. As for waiting for the cannons to overheat, that was impossible, because once any sign of the cannons overheating shown, the Merkruz soldiers would immediately replace the cannon and send the overheating one back for maintenance.


    Only during the night would the cannon fire stop, but even then, if the Silvaria engineers try to come out and repair the plating, the cannon fire would begin once more in gusto. Any sign of movement during the night from the Silvaria Kingdom''s side would immediately attract the cannon fire of the Merkruz Army.


    Kaiser couldn''t help but curse at the unreasonableness of those Mag-Cannons. The ammo was practically unlimited because it only ran on mana, and the most dastardly thing was that it could still function despite being under the M-Jammer''s influence.


    They tried to send a message to the Regulus kingdom for aid, but no reply had come. Even Rowan personally went himself, taking the route that Fatima had used to enter Silvaria, but when he came back, he only brought the despairing news that the Regulus Kingdom didn''t want to have anything to do with the war against Merkruz and Silvaria.


    Regulus Kingdom''s excuse was that when the Merkruz Principality had sent their armies to attack them, the Silvaria Kingdom didn''t provide any aid. This was total bullshit because the Princess of Silvaria had helped repel the Principality''s attack, but Regulus only replied that this was because Fatima was Rowan''s fianc¨¦e and it was her obligation to help them.


    Regulus'' acting ruler, Albert, had also mentioned about the non-aggression pact that they signed with Merkruz so they weren''t able to send troops to support Silvaria even if they wanted to. The current king was currently sick so Albert had stepped up in his father''s stead to manage the kingdom.


    Rowan had argued with his brother for a long while before he eventually returned to Silvaria in a fit of fury. It was a good thing that he had already mobilized his private army earlier, if not, his brother might even forbid him from providing any troop support for the Silvaria Kingdom, not like he''ll listen to his brother''s words for that matter.


    When Rowan came back with no support and the bad news that Regulus would only stay on the sidelines, he felt so remorseful that he dedicated himself even further more into the defense. He didn''t have any face to see Kaiser, Anastasia, or Fatima.


    A few days had passed and soon... the armored plating on the walls collapsed and the concrete wall was exposed. Kaiser had long since evacuated all the weapons and personnel from the walls.


    They started building trenches and holes behind the walls to hinder the Mag-Cannons from proceeding too deep into their territory. Kaiser immediately set up their siege weapons and battle formations behind the wall and simply waited for it to fall.


    ******


    At the entrance of the mountain pass, Cecil, Ren, Silver, and Yuna all stepped out of a Misty Gate.


    "Is this the place?" Silver asked as he eyed the mountain pass. In the distance, he could see some soldiers stationed at the entrance of the pass.


    "Let''s go in and look..." Cecil said as he walked forwards.


    "Yuna...are you okay?" Silver asked as he carefully helped Yuna.


    "Silv, you guys can stay here. Let Yuna rest for a bit, I''m only going over there to ask around."


    "Okay, Master."


    "I''ll come with you Teacher!" Ren said as he chased after Cecil.


    The two boys walked to the mountain pass'' checkpoint and the soldiers guarding the checkpoint immediately had them stop where they were.


    "HALT! State your identities and purpose for coming here!"


    Cecil stepped forward and asked, "We''re just adventurers and we''re wondering if this is the mountain pass to get to the rumored Silvaria Kingdom."


    A few days back, Cecil and the rest had arrived at Regulus and they immediately began searching for the mountain pass that Lucia had been talking about over the phone. They couldn''t find it at first so they went to some cities and began searching for information.


    It wasn''t long that they discovered some information and rumors about the Merkruz Army mounting an attack on the Silvaria Kingdom and from these rumors they found the route that the Merkruz Army had taken and they were able to quickly find the mountain pass.


    What they didn''t understand though was why there were soldiers stationed here.


    "Adventurers? You should head back boy, no one gets past this point! The great Merkruz Army is still assaulting the foolish Silvaria Kingdom! It''s only a matter of days before the war ends and the pass is opened to the public. Please head back now and come again at another time!" The soldier dismissively said.


    "So... this is the place..." Cecil mumbled.


    "Tsk, didn''t you hear what I just said kid?! Turn back! You''re not allowed to be here!"


    "...May I ask, are you part of that ''great Merkruz Army''?"


    "Hmph! I am! Now that you know, you better not get on my nerves kid! I''ll kill¡ª"


    Before the soldier could finish his words, Cecil directly beheaded him with a flash of his sword. Ren who was next to him paled at his teacher''s actions.


    "T-Teacher!"


    "Ren...get back...let me deal with this filth."


    The nearby soldiers immediately rushed at Cecil when they saw him suddenly attack and kill their comrade. Ren was a little scared at this, but he immediately chased after his master.


    "N-No! I''ll help!" Ren steeled himself as he pulled out his Mag-Gun. He loaded a bullet and shot it at the soldiers approaching.


    The bullet didn''t activate, but it did blow through the chest of the soldier that it had struck.


    "Huh?" Ren raised a puzzled cry.


    "It''s that M-Jammer Lucia was talking about. Whatever kind of weapon it is, it sure has a long-range. I don''t sense any device here that can disrupt mana..." Cecil shot forward and made quick work of the small company of soldiers guarding the mountain pass.


    In the end, Ren wasn''t of much help and he could only find a safe place to hide and wait for his master to finish dealing with the soldiers.


    The outcome of the fight was a one-sided massacre. Silver and Yuna quickly noticed the commotion and had immediately rushed over to see what was happening, but only saw the outcome of the one-sided battle.


    Cecil was apathetic, and his emotions didn''t cause Silver to feel any sort of influence on his mind, but he was still a little worried.


    "Master..."


    "We''re heading in. We''ve wasted enough time trying to find this place. Who knows what state my family''s Kingdom is in now..."


    Silver nodded and he immediately transformed.


    "Get on everyone!" Cecil flashed over next to Ren who was hiding and brought him up on Silver''s back. Silver lifted Yuna up with his tail carefully and placed her on his back. Once everyone was firmly sitting on top of him, immediately Silver dashed forwards.


    "Silv, follow my orders. My sense isn''t hindered by that M-Jammer! I''ll guide us!"


    "Yes, Master!"


    It didn''t take long before Cecil and company were about halfway through the mountain pass. Thanks to Cecil''s Ether Sense, his upgraded version of the Mana Sense, he was able to cleverly navigate through the pass.


    Just as they were on the last stretch of the journey, Cecil was able to hear the sounds of cannon fire and battle cries.


    "You hear that?!"


    "Yes, Master! We''re close!"


    "Speed up Silv¡ªWAIT, STOP!" Cecil immediately shouted.


    Silver came to a complete stop once he heard Cecil''s command and he looked up at his Master in puzzlement.


    Cecil immediately flashed to a ledge on the mountain walls. If he wasn''t mistaken, Cecil saw an injured man somewhere up there.


    It didn''t take long before he found a man struggling on death''s doorstep near the area he was searching at.


    "QUINN!" Cecil immediately recognized who the man was at a single glance. It was their family''s butler.


    When Silver heard his master''s exclamation, he immediately rushed up the mountainside and got onto the ledge his master was on.


    Cecil had already arrived next to Quinn and begun using his Healing Arts on him. He injected as much Ki as he needed and the butler''s wounds bleeding began to stop and his opened wounds and injuries began to slowly close and heal.


    "Quinn! Quinn! Wake up! Oi!"


    Quinn began to stir and he slightly opened his eyes... "Ah...M-Master Cecil..."

 Chapter 303 - Quinn Holstice

    In a secluded island off the coast of Midgard near the Machina Reggio Empire, where there were families of warriors that worshipped the strong.


    Unlike the normal inhabitants of Alterna, the families on this island advocated the use of Ki or in their terms, physical body enhancement rather than mana. It wasn''t like the families on the island have anything against mana, but it was because their physical constitutions didn''t allow them to wield mana.


    It was a natural disadvantage and another problem was that not many on the island could awaken their Ki. There were no cultivation manuals on Ki cultivation except for the logs of their predecessors who had been able to awaken their Ki.


    The elders would have all the children on the island train according to their predecessors'' experience, which was grueling and cruel. The children would all have to experience excessive training that was sometimes borderline torture and absurd death trials that would increase the chances of them unlocking the ''hidden potential'' or Ki that was slumbering deep within their bodies.


    One of the families on the island was the Holstice family and this was Quinn''s family. He wasn''t the successor of the family, but he was one of the most talented children in the family and he was able to naturally awaken his Ki. However, he was a little bit stiff and unsociable. He adhered to the family rules a little too much.


    Before their family moved onto the island with the other families, the Holstice family was once a noble family of assassins under the guise of being butlers and maids that served other higher-ranked nobles of the Machina Reggio Empire.


    They fell from grace and duty ever since the Empire had gotten ahold of the ancient sky fortress and their community turned into one more centralized on artificers and mages. Body enhancers or Ki refiners no longer had a place in the Empire and the need for assassins slowly began to dwindle so they were slowly isolated and ostracized. The Holstice Family ultimately left the Empire and found another place that they could call home.


    However, Quinn''s mindset was still fixated on finding someone to serve, as per their family''s long-time ancient tradition. This was more of a front on Quinn''s part because his actual objective was to explore the mainland and get away from the secluded life his family had on the island. He would rather not be stuck on the island for the rest of his life.


    For a long time, Quinn had always questioned himself. For what reason did he have his strength and talent if he couldn''t use it for something...bigger, and grander? If all his life''s work amounted to him just living a secluded life on the island then that would be too dull and wasteful.


    He wanted to put his skills to use for something more glorious and purposeful. He just didn''t know what it was yet, so he wanted to search for that purpose on the mainland. Staying on the island to live a life of seclusion would only slowly rot his mind and his abilities.


    So, after completing his training and learning all of his family''s techniques, Quinn set off on a journey to the mainland. At the time, Quinn had grown to be the most talented person of his generation, defeating those from the main branch of the family and every other person of his generation that lived on the island.


    He would have been the youngest person to have a seat on the Holstice family''s elder council, but despite of all the protests his family and the elders had about his decision, Quinn decisively relinquished all of that for his grand ambition of exploring the mainland to find his purpose in life.


    This was how he was able to meet up with Cecil and the rest. It was only about half a year after he had begun exploring Midgard and had stumbled on his family''s ancestral lands, the Machina Reggio Empire.


    While roaming around the districts of Machina Reggio, an absurd event had suddenly befallen the Empire at the time. A couple of foolhardy people had come to cause trouble in one of the Empire''s districts.


    Although the Empire was once the home of his family''s ancestors, Quinn didn''t have much respect for it because his family was forced to move away from this place due to the shift in the ruling family''s preferences.


    It was a stupid reason for his family to be ostracized from the rest of the community just because they didn''t have mana and the nobles at the time no longer needed assassins and had instead begun fearing them.


    Quinn was naturally curious as to who was trying to incite problems in the Empire''s districts so he went forward to observe. It was then that Quinn witnessed the absurd scene of a teenager laying waste to an entire district just because of one woman, who at that time wasn''t even his wife!


    Quinn was astounded because the young man who was attacking everything in sight was not only using Mana, but Ki as well. He was mesmerized by how ingenious the teenaged boy used both his Ki and Mana together. He didn''t think that it was possible.


    Quinn had the long time belief that if you cultivated mana, then that means you couldn''t cultivate Ki and vice-versa. It was his first time seeing anyone using both Ki and Mana in tandem so his interest was piqued and he followed after the boy. After many twists and turns, he was finally able to pledge loyalty to the boy named, Cecil Silvaria.


    Quinn was able to find someone who he could happily serve wholeheartedly. Although that was but an excuse he gave to his family when he first set off from the island, Quinn felt that this was his purpose. His family was once assassins who were under the guise of butlers and maids that served other powerful noble families of the Empire so serving this boy who had grown up to become a splendid young man, Quinn felt like he was just following after his ancestors'' footsteps.


    Quinn felt that he wouldn''t mind serving this man''s family for the rest of his days and once he had his own family, he wouldn''t hesitate to bring them up to become future subordinates of the Silvaria family.


    He only felt that it was regrettable that the time he served his Master was a little too short.


    After being blasted by a multitude of Mag-cannons, Quinn was able to narrowly escape because he had forcefully materialize all his Ki outside his body to form a barrier around him just before the cannons'' attacks impacted his body.


    He was thrown far away from his initial location. Quinn was thankful that his Madam was able to escape and that he was able to live for a while more, but after expending all of his Ki, his body started deteriorating due to Mana Poisoning and the injuries incurred on his body due to the initial impact of the cannons'' blasts.


    Mana Poisoning was only something that people with Quinn''s bodily constitution could contract if they were exposed to an excessive amount of mana.


    "M-Master...Madams...I''m sorry...this unskilled butler will have to leave now..."


    "QUINN!!!"


    "Uhurk... now... I''m hearing things... I guess this is the end..."


    Quinn was feeling numb all over and he had lost feeling in all his body. He only felt his life slowly slipping away before something warm suddenly enveloped him.


    "Wake up! OI!!"


    ''Master?''


    Quinn struggled with all his might to open his eyelids. It was a little blurry, but he wouldn''t mistake his Master even if his vision was impaired.


    "Ah...M-Master Cecil..."


    After squeezing out those few words, Quinn immediately fainted.


    ******


    "He''s fainted Master, but at least he''s still alive..." Silver said.


    "..." Cecil nodded silently yet his eyes grew a few degrees colder.


    Upon remembering all those hideous wounds that were on Quinn''s body, he clenched his fist in anger.


    Quinn was always around his two wives. Cecil himself already knows how skilled this butler of his was, so if he was injured to such a degree, that meant Quinn had taken these attacks voluntarily to protect Lucia or Serilla.


    If they had fallen into such dire straits where Quinn had to be left behind in such a state...then something must have gone wrong and one of his wives might have gotten hurt.


    Cecil gritted his teeth in anger at this thought. He immediately spread his senses into the area around him. He focused his senses on the area where the sounds of battle were originating from and saw the Merkruz army pushing back another army and were currently bombarding the walls of what he assumed to be the Silvaria Kingdom''s walls.


    "Silv... you bring Yuna, Ren, and Quinn to the backlines... there''s a pathway on the mountainside that leads to a valley which is most likely our family''s lands. Some enemy soldiers are also up there so I want you to take care of them."


    "Alright Master, but what about you?"


    "...I''ll get rid of the pests trying to bring down the walls..."


    Silver wasn''t sure of what kind of walls his master was referring to, but he immediately picked up Quinn and darted up the mountainside leaving Cecil behind.


    Cecil dropped down from the ledge and slowly walked to the rear of the Merkruz army. Some soldiers noticed him and turned their weapons on him.


    They only knew that anyone who suddenly appeared was to be categorized as enemies and swiftly taken care of.


    The soldiers charged at him and Cecil slowly pulled out his gunblade. He flashed forwards and swiftly killed everyone in front of him. He then pulled out the World Tree''s Four Thorns, Corruption, Providence, Perseverance, and Serenity out along with his spear. He used his Intent and had them levitating around him.


    With every step, Cecil took, the more he felt his mind being slowly corroded by Corruption and the overwhelming murderous intent he had kept bottling up inside him. He quickly took Perseverance into his other hand and immediately began activating the runes on it.


    "I''m sorry Lulu, Seri. But I''m really angry right now..."


    Once the Perseverance''s runes fully activated, Cecil surrendered his body to the Perseverance''s control with only one command in his mind.


    "Kill them all."

 Chapter 304 - A Corrupted Perseverance

    Once the Perseverance took over, Cecil immediately rushed forwards as he manipulated his weapons to attack everyone around him.


    In his mind, the command he had given was ''Kill all the enemies'' but in his sub-conscience there was something even more prevalent than his irrational command, ''protect his family''.


    Under Perseverance''s control, Cecil enhanced his body with Ether and charged at the soldiers in front of him. He killed anyone who was in his way as he made a beeline towards the Mag-cannons that were bombarding the Silvaria Kingdom''s walls.


    Anything in his path was skewered, chopped, and blasted aside. He single-mindedly made his way to the front of the army and once he saw the first Mag-cannon coming into his vision, Cecil jumped high up into the air and slammed down onto it with his spear, quickly destroying the cannon.


    After destroying the cannon, he immediately used Ascending Blade and destroyed another one before quickly loading a Cyclone Bullet into his Gunblade and firing at another cannon. The bullet wasn''t supposed to work, but he had injected his ether into the bullet before loading it.


    The magic formation activated using his ether and sent the cannon flying into the air. It landed on another one which caused an explosion that destroyed the other cannons around it.


    Alexandre had seen the commotion caused by Cecil when he was darting past and the line of soldiers that had instantly died, now with the explosions of his weapons, he roared and cursed in anger.


    "WHO THE F.U.C.K IS THAT?! SOMEONE! KILL HIM!"


    He could only watch in horror as the cannons were being destroyed by magic spells and waves of golden beams conjured by the young man who was rampaging around his cannon formation.


    "DAMMIT!"


    He thought that Mana couldn''t be used and this was the same for magic spells, but seeing that this young man was somehow still able to use mana, he immediately roared at his adjutant, "SHUT OFF THE M-JAMMER! HAVE OUR MAGES BLAST THAT BASTARD!"


    "But sir!"


    "Just do it!! He can still use mana and that leaves us vulnerable! I don''t believe this piece of shit can take on all of my soldiers!!!"


    Alexandre thought that Cecil was only able to display this level of combat prowess because he could somehow bypass the influence of the M-Jammer and use mana. He felt a little betrayed because in his mind, the only way this man in front of him could use Mana was if he had acquired the M-Jammer nullifier device from the Empire.


    ''F.u.c.k.i.n.g Empire!''


    "Sir, the M-Jammer has been shut off!" Alexandre''s adjutant reported.


    "Order the mages to blast that man into nothing! Stop him from destroying any more cannons!"


    On the other side of the wall, the loud explosions immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the Silvaria Army because the explosions didn''t sound like the ones caused by the cannon fire colliding with the walls.


    Near the mountainside pathway, Lucia immediately felt the M-Jammer''s effects disappear and she exclaimed.


    "I can use mana again!"


    "Huh?"


    "HAHAHAHA!!! Bastards! Have a taste of my¡ª"


    "GROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!"


    Just before Lucia could finish her sentence, a roar rang in the air and interrupted her. She and Serilla widened her eyes at this familiar roar and they turned to look up.


    "Silvy!"


    "Silv!"


    The large white wolf was rushing down the pathway and sending the Merkruz soldiers flying off of the mountain. He rampaged around for a bit and made sure he killed every soldier around him before he ran down the mountain path.


    The Silvaria forces immediately began backing up and putting up their guards when they saw the white wolf charging at them.


    Angelia who was near the back immediately noticed Silver and her eyes couldn''t help but shine.


    "What a beautiful wolf! I want it!"


    Other than Angelia, the rest of the army turned wary when they saw this large monstrous wolf rushing down the mountain. Just before it could collide with the Silvaria soldiers, the wolf suddenly jumped up into the air and landed just before Lucia and Serilla.


    The soldiers nearby immediately surrounded the large wolf, but it didn''t show any sign of hostility. Silver didn''t mind the people around him. He simply raised his tail and started lowering the people on his back onto the ground.


    "Urk... that was an awful ride..." Ren complained when he got down. He stumbled a little and shook his head.


    "Ren!"


    "Oh...big sis Lulu and Seri... you''re both safe, that''s a relief..." Ren said in relief once he looked up and saw both Lucia and Serilla in perfect health.


    "Master, are you okay?" Yuna asked as she got down from Silver''s back.


    "I''m fine!"


    When Serilla saw the last person being lowered on the ground, she immediately dashed forward.


    "Quinn!"


    The butler was still unconscious, but there were no visible wounds on his body. Serilla immediately knew that her darling had taken care of all Quinn''s wounds.


    The rest of the soldiers immediately began to ease up when they saw that the large wolf was friendly. Kaiser, Anastasia, Fatima, and Angelia immediately rushed over while the boys remained in place. Just before the 4 arrived, the large white wolf suddenly disappeared in a flash of light and a small boy with long white hair immediately replaced it.


    When Silver looked up, he immediately saw the 4 people rushing over to him and his eyes brightened. The 4 also saw his face and they couldn''t believe what they were seeing.


    "CECIL?!"


    "BIG BROTHER!"


    "Son?"


    The soldiers around couldn''t help but widened their eyes and gasp in shock when they heard their King, Queen, and Princesses call out to the small boy who had suddenly appeared after the large wolf disappeared. Matheus and Luca couldn''t help but look over and notice the white-haired Cecil smiling brightly in the distance. Gabriel wasn''t here because he was a non-combatant.


    Kaiser and everyone immediately rushed at Silver and Anastasia quickly pulled him into her embrace and cried, "Cel! Sweetheart! Mother...Mother''s glad that you''re back!"


    Silver smiled brightly and hugged Anastasia back while feeling a little apologetic at the tears she was shedding.


    "I''m happy to be back too, Mother, but I''m sorry to say that I''m not Cecil!"


    "Eh?"


    "Huh?"


    "I''m Silver!" Silver said as he answered their confused looks.


    "S-Silver?"


    "...Silver?"


    The two parents and daughters looked carefully at the young boy in front of them. He seemed to be around his early teenaged years and now that they thought about it, it was kind of odd that their son and brother didn''t age one bit after the last time they saw him, he should be a young man by now!


    "I''m Silver!" Silver announced once again.


    "Silver?" Angelia mumbled as she began to ponder. She was then reminded of the large white wolf from earlier and their family pet that also went missing alongside Cecil before things began to click into place.


    "AH! You''re Silv!"


    "Ehehehe~ I knew that sis Angelia would recognize me!"


    "But how? Aren''t you supposed to be a dog?!" Angelia exclaimed in pleasant surprise.


    "Hehehe! I used magic to transform myself!" Silver happily stated. His face was practically begging for Angelia to praise him. Finally, all of the Silvaria family members understood. This young boy who looked so similar to their son and brother was their family pet, Silver!


    "Haha! Silv is human now?! That''s so cool!" Angelia immediately hugged Silver happily and began petting his head. If Silver''s tail was out, it''d be wagging furiously right now. Yuna, who was a few steps behind Silver, narrowed her eyes when she saw Angelia acting so intimately with Silver and the boy in question happily receiving her affection.


    "Hey Silv, if you''re here, then where''s my big brother?" Angelia asked.


    Serilla immediately started looking around when she heard Angelia''s question, however, she couldn''t find her darling anywhere.


    "S-Silvy, where is darling?"


    "Huh? Cel''s not here?!" Lucia was checking up on Quinn''s condition, but she started looking around as well and noticed that Cecil wasn''t there.


    Another explosion ensued from behind the walls, and this time, everyone could see a large Mag-cannon suddenly fly into the air before a spear punctured through it and caused the cannon to explode.


    The spear was unfamiliar to almost everybody there, but it couldn''t have been more familiar to Lucia and Serilla.


    "N-no way!" Serilla exclaimed in horror.


    Earlier, Lucia had already asked a nearby soldier to go call a medical team to look after Quinn. She saw the medic team rushing to them in the distance and immediately placed Quinn into a nearby soldier''s care and rushed towards the walls.


    Since her mana was now usable, it didn''t take long before she arrived near the wall. Serilla was right behind her and just before the girls could get onto the walls, a large flurry of magic spells exploded just in front of the wall.


    "NO!"


    "CEL!"


    It was then that a bestial roar suddenly rose from behind the wall.


    "GAAH!!"


    Silver who was still talking with Angelia immediately let out a pained cry as he clutched his head in pain and his white hair slowly began turning gray. Yuna rushed forward and pulled him away from Angelia.


    "What''s wrong?!" Angelia asked when she noticed the pain Silver was in.


    "...Silver''s Master is losing control..." Yuna replied.


    On the other side of the wall, Cecil had been bombarded by a large concentration of magic spells. His auto-pilot mode had not registered the spells and only continued to attack the Mag-Cannons single-mindedly.


    This caused him to be hit by the spells and it smashed his body deep into the walls. When the spells landed on him, Cecil was partially knocked out of his Perseverance mode and his Corruption''s mind control immediately kicked in, the two weapons'' mind affliction were trying to wrest control from each other.


    He roared back at the humans in front of him and immediately activated one of his pact''s abilities. The pact crest on his hand was an 8-pointed star and one of the points started glowing. He subconsciously activated the ability which would give him the strongest increase in combat power.


    In the next moment, his body immediately started changing, fur began sprouting from various parts of his body and his hair grew longer and began flaring around behind him as his ether-levels immediately started to increase.


    His nails turned into sharp claws and his teeth grew into fangs. The enemy soldiers began to freak out when they saw Cecil''s abrupt change. He looked more bestial and the overwhelming amount of killing intent that he was exuding frightened them.


    In the next moment, the soldiers felt that they were suddenly frozen in place. Cecil had spread out his Weapon Intent before he disappeared from his spot and flashed right in front of the soldier that was closest to him. He ripped the poor sob''s throat out with a swipe of his claws and immediately began manipulating his weapons to impale and slash apart everyone around him.


    Alexandre was appalled when he saw Cecil''s bestial transformation. However, he didn''t cower and had his mages send more magic spells flying at Cecil.


    Cecil sensed this and smirked manically. His spear flew into his hands. After wrapping an absurd amount of ether around his spear, he immediately threw it at the mages who were preparing their spells in the distance. A large amount of ether mixed with Spear Intent exploded and decimated everything in the area that his spear passed by.


    Cecil continued to rampage around and decimate everything and everyone in his surroundings. Even as the soldier''s landed attack after attack on him, Cecil didn''t care and instead turned more berserk and manic. His attacks became more vicious and even when the enemy in front of him tried to flee, he immediately chased after and punctured his hand into their guts and ripped them apart.


    This time, Alexandre was horrified. What he was facing wasn''t human. It was a monster. No human could wipe out the number of soldiers that this monster had just killed with only a single throw of his spear and massacre even more soldiers in such a ruthless and vicious manner.


    "RETREAT!"


    Hearing the command, his adjutant immediately sounded the horn for retreat, but it was immediately cut short when Providence cleaved the man in twine. Alexandre immediately stumbled back and was luckily saved from having his body pierced by Serenity.


    Cecil only smirked when he saw the soldiers backing away. The horn for the retreat was cut short so they didn''t properly hear the order. Alexandre decided to abandon the people in the front and ordered only the people near him to retreat.


    "They should at least be able to buy me some time to escape!"


    Cecil didn''t pay the retreating soldiers any mind. He flashed next to a Mag-cannon and threw it into the air. He flashed by a few more cannons and threw them up as well. The large cannons all landed in front of the retreating soldiers and created a blockade of cannons that effectively blocked the army''s path of retreat.


    "GRAAAAAHHHH!!!" Cecil raised an excited roar and flashed into the enemy lines. He started slashing, clawing, and stabbing his way through the army. His weapons were all flying around and killing the soldiers who were charging or running away from him. Cecil would occasionally send one of his techniques out and decimate the soldiers, further plunging them into despair.


    As more and more soldiers began to run away in horror from the monster, the war had turned into a one-sided massacre. When Lucia and Serilla got up onto the walls, they stared in horror at the sight of the bloodthirsty man, who was their husband, slaughtering every Merkruz soldier around him.


    "CEL!"


    "DARLING!"


    ""STOP!!"" The two cried out in unison.


    Just as they were about to dash forward, Lucia and Serilla were immediately stopped by an overwhelming pressure that blasted them backward.


    In the distance, Cecil had raised Corruption high up in the air and was gathering an overwhelming amount of Ether around its blade.


    The soldiers around him had thoroughly perished and all that was left were the ones in front of him and the ones that were still trying to retreat further at the back. Some had been able to blast away the cannons that blocked their path while others simply climbed over it.


    Alexandre was looking back at the berserk Cecil and cursed him in his heart. ''Bastard! Just wait until I get back! I''ll thoroughly annihilate you and that f.u.c.k.i.n.g kingdom!''


    It was then that Alexandre noticed the overwhelming pressure that Cecil was exuding and the golden sword he was raising over his head.


    "W-what?! How could a human¡ª"


    His words were cut short when Cecil swung his sword down. A largely concentrated beam of ether shot forth and blew apart everything in front of Cecil.


    ''N-NOOO!!! I-Is this how I die?! I-I haven''t even¡ª''


    "RAAAHHHH!!!" Cecil raised a bestial roar after he swung his sword and bore witness to the destruction he had caused. In his mind, he felt exhilarated. This was the first time he had used his powers without restraint.


    Everything in front of him had been vaporized in a cone-shaped form and it had carved out the somewhat narrow mountain pass. There were some soldiers still alive farther away, but just as Cecil was about to give chase, two pairs of arms quickly wrapped tightly around him in the next moment.


    "Darling, stop!"


    "Cel, it''s over! You can stop now!"


    The two arms wrapped around him were his wives''. Even if he was in a frenzied state, Cecil still instinctively knew never to harm these two women. However, because of Corruption''s mind control, Cecil still tried to shake the two women''s arms away and pursue his enemies.


    "RAH! GRAHHH!!!"


    "Stop! You can stop now! Please stop!" Serilla repeatedly said.


    Lucia didn''t say anything and only tightened her grip around her husband.


    It took a while, but the low guttural roars began to die down as Cecil slowly began to relax his tensed body and mind.


    The weapons that were still flying in the air around him began dropping onto the ground one by one as he slowly began retracting his Weapon Intent. His transformation also began to fade as his body slowly returned to his human form.


    "..." Once the tension left his body, he collapsed and his body began bleeding profusely from all the injuries that Cecil had piled up.


    "Cel!"


    "Darling?!"


    The bleeding started abruptly and it stopped not long right after. Cecil''s innate recovery began to kick in and his wounds started closing up. However, his body and clothes were still bloody and the larger wounds didn''t properly heal.


    Lucia immediately began pulling out gauze and ointment while Serilla started stripping Cecil''s armor and clothes. The two started to bandage and perform first-aid on their husband''s wounds. They did it with practiced movements because they had long since gotten used to Cecil doing reckless things and coming back home battered and wounded.


    His excuse for not healing himself up using his own Healing Arts was because he wanted his wives to do it for him. Now that he needed it, the girls were thankful that they learned how to do this themselves, otherwise, they''d only be panicking right now.


    Back on the walls, everyone from the Silvaria Kingdom bore witness to the destruction of the Merkruz Army that was single-handedly caused by the man who was now lying in the embrace of Lucia and Serilla.


    Silver dashed forward, jumped down from the walls, and quickly transformed into his wolf form. Once he landed on the ground, he swiftly dashed over to his Master''s side.


    "...Is Master alright?" Silver asked.


    "He''s fine...just worn out and unconscious... I think he used both Perseverance and Corruption..." Serilla said.


    "There are still some enemy soldiers remaining... should we¡ª"


    "No, Silv... that''s enough killing for one day..." Lucia said tiredly as she tightened her embrace around the man in her arms. It was the first time she saw Cecil lose control and it wasn''t very pleasant.


    "Alright...hop on my back. Let''s go home."

 Chapter 305 - I’m Home

    A few days later, Cecil woke up and found himself lying on a bed inside a familiar-looking room. He didn''t quite remember where he saw this room before, but when he looked outside, he saw the sun shining high up in the sky.


    He felt a little listless, but he still stood up and walked over to the balcony. He looked around and saw a large garden. He circulated his ether and dropped down from the balcony. He stumbled a little when he landed, but he quickly stabilized himself and started walking deeper into the garden.


    When he arrived at an empty lot in the middle of the garden, he plopped down onto the grass and just started staring listlessly into the distance.


    "Urgh... I can''t remember what happened..." Cecil mumbled to himself as he clenched his aching head. He didn''t know where he was, but he didn''t care. Cecil felt like he had forgotten something important but he could remember what it was.


    He rubbed his hands and noticed that his white ring was still there. He searched inside and was relaxed to find his Gunblade and all his other weapons safely stored inside. Cecil had felt a little bit insecure earlier when he noticed that his blade was not anywhere inside the room.


    He quickly pulled it out and began cleaning it. Whenever he felt troubled, cleaning his weapons and equipment always helped soothe his mind. Of course, if he was hugging on of his wives then his mind could be soothed in that way as well.


    After a few minutes, he had thoroughly polished his weapon and he began remembering small tidbits of what happened yesterday. They were still unclear, but he remembered transforming into a half-man half-wolf and started rampaging around.


    "Was that even me? I think I..." Something suddenly clicked in his head and Cecil stood up from the ground.


    "I was probably training with my wooden clone and I accidentally used the Shapeshift ability from Silv''s pact..."


    Cecil began stretching his body and he quickly used Nature''s Shift. Once his clone materialized, he quickly took out Perseverance and handed over to his clone.


    "Time to train..."


    Cecil had found a new way to use Perseverance over the past few years. If he used Nature''s Shift and produced a wooden clone of himself, he could temporarily give that clone an ego by giving it Perseverance and activating its runes. The clone would then be able to fight against Cecil by relying on the Perseverance''s auto-pilot.


    As he and his clone were sparring in the middle of the garden. Lucia and Serilla had just returned from their trip to the kitchen. Alongside them were Angelia, Gabriel, and Anastasia. When they entered the room, everyone was horrified to find that Cecil was now missing from his bed.


    "W-where is he?!" Serilla cried.


    "The balcony''s door is open! Did someone kidnap him?!" Lucia exclaimed as she went outside onto the balcony.


    Once she got outside, she could immediately hear the faint sounds of blades clashing and when she looked into the distance, Lucia immediately found Cecil... and another Cecil attacking each other.


    "Eh?"


    "What''s wrong Lulu¡ªah, that idiot!" Serilla exclaimed.


    Anastasia, Gabriel, and Angelia also rushed out to see what was up and saw two Cecils in the distance fighting each other.


    "Big brother¡ªoh, now hold on, how come there are two of him?" Angelia asked in puzzlement while Gabriel remained silent as he saw his familiar, yet unfamiliar brother sparring in the distance. He couldn''t help but appreciate that his younger brother had grown older and more mature.


    "...and yet he''s still a muscle head."


    "Th-that buffoon, he''s injured and yet he''s gone out to train¡ªAH¡ªmy garden!" Anastasia cried out in horror after she saw her stupid son training in the distance.


    Cecil was clashing swords with his clone at blinding speeds which caused the grass all around him being thoroughly cut up, it was a good thing that the sword winds produced by their attacks didn''t reach the flower beds that were farther away. If they had, his mother would be furious.


    The sounds of blades clashing soon attracted the attention of some of the Silvaria family''s disciples who were nearby. The dojo and the garden were situated close to each other so they heard the noise coming from behind the dojo.


    Kaiser walked out to inspect what was going on and saw his...sons, fighting each other. Kaiser couldn''t help but nod in approval at how refined Cecil''s sword strokes and how polished his technique was.


    "Honey, do something! If Cecil keeps this up, my garden will be ruined!" Anastasia roared from the balcony. Kaiser was immediately startled and just as he was about to walk up to Cecil, his son suddenly stopped.


    Cecil was immediately shocked to hear that familiar voice that he would only hear in his dreams. He quickly dispelled his clone and pulled his Perseverance into his hand and immediately turned around.


    Upon the balcony of the room he just jumped out of, he saw his mother, his sister, his brother, and his two wives.


    "...haha...what?" Cecil let out in shock. He quickly stored away his weapons before he stumbled his way over and jumped onto the balcony.


    "Hey! That''s my garden you almost destroyed! Is this how you treat your mother after she spent 6 years of her life worrying over you?!"


    "..." Cecil could only stare dumbfounded at the person in front of him.


    ''This...isn''t a dream...right?''


    If this was, he prayed that he wouldn''t wake up from it.


    "What? Too guilty to say anything¡ª"


    Before Anastasia could say anymore, Cecil immediately dropped to his knees and hugged his mother.


    "Th-this isn''t a dream right?"


    Her anger from earlier was immediately wiped away after her son suddenly hugged her. She was surprised, but she felt relieved at the warmth she felt from her son. Anastasia opened her mouth and gently said, "...No, it isn''t sweetheart... This isn''t a dream."


    Cecil slowly tightened his arms around his mother. Her words of reassurance weren''t enough and he tried to make sure it was real and not a dream. Anastasia gently stroked his head as tears began to fall.


    "You''re home, my son... welcome home..."


    Hearing those words, all of Cecil''s pent up emotions; his fear, his anxiety, and his loneliness immediately swelled up and his tears began to flow out like broken down dam. His mother was right there in front of him and this couldn''t be any more real.


    "I-I''m home...I''m home...I''m home, mom...I''m home..."


    Cecil cried for a long time as he let loose all his worries. The relief and safety he felt right now was unexplainable.


    Cecil was still only a child when he was suddenly separated from his family. Even though he''s already experienced it once during his childhood, he knew that his parents were watching over him in secret so he felt safe.


    His separation on Alterna wasn''t like his previous experiences because this time, he was completely and thoroughly separated from his parents. When he first realized this, Cecil was naturally afraid like any other child, however he didn''t show it. He bottled it all up inside him as he put up a strong and reliable front.


    Now that he was back in his mother''s embrace, he let it all go. There was no need for pretenses anymore and he didn''t have to act tough any longer.


    A few moments later, Cecil was able to regain his bearings and take a good look at his mother. She was still as beautiful as he remembered her to be. The mana on Alterna had been good to all the humans and they were able to retain their youth and vigor even though a couple of years had passed and his mother should be close to 50 right now.


    "...You haven''t changed at all, mom."


    "Oh my~ but little Cel, you''ve changed a lot!"


    "Ehehe..."


    "You''ve grown bigger, taller, and manlier! Ufufufu~ I''m just glad you didn''t turn into a big oaf like your father!"


    "Who''re you calling an oaf?"


    Cecil turned towards the familiar voice that sounded out from below the balcony and exclaimed, "Dad!"


    "Hey son... you did a good job. We''ll talk later, so accompany your mother for now. She''s been worried sick for the past 6 years since you''ve disappeared." Kaiser said. He took one long look at his son and smiled before turning around and heading back for the dojo. He immediately began yelling at his disciples to quickly head back in and continue their training.


    "I''m sorry mom...for disappearing like that..."


    "It''s okay, we had no control over that... what''s important is that you''ve safely returned to us, I''ve heard a lot about it from your wives," Anastasia said as she gave Cecil a wink and gestured at the two girls behind her.


    "Ah! L-Lulu, Seri... Ugh...How embarrassing..." Cecil said as he started blushing. He had never once cried in front of his wives so upon noticing that they were close by, he couldn''t help but feel ashamed.


    ''Dammit, men aren''t supposed to cry!''


    Serilla only walked over and hugged him gently and said. "You should catch up with mother. Lucia and I will make ourselves busy and prepare you something to eat."


    "O-okay..."


    Lucia walked over to him and hugged him before pecking him on the cheek.


    "L-Lulu!"


    "Ehehehe~"


    Cecil started blushing because he was a little embarrassed. His mother was right there! He looked up and finally noticed his two other siblings who were present.


    "G-Gabe!" Cecil exclaimed when he saw Gabriel who only responded with a slight smile and a simple nod of his head.


    He turned to look at the teenaged girl who greatly resembled his mother and exclaimed in shock, "N-No way...Angelia?"


    "Ahahah~ big brother~" Angelia immediately jumped onto Cecil and gave him a warm hug.


    "You remember me~"


    "O-of course I do! It''s not like I''m going to suddenly forget about you! But wow...you''ve grown so big!"


    "Of course I have! And big brother has also grown big too! I was afraid that by the time you got back, we''d be standing at the same height!"


    "H-Hey, I might have been small back then, but that doesn''t mean I''ll stay small forever!"


    "But Mama''s like that~?"


    "Don''t go insulting your mother, you little rebel!" Anastasia light scolded.


    "Ehehe~"


    Anastasia led Cecil and everyone inside the room. She let him sit on the bed and began pulling chairs around for everyone else to sit on.


    "You should rest a little more. You were seriously injured not too long ago..." Anastasia worriedly said. She wanted to scold her son for acting so rashly earlier. Her son had just recovered from being seriously injured, but when she found him awake he was actually outside training! She felt so exasperated at her son, but at the same time she was glad. Cecil had indeed changed, but many of his traits and habits hadn''t. He was still her boy that would go and train right after he had just woken up.


    "I-I have so many things to tell you guys!" Cecil exclaimed. Just before he could unload all his stories that he wanted to tell his mother, the door to his room suddenly swung open with a bang.

 Chapter 306 - Welcome Back

    Once the door was slammed open, Fatima and Luca walked in. Matheus was not with them, but someone had already sent word to him that his brother had finally woken up.


    "Cecil!"


    "Yo!"


    "Ima, Luca!"


    Cecil''s eyes brightened when he saw the two. Fatima rushed over and pulled Cecil into a big hug. After Fatima, Luca did so as well.


    "It''s really good to see you again!" Luca said with a grin.


    "You too, big brother!"


    "Your big sis here was the one fretting over you the most!"


    "Shut it, Luc! So what if I am? It''s not like any of you guys weren''t as worried!"


    "Hmhm~"


    A few maids brought in chairs for the two and Anastasia wanted to order them to go bring in some refreshments but remembered that her two daughters-in-law had gone to the kitchen to fix something up for Cecil.


    After dismissing the maids, it was only the family left inside the room. They bantered a little bit and it didn''t take long before Lucia and Serilla came back with food for everyone.


    "Here, Cel~" Lucia served him some food and even tried to feed him. Cecil was a little too embarrassed so he quickly snatched away the plate and spoon from Lucia which caused the girl to pout and grumble.


    "Please Lulu, not in front of my family..." Cecil replied with a strained look as his mother and siblings began eyeing the two meaningfully.


    "Hihihihi~"


    While they were eating, Anastasia asked Cecil what had happened to him after they were separated. He began recounting his experiences with his family, but what they heard were more or less the same from Lucia and Serilla''s recount.


    Of course, Cecil''s was a bit more detailed and the time he spent in the World Tree''s trial was omitted from Lucia and Serilla''s explanation so when they heard it, the family was very intrigued that such places and trials existed in this world.


    Cecil''s recount was a little bit embellished, but it was very interesting for the family to hear. They spent a few hours listening to Cecil. Lucia and Serilla also quipped in from time to time and Cecil''s siblings would also add in a few things to say or ask.


    Seeing how harmonious and easy-going Cecil''s family of three was, Anastasia and the rest were grateful and happy for him. Amid Cecil''s explanation, Matheus, Kaiser, and Cecil''s grandparents walked in.


    It was a good reunion and everyone was happily listening to Cecil. After his recount, Cecil couldn''t help but wonder where Silver and the rest of his party was at.


    "Don''t worry Cel, Quinn is alright while Yuna and Silver are out on a date!"


    "He''s on a date? Heh, that brat, his Master''s bedridden, but he has the nerve to go out on a date!"


    "He was here for most of the time you were out, but Silvy grew bored and took Yuna out to play in the city!"


    Cecil shook his head and set his gaze outside. He then turned to look at his family who was in the room and let out an involuntary smile. It was different from his usual smiles because this one was much more peaceful and genuine. As he gazed carefully at his family members one by one, Cecil felt like a huge burden was being lifted from his mind and heart.


    He was immensely grateful for this moment because his journey across 2 continents hadn''t gone in vain. He had reunited with his family and was glad to know that everyone was alive and well. Now it was Cecil''s turn to ask his family about what had happened to them, however, just before Luca could say anything, there was a knock on the door and the family''s butler, Charles, walked in.


    "Oh! It''s Uncle Charles!" Cecil exclaimed brightly.


    "Oh! Young Master, I''m very happy to see you safe and well! You had our entire family worried."


    "Ahahaha~ it''s great to be back!"


    "Yes, welcome back, Young Master." Charles bowed in response. If you looked at him closely, you could see that the man was holding in his tears.


    "Is there something, Charles?" Cecil''s grandfather, King, asked.


    "Old Master...the the family elders are waiting downstairs in the hall...they want to discuss some things and meet the Young Master..."


    "Tsk, can''t those old fogies wait?! He''s just gotten back and still needs to heal! Kaiser, come, we''ll deal with them. We''ll have Cecil meet with them later once he''s recovered."


    "Yes, Father," Kaiser said as he walked out the room with King.


    "...Is something wrong?" Cecil asked. He wasn''t sure who these ''elders'' were since he''s never met them.


    "It''s nothing sweetheart, you can stay here and rest some more," Anastasia said. "Well, since everyone''s seen Cecil already, let''s leave him to rest."


    Cecil immediately stood up and said, "I''m fine Mom... I''ve already recovered plenty. You already saw me move and train earlier, remember?"


    "You may be fine, but I''m telling you to rest! Also, don''t do anything reckless! You''re banned from training, y'' hear me?"


    "Ugh...F-fine..."


    Cecil scratched his head, but he didn''t head back to bed. He started clenching and unclenching his fist. He felt fine, but there was something odd about his body.


    "Hn?" He tried circulating his mana and ki, but...


    "...what the heck?"


    "What''s wrong darling?" Serilla asked when she saw him acting weirdly.


    "Strange...I can''t seem to properly circulate my mana or ki..."


    Cecil forcefully tried to circulate his mana inside his arm and this caused his arm to bleed. This immediately caused everyone in the room to widen their eyes in shock.


    "C-Cecil?"


    "Bro!"


    "S-Sweetheart?! What''s wrong?!" Anastasia exclaimed in horror.


    "...huh...this is a problem..." Cecil said as he eyed his bleeding arm. He tried using his Healing Arts and was relieved that it was working. He quickly healed his arm and then activated his Mana Eyes and turned his sense into his body.


    Cecil immediately grimaced when he saw the appalling condition his Energy Circuits were in. His frenzied and reckless use of Ether had greatly damaged many of the minor circuits and there were some minor damages to his main circuits.


    He looked up at everyone and laughed, "Ahaha, it''s nothing. My energy circuits seemed to be damaged. I used an energy that my body''s cultivation couldn''t handle and it sort of caused some internal damages!"


    Using Ether while only having cultivation still in the Core and Crystallization stage of Mana and Ki was reckless. While it did provide him with more advantages in terms of power, his body couldn''t withstand the excessive usage of Ether.


    If he used it normally as usual, then it wouldn''t be a problem. However, his mind was taken over by Corruption and Perseverance so the limiter that he had set for himself was broken and the two weapons had wantonly used up his Ether.


    His body wasn''t at the cultivation stage where he could naturally produce Ether from within so every ounce of Ether created from his combination of Mana and Ki was precious. It should normally be used to set a foundation for the time when Cecil truly stepped into the cultivation stage where he would cultivate Ether directly, but when he had checked earlier, Cecil found that his reserves were nearly empty.


    ''Crap, there goes 4 years'' worth of Ether...''


    It was no wonder his Energy Circuits was damaged to such a degree. Although they were damaged, Cecil had noticed that there were traces of Ether that had merged with his Circuits. The Ether had strengthened and expanded them to some degree. In a way, it was a blessing amidst misfortune.


    He''d have to put in some effort to heal up his body and during this time, he wouldn''t be able to use too much Ki or Mana. Else it would harm his body just like earlier when he had forcibly circulated his Mana.


    Everyone who had heard Cecil''s words were a little puzzled by the unknown terminologies, but the fact that he had sustained ''internal'' injuries were clear to them. Anastasia especially freaked out and had her son immediately get back into bed to rest.


    "Don''t worry so much, Mom, I can heal myself so I''ll be okay after a few more days."


    "Tsk, it doesn''t matter. You stay here and rest. Your two wives will be here to accompany you and we''ll come to visit. Anyway, just stay put and don''t come out of the room!" Anastasia emphasized.


    "...Okay, I''ll listen to you, Mom."


    "Good, Lulu, Seri, keep an eye on him. Make sure you don''t let him out until he''s fully recovered!"


    "Yes, Mother~" The two answered together.


    Anastasia and Cecil''s grandmother, Lucidna, walked out of the room together after talking for a bit with Cecil. Luca, Matheus, and Fatima exited the room a bit later after catching up with Cecil. They had duties to attend to. Only Gabriel, Angelia, and the two wives stayed behind to accompany Cecil.


    "Neh, big bro Cel~ how do I look? I look cute now right~?" Angelia said as she emphasized her new beastkin attributes. Even now, the girl hadn''t requested for Lucia to dispel her transformation. She had gone to school and roamed around the city in her foxkin form.


    "You look cute¡ªhold up, fox ears and tails?!" Cecil exclaimed when he finally noticed his beastkin little sister. He immediately snapped his head over to the giggling girl lying next to him.


    "Lulu!"


    "Angel wanted to turn into a foxkin, so I let her~"


    "Yeah, I''m the one who asked!" Angelia quipped up.


    "Oh gosh...does this mean that everyone..."


    "Yup, they know about us being beastkin," Serilla answered.


    "Ugh... they didn''t say anything...did they?"


    "Nothing, in particular, your family has already accepted us as your wives."


    Cecil nodded. It was a good thing. He didn''t want his family to be averse to the fact that his wives weren''t human. He was going to tell them when the time was right, but now he didn''t have to since his family already knew about it and accepted the two.


    "Big bro, I wanna ask, but why can Silv turn into a human?! Is magic that powerful? They can turn animals into humans?"


    "Well, magic did transform Silver, but it''s not that all magic can do it. The magic spell Silver used isn''t known any more and it''s something he can only use on himself."


    "Oh... I wanted Silv to teach my pets how to turn human... too bad then~"


    "Your pets?"


    "Yup! I have a lot, but... a couple of them passed away during the war..."


    Seeing the sad expression his sister was making, Cecil smiled ruefully and said, "How about this, when big brother is completely healed, we''ll go out hunting for pets later? What do you say?"


    "Really? Big brother will help me?!"


    "Sure, it was my fault for coming late and letting my little sister''s precious pets die."


    "It''s not big brother''s fault... but you promise to come with me later?"


    "Yup!"


    "Yay! That means I should help you heal up then!"


    Angelia stretched out her hand and placed it on top of Cecil''s arm that was bleeding earlier and started channeling the energy inside her. When Cecil saw the familiar glow of Ki on her sister''s outstretched hands, he exclaimed in pleasant surprise.


    "Oh wow, you''re able to use Ki, Angel!"


    "Ki?"


    "It''s the same kind of energy you big brother and big sis Serilla uses."


    "Oh? That means I can get strong like Big Brother and Big Sister?"


    "Sure you can, but it seems like your Ki is more focused on the gentle and healing side, you should stick to healing instead of fighting, Angel."


    "Okay~"


    "Once I''m better, big brother will teach you some things. Like this, Cecil raised a hand over his arm and started using his Healing Arts. The light green glow coming off of Cecil''s hands attracted Angelia''s gaze.


    She couldn''t see it, but she could feel it. The internal injuries inside her big brother''s arms were slowly being healed. Under Cecil''s Healing Arts, the circuits inside his arm were slowly being repaired.


    It would probably take a few days before he''s fully healed all his circuits, but he had time now so he wasn''t worried.


    "Angel, let''s get going. It''s late already and I''m sure Cecil and his wives would like some alone time."


    "Hm? Okay, big bro Gabe~ I''ll see big brother and big sisters later then~" Angelia said as she bade farewell to Cecil and the girls.


    Now that no one was inside the room, Serilla, who had been sitting down on a chair next to the bed immediately moved and sidled next to her husband. Lucia, who was being reserved, finally let go of those pretenses and tightly wrapped her arms around Cecil.


    "Cel~"


    "Darling~"


    "...You two...I knew you were desperately holding it in."


    "Eheheh~ we were in front of your family so we naturally couldn''t do this~" Lucia replied.


    "...We missed you a lot..."


    "It was only a few weeks..."


    Serilla and Lucia looked at him reproachfully and said, "That''s not what you''re supposed to be saying darling..."


    "Yeah, Cel... don''t you have any other thing to say to us?"


    "...I''m home..."


    The girls giggled and said in unison, "Welcome back!"

 Chapter 307 - Regulus’ Intentions

    Elsewhere, in a grand hall within the Regulus Kingdom''s royal castle, a meeting was being held.


    "What?! The Merkruz army was thoroughly decimated?!" Albert exclaimed in shock when once of his men reported to him about the outcome of the war between Merkruz and Silvaria.


    "How? How did the Merkruz army of 200 thousand lose to Silvaria who probably only has 50 thousand soldiers?!"


    "...I hear that a monster had suddenly come and decimated the battlefield."


    "A monster? So you''re saying that a monster had suddenly attacked and destroyed the Merkruz and Silvaria armies?"


    "I''m not sure about the Silvaria army, but the scouts reported that a monster had indeed laid waste to the Merkruz Army. Only a few couple of thousands of soldiers was able to escape while the King of Merkruz''s wellbeing isn''t known as of yet."


    "...if the Merkruz army was pushed into near destruction that means the monster must have been a SS or SSS ranked monster... Are there any reports on the Silvaria army''s condition?"


    "No, Your Highness, but we think that their army is in a condition no better than the Merkruz army. A monster doesn''t distinguish between enemies or allies after all."


    Albert nodded at the deduction. He smiled cynically and laughed, "Hah! Since the Merkruz Army wasn''t competent enough to finish Silvaria off, I guess we should go ahead and finish the job, right?"


    Albert said as he eyed the rest of the people inside the hall. The army''s generals, his military advisors, the court magician, and the upstanding nobles of the Kingdom were pondering deeply at his words.


    A noble stepped forward and voiced a concern, "Your Highness, I don''t mean to go against your suggestion, but the state of the Silvaria army is still unknown. Those were merely deductions and speculations. We should rethink our plans and thoroughly scout out the actual state the Silvaria army is in."


    Albert disdainfully eyed this cowardly noble and replied, "That kind of mindset is what caused us to lose in our battles against Merkruz! Also, if we take too long to scout out the Silvaria kingdom, we''d be giving them enough time to recuperate! Our window of opportunity is short! For all we know, those Silvarians had been devastated by the monster and are now trying their best to recuperate their numbers! This is the best time for us to attack! They wouldn''t expect a subsequent attack after the Merkruz army''s siege and the monster''s attack!"


    His words held merit and many in the room were beginning to become convinced at his words, however, another person immediately stood up and directly opposed Albert''s plans.


    "What are you saying brother?! We''re to attack a kingdom that''s our ally?!"


    "...Karen, what are you saying here?"


    "What I''m saying? Are you even listening to yourself brother?! How could we attack an ally kingdom? Big brother Rowan and big sister Fatima are currently in that kingdom! They requested for support last time, but I can''t understand why you declined to respond?!"


    Albert scoffed and stood up, "Allies? Don''t make me laugh! That woman seduced your brother and turned him traitor! They, alongside a few others, conspired to kill a member of the royal family! Why do you think Armano is bedridden right now?! That''s because he was nearly killed by the woman!"


    "What?!"


    "Dear sister, you didn''t know about the treachery that woman committed!"


    "What treachery? I bet that stupid horny brother of mine tried to pull something on sis Fatima again and this time, she only retaliated! Do you think I''m stupid to believe that they committed a crime against Armano without reason? I bet they only beat him up! That bastard got what he deserves! Don''t think that I don''t know about him trying to **** Serilla!"


    "What are you talking about? That Serilla woman seduced your brother and framed him for committing ****!"


    "Hah! You think I''m stupid?!"


    "Well, in my eyes, you are being stupid right now! A member of the royal family was nearly killed and here you are defending those culprits! Guards, take her away! She has no right to be present in this meeting! Lock her up in her room!"


    "W-what¡ªstop! Unhand me!" Karen screamed as she was being roughly taken out of the room by the guards.


    Albert coldly eyed his sister and turned his attention back to the meeting.


    "Are there any other opinions? What we are doing is only just and right! We''re there to bring justice to my brother who was wrongfully framed! Now is the best time to attack!"


    After some careful considerations and more planning, it was decided that the Regulus Army would sortie first thing tomorrow. They were going to attack the Silvaria Kingdom and bring in the culprits who tried to murder Second Prince Armano.


    ******


    A few days had passed back at the Silvaria Kingdom. Cecil had grown a little restless from only staying inside his room and since he was banned from training or anything, he started roaming around the house and would sometimes go out on a stroll in the garden with his wives.


    During the day, his family members were mostly busy with their duties so he mostly met them during the afternoon and in the evenings. His father and mother were busy with meetings regarding the management of the kingdom and the managing of the postwar duties.


    Many soldiers fell in battle during Merkruz''s attack and they had to compensate the families and hold funerals.


    Matheus and Luca were overseeing the repairs on the walls and weapons while Angelia had to go to school. Angelia had even pulled along Ren to come with her to school since the two were close to each other in age. As for Gabriel, well, no one ever knew what he was doing. He was the laziest in the family, but you would never see him just loitering around.


    While his family members were going on with their daily lives, Cecil felt a little alienated. He had already finished healing himself, but his promise with Angelia was postponed because of her schooling.


    He had already met up with Quinn and found that the butler was learning from Charles about the inner workings of the Silvaria family while Yuna and Silver were always clinging together and doing whatever.


    On the days where he didn''t have anything to do, Cecil would meditate inside his room or Serilla would sometimes pull him into a long session of lovemaking until Lucia called for them to eat or something.


    His idle days passed by like this and it wasn''t until his father and mother came home one day and delivered some unpleasant news.


    "W-what?! M-my kingdom''s army was seen inside the mountain pass?!" Rowan exclaimed in shock. For the past days, this Prince of Regulus was busy managing the troops he had brought into the Silvaria Kingdom.


    He had received consent from Kaiser to allow the families of his men to move into the Silvaria Kingdom and become permanent residents of the kingdom. His men had helped greatly in the war and other than a monetary reward that Kaiser had given, he promised to shelter the families of Rowan''s men.


    So for the past days he was busy moving in the families of his soldiers into the kingdom and settling them in. Now, he heard some appalling news from his yet-to-be father-in-law.


    "Albert... that bastard!" Rowan slammed his arm on the armrest of his chair. Fatima placed a hand on his and tried to calm him down.


    Rowan looked up apologetically at Fatima and Kaiser. He bowed and immediately apologized, "I''m very sorry..."


    Kaiser only waved his hand dismissively, "It''s not your fault boy. They already failed to respond to our request for support so I had expected them to come knocking on our door. Too bad for them that our walls have already gone through thorough reparations and none of our cannons were destroyed. We lost some men, but not many. Cecil''s involvement had greatly reduced the expected casualties and quickly put an end to the battle. They may have over 100 thousand, but they don''t have an M-Jammer! Do they believe that we''ll be helpless to retaliate after our previous victory? This brother of yours hasn''t even properly investigated the state our army is in and he dares to bare his fangs at us, how utterly foolish!"


    "..."


    "I believe that all your men''s families have been successfully transported into my kingdom?"


    "Yes, sir."


    "Good, then that means you have no other things to take care of. Dine with us tonight and properly introduce yourself to our son." Kaiser said.


    "Yes, you must introduce yourself to our Cel~" Anastasia quipped in.


    "Y-Yes...of course..." Rowan said with a strained smile. Inwardly, he was freaking out. Unlike most people, he had been on the mountainside when Cecil had suddenly arrived and initiated his attack.


    Rowan bore witness to Cecil''s power and the brutal massacre that he had conducted. It was great that the man was their ally, but now that Rowan had to go introduce himself as the husband-candidate to this frightening man''s sister...


    "I-Ima...he''s not...that scary...is he?"


    Fatima only giggled when she saw the cold sweat on Rowan''s forehead. She wiped them away for him and said in reassurance. "My brother is not a monster. He''s kind and friendly, lighten up and just act normally. If he sees you putting on airs or act weak, it''ll deteriorate his first impression of you."


    "Phew...alright, let''s go then! I''ll convince him to let me marry you!"


    "Alright, let''s go~" Fatima said cheerfully as she walked into the dining room arm-in-arm with Rowan.


    Everyone in the family was present. Kaiser was sitting at the head of the table with Anastasia sitting on the right while Cecil''s grandparents sat on the left side. The siblings all rearranged themselves randomly on either side of the table.


    Cecil was sitting in between Lucia and Serilla. Ren was also there and he was sitting next to Angelia. The boy had already introduced himself to the family as Cecil''s apprentice so he was given the right to join in the family''s dinner.


    Quinn was also there and he served as the exclusive waiter for Cecil and his wives. When Fatima walked in with Rowan, Cecil raised a brow in surprise as he looked at the unfamiliar man walking arm-in-arm with his sister.


    "Now that everyone is here, let''s eat, Charles," Kaiser called out. The food was quickly brought in and served. While they were eating, Cecil kept on eyeing the man next to his sister with a strange, but understanding glint in his eyes.


    "Cecil? Aren''t you going to ask?" Fatima quipped up when she saw that her little brother had been eyeing Rowan for a while now.


    "...Fine. Who is he, sis?"


    "He''s my fianc¨¦!" Fatima happily introduced.


    Rowan immediately stood up and bowed, "N-Nice to meet you! I''m Rowan Regulus and I''m your elder sister''s betrothed!"


    "I see... so I''m guessing that you''ve gained everyone''s approval?"


    "Y-yes...ah, I mean no! I-I haven''t gotten everyone''s...yet..."


    "Heeehhh...is that so...?" Cecil said as he stuffed a meatball into his mouth.


    "I-I haven''t gotten Angelia''s or your approval yet..." Rowan said as he sat himself down.


    "Hmmm... yeah, I guess that''s true...but how come you haven''t gotten Angelia''s?"


    "Angelia said she would approve of me if I could get your approval..."


    Cecil nodded in understanding and continued eating. Lucia and Serilla would sometimes put in a few things onto his plate and he''d immediately eat them up.


    The family was interested to see how Cecil would react when he saw that his elder sister was being taken away from him, but his lack of response caused them to frown because this wasn''t what they expected.


    Rowan looked at him nervously. He was expecting for Cecil to lash out at him, but contrary to his expectations, Cecil was just smiling slightly while eating the food his wives were giving him.


    "I-Is there anything I can do to get your approval?"


    Cecil looked up at him and smiled, "If you want to marry my sister, get her consent. If you already have that, then I have no right to intervene."


    "Oh?"


    "What?"


    "B-Big brother?! Y-You''re going to let him take away big sis Ima?!" Angelia cried in shock.


    Everyone else was also shocked at his words. Their son, grandson, and brother had matured so much in the time they were separated.


    "Th-Thank you, but as you can see, Angelia probably wants me to prove to you that I''m worthy. I don''t think she''ll give me her consent... is there anything that I can do?"


    "Hey, it''s you and my sister''s decision. Just make her happy and you''ll have my blessing," Cecil replied, but when he eyed the aggrieved Angelia, he gave a rueful smile before continuing, "Angelia, just give them your blessing. We shouldn''t get in the way of their decision."


    "Y-yes brother..." Angelia grumbled out her answer.


    Rowan was immensely grateful to Cecil. He didn''t even need to do anything and got his approval. Rowan could only attribute this to the fact that Cecil himself was already married and he respected his sister''s decision.


    Cecil looked at the grumbling and pouting Angelia and he sighed.


    "However, I do would like to see what kind of man my sister has fallen for so I''m sure you wouldn''t mind having a few matches with me, would you?" Cecil asked.


    Angelia looked up at her brother and her eyes brightened. If they could communicate telepathically Angelia would probably be relaying her thoughts to him right now.


    ''That''s right brother, force him into a spar and beat him up so much that he''d be too scared to marry big sis Ima!"


    Rowan pondered for only a brief moment. He looked at Angelia who was looking at him expectantly and replied, "Sure! Let''s do it!"


    "Alright then, how about we head to the dojo after dinner? The exercise would surely help with digestion!"


    "Of course!"


    Cecil smiled ruefully while Angelia was already radiating her happiness. She couldn''t wait for the moment her big brother would smack Rowan around and beat him up to a pulp.

 Chapter 308 - Seeking Approval

    After dinner, the family moved to the dojo.


    Cecil felt that the place was a little nostalgic. His father had built the dojo with the same design as the one from back on Earth. He placed a palm on the worn wooden posts in the dojo and walked around for a bit.


    "It''s practically the same..."


    "Of course, how else do you think, Father would build it?" Kaiser said with a laugh.


    Cecil smiled a little and continued walking around. Rowan had finished changing and was now wearing the dojo''s uniform.


    "Oh! I almost forgot about that uniform. Should I go get changed as well?"


    "Here you go sweety," Anastasia said as she handed her son a uniform. Cecil looked at the uniform and smiled.


    "When did mother get the time to make this for me?"


    "Well, you were asleep for a while so I had Lucia help me make that in her free time."


    Cecil nodded and headed in the direction of the locker room. The dojo had the same design so he already knew where it was once he took his time to remember.


    When he walked out, Lucia and Serilla were attracted to his looks while wearing the uniform. Anastasia smiled happily when she saw the familiar clothes her son was wearing, but then she screeched in horror.


    "CECIL SILVARIA!!! W-What are those?!" Anastasia moved up to Cecil and parted the upper part of the loose uniform. The family also looked over and saw the runic markings on Cecil''s body.


    No one had noticed it before because he was previously bandaged up and Lucia and Serilla would take care of cleaning him when he was unconscious. The World Tree''s runes were normally covered up, but the top part of the uniform showed a lot of his chest and collar area. It was no wonder that Anastasia finally noticed the markings.


    Cecil grabbed his forehead in pain. ''Ahhh...I knew mother would freak out...''


    "Explain yourself right now, young man!" Anastasia bellowed. Kaiser and the grandparents didn''t say anything, but they were a little unhappy. The tattoos that were spread all along his upper body and seemed to continue down to his lower body made him look like some kind of delinquent.


    "I-I can explain, Mom! Y'' see, I did tell you about those trials from before right? These markings are runes and they were a part of the reward!"


    "Hmph!"


    "P-Please believe me, Mom! L-Look, see the markings, these are runes and my weapons also have the same runes on them! This signifies that I own them!" Cecil said as he magically started pulling out all 4 of his World Tree''s Thorns from his spatial ring.


    The Thorns indeed had similar markings on their blades, but this revelation didn''t make Anastasia one bit appeased.


    "L-Look, Mom, I didn''t want these as well, but they were given to me by the World Tree! If I activate the runes on my body and the weapons, I''m able to use the Thorns'' special abilities."


    "I don''t care, I still don''t like them. Get rid of it!"


    "H-How?! These aren''t tattoos that can be erased!"


    "Tsk..."


    "Honey, let''s just leave it at that. Cecil has given us an explanation and we should believe him. Besides, now that I look at it a little more, they don''t look so bad. It makes him look a little manlier, just look at his wives blushing over there in the corner."


    "..."


    "..."


    Serilla immediately looked down with a red face while Lucia could only laugh awkwardly in response.


    "Hmph...I still don''t like them..."


    "But your son even said that he can''t remove them. Are you going to hate him as well?"


    "Tsk...fine, but if I see anymore, you''re dead meat young man!" Anastasia said as she eyed Cecil threateningly.


    "Y-Yes, Mom!" Cecil responded as he quickly pulled up his uniform. He sighed in relief and gave his father a thankful look.


    He walked over to Rowan and said, "Sorry about that, let''s have our match now."


    "S-Sure, but... those swords that you pulled out earlier...are those really the World Tree''s Thorns?"


    "Of course, have you heard of them before?"


    "Y-Yes, there are 12 in total and they are the demi-humans'' sacred weapons! I hear that all the holders are spread across the world. A majority of them are demi-humans, but I hear there''s a demonkin and spiritfolk who each own a Thorn."


    "Hmmm~ well, I know that the Elves have one or two. Probably the beastkin, beastmen, and giants have them as well. I didn''t think you humans would know about it."


    "O-Of course we would know. In history, those weapons were at the forefront of the demi-humans'' invasion of Midgard!"


    Cecil nodded and lifted his swords over to him with his Intent. They began orbiting around his body and this magical ability caused everyone in the dojo to widen their eyes in shock. Some disciples were heading back to their dorms inside the compound, but they noticed that the dojo''s lights were on and decided to check in what was up.


    They saw the Silvaria Main Family present inside so they found someplace to sit at to observe what was happening.


    Cecil stretched his hand and the Thorns shot into his spatial ring. He stretched a little and asked Rowan.


    "I''ve taken a look, but you''re able to use mana and you look built enough to fight. Are you perhaps a hybrid?"


    "Hybrid? Oh, yes. I''m a magic swordsman."


    "I see... hmmm... Wow, you''re a primary lightning attribute mage! How rare. Your secondary attribute is water and it seems you can also use a little bit of wind." Cecil said as he observed Rowan with his Mana Eyes.


    "H-How?!"


    Cecil gestured at his eyes and said, "My eyes are a little special."


    "..."


    "Your cultivation is a little low so I guess I''ll limit mine to the Sea Stage as well."


    "N-no, please don''t limit yourself!"


    "Hm?"


    "I don''t want to fight you with a handicap!"


    "You sure about that?"


    "Yes!"


    Cecil thought for a moment and shrugged. "Well, this won''t be much of a match. I can use mana now, but if you think you can take this attack, I''ll consider this match your win."


    Cecil activated his Mana Burst and raised a hand in the air. Mana began to gather on his outstretched palm and a small bolt of mana formed. More and more mana continued to gather and this bolt of mana grew larger and larger.


    Rowan, who was looking at the glowing Cecil who was radiating an absurd amount of mana, began to visibly pale.


    "L-Little brother, maybe I will use that handicap," Rowan lightly suggested with a strained look. He knew for certain that if he took on this man''s attack, he would undoubtedly die.


    On the sidelines, Fatima was already starting worriedly at Rowan while at times she couldn''t help but cast a glare in Cecil''s direction. Cecil himself flinched whenever Fatima cast that hurtful look at him.


    ''I-It''s not my fault big sis! He didn''t want me to hold back!''


    After Cecil heard Rowan''s words, he immediately retracted his mana, and the large globe of mana in the air quickly shrunk down.


    "You''re really powerful..." Rowan said.


    "Hmm... of course, if I wasn''t, did you think I''d be able to walk across 2 continents to find my family?" Cecil replied with a smirk.


    "Well, let''s get started. I won''t use too much mana or any mana at all, so come at me."


    Rowan nodded and started circulating the mana inside his body.


    Lucia saw that they were using mana and most likely magic spells so she stepped forward and immediately cast a barrier around the ring Cecil and Rowan were fighting on.


    "Did you do something Lucia?" Fatima asked.


    "Yup, I just cast a barrier around them so they could fight and use mana as they wish without destroying the dojo. Although I say fight, just to be frank sister Fatima, my Cel won''t lose~"


    "Despite how much I''d like to refute that, that''s the only outcome I can see from their fight..."


    Lucia giggled and turned her eyes back to the fight.


    Rowan had activated a few strengthening techniques and spells and had rushed straight at Cecil with a sword. Cecil had already informed Rowan about the barrier that Lucia had placed so the Prince didn''t hesitate to use any magic spells.


    Large arcs of lightning and multiple wind spells flew at Cecil. This was the first time that anyone, other than Fatima, has seen Rowan use magic spells so they couldn''t help but turn curious and paid rapt attention at the fight.


    Cecil waited until the spells got into range before he deflected them with the practice sword he was using. Rowan was surprised because deflecting magic spells were something only in the domain of swordmasters.


    He didn''t see Cecil cast a spell so he assumed that his opponent had relied only on his sword to deflect his spells.


    "You''re a Sword Master?"


    "I''m not sure what you mean by that, but you better dodge away from this," Cecil replied as he swung out lightly and sent a weakened Ascending Blade at Rowan.


    Rowan immediately dodged away, but he was met with a flurry of weakened Ascending Blades sent at him. He desperately tried to dodge all of them, but he was unfortunately struck by one of them.


    The Ascending Blade didn''t cleave him in two, but it had smashed him away and caused Rowan to slam onto the barrier. He felt the wind get knocked out of him, but he gritted his teeth and jumped away.


    A few Ascending Blades struck his previous locations, but Rowan darted straight at Cecil and began fighting him in a melee.


    "Hoh! Aren''t you the brave one?"


    Cecil and Rowan exchanged a few blows for a while and Cecil was able to determine the exact skill level Rowan was at with the sword. It wasn''t anything special in Cecil''s eyes, but he was satisfied with Rowan''s abilities.


    Other than the first time he attacked with a flurry of Ascending Blades, Cecil only met Rowan''s attacks head-on with the practice sword in his hand. He responded appropriately to Rowan''s spells and attacks.


    The fight only ended when Rowan collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. Cecil walked over to him and said, "Well, you did lose, but you''ve still got my approval. At least to me, you''ve proven that you''re capable of protecting my sister."


    "Haah...haa... t-thank you...haaa..." Rowan replied gratefully.


    "Just don''t make my sister regret marrying you..."


    "D-Don''t worry! I???ll make her happy for the rest of her life!"


    "Hmm~ that''s good. That''s what I wanted to hear."


    Cecil healed Rowan of his injuries and walked over to Lucia and Serilla.


    "Phew... that was a good workout. My circuits are back to normal now so there''s no need for you two to worry anymore!"


    "Big brother, big brother!" Angelia called out to him excitedly.


    "Hm?"


    "That large golden ball you showed us at the start of the fight and the golden waves of mana you swung at Rowan during the match, what was that?!"


    Cecil immediately remembered about his family''s martial arts manual that he had converted into a Mana Cultivation method and said, "I''ll tell you about it tomorrow. Father and Grandfather should be there too."


    "Alright," Kaiser responded. He then told Cecil and Rowan to go shower and change. He brought the rest of the family back to the main mansion.


    After a quick shower, Cecil and Rowan were heading back together to the main residence.


    "...Thank you...for giving me the chance," Rowan abruptly said.


    "Hm? Haah...like I said earlier, whether you want to marry my sister, that''s your choice. If you have her consent, then go ahead." Cecil sighed in reply.


    "Ahaha...it''s just I didn''t expect you to agree so readily. I thought you''d be the most against it..."


    "What makes you think that?"


    "Well...everyone in the family except for Mother, Grandmother, Gabriel, didn''t approve of me. Many even strongly opposed to it. I thought you would be the same."


    Cecil only shrugged and said in reply, "I''m married myself. I can''t say no to a man who''s essentially abandoned his kingdom just to stay with my sister..."


    "Huh?"


    "Rowan Regulus... I assume you should be some Prince from the Regulus Kingdom, right?"


    "Y-Yeah..."


    "I just heard from my butler that your kingdom''s army was spotted somewhere within the mountain pass."


    "..."


    "Don''t worry. I won''t hold it against you, but you better be prepared tomorrow. I won''t hesitate to wipe out their army if you can''t stop them from attacking."


    "...Yes..."


    Cecil nodded at him and walked ahead into the mansion. Rowan looked back at Cecil''s receding figure and sighed.


    "...What can I do? The army will perish without a doubt..." Rowan mumbled as he looked up at the night sky. Cecil had just given him a chance to try and persuade his Kingdom''s army from attacking, but the chances of him succeeding were practically nil.

 Chapter 309 - Incompetent Fool

    When the next day arrived, Kaiser received a report that the Regulus Army was only around half a day away from their kingdom''s walls.


    Kaiser immediately had all of the remaining soldiers that were not injured in the previous war against Merkruz to quickly get ready. Only about 35 thousand of the original 50 thousand were still able to fight.


    In the previous battle, around 2-3 thousand soldiers had died. As for the ones that were still alive, they had received injuries that resulted in some form of permanent disability that didn''t allow them to participate in the war. One of Cecil''s Healing Arts could regrow limbs and restore a person''s nerves, but the problem was that he could only use it once his Ki Cultivation reached the Transformation Stage.


    With the overwhelming disadvantage in numbers, Kaiser was worried, but not so much. Unlike the Merkruz Army which had an M-Jammer, the Regulus Kingdom didn''t have one. At least that''s the info brought in by their scouts and informants.


    Even now, when the Regulus Army was already closing in, the inhabitants of Silvaria could still use mana. This meant that all their cannons were still usable and so were their enhanced abilities.


    While Kaiser was getting things ready for the Silvaria Army, Rowan had set off in a hurry after he received a report that his Kingdom''s army was not far away from Silvaria. He was going to make a last-ditch effort to try and persuade his brother or whoever it was that was leading the army from attacking Silvaria.


    It wasn''t that Rowan was afraid that the Silvaria kingdom was going to be rundown, but he was more afraid of his Kingdom''s army being thoroughly wiped out. Cecil didn''t even need to come out. The Silvaria Kingdom''s cannons were already much more powerful than the Empire''s Mag-Cannons, and if not for the M-Jammer, the Silvaria Kingdom would have come out on top in the previous conflict against Merkruz without them having been pushed to the brink of their wall collapsing. Also, there were his fianc¨¦e''s wits and strategies, coupled with the Silvaria Kingdom''s powerful soldiers, Rowan had every reason to believe that the Regulus army didn''t have a chance.


    Even if the Regulus army was able to use magic now as well, there was an even more frightening mage present within the Silvaria Kingdom. He couldn''t forget about Cecil''s wife, Lucia. During the days when everyone was still recuperating, Rowan had inadvertently walked in on Lucia and Serilla''s training which they held just outside of the valley. During that time, he was transporting his soldiers'' families and spotted the two girls sparring with each other.


    Serilla, who he thought was already plenty powerful, was having a hard time keeping up with Lucia who was firing off Mid to High ranked Magic spells like a mobile magic turret. She had done it with ease and didn''t even break a sweat. With that woman there, he didn''t want to imagine what would be the outcome of the Regulus Army''s soldiers if all those high ranked spells fell on their heads.


    ******


    "As expected, the words of a traitor," Albert sneered at Rowan who was forced to kneel in front of him.


    "Brother, please, you have to listen to me, don''t attack the Silvaria Kingdom and quickly turn back! You can''t win!"


    "Hmph! Trying to persuade me from attacking a weakened army? Do you think that it will work?!"


    "What?! What weakened army?! You don''t even know what happened! Those Merkruz bastards were decimated by Silvaria! How could you fail to realize this small point?! Regulus can''t even defeat Merkruz! What makes you think that you''ll be able to defeat Silvaria who defeated Merkruz?!"


    "Hah! The only reason why Merkruz lost was because a monster had suddenly attacked their formation! It wasn''t because of the Silvarians!"


    "You''re wrong! That ''monster'' who attacked was none other than the crown prince of Silvaria! He single-handedly destroyed Merkruz!"


    Albert frowned a little when he heard this, but he immediately growled and punched Rowan in the face.


    "Don''t think that your words will frighten me! No human could accomplish such a feat! Defeating an army by himself, do you think I''m a child and that I would believe and be frightened by your words?!"


    "Albert, you have to believe me! If you attack them now, you''ll only experience a loss! A loss that you can''t afford to have," Rowan desperately cried out.


    "Tsk, your words are useless. Men! Take this traitor away and lock him up! When we return, he''ll be executed for the crime of conspiring with the one who tried to assassinate the Second Prince!"


    The soldiers around were a little hesitant, but they stepped forward and began dragging Rowan away.


    "Dammit! Why won''t you listen?! This is why father wanted to rescind your right as the crown prince! You''re just a fool!"


    Albert immediately snapped when he heard his words, he walked over to Rowan and smashed his fist into his brother''s face.


    "WHAT WAS THAT?!"


    "You can''t even recognize that you''re incompetent! How am I a traitor? F.u.c.k you! You would have lost the war against Merkruz a year ago without my fianc¨¦e! Where the f.u.c.k would you be right now without my or Fatima''s help?!"


    "Bastard! Shut up!" Albert yelled as he swung his fist at Rowan.


    Albert continued swinging his fists at his brother and the soldiers could only back away in fright. Their faces were hidden behind their helmets, however, they couldn''t help but agree with Rowan. The first prince was indeed incompetent. He had no military achievement that he could be proud of, his swordsmanship, magic ability, and everything else was average. He wasn''t bad, but he wasn''t good either. All in all, he was just your average joe.


    None of the soldiers understood why their Third Prince and his fianc¨¦e, the War Saintess, were suddenly branded a traitor. The most puzzling thing was why they were being mobilized to attack a Kingdom that had no previous hostilities with them. In fact, said kingdom only had good ties with them since their War Saintess was the Princess of that kingdom.


    They couldn''t understand, but it wasn''t like they could go against the prince''s orders. They were just like any other soldier, they had one task and that was to listen to orders.


    Rowan''s face was beaten to a pulp, but the defiance in his eyes and the scorn on his face didn''t fade. Albert saw this and he immediately put on his iron gauntlet, just as he was about to swing his fist at Rowan once more, he was stopped.


    "...you really are incompetent," Cecil said as he gripped tightly onto Albert''s fist.


    "W-what?! Who are you?! Peasant, I command you to¡ªgahack!" Cecil didn''t let Albert finish his words and immediately slammed his fist into his gut and sent him crashing backward.


    "Incompetent and rude," Cecil said, he helped Rowan up and immediately healed his beaten-up face. "Honestly big bro Rowan, how are you even related to this fool?"


    "..." Rowan was a little speechless, but he was touched when he heard Cecil call him ''big bro''.


    "This was your plan huh? To persuade an idiot... you would have had a much better time persuading a dog than him."


    "B-bastard! H-how dare you insult and assault a prince of the Regulus Kingdom?!"


    Cecil ignored Albert who was struggling to get up. He also ignored all the soldiers that were currently surrounding him and Rowan.


    "You failed your negotiations. Are you going to stay here with that fool or come back with me?" Cecil asked.


    "...Let''s go... if even his finest generals and advisors couldn''t persuade him, then that means they''re incompetent or they also agree with his foolish decision to attack. Instead of using the non-aggression pact to hurry and stabilize the kingdom...he instead wages war against another kingdom..." Rowan said as he sadly eyed all the people around him.


    Cecil shrugged and placed a hand on Rowan. He used Blink and disappeared along with Rowan.


    *****


    "Well, they''re going to attack..." Cecil said after getting back to the Silvaria Kingdom''s command center.


    In the command center, it wasn''t only the Silvaria family that was present. The other families that were part of the Kingdom''s Council were present. It was a request made by the other families when they found out that Cecil had returned.


    Not many knew about the boy because back on Earth, the successor was always living in seclusion inside the family''s ancestral home and never once had contact with the outside world. Seeing the grown man who had just appeared within the command center with the Third Prince of Regulus, all of the family representatives began to size him up.


    "I''m sorry... I couldn''t do anything..." Rowan replied.


    "...Nevermind. They coveted our lands and repaid our good intentions with evil, there wasn''t anything you could have done anyway... but I have to ask Rowan, is this, what your father wants? The last time I met with him, he seemed like an amiable man. I don''t believe that he is a two-faced bastard..."


    "N-No sir... my father was bed-ridden a few months ago due to sickness and it has been my brother who has been running the kingdom... my father has nothing to do with this..." Rowan immediately replied. His father wasn''t the best in the world, but he was a good king. He understood the differences of right and wrong, although he advocated more for peace and brought the kingdom''s military to its abysmal state, the people loved him because he was able to bring them peace and prosperity.


    Kaiser only shook his head in regret when he heard Rowan''s words, "No wonder...what a shame...anyways, let''s get this strategy meeting over with. Since we can all use mana again, our soldiers will be in top shape in the battle to come."


    Cecil waited on the side and let his father arrange things. While he was observing the arrangements, he couldn''t help but frown when he noticed that he and his wives were excluded from the battle.


    "Father, what about me and¡ª"


    "You''ll be under your sister''s command."


    "O-Okay?"


    "You''re moving in the same unit as Fatima, so pay attention, your role later in the battle is important."


    Cecil only nodded and eyed his elder sister who smiled back and waved for him to come over. Cecil flashed next to Fatima and this caused his sister to nearly jump in surprise.


    "I-Idiot! Don''t scare me like that!" Fatima quietly exclaimed as she began pinching her little brother''s waist.


    "O-o-ow... s-sorry, but you wanted me to come over!"


    "Then just walk to me normally!"


    "S-sorry, I got used to using Blink so much. It became a habit..."


    "...What did you even do to become like this...?"


    "I worked really hard," Cecil replied.


    "..." Fatima gave him a deadpanned expression and Cecil only snickered back in response.


    "Pay attention, Cecil."


    "Okay sis~"


    After a few more minutes, the meeting finally ended. The Regulus army was still somewhat far away and Kaiser decided to use a little bit of guerrilla warfare. The mountain pass had plenty of smaller passages that were hard to navigate in if one didn''t know the exact layout of the passages.


    He was going to use these small passages to attack the Regulus army and try to dwindle their numbers. As for why they didn''t use this tactic back during their fight with Merkruz was because of the enemy''s M-Jammer.


    Without mana to enhance their bodies, Kaiser''s troops wouldn''t be able to navigate the passages with ease. These small passages weren''t all flat roads and many obstacles needed the superhuman abilities that mana was able to give to the soldiers to navigate through.


    Once the Regulus Army made their way to the walls, Kaiser would then have them be bombarded by their cannons and he''d send his soldiers to fight them head-on. From the mountainside, Fatima''s unit would be lying in wait and once the battle started in full, she would lead her unit to attack the backlines of the Regulus Army.


    They would quickly try to dispatch as many mages as they can before quickly retreating into a narrow passage and make their way back up the mountainside and try to find a chance to attack again.


    It seemed a little unnecessary in Cecil''s opinion, but he could get the gist of what his father was planning. If they wanted to, they could have easily resolved the situation by using Cecil''s might and a few invocations of Lucia''s High Ranked Magic Spells, however, Kaiser wanted to display the might of his army so that it would deter other kingdoms from wantonly attacking Silvaria just because they thought that the kingdom only relied on a few powerful people to defend it.


    The best outcome would be that the Silvaria Army could drive back the Regulus Army with minimal casualties. At least, that''s what Kaiser wanted. Cecil had other plans. He''d go along with the battle plan, but he''d make sure that not one of his kingdom''s soldiers fell in battle.

 Chapter 310 - Routing the Regulus Army

    Kaiser had all the troops mobilize and soon their plan was put into action. Albert had hastened the army''s movement because Cecil had personally attacked him earlier. He was blinded by anger that he had only ordered his soldiers to quickly hasten their steps to their demise.


    Along the way, they were constantly ambushed by the Silvaria Army. The sudden ambushes caused so many casualties within the Regulus Army''s ranks that Albert only grew more and more incensed.


    He couldn''t believe how cowardly the Silvaria Army was fighting them. They came unsuspectingly in few numbers and quickly attacked before retreating not long after laying waste to a few of his men.


    Initially, the ambushes didn''t affect the Regulus army too much, but as time passed by, the constant harassments had made every soldier alert and on their toes. They were so high-strung that even the smallest of noises would cause them to react and this put a strain on the mental state and morale of the soldiers.


    Albert himself wasn''t helping or doing any better. Instead of remaining calm and coming up with a countermeasure against the ambushes, he was growing angrier by the minute. He only yelled and berated his generals for being incompetent for not being able to stop the ambushes.


    This further destroyed the troops'' morale and the army''s marching speed quickly took a hit. Everyone was being overly cautious to the point that they were moving at a snail''s pace. The most disgusting thing that the Regulus army had to face was that no matter how much they tried to retaliate against the constant ambushes, not one of their enemies had been killed.


    Injured, yes, but killed? No, not one of the Silvaria soldiers had received a life-threatening attack. Cecil and Lucia had a play in all this.


    Upon a small mountain peak that overlooked the pass, Cecil was spreading out his senses and constantly monitoring the Silvaria soldiers'' movements. He was holding onto Lucia''s hand and sharing his vision with her. Lucia would then cast a barrier around any soldier that was about to receive a fatal attack and this helped keep every member of the Silvaria army alive.


    Fatima and her unit were also there to see what was going on, but they only saw Cecil sitting down cross-legged while holding onto Lucia''s hand. Lucia herself also had her eyes closed and was constantly mumbling and waving her other hand and forming a few magic circles in the air that didn''t seem to be doing anything other than just hovering there for a few moments before blinking out of existence.


    "Uhhh... Captain, what are your brother and his wife doing?" A member of the unit asked.


    "He''s protecting all our soldiers," Fatima responded. She had already heard about the details of Cecil''s plan and she approved of him doing it. The only thing she couldn''t understand was with what method Cecil was going to use to try and monitor the whole situation in the mountain pass.


    At first, she thought that he would use a magic spell that would take him to the skies and let him monitor the situation down below, but contrary to her expectations, all Cecil did was find a mountain peak that was overlooking the pass and sit down quietly with his eyes closed.


    "R-Really? He looks like he''s just sitting there... and his wife seems to be doing something crazy..."


    Serilla sighed and spoke up, "Darling is using his Mana Sense... by using mana, he can project his senses into the surrounding 10 kilometers. Everything his Mana comes into contact with, he can see and feel. He''s established a link with Lucia so that she could also see what darling is seeing. This way, without needing to physically be there or see what''s happening, darling can still help out and monitor the situation."


    "O-Okay? Still... I find it hard to believe...it''s like you''re saying he has a radar in his head..." The same doubtful member of the unit said.


    "Hmmm... darling said something similar. I''m not sure what this radar is, but if it''s a device from your world that can be used to detect other life forms or objects, then darling''s Mana Sense is the same."


    After a few hours, Cecil and Lucia both opened their eyes and stood up.


    "Ugh...that was annoying. Can''t believe that idiot prince still hasn''t gotten afraid and turned back by now..." Cecil said.


    "Humu... that fool is only pushing his troops into a dead end... instead of doing anything to bring up the morale, he''s just hurling out complaints and insults at his subordinates," Lucia added.


    "How was it? Did you protect all of our soldiers?" Fatima stepped forward and asked.


    Cecil gave a peace sign and said, "No worries, sis, they''re all alive and healthy. Some of the soldiers even say that a guardian angel is watching over them, hahaha!"


    "Then they would be referring to Lucia. Alright, where is the Regulus Army now?"


    "Just around the corner¡ªoh, here they come."


    Fatima and everyone from her unit saw the Regulus army appear from the corner, they now firmly believed that Cecil had some sort of radar ability. They also looked around and saw the ambushing units appear on the other side of the mountain slope and when they scrutinized their numbers, not a single soldier was missing and the most surprising part was that no one was injured.


    They all gave Lucia and Cecil an admiring look and Fatima nodded inwardly in delight and she ordered for the unit to quickly rush down the mountain peak and get into their positions. The Regulus army still had their formation placed farther away from the walls.


    It seems that they had already received news of the Silvaria Kingdom''s cannons and roughly estimated their range. They began setting up an encampment and once the soldiers and mages got into formation and all of their siege weapons and equipment were reassembled, Albert had his Generals order the army to quickly attack.


    There was no strategy or anything. The army only uniformly rushed forwards with a protective barrier conjured by their mages protecting the vanguard from all attacks. Kaiser had already begun firing the cannons from the walls, but he was a little surprised that the enemy didn''t experience as many casualties as he had intended.


    The barrier protecting the vanguard was able to protect the soldiers behind it. Some cannon shells slipped past or were able to penetrate the barriers, but those were far too few. The destroyed barriers were also quickly replaced and for the shells that did make it past, their effects weren''t so prominent due to the magical enchantments that the enemy soldiers had on their armor.


    Just as the enemy vanguard was about halfway through the path leading to their walls, Kaiser immediately opened up the gates and had his troops form ranks in front of the walls. They had already prepared some traps, placed ditches and trenches in front of the gates and there were large metal spikes and barbed wires placed all around the front area of the gate.


    This would hinder the enemy soldiers from advancing and while they were busy trying to make their way through the wired field full of traps and obstacles, the Silvaria soldiers would try to dispatch as many of them as they can by using arrows, ballistae, and the ''Light Bolts'' that Fatima had taught them.


    As for the soldiers that were somehow able to survive this, they''d be met by the iron wall of soldiers blocking their paths. Unlike the last war where the Silvaria army was reduced to a hapless state, in this war, both sides were somewhat on even grounds.


    With no device to hinder their usage of mana, a single Silvaria soldier could rival 5 men from the opposing army. They didn''t know it yet, but the Earthlings had a natural advantage in physique and mana compared to the native humans of Alterna.


    Once the fighting on the frontlines had begun in full swing, Fatima immediately issued the order for the ambushing unit and her unit to descend the mountainside and attack the flanks and backlines of the Regulus Army.


    Everyone, including Serilla and Lucia rushed down the mountainside and began attacking the enemy army down below. In this battle, Angelia''s monster army was also deployed. Although the little girl wasn''t present on the scene, the monster army was able to cooperate well with the earthlings and mow down the Regulus army.


    It was too easy and Fatima didn''t even feel the need to implement the latter half of the plan where they needed retreat and regroup. The enemy soldiers had low morale already and when they saw the Silvaria army rushing down from the mountainside accompanied by a few large monsters, most of the soldiers cowered and didn''t even try to put up a fight.


    For the ones that immediately dropped their weapons and gave up, the Silvaria soldiers would only knock them out and toss them away.


    Cecil hadn''t rushed down and only continued to maintain his Mana Sense on the entire battlefield. He kept a constant eye on every Silvaria soldier. Without anyone noticing, a small copy of himself had appeared just next to him.


    "Hey Master~ are you not going to fight?" Silver asked as he viewed the battle that was currently ongoing down below.


    "No need, Lulu and Seri are already taking care of my part. I''ll just stay up here and make sure not one of my kingdom''s soldiers fall."


    "Alright~ well, should I head out and help you protect them?"


    "Yeah, did you bring your big sister with you?"


    "I''m right here Master Cecil," Yuna said as she walked out of a Misty Gate.


    "Stay here with me, I''ll need your help to pull out any soldier that needs saving from the battlefield."


    "Alright."


    Silver stretched his body a little before he quickly jumped up and landed himself in the middle of the Regulus army. He howled and began attacking every enemy soldier around him. He had shape-shifted into his battle form and all his beast-like features had appeared on him.


    This was Silver''s humanoid battle form and it was the same as Cecil''s shape-shifted form that he had used in the previous war. All of Silver''s abilities were enhanced and he was practically a humanoid weapon at this point.


    Yuna''s eyes followed after the shape-shifted Silver and she couldn''t help but lick her lips.


    "Yuna, stay focused please. You can do that all you want after the battle..."


    "Eh? Ah! Uhm...s-sorry Master Cecil..."


    "My gosh, just what did that brat do to make you fall for him this much?"


    "Ehehehe~" Yuna began laughing bashfully at his words.


    The two remained on the mountainside and Cecil would occasionally tell Yuna to open up a gate to bring away one of the soldiers he had spotted that was in danger, but Cecil was honestly quite surprised. The Regulus soldiers couldn''t even hold a candle to the Silvaria soldiers.


    The enemy needed at least a few soldiers to attack just one of the Silvaria soldiers to put them in some form of danger, and this wasn''t guaranteed to occur because the Silvaria soldiers had each other''s backs.


    The only times when one of them would be put into mortal danger was when a magic spell had suddenly struck them without warning which would give the enemy soldiers the chance to quickly attack the fallen soldier.


    Cecil didn''t allow this to happen, of course. Whenever he saw such a rare occurrence happen on the battlefield, he would quickly have Yuna open up a Misty Gate and pull the soldier out of harm''s way.


    A few befuddled soldiers were lying on the ground a few meters away from Cecil''s location and after healing them up, the soldiers would thank him and immediately rush back down the mountain to join the fray once more. The battle continued deep into the night before the Regulus army finally sounded their horn for retreat.


    The Silvaria army had a complete advantage during the entire battle to the point where they pushed back the Regulus army to their encampment. It was only when the situation was truly dire that Albert sounded the horn for retreat.


    Kaiser didn''t bother having his troops pursue them. Once he had everyone regroup, he was astonished and pleasantly surprised to find that not a single one of his soldiers had been killed. There were no casualties in this battle and once he heard the report about Cecil''s part in all of this from Fatima, he immediately thanked his son.


    Although the enemy had retreated, the conflict still wasn''t over. There was a need for Albert to answer for his crimes against the Silvaria Kingdom and then there was the score that Cecil had to settle with the Second Prince.

 Chapter 311 - Towards Regulus

    Back at the Silvaria family''s estate, Cecil was getting his wagon ready. They weren''t going to retaliate against the Regulus Kingdom''s attack but they were going over to demand an explanation from them.


    Rowan, Fatima, and Kaiser were also coming, along with a few members of the Kingdom''s Council families. It would be a somewhat large entourage escorted by a small regiment of soldiers.


    They had already sent a messenger to the kingdom to seek an audience with the King. They hadn''t received a reply just yet, but it wasn''t like Cecil was going to take no for an answer. If needed, he''d break through the city''s gates and march into the castle. He was going to find the bastard who had tried to **** his wife.


    On this journey, from his group only Lucia, Serilla, and Quinn were going to be coming this time. They had to make room for Kaiser, Rowan, and Fatima so Ren, Silver, and Yuna had to stay behind.


    "Hmmm... this is a peculiar vehicle. Is this also created by magic?" Kaiser asked as he inspected the interior of the Wanderer.


    On the side, the rest of the family also looked back at Cecil for an explanation.


    "More or less, I expanded the interior''s space using a high-leveled magic array that I was able to acquire and upgrade from Lucia''s mother. Ren also helped out and we were able to expand the space even further after a few trials. The outside has been layered with a few defensive arrays and there are arrays inscribed in the interior and exterior that enhances the wagon''s overall durability and sturdiness."


    "Teacher, don''t forget that about the Levitation array and Stability array that''s used during its flight mode! The stability array keeps the wagon stable when it''s in the air and it also acts as a shock absorber that keeps the wagon from experiencing too much shaking during aerial and ground travels!" Ren quipped up as he moved around the wagon and began inspecting the arrays.


    "Oh yeah...there was that too," Cecil said. He was looking around the interior with his Mana Eyes and his father finally questioned him about it.


    "By the way son, what happened to your eyes?"


    "Hm?"


    "I''m pretty sure my son''s eyes weren''t gold before..." Kaiser said. Now that everyone saw it, they finally realized that Cecil''s eyes were indeed different than how it was before.


    "It''s stated inside the family''s cultivation manual that I gave to Grandfather, but I will say this, not everyone can cultivate these eyes. One wrong move and you''ll blow your eyes out along with your brain."


    "...It''s that dangerous?"


    "These are called Mana Eyes. I''m sure Rowan knows what these are," Cecil said as he turned to look at Rowan.


    "M-Mana Eyes? H-How?! Don''t most children that are born with those die before hitting 12?" Rowan exclaimed in shock.


    "Hm, that''s indeed the case for most children, however, I wasn''t born with Mana Eyes. I cultivated mine."


    "I-Is that possible?" Rowan incredulously asked.


    "For other people, it''s impossible. Only my family can," Cecil replied. This was a lie. All the Earthlings could learn how to cultivate it, but if they did so recklessly, they''d only be met with a gruesome ending like those children who were born with Mana Eyes.


    Cecil was a little bit lucky that he hadn''t destroyed his vision and brain while cultivating the Mana Eyes. When he was turning the technique into a plausible cultivation art, he had stumbled upon many obstacles that he hadn''t previously encountered before.


    There were risks and dangers to cultivating the technique and it was fortunate that he was able to dodge all those risks and dangers during his childhood. Cecil had written down those risks and dangers he had found in the cultivation manual of the Mana Eyes which he had already given to his Grandfather.


    He had also created cultivation manuals for his other skills such as the Ascending Blade, Flash Cannon, Barrier, Mana Burst, and Mana Sense. Since not everyone would be able to cultivate the Mana Eyes safely, they needed a guide. All those techniques were easy for Cecil to execute precisely because he had Mana Eyes. His control over mana was sublime that he could create his techniques by himself.


    The risks to cultivating Mana Eyes were clearly stated inside its cultivation manual so probably not many in the family would think of cultivating the technique.


    Kaiser couldn''t help but click his tongue in displeasure. He also wanted to go cultivate the techniques that his son had given to them, but here he was busy with foreign diplomatic affairs.


    "That old man..."


    "You can cultivate those next time, honey. Just go and resolve this problem first," Anastasia quipped up.


    "Yes, ma''am."


    Next to Ren, Angelia was curiously looking around and couldn''t help but quip up.


    "So... Ren made this too?"


    "Hm? No, I only helped Teacher improve it. I didn''t do much and it was mostly Teacher that did everything..." Ren replied to the girl who was curiously looking at the Wanderer.


    "Well, we should get going. We have school~" Angelia said.


    "School... ugh, learning from Teacher is already enough for me...why do I have to go to school?"


    "You can''t say that! You''ll grow up to become a useless person if you don''t go to school!"


    "U-useless person?!"


    "Yup! Now, if you don''t want to become a useless idiot, you''d better come with me to school!"


    "...tsk, fine..." Ren clicked his tongue in displeasure but he reluctantly agreed with Angelia.


    Ren walked over to Cecil who had just finished inspecting the wagon once more and said, "T-Teacher... I''ll be going now..."


    "Take care and pay attention to class," Cecil replied.


    "Take care little Ren, make sure you get along with everyone at school!" Serilla added.


    "Don''t cause trouble Ren, you''ll get a beating later if you do," Lucia said as she handed Ren his lunchbox.


    "Y-Yes..."


    Angelia also bade farewell to her parents and waited for Ren. The two walked out together from the family''s estate and went to school. Normally, Angelia would ride on Mao to school, but she was being considerate of Ren so she decided to just head out early and walk to school.


    "Hmmm, don''t they make a cute couple," Anastasia said.


    "Don''t even think about it, Mom. That kid is going back to Machina Reggio after he completes his training with me. Most importantly, I won''t let that little lecher get together with my sister." Cecil said in a flat tone.


    "Oh yah, what''s wrong with little Ren~?"


    "Everything, he''s my disciple and we practically treat him as our family''s child. So think about it from my perspective. How could I let my ''son'' date, my sister?"


    "Oh yah, yah, well aren''t you amusing, son? Rather than having an ''adopted'' grandchild, when are you going to give me a few grandchildren?" Anastasia replied while looking at him meaningfully.


    Cecil blushed and furiously replied, "M-Mom!"


    "Don''t worry, Mother, we''ll give you grandchildren soon~" Serilla quipped up and grabbed onto Cecil''s arm.


    Lucia also agreed and grabbed onto Cecil''s other arm.


    "Yup~"


    "Oh my, aren''t you the fortunate one, Cel?" Anastasia teased.


    Cecil only grumbled in response and quickly finished the preparations for the wagon.


    "Already, we''re ready. Get on and let''s go meet up with the others who are waiting at the gates."


    The members who were going quickly got on the wagon and the ones remaining saw them off.


    Cecil was manning the driver seat and quickly urged Sleipnir to go. Once they met up with the rest of the entourage who were gathered at the gates, the group set off immediately.


    "It''ll take a few days before we reach the capital. For now, just relax and do what you want. Father, if you are impatient and want to learn about the things I gave to Grandfather, I''ll help you with it now."


    "Ah, now we''re talking! Just sitting around and doing nothing for a few days would be pretty boring. How about we go and spar later when we stop to rest?" Kaiser replied.


    "Up to you old man, but don''t expect me to lose," Cecil replied.


    "Heh, talking big now, are we? Don''t regret it later when I beat you into the ground, you''ll only end up embarrassing yourself in front of your wives!"


    "Tsk, you think I''m still the same little kid as before, don''t you?"


    "Hmph, in my eyes, you''ll always be that same little boy!"


    Cecil shrugged and only nodded back in response. He was his father''s son after all. No matter how old or how big he''s grown, nothing''s going to change in his father''s eyes.


    "I''ve been curious sine earlier, Cecil, but how were you separated from your family?" Rowan asked.


    Cecil didn''t turn around and simply replied, "I''m not sure either. When I came to, I was inside of a large forest and was soon attacked by a large Blade Ursa."


    "So you weren''t kidnapped or anything, huh?"


    "Yeah, it felt like someone dragged me there through teleportation or something..."


    "What a mystery, but it might have something to do with Alterna''s guardian deities. They''re the only beings in this world that are capable of doing that," Rowan said.


    "Guardian Deities? Are they something similar to the World Tree?"


    "The World Tree IS one of the deities. Most of them are sentient and can communicate with their protectors. In this case, the World Tree''s protectors or caretakers are the elves."


    "Do humans have one?"


    "Well... we do have one, but I hear that it''s lost somewhere in the No-Man''s Land."


    "I see..."


    "It used to be impossible for anyone to inhabit the lands where your family''s kingdom is located in because of the monsters roaming around the place, but now we have your kingdom in there so maybe we can start sending adventurers to explore the area."


    "Adventurers huh... I don''t like them," Cecil replied.


    "Huh? Aren''t you one yourself?"


    "With my Kingdom in mind, adventurers aren''t anything good. They come and go as they please and have free access to all of the Kingdom''s lands. They kill monsters and take their materials and sell them only to the adventurer guild that pays a minor tax to the kingdom..."


    "...I never thought of it in that perspective..."


    "Hmph, that''s because the adventurer guild has always been rooted in your kingdom from a long time ago. Don''t expect them to build a branch in our Kingdom. I won''t allow it," Cecil said.


    "Is that how you see them, son?"


    "The only reason adventurers are prevalent is because they are people who have no jobs or permanent places of residence... since everyone in our kingdom has a job and goes to school, we don''t need them. If we do need a group of volunteers to explore or subjugate monsters, we can just have our kingdom establish recruitment orders or missions."


    Kaiser nodded and began to contemplate deeply to Cecil''s words. He had received a request from the Adventurer guild from the Regulus Kingdom to build a guild branch inside their land, but he had put it on hold because of the recent events.


    Now that Cecil gave him his two cents about the Adventurer Guild, Kaiser was inclined to not permit them. He''d essentially be giving foreign people access to his kingdom and this wasn''t something that he wanted.


    There were many secrets inside his kingdom that he''d rather not have outsiders be privy to. Not to mention that most of the kingdom''s residents weren''t natives of Alterna.

 Chapter 312 - Resolving Their Conflicts

    It took a few days for the Silvaria group to arrive at Regulus'' capital city. Nothing, in particular, happened on the way. Only the occasional times when Cecil and Kaiser would spar with each other and each time, Cecil would have his ass handed to him.


    They were now currently waiting at the city''s best inn and Cecil and Kaiser had just finished a match.


    "Hahahaha! Son, you''re a hundred years too early to even think about defeating me!"


    "Tch..."


    The two had just finished sparring for a few rounds and once again, Cecil had ended up losing to his father. Cultivation-wise he was indeed much stronger than his father, but in terms of technique and skill, even Cecil had to admit that he was inferior.


    This was a given because if Kaiser lost to his son who was a few decades younger than him then all the training that he had put in all his life would have been in vain. Serilla and Lucia were surprised because the two had never seen their husband actually experience a genuine loss.


    "...Dad can be such a kid sometimes," Fatima said.


    "Father-in-law is strong," Serilla replied.


    "Yup, this is the first time I''m seeing Cel losing so miserably..."


    "Well, if Cecil had used his mana and ki, he wouldn''t lose," Fatima argued.


    "Yeah, but a loss is a loss. Cel already gave Father the method to cultivate Mana and Ki so once they get on the same level, wouldn''t Cecil lose?"


    "...Lulu, aren''t you supposed to be defending your husband?"


    Lucia only grinned back at Fatima and said, "Cel isn''t one to mind about that. I believe that he''ll get to the point where he can beat his own father one day!"


    They had to put a hold on their conversation because a soldier brought in a report that the King of Regulus had accepted Kaiser''s request for a meeting. Everyone going to attend the meeting quickly got ready and after a few hours of preparing themselves, Cecil, Lucia, and everyone else who was going to meet the king quickly set off.


    It took a while because the women who were coming along had taken a long time preparing. Cecil scowled at the thought that his two wives had to dress up just to meet the king. When they arrived at the castle''s great hall, a sickly old man greeted them from the throne.


    "Ah, Kaiser...how are you¡ª" Before the old man could finish his words, he began coughing and a maid had to bring him a cup of water before he stopped.


    "...You don''t seem to be doing so well," Kaiser replied after the old king stopped coughing.


    "It''s just my health. I''m old after all."


    "I see... but I''m sure you should know why I''m here, yes?"


    "...Yes..."


    "Well, I''d like an answer. Was it you who ordered the attack...or was it your incompetent son?" Kaiser said before he dangerously eyed Albert who was standing not far away from the throne.


    "...I have no excuses to give to you, Kaiser. What my son did was rash and thoughtless¡ª"


    "Thoughtless? Your son waged war on an allied kingdom! Although not a single one of my soldiers had fallen, what about yours? I know for a fact that your son had sent his men to their death that day."


    The old king began coughing again and glared at his son. In his mind, he couldn''t believe how incompetent and foolish this crown prince was. He had branded his own brother a traitor and attacked an allied kingdom. The worst thing was that he had returned with his tail tucked between his legs and lost nearly half of the kingdom''s soldiers in a meaningless battle that shouldn''t have happened.


    "I''m not going to ask for compensation from your kingdom, but you should think about how to compensate your soldiers'' families! With this unwanted war, your son has implanted in the minds of the citizens that we were the ones that killed their husbands, sons, parents..."


    "..."


    "I also came today to return to you the soldiers who surrendered or were found alive on the battlefield. I don''t want any enmity with your kingdom because my daughter is going to be married to one of your sons, but I won''t agree to the marriage if Albert becomes your successor!"


    "What?! Shut up old man! Who are you to meddle in our kingdom''s affairs?!"


    "Who am I? I''m the one that spared your pathetic LIFE!" Kaiser bellowed as he released his Intent and focused it onto the prince. Albert immediately paled and fell to his knees once he was subjected to the intense pressure.


    "You think that you would be alive right now if I wasn''t magnanimous?! I could have sent my son to kill you the moment the battle started!"


    "U-Urkk....grrhhhh..."


    "Know some humility, boy. Even your father doesn''t dare slight me, so who are you?"


    The king frowned a little at Kaiser''s words, but what he said was true. Unlike Albert, the King had already visited the Silvaria Kingdom once as a guest so he knew a little bit of the small kingdom''s power.


    Not just any small kingdom or power could firmly establish themselves inside the No-Man''s Land which was inhabited by all sorts of high-tiered monsters. It was painfully obvious that the Silvaria Kingdom''s military prowess was much higher than his own Kingdom''s, the King understood this, but he couldn''t believe that his own son couldn''t.


    The King had already noticed the mediocrity of his firstborn compared to his other two sons, Rowan and Armano. Armano''s character was unbecoming so the King didn''t even consider him, but after Rowan was born, he began having second thoughts about his decision of the crown prince.


    "...Kaiser, can you stop, please?"


    "...You should teach him better. No member of any royal family should have the arrogance to address others like lower beings. All humans are equal, regardless of their social stature. Belittling a ''peasant'' just because of their status in society only proves that you are a narrow-minded fool," Kaiser preached before he retracted his Intent.


    "...I will strip Albert''s title as crown prince and appoint Rowan as the new heir to the throne," The old King announced before he started coughing again. His body''s condition had really turned for the worst as he continued coughing for a while before it subsided.


    "I also brought my subordinates who also want to re-discuss the terms to our kingdom''s trade relations, the fact that the Regulus Kingdom allowed the Merkruz Army to walk through their lands and attack my kingdom will not be overlooked."


    "...The Prime Minister will be in charge of negotiations on our end."


    Kaiser nodded and whispered something to the man who was a few steps behind him. This man was the current head of the Sciezle family, Harrison Sciezle. Since the Sciezle family was in charge of the kingdom''s foreign affairs, Kaiser handed over the task to him.


    The Prime Minister of Regulus and Harrison both exited the room to begin their negotiations and once they were finished, they would quickly convey the agreed terms to the two Kings. Once both Kings approved of the new arrangements, they''d sign the agreement.


    "Also, I''m only going to inform you this, but we''re going to attack Merkruz sometime in the future. I won''t let their transgression go unanswered."


    The old King was surprised at Kaiser''s declaration and so was everyone from Silvaria. Only Cecil, Fatima, and a few from their entourage understood Kaiser''s reasoning. It was just how the Silvaria Family operated. If one helped them, then they would receive an even larger bounty from the Silvarias. However, if you wronged them, then expect a huge retaliation.


    "I see... so you will attack them. I don''t have much to say because it is your kingdom''s affairs, but is there still something, Kaiser?"


    "...Yes, there is still another thing that needs to be addressed, Nemus," Kaiser replied.


    Nemus, the old king, shifted uncomfortably in his throne. Before Kaiser had even explained what more conflicts there were between their kingdoms, he already felt awful. He couldn''t help but glare at his son who was at the side and thought, what other conflicts were there? He turned his attention back to Kaiser and asked slowly, "What is it?"


    "Let me introduce to you my son, the Crown Prince of Silvaria."


    Kaiser gestured towards Cecil who had remained inconspicuous the entire time. Cecil looked up and sighed. He stepped forward and greeted the king with a polite bow.


    "Nice to meet you, Your Majesty, I''m Cecil Silvaria."


    "Cecil? Ah, you must be the missing child."


    "Yes, that''s me."


    Nemus nodded and turned to Kaiser, "Is this what you wanted to address, Kaiser? Surely, introductions can be done after we''ve resolved our conflicts."


    "This problem pertains to matters about my son..."


    Nemus'' attention was once again on Cecil and the young man before him spoke up, "A prince of your kingdom tried to **** my wife."


    His simple and straightforward words had everyone in the great hall that wasn''t in the know blank out for a moment. Once Nemus had processed Cecil''s words he immediately stood up and shouted, "What?!"


    He immediately glared at Albert and looked around for his other son, Armano. When he noticed that his second son wasn''t present, Nemus paled a little.


    "I-It can''t be! Wa-was it¡ª"


    "It was Armano, father," Rowan stepped forward and said. He also pulled out his MID and showed the recording of Armano''s offense. Cecil hadn''t seen it yet, but when he caught sight of the video from the corner of his eyes, the mana in the air around him began to grow turbulent.


    "THAT BASTARD¡ªhack, kahack!" King Nemus bellowed. His loud, angry shout only caused him to start coughing again as he continued incoherently while pointing and glaring at Albert, "Krggh¡ªy-you bastards, a-all you know is¡ªcough¡ªgive me¡ªcough, cough¡ªmore problems!"


    He had heard from Albert that Armano had been framed for something he didn''t do and was almost killed. Albert didn''t tell him anything specific, but his son had reported that Fatima and Rowan were the masterminds and the two tried to pin the blame on Armano so that they''d have a perfect excuse to execute his second son.


    However, when Nemus saw the crime that Armano had committed, he immediately understood that there was no way that Rowan or Fatima had staged it. He already knew about Armano''s nature and the consecutive offenses that he had committed.


    Once Nemus'' coughing subsided, he looked gloomily at Kaiser and asked, "H-How will this problem be resolved?"


    The war from earlier should have been a point of no return for their kingdoms'' peaceful relations. However, Kaiser was magnanimous enough to not break their relations and fall out with them. Now, no matter how magnanimous Kaiser was, his daughter-in-law had nearly been defiled by Nemus'' son and this wasn''t something that could be discussed and solved in a peaceful way.


    Kaiser only turned to look at his son and responded, "The offense was committed towards my son, so I''ll let him handle it."


    Nemus turned towards Cecil and waited for his response. Cecil looked up coldly at the king and said, "I won''t ask for his death because this seems unfair to your side, and as a father, I know you won''t readily agree to it although he was the one who committed the crime. So instead, I request to duel with him. If he can beat me, then he may keep his life...but if he loses...swords and blades are blind so you can''t blame me if he dies in battle."


    Nemus frowned when he heard the latter half of Cecil''s words. If the young prince had asked for an execution, he would have tried to persuade Kaiser from it and instead compensate Cecil for his son''s offense. The woman in the video had been saved in the end so he could still try and plead for his son''s life but now that Cecil had only asked for a duel it would be unreasonable for him to decline. Their lives were now placed within their own hands and the outcome was determined by whoever was more skilled.


    He had long since noticed that Cecil wasn''t a simple man. Being the son of Kaiser and the crown prince of Silvaria that Nemus believed to be a kingdom of warriors, there was no doubt in his mind that Cecil was skilled.


    However, he also believed in his son''s skills as well. Armano''s skill with the sword and with his magic was without a doubt top tier. During the war against Merkruz, only Armano and Rowan were able to eke out a win during their losing battles before Fatima had stepped in to turn the tides around.


    While Rowan had won his battles because of his beloved''s advice, Armano had won his due to his sword. Armano was a fool, but he was a skilled fool. It was too bad that his opponent this time was Cecil... a very angry Cecil. His ending wasn''t going to be good and Cecil was going to make sure of it.


    After the king thought it over for a bit, he ultimately gave Cecil his consent to the duel.


    "We will hold the duel 3 days from now."


    "Thank you, Your Majesty," Cecil bowed politely in thanks. He turned around and smiled darkly.

 Chapter 313 - Wash Your Neck

    It wasn''t long after Cecil had announced his request that a commotion was heard behind the doors leading into the great hall. Everyone turned their attention towards the door and not long after it was abruptly swung open and a few people entered.


    "Y-Your Highness, please!" A maid said while trying to pull back the man at the forefront.


    "Unhand me, fool!"


    "S-Son, you can''t just¡ªah¡ªY-Your Majesty!" A woman wearing a veil called out in a fl.u.s.ter. This was Nemus'' concubine and was Armano''s mother. She had been trying to prevent Armano from rushing into the great hall, but it was to no avail.


    Nemus who was sitting on the throne glowered at the group of people who had just barged in, particularly the person leading them, his son the second prince, Armano Regulus.


    "I heard all about this duel! And where''s that bitch!"


    Cecil''s arm twitched when he heard the newcomer''s words. He already knew who this man was and who the man was referring to. Cecil eyed the man and reeled in his anger and killing intent.


    ''You''re not going to have a pleasant death...''


    When Armano looked around he spotted both Serilla and Quinn and he bellowed, "So that bastard and that bitch are both here! You both will pay for¡ª"


    "SILENCE!" Nemus roared. This time he didn''t start hacking after his roar, he was so angry right now. Just looking at his son who kept on bringing him troubles, he had the urge to just lock him up in the castle''s dungeons.


    "F-Father! Th-these are the two people who¡ª"


    "Guards, silence this whelp!"


    The guards around immediately stepped forward, but didn''t understand what to do. How could they silence the prince?


    "...Maybe I should help with that?" Quinn offered as he dangerously eyed Armano. He had only emitted a sliver of his killing intent but it was enough to cause Armano to flinch and turn silent for a moment.


    "Bastard! Do you think you can get away with¡ªargh!" Out of nowhere, Rowan came up and slammed his fist right into Armano''s jaw.


    "Father told you to stay silent, fool."


    "R-Rowan! You asshole¡ªargh!"


    Rowan only replied with another fist to the face. This time, Armano finally shut himself up and the king spoke up.


    "If this was an Empire or a Revertia princess, you would have been immediately executed, you fool! Just know that Kaiser and his son have shown you some magnanimity by sparing your life from an execution!"


    "..."


    "...you will take matters into your own hands by dueling with the Silvaria Kingdom''s Crown Prince! Whether you live or die is in your hands now! I just ask that Silvaria''s crown prince be the bigger man here and not execute my son..." Nemus implored as he turned his attention back onto Cecil.


    Cecil neither answered the king''s question nor did he pay attention to the ruckus that Armano had caused upon his arrival. He was busy ''consoling'' his wife who was ''frightened'' upon seeing Armano.


    Serilla was ''hiding'' behind Cecil, but it was more like Cecil was shielding her eyes away from the prince. Lucia was also beside Serilla and she was holding onto her. Both Cecil and Lucia could already tell that Serilla had snapped when she heard Armano referring to her as a bitch. Serilla wanted to just go over and shut him up forever.


    That menial task was handed over to Cecil, however. He didn''t want his wife to dirty her hands so he and Lucia had been pacifying and persuading Serilla from doing anything rash like attacking the prince.


    "Seri, calm down, okay? Let me handle this," Cecil quietly whispered. As he lightly stroked Serilla''s back in an attempt to calm her down.


    "...Mhm..."


    "He''ll get what''s coming to him, Seri, don''t you worry, Cel will make sure of that so we should just wait for the outcome," Lucia added.


    To the people around, Cecil''s silent conversation and interaction with Serilla were like a husband consoling his wife and Lucia looked like a younger sister that was trying to calm down her elder sister. Kaiser''s composed look nearly crumbled when he saw the slightly trembling Serilla. Only Fatima and Quinn were able to see what was truly happening.


    There was no way Serilla was trembling due to fear. It was more like she was angered to the extreme that Cecil and Lucia had to quickly try and calm her nerves so that she wouldn''t directly attack Armano here and now.


    Armano finally noticed Cecil who was shielding away Serilla. He concluded that this man was probably the two ladies'' husband and began sizing him up.


    "Is this the husband? Hah, only a shrimp! You think you''ll be able to defeat me in a duel?!"


    Cecil didn''t respond and only ignored, he hadn''t paid any mind to Armano since he had first entered the hall. His blatant disregard angered Armano and he immediately stood up and yelled, "Hey, bastard! I''m talking to you!"


    Once more, no response, Armano was fuming and just as he was about to charge at him, Rowan pushed him back and stopped him.


    "Are you purposefully trying to make a ruckus?!"


    "Shut up Rowan, I''m not talking to you!"


    Once Serilla looked like she was no longer angry, Cecil finally turned his attention to the other people in the room. He had been purposefully ignoring Armano since earlier so when he saw the man, Cecil acted like he was surprised and turned to ask Quinn who this person was.


    "He''s the second prince of Regulus, Master..."


    "Oh..." Cecil only nodded. He didn''t bother to even acknowledge Armano''s presence and turned to look back at Serilla.


    Armano snapped and immediately yelled, "Hey!"


    Cecil turned his attention onto the man who had just yelled and asked, "Need something?"


    "Y-You! You''re the fool who I''m going to be dueling, right?"


    Cecil didn''t bother to respond and only blankly stared back at him.


    "How about we make a bet? If I win this duel, you give me both of your wives!"


    His thoughtless words frustrated both Nemus and Kaiser. Both of the kings were about to snap out at him, but Cecil beat them to the punch.


    "Heh...so does that mean you''re forfeiting your life for this...bet?"


    "Huh?"


    "You want my wives? Then what will you give me if I win? Your life? Pfft, your life doesn''t amount to a single hair on either of my wives. I was planning on sparing you, but I think I''ll slowly kill you later in the ring." Cecil coldly said.


    "You think¡ª"


    "Wash your neck, whoever you are," Cecil quickly cut him off. He then turned to look meaningfully at Nemus before smirking at him. The king could only grimace at this. His son had just literally dug a hole for himself.


    Cecil left those words behind and turned around to leave the hall. Serilla, Lucia, and Quinn followed after him. This act was a little disrespectful, but Cecil had long since lost any sense of respectability for the Regulus Kingdom.


    He was here to settle an account with their family, but instead of receiving even a little bit of remorse from them, he instead had to listen to his wife being insulted. Cecil was planning to be a little merciful by letting Armano live for the sake of the Regulus King.


    Nemus was a father before he was a king so it was only natural that he wanted Cecil to spare his son, but that opportunity flew out the window. He was now going to make sure that Armano''s last moments weren''t going to be a pleasant one.


    When Cecil arrived outside of the castle, he turned back and inadvertently said, "Maybe I should tear this place apart as well?"


    "C-Cel?!"


    "Darling! D-don''t say something so dangerous!"


    Serilla and Lucia immediately reprimanded. Although Serilla had been fuming earlier, it seemed that her husband was holding back even more anger and rage.


    "It''s just a passing thought. I mean, if I ''accidentally'' aim an Ascending Blade or a Flash Cannon at the castle¡ª"


    "You''re thinking way too dangerously, darling!"


    "Think about the innocent people that might get hurt because of that ''passing thought''!" Lucia quipped.


    Cecil shrugged and got onto the carriage that had brought them to the castle. They returned to their inn and changed out of their formal clothes before Cecil took his two wives out to roam the city.


    When he looked around, he noticed that the kingdom was severely lacking in able-bodied men. The only males left that he saw were those at their later half in life. After Cecil shared his observations with Lucia and Serilla, they finally understood the reason behind the gloomy atmosphere that seemed to be hanging in the air of the city.


    "Master, when the Merkruz Principality first attacked the Regulus Kingdom, they experienced loss after loss and many of their soldiers were killed in battle. If it wasn''t because of Lady Fatima, the Regulus Kingdom''s state would be more appalling and they might have already been conquered by Merkruz."


    "I see... how unfortunate. They were being led by a few incompetent men. Rowan is satisfactory at best, well, at least compared to his brothers. Although I''ve sparred with Rowan, I still can''t understand why Fatima fell in love with a man who''s much weaker than herself," Cecil shook his head in slight confusion.


    "Then why did you marry us, darling? We''re weaker than you," Serilla said with a sly smile.


    "..."


    "See? Even you don''t know the answer! You should measure how others feel, okay darling? You may know your sister, but it''s been 6 years since you saw each other. She''s changed a lot and so have you!"


    "I guess..." Cecil replied with a shrug.


    "Hey, Cel, let''s go eat something! I''m a little hungry!"


    "Alright, let''s go."

 Chapter 314 - Duel

    When Cecil and his wives went out for a meal, Quinn had excused himself from joining them. He was going to head back to their accommodations and wait for the King and everyone else.


    Right after their meal, Quinn had come back to inform the group that Kaiser and everyone from Silvaria was invited by King Nemus to stay at the castle. Cecil declined from joining them. He would rather not stay under the same roof as the person who had tried to assault his wife.


    "I knew you weren''t going to accept it," Fatima said as she walked into the diner that Cecil and his group were eating at.


    "Oh, sis, is something wrong?"


    "Not really, except for the fact that you disrespectfully walked out earlier, nothing is wrong."


    "Heh, you think they deserve my respect? They should be happy that I didn''t cleave their castle in two," Cecil smirked back.


    "Yeah, yeah, I know you''re strong, but don''t go around recklessly using your power!"


    "I know at least that much sis! Look at me, I''m here minding my own business and not looking for trouble!"


    Fatima walked over and began to roughly rub Cecil''s head and mess up his already messy hair. Rowan walked in a little bit later and sat at their table and immediately apologized to Cecil.


    "I''m sorry about before..."


    "Don''t worry, Rowan, I won''t hold you against it. It wasn''t you that was being an asshole."


    "Thank you...this may be a little shameless, but my father would still like you to spare him..."


    Cecil only let out a mocking grin and said, "He had his chance."


    "..."


    "I''ll only say this... his death won''t be a pleasant one. If an animal tried to touch my wife, I''ll naturally put it down."


    "A-Animal... that''s a little harsh," Rowan replied with a strained smile.


    "Was my brother always so foul-mouthed?" Fatima said with a glare.


    Cecil shrugged in reply to her words.


    "By the way, that woman who came with that...what''s his name, is that your mother as well Rowan?"


    "Which woman¡ªoh, you must mean the Royal Concubine, Helda, she Armano''s mother, not mine," Rowan replied.


    "I see... now that I think about it, I don''t think I saw the Queen earlier."


    "The Queen, my mother, passed away while giving birth to me..."


    "Oh... my condolences, Rowan, well at least now I know why that second prince is so stupid while you''re not. Is the first prince also from the queen?"


    "Yes, Albert and I are brothers while Armano is our half-brother."


    Cecil nodded in understanding. After paying the bill, he walked out of the diner with everyone.


    "I won''t promise anything Rowan, but you should just wait for the outcome in 3 days."


    Rowan only nodded, but he was no longer hoping for Cecil to spare his brother''s life. Rowan himself felt ashamed for asking because if it was him in Cecil''s position and someone tried to do something to Fatima, he was certain that he''d do whatever it took to kill the culprit.


    "Since you''re not going to be staying at the castle, we''ll separate here."


    Rowan brought Fatima away towards the castle while Cecil''s group continued towards their inn.


    3 days passed quickly and it was finally the day when Cecil would pass judgment onto the second prince of Regulus.


    During the past 3 days, the duel was advertised throughout the entire kingdom and it had somehow transformed into an exhibition match of sorts. Even Cecil was flabbergasted when he heard this.


    His public ''execution'' had somehow transformed into a public match between the prince and some challenger. Many in the kingdom already knew about Armano''s lecherous ways and duels like this were commonplace, but they weren''t advertised like right now.


    When Cecil''s group arrived at the coliseum which would be the place where the duel would take place, he immediately had Quinn escort his wives to the VIP section where his family was waiting. Cecil had persuaded Lucia and Serilla to not come with him to the waiting rooms because he didn''t want them to accidentally run into Armano.


    Once Cecil was left alone, he roamed around for a bit a saw that the seats inside the coliseum were full of people.


    "Hahaha, they expect me to be lenient since I''m in front of a live audience... that''s smart alright."


    A coliseum staff member spotted him and immediately recognized Cecil as Armano''s challenger. He then led Cecil into the participants'' waiting room and another staff member brought Cecil some refreshments.


    Once he was left alone inside the room, Cecil eyed the refreshments and smirked derisively. ''Poisoning my food with paralyzing agents... are these people stupid or something?''


    He couldn''t understand these people. Did they think that stuff like this wouldn''t go unnoticed? Any mage worth his salt would be able to use a tracing spell and figure out that there was something wrong with the food in front of him.


    ''...they probably don''t know much about me and assumed that I wouldn''t pick up anything wrong from the food.''


    He spread his Mana Sense and saw that the staff member who had brought in his food was secretly using a spell to spy on him. Cecil waited for a bit before he began eating the food slowly. He wasn''t worried about the poisons and extras added into his refreshments.


    With his body''s constitution, no ordinary poison would work on him. The wait for the beginning of the duel was long and he felt extremely bored. He could already tell that this was a tactic to force him to eat all the food in front of him.


    "Haaahhh...so boring..." Cecil mumbled as continued to slowly eat the poisoned food. Once he finished the last of the refreshments, Cecil slyly eyed the door to his room. The little rat that was spying on him had already stopped his spell and was already moving away.


    "Wasn''t he at least a little bit bored from just watching me eat?"


    Inside a waiting room on the opposite end of the coliseum, Armano had just received the report from his subordinate who he had sent to spy on Cecil. When he heard that the poisoned food was thoroughly finished off by the boy, Armano started laughing in delight.


    "Fool! Stupid f.u.c.k.i.n.g fool! After I kill you, I''m going to take your wives! Hahaha, actually no! I''ll cripple you and then **** your wives right in front of you! Then I''ll castrate you and that f.u.c.k.i.n.g butler!" Armano venomously said.


    "Just some squirt who thinks he''s powerful just because he knows how to swing a sword! I''ll show you later what it means to truly hold power!"


    The duel started a few moments later. Cecil''s name was announced and he leisurely walked onto the coliseum''s arena. The spectators began cheering, but they felt a little sorry for the young lad who had just walked in.


    Most of Armano''s opponents in the past were strong-looking fellows and Cecil, who had a delicate build, was judged as a reckless youngster who was out for revenge against the second prince who had probably stolen away his loved one. The announcer didn''t specify his name or status because Cecil hadn''t given the coliseum staff any of his personal information other than his adventurer title, Silent Sword.


    Armano''s name was soon announced and he walked into the arena with a whole lot of fanfare accompanying him. Cecil only yawned when he saw him. Right now, Cecil wasn''t even wearing his proper fighting attire.


    All he had on was a loose shirt and his leather combat pants. On his waist was the coliseum''s sword which was tampered by Armano. He looked so sloppy and unprepared that the crowd began to pity him even more.


    Cecil yawned once again and waited for Armano''s self-important entrance to finish. By the time everything was finished, Cecil was drowsily sitting on the floor of the arena nodding off from time to time.


    "What''s that boy doing?" Kaiser asked lowly. He was a little angry at Cecil because it looked like his son was thoroughly underestimating his opponent.


    Fatima was also frowning and didn''t take kindly to Cecil''s attitude. No matter what, he should still be alert and at the ready. Lucia and Serilla were also puzzled as to why Cecil was acting this way.


    When it came to battles, normally, their husband would treat it with utmost seriousness no matter how weak the opponent he was fighting. While they were puzzled, Armano was inwardly delighted when he saw Cecil acting this way. He attributed it all to his successful poisoning tactic.


    He turned to look up at the audience and eyed the VIP section. He lecherously licked his lips once he saw Lucia and Serilla. It was only after the announcer called out to Cecil that he woke up.


    Cecil stood up and stretched. He then eyed the bug in front of him and followed his eyes. When he noticed that Armano was staring lecherously at his wives, Cecil smiled and said, "If you look away, you might just die."


    "Hm?" Armano''s attention turned back towards Cecil when he heard his opponents'' words.


    "Heh, the only one dying today would be you. Just wait, after this battle, your wives will be mine and I''ll violate them every day!"


    "Hahaha, I thought you lost your manhood? How are you going to do that?"


    "F.u.c.k you! Do you think that it can''t be healed?! I''ll have you know that I''ve fully recovered from your butler''s treacherous attack!"


    "I see... but who''re you again?"


    "...You won''t be mocking me after I''m through with you!"


    Cecil lazily smiled and taunted his opponent, "Come on..."


    The announcer hadn''t even announced the start of the match, but Armano had already dashed towards Cecil after enhancing his body with all kinds of spells and combat techniques.


    ''This guy is slow! It looks like the poison is working!'' Armano inwardly thought and smirked. He thought that Cecil was slow because his opponent hadn''t enhanced his body with any sort of spell yet.


    Armano soon arrived in front of Cecil and swung his sword down. Cecil leaned his body a little and narrowly avoided the attack. Armano was a little surprised but he continued to slash away at Cecil.


    Cecil only lazily dodged his attacks and after a bit, he pulled out the sword strapped to his waist and started parrying Armano''s attacks. The battle had suddenly started and when the audience saw it, they immediately started cheering in excitement.


    Kaiser already noticed that Cecil''s sword had been tampered with. One fine strike on the sword''s body and it would snap in two. Cecil already knew this, but continued parrying Armano''s attacks.


    Armano was a little vexed that even after a while he still wasn''t able to land an attack on Cecil. He upped his speed and began mixing in a few magic spells to attack Cecil, but his opponent only dodged his spells and continued parrying his sword blows.


    Armano tried striking the weak point of Cecil''s blade, but whenever it seemed like his attack was about to connect with the sword''s weak point, it missed and struck a different part. Throughout the entire match, Cecil had a leisure smile plastered on his face as if to mock Armano.


    "Is this all you can do?"


    "What?!"


    "You''re weak... your brother was a much better match than you..."


    "F.U.C.K YOU!"


    Armano charged at Cecil in a frenzy, but every one of his attacks were parried, blocked, or evaded.


    Cecil looked up at the VIP seating area and smiled at Serilla. He was copying what Serilla had done all those years ago when she had defeated Fina and Elizabeth. Serilla started blushing with shame because it wasn''t the most honorable way to win a fight.


    "Darling still remembers that?"


    "What is it Seri?"


    "N-nothing... look, Armano''s being an idiot and attacking darling recklessly. He''s just going to exhaust himself and soon it''ll be darling''s turn to attack."


    "...I don''t see why Cel doesn''t just end the fight right now... this is boring!" Lucia grumbled. All she saw was an unskilled man chasing after and attacking her husband on the arena.


    "Cel''s just leading that fool around by the nose! Do you find this entertaining Seri?"


    "Not entertaining, but satisfying! Darling is going to humiliate that bastard and I''m happy!"


    "So Cel''s only doing this for you, huh? Well, I guess it can''t be helped. It''d be a little boring if that idiot died right away anyways."


    "Right~? Isn''t this much more amusing?"


    The girls were having a dangerous conversation which was heard by everyone around them. Kaiser, Fatima, and Rowan were wondering why Cecil didn''t just end the fight already, but it turns out he was just trying to amuse his wives a little bit.

 Chapter 315 - Taking Things Too Far

    The audience was under the misconception that Armano was pushing Cecil back in the battle and this only made them pity the boy even more. Since the start, Cecil had been retreating and dodging away from all of Armano''s attacks.


    What they didn''t know was that the Prince and Cecil were constantly exchanging mockeries and insults. In their battle of words, Cecil was currently out on top. He was hitting Armano where it hurts and this only caused the man to frenziedly attack Cecil.


    Armano was growing more and more vexed as time passed because he still hadn''t been able to land an attack on his opponent. Finally, he couldn''t take it anymore and roared, "F.U.C.K! Fight me like a man you f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"


    "Oh? But, I don''t think I can do that because aren''t you only half a man?"


    "F-F.U.C.K YOU! I TOLD YOU THAT IT''S BEEN HEALED!"


    "It could just be an illusion though."


    "I-It''s not you bastard!"


    "I find that hard to believe."


    "Just wait until I get my hands on you! Your wives will be begging for me to spare you while I violate them!"


    This time Cecil was the one who snapped and in his anger, he wrapped an absurd amount of mana around his sword and sent an Ascending Blade at Armano. He hadn''t aimed correctly so the Ascending Blade flew past Armano and continued to fly towards the audience.


    Coincidentally, it was heading straight for Albert''s seating area. The Kingdom''s court mage, Conrad, immediately stepped forward and conjured a barrier in front of his liege. When the Ascending Blade struck the barrier, it immediately started breaking apart.


    Conrad widened his eyes in horror, the attack was too powerful. He immediately began to readjust the angle of the barrier in an effort to try and divert Cecil''s attack. Cecil only scoffed when he saw the barrier crumbling. He waved his hand and sent his skill in a different direction.


    The attack destroyed the upper part of the coliseum that it had passed through and a large explosion ensued in the next second. The people inside the coliseum didn''t pay attention to the explosion and only stared in astonishment while many released a relieved breath. They couldn''t believe that the youngster who was on the back foot throughout the entire fight had suddenly pulled out such a strong technique from under his sleeves.


    "Y-You, you!!! You''ve been playing with me!!!"


    "Did you figure that out just now?"


    "Y-you''re going to regret that!!!"


    "Am I?"


    Cecil immediately flashed in front of Armano and swung his sword at him. Before the prince could even register what had just happened, he felt a stinging pain originate from his right arm. Armano looked down in horror when he saw the bloody stump where his right hand used to be.


    "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"


    He raised an agonizing scream when he finally registered that his hand was chopped off.


    "Does it hurt?" Cecil asked.


    He was only met with a vicious glare and a few spells began flying at him. Cecil easily knocked away all of the spells before he sent a weakened Ascending Blade in response to Armano''s attacks.


    The attack only grazed Armano, but a small chunk of his flesh was blown away. This once again caused the prince to shriek in pain. Now, no one in the audience was cheering or even saying anything.


    They had all just regained their wits from the suspenseful attack that Cecil had unleashed earlier and now they were dumbstruck by the cruel attacks Cecil was delivering towards their prince. The tables had suddenly turned and Armano was now being tortured under his opponent''s attacks. Cecil continued sending a flurry of Ascending Blades at Armano and he carved away the prince''s flesh little by little.


    He paid no mind to the horror and dread that was rising within the spectators. His father had been a little too lenient towards the Regulus Kingdom. They had only received a slap on the wrist in return for the first prince''s transgression so if they expected the matter of Armano''s offense against Serilla to be resolved by a simple duel where Cecil would beat Armano up, then they were wrong.


    Cecil already knew that he was going to be hated by the Regulus King, but that was inconsequential. Right now, he was delivering a message to all the Regulus royalty. He thought nothing of their lives or the consequences that came with him slaying a member of their royal family.


    Armano''s mother was already raising a ruckus on the stands and was pleading for the King to make Cecil stop. Kaiser could also see that the King was trembling in anger and was about to speak up but suddenly, an Ascending Blade struck the area close to the location where the Regulus Royal Family and the King were sitting.


    "...if you don''t shut up, I''ll kill all of you next. Do you think that I''m as forgiving as my father? My father only slapped you on the wrist for waging war against our kingdom, but in my opinion, it would have been easier to just level your city and take everything you have for ourselves," Cecil said with a grim smile.


    "..."


    His words immediately silenced everyone. He turned his attention back to Armano who was collapsed on the ground and slowly walked towards him. Cecil stepped on Armano''s face and said, "A weak kingdom that was about to be conquered by Merkruz... without my sister''s assistance where would you all be right now? Slaves, right? Instead of thanking our kingdom for helping you guys, you instead let this little worm try and harm my wife. After that, you even dared to go and attack our kingdom...heh...hahahahaha..."


    In his anger, Cecil resumed his attacks and slowly carved up Armano''s body. The bloody sight wasn''t at all appeasing nor amusing, both Serilla and Lucia were even growing a little scared. Even for their husband, what he was doing right now was a little too cruel. Instead of immediately ending Armano''s life, he continued to slowly toy with him.


    Kaiser could no longer withstand this farce. He immediately stood up and roared at his son.


    "Cecil!"


    "..."


    "Stop this right now! Can''t you see that you''re scaring your wives?!"


    "..."


    Cecil turned to look at Serilla and Lucia. He could see that they were a little scared and were pleading quietly with their eyes for him to quickly stop. He turned his attention back to the worm that was now struggling to crawl away from him before scoffing and tossing away his sword.


    Cecil turned around and walked away. He decided to just leave things as is. His wives were no longer amused but had instead turned frightened which went against his purpose for even punishing Armano.


    "Just you wait, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard, when I''m healed, I''ll return this humiliation 10 folds! Don''t think for a second that your wives are safe as long as I''m alive!" Armano cursed under his breath.


    With his acute senses, Cecil heard Armano''s cursing and stopped. He turned around, raised his hand, and began acc.u.mulating Mana on his outstretched palm. He was going to blast this fool with a Flash Cannon and completely get rid of this worthless piece of trash. Kaiser saw this and once more called out to him.


    "ENOUGH CECIL!"


    Once he heard Kaiser''s roar, Cecil closed his eyes and stopped himself from firing a Flash Cannon at Armano. He slowly turned around and quietly exited from the arena. Nemus and his mistress were already tense on their seats, it was only after Cecil had truly exited from the arena that they released sighs of relief. They had clearly felt the immense killing intent Cecil was directing at their son just now.


    If Kaiser hadn''t spoken up when he did, there was no doubt that Armano would have died today. Nemus released a relieved sigh and turned to look at Kaiser with a complicated expression. It was this man''s son who had tortured and nearly ended his own son''s life but in the end, it was because of this man that his son was spared.


    "K-Kaiser..."


    "Save it Nemus, I only did that because I didn''t want my son to stain his hands with the blood of a fool."


    "..."


    "Before you are a king, you are a father. You better learn how to rein in your children! Otherwise, if you offend another kingdom, they might not be as lenient as mine," Kaiser advised before standing up to leave.


    "We''ll be returning now, no need to see us off."


    Kaiser left behind those words and exited the coliseum with everyone else from Silvaria. Once they were out, Kaiser immediately had his men prepare for their departure. He, Lucia, Serilla, Fatima, and Rowan waited for Cecil to come out.


    It didn''t take long before they spotted Cecil nonchalantly walking out of the coliseum. When he spotted them, Cecil immediately walked over.


    "...did it feel good?" Kaiser questioned his son.


    "Not at all, I''ve already felt this empty feeling 3 times. It''s nothing new."


    "Hmph, was it fun going out and frightening your wives?"


    "..." Cecil twitched a little when he heard this.


    "Mocking him and playing around should have been the limit, but once you crossed the line and started torturing your opponent..." Kaiser shook his head and didn''t continue his words. He released an exasperated sigh before saying, "You may not care what the people in this kingdom think about you, but be mindful of your family. I''m confident that we don''t want you acting the way you were just now."


    Cecil pondered for a moment before he nodded and apologized.


    "...Yes, father. I''m sorry..."


    "You should be saying that to Lucia and Serilla. Although they didn''t show it, they were indeed frightened. You''re lucky that your mother isn''t here, if not, you''d be in for a beating later."


    "..."


    "Now go talk to your wives."


    "Mhm."


    Kaiser turned to leave with Rowan and Fatima. His sister sent him a meaningful and reproachful look. Cecil scratched his head and turned towards the two silent girls behind him.


    "Uhm...sorry about earlier..."


    "Cel... didn''t you promise us that you wouldn''t be like that? Getting revenge is alright, but if you were going to end his life, you should have just done so without the meaningless torture..."


    "S-sorry..."


    "You should be apologizing to Seri. She''s feeling guilty because she thinks that she put you into that situation..." Lucia left behind those words before she quickly flashed away and caught up with Fatima''s group.


    Being left behind, Cecil turned to look at the somewhat downtrodden Serilla and said, "It''s not your fault, Seri. I''m the one who showed you something unsightly so don''t feel so bad..."


    "...Hmph, darling was being too much... if our children saw you like that, they''d be frightened..."


    "Children, huh...well, I''ll make sure to protect you guys better next time. It was my fault for separating from you guys in the first place."


    "That''s right! If darling didn''t insist on separating, we wouldn''t have been forced into this situation!"


    "S-Sorry..."


    "As long as you understand, all is good then. I''m not angry in the first place. I just felt that darling wasn''t being himself in that fight. It might have been for my sake, but the last part was indeed like father said, darling took it too far."


    "I know... I was just a little angry," Cecil replied while looking a little remorseful.


    Just as he was going to hug Serilla, Cecil noticed that people were beginning to exit from the coliseum so he instead grabbed Serilla''s hand and walked away from the place.


    King Nemus spotted Cecil and Serilla walking away hand in hand. He couldn''t help but frown a little. Hate had already sprouted deep within his heart, but it wasn''t like he could do anything. If he continued to offend that monster and his family, Nemus would only be shooting himself in the foot.


    He didn''t want to completely fall out with the Silvaria Kingdom over a trivial problem that his stupid son had instigated. The benefits of having Silvaria as an ally were too attractive and today, this ally had nearly turned into an enemy. Nemus was reminded of Kaiser''s words from earlier and scowled.


    "Once you heal this fool, lock him up in his room, he is never to take a single step out of that place!" Nemus ordered as he looked at the pitiful state his second son was reduced too. "This bastard will be the death of me one day!"


    "My King, h-how can you be so heartless! That bastard did this to my son! Our son! How could you just leave things like this and not punish the one who did this to Armano?!" Armano''s mother cried out as she pointed towards Cecil who was walking away in the distance.


    "Punish? You want me to punish the crown prince of Silvaria?! Think with your brain woman! Who was it that raised our son to be such a philanderer?! Spoiling him rotten that even his brain and heart have turned rotten! You are lucky that his life is still intact! He, as well as you and I, could have died today!" Nemus bellowed.


    "We will heal him, but I won''t pay a single gold if you want his body restored!"


    "My King, please! Please be merciful! Don''t let him¡ª"


    "Take these two away! Have the Revertia Priest only heal Armano''s wounds! If he offers to regrow his limbs, decline immediately! I won''t have this bastard causing any more trouble for the kingdom¡ªcough, cough," Nemus began coughing again after he finished relaying his orders.


    "Also, send for Rowan. I''m immediately going to have him appointed as crown prince!"


    Albert heard this and immediately spoke up, "F-Father¡ª"


    "Silence! Already agreed with Kaiser to appoint Rowan as Crown Prince! You have been too useless! Did you not hear what the Silvarian Prince had said earlier?! He would have leveled this city if Kaiser had not forgiven us!"


    "Th-that''s impossible! There''s no way¡ª"


    "Silence! Can''t you see that our very own castle has nearly been cleaved in two by the boy''s offhanded attack?!" Nemus growled as he darkly pointed to the royal castle in the distance.


    The full-powered Ascending Blade Cecil had fired off that Conrad was able to ''deflect'' had cleaved through the upper part of the coliseum and struck the kingdom''s castle. The west section''s outer walls were almost thoroughly destroyed. While the damage didn''t spread into the deeper reaches of the castle grounds, but just that offhanded attack from Cecil was enough to destroy a large portion of their castle.


    What would happen if he was serious about destroying the place?


    Nemus could only sigh in defeat when he thought up to there. They had offended the wrong person, but it was a good thing that they hadn''t thoroughly fallen out. Rowan was his final chance to redeem their relationship with the Silvaria Kingdom. He wasn''t going to let anyone screw things up this time.


    It was too bad that Nemus had forgotten about his other child...

 Chapter 316 - A New Heir

    When Rowan received word about his father recalling him to the castle, he temporarily separated from Fatima''s group and went back.


    "You wanted to see me, father?"


    "Mhm... cough, cough... we are here to discuss your appointment as crown prince."


    "... I don''t think many are going to be happy about that," Rowan replied when he saw the many disgruntled nobles in the great hall. There was also Albert who was glaring daggers at him.


    "Hmph, I doubt you care about whether these half-wits are unhappy or not. Remember that you can marry that woman after you''ve become crown prince and succeed me," Nemus replied.


    He had just called many of his retainers half-wits, yet a simple glare from him caused everyone to shut up. No one in the hall thought that the second prince''s debauchery could land them in their current situation where the puppet they had put into place, the first prince, was going to be replaced by another.


    "Y-Your Majesty, how could we simply change the next heir only on a whim and by a command from another kingdom''s king? That''d be sh¡ª"


    "Silence! Did I allow any of you ingrates to speak?!" Nemus roared. "Because of you fools, my kingdom has nearly been sent into ruin! While I was bedridden, you bastards didn''t stop my foolish son from attacking an ally! What else are you all good for?! Incompetents! All of you!"


    "..."


    "If Kaiser wanted to, he could have leveled our city AND our Kingdom! What his son said about our punishment was true! The consequences of our actions against Silvaria have only earned us a slap on the wrist! They were able to repel Merkruz so do you honestly believe that they couldn''t win against us who have already lost to Merkruz?!"


    "But, Your Majesty, we''ve been winning battle after bat¡ª"


    "All because of Rowan''s betrothed! Are you all so incompetent that you cannot even understand that much?!" Nemus once again flared out in anger. "Without her, where would we be? At the mercy of those Merkruz bastards! And if not for Kaiser''s magnanimity we would be in an even dire state! That son of his has the power to destroy our kingdom and leave nothing behind!"


    They were all reminded of Cecil nonchalant attack which nearly killed Albert and a few others present. They all felt lucky that their kingdom''s court mage had successfully deflected the attack, however, the outcome had instead destroyed a large portion of the kingdom''s castle.


    They were indeed afraid of Cecil and his power, but they were unconvinced at the thought of him leveling the entire kingdom. He was but one man so many of the nobles present found it unbelievable.


    Rowan looked at the still unconvinced nobles and shook his head. He was very much reluctant to even rule over these idiots. They didn''t serve the kingdom, but rather their own self-interests. It was like the kingdom''s dark history was repeating itself all over again.


    Even though he was reluctant, Rowan understood that not all the nobles present in the hall were greedy, self-serving bastards. There were some lands in the kingdom that were prosperous because the nobles managing these lands had put the welfare of their citizens as a priority above all else.


    Most of these nobles were also ones that would actively approach Rowan rather than Albert. Only these nobles were relieved to hear that Rowan would be the one taking up the mantle of the crown prince.


    The war had impacted their lands to some degree because they had to send their able-bodied men out to fight, leaving only the women, children, and the elderly behind to tend to the fields, work in the mines, and whatnot. They had experienced a large decrease in manpower so their produce had taken a hit. Less produce equals less money for the people and without enough money... well anyone could imagine what would be the result of that.


    So, knowing that there were good nobles out there, Rowan didn''t want to abandon them. Fatima also wouldn''t let him run away from his responsibilities so he reluctantly spoke up, "Father, say no more, I''ll do it."


    "...Good."


    Albert remained silent and only clenched his teeth and fists in anger. He had no say in all of this and he could only silent observe as his title and position were stripped away from him.


    Rowan was congratulated by many nobles, but he was disinclined to interact with the ones who were unscrupulous. He had already done his research and investigated the ones who were worth befriending and the ones who weren''t.


    There was a time in the past when Fatima had lectured him about picking his connections wisely. She also taught him how to choose which people to befriend by gathering information on their background, activities, and records.


    If they had a clean record, they were worth befriending. If they were even a little sketchy, then it was best not to have anything to do with them, just remain neutral while monitoring their activities. Finally, there was the blacklist, the list of nobles that he should stay far away from.


    This blacklist that he and Fatima had compiled over the past years of investigating was now going to prove useful for him. Rowan resolved to himself that once he stepped up to the throne as King, he''d do all he can to put these nobles behind bars.


    He''d rather remove the cancer at its roots and make sure no other fools like them sprouted in the kingdom. As for why Fatima played a hand in helping Rowan look for connections was mostly because of her selfishness.


    She wanted Rowan to form more connections with others so that his information network would expand. This way Rowan would prove to be more efficient and helpful in her search for her missing brother.


    All of that effort was rendered useless after Cecil himself had wandered back to them not long ago. However, the connections that Rowan and Fatima had built would now be helpful to them in a different way.


    Once things were put in order, everyone in the hall, except for Rowan, was dismissed by the king.


    "Cough, cough... Rowan, I know that you are unsatisfied by many things in the kingdom...it was also father''s fault that things have turned for the worst...I''ve overlooked those greedy bastards for far too long and now look at the state our kingdom is in... It pains me that I have to pass this burden to you..."


    "It matters not... there are bound to be some fools in our generation who take our kindness as a weakness to exploit. Father and grandfather have been too lenient when dealing with them. I''m not going to become a cruel tyrant like the Lord of Merkruz, but know that I will remove those cancerous fools from our Kingdom once I become king."


    "..."


    "It will cause unrest within our lands for a time, but it''s much better than letting those sc.u.m roam free and further damaging the kingdom. Right now, Regulus is like a sick human. To treat the sickness, we naturally have to exterminate the cause.???


    "...you can do whatever you want once you''ve inherited my mantle as King."


    "Yes, father..."


    "Cough, cough... I should go now...my old bones aren''t doing my sickness any better..."


    "Father, if I may," Rowan said as he stopped his father from leaving.


    "Yes?"


    "Maybe I can request for some help from someone who I recently received acknowledgment from. He is very skilled in the art of curing sickness and disease so he might be able to treat father''s ailment."


    "If you want to bring him...then that''s alright. May I know who he is?"


    "It''s Silvaria''s Crown Prince, Cecil Silvaria."


    "That boy?" Nemus questioned with a frown.


    "Yes, I was able to receive his acknowledgment and befriend him. He''s a good person and he cares very much about his family. You must understand father, his wife was nearly violated by Armano, and his actions are only what''s expected from any husband who cares about his wife."


    "..."


    "If the person who was almost violated was Fatima, then all I can say, father, is that you would have lost a son today. I''m sure I wouldn''t be able to contain my rage if I knew Armano did that to my beloved."


    Nemus sighed and said, "If he is willing to help, then I''d be grateful. I should also thank him for sparing Armano''s life."


    ??...I''ll ask him if he is willing."


    "Go..."


    Rowan bowed and exited from the hall. Nemus was feeling very much conflicted, but what his son said had merit. Any man worth his salt would be as infuriated as Cecil had been. Nemus could only blame the stupidity of his son in this matter.


    He also had himself to blame. He had been far too negligent in raising his children and this led to the outcome of his children doing whatever it was that they wanted without needing to face the consequences of their actions.


    Nemus was grateful that at least one of his children had grown up to be a decent fellow. He didn''t remember all too much about how his third son was like when he was younger, but Nemus knew that Fatima had most likely played a large part in the reason why Rowan had turned out the way he did.


    Speaking about children, Nemus finally remembered about his only daughter. "...Where did that rascal go?"


    ******


    The rascal that Nemus was referring to was currently bugging the crown prince of Silvaria at the moment.


    "Hey~ you''re that rumored husband right, right~?"


    "..."


    "The least you could do is answering me! Serilla and Lucia have been clinging onto you since a while ago and I''m envious!"


    "..."


    "Your face is telling me why I would be envious! Let me tell you, I want your wives!"


    Cecil snapped when he heard this and he immediately pulled out his gunblade, deftly loaded a bullet, flipped Karen onto the ground, and pointed his blade at her throat. The gun barrel was coincidentally leveled with her face.


    "What''d you say?"


    "I-I want your wives?"


    "Say that again, and I''ll blast your face away," Cecil coldly said.


    "Darling, Karen is only fooling around. She did confess to the both of us a long time ago and when she heard we were married, she directly gave up," Serilla explained.


    "...I don''t see this as giving up..."


    "O-Of course I haven''t given up, especially now that there''s a chance!"


    "A chance?" Cecil glowered at the girl and poked her neck with his sword. "What chance? With me here, do you think you''ll even have a chance? I''ll end you right now and¡ª"


    "You''re exactly my chance!" Karen shouted.


    "Huh?"


    "If I marry you, that would mean I''d be marrying your wives as well! You''re cute so I can love you as well, but most importantly, I''d be having your wives as a plus! Isn''t this a win-win situation?! You''d get another s.e.xy wife and we''d be able to have fourso¡ªBAWAAAAAHHH"


    Cecil didn''t let Karen finish her sentence before he punted her far away.


    "W-What kind of perverted idiot is she?! Sis, is she really your friend?! You can''t possibly have such a weird friend, right?!" Cecil questioned his sister.


    "Ehhh... well...technically she''s my friend..."


    "NO!! No way in hell does my sister have such a weird friend! Can you believe her?! She wants my wives, but she''s a girl! Isn''t that weird?! Also, she??d marry me just so that she could have them! What makes her so different than that bastard who tried to **** Seri?!"


    "C-Calm down, Cecil," Fatima said towards her confused and frantic little brother.


    "H-How can I calm down? This just doesn''t make any sense! How could my sister have friends like this? I can''t even kill her because you said she''s your friend!"


    Fatima immediately pounded Cecil''s head when she heard the latter part of his words.


    "Don''t be stupid! I don''t know what you''ve been through, but going around killing people is a little too much! She hasn''t even done anything wrong yet!"


    "...better to nip the problem at the bud," Cecil mumbled in reply.


    "I''ll nip you in the bud!"


    "...tch..."


    "Don''t ''tch'' me! If you''re upset about not being able to kill Armano, then you should have quickly gotten the job done without going through the needless act of torturing him!"


    Cecil only shrugged and suddenly said, "Is it done, Quinn?"


    Quinn immediately appeared next to Cecil in the next moment. His sudden appearance shocked Fatima. The butler bowed lightly in respect and said, "It is done, Master."


    Cecil nodded in satisfaction at Quinn''s words.


    "Good, it''s better not to kill that fool in front of a live audience, but his wounds were a little too grievous, right? He might have bled out..."


    "He has indeed bled out, Master..."


    Fatima was staring incredulously at Cecil and Quinn. Cecil turned to his sister and said, "Nip the problem at the bud, right sis?"


    "Y-You..."


    "Don''t tell father... he''d be disappointed."


    "I-If you knew that...then why?"


    Cecil looked back at his sister with a depreciating smile and said, "Sis...you have to understand. My hands aren''t so clean y'' know. The people who have died as the result of me swinging my sword...are far too numerous for you to count. I don''t even know any of their names. All I knew was that they were my enemies and they tried to harm me and the ones I love. I''m no saint so it''s not like I''ll spare their lives, besides, you should have heard Armano''s last words...even when he was so close to death, there was no remorse, no regret. He only said that he''d come at me again and return the humiliation 10 folds...do you think I should let him live now that I know he''ll be threatening my life or the lives of my loved ones?"


    "..."


    "Besides... Seri is pregnant. I don''t want any harm to befall her just because I gave mercy to one of my enemies. I''m not so naive as to believe that he''ll come back and treat me as a friend."


    "Oh... Wait¡ªwhat''d you say earlier?"


    Lucia who was on the side gasped in shock when she heard Cecil''s words, she immediately turned to Serilla, hugged her, and exclaimed, "Congrats sis!"


    "Ehehe, thank you, Lulu~"


    Fatima widened her eyes in shock and yelled, "You''re pregnant Seri?!"


    They were currently in front of the inn and were waiting for Rowan to come back before they departed so everyone heard Fatima''s shout.


    Kaiser immediately stomped his way over and roared, "IS THAT TRUE?!"


    Serilla bashfully smiled and whispered, "Yup, I''m not sure how humans find out, but I can feel the little life currently resting in my w.o.m.b..."


    "O-Oh!!! Th-this is cause for a celebration! Everyone! We''re heading back now!!!"


    At his declaration, the entourage immediately finished up their preparations and immediately departed.

 Chapter 317 - Unqualified

    Rowan had arrived just in time to see the Silvaria entourage depart from the inn. He immediately chased after them and was able to get onto Cecil''s wagon.


    When he heard about the good news from Fatima, he naturally congratulated Cecil. He also asked him whether he''d be willing to help cure his father''s illness while he was at it.


    "My father also wanted to thank you for sparing my brother''s life..."


    "Oh..." Cecil felt a little guilty.


    Right about now, Armano should be dead...or at least brain dead. He had ordered Quinn to lace some poison into the prince''s wounds. This poison wasn''t something that any healing magic could cure. If it was Cecil''s healing arts that used Ki, then that was a different matter.


    The prince''s bloodstream would then deliver the poison to his brain and essentially ''kill'' him off. So although his heart was still beating, he was essentially dead. No healing spell or prayer could save Armano now. He''d ''live'' the rest of his days as a living corpse. This was the same method of punishment that Cecil had delivered to the Machina Empire Duke who had tried to pull the same sort of stunt that Armano did. It was too late now, but at least Cecil did leave behind a ''living'' Armano.


    "I don''t mind healing your father. I noticed that he was poisoned, but how is it that the healers you''ve hired are as incompetent as to not be able to notice this?"


    "P-Poisoned?"


    "You should look into the people who are close to the king. Since he''s a king, I find it hard to believe that anyone could just poison him."


    "... I''ll inform father about this..."


    "You better not. If you want the culprit to run away and not be caught, then be my guest."


    "..."


    "If you want to capture the culprit, then you should let me cure your father first. After that, monitor the king carefully and take note of whatever he eats and drinks. I''ll leave behind a small portion of my mana that will react to the food he eats if he ingests one that''s been laced with poison. Once you see signs of him throwing up, lock down the castle and question the ones who prepared the food... if you have to, use the carrot and stick method to try and get the truth out of them."


    "Carrot and stick?"


    "You threaten by saying you''ll hang or execute their family, after that you promise them some kind of reward for telling the truth. If they''re just servants, I''m sure they''ll feel more inclined to speak the truth because they wouldn''t want to offend you."


    "O-Okay..." Rowan replied to Cecil''s somewhat radical suggestion before asking, "When can you come, Cecil?"


    "When I feel like I wanna come. Your father''s life is inconsequential to me. Right now, I have other things to worry about."


    "Alright then... whenever you''re free, please inform me."


    "Don''t worry. We can just head over by teleporting. It''s a trivial matter for me..."


    Cecil ended his conversation with Rowan and immediately walked to his room inside the wagon. Serilla was inside resting. She had just informed him about her pregnancy earlier just after the duel.


    It came as a happy surprise, however, Cecil was expecting it to some degree. He had already promised Serilla that once he found his family, he''d immediately start his own family with her and during the past few days, they had been getting it on a lot and he had noticed that the contraceptive magic array that was on Serilla''s body was no longer present.


    He figured that Lucia had removed it for Serilla, but he didn''t expect her to immediately become pregnant after a few days.


    "Hey, Seri...I''ve been thinking, but shouldn''t we inform your parents about this?"


    "Hm? Of course darling! I''ll tell my mom!"


    "Does she still not approve of me?"


    "I dunno, but she''ll have to if she wants to see her grandchild!"


    "...I feel really bad..."


    "Don''t be darling, it''s not like I''m her favorite or anything!"


    "It doesn''t sound like that when your mother threatened to fight with me..."


    "Hmph, just so darling knows, my mother gets pregnant easily! I''m only one of her many children! Also, since I''m her daughter, I''m probably the same. Honestly, darling, if we didn''t use the magic array, this would have already been our third child!"


    "..."


    Seeing his blank reaction, Serilla laughed and pulled him into her embrace.


    "I had Lulu dispel the magic formation when we got back to your family''s kingdom. That''s why I soon became pregnant~"


    "Hmmm... did you want to have kids sooner?"


    "Well... if darling wasn''t against it, I really wanted a family right after we got married!"


    "...S-sorry..."


    "I know you mean well, darling. If something happened to our kids during our journey... well, let''s not imagine that. We''ve found your family now so we can start our own, right?"


    "Of course," Cecil replied.


    "Great! By the way, I want 4 children!"


    "...Let''s not get too far ahead of ourselves..."


    "Hmmm... darling, do you want to do it one more time before my stomach gets too big~?" Serilla said in a lascivious tone. She had already wrapped her arms around Cecil''s neck and placed her legs above his lap.


    "Huh?"


    "Well, we won''t be able to do it soon...so this could be the last chance darling will have before darling has to wait until after I give birth~"


    "..." Cecil silently began casting a Silencing Barrier and the spell to lock the door.


    Serilla only smiled happily at his actions. She bit her lip and seductively called out to him, "Darling~"


    ******


    A few days later, Cecil and the entourage arrived back at the Silvaria Kingdom. When Anastasia heard about the news, she immediately cheered happily in delight and began preparing a small banquet for the couple.


    The siblings were all surprised and shocked to hear that their youngest brother was soon going to become a father. Angelia was bawling her eyes out due to a mix of happiness and sadness. As to why it was mixed, Cecil couldn''t figure it out.


    Another person was also crying due to a mix of sadness and happiness besides Angelia.


    "Serilla''s pregnant!!! Boohoo..."


    "Why the f.u.c.k is this person here?!" Cecil roared in question.


    Karen had somehow stowed herself away on another carriage and had successfully arrived at the Silvaria Kingdom. When Rowan found out, he immediately began apologizing, but because she was Rowan''s sister and a personal friend of Fatima''s, she was permitted to stay in the kingdom with the condition that she had to be beside Fatima or Rowan at all times.


    That''s why she was currently inside the Silvaria Family''s Estate.


    "Hey, Cecil!! Hurry up and marry me so I can take care of her as well!!!" Karen whined as she clung onto Cecil''s leg.


    "Goddamnit, get this idiot out of here!!!"


    While they were busy preparing for the banquet, the elders of the family came knocking on their door when they heard about Serilla''s pregnancy. Cecil''s parents and elders had to gather them all in a different hall while the main hall was being prepared for Cecil''s homecoming as well as Serilla''s pregnancy celebration.


    "What''s the meaning of this?!"


    "How could the heir be impregnating a woman out of wedlock? How in the world did the family even raise him to be such a rebel?!


    "Don''t forget, he has 2 partners!"


    "This goes against the family''s traditions! Aren''t the elders the ones who decide who the wife to the successor is?!"


    Cecil''s grandfather, King, started sighing dramatically when he heard their words.


    "Are you seriously going to pin the blame on us? Everyone here knows full well that Cecil hadn''t gone through the entire family''s teachings when he was separated! Now that he''s back, instead of being happy, you all are hounding him for not upholding the family''s traditions?! Screw the traditions! My grandson has finally reunited with us after 6 years! Who cares if he''s broke a few of our traditions?!"


    "Honey, stay calm, you''re blood pressure..." Lucidna kindly reminded her husband. King was huffing after saying his piece. It wasn''t that he was exhausted but more like he was exasperated. These elders were way too stiff.


    "Listen here. We''re in a different world so there are things that have to change! Also, Serilla and Lucia have been properly married to Cecil for 3 years already! They have every right to start a family if they wanted to!" King explained.


    "Hmph, that''s just your excuse! How do we know whether or not that wench is married to¡ª"


    Anastasia flared up at the elder who had just spoken, "If you dare insult my daughter-in-law, don''t think I''ll take that lying down!!"


    "H-Honey¡ª"


    "Darling, say something! You''re the head of our household! Are you seriously going to listen to these old coots insult our daughters-in-law?!"


    Just before anyone could argue any further, the door to the room immediately flew open and Cecil walked in nonchalantly.


    "Eh? Oh, wrong place. Sorry," Cecil said before backing out of the room.


    "Cecil, stay right there!" An Elder called out.


    Cecil only looked back at him and c.o.c.ked his head in confusion. "You need something, Elder?"


    "What I want to know is why you''ve married two women without consulting the family?!"


    "I had to tell you guys? Why?"


    "It''s the family''s tradition to pick out your bride! We will naturally pick a qualified wife for you, so stop with this foolishness!"


    "Really? Well...I don''t care?" Cecil replied.


    "What?!"


    "I was separated from the family for a good 6 years. I journeyed through 2 continents and carved my way through numerous battles to find you guys and they stuck with me through all those years. They left behind their families and homes just to stay with me. Through thick and thin they stayed by my side. Even when I was frightened at the thought that I might never see my family anymore, they were there to console and support me. In the end, I was able to find my way to you guys with their help. They''ve long since have become my family and I''m sure they''re more than qualified to be my life companions..."


    "Oh, Cecil..." Anastasia came over and hugged her son.


    Cecil smiled at his mother and turned his attention back to the family elders.


    "If you can''t accept that, I don''t mind abandoning my title as heir. There''s still Matty, Luc, and Gabe, but I''m sure they wouldn''t want to be forced into the position. They''ve already declined years ago anyways... also, don''t think you can bring in a candidate from the branch families, they aren''t qualified."


    "Y-You¡ª"


    "You can either accept things as the way they are, or I can simply force you into submission. I have more than enough power for that. Unlike on Earth, here on Alterna, the ones with the biggest fists are the ones with true power," Cecil smilingly said while looking at the elders in the room. "You all can either submit while I''m still being nice, or we can go down the more forceful path and¡ª"


    Cecil immediately released his Weapon Intent and began pressuring all the elders in the room.


    "¡ªI''ll make you all submit."


    Cecil only retracted his Weapon Intent after seeing that his point got through.


    "Well, we can also do this more civilly. If you guys have someone in mind that''s a better fit than me to be the next family head, bring them to me and we''ll fight it out for the right of the successor," Cecil said before turning around and leaving the room.


    All of the elders in the room scowled after they saw that Cecil had left. They were indignant at the fact that they have all been threatened by a mere youngster. Some of the more neutral elders were now leaning towards letting Cecil do whatever he wanted.


    It wasn''t like any of their interests were being touched so it didn''t matter to them. This ''feud'' was mostly instigated by the faction of elders that were opposing the main family. The neutral elders only jumped on the bandwagon because they were promised benefits, benefits that were now rendered useless. After all, Cecil had just threatened to force them into submission.


    This was an unthinkable approach if they were back on Earth since the law enforcers could step in, but as of now, the main family was the ones that created the laws. Times have changed and the neutral elders could only sigh at it. The opposing elders were still unsatisfied and were wracking their brains on how to oppose Cecil''s ''tyranny''.


    Just before Kaiser could dismiss the elders from the room, Serilla had suddenly peaked her head inside.


    "Darling~? Oh? Please excuse me, I''ve wandered into the wrong room!" Serilla apologized before she began backing away.


    "Stay right there, Missy!" One elder called out after recognizing who Serilla was.


    The other elders of the opposing faction saw this as the perfect opportunity to try and intimidate the woman who was Cecil''s rumored spouse. If they were able to force her away from Cecil then it would be for the best.


    "Huh? Y-yes?"


    "Seri, honey, it''s alright, you can¡ª"


    "Anastasia, don''t interfere! As part of the elder council of the family, it''s only natural that I demand to see the successor''s wife!"


    Anastasia was about to say something, but Serilla already walked into the room. She was a little happy at being called the ''successor''s wife''. She already knew who the successor was and it was none other than her husband, Cecil.


    "Is there something that you need, senior?" Serilla politely asked.


    Seeing how polite she was, the elder was a little stumped. The elder was hoping she was going to be a rude and uncultured woman or something. However, this lady before them was a little too polite and there was no way they could say Serilla was uncultured with the way she was carrying herself. Also, the bright smile on her face was a little too blinding at the moment.


    This fact only served to irk the opposing elders. What more, the lady in front of them didn''t even seem to be worried about anything. The elders didn''t believe for a second that this woman didn''t know that there were people inside this room that were against her being Cecil''s wife.


    The leading elder who was most opposed to the main family immediately stood up and said, "What is your name, child?"


    "Senior, my name is Serilla Silvaria," Serilla replied politely.


    Hearing the ''Silvaria'' attached to the end of her name caused the elder''s brow to twitch in annoyance.


    The elder cleared his throat before saying, "Well, Serilla, this will be simple and quick. I want you to divorce Cecil and stay far away from him. Also, take back that other woman who''s always buzzing around him. You two aren''t qualified to be by his side."

 Chapter 318 - The Wives’ Families

    When Serilla heard the elder''s words, her polite and graceful demeanor nearly crumbled.


    "Uhm, dare I ask, why aren''t we qualified?" Serilla asked without flaring out in anger.


    "Hmph, it''s customary for the successor''s wife to be picked by the elder council. What Cecil''s done has gone against our tradition."


    Serilla turned to look back at Kaiser and Anastasia. She thought to herself, was Cecil''s parents also forced like this?


    Seeing her thoughtful expression, Anastasia knew what was going through Serilla''s mind.


    "Oh, we weren''t forced, sweetheart. Unlike the previous heads, Kaiser was an exception because...uhm..." Anastasia didn''t continue her words, but Kaiser finished for her.


    "My eldest brother was originally the heir. Unfortunately, by some accident, he passed away and I was forced to step up. The only condition I had was that I was able to marry Anastasia and raise my children as I wanted without any interference from the elders."


    "Well, I did have to prove myself to the elders before that..." Anastasia added.


    Serilla nodded in response to Kaiser''s explanation. This explained why all of Cecil''s siblings were able to decline the right to become heir.


    "Well, if that was the condition... then shouldn''t Cecil''s choice of a wife be his to make then?" Serilla asked.


    "Wrong. That is our decision to make. I don''t expect you to understand our traditions, but if you don''t want your husband to experience any hindrances during his time as the next Patriarch then you should leave his side," The elder said.


    "Hey, Kuran! I know that you''ve been against me, but you should drop with this act! Do you think she can leave him now? She''s carrying this family''s child and did you not hear what Cecil just declared to you people just now?!" King roared in anger at the elder who had been doing all the talking up until now.


    "Hmph, the family''s traditions come first and foremost. So, Serilla, if you would kindly leave our family''s future head¡ª"


    "Mother-in-law was able to prove herself to you all that she was qualified to be the next Matriach, so what do I need to do to prove myself?" Serilla interrupted


    "Hoh! So you won''t back down?"


    "Why would I?"


    "Hmph, before all that, do you think we''ll accept just any country bumpkin that wants to climb the ladder of success by clinging onto our family?"


    "Hm? I don''t care about that though?" Serilla immediately replied in confusion. What did marrying her darling have anything to do with success?


    "Hmph! We know just how powerful the next Patriarch is. Isn''t this world all about those with personal power? It''s obvious that you want to cling to Cecil to get ahead in this world!"


    "Uhm...hmmm... I was indeed attracted to darling because he was strong, but that''s hardly the reason why I love him. Besides, if it''s about getting ''ahead'' in this world, I''d hardly need darling for that."


    "?"


    "With my family''s status, I really don''t need to cling to darling to get ahead in the world... besides, darling was only a wanderer back then. If I was as materialistic and narrow-minded as you think I am, then I wouldn''t have chased after my darling. I had a pretty comfortable life y'' know." Serilla said.


    Anastasia stepped up and asked, "I haven''t asked, but what status did your family hold, Seri?"


    "We were my kingdom''s protectors!"


    "Protectors you say, but that could be anything! Your parents could have just been gatekeepers for all we know!" Kuran mocked.


    Serilla frowned a little before saying, "Can I have my husband bring them over then?"


    "Huh?"


    "We were going to tell my parents about my pregnancy anyways but... my mother hasn''t approved of our marriage just yet so I was still a little hesitant..."


    "Wait, what?"


    "It''s not something I''m proud of, but I sort of eloped with darling..." Serilla added with a somewhat embarrassed look.


    "..."


    "Is this true Seri?!" Anastasia asked.


    "Well... my mother is still pretty angry because I ran out of the house when I was supposed to become the kingdom''s next Sword Saintess..."


    "Sword...Saintess?"


    "It''s just a title that''s held by the strongest swordswoman in the kingdom..."


    "Hmmm... so by protectors, do you mean that your family is the kingdom''s royal family?"


    "Oh no, that''s my friend''s family. My family, the Lunarts, only serves under the royal family and our house has been producing the strongest swordswoman for centuries and we''ve always stood at the king''s side as his left hand. My mother is the current Sword Saintess while I''m supposed to be the next one. However, my friend could easily take up that mantle, so I left and chased after darling! Mother''s been furious ever since though..."


    "I-I see..." Anastasia said with a strained smile. She had just found out that her son had stolen away such an important person from another kingdom. Now that her background was cleared up, Anastasia glared back at the elders and eyed them meaningfully.


    Kaiser nodded after hearing Serilla''s explanation before turning towards the elder.


    "Hmm... don''t you think that with her background, she''s more than a good match for Cecil?"


    "W-We don''t know if she''s telling the truth or not! We can''t just take her words at face value!" Kuran argued.


    "Well, as I said, I can simply have darling bring my family over and clear this up if that''s fine with you all. Also, my sister, Lucia, will bring her family if you want..."


    "Ah, Lulu... may I ask what''s her family like, Seri?" Anastasia asked.


    "I think it''s better to ask her instead. Honestly, I''m not sure how her family is like! In fact, her family''s a complete mystery to everyone in my kingdom!"


    "Oh, shall we call her then?"


    Anastasia went to the door and ordered a maid to go find Lucia for them. It didn''t take long before Lucia also arrived in the room.


    She looked around and curiously asked, "Is there something you need, mother-in-law?"


    "It''s nothing, dear, just some old people who want to ask about your family''s background~" Her words caused a few elders to twitch in annoyance while Serilla suppressed the laughter that was threatening to come out. She really adored this mother-in-law of hers.


    "Oh, you want to know about my Mama and Daddy?"


    "That''s the gist of things, dear," Anastasia replied with a smile.


    "Hmmm...Well, my daddy is the head of my village!"


    "Hmph! So she''s just a bumpkin!" Kuran immediately quipped up.


    Lucia turned to look at the old man and c.o.c.k her head in confusion.


    "My daddy is also the first son of the Aurielle family of Anglaria. It''s an aristocratic family or something. I don''t know because I only recently found out about it. Daddy went to chase after Mama so he had abandoned his title as the next Patriarch."


    "Oh?"


    "While Mama...hmmm, I''m not sure about Mama. She''s a mystery even to me! Mama''s never really talked about her background to any of us. Daddy probably knows, but I don''t."


    "Hmph! For all we know, her mother might be¡ª"


    "However, she was once the Anglaria Kingdom''s Magic Academy''s Headmaster! And she''s the master of the current headmaster! Also, my Mama''s really strong and she''s the one who taught me and Cel all about mana and magic!"


    "So she''s our family''s benefactor!" Lucidna said.


    "I guess... she''s also Cel''s adopted mother and she treats him better than even me, her daughter!" Lucia pouted cutely.


    "Oh? Your mother adopted Cecil?"


    "When Cel explained about how he suddenly appeared in the forest near our village, Mama was saddened by his story. She did say she always wanted a son so she adopted Cel and for a time Cel lived with us in our village!"


    "Is that how it is... then, I guess I have to thank your mother for taking care of my son, Lulu," Anastasia replied gratefully.


    "Ehehehe, it''s nothing. Besides, Cel is now mother''s son-in-law so she''s even happier with it."


    "So your mother''s already approved of Cecil?"


    "Y-yeah! Mother seemed to want us to end up together anyway..."


    "Is there a reason?"


    Lucia only shrugged at Anastasia''s question, "Mama already noticed that I liked Cel from the start so she probably wished that her daughter''s love was reciprocated, maybe?"


    "I see... I bet Cecil was a little slow, right?" Anastasia said with a slightly teasing tone.


    "Yes! He was so slow that it took him a year to find out that I was in love with him! It was so infuriating! Agh, just thinking about it makes me want to smash him in the face!" Lucia stomped, half in anger and half in frustration.


    "Hahahaha~"


    Anastasia then turned towards the elders and said, "One of Cecil''s wives is from a prestigious house while the other one originates from a noble family and has a very powerful mother. There shouldn''t be any more complaints regarding their backgrounds, no?"


    "Y-Yes, but¡ª"


    "No more, buts! If you want, I''ll kick your butts! As for the matter of Cecil having more than 1 wife, although it goes against our moral code, I couldn''t possibly ask either of them to leave him! They''ve sacrificed a lot just to follow after Cecil! They''re more than qualified to be my son''s partners! If you have anything else to say, why not go talk it out with my son?!"


    Her words left no room for argument and at the mention of Cecil''s name the elders were disinclined to respond any further. If they dragged back Cecil into the picture, things might just turn for the worst for them.


    Seeing that the elders were no longer spewing anymore nonsense, Anastasia immediately said, "Now if you''ll excuse me, I have a banquet to prepare!"


    She walked out of the room while holding onto both Lucia and Serilla''s hand. Lucidna followed after them while King gave the elders one last huff before walking out of the room. Kaiser only said a few words before dismissing everyone.


    Back at the busy main hall, Anastasia was sitting down with her two daughters-in-law and reassuring them.


    "You two don''t need to worry about a thing! You two deserve to be by Cecil''s side more than anyone else! I won''t let those old fools do anything to tear you apart!"


    "Thank you mother-in-law," Serilla thanked.


    Lucia also said her thanks but began looking around the hall and noticed that Cecil wasn''t there.


    "By the way, where''s Cel?"


    "I was looking for darling just now. He left earlier and told me that he was going to be preparing the teleportation gate with Ren and went to look for him..." Serilla said.


    "If he''s looking for Ren, then he''s out playing with Angelia right now..." Anastasia said when she remembered that her daughter had dragged Ren out with her earlier. "By the way, what''s this about a teleportation gate?"


    Lucia immediately spoke up and explained, "It''s something that Cel, got after completing the World Tree''s Trials. It''s a high-level magi-tech that can connect two separate spaces together and enable instantaneous travel. He was asking brother Luca about the Kingdom''s ores and materials the other day and said that he''d be able to make it.


    "O-Okay, but is such a thing possible? Instantaneous travel?"


    "It is! That''s also how we''ll be bringing our families over to visit! We called them just a few days ago and my Mama said that she misses us and wants to see us soon! That''s when Cel suggested building a teleportation gate that''ll connect Silvaria with the Anglaria Kingdom!"


    "Hmmm... did Cecil already consult this with his father?" Anastasia asked. Building a teleportation gate that''ll connect two cities wasn''t something that could be arbitrarily done on a whim.


    This could greatly affect the two cities in various ways. There were many pros to it, but there were also just as many cons.


    "Cecil talked about it with father-in-law on the way back. Father-in-law already agreed to it as long as the teleportation gate''s transfers could be regulated," Serilla added.


    "I see... that means we should postpone the banquet until Cecil finishes the gate! This way we can celebrate alongside your families!" Anastasia suggested.


    Lucia and Serilla happily agreed with their mother-in-law, but they still continued their preparations for the banquet in the main hall. They didn''t know when the teleportation gate would be finished, but it was better if their preparations were already finished by the time it was done. Knowing Cecil, he might be able to finish it in a week.


    While the women were preparing for the celebration, Cecil was currently dealing with Angelia and her friends at the moment.


    "So, Angel...this is your big brother?" Xin questioned as she began judging the young man in front of her.


    Cecil only looked back at the few kids in front of him and smiled lightly, "Are you all Angelia''s friends?"


    "Yup! I hear that you''re Angelia''s missing brother, when did you get back?" Xin asked.


    "Hey, Xin! Don''t be rude to my big brother!" Angelia scolded.


    "Haha, it''s okay, Angel," Cecil replied. He didn''t mind her friends being so casual with him.


    "What brings you here big bro?"


    "I wanna borrow Ren for a bit. Is that alright?"


    "Eh~? We were just going to the dungeon... what do you need him for?"


    "I need his help for something. It won''t be long...maybe," Cecil answered.


    Once Ren heard that his master needed him, he immediately spoke up, "Speak no more, Teacher. Sorry, everyone, but I have to go. If my Teacher needs me for anything, I naturally need to help out."


    After Ren said his piece, he turned towards Cecil and asked, "May I ask what we''re making this time, Teacher?"


    "We??ll be making a teleportation gate. Now, come, we have much to do!"


    "What, a teleportation gate? Teacher actually has the blueprints for one?!" Ren asked in shock.


    "Of course, let''s go, we have to meet with my brother and get some of the materials to craft it."


    "Awesome!"


    Cecil and Ren began talking about a lot of nonsensical topics while walking away. Angelia pouted a little and decided to follow after them.


    "W-wait for us Angel," Xin called out and immediately followed after her friend. Marilyn and Robin also chased after her.


    "Big brother Cel, Ren, wait!"

 Chapter 319 - A Freak

    "Are you coming with us, Angel?"


    "Y-yeah!"


    Cecil then noticed that everyone from Angelia''s group had followed so he happily brought them along. While they were walking, Ren and Cecil were having a serious conversation about how they would create the teleportation gate.


    Ren only knew about the principles of a teleportation gate but he didn''t know how to build one. Cecil took out his Magic Tome and handed it over to Ren. Once Ren looked through the teleportation gate''s plans he was a little stumped.


    "This...is a little too complicated for me, Teacher..."


    "Don''t worry about it. This time, you''ll only be acting as my assistant. You''ll only be engraving the easier parts of the teleportation gate''s runic array. Just pay attention later when I begin creating the more complex parts."


    "Yes, Teacher!"


    They continued talking about other complicated things. Angelia was following after them and was listening intently but she couldn''t understand a word of what they were saying. She was honestly impressed that Ren could keep up with what her brother was talking about.


    "Hey, Angel... isn''t your brother a little bit weird?" Xin whispered to her.


    "How''s he weird?"


    "Well... what Ren and your big brother are saying are pretty weird!"


    "What about it is weird?"


    "Although I didn''t hear most of it, I think they''re talking about some kind of device that''ll instantly transport people from some faraway place to Silvaria! Isn''t that just crazy?"


    "...is it?"


    Marilyn joined in on their conversation and said, "We can''t be sure it''s crazy or not. Remember that this world we''re in is crazy after all. I mean, magic and mana? This is all just crazy stuff if we were still back on Earth!"


    "Y-Yeah...but still... transporting people from somewhere far away... that''s pretty hard to believe," Xin replied.


    "Hey, we''re going in the direction of the mines. That means we''re going to find your brother, Luca, right Angel?" Robin asked.


    "Probably."


    "Why don''t we ride on Mao or something, it''ll be much faster than going on foot!"


    "I''ll tell my brother then!"


    Angelia walked up next to Cecil and interrupted his conversation with Ren. "Big brother, sorry to cut in like this, but we''re going to the mines, right?"


    "Yeah, is something wrong?"


    "Let''s ride on my pet then! We can arrive much faster!"


    "Sure, call him out then."


    "Alright!"


    Mao was already on her shoulder, so after Angelia gave him a light nudge with her chin, Mao quickly jumped down and transformed.


    "Woah, this is one fine monster! A Dark Behemoth, you sure found yourself a good partner, Angel," Cecil said as he observed the large monster in front of him.


    "Dark Behemoth?"


    "Mao is his name, right?"


    "Yes."


    "Dark Behemoth is Mao''s species. There aren''t many of his kind left on Midgard or Urrugdrasil. It''s pretty rare to encounter one. They''re most prevalent on the Helaife Continent. Hmmm... this one seems a little special. Its aura is much stronger than a normal Dark Behemoth''s."


    Angelia proudly puffed her chest out, "Hmhm~ that''s because he''s my Mao! By the way brother, did you ever fight against a Dark Behemoth before? You seem to know a whole lot about them!"


    "I faced one on the Urrugdrasil Continent. It was a pretty tough opponent back then. They''re an S+ ranked monster so they were pretty strong, but Mao here... he''s still young I bet. His normal size is probably as big as a small hill, right?"


    Angelia widened her eyes in surprise when Cecil accurately guessed Mao''s size, "You''re right, brother!"


    "I thought so. He''s still a child then. The one I faced was almost mountain-sized. It was a huge surprise when I saw the rhino-sized panther suddenly grow as large as a mountain, hahahahaha!"


    "W-wait a minute... you said you faced one when you were back on Urrugdrasil, doesn''t that mean you were about our age when you fought against it?!"


    Cecil shrugged at Angelia''s shocked exclamation.


    "Well, I guess so. I think I was a year or two older than you though."


    "S-Still..."


    "Alright, let''s get on and quickly head over to Luca! He''s probably sick and tired of waiting for us!"


    "O-Okay..."


    After everyone got on Mao, the large Behemoth started dashing towards the location of the Silvaria Kingdom''s mines. While they were on Mao, Angelia''s friends huddled close to their friend and began a small discussion of how ridiculous Angelia''s brother was.


    "A-Angel... your big brother is a freak!" Xin whispered while secretly eyeing Angelia''s big brother. Marilyn also added in a low voice.


    "Y-yeah, can you believe that he''s fought a mountain-sized version of Mao?! Even the current Mao is a little intimidating in my opinion. Yet your brother fought one that was 2-3 times Mao''s size and he was close to our age when he did it!???


    "H-he couldn''t be lying...right?"


    "No way, my brother never lies! Besides, he doesn''t have anything to gain by lying to us! We''re only children in his eyes so there''s no need for him to impress us or anything!" Angelia defended. She didn''t think for a second that Cecil was lying. She already knew that her brother was strong and there was nothing for her brother to gain by lying and boasting to her and her friends.


    Robin, who was silent the entire time and was only observing Cecil from the start, nodded at her words and said, "That''s right... okay, so if what your brother said is true, then just how strong is he?"


    "I-I''m not sure..." Angelia replied hesitantly.


    "You''re not sure?"


    "How can I be sure? I''ve never seen him fight! Mom did tell me that big brother Cecil had single-handedly repelled the army of soldiers that were attacking us the other day, but I never actually saw him do it..."


    "He''s the one who ended the war? Doesn''t that make him a hero?!" Robin quipped up in excitement.


    "H-Hero?"


    "That''s so cool!"


    The girls in the group only looked back at Robin like he was some idiot. Well, who could blame him? Most boys his age were hung up on childish things like superheroes and whatnot.


    Amidst their quiet discussion, the group soon arrived at the Silvaria Kingdom''s mines and quickly met up with Luca.


    Luca guided Cecil and the group through the mines. Along the way, he was explaining to Cecil what kinds of ores, materials, and minerals could be mined from the place. Cecil himself was honestly shocked at the rich and abundant resources his kingdom had lying around.


    "Wow! This mine is huge!" Cecil said after he checked the area around him with his Mana Sense.


    He placed his palm on the ground and focused his sense into the earth. "Hmmm... the veins are in abundance of rare materials. Brother, do we sell any of this outside of the kingdom?"


    "We do, but only the ones we commonly find.???


    "You do? Tsk, what a waste. You have to tell father to stop all trades. The most common ore you find is the Black Mythril, but that''s a precious resource in magi-tech. Just a piece is worth its weight in gold. If you wanna sell something, then sell the red ore instead. Those Flare Stones are common outside of the kingdom and we can just buy them!"


    "Black Mythril is worth that much, huh? I guess we''ve been cheated..."


    "Damn right!"


    "But we can''t just stop trading ores out of the kingdom. We also need some money and goods from Regulus. Also, those Flare Stones are precious for us. The kingdom uses them as a fire source and it''s used to fire our cannons!"


    "I can create a magi-tech device that''ll produce all the flames you need. It relies on the same principle as you''ve been using to activate the Flare Stones."


    "You can?"


    "Yeah, it''s a common device used by the blacksmiths of this world. You can even adjust the temperature and output by simply visualizing and pouring in the right amount of mana into the device!"


    "...I''ll tell father about this and talk about it with the Kingdom''s Council."


    "Just immediately put a stop to the Black Mythril trade! We''re wasting precious resources and losing out a lot by selling them! Just give me some time to train a few Artificers and we''ll be able to manufacture some gadgets from Earth!"


    Luca took note of his brother''s words and continued guiding everyone through the mine.


    "Here''s one of the ores I need, Manatite. It''s really hard to find and the most reliable source of Manatite was lost in the ancient era. Now, it could only be harvested from monsters like the Magic Golems or Rune Worms, but there''s a whole vein sitting around here!"


    Ren immediately stepped forward and pulled out a pickaxe from his spatial ring and said, "Let me do it, Teacher!"


    "Sure, sure."


    Ren immediately began to mine the Manatite after Cecil allowed him to. Luca was just about to tell the miners who were following after them to get to work, but stopped because his brother''s apprentice was already busying himself with it. Ren''s movements were practiced and experienced. You could easily tell that this wasn''t his first time mining.


    After mining a few chunks of ore, Cecil had him stop and the two immediately started to refine the Manatite on the spot using spells. While Ren was chanting his spells, Cecil was writing out runes in the air to invoke his spells.


    Seeing that a human from earth was able to use magic, Luca was rather surprised. It goes without saying that the 4 children who had tagged along were shocked to see it as well.


    "I-I thought us earthlings weren''t able to use this world''s magic...?" Marilyn asked feeling a little envious.


    When Ren was first introduced to them, she was already envious at the fact that the new boy was able to use magic. In her eyes, being able to use the elemental spells was much cooler than being able to use the ''Light Bolt'' since it was a little too plain to be called a magic spell.


    "I didn''t know big brother could use magic..." Angelia mumbled.


    Cecil naturally heard her and nonchalantly said, "I''ll teach you how to do it later, Angel."


    "Really?! Yay!"


    Her 3 friends could only look on enviously at Angelia. She secretly whispered to her friends that she''ll ask if her brother would also be willing to teach them later.


    Cecil and Ren quickly finished their refinement and stored away the refined Manatite. They continued their mining expedition until it was deep into the night.

 Chapter 320 - A Normal Day

    Once Cecil and Ren were finished collecting all the needed materials for the Teleportation Gate, they immediately went back towards the Silvaria Family Estate.


    Luca, Angelia, and her friends had already returned before them because the two took a while to find the materials they needed. After they arrived back at the estate, the duo quickly took a shower and began preparing to spend the night in their small workshop.


    Cecil had already received permission from his wives to spend a few days crafting the teleportation gate, but when he arrived inside the small workshop in the wagon. He felt that it was a little inadequate. There was no way he and Ren would be able to build the large parts of the gate inside their tiny workshop.


    The two quickly exited from the workshop and Cecil told Ren to rest for the night. He decided that they''d begin their activities tomorrow instead. Cecil himself went to his parents and asked for permission to build a workshop on their family''s lands.


    He naturally got permission so he quickly set off into the mountains that very night and began looking for a sizeable chunk of rock to create his new workshop from. Cecil couldn''t find one so he instead lopped off one of the mountain peaks and lifted the large piece of earth over to his family''s lands.


    He found an empty area on the plateau that was farthest away from the family''s main mansion and slowly let down the chopped off mountain peak.


    Cecil was lucky that the loud thud didn''t wake anyone up. He immediately began carving out runes and magic circles on the large piece of rock. He worked throughout the night and was able to finish the final runes of the large magic circle he created.


    "Alright, now all I need to do is activate it!"


    "C-Cecil?! What''s that?!"


    Cecil immediately turned around when he heard his mother''s voice. He saw not only his mother but his father, as well as the rest of his family, were also there.


    "Good Morning!"


    "Don''t ''good morning'' me, mister! Explain! Why did such a large...rock suddenly appear on our family''s grounds?!"


    "I...brought it here?"


    "..." Anastasia only looked back at her son with an incredulous expression.


    Cecil grinned and said, "I did tell you I was going to make a workshop yesterday, now watch. I''m going to create it by molding this large mountain peak I took!"


    "M-Mountain peak?"


    Ren immediately rushed forward and observed the incredibly large and complex magic circle before exclaiming, "I-Is this the magic circle for Stronghold?!"


    Cecil patted Ren''s head and praised, "Hehe, that''s correct Ren. If you''ve managed to memorize this then you''ll be close to graduating!"


    "O-Okay...but I don''t think I''d be able to create this magic circle...let alone activate it..."


    "Hmmm... well, this is a high-ranked earth magic spell...but if you train you''ll be able to do it one day! Now stand back, I''ll be activating it now!"


    Cecil placed his palm on top of the magic circle he had set up and began pouring his mana into the circle. After receiving his mana, the magic circle began activating. The light from the large circle attracted even the people from the city. They all wondered what the Silvarias were up to so early in the morning.


    Lucia was still a little drowsy when she came out. She rubbed her eyes and drowsily said, "Huaahhh, Cel is doing something absurd, right?"


    "Oh, Lulu, you''re up? You could have continued sleeping. And yes, it''s just darling doing something absurd as usual. It''s nothing new for us."


    "Hrmmm... earth magic? Is Cel using a high-ranked earth spell?"


    "I think Ren said it was Stronghold," Serilla replied before taking out a blanket and wrapping it around the still drowsy Lucia.


    "Huaahh... Cel can use every single elemental spell once he''s seen their magic formation... it''s such a cheat..."


    "Well, not just anyone could use his casting method."


    "I tried...and failed miserably. It''s hard because you can''t make a mistake while writing out the runes and creating the spell circle. Even when I used Hyper Sensitivity, it was still hard because I sometimes get fl.u.s.tered and forget what rune to write next..."


    "Well...switching Hyper Sensitivity on and off isn''t a pleasant thing to do... even I still find it dizzying when I''m the one who uses more than you do, Lulu. Only darling can effectively use Hyper Sensitivity like that!"


    "Cel''s just weird! Seri, make sure to raise your baby properly, don''t let him/her turn into a weirdo like Cel!"


    "Hahaha, okay Lulu~"


    While they were talking, Cecil''s magic spell had finally finished activating and soon, the large chunk of rock was replaced by a grayish-white building.


    "Phew...that took a while," Cecil said as he stood up. He turned towards his family and exclaimed, "Tadaaa, it''s my new workshop!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone in the family only looked at the new building that had suddenly popped up out of nowhere, turned around, and walked back into the main mansion.


    "It''s just Cecil being Cecil, nothing new," Matheus said.


    "I wanna sleep..." Gabriel said before finding a clean spot in the garden and falling asleep. Luca had to drag his ass back into the house after his mother told him to.


    Kaiser only nodded at his son and told him to come to the dojo for morning training before he left.


    Only Lucia, Serilla, Ren, and Angelia were left behind and they were clapping.


    "Good job, Teacher!"


    "That''s so cool big bro!"


    "Alright darling, let''s go back inside and have breakfast, alright?"


    "Do you want pancakes, Cel?"


    "..."


    Cecil was left standing in front of his new workshop awkwardly. He was hoping to impress his family, but it seemed that all the absurd things he''s done previously have already made his family immune to it.


    "Jeez... I thought they''d be impressed! Was all the stuff we did during the journey to and from Regulus that amazing?"


    The girls shrugged at his question. How would they know? Cecil''s ''normal'' was obviously different from other people''s normal. On the journey to Regulus, Cecil had displayed his absurd combat prowess and the odd conveniences he kept on pulling out of his wagon and spatial ring.


    Making a new building appear out of nowhere was no longer anything new because he did create a small settlement for the travel group during the times they spent resting out on the road. He didn''t use earth magic, but instead his plant manipulation to create small huts for the people to rest in.


    Fatima had probably informed Cecil''s other siblings while his father had told his mother about it so they were hardly surprised.


    "Let''s head in for breakfast, darling! Also, you need a bath!"


    "Cel, come bathe with me before breakfast... I''m still a little sleepy so please scrub my back..."


    Seeing how drowsy Lucia was, Cecil picked her up and said, ??Okay."


    "We can all go in together~" Serilla said as she happily clung onto her husband.


    The happy trio immediately walked back towards the mansion and left behind Ren and Angelia.


    "Are those 3 always like that?" Angelia couldn''t help but ask after seeing how lovey-dovey her brother and his wives were being so early in the morning.


    "More or less... it was the same during our travels so it''s nothing new to me," Ren replied. He walked into the workshop and began exploring the inside. Angelia only reminded him about breakfast before making her way back to the mansion.


    Right after breakfast and morning training with his father and the family''s disciples, Cecil went back to the new workshop he just built, and with Quinn''s help began moving the equipment inside his small workshop into the newly built one. There wasn''t much to move so they were able to finish quickly.


    Ren had to go to school with Angelia today so Cecil didn''t begin creating the teleportation gate just yet. Instead, he started preparing the materials needed for the crafting and artificing process.


    He also told Quinn to inform his father that he would be roaming around the kingdom later to look for people that might have the potential to become an artificer. His father''s reply was to just go to the kingdom''s school and find young prospects there.


    "Hmm... it would be easier to just hire some artificers but that''s impossible. I won''t let just anybody see the process of teleportation gate crafting."


    Cecil had already let Lucia''s mother, Anna, know about his intentions of creating a teleportation gate so that he could bring them over. Anna agreed to it, but she needed to inform the Anglaria King about it.


    After she''s gotten permission from the king, only then would she be able to continue the project. Cecil still hadn''t received a favorable reply from Anna, but he had already decided to gather up the materials for the teleportation gate.


    If he had to, he''d just create a one-time use gate and bring over Lucia and Serilla''s families before destroying it after he''s sent them back to Anglaria. Right after he finished preparing all the materials for the teleportation gate, Cecil locked up the workshop and roamed around the city for a bit.


    He was surprised to see that the houses and the roads were very close to the ones from Earth. He checked out the city as well as the entirety of the valley. Cecil was impressed because the living conditions of the citizens were splendid. It was a great contrast to the other powers he''s passed through in his journey.


    Unlike the other powers, his kingdom didn''t have any areas that resembled the slums or a district with poor living conditions. The welfare of the people was greatly taken care of and everyone had enough food to eat, clothing to wear, and a house to live in.


    The streets were clean and there were no dirt roads within the city. They were either paved or bricked. The city was bustling with activity and the bright atmosphere uplifted Cecil''s mood.


    He continued roaming around for the whole day before coming back to his family''s estate and started working on the teleportation gate''s parts with Ren. Cecil had also found out that Lucia had somehow become a teacher at Angelia and Ren''s school.


    Ren was surprised when Lucia had suddenly appeared in class and began teaching them about magic. When Cecil questioned his wife afterward, Lucia replied that Fatima was the one who suggested it to her.


    Rather than just training and sometimes idling around, it was better if she put her abilities to use and help the younger generation by teaching them. Although none of the Earthlings could use elemental magic, it wouldn''t hurt for them if they learned about the elemental magic system anyways.


    It was better to know about it than remain oblivious to it. Cecil found it quite amusing that Lucia went back to school. Of course, this time, not as a student but as an instructor.

 Chapter 321 - Daily Life 1

    Cecil didn''t know that his wives had a run-in with the family elders. No one bothered telling him anything and Quinn was forbidden by Serilla from saying anything to his master.


    During this entire time, the butler was dutifully serving the entire family and had integrated with the rest of the Silvaria family''s servants. However, not many knew about his background and only knew that he was a butler that the family''s young patriarch had brought in with him after returning from his travels.


    Silver and Yuna had followed after Lucia and were going to school with her. Apparently, Silver was only there to act as the two women''s vehicle and was idling around until their teaching shifts finished. Lucia was a teacher while Yuna served as her assistant...sometimes.


    Remembering all of her mother''s teaching materials and methods had proved to be a big help because her classes were said to be interesting. The families of the soldiers that Rowan had immigrated into the kingdom had a use for Lucia''s classes since their children were required to enroll in school and many had applied for Lucia''s magic classes.


    Ren was in school, but he would sometimes go home earlier because he had to help Cecil with the teleportation gate. For the days when he didn''t need to help Cecil with his work, he''d hang around with Angelia and his new friends from school.


    Serilla was the only one idling about every day. She was currently carrying Cecil''s child so she was being strictly taken care of by Anastasia and the family''s maids and butlers. It was a little boring for her, but it couldn''t be helped since she was pregnant.


    The days passed idly like this until one day, Cecil finally received a call from Lucia''s mother, Anna.


    "Hello? Cel?"


    "I''m listening, mother¡ªah, I mean, mother-in-law..." Cecil awkwardly corrected himself. He still wasn''t used to calling his foster mother, mother-in-law.


    "Ufufu, it''s alright if you still want to call me mother~"


    "Okay, well, is there something that mother needs?"


    "I just wanted to tell you that the King has given the go-ahead for the Teleportation Gate!" Anna cheerfully said.


    "Really? That''s good. I''ll continue crafting the gate on my end then. How are things on mother''s side?"


    "We''re good to go here~ I''ve already recruited the help of Ironforge''s Radon and Magnum Artifex''s Tars as you''ve recommended!"


    "That''s good. I can trust them to keep the Teleportation Gate''s blueprints a secret. Just in case some other people find out... I''m counting on mother to prevent the information to spread. It''s already enough for us few to know about it," Cecil said.


    "Don''t worry~ we''re keeping a tight lid on this project!"


    "Tars will be a big help to mother since he already knows a lot of the ancient runes that are needed to create the gate''s runic array."


    "So~ how long do you think it''ll take for us to finish this gate, Cel?"


    Cecil thought for a moment and began calculating. It''ll take quite some time because the artificer''s on his end were only him and his disciple, Ren. It might take a while before they''d finish. There was the crafting, runic engraving, and then the pre-testing. He and Ren couldn''t make a mistake so they''d be testing each of the gate''s individual parts before they assembled it and tested the gate as a whole.


    Cecil pondered for a moment before giving Anna the estimated timeframe that he''d need to finish the gate, "It might take us around a month or two at most..."


    "Hmmm... A month or two huh... That''s still awfully short since it''s only you and your little disciple working on it..."


    "What about mother?"


    "It might take us a little less than a month, give or take. Radon plans on having his disciples craft the parts for the gate while Tars will have his disciples work on different sections of the runic array. I have no worries on Radon''s end because it''s only the parts that he''ll be crafting. It''s Tars that I''m a little concerned with."


    "What''s wrong?"


    "His disciples will be helping out and that''s good since it''ll speed things up, but the problem''s that if even one of his disciples mess up their portion of the array, it''ll ruin the whole thing!"


    "...that could pose a problem..."


    "We have the advantage in speed, but if they keep messing up, it''ll hurt the overall progress since we''ll have to scrap the parts and start again."


    "Mother, how about this, instead of scrapping the whole array, why not just search for the part that''s defective and correct it? That''s what Ren and I are planning to do," Cecil suggested.


    "Cel, please don''t forget that we don''t have a mind-enhancing technique like yours that''ll help us pick out the defective parts! If we had to carefully search through it, it''ll take us days before we find something wrong and it would be quicker to just start anew!"


    "O-Oh... I''m sorry, I forgot..." Cecil scratched his head in embarrassment. He had forgotten that most of his methods and solutions couldn''t be used by others in normal circ.u.mstances. Not just anyone could quickly find the defected parts of an array and correct them.


    "Hmhm~ that technique of yours really needs to be put into the artificer hand manual and patented as a must-learn technique! It really gives artificers a certain edge in their field," Anna added. A short moment later, Cecil heard a voice calling out to Anna and she had to quickly end the call.


    "I have to go now sweetie, we''ll talk again later~"


    "Okay, mother."


    Cecil ended the call and coincidentally, also heard someone call out to him. It turned out to be his mother. He put a stop to his work and walked out of his workshop.


    "You could just come in mom..." Cecil said.


    Anastasia didn''t reply to his words and instead handed him a box, "Here!"


    "...is this lunch?"


    "It is, but not yours! It''s Lulu''s~"


    "O-Okay...? Why give it to me then?"


    "You really are dense!" Anastasia said as she jumped up and smacked her son''s head.


    "Mom..." Cecil grumbled as he lightly rubbed his head.


    "I want you to go deliver it to Lulu!"


    "Huh? But...isn''t she working right now?" Cecil said as he looked up and checked the position of the sun. Its current position indicated that it was probably sometime close to noon.


    "That''s why I want you to go bring it to her! Isn''t it nice to have your husband deliver lunch to you during work hours~?" Anastasia giggled.


    "Uhh... Sure?"


    Hearing his skeptical answer, Anastasia glared at Cecil and said, "Hurry up and go! It''s almost lunchtime so you have to hurry!"


    Anastasia pushed Cecil towards the house and told him to quickly shower before heading out. Serilla giggled when she saw how helpless her husband was in front of his mother.


    "...I''ll be going now... you could have just told Silv to send it..."


    "Quiet, this is an important task that a husband needs to do!"


    "Fine, fine..."


    Cecil walked out of family estate with Anastasia and Serilla seeing him off. While walking down the road, Cecil suddenly remembered that he didn''t know where the school was...


    "...I should''ve asked... oh, well..." Cecil decided to just search for Lucia''s presence and head over to her location. After he quickly locked onto her, Cecil rushed over while using Blink.


    ******


    Inside a classroom, Lucia was currently teaching her students about the elemental magic system of Alterna. The class was nearly finished so she was currently wrapping things up with a simple demonstration.


    "Low-tier elemental magic spells all generally have the same spell structure. Firebolt, Aquashot, Wind Blade, Rock Bullet, Lightning Shock, they''re all mostly the same so it''s easy to visualize. All you need is the right elemental affinity and correct invocation to invoke the spell!" Lucia explained while slowly demonstrating what she meant. She first conjured the Firebolt spell before quickly changing it into Aquashot, then Wind Bullet, and so on.


    This was something she couldn''t do before, but after further cultivating in her family''s Nine-Tail Demon Core Arts, she was slowly able to do this. Lucia noticed that each of her tails had somehow gained their own elemental affinities which resulted in her gaining those affinities herself. Her Fire and Water affinities were still her strongest so she stuck to using those in battle and would only experiment with other affinities outside of battle.


    She currently had 7 tails and 7 different affinities. However, Lucia had only discovered 5 out of those 7. The other two were still unknown to her because although she had the affinities, she didn''t understand what they were and thus couldn''t use them.


    A student who wasn''t an earthling raised his hand and asked, "Instructor, you just said earlier that the spell structures are the same and that it only depends on which elemental affinity we have that''ll enable us to use them, right?"


    "Yes, but remember you also have to make sure you memorize the proper spell incantation or else you won''t be able to invoke the spell."


    "Okay...uhm, my question is why can Instructor use 5 different elements?"


    The other students in class who were not from earth also wanted to know the answer. The native students weren''t like the earthling students who only came to listen. They weren''t here just because it was a mandatory class, but most importantly, all of them aspired to become a respectable mage in the future.


    Before moving to Silvaria, these students'' futures didn''t have the option of becoming a mage. Their paths were limited to training and learning in the adventurer guild''s newbie courses and growing up to become adventurers, enroll at the Regulus Kingdom''s military academy and become a soldier, apprentice themselves at a local smithy, tailor shop, apothecary or somewhere to become a craftsman, or stay at home and help the family manage the fields.


    Only the rich and better-off families would be able to enroll their children in the kingdom''s Magic Academy to learn magic and aspire to become a mage in the future. However that wasn''t the case in the Silvaria Kingdom. Here, all children were required to enroll in the Kingdom''s academy for primary education and selective education that would pave out the path for their future.


    Another student raised their hand and quickly asked, "Instructor Lucia, my father is also a mage, but he''s only able to use Earth magic! From what I know, having more than one element makes you very talented! Since teacher has 5 elements, does that make you a prodigy?!"


    This invoked discussion in the class and Lucia had to quickly settle them down. She smiled helplessly at her students and turned towards the first student who had asked her a question, "Listen, Mark, during the previous classes, you all tested your elemental affinities, right?"


    "Yes!??


    "Your first elemental affinity is the affinity you want to focus on while training! Being too spread out isn''t really good because it''ll affect your development in the long run!"


    Lucia then turned towards the other student who had asked her a question and continued, "Katie, having more than one element is indeed a sign for talent, but it doesn''t necessarily mean that a mage with more than one element will progress faster than a mage that only has one! Talent won''t mean anything if you don''t work hard!"


    "O-Okay..."


    "As for why I can wield more than one element... that''s because of my unique cultivation technique. Soon, you all will be able to pick a cultivation manual and you can choose one that''ll enable you to cultivate more than one element IF it''s suitable!" Lucia especially emphasized the last part.


    "Really Instructor? There''s something like that?!" The student named Katie exclaimed in excitement.


    "Now hold on! Although there are cultivation manuals that''ll let you do that, it doesn''t mean you have to choose them! Remember, most of those cultivation manuals are suited only to mages who have more than one element! It''ll help them further their mana cultivation if they employ the techniques and methods inscribed in the book when they cultivate."


    "Teacher, doesn''t that mean¡ª"


    "However," Lucia quickly cut off, "If you choose recklessly, it''ll severely impact the progress of your cultivation! If you choose one that''s not suitable for you, it might lead to your cultivation stagnating or worse, deviating!"


    "Deviating?"


    "Yes, that''s why you have to choose carefully! Don''t recklessly choose something that isn''t compatible with you!"


    "Teacher, what''s deviating?"


    "Deviat¡ª"


    Before Lucia could continue, the school bell rang and the class ended.


    "Awww.."


    "It''s over already?!


    "Ahhhh, I still haven''t asked my question!"


    Many in the class grumbled when the bell rang. Lucia could only smile at them and say, "Class is over now so we''ll have to continue this discussion tomorrow! I''ll answer your questions then!"


    Lucia quickly took her leave from the class and went over to the school''s faculty room. When she arrived, Lucia noticed that there seemed to be a commotion around the faculty room.


    From afar she could hear some of the female teachers discussing something.


    "Hey, who is that?"


    "I''m not sure. I haven''t seen him in the kingdom before!"


    "A new face...and a handsome one too~"


    "Isn''t that the new teacher''s desk? You know, the one recommended by Lady Fatima."


    "Hey, there she is, let''s go ask her!"

 Chapter 322 - Daily Life 2

    The other teachers crowded around Lucia when she arrived and started asking her questions. They wanted to know who the young man currently napping on her desk was.


    "Lucia, do you know the young man inside?"


    "Is he your boyfriend?"


    "He came earlier to bring you lunch!"


    "W-wait, who''re you talking about?!" Lucia asked in a fl.u.s.ter.


    The teachers led her into the faculty room and she soon saw her husband napping on her desk.


    "Eh? Cel?"


    Hearing her surprised cry, everyone immediately understood that she knew this person. Lucia walked over next to Cecil and began poking his face whilst calling out, "Cel, wake up~!"


    Cecil opened his eyes slowly, propped himself up, and looked around in daze while yawning. Once he saw Lucia, he immediately pointed to the wrapped up lunchbox on the desk and said, "Lunch...I brought..."


    "Th-thanks, but why did Cel¡ª"


    "Mother...told me too..."


    "Ohh...ehehe, I''m happy, thanks!"


    "Mhm,??? Cecil nodded once before standing up. "I''ll get going now..."


    "W-wait! Come eat with me before you go! There''s no way I can finish all that by myself!" Lucia said as she grabbed onto Cecil and pointed at the stacked lunchbox on the table.


    "...Alright."


    Once he agreed, Lucia took the box and dragged her husband away from the faculty room.


    "E-Excuse me..."


    "..."


    The other teachers only stared back at her as she left with the handsome young man.


    "So she did know him!"


    "I bet that''s her boyfriend!"


    "Cehh, lucky~"


    "Let''s go eat, we can''t waste our lunchtime. We can naturally ask for more info from Lucia after she gets back!"


    At the park which just in front of the large academy, Lucia and Cecil were having their lunch underneath a large tree. Cecil had invited Silver and Yuna to have lunch with them when they passed by each other earlier in the school building.


    "Hey, Yuna, where were you? You''re supposed to be my assistant at school, but you didn''t even come to class with me!"


    "I''m sorry, Master, but Lady Fatima asked me to fill in another class earlier."


    "Well you should have at least told me!"


    "I did, but Master was so busy getting ready for the next class that you basically ignored me..."


    "I-I did?"


    Yuna nodded and Cecil chuckled in response to her.


    "I''m glad that you''re enjoying yourself, Lulu..."


    "T-thanks...I was a little bored lately so Fatima''s suggestion of becoming a teacher is good. At least I won''t look like a lazy bum idling away at home..."


    "Lazy? You and Seri have always been doing the housework during our travels! There''s no way you''re lazy," Cecil said with a light laugh.


    "That''s the problem! At your family''s house, all the servants do everything and I can''t even help out!"


    "...That''s true..."


    "Hmmm... this tastes good... did Mother make this?" Lucia asked.


    "Yeah, after you gave her your cooking notes, Mother began experimenting with all kinds of ingredients. Now you can taste all of my mother''s cooking from when we were back on Earth!"


    "That''s great!"


    While they were eating, Ren, Angelia, and her friends suddenly popped up.


    "Ah, I knew it! You really were here, brother!"


    "Teacher, are you taking a break?"


    Cecil waved and invited them to join.


    "What brings you here, brother?" Angelia asked as she began stuffing herself.


    "Mom, told me to bring lunch for Lulu."


    "Hmm~ isn''t that nice, big sis Lulu, your husband bringing lunch for you~?"


    "Y-yeah, but this idiot had to come and wait inside the faculty room and cause a commotion!" Lucia grumbled before turning to Cecil and saying, "You should have told me you were coming!"


    "I was afraid you were in class. Calling and interrupting would be very rude of me," Cecil replied.


    "W-wait! Instructor Lucia is already married?" Marilyn cried out in surprise.


    Angelia looked at her friend and grinned, "Yup~ too bad, your idol is already taken~"


    "S-stupid! Stop spewing nonsense! I''m just surprised that someone as young as the instructor is already married..."


    "Ehehehe, well, I didn''t really conceal it," Lucia replied while bringing up her hand and showing the ring on her finger.


    "Ah, that''s a wedding ring!" Xin exclaimed.


    "Hmmm, I thought that was just an accessory because you had a ring on your other hand as well," Robin quipped up.


    "I-Instructor, I know this is break time, but I wanna ask the question from before! You said something about deviation, what is that?"


    Cecil looked at Lucia and smiled. He saw her getting ready to reply, but he quickly interrupted, "Hey, this is the instructor''s break time! Why not leave the questions for later?"


    "E-Eh?? O-okay...I-I''m sorry..." Marilyn said sadly.


    "Cel!"


    Cecil held up a hand to her and continued, "It''s her break time, so why not I help her answer it?"


    "O-oh?"


    "Look here, it''s better for you to understand if I demonstrate for you."


    Cecil stretched out an arm and began channeling his mana. He materialized some of his mana outside and said, "Look, this is mana. I''m sure you all should know this by now, right?"


    "W-woah! Y-you materialized so much mana! That''s incredible!" Marilyn exclaimed in shock. She was the only one in Angelia''s group of friends who was able to effectively materialize outside of her body which was one of the reasons why she was given the role as a mage. Seeing the unthinkable amount of mana that Cecil was materializing out of his body, this naturally shocked her because she could only materialize a small ball of mana.


    "You''ll be able to do this once you''ve practiced more. Now, listen up. When we cultivate, we naturally circulate our mana inside our bodies, correct?"


    "Yes!"


    "Our mana follows a certain pathway inside our bodies. This is known as an Energy Pathway," Cecil said as he began to replicate the energy pathways inside his arm and materialize it just above his arm.


    "See, these are the pathways. If you can feel and visualize this pathway inside your body, you''ll be able to cultivate much more efficiently. Now, this is what deviation is. Normally, the mana inside your body flows through the path in one direction," Cecil continued as he began to demonstrate the mana''s movements inside the pathway.


    "See, it flows only in one direction, but when you experience a deviation, the mana inside this pathway flow backwards and collides with the mana flowing forwards!"


    He demonstrated what he meant, immediately, Marilyn, Xin, Robin, Angelia, and even Ren crowded closer to him.


    The mana inside the pathway continued to collide with one another and slowly build up inside the pathway, when it got too big, Cecil immediately asked, "What do you think happens when too much mana backflows and builds up?"


    Seeing the mana continue to swell out of proportions, Marilyn immediately answered, "It explodes?"


    "Exactly!" Cecil said while he detonated the mana inside his demo pathway. It caused a small outburst which naturally broke the pathway.


    "This is what''s called deviation. If you cultivate wrongly, this is what will happen. You''ll cause your mana to backflow and damage your inner energy pathway. In worst cases, it might cause you to be fatally wounded because the mana exploded and damaged your organs!"


    "Wh-what?!"


    "It''s that bad?"


    "O-oh no..."


    Cecil ended his demonstration by giving them a solution and a way out if they happen to suddenly experience a cultivation deviation.


    "Look, if you happen to experience one, don''t panic. All you have to do is concentrate hard and correct your mana flow," Cecil recreated his demo pathway and corrected his mana flow. The built up mana flow due to the deviation began flowing normally again and the mana flow was corrected. "Of course you need to have a good grasp of mana manipulation. Are you all being taught about it yet?"


    "N-No...not yet... is that a high school curriculum or something?" Marilyn asked her friends.


    "I''m not sure...I haven''t heard any of the older kids talk about it..." Robin said.


    The rest only shrugged in response to her question.


    Cecil frowned when he saw their responses. This was bad. He was going to give the school all of the mana cultivation manuals that he''s recorded from the World Tree''s Trials and the Arks Academy''s library, but if they didn''t teach the students about Mana Manipulation yet, it could spell danger if any of them experience a deviation in their cultivation due to selecting incompatible cultivation techniques and forcibly try to make it work.


    "I better talk to Ima about this...anyway, let me show you a trick to help you all with Mana Manipulation!" Cecil said.


    The kids turned their attention to him again and he materialized a ball of mana on his palm. He then started to slowly move it around his hand and fingers.


    "Do this every day for as long as you can! Start out big and slow, after that make the ball smaller and go faster!"


    Cecil said as he made his ball of mana smaller and smaller while slowly increasing his speed until it only left streaks of golden flashes weaving in and out of his fingers. The spectacle looked as if electricity was moving around his hand.


    "C-cool!"


    "Wow!"


    Cecil smiled at them and said, "You''ll be able to do this eventually with practice! So remember what I''ve said and do this every day! You guys will have a head start, but eventually everyone in school will know about this, so don''t slack off!"


    "Yes sir!" Angelia and her friends said in unison. Only Ren felt a little left out because he wasn''t aspiring to be a mage or anything.


    "Ren, you should practice a little as well. Although you won''t be able to materialize your mana like them, but practicing to better manipulate your mana will be beneficial for you as an artificer!"


    "Yes, Teacher!"


    The group stopped their impromptu lesson and quickly finished up their lunch. The bell was soon going to ring and Lucia and everyone else had to quickly get back to prepare for their next class. Cecil cleaned up for them and went to find his sister afterward.


    Once he locked onto her location, he quickly hurried over using Blink. His sister was currently getting ready for an outdoor class and his sudden appearance greatly startled her.


    "Cecil! Stop doing that!" Fatima roared after her shock.


    "Hahaha, I''m sorry about that, sis!"


    "Sheesh... well, what brings you here? I thought you were going to hole up in your workshop today?"


    "Well, mom dragged me out of there and told me to deliver lunch for Lulu..."


    "Hm? Well isn''t that romantic~ but you didn''t have any thoughts of bringing your big sis anything?"


    "Ah, no worries, we saved some for you!" Cecil said as he handed Fatima a wrapped up lunchbox.


    "You sure came in late, my break is almost over!" Fatima said as she checked the time on her watch.


    "Oh! You have a watch! Do they sell that in the city?"


    "Yeah, after we figured out that the time for a day on this planet is roughly the same as on Earth, we quickly had people make clocks and watches."


    "I''ll go buy one for me and my wives later~"


    "Mhm. Now back to my question, why did you come and find me?" Fatima said but soon enough, the bell rang and she had to quickly finish up her preparations. "Ahh, shoot, let''s continue this later! I''ll¡ª"


    "Let me help then you can hear me out while we wait for your students to come!"


    Cecil said and he immediately began flashing around the field and setting up the equipment according to his sister''s instructions. It didn''t take long before everything was set up and he flashed back next to Fatima''s side.


    "...you really are useful at times..."


    "Hey! Are you implying I''ve been useless?!"


    "Well, yeah...you stay cooped up in that workshop all day long and back on Earth, you only trained every hour of every day!"


    "..."


    "Anyways, what did you want to tell me?"


    "Mana Manipulation, you have to add this to the curriculum!"


    "Mana Manipulation?"


    "Yeah! If you want me to hand over all the cultivation manuals that I have stored in my tome, the students need to learn the basics of Mana Manipulation first! If something wrong happens in their cultivation because they recklessly pick out a manual that isn''t suitable for them, it might cause a deviation and it could potentially cripple or even kill the student!"


    "What?!"


    "Don''t worry. I''ll include a manual that''ll help you teach the students about Mana Manipulation. The teachers should also learn about it themselves to make teaching more effective."


    "Alright, but why didn''t you mention this earlier¡ªOh yeah, I almost forgot, you were holing yourself up until recently!"


    "Y-You don''t have to bash me that much sis..."


    "Prepare the materials tomorrow okay? The faster I distribute this, the better!"


    Cecil nodded in reply. He then noticed that some students were already making their way over to the field. He reckoned that they were going to be practicing combat considering the field''s set up.


    He was just about to use Blink, but his sister quickly grabbed his arm and smiled at him, "Hehehehe~ Cecil, since you''re here, mind being my assistant for the day?"


    "Huh? But I¡ª"


    "Perfect, you''ll be helping your sis out for the day, now stay put!"


    "But¡ª"


    "But what? Got something better to do other than holing yourself up at home like a useless idiot?"


    "I''m properly doing something, alright?!"


    "Tsk, just do your sis a favor and help out. Besides, my next class is a practical combat class, isn''t combat your forte?"


    "..."


    "If you run away, I''ll make sure to tell Lulu and Seri all about your brat-like days!"


    "Hah! That''s not gonna work! They already know all about my days on Earth!"


    "Tsk..." Fatima clicked her tongue and began pondering on what to say.


    While Cecil was acting triumphant, a girl''s voice immediately broke the silence between him and his sister.


    "Instructor, is class going to start now?"


    "Eh?"


    Fatima looked up and saw that everyone had already gathered and were only waiting for her to address them. It appears that they had witnessed the exchange the brother and sister duo had earlier.


    "Yes, we''re going to begin! Today, I''ve brought a special guest to act as my assistant!"


    "Hey, who''s your assis¡ª"


    Fatima glared at him and her eyes were saying ''If you dare embarrass me in front of my students, you''re dead.''


    "..."


    "Now, Mr. Assistant, please introduce yourself," Fatima said delightfully after seeing that Cecil was staying.

 Chapter 323 - Daily Life 3

    Cecil reluctantly introduced himself as Fatima''s little brother and soon class began.


    "Well, my assistant will be demonstrating the proper usage of mana for today! Cecil, everyone here is a mage-class student so they can easily materialize mana outside of their bodies. Show them how to properly do it!" Fatima commanded. She already knew how adept this little brother of hers was at using mana. The techniques and skills that he''s displayed before were unthinkable ways of using mana to her. So this made Cecil the perfect example for her students on how to effectively wield their mana.


    "Okay... what should I demonstrate?"


    "Since this is a combat class, why not destroy that target over there?"


    "...Alright..."


    Cecil side-eyed the farthest target and sent a Mana Bolt at it. Unlike the Mana Bolts that the students and Fatima''s seen or used, this Mana Bolt flew out so fast that their eyes couldn''t keep up. The target blew up spectacularly before anyone could properly register that Cecil had just sent out his attack.


    Cecil looked back at the dumbfounded students and spoke up, "I can see that everyone here is from Earth. I''m sure that everyone knows about the difference between the natives and us, right?"


    The students all nodded at his words and the girl from earlier, who Cecil expected to be the class representative, said in response, "Yes sir, unlike us, they can use those elemental spells while we''re limited to using only these ''Light Bolts''..."


    "Ah, that''s a mistake. Those aren''t ''Light Bolts''. Light Bolt is a Light elemental magic spell and it''s not as destructive as the ''Mana Bolt'' that I just fired off earlier."


    Fatima raised her brow in question and Cecil continued explaining, "I''m sure you all know that everyone in this world possesses an innate element that lets them use elemental magic spells, right?"


    Once he got everyone''s nod, Cecil continued, "That isn''t the case for us Earthlings. We aren''t gifted with an element, but instead, we''re element-less. The term the Alternians call us are Non-Elemental. What we control is an Attribute-less Mana, or simply, just mana. This also makes us a little more versatile than elemental mages."


    Cecil continued his explanation about the perks of being Non-Elemental before he started demonstrating a few of the techniques he created and the ease at which everyone like him could control and manipulate mana.


    "It''s true that the Mana Bolt is essentially the only ''Magic Spell'' that we can use but if you understand the principles of elemental magic, you can imitate some of their spells using your adept control over mana."


    Cecil demonstrated by first creating a Mana Bolt and then enlarging it and firing a volley of mana bolts into the distance.


    "That''s called a Mana Volley and it imitates the ''Rain'' or bombardment-type spells of the elemental system. Then there''s this," Cecil created a barrier in front of him and pushed it forward and knocked down a training dummy. "This is called a Barrier, it can naturally block out physical and magical attacks. This imitates the elemental system''s barrier-type spells. Since you''re all a mage, you can use it to protect yourselves while you dish out attacks from behind it. Just remember, it uses up quite a bit of mana to sustain."


    After explaining a few more things about the Non-Elemental attribute, he touched upon Mana Manipulation a little bit before handing the class back over to Fatima. The students were reinvigorated by the new prospects that Cecil had just demonstrated for them.


    Cecil could have simply explained to the students that the limits of their Non-Elemental mana lie in their imagination. If they can visualize the form of the spell they wanted to create, then all they needed to do was manipulate their mana and form that spell.


    But in this class, Cecil only explained the simplest of techniques that wouldn''t harm them in the case that they failed to execute the spell. If they visualized to big and tried something out of their league, it might lead to a very bad outcome for them and everyone around if they recklessly used their mana.


    Fatima let everyone in class begin experimenting with their mana. She left the students to their own devices and only monitored them. It was really hard for most of the students because they hadn''t learnt about Mana Manipulation yet. Cecil only hoped that once they do, these students would be able to grow stronger.


    Seeing how hard everyone was trying, Cecil couldn''t help but let out a soft smile. Fatima walked over next to him and kicked his leg.


    "W-what was that for Sis?!"


    "You kept such an interesting method away from me..."


    "Well... you never asked..."


    "Shouldn''t you have the heart to just inform me about it?"


    "Well, I didn''t know that big sis still liked to fight..."


    "Times have changed little Cel..."


    "Yes, yes..."


    "Why don''t you demonstrate one final technique before you leave, okay? Also, make it flashy so it''ll help motivate the students!"


    "Sure... anything is okay, right?"


    "Just don''t go overboard..."


    "Okay."


    After the students finished experimenting and practicing until they were completely spent of their mana, Fatima gathered everyone around and stated that Cecil would do one last demonstration before he had to go.


    "Hmmm... what to do..."


    Cecil pulled out his Gunblade and immediately held it in his right hand and began surveying the area around him. The students saw him pull out a unique-looking sword, part of the class became excited, but there were some who couldn''t understand why he pulled out a sword.


    Hearing the slight commotion caused by the students, Cecil turned back and took in the mixed looks of excitement and confusion that the students were giving him.


    "Ah, I forgot to explain. Although I can materialize mana, I''m not a pure ''Mage''. I''m more of a Magic Swordsman."


    The students exclaimed in excitement at his explanation.


    "Now watch, this technique is called ''Imbuing'' and the skill I''m going to use is called Ascending Blade. So, the first thing you do is materialize mana and wrap it around your weapon."


    Cecil slowly materialized his mana and wrapped it around his Gunblade. He purposefully did it slowly so that the students could see the process of him wrapping his mana around an object.


    "Once you wrap your mana around an object, you could simply swing it or throw it to eject the mana you''ve imbued or¡ª"


    The mana around his sword was currently flaring out uncontrollably and he slowly compressed it until only flashes of golden light were wrapping around his blade.


    "¡ªyou can go even further by compressing the mana to increase its power, like what I''ve just done," Cecil said as he pointed at his sword. "After this, all you need to do is aim and swing."


    In the next moment, Cecil turned towards the sky and swung his sword out. The Ascending Blade flew out and cut apart the air. It continued to fly forward in the air before it exploded in the sky.


    "That''s so cool!"


    "Wow!"


    "We can actually do that?!"


    "Only if we train hard, don''t delude yourself!"


    "I know that, but still!"


    Seeing the hype the students were in, Cecil stored away his Gunblade and bade farewell to the class. This time, he didn''t just use Blink to move away, he instead used Mana Burst and jumped into the air and flew out of the academy.


    Lucia, as well as most of the people in the school, was looking out the window just now when she heard the explosion and saw Cecil flying away. The sight of a human flying through the air naturally caused a commotion, but all Lucia thought was what her husband was still doing in school? He stayed back for a while after she left for her classes so Lucia couldn''t help but wonder why. She was going to ask him later after she got back home.


    Cecil only used Blink once he was a short distance away from the Academy to quickly arrive back home. Charles informed him that his father was waiting for him in the study and Cecil quickly made his way over.


    "Something you need, dad?"


    "Mhm. I wanted to ask when you will finish the gate."


    "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It''ll take me and Ren about a month or two at most before we finish. On the other hand, it''ll take foster mother around a month to finish on her end."


    "1 month... okay, that''ll give us plenty of time then."


    "Something wrong, dad?"


    "No, there''s nothing wrong, but it''s decided that we''ll be moving against Merkruz next week. The Kingdom''s Council has decided that we''ll go to war. We need to teach those fools about the consequences of attacking us. We held no hostilities for them but they came knocking on our door for no reason and we lost a lot of good men and women!"


    "Heh, finally, it''s about time. I was beginning to grow impatient! Here, dad, Quinn used his information network to get me a few things on Merkruz, you can use it to prepare our battle strategy. I''ll just follow your orders," Cecil said as he pulled out a few doc.u.ments from his spatial ring and handed them over to his father.


    "...Just who is that butler of yours?"


    "He''s a former assassin, currently working as my family''s butler."


    "Assassin, huh... since he''s under you, I''m guessing that he''s trustworthy and loyal?"


    "He''s pledged his loyalty to me so you can trust him. His family''s ways disallow him from betraying his liege so you don''t need to worry about him, dad."


    "Is it possible for my men to utilize his information network?"


    "Quinn?" Cecil light called out.


    "I''ll immediately give access to the Patriarch, Master," Quinn said as he suddenly materialized next to Cecil.


    Cecil looked back at his father and nodded. Kaiser took the doc.u.ments and began stroking his chin while looking at the two people in front of him. He was proud and happy that his son had a very capable person under him. Moreover, this person was very loyal to him.


    "You can go now, son. By the way, you should tell your mother about the time limit you''ve set on yourself. If they continue decorating the main hall, we won''t be able to use it for the family meetings."


    Cecil only nodded and walked out of the room. He then went to inform his mother about his arrangements with Lucia''s mother and Anastasia could only begrudgingly put a stop to all of the decorating.


    She also urged Cecil to be quick about his preparations and crafting for the teleportation gate because in a month or two, Serilla''s stomach would already have a visible bulge and it''ll be hard for her to enjoy the celebratory banquet. Cecil could only give her his word that he''ll try to speed things up.


    He quickly went to his workshop and began planning out a few different blueprints. He was going to upgrade the Silvaria Kingdom''s cannons with his mana batteries so that next time when they were going to fire the weapons, they wouldn''t need to use an external source of mana since they''d have a built in mana battery that''ll power the weapon.


    As for the M-Jammer, Cecil already found a pretty simple solution for it. Inside his kingdom''s mines, he had found a unique ore that could isolate all forms of mana. If they were able to create a casing out of this ore then it would be able to prevent the M-Jammer''s interference on their weapons.


    The Empire''s Cannons that they were able to salvage from the aftermath of the war were created using this exact same ore. Before, the Silvaria Kingdom only dumped this ore as a waste by-product from their mining because they didn''t understand its function and it interfered with their mana usage on their equipment so they naturally threw it away.


    The M-Jammer''s power ironically still needed mana at the base of its functionality because the disruption was caused by a magic array built into the device which radiated mana that''ll be used to disrupt the usage of mana. Cecil had felt it during his fight against the Merkruz Army so he thought that the principle was pretty ingenious and began trying to create a technique that could act as his version of an M-Jammer.


    The mana disruption of the M-Jammer was invoked using a magic array. He didn''t know who it was that created the Mana Disruption Array, but he had to applaud them. Cecil didn''t want to feel overly conscious of himself but he felt like the Empire had specially created this device just for him.


    ''Heh, did I spook the Emperor too much last time? But to think they''d be experimenting with their weapons on my family''s kingdom... Hmph, I might just take away Ren for myself! I could use the extra help and he''d be a great asset for my family...it''d be better than to just give him away to the Empire after I''ve nurtured him for so long.''


    Cecil found a good way to payback the Empire for them indirectly sabotaging his family. It''s not like a simple piece of paper could stop him from reneging his promise. It was unprincipled, but they were the ones who wronged him first. As for whether they did it intentionally or not did not matter to Cecil.


    "Okay, let''s finish this before the army sets out."

 Chapter 324 - A Brief Outing

    Cecil worked from morning to night for a few days before he was able to create a new firing system for his kingdom''s ''Spell Cannon'', as he liked to call it. He also gave the blueprints to the Storm Howler Mk.II to his brother and the kingdom''s craftsmen were currently busying themselves by creating the parts for the cannon as well as the new coating or casing for their Spell Cannons.


    Since the craftsmen were preparing the parts for the Storm Howler Mk.II, Cecil now only had the easy job of inscribing the runic arrays on the parts which would then be assembled by the craftsmen after he was finished.


    Cecil was actually pretty satisfied with their work that he even sent them the blueprints for the parts of the Teleportation Gate so that they could craft it for him. Of course, he split all of the blueprints into the individual parts of the Teleportation Gate before handing them over. He didn''t want anyone else to know of him building the gate just yet.


    His family was the only one that needed to know at the moment. With the help of the kingdom''s craftsmen, his work on the gate was sure to speed up. It might take him even less time to build and assemble the gate. All he needed to do now was wait for the parts to be delivered to him.


    After Cecil holed himself inside his workshop for 3 consecutive days, his mother and wives dragged him out of the place because it wasn''t healthy for him to be like that. During their journey, Lucia and Serilla would normally leave Cecil and Ren be if the two decided to hole up in their workshop for days and they''d only bring them food and tell them to wash up.


    The two never tried to interfere with Cecil''s work no matter how much they yearned to spend some time with him. Besides, Lucia and Serilla thought that it would be better for him to quickly finish up his work before they barred him from entering the workshop for a while.


    Now that Mother Anastasia was here, the girls became even bolder and directly dragged Cecil out of his workshop so that they could spend some time with their husband. Cecil felt that his work was being hindered by his own family, but he didn''t feel all too bad about it. It was nice to take a break once in a while and after being lectured by his mother and grandmother, he finally understood the folly of him neglecting his wives to only focus on his work.


    Cecil didn''t want to lose either of them because they felt they were being neglected by him. He was lectured to better manage his time and split it between work and break. It was a hard habit to break, but he did promise his elders that he''d try.


    Since Cecil wasn''t allowed back inside his workshop for the next few days, he decided to help out with Lucia and Fatima''s classes. He had already given the school his Mana Manipulation methods so when he came as an assistant to the girls, he was glad to see that the students had some inkling of what Mana Manipulation was.


    Next week, he would be heading out to war with his father and it was a good thing that the magi-tech weapons that his kingdom was creating were all upgraded with the anti-magic coating and his new firing mechanism. This way, the cannons wouldn''t be useless if they fell under the Empire''s M-Jammer.


    On the last day before the army was going to head out, Angelia kept on bugging her brother to take her out for monster hunting as he had originally promised her before. Of course, it didn''t mean hunting down and killing monsters, but hunting down and taming them.


    It was the weekend and that meant there was no school so Cecil had to agree. Lucia, Ren, Quinn, and Gabriel tagged along on this trip outside of the valley as well. They were going to head out on the Wanderer so they brought Serilla''s trusty steed, Sleipnir, with them.


    "Yay, yay, yay~"


    "Settle down, Angel, you''re going to fall off!"


    "Haha, no way~ even if I do, Orochi will catch me~"


    "...that''s still no reason for you to be jumping up and down on the wagon''s roof..."


    "Hehehe~ lighten up big bro! I''m holding onto you anyway~"


    "Hmmm..." Cecil eyed the little three-headed golden snake wrapped around Angelia''s arm. He found it peculiar that his little sister was able to contract with so many monsters at once.


    It was only the little snake, but there was also the small bird on her shoulder, Chi, the black cat nestling around her neck, Mao, and the beautiful gem-like ornaments decorating her hair. These weren''t your ordinary ornaments, the small gems in Angelia''s hair was actually an Orobos that she had named Jewel.


    When Cecil had found out that those hair ornaments that Angelia had on 24/7 were actually an Orobos, he was a little shocked. This was the troublesome monster that he had fought all those years ago inside of that mine!


    When he asked where Angelia found it, her answer was something he had expected and sure enough, he was correct. The monster came from deep within the Silvaria Kingdom''s mine. It was a good thing that no one had died due to the monster''s attacks since it was discovered very early on.


    Her Orobos was a little unique because it could split itself into multiple parts unlike the one he had faced which could only split into 4. The small gems in Angelia''s hair acted like her own automated laser beam defense system. If a monster or an individual with bad intentions tried to get close to her, the Orobos would sense it and immediately attack to protect its Master.


    These were just the monsters that Angelia had brought with her this time. On her personal ranch which was located in a cordoned area inside the valley, she had at least 30 more monsters that she was connected to by a pact.


    She originally had close to 50 or so, but after the war with Merkruz, it was reduced to around 30. This was also another bone that Cecil and his family had to pick with Merkruz. The bastards had killed off about 20 or so of their precious little Angel''s pets, and this was unforgivable.


    "Hey, Angel, I''ve wanted to ask this, but are you able to contract with any kind of monsters?" Cecil curiously asked.


    "Contract? What''s that?"


    "Uhm... let me rephrase that, are you able to form a link with just any monster you meet?"


    "A link? Oh, you mean the connection I have with my pets?"


    "Yes, that''s what I meant, so are you able to form a connection with just any monster?"


    Angelia thought hard for a moment before replying, "No, I don''t think I can... there are some monsters that attack me or just run away even after I help and try to befriend them... for the ones that try to attack me...well, you can imagine what''ll happen to them."


    Angelia gestured at all her pets that were currently with her. She was literally covered in all sorts of high-ranked monsters right now. They were all still young so their ranks weren''t that high yet, but once they''ve matured, Angelia would have a pretty formidable army under her.


    "So there are only certain monsters that can form connections with you, huh?"


    "Yup! Before, I used to just jump the gun and try to befriend every monster I see, but now, I''ve developed some sort of gut feeling that usually helps me determine whether or not I can form a bond with the monster!"


    "That''s neat, but it also strikes me as odd as to why you can form so many bonds with so many monsters..."


    "Is that bad?" Angelia asked.


    "No, of course, it isn''t. It''s just puzzling to me because people aren''t supposed to be able to form pacts with so many monsters at once! A pact has a direct influence on the two contractors'' bodies, take for example me and Silv, you already know by now that we both have a pact, right?"


    "Yeah, too bad though. I really like Silv..."


    "Haha, well, get this, out pact enables us to use a portion of our partner''s abilities. It''s like how I can use Silv''s abilities to fly in the sky and how Silv can transform himself into a human."


    "I thought Silv said that he had a magic spell for that?"


    "Yes, but it''s a little different than the pact''s transformation which Silv uses. Listen here, Silver''s transformation into a human is quite literal. This means that in his human form, Silv''s no longer a Fenrir, but an actual human. He''d be 100% human while in that form and he''d only turn back into a Fenrir once he goes back into his normal form while he''d turn into a beastkin if he goes into his humanoid battle form. It''s different from Lucia''s Transformation Magic that only changes our forms, but not our fundamental genetic make-up."


    "I don''t understand...that sounds too complicated..."


    "I know! Anyways, the Pact between me and Silv has a direct impact on our bodies. So, if I were to try and form a pact with another monster, my pact with Silv will only interfere with the process of forming a new pact and cancel it out. But not you, Angel, you can somehow form pacts with so many monsters, and from what I see, although it doesn''t allow you to use their abilities or have any effects on your body, it somehow commands absolute loyalty from them."


    "Uh... Okay?" Angelia was still a little puzzled. She didn''t understand what her big brother was getting at.


    Seeing his little sister still confused, Cecil decided to drop the matter and quickly changed the subject.


    "We''ll go look for stronger monsters and try to tame them. Have you ever tried taming a leader-type monster and take control of the monster''s entire pack or family?"


    "I have, but it didn''t work out so well. The other members of the pack immediately attacked me like they were trying to take back their leader...but it''s not like I kidnapped them! They were the ones who wanted to follow me!"


    "I see...was it Chi or?"


    "Oh no, it was actually Orochi! He was the leader of a huge colony of Double-headed snake monsters, but he was the unique one being golden-colored and having 3 heads. I thought he looked kinda cute so I went to befriend him!"


    "...He''s cute huh..."


    "Yup!"


    "Well, from what you said, the experience afterward wasn''t really that pleasant..."


    "Yeah, the entire colony of monsters soon started attacking me after I formed a connection with Orochi! It was really frightening to see a sea of snakeheads aiming attacks at you..."


    "...What happened to them after that?"


    "Well... Chi and Mao got really angry and wiped out half of the colony..."


    "Ouch..." Cecil playfully grimaced.


    "Orochi was grumpy the whole month and he wouldn''t get along with Chi and Mao after that... but they''re good now!"


    After a few more hours of travel, Cecil had Sleipnir stop in the middle of the vast open plains of the No-Man''s Land. He jumped down from the wagon and scanned the area with his Mana Sense.


    "As I thought, the mana density in the air thickens as we go deeper and deeper into the area," Cecil said aloud.


    "Does that mean something, Cel?" Lucia asked from the wagon''s driver seat.


    "Not sure, but for now, we should keep away from the No-Man''s Land''s Inner Areas. The higher the mana density¡ª"


    "The stronger the monsters," Lucia finished.


    "Mhm. We can explore the land after we''ve finished dealing with all our problems outside."


    "Yes, but I heard father-in-law say that there were other Earthling powers present inside the No-Man''s Land, do you think we''ll run into some of them inside the land''s inner areas?"


    Cecil immediately denied Lucia''s words, "I doubt it. From what I''ve heard from father, the other powers haven''t even made contact with the native powers beyond the Sky-Piercing Mountain Range... there''s just that one seaside power that was able to make contact with the outside world because they quickly built a port and ventured out to sea...I''m surprised that no sea monsters attacked their sh.i.p.s."


    "Oh, I''ve heard about that one. I think it was the Goldenia Kingdom or something," Lucia replied thoughtfully.


    Cecil only shrugged at her words. He didn''t really care about any other earthling powers, but the name Goldenia did ring a bell for some reason. Cecil wasn''t really sure where he''s heard that name before but it was probably only in passing since he didn''t remember it well.


    "Alright, now let''s go catch us some monsters! We''re near the mountainside so why not go catch a griffin or wyvern for Angel?"


    "Muuhhh~ you spoil Angie a little too much Cel..."


    "I''m her brother, so what?!"


    "You even help her solve the incantation and spell array homework I''ve handed out to everyone..."


    "I have no idea what you''re talking about, Lulu!"


    "..." Lucia only rolled her eyes at him.


    "Sleipnir, head to the mountain over there! I think I just saw a golem!"


    "What happened to the wyverns and griffins?"


    "They''re on that mountain as well!"


    "..."

 Chapter 325 - Angelia’s Fight

    At the base of the mountain, Cecil had gathered everyone together.


    "So, who''s coming with me up the mountain?"


    Lucia obviously raised her hand and so did Angelia. Everyone else in the party had done so as well and only Quinn didn''t because he already knew that his task was to watch the Wanderer and Sleipnir.


    Cecil turned towards Quinn and said, "Alright then, Quinn, I leave Sleipnir and the Wanderer to you!"


    "Yes Master," Quinn respectfully replied with a bow.


    "Everyone else, let''s head out! We should finish this hunt before the sun goes down!"


    "Ouh!"


    "Yay~!"


    "Mhm."


    "..."


    Cecil turned towards his ever silent brother, Gabriel, and asked, "Gabe, you good?"


    "Mhm. Just leave Angel to me. I''ll look after her," Gabriel dully replied.


    "Hehehe, big bro sure hasn''t changed one bit! You''re still Angel''s babysitter even after so many years!"


    "Mhm... she''s reckless after all..."


    "Hey! No, I??m not!" Angelia protested.


    Gabriel and Cecil only eyed her with a gentle smile and walked up the mountain together.


    "Hey! What''s that look supposed to mean?"


    Lucia quickly caught up next to Cecil and she wrapped her arm around his. Even though their objective was to find Angelia a few monsters to tame, Lucia treated it as a family outing. It''s been a while since she could go out on a relaxing stroll with Cecil...through a mountain full of dangerous monsters.


    After a few minutes of walking, Angelia began to curiously look around the area for any monsters she could tame. On the way up, the group encountered a few mid-ranked monsters, but Angelia''s intuition didn''t kick in so they weren''t monsters she could tame. This continued on for quite a while.


    To Cecil''s surprise, the requirements for her to tame a monster was pretty stringent. Even after a few hours of roaming around and encountering a few wyverns, griffins, and other kinds of monsters, his sister still hadn''t tamed a single one!


    "Big bro, I think I can feel a monster that I can tame somewhere close!"


    "Hm? Well, okay, lead the way then. Just be careful."


    "M''kay~"


    Angelia took the lead and began sprinting forwards. Gabriel was already chasing after her with Lucia, Ren, and Cecil following after from behind. Ren wasn''t all that athletic so Angelia let him ride on Mao, if not, he wouldn''t have been able to keep up.


    As they moved deeper and deeper into the mountain, they encountered stronger monsters but Cecil and Lucia easily took them down. There were occasionally some monsters the two would let pass so that Angelia''s pets could have a little bit of action but surprisingly, the one who was most active had been Gabriel.


    All of the monsters were quickly dispatched by Gabriel and Cecil was surprised that his brother could fight really well. He didn''t panic and only had that dull and tired look on his face while fighting, it was like he was already used to it all. It seems that during the times where he disappears, Gabriel had been busy and wasn''t only lazing around.


    "Brother, you''re pretty good, huh!" Cecil said with a grin.


    "Hm..."


    "Do you train by yourself whenever you disappear all of a sudden?"


    "Mhm... more or less...I am part of the expedition squad...so I''m usually not at home a lot of times..." Gabriel said with a clear tinge of reluctance in his voice. It looks like he was forced into the position.


    "Oh...I didn''t know that."


    "You never asked..."


    "Hahaha! You''re right!"


    After a few more minutes of running, Angelia led the group towards a cave and inside was the first monster Angelia detected that she could form a bond with. Before they could head in, Lucia stopped the group for lunch.


    It was already midday but they had only found one monster after searching around for the whole morning. Cecil thought that it wasn''t very time-efficient, but Angelia was pretty excited to meet her new friend.


    Cecil could only smirk at how confident his little sister was that she could easily tame this new monster.


    After lunch, the group entered the cave. There were a few undead monsters inside the cave and Cecil couldn''t help but make a face at this. Was the monster that Angelia sensing an undead? He hoped that his little sister wouldn''t be averse to those kinds of monsters.


    "Hey, Angel...you wouldn''t mind if this new pet of yours turned out to be an undead, would you?"


    "Hmm... I''m not that picky, but I hope it''s nothing too disgusting! As long as it looks cute then I''ll take it!"


    ''...I don''t think any undead would look cute...''


    Cecil felt a little exasperated at Angelia''s conditions to form a pact with a monster. She basically couldn''t pick and only monsters which had a certain fate with her would be able to be contracted. Even after hunting down all those griffins, wyverns, and golems on the mountain, not a single one of them had been able to contract with Angelia.


    However, it could be seen that she had put a lot of hard work over the past years into being able to capture and tame over 50 of these fated monsters already. Losing even one of them must have been very painful for her.


    Angelia herself didn''t seem to be very picky about her monster''s criteria but her ability sure was! And this was what exasperated Cecil.


    "Well, let''s get this over with. It''s really hard to believe that after searching for almost half a day we were only able to find one monster..."


    "It''s okay, big bro! This time we were extremely lucky! Normally, it would take days or weeks just to find a compatible monster! There were many times when we had to return empty handed! It felt like a complete waste of time because it was only on rare occasions that daddy would let me out of the valley..."


    "Dad can be very strict at times. You can''t blame him, if I were still here during those times I''d rather have you not venture out of the valley. I''m surprised dad actually let you out at all!" Cecil replied.


    "Well, mommy was there to persuade him! If it wasn''t for mommy, I wouldn''t have been able to go out!"


    "And because of that I was forced to babysit you every, single, time..." Gabriel added from the side.


    "Eheheheh..." Angelia could only sheepishly laugh in response.


    "Heads up guys, I think that''s the monster we''re looking for, right Angel?" Lucia warned from up front. Cecil turned his attention back towards the front and soon noticed a unique looking skeleton wandering around the large passage ahead of them.


    It was unique because of the two large boneswords it was carrying around and the fact that it was bigger than all the other skeletons around. Its bones were also black in color instead of the usual grayish white.


    "Ohh, that''s the one! I can feel it!" Angelia exclaimed happily.


    "Is that...a Skeleton Champion?" Cecil thought aloud.


    "Uhh, Cel, I think it''s a Champion that''s almost evolved into a Lord..." Lucia said while pointing at the protruding spikes that was growing on the monster''s skull.


    "...Angel, do you¡ª"


    "I want that!" Angelia exclaimed excitedly.


    "Eh?"


    "He looks so cool!"


    "C-Cool?"


    When Cecil heard his sister''s words, he began questioning his own aesthetical tastes. That eerie, black-colored skeleton monster wielding two maliciously large boneswords that was walking around radiating a dense amount of killing intent...was cool in her sister''s eyes?


    ''That''s...cool?''


    Cecil couldn''t wrap his head around it so he decided to just quickly end this already.


    "Ugh, never mind, Lulu, let''s make this quick!"


    "W-wait, big brother," Angelia called out hastily.


    "What''s up?"


    "These kinds of monsters that I want to form a connection with won''t submit to me unless I personally take them down..."


    "Oh?"


    "Unlike an injured monster which I could use my healing powers to befriend and form a connection with, I need to gain this one''s acknowledgement through combat! So, you need to let me fight this time!"


    "...that''s a monster that''s almost S-ranked y''know..."


    "Yeah, but I want it so I have to fight it myself!" Angelia determinedly said.


    "But it''s dangerous!"


    "I know, but¡ª"


    "Cecil, let Angelia do it..." Gabriel interjected.


    "Huh? G-Gabe, you can''t be serious?!" Cecil replied in shock.


    "Don''t worry so much. She''s got her friends with her. She''s not going to be fighting alone..."


    "We can also jump in to help her if things look tough!" Lucia added. Ren also nodded his head and began preparing his Gun.


    Gabriel nodded before smiling at Angelia, "Show your big brother what he''s missed out on..."


    Angelia nodded determinedly at Gabriel before turning her attention back towards the skeleton in the distance. Chi, Mao, and Orochi immediately felt their master''s intention to head into battle and quickly changed into their battle forms. Jewel, who was still attached to Angelia''s hair, started glowing as if to tell her that it was ready to fight.


    Angelia pulled out a few rods from her bag which she then quickly assembled into her spear before jumping onto Mao and yelling, "Let''s go!"


    The monsters all rushed forward immediately at her command. The Black Skeleton Champion in the distance immediately became aware of Angelia and her monsters rushing towards it and it readied its two blades as it got into a battle stance. The skeleton waited for the girl and her monsters to get into its attack range. It clacked its jaw as if it was laughing at Angelia and her monsters for daring to attack.


    Cecil couldn''t help but widen his eyes a little when he saw the weapon that Angelia had just assembled. It was a spear!


    "Oh that''s neat. She uses the same weapon as me, huh?"


    "Well, she did admire you the most amongst all of us siblings...she naturally copied you to some extent," Gabriel said.


    Up ahead, Angelia and her pets quickly arrived within range of the undead monster and began attacking it. Chi and Orochi were using spells and skills to attack it from afar while Mao and Angelia closed in on it.


    They coordinated their movements and attacks so their enemy would be too busy blocking or dodging the ranged attacks which would then give Mao and Angelia an opening to approach and attack at close range.


    When they got close to the Skeleton Champion, Angelia jumped high up in the air from Mao''s back. When she got just above the monster, she quickly thrust her spear down onto its head while red, purple, blue, and yellow rays of energy poured out of the small jewels decorating Angelia''s hair.


    The multiple rays of energy were Jewel''s attacks. The rays of energy drilled small holes into the monster''s bones and Mao came charging in soon after. He body slammed the skeleton and sent it stumbling backwards and quickly rushed under Angelia to catch her from her jump. Chi and Orochi moved in closer and began pelting the monster''s body with a stream of attacks.


    Angelia was dancing around and attacking the Skeleton Champion while expertly avoiding all of her pets'' attacks. Cecil was amazed and was involuntarily smiling when he saw his little sister fighting using such adept coordination with her monsters.


    He couldn''t even begin to imagine all the hard work his little sister put into to master this degree of coordination. It was as if she and her pets were moving as one organism instead of separate entities. Cecil also noticed that Angelia wasn''t even using any physical enhancement techniques in her battle.


    Angelia was relying on her own physical abilities brought to her by the Mana and Ki present in her body. Yes, this little lady actually had her Mana and Ki already cultivated. As for how she had grasped the presence of her Ki, even the girl herself didn''t know. It came to her instinctually and before she was even aware, she already had the energy.


    Right now, Angelia wasn''t even consciously activating her energies like Cecil but instead was just subconsciously circulating them to enhance her body. The way she was using her energies was like a crude form of Cecil''s Mana Burst.


    "Wow, I didn''t think Angelia could be this strong! She''s still so young! Even I wasn''t that¡ª"


    "Yeah, you can stop now. Don''t overestimate her and don''t underestimate yourself," Gabriel quickly interjected. "Please remember that a certain someone had awakened his own Weapon Intent before reaching Angelia''s current age and that certain someone also didn''t have Mana during that time yet he performed absurd feats like killing a bear with only a wooden spear and even hunted down a pack of wolves using only his fists and legs..."


    "..."


    "Cecil, I can only imagine how strong and freakish you have become ever since coming to this world. This place is literally our dream world y''know? We always dreamed of fighting monsters and dragons back on Earth, but now, we''re literally living that dream."


    "Good for us, right?"


    "Not really..."


    "...what''s wrong, Gabe?" Cecil asked with a frown after seeing the sad expression on his brother''s face.


    "Nothing...anyway, the battle''s over. Look, Angel''s going to form a connection with the monster now," Gabriel pointed towards Angelia who had now wrapped up her fight with the Black Skeleton Champion.


    The large undead monster was kneeling in front of Angelia and many of its bones were chipped and broken. Angelia placed a hand on top of the monster''s cranium and her Ki started flowing into the Skeleton Champion. In the next instant, the monster''s injuries began to heal.


    "No matter how many times I''ve seen it, it still leaves me in awe... it''s like our little Angel has literally become an angel, being able to perform miracles like healing wounds and stuff like that," Gabriel said.


    "Angelia''s been using the positive aspect of Ki...she''s only using it to enhance her body and heal others with it. I''m definitely surprised that she can use her Ki to heal others without even knowing any sort of healing technique. That kind of thing is something I can only do when I use my Healing Arts... if I teach her that, I''m sure that her capability as a healer will surely rise..."


    "So shouldn''t you, Cel?" Lucia spoke up.


    "I will, right after the war and after I''ve finished building the Teleportation Gate..." Cecil said before sighing. "Haaah... even after I''ve found my family, I haven''t spent a lot of time with them, have I?"


    "Did you figure that out just now?"


    "..."


    "You''ve holed yourself up in your workshop and you wouldn''t have come out unless Mother, Seri, and I had dragged you out!"


    "I''ll spend more time with my family after all of this..."


    "You better! We spent 4 years searching for them! Instead of cherishing the moment, you''re just off busying yourself like nothing''s changed! Seri''s pregnant as well and we''re about to start our own family! Be a little more tactful and act more like a husband, will you?!" Lucia said in a slightly angry tone.


    "...s-sorry..." Cecil said remorsefully with his head down.


    Gabriel, who was witnessing all of this, immediately gave Lucia a thumbs up.

 Chapter 326 - Before the War

    woke"Alrighty~ mission accomplished!" Angelia cheered happily.


    The large black Skeleton Champion was already shouldering Angelia as it made its way back to Cecil and the others.


    Angelia jumped down from its large clavicle and landed right in front of Cecil. She grinned and gave her brother a victory sign.


    Cecil smiled back at her and patted her head before saying, "Good job, Lil sis."


    "Ehehehe~"


    "Should we continue looking for another one?"


    "Uhm...hmm... Nah, let''s call it quits today!" Angelia said after thinking for a bit.


    "Is that alright?"


    "Yup! Besides, I can''t even feel any more monsters in the area that I can form a connection with!"


    "Alright then, let''s head back."


    Angelia quickly turned to look at the large skeleton behind her and stuck her hand out. The skeleton began shining before it transformed into a necklace and landed in her hand. The black bone necklace looked very ominous but Angelia happily put it on her.


    Everyone, except for Gabriel, gave her a weird stare but she only replied, "What?"


    "Haha, nothing, let''s go now. Lucia, take us out please," Cecil chuckled before asking Lucia to teleport them out of the cave.


    Lucia nodded and quickly conjured a Misty Gate that led back to the wagon.


    ******


    The next day, Cecil woke up early. He quickly went through his daily training routine with Lucia in their family''s dojo.


    Kaiser walked into the dojo and noticed his son and daughter-in-law sparring with each other. It wasn''t like any normal spar, however. The two fighters were using Mana and Ki to boost their abilities and were attacking each other in an extremely fierce manner.


    Kaiser could already tell that Cecil was more skilled, but any of Lucia''s moves and maneuvers could easily put to shame the strongest disciple under him. He already knew that Lucia was adept in the family''s core martial arts so he wasn''t surprised at the techniques she was using.


    ''Tsk, that brat was holding back on me!'' Kaiser thought when he saw his son attacking Lucia so fiercely.


    He was wondering why the dojo was rumbling so intensely in the morning. Kaiser thought that his disciples were already out training right now but it wasn''t the case. The disciples he was talking about had just arrived behind him right now.


    "Don''t disturb them. Head in and do your warm-ups on the side. Once you''re finished, go ahead and watch if you want."


    "Yes sir!" Kaiser''s disciples responded in unison before they all uniformly filed into the dojo.


    Cecil and Lucia had to focus on each other whenever they sparred so they didn''t pay attention to anyone around them and continued to fight. Slowly, Cecil upped the tempo and the speed of the battle rose.


    He set the tempo and it continued to rise as time passed. It was until the point where Cecil and Lucia were fighting at speeds that everyone else in the dojo could barely keep up with their eyes.


    "Hoh, look at this brat! He was holding back so much against his old man!" Kaiser howled in laughter as he witnessed Cecil and Lucia pushing past the limits and fighting at a level that was unthinkable for a normal human being.


    In the end, Cecil won the fight after exhausting Lucia so much that he was able to deliver a clean blow to her stomach and sent her flying across the large dojo. He was a little out of breath so he wasn''t prepared for what happened next.


    "CECIL SILVARIA!!!"


    "!"


    He heard someone yell at him. Just as he was about to turn around, a powerful punch landed right onto his head which sent him headfirst into the ground.


    "GAHAH!!!"


    "Y-you! How could you do that to Lucia?!" The furious voice roared.


    "M-Mom?" Cecil said when he looked up and saw his fiery-eyed mother.


    "You should NEVER hit your wife! You hear me?!"


    "E-eh???"


    "M-Mother-in-law?!" Lucia cried out after flipping herself back on her feet and saw the small woman who had just smashed her husband into the ground. Lucia immediately flashed over next to Cecil and was about to speak up before Anastasia beat her to it.


    "A-are you okay, Lulu?! You''re not hurt anywhere, are you?"


    "N-No, mother, I''m not hurt¡ª"


    Anastasia worriedly looked Lucia up and down. Lucia, who was being looked over for any injuries, could only smile bashfully. After making sure that she was totally fine, Anastasia turned her attention back to her son who had just picked himself up from the floor.


    "What was that for, Mom?" Cecil grumblingly asked.


    "You have the nerve to grumble? Don''t you know what you''ve done wrong?"


    "...?"


    The stupid and innocent expression on Cecil''s face that clearly stated that he felt like he had done nothing wrong immediately pissed Anastasia off. She jumped up and hammered Cecil on the head again before yelling at him word for word, "Don''t. Hit. Your. WIFE! You idiot!!!"


    "O-Ouch! B-but Mom! We were sparring!"


    "It doesn''t matter, it''s all the same. I won''t tolerate it next time something like this happens!"


    "But..."


    "No buts! Unless you want me to whoop your butt?!"


    "..."


    Cecil scratched his head not understanding if what he did was wrong or not. This was just a normal thing whenever they sparred. It was unavoidable if either one of them happened to slip in a well-placed blow on each other.


    He turned towards Lucia to ask for her help and the girl immediately stepped forward to try and pacify Anastasia.


    "M-Mother, I''m fine, really! It was only a punch, it didn''t hurt! Normally, Cecil might even follow it up¡ª"


    "He''d follow it up?!" Anastasia once again flared up after hearing her words. Anastasia glared at Cecil and began flexing her fingers and arm clearly ready to bash his head again. "So normally, you wouldn''t stop with just a punch then?! You''d go for more? It looks like somebody needs to have his head checked!"


    Instead of helping her husband quell their mother, Lucia had unintentionally made it a little bit more complicated for Cecil. She apologetically looked up at him with a helpless look on her face and Cecil only flashed her back with a similarly helpless look.


    "W-wait, Mom! Please calm down for a bit and let''s talk," Cecil said while gesturing for his mother to calm down.


    "Nope!"


    Just before Cecil''s head was bashed another time, he quickly used Blink and disappeared from the dojo. After punching down on the air, Anastasia immediately frowned when she missed.


    "That kid! He''s rebellious now that he''s grown up!"


    "H-honey, let''s save it for later, okay? The other disciples need to finish their morning training and prepare for the army''s mobilization..."


    "Hmph! We need to have a serious talk about our son''s upbringing! He might not have much common sense but this is too absurd!" Anastasia quipped up angrily. She then turned towards Lucia and continued, "Are you okay, sweetie? I know that my son is a little bit of an idiot, but he should know when to stop in a sparring match!"


    "I''m okay Mother, and please don''t be too concerned about it. It was only a spar and I''m really not hurt! Cecil would never seriously try to hit me," Lucia said while showing that she was perfectly fine.


    Since the two were sparring while using their mana, Cecil and Lucia both had applied a layer of mana on their bodies to mitigate each other''s blows. So although the attack from earlier looked like it had hurt, Lucia didn''t feel any ounce of pain and was only sent flying backward due to the impact of Cecil''s punch. It would have been a different story if Cecil had punched Lucia with a force that broke past this barrier, but evidently, he didn''t, and most importantly, he never would.


    Cecil couldn''t stand others hurting his wives so it was only common sense for him to never hurt them himself. However, their fight was a bit too...visual. It wasn''t only Anastasia who was worried when they saw Lucia getting blown back by Cecil, even Kaiser and the other spectating disciples were worried for the young matriarch.


    "Do you two normally spar like this?" Anastasia asked.


    "Yeah!"


    "..."


    Anastasia silently narrowed her eyes when she heard Lucia''s affirmation. Seeing the look of menace her mother-in-law was directing most likely at her husband, who was not present within the dojo, Lucia immediately spoke up in his defense.


    "Don''t worry Mother! Like I explained earlier, we have our mana protecting us so we hardly feel any pain! Only a small little shock caused by the impact of our blows but it''s still within tolerable range!"


    Anastasia still looked a little skeptical so Lucia continued trying to convince her that Cecil wasn''t in the wrong.


    "Cecil would never hurt me! He developed this form of sparring solely because Seri and I asked him to! Before, whenever we sparred, he''d never seriously try to hurt me so it was hindering me and Seri''s progress!"


    "...So he developed this mana...barrier to tank the blows that you give each other in a fight..."


    "Yup!"


    "Because you wanted to fight unrestrainedly with each other...?" Anastasia gave her daughter-in-law a peculiar look as she said this.


    "Y-yes?"


    "Hmmm..." Anastasia gave Kaiser a look and already saw his eyes brightening.


    ''This fool...he''s going to ask Cecil to teach the disciples about this...''


    Anastasia scrunched her brows and pouted her lips.


    "You both are protected which is good but it''s not very pleasant for us to see a husband send his wife flying across the room with a punch...think about what those damned elders would say if they saw this! They''d immediately start saying many unpleasant things about Cecil!"


    Lucia frowned when the elders were mentioned. Those old fogies rubbed her in the wrong way right from the get-go so she didn''t have a good impression of them. She didn''t want those old coots badmouthing her husband.


    "...sorry Mother, I understand now. I''ll make sure to have a word with him," Lucia said with a bow.


    "Alright, you go in and bathe now. You''re going to accompany Cecil later, right?"


    "Yes."


    Anastasia saw Lucia off and walked over to her husband who was now supervising the disciples'' training.


    "How was it?" She asked. "I didn''t get to see all of it, only the final part where little Cel blew Lucia across the room..."


    "Hmm, both Cecil and Lucia are in a league way above mine or anyone else. It''s the first time I saw such a superhuman battle..." Kaiser said after thinking for a bit.


    "Well, my son should be strong! He''s the next heir after all! Also, I''m glad that Lucia is just as powerful. That''ll give those stupid geezers something to think about!"


    "Mhm, but why did you have to punch Cecil like that? You do understand that with how protective he is of those two, there''s just no way he''d actually hurt them, right?" Kaiser skeptically said to his wife.


    "I know, but still. He should learn that it isn''t right to punch your wife across the room! If those damned elders saw Cecil doing this to his wife, they''d only think the worst!"


    "...It''s not like he''ll actually do it. Besides, this was a spar. I already noticed from the start that those two were landing blow after blow on each other, yet neither of them took any damage nor feel any sort of pain. It was obvious that they were using some kind of technique to shield their bodies from the impact of their blows."


    "Just hurry up and finish the morning routine. You have to head to the city''s office and get everything into order before mobilizing the army and marching out," Anastasia said before turning around and walking out of the dojo.


    "Also, make sure no one says anything about Cecil and Lucia''s spar today! I don''t want those stupid elders to find out!" She called out one last time before heading out.


    ******


    In the main mansion''s bathroom, Cecil was currently having his back scrubbed by Lucia.


    "Phew... Mom was really mad..."


    "She sure was! She''s more protective of us than you are, Cel!"


    "...Did I do something wrong though?"


    "Didn''t you hear? It''s not right to hurt your wife!" Lucia said.


    "...I know that. It''s not like I hurt you with that punch! You had a mana barrier around you!"


    "I already explained it to mother-in-law, but she said that if others saw us fighting like that, they''d only see it as a husband abusing his wife!"


    "W-what?! Really?!"


    "Mmhmm! Think about what those elders would say!"


    "...You met with the family elders?"


    "Y-yeah?" Lucia inwardly scolded herself. Now she would have to tell Cecil all about the encounter.


    Seeing that she was reluctant to talk about it, Cecil didn''t press her for an answer.


    "...I won''t ask about what happened, but know this. I won''t let those old fools interfere with our lives."


    "I know Cel~" Lucia said with a smile, "Now, let''s finish our bath and get ready! We have a score to settle with Merkruz, after this!"


    Cecil nodded and picked Lucia up before heading over to the large bathtub.

 Chapter 327 - Towards Merkruz

    When Kaiser had finished the preparations and rallied the kingdom''s army in front of the city, all of the kingdom''s populace had come to see them off. After giving a grand speech, he immediately started the long march towards the Merkruz Principality.


    The soldiers all turned around and began walking into the large vehicles parked right behind them. The vehicles were like large trains, each train had 3 cars to them. The first and third cars were for the soldiers to sit in while the middle car was loaded with 2 Spell Cannons.


    This was the limit that Angelia''s monsters could pull at one time. Of course, not all of Angelia''s monsters were those large and powerful land monsters. Some of them weren''t all that big and only a few could actually pull these large armored transport carriers.


    There were only 10 of Angelia''s monsters that could maneuver these steel behemoths, added with Silver, there were 11 vehicles in total. This also meant that there was only 22 Spell Cannons being brought into the war but in Cecil''s opinion, it was more than enough.


    The armored transport carriers weren''t just going to be used as a means of transportation, they also had mini-versions of the Spell Cannons and Storm Howlers built into them and they could be deployed easily in the middle of a battle field or siege.


    The carriers'' armors were all enchanted with Cecil''s magic arrays and the ores that he recommended in building these transporters were the sturdiest and hardest material he was currently aware of. The transporters were also coated with the anti-mana ore so its weapons operations wouldn''t be interfered by the M-Jammer.


    As for the rest of the soldiers, they were either riding on mounts or on wagons. From what history has foretold, wars were won on many conditions but there were 3 that stood out from the rest, and they were information, communication, and transportation.


    The Silvaria Army has already successfully fulfilled all 3 of those conditions. Information was already given to Kaiser by Cecil and the transportation and mobility of the army was enhanced by the kingdom''s craftsmen.


    As for communication, Cecil had that covered. He and Ren had been working on MIDs for a long while now and they had many spares lying around in their spatial rings. These ''failed'' products were distributed to the army''s captains and squad leaders after they were readjusted by Cecil and Ren.


    ******


    At the center of the Silvaria Army''s marching formation, inside of the Wanderer, Cecil, Lucia, Angelia, Gabriel, Ren, Fatima, Rowan, and Kaiser were currently sitting around the mobile home''s living room area.


    Quinn had brought in some refreshments from the kitchen and was serving everyone present. Cecil and everyone from his original party were a little bit on edge. Ren, who was sitting next to Angelia, had his Magic Gun out and was practicing loading and unloading a bullet into its chamber.


    Cecil was circulating his mana and causing flashes of golden sparks to flit around his body. Lucia was doing the same but she was clearly a little nervous. Going to war was a first for them. Sure, they did attack an army one time and participated in the kingdom''s defense, but this was different.


    This time, they were the ones going to attack another kingdom. They were the aggressors. There was also another cause for her concern. The Merkruz Principality still had a force that was over two hundred thousand strong. A majority of their soldiers were sent out to war with Regulus and Silvaria, and while many were lost in the war, there was still the defending army guarding their lands.


    Cecil noticed Lucia''s uneasiness and quickly grabbed ahold of her hand.


    "Don''t worry, Lulu, this is just like any other battle. What we do is no different than taking down monsters or killing our enemies."


    Lucia took a deep breath and released it. "Thanks, Cel. Don''t worry, I won''t mess up!"


    "I know you won''t. It''ll take a few days before we reach the Merkruz Principality''s borders with our travel speed so just relax."


    "Heh, like you''re one to talk! You''re just as nervous as I am!" Lucia teased.


    "Am I?"


    "...Uhm...not sure," Lucia said unsurely after taking a look at Cecil. He was only circulating his mana, nothing more. He didn''t show it, but Cecil was feeling very on edge. He was a little excited actually, however, he couldn''t understand why though.


    That''s why he was circulating his mana in order to calm his mind. Ren on the other hand was currently having his head bashed in because Angelia felt annoyed at the constant clicking sounds that he was making when he load and unloaded his gun.


    "Put a sock in it would you?!"


    "Well excuse me! I can''t help myself, alright?!"


    "Hmph, just relax, it''s not like the two of us are going to be participating in the battles..."


    "..."


    "I''m here to supervise my monsters and you''re here as a maintenance boy for the kingdom''s cannons!"


    "Ugh...I guess you''re right..."


    Kaiser was meditating while Rowan and Fatima were quietly talking to each other. Gabriel was probably the most relaxed one here since he was actually able to sleep. Yuna was sitting out on the driver''s seat and accompanying Sleipnir.


    After making sure Lucia was calm and relaxed, Cecil stepped out of the wagon and flipped onto the roof. He looked around and saw the large convoy moving together. The 11 large armored transports, the numerous wagons, and monster mounts moving together in formation caused him to feel excited.


    "Hmmm... I guess it''s just the atmosphere of our march that''s making me anxious and excited..."


    *****


    A few days later, the Silvaria Army had swiftly marched their way to the Merkruz Principality''s borders. There wasn''t really anything that signified the principality''s borders, nothing like a wall or anything.


    The only thing that signified the border was the large fortress city that could be seen a few kilometers away from the army''s current position.


    Inside the armored transport carrier that Silver was pulling, all of the army''s commanders and captains had gathered together in the first car to discuss about their method of attack.


    "Ima, how are we going to do this?" Kaiser asked. "A full frontal assault, or do you have a better plan?"


    "No father, we''ll go with a full frontal assault. We''ll have the cannons open fire from afar and open up a way for us into the city."


    "What about their mages?"


    Cecil stepped forward and said, "Lucia and I will take care of them.


    "I''ll leave things to you then," Kaiser nodded.


    Cecil nodded and walked out of the carrier.


    "Sir, is it alright to leave the principality''s mages to... a boy?" A commander asked.


    "You don''t have to worry about him. If you still don''t know, he''s the hero who single-handedly repelled the Merkruz Army last time."


    "I-I see... I was incapacitated halfway during the last battle. Excuse me for my rudeness..."


    "Never mind, just focus on your task later once the cannons open fire. The information from an informant already stated that the principality no longer has any more of the Empire''s Mag-Cannons except for the ones stationed at their capital city so don''t make any mistakes that''ll lead to unnecessary casualties!"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Our army is already few in numbers, but we can make that up with our overwhelming fire power! Remember, don''t destroy that city! We''ll be using it as our command base for our military operations inside the principality so please leave its facilities intact! If there are any civilians who want to surrender, make sure you don''t kill them and bring them behind our lines and round them up! As for the ones that come running towards you with weapons... treat them as hostiles and get rid of them," Kaiser coldly ordered.


    "..."


    "..."


    Kaiser looked around the room and noticed that everyone''s gaze had hardened at his words.


    "We don''t have time to be merciful to anybody. For those that are willing to submit, we leave them alive. For those that aren''t, we have to get rid of quickly. They''ll be a danger to us if we leave them inside the city after we take it over. Ima, continue explaining the plan!"


    "Yes, Father. Alright, listen up! Cecil and Lucia will infiltrate the city and quickly try to attack the enemy mages'' barracks and defeat as many as they can. Those two will also try and disable the magic barrier that''s surrounding the fortress. We''ll open fire with the cannons once Cecil raises the signal."


    Everyone nodded at Kaiser''s words. "Alright, we''ll commence the operation in 0100 hours. Get your divisions and squads ready! You''re all dismissed!"


    At the perimeter of the army''s formation, Cecil, Lucia, and Quinn were getting ready to head out.


    "Alright, here''s the plan. Lulu and I will fly up above the city and look for a good place to open up a Misty Gate. After that, we''ll teleport inside and head straight for the barracks, Quinn, you teleport in using Yuna''s gate and quickly head towards the city''s magic barrier''s array formation, alright?"


    "Yes, Master."


    "Once you''re done with the sabotage, make your way to the barracks. We''ll defeat as many as we can before teleporting out and regrouping with the infantry."


    "Alright."


    "Let''s do this!"


    Cecil grabbed onto Lucia''s waist, activated his Mana Burst and quickly shot into the air. Fatima and Rowan had just arrived but they were a little too late to see the two off.


    "Oh... I wanted to ask him if an hour was enough for them to complete their operation," Fatima said.


    "Don''t worry, Lady Fatima,??? Quinn spoke up. "An hour is more than enough time."


    It didn''t take long before a Misty Gate appeared in front of Quinn.


    "Master Lucia and Cecil are already inside the city, quickly head in, Quinn," Yuna said.


    "Pardon me, I have a mission to complete," Quinn bowed to Fatima and Rowan before stepping into the gate.


    "Hmmm...Why don''t we just infiltrate the city using this gate?" Rowan asked.


    "That''d be stupid," Fatima quickly said. "We don''t know the exact lay out of the city, unlike Cecil who has an extrasensory ability our soldiers will be like headless flies flying around if we just dropped them into the city."


    "Couldn''t we have tried to acquire the city''s information before we attacked?"


    "Are you saying that we should have our soldiers memorize the exact layouts of all 5 border fortress cities of the principality?"


    "Uhm..."


    "If we were certain of which city we were going to attack, then it would have been easy to debrief them about the city''s layout. However, the map that we''ve received isn''t all too accurate and there''s no way of knowing whether the city we attack is the exact city we want to attack. We don''t have a GPS or digital map and that''s a problem..."


    "GPS? Digital?" Rowan said in confusion at the unfamiliar words.


    "Never mind, it''s not something you''ll understand, Rowan," Fatima replied.


    War would be so much easier if they had a functional map of the area they were attacking. Unfortunately for them, they didn''t. The map that they had acquired was only a rough sketch with no clear measurements of the land. It was unreliable and couldn''t be used to form an exact battle strategy.


    "Now, we wait."

 Chapter -1 - April Fools WARNING: CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS! Read to 224 first!

    Even after half a month, Cecil still hadn''t awoken from his coma. It was odd that considering all the blessings that he acquired from the World Tree, something like this was happening to him.


    When Anna received news of the grievous condition his foster son was in from her daughter, she immediately came over to check up and monitor his condition.


    After all, she knew about the boy''s constitution more than anyone else and she already deduced the cause of his coma.


    His injuries on the outside weren''t anything too severe but inside, the disorder in his mana flow was causing major problems to his body.


    The beastmen''s concoction that sent his mana flow into disorder proved to be much more deadly than it seemed for the boy. Unlike a normal person''s body, where their mana would only flow inside their Mana Point and Mana Pathways, Cecil''s mana flowed throughout his entire body.


    It permeated his very being. Every cell, organ, tissue, and muscle was filled with mana. When this very mana was sent into disorder and was chaotically flowing throughout his body, it caused many problems for him. The rampaging mana was damaging his organs and it impacted his heart and brain the most.


    To add insult to injury, the miasma that Silver had exuded from his body which he was exposed to further worsened his condition.


    Anna and some other physicians had long since noticed that Cecil was seemingly poisoned by something very potent.


    They deduced that it must have been the black miasma that had appeared inside the Darkfang Estate during the beastmen''s assault on the city.


    Only the Little Kings knew about the real origin of the miasma, but everyone else attributed the source and cause of the sinister miasma as the beastmen''s concoction and plot to ruin the kingdom''s lands.


    It was a good thing that Yuna had stopped the proliferation of the miasma, but if everyone knew about the real source of the miasma, then it''ll cause many problems for both Cecil and Silver.


    This was the reason why the Little Kings didn''t disclose any information about this even when they knew the truth.


    In a way, it was because of the beastmen that Silver even transformed into his blackened self and began exuding the miasma, so conveniently, it was their fault anyway.


    *****


    "Muhhh..." A rabbitkin girl grumbled in annoyance as she struck down a monster.


    "Something wrong, Serilla?" Zephyr asked when she noticed the girl''s annoyed expression.


    "...why am I here?"


    Zephyr looked around at the battlefield full of monsters and soldiers, he awkwardly scratched his head and answered.


    "Well...isn''t it obvious that you''re here to help the Kingdom with the monster extermination?"


    "Tsk..."


    His reply only earned him an annoyed response.


    "I heard he''s still in a coma..." Serilla said sadly.


    Zephyr felt pained when she saw Serilla''s expression. "...You should go then..."


    "Hm?"


    "Go, it''s not far from where we are anyway. You could easily get there eas¨C"


    "Serilla!" A voice cut off Zephyr from continuing his words.


    Serilla and Zephyr turned towards the source of the voice and saw Elizabeth and the rest of Little Kings rushing over in a panic.


    "Oh hey guys! What''s up?"


    "C-come with us! Q-quickly!" Eli grabbed onto Serilla''s hand, she also eyed her brother and grabbed onto his hand as well. Yuna who was at the back quickly opened up a Misty Gate. Once the gate fully materialized everyone hurried through.


    *****


    Back in the Darkfang Territory, Lucia was currently sitting down on a bench just outside of Cecil''s room.


    Just a moment ago, the inside of the room was bustling with activity as numerous beastkin doctors and nurses came in and out of the room in a hurry.


    Even Anna was inside just a moment ago, but now she was sitting next to her daughter.


    A Misty Gate opened up next to the two and out walked the Little Kings alongside Serilla and Zephyr.


    "Ah...you''re all here..." Lucia said when she saw everyone.


    They wanted to respond, but couldn''t help notice the heavy feeling hanging in the air.


    "..."


    Everyone remained silent and only Serilla replied to her. However, she couldn''t help but notice Lucia''s despondence.


    "W-what''s wrong, Lucia? Where''s our darling?"


    Lucia stood up and grabbed Serilla''s hand and walked her into the room. In the next instant, two girls'' sobbing could be heard from inside...it was loud enough that people outside could hear them.


    Serilla was sobbing the loudest, but this was because Lucia already had her fill of tears.


    "N-no way...is he dead?!" Zephyr exclaimed in complete disbelief. Even the rest Little Kings were shocked when they heard him. They didn''t want to believe it, but with Serilla and Lucia crying like that...


    They did receive some bad news from Lucia, but they didn''t think it was this serious. Everyone quickly rushed into the room and saw the two girls crying next to Cecil''s bedside.


    Anna walked inside in the next moment and said sadly, "He''s not ''dead''...but you could say he died...FROM LAUGHTER BECAUSE THIS IS JUST AND APRIL FOOLS CHAPTER! WAHAHAHAHAH~"

 Chapter 124 - Rankings 2

    The rankers from 8th to 4th were announced in quick succession. 8th was surprisingly another production faction, the Ironforge Faction. 7th place was the World Tree Faction, 6th was the Dark Moon Faction, 5th was a tie-breaker between the Warrior Faction and Mage Faction and 4th was also a tie breaker between the Royal Fox Faction and the Draco Faction.


    The factions of each rank sent their leaders and 9 other people to go stand on the podium as their representatives. After a short intermission where the headmaster displayed short footages of each ranking''s most memorable adventurer achievements during the past month, god-knows-where he got it from, the headmaster finally began announcing the top 3 rankings.


    By this time, the Little Kings were beginning to grow anxious. After the two production factions displayed their total points, ranging around 9000-10000, the subsequent factions had a large jump in points.


    The discrepancy of points from 8th to 7th place was a total of 5000. 7th place''s World Tree Faction had 15500 points and the increment for the next rankings were around 500-1000 points each.


    The 4th place''s Royal Fox Faction had over 18000 points. From what Lucia and Eli had calculated, their party''s points were just a little over 18000. This means that the Little Kings most likely ranked 3rd or 2nd... they had no chance ranking at 1st during this segment.


    Lucia and Eli were a little dispirited since they had confidence that they''d take 1st place, but the power of numbers from the factions were hard to beat and only now did they realize this. They only had 6 members. Even the Disaster Queen''s party had 10 or maybe more in total, yet even they, lagged far behind the rest.


    Ainz, Velicia, and Fina were still a little more enthusiastic since they hadn''t done any calculations. They were eager to hear their party called out since it was such a great honor for them to stand side by side with the other top students of the academy up on the podium.


    "Third Rank!"


    Word''s began to form next to the third rank, Phantom. The singular word caused everyone in the stadium to fall into discussion. Even the faction leaders on top of the podium began to frown at the word.


    "Phantom?"


    "A party?"


    "Holy crap! Guys! It''s the infamous and elusive Ghost King! He actually got 3rd place! Is Phantom his party?!"


    "Wait... I heard he worked solo..."


    "Woah!"


    The Ghost King working solo was common knowledge within the academy. The Ghost King was also very elusive to the point where no one knew the actual identity of the person. They only knew that it existed and maybe it was actually a man.


    The headmaster raised an hand and immediately calmed the commotion within the stadium, then he opened his mouth and said,


    "Robert Stein!"


    "Robert?"


    "The Sword King!"


    "!"


    "The Ghost King is actually in a party!"


    The headmaster then announced another name, one that no one knew. "Alice Mayden!"


    "Who?"


    "A girl?"


    From an inconspicuous corner of the stadium, the Sword King jumped out of his seat and landed lightly onto the podium.


    He was a big and buffed gray furred rabbit-eared man. His facial features indicated that he was still in his youth, but it could be seen that he was almost in his late teens. The Sword King was obviously in his last year in the academy. There was also a long, thin, centipede-like scar on his face. It ran diagonally from the top right of his forehead to the left of his cheek, almost touching the corner of his mouth.


    He looked sharp and handsome, but the fierce scar on his face made him look very intimidating. Although he was a rabbit-kin, he stood at a height of almost 2 meters tall. He had a large dark colored great sword on his back and he was wearing a large robe over his body, but the buffed arms and legs of the young man showed that he wasn''t shyly hiding away his body.


    The headmaster smiled at him and looked around, "And Alice?"


    "...she''s right here."


    The large rabbit-kin teenager pulled away his cloak and underneath was a petite, pink colored rabbit-kin girl snuggling on him. The girl had her arms wrapped around the intimidating Sword King''s thick waist.


    The Sword King''s face twitched a little seeing the clingy thing on his waist, then he called out, "...oi."


    "Hmmm???"


    The girl only responded with a long m.o.a.n which caused the headmaster to let out a small chuckle.


    "Alice, you''re in front of a large crowd right now." The headmaster whispered.


    The small rabbit-kin opened her eyes and looked around. The whole stadium was silent and only small murmurs of discussion echoed around. The girl saw this and shrieked in horror.


    "UHKYAAAHH~!!"


    She immediately separated from the Sword King and out of nowhere a black cloak with a large hoodie immediately covered her body.


    One could see the raised and surprised pink rabbit ears poking out from under the hood. The ''Ghost King'' noticed this and raised her hands to quickly tuck in the ears under the hood.


    "...umu..." The ''Ghost King'' nodded and stood there silently right behind the large Sword King.


    "..."


    By this time the entire stadium was only staring back at the comical ''Ghost King''. Everyone began to laugh a little, but the Ghost King kept silent, not giving any response to the light laughter that was directed at...her.


    "Well, the Ghost King was actually a girl!"


    "A cute girl at that!"


    "Ahahaha~"


    The next instant however, the entire stadium became dead drop silent. A short footage of Phantom''s adventure was currently being played on the monitor. It was footage of the Sword King and Ghost King destroying a large flock of Wyverns and the most ghastly part of the footage was the multiple wyverns suddenly plummeting down from the sky for no reason whatsoever.


    What was common from all the fallen wyverns were that they all had a missing appendage or an unsightly wound on their bodies. They were dead, but no one in the stadium saw how they died.


    It was only when the Ghost King reappeared again next to the Sword King, near the end of the footage that they saw the petite figure. She was raising one of her blades to her hood and a cute, small red tongue began licking the blood off of it. There was also the faint pair of red glaring eyes from behind the dark hood which caused many of the laughing students to shiver in silence.


    After the footage, the headmaster then continued on to announce the 2nd ranker.


    "Rank 2!"


    When the students noticed that no other people were being called by the headmaster, another uproar ensued.


    "Wait! Rank 3 only consists of 2 people?!"


    "Phantom...only has the Sword and Ghost King in it?"


    "The two have almost 19000 points! That''s crazy!"


    On the monitor the space next to Rank 2 began to light up and words began to form slowly, except this time, the points were the ones that formed first.


    "22000!"


    "Woah! Which party could have done this?!"


    "Party? More like faction!"


    "The only factions remaining are the Researchers and Student Council!"


    "Don''t tell me... the Researchers did this?!"


    Everyone of course thought that it was the Research Faction, there was no way that the unannounced Student Council didn''t get 1st place.


    The Little King''s however, thought otherwise.


    "Well... I guess that''s us right?" Ainz said.


    "Yeah... but... how come it''s more than what we had counted?" Eli asked, turning her head over to Lucia.


    "Hmmm... Cel?"


    The girl''s only conclusion was that Cecil had kept some quests a secret from them.


    "Huh? Oh... it''s not what you think. If you''re thinking that I did some more quests behind your backs then that''s wrong."


    "Anyway, let''s go down. 2nd place isn''t so bad~" Velicia said smilingly.


    The people around them began eyeing the group weirdly. Did these kids just say that they''re the ones who got 2nd place? Just them 6? What a joke!


    "Oi, kiddo, don''t get ahead of yourself. What do you mean it''s your turn? 2nd place isn''t so bad? Sit down and wait for the name to actually come up before you start spouting nonsense." An upper class man said.


    Class S was sitting just next to the area where the 2nd year students were so some of them had heard the nonsense Cecil''s group was spouting.


    "Huh?"


    "What? Got a problem kid? Just so you know, you''re only 1st years. Don''t be so delusional and think that you''d be able to make it up into those rankings."


    "..." Everyone else began looking at each other in awkward silence. Their fellow classmates were also eyeing them strangely. Only Lucia flared up at the insult.


    "What''s that?!" Lucia said raising her voice in protest.


    "Hmph. Naive!"


    "Lulu, that''s enough. Just sit back down and wait. It''s only second place why are you guys even getting up for that?"


    "Eh?"


    "Huh?"


    Cecil''s friends were looking back at him, puzzled at his words. It''s only second place? Why get up for that? Wasn''t that their rank?


    "Besides... our upper classman it right. We should obviously wait for the name to come out~"


    "Heh, at least one of you is sensible."


    Cecil smiled slightly and eyed the upper classman playfully. He could see that the dude was part of the Draco Faction and he wasn''t so happy seeing his faction only being 4th, not to mention their placing was actually being shared together with another faction.


    Cecil laid back into his seat and began meditating. His arms were still hurting and cycling his family''s mana technique helped alleviate the pain a little.


    He could also feel that the pathways in his arms were somehow transforming and mending itself with each circulation. Cecil didn''t know if this was a good or bad thing, but at least the pain was lightening albeit awfully slowly.


    After the points fully formed on the monitor, the name began forming. To everyone''s astonishment however, was that there were only 2 letters in the ranker''s name.


    "Ah... I knew it..." Eli said dejectedly.


    "Tsk...Damn," Ainz faintly cursed.


    Everyone else was silent and a little dejected. Only Cecil stayed calm with his eyes closed. While their party was down in the dumps, everyone else in the stadium began to exclaim in surprise at the name of the ranker.


    "What?!"


    "How could it be?"


    Up at the 4th years'' seating area, the main members of the student council were sitting together and they too were eyeing the name displayed on the monitor with surprise and disbelief.


    "How..."


    "But... there must be something wrong!"


    "..."


    Zephyr was glaring fiercely onto the name etched next to the Rank 2. He scowled in annoyance and stood up.


    "Let''s go."


    The core members could only follow after their president.


    Up on the monitor, the 2 large golden words of the ranker was finally displayed.


    Student Council.


    Yes, it was the Student Council to everyone''s disbelief. Everyone began discussing and they were all now wondering who it was that got 1st place in this year''s first segment of the tournament.


    It had to be known that the Student Council had one 1st place 2 years in a row and this was supposed to be their 4th year of being the undisputed top ranking faction.


    "C-could the Research Faction really have beaten everyone else this year?!"


    "Oh my gosh... look the president and his members are coming down..."


    "They don''t look like they''re happy."


    "Who would? They''ve been first place ever since the new members joined the Student Council... this was supposed to be the 3rd year of their uncontested winning-streak..."


    Everyone in Little Kings was now looking hopeful and they turned to look at Cecil in astonishment. They only saw that the boy currently had his eyes closed, paying no mind to the commotion that was ongoing inside the stadium.


    Cecil felt the gazes on him and opened his eyes slightly, "...what? Didn''t I tell you? We''re taking first place."


    Every member of Little Kings smiled back at him and they stared back up onto the monitor, precisely at the 1st Rank''s empty spot.

 Chapter 328 - Taking the City

    When Cecil and Lucia teleported into the city, they emerged from a secluded alley that Cecil had spotted from high above in the sky.


    "Cel, do we wait for Quinn or what?" Lucia asked.


    "No, let''s go now, Yuna will take care of his teleport and he can take care of himself once he''s teleported in. The only thing that''s similar to every border cities'' layout is the location of the magic barrier''s array.


    "Alright, which way to the barracks?"


    "One second," Cecil spread his senses into the city and quickly located the barracks in the southwest district close to the walls. "Okay, found it. Lulu, it''s your turn now."


    "Mhm," Lucia nodded and quickly began chanting. She cast an illusion spell on them that enveloped the entire city. "Alright, I''m done. Now, no one can see us. Just make sure you don''t accidentally bump into¡ªactually, never mind. We won''t need to worry about that, now do we?"


    "Heh, let''s go!"


    Cecil and Lucia activated their Mana Burst and Elemental Burst respectively and jumped onto the roof of the building that was next to them. After Cecil locked onto the barracks, he immediately rushed from rooftop to rooftop in its direction while Lucia followed closely from behind.


    A few moments later, Quinn stepped out of a Misty Gate in the same alley that Cecil and Lucia were at earlier.


    "Hmmm... it looks like Master is already on his way to the barracks," Quinn quietly mumbled. "I better get going too."


    In the next instant, Quinn disappeared from the alley.


    At the southwest end of the city near the walls, Cecil and Lucia had arrived on a rooftop that was overlooking the city army''s barracks.


    "...Should we just go in and assassinate everyone...or just blow them up from here?" Lucia asked.


    "We''ll wait," Cecil replied.


    "For what?"


    "Before we left, I already told Quinn that we''d wait for him to lower the barrier before we attacked. I won''t waste time killing the mages one by one. We''ll just blast them all. It''ll also serve as the signal for the army to begin their attack."


    "M''kay. So, father-in-law gave us an hour to complete this mission... but I think we can get it done much faster, right?"


    "That''s why we''ll wait for the hour...Quinn also needs some time to infiltrate the city lord''s mansion and get to the barrier''s magic formation."


    "Quinn''s skill set is exactly for those kinds of missions! Knowing him, I bet it''d only take half an hour¡ªmaybe even less¡ªfor him to get to the magic formation~" Lucia said with a smirk.


    "That''s why we''ll wait. Father is also getting the cannons ready. Thanks to your illusion magic, Lulu, these people are still unaware there''s an army, a few kilometers away, that''s preparing to siege them..."


    "Hehe... sounds a little cowardly though..." Lucia sheepishly said.


    "What? Nonsense, this is all just strategy. Why would we knowingly fight a tough battle when there''s a better approach to it? Catching them off guard with a surprise frontal assault is better. This way, we can reduce the potential casualties on our side," Cecil explained.


    "Mhm."


    "We''ve lost plenty of soldiers in the defensive battle when they attacked us. Losing any more will hurt our kingdom''s military strength. Training soldiers and warriors take up quite some time. Lulu, did you know, back on Earth, the way we Earthlings waged wars... a small company of soldiers is actually enough to take down an entire city, y'' know."


    "W-what? Really? Is that true?!"


    "Yup, and we did that using tactics. Infiltrations, extractions, sabotage, that''s what we Earthlings are extremely good at..."


    "...You people sound more like assassins..."


    "Hahahaha! I''ve only learned about such things in history books and through the time I was with my father in the military. The soldiers would train and do mock training ops with such scenarios like that..."


    "Hmmm..."


    "I was never a part of it, but it looked really interesting. This is my first ever mission but it''s really exciting and at the same time a little dull. I didn''t think this was all that we''d do..."


    "Well, our abilities make these kinds of things easy for us!" Lucia said after thinking for a bit. She had a point there.


    "Heh, I guess you''re right," Cecil amusingly said.


    They passed the hour by idling around and talking like this.


    "Alright, the hour is almost over, I''m sure father and the rest are already in formation. Let me check."


    Cecil sent his Mana Sense outside of the city and quickly located the army, which was already in formation, about 3 kilometers away from the fortress city''s walls.


    "Alright, let''s get this over with," Cecil pulled out his MID and called Quinn. Once Quinn picked up the call, Cecil immediately ordered into the MID, "Do it."


    "Yes, Master."


    Right after Quinn''s orders were received, a loud rumbling noise sounded out from the city lord''s mansion and the magic barrier covering the city immediately started to crumble.


    "Lulu, now!"


    "Got it!"


    Cecil pulled out his spear and stood guard while Lucia immediately started her Apocalypse Spell.


    "Quinn, quickly head back to the alley, we''ll teleport out of the city together!"


    "Yes, Master... but this may take a while on my end. It seems I''ve been discovered..."


    "...Just make sure you get there. If you need help, don''t hesitate to ask!"


    "Yes, Master," Quinn said before he ended his call.


    On Lucia''s end, she had finally finished casting her spell and its activation started. The enemy mages had already noticed the collapse of the city''s barrier and the large concentration of mana that was being gathered in the vicinity. Many had stepped out of their barracks to see what was happening.


    Some mages began to form squads to quickly head over to the city lord''s mansion while others began scanning the area around them. They couldn''t find Cecil and Lucia because they were hidden away by Lucia''s illusion magic, but once the Apocalypse spell activated and the magic formation made itself known, Lucia and Cecil''s cover was immediately ripped away due to the spell''s activation sequence.


    "W-Who''re those two?!"


    "Whoever they are, kill them! Can''t you see that they''re activating some kind of High-ranked spell and targeting it at us?!"


    "Create a barrier, now! We have to withstand this sp¡ª"


    "Too late~" Lucia said playfully before she snapped her fingers and the Apocalypse immediately activated in full.


    The entire barracks'' location was immediately engulfed in a purple hell of fire and ice. Cecil swiftly cut down the few spells that were shot by the mages before the Apocalypse''s activation. He grabbed onto his somewhat dazed wife and flashed away.


    "Phew, okay, I''m good now, Cel!"


    "Just hold on tight, we''ll get there faster!"


    "Mhm."


    The mages who were at the barracks had to fend themselves from Lucia''s spell, but it was futile. The Apocalypse had messed up the ambient mana and they couldn''t cast any spells while they were within its range.


    They could only gather together and help maintain the barrier that was already conjured earlier by some of the mages but even then, it was still meaningless. The enemy mages could only watch in horror as the barrier around them slowly disintegrated under Lucia''s powerful spell.


    "S-SHIT! W-what kind of spell is this?!"


    "N-NO! I-I don''t want to die!"


    "F.u.c.k! M-my family! Who''s attacking us anyway?!"


    "SHIT!!"


    The city inhabitants had already noticed the large commotion caused by Lucia''s magic spell. Some quickly made their way over to the barracks while other soldiers also quickly went over to see what was happening, however, large explosions and plasma fields soon started bombarding the outer districts of the fortress city and its walls.


    "Good, father and big sis are already starting their attack," Cecil said when he noticed the large explosions attacking the city''s walls and outer district.


    "Hmmm... We''re doing this another 4 times...right?" Lucia quipped up from Cecil''s embrace.


    "Yeah...so be ready. Next time, don''t use Apocalypse. Just use Meteor Fall or something..."


    "M''kay~"


    "Alright, that''s the alley," Cecil landed into the alley that they had arrived at and placed Lucia down. "Now we wait for Quinn. After that, we''ll see how things go. If it''s possible, we''ll help them from the inside but if the cannons are still firing, we''ll teleport out of here."


    Lucia nodded. It didn''t take long before Quinn walked out of the shadows and regrouped with Cecil and Lucia.


    "Master."


    "Oh, Quinn, you''re finally here."


    "Mhm, I had a few pursuers on my tail so I had to deal with them first..."


    "I see, not injured are you?"


    "I''m fine, Master."


    "Okay, we''ll wait for now. If the cannons stop firing, we''ll go and assist the army from the inside, if they don''t stop after 10 minutes, we''ll teleport out of here."


    "Yes."


    Lucia had already reapplied an illusion magic on this alleyway right after Quinn appeared. Cecil sat down and spread his senses onto the city''s walls and noticed that the city''s defense force were trying their best to defend the city and attack the Silvaria Army who were firing cannons at them from far away.


    It was useless though. Their trebuchets and siege weapons couldn''t possibly reach the army who were so far away. Cecil noticed that there were a few mages who were still alive and creating barriers to defend against the cannon fire.


    These flimsy barriers were easily crushed by the Silvaria Spell Cannons and Storm Howlers. They couldn''t withstand even a single hit and the soldiers hiding behind these barriers quickly met their end.


    The cavalry was already rushing towards the walls with the infantry right behind them. With the cannons covering their approach, none of the enemy archers could get up on the walls to try and fire arrows down at the soldiers.


    Once the first soldiers arrived in front of the city''s closed gates, the cavalry immediately dragged the portable version of the Storm Howler and blew the gates open with a few rounds of the cannon''s powerful mana blasts.


    "Charge! Cavalry, head into the city, and quickly set a perimeter, infantry, head up onto the walls and begin the operation! Once we''ve secured the walls, we''ll carve a path and head towards the city lord''s mansion!" The commander immediately began ordering.


    Cecil saw all this with his Mana Sense and nodded in approval. He stood up and said, "Alright, it looks like we won''t need to regroup with them. Let''s help them out by securing the walls."


    "Alrighty~"


    "Yes, Master."


    The trio immediately made their way over to the city walls and started dispatching any soldiers that they encountered. For the ones that laid down their arms and surrendered, Lucia quickly put them to sleep with an illusion spell before rounding them up together. For the ones that didn''t, they were mercilessly killed by both Quinn and Cecil.

 Chapter 329 - Neither Wrong nor Right

    The walls were soon occupied by the Silvaria forces and once it was completely taken over, the rest of the army quickly marched into the city unimpeded. The battle was as good as over by now. Kaiser led a company of soldiers to the city lord''s mansion and quickly took care of the soldiers who were defending it.


    The city lord was very loyal to the principality and so he did not surrender which of course led to his death. When the news came to the city''s inhabitants that the city lord had fallen, some chose to run away or surrender while others chose to fight back.


    The Silvaria army hunted down all those that ran away and either killed them if they resisted or brought them back to the city after they surrendered. As for the ones that fought back, they were treated as enemies and quickly taken care of.


    After the battle was over, the soldiers immediately started to repair the walls and gates that were damaged. Cecil went to the magic formation array and replaced it with a stronger version of his own creation.


    In the city lord mansion''s meeting hall, Kaiser was currently confronting the representative that the surrendered civilians had appointed to become their spokesman. Kaiser had already made it clear to the surviving civilians that he didn''t want to harm nor force them into anything.


    All he wanted was their compliance and cooperation. If he got that, then there won''t be any problems. However, if there were any signs of people rebelling or causing unrest among the citizens, then they will be quickly dealt with as if they were enemy soldiers.


    "Lord, I have received the consent of all the remaining civilians...we are willing to cooperate with the...Silvaria Army..."


    "Good, don''t worry, we will treat you all cordially. As long as no one causes unrest among you and you are fully compliant with all our demands, we won''t cause you any harm."


    "W-We have a condition, however..." The representative hesitantly spoke up.


    "Speak," Kaiser nodded.


    "Th-those demands... we will comply only on the condition that it does not harm our nation or our wellbeing..."


    "Hah, do you take us for monsters? We won''t demand anything that''ll go against your human rights! We only want you to help in the repairs of the city and to not cause trouble! That is all!"


    "Th-that''s all?"


    "Yes, as for your daily activities you can go about them as you normally would. Just take it that nothing has changed. Only the ones overseeing this city are the things that have changed," Kaiser spoke before he dismissed the representative.


    The man was relieved that all they needed to do was help with the city''s repairs. He was only a little worried about the ''not causing trouble'' part. Many of the survivors who surrendered had lost a family or friend in the sudden attack.


    There was no doubt that many were only pretending to surrender so that they could retaliate later when the Silvaria Army was no longer on guard against them. It was a good plan, but unfortunately for him, he was one of the few people who had witnessed Lucia''s Apocalypse spell and saw the horror of their city''s mages being erased from existence.


    "I have to persuade those fools to stop their useless attempts. If they implicate all of us...then that horrifying spell might be turned towards us later!"


    Back in the meeting hall, the army''s commanders remained in the hall to wait for further instructions. Fatima turned towards her father and asked, "Are we going to continue the operation? We still need to take down the other 4 cities..."


    "We''ll be spreading our forces too thin that way..."


    "Why not just destroy 2 of those cities and relocate the surrendering inhabitants to the other cities we already occupied?" Cecil suggested.


    "If we did that, then all the cities would be packed with people...Also, the resulting fallout won''t have a good impact on the survivors..." Fatima said.


    "Does it matter?"


    "Hm?"


    "We aren''t going to be occupying these cities for long, right? After we take them all down, we''re going to regroup the army back at this city before marching towards the capital, right?"


    Fatima thought for a moment before turning towards Kaiser and saying, "Cecil does have a point. We aren''t here to conquer anything. We''re only here to teach the Merkruz Principality the fallacy of assaulting our Kingdom. If we destroy their cities, the fallout will only affect them, not us."


    "It''s a little cruel, but if we had lost the war with them, then they would have treated us much worse. We''ll go with that then. Once we''ve received the census of this city, we''ll leave a portion of the army behind before splitting the army in two and proceed as we''ve originally planned," Kaiser said.


    "Yes, father!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "As for the cities we''re going to be destroying..." Kaiser turned towards his daughter and Fatima immediately spoke up.


    "We''ll be destroying the ones farthest from our current location. One of the cities in the east is a port city so it''ll affect the Merkruz Principality''s naval trade routes... I feel bad for the citizens, but they have only their leader to blame..."


    "General Ysolte, I want you to lead half of our forces to attack the East while I lead the other half to attack the west. My daughter will be coming with you, make good use of her head."


    "Yes sir!" A middle-aged man with a bald head stood up from his seat and shouted.


    "Cecil, you will go with Fatima. Do your best to support her and General Ysolte!"


    "Yes, father," Cecil nodded in compliance.


    "How goes the city''s repairs?" Kaiser turned towards a particular man and asked.


    Cecil saw that the battle reports were over and he quickly stood up to exit the room. Even though it would be good for him to stick around and listen since he was going to be the next ''King'', Cecil was very much disinclined to do so.


    Kaiser already saw his son standing up but before he could stop him, Cecil had suddenly disappeared using Blink. Kaiser could only sigh at this.


    "That boy... it seems he has no problems being the next Patriarch but it looks like he''s not so keen on becoming the next King..."


    "You can''t blame him father...this ''kingship'' was thrust upon us when the Regulus Kingdom acknowledged us as a nation..."


    "Sigh...what am I going to do with him?"


    "Worry about that later, father, right now, you still have the rest of your men to address!"


    "Y-Yes... actually, Fatima... dear, you wouldn''t mind becoming the Quee¡ª"


    "Father, I said, later!"


    "Y-yes..." Kaiser sighed in defeat and continued listening to his men''s reports. Fatima was acting as his secretary and he saw that she was very fit to rule the kingdom. Cecil was fit to be the family''s next Patriarch due to his martial talent, but Kaiser already saw his attitude whenever he mentioned anything about the boy taking over his position as king one day and came to a conclusion... Cecil didn''t like it nor did he want it.


    ******


    Cecil reappeared outside of the city lord''s mansion and went to find Lucia. He quickly found her helping the civilians.


    "Hey, Lulu!"


    "Oh, Cel, is the meeting over?"


    "More or less..."


    "Hmmm... you ran away again, didn''t you?" Lucia accurately guessed.


    Cecil only shrugged at her in response.


    "You should stick around and learn a bit more y'' know Cel~"


    "Nah, don''t wanna."


    "...That''s kind of unreliable of you, Cel..."


    "Dad wants me to inherit the throne...but I don''t want it. I can accept being the next heir, but spare me from that. Let Ima or Michael do it. I was raised only to fight and inherit the family''s tradition, not some throne..."


    "Well... you do have a point...I also don''t see my Cel ruling over others as a king! Though, that would be kind of cool then I''d be a queen, ehehehe~" Lucia eagerly said.


    Seeing her like that, Cecil bopped her head and said, "Well, you''re already going to be a Matriarch, that''s the same thing as a queen y'' know!"


    "Ehehehe~"


    The people around saw the couple talking and laughing. Some saw it heartwarming while others thought that they were being obnoxious because they were invaders that had just attacked their city.


    A few stepped forward and one of them yelled at the two, "What right do you have to be laughing like that?!"


    "Huh?"


    "..."


    Cecil and Lucia turned towards the approaching people and the leading man yelled at them once again.


    "You have no right to be laughing like that! Can''t you see how much misery you''ve caused us?! An attack from nowhere, how cowardly can you people be?!"


    Cecil only chuckled in reply and this aggravated the man and everyone else once more.


    "What''s so funny, huh punk?!"


    "We''re only giving you people a little payback, what''s so wrong about that?"


    "C-Cel..."


    "Do you really think that only you people are allowed to attack another nation and we aren''t allowed to retaliate?"


    "So you''re a Regulian?!" The civilian cried out.


    "Pfft, don''t lump us in with those weaklings," Cecil scoffed in disdain.


    "Huh?"


    "The only person you should be blaming is that foolish ruler of yours. He should have stuck to attacking only Regulus, but instead, he just had to attack a nation that wasn''t even hostile to them, to begin with."


    "..."


    Cecil''s words angered the people but they couldn''t say anything in response, however, their thoughts were clearly apparent on their faces.


    ''Hmph, do these people think that they didn''t deserve this?''


    "Hmph, don''t act like you guys didn''t deserve this! No one deserves to lose anyone precious to them! The same goes for us! Your foolish ruler attacked us first, what''s so wrong with us retaliating?"


    "Are you all that petty?!" The civilians lashed out. This only caused Cecil to chuckle back at them.


    "Don''t forget, you people attacked Regulus because of some petty revenge. Now we''re doing it for the same petty reason. You have a problem with that?"


    "Guh..."


    Cecil eyed the people around him apathetically before walking away.


    "Just be thankful that we spared your lives because if it was Regulus who was attacking you today, all of you most likely wouldn''t be alive right now."


    The people left behind only grimaced at his words and didn''t speak up. Lucia saw their expressions and couldn''t help but feel a little bit upset by Cecil''s cold outburst.


    "Lulu, let''s go!"


    "C-Coming!" Lucia quickly called out. She turned towards the downtrodden citizens and spoke up, "You have to understand. We weren''t hostile with Merkruz at all before we were attacked without warning. I''m not saying that retaliation is a good thing but it is something that should be expected. After all, even our nation''s people want the unjustified attack on our kingdom to be answered. It may not be the right way but¡ª"


    "Lucia!" Cecil called out once more. Lucia bowed in apology towards the people and quickly dashed over next to Cecil.


    "...You didn''t have to explain anything to them," he said.


    "But you went a little overboard!"


    "Tsk, if I hadn''t come back when I did¡ª"


    "I get it! But was it really necessary for you to lash out at them like that?" Lucia cried out in exasperation.


    "I didn''t lash out..."


    "Yes, you did! The Cel I know wouldn''t have sounded so petty!"


    "..."


    "You''re still mad at the Merkruz Lord who attacked us. We lost a lot of good people and their families are grieving, I get it, but was it really necessary to say all that to those people back there? They''ve lost someone dear to them as well and they''re the ones grieving now!"


    "..."


    Lucia let out a breath before continuing, "Cel, you know full well that revenge and killing isn''t going to do anyone any good. I know this retaliation was inevitable and it''s neither wrong nor right, but we should at least sympathize a little with the people who have survived..."


    Cecil let out a breath before saying, "I''m sorry..."


    "...I don''t want my Cel turning into an apathetic person that doesn''t care about the lives of people who don''t matter to him. All lives are important, but we kill when we have to," Lucia said as she slowly wrapped her arms around him. "What father-in-law has done today by sparing the lives of the people who have surrendered should be testimony to the fact that even he, as the king of Silvaria, still cares about the lives of another nation''s people..."


    Cecil thought long and hard for a moment. It was true that he felt a little apathetic of the Merkruz people''s plight and grieving. He cared little of what they were going through because the same thing could have happened to his family''s Kingdom if he had been too late to stop the Merkruz Army''s assault.


    However, what Lucia said was true. All lives matter. Even his father believed this since he spared all the people in the city who were willing to surrender.


    ''Kill only when you have to... Wow, when did my Lulu become so wise?''


    Cecil smiled gently at the girl who was hugging onto him. He patted her head and said, "I understand...sorry for being an idiot..."


    "I won''t ask you to apologize to them... even I felt a little indignant, but what you said back there Cel was a little too much. It made you sound like the villain..."


    "...We did attack them so aren''t we considered¡ª"


    "Don''t get smart with me Cel!"


    "Sorry, sorry..."


    Cecil pulled Lucia away and began walking towards the city''s gates.


    "Umm... where are we going?"


    "We''re heading out. We''ve got a few other cities to destroy...remember?"


    "Huh? But I thought that the operation would start only after the city''s repairs were finished!"


    "We''re only going ahead to scout the next city we''ll be attacking. Once we get the exact layout, we come back and help Big Sis formulate her plan," Cecil said.


    "...Okay..."


    "Don''t worry, Big Sis Ima understands about what you said to me earlier much more than I do, if she''s got enough info to formulate a plan, I''m pretty sure we can reduce as many civilian casualties as we can."


    "Alright, let''s get going then!"


    "I''ve already asked Quinn to prepare the Wanderer. Ren and Gabe are guarding Angelia, while Yuna is with Silver. It''ll only be me, you, and Quinn who are going."

 Chapter 330 - Scouting

    "Now, don''t forget about me, Cecil!" Someone called out to them.


    Cecil turned around to find his brother, Matheus, walking towards them. He seemed to be a little out of breath, however.


    "Oh, Matty, I almost forgot that you''re coming along..."


    "Jeez... I know that you didn''t want to go through with that boring meeting, but the least you could do is exit the place normally! It took me a while to even find you!" Matheus exclaimed in tired exasperation.


    "Ahaha, I''m sorry about that!"


    "Ah, brother-in-law, I apologize for my husband''s stupid behavior," Lucia bowed in apology.


    "Don''t worry about it, Lucia. I''m used to it already," Matheus replied. After he took a moment to catch his breath, he immediately asked, "Are we going now, Cecil? Or are we waiting for anyone else?"


    "We''ll be departing immediately. I already had Quinn prepare the Wanderer," Cecil said before turning around. He grabbed Lucia''s hand and walked in the direction of the city''s gate where he sensed that Quinn was already waiting on standby with the Wanderer.


    Matheus couldn''t help but look at the couple walking intimately in front of him in envy.


    "Ahhh, you''re so lucky, Cecil!" He suddenly said with a groan.


    "Hm? What''s up, big bro?" Cecil turned his head and asked in confusion.


    "You''re already married and you have such a beautiful lady accompanying you!"


    "Heh, you mean two beautiful ladies. Don''t forget about Serilla," Cecil smirked triumphantly at his brother.


    Seeing the triumphant look on his brother''s face, Matheus immediately rushed forward and placed his brother in a headlock.


    "Why you, don''t act so smug! I''m already envious that you have one beautiful wife, but now you just had to remind me that you had two?! You''re just boasting and rubbing salt on my wound, aren''t you?!"


    "Ahahahaha!!! Don''t worry bro, you''re time will come soon...hopefully...pfffttt..."


    "How dare you laugh at your brother''s plight!"


    "I-I didn''t mean to! But you are a little pitiful, big brother!"


    "Oi!!!"


    Lucia smiled gently at the playful banter the two brothers were having. She was gratified that there were no altercations among Cecil''s siblings and was happy that everyone could get along so amiably.


    The three continued on their way to the city gates and quickly found Quinn waiting for them with the Wanderer at the ready. Silver and Yuna were also there waiting but they weren''t going to come with them.


    "Hey, Master, are you sure you won''t need us?" Silver asked once he noticed that Cecil had finally arrived.


    "It won''t be necessary, Silv. We''re only going out there to scout. I need you two to stay behind and monitor the situation here and keep an eye on our family."


    "Okay~ roger that boss!"


    "...When did you start calling me boss?"


    "Well, it started becoming awkward now that we''re back with the family. Look, big brother Matty is giving me a weird look!" Silver said as he pointed at Matheus.


    "I still can''t believe that our Silv is now a human. Also, him calling you Master is weird, Cecil. It''s not like he''s your servant or anything..."


    Cecil felt that it was understandable. On Alterna, master meant many different things, but he did feel awkward when Ren started calling him master the first time he took him under his wing so he decided that Ren would only call him Teacher instead of master.


    Silver was a part of the Silvaria family so it was understandable that the rest of the family would feel that it was a bit awkward for a family member to be calling another family member, Master. Moreover, these two could practically be called brothers now.


    "I guess you''re right. Well, Silv, you can call me whatever you want!"


    "Heh, then I''m calling you, boss!"


    "Suit yourself."


    Quinn walked out from behind the Wanderer and respectfully asked his Master.


    "Master, are we going now?"


    "Is everything ready, Quinn?"


    "Yes, Master. We can head out anytime. Sleipnir has already gotten enough rest."


    "We''ll set out now. The quicker we scout the remaining cities, the faster we can end this war."


    Quinn quickly got onto the driver seat while Cecil, Lucia, and Matheus entered the Wanderer.


    "Silv, it''ll take a few days before we come back, make sure you keep an eye on things here! Listen to father, Yuna, and Ima while I''m gone!"


    "I''m not a child, boss!"


    "To me you are!"


    "Whatever, get going already!"


    "We''ll see you later then."


    The Wanderer quickly exited the city through the broken down gate. The repairs were still in progress, but Cecil hoped that things would quickly speed up. It''d be bad if Merkruz had somehow gotten wind of their attack and had sent their army towards this city.


    They had made sure that all of the city''s inhabitants were round up together and not one person had escaped in order to suppress the word that the city had fallen and the nation was under attack. It could at least buy them some time to prepare for their attacks on the other cities before they marched boldly through the Merkruz Principality''s territory.


    Silver and Yuna jumped up onto the city''s walls and saw the wagon off. After they saw the wagon disappear into the distance, the two made their way down the wall and were about to head out to help around the city but they suddenly bumped into two little imps.


    "Hey, careful Angel, you might bump into something!" Silver said as he caught Angelia before she fell due to having bumped into him.


    "Oh, it''s Silv! Hey, did you see Lulu and my brother?" Angelia immediately asked.


    "Yeah, Silver. Did you see Teacher anywhere?" Ren also quipped up.


    "They just left."


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    "Boss and the others just left earlier. They''re out on a scouting mission!"


    "N-No way...that stupid brother, he left me!" Angelia whined in complaint.


    ???Ahh...Teacher left? Oh well, it was only a scouting mission anyway. Angel, let''s go back to help out with the city''s repairs," Ren said as he tugged on Angelia''s sleeve.


    "Oh...alright..."


    "What perfect timing! Come with us, you two, we were just about to go and help out as well!" Yuna said.


    The two immediately agreed and the group went around helping the people with the city''s repairs. Yuna looked like a mother who was walking around and helping the people with her 3 ''children''.


    Being viewed as a child, Silver was disgruntled by it. Yuna was his woman but he was treated as if he was her kid. Angelia and Ren obviously didn''t mind.


    Seeing a mother and her ''children'' walk around to help the city despite them being enemies attracted a lot of the citizens'' approval and it made more of them compliant with the Silvaria Army''s request for help in repairing the city.


    ******


    A few days later, Cecil and his group quickly arrived in the next city over. They posed as adventurers and were able to quickly enter into the city. Once again, Cecil couldn''t help but scoff at how flawed the Alterna identification and permit system was.


    Just by being a merchant, mercenary, or adventurer, one could easily enter a city that had either one of those guilds within them. Of course, not just any adventurer, merchant, or mercenary company could have free access, but this didn''t apply to those with high credibility and ranking within the guilds.


    Cecil and Lucia''s identity as Platinum-ranked Adventurers aided in the group''s ease of access into any sort of city. Only Platinum-ranked Adventurers had this special privilege since they were treated similarly to nobles with a court rank of Counts.


    Gold-ranked and below didn''t have this special privilege. They''d be granted only limited access to the city, just the periphery area where the city''s guild branches were located.


    Once Cecil and everyone check into the city''s inn, Quinn and Matheus quickly split from the group. Scouting out the city''s layout was Cecil''s job and it was really easy. All he had to do was spread his Mana Sense throughout the city.


    After he captured the entire city''s layout inside his mind, he quickly began drawing it out on paper. Lucia was lying down on his lap and hugging his waist.


    "Lulu, can you wait until I''m done?"


    "..."


    "Lulu?"


    "Hey...don''t you think I''m old enough already?"


    "Uh? F-for what?"


    "Ufufu, you know exactly what I mean~" Lucia eyed Cecil meaningfully before she saddled herself on him.


    "L-Lulu..."


    "Cel~ come on~"


    "Hmmm... it''s not that I don''t want to...but we''re doing something important here..."


    "I know."


    "How about after this war is over and we get back to the kingdom, okay?"


    "Hmmm... but I want something right now~"


    "..."


    Cecil quickly set aside the half-drawn map of the city and carried Lucia over to the bed.


    *****


    Cecil was able to finish the map of the city''s layout before the day ended. Lucia was a really hard woman to please and he had to do a lot to please her without actually performing the deed.


    He really just wanted to eat her up right now, but the circ.u.mstances and situation were a little inappropriate for that. They were currently out on a mission so it wasn''t appropriate at all to do such a thing. It was also an important event for both Lucia and him. Cecil wanted to be respectful of that.


    Quinn and Matheus came back later in the evening. They both went out to gather some information. The two were able to find out that neither the city nor the Merkruz Principality was alerted of the Silvaria Kingdom''s attack and everyone was still oblivious at the fact that one of their nation''s cities were taken down and that an army was already preparing for the next attack.


    This was very good news, but everyone knew that the news couldn''t be repressed for long. Once the other cities found out that their contact with the city that Silvaria had taken over had been cut, they''d eventually grow suspicious and send out someone to investigate.


    That was why Kaiser and Fatima wanted to quickly take down the rest of the cities before they were alerted. The element of surprise was still on their side and they needed to capitalize on that fact.


    "The map''s finished, we have to quickly head out and go to the port city. We should make haste and quickly get back to father and the others. This situation is in favor of us since the Merkruz Principality still has no idea that we''re attacking so we should quickly deal with the border cities before they find out," Matheus said.


    "I agree with you, big brother, but for now, we should rest up. It won''t be too late if we head out tomorrow," Cecil replied.


    "Alright...by the way, where''s your wife?"


    "She''s already asleep."


    The 3 were currently sitting around the inn''s lounge and eating supper. Lucia had already eaten before she went to sleep. Cecil was waiting for the 2 others so that''s why he hadn''t eaten yet.


    "He~h, what were you two doing when we were gone?" Matheus asked with a sly grin.


    "Tsk, a v.i.r.g.i.n like you wouldn''t know about that!"


    "What was that?!"


    "I''m going to sleep, good night!" Cecil said before he used Blink to get away from his brother.


    "Tch, that brat, just because he''s gotten ahead of his brother he''s acting all smug now!"


    "I''m sure you will eventually find your significant other, Young Master Matheus..." Quinn spoke up from the side.


    "Heh, you should find one for yourself as well, Quinn! You''re not getting any younger y''know! Alright, I''ll head up now."


    "Yes, Young Master."


    Back inside Cecil''s room, he quickly got into bed and a pair of arms immediately wrapped themselves around his waist.


    "Lulu, you weren''t asleep yet?"


    "Hmm..."


    "..."


    "Stupid Cel..."


    Cecil chuckled lightly and pulled her closer to him. Feeling Lucia''s warmth, he felt relaxed and sleepy when he listened to her calm breathing and the occasional cute hum or mumble she''d let out.


    ''Hrmm... Lulu''s chest is larger than Seri''s...''


    He thought before falling asleep.

 Chapter 331 - Back at Home

    Early the next day, Cecil and his group had exited the city and were already making their way over to the next city that they were going to scout out. From the information that Cecil got from his butler, Quinn, the city they were going to next was supposedly a beautiful port city.


    "The next city seems like a nice place~" Lucia quipped up happily.


    "Too bad we''re going to have to destroy it..." Cecil replied.


    "Ceh, you''re no fun Cel..."


    "...There''s a huge lake close to our lands, right Matty?"


    Hearing his name being mentioned, Matheus looked over at Cecil and yawned, "Uahhh, yeah, the lake is actually pretty big and there''s a lot of fish and some aquatic monsters living in it. If the place wasn''t so dangerous, father would have already tried building a small fishing town near it."


    "Hear that, Lulu? Once we get back to the kingdom, I''ll immediately head out and secure the land around the lake. After that we can build our own port city or town. One more splendid than the one we''re about to destroy," Cecil said to his wife.


    "...I-I didn''t mean it like that, Cel..." Lucia replied weakly.


    "Haha, look at this kid! I know you''re trying to impress your wife, Cecil, but that''s taking things a little too far! Are you seriously gonna gift Lucia a city?" Matheus chuckled amusingly.


    "If I have to, maybe you should find a girl that you''d be willing to do the same for, big brother Matty~"


    "Tsk, my time will come. It''s not like I''m bad looking. I just never found the opportunity since I''ve always been busy!"


    "Hehe~"


    The brothers were bantering with each other again. Lucia was blushing happily and clinging onto Cecil. She was happy that Cecil would go through such lengths to please her. She now had some boasting material for later when she got together again with her sister, Serilla.


    *****


    Speaking of Serilla, she was back at the Silvaria Family''s private estate, strolling around the garden with her mother-in-law.


    "Seri, are you feeling alright? You haven''t been feeling nauseous or anything lately, right?" Anastasia asked.


    This morning, Serilla had spent quite a long time in the bathroom throwing up all of last night''s dinner into the toilet.


    "I''m fine, mother. It hasn''t been that long since I was pregnant so I haven''t been feeling all of those just yet."


    "Ahaha, I guess so. It''ll probably happen after you''re a few months pregnant~"


    "Uhm... mother, is this really okay?"


    "Hm? What''s wrong, Serilla dear?"


    "Well, you could say that Lucia and I had gotten married to Cecil without his family''s consent... I won''t worry myself over what the elders have said to me, but is it alright with you, mother?"


    "Oh dear, what are you talking about?" Anastasia shook her head at the worried Serilla. Anastasia placed her hand over Serilla''s and then spoke up, not with an answer, but with a question of her own. "Let me ask you this, Seri. Is Cecil not alright with you? Did he marry you not of his own free will?"


    "N-no..."


    "He did so willingly, right?"


    "Yes..."


    "Since he''s alright with it, then it''s only naturally that I, as his mother, should be supportive of his decisions. I may be his mother, but I don''t have the right to decide with whom he should spend the rest of his life with."


    "..."


    "Don''t worry about anything, Seri. I''ve already told you this over and over again. Wait, could it be that you''re starting to have regrets?! Did you fall out of love with Cecil?!"


    "Wh-what?! N-No way, mother! I love him very much!"


    "Ohhh... that''s good. Anyway, don''t ever feel that you''re unworthy or that anyone in our family isn''t okay with you being Cecil''s wife and the next matriarch of the family! You have every right to be here! You accompanied him across two continents just so that you could stay with him. I''ll beat up anyone who says you''re unworthy! If we''re talking about unworthy, Cecil himself is unworthy of you girls!" Anastasia said with a nod.


    Serilla only chuckled lightly in response.


    "Haah, my body has been feeling a little restless... I want to move around, train or do something, but..."


    "But you have a little one in you that you have to be mindful of~"


    "Yup!"


    "Don''t worry. It''s only for a couple of months. I''m not sure how pregnancy is with beastkin, but I''m sure we experience similar things, right? Here, let mother tell you about her experiences!"


    Serilla and Anastasia were having a nice conversation in the garden and the family''s servants were watching happily on the side. Luca had just arrived home and went looking for his mother.


    He hadn''t gone to participate in the war because he was busy with the kingdom''s internal affairs. Unlike his siblings, he wasn''t too adept with combat. While looking around the house, he was informed that his mother and Serilla were in the garden.


    As he made his way over, Luca noticed someone acting suspiciously near the garden. The person soon became aware that Luca was eyeing him and quickly walked away as if nothing was wrong.


    Luca frowned a bit because the person was obviously spying on his mother and his brother''s wife. He also recognized that person as being one of the branch families'' young masters. Now that Cecil and the Patriarch, Kaiser, were gone, the branch families'' actions had grown a bit brazen.


    This part of the large garden was obviously a private area reserved only for the main family. Everyone knew this, so Luca quickly deduced that this man was spying on his family. This wasn''t the first time something like this happened. He had received reports from the family''s butler and maids that there were people from the branch families looking around the outside of Cecil''s workshop just the other day.


    No one, not even those from the main family, could enter Cecil''s workshop since he had locked it with a special mana lock that only he and his wives could open. Serilla was the only person present who could open the workshop but she had never approached the place except during the times where she would tidy the place up.


    "They were spying on mother and Serilla... do they want to know what''s inside Cecil''s workshop?" Luca thought up to here but couldn''t understand the motive behind it.


    Just what could they possibly want? Everything inside was practically useless to them since even the main family had no understanding of what Cecil was doing inside his workshop. Of course, the main family understood that he was building a teleportation gate and was coming up with unique gadgets that''ll help better the lives of everyone in the kingdom, but the way it was produced was unique. Not something that could be done by anyone in the kingdom, yet.


    "...tch, this is going to become a headache. I better send some men to monitor their activities..."


    ******


    A few days later, Luca was inside his office within the city reading up the reports of the men he sent to monitor the branch families'' activities.


    "They''ve been in contact with the Goldenia''s? What could those bastards want with Cecil?"


    The reports he was reading stated that the Goldenia Family, a family who was pretty well known in their country from back on Earth, received word that the Silvaria''s missing future patriarch had suddenly returned after all these years.


    The Goldenia Family was the first to approach the branch families but their supposed reason was that they were requesting an audience with the Silvaria''s main family. Their intention for the audience was that they wanted to form an alliance and meet with the Silvaria''s future head.


    The Goldenias were long-time enemies with the Silvarias so their reason for seeking out the branch families was so that the branch families could negotiate on their behalf because if the Goldenia family approached the Silvaria''s main family, it''ll only lead to problems that''ll eventually lead to conflict.


    As for why they wanted to form an alliance with their long-time nemesis, the Goldenia''s reasoning was that this was a new world so they should put aside all old grudges and band together as human beings from Earth in this new but dangerous world.


    Of course, Luca didn''t believe this. There was just no way that those from the Goldenia family would actually have the bigger heart to let go of their past history with the Silvarias. Back on Earth, the two families were always competing against each other in various fields.


    Their country''s politics were mostly dominated by the Goldenia''s while the business side was completely dominated by the Silvaria''s. This of course led to many conflicts since they would always butt heads with each other.


    The Silvaria''s were always repressed by the Goldenia''s whenever they tried to strengthen their political power but the Goldenia''s in turn were completely shut out from the country''s business sector. The Silvaria''s had a firm grip on this sector and made sure that they completely repressed the Goldenia''s.


    The two families would even try to compete against each other in other sectors of the country, the entertainment sector, educative, real estate, sports, military, just about everything. They even competed in the country''s underworld. The Goldenia''s had an edge in this regard because they were closely connected with the government.


    However, over all, the Silvaria''s always had an edge against the Goldenia''s due to how harmonious and close-knit the main family has always been. The Silvaria''s branch families also understood their place and there was never any conflict in deciding who the next successor would be. They were unlike the Goldenia''s whose members, even those from the branch families, were all vying for the family''s throne.


    "Tsk, do those bastards think that the branch families have any say in what the main family does? Even the council of elders has little say in what the main family does. Forming an alliance with us? Hah, unlikely. Those bastards are planning something...I better alert mother..."


    "That won''t be necessary, Luca," An old man said as he walked into Luca''s office.


    When Luca saw the uninvited guest, he narrowed his eyes at him.


    "Elder Kuran...what do you want?"


    "Hey, is that any way to be talking to an elder?" A young man spoke up after stepping out from behind the elder.


    "... Eustace," Luca eyed the young man disdainfully. He put away the report he was reading and addressed the two uninvited guests.


    "What do the both of you want?"

 Chapter 332 - Possible Targets

    "No need to be so guarded, Luca," Elder Kuran said as he took a seat inside the office.


    Eustace followed suit and took a seat beside his grandfather. Luca narrowed his eyes at their blatant lack of respect for him. He hadn''t even invited them in.


    Luca scoffed before saying once more, "I''m going to ask one more time. What do you want?"


    Elder Kuran only laughed amusingly before saying, "Hahah, I didn''t come here to fight with you or the main family."


    "Hmph, then what''s this about spying on my mother and contacting the Goldenias, huh?"


    The elder''s hand that he had placed on his walking stick imperceptibly twitched. Kuran smiled at Luca and asked, "I won''t deny that the Goldenias have come into contact with us since you''ve already found out, but spying? What do you mean?"


    "...Hmph, you know exactly what I mean, but enough of that. I want to know exactly why you even came into contact with those bastards from Goldenia! If you''re answer isn''t satisfactory, I can have you put on trial for this act of treason against the main branch and the kingdom!"


    "Treason? My, isn''t that a little too harsh?"


    "..."


    Seeing Luca''s unyielding attitude, Eustace stood up and yelled, "Luca! Don''t think that just because you''re from the main family that you can just blatantly disrespect¡ª"


    "Settle down, Eustace. As a member of the main family, it''s only natural that Luca would be suspicious of our actions since we''re contacting the family''s long-time enemy," Kuran said in Luca''s defense.


    Luca only eyed the two before him in disdain. ''Tsk, look at these two monkeys putting on a performance.''


    "Enough! Well, elder Kura, give me a good reason why I shouldn''t report this to the Patriarch?"


    "Oh, no, no, no, I actually want you to report this to the Patriarch as soon as possible!"


    Luca blanked out for a moment before slowly asking, "...What?"


    "You see, the Goldenias want to arrange a meeting with the main family. Don''t worry. Their intentions are pure, at least, from my perspective."


    "..."


    "They''ve been experiencing a few mishaps with their connections outside of this...closed-off land. They were able to make contact with an outside human power like we did, but it seems that they''re facing hostilities instead," Kuran explained.


    Luca''s expression didn''t change even after hearing this.


    "If you don''t trust me, have your men look into the Goldenia''s city-state''s situation. You''ll find that they''re genuinely asking our family for a meeting since they need our assistance..."


    "...I''ll be the judge of whether they are genuine or not, I''ll be reporting this to mother so you better cease all contact with the Goldenias if you don''t want to arouse any more suspicion, Elder Kuran," Luca said before clapping his hands. A few men immediately walked into the room and Luca gestured for them to escort Elder Kuran and his grandson out of his office.


    "Sirs, please come with me."


    "Hmmm... they are using me as the middleman so I''m afraid I can''t comply with your request, Young Master Luca, after all even they need someone to mediate for them," Elder Kuran said as he got up from his seat. Eustace glared venomously at Luca but still stood up following his elder.


    "Then you can''t blame me for the possible punishment you might earn if I find that you''re secretly colluding with the Goldenias with this farce as a front. Those Goldenias would rather die than ask us for assistance."


    "Times have changed, Luca ma boy, it''s about time you figured that out as well. Old hatreds may vanish and so do old allegiances."


    Luca frowned at the double meaning behind his words. He waved his hand and the men immediately ushered and escorted the two guests out of the office. Kuran and Eustace didn''t kick up a fuss and passively complied.


    After being left alone in his office, Luca looked down outside and soon saw his two uninvited guests get on their carriage and leave.


    "Tsk, look at those two. Putting on a performance...did they really think that we didn''t know about those fools'' plight?" Luca disdainfully mumbled.


    His father, Kaiser, was already aware of the Goldenia Family''s plight. Kaiser was also aware that the Goldenias were moving around the No-Man''s Land in search of allies to help them with their problem.


    They were currently facing the crisis of a foreign power threatening to attack their lands. The native Alternian power that they had come into contact with was the Faustus Archduchy who, judging by their history since their not-so recent establishment, were deemed to be a nation of war-mongers.


    The Faustus Archduchy was originally a part of the Omnifaust Republic before it recently became a republic. The brother of the former Omnifaust Kingdom''s Queen didn''t quite like the kingdom''s transition into a republic and since he didn''t want to cause an internal strife among the people of his former kingdom, he decided to break away from them.


    The lord of the archduchy was able to fortunately cross the sea and found his own nation away from the republic''s lands and since it was first established about 10 years ago, the Faustus Archduchy was constantly taking over the neutral lands it was occupying.


    The sea that separated the Faustus Archduchy and the Omnifaust Republic was once very treacherous to tread through, but recently, ever since the Earthlings were teleported into Alterna, the sea had somewhat calmed down.


    This was how the Goldenia family was able to exit the No-Man''s Land with their boats and make contact with a native power of Alterna. Too bad that the power they came into contact with was the Faustus Archduchy instead of the Omnifaust Republic.


    The Faustus Archduchy had one major problem since it was first founded. The lands that it was established upon had a severe lack of fertility due to it being mostly a desert. When the Goldenias first came into contact with the archduchy, they didn''t know the language and had traded some bizarre and rare fruits that couldn''t be found within the desert or were native to the Omnifaust Republic.


    This naturally aroused suspicion and when the lord of the archduchy issued an order to ''befriend'' the foreign people, they slowly but surely gained the Goldenia family''s trust. Although, in the Goldenia family''s eyes, they were the ones using the archduchy''s people in order to learn more about the world they were in.


    They learned about the language, mana, magic, magi-tech, and all sorts of others things while they interacted with the archduchy''s people, but in the end, they were duped into giving out their location inside the No-Man''s Lands.


    Now that the archduchy knew about the fertile lands of the No-Man''s Lands which were now accessible to them, they naturally wanted to take over the Goldenia family''s lands before gradually expanding into the No-Man''s Lands.


    Naturally, this threatened all of the Earthling powers situated inside the No-Man''s Lands and Kaiser was well aware of this fact but he was averse at the thought of cooperating with the Goldenias.


    The Silvaria''s also had an advantage in the advanced knowledge that they had gained through Fatima''s close connection with the Regulus Kingdom, so they didn''t fear the Faustus Archduchy. In fact, Kaiser wanted the archduchy to push the Goldenia Family in a difficult situation where their backs were literally up against the wall then they''d have no choice but to come beg for their help.


    This way, when the Goldenias came to negotiate cooperation, the Silvaria''s would have the upper hand and they''d be able to ask a leg or an arm''s worth of compensation from the Goldenias.


    Everyone in the kingdom''s administration was aware of Kaiser''s plan and they were in favor of this arrangement. The Silvaria Family wasn''t the only family who have been screwed over by the Goldenias once before. In fact, all of the family''s in the Silvaria Kingdom''s High Council had some sort of beef with the Goldenia family.


    Now that an opportunity to screw over the Goldenias had arrived, they naturally wanted to take it. The only catch was that this time was that the Faustus Archduchy''s invasion could potentially throw the Earthling powers into turmoil and war would descend on the land.


    It was a cause for concern, but now that Cecil was back and he had provided many new information and knowledge that had already boosted the overall power of the Silvaria Kingdom, so the potential turmoil was no longer of Kaiser''s concern.


    Whether war would descend upon the land or not, Kaiser was confident that their kingdom would pull through. And that was why he didn''t concern himself with the Goldenia''s plight and went to wage war against the Merkruz Principality who had attacked them.


    Of course, not everyone knew about Cecil''s contributions or about the fact that he had rampaged around and singlehandedly destroyed the Merkruz Army so because of this, not many outside of the main family were privy to Cecil''s freakish combat prowess.


    The branch families only knew that Cecil was somewhat powerful and that he had contributed a few things to the kingdom''s magi-tech that led to Kaiser being unafraid of attacking Merkruz despite the impending crisis that will eventually befall the earthling nations inside the No-Man''s Lands.


    Luca deduced that this was one of the reasons why people were spying on his brother''s workshop. They most likely wanted to find out what Cecil had been doing inside the place, but he wasn''t worried that anyone would be able to break in. The lock could only be opened by three individuals and they were Cecil and his two wives.


    Luca was only worried that the branch families and the Goldenias might try something underhanded now that a majority of the family and the Silvaria Army, other than the defending army still stationed back in the Kingdom, had gone off to attack Merkruz.


    "Those bastards must be scheming something. I''d better hurry back home and tell mother and Serilla to be cautious. Since they were spying on them then their targets are probably those two..." Luca deduced before he started sighing tiredly.


    "Our family really can''t catch a break. Cecil just came back and we hadn''t even celebrated his return yet. Those Merkruz bastards attacked us then it was our ''allies'', the Regulians, and now this..."


    Luca straightened out his clothes before heading out of the office and going back to the family estate.


    After he arrived, he immediately ordered all of the main family''s guards to stay alert and on their toes. As reassurance, Luca assigned more guards to the patrol around the family''s estate and he also ordered the family''s servants to be aware of any suspicious individuals.


    He ordered them to not let anyone unaffiliated with the main family near the mansion. This included anyone from the branch families. If anyone wanted something then they''d have to go to the hall situated adjacent to the mansion.


    After finishing a few more arrangements, Luca went to find his mother. He found her near the outer garden area that overlooked the valley sitting together with Serilla. He looked around and frowned a little when he then noticed that there were too few hidden guards in the area. He silently noted to himself to assign more people to watch his mother and sister-in-law.


    "Oh, Luca, isn''t it a little too early for you to be done with work?" Anastasia called out when she finally noticed that her son was standing nearby. She was out relaxing with Serilla so she hadn''t kept her guard up.


    Luca walked over to the two women and said, "Mother, Sister-in-law, I have something to discuss..."

 Chapter 333 - Potential Danger

    "What is it, dear?" Anastasia gently asked as she pulled Luca down to sit on the picnic cloth she had spread on the ground.


    Serilla handed him a cup and poured him some tea before offering him some of the snacks that she and Anastasia had the servants prepare for them earlier.


    "Thank you," Luca said as he took a sip of the tea handed to him. He didn''t take any of the cakes and bread offered since he wanted to quickly convey his worries to the two women.


    "Mother, Sister-in-law, I want the two of you to be more cautious now that father and Cecil aren''t here. I fear that the Goldenias and the branch families might target the both of you..."


    "Hm? What could those fools possibly want with us?" Anastasia uncaringly asked. It was clear that she didn''t see any of them as a threat.


    "Well, they might want to use the two of you to coerce father into cooperating with the Goldenias while I''m not really sure what the branch family wants."


    "You don''t have to worry about us! We can take care of ourselves just fine!"


    "M-mother, I know that you can. You''re not a helpless woman after all, but think about Serilla. She''s pregnant and has to be extra careful. If something happens to her, I''m frightened to think of what Cecil might do if any harm befalls her and the child she''s carrying..."


    "Like. I. Said... You don''t have to worry. I''ll be sure to protect her. Also, with the amount of guards assigned to watch over us¡ª"


    "I know that, Mother, but I''m still worried. I don''t want any mishaps to happen when a majority of our family is out on a mission! I don''t want to be the bearer of bad news when they come back. I''ll have no words or excuses to say to father, and especially towards Cecil, if something does happen to the both of you!"


    "...Tsk, fine... Cedric," Anastasia called out behind her.


    A man dressed in dark clothing walked out of the trees and bushes close to them. He knelt down in front of Anastasia and respectfully asked, "Yes, Matriarch?"


    "Assign more people to watch over Serilla. I don''t want anything to happen to her. Do remember that she''s carrying our family''s next heir! If something happens to her, I''ll hold you and all the shadow guards accountable!"


    "Yes, Matriarch!"


    "I''m sure you''ve heard from our conversation that the branch families might be up to something. Monitor them closely and send more men to monitor the movements of the Goldenia Family."


    "Right away, Matriach," Cedric, the captain of the hidden guards assigned to keep watch over Anastasia and Serilla, firmly replied.


    "One more thing, Cedric," Anastasia called out before Cedric could walk away.


    "Yes?"


    "The branch families might try something in the foreseeable future. I know that you''re part of the branch family that''s loyal to the main family, but my son, Cecil, the next patriarch, doesn''t know about this."


    "..."


    "If something happens to his wife and child...he might impulsively eradicate all of the branch families in a fit of rage if it comes to light that the branch families had colluded with the Goldenia family to put Serilla, the child, or me in harm''s way."


    "Uh..."


    Cedric felt a little disbelieving when he heard this, but Anastasia quickly stopped him from saying anything when she saw the unconvinced expression on his face.


    "Remember this, Cedric. My son has the power to decide the fate of every branch family. There''s a reason why he''s indisputably the family''s next Patriarch. Whether you and your family continue to exist or not depends on your performance. Please don''t disappoint me."


    "...Yes, Matriarch," Cedric bowed before he turned around and walked away.


    Luca eyed the captain before turning his attention back to his mother.


    "Mom, I already put the servants and guards on alert. You and sister-in-law should not expose yourself outside too much. At least not until father and everyone gets back..."


    Seeing how worried her son was, Anastasia could only agree to his words.


    "Fine, but we''ll still take our regular morning walks around the garden since it''s healthy for Seri and the baby!"


    "...Okay, mother," Luca relented.


    "Don''t worry, brother-in-law," Serilla spoke up from the side. "I may be pregnant, but I''m not helpless!"


    "I know that, but still, you shouldn''t push yourself! Cecil will kill me if anything happens to you and your child!"


    "Haha, I''m sure it won''t be that harsh! Darling isn''t one to hurt his family!"


    "...that''s what he portrays, but that bastard is a sadist..." Luca mumbled.


    "Hm? What''s that, brother-in-law?" Serilla asked.


    "Ahaha, it''s nothing. I should return to the office now. I still have some work to do."


    "Be careful on the way back, Luca dear~" Anastasia said.


    "Yes, mother. Well then, if you''ll excuse me," Luca said as he got up.


    "Have a safe trip back," Serilla waved.


    *****


    In the kingdom''s city suburbs where the Silvaria branch families resided in, Elder Kuran was currently entertaining a few guests inside his home. The group consisted of a few youngsters, 2 elders, and a middle-aged couple.


    Judging by their clothing alone, this group of people wasn''t from the Silvaria Kingdom and this was indeed the case because they were from the Goldenia Family.


    "How was it, Elder Kuran? Were you able to get in touch with someone from the main branch?" The middle-aged man who seemed to be representing the group asked.


    "I was, I was. Unfortunately, it wasn''t the patriarch or matriarch. It was the 3rd child."


    "The third... you mean the older twin, Luca Silvaria?"


    "Mhm, that''s the one."


    The middle-aged man frowned a little before letting out a sigh, "Well, that''ll have to do. Now that we''ve raised their awareness, they are sure to be more suspicious. Remember, if you help us, the branch families will be able to gain a better foothold and have more sway in the Silvaria family''s decisions."


    "I know, I know. Why do you think I went out of my way to help you people out even though we are enemies?" Kuran impatiently said. "Is everything on your side ready?"


    "...We''ve already fed the Faustus spies false information about the Silvaria family being the true overlord of the lands. Since they want to take full control of the No-Man''s Lands, the Silvarias will be a large obstacle in their conquest so they''ll have to deal with them first."


    "...You expect them to attack us first before they make a move on your lands?"


    "I know how they operate. We''ve been gathering info about them for the past few years since we''ve made contact with them! The lord of the Faustus Archduchy is a cautious man that only moves whenever he''s a hundred percent sure that his plans will succeed and he''ll do ANYTHING to make sure it does," the man replied.


    "Tsk, if we rely on something like this, it''ll take ages before he actually makes a move! If our army comes back¡ª"


    "You don''t have to worry about that, Elder Kuran."


    "Hm?"


    "We''ve already leaked information to the Faustus spies that Silvaria''s king and army are currently out of the kingdom so they''ll make their move soon. You can bet on that. Don''t worry, your ''motive'' was properly conveyed. They know that they''ll be able to find a man to work with them from the inside."


    "..."


    "I bet they might even come into contact with you soon! But, you sure are ruthless. Isn''t your target the next patriarch''s mother, wife, and child?"


    "What wife and child? That woman is simply not worthy to even hold the name of Silvaria and so is the bastard inside her!" Kuran growled. ''The same goes for that other wench,'' he also added inwardly.


    "...From what I hear, the wife is a total beauty, how is she unsatisfactory? I also heard that he has another¡ª"


    "Be quiet, Augustus, you have no need to pry into my family''s matters!"


    The man named Augustus smirked. He turned to one of the young women in his group and said, "Wasn''t my daughter supposed to be one of the candidates? Don''t you think I have some say in this since she''s supposed to be the next matriarch that''ll tie our two families together and end all of our past hatreds?"


    "Tsk, she was, but after the whole teleportation incident, everything''s been thrown into a loop and the main family branch was able to seize total control of the family during that time of confusion. We were hoping to set things straight after the heir had returned but that boy...he''s even more tyrannical than his father!"


    "Hohoho, more tyrannical than Kaiser, you say? Haha, I must meet this promising young man!"


    "..."


    "The hatred between us Goldenias and Silvarias was something that started long ago that us, the present generation, has already forgotten what caused all this. It''s about time we set that all aside. Besides, it doesn''t seem so bad for our family''s to join forces, right?"


    "Hmmmm... you better not be planning to backstab us, the branch families. Although we can''t do anything to the main family, but you¡ª"


    Augustus immediately cut him off, "Oh please, there you go again with your paranoia. Is it due to your old age?


    Augustus laughed at his words before continuing, "If things work out as we expect them to, Kaiser will have no choice but to acknowledge the threat that the Faustus Archduchy poses to all of us. You''ll have your wish granted and we can then marry my daughter to the next patriarch. Don''t worry. She''ll make sure to help your branch family out once she becomes the matriarch."


    Kuran eyed the young lady that was about Cecil''s age that was standing next to Augustus and said, "She better. Just like how we can get rid of Cecil''s current wife, we can do the same to her if she doesn''t uphold the promise! After that, all your efforts to ally with my family will go down the drain..."


    "My, my, you really aren''t afraid of the consequences if any of this is found out, do you?"


    "Consequences? Heh, young man, I''ve been doing this all my life. The main family should be the ones afraid of the consequences for ignoring the elder council!"


    Kuran stood up and quickly left the room. Augustus only eyed the old man on his way out and chuckled after he left the room.


    "That old coot... Katya, once our plans fall into action and you become the next Silvaria matriarch, cut ties with that fool and have the next patriarch find out about all of this. Of course, you leave out our family''s involvement."


    "...Yes, father..."


    "Hm? Are you mad?"


    "...Daddy...I''m a little upset..." The young lady said.


    "Is it about this arranged marriage?"


    "Yes! W-why do I have to get married to someone I don''t even know?! Don''t you know that I have someone I already like? Why not let Emilie do this instead of me?"


    "...Katya, are you talking about that Faustus boy again?"


    "Y-yes..."


    "He''s an enemy you know! He also approached you with ulterior motives! Don''t forget that it was mostly because of you letting that boy know too much that we are in our current predicament!"


    "..."


    "Katya, that boy took advantage of your affection! He used you! Now that he and his country are baring their fangs at us, you still have feelings for him?!"


    "It''s not even Edward''s fault! It''s his father''s¡ª"


    "Katya!"


    "..."


    After being yelled at, Katya turned silent and had a hurt look on her face. The girl behind her who seemed a little bit older took a step forward and said, "I don''t mind marrying this Cecil person. I hear that he was hot so I don''t have problems with that~"


    "Be quiet, Emilie," Augustus growled and glared at his playful daughter.


    "Fine, fine~"


    "My decision is final, Katya. You''re going to be the one to marry Cecil."


    "..."


    Katya only hung her head low and didn''t reply.

 Chapter 334 - Extremely Secure

    "Katya, look at me."


    Katya raised her head a little and looked at her father.


    "...This Cecil boy...you''ve met him before when you were a child," Augustus said.


    "R-Really?"


    "Don''t you remember that time when you were going on and on about a young boy you met when you got lost and nearly kidnapped that one time?"


    "Y-yeah...that boy saved me and even brought me back to you, father..."


    "We went over to his family''s house to personally thank them and you guys met again, remember?"


    Katya nodded in acknowledgment.


    "That boy turned out to be Cecil Silvaria, the next heir to the Silvaria family."


    "H-huh?"


    Back then, Cecil had just finished his secluded training and came back to live with his family. When he arrived back at his home, his siblings immediately took him out to play in the city. It was his first time seeing what civilization was like so due to his overwhelming curiosity, he was separated from his siblings.


    It was during this time that he chanced upon a small girl being dragged away unwillingly by a few a.d.u.l.ts. When the a.d.u.l.ts noticed that Cecil was also lost, they decided to try and take him away too but to their folly, Cecil quickly crushed all of them and inadvertently saved the small girl that was being taken away by them.


    Cecil''s fight naturally attracted the attention of many bystanders and just before he was going to make a quick getaway, the bawling Katya quickly clung onto him in fear. Cecil had no choice but to walk around with her until eventually they were able to meet up with the Goldenia family''s people.


    They separated there and only met up after a few days later when Augustus brought Katya with him to personally thank Cecil and his family, even though they were enemies. Augustus had already sought an alliance with the Silvarias from there, but unfortunately for him, the transmigration incident happened.


    Katya vaguely remembered the small boy who appeared like a white knight that came to her rescue from back then. It''s been a while but she still remembered how Cecil''s face looked like.


    "You liked him before remember?"


    "T-that was a long time ago!"


    "That affection could still be renewed once you get to know each other and you''ll soon forget about Edward. I was already in favor of him but after his betrayal... you have to understand Katya, a man like Edward who only used you before tossing you away right after isn''t anyone good!"


    "But... it''s his¡ª"


    "He''s the son of the archduchy''s ruler... you should already be able to understand from this alone, right?"


    "..."


    Seeing that his daughter seemed to be a little unconvinced, Augustus impatiently added, "Will you stop only if I present solid proof of his betrayal?"


    "Ugh..."


    "Stop being foolish, okay? I won''t interfere too much with your life but just this once listen to me, alright?"


    "...Yes, father..."


    "..."


    Seeing that she was still a little reluctant, Augustus could only release an exasperated sigh but he could only drop the matter now that Katya seemed a little more compliant.


    "Anyway, now we have to wait for the pieces to fall into place. Once Faustus makes their move Kaiser will have no choice but to agree to help us."


    The middle-aged woman next to Augustus, Andrea Goldenia, his wife, immediately spoke up, "Honey, you said that we were going to be forging an alliance with the Silvaria family, but targeting the next heir''s mother and wife..."


    "...I know, dear. It could lead to potential disasters later on, but you have to remember, the one colluding directly with Faustus will be that old geezer, not us. We''re only the middleman here."


    "Honey, what we''re doing won''t be any different from what our predecessors have done. You yourself didn''t want to follow in their footsteps and have been trying to mend our family''s ways, but if you do this..."


    "...I know, I know... but there was nothing else we could do... and the die has already been cast," Augustus replied.


    ******


    A few days passed and just like Augustus said, the Faustus spies did secretly come into contact with elder Kuran and a few others from the branch families who sided with him.


    Since Kuran was willing to help, they agreed to take Anastasia and Luca hostage while doing away with the other target, Serilla. All that was left was to find a perfect opportunity for them to take action. Kuran also specifically requested the Faustus spies to make sure that their assault on the Silvaria main family would have no traces of connections leading back to the branch families.


    The best way to make Kaiser compliant was to take his family hostage. He was a family man and there was no doubt that he''d do anything to make sure that his family wouldn''t be harmed. As for the follow up after Kaiser was subdued, the Faustus spies didn''t elaborate on it, but if Cecil was there, he''d know what they would do.


    The Faustus Archduchy would simply use slave seals to keep them in check. Of course, this was only in the case that the Faustus Archduchy was able to pull of their kidnapping and the Goldenias would make sure that didn''t happen.


    The Goldenias wanted to take advantage of the Faustus Archduchy''s attempted kidnapping to put the Silvaria family in their debt. Kaiser was an honorable man so if someone had done him good, he''d naturally pay them back.


    This was what Augustus wanted to leverage against Kaiser later when they negotiated for an alliance. Saving the Silvaria family''s matriarch and son was enough merit to get them on the high ground.


    Unfortunately, Serilla had to be removed because she''d be a hindrance in their plans to marry Katya to Cecil. Her role would be more important in the long run. Each of these 3 factions was using each other thinking that they were the one going to benefit in the end...it was too bad for them that Cecil had been extremely cautious before his departure and had added a few¡ªno, many things, to his family estate''s defense system.


    No one in the mansion knew about it except for his wife, Serilla, and his mother, Anastasia. Before he left, Cecil had given the two women the control crystal to all of the new magical defense system set up throughout and around the family estate.


    With Lucia''s help, he was able to quickly establish the magical defense system around the estate. Since the defense system had his magi-tech batteries powering them, they didn''t need anyone to power them and would immediately activate if it was triggered by unidentified people walking over or near it.


    Cecil had already registered everyone''s mana that was living in the estate into the control crystal so that they wouldn''t accidentally trigger the arrays. If the Faustus Archduchy didn''t have an expert mage who was on par with Cecil in regards to magic arrays, they would have no chance to even pull off their scheme.


    Of course, he made sure not to register anyone in the branch families into the control crystal since he didn''t trust them. There was also a warning system that Cecil had embedded in his own control crystal that would activate when any one of the traps were triggered.


    This way he would immediately know if something was happening back at home and by using Lucia or Yuna''s Misty Gate, he''d be able to make it back there on the double. Elder Kuran and the Goldenias were a little too naive in their thinking that Cecil hadn''t prepared anything to protect his family.


    They thought of Cecil as still being too young and inexperienced so they were more focused on his father, Kaiser, than on him. He may not be the brightest in the family, but he was the most powerful.


    No matter how good a scheme or tactic is, in the face of absolute power, it would all be rendered meaningless. He already possessed this absolute power in both combat prowess and knowledge. All 3 factions that were scheming against his family were doomed to fail even before they had gathered together to hatch out their plan.


    They already knew that Kaiser was very confident in himself to the point that he''d go wager war on another nation rather than focus on the immediate threat that Faustus posed on all the earthling nations. They had too little information on the reason behind this but they still rashly chose to scheme against his family.


    ******


    The entire estate was secure and everyone living inside was extremely safe which was why Anastasia and her daughter-in-law were going about their daily activities with leisure. Too bad for Luca and everyone else, no one besides these two women knew about the defense system Cecil and Lucia had installed.


    As for why this was the reason? It was simply because no one else other than Anastasia had asked the two about what they were doing around the estate so you really couldn''t blame him.


    In the city back at Luca''s office, he was currently having the largest headache as he read through the files and daily reports that his men had given to him.


    "Ugh... Even after I''ve told mom and sister-in-law to be more careful... so why are they still being so careless?!"

 Chapter 335 - Situation in Their Favor

    On Luca''s side, everything was seemingly fine and he was able to get reports from his subordinates regarding the branch family''s recent activities while her mother had provided him with some of the Goldenia family''s recent movements.


    Elder Kuran and a few other elders'' families were acting a little bit suspiciously during the past few days and Elder Kuran himself was spotted meeting up with some people inside the city who Luca believed to be members of the Goldenia family.


    He couldn''t help but curse a little since his family''s enemies were somehow able to enter the kingdom. Luca decided to wait and see because he wasn''t able to make any decisions in the house. Only his mother had the power to do that and her attitude seemed to be uncaring at what was happening.


    She only told Luca to be more careful and wait for his father to come back. Their family members will be dealt with according to their family''s laws so it was best for him to not act out rashly.


    Luca however could only continue worrying because today, he had just found out that the branch families were in contact with some other people other than the Goldenia family. As for whom these people were, Luca still wasn''t able to discern who they were and what their motive was.


    ******


    Back on Cecil''s side, his party had already finished scouting out the two cities they were going to attack and also the other 2 cities that his father was going to attack. Just like he had suspected, the 4 border cities had turned a little bit wary that there had been no contact with the city they were occupying after almost 2 weeks had passed by.


    They did send some people to scout out the situation in their city but the Silvaria army were fortunately able to fool them with the help of the city''s citizens but this only bought them a little bit of time because the citizens had suddenly informed Kaiser about the monthly meetings that the border cities'' lords had to attend back at the capital.


    It was coming soon however Kaiser saw this as an opportunity. Since the city lords were all going to be attending, the border cities would be somewhat vulnerable since their leaders would be gone.


    Kaiser immediately changed his plans and split the army into 3. 2 bigger forces were going to attack the east and west border cities while the remaining force would be going to the capital under the guise of being the city lord''s army.


    Cecil would act as the city lord and be the one leading this smaller force. Fatima was also going with him after she had thoroughly prepared separate battle plans for the armies for each city that they were going to attack.


    Lucia would separate from Cecil this time and remain on the east force with that was going to attack the 2 cities on the eastern side of the border with Matheus, Silver and Quinn while Kaiser, Ren, Gabriel, Angelia, and Yuna would go attack the western cities.


    Once they took down the cities and thoroughly raze 2 of them, Lucia and Yuna would teleport the two armies back to the first city they occupied using the Misty Gate before quickly chasing after Cecil and Fatima.


    On the day when they were going to split their forces, Lucia was currently reminding Cecil to make sure that he didn''t raze the capital city to the ground.


    "Cel, don''t forget, okay! You''re not allowed to do anything rash and act out, okay?"


    "Yes, Lulu, I know...jeez, just how many times are you going to remind me?" Cecil replied in mild exasperation.


    "As much as it takes so that thick skull of yours understands!"


    "...Do you really have that little faith in your husband?"


    "Hmph, if it was something else other than fighting, then I wouldn''t be worried but you take things too far sometimes when you fight!"


    "Uh..."


    "Don''t deny it!"


    "...Well, it''s only when my family is being threatened¡ª"


    "And when sister Ima is being threatened, you go and raze the city~"


    Cecil''s face twitched a little at Lucia''s playful comeback.


    "Lulu, have a little more faith in your husband, okay? I promise I won''t do anything!"


    "Huuuuhhh...I wanna hurry up and go home. I miss Seri already and she really needs us to be with her now more than ever..." Lucia said with a sigh.


    "This war will finish quickly. It''s not like we''re going to siege them for long and if it does take too long, we can just directly wipe them out with our¡ª"


    "Cel!" Lucia immediately interrupted.


    "Hahahaha, sorry, you were the one that wanted to hurry and go home..."


    "Hey you two, stop flirting already..." Matheus spoke up from behind them.


    "Oh, big brother, sup!"


    "Don''t ''sup'' me, it''s irritating to look at you two flirt. Think about all the people around who are still single. You''re dropping the morale of the troops!"


    Cecil and Lucia looked around and saw the soldiers around were acting a little bit awkwardly after Matheus had spoken up.


    "Hmmm? Isn''t this your fault for speaking up, Matty?"


    "Eeehhh? S-sorry, brother-in-law..."


    "Ah, no, no, no, there''s nothing wrong with you Lucia, its Cecil that I''m talking about. You on the other hand have nothing to worry about!"


    "Tsk, look at you showing so much biased. Am I not your brother?" Cecil quipped up.


    "It''s because you''re my brother that I''m nitpicking on you!"


    "Hmph, you''re just jealous!"


    "And? You got a problem with that?"


    Cecil gave him a condescending chuckle before quickly turning his face away. This gave Matheus the urge to pound his little brother on the head. He quickly restrained this impulse and said, "It''s time for us to depart so for now, I''ll be stealing away Lucia from you, little brother~"


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just hurry up and get the job done. I wanna finish this quickly go back home...actually, since I''m going to the capital anyway, can''t I just end it by crushing the principality''s lord?" Cecil mumbled dangerously.


    "..." Matheus was left a little speechless when he heard Cecil''s words. He immediately turned towards Lucia and asked, "...Hey, Lucia... did this idiot just realize that now?"


    "Haaaah...unfortunately, yes, it will defeat the whole purpose for our kingdom to launch our attack if he takes action like that, but¡ª"


    "It''s the most efficient way," Matheus finished her words before continuing to say, "However, we originally came out here to make them an example of what would happen if people attacked our kingdom, so it''s better if we let the soldiers do it."


    "That''s why I never told him to just take action himself so that we could quickly end this..." Lucia said.


    "It''s really surprising that considering how smart he is, our family''s Cecil is surprisingly quite slow to realize some things."


    "Should I tell him to¡ª"


    "It won''t matter anymore," Matheus quickly replied.


    "Why is that, brother-in-law?"


    "Because once we raze the other cities to the ground and Cecil takes action to threaten the Merkruz Lord while he''s supposed to be tucked away safely inside his city, it''ll immediately prove how efficient and scary our small kingdom can be, don''t you think?" Matheus said with an evil smirk.


    "...You''re surprisingly scary sometimes, brother-in-law!"


    "Not at all, I''m just repeating what Fatima''s already said~"


    "Hmm..."


    "Anyways, let''s get going. I overheard that you wanted to return home quickly, right?"


    "Yeah..."


    "Me too, I''ve been having a bad feeling cropping up on the back of my mind ever since we returned from our scouting mission."


    "Eh? Brother-in-law has been feeling uneasy as well? I have a feeling that something might happen back at home..."


    "Same here, that''s why I want this whole thing to quickly come to an end, I hope nothing happens back at home," Matheus replied before walking away.


    Seeing as Matheus was heading over to his assigned unit, Quinn immediately spoke up from the side, "Master, Mistress, shouldn''t we be getting ready to depart as well?"


    "Oh yeah, you''re right, Quinn. All preparations are already complete so all we need to do is wait for father to begin the operation," Cecil said.


    "I''ll get going now then, Cel. Quinn, Silvy, let''s go," Lucia quickly bid farewell to Cecil before chasing after Matheus along with Silver who followed after her.


    "See ya later boss~"


    "Keep her safe, alright, Silv?"


    "I''m sure Lulu can take care of herself! You worry way too much boss, hahaha~!"


    "I shall get moving as well, Master," Quinn said.


    "Okay, I''ll see you later then."


    "Yes, Master. And please, don''t do anything too overboard... you''ll only make Lady Lucia and Lady Serilla worry for you..."


    "Go, go, you''re nagging more than my wives and mother, now!"


    Quinn smiled at his master''s joke before he bowed and disappeared before immediately reappearing next to Lucia who was already a distance away.


    Cecil himself turned around and quickly made his way over to Angelia, Gabriel, Ren, and Yuna''s group.


    "Yuna, I''m not sure if Lucia has given you permission but if you need to, please use your magic and quickly put an end to things on your side," Cecil said.


    "Yes, Master Cecil."


    "Ren, Angelia, don''t cause trouble, ya hear?"


    "Tsk, big brother, you''re nagging wa~y too much now!" Angelia pouted playfully.


    "Don''t worry, Teacher, I''ll make sure to keep an eye on Angelia," Ren spoke up.


    "Hey, Ren, what''s that supposed to mean?!"


    "...I''m just following Teacher''s orders."


    "..."


    "No need to worry about them, Cecil. I''ll make sure to protect them," Gabriel said from the side.


    Cecil turned towards his brother and patted his shoulder, "I won''t have anything to worry about since you''re there Gabe. I should get going now. Big Sis Ima will kill me if I''m late!"


    "Get going then."


    Cecil nodded and started heading over to Fatima''s side. The army was already divided and each division was already debriefed of their missions so all that was left was to wait for their mobilization orders.


    "Cecil, you''re late!" Fatima called out.


    Cecil waved at her and hastily walked over.


    "Where''s Rowan?"


    "He''s organizing the soldiers," Fatima replied.


    "Isn''t he being rather diligent~"


    "Yeah, unlike someone I know."


    Fatima eyed her little brother with a sidelong glance and harrumphed.


    "G-Give me a break, please..."


    "I''m sure you''ve had your 6-year long fun break with your wives, right?"


    "Uhm, we''ve only been married for 3¡ª"


    "Quiet."


    "Y-yes, ma''am..."


    Fatima eyed her brother seriously before saying, "Listen Cecil, it''s about time that you learn about the obligations that come with you being the next family Patriarch, alright?"


    "..."


    "I''ll make sure to teach you all about them once we return from this war. No buts and no running away! Father and mother are happy that you''ve come back, but the elder council wants to use you to bring some stability back to the family. As we are now, the main branch has full control over the family, not something we could''ve expected to hold if we were still back on Earth."


    "Uh, okay?"


    "I won''t deny that you''re powerful Cecil, but you still need to learn more. Not everything can be solved by using your fists. You have to remember that our family is now responsible for a nation full of people!"


    "Y-yes..."


    "And you''re the future leader of that nation! So you better pull yourself together! Can''t you see that everyone around you is also learning things? Quinn, Silver, Yuna, and especially, your two wives, they seem to be more aware of your position than you do yourself, little brother," Fatima said with disapproving frown.


    "Ugh..."


    "I know it''s a lot to bear. However, there are people here to help you, but it doesn''t mean that you can go ahead and slack off! You should be the one doing more!"


    "Y-yes, sister..."


    "Hmmm... well, that''s enough about me nagging. You did just get back after all so you''ll have plenty of time to learn more about things later. For now, I''m just reminding you so that you''ll be more aware! Don''t just stay holed up inside your workshop! I know that what you''re doing is important but there are things around you that are equally important. Like right now, you should be prioritizing accompanying Serilla since she''s pregnant and learn more about our family''s inner workings!"


    "Y-Yes sis..."


    Fatima nodded in approval before nagging one last time, "You better follow up on your ''yes'', alright?"


    Cecil could only nod somewhat sullenly at her words. He didn''t understand why his sister suddenly got mad at him after he had complemented her fianc¨¦. He honestly thought he would get a pat on the head instead of a figurative smack to the face.


    ''Setting aside Seri''s matter, everything else is so much work...'' Cecil painfully thought.

 Chapter 336 - A Call From Home and a Need to Pick up the Pace

    Cecil and Fatima''s division immediately received their orders to mobilize not long after. They had received word from the city''s inhabitants that the border city lords would normally depart for the capital on the first day of the last week of the month which just so happened to be today.


    The journey towards the capital would normally take 3-4 days by carriage so the city lords departed early in order to make it for the meeting that was held on the very last day of the month. Cecil and Fatima''s division had only a few soldiers but they were the army''s elites. They had already disguised themselves using the Merkruz Principality''s soldier uniforms while Lucia had transformed Cecil into their occupied city''s city lord.


    The transformation wasn''t perfect but luckily, Cecil''s build was similar to the city lord, so after changing faces, it was easy for him to pose as the city lord. Of course, his voice didn''t change so he had to be very careful when he talked. At least, he should do his best to try and imitate the city lord''s voice.


    It was unfortunate that they had killed the man but Cecil had been present when the city lord was killed and was presenting to everyone his last words so he had still been able to hear how the man''s voice was like.


    Cecil couldn''t make it sound exactly the same and he also didn''t have any sort of grasp of how the man acted or behaved but if he talked and did less, then no one would be able to pick up on the differences...hopefully.


    While Cecil''s division was on their way to the capital, once night fell, the remaining divisions immediately began their operations.


    Since Fatima had the full layout of the 4 cities that they were going to be assaulting, she had already devised a plan for the troops to directly infiltrate the cities using Lucia and Yuna''s Misty Gate as the core.


    Right from the city, the 2 divisions that were going to attack the other border cities would immediately teleport into the city via Lucia and Yuna''s Misty Gate and attack the city from within.


    They didn''t want to waste any time because the city lords who were going to participate in the monthly meeting back in the Merkruz capital had supposedly departed today in the morning, about the same time as Cecil and Fatima''s division had.


    The plan was to attack during the night when the city lords were already a good distance away from the cities. No one would suspect such a swift and covert surprise attack so even if some enemy messenger was able to escape and relay the news about their attack to the city lords that were enroute to the capital, it would already be too late.


    Hopefully, without the city lords there to lead the enemy forces in their defense, the two divisions would have an easier time taking over the cities.


    "Alright, Lucia, Yuna, it''s time," Kaiser solemnly said.


    Inside the city square, the Silvaria Army was neatly divided into two divisions with Lucia and Yuna at the forefront. The two women began their incantation and quickly conjured 2 Misty Gates.


    Once the gates stabilized, Lucia and Yuna stepped to the side and nodded towards Kaiser. Seeing this, Kaiser immediately turned towards his adjutant and the man pulled out a MID and immediately roared, "GO GO GO!"


    The men immediately received their orders and orderly rushed into the gates unit by unit. Lucia and Yuna had especially made the gates bigger in order to accommodate the large amount of people that were going through it.


    The mana used was a lot, but luckily, their mana pools were abundant. Lucia had only used up a couple tails'' worth of mana while Yuna had used up nearly all of her mana and had to immediately rest.


    Once half of the soldiers from both divisions had gone through the gates, Quinn and Gabriel immediately rushed into their respective gates.


    It was only after the last soldier of the divisions had gone through the gates that Lucia and Yuna followed after them.


    "Silvy, stay here," Lucia ordered before she walked into the gate.


    "Eh? Why, big sis?" Silver asked questioningly.


    "As insurance, I don''t want anyone in this city acting up while most of the army is gone. Although we left a majority of Angelia''s monsters, all of the Spell Cannons and a few units behind, my intuition is telling me that the citizens might try something."


    "Hmmm, alright then, but you be careful okay? If something happened to you, boss isn''t going to like that one bit!"


    "Oh please, when did I become so weak that I would need protection? It''s not like they have the M-Jammer. I''ll be fine!"


    "Alright then, see ya later big sis!"


    "Mhm."


    ******


    "They should be starting by now," Fatima said as she looked up at the 2 moons in the night sky.


    "Yeah, it''ll be easy since for them since we have the city''s layout confirmed. Besides, with our soldiers'' martial prowess, it''ll be a cinch," Cecil leisurely replied but in a voice that was certainly not his.


    "...Cecil, can you please stop that? It''s creepy and you''re sending chills down my spine..."


    "Aww, come on big sis, I''m just practicing~"


    "Stop it, please. You calling me big sis with that face and voice makes me want to vomit..."


    "Alright then, Secretary Hiba," Cecil playfully replied.


    Rowan chuckled lightly at the two siblings'' banter.


    "Our city is the closest to the capital so it''ll only take us 2-3 days before we arrive. Hopefully we don''t encounter any monsters on our way to the capital..."


    "If Silver was with us, then there would be no way for monsters to even get close to us!" Cecil replied.


    "Really? Is that one of his abilities?" Rowan asked.


    "Well, you''ve seen his true form already, right?"


    "His large wolf form?"


    "Yup, that''s the one. His presence alone is deterrence to any other monsters since you could say that he''s a king among monsters."


    "Oh? Is it because¡ª"


    "Ah, hold on a sec, brother Rowan," Cecil said as he whipped out his MID.


    He was receiving a call and noticed that the caller was his brother, Luca. He frowned when he saw this since Cecil knew that his brother wouldn''t be calling him for any trivial reason. He prayed that nothing bad had happened back at home as he quickly accepted the call.


    "Luca?"


    "Cecil, can you hear me?"


    "Loud and clear, bro!"


    "Ah, good, I was worried that because of the distance, I wouldn''t be able to get into contact with you," Luca said through the MID.


    "Is something wrong, Luca? You wouldn''t call me for no good reason, right?" Cecil asked.


    "Listen carefully, Cecil, the branch families might be up to something and it might have something to do with your wife, Serilla," Luca replied solemnly.


    "...my wife?"


    "Not just her, but mother and I might also be in danger."


    "Hmph, not if I have anything to say about it!"


    "What''s that?"


    "Luca, listen to me. Back at home, Lucia and I had installed a magic defense system all around the family grounds. If you want to know more, go ask mother and Serilla, they''ll explain things to you."


    "What?! You had this set up the entire time?!" Luca yelled incredulously.


    "Jeez, brother, you don''t have to blow my ears out..."


    "A-anyway, what you''re saying is, is that the house and our family''s compounds are...safe?"


    "Of course, did you honestly think that I''d leave behind Serilla without any protection? I''m not that stupid y''know!"


    "... If you''re not stupid, then why didn''t you tell me about this magic defense system?"


    "Uhh...that''s because you didn''t ask?" Cecil replied.


    After hearing his brother''s dumb reply, Luca sighed heavily.


    "Lil bro, important information like this should be told even without us asking you... seriously, I''ve been fretting over their safety for the last few days... now I know why they''re still acting so carefree..."


    "You could have just asked mom..."


    "Yeah, I know...anyway, how lethal are those defense mechanisms that you''ve installed?"


    "They''re lethal enough, big bro, don''t you worry about that."


    "Ah, now that I remembered, since the defense system will only activate when someone unregistered in the system approaches and gets in range, does that mean the elders from the family''s elder council are registered in the system?"


    "Hell no! I wouldn''t register those bastards even if you held me at gunpoint!"


    "I see... so why are they able to come and go as they please whenever they come by?"


    "The control crystal is with mom so maybe she''s deliberately letting them pass through?"


    "Okay, thanks for letting me know, Cecil. I should get back to work now. It''s a good thing that things are safe on our side. That''s one less thing for me to worry about. Return home triumphant, alright?"


    "Sure, sure¡ªah¡ªby the way, Luca."


    "Yeah?"


    "I''ve got a control crystal here that''ll warn me if one of the higher-end magic arrays of the defense system have been broken through or activated. If they do activate, I''ll immediately rush back so you don''t have to worry about a thing."


    "That''s good to hear, I should get going now Cecil, make sure you stay safe and quickly end the war. Even though things may be safe, I still feel a little uneasy. It''s better if you guys get back home quickly."


    "Don''t worry, Luca, we''re already marching for their capital. All we have to do is take it down, extor¡ªahem, ahem¡ªI mean, politely ask for some compensation and information before we head back. We''re going to be returning using Lucia and Yuna''s Misty Gates so we''ll be back very quickly. Naturally, I''ll head back ahead of everyone."


    "Good. I''ll see you in a few days then?"


    "Yeah."


    Cecil ended the call and Fatima hurriedly asked, "Is something wrong back at home?"


    "Yeah, apparently, the branch families are up to something again..." Cecil replied with a dark look.


    "... Are they planning something against Serilla?"


    "Yeah, but Luca said it wasn''t just her, but him and Mother as well... don''t worry though. I''ve put up plenty of safety measures for them. I won''t let anyone threaten my family."


    "I''ll take your word for it then, but for now, we should focus ourselves on finishing this war. We''ll change the plans a bit. So Cecil, once we get to the capital immediately locate the Merkruz Lord. We''ll attack him on the night just before the monthly meeting begins."


    "I like that idea big sis, but are you sure it''s alright for us to not wait for father and the others before commencing our attack?"


    "Trouble is brewing back at home and it''ll take too long for us if we have to wait for them. We should make short work of them and continue on to the more important matters," Fatima replied.


    "Alright, then this means I won''t need to hold back, right?"


    "...just keep it on the low side, Cecil. I don''t want you destroying the entire city and killing needlessly."


    "Don''t worry. I''ll only attack the Merkruz Lord, his army, and any other hostiles."

 Chapter 337 - Another Change of Plans

    A few days passed before the group was able to arrive at the Merkruz Principality''s capital. They were attacked by only a few monsters but they were easily dispatched by the Silvaria soldiers.


    The city was boisterous despite the nation having lost a major war just recently. Everyone was still going about their everyday lives and no one was the wiser about the fact that a foreign power had just infiltrated into their city.


    The credentials that Cecil and Fatima had shown to the city guards were ones that they had taken from the city lord''s mansion so it was authentic. Also, with their disguises, it was easy for them to enter the city.


    Cecil, Fatima, and a few others were escorted to the lord''s royal compounds and were given a place to rest while the soldiers ''accompanying'' them were directly led to the capital city''s barracks.


    Rowan was the captain of their unit so he was led to the barracks as well. When Fatima heard about this development, she immediately gave him a mission to quickly find out more info about the formation and ranks of the soldiers currently present in the capital.


    If it was manageable, she wanted the company of soldiers under Rowan''s command to try and cause havoc and reduce those numbers while Cecil went to attack the Merkruz leaders during the meeting.


    Right when they had entered the city, Cecil had already spread his senses and noticed that the castle that they were staying at had a particular spot where he couldn''t penetrate his sense into.


    He immediately deduced that the area was covered by an M-Jammer. Cecil hadn''t been able to find the Merkruz Lord so the man had to be inside this particular area. It was located in the core area of the castle residence.


    Cecil didn''t understand why it was placed there since, in his opinion, it only made the lord and the people inside vulnerable to attacks. It was true that magical attacks couldn''t be used while in the area or sent into the area since it would immediately dissipate, but if someone like Cecil, who was adept in combat without the need of mana or could use Ki like his family and Quinn, then the Merkruz Lord was screwing himself over right now.


    Anyway, this was a pretty nice development for him since he could just stroll right into the core area and just directly capture the Merkruz Lord with Fatima and the group currently with him.


    "Sis, I think I know where the Merkruz lord is..." Cecil said.


    "Where?"


    "In the core area of the castle, there''s an area that my Mana Sense can''t penetrate. It''s probably under the influence of an M-Jammer. I couldn''t find the lord anywhere so that''s probably where he is."


    "The M-Jammer, huh... hmm, then wouldn''t our task be easier now since we have you?"


    "Exactly, our soldiers aren''t particularly weak without mana as well so our mission will be much easier."


    "We still have to take into account the many guards that the Merkruz lord has posted in that area. We also have to assume that their combat prowess is high since they were trusted by the lord to guard the area," Fatima cautioned. She began to think deeply but Cecil lightly flicked her forehead.


    "Hey!"


    Cecil smirked cheekily at his sister and said, "You have me, remember? Why do you need to think so hard? Unlike everyone else, I can also use Ki and Ether. With me here, the core area is only like a cage for that Merkruz Lord."


    "Hmph," Fatima harrumphed and smacked Cecil on the forehead in revenge.


    "OW!"


    "You may have grown taller than me but don''t forget who''s the older one here!"


    "Sheesh, sis, you''re no fun!"


    "Given our current situation, we shouldn''t be having any ''fun''," Fatima curtly replied. "Anyways, in your opinion, should we begin the attack tonight or during the monthly meeting?"


    Cecil shrugged and said, "That''s up to you big sis. Which scenario would be better for us and which one would cause more damage to the lord?"


    "...A public display of power during the monthly meeting would be our most ideal course of action since we''d be able to display our power not only to the Merkruz lord but to all the city lords of the Merkruz Principality. Also, once our army finishes their tasks and timely show up knocking on the capital city''s doors, then it''ll be more perfect."


    "Okay... what about taking action on only the Merkruz Lord tonight?"


    "It''s faster and we could take control over the lord without anyone else being the wiser. We could have him become a puppet leader under our control and reap more benefits in the long run. Also, having our presence known through only the destructions of the border cities will place an unknown fear on the other city leaders and the Merkruz Lord would have to think twice if he wanted to betray us and renege on any secret agreements we impose on him," Fatima continued.


    "Mhm," Cecil nodded thoughtfully at her words.


    "They''ll eventually find out about us sooner or later, but they won''t find out about us reaping any benefits from the Merkruz Lord. However, if we were to enact the second plan and stay covert, we should quickly contact father and the other generals to inform them about the change of plans."


    "Why?"


    "Because then, they wouldn''t need to come to the capital after taking care of the border cities. They could immediately just pull back and return home ahead of us."


    "Then let''s do that."


    "Hm?"


    "We''ll go with the second plan. Use my MID big sis, contact father, and the rest and immediately inform them of the changes. We''ll attack tonight. Tell Rowan to be alert and start preparing for our departure. Also, call Lucia and quickly have her come over."


    "Okay, but wait... I thought Lucia needed a clear picture of the place she wants to teleport to¡ª"


    Cecil immediately cut her off, "We brought the Wanderer remember? The inside of the Wanderer is something she can easily picture."


    "Ah! Now I see why you insisted on bringing the Wanderer with us!" Fatima exclaimed.


    "Mhm, now we can easily get out of the city after we complete our mission. Have Rowan and the others immediately bring the Wanderer out of the city¡ª"


    Before Cecil could continue his words, a voice called out from outside the courtyard they were in.


    "Hey, Belsor! Are you there?!"


    Cecil turned to look at his sister and Fatima only eyed him and whispered, "Belsor is you! That''s the city lord''s name you''re impersonating, remember?"


    "O-oh, I almost forgot. Tch, just who''s calling me right now?"


    "Hurry up and go out. It''ll raise suspicions if you don''t do anything. Don''t worry. I''ll be there next to you so you won''t need to say much. Just respond to what''s necessary," Fatima said before opening the door and walking out to the courtyard.


    When she walked out, Fatima could see an obese man waiting at the entrance to the courtyard with a few attendants with him. Fatima walked up to the man and asked, "Are you looking for the city lord, sir?"


    "...Are you Belsor''s new secretary? Don''t you know who I am?" The man frowned in reply but started eyeing Fatima up and down with interest.


    She went through the info about the other city lords that the army had found inside Belsor''s office and deduced who this man in front of her was based on how haughty his attitude was and his prominent body features.


    "I''m sorry, sir. You must be city lord Murphy, my Lord''s friend from the East Light Border City," Fatima answered.


    "Well, if you know who I am, shouldn''t you be inviting me in?"


    "Yes, of course, milord. Please, follow me," Fatima gestured for Murphy to follow her into the courtyard. Once she made it to the room that Cecil was staying in, she slowly opened the door. After seeing that her brother was already properly dressed and ready to receive the other city lord, she fully opened the door and gestured for Murphy to head in.


    "Please, enter, milord."


    "Well, Belsor, it''s been a while," Murphy exclaimed after seeing the disguised Cecil sitting inside the room with a few refreshments already prepared inside.


    "Yes, it''s been a while¡ª" Cecil eyed Fatima for a moment and saw her swiftly spelling out Murphy''s name using sign language. "¨CMurphy."


    "I see you''ve gotten a new secretary, your tastes are just as good as always!"


    Cecil didn''t respond to his words and only gestured for the obese man to sit down. The man talked for a long while about the recent developments of the kingdom and the outcome of the last war.


    He was a little disgruntled at the loss since it was unfortunate that a SSS ranked monster had suddenly shown up and laid waste to the army which directly resulted in their loss against some unknown backwater kingdom.


    Cecil wanted to smirk but he kept a poker face when he heard Murphy talking on and on about how unfortunate they were.


    ''Looks like the Merkruz Lord still hasn''t acknowledged his loss, it looks like attacking him covertly and placing him under our control would be the best course of action. He''ll provide our kingdom with outside riches and resources that can''t be found in the No-Man''s Land.''


    "Belsor, did you hear?"


    "Hm?"


    "Some kind of neutral force had suddenly snuck into the West Wind Port City and laid complete waste to it! They didn''t loot or try and occupy the city, they instead destroyed everything! Man, that bitch Tania is sure in for a headache! She sent a messenger to relay the news to Lord Alexander and it''s been the gossip of the city lords."


    "...When was this news received? I haven''t heard anything about it..." Cecil said before discreetly eying Fatima.


    His sister only nodded at him. It seemed that a few people were able to escape from their attacks and had somehow informed the city lords about the attacks and destruction of their cities.


    "Well, the news was received only today. It''s no wonder you haven''t received it. I was on my way here when I overheard some of the other lord''s talk about it."


    "I see. Well, hopefully, no more bad news comes to us," Cecil replied.


    The two talked a bit more before Murphy decided to head back to his assigned courtyard residence. Cecil heaved a sigh of relief knowing that he had not raised any suspicion with the city lord at all.


    "Sis, hurry up and give father and the other''s a call..."


    "Already did, father acknowledged the change of plans and have gathered everyone in the Central Light City that we took over. They''re probably preparing for the journey back and Lucia should already be waiting for us outside of the city."


    "Great! We''ll commence the operation later tonight. We''ll bring only a handful of men with us. Have the others head out and wait outside of the city. Also, start some rumors about how the Central Light City have also been destroyed and occupied. This will give us a reason to quickly see the lord and have our forces head back to the city."


    "Good plan. I''ll immediately have some men go spread the rumors and have someone go request an audience for us with the lord," Fatima said before quickly getting up.


    "Remember to get someone to bring Lucia here," Cecil reminded.


    "Sheesh, you can''t even spend a few days without your wives next to you."


    "Shut up!"


    Fatima only chuckled at her brother amusingly before exiting from the room.

 Chapter 338 - Soul Shackling

    Cecil and Lucia quickly met up before midday. When his wife got to the courtyard, Lucia immediately cast an illusion spell around the area and dispelled Cecil''s transformation before quickly leaping into his embrace.


    "Woah, what''s up, Lulu?"


    "Hehe~ I missed you~"


    "We were only apart for a few days..."


    "So?"


    "...Never mind..."


    "I hear that plans have changed again. What''re we going to be doing now?"


    Cecil immediately sat Lucia down on his lap and started explaining the new plan to her. She nodded thoughtfully and approved of the new plan to do things more covertly. At least now, she knew that her husband wouldn''t go on a rampage around the city.


    "We''ll only be targeting the Merkruz Lord directly then? That''s good. We won''t be causing any more casualties than necessary this way."


    "Mhm, we''ll also reap more benefits from this nation in the long run. I feel bad for the people, but this is the consequence for attacking us. I''m not about to let go of such a good opportunity."


    "Since we''re going to an M-Jammer influenced area, wouldn''t my magic be useless?" Lucia asked in confusion as to why she''s here.


    If her only purpose was to come to the city in order to let everyone use her Misty Gate to get back to Central Light quickly, then there was no need for her to even be here.


    "Of course you''re gonna be useful. Your sword arts are much stronger than any of the elite soldiers and we''re going to need you to implant a soul shackling spell on the Merkruz Lord in order to put him under our control."


    "Uhh... b-but mother said¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, it''s just this once," Cecil said.


    "Hmmm... Okay then. This kind of magic is taboo, but honestly, I don''t really mind using it."


    "We''ll have to naturally deactivate the M-Jammer first before we can proceed with the plan, but that''ll be easy once we capture the Merkruz Lord and force the M-Jammer''s location out of him."


    "Okay...so what should we be doing now?"


    "We''re waiting until we can get an audience with the lord before the meeting day. Once we get a legitimate reason to head over to the core area to seek audience with the lord, we''ll immediately start our plan."


    *****


    The rumors about the Central Light City being attacked and scouts having confirmed that the walls have indeed been destroyed and occupied by some foreign power immediately alerted Alexander.


    There were reports of the other border cities coming in stating that they had been similarly attacked from out of nowhere. 2 of the 5 border cities were razed to the ground while the other 3 were only occupied. 2 of them were occupied for only a few days before the enemy forces had retreated, but the Central Light City had been occupied even until today.


    Currently, Kaiser still hadn''t departed from the city since he was waiting for Cecil, Fatima, and Lucia.


    "Dammit, just who are these people who are attacking us?" Alexander slammed his fist onto the table in front of him after reading the reports. The rumors spreading around about how severe the damages done to the cities had sparked his attention and he immediately had people investigate the situation at the border.


    And soon enough, he had received dire news about what had transpired on the border.


    "F.u.c.k, is it the Regulus Kingdom? I thought we had a non-aggression pact!"


    Alexander was having a major headache and the fact that the border city lords were requesting for audiences with him due to the recent reports about their cities having been attacked by a foreign power also weighed on his mind.


    "The monthly meets can''t be conducted now because of this recent development... Astor!"


    "Yes, milord?"


    "Have all the city lords gather in the conference hall and have the Central Light city lord come meet me in private! We have to address the danger of the foreign force that''s currently residing in his city!"


    "Yes, milord, I''ll get right to it!"


    "Agh, one problem after another... Just which neutral power caught wind of our loss in the war?"


    Alexander grasped his forehead and thought about the nation that had completely decimated his army. He shivered in fear when he remembered about the cold and apathetic eyes that eyed him on the battlefield.


    "That was no human... but could the ones attacking us be those from Silvaria? I''m sure their losses in the war were just as great and I''ve heard news about the other powers in the No-Man''s Land so there''s no way that they''d come out to attack us when their lands are also in turmoil...right?"


    Alexander agonized over the thought since he didn''t want to face the monster that had destroyed his kingdom''s army once again. He deeply regretted his notion of attacking that nation.


    "Yeah, they shouldn''t have any manpower for it! There numbers were low to begin with so there''s just no way they''re the ones attacking us..."


    Alexander quickly brewed some tea and slowly drank it to relieve his tensed mind. As he was quietly meditating, the door to the room was knocked.


    "Come in," Alexander spoke out.


    "My Lord, I''ve brought the Central Light City Lord as well as a few of his associates."


    "...Good, have only the city lord come in. Leave the others outside."


    "Yes, milord."


    After a few moments, Cecil, who was disguised as the city lord, entered the room. The butler, Astor, quickly closed the door behind him and Cecil noticed that there were a few guards inside the room.


    Outside, Lucia, Fatima, and a few others were waiting patiently for Cecil to quickly seize control of the room.


    "Please, sit down, Belsor. We have much to discuss."


    "..."


    "I know that you are worried about your city and the people occupying¡ª"


    "That''s enough," Cecil lazily said.


    "Hm?"


    "This disguise was getting way too stuffy anyways," Cecil pulled down the veil he was wearing and sent a Ki-infused punch at the door behind him.


    The door was immediately smashed open. Fatima, Lucia, and everyone else from Cecil''s group quickly rushed into the room and began to quickly take down the guards.


    "Belsor, what''re you¡ª"


    "I''m not Belsor," Cecil said as he walked over to Alexander.


    Lucia snapped her fingers and quickly dispelled Cecil''s disguise and as his body features shifted to his normal self, Alexander began to slowly pale.


    "Remember me?"


    "Y-y-y-y-you...y-you''re..."


    "Hm?" Cecil eyed Alexander apathetically and the man''s expression immediately froze in horror. "I''m what?"


    "...w-w-what do you want?" Alexander stuttered. He was clearly losing himself to fear over a man much younger than himself.


    "Hohoh, are you frightened?"


    "..."


    "You probably didn''t expect that I was a Silvarian, did you?"


    "..."


    "Aww, what''s with that look? It''s like you''re looking at me as if I was some kind of monster~"


    ''That''s because you are!'' Alexander screamed inwardly in his mind however on the outside, he kept his expression as neutral as possible, but he knew that his composure was already compromised.


    He felt his arms and legs slowly chilling. The coldness that he was feeling as he stared back at the monster in human form currently standing in front of him pierced straight into his bones. Alexander would never forget the horror and terror he felt when he saw the apathetic monster mercilessly slaughter all of his men right in front of him.


    "W-what do you want?!" He nearly shrieked out.


    "Tsk, not much. Just...compensation for you attacking my kingdom..." Cecil said before sitting himself down.


    Alexander was already standing and backing away from the table, but seeing as how the guards in the room had been quickly subdued and he was the only person left alive, Alexander tried to compose himself and sat back on the chair facing Cecil.


    "What kind of compensation?"


    "I want your kingdom."


    "W-what?"


    "Oh don''t worry, you can still play house and be the lord of this place. I just want you to pay tribute to my kingdom for not directly razing everything you own to the ground today."


    Alexander flinched when he heard Cecil''s words and immediately knew what the man was getting at.


    "S-so...you want me to be¡ª"


    "A puppet leader, that''s right. We won''t take your life or anyone else''s but you have to serve us from now on."


    "..."


    "Hey, it''s not that bad is it? I mean, you get to keep your life and your power. It''s just that you won''t be serving yourself anymore but instead, you''ll be serving us!"


    "But..."


    "Hey, if you decline, we can just simply raze this entire kingdom to the ground and be done with it. It''s your call man," Cecil playfully said.


    Alexander inwardly cursed in his mind. He knew for a fact that this man in front of him had the power to directly do what he just stated.


    "I''ll agree to it, but let me ask..."


    "Go ahead."


    "W-were you the ones who attacked the border cities?"


    "Hah, great deduction! I''m surprised you didn''t get this earlier! Did you think that we were too weak to attack you?"


    "..."


    "Don''t worry, we only destroyed a few cities and let the others be. If it wasn''t because of the urgent need to change plans, we might have destroyed some more cities while our army made its way towards the capital," Cecil said.


    "!"


    "You don''t need to be alarmed. We''re going straight back to our kingdom after the negotiations here have been finished. You agree to it, right?"


    "...Yes," Alexander reluctantly said.


    "Great! Lucia, come here."


    Lucia immediately stepped forward and arrived next to Cecil.


    "Ah, by the way, before we continue. I''m going to have to ask you to disable the M-Jammer. Also, don''t try anything funny. Before you can invoke any sort of spell, my fist will arrive much faster to your face than a Mag-Cannon''s blast will."


    "...Yes..."


    Alexander stood up and walked over to a cabinet right behind the chair he was sitting on. A few of Fatima''s men cautiously watched over him as he started deactivating the M-Jammer. Once Cecil sensed that the M-Jammer was deactivated, he locked his senses onto Alexander and the man immediately felt as if he was being eyed by some wild beast.


    ''S-shit... i-if I try anything...he''ll definitely kill me,'' Alexander inwardly thought. He sighed to himself and resigned himself to his fate.


    "Done...now what?" Alexander walked back over to his chair and slowly sat down.


    "Lulu?"


    "Alright, let''s get this over with," Lucia said as her hand started glowing in an ominous light purple color.


    "W-what''re you going to do?" Alexander cautiously asked.


    "Don''t worry, it''s only for insurance~" Cecil replied.


    Lucia immediately flashed right in front of Alexander and struck him on the forehead with her palm. The light purple aura on her hand immediately began permeating into Alexander''s head and the man started convulsing as if he was having a seizure.


    A purple seal immediately formed on Alexander''s forehead. Lucia nodded when she saw this and stopped channeling her spell.


    "Alright...I''m done," Lucia stepped back and said. She wiped her hand and stepped back next to Cecil.


    Cecil stood up from his seat and wrapped his arm around Lucia''s waist. He pulled out a doc.u.ment from his spatial ring, sent his mana into it and walked towards the door.


    "Big sis, it''s done. The doc.u.ment already explains everything to him and what he needs to do from now on. Let''s head back."


    Fatima nodded and gestured for everyone to get ready.


    Lucia immediately created a Misty Gate on the doorway exiting the room and the couple walked through it with everyone else following behind them.


    During the process of having his soul shackled, Alexander felt as if his brain and body was being churned inside out. He was losing consciousness but before that, he was able to see Cecil''s group walk into the Misty Gate.

 Chapter 339 - ‘Negotiation’ Results

    Alexander woke up only a few hours after Cecil''s group had left. Before leaving, Lucia had placed an illusion spell around the area so that people wouldn''t find anything wrong.


    It did leave the gathered city lords waiting for Alexander in the meeting hall but no one found anything wrong with him. They only remembered that he was in a meeting with the lord of Central Light City and the state of the city according to the rumors that were circulating around, it wasn''t looking all that good.


    They only thought it was understandable that the lord took a long while to discuss things in private with City Lord Belsor.


    After waking up, Alexander quickly noticed the magically glowing doc.u.ments placed on his desk. When he read through the doc.u.ments, he got the gist of what Lucia had done to him. He didn''t understand what kind of magic the woman had used on him but it was a powerful one that restricted his soul and would immediately snuff his life out if the caster so willed it.


    The conditions of the agreement were stated in the doc.u.ments. The first one was the requirement to meet the quota for the monthly tribute to the Silvaria Kingdom. It wasn''t anything too extravagant and he thought that it was reasonable and achievable.


    The second requirement was to open land and sea trade routes for the Silvaria Kingdom. Any merchants from Silvaria were obviously going to be exempt from any tax. The third requirement was to provide all information regarding the various guilds in the principality and the information of all the nations on Midgard that they currently had.


    There were many other various terms and requirements that had to be met but skipping to the last requirement, it was to give the Central Light City and the port city of West Wind to Silvaria. It was in these two cities that Cecil planned to open up the land and sea trade routes for his kingdom from within the Merkruz Principality. The West Wind Port City was also the city closest to the ocean and the Sky-Piercing Mountains and it also acted as the west border city that was closest to the Machina Reggio Empire.


    If Alexander didn''t obey and abide by the terms in the doc.u.ments placed in front of him, Lucia would first give out a warning that was in the form of pain assaulting both his mind and body that would eventually lead to delirium and many other side-effects.


    The pain would last until Alexander fulfills all of the terms and requirements stated in the doc.u.ments. Cecil had already ordered Quinn to plant a few people to secretly monitor him so they''d know if he wasn''t fulfilling any one of them.


    After the first warning was issued...well, Cecil wasn''t a very tolerant man. If he didn''t fulfill the requirements even after the first warning, he''d just directly lead the Silvaria Army and start razing the principality''s cities one by one until he finally reached the capital of Merkruz and directly execute the man and his family.


    In Cecil''s book, one warning was enough. If the other party didn''t take the first warning to mind then that was just them asking for a beating which was, of course, something Cecil would gladly deliver since they were basically asking for it.


    Alexander cleaned himself up and was about to tell some servants to bring away the dead bodies in his room but finally noticed that the room was spotless. The bodies were all disposed of and it was as if Cecil and his group hadn''t broken into the room at all.


    Alexander only grimaced at the thought of him losing a very capable butler. He shook his head regretfully and quickly went towards the meeting hall where the other city lords were patiently waiting for him.


    ******


    After transferring back to the Central Light City, Fatima immediately went to inform Kaiser about the outcome to their ''negotiations'' with the lord of Merkruz. Kaiser wasn''t expecting much but after reading through the copy of the doc.u.ments that had a full account of what Alexander was going to provide Silvaria with as compensation, he couldn''t but help exclaiming, "Isn''t this just daylight robbery?! Will he even fulfill all this?"


    Cecil chuckled from the side and said, "Heh, if he doesn''t, then the first warning would be enough to make him reconsider."


    Kaiser eyed his son before shaking his head in disbelief.


    "If he still doesn''t abide by the terms...well, let''s just say I''ll go ahead and raze the principality and directly kill him and his family," Cecil offhandedly said with a shrug.


    "Cecil..."


    "One warning is enough. I won''t tolerate fools who don''t know their place. The same goes for the bastards back at home. I''ve already warned them once to not try anything on my family. If anything happens back at home, do expect a family purge, father," Cecil dangerously said before walking out.


    "...that boy..."


    "Cecil does have a point father," Fatima said. "Luca called a few days ago and suspected that the branch families might try something back at home. That''s why we changed plans so that we could hurry back to Silvaria."


    "..."


    "I heard from Cecil that he had already given them a warning and a chance to do things fairly, but if they still try to scheme something against us..."


    "They''re still family though..."


    "Cecil doesn''t see it that way. In his mind, his family is only those from the main branch. If you persuade him, he might not kill them all, but he will punish them by other means..."


    "He''s grown more loving and emotional but much less tolerant..." Kaiser said.


    "No father, it''s not him who''s grown less tolerant, it''s just others taking advantage of our kindness to try and ride over our heads. He already gave them a warning and I agree with Cecil in this regard, one warning is more than enough," Fatima said in agreement with Cecil''s mindset.


    She too had grown tired of tolerating the branch families'' antics. Cecil had only recently come home so he couldn''t compare to what Fatima had to go through while he was gone and when they were back on Earth.


    "Aren''t you tired of it as well, Father?" Fatima couldn''t help but ask.


    "...It comes with the duty of becoming patriarch. He could learn more from you in the art of tolerance."


    "Things are different now. In this world, the balance of power has totally shifted to the main family who''s more martial since strength decides whether one has power or not. The branch families are trying to dip their fingers into our martial ways. When our family was first established, wasn''t the point of the branch family''s formation was for those who didn''t want to delve deeper into the main family''s traditions? What right do they have to try and..."


    Fatima didn''t finish her words and only shook her head before continuing, "Anyway, Father, I don''t like how they are trying to creep back into our traditions when they were the ones who wanted to back out of it in the first place. They should have just remained in their place without causing any trouble for us! With Cecil''s recent actions of opening trade routes to other nations outside of Silvaria, it''s already clear that he''s been trying to resolve the branch family''s problems in his own way...I was wrong about him being inattentive to our family''s situation."


    Fatima had realized this when she read through the already prepared doc.u.ments that was given to Alexander, the lord of Merkruz, during their brief ''negotiations''. She felt a little bit guilty for having scolded Cecil a while back.


    "Hoho, well, that boy...he''s used to doing things on his own so you''ve never seen him actually doing anything other than training and being preoccupied with his own things, but his butler has always been providing daily reports on the activities of every major figure in our family."


    "...I feel like an idiot for criticizing him...but he could at least show his effort! It makes us, his family members, only worry for him!"


    "Hahaha, I heard that even his wives have no idea what he''s been doing on his own! He''s a brilliant child but you are right, he should learn to share his burdens. Although technically, he is dividing the duties with his butler, Quinn."


    "...Quinn is supposed to be a butler not a secretary... He should rely on his siblings more!"


    "I''ll have a word with him. Cecil''s got much to learn but he''s already on the right track, don''t you think, Ima?"


    "...Yes," Fatima replied before mumbling quietly, "Wish he relied on his big sis more though..."


    "What''s that Ima?"


    "Nothing, anyways, I''ll go inform the city''s inhabitants that we''ve rightfully taken over the city so we''ll leave behind a few Spell Canons and Storm Howlers to protect the city while also stationing some soldiers in the city to maintain order."


    "Go discuss things with Cecil. Since you want him to rely on his siblings more, then you should be more proactive in helping him out by directly sharing your thoughts with him."


    "Yes, Father, I''ll get going now."


    "Yes, yes. Now hurry, before that boy goes and disappears on you again!"


    Lucia who was standing right behind them only smiled helplessly and said aloud, "I think you may have been a little too late. I sensed him use Blink just earlier..."


    "...I really want to hit him..." Fatima said in exasperation.


    "Don''t worry, big sis, I want to do the same as well! Let''s go find him together and give him a big slug to the face!"


    "Uh...okay?"


    "Ima, go tell Rowan to organize which troops to leave behind. Also tell Matheus and Gabriel to prepare the troops for the transfer. We''re returning to the kingdom in 3 hours," Kaiser called out.


    "Yes, father!"


    "Hmmm... big sis Ima, how about you go tell Rowan and I''ll go tell brother Matty and Gabe?"


    "Okay."

 Chapter 340 - No Time to Even Relax

    Three hours later, once the army was organized between those who were staying and those who were returning home, Lucia and Yuna began opening large-sized Misty Gates that led back to Silvaria.


    It was already late into the afternoon when everything was ready. However, their return date was much earlier than the one that was predicted beforehand.


    The large infantry transports were the first to go through the gate before the soldiers riding on monster mounts went through the gate. The soldiers which were garrisoned in Central Light City was standing on either side of the two gates and saluting their comrades.


    Matheus was going to be left behind this time to manage the city. Once the last of the soldiers passed through the gates, Yuna quickly closed hers before getting back on the Wanderer who was waiting for both Lucia and Yuna right in front of the other gate.


    After the two got on, the Wanderer quickly went through the gate and arrived back at the Silvaria military base on the far side of the valley. Cecil quickly jumped down from the Wanderer and before he could even stretch and breathe in the fresh air of his family''s kingdom, a loud explosion suddenly assaulted his ears.


    He immediately turned to look at the source of the explosion and immediately saw that it originated from two places. One was from the city while the other was from his family''s estate. He recognized the first explosion to be one of the spell arrays he had placed around his family''s home.


    Cecil''s eyes turned cold once he deduced that someone was trying to infiltrate into his home.


    "Lulu, take care of the one from the city," Cecil said before disappearing with Blink.


    "Wait, Cel¡ªAhhh, Quinn!!"


    "Yes, Lady Lucia?" Quinn said from the side.


    "Go after Cecil and make sure he doesn''t do anything stupid!"


    "...Yes Madam, but I don''t think I can make any promises..."


    "Just do it! Go already!"


    "Yes, Madam," Quinn replied before chasing after Cecil.


    "It''s the branch families...isn''t it?" Fatima said.


    "Most likely... Cel and I had set up a large defensive magic formation around the family estate to protect mother and Serilla, but I didn''t think they''d actually take action right when we get back home..."


    "It''s just a coincidence, and what''s this about a magic formation?"


    "Oh? Cel didn''t tell you, big sis?"


    "..."


    Seeing the mildly annoyed look on her face, Lucia immediately answered.


    "Well, before we left. Cel was very worried about Seri''s safety so he set up a large defensive magic system composed of numerous spell arrays and magic formations¡ª"


    "Okay, so basically mother and everyone from the main family should be safe and secure, right?" Fatima cut off.


    "Yes!"


    "Alright, we''ll let Cecil take care of things on mother''s side. We go and deal with the situation in the city! Rowan, gather some men and let''s go!" Fatima called out. She turned back to Lucia and asked once more, "Can you open up another Misty Gate for us?"


    "Alright, where do you want me to open it?"


    "Anywhere in the city''s central district, the explosion looks like it took place somewhere near Luca''s workplace!"


    *****


    On Cecil''s side, he had already arrived in the air above the family''s estate and immediately noticed the foreign looking people who were obviously not from his kingdom trying to approach the estate but were constantly hindered by the magic defense system''s spell arrays.


    The first one that triggered earlier had invoked Lucia''s Explosion Spell while a few more triggered Mid ranked magic spells and a few of Lucia''s originals.


    Cecil sneered at how these ants were trying so hard to get into his family''s home. They were obviously carrying ill intentions. He stretched out his hand and began channeling an intense amount of mana into his palm.


    Quinn had arrived in the estate''s compounds and quickly found Serilla, Anastasia, and a few members of the main family branch heading over to the source of the incessant explosions.


    "Madam Matriarch, Lady Serilla!" He called out.


    "Huh? Quinn? What''re you dong here?!" Serilla cried out in surprise when she saw the butler.


    "Milady, we were able to quickly end things on the warfront so we decided to quickly head back. We didn''t expect something like this to happen right when we got back however..."


    "If you''re here...then doesn''t that mean¡ª"


    "Master is...up there!" Quinn pointed towards the sky when he sensed the large amount of mana gathering together.


    Serilla immediately looked up and let out a shocked cry.


    "O-Oh no..."


    "W-what''s little Cecil doing?" Anastasia asked. All she saw was his son grasping a large golden orb in his hand.


    "DARLING!"


    Cecil didn''t hear his wife''s cry and coldly eyed the ants below him.


    "Disappear..."


    He sent a large concentration of mana volleys at the humans below him. Cecil had already sensed that these people weren''t earthlings when he probed their bodies with his Mana Sense. Another big giveaway was the fact that they were using elemental combat skills and magic spells, something that earthlings had no ability to do.


    The large volley of mana bolts immediately rained hell on the people down below. They tried defending themselves using barrier magic but after being pelted with a large amount of mana bolts, the barriers were easily broken through.


    Cecil could hear the cries of pain and agony originating from these humans after they were struck by his attack.


    His family members from within the compounds looked up in the sky when they saw the rain of golden light bombarding the area outside of their estate.


    "I-is that Cecil?"


    "It''s the Young Master!"


    Cecil apathetically looked down at the destruction he caused. There were some people who had escaped from death before were too severely injured to even move. If no treatment was administered, these people would no doubt die sooner or later.


    He spread his senses as far as he could and noticed that there were more non-earthlings hiding around the valley. He quickly locked onto them and once more raised his hand into the air and gathered another large amount of mana.


    At Luca''s office, he and a few members of the Goldenia family were currently in a meeting. The situation had developed to the point where Elder Kuran had directly introduced the Goldenia family to Luca.


    Anastasia had already gotten wind of Kuran''s activities and the fact that the Goldenia family was already inside their capital city. She ordered Luca to agree to a meeting and listen to what they had to say before reporting back to her.


    However, during the meeting, the Faustus Archduchy''s people had suddenly attacked. He and everyone who was present in the meeting were trapped inside the conference room. The Goldenia had taken this opportunity to try earn a favor from the Silvarias by saving Luca from this predicament.


    For some reason, the Goldenias were able to use elemental magic spells through voice invocation just like the natives of Alterna.


    Katya, Emilie, and the other youngsters of Goldenia were currently exchanging fire with the Faustus forces that had infiltrated the city. Luca took this detail into account since his family and everyone in the city couldn''t use elemental spells.


    He wondered just how the Goldenias had pulled it off, but right now, he was more worried about how his mother was doing. Even though Luca had already gotten some reassurance from Cecil, he still couldn''t help but worry.


    "Dammit, just how did these bastards even get into the city? We don''t allow outsiders to even enter the valley!"


    Luca frowned and began thinking. ''There must be a traitor in the family. Kuran was able to smuggle the Goldenias inside the valley and the city so he must be behind these people as well!''


    "All I need to do is find proof of his crimes then we can do away with him! He''s crossed the line now!"


    ''And these Goldenias... I don''t trust them one bit at all. Is it really just a coincidence that an attack just so conveniently happened on the day of our meeting and now they''re trying to ''save'' me?''


    The stalemate continued on for a while until another even louder explosion occurred. Judging by the sound, it occurred somewhere outside the city and the only place Luca could expect that it came from was his family''s estate.


    "Damn! If only Gabriel or Matty was here!" Luca cursed.


    It was then that large golden orbs of light penetrated through the ceiling and walls of the building and struck the enemy who were locking down Luca and the others.


    Luca was able to recognize from who that golden orb of light came from and he c.o.c.ked his head in confusion.


    "Isn''t that...Cecil''s skill? Is he already back?"


    The others in the room were still confused at what had just happened but Luca immediately rushed out of the conference room. His men called out to him in worry but Luca already knew that he didn''t need to be worried about anything.


    His little brother had already taken care of the hostiles. His men and the Goldenia''s quickly followed after him. Luca started ordering his men to quickly search for survivors and get everyone out of the building.


    Augustus also started ordering his people to look for survivors as well before following after Luca. On the way out of the building, they encountered many foreign looking people who Luca assumed to be their attackers. Every single one of them had a hole blasted through their bodies and all of them were dead or barely on their last breath of life.


    Just before they could exit the building and take a look at the situation outside, Luca ran into Lucia, Fatima, and Angelia.


    "Ima!"


    "Luca, are you okay?!"


    "Y-Yeah, I''m fine. Since you''re all here, that means Cecil is back as well, right?"


    "Yeah, he went straight towards the family''s compound when an explosion occurred just outside of it."


    "I knew it. Are there anyone injured?"


    "We haven''t received any news on Cecil''s end, but I assume nothing''s wrong. Since Lucia said that the explosion originated from one of the spell arrays guarding the estate. How about you? Are there any casualties on your end?" Fatima asked.


    "We''re still tallying and taking into account our losses. For now, my men are still conducting a SAR inside the building, hopefully not too many were hurt..."


    "Ambulances are already on their way here but we''ll have our little healer perform first aid on the people who are severely injured."


    Angelia immediately stepped up and said, "Leave it to me!"


    Luca nodded and immediately said, "We should quickly head over to the residence and¡ª"


    Before Luca could speak any further, he was interrupted by a deafening blast of energy that soared through the air above them.


    Upon seeing the golden beam of energy, Lucia immediately widened her eyes in shock.


    "CEL!"


    The golden wave of energy immediately struck the residential area where the Silvaria''s branch families resided in.

 Chapter 341 - Purge 1

    The golden beam of mana exploded in the branch family''s housing complex but didn''t completely destroy everything.


    When Cecil had spread his Mana Sense out into the entire valley, he had found more of the invading Alternians around the Silvaria Branch family''s complex and was immediately infuriated.


    In his anger, he had struck out with a Flash Cannon. Cecil made sure to control his output and struck only the area that had the invaders present. He wasn''t that irrational to think that everyone from the branch family were involved in whatever scheme that was being pulled from behind the main family''s back.


    As for the Silvaria branch members who were inside the blast zone...well, Cecil didn''t care about them. From his Mana Sense, he already knew that the invaders weren''t there to take anyone from the branch families as hostages so he had no qualms in attacking. In his eyes, the few branch families'' action of housing those invaders was already an act of betrayal against the main family and he had no use for such backstabbing fools.


    Serilla and everyone below had seen Cecil send a large beam of mana into the distance and they quickly rushed out. When they saw that Cecil had struck a particular section of the city, everyone couldn''t help but pale in fright.


    Cecil scanned the valley one last time and made sure that there were no more invaders inside the kingdom before he landed back on the ground.


    Anastasia was a little livid at her son''s actions and she immediately stomped over to him.


    "Cecil! Do you know what you''ve done?"


    Cecil still had a dark look on his face when he responded to his mother, "...Gather the family, Mother. Today, I''m going to clean the trash out of our family."


    Seeing her son''s infallible stance, Anastasia involuntarily nodded at his words. Cecil asked her mother if she was okay before turning around and quickly making his way over to Serilla to check up on her.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Y-yes, darling... I''m fine. Nothing happened," Serilla replied with a somewhat strained smile.


    "...I''m sorry, I''ll clear things up later, but for now, I want to deal with the fools who brought a foreign enemy into our kingdom."


    "..."


    Cecil immediately led Serilla back into the complex and Quinn followed them from behind. Anastasia looked on in worry at her son, but she still ordered a few family members to go inform every member of the branch families to gather at the main estate.


    *****


    On Lucia''s end, she, Luca, Fatima, and all of the Goldenia family members who were present in the meeting with Luca, had rushed straight towards the residential area of the city and immediately found out that the attack from earlier had struck only a portion of the Silvaria branch family''s housing complex.


    Fatima immediately ordered for the soldiers that she had brought with her to look for survivors and close off the area and maintain order. Not long after, Kaiser and a few soldiers also arrived on the scene.


    When he noticed the Goldenia Family Leader, Augustus Goldenia, standing in the midst of the crowd of people, Kaiser immediately strode over imposingly and asked, "What''re you doing here, Augustus?"


    "Oh, if it isn''t Kaiser Silvaria? How are you, my old friend," The Goldenia Family leader replied leisurely.


    Kaiser narrowed his eyes and growled, "Are you the one behind the attack on my family''s estate and the city? If you are, don''t expect to be pardoned!"


    "Oh please, Kaiser, don''t jump to conclusions. If it weren''t for us, your son Luca would have been forced into quite a dangerous spot."


    "..."


    Luca walked over and reluctantly said, "Though I''m reluctant to say it, but it''s true, father. If they weren''t there at that time, those invaders would have either killed or captured me."


    Kaiser''s expression didn''t change. He only harrumphed and walked over to Fatima and the others. He looked around the area and said, "...The attack was from Cecil, wasn''t it?"


    Lucia walked over and said apologetically, "Y-yes, father-in-law. That was Cel''s Flash Cannon..."


    When Augustus overheard Lucia calling Kaiser, father-in-law, he couldn''t help but reassess the beautiful young lady.


    "So that''s the future Matriarch?" He mumbled.


    "Wow, she''s a beauty! It looks like Katya''s going to have some competition!" Emilie chortled in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    Katya only observed the slightly fretful Lucia silently. She didn''t opt to say anything.


    Kaiser reassessed the area and soon noticed something.


    "...he struck directly at a few of the opposing elders'' courtyards..." He said with a grimace.


    The family members of the other branch families that weren''t affected by Cecil''s attack began gathering around the area and observed in horror at the destruction in front of them.


    "P-Patriarch! W-who did this?!" A branch family leader asked in horror.


    Kaiser didn''t respond and only shook his head. A few other family members couldn''t help but step forward and ask in fear.


    "A-are we under attack?"


    "Patriarch, what''s happening?!"


    "The main estate was just attacked and so was the city! Now the residential area is under attack! Are we being invaded?!"


    Kaiser didn''t respond to their worries and only told the soldiers to secure the area and prevent anyone else from getting too close.


    "Everyone, calm down, I''ve already deployed men to search for survivors so you can all head back to your homes!"


    While Kaiser, Fatima, and a few other main family members were busy trying to settle down the situation, a few curious citizens from the surrounding area also came over to see what was happening. It wasn''t long before the city''s guards arrived to help maintain order.


    Cecil''s skill hadn''t actually killed everyone in the blast zone. The ones who were on the outer edges of the blast zone had managed to escape with their lives still intact but had suffered some degree of injuries. The soldiers were also able to recover some of the invaders that managed to survive and Kaiser immediately ordered for them to be treated and locked up.


    The jails in their kingdom had been crafted from the Anti-Mana ore earlier on since that was the only thing that it was good for at the time so they didn''t need to worry about the people inside using Mana or anything.


    After the recovery unit had essentially rescued everyone who survived and retrieved all of the bodies inside the destroyed area, a few members of the main family arrived and informed Kaiser that they had come with orders to round up all of the branch family members and bring them to the main estate.


    When Kaiser asked on whose command they were obeying, the main family members replied that it was the Young Patriarch''s commands. Kaiser frowned and couldn''t help but wonder why Cecil wanted to round them all up.


    "That boy...he couldn''t possibly..." Kaiser frowned when he thought the worst. He immediately ordered for everyone from the main family to quickly finish their tasks or hand them over to someone else before quickly heading back to the main estate.


    *****


    Once everything was cleared up over on the residential area''s side and the tasked were handed down to their subordinates to manage, Kaiser, Lucia, Fatima and everyone that was part of the Silvaria family immediately stepped through Lucia''s Misty Gate and arrived back at the Silvaria family''s main estate.


    Kaiser didn''t want to leave Augustus and his Goldenia family''s brats and elders roaming around the city so he brought them over as well and had Luca, Rowan, and Fatima watch over them closely.


    The Goldenias looked around the estate and couldn''t help but find that it was quite aesthetically pleasing. They also noticed that the ambient mana in the air was much more rich and concentrated than it was when they were inside the city.


    The other branch family members felt it as well and their bodies felt much lighter and more energetic. This was due to the magic barrier that Cecil and Lucia had created to surround and protect the estate.


    Cecil had added in the World Tree''s Spiritual Garden''s magic array in the formation he had created so it was only naturally that the atmosphere was richer and the mana density was much higher than it was outside of the estate.


    The branch family members couldn''t help question why they were all gathered here. However, they all felt relieved though because currently, it seemed that outside of their family''s main estate, the situation was dangerous.


    Kaiser ordered the servants to quickly settle the branch family members along with the Goldenias inside the large hall that the Silvaria family normally used for their family meetings.


    Kaiser, Lucia, Angelia, and Ren rushed over to the main mansion and when they entered, they noticed that the air was somewhat stifling. Serilla and Anastasia were sitting down on the couch in the living room and immediately stood up when they saw them.


    "Are you two alright?" Kaiser asked.


    "We''re fine honey...but I think you should go have a talk with your son..." Anastasia worriedly said.


    "Where is he?"


    "..."


    Anastasia pointed outside and on the family''s back porch, Cecil was standing there with his arms crossed, silently gazing out into the family''s garden. Golden streaks of mana were flashing all around him.


    "Father-in-law, le-let me talk to him first, okay?" Lucia carefully asked.


    "Y-yes, father-in-law. Let Lulu calm Darling down first! Darling is like this only when he''s completely infuriated..."


    Kaiser eyed his two fretful daughters-in-law and said, "...Go."


    Lucia immediately went over to the sliding door and slowly slid it open. The golden streaks of mana halted for a moment before they started again but this they were streaking around Cecil in a much more furious manner.


    "...Not now, Lulu..." Cecil muttered.


    "Cel, can you calm down, please?" Lucia worriedly said in reply.


    Cecil didn''t answer her question but instead answered with one of his own.


    "...Are the branch families all here, yet?"


    "...They''re waiting in the grand hall..."


    Cecil nodded and turned around, "Good, let''s go then."


    "Cel, before we go, how about you calm down first, alright?" Lucia said as she slowly approached him.


    Lucia stopped right in front of Cecil and grasped onto both his hands. She dragged him over to a chair on the porch and sat him down. She then proceeded to sit down on his lap and pulled his head into her bosom before stroking it gently.


    "...why did you do that?" Lucia gently asked.


    "...They were asking for it. I already gave them a warning and a fair chance. Instead of meeting it head on, they let foreigners invade us and attack our kingdom. I knew immediately what they were aiming for, they wanted Mother and Seri."


    "...Luca was attacked too..."


    "That makes it much worse then," Cecil growled in anger.


    "That''s enough. Don''t get mad, you already took care of them, right? Now tell me, what do you mean that the branch family had let in invaders?"


    "...When I spread my mana sense earlier, I noticed a large amount of those Alternians hiding in that spot in the city. After making a closer observation, I saw that they were intentionally hiding those people in their homes. My family has no need for traitors..."


    "..."


    "We had sealed the borders and stationed soldiers all along the valley''s protective walls since we were at war. Unless they weren''t doing their jobs, which I hardly doubt they weren''t, the only way those people were able to get into the city was through those branch family members who were housing them. Attacking my family is my bottom line and they have crossed it!"


    Lucia sighed before saying, "Now that you''ve killed them, how''re we going to have them answer for their crimes?"


    "Oh, you don''t need to worry about that...I didn''t kill every one of those bastards just yet..."


    Cecil finished saying before he grabbed onto Lucia and stood up.


    "I''m fine now. Let''s go and address the branch family members. We''ll determine today whether they should remain in the family...or not..."

 Chapter 342 - Purge 2

    Cecil got back into the house and let Lucia down. He turned towards his parents and apologized.


    "Mom, Dad, sorry."


    "Hmmm..."


    "You shouldn''t just go around and kill people Cecil... this may be a different world and you grew up in it without learning anything about the moral codes of Earth, but killing someone...or some people just because you are angry..." Anastasia worriedly said.


    "..."


    Seeing her son remain quiet, Anastasia continued lecturing.


    "There are going to be consequences to your actions. Remember Cecil, killing is a crime. It may not be enforced in all the kingdoms and empires you''ve passed by, but it does here. For now...we should go and address the family members that you ordered us to round up. There better be a good explanation for why you did such a thing."


    "Don''t worry, Mother. Let me handle this."


    "...I''ll leave it to you then, son," Kaiser said before turning around to leave with his wife. He also ushered Angelia and Ren out of the house and now, only Lucia, Serilla, and Cecil were left behind.


    "...Let''s go. I wanna get this all over with..." Cecil lazily said.


    Serilla grasped onto Cecil''s arm and asked, "Was it really necessary to kill all of those people? They were still fam¡ª"


    "I have no family members who would seek to do harm to one another. They let in invaders into the kingdom with the motive to cause harm to my family. All I saw were enemies, not family."


    "..."


    "I gave them a chance. Instead of taking it, they tried to do something underhanded to my family. You can do whatever you want to me, but touching my family is my bottom line."


    Leaving behind those words, Cecil walked out of the house and the two girls trailed right behind him.


    When he got into the grand hall, it was really noisy and bustling. Just before one of the family members could announce his presence, Cecil let loose his Weapon Intent. The pressure immediately caused everyone in the hall to quiet down.


    He eyed everyone apathetically before walking towards the front of the hall. Sitting on the main seats of the hall was obviously Kaiser and Anastasia since they were still the Patriarch and Matriarch.


    Cecil''s siblings were sitting down near the front and Lucia and Serilla went to join them. Cecil walked up to his father and mother before giving a light bow in respect. He then turned towards the crowd of family members inside the hall and slowly retracted his Weapon Intent.


    He obviously didn''t direct it at the main family branch since they were his family, but everyone else in the room was able to breath normally again.


    "I gathered everyone here today to address something. And that''s whether or not the Silvaria family needs the branch families anymore," Cecil straightforwardly said.


    This caused many of the branch family members to clamor and raise questions at his words. The Elders that were part of the family''s council were seated right in the front so one of them immediately asked,


    "What do you mean by that?!"


    Cecil smirked at them and said, "Hmmm, it seems not everyone is here..."


    "What are you talking about? Everyone is here except for those¡ª"


    "¡ªthat were injured in the earlier attack on the city, right?" Cecil finished.


    "..."


    "Heh, well, you have no need to panic. I''m the one who attacked them anyway."


    When they heard Cecil''s words the branch family members were all sent into an uproar and many began questioning him and demanding for an answer.


    "Oh, shut up!" Cecil roared.


    He infused mana into his voice so it blared across the hall and silenced everyone inside. After silencing everyone in the hall, Cecil turned towards Lucia and was about to say something before shaking his head and turning to Quinn instead.


    "Quinn, take Yuna and Silver. Go bring back those from the hospital that are injured, including the invaders."


    An Elder immediately roared out when he heard this.


    "Cecil, if you do that they''ll¡ª"


    Cecil raised his arm and furiously waved it down. The elder that was talking earlier was immediately flattened onto the ground.


    "Did I say you can talk?"


    "Urgh..."


    Cecil eyed everyone else in the room and asked, "What did I tell you all earlier?"


    No one answered and kept their silence.


    "See? Was it that hard to just remain silent?"


    Cecil waved his hand and the elder was picked off from the ground and roughly pushed back onto his chair. The elder had his head lowered and he didn''t dare look up at Cecil.


    "Hmph, know this. My father and this kingdom''s army went out to wage war against a nation of fools who tried to attack us with no rhyme or reason. Fortunately, we were able to win and get back here safely. During that, we were also able to acquire many benefits from the war in the form of 2 new cities and a few land and sea trade routes."


    Cecil smiled at everyone in the room and continued, "I know that the branch families have been uneasy and unaccepting of the current situation so we were trying to give you guys some benefits! Too bad though, because right after we got back from the war, what was it that greeted us?"


    The hall was still mute and no one dared to answer. Actually, no one even knew what to answer.


    "Well? Can anyone TELL ME?!" Cecil roared.


    Angelia who was sitting in the front hesitantly raised her hand like a good little girl and answered, "We...were attacked?"


    "Ah, thank you, Angel. How sad. Our own branch families don''t even have the SPINE to answer a simple question. Yes, we were attacked today. What more, the main family was attacked."


    Cecil coldly eyed the crowd and continued, "The ironic thing is that the branch families are the ones who machinated this whole thing..."


    His words immediately sparked the branch family members to refute his words.


    "N-No we didn''t! There''s just no way that we would go against the main family!"


    "Yeah! What you speak is rubbish!"


    "That''s false! Are you accusing the branch family for doing something we didn''t?!"


    Cecil didn''t act high-handed this time. He instead raised his hand politely and this slowly caused the branch family members to quiet down. They didn''t want to be subjected to Cecil''s rough handling.


    "I know that not ALL of the branch families had planned this out, but I''m sure that there are some that¡ªah, speak of the devil, why don''t we ask the culprit who actually planned all this himself, yeah?"


    A Misty Gate opened up at the front of the hall and out stepped Quinn, Yuna, and multiple Silvers who were carrying some injured patients in their arms.


    "Master, where do we¡ª"


    "Just drop ''em on the floor," Cecil offhandedly said.


    Quinn and Yuna flinched for a bit but all the Silvers released a relieved breath and just dropped the people they were carrying onto the ground.


    "Ugh, what a chore...why don''t we just do away with them?" Silver asked.


    "We can''t do that, Silv. Otherwise, these bastards can''t answer for their crimes," Cecil smiling said.


    "Ahh, I see."


    Cecil leaned over to Silver and whispered something to him before turning his attention to Quinn and Yuna.


    The two immediately understood what Cecil but unlike Silver, Quinn and Yuna carefully placed the hospitalized patients down on the ground. Cecil walked over to them and activated his Ki. He began using his healing arts and roughly mended the wounds of the people on the floor.


    After healing the patients who were Alternians, he quickly sent a few mana bolts at them and knocked them out. He then ordered for the family''s guards to round them up and tie them together.


    As for the Silvaria branch family members who were just healed, they stood up indignantly and began questioning everyone around them.


    "What''s the meaning of this?! Kaiser, you better have a good explanation! Also, weren''t we just attacked? What happened?"


    To everyone''s surprise, Elder Kuran had been able to remain alive and was now kicking up a fuss inside the grand hall. Cecil sneered at the elder and said, "Oh, it''s not ''we'' were attacked, but ''you'' were attacked."


    "What?"


    "Heh, I''m the one who sent that blast at you."


    "What?! You bastard! Are you trying to kill¡ª"


    Cecil extended his arm and wrapped his mana around Elder Kuran''s neck and dragged him into his hand.


    "Arck!"


    "Quiet, fool. I didn''t say you could talk!"


    "Urgh....arruggghh..."


    Cecil squeezed down on the elder''s neck for a bit and after seeing that his point had gotten across to the elder, he released his grip and dropped the elder onto the ground.


    "Now, I''m going to ask you once, and only once. Why did you let those invaders into our kingdom and have them attack the main family?"


    "..."


    Seeing Elder Kuran pale slightly at his words, Cecil maintained his cold, apathetic look and said, "You can remain silent if you want, but it will cost you..."


    "...How do you even know that I''m the one who¡ª"


    "Are you going with that stance? You think I didn''t sense the large amount of Alternians staying around your complex, Elder Kuran? Do you really think I''m stupid? Or, are you that desperate to lose your family?" Cecil snapped his fingers and from the crowd of people, Silver tossed up a few into the air and they landed in the front of the grand hall.


    "When I checked earlier, I noticed that none of your immediate family members were there so don''t worry, they''re all still alive. As for the others...let''s just say they weren''t that lucky."


    Cecil eyed Lucia discreetly and she immediately knew what he wanted.


    ''Good girl.''


    He stared apathetically at Kuran and said, "Now, you can choose to tell me the truth and have your family branch spared, or¡ª"


    Cecil raised his hand and concentrated his mana into his palm. He gathered enough mana that it formed a humongous orb of mana on his palm and directed it at Kuran''s family.


    "¡ªI''ll kill them."


    "!"


    Kuran widened his eyes in horror at Cecil''s action. Everyone else in the family also paled and couldn''t help but grow speechless at the young patriarch''s actions. Even the main family members were in utterly disbelief at Cecil''s actions.


    This wasn''t a hearing or a trial. This was basically just a public execution of a branch family member if they didn''t comply with Cecil''s demands. He was even threatening Kuran to say something that he did or didn''t even do.


    "Oh, you don''t have to worry. After you confess, I''ll have my wife extract your memories and display them for all to see," Cecil smiled widely.


    To Kuran, Cecil was the devil right now. He could immediately tell that the young man in front of him wouldn''t hesitate to eradicate his entire branch family.


    If he did anything other than say what Cecil wanted him to say, then there would be no doubt that his family was all going to die in the next moment. Cecil was pushing him to confess so Kuran thought that if he pleaded before reluctantly confessing then to the other family members, it would only seem as if Cecil had pushed him to say what he had said.


    "Please...please spare my family! I''ll, I''ll confess! I''ll confess! I-I''m the one who brought them. I''m the one who let them into the kingdom!"


    Cecil sneered at the little display Kuran was performing, "Wonderful, but...that wasn''t what I wanted."


    "Huh?"


    "Too bad, I did give you one chance."


    "W-w-w-wait!"


    Cecil fired his mana directly at Kuran''s family members and soon enough, the painful death cries of Kuran''s family members rang throughout the hall.

 Chapter 343 - Introduction

    "Cecil!"


    "Darling!"


    "Brother?!"


    "!"


    Everyone in the hall was immediately horrified at Cecil''s act of executing Kuran''s family members right in front of him. It was too cruel. The old man had already ''confessed'' to his crimes so what more did Cecil want from him?


    "Y-You, you monster!!!"


    "Ah, Elder, I gave you once chance to tell the truth, but you didn''t take it..."


    "I already confessed! What more do you want?!"


    "Didn''t you hear my question? I asked you, WHY did you let those invaders in and WHY did you let them attack the main family?"


    "I¡ª"


    "I already know that you''re the one who let them in, otherwise, why would I even be asking you these questions? What I''m asking for is the motive behind it... now, I''ll give you another chance or I''ll just end your life in the most painful way possible!"


    "Ha...haha...hahahahaha!" Kuran began laughing hysterically at Cecil.


    "Monster, you just wanted to eradicate my family just because we opposed to your decisions!"


    "So?"


    "So?! Is that all you have to say for yourself? You murdered my family!!!"


    "And you attempted to do harm to mine. Tit for tat, wouldn''t you say?"


    "You main family members have only grown more and more brazen ever since we were brought to this godforsaken world! You may not have lost anyone due to your martial skills but everyone in the city, everyone in the branch families have lost family members due to us being powerless to defend ourselves!"


    "Oh, cry me a river! You fools separated from the main family''s traditions precisely because you saw no merit in it! Now that it does have merit, you want to wiggle back into the family''s ancient traditions? Are you daft?"


    "What? What''s so wrong about us wanting to learn to protect ourselves?!"


    "Then go to school."


    "?!"


    "Learn how to fight like everyone else. Since you really LOVE to uphold the family''s traditions, don''t you know that it''s forbidden to teach our family''s martial arts to outsiders?"


    "WE''RE FAMILY!"


    "Ah, but you''re not part of the main family," Cecil curtly replied.


    "You... you just want to be rid of us, don''t you?!"


    "What I want to be rid of are traitors and fools."


    "Fools...haha, fools you say! Well, let me say this then. YOU''RE ALL FOOLS! You don''t even know how large the world is out there! There''s a force already bearing down on our lands and they''re out for blood! I only thought it was time for a change in power so I let them into our kingdom!"


    "..."


    Kuran turned towards the Goldenia family who were present in the hall and roared.


    "If it weren''t for you backstabbing Goldenias, then the Faustus Archduchy''s men would have made it off with Luca! And if they weren''t so incompetent, they would have already captured Anastasia and killed off that bitch and the bastard she''s carrying!" Kuran roared as he pointed to Serilla.


    Cecil eyed the old man coldly and said, "So now you decide to confess, huh?"


    "Haha, what more can I lose? My life? My life already has no meaning to me! You''ve killed my family! I only pray that the Faustus Archduchy strikes quickly and destroys everything you hold dear! Karma will come for you, you damned boy!"


    "...How sad. I didn''t think that the branch families were this rotten."


    Cecil waved his hand and Lucia stepped forward and snapped her fingers. Instantly, the scene in the front area of the grand hall began to distort and shimmer.


    Everyone was confused and startled but in the next instant they were immediately shocked to see that Kuran''s ''dead'' family was once more standing in the front of the hall. Kuran was shocked to see them as well and he immediately turned to Lucia who had just stepped forward.


    "You, what did you do?!" He roared in question and stomped towards Lucia.


    Cecil waved his hand and sent the old man flying backwards, colliding right into his family members. He walked over to them and slowly said to the old man, "Now that you''ve spoken the truth, I''m very, very infuriated right now... How should I punish you? Should I kill your family members for real this time?"


    "Cecil, that''s enough! You''ve already proven that he''s the culprit so you should now hand him over to the family and we''ll be the ones to determine his punishment!" Kaiser stood up and declared.


    Cecil stepped back and turned to bow to his father before walking towards Lucia and Serilla. Kaiser released a sigh and waved his hand. The guards immediately went over to detain Kuran and his family.


    "...we went to war and brought back some benefits for the branch families but this is what we get in return for our goodwill..." Kaiser slowly said.


    "..."


    "..."


    No one in the branch family''s side retorted. Although it was only Kuran and a few other branch families that were in on the scheme, they were all held accountable. Kaiser didn''t think for a moment that the other branch families didn''t know about Kuran''s scheme.


    It was completely reasonable to assume that Kuran had spoken to all the other branch families about the scheme to try and rope them into it. So although they didn''t take part in the scheme, no one from the branch families bothered to report it.


    Actually, there were a few that did, but they didn''t have the full picture of what the scheme was since Kuran didn''t approach them. The elder already knew that these few family branches were too loyal to the main branch so he didn''t bother to try and rope them in.


    They could only report to Anastasia about Kuran''s movements and she only ordered them to continue monitoring the elder''s movements. She only planned to report it to Kaiser when he got back or when she had enough information that would warrant the Patriarch to personally step in and take action.


    She didn''t want to add to Kaiser''s burdens since her husband should be fully focused on leading the army. Then, when her husband had just gotten home, the attack on the main family''s estate and on Luca''s workplace had suddenly occurred.


    There was no time for her to report anything to him by then since Cecil had already taken action personally.


    "I''m rescinding any of the benefits that we planned to give to the branch families. Cecil, transfer the benefits over to your uncles and aunts. Also, split them up between the kingdom''s duke families."


    "Yes, father," Cecil replied. He then turned to search for Fatima since he wanted to just dump all of the work on his sister. He found her standing guard around a few unfamiliar people. They weren''t Alternians so he only assumed that they were the family''s guests or something.


    "Lulu, Seri, I''m going over to big sis to discuss about dividing the benefits we got from Merkruz, wait here, okay?"


    "Yes, darling~ and, good job out there," Serilla said before giving him a light peck on the lips. Lucia, however, sneered at Cecil and said, "Discuss? You mean to say that you''re just going to dump the task onto your sister, right?"


    "Tsk, I''m going over to DISCUSS it with my sister, okay Lulu?"


    "Sure~"


    Cecil shook his head and gently flicked Lucia''s forehead. The girl only stuck her tongue out playfully.


    Cecil walked over to Fatima and silently talked to her about how they should split the benefits between the kingdom''s families. It was a good way to reward the people under them for their hard work.


    It was originally supposed to go to the branch families who weren''t all too loyal to the main branch in order to pacify them, but with how things stands, there was no way Cecil would agree to give them any sort of reward since they had just threatened the well-being of his brother, mother, wife, and his unborn child.


    "Okay, big sis, I leave it to you then!"


    "Oh no, you don''t! You''re coming with me later and we''ll PROPERLY discuss the details!"


    "Ah, come on sis, you''re better at this than me!"


    "That''s why you need to learn! Also, don''t act like you don''t know anything, alright? I''ve seen through that ignorant guise that you''ve always put up! You''ve been secretly doing things behind our backs! Why not rely more on your big sis and your brothers? It''s better to share the burden, alright?"


    "...fine... but can I leave just this one to you? Just this once, please? I''m going to assemble¡ª"


    Cecil cautiously eyed the unfamiliar people behind Fatima and whispered, "I''m going to assemble THAT, you know... we''re going to be connecting two kingdoms together. Don''t you think that''s more important, big sis?"


    "...Agh, fine, but only this once, alright? Next time, you''re going to help out!"


    "Yes, mother..."


    "Tch," Fatima disdainfully clicked her tongue.


    "What? You sound just like, Mom!"


    "..."


    "Come on, you know you do!"


    Fatima shook her head and waved him away. However, just before Cecil could walk away, Augustus stepped forward and quickly greeted him.


    "Hello, Cecil Silvaria."


    "Hm? Do I know you?" Cecil replied questioningly to the unknown man who somehow knew his name.


    "Oh, we''ve met before when you were younger. My name is Augustus Goldenia. It''s a pleasure to meet you," Augustus introduced himself and stuck his hand out.


    Cecil tilted his head in confusion before taking his hand, shaking it, and introducing himself, "Uhh, well I''m Cecil¡ªah, you already know that. Anyway, it''s a pleasure as well, sir."


    "Why yes, of course."


    "I should get back now."


    "Ah, please, wait. May I introduce you to my daughter, Katya?"


    "Huh?"


    Augustus snapped his finger and immediately gestured at someone in his group.


    "Katya, come here!"


    "Y-yes, father..."


    Cecil turned towards the person that was being called. The person that was walking towards them was a young girl about his age. She had long blonde hair that was curled near the ends. She had sky-blue eyes and beautiful face.


    "I-I''m Katya Goldenia," the girl greeted.


    "Mhm, I''m Cecil Silvaria. I suppose you already know that, though."


    "Eh, y-yeah...it''s nice to meet you, Cecil."


    "Nice to meet you too, well, I should go now."


    "Ah, wait, Cecil," Augustus called out.


    "Yes?"


    "I''m not sure if you remember, but you saved my daughter Katya before."


    "What? Really? When was this?"


    "When we were all still back on Earth."


    "Ohh, sorry, but I probably forgot, hahaha..."


    Back where Lucia and Serilla were sitting at, Angelia nudged the two girls to get their attention before saying, "Big sis Seri, Big sis Lulu! Look! Cecil is being introduced to a girl!"


    "What?"


    "Ohho~h?"

 Chapter 344 - I Want Your Son

    While Cecil was still talking with the Goldenia''s, Kaiser had finalized the punishment for the branch families. For those that he knew were loyal, they would remain in the city, while the ones that were indirectly involved would be moved out of the No-Man''s Lands and into Central Light City or West Wind City.


    Kaiser still had to go interrogate elder Kuran to get the names of the other family members who were directly involved. These family members would be punished to work in the mines for a few years before being exiled out of the kingdom.


    This was the smallest mercy that Kaiser could give to them because if it was Cecil who was punishing them, he''d just kill them right after they''ve served their punishment in the mines. Of course, what Kaiser didn''t know was that Cecil had already informed his butler, Quinn, to quickly do away with Kuran''s family after they''ve served their time and were exiled out of the kingdom.


    After all, what happens outside of the kingdom was no longer the Silvaria family''s problem. The only exception was Kuran, Cecil wanted him dead no matter what since the old man wanted to kill his wife and child.


    He didn''t need to be punished. The afterlife was the perfect place for him because Cecil didn''t want to give him time to try and even scheme against the main family. Anything could happen if he was still alive for the few years he would be punished to work in the mines.


    Kaiser dismissed the branch family members and had the guards escort them out of the estate back to their residence complex in the city. As for the situation in the city, the duke families were already taking care of the situation.


    Now it was time for Kaiser to address the Goldenia family. Cecil had already wrapped up his conversation with the Goldenia''s before walking back to his wives. It was then that Cecil finally remembered that the Goldenia family was actually their family''s long-time enemies.


    "Honestly, Cel, I can''t believe you forgot about that..." Lucia said.


    "I''m not really one to care about past conflicts. Once it''s over, it''s over, move on. I don''t have time to dwell on things like that and that''s why I find nipping the problem in the bud being the most efficient and quickest solution!"


    "Nip the problem as in kill the people who caused the problem, right?"


    "...maybe."


    "Best solution, but it causes people to fear you, not respect you~"


    "Darling, you have to pay attention to your image, okay?"


    "Yes, yes..."


    Angelia was fidgeting in her seat and couldn''t help but burst out in question, "So big bro, who was the girl that old guy was introducing to you earlier?"


    "Eh?"


    "Yeah, who is she, Cel?"


    "Yeah, darling, who is she?"


    "Uhhh... I don''t really remember, but the old man said that I apparently rescued her before when we were back on Earth," Cecil replied.


    "Oh, you rescued her before? I bet she''s SO elated to see you again, Cel!" Lucia derisively said.


    "Uhh, I don''t even remember her. Same goes for her as well."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, totally, so there''s no need for you to get jealous, Lulu."


    "What? Who''s jealous?!"


    "Uhm...you?" Cecil pointed at the girl.


    "Hmph, no I''m not! You better be content with just the two of us! I let Seri into our relationship because I was still naive back then, but don''t think I''ll tolerate you getting any more women!"


    "D-Don''t worry Lulu, we were just being introduced. Also, the girl looked like she was very reluctant to meet me and I clearly have no notions of getting anyone else. Just you two alone are enough for me," Cecil reassured. He wrapped his arms around both Lucia and Serilla.


    Angelia who was sitting next to them saw this and couldn''t help but gag at her brother''s cheesy act.


    Serilla was a little startled but at the same time happy when Cecil hugged her. There were many people around so she couldn''t help feel a little bit shy. She was still delighted and immediately quipped up, "Hihi, so it looks like I was lucky that Lulu was still naive back then! Also, darling, we''re in public..."


    "So?"


    "Hmmm~"


    "I can tolerate you Seri because we''ve been together for so long and now we''re practically like sisters, but if another cat tries to walk into our house... don''t think I''ll just sit around and do nothing!" Lucia warned.


    Serilla immediately clapped her hands and chimed in, "I''m right behind you, Lulu! If we have more people around then that means there will be less time for Cecil to spend with us!"


    Cecil couldn''t agree more with them. He already had a hard time handling those two so he really didn''t want to welcome any other woman into his life. Lucia and Serilla were enough for him. He released a relieved breath knowing that his two wives were with him on this.


    Some of Cecil''s cousins still weren''t used to seeing this young patriarch of theirs publicly showing his affection to his wives so they felt a bit awkward. The males however felt envious of him since he had two beautiful flowers in both of his arms AND he wasn''t afraid to show it.


    "If this was still on Earth, this would be a big scandal... I couldn''t imagine what the people would say if they saw on the news that the next Silvaria Patriarch had two wives..."


    "Scandal or not, I''m envious! Just look at those two! They''re beautiful and from the looks of things, they don''t even try to vie for Cecil''s affection or one up each other!"


    "Cecil brought them back from the outside world right? I wonder if all the women of this world are tolerant to these kinds of marriage situations..."


    "Don''t dream on it. For all we know, they''re just like us! Haven''t you seen Fatima''s fianc¨¦, Rowan? He''s a bonafide crown prince but look, he doesn''t have eyes for any woman other than Sister Fatima!"


    "That''s true... Well, all we can say is that our cousin over there is lucky!"


    "Really lucky!"


    Cecil couldn''t help but overhear what they were saying and sheepishly pulled back both his arms. The Goldenia''s who were walking towards the front of the hall had passed by just now and overheard everything.


    They immediately turned an incredulous eye at Cecil and the two beautiful women that were next to him.


    "Oh my, so he has a harem~" Emilie snickered. "Good for us don''t you think, Katya. Maybe we both can join it!"


    Katya quietly chided her sister, "S-shut up, Emi. Can''t you see that we''re about to face the Silvaria family''s patriarch?"


    "Hmph... can you be a bit more ambitious lil sis!"


    "Tsk, unlike you who can''t even find a man, I already found one!"


    "Hah, it just goes to show how bad your taste in men is! The man you like is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g traitor! If it weren''t for him, we would be standing here begging for the Silvaria''s help? You also wouldn''t have to be here to offer yourself up like a lamb!"


    "..."


    "Tch, too late for regrets, now that you''re here, just accept your fate! At least you''ll be a little bit useful to the family!"


    "You two, enough, be more respectful and aware of your surroundings. Can''t you see the Silvaria Patriarch and Matriarch scrutinizing us?" An elder reprimanded.


    Sitting on the grand hall''s main seat, Kaiser eyed the Goldenia family''s group of people before slowly asking, "Now, Augustus, what do you want? You helped Luca out so we''re here to settle the debts. I don''t like owing any favors, especially not towards your family!"


    "Relax Kaiser. We''re not going to ask anything too extravagant. I mean, we came here to talk about forming an alliance with your family and to ask for your help."


    "..."


    "I''m sure you know about my city''s situation, right?"


    "Hmph, you''re just unfortunate enough to meet the wrong people!" Kaiser sneered.


    "Well, we don''t have your family''s luck. I mean, your daughter is lucky enough to marry into royalty!" Augustus said as he turned an eye towards Fatima and Rowan.


    Rowan frowned when he heard Augustus'' words. In his eyes, Fatima was already royalty. She was part of the Silvaria Royal Family. She wasn''t marrying into royalty or anything.


    "Calm down, Rowan. He''s only saying that to agitate father. Don''t you get agitated on our behalf," Fatima whispered.


    "Tch, I don''t like this man. He''s here for an alliance but he''s being so provocative..."


    "He just doesn''t want to lose to father in standing. Unlike their family, our family has been genuinely recognized as a royal family by foreign powers."


    "...Yes, the Regulus, Merkruz, and Revertia nations all recognize the Silvaria nation as a royal Kingdom."


    "Mmhmm, but the Goldenia''s don''t have this privilege. Even now, the expansion of their territory is only limited to a single city. No one dares to go out further into the wilderness because of the monsters lurching about... unlike us who have already expanded outside of the valley and already have 2 cities built."


    "Make that 4... We took 2 from Merkruz, remember?" Rowan replied with a little smugness tinged in his voice.


    "..."


    "Anyway, Kaiser, we''re just requesting for your help! I mean, with the recent attack by the same people who are targeting my family, can''t you see the threat that they pose to us Earthlings? I''ve already negotiated with the other Earthling factions and they''ve all agreed to assist us!"


    "...Hmph, and what damage have they done to us? If it weren''t for Kuran and his men colluding with them, those invaders wouldn''t have been able to make it into my kingdom!"


    "Tsk, don''t be so boneheaded! After they finish dealing with us, they''ll come for you! Those Faustus bastards want nothing more than to take over our lands and establish their empire or something!"


    "I get your point, Augustus, but is this really all you want in return for helping my son?"


    "I''m only negotiating with you on this. The debt for helping your son out will be paid in a... different way," Augustus replied.


    "Hmph, we have a score to settle with those enemies you''re prattling on about. However, don''t expect us to come to your help! We''ll fight with them on our own terms!"


    "...at least that''s better than watching us fall. I''ll give you weekly updates on the Faustus Archduchy''s latest situation."


    "Whatever, now get on with it, what do you want in return for helping my son?"


    "...I want your son," Augustus simply replied.


    "Huh...?"


    Everyone couldn''t help but look oddly at Augustus for a moment.


    "...You want my son, Luca?" Kaiser asked skeptically.


    "No, not him," Augustus said. He then spun around and pointed towards Cecil. "Who I want is, Cecil, the next patriarch."

 Chapter 345 - Settle It with a Contest

    "...Are you stupid, Augustus? Do you think that just helping out my son, Luca, will warrant you a favor strong enough for my family to give away our heir?" Kaiser said in a suppressed tone of voice. He was obviously trying to contain his anger at how incredibly stupid and outrageous Augustus''s request was.


    "Oh, please. I didn''t mean that I want to take him away! I just want him to be a part of my family!"


    "...You mean to wed him to one of your daughters?!" Anastasia immediately spoke up.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla immediately had dark looks on their faces. Just earlier they were talking about not taking in another woman into Cecil''s cozy little family, but now this old man from an enemy family sprung up this out of the blue.


    Kaiser frowned for a moment and turned to look at Cecil before returning his gaze onto Augustus.


    "Kaiser, don''t you think it''s about time we set aside our families'' past differences? We''re already pioneering a new age of humanity in this world! We earthlings should set aside all past grudges to unite and stand together in this unfamiliar world!"


    "..."


    "I''ve always been going on and on about our two families forming an alliance even from way back when we were still on Earth, but you''ve always been so stubborn!"


    "That''s because our Elders can''t seem to forgive each other! Also, if you didn''t remember, our families were always at odds with each other!"


    "Tch, but at least during my time in power I''ve been trying to reduce those kinds of confrontations! Confrontations in the country''s matters and sectors couldn''t be helped, but the ones in the underground! Weren''t there less of those ever since I became the Goldenia family''s patriarch?!" Augustus argued.


    "..."


    "I''m not trying to force an ethereal or doc.u.mented alliance with you, but one more substantial and tight-knitted, in the form of a marriage between our clan''s youngsters!"


    "...Well, you''re going to have to find another ''youngster''," Cecil immediately stepped forward and said.


    Kaiser silently eyed his son who was clearly against all of this. Augustus grew a little worried at Cecil''s objection but he immediately turned towards Kaiser and said, "Kaiser, have your son stand down! This is a discussion between us patriarchs! Boy, what we''re doing isn''t anything detrimental to you or your family!"


    "If you haven''t noticed, I''m already married!" Cecil replied angrily.


    "Yes, you''re married, to two women if I might add!" Augustus said as he side-eyed Lucia and Serilla. He turned back to Cecil and continued, "What''s the difference if you add just one more woman? Besides, you''ve already met the candidate earlier! Her looks, status, and character doesn''t lose out to those two, so why not?"


    "And why does it have to be me?!"


    Augustus huffed and stopped arguing with Cecil. He turned towards Kaiser and said, "Kaiser, your son cannot be this daft, right?! He''s the next patriarch! This will lead to a stronger bond between our families! Even you yourself have been trying to limit the fighting between our two families when we were on Earth so why not take this chance to put a total stop to it now?! Besides, our original arrangement was to marry my daughter and your son if you haven''t forgotten!"


    Kaiser frowned when he remembered their plan from way back when. Back on Earth, after Cecil had saved Katya when they were young, the Goldenias had a legitimate reason to visit the Silvarias and the two patriarchs, for the first time since their families'' founding, had sat down together to address the problems the two families had against each other and were genuinely trying to resolve it for once.


    Their only solution was to form an alliance, one that was strong enough to deter any of their family members from attacking each other. The only thing they could think about was marrying Cecil to one of Augustus'' daughters and since Cecil had just saved Katya and left a big impression on the girl''s heart, she was obviously the best candidate.


    It was too bad that the proceeding events that had occurred put a stop to all of this. It could have continued once the Earthlings had adapted to their life in the new world, but it was too bad that Cecil was absent and when he did come back, he had already brought home two brides with him.


    It was just like the saying, man proposes but god disposes. Kaiser couldn''t help but shake his head when he lamented on these things.


    "...Things have changed, Augustus. We''ve been brought to this world and all our previous plans had to be trashed. We also have to respect the wishes of the two people involved! One side is clearly not¡ª"


    "Are you going to give up this opportunity? As the patriarch, shouldn''t you be looking at the bigger picture and enforce your decisions on the young ones?!"


    "Like I said, I want to respect my children''s wishes!"


    "Tch, you''ve grown soft, Kaiser!"


    "I was always like this, Augustus. It''s just you who''s too rigid to adjust your plans."


    ''I''ve been able to accomplish my first objective in coming here, which was to secure the Silvaria family''s aid, but this second objective must be brought to fruition no matter what!'' Augustus inwardly thought.


    "Then how about this, can we at least let them get to know each other? Maybe Cecil will have a change of heart once he''s gotten to know my daughter, Katya, after a while."


    Cecil was just about to open his mouth but heard an indistinct cracking sound. He turned around and saw Lucia smiling darkly and strongly gripping her MID, nearly cracking it. Serilla was next to her also calmly smiling back at Cecil but in the boy''s eyes, those weren''t smiles at all.


    "Don''t waste your time, Patriarch Augustus. While your objective is noble, I''m just not willing. Why not marry your daughter to one of my brothers?"


    "My young friend, you just don''t understand the position you are in right now," Augustus replied while exasperatingly shaking his head. "You are going to be the next Silvaria Patriarch! To uphold the alliance between our two families, the Goldenia bloodline must also be a part of the Silvaria family''s succeeding main branch bloodline!"


    Cecil released an exasperated sigh when he couldn''t get through to Augustus''s thick skull. Can''t the man tell that he obviously doesn''t want it? Heck, even the daughter in question looks a reluctant about this arrangement. It''s just that the girl hadn''t spoken up about it.


    "If it wasn''t for the transmigration incident, you would have most likely already hooked up with my daughter by now! She would have been your wife!" Augustus argued.


    "Augustus, that''s enough! The things we''ve planned back then can no longer be carried out at present. Let it go and come up with a new demand for the debt we owe you!" Kaiser spoke up.


    "Then I request for my daughter to live with the Silvarias!"


    Hearing the fast counter from Augustus, Cecil''s face couldn''t help but twitch in annoyance. The man couldn''t force the issue with marriage so he wanted for his daughter to live with the Silvarias in hopes of the girl making her way into the family''s heart and most importantly, Cecil''s heart.


    By then, if the Silvarias wanted to discuss about marriage once more, the Goldenia family would be more than willing to discuss things once again. Kaiser and Anastasia were a little troubled by the request and Cecil couldn''t help but curse the Goldenia family patriarch inwardly.


    ''Damn this old guy! He just can''t give it a rest!''


    Just before he could open his mouth to object, Lucia stood up and asked aloud, "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, if I may suggest?"


    "Eh, Lucia? G-go ahead, dear, what is it?" Anastasia said.


    "Why don''t we hold a contest?"


    "A contest?"


    "Yes, well, you see, father-in-law, back ''there'' whenever there was a dispute like this, one of our customs was that the two people in question would fight with each other! The losers would have to obey whatever it is that the winner requests of them!"


    This was a lie. There was no such custom in any nation of Urrugdrasil. This was something that only happened in the Lunarts family of the Anglaria Kingdom. Yes, it was a custom from Serilla''s family.


    Whenever someone from their family got into a dispute with another about anything, they''d just duke it out with their swords and the loser would have to obey whatever the winner requested. Serilla had whispered this suggestion to Lucia since it seemed that the Goldenia patriarch didn''t want to back down no matter what.


    The two women couldn''t understand why Kaiser and Anastasia just didn''t outright reject the Goldenia family''s request since they were enemies, but it seemed like owing and repaying a favor was something important to the Silvaria family.


    Also, the Silvaria family was indeed looking for a way to stop all enmities with the Goldenia family so this was a good suggestion. The only problem was that Cecil objected to it so Kaiser could only try and find another solution.


    He left the decision to Cecil since if his son wanted to, then he wouldn''t actually mind letting him marry another wife into the family. Of course, Anastasia would have something to say about it later, but that was for later.


    Kaiser honestly thought that Cecil wouldn''t mind since he wasn''t raised with the morals of a normal earthling since he practically grew up in this world where having two wives wasn''t looked down upon in society.


    Cecil was married to Lucia and Serilla legally and lawfully in the Machina Reggio Empire so he thought his son wouldn''t even mind having another beauty to hold in his arms at night. Turns out that wasn''t the case at all. So when he heard Lucia''s suggestion, he immediately clapped his hands and agreed to it.


    "Oh! Is that so? Augustus, why not handle it like this? Since we''re living in a new world, why not let the youngsters battle it out and decide it for themselves?"


    "..."


    Augustus thought for a moment before deciding. He had seen the golden blast of energy that destroyed a portion of the city''s residential area. He looked towards his daughter who was silent and had her head lowered all this time.


    ''I''m sure my daughter won''t lose out to him...right?''


    "I''ll agree to it, but no fatal attacks and if I may add, the two are only allowed to use magic, is that okay?"


    "Magic?"


    "Why yes, my daughter can use magic," Augustus smugly replied.


    "Well, Cecil, what say you?" Kaiser asked.


    "Why not, let''s do this. It''s better than just arguing about it all day!"

 Chapter 346 - Not To Be Trifled With

    Before they went to prepare for the contest, Cecil immediately regretted agreeing to it.


    "Tsk, this is just a pointless waste of time..." Cecil mumbled.


    "What''s that Cecil?" Kaiser asked.


    "Why can''t you just respect my wishes and not do this? I don''t want to marry her and from the looks of it, she doesn''t want to marry me as well!"


    Kaiser turned to look at Katya and saw the suppressed reluctance in her eyes and nodded. Augustus, however, didn''t want to hear any of it and said, "You''re the one who suggested this contest and now you want to back out? Then shall I take this as my daughter''s win?"


    "What?"


    "Or maybe, you''re just too scared to lose?"


    "Scared? Me? Can''t you take a good look at your daughter for once, old guy? She doesn''t even want to be here! Besides, even if she wanted to, I wouldn''t be willing! She''s just not my type!"


    Katya was startled when she heard this and she opened her mouth in shock, "What?!"


    "I said, you''re just not my type!"


    "I''m not your type?!"


    "...yup," Cecil looked at the girl for a moment before turning his eyes away.


    Coincidentally, his gaze turned towards the direction of his two wives. Katya turned to look at the two women and noticed that they possessed something that she was rather lacking in, b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    The two women had huge knockers. The one who had stood up and had suggested the contest had the bigger one out of the two, but the mature looking one had sizeable ones as well. Katya immediately grew incensed and she yelled out.


    "Just because I don''t have big b.r.e.a.s.ts doesn''t mean that I''m any less than them!"


    "Hah?"


    "Huh?"


    "Wuh?"


    The other people inside the hall turned to look at Cecil''s wives to try and compare them with the Goldenia family''s girl. This caused Lucia and Serilla to cover their chests in embarrassment before immediately eyeing Cecil furiously.


    The others in the room began nodding in understanding after making the comparison. This only caused Katya to turn even more furious and further embarrassed Lucia and Serilla, who in turn grew even more furious.


    Cecil had a funny look on his face when he sensed the piercing glares of his wives and the girl in front of him. He scratched his head in confusion before saying, "Did I say something wrong?"


    Katya turned around furiously and walked out of the hall. The other people inside the grand hall only sighed and thought, "Phew, like father, like son, right?"


    Hearing the mumbling, Anastasia blushed while Kaiser only chuckled in contentment, "Haha, that''s ma boy."


    ******


    Once the contest was set to take place, everyone made their way towards the field in front of the family''s dojo. Since they were going to be using only magic in this contest, a wider battlefield would be much more appropriate.


    Cecil switched his clothes from his casuals to his regular combat gear. After hitting their husband a few times, Lucia and Serilla were now constantly reminding him that no matter what beat the girl quickly and end it.


    The three had heard something fascinating from Luca earlier as well. The Goldenia family''s magic spells were much different than the normal ''spells'' that everyone in the Silvaria Kingdom was used to. The Goldenia''s were actually able to use elemental magic to their surprise.


    Cecil didn''t want to be underhanded so he decided to check on his opponent''s body condition with his Mana Eyes once the fight started.


    Katya took a while to get ready because they had to retrieve her clothes from the city. They didn''t have spatial rings like them so it was understandable. During this waiting period, the family''s disciples cleaned up the field and prepared a seating area for the spectators while Lucia began setting up magic boundaries around the field.


    This naturally raised a few brows from the Goldenia family. The speed and ease the woman used the spells were astounding. They couldn''t help but frown knowing that the woman was perhaps a better mage than their Katya.


    Cecil was already on the field stretching his body. Since he wasn''t allowed to use any of his martial arts, weapons, and skills, people were a little skeptical as to why he needed to stretch his body.


    The use of energy waves were banned so Cecil could only use Mana Bolts. His family thought it was a little unfair because the contest''s conditions had placed a huge handicap on him. Of course, this was because they hadn''t seen him use any magic spells.


    They only remembered him using that spell on the large piece of earth that he molded into a building but they also remembered that there was a large complex and intricate magic formation that was used in order to invoke the spell.


    Cecil himself said that it required him a few hours to set up so using spells in that magnitude was obviously not going to happen in this contest.


    After half an hour had passed, Katya had returned to the estate dressed in her battle uniform. Honestly, it was very stylish in Cecil''s opinion. He let the girl stretch and warm up for a bit before asking if she was ready.


    "I''m ready, let''s go."


    "Mhm."


    In Katya''s mind, win or lose, it didn''t matter. If her opponent won, then she wouldn''t have to marry or live with him. If she won, then she could immediately say that her wish wasn''t to marry Cecil. Either way, her father wasn''t going to get what he wanted.


    However, it wasn''t like she was going to purposefully throw the match. She felt a little incensed at the young man standing nonchalantly before her. Katya just felt a little indignant for some reason. She couldn''t understand why, but all she knew was that she was angry at the man in front of her.


    "You ready?" Cecil called out.


    "Hmph, are you ready to be pummeled?"


    "Woah, a feisty one, eh?"


    "Hmph, I''m going to make you eat your words! Just so you know, you''re not my type as well!"


    "Hahaha, let''s get this started then."


    "Do your worst! Just so you know, I''m not holding back!"


    "Good, otherwise this wouldn''t be much of a challenge~"


    "Why you¡ªAccelero Levitas¡ªPhasellus Potentia!"


    Hearing those unfamiliar words, Cecil noticed that a red and light green aura was being drawn to Katya''s body. This intrigued Cecil because he knew that the aura was the ambient mana lingering around in the air.


    Cecil immediately activated his Mana Eyes and upon seeing his pupils change from black to gold, it immediately startled Katya who was closely observing him. In the next instant, she felt as if her body was being invaded by Cecil''s eyes. It was like he was peering deep into her heart and soul.


    "W-what''re you doing?!"


    "Hm?"


    "Pervert, take this! Genero¡ªTerra Fortis Adser, Eructo!"


    "Huh?"


    Cecil immediately sensed the surrounding earth under him begin to churn. He immediately jumped away and when he turned back to look, the earth where he was standing at earlier had erupted into a small forest of earthen spikes.


    "W-what the hell?"


    "Genero¡ªLux Fortis Sphera, Eructo!"


    In the next instant, Cecil''s vision immediately burst into a total whiteness. He was blinded and his ears were ringing. Katya''s magic resembled that of a flash bang and this rendered Cecil a little bit helpless at the moment.


    Katya already knew that she would be affected by her spell as well so she had put up a dark barrier around herself beforehand.


    If Cecil saw this, he would be totally astounded because his opponent had just used Earth, Light, and Dark magic in quick succession. The only indicator of her even casting a spell was when she had yelled out the weird incantation and when the mana had gathered to form her spell.


    It wasn''t like Alterna''s spell system. There was no magic formation involved in her invocation and casting.


    "Genero¡ªAero Fortis Sagitta, Vis!"


    "Oh, shit!"


    Cecil was still blinded and he couldn''t hear anything due to the ringing in his ears, but he felt mana quickly gathering before he felt a wind blow across his skin. He immediately twisted his body and evaded Katya''s spell.


    Luca who was on the sidelines was amazed. Earlier, when the Goldenia family was helping him out, Katya hadn''t done anything and only the other members of group had been firing off spells using their odd incantations.


    Now he understood that the Goldenias had been keeping a trump card hidden away under their sleeves. This girl was actually pushing Cecil back. It could be attributed to the fact that he was caught off guard, but his opponent had banked on that chance and followed it up nicely by chaining and using the correct spell in her arsenal to push Cecil around the battlefield.


    It took a while before Cecil''s hearing and vision returned to normal. During this entire time, he had been constantly running around the battle field whilst dodging the spells Katya threw at him. The girl was happily playing around with her blinded prey, but before long she began to grow annoyed since not one of her spells had hit him.


    He was blinded and his listening was impaired so how could she not have landed a single spell on the man? She started setting up defenses around herself before she gathered a large amount of mana and yelled, "Stay still dammit! Caelus Sera!"


    "Ugh, what?!"


    Cecil felt his body stop in place after Katya invoked her spell. He felt as if his body was being shackled by invisible chains. He activated Hyper Sensitivity and started observing his body and his surroundings.


    ''Damn, this girl can manipulate space?!''


    With his eyes, Cecil saw that the mana all around him had solidified in place, putting him inside an invisible cage.


    ''Dammit, I''m starting to like this girl!''


    Cecil growled and activated his Transformation Spell from his pact with Silver. His hair grew and his body started transforming.


    "Huh?" Katya exclaimed in shock when she saw Cecil''s change. Before she could do anything, her opponent had suddenly disappeared before she felt one of her spells being broken through from behind her.


    "Eh?"


    She saw the transformed Cecil moving his ''claws'' straight at her neck before her opponent suddenly stopped and disappeared again. He appeared once again in front of Katya, a distance away, and said, "Oops, I''m sorry. I forgot that I wasn''t allowed to use any physical attacks..."


    Katya was a little bit confused. She knew that she had just lost earlier, but upon hearing Cecil''s words, she grew infuriated.


    "Y-you... You''re mocking me!!!"


    "What?"


    "Genero Multis¡ªIgnis Valis Guran, Vibro Fortis Sagitta, Terra Valis Cures!"


    When Katya began casting her spells, Cecil immediately activated his Mana Eyes and watched her closely while at the same time activating Hyper Sensitivity and writing down his own spell formations using both his hands.


    He was multi-tasking but took priority in observing Katya''s way of invoking spells.


    ''Hmm, that''s interesting!''


    "Ah wait... this might be a little bad..." Cecil mumbled when he saw the multiple large fireballs, lightning arrows, and earth lances...


    "TAKE THIS¡ªVIS!"


    At her last word, the spells hovering in the air immediately bombarded Cecil in the next instant.

 Chapter 347 - You Lose

    When the spells rushed forth towards Cecil, he immediately responded by quickly invoking his magic spells.


    His fingers danced and one by one, earth, water, and fire barriers sprung forth in front of him. This new development surprised his family members and also his opponent.


    "Y-You can use magic spells too?!"


    "Whoever said that I couldn''t?" Cecil smirked before saying, "Your method of casting spells using those weird incantations is new to me. I''m quite interested in it! You''re somehow able to manipulate the ambient mana with your chants. So instead of using your own mana to form your spells, you use¡ª"


    "¡ªThe natural mana in the air! Wow, you''re pretty smart!" Katya finished his words and exclaimed in surprise before continuing, "But that doesn''t mean I''m going to let you off! Genero Multis¡ªLux Fortis Guran, Vis!"


    Cecil started dodging the Light bullets that were fired at him. He continued analyzing the way Katya used her spells while at the same time he didn''t let up in creating his own defensive spells.


    ''...she''s using mana from the environment so she can continue invoking spells indefinitely as long as she has mana to continue casting and it seems that the variations in her chants determine how much mana she uses, the spell''s form, element, and strength. It''s truly intriguing!''


    "Hmm, I wonder what kind of magic language that is..."


    Cecil had only been defending and dodging throughout the entire battle and this vexed Katya immensely. She was also feeling very unsettled as time passed because of the way Cecil was looking at her. Those golden eyes of his seemed to be undressing her and peeling away at her body and soul.


    "S-Stop looking at me like that!!!"


    Cecil was a little puzzled by what Katya was going on about. It''s not like he could just stop looking at her, they were in the middle of a battle for goodness sakes. If he took his eyes off of her for even a moment then it might spell his downfall.


    Seeing as Cecil was still looking at her with those golden eyes of his, Katya immediately began chanting, "Genero¡ªNox Aqua Fluctus, Umbra!"


    After finishing her chant, a dark water curtain enveloped the area 3 meters around her.


    "Hm? A barrier?"


    The dark barrier obscured his target but Cecil didn''t actually need to see her since he could just pinpoint Katya''s mana signature and still keep an eye on her. However, since he couldn''t see or hear what was going on behind the dark water barrier, Cecil had to rely on his mana sense to prevent himself from being caught in some sort of surprise attack.


    Behind the water curtain, Katya still had a perfect vision of the outside. She had created the barrier so that others wouldn''t be able to see her from outside but she could still see perfectly clear from inside. Katya could still feel Cecil''s gaze on her but she didn''t mind it as much now since it no longer felt like she was being slowly stripped.


    "Heh, let''s see you look at me with those repulsive eyes now! Genero Multis¡ªNox Valis Sagitta, Vis!"


    Multiple black arrows began firing at Cecil from behind the barrier. Katya kept on sending her spells at Cecil, but she was slowly exhausting her mana little by little. After another few rounds of attacking her opponent, Katya immediately stopped.


    "Hah... haaa... haaaah... h-how come...I can''t hit him?"


    Cecil noticed that the girl had stopped casting her spells. He tilted his head in confusion before seeing that her mana had fallen low.


    "Hm, let''s end this. I''ve retrieved plenty of data already," Cecil mumbled to himself before he began casting the Mid-Tier spells, Cyclone and Ice Storm.


    The two spells emerged from their spell formations and Cecil directed them at Katya''s water curtain. When his opponent saw the two approaching mid-tier spells, she immediately started casting some defensive spells around her.


    When the spells hit the barrier, the Ice Storm froze the water curtain before it was slowly crushed by the Cyclone. Cecil followed it up by casting multiple Flame Lances, Earth Lances, Ice Lances, and Wind Lances in quick succession. He sent the payload straight at Katya and this caused the girl to pale in fright.


    ''J-Just how much mana does he have?!'' Katya inwardly screamed while she continued casting more defensive spells around her.


    Cecil''s hands didn''t stop moving and he continued drawing the spell formations for Geyser and Lava Storm. After his spells pierced through the majority of Katya''s defenses, he immediately sent a Lava Storm at her and secretly placed a Geyser just below her.


    "Ugh, y-you''re relentless..." Katya said as she barely dodged a lava bolt. It was taking up all of her concentration to even keep up with Cecil''s casting speed.


    Cecil wasn''t chanting anything and only moving his hands to form spell formations but judging by the complexity of each spell formation, Katya knew that his casting speed should be impossible if done by a normal human being.


    Not only that, but she felt¡ªno, not feel, but she knew that the young man in front of her was holding back this entire time. Yes, there were many handicaps placed on him and Katya knew this, but even then, her opponent hadn''t once broken a sweat since the start of the match, and not once was she able to successfully land an attack on him. In fact, after taking a closer, Katya noticed that she hadn''t even been able to touch his clothes!


    "Th-this guy, he''s totally out of my league..." Katya said as she clenched her fists tightly. She released a breath before she started chanting, "Genero¡ª"


    "Alright, stop right there! You lose, Katya," Cecil interrupted.


    "W-what?"


    "Once I snap my fingers, my last spell will hit you and I''ll tell you, it''s going to hurt, a lot. So you either surrender now, or I blast you away from where you stand."


    "Hah, just try it! Aqua Sagi¡ªeh?"


    Cecil snapped his fingers and from below Katya''s feet, the earth began to heat up rapidly before it burst open and a large Geyser erupted from underneath her feet, sending the poor girl flying high into the air.


    "AHHHHH!!!"


    She slammed hard into the barrier surrounding their battlefield before she started falling. Cecil debated on whether he should go and catch her, but after feeling the piercing glares of the people outside of the barrier, he sighed and flashed underneath the girl and gently caught her.


    "O-ow..."


    "Told ya it would hurt..."


    "Urk..." Katya was just about to yell at Cecil but immediately flinched at the pain she was feeling from all over her body. She could only weakly lay in Cecil''s embrace.


    Cecil was just about to walk out of the barrier with the girl in his arms but this time he felt a different kind of glare being directed at him and he immediately dropped the girl whilst raising his hands up indicating that he was innocent.


    "OUCH! Hey, what was that for?!"


    "Good match," Cecil briefly said before quickly walking away.


    Katya struggled to pick herself off the ground before she pouted at Cecil who was now out of the barrier. She began grumbling to herself while making her way towards her family.


    The entire course of the battle was an eye-opener for everyone present. This was especially so for the Earthlings. They thought that they wouldn''t be able to use elemental spells at all but now, two of their own kind had shown that they were able to and they had used 2 different methods to use them.


    "It seems that magic is something that we can use!"


    "Did you see that Goldenia girl? She was using spells through incantations just like the natives of this world!"


    "I know but did you see the young patriarch? His method of using spells is much different from the natives but it was much faster! That Goldenia chick couldn''t even keep up with him!"


    "The girl stood no chance! It was obvious from the start that the young patriarch could have easily ended things but why didn''t he?"


    "Mercy maybe? I mean, it''d be too harsh to just end things right after it just began, right? It''d be a huge humiliation to the girl, though I wouldn''t mind it much because she''s still just a Goldenia!"


    "Heh, it looks like Augustus isn''t going to get what he wants now that Cecil''s won the match."


    "Haha, he''s already fuming silently over there! Take a good look everyone!"


    "Serves him right!"


    "It''s a pity that talented girl is a part of the Goldenias, she''d be much better suited in the Silvaria family, not to mention she''d be better nurtured. Did you see her fight? She was just standing there in once place like a sitting duck!"


    "Hey, you can''t blame them. After all, they don''t have any martial senses like our family!"


    Hearing the Silvaria family boast so proudly, Augustus was silently fuming. He couldn''t believe that Cecil was talented in even this regard. No, talent was an understatement, he was a genius! It was all the more reason that he had to tie Katya to the Silvaria family now. He tried hard to think about how to go about this, but he couldn''t find any plausible plan.


    After making her way back to her family, Katya was carefully tending to her injuries and massaging the bruises on her body. Earlier, she had slammed into the barrier quite severely. Out of the goodness of her heart, Angelia, the little angel of the Silvaria family, made her way over to Katya and offered to heal her.


    Katya didn''t refuse Angelia''s help, especially since the little girl had kindly asked her if she needed help AND she was just too adorable to refuse. She could just imagine the sullen look on this little girl''s face if she rejected her help.


    ''Yup, I don''t want that...I mean look at this little thing. She''s just so adorable~''


    After Angelia had dealt with most of her injuries, Katya was amazed at her ability. She smiled brightly and thanked the little girl.


    "Thank you, Angelia! You''re such a good girl, but I can''t believe a cute angel like you is actually that devil''s little sister..."


    "Devil?" Angelia tilted her head in confusion. "Oh, you must mean my big brother?"


    "Yes, that perverted beast... just how is he your brother?"


    "Hey, don''t insult my brother! What did he ever do to you?" Angelia argued back.


    "Huh? Didn''t you see how he was looking at me with those eyes of his? Well, he does have two wives so it''s no wonder he kept on looking at me with such a lewd look..."


    "What''re you talking about? He was only using his Mana Eyes in the fight...he never uses that on small fries so you should be honored!"


    "Mana Eyes?"


    "Yup! It''s my big brother''s ability that lets him see ma¡ªwait, what are you making me say?! Are you trying to pry info about my brother from me?!" Angelia cautiously questioned.


    "Huh? N-no, I was just curious..."


    "Oh? Well, I guess it wouldn''t hurt to tell you. My brother wasn''t looking at you weirdly, his eyes are special, and that''s all! He can see Mana whenever they turn gold. And just so you know, it''s apparently a forbidden technique that should kill you if you obtain it but he was able to master it and use it whenever he wants! My big bro''s just that awesome!" Angelia boasted proudly.


    "I-I see...Hmm, no wonder he was able to deduce how I was casting my elemental spells in the midst of battle¡ªAh, that must be how he was able to dodge and defend against all of my spells! Since he can see the mana gather together before the spell is formed, then it''s like he''s got an early warning system against magic spells! That''s just cheating, no fair!" Katya complained.


    Angelia started giggling at Katya when she heard her mumbling some complaints at Cecil. Angelia found the young lady before her to be quite friendly and unlike all of the negative rumors she''s heard about the Goldenia family from the grownups at home.


    On Cecil''s side, he was sitting down with his wives and discussing Katya''s unique spell casting method.


    "So, you''ve basically deduced most of how she''s been casting her spells, Cel?" Lucia asked after questioning her husband about his pitiful performance in the earlier fight.


    However, it was just like she had predicted, her husband was dragging things out just so that he could see more of Katya''s unique casting method in hopes of being able to copy it.


    He had gained most of what he needed but there were a few things that were missing, the most important one was what magic language used in the invocation of the spells.


    "Almost, Lulu, I only know that the variations in her chants determine the nature of her spells and how much mana she uses when she invokes them, but I''m still unsure as to what magic language she''s using. It''s much different than yours Lulu and the language somehow sounds familiar, it''s like I''ve heard of it before..."


    "Why not just ask her, darling?" Serilla asked.


    "I don''t think she''d be even willing to explain anything. Too bad that she''s from the Goldenia family. If she was from our kingdom, we could have asked her to explain things to us so that we''d be able to create a better spellcasting method for our people...mine is just a little bit... well, you know, complex."


    Lucia and Serilla thought long and hard for a moment before the two eyed each other in unison. It seemed that they were thinking the very same thing.


    "Cel, since you won, request for her to stay in our kingdom..." Lucia suggested.


    "Huh?"


    "It''s not like I''m telling you to marry her, okay? I''m just telling you to keep her close to us! Once we befriend her, we can slowly learn more and more about her spell casting method. It''s better than having her leave and return to her family. It''d bring us no benefits at all and if she were to spread her methods to the rest of her family''s kingdom, then it''ll spell trouble for us much later on if they decide to one day turn their fangs against us!"


    "Hmm, that''s a sound argument. Okay then, I''ll tell them that since I''m the winner, she has to stay here with us."


    "Darling~ you better not get any ideas, okay?" Serilla reminded with a gentle smile that wasn''t a smile.


    "Tch, don''t worry, alright? I already have enough problems dealing with you two..."


    "What''s that supposed to mean, Cel?"


    "Darling~ are you saying that we''re a problem?"


    The two girls had a frightening look on their faces but Cecil quickly escaped by flashing over to his father who was currently talking with Augustus.


    "Father..."


    "Ah, Cel. You''re here. Well, since you won, we''ll listen to what you want, right Augustus?"


    "...Yes..." Augustus replied in a sullen tone.


    "Oh, good, well then, my request is that she stays and lives with us in our kingdom."


    "Ah, okay, we''ll immediately send them off¡ªwait... what? What did you say, Cecil?" Kaiser thought he heard wrongly and asked again.


    "I want her to stay with us."


    "Huh? You want her to stay?"


    "You want her to stay?!" Augustus cried out in surprise before immediately turning joyful.


    Hearing her father''s cry, Katya immediately whipped her head over before she stood up and rushed towards them.


    "W-what? Stay? What do you mean?!" She loudly asked after arriving next to them.


    "Katya, did you hear that? Cecil wants you to stay!" Augustus joyfully said.


    "F-father...what...?" Katya looked over at Cecil and immediately questioned him. "Hey, you, what do you mean by all of this?! I thought you were against marrying me!"


    "I don''t mean anything. I just want you to stay. I''m quite interested in you now," Cecil said with a smile.


    Katya paled and she immediately cried out in a stutter, "S-s-s-s-so two wasn''t enough? Y-y-you... you want three now?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"


    "Huh? What''re you¡ª"


    "Don''t think I''ll ever consent to marry you! You big pervert!"


    "HAH? Pervert?! What the hell are you talking about, you crazy hag?!"


    "I saw how you were looking at me during the fight! You were staring at me like you were trying to undress me with your eyes!"


    "Hey! I never looked at you like that!"


    "Uhh, yeah you were! I''ve had enough of those stares from when I was in the Faustus Archduchy! I know a pervert when I see one!"


    "Shut up! I''m no pervert! You must be blind if you think I''ll ever look at you like that!"


    "Oh, really?! Is it because I don''t have a large rack like your wives?!"


    "YEAH!" Cecil immediately roared in reply. His tone was as if he was stating the obvious and it immediately infuriated Katya.


    "WHY YOU!"


    Listening to their odd argument, everyone was taken aback. They had only just met but they were now having a lover''s spat. Lucia and Serilla had a dark look on their face as they made their way over to Cecil. The way their husband worded it sounded like he wanted to wed Katya. It was just like him to say whatever was on his mind without explaining anything.


    They arrived on either side of their husband. They then pulled him by the ear and forcibly dragged him away.


    "Ow-ow-ow-ow!!! W-wait, Lulu, Seri, stop! I''m still not done talking with that hag!"

 Chapter 348 - It’s Just English

    After being forcefully dragged to the mansion, Lucia and Serilla sat him down in the living room.


    "Sheesh, I wasn''t done talking yet! How dare that little...calling me a pervert...I''ll show her!" Cecil grumbled.


    "You won''t be showing her anything, Cel!"


    "Darling, you should honestly start watching the way you speak. The way you put your words earlier made it sound like you wanted to marry her..."


    "What? I didn''t say anything like that! I only said I was interested in her!"


    "Yeah, that''s all you said... and that''s the problem!" Lucia quipped.


    "How''s that the problem? I''m only interested in her magic, that''s all!" Cecil countered in his defense.


    "Well, you didn''t explain any of that did you darling?"


    "...well, no, but¡ª"


    "And that''s why that girl started flaring out on you! You could do well in being more specific with your words, darling~"


    "Ugh...it''s such a pain to explain things though..."


    "Really? Then how come you were so eager to explain things back at the school?" Lucia asked.


    "That''s different. Those are just students so it''s only natural I explain stuff to them."


    "Hmmm..."


    "Who cares about all that? Most, importantly, darling, welcome home~" Serilla smilingly said while pulling him into her embrace.


    "O-oh? Y-yeah, I''m home, Seri..."


    "Seri, what about me?!" Lucia whined.


    "Hehe, you as well, Lulu, welcome home~"


    "I''m gonna go take a bath, Cel, you should take one too!"


    "Oh, sure, let''s go then..."


    Cecil and Lucia stood up and headed towards the bathroom, but unbeknownst to them, the other Silvaria family members along with Katya had just walked into the house and saw their exchange.


    "P-p-pervert!" Katya yelled.


    "Huh? Ah, it''s you, you stupid hag! What''re you doing in my house?!" Cecil pointed.


    "Huh? You''re the one who wanted me here!"


    "Tch, whatever..."


    Cecil clicked his tongue and turned away. He went towards the second floor to take a bath together with his wife.


    After their bath, the couple went back down to the family''s dining hall. Unfortunately for Cecil, Katya was now there with them. Her luggage had already been transported to the mansion and the family had already allocated a room for her.


    Kaiser had already returned back to the mansion after he escorted the Goldenia family back to their lodgings within the city. Of course, he assigned some extra protection for them since they were ''esteemed'' guests of their kingdom.


    Once dinner started, Kaiser and Anastasia began having a casual conversation with Katya. They wanted her to feel at ease while inside the mansion and right now, she was far from feeling at ease.


    She still had a nervous expression and her actions while eating were a little stiff and awkward. Well, she was basically forced to live here after Cecil put in his request. She was honestly glad that Cecil was at first averse to marrying her but now that she was in this situation, she only thought of him as a pervert.


    She kept on glaring at him during the entire dinner session and by the time everyone was almost finished eating, Cecil could no longer bear with the glaring.


    "Hey, what''s that look for huh?!"


    "...I''m just glaring at a pervert, that''s all..." Katya mumbled.


    "You keep calling me that! Listen here, I''m no pervert, you got that?"


    "Hmph, sure you''re not... In the grand hall you were going on and on about not wanting to marry me but look now, you''ve requested me to come live with you... you''re just another fickle and debaucherous man!"


    Lucia and Serilla obviously weren''t going to take that lying down.


    "Hey, you take that back!" Lucia demanded. While Serilla darkly said, "Hmph, you better watch your mouth, little girl. My husband isn''t a fickle or a debaucherous person..."


    Katya didn''t back down from the confrontation and replied, "I won''t take that back! And so what if I said he''s a fickle guy?! It''s the truth anyway! He was staring at me lewdly even when we were fighting! Well, prove me wrong!"


    Lucia immediately glared at her and said, "Just so you know, there''s no way my Cel would even look at you that way. During battle, all he was doing was looking at you with his Mana Eyes. All he was doing was analyzing your technique, nothing more, nothing less."


    "My husband was only interested in your spellcasting technique, don''t get over your head and think that he''s interested in you as a woman. He''s too dense for that," Serilla added.


    "D-dense?" Katya puzzlingly let out.


    "Hey! What''s that supposed to mean?"


    "Cel, be quiet. For once, your denseness is helping you!"


    "..."


    Cecil''s other family members only took in the exchange the 4 people were having and decided to remain quiet and talk about other things amongst themselves. It was better for them to set things straight now and stop any further misunderstandings.


    "You two are saying he''s only interested in my spellcasting method and decided to keep me by his side just so that he could learn more?"


    "Yeah, I''ll have you know. Our Cel is like a curious puppy who''s interested in just about anything that he''s never seen or heard of before! Since your spellcasting is something we''ve never seen before, it''s only natural that he''ll be curious about it!"


    "Hey, I''m not a pup¡ª"


    "Darling, shut up," Serilla quickly said.


    "..."


    "Hmmm..."


    While Katya remained silent in thought, Lucia and Serilla returned back to eating their meal after seeing that their point had gotten through to the girl.


    Cecil had already finished his third plate of food and was feeling a little bored. He did want to talk to Katya about her spellcasting method and he couldn''t wait to do so. So, like a stupid person, he stupidly opened his mouth and asked Katya, "Hey!"


    "Hm?"


    "I''ll show you mine if you show me yours!"


    "HAH?!"


    Everyone in the dining hall, including the servants, turned to look at Cecil incredulously. Lucia and Serilla were just about to pound Cecil on the head and Katya was about to yell at him but they stopped because Cecil began drawing a spell formation in the air in front of him.


    His fingers were moving rapidly and he swiftly completed the magic circle for Water Ball. The magic quickly invoked and soon a ball of water was floating right on top of Cecil''s hand.


    "Pretty neat, huh? Well, your turn?"


    "...Hmph, I don''t want to!"


    "Hah? Aw, come on! I saw that you were curious about my method during the battle! Since I''m letting you see it now, shouldn''t you do the same for me?!"


    "...tsk, so pushy..."


    "Well, that''s because I''m curious! Come on, show me!"


    "...fine..."


    Katya was just about to cast spell but before that, Cecil immediately activated his Mana Eyes and waited for her to begin. Katya saw the change in Cecil''s pupils and she couldn''t help but stare back at him.


    "Huh? What''s wrong? Aren''t you going to do it?"


    "...Do you normally do that when looking at people?"


    "Do what?"


    "You know...change the color of your eyes?"


    "...no, I don''t. I only use it when I''m fighting and when I need to analyze a magical sequence. Why? Do you feel bothered that I''m trying to analyze you?"


    "...It feels weird..."


    "Huh... you''re the first person to say that. You must be pretty sensitive to mana if you''re able to feel bothered by me looking at you with my Mana Eyes."


    "It''s like you''re trying to strip away my clothes when you look at me like that. And frankly, I find that disturbing...not to mention perverted!"


    "...what the hell..."


    "Better be careful, if you keep staring at me like that I might get the wrong idea, y''know~"


    "Huh?"


    "And I''m not sure if your wives will like that~" Katya added playfully.


    After observing them for a while, Katya had figured out Cecil''s weakness and that was his wives. And just like she thought, Lucia and Serilla were immediately glaring at Cecil from both sides of him.


    "...Lulu, Seri, I''m only looking at her normally. I can''t help it if she finds that my Mana Eyes are a little bit...invading..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Hihihi~ well, whatever. Anyway here, I''ll show you. Genero¡ªAqua," Katya chanted and a small blob of water materialized right in front of her.


    "Hmm..." Cecil stared seriously at the blob of water floating in front of Katya for a while. Everyone else grew curious and turned their attention at the 2. They didn''t understand what Cecil was looking for as he seriously stared at the blob of water.


    A few minutes of this silent exchange, Katya was starting to feel a little puzzled and so was everyone else, at least until Cecil started counting down for some reason.


    "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... poof?"


    Right after he finished counting down, the blob of water floating in front of Katya immediately dispersed into the air, returning back into mana.


    "Ah! I knew it!"


    "Hm?"


    "Your mana only attracts the surrounding mana for a time until it naturally disperses back into the air. Your mana is the anchor that allows your spells to materialize temporarily. It''s unlike the natives of this world who use their own mana to create something that''ll last indefinitely. Of course, this only applies to some spells."


    "So there''s that much of a difference? Hm, it doesn''t matter though. As long as the purpose of my spells is completed, it doesn''t matter if they last indefinitely or not."


    "What kind of magic language are you using?"


    When Katya, Cecil''s parents, siblings, and the family''s servants all heard Cecil''s question, they turned to look at him weirdly all of a sudden.


    "Huh? What magic language? I''m using English, our mother language... hey, are you stupid or something?"


    "Wait... what?"


    "Big brother, seriously, you didn''t realize that?" Angelia called out in amused surprise. She then started teasing him. "Hahaha~ big brother, are you an alien who doesn''t know English?"


    "...You were using English? H-How, I mean..." Cecil closed his eyes and replayed his fight with Katya all over in his head before realizing it. "Argh... It wasn''t some kind of magic language...it was just English! I haven''t used that language in such a long time that I nearly forgot about it!"


    This was true, and even now, he''s been using Alterna''s common language ever since he returned to his family. His parents and family were already adept at it so he didn''t think twice about using it and only felt that it was natural.


    He had been using the language for so long that he nearly forgot about his mother tongue. Well, who could blame him? He had spent 6 years in this world without ever hearing a single English word and when he finally found his family, they had been using Alterna''s common language with him from day 1.


    Well, this was mostly influenced by the fact that they had been using it due to Lucia and Serilla who they thought didn''t know the language. Lucia knew a little bit of English while Serilla only knew a few words, and most of them were just food and cooking related words.


    "Ahhh, no wonder I found it so familiar...it was my own language! God, I am an idiot..."

 Chapter 349 - Another One?

    Hearing the man calling himself an idiot, Katya immediately opened her mouth and agreed with him.


    "Yeah, you totally are an idiot... Also, can you not look at me with those eyes? It''s bothering me..."


    "...Sorry..." Cecil said as he turned off his Mana Eyes.


    Seeing his pupils turn back into their original black color, Katya was rather fascinated by it.


    "Hey, hey~ can I see you do that again?"


    "Huh? Do what?"


    "You know... the thing with your eyes!"


    "Oh? Uhh... sure?"


    Cecil activated his Mana Eyes again and Katya quickly told him to turn it back off which he naturally did. The girl couldn''t help but giggle when she saw such an interesting ability.


    She immediately asked, "What''s it like?"


    "What''s what like?"


    "You know, to see through those eyes?"


    "...It''s fascinating, that''s all I can say~" Cecil said with a smirk.


    Katya smiled at him and asked, "Can you really see mana? What''s it like? Can you touch it? What color is it?"


    "S-slow down a little. Yes, I can see mana. I don''t think there''s anything special about it, it''s just there... well, I guess that''s because I got so used to seeing it all the time. No, I can''t touch it because it''s just like the air. It only passes through my hands and if I try gathering it using my mana it''ll only infuse itself into my body. As for the color...well, all Earthlings are the same, we all have a golden colored mana."


    "Really? That''s interesting! We''re all golden!"


    "Mhm, but it''s not the same for the planet''s natives. Each person has a different color based on what kind of magical element they can use. Red for Fire, blue for Water, light green for Wind, dirt yellow for Earth, light purple for lightning, white for Light, and black for Dark!"


    "So what you see must be a colorful world then~"


    "Yeah, I guess!"


    Seeing the pleasant conversation the two were having, Lucia began to pout while Serilla had an amused look on her face.


    "Sure is nice, huh Cel?" Lucia mumbled from next to him.


    "What''s that Lulu?"


    "Nothing..."


    "Hehe, are you jealous?" Cecil poked fun at her.


    "Tsk... if you keep on doing that, you''re gonna make her fall for you..."


    "Too late, I think she''s already starting to~" Serilla whispered.


    The 3 were talking in quiet voices so Katya couldn''t hear much from sitting across them, but she did hear about someone falling or something.


    "Is something wrong? I heard you say that someone fell?"


    Cecil immediately looked back up at her and hastily replied, "Haha, n-nothing''s wrong!"


    "Well, someone did fall, or at least is about to fall~" Serilla teased.


    Lucia only clicked her tongue at her sister''s words and started glaring at Cecil. Her eyes quickly read that if he were to start flirting with her again, she''d immediately start cutting him up with her Shirayuki.


    "D-don''t worry, Lulu. No one''s falling or anything, alright?"


    Katya only tilted her head in question at their odd conversation. She continued eating her dinner and while doing that, she was reminded of Cecil''s unique spellcasting method. It was intriguing since it seemed that he didn''t even need to think to even draw those spell formations.


    All he needed to do was draw a few shapes in the air and the formation miraculously appeared and a spell was invoked in the next second. It was much faster than her voice invocation magic at least.


    She wanted to ask more about it but Cecil suddenly stood up and excused himself from the room. He already finished eating and said that he was about to go and do something. Ren also quickly finished his food and asked to be excused as well. Then the two strolled out of the dining hall together.


    Lucia, Serilla, and Angelia couldn''t help but frown when they saw the two walk out together. The three girls immediately knew what they were going to do and where they were going.


    "Those two idiots, they''re going to the workshop!" Lucia said.


    "We better stop them. They just got back and immediately they want to start working again," Serilla added.


    "Let''s go, let''s go~" Angelia said as she stood up from her seat.


    Seeing the unfinished food her daughter had left behind, Anastasia immediately stopped her and said,


    "Angel, let the big sisters go and do it. You, young lady, better finish your food!"


    "Aww, come on, mom..."


    "Finish it like little Ren did!"


    Angelia looked at Ren''s empty plate which was being taken away by the servants. She sighed before walking back to her seat.


    "Fine..."


    "Good girl~"


    "Mother, father, Seri and I will be excusing ourselves. We''re going to go stop that fool and his apprentice," Lucia said.


    "Go, go. That boy, he just came back from the war and he''s already trying to continue with his work... make sure you tell him to rest for a few days before he goes back to his work," Anastasia said.


    "Yes, mother."


    Lucia and Serilla immediately stood up from their seats and walked out of the hall. Katya was a little confused by what they meant. It was already night time so she couldn''t help but wonder what kind of work could Cecil possibly be doing?


    "Uhm... Patriarch, Matriarch... this may not be my place to ask, but what kind of work does Cecil do?" Katya politely asked.


    Hearing her polite but rather stiff form of addressing them, Anastasia immediately replied to her, "Dear, you don''t need to call us Patriarch and Matriarch...just call us Uncle and Aunt! Sooner or later, you might be calling us mother and father after all~"


    "...I''ll stick with calling you two Uncle and Aunt...but please don''t have any expectations of me calling you two mother and father... Uh, I mean no disrespect at all by saying that..."


    "Don''t worry~ we''re just hoping after all! You''re such a fine young lady. If Cecil still wasn''t married to anybody, we would be pretty satisfied with you already~" Anastasia said.


    "Ana, don''t say such misleading things. It''s like you want our son to marry one more time..." Kaiser said.


    "Well~ he already has two~"


    "Ana!"


    "I''m just kidding! Aish, can''t you take a joke or are you too old for that?" Anastasia teased.


    Kaiser sighed and said, "I honestly can''t tell whether you''re just joking or you''re being serious. Look, you''re making Katya embarrassed."


    Anastasia giggled when she saw the red faced Katya who had her head dipped and was silently and quickly eating her food.


    ''J-Jeez...this family is just way too playful... they''re totally different to how my family describes them...'' Katya inwardly thought.


    Unlike her family, none of the Silvarias was stiff or too rigid with their customs and traditions. After spending a few hours with them, she figured that none of them cared too much about their traditions.


    Everyone was casual with each other and from the looks of it, there was no scheming or behind the scenes fights and collusion between the siblings. They all acknowledge Cecil being the next patriarch and no one wanted to even vie for the position. Katya noticed that each Silvaria siblings seemed to already have their own goal in mind.


    "...if only I was born a Silvaria..." Katya mumbled silently.


    She felt the change in her environment to be quite pleasing. Back at her home, she had to worry so much about her etiquette and manners. Well, it''s not like the Silvarias were uncultured or anything, but it''s just that they paid less attention to the rigid customs that normal ancient families had going on in their homes.


    They were much more modern and placed less emphasis on those kinds of things. Of course, Katya didn''t know that Cecil was practically forced into the successor''s position due to his grandfather and father, but even if she knew, she wouldn''t care and instead she would just laugh at him.


    She found it all refreshing, since here, she didn''t have to watch her back and constantly look over her shoulders. In her family, her siblings were always constantly gunning for each other and trying to outdo one another so that their father would select them to be the next leader candidate.


    They also had to worry about their uncles, aunts, and cousins from the main and branch families. She felt as if a large burden had been lifted from her heart once she realized that she no longer had to care about all that now that she was living with the Silvarias.


    She hadn''t been staying with them for so long yet, but she felt like she was finally able to relax now. Katya''s only hope was that later on Cecil wouldn''t actually try to ask for her hand in marriage because he had taken a stronger more intimate liking to her. She also hoped that she wouldn''t fall in love with him because if she did... she probably wouldn''t be able to stand it and might do something irrational just like what she did with her previous beloved back in the Faustus Archduchy.


    Her recklessness had led to her family now facing many problems. Of course, she hoped that even if this did happen, the Silvarias wouldn''t take advantage of her and try to harm her family. The whole point of her even coming to the Silvarias, was so that the two families would form a stronger bond with each other and hopefully end all enmities with one another.


    "Ohh... I just hope that I don''t fall for that perverted man..."

 Chapter 350 - Developments

    Just like the two set out to do, Lucia and Serilla were able to prevent Cecil from holing up in his workshop for a few days.


    His work on the Teleportation Gate was important and he was doing it for their sake as well, but honestly, the girls just wanted to spend more time with him now than ever. Serilla especially since she''s been having those odd mood swings due to her pregnancy.


    During the break time, Cecil spent time with his family and also helped out with his father''s work in managing the kingdom.


    They provided ample rewards to the soldiers that took part in the recent war against Merkruz and the two cities that they had obtained were already given to their subordinates to manage.


    The Sciezle family was given the rights to manage Central Light City and was also given the task to monitor the Silvaria Branch families that were going to be moved to this city. West Wind City was going to be managed by the Coppernium family.


    The trade routes that they had acquired were also going to be managed by them since they were the ones in charge of the kingdom''s economic sector. With the new trade routes that lead to places other than just the Regulus Kingdom, more and more government companies could be established to manage a sector of the trade that they would be conducting.


    With the announcement of such things, more citizens began looking for employment or start a company on their own. The kingdom didn''t monopolize all of the benefits they got from the war and shared it with the entire populace.


    The kingdom needed to rebuild West Wind City since the army had laid waste to it during the war so the government announced that they needed volunteers who wanted to rebuild and reside in the city located outside of the kingdom. It was well received by the citizens since many were curious about the outside world and due to that, there were many applicants.


    In the past years, the valley was growing too crowded for everyone to live in so they expanded outwards but even then, the valley was already growing much too crowded again. There was also the problem of monsters within the No-Man''s Lands so it was hard for citizens to migrate from one city to another.


    Of course, Cecil had suggested some things like forming their own Adventurer Guild that would issue out rewarded tasks to volunteering citizens, who wanted to become adventurers, to periodically kill the monsters.


    Cecil was already an experienced adventurer so he knew the ins and outs of becoming one. He was also aware of the ranking system''s purpose so he needed to research a bit more on the monsters within the No-Man''s Land before he could establish his kingdom''s Adventurer Guild.


    He didn''t want Alterna''s Adventurer Guild to come into their kingdom due to their special circ.u.mstances, but he wasn''t all that averse to the concept of it. After all, it was basically like a volunteer army of citizens who would do menial tasks that the army couldn''t do just to receive a few coins.


    Cecil was going to take advantage of this system to urge the citizens of the kingdom to train and stand up for themselves against the monsters that were threatening them. He was also recently informed that there were a few martial arts masters residing in the kingdom who were against joining the army but were for defending the kingdom.


    They didn''t join the army but would volunteer to defend the kingdom in the case of a monster attack. Since they didn''t want to join the army, then maybe the adventurer guild''s reward system would instigate them into going out into the lands and kill a few monsters for the kingdom.


    Kaiser thought it was a brilliant plan so he approved of it. Most of the areas near their kingdom''s lands have already been doc.u.mented in the kingdom''s archives so the information was handed over to Cecil and he quickly started ranking the monsters, plants, and materials based on how rare they were and how much the kingdom needed them.


    The Kingdom''s Adventurer Guild was only going to be running tasks that were beneficial to the kingdom. They weren''t going to be like the normal Adventurer Guilds of Alterna that took in requests from just about anyone who weren''t criminals and as long as they paid gold.


    So due to this, they decided to call it the Kingdom''s Guild instead of the Adventurer''s Guild. Cecil had also issued another request for the kingdom and that was to build a fishing city at the impossibly large lake located close to the valley.


    When Cecil decided to visit the lake for a bit, he found out that the whole area of the lake was about a few tens of thousands of square kilometers. It was pretty deep too and he noticed that there were many aquatic monsters living in them.


    However, just as many aquatic monsters there were, there were also many edible species of fish and seafood living in it. The important thing was that not all of the aquatic monsters living in the lake were aggressive. There were plenty of them that were rather passive and neutral.


    The only problem for the Silvaria kingdom in establishing a city there would be the land monsters whose homes occupied the areas near the lake. Well, since Cecil wanted to build a city there, there was a need to purge a few of these monster homes.


    That was the recent ongoing and developments in the kingdom. Things were going on track and today, Cecil was going to be administering the punishment to the branch families directly involved with the attacks on his family.


    Quite a few had been wiped out in his initial attack on their residential complex. Naturally, when the surviving members of these families healed from their injuries and woke up only to find them being punished for their involvement with Kuran''s plan, they were enraged because they had already lost their families and were now being punished regardless.


    Cecil didn''t care at all and only threatened to just straightforwardly end their lives instead of punishing them. All they had to do was work in the mines for a few years before being banished from the family and the kingdom thereafter. It was up to them to decide and frankly, Cecil didn''t really mind having to kill a few of the disobedient ones or the ones who straightforwardly asked for their death.


    Most of the surviving traitors had chosen to work in the mines and be exiled thereafter, but there were some who were disobedient and wanted none of that. Cecil didn''t even negotiate with these ones and just went ahead with killing them.


    No one voluntarily offered up their lives but this was a given. No one wanted to die after all. Even the main perpetrators of the scheme behind the attack on the main family silently chose to accept their punishment. However, when it was time for Kuran to step up to take his punishment, Cecil didn''t even give him a choice.


    "Elder Kuran, your choice... well, you won''t have a choice. You''re going to die today," Cecil plainly said.


    "What? What''re you saying?!"


    The other branch family members who were being punished also couldn''t help but protest at Cecil''s judgment. He had given everyone else a choice in choosing whether or not to die or voluntarily receive their punishment.


    However, towards the elder, Cecil didn''t even bat an eye when he said that Kuran was going to die.


    Eustace, Kuran''s grandson, immediately spoke up and roared at Cecil, "What is this?! You allowed the other elders to choose to receive their punishments but you''re not allowing my grandfather?! You''re just being biased right now!"


    "...who are you?"


    "Huh? I''m Eusta¡ª"


    "Yeah, shut up, I don''t care. If you speak another word, I''ll silence you, forever," Cecil threatened.


    "Urk..."


    "Hmph, traitors should just keep their traps shut...or else I''ll keep it shut for them."


    "..."


    After seeing Eustace cower and retreat back in silence, Cecil turned his attention back onto Kuran.


    "Well, now, Elder Kuran... Are you ready to receive your punishment?"


    Kuran only remained silent throughout the whole proceeding. He already knew that his life wasn''t going to be spared like the others. He had been the mastermind of the whole plot so there was no way the main family was going to let him off lightly with just a light punishment of being exiled out of the family.


    He could only sigh in defeat since he had been played with. He had lost and in a most convincing way. Times have changed and so has their environment and playing field. This was no longer Earth and the main family wasn''t like how it used to be.


    The main branch held all of the power, fully within their grasp. The branch families which used to have a large say in everything within the family due to how much companies and businesses they owned back on Earth no longer had that power since their assets were now gone.


    Other than being leeches to the main family branch, they literally had nothing for them right now. It was too bad for Kuran since he wasn''t patient enough. If he knew that Cecil had brought back some new opportunities for the branch families to regain that power then he wouldn''t have gone against the main family in the first place.


    Now that it was all too late, he could only regret his actions. His family was being punished to work like slaves for the kingdom only to be tossed aside and exiled later on once they served their sentence. The only saving grace in all of this was that he knew that his family would still be alive even after he died.


    Just as Cecil''s blade was descending on his neck, Kuran spotted Katya from the corner of his eyes. He then glared at her menacingly before he remembered.


    ''Damn, it was because of those Goldenia bastards that I even went about betraying the main family!''


    "WAIT! The Gol¡ª" Kuran was just about to yell it all out but he was cut short.


    The executioner''s blade had already descended and beheaded the old man so he couldn''t get his last words out. The Goldenias didn''t participate in this judging precisely because this was the Silvaria family''s internal affair. Katya was present because she was now living with them.


    If the Goldenia family''s group had been present and Kuran had spotted them earlier on, he would have without a doubt spilled the beans regarding their part in the attack on the Silvaria main family already. During the past few days when he was imprisoned, Kuran had been too busy dwelling on his thoughts of regret and lament that he didn''t even remember about the reason why he had even started down on the path towards his betrayal.


    Cecil frowned when he saw that Kuran was about to yell something out earlier. The old man had been silent throughout the whole proceeding so Cecil couldn''t understand why he had roared out like that just before he was about to die.


    ''He was looking at Katya...and if I''m not mistaken, he was about to say Goldenia?'' Cecil thought.


    Cecil turned to eye Katya and he couldn''t help but narrow his eyes at her. Katya also saw him looking at her and couldn''t help but tilt her head in confusion.


    She looked innocent so Cecil pushed his thoughts to the back of his head. He had finally finished administrating the punishment to the branch families and wanted to quickly head back home to shower and cleanse himself from the dirty feeling of ending someone''s life.


    "I''ll have Quinn investigate this... for Katya''s sake, they better not be up to something behind our backs!" Cecil mumbled.


    He had grown to like the young girl that was about his age. He liked her nature that was very much similar to his own. She was very curious about things and wanted to know more about magic and stuff like that.


    They had been getting to know each other a lot more during the past few days and Cecil found it fun to talk to her on the topic of magic and spells. Lucia would also be there to share her insight on magic so it was all the more fun for everyone.


    Only Serilla would feel left out since she wasn''t much of a mage like the rest of them. However, she did enjoy having a chat with Katya from time to time since the girl would always be around the house idling about.


    Cecil let the family deal with the punished branch families as he went back home. He needed to quickly complete the Teleportation Gate to connect his kingdom with Anglaria. He had received a few calls from his mother-in-law stating that their gate was just about to be finished in a few more weeks.


    Luckily for Cecil, the parts that he had the kingdom''s craftsmen work on were all finished and they had just arrived yesterday at his workshop. All he needed to do now was work together with Ren to begin inscribing the runic arrays onto the parts before quickly assembling it.

 Chapter 351 - The Next King

    Since he was given the green light, Cecil immediately began working on the teleportation gate in his workshop alongside Ren.


    He had asked his sister and wife to ask for permission from the school to give Ren a few days or weeks off so that they could both focus on completing the teleportation gate as soon as possible.


    All of the parts including some spares and backups were piled up within the workshop. Cecil immediately sat down inside his room on his workbench and began inscribing the runic arrays on the teleportation gate parts. Ren had his own personal room and was similarly busy at work.


    The first part of the teleportation gate that they needed to inscribe runes to was the base, the foundation, of the gate. This was the most important part because the main runic array had to be inscribed on this part.


    The gate they were making was a permanent, large-scale, intercontinental teleportation gate that required a large base and archway which needed over a few hundred parts with over a couple of thousand runic arrays inscribed on them.


    From this alone, it would without a doubt take the two a few weeks to finish, maybe even longer if either of them messes up with an inscription.


    Cecil gave all of the simple and easy to do ones to Ren while he took on the more complex runic arrays. He trusted Ren enough to be able to do the simple ones quickly and not make a mistake on any of them.


    During the process of working on the arrays, Ren would occasionally come by to Cecil''s workshop and ask him for a little bit of help. He was a prodigy, but he wasn''t a freak like his teacher.


    However, Ren didn''t want to commit any sort of mistake so he was wise enough to seek out help whenever he was in doubt of anything. Cecil would always stop his work to help him out whenever he had questions or needed some insight to carving out the runic arrays.


    It wasn''t easy since he needed to concentrate fully on the task. His mind would sometimes waver and whenever that happened, Ren knew that it was time for him to take a break and go seek out his teacher for some insight while at the same time recuperating his mind and resting his body.


    Cecil''s method of teaching Ren was mostly through on-hands experience. So even when they were currently working on this big project, he treated this as a lesson to his apprentice. He gave the simple arrays for Ren to inscribe so that he''d slowly get used to them before he''d then have the boy move on to more complex ones.


    Ren was already knowledgeable enough to do the complex ones right away, but he just didn''t have the experience that Cecil had.


    Doing the simpler ones would let Ren get accustomed to the teleportation gate''s commonly used runes so once he started working on the more complex ones with Cecil, he wouldn''t be making any small mistakes on the simpler runes and wouldn''t need to be guided by Cecil every so often.


    If he did make a mistake then that was okay. Cecil didn''t really care if Ren made a mistake on anything, no one was perfect and even he would sometimes lose focus and commit a mistake that would render his entire runic array useless.


    However, when Ren did make a mistake, Cecil would have him analyze the problem in the runic array he inscribed, fix it, and then have him repeatedly inscribe the runic array over and over again on a blank slate or on a sheet of paper.


    This was his punishment to himself whenever he committed a mistake so he carried it on over to his apprentice. It had become a forced habit that even Ren would do the same thing to himself whenever he committed a mistake during his private practices.


    *****


    A few days had passed and the progress of the inscriptions was going smoothly. The master and apprentice duo would scarcely make an error on their work so they were progressing very quickly.


    The base of the gate had just been completely finished today and they had begun assembling it in a cordoned area located near the central area of the valley, just a distance away from the city located closer to the mouth of the valley, closer to the No-Man''s Lands.


    Kaiser had the military close off this particular area from everyone except the two boys who were working on the gate. Even the family wasn''t allowed into the area and none of the government officials were allowed near the place.


    Cecil made sure of things by setting up a large barrier around the place so that even when they weren''t there working on the gate, no one else would be able to enter. The only exception was Lucia since she was able to just teleport into the barrier''s interior.


    Yuna would obviously not do this because she didn''t want to offend her master''s husband. Speaking of Yuna, she had been lazing around lately after returning from the war. No one was really upset about it but everyone from Cecil''s original party knew what she was going through.


    It was some odd phase that all of the ancient dragons would experience every year for a month or two. Yuna called it the Hibernation period. It was a time when her kind would feel unexplainably tired and sluggish.


    In Yuna''s case, she would sleep for about 2-3 days straight before waking up again. Even then she''d only be awake for a few hours before returning to sleep again. Yuna hated this time of the year because it was the worst time of the year for her.


    For the most part, she''d be vulnerable to attacks and wouldn''t be able to help out with anything during this period of time and according to her, she hated it even more now because she couldn''t spend her time frolicking around with Silver.


    The wolf in question however was now filling in Yuna''s position as Lucia''s assistant at the school. Naturally, after his shift was over he''d go over to stand guard by Yuna''s side during most of the day.


    Lucia and everyone else were going about their daily lives, but one other important development was that Kaiser had finally picked the next successor to the Silvaria Kingdom''s throne.


    Cecil was the obvious choice but he had declined. Luca was the next best choice but he just wasn''t too keen on it. Matheus wasn''t present at the moment because he was still in Central Light City. Angelia was too young and she obviously didn''t want any part in it, being a princess was enough for her, and whenever discussions of this came up, Gabriel would always silently disappear.


    Cecil would have no problems managing the family and becoming the next Patriarch, but if he had to do that while also becoming the kingdom''s next king, then, like he said, "Oh, hell no!"


    He wasn''t that familiar with managing the kingdom and not many people in the city even knew who he was. In his opinion, it was much better for the kingdom if the chosen heir was someone that was familiar and agreeable with its people.


    Just like that, Cecil relinquished the title of Silvaria King over to his siblings. Naturally, everyone was opposed to it at first before the younger siblings of the family began playing the ''eldest'' card, the ''first-born'' card, and what not.


    Something as glorious as becoming a king or queen of a nation was being tossed to each other by the Silvaria siblings like a hot potato. None of them wanted to take up the position, or the responsibility, so in the end, Fatima was pushed into accepting.


    So now here came the problem for her. Fatima was currently Rowan''s fianc¨¦e who was the crown prince of the Regulus Kingdom. Since she was already the future queen of Regulus, she naturally couldn''t become the queen of Silvaria. No one could become the rulers of two nations, unless of course they merged together into one single nation.


    Kaiser wasn''t so ambitious as to do such a thing and Fatima herself didn''t want that. So, they had to come up with a solution because Kaiser needed someone from within his immediate family to be the successor.


    Kaiser wanted to determine things now so that later down the road, there won''t be any disputes for the throne. Naturally, just like Cecil said, it would be better if the next ruler was well received by the people and out of all of the Silvaria siblings left, only Matheus had fit the bill in this regard since Luca had declined.


    When the family called up Matheus and listened to his take on things, he naturally questioned why Cecil didn''t want it. Once he got the answer, he immediately understood and thought that his brother''s argument was a pretty sound one.


    Since his younger brother, Luca, didn''t want it, Matheus straightforwardly said that he would take up the mantle. He was the eldest brother so he might as well bite the bullet for his siblings. His eldest sister was already on her way to becoming queen of another nation so he understood why she couldn''t become the next heir.


    His replacement from the Sciezle family had already arrived a few days back and Matheus finished handing over his responsibilities to the new city lord. He had already packed up his belongings so he immediately started his journey back towards Silvaria City.


    Matheus had previously been unsure of what to do in the future after coming back home, but now that he was going to be appointed and announced as the kingdom''s crown prince, he finally found a goal to work towards.


    He was already content with his current situation of helping out his family and if he really had nothing left to do after Cecil took over as Patriarch, Matheus had wanted to go and explore the outside world, but now that he was going to become the kingdom''s next king, he had to push that desire back.


    However, he was still rather eager to go adventuring and since this was probably going to be the last time he would venture out of his kingdom, Matheus decided to return back to Silvaria on foot.


    He wanted to savor his time outside for as long as possible. He put on his armor, shouldered his backpack filled with food, water, rations, and a few of his personal items, and trudged on out of the city''s gates without anyone from the city knowing he was leaving.


    Matheus left anonymously because he didn''t want any guards escorting him back home. This was going to be his first and last time going out on an adventure by himself.


    "First time going at it alone, normally, Gabe would be the one doing something like this, but now I see why he''s so adamant on staying with the exploration team. It''s really thrilling!" Matheus said to himself. He had been busy helping out with the kingdom''s internal affairs for most part of his time since coming to Alterna.


    Even he wanted to go out and adventure like his two little brothers have done. Heck, even both his sisters have already experienced what it''s been like to go out of the kingdom. The only time he went out was to meet up with Fatima a few years back at the Regulus Kingdom. Even then, he was escorted there with a company of soldiers and guards.


    He couldn''t wait to go at it by himself this time. While walking alone on the dirt highway and crossing through the large meadow of greenery, Matheus couldn''t help but amusingly think to himself.


    "Well, since I''m going to become king...doesn''t that mean I''ll be able to get a partner soon? Huhuhu, not long from now, Cecil won''t be able to mock me for not being able to find a girlfriend!"


    Matheus was rather delighted at this thought but honestly, this was a little sad. He was a few years older than Cecil and yet, his brother beat him in so many regards. Well, he was always busy and never had the time to even think about such things.


    "Ahh, I wonder if I might even meet my significant other in this first and last adventure of mine~"

 Chapter 352 - Matheus’s Adventure 1

    After secretly exiting the city, Matheus quickly made his way over to the nearby forest. He found a few people waiting for him with a packhorse.


    He quickly paid the people and took the horse away. Matheus had asked one of the servants in the city lord''s mansion to hire someone to bring out his packhorse. Since he wanted to leave anonymously, he obviously couldn''t leave through the front gate with his horse since the guards stationed there would have to check on him.


    As for going through the construction site, Matheus was the one who had supervised the rebuilding of the walls so he knew the layouts of each site like the back of his hand and knew when to move once the guards had switched between their shifts and breaks.


    So sneaking out through the large openings still being repaired was a cinch for him. Now that he was outside with no guards or servants, Matheus felt...a little more adventurous. At least, that''s how he was describing the current excitement and anticipation he was feeling.


    He quickly mounted his horse that had a minimum of things placed on it and trudged away. Of course, this excitement didn''t last long because it immediately started raining a few hours into his journey.


    "What dumb luck... I start my first and last adventure on a rainy day..."


    Matheus quickly found a spot in a nearby forest to wait out the rain. He looked for the biggest tree in the area and quickly used his glaive to carve out the inside of the tree''s trunk. This would have been an impossible task, but ever since he started using the family''s mana cultivation technique that was provided and developed by his younger brother, Cecil, feats such as this had become something he could easily do.


    "Hoho, man, my bro must''ve been so lucky! To be able to do things like this from so early on, not to mention he spent almost 4 years on a journey across 2 continents! Just thinking about the many places he''s visited and the people he''s encountered makes me so envious! Ahh, how lucky..."


    After hollowing out the tree''s trunk, he quickly went in with his horse. After roughly drying himself, he quickly began unloading his horse and placing the luggage to the side. He roughly dried the horse and fed it some hay before taking out a bowl of water, set it to the side, and let the horse rest.


    Matheus saw the dark rain clouds overhead and thought, ''It''s going to rain for a while...''


    Since it seemed to be this way, he thought that it would be better to just rest for a moment. He also used this downtime to cultivate his mana, something that he would always do whenever he had some free time on his hands.


    Maybe it was in his blood, but he was rather keen on getting stronger, just like his other siblings. The only exception to this was probably Luca. He didn''t seem to care so much about his personal power.


    *****


    Once he focused his mind, Matheus began his training. The family''s cultivation manual that his brother had developed based on his family''s martial arts didn''t only mention about the methods to efficiently raise his mana levels and stages, there were also many techniques and skills listed in it.


    Skills like Cecil''s signatures, the Mana Burst, Ascending Blade, and Flash Cannon were listed inside the manual. Of course, those 2 skills had been perfected through numerous trials and errors on Cecil''s part during his long journey, so to reach his level, there were naturally stages and some conditions that had to be met before one was able to perform the technique.


    Conditions like how to circulate your mana to efficiently cast the technique while also ensuring the output, how to infuse more mana into the skill to make it stronger, and tips on how to perform the technique using different weapons and the like, it was all in there.


    It was just so thoroughly detailed that his family was progressing through their cultivation very smoothly. The only thing that Cecil kept reminding inside the manual was to be extremely careful and patient while one cultivated.


    He had experienced the pains of being impatient and suffered from mana backlash which nearly drove him insane so naturally, he wanted to prevent his family members from making the same rash and naive mistakes he did.


    Currently, Matheus was trying to learn the Ascending Blade technique and one of the things he was currently working towards was to attain the Energy stage of Weapon Intent. The technique was at first created based on Cecil''s rough usage of mana but it had been refined over the years since he had first created it.


    And with the help of both his wives, Cecil was able to create a skill manual for it which would enable someone to learn his skill. Naturally, this wasn''t something he was going to share with the general public.


    He kept it a secret technique of his family and included it only inside his family''s core cultivation manual which was only accessible to his immediate family members. The other members of the main family branch, which were his uncles and aunts'' families, only had a downgraded version of the Ascending Blade which Cecil had named the Rising Blade.


    Anyhow, Matheus had the privilege of learning this skill, and one of the conditions to be able to use Ascending Blade was to attain the first stage of Weapon Intent.


    Thanks to Serilla, Cecil was able to make a more comprehensive explanation of how one would be able to attain Weapon Intent. Serilla had been able to attain it through sheer hard work and after sharing her experiences with her husband, Cecil had enough insight to be able to come up with an explanation on how this was possible.


    Firstly, Weapon Intent was attainable through 2 methods, first was Enlightenment, which was something that he and their friend, Elizabeth Arks, had been able to do. This method relied heavily on sheer dumb luck. The condition of this method varied from person to person so there was no exact explanation on how one could attain Weapon Intent through this method. All one had to do was be lucky.


    The second method was through comprehension. One needed to be able to comprehend the state of mind that is required to release your Intent out into the physical plane. Intent came from the mind, the psyche, or the soul of the cultivator.


    If one had a sufficiently tempered mind, they''d be able to easily awaken their Intent and project it out into the physical plane. Serilla was able to do this through years of meditation and sword training which tempered her willpower and mind.


    It was much easier to project your will into the physical world through an object, but there were some cases like their father, Kaiser, who was able to release his Intent using purely his body alone.


    However, before you could do this, you''d first have to attain and master the 4 stages of Weapon Intent, at least that''s what Cecil had concluded with his research, with the first stage being, the Energy Stage.


    Having the ability to fully wrap your mana around an object which in this case would be a weapon, without the use of a magic spell, and be able to maintain for a brief period of time would indicate that you had successfully stepped your foot into this stage.


    After that, you would have to train and train until you can form a mana cycle around the object which would be able to enhance the sturdiness and strengthen the power of the object.


    However, if you were only able to form a cycle with your mana for a short time, then it wouldn''t be enough to actually use the full-powered Ascending Blade just yet. One would need to fully master the Energy Stage to proficiently use the skill.


    If you were able to wrap mana around your weapon and form a cycle for an indefinite amount of time or at least until your mana ran out, then this was the indicator that you had attained intermediate mastery of the Energy stage. At this stage, although you still wouldn''t be able to use the Ascending Blade, you could at least use energy attacks with your weapon of choice.


    Now here came the hard part which was to attain complete master of the Energy stage. To do that, the only objective one had to accomplish was the ability to eject your mana out of the mana cycle formed around the weapon, control it, and materialize it into a tangible and much more lethal energy wave which was enough to cause a large amount of destruction.


    This was hard to do because you had to inject more mana into the already stable mana cycle you have around your weapon which would immediately cause it to destabilize and break apart if you didn''t control it properly. If this did happen, the consequences of that would be, at the minimum, to take a large explosion of mana to the face, or worse, experience the excruciating pain of having the energy pathways in your arms and hands that are connected to the mana cycle around the weapon internally explode and rip apart, essentially resulting in you crippling your arm.


    If you were able to go above and beyond that and perfectly execute this dangerous part of the Energy Stage, then you would have attained high mastery of this stage. If you were able to do it instinctively and on reflex just like Cecil and his wives were able to, then you would have attained complete mastery of the first stage of Weapon Intent.


    Matheus was currently working on this and it was a little bit difficult for him. He hadn''t trained as much during his childhood like his eldest sister or his two younger brothers, Gabriel and Cecil, so he didn''t have as much mana as they had when everyone first arrived in this world.


    So for Matheus, he had to start from the bottom and work his way up. Even now, he felt like he was biting off more than he could chew because another condition to learn the Ascending Blade was to attain the final level of the first stage of mana cultivation, the Peak Mana Vapor Stage.


    The previous condition was already very difficult to attain and he was currently only at the Intermediate Mana Vapor Stage which was still a long way from the Peak level. He still had to go through the Advanced level, Expert Level, and Quasi-Peak level.


    These stages were the more elaborate terms that Cecil had stated inside his family''s cultivation manual after reading up on many ancient texts and through the things he had experienced. There were very specific and detailed information on the new stages of cultivation that if he were to release this out into the world, the other magic researchers of Alterna would start hailing him as another master-ranked magic researcher.


    Cecil had given this research material to his mother-in-law already and even she was rather intrigued by the new approach on how to view someone''s cultivation stage. It was much more clear and concise than the world''s current cultivation stages which were vague compared to Cecil''s new approach.


    Cecil''s new approach to mana cultivation stages was already being implemented in the Anglaria Kingdom and even the other Urrugdrasil Kingdoms were starting to use this new approach as well. It wasn''t an original idea of his. Instead, it was something he had perfected after reading through one of Anna''s colleagues'' magic research data.


    Anyway, Matheus had to focus on fulfilling this condition because it was much easier to fulfill and it would also help out in him cultivating the Energy stage of Weapon Intent.


    He slowly began wrapping his mana around his glaive but was only able to wrap it around a part of his weapon''s pole. He wasn''t even able to extend his mana around the blade of his glaive which honestly, was very discouraging.


    He continued to try and soon he depleted about half of his mana and stopped. Matheus always remembered Cecil''s words to him and that was haste makes waste. He also didn''t want to experience the terrifying mana backlash that Cecil was always going on and on about.


    Matheus released a frustrated sigh at his lack of ability and chanted in his mind, ''Slow and steady, slow and steady...slow...and steady...''


    "Phew... okay, let''s go one more round before I rest..."

 Chapter 353 - Matheus’s Adventure 2

    Matheus continued his training until he was nearly drained of all his mana. He was still in the Intermediate Mana Vapor Stage but had mana levels in the Initial Mana Sea Stage. The only problem was that he used up way too much mana during his training sessions.


    He needed to learn how to control his mana and use it more efficiently as Cecil had always explained to him. He did ask once before that if he had mana levels at the Mana Sea Stage, then couldn''t he be considered being at the Mana Sea Stage?


    Cecil naturally shot him down and explained that the difference between Mana Sea and Mana Vapor was the quality of mana, not the quantity. Even if someone had the quantity of mana needed for the next mana stage, it wouldn''t make them stronger than the one with a smaller amount of mana but was at a higher stage of mana cultivation.


    Of course, there were always exceptions to this concept, one of them namely being Cecil himself, but most of the time this was the case that separated the power levels between these two stages. Naturally, if an individual had a mana quantity that was much larger than their current mana stage, it would be a very big advantage for them during the moments when they had to break through to the next stage.


    After having understood that, Matheus found that he was quite lucky to have mana levels much higher than his current mana stage. At least this way, he wouldn''t experience any bottlenecks until much later on.


    Matheus was informed by his little brother that after spending more time with the family, Cecil had noticed that his family members who had gone through the bare minimum amount of training that all of the main branch family members had to go through would only have total mana levels around the initial to advanced Mana Sea Stage and their cultivation stages would start only at the Early Intermediate Level or the Late Intermediate Level of the Mana Vapor Stage.


    Naturally, compared to his youngest brother who started with a Mana level at the Core stages, the rest of the Silvaria family didn''t have so much of an advantage. The only other people who could compare with his little brother were his father and grandfather, who frankly, had much higher mana levels than what Cecil himself had initially started with.


    Even now, those two old geezers were advancing leaps and bounds through their cultivation stages and were already at the Intermediate Mana Sea Stage and it only had been a month, almost 2, after his little brother had given the family their exclusive mana cultivation manual.


    His eldest sister, Fatima, was already the one with the highest mana cultivation stage since she had been learning about mana earlier on in the Regulus Kingdom so after cultivating the family''s official cultivation method, she had been progressing rather smoothly in her cultivation, at least, much more smoothly than Matheus himself.


    He and as well as nobody had any idea how Gabriel was doing while Angelia was still young and currently had the most promise out of all of the family members since she started at the prime age of when one''s cultivation would easily advance.


    His brother, Luca, had no notion of even trying. Matheus himself wasn''t all that talented in cultivation, but he was also not slow at it. He was basically above average but had the advantage of having Cecil being his brother so after receiving some tips and secrets to better cultivate his mana, Matheus had been doing much better off than his 2 uncle''s and aunt''s families.


    For now, he was trying out the Energy level of Weapon Intent only to try and grasp the feel for it and it was also helping him out with his cultivation. Matheus did lament on the fact that for some reason, he couldn''t learn Mana Burst, which was the most important skill in the arsenal of techniques written in his family''s cultivation manual, at least, according to his brother.


    No one in his family had been able to successfully cultivate Mana Burst whether it was from his immediate family or his uncle''s and aunt''s families. Even after reading through the very, very detailed manual of the technique, no one apart from his brother, Cecil, the original creator, had been able to cultivate it.


    His brother had even gone so far as to give tips and guidance on how to use it, but no one in the family had been able to cultivate the technique for some reason. After monitoring everyone in the family for a while, his brother had discovered one thing that set him apart from everyone else, and that was the ability to lose his mind when his mana fell into very low levels.


    When Matheus heard this, he immediately told Cecil that it wasn''t some ability...it was more like a curse instead. His brother was naturally relieved to know that his family didn''t experience what he did when he used up too much mana.


    Cecil couldn''t understand the difference in their constitutions, but it was all good since he had indeed forgotten to explain to them about this certain detrimental side-effect. After all, he had cured himself of this curse after gaining Ki and Ether so he no longer had to worry about it and he had long tossed away the thought to the back of his mind.


    Also, no one in the family knew about this except for Matheus. His little brother had only told him because, during one of Cecil''s rare breaks, he had agreed to train Matheus and had remembered about it all of a sudden.


    Matheus shared his thoughts with his little brother at the time and said that maybe it was because of this condition, where no one in the family would go mad no matter how low their mana levels became, that they couldn''t use the Mana Burst technique.


    It was a little bit far-fetched but Cecil didn''t disagree with him and wanted to further investigate as to why this was so. Matheus agreed not to reveal this information until his little brother came up with a conclusion since obviously, he didn''t want their family to worry about their youngest brother and son turning into a mindless monster.


    They had already witnessed him turning into a murderous and bloodthirsty monster when he lost control of his mind due to his weapons, which was once again something that only Matheus knows since he pried into it a little deeper during their previous discussions.


    If this trait happened to appear in a few of his family members, then it would be a big deal. This naturally needed a little more investigation since currently, Cecil was the only case. No one else in the family experienced being slowly driven to madness due to them having too little mana in their bodies.


    Of course, the substitute for Mana Burst was Elizabeth''s creation, the Aura Manifestation technique, which was something that Cecil had originally given to each his uncle''s and aunt''s family. Now, it was something that even his immediate family members had to use. Their father, Kaiser, was especially fond of this technique since he was a martial artist who only used his body to fight.


    ******


    It was a bit unfortunate for Matheus, but the rain didn''t let up even after the day had passed by. It was already early in the morning the next day and it was still raining. The mood was gloomy and the downcast forecast made it even more depressing.


    Matheus didn''t mind it however since he was able to continue cultivating. He decided to focus more on his cultivation stage and would try to quickly raise it until he at least reached the bare minimum requirement needed to cultivate Ascending Blade.


    Of course, this didn''t mean he would stop trying to cultivate the Energy Stage of Weapon Intent, but he would focus his training more on his cultivation stage. He also needed to further train in their family''s weapon arts and martial arts.


    After all, the second stage of Weapon Intent required comprehension to attain. The name of the second stage was ''One with the Weapon'', and it required the cultivator to achieve a state of mind where their weapon was no longer a weapon but instead an extension of their body.


    The third stage was ''One with the World'' and the last stage was called ''Soul Projection'' or simply the state where the cultivator had attained their Weapon Intent.


    The road for cultivation for him was long and Matheus was feeling a bit more motivated to walk this path because he was now going to become the king of his nation. Naturally, the king had to be a figure that the people could look up to, whether it was in times of peace or in times of need and crisis.


    If he was weak, then his people wouldn''t have much confidence in him. However, if he was strong, just like his father and his little brother, then he would be an inspiration to the people. The king or queen represented many things about a kingdom. If they were strong, then it would mean that the kingdom was strong. If they were weak, then it would mean that the kingdom was weak as well.


    Since he was going to take up the responsibility, Matheus knew that he had to rise above his current self. This first step was to make sure he didn''t regret anything after he took up the position. That was why he was journeying back to his kingdom by himself at the moment.


    Of course, things didn''t go as well as he planned. It was already his second day out on the road and he was trapped in the rain inside a tree trunk. He could only lament at the fact that reality was much worse than his expectations.


    After having breakfast, Matheus continued cultivating until he heard a scream accompanied by a cacophony of monster roars coming from somewhere close to his location.


    He immediately stopped cultivating, began loading his luggage back onto his horse, put on his armor, and readied his weapon. Matheus made sure that his horse was calm and wouldn''t run away. He didn''t tie his packhorse to anything just in case things went south and the monsters that were roaring out in the distance happened upon this place.


    At least before that happened, his horse would be able to run away, and hopefully, he''d be able to find it somewhere down the road.


    "You stay here. I''ll go check things out. If any monsters come nearby, run and hide. I''ll come to find you later, alright?"


    His horse only neighed back at him. It was obvious that it didn''t understand a word that he was saying but maybe what Matheus intended for the horse to do had gotten through to it.


    "Alright, adventure, adventure... let''s go hunt some monsters. I''m pretty sure I heard a woman''s scream earlier, right? Hmhm~ let''s go save the damsel in distress!"

 Chapter 354 - Matheus’s Adventure 3

    Matheus quickly made his way over to the area where the sounds of roaring were originating from. As he got closer, Matheus was able to hear the distinctive noise of people fighting.


    As he approached closer and closer to the location, the sounds of monsters and humans fighting became even more apparent. He was soon able to see what kind of monsters that were attacking the humans that he was hearing.


    They were small humanoid monsters with grayish skin. If he remembered correctly, these monsters were called Troglotrolls, a species of small-statured trolls that lived in caves and underground. Some of them were mounted on velociraptor-like monsters and were running around the area screeching and roaring.


    Some of the Troglotrolls were even equipped with some poor-quality armor and weapons. Their numbers were numerous, Matheus counted about 40 or so of these monsters. Then there were the velociraptor-like monsters that he identified as Venomfang Raptors, he counted about 10 of them and they were all being mounted by Troglotrolls that seemed to be higher ranked than the rest of them.


    This was a slight problem for him because those Troglotrolls were only deemed to be C-ranked monsters, including the ones that were mounted, but the Venomfang Raptors were B-ranked. C-ranked monsters were still manageable for him, but those raptors would prove to be a challenge. What more was that there were 10 of them...


    Matheus noticed that the group that was being attacked was a party of 10 people and most of them weren''t even participating in the fight but was being protected by people who Matheus deemed to be knights after judging them by the equipment they were using.


    There were only 4 knights at present while the other 5 looked to be more like civilians. The last person was identified as a mage since Matheus saw the person shooting out fireballs and water bullets at the monsters.


    It was a little obvious, but the mage was low-ranked because of the spells he or she was using that weren''t even enough to penetrate the beaten-up armor the monsters were using.


    "Hmmm... this will prove to be quite difficult... but I shouldn''t back down..."


    Matheus knew that his life was important, but so were the people that were currently being attacked by the monsters. He could just mind his own business and leave, but it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if he just left knowing that he could have done something to help out these people.


    "First, let''s establish an objective...I don''t need to kill all of the monsters, all I need to do is rescue the people..."


    Matheus began looking around the area and noticed that the trees in the location that he had come from were sparsely bunched up together unlike the areas anywhere else.


    "Hm... from my location, I know for a fact that it will lead outside of the forest..."


    He thought for a moment before deciding that breaking those people out of the encirclement of monsters was a top priority, after that, leading them out of the forest through this direction was the next step.


    At least from where he had come from, the road had fewer obstacles. This would make running much easier since no one would have to worry about having to climb over or maneuver around a tree or rock.


    First, he needed to signal the humans inside the encirclement of his presence. After that, he needed to somehow tell the knights to coordinate with him to attack one point of the encirclement so that they could break out and quickly make their escape.


    "Damn... the only way is to shout it out and let them know... it''ll expose me to all the monsters but... oh well, let''s do this..."


    Matheus didn''t have too much time to think because the battle between the monsters and the humans he was going to save was still ongoing. If he dawdled for too long, then more variables might present themselves and he''d have to scrap his original plan.


    "Let''s go!" Matheus said, trying to psyche himself up.


    He began sprinting towards the backline of the monster encirclement that was situated in front of him. Luckily for Matheus, his location only had one Troglotroll mounted Venomfang Raptor.


    If he could catch the monster off guard, Matheus was confident that he would be able to deal with it. The only problem was that the monster was surrounded by 4 other Troglotrolls. If he rushed in and attacked one of the trolls, then it would alert the mounted one immediately.


    Matheus then remembered that even if he only circulated his mana inside his body, it was enough to enhance his abilities to superhuman levels. At least, that was what Cecil had told him.


    As he approached closer and closer to the monsters, Matheus began circulating his mana following his family''s cultivation method and strongly jumped up onto the nearby tree. He kicked off of the tree trunk and jumped up onto the branch that was overhead.


    His actions had caused quite a stir and the troglotrolls turned back to see what was happening behind them and found nobody there. It shrugged for a moment before feeling something was amiss when a shadow suddenly appeared above him.


    Matheus had jumped down from the branch and aimed his glaive straight for the mounted troglotroll. It was too late for the monster to react and Matheus cleaved its small body in two. The Venomfang Raptor sensed that its partner was killed and started rampaging around but it was immediately beheaded with a sweep of Matheus'' glaive.


    He landed on the ground and immediately struck the nearby troglotroll with the butt of his glaive and stabbed the one next to it with the blade of his glaive. He then turned towards the humans who were being surrounded and yelled, "OVER HERE!"


    The knights in the group had already noticed Matheus when he first jumped up onto the tree branch and had already informed the people they were protecting to rush towards his location so Matheus was a bit surprised when he saw one of the knights from earlier already so close to him.


    The knight swiftly dealt with the other troglotroll while Matheus cleaned up the final one. The monsters were already roaring and rushing at them so Matheus immediately began running ahead while shouting, "Follow me! Hurry!"


    It was a good thing that the people he was helping didn''t do anything stupid like stopping him and questioning his motive. They just immediately followed after him. After all, it was better to follow the stranger who had helped them than to stay behind and fight off a horde of bloodthirsty monsters.


    The monsters had short legs but were very agile. They swung from tree to tree and some tried to land close to the group, but Matheus was able to quickly take them down with a swing of his glaive even before they landed.


    They were small-statured so it didn''t place a burden on his arm when he slashed them down from the air as he continued to run and lead the people behind him away from the monsters.


    The only problems were the mounted ones. The 9 remaining mounted troglotrolls were able to get in front of Matheus and the group. The Venomfang Raptors began roaring at the group and this caused the knights and the non-combatants to falter for a moment.


    The mage chanted a fireball spell and quickly threw it at the monsters ahead. Matheus also didn''t falter and continued to charge at the monsters. The knights who were faltering for a moment decisively followed after him and rushed forwards.


    Matheus strengthened his body by channeling his mana and swung his glaive in a wide arc in front of him. His attack was able to slash away at the legs of the 3 Venomfang Raptors that were in front of him.


    They screeched out in pain but the 2 knights who had followed after Matheus quickly stepped forward and stabbed their spears into the monsters'' head. Matheus had quickly pulled back his glaive and swung down onto the head of the remaining raptor, he had to attack it a few more times before it died.


    The troglotrolls that were mounted on top of the raptors had either fallen down or were stuck under their mounts when they had been toppled over by Matheus. He and the knights quickly dealt with them and started attacking the other monsters that were nearby.


    The 2 remaining knights that were guarding the rear of the group quickly urged the mage to lead the 5 civilians past the opening that Matheus had made for them. After they stepped through the blockade, the Knights brought up the rear while Matheus sprinted forward and continued leading the group.


    The group of people was a little startled when Matheus began whistling all of a sudden. They thought that he was a bandit that was calling out to his friends, they were about to stop but immediately began running again when all they saw was a pack of horses racing towards them from the side.


    "Keep going! We''re almost out of the forest!"


    The Venomfang mounted troglotrolls did their best to try and hinder the party from rushing forwards, but Matheus kept on continuing his tactic. He continued aiming at the raptors'' legs and toppled them over. The raptors had a short reach with their claws and neck compared to his long glaive so it was all too easy for him to continue repeating the tactic.


    The trolls didn''t even learn their lesson the first few times and continued throwing away their lives to try and stop the group.


    A few moments later, right when everyone was almost out of breath from the constant running, they were able to quickly exit the forest and arrive at the open plains. A few of the monsters that were patrolling them had died and only three of the mounted trolls were left alive after their long game of cat and mouse.


    The monsters glared at the exhausted group of humans and decided to head back into the forest when they saw Matheus glaring menacingly at them. They were frightened by this human that had suddenly showed up and rescued their prey.


    After seeing the monsters retreat into the forest, Matheus scanned the area and made sure that no more monsters were present before he plopped down onto the floor, nearly out of breath and completely exhausted.


    "Hoohh...hooohh...that... that was intense!" Matheus exclaimed to himself. He never felt so much adrenaline pumping into him as before. All of his actions were purely based on his instinct and he couldn''t even remember clearly about what he did earlier.


    "I...I''ll have to...reevaluate the fight from...earlier..." Matheus said to himself while heaving.


    He then turned towards the group of people that he had just rescued from earlier. The knights had all begun to take off their helmets and the one who had armor that was a bit fancier than the rest approached him.

 Chapter 355 - Matheus’s Adventure 4

    After sizing up the young man in front of him, the old knight captain immediately opened his mouth to thank him.


    "Thanks for the help, lad."


    "Yeah no problem... it''s what anyone else would do," Matheus replied before taking a deep breath to stabilize his breathing.


    Matheus swung his glaive and splashed the blood off of it. He then took out a rag from one of his horse''s sacks and started cleaning it up on the spot. He was very careful with all of his belongings, even more so for his weapon since it was his lifeline.


    Seeing the young man tend to his weapon, the old knight captain was rather impressed. The young man before him hadn''t even asked for any kind of reward despite having put his life in danger to rescue a group of strangers.


    The old captain cleared his throat to get Matheus'' attention but before he could say anything, the mage in the group stepped forward and quickly thanked Matheus.


    "Thank you..."


    Matheus was a little surprised to hear the female voice from under the cloak. He stopped cleaning his glaive and said, "I-It''s nothing..."


    The mage pulled back her hood and revealed her face to Matheus. For a moment, Matheus felt quite shocked when he saw the girl''s face.


    There was a nasty scar running down the left of her face down to her neck. It ran through her eye, but fortunately enough, there didn''t seem to be any damage to her eye. Even though there was a hideous scar on her face, she was still quite beautiful.


    She had clear emerald green eyes and she sported a dull look on her face. Her hair was a pale blonde color that was cut short, only reaching up to her shoulders. The young girl was also a bit small in stature, but she was still at least a bit taller than his mother.


    "Oh, I''m Matheus, by the way..."


    "Uhn, I''m Celestina, you can call me Celes... Once again, thank you for helping us out earlier," She said with a deep bow of gratitude.


    Matheus was a little bit fl.u.s.tered at the gesture and quickly told her to raise her head. The girl looked back up at him and faintly smiled. It was then that another person walked over and said to Matheus, "Hey~ do I know you from somewhere?"


    "Uh... pardon?" Matheus was taken aback as he eyed the newcomer.


    "You look a little familiar~" The voice from under the cloak indicated that the person who was talking with him was another girl. She pulled back her hood and revealed her face to Matheus.


    It was another girl who was just as beautiful as the mage. She was a bit taller, but when Matheus turned to look at her, he noticed that this newcomer had similar facial features as the mage girl. He was a bit unsure, but he felt that these two girls before him were definitely related and there was one thing that Matheus was certain of, he had never met with this young woman before.


    "I''m sorry, I don''t think we''ve ever met but I''d like to ask, are you two related?"


    "Oh, why yes, I''m this girl''s younger sister~" The newcomer said.


    Matheus was a bit surprised to find that the taller one was the younger sister. It just didn''t seem to fit with their image, since in his eyes, Celestina seemed to be a bit younger-looking than her supposed younger sister.


    "My name is Cecilia~"


    "N-Nice to meet you, Cecilia..." Matheus greeted in return. Cecilia quickly took his hand and shook it in greeting.


    "You know, you really do look familiar~ It''s like I''ve seen you somewhere before, but I just can''t seem to remember... Are you certain that we haven''t met before?"


    Matheus gave her a strained laugh before saying, "If I had ever met such a beautiful young lady like yourself, I''m sure I would remember who you were, Miss Cecilia."


    "Oh my, thank you~"


    "So, may I ask why you were inside the forest and being attacked by that large group of monsters?"


    "Milady¡ª" The old captain quickly spoke up but was immediately stopped by Cecilia.


    "He helped us so I''m sure he has the right to know."


    "..."


    "We were in there because we were chased into the forest, if you hadn''t helped us out when you did, my group and I would have most likely perished inside that forest."


    Matheus frowned when he heard this, "Chased? Why? What happened?"


    "I''m not so sure, we were on our way back to the Regulus Kingdom when we were attacked by bandits, who I''m pretty sure weren''t bandits."


    "They were under a guise."


    "Yes, after all, they were using coordinated attacks to lead us into the forest..."


    Matheus looked around before saying, "Well, I''m not sure if those people are still present. I was resting in a place close by earlier and didn''t notice anyone else coming in or out of the forest..."


    "Ah, that''s because we came in from the other side of the forest~"


    "Huh? So you... traveled past the core area of the forest before you reached this side?"


    "Yes, we were desperate to escape from our pursuers so we had to take the risk. Our group lost a lot of good men and women inside the forest. All that''s left is the handful of people you see here..."


    "...My condolences..."


    Cecilia smiled back at Matheus. She thanked him before continuing, "I thank you for your assistance, Sir...?"


    "Matheus, my name is Matheus."


    "Ah, Sir Matheus then, oh my, you really are a different person~"


    "Uhh, I beg your pardon?"


    "Well, you see, the person I met once before called himself Cecil. Like you, he helped us out once during our journey," Cecilia answered with a joyful voice.


    "O-oh... I see..." Matheus felt a little odd because Cecil just happened to be the name of his younger brother. Well, there had to be many other Cecils out there, maybe it was just a coincidence.


    "We had such similar names and the way he came in to save me was so gallant!" Cecilia said in a dreamy voice. Matheus felt a little bit awkward hearing her swoon over some guy who had the same name as his brother.


    ''If the person who saved you was my brother, then sorry to say, but he''s already married...'' Matheus thought to himself.


    When Cecilia saw the somewhat awkward expression on Matheus''s face, she immediately apologized, "Ah, pardon me, Sir Matheus, I was lost in my daydreaming again. I feel so ashamed..."


    "Ah, i-it''s nothing," Matheus replied.


    "Then, may I ask you where we are, Sir Matheus?"


    "...We''re currently located only a few hours away from Central Light City, the border city of the Silvaria Kingdom..."


    "Silvaria? Hmmm, I''m sorry, but it seems that I don''t know which nation that is..."


    "Ah, well, this city was recently taken over by my kingdom. We were at war with Merkruz and an agreement had just been made a few weeks earlier so now our two nations are at peace with each other..."


    "Oh, I see! Well, then, are you perhaps a knight or soldier of this kingdom?" Cecilia curiously asked.


    "Uhhh, neither. I''m just a wandering mercenary, hahaha~"


    Matheus wasn''t going to answer that he was the kingdom''s crown prince. That''d just be stupid since he wasn''t particularly close with these people. Also, he was currently acting as a wandering warrior, if he announced his true identity, then it would defeat the purpose of why he had even started this journey.


    "I see...a mercenary... does that mean we can hire you?"


    "Huh?"


    "I''d like to hire you, Sir Matheus! I want you to guard us and escort us back to my kingdom!" Cecilia declared.


    "Huh, well..." He looked back at Cecilia and then turned to look at Celestina whose absentminded look seemed to be tinged with a little bit of anticipation.


    ''Oh damn, if I say no... I mean I saved not just one but two damsels in distress, I''d be throwing away my chance of getting to know these girls if I declined now! Besides, I don''t want to end my journey too early... Alright, let''s do this, I mean, I''m sure father and mother wouldn''t mind me being late, right?''


    After reassuring himself once more, Matheus smiled back at the girl and raised his hand and rubbed his thumb and index finger together.


    "Oh my...all of our belongings¡ª"


    "Ah, it''s alright, you guys can pay me later! How about we get a move on? Those people that are chasing after you might just catch up if we dawdle around here all day."


    "...Alright, thank you once again, Sir Matheus," Cecilia thanked him once more before turning back towards her group with the old knight captain who similarly had a look of gratitude on his face.


    The old captain saw his pretense of asking for money just for the sake of keeping his image as a proper mercenary.


    Celestina walked up to Matheus and thanked him, "Th-thank you... Sir Matheus..."


    "Ah, you can call me Matty if you want... Miss Celes..."


    "...Celes is fine. Thank you, Matty."


    Matheus nodded and smiled at the girl. He found the smaller older sister to be a bit more interesting than the younger sister.


    He noticed this while talking with Cecilia, but the girl was most likely a noble. She had the proper etiquette and mannerism of a noble. He had met a few nobles once before, it was a few years back when he first came to check up on his sister in the Regulus Kingdom.


    Celestina, however, seemed to be much more easy-going, unlike her uptight little sister.


    "Oh, one second, Celes," Matheus called out to the girl.


    "Yes?"


    "I see that one of your knights have been injured in the fight from earlier. If we can go back to the forest, I can create a wooden stretcher and have the horse pull it."


    "Stretcher?"


    "It''s something that can be used to move people who require medical care..."


    "Oh... well, I don''t think that will be necessary, Matty."


    "Huh?"


    "My little sister will heal everyone''s injuries before we start our journey."


    "I see... so she''s a healer?"


    "Yes, she''s a priestess of the Revertia Holy Kingdom. It''s only natural that she can heal others."


    Matheus nodded and remembered that his brother had been on a journey towards the Revertia Holy Kingdom once before. He shook his head and thought that it was only a complete coincidence that the person that once helped Celestina and her group had the same name as his brother.


    After the injured knights were healed back up, Matheus lead them back towards Central Light City to restock on supplies and to buy a wagon or carriage for them. He didn''t walk into the city again in fear of being noticed.


    The others didn''t question him when he decided to wait for them outside of the city. Celestina decided to wait with him outside while the others went into the city to buy their supplies.


    A few hours later, the group made their way out of the city''s entrance with a new wagon and a few horses. Each knight was now mounted on top of a warhorse while Cecilia and the other 4 non-combatants were sitting on the wagon.


    Celestina quickly got onto the wagon while Matheus mounted his horse and they started their journey back towards Revertia.


    "We''ll head to Regulus first and use the teleportation formation in the capital city to head towards a neutral territory city under their control," Cecilia said to him.


    Now that he was acting as their escort, Matheus nodded and their journey officially began.

 Chapter 356 - Matheus’s Adventure 5

    Matheus and the group traveled day and night towards the Regulus Kingdom''s borders. During the journey, Matheus was able to polish up on his combat skills whenever they encountered monsters.


    The knights did help him with some of the monsters, but they were mostly there to protect Cecilia and her people.


    Celestina would sometimes aid him in the fights, but Matheus would normally handle things on his own. He felt a weird sense of satisfaction whenever he took down a group of monsters all by himself.


    It was odd for him because back in the kingdom, he would normally fight against monsters in a group. This was his first time doing it by himself and he found it exhilarating.


    Of course, he didn''t know that compared to the monsters inside the No-Man''s Lands, the monsters outside were much weaker. The monsters inside the No-Man''s Lands were naturally of higher ranks because of the difference in mana density.


    Only Cecil and Lucia were aware of this due to how sensitive they were to mana, but the two still couldn''t find a plausible explanation for this. They only thought it was a natural phenomenon.


    Matheus also found out something, the knights in Cecilia and Celestina''s group were pretty powerful themselves. They also had much higher mana cultivations than him. The same went for Celestina, who he had grown quite close to.


    The reason why they were struggling the other day and had to be saved by him was because they had been exhausted of their mana when they were attacked by those C and B ranked monsters.


    Matheus felt a greater need to grow stronger now that he knew that Celestina was a rather high-ranked magus. She had the same cultivation level as his eldest sister, Fatima. She was an Intermediate Level Mana Sea Stage Mage.


    When they all heard about Matheus'' mana cultivation being quite low, they thought that he was only being kidding. His combat prowess clearly wasn''t in the range of someone who was only at the Mana Vapor stage.


    He did have enough mana to rival that of a Mana Sea Stage expert so it gave him the stamina and endurance, but most of his combat prowess was reflected off of his skills and martial arts.


    It took the group about 2 weeks to arrive at the Regulus Capital City. Matheus didn''t understand what kind of nobility rank that a priestess of Revertia held, but it was enough for their group to be granted permission from the king to use their teleportation formation.


    "Heh...looks like they finally repaired the castle," Matheus mumbled when he entered into the castle grounds.


    He was currently wearing a cloak so no one would recognize him. He had been present at the time when his brother dueled with the second prince whose name he could not remember and had accidentally sent a stray Ascending Blade flying at the castle. Matheus didn''t want the king or the former crown prince to see him since they might recognize him.


    Celestina had been walking alongside Matheus when he had mumbled out his words and she couldn''t help but grow curious.


    "Oh, Matty, you knew that the castle had been destroyed before?"


    "Well, yes, it was my brother''s doing after all," Matheus sheepishly replied.


    "Your brother?"


    "Mhm, I''m not sure if you''ve heard, but the Regulus kingdom''s second prince was rather¡ª"


    "Debaucherous," Celestina finished.


    "Oh? Well, I guess you know!"


    "...he tried hitting on my sister once before during one of our previous visits to this kingdom...we were still teenagers back then."


    "Ah, that must have been rough..."


    "Mhm... anyway, about your brother..."


    "Oh yeah, well, the same thing happened to my brother''s wives. They are quite the beautiful young ladies and they had been coveted by the second prince. He had come close to raping them even..."


    "Th-that''s horrible!"


    "Yes, it was quite horrible. So, when my little brother found out, he was naturally furious and went to seek out justice for them. In the end, he had a little duel with the second prince. Naturally, he won and while venting his anger, he had accidentally¡ªor maybe purposefully, sent one of his techniques at the kingdom''s castle and blew away the castle''s west walls."


    "Y-you''re brother...he sounds like a rather frightening young man..."


    "Frightening yes, but that''s only if you harm his family. The most important thing that you should be wary of is that his wives are his bottom line. If you touch them, then you''ll be in for a world of pain. This wasn''t the first time he did this. He told me that he nearly razed one of the Machina Reggio Empire''s districts just because some duke tried to do something to one of his wives!"


    "W-what?!"


    Celestina''s outburst caused everyone to look back at her questioningly. She cleared her throat and said that it was nothing before turning back to Matheus and asking, "I-is that true? By the way, what do you mean by wives? Does he have more than one?"


    "I only heard it from my brother and he isn''t one to boast about anything so it''s most likely true. And yes, he does have more than one. He''s married to two women."


    "I-I see..."


    "He''s rather lucky haha, but I''d prefer just having one!" Matheus said with a chuckle.


    Celestina had a rather hopeful look on her face when she heard Matheus''s words. It was hidden under her hood so Matheus couldn''t see it.


    "I-is that so?"


    "Yeah," Matheus smiled and looked down at Celestina who blushed and bashfully turned her head away. They had grown quite close to one another on the course of their journey to Regulus''s capital. They had grown close to the point where they would lose their sense of time and awareness whenever they began talking to each other.


    Cecilia felt rather odd to see her elder sister grow quite close to someone. They had only met for a week or two at most, but her introverted and quiet sister had grown pretty talkative when she was around the young man.


    She felt rather happy for her older sister and also quite envious of Matheus. Cecilia herself wanted to have a fun and engaging conversation with her sister as well. It was too bad that Celestina treated her more like a superior than a sister.


    After getting permission from the Regulus King, the group was led to a room deep inside of the castle. Inside the room, there was a large magic formation engraved on the floor that was pulsating with a magical light.


    Matheus immediately grew curious and quietly whispered to Celestina who was beside him, "Celes, is this the teleportation formation?"


    "Yes, the intricate formation carved on the ground is the teleportation formation."


    "This is my first time seeing one!"


    "I see. Well, let''s head on in, shall we?"


    "Oho, this is exciting!"


    Cecilia said a few words to the court mage who had escorted them here and he began fiddling around with a stone tablet that was situated in the middle of the formation. The group had all stepped in and was standing around in the magic formation, waiting for it to be activated.


    "Since this is your first time, let me give you some advice!" Celestina said as she turned to look at the overly excited Matheus.


    "Eh? Oh, sure, what is it?"


    "Brace yourself. First-time teleporters usually vomit once they reach the other side of the formation. It''s like riding on an uncontrollable wyvern!"


    "Eh? What?"


    Before Matheus could continue questioning her, the teleportation formation began lighting up and activating. The coordinates were inputted and the Regulus kingdom''s court mage had already activated the formation.


    "O-Oh crap, wait a sec, I haven''t prepped myself just yet!"


    He immediately grabbed onto the closest object he could find to try and brace himself. The formation shone brightly and Matheus'' vision was immediately blanketed by a white light in the next instant.


    It wasn''t long before the light receded and he regained his vision. He looked around with sweat dripping on his forehead. As he was going through the teleportation formation, it felt like he was stuffed inside a washing machine which spun a few times at high speed before being thrown back out.


    He did feel a little nauseous but it wasn''t enough to make him throw up. He heaved a little before quickly stabilizing his breath. However, next to him, Matheus heard someone clearing their throat.


    "Ah-ahem...C-Can you let go of my hand now?" Celestina stiffly asked.


    "Eh?"


    Matheus looked down and noticed that he was tightly grabbing onto Celestina''s hand. She was about to offer her hand to him earlier, but Matheus had been too busy screaming at himself.


    So when he grabbed onto something to brace himself, he naturally grabbed onto Celestina''s hand as well as his packhorse''s saddle.


    "Ah, s-sorry about that...thanks, Celes..." Matheus quickly replied as he let go of her hand.


    Celestina blushed under her hood. She felt all warm and happy and couldn''t stop herself from grinning.


    She was usually blanked face but she couldn''t help herself this time. When she turned to look at the young man who was busy calming his horse down, she couldn''t help but smile.


    Cecilia came up to her and teased, "Hehe, aren''t you having a wonderful time~"


    "Eh? W-w-what do you mean, Ceci?"


    "Hmmm~ I wonder what~?"


    Celestina immediately began to pull down on her hood in an attempt to hide away her face.


    "Let''s go? Everyone else is already waiting for us!" Matheus walked over with his packhorse and said before walking past the two girls.


    He was rather curious if he had indeed transferred from the Regulus capital all the way out to some other city outside of the kingdom. The group walked out but the Regulus court mage stayed behind.


    When Matheus turned around to see what was going on, the teleportation formation began glowing once again and a bright light enveloped the room. When it died down moments later, he noticed that the mage was no longer inside the room.


    All that was left was a big empty room with the dimly lit magic formation still inside pulsating with light just like before.


    "...He disappeared... so we did transfer to another place, incredible..."


    Cecilia led the group out of the building they were in. Along the way, they were verified of their identities at some kind of checkpoint station. The people there seem to have recognized Cecilia so the group was immediately allowed through without any problems or questioning.


    When Matheus took a look around the city, he was still quite shocked to find that it wasn''t the Regulus capital city anymore. He couldn''t help but let out an impressed and amazed voice at this, "Haha, really incredible, magic can do so much."


    "We''ll rest up here for today. We should also need to get ourselves a new wagon and a few new mounts!" The old captain informed. Cecilia nodded in agreement and began leading the party towards an inn.


    The captain went to look for a place to buy a wagon and some new mounts. Celestina advised Matheus to look for a new one as well since the terrain in the neutral territory was rather treacherous and a normal mount like a horse wouldn''t last long in the new environment.


    "Hmm, I''ll go look for one then."


    "I-I''ll go too!"


    "Sure, thanks, Celes."


    "Y-yeah..."

 Chapter 357 - Matheus’s Adventure 6

    On the next day, Matheus and the group quickly made their way out of the city at the break of dawn.


    They left early after only getting a night''s rest in the city. Cecilia had informed Matheus last night that through the teleportation formation, they were able to save a few months of travel.


    From their current location to the Revertia Kingdom''s border, it only required a month or so to get there on their mounts. The rugged terrain of the neutral territory was hard to traverse on for normal mounts, but luckily for them, the city they were at had a few specialized mounts that they were able to buy.


    Matheus didn''t have any credits on him but luckily, Celestina was gracious enough to lend him some money to buy a landwyrm. It was basically a large lizard that could breathe fire and traverse easily across the rugged terrain of the neutral territory that was located between the Regulus and Revertia kingdoms.


    It had small deteriorated wings that could also be used to shield its rider from the arduous climate. It had a pretty broad back that could fit in a large saddle that could seat 2-3 people on it. 3 people if you didn''t count in all of the baggage it would be carrying.


    Matheus was currently riding on this large monster but he wasn''t the one who was handling the reins, it was Celestina. The little woman was seated right in front of him at the moment, handling the large landwyrm that she decided to name Suo.


    "It''s easy, right? It''s like riding a horse!" Celestina called out to Matheus who was sitting behind her.


    "Y-Yeah, hahaha..." Matheus nervously replied.


    He had one of his arms wrapped firmly around her waist at the moment. It was his first time mounting on a monster that wasn''t a horse so he was feeling very much unstable while riding it. Even though he had the chance to try riding many different monsters when he was back in Silvaria Kingdom because of his youngest sister, he never went out of his way to do so.


    The landwyrm was also traveling at a speed that was much faster than any horse he had ever ridden on so Matheus was still a little nervous. It was a good thing that the landwyrm had its small wings blocking the front of them, if not, they''d be buffeted by the winds and dirt.


    Celestina was grinning from ear-to-ear until she finally noticed that the young man behind her had his arm wrapped around her. She immediately stiffened up and her face flushed red.


    ''O-oh no...''


    Matheus still wasn''t paying attention to this because he was too busy trying to maintain his balance on the constantly rocking landwyrm. The only way he was able to stabilize himself was to put an arm around Celestina while his other arm grasped tightly on the edge of the large saddle.


    "S-sorry, Celes, I''m still not used to it. Just give me a bit more time and I''ll be able to take over!"


    "N-n-no problem...take as long as you want..." Celestina said as she shyly put a hand on top of the arm that Matheus had wrapped around her waist. "Th-there''s a boulder ahead, brace yourself, I''m gonna have Suo jump!"


    "Eh? O-okay!"


    Ahead of them, Matheus could see another mount that was even larger than the one they were riding on, lumbering forward. It was the one that the old knight captain had acquired for Cecilia and the others. It was a higher species of landwyrms known as Titanwyrms.


    The monster boasted a much bigger body than its smaller counterpart and was able to carry a large howdah on its back. This was where Cecilia and the other people in her group were currently resting on in leisure. Their large mount was moving stably enough that they didn''t experience the rocking that Matheus and Celestina had to go through.


    Cecilia, who was on the edge of the howdah, couldn''t help but look over at her sister and Matheus in amus.e.m.e.nt. She could see the young man was trying to stabilize himself while riding on the landwyrm with her sister. She couldn''t help but smile when she saw how intimately close the two were.


    "Oh my~ Nice going, Sir Matheus, taking advantage of my sister like that~! Ufufufu, looks like my hunch was right, my sister is interested in that young man. She''s being a bit more courageous than usual!"


    "What''s that, milady?" One of her attendants asked.


    "It''s nothing~"


    "Milady, if I may be a little...impertinent... shouldn''t we warn that man to keep away from Lady Celestina?"


    "Tch, just mind your own businesses and let her do as she pleases."


    "But milady, she is still your sister and you both are¡ª"


    Cecilia immediately cut off the attendant''s words, "Enough! I''m the only one in the family who needs to worry about who I have to marry or partner up with, but my sister does not! Father and Mother have been pushing her to find a spouse already and since she may have found a potential husband, I won''t meddle in things and ruin her chance so you shouldn''t either!"


    "O-Of course milady, as you wish..."


    Cecilia returned to leisurely sitting around while admiring the scenery. The captain was handling the reins of the large titanwyrm while the other knights were in pairs riding on their landwyrms.


    The three landwyrms were situated behind and on either side of the titanwyrm. The knights were positioned on the sides while Celestina and Matheus were positioned at the rear.


    A while later Matheus was finally able to adapt himself to the new mount and had taken over the reins from Celestina. She was still giving him pointers on how to maneuver the beast so she was still sitting with him in the large saddle.


    She still felt the lingering heat on her waist and couldn''t help smiling a little. Matheus had noticed this, but the usually blank-faced girl had begun to show more and more emotions on her face the longer they got to know each other.


    It was a rather pleasant journey through the rugged terrain, except for the fact that the sun was glaring down on them. It was a good thing that Matheus had listened to the old captain''s words and stripped away his armor and wore ice-enchanted clothing to stave away the sweltering heat.


    All of his armor was currently packed away in his luggage and he was able to purchase a few of these clothing only because he had been able to sell a few of his belongings. Celestina also helped him open up a bank account to convert the excess money he had gotten from the trade into credits.


    It was his first time seeing the universal currency of this world and it severely intrigued him. The banks of this world were functioned the same as the banks from Earth. The only catch was that the banks in this world used magic.


    A few days into their journey, everyone was currently resting since night had fallen. The climate in this unpleasant place was fluctuating between hot and cold as the day and night cycled. It was deep into the evening and the temperature was starting to decline so they stopped to pitch camp.


    It was impossible to move during the night when the temperatures were so low. The landwyrms and the titanwyrm also grew sluggish in the cold so they wouldn''t be able to move anyway.


    While they were setting up camp, Matheus felt off about something and he quickly grabbed his glaive.


    "Celes, go alert everyone else...I feel danger approaching..." Matheus said.


    "Huh? O-okay!"


    Matheus quickly got himself ready. He wasn''t certain that there was anything out there in the dark, but he just felt a faint feeling as if something was looming over their campsite at the moment.


    Celestina had put up a few defensive spells and enchantments to ward off any monsters from getting too close but there was this impending sense of danger that Matheus had suddenly started feeling just a few moments ago.


    Rather than not acting on this gut feeling of his, it was better if he notified everyone and if nothing happened then it was only a false alarm.


    Matheus concentrated on his surroundings and tried to pick up any sort of sign that could indicate whether or not something was out there.


    Celestina soon notified the captain and he immediately had the other knights form a circle around Cecilia and her attendants. He immediately walked over next to Matheus and ask, "What is it do you feel, lad?"


    "...I''m not sure Sir Oscar, but I detected killing intent being directed at us earlier...it''s gone for now but there''s this feeling of being watched that''s bugging me..." Matheus replied. Celestina wasn''t the only one who had been trying to get to know him.


    The knight captain had been rather impressed by Matheus''s combat prowess and had similarly been chatting with him from time to time while occasionally inviting him for a drink. He had gotten to know the other knights in the group and was now well acquainted with the captain.


    "I felt the killing intent as well. I don''t believe that they are human and it could just be some monsters... Also, I don''t feel like we''re being watched, or maybe it''s just because I''m getting too old?"


    "Celes¡ªuh, I mean, Lady Celestina put up a monster-warding magic spell earlier, right?"


    "Yes, she did, but if it was a high-ranked monster then it wouldn''t affect them¡ªAh!"


    "If it is a high-ranked monster, then wouldn''t it be a bigger problem?" Matheus calmly said.


    "...I just hope that isn''t the case... if we had to move, it''d be hard because the landwyrm species have a very hard time moving in the cold. If the night wasn''t as cold as it is here, then we wouldn''t have to worry about relocating campsites..." Knight-Captain Oscar said.


    Oscar thought for a moment before he went to gather the other knights together, "I''m sure you all sensed the brief killing intent that was directed at us a moment ago. Here''s the plan, we''ll stay on guard and rotate shifts. Ron, Blake, and Heather, you three go and rest up first. Matheus, Don, and I will take the first shift. Remember one thing everybody, if you can confirm that there is something out there, immediately alert everyone, and don''t try to be a hero..."


    "Yes sir!" The knights replied in unison while Matheus only nodded in agreement.


    After giving out the orders, Oscar went to inform Cecilia about what Matheus and everyone sensed earlier and the precautions that they were going to take.


    The other landwyrms were sleeping around the larger titanwyrm while they were supposed to be camping a few meters away. As for Celestina, Cecilia, and her attendants, they were requested to sleep together on the titanwyrm''s howdah.


    Matheus walked back over to where he sensed the gaze was coming from. He leaned back on the sleeping landwyrm and tightly clutched onto his glaive as he glared back out into the darkness ahead of him.


    "This is gonna be a sleepless night..."

 Chapter 358 - Matheus’s Adventure 7

    Matheus, Oscar, and Don who were on the first shift quickly took their positions on top of the sleeping landwyrms.


    They all had a small heating lamp with them that would keep on functioning as long as they injected mana into it. It wasn''t as favorable as a campfire since they had to constantly provide mana for it, but under their current circ.u.mstances, it was necessary.


    "Hey..."


    "Eh? Celes? Shouldn''t you be asleep right now?" Matheus questioned when he saw the woman suddenly standing right behind him.


    It was probably because he was so focused on looking out into the darkness to detect anything unusual that he didn''t notice when Celestina had suddenly arrived right next to him.


    She was currently wearing a shawl over herself and not her magic robe. Celestina smiled at Matheus and asked, "May I sit?"


    "O-Of course...but Celes, shouldn''t you go back to sleep?"


    "Hmm...It''s alright. I''m not that sleepy just yet... so is it alright if I accompany you?"


    "Uh, sure...if you want..."


    Celestina smiled and sat herself down right next to Matheus and leaned on him. Matheus didn''t feel too bothered at her intimate gesture. On their few days of travel, they had grown accustomed to being this close to each other.


    A few hours into the night, Matheus was still looking around cautiously. Celestina had already fallen asleep on his lap but it was a good thing that nothing had happened as of yet. It wasn''t until he suddenly saw a pair of red eyes in the darkness that he felt a chill run up his spine.


    "Celes, wake up, wake up," Matheus said while slowly shaking Celestina awake.


    She woke up and tiredly asked, "Hmmm? What is it, Matty?"


    "Something is staring back at me in the dark..."


    "Huh?"


    "D-don''t move... I don''t think it''s noticed that I already know. I only saw the eyes glaring at me for a brief moment. It''s gone now. Get up slowly, and alert¡ª"


    Matheus immediately circulated his mana and grabbed a hold of Celestina while shouting, "Sir Oscar, Sir Don, it''s here!!!"


    After jumping away from his previous location, multiple black spears pierced into the back of the landwyrm. It woke up and roared out in pain.


    "GROOOARR!!!"


    The roar immediately awakened the other landwyrms and also the titanwyrm as well as the people sleeping on top of it.


    Matheus landed on the titanwyrm and quickly let down Celestina before turning his attention back into the darkness. Celestina quickly conjured multiple fireballs and flung them all around the area.


    They landed on the sparse shrubbery in the area and immediately lit up the night. Matheus couldn''t help but frown when he saw the monsters that were attacking them.


    "Gargoyles?" He muttered to himself


    The monsters had dark gray skin that melted into the darkness behind them. They had red eyes and were using all sorts of weapons and the only thing that Matheus felt odd was that they were wearing uniform equipment on their bodies.


    Matheus frowned when he felt the strong mana emitted from the monsters. He wasn''t able to accurately gauge what mana cultivation stage they were at, but he felt that they were all at the peak mana vapor stage cultivation and above. There was one that was emitting a ridiculous amount of mana that caused his breath to stall.


    This monster was set apart from the rest because it was wielding two large battle axes and was wearing a very magnificent set of armor. It also had a much burlier body and unlike the rest, this one had hair flowing down from its head.


    It was then that Matheus finally noticed the glaring oddity that he felt from these so-called ''monsters'', "C-Celes, monsters shouldn''t have cultivation stages, right?"


    "...Matty, these aren''t monsters...they''re demons..." Celestina solemnly said with a pale face as she stared at the multiple demons flying in the sky. There were 10 of them in total and they were hovering above their group menacingly.


    When Matheus heard about the new term, he frowned and asked, "Demons?"


    "I-I''m not sure if you''ve heard of this... but do you know about the Helaife continent?"


    "Heliafe? Yes, I''ve read about it in some books. It''s the continent on the opposite end of the world, right?"


    "Y-yes...but that''s only relative to the Non-Continent that''s located in the middle of the world. The Helaife Continent is close to our Midgard continent. Except that we''re separated by a large ocean."


    "Okay, so... why are they here then?!"


    "...Th-That''s what I want to know... they''re not even supposed to be here!"


    "One of them has a ridiculous amount of mana...are you able to sense what stage he''s at?" Matheus asked when he turned his gaze to the leader-like demon.


    Celestina tried to gauge the demon''s cultivation stage but she failed to do so with her high mana sea stage cultivation.


    "I-I don''t know...that means this one is either at the peak of mana sea or is already at the mana core stage!"


    "Dammit... I heard that demons that are at the same cultivation level are 2-3 times stronger than any other species at the same level..." Matheus cursed but still raised his glaive.


    "...Sir Oscar has a cultivation stage at the peak mana sea...if that one is really at the mana core then we''re doomed..." Celestina said with a strained look. Nevertheless, she still circulated her mana and prepared to cast a spell if the demons decided to attack.


    ''Ah, crap... if only I was stronger, dammit...''


    Matheus inwardly cursed at himself. He could see the fear on Celestina''s face. Even he was shaking a bit. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to feel fear, but the pressure he was feeling from the demons in the sky was too much for him to bear with his low cultivation stage.


    Oscar and the other knights were already in formation and were guarding Cecilia and the others. Matheus and Celestina slowly made their way to them and once they were together, the leading demon in the sky finally opened his mouth.


    "Hrmmm... you lowly humans... I''ll ask this of you, where on Midgard is this?"


    Oscar frowned and yelled back, "What do you want from us?"


    "Tch, didn''t I already ask? I want to know which part of Midgard this is!" The demon bellowed.


    "...This is the neutral territory between the kingdoms of Regulus and Revertia! I ask again, what do you want and why did you attack us?"


    The demon didn''t answer Oscar and only turned to the other demons and began speaking in an unintelligible language. Matheus was surprised to hear the demon talking in the same language of them and he presumed that the language he was using to speak with the other demons was their mother tongue.


    After a brief talk, the leading demon turned his attention back to the group and said, "It looks like we''re in the right area. Let me ask... is there a Cecilia in this group?"


    Oscar was momentarily surprised and was a little late in responding, but Matheus spoke up instead, "No, there''s no such person in this group!"


    The others turned to look at Matheus, especially Cecilia and her older sister. The demon turned to look at him and ask, "Is that so?"


    "Yes, so it would be best if you left us alone! We don''t have the one you''re looking for!"


    "Hmmm... what a pity, if she was indeed amongst you people, then we would have just asked for her and spared the others...but now that you''ve seen who we are, then we''re going to have to exterminate you all. We don''t want anyone to know about our existence until after we''ve acquired our target."


    The leader waved his arm and the other demons shot downward and directed their weapons at the group while some of them sent magic spells their way. The spells were much different than the ones that Matheus was normally accustomed to seeing. There were no chants and the way the demons handled their spells was similar to how his people used their mana.


    However, unlike the golden mana of his people, the demons were using dark-colored mana of different hues. One of them had sent a dark fireball straight at Celestina who in turn conjured a water barrier to defend against the attack before counterattacking with an ice lance.


    The 4 people who were constantly under protection by the knights alongside Cecilia immediately stepped up and conjured a light barrier to defend against the demons'' magic spells. Matheus was rather surprised that these people had a use other than needing protection.


    Cecilia had also stepped forward to help while the knights began engaging in a melee with the demons that had flown down. Matheus rushed forward to attack one of the demons but his opponent only scoffed and began mocking him.


    "Haha, what''s a pup in the intermediate mana vapor stage doing here?!"


    "..."


    Matheus kept silent and continued attacking the demon with a seamless flow of slashes, stabs, and sweeps. He couldn''t determine what cultivation stage the demon in front of him had, but judging by the amount of mana it had, Matheus deduced that it was only at the early mana sea stage.


    After being the one under constant attack, the demon could no longer laugh at Matheus, "Heh, so this pup has a little spunk in hi¡ª"


    Matheus made a large sweep with his glaive and cut the demon short of his mocking remark. The demon backed away and was about to take flight but Matheus had flung his glaive at the demon as it was about to take off.


    "!"


    The demon widened its eyes and smacked the glaive away but immediately it felt its body being pulled back down onto the ground. Matheus had thrown his weapon at the demon but it was only as a distraction for him to quickly close in on the demon.


    He had rushed right below it. He wanted to grab its leg or something but when he saw the dangling tail, he immediately tugged and pulled on it. He slammed the demon down onto the ground and began pummeling its face. He pulled out a dagger from his leg, quickly wrapped mana around it, and stabbed the demon in the forehead.


    It was relatively easier for him to wrap mana around a smaller object than his large glaive so the dagger was able to pierce right into the demon''s skull, swiftly ending its life.


    His glaive had landed not too far away from him so when he noticed another demon rushing at him, Matheus circulated his mana and jumped back towards his weapon. He quickly grabbed it and blocked the other demon''s attack.


    He felt himself being pushed back so he let his feet off the ground and kicked at the demon''s abdomen while sending a punch towards its angered face. He flew back from the impact of the demon''s rush but he rolled himself on the ground and stably got back to his feet.


    The other demons immediately pulled back their attacks and eyed their fallen comrade. Not even 3 minutes had elapsed since the start of the battle but one of their own had already fallen. The most important thing was that their comrade had died at the hands of the person who they sensed had the lowest cultivation stage in the group of humans.


    "You..." The demon''s leader growled in anger.


    "..." Matheus looked up at the leader and readied his glaive. Everyone from his group was honestly surprised that he was able to quickly fell a demon after only a brief exchange of blows but they now grew worried since it seemed that his actions had angered the demons'' leader.


    The large demon that was still floating in the sky slowly dropped down in front of Matheus while maintaining a menacing and angry glare at him.


    "Human...you killed one of us. Despite having weak cultivation, you managed to kill... I acknowledge you as a warrior, but you''ve angered me...that one was my nephew..."


    ''Shit...'' Matheus inwardly cursed. He felt that fighting the other mana sea stage demons was still manageable but this one was beyond him.


    No amount of martial arts could transcend the large gulf between their cultivation stages. Matheus was feeling stifled under the large pressure the large demon was exuding.


    "This one''s name is Saravkibah...and yours, human?"


    "...Matheus..."


    "Well then, Matheus. Be honored that you will fall under my axe!"


    The large demon brandished his two axes and rushed straight towards Matheus.

 Chapter 359 - Matheus’s Adventure 8

    Saravkibah flashed in front of Matheus and this caused him to widen his eyes in shock at the demon''s speed.


    He was huge and burly but his speed surely didn''t match his build. Matheus quickly defended himself against the large axe that was descending on his head. He could feel the power and ferocity behind the blow so he jumped back to mitigate the impact but even then when his glaive clashed against Saravkibah''s axe, his entire arm shook in pain and he felt his hand slowly turn numb.


    "Kh... shit... I-I can''t win against this guy..."


    Saravkibah was surprised to see Matheus still standing and was even more surprised to see that the glaive in his hand hadn''t been split in twine. He was planning on ending the battle quickly so he put in 80 percent of his power behind that blow.


    He had also wanted to follow it up by attacking with his other axe but seeing as he had blown his opponent away, Saravkibah thought that Matheus had already perished under that initial strike but instead his opponent had used the impact behind his very own attack to purposefully open up the distance between them.


    "Hoh, I''m surprised that you survived that!"


    "..."


    Matheus clenched his fist and slowly began regaining the feeling in it. He raised his glaive once more and concentrated his full attention on the monstrous fighter in front of him. Seeing him readying himself, Saravkibah smirked joyfully.


    "That''s the spirit, boy! Here I come!" The demon let loose a frightening battle cry and disappeared.


    Matheus immediately began circulating his mana and felt his senses heighten. His breathing slowed and so did his vision. Now, he could see the demon rushing at him. Saravkibah wasn''t moving along in a straight path but was instead moving irregularly in different directions as he made his way over to Matheus.


    The people who were bearing witness to this fight only saw the large demon disappear before multiple clones of him appeared all around Matheus who was still frozen in place.


    Celestina quickly raised a cry of alarm. She had wanted to rush in and help him but the demons that were watching the battle were also keeping a close eye on them. Matheus'' earlier act of killing the demon leader''s nephew had put a halt to all of the battles and everyone was now bearing witness to Matheus'' fight against Saravkibah.


    The demons were already raising victorious howls as they watched their leader''s opponent frozen in place like a scared little lamb.


    It wasn''t that Matheus remained frozen in place due to fear but his mind had slowed down to the point where he was able to follow Saravkibah''s quick movements and was only waiting for the demon to strike at him.


    All of the afterimages were only feints. If Matheus hadn''t fallen in this incredible state of mind where he was able to follow his opponent''s incredible speed with his eyes, he would have been fl.u.s.tered by the many images of his opponent and have fallen prey to one of Saravkibah''s true attack.


    Matheus patiently waited and continued eyeing Saravkibah who was still moving around. The demon saw that his opponent wasn''t frozen in place due to fear, he couldn''t help but frown in question.


    ''What is this human up to?'' Saravkibah thought to himself. He tried to move even closer to him to see how he would react. Seeing that nothing was happening, Saravkibah continued to try and probe his opponent.


    Matheus noticed the odd movements that his opponent was making. He waited and waited until finally, Saravkibah was in range of his glaive''s reach. He immediately made his move and tried to slash at him.


    Saravkibah parried the slash with his axe but Matheus followed it up with a long and continuous flow of attacks. The demon was rather nonplussed at this. He had somehow fallen into his opponent''s rhythm and was now subjected to the continuous flow of attacks that was rather hard for him to break out of.


    The demon continued to parry all of Matheus'' blows and tried to search for an opening in the young man''s attacks. After 5 minutes of this, Saravkibah was rather surprised to see that he couldn''t find any opening at all. He was also surprised that the young human before him was able to keep up this continuous wave of attacks for so long.


    "You... human... you are strong!"


    Even after receiving all of his attacks, the demon in front of him had the leisure to compliment him. Matheus gritted his teeth and roared out, "Krgh... take this!"


    Saravkibah stopped retreating and empowered his arm and axe with mana. He then met Matheus'' strike with a blow of his own. The demon''s attack blew back Matheus far away.


    "MATTY!" Celestina cried out in horror when she saw him being blown away.


    Matheus spun around on the ground a few times before he finally came to a stop. Celestina immediately sent magic spells at Saravkibah to try and keep him at bay before rushing over to Matheus. Her actions immediately prompted the other demons to resume their attacks.


    Thanks to her actions, Oscar was able to surprise the demon he was initially fighting with and heavily injure it. He immediately rushed over in Celestina''s direction and blocked the demons who were trying to chase after her.


    Matheus struggled to stand back up. His entire body was in pain. He felt like every bone in his body was broken or fractured. It was hard for him to breathe since even taking a shallow breath would cause a sharp pain to envelop his chest and lungs.


    He coughed a few times and spat the warm liquid that had risen into his mouth. The red liquid immediately caused Celestina to cry out in horror. She quickly arrived next to him, took out a small vial from the pouch on her waist, popped it open, and stuffed the contents into Matheus'' mouth.


    "It''s a healing potion from my nation! It''ll heal your injuries and relieve the pain!" Celestina quickly explained.


    Knowing that it was Celestina, Matheus started gulping down the liquid that was suddenly stuffed into his mouth. The liquid was cold and he felt the pain in his chest slowly fade as it made its way down his throat and into his stomach.


    He felt relieved that the pain he was feeling had somewhat subsided. He turned his head and was just about to thank Celestina but before he was able to, a large wave of mana struck the area next to him.


    "KYAAAAAHHH!!!"


    Matheus widened his eyes in horror. The girl who was just beside him had disappeared in a flash of black mana. He heard her pained cry but it felt so distant. He turned his head around and saw Celestina''s body lay still some meters away.


    "C-Celes?"


    "..."


    Celestina didn''t respond and continued laying there without any sort of movement. Matheus'' face paled and his breathing became heavy. He heard a large thud just beside him and a familiar voice called out to him, "You were a strong opponent. It''s a pity that your woman tried to interfere. This is the consequence of someone interfering in our battle."


    Matheus jumped back and pointed his glaive at the large demon that had suddenly arrived next to him. His right arm was broken and the healing potion couldn''t possibly heal that. He could only rely on his left arm to continue fighting the monster in front of him.


    "You... I''ll kill you!"


    "You''ve already lost, human. You killed my nephew, I killed your woman. It is an equivalent exchange. Now, I will kill you..." Saravkibah plainly said.


    "M-Matty..."


    Hearing the pained voice, Matheus immediately eyed the fallen Celestina. Seeing her still alive, Matheus was relieved and he immediately turned his attention back to Saravkibah.


    Saravkibah eyed the fallen human woman and scoffed, "A tenacious one, huh? You killed my nephew before my eyes so I will do the same to your woman. Now watch¡ª"


    "You''ll have to go through me you bastard!" Matheus angrily yelled.


    The demon only sneered at him before he disappeared from his spot. Matheus pushed his mana circulation to the limits and saw his opponent rushing towards Celestina who was helplessly sprawled on the ground.


    ''MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!!!''


    His body couldn''t keep up with his vision but this time, Matheus remembered that one technique from his family''s cultivation manual, the technique that Cecil used to enhance his power to fight across cultivation stages.


    He immediately remembered the activation process but since he couldn''t find any mana inside his muscles, Matheus instead started injecting as much mana as he could into them and slowly, a golden aura began exuding out of his body. He felt the muscles on his legs strengthen and he immediately kicked off of the ground shooting his body forward in Saravkibah''s direction.


    Just as the demon was about to cleave down onto Celestina''s body with his axes, Matheus quickly arrived next to Saravkibah and he slashed his glaive at the demon''s body.


    "WHAT?!" Saravkibah let out a surprised cry but was too late to do anything.


    Matheus'' glaive cut right into the demon''s side. He stomped his foot on the ground to stop his forward momentum before twisting his body and slamming his glaive right into the demon.


    Now it was Saravkibah''s turn to experience what it was like to be blown away. Matheus'' attack had sent him flying a distance away before he slammed down hard onto the ground.


    "Urgh..." Saravkibah stood up with a groan and rubbed his side. He felt his warm blood coat his hand and he couldn''t help but chuckle at the human.


    "You''re good, warrior Matheus!" He roared out in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Let''s continue our fight!"


    "Urk..." Matheus let out a pained groaned. He had injected mana directly into his muscles and he did feel them strengthen but after making his previous series of movements he could feel his muscles tearing apart.


    "A-at least I got the golden aura correctly..." Matheus jokingly said in a strained voice.


    His current use of mana had the same principle as Cecil''s Mana Burst. Feeling the strain and pressure his body was going through, Matheus now understood why no one in the family besides his little brother could even use the technique properly.


    The method to use Mana Burst, as described in their family''s cultivation manual, stated that one only needed to activate the mana inside their muscles and ligaments or more precisely, their cells. It should have been the easiest technique to master in Cecil''s entire skill arsenal however, Matheus, Fatima, and everyone else in the family who tried to learn it wasn''t able to precisely because they didn''t have any mana outside of their mana pathways and mana points.


    Unlike his little brother who had mana distributed all around his body for some reason, Matheus'' body, as well as every other earthling, had their mana confined in their mana points and mana pathways. The pathways were spread throughout his entire body so he and his little brother didn''t notice it at first but once Matheus had injected his mana directly into his muscles, he instantly felt that there weren''t any mana inside of them.


    It wasn''t the same activation method, but it did strengthen his body. The problem was that as his muscles were being enhanced by his mana, he could feel them begin to tear and break apart due to the excessive amount of mana he had injected. The slightest bit of movement was enough for him to feel the destructive feedback.


    Matheus had no idea how to pull back the mana in his muscles and grew worried that if he continued fighting Saravkibah in his current state, his body might not last. The only saving grace was that the mana he had recklessly injected was slowly being used up but it would take quite a while before it was all gone.


    "Shit... no wonder all of the others who tried using Mana Burst had to be hospitalized for a few weeks...this is what happened to them!"


    "Stop your mumbling, human! We''re continuing our fight! Here I come!" Saravkibah excitedly roared out before he once more rushed towards Matheus.


    Matheus could only grit his teeth and rush at his opponent. He had to lead Saravkibah away from Celestina at all costs.


    ''Don''t worry, Celes, I won''t let you die!''

 Chapter 360 - Matheus’s Adventure 9

    It was as if the demon knew, but Matheus''s plan to lure him away wasn''t going so well. Now that he couldn''t catch his opponent off guard, Matheus was once again locked in a stalemate with Saravkibah.


    The demon didn''t budge an inch and would sometimes try to send an attack at the defenseless Celestina. The Cecilia and everyone else was too busy dealing with their opponents that no one could afford to spare any help for her.


    Oscar was trying to make his way over to them but 3 demons were currently blocking his path. Even with his peak mana sea stage cultivation, he wasn''t able to do anything against the 3 demons who were a level or two below him.


    They were working together to keep Oscar locked in place. The other 5 demons were locking down Cecilia, her attendants, and the other knights, so no one could help them right now.


    The others had already seen the precarious state Celestina was in and were trying to make their way over, but the pesky demons wouldn''t allow it.


    Matheus was pushing himself to try and keep Celestina safe. The more he moved the more strain and pressure his body was put through. Saravkibah already noticed that Matheus was only pushing himself to keep up with his strength and speed.


    The demon didn''t understand how Matheus was able to do this, but the bleeding on his arms and legs that suddenly started occurring only proved to him that the human couldn''t keep this up for much longer.


    If his opponent did, then Saravkibah himself wouldn''t even need to do anything and the human would just die. He noticed that the human was using his mana with the same principles that his race has been using their mana, direct manipulation, and control.


    It was crude, but the human was mimicking him. Saravkibah couldn''t help but hold a better sense of appreciation for this human warrior that he was fighting. Just from fighting with him, the human was able to deduce the principles of how his race was using mana and somehow apply that to himself.


    It was a little faulty since Saravkibah could see that Matheus''s body couldn''t handle the strain of having mana injected into his muscles, but it was enough for Matheus to fight on par with him.


    "Human, why do you go so far to protect that woman?"


    "It''s just like how you''d go so far as to protect your own kin!" Matheus retorted as he spun his body around and rapidly stabbed and slashed at the demon.


    "...your body won''t last. You''ll die if you push yourself any further..."


    "Hmph, you think I don''t know that?"


    "It is admirable, however..."


    "?"


    "For you to be able to comprehend the fundamental principle of how we demons use our mana... You see how we do not use chants in our spells or combat skills. You''re currently doing it now, so it was quite admirable that you were able to comprehend that through the course of our battle!"


    "..." Matheus remained silent and didn''t correct Saravkibah''s misunderstanding. He didn''t comprehend anything. All he did was forcefully try to use the one technique in his family''s cultivation manual that no one else could use.


    He did get good information out of this. Matheus didn''t realize it at first, but after exchanging blows with Saravkibah for so long, he thought there was something familiar.


    The way Saravkibah and all the other demons used mana was the same as how his people used mana. Saravkibah was a dead giveaway because there was someone in his very own family who used mana so similarly and that was his little brother, Cecil.


    The dark energy wave that Saravkibah had sent to blow away Celestina from earlier was just like how Cecil would use his sword wave attacks and Ascending Blade. Of course, Saravkibah couldn''t stand close in comparison with his monstrous little brother but the similarities in techniques were there.


    The two combatants continued exchanging blows with one another but eventually, Matheus could feel that he was on his last legs. His body could no longer take the burden of being directly enhanced with mana. He no longer had any feeling in his broken right arm and his legs and left arm were creaking with pain.


    He couldn''t even stand upright anymore and his fingers couldn''t grip his glaive properly, let alone swing it for an attack.


    Saravkibah only shook his head when he saw the state Matheus was in. He stopped attacking and said to the human, "Human, do you know why you cannot use mana the way we can?"


    "..."


    Matheus didn''t answer him back, but Saravkibah continued to explain.


    "It is because our races have different bodily constitutions. Your body cannot handle the usage of mana directly so you need a medium to help adjust your body into being able to receive that mana, which is in the form of spells. By then, the incantation and spell formation of your human spells would have diluted the mana by quite a large deal and make it compatible to be used with your weak human body."


    "Difference in body constitutions, huh? I guess that''s why no one in the family could use Mana Burst except for Cecil..." Matheus said but the latter half of his words were mumbled out.


    "This is the end, human. Know that before you die, you have gained my respect as a warrior," Saravkibah declared as he raised his axe high up into the air.


    Just before he could slice down onto Matheus with his weapons, a barrier suddenly appeared in front of the human and blocked his attack.


    "What''s this?" He growled angrily.


    He turned to look at Celestina who had somehow managed to stand back up on her own feet. Near the girl''s feet, there were broken vials of healing potions scattered all around. It seems that during his fight with Matheus, the human girl was able to heal herself with some potions.


    Saravkibah sneered at her and raised both his axes together. Before he could cleave down, one of the demons who were in his squad raised a voice of alarm and pointed into the air just behind him.


    "L-Leader, in the skies south of us, more humans!"


    "Hm?" He turned around glared up at the night sky. For the demon race, they had an ability known as Dark Vision which would allow them to see in the dark. With this ability, Saravkibah was able to see that there were multiple wyverns, Storm Hawks, and other aerial monsters racing in their direction.


    He noticed that each monster had a human rider on top of them and they were all wearing uniformed armor.


    "Tsk, I thought those fools were going to keep them from mobilizing! What''s the meaning of this?!"


    When Cecilia saw the demon and the demon leader communicating with each other and looking towards the skies, she heard the monster cries and her eyes immediately brightened. She immediately started sending Light Bolts into the air while shouting, "Our reinforcements have arrived!"


    "Reinforcements?"


    "Thank the heavens!"


    "Continue defending! Endure until they arrive!" Oscar roared out. The sounds of the aerial monsters caught the demons off guard so he was able to catch one of them off guard. He injured and pushed them back before charging through the opening he had created for himself and rushed straight towards Celestina''s location.


    Matheus only heard the words ''reinforcements'' before he could no longer stay upright. He collapsed down onto the ground and lost consciousness. When Celestina heard her sister say that reinforcements have arrived, she quickly looked up into the air where Saravkibah was looking at and fired a Flame Lance into the sky before exploding it.


    She was able to illuminate the skies for a bit and noticed the flying monsters that were rushing to their location. Celestina saw the uniform armor they were wearing and the emblem of the Revertia Holy Kingdom engraved on it.


    "H-how? How did they know where we are?!" She cried out in pleasant surprise.


    Oscar arrived next to her and quickly said, "Lady Celestina, no need to be surprised. Back when we first arrived in the capital city of the Regulus Kingdom, Lady Cecilia had already relayed the news about our arrival and requested an escort from the holy city."


    "I-I see... Th-thank goodness they arrived just in time, but we need to get to Matt¡ªI mean, Sir Matheus first! He was only trying to protect me but he was fighting against the demon group''s leader, Saravkibah. The fight has taken a toll on his body..." Celestina urgently said as she eyed the fallen Matheus.


    "Yes, of course. I''m quite surprised that that boy had managed to stand toe-to-toe with that demon for a long time. His cultivation stage is so low, but he was able to fight on par with that demon, even if it was only for a while..."


    "We have to hurry back to the kingdom and have him get treated! He saved my life after all!"


    "He saved all of our lives before. We still haven''t repaid him of that debt."


    Oscar and Celestina worked together to beat back the 3 demons who had chased after Oscar. It was a pleasant relief, but Saravkibah seemed to be no longer interested in ending Matheus''s life.


    He was only glaring straight into the night sky at the approaching Revertia Kingdom Air Force. He frowned and quickly took to the skies while shouting, "Retreat! I sense a Holy Knight in their presence."


    The other demons heard his orders and quickly flew up and chased after their leader who was already retreating. The Reverita Kingdom''s aerial forces saw the retreating demons and the commander immediately split the forces in two. One continued to chase after the retreating demons while the other landed.


    The unit''s commander who was riding on a large red wyvern landed and quickly made his way to Cecilia.


    "Lady Cecilia, you had us all worried! I knew it. We should have remained stationed in that neutral city after you were attacked the first time and waited for your arrival! Those damned geezers, we''ll need to¡ª"


    "It''s alright, Sir Bart, our priority right now is to get back to the kingdom as quickly as possible. Did you prepare us some flying mounts?"


    "Yes, Milady, we have them all prepared," The commander replied.


    "Good, we''ll also be taking someone back with us. He''s currently injured and needs to be brought back for treatment. He''s an important guest of ours, he saved us back then and he also fended off the demon group''s leader earlier before you all arrived."


    "...I see. Then he must be a formidable warrior to fight off that Pseudo Mana Core stage demon..."


    "Send a messenger ahead of us and have the kingdom quickly prepare a room of recuperation for us. List it under my family''s name!"


    "I-is this all necessary for just one person?" Commander Bart questioned after eyeing Matheus who was being carried over by Knight Captain Oscar and Celestina.


    When he saw the grievous injuries that Matheus had sustained, he couldn''t help but widen his eyes in pure shock. The unconscious young man had one arm broken, his other appendages were bleeding and his muscles and skin were all torn apart.


    "Let''s hurry back then, Lady Cecilia."


    "Yes."

 Chapter 361 - Matheus’s Adventure 10

    When Matheus came to, he found himself lying on a bed in a brightly lit room. He slowly got up and noticed that his injuries had all been healed.


    "What the..."


    His broken arm had been set and from the looks of it, it was no longer broken. He waved his arm for a bit and felt no pain. The same went for the rest of his body. Matheus had long since noticed the dire state his body was in before he had collapsed.


    He thought that surely, he would have been made a cripple due to his reckless actions. However, here he was feeling fit as an ox. He looked around the room and stood up from the bed.


    He walked to the window and stared outside. Matheus was quite amazed when he saw the white cityscape before him. All of the houses were neatly built and there were large buildings and towers all around.


    He noticed that all of the buildings were either a pure white color or was a color that was in its brightest hue. Trees and all sorts of plants were also growing inside of the city and there was even a large waterway that he spotted from where he was. He noticed that the room he was inside of was located somewhere high up. He deduced that he was inside some kind of tower in the middle of the city and his room was probably on the top floors.


    Matheus sat back down on the bedside after marveling at the scenery from outside. It was such an immaculate city and there was this aura of majesty and holiness exuding from it. He couldn''t describe what this feeling was like but he was in awe of it.


    It was unlike his kingdom''s capital, Silvaria City, which was like a huge forest of concrete towers and buildings. When he looked up at the sky earlier he noticed that there was this thin film covering the skies around the city, he thought that it was most likely a barrier since he had seen something similar in Central Light City.


    "It must be one massive and advanced barrier since it could cover the entire city...this city seems to be 2 to 3 times as big as Central Light..."


    His thoughts were immediately interrupted when someone suddenly burst into the room. Matheus quickly stood up on guard and circulated his mana. Unbeknownst to him, a light golden aura had suddenly arisen from his body when he began circulating his mana.


    The person who barged into the room looked left and right before they finally saw Matheus who was standing at the side of the bed with his guard up. The person who had suddenly barged in was Celestina, she noticed the light golden aura surrounding Matheus and was a little intrigued but she couldn''t care about that. She immediately rushed over and jumped on him.


    "Matty!"


    Matheus was about to block the girl from jumping onto him before he suddenly heard the familiar voice that called out to him. He quickly changed postures and caught the girl and said with a slight tinge of confusion in his voice, "...Celes?"


    "Y-you''re awake! Thank goodness!"


    "Uhh... yeah...but, you are Celes, right?" Matheus questioned again.


    The girl in his arms was quite different from the stoic and deadpanned girl that he was normally used to seeing. She was wearing a bright dress with plenty of frills decorating the hems and edges. She was also wearing some jewelry on her making her appear bright and refreshing.


    It was such a stark contrast to the Celestina that Matheus was used to who wore a baggy black magician''s robe with a large hood always covering her face. She always had a stoic and deadpanned expression on her face and would rarely smile at all, but the girl in his arms was smiling brightly with her eyes being moist with tears.


    When Matheus made a closer observation, he noticed that the girl was Celestina after all. Besides the light make-up she and the out-of-character clothes she was wearing, this girl was without a doubt the Celestina who had been with him on his travels.


    He immediately let down his guard and asked, "W-where are we Celes?"


    Matheus placed the girl down on the bedside and sat himself down as well. He finally noticed that his clothes were a bit loose and airy like those of a hospital patient''s clothes. So when he felt Celestina''s body press up to him he couldn''t help but feel a little awkward since he also wasn''t wearing any underwear at the moment.


    It felt quite odd since he had a reaction coming from down there but it was a good thing that the girl in front of him hadn''t felt it or was paying attention.


    "We''re at my kingdom''s capital city, the Holy City of Celestra. We arrived a few days ago."


    "I see... what happened while I was out?"


    "The demons retreated after reinforcement from my kingdom came. It was thanks to my sister. She was prudent enough to request an escort once we arrived at Regulus Kingdom''s capital city. That''s why they were able to arrive so quickly."


    "That''s good. What about, the party? Were there any...casualties?" Matheus hesitantly asked.


    "Thankfully, no, everyone was able to make it out alive with just some light injuries. Only you were severely injured, Matty..." Celestina said with a downtrodden look in her eyes.


    "W-well, I''m all good now! Hahaha, that demon was pretty hard to beat! I knew from the start that I had no chance!" Matheus tried to laugh it off and brighten the mood a little but he couldn''t help but ask, "I-I know my body the best. I know how injured I was before I collapsed. How am I still able to move around and stand like this, Celes?"


    Matheus believed that with his injuries, it was probably only his youngest brother or sister that was able to help him out. Since he woke up and found himself all better, the only conclusion was that Celestina''s sister, Cecilia, had something to do with his recovery.


    Since he was curious, Celestina immediately answered his question, "When the demon group''s leader retreated, all the fighting stopped and we were able to quickly attend to your injuries and preserve your life until we got to the capital. When we arrived, Cecilia immediately had you brought up to the tower of Recuperation and sent you to the topmost floor which is the best. Fortunately, with the help of many priests and priestesses, we were able to heal your body... you were in very bad condition before... you lost a lot of blood and your body was torn and broken. I was very worried..."


    "...I''m fine now, so everything''s all good. I should go and thank your sister the next time I see her."


    "Well, why don''t you thank me now?" A voice called out from behind.


    Matheus immediately turned around and saw a few others currently standing around and waiting from behind him. He widened his eyes in shock. He quickly stood up and distanced himself from Celestina who had intimately snuggled up to him.


    "L-Lady Cecilia!"


    "Good morning, Sir Matheus~ a fine day, isn''t it?"


    "G-Good morning...and yes, it is a fine day..." Matheus replied with a strained smile.


    "Still early in the morning and you two are already so lovey-dovey~!" Cecilia teased.


    Matheus grew slightly embarrassed, while Celestina immediately blushed red for a moment. The young woman quickly recomposed herself before a placid and taciturn expression resurfaced on her face. Now, this was the woman that Matheus was normally accustomed to.


    Celestina lightly stood up and turned around to face the other people in the room. Besides the 3 of them, there were 5 others in the room. Oscar, the Knight Captain that Matheus was already acquainted with. The Aerial Unit Commander, Sir Bart, an old man who was wearing an intricately decorated ceremonious robe, and a middle-aged couple who looked to be Cecilia and Celestina''s parents since they had similar facial features.


    "Is this the young man who saved you, High Priestess?" The old man asked.


    "Yes, Cardinal Hope, this is Sir Matheus! He helped our group escape from our previous pursuers from Heltegor Neutral City!"


    "I see...we''re going to have to send another ambassador to Heltegor. How lax can their security be that they let in assassins into the city?!" The cardinal turned to look at Matheus and said, "Thank you, young man. You have done our kingdom a great service for rescuing our High Priestess'' party!"


    "Uhh, okay... You''re welcome?"


    "..." The old man eyed Matheus once more before turning around to leave the room. The last glance from the old man gave Matheus a rather unpleasant feeling. He felt like that old man couldn''t be trusted.


    Oscar introduced the Aerial Unit Commander, Bart Queben. The commander expressed his thanks to Matheus before eyeing Celestina and greeting her. He then left the room with Oscar who had already expressed his gratitude and elation to Matheus.


    The middle-aged couple was indeed the two sister''s parents like Matheus had deduced. They sat down on the couch in the room and gestured for Matheus to sit down as well, it seemed like they had something to discuss with him.


    "Allow us to introduce ourselves, I am Hector Clarence, and this is my wife, Emily Clarence. You??ve already met our daughters, Celestina and Cecilia. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Matheus...?"


    "Matheus Silvaria! It''s a pleasure to meet you too, Sir Hector," Matheus greeted in turn and quickly took Hector''s outstretched hand.


    "Haha, what a firm grip! I trust that you are much better now?"


    "Yes, sir. I have to thank your daughter for that. I am very grateful. If there is ever anything that I can do to repay this debt¡ª"


    "Ah, I believe that my daughter, Cecilia, has already said that this debt has already been paid, yes?"


    "Hm?"


    Cecilia who had kept silent once her father began talking immediately spoke up, "Well, Matheus, you did save our lives once before. Consider this treatment as repayment for that time!"


    "I see...well, I still have to thank you, Lady Cecilia," Matheus said graciously.


    "Matheus Silvaria, right?" Emily Clarence, Hector''s wife, and Cecilia and Celestina''s mother asked.


    "Yes, Madam."


    "If I may be so bold as to ask, but where are you from?"


    "Uh... well..."


    "You see, we have heard of a new kingdom that has suddenly taken root in the No-Man''s Lands deep within the Sky Piercing Mountain Range...if I recall correctly, it''s called the Silvaria Kingdom, no? I heard from our daughters that you were also from a kingdom called Silvaria, are you perhaps...related to the royal family of that kingdom?"


    When Emily let out her words, Hector turned a scrutinizing eye at Matheus while Cecilia only laughed. Celestina was the only one who was rather shocked to hear the similarity between Matheus''s name and the name of a newfound kingdom.


    "W-well..." Matheus was still hesitant about answering that question.


    Seeing as he was hesitating, Hector let out a good-natured laugh and said, "Well, Matheus, if it''s too hard for you to say, we don''t mind at all! You are our children''s benefactor which means that you are also our benefactor! I won''t pry too much into your private affairs!"


    "Th-thank you, sir..."


    "One of my daughters seems to have taken an interest in you, Matheus," Hector said with a smile as he eyed the slightly blushing Celestina who was sitting next to Matheus. "Hahahaha, this is a cause for celebration! I do hope that you will have the time to stop by our house!"


    Matheus felt a little bit awkward that the man in front of him had just teased him with his own daughter. Hearing the invitation, however, Matheus nodded out of politeness. It wouldn''t do him any good to decline when they had been so welcoming to him.


    "Well, look at the time! It''s best if we get going, my dear," Hector said.


    He stood up with his wife, gesturing to her that they should get going now. Matheus naturally stood up and walked towards the door to open it. Just before Hector exited the room, he leaned into Matheus''s ear and whispered, "My little girl is quite the sensitive young lady. Please don''t do anything to break her heart, okay?"


    Matheus stiffly nodded his head and Hector continued saying, "If you want her, then, by all means, pursue her. If not, then please cut things off before she grows too fond of you..."


    Hector smiled and patted Matheus on the shoulder before walking out with his wife and Cecilia who followed after them.


    The only people remaining in the room were now just him and Celestina. He turned to look at her and awkwardly looked away.


    "Uhm, is it alright if I get out of here now?"


    "O-of course, all of your belongings are with me! All we have to do is check you out on the first floor and have you change back to your normal clothes. Also, the ones you are wearing now, you can keep, Matty. Th-those were a g-gift from me..." Celestina bashfully said.


    "O-okay...then, shall we go now?"


    "Mhm."


    The two walked out of the room and headed straight for the tower''s first floor.

 Chapter 362 - Matheus’s Adventure 11

    After checking out of the recuperation tower, Celestina took Matheus for a stroll around the city. Matheus was quite impressed at how clean and bright the city was. It was much different than any of the cities he''s ever been to before, and this naturally included the cities from back on Earth.


    Comparing this super clean city with any of the cities from Earth was literally like comparing a piece of jewelry with a rock. Earth''s cities were filthy. Not many people were aware of keeping the environment clean and healthy.


    Even now in Silvaria City, the habit of throwing trash wherever one wanted was starting to surface. If it wasn''t because of the kingdom''s council enforcing the people to keep the environment clean and the penalties that would ensue if anyone was caught throwing garbage wantonly, then Silvaria City would have quickly turned into a pretty unappealing city by now.


    As they were walking through the city, Matheus began to notice that people were always coming up to greet Celestina now and then so he couldn''t help but ask her, "You and your family must be pretty respected, Celes!"


    "Y-yeah, though it is rather embarrassing..."


    "What''s there to be embarrassed about? Everyone comes up to greet you out of respect. I don''t see anyone that came up earlier doing it out of fear or because they were forced to do it. Though, I would like to ask what kind of status does your family hold to warrant such respect!"


    Celestina let out a small hint of a smile before answering, "We didn''t do much to warrant any sort of respect. My family only contributes a lot to the Revero Church and we produced a lot of the church''s priests. In this generation, my sister also happens to be the church''s youngest High Priestess."


    "The Church huh... Judging from the name of this Kingdom, I knew that it was associated with something like a church. Can you explain more about it?"


    Seeing his piqued curiosity, Celestina pointed at a nearby building and turned to look at him with expectation.


    "Hm?"


    When Matheus looked over, he noticed that the building was a cafe. He immediately got her intention and scratched his head awkwardly before clearing his throat in slight embarrassment.


    "Ahem, uh, okay, let''s take a break over there and talk," Matheus said before walking towards the cafe.


    When he passed by Celestina, the girl boldly locked their arms together before walking towards the cafe together. Matheus wasn''t that dense. He already knew that the girl was pretty interested in him and it was the same for him as well.


    He remembered Celestina''s father''s words from earlier and decided to just go for it. From back on Earth, he never really was good at getting into relationsh.i.p.s. It was hard for him since he was always busy working and attending university lectures or when he was back in school, it was studying and training.


    Celestina was still feeling a little bit uneasy when Matheus had stiffened up for a brief moment, but quickly grew relieved once he began leading her towards the cafe without minding her wrapping her arms around him.


    "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I still haven''t thanked you for saving my life, Matty."


    "What do you mean?"


    "You protected me from that demon when he tried to strike me down. Thank you, Matty," Celestina said with a smile.


    "I-It was nothing. If you hadn''t jumped in to give me that potion, then I would have been the one to fall. I''ll thank you in turn for that."


    "Hehe, it''s nothing."


    The two made their way into the cafe and ordered a few things to eat. Celestina began explaining a few things about their kingdom and the Revero Church that the kingdom was affiliated with.


    The Revertia Holy Kingdom was built around the Revero Church. As for what the church worshipped, it was the guardian deity of the Midgard Continent. No one knows where it lives at currently, but many suspect that the revered deity was somewhere in the No-Man''s Lands.


    Matheus narrowed his eyes when he heard this piece of news. If this was the case, then his kingdom might be situated very close to this deity. Matheus didn''t deny the existence of this deity since his little brother had already personally met with Urrugdrasil''s deity, the World Tree Urrugdrasil.


    He only wondered if he''d be fortunate enough to meet with Midgard''s deity. They talked about a few more things while they were eating. A couple of hours later, the two walked out of the cafe and Celestina suggested that they go over to her family''s house.


    Matheus agreed because his belongings were there apparently. They walked together along the city''s streets and came to a plaza with a beautiful water fountain situated in the middle. Matheus stopped to watch the spectacle of the water magically dancing in the air before falling back down into the fountain.


    It wasn''t something that he''d normally see. Celestina started explaining a few things regarding the fountain. It was a bit of a surprise but it seemed that the fountain had some history behind it. Matheus wasn''t paying attention to Celestina''s explanation because he was a bit entranced to see the beautiful, magical waterworks.


    "Matty?"


    "Hm?"


    "You weren''t listening, were you?"


    "Eh? Oh, sorry, I wasn''t paying attention... it''s not every day I see a water fountain like this, you see..."


    "Hmmm... well, I wanted to give you something, but you didn''t say anything even after I called out to you for a while..."


    "Sorry about that..." Matheus apologized while scratching his head. "W-what did you want to give me?"


    Celestina unhooked the necklace that she was wearing and held it out to Matheus, "Will you accept this?"


    "Hm? Uhh...okay?" Matheus said as he motioned to take the necklace in her hand. He didn''t see any point in refusing.


    "I''ll put it on you!"


    "Sure..."


    Matheus was about to lean down but Celestina quickly grabbed onto his hand and began wrapping the necklace around his wrist.


    "For us women, this is supposed to be a necklace, but for the men, it could be worn as a bracelet!"


    "Oh, I see, now that you mentioned it, there were a few passersby that were wearing this on their wrist. I didn''t notice that until now."


    "Hehe, anyway, thanks for accepting this. You can''t give this back, to me, alright?"


    Matheus chuckled and said, "Whatever you say, Ma''am."


    "Let''s get going now, Father and Mother should be expecting us soon," Celestina hurriedly said while tugging onto Matheus''s hand and leading him out of the plaza.


    Unbeknownst to Matheus, a few people had begun gathering around earlier and were sending him and Celestina a few heartwarming looks. He couldn''t understand the meaning behind the looks.


    Before they could even exit the plaza few people who were watching them earlier immediately stepped forward and began expressing their congratulations to her.


    ???Congratulations, Lady Celestina!"


    "We wish you the best, Milady."


    "Th-thank you, haha... please, excuse us, we must be going now."


    "Yes, please take care, Lady Celestina!"


    "We wish you a beautiful future."


    Celestina quickly dragged Matheus out of there and bolted in the direction of her house. She even used magic to enhance both of their speeds. Matheus was quite confused now. What did she do that warranted all of those people''s congratulations and well-wishes?


    "Hmm... weird..."


    Matheus was a bit skeptical about it but thought no further and just kept up with Celestina who was now practically fleeing from the area. When they stopped running and began walking normally again, he immediately began questioning the girl.


    "Hey, what happened back there?"


    "Huh? What do you mean, Matty?" Celestina asked with a blank face.


    "You know what I mean, Celes, why did those people start congratulating you? Did you do something?"


    "I-It''s nothing, let''s just head to my house first, okay? We''ll talk about it there!"


    "...Sure, whatever you say, Celes," Matheus agreed with a shrug. He didn''t want to press for answers anyway so he didn''t pressure her to explain.


    After a few more minutes of walking, the two arrived at the residential district and arrived at a large house. While they were walking through the district, Matheus noticed that there weren''t any mansions, large estates, or anything of the like. All of the houses were similar in size and were only different in design.


    Since the kingdom was rather religious, the populace wasn''t really materialistic and more spiritualistic instead.


    ''Luxuries and the like aren''t really pursued in this kingdom it seems,'' Matheus thought while nodding in approval.


    Celestina opened the gate to her house and quickly led Matheus in. When they were walking to the door, Cecilia suddenly popped her head out from behind it. He eyed the two before looking down at Matheus''s hand, or more precisely his wrist which now had a new accessory wrapped around it.


    "!"


    Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise and she quickly rushed into the house while hollering, "Mama, Papa, Celes gave her Unity Necklace away!!!"


    "C-Ceci!!!" Celestina called out as a blush crept up her cheeks.


    Matheus raised his arm and eyed the bracelet on his wrist. He eyed the blushing Celestina and asked, "Celes, was this necklace of yours really important to you?"


    "Uhh..."


    "Of course it''s important!" Hector answered Matheus''s question as he made his way down from the second floor of the house. His hearing was pretty sharp since he could answer Matheus''s question.


    "S-Sir Hector?"


    Hector eyed his daughter once before turning his attention to Matheus, "What my daughter gave to you and you accepted is called a Unity Necklace."


    "O-Okay?"


    "In our Kingdom, when one asks to give their Unity Necklace to someone, it means that they want to be tied together with that person forever. And if that person accepts, then it means that they''ll be bound together starting from that moment."


    "Ah, so basically it''s just marriage right?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Hector, Emily, and Cecilia turned a strange look at Matheus while Celestina blushed even further at his words. It was then that he finally understood the meaning behind Celestina giving him the necklace.


    "...Ohh... well shit...that wasn''t how I imagined it...instead of proposing I''m the one who was proposed to! Hmmm..." Matheus crossed his arms and slightly frowned.


    "Is there a problem, Matheus? Unless of course, you mean to say that you accepted that necklace without knowing the true purpose behind it and want to return it to its owner?" Hector said with a flat tone before he eyed his daughter.


    Celestina only looked away and this caused Hector to let out a tired sigh. He was prepared to give Matheus a few words but the young man quickly spoke up before he could lecture him.


    "Huh? Oh, no way, I''m keeping this. Celes gave it to me after all, and I promised her that I wouldn''t give it back to her."


    "Eh...okay?"


    "Hmmm, it''s just that... it wasn''t really how I imagined things... Man, do the people in this world just settle down like that once they find a partner they love?"


    Matheus mumbled the latter half to himself. Celestina was rather glad to hear him say that he wouldn''t give the necklace away or return it to her.


    "So will you accept her?"


    "...Well, if I''m already wearing this, then I guess I did, right?"


    "...Yes, but did you know the purpose behind¡ª"


    "No, I didn''t. But if I did, I probably would have still accepted it anyway," Matheus replied with a grin. "We only met a month ago and we still don''t know much about each other, but I think we can use the rest of our lives to do that, right?"


    Hector eyed the young man before him and didn''t know how to judge him. He only shook his head and said, "My daughter is normally not this rash and impulsive, but I guess there''s a first for everything."


    "Hehe, congrats, big sis, looks like you found your better half pretty quickly!" Cecilia happily said.


    "T-thanks..." Celestina turned to Matheus and said, "Sorry for tricking you, Matty..."


    "It''s nothing, like I said earlier, even if you told me the purpose of the necklace, I would still have accepted it."


    Celestina smiled brightly at his words. Hector rolled his eyes and waved his hand at the two, "Hurry up and come in. We can talk more inside and please stop flirting in front of us. You two can do that later..."


    Matheus awkwardly laughed at his remark and entered the house. Cecilia couldn''t stay however because she had to head back to the Church.


    They talked for a bit inside the house and Matheus learned about the true meaning behind someone gifting their Unity Necklace to another from Hector and Emily. It didn''t mean marriage but more like engagement.


    The two people would stay together for a year before deciding on whether or not they were suitable for marriage. If they were suited with each other, then the necklace would have to be brought to the church and the priests would split it into two pieces that would then be used as the symbol of the couple''s marriage and hold a matrimonial ceremony for them.


    Since this was the case, Matheus felt a little bit more relieved. He wouldn''t have any explanations once he came back home to his family, but now he can explain to them that he went out to find a wife and therefore he was late.


    His father would probably laugh it off but his mother would most like be furious because she was left out and would immediately start asking for explanations. She had missed Cecil''s marriage to his two wives so their mother didn''t want to miss any more of her children''s important events.


    "I don''t mind spending a year with Celes before we decide to tie the knot. It''ll give us some time to learn more about each other, but I do want to ask if it''s okay if she left with me?"


    "Are you going somewhere, Matheus?" Celestina''s mother, Emily, asked.


    "Yes, I have to return home. I wasn''t supposed to be away from my family for this long, but then I happened to stumble upon Celestina''s party and helped escort them all the way here. Although I would like to stay a while longer, but I really should head back."


    "I see... Well, if that''s what you want, then it is up to you. As for whether Celestina will go along with you, that depends on whether she wants to or not," Hector simply replied.


    "I want to go with Matty¡ªuh, I mean, with Matheus..."


    Seeing that their daughter wanted to go, Emily immediately stood up and went to the second floor while Hector turned to Matheus and asked, "...When will you be going?"


    "Tomorrow, I guess. It''s quite urgent that I get back home. There''s something very important that I have to attend to."

 Chapter 363 - Matheus’s Adventure 12

    Matheus was invited to stay with the Clarences until he left tomorrow morning. When it was around dinner time, he finally remembered to ask Celestina about his belongings.


    Celestina started pulling stuff out of thin air and Matheus recognized that she was pulling things out of a spatial storage ring. His sister, Fatima, had one and so did his little brother Cecil.


    "Hey, Celes... if my stuff was inside your ring... so why did you¡ªah, never mind, I get it."


    Celestina was about to explain but after seeing that Matheus had figured it out himself, she started blushing a little bit.


    She just wanted to walk around the city with him while also giving the excuse of having to eventually come over to her house once they were finished with their little date. Matheus wasn''t that stupid to not have realized it by now.


    If Celestina was a bit more straightforward with her words, Matheus thought that they wouldn''t have to go through all of that hassle to just announce that they liked each other.


    "Doesn''t that apply to me as well?" He mumbled after realizing if he had just manned up and said it himself then he would have either been accepted or rejected much earlier.


    Of course, he was quite afraid to be rejected since he did like Celestina. It was a good thing that his affection went both ways and she also liked him back.


    They were currently in the living room when Celestina began pulling out his stuff. There was his trusted glaive, his backpack full of rations and equipment, and also another large bag that was full of his other belongings.


    He grabbed his backpack and pulled out a long cloth from it and began wrapping his glaive in it. After he finished doing that, he set it aside and began rummaging around his bag once again before pulling out a rectangular object that easily fit inside his palm.


    When Celestina saw the object she couldn''t help but ask, "A MID?"


    "Oh, yeah, my brother gave this to me. It''s a nifty little device¡ªWoah, what the heck?"


    "What''s wrong?"


    Matheus looked down at his MID and saw that there were plenty of missed calls coming from his family, especially his brother, Cecil.


    Cecil had once more upgraded the MID and it now resembled more of Earth''s modern-day smartphone instead of Alterna''s MID. Since its basic functionality as a MID stayed, Cecil just added more add-ons that turned more similar to a phone.


    It was pretty welcomed, since now the Earthlings finally had access to the very convenient object from their days back on Earth. All that was missing were the phone companies and software engineers that made all the awesome little perks that could be installed into it.


    Of course, this still needed to be developed since the MID was much more different than the phone. Also, Cecil still needed to share all of his knowledge with the populace before anyone could even think about developing something for the MID.


    Matheus remembered that the opening of the Silvaria Grand Library was still in its planning stages and his brother still needed some time to translate and transcribe all of his doc.u.mented materials into separate books so that they could be read by the populace.


    ''It would surely advance the livelihoods of everyone in the kingdom once Cecil shares his knowledge with everyone.''


    As Celestina was curiously looking at the odd and more refined MID, it suddenly began ringing and at the same time, "I''m home~" Celestina walked into the house.


    "Matty, Matty! It''s ringing and vibrating!"


    "Yeah, this means someone is calling me. Let me answer it, my brother''s calling me again, I wonder what''s up..."


    "What do you mean by call?" Celestina curiously asked.


    "How about I show you," Matheus responded with a grin before answering the call.


    Celestina walked over when she heard their conversation, "What''re you two talking about?"


    It was then that she heard a voice coming from the small device being held by Matheus.


    "Big bro, where are you? The whole family''s worried since you didn''t come back even after a month!"


    "Oh, Cecil? Is that you?"


    "Hm, well big bro, can you answer me? Where on Alterna are you? We received a report that you also went missing after and we already sent search parties to go and find you. We can''t have the future king of Silvaria run away, now can we?"


    Matheus could already picture the smug smile on his little brother''s face and he silently cursed in his mind before answering, "This is because of you! I can''t believe you just relinquished your right like that!"


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just hurry up and answer my question, big bro. Where are you?"


    "...Tsk, I''m in Revertia Kingdom''s capital city."


    "W-what the heck?! What the hell are you doing over there?!"


    "...It''s a long story. I''ll tell you all about it once I get home. I''ll be making my way back tomorrow."


    "...Big bro, that''s gonna take like 3-4 months..."


    "Well, that''s just 3-4 months of adventuring for me, then."


    "...Oh god, mother and father are going to kill me... since you''re in the capital city, give me a few days to come and pick you up."


    "What? Hell no! I''ll get back by myself!"


    "Tsk, don''t be stubborn, big bro, mom and dad are going to have my head if they know that you''re over there!"


    "Gotta take one for the team, right, Lil bro?"


    "Aw, please don''t be like this! The announcement was supposed to be made the moment you come home, but if they find out that it might take 3-4 months before you get back, they''ll just force me up there instead!"


    "...That doesn''t sound like a bad idea..."


    "HEY!"


    "Fine, fine... I''ll still be leaving tomorrow. Just come to the border and find me."


    "Alright, I''ll get going now then. See you in a few days!"


    "Sure..."


    Matheus ended the call and shook his head in exasperation. His brother had been calling him nonstop for the past few days not because he was worried about him, but because his little brother was worried that their parents would force him on the throne if he didn''t return soon.


    "Matty, who was that?" Celestina immediately asked in curiosity.


    "That was my little brother, Cecil," Matheus replied.


    "How are you able to talk with each other like that? From the sound of things, he seems to be a long way away from here!"


    "This MID was something my little brother made. He''s the genius in our family and also the next Patriarch. I''m not sure how to explain why my MID can do this, but let''s just say it''s a special kind."


    "Patriarch huh... I also heard something interesting, what''s this about becoming the next king?" Celestina asked again with a questioning look in her narrowed eyes.


    "Uhh...well...about that..."


    "Hmmm..."


    "I-I''ll tell you, okay? I''ll tell you..."


    "Okay!"


    "Hey, hey! Before you answer that, can you answer this first?" Cecilia immediately quipped up from the side.


    "Woah, wh-when were you here, Cecilia?!"


    "Oh, sis, you''re back. How were things at the church?" Celestina asked.


    "Same old, same old, only the usual stuff, but more importantly, who''s voice was that?!" Cecilia asked once more.


    "That was Matty''s little brother, Cecil."


    "Cecil? Hmmm... he sounded a little familiar, don''t you think, Celes?"


    "Familiar? No, this is the first time I''ve heard that voice..."


    "He sounds so much like my hero! Can I meet him, Matheus? I want to check whether he was the one who saved me back then!"


    "Uhh, sure... hmmm, I think you could have met... he was on a journey here after all before he suddenly turned back..."


    "Really?! Then it might be him, after all!"


    "..."


    Matheus made a face when he saw the love-struck look on Cecilia''s face. If the person Cecilia was always fantasizing about was indeed his brother, then he could only commend Cecil for being a first-rate womanizer. How the hell did that brother of his seduce a woman who was so far away from their home? Not only that, from the way Cecilia had been talking about it, Matheus deduced that the ''hero'' in her story also only saved her in passing.


    "I''ll be leaving tomorrow, so if you want to come along, that''s up to you. I''ll be taking Celestina with me though."


    "Fine with me, just make sure you take care of my big sis well, okay?"


    "Definitely."


    "Great! I think mother''s finished cooking now, let''s go and eat dinner!"


    ******


    Early the next day, Matheus and Celestina had already finished their preparations and were getting ready to depart. They were using the same landwyrm mount that they had previously bought at the neutral city.


    Celestina''s parents came out to see her off. There was just a slight problem, however. The two had another passenger with them.


    "Ceci...do you have to come?" Celestina asked in exasperation to which her sister cheerfully replied, "Yeah!"


    "...Can''t you see that you''re causing a problem for us and the Church?"


    "...What problem?"


    Currently, there were priests and priestesses as well as the kingdom''s soldiers currently surrounding the landwyrm that Matheus and Celestina were on.


    It wasn''t that they weren''t going to let them through, but the priests and priestesses were trying their all to persuade Cecilia from going while the soldiers were there just in case they couldn''t persuade her and had to tag along on the journey.


    "High Priestess Cecilia, please don''t be so stubborn. We''ve had some problems with demon sightings already ever since the Malistrom Ocean began calming down and you were already attacked once before! Please just stay here, where it''s safe!" The old man from yesterday greatly urged.


    If Matheus wasn''t mistaken, this person was called Cardinal Hope. The cardinal was urgently advising Cecilia from going with Matheus and Celestina. He even tried to persuade Celestina and Matheus from leaving. It was too bad that Matheus had to leave no matter what.


    He didn''t want to cause too many problems back at home. Although, he didn''t mind throwing all of the problems onto Cecil, but that wouldn''t be ''elder brotherly'' of him, now would it.


    The Commander from yesterday as well as Oscar stepped forward and offered to protect her during the entire journey. Their units would make sure that nothing would befall of the high priestess.


    Matheus was a little overwhelmed at Cecilia''s importance to everyone in the kingdom. He didn''t know what kind of status a high priestess held, but from the looks of things, it was a pretty prestigious one.


    The church ran the kingdom so there were no kings or queens or any nobility for that matter. However, the way Cecilia was treated was pretty much as how a queen or princess was treated.


    ''I guess the high-ranked members of the church are treated as nobility... although this one seems to be a little willful and treated more carefully than the rest,'' Matheus thought as he eyed Cecilia.


    Just from the name, old man Hope was someone of high social status since he was a cardinal and all, but even then, he treated Cecilia as if she were his ancestor or something.


    Matheus grew a bit tired from the yapping and talking so he leaned into Celestina''s ear and said, "Celes, can we go now? It''ll take us a few days to get to the border and by then, my brother might already be waiting for us. I don''t want him to grow impatient and search for us in the kingdom."


    "O-Okay, one second, Matty."


    Celestina walked over to Cecilia and Cardinal Hope before exchanging a few words with them. After a few minutes, she came back to Matheus and quickly said that they could go already. Matheus quickly mounted the landwyrm and pulled Celestina up.


    He was just about to urge the landwyrm, Suo, to move, but suddenly, Cecilia floated onto the saddle and sat herself down before urgently saying, "Matheus, go, go now!"


    "Huh?"


    "Oh, you slowpoke!" Cecilia turned around and fired a Light Bolt at Suo, the landwyrm''s tail.


    "GROOARRR!!!"


    Suo widened his eyes in shock and quickly darted forward.


    "W-Woah!"


    "Wahahaha~ that old geezer can''t stop me!!!"


    "Are you kidding me?! Okay, we''re turning around¡ª" Before Matheus could continue, Celestina tugged on his sleeve and said, "It''s okay, Matty."


    "...You were in on it too, weren''t you?"


    Celestina only shrugged and gave him a small smile. Matheus shook his head and just went with it. He urged the landwyrm to rush further and faster away from the city. From behind, he could distinctly make out the old cardinal yelling out for them to stop.

 Chapter 364 - Returning Home 1

    After Matheus sprinted off with the Revertia kingdom''s high priestess, her guard unit as well as Commander Bart''s aerial was naturally deployed to follow after them.


    A few days later, Matheus and his party safely arrived at the kingdom''s borders. Following them were naturally the dispatched units that were sent to protect Cecilia. During the journey, Matheus had asked Cecilia about what kind of status a high priestess held.


    She explained that a High Priestess was similar to that of a queen or princess for a typical kingdom. In the church, she was the most skilled Priestess in terms of divination abilities, which was how she earned the title.


    Of course, by abilities, she meant just the pure abilities of a priestess without counting the cultivation stage. Her stage was a little worse than her elder sisters being only at the Early Mana Sea Stage but apparently, the divination skills were what determined the rank of the priests and priestesses, and the use of the skills weren''t affected by their cultivation stages.


    Matheus wasn''t sure what these abilities entailed to but he wasn''t too keen on finding out since Cecilia explained that they were abilities that weren''t associated with fighting or combat. They were auxiliary abilities that let the user see into the future or divine the weather, ocean conditions, and whatnot.


    They were a bit interesting in a different perspective but all Matheus got from the rough explanation about divination arts was that they were only fortune telling-like abilities and accurate predictions of what might happen. His little brother had a similar ability like this so he didn''t need any detailed explanations.


    On the journey, Matheus found out that Celestina turned out to be quite an accomplished young magus in the kingdom. At her age, she was already leading her mage unit but she stepped down and joined her sister''s personal guard unit after she was instated as a high priestess.


    Matheus didn''t quite understand the power-scaling of the world just yet, but in his opinion, being in the Intermediate Mana Sea Stage must mean something.


    Rank D and C monsters were quite prevalent in the kingdom while only some B rank monsters and even lesser A rank monsters roamed around. Normally, a mage of her caliber would be sent to deal with the B and A ranked monsters.


    Matheus already knew how powerful those kinds of monsters were so Celestina must be somewhere on the upper or middle spectrum of Alterna''s power list.


    "Alright, we''re about to cross the border. Once again I''ll ask, Cecilia, are you sure you want to come with us?" Matheus asked the bubbly girl who was leisurely sun-bathing on the back of their mount.


    "Of course!"


    "Okay then, but before we head to the checkpoint, I wanna ask why you even tagged along in the first place?"


    "Because I want to meet my hero~"


    "...come on. That can''t be it. There''s a chance that my brother might not even BE the ''hero'' who rescued you! And let''s say he was your ''hero''. I''m pretty sure with how absent-minded my little brother could be at times, he probably wouldn''t even recognize who you are!"


    "It doesn''t matter~ I just want to express my thanks and affection for my hero~"


    "...affection huh... just so you know, my little brother is already married."


    "W-what?! I-is that true?!" Cecilia asked in shock and horror.


    Celestina was also rather surprised to hear this. She didn''t think Matheus''s little brother would already be married. From the tales that Matheus had been feeding her before they slept at night, his little brother was supposed to be only 20 by the end of this year.


    "Yeah, it''s true. He''s married already and his family is already expecting a baby by the end of the year."


    "N-No... The law in our kingdom states that we can''t l.u.s.t after a man or woman who is already married... Awww, and I really wanted to get to know your brother! He was so handsome and dashing when he saved me. I was smitten right from the start!"


    "Just so you know, it may not be my brother who rescued you..."


    "I just know it''s him! Your younger brother''s voice sounded familiar, he has the same name, AND my woman''s intuition just says it''s true! Also, I made sure to check it through divination and my hunch was right, the Cecil that I meant was definitely the Cecil who is your younger brother!"


    "...You used your divination for something so pointless?"


    "It''s not pointless! Also, I used divination on you the first time we met and I already found out that you and my sister would fall in love! Eventually, you''ll get married, have 3 children, live long enough to see your grandchildren and great-grandchildren, before growing old and dying together!"


    "...okay, what the hell¡ª"


    "Enough about that! Let''s head over to the checkpoint now!"


    "..."


    Celestina only smiled wryly at Matheus and chuckled. She then took the reins from him and urged their landwyrm to head over to the border checkpoint. Seeing the group move, Oscar and Bart immediately had their units begin moving as well.


    They quickly passed the checkpoint and made their way out into the neutral territory. Matheus didn''t know a specific place to wait for his brother so he just decided to head in deeper into the neutral area. He wanted to find some monsters to train himself.


    During the journey there, they had on times encountered some monsters, but they were quickly taken care of by Matheus who wanted to train his combat skills. He was still rather miffed at the thought of losing to the demon leader, Saravkibah.


    If they ever met again, he wanted to have a rematch. Of course, Matheus needed to train even more and raise his cultivation stage. Of course, he didn''t try to do things hastily. He didn''t want any problems with his cultivation so he continued going at it at his own pace.


    Matheus already felt like he was on the threshold of advancing a minor stage in his cultivation so he was trying to catalyze it through combat. He had found out that actual combat helped in training his cultivation.


    Before he felt like it would take a long while before he broke through into the next cultivation level but after fighting against the demon, Saravkibah, he felt his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds and it was now at the point where he felt like any moment now he could advance into the High Mana Vapor Stage.


    They quickly met up with a few monsters in the neutral territory and Matheus took it upon himself to deal with them himself. Celestina was waiting on the landwyrm just in case something unexpected happened. She was fully ready to support Matheus in the case of the unexpected.


    Though, that was unlikely. This was because Matheus noticed something peculiar about his body after he jumped into combat. Whenever he started circulating his mana like normal, a golden aura would always rise from his body and he immediately felt his body grow stronger.


    It wasn''t like the previous time when he had recklessly injected mana into his body''s muscles and almost crippled himself because of it. This time, the enhancement was something he could control, and not only that, it felt much more natural to him than the previous out of control enhancement.


    This time, his body wasn''t affected in any sort of negative way. It was only enhanced in a positive and controlled manner, much like the Mana Burst skill. Matheus wasn''t sure if he was even using Mana Burst, however, the new ability was very much welcomed.


    He was able to fight B-A ranked monsters easily due to the new technique despite his cultivation stage being so low. Of course, the only problem would be how long he could sustain the enhancement. With his cultivation stage being so low, Matheus could only keep the skill activated for about 30 minutes before his mana emptied.


    Nevertheless, he was advancing his battle techniques and there was no worry about him getting injured or making any mistake. He made sure not to feel too proud of himself because he knew that it would only lead to him making a mistake and getting injured.


    Just in case that ever happened, Cecilia was there to act as the group''s healer. The guard and aerial units didn''t get too close to the group since Cecilia herself ordered for them to stay a few hundred meters away from them, minimally, 300 meters or so.


    This continued for 2 more days. They wandered around the neutral territory while combating D to B ranked monsters while making sure that they were traveling in the direction of the neutral city that they had teleported to.


    Matheus made sure to keep in contact with his little brother. They were on their MIDs for most of the time just to keep each other''s whereabouts known. Cecil was now at the neutral city that he and everyone had first teleported to from the Regulus Kingdom.


    As for how fast he got there without using the Regulus kingdom''s teleportation formation, it was because Yuna had opened up a gate that led to an area that was close to that city but it was far off to the north. Cecil and his party had been here already so it was easy to get back.


    Cecil and his party made their way to the neutral city first to find their bearings before they started their journey to the Revertia Kingdom but after hearing that his brother was so close, he said that he would go and find them.


    "Well, apparently my brother is already at that neutral city we first arrived in through teleportation," Matheus said after finishing his call with Cecil.


    "Do you mean Larina City, Matty?" Celestina asked.


    "That was the name of the city?"


    "Yeah, you didn''t know that?"


    "Well, nobody bothered telling me what the city''s name was...I also didn''t ask anybody so..."


    "Ahaha, it''s alright. Well, now we can finally see who this brother of yours is! But I''m telling you, he''s definitely my hero!" Cecilia quipped up.


    "Sure, sure¡ª"


    Matheus was just about to reply to her in a lackadaisical manner but he felt a strong but familiar gaze rest upon him. He quickly looked around and saw something in the air.


    "N-no way..."


    Matheus immediately grabbed his glaive and jumped down from the landwyrm. Celestina who saw this immediately called out.


    "What''s wrong, Matty?!"


    "Celes, set up a barrier or something. Cecilia, please go call your guard units to come here! There are demons, up there in the sky!" Matheus shouted while pointing his finger into the air.


    The two girls raised their heads and saw numerous black dots approaching them from the horizon. They couldn''t see what those dots were but after seeing how serious Matheus was acting, they immediately started moving.


    Celestina quickly put up a barrier around them while Cecilia quickly fired a Light Bolt into the air, indicating to her guards that were a few hundred meters away to quickly come over. When Oscar and Bart saw the signal, they immediately had their units rush over.


    "Lady Priestess, what''s wrong?"


    "Bart, Oscar, demons are bearing down on us from the horizon!"


    "Huh?"


    They immediately turned their eyes over in the direction that Cecilia was pointing to and similarly they saw the black dots in the sky that were growing bigger and bigger.


    "Demons! Everyone, battle formations, now! Keep Lady High Priestess safe!" Bart immediately roared out.


    Oscar similarly began commanding his unit to form a defensive formation around the landwyrm. Unlike before, they had many more people now so even if a group of 10 demons like before came, they would be able to defend against them and fight them off even.


    Of course, this time, there were far more demons. Judging by how much dots there were in the sky, there were around 40-50 demons flying towards them.


    When they were much closer and also much more visible the people on the ground immediately tensed up. However, they began to notice something odd about the demons. They weren''t rushing towards them, but it seemed like they were running away from something.


    Before they could see what the demons were trying to run away from, a large golden beam passed through the air followed by multiple bolts of golden energy exploding in the air which quickly felled a few demons from the sky.


    Matheus immediately recognized the golden beam of energy as well as the multiple explosions in the sky.


    "CECIL?!" He shouted in astonishment before he quickly rushed forward, breaking away from the formation.


    "M-Matty?!" Celestina immediately called out.


    "Don''t worry! I''m just going to take a closer look!"


    "W-wait!"


    Matheus didn''t stop and continued running. After getting closer he finally heard someone''s familiar voice.


    "Earlier you attacked us thinking that we''re prey but now you want to flee? I don''t think so!"

 Chapter 365 - Returning Home 2

    When Matheus saw his little brother flying through the air chasing after the demons who he thought were preparing to attack him and his group, he stared blankly for a moment when he saw an expression he would normally not be able to see on a demon''s face.


    It was fear. That''s right. The demons were currently fleeing away in terror at his little brother. Matheus didn''t know what went down that led to Cecil furiously chasing after the demons, however, before he could call out to his little brother, his brother''s figure suddenly sped up and disappeared from sight.


    "Come on, where did all your spunk from before disappear to?! FIGHT ME!"


    It seemed that his little brother was a little bit too enraged to notice that there were humans just beneath him. Matheus saw Cecil continue chasing after the demons while sending blasts and energy waves of mana at them from behind.


    Matheus already saw that the demons'' flight speeds weren''t even as fast as Cecil''s but with the demons being spread out and fleeing in different directions, his little brother had to take care of them slowly.


    Well, slow was only relative to Cecil''s normal speed of wiping out a bunch of monsters. He was still clearing away the demons in droves and it caused the humans down below to watch in awe at the spectacle of a singular human trampling on the fearsome demons.


    Matheus was about to chase after Cecil when he noticed his little brother getting farther and farther away but then he noticed a large silver wolf running in the sky and called out to him.


    "SILV, DOWN HERE!"


    He roared out as loud as he could and fortunately, Silver had heard him.


    "Oh, it''s big bro Matty!" Silver said as he saw Matheus waving at them from the ground.


    Lucia immediately looked around and asked, "Where?"


    "Down, there, to our left!"


    "I see him, hurry and get down. We''ll protect brother Matheus from the demons, just in case some of them slip through Cel''s pursuit."


    Silver immediately flew down and landed right before Matheus. Lucia and Yuna who were riding him jumped down before Silver transformed himself back into his human form.


    At the back, when Celestina saw Matheus call out to the wolf in the air she immediately had everyone from Cecilia''s guard unit stop themselves from doing anything rash. When they saw the wolf suddenly turn into a human it was all the more puzzling for them.


    "We finally found you, brother Matheus," Lucia said.


    "Ah, yeah, I just saw Cecil earlier. What the heck happened?"


    "Well, it''s a long story..."


    Lucia had a wry smile plastered to her face and Matheus knew that it was probably just his brother being his brother so he didn''t ask any further. Lucia then saw the formation of humans nearby and asked, "Are they with you, brother Matheus?"


    "Ah, yes. We originally saw the demons heading our way and were preparing for an attack. Who knew that it was because my little brother was chasing after them that they were even rushing in our direction."


    "Ahaha... s-sorry about that, but it wasn''t our fault. We were just combing through the area earlier in search of you, brother Matheus, when we encountered a large group of demons."


    "How did you know¡ª"


    "Cel''s already seen pictures of all the races of the demon continent back in the library. How did he remember all of that? Don''t ask me. He''s your brother..."


    "And he''s your husband... well, anyway, what did you guys do?"


    "Well...we did what anyone else...wouldn''t have done..."


    "Huh?"


    "Boss thought that it would be a good idea to go greet and befriend them!" Silver added with a laugh.


    Celestina, Cecilia, Oscar, and Commander Bart had just walked over but when they heard Silver''s loud exclamation, they couldn''t help but stumble in their steps. Even Matheus was wide-eyed at Silver''s words.


    "W-what?!"


    "Well, we didn''t know if they were enemies or not, so Cel decided to see for himself... and the outcome...as you can see, didn''t end well for the demons," Lucia said with a sigh.


    "Jeez..."


    "Uhm, excuse me for cutting in, but shouldn''t you know that the demons are a warmongering race? It would be quite foolish for us humans to even try and associate with them," Cecilia said from behind Matheus.


    Lucia and everyone else turned their attention back to Cecilia and the other 3 before turning back to Matheus and asking, "Who are they big brother Matheus?"


    Matheus turned around and saw Celestina and the rest were already behind him. He noticed that the guard and aerial units were placed on standby near the landwyrm. He started introducing everyone one by one.


    "Lucia, Yuna, Silv, this is Lady Cecilia, Sir Oscar, and Sir Bart, I had the pleasure to meet with them back in Revertia''s capital city. Oh, and this is¡ª" Matheus said while gently pulling Celestina in front of him. "¡ªCelestina, she''ll be in our care from now on."


    "It''s nice to meet you, I''m Celestina Clarence," the girl introduced gracefully.


    "Hello, I''m Lucia Silvaria, and this is Silver and Yuna! It''s a pleasure to meet you¡ªah, big brother Matheus! What do you mean she''ll be in our care¡ªd-don''t tell me..."


    Matheus grinned and nodded. Silver immediately grinned widely at him and said, "Congrats big bro Matty! Hahaha, it''s about time!"


    "Congratulations brother Matheus," Lucia also added.


    "H-hey, it''s nothing like that yet. She''s only my girlfriend..."


    "Well, that''s still a step forward. And now Cel won''t be able to bother you anymore."


    "Y-yeah..."


    "Perfect timing as well, mother was getting worried that you wouldn''t be able to find someone and was just about to announce to the kingdom about a matchmaking event for the future king."


    "T-that''s a bit excessive..."


    "Well, you know how mother can be. Oh yeah, we also finished the teleportation gate and she''s already started preparing for Cel''s homecoming, Seri''s pregnancy celebration, and the welcoming banquet for our friends from Anglaria. It''s going to be a 3-in-1 celebration and let me tell you, it''s like Mother''s preparing for a festival or something..." Lucia said.


    "...So if she was going to add in the matchmaking event then it would¡ª"


    "Be a 4-in-1 event..."


    "..." Matheus began pinching his brows when he heard this.


    "Well, now it''ll only be a 3-in-1 festival so we should head back as soon as possible."


    "Mhm, but where''s Cecil?"


    "Let''s just wait?"


    "Okay..."


    Oscar and Bart remained respectfully behind Cecilia throughout the entire exchange, but they were somewhat surprised to find out that Matheus was actually some important figure from another kingdom.


    More importantly, from what the girl named Lucia had just said, their mother was going to make some kind of nationwide matchmaking for the future king which she pointed towards Matheus himself so they were even more surprised at this.


    Only Cecilia and Celestina weren''t all that surprised since Matheus had already informed them about his status in his own kingdom. He was the crown prince now after his little brother who was supposed to be the next heir renounced his rights to the throne.


    What surprised them more wasn''t the fact that Matheus was a prince but the fact that his little brother, who was supposed to be the next king, had actually turned down that right. Of course, they were still surprised that Matheus was actually a prince.


    When they remembered that time when they were setting out from Central Light City and his adamant refusal of going into the city, they now understood why. Matheus wanted to play adventurer and ditched his escort unit.


    Everyone made their way to the landwyrm while Oscar and Bart went to rally their soldiers and positioned them to guard the area. The threat was no longer present but being careful was always good.


    Lucia had a couple of questions that she wanted to ask and the best people to ask were undoubtedly Celestina and Cecilia. After hearing that Cecilia was a high priestess of the Revero Church, she immediately knew that she found just the right person.


    "Uhm, Priestess Cecilia?"


    "You can call me Cecilia~"


    "Ah, okay. I want to ask. Why are there demons roaming around your lands?"


    Lucia''s question immediately caused Cecilia, her sister, and the commanders to go mum. Her question was a pretty difficult one to answer.


    "Well, it''s a matter of security for all of us humans so I might as well answer."


    Lucia and Matheus placed their full attention onto Cecilia now. Matheus had wanted to ask the very same question a while back, but he had been preoccupied with training and flirting around with Celestina so it sort of slipped his mind.


    It was only after he saw the demons again did he remember, and now that Lucia had asked the question for him, he naturally wanted to hear the answer. Seeing demons in the human continent was something that shouldn''t happen since the two race''s lands were separated by a large stormy ocean that raged all year round that very much limited all forms of aerial and marine travels.


    "A few years ago, we noticed that the Malestrom Ocean had calmed down and the everlasting storms began stopping. We first sent a few airsh.i.p.s out to scout the ocean waters and noticed that the phenomenon was happening throughout the entire ocean. Only some parts deep within the uncharted areas were still raging with storms but a good part of the ocean had calmed down."


    "Okay..."


    "We continued exploring for the past few years and eventually, some of our more courageous pilots stumbled upon land. They were only a chain of islands at first that had nothing but animals and monsters inhabiting them and the islands led to vaster landmass. Naturally, we scoured the lands for resources and we did found a mana vein there that was pretty vast. However what we didn''t know at that time was that the vast landmass was actually the Helaife Continent..."


    "So eventually, your people encountered the demons," Lucia said.


    "Yes, we encountered them. The mana vein was located inside the Ash Demons'' lands and they naturally wanted to take control of the mine. We resisted but as you can see, our people lost."


    "So your people fled and the demons chased after them. Eventually, they managed to find a route back to Midgard which explains why they''re now here..."


    "Yes, that''s right..."


    "Hmmm... but a mana vein on the Helaife continent which is supposed to be barren..."


    "Well, no one really knows how the Helaife continent is since they were disconnected from the rest of the world, being surrounded by stormy seas and all."


    "Yeah...maybe the continent isn''t as barren as the records state them to be."


    "Well, all we know is that after the spirit race separated themselves from the rest of the Helaife Continent, the warmongering demons continued to wage war against each other, gradually destroying any resemblance of healthy and fertile lands, turning the entire continent into a battle-scarred and barren wasteland. Maybe something changed?"


    "Most likely, the demons may have stopped warring with each other after seeing that their own home was being destroyed in the process."


    "Mhm... I''m Cecilia, by the way, I couldn''t properly introduce myself earlier..., it''s nice to meet you."


    "I''m Lucia. It''s nice to meet you too."


    "Well, Lucia, I''ve been wondering, but who are we waiting for again?"


    "Ah, uhm, did you see the boy that was flying in the air earlier, chasing after the demons?"


    "Oh? There was such a person? I''m sorry. I was behind the protection of my guards so I couldn''t really see anything."


    "I see, well, we''re waiting for my husband who went to chase off the demons from earlier."


    "You''re already married? That''s amazing!"


    "Hehe, thank you," Lucia replied with a smile.


    It was then that Yuna walked over to them and said, "Master, Master Cecil is here."


    "That was fast, I thought he''d go and exterminate all of them..."


    "That''s a bit excessive, and even with Master Cecil''s abilities, it''d be hard to chase after 100 demons that were running away in all directions. Please remember that his Mana Sense can only cover a 10 kilometer area."


    "Hmm... well if he''s back then that means Cel already eliminated all of the demons in the area around us. We''re safe now," Lucia then turned to Cecilia and said, "Cecilia, you can tell your men to stand down now. My husband has already eliminated all of the demons in the area."


    "Sure," Lucia replied. Lucia saw that the priestess seemed to have a question she wanted to ask but decided not to say anything.


    "Did you tell brother Matheus?"


    "I already did. Ah, there''s Master Cecil," Yuna said while pointing in the sky to the south of their location.

 Chapter 366 - Returning Home 3

    Cecil saw the group of humans below and scanned them with his mana sense. After he quickly found Lucia and everyone else, he flew down and landed.


    "Well, well, so this is where you were big bro," Cecil called out after seeing his big brother walking over to him.


    "Heh, took you a while to find me. Also, you flew past us earlier while you were chasing after those demons," Matheus replied to his brother after pulling him into a tight bear hug.


    "Ah, those guys, seriously, pretty tasteless people. We meant no harm when we tried to approach them earlier. But they suddenly started yapping on about us being their prey and other hubris. All I wanted was to befriend them."


    "Demons aren''t that sociable with humans, Cecil... shouldn''t you know that?"


    Cecil shook his head and shrugged, "How am I supposed to know. I only read about them from books. I won''t judge how they''re like until after I see them for myself. But frankly... the books weren''t too far off."


    Seeing how dejected he looked, Matheus laughed and said, "Pfft, I bet you were only interested in why they were using their mana like how we do."


    "!"


    "Ah, I knew it!"


    "...tch, so what? I was just curious. I mean, in a way, it''s like we earthlings are demons but in a human form..."


    "...What the¡ªah, you do have a point there..." Matheus said before thinking about the similarities of his race and the demons he had previously encountered.


    If they looked past the human and demon part, then there wasn''t much difference between their abilities as a race. The demons and the Earthlings were both able to directly control mana unlike the other races of the world that needed spells and incantations to bend mana to their will.


    Cecil waved his hand in front of Matheus and called out to him, "Big bro, you there?"


    "Hm? What?"


    "You gonna introduce me to the beautiful young lady that followed after you?"


    Matheus turned around and saw Celestina waiting there, just behind him. She tilted her head in question before smiling back at him. Cecil saw the exchange and raised a brow in amus.e.m.e.nt. He walked over to his brother and nudged him on the side.


    "Hey~ big bro, don''t tell me that''s the one~?"


    "W-what?"


    "Hohohoho~ you and Gabe were always the mama''s boy but to think that you''d find someone so close in build to mother! She''s small, has a pretty ample chest, and she''s pretty curvaceous. Hahaha, if you looked past her face, she''s similar to mom!"


    Matheus widened his eyes at his brother''s words and quickly jabbed him in the gut.


    "Gah!"


    "Shut it, you damned idiot! She''s right there! Are you trying to sabotage my relationship with her?! We only got together a week ago!"


    "O-ouch... wh-what the hell big bro?! Why''d you have to punch me?! Dammit, when did you get so strong?!" Cecil replied while holding his stomach in pain.


    Matheus had unknowingly punched him with a mana infused fist. If he had his guard up, it wouldn''t have hurt as much as it did now.


    "S-sorry, I forgot to tell you, but I think I somehow got the hang of using Mana Burst...I think."


    "Hm?" Cecil quickly recovered and looked his brother up and down. He activated his Mana Eyes and inspected his brother closely.


    Seeing his eyes turn golden, Celestina was rather shocked while Matheus felt a little bit creeped out. He still wasn''t used to seeing his brother''s eyes change colors like that. If this was back on Earth, such ability was rather freakish and abnormal.


    "Can you circulate your mana and activate Mana Burst?"


    "Sure."


    Matheus complied with his brother''s request and circulated his mana. The faint golden aura that Cecil was very familiar with began to radiate out of his brother''s body and this caused Cecil to smile excitedly.


    After giving his brother a quick inspection, Cecil deactivated his ability and said, "Hm, well, your constitution isn''t the same as mine, but when you began circulating your mana, the mana began pouring outside of your pathways and into your body parts, so in a way, you''re able to imitate my bodily constitution. How''d you do it, big bro?"


    "Well¡ª"


    "By almost dying," Celestina said from the side.


    "Huh?"


    "Eheh, it''s a long story, but we were attacked by demons on our journey. I nearly died to one of them. A demon called Saravkibah. He was really strong."


    "Ah, you mean that small fry leader. Tsk, he went on about continuing our battle or something. He said that he acknowledged me as a warrior and as a man for coming to find him. It looks like he was talking about you, not me."


    "Y-you met him?"


    "Yeah, but after one punch he flew far away and I didn''t see him after that. Then his little buddies started attacking me when he was the one who requested for a ''friendly duel''."


    "..."


    "Anyways, I don''t think he''s dead, so you''ll be able to face him again if they''re unfortunate enough to encounter us again."


    "Haha... good, I thought you already killed him. That''d be pretty stupid since I was looking forward to a rematch!"


    "If you''re fortunate enough, you''ll get that rematch, but I hardly expect that will happen. Remember, once you get back to the Kingdom, you won''t be as free as you are now."


    "...Tsk, maybe I should stay here and¡ª"


    "Hahaha, brother, now that I''ve found you, do you really think I''ll allow you to escape?"


    "..."


    Cecil smiled brightly at his older brother while he pulled out a rope from his spatial ring.


    "Tsk, you don''t need to do that. I''ll come, I''ll come."


    "Good, it''s better to take the path of least resistance. Besides, you already agreed over the call! So you can''t take it back now!"


    "I know, I know."


    After their playful banter, Matheus introduced Cecil to Celestina and her sister, Cecilia. Cecil laughed when he noticed that their names were so familiar. Cecilia however was already staring at Cecil so intently with stars in her eyes.


    "Y-you..."


    "Hmm?"


    "You''re him..."


    Cecil grew a little puzzled when he saw the girl move closer and closer to him. By this point, Cecil was hesitating on whether to step back slowly or remain in place.


    "C-Can I touch you?" Cecilia asked.


    "What the hell?"


    Lucia who was next to Cecil immediately exclaimed, "C-Cecilia?!"


    "Eh? Lucia? Oh, I''m sorry. That was unsightly of me. Anyways, what I meant was that I wanted to say thank you, Mr. Hero."


    "H-hero?"


    "Yes! You saved me a while back, don''t you remember, Sir Cecil?"


    "...Sorry, but who are you again? Other than this being our first time meeting, I don''t think I recall ever saving you," Cecil replied.


    "Y-You forgot?!"


    "...?"


    Seeing the puzzled look on Cecil''s face, Cecilia''s mind went blank for a moment before she quickly recovered and started explaining their first time meeting, all those months ago when Cecil saved her and her people from the tide of monsters that were chasing after them.


    "Oh! You were with those people from that carriage! Sorry, I forgot because I was quite furious back then and only wanted to vent my anger on the monsters that were chasing after you guys."


    "O-Okay..."


    "My family was being attacked by an unscrupulous nation while I was out so I was really angry. Anyways, since this is our first time officially meeting, it''s nice to meet you."


    "Y-yes, it''s nice to meet you too."


    Cecil nodded and was about to walk away but Cecilia immediately stopped him.


    "W-wait!"


    "Yes?"


    "Uhm, I know this is our first time officially meeting but after you saved me I was really happy and always wanted to thank you, so please, accept my gratitude!"


    "Eh? O-Of course, but it''s not worth mentioning. I didn''t save you because I wanted to."


    "I-It''s fine. So please accept my gratitude!" Cecilia said while presenting Cecil with a Unity Necklace.


    Celestina, Matheus, Bart, and Oscar widened their eyes at this. Lucia was feeling a little skeptical since she felt a little threatened by the necklace that the girl was trying to give Cecil.


    Matheus was just about to open his mouth to tell Cecil what that necklace represented, but his little brother had already replied to Cecilia, "I''m sorry, but I don''t think I can take that. It looks pretty important to you. I''ll just accept your thanks. That''s enough for me. Besides, what I did doesn''t warrant your admiration or respect. I was only venting after all."


    "Uh...okay..." Cecilia pulled back the necklace dejectedly.


    Seeing Cecil reject Cecilia''s necklace, Lucia released a relieved sigh. For some reason, she had a gut feeling that if her husband had accepted that necklace, things would have turned quite complicated.


    The others who knew what that necklace was released a breath after seeing that Cecil rejected it. They were quite surprised to see their nation''s High Priestess just propose to someone she just met and they were also astonished that she was rejected in the next moment.


    Some felt incensed for her while others felt relieved. They didn''t want their beautiful high priestess falling into the hands of another nation''s young man.


    Cecil wasn''t aware that he had just dodged a bullet so when he turned around and saw the tensed atmosphere all around him, he only looked questioningly at Matheus. He walked over to his big brother and said, "Big bro, since we already found you. Let''s head back home now?"


    "Sure, are we going to the neutral city first? Cecilia already had someone go over ahead of time to notify them that we would be using the teleportation formation, or...?" Matheus glanced at Lucia and Yuna before continuing, "Are we going to use the Misty Gate?"


    "Well, since we can use the teleportation formation, why not. After we get to Regulus, we can just head back with the Misty Gate. This way, we''ll only need to jump 1 or 2 times."


    "Okay, we''ll do that then. By the way, how many times did you guys use a Misty Gate to get over here? It''s only been a few days..."


    "Well, we had to open a few Misty Gates, but with Lucia and Yuna switching in-between rest times, we were able to arrive here quite quickly."


    "Wow..."


    "Let''s get going then?"


    "Mhm."


    Near the back, Cecilia had pulled Lucia over to her and began asking questions. She had been so smitten by Cecil earlier so she hadn''t been thinking straight. The young man was her savior and the object of her admiration and affection so it wasn''t too odd that she had been acting strange since earlier.


    "L-Lucia, that young man, that''s your husband?"


    "Yes, that''s right. I want to ask, why did you want to give him that necklace earlier?"


    "Ah! I-I''m sorry! I wasn''t thinking straight earlier! I''m so, so sorry!" Cecilia said while bowing.


    "C-Cecilia, th-that''s okay, but what does it mean for you to give that to Cel anyway?"


    "Uhm, this is called a Unity Necklace. If a woman were to give it to a man, then it would be like announcing that the woman would want to ''Unite'' with that man..."


    "W-wait, so you''re saying..."


    "Yeah, I-I just proposed to your husband earlier..." Cecilia awkwardly said.


    "..."


    "I-I didn''t mean to! If I was thinking straight and figured out that he was your husband, I wouldn''t have done such a stupid thing, especially when it was right in front of you! Gosh, I feel so stupid, right now..."


    While Cecilia was scolding herself, Lucia was feeling rather overwhelmed. This was the first time that her husband had suddenly been proposed to right in front of her. It was such an odd feeling. Also, she couldn''t get mad after seeing how Cecilia was scolding herself.


    "I-It''s alright, you just weren''t thinking straight. It''s alright, really."


    "T-thanks, Lucia...will you please forgive me?"


    "Of course, I''ll forgive you. I just find it quite funny to see someone propose to my husband right in front of me, hahaha..."


    "Ugh... I can''t believe I did something so stupid..."


    "Don''t worry, just take this as a funny moment in your life. We don''t have to tell Cecil about it and let''s just keep it a secret between us."


    "Well...it''s not a secret... Celestina, Matheus, and everyone else from my kingdom just saw me embarrass myself earlier... I''m just glad he didn''t accept it or else it would have ended up being even more awkward than it already has..."


    "Y-Yeah..."


    The group traveled together to Larina City, the neutral city in the barren neutral lands that had a teleportation formation connected to the Regulus Kingdom. Once they arrived, Cecil, Lucia, Yuna, Silver, Matheus, Celestina, and oddly enough, Cecilia, along with her guard unit teleported over to Regulus.


    The Aerial unit would station themselves in the city and await the High Priestess'' return while going out to investigate the whereabouts of the demons in the neutral territory.


    When they teleported into Regulus''s capital city, Cecil walked out of the castle and let out an amused scoff before telling Lucia to open up a Misty Gate.


    The king of Regulus, Nemus, turned quite pale when he saw him and it was pretty amusing when Cecilia asked if he was okay and offered to treat him using Light Magic. The king naturally didn''t need that so he just quickly ushered their group out of the castle.


    "Alright, Lulu, take us back. From here, I''m sure you can manage a gate that''ll take us directly into the valley?"


    "Hmm... yeah, it''s doable from here. I''ve found it much easier to use Misty Gate lately. The mana consumption had been reduced for some reason."


    Cecil shrugged and turned to look back at Fenrir-form Silver who was carrying a sleeping Yuna. The dragon lady had already fallen asleep due to her hibernation period. Cecil thought that it was better to just have left Yuna back in the kingdom, but they needed her to show Lucia the places that they had previously teleported to.


    "Alright, I''m opening it now, let''s hurry back home. I bet everyone else from Anglaria is already there! I can''t wait to see Eli, Fina, and Veli again~"


    "Hah, I heard that Ainz can''t come...too bad."


    "Well, who cares about him? It''s better if he stayed there and not come to bother us! Lucius will be there so you''ll still have someone to talk to!"


    "...that''s pretty mean... He''s still part of our group..."


    "Hmph, he''s now Eli''s personal man slave and I find that amusing though~"


    Once the Misty Gate fully materialized, everyone stepped through the gate and quickly arrived back in Silvaria.

 Chapter 367 - Reunion 1

    After everyone stepped through the Misty Gate, Celestina''s group, especially the soldiers from the guard unit that Cecilia had brought along with her, was surprised that they had suddenly appeared in a very different environment.


    Before they were in a city, but now they had suddenly appeared inside a vast plain in the middle of a large valley. In the distance, they could see a large and majestic city that was currently in a rather festive mood.


    The sounds coming from the city indicated that there was some sort of festival or celebration happening in the city. Cecil saw that and immediately said, "Oh, looks like things have already started."


    "Hey, Cecil... if I''m not wrong, today is the day the kingdom was found, right?" Matheus said.


    "Yup, and that''s why I had to bring you back ASAP, if we accidentally missed this day, then I would have had to step up as crown prince. However, now that you''re here, I won''t need to take on that responsibility," Cecil replied.


    "No wonder you took the liberty of bringing out Lucia and Yuna just to come pick me up..."


    "Hmhm~"


    "Should we head into the city or¡ª"


    "Ah, mother is probably waiting for you in the estate so we''ll head there first. As for the guards..."


    Lucia immediately stepped forward and said, "I''ll go let brother Luca know about it. He''ll arrange things for them."


    "Okay, Cecilia, you''ll have to follow Lucia into the city. She''ll lead you to my brother who''ll arrange things for your guards."


    "Alright, so for now, they''ll wait here?"


    "Yes."


    "I''ll look after them, so you guys go on ahead," Silver said after he transformed back into his human form. He pulled out a tent from his spatial ring and placed Yuna inside before coming back out.


    "Alright, now Cecil, shall we go?" Matheus asked.


    "Yeah, also don''t forget to bring Celestina, we have to introduce her to the rest of the family," Cecil replied with a cheeky grin.


    "...you''re never gonna let it rest are you?"''


    "Ohohoho, no I''m not. Sis Celes¡ªis it alright if I call you that?" After getting Celestina''s nod, Cecil continued, "You see Sis Celes, my big bro here. He''s been a bachelor all his life. He''s been so focused on work and his studies that he simply never had the time for a relationship, so when I came home the other day bringing two wives, he was quite envious."


    "W-wait, two wives?"


    "Yeah, you''ve met my first wife earlier, Lucia. My second wife is pregnant with my first child and she''s resting in the family''s estate. You''ll be able to meet her later. Anyways, all I''ve got to say is: Welcome to the family."


    "Eh?! Uhm, th-thank you... but we''re still just dating¡ª"


    "¡ªwith the intention of marriage, right?" Cecil quickly added.


    "Y-yeah... but¡ª"


    "Cecil, let''s continue this later? Shouldn''t we get going already?" Matheus immediately cut in and shielded Celestina behind him from his overzealous little brother.


    "Hehehe, alright, let''s go. Here, grab onto me."


    Once Celestina and Matheus grabbed onto him, Cecil immediately continued, "We''ll get there in the blink¡ª"


    The 3 people immediately disappeared in the next second. The sudden disappearance caused Cecilia and Oscar, who saw the trio disappear, look around in question.


    "Did they use an invisibility spell?" Cecilia asked.


    "No, that''s my husband''s Blink skill. It lets him move at super high speeds, that''s borderline teleportation, from place to place. Anyways, we''ll have to go to the city now. Follow me, we''ll be there in a jiffy," Lucia said as she opened up a Misty Gate to Luca''s office.


    "O-Okay... wow, every one of Matheus''s siblings are all so skilled..."


    "Hehe, thanks for the compliment. Now, let''s hurry. We don''t want to keep your people waiting."


    "Yes, of course."


    The two girls immediately walked through the gate and quickly arrived at Luca''s office building, which was the city center.


    ******


    Back on Cecil''s side, the trio suddenly appeared in the middle of the family''s courtyard and he finally finished his sentence, "¡ªof an eye."


    "Hmm... when will I be able to do that..." Matheus wondered.


    "Hehe, you''ll be able to learn it now since you can use Mana Burst, big bro! It''s listed in the Mana Burst Cultivation Method that other additional skills accompany it, like my Blink for example. There''s also the Mana Sense and Hypersensitivity skill. I''ll teach them to you later once you''ve gotten a better mastery of the Mana Burst. For now, let''s head in. Mom''s been worried about you since you''ve been gone for almost a month now."


    "Alright... well, I guess she''ll be a bit happy to know that I''ve brought her a daughter-in-law..."


    "Haha, I know right?!" Cecil quipped up happily.


    Celestina immediately turned embarrassed and began tugging on Matheus''s sleeve.


    "M-Matty...??


    "Hehe, sorry, sorry, but isn''t that what you want though?"


    "Y-yeah, but it''s a little embarrassing when you announce it like that..."


    Cecil now finally understood how sickening it was to be on the receiving end of a couple''s PDA moment. He immediately cleared his throat and said, "Let''s go, let''s go, you two can flirt all you want later after you''ve met with Mom."


    "Hahaha, not so fun now is it, Cecil?"


    "Tsk, yeah, yeah."


    Cecil rolled his eyes before leading the two into the mansion. Once inside, he called out to his mother, "Mom, I''m home! I brought big brother Matty with me."


    From the second floor, Cecil sensed his mother quickly coming out of a room where she was having tea time with Serilla and a few other people.


    "Cel? You''re back? Ah, Matty, you finally returned as well! Where were you all this time?!" Anastasia immediately asked after seeing her two sons.


    "It''s a long story mother, but I have someone I want to introduce to you," Matheus hugged his mother before saying.


    "Hm? Who is it?"


    Matheus turned his body a little and Celestina finally came into view. Since the two women were similar in stature, with Celestina being a little bit taller, it was only natural that she was completely hidden from Anastasia''s view.


    Seeing the pretty little woman, Anastasia''s eyes immediately brightened as she greeted, "Why hello there."


    Celestina immediately returned the greeting rather nervously, "Ah, h-hello, mother... my name is Celestina Clarence. I''m c-c-currently...currently¡ª"


    "She''s currently my girlfriend and hopefully she''s going to be my wife in the future," Matheus finished.


    Celestina started blushing after Matheus finished her sentence. Anastasia widened her eyes when she heard Matheus''s words. This adorable girl was going to be her son''s future wife. She frowned a little when she saw how young and childish the girl before her was like.


    However, when she saw that Celestina possessed all of the proper womanly parts that any a.d.u.l.t female should have, she suddenly remembered her husband and looked down at herself before mumbling, "Like father, like son..."


    "W-what was that mom?!"


    "PFFFFTTTTT!!!" Cecil immediately covered his mouth to try and stifle the uproarious laugh that was about to spill out.


    Seeing his brother enjoying himself, Matheus nearly kicked Cecil on his rear end. However, when Celestina understood what Anastasia meant by her words, she immediately began laughing.


    "Hahahahaha~"


    "C-Celes?"


    "Oh my, it looks like your wife has a better sense of humor than you do, sweetheart?" Anastasia chuckled and pointed out.


    "Ugh..."


    Anastasia then turned to Celestina who had quickly composed herself after her outburst, "It''s nice to see that my eldest son has finally found someone. I''m sure you''ll make him happy and turn him into a better man. So all I have to say is welcome to the family and I hope that your relationship does develop to the point where the two of you will properly consider marriage."


    "T-thank you, mother."


    "Mhm, now, let''s get cleaned? I''ll have the servants prepare a bath for you. I''m sure you''re weary from all of your travels."


    "Thank you!"


    Anastasia called for a maid to quickly prepare the bath for Celestina while she led the young lady up to the second floor.


    Being left behind, Matheus just stood there blankly with his little brother.


    "Wow, we just got ditched... Well, let''s get going, big bro. We have to head over to the city and meet up with dad and a few other important figures. Oh, did I forget to mention that the teleportation gate''s been finished? Right now, the city is in a pretty festive mood because the beastkin are there right now!"


    "W-wait, what?"


    "We have to head into the city to meet up with dad and¡ª"


    "You completed the teleportation gate and the beastkin are in the city?!"


    "Yeah! Wait, that''s what you were excited about?"


    "Let''s go, Cecil. I wanna see some real-life furries!"


    "What the hell? Holy shit, big bro, you just got a girlfriend, so what''re you doing?!"


    "Tsk, idiot, it''s not like I meant I wanted to go find another woman! I just want to see how the beastkins are like!"


    "Oh, so it''s just curiosity."


    "Yeah."


    "Better be careful though. Those beastkins are quite assertive. If you happen to catch one of their eyes... you''re gonna end up like me..." Cecil began slurring on the latter half of his sentence which naturally prompted his brother to ask.


    "...What was that Cecil?"


    "It''s nothing..." Cecil replied before leading Matheus out of the mansion.


    A few days ago, when Cecil had first completed the teleportation gate, he was able to transport the first batch of people from Anglaria through the gate. In that batch of people was the Ambassador of Anglaria, Celia Lunarts, also the Sword Saintess of Anglaria and also Serilla''s mother...in other words, it was his mother-in-law.


    When he saw her appear through the teleportation gate, Cecil immediately began paling when Celia''s eyes locked onto him and Serilla who was there to greet her. When Celia scanned her daughter''s body and felt the little life growing inside of her, the atmosphere immediately chilled.


    Fortunately for him, Celia knew about the situation they were in and didn''t try to strangle or decapitate him right then and there.


    For now, his mother had Celia preoccupied with their mother''s talk and all. They were naturally very worried about Serilla''s wellbeing and they were staying with his wife throughout the entire time.


    Earlier, when Cecil had sent his mana sense into the house, he did feel a few additional people inside the room that Serilla was in and he felt that a few of the mana signatures were familiar, but he had to wait because Serilla''s mother was in that room and he didn''t want to antagonize her by showing his face.


    For now, Cecil was safe, but since the rest of the group from Anglaria came through the gate and Celia now had more free time on her hands, it wouldn''t be long until he had to face his judgment. Although, it wasn''t his fault that Serilla eloped with him.


    The teleportation gate had a major flaw and that was the cooldown time of the gate. After using an excessive amount of mana to power the teleportation between the two continents, the gate had to cooldown its runic circuitries.


    If Cecil tried to forcefully activate the gate when the runic arrays were still cooling down, then it''ll compromise the whole array on the teleportation gate rendering it completely useless from then on.


    From Cecil''s analysis, the gate had to cool down for 5-7 days before it was usable again and today just so happened to be the day that the gate had finished cooling down.


    Before he had left, Cecil had given full control over the gate to his apprentice, Ren, and his brothers, Luca and Gabriel. They had most likely already activated the gate and let through the Anglaria King''s primary representative, Elizabeth Arks, and her party.


    If it wasn''t because of all the formality and things, the Little Kings would have probably already been reunited by now. Everyone had grown up, grown stronger, changed, and matured. Cecil was especially excited to see how his friends have been since after his departure.


    He pushed back the worrying feelings of meeting up with his other mother-in-law to the back of his mind and looked forward to reuniting with his friends.

 Chapter 368 - Reunion 2

    Cecil used Blink to bring Matheus and him to the city. The two appeared on top of a building, overlooking the festive city.


    There were decorations of all sorts and the two could see the citizens celebrating the kingdom''s founding. He even saw some curious beastkin roaming around the streets with people from the Kingdom''s Council guiding them.


    Many of the people who saw the beastkin were naturally intrigued and they honestly couldn''t believe that there existed another race other than humans. There was no discrimination against them and everyone was more curious about them instead.


    "Woah, Cecil, look! I-Is that an elf?!"


    "Oh, well technically that is an elf, but to be more precise, that''s a halfling. An elf who interbred with a beastkin''s descendent."


    "Doesn''t matter, that''s still an elf!"


    "..."


    "Hey, isn''t that the Coppernium''s Young Master? Is he talking to a dwarf?"


    "Jeez, Matt, you seriously have to get a grip. Don''t be so surprised by them. You''re going to become the crown prince, at least show a little dignity. Just a heads up, but you might meet a dragonkin later. Don''t embarrass yourself."


    "Dragonkin? Ah, you mean someone like Yuna? Well, I won''t be so surprised then."


    "..."


    Cecil shook his head while chuckling at his brother. He then used his Mana Sense and scoured the city for his father''s presence. Once he locked onto Kaiser, he immediately grabbed Matheus and said, "Matt, we''ll be jumping over to father now. He''s in the city''s culinary district. Ah, crap...we didn''t have you shower before coming here..."


    "Tsk, that''s because you were so hasty. Now what''re we gonna do? I don''t think I should go meet with anyone important looking like this..."


    "Well, your clothes are alright. At least you''re presenting yourself as someone who knows his ways around the world and not some pompous heir. One sec, I''ll go get Lucia. She''ll just use Cleanse and you''ll be all set."


    Cecil didn''t wait for his brother''s reply before he used Blink to jump over to Lucia. His wife had just finished handing over Cecilia to Luca and was just about to go back to the family''s estate.


    "Lulu!"


    "Cel? What''s up? Weren''t we supposed to meet back at the estate? Also, I noticed that there are more beastkin here...what gives?"


    "Well, after the first experimental batch. We had more beastkin come through the gate. Eli''s also here you know."


    "What?! She is?!"


    "Yup, I think I sensed her mana signature over with father. Father must be showing her around the city."


    "Let''s go then!"


    "Wait a bit. I need you to come with me and use Cleanse on Matheus."


    "...I bet you rushed him and didn''t even let him shower or prepare himself..."


    "Well... sort of..."


    "Ah, nevermind, let''s go. We don''t want to keep him waiting."


    Cecil took Lucia''s hand and the two disappeared from where they were standing. Lucia had actually forgotten about Cecilia who was now standing there at the entrance of Luca''s office not knowing what to do.


    "Oh dear... it seems I was left behind..."


    Luca, who was standing next to her, only shook his head in exasperation.


    ''Tsk, those two just left this girl to me. What the hell...''


    Seeing that Cecilia didn''t know what to do or where to go, Luca suggested that she remained at his office until someone picks her up. In any case, he had already sent someone to deal with Cecilia''s men who were currently waiting at the clearing near the mountain pass''s walls.


    *****


    Back on the rooftop where Cecil had left Matheus, he and Lucia immediately appeared and the girl quickly cast Cleanse on Matheus.


    He felt refreshed after the spell was cast on him. It was a strange feeling, like he had just come out of a nice cold shower.


    "Wow, now that was pleasant."


    "Enough of that, straighten up your clothes, we''re going to jump over to them now."


    "Alright, alright."


    "Let''s go Cel!"


    The two grabbed onto Cecil and he used Blink to jump over to his father''s present location. Kaiser was currently leading his group back to the city center. His group had already finished their tour around the city.


    When the three suddenly appeared in front of Kaiser''s group, he was startled for a moment before seeing that it was only his son.


    "Cecil, you''re back. I see that you''ve brought Matheus back with you as well."


    "Yeah, it took us a while to find them...however he''s not the only one I brought back. Matty has a lover now," Cecil playfully said.


    "Shut it, Cecil. You can embarrass me anytime you want but not right now please."


    "Sure, sure~"


    Cecil then turned his attention to the dragonkin girl who was standing not far behind from Kaiser.


    "Yo, Eli, what''s up?"


    "Oh my, is this really how you greet an old friend, Leader?"


    "Heh," Cecil smirked when he heard that old title of his. He stepped forward and was about to shake her hand but suddenly he was pushed away.


    "Eli, how are you?!" Lucia happily exclaimed as she pulled her friend into a hug.


    "L-Lulu? Haha, I didn''t see you earlier! I''m doing great! What about you?" Elizabeth replied.


    "Ugh...you didn''t have to do that, Lulu," Cecil quipped up while rubbing his side.


    His wife had forcefully pushed him away just so that she would be the first one to hug her best friend.


    "Sorry, but she''s my best friend so I get first dibs~"


    "..."


    Everyone else that saw the exchange was rather surprised. They didn''t think that Cecil would be closely acquainted with the Anglaria Kingdom''s representative. They all heard that she was a princess from the beastkin kingdom so they didn''t expect Cecil to be so close with her. What more, his wife, Lucia, seemed to share a very close relationship with the young woman.


    There was also another thing everyone picked up, Elizabeth had just called Cecil ''leader'' earlier, many were naturally interested by what she meant by that. She was the princess of a kingdom so how could Cecil be her ''leader'' or superior?


    The ones most astonished by this were naturally the people from Elizabeth''s group. The next Sword Saintess of their kingdom had actually called someone her leader. Back in the kingdom, she was known to be quite the adamant young lady and wouldn''t even yield to her brother and her father.


    After Lucia and Elizabeth got a good look at each other, they both agreed to arrange a more private meeting later once the latter had some free time later.


    "Well, it sure is strange to find out that our Leader was actually the prince of a human kingdom," Elizabeth said after she turned her attention back to Cecil.


    "Yeah, who knew, right?" A rough voice said from behind Elizabeth.


    When Cecil turned to look behind the girl, he finally noticed the large silhouette that was standing behind her.


    "Holy shit! Ainz, is that you?!"


    "Wahahaha! It sure is bud, how ya doing Cecil? Or should I call you Leader like before?"


    "Oof, you know that you guys never called me that so much. If I recall correctly, you guys mostly called me demon or something."


    "Oh, you even remembered that?"


    "I keep grudges you know, no matter how small," Cecil replied with a smirk.


    "Hahaha!" Ainz stepped forward and bumped fists with Cecil.


    The dragonkin was much different from back then. He had grown so huge in the time they had not seen each other. Ainz was towering over him in height and the young man was even a head taller than his father, Kaiser.


    It was quite shocking because back then, after Cecil had experience his growth spurt, the two were rather similar in height, but now? Ainz had left Cecil behind in the dust.


    "...Honestly, I can''t see you as a mage anymore, Ainz...you look more like a warrior or knight..."


    "Haha, I think we should catch up later. Eli and I still have some business with your father," Ainz said.


    "Sure, we''ll see you later then. Hey, dad, you can bring them over to the estate later after you''re done with your business!"


    "Alright. Well, we should hurry things up on our end. Your mother is already harping on about starting your homecoming banquet. So this is quite nice since even your friends from afar are present to attend it."


    "I guess it''s time I go and face Serilla''s mom... alright, I''ll see you guys later," Cecil said before he jumped into the air and disappeared in a flash.


    "...and there he goes. Coming and going as he pleases..." Elizabeth said as he eyed the spot in the air where Cecil was before disappearing.


    "Well, at least we know that some things haven''t changed!" Ainz quipped up joyfully.


    "Eli, Ainz, I''ll get going too alright? Honestly, I didn''t expect to see you here Ainz...though it''d be better if you didn''t come..."


    "Hey! I heard that!"


    "Pfft, glad to know that some things haven''t changed, right?"


    "Hmph, like how you''re still a brat despite being married?!"


    "Hah, says Eli''s manslave~"


    "W-why you!"


    "I''ll be going now, see ya! Bye-bye Eli!" Lucia said before she opened up a Misty Gate and hopped through it.


    "..."


    "...Damn, Cecil influenced that girl way too much. She''s now copying him!" Ainz said in exasperation.


    "Ainz, you do know that even if you two fought, she''d still win 11 times out of 10, right?"


    "..."


    "Haha, it''s so good to see those two again. It''s been 4 years or so, right?"


    "Yeah, 4 or 5 I think. But shouldn''t we have told him about that?"


    "...We''ll talk about it with him later. For now, let''s finish our business with his father and their kingdom."


    "Okay."


    After Cecil and Lucia left, Kaiser continued leading the group towards the city center. He was naturally curious about the relationship Elizabeth had with his son and daughter-in-law so he asked about it.


    When he got the answer, he felt quite proud. His son was actually the top ranking student in the Anglaria Kingdom''s Magic Academy, even though he still hadn''t graduated because technically, he had just left the kingdom without any prior information and was thus listed as an academy dropout.


    The party that he had created, the Little Kings, was well renowned in the Anglaria Kingdom and the current leader, Elizabeth Arks, had always kept mentioning about the party''s true leader and founder, Cecil Silvaria.


    The group of people that had accompanied Elizabeth, there were some that was a part of the Little Kings, so when they saw the young man from earlier who didn''t seem too remarkable other than the fact that he was quite good looking, they were a little bit peeved because they didn''t want to acknowledge the fact that a mere human was the one who had created the strongest party in all of Anglaria Kingdom.


    They couldn''t be sure whether the founder was actually stronger than the current leader. If they had anything to say then it would be the fact that during Cecil''s time, the party wasn''t as well-known as they were now.


    You couldn''t argue much if you were just comparing accomplishments since Elizabeth had been leading the party much longer than Cecil had. She also expanded the party to the point where there were 50 people in it, every one of these party members were certified experts that Elizabeth and the original kings had put to the test.


    They were rather pensive at the moment but knowing that they''d be meeting Cecil later, they''d be able to ascertain whether or not the human was actually worth their respect.

 Chapter 369 - Reunion 3

    After leaving Matheus behind, Cecil and Lucia quickly met up back at the family estate. They stood frozen in front of the mansion, not knowing how they should go in.


    Lucia had learned from Cecil that her mother was currently at the family''s mansion and was apparently waiting for them. Lucia was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment because it''s been such a long while since she''s met her mother.


    Cecil was tensed and quite hesitant precisely because he was going to meet his mother-in-laws. Anna was probably okay with things because from the looks of things, she had purposefully sent Lucia with him on his journey so that they would certainly get together.


    The problem was Serilla''s mother, Celia. Earlier, when Cecil had brought Matheus back and called out to announce his return, he could immediately feel a slight amount of killing intent radiating from the room that Serilla was in.


    It was because of that, Cecil had hastily brought Matheus away from the house. It was only him finding an excuse to quickly leave the place. But now that he had to confront his mother-in-law, he was very much not looking forward to it.


    If this was him from before, he''d welcome any and all kinds of challenges. The problem now was that if he did fight, it was going to be against his mother-in-law. Cecil wanted to leave a good impression on Celia so that she would wholeheartedly accept him, but he knew that fighting should only be the last resort. After all, he didn''t want to disappoint Serilla.


    Fighting with her mother would certainly cause his wife to be placed in a tough spot. Let''s say that he purposefully loses then his mother-in-law might make that an excuse to say he really wasn''t fit to be with Serilla. And if he won...well, Cecil wasn''t sure how things would pan out so he was uncertain and thus he was now feeling hesitant to even go into his own house.


    "Cel, shall we go?"


    "Y-Yeah, let''s go..."


    "Hmm, I wonder how mom will feel when she sees me after so long. I mean, we do talk a lot on our MIDs but still..."


    "You have nothing to worry about, Lulu. Mother would surely love to see how her daughter had grown up after all these years being separated."


    "Hehe, thanks, Cel. Also, you shouldn''t worry about Lady Celia, I''m sure Seri has already talked things out with her. You should man up and show Lady Celia that you''re willing to face her and take responsibility for Seri!"


    Cecil smiled at her words. He gained a little bit more confidence in himself and said, "Thanks for that, Lulu."


    The two walked into the house hand-in-hand. Before they could even say or do anything, a blade came flying at Cecil all of a sudden.


    He immediately raised his hand, wrapped mana around it, and stopped the blade just when it was about a few centimeters away from his face. Feeling quite surprised, Cecil couldn''t help but exclaim, "W-woah! What the heck?!"


    "..."


    Cecil saw the person who had swung the sword and he paled a little before letting it go and greeting her, "M-Mother-in-law! W-Welcome...I just got back after my t-trip! H-How are you?"


    Celia eyed the young man who had his head bowed to her. Her brows immediately wrinkled in displeasure.


    "... So you''re the one that¡ª"


    "Mom, stop!" Serilla yelled out as she quickly made her way over to Cecil''s side. "Are you for real, Mom? Earlier, didn''t you just say that you''ve already accepted Cecil as my husband?"


    Celia scoffed and said, "I did say that..."


    "So what was that for?!"


    "...I don''t know. I just felt the instinct to just...swing my blade at his...pretty little face..."


    Cecil began to sweat nervously when he heard this. He was now worried that every time they met, this would be their initial greeting between mother-in-law and son-in-law.


    Celia brushed aside the earlier act of almost defacing Cecil and said, "Anyway, come with me, boy. I have a few words to say to you."


    "Y-yes, Ma''am!"


    "...Ma??am?"


    "Uhhh, mother?" Cecil hesitantly corrected.


    "...It sounds a bit odd, but I guess I''ll have to get used to that," Celia said as she sheathed her sword and walked away. The other servants in the house were extremely astonished at the fact that their young master had just been attacked by his mother-in-law and said person just brushed it off like it was something insignificant.


    The servant had all found out much earlier that Celia was their young master''s mother-in-law so they didn''t bother to call the family''s guards. A few days ago, they were rather astonished that their young mistress wasn''t actually a human but rather a beastkin, however, they seemed to have gotten used to it by now.


    At the moment, Serilla was back in her normal form. The human transformation was dispelled by Lucia long before she had left together with Cecil to look for Matheus.


    "Cel, you go with Seri and have a nice long talk with your mother-in-law, I''ll go look for mom!"


    "She''s at the second floor''s living room. She''s with my mother right now."


    Lucia gave Cecil a peck on the cheek before rushing off to the second floor, leaving him behind with Serilla.


    Cecil finally turned his attention towards his pregnant wife and worriedly asked, "...Seri, how did your mom come down from the second floor so fast? I mean, just before I walked in, I sensed that all of you guys were on the second floor¡ªwait a minute, the more important question is how did you get down so fast?! Shouldn''t you be more careful?"


    "Answering your first question, mother sensed darling''s presence earlier and she quickly made her way down. I was a bit worried that something might happen so I chased after her."


    "You should still be careful. What happens if you tripped or fell down the stairs?"


    Serilla rolled her eyes and replied, "...Darling, I only became pregnant... I didn''t become stupid, alright?"


    "..."


    It''s been over a month since Serilla felt that she was pregnant so there still weren''t any noticeable changes to her body except that she didn''t experience her period this month so it was all but confirmed to everyone that she was indeed pregnant.


    Since she hadn''t experienced any noticeable changes to her body''s condition, she would still be moving about recklessly and would sometimes be found training like usual which was something she honestly shouldn''t be doing.


    At least, that''s what Cecil thought. He knew that his wife was pretty sturdy but that couldn''t be said the same for the little life inside of her.


    Seeing her husband''s worried look Serilla giggled cheerfully before grabbing onto his arm and dragging him over to where her mother was at. Celia had walked out of the house and was now waiting for them at the veranda of the mansion.


    "Seri, you didn''t have to come," Celia said after seeing that her daughter had tagged along.


    "No way, I''m still worried that you''ll ''instinctively'' swing your sword at my husband!"


    "...tsk, I won''t do that, alright? Well whatever, come Cecil, I''d like to have a word with you."


    Even though this was technically his house, at the moment, he didn''t feel like he was inside his own house since he was now the one being invited down to sit. After taking his seat, Celia pulled out her sword and placed it on top of the table in front of them.


    "There, now that my sword isn''t with me, you won''t have anything to worry about, Serilla."


    "..."


    "Anyway, it''s time that I have a long chat with your husband," Celia said before turning her attention onto Cecil.


    The talk that ensued wasn''t really anything too complicated or serious. All Celia asked was whether or not Cecil would be committed to her despite having another wife. Cecil answered honestly by saying that he would do everything he could to love and care for Serilla.


    This earned him a genuine smile from Celia. She also asked him how he would back up his words, but this question honestly stumped him. Rather than giving her an answer, he replied that he''d simply show it through his actions.


    Celia gave him a pleasant look and said, "Good answer, Cecil. If you had given me a long tirade of what you''d do, I might''ve just ''instinctively'' cut you down. You see, I''m allergic to bullshit."


    "..."


    "I''d rather see you prove it with your actions! So, if you ever break my little girl''s heart... my sword won''t just ''instinctively'' be swung at you. I''ll hunt you down, you hear?"


    "Y-yes, mother... Well, you won''t have anything to worry about. I''ll try my best to make sure that both my wives are happy."


    "...That''s good to know. Anyway, you two can go now. You both have my blessing as well as her father''s," Celia said as she waved them away.


    Cecil nodded at Celia and he took Serilla''s hand and walked back into the house. Cecil turned to look back at Celia before walking in and saw that the expression on her face seemed to be joyful and yet sad at the same time.


    He noticed that there were tears threatening to fall but after taking a closer look at Celia''s face, he noticed that they weren''t tears of sadness. It was more like she was overwhelmed by something and couldn''t control her emotions which resulted in her tearing up.


    Before he could continue looking for another second, Cecil immediately turned his head away after noticing Celia glaring back at him.


    "By the way Seri, where is your dad?"


    "My father is still back at Anglaria. He''ll be teleporting over with the last batch of beastkin that''ll be going through the gate."


    "When was the last time the gate was activated?" Cecil asked.


    "I think it''s almost been a week... If I''m not wrong, this should be the sixth day."


    "So they''ll be coming tomorrow then?"


    "Hopefully~ the banquet is tomorrow so I hope daddy will be there!"


    "Hmmm... I''m just glad that your dad seems to be much more laidback than your mom... there were a few times I thought she would suddenly swing her sword at me..."


    "Mom''s just like that~ I remember when there was a time an upperclassman tried to court me. It didn''t end quite well for him..."


    "I could only imagine what it would be like if I was just a little bit weaker than your mother..."


    "Oh don''t say that, darling!" Serilla cheerfully said. "I''m sure she''d still accept you!"


    "Well, I should get going now. I still have to go see my other mother-in-law..."


    "Lady Anna came in with the second batch of people, but you were already away with Lulu by then. So she''s been waiting for you two for quite some time now."


    "I should get going then. Are you staying here to wait for your mom, or are you coming with me?"


    "I''ll stay here. You should go and reunite with your ''other'' family," Serilla gently said.


    Cecil nodded and made his way up to the second floor. When he got to the second floor''s living room, he quickly found Lucia sitting in between Anastasia and her mother, Anna. The atmosphere between the 3 women was really comfortable and harmonious.


    Cecil also noticed that there were others that came with Anna, but he didn''t pay much attention to them.


    "Mom, I''m back," Cecil said as he entered the room.


    "Oh, Cel, you''re here!" Anastasia and Anna said in unison. This caused the two women to laugh.


    "Haha, well this is quite nice," Anastasia quipped up happily.


    "Ufufufu~ why yes it is~" Anna added.


    Cecil scratched his head and sat himself down on the couch across them.


    "When did you get here, mother-in-law?"


    "We arrived with the second batch of people coming over. You''re father-in-law is going to be coming with the last group so we''ll see him...tomorrow, I believe?"


    "Yes, it''s tomorrow."


    "Hmhm~ just in time for the celebratory banquet~," Anastasia happily said. "Also, since the three of us mothers have agreed to it, we''ve decided to redo your wedding!"


    "Eh?"


    Seeing the questioningly look on his face, Anastasia took the liberty to clarify what they were going to do.


    "Well, I heard from my daughters-in-law that your wedding ceremony was rather lackl.u.s.ter. I''m not going to go into the details of what I found unsatisfactory, but let''s just say that I''m really dissatisfied with you, Cecil."


    "..."


    Anastasia then went on a long tirade of complaints before she finally said, "It''s an important day for a woman so we decided to redo it since you didn''t hold a proper ceremony. We''re going to conduct it tomorrow so be prepared."


    "W-what?!"


    Seeing the stupid look on her son''s face, Anastasia once more clarified, "You heard me. We''ll be doing it tomorrow. The matrimonial ceremony won''t have to take place again, but the celebration should still be done. It''s perfect since tomorrow is supposed to be your homecoming banquet so we''ll also officially announce that our family has taken in two daughters-in-law as well."


    "Oh, it''s just that then..."


    "You''re still going to be wearing a suit, Cel~" Lucia quipped up teasingly.


    "...Tsk."


    "What''s with that disdainful look? We''ve already been planning this in the past month behind your back so there''s no need for you to say anything. It''s going to happen, Cecil," Anastasia declared.


    Her words left no room for argument so Cecil didn''t bother saying anything. Also, it wasn''t like he didn''t look forward to it. Even he was rather interested at the notion of seeing his two wives in their proper wedding garments.

 Chapter 370 - Reunion 4

    A few minutes later, Celia and Serilla came up to the second floor and the talks about tomorrow''s events unfolded once again. Cecil had to sit through the entire thing listening on to his wives and mothers rambling on and on about the wedding.


    It was rather amusing for Cecil to see even Celia was engrossed in the topic. Nevertheless, it was quite boring for him. Even though he desperately wanted to just run away with Blink, he knew that it wouldn''t end well for him if he did so.


    So like a man, he powered through the boring talks. He sat there silently while circulating his mana and cultivating.


    A few moments later, Celestina came into the room being led by a few maids after she had taken a bath. She wasn''t familiar with everyone present but thanks to her, Cecil found the opportunity to slip away.


    He wondered what his friends were doing at the moment so he immediately spread his sense out into the valley. He found Eli and Ainz still with his father and Matheus. He also finally found Velicia and Lucius.


    It turns out that the two weren''t even in the city. They were instead out exploring the valley with his little sister and Katya. He was just about to jump over to them but his mother immediately came out and stopped him.


    "Cecil, you better not run! We''re still talking!"


    "...Dammit..."


    ******


    Over at Angelia''s side, she was currently guiding around Cecil''s friends along with Katya. She had just finished showing Velicia, Lucius, and the others with them the walls around the valley. Since there was nothing else to show them besides the places that were off-limits to the general public, Angelia decided to show the people with her the monster ranch that she owned.


    Ever since Angelia had asked to be transformed into a foxkin by Lucia, she hadn''t once asked her to dispel it. So currently, she was still in her fox form. Velicia and Lucius had been feeling quite uncomfortable while traveling around with her.


    This was because the resemblance Angelia had with her elder brother, Cecil, was quite uncanny when she was in her foxkin form. The two looked like they were staring back at a female version of their demonic captain.


    Also, with the numerous presences of high-ranked monsters that were decorating her body, it caused the beastkins, who were rather sensitive to them, to be quite unsettled. Although Velicia and Lucius had grown used to it, it couldn''t be said the same for the others in their group.


    Katya was rather curious about the beastkins and since she didn''t have anything better to do, she decided to tag along with Angelia as a chaperone as well as to better observe and hopefully interact with the foreign race.


    She was quite amiable to the beastkins and due to her kind and warm attitude, she was able to become acquainted with quite a few people in their group.


    Once they got into the vicinity of her ranch, Angelia immediately called out to Lucius.


    "Hey, big fella, what was your name again? I''m pretty sure it was similar to big sis Lucia''s name...uhm..."


    "It''s Lucius, little one," Lucius replied with a friendly smile.


    The fat tigerkin had slimmed down a little, but that was only in ratio to his height. He was still as fat as before if Cecil was here to see him. Next to him was naturally the ever curious and playful Velicia.


    She had grown up into a fine young woman and was now always by Lucius''s side. Most of Cecil''s friends were a year or two older than him so they were now young a.d.u.l.ts while he was still a teenager.


    Once Angelia got his name, she immediately replied, "Okay, Lucius, I want you to make sure that everyone in your group stays together and you need to prevent anyone from wandering around. We''re entering a restricted area of the valley, which is my monster ranch!"


    "O-okay? With the way you say it, this doesn''t sound like your typical ranch, now does it?"


    "Hmhm~ that''s because every monster in my ranch wasn''t domesticated! They willingly signed a pact with me after they were defeated in battle! So they''re all still primal and very territorial. Other than me, they don''t like anyone else going into their small little spaces so make sure no one strays too far away! I can''t guarantee you that they''ll make it out alive if 5 or more S ranked monsters attack them~"


    "What? S ranked?"


    "Mhm~ all of my monsters are S ranked! Though most of them are still juveniles and haven''t fully matured, but their potentials are all S ranked and above!" Angelia boasted.


    While the beastkins were in awe of her boasting, Katya was taking notes since she still didn''t quite understand the monster rankings of this world. She had been leading a rather sheltered life back in the Goldenia family''s territory as well as her time spent in the Faustus Archduchy.


    She only knew the concept of the monster rankings since she''s heard about it but never really understood their power-scaling. This was her first time seeing what these high-ranked monsters were like, so she made sure to pay close attention.


    Most of her journeys out of her family''s territory were always accompanied by guards so despite having a pretty decent ability to use elemental spells, Katya''s never really fought against a high-ranked monster. She''s only ever picked on those low C-B ranked monsters that would show up now and then in her family''s territory.


    Unlike the Silvaria Kingdom, which was besieged by monsters periodically, the Goldenia''s had it pretty easy since they didn''t need to worry about any monster attacks.


    Lately, the Silvaria Kingdom had become more protected due to Cecil''s magi-tech contributions so the regular monster attacks would be staved off by only a company of soldiers that manned the Storm Howlers and Spell Cannons.


    Once the group entered the ranch, the beastkin immediately felt the gazes of numerous high-ranked monsters lock onto them. They felt wary at first but noticed that the gazes didn''t carry any ill or malicious intent.


    The monsters in the ranch were only observing them and while this happened, Angelia took everyone on a tour around her monster ranch, introducing every one of her monsters to the group.


    They couldn''t wrap their head around how the little girl before them was able to form so many pacts with so many high-ranked monsters. Normally, a person could only form a pact with only one monster. If they wanted to form a new pact, then they would have to abolish the old one.


    Lucius and Velicia only attributed this to the fact that the girl before them was Cecil''s little sister. It was only natural that she possessed some abnormal ability just like her older brother.


    They made it to the periphery of Angelia''s ranch and they soon found a nice and cozy wooden cabin that had a fence built around it in the middle of a clearing just before the side of the valley. Angelia noticed that the chimney of the house was smoking so she skipped over to the house happily.


    "Silvy~ you home?" Angelia called out.


    The group naturally followed after her since they didn''t want to be left behind. Once they crossed the fence that was separating the house and Angelia''s ranch, the gazes that were honed on the group immediately disappeared.


    During the entire time, only Lucius and Velicia appeared rather relaxed. Everyone else was on edge due to the uncomfortable feeling they were having. Katya was no exception. She found it pretty unbearable to walk through the entire ranch since she felt like a sword was looming over her head.


    She understood now that every sibling in the Silvaria family, except for Luca, was all probably stronger than her. This was the same for the small girl that had been leading her around the place.


    Katya felt a little unacceptable at the fact that a small girl like Angelia was stronger than her, but after remembering all of those menacing gazes she had felt from earlier, she couldn''t refute the fact that if she was to fight against Angelia one-on-one, she would without a doubt lose.


    Angelia''s ability was monster taming so it was only natural she would use her monsters in a battle and with the sheer amount of monsters she had, Katya felt that she had a zero percent chance of winning.


    "Ugh... all of the Silvarias are abnormal..." Katya silently mumbled.


    After the group got closer to the house and after Angelia called out to whoever she was calling out to, the door of the cabin opened up and a small young boy came out of the house. He had long white hair that reached to his back and his eyes was a pure blue. The most shocking thing was that this little boy greatly resembled someone Velicia and Lucius were familiar with, their demonic leader, Cecil.


    "Hey, Angie, what brings you here?"


    "When did you get back, Silvy?"


    "Just a few hours ago, what brings you here, Angie?"


    Before Angelia could answer him, Velicia immediately exclaimed from behind in shock.


    "C-Cecil?"


    "Hm?


    "Eh?"


    "Who''s thi¡ªhey, isn''t this Velicia?!" Silver exclaimed in pleasant surprise.


    "Y-yeah?"


    "Haha, I''m not Cecil, I''m Silver!"


    "S-Silver? H-How?!"


    "Hehe, magic~"


    "..."


    "Ah, I see you''re as big as usual, Lucius!"


    "Hohoho, you''re able to turn human Silver? So I guess your Fenrir bloodline has strengthened over the past years," Lucius said with a laugh.


    "After forming a pact with my boss, it certainly has~. I can''t believe that you guys are here though, did you meet with the boss yet?"


    "Are you talking about Cecil?" Velicia asked.


    "Yup, he''s my boss!"


    "Well, we haven''t yet. When we got here, people said that he went out to go look for his brother."


    "Ah yeah, well we did just come back after all. He went back to the estate earlier and I felt him suddenly going into the city soon after. Right now he''s¡ª" Silver closed his eyes and after sensing where his master was, he continued, "¡ªcurrently back at the family''s estate. If you wanna see him then you should go now."


    "Uhh, we''ll do that later," Velicia said with a strained smile.


    Lucius also agreed with her. It was nice to finally be able to see a friend after such a long time, but after remembering how Cecil was like, Velicia felt quite hesitant. What happens if the first thing he says to them was ''hahaha, it''s been so long, let''s fight?''


    Just thinking about it sent a chill up Velicia''s spine. Her abilities had indeed increased during the past years, but remembering how much of a training freak their former party leader was, she could only imagine how much stronger he had become.


    "Well, if you''re not going to him just yet, why not step inside and relax a little?"


    "Sure, but can everyone fit inside?"


    "Hehe, my boss made this house for us, so it''s quite spacious."


    "Us?"


    "Me and Yuna!"


    "O-oh yeah, I remember hearing that you two got together..."


    "Mhmm~ well, come in, come in. You''ll have to excuse Yuna though, she''s currently in her hibernation phase so she''s asleep right now."


    "That''s okay, well, pardon us for the intrusion."

 Chapter 371 - Reunion 5

    It was only until the day nearly ended that thing settled down and Cecil was freed from all the talks that he was forced to participate in.


    Later in the day, Kaiser had returned and was also pulled into the conversation. He was most looking forward to seeing Cecil''s fathers-in-law once the 2 came through the gate tomorrow.


    Since everything had settled down, Cecil was finally able to reunite with his former party members. The rest of the beastkins have been settled inside the city while Elizabeth, Velicia, Ainz, and Lucius were invited to stay at the Silvaria Estate.


    Once everyone got to the estate, Cecil invited them all into the mansion. Lucia and Serilla were both happy and ecstatic to see everyone after so long but after the two greeted the 4, they couldn''t help but feel that someone was missing.


    "Where''s Fina?" Lucia asked after noticing that her best friend wasn''t there.


    Elizabeth looked a bit troubled for a moment before she quickly replied, "I''ll explain things to you 3 later, alright? It''s a bit sensitive."


    "Oh, alright, well make yourself comfortable. Dinner will be served in a moment so we can all just relax for now. Eli, Veli, we have so much to talk about!"


    "Over here, let''s leave the boys alone for now. I''m pretty sure they have things they want to talk about amongst themselves," Serilla said before leading the girls to a different lounge.


    Being left behind, Cecil stretched his arms tiredly and smirked at the two guys left behind with him.


    "Hehe, why don''t catch up on things as well? Follow me guys," Cecil said as he lead the two out of the house.


    "Where are we going, lead?" Ainz asked.


    "To my workshop, we can unwind ourselves there. The servants will come and notify us when dinner''s ready."


    "Haha, honestly, Cecil, I thought the first thing you''d ask us to do after meeting again for so long, would be to fight you?" Lucius quipped up amusingly.


    "My thoughts exactly," Ainz added.


    Cecil chuckled when he heard their words and replied, "Haha, well, that''d be pretty uncouth, don''t you think? I''d rather go and relax with my friends whom I haven''t seen for a long time."


    "Woah, what?"


    "Who are you and what have you done to Cecil?" Ainz asked skeptically.


    "Pfft, come on guys. Is it that unbelievable if I don''t want to fight?"


    Without missing a beat or even hesitating, the two replied, "Yeah."


    "..."


    "Hahaha, it''s good that you''ve changed!" Ainz said while slinging his arm around Cecil.


    "Damn, you grew taller and more buff, Ainz. You''re even bigger than my dad!"


    "It''s just a matter of genes, but honestly, I didn''t think that your father would look like that considering how... small you were..."


    "Hah, I took after my mother. I''m just glad I didn''t stay short like her or else I''d feel pretty awkward around Lulu and Seri..."


    "Yeah, I guess, but I think having a moderate build like how you are right now is pretty okay... having a large build like mine only gives Eli the excuse to beat me down whenever she gets the chance to..."


    The three arrived at Cecil''s workshop and once they got inside, Cecil led them to the second floor. Just as the two were about to look for a place to sit, Cecil waved his hand and a staircase dropped down from the ceiling.


    "Woah, what the heck?"


    "Pretty cool right? It''s the secret third floor of my workshop."


    "H-how? Wasn''t the building only 2 stories high?"


    Cecil brought the two up and started explaining.


    "Well, that''s because I created the third floor using spatial arrays. There was a hollowed-out area on the top of the building that I purposefully made just to try things out. After expanding the small space using my new spatial arrays and stabilizing it using a few new arrays I developed, I was able to create this private room."


    "I have no idea what you just said but this is cool," Ainz replied after taking a look around the place.


    Cecil had placed a lot of recreational facilities inside the room and it was a pretty good place for one to relax in. Ainz found some board games in the room and noticed that they weren''t the ones that he was familiar with.


    "Ah, those are my world''s board games. There''s Shogi, Chess, Checkers, Go, and some other things."


    "They all sound pretty simple, how do you play them?"


    "Well, learning to move the pieces is pretty simple but strategizing a way to defeat your opponent is where it gets complicated. I''ll teach you how to play them later, right now, why don''t we have a nice long chat?"


    "That''s good. We should catch up on what we''ve been doing during the past few years," Lucius replied. Ainz nodded in agreement and the 3 all found a place to sit down.


    Cecil naturally started the talk and informed them about what he had been up to during the past 4 years since they separated. Hearing the rough summary of his adventures caused both Ainz and Lucius to let out a sigh.


    "What''s up?" Cecil asked.


    "Nah, it''s just... nothing''s changed for you, huh?" Ainz said.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean, even when we were back in the academy, we constantly went out on journeys to subdue monsters, look for rare materials, and stuff like that."


    "Yeah, so?"


    "Isn''t that what you''ve mostly been doing for the past few years?"


    "...I guess..."


    "Other than the fact that you took in an apprentice, got married to both Lucia and Serilla, and finally found your family, not much has changed, right?"


    "Haha, I guess you''re right! Except now that I''ve finally found my family, I''m thinking that settling down and leading a peaceful life up until I finally pass on doesn''t seem to be pretty bad... I''ve had my fair share of adventure and stuff like that."


    "You''re still too young to be thinking like that, Cecil. You should go out and do what you want. Even though you now have your own family, you shouldn''t be thinking that settling down is the end game. You should only think about that once you''ve gotten much much older," Lucius said.


    "I guess, well, what have you two been doing in the past years?"


    Ainz and Lucius looked at each other before they decided that Ainz would go first.


    "I''ll start first," Ainz said.


    Ainz then started telling Cecil all about his activities after he had left. The party continued staying in the academy until everyone graduated 3 years later. During their time in the academy, Eli and Ainz took the liberty to expand their Little Kings party.


    5 more members were added to the party that the old members had deemed to be worthy enough to hold the Little Kings'' name. They had the greatest potential and talent among the students that everyone from the Little Kings could find in the academy.


    The old members naturally trained these 5 new members until their abilities were at least close to or on par with them. From there, Eli decided that it would be better if they could find more people for their small party but they couldn''t find anyone that had potential that was at least on par with the previous 5 members that they had found.


    Fina then came up with the suggestion of training anyone who had the willingness to come to them and undergo their stringent training courses. Since everyone wanted to keep the party small and only filled with elites, this was a rather good suggestion.


    Since then, the Little Kings became more of an organization than a small adventurer party. Now, it wasn''t only the students of the academy or the personnel of the adventurer guild that knew about them, instead, the entire kingdom knew the name of the Little Kings.


    It was an elitist organization that took on just about anyone, as long as they were willing, and trained them up to become top-notch warriors and mages. The only requirement was that the individual who wanted to be trained agreed and consented to the tough and arduous training course that the members of Little Kings would put them through.


    If they gave up midway, then there won''t be a second chance for them to come back and try again. Elizabeth and everyone in the party had set a goal for themselves which was to train as many people as they possibly could.


    The prophecy that Cecil had left behind to them was weighing on their minds so this was the only way they could try and ready the people of the nation for the impending danger that may or may not come.


    Most of the beastkin who came through the teleportation gate were a part of the large organization that the Little Kings had become. It was no wonder why Cecil felt like there were many beastkin with strong auras that came through the gate since it turns out that almost everyone who came through the gate had undergone the tough training regimen that Cecil had left behind to them.


    "Wow, you guys sure have been busy..."


    "Of course, not after what you left behind for us..."


    "Haha~"


    "I feel a little pissed now that I remembered it," Ainz grumbled.


    "Ohohohoh~ what are you gonna do about it?" Cecil meaningfully asked with a smirk.


    "...Tsk, that''s just what you want, huh?"


    "Hahaha! Anyway, other than managing the Little Kings, what else do you do Ainz?"


    "..." Ainz remained silent and turned his head away. It seemed like he didn''t want to reply to him.


    Since Ainz didn''t want to answer, Lucius was the one who did it for him.


    "Eli''s been working him to the ground. She''s been having him patrol the kingdom''s borders while keeping an eye on any news from mercenaries, adventurers, and the kingdom''s citizens for any signs of the Fallen. Of course, it wasn''t limited to only the kingdom''s people. During his time in the academy, Eli''s been sending him on missions out of the kingdom with only a handful of people..."


    Ainz began groaning on the side and Cecil spoke up and laughed, "So that''s why you''ve become so buffed! Hahahaha, Eli''s been working you to the ground!"


    "...Please don''t remind me...even though she''s supposed to be... haaahhh..." Ainz sighed and didn''t finish his words.


    "She''s supposed to be what?" Cecil asked.


    "Oh, you didn''t know, Cecil?" Lucius asked in surprise.


    "About what?"


    "You know, those two are now an item."


    "Oh...wait, what?!"


    "So you really didn''t know?"


    "Hold on a sec!" Cecil exclaimed before turning back to Ainz. "A-aren''t you two like cousins or something?!"


    "Yeah, and?" Ainz replied, clearly puzzled by why Cecil was so worked up.


    "A-And? W-what do you mean by ''and????!"


    "Ah, I see. Ainz, don''t forget that Cecil is a human. He''s not used to our customs so it''s only natural that he''d be surprised that you''re together with Elizabeth who''s your cousin."


    "Ooh, I see."


    Cecil was quick on the uptake so he understood that this sort of relationship wasn''t uncommon for the beastkin.


    "So it''s alright for you guys?"


    "As long as the partner isn''t a direct relative like a brother or sister then there are no constraints on who we choose as our partner. Also, the royal family does this to keep the dragon bloodline in the family as pure as possible," Ainz replied.


    "You won''t believe how Elizabeth asked him to be her partner, Cecil! She literally just dropped it on him like an explosion," Lucius snickered.


    "Haha, you''ve got to tell me the details! Anyway, this is news to me though."


    "Lucia didn''t tell you? I mean, she already knew about our relationship," Ainz asked.


    "She didn''t!"


    "I bet she did but you just glossed over it without paying too much attention to what she said."


    "M-maybe... ugh, she might have told me and I just forgot..."


    "You should be more attentive, Cecil," Lucius advised him.


    Cecil only nodded but he didn''t make any promises. Whenever he got too busy with anything, he''d tune out a lot of external things and focus on his task until it was perfectly finished. It was a habit of his that could be described as neither good nor bad.


    After asking about Ainz, it was Lucius''s turn to talk.

 Chapter 372 - Fina’s Predicament

    Lucius''s life after Cecil departed on his journey hadn''t changed all that much. After he had officially joined the Little Kings, he had become much more active as an alchemist as more and more people joined their organization.


    And because of this, Lucius was able to pull in a few promising young alchemists from the Alchemy Faction into the Little Kings. Now, he had his own team of alchemists that would help him concoct potions and pills for the Little Kings.


    Of course, they weren''t worked to the bone or anything since the products that they would produce would only be Intermediate to High ranked concoctions. Due to this, their time spent on actually making anything for the Little Kings'' members was pretty limited because the organization''s members would need to go out and find the ingredients first before they could do anything.


    The normal healing potions and mana potions would be bought from the Alchemy Faction since Lucius didn''t want to upset the balance of power that the Academy''s factions had amongst each other.


    Their organization could strictly be inferred to as a non-Academy organization since technically, the Little Kings wasn''t an academy faction but an adventurer party.


    Another little update was that he would be marrying his long-time fianc¨¦e, Velicia, very soon. Although the couple still didn''t know exactly when, however, this was still good news to Cecil and he congratulated him.


    After all was said and done, now was the topic of why Fina hadn''t come over with them.


    When Cecil asked them this, both Ainz and Lucius turned solemn. Seeing the change to their countenance, Cecil began wondering whether something wrong happened to her. He hoped she was okay because if something untoward had indeed happened to her, his wife, Lucia, would be very devastated to hear the news.


    Aquafina was Lucia''s best friend from the academy. After not hearing from her friend for so long, it would be tragic for Lucia if she heard some bad news about her. Ever since half a year ago, Lucia hadn''t once received a call from Fina.


    Even when she tried calling her, Fina would never answer so she was looking forward to seeing her once the Teleportation Gate was finished but unfortunately, her best friend didn''t come.


    Ainz was the one who answered Cecil''s inquiry, "I guess it''s better to just tell you the gist of things now than to have Eli give you a long explanation later. Fina didn''t come because citizens from her country...had found sightings of the Fallen..."


    "W-what?!" Cecil exclaimed in shock.


    "You heard me, the Fallen were sighted at the Neftersea Empire..."


    "...has this been confirmed? Was there truly any Fallen sighted at her Empire?"


    "Well... it''s only a rumor, but some undersea villages around the Neftersea archipelago did report sightings of some strange creatures that had twisted and ghastly appearances. They closely resembled the descriptions of the Fallen but we haven''t seen any actual recording or drawing, however, Fina didn''t want to take any chances and immediately returned to her country, that''s why she''s not here."


    Cecil went deep into thought before cursing out, "...Damn, even if it is just a rumor, but the possibility of the sightings being the real deal still poses a problem... and if they were real, then that means¡ª"


    "¡ªthe prophecy that the World Tree showed you might be¡ªno, is definitely correct... a prophecy of the future that holds the complete and total ruination of our world..." Lucius finished.


    "...Who else knows about this?"


    "We told the Headmaster who had then informed the King and Lucia''s mother..." Ainz answered.


    "And their responses?"


    "Well, the King only questioned why you hadn''t informed anyone else sooner... no one else has been informed and we''re still waiting for confirmation from Fina on whether or not the sightings were that of the Fallen. We don''t want to cause unrest just because of a rumor but the kingdom has already begun producing more weapons and training up more soldiers just in case. Also, the King has forces ready to mobilize at a moment''s notice once Fina confirms that those sightings are that of the Fallen."


    "...What did my mother-in-law say?" Cecil asked.


    Ainz shook his head and said, "She hadn''t reacted much... but the Sage from the library did have a few questions. I think he''ll be arriving in the next batch of beastkin that are going to be teleported over. He has many questions he wants to ask of you."


    "So the old guy was also informed, huh? Well, it''s not like I have much to answer... I only saw a vision, nothing more. I wasn''t able to gain any information about it except for the fact that the united front of humans, northerners, beastfolk, spiritfolk, and demonkin...were losing..."


    Ainz and Lucius turned gloomy hearing him say this. At least from what Cecil saw, the many races of the world had still lost even after they had all united to fight against the Fallen.


    Cecil''s earlier happy mood had dampened and so did his two friends. He quickly cleared his throat and tried to uplift the mood again but to no avail. Luckily for him, Lucia called out to the boys from the workshop''s first floor informing them that dinner was ready.


    "Cel, dinner''s ready! Come down now!"


    "Ah, well, looks like dinner''s ready boys. Let''s go grab ourselves some grub!"


    "Yeah, let''s do that," Ainz replied with a slight smile.


    "Hmhm~ I''ve quite missed Lucia''s unique tasting foods. I''ll be looking forward to this~" Lucius joyfully said.


    "Sorry to say this, but Lulu wasn''t the one cooking, remember?"


    "Eh? Oh... yeah... She had left to go talk with the girls earlier... so I guess your family''s chef made it?"


    "Yeah, but don''t worry, you''ll be those unique cuisines alright!"


    ''Because technically I''m the person who asked Lulu to copy Earth''s foods,'' Cecil continued inwardly.


    The 3 quickly went down and Cecil sealed up the workshop''s secret third floor. They quickly went to the dining hall and everyone had a really enjoyable dinner. Cecil found it quite amusing to see Elizabeth putting food on Ainz''s plate.


    When he saw them act that way, he was finally convinced that those two were a couple. Velicia and Lucius were the same as always. It was a nice evening for everyone and after the dinner, the former and current members of Little Kings along with Serilla, all gathered together in the mansion''s living room to have a nice long chat.


    Naturally, the topic that was brought up was the matter regarding Fina''s situation. Since Eli and Ainz had given Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla the rundown of what happened before the dinner, now they gathered to talk about the solution and the follow-up actions that should be taken.


    Of course, before all that, they should discuss whether or not someone from their group should go over and help Fina out with the investigations. After 6 months since Fina left, they hadn''t even heard a word from her, so it was quite worrying.


    The good news was that Eli''s elder sister, Manora, had also been informed of the prophecy by Elizabeth so she was currently helping Fina out with the investigations. The only problem was that 2 months ago, Fina had returned to the Empire''s castle from the ocean side and no word has been heard from her ever since.


    Manora would normally provide daily reports of how Fina was doing since the girl herself wasn''t answering anyone''s calls, but those reports have stopped ever since Fina was no longer seen after she returned to the castle.


    Lucia was relieved that nothing had happened to her but she was worried because her best friend was now out of touch with everyone. Then there were the whispers that suggested she might be caught up in some political feud among the higher-ups of her nation.


    "...I''m guessing that no one from Fina''s kingdom, besides Manora and herself, know about the prophecy and what the Fallen sightings indicate towards?" Cecil asked.


    "If I''m not mistaken, Fina has already informed her mother, the Empress," Eli replied.


    "Really? Then why are they fighting amongst themselves and not doing anything to help Fina investigate these sightings?!" Lucia exclaimed in question.


    "That''s just the thing. 6 months ago when Fina returned to the Neftersea Empire, their military was immediately mobilized into the oceans to patrol the waters. I''m guessing that before their military began moving Fina had already told the Empress about the prophecy and the possible sightings of the Fallen so this caused the Neftersea Military to begin moving."


    "Okay, and?"


    "That''s when things started getting out of hand. The Neftersea Empire''s military mobilization had put the Orca Empire and the Gigantes Kingdom on guard. Also, the human''s Tempest Kingdom has also begun showing movement in response to the Neftersea Empire''s activities."


    "Why?"


    This time, it was Ainz who replied, "That''s because they think that the Neftersea Empire might have found the lost ruins of Oceania."


    "What''s that?" Lucia immediately questioned. Cecil was also quite curious as to what these ruins were so he showed a rather intrigued look. To him, it smelled like adventure...and also an opportunity to get away from home for a while.


    Serilla, who was next to her, answered her sister''s question.


    "Listen, Lulu, before the Neftersea Oceanic Empire existed, there were actually two superpowers that ruled the seas around the two continents of Midgard and Urrugdrasil. Naturally, one of the superpowers was called the Neftersea Empire and the other, the Oceania Empire."


    "Huh? W-Wait a minute! What''s the difference between those two empires and the current empire? The 3 sounds the same, except that¡ªohhh!" Lucia exclaimed after she realized something.


    "Yup, it''s just like you thought. The present Empire is actually a union of the two former empires."


    "I see, I see... So, what caused these two empires to unite?"


    "A natural disaster," Eli answered.


    "That''s right. It was caused by a natural disaster, or so the records say," Serilla said before continuing, "From the records, it said that the God and Goddess of the Sea, Erh''kanu and Aqui''finnah, were both having a cataclysmic battle in the sea, close to the Oceania archipelago before it was sunk into the sea by the aftermath of the battle."


    When Cecil heard the word, ''god'' and ''goddess'', he immediately asked, "A god and goddess fought each other?"


    "Well, technically darling, they aren''t gods or goddesses. The two were just the ancient monster overlords of the world''s northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere''s seas."


    "Oh! So they''re monsters?" Cecil excitedly asked.


    Seeing how excited her husband was, Serilla narrowed her eyes and answered, "Yes darling, the two are Cataclysmic-ranked monsters, monsters far above that of SSS rank. They can destroy civilizations and sink entire landmasses if they so choose to..."


    "So the result of their battles destroyed the Oceania Empire?"


    "...Yes, that''s what happened. The survivors of Oceania naturally traveled to the Neftersea Empire, which, according to history, welcomed them with open arms. The Oceania''s Emperor was not among the survivors, but his family was. At the time, the present crown princess of Neftersea fell in love with one of the Oceania''s princes who had come to seek refuge in her country. From there, the Oceania royal family suggested that the two get married to unite the two Empires together, effectively forming the Neftersea Oceania Empire, which was later renamed as the Neftersea Oceanic Empire."


    "Ooh, so that''s what happened... and?"


    "Well, that''s it? Oh, I also do have to mention that the present Neftersea Empire remained a matriarchy and that the Oceania Empire was a rather technologically advanced Empire that had created technology that enabled them to conquer the seas and explore the dark abyss of the oceans!" Serilla quickly added.


    "...Maybe their meddling into the sea encroached on the two Ocean Gods which resulted in their fight which then led to the Oceania Empire''s destruction?" Lucia offhandedly said. Eli, who heard this, immediately replied to her statement.


    "Many historians say that this may be the case. The Oceania Empire had, unknowingly or knowingly, incited for the two monsters to attack each other which was why they were so close to their nation. The result however was only the destruction of their nation''s lands."


    "Okay, so back to the topic of Fina''s Empire having found the Oceania Empire''s ruins! What''s so wrong about that?" Cecil asked.


    "Didn''t I tell you earlier, darling? The Oceania Empire was technologically advanced! Their magic-tech was so advanced that they could explore the ocean''s depths uninhibited, despite many dangerous ocean creatures threatening them from all sides!"


    Cecil turned to Elizabeth and asked, "...So the 3 other powers that are now on alert due to the Neftersea Oceanic Empire''s recent activities... wants to find these ruins for themselves?"


    "Yes."


    "Okay¡ªoh, and let me guess, the Oceania side of the Empire is now trying to seize control of the operation, saying that it was once their empire''s lands so that they should be the ones in charge of claiming it back and exploring their motherland only so that they could monopolize all of their former empire''s technological advances to get back some power for their side of the Empire, right? Also, since they don''t want the Empress''s daughter to be snooping around, so they ''imprisoned'' her in some way. It this is indeed the case, it explains why Fina hasn''t been able to get a word out to us..."


    "Y-yeah¡ª"


    Before Elizabeth could say anything more, Cecil quickly continued.


    "And as for her MID, which she could use to inform us about her current state of things, since my new and improved MIDs have already circulated in the Empire and by now, everyone knows that it could be used for long-distance communications, so it was most likely taken away from her right when she got back home, right?"


    After sharing his analysis, he looked around and saw his friends eyeing him with complete surprise. Not minding their shocked countenances, Cecil continued.


    "Although, in hindsight. This is just a complete misunderstanding caused by the Empress mobilizing the Empire''s forces to patrol the waters to try and confirm the sightings of the Fallen... hmmm... how troublesome. I bet those people from the Oceania''s side won''t believe whatever kind of excuse Fina''s mother will give saying that she''s only trying to keep the truth away from them so that the Neftersea side could go ahead and monopolize their ruined nation''s technology..."


    "T-that''s what we''ve at least deduced for now but wait a minute! Cecil, w-when did you understand such complicated political schemes?!" Eli exclaimed in shock.


    Cecil shrugged and said, "It''s the perk of becoming a prominent family''s future patriarch, I naturally had to learn and the weirdest thing was that something similar just happened to my family not too long ago. Naturally, it''s all been taken care of."


    "I-is that so..."


    "Yup, so now comes the most important question. Are we going to go over and support Fina, or not? If we are, then how can we?"

 Chapter 373 - Their Special Day

    The discussion continued and obviously, everyone''s response to Cecil''s question was that they were going to rescue or help Fina out. Lucia was especially adamant about going right after their wedding, but Cecil decided not to.


    "We can''t."


    "Why?!" Lucia questioned angrily.


    "Because it''s not the time yet," Cecil replied calmly.


    "And why is it not the time?! Actually, is there even any kind of right time? Our friend''s in trouble and we have to help her!"


    "Lulu, listen to me first, okay?"


    "NO! I say we''re going and we''re going!"


    Seeing her act this way, Cecil became a little bit furious and he raised his voice and said, "Lucia stop being so childish!"


    This only caused Lucia to glare back angrily at him. Everyone there was quite surprised to see the two bickering so intensely. This was the first time it had ever happened since the two were always so lovey-dovey all the time.


    Cecil released a breath and calmed himself. However, his voice was still firm as he explained.


    "Now you listen here. First of all, we need information. We need to know whether or not it''s true that Fina is being trapped inside of her family''s castle and not being grounded by her mother, the Empress. There''s also the possibility of Fina or the Empress being threatened and if we blindly marched in there, we''d only be causing more problems for them. Once we''ve sorted that out, then it''ll naturally be the green light for us to go and help her. Second, we need to know the actual political state that the Neftersea Empire is in right now. If we just go in there, extract Fina and leave, then the Empire might misinterpret that as us being the kidnappers of the Empire''s princess!"


    "B-but..."


    "Lulu, listen. We can''t go in there and charge through the front door. Why do you think Eli and the others still haven''t made a move yet?"


    "..."


    Seeing that Lucia had turned silent, Cecil dialed down his tone and gently said, "There''s plenty of other reasons that I can list why Eli and them haven''t made their moves yet, but the first two I explained are probably the most important reasons, right?"


    Cecil turned to Eli after he finished saying this to seek her confirmation. Elizabeth only nodded and let out a light smile. She then turned to Lucia and said,


    "What Cecil said is right, Lulu. I know that you wanna go there now and just storm the castle and take her out, but you have to understand, the other powers of Urrugdrasil, besides us and the Elves, have begun taking action around the sea and are sidling up on the Neftersea Empire''s borders, if we go over and rescue Fina without knowing the full situation at hand, then we''ll only be causing them more problems. They already have enough on their hands due to the Orca Empire, and the Gigantes and Tempest Kingdom."


    "O-Okay..." Lucia replied. She quickly sat back down and her ears and tails flopped down in dejection.


    Cecil came over to her and began rubbing her ears and stroking her tailing in an effort to get her cheerful again. It was working albeit not like how it normally would when he did it on any other occasion.


    "Don''t worry Lulu, we''ll get our chance. I''ll have Quinn go and look for information once we''ve finished dealing with the Goldenia''s issue."


    "Hm? What issue?" Lucia asked.


    Serilla as well also asked him, "Yeah, darling, what issue?"


    "Eh? Oh, haha, it''s nothing! Anyway, it''s getting late, why don''t we all go to sleep? I''ll lead everyone to their rooms!" Cecil brushed off their questions lightly and quickly changed the topic.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two women narrowed their eyes at him. Apparently, the two previous reasons why he didn''t want to make a move to go help Fina weren''t his primary reasons. At least for Elizabeth''s side, it was her primary reason, but for their husband, that seemed to be a secondary reason.


    They had been a little miffed by the fact that this husband of theirs had been moving silently behind her backs putting in all these little schemes and plans to protect and empower their family but being in the dark about all of it sure wasn''t pleasant.


    As his wives, the two had every reason to know about what he was doing. However, whenever they asked him, Cecil would always dodge their questions. If they did try to push him for an answer...well, Cecil would push them back, but in a different and more lewd kind of way.


    Eventually, the topic would be dropped and Cecil would have his way with both of them.


    After Cecil settled everyone else into their rooms, he was just about to go back into his, but the butlers and maids barred him from entering.


    "I''m sorry Young Patriarch, but I''m afraid you''ll be sleeping somewhere else tonight," Charles, their family''s butler, respectfully said.


    "Huh? What''s up, Uncle Charles?"


    "You see little Cel, tomorrow is an important day for you and your wives."


    "Ah, you mean the wedding."


    "Yes, it''s exactly that. As per tradition, the bride¡ªwell, in this case, brides, and the groom cannot share the same room until after the wedding."


    "...We had such a thing?"


    "Well, it''s not a family tradition, but it''s more like an Earth tradition," Charles answered.


    "Ohh...well, whatever then...though I was hoping to have a little fun..." Cecil said before he began mumbling the latter half of his words.


    Charles flinched a little when he heard Cecil''s words. Although he did mumble it, the butler was quite close to him and his hearing was quite sharp. Charles coughed and cleared his throat before leading his family''s Young Patriarch over to the room where he will be sleeping.


    There was another thing that Cecil nearly forgot, but Ainz, Lucius, his brother, Matheus, and Silver, would be his groomsmen while Eli, Velicia, Celestina, and Yuna would be his wives'' bridesmaid.


    He thought that tomorrow''s ceremony was completely unnecessary but things had already developed until this late into the game so there was no turning back. Cecil was only telling himself this because he was feeling quite nervous. He wasn''t able to get a wink of sleep that night.


    *****


    The next day quickly came and everyone had a very hectic morning, preparing this and that for the ceremony and the after banquet that would double as the homecoming party for Cecil and the welcoming party for the beastkin from Anglaria.


    The invitations were handed out yesterday and only the most prominent families in the kingdom and the more important figures were invited. It was a given that the Silvaria branch families were invited since it was the wedding of their young patriarch.


    The venue was already prepared and now, all that was left was for the main characters of the wedding to get themselves ready for the ceremony which would take place exactly at midday.


    The women were getting ready while Cecil had already finished his preparations much earlier. He was now at the teleportation gate getting ready to activate it for the last batch of beastkin that would be coming over.


    Kaiser, Luca, Celia, Anna, Ainz, and Elizabeth were here watching over him, just in case he did something stupid like walk through the gate and teleport over to the Anglaria Kingdom. Of course, that wasn''t the actual reason. The others were here to pick up and guide the teleported beastkin.


    Cecil was currently standing in front of the gate and was doing some fine-tuning before activating it.


    Once he was finished, he quickly activated the gate. The formation arrays began glowing and a dimensional portal opened up and out walked a few beastkin. Once these beastkin arrived, they looked around for a moment before making their way off of the platform.


    Celia and Anna called out to their husbands while Elizabeth and Ainz gathered the other beastkin together. A few of Elizabeth and Kaiser''s subordinates were around so after a few words, they quickly handed down the beastkin over to their subordinates to manage.


    Kaiser and Cecil''s parents-in-law quickly went over to the family''s estate. The venue of the wedding was naturally going to be done over there in the estate''s garden. It was almost time for the ceremony so Cecil quickly returned ahead of his father and his other elders.


    Of course, he did greet Serilla''s father before leaving. The buff rabbitkin man was rather pleased with his son-in-law and didn''t make things too difficult for him like how Cecil initially thought he would. Well, his mother-in-law almost made things difficult for him if not for Serilla having talked with her beforehand.


    He was rather grateful that at least someone from Serilla''s family agreed to their marriage. Also, some of Serilla''s siblings came over as well and were constantly pestering him with questions and such. It was also one of the reasons why he left ahead of the group.


    After making it back to the estate, the place was beginning to fill up with people. He returned to his room and found Lucius waiting there.


    "Where''s Ainz, Cecil?"


    "He''ll be back in a bit. So, are you ready?"


    "Shouldn''t I be asking you that?"


    "Hahaha, I''ve already gone through this once! Piece of cake!" Cecil replied with a laugh.


    Lucius only raised a brow at his words. He could already see that his ex-party leader was nervous. Having gone through this once or not, it was much different this time since it was more official.


    His parents were here, his wives'' parents as well. Then there were his siblings and other family members and also his friends and acquaintances. Even the Goldenia family was invited from afar.


    When the time came for the ceremony, Cecil was finally able to see his two beautiful wives in their wedding dresses and he was quite overwhelmed at the sight. The same could be said for the invited people.


    It was also quite to be holding a wedding where there were two brides. It did cause the humans who were invited to be a little unsettled but the beastkin only thought it was normal. The difference between the two cultures and races was made apparent during this time.


    The ceremony went on without a hitch and soon came the reception. Here, after Kaiser announced the newlyweds, he then announced the return of his family''s heir, Cecil, and also announced the next successor to the kingdom''s throne, Matheus.


    Everyone was naturally puzzled as to why Cecil wasn''t the one who would inherit the throne, but he soon made it clear that he had no intention of taking the throne only because he saw it as a ''burden''.


    Once the formalities were over with, the banquet started and everyone started enjoying themselves.


    Another thing that had to be noted was that Anastasia had invited the most popular artist group in the city to perform at the party. It was quite an intriguing event for the beastkin since they weren''t familiar with anything like this.


    "Hey, Cel, what are they doing~?" Lucia asked.


    "...Uhh, they''re singing?" Cecil said, stating the obvious.


    "I know that, but what kind of instruments are they using?! I''ve never seen those kinds of things before! Also, how come your answer sounds more like a question?"


    "Well, I''m not one to care about those kinds of things and I''ve only seen my little sister playing recordings of them back on Earth..."


    "Oh look! Some of them are singing while dancing!"


    "Ufufufu~ look, everyone''s enjoying it. The people performing are quite good looking as well~" Serilla said. Cecil involuntarily frowned when he heard Serilla complimenting them.


    Serilla and Lucia saw this and they began poking fun at him.


    "Hmhm~ it''s quite amusing and the melody is nice. I think Fina would be rather attracted to this! She has a rather beautiful voice," Lucia added.


    "I''m guessing you like it?" Cecil asked.


    "Yup!"


    "What about you Seri?"


    "I find it entertaining since it uplifts the mood. It''s also quite pleasant to hear and watch~" Serilla answered.


    The song sung by the group of performers was rather upbeat and it caused many in the reception to cheer out or sing along, it seems like the song was quite popular amongst the Earthlings.


    Cecil could see his little sister singing along while tugging on Ren who appeared to be a little distraught. Earlier at the wedding ceremony, the two were the flower girl and ring boy respectively.


    The song was just about to finish so Cecil leaned into his chair and propped his head up with his arm. He was just about to close his eyes and rest for a moment but Lucia immediately tugged on his sleeve and asked him for a dance, he naturally complied since it was their wedding.


    After their first dances, all they did was sit around at the main table so Cecil was feeling quite bored.


    Serilla and Lucia had agreed that they''d take turns beforehand. While they were dancing, Cecil had his eyes on her but would sometimes take his time to observe everyone around as they twirled around on the dance floor. He nearly laughed out loud when he saw his 3 fathers drinking by the corner of the main table and flexing their muscles at each other in front of everybody.


    Their wives were naturally together and watching over them but they had embarrassed looks on their faces.


    "What''s so funny, Cel?"


    "I just think that our parents are being rather ridiculous right now."


    "Huh? Where¡ªoh gosh...what''s daddy doing?!"


    "Look, even Seri is looking over and laughing at them."


    "...Jeez, so embarrassing..."


    Halfway through the song, Lucia opened up her mouth and asked something rather serious.


    "Cel, I wanna ask, is there something up with the Goldenia family?"


    "Hm?"


    "Well, you did say something about them before during our talk last night, I just wanna know what''s up!"


    "...I don''t think we should talk about that right now, Lulu."


    "The song isn''t over yet, so I think we have a minute or two~"


    "...Let me confirm something first okay? I''m still having Quinn confirm something about them and if things are as what I suspected, then I''ll tell you about it before I take any action. They''re here right now and I don''t want to alert them so can we talk about something else?"


    "Hmm...alright, but make sure you tell us these things, okay? We feel kind of useless nowadays since you never tell us anything..."


    "Don''t worry, I will... but I think I''ll keep Seri out of it. She''s pregnant after all."


    "...I still think you should tell her. Seri probably won''t do anything reckless because of the baby but you know full well that she doesn''t like being left out. Also, you wouldn''t want to see her angry, right Cel?"


    "Hmmm...fine."


    The party continued throughout the whole night but Cecil and his wives retired early into their bedrooms. Everyone who heard that they were going gave them a rather queer and knowing look.


    Cecil was oblivious while Serilla didn''t pay it any mind since she and her husband had already done what everyone was thinking. Lucia however, was looking forward to what was going to happen later tonight.


    When they got to their bedroom, Serilla said that she would be sleeping somewhere else tonight and told the two have some ''fun''. When she left, Cecil and Lucia stood at the door awkwardly.


    "Uhh..."


    Lucia fiddled with her thumbs before bashfully saying, "I-I mean this isn''t the first time we''re going to be doing something intimate...so..."


    Cecil scratched his head and quickly picked up Lucia.


    "H-Hey, ahahaha~"


    "Finally, right?"


    Lucia didn''t say anything and only smiled seductively at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer to him.


    "Before that," Cecil turned his body around and flicked his finger, sending a small Mana Bolt flying down the corridor before exploding it and calling out.


    "There''s no use peeping or listening in on us! I overhauled the entire house and made every bedroom soundproof!"


    There was no reply but he had already detected the few presences near the end of the hallway. Cecil chuckled when he noticed them fleeing. He then turned his eyes onto Lucia and said, "Shall we go have our fun~?"


    Her only reply to him was a deep and passionate kiss. The kiss immediately set Cecil into the mood. He quickly entered the room, kicked the door close, and locked it.

 Chapter 374 - Taking a Little Break

    Cecil woke up pretty late the next day and he felt quite sluggish and heavy. He yawned and shifted his body a little and noticed exactly why his body was feeling quite heavy. His wife, Lucia, was still soundly sleeping on top of him.


    He blinked his eyes and soon remembered what they finally did last night. He let out an involuntary smile of satisfaction before deciding to sleep in for today but when he started stroking Lucia''s hair, his actions caused his wife to wake up from her slumber.


    "...Cel?"


    "I''m here. You can go back to sleep if you want, I''ll stay here until you''re fully awake."


    "Mhm..."


    Lucia was just about to go to sleep again but someone began knocking on the door.


    "Lulu, darling~ lunch is ready!"


    "...Lunch? ...Hmmm, I think we should go down now, Cel..." Lucia mumbled sleepily.


    "...It''s lunchtime? Just how long did we sleep?"


    "Well, you were pretty intense last night... even though it was my first..."


    "S-Sorry... did you not like it?"


    "...I never said I did..."


    "Do you want to do it again?"


    "As much as I want to, but I think we should go down now... we don''t want Seri to get mad at us..."


    "Hmm, okay..."


    The two quickly got up and put on their clothes. When Lucia saw the red stain on the bedsheets, she turned a little red. She felt quite embarrassed that the family''s maids would see the stain when they came in later to change the sheets. She decided that it was better if she did it herself.


    Just as she was about to take off the sheets and change it for a new one, Cecil quickly made his move and pulled off the sheets before quickly stuffing them into his spatial ring.


    Lucia eyed him strangely and asked, "Cel... what''re you doing?"


    "...Nothing..."


    "You''re not going to dismiss what you just did as ''nothing''. Now, give the sheets here, okay? I''m going to wash them."


    "How about we do that after lunch?"


    "A simple Cleanse Spell will do it, give it here!"


    "Let''s just do it later, okay? Let''s go get lunch!"


    "Hey, don''t you dare¡ª"


    Before Lucia could say anything further, Cecil already pulled her in for a hot and passionate kiss. He then began feeling up her body and started undressing her.


    "C-Cel, w-we have to¡ªauhh, mphmhmm..."


    ******


    It was only an hour later that Cecil and Lucia came down to eat lunch. Naturally, everyone else had already finished their meals and only Serilla was waiting for them in the dining hall. She hadn''t touched her food yet, and by the time the two got there, her food was already running cold.


    "...Did you enjoy yourselves?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I already saw that you two woke up, but instead of coming down to eat, you actually went and did ''it'' again, right?"


    Since the bedroom was their bedroom, Serilla was naturally able to open the door. She had only opened up a small crack in the door earlier, but when she immediately heard Lucia''s m.o.a.ns she quickly shut the door close.


    "..."


    "S-Seri..."


    Serilla eyed her husband and said, "I bet it was Cecil''s fault, wasn''t it?''


    "...Well... I mean... I-I just couldn''t help it..." Cecil said while scratching his cheek.


    "Sure you couldn''t... you''d normally ask for my permission before attacking me, but when it''s with Lucia, you just take the initiative and do what you want."


    "..."


    Cecil only awkwardly looked away while Lucia began blushing. Serilla sighed before shaking her head and saying, "Well, whatever, let''s eat now."


    Cecil smiled and quickly sat down next to her and Lucia followed suit, sitting down next to him. It was then that Cecil finally noticed that her food had turned cold. He squeezed his brows before handing over the food that the butler and maids just served to him over to Serilla.


    "Darling?"


    "Let me have yours, Seri."


    "We can just have the maids heat it."


    "I''ll do it!" Lucia quipped up.


    Cecil quickly took Serilla''s food and placed it in front of him before Lucia heated the food with a spell.


    "...It''s probably not going to taste good anymore."


    "That''s fine."


    The three then continued to have their meal. Once they were finished, Cecil led the girls out of the mansion and they took a stroll around the valley. He didn''t know why, but Cecil just felt like he wanted to take a walk with his two wives.


    He didn''t know why, but he''s been having the feeling that the little bit of peace he''s been able to get after returning home may not last for so long.


    When he went over the other day to retrieve his elder brother, he found out that there were demons now on the Midgard continent, then there was Fina''s problem. Cecil felt like he''ll be imbrued in a long string of conflicts in the near future so he wanted to get as much quality time as he could with his wives, particularly Serilla.


    Not many of the city''s people knew about Cecil since only the prominent families and individuals from the city had attended his homecoming and wedding banquet, so after Lucia transformed herself and Serilla into humans, they walked through the city.


    The city had become much more like one of modern Earth''s metropolises now. People were bustling here and there with vehicles such as carriages and wagons as well as monsters carrying large boxes or pulling long carts were moving through the wide asphalt city streets.


    It was a large contrast to the normal Earth cities that had cars and other modes of transports moving around on the streets. Of course, the people were still trying to develop better transportations right now, and they were making progress.


    Cecil had already seen the prototype of a car and truck the last time he decided to go on a trip around the city''s industrial sector with his brother, Luca. It wouldn''t take long before he would see the wagons and carriages being changed into cars.


    Of course, the aerial transport of items and goods was still being done by the monsters that the city was able to capture and tame, but Cecil doubt he''d see any aircraft anytime soon. The skies of Alterna were dominated by aerial monstrosities that could easily destroy any man-made aircraft.


    Also, if they wanted to use aircraft as modes of transport from city to city, Cecil doubted that it''ll be necessary once he''s able to implement teleportation formations in the large major cities of his kingdom. That kind of instantaneous travel beats any kind of long-distance transport.


    Well, if his kingdom wanted to start building their air force, it would be better to just tame flying monsters and have their soldiers mount them since monsters, in Cecil''s opinion, were much more flexible than those steel birds called airplanes. Also, it would do the Earthlings good if they shelved the idea of airplanes and instead create Alterna''s airsh.i.p.s which were specifically developed to fly in the skies of Alterna. He had already given Luca the blueprints to the airship he had found back in the World Tree''s trials.


    The craftsmen were already making an effort to create the parts in the blueprints and maybe by next year they''d be able to complete their prototype airship. From there, they can start developing even more aircraft that could fly in Alterna''s skies.


    Cecil and his wives had an enjoyable time just roaming around the kingdom. They didn''t only visit the capital city, but also the frontier city called Regio City, located outside of the valley. They stayed a few days there and they even went to Central Light City via Misty Gate.


    He also didn''t forget about West Wind City. He took his wives over to the city after stopping for a few days in Central Light just so they could enjoy the seaside for a while.


    After taking a few days out to relax, Cecil decided that he would quickly begin creating the teleportation formations as soon as possible. It''d help their kingdom''s trade market and economy. The people would also find it easier and safer to move residences once the teleportation formations were up and running.


    During this period, Cecil thoroughly enjoyed his time with his wives. This private vacation of theirs was sort of like their honeymoon. After they had their fun, they returned to the kingdom a week and a half later.


    Of course, since they didn''t tell anyone about what they were doing, the 3 were naturally scolded by their parents. The 3 also felt a little bad since they had left behind their friends without informing them.


    A few days after, Cecil, with the help of his mother-in-law, Anna, was able to perfect the teleportation gate''s runic arrays. The cooldown time in between activations had lowered down to a single-use every day.


    There could now be daily intercontinental teleportation between the two kingdoms. Not all of the earthlings were allowed past the teleportation gate. There still needed to be a trial period since the Anglaria Kingdom still needed to see how their citizens would react when humans suddenly started showing up in their territory.


    Kaiser selected a few groups of people to head over to the other side, one of them being his son, Luca. Matheus was ready to take over the management of the kingdom so he took up most of his brother''s responsibilities while some of Luca''s apprentices that he had trained up to take over his role would be there to manage some of the other specific duties that didn''t need Matheus directly managing them.


    Luca was still rather worried, but the immigration over to the beastkin kingdom was more important so he had to take up the task on behalf of his kingdom.


    After the groups of people who were decided on going over to the other side were sent over, Cecil gathered up his old party members who in turn brought along the members of the Little Kings Organization.


    "Alright guys, today, we''re going to be doing something important!" Cecil spoke up after seeing that everyone from Little Kings had gathered.


    He noticed that all of the members had donned a unique piece of clothing that had the insignia of the Little Kings on them and remembered telling Lucia to make something similar for the original party members. Ainz, Eli, Lucius, and Veli were still wearing theirs.


    Cecil grinned when he saw this and then began rummaging around his spatial ring before pulling out a piece of cloth which he then wrapped around his right arm.


    Every new member of the Little Kings, who were present after Cecil''s time as leader, saw that the cloth was rather old, but when they saw the unique insignia of their organization decorating that piece of clothing, they all widened their eyes a little.


    Lucia also pulled out a similar piece of clothing and began tying her hair up in a ponytail using it. This also had the Little Kings insignia on it.


    "Haha, well, I guess the Wanderers are now disbanded since we''re no longer wandering~" Lucia chimed with a beaming smile.


    "Hehe, yeah...well, let''s get down to business," Cecil said before turning his attention back to everyone.


    Their response however was rather...unique. Everyone began pulling out their weapons and getting into a battle stance. Even Ainz, Eli, Lucius, and Veli were the same. Cecil and Lucia all looked back at them in puzzlement.


    Cecil was bewildered so he immediately asked, "...uhh...what''re you guys doing?"


    Ainz smirked and quickly answered him, "Well, since you''ve taken the time to call us out and gather everyone here, I''m guessing we all know by now what''s going to happen next."


    Cecil tilted his head in confusion while Lucia sighed and facepalmed. She knew exactly what Ainz was talking about. Their former party leader, however, was a little slow. Cecil looked around at the empty field just outside of the valley, it took him a good 5 minutes before understanding what Ainz was hinting at.


    "OOOHHHH!!!"


    Cecil''s exclamation immediately set everyone, except Lucia, on guard. He saw this and immediately roared out in laughter.


    "Hahahaha! I didn''t mean THAT, I wasn''t going to pick a fight with you guys! Jeez, we''ve been away for a long time and I understand that you 4 know how I am, but things can change you know!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "...I-I don''t believe you," Velicia stuttered.


    "Yeah, Cecil...it''s kinda hard to believe you," Lucius added.


    "Aww, come on you guys! Seriously, I''m not going to fight you guys. Hehe, you''ll need all of your strength for later~"


    It wasn''t long after Cecil finished his words that monstrous howls began exploding out of the Silvaria Valley''s entrance. Soon, a large crowd of monsters, all of them high-ranked, came storming out of the mouth of the valley.


    At the head of the horde, everyone could see a small girl riding on top of a ridiculously huge black panther leading the monsters over in their direction. On top of these high-ranked monsters was a human being riding them.


    "C-Cecil? What''s the meaning of this?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Hehe, you see. I got permission from my mother-in-law, Celia, to put you guys to work. This will be the first joint operation between our two nations. Our first act of cooperation. Since she was the highest commanding official that came through the gate after you, of course, Eli, I''ll take it as I''ve been permitted to take control of the Little Kings for a while."


    "...It was yours, to begin with..."


    "Yeah, but it''s now yours, Eli!"


    "..."


    "So, what''re we going to do, leader?" Ainz asked with a wide grin.


    "Oh, it''s just the usual... we''re going to be cleaning out a few monsters."


    "Big bro~ we''re here!"


    "Alright, are all your monsters ready? What about Gabe and the expedition group?"


    "I''m ready!" Angelia replied.


    "We''re good to go as well," Gabriel said after he appeared from out of nowhere.


    After hearing their reports, Cecil smirked and said, "Alright then, let''s get going."

 Chapter 375 - Lakeside Extermination 1

    After Cecil gave everyone a rundown of what they were going to be doing, the members of Little Kings immediately understood that Cecil had gathered everyone together not to fight them, but to lead them towards a fight.


    The Silvaria Kingdom''s Exploration Group along with Anglaria Kingdom''s Little Kings would work together in a joint operation to clear out all of the monsters at the nearby great lake located just a few hours away from the Silvaria Kingdom''s Frontier City, Regio.


    The lakeside was the place that Cecil wanted his kingdom to build a marine fishing city due to his promise with his wife. He had postponed this endeavor for a long while since he had other important things to attend to, but now that he was finally free from all of his other responsibilities, he thought that it was about time to go and clean the place up for their kingdom''s new city.


    He had promised Lucia a seaside city and since their kingdom was far away from the ocean, the humongous lake would have to do.


    Once everyone was prepared to set off, Cecil quickly led the two¡ªno, the three large groups, including Angelia''s monster horde, out towards the frontier city. They would head there first before they continued their journey towards the lake.


    No one had named the large lake yet, but Cecil was planning to name it after something unique he found in the area. He''d also name the city after the lake once it was established.


    It took the group half a week to get to Regio City but it didn''t even take them half a day to get to the lake. The group camped on a hill overlooking the lake after they cleared out all of the monsters in the immediate vicinity.


    The Exploration Group immediately set up a perimeter and the Little Kings mages began conjuring stone walls around their campsite. Everyone from the Exploration Group was rather impressed at the beastkin''s magical abilities.


    It also had to be mentioned that Katya had joined in with them on this expedition out of the valley. She had asked around and soon found that Gabriel was one of the Exploration Group''s captains and she had asked him to recruit her into the group.


    Gabriel had seen her abilities and didn''t find any reason to oppose it so he naturally took her into his squad. Katya was fascinated by the beastkin''s magic since they were different from hers. The magic the beastkin used had conjured a rock wall out of the ground with using the ground itself as a medium for the spell.


    It was different from hers alright since she needed a medium to cast her spells. The only exception of this would be the wind, fire, and water elements. Wind was everywhere while for the fire and water elements, she could use her comprehension in science to conjure up those elements. Mixing her mana, invocations, and science was Katya''s way of creating her magic spells and Cecil was able to copy this.


    After he had trained himself to use Katya''s method of conjuring spells, he now had two ways of using elemental spells.


    All he needed to do now was increase his proficiency in using Katya''s method so that he would be able to use it in battle. Cecil had tried using both Katya''s magic casting as well as his written magic casting in tandem and for some reason, it worked.


    If he used Hypersensitivity to speed up his mind''s processing speed and multitask on using both methods of spell casting, then he''d be able to parallel cast two different types of magic at once.


    Lucia was envious when she saw this so she began training herself in Cecil''s spell casting method as well as Katya''s or what Cecil liked to call, Earth''s spell casting method. If she was able to add these two methods of casting spells, then she''d be able to parallel cast 3 spells at the same instance.


    It was pretty ambitious but she was making headway in her endeavor. She had already been using Cecil''s casting method for a good while so she only needed to increase her proficiency in using Hypersensitivity.


    Using the technique in the way Cecil did was the only barrier that prevented Lucia from achieving her dream of triple casting multiple types of spells. Parallel casting was quite different from her normal multicasting.


    When Lucia multicast her spells, it was only her conjuring up multiple copies of the same spell that she had initially used so if she wanted to conjure up a different spell to multicast, then she''d have to begin chanting another spell''s incantation. Of course, the only exception would be her original spells that were voiceless, but it does take time for her to transition in between casting those spells.


    However, Parallel casting would take away this slight bit of time lag. Once she''s able to parallel cast multiple spells, Lucia would then have access to at least 3 different spells at one time which she could then multi-cast. With this, she''d have more options of attacks once she could effectively use those 3 methods of casting spells.


    Cecil was very supportive of his wife''s endeavor and was now helping her master Hypersensitivity so that she could use it just like how he did.


    *****


    Once the campsite was finished, Cecil and Lucia began setting up magic arrays around the campsite. The two were the only ones currently able to use the written casting method so their actions intrigued the beastkin and the humans who weren''t in the know.


    The old members of Little Kings were rather accustomed to seeing this and were only surprised at how much better the two had gotten at their craft. Cecil didn''t even need a second to write out a spell formation in the air before placing it around the camp while Lucia had narrowed down the time of her written casting to only a few seconds and she was much more adept at it, committing fewer mistakes than she did back then.


    Once all of the formations were set up, Cecil created one last formation and sent it in the air. Lucia then began injecting her mana into the formation and a barrier formed around the campsite indicating that the large spell array they had created using the spell formations was now active.


    The time was already late into the evening so Cecil decided that tomorrow morning would be the time they''d start the extermination operation. For now, they should all rest. He also wanted the humans and beastkin in their group to bond together tonight so that tomorrow, their cohesiveness and teamwork would be better after each side grew an understanding of each other.


    Eli and Ainz also wanted this to happen so they encouraged their fellow members to interact with their human friends. Cecil of course didn''t let them indulge themselves in anything that would impair their abilities for tomorrow''s operation but everything else was okay with him.


    Cecil retired early to his tent. Lucia also followed after him and when their friends saw this, they shook their heads and eyed the girl meaningfully. Lucia only stuck her tongue at them and giggled. She also apologized to Eli before heading into Cecil''s tent. Eli was rather helpless since she wanted Lucia to stay in her tent so that they could have some girl talk along with Velicia but it seems that this friend of hers had other plans tonight.


    ******


    The next day, Cecil addressed the group after he had split up the area around the lake into sections. He did this to make it easier for their group to complete their task by dividing up their numbers. Once he divided everyone into their divisions he began assigning them their sections. Each division would be responsible for subduing all of the monsters in their sectors.


    Angelia was separated into her own division with Lucia being there to watch over her. Eli, Velicia, and one of the female captains of the Exploration Group named, Anise Velten, who was once a secluded expert in their city who Gabriel had managed to recruit into their group, were in charge of one division and they''d be handling an area to the far east of their present location.


    Lucius and 2 other Exploration Groups captains were grouped up together, while Gabriel and Ainz were paired up.


    Cecil was going to take on an area alone which caused many in the group to give him an incredulous eye. It wasn''t like he was flaunting or anything, but the old members of Little Kings voted on him taking an area all by himself just so that they could speed up the operation.


    Cecil could only comply with their vote and took up the central sector all by himself. This sector also had the most concentrated amount of monsters in their operation field, but his friends believed that he''d probably be able to clear it before everyone else.


    Once everyone''s groups and sectors were assigned, Cecil officially announced the start of their operation. He watched as everyone else made their way towards their areas. Before she left, Lucia walked over to Cecil and gave him a good long kiss.


    This morning, she woke up with an absolutely radiant countenance. Everyone and their grandmothers knew what they had done last night and why she was radiating so beautifully. Of course, this was with the exception of Angelia who still wasn''t aware of those kinds of things.


    Speaking about Angelia, the little girl felt a bit upset that Ren and her friends weren''t here with her. She wanted to bring them along but they were all busy today. Ren had to go to the industrial district to work on some magi-techs that the kingdom had finished making. Cecil had tasked him with the magi-techs'' runic engraving so it was a really important task that he couldn''t postpone.


    Since Cecil was busy, he left it all to his apprentice. He had also gathered a few promising young men and women who were eager to become artificers and had Ren take them under his wing. Cecil wanted Ren to teach them the basics before he took over and taught them the more advanced studies of artificing.


    For now, Cecil had to focus himself on the operation at hand. He quickly released a breath and began circulating his mana.


    He activated Mana Burst and quickly took to the skies. He flew above the area he was assigned to and locked his senses on all of the monsters in the vicinity.


    "Let''s clear this place up quickly," Cecil mumbled.


    He stretched his arms out and began bombarding the monsters down below with numerous Mana Bolts. He also wrote out some spell formations and chanted some spells. His swift bombardment from the sky had everyone looking at him in shock.


    Only his wife, siblings, and friends didn''t feel any shock. This was what they had expected from him. Any less and they knew that he was just playing around.


    Seeing as the operation''s leader was getting his game on, the other members of the group psyched themselves up and charged deep into their areas and began smashing apart the monsters.

 Chapter 376 - Lakeside Extermination 2

    Cecil quickly took care of the monsters in his area. It took him close to 2 hours to completely clear all of the monsters out. He could have done it much quicker, but after his initial show of force, he had decided to tone it down a bit and take things slow.


    His slow was still quite fast to the others since he had cleared his areas long before anyone else had been able to finish up theirs. Cecil was now just taking apart all of the monsters and separating their materials into large piles that he''ll leave for the Exploration Group and the Little Kings to take care of later.


    There were no mishaps except that Lucia had come over to Cecil''s area, leaving behind his sister to tend to their area alone. When she had arrived, Cecil was a little bit dissatisfied because she had left her alone, but after Lucia sealed his mouth with a kiss and reassured him that the little girl would be fine on her own with her large horde of monsters, Cecil put the matter to rest.


    Of course, this was only because Lucia started seducing him again. He would normally be reluctant to do it but after Lucia tempting him over and over again he gave in and they did it right after Cecil set up a barrier around them and Lucia set up an illusion to mask their area.


    A few hours later, everyone was finally finished raiding their areas and had completely cleared it out of monsters. Their tasks weren''t over yet since they needed to dismantle the monsters for their materials.


    This took them quite a while to do and by the time the day ended everyone still wasn''t finished. Only Angelia and Cecil had finished their collection tasks. Angelia had her monsters helping her out while Cecil had finished his extermination early and had already halfway finished his monster dismantling before Lucia came and decided to interrupt him. After that, he had asked for her help to finish the job so the two were able to wrap things up before the day ended.


    The operation continued onto the next day, but all there was left to do was to dismantle the monsters while some teams patrolled the vicinity to keep out any monsters that were attracted to the smell of blood that was coming off of the corpses of the monsters that they had killed.


    Things were going so well until late in the afternoon, a large roar rose from within the depths of the lake. Everyone was immediately alarmed, but only Cecil had grown excited when he heard the roar.


    From the moment he and everyone had entered into the areas around the lakeside, Cecil had been feeling a dangerous gaze observing him from the depths of the lake so after he heard the roar he instantly knew that the origin of that threatening gaze was this monster.


    The waters at the deeper end of the lake began stirring and Cecil could make out the silhouette of a large monster coming closer and closer to the shore. Before he could take action, Angelia immediately spoke up from next to him.


    "B-Big brother, s-something terrible is coming..."


    "Hahahahah, I know! Just sit tight and let big bro take care of it!"


    "J-Just so you know, I think I can tame it..."


    "Oh really? Perfect, once you tame it, we''ll have the monster become the port city''s guardian!" Cecil said with a chuckle before he flashed away.


    "Cecil wai¡ªah, there he goes again..." Eli said.


    She and the others had just arrived back at the campsite. They had immediately returned and issued out an order for the other squads to retreat when they heard the loud, monstrous roar. Right when they were about to ask Cecil what they should do, he had suddenly disappeared from the campsite.


    All of the old members of Little Kings knew where he was headed and they quickly readjusted their plans. Once everyone else got back to the campsite, they all noticed that Cecil was the only one not present.


    Some were about to complain before they all saw that a large, monstrous creature rose from under the depths of the water. The creature had a large draconic head with a thick serpentine body.


    The body wasn''t too thick near the head, but it did get bigger as it went on downwards. It gave out a large roar and shot a beam of water into the sky as if it was announcing its presence. Before anyone could even say anything, a large explosion suddenly struck the monster before numerous smaller explosions buffeted it.


    "Hey wait, isn''t that¡ª"


    "What the hell is he doing out there?!"


    "He''s trying to take that thing on alone?!"


    The other members of Little Kings and the Exploration group still weren''t quite sure of how strong Cecil was. They had only heard stories from their higher-ups and weren''t convinced of his prowess just yet.


    They did see that he was able to quickly take care of his area alone yesterday, but for the Little Kings, they all knew that their 4 captains could similarly do the same so they didn''t think that it wasn''t anything special, but now that they saw him attempting to fight alone against the monstrous creature whose aura radiated that of a high rank, they started reevaluating him.


    Of course, most of them thought that he was being crazy and out of his mind, but as the fight continued, they all noticed that the high-ranked serpentine monster couldn''t even let out an attack after it was struck by Cecil''s initial wave of mana bolts.


    They soon saw him immediately unloading spell after spell on the monster which made it so that the creature couldn''t even fight back. It only continued to take on Cecil''s attacks as it roared out in pain and agony.


    In the next moment, however, another large serpentine head popped up from the waters and this one immediately cast a barrier spell around the first monster that Cecil was attacking. The barrier began blocking out a few of his attacks but it soon broke once Cecil brandished his sword and sent an Ascending Blade at the first monster.


    Its head was immediately severed and the monster quickly fell back into the water with a little bit of its severed head landing on the shore. Cecil turned his attention to the newcomer and was just about to flash over to it but the waters near the area of the fight began greatly stirring.


    "...Oh shit..."


    Very quickly, numerous serpentine heads began plunging out from under the waters. Cecil had to dodge away after he saw numerous ice and water spells being sent his way. Lucia saw this and she immediately took action.


    "Eli, Ainz, I''ll leave you guys to command the group, I''ll go and support Cel!"


    "Wait, Lulu¡ª"


    Eli couldn''t even finish her words before Lucia activated her Elemental Burst and disappeared.


    "Th-those two¡ªEveryone, hurry! We have to go and support Cecil and Lucia, I count at least 12 heads! From what we''ve seen, those monsters are likely S to SS ranked. I want you all to form 4 units. 2 will be in charge of fighting the monsters in a melee, while the other will be in charge of providing support from afar! The last unit will act as a backup unit! Your jobs are to replace any injured members from the vanguard unit!"


    "Yes, Ma''am!"


    Gabriel didn''t say anything and only told the other captains of his Exploration Group to immediately comply with Eli''s orders. It was better if there was only one commander on the field since taking commands from two different heads would only result in confusion.


    They all agreed with him and began following Eli''s instructions. Elizabeth assigned Gabriel and his captains to lead one of the vanguard units while she assigned Velicia to the other one. Ainz was in charge of the support unit while Lucius would be in charge of the backup unit.


    Angelia wasn''t left out and was instead separated into her own individual unit. Eli asked her to use her monsters to provide direct support to Cecil and Lucia but only from afar. She knew what the battlefield was going to be like once those two began fighting in earnest so instead of having any of the units provide direct support for them, she wanted them to attack a few of the monsters so that they could direct some of the heat away from their two primary fighters.


    She would be going in to see if she could provide any direct help to her two friends. Elizabeth had trained herself until she was practically the strongest person in her organization. She didn''t know whether she could match up with the abnormal couple that had just left and recklessly charged at the monsters, but she believed that she wouldn''t be a burden to them either.


    "Alright, let''s set out!" Eli commanded.


    After everyone got moving, she activated Aura Manifestation and a sublime crimson-colored aura rose from her body and congealed itself around her. She kicked off the ground and shot into the air and flew straight towards where Lucia and Cecil were fighting.


    Angelia let out a long whistle and her monsters began mobilizing. She hopped on Chi and quickly took to the skies as well. She also had some of her flying monsters come down to pick up a few members from the support unit so they could provide back up from the skies.


    The other quickly led their units over to the lakeside. Once they got there, Ainz quickly had the mages prepare battlements and magically constructed towers all over the shore while Velicia and Gabriel led their vanguard units to attack the monsters closest to the shore.


    They had their mages freeze the water so they could fight on top of the frozen area and hopefully restrict some of the monsters'' movements with the ice. With how powerful the monsters were they could only take on a few of them at a time.


    Their maximum capacity was only 4 monsters, 2 for each unit. Any more and they''d have to stretch their forces too thin and if the worst-case happened, they might be overwhelmed.


    Back on the shore, once Ainz and his unit completed their preparations and had all climbed onto the magically constructed and reinforced towers, they began providing ranged support for the vanguards, giving them a little bit more breathing room to take on 1 or 2 more monsters.


    With this, they had taken away exactly half of the monsters that were attacking Cecil and Lucia. Soon, one of the monsters they were fighting was overwhelmed by their combined attacks and Gabriel was able to quickly sever its head.


    Before anyone could rejoice, however, another monster popped up from under the ice, quickly replacing the one that they all had just killed.


    "It doesn''t matter! We''ll just kill this one as well! Keep going!" Velicia roared out.


    They continued their attack once more and quickly felled another 2 of the beasts, but once again, more monsters popped out from under the water, breaking through the ice and assaulting them once more.


    It was then that everyone finally noticed. The monsters that were attacking them from the start had somehow increased instead of decreased. When they looked over at Cecil''s side of the battlefield, they all saw a cl.u.s.ter of monsters firing their attack at the man in the sky.


    "What the hell?!"


    "How are they so endless?!"


    "Damn! Keep attacking! Keep attacking!"


    "It''s no use!"


    Kill one monster and another popped up from under the ice. This greatly frustrated everyone and they immediately thought that maybe they had provoked a nest of these things. This was greatly shocking because all of these monsters had strengths at the S rank.


    "We kill one, but more just keep on coming!"


    Ainz who was at the back had a much broader view of the battlefield so he could see something very different. It didn''t matter if their vanguard unit killed one of the monsters or not because more and more of these things kept on surfacing from the water.


    Even when Cecil and Lucia had sent a combined Ascending Blade at them, severing multiple monsters in half, a large cl.u.s.ter of them would just immediately rise from under the water.


    "Damn...we''re getting nowhere...if we keep this up, we''ll end up exhausting ourselves..."


    "Ainz, you take the backup unit and go to the frontlines, I''ll stay here and hold the fort on the shore," Lucius suggested.


    "...Alright."


    Ainz agreed and quickly jumped off of the tower he was in.


    "Everyone, gather up! We''re heading out!"


    "Finally!"


    "It''s about time."


    Ainz was about to lead the unit towards the frontline but he noticed that the skies had suddenly brightened up for some reason. He immediately looked up and saw a large array of large mana bolts making their way down from the sky.


    "H-Holy shit!"

 Chapter 377 - A New Technique! Lock and Seal, the Golden Suns from the Sky!

    Over at Cecil''s side, he and Lucia were currently engaged in a chaotic fight against an innumerable amount of those serpentine monsters. They kept on attacking the monsters as they surfaced from the waters, but no matter how many times the two cut them apart, more would just resurface from the water, taking their places, and continue attacking them again.


    Cecil felt that it was great that he had Lucia by his side because if he didn''t, then he''d have to resort to using even bigger techniques that''ll only exhaust him needlessly.


    From what Cecil sensed using his Mana Sense, there was only one monster in front of him. The number of monsters that died but came back to attack him disillusioned him into thinking that he was facing a horde of monsters instead. However, no matter how many times he tried to confirm it, there was only one life force signature in front of him.


    The current situation didn''t make any sense to him. His sight and his senses were contradicting each other. From what he was seeing, it was like he was facing off against hundreds of these S ranked monsters, but from what he sensed, there was only one monster attacking him from the lake.


    Each serpent that surfaced from the water all had identical life force signatures connected to each other, meaning that they weren''t separate entities but a singular one instead. From what he saw, the only way to thoroughly take down the monster in front of him was to destroy everything in one go.


    "Lulu, cover me! I''m going to destroy these things in one shot!" Cecil called out before immediately shooting into the air.


    "O-okay!"


    "Cecil, Lucia! I''m here! What can I do to help?!" Elizabeth called out after she suddenly appeared near them.


    Lucia turned towards Elizabeth and said, "Eli, I need your help! We need to provide cover for Cel, he''s going to try and take down all of these monsters altogether!"


    "What? That''s reckless!"


    "Yeah, but apparently, Cel says that he only senses one life force signature coming from these monsters!"


    "So they aren''t separate entities but a singular one?"


    "Yeah, that''s why he thinks that he''ll be able to kill the monster if he gets rid of every single one of these things altogether!"


    "Alright, I''ll move to cover him! But don''t tell me he''s going to use his Over Flash?!"


    "N-No, I don''t think he''ll use that...he didn''t really tell me which¡ª"


    Before Lucia could say anymore, the skies began to brighten all of a sudden. She and Elizabeth turned to look up and they saw innumerable large mana bolts slowly fall down from the sky.


    "C-Cel?!"


    "W-wait! There are friendlies down there!"


    It was too late. Cecil had already launched his attack. The two didn''t have anything to worry about though. Cecil had long since sensed that his friends were down there attacking the monsters.


    He had used his Mana Sense to lock onto only the monster''s life force signature before he sent his attack at them.


    A moment ago, before Eli had arrived, Cecil had flown up high into the sky and started spreading his senses down below. It was then that he noticed that the monster inside the water was pretty huge.


    The numerous serpents that had surfaced from the lake were only a small part of its entire body mass.


    "I can''t use Over Flash... if I can''t kill this thing after using it, then I''ll be a sitting duck out here."


    Cecil already had another new technique that he had finally perfected that had the same principle as his Over Flash only that it wasn''t as straining to use. Since Over Flash was an upgraded version of his Flash Canon, then this new attack was an upgraded version of his Mana Bolt and Mana Volley skill.


    The only difference was that unlike his Over Flash skill that was powered by only his mana alone, this time, he would be using the ambient mana in the air to help power his technique. He began writing out spell formations and sending them around him.


    He even chanted a recent spell he learned from Katya that would strengthen his Mana output. Once the preparations were finished, Cecil drew a larger magic formation and sent it above him. The smaller magic formations would draw out the mana from the air and concentrate it on him, while this large one would concentrate the biggest source of the environment''s mana, the sun, onto Cecil.


    Cecil had long since learned that the sun was the biggest contributing factor of the world''s ambient mana. He learned this fact when he was on top of the World Tree''s branches and noticed that the higher he went, the denser the ambient mana became.


    He activated the formations and soon, a large concentration of mana began flowing into him. This technique would have been impossible for anyone else to do because they were forcing in mana of different elements into their body.


    Normally, a person''s body would only be able to take in mana from the environment that was attuned to their own element. The rest of the mana would be filtered out before it even entered their body. Mana that wasn''t attuned to one''s body would normally be a poison to someone but Cecil''s bodily constitution which was neutral to all forms of mana made it possible for him to accommodate any type of mana.


    "HAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Cecil roared out as his body began overflowing with mana.


    There was no pain when he felt the mana stream into his body, but he knew the side-effects of having too much mana in his body. Cecil gathered up only the maximum amount of mana his body could hold before he stopped.


    He spread out his arms and began creating as many Mana Bolts as he could. He didn''t focus on the quality of their strengths because he knew with the amount of mana he currently possessed he would have no worries about ensuring the strength of his Mana Bolts.


    Cecil continued creating as many as he could until he could no longer sustain the amount and began pouring in the rest of his mana to enlarge the Mana Bolts he had already created. Their sizes swelled and he even began trying to compress them so that he could inject even more mana into them.


    After he finished preparing his technique, the skies were thoroughly illuminated by this one skill of his. The number of Mana Bolts easily outnumbered the amount of serpents in the lake. Everyone looked up to see this and they were all shocked and afraid.


    If Cecil sent his attack down right now before any of them could retreat, the result would be quite devastating.


    "Cecil, wait! We''re still here!" Ainz yelled.


    Angelia was shocked, while Gabriel immediately ordered for everyone to retreat.


    "B-Big brother?!"


    "Everyone, retreat!"


    Velica also began ushering everyone back while Lucius told the mages he was in charge of constructing a large dome around them so that they could all withstand the impact of Cecil''s attack.


    "Go! Get back to the shore!"


    "Everyone, begin creating a wall! We have to make one strong enough to defend against the impact!"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Hurry!"


    Cecil tried his best to contain his attack until his friends were clear. He knew now that even if he did aim his attacks only at the monster, the resulting explosions would severely impact them nonetheless.


    "Lulu, Eli! Get back!"


    "Right!"


    "Let''s go!"


    The two girls quickly dashed away and went back to the shore. The monsters, having lost their targets began turning their attention to the large threat looming over them from the sky. They immediately began sending their attacks at Cecil but before any could even get close, they all evaporated instantly.


    Cecil was using a majority of the mana he collected from the sun to power this technique so the heat coming off of the Mana Bolts was no joke. The water and ice attacks that the serpents were sending at him couldn??t even get close before they immediately disappeared.


    "Alright you bastard, why don''t you try this out!"


    "GROOOAARRRRR!!!"


    "Burn to ashes, Skyfall!!"


    Cecil swung his hand down and the large mana bolts began descending from the sky. He could see the monster trying to retreat at this point but he only chuckled at its action. He smacked his palms together and yelled, "GO!"


    He pointed down and the large spell formation that had remained stationary behind him, rapidly descended and expanded around the monster down below. "Septum, Spell Seal!"


    He clenched his fist and the spell formation began shrinking down on the monster, sealing away all of its movements and firmly locking it in place.


    "Incarcero, Spell Prison!" He shouted out and numerous small magic formations began appearing around the large formation and chains began shooting out of them, wrapping themselves around the monster''s large body that was underwater.


    "GROOOOAARRRR!!!" It began roaring out in pain and fury when it suddenly noticed that not only was its movements locked but also its Mana had been locked away as well.


    These series of techniques were something Cecil had created just so that he could hold his opponent in place while his Ultimate Technique, Skyfall, was able to come crashing down onto them.


    A major flaw of his Skyfall was that the projectiles which formed the technique moved too slowly, easily giving the opponent time to move away from the radius of the attack. With the Spell Seal and Spell Prison, he was able to chain his opponents down while at the same time temporarily seal away their mana so that they couldn''t use it to try and runaway or break free from the chain prison.


    The monster underneath the water began struggling furiously but it was to no avail. Cecil continued providing his spells with mana to strengthen them. No matter how hard the monster struggled to try and break free, it was all for naught. It was instead exhausting itself when it should be trying to brace itself for the impact of Cecil''s Skyfall.


    The large bolts of mana were now close to the monster and the lake''s waters began boiling due to the heat coming from them. On the shore, everyone could hardly open their eyes and look at Cecil.


    They could also feel the heat and energy coming from his techniques and this sent chills running down their spines. Ainz, Eli, Velicia, and Lucius were all shocked at this point. They had heard from Lucia that this wasn''t his strongest technique. Over Flash remained as his number one destructive spell but the power of this attack, Skyfall, had trumped the might of Cecil''s Over Flash when he used it back then when he was still in Anglaria.


    "Uhh, Lucia...weren''t we supposed to secure the area for the kingdom so that they could construct a city here?" Velicia called out.


    "Y-yeah... why?"


    "If Cecil''s attack hits the monster in the water...wouldn''t the resulting impact level everything around us? Most importantly, are we even safe here?! Aren''t we too close?!"


    "...Alright, everyone, we''re retreating back to the campsite! Get ready, I''ll open up a Misty Gate!"


    Lucia immediately conjured a Misty Gate and ushered everyone through. They prioritized the injured members first. All of the captains left last while Lucia opened up a separate gate for Angelia''s monsters.


    Back at the campsite, Ainz and Lucius had already begun instructing their able-bodied members to fortify their campsite. Once Lucia arrived, she also began helping.


    "Everyone look! It''s about to hit!" Someone called out.


    A few of the ones who weren''t busy looked over the walls and stared at the large golden suns falling down into the war. In the next moment, a large shockwave erupted from the impact of the suns when they touched the water''s surface and it blasted away all of the sound around them.


    "BRACE YOURSELVES!!!" Ainz immediately shouted but his voice was soundless.


    A bright flash of light ensued and a soundless explosion buffeted everyone at the campsite. Cecil''s attack finally struck the monster.

 Chapter 378 - A Hard Fought Battle

    Cecil, who was right above the blast zone of his attack used his arms to shield himself from the impact. He curled himself up and waited patiently until the impact of his attack was over.


    He had to stay up there in the sky to make sure that the monster under the water had thoroughly perished after his attack.


    He felt a little apologetic because he couldn''t fulfill his sister''s request. She wanted to tame the beast but the monster itself was much too dangerous and too powerful. Cecil didn''t expect her to even be able to tame it even after it was defeated.


    He was quite worried for his friends since the last time he checked with his Mana Sense, they were still at the shore. He thought that it was going to be safe there, but he had underestimated his own technique.


    The resulting blast had affected everything around, even to their faraway campsite. Cecil still didn''t notice that his friends were already far away from the shoreline because he couldn''t send his Mana Sense out.


    The blast from his Skyfall had sent everything in the surrounding area into disarray so even if he did try to send out his Mana Sense, he wouldn''t be able to sense anything.


    It took a few minutes before the impact of his attack subsided. He felt a little drained but this was only due to the fatigue he felt from maintaining the technique. Cecil still had plenty of mana in him since the mana he used wasn''t entirely his own.


    "Ugh...the strain on my mind when I use Skyfall is much greater than when I use Over Flash, but the strain on my body isn''t as bad... I just hope that monster is already¡ªshit!"


    Cecil quickly dodged away from his current position. A large pulse of water shot through the position he was previously at and this caused Cecil to look down at the lake in shock.


    His attack had carved out the land and the water that was in the blast radius had thoroughly evaporated. The shore of the lake was destroyed and pushed back a few miles. The lake was quite large and the area that Cecil had destroyed was only but a fraction of its size so the water from the lake began pouring back into the area that had its waters thoroughly evaporate.


    However, since the waters had evaporated, Cecil was finally able to see what kind of monster it was that had been attacking him and his party. What he saw was completely shocking.


    The large serpents that he and his friends were attacking earlier were only a part of the monster. The body of the monster was huge and Cecil could make out a large harden carapace surrounding it, but this carapace had been partially melted down due to his attack.


    4 large fins poked out from 4 different holes of the carapace and the serpent from earlier were all connected to this large carapace which probably contained the main body of the monster that was attacking them.


    Then he saw a large serpentine-figure poke out from a large hole in the middle of the rugged carapace. This was the monster''s main head and it began roaring angrily at Cecil. He noticed that a part of its large head had been burnt away due to his Skyfall attack, but it was still alive and breathing.


    "Damn...w-what is this thing?!"


    "RAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!"


    The monster roared out and shot a large bullet of water at Cecil from its main head while the rest of its smaller heads began shooting out similar bullets of water at him. Seeing the shower of attacks shooting straight at him, Cecil began dodging away from them.


    The monster didn''t even stop attacking and it continued to shower Cecil with numerous attacks. At this point, he couldn''t even find the time to even counterattack as he was too busy trying to dodge.


    "Crap!"


    The water from the lake began filling in the newly expanded area that was devoid of water and it soon covered up the monster''s large body, concealing it under the water again. Cecil was able to break out of the waves of attacks and he sent out a Flash Cannon back at the monster.


    His attack struck true and it hit the monster''s main head, injuring it once again.


    "GRAAAHH!!"


    "Take that! And why don''t you have some more!"


    Cecil continued sending Flash Canons at the monster until it was its turn to feel what it was like to not be able to retaliate. It was quite unfortunate, but his Spell Prison and Spell Seal had been destroyed after his Skyfall had struck them earlier along with the monster.


    It took some time for him to set it up again and he needed people to buy some time. Luckily for him, he wasn''t alone on this battlefield.


    "Cel!"


    "Cecil!"


    "Leader, we''re here!"


    Cecil''s friends quickly arrived back on the battlefield after he let loose one final Flash Cannon which was followed up with an Ascending Blade.


    "Guys!"


    "Quick, tell us what to do!"


    "We already saw the monster''s main body earlier! I can''t believe we were only fighting its offshoots!" Lucius said in shock.


    "Y-yeah...even its offshoots were already S ranked... just how high ranked is this monster?!"


    "It may be at SSS or a level beyond that... it''s just as strong as the Night Plague we fought against all those years ago...actually, this thing might even be stronger!"


    "What should we do then? If we have everyone else participate, it''ll only lead to unwanted casualties!" Eli said.


    "I''ll try and lock it down again. This time, we''ll take it down together. I need you guys to buy me time to create my Spell Seal and Spell Prison around it. Those are my two new magic spells that can lock its movements as well as its mana away."


    "T-that sounds absurd!" Velicia quipped up.


    "It''ll keep the monster from using its mana to attack and it''ll partially seal its movements so we won''t need to worry about it running away from us. Without its mana, you guys won''t have to worry about any of its spells, just stay alert of its physical attacks. It still has those small serpent heads that''ll defend its main body but with this, we can at least limit the dangers so call in everybody!"


    "They''re already on their way. So, how much time do you need?"


    "Just a little bit, let me catch my breath before I go and begin casting the spell."


    "Alright."


    Ainz and everyone began heading straight towards the monster. They remained cautious of its attacks and began sending down spells of their own at it. Lucia and Eli, who was carrying Velicia, landed themselves down onto the monster''s body and began attacking it in gusto.


    They slashed their weapons on the monster''s large body. Eli sent her Intent-fused sword strikes at its carapace and slowly carved it out. Lucia created a flaming environment around them to keep the water from fully submerging the monster''s large body.


    A few moments later, the other members of their group soon arrived around the new shoreline. They began constructing earthen towers and shooting out magic spells onto the monster''s body. The numerous smaller serpent heads began retaliating but Cecil was able to prevent them from shooting out any spells in the next moment.


    A large magic formation had formed around the monster. It recognized this spell immediately and all of the monster heads turned towards the sky.


    "Septum, Spell Seal. Incarcero, Spell Prison!"


    Cecil waved his hand and his two control spells quickly enveloped the monster. Chains began bounding its body and it could no longer gather up its mana again. This relieved a large bit of the damage that everyone was supposed to endure.


    A few of the braver ones who were more courageous followed after Eli, Velicia, and Lucia''s example and began jumping onto the monster''s body. Quite a bit of its body had been submerged underwater so a few of the mages began freezing the water again.


    After making a scaffold from the ice, more and more members of the vanguard unit began climbing onto the monster''s body. Angelia''s monsters weren''t exempt from this as they immediately began swarming onto the monster''s body and attacking the serpent heads that popped out from under the steel-like carapace.


    Cecil couldn''t move from his position at the moment since he had to maintain his spell. The main head of the monster was already fiercely struggling to break free from his spell but his friends were already preoccupying it by sending their attacks straight at it.


    "ROAAR GROOOARRR CREEEE!!"


    "Cover your ears!"


    Ainz''s bellow immediately made everyone cover their ears. A large shockwave erupted from the monster''s mouth and it was deafeningly loud. Some of the people who were too late to respond began bleeding from the nose and ears before immediately fainting.


    The ones that were able to react in time only felt themselves turn disorientated. There were a few that knew healing spells in the group and they immediately began healing the ones who were only disorientated and started pulling back the ones who had fallen unconscious.


    "Pull back the injured! As for the rest, press the attack!" Ainz shouted again.


    "OUHH!!!"


    The monster''s earlier attack hadn''t affected only its enemies. Even the offshoot serpent heads had been affected. Some of them directly fell while others had even exploded into a messy gore of flesh.


    A few of Angelia''s monsters were affected and injured by the attack but after she went over to tend to their injuries, they were immediately healed and ready to fight again. Her healing abilities worked miracles on her contracted monsters as their effects were much stronger on them than they were when she used them on people.


    "Guys, can you keep going? We''ll try and tame this one and have him join our family!"


    "Chiiiiiii!"


    "GRAWR!"


    "Ouuughhhhrrrr."


    Her monsters responded in their own way, relaying to her that they were all okay and ready to go. Angelia nodded and began directing her monsters to attack the enemy''s main head. She sent a few to go and back up the Exploration Group''s and Little Kings'' members.


    A majority of her monsters were sent to attack the monster''s main head and with the addition of these monsters, the enemy could no longer try and direct its focus onto something else like trying to break free from Cecil''s lockdown spell.


    Their attacks began breaking apart the monster''s carapace and the main head''s iron-like scales began to break apart as more and more attacks impacted it.


    Cecil was observing that as time passed and more attacks hit the monster, the large beast began to let out strained roars and pained screeches as it slowly stopped retaliating. He immediately saw this as a turning point and he shouted.


    "ANGELIA! NOW''S THE TIME! GO AND TAME IT!"


    "Huh?! O-Okay brother!"


    Angelia was surprised but immediately delighted when she heard his shout. The captains who were attacking the main head heard Cecil''s words and began opening up a path for the girl. Angelia flew up the side of the monster''s head while dodging and attacking the other serpent heads that were trying to smack her out of the sky.


    A few moments later, she finally arrived at its head. Because she was making her way up, everyone had stopped attacking its head. This allowed the monster to try and do something again, but before it could even try anything, Angelia jumped down from Chi''s back and landed on top of its head, right in the middle of its eyes.


    The monster eyed the girl dangerously but before it could shake her off, Angelia knelt down, closed her eyes, and tried to connect her mind with the monster.


    "GRAH¡ªoourrghhh..."


    Once she tried to send her consciousness into the large monster, its body immediately froze and the smaller serpents on its body also froze in place. Everyone halted their attacks. A few of the members took this time to pull back their wounded and retreat to the shoreline.


    "Don''t let your guards down!" Elizabeth shouted.


    Everyone heard her shout and they kept their wits about them, if the monster made any sort of suspicious movement, they''d immediately resume their attacks on the beast.


    Lucia saw that the monster had stopped moving and she immediately flew over next to Cecil.


    "Cel, are you okay? That skill you used earlier looked like it took a toll on you..."


    "Physically, I''m fine...but my head''s feeling a bit dizzy right now... that skill takes a large toll on my mind than it does on my body... just hope that Angelia can tame this monster soon... I don''t think I''ll be able to maintain my seals on this monster..."


    "Don''t worry, if we have to, I''ll use my Apocalypse to melt this monster into nothing."

 Chapter 379 - A Genuine Ancient-tier Monster 1

    It didn''t take long before the monster started relaxing its posture, however, by that time, Angelia still wasn''t finished taming it. Even when she tried exerting her dominance over its mind to initiate the contract sequence, she kept feeling herself being repelled by an invisible barrier.


    It wasn''t long before Angelia started feeling her temporary control over the monster''s mind slipping away. She panicked and urgently called out, "B-big brother! I-I can''t keep going. This guy''s mind still won''t cave in! He won''t accept me!"


    "Tch, I knew it..." Cecil clicked his tongue. "A monster of this caliber just wouldn''t cave in so easily. It''d probably rather die than submit to Angelia''s control."


    "B-but why isn''t it struggling?" Lucia asked.


    "It''s just a ruse. The bastard''s just trying to store up power to break through my seals..."


    He quickly started loosening his control over his spells and began gathering up his mana for something else.


    "Cel, what do we do? Do we begin attacking it again?!"


    "Wait, I''m going to try something. Lulu, should probably get some Misty Gates ready and have everyone evacuate..."


    "H-huh?!"


    Right as Cecil''s control over his Spell Prison and Spell Seal loosened, the monster immediately sensed it, and just like Cecil had predicted, instead of continuing to cave into Angelia''s control, it instead began erupting with power and started struggling to break free.


    "Since you won''t submit to my sister, then you should just go and die!"


    Cecil finished gathering an absurd amount of mana into his arms and he used Blink to appear right on top of the monster''s head.


    He brought both of his palms downward, aiming right onto the skull of the monster and started to slowly release his mana. Golden light began to slowly congeal itself down below him. This was the prelude to his Over Flash skill.


    "Hahaha, I haven''t used this in a long time. I should thank you for letting me use it!"


    As he continued to slowly let out his mana, the air around him grew stagnant as the ambient mana began rushing towards the ball of light he was currently ''holding''. The monster immediately sensed the immense threat that Cecil''s technique posed to it and it immediately stopped what it was doing.


    The monster finally feared for its life as the ball of light in Cecil''s hands slowly began to expand and after a few seconds, the golden globe of mana had expanded until it covered the monster''s entire head.


    "If you''re still looking to die, I dare you to try anything!!!" Cecil yelled out in excitement.


    He still had the objective of trying to frighten the bastard into falling for Angelia''s control, but he was equally excited at the thought of blasting the creature with his Over Flash. He forgot that there were still people around but his friends weren''t so stupid as to continue staying there when they saw the absurd amount of mana that their friend was emitting.


    "F.U.C.K, THAT''S OVER FLASH! LUCIA, OPEN A GATE BACK TO REGIO CITY! NOW!!!" Ainz cried out in horror.


    "O-Okay! You don''t have to yell!"


    "Can''t you see this is urgent?! If that stupid monster doesn''t submit to his sister, he''s really gonna release that Over Flash! I can already tell just from the mana he''s radiating. He''s going to level everything in the vicinity!"


    "H-His Over Flash from a few years ago completely changed the landscape of a large dungeon... just thinking about what this one could do... Huuffhhh, I don''t even wanna think about it!" Velicia said with a shiver.


    Lucia immediately opened up multiple Misty Gates. She opened up 2 near the vanguard unit that was on the monster''s body and another one at the shore. Everyone immediately filed into the Misty Gate without any questions asked.


    They were all paralyzed in fear from the dangerous aura Cecil''s attack was emitting. It was like everyone instinctively knew that even if the attack didn''t hit them, they''d probably die just from the aftermath.


    Since they all knew this, everyone began rushing through the Misty Gates once they were opened. The rumors they heard from their higher-ups that stated Cecil as being an entity far above their level of power weren''t all just some tall tales that were just embellished by their superiors.


    Instead, they felt like the rumors of his powers weren''t even enough to actually describe just how frightening he was. They had struggled to take on multiple offshoots of the lake monster, but Cecil himself had singlehandedly tied the monster down and struck it with an Ultimate Technique of his.


    Even just a moment ago when they were fighting, he hadn''t rested and instead conjured up his previous control spell to lockdown the monster and hinder its use of mana just so that everyone else could attack, and now, he was using a technique that all of their superiors feared just to threaten the monster into submitting to his sister''s control.


    After everyone had finished evacuating the area, all that was left on site were Cecil and his friends, Gabriel and Angelia were still here as well while Lucia was already waiting nearby with a Misty Gate at the ready.


    If Cecil decided to fire his Over Flash at the monster if it didn''t submit now, then they''d be able to make a getaway at a moment''s notice.


    The monster in question had frozen over in fear right now. It wasn''t moving and everyone could see its pupil''s imperceptibly quake in fear of Cecil''s attack.


    "What? You still won''t submit? If you don''t, I''m going to erase you now!" Cecil roared and he began to slowly push his mana outwards and loosen his control of trying to contain and pull back the mana he had gathered.


    "Gruuuuuhhhhh..."


    "!"


    "Angelia, now!" Gabriel quickly said.


    "R-right!"


    Angelia quickly sent her consciousness back into the monster and she delightfully found that the monster had let down all of its guards. The invisible barrier to its mind that she couldn''t penetrate through earlier had vanished and she was able to connect herself with the monster.


    She quickly searched for the way to form a pact with the monster in front of it by searching through its mind. Angelia quickly found it and immediately initiated the pact ceremony. The large monster resisted only a little bit before it accepted Angelia''s control and pact offer.


    Once Angelia had branded the monster with her consciousness, she pulled herself back and quickly informed his older brother that the pact was a success.


    "Big brother Cecil! I-I did it! This big guy''s now my monster!"


    "Huh? O-Okay...oohhhh crap, I think I might just lose control now..."


    "Eh?"


    "Wuh?"


    Everyone paled when they heard his words. Angelia turned extremely pale while the monster, upon sensing Angelia''s feelings through the connection it now had with her, immediately despaired.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me!!!" Ainz exclaimed.


    "Yeah, I am just kidding. Give me a sec..." Cecil curtly replied before he started reeling in all of his mana.


    He hadn''t lost control, but he was about to. His mind was so fatigued from using his Skyfall from earlier and consecutively using his Spell Seal and Spell Prison. He then pushed himself to use Over Flash to threaten the monster and was just about to just give in to his exhaustion.


    Cecil really just wanted to take a nap right then and there, but he first had to reel in and take back all of the mana he had gathered to use Over Flash since he no longer had to use it.


    Firing it off in a different direction was out of the question. If he did that then he''d really fall from exhaustion, both physically and mentally. He did his best to reel in all of his mana and returned it all back into his body.


    However, there was a large excess of mana inside of him. When Cecil had poured out his mana earlier and formed the large golden ball of mana that encapsulated the monster''s head, the ball of mana had caused the ambient mana to gravitate towards it, further strengthening the technique.


    Now that he had to pull it all back into his body, he immediately felt the excess of mana inside of him. It felt a little straining but he began combining this excess mana with his Ki, turning it all into Ether.


    Cecil wasn''t one to waste any form of energy that was left inside of him. Since the mana had broken the balance of energies inside of him, he decided to just convert it all into ether. He had previously used up a lot of his ether a few months back during the war with Merkruz.


    Now that he had the opportunity to regain all of it back, he quickly took it. He also realized that the mana gathering array that he had used earlier to prepare his Skyfall now had another use other than just being a setup technique.


    After he transformed all of the excess mana into ether, he released a relieved sigh. The ether that was now present in his body invigorated his mind so he no longer felt the mental exhaustion from his earlier technique.


    "Phew... looks like we''re done for today, huh?"


    "Yeah... good job..."


    "Cecil, we really need to work on your call signs for whenever you''re about to use one of your Ultimate Techniques..." Eli exasperatingly said.


    "Ultimate?"


    "It''s something that Transcendent level figures call some of the most powerful techniques in their arsenals..."


    "Oh, that sounds nice. So you take it that I''m on par with a Transcendent now?"


    "...If you aren''t then I just can''t imagine how powerful those people are then..."


    "Wow... I must be the youngest Transcendent in history, huh?"


    "..."


    "Let''s head back... we''ve cleared the area. I think we all deserve a hard-earned rest," Lucius suggested.


    "Yeah, let''s go. My Misty Gate is still open. Let''s just head back to Regio before we come back here tomorrow," Lucia said as she pointed towards the Misty Gate that was still open just behind them.


    Everyone nodded and quickly stepped through the gate. Angelia lingered for a little bit longer with Lucia, instructing her new friend what to do when they were gone before she walked through the gate with her big sister.


    "Ugh...what a hectic day..." Cecil complained.


    Elizabeth turned and raised a brow at him.


    "We should be saying that. You''ve been constantly putting us on edge with those techniques of yours...you mind toning it down for the rest of the expedition so that we can get the others to do some work? If you keep doing this, it makes me question why we''re even here, to begin with when you can do things all on your own..." Elizabeth quipped up.


    "S-sorry..."


    "Anyway, let''s go rally up our expedition members. Just like Lucius said, we should go and rest today in the city. We can have Lucia teleport us back to the campsite first thing tomorrow morning."


    "Alright."

 Chapter 380 - A Genuine Ancient-tier Monster 2

    After a day of rest back at the frontier city, Lucia teleported everyone over to their previous campsite near the lake.


    Once they got there, everyone went to check their previously assigned areas to clear out any more monsters that might have arrived overnight when they were back in the city.


    Angelia went over to the lakeside and quickly called out to her new monster which she humorously named Nessie. After further investigations, or more like after Angelia had asked the monster what it was, everyone learned that the huge aquatic beast was an Ancient monster from the Hydra family, a Hydragon.


    It wasn''t a genuine Hydra but it was still a genuine ancient-tier monster. Its rank was easily at the SSS rating and it might even be stronger under certain conditions. Unlike the Hydra whose weakness was probably at the heart of the creature, this Hydragon had its weakness situated in its main head.


    Its heart would provide it with a nearly inexhaustible source of vitality that???ll regenerate its injuries in due time but once its head was blasted away, it would immediately die. This was the reason why the monster submitted under the threat of having its life snuffed out by Cecil''s Over Flash.


    Angelia''s Nessie turned out to be the monster Overlord of this section of the great lake. There were 5 Overlords that ruled this lake and they each controlled a section. There was an unwritten rule that each Overlord would not interfere in the territories of another. If they wanted to start a conquest of another one''s territory, then they could only do it by sending out their underlings who had pledged loyalty to them.


    Another piece of information was that the monsters all called the lake Ugvindta in their monster language. In the common language, it meant the sea of demonic depths.


    From what Angelia learned, the lake turned out to have a pretty abyssal depth to it. Nessie also informed her that the lake''s depths ran through the Midgard Continent and connected to the Malestrom Ocean.


    Cecil was intrigued by this little bit of information but it didn''t mean much to anyone else since even if they knew that the lake was connected to the ocean, they wouldn''t be able to traverse the depths and reach the ocean anyway because of the many underwater threats that they''d most likely encounter along the way.


    It was different for Cecil and the others, however, since they had the Hydragon, Nessie. If the Silvaria Kingdom was able to create a submersible vessel, they''d be able to traverse these underwater pathways and get to the ocean.


    This endeavor would be postponed for later since they still had to get the nearby areas and waters under their control right now. Angelia''s monster wasn''t in control of any of its underlings'' motives so it didn''t have the power to control them into not attacking any of the people that would come later, but it did promise to protect the area near the place where the city would be built so that it would be protected from any aquatic monster attacks.


    Angelia did ask her monster whether it would have a problem if her people came and killed its underlings but Nessie only responded to her that it did not matter to him. The monsters that pledged loyalty to it only did so because he was much stronger than them and they needed his protection.


    After she had a long chat with Nessie, the monster returned underwater and went back to its home. She''ll come and call upon it again when she needed to but for now, it could just do whatever it wanted.


    News about their conquest soon reached Kaiser''s ears and he proudly announced it to the kingdom. He also immediately had some volunteering craftsmen and citizens move out to the newly acquired territory to go and develop it, he even kindly had a company of soldiers escort them.


    He assigned the Heimdall family to oversee the new territory and he ordered Cecil to hurry with the plans to create the Teleportation Formations for each city. For now, Kaiser had the Exploration Group stationed near the area and to keep watch of the surroundings and to receive their people once they get there.


    Since this was a joint operation between the Silvaria Kingdom and the Anglaria Kingdom, Kaiser had sent over a message to the Anglaria King and asked whether he wanted to send any of his citizens over to help develop the city.


    Kaiser wanted to make this city a place where both of their race''s people could live in coexistence. A newly developed area where the people built it up together from scratch would see to it that the population would hold a strong bond of camaraderie with each other.


    It was a perfect time for their kingdom''s people to grow closer to one another and with Kaiser''s timing of sending a few of his citizens over to the Anglaria Kingdom, this was the opportune moment to have them send a few of their citizen''s here.


    Kaiser wanted to know more about their culture and what kind of specialties each race of beastfolk had so that if he wanted to ask for some help in the future, for example, in matters regarding the industrial side of things, he would know which race he could request from the Anglaria King he should ask for.


    When the Anglaria Kingdom''s people had come over, he did see a few half-elves and some dwarves, but Kaiser didn''t want to be biased and judge a book by its cover. He wanted to confirm whether or not the dwarves were skilled craftsmen just like how those fantasy stories from Earth portrayed them. The stories couldn''t be more right, but there was still a need to confirm things.


    A few days after Kaiser announced the Exploration Group and the Little Kings accomplishment to the kingdom, he received a new message from the Goldenia family, congratulating them on their recent achievement and Augustus requested a formal meeting with him.


    He didn''t know what the Goldenias wanted but he figured that it had something to do with either the impending threat of the Faustus Archduchy or their kingdom''s recent achievement.


    "Hmph, it better be about that Archduchy. If those Goldenias think they can get a piece of the pie from our new territory then they''re sadly mistaken if they think I''ll let them," Kaiser scoffed in disdain.


    Kaiser knew that the Goldenias were opportunists. As long as there was profit to be made, they didn''t care if they had to dabble in the affairs of a friend or foe.


    Even though he felt disdainful, regardless of whichever one was their motive, he still agreed to a meeting with them. He didn''t want to admit it, but there was a very slight possibility that his son may get married to the Goldenia family''s daughter who was currently staying with them.


    Whether it was intentional or not, Katya had been spending more and more of her time together with his son, Cecil. Although there were no clear indications that the two had grown feelings for each other, but it was only a matter of time at this rate.


    Kaiser didn''t agree to it since he wasn''t an advocate of polygamy or anything, but since his son already had 2 wives, another one probably wouldn''t matter to him. Also, Kaiser thought that it was their choice to do it or not and if they truly did love each other, then he could only support them as their father. Kaiser knew that his son had grown up learning the ethics of this strange new world which had now become their home so he couldn''t reprimand him about anything. If Cecil wanted to marry Katya in the near future, then Kaiser could only support his decision.


    Of course, Kaiser didn''t know that his son was somewhat forced into accepting Serilla, but it wasn''t something that Cecil or Lucia would say since they now loved Serilla and thought of her as part of their family. It''d be demeaning for Serilla if they went around and announced it.


    Well, in other words, Kaiser''s worries were unfounded. But since he didn''t know this, he still accepted to meet with Augustus. In the letter that the Goldenia family leader had sent him, Augustus wrote that he wanted to inform Kaiser about the other powers of the No-Man''s Land who in recent years, have been eyeing the Silvaria Kingdom''s power.


    This was the only other reason why Kaiser wanted to meet with his longtime enemy. Kaiser hadn''t been paying much attention to any other power in the No-Man''s Land since he was busy developing his own and he had much of his time back then preoccupied with finding Cecil.


    Now that his son was back, he had more time to focus on other things. He needed to know whether or not the other human powers were friendly or were a threat to his kingdom. He was now responsible for the lives of millions of people. If there was a threat, whether it was human or not, it had to be eliminated.


    "Matheus, go get Fatima. You two are to prepare for the meeting. Also, bring Cecil back already. We need him to finish up the Teleportation Formations in all of our cities."


    "Yes, father. And about Cecil, I already contacted Gabriel and he says that Cecil is still currently busy with the extermination of some monsters found within the lake."


    "I heard that Angelia tamed another monster, and it was one of the lake''s overlords?"


    "Yes, that''s what Gabriel reported."


    "It looks like we won''t need to worry about the new city''s protection. Honestly, that Cecil, he went and decided to go build a new city just because he promised Lucia..."


    "Heh, he could be a little bit impulsive, but I see this as a pretty good development. This wasn''t in the report and I only heard it from Gabriel. He wants this to be off the record."


    "Hm?"


    "Apparently, the lake seems to be connected to the ocean through large underwater pathways that run from here to the Malestrom Ocean in the west."


    "..."


    "We can''t traverse it yet due to not having an underwater vessel, but we should begin developing one."


    "...We''re tight on manpower at the moment. Most of our workers are working on manufacturing the kingdom''s household magi-tech. The ones who are left are working on the prototype airship that Cecil wanted to build."


    "It looks like we''ll have to postpone it then. I''m glad that Gabriel was able to read the current situation of our kingdom and left this piece of info off the record. We don''t want others to know about this just yet or they''ll try doing things on their own and just die meaninglessly. Not many people know about the dangers the waters in this world possess."


    "Hmm... well, enough about them. I have to ask, how are you lately? Are things going well with your girlfriend?" Kaiser said, quickly changing the topic to a more casual one.


    "...father, do you need to know?"


    Kaiser shrugged and said in reply, "Hey, you aren''t getting any younger. Look at your brother, he already has two, while you, my eldest son, still hasn''t had any..."


    "Hey! I do now!"


    "Just make sure it lasts."


    "..."


    Matheus shook his head and quickly excused himself. He went to go find Fatima and informed her of the meeting.

 Chapter 381 - Quinn’s Investigation 1

    Back at Abyssal Lake, the new name that Cecil had christened onto it after he learned that abyssal had the same translation as the monster language''s Ugvindta.


    While the lake''s name was Abyssal, Cecil had decided to name the city Skyfall, after his technique which had subdued the monster which was standing in the way of their occupation of the land around the lake.


    After Cecil had done some cleaning up of the nearby monsters inside of the lake, he quickly returned back to their campsite. Back at the campsite, Cecil looked around and noticed that the number of their personnel had decreased to some degree. This was because Lucia had sent back most of the Little Kings to Silvaria City who then returned back to their kingdom via the teleportation gate.


    Only Velicia, Lucius, and a few other members from Little Kings stayed behind. Since news of their accomplishments had been brought back to the Silvaria kingdom and their kingdom, Eli had received the proposal for the cohabitation of both humans and beastkin from Kaiser in the newfound territory. She thought it was a rather great idea so she immediately returned to her kingdom with Ainz to inform her father.


    Eli left behind of few of her people because she was expecting her father to send some people over. They had to stay there and receive them once they arrive.


    With Kaiser''s initiative to send over people to trade technology, knowledge, and goods with their kingdom, Eli knew that her father would return the gesture in kind and this was the perfect time to do it.


    After Cecil looked around the campsite and scanned the areas around the place, he decided that it was time for him to go back home as well. Monster hunting was good and all, but he still had to deal with his possible issue with the Goldenia family.


    He had just received information from Quinn that the Goldenias had a hand in the attack on his family. Though there was no accurate information, but Quinn did hear a few of their members slip up with their words during his spying and after piecing a few things together, he deduced that the Goldenias did do something.


    At the moment, he was still trying to figure out what that was. However, Quinn still sent a report to his master since even this slightest bit of uncertain news should have made him a bit wary.


    And that it did. Cecil had already called for Silver to keep a close watch on their territory and any persons who were coming and going from their valley who weren''t their kingdom''s citizens.


    Since Kaiser had announced their now amiable relationship with the Goldenias, he had opened up their kingdom to trade and commerce with them. Their people were free to enter all of the cities within their kingdom as long as they had a permit or a recommendation from the Goldenia family.


    Kaiser still wasn''t ready to open up the kingdom to just about everyone. He was still rather skeptical about them and the last time people snuck into the kingdom to attack them, it would have resulted in horrible consequences if not for his son upgrading the defenses of their family''s estate.


    As for the ones without permits or identifications, they were escorted out of the territories posthaste or directly imprisoned if they made a scene.


    ******


    Cecil arrived home a few days later since he didn''t have Lucia to teleport him back. His wife after returning was held up by his mother-in-law due to some important family business. It wasn''t anything too serious. All Anna wanted was for Lucia to finally learn the last skills and techniques from their family''s heirloom cultivation method.


    Cecil had noticed this, but it would seem that his mother-in-law was in-tune with every element of mana found in Alterna. It turns out that this was due to their family''s unique cultivation method and since Lucia now had 7 tails on her, it was about time she finally finished learning the rest.


    He was naturally happy for his wife since it would mean that she would grow stronger. Cecil only felt that it was a pity since they''d have to be separated for a period of time. He had wanted to spend more time together with her.


    "Darling, welcome home~"


    "I''m home, Seri," Cecil replied after Serilla greeted him right after he entered his house. "Where''s Lulu?"


    "I think she''s still being held up by her mother," Serilla replied.


    "Hm, figures. Well anyway, was there anything that happened while I was gone?"


    As he said this, Cecil immediately scooped up Serilla into his arms. This caused his wife to giggle happily. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lightly kissed him before saying, "Hmmm, let me think...Oh yeah, father-in-law just announced to the populace about your achievements at Abyssal Lake! He also opened up recruitment for volunteers to move over to the place and develop it."


    "Oh...that happened?"


    "Yup! He also gave Eli a proposal for beastkin and humans to cohabitate and develop the place together."


    "I heard that from Eli herself. She told me about it before she went home."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah, is there anything else?" Cecil continued to ask. He carried Serilla up to the second floor and quickly went towards their room.


    They passed by the second floor''s lounge but because they were a little engrossed in their conversation, they both failed to see Anastasia and Celia sitting their together enjoying afternoon tea. The two mothers stared at the couple until they disappeared from the doorway.


    "Haaah... My little Cel doesn''t even greet me anymore when he returns home... he becomes so preoccupied with his wives and work once he returns..."


    "You have it lucky, Anastasia. That little wench of mine directly ignores me once your son shows up..."


    "Hmmm... looks like we both have it rough..."


    Celia shrugged before she resumed sipping on her tea. While her husband had returned to the kingdom, she decided to stay and take a temporary leave from her position because she was concerned about her daughter.


    The king felt a little reluctant, but this was their kingdom''s Sword Saintess'' grandchild. He wasn''t such a cold man that he''d directly refuse to let Celia take a few weeks or months off to take care of her daughter.


    Sure, her position was really important, but lately, troubles in their continent have toned down by quite a lot. All of the beastfolk kingdoms were getting along and other than the problems about the Neftersea Oceanic Empire, everything was relatively peaceful now.


    Back to Cecil and Serilla, the couple quickly arrived back in their room. Cecil took a quick shower before he came back to accompany his wife.


    "Continuing my last question, is there anything else that''s happened?"


    "Hn, not really, I did here something about the Faustus Archduchy from Katya when she came home a few days ago. Oh yeah! I almost forgot, but apparently, she was called back home immediately after she came back. Pretty weird, right?"


    "...Hmmm, right when Quinn got something and I was going to ask her about it, she goes home... coincidence or¡ª"


    "Cel, what''re you talking about?"


    "...I''ll tell you once I''ve actually confirmed things, okay, Seri?"


    "..." Serilla scrunched her brows when she saw that Cecil refused to tell her.


    When he saw this, Cecil immediately replied, "Don''t worry Seri, I will tell you once I''ve confirmed my suspicions. I don''t want to say anything now because I don''t want you to worry about anything."


    "Fine, but you will tell me after you''ve confirmed whatever it is you need confirming."


    "Don''t worry, I promise you. I''ll talk to both you and Lucia about it once Quinn finishes his investigations."


    "Alright..."


    ******


    Over at the Goldenia family''s territory, Quinn was looking around the port of the large city that housed the Goldenia family''s main branch. He had been investigating the family''s previous and recent activities at the behest of his master.


    His master, Cecil, had wanted for him to gather up information and investigate whether or not the Goldenia family had a hand in the previous attack on the Silvaria family. He''s been on this mission ever since Elder Kuran''s death.


    Up until now, Quinn was only been able to find a few things that connected the Goldenia family to the attack. While he was spying on them, some of Katya''s siblings had been a little too noisy and had inadvertently said something about the girl being lucky and all.


    He heard something that went along the lines of the Silvaria family not knowing the full details behind the attack and Katya being lucky to have caught the Silvaria heir''s eye even though it was supposed to be a failed ploy from the family head after Cecil defeated her in battle and was totally uninterested in her from the start. They were laughing and mocking the current head for being a hypocrite. Quinn overheard them saying that the current head had deceived and cheated his way for peace between their two families. They were being spiteful but this led to Quinn getting some good information.


    He wanted to know what exactly it was that the Goldenia family''s head had done to deceive his Master''s family.


    After he snooped around a bit more Quinn learned that the Faustus Archduchy already had some men stationed in the vicinity on a nearby island not too far from the coast. He was able to find the exact coordinates and was now looking to see if he could buy a boat so that he could sail to that island and infiltrate their outpost.


    Quinn wasn''t stupid. The people who had attacked his master''s family back then were from the Faustus Archduchy. It was a little farfetched to believe that the Archduchy was able to get information about their family and the ongoing of their country''s current state of affairs given the circ.u.mstances.


    They were too far away so after Quinn learned that they weren''t as far away as everyone thought they''d be, then the only reason the enemy was able to attack on a day that was pretty opportune if not for the fact that they had come back earlier was that they were informed by a person within the city.


    Everyone already knew the culprit was Elder Kuran since he confessed it himself, but there had to be a middleman that connected these two parties together. Elder Kuran was under tight surveillance from the main family at that time so there was no way that he was able to contact anyone from the Faustus Archduchy. However, there was something that their spies had acquired and that was the fact that Elder Kuran was in frequent contact with the people from the Goldenia family.


    Quinn understood now why this was the case. He had no doubt in his mind that the Goldenia family was the middleman even though they were supposed to be at odds with the Faustus Archduchy.


    He deduced that since Augustus wanted to propose peace and make amends with Kaiser and the Silvaria family then cooperation was needed on something and what better way to do that if there was a common enemy that they could rally against.


    The Faustus Archduchy that wanted to invade their lands was the perfect scapegoat for his ploy. As for how to turn the Silvaria family hostile against the Faustus Archduchy, he left that problem to Kuran.


    This was only circ.u.mstantial evidence so Quinn didn''t quite like it. He wanted to find something more substantial that''ll directly point out that the Goldenias had indeed have a hand on the attack.


    Once he got this information, his Master and his father, the King, would have concrete evidence and a substantial reason to attack the Goldenias if they were to make a move against them.


    To him, he did all of this for his master, but there was a slight tinge of selfishness behind this as well. Quinn had been feeling a little bit irked by the Goldenia girl who was constantly approaching his Master.


    He didn''t see any ulterior motives whenever the girl approached his master and asked him about magic related things, but there were times when Quinn felt that Katya had approached his master with some hidden reason, like she was waiting and expecting for something.


    Quinn''s eyes turned cold when he remembered this.


    "Hmph, anyone that hurts my master and his family... are unneeded trash that should be disposed of immediately..."

 Chapter 382 - Quinn’s Investigation 2

    lAs Quinn was looking around the docks, he stumbled upon a familiar figure in the distance. When he took a closer look, it turned out to be Katya.


    "Hmph, speak of the devil. It''s that woman..." Quinn mumbled.


    Quinn disapproved of the woman not only because she was hanging around his master with an ulterior motive but mostly because he, as well as his master, were quite aware that she was hiding something from them.


    Quinn moved a bit closer until he was able to eavesdrop on her conversation with some of the people at the docks.


    "So, someone was going around trying to buy a boat?"


    "Yes, Miss Katya...apparently, he was looking for any kind of boat, as long as it could sail. We told him that most of the boats were currently being used to form a perimeter around the bay and we were already strictly ordered by the Lord to not have any boat set out to sea unless they were fishing vessels."


    "Can you describe to me how he looked like?"


    "I''m sorry, Miss, but he was wearing a thick cloak with a hood over his head. I was only able to judge that he was a male due to his voice..."


    "Okay, that''s good enough. Just make sure no boats come in or out anymore. I''ve just received news that the Faustus Archduchy may try something very soon."


    "Yes, Miss. We''ll do as you say."


    "Un..."


    Katya finished speaking and walked away. Quinn frowned when he heard their conversation. He quickly chased after Katya and stealthily tracked her.


    She went around asking the same questions and giving out similar orders to the people around the docks. Sailors, fishermen, soldiers, everyone was given the orders directly by her. This was a little odd to Quinn since if she wanted to, Katya could have easily sent some of her subordinates to relay the orders for her.


    But instead, she was doing it personally. He couldn''t understand her objective in doing so. It looked unnecessary and it seemed that she was trying to look amiable to her people.


    Katya continued roaming around the port until she eventually stopped at a warehouse. She looked around to make sure that no one was around before casually entering the warehouse after knocking a few times.


    Quinn walked out of his hiding spot and scoffed, "This should be interesting."


    He disappeared in the next moment before reappearing on the warehouse''s roof. He looked around and saw that there were people standing guard on the roof. He quickly hid himself and found an open window.


    After he arrived inside the warehouse, Quinn looked around and saw Katya and a few others from her family gathered around. It seemed as if they were waiting for somebody. Quinn made sure that he found a good spot to conceal himself while at the same time being a good place to eavesdrop on their conversation.


    It didn''t take long before he heard the warehouse''s doors opened again and a few people entering into the building. Quinn closed his eyes and tried to sense how many people had entered.


    "...4 people... from their gait... I don''t think they''re from here¡ª"


    And Quinn was right. Once he heard the words that came out of the newcomers'' mouth, he was immediately able to tell apart the accent they had.


    "Hmm... there''s only one place where these people could have come from, the Faustus Archduchy..."


    He wanted to make sure of it so Quinn moved up a bit and found a better place. He was able to find a good hiding spot in between a few crates where he was able to stay hidden from the guards upon the warehouse''s roof while being able to directly see and hear the conversation that was currently happening between the Goldenia family and the people who Quinn presumed to be from the Faustus Archduchy.


    "Hm, we meet again, my dear~" A handsome, but slovenly youth said to Katya who was standing in the front of her group. He was wearing some very unique clothing. The young man only had his upper body wrapped up in a rather loose garb and his pants were also loosely dangled below his h.i.p.s. Just judging from his attire, he came from a place where the weather must''ve been swelteringly hot.


    Katya didn''t reply to his greeting and chose to remain silent, "..."


    "Why the cold response?"


    "Bastille... I was pretty stupid back then and didn''t know any better which led to me being tricked by you...don''t think I''ve forgiven you for it..."


    "Hm? Oh, did being with that new ''fianc¨¦'' of yours finally open your eyes?"


    "Gr..."


    "Don''t look at me like that, love. The times we spent together were real and memorable, were they not?"


    "Shut up!"


    "Hahaha, it seems now that you''ve found a new man, you no longer care about me, huh?"


    "I said shut up! I''ll have you know that he isn''t even engaged to me!"


    "Hm, is that so..."


    "Do remember why you''re even here, Bastille. We don''t want any troubles with your nation..." Katya said as she narrowed her eyes.


    "Right, right, of course. Our only condition would be to turn in the fool who attacked our men."


    "...Are you stupid?" She immediately replied. The family members, who were behind her, looked at each other and sneered at the young man''s unreasonable demand, a few of them had been present when Cecil had taken care of the problems within his territory and they knew just how foolhardy it was if anyone tried to make a move on him or his family.


    Bastille only smirked and remained silent, "..."


    "That''s impossible. Do you actually think we''ll turn on our allies? Also, do you know how stupid you are for asking?"


    "Well, that''s not my problem now, is it? It''s yours. That''s all we ask and we''ll pull back our forces and forego any of our intentions of attacking your lands."


    "It''s an impossible request!"


    "Well...it looks like we''re going to have to attack you guys then... I''ve had my men looking around the area and I''ve noticed that while your territory is a bit barren, the Silvaria Kingdom on the other hand has quite the nice place~" Bastille said with a sly smirk.


    "Fool, if you attack them, you''ll only be digging your own grave!" Katya immediately said.


    "We''ll see about that. Do you think that our nation is as weak as you assume it''d be? I''ve already had my men do some checking and the Silvaria Kingdom was only recently established and they don''t have that many soldiers¡ª"


    "It doesn''t matter! You don''t know... you don''t know about the monsters that that kingdom has!"


    Katya was referring to Cecil and his wife, Lucia, his sister, Angelia and her horde of monsters, and also the person who had nearly brought down an entire kingdom alone, Fatima.


    Even with a few men, Fatima was able to lead the Regulus Kingdom in a counterattack that pushed them all back into their own lands and if not for the falling out that happened later, it was almost certain that she could have probably led Regulus''s Army in an attack that would have probably annihilated the Merkruz Principality.


    Katya had heard about this from Angelia who always loved to boast about her siblings. Then there was the time when she went on the expedition to subdue the monsters in the Silvaria Kingdom''s newly acquired territory.


    She had seen the unfathomable power that Cecil had displayed and the shocking battle prowess that his wife had. Then there was the fact that the unbeatable monster that their entire group had difficulty facing had fallen under Angelia''s control.


    Attacking them or even daring to antagonize the Silvaria Kingdom at this point was literally looking for death. She didn''t particularly care if Bastille and his nation wanted to court death by antagonizing the Silvaria Kingdom, but the problem was that they would have to first invade her family''s lands before they went to go and attack Silvaria.


    Katya naturally didn''t want this to happen so she had reached out to contact her enemy to see if they could make peace with each other, open trade relations, or something. Anything as long as her family''s territory wasn''t invaded.


    She couldn''t say with certainty that the Silvaria Kingdom would back her family up when the Faustus Archduchy invaded so she wanted to try and do things on her own. The most she could do was if things did go south and negotiations broke down, she could use the newfound knowledge that she had about the Silvaria Kingdom to threaten the Faustus Archduchy into rescinding their notion on attacking.


    "Monsters? If you''re talking about the little girl who has the unique ability to tame monsters, then my people already knows about her. She''s an intriguing little vixen and I do say that I''d rather like to have her by my side..."


    "...You sick bastard. That''s disgusting and repulsive! She''s still a child!"


    "If I''m not wrong, she''s 12, almost 13, no? In our kingdoms, once one turns 15, they''re already eligible for marriage. All I have to do is wait 2-3 more years, hahaha! Also, there''s the older sister who''s quite a brilliant woman. It''s a shame that the Regulus Kingdom''s prince has already taken her."


    Quinn''s eyes when he heard those repulsive words immediately turned cold. He remained in his hiding spot and continued observing the people while at the same time recording everything he saw using a recording marble.


    The talk continued but it was mostly about the young man named, Bastille, trying to convince Katya into betraying the Silvaria Kingdom and his roundabout attempts to try and pry information about the kingdom from Katya''s mouth.


    Seeing as she was still being stubborn about betraying them, Bastille finally grew impatient.


    "Why are you so reluctant? It''s not like this is the first time, y'' know?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "Oh, did you think we wouldn''t have figured it out? About your family under the guise of some defect trying to sell us information about the Silvaria Kingdom and setting us up with that foolish old plebian who tried to betray his own kingdom and family?"


    "..."


    "Why the shock looked? It''s quite an excellent ploy. You set us and the old fool together, we attack the kingdom and try to assassinate some woman and kidnap the brother and mother while your family swoops in and saves the day!"


    "W-wha¡ª"


    "Don''t try to deny it. We know full well it was you guys. I mean, it was such an opportunity that you couldn''t possibly pass up, right? If everything went on without a hitch, then you''ll be able to have the Silvaria Kingdom owe you a favor and you''d use the opportunity to form more amicable relations with them and hopefully form an alliance, no? I mean, your father went so far as to even sell you to them~"


    "I-I have no idea what you''re talking about!" Katya stuttered.


    ???Stop with the acting already..." Bastille scoffed before continuing, "Anyway, all I''m asking is that since you''ve schemed against them once, so why can''t you betray them now?"


    "Things are different now!"


    "Different? Oh please don''t tell me you''ve fallen for the boy! He''s just some 19-year-old brat who has some power behind his fist."


    "I haven''t fallen for him! I never did approve of my father''s plans and I thought it would have been better to approach the Silvarias more directly!"


    "Haaah... you still don''t get it, do you?"


    "..."


    Bastille shook his head and said, "I wonder what would happen if the Silvaria Kingdom got hold of this bit of information and¡ª"


    "Yes, I do wonder what we''d do..."


    Hearing the unknown voice echo throughout the warehouse, everyone looked around in search of the source.


    It wasn''t until Quinn walked out of the shadows and eyed everyone in the warehouse coldly that they finally noticed that there was a third party here with them.


    "...And who might you be?"

 Chapter 383 - Katya’s Worries and the Former Superpowers

    Quinn didn''t reply to Bastille''s question, he only looked over at Katya coldly.


    When Katya saw Quinn, she immediately paled in fright. When she saw his face, Katya recognized him instantly as Cecil''s butler. She couldn''t understand why he was here, but remembering his words, Katya knew that Quinn had overheard their conversation.


    She immediately stepped forward and said, "M-Mr. Quinn, i-it''s not like this. What you heard¡ª"


    "Lady Katya, it''s a little too late to deny it."


    "Y-You''re going to take his word over mine?! He''s the enemy¡ª"


    "You''re both my family''s enemy..." Quinn coldly stated.


    Bastille heard Quinn''s words and involuntarily let out an amused look, "Oh? And which family are you from?"


    Quinn once again didn''t respond to him and only stared back at Katya.


    "...I-I didn''t want it to be like that! My father¡ª"


    "Unfortunately, your family still did it... and you stood by and watched. You were fortunate up until now since my Master still wasn''t quite sure how your family did us wrong, but now that I know... things won''t end well for you..."


    "P-Please... Right now I''m just trying to¡ª"


    "Listen first, Katya Goldenia...although I don''t approve of you, I do find that your efforts in finding a different solution for your family, other than relying on my Master''s family to take care of your problems, rather admirable."


    "..."


    "I''ll give you a chance. It seems that this wretched thing wanted you to betray my Master. Which side will you choose?"


    "...I never had any intention of betraying Cecil... I''d be stupid and crazy if I tried to..."


    Quinn applauded amusingly at her words. Over on the side, Bastille was beginning to grow more and more impatient with him. After Quinn had taken off his cloak, Bastille was finally able to see the mysterious newcomer''s visage.


    He immediately began frowning when he saw that Quinn was wearing the attire of a lowly servant. He was but a lowly servant yet he dared to ignore him. This was already the second time Quinn had ignored him and he was indignant.


    "Hey you, can''t you see that I asked you a question?!" Bastille shouted.


    Seeing as their young lord had grown angry dealing with the newcomer, the 3 others who had come with Bastille began walking over to Quinn.


    "Teach that lowly servant a lesson. Not just anyone can ignore me!"


    Seeing Bastille''s bodyguards moving towards Quinn, Katya immediately tried to warn them, "W-wait, don''t¡ª"


    However, it was too late. Once Quinn felt the slight tinge of bloodl.u.s.t coming from the people walking towards him, he immediately reacted by flicking his wrist and sending a few of his hidden needles flying at their necks.


    His movement was so subtle that everyone around didn''t think that he had attacked or done anything. It was only after the 3 people collapsed onto the ground did everyone become much more alert.


    "You should have stayed quiet, fool," Quinn coldly said to Bastille.


    The young man himself wasn''t even sure what had happened. He had just ordered his men to deal with the rude fellow but they had all suddenly collapsed.


    "W-what did you do?!"


    Quinn ignored him once again and asked Katya, "Now he''s alone. What will you do to redeem yourself? No matter what, I am going to inform my Master about the scheme your family pulled against his, so the question here is, how are you going to make up for it?"


    "...I... I''ll do anything, alright?! Just please tell him to not touch my family... you have to understand, my father, he just wanted¡ª"


    "It doesn''t matter what your father wanted. What''s done is done and there''s no turning back from it all. Touching my Master''s family... I''m very afraid that you''ve just successfully crossed his bottom line... When my Master is angered...he wouldn''t hesitate to fight against an empire."


    "W-what can I do then?!"


    "Think about that yourself. I''ll be leaving now. Do expect a visit from my Master sometime soon..."


    "W-wait!"


    Quinn didn''t listen to her and quickly disappeared from the spot. Katya panicked and she quickly went out of the warehouse to try and chase after him.


    Before leaving, she quickly told the people who were with her, "Take Bastille as a captive! When Cecil does come over, he''ll definitely be angry with us! The least we can do is present him over to Cecil as a means that we''re trying to make amends!"


    "Y-Yes... but is this seriously a good idea? What happens if the¡ª"


    "Would you rather fight a war against the Faustus Archduchy or be completely annihilated by that monster who''s going to come, hm?" Her words left everyone present speechless. Katya let out a tired sigh and continued, "Personally, I''d rather fight that war instead! If we play our cards right, we might have a chance of winning, but if we were to face against that monster and his family, then we''re all going to die!"


    After leaving behind those words, she quickly sent a magic spell flying at Bastille who wasn''t sure what they were talking about since they were speaking in English. He was just about to go check on his men but he was immediately knocked out cold by the spell Katya had sent at him.


    "Quickly take him! Suppress everything that''s transpired here. We can at least buy time and not let the Faustus bastards know that we''ve taken their prince as a hostage. I''ll immediately go back to Silvaria and try to explain things and apologize to them."


    "Okay..."


    "Also, inform father about what''s happened. I told him that stupid schemes like this would come back to bite us on our asses..."


    The young man who had been answering her from earlier immediately spoke up when he heard this, "Katya... your father left for the Silvaria Kingdom, remember?"


    "Ah, I forgot about that... father went with those representatives from the United Federation and the New World Republic."


    "Heh, our world''s former superpowers... Honestly, what could they want with the Silvaria Kingdom..."


    "If you still haven''t figured that out yet then you''re being pretty stupid right now. Sheesh, it''s no wonder why you don''t have any ambition to fight for the family''s head seat," Katya leered at her cousin who only shrugged in response.


    "Please, don''t question my intelligence, Katya. I only said that for the sake of it. You know full how I am¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I have to set out now. I have to chase after my father and inform him of this..."


    "Well, you should get going then. I''m pretty sure that butler is probably already on the road by now."


    "Ugh... don''t remind me..."


    Katya quickly made her preparations and set off from the city. Bastille was quickly taken into custody and was imprisoned in the city''s prison. Everyone present made sure to suppress all news of this since they didn''t want to enter into a preemptive war with the Faustus Archduchy just yet.


    ******


    When these events over at the Goldenia Family''s territory had transpired, Augustus was currently on his way to the Silvaria Kingdom with the representatives from the UF and the NWR.


    He was on his toes the whole time. These two nations were at odds with each other due to problems from back on Earth. Now that their territories were in close proximity to each other, things only became even worse.


    Of course, things weren''t as severe as it sounded since the two nations had to worry more about the monsters that were attacking their territory and their people than they did to each other.


    The President of the UF and the Sovereign Leader of the NWR were both present. So whatever it was they wanted to negotiate with the King of Silvaria seemed to be important. Although these two people were really important figures, whether or not they''d be able to get what they wanted from Kaiser was another thing.


    They were about to confront the leader of the most powerful Earthling nation present in the No-Man''s Land. This was something that Augustus himself could confirm. These two superpowers of their previous world were no longer the strongest. Instead, it was the newfound kingdom that had risen only after Earth''s populace had been transported into this new world.


    "Well, Mr. Augustus, I''m really glad that you took time off your busy schedule to accompany us to the Silvaria Kingdom," The UF President, Tristan Reginold Umphrey said heartily.


    He had a somewhat round belly and was rather languid. The man looked to be in his 40s and was wearing some pretty presentable attire. Augustus was a little unsettled talking to him because his beady green eyes made it look like he was always scheming about something.


    He did hear from his subordinates that the United Federation had been doing pretty well lately unlike the first time when a whole bunch of their people fell prey to the monsters that had attacked them.


    Things had been turning out great for them but there was a piece of news going around that the current leader was a little...incompetent. Maybe not incompetent but more like selfish. Instead of acting like a president, he was acting more like a merchant lately. Doing things and handing down policies that only benefited him and his circle of people.


    Augustus still wasn''t sure how bad things were, but apparently, the motive behind the UF President coming to Silvaria once again had something to do with his circle of people''s benefit.


    As for the other man who had stayed quiet this entire time, Viktor Livadia, the leader of the NWR. He was here because he wanted to acquire some help from the Silvaria Kingdom.


    Their lands were constantly under attack by monsters lately and when Viktor heard about the walls and cannons that the Silvaria Kingdom possessed, he naturally wanted a few for his nation and since he wanted to build a wall as well, he needed materials for that.


    Naturally, the Silvaria Kingdom had a pretty good edge on raw materials such as ores and the like since they were in a valley situated very close to the Sky Piercing Mountains. They already had opened up many mines by the side of the mountains and around the borders of the large valley they occupied.


    The UF and NWR were naturally envious of this, but they couldn''t do anything about it since they currently had their hands full with their own problems. Their initial objectives were supposed to be that, but after hearing that the Silvaria Kingdom had just gone out and claimed more territory for themselves, what more, this time''s territory was by the large lake that had a plentiful amount of water, marine resources, and foods, the two nations naturally wanted a bite from it.


    The Silvaria Kingdom had so many advantages and this made them feel vulnerable. Of course, it wasn''t like the Silvaria Kingdom had any notions of attacking them but things might change in the future.


    The two nations had already acknowledged that they were behind so they needed to step up their game and somehow gain some benefits from the Silvaria Kingdom while also sacrificing minimally on their part.


    The Silvaria Kingdom naturally wasn''t stupid so they had to play their cards right. For the UF, they had a pretty hard time coming up with something while the NWR already had something prepared.

 Chapter 384 - Cecil’s Demands

    "Mr. Viktor, you seem rather quiet today..."


    "I''m only meditating," the rather thin-looking man briskly replied.


    "I-I see... well, we''ll be arriving at the Silvaria Kingdom in a few days. I''ve already informed Kaiser of our arrival."


    "Hnhnhn, that''s good, Mr. Augustus, that means we won''t have to wait for long once we''ve arrived," The UF President said.


    Viktor slightly opened his eyes and nodded. Augustus only nervously laughed when he heard Tristan''s words.


    Kaiser wasn''t the type to make anyone wait, but if he just so happened to be busy that day, then they might have to wait a few days until they could get an audience. He had been receiving a few reports from his daughter regarding the recent updates and situations in the Silvaria Kingdom.


    The development of their new territory had been keeping Kaiser busy for quite a while now. He was rarely seen back at the family estate and was working round the clock. Whether the guests that Augustus brought were important or not, Kaiser knew where to put his priorities at and he would leave everything else on the back burner until after he was finished taking care of his prior jobs and duties.


    A few days later, just before Augustus''s group had arrived at the Silvaria Kingdom''s valley, Katya and the few people she brought with her were able to catch up to them. When they arrived, Katya immediately informed Augustus about what had happened back in their city.


    He only frowned and continued onward to the Silvaria Kingdom. He could only hope that the Silvarias still hadn''t received word about it so that he could explain it himself. He hadn''t seen anyone pass them on their way to the Silvaria Kingdom so they assumed that Cecil''s butler, Quinn, still hadn''t been able to inform his master about anything yet.


    Too bad for them though that by the time they arrived at the valley, Cecil was already waiting for them there. And judging by the cold glare he was directing at the entourage that was heading his way, he already knew about everything.


    Katya immediately turned pale when she saw the cold indifference that Cecil was directing at her. Normally, he''d be pretty easy-going and amicable. She could see that he was rather interested in her...or at least the abilities she possessed.


    She could only conclude that Quinn had already long since arrived and informed him about the Goldenia family''s wrongdoings but when she looked around, it was only him there and no one else.


    What she didn''t know was that Quinn only had to give his master a quick call to inform about things. No matter how fast she traveled to try and catch up with him and cut him off, it wasn''t going to be fast enough because Quinn hadn''t even left the Goldenia family''s territory at all.


    He just went back into hiding and contacted his Master and relayed the information to him. After that, he remained on stand-by for any further orders from his Master.


    She hardened herself and told her father to stop the carriage. Katya wanted to talk with the cold and seemingly murderous-looking Cecil.


    "C-Cecil... I-I can explain if you already know about things..."


    "...Hmm, and why should I let you? I can just go ahead and lop all of your heads off if I wanted to..."


    "Y-You''d be committing murder¡ª"


    "Are you seriously going to argue about something as trivial as your lives with me?"


    "T-trivial?!"


    "Listen here Katya, I''ve grown up in a world that''s...pretty indifferent about the lives of their people. I won''t commit murder so wantonly, but if I have to, I won''t hesitate. Now, give me a good reason why I shouldn''t just go and annihilate your scheming family," Cecil apathetically replied.


    "I¡ª"


    "Ah, almost forgot to tell you, don''t give me any bullshit about how you might become my family. I won''t marry you. I''m not even interested in you. I''m only interested in your abilities, but if those abilities become harmful to my family instead of helpful... I don''t mind destroying it..."


    "...I... I''ll do anything okay? J-Just please spare my family... we did do this but we never intended to have your family harmed... even when the attack was happening, our family had moved to help your family right away..."


    "Yes, I know that. For that, I''ll forgive you for withholding the truth from me. Now, give me a reason why I should spare your lives," Cecil sneered.


    "Please Cecil... I''ll do anything! I-I even caught the person who ordered the attack on your family! T-the young lord of the Faustus Archduchy! I''ll admit that we did give him information on your family and set him up with Elder Kuran, but he did send his men over to attack you! E-even I''m trying my best to make things right! I know that what my father did was wrong, but¡ª"


    "Tsk...you''re only giving me excuses, not reasons. Although I do approve of you catching the person who sent men to attack my family, I still don''t see that as a reason to forgive you. I mean, I can just have Quinn take care of him now if I wanted to..."


    "Huh?"


    Seeing her confused look, Cecil chuckled and said, "Oh? Did you think he''d have to return to the kingdom to inform me of things? I do have this you know? And since I''ve improved it, it''s now like our world''s cellphones."


    Cecil pulled out his MID and began waving it in front of Katya.


    "O-Ohh... A-anyway, I already said I''d do anything, Cecil. Just spare my family. I''ll do everything to make things right again. So please¡ª"


    "Anything, you say?" Cecil cut her off.


    "Y-Yeah...a-anything..."


    Cecil looked Katya up and down before nodding his head and thinking. This caused Katya to prepare for this worst. After a few moments, Cecil opened his mouth.


    "Hmmm... well, if you say you''ll do anything... then I want you to become a teacher."


    "Eh?"


    Katya had been prepared for the worst, but upon hearing his rather ''lenient'' punishment, she grew extremely confused.


    "A...teacher?"


    "Yes, I want you to become an instructor in our kingdom''s academy. I want you to teach the students and instructors in the academy all about your magic casting method. I also want you to form a team of researchers using some of my kingdom''s most brilliant people to research and develop your magic."


    "O-Okay?"


    "Good, that''s the first thing I want. The second is an apology from your father, of course, not directed at me but my family. He''s going to have to face my father for it. Just so you know, my mother was targeted, so I''m not sure whether or not father might forgive him. She''s his absolute bottom line that you can''t cross after all..."


    "..."


    "Third, I know that your family wanted an alliance with mine and everything was going so well until this happened. So, if the Faustus Archduchy does attack you, you''re going to have to take care of things yourselves. I won''t help and the same goes for my kingdom."


    "W-wait, isn''t that¡ª"


    "Clean up your own problems! Our family has a lot going on already so do you honestly think we''ll have any time to spare on your matters?"


    "B-but... if we lose, then¡ª"


    Cecil sighed in exasperation and quickly said, "Why are you giving up so easily? You know what. I''ll give you a little bit of leniency. I''ll lend you my butler, but that''s it. I won''t send anyone else to help you. After this is over, don''t think that your family won''t be paying us compensation. I do rather like the ocean side since it can connect us to the outside world so I might¡ªno, I will just take your lands for myself~"


    "..."


    "Heh, don''t worry, we''ll leave you guys in charge of things. But do know that after this is over, that territory will belong to my family from henceforth. Also, if you can''t win against that measly archduchy, then you should just vacate the place and let my family take over right away."


    Katya stayed silent for a moment. She closed her eyes and released a rather frustrated sigh before answering.


    "Don''t worry... we won''t lose..."


    Cecil was delighted to hear that answer so he gave her something in reward.


    "Good! Well, you have my butler at your disposal. Here, take this. That''ll help you communicate with him," Cecil said as he tossed a MID over to Katya.


    "Uh..."


    "You should get going now. I''ll look forward to your performance. Whether your family stays afloat depends on you now, Katya Goldenia," Cecil said with a smirk before suddenly disappearing.


    Katya immediately returned to her father and explained things to him.


    "...so he already knows?"


    "Yes, father..."


    "He didn''t do anything?"


    "No, he gave us an ultimatum. He wants something from me and he said that we should take care of our problems with the Faustus Archduchy by ourselves..."


    "W-what?! Then what meaning was there in¡ª"


    Katya quickly cut him off and said, "This is your fault...you know that, right Father?"


    "..."


    "Anyway, he won''t send us any aid. He did let me use his butler¡ª"


    "What''s one man going to do?! We''ll be annihilated by the Faustus Archduchy! Is that boy so heartless as to leave us in the dust like this?!"


    "...We did play a hand in instigating the attack on their family. Also, he told me this. ''He could care less about our trivial lives''..."


    "..."


    "He did grow up in this dog-eat-dog world... I''m not too surprised that his morals are somewhat different from ours..."


    "I''ll have to explain things to Kaiser and get him to help us... we really can''t¡ª"


    "Father, let me handle this... I''ll do all I can to keep our family safe. I''ll also do something about the war with Faustus. If they do attack, I''ll do everything in my power to keep our land safe."


    "...But he said that he''ll still take over the land whether we win or lose..."


    "That''s the consequences of our actions, father. I''m just glad he didn''t directly go and wipe out our family. One thing I know about that man, he loves his family so much that even a little bit of dirt thrown on any of his family members would result in his complete wrath..."


    "..."


    Augustus remained silent but all he could do was anguish and regret his decisions. Since Cecil already knew about then Kaiser would know about it as well. Thinking about how he would have to bow his head to his long-time rival made his already sullen mood turn worse.

 Chapter 385 - An Unlikely Alliance

    Katya separated from her father and went back to her family''s territory. She went ahead to contact Quinn with the MID she received from Cecil.


    "Tch... how troublesome..."


    "H-How is it troublesome?! Your Master wanted this you know so you can''t blame me!"


    "I won''t blame my Master for the orders I receive. I only find it troublesome to help a few people who are doomed to lose..."


    "W-what do you mean by that?!"


    Katya and Quinn immediately had an argument right after they contacted each other. Quinn kept on going on and on about the deficiencies and lacking aspects of the Goldenia family''s territory and military force.


    The entire time, Katya could only take in all of Quinn''s words and insults indignantly because what he said wasn''t false. She knew that because of how their family had been keeping themselves busy with their territories internal affairs and economy, they neglected the military aspect of things for a few years.


    The Goldenias had this luxury because their territory was relatively free from monster attacks so they didn''t see the urgent need to build their forces beyond what was needed to keep their lands safe from the monsters.


    It was only after the Faustus Archduchy showed signs of wanting to invade, did the Goldenias start recruiting more people for their army. Unfortunately for them, things weren''t going so well because most of the people weren''t too keen on fighting and the bravest ones had already taken up arms to defend the territory from monsters so they didn''t get many new recruits.


    Quinn had already done some investigations and in all of their lands, the Goldenia family was only able to muster up a force of 10,000 people. This was a lot but it wasn''t enough to face up against the Faustus Archduchy''s 100,000 men who were going to invade their lands sometime soon.


    This gave both him and Katya a headache. The men under the Goldenia family were already being trained in both martial and magical combat. The one thing that the Goldenias had more of than the Silvarias were mages.


    Since Katya had already spread the way of using magic in her territory, her family was able to cultivate more mages than the Silvaria family who only had a minor few who weren''t even actually proper mages since all they could use was Cecil''s Mana Bolt.


    Instead of calling them mages, they were instead called Ranged Infantry. Cecil had developed a new magi-tech for these individuals that were in the form of bows and crossbows. The new weapons let these people channel their mana into them to form mana arrows and mana crossbow bolts which would then be fired after they were loaded.


    It was a handicap weapon that helped people learn how to channel their mana to form arrows and bolts. With enough practice, these people would be able to forego using the weapons and just directly fire them on their own. This was the end goal.


    However, when Quinn remembered that the Goldenias had actual mages, he thought that they could somehow pull through. He knew for a fact that his Master wouldn''t leave him and the Goldenia family in a rut. This was just his way of testing whether or not the Goldenia family was still necessary or not.


    If the Goldenias could pull through, his Master would keep them and treat their territory as one of their kingdom''s satellite territories just like they did with the Merkruz Kingdom. On the surface, the two territories would be governed by their respective main powers, but underneath that, those two powers would have to answer to the Silvaria Family.


    In Quinn''s opinion, his Master always took the less troublesome route of settling things. Instead of directly destroying something and taking over, he instead spared them and acted as the puppeteer from the shadows.


    Quinn knew that his master didn''t want to do anything too troublesome nor did he want to throw anything troublesome onto his family. He knew the consequences of killing these kingdoms'' leaders and implementing a new government to manage them.


    It would take years to gain the people''s loyalty and the dissent from the masses would also prove troublesome to deal with in many ways. Of course there were some cons with the way Cecil handled things in the long run, but it wasn''t like he particularly wanted to keep a firm grip on these territories.


    After a few years of constantly receiving some benefits from them, Cecil would stop caring about what happened to them. As long as they didn''t touch the 2 cities that Cecil had taken for his kingdom, he wouldn''t care if they decided to stop sending their kingdom anything.


    It was a little unambitious considering the amount of power Cecil had, but Quinn knew that his Master didn''t really care about such things. As long as he kept his family safe, that''s all that mattered to him.


    Also, Quinn knew that his master didn''t really like flaunting his power. It was tiring and troublesome, so he says.


    Quinn returned his focus back onto helping the Goldenia family and thought of the plausible ways he could help them win against their conflict with the Faustus Archduchy. The way he saw it, the only way to win was to keep them off of the land and attack them at sea.


    Of course, what he meant was not to attack them directly, but to use guerilla tactics to slowly whittle away their numbers. Sinking their sh.i.p.s and drowning their soldiers was the only tactic Quinn could think of that would help the Goldenia family win against the archduchy when they eventually had to fight on land.


    "I''ll discuss more of this with that woman once she gets back here... I really wonder what Master sees in her family that he''d be willing to just let them off after finding out that they were the ones who had technically instigated the attack..."


    Quinn shook his head and stopped questioning his Master''s motives. Unbeknownst to him though was that his Master had long since stopped caring about the attack. No one from his family was harmed and it gave him a very good excuse to get rid of a thorn in his family''s side.


    If he could, he actually wanted to thank the Goldenias instead. However, it went against his principles to let the people who were seeking to harm his family off. Even though the Goldenia family did provide him with the opportunity to get rid of Elder Kuran but if things had ended up differently...


    Quinn shook his head and began to move. On the day Katya got back, Quinn appeared in front of her. He used up the time when Katya was still on her way back to go and scout out the situation of the Goldenia family''s territory.


    It wasn''t like he hadn''t done it before when he was first sent there on the mission to uncover whether the Goldenias had something to do with the previous attack on his Master''s family, but this time, he did a more in depth examination.


    He was just about to go out and take a look at how the enemy was responding to the fact that their young lord had not returned after a few days due to him being held captive, Katya had returned and he immediately went to go meet her.


    "So, you''re finally back..."


    "Ugh...why do I have to work with you..." Katya grumbled.


    "Hmph, I should be saying the same thing to you. If not because of what my Master wanted, I wouldn''t even be here. Just be grateful that you''re even receiving any help," Quinn retorted.


    "Whatever...anyway, how are you going to help me out?"


    "You don''t have to worry about that. Just worry about coordinating with your family to defend against the Faustus Archduchy. I plan on going to scout out their situation and their current reaction at the fact that they can''t get a hold of their young lord anymore..."


    "...Okay...do you need any help?"


    "No, just do your own things and get your people ready. You probably already have something like this, but I took the liberty of compiling all of your family''s forces into these doc.u.ments. Read over them and read the plans that I have for them at the end. Contact me once you''ve read them all," Quinn said before tossing over a spatial ring to her. Katya awkwardly caught the ring and she couldn''t help but frown at Quinn.


    This little accessory was worth fortunes in the Faustus Archduchy, but here he was just tossing one around like it was some pebble. Well, this spatial ring wasn''t anything of great quality. It was disposable in Quinn''s eyes since he had more of it with him.


    These things were failed experiments that Cecil tossed aside when he was trying to create a white spatial ring. Since his Master didn''t need them, Quinn thought that he should put good use to these scrapped magi-techs.


    Quinn had to show how the spatial ring worked to Katya before she was finally able to pull out the doc.u.ments that were stored within. Once she pulled them out, her eyes narrowed when she saw the very detailed information about her family''s territory.


    She immediately wanted to ask just how did Quinn acquire all of this information but before Katya could even ask, the butler had already disappeared.


    "...that stupid...butler... He''s supposed to help me but he''s just going around doing whatever he wants! And what the hell, how did that prick even get all of this info?!" Katya stomped her feet angrily.


    She huffed but quickly composed herself and returned to her family''s home and began sifting through the information that Quinn had on her territory.


    "Jeez...how does that bastard have more accurate information about my family''s territory than we do? Ugh, I just knew those backstabbing Pentras were trying to pull something behind our backs. They actually gave us false info about the people they recruited and the amount of food and grain they have stored up..."


    Katya continued to sift through the information and the more she read, the gloomier her face became. Many of the other well-known families within their territory had shown different motives in the reports she was reading, some not being truthful about the reports of how many people they had recruited and trained and how much provisions they had stored up.


    There were even some that showed notions of trying to defect to another nation. This caused Katya to grasp her head in frustration. She was glad that there were actually a few that were willing to stay and fight with them.


    "Haahh...it''s time to get busy..."

 Chapter 386 - History Revealed

    As Katya and Quinn were preparing things on their end. Kaiser had put forth the meeting with Augustus and the other leaders ahead of things.


    This caused Augustus to be somewhat surprised since it was uncharacteristic of his rival to drop everything else to attend to something off schedule. Kaiser had been informed beforehand but the exact date for when they would arrive wasn''t stated.


    So to see his rival drop everything else and attend to them right when he got word of their arrival indicated that Kaiser saw the importance in the meeting and it was painfully obvious that he had an objective to accomplish by meeting with the two leaders of the United Federation and the New World Republic.


    Kaiser met up with the three leaders in the Silvaria City''s City Hall. In the meeting, every representative from the kingdom''s council was present. They all sat facing the three foreign nation leaders and eyed them with interest.


    Before, there was no way for these people to even think about sitting on the same table as them, but now, thanks to being transported into a new world and following under the Silvaria Family''s banner, they had been able to establish their own nation and become rather important figures themselves.


    The only person they recognized was Mr. Victor since he was the leader from one of Earth''s two superpowers. Only the other one was unrecognizable. They did receive word that the president of that country had unfortunately died due to a monster attack and this person, Mr. Tristan, took up the position afterward.


    It was a shame since the previous president was a rather good-natured fellow and he was known for his open-mindedness and kindness towards his people and towards other nations. They weren''t sure about the current president of the new country that was built off from the foundations of the other superpower from Earth, but the rumors regarding him did say he was more of a businessman than he was a president.


    Everyone of importance was already within the room except for Kaiser. He arrived only a few minutes later with Matheus and Fatima trailing along behind him. They were seated in a boardroom styled arrangement. Once Kaiser took his seat in the middle of the table, directly facing Augustus and the two leaders with Matheus sitting right next to him and Fatima standing at the ready behind him, Kaiser immediately addressed his guests.


    "Well, gentlemen, thank you for coming to visit our humble nation. I have a small inkling as to why you both have requested for this meeting with us, but I would rather hear it from your mouths. Who would like to go first?"


    *****


    As Kaiser was busy with his meeting, Cecil was also busy with a meeting of his own. There was something that had to be mentioned, but during the times when Cecil wasn''t working on the Teleportation Gate and was just going about ''relaxing'', he was actually doing some other things for his kingdom.


    He had established a large library that contained many lost knowledge of Alterna''s people that he had acquired from the World Tree''s Trials. This was opened to the public for most of the general knowledge while the more advanced and more important ones were stored in the kingdom''s archives which could only be accessed by those in a position of power within their kingdom.


    This archive and library were exactly what the Anglaria Kingdom''s Spirit Sage wanted to have a look at. The old man had been holing himself up inside the archive after he was finished with the library.


    It was only today that he was finally finished sifting through all of the books and records that Cecil had transcribed for his kingdom that he finally wanted to go meet Cecil and talk about the ominous prophecy that the World Tree had shown him.


    Cecil had brought along his 2 wives with him while Anna and all his friends from Anglaria were also present.


    "Well, now that you''re all here, what do you want to talk abou¡ª"


    "Boy, don''t play stupid. You know exactly what we want to talk about," the Old Sage quickly cut him off and said.


    "My, my, Elder Tohrun, no need to be so grumpy~" Anna spoke up in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "Stop defending him. You know that he''s done wrong. He should have told us about the prophecy right when he got it!"


    "But he did~?"


    "Huh?"


    "He told me~"


    "Just you?!" The Elder spoke up in exasperation. "Listen here, anything coming from the World Tree is of utmost importance. I get that Cecil may have hidden his race from us, but that trivial problem matters little to the World Tree. Urrugdrasil gave him that vision, that prophecy, because it had a reason. Not sharing it with the rest of the world, especially since it''s a prophecy of such ominous futures, will only hasten the fruition of that prophecy."


    "I do apologize, Elder," Cecil spoke up. "However, I had my reasons. You see, in the vision, it only showed me a glimpse of what may have been the future or the past. I didn''t want to let anyone know yet because I didn''t want to cause mass hysteria and I couldn''t confirm whether or not that vision was a prophecy or it was just part of the trial that I had to overcome."


    "...It wouldn''t have hurt to¡ª"


    "And, like I said, Tohrun, little Cel did share it with me," Anna quipped up.


    "...Fine. Anyway, let''s hear the full account of the prophecy from Cecil. I still have to go back and inform the king of the prophecy. We''re still not sure whether the sightings of the Fallen near the Neftersea Oceanic Empire was true or not, but let me tell you this, the Fallen, they are real and they are a threat to this world."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone remained silent when they heard the Sage confirm the validity of these monsters. Cecil sighed when he heard this and said, "I figured as much but how do you know this? I looked through most of the important records and books inside the World Tree''s library and even recorded them but I wasn''t able to find anything on the Fallen..."


    The Sage nodded and replied, "This was because all of the Guardian Deities of Alterna back then had ordered for any records of the Fallen to be erased. As for why we know, it''s because all Transcendent-level figures are required to gather together for the decadal Month of Void Sealing."


    "Void Sealing? I''ve heard about that before," Cecil said.


    "It''s not a secret. Most people know about it but no one knows just what exactly it is that we, the Transcendents, do during that month."


    "I have a hunch."


    "Well, your hunch is correct if it was to seal away the Fallen."


    "..."


    Cecil and everyone else didn''t seem too surprised since it was something that they deduced after finding about the world threat known as the Fallen. If the Fallen were real, which they were after being confirmed by Elder Tohrun, then the only reason why the Transcendents of the world would gather together to some ''Void Sealing'' event every 10 years would be because of them.


    "Void Sealing...that means you seal them in some kind of...void, or area?" Ainz asked.


    "Yes, the Guardian Deities of the past had used up all of their power to seal this worldly threat within the lands of the Non Continent."


    Elder Tohrun then started explaining to them about the last, or the deleted, part of history that present generations didn''t know.


    The Fallen was an alien race that was said to go around to planets and stars to devour them of their light. That ''light'' was the light of life. The stars and planets that they devoured would thoroughly lose all signs of life and the result would be very catastrophic if any inhabitants were living on the planets.


    The Fallen also loved to devour planets that had living organisms on them for some reason. Not much was known about the Fallen except for the fact that they had twisted appearances, were dangerous, and they seemed to be quite fond of anything that had any signs of life within them.


    The way they had come to Alterna was through the large mountain that had struck and shattered the previous supercontinent of Alterna. The theory of a large meteor striking into the world and breaking up the lands into the continents that were present today was a reality and not just a theory.


    During the initial strike, many races were eradicated but the Guardian Deities of many of the races had been able to survive and in a last-ditch effort to save their world, they were able to seal up the Fallen inside of the now present Non Continent.


    During that time, many of the Deities had been killed and destroyed. Only 6 Deities remained now in the present world. However, there was a shocking fact of these so-called Deities. The sage explained about them and it turns out that they were the so-called Ancient race of Alterna.


    The most shocking factor was that they weren''t even natives of Alterna. They were instead foreign races from different planets that had banded together to fight against the Fallen. They were remnant races of worlds that were once destroyed by the Fallen.


    Under the banner of their savior, these races banded together to fight against the Fallen. The leader of this coalition of races had the ability to summon races from different planets to ones they designated and this was how this particular race had saved the other races from complete extermination.


    When Cecil heard this, he narrowed his eyes. He began pondering thoughtfully over this new information that he had received. The mystery to his world''s mass teleportation seemed to lie with these Ancients.


    "Elder Tohrun, this mass teleportation ability...which race was it that held this ability?"


    "We''re not sure, but why the sudden interest?"


    "Nothing...I''m just curious since they were able to become the leader of the coalition just because of this ability..."


    ??I see. Well, let me continue my explanation."


    "Yes."


    Elder Tohrun continued with his explanation. As for why he decided to share this with Cecil and his friends was not only because of the World Tree''s prophecy, but it was also because he saw potential in them. The youths before him, he did not doubt that a few of them would become Transcendents. It went without saying that Lucia would become one because of her mother, but he was entirely convinced that Cecil would become one.


    In fact, he had been observing Cecil lately in secret by using one of his spells and when he saw the power that Cecil had displayed when subduing the Ancient Hydragon, Tohrun saw glimpses of him stepping into the Transcendent Level.


    He was so sure of it and that was why he decided to share this information with them ahead of time since, in the future, they''d be acquiring this information anyway.


    Tohrun continued his explanation and stated that Alterna had been the gathering spot for these foreign races and it served as a haven for them. However, once the Fallen had found out about this planet, it instead served as the last battlefield for the two forces.


    It led to the coalition losing, but it also led to the Fallen being sealed. The Transcendents maintained this seal but lately, some of the Transcendents have been deviating in their opinions on why they should keep things up. Why not just destroy the Fallen instead of keeping such a latent threat sealed away in their own backyards?


    A select few wanted to lift the seal so they could directly exterminate the Fallen while the majority wanted to play it safe and gather up power and more forces before they did anything so reckless.

 Chapter 387 - The Leaders Meet

    "Now that I''m finished with my explanation, it''s about time that you tell me yours, boy," Tohrun said after he finished talking.


    During that time, Lucia had been preparing tea for everyone, and seeing as the old man had finished saying his piece, she immediately served him some tea. She then poured some for her mother, her husband and sister, and then for everyone else.


    "Hmm, this is good... well, to the main point. Cecil, please tell us in detail about what you saw."


    Having everyone''s attention focused on him, Cecil cleared his throat and began recounting his experience ''inside'' of the vision. He explained that instead of seeing it, it was more like he was there.


    He had embodied a minor elf soldier who had nearly died on the battlefield and was saved by a Saintess. Speaking of the Saintess, Cecil immediately asked Elder Tohrun whether he''s heard about the woman or not.


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t recall ever hearing a Saintess from any race going by that name. Also, you said she was an elf, right? In the Elven Kingdom, there''s currently no such figure who proclaimed or was appointed as a Saintess," Tohrun answered after listening to Cecil''s inquiry.


    "Is that so... I thought so. You see, this was why I didn''t say anything. Since Elder Tohrun hasn''t even heard of this Saintess Melanie, I can''t confirm if this prophecy is true. Also, I''m not even sure how far into the future I was seeing."


    Everyone contemplated on his words and the prophecy that he just divulged to everyone. It wasn''t long until Elder Tohrun said that they could disperse. He wanted some time to think and he invited Lucia''s mother for a private discussion.


    It wasn''t anything odd, but everyone today finally found out that Lucia''s mother, the ever so happy-go-lucky housewife, was indeed a Transcendent. Since the two Transcendents wanted to have a private discussion, everyone else naturally had to respect that.


    As for how many Transcendents the Urrugdrassil Continent had, there were a total of 14. Most of them lived in seclusion while a select few lived humbly just like the Spirit Sage Tohrun. Anna wasn''t counted as an Urrugdrassil Transcendent though.


    As for why? Well, the woman in question didn''t say anything about it so no one dared to ask. Although, Lucia was going to ask her later after the two met up again.


    The discussions on their side were over and when Cecil heard from one of his father''s subordinates that the meeting with the other Earthling nations'' leaders weren''t finished yet, Cecil decided to drop in.


    He didn''t take the front door, but rather, he used Blink to silently move into the conference room. Cecil didn''t want to participate in the discussions since it was the responsibility of the king and not the family patriarch.


    He decided to just witness it all in silence. No one was aware of his presence until Fatima finally felt like someone was observing them. When she looked around and finally noticed that Cecil was observing the ongoing of the discussions in an inconspicuous corner, she was just about to inform their father, but quickly saw Cecil raise his finger over his lips.


    "..."


    Fatima eyed his brother weirdly and shook her head, deciding not to tell their father about his presence. In fact, Kaiser didn''t need Fatima to tell him, he had long since noticed that Cecil was in the room.


    Kaiser''s senses were always sharp even before he had acquired his new abilities. It wasn''t anything special if he noticed his son suddenly appearing in the room before anyone else. It was the result of his many years of training. The mana that he now cultivated only provided a boost to his already superior abilities.


    He didn''t mind his son staying inconspicuous since he didn''t have any say in this meeting after all. Kaiser turned his attention back to the meeting and let out a boring sigh. It''s been over an hour since Tristan Umphrey spoke about his goal in coming to visit their kingdom, but things still hadn''t finished.


    Even the patient Viktor Livadia was beginning to show signs of impatience after he had to listen to President Tristan''s incessant driveling for over an hour now.


    "As you can see, Mr. Kaiser, what our nation wants is but a cooperative front with yours. Naturally, we''ll provide many resources for your kingdom''s help, but if we took the easier path, maybe opening up your kingdom''s soon-to-be-built city near the great lake, uhh, what did you call it again¡ª"


    "It''s called Abyss Lake," Fatima quickly spoke up.


    "Mhm, yes, Abyss Lake, the city that''s going to be built there, if you wouldn''t mind us investing in some of the land and property there, it would open up various opportunities for both our nations," Tristan said, finally finishing his piece.


    "Investments, huh... we''ve already got an investor though... I do wonder what your nation can bring up to the table... Naturally, we don''t need any manpower to develop the territory. Our partner would be providing that for us and I do not want to renege on our agreement."


    "Yes, of course, but I did hear that things haven''t exactly been negotiated, yes?"


    Kaiser wanted to frown a little but maintained his poker face and asked, "And where did you hear this from?"


    "I have my sources, Mr. Kaiser. Of course, I do not know who this ''partner'' is that you speak of, but since the negotiations haven''t started yet on either of your sides, then perhaps there is still an opportunity for a third party to join in as well? Maybe perhaps a fourth party even, right Mr. Viktor?"


    Having the baton passed to him, Viktor only glanced at Tristan before saying, "That won''t be necessary. We already have our own plans and imposing on Mr. Kaiser when we''re the ones who are going to be asking for help is not on my agenda."


    Tristan only gave Viktor a meaningful smile when he finished his piece and quickly turned his attention back to Kaiser.


    "Well, Mr. Kaiser? What do you say? I''m sure if all three of our nations, Me, you, and this partner of yours, were to sit down and discuss some terms, I''m sure we''ll be able to come to a rather favorable agreement."


    Kaiser considered Tristan''s proposal. It wouldn''t hurt if they had another investor and he did think that as Earthlings, they should try to form mutual alliances where their nations'' citizens could work together.


    "Hmm... Fatima, what''s King Alasthor''s response?" Kaiser glanced at his daughter and asked.


    "King Alasthor said that he would be arriving at our kingdom tomorrow at the latest," Fatima replied.


    "...We''ll see how King Alasthor responds to this new development. Send someone to inform him immediately. Yes, I''ll give Luca a quick call and tell him."


    Fatima stepped back and went to a corner of the room and pulled out her MID. Her actions naturally didn''t escape the sights of Augustus, Tristan, and Viktor. When they saw the small device that she had seemingly pulled out from thin air, their eyes immediately flashed. When they saw her actions of tapping on the lit-up screen before she brought it up to her ear, they were all inwardly astonished.


    ''These Silvarias... they actually had the resources to create a cellphone?'' Tristan thought. Augustus also had similar thoughts as him while Viktor was the only one who had different thoughts.


    ''Hmm, I was indeed correct to come to this country to ask for help. If their technology is already this advanced, then they''ll be able to help...''


    Fatima quickly ended her call and returned to Kaiser and reported, "Luca said he''ll immediately go and report it."


    "Good," Kaiser nodded before turning to Tristan who had a wide smile on his face. "We''ll discuss things tomorrow, Mr. Tristan. About our cooperation, if things go in your favor, then maybe my other collaborator will agree to it."


    "Yes, then tomorrow it is then."


    "Alright, next is your turn, Mr. Viktor. What is it that you seek from our kingdom?" Kaiser asked after turning his attention to the leader of the NWR.


    Viktor took a sip of the water place in front of him. He cleared his throat and quickly said, "Let me direct, Mr. Kaiser, so that we don''t waste any more time."


    Kaiser nodded at his words and Viktor continued, "My nation needs some help in defending our country from the native threats, the monsters."


    "Okay."


    "What I came here to do is negotiate with you so that my nation would be able to acquire some of your country''s anti-monster weaponry."


    Kaiser smirked and nodded, "Straight to the point...well, if it''s a matter of weaponry, then I''m sure we can negotiate a few things given the right price."


    "Very well, this is what our country has to offer. Yuri, the papers," Viktor waved his arm out to the side and the woman, who was most likely his secretary immediately stepped forward and went around the table over to Fatima and handed her some papers.


    Seeing how clear and concise this man was, Kaiser took quite a liking to him. He didn''t bullshit or put up a front like Tristan had. Fatima quickly took the papers and presented them to her father.


    Seeing the conditions, resources, and the very interesting piece of information that the leader of the NWR put up, Kaiser didn''t see any reason to refuse him. The only thing that he wanted to do was to lower the amount of weaponry he would provide.


    "We''ll need to discuss things a bit more. I don''t see anything wrong with the price you''re giving me, but 100 anti-monster cannons, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, and over a 500 anti-monster ballistae... it''s a little bit much, right? Also, about that nice piece of info at the end, while I may not be interested in it, but I think my son would be."


    "This can all naturally be negotiated. Shall we have our representatives do this, or shall we do it ourselves?"


    "Why not let our subordinates do all of this? It''s been nearly 2 hours. Why not take a break for now?"


    "Alright, let''s do that."


    They discussed a bit and decided that their secretaries along with some of their advisors would be the ones negotiating their terms for the sale and purchase. Fatima naturally took on this responsibility with a few of the other representative families while on Viktor''s side, his aide, the woman from earlier, Yuri, and a few of his advisors would be the ones representing him.


    "I would like to take a look around your city, is that possible?" Viktor asked.


    "Matheus."


    "Yes, father. Mr. Viktor, please, this way. If you''d like to take a look around, I''d be happy to guide you," Matheus said.


    "Ah, so you must be the crown prince. It''s a pleasure," Viktor said as he stuck his hand out for a handshake.


    Matheus quickly took his hand and shook it, "The pleasure is mine, sir."


    "As for you, Mr. Tristan?" Kaiser turned to ask.


    "Hmm... I think I''ll be staying in my quarters for now. The journey here was tiring and before we even got a chance to rest, we were called for the meeting," Tristan replied with a hum.


    Kaiser nodded and had his men escort Tristan back to his accommodation within the city.


    Augustus remained seated since he still had something to talk with Kaiser. Kaiser naturally saw this and dismissed everyone from the room. Once everyone was out, he immediately asked, "What is it, Augustus?"


    "...Are you going to play dumb, or do you need me to say it to you?" Augustus replied with a grimace.


    "..."

 Chapter 388 - Dealing with the Goldenias

    Kaiser scoffed in reply and said, "If you''re here to apologize, then save it. What I hate the most is if someone instigated some fools to actually attack my family and especially my wife!"


    "..."


    "Father, why not let me handle their punishment. I already gave them an ultimatum earlier," Cecil spoke up right after.


    Augustus quickly snapped his head around a finally noticed that the boy was there.


    "Hello, Mr. Augustus, long time no see," Cecil said with a smirk. It wasn''t a long time however since technically, they had just met up a few hours ago.


    "Y-yes, Cecil... it has been... a ''long'' time..." Augustus replied.


    Cecil smiled at him before he sat himself down at the conference table.


    "Cecil, is your talk with your friends and that mentor of yours over?"


    "Yes, it''s ended."


    "Good...about that ultimatum, what did you have them do? It better not be too lenient, they tried to attack your mother, my wife!"


    "Jeez, dad, I already told you that it''s already taken care of. We won''t need to send anyone over to help them with their battles, although I did send Quinn over to help," Cecil replied.


    Kaiser nodded when he heard this but Augustus was a little bit infuriated. He stood up in anger and quickly said, "I know that what I have done is unforgivable, taking advantage of your family like that, but I never intended to do them harm! Also, the result of the attack on your kingdom ended in your favor! I only did all this because I was thinking about MY people! We''re about to be attacked by a foreign country who we thought were friendlies! My people''s lives are at stake and you''ve already agreed to help us! Yet, you send me only 1 person?!"


    "Relax, Augustus... unlike some of your people, my butler is a very competent person," Cecil rolled his eyes and said.


    "..."


    "His skills in combat are almost on par with my wives, but his skill in reconnaissance and subterfuge is beyond anyone I''ve seen before. I recruited him as a butler because I saw his potential and let me tell you, I NEVER take in trash..."


    "But just one person¡ª"


    "It''ll be enough. Why not have a little bit more faith in your daughter, Augustus," Kaiser immediately spoke. If his son said that one person was enough, then it was definitely enough.


    Augustus still wasn''t convinced and he tried to argue.


    "It''s not that I do not have faith in her...but if you let this be, then more people will die! If you help us then innocent lives can be spared and meaningless casualties will not occur!"


    Kaiser thought about this as well. He was also feeling a little bit conflicted since if he just took action and pardoned Augustus''s previous transgression which was motivated with the good of his people in mind that also resulted in no harm being done to his family, few less lives would be lost in the coming conflict.


    Augustus had managed to secure some help from the UF and NWR for the reason that he was successfully able to introduce the two leaders to Kaiser, but he was still not convinced of their prospects of winning the war if the Silvaria Kingdom didn''t participate.


    "...I''m going to be frank with you, Augustus," Cecil spoke up. "I could care less about the lives of your people."


    "!"


    "..." Kaiser remained silent but frowned at his son''s words.


    "You can call me heartless, but generally, I don''t care. If you hadn''t schemed against our family, then we would have provided more help for you. However, I''m being lenient by not eradicating your entire family."


    "..."


    "I did take a liking to your daughter, but it was only because of her abilities, and not because I''m attracted to her. Honestly, have you even seen my wives? Why would I even look for more when I have two very beautiful women always at my sides?"


    "Urk..."


    Augustus couldn''t really argue with that, but Cecil''s disregard for human life did throw him off a bit.


    "Although I may disregard their lives, my father doesn''t, do remember that my father and I, we''re both different. However, this is my choice. Since my father has been busy managing the kingdom, I''ve taken it upon myself to manage the family. Also, the military forces of my kingdom are directly managed by my family so I do have a say in whether or not they''d be dispatched."


    "..."


    "Let this be a test for your family. As compensation for scheming against my family, I already said that we''d be taking over your lands regardless of whether you win or lose the war."


    "If we lose, then there won''t be anything left to take over!" Augustus growled.


    "Hmph, let me tell you something. This test I gave to your daughter will decide whether or not your family will remain the leader of the lands that you currently hold. I only plan on making your territory a satellite state for my kingdom, but if you can''t even pass my test, then I''ll have to replace you."


    "!"


    "I''m sure your daughter won''t disappoint me. She did catch my eye after all, and let me tell you, the people who do catch my eye are few. I for one have confidence that she''ll succeed. There may be casualties, but what kind of war will you be fighting if not even a single one of your soldiers die in the conflict?"


    "..."


    Seeing Augustus remain silent as he began pondering Cecil''s words, Cecil quickly stood up and said, "I''ll end this here. Just know that my butler alone will be enough to help your family come out of this crisis and the abilities that your daughter holds will let you keep your family''s position in your lands."


    Cecil walked towards the door but before he exited the room he dropped a few words behind, "Also, if my butler does report to me that your family''s war situation is bleak, I''ll be heading over personally with my kingdom''s army to repel those people from Faustus. I still have a bone to pick with them since they attacked my family after all."


    "!"


    "Hmm..."


    After leaving behind those words, Cecil exited the room and went back to his family''s estate.


    Back inside, Augustus leaned back into his chair and released a heavy sigh of relief. Despite what Cecil had been saying, in the end, he would still be sending over the Silvaria Kingdom''s army to deal with the Faustus Archduchy.


    Although it was only if the war situation became dire but at least there was reassurance that Cecil would still make a move.


    "Kaiser that son of yours... how in the world did you bring him up?"


    "You''re asking me that when he was missing ever since we suddenly arrived at this god-forsaken planet?"


    "..."


    "He grew up learning different morals and ethics. It''s not surprising since this world is so much more different than ours..."


    "But you could at least teach him a little bit of our morals."


    "Can''t you see?"


    "Hm?"


    "He''s learning it bit by bit. Even after all he''s said, in the end, my son still informed you that he would mobilize our kingdom''s troops once the situation has gone dire," Kaiser replied with a slight grin on his face.


    "...I''ll be leaving now. I need to get some rest."


    "Mhm...also, you should come over to the estate later. You have to apologize to my wife."


    "...fine..."


    Today, Augustus learned a very valuable lesson. Never mess with the Silvaria family''s women.


    ******


    Going back to Quinn, the butler was currently infiltrating the island that the Goldenia family had discovered to be the gathering spot of the Faustus Archduchy''s army and navy.


    He was currently moving around stealthily and observing the large encampment situated in the middle of the island. Quinn had already seen the large fleet that was gathered in the waters at the far end of the island.


    There was a natural cove on the island where the Faustus Archduchy had built a port and docked their battlesh.i.p.s at. Most of the larger battlesh.i.p.s were here while the smaller ones were used to constantly patrol around the island.


    The only way Quinn had snuck on the island was because he left his ship a few kilometers away and swam all the way over. He knew the generally direction of the island since he could already see it from afar.


    Katya thought that it was a very reckless plan and didn''t want him to even execute it, but the butler wouldn''t take no for an answer. They needed the information and they needed it badly.


    If Quinn was able to get all of the information regarding the number of enemy soldiers that would attack them, the date they would launch their attack, and the plans to do it, then it would give them the foresight to try and plan out a counterstrategy.


    His Master wanted him to aid Katya and her family to the best of his ability so he gave it his all. Katya was naturally moved when she saw the lengths that Quinn took to help her out. She could only give him her blessing and hope that his plan would go without a hitch.


    She provided him with the ship, crew, and location of the island while she promised to give it her all on her front. Katya hadn''t properly slept for days since she was frantically issuing out orders to her family members and visiting people every day while also supervising the training of their army''s mages.


    Katya had received the highest authority from her father so none of her family members tried to object to her orders and plans. Instead, due to the crisis that they were facing, they banded together and helped her.


    At the moment, Katya had finished training the mages in their army and was pacing about inside of her room, clearly worried about something.


    "I-I wonder how he''s doing... I don''t think it would hurt to check...right?"


    Katya took out the MID she received from Cecil and quickly tried to call Quinn and check how he was doing. When the call got through, Katya immediately spoke up.


    "Q-Quinn?"


    "...What is it now?"


    "H-how goes the operation? Did you manage to sneak onto the island?"


    "I''m already on the island. Please don''t bother me right now. It was only a few minutes ago that you called! Shouldn''t you be busy with something else right now?"


    "I already finished training the troops earlier and now I''m on a short break..."


    "You called me when you were training the troops? Don''t be sidetracked, Katya Goldenia. Get your priorities straight and get back to work. Also, don''t call me. I can''t be disturbed right now," Quinn said and quickly ended the call.


    When Katya saw that Quinn had ended the all, she began pouting.


    "Geez... a little word of thank you would be nice! Can''t that stupid butler see that I''m just worried! This operation was totally reckless. No backup and no support. He could die if he made a mistake! What will I tell Cecil if his butler dies because I agreed to send him on a stupid mission like this..." Katya groaned and grumbled but quickly recomposed herself.


    Just like Quinn said, she really needed to get herself into gear and start working again. However, after a few hours of not receiving a single call from Quinn, she started growing anxious again.

 Chapter 389 - Quinn’s Operation

    The day had turned into night and the full moon was shining down on the lands. Inside of the Goldenia family''s main house, Katya was inside her bedroom trying to force herself to sleep. However, she couldn''t because of how anxious she was feeling.


    Ever since she had arrived a few days ago back at her family''s territory and met up with Quinn, she had been receiving the man''s help on a daily basis. The butler had provided her with accurate information about her family''s lands and had aided her in recruiting more people in their army to defend against the impending Faustus Archduchy''s invasion.


    He not only helped her recruit them, but he even helped her train them. They weren''t sure until how long the Faustus Archduchy would stay their hand and gather up their forces before they launched an attack, but they did all they could to prepare.


    Quinn had also helped Katya secure an absolute position in her family. Even though her father had given her the highest authority to command her family, some of her family members in the branch families didn''t care about it and went around doing their own things.


    Quinn had put them in their place for Katya which led to the Goldenia family finally being a bit more solidary than before. No one in the family questioned Katya''s orders. The bolder ones did step up to give her suggestions which she would naturally consider, but anyone that so much as disrespected her and rebuked her would be dealt with immediately by Quinn on the spot.


    The cold-faced young man was so frightening that they feared his punishment more than they feared Katya''s anger and rebuke. Seeing as Quinn was constantly protecting her honor, Katya had grown to like the young man over the past few days, although, they would always argue about things every now and then.


    When the other Goldenia family members saw how they interacted over the past days, they wondered why Katya wasn''t back at the Silvaria Kingdom trying to seduce Cecil into marrying her but was instead here, frolicking with a young man who seemed to be a butler.


    They didn''t know who to ask so they kept it to themselves. Katya had been busy throughout the entire day but after she had leaned back into her pillow to sleep, her anxious mindset and worry for the young man who had been helping her kicked in so she couldn''t sleep.


    She took out her MID and debated whether not she should call him. Quinn did tell her that he didn''t want to be bothered right now since he was doing something important. However, Katya couldn''t stop her impulse and clicked a few times on the MID and called Quinn.


    She waited for a long time before the call connected.


    "...What is it? Didn''t I tell you not to call me?"


    "E-eh? Uhm... I-I was just wondering if you were okay or not..."


    "...tch...it''s late, just go to sleep."


    Sensing that Quinn was about to end the call, Katya quickly spoke up.


    "W-wait!"


    "What now?"


    "H-How goes the mission?"


    "I already finished gathering all that I needed."


    "R-really?! Then, are you still on the island?"


    "...Why would I still be there when I''m already done?"


    "S-so you''re on your way back?"


    "Yeah...I''ll be arriving at the dock in an hour or so..."


    "O-okay! I-I''ll see you later then!"


    "Hm? Okay..."


    Katya quickly ended the call and jumped out of her bed. She went to her wardrobe and began pulling out some clothes. After picking one that she was satisfied with, she darted out of her room and shot straight out of her house and went towards the dock.


    *****


    A few hours earlier, Quinn had just ended his call with Katya. He had just finished interrogating the commanding officer of the fleet and was able to get some pretty good intel. Quinn didn''t finish off the officer since that would arouse suspicion.


    He instead fed him a hallucination and memory-loss drug before putting him to bed in the bedroom located adjacent to the office. Quinn didn''t forget to take a few doc.u.ments from the office and copied them.


    He made sure to get all of the information he could get about the current state of the Faustus Archduchy''s gathered forces, their numbers, rations, everything. He pilfered the entire office of information and copied them into a magic tome that Cecil had given him.


    With the intelligence he got from the commanding officer and the information he acquired from all of the doc.u.ments, Quinn''s mission was as good as done. He didn''t forget to map out the island. He had drawn the exact locations of every building, patrol route, and enemy ship situated on and around the island.


    With this, Quinn concocted a plan in his mind. He was going to return to Katya first and see what she thinks about it before they could continue. Speaking about the girl, Quinn found it quite cute that the girl had called her earlier, clearly worried about his situation and wellbeing.


    He shook his head and chuckled since he found it quite amusing. He also found it troubling since the girl should be more focused on her duties and preparations than on him. It wasn''t like he was some helpless fool.


    After gathering up everything he needed, Quinn was just about to head out, but when he was about to head off of the island, he took one last look at the cove, and on the horizon, he saw a large fleet of sh.i.p.s heading towards the island.


    Seeing the new development, Quinn naturally wanted to know what was up. He decided against returning right away and camped out to wait for the large fleet to get here.


    He noticed them stop a few hundred meters away from the island and smaller boats with people on them were let down and rowed to the port inside of the cove.


    Quinn noticed that on one of the rowboats, two important looking figures, a man and a woman, were standing on the bow of their respective rowboats. The commanding officer wasn''t present to greet them so the vice-commander had come out.


    When Quinn moved in closer to observe, he was able to listen in and he quickly found out that of the two people who had just arrived, the man was the Field Marshal of the Faustus Archduchy''s army, Ashtarh Imunic, and the woman, Jena Nohkurl, was the archduchy''s Fleet Admiral.


    It was obvious that these two were sent over to lead the invasion on the Goldenia family''s territory in the No-Man''s Lands.


    Quinn frowned at this sudden development. The only reason why these two important figures would even be here was because the Faustus Archduchy was now ready to attack. Remembering that their preparations weren''t even finished, Quinn clicked his tongue in annoyance.


    "Could it be that they hastened things up because they weren''t able to receive word from their young lord?"


    Quinn didn''t think any further since he was able to hear the two Generals ask about their Young Lord who they weren''t able to contact in the past few days after he had gone to secretly meet with the Goldenia family''s young lady.


    Quinn trailed behind them and was able to find out that they would commence their attack ahead of schedule. Once the next batch of soldiers who were scheduled to arrive next week or so arrives, they would immediately initiate their attack in the following days.


    After getting what he needed, Quinn quickly decided to head back to Goldfire City, the Goldenia family''s main city where Katya was at. He needed to quickly inform her about this. He wanted to call her, but decided against it since the woman might be busy.


    It was better if he said it in person anyways so after he got to the edge of the island, he immediately began swimming back to his ship that was a few kilometers away from the island after he made sure that it was safe.


    The swim back was a bit taxing since the patrol routes and the number of patrolling sh.i.p.s had increased because the two army generals had arrived. It took him an hour or two to break out of the Faustus Archduchy''s controlled perimeter.


    After he got back to his ship, he immediately had the crew steer the ship back to the Goldenia family''s territory.


    On the way back, he got a call from Katya since it was so late. He was quite surprised that the girl hadn''t called him earlier since she had kept on calling him every few minutes after he had first departed.


    After he had ended the call with Katya, it didn''t take long before he arrived back at Goldfire City''s port. When he disembarked, he saw Katya waiting for him at the port. Seeing her wave at him, Quinn walked over to her.


    "You''re back! That''s great!"


    "Yeah... did you wait?"


    "Hm? No, I just got word that your ship had returned and quickly went out to greet you."


    "...I see..."


    It was a lie. Quinn was able to probe her with his Ki and noticed that her body temperature was a bit low, like she had been waiting there for a good while.


    "Let''s head back to your house. I have some information to give you."


    "How about we leave that for tomorrow? You just got back and didn''t you have to swim to get to and from the island? You should go take a shower first and sleep. We can talk about the information you got tomorrow. It''s already so late and I''m pretty tired," Katya said.


    "..."


    Quinn glanced at her before nodding.


    "Alright...then I''ll be going then."


    "Why not just stay at my house?" Katya stopped him and said.


    "?"


    Seeing his questioning look, Katya immediately spoke up in a fl.u.s.ter, "I-If you stay, we can immediately begin discussing things early tomorrow!"


    "...Hm, alright."


    Getting his approval, Katya quickly led him to her house. The other members of her family had been stirred awake earlier since they saw her rush out of the house. When she got back with Quinn, they grumbled and only thought that she just went to fetch her boyfriend.


    "You can pick any room! There''s a shower and bath in each room so make yourself at home. Also, if you need anything, just ask the maid¡ª"


    "Is it alright if I borrow your kitchen?"


    "H-Huh? Y-yeah, it''s fine!"


    Quinn nodded and quickly entered an empty room and shut the door behind him. Katya wanted to say something more but having the door shut in her face, she felt a bit dejected and puffed up her cheeks.


    She dejectedly went back towards her room and slumped on her bed and whined.


    "Stupid..."

 Chapter 390 - Imminent Attack

    A few moments later just before Katya was about to fall asleep, a knock was heard on her door.


    "Hmmm?"


    "Miss Katya, are you up?"


    Hearing the familiar voice, Katya''s eyes snapped wide open and she darted straight for the door but before she got there, she took a look at herself in the mirror and straightened her hair and attire before opening the door.


    "W-what is it, Quinn?"


    Quinn was standing there at the doorway with a tray in his hands. He gave the girl a look before saying, "Here, I made this for you. Next time, don''t stay out so late. I don''t need anyone to come and wait for me."


    "Eh? O-okay..."


    Quinn took the tray and walked into the room. He looked around before heading straight to the nightstand beside Katya''s large bed. He placed the tray there before heading back out.


    "U-Uhm, thank you!" Katya quickly said.


    Quinn glanced at her and nodded before walking out and closing the door behind him.


    "Hnnnnhhh... he''s so hard to please..." Katya mumbled before going to the nightstand and looking at the array of warm dishes that Quinn had given her.


    She took a sip of the soup and was a little surprised, "Hmm... it''s warm...and good..."


    ******


    The night passed and soon dawn finally broke on the next day. Quinn had been organizing some of the information he got from yesterday throughout the night and had only gotten a few hours of sleep.


    He looked at the time and saw that it was just in the wee hours of the morning so he decided to get some more rest. He only woke up when a knock was heard on his door.


    "Quinn? Are you still asleep?"


    The butler got up from his bed and rubbed his eyes. He quickly put on his glasses and walked over to the door and opened it since he knew that it was Katya who was calling out to him.


    "What is it? I''m sorry, I overslept..."


    "W-wah?! Ah, uhm... p-p-p-p-please put on some clothes first?! I-I-I''ll be waiting for you downstairs!" Katya exclaimed after she got a good look at Quinn''s n.a.k.e.d body. It was a feast for her eyes but she grew too embarrassed to keep on staring. She turned her head away and after saying her piece, Katya hastily dashed away. Quinn''s muscular and attractive body was a bit too deadly for her.


    The butler in question only looked on in daze at Katya''s retreating figure, wondering why she ran away like that. Quinn looked down and noticed that he wasn''t wearing a shirt. He returned inside and calmly began getting himself ready. After he had finished, Quinn walked down to the Goldenia family''s living room where he sensed that Katya was waiting for him.


    On the way, he couldn''t help but sense that the eyes of all of the maids he passed by were looking at him strangely. When he glanced at them, they would all turn their heads away with a blush.


    He frowned but didn''t pay it any mind and continued towards the living room. When Katya saw him enter, she immediately stood up and greeted him.


    "G-Good Morning...did you sleep well?"


    Quinn nodded and said, "I''m sorry for my tardiness... I overslept. Here, I compiled all of the information that I acquired from the Faustus Archduchy''s forward base of operations."


    "..."


    Katya eyed the butler peculiarly. He hadn''t eaten or done anything yet and the first thing that came out of his mouth was business. She really couldn''t understand the thought process of this stiff person.


    She sighed and just took the thick report that was handed to her. She discretely eyed her family''s maids and they quickly got the meaning of what she was trying to convey with her eyes. They all smiled at her and a few went towards the kitchen to ask the chefs to fix something up for Quinn.


    While Katya was taking a look at the report, Quinn was on the side constantly giving her some input to his thoughts on the information she was reading. She also debated with him on their next plan of action when Quinn informed her that the Fleet Admiral and the Army Marshal had arrived on the island.


    "In the next 2 weeks, the Faustus Archduchy could attack us at any minute... many of our soldiers aren''t ready..."


    "We should begin enlisting some of the citizens and craftsmen to begin building walls and defenses all over the port and have some of our forces disperse into the surrounding area and keep watch over the bay. I''m not sure if they''ll attack us head-on, but we should still keep contingencies just in case they decide to land elsewhere," Quinn said.


    "It''s not likely. Everywhere else other than our part of the bay is pretty dangerous to disembark from due to the reefs and unfavorable landscape. If the Fleet Admiral is smart, she''ll certainly try and attack us head-on since she knows that her forces are better than ours in both quality and quantity..."


    Katya massaged her brows after she said this. She needed to report this to all of her allies and subordinates to see if they had any input on the matter. She had already scheduled a meeting with everyone later this afternoon but with the information she got, things were already looking bleak for them.


    The Faustus Archduchy had dispatched over 150,000 men to invade their land and they had numerous battlesh.i.p.s and gunboats with crude cannons installed on them. They didn''t have much of a navy so fighting it out on the waters would be suicide.


    Plus, their defenses on land were not looking so good as well. They didn''t have anything that could strike the enemy sh.i.p.s from long range like their cannons. All they had were ballistae and trebuchets. The ballistae could only cover a few hundred meters away from their port while the trebuchets were awfully bad with their aim. The enemy sh.i.p.s could just attack them from afar, destroy their coastal defenses before disembarking their soldiers.


    This is exactly why Augustus wanted the Silvaria Kingdom''s help. He needed their advanced weaponry to defend against the Faustus Archduchy''s army. Katya groaned when she thought about what Cecil said to her the last time they met.


    "Take care of our own problems... Nngh, we can''t ask for support or help from them..."


    "..."


    Quinn remained silent and indifferent. This wasn''t his problem. He already did all he could to help by providing them with information on the enemy and directly infiltrating the enemy''s base to find out about their plans.


    Before Katya could continue agonizing over their bleak situation, a shout interrupted her chain of thoughts.


    "S-Sister! C-come out, there''s something you need to see!" Emilie, Katya sister burst into the room and exclaimed in obvious excitement.


    "What is it, Em? Honestly, I don''t want to be bothered right now! My head''s aching from all this bad news..."


    "If it''s aching then this should be the pain-reliever! Quickly come out and see! This''ll definitely help us in defending our land!"


    Seeing her sister''s excitement, Katya grew curious and walked out of the house. Emilie led her to their city''s gates and just outside, Katya saw an amazing sight unfold before her.


    "Let it down there! We''ll be assembling this here before dragging them into the city! Hurry! We''re on a tight schedule! We still have to deliver the rest of the cargo over to the NWR!"


    "Parts 1-3, bring it over here! Where''s team B? Shouldn''t they be assembling the¡ªoh, they''re already finished?"


    "Over here! Hurry and inform the city''s representative and have their soldiers move the assembled ones already!"


    Katya looked around and saw the many people busy at work in front of her city''s gates.


    "W-what''s all this?"


    "A present," Quinn said from beside her.


    "Huh?"


    "It''s from your father. He was able to negotiate a few things with my family''s patriarch and they came to an agreement. Master Kaiser was willing to sell a few of our Storm Howlers to your Goldenia family."


    One of the workers who was shouting orders and assembling the cannons quickly noticed Quinn and Katya and hastily walked over to them.


    "Ah, Mr. Quinn, our president said that we would find you here. Please sign here and here," The man said while handing Quinn a form. He turned to look at Katya and asked, "And is this Miss Katya?"


    "Yes, that''s me," Katya replied.


    The worker nodded and presented her a form, "Please sign this."


    Katya quickly took the paper from the man and signed it. She turned to look around and saw at least 20 cannons being assembled right in front of her city''s walls. 2 of them were already finished and were just sitting there in front of the gates.


    "Alright, since we''ve got your signatures, you can now take the already assembled cannons into the city."


    "Yes, but how do we operate them? No one in my city knows how to work these things," Katya asked.


    "I''m sorry, Ma''am. We''re just the delivery team. Once we''ve assembled the cannons, we''ll be taking our leave. We still have another place to head to after this."


    "Uh..."


    "Don''t worry Miss Katya, Master Kaiser has already sent some men over to teach your people how to operate these cannons," Quinn quipped up from the side.


    "O-okay...that''s good to hear..."


    "We should have your men come and take these into the city. Start by placing them in strategic places around the bay. These Storm Howlers have an effective distance of 15-20 kilometers. I''m sure we can defend the entirety of the bay using these cannons even if they''re just fixed in place at the city."


    "...Quinn, why didn''t you tell me about this earlier? I was agonizing over how we were going to defend the bay all morning!"


    "...You never asked..."


    "..."


    Katya released a tired sigh before ordering her subordinates to quickly wheel in the already finished cannons. Soon, all 20 cannons were finished assembling and were moved into the city.


    Katya immediately gathered up her collaborators for a meeting. After the meeting, they were able to form an effective defensive formation around the bay using the cannons. They immediately had their soldiers move the cannons into their fixed positions around the bay and not long after, a few people from Silvaria arrived at the city.


    Katya and a few of her people came out to greet them. They were the instructors that were sent from Silvaria Kingdom to educate their people on how to operate the Storm Howlers. Katya immediately selected some of her best men to form 20 squadrons with 5 people in each squad to man the weapons.


    The instructors immediately began teaching these people how to fire and operate the cannons. Throughout the day, multiple cannon fire was heard coming from all 20 cannons stationed around the bay. The city became pretty lively as all of the citizens came out to witness the glorious sight of the cannons firing out into the bay.


    The citizens cheered and began celebrating. Today turned into a mini-festival for everyone in the city. They were now all hopeful about their future after they received this huge boon.


    Since only mana was needed to fire the cannons, they didn''t need to worry about ammunition and all. They could keep firing all day if they had to. Of course, they didn''t want to ruin the cannons by recklessly firing them. Also, the cannons had the option of firing pure Mana Missiles or custom-made projectiles that were shot out of the cannon by mana.


    The Silvaria Kingdom had provided of few of these projectiles for them, but they were limited in amount. Katya and her people decided that they would use these projectiles only when they were pushed into a dire situation.


    Katya had already shared the information about the Faustus Archduchy''s imminent attack on their land to all of her subordinates and allies, and soon, everyone became busy. They didn''t despair at the news but were instead determined to keep their lands safe from the clutches of the Faustus Archduchy.


    With the new weaponry that they were able to acquire, they had some confidence in being able to defend their lands. They also received news that the UF and NWR would be sending some of their troops to help in the defense in the following week so they were more reassured now.


    The important families in the Goldenia Territory who had no trust in the Goldenia Family had a change of heart and started to become more cooperative with Katya. If they won the war, they knew that the power structure of the Goldenia Territory would be rebalanced.


    They didn''t want to lose their standings and wanted to gain more influence so participating in the defense was a must.


    Seeing as things were going so well, Katya felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Throughout the entire time, Quinn was always next to her, quietly observing the proceedings with indifference.

 Chapter 391 - Incompatible

    During times of trouble the best thing to do was to keep the people''s mood and morale high. Katya decided to hold a city-wide festival today to celebrate the new hope that was brought to them.


    The citizens welcomed this eagerly. For the past few weeks, they had been pressured under a heavy and desolate atmosphere due to the fact that everyone knew that war was going to be coming to their lands and they had a minute chance of winning.


    Now, though, hope was sprouting in the hearts of every citizen. They had been thrust into these savage and unsympathetic lands where lives were lost left and right during the early stages. Everything had just stabilized for these people but soon, a new problem cropped up due to some foreign power that was threatening to invade their lands and take it away from them.


    The cause of the problem was already known to all and that was Katya''s former boyfriend who had betrayed her and was covetously eyeing their lands. Due to that, Katya had lost her standing in the city and in her family, but after she made a comeback by securing Quinn''s help and the Silvaria Kingdom''s weapons, although the latter was because of her father, the city''s inhabitants and her family''s people began accepting her again.


    Before, everyone in her family just viewed her as pawn to be sold over to the Silvaria family in exchange for their cooperation, but not anymore. After coming back, she was able to gather her forces and unite all of the important families, factions, and companies under her family''s banner once again after they had lost faith in them due to her own blunder.


    Katya was relaxing near the port and watching the people play at the beach nearby. Today, she let everyone take a breather from their duties just so they could relax and spend some time with their families.


    All of her subordinates and people deserved it. Quinn had just finished looking at the defensive cannon formation around the bay area and saw Katya relaxing at a pier, all alone. He walked over to her and spoke up, "Why are you here alone?"


    "Huh? Oh, Quinn... well, I just wanted to be alone, that''s all."


    Quinn nodded and turned around to walk away. Katya nearly flopped on her back when she saw him leave like that.


    "H-hey! Can''t you be a bit more tactful and ask if you''d like to keep me company?"


    "...You said you wanted to be alone," Quinn curtly replied.


    "Not anymore! P-Please keep me company! I-if you can that is..." Katya said while fidgeting with her fingers.


    "Sorry, but I have to take another look at everything and patrol around the area. You sent everyone today on break so there still should be someone to keep a lookout."


    "D-Don''t bother with that! I already sent some others who had volunteered to go on patrol! You already made your round already, why can''t you at least take a break?!"


    "Is this an order?"


    "Huh?"


    "I''m here to help you. If you order me to do anything, I''ll naturally comply, if I can," Quinn replied.


    "Th-then this is an order! I want you to remain here and accompany me!" Katya boldly said.


    "...Okay."


    Quinn nodded and walked over. He leaned on a wooden pillar and shut his eyes.


    "...Hey... I asked you to accompany me..."


    "Aren''t I doing that now?"


    "You''re just standing there silently like a statue!"


    "...This still counts as a form of accompaniment. At least you''re not alone anymore, right?"


    "Tch... that''s not what I meant!"


    "Then what did you mean?"


    When Quinn asked her this, Katya was left speechless, trying to find the right words to say what she wanted.


    "Uhh, I want you to talk to me!"


    "Okay, then how are the preparations for tomorrow?"


    "Tomorrow, we already scheduled to¡ªhey! This is not what I meant!"


    "..."


    Quinn frowned at her. She wanted him to talk to her and that''s exactly what he was doing, but that didn''t satisfy her. Honestly, he didn''t have anything to talk with her other than business. He was only a helper after all and besides, small talk wasn''t exactly Quinn''s forte.


    Seeing the little lady pouting, Quinn sighed and opened his mouth, "Why are you here by yourself and not enjoying the festival?"


    "Hn?"


    "You organized this so abruptly but instead of enjoying it and celebrating with the rest of your citizens, you instead isolate yourself here..."


    "W-Well, I''m not sure if I should still go out in public yet..."


    "Hm?"


    "W-Well... since I was the cause of our state''s problems... people began hating me and even my family members started isolating me... Well, you probably know that since you had to help me keep them under control when we first met up..."


    "Yeah, it was a hassle," Quinn frankly said.


    "Y-you really don''t mix your words, do you?"


    ???"


    "Never mind," Katya replied after seeing his questioning look. "Anyway, I don''t think everyone else has forgiven me just yet. I mean, sure, I did bring them some hope, but honestly, I''m just...cleaning up my own mess... just like Cecil said I should do..."


    "...Things from the past can''t be erased, all you can do is own up to it. It may have been your fault, but you should refrain from dwelling on it. The people can see that you''re doing your best to make amends."


    "Ehehe~ thanks, Quinn..."


    Quinn only nodded in reply to her thanks and didn''t say more.


    Seeing his indifferent look, Katya began pouting. She could see that it was more like a chore for him to accompany her here. Even though Quinn had an unreadable expression on his face, Katya could somehow tell that his words from earlier were spoken only for the sake of saying it.


    It was neither sincere nor insincere. She could tell that she only said it because he wanted to hurry up and get on with his work.


    ''Well since you wanna work, then why don''t we put you to work then?'' Katya inwardly thought.


    "Thanks for accompanying me, Quinn!"


    "Mhm... so, can I go now?"


    "Sure! You have to go and inspect some things, right?"


    "I''m glad you understand," Quinn curtly replied before walking away.


    A few moments later, Quinn couldn''t help but open his mouth.


    "...What''re you doing?"


    "Hn? What''s the matter?" Katya asked from beside Quinn.


    "Aren''t you on break, Miss Katya?"


    "Ahaha~ don''t worry about that! You accompanied me earlier so I thought I should repay that debt!"


    "There''s no need¡ª"


    "But I insist~"


    "..."


    Seeing as the girl wouldn''t relent, Quinn decided to just let her be. It was obvious that she wouldn''t stop following him even if he asked her too. He wanted to dash away in a hurry, but Katya seemed to have foreseen it and quickly clung onto his arm.


    "H-hey!"


    "Hmm?"


    "..."


    "Hmhmhm~" Katya''s only response was to widely smile back at him.


    Quinn let out a sigh and tried to pry her away from him but she only clung onto him even tighter.


    "Let go..."


    "No!"


    "...Miss Katya, please act a bit more appropriately... weren''t you supposed to be betrothed to my¡ª"


    "I wasn''t betrothed to anyone, okay Quinn? Remember that the outcome of the duel only made Cecil interested in my abilities, not in me as a person."


    "..."


    "But I''m rather interested in you though~"


    "Hm, you flatter me, but honestly, the two of us wouldn''t work out," Quinn quickly said and shot her down.


    Having been shot down even before she could properly ask him out, Katya immediately exclaimed in question, "H-Huh? W-why?!"


    Right when she asked him that question in shock, Quinn was able to find a brief moment when she loosened her grip around him and quickly broke away from her.


    "Q-Quinn?!"


    He didn''t dash away, but instead turned to face Katya. He looked back at her indifferently and said, "We may have spent some time together because of this cooperation, but please see this as nothing more than a business transaction. I helped you only because my Master told me too. Also, shouldn''t you be pursuing my Master instead of me?"


    "I''ve never had any feelings for Cecil!"


    "Oh, I''m already assured of that. I''m pretty good at reading people after all."


    "Th-then..."


    "Do you even know me?"


    "Huh?"


    "You don''t even know who I am and you say that you''re interested in me. This may sound harsh, but all I''ve seen in you is but a little girl who was betrayed by her former lover and was shunned by everyone around. The next person who helps you...is someone I''m sure you''ll grow reliant on. This time it was me but, it didn''t have to be. It could have been anyone else."


    "I-it''s because it''s you that¡ª"


    "Miss Katya, what you''re searching for isn''t love but recognition," Quinn quickly cut her off.


    "..."


    "Feelings such as that are sacred and you shouldn''t just toss them out so wantonly. Isn''t it precisely because of that kind of mindset that you got yourself into trouble?"


    "But...y-you wouldn''t do that to me...would you?"


    Quinn let out tired sigh and said, "See, you don''t even know who I am exactly and you''re already assuming that... you should never assume to know what I''d do or won''t do, alright? To be clear, if my Master gave me the order, I could easily betray you or anyone for that matter."


    "!"


    "There''s also another thing that makes us incompatible. Do remember that I''m just a mere butler serving under my master. If you were to say, marry me, then you''d be starting a family with a person whose social status is much lower than yours. Also, do think about the future. My family would be serving under Master Cecil for generations to come. It''s been ages since my family has ever found another Lord that we''ve deemed to be worthy of serving."


    "W-wait! Wh-why would you want to serve under Cecil''s family all your life?!"


    Quinn shook his head and replied, "...See, you do not know me."


    "Urk..."


    "I know that you ''Earthlings'' aren''t from this world..."


    "...W-wait, you didn''t know that?" Katya asked in wonder. She thought Quinn already knew since he was always around Cecil. Cecil should have already told Quinn about it himself.


    "My Master hasn''t actually told me about it, but I''ve been able to infer it from my interactions with people in the city and in my Master''s family. I''m sure that my Master has probably forgotten about telling me...it''s just like him," Quinn replied with a light chuckle.


    "O-oh..."


    Quinn continued and said, "You''re mindsets are naturally different than ours. My family, the Holstice family, is a family of murderers, or should I say, assassins."


    "!"


    Seeing the shock on her face, Quinn''s eyes cooled a little. It was the same shock any normal person would have when they heard the fundamental background of his family.


    "I told you before, you don''t know me and that''s why you''re shocked. If my Master wanted me to eliminate your entire family, I wouldn''t hesitate to do so."


    "..."


    "Feelings can''t be cultivated only through this short period of time when we were together. After all of this, I''ll be heading back and Master Cecil will undoubtedly be giving me more missions, and then, we won''t see each other again. These feelings of ''affection'' and reliance will fade away in time," Quinn left behind these words before he walked away.


    Katya wanted to chase after him, but his words struck true in her heart. She started questioning whether she felt this way about Quinn due to her genuine feelings or only because of the situation she was in.


    Quinn''s logic was calculating and cold, but it did hold some merit. If she let her feelings get the better of her like before, then she might just throw her family into even bigger problems right after.


    Katya soon became dejected. She was no longer in the mood to take a break and decided to continue working again.

 Chapter 392 - It’s Them

    In the next few days, Katya and Quinn''s interactions became quite strained after their talk.


    This was mostly due to Katya because she would always try to run away or avoid talking to him other than the times where she had to during their daily meetings in the morning.


    For any time other than that, Katya would do her best to try and avoid Quinn since she felt that it was a bit awkward to even talk to him. In her heart, she still rather liked him and wanted to talk, but upon remembering that the man himself didn''t seem too keen on a relationship happening between them, she would grow depressed and run away.


    This continued until it became apparent to everyone that Katya was actively avoiding Quinn for some reason. To the others, they didn''t care. Only her closest people questioned her out of concern.


    Quinn was aware of what Katya was doing. He didn''t pay it any mind though because there were more important matters to attend to.


    He had been scouting out the area near the Faustus Archduchy''s forward base on the island he had last infiltrated. Over the past few days, he noticed that more and more sh.i.p.s and soldiers had arrived on the island.


    It was apparent that the Faustus Archduchy was going to launch their attack sometime soon. Even though they had better weaponry to aid in their defenses, Quinn was still a little bit concerned because he had a gut feeling that there was something wrong with the numbers he was seeing.


    The enemy numbers seemed to be a little bit too big from what was mentioned in the information he was able to steal from the enemy.


    "Tsk, they must have readjusted their plans. All I have to inform Katya..."


    Quinn quickly returned from his scouting mission and went to find Katya. It didn''t take him long to find her since in the past few days, Katya was always drowning herself in her work.


    When he entered her office, Katya was quite busy that she didn''t even notice him knocking or walking in. Quinn just silently looked at the girl who was reading and waited until she was finished.


    It was only an hour later that Katya finished reading. She pinched her brows and let out a tired sigh, it was also then that she finally noticed that somebody was staring at her. When she looked up to see the cold-faced butler looking back at her, she immediately recoiled in surprise.


    "Q-Q-Quinn!!! W-what''re you doing here? H-H-How''d you get in?"


    "...your secretary told me to just go in after I knocked."


    "H-how long ago was that?"


    "An hour."


    "You should have said something then!"


    "You looked busy, so I decided to wait."


    "But for an hour?"


    "It doesn''t matter."


    Hearing his smooth and curt replies, Katya once again released a tired sigh. She looked up at the butler and squirmed on the inside.


    ''Kuuuhhh... I really do like that cold face of his...''


    She shook away her distracting thoughts and asked, "So what brings you here, Quinn?"


    "I just finished scouting the enemy today, and it seems we have a problem," Quinn replied.


    "And the problem is?"


    "I made a rough observation and noticed that their numbers are much higher than what was stated from the intel that I stole from last time."


    "I see... but is it on a scale that we have to be worried about? After all, we do have those cannons now..."


    "I''m not exactly sure how much there are, but it''s always best to err on the side of caution. We can''t become too complacent just because we''ve got an upgrade to our defenses."


    Katya nodded and replied, "I''ll report this to our allies during the next meeting, but how are their movements? Does it look like they''re planning on attacking us anytime soon?"


    "There are too many patrols near the island so it''s hard for me to sneak in now. However, just based on my observation alone, they may attack us, at the earliest, tomorrow, and by the end of the week at the latest."


    "Is that so? I''ll have all of our men be on stand by and tighten the guard during the night. I don''t want them to catch us off guard..."


    "They haven''t sent even one scout our way...they are underestimating us..." Quinn said.


    "It''s okay, it''s better if they do. This way, we''ll be able to shock them with the Storm Howlers and hopefully take out as many of them as we can during their initial attack," Katya replied.


    "If they do dispatch any scouts, I''ll take care of them."


    "Then I''ll leave it up to you."


    Quinn nodded and excused himself from the room. Once he left, Katya leaned back on her chair and let out a somewhat sad smile. Throughout the entire conversation, Quinn had been so indifferent and had only treated it as if they were talking about business, which of course they were but, the butler wasn''t at all affected by what he said to her and didn''t even seem concerned about the way she had been constantly trying to avoid him for the past few days.


    *****


    Another couple of days had passed but the Faustus Archduchy still hadn''t attacked yet. By now, Quinn could tell that they were waiting for something, but he didn''t know what it was they were waiting for.


    They had sent a few scouting sh.i.p.s to scout out the Goldenia''s family port, but they were easily dispatched by the Storm Howlers and Quinn made sure to kill anyone who was left alive after the bombardment.


    After a few sh.i.p.s had gone and never returned, the Faustus Archduchy no longer sent any scouts. However, their numbers continued to increase on the island. They continued to gather sh.i.p.s and soldiers which they had stationed around the island.


    From Quinn''s last observation, there was even a fort being built on the island. Since the island was the only piece of land that could be found for a few tens of thousands of kilometers, it was a good place to set up a small port city to act as a waypoint for oncoming ocean traffic.


    It once belonged to the Goldenia family but the Faustus Archduchy took over it pretty easily, and after they did, they upgraded the island and had practically turned it into one of their naval bases now.


    Quinn wanted to go in and infiltrate their base once again, but it seemed to be impossible now. He could try but he''ll have to report it to Katya and he figured that the woman wouldn''t let him.


    ******


    Tonight was the last night of the month, the skies were covered with dark clouds and a torrential rainstorm was ensuing. Without any lighting on the bay area, no one would be able to see too far out since it was far too dark.


    Quinn had a gut-wrenching feeling that the Faustus Archduchy might attack during this time. They were waiting for something over the past few days and he had a hunch that it was the weather.


    The weather conditions on this night were just too favorable for a preemptive night raid. Any sounds of sh.i.p.s moving or cannons firing would be covered up by the rainstorm. The seas were churning and it was a dangerous time to even sail out on a boat, but Quinn had a feeling that the Faustus Archduchy would to exactly that.


    He asked Katya to keep the men alert and ready. Many of the soldiers were a little disgruntled because of this. However, they couldn''t go against their orders.


    Quinn only hoped that it was just a bad feeling of his, but unfortunately, that feeling turned out to be true. When the rainstorm grew even heavier, a loud crash of thunder was heard followed by the lightning.


    To others, it was only thunder and nothing else, however, in the next instance multiple explosion began bombarding the harbor.


    "Sound the alarm, the Faustus Archduchy is here!" Quinn roared out. The soldier who was closest to the alarm bells immediately began ringing them.


    At the sound of the bells, everyone in the harbor immediately became alert. After the first bell rang, more alarm bells followed suit until the ringing alerted the entire city. They had already prepared safety protocols for all of the citizens.


    Because of the knowledge that there was going to be a war coming to their territory, the Goldenia family had built bunkers near the outskirts of the city to evacuate and keep the citizens safe there.


    Back at the city walls overlooking the harbor, Quinn had to applaud the Faustus navy. They dared to sail set sail even when they were under such horrible weather. The violent waves that were crashing and churning could easily capsize any medium-sized ship. Yet, from the looks of things and judging by how much explosions were occurring at the harbor, a majority of the Faustus Navy had come.


    Through the intermittent flashes of lightning in the skies, Quinn was somehow able to make out the figures of the enemy sh.i.p.s. In the heavy rain, the movement of their troops was slow and the cannon squadrons weren''t at their post so the Storm Howler Cannons weren''t even firing back at the enemy.


    Quinn quickly went to search for Katya to ask why the cannon squadrons weren''t at their post today, especially when he specifically advised that everyone should be ready and on standby tonight. He was able to quickly find her hastily trying to get the men ready at the nearby barracks.


    "Cannon Squads 1-20, hurry and get to your stations! Dammit, we should''ve just had them stay near the cannons 24/7!"


    "Katya!" Quinn called out.


    "Quinn, it''s them, isn''t it?"


    "Yeah, I just had the feeling they would attack us tonight..."


    "Well, your hunch was correct. It''s a good thing we already had some of our troops on standby earlier, but they attacked us right as the cannon squadrons were changing shifts for dinner..."


    "...there''s a traitor in our ranks..."


    "Huh?"


    "I now understand why the Faustus Archduchy didn''t even send any sh.i.p.s to scout out the city...it''s because they might have already known."


    "..."


    "Think about it, there''s no way that the Faustus army would wait for this exact specific time to attack us. It''s nearly midnight, yet they chose to attack us now, especially when earlier the storm wasn''t this bad but our visions were already severely limited."


    "Dammit, we''ll have to worry about that later. If there is a traitor, then we can assume that the enemy already knows about our defenses..."


    "Most likely, it doesn''t matter now. We''ll just proceed with the plan and coordinate our troops. You did receive those communicators that your father purchased from the Silvaria Kingdom, right?"


    "Yeah, I already distributed them to all of our generals, captains, squad leaders, and lieutenants."


    "Good, we''ll communicate and coordinate with that. You go to the command center and overlook the situation, command us as you see fit. Also, I''ll be moving independently to help out anywhere I can, just keep me updated on the places that need support."


    "Alright."


    Quinn turned around and noticed that the bombardments from the enemy sh.i.p.s had somewhat eased up. Although it wasn''t as powerful as his Young Master''s, but Quinn was able to spread out his senses to the harbor. When he did, he noticed that a few small boats carrying soldiers were able to land on the shores.


    "Shit, their troops have already landed on the beach. Hurry up and organize our troops. Then, dispatch them as quickly as possible to support our men stationed at the harbor. The beach was a foresight so we didn''t have many stationed to guard the area there, so make sure you send additional reinforcement over to their side," Quinn urgently said. After he made sure that Katya had processed all of that, he continued, "After you''ve sent the reinforcements, have the rest of the troops form a containment perimeter around the harbor and beach. Don''t let any of the enemy soldiers get past. Once they get too close to the city, our cannons won''t be able to support our troops and we''ll be overwhelmed by their numbers!"


    "O-Okay!"


    "I''ll get going now."


    "Quinn!"


    "?"


    "B-Be careful, alright?"


    "..."


    Quinn replied with a slight nod before he dashed away and his visage disappeared in the torrential downpour.

 Chapter 393 - The Hard Way 1

    When Quinn arrived at the beach, he noticed that their soldiers were already engaging the enemy soldiers. Due to the unexpectedness of the attack, the Goldenia soldiers were losing ground against the enemy.


    He quickly rushed in to provide back up. He tossed a few throwing knives at the enemy soldiers and directly plunged into their frontline.


    Quinn weaved in and out of the soldiers and every soldier he passed by fell to the ground while grasping onto their necks. When the enemy soldier saw their comrades falling one by one, they quickly turned their attention on to Quinn.


    "Mages, fire at that soldier! Take him down before he kills any more of our¡ª"


    The captain who had been roaring orders near the backline was suddenly cut off when a dagger plunged through his skull, directly killing him on the spot. His body toppled over and his men could stare in horror at the mess that their captain''s head had become.


    Quinn didn''t stop his attacks and continued to systematically kill every soldier in front of him. The mages regained their wits and immediately tried to target him, however, since Quinn was among their allied soldiers, it was hard to strike him without worry of accidentally attacking an ally.


    The Goldenia soldiers who saw this followed after Quinn''s lead and began striking back at the enemy. They pierced through the enemy''s weak spots that Quinn had created due to him killing their soldiers and pushed into the enemy''s rearguard.


    However, just before they could reach the enemy mages, Quinn distinctively heard the cannons on the enemy sh.i.p.s firing. When he turned to look at the sh.i.p.s, he noticed that a few of their cannons were targeted in their direction. He quickly roared out to stop his allies but it was too late.


    "STOP¡ª"


    The beach was suddenly struck by numerous artillery fire and the Goldenia soldiers that had recklessly charged towards the enemy''s rearguard were blasted apart. There were also a few from the enemy side that was caught in the attack and were killed. However, this didn''t stop any of the enemy soldiers from landing on the beach and continuing to charge at them.


    It was like they didn''t care at all about their lives and were instead more focused on their mission to take over the harbor.


    "Shit, they''re using their cannons? They''re not even afraid of hitting their own people!" Quinn said with a scowl as he saw both his friendlies and enemies being decimated by the enemy sh.i.p.s'' attacks.


    It was a good thing that their ally mages quickly took action and began conjuring magic barriers on the beach to try and block the cannonballs that were fired at them.


    Seeing as they were creating Earth Barriers, Quinn quickly moved to the back and gave the captain of the squadron he was helping an order.


    "Tell your mages to conjure Water Barriers! Use your head captain and remember our plan! We''re by the water so what else better to form a large barrier other than that?!"


    "Y-you''re right, sir. Ah, the plan¡ª"


    "Once you''ve conjured the water barrier, freeze it to form an Ice Barrier! Even though we were caught off guard, remember to stay calm and stick to the plan!" Quinn ordered.


    "Y-yes, sir! Right away, sir!"


    The captain quickly gave out new orders to their mages and they immediately began adjusting their magic.


    "Claustrum¡ªAqua! Mutare¡ªGlacias!"


    "Claustrum¡ªAqua! Mutare¡ªGlacias!"


    "Claustrum¡ªAqua! Mutare¡ªGlacias!"


    The multiple mages in their squadron quickly chanted out the incantation and the waters along the beach began rising in the air before quickly freezing over, forming a thick wall of ice that separated the sea from the beach.


    Once the wall of ice was created, the captain immediately issued out an order to charge towards the enemy since the enemy soldier on the beach was cut off from their reinforcements that were constantly coming from the sea.


    He only left a few of the mages to maintain the barrier while he sent the others to attack the enemy encampment that was hastily constructed on the shore.


    When the other allied soldiers in different areas around the beach and harbor saw the large wall of ice suddenly appear, they immediately remembered their original plan and the captains ordered the mages to start freezing the waters and creating a wall of ice to obstruct the enemy soldiers and sh.i.p.s from landing.


    Freezing the waters around the bay and forming a thick wall of ice to block the enemy fleet from getting too close to the harbor was their original plan anyway. It should have worked greatly to their advantage if they weren''t attacked so suddenly.


    It was unfortunate for the Earthlings, but their magic spells would dissipate rather quickly if no mages were supplying the spell with mana so it was impossible to set up the ice from the start without it immediately melting back into water soon after. Even if they did anticipate the attack tonight, having their mages constantly on standby at the harbor and beach just to conjure the barrier was rather impossible in this weather.


    Quinn finally recognized the convenience that his family''s young madam brought to the board with her overpowered magic spells. Freezing the entirety of the waters in the bay was child''s play for her, not to mention she could keep it frozen for an indefinite amount of time.


    He didn''t complain though, because all of this wasn''t even his family''s business in any way. He, for one, didn''t like dragging his family''s Lord and Madams into danger.


    After seeing that things on the beach were taken care of, Quinn was just about to go support another area but after feeling that something was off, he turned to look at the Storm Howlers and frowned when he noticed that they were still inactive.


    "Shouldn''t the cannon teams already be at their stations by now? What''s keeping them?"


    Quinn was just about to go back to Katya and see what was holding the cannon squadrons up, but he suddenly saw something break through the ice barrier in the middle of the harbor. One of the enemy''s juggernaut sh.i.p.s had rammed into the ice barrier protecting the harbor and broke it apart.


    Enemy soldiers began roping down from the ship''s bow and descending onto the harbor. The allied soldiers from the nearby areas noticed this and had sent some men to support their allies defending the harbor since they only needed a few soldiers and mages to maintain the barrier and keep out anyone who tries to ambush them.


    Quinn clicked his tongue when he saw more and more soldiers flooding in through this opening. The only good thing about this was that it was currently contained and not spread out. The allied soldiers could keep the enemy troops contained within the harbor since the other enemy sh.i.p.s couldn''t do this on the beaches because they would run aground even before they got close to the ice wall.


    Quinn wanted to go help, but finding out the problem with their cannon squads was more important. Without the Storm Howlers being operated, they were bound to lose this war.


    He was able to quickly find Katya near the frontlines at the harbor directing their troops.


    "Katya, why are you at the front?"


    "Huh, Quinn?"


    "Why''re you here?"


    "Well, everywhere else has been contained so I thought it''d be better if I led our troops from the frontline. It was a good thing that our soldiers still remembered our initial plan. Now we can keep them contained at the harbor and hopefully, push them back," Katya quickly said.


    "Okay, but why aren''t our cannons firing? We can''t possibly push them back without them," Quinn immediately questioned.


    "I-I''m not sure... I sent them ahead a while ago and I even tried to call them through the comms device but they didn''t answer¡ª"


    It was at that moment that the cannons on the Goldfire City walls suddenly shot out a Mana Missile straight at the enemy ship that had punctured their ice wall.


    The juggernaut ship that had broken through the ice wall was now up in flames and the front area of the ship was badly damaged. A lot of the enemy troops had died during the initial shot. The others were smart enough to not directly descend from the front, but the sides of the ship instead. After which they immediately rushed forward to engage the allied soldiers at the front.


    Unlike the Faustus Archduchy that was heartless enough to fire at their own troops, the Goldenia soldiers didn''t do that. Instead, the cannon squadrons manning the Storm Howlers in the city began directing their fire at the enemy sh.i.p.s farther away from the ice barrier.


    Katya was relieved to see the cannons start firing and immediately said, "That took them long enough, but at least they''re firing now."


    Quinn frowned and said, "A little too long. I''ll go check up on the other squads'' status. It shouldn''t have taken them so long to get back to their posts and begin firing the cannons."


    Katya nodded and asked, "Alright, do you need to bring some men with you?"


    "I''ll be fine on my own, but do send some men over just in case. I have a feeling that the enemy might''ve somehow sneaked up around us and ambushed the cannon teams."


    "..." Katya grimaced silently when she heard this. Things were supposed to be easy after they had acquired the Storm Howler Cannons from Silvaria but instead, it only turned even more complicated since there was a high chance that there was a traitor in their midst.


    "Be a little more discrete if you need to issue some special orders..." Quinn quietly reminded.


    "Alright..."


    "Remember to keep me updated on the situation and watch your back."


    Quinn turned around and hurriedly made his way to the cliffs where the other Storm Howler Cannons were located at. When he got there, he was immediately confronted by a small group of people.


    "Is this the backup that they sent? Just a single person?"


    "Heh. Well, we were able to take out the other cannon teams, too bad we can''t do anything about the ones in the city."


    "We did what we could. Good thing we got intel on the placements of these things. Man, they sure pack a punch. Just one attack from these beauties nearly crippled one of our Juggernauts. Were these weapons really developed by that one kingdom that the Nightingale team failed to attack some time ago?"


    "Hmph, they failed because they were incompetent. If the Young Lord had sent us instead, we would have easily completed the job."


    "Let''s quickly take care of this guy. We still have to rescue the young master anyway. Remember, that''s our priority goal. These people are just a bonus."


    Quinn was just silently watching the group as they rambled amongst themselves. He had already judged their strengths and although they were individually fairly powerful, and most likely worked well together as a group, he didn''t pay them any mind since they weren''t as strong as him.


    He looked around and noticed some bodies piled up on the side. Quinn quickly identified the bodies as the men and women who were placed in the cannon teams that were assigned to the Storm Howlers that was just beyond his current location.


    "You guys killed them?" Quinn flatly asked.


    "Hm?"


    "Heh, check this guy out."


    "Yeah, we killed them, got a problem?"


    Before the enemy could even register what happened, they all collapsed onto the ground, except for the last person who had spoken to Quinn.


    "I do have a problem. And you''re going to provide me with some answers," Quinn said from behind the man.


    When the person noticed that all of his comrades had suddenly collapsed onto the ground with their necks bleeding, he pulled out his weapon, an axe, and swung it at Quinn. In the next instant, however, the man''s axe suddenly fell to the ground...along with the arm he was holding it with.


    "GAAHHHH!!!"


    Quinn eyed the man coldly before asking, "Who brought you here? I''ll only ask you nicely just this once. If you''re going to be difficult I''ll just force it out of you instead..."


    "Nnggh, gahhh, f.u.c.k you!" The man who was squirming in pain on the ground glared up at Quinn and tried to spit on him.


    Quinn saw this and immediately shoved his foot into the guy''s face.


    "Hm, it looks like you prefer the hard way," the butler said as he took out his daggers.

 Chapter 394 - The Hard Way 2

    Quinn pulled out a few of his daggers from his spatial ring and began stabbing them into the enemy soldier''s remaining appendages. He used the longer ones so he could pin the man into the ground.


    With each stab of his daggers, the soldier howled out in pain and continued cursing at him. Quinn didn''t pay it any mind as he pulled out a potion, stuffed its contents down the pinned down soldier''s throat before he placed the empty vial into the man''s mouth and...


    "GAHH!" The soldiers cried out in pain.


    Quinn had punched the man''s mouth close, and with the empty vial still inside, it instantly shattered and the shards of glass injured the soldier''s mouth, tongue, and throat when he accidentally swallowed some of it down.


    "That ought to shut you up for a bit..." Quinn mumbled. He then waited for a bit for the potion to take effect.


    "Nnghh...grhhh..."


    It didn''t take long for the potion''s effects to kick in. When it did, the soldier who had been m.o.a.ning in agony from earlier realized that the pain had begun fading away. He couldn''t even feel the pain coming from his appendages that were nailed into the ground.


    He tried to struggle to get up, but the daggers were firmly stabbed into the ground and wouldn''t budge. Seeing the futile effort, Quinn immediately scoffed and said, "Don''t bother trying to struggle. I only gave you a potion that''ll make your mind more susceptible to suggestion. See, if I give you a whiff of this scent¡ª"


    Quinn pulled out another vial from his spatial ring and opened the top, he gave the soldier on the ground a whiff of the contents and immediately¡ª


    "AAAAAHHHHHHHHRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    The soldier began howling in pain and he even started struggling even more fiercely. However, this only caused his wounds to worsen and it brought him even more pain.


    "PLEASE! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!"


    Quinn let out a cold smile and said, "I can make it stop, but you''ll have to tell me what I want..."


    He took out a different vial and let the man smell its contents and immediately, he no longer felt any pain in his body. The soldier was pale and sweating coldly. The excruciating pain he felt from before was too much for him. Being relieved from it, he immediately let out a breath.


    "Now, tell me. Who sent you?" Quinn asked from the side.


    "Hehe...f.u.c.k you..."


    Quinn only nodded and threw the entire contents of the earlier vial onto the soldier. When he got a whiff of its scent, the soldier began crying out in agony again. What the soldier didn''t understand was that the potion that Quinn had fed him earlier didn''t attack his body, but instead, it attacked his mind.


    The pain he was feeling was coming directly from his mind, not his body. So in reality, his body was perfectly fine, except for when he started struggling and gouging out the wounds on his legs and arm.


    His mind was being attacked and not his body. He was only hallucinating the pain due to Quinn''s concoctions.


    On the other hand, Quinn hadn''t moved a single bit since earlier. The man was only hallucinating when he thought that Quinn had given him something that caused him to suddenly feel the pain before giving him something else that relieved him of the pain.


    From Quinn''s perspective, after he gave the man the potion, all he saw was him screaming and writhing in pain on the ground, just like a bug. It didn''t take long before the man started saying something else other than the usual cursing.


    "S-stop...p-please stop... I''ll tell you...I''ll tell you everything so please¡ªAGGGGHHHHHH!!!"


    The next time around, he was able to say more before he began hallucinating again.


    "Th-the archduchy sent us! W-w-we were able to get here because there''s man on the inside that''s helping us! They''ve been providing us the intel of the enemy''s plan of attack and¡ªGRAAAHHHHH STOOOPPPP IT!!!"


    Quinn was just indifferently listening to him whenever he was able to talk. He didn''t anything about the potion nor did he want to. He already knew who sent this man and his squad. He also already deduced that there was a spy among his allies'' rank, all he wanted to know was the name.


    After another few minutes, the soldier began begging for mercy. He had been writhing in pain so much that his remaining arm and legs were gouged out so badly. Quinn was able to get everything he needed from the man and decided to just leave him there.


    "So...it was her, huh... I''ll let that girl know and have her clean this place up. It''s a shame that we lost a few good men, but we did train some back up units just in case."


    Quinn turned his head and noticed a group of soldiers quickly rushing up the cliff towards his location. When they got there, they pulled out their weapons and pointed it at him but immediately lowered them when they noticed that he was a friendly.


    "Sir Quinn...what happened here?" The captain asked when he noticed the bloody sight just around the man.


    "A few men from the enemy were able to sneak up here and they killed our primary cannon teams, but don''t worry, I''ve already taken care of them."


    "Y-yes, sir," The captain said. He then hesitantly asked, "Since it''s safe, shall I escort the secondary cannon units to their positions?"


    "Yes, but send back a messenger and have Katya send some troops over to this side to keep the cannon units safe. We don''t know whether this is the last of them. I''ll head over to the other cliff and see if there''s anyone there as well."


    "If there are more people, Sir Quinn, then that means the other team might have already engaged with them."


    "Then I''d best hurry," Quinn replied before quickly dashing away.


    As Quinn was heading down, from behind him, the previously inactive Storm Howlers immediately began firing down on the enemy sh.i.p.s in the bay.


    He pulled out a handkerchief from his spatial ring and wiped the blood that had stuck onto his hands. When he got close to the other cliff side, he could hear the sounds of battle not far off.


    "Hmph, more pests..."


    Quinn hastened his speed and soon arrived at the battle field on the cliff. There was the same number of enemy soldiers on this side of the cliff just like there was on the other side. Quinn finally understood why the previous dead group of soldiers had been talking so smugly.


    The small group here was able to push back and kill a few of the allied soldiers despite them having fewer numbers. Quinn clicked his tongue and quickly dashed into the fray. It didn''t take him long to cleanly dispatch all of the enemy soldiers.


    They were strong, but compared to the training that Cecil had put him through and the constant near-death sparring that he had to endure with his Master and 2 Madams as his opponents, these people were small-fries.


    "Hurry and get to your positions. Also, send back a messenger and station more people here!"


    Quinn left behind that order and quickly rushed to the harbor. When he got there, he quickly found Katya and informed her of the information he was able to torture out of the enemy soldier''s mouth.


    "N-No way...why would... but she..."


    "She has every reason, no? I was able to find out a few thing about your family, and apparently, your ancestors sure loved to butt heads with one another..."


    "..."


    "At this rate, you''ll take the matriarch spot of the family. She, and many others, probably wouldn''t like that. However, it appears that she''s the only one that made a move. The others were a little more sensible and placed the survival of the family ahead of their personal gains."


    "...She''s my sister..."


    "Your cousin¡ª"


    "We grew up together and we''re basically sisters! Even when everyone pushed me away, she stayed by my side. I...I can''t accept it!"


    "The evidence is there, whether you choose to believe it or not¡ª"


    "What happens if the enemy only said that to cause confu¡ª"


    "I tortured the information out of the soldier I captured," Quinn immediately replied.


    "!"


    When Katya heard this, she was immediately stunned. She bit her lip and clenched her fists tightly.


    "Sometimes, you should look into a person''s character first before you befriend them. I thought you were supposed to be the next Goldenia heir, but you''re surprisingly gullible."


    Quinn turned to leave. He immediately left for the frontlines to begin fighting again. Katya was left behind with her men inside of the tent that they had used to observe the battle situation from the frontlines.


    They all had heard the information that Quinn was able to get from an enemy soldier that had ambushed their cannon teams. Her sister, Emilie, was the inside collaborator along with a few other people, who had sold the Faustus Archduchy their plans and battle formations.


    The information about the cannons were also fed to them and Emilie and her conspirators had even provided the enemy forces a path up the cliff side so that they could ambush the unsuspecting cannon units when they got up there.


    The number of people weren''t too much, but the hidden path had to be taken care of or else the enemy commander could just send more people up the cliffside.


    Katya reeled in her emotions and quickly dispatched some people over to the cliffs to defend the cannon teams and to find the secret path and destroy it if possible. She also gathered up a few of her subordinates and went back towards her family''s mansion.


    When she got there, Katya and her soldiers immediately rushed down towards the cellar and they bumped into Emilie...and the Faustus Archduchy''s Young Lord.


    "S-sister! W-what are you doing here?"


    "...And what are you doing, Emi?"


    "I...I just thought that it was better to secure the prisoner just in case. Bring him to a more secure area."


    "Is that so..."


    "Yes, well, I wouldn''t want him escaping due to the chaos of the war, right?"


    "...Liar..."


    "Huh?"


    "Men, arrest Emilie and take back the prisoner to the cellar. Actually, no¡ª" Katya raised a hand and chanted.


    "Glacies Catente."


    The water from the nearby plants started gathering around Emilie and Bastille''s arms and legs. Once they wove around them, the water immediately froze and chained them together.


    "K-Kat! What''s this about?!"


    "Em... I didn''t want to believe it, but now that I''ve seen this...you really are colluding with the enemy..."


    Emilie widened his eyes a little when she heard Katya''s words. She didn''t say anything back but only coldly glared back at her.


    Katya flinched when she saw her sister''s change in demeanor.


    "Heh, so you finally found out...took you long enough, bitch..."


    "S-sis?!"


    "Tch, stop calling me that, I really hate it when you call me that."


    "W-why?!"


    "You''re really asking me that? After your father killed my parents? Hah, the nerve. Did you honestly think I was staying by your side because I liked you? Please, I was just doing it so that I could get close to you and that bastard who killed my parents, just so that I could screw with you bastards!"


    The soldiers that Katya brought with her immediately rushed over and pinned the two people down.


    "U-Unhand me! Do you think I''ll let you get away with this, Katya?! You treat me, a Prince, like some kind of ani¡ªmmnnngg, nhnnggghh!"


    Katya immediately ordered for the soldiers to gag him and take the two people away. She felt hurt that the one person she trusted and stayed with her all throughout her bad times had turned out to be a fraud and a traitor.


    There was no remorse in Emilie''s eyes when she glared back at her earlier when as she was being taken away.


    "Miss... should we head back to the frontline?"


    "Have some men keep watch over here. I don''t want any of Emilie''s collaborators to come and try to rescue her and Bastille. Keep a tight watch on them. I''ll head back to the frontlines. Hopefully, we can push back the Faustus Archduchy''s forces soon."

 Chapter 395 - The Hard Way 3

    The battle raged on throughout the night. The Faustus Archduchy just wouldn''t give in despite the Storm Howlers now firing down at them and destroying many of their sh.i.p.s during the initial stages of the attack.


    Since the archduchy knew about the cannons, they naturally had some countermeasures for them. The Machina Reggio Empire was viewed as a threat to every kingdom of the Midgard Continent despite the empire not having any notions of invading the other kingdoms around them.


    However, in the minds of these kingdoms, the empire''s sky fortresses were a threat so each kingdom had their own ways of counteracting them. The Omnifaust Republic had created magic-tech shields to defend against them and since the Faustus Archduchy was once a part of the republic, they too had this technology with them.


    In this war against the Goldenia State, when the archduchy had received word about the cannons from Emilie, they naturally prepared to use these shields against them. Once the Storm Howlers had fired their first few shots, multiple barriers began appearing around each of the Faustus sh.i.p.s which were able to block the Storm Howlers'' mana missiles.


    Both sides were now locked in a stalemate with the Faustus Archduchy being unable to land on the Goldfire City''s harbor and the Goldenia Forces being unable to deal any more damage to the Faustus Fleet.


    This stalemate continued for hours and just before dawn broke, the Faustus Archduchy''s fleet retreated. Neither side won the battle. It just ended with both sides sustaining many casualties among their ranks.


    When the Faustus Fleet retreated, the Goldenia side didn''t let up with their cannon fire and was able to find one flaw within the Faustus Archduchy''s magic barrier. If they concentrated a certain amount of mana missiles on the barrier, they would be able to break through the barrier.


    They cannon teams were able to quickly see this and due to their quick reactions, they had sunk a few of the retreating sh.i.p.s just before they were out of range. When the sun finally rose on the horizon, the Faustus Fleet had fully retreated.


    Katya ordered for the ice barriers to be brought down and the injured to be swiftly brought to the medic bay in the city to be treated. As for the able-bodied soldiers that were left, they were tasked with cleaning up the now destroyed harbor.


    The harbor was in a really abysmal state. Bodies were strewn about and blood had dyed the entirety of the place. The fight was so bloody that at the center of the harbor, where Faustus''s juggernaut ship had broken through their ice wall, the waters had become red with blood.


    It was an appalling sight. When they tallied the numbers, about 2,000 people on their side were killed tonight and a few hundred more were missing and unaccountable. As for the enemy bodies, they counted no less than 3,000 of them.


    They also had to take into account that time when the Faustus Archduchy''s sh.i.p.s had fired down upon them and their allies, probably taking down an innumerable amount from both sides.


    Statistically, they had won, but no one was happy on their side. With each loss of life, it meant that the Faustus Archduchy was one step closer to conquering them.


    The soldiers from the NWR and UF that had come to their aid this time around hadn''t joined in on the fighting just yet. It wasn''t that she didn''t want to use them, but there was a catch if Katya decided to use their help.


    The NWR and UF wanted the Goldenia State to share their harbor with them and they also wanted to have the rights to the harbor as well. The Goldenia''s would still retain the harbor, but only a portion of it. The rest of the harbor would be divided amongst the two other superpowers and the Goldenias wouldn''t have any power over their parts of the harbor.


    Compared to losing the war, it was a small price to pay, but Katya felt that if she gave in to those conditions, their power as a state would only dwindle as time passed by. The economy of their state might even be influenced by the two superpowers and she, as well as everyone else in the state, didn''t want this.


    For now, they kept the NWR and UF forces as backup and would only deploy them in cases of emergencies only. If the battle was still at the stage that they could still cope with, the Goldenia State''s upper echelons all agreed not to use them...for now.


    The Republic and Federation didn''t mind this and only waited for their chance. After all, the war was far from over.


    *****


    Meanwhile, back in the Silvaria Kingdom, Cecil was currently sparring with his wife, Lucia, who had just gotten back from her secluded training with her mother.


    Lucia came back stronger than ever and she wanted to know how she''d fare against her overpowered husband. She immediately asked for a spar and the results...were what anyone would expect.


    She lost, naturally. However, with her newfound abilities to use more elements other than just fire and water, Lucia had put up a good fight against Cecil. It took him a bit longer to take her down after she started using wind, earth, lightning, light, and dark magic all of a sudden.


    Of course, the magic that Lucia used wasn''t anything too high leveled with her newfound elements, but even then, it was still enough to make Cecil use his Mana Burst at full power.


    Lucia went back to training after she was defeated by her husband and promised him that she would come back to beat him in a rematch.


    Cecil, on the other hand, continued to train himself while also taking some of his time to train Ren and the few trainee artificers of his kingdom. He had been feeling a little bit down lately since there was not much he could do.


    The war at the Goldenia State that his butler, Quinn, was taking part in was not his business. He did receive the daily reports about it from his butler, but he didn''t feel like joining in on the fight. Massacring other people wasn''t something he wanted to do and the Goldenias already lost their chance at receiving his direct help.


    Cecil turned his attention to the bit of information that the NWR''s Leader, Viktor Livadia, had given to his father in exchange for the Storm Howler Cannons that his kingdom had sold over to them.


    It was something about some ruins found deep within the No-Man''s Lands area, not too far away from the NWR''s territory. The NWR was situated pretty close to the core area of the No-Man''s Lands and that''s why they suffered from constant monster attacks.


    There was a forest deep into the lands just north of the NWR territory and from where the border of the territory, one could see some sort of spiraling black construct rising above the forest treetops.


    At first, the NWR''s people thought that it was the dead trunk of some large tree, but after further technological advances and with the recreation of telescopes they were able to see that the ''trunk'' was actually some kind of black substance.


    Cecil was naturally intrigued by this small piece of information. These lands were supposedly untouched by the modern ages'' human kingdoms, so if anyone could leave behind a ruin inside these lands, then it must be the Ancients.


    He had a hunch that the tall black construct had a connection with Alterna''s ancient races so he wanted to go there as soon as possible. He wanted to wait for Lucia and ask her if she wanted to come, but after some pillow talk, Lucia convinced him that she wanted to stay and train a bit longer with her mother.


    Cecil didn''t find that wrong and he even encouraged her to do that. Gaining more strength by training with her mother who was confirmed to be a Transcendent was good for her. Lucia did offer her husband a spot for the training, but Cecil declined, saying that her training probably wasn''t going to be suited for him.


    With that, their plans were made and all Cecil had to do now was convince Serilla. There was now a visible bump on his wife''s belly and her mood swings due to her pregnancy had spiked a little.


    There were times when she would just come up to him and berate him for something he didn''t do or for something he had said to her in the past, but then there were times where she just wanted him to cuddle or spoil her.


    Cecil found it complicated to deal with his wife now. He preferred the big sister-like Serilla instead, but when he did say that to her, it only earned him something along the lines of...


    "So up until now you only thought of me as a big sister and not your wife?!"


    "N-no, I didn''t¡ª"


    "I want to be your wife, not your sister! Uwaaahhhh!!"


    In the end, all she did was cry and bawl out for no reason and Cecil had to accompany her for the entire day to make her stop crying. It wasn''t tiring for Cecil, but he was just bewildered and at a loss since he wasn''t accustomed to such a Serilla who now acted the complete opposite of her usual character.


    Today, he was going to go ask Serilla if he could go on the trip just after his training.


    "Hopefully, she''ll¡ª"


    "Cel~? Yoohooo~ are you in here?"


    "And now she''s here..." Cecil mumbled. "I''m inside, Seri. You can come on in!"


    "Okay darling~"


    Serilla immediately entered his workshop and searched for him on the first floor''s gym room. Cecil had added in this room after he saw the training facilities that his father''s dojo had installed in a separate area.


    He wanted one for himself so he had the kingdom''s craftsmen custom-make his before he added some runic arrays that enhanced their performance. It was obvious, but for Cecil, he needed to use some custom made equipment for it to have any impact on his training.


    Since that was what everyone was currently doing, Cecil created his own specialized training room that had a runic array that could adjust the gravity inside of it. He put all of his equipment inside this room and trained here with 10 times the normal gravity of Alterna.


    He did start with 10 times, but gradually, he upped the ratio little by little, and now, he was able to train in an environment that was around 50 times the gravity of Alterna. He didn''t want to use any of his abilities when training inside the room and only relied on his body.


    When Serilla came into this training room, the runic array had already been deactivated so there was no danger to her or their baby.


    "What''s up Seri?" Cecil asked after Serilla came in with a few towels in her arms.


    "Nothing~ I just wanted to see you, darling~"


    Serilla handed him a towel and kissed him before saying, "You''ll get more of that once you''ve taken a shower~"


    "Uhh, okay? Hehe, seems like someone''s in a good mood today."


    "Yup! Don''t you like it when I''m in a good mood?"


    "Of course," Cecil said as he hastily began wiping away his sweat. When he took off his shirt and began drying himself, Serilla couldn''t help but send him a provocative look when she stared at his well-built body.


    When Cecil saw this, he chuckled and said, "Seri, no. You know you can''t do that so stop sending me those looks!"


    "Hehehe~ I can''t help it~ not after my husband just presented himself to me so willingly~"


    "I''m only wiping my sweat, don''t get any ideas."


    "Okay~"


    Cecil shook his head and finally asked, "So, what brings my wife here?"


    "It''s nothing important~ All I wanted to tell you was that I love you, darling~"


    "Uhh, okay? Haha, was that all that you wanted to say?"


    "Yup! Oh, also, no matter what, you can''t leave me okay? You have to stay right beside me, every day from now on!"


    "Huh?! W-why''s that, Seri?"


    "I dunno~ I just feel a little uneasy, like you''re about to go somewhere far away for a long time..."


    "..."


    Now, his wife was a psychic. Just when Cecil was going to ask her for permission to go exploring, Serilla had to say this to him.


    ''Great...now how am I supposed to convince her...''

 Chapter 396 - Announcement

    Hey guys, I know I haven''t been updating for the past few days, but that''s because I''m currently very sick, bedridden even.


    It''s the first time in a while since I normally don''t get too sick. I don''t know when I''ll get better, but once I do, I''ll take a few days off to make sure I''m fully healed before I start writing and updating again.


    So until further notice, OWA and UT:VLFO won''t be updating.


    I''ll see ya guys next time once I''m better!


    If you''d like, please join the discord to get quicker and faster information about how I am or when chapters will be released! You can also join to listen to spoilers or theory crafting with fellow readers!


    Discord Link: discord.gg/PKcGkP8


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 Chapter 396 - The Answer Is No

    Cecil spent a few more days training but he didn''t gain much. He was already at the threshold of the Perfection and Transformation stage for both his Mana and Ki cultivations.


    He felt that training monotonously wasn''t going to be enough and he was now at a bottleneck. It was a first for him since his cultivation had been smooth sailing all the way up to the Mana Core and Ki Crystallization Stages.


    He could feel as if there was a barrier that he had to break down but no matter how much he struck out, Cecil always felt his cultivation rebound downwards, sometimes to the point where he caused some minor damage to himself. It was a slight dilemma but he had a feeling that he could find the solution within the ruins.


    From the reports he received from the New World Republic regarding those ruins attested to the fact that they were left behind by Alterna''s Ancient Races. Since it was left behind by such a superior race, Cecil felt that there was something in there that would help him advance into the next level of his cultivation stage.


    Of course, he wasn''t confident that there was a solution there but there was still a chance. If he could find that chance then it''ll all be worth it. There wasn''t a guarantee that there''d be such an opportunity for him there, but it was better than just sitting around.


    Cecil didn''t just want to leave his wife alone so he wanted her consent but after what she last said to him, it was going to be a little hard to convince her into letting him go. He could only try and sweet talk her into it, but he knew it was going to be difficult.


    ******


    "So...Seri, I wanted to ask you if¡ª"


    "No~"


    "Huh? But I didn''t even say anything!"


    "I dunno, but I just have a feeling that I should say no!"


    "...That''s unreasonable."


    "I bet the question you were going to ask was going to be unreasonable as well..."


    "Uhh, no it''s not?"


    "That didn''t sound so convincing, Darling..."


    "Ok fine, I''ll just say it."


    "The answer''s still gonna be no, just so you know, darling~" Serilla replied with a wide smile.


    "...I wanna go explore the ruins near the NWR''s territory. It might take a long time so I just wanted to¡ª"


    "NO! Definitely NO! You know that I''m pregnant right now, yet you want to go out exploring?!"


    "Urk..."


    "Darling, you don''t know what''s inside those ruins! I''ve already read the report from the deal and I''ve seen the details! If those ruins are from the ancients, then the danger of exploring the place rises exponentially!"


    "Huh? When did you¡ªnever mind, you don''t need to answer that..."


    Serilla huffed and continued, "Anyways, you''re NOT going. I won''t let you!"


    "But, Seri...I''ve been stuck in this bottleneck and I feel like¡ª"


    "Then go after I''ve given birth!"


    "How long is that¡ªokay, Ma??am, I will, I''m sorry..." Cecil immediately changed his tune when he saw Serilla raise a fist at him.


    "Don''t do anything that''ll make me upset, darling...or else," Serilla said menacingly with her eyes narrowed.


    Cecil gulped nervously and could only nod repeatedly at her threat. He didn''t want to find out what that ''or else'' meant.


    After the discussion, for the next following days, Serilla would constantly be by his side throughout the entire day. She was monitoring Cecil to make sure he wouldn''t do anything stupid like sneak out and go despite what she said.


    "Seri...is this really necessary?"


    "For my husband, IT IS!"


    "I''m not going anywhere, okay?"


    "Well, how would I know if you just left behind a clone and left?"


    "Am I that untrustworthy?!" Cecil dejectedly asked in shock.


    "No, I trust you, darling, but whenever the matter comes to something regarding your cultivation, I can''t trust you. Knowing you, darling, you''ll do anything just to get stronger!"


    "...I wouldn''t do just anything¡ª"


    "Yes, you would!"


    "I wouldn''t kill others..."


    "But if you have to, then you would, right? I''ve seen you do it before!"


    "...Don''t tell my parents..."


    "I won''t, but still, I''m keeping my eye on you, Cecil Silvaria..."


    "...I really want to spank you right now, Seri..."


    "Oh? Then come on, bring it~" Serilla said while she coquettishly waved her plump bottom at Cecil.


    Seeing his wife''s actions, he felt a slight reaction downstairs and he quickly pinched his brows in frustration. On one hand, he wanted to do just as Serilla had said, to quietly go out and explore the ruins slowly, but on the other hand, he wanted to stay home so that he could spank his wife.


    "Seri, please don''t tempt me..."


    "But I want to~"


    "..." Cecil could only remain silent and stare blankly at his wife.


    "Hehehe~ I bet you''re thinking about ''that'' huh? I''ll let you do it if you promise to stay~"


    "But I really want to raise my cultivation level...I''ve been stuck for a few months in this stage..."


    "Darling...Let me hit you right now..."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "You''ve only been stuck for months! But I''ve seen others stuck on one level for years! You can wait a few months until I''ve delivered the baby before you set out!"


    Cecil thought about it for a moment. It was true what his wife had said. People had been stuck for years on one cultivation level while he''s only been stuck for a few months. He didn''t have to be so impatient, but he just felt that he should quickly gain as much power as he could right now. There was this prickling feeling like there was some kind of impending danger that was about to befall him so he should do all he can to quickly advance.


    "Hmmm... It looks like I''ll have to look for another way..."


    "What''s that, darling?"


    "It''s nothing, Seri. Anyway, since I can''t go, I''ll have some people scout out the place first. Apparently, those people from the NWR are planning to try and investigate the place soon. Well, they''ll try to at least. The forest is crawling with monsters and they most likely presented us this info so that after we cleared a path for them, they''d try to follow after us."


    "Then why send a team over to investigate? Sheesh, you''re so impatient, all you need to do is wait a couple of more months..."


    "Ahaha, I guess I just want to get things done quickly. Don''t worry, I won''t be going anywhere."


    In the following weeks, Cecil had picked out a few people from his family''s reserve forces and began training them personally. He also had his brother, Gabriel, and his little sister, Angelia, participate in the training. He had picked out exactly 4 people to train, 6 including his two siblings.


    These 6 people would be the expeditionary force that would be sent over to the NWR to scout out the area near the ruins and if possible, the ruins itself. Cecil thought that it was better to send a small elite team to explore the ruins rather than a large force.


    If he was correct with his hunch and the ruins were indeed left behind by the ancient races of Alterna then there was no telling what was inside the ruins. If he sent too many people and the ruins proved to be more fatal than their original expectations, then there might be some unwanted casualties that could have been avoided if they had only acted more carefully.


    *****


    Another 2 months passed by, and today was the last day that Cecil would be training his small expeditionary team. He already felt that they were ready so he had them all go on break.


    It was one of his rare breaks so Cecil went to go find Serilla whom he had been sort of neglecting ever since he had begun training the expeditionary team.


    "Seri, are you in?" Cecil softly called out before he slowly opened the door to his room. When he went inside, he found Serilla slowly getting up from bed while rubbing her eyes.


    "Nnh? Darling, what''s wrong?" Serilla called out with a yawn. Ever since she had forbidden Cecil from going out to explore the ruins, her husband had been busy training up the people that would be going in his stead.


    After seeing that her husband had no notions of sneaking off, Serilla had begun letting him be and no longer stuck to him like glue. It had been a few months since she was first found pregnant so there was now a visible bump on her belly.


    Ever since her body began changing and Cecil began feeling the small and feeble life form growing inside of her, he had begun changing his attitude and how he viewed his wife''s restriction on him from going out exploring.


    Cecil did feel a little disgruntled at first, but as his child began growing inside of his wife, he no longer regretted not being able to go out to explore the ruins, and instead he only felt blessed being able to stay beside his lovely young wife.


    Cecil smiled seeing his wife. He kissed her before picking her up and heading out to the garden. Today, he was going to spend some quality time with Serilla.


    Lately, due to his frustration from not being able to advance his cultivation, he had been adamantly trying to attack the barrier that was blocking his advancement and neglecting everyone around him.


    This was because after his spar with Lucia, he had been growing eager to advance. Of course, his eagerness was met with him only harming himself due to his impatience but he wasn''t stupid and realized that he shouldn''t continue down that path since it was a bad one.


    He could only resign himself and wait for the right opportunity and since he couldn''t go and seize that opportunity, for the time being, Cecil decided to just spend time with his family and help out around the kingdom whenever his brother or father requested him of it.


    Lucia had been busy with her training so he hasn''t seen her as much lately and since Serilla stopped sticking to him like glue after a few weeks he had been seeing his wives less and less. He didn''t like that so he decided to start spending more time with his wives.


    During their journey, they were always stuck close to him so he never really felt the need to go looking for them since they were always there, but now that everyone was so busy attending to their own businesses, Cecil started feeling a little bit lonely now that his two closest people weren''t always there to accompany him.


    "D-darling? W-where are you taking me?" Lucia asked in a fl.u.s.ter after having her lips suddenly kissed and being swept off the ground into her husband''s embrace.


    Cecil chuckled and said, "We''re going on a date today~"


    Serilla widened her eyes in surprise to his words and began giggling delightedly.


    When the couple arrived in the garden, Cecil looked around and saw that no one was around and quickly went over to a large tree near the corner of the place and set down his wife. He pulled out a large cloth from his spatial ring and set it down. He then scooped up his wife and carefully laid her down on top of it.


    "Hehehe~ what''s this? Why are you acting so sweet all of a sudden?" Serilla asked.


    "There''s no reason, I just wanted to spend some time with my beautiful wife today," Cecil nonchalantly replied as he began pulling out a few things from his spatial ring.


    It was already midday and the weather was rather pleasant for a picnic. He had spent the entire morning preparing a basket full of food just for this occasion.


    After he set everything, Cecil went over to his wife and gently hugged her from behind. He placed a hand over the bump on her belly and caressed it gently.


    "Hehe~ what''s gotten into you darling~? You''re usually never this sweet~" Serilla asked. She couldn''t help but smile brightly when she saw the love and affection in her husband''s eyes as he gently caressed her belly.


    After pausing momentarily, Cecil spoke up and said, "...I felt horrible neglecting you and Lulu...I''ve only been focused on training everyone for the upcoming exploration but when I saw this little fella growing inside you, and how fragile you looked sometimes, I couldn''t help but think that I was being too selfish..."


    "You figured that out just now?"


    "Ugh...I-I''m sorry..."


    "And I forgive you~"


    "Thanks."


    "It can''t be helped if you''re too busy. Just pay more attention to us while in between your activities, alright?"


    "I''ll definitely keep that in mind," Cecil replied solemnly.


    Seeing his solemn expression, Serilla laughed and started pinching his cheeks.


    "You didn''t forget to invite Lulu, did you?"


    "Of course I invited her. I told her to come to the garden yesterday after her morning training with her mother."


    "That''s good~ It''s about time the three of us spent some quality family time together, now if you don''t mind, I''d like a berry please~"


    "Okay, let me get some then¡ª"


    "I want you to feed me~"


    "A-alright..."

 Chapter 397 - Sweet

    As Cecil was feeding Serilla some of the food that he had prepared for their family picnic, Lucia came rushing into the garden. When she spotted her sister and husband acting all affectionately towards each other, she called out to the two and rushed over to them.


    "Hey, no fair, Seri," Lucia said with a pout as she sat herself down in front of them.


    "Hehehe~" Seeing as Serilla only replied with a bright laugh, Lucia began pouting even more.


    "Lulu, come here," Cecil said while extending his arm towards her. He grabbed onto her and gently guided her to his side.


    With Lucia on the left and Serilla on the right, Cecil leaned back onto the tree behind him as he pulled the two women close into his embrace.


    "Hmm... is something wrong, Cel? This is a surprise coming from you," Lucia asked.


    "Shocking, isn''t it Lulu?" Serilla asked as she teasingly looked up to her husband.


    "Yup!"


    "He just realized that he''s been selfishly neglecting us so that''s why he''s begun acting all coy and sweet~"


    "Oh! Is that right?"


    "...Well, get used to it. I''ll be doing this more in the future if you two don''t mind," Cecil replied with a sigh.


    "Hehe~ I don''t mind at all! I''m glad that you''ll do this more often, Cel~" Lucia said with a laugh. She had just taken a shower right after her morning training and after hearing that Cecil and Serilla were already at the garden, she had quickly rushed over so her hair was still wet.


    "Ah, my hair''s still wet! I should dry it first¡ª"


    "Let me do it," Cecil quickly said.


    After drying her hair with a towel he had pulled out from his spatial ring, Lucia turned to look at Cecil peculiarly before smiling, "Hehe, after not seeing you in a while, my husband sure has changed!"


    "And is that a bad thing?"


    "Nope!"


    The family continued staying under the tree enjoying each other''s company. Not far from where they were at, Angelia and a few of her friends were walking around before they stumbled upon the happy family having a picnic in the garden.


    Lucia had continued working as an instructor in the kingdom''s magic academy but lately, due to her training, she hadn''t been going too often. Of course, she had received permission from Fatima to be absent on most days due to her training. It was nice that she had an understanding sister-in-law.


    As a replacement, Yuna would be her stand-in on the days when she didn''t come. The dragon lady was instructed to only repeat to the students what Lucia had been teaching them until everyone in the class got it. It was only during the times when something new had to be taught would Lucia personally come to teach.


    Since it was now rare for her to come, many students in the academy began viewing her classes as something that needed to be attended. Her classes were easy and gave everyone in the academy a different perspective on what magic was and the subjects she thought were all so fascinating that most of the academy''s instructors who had free time began dropping by to hear her lectures.


    The group that Angelia brought over to their family''s estate during her break was her close friends. Everyone had also been seeing less of her since she was attending all of her older brother''s strict training sessions and after hearing that she would soon be leaving on another expedition with her brother, they all decided to come over and play with her during her break.


    No one expected that they would bump into their instructor in the garden acting all lovey-dovey with some guy that they hadn''t seen before. Of course, that was with the exception of the students who had already seen Cecil before and knew that he was their instructor''s husband. Who they''ve never seen before was the other woman who was also together with Cecil and Lucia.


    "H-Hey, isn''t that Instructor Lucia?!"


    "W-who''s that guy she''s with?!"


    Angelia was near the back of the group so when she saw her friends peeking into the central area of the garden, she quickly rushed over only to see her brother and his family lovingly spend their time together.


    "G-guys, get back, right now!" Angelia quickly called out and pulled back the few people who were ''spying'' on her brother''s family.


    Through practice and training, Angelia was now more sensitive to mana and had already noticed that there was a barrier around the central area of the garden. It was no wonder that she didn''t hear her brother and her sisters-in-law even after she and her group of friends had come waltzing into the garden.


    "A-Angelia, who is the guy that''s with the instructor?" A boy from her class asked after being pulled back by the girl.


    Before Angelia could answer, Robin Coppernium, who was just next to the dejected-looking kid, quickly answered, "That''s the instructor''s husband. I already told you that you shouldn''t get any funny ideas about the instructor. She''s already taken. Also, that man happens to be Angelia''s brother."


    "Ah! N-no wonder there were times when the instructor and Angel came home together... turns out she''s your sister-in-law!" A girl quipped up and said.


    Angelia smiled proudly and said, "That''s right! Well, we should go explore someplace else since my brother and his family are currently occupying this place!"


    "Yeah, let''s go. I wouldn''t want to intrude on them, but I do wanna ask, Angel, who''s that other beautiful woman that''s with them?!" Xin, the second shortest girl among their group, asked.


    "You mean big sis Serilla? Shouldn''t you already¡ªAh, you weren''t able to attend my brother''s homecoming party, huh Xin?" Angelia said in realization after she remembered something.


    "Our poor little Xin was sick that day so she wouldn''t know who that pregnant woman was," Marylyn said.


    "She was pregnant? No wonder her belly was a little big! So, who is she?" Xin curiously asked.


    "That''s my brother''s second wife, Serilla."


    "W-what?! Your brother has two wives?!"


    "Yup..."


    "I-Isn''t that illegal?!"


    "Apparently, this world doesn''t seem to care about that."


    "W-what?"


    "They got married outside our kingdom so there''s not much we could actually do. Even I was rather surprised to find that my big bro had two wives. Though, I love those two now since they''re both people I really admire!"


    "I-is that so...Did you already know about this, Robin?" Xin asked.


    "I was there at the party so of course I knew. It''s not something I would forget in my lifetime. There were beastkin at the party so it was really memorable!" Robin quickly replied.


    "Ah, you mean the furry people and those elves!"


    "They aren''t exactly elves, Xin, they are halflings, mixed-blood elves. The pureblood elves have their own kingdom."


    "Heh, since when did you become an expert on them, Robin?" Marylyn asked.


    "I''m not an expert. I only learned all of this from Ren."


    "Ren... hmm, where is he nowadays? It''s been so long since he''s come to play with us!" Xin quickly interjected. "Do you know where he is, Angie?"


    "How should I know? That jerk doesn''t even show up at home sometimes..."


    "Ohohoh, seems like someone''s mad~" Marylyn teased.


    "Tch, we live in the same house, but I never see him! If I''m right, he''s probably locked himself up in my brother''s workshop!"


    "Then let''s go see him right now!" Xin suggested.


    "Let''s not, I don''t wanna bother him when he''s doing some ''important'' work," Angelia said with a scoff.


    "...Did he say something to you, Angie?" Robin asked.


    "Hmph, the last time we talked he told me not to bother him since he was doing some important stuff for my big brother... tch, it makes me so mad! Next time I see him, I''m gonna punch him in the face!"


    Just after their group was out of the garden, Ren suddenly walked out of the garden with a troubled look on his face.


    "She''s gonna hit me? I-I better not see her for now..."


    ******


    As the day began heading towards the afternoon, Cecil noticed that it was starting to get much colder after a while. He quickly brought his wives into the house and told them that they''d continue inside their bedroom.


    After cleaning up, he quickly picked Serilla up and gave Lucia a piggyback ride at the same time in their house. While they were passing by the main mansion, they didn''t notice that their parents were all on the veranda. The husbands were learning to play a board game from Kaiser while the wives were chatting amongst each other.


    "Hey, isn''t that our children down there~?" Anna said when she noticed them passing by.


    "Oh my, I didn''t think that dense son of mine was capable of being this sweet!" Anastasia exclaimed in pleasant surprise when she saw them pass by. "Ohoho, the mood between them seems quite nice, I might get news that I''ll be having another grandchild soon~"


    Seeing how delighted Anastasia was, Anna couldn''t help but inform her about the downside of her race.


    "Although I would really like that, but my race of people, unfortunately, have a really hard time getting i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed..."


    "Ah, is that so?"


    "Yes, moreover, we may only have one child in our lifetimes...it''s why my people''s race has a very limited population..."


    "Oh... well, they have plenty of time. Besides, they''re all still young!"


    "Yes, they do have plenty of time~"


    "...I hope my daughter doesn''t take things too far..." Celia quietly mumbled.


    "What''s that Celia?" Anastasia asked.


    "...If Anna''s people have a hard time copulating, then my rabbit-kin people are the opposite... just doing it once might get us pregnant..."


    "Oh?"


    "After seeing how much my daughter loves your son...I just hope that she doesn''t make it past 10..."


    "Eh???"


    Celia released a sigh and took a sip of her tea.


    "...By the way, Celia...how many children do you have?" Anna couldn''t help but ask in curiosity.


    "...Twelve, Serilla''s my fourth if you wanted to know."


    "T-twelve?"


    "Mhmm, my husband was quite the stud back in the day. Though he still is now," Celia replied with a slight smile on her face.


    "..."


    "..."


    The other two women couldn''t help but stare incredulously at the quiet Sword Saintess who seemed to be perpetually serious all the time. It was already hard enough for Anastasia to believe that the slim and delicate looking woman was actually the strongest Swordswoman of an entire nation, but now there was the fact that she had already given birth to 10 children yet still looked so young and delicate. The amount Celia had given birth to was exactly double how much she had.


    "Th-that''s amazing..." Anastasia replied in amazement.


    "I''m really envious~ I''ve always wanted a boy and a girl, but alas... my race just doesn''t permit that..." Anna replied in envy.


    Celia looked over at Anna who was smiling sadly and said, "...Anna, I''m not really sure what race of ''demonkin'' you are, but the ones with more power among the demons usually are those that have a hard time giving birth to their next generation of descendants. Of course, it''s the exact opposite of my people, but only a select few of ours inherit my unique bloodline, Serilla being the only one among my 10 children. It was solely due to this reason that I was quite furious to hear that she had eloped with some boy that I''ve only met once."


    "Oh my, what are you talking about, Celia?" Anna replied unhurriedly.


    "Anna, let''s just drop the act, shall we? In a sense, we''re all family already and I''ve long since known that you aren''t a child of Urrugdrasil."


    "Hmmm, well, you''ll all know in time. For now, I''ll keep what I am a secret~"


    "Hmph, if that''s what you want," Celia shrugged and no longer discussed the topic. Anastasia wasn''t really concerned with any of their races since they were the mothers of her son''s wives. Also, due to her earthly customs, she wasn''t one to care about a person''s race or origins as long as they were upright, just, and had a good moral compass.


    "Hehe, ladies, let''s just drop that then. Did you all hear about the new trend in the city? The new summer apparel that¡ª"


    With Anastasia changing the topic, the ladies began discussing the latest trends of fashion that was suddenly taking over the city by storm. Ever since a few months ago after more materials and magi-tech tools were created or imported over from the Anglaria Kingdom, textile, jewelry, and other such fashion-related industries started booming and the Silvaria Kingdom began to slowly redevelop back to the society that was left behind back on Earth.


    The beastkin were naturally being pulled into the Silvaria Kingdom''s trends and even the UF, NWR, and other countries in the No-Man''s Lands that had friendly relations with the kingdom were being pulled in.

 Chapter 398 - Surprising Situation

    The nations from Earth were slowly developing back to how things were during the time when everyone was still living on the blue planet. Though things were still in development, it could be said that the Earthlings had finally established a firm foothold in this new world.


    With the peaceful development of the kingdom, the modern day trends began to flourish and their culture began sprouting. The uniqueness of modern Earth''s culture naturally attracted the Anglaria Kingdom''s people and the surrounding native human Alternian kingdoms as well.


    Despite things in the kingdom being on the upside, the war currently ongoing between the Goldenia State and the Faustus Archduchy still hadn''t been decided even after fighting for nearly half a year.


    This month marked the fifth month since the Faustus Archduchy began their assault on the Goldenia State. The only reason why the State was still able to preserve itself was due to the help of the Silvaria Kingdom, the New World Republic and also the United Federations, as well as the smaller countries of the No-Man''s Lands that began sprouting up from out of nowhere that dipped their hands into the war.


    War was always a profitable venture so while the Goldenia State suffered, not many wanted to see the war ending soon. It was the perfect time for smaller powers to find opportunities to deal with both sides of the war in order to earn a profit.


    Naturally, Kaiser and the Sovereign of the Republic didn''t quite like this and have been putting up measures to prevent anyone from meddling in the war so that it can be put to a stop quickly, but the United Federation''s President had something else to say for that matter.


    On the surface, he had been playing his cards right by staying on their side, but both forces had long since noticed that the Federation seemed to have some secret dealings with the Faustus Archduchy.


    How and when the two leaders of these countries met was unknown to both the Silvaria Kingdom and the New World Republic, but they couldn''t do much until they actually found evidence of the Federation collaborating with the enemy.


    On paper, the 3 superpowers were still considered allies, though each nation had their own agendas. When Cecil heard about all this from his butler, Quinn, who was still on the frontlines of the war assisting Katya Goldenia, he found it quite troubling and foolish.


    The greed of humans knew no bounds and it was very bothersome for him since his butler had been away from his for nearly half a year already. There was another stupid development on his butler''s side and that was the fact that his butler had reported that Lady Katya was now pregnant...


    As for who was the father, Cecil could only sigh in resignation and congratulate his butler. After being together for a few months on the warfront, something like this probably couldn''t be avoided.


    For now, Katya was going to be sent back to the Silvaria Estate while Quinn would remain on the frontlines to direct the battle in her stead. The Goldenia Family who was notified of this development were naturally furious, but they couldn''t do anything about it after knowing that the father was the trusted butler of the Silvaria Family''s young patriarch.


    In a way, the Goldenia family had accomplished their original objective of binding themselves to the Silvaria family, though it wasn''t in the way that they had expected or planned. It was better than nothing since everyone in the estate knew that Cecil trusted his butler and cared for him like he was family.


    "Well... this is a bit...surprising..." Cecil awkwardly said while facing his butler and the young woman who was sitting bashfully next to him.


    Seeing the shy and blissful look on Katya''s face and the deadpanned Quinn, Cecil released a tired sigh.


    "Goodness, you two really couldn''t hold yourselves back, huh? You''re in the middle of a goddamn war and yet you guys... agh, never mind, it''s not my place to say anything. Since this is both of your decisions, I''ll support you two, but Katya, are you really okay with this? I mean, is your family okay with this?"


    Seeing that the question was being thrown to her, Katya perked up and cleared her throat before replying, "Ahem, well, it may have been done on an act of impulse at the time, but I don''t regret it since I do like him."


    "Okay...but you do know that he''s my butler and since you''re starting a family with him you''ll be regarded as my subordinate from now on, right?"


    Katya tilted her head in confusion and asked, "So?"


    "So? So wouldn''t your family be furious?! I mean, you''re their heir!"


    "What? I was never the heir of the Goldenia Family. Father hasn''t even announced who he had chosen as the family''s heir!"


    "Huh? But... what?" Cecil was a little confused now.


    There were times during the past few months when the Goldenia family''s patriarch would come over to meet with his father and discuss some things in regards to the war that was still ongoing in their territory.


    He had been able to receive some news from the people that he had planted beside all of his family members and the recent news he got from the people that was assigned to his father that Augustus Goldenia was planning to name Katya as the next Goldenia heir because of her achievements in the war.


    It looks like all of that was now tossed to the side because of the recent news of her pregnancy with the Silvaria Family''s butler.


    "Wow, as a daughter, you really aren''t filial. You just dashed all of your father''s plans with this move of yours..." Cecil remarked.


    "When did my father ever care about my well-being? Here I am standing in the forefront of the war while most of his more favored children are relaxing here in the Silvaria Kingdom, safe and far away from the war and the threat of death," Katya quickly countered in a rather humorless and icy tone.


    From her tone of voice, it could be seen how furious she was about the situation of her house. It was rather odd why some of the Goldenia family''s members and some were taking refuge inside their kingdom


    "My choices are mine alone. My family never had a say in what I do and who I choose as my husband!" Katya declared.


    "...I thought you came to the family with the intention of seducing me..."


    "Hmph, like I''ll try to seduce a weird person like you!"


    "W-weird?"


    "Yeah, weird! You have zero awareness that I''m even a woman! Not to mention that you look like you have no interest to anyone else of the opposite s.e.x other than these two women who''re sitting next to you!"


    "..."


    Katya''s words were correct in every way. Cecil really didn''t care about anyone''s gender other than his own family. He could care less if someone who was unassociated with him was a male or a female, he''d view them indifferently.


    "Katya, please remember that he''s now also you''re master since he''s mine. This will be the last time I''ll tolerate you speaking out of turn against Master Cecil," Quinn lightly warned.


    "Alright, this is the last time because I''m only venting anyway. Anyway, Master~ Cecil, I''m in your care from now on."


    Although Katya did somewhat exaggerate the way she greeted Cecil with his title, she was still going to comply and acknowledge Cecil as her family''s master from now on since her soon-to-be husband was Cecil''s loyal butler.


    Cecil shook his head and replied, "I''ll be in your care as well. Anyway, this is a surprising yet funny turn of events. I honestly thought that I''d have to arrange for your marriage Quinn since you''ve always seemed like a block of wood and always avoided interacting with other people..."


    "He still is a block of wood, but he''s my block of wood," Katya quickly replied.


    "Haha! Hahahahahaha!" Cecil began laughing uproariously when she heard Katya''s remark and continued laughing when he saw Quinn''s darkened face.


    "You both have my blessing. Katya, since you''re pregnant, you''ll stay here in the Silvaria Estate under our protection. I''d like to know if you''ve already made preparations on who''s going to be handling the warfront now, if you haven''t I''ll send some capable people to act in your stead."


    "That won''t be necessary, Master Cecil. I''ve already handed over command of the warfront to my husband. He''ll take care of things while I''m here. I also still have that MID you gave me so I''ll be able to get daily reports on how the war''s going. Honestly, this war is starting to tire out my people. Those Archduchy bastards keep coming back like c.o.c.kroaches and it''s really unsettling."


    "Hmm..."


    "Their higher ups are only throwing wave after wave of humans at us like they''re expendable. It also seems like their country''s situation isn''t all that good. There were some in their soldier''s ranks that directly abandoned any notions of attacking us and even defected to our side!"


    "Huh? And did you take them in?" Cecil asked in concern. He had been getting updates on the situation of the war from Quinn, but this was news to him. He gave Quinn a slight look but Katya quickly snapped her finger in front of him and quipped up, ??Hey, hey! No need to look over at Quinn!"


    "Hmm, I''m just wondering why my butler didn''t tell me about this..."


    "It''s not Quinn''s fault. I asked him to not tell you because I know that you''d quickly tell him to dispose of those dangerous factors."


    "Since they''re dangerous, why''d you take them in? What happens if this is only the enemy''s ploy and later during a crucial attack they defected back to their country and backstabbed you?"


    "Well that''s something that won''t happen..."


    "And why''s that?"


    "That''s because the people who defected were people who aren''t even a part of the Faustus Archduchy to begin with!"


    "Huh?"


    "After I asked Quinn to talk to them, we found out that the people who defected to our side were people who were captured and conscripted into the war by the Faustus Archduchy. It was all against their will and when they saw our cannons bearing down on them these people just calmly surrendered and didn''t even put up a fight."


    "...And when was this?"


    "It happened around a month ago. Anyway, I tried to send them back to their homes which were on some islands not far off from the mainland, but they refused to leave and I couldn''t actually force them out since the archduchy still has a hold of the chokepoint of the Goldenia bay. If I sent them back, they''d only be captured again by the archduchy and sent back to attack us."


    "..."


    "...Could you at least have a little shred of humani¡ª"


    "Katya...Master is just thinking about a solution. He''s not planning to abandon them," Quinn quickly interjected.


    "Hehe, don''t worry about those people. My husband may be indifferent, but he''s not evil or uncaring about human lives," Serilla gently said from the side.


    "O-Okay..."


    "You really should have a little bit more faith in me as a subordinate. I''m not that heartless," Cecil spoke up. "Anyway, if what you said is true and what those people are saying are true¡ª"


    "I''ve confirmed it, Master. I went to scout out the feasibility of their claims and it all matches up. Their people have indeed been forcefully conscripted into the archduchy''s army. Due to this, the Archduchy has also earned the ire of the Omnifaust Republic and tensions are now high between the two nations. The islands are part of the Omnifaust Republic and now that the archduchy have encroached on their ''sister'' nation, a war just might break out between the two nations," Quinn quickly informed.


    "How stupid...they haven''t even finished the war against Goldenia and are already trying to pick a fight with another nation."


    "The current lord of the archduchy is the brother of the current queen of the Omnifaust Republic. He''s probably trying to rely on this relation to feign ignorance that he didn''t know that the islands were a part of the republic."


    "Hah, as if the queen of that nation is stupid enough to believe him, if they were indeed once siblings, then that means the archduchy''s lord should know about some of the inner workings of the republic. He just shot himself in the foot by antagonizing them," Cecil chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "Exactly! That fool should already be grateful that his sister didn''t chase him down for treason after he had left on his own and founded his own nation! Now he''s trying to encroach upon the nation he left, he''s simply being foolish!" Katya quipped up before continuing, "Honestly, I''m not even sure why they''re so fixated on trying to conquer us. The casualties taken from both sides are already so enormous with them taking more damage than us, but even then, they''re still pushing forward with this war and haven''t once tried to contact us for negotiations about any form of peace."


    "That''s because they know you''re just as exhausted as them. They also most likely know that you don''t have any serious help from any outside nation other than our own."


    "Huh?"


    "They also most likely know that there''s a nation on our side that''s been preventing us from directly interfering with the power thus prolonging it..."


    "W-wait, what''re you talking abou¡ªis it the Federation?!"


    "Oh, looks like you''ve already have your doubts about them as well, huh?" Cecil said with a playful grin.

 Chapter 399 - Time to Set Off

    Upon seeing the knowing look in his eyes, Katya wanted to flare up at Cecil, but after feeling the piercing look coming from her husband who was on the side, she took a deep breath and reeled in her anger.


    "W-why haven''t you tried to do anything about this..."


    Cecil grinned and said, "It''s because even if I knew, I can''t do anything about it without sufficient proof."


    "You could easily get proof if you mobilized you''re information network! I know all about it since my husband gave me access to it!"


    "You mean he gave you partial access to it. In the end, everything is still under my control and no one can really get full access to it other than me~"


    "...Tch... well, if it''s like this, then that means you''re lying that you don''t have any proof or evidence of the Federation trying to prolong the war!"


    "I probably do have sufficient proof, but it''s not like I could use it anywhere..."


    "W-why?!"


    "First off, I''m only the head of the Silvaria Family. I don''t run this country like my father or my brother. In a sense, you could say that the Silvaria Family has already been split in two. The Silvaria Family and the Silvaria Royal Family."


    "S-so? You''re still the same right now!"


    "Yes, but I''ve already given my word to my mother, father, and brother, that I wouldn''t be messing around or involving myself with the politics of the kingdom. I''ll only be here to act as a protector and overseer."


    "..."


    "You''re Goldenia State has no direct ties with our kingdom, other than it being a vassal nation once the war is over and you''re family relinquishes all rights to the land over to my kingdom. For now, it''s still a separate territory and we have no jurisdiction over it. Don''t forget that you''ve still signed some war treaties and agreements with those other smaller nations just so that your family would still be able to become the administrators of the land after the war."


    "Urk..."


    "Now let''s say our country was to interfere directly with your nation. How would the other nations that have signed pacts with your family and the 2 other superpowers view us? Naturally, the two superpowers already know about our little agreement and that''s why they aren''t as invested into the war as those other smaller nations who''re hoping to benefit somewhat with this war, but the power over the land will only be handed to us AFTER the war. If we tried to do anything before it, they''ll try to come up with an excuse to grab bits and pieces of the land away from us."


    "A-and why is that so bad?!" Katya asked.


    "Nothing really, it''s just that I don''t want that. I won''t let some hyenas take a bite out of the meat that I''m currently cooking," Cecil quickly replied.


    "W-what? So to you we''re only¡ª"


    "Do you want my help?" Cecil cut off.


    "What?"


    Katya was a little bit confused by what Cecil meant when he asked that. Earlier, he said that he couldn''t do anything about it since his hands were tied and he couldn''t and wouldn''t meddle in the affairs of his kingdom.


    Now that he was suddenly offering his help, Katya was rather confused. He was directly denying everything he said earlier.


    "Like I said, do you want MY help?"


    "...What do you mean? Earlier, you just said that you couldn''t help me!"


    "I did, but after tomorrow, I''d have every reason to help you~" Cecil replied with a smirk.


    Katya thought about what Cecil meant and immediately her eyes brightened when she remembered that tomorrow was going to be her private wedding with Quinn. Seeing that she had now understood what he was getting at, Cecil chuckled and said, "After tomorrow, you''ll be viewed as my subordinate¡ªno, my family. Naturally, if there''s some foolhardy bastard that tries to offend my family, there''s going to be some repercussions, no?"


    "W-why couldn''t you say that just now?!"


    "It was kinda amusing to see you get all fl.u.s.tered. Also, it''s revenge for calling me weird..."


    "Y-you''re so petty!"


    "I am! So what?!"


    "..."


    "Hmhmhm~" Cecil replied to Katya''s silence with an amused chuckle. He was indeed acting petty, but what could Katya do? It was a really bad habit of his and his two wives were already pinching his sides like crazy from the moment Cecil started playing around.


    Quinn had his eyes closed the entire time. He already knew that his master was going to help him since Katya was now going to be his wife. As for why he didn''t say anything and just watched on as his wife-to-be was being played by his Master, well, he couldn''t really say anything to that since his master was amusing himself and Katya still wasn''t his wife just yet.


    "Master, who are you sending? You can''t personally go because of your status," Quinn spoke up after his long silence. Katya who was on the side turned to look at him and began pouting with tears in her eyes.


    Since he was being so calm, Katya deduced that Quinn was already aware of his master''s intentions for a while. She was a little upset that Quinn hadn''t informed her of it.


    "Meanie..."


    "Haha, just leave it Katya. I was only joking and besides, it''s not like Quinn would be able to say anything."


    "Hmph..."


    "Alright, how about this, Quinn, any time I try something like this, please stop me?"


    "Yes, Master."


    "Good! Well, I really should fix that bad habit anyway. Lulu and Seri don''t like that. Also, can you two stop now? I think you''re going to bruise my sides from all the pinching..."


    "Hmph, being stupid as always!"


    "You really shouldn''t do that, darling. It''s not nice to Katya who''s soon going to be joining our family~"


    "Alright, alright, so can you two please stop, it really is starting to hurt!"


    The two women stopped pinching Cecil and he began rubbing his sides with a slight grimace.


    "Anyway, I should be off now. I''ll leave the arrangements of your accommodations to Seri. I have to go see my pupils off on their mission."


    "Shall I accompany you, Master?" Quinn stood up and quickly asked.


    "It''s alright. Stay beside your wife. After tomorrow, you''ll be sent back to the frontlines of the war. It might be a while before you actually see each other again."


    "Yes, Master."


    Cecil left the room and walked out to the family''s martial dojo. Inside, Cecil quickly found a group of youngsters waiting for him. There were exactly 6 people, 2 of which were his siblings. This was the group he had been training for the past few months.


    "Master, you''re here!" A spritely girl quipped up in excitement as she waved to Cecil right as he walked into the place.


    "Tyra, be more polite!" A boy who had similar features to the girl quickly exclaimed.


    "Relax Kira, Master doesn''t really care about formalities anyways!"


    "Still, you should be more respectful!"


    "That''s alright, Kira. I see you all as my family so you should relax a bit more when you''re around me."


    "Brother!" Angelia jumped onto Cecil to quickly get his attention.


    "Woah there. Angie, you really should stop doing that. You''re not a little kid anymore and it''s harder to catch you, y''know?"


    "Hehehe~"


    Cecil quickly put down his sister and patted her on the head. The little girl only reached up to about his chest but he was reminded once again that she had indeed grown up. She was no longer the clingy little sister who he was always carrying back in the days when they were still on Earth.


    "Big bro, is everyone ready?"


    "...we''re good to go. How was your meeting with your butler?" Gabriel asked.


    "It came as quite a surprise but everything''s been sorted out."


    "It''s quite surprising that you''re butler and that woman would get together. I guess being together through life and death can really arouse the feelings of humanity between two people..." Gabriel mumbled.


    "Huh? What''s that, big bro?"


    "...nothing, Just take it as I didn''t say anything."


    "...Hmmm, well, I''ll be counting on you for this scouting mission, Gabriel. I can''t go myself since my wife wouldn''t let me. Remember not to do anything too reckless. Once things become too risky immediately back out of the ruins. Your lives are all that matters."


    Gabriel nodded at Cecil words and looked back towards the two remaining individuals that were a part of the group.


    "Ian, Medel," He called out.


    A young man with a robust build stepped forward alongside a rather lean-looking young man. The two bowed and greeted Cecil in unison, "Master."


    "Haha, don''t be so stiff you two. Just treat me as your brother, we''re all family here!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Jeez, you two are so stiff!"


    "I''m sorry sir, but you are our young patriarch, master, and teacher. It''d be quite rude of us..." The robustly built young man said.


    "Here that Tyra? You were being rude earlier! Even big bro Ian said so!"


    "Hmph!" Tyra only turned her head away and didn''t bother responding to Kira''s nagging. These two similar looking kids were twins that had caught Cecil''s eye when he was picking out some people to train.


    "It''s alright for the both of you to treat Master as a big brother since it''s appropriate for your age. For me and Ian, however, we''re a little bit past that age so it''s only natural that we treat our teacher respectfully, no matter if he''s younger than us or not" The other young man, Medel, said.


    "See Kira? Master already said that we could treat him like he was our family while Medel and Ian have circ.u.mstance of their own! We''re only 15 so why are you acting so stiff? It''s like you''re treating Master Cecil like he was some kind of elder!"


    "..."


    Cecil chuckled at their conversation. He clapped his hands and quickly got everyone''s attention.


    "Ahem, well, I have announcement for you all."


    The 6 people quickly walked over to stand in a line before Cecil when he said that he had something to tell them. Naturally, Gabriel already knew what it was he was announcing.


    "Yesterday marks the last day of your training!"


    "Huh?"


    "Yesterday? Why not today?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Listen here, yesterday was the last day. Today''s the day that you 6 will be setting off on a mission. I specially trained all of you precisely for this mission. After these past months of training, I''ve deemed that you''re all finally ready to set off on this mission."


    Everyone remained silent and solemn, while only Tyra and Angelia seemed to be a little more motivated.


    "While you guys might feel that you''re all still inadequate, let me be frank, you still are. There''s never any sort of satisfaction when it comes to training or cultivating. Always aim for something higher. Anyway, although I will no longer be personally training you all, make sure that you NEVER, neglect your training."


    "YES, MASTER!"


    "Alright, so for this time''s mission, I''m sending you all to explore the ruins by the NWR''s territory, near the central areas of the No-Man''s Land."


    No one replied. They all waited for Cecil to continue his explanation.


    "As you all know, the monster closer to the central area of the No-Man''s Land are much more powerful than the ones in the peripheral area that our kingdom is located at. I trained you all to this degree so I''m confident that all of you, given that you work together, will be able to cope with the dangers of exploring the ruins!"


    Cecil cleared his throat before continuing, "Naturally, this mission will be accompanied by many dangers, some unforeseen and unpredictable. If any one of you want to back out, now''s the time to do so."


    After saying his piece, Cecil waited for a while and seeing as everyone didn''t make any motions to leave the dojo, he smiled widely and continued, "Haha, good, as expected of the people I''ve personally picked to train! Anyway, all of you will be setting off today towards the exploration site. The leader that I''ve appointed for this mission will be my brother, Gabriel. His assistant shall be you, Medel."


    "Yes, sir!" Medel stepped forward and said while Gabriel walked over to stand next to Cecil.


    "I''ve already given all the details to the mission over to Gabriel. As the head of the team, he''ll be in charge of directing all of you. You''re all already used to being under his command so there''s nothing new with what you need to do. This is an important mission so I hope to hear some good news from you all, but remember one thing! You''re lives are before the mission, understand?"


    "YES!"


    "I don''t want anyone dying. This is an order. If the risk of the exploration puts all or even one of your team members'' lives in mortal danger, I want you to quickly abort it. Danger can be coped with, but I won''t tolerate any of you being reckless and foolhardy in the face of something that could literally end your lives without you being able to resist."


    Cecil left behind those words before he handed over everything else to his brother. Since he wasn''t going himself, he had trained everyone as a unit that would listen and cooperate with each other fluidly under any condition.


    He had sent them deep into the Sky Piercing Mountain Range for training and had even set off a group of wyverns after them. They were also tasked to spar with him and he had put out the best he could to act as a boss monster for all of them to try and defeat. Naturally, his pupils never won even once against him, but their level of cooperation, cohesiveness, and understanding with one another had been honed to a nearly perfect degree.


    Cecil was confident in each of their individual combat prowess since he had trained them personally. As for their teamwork as a group, they had already proven themselves to him time and time again during their daily spars.


    "I hope nothing bad happens during this expedition..."

 Chapter 400 - Unhindered Exploration

    A week later, in the New World Republic''s border near the forest, where the ruins that were presumably left behind by the ancient races of Alterna, Gabriel alongside Cecil''s handpicked scouting force were now preparing to officially explore and scout out the area around the ruins.


    Cecil had ordered them to prioritize their safety so Gabriel planned to scout out the area around the ruins before actually going into the ruins. He needed to find the average power levels of the monsters in the area so that he''d be able to paint out a picture of what he and his team would be expecting when they traversed into the ruins.


    Since the ruins were located close to the central area of the No-Man''s Land, it was bound to be a dangerous place to explore.


    There was already definite proof of this fact since the NWR''s army company who were sent to scout out the ruins, or at least tried to, were reported to have received a great deal of casualties amongst their ranks.


    They didn??t have the technology that the Silvaria Kingdom possessed neither did they have the advanced magical knowledge, they relied only on their somewhat advanced cold weapons to try and hack their way through but were only met with a fierce retaliation from the indigenous monsters that inhabited the forest surrounding the ruins.


    When Cecil had read through the report and had shared the information with Gabriel when he had first appointed him to be the leader of the expedition, the two had formulated many plans beforehand and the training that Gabriel and his squad had to go through so that they would be able to survive their mission... even with all these preparations, Gabriel was still somewhat worried.


    Thanks to Cecil and Ren, the Silvaria Kingdom was able to advance their technologies in weaponry and magi-tech so the 6-man scouting force was fully equipped with the latest weaponry and armor that the kingdom had developed.


    The new Magi-tech handguns that were able to shoot elementary level magic spells that had runic arrays that could boost the strengths of the spells close to that of intermediate level magic if more mana was injected into the array, enhanced weapons and armors created by the combined efforts of the Silvaria Kingdom''s craftsmen and the Anglaria Kingdom''s dwarven masters, coupled with the martial ability that Cecil had drilled into the bodies and souls of each party member¡ªit could be said that these 6 individuals were currently the strongest people in the Silvaria Kingdom combat force.


    Of course, it had to be pointed out that these 6 individuals had no affiliations with the Silvaria Kingdom itself. Instead, they were directly under the command of the Silvaria Family''s young patriarch.


    This in itself was a sort of status, but no one was currently aware of this. For all everyone knew, this team of people sent by the Silvaria Kingdom was only scouts. Even if the two other superpowers had planted spies into the Silvaria Kingdom, no one had any access to the projects or activities that were directly managed by the Silvaria Family which acted as the kingdom''s overseers.


    This was only made possible because Cecil kept all of his close secrets and studies from the World Tree hidden from anyone who was directly affiliated with the kingdom. Even his father, his eldest brother, his eldest sister, and his second brother didn''t know about the plans that he was secretly doing since they were part of the Silvaria Kingdom''s government.


    Only Angelia, Gabriel, his mother, Anastasia, along with his two wives, was aware of what he was doing. As for why he did this, it was naturally so that he could prevent anyone, even those that were closest to him, from making a slip-up and inadvertently leaking out his family''s secrets.


    Seeing all of the members of the scouting group possessing a personal spatial ring that only they could access, Gabriel released a reassured sigh. Each spatial ring had all of their equipment in them so all they needed to do was equip it once they began the operation.


    The equipment that they were going to be using was pretty conspicuous and they didn''t want to attract attention to themselves by appearing all flashy. Cecil wanted the equipment to be less showy, but unfortunately for him, the crafting division that he had created under the name of the Silvaria which hired the dwarves and craftsmen that he had personally taken under his wing, wanted to make it ''awesome''.


    Also, it wasn''t just that, but the materials that they used were quite high-spec since they were rare materials that Cecil and his party had collected through mercenary and guild commissions and also the ones that they would randomly pick up during their long journey.


    Most of it was used for Cecil''s magi-tech development and his training with Ren, but there was still a large excess of it since only two people would have any use for the materials during the journey.


    Now that Cecil could put it to better use for his family and him personally, he didn''t hesitate to just dump it all into his family''s treasury.


    Gabriel eyed the group of soldiers that was a distance away from them. He already knew that once they made their move, those soldiers would follow after them.


    The group that had come to the NWR wasn''t just Cecil''s handpicked scouting group. The Silvaria Kingdom''s expeditionary force was sent here as well. Actually, over the course of the few months that had passed by, the expeditionary force was relegated and integrated into the army as the first special division.


    There was little left to explore of the No-Man''s Lands'' peripheral area since most of it had now been divided among the Earthling into territories. All that was left to explore was the inner and core areas of the lands but it was much too dangerous for any team or company of soldiers to even go about doing, so instead of having the expeditionary force disbanded, they were instead integrated into the army with the same command structure as a special force.


    Gabriel eyed his fellow captains and informed them that his team would be making a move soon.


    "We''ll stay here and hold the fort, although, I would love to accompany you on this exploration, it seems that it''s not my place to do so," Anise Velten, now one of the captains of the Silvaria army''s Special Forces, said.


    "Make sure to keep everyone else behaved. We''re representing the Silvaria Kingdom in this endeavor so don''t bring shame to our kingdom. Remember, we were only relegated to the kingdom''s Special Forces purely because of our combat experience. We aren''t special in any way."


    "Yes, captain. I wish you luck on your mission."


    Gabriel nodded and walked over to his team. He eyed everyone and began issuing out orders.


    "Get ready. We''ll be making our move soon."


    "Yes, captain!" The other 5 replied in unison.


    "Once we break through the tree line, Angelia, I want you to send your monsters ahead to scout out the area around us. Once we find a good place, Tyra and Kira, quickly put up a barrier and we''ll swap out our equipment. Medel, make sure you erase our tracks once we''re done changing equipment. Ian, both of us will lead the way."


    "Yes, captain!" Medel and Ian replied.


    The 3 teenagers of the party, Angelia, Tyra, and Kira replied subsequently.


    "Alright, big bro!"


    "Let''s go then!"


    "R-remember what Master Cecil said, we should all be careful..."


    Gabriel signaled with his hand and the team quickly darted into the forest. Due to their training that Cecil had personally overseen, and the secret techniques of his family that he had taught them, their speeds were superhuman and it didn''t take long before all 6 of them broke through the forest''s tree line.


    Over at the NWR''s army company, one of the soldiers who were keeping an eye on the Silvaria Kingdom''s soldiers from afar quickly noticed Gabriel and his team rush into the forest, he honestly couldn''t believe his eyes just how fast they were traveling.


    The speed they were moving at was inhuman and if he hadn''t been paying specific attention to this group of people who seemed to be quite different than the rest of the Silvaria soldiers, he might have missed the moment when Gabriel and his team made their move.


    "S-sir! A squad just detached from their group and¡ª"


    "I know! Have everyone get ready to mobilize! Send the scouts ahead first and trail after them! We can''t lose them!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    By the time the scouts had mobilized, Gabriel and the others had already found a secluded place to swap out their equipment. Kira and Tyra, the twins who had a knack for Cecil''s sensory and barrier abilities, had already sent out a Mana Pulse into the surroundings to check the area and had already set up an isolating barrier.


    "5 minutes, go!" Gabriel yelled out.


    The team quickly began pulling out large black cases. They popped open their cases and began pulling out the equipment that Cecil had prepared for them. The team had already trained using prototypes of the equipment so they were already familiar with them.


    Once everyone had already changed gears, Gabriel had Kira send out a Mana Pulse into the area and once he made sure that no one was around, Gabriel had everyone move out.


    The Mana Pulse was a sensory skill that had the same principle use as Cecil''s Mana Sense, however, unlike the Mana Sense, Mana Pulse only gave the user feedback on any known presence in the surrounding area and a vague outline of the area around the user.


    Using the Mana Sense required Cecil''s unique Mana Eyes, but Kira was able to use a downgraded version of the skill purely because he was quite talented at manipulating mana on a micro-scale.


    The twin sister was better with materializing, solidifying, and masking her mana. Because of this, she was well suited to be the team''s ''barrier'' mage.


    No one in the world had Cecil''s Mana Eyes, so being able to manipulate mana to this degree was a talent. Cecil was rather fortunate to stumble upon these twins just as he was picking some disciples out of the family''s reserve and in-training forces.


    Their family wasn''t directly affiliated with the main family but was close acquaintances with one of his uncles'' families. After being tossed into this world, the Silvaria family naturally gathered any people loyal to them and took them under their wing for training and protection.


    The same went for Ian and the team''s vice-captain, Medel.


    "Big bro, should I send my babies to scout ahead?" Angelia asked as she began petting the dog-sized cat next to her feet and the white crane perched on her shoulders.


    "No need. Ian and I will lead the way while Kira will slowly start mapping out the area around us. Keep in mind that we don''t want to attract too much attention to ourselves. Having your ''babies'' go out would no doubt attract the attention of not only the NWR''s soldiers but maybe even the native monsters of this forest," Gabriel replied.


    "Hm, alright," Angelia shrugged in response. Honestly, she was hoping to attract some monsters over to see if she could find any to tame.


    Wrapped around her waist was a rather unique looking belt, but if one took a closer look at it, they could see that it wasn''t a belt at all. The ''belt'' had multiple sets of golden eyes and heads coiling and dangling around Angelia''s waist.


    This was the ''pocket'' version of her monster, Nessie. Cecil had Angelia bring the nearly ancient-grade monster with her for this mission. Obviously, it was for her protection and the team''s safety.


    Nobody would mind having a high-tiered monster watching over them now would they?


    "Ian, take point. Everyone, keep your wits about you. Pay attention to your surroundings and keep up with the team, we''ll be moving out now."


    "Yes sir!"


    As per the captain''s orders, Ian quickly took the lead and began moving in the direction that Gabriel instructed them to move towards.


    They didn''t move slowly into the forest. Everyone was dashing through the place while keeping their attention on the surroundings. Any monster that suddenly popped up was quickly engaged and swiftly brought down by the team.


    The monsters were indeed strong, but with the team coordinating their attacks, it was quite easy taking out a lone monster. The only problem would be if they accidentally stumbled upon a horde or a nest of monsters.


    In that sort of situation, Gabriel could only give his team the order to probe out the monsters and test their strengths or to quickly retreat if he felt that they were way out of their league, to the point where they couldn''t even try out any sort of probe against the monsters.


    Of course, if they just pulled out Angelia''s Nessie things might just quickly resolve itself but then they''d attract too much attention by pulling out their trump card so early.


    The scouting mission continued unhindered and after a few weeks, the scouting party was able to create a map of the monster distributions and terrains surrounding their main objective, the ancient ruins.

 Chapter 401 - The Situation

    Back in the Silvaria Kingdom, Cecil was spending time with his wives again. His routine became much more leisurely now since he had nothing left to do most of the time.


    After supervising and attending to the family disciples'' morning and afternoon training, he pretty much had free time in between. He spent this free time taking care of Serilla and helping Lucia in her training by sparring with her whenever she needed him to.


    He would receive weekly reports through his MID from his brother Gabriel in regards to the scouting team''s mission. He would also receive reports from his butler who had already returned to the frontlines of the war over at the Goldenia State.


    Their small and private wedding had already been conducted with only a few people participating in the ceremony and reception. Cecil and his family were obviously attending, but on Katya''s side, only her trusted subordinates had bothered coming to attend and since there was a momentary lull in the war, there were some of her most trusted commanders and generals that made the trip just attend her wedding.


    The only downside was that Katya''s father wasn''t even there to give them his blessing but Quinn had already received or maybe even forced out some form of approval from the Goldenia Family. Anyway, the wedding went on without a hitch and the two were now husband and wife. Soon enough, they''d also be a happy family.


    Cecil was feeling rather generous and because he didn''t want to keep the newlyweds apart from each other for too long, he had tasked Quinn to quickly end things and he gave him the authority to mobilize a portion of the Silvaria Family''s personal forces and use the newly developed military technology that his family had secretly developed.


    He even commissioned Elizabeth''s Little Kings to help him out in the war and from the reports he was receiving from Quinn, Cecil felt that the war would soon end.


    The tides of battle had quickly shifted after the Silvaria Family''s forces and the Little Kings took part in the war. Instead of defending, they were now the ones attacking.


    It wasn''t too long ago that he had received an update from Quinn that they had successfully taken over the island that was at the chokepoint of the Goldenia States'' bay. The island had been turned into a literal fortress, but with the combat prowess and military might of the Little Kings, the Silvaria family, and the Goldenia Family''s armies, the hostile takeover proceeded without a hitch.


    They were in luck as well since they had been able to capture the Faustus Archduchy''s navy admiral, Jena Nohkurl. As touching as it may have sounded, the navy admiral had sacrificed herself to let their Field Marshal escape unharmed.


    However, a prisoner was still a prisoner. Moreover, she was an important prisoner considering her status.


    Cecil already knew that his father had been keeping his eye on the United Federation, especially their leader, Mr. Tristan. It was too bad that they gave away nothing since it was most likely that they already knew that their other two rivals were keeping an eye on their movements.


    It was rather unfortunate, but Kaiser''s informants that he had planted into the Federation, weren''t able to uncover any sort of evidence that pointed out that they had indeed been providing support and information to the enemy throughout the war.


    They did catch some small parties and budding nations but they were only the middlemen. They never found out about the source even though all suspicions pointed towards the Federation being one of the culprits involved.


    The Republic had no reason to prolong the war, even if it was for a profit. This was because they were preparing to expand their territory into the No-Man''s Lands core areas using the Silvaria Kingdom''s ''help'' when they were investigating the ruins. There was also the matter that the Republic needed their troops back in their homeland so that they could defend themselves from the periodic monster attacks.


    Having split their forces up wasn''t an advantageous notion for them. The only reason why they agreed to help out the Goldenia State was that the Silvaria Kingdom had presented this as a requirement when they sold to them the Storm Howlers.


    The war still wasn''t over yet so Quinn still couldn''t come back. He had sent some spies along with the Faustus Archduchy''s retreating forces and was able to find out that they were planning to mount a counterattack soon.


    When Cecil informed his father of this, Kaiser found it unpleasant that the enemy didn''t know when to back out of a losing fight. It was troublesome since they had more important things to attend to.


    The Omnifaust Archduchy had now become aware of the presence of human forces inside the No-Man''s Lands and they had just recently established contact with them and there was news that their Leader wanted to form a cooperative relationship with them and would be visiting the kingdom as a show of goodwill.


    They now had a common enemy which was the Faustus Archduchy since the archduchy had recently just encroached upon the lands of the Omnifaust Republic. The archduchy should have already seen that they were being cornered already and yet they were still trying to mount a counterattack.


    It was foolish in Kaiser''s opinion. Right now, instead of trying to attack, they should be trying to negotiate a ceasefire with them. He couldn''t understand the thought process of the archduchy''s leader.


    Kaiser did hear from Augustus that the archduchy''s leader was a rather war-driven man, but to think that he''d be this irrational and still try to finish things with his fists. It was pure stupidity on his part as a ruler responsible for the lives of his people.


    Anyway, since his son had now directly interfered in the war by sending his family''s personal army over, he didn''t need to worry about the war any longer. Kaiser had already heard about the dangerous things that his son was secretly developing from his wife so he had no worries about the outcome of the war.


    He only questioned why his son didn''t bother informing him about it and had only informed his wife. From what he knew, even his 2 sons and eldest daughter weren''t aware of what their little brother was doing.


    "Just what''s going through that brat''s mind? He''s changed a lot...not like it''s surprising..."


    "Don''t worry about it, honey," Anastasia said to him. The married couple was currently having their sweet private time in bed after so long.


    Kaiser had become quite busy with the kingdom''s affairs and hadn''t been coming home so often. It was only during when all of his daughters-in-law''s parents had come to gather at their family estate would he quickly come home.


    "He''s already grown up and is now acting as the patriarch of the family in my stead since I''m now too busy being the ''king''...but it''s just a little unsettling that he''s now keeping secrets even from me...where''d my pure boy go to?!"


    "Hmph, you act like you''ve lost your son or something. Anyway, don''t you think its better this way?"


    "What do you mean?" Kaiser questioned.


    Anastasia looked up at her husband and said seriously, "We need to keep the family''s affairs and the kingdom''s affairs separate."


    "..."


    "Later down the line, our family will inevitably be split up into two families. The Silvaria Royal Family, descended from the next king, Mathius, and the Silvaria Family, descended from the family''s next patriarch, Cecil."


    "I know that, but still, is it necessary to keep secrets between family members?"


    "This is just Cecil''s way of making sure that he doesn''t dabble into the affairs of the kingdom. He''s paving a way for the family to detach themselves from the kingdom''s affairs so that future generations won''t have thoughts of doing something foolish like starting a conflict with their family members that inherit the throne."


    "..."


    "Secrets are necessary, but it''s not like he''ll use these secrets to harm the kingdom or Mathius. He also told me that the only person allowed in Mathius''s line of descendants to know about the Silvaria Family''s secrets would be the King of each generation," Anastasia explained.


    "Preventing conflicts amongst family members... Not a bad idea. We''re naturally aware of what things are at the current moment, but it might be different once we''re gone. I''m glad Cecil''s thought so far into the future," Kaiser said with a satisfied chuckle. He was glad that his son was preparing measures so that their family would never get into conflict with each other.


    He didn''t want the repeat of the branch families to happen again to their main family.


    "Anyway, it''s not like we''re going to be gone any time soon. We''ll have plenty of time to watch over our children and grandchildren after I''ve served my time on the throne and passed it on to Mathius."


    "Yup~ now, it''s been a while, but let''s have some fun~?"


    *****


    Time passed on and things were going so well for Cecil. It was like all his plans were falling into place and everything had gone on without a hitch.


    However, he still couldn''t help but feel the same nagging feeling that something was wrong. He also began experiencing headaches lately. At first, it didn''t seem like a problem, but when he started to hear voices and start seeing dreams about something ominous and vague, it began weighing on his mind.


    Cecil thought that his control over Providence had begun to wane and its influence was beginning to affect his mind again, but when he tried testing it out, that wasn''t the case.


    ''Come to me.''


    "Huh? Seri, did you say something?" Cecil suddenly asked.


    "What is it, darling?"


    "Did you just say something earlier?"


    "Uhm, no? You were brushing my hair and I was slowly dozing off... is something the matter?"


    Cecil was currently spending his leisure time with Serilla once again. He had been brushing her hair when he heard someone, or something, call out to him. He spread his Mana Sense into his house and the surroundings but nobody was around, except for the few family guards who had just passed by their house on their patrol route.


    They had no servants inside their house because Serilla and Lucia loved doing housework. Of course, Cecil had kept a maid by Serilla''s side because she was pregnant, but that maid was currently in the kitchen having her lunch.


    "Weird... I thought I heard someone call out to me..."


    "Are you okay darling? Lately, you''ve been getting up late at night because of your ''dreams''...are you sure that they were your future dreams that you''d have whenever you used Providence?"


    "That''s the thing, Seri...I''ve never once used Providence''s skill after the war with Merkruz..."


    "It''s been that long? Then, is the power perhaps getting out of your control?"


    "No, I just checked the other day. I still hold absolute dominance over my weapons..."


    "Hmmm..."


    Serilla couldn''t find the answer. She could only conclude that her husband was being delusional or something, but that too was pretty much impossible. She knew full well how powerful her husband''s mind and how high his cultivation stage was. There was no way someone as powerful as he would grow delusional without a cause.


    "Hmmm, maybe it''s due to stress? How about we go out and have some fun!"


    "Stress? Is that it? I''ve been feeling stress-free as of late. In fact, I''ve been feeling carefree lately since I stopped worrying about my cultivation..."


    "Huh? Then, could it be because you haven''t had enough s.e.x?"


    "W-what the¡ªhow could you say that?!" Cecil exclaimed at his wife''s absurd remark.


    Serilla grinned playfully at him and continued saying, "Well, I know that you and Lulu haven''t been doing it so much because of her training... how about we have some fun? It''s been so~ long since we''ve done it~"


    Cecil restrained his now flaring urges since his wife had just mentioned it. He knew for a fact that this wasn''t it. To begin with, he wasn''t that l.u.s.tful even though he did enjoy doing it with his wives whenever he got the chance to do so.


    "Seri, that''s not the case, alright? You know how I am. Also, please don''t tempt me. You''re still pregnant. I don''t want to burden your body and cause problems with your pregnancy."


    "Oh..." Serilla looked a bit dejected. She had already started stripping her clothes but seeing as her husband didn''t want it, she couldn''t force him like how she used to. It was then that she had a bright idea.


    "I still have my other hole darling~"


    "PFFTTTT!!!" Cecil immediately spurted out the water he was drinking when he heard her words.


    "Serilla! Stop! Now! W-where in the hell¡ª"


    "Lulu told me. It seems like you love doing it in both¡ª"


    "Okay, stop! Now!"


    Serilla chuckled at his reaction. She leaned in and whispered seductively into his ears, "Well, shall we do it~ you know you want me~"


    "..." This only caused Cecil''s face to darken tremendously. He could only imagine his fate after his horny wife gave birth to their child.


    "L-let''s just save it for after you give birth, okay? So please Seri, stop tempting me..."


    "Che, no fun..." Serilla pouted and turned away.


    Cecil knocked on his forehead a few times before pulling her into his embrace and giving her a hot and passionate kiss.


    "Oh, my~ did you change your mind?"


    "No."


    "No fun~"


    "Please be obedient, now come here, I''ll continue brushing your hair."


    "Okay~"


    Cecil''s leisurely days continued and were soon going to be brought to an abrupt end when news of his brother and sister, Gabriel and Angelia, as well as the scouting party that he had sent out, had gone missing...

 Chapter 402 - A Situation

    Cecil was continuing to have those weird migraines even more frequently than before. Not only that, but as the migraines became more frequent, the voices he heard that kept calling out to him only intensified in frequency as well.


    It was to the point where he couldn''t even get a good night''s sleep and would sometimes interrupt his condition in his daily life. Lucia and Serilla grew more and more worried as they couldn''t do anything to help him.


    They knew that something was wrong and did all they could to investigate what was causing their husband to experience this weird phenomenon. Lucia had even asked her mother, Anna, who was a transcendent on why this was happening to him. Anna did find the cause but unfortunately, there was nothing she could do since the one causing this was someone that had a power level on par or even higher than her cultivation.


    The only thing she could tell was that there was something, or someone, trying to project their thoughts into Cecil''s head but because they were injured or far away, the thought projection wasn''t connecting very well and he could only receive small tidbits of the information that was trying to force its way into his brain.


    This was the conclusion after Anna took her time to thoroughly examine Cecil''s condition with the help of Anglaria Kingdom''s Spirit Sage.


    "How odd, the one trying to project their thoughts into the boy''s head seems to be a transcendent...however, the person seems to be injured," Spirit Sage Tohrun deduced.


    Anna also came to the same conclusion, but she found something quite odd with Cecil''s condition. "My thoughts exactly, Elder Tohrun, but even if the person is injured, shouldn''t Cecil be unable to resist having their thoughts projected into him? He''s in this condition because he''s unconsciously resisting the thought projection and since he''s not powerful enough to fully resist it, he''s experiencing the side-effects which are the delusions'' he''s suffering from."


    "...That''s impossible, this technique can only be used if you have ether and could only be resisted if you have it as well, how could¡ªunless this boy¡ª"


    "Has ether as well?" Anna finished.


    It was an absurd conclusion but there could be no other reason. Unfortunately for them, Cecil had been put to sleep by Lucia''s spell so they couldn''t ask him right away.


    "We''ll ask the boy himself after he''s awake. I''ve already measured his cultivation level, but how does he already have ether? Also, how do you NOT know about this?" Tohrun asked.


    "Cecil never told me anything. Even I''m surprised by this conclusion. Anyway, whether our deduction is true or not can only be explained by Cecil himself after he''s woken up."


    "Right, anyway, this boy sure gives me quite the surprise whenever I meet him. To think he already has ether at such a young age."


    "Well, that''s my daughter''s husband for ya~ he''s always full of surprises!" Anna said in agreement.


    Though projection was something only a transcendent could use by manipulating their ether to transmit their thoughts and sight to a person of their choosing. Normally, no one would be able to resist this technique if they themselves didn''t have ether.


    Upon seeing that Cecil was unconsciously resisting the projection, they could only deduce that the boy indeed possessed ether. They were quite sure of this deduction of theirs but the only way to positively confirm it was if they asked Cecil himself about it.


    Of course, they could just ask Lucia or Serilla about it since the two already knew about it.


    Awhile later, Lucia came back into the room with a fresh basin of water and a few rolls of towels alongside Serilla and their maid.


    "Ah, Lulu, Seri, we''ve been able to find why Cecil''s suffering from these delusions," Anna said once the 2 had set down the things they brought.


    "Really Mother? W-what''s wrong with him then?!" Lucia quickly asked.


    "Well, it''s because he''s resisting a certain technique from a Transcendent or higher level figure and since he''s not powerful enough to fully resist it, he''s experiencing some side-effects..." Her mother answered.


    "Is that so..." Lucia gnashed her teeth in anger before she slightly growled, "Who''s the bastard that''s doing this to him?"


    "Sorry little one, but unfortunately even with both your mother''s power and my power, we couldn''t track him. We could only conclude that this person is much more powerful than the both of us, however, he''s injured to some degree since Cecil could resist their technique," Sage Tohrun said.


    "...Tch... so we can only sit here and watch while Cel suffers?!"


    "Lulu, that''s enough. Why are you taking out your anger on Elder Sage and your mother?" Serilla reprimanded her lightly.


    "I...didn''t mean to...but I don''t like the fact that there''s some bastard out there messing with Cel..."


    "I don''t like it too, but there''s nothing we can do..."


    Lucia began wiping away Cecil''s sweat and her face darkened when she saw him grimace in his sleep.


    Tohrun observed them for a bit and his eyes brightened a little and he ended up asking, "You girls...do you perhaps no whether or not young Cecil here has ether?"


    "Ether? He has it, why elder? Is it bad?" Lucia replied in question.


    "S-so it''s true! My god, how does this child have ether?!" Tohrun exclaimed in shock.


    "He''s had ether for quite a while now, Elder Tohrun," Serilla spoke up. "Ever since he was able to level his mana and ki cultivation, he''s been able to slowly combine and turn them into ether though quite a bit had been used up a few months back when he subdued the Merkruz Principality."


    The maid quickly approached Serilla with a chair and helped her down on it. Her belly was now very big since she has already been half a year pregnant and it was hard for her to move around. Yet even with her body being in such a condition, she went to get Cecil some water and towels with Lucia earlier.


    "Madam, please take care, your body is in no condition to be moving around so much."


    "Haha~ it''s fine. I can still swing a sword so fetching some water and towels for my darling isn''t too much~"


    "Madam, the Master did ask you to refrain from doing any strenuous activities¡ª"


    "Yeah, I''m pretty sure I did say that..."


    "Cel!"


    "Darling!"


    Cecil had just woken up and heard Serilla''s words earlier so he couldn''t help but retort. However, his face was a little pale and he was sweating profusely.


    "How long was I able to sleep this time?"


    "...About 3 hours... The magic is working less and less now..." Lucia replied with a frown.


    "Yeah... lately, the longer I sleep, the more dreams I get. Not to mention that damned voice keeps ringing in my head even when I''m asleep..."


    "A-are you sure you''re okay, darling?" Serilla asked concernedly.


    "I''m fine. Don''t worry about me. You, however, should take better care of yourself. I know you''ve been growing restless but please don''t trouble the maid. Anyone would be worried if you went around my back and began practicing your sword swings..." Cecil quickly reprimanded.


    Serilla only coughed and turned her head away. Cecil could only sigh at her reaction since it was true that she had been getting in some sword training behind his back.


    "Seri, remember that you''re¡ª"


    "E-enough about me! Elder Tohrun seems to have a few questions for you!" Serilla quickly tossed the baton over to Sage Tohrun when she saw that Cecil was about to reprimand her again.


    Cecil saw this and he released a sigh before turning his attention over to Tohrun who was patiently waiting.


    "Elder Tohrun, I''m sorry that you had to come out all the way here. Is there something you needed to ask me?"


    "Ah, yes, Cecil. Well, it''s not just me, but your mother-in-law also has the same question. Though we did get confirmation from your wives earlier, it''d be better to ask you directly," Tohrun replied.


    "Okay, what is it?"


    "Do you have Ether?"


    "Ether? Well, yes, I do have it," Cecil said.


    He began manipulating the Ether inside his body and covered his hand in a thin layer of the energy.


    When Anna and Tohrun felt the energy form around Cecil''s hand, their eyes immediately brightened. The two looked at each other before nodding to one another.


    Anna quickly opened her mouth and said, "Cecil, this is really unprecedented. Normally, no one should be able to cultivate Ether, at least not until they''ve reached the Transcendent Stage or the Perfection Stage of mana cultivation..."


    "Is that so...Well, I only balanced out my Ki and Mana Cultivation before I started trying to combine them together. It succeeded and I''ve been doing it ever since," Cecil replied with a tilt of his head.


    Probably because she and the sage didn''t pay attention to it when Serilla had mentioned it before, Anna quickly asked, "Ki...where did you even¡ª"


    "Cel got the method to cultivate it back when we finished the World Tree''s Trials, mom," Lucia cut in to explain. She quickly took a towel and began drying Cecil of his sweat.


    "From back then? Well, it makes sense if you got it from the World Tree..."


    "Mhm, I was lucky that I got it. I did teach it to Lulu and Seri, but only Seri was rather adept at training her Ki cultivation. Lulu can definitely do it, but she''s lacking compared to Seri..." Cecil said.


    Anna nodded in understanding and replied, "That''s no surprise. Serilla is a descendent of the Lunar Rabbitkin, not only that, she inherited her mother''s rare bloodline so it''s a given that she''s able to cultivate Ki very well, though it can''t be the same for her Mana cultivation."


    "Y-yeah, but I guess it was because of my bloodline that I was able to do it better than Lucia, huh? Though, my mana cultivation had always been lacking so I focused on my sword just like my mother," Serilla spoke up while scratching her cheek. She always had a problem with Mana cultivation. The same couldn''t be said for her Ki cultivation. She was a genius at it though she''s been restraining her Ki cultivation to try and keep it level with her Mana cultivation.


    The results were great because as her Ki cultivation advanced hand-in-hand with her Mana cultivation, it boosted her lack of talent in her Mana cultivation. It was an unexpected good side-effect of Cecil''s Equilibrium method of cultivation.


    The same was with Lucia though she had a harder time since her Mana Cultivation was so high up that it took a very long time for her Ki cultivation to catch up and form the equilibrium in her body.


    The work paid off because her abysmal talent in Ki cultivation was boosted by her Mana cultivation so she was advancing in both types of cultivation much quicker than if she had to do it separately.


    Of course, both women''s cultivation began to lag behind somewhat than their usual speeds of cultivation if they had cultivated it separately, but this way was better for the long run.


    "The only thing that''s different about us is that unlike Cel, we can''t seem to fuse the two energies together to form Ether. It''s like there''s some kind of barrier preventing us from doing so," Lucia quipped up.


    "Yeah, despite having our cultivations at an equilibrium like darling, we can''t do his energy fusion," Serilla added in, in agreement.


    Elder Tohrun stood up and walked over to Cecil. He took his wrist for a moment and grunted before setting it back down on the bed.


    "It seems it has something to do with your constitution, boy. Anyway, this is good news for you, Cecil. Keep it up and one day you''ll officially step into the Transcendent Stage. For now, it seems like you''re just combining your energies to form Ether and use it as an expendable resource to empower your body and techniques. It isn''t perfect like our Transcendent Cultivation, but it''s enough for you to overpower anyone that''s below a Transcendent and it could help you even fight someone of our power level."


    "Yes, Elder Tohrun," Cecil nodded.


    "Little Cel, make sure you don''t actually go out and pick a fight with a Transcendent Master, okay? I won''t tolerate you making my daughter a widow just because of your curiosity," Anna gently reminded with a smile.


    Cecil flinched, turned his head away and mumbled, "Y-yes, mother..."


    "Cel!"


    "Darling!"


    "..."


    The mystery behind his mind deteriorating was still left under wraps, but at least they found the source of why he was experiencing these delusions. The best way for him to stop experiencing the delusions was to let his guard down and let the Thought Projection through into his head.

 Chapter 403 - Dangers

    Once Cecil was given the solution to his hallucination problems, he quickly tried to let his guard down to let the Thought Projection into his mind. However, even though he tried to do so, he couldn''t do it.


    He had been protecting his mind for so long by the ether he had gathered to resist the influence of his World Tree''s Thorns and old habits die hard. It was hard for him to consciously take down the barrier around his mind since he was now subconsciously doing it.


    In reality, it was easy for Cecil to take down the barrier around his mind, but once he did all of his Thorns would begin acting up and his mind would subconsciously resist this which ended up with him subconsciously putting up the barrier once again.


    The process just repeated like this over and over again. The only result was that he was able to receive clear but short fragments of the message that was trying to be transmitted into his mind.


    After he did this, the delusions he experienced had somewhat lessened down on its own. The only problem was that he was faced with a new worry.


    "Come...danger... friends...die..."


    The first time Cecil let down the barrier, this was the message that he would receive repeatedly. He couldn''t understand the meaning behind the messages, but the main thing was that someone was in danger and they were going to die and it seemed that they were his friends or people close to him at least.


    As Cecil prolonged the duration of him letting down the barrier around his mind, the messages became clearer and it was also now accompanied by short visions. These visions were the source of his worries.


    He saw his brother, Gabriel, his sister, Angelia, and the scouting team he had sent over to the ancient ruins being in some sort of trouble.


    First off, the short visions that were transmitted into his mind showed the team finally exploring the interior of the ruins after they had spent a long time scouting around the exterior and the surrounding area.


    However, once they were inside the ruins, it was like something had been triggered that caused the ruins to become sealed. When the ruins started acting up, Gabriel had quickly ordered for everyone to retreat but unfortunately, not everyone was able to come out.


    In the last seconds, before the ruins were sealed, something had dragged Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira back into the ruins. Cecil wasn''t one to jump the gun so he waited to see if Gabriel or Angelia would contact him using their MIDs to inform him of their situation.


    However, Cecil wasn''t aware that mana transmissions were completely blocked off while they were trapped inside the ruins. It wasn''t until a few days later that Cecil received a report from Ian, who had quickly rushed back to the Kingdom, regarding the threes'' disappearance.


    *****


    A few days prior to Cecil receiving the visions and Ian''s report, Gabriel and the scouting party had just finished their scouting of the area around the ruins. They had thoroughly mapped out the area around the ruins.


    Kira was also able to send his Mana Pulse into the ruins and detect some of the monsters inside and the layout of the ruins that he was able to scan. So, after numerous scanning, planning, and comparisons, Gabriel deduced that the monsters or dangers inside of the ruins were at power levels that his team was able to cope with.


    "Alright, today, we''ll be going to explore the interior of the ruins. From the data that we were able to gather thanks to Kira''s Mana Pulse, the monsters inside the ruins are definitely manageable for us," Gabriel stated as Medel began handing each team member a report of their findings.


    "Huh? Aren''t the monsters inside the ruins weaker than the ones outside?" Angelia said with surprise.


    "Yes, that''s what we were able to get. The monsters outside were B to A ranked monsters, while the ones inside are only C ranked," Kira said. "However, continue reading the report, the monsters may be lower ranked, but they felt a bit...peculiar."


    Everyone continued reading through the report and the only thing they had to worry about was that Kira felt the monsters inside the ruins had a peculiar mana signature that seemed to connect each monster together, regardless of their species.


    "...I don''t think that''s something to worry about, right? You''re just being way too cautious, Kira!" Tyra said.


    To her, C ranked monsters were still C ranked monsters. They had faced off against monsters much stronger than those low ranked scrubs.


    "B-but, we should still proceed with caution! Remember what Master Cecil said, we have to prioritize our¡ª"


    "Safeties, yes, I know. Stop repeating it!" Tyra interrupted. She scoffed at her brother before continuing, "Kira, I know you mean well, but you have to understand that you should also take into account our team''s strength! What could a bunch of C rank monsters due to us?! We''ve taken on groups of B and A rank monsters before!"


    "Y-yeah...but still¡ª"


    "Enough you two, let''s just hear what the captain has planned for us. We''ll just listen to captain''s orders and proceed as instructed, alright?" Medel quickly interjected.


    "Y-yes, big brother Medel..." Kira replied.


    "Alright... but still, I think there''s nothing to worry about. They''re still C ranked monsters," Tyra said before going silent and waiting for Gabriel to say something.


    Gabriel had already read through the reports multiple times and had already come up with a plan. He only needed to hear some of his teammates'' opinions, but it seemed that other than Tyra, everyone else was just going to follow after his plans.


    "Well, we should still listen to Kira''s warnings and prioritize Cecil''s orders. We''ll proceed with caution, but don''t be too overly cautious since what we''re facing will still only be low ranked monsters," Gabriel said.


    "Hmph! What did I tell ya, brother?"


    "..." Kira scrunched his face a little at his little sister''s words, but thankfully, his warnings would still be taken into account and his captain addressed the pressing matter that couldn''t be overlooked.


    "But!" Gabriel quickly spoke up, "We have to keep in mind that these low ranked monsters are only the ones found in the areas that Kira was able to scan which were situated near the entrance. We don''t know what other kinds of monsters are in store for us if we move deeper into the ruins."


    "Yeah! And since they seem to be connected by some mysterious force, we have to remember that the higher-ranked monsters that are deeper inside the ruins might be aware of us if we attack their low ranked counterparts!" Kira quickly spoke up.


    Everyone in the team nodded at his words. Even his sister couldn''t refute any of his words this time. Compared to everyone else, Kira had more acute mana sensitivity than the rest. What he could feel couldn''t necessarily be felt by anyone else in the group.


    However, there was one expert in their team that was an expert in ''monster-ology''. When Angelia was reading and listening to Kira''s findings of the monsters'' peculiarities. He was able to form connections with each of her monsters and through this connection, her monsters were also connected to one another.


    The monsters inside the ruins had connections to each other so she felt that it was somewhat similar to her power. Since there were similarities, that means that there was someone, or something, inside the ruins that acted like her, the source of these connections.


    After reaching this conclusion, Angelia couldn''t help speak up in concern, "Big brother, don''t you think that these monsters'' connections have some sort of similarity with my power?"


    "Huh, what''s that Angel?" Gabriel quickly asked.


    "According to Kira''s findings, the monsters inside the ruins seem to have some sort of connection with each other, right? Isn''t it similar to my power? I can form connections with monsters and through my connection with them they are hence connected to each other."


    "...You''re right...but, what does¡ªare you saying that there''s someone inside the ruins that''s the source of their connections, just like you?"


    "Yeah, I''m not sure if someone has a similar power to me or if anyone has already gotten ahead of us in our exploration, but we have to assume that someone is controlling these monsters, making them more dangerous than normal. We can''t judge them from just their ranks anymore!"


    "..."


    "Also, I have to inform you, but the person who''s controlling these monsters, their powers is most likely above mine...Even until now, I still haven''t been able to tame any monster at will. Only those that fit certain specifications can form connections with me..."


    "We''ll proceed with greater caution then. We''ll only explore the interior and refrain from engaging any of the monsters inside. We don''t want to alert whoever it is that''s controlling these monsters, if there''s a controller behind them," Gabriel said, readjusting his plans.


    "Alright, now that our plans are set, take a rest for today. We set off tomorrow morning!"


    "Yes sir!"


    Everyone was dismissed so they went towards their tents and began resting up or idling around. Tomorrow quickly arrived and the team was once more assembled in front of the forest. Over at the side, the NWR''s people were already assembled as well.


    They were rather lucky during the time Gabriel''s team went around scouting the area and taking down most of the powerful monsters within the vicinity. The NWR''s forces had been able to push deeper into the forest than they normally would be able to explore and were now able to reach the ruins'' entrance.


    When Gabriel got wind of this, he had swiftly gone over to their encampment and had come to an agreement with the NWR''s commanding officer to hold off from exploring the ruins, and instead, they''d explore it together.


    Each team met up and traveled together to the ruins'' entrance. Gabriel and his team no longer had to hide their equipment since they were finally conducting their most crucial mission since coming here.


    The NWR''s people were naturally surprised to see their team''s equipment. The captain of the NWR''s forces naturally wanted to inquire about it, but Gabriel and everyone had a solemn and unapproachable atmosphere so he wasn''t given a chance to say anything.


    Instead, each team proceeded silently through the forest, and before long they arrived in front of the ruins.


    "Alright, listen up. We''ll proceed according to yesterday''s plan, alright?" Gabriel said to his team.


    Everyone nodded at his words and he quickly turned to the captain of the NWR''s forces and said, "Remember our deal from yesterday, you''re giving me the right to command your team since we have more information than you do. This mission is crucial to both of us so I expect your entire team to be compliant with all my orders. If even one of you steps out of line, I won''t hesitate to abandon you guys and prioritize my team''s safety when we''re inside."


    "...You don''t need to worry about that, Commander Gabriel. Our Commanding Officer had already briefed us on the mission and that we would be going in under your command to ensure the success of our initial probe into the ruins," The middle-aged captain answered.


    He looked a bit unwilling to be under the command of someone much younger than him, but he had no choice since this was a command from his higher-ups.


    Gabriel nodded at him and eyed everyone else behind the captain. There was no kindness present in his eyes. He only eyed each soldier from the NWR coldly before turning away.


    "Let''s go, our team will take the lead. Also, just a kind reminder, but don''t touch anything inside the ruins...or I''ll personally cut off your hands."

 Chapter 404 - Worms

    Gabriel led everyone into the ruins. Upon entering...nothing happened. His team had been expecting some sort of trap would activate upon setting foot into the ruins because Kira had reported that there was a thin film of mana covering the entrance.


    Tyra let loose a relieved sigh when nothing happened. Even though she was the one that kept on refuting most of her brother''s words, but she was the one that trusted in them the most.


    "Hehehe, looks like nothing happened, false alarm, right?" Tyra said aloud.


    "Y-yeah...but I felt like I was passing through something slimy earlier..."


    "Tsk, that''s because you''re just too sensitive to mana. Lighten up a little! You''re making us all tense for no reason."


    "O-ow!"


    Tyra had turned around and kicked her brother in the shin. Even after what she said, he was still looking around cautiously and unconsciously making everyone else tense up. Even the NWR''s team had turned nervous after hearing Kira''s words.


    Their little playful antic had lightened up the atmosphere. Gabriel quickly stopped them from causing a ruckus and turned towards Ian.


    "Ian, take point. Angelia, keep your monsters by you for now. We''ll have Kira use Mana Pulse to scout ahead."


    "C-Captain, my Mana Pulse is being hindered for some reason. I can still use it, but it''s not as powerful as normal. I can only spread it to about 250 meters ahead of me..."


    "That''s only a fourth of the normal..."


    "Y-yes...anyway, I think we passed through some sort of magic barrier when we came into the ruins. I think the barrier hinders all sorts of magic spells to only a fourth of their usual efficacy," Kira said.


    "We''ll continue as planned, keep close, and don''t wander. Remember to stay away from the monsters and do not engage. We''re only going to do an initial scout for today. We''ll head deeper after we''ve discovered the mystery behind the monsters'' connections," Gabriel said.


    After he said that, the team quickly got into formation and started moving deeper into the ruins. The NWR''s people quickly followed after them, but they couldn''t help but frown when they heard Gabriel''s plan.


    "These bastards...they''re being overly cautious for no reason. Didn''t the reports that we were briefed about already stated that the monsters were only some low-ranked ones? What''s the need to be so scared?"


    "Tch, they have all that good equipment yet they''re acting like cowards¡ª"


    "Enough, our commander told us to listen to Captain Gabriel''s words, we''ll follow them...for now."


    "Yes sir."


    "Tenil, tell me... is the second team coming in?"


    "Right before we entered they radioed in that they were trailing us from afar...they''ll probably be coming in after a few minutes. We''ll be far away from the entrance by then."


    "Good, I''m leaving you here. Tell those bastards from the second team to get plenty of samples of this place as possible. The little kid from earlier said that there''s something peculiar about these ruins."


    "Yes sir."


    "Alright, before we cross into that intersection ahead, you hang back and return to the entrance."


    Gabriel and his team were too far away to hear any of their words. They were also too busy keeping their focus on the surroundings so no one saw that someone from the NWR''s team had been left behind after they came across a 3-way intersection and decided to move through the right hallway after Kira sensed that there was another magic barrier covering the large hallway.


    The other intersections didn''t have this thin veil of mana covering it. Kira and Gabriel came to the conclusion that the mana covered hallway was most likely the right direction.


    As they continued moving through the ruins, Medel figured that they were somehow moving downwards, into the ground. Gabriel felt a little hesitant to move forwards since the ruins from outside was a few stories high.


    "Captain, we''re moving downwards for some reason..."


    "What?"


    "I can feel that we''re moving down, not up..."


    "..."


    "We haven''t found any stairs yet and we''ve only been following the pathways that Kira''s pointing out to that''s covered in a layer of mana. It may be the right direction, but shouldn''t we explore the upper floors first? We were only able to scan those areas and find information on them...right now, we''re moving in blind."


    "...Alright, we''ll head back then. Everyone, STOP!"


    Gabriel raised his hand and quickly yelled. After telling the NWR''s captain of the situation, Gabriel proceeded to backtrack his way to the first intersection that they had come across and decided to take the central hallway.


    The NWR''s captain secretly heaved a relieved sigh because he had received a transmission from the man he left behind that he and the second team had gone down the left hallway after they came to the intersection.


    From their reports, the second team had come across some monsters, but they were only small fries that couldn''t put up a good fight. They were currently collecting data and some samples from the ruins to bring out and analyze.


    They had created a device to measure the content of mana and the second team''s people were surprised to see that the entire place was infused with a high density of mana. Even the soil beneath their feet contained a significant amount of mana and even the ruin''s walls had mana.


    "Tenil, come in. How''s the second team doing?"


    "We''re doing great, captain. We''ve already collected a significant amount of materials from this place. The readings from the Mana Detector shows that everything in this place has mana! Even these low leveled monsters have a lot of mana within them. We can harvest a lot of materials from this place!"


    "Good, keep up the good work. We''ve just found the stairs towards the second floor on our end and we''re going up to the next floor."


    "Yes sir!"


    The captain quickly cut off the transmission from his radio and continued to chase after Gabriel and his team who were now farther ahead of them.


    "Tch, aren''t they eager to get to the next floor..."


    Ahead of them, Kira had been sending his Mana Pulse outwards every 5 seconds and lead everyone to the second floor. There weren''t any monsters in the right and center hallways, but while the right hallway led downwards, the center hallway led upwards.


    They were able to find the staircase to the next floor and once they got to the second floor, Kira immediately detected a large concentration of monsters moving about in the passageways and rooms on the floor.


    However, before they could continue moving any further, the temple began rumbling all of a sudden as if it was about to collapse.


    "W-what''s happening?!"


    "What?! How''s that possible?!" The captain of the NWR''s team suddenly shouted in confusion.


    "Huh?"


    Gabriel turned around and saw him yelling into some kind of handheld device. When he took a closer look, it was a radio.


    "...bastard, what did he do?"


    Gabriel stomped over and glared at the captain.


    "What did you do?"


    "...I had a second team come in earlier and they went down the left pathway. Everything was fine but when they came to a dead-end after fighting all of the monsters inside the hallway, they were suddenly ambushed by a large worm."


    "..."


    "We have to go save them..."


    "Tch, idiots. I told you to touch nothing and do nothing! This is a dangerous place and you decide to send a second team in and now everything''s f.u.c.k.i.e.d up! There''s no way a monster would have come to attack if you guys didn''t touch anything!"


    "..."


    Gabriel turned to his teammates and said, "Let''s go, we''ve got a mess to clean up."


    Everyone nodded and quickly rushed back down to the first floor. The NWR team''s captain heaved a relieved sigh and urged his team to follow after them.


    When Gabriel and everyone was rushing through the left passageway, they couldn''t help but notice the many chopped up monster corpses that were strewn around throughout the passageway.


    Angelia was silently observing the corpses that they passed by and felt that each corpse still had that unique mana connection amongst each other. Kira also quickly noticed this since he had his Mana Pulse consistently activated.


    When they all got to the end of the left passageway, an abominable scene was presented to them. The crushed, half-eaten, and mangled bodies of the NWR''s second team were strewn about everywhere.


    The marks of battle were present everywhere and just as they were going to continue forwards, loud cries of fear rang down from deeper into the large hallway. From afar, the team could see a few humans running away from a large, wriggly, and disgusting monster that was chasing after them.


    The monster had its mouth opened, ready to swallow down the pests in front of it. Numerous spikes were decorating the large open hole. The width of the monstrous worm was only half the size of the hallway and it wasn''t all that large. The only problem was that there wasn''t just one of them.


    Gabriel quickly saw more monstrous worms behind the first one that was trying to overtake the worm that was ahead.


    "Ugh, that''s disgusting..." Angelia quietly muttered.


    "R-run! Run! There''s too many of them!"


    "!"


    "Captain, take this!" Tenil, the soldier that the NWR''s captain had left behind earlier, quickly tossed something into the air. Before the captain could catch it, a long, golden whip, quickly snatched the object from the air and brought it to Angelia.


    "Y-you!"


    "Hmm, I wonder what this is..." Angelia said. She quickly tossed it over to Tyra and the little girl stored it into her spatial ring.


    "Hey, that''s¡ª"


    "Shit! Those worms, we can''t fight them! Look!" Ian yelled out and quickly cut off the NWR''s captain.


    Ian pointed ahead and got everyone''s attention. The scene was rather appalling. The worms had caught up to the people that were running earlier and were now attacking them.


    The soldiers had already turned around and had begun retaliating, but the outcome was horrendous. When they sliced apart one of the worms, the supposedly dead worm would quickly regenerate and the separated part would quickly turn into a new worm that would then start attacking.


    "Damn, they multiply after being sliced apart?!"


    "C-captain, what do we do?!"


    From afar, Telin saw that his comrades were about to rush to his aid so he quickly yelled, "Bastards! Get the f.u.c.k out of here now! You''ll just die if you¡ªack!"


    "...Everyone retreat, we have to go!"


    "W-wait, don''t tell me you''re just going to leave him?!" Medel asked in shock.


    Most of the samples that the NWR''s second team had been collecting from earlier had already been transported out of the ruins and only these few people were left. The Mana Detector had detected a strong source of mana earlier and they proceeded into the passageway only to come upon a small crystal orb.


    That small orb was what Angelia had snatched away earlier and given to Tyra. Unfortunately, after Telin had taken away the orb, a large worm had popped up out of nowhere and started attacking them.


    After being sliced apart into multiple pieces, the worm quickly multiplied into the appalling amount that was present in front of them. The soldiers tried to escape but since the worms were adamantly chasing after them, there was already no hope for them.


    "...Let''s go, we''re leaving! We have to stay away from those worms."


    "C-Captain, we should get going too! The ruins might collapse at this rate!" The rumbling and shaking were still present and the ruins looked like it might collapse any minute.


    Gabriel glanced at the backs of the NWR''s soldiers that were already retreating and the backs of the soldiers that were being left behind fighting against the worms. Any second now, they''d be overwhelmed and eaten then the worms would turn their attention towards them...


    "Everyone, use the magi-tech guns, Third Level, fire at the monsters attacking the soldiers. Angelia, can you use your fastest monster to quickly pick up those idiots over there?"


    "Fine...though we could just leave them... Nessie, send some of your offshoots to grab them," Angelia ordered.


    Nessie hissed and a few golden strips began slipping down her waist. When the strips landed on the ground, they transformed into large golden snakes which quickly shot forward towards the NWR''s soldiers.


    Gabriel and everyone else readied their guns and quickly fired at the worms from afar. Angelia released her Oroboros, Jewel, and the ornaments in her hair quickly separated from her and began firing concentrated beams of mana at the worm monsters.


    "W-what¡ªAAAHHH!?"


    The soldiers were dumbfounded when they received unexpected help. They were then shocked when golden-colored snakes began wrapping themselves around their waists and flinging them backward.


    They landed behind Gabriel''s team and Angelia quickly had Mao transform. Ian and Medel quickly loaded the heavily injured soldiers onto Mao''s back. Once everyone who was injured was on, Gabriel quickly ordered them to retreat.


    Even though they had done a number on the worms behind them, the abominable beasts just regenerated and quickly chased after them.


    "Hurry, the exit''s just over there!"

 Chapter 405 - Trapped

    With the screeching roars of the monsters behind them, Gabriel and the team quickly fled. Just as they got to the first intersection, they were surprised to meet up with the NWR''s soldier who had fled earlier.


    "Why are you still here?!" Medel roared.


    "Help! Help!"


    "Damn these monsters! Get out of my way!"


    "These monsters just came storming in from the central pathway! There''s too many of them!"


    Gabriel and the team looked up ahead and saw the monsters that the NWR''s soldiers were fighting against. The soldiers were engaged in a furious battle against a large group of kobolds, gnomes, and other earth-elemental monsters. The monsters sent earth-element magic spells at the soldiers and were pushing them back.


    The only reason why they were able to hold out was due to the fact that the armors the NWR''s soldiers were using was the imported equipment that their military got after striking a deal with the Silvaria Kingdom.


    If they didn''t have the Silvaria Kingdom''s specially crafted, enhanced anti-monster equipment, the kobolds and gnolls'' magic spells would have easily torn through their regular armors and swiftly killed them all.


    Fighting against a monster that only used their claws and fangs was easy, but fighting against monsters that knew how to use magic, that wasn''t something the NWR was used to.


    They could only consider themselves lucky that they had managed to purchase the Silvaria Kingdom''s old model equipment that was no longer being used by their soldiers after their craftsmen had developed even better replacements.


    "You, how did¡ªTelin!"


    The captain of the NWR''s forces, named Ipovkah, quickly took notice of Gabriel''s team and also his fellow soldiers who were injured and riding on top of the large black monster, Mao.


    "C-captain...I''m sorry..." Telin said from atop Mao''s back.


    "Enough. Move out of the way," Gabriel spoke out.


    "Th-these monsters, they''re¡ª"


    "Just shut up and let us deal with them. We have to move swiftly before the worms catch up to us."


    "Y-yes¡ª"


    "Everyone, the monsters ahead are Earth-elementals. Shoot them down with Ice element bullets! Go!" Gabriel cut off and quickly ordered his team.


    "Roger!"


    "Hehe, finally, time for some action!" Tyra said as she quickly swapped out the fire-element clip from her magi-tech gun to the ice-element clip that she hung on her waist. She quickly stored the other clip and pointed her magi-tech gun at the monsters and fired.


    A magic formation quickly appeared in front of the gun''s muzzle in a split second before a flash of light was shot out from the magic formation, shooting straight towards the monsters.


    The monsters that were struck by this icy blue flash of light were quickly frozen. Ian had quickly rushed forwards and smashed them into bits with a swing of his magi-steel axe.


    Tyra quickly locked onto her next target and fired while Ian would rush over and crush the frozen monster. On the side, Kira remained on standby and kept sending his Mana Pulse in the direction behind them, keeping track of the distance the monster worms were at.


    Since Tyra and Ian had already taken action, Gabriel, Medel, and Angelia quickly jumped into the fray and it didn''t take long before the large groups of C to B ranked monsters were cleared away. However, before they could even heave a sigh of relief, more monsters began pouring out from the central pathway.


    "Quick! Go! If we stick around here, we''ll only be pincered between the worms and these monsters!" Gabriel yelled.


    Ipovkah quickly began to urge his soldiers to move while defending themselves against the monsters'' attacks. Since Gabriel''s team was taking most of the heat off of them, they were able to quickly make it back to the initial pathway that led to the intersection.


    They quickly began running towards the exit and it was at this moment that the screeches and cries of the ruins worms were heard. The monsters were just about to catch up to Gabriel''s team!


    "Captain, we have to move, the worms are nearly here!" Kira hastily yelled. He had kept his Mana Pulse activated so he knew that the monsters were only 200 meters away from them.


    "Go! Breakthrough these small fries, Mao" Angelia yelled.


    Mao released a threatening roar, his body enlarged a bit and he gathered mana into his body before rushing forwards. Using his powerful body that was strengthened with his mana, Mao quickly plowed through all of the monsters in front of him.


    "Follow after Mao!" Gabriel hastily ordered.


    With a path being quickly carved out by the large Mao, everyone safely made it through. Angelia had to use Nessie to make sure that none of the injured soldiers on Mao''s back accidentally fell off.


    The monsters quickly chased after them and up ahead, Gabriel could see Captain Ipovkah and his men waiting for them.


    The NWR''s captain and his soldiers were currently waiting on the sides of the ruin''s entrance for some reason and from what Gabriel could see, it looked as if they were struggling to push something.


    Ipovkah saw them and urgently called out to them.


    "Move faster! The entrance is trying to close off!!!"


    "!"


    "Mao, go! Quickly bring those injured soldiers out before you go and help them keep the entrance open!" Angelia yelled.


    Mao gave a roar of affirmation and he quickly rushed forwards. The large Mao quickly passed through the gate and he began shrinking his body. Some of the soldiers who were preventing the gate from closing quickly rushed over and helped bring down the injured soldiers on Mao''s back.


    Once all of the soldiers were brought down from his back, Mao rushed over to help hold open the entrance.


    The monsters were nearly catching up to them and the entrance was slowly being sealed. Even with Mao''s help, the entrance''s closing was only being held up and not entirely stopped.


    It was a seemingly desperate situation so Gabriel quickly took action.


    "Dammit, Tyra, come here!" Gabriel roared.


    "Huh?"


    Before the little girl could even say anything, Gabriel picked her up, strengthened his arm with mana, threw her across the hallway, through the entrance, and out of the ruins.


    "Kira you''re ne¡ªf.u.c.k!"


    Gabriel was just about to grab Kira but he quickly pushed the boy away, dashed forwards, and struck out behind him with his dagger.


    "KIIEEEEE!!!"


    The worms had finally caught up to them and they immediately began their attack. For some odd reason, the worms chose to adamantly attack Gabriel, locking him in place. His only response was to fiercely retaliate in kind. Even though he was being besieged on all sides, Gabriel expertly wove in between the worms'' attacks and slashed them apart without taking a hit.


    He was able to quickly split apart numerous worms, but the problem was that the more he cut them apart, the more worms that were created after they regenerated. Instead of dying, the worms only continued to multiply with every attack that Gabriel struck them with.


    "This is crazy!" Gabriel cursed, the more he attacked the more dangerous things got. He felt that in due time, he would be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of these monstrous worms.


    His attacks didn''t injure them, but it instead only served as a way for them to propagate in number.


    Once Angelia saw the plight her brother was in, she quickly turned around and deployed all of her magic-type monsters to rescue her brother. Her monsters quickly transformed into their battle forms and immediately began shooting magic spells at the worms.


    The worms were either, buried, frozen, vaporized, or electrified by the spell bombardment that Angelia''s monster had sent. She didn''t forget to use her Orobos to send some attacks at the other monsters that were chasing after them.


    After giving her brother a momentary respite, Angelia quickly yelled, "Brother! Get back!"


    Seeing the situation they were in, Ian and Medel were just about to rush back to help them, but Gabriel quickly yelled at the two, "You two hurry up and go hold the door open! We''ll catch up to you guys!"


    "A-alright!"


    "Let''s go, Medel!"


    Medel was still hesitating, but Ian abruptly grabbed him and dragged the hesitating vice-captain back with him towards the entrance. The entrance to the ruins was slowly closing and the two quickly arrived next to the two slabs of rock that was slowly moving closer to each other.


    They both enhanced their bodies with mana and tried to keep the doors open. The other soldiers of the NWR were also helping out, but the entrance was still only being hindered and not completely stopped from closing.


    "C-Captain, hurry!" Medel roared out. The veins on his arms and neck were popping out as he struggled to try and keep the entrance open.


    Ian didn''t say anything but he was in a similar situation. So were the other soldiers that were struggling to keep the entrance opened.


    Gabriel quickly slashed apart the worms and monsters in front of him. He turned around and grabbed onto Kira before quickly dashing towards the entrance.


    "Angelia, let''s go!"


    "Right!"


    Angelia didn''t send out any of her close-ranged monsters so she was able to quickly run away right when the order was given. However, just as she took a few steps backward in retreat, something wrapped onto her legs and tripped her.


    "Uwah!"


    Seeing his little sister tripe, Gabriel immediately called out to her, "Angie?!"


    Gabriel''s pause finally gave Kira the momentary respite to look back on the hoard of monsters that were chasing after them.


    He quickly paled in the next instant and yelled, "Captain! Th-there''s¡ª"


    "Captain! Behind you!" Medel shouted.


    "!"


    Gabriel quickly felt the danger and he immediately jumped away. He didn''t see what had attacked him, but Angelia saw it. She was about to get up to help her brother, but she immediately felt that her legs were caught on something. She looked down and saw horrendous-looking black tendrils wrapped around her legs.


    "Captain! Angelia!" Ian called out.


    Angelia looked up at her brother and she paled in fright.


    "ANGIE!"


    "B-brother¡ª"


    In the next instant, however, she was quickly dragged back into the horde of monsters that were chasing after them while screaming.


    "KYAAAAHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 406 - Trapped 2

    "F.U.C.K!"


    Gabriel saw his sister being dragged back into the horde of monsters and nearly lost it.


    "ROOOOAAARRR!!!" Mao saw this as well and he stopped trying to hold the entrance open. He quickly enlarged himself and tried plowing through the horde of monsters in front of him but the same black tendrils which had dragged away his master wrapped themselves around his large body and stopped him in place.


    Mao tried to struggle but it was to no avail and he too was dragged into the horde of roaring monsters, quickly disappearing behind it just as his master, Angelia.


    Gabriel cursed inwardly when he saw the entrance closing even faster since Mao was no longer helping the soldiers keeping it open. He quickly put strength into his arm and tossed Kira over in the direction of the entrance.


    He was just about to turn around and rush after his little sister, but the black tendrils that had dragged away his sister were soon upon him as well. Before Gabriel could even do anything, the tendril swiftly wrapped themselves around his body and he too was pulled back into the horde of monsters.


    Kira, who was thrown earlier, quickly got up and saw his captain being dragged back into the horde of monsters. He stood there frozen but he quickly snapped out of it when Ian and Medel roared at him to start running.


    Just before he was able to reach the entrance, the black tendrils that had dragged away Angelia and Gabriel quickly reached him.


    "N-No! Tyra¡ª"


    Kira''s voice was cut short as he too was quickly pulled back into the ruins.


    "Motherfu¡ª"


    "Medel, we have to release the doors! Those black things are heading our way!" Ian urgently yelled.


    Medel felt helpless in this situation. On one hand, he wanted to rush back into the ruins to try and save his teammates and captain, but he knew that he''d only be throwing his life away if he did that.


    "Dammit!"


    "No no no no, my brother¡ª!" Tyra had just gotten up from the ground after she had been thrown earlier by Gabriel. When she looked up just now, she only saw the despairing scene of her brother, friend, and her captain being dragged back into the ruins by the black tendrils.


    Seeing that the entrance to the ruins was still opened, she wanted to rush back in and try to rescue them. Ian quickly noticed Medel and Tyra''s intentions so he quickly took action.


    "I''m sorry, Tyra, Medel!" Ian yelled. He quickly released his hold on the slowly closing entrance and pulled back Medel, as well as all of the NWR''s soldiers that were trying to hold the entrance open.


    The entrance slammed close just before the black tendrils were able to reach them. A tendril had been able to slip through but was quickly cut off right when the entrance had closed shut.


    *****


    "That''s what happened, sir..." Ian said as he finished his report.


    "..."


    Cecil''s face was scary after he listened to the report and the recount of events from Ian. Medel and Tyra were still at the ruins'' location, trying to figure out ways to open the ruins once again, but after it was closed off the first time, nothing they did could open the door.


    "N-no, my babies... th-they were..."


    "Mother-in-law!" Lucia quickly rushed forward and held up Anastasia who was about to fall.


    She too was present when Ian had finished retelling the events that happened in the ruins a few days prior. When Anastasia heard that her baby girl and her son had been pulled into the ruins with their condition being unknown, she nearly collapsed after feeling powerless at the news.


    Cecil wasn''t the only one listening to the report. He, his 2 wives, his mother, and his two mothers-in-law were also present at the moment since they just happened to be there when Ian came bringing back urgent news.


    Anastasia quickly turned to Cecil and said, "C-Cel, honey, please, you have to go and... ah, but, Seri...she''s..."


    "Don''t worry about me, mother. I''ll let darling go. After all, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law have gone missing and are in danger," Serilla said with a slight frown. Right now, she was more worried about her husband''s siblings than her own needs.


    "...Are you okay with that, Seri?" Cecil asked.


    "Yeah, but please make sure you safely come back home with them, okay?"


    "Don''t worry. I''ll make this rescue operation quick," Cecil promised. He did a quick check of things and knew that they were still alive.


    He turned towards Ian who had his head down after finishing his report and said, "Let me confirm something, those bastards from the NWR did something inside the ruins which most likely caused this?"


    Ian quickly looked up and said, "T-there''s no definite proof of why it happened, but from the confession of the soldiers we saved, the worms that attacked us and the odd occurrence that happened just as we stepped onto the second floor happened when the NWR''s second exploration team had dug up an orb that was infused with a large concentration of mana."


    "And where is this orb?" Cecil asked, his tone was piercing and cold.


    Ian flinched and hastily replied, "I-it''s back at the Special Forces'' forward base, even though we snatched it from them within the ruins, the NWR''s scientists demanded that¡ª"


    "Demanded?"


    "...y-yes, they wanted us to return the orb which was rightfully theirs since their soldiers were the ones who first discovered it."


    "...Looks like some greedy animals need a little warning..." Cecil said in his breath.


    He was very furious right now. The report had come in 3 days after his brother, sister, and disciple had disappeared.


    There was no way for him to receive a report on the same day that his siblings and disciple had gone missing since Ian had to rush back to the kingdom and personally report the matter. He didn''t have a MID like Gabriel and Angelia so he couldn''t just give his master a call to report their situation.


    "We''re departing right now, get ready, Ian."


    "Y-yes, sir!"


    Cecil walked to his mother and quickly reassured her, "Mom, don''t worry, I''ll get them back to you safe and sound. Please take care of Lulu and Seri while I''m away."


    "...Please be careful..."


    "Yes."


    "Hey, I''m coming with you!" Lucia quickly said.


    Cecil quickly refuted her and said, "You stay here, Lulu."


    "Huh? Why?!"


    "Continue your training with mother Anna, you''re at a critical point in your training and you shouldn''t be disrupted. Don''t worry. This won''t take long, okay?"


    "...But..."


    "Lulu, a good wife should listen to her husband," Anna quickly spoke up.


    Anna could see from his slight actions and she knew that her son-in-law had a reason for leaving her daughter behind and opted to go alone.


    Lucia gave her mother a look and turned back towards Cecil. She released a sigh and said, "Fine... but make it quick, okay? The baby''s delivery date is close and you''re not allowed to miss it! Also, you better not cause too much of a ruckus when you get there. The important thing is to rescue Gabriel and Angie, everything else can wait until after they''ve been safely secured!"


    Cecil nodded at her words. He then walked over to Serilla and hugged her.


    "Seri, you gonna be alright?"


    "...Mhm, just make sure you be quick, okay? Our child might be born soon and I don''t want you to miss it!"


    "Don''t worry, give me a week or two and I''ll be back!"


    "Okay~"


    The others in the room quickly made their exit except for Lucia when they saw the couple entering their lovely world together.


    "I have to go now. The quicker I get there, the faster I can get this done," Cecil said.


    "Alright, take care, darling," Serilla said before giving Cecil a tight hug and kissing him passionately.


    "Hehehe~ me too~" Lucia said as she hugged her from behind.


    "Mhm, come here, then."


    *****


    Cecil took one last look behind him and waved back at his family. He was fully geared up and ready to go with his newly improved adamantium gunsword strapped to his waist. He turned to Ian and asked, "You ready?"


    "Yes, Master, we can go any time," Ian replied. He was ready as well and was already on his monster mount. He was just about to ask whether he should go fetch a mount for his master but was interrupted by Cecil calling out to someone.


    "Silv, come! We''re going out."


    All of a sudden, a short kid, who had similar facial features as Cecil, materialized just next to him. The boy with long silver hair eyed his master and he gave him a toothy grin before asking, "Hehe, adventure time?"


    "No, we''re going to rescue my brother, sister, and my young disciple... Also, we''re going to discipline some greedy animals..."


    "Heh."


    Silver''s body began glowing and he transformed into his majestic, white Fenrir form. The large wolf roared out, announcing his mighty presence. Cecil leaped on top of his back and motioned for Ian to get on as well.


    "Let''s go."


    At his words, Silver kicked off from the ground and soared straight into the air. Clouds began gathering at his feet and he ran through the air. They quickly disappeared into the sky, heading straight towards the ancient ruins where Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira were trapped in.

 Chapter 407 - Kindly Deliver

    With Silver''s speed, it didn''t take long for Cecil and Ian to arrive back at the Silvaria Kingdom''s Special Force''s forward base camp at the edge of the New World Republic''s territory bordering the forest where the ancient ruins were located.


    They had left yesterday afternoon and had arrived at the base camp early the next morning. When Cecil arrived at the base camp, everyone was sent into a ruckus since a large flying wolf had just landed in the middle of the camp.


    Everyone here was aware of the large silver wolf which had become the symbol of the Silvaria Kindgom after the Merkruz Principality''s attack, but everyone was still fl.u.s.tered because in the end, Silver was still a giant monster.


    "M-My Lord, y-you''ve arrived!" Anise, the vice-commander of the Special Forces quickly rushed over to Silver''s landing site and hastily greeted Cecil when she saw him jump down from Silver''s back.


    Ian quickly jumped down and nodded towards Anise in acknowledgement.


    "...I heard that my brother disappeared a few days ago..."


    "Y-yes, it''s been 4 days since the commander disappeared..."


    "...Did you all do a proper investigation of why this happened?"


    "S-sir, why don''t we head to the camp''s Command Center? We can discuss things there..."


    "...Fine. Ian, go call the rest of the team members over!"


    "Right away, Master!" Ian said before quickly turning around and rushing in the direction of his team''s tent.


    Silver quickly reverted back to his human form and followed after Cecil and Anise who led them to the camp''s CC.


    While Cecil waited, the rest of the camp''s officers quickly rushed into the tent one by one. Even though Cecil wasn''t part of the kingdom''s government, the Special Forces were once the Exploration Division and they all had participated in the subjugation of the Ancient Hydragon which would frankly, go down in history as one of Cecil''s most amazing feats which was publicly displayed.


    They all respected the young man currently sitting at the head seat of the command center meeting room even if he wasn''t their commanding officer or the kingdom''s Grand Marshal, even though in their opinion, he should be.


    Cecil didn''t say anything and continued to wait. Since he wasn''t saying anything, the rest of the officers inside the room, including Anise, didn''t dare to speak up. Silver stood next to Cecil, who was seated, and broke the stifling atmosphere by asking what everyone thought, was a thoughtless question.


    "So, Master...who''re we killing before going on our adventure?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Cecil eyed the carefree-looking boy next to him and chuckled before answering him, "Wait a bit. My disciples are almost here..."


    Right after Cecil finished his words, Ian, Medel, and Tyra quickly rushed into the room. When Medel saw their master, he released a large sigh of relief and quickly mumbled something to Tyra who looked like she was about to burst into tears.


    After listening to Medel, Tyra quickly reeled in her emotions and the 3 quickly walked over next to Cecil and greeted him with a bow.


    "Master, it''s good to see you again."


    "Mhm, it''s been hard on you guys. You can rest assured now. I''ll listen to everyone''s reports first before we go rescue your martial brother and my family."


    "Yes, Master."


    "Medel, I''ve already listened to the report from Ian, so I know the gist of what''s happened, so..." Cecil paused and eyed everyone else in the room before continuing, "You''ve all been given 4 days'' time to investigate. So can you tell me what caused my disciple, sister, and brother, to be trapped inside of the ruins?"


    Medel hurriedly spoke up and said, "Master, we''ve been investigating things and although we can''t pinpoint the exact reason as to why the ruins were sealed shut and why the monsters attacked, all evidence pointed out that the cause was due to the reckless actions of the NWR''s second team that secretly snuck into the ruins after us..."


    "..."


    Medel continued with the report and Anise, who spoke up on behalf of all of the Special Forces'' officers, spoke up from time to time to add more information. After listening, Cecil deduced that it was without a doubt the NWR''s fault that something so bizarre occurred on the first mission inside the ruins. Both sides had come to a prior agreement that each side''s team would only conduct an investigative sweep of the first and second floors of the ruins and command would be given entirely to Gabriel while they were inside the ruins.


    Gabriel''s team and the NWR''s first team hadn''t touched or done anything that would trigger the awakening of the worm-like monsters that nearly devoured the NWR''s second team or cause the large horde of monsters to chase after them. It was confirmed that the NWR''s second team had tried to retrieve something from within the ruins that most likely caused this.


    Fortunately, Angelia was able to swipe the object from them and Tyra was able to take it out of the ruins.


    Cecil quickly asked for the object and Tyra presented it to him. The palm-sized orb that they suspected had most likely triggered the sealing of the ruins was quickly recognized by Cecil to be an artifact. From the meticulous and ancient-styled artificing methods, Cecil was able to quickly come to the conclusion that the NWR''s second team was indeed the cause of what happened inside the ruins that resulted in it being sealed.


    "This is an artifact... the runes in the outer array seems to be part of a larger array that''s used to gather mana for the orb''s central array...not sure what the mana''s supposed to be used for...but there''s no doubt, after their reckless actions, they caused the ruins to seal itself..."


    Everyone in the room already had their suspicions so once Cecil confirmed this, they were sent into an uproar.


    "Those bastards! Their reckless actions caused our commander and the other 2 to be trapped inside the ruins!"


    "Damn! Even Miss Angelia was trapped inside!"


    "Don''t forget that our Commander also went out of his way to rescue those poor sods from the NWR''s second team. Because of his sacrifice, they didn''t die, but he and 2 of our own are now trapped inside the ruins!"


    Cecil lightly tapped the table in front of him and the sound produced by him sending out a small shockwave of his mana, silenced everyone in the room.


    "..."


    "..."


    Seeing him frown, no one dared to speak up. Anise, however, gathered up her courage and respectfully asked, "My Lord...what shall we do now?"


    "...First, we''ll need to get some justice from¡ª"


    Cecil was interrupted when a rude banging was heard from the door. Everyone turned towards the door and they could hear a commotion outside.


    It wasn''t long before the door was swung open and a few people walked in with some of their soldiers hastily trying to push them out.


    "S-sirs, please, we have an important guest¡ª"


    "Quiet! We''ve waited long enough!" One of the people who came in said.


    Cecil wasn''t able to recognize any one of them so he knew that they weren''t part of his camp. Anise stepped forward and quickly yelled out, "Mr. Ivan, we''ve already told you that¡ª"


    "Quiet, woman! How dare you people take something that was rightfully ours! Do you know how many of our soldiers were lost just to get that object?!"


    "What did you say?!"


    "Your people snatched it from us, we have witnesses! We''ve respectfully sent requests over to your men to quickly return the object to us! My scientists require it for our studies! Isn''t this the main reason why we even bothered to cooperate with you people?!"


    Anise gritted her teeth and anger before she coldly replied, "Mr. Ivan, you better retract your words. Did you think that only your side faced casualties?! Our Commander went missing and so has 2 of our¡ª"


    "He''s only gone missing! Our side has suffered actual casualties! 10! Our nation has lost 10 of our brave soldiers! How dare you weigh the life of our fallen soldiers to only 3 of yours?! And from what I hear, 2 of those are only children! What do you expect from sending children into such a dangerous place?! It''s only natural that¡ª"


    The rude middle-aged man''s words were quickly cut short. Cecil had released his aura and killing intent and locked the area around him. He coldly eyed the man who had just rudely entered and by using only his mana, forced him to the ground.


    "Gah!"


    Everyone else who had entered that wasn''t part of his forces was also quickly forced to the ground, face first. Now that silence had once more ensued in the room, Cecil retracted his aura and killing intent and lightly said, "Get those fools up."


    "Y-yes sir!" The officers in the room quickly scrambled forward and forced the people who had entered up on their feet.


    "Now, let''s hear that again? What did you say about casualties?"


    Ivan, the middle-aged man who had been rudely spouting out nonsense from earlier, quickly looked up furiously when he heard those words. When he saw Cecil, the man couldn''t say anything. The golden eyes that were looking back at him were cold and unfeeling and Ivan felt like he was staring at an endless void when he stared at Cecil straight in the eye.


    Ivan felt like his mind was being swallowed but he quickly snapped out of the trance when a hand suddenly gripped him on the shoulder.


    "!"


    "Young man, I apologize for the ruckus that my people have caused for you," Another man spoke up.


    Cecil eyed the person who had snapped Ivan out of his trance and remained silent while continuing to eye them coldly.


    "Young man, isn''t it custom that the young should introd¡ª"


    "Another word and I''ll rip your throat out..."


    "..."


    Cecil let loose his aura once more and silenced everyone once more. He scoffed when he noticed that the man who had just spoken to him didn''t seem to be affected by the pressure that he was releasing.


    "Hmph, at least there''s someone who isn''t trash from your side..." Cecil retracted his aura before continuing, "I''m guessing you fools must be from the NWR? Good, I was just about to go find you people."


    "..."


    "Ah, I''m being rude, aren''t I? Please, take a seat," Cecil gestured for them to sit down and the newcomers were given seats and warily sat down.


    The ones who had come bursting in earlier were skeptical and wary of what caused them to be forced onto the ground earlier and they didn''t see any of the Silvaria force''s officers making a move earlier. They only felt a large pressure crushing onto their bodies which resulted in them being forced heavily into the ground.


    The man who had snapped Ivan awake from his trance hadn''t rushed in recklessly earlier but he saw for himself what had happened. The young man who was currently sitting at the head of the meeting room had only eyed the hasty fools who had burst in earlier and forced them to the ground.


    ''This young man...he has those supernatural powers...'' The man thought. His name was Alek Hansen and he too possessed these ''supernatural powers''. It''s just that it wasn''t as strong as the young man in front of him.


    He was also the NWR''s forces commanding officer, the man who was overseeing all of the operations into the ancient ruins'' exploration.


    Cecil wasn''t aware of who he was and didn''t care. The fools that had caused his brother, sister, and disciple to go missing had delivered themselves to his doorstep. It''d be foolish of him to let them get away now.

 Chapter 408 - This Isn’t Earth

    Once everyone was seated, Cecil opened his mouth and said, "I''ve already heard the reports from my subordinates about what happened in the ruins. From what was reported, the casualties on your side were caused by none other than your own reckless actions."


    "..."


    "I remember receiving word from your president that he would cooperate fully with us and what''s this I get? You fools recklessly excavated the ruins on your own and caused some unwanted and needless...casualties..."


    "...We''ve given your people the cooperation that you''ve asked. Once inside the ruins, we took action according to the sit¡ª"


    Cecil tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair and sent a shockwave towards the person who had spoken earlier, sending him flying off from his chair and into the wall.


    "...I didn''t ask for an excuse, did I?"


    "Y-you, do you know who we are?"


    "You just attacked an¡ª"


    Cecil quickly cut them off and spoke up, completely ignoring the fact that the NWR''s people had turned hostile towards him for sending one of their important figures smashing into the wall. The only one who remained silent was Alek, the NWR''s army commander.


    "I''m not sure which one of you is the idiot that authorized the mobilization of a second team into the ruins, but what you did was pretty stupid and you''re responsible for the loss of your 10 soldiers...as well as the cause for my disciple, brother, and sister going missing..."


    "Huh?"


    "?"


    "Now, I''m going to ask you once, and only once, who''s responsible for authorizing the second team to go in and cause a mess? The only thing you got from that was this insignificant artifact, the loss of your precious soldiers as well as offending the Silvaria Family of the Silvaria Kingdom..."


    When Cecil rolled the artifact in his palm, Ivan noticed it and rashly spoke up, "Boy! That''s the NWR''s property! You people snatched it from our excavation team!"


    "...And who are you?"


    "I''m the NWR''s leading scientist, Ivan Mikalovich! I demand that you hand back our property at once! We discovered it first inside the ruins and your people stole it from us!"


    Cecil reached out with his hand and quickly pulled the man to his side using his mana. He clamped down onto his neck and began squeezing.


    "So...you''re the fool who''s responsible for sending in that second team?"


    "Ack, kuhaacckkkk¡ª"


    "You trash caused my family to go missing?"


    This time, Alek couldn''t stay silent since an important person of his nation was in danger.


    "Unhand him right now!"


    The officer next to Alek quickly stood up and spoke up to berate Cecil''s actions, "You! Your actions are a direct offense to¡ª"


    Cecil didn''t pay them any attention and only squeezed tighter, quickly snapping Ivan''s neck.


    "!"


    "Y-you!"


    "You dare!"


    Cecil scoffed and threw Ivan''s body into the air and quickly vaporized him into nothing with a Mana Bolt.


    "...Next will be you fools if you don''t answer my question. Who else is responsible for sending in your second team?"


    "H-how, how could you kill him like that!"


    "Do you have no respect for human life?!"


    "Monster, we should just kill¡ª"


    The last person''s words was quickly cut short since Cecil shot a Mana Bolt at him, completely erasing him from the face of the planet. His actions immediately sent shivers down everyone''s spine.


    They all looked back at this cold blooded young man and couldn''t help but be fearful.


    "...This isn''t Earth. So did you think your justice system will work here?" Cecil asked coldly.


    "..."


    No one could give him an answer. Right now, they were only fearful of their lives. Judging by how the young man before them operates, he wouldn''t bat an eye if he killed another person.


    "In Alterna, justice is enacted by those with power, true power. Not some insignificant things like money, authority, or status. You bastards just offended me by causing my family to go missing. Hence, I''ll enact my justice."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Seeing how fearful everyone was, Cecil scoffed, "You all should feel lucky that no one in my family are dead because if they were...I can guarantee you, you''re entire nation will be wiped away from this world."


    Once more, no one said anything so Cecil continued, "I''ll ask one more time. Bring those responsible for sending in your second team. I''ll only eliminate them and leave the rest alone."


    Alek saw that everyone else was paralyzed in fear. He released a breath and spoke up, "Sir, the person who had authorized the mobilization of the second team was the person you had just killed..."


    "...And who are you?"


    "I''m the commanding officer of the NWR''s forces who were sent to cooperate with the Silvaria''s Special Forces to investigate the ruins."


    "...Shouldn''t a team be authorized by you for them to mobilize?"


    "...I did authorize for them to move, but I gave them specific orders to stay outside."


    "I heard from a report that this wasn''t the case. One of the survivors that my brother selflessly saved confessed that the orders were sent by their superiors to move in after the first team and my brother''s team was further into the ruins... Are you still going to lie?"


    "..."


    "You''re selling out one of your people just so you can save the rest? It''s admirable, but futile. If you won''t be truthful and present them, I''ll just wipe out your entire base before I go and rescue my family..."


    "A-are you not afraid of ruining the alliance between our two nations?!"


    "Why should I care? Do you honestly believe that my Kingdom needs this alliance? It''s not us who needs it, but you. In this new world, we can take care of ourselves just fine. If we have to, we can just go to war with you and take over your nation and claim your resources and lands for ourselves. Simple and efficient, much better than putting up with this stupid facade where we have to act ''friendly'' with a nation that''s much weaker than us."


    "..."


    "I can guess that that stupid scientist was the main cause for the second team''s mobilization. Your researchers were too greedy to get your hands on mana-rich materials so you couldn''t help yourselves."


    "We''re all just humans and we needed to find a way to defend ourselves in this crazy world..."


    "At the expense of your own people and those unaffiliated with you?"


    "...It wasn''t within our expectations¡ª"


    "It should have been since you idiots are exploring something that''s beyond your knowledge!"


    "..."


    "I promised my wife that I wouldn''t cause a ruckus when I came here and since I''ve already killed someone, I don''t want to break my promise even further... You''re nation will receive a formal complaint from my kingdom. Just know that your actions may have caused the dissolution of the alliance between our two nations."


    "..."


    "Now if you fools know what''s good for you, scram. Before I decide to go back on my word and just kill all of you here."


    After the NWR''s people, who had rudely intruded on their meeting, were sent away, Cecil ordered everyone to quickly mobilize and head for the ruins.


    Cecil exited the command center with Silver and his 3 disciples who led him straight to their quarters.


    Once he walked into the tent, Tyra immediately jumped into his arms and sobbingly said, "M-master! My brother, my brother, he¡ªa-and the commander, and even Angelia, th-they¡ª"


    Throughout the entire meeting, Tyra had been holding in her grievances since she was tactful enough to know that it wasn''t the time or place to be showing her emotions and bawling out to her master.


    "It''s alright, Tyra. They''re all still alive, you don''t need to worry. Once everyone''s packed their things, we''ll head straight into the ruins to go and rescue our family."


    "T-they''re still alive?"


    "Yup, remember that last time I had you all give me a portion of your manas? I stored them inside an artifact that lets me keep track of your general locations and life signs. The mana is still active inside the artifacts so it could only mean that they''re all still alive and doing their best to stay alive inside the ruins," Cecil gently reassured.


    It was a good thing that he had created multiple copies of the artifact that he had given to Lucia as a means for her to keep track of his mana levels from back then. He no longer had a need for his wife to keep track of his mana levels since he had resolved the issue of him turning berserk when his mana got too low, but now the artifact was used to keep track of his family''s life signs using their mana.


    He had everyone in his family, his wives, his brothers, sisters, parents, parents-in-laws, uncles, cousins, disciples, and including the people who were loyal to his family and stayed at the estate to have their own Life Force Artifacts.


    Since Cecil knew that they were still alive, he wasn''t all that angry at the NWR''s forces even though they caused his family to be in their current condition. It would be a different story if he didn''t know about their condition or if they were dead.


    Who knows what he would have done to the New World Republic if he found out that his precious brother and little sister, as well as his newly acquired disciple, were killed. At the very least, the NWR would no longer exist if that was the case.

 Chapter 409 - Warning

    A few hours later, after the Silvaria''s Special Forces had packed up all of their things, Cecil had everyone mobilize into the forest with all of their equipment.


    The NWR''s officers and soldiers saw this and couldn''t help but wonder what they were doing. Their previous base had been taken down and now they were all moving.


    "...Could they be trying to set up camp inside the forest?"


    "How reckless! I guess that new commander of theirs is just a young fool with too much power! How could their people survive in the monster-ridden forest?"


    "..."


    Regardless of what the NWR''s people were saying, Cecil had everyone march into the dangerous forest. None of the monsters that were supposed to be attacking them even tried to get close.


    Silver was in his human form but he was releasing his authority as a Monster Sovereign all around him. He was establishing his authority as the new king in town, or the forest.


    With how powerful he was, no B or A ranked monster even dared to come close to the Silvaria Special Forces group that was moving through the forest.


    Once they arrived at the front of the ruins'' entrance, Cecil ordered everyone to begin setting up camp.


    They would now be officially taking over this place and would prevent anyone from entering into the ruins. He had been quite lenient before but his leniency had caused his family to be put into danger due to some other peoples'' greed.


    Of course, he wasn''t going to blame them since it was in human nature to be greedy and the soldiers and researchers of the NWR wanted to develop their country by looking into the ruins and finding artifacts and tools that they could use to study about mana.


    However, since he was going to take things into his own hands, he''d rather not have anyone interfering with his rescue mission. Cecil already made a plan that he would quickly explore the ruins and rescue his family before quickly heading back to his kingdom.


    He''d do a more thorough exploration after his wife had given birth and he had already promised that he would come back quickly.


    After everyone had finished establishing their new base, Cecil quickly gathered everyone around.


    "Everyone gather around! Before I head into the ruins, I''ll be giving you all a few new toys to try out."


    Cecil waved his hand and multiple boxes came crashing down onto the ground. He had a few people quickly come over to open the boxes and begin distributing the equipment to everyone in the camp.


    "Master...aren''t these the new equipment that we have?" Medel asked after he took a look at the stuff inside of the boxes.


    "Yes, since I want this operation to be finished without a hitch, I needed our people to be well-equipped. After all, we''re going to be banning any other force from heading into the ruins. If we don''t have a bigger fist than them, it''ll only encourage those fools to continue trying to ride over our heads."


    "..."


    "I''ll be heading in alone. You guys are in charge while I''m gone. There won''t be any objections. You''ll only hold me back inside the ruins." Cecil quickly added at the end of his sentence when he saw his disciples all ready to object.


    "...Okay, Master..."


    "Yes, Master."


    Ian and Medel answered. Tyra looked very much reluctant but she couldn''t object anyways so she quickly answered.


    "As you wish, big brother..."


    "Good. Just stay put okay? I''ll save everyone as fast as I can so don''t do anything reckless."


    "Yes, big brother," Tyra replied with a clearly reluctant but helpless voice.


    "What am I going to be doing, boss?" Silver asked from the side.


    "You stay here as well. Guard the place against monsters and keep anyone from getting in or anything from getting out, alright?"


    "Sure~"


    "Prevent anyone from getting in, use force if necessary."


    Cecil left behind those words before he walked towards the ruins entrance. Everyone was rather curious as to how he was going to open the doors, but they were surprised to see him pull out his Gun Sword.


    Cecil gathered his mana around his sword and compressed it over the blade of his sword before swinging out furiously. There was no glorious explosion, only the sound of Cecil''s blade waving through the air.


    "W-will that even work?" Anise couldn''t help but mumble in question.


    It all happened in the blink of an eye and Cecil quickly sheathed his sword. The entrance seemed to have remained intact but once Cecil walked over and lightly kicked the stone door, it immediately started collapsing and the ruins were now wide open like it had been a few days ago.


    "Remember, no one comes in," Cecil reminded before he walked into the ruins.


    *****


    A scout from the NWR had been following and observing the Silvaria''s army that had now finished setting up their base. When he saw the entrance being forced open, he immediately went back to report to his superiors.


    "Since the gates are opened, let''s hurry up and send another team in," One officer said.


    "Sir, the Silvaria army seems to be occupying the area around the entrance and it looks like they want to prevent anyone from gaining entrance into the ruins."


    "Hmph, we already have an agreement. They''ll give us way if we mention it. Hurry up and form the team and send them out," An NWR scientist said in a disgruntled tone.


    They had lost their most brilliant mind just today so they weren''t harboring any good feelings for the Silvaria army anymore. There wasn''t any evidence about what caused the ruins to be sealed was even their fault so they justified the occurrence to be some sort of trap and it was just unfortunate that the Silvaria''s forces lost their commander and a few children inside the ruins.


    Alek, the commander of the NWR''s forces, began pondering upon the new information the scout reported before saying, "...We should still be cautious. I''m not sure who that young brat from the Silvaria Kingdom was, but he''s powerful and he did identify himself to be Gabriel Silvaria''s younger brother. In other words, he''s a prince of the kingdom."


    "Prince? Hmph, that upstart kingdom was only lucky to get a head start in development. They also occupy a land of great resources! They''re just lucky! Prince or whatever, he''ll still have to give face to us since we''ve already established an agreement with their kingdom!"


    "...We still need to take precautions...in case they attack us."


    "If they attack then it''s a direct violation of our agreement. We''re then entitled to retaliate! You think our army would lose against theirs?"


    The scout from earlier immediately raised his hand and said, "Sirs, I also have to add, that the Silvaria army is equipping themselves with the advanced equipment that we saw from the small team of their group that we encountered earlier."


    "..."


    "Matters not, if they attack us, we''ll retaliate. They''ll lose in number and since we have the justification to attack and wipe them out, we''ll take the equipment and begin research and development on them."


    "Our Sovereign Leader specifically said that we must maintain friendly relations with the Silvaria Kingdom! We can''t do that!" Alek reminded in a stern tone.


    "Let''s say they attack us, which is highly likely since from the reports of our scouts say that they seemed poised for it, should we turn our other cheeks towards them and let them strike us?!"


    "..."


    "You may be the commander but remember that the Leader gave us some authority over the forces since what we need from the ruins is crucial to our nation''s development and future!"


    "...Do as you wish, but I will not comply if the situation is too dangerous for our soldiers to cope with! I won''t send my brothers-in-arms to their deaths all for you petty scientists'' ambitions!"


    "Hmph!"


    The NWR quickly rallied some of their men together and quickly began traversing into the forest. When they arrived at the Silvaria army''s base camp, a few of the soldiers raised their magi-tech guns and pointed it at them before giving out a warning.


    "Turn back! No one is allowed to get close to the ruins!"


    "...We already have an agreement with the Silvaria Kingdom! You can''t prevent us from going in!"


    "This is your last warning. Turn back! We will use force if necessary!"


    "And like I said, we have an agreement with your kingdom! You do not own this place!"


    "Guns free! If they take another step forward, exterminate them with extreme prejudice! Don''t forget that it''s because of these bastards that our commander is now trapped inside of the ruins with his condition unknown!"


    "Yes sir!"


    The Silvaria soldiers quickly raised their guns and weapons and aimed them at the NWR''s soldiers. Seeing the situation go south, the NWR''s soldiers remained in place and did nothing. One of the officers stepped forward and tried to reason once more with the Silvaria kingdom''s officer who was on scene but once he took a step closer to the base, the Silvaria soldiers immediately began firing at them.


    "W-what the hell?!"


    "Run! They''re seriously trying to kill¡ª"


    "NO! Stephan!"


    "GAH!"


    It didn''t take long before all of the NWR''s soldiers were exterminated. The eyes of the Silvaria''s soldiers were cold and unfeeling. They held no remorse in killing their fellow human as long as they were an enemy.


    *****


    Inside the ruins, Cecil was rushing through the place impatiently. He quickly arrived at the intersection and went down the left intersection where the worms and the artifact came from. When he arrived at the end, he quickly noticed the worms and the worms also noticed him.


    The worms immediately began screeching and were about to lunge at him, but their screeches were cut short when a large Flash Cannon obliterated every single worm at the end of the corridor.


    "...Ian reported that these worms multiply when they are split into pieces and it''s just as I thought, they''re Zombie Vermis, B-rank monsters that are potentially A-rank. I didn''t teach Angie or Gabe Flash Cannon and they also don''t have wide area spells so it''s no wonder they were overwhelmed by this monster''s multiply ability..."


    Cecil looked around the corridor and quickly noticed the runic array that was inscribed on the wall at the end of the corridor and the crevice where the orb-shaped artifact was most likely excavated from.


    "It''s a teleportation formation. This orb should be the activation device...I''ll come back to explore where this teleportation formation leads to, it''s more important to find my family..."


    Cecil turned around and quickly rushed back to the intersection and immediately spread his Mana Sense outwards.


    "Hmmm, it''s just like what Ian reported... This search may take a while. I''ll have to do things as quickly as possible. Let''s explore the top floors first before I go down the right corridor."


    Cecil didn''t know how deep this place was, but at least he knew that there was a top floor in this place since he didn''t see the tower piercing high into the skies.


    "At most, there are 50 floors. I''ll just obliterate everything in my way while I search for them."

 Chapter 410 - Smash Through

    Cecil hastily combed through the second floor of the ruins with his Mana Sense spread out as far as he could.


    The ruins suppressed his mana and he could only exert a fourth of his usual strength, but it wasn''t like he entirely relied on mana for his strength. His body which was tempered by his Ki was enough to crush all of the low-ranked monsters that he encountered.


    He was rather impatient so when he came upon the last section of the second floor, he didn''t go looking for the staircase to the third floor. Cecil instead sent multiple Flash Cannons into the ceiling above him and created his own entrance to the third floor.


    When Cecil jumped onto the third floor, he found himself amidst a large horde of monsters. The monsters even looked rather surprised by the fact that a human had suddenly appeared on their floor.


    "Tsk, make way you insects!"


    Cecil immediately started blasting all of the monsters around him with all of his long-ranged attacks. In a matter of moments, the horde of B-ranked monsters was thoroughly wiped out and only he remained.


    "...These stupid corridors can go to hell as well," Cecil mumbled before he began blasting holes into the walls and walking through them.


    This was the more efficient way of traveling through these harrowing ruins whose corridors were needlessly winding. He was on a rescue mission and every second counted towards the failure or success of the mission.


    He didn''t know the exact conditions his family members were in, but the faster he found them, the better.


    Cecil continued to plow through every floor in this manner. He destroyed everything in his path in an overbearing manner and obliterated any monster that came into sight. Even the weakest C-ranked monsters, which were already fleeing from his presence, weren''t spared.


    From the reports that Cecil read, it was mentioned that Angelia and Kira both reported that the monsters inside the ruins had a mana connection with each other. It was understandable that some of the monsters that he encountered would flee from him since their brethren were killed by him.


    However, since there was such a connection, Angelia reported that these monsters should have someone or something behind them that''s the origin of this connection. Since this was the case, Cecil deduced that the reason why Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira were trapped inside the ruins was most likely due to this ''origin''.


    Whether it was a person or a monster, since it was the reason behind his family''s current plight, there was no reason why he should spare any of the monsters that had a connection with it.


    After combing through the fifth floor and clearing it of monsters, Cecil was just about to blast a hole to the sixth floor but a monstrous roar stopped him from doing so.


    When he looked over, Cecil noticed that a large kobold was glaring murderously at him. He raised a brow and chuckled humorously.


    "Hah, so you''re the boss?"


    Cecil had long since noticed that the monsters from the second to the fifth floor were comprised mostly of kobolds and other similar monsters. He guessed that this was supposed to be the boss of all of those monsters and it finally came out since he had thoroughly wiped out its underlings.


    "GROOOO¡ª"


    "Shut up, you annoying mutt."


    Cecil already had all of his swords deployed around him and a slight wave of his hand immediately sent his sword flying straight towards the monster''s neck. There was no resistance, Cecil just used his aura to pressure the monster, making it unable to do anything but have its head lopped off.


    "...If you''re going to try and stop me, at least send something stronger..." He scoffed before blowing a hole into the ceiling and jumping through it to get to the sixth floor.


    *****


    A few days later, outside of the ruins, the NWR''s forces were once again confronting the Silvaria Special Forces and demanding an answer for the disappearance of their previous team.


    Naturally, the Silvaria forces didn''t have to answer so they remained silent about the fact that they eliminated them and only continued to warn them that they''d be attacked if they dared take a step towards the ruins.


    After some confrontation between the two groups, Alek was able to get an audience with Anise and Medel.


    "So, we''re not allowed to go in?" Alek asked.


    "Our Lord has already ordered that anyone trying to get into the ruins will be killed without mercy. We are just carrying his orders and I advise not to make things difficult for us or yourselves."


    "...The agreement¡ª"


    "The agreement was between our Lord''s kingdom and your country. One of the clauses stated that the NWR or the Silvaria Kingdom shall not do anything that would compromise the safety and continuity of the mission. Your side breached this condition already and caused us to lose 3 of our finest soldiers while you lost 10 of your own."


    "..."


    "It doesn''t matter what you say now since my Master is already here. As long as he wills it, no one, not even your president, may go into the ruins," Medel stated coldly.


    "Such big words... Does your ''master'' dictate everything¡ª"


    "He doesn''t need to. He can just kill all of you and everything would be finished with. I''m just letting you know, but if anything happens to my master''s sister and brother, your country will be wiped away from this world."


    "You talk about taking away the lives of countless human beings as if they were just wheat ready to be reaped! What kind of¡ª"


    "Commander Alek, a word of advice, if I may. This isn''t Earth anymore. Whatever morals and codes of conduct you speak of have all been left behind in our previous world. Here, if you have power, you can dictate whatever you want."


    "..."


    "You fools did something that endangered my Master''s family and let me tell you, my Master loves his family dearly. You all currently have a foot in the grave right now. I''d suggest you cooperate with us and not worsen your already dire situation."


    "Cooperate? Hmph, we shall do as we wish!"


    "If that''s your answer then don''t think you''ll be going back alive!" Medel said coldly before he quickly stepped forward and sent a fist at the NWR''s commander.


    Alek scoffed at him and diverted his punch before sending his own strike back at Medel. Medel was rather surprised that someone was able to stop his attack and he was about to block Alek''s attack but when he tried to, Medel felt the weight behind Alek''s attack to be overwhelming and he was forced back a few steps.


    "For all your big talk, you sure don''t bite as hard," Alek mocked.


    "...It was foolish of me to think that all of you bastards were incompetent, but do you really think you can force your way out of this camp?"


    "Hahaha, you Silvarians always overestimate yourselves! Do you honestly think that your kingdom is the only one with superhumans?! Just because you got a head start doesn''t mean that you''ll leave everyone behind in the dust!"


    "Vice-Commander! Outside, the NWR''s forces are forcing their way to the ruins!" A soldier rushed in and reported. He looked around and noticed the tense situation inside the tent. He was about to pull out his weapon but Alek quickly made his move and rushed towards the soldier.


    It only took a punch for him to end the poor soldier''s life.


    "No! You bastard, you won''t get away with that!" Anise yelled.


    "Hmph, I''ll just quote what your ''master'' said, ''In Alterna, justice is enacted by those with power, true power.'' We have every justification to go into the ruins and you people can''t prevent us from doing so."


    "...you''re just asking for a bloodbath. You may have some power, but that doesn''t mean it''s the same for your soldiers!" Medel yelled back in response.


    "What my soldiers are capable of isn''t something an insignificant and small little man like you can judge. We''ll be going into the ruins whether you like it or not! Just know that you''ll be throwing your people into the¡ª"


    Before Alek could continue his words, a large explosion occurred outside and it sent everyone in the base into disarray.


    Everyone quickly rushed out of the tent and when they looked around, the explosion wasn''t something that happened within the base camp. Instead, it was caused by a large golden beam of mana that pierced through one side of the ruins.


    It originated not from the second floor of the ruins but higher up. The explosions were caused by the debris falling from the skies and smashing into the grounds of the base camp.


    "W-what''s this?!"


    The fighting going on between the Silvaria and NWR''s soldiers immediately stopped and everyone looked up towards the sky and began dodging the falling debris. Just when everyone thought that it was over, a large black silhouette emerged from the side of the ruins and plummeted down to the ground.


    Medel quickly ran to look for Ian and Tyra. When he found them, they appeared to have just finished killing off a few NWR soldiers and were getting ready to do something.


    "Ian heads up! Can you divert that thing to the side?! At this rate, it''ll smash into the base!"


    Ian, who was prepared to smash a few more soldiers quickly looked up and took notice of the large object plummeting down towards them. Tyra also saw it and quickly tried to cast a large barrier around the base.


    "Tyra, keep it up, I''ll go up and smash that thing away!" Ian yelled.


    "Alright!"


    Ian empowered his body with mana and kicked off the ground. He jumped towards the side of the ruins and began scaling it as fast as he could. When he got high enough, he waited for the large object to fall, and right as it was just about to pass him, Ian kicked off the side of the ruins and slammed his fist onto the object.


    When he took a closer look at it, he noticed that the object was actually the large corpse of a monster.


    Because of his attack, the trajectory of the corpse was diverted and it fell just outside of their army''s base camp.


    "That was close..."


    Ian began falling from the sky but when he looked upwards, he noticed that the monster corpse had come down from what he thought was the highest floor of the ruins.


    "Is Master already up there? It''s only been a few days since he''s gone inside..."


    Before Ian could contemplate anything further, a large beam of light shot into the sky from the top of the ruins and a large figure emerged from the pillar of light.


    "The Heritage has been opened. The Chosen may now enter!"

 Chapter 411 - Mefastello Tower

    After only a few days of entering the ruins, Cecil had smashed his way through the highest floor of the ruins.


    Even though he had reached the highest floor of the ruins, he still hadn''t been able to find his family members or his disciples. There was no trace of them and he had made sure to comb through every nook and cranny of the ruins'' floors on his way up.


    On the top floor, Cecil looked around the large room and gritted his teeth in anger when there was no trace of Angelia, Gabriel, or Kira.


    "Dammit, they were in the bas.e.m.e.nt then?"


    Cecil had already noticed the large magic formation in the center of the room, but he didn''t feel like going over there to trigger it. He had his priorities and finding his family was the most important priority.


    He didn''t blast his way to the top floor since there was no need for it. The second to the last floor of the ruins was rather straight forward since there was only one room and corridor that he had to walk through before he quickly found the staircase to the last floor.


    Cecil was about to walk back down to the previous floor, but before he could get back to the staircase, the magic formation in the middle of the room quickly lit up and a magic barrier quickly rose in front of him and blocked the way down to the previous floor.


    "..."


    "Human, I commend you for arriving here!"


    The voice originated from the large behemoth that emerged from the magic formation. Cecil didn''t turn around and remained silent even after the large monster began talking to him.


    "Since you are here, you now have the right to challenge me, the guardian of Mefastello Tower!"


    "..."


    Seeing as Cecil still hadn''t responded to him or turned around, the large beast roared out in anger, "Human, you dare ignore me!"


    "...Why do these f.u.c.k.i.n.g bugs keep getting in my way?"


    "?!"


    Cecil didn''t bother acknowledging the ruins'' guardian as he pulled out his weapons and began striking at the barrier in front of him. With each powerful strike, the barrier slowly began to waver, little by little.


    "HUMAN! YOU DARE IGNORE ME!!!"


    The guardian was immediately enraged when it saw Cecil''s actions. It immediately roared out angrily and charged towards Cecil who still had his back towards it.


    The result was tragic for the guardian. The so-called guardian was only an S-rank monster. It wasn''t even considered a challenge for Cecil at his current level of power. Just his angered, offhanded strike was enough to send the monster careening towards the side of the room and smashing through the wall and outside of the tower.


    Cecil continued to strike at the barrier blocking his way and just as he was about to smash through, the magic formation in the center of the room began activating once again due to him having already defeated the guardian.


    His movements were suddenly stopped when a wave of mana burst out from the magic formation and enveloped the entire room.


    A small golden ray of light emerged from the center of the magic formation before it slowly grew bigger and bigger. Once it was large enough to envelop the entire room, the pillar of light shot into the sky, and a large figure emerged from the light.


    The figure was incorporeal, somewhat like a hologram. It was in the shape of a human but the figure didn''t feel like it was human. It did have a mouth, nose, eyes, and everything else a human should have on their face but Cecil felt that the figure wasn''t that of a human. It only had the shape of a human.


    "The Heritage has been opened! The Chosen may now enter!"


    "What the¡ª"


    Before Cecil could even do anything, his body was suddenly teleported away from the ruins.


    *****


    After Cecil, had disappeared from the ruins in a flash of light, things didn''t stop there, many rays of light shot out from the large figure''s body which was hovering above the ruins. The rays shot towards the distance and some even shot straight down into the base camp and enveloped a few people.


    The people who were struck by these rays of light were enveloped in them and suddenly disappeared.


    This phenomenon didn''t just happen in the No-Man''s Lands. When the first golden figure emerged from the ruins, all across the Midgard Continent, similar ruins suddenly emerged from the ground of mountainside with golden figures hovering above the top-most floor of the ruins.


    "To enter the Heritage, aim for the highest point of the tower!"


    They kept repeating the same words over and over again, and the native powers of the Midgard Continent quickly took notice of this. Their first actions were to send a few people out to investigate the ruins.


    However, when their people got there, they all quickly found out that there was a certain age limit placed on the people that could enter into the ruins.


    Only people who were 20 years and below could enter the ruins. All others would be barred from entering and if they did enter, they would only be teleported back outside.


    The numerous factions of the Midgard Continent immediately began sending in their most promising young men and women into the ruins to investigate. It wasn''t long before more people began clearing the higher floors of the ruins.


    However, no matter how many people were sent, most of the teams or individuals got stuck on the halfway point of the tower. It was different for the people of the No-Man''s Lands. Everyone in the Earthling factions was now in a state of uproar after many of their youths began disappearing in a flash of light after being struck by light rays that shot out from the golden figure hovering above the ruins.


    This alerted many of the nations and they began sending people over to the ruins'' location.


    This continued for a while and when Ian returned with a report stating that Cecil, Medel, Kira, and a few others from their camp had disappeared after the golden figure appeared above the ruins, a few weeks had already passed by.


    "W-what? You mean Cecil and a few others from the camp had disappeared?!" Anastasia asked.


    "Yes, Ma''am..."


    This was the second time that Ian came back to the Silvaria Family to report some bad news to them.


    "W-what about Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira? Was Cel able to rescue them?" Lucia asked.


    "I''m sorry, my Lady... but after we went to investigate the inside of the ruins, we weren''t able to find anything. The upper floors had been thoroughly destroyed, most likely the work of Master Cecil, yet we weren''t able to find any trace of the people who had disappeared..."


    "What about the bas.e.m.e.nt?! Did you go there?"


    "We did, but we only found out that it was a gimmick floor that went on endlessly. Just turning back around would immediately get us back to the ruins'' first floor."


    "...So Cel and everyone have disappeared?"


    Before Ian could answer, the door to the room was opened and someone walked in.


    "Yes, but it''s not just them."


    "Quinn!"


    "My Lady," Quinn greeted with a bow.


    After being sent to the frontlines of the war between the Goldenia State and the Faustus Archduchy, Quinn had finally returned.


    "I''ve been gathering information about all the other Earthling factions when I saw the golden rays of light that would cause people to suddenly ''evaporate''."


    "What happened to them?"


    "I''m not sure, Lady Lucia, but I was able to get this," Quinn said and presented Lucia with a drawing of a magic formation.


    "I was able to draw this from memory of when one of my men was struck by the golden ray of light, I''m not sure what it is, but I''m guessing that the golden rays were a magic spell since they were able to leave behind a magic formation."


    Lucia took a moment to analyze the magic formation before quickly concluding, "It''s... a teleportation formation...I think. It looks a bit ancient, but it has similarities with a teleportation formation."


    "If that''s the case...that means the people who were struck by these golden rays weren''t killed but was instead teleported somewhere."


    "This spell formation is too ancient. I can''t trace or analyze the target area of the teleportation. Send this to my mother. I''m sure she''ll be able to¡ª"


    Lucia was quickly cut off when the doors to the room were rudely flung open. A woman with a large protruding belly stomped her way into the room and made her way to Ian.


    Lucia was about to speak up but the woman quickly grabbed Ian by the collar, lifted him, and roared, "WHERE''S MY DARLING?!"


    "Ugh...M, My lady, I-I can''t¡ª"


    "WHERE IS HE!!!"


    "S-Seri, why don''t you put Ian down? I''ll explain it to you..."


    The angry lady was Serilla. She had been resting earlier when her maid came in and told her about the disrupting news of her husband disappearing.


    "Lulu, please tell me that it isn''t true... he didn''t disappear, right?"


    "..."


    "Right?"


    "...I''m sorry, Seri..."


    "...I''m gonna kill him when he gets back."


    "S-Seri?"


    "I swear to god that if he doesn''t come back before I give birth, I''m going to kill him!!!"


    *****


    Over at the Regulus Kingdom, Rowan and Karen were busy helping their father manage the kingdom. The Kingdom was sent into an uproar when an ancient tower had suddenly appeared in the middle of the Roaring Plains, close to the kingdom''s capital.


    The message that the golden figure kept on repeating was like a boon to King Nemus. He had been living in fear of the Silvaria Kingdom for a while now but the news about the emergence of the Mefastello Tower was like a ray of hope for him and his kingdom.


    Information on the Mefastello Tower was an ancient history that was passed down from previous generations to the next generation of the royal family and the emergence of this tower was the sign of great prosperity or the sign of a great crisis.


    It wasn''t only his kingdom that had news about the Mefastello Tower. Only a few ancient and secluded families and factions of Midgard knew about the tower. While most of the inhabitants had to send investigative teams into the tower, these powers sent their next generation''s most promising figures to tackle the challenge of the ruins.


    They weren''t like the teams of the factions that didn''t know what the tower was, the youngsters of these powers push through each floor of the tower and they made short work of the floors that the weaker powers were struggling at and proceeded to the higher floors of the tower.


    The Regulus Kingdom had already sent a team of their most promising youths into the tower. This team was led by Karen and it consisted of mostly the talented young nobles of the kingdom.


    Rowan had already received news about the situation back in his fianc¨¦e''s kingdom so he quickly prepared to go back to the Silvaria Kingdom to inform them about the Mefastello Tower.


    "Son, are you going back to help those barbarians¡ª"


    "Your future daughter-in-law is one of those ''barbarians'' as well! Mind your words father. You may be the person who brought me into this world, but you neither cared nor shown me your love until only recently when I was finally useful to you!"


    "You ungrateful¡ª"


    "I''m ungrateful?! You should be thanking my fianc¨¦e because you''re alive! If it wasn''t for her do you think our kingdom would still be here? If the Silvaria Kingdom wanted to, they would be able to conquer our kingdom easily with their power!"


    "..."


    "Stop meddling in my affairs. My fianc¨¦e and her family, which will soon also be my family, need my help and the information that we hold. Why must you insist on viewing them as enemies when they could instead be our allies?"


    King Nemus remained silent and didn''t say anything.


    "If what''s inside the ruins can help bring prosperity to our kingdom, don''t you think that having the Silvaria Kingdom as allies would help us instead? You know as well as I that the other kingdoms and Empires have begun their conquest of the tower. We''ll all be competing in the next trials after the Mefastello Tower, having one more ally is better than having another enemy."


    "...Fine. Do what you want."


    "Thank you, father."


    "It''s just that...that young prince, Cecil...he''s dangerous..."


    "You won''t have to worry about Cecil. As long as you don''t touch his family, he won''t be making any moves on the political side of the kingdom."


    "I find that hard to believe."


    Rowan didn''t say anymore and he didn''t linger any longer. He rounded up his entourage and quickly made his way towards the Silvaria Kingdom''s satellite city in the Merkruz Principality. From there, he would use the teleportation formation in the city to teleport to the kingdom''s capital city.

 Chapter 412 - The Deity’s Objective?

    A few days later after Rowan returned to the Silvaria Kingdom and informed them of what the Mefastello Tower really was, Kaiser had everyone in the kingdom stop looking for those youngsters who had suddenly disappeared.


    "So you''re saying that Cecil had completed this region''s tower trial and now the golden figure hovering above the tower has already pulled in all of the qualified people who can participate in the trial?"


    "Yes, father-in-law, that''s exactly what I''m saying. I''m honestly quite surprised that this continent-wide occurrence was first caused by my brother-in-law completing the trials..."


    "...I''m sure he wasn''t there to try and complete anything. Gabriel, Angelia, and one of his disciples were suddenly trapped and sealed inside of the ruins. Their conditions are still unknown but Cecil did say that they were still alive."


    "I see... so was the rescue operation successful?"


    "No, the 3 who went missing still aren''t back and my son and a few more of his disciples have disappeared along with many of our nation''s youths."


    "It''s nothing to fear, father-in-law. The opening of this trial could be seen as an opportunity for any country. Although there are dangers, the benefits from the trials far exceed any of the risks!"


    "Easy for you to say... the lives of my people are at stake and unlike your people who voluntarily go to participate in the trials. Some of ours didn''t have any say in it and were just forcibly dragged in. How am I going to explain this to the families of those who went missing?"


    "..."


    "Anyway, I thank you, Rowan, for this information," Kaiser thanked.


    "It''s nothing. I just thought that my fianc¨¦e''s kingdom shouldn''t miss out on something so fortuitous."


    "I''ll have to pull back all of my soldiers who were sent to investigate those ruins. Anyway, from what you''re saying, there won''t be any more people who''ll forcibly be taken away now, right?"


    "There shouldn''t be. In fact, from what I know, those golden rays that force one to participate in the trials are only for those who have the qualifications to participate in the proceeding trials but didn''t finish the previous trials."


    "Hm?"


    "I''m rather surprised why there are so many people in this land that were sent into the trials without having completed the tower''s trials."


    "..."


    "Anyway father-in-law, I should go find Fatima now. I bid you farewell."


    "Yes... by the way, have you and Ima finalized the date of your wedding?"


    "Huh?"


    "We''re getting a little patient since it''s been so long that you two have been engaged. It''s about time to tie the knot, no?"


    "Y-yes, father-in-law... W-we do have a date, but I guess I should go discuss things with her again. We''ve been so busy with our work lately in our own kingdoms that we haven''t seen each other so much lately."


    "...Hmmm, go then. I hope to hear from you two soon."


    "Yes."


    *****


    In the garden of the Silvaria Kingdom''s royal castle-slash-city center, Fatima was resting her head when someone called out to her.


    "Ima!"


    Fatima turned her head over and saw her fianc¨¦ walking over.


    "Hey, Rowan... Are you done meeting with my father?"


    "Yes. I''ve already told him all about the Mefastello Tower."


    "Is that so... Well, things have been hectic because of the disappearances... I hope father and brother can spin up a story for this and quickly calm the masses..."


    "...It looks like you''re going to be busy again," Rowan said with a glum smile.


    "Why the look?"


    "It''s nothing. I thought that after so long, I''d be able to spend some time with my fianc¨¦e..."


    "Hehehe, did you miss me~?" Fatima asked with a smile.


    "Of course! Looking over those stupid papers is pretty boring. I''d rather gaze at your face all day long..."


    Fatima smiled and said, "When did my Rowan become such a smooth talker? Anyway, there''s good news for you. My father dismissed me from my duties so I''m now going back to the mansion to help my brother''s wives out with his duties since he''s now gone missing..."


    Hearing this, Rowan''s expression brightened up a bit and he replied, "Is that so? Maybe I can help in some way?"


    "Let''s go back, I''m sure I can find something for you to do~"


    "Alright."


    ******


    "So these trials are just a preliminary for the even bigger trial that''s going to happen?" Lucia asked.


    "Yes, that''s right," Rowan said.


    "I guess that explains why Ren disappeared..." Fatima added.


    Serilla pondered for a moment before saying, "It sounds almost like the World Tree''s Trials that we undertook back in Urrugdrasil..."


    Currently, Rowan had just finished explaining to the girls about the Mefastello Trials. The two women, who had already participated in a continental trial before, were able to conclude that the tower trials were only a preliminary of the true trial which would take place in someplace unknown to them.


    Since it was a continental trial, Lucia and Serilla immediately thought about the guardian deity of Midgard which had since gone missing. Unlike on Urrugdrasil where the guardian deity, the World Tree, Urrgudrasil, had remained visible and known among the populace of the continent, the Midgard Continent''s living deity was said to have disappeared in the ancient era.


    Apparently, that fact was now false because the continental trials were now taking place and the only being who could possibly conduct these trials was the guardian deity of the continent. Not much was known about this deity because it had been forgotten and thought to be dead, so there wasn''t much information they could get from perusing the ancient records of the Regulus Kingdom or the Merkruz Principality.


    Especially the Principality since there wasn''t much of a history for them. Even the royal family of Regulus didn''t know much about the continent''s guardian deity and even the high priestess of the Revero Kingdom''s church which was much more ancient than the Regulus Kingdom didn''t know much about it.


    There were no records of the deity and the only thing that was passed down was that the deity was not a living being like the World Tree Urrugdrasil but it was instead a spirit that moved from one vessel to another.


    As for what that vessel was, no one knew. Apparently, the deity was pronounced ''dead'' because it had lost its vessel and there was no new vessel that was prepared for it since then. The objective of the current trial wasn''t known, but Lucia came to a negative conclusion which was because Cecil had triggered the completion of the tower trials, the deity was now opening the true trials in search of a new vessel to inhabit.


    "It''s kind of weird. Since it''s a continent-wide trial, why weren''t we pulled into the trials?" Lucia pondered.


    "...That''s probably because we aren''t from this continent. Remember, not a single one of the beastkin who lives in the kingdom have gone missing or were forcibly dragged into the trials," Serilla answered.


    "Yeah, you''re probably right Seri... but that begs a different question, don''t you think?"


    "Hm?"


    "Why was Cel able to participate in the World Tree''s Trials when he''s a human?"


    "..."


    "Anyway, it doesn''t matter now. All we know is that the stupid deity dragged our Cel into the trials without his consent...if what I said was true and the deity is looking for a vessel, Cel''s body would be the perfect one..."


    "I''ll make sure it dies if it tries to take away my husband!" Serilla hissed. She was already pissed that her husband was participating in the trials without his or her consent. The deity just did whatever it wanted at its convenience.


    Serilla swore that if she ever met with the deity face to face, she would immediately smack the hell out of it.


    "You''ll have my help with that, Seri," Lucia added.


    Fatima and Rowan excused themselves from the living room and Fatima went up to talk with her mother. She came home to help out with managing the household in her brother''s stead since Lucia and Serilla were still being trained by their mother on what to do as the Ladies of the House.


    The training wasn''t going too well, since Serilla was still pregnant with Cecil''s baby and couldn''t exert herself too much while Lucia was busy training with her mother.


    Lucia and Serilla were left behind in the living room and Serilla''s stomach began hurting again. There wasn''t anything wrong. It was just that the little one inside of her was a rather active fellow.


    "Ugh...L-Lulu...my baby''s acting up again... can you help me up?"


    "Sure, let''s go back to our room. You better get some rest."


    "Yeah..."


    Lucia helped her sister up and she couldn''t help but send a gentle and envious gaze at her stomach. She was pretty envious at the fact that Serilla was pregnant with Cecil''s child. She wanted one too, but she found out from her mother that it was hard for her race of people to conceive.


    Lucia wanted to work harder at it but unfortunately for her, Cecil had gone missing.


    "I hope he''s okay..."


    *****


    Time continued to pass by and slowly, the Mefastello Towers in the other regions of Midgard were cleared one by one. And with that, the true trials would soon begin. The chosen ones were already selected and all that was left was for the trials to commence.


    Cecil, who was sent into the trials against his will, finally woke up in the middle of a large and expansive field.


    "...Where the hell is this?"

 Chapter 413 - First Phase

    Cecil looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar place.


    He had been inside the ruins earlier, but he was now on a vast plain. It wasn''t only him here. Cecil could see that there were many people here, besides him, on this vast plain.


    He spread his Mana Sense out until he hit the thick fog that was surrounding the area and found that his senses couldn''t penetrate through the fog. From his observation, Cecil was sure that the plains continued far past the fog. After he retracted his senses, Cecil couldn''t help but frown after he counted the innumerable amount of humans on the plains.


    Cecil looked around and noticed that the people around him were starting to get up one by one. He quickly pulled out a cloak and dr.a.p.ed it over himself, hiding his face and gunblade away from everyone else''s observation.


    Even if someone did have a similar technique to his Mana Sense which could scan him, the cloak would inhibit such a technique.


    "Ugh, where am I?"


    "Did we pass the test?"


    "Are we in the next trial grounds? Hey, you guys are..."


    As the humans began waking up, it naturally became rowdier and rowdier as people who recognized one another began grouping and discussing amongst themselves.


    Cecil was rather confused, but after eavesdropping on the surrounding people''s conversation, he quickly found out that he was in some sort of trial.


    ''...What in the hell...this feels like the World Tree''s Trial... am I in another one of those deity trials again?''


    Cecil frowned when he thought this. He had made a promise with Lucia and Serilla that he would be back as soon as he completed his mission, but now that he was stuck in these trials, there was no way he would be able to finish his rescue mission.


    "Damn, I knew I should have gone down instead of up..." Cecil quietly cursed.


    "Hey, you there!"


    "..."


    "You, with the cloak! Quit acting all mysterious and just show us your face! Which faction or family are you from?!"


    Cecil felt that the question was directed at him so he turned to look at the person who had called out to him before he quickly turned away in annoyance.


    The person who had called out was a rather pompous looking fellow, the type that Cecil was extremely repulsed by.


    Seeing as he was ignored, the pompous fellow stomped over next to Cecil and yelled, "Hey! Don''t ignore me!"


    A few other people came along with him. Cecil couldn''t understand why this fool was pestering him so he just continued to ignore him while he spread out his Mana Sense to see if he could find someone he was familiar with.


    "Hey! I asked you a question¡ª"


    "Shut up and scram..." Cecil growled before releasing a minute amount of his killing intent.


    Just the small amount he directed at the pompous fellow was enough to immediately silence him. Cecil began walking away and continued to try searching. After walking away, the group of people he had left behind all let out a relieved sigh and some even collapsed onto the ground.


    A few others in the surroundings took notice of the exchange and began eyeing the cloaked Cecil with interest. Just before another person could approach him, a loud sonorous gong began echoing throughout the plains.


    "W-what now?"


    "...Agh, my ears!"


    After the sound rang through the plains for about another 10 seconds, it stopped and a palm-sized black crystal immediately materialized just above each person''s head.


    It was the same for Cecil and in the next moment, the black crystal began acting a little strange. Its shape started changing and he felt the crystal scanning him with mana.


    Cecil already had his Mana Eyes activated and he began to keenly observe the small crystal. He noticed that after it had suddenly started acting weirdly, it wasn''t only trying to scan him, but it was also trying to establish a mana connection with him.


    He was guarded at first, but when he saw the other humans in the tower not sensing or even noticing this, he let the small crystal establish its connection with him since there didn''t seem to be any negative effects.


    It was only after the mana connection was established that Cecil felt something being directly transmitted into his head.


    "Welcome, Chosen One, to the Myriad Tower of Strife!"


    "...F.u.c.k..."


    Once Cecil heard that he immediately cut off the sound transmission the black crystal was trying to send to him and began trying to look for a way out of the trials. He didn''t want to go through with it since he wanted to go back home.


    "I might be giving up on finding a way to boost my cultivation if I quit, but I''d rather fail this stupid trial than get Lulu and Seri angry at me..."


    While everyone around him was preoccupied with listening to whatever the black crystal was transmitting to them, Cecil continued scanning the place with his Mana Sense.


    "Damn... other than these stupid crystals, I can''t find anything in this place that has a runic array..."


    The complex runic arrays of the crystals were indecipherable for Cecil. He was rather surprised to see something so complex but that was the least of his worries right now because he couldn''t find a way out of this place.


    After a few moments later, the people around him began moving. They had already received instructions from the crystals and began moving towards the large mountain in the distance which had suddenly appeared after the thick fog around them was lifted.


    Cecil sighed and decided to let the crystal re-establish its transmission to him.


    [Welcome, Chosen One, to the Myriad Tower of Strife.]


    "Yeah, yeah, get on with it already."


    [In a few minutes the fog around this place will be lifted and you will be able to proceed to the next stage of the trials.]


    "..."


    [Your objective is to make it to the top of the mountain. The monsters on the way will test your combat ability and survivability. Once you''ve arrived at the top of the mountain, you will be able to proceed to the tower''s next level.]


    "...There''s no time limit or even any sort of punishment for not making it up the mountain..."


    Cecil clicked his tongue right after. The conditions of the trials stated that all you have to do is make it up the mountain. There were no consequences for not being able to make it to the next level so he assumed that the only way to fail is to die...


    "The only way is forward I guess... I''ll just have to get on my knees and beg for their forgiveness after I get back I guess," Cecil grumbled to himself.


    He noticed that there were still some people who hadn''t made a move yet. They seemed to be gathering others so that they could move together in a group.


    It was a smart strategy since the passing condition stated by the crystal was to just make it up the mountain. Being in a group was much better than moving individually.


    "The bigger the group...the higher chances of survival?" Cecil mumbled. "Well, that''s if they don''t decide to betray or use each other if the going gets tough that is..."


    Cecil shook his head and began walking towards the direction of the mountain. He didn''t pay any attention to the people who were trying to recruit others to their group. He didn''t forget to keep his Mana Sense activated and scanned everyone he passed by.


    ''My brother, sister, and disciple might have already been dragged into these trials ahead of me... hopefully, they''re in here and not back in the ruins...''


    After systematically scanning everyone he passed by Cecil shook his head when he didn''t find them. He did however find a few familiar faces.


    Matheus''s girlfriend, Celestina, and her sister, Cecilia, were here. They were already together in a group and Cecil was surprised to see that Rowan''s annoying little sister, Karen, was with them. From the looks of things, she was leading a group of her own people and decided to join forces with Celestina''s group.


    Cecil also found the girl who had sold him Zephyr here as well. He forgot her name, but he remembered that it started with a ''B'' or something. She wasn''t together with Celestina''s group but was leading another group with a few other youngsters.


    Cecil was quite surprised to see Celestina here since from what he remembered before coming to the ruins and being dragged into these trials, the girl was supposed to be together with his brother in their kingdom.


    Since she was his brother''s woman, Cecil felt that he was obligated to help her to some degree. At the very least, he had to ensure that she survived through this place. He quietly passed by Celestina and by using his mana he discreetly passed her an item.


    "Eh?" Celestina looked around in puzzlement when she felt something being placed in her hand.


    She looked down and saw that it was a MID before quickly looking around to see who had passed this to her. She then saw the cloaked figure that had just passed by her earlier and whether it was coincidence or not, the wind blew past Cecil and it lifted his cloak a little. Celestina was able to catch a glimpse of his unique gunblade.


    "Is that¡ª"


    Before she could give chase, the MID in her hand began vibrating. She knew what it meant for the object to vibrate so she immediately answered the call.


    "H-Hello?"


    "Sister Celestina, I see that you''re in this place as well..."


    Celestina didn''t recognize Cecil''s voice so she immediately asked, "Is this Matheus''s brother?"


    "Yes..."


    "You''re going to proceed with the trials on your own? Why not join us?"


    "I''m not in a rush to complete the trials. I''m instead trying to look for something. You should just go together with your group and if you''re ever in need of help, just call me through this MID," Cecil replied.


    He was indeed not in a rush to complete the trial. Cecil hadn''t given up from his initial notion of escaping the trials so he wanted to scour through the entire area and see if he could find a way out or not.


    "O-okay... but, isn''t it dangerous to go by yourself?"


    "Don''t worry about me. Just stay safe and protect yourself. I don''t know how or why you joined this trial, but I don''t want my brother''s only love to suddenly die on him..."


    "I-I was staying at our apartment in the city earlier but when I woke up, I was suddenly here! I was lucky to find my sister but to think I was dragged into this place..."


    "..."


    "Oh yeah, there are also some other humans from the city here!"


    "What?"


    "Even your disciple, Ren, is here!"


    "Hm?"


    Cecil immediately spread his senses to Celestina''s group and found someone donned in a cloak similar to his. When he saw this, he immediately knew that it was Ren. The cloak was something that he and Ren had crafted during their journey and it became their adventurer party''s symbol.


    "I''ll leave my disciple in your hands for now then. I''ll come to pick him up after I''ve scoured through this place."


    "P-please be careful," Celestina quickly added.


    "Mhm."


    Cecil ended the call and began walking towards the large mountain in the distance.

 Chapter 414 - Getting Ready

    After Cecil hung up the call, many people began noticing him walking farther and farther away from their initial position.


    Only the people near the periphery of the starting location took note of him while everyone else couldn''t see him.


    *****


    Back to where Celestina was at, the others in her group naturally noticed that she was talking with someone so after Cecil had ended the call between them, Cecilia naturally asked her who it was she was talking to.


    "Cecil?"


    "Yes, it was Matheus''s little brother. It seems that he was dragged into the trial like me..."


    "Hmm... I had already returned home so I''m not sure how things are at your boyfriend''s kingdom, but shouldn''t you know, big sis?"


    "W-well, I did hear that he had gone out to search for his missing brother and sister, but I didn''t think he was also participating in the trials..."


    "Well, since he''s here, why not invite him to our group?"


    "I already did, but it seems that he has some business to take care of. I already told him that there are some people from his kingdom in our group and that his first disciple is with us as well."


    "Oh¡ª"


    "My Master is here?" Ren had overheard their conversation and quickly walked over and interrupted them.


    One of the guards standing close by Cecilia''s side quickly blocked him and warned, "Hey boy, mind your manners, you''re speaking to the High Priestess of¡ª"


    "Step aside!" Ren snapped back after being interrupted.


    "Why you little!"


    Seeing as the guard was about to pull out his sword, Cecilia immediately cut in and commanded, "Stand down!"


    She was a bit too late though. Ren already took notice of the guard''s action and he reacted immediately. He pulled out a unique looking rifle, that was nearly as large as himself, from underneath his cloak and he aimed the barrel straight at the guard''s face.


    "!"


    Everyone around was immediately surprised to see Ren''s aggressiveness and even the boy himself was rather surprised by his own actions, but it was inevitable that he''d react to the guard''s obvious hostility in this way.


    Even though he was but an Artificer, Ren was still Cecil''s disciple and there was no way Cecil would leave Ren out of his daily training routine.


    Ren wasn''t athletically gifted, but after living dangerously on the road for so long, it had naturally made him rather alert to even the smallest bit of hostility or bloodl.u.s.t directed at him.


    Since things had already gone down this path, Ren wasn''t going to hesitate to pull the trigger if the guard in front of him tried to do anything stupid like pull out his sword at him. Ren was also cautiously taking note of everyone''s actions around him.


    Cecilia was very shocked, but she didn''t retract her earlier orders, "I said stand down! We don''t want any trouble with the person standing behind him, alright?"


    "...Yes, Your Holiness..."


    "...move aside," Ren flatly said with his magi-tech rifle still aimed at the knight''s face.


    The guard felt disgruntled but in the end, he stepped aside due to the pressuring gaze he was feeling on the back of his head. Ren retracted his gun and passed the guard. He walked towards Celestina and asked once again, "Where''s my Master?"


    "He just left earlier. He told me to tell you that he''d come back to pick you up after he''s finished with his business," Celestina quickly answered.


    "Did Master say anything about what he was doing?"


    "He only told me that he was looking for something. I''m not sure what it is, but he sounded pretty urgent."


    "Hmmm... maybe Lia and big brother Gabriel are here as well..."


    "Lia? Oh, do you mean Angelia?"


    "Y-yeah, Angelia and Gabriel disappeared during their ruins exploration a while back and Master went to go find them."


    "Ah, no wonder the main estate seemed to be in a gloomy atmosphere the last time I visited..."


    Ren was rather perplexed at something so he tried asking Celestina, "Uhm, Miss Celestina..."


    "You can drop the ''Miss''," Celestina said.


    "O-okay, but I wanted to ask, were you struck by a ray of light before waking up here?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "It was the same for me, but I heard that there are others in our group that came to this place after clearing some sort of test."


    "My sister and Miss Karen came here by finishing the Mefastello Trials. I''m not sure why we''re here, but it was probably because we were forced here..."


    Ren frowned and nodded, "I thought so... Also, the time discrepancy seems rather fishy. From what I gathered after eavesdropping from the others around us, most of them came here a few weeks or months after we were first struck by the ray of light and yet, we arrived here together..."


    "..."


    "Anyway, if Lia¡ªI mean, Angelia and big brother Gabriel are here, shouldn''t they be somewhere here with us?"


    "I-I don''t know... I mean, there are a lot of people here, I''m sure that Cecil wouldn''t be able to find them in this vast crowd of people," Celestina said


    "But that''s the thing. My Master can!" Ren replied.


    "H-he can? Well...I guess that means they aren''t here with us?"


    "..."


    Cecilia came back to them after she straightened out the young guards and other people that came here with her.


    "Ah, little Ren, I apologize for my guard''s actions earlier."


    "N-no...It was my fault. I was a little too anxious when I heard that my Master is here..."


    "It''s fine. Anyway, it seems like everyone from the Silvaria Kingdom was forcefully dragged here."


    "Yeah, but the thing is that the time when we were dragged here and when you guys arrived here after passing the test, doesn''t add up."


    "...I''m not sure how the trials work, but maybe we were all supposed to start this part of the trial together with everyone?" Cecilia said.


    "Well, if that was the case, then my Master wouldn''t need to search through this place if Angelia and Gabriel were here..."


    "Angelia and Gabriel...are they Matheus''s other siblings?" Cecilia asked.


    Celestina and Ren nodded at her question and she started thinking.


    "Hmmm... maybe they aren''t even here in the first place?"


    "My Master seems quite convinced that they are here, otherwise, he wouldn''t go looking for them," Ren quickly replied.


    "I don''t have a complete grasp of your Master''s circ.u.mstances, but he could be wrong about that. Anyway, we should start moving. We''ve gathered enough people in our group and the other groups have already started making their moves."


    "How about we leave your Master''s affairs out of our agenda? I mean, it''s not our place to interfere, right?" Celestina gently said.


    Ren furrowed his brows even deeper before eventually releasing a sigh and nodding at her words.


    "A few of the people who were dragged into this place from Silvaria are non-combatants. Even civilians like me were dragged here, but some of us can contribute to the battles later..." Ren informed.


    "It''s alright. We''ll protect them as much as we can. Just have your people focus on protecting your own."


    "Thank you..."


    Ren bowed to Cecilia in gratitude before walking back to the group of people that were forcibly teleported here from Silvaria. Naturally, it wasn''t only the Silvaria Kingdom''s citizens who were dragged here, but even some people from the New World Republic, United Federations, and other countries in the No-Man''s Lands.


    Ren only became aware of it after he encountered some people who spoke his Master''s foreign language. When he tried to recruit them, some of them didn''t even bother answering him. Only the young men and women from Silvaria followed him.


    He was a bit well-known in the city''s academy for being a genius inventor who was always seen standing together with the kingdom''s young princess and her posse. He was recognizable so people naturally gathered to him and he was thankfully able to find Xin, Marylyn, and Robin.


    When Ren got back to his friends, he informed them of the group''s next plan of action. He also told them about the possibility that Angelia was here in the trials and that his Master was currently searching for her.


    "Th-that''s good...Honestly, I was having such a nice nap, but when I woke up, I found myself here..." Xin grumbled.


    "I-It''s going to be alright...isn''t this what we''ve been preparing for while attending the academy? W-we''re going to be okay as long as we work together!" Marylyn said. From the way she stuttered in between her sentences, it was clear that she was the most shaken up among them.


    Robin did his best to calm her down. The others in the group were uneasy as well, especially those who didn''t even know how to fight. However, Ren''s reassurance put them to ease by a bit.


    "Anyway, let''s just take this as a training simulation like the ones we get from the academy! Just remember what Instructor Fatima and all the others have taught us and we''ll be fine!" Robin said with his voice raised.


    Everyone heard him and quickly began getting into 5-man teams and positioning themselves around the non-combatants who were situated in the middle of the group.


    It was unfortunate that no one had any weapons on them, but thankfully, Ren was there.


    "Robin, get some people and go distribute these to everyone. I don''t have any shields or armor and these things are failures, but they''re still weapons," Ren said before pulling out some crates filled with magi-tech guns from his spatial ring.


    It was a good thing that he kept the failures from his experiments with him. Although they were considered failures, the guns still functioned normally. The only reason why they were termed as failures was that they were scrapped after Ren picked out the best one of them all for the kingdom to mass-produce and manufacture.


    The ''failures'' had many lacking features compared to the perfected one which was currently being mass-produced in the Silvaria Kingdom''s factories, but at least they were still usable.


    Unlike a normal gun, the magi-tech guns that Ren and Cecil had developed only used a person''s Mana to fire their bullets.


    The ''failures'' had bad mana-conversion efficiency and speed, but regardless of that slight flaw, it was still able to fire mana bullets.


    After the guns were distributed among the group, everyone became a bit more at ease. Not everyone was able to get a gun, but the ones that were trained as sharpshooters were given priority over them while the ones that were trained to be vanguards were given some cold weapons that Ren had stashed in his spatial ring.


    "Alright, since we''re ready. Let''s get going..."

 Chapter 415 - Second Section

    Ren led his team over to Karen and Cecilia''s group and when everyone saw the peculiar weapons that they were using, many people couldn''t help but turn an eye towards them.


    Karen stepped forward when she saw Ren and asked, "Hey, little guy. You''re Cecil''s apprentice right? I hear he''s here, where is he?"


    "...Who''re you?"


    "Eh?"


    "..."


    "Uhh, well, never mind. Can answer my question first?"


    "...Master isn''t with us right now..."


    "I-I see..."


    Karen looked a bit dejected when she heard his answer. From the looks of things, she still hadn''t given up on getting to Cecil so that she could get to his wives.


    Ren felt that the girl in front of him was rather peculiar. He thought that it was best to stay away from her. He turned towards Cecilia and said, "Miss Cecilia, our group is ready to move. We''ll follow after you and provide support from afar."


    "Are those weapons long-ranged?"


    "Yes, they''re our kingdom''s magi-tech guns."


    "I-I see... Well, let''s get moving then. Is that alright with you, Princess Karen?" Cecilia turned and asked the other leader of their group.


    Karen shrugged and replied, "Since the High Priestess is ready, let''s get going then. My group has many knights so we will take the lead."


    "We''ll take the middle since we can provide long range support," Ren quickly said.


    "Then we''ll leave the rear to the High Priestess'' people?"


    "Alright."


    With Cecilia''s agreement, the groups got into formation. Each group had around 50 to 80 people in them.


    Karen''s group was quite large since she had over 60 people with most of them being magic knights and archers. Cecilia''s group had only 50 people and most of them were priests and mages. There was only 20 Holy Knights with them.


    The Silvaria Kingdom group had the lowest amount of people. There were only 40 people and over half of them were non-combatants. The remaining people were those from the kingdom''s academy who were specifically trained for combat.


    Ren found it quite odd that there were no a.d.u.l.ts with them. He saw that the oldest person around was at most in their mid-twenties. He wasn''t aware of the age limit, but he found it a bit odd that the leadership position was somehow forced onto him for their group.


    Normally, in their circle of friends, Angelia would be the one that took the lead since she was the most outgoing person in their group and in a way she was the glue that stuck everyone together.


    He didn''t find it all too burdensome since he was already used to leading and ordering around the team of artificers back in the Silvaria Kingdom which were being trained under him.


    The group moved deeper into the plains and quickly encountered some monsters. Maybe it was because it was just the area outside of their initial location which was most likely a safe zone, but the monsters were rather weak.


    Karen''s knights and archers were all it took to defeat the monsters and the other groups didn''t even need to interfere. The group moved in this manner and continued moving through the plains.


    As they proceeded in deeper, the monsters became stronger and more numerous. Eventually they had to stop and reposition their people to make things easier for the ones who were fighting on the front and sides.


    The rear was rather safe since the monsters weren''t smart enough to move in a roundabout way and attack there. They instead just came at them in waves from the front and sides.


    As they continued pushing forward, the trial now seemed to be telling everyone that there was just no way that a single person or small group would be able to push through by brute force. The monsters were going stronger and more in number and there seemed to be no end to their assault.


    After one wave of monsters was dealt with another would quickly rush to attack them without any sort of break in between attacks. Not even half a day had passed since the group had marched into the plains but everyone was already exhausted.


    *****


    The other groups in the trial began making their moves after seeing Ren''s group moving. They similarly met with the attacks of the monsters and while many were doing fairly well just like Ren''s group, however, there were some foolhardy ones that didn''t want to join any other groups and decided to proceed by themselves.


    Most of them quickly met their ends but the ones from the Empires and hidden families and factions of the Midgard Continent didn''t break a sweat dealing with the numerous waves of monsters constantly charging at them.


    Their speeds of advance were even faster than Ren''s large group and after clearing the plains, they quickly arrived at the next section of this trial which was a dense forest.


    The average time that these strong groups took was around 1 to 2 days to get to this forest section. There was a big advantage of getting there first and it was that they received valuable rewards which were dependent on the time they took to get to the forest section from the plains section.


    Ren''s large group took 5 days to get there and when they got their rewards. It was rather lackl.u.s.ter compared to the groups that took only 1 or 2 days to get there. Ren looked around to try and find his master but he couldn''t find his figure anywhere.


    "Master must have arrived here on the same day...we''re 5 days late..."


    "You''re looking for him too?"


    "Hm?"


    Ren turned around and saw Karen approaching him.


    "..."


    "I know that you''re looking for your Master, but I bet that Cecil is already far away from this place."


    "So you know how strong he is?"


    "Of course, I was there when he crushed my older brother!"


    "Hm... well, it''s too late to even try finding him. Also, there are other powerful groups here. Even with our large group, it took us 5 days to get here but there are smaller groups which already made it here before us."


    "Those groups are probably from the hidden factions, the Empire, and the stronger kingdoms of Midgard."


    Ren quickly took in this information and continued observing the other groups that had arrived here before them.


    Ren''s cultivation wasn''t that high, but he was still in the Mana Sea Stage even though he was still only 15. That in itself proved that he was a talent because it wasn''t even his main focus. However, there were many more outstanding individuals in this place that had higher cultivations than him and many of them exuded a very dangerous aura.


    It wasn''t like Cecil''s serene aura that made him look like a person without any cultivation but from Ren''s eyes, these strong individuals were inexperienced compared to his Master. If they exuded such an aura, to him, it only meant that they weren''t strong enough to control and reel in their aura.


    He stopped paying attention to them and instead turned his full attention towards the source of the rewards on this stage.


    "... I don''t understand how these small crystals can just produce something from thin air as if they were using a magic spell... they aren''t sentient so how come this is possible?" Ren mumbled to himself and looked at the crystal hovering above his head.


    He didn''t possess Cecil''s Mana Eyes so he wasn''t able to observe the overly complicated runic arrays inside the black crystals, but he knew that they were rather special since despite being an object with no living creature powering them, they were able to use magic spells which seemed to be connected to some sort of subspace which it used to pull out the rewards that were distributed to the participants of the trials that made it to the second section.


    "...If only I had my Master''s vision... too bad those eyes aren''t something I can obtain," Ren shook his head and lamented.


    Some of the groups that had arrived earlier than them had started moving after they had fully rested. Ren estimated that his group needed a day or two to recover from their fatigue and injuries before they could tackle the next phase of the trial.


    Just as he was about to return to his group, a few people called out and approached him.


    "Hey, you!"


    "Hm?"


    Ren turned his head and noticed that a group with a boy not any older than him was walking towards him.


    He had long since noticed that they were from the Machina Reggio Empire. He recognized the boy who was leading them so he lowered his hood a little before asking, "Do you need something?"


    "Hmph, I couldn''t help but noticing earlier that your ragtag bunch possessed some rather peculiar magi-tech. Where''d you get them?"


    "...I don''t have any obligation to answer that."


    "Hah, look at this kid. Why are you talking down to me? From your stature and voice, you''re probably not any older than I am!"


    "..."


    ''Tsk, this stupid kid is as annoying and nosy as ever.''


    The guy that was talking to him was actually a rival of his back when he was still vying for the successor position of the Empire''s Artificer Guild, Luke Aerin. The kid was from the Aerin Duke House of the Empire and he was the only other brilliant artificer genius aside from Ren during this generation.


    He was from a noble family while Ren was only of common birth. It was only natural that the two would become rivals even though Ren himself didn''t want to. This self-proclaimed rival of his was the one always mentioning about their status and upbringing and said that since he represented the noble faction and Ren represented the commoner faction, it was only natural that they''d become rivals. It was fate and it was preordained, as Luke would say.


    Ren was rather fed up with it all. He just wanted to learn and invent because it was his passion. In fact, after traveling for so long and staying by his Master''s side, he no longer cared about the successor position even though the deal between his Master and his former-master was that after he came of age, which was in another 3 years, he''d return back to the Empire and take the test to inherit the position.


    Ren was no longer keen on that. Ideally, he would rather stay in the Silvaria Kingdom and invent whatever he wanted there alongside his Master. The new things he learned every day from the people of that kingdom inspired him to invent and create.


    It was much better than his dull life back in the Empire where he had to learn just for the sake of inheriting some position of power which he no longer wanted.


    "Hey, are you listening?"


    "Hm?"


    "Tch, the way you act. I find you rather familiar!"


    "...I believe this is the first time we''re meeting, no?"


    "Hmph, anyway, I''d like to take a look at the weapon that you had pulled out during your clash with one of the Holy Knights in your group."


    "..."


    "Well? Are you going to take it out?"


    Ren didn''t answer and instead turned away and began walking back to his group.


    "Hey!"

 Chapter 416 - Into the Forest

    "Hey! Don''t you turn your back on me!" Luke called indignantly.


    Ren sighed grandly and continued to ignore him and walk away.


    ''Idiot hasn''t changed even after so long...''


    Ren shook his head and decided to filter out Luke''s incessant yelling. To Ren, Luke had always been the difficult kid that he couldn''t handle.


    The kid was just so annoying and would always appear to pester him whenever he got a chance. Ren''s only way of coping with it all was to just completely ignore him or run away.


    He was doing the exact same thing here, but he forgot that they were no longer in the Empire but inside some unknown place. One of the people that was following Luke stepped forward to chase after him and just as he was about to forcefully grab onto him and turn him around, Ren reacted first and brushed off the hand that was about to grab him.


    He tripped the guy and pulled out a gun from under his cloak and aimed it at the guy''s face.


    "...I almost forgot that this isn''t the place where I should turn my back to anyone..." Ren silently scolded himself. He looked up at Luke and his entourage and said, "You better not do anything stupid. If you want to start a fight with me, you better think twice. The trial is still only at its first stage. You don''t want to suddenly fail here now do you?"


    "...Hmph, arrogant! You don''t even know who you''re speaking to!"


    "I don''t know and I don''t care. Just leave me alone."


    "Hah?!"


    Ren backed up and quickly returned to his group who was already on their way over after seeing him suddenly get into a scuffle.


    "Re¡ª"


    "It''s alright, let''s go back!" Ren immediately interrupted Robin from saying anything.


    He knew that his friend was just about to call out his name and he wanted to prevent Luke from hearing it so that he wouldn''t recognize him. It was better if his so-called rival remained unaware that he was here with him or else things would just get annoying.


    Many in the Empire knew about the deal struck between the artificer guild''s master and the enigmatic youngster who was traveling around the world. Ren didn''t want anyone from the Empire to recognize him because he didn''t want them to pull him away from his group using the excuse that he should originally be a part of their group and whatnot.


    Of course, it wasn''t like they could just forcefully take him away but it was better not to look for any source of trouble, especially in their current situation. From the point of view of the Empire, Ren was still a part of them and any magi-tech he held was of the Empire''s possession.


    The Empire naturally held no rights to the weapons that he had distributed but it was better to avoid the possibility that they''d act imperiously and try to forcibly take them away from his companions. It was just like how Luke was acting imperiously towards an unknown stranger and asking them to show him their weapon just because he wanted to take a look at it.


    The Empire always acted in a high-handed manner and it was because of this that they had a falling out with his Master which led to the near destruction of one of their flying fortresses.


    Once Ren led everyone back to their resting area near Cecilia and Karen''s group, his friends naturally questioned him.


    "Who was that Ren?" Xin asked.


    "It was just some idiot who wanted to take a look at my weapon."


    "That''s rude."


    "It is rude but that''s just how the people of the Machina Reggio Empire act like," Ren responded.


    "Hmph, it''s dumb and impolite!"


    "Tell me about it. That''s why I wanted to get away as soon as possible. Dealing with people of their nature is really exhausting and fruitless."


    "Hahaha, by the way, how did you know they were from the Empire?" Robin laughed before immediately asking.


    "Remember that I was traveling with my Master before settling down in the kingdom? We naturally traveled to the Empire before and we got a taste of what the place was like."


    ''And I was originally from the Empire.'' Ren inwardly added.


    "Is that so? Well, it''s better to stay away from those kinds of people. Why did he approach you in the first place? Was it really only about the rifle?"


    "They were probably intrigued by our unique magi-tech guns. The Empire is similar to our kingdom in which we rely on technological advances to make our lives more convenient."


    "So it''s only because our technology was new and interesting?"


    "That''s basically it. So make sure to inform everyone else about them and tell everyone to keep their distance. We don''t want any trouble with those people since we already have our hands tied with just trying to survive in this place."


    Robin agreed with this and nodded, "Alright, I''ll go tell them. You should get some rest. You''ve been using your mana the most throughout our journey. We can''t have you collapse in the next section!"


    "Mhm, thanks."


    ******


    At the Machina Reggio Empire''s side, Luke had just come back with his group. He angrily entered the tent that was prepared for him and sat down on the bed.


    He remembered about the earlier exchange with the cloaked kid and he couldn''t help but click his tongue in annoyance, "Tch, stupid kid. How dare he ignore me like that! He''s probably just a commoner! What''s so great about his weapon anyway? It''s not like we don''t have it!"


    Luke pulled out something from his spatial ring and gazed at it in admiration. It was a gun just like the one the cloaked kid had pulled out earlier when he tripped up one of his followers but the model and shape was different.


    "Hmph, they also have guns but I''ve never heard about a kingdom or hidden faction that''s technologically advanced like ours so how could they have it? Also, the kid pulled out a bigger and probably much more powerful weapon a few days back. I wanna take a look at it, but that bastard didn''t even wanna show it to me!"


    Luke was a little frustrated. He didn''t like knowing that there was someone out there who was better than him in artificing. He could exclude his mentors and seniors but if it was someone who was similar in age to him, he just couldn''t stand it.


    "Tsk, I have to get my hands on that weapon! The only way is to either steal it from him... or take it off of his corpse..."


    Luke had a dangerous thought but he quickly put a stop to it since he had other things to worry about. The leadership of his group hadn''t been fully established and he really wanted the position because he didn''t want to be ordered around and treated as cannon fodder for the likes of the incompetent prince and princess that had joined him in this trial.


    "They''re just holding me back. What could those talentless and inexperienced fellows do in this place other than cower behind their knights and mages? They''re not fit for leadership!"


    This was naturally only his bias but the crown prince of the Empire wasn''t at all incompetent. He was just a bit lacking compared to Luke. The princess however was a different story. She was smart and intellectually superior to him but he didn''t want to admit it.


    The only flaw that she had was that her cultivation level was a tad bit lower than the group''s average level.


    He didn''t want to be led by someone who was less talented and less powerful than him. The princess and prince were sharing command of the group, but Luke felt that they were acting a bit too cautious and underestimating their group''s strength and letting the other groups get ahead of them.


    "We''re the Empire for heaven''s sake. We''re the strongest on the continent and we should always be ahead of everyone! The ancient records stated that there was a reward selection privilege and I bet it was given to the person or group who had arrived at the end of the plains section first, but we just had to lag behind because of them and pass that privilege onto someone else! Tch!"


    While Luke was deep in thought, someone called out to him from outside.


    "Young Master, the Crown Prince and Royal Princess are looking for you!"


    "...I''ll be right there!"


    ''Tsk, what now...''


    *****


    Three days later, everyone from Ren''s group had all recovered and rested up so they immediately began their trek into the forest.


    Ren already saw that the Empire''s group had gone ahead of them 2 days earlier while most of the stronger groups had departed at a similar time. Only their group and some larger groups of smaller powers were left at the entrance of the forest section.


    Some groups decided to rest there a bit longer while others even decided to just stop going any further since it seemed impossible to them. Because their group was doing rather well, some other groups had tried joining them.


    While Cecilia and Karen accepted a few of them, a majority of the groups were rejected. The two and even Ren saw that the weaker ones were only there to hitch a ride with them. Their group naturally didn''t need any leeches so they only accepted the ones that they all agreed would be of help to their group in the later stages.


    The Omnifaust Republic and two hidden factions under the names of the Azure Falcon Sect and Kanhui Family joined. There were now 6 powers in their group and their numbers swelled to over 200 people.


    Naturally, they needed to appoint a leader and the Omnifaust Republic suggested that instead of a solitary leader, it was better to have a council that had the leaders of each group come together to discuss their plans and course of action in the future areas of the trial.


    Karen and Cecilia naturally represented their group while Ren and Robin represented the Silvaria Kingdon''s group. Ren felt that he wasn''t in any position to be representing the group since he felt like he wasn''t a part of them so he had Robin come with him and act as a vice-representative.


    Naturally, this was just him being paranoid because the rest of his friends and people from the Silvaria Kingdom had unanimously accepted him as their leader. He had distributed to each of them their weapons and had given them commands to follow since the first day they participated in the trials. There had been no faults in any of his commands and because if it, everyone in their group, including the non-combatants, were able to survive until now.


    As for the other factions in their now larger group, a girl named Gina Omnae represented the Omnifaust Republic as she was the second young lady while the Azure Falcon Sect''s Young Master, Han Cre, represented his sect and the Kanhui Ancient Family was represented by their young lady, Kanna Kanhui.


    Once all of the representatives were decided, they all gathered together and quickly discussed their plans and once everything was agreed upon and set, they immediately departed and proceeded with the next section of the trial.

 Chapter 417 - Bad Premonition

    With their coalition moving into the forest, the front most group which belonged to Karen immediately encountered a pack of monkey-like monsters that swooped down from the trees and attacked them.


    "Move up! We''ll go support them! Keep your eyes on the trees and shoot down any monsters before they come down!" Ren ordered


    "Got it!"


    "Let''s go!"


    "For the non-combatants, remember that if you see anyone injured, grab a shield, pull them back into the formation and immediately treat them!"


    "Yes!"


    Ren''s group quickly took action and immediately began shooting at the monsters and helping out Karen''s group.


    Cecilia''s priest also came forward and began casting barriers on the Regulus Kingdom''s young knights. Their 3 forces had already been working together for the past few days and they all had a tacit understanding of each other''s forces.


    They were now able to cooperate well together but it couldn''t be said he same for the other 3 forces. They still didn''t understand how each other operated so they decided to wait and see first.


    Ren and the other 2 leaders noticed this but didn''t find a fault in their actions. It was at least much better than trying to help and ruining their flow and control of the fight.


    The Silvaria-Regulus-Revero coalition were able to quickly put an end to the monsters that came attacking and the group continued to move deeper and deeper into the forest.


    Slowly, each faction in the group was able to find their place in the attack formation. It didn''t take long before their monster clearing speed increased and so did their movement speed.


    Unlike in the plains section, the forest section didn''t particularly need the groups who entered it to destroy every monster in their path.


    There were times when the group was able to find a much safer route around a pack of monsters and avoid a fight. The best part was that on their resting time during the night, the group was able to find a safe spot to camp out and stay safe from monster attacks.


    The night watch was done in rotations and they didn''t experience too many night attacks. With their bodies well rested, their clearing speed of the forest section was quite fast. However, after 2 days, 3 days, a week, 2 weeks, of traveling through the forest, they still couldn''t find the exit.


    "We''ve been marching through this damned forest and we still haven''t reached the end..." Karen lightly complained.


    In all honesty, it wasn''t just her who was sick of it. Everyone present at the meeting was fed up and so were their members.


    "...Maybe this section is just really large, perhaps?" Ren said trying to keep everyone from being too discouraged.


    "We can''t be sure about that. For all we know, we might have unwittingly stepped into some illusion formation while traversing through this forest and we''re now stuck in it..." Gina from the Omnifaust Republic said.


    "If we had stepped onto a formation, my people and I would have immediately detected it," the Kanhui family''s young lady, Kanna, immediately quipped up.


    The members of her family were rather skilled in magic and runic formations. They even used such formations for attacking and defending and it was largely due to them that their resting periods were without any interruptions.


    Kanna Kanhui had a good amount of confidence to say that they hadn''t stepped into any sort of formation after traveling through the forest.


    "From what I see, I agree with what Mr. Ren said. This forest could just be that huge. Remember, these are the deity trials. There''s no way it would be that easy in the first place!"


    After being reminded of this fact, everyone present nodded in agreement. The trials from the deity of Midgard... there was just no way it would be that easy to complete, but this was just the first trial and it was only the second section.


    They couldn''t imagine what was in store for them in the proceeding stages. The dangers would be more prominent but so were the rewards. While they were fighting the monsters within this forest, the group learned that they could collect some very valuable materials from the monsters.


    Even the meat gathered from the monsters after cooked and eaten turned out to be of much help to everyone''s cultivation. Although they were annoyed by how long it was taking them to clear the first trial''s second section, they didn''t complain too much because they were gaining many benefits while staying in the forest.


    Lately, many in the group had been taking the time to improve their cultivation during the resting periods which would then lead the group into taking a much longer break than what was originally planned, but it wasn''t like anyone objected to it.


    There were already a few in the group that had experienced a cultivation breakthrough so many more were eager to cultivate.


    "We should just proceed as how we normally did since the beginning. We shouldn''t dally here since there are most likely some groups who have already completed this section of the trials. I don''t want us to fall behind and receive lesser rewards than everyone else," The Azure Falcon''s leader, Han Cre, said.


    "Yes, it''s just like what Sir Han says. We shouldn''t dally. The faster we get out of here, the quicker we can complete the first trial," Gina Omnae added in agreement.


    Cecilia decided to remain silent, but from the looks of things, she too was in agreement of what Han Cre said.


    In her mind, the faster she completed the trials, the quicker she could go home. She didn''t want to complete it for herself, but rather for her sister who was going to be engaged in the near future.


    Things were just getting good for her sister, but she was somehow dragged into the trials against her will. Thankfully, they were able to meet each other as soon as they arrived in the trials, but if they hadn''t and her sister had suddenly died in here due to some reason without her knowing of it... it really did leave a bad taste in her mouth.


    She was also the High Priestess of the Revero Church which was well-known for their omniscient future vision. When she was still just a fledgling priestess, she had once caught a glimpse of the future of her sister and it left her traumatize and over protective of her elder sister.


    She had seen her die a horrible and gruesome death. Cecilia wasn''t sure if or when this event would even take place but she didn''t like it. She had thought that her sister''s gruesome future might have been avoided after Celestina had taken a liking to Matheus and went to live with him, away from any sort of danger, but now that she was dragged into these trials, Cecilia was all the more worried for her.


    ''I won''t let her die... I won''t...'' Cecilia inwardly vowed to herself.


    She took a look around and furrowed her brows deeply. Her negative thoughts may have influenced her somewhat, but she began having a bad and ominous feeling. For a future-seeing priestess, her instincts and premonitions were things that she would take very seriously.


    To others, it might just be a feeling, but to Cecilia, it was more of a sign. She was feeling a bit unwell right now so she immediately tried to voice her concerns to her comrades.


    "Everyone, I feel like something dangerous might happen if we¡ª"


    "AMBUSH! We''re being attacked by monsters!"


    "...Speaking of the devil..." Cecilia continued dejectedly.


    "Well, looks like the High Priestess has hit the nail on the head. Let''s go back and lead our groups in the defense. As usual, we''ll have Princess Karen''s knights take the lead," Han Cre said.


    "Mhm, leave it to me. Ren, I trust that you have our backs?"


    "Yes, of course."


    "Great, let''s get going then."


    The attack wasn''t anything dangerous. It was just like any other monster attack that they had already experienced. It didn''t take long before they cleared away all of the monsters that attacked them.


    They were lucky this time because the large pack of monsters that they had just cleared away had all dropped monster cores which could be used to aid in their cultivations. Everyone was ecstatic at the rewards but Cecilia still felt like something was off.


    She once more voiced her concerns and the group immediately set off from their current location. They all believed in her ability as a high priestess of the Revero Church. There hadn''t been even one time where her bad premonitions were off so they all took her concerns very seriously despite there not being any concrete evidence of there being any danger.


    However, despite the group moving farther and farther away from their location, Cecilia''s bad premonition still didn''t go away. Instead, it continued to grow bigger and bigger as time passed.


    ''Lord...please, please let us all pass this trial safely... Please keep my sister safe...''


    It was too bad that no matter how hard she prayed, there was nothing that could have prepared Cecilia and her group from what was to come.

 Chapter 418 - Source of Danger

    While Ren and his large group were running away from an unknown danger, elsewhere in the second section of the trials, Luke and the Machina Reggio Empire''s group were also in a similar situation.


    "Shit...this is all because you two just had to oppose that stupid clan!" Luke complained towards the two others next to him.


    "Then what would you have us do, Luke? In that situation, not even you would be willing to back down!" The girl wearing a warrior''s attire snapped back at his complaint.


    "...Tch, at least you should know when to give up, Princess!"


    "Hah! Like you''re one to talk! Who was the one who fired their weapon first? Was it not you?!"


    "That''s because you two forced me to do it! The situation was already dire and yet you both continued to¡ªif I didn''t do what I did, we''d be the ones lying on the ground dead by now!"


    "Enough! Instead of complaining, why don''t you two smartasses put your mind together and get us out of this situation?!" The young man who was with them roared in exasperation.


    The two who were beside Luke Aerin were the Crown Prince and Imperial Princess of the Machina Reggio Empire, Maximus Reggios, and Alena Reggios.


    Just a few moments ago, they had encountered one of the known strongest hidden factions of the Midgard Continent, the Baphamet Clan. There were only 10 Transcendents in the Midgard Continent, and this clan belonged to the Flame of Transcendence.


    The Machina Reggio Empire also had a Transcendent-level figure behind them and that figure was always at odds with the Flame of Transcendence due to a longtime feud. This feud was carried down to their descendants so whenever their younger generation ever met up, they would always clash inevitably.


    It had been a long time since the Machina Reggio Empire''s young generation had gone out after a certain human nearly destroyed one of their flying fortresses, but after meeting with the Baphamet Clan''s people after for so long, the two forces schemed against each other and clashed repeatedly within the first and second section of the trial.


    It was because of the Imperial Family''s feud with the Baphomet clan that led to their group experiencing a few unwanted clashes and injuries. Luke knew about the pointless feud between the Empire''s Imperial Family and the Flame of Transcendence''s Clan, but something that their ancestor and elders were always harping on about should be none of their concern.


    Their best course of action was to avoid the Baphamet Clan as much as possible in the trials, but the Crown Prince didn''t like that idea and decided to proceed normally without the need for avoidance.


    The Crown Prince didn''t want to show weakness towards his Empire''s enemy and a majority of their group''s people agreed with him. Only his sister, the Imperial Princess, and Luke wanted to avoid any unnecessary conflict.


    Maximus didn''t want to avoid any trouble and would rather face it head-on, but he did promise to not look for trouble. The only problem was that the Baphamet Clan didn''t share such thoughts. They found trouble with their group at every given turn, and just now, their recent clash was going to directly impact every other faction partaking in the trial''s second section.


    Just a few moments ago, the Empire and the Baphamet Clan had stumbled upon each other and the Baphamet Clan immediately picked a fight with them, however, at that time, a Crimson Quadru-tail Blaze Fox cub had suddenly appeared out of nowhere when they were about to clash.


    The two factions were able to immediately identify the S-rank monster cub and knew how beneficial the S-rank monster core of the beast was to cultivators who had fire-based mana affinity. It went without saying that a majority of the Baphamet Clan''s people had fire-elemental mana but Maximus was also one whose mana was of the fire element.


    Both sides coveted the monster cub and wanted to take it for themselves so naturally, a bloody fight ensued. The results were that the cub ended up in the Baphamet Clan''s hands but before they could take the cub away, it''s tribe and parents showed up.


    The large tribe of S to SS-rank monsters immediately began surrounding and attacking both their groups. During the confusion because of the sudden appearance of the monsters, Luke was able to find an opportunity to kill the monster cub which was in the hands of the Baphamet Clan''s people which then led to the monsters going berserk and concentrating their attacks on the Baphamet Clan''s forces.


    This gave the Empire''s forces the chance to quickly make their escape. However, the monsters continued to adamantly chase after them and slowly, the Empire''s group began losing people little by little.


    As for what became of the Baphamet Clan, no one knew, but Luke predicted that they were all dead by now. The Crimson Blaze Foxes were monsters that were known to hold a grudge. The worst part about them was that they had illusory techniques which were able to temporarily charm other monsters or cause them to go berserk.


    Right now, the Empire''s group was on the run from not only the foxes but practically all of the monsters that they had passed by earlier who were now either charmed or sent into a rage by the foxes'' techniques.


    "Hurry up you two! Think of a plan to get out of this rut!" Maximus demanded as he sent a sword wave behind him.


    "Tsk, easy for you to say!"


    After Luke voiced out a complaint, Alena immediately yelled at him.


    "Shut up, Luke! That''s my brother you''re talking to!"


    "Why you little¡ªAhh, this is both your faults, both of you and your family''s stupid feud! And, it''s because of your brother''s big head and overarching ego that we''re in this mess! We could have just avoided those bastards, but NO! You''re stupid pride wouldn''t¡ª"


    "Enough chitchat!"


    "Fine!" Luke yelled back at the prince before continuing, "The only way we can get out of this mess is either by directing the attention of the monsters giving chase to us onto other groups or by reaching the safe zone of the second trial!"


    Alena had similar thoughts as him, but the second option was a bit hard to achieve.


    "...Right now, trying to find the safe zone is¡ª"


    "Impossible!" Luke finished.


    "..."


    "We''ve been traveling through this godforsaken forest for a while now and yet we haven''t reached the end of this section! We didn''t fall into any illusory formation so it means that this section is very large! It''ll be impossible to rush towards the second safe zone in our current situation so our only option is¡ª"


    "To direct the attention of these monsters onto any group we pass by!" Maximus exclaimed.


    "...Yes...Although, it isn''t something morally¡ª"


    "Who cares about morals when our lives are on the line? They should consider it an honor for their groups to be helping out our Empire!"


    "..."


    With their decision being forcefully made, Maximus ordered their mages to quickly search their surroundings with magic and find the closest group.


    "W-we''ve found one! They''re a few kilometers away from us, but they''re a large group! We can probably reach them in a few minutes, but Your Highness...a-are you sure that we should¡ª" A mage reported before being interrupted by the Crown Prince.


    "Lead the way!"


    "...Y-yes, Your Highness."


    Luke could only shake his head at their forced decision while Alena just sighed and inwardly began apologizing to the people they were about to screw over.


    *****


    Opposite from Luke''s location, the Baphamet Clan''s people who were lucky enough to survive, were now frantically running away. Whether it was by luck or not, one of the leading foxes had noticed that the cub that was just attacked by Luke wasn''t directly killed but just mortally wounded.


    They had also noticed that despite the Baphamet Clan''s people nearly kidnapping the cub, they weren''t the ones who had attacked it. Instead it was the other people who had just fled away. A majority of the fox tribe had gone to pursue them, while a few of their strongest were hunting down these people.


    Whether it was kidnapping and killing, they were both offenses so naturally, the tribe wouldn''t spare any single one of the humans that dared to cross it.


    The Baphamet Clan''s people weren''t weak, but after clashing with the Empire''s forces, they were all battered and injured. They were in no condition to be thinking about taking down the SS rank monsters that were hot on their tails.


    The Baphamet Clan members continued to run and eventually, they arrived at a clearing. In the clearing there was a small pond in the middle which was emanating a large amount of mana and right at the center of the pond was a submerged herb.


    "Th-that''s¡ª"


    "Leave it! Those foxes will catch up if we dally¡ª"


    "It''s not that! Someone is sitting next to the pond!"


    "Huh?"


    They all looked towards the person who was sitting cross-legged behind a rock near the pond. The person had a cloak on and seemed to be sleeping.


    Seeing this, the Baphamet Clan members all looked at each other before nodding simultaneously. The roars of the monsters chasing after them were already close by and they quickly rushed towards the pond, or more precisely, towards the person who was sleeping near the pond.


    Cecil, who had just sat down to rest immediately cracked opened his eyes when he heard the commotion approaching him. The rapid footsteps of the people and the roaring of the monsters annoyed him.


    "Tsk...I just found a good place to sleep..."

 Chapter 419 - Battle on Both Ends

    "Hurry, lure those monsters over to the pond! Once the monsters are preoccupied with that guy and the treasure inside the pond, we''ll escape!"


    "..." Cecil just silently and tiredly watched as the people began dashing over to him.


    He honestly didn''t care what they did if they had only passed by, but he wasn''t one to let others use him to their own convenience.


    He silently erected a barrier around him and the pond before he went back to sleep.


    The monsters that had now entered into the clearing quickly took notice of the Baphamet Clan members and immediately gave chase. They also took notice of the pond and as if Lady Luck was smiling upon the Baphamet Clan, the monsters paid more attention to the herb growing within the pond than them.


    Just as they were about to bypass Cecil and go around the pond, the front most members of the group were immediately rebounded backwards after striking headfirst into Cecil''s barrier.


    "W-what the?!"


    "F.u.c.k! That bastard, he erected a¡ª"


    "Enough talk! Break it down! It''s just a barrier from one bastard!"


    "Hurry!"


    "AAHHHH!!"


    With the monsters roaring and rushing at them in the background, the Baphamet Clan members desperately tried to break down Cecil''s barrier. The young man himself was just leisurely taking a nap and disregarding the Baphamet Clan members'' plight.


    ''You could have just asked for help,'' Cecil thought quietly to himself.


    *****


    While the Baphamet Clan members had a run in with Cecil, over at Ren''s side, Luke and the Empire''s forces along with the monsters chasing after them had caught up.


    "Dammit, do you people not know shame?! You''re from the Empire and you don''t have the moral integrity to keep us out of your stupid problems?!" Gina Omnae yelled.


    "You should be honored that we''ve specifically come over to seek your help!" Luke growled back.


    "Shameless!"


    "Can''t a fellow human help us in our plight?!"


    "Not if you maliciously lured this ridiculously number of monsters over here! How do you even expect us to help?!" Karen yelled back at Luke.


    "Enough running! It''s time we fight!" Maximus Reggios declared. He turned around and flourished his great sword, sending a large storm at the monsters who were rushing at him.


    "Alena, cover me!"


    "B-brother!"


    ''This f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot!'' Luke inwardly cursed after he saw the Crown Prince stop next to Karen''s group and sending an attack at the monsters chasing after them.


    "This isn''t the time, Prince Maximus!" Luke roared.


    "Are you a coward?! I''m tired of running! Now that we have more people, why not just fight?!"


    "Brother, wait¡ª"


    "Enough Alena! It''s time we show these impudent monsters the wrath of the Machina Empire!"


    "..."


    "FORMATIONS! We''re going to take these bastards down!???


    The young soldiers and mages in the Empire''s group roared in acknowledgement to their prince''s orders and stopped running. The Empire''s soldiers quickly got into battle formation with the warriors and knights in the vanguard while the mages and long-ranged attackers moved to the rear.


    Seeing that Maximus was now fighting alongside Karen''s knights, the Empire''s soldiers, who were now in formation, began moving to reinforce the left flank of Karen''s knights. Karen saw this but she still didn''t feel grateful. They wouldn''t be in this mess if they hadn''t lured the monsters over in the first place.


    ''Hmph, at least you bastards have a conscience!'' Karen thought before focusing her attention back to the battle at hand.


    Once the Empire''s forces got into position on the left side, they immediately began retaliating against the monsters.


    Luke was already speechless at this point. Now that they didn''t follow through with their original plan, he couldn''t be the only one to run away. It''ll only make him out as a coward now!


    He clicked his tongue and pulled out his weapon, a gun-type weapon similar to the Silvaria Kingdom''s weapons only that the model was different and he began shooting down the monsters from the back of the group.


    Now that they were all forced onto the same boat, there was no way for Ren''s group to even pull back now that the monsters had begun moving to surround them.


    Ren was the first to spot Luke''s unique weapon and he couldn''t help but scoff at it.


    ''The efficiency and design is lacking compared to ours!"


    Ren wasn''t planning on using his rifle just yet, but he had to quickly reconsider that notion once the SS ranked Blaze Foxes caught up and entered the battle. Once the foxes arrived, they immediately began concentrating their attacks on the Empire''s group who had always been their target.


    The Blaze Foxes who had already rushed straight for the Empire''s forces were forcing away the other monsters under their control and these monsters naturally began attacking the other groups around them.


    The pressure on the Empire grew exponential now that they were facing these SS-ranked monsters, but with the other monsters diverting their attention and attacking the other groups, the pressure on them didn''t alleviate in the slightest.


    With the dense amount of monsters rushing at them from all sides, the groups in the coalition of forces were forced to bundle up closer to each other, giving the vanguards less room to maneuver and swing their blades to attack. They could only continue to defend themselves and leave the attacking to their long-ranged comrades at this point.


    "R-Ren, what do we do? We''re being surrounded and pushed back!" Xin asked worriedly. She didn''t let up on her attacks though and continued to shoot at the monsters that were now everywhere.


    Due to Ren''s group being mostly ranged attackers, they were placed in the center of the group with Cecilia''s priests and supported the other teams who were fighting head-on with the monsters.


    Ren was soon able to notice that no matter how many monsters they struck down, it seemed as if more would just take their place. He then noticed that there were actually monsters rushing at them from afar.


    It was most likely due to the loud noises that ensued because of their chaotic battle, but other monster groups within the vicinity of their location were rushing over to fill in the places of the monsters that their groups had just killed.


    "...This is bad... We''ll be overwhelmed at this rate..." Ren said with a frown. He pulled out his magi-tech rifle and immediately began firing at every monster within his line of sight.


    Unlike the power of the magi-tech guns he handed out to everyone in his group, the rifle''s power was much stronger. The mana bullets that were fired from the rifle pierced through several of the monsters that were within Ren''s line of fire.


    After firing a few piercing rounds, Ren quickly tapped on one of the button on his rifle''s stock before firing at the monsters. This time, the mana bullets that were fired began exploding upon impact with the monsters instead of piercing through them.


    This was a unique function limited to only Ren''s rifle since it was something that was personally crafted by both him and his Master. Ren had the bright idea of applying his Master''s attribute granting technique onto the weapon so that in any given situation, he would be able to grant attributes to the mana bullet he fired.


    Whether the attribute would be that of a homing, piercing, or exploding projectile, it was all there for him and all he needed to do was press a button and switch the attributes to whatever he needed.


    Luke had already taken note of Ren''s rifle and felt rather envious. Compared to the one he was using, their power and utility were oceans apart. It was like the difference between the earth and the sky.


    Since Ren would always pull down his hood when in a fight because he didn''t want his vision to be limited, Luke was able to get a good look at his face, and he felt that Ren seemed to be somewhat familiar.


    The thought that the owner of the unique magi-tech rifle was his rival from back in the Artificer Guild totally didn''t cross his mind. He couldn''t help but curse inwardly as he was quite jealous. Luke didn''t want to acknowledge that there was actually some kind of faction out there which was far ahead of them in artificing.


    Of course, Luke was right and wrong at the same time. The Silvaria Kingdom couldn''t be said to be an all-powerful magi-tech nation just yet. This was because their understanding of artificing and magi-tech was still too limited and many of their up-and-coming artificers were still learning.


    Ren''s Rifle was just a unique existence crafted by 2 artificer prodigies whose ideas were far ahead of anyone else present in this era.


    ''If only I could get my hands on it...but first off, I have to somehow get out of here and survive! Once the monsters overrun these fools, I''ll just come back and pick it up from his corpse!''


    Even in their dire situation, Luke was still looking for a way to escape with his group. He didn''t need to bring away all of the people with him, only those who came with him and were his trusted subordinates. His Crown Prince Maximus was now immersed in the battle and had dragged his sister and everyone else into it with him so Luke abandoned any thoughts of cooperating with them.


    ''Tsk, these stupid foxes have their attacks concentrated on us... it''ll make things a bit hard...''


    With the Blaze Foxes concentrating their attacks on the group, it naturally didn''t give them any leeway to think about anything else. The obvious and only sensible reaction in their current situation was to defend and attack.


    It was only Luke who had the mind to think about escaping even in their current situation. He looked at the Crown Prince and his people who were ardently fighting back against the monsters.


    ''Idiots!''

 Chapter 420 - In Trouble

    The battle continued for hours and the monsters didn''t let up. With how many monsters were felled by the humans, more would just come rushing over due to the large commotion and continue attacking them.


    After the first hour of battle, many in the group were exhausted and by the time two hours had passed, there were already some injured fighters being brought to the priests in the center of the formation.


    What''s worse was that some monsters were able to take advantage of the exhausted fighters to pierce through the line of defense to attack the people behind them. Luckily, Ren and his fellow sharpshooters were able to quickly deal with the monsters that had broken through their defenses.


    Their swift actions led to fewer injuries, but as time passed by, the injuries began turning into casualties. With more and more people dying or being injured, their ranks slowly dwindled in number and they began getting pushed back by the monsters.


    Slowly, fear and despair began creeping into the hearts of the remaining humans who were still fighting. There was no way to escape with the dense amount of monsters rushing at them from all directions.


    The Empire''s forces had it worst since the SS-ranked Blaze Foxes were focused on them. Ren and all the other long-ranged attackers did their best to assist, but there were just too many monsters.


    Cecilia was keeping a constant eye on her sister and was ready to quickly come to her aid. She didn''t want her sister to experience the tragic fate that she had seen in her future vision.


    "Celes! Get back, you''re almost out of mana, stay behind and recover for a bit!" Cecilia sprinted over to her sister after noticing that she was slowly getting paler by the second.


    It was obvious from a glance that she was over drafting her mana.


    Celestina turned to her sister and quickly shook her head, "N-no, you go back and quickly heal anyone that''s injured."


    "Celes!"


    "You don''t see any other mages around me trying to take a break, do you?!"


    "B-but..."


    "Just go, I''ll take care of myself!"


    Before Cecilia could say anymore, the people behind her sister were suddenly thrown up in the air and a large monster appeared just behind Celestina. Cecilia widened her eyes in horror when she saw the monster bearing down on her sister.


    "NO!"


    Cecilia tried to jump forward and push her sister away, but before the monster could even bite down on Celestina, its body was suddenly shoved away by an explosion which was then followed by a shower of laser beams from the sky.


    "E-eh?!"


    Celestina quickly turned around and she saw Ren aiming his rifle at the monster that was just blown away and then killed. The large explosion from earlier was from Ren using his rifle''s explosion option and the shower of lasers which came after was also from him after he switched the firing mode of his rifle to the rapid-fire laser option.


    This option wasn''t something he wanted to use a lot because the mana drained from firing just one burst was quite taxing on his body. Ren''s face immediately paled after using the rapid-fire option so he immediately pulled out a crystal from his spatial ring, crushed, and quickly recovered his mana.


    The crystal was actually the new Elemental Mana Battery that he and his Master had created after they settled down in the Silvaria Kingdom and gained access to an abundant amount of rare materials.


    Ren always kept an abundance of these with him because of the magi-tech rifle''s mana consumption which was a huge setback and burden for him.


    He knew that his cultivation was severely lacking and since the guns he used drained quite a bit of his mana, he always kept the Elemental Mana Batteries with him so that he could quickly recover his mana if he was ever in a situation where he direly needed mana, like the one he was currently in.


    Unlike the Mana Potion which acted as a catalyst that would attract and pull the ambient mana in the surroundings into the user''s body as a means of recovery, the Elemental Mana Battery was instantaneous.


    A mana potion needed time to recover a person''s mana since the user''s body had to filter the ambient mana in accordance to their dominant elemental affinity, which was frankly, quite long. Only the higher level mana potions would be able to hasten this process but even then, it would still lose out to the Elemental Mana Battery''s instantaneous recovery.


    This was because the mana inside the battery was already of an element due to its vessel, the elemental crystal. As long as someone used an Elemental Mana Battery which corresponds to their elemental affinity, it was possible for the person to quickly recover their mana by using the batteries.


    Before, Cecil and Ren would make non-attributed mana batteries because the materials they were using at the time weren''t the rare materials found in the Silvaria Kingdom''s mines. Once the rare elemental crystals were found in abundance, the two had the bright idea of making mana batteries with elements for normal people like Ren, Quinn, Yuna, and Cecil''s wives, Lucia and Serilla.


    On one hand, it was easier for Ren and everyone else to manufacture the new batteries because the elemental crystal already held an abundance of elemental mana inside them. The only thing Ren and any future artificer from the kingdom needed to do was to inscribe the unique runic formation that enabled the user to absorb the mana from the crystals onto the crystals.


    It was really simple and only the runic formation was what made the whole process complicated. If given enough time and crystals, Ren would be able to inscribe the runic formations onto 50 crystals per day.


    Once Ren regained his mana, he quickly turned around and began firing at the monsters that had broken through their ranks. He took notice of Celestina''s mana deficiency so while he was attacking he quickly asked, "What''s your mana element?"


    "Huh?"


    "Tell me what your mana element is!"


    "I-it''s water!"


    "Water? Crap, I''m fire..."


    Once all of the monsters who were lucky enough to break through their ranks were taken care of, Ren immediately began rummaging through his spatial ring and soon he pulled out a sleek-looking pen and a blue crystal.


    "Wait a bit. I''ll give you something to recover your mana!"


    Ren tuned out the noise in his surroundings and with extreme focus, started inscribing the runic battery formation on the crystal. It took him about 10 minutes to finish the inscription and he inspected it for a moment before tossing it over to Celestina.


    ''Phew, I broke my 30-minute record...'' Ren proudly thought. The corners of his lips couldn''t help but raise a little, but after seeing the confused look on Celestina''s face Ren immediately explained.


    "Crush it. The mana inside the crystal will flow into you and it''ll quickly recover your mana."


    "O-okay!" Celestina said before immediately crushing the crystal.


    Once she did, she immediately felt a large surge of mana gush into her and her mana levels were quickly restored.


    "W-wow!"


    "I have fire batteries in abundance, but other elements I don''t have much of. I''ll create a few more, use them sparingly," Ren said before he took out 3 more water crystals and began inscribing the runic arrays on them.


    It took him quite a long while and Celestina was getting a little antsy, however, Cecilia didn''t let her go back to support the frontlines just yet. Cecilia was still shocked that she had nearly lost her sister earlier. If it wasn''t for Ren, then her sister may have just died now.


    Cecilia had Celestina waited for Ren to finish the mana-restoring items before she let her go back to support the frontlines.


    "Ren, do you have any more of those? I''m sure a few of our mages could use some!" Celestina said after receiving the Mana Batteries from Ren.


    Ren looked a bit exhausted from focusing too much. He pulled out a few random batteries from his spatial ring and handed them to Celestina.


    "The elements correspond with the colors, red is fire, blue is water, green is wind, and yellow is earth."


    "Okay, th-there''s not much of the other elements besides fire, huh?"


    "...I''m a fire element myself so I have plenty of those. I don''t need the others so I don''t have much of them..."


    "It''s alright, thanks, Ren!"


    "Y-yeah... but please tell Karen or any of the leaders this, we''ll die if we continue staying here and fighting the monsters. There''s a nearly endless amount of them. We''ll only exhaust ourselves and our casualties will continue to pile up..."


    "...I''ll go tell them."


    "Everyone''s too focused on the battle. The most important thing is to figure out how to get out of here..."


    "..."


    "Dammit, if only my MID was inside my ring! I would have been able to call Master and¡ª"


    "Ah, that''s right!" Celestina remembered something after hearing Ren''s words. She sifted through her spatial ring and immediately pulled out the MID that her younger brother-in-law had handed to her on the day they met at the starting area.


    Ren saw the MID and his expression lightened up.


    "T-that''s¡ª"


    "It''s something brother-in-law handed me in the starting area of the trial. I almost forgot I had this!"


    "Q-quick, call him and tell him that we''re in trouble!" Ren urgently exclaimed.


    "Right!"


    *****


    Back to where Cecil was at by the pond, another grueling battle was currently taking place. The Baphamet Clan members who were blocked by Cecil''s barrier had no choice but to stand their grounds and fight against the Crimson Blade Foxes.


    They were in a rather dire situation now after a few hours of fighting, but Cecil was impressed that they could last so long against the SS-ranked monsters. They had even managed to kill 2 of them.


    They were in dire straits right now only because they were all exhausted from the long fight.


    Cecil was only waiting for them to properly ask for help before he stepped in and made a move. However, even after so long, they didn''t utter even one word of the sort. They just ardently chose to fight against the monsters despite them piling up on injuries and casualties.


    "Heh~ they sure have spirit... I wonder what kingdom these guys belong to?" Before Cecil could contemplate any further, he pulled out his MID and saw that someone was trying to call him.


    "...Is it Celestina?" He picked up the call and immediately a familiar voice was heard.


    "B-brother-in-law?!"


    "Yes, it''s me. Please don''t yell. I can hear you loud and clear."


    On the other side, Celestina immediately heaved a sigh of relief after hearing Cecil''s voice.


    "Brother-in-law...w-we''re in trouble."


    "Do you need my help?"


    "Yes! We''re going to be overrun by monsters at any minute now!"


    "Huh?"


    "We''ve been fighting for almost half a day! The Empire''s people had suddenly come and¡ª"


    "Never mind that, where are you guys right now?" Cecil asked. He took down the barrier and without batting an eye towards the monsters and the Baphamet Clan members, he immediately took to the skies.


    "U-uhm..."


    "Can you tell me a landmark or give me a signal¡ª"


    Before Cecil could finish saying anything, a long stream of lasers broke through the forest from the west of his position.


    "Okay, I see you."


    "Huh?"


    Cecil ended the call and immediately flew fast towards the location where the laser beams came from.

 Chapter 421 - I Won’t Help

    When everyone saw Ren suddenly send a long stream of lasers into the sky, most of the people around began thinking that he had gone crazy due to the helpless situation.


    Even Celestina was rather puzzled by his actions. She didn''t know that Cecil knew how to fly so she didn''t see any significance in his actions.


    She quickly glanced around and was about to tell Cecil that there wasn''t anything around that could serve as a landmark but¡ª


    "Okay, I see you."


    "Huh?"


    Before Cecilia could ask him what he meant, the call was cut off.


    "R-Ren? Did you do something?"


    Ren had already slumped down onto the ground due to exhaustion. Even though he had been repeatedly recharging his Mana using the batteries, fatigue wasn''t something that could be ''restored''.


    He had his mind focused on the fight and earlier he had just used up a lot of his stamina from creating the elemental mana batteries on the spot for Celestina.


    "A-are you okay, Ren?!"


    "Y-yeah...I''m just exhausted...I used up too much stamina creating those batteries...it''ll take my Master a few moments to get here so hurry and go hand those out to the frontline mages..."


    Celestina said no more and quickly rushed towards the front and began handing out the mana batteries to the mages around her. She didn''t forget to ask them about their element before handing them a crystal with their corresponding elemental affinity.


    There weren''t many of the other elements besides fire with her and she didn''t hand any water batteries to anyone and kept them for herself. It was a little selfish, but Ren and Cecilia had urged her to do it.


    Ren was able to help this time, but it wasn''t like he was going to keep doing it. Those batteries were expensive and he wasn''t just going to hand them out like candy.


    The vanguards had long since noticed that the mages in the back were getting exhausted and low on mana so they didn''t expect too much help from them anymore. They were also well aware of the dire situation everyone was currently in and didn''t expect to make it out alive but when the mages began dishing out spells from the backline in the same intensity as they did during the start of the battle, everyone was surprised.


    "Hurry up! We have to set up barriers in front of the vanguards! We have our mana back so we need to create and maintain those barriers!"


    "¡ªEarth Rampart!"


    "¡ªWind Barrier!"


    "¡ªIce Wall!"


    "W-what''s up?! Why are the mages¡ª"


    "I don''t know, but they somehow recovered their mana! Let''s just defend like earlier! They said that back up is coming!"


    "Huh? Back up? From wh¡ª"


    Before the people at the front could even continue discussing anything, multiple golden bolts of mana began raining from the skies. They struck the monsters just ahead of them and upon impact, multiple explosions ensued.


    All of the barriers that were set up became of no use. They were all blown away by the golden explosions and the people behind them were buffeted by the shockwaves that ensued.


    "WAAAHHH!!!"


    "SHIT!"


    "What is it this time?!"


    Everyone panicked at the golden explosion which had nearly wiped out all of the monsters in front of them. The rain of golden bolts didn''t stop yet. They continued to rain everywhere around the humans and the forest around them was leveled to the ground.


    The trees and rocks were obliterated. The monsters that were within the explosions either disintegrated or were blasted apart and their entrails scattered everywhere.


    None of the explosions or golden bolts of mana struck the humans. When everyone braced themselves and took a closer look around them, the golden rain of deadly projectiles was actually avoiding them and they understood that this was the ''backup'' that was supposed to come.


    Of course, not everyone in the group knew about this ''backup'', only the ones that Celestina was able to inform were aware, a majority of the people didn''t even know and this included the Silvaria Kingdom''s people.


    The onslaught continued for a short while before it all subsided. What remained of the monster horde were only those who had a rank higher than S, however, those monsters were severely injured from the attack.


    Cecil, who had just arrived and immediately sent a large Mana Volley at the monsters that were attacking the group of humans below, quickly used Blink and appeared next to Celestina who was still in shock at the absurd scene she had just witnessed.


    Even though Cecil had suddenly appeared in the midst of them, none of the humans around took notice of him because they were still in shock at what happened.


    "Sister-in-law, are you okay?" Cecil asked.


    "Huh? B-Brother-in-law?!" Celestina exclaimed.


    Her surprised shout snapped everyone out of their shock and the leaders quickly began ordering everyone to reform their ranks. The intensity of Cecil''s attack had blown quite a few of their people backward and their ranks were in shambles.


    Once everyone heard the commands, they quickly got into formation. No one took note of Celestina''s surprised shout from earlier, but the ones near her did.


    Cecilia saw the cloaked figure that had appeared next to her sister and Ren also saw his Master. He felt very relieved and tried to get up.


    "Stay down. You did a good job, Ren."


    "Nh? Oh...thanks Master..." Ren heaved after seeing that his Master had suddenly appeared next to him.


    Xin, Marylyn, and Robin also saw the person who had suddenly appeared next to Ren, but after Cecil pulled down his hood they all quickly recognized him.


    "It''s Angie''s brother!"


    "W-we''re saved then!"


    "That attack from earlier was from him. It has to be."


    Cecil''s hearing was rather acute so he could hear them. He looked over and waved at them with a smile.


    Cecilia came over and immediately grabbed Cecil''s hand and thanked him profusely, "T-thank you...Thank you so much!"


    Cecil pulled his hand back and replied, "It''s nothing. I only came to save my sister-in-law and my kingdom''s people."


    "O-oh...b-but anyway thank you so much! We were in a tight spot there..."


    "Mhm."


    Before Cecilia could say anymore, the Empire''s Crown Prince immediately yelled out, "EVERYONE CHARGE! The monsters are all injured! This is the best time for us to quickly get out of here!"


    It was the correct decision so everyone immediately began moving. The vanguards began charging at the injured monsters, the mages and long-ranged attackers began sending out their attacks.


    Cecil looked around and saw that the same SS-ranked monsters that were attacking the people he had encountered earlier were also here. Due to his attack, they were injured and one of the larger ones began howling.


    "Oh, is it calling for back up?"


    Cecilia heard this and asked, "What? Backup?"


    "I encountered a few of those monsters before. They were chasing after a few people who were trying to take advantage of me."


    "W-we have to get away from here then!" Celestina quickly spoke up after listening to her sister and brother-in-law''s conversation.


    "Sis, you have to go and tell Karen and everyone else from our group! We can''t just follow that idiot prince''s orders! Remember that they were the ones who brought them to us!"


    Cecil raised a brow at her words. The situation that Celestina had described was similar to what could have happened to him if he let those people he met back then take advantage of him. Of course, the only difference would be that he wouldn''t be in dire straits like they were just now.


    Cecilia quickly started running towards her priests and told them to relay to the other groups her suggestion and the info she got from Cecil.


    The priests quickly took their leave and Cecilia began healing the people that they had left behind.


    "Hm, how decisive... you guys should quickly prepare to move. Carry as many injured as you can and start retreating from this place," Cecil turned towards the 3 people who had just come.


    Xin, Marylyn, and Robin were a bit surprised when Cecil turned to them but quickly acknowledged his orders and began directing the others in their group.


    The Silvaria Kingdom''s warriors that were already rushing together with the others couldn''t be pulled back now, but some of the gunners rushed over to inform them. The battle was now over and trying to fight anymore would only hinder their main objective which was to get away from here.


    The others in the group quickly took note of the Silvaria Kingdom''s movements and were wondering what they were doing. The warriors began retreating and once they regrouped, they immediately went towards the injured and began carefully picking them before moving away.


    Ren got up and quickly asked Cecil, "Master...should we wait for the others?"


    "...they''ll see our actions and the priests that went to inform the leaders are already on their way. We should just get ourselves ready. With how many injured there are, the movement speed of the group would be severely restricted."


    "Alright..."


    "Don''t worry, if more monsters try to give chase. I''ll just blast them away."


    "Mhm."


    "Well, it was about time I regrouped with you guys anyway. I already looked through every place here and I can''t find any method to get out of here besides finishing the trial..."


    "...Master, does that mean you''ve already explored the entirety of this trial?"


    "Yeah, I couldn''t find anything. Anyway, this trial is split into 4 sections. This section is only the second one. After this is an elemental field section and the last one is obviously the mountain section."


    ???...Why didn''t you just continue to the next trial?"


    "I was waiting for you guys but after waiting for a long while, no one ever came to the top of the mountain..."


    "..."


    "I was a bit worried so I came down searching for you guys. I didn''t think you''d still be in the second section and right when I got here, I didn''t think the stupid administrator would try something on me..."


    "Huh? Administrator?"


    "Yeah, the being behind this stupid black thing," Cecil said and took out the black crystal that was supposed to be hovering over him.


    "T-that''s the Guide!"


    "Yeah, I didn''t break it, but I cut off the connection it had with me."


    Ren was quite puzzled so he asked, "Why Master?"


    "When I tried moving back towards the earlier sections, it tried to stop me by erecting a barrier but after I quickly destroyed the barrier, it began hindering me in all sorts of ways."


    "I see...well, with you here, Master, we won''t need to worry about the trials anymore."


    "Hahaha, I don''t think so~" Cecil replied playfully.


    "W-what do you mean, Master?" Ren asked.


    "I won''t proactively help you guys."


    "Huh?"


    "I see that everyone in this group is rather talented. However, it took far too long for you guys to get to the end of this stage''s trial."


    "..."


    "Listen to me, Ren. A greater threat is out there and even I don''t know when it will strike. Everyone on this planet won''t be able to run away from that threat and this trial is the perfect place to forge your strengths and talents."


    Ren remained silent, but he didn''t reject Cecil''s words though he didn''t understand what this threat was.


    "I won''t proactively help, but the least I will do is keep you alive. You know about my healing arts Ren so as long as none of you are on the verge of dying, I won''t step in."


    "It might be a little dangerous for some of us..." Ren worriedly said after recalling the number of non-combatants in their group.


    "I won''t force anyone to step up. It''ll be their choice, but whatever obstacles you guys face in these trials, as long as it doesn''t kill you, I won''t help."

 Chapter 422 - The One

    Cecil, Ren, and the other people from Silvaria started to retreat in haste after they were informed by Xin, Marylyn, and the others who were always around Ren who had taken the leadership position of their camp.


    Cecilia also shot up a Light Spark in the air and the church''s knights who were at the frontlines immediately began retreating after seeing the signal.


    The others in their group also started hesitating and it didn''t take long before the priests who Cecilia had sent out earlier relayed their message over to the other forces'' leaders. The leaders didn''t hesitate when the priests reported Cecilia''s message and promptly sent out a signal for retreat.


    Only the Empire''s forces continued rushing forwards in pursuit of the monsters, but they soon stopped after seeing everyone else turning back.


    "W-what''s wrong?! Why are they retreating?!"


    "It''s because it''s our best course of action, Crown Prince!" Luke said in an obviously sarcastic manner.


    "What were you even thinking by ordering everyone to pursue the monsters? Our objective was to run away from them, not fight them! Now that we were given the opportunity to retreat, you instead had us chase after them!"


    "Ugh¡ª" Maximus flinched at Luke''s words.


    He was about to apologize but his sister quickly spoke up, "Enough, its best we follow after them! The call to retreat was the best decision. We have to stick with them for now. Who knows whether or not those monsters will regroup and come surging back at us again!"


    "R-right! Everyone, retreat!" Maximus quickly ordered.


    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, especially the mages. All of their mana levels were too low right now. If the battle had continued on any longer, they would have soon depleted all of their remaining mana, and everyone would be in dire straits from there.


    The golden rain of destruction had annihilated all of the monsters that were attacking them and it had even struck fear in the monsters. The remaining monsters were all scattered so it was the best time to retreat and not push for the attack.


    Once the Crimson Blaze Foxes that were still alive quickly recomposed themselves, it wouldn''t take long before their mind-control technique was able to quickly regroup all of the scattered monsters.


    After they recovered from their fear and regrouped, it was no doubt that the Crimson Foxes would send their brain-washed minions at them again.


    Once everyone made a full retreat after listening to Cecilia''s suggestion, they all thought back as to why the priestess urged for them to retreat. They believed in her suggestions because ten out of ten times she ever gave one, it would always work out to their benefit.


    It wasn''t until everyone moved farther and farther away from their previous position did they understand why after the loud and enraged howls of the monsters erupted in the direction from where they fled.


    If they had stayed behind earlier or pursued after the monsters, they would have landed themselves in the same sticky situation that they were previously in when the monsters had surrounded them.


    Once again, everyone was grateful to the priestess, but if they all stopped and thought deeply about it for a moment, anyone of them would be able to come to the same conclusion if they all had calmly and rationally thought about it instead of going along with the words that someone had thoughtlessly spewed out.


    Seeing that everyone was retreating and no monsters were chasing after them, Cecil decided that his work was done. He was now going to passively protect all of the people of his kingdom.


    Cecil only promised to help them this once. Any further mishaps or dangerous situations would have to be resolved by themselves. He wouldn''t take any part in it unless it was a life-threatening situation.


    "Ren, I''ll leave the rest to you. Sister-in-law, try to keep everyone safe. I''ll fade into the background and just passively protect you all. As long as none of you are in mortal danger, remember, I won''t step in," Cecil reminded before he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the non-combatant unit whose members were carrying the injured.


    Cecil spread his senses and began administrating his healing arts on the mortally wounded people. For the ones that had lighter injuries with their lives not in danger, he decided that it was best to leave them for the priests.


    He wasn''t going to be their chaperone in these trials. Cecil deduced that this trial, just like the previous World Tree''s Trial, both had a purpose. And that purpose was to forge these young talents from the continent through life and death situations to stimulate their growth.


    He hadn''t once forgotten that the Fallen may have appeared near his friend Fina''s Empire. If he didn''t let the trial grind these youths and force out their latent talents, it would cause more harm than good when the Fallen truly descend and wreak havoc on this planet.


    Alterna had more or less become his home by now. He had seen the unimaginable future due to the World Tree''s intervention so it was only wise of him to begin preparing not only himself and his family, but everyone else that was part of this world.


    The danger wasn''t known right now, but when it did surface, it was better for these cultivators who were similar in age to him, but so far in strength, to be prepared.


    Cecil still hadn''t found his sister, brother, and disciple just yet, but if this continental trial was the same as the World Tree''s Trial, then there was no way they were forced in here through malicious intent.


    The guardian deity of Midgard who was in the same league as Urrugdrasil''s guardian deity, the World Tree, had undoubtedly seen potential in the 3 individuals and had thus pulled them into the trial much earlier than the rest.


    Even though he wasn''t quite sure of it, Cecil was trying to think optimistically because he couldn''t find them before in the ruined tower. He only came to this thought after finding out the true nature behind the ruins he had previously explored.


    ''Yes, there''s no way the guardian deity of this continent would do anything malicious to its future warriors...the only mystery I can''t solve or speculate about is the discrepancy between the time I, and a few others were taken in here, and the ones who say that they came in after a few weeks or months after clearing the ''tower''...''


    If everyone who had entered the true continental trials started at the same time despite there being others finishing and entering the trials first, then why was it that his family wasn''t here with them?


    No matter how Cecil thought about it, he just couldn''t understand. Perhaps they got a head start, or maybe it was because of something else.


    ******


    Somewhere inside one of the many subspaces of the Myriad Tower of Strife, a small ball of light was flying erratically in the air, and before that ball of light was a large screen with multiple smaller screens surrounding it that showed the many groups and people currently participating in the tower''s trials.


    The ball of light was moving erratically as if it was excited about something and a voice began filling up the empty void in the subspace.


    "Hah...HAHAHAHAHAHA! I''ve found it, this is the one! He''s the one!"


    The voice originated from the ball of light and it stopped moving right in front of the large screen. On the screen was a cloaked individual who was discreetly using some kind of arts to heal the person they were carrying.


    "I know those arts anywhere! That''s the World Tree''s Nature Life Arts! He''s the one!"


    The ball of light started checking the other screens besides the larger one and turned its attention to a particular one.


    "I guess these 3 aren''t the one I was looking for. I felt the familiar healing arts coming from them, but it was most likely because this guy had been constantly using it on them so the aura lingered!"


    The ball fell silent for a moment before it started speaking again, "Hmmm, what should I do with these three then? I already gave them a head start and they sure are powerful, but they won''t be able to clear the fifth stage by themselves... Although that little hydra was quite a surprise, it won''t do them any good on that stage..."


    "Heh, I guess, I''ll just leave them there. Whether they die or not, is none of my concern now. I just hope this precious fellow gets past all 8 stages~"


    *****


    Over on the fifth stage of the trials, Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira were currently moving through an endlessly vast desert. The hot sun in the sky scorched their bodies and the three looked worse for wear.


    The three had the same black crystals that everyone else in the trials had hovering around the top of their heads. While they were walking, Angelia''s foot suddenly sunk into the sands and she stumbled, nearly toppling herself over.


    "B-Brother...I-I don''t think I can go on..." Angelia said with complete exhaustion in her voice.


    "Hang in there, Angie...We''ll find a way out just as we did before..."


    "But...there''s nothing in sight...we''ve been walking for almost 2 days¡ª"


    Gabriel quickly cut her off and began encouraging her instead, "Whether it be days or weeks, we have to stay strong, Angie. Don''t worry. I''m sure by now that Cecil and everyone else is already aware of our disappearance. We just need to survive until the rescue team finds us..."


    Angelia nodded in understanding before she asked, "Alright brother...d-do you need more water?"


    "...Kira, do you need any?"


    The little boy who was following after them listlessly immediately perked up and replied, "N-No, Captain, I just had some not too long ago. You should drink some!"


    Gabriel looked around and saw a sandstorm heading their way. He frowned and quickly grabbed onto Angelia and Kira. He tied a rope around their waist and quickly looked for a tall sand dune.


    "Let''s go, we have to take shelter by digging under one of those sand dunes. Angie, have one of your monsters use Earth magic to help us dig and create a shelter. We''ll wait out that sandstorm before moving forwards again."


    "Yes, brother!"


    "Yes, Captain!"


    "We''ll dig first before we have your monster help. We don''t want to waste their mana."


    Angelia nodded before saying, "Y-Yeah... If we had known, it would probably have been best to stay on the previous stage before we continued."


    "It''s too late now. The only thing we can do is conserve our mana. The battle on the previous floor left us with no choice but to quickly pass through the transfer gate..."


    The unique feature or disadvantage of the fifth stage of the Myriad Tower of Strife''s trial was the manaless atmosphere. The entire stage was completely devoid of mana. Once you used up your mana, you wouldn''t be able to recover it at all.

 Chapter 423 - The Strong Remain 1

    "Hurry, we have to take shelter from the sandstorm...over at that sand dune. We''ll start digging over there!"


    "C-captain, I just lightly scanned the area ahead, there aren''t any monsters there..."


    "Okay, thanks Kira, but you should refrain from using many for these kinds of things. Remember, we might need it for a more serious situation," Gabriel said.


    "Okay, captain."


    Kira nodded at his words and the 3 rushed ahead to the dune they picked out.


    Angelia sent out her Oroboros to bore through the dune and had Mao begin digging. Her large monster had followed after her inside the ruins when they were first dragged in here and luckily, they weren''t separated.


    She remembered her first day here. She and Mao had been thrown into an empty plain and it took them a few days of walking through the plains and arriving at a forest before they met up with Kira.


    Kira had been able to traverse the plains by avoiding all of the monsters by using his particularly good senses and scans to stay hidden whenever any monsters came by. He was stuck near the forest only because he couldn''t hide from the monsters any longer.


    The 2 were able to team up and complete the first and second stage but were stuck on the third stage''s hellfire area. Maria didn''t want to summon her hydragon while completing the stages and wanted to rely on her own strength because was rewarded for completing each section of the stage.


    She had thought of the trials as some sort of game where if she did well, she would be rewarded. It wasn''t until the third stage when Kira was nearly burnt alive did she summon her Nessie. They were able to escape from their dire situation, but they were stuck. The hellfire stage favored fire element monsters and Nessie, being a water elemental monster, was at a disadvantage.


    What more, there were hordes of monsters on this stage who relied on their environmental advantage to put Angelia''s Nessie at a disadvantage. The monsters couldn''t kill the hydragon, but Angelia and Kira couldn''t advance.


    Angelia also couldn''t summon a few of her monsters. She had brought her Skeleton Champion,


    Mao, Chi, Nessie, Jewel, the 3-headed golden snake, and a few others, but she couldn''t summon them.


    Other than Mao, Jewel, and Nessie, all the others including Chi couldn''t be summoned. Chi was in her small bird form, but it was like she was asleep. No matter how hard Angelia tried to connect with her or call her out, Chi wouldn''t respond and just remain asleep.


    It was the same for all her other monsters, so Maria thought that the trials had placed some sort of restriction on her ability to use them. With no way forward, the two kids could only wait and hope someone would rescue them.


    They didn''t know how many days they waited before Gabriel reunited with them. Their sense of time inside this place was skewed since night and day didn''t change so it was hard to keep track.


    After they reunited with Gabriel, the trio was able to pass through the third stage by means of stealth and quickly picking off any monster that detected them. With Gabriel''s skillset, it was easy to take down a monster swiftly and stealthily.


    There were a few close calls, but they were able to pass through the stage after ''assassinating'' the stage''s guardian monster.


    The next stage was somewhat easy since they had Nessie, the fourth stage was an ocean stage so it was naturally the place where Nessie could show his worth.


    The stage was only somewhat easy because there were other absurd ocean monsters that when grouped together gave even Nessie a hard time to deal with. The fights would normally be between Nessie and those monsters, while Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira were in a supporting role.


    None of them had Cecil''s long-ranged wide-scale mana attacks so it was hard for them to help Nessie when the monsters they were fighting were those that had half his size or more. Not to mention the monsters came at Nessie in droves and they had a hard time just dodging the monsters'' large-scale attacks.


    They didn''t know how long they spent on this ocean stage but when they finally found the transfer gate to the next stage, they were suddenly besieged by the guardian monster that was so much more powerful than Nessie.


    It took so much effort to just barely escape from this monster. Fighting back wasn''t an option since no matter what kind of attacks they sent the guardian monster wasn''t fazed one bit.


    After rushing through the transfer gate and getting sent to the next stage they arrived at the manaless desert stage. The stage they were currently struggling in because of their low mana levels.


    The fight¡ªno, the escape from the guardian monster left everyone in the party low on mana. This included Angelia''s monsters as well. Nessie was severely injured during the escape and was still trying to recover from his wounds, but due to his lack of mana, his natural recovery took a hit.


    Inside the hole that Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira dug, the three were currently huddled together while watching the sandstorm blow over them. Angelia had the small Mao placed on her lap while Nessie was wrapped around her arm and waist. She was still tending to the visible wounds on his body.


    Angelia felt quite frustrated that the wounds which would normally take a few hours to heal still weren''t fine even after they were disinfected and bandaged for 2 or so days. Honestly, she couldn''t tell how many days it has been.


    She only remembered that they had to take shelter from at least 4 sandstorms so far and she slept through most of it. There was no indication of night and day, it was hot throughout the entire time and it was seriously uncomfortable to even rest.


    Resting outside in the hot desert where the heat directly assaulted you was a no go, but it wasn''t any better resting inside a hole dug in the middle of a sand dune. Angelia felt like she was being slowly cooked alive in the hole, but they didn''t have any other choice but to stay in here because of the sandstorm.


    Kira had his eyes clothes and was profusely sweating due to the heat but he suddenly snapped open his eyes.


    "C-Captain...d-do you feel that?"


    "What''s wrong, Kira?"


    "B-Below us...I felt a vibration below us..."


    "Quickly check!"


    "Yes!"


    Angelia looked over at Kira when she heard his words and she quickly pulled out her weapon and readied it.


    "Th-this¡ªCaptain we have to¡ªAHH!"


    Before Kira could even continue saying anything, the sand under Kira began shifting and he was sucked under.


    "KIRA!"


    "KIRA NO!" Gabriel quickly tried to grab his hand but he was pulled down along with the boy.


    Angelia was just about to jump towards her brother, but the sand around her suddenly collapsed on top of her.


    Outside, the hole that the 3 had dug suddenly began caving in on itself and with the sandstorm blowing over it, the sand dune returned to its natural state, as if nothing and no one was there before.


    ******


    Down at the first stage''s transfer gate, Cecil and everyone from his group had been able to successfully climb up the stage''s last mountainous section and arrive here.


    They had lost a few people, but a majority of the group was able to live and arrive here. Every faction lost a few people but only the Silvaria Kingdom''s forces remained intact. This was naturally due to Cecil''s assistance.


    Even when they were about to die from a fatal wound, he was able to pull them back from the dead using his Healing Arts.


    At this time, he still wasn''t aware that someone or something was eyeing him, but he felt something weird whenever he connected with the Guide, the small black crystal that was hovering above every participant''s heads.


    When they had arrived at the transfer gate, it was still shut off so the earlier groups that had arrived were waiting near it.


    Cecil looked around and began counting. He counted at least 8 groups and 3 individuals who didn''t belong to any of the groups.


    He noticed that these 3 were all near the Mana Perfection stage just like him. He didn''t detect any Ki present in them so it was safe to say that they weren''t stronger than him.


    Cecil was intrigued by these 3 people because he noticed that their ages weren''t too far from his. Of course, he was still younger than them by a few years, but being able to reach the Late Mana Core stage at their age showed how much talent these 3 individuals had.


    "They''re separated from the other groups and each other, but I wonder if they know each other? I''m not quite familiar with Midgard''s factions yet. I also heard that it''s much more complex than Urrugdrasil''s factions¡ª"


    "Is there something you''d like to know, brother-in-law?" Celestina asked him after hearing his mumbling.


    "...You have some sharp ears, sis-in-law..."


    "Thank you."


    "Well, since you''ve offered, I might as well ask, who are the 3 people over there?"


    Celestina had already been following Cecil''s eyes from the start so she knew which 3 people he meant.


    "The red-haired fellow is from the Devil Slayer Sect, the sleep-deprived looking one is from the Corpse Collector Guild, and the last one is from the Xuanwu Family."


    "What? Xuanwu?"


    "Mhmm, have you heard about them before?"


    Cecil looked at the Xuanwu person and couldn''t help but think, ''I''ve heard it before, just not from this planet...''

 Chapter 424 - The Strong Remain 2

    Xuanwu, if Cecil wasn''t wrong, in one of Earth''s languages, it meant black turtle or earth turtle. He wasn''t quite sure but the name was too familiar to pass it off as something that came from this world.


    What more, the person who was part of this family was currently sitting down on top of a large black tortoise and conversing with it.


    The young lady and the tortoise were a bit far away from the rest so not many could hear what they were saying to each other but Cecil''s ears were able.


    From what Cecil heard, these 2 were the first to arrive before the red-haired fellow from the Devil Slaying Sect and the one from the Corpse Collector Guild came.


    Then the other groups began arriving one by one and their large group was the most recent. Until now, the transfer gate hadn''t activated so everyone continued to wait.


    Just as Cecil''s group was getting ready to settle down and rest, the transfer gate began acting up. When it started to whir and glow, everyone present immediately went alert.


    They all turned towards the transfer gate and waited...but nothing happened. It only continued to whir and glow without anything changing.


    Of course, this would happen. That was because the owner of the gate''s key was nearby. Cecil had already arrived here long before anyone else had and he had taken the key.


    The key was already placed in the transfer gate, but originally, it shouldn''t have been there. It should have been on the guardian monster which wasn''t present when Cecil had arrived at the top of the mountain.


    Cecil didn''t know if there was supposed to be a boss monster or not, but he felt that the trial would be too easy without one. The only conclusion would be that there really was no monster, or someone had arrived here much earlier than he did and had already taken care of the boss monster and slotted in the key.


    He had searched for any traces of battle, but unfortunately, he couldn''t find any traces. However, he wasn''t convinced that the last part of the trial, the mountainous section, would be so easy. He could only shelve the thought and step forward to place in the key since everyone began to turn restless.


    When the others in the area saw someone from the recent group step forward to the transfer gate, they waited to see what would happen.


    Cecil stood in front of the gate and pulled out the key which was in the form of an odd-shaped stone brick and placed it down on the indent on the right pillar of the gate.


    Once he slotted it in, the transfer gate began activating in earnest, and a portal formed in the middle of the large archway.


    Cecil didn''t step through but turned to look at his group and gestured at them. The Silvaria Kingdom''s people quickly stepped forward and walked towards the gate. The rest quickly followed after.


    One of the groups tried to say something, but seeing that the Machina Reggio Empire was also part of the group, they kept their mouth shut.


    Everyone present was somewhat familiar with one another so they recognized the powerhouse. The only thing they couldn''t understand was why the Empire was traveling together with a few small powers like the Regulus, Omnifaust, and Revertia Kingdoms.


    "Lass, that cloaked one...I can''t sense his cultivation level. He seems to be on our level, but I can''t sense any hint of threat from him..."


    A distance away from where everyone was the black-shelled turtle quietly warned the young lady that was riding him. The girl took in this information and tried to probe Cecil''s cultivation.


    "...I can''t sense anything... it''s like he''s not even a cultivator," the girl mumbled back to the turtle.


    "Exactly, but I''m a bit more sensitive than you are. I can faintly tell that he''s a human cultivator on our level so be careful."


    "Mhm. Any chance he''s using a concealing technique?"


    "I can''t sense anything. It''s more like he''s just that adept in controlling his mana and he''s using his proficiency to naturally hide his cultivation."


    "In other words, he''s strong."


    "Well, at this point of the stage, only the strong will remain."


    Once Cecil''s group all passed through the gate, everyone else began moving to move through the gate.


    "I''m surprised these prideful groups didn''t say anything earlier."


    "It''s because the Empire was with them. Also, they didn''t want to provoke that cloaked person."


    "Hmph, cowards."


    "That''s just how the world works, lass. Shouldn''t you know this by now?"


    "Yes, yes...anyway, let''s get going. I don''t want to stay another second close to that disgusting necrophile!"


    "Kukukuku, my lady, aren''t you too harsh?" A ghostly voice said.


    "Ack! S-stay away! You''re disgusting, just go f.u.c.k those corpses of yours and stay away from me!" The young lady said in disgust towards the depraved-looking young man who had just walked over.


    The young man didn''t take any offense to her words and instead replied with a humorous laugh.


    "Huhuhuhu, I''d like to wring your neck and make you my puppet! Then I can have my way after I''ve resurrected your body and trapped your soul!"


    "Come within a 10-meter radius of me, I''ll bury you."


    The young lady and the tortoise began preparing to attack but the pale man quickly jumped back and rushed through the transfer gate with a shrill laugh.


    "Kukuku, rather than you, I''m more interested in that odd fellow who just activated the gate!"


    "...Disgusting bastard... and you, aren''t you enemies with their guild? Shouldn''t you be the first to rush at him?!" The young lady whipped around and asked the red-haired young man who had been observing their exchange.


    "I wouldn''t want to get in the way of the esteemed young lady of the Xuanwu Clan."


    "Hmph, what esteemed young lady? I don''t like you fanatics as well, so you best stay away from me!"


    "...likewise Lady Mei, but I propose that we keep an eye on that fellow who had the key."


    "And why should I listen to you?"


    "I sense an aura of slaughter on him. You know that only they possess this kind of aura..."


    "They? You mean the demons?"


    The look on the red-haired young man''s face was his answer. Xuanwu Mei clicked her tongue and replied, "Heh, then you sensed wrong! Little Bei here already sensed that he was like us! He''s a human cultivator with a cultivation level on par with us! I''m sure you already know that my clan is proficient in Earth related magic and detection spells!"


    "...You could be wrong..."


    "Hmph, like our clan has ever been wrong! We''re not the ones that mistakenly purged an ethnicity group that couldn''t use mana after mistakenly declaring that they were demons!"


    The red-haired young man shook his head and replied,


    "...I''ll be heading in first."


    "Suit yourself if you don''t believe me. Also, the cloaked person should have a cultivation level on par with ours. It won''t be me who''s seeking death so go ahead and fight if you want. Both you and that necrophile are idiots!"


    The red-haired young man paused for a moment before the transfer and was about to ask Xuanwu Mei more about it, but the young lady quickly passed by him and stepped through the gate.


    "...Tsk, so hasty and hotheaded."


    ******


    After everyone passed through the gate, Cecil looked around and noticed that they were in a very cold environment.


    "A forest and mountain area...now an ice field with a perpetual blizzard..." Cecil said after taking a look at the environment just ahead of him.


    After passing through the first stage and arriving at the second stage of the trial, everyone had arrived at the stage''s safe zone which was located inside of a freezing cave. Just outside of the cave was a blizzard.


    Cecil had already sent out his Mana Sense and scanned the area around the cave and saw that it was an ice field and under that ice field was the freezing water that had a few monsters swimming in it.


    "The ice is not so thin but at the same time it isn''t that thick..."


    The ice covering the water was only a few inches thick. Cecil looked back and saw the large group he was with and couldn''t help but grimace.


    ''If everyone steps onto the ice together...''


    They would all sink after the ice broke. Once that happens, they''d have to combat the monsters waiting for them in the freezing water.


    "Ren...this stage could prove to be a problem for everyone..."


    "What''s wrong, Master?"


    "We might need to disperse our large group."


    "Huh?!"


    Cecil gathered Ren, Cecilia, and Celeste together before he began explaining the situation outside of the cave. Karen also quickly came over and joined in on their conversation.


    She had already taken notice of Cecil a few days back. She didn''t notice it before because Cecil had been laying low with the non-combatants in the group, but after seeing his figure step out to heal a few of the injured in the Silvaria Kingdom, she quickly recognized him after Ren had referred to Cecil as master.


    It was a good thing that the princess was aware of their situation and didn''t do anything to pester or annoy him.


    After hearing about Cecil''s findings, they were indeed sent into a dilemma now. If they all recklessly stepped out, the next time they woke up, it would be in the arms of the reaper that had taken away their lives under the freezing waters.


    "How should we proceed?"


    [Congratulations on making it to the Second Stage! Please refer to the Guide for more information about this stage!]


    Hearing the words echoing in their minds, everyone else except for Cecil quickly connected themselves to their Guides and listened to the information about this stage.


    Only Cecil didn''t. He didn''t like the feeling of his mind being invaded so he stayed put and waited for everyone else.


    He began looking around the cave and soon he took notice of something.


    "!"


    ''Footprints? They''re leading outside of the cave!''


    There were 2 pairs of footprints. They were faint so it meant that these footprints weren''t from anyone present who had recklessly sneaked out of the cave and judging by the size, they belonged to 2 very young individuals.


    ''Angie and Kira?''

 Chapter 425 - A Small Surprise

    Cecil let everyone else discuss their plans while he walked over to the cave''s entrance.


    The footsteps faded after they lead outside of the cave. He sent out his Mana Sense to see if there was anything he could find but of course, there was nothing. Just as Cecil was about to turn back, he couldn''t help but notice a slight difference in the ice that he had just scanned.


    He turned around and scrutinized it even further and noticed that there were slight differences between the thicknesses of some parts of the ice.


    A large and long portion of the ice right in front of the cave was thinner than the rest of the ice around the opposite sides of the cave. It was as if something large had broken through the ice and just kept on going far into the distance.


    Cecil wouldn''t have paid this any mind if he wasn''t looking for clues about his missing family, but if there was anything among Angelia''s monsters that would thrive in this harsh and cold environment then it would without a doubt be the water elemental ancient monster, the Hydragon.


    Knowing his sister, Cecil knew that Angelia wouldn''t hesitate to use her monsters as long as they would be of help to her. Her Nessie could easily dispose of the monsters hidden under the ice and it could also swim through this stage with ease.


    ''It has to be her...I''m guessing the other pair of footsteps belong to Kira.''


    Cecil let loose a relieved smile after knowing that his disciple and little sister were here in the trials. He just couldn''t understand how they got a head start before everyone else and another mystery remained unsolved, where was his brother?


    "I wonder where Gabe is..."


    "Master, did you find something?"


    "Mhm, if I''m not mistaken, Angelia and Kira have already passed through here."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, after I took a closer look at the ice, some parts are thinner than the rest. I''m guessing that Angelia used Nessie to get through this stage."


    "It''s good that she''s safe..."


    "We don''t know that. They may not be safe now. If I''m not wrong, Angelia and Kira should have passed through this place quite some time ago."


    Cecil shook his head and continued to send his Mana Sense out. He observed the ice and the monsters hidden in the freezing cold waters and felt a bit reassured. The monsters under the water weren''t strong enough to pose any sort of threat to Nessie.


    At least in this stage, his sister and disciple didn''t have anything to worry about. What he was more worried about was whether or not they cleared this stage and continued to the next one. He didn''t know the conditions of the next floor and what kind of monsters inhabited it so he still felt a bit uneasy.


    "Master, we shouldn''t dally any further. Shouldn''t we quickly give chase?" Ren asked.


    "If it was only us two here, I wouldn''t mind leaving everyone behind. But don''t forget, we came here in a group..." Cecil replied and turned towards the other members of his kingdom who were now shivering and huddled together.


    Cecil pulled out a spatial ring and handed it over to Ren.


    "Ren, give the beast furs here to the others. Inscribe some heat-insulating arrays on it before handing them out."


    "Alright."


    Ren returned to the group and began his work. He didn''t notice that someone was scrutinizing his every movement.


    ''He is an artificer!'' Luke thought after seeing Ren go back to his group and begin inscribing runic arrays on some beast furs he pulled out of a spatial ring.


    Ren didn''t take long to finish and before an hour passed, he had finished distributing the furs to his entire group. The furs were his wife''s reserve clothing materials from their previous journey, but since they no longer had any use for it, they were left forgotten inside his spatial ring.


    He only remembered about them after seeing his kingdom''s people shivering in the freezing cold. They weren''t processed into clothes or anything but it was better than having nothing on them.


    Each person was able to receive one to cover their bodies, but if a fight were ever to break out, they''d have to abandon the furs since they wouldn''t be able to fight with both their hands clenched onto the furs.


    Seeing them gear up, the rest of the people that passed through the first stage began their preparations as well.


    After some discussions with everyone else in their previous group, Ren, Karen, Cecilia, Gina, and the others decided to disperse their group for this stage.


    Knowing about the conditions, it wasn''t plausible for everyone to move in a large group again. Once the decisions were made, Ren began moving and so did Cecil.


    The two led their people out of the cave first and this naturally attracted everyone else''s attention. They were an unknown group of people but from this group was the person who had stepped forward earlier with the first stage''s key.


    "They''re beginning their move. We should get going too."


    "This isn''t a good place to be...especially for our group..."


    There was a group of people that were fiercely glaring at Cecil''s group, or more precisely, towards Cecil himself. It was the Baphamet Clan members.


    They were rather fortunate to pass the first stage even after they were nearly driven to the brink of death by the Crimson Blaze Foxes on the first stage''s second section. They didn''t forget about the cloaked figure who had nearly screwed them over.


    Well, they shouldn''t blame anyone but themselves because they were the ones who first had thoughts of taking advantage of Cecil and have him act as bait while they made a run for it.


    Of course, they wouldn''t have it. Their failure and near-death experience was blamed entirely on Cecil and they held a grudge against him.


    Cecil could detect their hostility but he only scoffed at them and thought that they were lucky that he was tired when they met him. If not, he would have erased them for daring to take advantage of him.


    After walking out of the cave, the Silvaria Kingdom''s group carefully followed the ice which was thinner than the rest. Everyone was able to tread above the ice safely thanks to Ren and Cecil''s help.


    The two had loaded their ice-element magazines into their rifle and gunsword respectively and began shooting at the ice below them.


    The ice element bullets struck the surface of the ice but didn''t break through it. Instead, they strengthened and thickened the ice so everyone was able to walk through it safely. Also, Celestina was with them, and being an ice-element mage herself, she was able to provide a second measure of safety for them.


    It was a bit heartless of Cecil to forcefully separate Celestina from her sister''s group, but Cecil didn''t care. For all he knew, Celestina was already a part of his family so he naturally needed to travel with him so that he could keep her safe for his brother.


    "Let''s keep going like this... if my sister and apprentice cleared this stage, then they would already be at the next stage so naturally, their pathing would be the best direction we follow."


    *****


    In the administrator''s subspace, the ball of light continued to observe Cecil and his group. When it noticed Cecil''s actions, it couldn''t help exclaim in excitement.


    "Kekekeke~ this fellow is smart. I don''t know how he figured it out, but if he follows the path that the girlie and that brat from before created, he''ll easily be able to get to the stage''s transfer gate!"


    The ball of light began moving around the subspace before it suddenly stopped.


    "It''d be too easy! How about I give them a small surprise?"


    *****


    "...Master, there''s an update from the Guide..."


    "What is it?"


    Cecil stopped the group and turned towards Ren.


    "It says...that the key to the next stage is the black crystals. 2 crystals are needed for someone to ascend to the next stage..."


    "...So 2 crystals for 1 person... so where can we get these crystals?" Cecil asked.


    "It''s...the thing hovering above our heads...the guides..."


    Now, this was going to be a problem. From what Cecil could tell, the only way to obtain another crystal was from another trial participant. This meant that this stage of the trials pitted everyone against each other.


    "What''re we going to do, Master?"


    "...We''ll wait."


    "What?"


    "We won''t go around and actively attack anyone. We''ll wait for them to come to us. We''re only a small group so we won''t need too much, thus, we won''t antagonize the other groups. Don''t forget, we have a few non-combatants with us."


    Ren and everyone else nodded. Once Cecil took control of the group, everyone felt at ease since he was part of the prestigious Silvaria Family. Not many in the group knew about him but from the rumors about the elusive young patriarch, he was a powerful figure.


    Everyone in the group had already seen the other heirs of the Silvaria Family and only the young patriarch remained anonymous. The others in the group who were in the know had already informed the rest of Cecil''s identity so they didn''t object to having him take control of the group even after Ren had done a splendid job already.


    Besides, Ren was also Cecil''s apprentice so it did little even if they did object to Cecil taking control since Ren would still obey his master''s orders.


    "That''s the plan, alright? If anyone gets close, keep your distance, if they don''t show us any blatant hostilities, we won''t attack. We''ll only retaliate if they do attack us. Also, don''t show any mercy. Shoot for the kill!"


    Cecil''s words alarmed everyone in the group, but they could only steel themselves and nod. If they didn''t kill, then they''d be killed instead.


    The second stage of the trial wasn''t supposed to be hard, but thanks to the administrator''s interference, the difficulty had gone up for most of the people here.


    Now, they had to be wary of not only the monsters hiding on the stage but also their fellow humans who were participating in the trials with them.

 Chapter 426 - Killing 1

    Cecil and his group continued moving through the second stage''s ice field with great caution.


    The blizzard didn''t let up one bit and they had to protect their bodies by fully covering themselves with the furs that Cecil had handed out earlier.


    They were able to keep their warmth, but if a battle broke out, they''d be quite vulnerable if they reacted too late.


    Only Cecil wasn''t wearing any kind of clothing. He had his aura around him and he didn''t need the extra clothing at all. Also, thanks to his cultivation, he was able to easily regulate his body temperature and keep himself from freezing amidst the unrelenting blizzard.


    He only had his cloak on and was leading the party at the front. Everyone had to strain their eyes to hold any kind of vision within the blizzard, but Cecil had his Mana Sense locked onto everyone and the area around them.


    Whenever any sort of monster tried to break through the surface of the ice and attack them, he was able to quickly give everyone an alert and with Celestina''s help, they were able to create a temporary shelter from the blizzard by building ice walls around them while they attacked the monsters.


    Whether it was good news or not, the monsters that attacked them after their deaths would sometimes drop a small black fragment. If Cecil wasn''t wrong, the black fragment was a fragment of a whole black crystal.


    It was quite small, but if they were able to collect 15 or 20 more pieces, they''d be able to form 1 black crystal.


    Now they didn''t need to kill others to get the crystals, but then posed the problem of how they were going to hunt the monsters for the fragments.


    Whatever Cecil did to attract the monsters from under the water, whether it was completely concealing his mana cultivation or blatantly spreading it out and antagonizing the monsters, none of it worked to attract their attention.


    The monsters would only surface and randomly attack them from time to time. The other way was to dive into the icy waters and directly attack them, but no one was crazy enough to do that.


    Even Cecil could tell that the depths of the water where all of the monsters were normally swimming around at had some sort of special attribute. Even if he did go down and dive into the water to hunt the monsters, he''d slowly freeze to death by the special attribute of the water.


    Cecil had already tested this out and he immediately felt an unknown energy invade his body, slowly trying to freeze his organs.


    Since they couldn''t do anything about it, the group could only pray that more and more monsters were attracted to the surface and attack them.


    They didn''t halt their travels and continued onwards, following the obscure ''path'' that Angelia and Kira had left behind for them.


    They would occasionally come across another group of humans but they would immediately back away or just stay put and observe them for a moment before eventually moving away in a different direction.


    Cecil and everyone continued to ignore the other humans and marched forward. Cecil didn''t know this, but there were actually multiple transfer gates on this stage.


    Each transfer gate was located at the far edges of this stage. If Angelia and Kira were able to keep track of time, they would know that it took them over 2 weeks to complete this stage.


    They had lost their way in the blizzard plenty of times and if it wasn''t for Kira''s Mana Scanning, the two children would have spent even more time moving around in circles.


    The perpetual blizzard messed up everyone''s sense of direction, but thanks to Cecil''s Mana Sense he was able to avoid getting lost. Even though his group did follow after Angelia and Kira''s path, he didn''t blindly follow it after knowing that the path had diverged in the wrong direction.


    Cecil only followed after Angelia and Kira''s path that was heading in the right direction, or at least, what Cecil assumed to be the right direction since their pathing no longer looped or moved irregularly.


    *****


    "That''s them, right?"


    "Yes, it''s them. If we can take down all of them, we''ll get enough crystals for both our groups!"


    On a slope a few thousand meters away from Cecil''s group, the Baphamet Clan and another clan were together.


    The Baphamet Clan members were reduced to a measly 10 so they had to group up with another clan. Thankfully, an allied clan had passed the first stage of the trials with them so they were able to group up together.


    They were the Belze Clan which was known for their farsight ability and their incredible demon-like physique. Rumors had it that the Belze Clan had demon-blood running through their veins but it wasn''t known whether this was true or not.


    Of course, because of this rumor, the Devil Slaying Sect was naturally enemies with the clan. They had been keeping a low-profile in the first stage because of the Devil Slaying Sect''s second young master, Vicimo Evi.


    "That bastard, Vicimo, already took note of us. We should tread carefully. Of course, he might refrain from attacking since you''re with us, but this stage''s kill requirement might not stop him..." The leader of the Belze Clan''s group, Barthelo Belze, said.


    "Don''t worry about it, Barth. That bastard Vicimo won''t want to take on all of us. It''s not like our cultivations are too far apart! He won''t take the risk of attacking us!" Lewis Baphamet replied.


    This Lewis Baphamet was the leader of the Baphamet Clan''s group. During their initial clash with the Machina Reggio Empire, he had been expertly leading their group to harass them and take whatever good fortune they could take from the Empire''s hands.


    It was only because of the mishap of running into the cloaked Cecil that resulted in his once large group to take a hit and be reduced to their current 10-man party.


    If it wasn''t because Barthelo''s clan was allied with theirs and the fact that the Devil Slaying Sect''s young master was here which threatened him and his group, the Baphamet Clan would have most likely finished their trials on the first stage.


    The environment on the second stage was very disadvantageous for Lewis and his clan members. They were an extreme fire element clan. Fighting in the tundra of the second stage wasn''t going to end well for them.


    Lewis wanted to take revenge against the Empire and Cecil, the Empire first and foremost because of the little artificer whose actions had nearly doomed him and his entire group. Then there was the cloaked bastard that had prevented them from running away from the Crimson Blaze Foxes.


    Of course, if Lewis and his gang of fools actually took a better look and instead of forcing their way past Cecil''s barrier and went around it instead, they wouldn''t have landed themselves in such dire straits and risk themselves being nearly wiped out.


    The only saving grace of that near-death experience was that they were able to kill a few of the a.d.u.l.t Crimson Foxes and take their cores and other materials. Their group''s alchemist had been able to concoct some medicinal pills for everyone and the group''s collective cultivation increased to some degree.


    The most visible change was from Lewis Baphamet. He was already close to the Late Stages of the Mana Core stage so after ingesting the Crimson Blaze Pills that his family''s young alchemists had been able to concoct during the first trial, he was able to push his cultivation and break through to the Late Stage of Mana Core.


    He still needed to stabilize his cultivation, but that needed time. However, even though his cultivation was on par with the 3 individuals who Cecil had sensed were in the same cultivation stage as him, Lewis wasn''t on par with them whatsoever.


    The difference between a person that had just stepped into the late stages and a person who was already been on that stage and was close to the Mana Perfection stage was still worlds apart.


    Unfortunately for Lewis, he didn''t know that Cecil''s cultivation was on par with the 3 strongest individuals in the trials. Cecil was stronger than the other 3 by virtue of his ether and impenetrable body which came from his Ki cultivation.


    If Lewis knew that the opponent he was trying to pester was much stronger than the 3 known strongest individuals, he might have decided against attacking the unknown group of people that were thousands of meters away from their present location.


    He couldn''t see them, but his compatriot, Barthelo, could. Barthelo was currently observing Cecil''s group from afar by using his clan''s unique far-sight cultivation skill, Omniscient Demon''s Eyes.


    "They are handling those monsters well... that group doesn''t seem to be so simple..." Barthelo said.


    "It''s better than trying to attack any other group. Besides, I was taking a look at their group before they left the starting area, but there are some non-combatants among them. They''re easy pickings, Barth. We shouldn''t let this chance slip by!" Lewis said.


    "...We should just remain cautious. No faction that had passed this trial even knows where this group of people came from, but they had the guts to take the first step out of the cave and still survive up until now. We shouldn''t underestimate them!"


    "Mhm, we won''t underestimate them. That''s why when we attack we''ll attack them in full force!"


    Lewis turned towards his remaining clan members and they nodded back at him solemnly. They didn''t forget about the powerful barrier the cloaked figure had erected which nearly caused them all to die.


    Even though they were out for revenge, it didn''t mean that they would brainlessly try to attack someone who was able to conjure such a powerful barrier. Not to mention that he had suddenly disappeared while they weren''t looking.


    "We''ll wait for an opportune moment before we strike. Barth, keep one of your men on them. We shouldn''t just affix ourselves to them, there are many other groups out there lost in this blizzard that we can hunt."


    "Mhm, my thoughts exactly...Anyway, we should get moving now. We''ve rested enough."


    "Yes."


    Behind the group, a large hole had been opened up in the thick ice, and water around this hole was tainted red with blood. There were numerous piles of monster carcasses surrounding this hole.


    The monsters weren''t weak either. They ranged from those in the B-rank to the S-rank. Without a doubt, all of the weaker groups had been weeded out during the previous stage. Only the strong groups and individuals remained.

 Chapter 427 - Killing 2

    It wasn''t only Lewis and Barthelo''s group who were keeping an eye on Cecil and his group.


    The Corpse Collector Guild and the Devil Slaying Sect''s two individuals were stealthily following after them.


    Cecil''s Mana Sense was able to spread quite far away, but unfortunately for him, the blizzard was greatly hindering his sensing ability.


    There was a turbulent mana present inside the blizzard so it was hard for Cecil to constantly monitor a large area around him. He maintained his Mana Sense and only monitored the area half a kilometer around his group.


    He didn''t care if people were observing him or anything. As long as they don''t show any malicious intent or blatantly try to attack him and his group, he would leave them be.


    Cecil had already felt the prying eyes of a few people directed at his group, but he didn''t pay them any mind.


    "I won''t attack you, if you don''t attack me..."


    "What''s that, Master?" Ren suddenly asked.


    He couldn''t hear quite well since the blizzard was not only impairing his vision, but also his hearing due to the constant noise from the winds raging all around them.


    "It''s nothing! Just keep pace and make sure to keep track of everyone''s conditions! If any of them feel too tired, we''ll stop and take a break!"


    "Yes, Master!"


    "Tell sister Celestina to take a break from maintaining the ice barrier around us! We''ll manage somehow for a few minutes! We can''t have her collapsing due to mana exhaustion and fatigue!"


    The group continued to trudge through the icy landscape but eventually, they had to take a break and stop. Cecil released his aura in an attempt to keep the monsters hidden under the ice away from their group while they were resting.


    Celestina quickly set up their temporary resting place.


    Cecil was a bit remorseful because he had taken away Cecilia''s sister which would have aided her very well in the current stage. However, he wouldn''t show it because to help his kingdom''s citizens survive through this, he would do anything.


    From what he heard, no one in the group has died yet even while he was gone, so it was good news for him. Now that he was present, he wouldn''t let any of them die.


    "I bet your sister is suffering a bit right now..." Cecil said to Celestina.


    There were a few campfires in the icy refuge that Celestina created. She, Cecil, Ren, and Xin were huddled around one together.


    Celestina looked up at the emotionless Cecil and she replied, "It''s alright... since she''s my sister, she''s not just a priestess but also an ice element magus. She''s not that gifted in the mage arts like me, but she''ll manage somehow."


    "Mhm."


    "Also, don''t look down on the Revertia Kingdom''s priests and holy knights. If it''s them, I''m sure they can quickly adapt to this place. They probably aren''t having as much of a hard time as you''re imagining."


    Cecil nodded at her words and said, "Good. Then I won''t feel so sorry about taking away one of their talented ice mages with me."


    "..."


    "You''re going to be a part of my family anyway. You naturally should stay with our group. I won''t come home to my brother and inform him of his beloved''s death."


    "...Thank you... if you can¡ª"


    "Sorry, but I won''t take responsibility for anyone else. Also, I''m not trying to complete the trials. I''m trying to escape from it."


    "Uh...?"


    Celestina was quite confused. She had been wondering what Cecil meant when he had first said those words during the first stage.


    "Why are you trying to escape?"


    "Once I''ve found my family who are lost in here, I''ll naturally do everything in my power to return early. You should know right, sister-in-law? My wife is pregnant and she''s expecting soon..."


    "Th-that''s true...but how are you going to do that? By purposefully failing? From what I know¡ª"


    "Failure means death?" Cecil cut her off and finished.


    "Y-Yes..."


    "I never said I''ll fail in the trials, I only said I''ll find a way to escape from it. That bastard deity forcefully pulled me in here against my will. I made a promise to my wives that I''ll return quickly as soon as I''ve found Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira... I won''t break it."


    "...Of course...but how do you know that those 3 are even in here?"


    "They are. In fact, they''ve most likely cleared this stage already."


    Cecil''s words naturally caused everyone to jump in surprise. Everyone except for Ren, of course, since he already knew.


    "Did you think we were trudging through this godforsaken hell?" Cecil asked.


    "..."


    "Right now, I''m just following after the trail that Angelia and Kira left behind. I''m sure they used Nessie to easily clear this stage. Once we find the transfer gate, I''ll do something about the keys."


    "Mhm... if possible, I really wouldn''t want to kill another human being for the crystal..."


    "Yeah...we''re gonna need everyone last one of us here..."


    Celestina silently listened to Cecil''s ambiguous words and she couldn''t help but ask, "What do you mean?"


    "Never mind, you''ll find out in due time... if it''s real..."


    Cecil slurred on the latter half of his sentence so Celestina didn''t hear what he said. She wondered what it was that Cecil meant, but from the way he said it, it was obviously nothing good.


    The group continued to rest for a few more hours before they resumed their travels. They encountered some monsters on their way and acquired more crystal fragments. Eventually they were able to fuse them together and create 1 black crystal, but it was still just 1 crystal.


    The entire group had a little over 20 people so they needed quite a bit more.


    "Let''s keep going. We''ve managed to get one crystal, getting another 20 or so isn''t going to be impossible," Cecil said after handing over the first crystal his party managed to get to Ren.


    Ren didn''t object to it and just straightforwardly accepted the crystal. The group spent who knows how many days on this stage culling monsters and slowly piecing together crystal after crystal.


    While they were doing all this, the other groups present within the stage also took notice of their actions.


    Since Cecil''s group didn''t antagonize anyone, no one bothered to attack them. However, the situation immediately changed one day when another new update came from the crystal.


    "Master...there''s now a time-limit to how long we can stay on this stage..." Ren solemnly reported.


    Cecil had been counting the days since they''ve been in here and he was sure that they''ve been wandering around the second stage of the trials for almost 3 weeks. They were so close to getting enough crystals for everyone.


    They just need 5 more before everyone in their group had enough crystals. Cecil and his group had long since found the transfer gate to the next stage and were camping out in the area near the gate and killing the monsters that came their way.


    Only Cecil and a small squad that he had personally picked out would go and actively search and hunt the monsters underneath the ice.


    If they were given another week at most, Cecil was certain that they''d be able to pass through this stage without any casualties...but now with this new development...


    "It''s like there''s something out there trying to screw us over..."


    "Why''s that, Master?"


    "I''ve been through a trial before and there was never an instance when the conditions of clearing the trial''s stage changed while the participants were in the middle of completing it," Cecil replied to Ren''s question after taking a look back at his previous experience in the World Tree''s Trials.


    "..."


    "If this really is Midgard''s Continental Trial, then there should be an administrator."


    "Master, you said something about that before¡ª"


    "The only being who could possibly do this would be the trial''s administrator. I guess the administrator is either just really playful, or he''s sick in the head."


    ******


    "Kukukuku~ sick in the head? I think I should be saying that to you! To think that you''d deliver yourself to me...don''t think I''ll make this easy on you..." The Administrator, who was in the form of a ball of light, menacingly chuckled.


    The Administrator continued to look at the screen and listen to Cecil''s ramblings before it said, "Let''s change things up a bit. Since you''ve been so ardently trying to cull all of the monsters on the floor, let''s make the monsters a bit more active, shall we?"


    ******


    Cecil felt that menacing glare once again and he immediately looked around. He would always feel alert whenever something in the trials changed or that intangible glare honed in on him.


    He had a bad feeling about this and soon enough, that feeling quickly came true.


    The ice all around their group began cracking and bursting apart. Numerous monsters began popping up from under the ice and they immediately began attacking Cecil and his party.


    The worst part about it was that at the same time the monsters began attacking, the numerous parties that had been eyeing them and their crystals after the new change was made for the stage immediately took action.


    "ATTACK!"


    "They''ve got the most crystals! Hurry up and kill them!"


    Cecil was immediately alarmed. He had been somewhat lax on his Mana Sense monitoring so he didn''t expect the sudden attack by the groups of people who were only observing them.


    He had been lax, but it wasn''t like he had been negligent. Cecil had made preparation just in case another group of people tried to attack them. Unfortunately for him, those preparations were ruined by the monsters which had suddenly popped up from under the ice.


    Instead of the groups of humans being affected by Cecil''s traps and magic devices which were expertly laid down and scattered across the area, it was the monsters that were the ones that took the full brunt of it.


    The few parties that had decided to attack Cecil''s party were of course surprised by the monsters who had suddenly emerged, but they were even more surprised when they saw the monsters taking on the full brunt of the numerous traps laid out around the group they were targeting.


    "D-damn, their party had already made preparations just in case we attacked!"


    "Hahahaha, it doesn''t matter now!"


    "With the monsters triggering the traps for us, we can just go in and reap our rewards!"


    "Remember the agreement! Finders keepers!"


    Cecil didn''t pay any mind to the humans that were waiting behind the monsters and were eyeing them covetously. He was more worried about the monsters that popped up from under the ice.


    "This aura...is it another ancient-class monster?" Cecil said with a grimace after looking up at the humongous shark-like monster that just popped its head out from under the ice.

 Chapter 428 - Killing 3

    Amidst all of the turmoil, more monsters began bursting out from under the ice and started attacking Cecil''s group.


    The non-combatants were immediately horrified at the event and unfortunately for some of them, they didn''t see the ice cracking from underneath them.


    Cecil had already spread out his Mana Sense and he quickly noticed this, however, just before he could say anything, the ice broke underneath their feet and a few of the people fell into the ice while others were dragged down under the water by the ravenous mouths of the monsters.


    "SAVE ME!!"


    "AHHHHH!!"


    "No¡ª"


    Everyone else was horrified seeing the unfortunate end of some of their compatriots. The ones closest to them tried to rush forward and help but they were blocked by the other monsters that jumped out of the water.


    "SHIT!"


    "M-master! They¡ª"


    "Ren, take control over here...goddammit..." Cecil was conflicted about which side to help. One side was the non-combatants who were dying by the second due to their incapability to defend themselves, while another side was currently standing off against the Megalodon-shaped monster that had just surfaced from the ice.


    "Shit..."


    Cecil quickly made up his mind and decided to abandon the non-combatants. They were only going to be a hindrance further down the trials and it wasn''t like he could split his body in two and¡ª


    "F.u.c.k, my wives would hate me if they knew I abandoned them!" Cecil quickly activated Nature''s Shift and split into two people.


    He activated the crest on his arm and began transforming into his half-beast state. Both he and his clone had done the same action and while Cecil rushed towards the Megalodon monster, his clone used Blink and quickly arrived at where the non-combatants were frantically floundering about.


    Cecil was really straining himself right now. He had his Hyper Sensitivity activated so that he could control both his clone and himself. This wasn''t like him using the clone for his night activities with his wives.


    This was him using it in combat where multiple variables, actions, and changes were occurring in real-time. He had to process both the information that he was seeing from his main body and his clone and plan out 2 different courses of action.


    The first thing Cecil did for his clone was to have it use Mana Burst and immediately charge down into the freezing cold waters and spread out his Mana Sense to lock onto the humans who were currently being swallowed down by the monsters that had taken them.


    After locking onto the monsters and humans, the clone quickly burst out with a Mana Volley and tried to finish them off quickly without harming the humans who were being swallowed down or were inside the monsters'' mouths.


    Once he took care of them, Cecil had his clone use its mana to try and pull everyone who was dragged into the water towards it. This required Cecil to be very careful. He didn''t want to accidentally crush the people he was trying to save with his mana.


    The Mana ''retracting'' and ''pulling'' technique required fine use of his mana controlling skills. With his mind split between controlling his clone and his body, it would be dangerous and fatal for the people he was trying to save if he accidentally messed things up.


    Of course, he could have just gone and rescued them one by one, but with their injuries, it would be hard for them to survive under the freezing cold waters if he didn''t rescue all of them as quickly as he could.


    As for the monsters on the surface where he had passed by, Cecil had his clone explode out with an Explosive Wave and try to take down as many monsters he could before his clone dived under the ice.


    Thankfully enough, the warriors and sharpshooters who were trying to help their fellow non-fighting comrade took advantage of the opening that Cecil''s clone had created and immediately began helping their friends and killing the monsters that were hit by the clone''s technique.


    Over to where Cecil''s main body was at, he was currently trying to save all of his group''s people who were accidentally caught in the eruption of ice caused by the Megalodon-shaped monster''s grand entrance.


    The ice shrapnel which had burst out everywhere gave everyone near the site various degrees of injuries. Luckily for them, they had Cecil''s near-divine healing abilities which were able to bring those that were fatally injured back from the brink of death.


    Even the ones who were swallowed down and nearly eaten by the monsters that Cecil''s clone had saved were able to receive immediate treatment, avoiding a gruesome and pitiful end.


    Unfortunately for some, however, Cecil wasn''t able to make it in time to save them. Cecil gritted his teeth in anger when he looked at the dead bodies of his kingdom''s people.


    5 people on his clone''s side had perished while 3 had instantly been killed by the Megalodon''s surfacing.


    The 3 who were instantly killed couldn''t be helped, but the 5 who had died after his clone had saved them...if only he hadn''t hesitated earlier. If he had been more decisive and immediately took action to save them, then perhaps those 5 people wouldn''t have been reduced to cold corpses right now.


    "Ren! Have everyone retreat! Here, take Xin, she was heavily injured earlier!"


    "Xin! Here, g-give her to me! L-Lord Cecil, please...please avenge our brothers and sisters who were killed just now!" Marylyn cried out painfully.


    She had been away from the impact zone of the Megalodon''s entrance but she had to watch in horror as her friends were killed and injured.


    "Master! People are attacking us and sealing our escape!" Ren reported after he rushed over.


    "Just hurry up and take them! I''ll hold off this monster. Dammit, it even destroyed the transfer gate! We''ll have to go find a different one!"


    "We can go to the one that Lady Cecilia and Lady Karen are camping at! But the ones attacking us¡ª"


    "Kill them! Kill your way past those fools! I''ll have my clone guard you, now go!"


    "Y-yes, Master!"


    Cecil quickly handed over Xin to Marylyn and he turned towards the large, presumably ancient-class monster currently glaring down at him.


    The monster seemed intelligent and it could tell that Cecil was most likely the strongest individual present.


    "Dammit...If only Lulu was here... I don''t have anyone to help me buy time to use Over Flash or Skyfall..."


    Cecil didn''t have any time to think because the Megalodon in front of him began casting its spells and sending truck-sized water bullets and water cannons at him.


    His vision and senses were limited because of the constant blizzard but it wasn''t hard to evade the Megalodon''s attacks since it was easy for him to sense the large mana spikes that would occur whenever it cast a spell and sent it at him.


    The monster also didn''t discriminate. It had long since noticed the other human parties around it and it began sending attacks at them as well.


    Cecil didn''t care for these humans since they bore ill-intentions towards him and his group, but he wasn''t going to just stand by and watch them die. For now, they served as good bait and attention grabbers for him.


    He didn''t care about these people, but he couldn''t have them die too quickly. Cecil prepared a few of his attacks and began sending them to the Megalodon. He wasn''t putting in his all since he only wanted to stall the monster and not kill it.


    If he did decide to try and hunt this monster, it wouldn''t end well for him. Cecil didn''t forget about the 3 other individuals who were close to him in level and he didn''t forget about all of the other human groups who would definitely take advantage of him being exhausted from killing the Megalodon.


    If he did things poorly like that, he might end up losing the loot from the monster and he would most definitely come out battered and injured.


    "There are no free lunches in this world, I definitely won''t let any of you benefit from my ordeal!" Cecil silently declared.


    He also didn''t want to kill the Megalodon or fully focus on taking care of it. He needed to keep an eye out for his kingdom''s people through his clone and make sure that they safely arrived at the other transfer gate that his allies had occupied.


    A few weeks had passed and most of the groups on the stage had settled down. Many were hunting for crystals by killing the monsters and others began occupying the transfer gates on the second stage.


    From the information that each group exchanged, there were exactly 7 transfer gates in total on the second trial. Now there was only 6 because the Megalodon had destroyed the one Cecil''s group was occupying during its entrance.


    The only other place Cecil and his group could turn to was the ones his allies had occupied. It would take a few days of travel in the blizzard if they didn''t get lost, but things became even more troublesome since now other groups were targeting them.


    Cecil could at most maintain a 2-3 kilometer connection with his clone. Any further apart and the connection would be severed and his clone would immediately disappear after a while.


    The only way he could maintain the connection while holding off against the Megalodon monster was to divert its attention towards the other human groups that were close by. They had tried to take advantage of his kingdom''s group so he wasn''t going to let them off easily.


    Even though most were retreating by now, Cecil was doing his utmost to keep them from doing so by destroying the ice ahead of them.


    "That bastard! He''s trying to keep us here!"


    "Aim your attacks at him!"


    "He''s too high up. I can''t see him clearly in this blizzard!"


    While the groups below were panicking, Cecil continued to steadily keep the groups in the area from retreating while at the same time blocking, dodging and counterattacking against the Megalodon that hadn''t once diverted its attention away from him.


    "Tsk, it''s mainly focusing on me. It''s just trying to slowly eliminate or force away all the other pests around it..."


    Since it was trying to have a one-on-one with him, Cecil made sure to do the opposite. He did his best to keep everyone from retreating.


    "This lunatic! The monster is clearly focused on him! Why won''t he let us retreat?!"


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell! Since he''s not strong enough to defeat it himself, he''s trying to drag us down with him!"


    Far away from where the battlefield was, the Baphamet and Belze Clan were currently observing the situation.


    "Hmph, fools..." Lewis Baphamet scoffed in disdain after looking at the other groups which were targeting his prey fumbling about due to Cecil''s actions.


    Beside him, Barthelo Belze was also looking down at the situation before he started looking around and said, "We had seen him stealthily place those traps around his group''s campsite, but who knew that the one to blast away all our problems would be this floor''s guardian beast!"


    "Hehehe, he''s just not lucky. Just like right now since our two clans are targeting him..."


    "Those two are also apparently eyeing him and since they haven''t made their moves, its best we stay back as well. So shouldn''t we go after his underlings first?"


    "...Yeah, let''s do that. Honestly, these past weeks of waiting have been driving me insane. I''ll take my anger out on his pitiful followers."


    "Let''s get going then. Remember, don''t underestimate them. You''ve seen how they''re well-coordinated and well-equipped."


    "Heh, we don''t have to worry now. Most of their members are injured while some are even dead! We''ll quickly take care of them and head back to watch the show!"


    Barthelo nodded and he quickly motioned for his clan members to get ready. Lewis did the same. He looked up towards the figure in the sky who was sending out large golden bolts and waves of mana and couldn''t help but smirk in derision.


    ''You may be powerful, but once we''ve taken care of your friends and the monster drains you of your strength...we''ll slowly have fun taking our revenge...This is for my clan members that you just so ruthlessly killed by blocking off our retreat!''


    Lewis turned around and began mobilizing his clan members. Soon enough, the two clans began making their way over to the Silvaria Kingdom''s group that was fleeing away from Cecil''s battlefield.

 Chapter 429 - Sudden Development

    Ren was leading the Silvaria Kingdom''s group away from the battlefield.


    Cecil''s clone was constantly giving him updates on where the monsters were going to burst out from under the ice using its Mana Sense.


    The clone also informed him of the groups that were pursuing them and what route to take to best avoid their ambushes.


    Ren had to constantly relay orders to everyone present and it was especially hard to make everyone calmly listen to the orders in their current situation.


    There were times when one or two people lagged behind and were caught by monsters because they didn''t listen to his orders. Thankfully, Cecil''s clone was there and it quickly rescued them and healed their wounds.


    The group maintained a high level of focus and caution while they continued to run away from Cecil''s battle with the Megalodon. The only thing that caused them to grow frantic was the fact that no matter how far and fast they ran they couldn''t get any further away from the battle.


    The clone hadn''t informed them that Cecil would maintain a few kilometers distance between them so that he could maintain the connection, but it was better this way since they wouldn''t be able to relax.


    It was never a good thing if people relaxed with a looming danger nearby. If they knew that Cecil was purposefully maintaining a constant distance between them and no danger from the Megalodon would come to them, who knew whether they''d continue to seriously run away or not.


    Of course, the opposite way could happen and they''d still maintain their current frantic mindset and pace, or they could question the motive behind Cecil doing this, but regardless of either scenario, this was a perfect opportunity in Cecil''s eyes to show the earthlings that this world wasn''t the peaceful one they had lived in before.


    There were still many disillusioned people in his family''s kingdom that thought that they were safe and could maintain their peaceful lives as they had done like when they were previously back on Earth. The non-combatants in the group were the prime examples of these kinds of people.


    Cecil was very irked by this because he had to take care of luggage while participating in these dangerous trials where not only monsters, but also other humans were constantly looking out for opportunities to do away with each other.


    Other than the trusted allies that they had from outside of the trials, the other humans couldn''t be trusted. Even the Omnifaust Republic, the Azure Falcon Sect, and the Kanhui Family that were previously allied with them weren''t yet trustworthy in Cecil''s eyes.


    Only Ren and a few others knew about this truth. Today''s friend could be tomorrow''s enemy, especially now that the conditions of the second stage''s trials had suddenly changed. The only ones they could truly trust were the Regulus Kingdom and the Revertia Holy Kingdom.


    The Regulus Kingdom was solidly allied with the Silvaria Kingdom because of Fatima''s engagement to Rowan. The Regulus Kingdom''s future queen was from the Silvaria Kingdom so it wouldn''t make any sense that they''d betray them in the trials.


    The Revertia Holy Kingdom was allied with them as well because of the High Priestess''s Sister being the future bride of the Silvaria Kingdom... Also, said sister was currently in the hands of Cecil who had purposefully taken her away.


    Cecil had other motives by keeping Celestina with his group. He still didn''t trust the Revertia Kingdom just yet, but since he had a card in hand that would keep them on his kingdom''s side no matter what, he wasn''t going to be worried about them for the time being.


    The group continued to push forward frantically and from time to time, a few in the group would turn around and look back at the large monster that their party''s leader was facing.


    Seeing Cecil block and counter every attack that the Megadolon sent towards him... they couldn''t help but feel a deep sense of fear and admiration towards the young man.


    What did it mean to have true power? This was what it meant. This wasn''t power that money, status, or prestige could bring. This was power that stood far above any other and it couldn''t be taken away.


    Power brought by money, status, and prestige could easily be taken away. If one lost their money or their source of income, their power would be stripped away. If one''s status fell, so would their power. If one''s reputation and prestige was tarnished, well, the outcome would literally leave them powerless.


    Not Cecil''s power. Power gained through the effort of cultivation and was visible in the eyes of the masses. This sort of power can only be taken away by death. No other means in the world could take this away from a truly powerful individual.


    While everyone was thinking something along these lines, a sudden change occurred. Cecil''s clone was the first to notice and it immediately shouted, "Get back!"


    A large explosion suddenly blew up in front of the group and they were all forced to stop. The explosion wasn''t caused by a stray attack from Cecil and the Megadolon. Ren and a few others immediately readied their weapons and looked around carefully.


    The blizzard was really hindering everyone''s vision and they couldn''t see from where the attack came from or who had attacked them. They only knew that the general direction came from ahead of them.


    They didn''t have to wait long because a voice cackled from blizzard ahead of them and a few silhouettes emerged.


    "Hahahaha, look at these little rats scurrying away!"


    The leading person in the group had fiery red-hair and even in this blizzard, he only had a fur mantle covering his bare upper body. From the way there was fire burning in the palm of his hands, it was him who had sent the attack earlier and cut off the group''s path of retreat.


    Cecil couldn''t quite remember it, but he found the person who had attacked somewhat familiar. He quickly sent out his Mana Sense and probed their cultivations.


    He was quite surprised that the leading figure had cultivation on the same stage as the 3 individuals who were close in level to him. The only thing was that it still seemed a bit unstable, like the person had just stepped foot into the stage and hadn''t yet stabilize his cultivation.


    It was an admirable feat, but it was unfortunate because he had mistakenly targeted Cecil''s group. If it had been any other group, he would have been quite the fine catch and his nearly 40-man group would easily be able to advance to the trial''s next stage.


    The overall cultivations of the enemy group were far ahead of Cecil''s group. There were many early-stage Mana Core cultivators present in the enemy group, while only Cecil was the Mana Core stage expert on their side.


    Only Ren and a few others were in the Mana Sea Stage and even then, none of them were at the late Mana Sea Stage.


    Lewis, who was at the lead, immediately sensed their low cultivation bases and he scoffed disdainfully at them.


    "Hmph, to think a bunch of weaklings like you were able to make it to the second stage of the trials. How audacious, thinking you fools could play on the stage that we are on!"


    "..." Ren and everyone remained silent and didn''t reply to his mockery.


    They held their guns and weapons at the ready. Even though the disparity of strength between the two groups was like heaven and earth, Ren and the others believed that they would be able to hold their own for a while thanks to the weapons that they had.


    It was only thanks to the equipment that Ren and Cecil had provided were they able to hold their own against the monsters from the first and second stage of the trials.


    Seeing their unmoved and determined expressions, Lewis sneered at them and waved at his fellow clan members.


    "They have some peculiar weaponry, go bring me one!"


    3 from the Baphamet clan rushed forwards in attack. Ren and the others quickly took formations and the sharpshooters began shooting their guns at the 3 approaching individuals. They had all received an order by Cecil to quickly take care and kill all of the humans that tried to attack them.


    Some of the gunners were still reluctant to take away another''s life, but from the murderous intent and ill-intentions that the other side was threatening them with, they steeled themselves to do something a normal teenage earthling would deem to be unthinkable.


    They shot to kill. In their current situation, it was either them or the enemy and obviously, they would rather have it be the enemy since no one in the group wanted to die.


    They had already felt the horror and terror of nearly being wiped out by the monsters'' surprise attack. They naturally didn''t want to feel that again.


    Unfortunately for them, their targets weren''t those large and clumsy aquatic monsters but nimble human beings that wouldn''t take on a magi-tech gun''s bullets. The 3 individuals from the Baphamet clan moved around in an irregular fashion and didn''t take a single hit from the curtain of bullets that the Silvaria sharpshooters had rained down upon them.


    They missed and continued to miss. The enemy was getting closer and closer but not a single bullet had struck. The sharpshooters couldn''t keep up with the speed that the enemy cultivators were moving at due to the disparity between both sides'' cultivations.


    The Baphamet clan members moved at a speed which the Silvaria Kingdom''s people couldn''t keep up with by using their cognitive vision. At the back, Lewis had put up a large flame barrier in front of his group to prevent any of his comrades from being struck by the mana bullets coming from their enemies'' oddly-shaped weapons.


    He frowned for a moment when he felt the impact of the bullets hitting his flame barrier, but since it didn''t collapse, Lewis sneered at the enemy. Fortunately, something good happened for the Silvaria Kingdom''s forces.


    Whether it was fortunate or not, the Baphamet clan members grew c.o.c.ky after not having been hit once by a bullet and looking at the flame barrier that their leader had casted, they thought that they too could try to block the bullets by using a barrier, but unfortunately, they couldn''t be any more wrong.


    When they put up a shield, the mana bullets immediately pierced through it and struck them.


    "ARGH!"


    "GYAH?!"


    Two of the Baphamet clan members were struck and once Ren and the others saw this, they immediately focused their fire at him. The other clan member which had continued to dodge the bullets immediately took action and pulled away his other comrade.


    The unfortunate one which was currently being focused down upon perished not long after. The Baphamet clan members had forgotten to realize one thing and that was the difference between their cultivations and their leader''s cultivation.


    The difference in strength between a flame barrier conjured by a Mana Core Stage expert was miles apart from one conjured by a Mana Sea Stage expert. This one mistake caused them to lose a member of their tribe.

 Chapter 430 - Naive Mindset

    "Those fools!" Lewis growled angrily.


    He was incensed at the mistake his clan members made and he gathered his mana. His rage peaked when he saw one of his clan members fall and he immediately sent out an attack.


    "BASTARDS! YOU DARE!?"


    Unfortunately for him, his clan member had already perished. That wouldn''t change but the attack that he had sent out was in anger and it would definitely be enough to at least kill a few people off.


    Ren immediately ordered for the vanguards to quickly step in and block the attack, but unfortunately, the shields wouldn''t be able to hold against the rage-filled attack.


    Cecil had his clone remain on the side for now. He wouldn''t step in until Ren and the others were in mortal danger.


    When the Flame Strike hit, the Silvaria warriors were immediately blasted away with various degrees of injuries.


    Ren was about to turn towards his master''s clone, but the enemy didn''t give him a chance.


    "Attack! I want them all dead!"


    The Baphamet clan quickly rushed forwards while Barthelo remained silent and didn''t order his clan members to move. It was only after Lewis looked over at him did he motion for his clan members to attack.


    "W-why are you attacking us?! We''re both humans! We should be working together and dealing with the mon¡ª"


    The Silvaria kingdom''s naive citizen who had asked that question was immediately interrupted by one of the Baphamet clan members who were already engaged in a melee with one of their vanguards.


    "What is this person saying?"


    "Huh?"


    "Just because we''re both humans? Hah, weaklings like you have no right to be referred to as ''humans''. To us, you are no different than ants that we could easily trample!"


    "What are you saying?!"


    The Baphamet clan member chuckled and said, "You have something that we need. Since you, the weak, have it then it''s only natural that we, the strong, take it!"


    "Y-You crazy bastards! You''re committing murder!"


    "Hahahaha, look at this ant! Murder? We''re only cleaning up trash that shouldn''t even be here! What faction are you from anyway?"


    "These bastards are just from some backwater country that thought they were lucky enough to be here! Fools! This''ll be your graves for being so conceited!" Another clan member added in derision.


    The Baphamet clan members attacked and mocked the Silvaria Kingdom''s people. They especially targeted the non-combatants who had tried to reason with them with their naive perspective of the world.


    They really couldn''t understand how this weak group of people was able to even advance to the second stage of the tower''s trials.


    Only Ren and a few others who were from the Silvaria Kingdom''s Combat Academy were able to barely hold their own against the attacks from the enemy. Things only turned for the worst once the Belze clan members caught up and began working together with the Baphamet clan members.


    Once the Baphamet and Belze clan joined hands with the obvious intentions of wiping out their group, the Silvaria kingdom''s people who were still trying to cling to the stupid ideals of Earth finally understood their current situation. This world wasn''t like Earth.


    It wasn''t just monsters that could threaten their lives, but also humans. In fact, humans were the most troublesome opponents while monsters were at the very least, still manageable for them.


    "I-it''s hopeless..."


    "O-our leader is still dealing with the monster behind us... we, we''re hopeless!"


    "I-I don''t want to die...I don''t want to die!!"


    Hearing their words of despair, Cecil really wanted to just throw these baggage''s at the enemy and have them act as meat shields for the people who were truly fighting and protecting their sorry asses.


    Instead of trying to take a stand and struggle to the very last minute, they instead just broke down in despair. These kinds of people were what his family was trying to protect? If they were this cowardly, Cecil felt like they didn''t deserve any of it.


    He had been constantly monitoring his family''s efforts and the attitudes and responses of his kingdom''s citizens. They have been safe under his family''s reign and protection and yet, there were some people who wanted to overstep their privileges and boundaries.


    Even after being protected for so long, there were actually some who wanted more from his family. This became even more prominent after the beastkins were introduced into the kingdom and the alliance they had with the New World Republic and United Federation was announced.


    The families that Cecil''s father, Kaiser, had appointed to help him manage the kingdom weren''t there to just expand their power and wealth. They had to stay on their toes because they knew about Kaiser and his family''s power.


    The ones who tried to overstep their boundaries were the ones that didn''t know a thing about the Silvaria Family and the monster that was hidden within the family.


    They thought that the convenience and protection the kingdom had given to them was something that they were meant to have but they didn''t know that it was a privilege. Cecil had grown quite tired of this and that''s why he had the main family step away from all kingdom affairs.


    Now that he saw the general attitude of these groups'' young generation, he thought that it was better to just let them die here and have those groups'' future cut off. Right now, Cecil bet that the kingdom was in deep turmoil because of the disappearances of these youths.


    He really couldn''t understand the tower''s reasoning in forcefully bringing these ''promising'' youths into these trials. Cultivation-wise, they were nothing. Talent-wise, even Cecil himself wasn''t sure if they''d become anybody in this world with their stuck up attitudes.


    From the day he had joined the group, he had taken notice of these people who did nothing but wait in the back for food and protection. Even when Ren had handed out the fur clothing to cope with the blizzard on the second stage, they were the first people to step forward and take them.


    ''Yeah, let''s just leave them to die... Ren and everyone else had grown tired of it so¡ª''


    Cecil was thinking this but he then heard Ren call out to him.


    "MASTER! HELP!"


    The clone which Cecil had split his consciousness with quickly turned towards his disciple and Cecil saw Lewis about to strike Celestina down. She had been a nuisance to them from the start since her cultivation was at the Mana Core stage and she was doing quite well in their current icy environment.


    Lewis and Barthelo tried to take her down together but with Ren and Robin''s help, they were able to hold on for a few minutes. Celestina was only put in such a dire state after she had tried to protect one of the people who didn''t fight. It didn??t just land her into a bad situation, but also Ren and Robin.


    Cecil shook his head when he saw the 3 try to help out the useless people in their group.


    "...Maybe I should force my disciple to cultivate harder. He''s just far too weak and yet he has the audacity to worry about another person''s life..." Cecil shook his head and turned towards Celestina, who was thrown to the ground. "As for sister-in-law... Forget it. She''s from a family of priests and priestesses... I guess that''s just second nature to her."


    Cecil sighed and made his clone take action. He gathered a slight amount of ether on his palms and quickly detonated it.


    The shockwave caused by his ether exploding quickly forced back the Baphamet and Belze clan members.


    "Urrggghhh!!"


    "Gah!"


    "Get back, get back!"


    The clan members of the 2 clans were shocked at the sudden shockwave which blew them all backwards. Even Lewis, who had the highest cultivation present, wasn''t spared from being blown away.


    "Alright, that''s enough."


    Cecil finally stepped in and when he did...


    "Y-You! You''re supposed to be protecting us!"


    "W-why''d you let them kill Jilly?! Y-you, you can bring her back! You can heal her!"


    Cecil''s clone eyed these people in disdain. The clone had disappeared towards the back of the group and it didn''t take any action. They had forgotten about it because they were in total despair of being nearly killed but Ren and the others hadn''t forgotten.


    When they saw that the clone wasn''t taking any actions, they had already known that this was Cecil''s way of testing them. Unlike the ones who had just spoken up now, Celestina, Ren, Robin, Marylyn, and the rest knew that this powerful figure didn''t need to step in and help them.


    He simply had no reason to. Cecil didn''t need them to pass through this trial safely. He was only helping them because of his sense of responsibility towards his disciple and sister-in-law. As for the rest, they were just baggage and deadweight.


    Robin and the others already recognized this fact and didn''t even try to request for his help after seeing that Ren and Celestina not doing it. They knew their place, but unfortunately, some in the group didn''t.


    To these people, Cecil didn''t spare them any attention. Even though he wasn''t going to give them attention, that didn''t mean he was going to let them die in front of him. His wives wouldn''t like that if they found out about it.


    "Who are¡ªh-how are you here?! Shouldn''t you be preoccupied by the Sea Behemoth?!" Lewis exclaimed in shock after seeing the cloaked figure.


    He turned towards Barthelo and the man quickly responded, "That cloaked person is still dealing with the Sea Behemoth..."


    "How''s that possible! Th-then who''s this guy?!"


    "Hahaha..." Cecil chuckled when he heard Lewis''s exclamation. "I''m the same guy... tsk, you shouldn''t have targeted us. I wouldn''t have cared if you tried to kill these other rabble, but unfortunately, you just tried to strike down my sister-in-law..."


    "..."


    The clone raised its hand and from afar, a sword quickly flew into its palm. The World Tree''s Thorn, Corruption, was now in the clone''s hand and the clone quickly began emitting a dense aura of corruption and slaughter.


    The clone didn''t have a spirit or mind so it could use Corruption without any backlashes. It was the most optimal use of Cecil''s clone since even when he was in control of the clone by splitting his consciousness, that part of his conscious wasn''t affected by Corruption''s mind corruption.


    "Now, let''s get started. If you run and surrender, I won''t kill you."


    "Who would surrender to the likes of you?!" Lewis roared and gathered his mana.


    Flames began raging all around his body and he immediately dashed angrily towards Cecil, leaving behind a trail of flames behind him.

 Chapter -2 - Authors Rant

    xxAlter here, new author. This is my first ever novel that I''m posting on any online platform.


    A little backstory about this novel. This was actually just a novel I''ve been writing in my past time as a hobby so I''m sorry if the quality of the story isn''t up to standard. I''ve let my close friends and family read this and they say that I should try and post it up on the internet and let other readers enjoy it as much as they have. I''m not saying it''s anything good, but it made me smile thinking that they enjoyed reading what I was writing and I hope to do the same for the fellow readers here on . I would very much like it if my fellow readers criticize on how the story is written. Constructive criticism is very much welcome and I''ll strive to improve the story as I write.


    Enough about my rant, let''s just get right on to it! Hope you enjoy!

 Chapter 429 - What’s There to Look Down On?

    Lewis didn''t seem to recall that just one of Cecil''s barriers had landed him in a dire situation back then.


    Of course, his present circ.u.mstances were different now since he had a higher cultivation base, but it seems that he forgot about the large Sea Behemoth that Cecil was currently fighting.


    Even though it was only Cecil''s clone and not his main body, the fact that the clone could use a slight hint of ether was enough to push down Lewis, Barthelo, and all of the other clan members of the 2 clans.


    Lewis had already rushed forward with flames blazing behind him. As he furiously struck down with his flaming fist, Cecil''s clone raised the Corruption and slashed out furiously.


    The clone had imbued a slight hint of ether onto the blade and a sword storm flew out, colliding head on with Lewis.


    The young man widened his eyes in shock and he quickly dodged away by blasting out flames towards his left side. The flames propelled him to the side and he narrowly avoided the clone''s sword storm.


    Cecil didn''t stop there. He imbued mana into his sword this time and lashed out with an Ascending Blade.


    It wasn''t the full scale Ascending Blade but a minor one, however, the danger that Lewis felt from the golden sword wave was enough to make him dodge hastily out of the attack''s trajectory.


    The golden sword wave continued on forward and smashed into a block of ice in the distance and immediately blew up.


    Cecil, who was currently preoccupied with the Sea Behemoth that had the form of a Megalodon, silently cursed underneath his breath, "Dammit, I imbued too much..."


    His attack would have been dangerous if it had struck somewhere close by. The explosion of mana would have undoubtedly harmed his comrades.


    Cecil began to tone things down over at his clone''s side and decided to just use Sword Energy instead of Sword Intent. He continued slashing out at Lewis and the other enemy humans. Lewis and his comrades were helpless against Cecil''s attacks since they were far too dangerous for any of them to cope with.


    Not a single one of them would be unharmed if they were struck by any of the golden sword waves. Even staying in the blast radius of the mana explosion that ensued after the golden wave struck the ground was harmful for them.


    It wasn''t even a direct attack and they were already riddled with wounds. By now, Lewis, Barthelo, and the other clan members knew, this person, he wasn''t one to be touched. From the looks of things, he wasn''t even taking things seriously.


    The clone was sending out attacks at the clan members but it was doing so while gathering the Silvaria Kingdom''s people. Lewis saw this and grew furious. He was being taken lightly so he tried to do something about it.


    He sent a few of his attacks at Cecil''s party members but they were quickly abated once the clone stepped in front of the attack and blocked it.


    Cecil saw this through his shared vision with his clone and using his clone he said, "Hmm... now that''s not nice..."


    "Stop looking down on me!" Lewis retorted angrily.


    "Looking down on you? What''s there to look down on?"


    "YOU!"


    Lewis was angered at his words and started sending out multiple attacks recklessly. He didn''t care who it was aimed at as long as it was the enemy. Cecil frowned and had his clone imbue a large amount of mana into Corruption.


    The World Tree''s Thorn immediately erupted with an aura of corruption and slaughter. The red aura wrapped around the blade and Cecil had the clone immediately sweep the blade out in front of him.


    This time, the aura from the blade locked down all of the enemies present with an enormous pressure. Just before the blade struck Lewis and his compatriots, a shadow descended from the sky and smashed down onto the area in front of them.


    The shadow swept out with a black-red aura and nullified a partial amount of Corruption''s sword wave. The shadow sent out a few more waves of aura with their weapon and fully nullified Cecil''s attack.


    The clone remained expressionless as it gazed at the newcomer who had just unnecessarily stepped in.


    "...Who are you supposed to be? Another enemy?" Cecil used the clone and asked.


    "I wasn''t wrong. I did feel an ominous aura from you..." The newcomer said.


    Once the dust settled, the figure''s blazing-red hair came into full view. Cecil had noted down this particular individual since he had a cultivation base on par with his, however, it wasn''t enough to make Cecil worried.


    The only possible enemy that could make him feel even the slightest bit of concern was a Transcendent-level enemy.


    "Are you going to help them? I''ll say this once, they attacked first and I''m only retaliating. If you don''t want any trouble, I suggest you walk away," Cecil warned indifferently.


    The young man had a serene expression on his face despite Cecil''s warning. He had been surprised by the power that Cecil had exhibited but it wasn''t enough to make him fear him.


    "We''re both humans, why the need for vio¡ª"


    "That''s something I''ve heard before. Violence begets violence. If they hadn''t attacked first, do you think I''d do anything?"


    "True, but let''s stop here. You and your friend seem to be in a pickle, wouldn''t it be better to just chase them away and deal with the Sea Behemoth without any worries?" The red haired young man said.


    "It would be better if I cut the problem at its roots. Then, I can be worry free, don''t you think?" Cecil replied, clearly unmoved by the young man''s reasoning.


    "Hmm, true, but unfortunately for you, one of the groups is my sect''s prey. I can''t have you take them away from us."


    "...Hmph, do what you want, but the next time I see them, I''ll bury them. Ren, go!"


    As Cecil''s clone lets go of his sword Corruption, the sword immediately flies away from the clone and towards Cecil''s main body in the distance.


    The red-haired young man had his eyes on Corruption the entire time and followed it towards Cecil''s main body. Cecil felt the stare from kilometers away and he lightly turned his body and glared back at the young man from afar.


    "!"


    ''No way...they''re the same then this...this is just a clone?'' Vicimo inwardly thought.


    A deep sense of shock washed over him. The attack that he had just defended against earlier was already so powerful that he had to send a few of his attacks just to nullify it, but now, he was given the revelation that the attack had only come from a clone.


    "Y-You...what''s your name," Vicimo called out to Cecil''s clone who was now walking away.


    The clone stopped and replied, "Shouldn''t you introduce yourself first?"


    "...My name''s Vicimo Evi... and you?"


    "Do I have any obligation to answer you?"


    The clone didn''t wait for Vicimo''s response and quickly turned away. Cecil didn''t spare him any more attention and quickly ushered his kingdom''s people away from the Baphamet and Belze clan members.


    "...I didn''t ask for your help!" Lewis growled.


    "And I didn''t give it because I wanted to," Vicimo plainly replied. "Count this as my sect repaying your family back the debt that we owe. Also, you Belze people, you better scram out of my sight. You''re putrid blood is making me nauseous."


    Barthelo frowned at Vicimo''s words, but he didn''t say anything in reply. He instead began retreating with his clan members. Lewis harrumphed and followed after Barthelo in retreat.


    Today, they had lost a few of their clan members due to Cecil''s retaliation, but thoughts of revenge against him still didn''t leave Lewis''s mind.


    ''If I can''t fight him head on...I''ll just have to screw him over quietly and once we get out of this place...You''ll have to pay for your crimes!''


    Lewis vowed deep in his heart, but it was unfortunate for him to not know that unless his clan''s Transcendent-level ancestor were to take action, no one would be able to make Cecil ''pay'' for anything.


    Vicimo didn''t pay the 2 retreating clans any mind, he instead backed away and observed the fight between Cecil and the Sea Behemoth.


    "This kid...he''s younger than me, but he''s more powerful... who is this guy that even our faction doesn''t have any info on?" Vicimo mumbled as he stared in shock at the large blade of golden mana currently within Cecil''s grasp.


    In the distance, Cecil was currently holding onto a full-powered Ascending Blade. He dodged all of the spells and skills that the Megalodon-shaped monster had sent at him before he cleaved down on its head.


    "...Not even a scratch...what the hell..." Cecil said with a frown.


    He stopped his attack after feeling that his clone was nearly 3 kilometers away from him. He blocked one of the Sea Behemoth''s attacks and quickly pulled away.


    Cecil noticed that the monster ignored all of the other humans in the area and solely focused its attacks on him. Even when Cecil had deliberately lead it towards a group of humans that had been targeting his group from earlier, the monster only moved past it and continued chasing him.


    "...I can probably drive this thing away, but I can''t kill it..."


    Cecil could kill it if he exerted himself, but then he''d be left vulnerable to other dangers and by those other dangers, it didn''t mean the other high-tier monsters but the humans that were eyeing him and his group.


    Cecil closed his eyes and continued to run, he connected with his clone and told Ren and Celestina, "Ren, sister-in-law..."


    "Yes?"


    "W-what''s wrong?"


    "The only way we can escape is through the transfer gate, I want you to bring the group and hurry over to the transfer gate that Karen and Cecilia have occupied. Activate the gate and get everybody through."


    "A-and you?" Celestina asked worriedly.


    "I''ll keep this Megalodon-shaped monster at bay. Help Karen and Cecilia out if their crystals still aren''t enough. I''ll leave my clone with you to help defend the area, but with the connection cut, I won''t be able to communicate with you."


    "We still have the MIDs don''t we?" Ren quickly said.


    To his question, Cecil replied, "It won''t work. Not in this blizzard at least..."


    There was a momentary silence before Cecil spoke up again, "Don''t worry about me. Just get through the gate with everyone else. I''ll follow once you''ve gone through the gate. I''ll give you half a day."


    "Okay!"


    "Remember, although I''m giving you half a day, my clone can only maintain itself for 2 hours after its connection with me is cut."


    After saying that, Cecil threw his Corruption over into the distance and the World Tree''s Thorn flew all the way into his clone''s hands.


    Cecil then began moving away from the direction his party members were moving in and led the Sea Behemoth away.


    "...If only Angie were here...I bet she could tame this large bastard..."


    Cecil prepared himself and took out a few of his swords.


    "Let''s go..."

 Chapter 430 - Crushing the Third Floor

    With all his weapons at the ready, Cecil charged forward and conjured a thick barrier in front of him. Using the barrier, he smashed head-on with the Sea Behemoth and the force of the impact was able to push the monster down under the ice.


    This scene was witnessed by nearly everyone close by and they all gawked at the absurdness of it.


    After pushing the Behemoth under the ice, Cecil wielded his weapons and began cutting apart the monster. He didn''t want to show his potential enemies the full extent of his power so he moved the battle underwater and instead of using a one-shot-one-kill technique, he decided to just stack up the monster''s injuries by using multiple attacks that struck its vital parts.


    Above the ice, everyone in the vicinity who had been observing or running away stopped and tried to observe what was happening under the ice. There were no visible movements but they could occasionally see the brief flash of golden light from under the dark waters but that was all.


    No one could see what was actually happening under the water and this continued for quite a long time. The only thing they could be sure of was that the battle was still on-going because they could still sense the Sea Behemoth''s energy signature.


    Soon the light from Cecil''s attacks faded, but the Sea Behemoth''s energy signature was still there but it was slowly fading. They all sensed that the fight was probably over and it had ended in Cecil''s defeat since they could no longer sense his mana signature.


    The only way anyone could monitor the situation was by sensing the two sides'' energy signatures but it had been a few minutes since they could no longer sense Cecil''s so they deduced that he had fled or had been killed while the Sea Behemoth had been injured.


    "How reckless, even if he didn''t want us to interfere and take advantage of the situation, there was no need for him to risk his life like that..."


    "Hehehe, at least one of our competitors are gone. Let''s move. We should go gather more crystals."


    Some groups began moving away to continue gathering or steal more crystals since there was now a time limit, but others stayed since they wondered why the Sea Behemoth didn''t reemerge to rampage about again.


    They also wanted to try and take advantage of the injured monster and try to see if they could kill it after it was exhausted from its battle with Cecil, however, after sensing that the Sea Behemoth''s energy signature remain stationary but slowly fade away, they all felt something was wrong with the situation and they couldn''t be more right about that.


    *****


    Back to where Ren and everyone else was at, the group had been able to reach the transfer gate that the Regulus and Revertia Holy Kingdom''s groups had occupied.


    As they were all getting ready to settle down after taking care of some monsters that burst out of the ice, they once more became alert as the ice once more burst apart and a shadow jumped out from the water.


    "Everyone get ready!"


    The 3 groups quickly got into battle formations and were about to attack the shadow that just landed on the ice. Cecilia was the first to notice and immediately spoke up, "W-wait! That''s¡ª"


    "Master!"


    "Brother-in-law!"


    Cecil walked over to them and quickly dried himself using his aura.


    "Did anything happen?"


    "Nothing, we had only arrived a few hours ago...what happened to the monster and how did you get here so fast?" Celestina asked after reporting to Cecil.


    Cecil pulled out a handful of crystal fragments from his spatial ring and handed them over to Celestina, "This should be more than enough to get us through the gate. The Megadolon-shaped monster was kind enough to drop quite a bunch."


    "Th-this...no way did you actually kill that thing?!" Celestina exclaimed in shock.


    Cecil shrugged and replied, "It''s not that hard."


    "..."


    "Give it here, sister Celestina, I''ll go fuse the crystals. I think this should be enough to cover the missing crystals that our entire group needs, right?" Ren said as he turned to ask Karen and Cecilia who were nearby.


    "Yes, this should be enough."


    "As expected of Lord Cecil, I thank you on behalf of my kingdom for your generosity."


    Cecilia and Karen respectively said in reply.


    Cecil only nodded towards the two, but it wasn''t like he purposefully gathered an excess amount for all 3 of their groups. It was only a coincidence that the Sea Behemoth dropped a large number of crystals after it was killed.


    Cecil had harvested its monster core and a few other useable materials and left it under the ice. The Sea Behemoth was such a powerful creature that even after it died, its body was still full of life and its energy didn''t scatter which led to the opportunists'' misconception that it was only injured while Cecil, who had already finished it off and went away, had died.


    "Let''s get going then. Staying here any longer will only make us potential prey for those that are still looking for crystal fragments," Cecil said as he urged everyone to quickly make their way towards the gate.


    After assembling the crystal fragments, they were able to create 20 crystals with a few fragments left over. These crystals were handed over to the people who needed them and after the distribution, they still had 2 crystals in excess.


    Cecil kept these crystals on him. Once everyone was prepared to move, they moved towards the gate and one by one the group moved through the gate and onto the next stage.


    ******


    "Tch, that little mortal was able to easily destroy the Deep-Abyss Megadolon... such power...it surely is him..."


    The wisp of light that was monitoring the trial participants in the tower''s subspace grew worried and convinced about something when he saw Cecil''s strength and face.


    "He is the one that the ancient leader divined... I have to get rid of him. With him out of the picture, I''m sure we''ll be able to prevent that from happening..."


    ******


    When everyone got to the next floor, it was like they had stepped out of a frozen tundra and straight into a fiery hell.


    Everything was blazing hot and the heat that assaulted their bodies was nearly as unbearable as the wintry cold that they had to endure just a moment ago.


    "Now it''s a flaming hell..." Cecil mumbled.


    Everyone who had just passed through the transfer gate quickly began taking off the winter clothes that they were wearing and some of the mages with a water element attribute began casting spells to regulate the group''s body temperatures.


    This floor was going to be much more grueling than the previous one. If it was the cold, they could at least stay warm by wearing clothes and such, but with the high temperatures of the current floor, it wasn''t only the heat and monsters that they had to look out for, they had to worry about dehydration, delirium caused by the high temperatures and some other things.


    Cecil didn''t need to worry about this floor since he could block the heat with his aura, but that wasn''t plausible for the other people. It hadn''t been long since they stepped onto this floor but Cecil could already see some of the people from his group struggling just to cope with the high heat.


    As he was looking around, Cecil couldn''t help but notice the remnants of a campsite not far away from the transfer gate. Next to the campsite was a small pond that was radiating with an icy coldness.


    "Hey, over here! For the ones who can''t cope with the heat drink some of this water!" Cecil called out.


    Cecilia, Karen, and Ren led everyone over to the campsite and they began collecting some of the water from the icy cold pond. Cecil looked at the pond and noticed that no matter how much water they took, the water level didn''t lower one bit.


    Cecilia also noticed this and said, "It''s a magical pond. Everyone! Take as much water as you can, we''ll need it to clear this stage of the trials!"


    While Karen and Cecilia got busy, Ren walked over to Cecil and showed his master something.


    "Master, take a look at this..."


    Cecil grabbed the item that Ren presented to him and looked back at his apprentice questioningly.


    "What''s this? Is it some kind of bracelet?"


    "...It''s something I crafted for Angelia''s pet, Mao..."


    Cecil narrowed his eyes and wrapped the bracelet with his mana. He picked up the slight trace of mana that was unique to Mao and quickly activated his Mana Eyes and took a look at his surroundings.


    With his Mana vision, Cecil could see the thick blanket of red mana particles that indicated the dense amount of fire-attributed mana in the surroundings. He strained his eyes and soon enough, he was able to see the faint trace of mana that came from the broken bracelet that his disciple had handed to him.


    "It''s faint, but I can see it. Tell everyone to hurry up. We''ll blast our way through this stage!"


    "Yes!"


    *****


    In the administrative subspace of the Myriad Tower of Strife, the small wisp of light was screaming and panicking at the incredulous scene he was witnessing through the monitoring screen.


    It showed a large group of humans moving through¡ªno, it was more like they were flying through the third floor of the tower''s trials. The human in the lead was crushing and destroying everything and every monster in his path, making a beeline towards the next floor''s transfer gate.


    "W-what?! What is this?! This monster! How could¡ª"


    The wisp''s ramblings were cut short after a large explosion ensued in the screen that shocked the wisp out of its mind.


    "No no no no NO!!! How, how could he have grown so strong?! This, this wasn''t what the old one had envisioned! He should still be a pipsqueak at this point!"


    The person the wisp was referring to was without a doubt Cecil, the figure on the monitoring screen that was destroying everything in his path.


    After everyone had finished gathering some water, Cecil decided to take charge of the entire group and told them that they would rush through this stage. It wasn''t that he was babying them, but Cecil was impatient to get to the next floor.


    He had found traces of his family and not only that, he finally found out that his brother, Gabriel, had finally joined up with his sister and disciple. The three were together and it was likely that they had already passed through this stage.


    Cecil wanted to hurry up and catch up with them before any more variables show up that could endanger their lives. He had noticed traces of some large-scale fights while pushing through the third stage, but he noticed that his brother, sister, and disciple had struggled through this stage.


    It was most likely because of the elemental disadvantage that Angelia''s strongest monster, Nessie, had to deal with while on this floor.


    Because of his impatience, the administrator of the trials that was cooking up some sort of scheme had to shockingly witness the absurdness of his power.


    "This human...he''s close to transcendence... I can''t let him stay here! If he gets stronger like what the old one had envisioned...it''ll only hasten the eventuality of him destroying the seal that''s keeping the universe''s plague in check!"


    On the monitor, the wisp could see that Cecil and his group had already arrived at the next floor''s transfer gate. It hadn''t even been a day since they had arrived at the third stage. In fact, it hadn''t even been 6 hours yet!


    Cecil had plowed through the entire third stage in less than 4 hours and it was likely that the time needed for him to pass through this stage would have been lower if he had been moving alone. The only reason it took him so ''long'' was because he had to wait and let everyone rest while they were moving through the stage.


    "...I can only use the fifth stage''s equipment...Ah, it''s perfect! Those 3 are already down there and they''ve been meddling with the equipment there. I should issue another quest for those 3..."


    *****


    At the fifth stage''s underground city which was located below the endless piles of sand, Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira had just received an update on the requirements to complete the fifth stage''s trial.


    "...We have to activate the underground city''s power source and ignite the city''s holy flame to activate the next stage''s transfer gate?" Kira said thoughtfully after listening to the new objectives that were delivered to them through the guide that was floating above their heads.


    "We should hurry then. The faster we clear this, the quicker we can go home!" Angelia said as she quickly called out Mao and mounted him.


    Gabriel was a little skeptical of this development. Normally, any notifications of the stage''s objectives would be delivered through the guide the moment they stepped foot onto the trial floor.


    It had been a few days since they arrived on this stage''s floor, but it was only now that they received their quest objective.


    "Big bro, let''s go!"


    "Alright, but we should keep a lookout. I have a bad feeling about all of this..."


    "Don''t worry so much big bro! The quicker we finish this, the sooner we can get out! I don''t want to keep mum, dad, Ren, and everyone else in distress! Let''s go, let''s go~"


    Gabriel only nodded slightly and followed after Angelia and Kira who were both sitting on top of the large Mao. He felt a foreboding feeling, like this wasn''t the actual mission of the current stage they were in, but something else.


    There wasn''t much he could deliberate about this since he didn''t know too much about the current situation they were in other than the fact that they had been forcibly pulled into this place to undergo some kind of trial to inherit something.

 Chapter 431 - Fourth Floor 1

    With Cecil''s lead, his group was able to quickly arrive at the trial''s fourth floor.


    When they popped out of the transfer gate and onto the fourth floor, they all experienced a feeling of weightlessness as they free fell from the sky.


    Cecil was the first to quickly regain his bearings and he could already hear everyone else''s frightful screams. He looked around and noticed that Ren already had his rifle out and aimed below him.


    Cecil nodded in appreciation towards his disciple''s quick-wittedness. He was already in position and ready to use the blast from his rifle to mitigate the downforce from his fall. It wouldn''t completely erase the impact he would receive, but thankfully, below them wasn''t the solid hard ground. Instead, it was a wide body of water.


    When Cecil looked around, he noticed that everywhere was water. The entire floor was comprised of only water and nothing else.


    "An ocean stage?"


    Cecil didn''t have any time to marvel at the absurdity of the trial''s stage. He had more important things to worry about, like the people around him who were yelling and screaming from fright. He gathered his mana to keep him from falling and quickly conjured his clone. Using his flight capabilities, Cecil moved to grab the people around him.


    "Grab ahold of each other and don''t let go!" Cecil commanded after grabbing two people.


    After forming groups which consisted of 5 people in each group, he made sure that the sixth member of every group had a water or wind elemental mage with them. From there, they should be able to understand what to do, but just in case these people were too stupid to realize, Cecil didn''t forget to relay his intentions.


    "If you''re a wind mage, use your magic to slow down your descent! If you''re a water mage then use your magic to raise the water level so that it will catch¡ª"


    Before he could say anymore, he saw his sister-in-law, Celestina, do something ingenious. She had created a large ice canopy above her head and by using the laws of physics, she was able to decrease the speed of their descent.


    "Alright, you could do that too!"


    Some people were still in a panic so they couldn''t get it on the first try, but thankfully, after they recomposed themselves, no mishaps happened during the descent.


    Cecil stayed high up in the air and looked around to see if he could see any sort of landmass, but unfortunately, there was no such thing within his scope of vision. Everything on this stage was only water. At least, that''s how it looked like on the surface.


    "...I''m sure this is a good stage to use Nessie again. I''ll just follow after the lingering mana that Nessie left behind," Cecil mumbled before he quickly activated his Mana Eyes.


    He looked around and quickly noticed the unique mana signature of his little sister''s pet monster.


    "What a cheat, it''s like these trials were catered just for my little sister."


    After taking in the route that his sister had taken, Cecil quickly made his descent and stepped onto the water''s surface.


    "Sister-in-law, hurry up and create an ice scaffold for everyone to get on," Cecil said after he quickly picked Celestina up by the arm.


    "U-ugh...don''t you know how to treat a lady delicately?" Celestina replied in protest at her brother-in-law''s rough way of handling her.


    Instead of picking her up gently, he just grabbed her wrist and raised her by the arm like she was some kind of object.


    "I''m treating you politely right now though? Obviously, I wouldn''t treat you like how''d I treat my wives, no?"


    "..."


    Celestina couldn''t understand the logic behind his words and just gave up. She had just experienced something totally ridiculous just on the previous stage so she didn''t want to question him any further.


    She had already heard a few things from her future husband about how ridiculous this brother-in-law of hers so she shouldn''t be too surprised about how he acted.


    Celestina quickly created a large ice platform above the water and everyone climbed on top of it. Cecil quickly ordered for the people in his kingdom''s group who had guns to quickly switch to the ice-elemental bullet and help thicken and widen the ice.


    The mages in Karen''s and Cecilia''s group also helped with this and soon the platform had turned into a make-shift boat.


    "Head in that direction," Cecil said pointing towards the direction that Nessie and his sister had taken. "I won''t need to say this, but obviously you wind and water mages will need to make this ''boat'' move, right?"


    The mages quickly made themselves busy. They didn''t want to anger this oddball that just plowed through an entire floor just because he had found traces of his family and wanted to quickly catch up with them.


    Cecil also helped out the wind mages a little bit. He pulled out a long and thick tree trunk, plunged it straight into the middle of the ice boat. He then started crafting a sail using the spare monster hide and fur that he found inside his spatial ring.


    He had his kingdom''s people work on the sail while he pulled out a few more tree branches of some magical trees he found during his travels and started carving out oars. He then handed these oars to the groups'' warriors and said, "Make yourself useful and help them move the boat."


    Everyone could sense the urgency in his words so they quickly did what they were told. It wasn''t like they could reject him for that matter and no one in the group wanted to antagonize this human-shaped weapon.


    Once everything and everyone was ready, the group started to sail through the fourth stage following the route that Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira had taken.


    "How do you know this is the way?" Cecilia walked over to Cecil who was sitting down on a large fur mat and asked.


    She sat herself down next to him and waited for his answer.


    "...My eyes are special," Cecil curtly replied after giving her a slight glance.


    "They sure are. They''re the cursed eyes that no human should normally have."


    "Is that so?"


    "Even the Mystic Eye Demon tribe doesn''t have eyes as special as yours. Their race is unique because of their unique demonic eyes that have various effects, but even those who are born with your eyes can''t survive past the age of 12..." Cecilia followed up.


    Cecil lightly smirked and didn''t reply to her words. This was the first time he heard that there was a demon tribe that had powers focused in their eyes.


    "I''d like to hear more about this Mystic Eye Demon tribe if you don''t mind?"


    "Hmmm, I''d personally like to hear more about your unique pair of eyes, but I''ll let it go."


    Cecilia gave up asking for more since Cecil took the initiative to change the topic. She then started explaining what she knew about the demon tribe she brought up from before.


    "That''s interesting. So their powers are focused around their eyes."


    "Yes, they have strange and sometimes powerful ocular prowess. Some say that a single look from a demon of the Mystic Eye tribe would cause you to blow up in flames, slowly petrify, or even freeze in place. There''s even one ocular power that lets the user see into the future, a rather enviable ability, I must say," Cecilia said with a good hint of envy in her voice.


    "Seeing into the future...isn''t that similar to your church''s ability?"


    Cecilia didn''t reject his words. Instead, she agreed with him.


    "It is, in fact, some say that the church''s original founder was a demon who had abandoned his tribe because of his compassion towards his human wife~"


    "Huh?"


    "Romantic isn''t it? It''s a love that transcended two completely different races?"


    "...This is just a legend, right? I mean, it''d be pretty blasphemous if you say the gift that came from your ''god'' actually originated from a demon..."


    Cecilia laughed and said, "My, don''t you know quite a lot of my kingdom''s religion?"


    "It''s only natural that I had to do some research about a place I had once wanted to visit."


    "Oh?"


    "I was looking for my family a while back. If I couldn''t find them, I wanted to go over to your kingdom and asked for a high priest to look into the future and find their whereabouts."


    "...Our ''future sight'' doesn''t work that way..."


    "Probably not, if it''s the same as how Providence''s future sight works..." Cecil mumbled the latter half of his words so Cecilia didn''t quite catch what he had said.


    "What was that?"


    "Never mind about that, get ready. I sense there are monsters coming."


    Cecilia stood up and quickly alerted everyone else about the incoming monsters. Unlike on the third floor, Cecil didn''t take action this time.


    They progressed through the fourth floor just like this, leisurely sailing one moment before quickly getting into battle formations once Cecil alerted them of any incoming dangers.


    They spent a few days sailing on through the fourth floor, but it wasn''t only the dangerous monsters that the group had to be wary about. The treacherous elements and the abrupt change in climate also threatened everyone''s lives on the ice boat.


    There were times when sudden hurricanes and storms hit them. There was even one time when a large tsunami almost struck them. Thankfully, Cecil was there and he had cleaved the large wave of water in two and the group was able to safely pass through that ordeal.


    They spent a few more days on this treacherous journey and eventually, they were able to arrive at the end of Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira''s travel route. The trail ended in the middle of the ocean. It ended in the middle of nowhere yet there was no transfer gate around.


    Cecil even took the liberty of searching the skies, yet he couldn''t find any transfer gate around.


    "This is weird...just where did they disappear to? Since the trail ended here, doesn''t that mean they passed through the transfer gate?"


    Cecil deduced that the transfer gate was probably located somewhere in the sky since that was where the entrance gate to the fourth floor was located at. He couldn''t find the transfer gate no matter how far he looked so he couldn''t come up with an explanation as to why it wasn''t there.


    "The only explanation would be...if it''s a mobile transfer gate..."

 Chapter 432 - Fourth Floor 2

    "Oh wait, I didn''t look underwater yet!" Cecil exclaimed.


    He then turned his attention downwards and under the water. He didn''t think about this at first since Nessie''s mana signature didn''t indicate that it had dove underwater, it had just simply disappeared.


    So Cecil thought that Nessie had either passed through the transfer gate along with his brother, sister, and disciple, or Angelia had recalled it into its pet form.


    Cecil sent his Mana Sense down below and he quickly found something very astounding.


    "Th-this...it''s a city?"


    Beneath the water''s surface, about a kilometer or so, Cecil''s sense finally hit upon what seemed to be the ruins of some city.


    He also noticed that the city had a similar structure to the flying fortresses of the Machina Reggio Empire. He quickly dropped back down to the boat and relayed his findings to the rest of the group.


    "Everyone, I believe that the transfer gate is located somewhere in those underwater city ruins. We''ll have to go down there and find it."


    The group nodded at Cecil''s words however, Celestina couldn''t help but voice out a few of her concerns.


    "It''ll be possible to create a large barrier with the number of mages we have on hand, but what about the underwater monsters? I''m sure that ruined city isn''t going to be an empty place..."


    Cecil nodded since he had the same concern.


    "I checked earlier with my Mana Sense. There are plenty of monsters down there and there are even a few monster nests and homes. It''s not surprising to find any of those since it''s just a great place for any species to live in."


    "So how will we proceed? It''ll be hard on any of us to fight underwater. Not to mention that the mages will be preoccupied with conjuring a barrier around all of us. We''ll be virtually helpless," Karen said.


    "Don''t forget, under the water is their home grounds. It''ll be even more disadvantageous for us..." Cecilia added.


    Ren turned towards Cecil and asked, "...Master, what should we do?"


    Everyone else turned their attention towards Cecil. If anyone had a solution to their predicament then it would naturally be him.


    Cecil saw that this was probably going to be the most troubling obstacle for anyone to overcome in this trial. He wondered how Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira did it. Then again, they did have Nessie. That underwater behemoth was like a cheat ticket.


    "I''ll carve a path for us first. You guys just stay here and defend against any monsters that attack. It''ll take a while, but be prepared to move out at a moment''s notice," Cecil said before quickly walking towards the edge of the boat.


    "H-hey, wait!"


    Cecil didn''t bother turning around and responding to Cecilia''s cry. He quickly jumped off the ice boat and plunged into the water.


    He activated his aura and pushed back the water a few centimeters away from his body. He created a small ''bubble'' around him and quickly dove down.


    As Cecil got closer and closer to the city, he felt the water pressure slowly begin to rise. When he dove to around 500 meters under the water, the aura surrounding him immediately began to falter due to the rising water pressure.


    Back on earth, the water pressure at 500 meters below the ocean''s surface level was the simulated safety threshold that a human body could endure. Since it was only a simulated threshold, this meant that it wasn''t for certain.


    Right now, Cecil was pushing past the human limits, but this was only natural since his cultivation allowed him to. In fact, if Cecil wanted to, he could release his aura and directly use his body which was cultivated to the third level of Ki cultivation to withstand the water pressure.


    This was possible and he could definitely do it, but he wanted to save his strength for later when he had to deal with the monsters that were living in the underwater city ruins.


    Cecil slightly increased his mana output and the aura surrounding his body re-stabilized. He adjusted his mana output according to the pressure and strain he was feeling through his aura. When he was just about to reach the ruined underwater city, the pressure he was feeling through his aura was pretty substantial so Cecil wanted to experiment a little.


    "Yeah, let''s just release it for a bit before quickly turning it back on."


    With that thought, Cecil quickly released his aura and braced himself.


    "Eh?"


    He felt...quite disappointed.


    "I feel...nothing?"


    Reality didn''t quite meet his expectations. Cecil honestly thought that the water pressure at around 1,000 meters below sea-level would be able to pressure or hinder him somewhat, but he was moving just fine.


    Cecil didn''t feel burdened or anything. He felt the same as he did if he was above the ocean.


    "Weird...I thought the pressure would at least let me train my body...??


    He was quite bewildered. The feeling he got from his aura was quite different from what he got from bearing the water pressure directly with his body. The pressure he was feeling through his aura made it feel like the water pressure at this depth would cause some hindrances to his movements, but the reality of it was not like how he envisioned.


    Cecil quickly put up his aura again and the pressure he felt returned.


    "Hmmm...I did train my body to become quite powerful... does this mean that my mana is weak?"


    This was the only conclusion that Cecil could come up with. He had checked earlier with his Mana Sense and found that there wasn''t anything unusual with his surroundings or with the water. There wasn''t anything from the water that would cause his mana to falter.


    Cecil looked up at the boat floating on the surface and back down to the city ruins. He then looked past the ruins and saw the black abyss of the ocean.


    "It''ll probably take only a few minutes to clear the city, let''s go see if my thoughts are true or not. If they are, this might help me breakthrough to the next level!"


    Cecil made up his mind and decided to forego clearing the monster ruins for now. He wanted to confirm something. Once his hypothesis was confirmed, he''d then go clear away the monsters in the city.


    *****


    Cecil continued diving down, moving past the ruined underwater city. As he moved past, Cecil scanned the entirety of the underwater city with his Mana Sense and soon enough, he quickly found the transfer gate to the trial''s next floor.


    He nodded to himself and continued downwards.


    "The structure of the ruins is indeed similar to the flying fortresses of Machina Reggio..." Cecil mumbled to himself.


    Continuing his venture downward, once he passed the 1,500 meter mark, he quickly released his aura and tested the water pressure on his body.


    "Nothing, let''s continue."


    He continued doing this with a 500 meter interval between each test. When he hit the 3,000 meter mark, Cecil finally felt some pressure affecting his body. He inwardly grinned to himself.


    "I''ll train here for a bit," Cecil released his Mana Sense and after finding that there were no traces of any monsters around him, he closed his eyes and slowly began to release his aura.


    The pressure he felt from his mana was pretty substantial. When he had released his Mana Sense earlier, he had felt a little bit of strain from doing so.


    "Indeed...my mana is ''weak''..."


    Cecil used the pressure he felt from the ocean to refine his mana. He slowly increased the output of his mana to fight against the pressure he felt and as he did so, his body slowly descended.


    4,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 6,000 meters... Cecil continued to descend downwards as he adjusted his mana output.


    When he hit the 10,000 meter mark, Cecil was surrounded in complete darkness and the pressure his mana was bearing was beyond immense. If he lost focus for even a second, Cecil felt like his aura would immediately collapse.


    He didn''t know whether his mortal body would be able to withstand the pressure of the ocean once his aura broke, but he didn''t want to find out. He had already felt a serious strain to his body when he hit the 5,000 meter mark.


    The water pressure here probably wouldn''t kill him, but it would likely injure his internal organs, something that he wouldn''t want to happen.


    Cecil continued to remain focused. He channeled his mana through his energy circuits and out of his body, maintaining the protective aura around him. As his mana was sent outwards, it was slowly refined and compressed.


    When the mana reentered his body after circulating outside of it, Cecil felt the huge and obvious change to his mana''s quality.


    He was indeed in the mana core stage and the mana at his mana point had solidified, but whenever he circulated his mana through his energy circuits, the mana released from his core would go back to a semi-gaseous-liquid state.


    However, after being refined and compressed by the huge pressure he was enduring, Cecil could feel that his mana had become much denser than before.


    ''Great! I knew this would work!''

 Chapter 433 - Power Increase

    Cecil continued to train under the water. In the complete darkness, Cecil didn''t know how much time had elapsed, but he didn''t care. All he cared about was the increase in the quality of his mana as it circulated through his energy circuits.


    After about a few hundred circulations, Cecil felt that the denseness of his mana had reached a peak. When he observed the mana inside his circuits, he felt like it wasn''t mana circulating through his circuits, but liquid gold.


    The mana had become so thick and dense, but with this new upgrade to his mana, it had also brought with it a small consequence. After having his mana refined and compressed, Cecil felt that his mana levels had dropped by a significant amount.


    He was still in the mana core stage, but the amount of mana that he had was reduced to the levels of those still in the mana sea stage. Cecil didn''t know what to make of this. He didn''t know whether this was good or bad, but what he did find out was that the enhancement to his mana had also influenced his Ki.


    After reaching equilibrium, the progress and quantity of his Ki and Mana rose simultaneously. So naturally, when his Mana levels decreased, so did his Ki levels. However, it wasn''t without progress.


    His Ki had also been similarly upgraded alongside his Mana. The density of his Ki had risen to the same level as his mana and Cecil noticed that the two''s compatibility with each other had also risen.


    It became much easier and smoother for him to combine the two energies to form Ether.


    "This is a good sign. Once I reach transcendence, it''ll be easier for me to access ether in the long run. I''ll just have to re-cultivate my mana!" Cecil said optimistically.


    As optimistic as he was, Cecil didn''t know about the numerous troubles he would face from having upgraded his mana and ki to a higher level pre-transcendence. Of course, the foundation he created through this upgrade would be immensely beneficial for him once he was ready to step into the transcendent stage, but the road to get there would be even tougher than before.


    This was because the quality of his mana had changed. From now on, he would have to gather and condense his mana to a similar level as to the mana he already had to raise his mana and ki levels.


    This meant that he had to cultivate twice or even twenty times more diligently than the average cultivator. Cecil''s optimistic thoughts would disappear once he found out about how much effort and struggle he would have to put in to raise his mana levels by even the slightest amount.


    Cecil flexed his body after feeling a bit stiff. It was then that he finally noticed something. There was a putrid smell coming from the water all around him.


    "Ugh, what the hell?"


    He quickly circulated his mana and swam upwards. Cecil didn''t notice this, but he didn''t have his aura activated, and yet, he was able to directly withstand the water pressure at the 10,000-meter depth mark.


    The ocean at these depths was very dark so Cecil couldn''t see that the reason for the putrid smell was because his body had slowly been discharging impurities to the water around him as he meditated and circulated his mana.


    He also didn''t notice that his body had experienced some drastic changes, at least, internally. His organs, muscle fiber, tissue, and cells had received quite the major upgrade. He was slowly stepping away from the realms of a human and he didn''t know it yet.


    *****


    In the tower''s administrative subspace, the wisp of light was in a panic. He flew around the subspace erratically as it hollered.


    "Why did he do that?!"


    "Is this human crazy? Does he have no fear of the consequences?!"


    "Damn, this fool! I was right, I was right to execute the plan! Old Tree, you can''t blame me now! He''s walking down the path of no return! Once he loses those precious to him, he''ll slowly descend into madness just like the Old One had predicted!"


    The wisp of light began relaying more specific ''quests'' to Angelia and her group who was now exploring the underground ruins on the fifth floor.


    *****


    Cecil quickly arrived at the city which was only at the 1,000-meter mark. Even though he had descended straight down, his sense of direction had been skewed due to the darkness so even though he just swam back upwards, the underwater city had been a few kilometers away from him.


    Cecil noticed a great change to his Mana Sense when he had tried to find the ruined city. The maximum range of his Mana Sense had extended 3 times wider than before.


    Since one of his techniques had experienced an upgrade, he had great expectations about his other skills.


    "Let''s go test it out on those monsters~"


    Cecil smirked sadistically as he eyed the numerous monsters that were rushing towards him once he got within a 100 meter of the city.


    He stretched his arm out and sent a mana volley. Cecil was just about to circulate his mana to activate the technique, but the slight ''intention'' was met with an immediate response. His dense mana which he thought would have much more trouble circulating due to its denseness immediately shot out from his mana point to his palm within a millisecond.


    The response was immediate, like how he would move an arm or leg. The mana volley that burst out in the next instant was also a marvel to behold.


    The golden bolts of mana that had shot out were a bit smaller but denser than usual. The color had also changed and it was now of a deeper golden hue, and also the speed. The speed of the mana bolt was so fast that the first mana bolt had struck the monster at the forefront in the blink of an eye.


    "Ha...hahahaha! Nice!"


    Cecil stretched out both his arms and fired a huge mana volley at the monsters rushing at him. He activated Hyper Sensitivity so that he could lock onto the monsters and the world began slowing down. When he unconsciously tried to move his arm, Cecil was shocked to find that he could actually move his body while in this state.


    Hyper Sensitivity was a technique that had a minor negative side to it which was that since his mind had sped up, this naturally meant that his mind''s perception of time was different from that of his body''s.


    Before, even if he did try to move his body while in this state, he wouldn''t be able to budge a muscle because his body couldn''t keep up with the orders that his mind was giving to it while he was in the Hyper Sensitivity state.


    The consequences of forcing his body to move while in the Hyper Sensitivity state was that he would experience a momentary stiffness where his body wouldn''t respond to him at all. And this was because his nerves had been overloaded and it needed a momentary respite before they could function again.


    But now, his body''s nerves and muscles had somehow been upgraded to the point where he was able to move while he had his Hyper Sensitivity activated. Cecil immediately knew that there was probably going to be some consequences for this, but he''d find out about it later after the fight.


    He rushed towards the monsters with his technique still active. It felt like a long time had passed for him before he finally arrived in front of the shark-shaped monster that he was aiming at. He lifted his arm and sent an uppercut towards the monster''s face.


    His arm felt heavy but he continued moving it. His fist collided with the monster''s face but it felt like he was punching papier-mach¨¦.


    Cecil quickly moved towards another monster and struck out with his palm, he then kicked the monster next to it and hammer-fisted the one beside it. He felt like he was moving through a dense liquid while in this state, but the feeling of liberation was uncanny so Cecil didn''t deactivate the technique just yet.


    He sent a punch, a kick, a palm, an energy blast, and many other attacks at the monsters which had remained stationary in his mind''s perception of time. Once he struck the final monster, Cecil quickly deactivated his Hyper Sensitivity, and soon enough, the backlash that he had expected to happen quickly hit him.


    He felt his muscles tearing and regenerating repeatedly. Cecil wanted to inhale a sharp breath due to the pain but quickly remembered that he was underwater. What would go into his lungs wasn''t air, but water so he quickly closed his mouth and decided to just endure the pain.


    Cecil didn''t have the time to witness the shocking scene behind him. The monsters which had been rushing forwards earlier had their heads and other body parts that Cecil had struck simultaneously explode in a cloud of blood.


    From an outsider''s perspective, after Cecil had activated Hyper Sensitivity and began moving, they would only see the after-image of Cecil''s body which had suddenly begun to exude golden sparks of mana before they would somehow die in the next instant.


    At least, this was what the monsters experienced. They only saw their prey begin to ''electrify'' before they suddenly died in the next instant.


    The backlash of this upgraded version of Hyper Sensitivity only lasted for a few seconds and Cecil''s body recovered. Cecil had been counting how long he had been in that state and from the time it took for him to strike the last monster, only 5-6 minutes had elapsed. At least, that''s what he had experienced.


    However, the backlash that he experienced was only the pain of his muscles tearing and regenerating which lasted around 25 to 30 seconds. A technique with a backlash was obviously quite dangerous, but this technique''s pros far outweighed its cons. Cecil now had a new trump card up his sleeve.


    His two ''ultimates'', Over Flash and Skyfall, both had a significant backlash. His Over Flash completely depleted his mana while Skyfall would exhaust his mind to the point where he would have trouble continuing the fight. His new ''ultimate'', which he still didn??t name, only caused his body to feel a slightly unbearable pain for a few seconds.


    It wouldn''t cause his combat effectiveness to lower and only after a few seconds, he could continue fighting. The backlash would probably rise in proportion to how long he spent in that state moving around, but if he limited it to only a few minutes or a few seconds, then the backlash wouldn''t even be considered a problem for him.


    This new technique could probably also be used in tandem with his other two ultimates. Gathering mana, conjuring magic arrays, it would all require time and precision, but with his new technique, he might be able to cut down on the time spent to invoke those two skills.


    "I''ll have to experiment with it some more. Looks like I''ll have some homework to do once I get home!"


    Cecil grinned and turned his attention back to the city. He had only wiped out the monsters at the periphery of the city. The transfer gate was located in the heart of the city and there were many monsters that he had to clear.


    "I''ll go call the others. With the quality of my mana, I think I''ll be able to expand my aura out to form a nice water pocket for the entire group."

 Chapter 434 - An Unparalleled Monster 1

    When Cecil resurfaced, he quickly jumped onto the boat which had remained in the same place as before.


    He couldn''t help but notice that there were some monster carcasses on the boat and that the boat had expanded in size and there were now some tents laid about on the ship''s deck.


    When everyone saw the water burst apart and that something had landed on the boat, they all raised their weapons before lowering it once again when they saw that it was just Cecil who had finally returned.


    "Master!"


    "Cecil!"


    "Brother-in-law!"


    "Lord Cecil!"


    Ren, Celestina, and the two leaders of the Revertia and Regulus Kingdoms'' groups quickly walked over to him. They seemed quite relieved to see him again.


    "Master, what went wrong? Why did you take so long just to clear the monsters?" Ren urgently asked.


    He noticed that there were no injuries to his master so it was probably not something major. As for why he had asked this question, this was because Cecil had disappeared for quite some time.


    "What? I... How long was I away?" Cecil asked back in confusion.


    "You were gone for almost 2 weeks..."


    "What? Two weeks?!"


    Everyone had thought that something bad had happened to Cecil after 3 days had passed by with no news from him. So they had sent a team down to the city ruins to check on him. When the team had arrived and saw that there were still monsters teeming within the underwater city, they thought that something terribly wrong had happened or Cecil had been forced away from the city without their knowledge.


    When Cecil heard about their worries, he lightly laughed to himself. He didn''t think that his ''quick'' training session 10,000 meters beneath the sea had actually taken nearly 2 weeks instead of the short one or two hours he had felt.


    "So...you went to train?"


    "Yeah, it was a good opportunity to raise my power. I just didn''t think it would take that long," Cecil replied to Cecilia''s question.


    Cecilia nodded thoughtfully to his answer but looked a little bit confused. Karen who was on the side gave voice to her confusion.


    "Raise your power? But, Lord Cecil...how come your mana level dropped instead? Also, I can feel that this is a permanent drop, not a temporary one..."


    Cecil chuckled and waved his hand, not wanting to answer.


    "Don''t worry, I may have my mana levels lowered, but I''m much stronger now. I had to sacrifice something to get something better."


    "Hmmm, I see. Anyway, shouldn''t it be time for us to leave now? We had been luring out some monsters from the city during the past few days so there shouldn''t be too many left!" Karen said.


    "So you guys were luring monsters out of the city? No wonder when I moved within a hundred meters of the city those monsters came rushing out. You guys had been harassing them!"


    "Hey, don''t make it sound like we did anything bad! We were going to kill them anyway!"


    "Well, let''s finish the job then!" Cecil said with a grin.


    He walked towards the center of the boat''s deck and released his mana. A golden aura was ejected out of his body and the large ship was encapsulated within the golden sphere of mana that Cecil created.


    "W-what''s this?"


    "This...this doesn''t look like a barrier..."


    Many in the group were surprised to see the golden sphere that surrounded the boat they were on, in the next instance, however, they turned even more surprised when the boat began to dive underwater.


    "!"


    "WAHHH!!"


    A few of them were scared and shocked at first with the sudden development, but when they saw Cecil''s golden sphere repel the water away from the boat, they immediately felt relieved before feeling a bit curious.


    With his new upgrade, Cecil was now able to manipulate and control his mana to a finer degree. He used his mana to form an aura around the boat which would be able to repel the water and just by using his mana he moved through the water.


    Before, Cecil had been using the skywalking technique that he had acquired through his pact with Silver to fly through the sky, but now that he was able to use mana to this degree, he was confident that he could agilely fly through the sky without wings just by using his mana like he was doing now.


    Wrap mana around his body and use the mana to move. He sorely wanted to test this out right now, but he had more important things to do.


    Another change that Cecil felt from his body''s upgrade was that now, unlike before, his body was not only able to create Ki, but it was also able to create mana.


    The equilibrium of his two energies had probably strengthened after his body''s recent upgrade so that now, his Mana point behaved just like his heart. It could create mana just like how his heart could create Ki.


    He no longer needed to recover his mana by taking in the ambient mana from his surroundings and pulling them into his body. Instead, his body acted as a mana source which could generate its own mana.


    This was a welcomed upgrade since now he wouldn''t be able to completely exhaust his mana if his body continued to constantly generate it. This also meant that his mana recovery would be much quicker than before.


    Cecil cleared his thoughts and focused his mind on the task at hand. When they arrived closer to the underwater city, he immediately detected the monsters change in activities. They had detected the approaching human ship and were moving to intercept them.


    "Everyone get ready! Mages, you can shoot your spells through the barrier so start chanting! Ren, the sharpshooters, and any other archer or long-ranged fighter, prepare to attack! Just shoot through the barrier, it won''t hinder any of the attacks going out, but it will stop any attacks from coming in! So don''t worry about your defenses and just focus on attacking!" Cecil commanded.


    The three leaders of the groups quickly began organizing their people after hearing his words. Karen had her mages and archers ready to attack, while Cecilia gathered together her priests and mages.


    Ren and Celestina organized their group''s sharpshooters and mages. Once everyone was ready, Cecil sped up and the two forces, the monsters, and Cecil''s group, quickly collided.


    Cecil''s barrier was able to smash away any monsters that tried to approach. From within the barrier, spells, arrows, and magic bullets began flying out. The monsters which were just about to collide with the barrier were all blasted backward from the attacks.


    The front-most monsters immediately received fatal injuries and if they didn''t directly die, the impact of being hit by Cecil''s barrier which came to them in the next moment since Cecil didn''t stop moving forwards directly killed them.


    "Keep it up! Don''t worry about the barrier. It won''t be breaking any time soon!" Cecil cried out before continuing in his mind.


    ''Or at all for that matter.''


    It was an arrogant thought, but this was because Cecil had confidence in himself. As long as he supplied mana to the barrier around him, it wouldn''t break or falter. Especially, not from the attacks of these underwater monsters which were at best S-ranked.


    Cecil didn''t forget to hurl out a few Mana Volleys and Flash Cannons along the way. The ship bulldozed through the waves of monsters until it broke through what seemed to be a thin film that encapsulated the outer floor of the city.


    When they broke through the thin film, Cecil immediately took down the barrier since the monsters had all stopped chasing after them. Past the barrier, there was no longer any water so it was only natural that the underwater monsters didn''t pursue them.


    Cecil gently landed the ship in the middle of a ruined plaza and dispelled his barrier.


    "Now that was some good exercise!" Cecil chuckled.


    "How magical, there''s a thin layer of mana protecting and keeping the water away from the upper stratum of the underwater city," Celestina remarked curiously.


    "This city...doesn''t it somehow remind you of those sky fortresses from the Machina Empire?" Karen spoke up after taking a look around.


    It was apparent that Karen had once visited the Empire since she was familiar with the structure of the sky fortresses.


    "That''s right, Karen, this indeed reminds us of those sky fortresses," Cecil said.


    "...That''s because this is a sky fortress, isn''t it, Master?" Ren added.


    Cecil nodded at Ren''s words. If anyone could recognize this, it was undoubtedly his disciple. Ren had been living in a sky fortress for nearly half of his life so it would be odd if he didn''t recognize this city''s structure.


    "Why would there be a sky fortress here?" Celestina asked.


    "The sky fortresses were originally not something the Empire created. They scavenged the 51 fortresses from an ancient ruin a long time ago. Many outside and inside of the Empire have forgotten about this ancient history so most people believe that the Empire''s artificers and engineers created the fortresses when in fact, they didn''t..." Ren replied.


    "W-what? Then what''s all that hubris about them creating more sky fortresses and those ancient weapons?!" Karen exclaimed.


    Ren shook his head, denying Karen''s words, and continued, "The sky fortress blueprints that are in the hands of the Empire are complete but because the materials to create the fortress are no longer accessible, it''s only natural that they can''t build it. However, the creation of some ancient weapons is indeed true."


    "...Kid, you sure know quite a lot about the Empire."


    Ren turned mum after Karen''s remark. He shrugged his shoulders and began looking around the place.


    Karen turned to look at Cecil, clearly asking for more answers, but Cecil didn''t respond despite Cecilia and Celestina''s gaze also honing in on him.


    "Less talk and more exploring. I already found the transfer gate''s location, but we have to get there on foot and not by force. I don''t want to risk any of my attacks damaging a critical structure that''ll activate the gate," Cecil said before walking away.


    He had already spread his Mana Sense out and quickly found that there were no monsters present.


    "Hey, what are we looking for?!" Karen asked.


    "Find a mechanism that''ll lead us down to the floor below us! The sky fortresses use gateways to travel from floor to floor so go and find some kind of archway or magic array!"


    Leaving behind those words, Cecil began to explore the place in earnest. A few good things were lying around and Cecil thought that it would be a waste to just leave without taking them away.


    He had already found the gateway to the next floor, but he thought that maybe everyone needed a rest. They had been combating monsters for the past week and a half so they could use some downtime.


    The rewards were also beneficial for everyone and they didn''t need to be told that there were some treasures here that could be obtained. With everyone either taking a rest or exploring the ruined city and obtaining some kind of reward, they didn''t see the pair of purple eyes glaring at them from far away.

 Chapter 435 - An Unparalleled Monster 2

    Cecil was just about to head towards the center of the underwater city when he felt an ominous gaze eyeing him.


    He immediately stiffened at the gaze and he couldn''t help but flinch in surprise.


    "S-Strong...what the hell is this?"


    Cecil quickly activated his Mana Eyes and sent his Mana Sense out of the city and towards the direction of the ominous gaze''s source. He immediately noticed that two purple ''lamps'' were glaring at him from afar.


    Those ''lamps'' weren''t actual lamps but the eyes of a humongous sea monster. It was as if the monster knew that Cecil was staring at it and turned its attention to him. The size of this monster easily trumps the Sea Behemoth that he squared off against on the second floor.


    This monster was in the form of a large whale, but instead of a tail on its rear end, it had numerous tentacles. If any of Cecil''s disciples were present, they would be able to find that these tentacles were similar to the things that had pulled Angelia, Kira, and Gabriel into the ruins.


    Cecil was paralyzed under the monster''s gaze and this was an unfamiliar feeling to him. There hadn''t been a single moment in his life where he was forced to submit under the overwhelming presence of any sort of being ever since he came to this world.


    This was a first and he didn''t like it. This monster was above any other monster he had ever faced but he didn''t want to cower under its pressure so he began circulating his energy and was able to alleviate the pressure that was crushing down on him.


    When the monster saw this, it immediately cried out with a melodious roar. The sound was beautiful, but Cecil felt a threatening force behind it. He quickly covered his body with aura but the sound wave bypassed his defenses and struck his body.


    Blood began dripping from his ears and nose. After the sound wave passed, Cecil released his aura and immediately began coughing up blood. Even with his upgraded body, he had been injured by the monster''s melodious cry. He couldn''t help but be fearful of the powerful entity that easily injured him.


    He immediately became worried about the others who were caught unaware by the monster''s sound attack. If the monster was able to easily injure him then it would be much worse for the other people in his group who were much weaker than him.


    He quickly spread his senses and it was as he feared, everyone else in the city had all fainted and a few were even killed by the sound wave attack. The non-combatants in his party had all perished while the weaker cultivators in his kingdom''s group had sustained life-threatening internal injuries.


    Cecil quickly used his Nature''s Shift and quickly arrived at the place where his kingdom''s group was resting.


    He quickly found his disciple collapsed on the ground with blood bleeding out of his orifices. Cecil quickly used his Healing Arts and channeled his Ki into Ren''s body, performing first aid on his injuries.


    "Ren, get up! We have to go!"


    "...Urk... M-Master...w-we...we were attacked..." Ren struggled to say. His cultivation was low and he had received some injuries to his internals.


    Thanks to Cecil''s healing, color quickly returned to Ren''s pale face and he was no longer in danger. After a few more seconds, Cecil stopped the healing and began tending to the others.


    Thankfully, Xin, Marylyn, and Robin were okay. Cecil wouldn''t know how to face his little sister if he informed her that her friends were killed under his watch.


    After Ren was able to get up properly, Cecil immediately ordered him to grab all of the injured and quickly make his way towards the city''s transfer gate.


    Ren eyed the other people who were silently strewn about on the floor without a hint of life in them and he couldn''t help but ask, "Master...what about¡ª"


    "They''re all dead. I can''t heal dead people..."


    "!"


    Cecil had already spread his Mana Sense around and quickly identified those who were still alive and those that were already killed.


    He quickly helped those that were still alive while ignoring those who were already dead. It was a bit cold of him, but he didn''t really know the other people who had come and although they had all participated in the trials together for so long, Cecil was rather indifferent to them since they were, in all honesty, a burden to him.


    It was already great that he had brought them along with him through the trial. It was only their own misfortune that they were weak and that such an absurd monster was waiting for them on the fourth floor''s trial.


    Ren looked slightly dismayed by his master''s answer and Cecil quickly noticed this.


    "The attack from earlier even injured me so there''s nothing I can do for them. The sound wave completely disintegrated their unprotected organs, killing them instantly..."


    "I-It injured Master...?"


    "Yes, apparently, everyone below the mana sea stage died in that attack. We can''t stay here any longer! If that monster attacks a second time, not even those at the Mana Sea stage would be spared!"


    "I-I''ll go gather the others¡ª"


    "Wake those 3 up and have them help!" Cecil cut him off and urgently said as he felt some movement from the monster that had attacked them. He couldn''t identify what this monster was exactly so he could only deduce that it was yet again an Ancient species.


    The abilities of the ancient monsters were unpredictable and unknown to him so it was better for their entire group to quickly head to the trial''s transfer gate and get out of this stage before the monster attacked them again.


    "Y-yes, Master!" Ren hastily replied. He quickly went over to wake Marylyn, Robin, and Xin up.


    "Quickly gather the ones still alive and injured. My clone will heal them while I''ll go search for the others! Just follow after the clone to the transfer and pick up anyone you find on your way!"


    After leaving those words behind, Cecil quickly used Nature''s Shift again and arrived at where Cecilia and her group was resting at. Cecil found the high priestess and a few of her priests protected behind a barrier and was administering aid to the holy knights in their group.


    Cecilia immediately noticed him and cried out, "Sir Cecil! Please help! My sister¡ªmy sister is dying!"


    "Move aside!" Cecil rushed forward in the next instant after hearing her words.


    Cecil quickly saw his pale-faced sister-in-law lying on the ground, seemingly lifeless. He placed a hand on her chest and immediately began channeling his Ki into her body.


    "...What happened? How many of your people died?"


    "N-none...my sister was able to protect everyone in time so we had no casualties..." Cecilia replied tearfully while looking down on her lifeless sister.


    Thankfully, there was still some life in Celestina so Cecil was confident that he would be able to save her.


    "How did¡ª"


    "My sister''s always been sensitive to mana. So, when she felt the pulse of mana heading in our direction, she quickly put up a protective barrier around us, but¡ª"


    "She couldn''t put one around herself in time...tch, so reckless..."


    Cecilia nodded tearfully at his words, but she quickly composed herself and began tending to the injured in her party.


    Cecil still had one more group to check on so he left the healing and guidance to another one of his clones. After his recent upgrade, creating another clone was no longer a burden to him. As for splitting his consciousness in 3, it was easier since he had his hypersensitivity and his body''s upgrade had also included an increase in his brain''s overall capacity.


    He quickly used Blink and arrived at Karen''s location. Unlike the other two groups who were resting, Karen and her knights were out exploring the area so their people were dispersed throughout the city.


    Cecil had kept his Mana Sense on the monster and continued monitoring its movements. He noticed that although it wasn''t moving from its position, magic circles had suddenly appeared on the tips of its numerous tentacles.


    "Karen, dodge!" Cecil cried out. Even though he told her to dodge, he was already pushing away the girl who had just unstably gotten up.


    "Wh¡ªArgh!"


    A black spike shot out of the magic circle that had suddenly appeared above Karen''s previous location. Similar magic circles had appeared behind Cecil, but he had long since noticed it and had defended against the black spike that shot out of it.


    This attack wasn''t only aimed at them. Gray magic circles had appeared in the air and on the ground all around the city and similar black spikes shot out of them and attacked every human present in the city.


    When Cecil took a closer look at the black spike that was connected to the gray magic circle, he noticed that the spike was actually the tips of the monster''s tentacles.


    "Spatial magic?" Cecil exclaimed in shock.


    The black tentacle began wriggling and was about to strike out at him again, but Cecil quickly took action and cut the tentacles into pieces.


    He didn''t forget to pull out his other swords and he sent them flying towards the other tentacle which was aimed at Karen.


    The young princess was still disorientated from the previous sound wave attack so she wasn''t in any condition to fight back.


    Cecil saw that the tentacle immediately began to regenerate so he quickly flashed next to Karen and pulled her away from the area.


    "L-Lord Cecil... w-what happened?"


    "We were attacked by a monster. It''s not something I can deal with so we should quickly head towards the transfer gate to the next floor!"


    Karen knew that her injuries were heavy so she didn''t even struggle within Cecil''s arms and just limply laid there.


    "Lord Cecil...my men...what about my¡ª"


    "...I can''t save them all..."


    "..."


    Karen had an anguished look on her face after Cecil''s reply. Time was short and with the monster''s black tentacles threatening them, he didn''t have enough time or capacity to worry about anyone else.


    It was already fortunate and caring enough that he went out of his way to retrieve Karen and the girl herself knew this so she couldn''t demand any more from him. She was already thankful that he rescued her.


    "We can try and save as many as we can while we move. I''ll heal you so get ready to start running."


    "...thank you..."


    Cecil poured his Ki into Karen''s body and began healing her injuries while at the same time he manipulated his 6 weapons to defend against the monster''s attacks.


    "This is bad...that monster can use spatial magic...if he floods this city with water..."


    Cecil grimaced at the thought so he quickly hastened his healing technique and soon after, Karen was able to stand on her own two feet again.


    "Follow me. We''ll head straight to the transfer gate. The other groups are already headed that way. If we find anyone on the way, we''ll rescue them."


    Karen nodded and said, "Alright."


    "Watch your back. I can only do so much to protect you."


    "You don''t have to worry about me, Lord Cecil."


    "Hm."

 Chapter 436 - An Unparalleled Monster 3

    Cecil and Karen made their way towards the city''s inner floors. Along the way, the two had to combat against the numerous black tentacles that appeared through the spatial magic circles that randomly popped out.


    They were able to rescue a few of Karen''s knights but some were beyond saving so they had to unwillingly abandon them.


    Rescuing the knights weren''t a problem. The problem was that the magic circles that would randomly appear grew larger and stronger as time passed. Bigger and stronger tentacles passed through the magic circles and it became tougher for Cecil to defend against them.


    Their strength increased to the point where Cecil struggled to even chop one in half with his techniques. It became even harder for him to defend against the tentacles and as their group''s size grew, the harder it became for them to even move forward.


    It was a relief that they were already close to the sky fortress''s inner-city teleportation formation so all they had to do was breakthrough a few more blocks and pass-through this formation. The problem was that the next stage''s transfer gate that Cecil found was situated in the core area of the sky fortress so they would have to pass through a few teleportation formations to get there.


    "Lord Cecil, how are the other groups? Were they able to safely arrive at the inner city?" Karen asked after she deflected a tentacle that was aiming for her head.


    "My clones are with them so they''re safe. I was able to get to them first and their members were together so they retained most of the people in the group..."


    "That''s good...are we getting close?"


    "The teleportation formation is just past this block. We have to hurry. Since everyone else is now in the inner city, the tentacles here are all focused on us so it''ll only get harder for us..." Cecil said.


    He gathered his mana and fired an Ascending Blade in front of him and disintegrated all of the tentacles in his path and even caused the spatial magic circles to collapse along the way.


    Seeing the magic circles collapse, Cecil had a revelation.


    "The magic spell was interrupted...if I can destroy the magic circles I can probably cancel the spell''s activation!"


    Cecil wanted to immediately test this out so he let go of his Adamantium Gunsword and pulled out a few knives from his spatial ring.


    He activated the first stage of his Hyper Sensitivity and waited for the spatial magic circles to appear. Once the first magic circle began forming, Cecil quickly detected it and focused his attention on the circle.


    With his Mana Eyes, Cecil was able to observe in real-time as the magic formation slowly formed in the air just above him.


    He quickly wrapped mana around the knife in his hand and aimed for the critical point of the magic circle. He threw the knife and quickly exploded it after it struck the magic circle.


    "Yes, it worked!"


    "Huh?!"


    "H-he canceled the magic spell?"


    The people following behind him saw Cecil''s quick actions and noticed that he had suddenly canceled a magic spell from invoking just by destroying the spell''s magic circle. Normally, if one tried to aim an attack at an opponent''s magic circle, all it would do was phase through the circle without anything happening.


    However, from Cecil''s earlier Ascending Blade, he noticed that if an abrupt surge of mana was forcefully injected into a magic circle, it would allow him to interrupt its casting. In theory, any human should be able to do it, but the only problem was locating the point of where they should inject that mana into.


    Thanks to his sight and his new technique, Cecil was able to locate that point but even then, if a person did have a similar ability to his which let them find the critical point of a spell''s magic circle, there was the problem of whether their actions were quick enough to interrupt the magic spell before it was invoked.


    The magic circle of a spell would only appear for a brief moment before it was invoked and would quickly disappear right after. It was an impossible feat for just about anyone, but with Cecil''s abilities, it wasn''t impossible for him.


    Of course, this method of interruption would take quite the toll on Cecil since he would have to use his Hyper Sensitive state.


    "...it looks like I''ll have to create a pair of guns for myself. It''s easier to just aim and pull a trigger than to throw knives around..." Cecil mumbled to himself.


    He stayed in his Hyper Sensitive state and continued to cancel the ancient monster''s spatial magic spell. Cecil didn''t only use the moment to interrupt the monster''s spell but he also recorded in his mind the numerous runes that constituted the spatial spell''s magic circle.


    He would take the monster''s spell and learn how to use it for himself. Any sort of spatial magic was useful and this one was a battle-oriented spell that would undoubtedly be very useful to him.


    "It''s just up ahead. Everyone, quickly get onto the transfer circle and activate it! I''ll continue to cancel the monster''s magic so hurry!"


    Karen and her surviving knights and mages quickly got onto the transfer circle and began injecting their mana into it. While in the meantime, Cecil continued to perform his magic cancellation. The circle began to slowly light up and it soon activated, quickly whisking them away from the outer city and into the inner city.


    ******


    Ren had met up with Cecilia and her group while they were on their way to the inner city''s teleportation formation. Ren was relieved to see that Celestina was okay while Cecilia was rather sad to see that her sister''s group had been reduced by a substantial amount.


    Cecilia was fully aware of how weak the people of the Silvaria Kingdom were so she feared the worst after she remembered that it wasn''t only her group that was affected by the mysterious sound attack.


    She didn''t know what had attacked them but she assumed that whatever it was, it was strong. The attack from earlier was monstrously powerful but Cecilia didn''t fear too much because, on their side, they had the similarly monstrous Cecil.


    If anyone could get them out of their predicament, it was going to be him. For now, they would move to the next stage''s transfer circle and forgo getting any sort of reward from this floor because of the dangerous situation they were in.


    Once Cecil took care of the monster or whatever it was that attacked them, they''d be able to rest for a while before going out to look for some treasures.


    It was unfortunate however since Cecilia''s wishful thinking was immediately dashed by Ren''s words.


    "S-sir Cecil was...was injured?!" Cecilia exclaimed incredulously.


    "Yes...whatever it was that attacked us was able to injure my Master... Also, it wasn''t any light injury, he said," Ren said with a frown.


    "...All the more reason why we have to get to the next stage...if we stay here any longer¡ª"


    "¡ªwe''ll all die."


    After finishing Cecilia''s words, Ren pinched his brow and sighed.


    "...How is my Master''s sister-in-law?"


    "She''s doing alright...Cecil''s clone is continuing her treatment, but her life is no longer in danger at least," Cecilia replied while turning her head over to look at Cecil''s clone which was carrying her unconscious sister.


    "That''s good... we lost too many from the initial sound wave attack. Unfortunately, my Master couldn''t save any of them since they directly died from the attack."


    "We''re all lucky to have survived."


    "Yes," Ren nodded in agreement.


    He was lucky. No, he was very lucky. If Ren had participated in the trials without his master, then he would have died today. The thought itself really frightened him and he couldn''t help but think about Angelia.


    Just how did that little girl who was younger than him even survive past this stage? The better question was, did she even pass this stage at all?


    Ren remembered his teacher saying that he had lost their trail. He couldn''t help but think maybe his master lost the trail because they had...died, maybe?


    Ren shook his head and denied such thoughts.


    ''Yeah, there''s no way that kid would die that easily...she has so many strong monsters. I bet she eked a way out somehow and passed through to the next stage...''


    While Ren was thinking as such, Cecilia tried asking him, "Where''s Sir Cecil?"


    "Master? I think he went to rescue Karen and her knights?"


    "So they''re behind us?"


    Ren nodded in affirmation. This caused Cecilia to be a little worried.


    She had long since noticed that the number of tentacles that attacked them after reaching the inner city had toned down by quite a bit. The only worries they had to deal with were the moving mechanical dolls that protected the inner city and the occasional spatial magic formation that would send out a black tentacle to harass them.


    "Let''s hurry and find the transfer gate! My master is connected to his clones so he''ll know of our whereabouts. We can just go straight to the transfer gate without worrying about Master!"


    "Mhm, but I''m a little bit concerned..." Cecilia voiced.


    Ren only shook his head at her words and said, "Don''t be. My Master isn''t weak enough for us to be concerned about him. If anything, we should be concerned about ourselves. We have to get to the transfer gate before Master catches up with us."


    "...I guess you''re right..."


    The group continued to move forwards while combating against the sky fortress''s mechanical guardians and the occasional attack from the ancient monster''s tentacles.


    *****


    In the administrative subspace, the wisp of light which was the administrator continued to observe how much more dangerous his target became with each passing minute.


    It was like all of the trials that it had sent to the young man only served to strengthen him instead of killing him.


    The Ancient Devil Kraken, the monster that was supposed to be sealed on the fourth stage''s floor, was supposed to act as a final barrier for the trial''s participants. Well, not the ancient Kraken itself but its offspring who were only a few levels below its strength.


    However, because Cecil was the one partaking in the trial, the administrator had purposefully released a partial bit of the Ancient Devil Kraken''s seal in hopes of the monster being able to kill Cecil since he didn''t want to use his original plan which was supposed to be his final resort.


    "Grrr...looks like I''ll have to use that plan instead. All I''m doing is powering this bastard up!"


    The administrator quickly tightened the seal around the Ancient Kraken and let Cecil and his teammates get to the next floor.


    On this floor, he would begin implementing his real plan to get rid of Cecil.

 Chapter 437 - Humans?

    While the administrator was so focused on Cecil''s situation, it had failed to see that something even more troubling was taking place on the fifth stage of the trial.


    Underneath all of the hot sand of the fifth stage, Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira was currently exploring the ancient underground ruins that they fell into after being sucked under the sand.


    From first observation, Gabriel figured that the ruins he was exploring were some sort of city, but after taking his time to explore and observe the place, it was a city, and yet, it wasn''t.


    The presumed city seemed to be more of a large factory complex that had many sectors to it. As for what kind of things that were manufactured in this large factory, he couldn''t quite figure that out.


    "Big brother, the quest objective is supposed to be somewhere in here, right?" Angelia asked for the umpteenth time.


    "Yes, Angel."


    "So where is it then~?!" Angelia screamed out in anger.


    They had walked through the entirety of the underground ruins and couldn''t find a single thing other than the monsters which would suddenly pop up from time to time.


    Angelia and the other two couldn''t find the power station of the factory ruins so they couldn''t continue with their quest. The quest itself sounded easy, but the problem of where the power station was located served to be quite the obstacle.


    "Take a break for today, Angelia. We already searched the northern underground caves today so we should proceed to the final caves in the south. Since it''s not located inside the ruins complex, then it''s probably somewhere at the end of all these tunnels which lead back to here," Gabriel said.


    His reasoning was correct, but Angelia was fed up with it. They had come out from one of the underground caves which led to the ruins and after exploring the ruins and not finding the power station which was their quest objective, Gabriel concluded that the only other place the power station would be in was at the end of one of the tunnels.


    With that in mind, Gabriel decided that they should also explore and investigate the caves one by one until they found the ruins'' power station. They had spent who knows how many days to explore every one of those caves until finally, all that they needed to do was explore the 3 final caves.


    Gabriel firmly believed that the power station was at the end of one of these 3 caves. If not, then he wouldn''t know what to do after that.


    Just before the two were about to head back to the building where they set up their temporary residence, Kira was seen rushing towards them from the south side of the factory complex in a frantic matter.


    "Judging by his face...I''m guessing it''s something urgent," Angelia said with a huff.


    "Captain! Lady Angelia!" Kira called out to them.


    "What is it, Kira?"


    "L-Lady Angelia, I...I found something on the south side!"


    "It better be the power station!"


    "W-well..."


    "Well?"


    "I-It''s not the power station¡ª"


    "Don''t waste our time Kira! We have to prioritize finding the station! Why would you waste your time on something else?!" Angelia exclaimed in irritation.


    "B-but Lady Angelia, Captain, the two of you really must take a look at this. There are humans here!"


    "Huh?"


    "Show us, Kira," Gabriel said.


    "Follow me!"


    With Kira in the lead, the trio quickly made their way to the western district which housed the factory complex''s storage warehouses.


    They had already swept through that area just yesterday and only found some broken scraps of metal and equipment so Gabriel and Angelia were surprised that Kira had actually found humans there.


    Gabriel concluded that the humans that Kira found weren''t people who were originally there but participants of the trial just like them who came a few days after they swept through the area.


    They already knew about the nature of the trials so the 3 knew that they were unlikely to be the only ones participating.


    Right now, rather than being cautious, Gabriel was rather glad to have encountered some people because for the past weeks since they were forcefully pulled into the trials, they hadn''t met up with any other people.


    They arrived in the western district and Kira led them towards one particular warehouse which was much smaller than the rest. It seemed inconspicuous at first glance, but if one took a closer look, it was the most conspicuous since it was situated in the middle of the western district and was the only warehouse that was smaller than the rest of the warehouses.


    Gabriel and Angelia at first thought that this small warehouse was some sort of relay for the people who once worked in the factory complex so they didn''t pay it too much mind after giving the place a cursory sweep.


    They, unfortunately, didn''t have Cecil''s Mana Sense so they wouldn''t be able to notice that there was actually an underground floor which was connected to a hidden elevator at the far side of the small warehouse.


    Luckily for them, Kira''s specialty was detection so he was able to find it after giving the place a much closer inspection. Kira led Gabriel and Angelia towards an empty wall, placed his hand on a particular spot on the wall which at first glance didn''t have anything special to it.


    If one took a closer look, they would be able to see the slight difference between that spot and the rest of the wall. It had a slight indention which after Kira pressed down on was pushed back and slid upwards, revealing some sort of panel behind it.


    "What''s this?" Angelia curiously asked.


    "It''s some kind of access panel, Lady Angelia. One sec, let me activate it," Kira replied.


    "Does it respond to...mana?"


    "Yes, captain, but get this. It''s not just any kind of mana, but mana unique to ours!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "This panel doesn''t respond to elemental mana. It only responds to non-elemental mana which, fortunately, we possess!" Kira exclaimed excitedly.


    He was naturally curious about this. From what he learned, the only people who could possess non-elemental mana were those from Earth and the people from the Non Continent.


    If this place was part of the trial, then it meant that this particular area could only be accessed by people with special constitutions or them, the Earthlings.


    "That''s great and all, but so what? Hurry up and activate it and lead us to these people you''ve found," Angelia quipped.


    "Wait a minute. It takes a minute or two to activate... My mana reserves are low and it takes a while for me to channel the required amount of mana to activate the elevator."


    "Move aside, Kira, let me do it then!" Angelia said as she gently pushed Kira aside.


    "O-Okay..."


    "All I have to do is channel my mana into this panel, right?"


    "Yup!"


    Angelia immediately did that and not long after, the panel lit up. A rectangular light lit up on the wall and the wall slid to the side and revealed a room behind it.


    When they walked into the room, Angelia and Gabriel looked around and found it rather familiar.


    "This really is an elevator..." Gabriel mumbled.


    "Yes, but it only leads to one floor below. Anyway, that''s the place where I found the humans!"


    Kira tapped onto the only button on the inside of the elevator and the wall from earlier slid down and the elevator''s door closed. They immediately felt the elevator slowly descend in the next instant.


    "These humans you found...did they show you any hostility?" Gabriel asked while they waited for the elevator to arrive on the underground floor.


    Kira immediately replied to Gabriel''s question, "That''s the thing, Captain. They were all asleep inside these weird pods."


    "Huh?"


    "The pods were also collecting dust so it''s like they were asleep inside the pods for a very long time. I''m not sure how long, but I''m guessing a couple of years or more."


    "...So there were people who had come here before us..."


    "They couldn''t finish the trials and decided to just wait it out here?" Angelia added after thinking for a moment.


    "I hope that''s not the case. If they couldn''t complete this trial''s stage then what about us?" Gabriel spoke up and said.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two children became mum after Gabriel''s words.


    "Anyways, we''ll find out soon enough after we wake them up."


    "C-captain, are you sure it''s a good idea to wake them up? What happens if they''re hostile and attack us the moment they wake up?"


    "You shouldn''t worry about that, Kira. You should be more worried about whether or not they''re even still alive after sleeping for so long," Angelia added.


    "Ah...Uhm...Yeah..."


    "It''s better to wake them up anyway. If they are people from the previous trials then we can ask them for some information before putting them back to sleep," Gabriel said.


    The elevator stopped moving right after his words and the elevator''s doors opened.


    The three stepped out of the elevator and looked around the underground floor that the elevator led them to.


    "Over there. Those are the pods that the humans are sleeping in!" Kira said while pointing towards the large pods that were covered in a layer of thick dust.


    There was only one that was partially cleaned which was most likely the pod that Kira had looked into to find the human.


    When Gabriel walked over and peered into the pod, he saw a n.a.k.e.d human sleeping inside it. What more, the human sleeping inside was actually a young girl...


    "..."


    "Big bro, Kira... you perverts..."

 Chapter 438 - Unit Number 01

    Gabriel was shocked to see the n.a.k.e.d young lady sleeping inside the pod and he became even more shocked and embarrassed by his younger sister''s comment.


    He blushed in shame at her words but tried to keep himself composed.


    "It''s not my fault that she''s n.a.k.e.d, is it?"


    "Then you should keep your eyes off of her now, right?" Angelia countered.


    "..."


    "I saw you looking at the girl for a good few seconds. Savoring the sight?"


    "Please, let''s not dwell on that. Also, clean up the rest of the pods and we''ll try to wake them up."


    "Sure~ big brother," Angelia said in a teasing tone.


    Gabriel tapped her forehead with his finger and just went over to the other pods. Each pod similarly had a n.a.k.e.d person sleeping inside of them. After cleaning every one of them, Gabriel noticed a slight peculiarity with all of the humans inside the pods.


    "These humans... why don''t I feel any life in them? Are they all dead...?" Gabriel questioned.


    "I can''t feel any life in them...but I do feel mana still circulating in them. It''s faint, but it''s there. So I think they''re still alive?" Kira said.


    "Let''s just wake them up. We''ll be able to find out whether or not they''re alive then!" Angelia said.


    "Wait...let me find it first. You two don''t touch anything!" Gabriel warned the two children before walking over to a large control panel with numerous buttons and screens on it.


    The setup of the room was rather modern and greatly resembled that of a science laboratory. The only difference was that the language used wasn''t English or any of Earth''s native languages.


    Gabriel looked at the control board and was a bit confused. He didn''t know which button or panel started the awakening sequence of the people inside the pods. He didn''t want to recklessly touch something that may cause harm to the sleeping people.


    "Hmm, there should be some symbol here that¡ªoh, this must be it? Hopefully...?"


    Gabriel saw a panel that had what seemed to be the universal sign of activation or something similar to that. Just before he was about to press it, the black crystal that had been hovering above his head sent him a message straight to his mind.


    The message translated the words and symbols on the panel he was just about to fiddle with.


    [Termination Sequence Start Up]


    "Eh?"


    Gabriel quickly retracted his hand away from the panel and looked at the black crystal. He moved his hand close to the panel again and the message was once again projected into his mind.


    He started moving his hand close to the other buttons, keyboards, and panels on the control board, and more messages were projected into his head until he finally found the one he was looking for.


    [Awakening Sequence Start Up]


    "Huh, so it''s this one. Weird symbol to indicate ''awakening''..." Gabriel said to himself.


    "Big bro, did you find it already?!" Angelia called out impatiently.


    "Yeah, I just did. One second."


    "Hurry up~"


    Gabriel quickly pressed down on the button that started up the awakening sequence but he was only met with a long message that was projected into his mind after pressing the button. Then a message appeared on the large screen located in the middle of the control board.


    [Initiate the Calibration Upload]


    Gabriel continued to move according to the instructions that were given to him. He thought that the black crystal was rather convenient, being able to translate all of the messages from a foreign language that he didn''t recognize.


    Finally, the final step to the pod''s awakening sequence was reached.


    [Ego Synchronization and Authority Transfer Sequence]


    [Provide one drop of your blood]


    "A drop of my blood?"


    Gabriel hesitated for a bit but after getting to this step, he didn''t want to turn back. He quickly placed his hand on top of the panel that had suddenly popped up and felt a slight prick on the center of his palm.


    The panel dropped back into the control board and the awakening process finally began. Gabriel clenched and unclenched his hand repeatedly. He was staring oddly onto the weird pattern that had suddenly appeared on his hand after he placed it on top of the panel that pricked his palm for the drop of blood for the awakening process.


    He shook his head and waited for the people sleeping inside the pods to wake up. Angelia and Kira were waiting in anticipation after seeing Gabriel finally finish executing the awakening process.


    It took a while so Angelia was bored. She was naturally curious about the people inside of the pods so she couldn''t wait for them to come out.


    However, contrary to her expectations, the people in the pods weren''t immediately awakened. Instead, some weird transparent blue fluid started flooding into their pods.


    "B-brother, are you sure you executed their awakening process?! How come they''re being drowned in that fluid instead?!"


    "Uhh, I think that fluid is some kind of energy injection? I mean, they''ve been sleeping inside those pods for who knows how long, right? They''d be weak so maybe this¡ª"


    "C-Captain, I don''t think that''s the case. Look!"


    The three quickly came over to the first pod that held the young lady and saw something magical happening inside the pod that was now flooded with the transparent fluid.


    Clothes began forming around the young lady''s n.a.k.e.d body. Once the clothes formed, next came the armor which in Angelia and Kira''s eyes, looked really cool. After that, the blue liquid began forming weapons which were held or wrapped around the young lady''s arms, legs, and other body parts.


    "W-what is this?!" Gabriel exclaimed in shock.


    "Cool!"


    "Wow!"


    The two children however were amazed at this development. Once the blue fluid was completely depleted, the young lady inside the pod had transformed into a metal Valkyrie. The same went for the other humans inside the pods.


    They all looked really powerful at a glance. This made Gabriel cautious. He was afraid that once these people stepped out of their sleeping pods, they''d immediately attack Angelia, Kira, and himself.


    Before he could contemplate any further, the lids on the pods began opening. Gabriel immediately pulled the two children away and moved back towards the elevator. He slapped his hand onto the wall and injected his mana into it, quickly opening up the elevator''s door.


    "H-hey, what gives, big bro?!"


    "C-Captain?"


    Angelia and Kira exclaimed together in confusion.


    "You two, get into the elevator! Once these humans show any signs of hostility, hit the button and run away!" Gabriel commanded. His words left no room for argument so the two children could only nod their heads in compliance. Kira stayed near the button while Angelia peered through the open door and watched as the now armed humans stepped out of their sleeping pods.


    "..."


    Gabriel remained vigilant as he eyed the humans who now stood in front of their opened pods. Their genders and forms varied, but the most eye-catching one was without a doubt the young lady from the first pod who was now in the form of a fierce-looking metal Valkyrie.


    All of their eyes were closed and they just stood idly in front of their pods without making any movements. After a few seconds passed, the Valkyrie was the first one to open their eyes. The young lady blinked a few times and looked blankly ahead before looking around.


    She eyed the others like her and nodded before she looked around elsewhere like she was searching for something.


    Gabriel saw this and readied his weapon while gesturing towards Angelia and Gabriel to get ready.


    When the young lady saw Gabriel, her eyes scanned him for a moment before she began walking over to him.


    "Stop!" Gabriel quickly said in warning when he saw her movement.


    The Valkyrie immediately stopped in place. Gabriel frowned a little before asking, "Who are you?"


    "%*%&#*. @*&%#!"


    The young lady spoke in an unknown language that Gabriel didn''t understand, but thankfully for him when he heard the words the black crystal quickly translated it for him.


    [Foreign Language Detected. Searching Database... Downloading Language]


    "...What?" Gabriel involuntarily questioned and surprisingly, the young lady was able to fluently reply to his question in the next second.


    "Unit Number 01, Valkyrie Model. What are your orders, commander?" The girl said in a rather stiff and mechanical way.


    "Eh?"


    The words coming out of the young lady''s mouth were understandable now, and yet, Gabriel could only reply with a dumb look on his face as if he couldn''t understand what the young lady was saying.


    "Come again?"


    "I am Unit Number 01, Valkyrie Model. Commander, what are your orders?" The young girl repeated. This time, her wording wasn''t so stiff, but her tone was still cold and robotic.


    "..."

 Chapter 439 - Relics of the Past

    Gabriel looked confusedly at her before asking, "What do you want from me?"


    "My next mission, Commander," The girl replied stiffly.


    "What mission? And why do you keep addressing me as ''commander''? I don''t even know you..."


    "Administrative Authority has been handed to you so you are my¡ªthis squadron''s commander."


    "Squadron? What do you¡ª"


    Before he could continue asking, the other humans who were standing in front of the pods began showing some activity.


    "Threat Detected!" The young lady quickly said before she rapidly turned around and the metal surrounding her arms quickly transformed into long blades.


    Gabriel was alarmed by the hostile change, but the reason for it soon became apparent. One of the humans that woke up suddenly began screaming for some reason.


    "GAAAAAHHH!!!"


    "W-what''s happening?!" Gabriel exclaimed.


    The young lady only eyed the screaming human and she coldly said, "Anomaly detected. Unit Number 04, Ego Transplant Incomplete. Visible signs of Mental Meltdown. Threat Level: 7, proceeding to eliminate before energy core meltdown sequence initiates."


    When Gabriel heard the word ''eliminate'' he felt that something bad was about to happen. Before he could say anything, however, the young girl from earlier had already dashed towards her screaming counterpart with her weapons raised in the next instant.


    Feeling the killing intent that the girl who identified herself as Unit 01 aim towards the human who similarly woke up from the pod just like her, Gabriel was bewildered.


    "H-Hey, wait!"


    Unit 01 didn''t listen to him, however. She was already upon her counterpart and she slashed down with her blades. One blade swung down on the person''s head, lopping it off, while the other blade stabbed through their heart.


    Gabriel was speechless when he saw this. He wanted to say something, but the next thing he saw was even more absurd. Instead of blood that spilled through the person''s wounds, a transparent blue liquid flowed out and when the girl, Unit 01, pulled out her blade from the person''s chest, something else also came out with it.


    "Th-that''s not a heart..." Gabriel involuntarily said upon seeing the object that was pulled out of the human''s chest. It looked to be some sort of complex mechanical contraption instead of a heart.


    "Threat eliminated. Retrieval of the Energy Core complete. Starting up the absorption process."


    The mechanical contraption that was pulled out of the dead human''s body suddenly disappeared and the young lady turned back towards Gabriel and repeated her earlier words.


    "Commander, the threat has been eliminated. What are your orders?"


    "W-wait a minute... Tell me...what are you and what are those people behind you? You guys obviously aren''t human!" Gabriel exclaimed, demanding an answer.


    "We are the first automaton squadron. We have been awakened by you, Commander. When is the war starting?"


    "War? What war?"


    "The war against the Fallen..."


    "The Fallen?"


    "The Fallen, extraterrestrial organisms that travel from one world to another to consume the planet''s core and assimilate the planet''s inhabitants into their ranks. Zombie-like creatures that can parasitize a host and transform them into one of their own¡ª"


    "E-Enough, there''s no war here. We''re currently inside of the Myriad Tower of Strife, participating in some kind of trial or something. If you have any information about this, please tell me."


    "Searching Database. Myriad Tower of Strife. Trials of the Ancients."


    Gabriel then listened to a long description of what the Tower was and the Trials of the Ancients. It was all news to him and he even touched upon the worldly threat known as the Fallen and the people who fought against them, the ancients.


    The young girl also explained that she as well as the other 8 who were awakened from the pods were created by being called the Ancients and were weapons of war that were designed to specifically combat the Fallen.


    Half of the things the girl told him were unintelligible gibberish to him. There was no war and as for things called Ancients and the Fallen, there was no such thing according to his knowledge, at least.


    Gabriel had been given access to Cecil and Quinn''s massive information network and had absorbed all of the info he could yet there was nothing in their network''s database that depicted of beings called the Ancients or the Fallen.


    The only thing he was able to half-believe was the information about the trials and the tower as well as the information about the people who were sleeping inside of the pods.


    It turned out that these ''humans'' were exactly humans. They were human-like automatons that were created by the beings known as the Ancients and they were specifically designed weapons of war.


    ???So you aren''t humans?"


    "Correction. We are human-based automaton and our bodies are human. So, in a sense, we are human."


    "O-Okay¡ªwait, what?"


    "We are automatons that were created using human bodies as a base."


    "..."


    Gabriel felt like he just heard something dangerous. He wanted to question her further, but the other automatons began showing some activity behind the young lady.


    "Unit 02, reporting for duty."


    "Unit 03, reporting for duty."


    "Unit, 05, reporting for duty."


    ...


    ...


    "Unit 10, reporting for duty"


    The remaining 8 automata lined up behind Unit 01 in a neat 2-line file and reported to Gabriel. They too treated him like their leader.


    It was bewildering but after Gabriel gave it some thought, he remembered the awakening process and was reminded that he had given up a drop of his blood to wake them up. That part was also the Authority Transfer or something so the automaton probably treated him like their leader because he was the one that woke them up.


    "Commander, the war hasn''t started. So why were we awaken?" Unit 01 asked.


    "I''m not sure whether or not this war of yours will even occur, but I woke you all up because I thought you were humans who were participating in the tower''s trials."


    "Negative. We are not trial participants."


    "...Well, at least you guys gave me some info about the trials. If you want to go back to sleep, I can put you all¡ª"


    "Negative. We do not want to be put back into the coffin."


    "Coffin?"


    "It is the name of the pods that we rest in."


    "...What a weird name."


    "..."


    Only the young girl called Unit 01 was speaking on behalf of everyone else in their squadron. It seems like she was the leader. Gabriel was a little miffed by the fact that the leader was cold and unfeeling, even for an automaton.


    She had cleanly executed one of her own without a second thought once she detected that there was some kind of malfunction in their system.


    "Commander, what will you have us do?"


    "...Just follow me. If you have a map of this factory complex, give it to me. We need to find the Power Station."


    A young man from the back of the line quickly stepped out and walked towards Gabriel. He bowed his head towards Gabriel and said, "Unit 08, Navigator Class. Here is a map of the factory complex, Commander."


    The automaton handed Gabriel a mechanical orb and pressed down on the red ''eye'' on the orb and a holographic map was projected just above the orb. Gabriel''s eyes widened when he saw this.


    "W-wow...not even Earth had this kind of technology yet..."


    The map showed their current location and the most direct path towards the factory''s power station. It was actually in the southern district which they had already explored but was located underground.


    It was in a building similar to this one so it was understandable that they hadn''t been able to find it since it took Kira a while to find this underground storage area.


    "Thanks. Let''s get topside then."


    Gabriel said before handing back the orb to Unit 08 and turning around and walking towards the elevator. Both Angelia and Kira were still curiously peering out of the elevator door so when they saw Gabriel walking towards them with the 9 people walking behind him, they immediately stepped out of the elevator, knowing that it was safe, and rushed towards Gabriel.


    Upon seeing the 2 unidentified humans rushing towards her commander, Unit 01 quickly pulled out her weapons and was just about to rush in front of Gabriel to ''defend'' him, but thankfully, Gabriel quickly noticed her actions.


    "Threat Detected. Unidentified Female Human, threat level: EX. Unidentified Male Human, threat level¡ª"


    "STOP!"


    Gabriel quickly yelled. Unit 01 froze in place while Angelia and Kira arrived next to Gabriel.


    "Big bro, are they good?"


    "Captain, they''re not a threat?"


    The two immediately asked. They had turned a bit cautious after seeing Unit 01''s actions. It was like she was going to attack them just because they were going to approach Gabriel.


    "01, these two are not threats."


    "Understood, Commander," Unit 01 replied and quickly retracted her blades.


    Gabriel shook his head at how stiff and mechanical the girl was replying. Angelia and Gabriel were both surprised to hear that the girl called Gabriel her Commander.


    "What''s this, big brother?"


    "Why did she call you commander, captain?"


    "...It''s a long story. Anyway, I found the power station. They''ll be joining us so get along. Let''s go finish this stage''s quest."

 Chapter 440 - Relics of the Past 2

    They all couldn''t fit into the elevator so they would need to take turns.


    Unit 01 looked back towards the other units in her squadron and walked into the elevator, following behind Gabriel, Kira, and Angelia.


    "Commander, the others will quickly retrieve whatever materials that are salvageable in this area before heading up," Unit 01 said.


    "Alright."


    "Hey, do you have a name?" Angelia suddenly asked.


    "..."


    Unit 01 remained indifferent and didn''t bother responding to Angelia''s question.


    Seeing that she was being given the cold shoulder, Angelia pouted and yelled, "Hey! Don''t ignore me!"


    Unit 01 didn''t respond until Gabriel finally said something.


    "She''s my little sister and this one is from my team. If you can, please don''t ignore them, 01."


    "Understood, Commander."


    "So your name is 01?" Angelia asked after hearing the ''name'' from her brother.


    "Yes," Unit 01 curtly replied.


    "That''s a number, not a name!"


    "..."


    "Brother, she''s ignoring me again!"


    "I think she''s a little speechless that you said that her name wasn''t a name," Gabriel replied.


    "Hmmm, why don''t we give her a name?"


    "Hmm...Not a bad idea. It''s a bit awkward to call you by a number, even though you are an automaton."


    "Understood. What would commander like to name me?"


    "Let''s see...how about Valkyrie?"


    "That is my model. Under that human female''s classification, that is not considered a ''name''."


    "Hey! I have a name, thank you very much! It''s Angelia! My name''s Angelia!"


    "..."


    Unit 01 didn''t reply to Angelia''s cry and just waited for Gabriel to give her a name.


    "Uhh...how about... we call you Hana?"


    In one of Earth''s languages, Hana meant one which fit well with Unit 01''s numbering. Unit 01 seemed to be deep in thought after Gabriel gave her the name. She remained silent and didn''t comment on the name so Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira couldn''t tell whether she accepted it or not.


    When the elevator arrived on the ground floor, Unit 01 finally opened her mouth and said, "Hana...Commander, I''ll graciously accept this name. Please give a name to the rest of the other units."


    "S-sure..." Gabriel replied a little strained. Unit 01¡ªor rather, Hana, walked out of the elevator first and began scanning the area of any hostiles.


    Gabriel sighed and whispered to her sister, "Good going Angie, now I have to name all of them..."


    "You should thank me, big bro! It''s at least better than Unit 01 and whatever. Even though you say that they''re automaton, they look more human to me!"


    "As I said, it''s a long story. Besides, they seem to be good people, but for some reason, just because I woke them up, I''m being treated as their commander."


    "Mhm, I think I overheard Hana and you talking about some war. What''s that all about?" Angelia questioned.


    "Not sure, but it''s probably something of the past. Hana told me that from her database, she and the other units have been sleeping in their ''coffins'' for a few millennia."


    "W-wow...they can''t be human if that''s true...Even if they did have their ''coffins'' to keep them alive, I''m sure that a human being wouldn''t be able to survive for that long without their organs experiencing some kind of decay..." Kira responded to Gabriel''s words about Hana''s absurd claim.


    "Anyway, they''re on our side for now. They seem to be powerful and with their help, we were able to find the layout of this factory complex as well as the location of the power station. We should hurry up and¡ª"


    "Brother, watch out!" Angelia interrupted. She pushed her brother away from his spot and in the next moment, an attack suddenly shot out from nowhere, blasting the spot where Gabriel was just standing on earlier.


    "Threat detected, proceeding to eliminate," Hana robotically said.


    From her armor, nostalgic whirring sounds were heard. It was like the startup of an engine, a jet engine, to be exact. Small openings began forming on the back of Hana''s transformable armor and blue flames began spewing out from them. A small explosion suddenly occurred and she shot forward with incredible speed leaving behind an intense heat.


    Before Hana collided with the wall, a small cannon suddenly formed on the chest part of her armor. She injected mana from her energy core into the armor''s cannon and an energy blast shot out which blasted a hole through the warehouse. She then shot straight out of it with her blades at the ready.


    "W-what was that?" Gabriel questioned. He had witnessed all of the cool transformations of Hana''s armor just before she exited the warehouse.


    In all honesty, Gabriel thought that it was awesome to have such a versatile piece of equipment. It was able to transform into a cannon or change its shape into a sharp blade. It looked pretty handy to use in all sorts of battle situations.


    While Gabriel was in awe of Hana''s armor, he forgot that he had nearly died earlier.


    "I-I think waking those automatons up was a wrong decision..." Kira said with a stutter. He looked pale like he was frightened by something.


    "What''s wrong, Kira?" Gabriel immediately questioned.


    "I can s-sense a lot of mana signatures surrounding the warehouse... but I don''t think they''re monsters..."


    "Y-yeah... If it wasn''t because Nessie suddenly warned me, brother, you would have been severely injured...or maybe even killed..." Angelia added grimly as she stood up from the ground.


    Gabriel got up and looked out of the hole and saw what Kira and his sister were referring to. Outside of the warehouse, there were some mechanical contraptions and robots which had suddenly appeared to surround the warehouse.


    Earlier, these robots and machines weren''t here, but after waking up the automatons and getting out of the underground storage facility, these machines suddenly appeared. The awakening of the automatons was without a doubt the trigger and this was true after Gabriel listened to the words that the machines kept on repeating.


    [Danger, Rogue Automaton detected. Executing order, 909, elimination of all automaton!]


    [Danger, Rogue Automaton detected. Executing order, 909, elimination of all automaton!]


    [Danger, Rogue Automaton detected. Executing order, 909, elimination of all automaton!]


    ...


    The same words began echoing throughout the warehouse and the machines began targeting Hana who had rushed out earlier and was already hacking and slashing away at the machines.


    "Let''s go, we should help her!"


    "Right!"


    "Okay."


    Gabriel pulled out his weapons, a pair of short swords that were borderline daggers, rushed out from his spatial ring. He immediately began engaging the machines and robots who were adamantly firing their missiles, guns, and other weapons they had on their bodies at Hana.


    Angelia assembled her spear but didn''t rush out to fight. She instead called out Mao who was sleeping on her shoulders and her tri-headed golden snake. She had them rush out first before she followed behind them with her Oroboros already shooting out its lasers at the nearby machines.


    Kira pulled out his gun and began shooting at them from afar. Thanks to his ability, he was suited to be a sniper so he supported Angelia, Kira, and Hana from behind.


    The machines didn''t pay any attention to the humans that were attacking them and adamantly continued to solely attack Hana, the automaton which was the main objective of their mission.


    However, it was only a few minutes later that their targets changed to include Kira, Angelia, and Gabriel.


    [Human Threat detected. Orders updated. Eliminate all threats in the area!]


    "C-Crap! Kira, Angie, take cover!" Gabriel immediately warned after hearing the new orders that the robots and machines were announcing.


    A tank-shaped machine turned its cannon towards Angelia and it fired at her. Angelia saw the tank aiming at her already so she quickly jumped onto Mao and the two dashed away. The cannon shell struck the area where they were previously at and a large explosion blasted away the ground.


    Gabriel rushed towards the tank and wrapped mana around his swords. He then cut down on the tank''s large cannon and was able to slice off the large caliber. He then stabbed his sword into the tank and began rending it apart as best he could.


    None of the machines ran on electricity or fuel, so they didn''t explode when they were cut apart or destroyed beyond recognition. Instead, if their energy cores were destroyed, they would immediately stop functioning.


    Hana had immediately informed him of this right when he had first rushed out to help her.


    "Hana, we can''t fight them all! There''s too many!" Gabriel cried out after he destroyed the tank-shaped machine''s energy core.


    "Wait, Commander. They should be finished by now."


    As if on her cue, the elevator which was supposed to carry up the other automaton, immediately blew apart and out flew Unit 06, Unit 07, Unit 08, and Unit 10. Their armors were transformed similarly to Hana''s armor but they also had wings on their backs which kept them suspended in the air.


    The wings were also leaking out blue light so it was likely that the wings were functioning similar to jet engines which enabled them to fly in the sky like they were doing now.


    "Wow! That''s so cool!" Angelia exclaimed.


    "Angie, don''t get distracted! Keep your eyes on the enemy!" Gabriel warned.


    "Right!"


    The automatons didn''t linger too long in the air. Units 08 and 10 were holding up a large platform that carried the other units on it and a few other things. They carefully set the platform down and landed.


    Meanwhile, Units 06 and 07 already moved to help Gabriel and Hana. 06 pulled out a large sword from his back and he swooped down to attack the machines. His sharp greatsword easily cleaved apart the machines unimpeded.


    07 remained in the air and two large cannons suddenly formed from her armor''s back and two more formed on her armor''s waist area and a final one formed on her armor''s chest. Five rays of highly concentrated mana blasts struck the machines down below. The blasts were even able to disperse into the surroundings and struck the nearby machines that were near the blast zone.


    "Great!"


    "Awesome!


    Angelia and Kira exclaimed. They began resuming their attacks as well, while Gabriel released a sigh of relief. With the addition of Units 06 and 07, the pressure on them was immediately alleviated.


    There were still the rest of the automatons that still haven''t joined in, but with them, in the picture, it wouldn''t take long before they completely cleared the area of these hostile machinery.

 Chapter 441 - Relics of the Past 3

    With the addition of the other automata, Gabriel and the rest were able to quickly clear the area of all hostile machines.


    It was like there was some sort of rivalry between the machines and the automata that made it so that the automata didn''t spare a single one of the machines that had tried fleeing after a new set of orders were given.


    Only units 02, 03, 05, 06, and 07 helped in the battle. As for the remaining units, 08, 09, and 10, these 3 settled to stay around Gabriel, Kira, and Angelia rather than actively rush into battle like the other units, including Hana.


    After the battle, Gabriel wanted everyone to introduce themselves to him so that he could get a gist of what kinds of automaton the ones under him were. According to Hana, each automaton was unique but they all had a set model that they were manufactured under.


    "Unit 02, Attack Model. I am at your service, Commander."


    Unit 02 was a bald, dark-skinned young man with a very buff build. Earlier during the battle, after he had jumped down from the platform, Unit 02 had immediately rushed out with two large axes in hand and was waving them around the battlefield like a berserker, cleaving apart any machines that were in the range of his hurricane-like assault.


    Next to him was Unit 03, a young woman with blonde hair who was wearing a thin visor that covered her eyes. Her personality matched her face since she seemed to be the straightforward and serious type. She had a sharp look on her beautiful face that didn''t lose out to Hana, but her eyes glinted with seriousness which was unlike Hana''s who always seemed cold and indifferent.


    "Unit 03, Attack Model. Commander, what are your next orders?"


    Unit 03 wielded an estoc which she used to swiftly destroy all of the machines by accurately striking and breaking apart their energy cores.


    "Unit 05, Bomber Model. Do you need me to blow stuff up, Commander?"


    This young lady with a fiery personality was Unit 05. She had red-orange hair which was reminiscent of a burning flame, her skin was tanned, and her body was rather voluptuous to match her personality. Her armor was able to transform into many kinds of long-ranged weaponry, most of them being cannons, missile launchers, or machine guns.


    For ammunition, she explained that she was able to create those using her unique magic and was even able to imbue an explosive attribute to all of her created ammunitions, whether it was the rapid-firing machine gun bullets or the lasers she would fire out of her cannons, they could all explode upon contact. Nothing needed to be said about her missiles since they would obviously explode.


    Next was a pair of twins, Unit 06 and 07. 06 was a young boy and 07 was a young girl.


    The two had beautiful black hair and emerald green eyes. Their youthful faces were obviously similar but while the young boy had a bored and tired look on his face, the girl had an amused smile on hers and her eyes glinted with a hint of mischief.


    If the girl was a normal human being, Gabriel could immediately tell that her nature was the same as his playful little sister.


    "Aerial Bomber Model, Unit 07, reporting for duty, Commander~"


    "Aerial Attack Model, Unit 06. Reporting for duty, Commander..."


    "Hey, we''re supposed to say it together!"


    "...Mhm..."


    The young girl began bickering with her twin. It seemed like they were supposed to say it in sync because they were twins. The brother however didn''t feel like doing it so he lagged behind after only saying their model and unit number.


    Earlier in the battle, these two struck at the machines from the air. The brother swooped down from the skies and attacked the machines using a variety of close-ranged weapons while also flinging them up into the air for his twin sister to attack. The twin sister stayed in the air and poured down a variety of missiles and bombs at the machines below while the thrown up machines were blasted away by the arm cannon that her armor would transform into whenever she needed it.


    Unit 08, the young man who was of a Navigator Model, had already introduced himself earlier in the underground storage. He didn''t participate in the fight but instead stayed around Kira who was sniping away at the enemies with his rifle.


    According to him, he was more of a support that had minimal armaments and weapons that could be used in battle. His scanners however were topnotch and they could map out anything within a kilometer of his field of vision once he took to the skies.


    He also had protective energy shields that ran on mana to protect him and his allies from danger. Unit 08 stuck around Kira precisely because he was able to protect him. This automaton had a sort of big brother-feeling to him so he was quite reliable and gentle.


    "Unit 09, Support Model. Awaiting further instructions, Commander!"


    "Unit 10, Aerial Support Model. Do you have a task for me, Commander?"


    Unit 09 and 10 were in a somewhat similar situation as Unit 08. They were also Support Models. Unit 09 was a normal Support Model while Unit 10 was an Aerial Support Model. They didn''t have large armaments and fierce weapons like the other units, but they supplemented that with the ability to heal and repair their fellow automata.


    They also had stronger shields than Unit 08 so they played the role of a healer and a shield for the automaton squadron. The Support Units'' ability to heal wasn''t limited to only their fellow automata, but it could also be used to heal and treat humans.


    Angelia had nearly been hit by a stray attack earlier due to her carelessness and reckless way of fighting, but her injuries were quickly treated by Unit 09 and she was healed to the point where it seemed that nothing had happened to her.


    Gabriel guessed that since Unit 10 was of a similar model, but his support abilities were a bit different. Unlike Unit 09 who seemed to excel at healing and repairing injuries, Unit 10 had unique barrier ability.


    He was able to set up a large poly-hexagon energy barrier around a certain area. Anything within the energy barrier was safely protected against outside attacks while attacks coming from inside the barrier were able to pass through and damage those outside of the barrier. He was basically the squadron''s fortress.


    The two units had similar models so they had similar abilities except one of them excelled more in their ability to heal and repair while the other one excelled in putting up defenses.


    After everyone introduced themselves, it came time for him to begin naming them. Hana had already given the other automata the heads up so they were eagerly waiting for their commander to give them names.


    Gabriel noticed that there was a certain pattern to the automata'' gender divide. All of the odd-numbered automata were female while the even-numbered were males. The squadron was currently missing one male automaton because he had experienced a malfunction during his awakening process and was quickly dealt away by Hana, the automata squadron''s team leader.


    "Commander, please assign the rest of us a name," Hana said after everyone was finished with their introductions.


    They had already cleared away the battlefield so they were now resting. The automata had all began searching through the scraps for something after the battlefield and it turns out that they were all looking for the energy cores of the machines that they destroyed.


    Apparently, they were able to absorb the energy inside these cores to supplement their own energy cores in order to grow stronger. Gabriel had long since decided that they would clear out the entire factory of any machines just so he could help the automata get stronger.


    "Wait a minute, Hana. I''m still thinking. Hey, you two. Help me out."


    "You better give them cool names, big bro! Or else I''ll complain!"


    "Yeah, yeah..."


    Gabriel thought long and hard so while everyone was busy making camp in the small warehouse and setting up defenses around the perimeter, he remained quiet and began thinking of the names he would give them.


    It was a good thing that he had a lot of miscellaneous knowledge from Earth so he was able to quickly come up with good names basing off of certain objects that he recalled from his youth. When everyone gathered back together at the warehouse where Angelia and Kira had finished setting up their tents and finished cooking a meal for everyone, Gabriel had decided upon everyone''s names.


    "Unit 02, your name from now on is Deuce."


    "Thank you, Commander," Unit 02, now called Deuce, gratefully said. The word had a similar meaning to 2 back on Earth, but it also doubled as a euphemism for the word devil. Unit 02 who was like a literal devil on the battlefield from Gabriel''s earlier observations perfectly fit this name.


    "Unit 03, you''ll be called Sam from now on," Gabriel said as he turned towards the serious-looking automaton sitting next to Deuce.


    "Yes, Commander."


    "Unit 05, your name is Tina."


    "Hehe, thanks, Commander! Remember, if you need me to blow anything up, just point me in the right direction and I''ll blast it away for you~"


    "R-right... next are the twins. Unit 06, your name is Pollux, and Unit 07 is¡ª"


    "Helen?" Angelia cut in and asked.


    "Yes, it''s Helen..." Gabriel finished. It seems that his sister was much smarter than he had thought.


    Happy that she was right, Angelia began humming happily to herself.


    "Thank you, Commander."


    "Thank you, Commander!"


    The twins replied. This time they were in sync and Unit 07, or rather, Helen was smiling happily at this.


    "Unit 08, your name will be Agenor."


    "Thank you, Commander. Agenor... what a great name," Unit 08, Agenor, said while mumbling to himself happily.


    "Unit 09, you''ll be called Mary, and Unit 10, you''ll be called Desmond."


    The two weren''t talkative and only nodded their head in thanks, but from the looks on their faces, it could be seen how happy they were to receive their names. Gabriel was rather puzzled to see this. He was only giving names to the automata out of convenience and because his sister brought it up which was insisted upon by Hana. He didn''t understand why they were all so very happy about it.


    "Anyway, let''s have dinner now, shall we?"

 Chapter 442 - Relics of the Past 4

    After the naming session, Angelia and Kira finally finished making dinner from what little foodstuffs they had left. They were able to replenish some meat from harvesting the meat off of the monsters in the trials, but unfortunately for them, now that they were underground, there were less edible monsters around.


    The scorpion monsters'' meat was too poisonous to eat, but although the gigantic earthworms that they would rarely encounter whose meat was edible, the two children, Kira and Angelia, had no thoughts or notions of eating it.


    Gabriel was fine, but he didn''t want to go against the two''s wishes however, if worse comes to worst, he wouldn''t hesitate to hunt those worms, cook their meat, and force it down their throats.


    Thankfully, however, now that they found the map to the factory''s power station, they wouldn''t need to worry about food anymore. Of course, there was still the problem of the trial''s next stage, but Angelia and Kira both hoped that it was a floor teeming with less disgusting monsters that they would be able to hunt and eat.


    The other automata only remained seated or standing where they were like they were on standby mode or something. Gabriel frowned when he saw this. Even though they weren''t technically human, their bodies were still human. At least that''s what Hana said to him.


    He didn''t specifically know what those automata ran on as fuel, but surely, eating would supplement their energy cores or something.


    Gabriel judged their ages based on their appearance. Of course, he knew that they were probably ancient, but since they''ve been under the ''ice'' for so long, their appearances were preserved. From how the twins looked, it seemed that they were only around his younger sister''s age. He didn''t know about the specifics of automaton creation, but from Hana''s explanation, they were created using live humans as a base.


    The humans were modified and changed into automata, so in a way, they were like androids or cyborgs, except that from Gabriel''s observation, there didn''t seem to be any machinery implanted in them. The only machine-like feature that they''ve shown so far was their equipment. They expressed themselves normally like humans would with only Hana being the exception since she acted more emotionless and robotic than the rest of them.


    The experiments and creation of these human-based automata were without a doubt considered taboo from Earth''s standards. However, that might not be the case for the standards of Alterna, though Gabriel begged to differ.


    From all of the information that he got about the races of Alterna through the information exchange between his family''s kingdom and the beastkin kingdom of Anglaria, there were only 5 major races in Alterna, the Humans of Midgard, the beast people of Urrugdrasil, the fairies of Faerholm, the demons of Helaife, and the elementals centered around the Aizlandia continent.


    In each races'' history, none of them had any mentions or descriptions of performing taboo experiments and racial modifications. Whoever created the automata toyed with the humans and from what Hana explained, it seemed that the automata weren''t only limited to human-based automata.


    There were probably some other race-based automata out there that were still lying in their sleep inside of their ''coffins''. The ones who made these automata treated life lightly and either didn''t respect it or were desperate enough to commit this taboo and sin because of some greater threat or pressure.


    Gabriel was inclined to believe it was the latter because according to Hana they, the automata, were created for the sole purpose of combating against something called the Fallen. He didn''t know what these Fallen were, but the people who created Hana and the rest were probably forced into a wall and were desperate.


    "Still...it isn''t right to use young men and women... and even children for their project..."


    No matter how desperate they were, it was wrong to mess with another''s life. Gabriel walked over to the twins, Pollux and Helen, and sat down next to them. They were currently bickering quietly about something, but they immediately sat down straight and proper once Gabriel plopped down next to them.


    "Is something wrong, Commander?" Helen asked.


    "No, it''s nothing. Here, have some of this. It''s good and it''ll keep you warm," Gabriel said as he offered the bowl in his hand.


    Gabriel handed a bowl to both Helen and Pollux. They took their bowls with a confused look on their face.


    "Commander, we no longer need to eat to sustain ourse¡ª"


    Helen quickly jabbed her twin on the side when she heard his insensitive words.


    "Ugh!"


    "Thanks, Commander!"


    Gabriel still heard Pollux''s words and felt that they were somewhat pitiful. They probably had lives and a future ahead of them but now that they were turned into automata, their only future was the orders of their commander.


    Gabriel didn''t know their previous circ.u.mstances and background but still found that all of the automata under his command were pitiful in some ways. He hoped that now that they''ve been freed from their sleep, he could at least provide them with a future that laid past just listening to his orders forever or waiting for a war that may or may not happen.


    After giving them something to eat, Gabriel eyed Angelia and Kira. The two got what he meant and began preparing some things for the rest. Of course, Gabriel was the one that had to give the automata the food because they wouldn''t receive anything handed to them if it wasn''t their commander that gave it to them.


    Gabriel didn''t know if it was a sign of loyalty or just that the ''program'' implanted in them after being turned into automata had forcefully restricted them.


    After Gabriel put Angelia and Kira to sleep, he stayed up to listen to every one of the automata''s stories. They didn''t have much to say besides their mission that was to participate in some kind of war and their loyalty to Gabriel as their commander.


    "...You guys...are quite pitiful, aren''t you?" Gabriel said with a sad look on his face.


    "What do you mean by that, Commander?" Hana asked.


    "Well, what happens if this war doesn''t come?"


    "The war is inevitable, Commander. The Fallen were only sealed on this planet, they weren''t eliminated."


    "Then what happens after it''s over? What will you do then?"


    "..."


    "You have no future beyond that. That''s why I say that you guys are quite pitiful..."


    "...Our futures will be determined by our Commander after the war is over."


    "Hm, so it''s my decision what to do with you all after the war is over?" Gabriel asked.


    "Yes. Whether you want us to self-destruct to preserve our secrets, put us back into the coffins, or¡ª"


    "I won''t have you do anything like that."


    "..."


    "It''s good to know that everything is still my decision to make, however, since the war still isn''t here. Once we get out of here, I want you all to live normal lives as a human. Do that for me until this war of yours starts," Gabriel said as he eyed the 9 automata in front of him.


    He then stood up and went to his tent.


    "I''ll be going to sleep now. Since the perimeter is safe, take a break."


    *****


    The next day, Gabriel and the rest began moving around the factory complex. He wanted to clear the place of all hostile machinery and see if any more automata were sleeping inside their coffins which he could rescue.


    The automata were vastly superior to the machines. Even without Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira, they were able to make short work of all hostile machines that tried to attack them. The machines'' objectives changed from eliminating the automata to going after the automata''s commander which was Gabriel.


    However, because of Agenor, Mary, and Desmond, Gabriel was safe from harm due to their impenetrable energy shields.


    The group took a few days to clear all of the factory districts of machinery and along the way, the automata were able to salvage parts that could be used to repair themselves or create better weapons.


    The problem was that the squadron''s Tech Model, Unit 04, was gone so it was going to be hard to create any new improvements or repairs on their weapons. However, Gabriel noticed that the automata had been dragging along a coffin since they first left the storage district where he and the other 2 found them.


    "What''s inside the coffin? Is it used to recharge your energy cores or something?" Gabriel asked one time when they were taking a break.


    "No, Commander, our energy cores will never run out of energy since we draw in mana from the atmosphere to supplement ourselves. Also because we''ve been absorbing and storing the energy from the cores we plundered from the machines so we have a huge excess of energy," Mary replied.


    "Then what''s this coffin for?"


    "After Unit 01¡ªI mean, Hana dealt with Unit 04 because of his malfunction, we''re working on trying to repair and revive him," Desmond responded in Mary''s stead.


    "You can save him?"


    "We automata cannot die unless our energy cores are damaged beyond repair. Even if our heads or bodies are crushed and severed, we can slowly repair ourselves in our coffins as long as our energy cores are intact."


    "Wait, I saw Hana take Unit 04''s energy core. So how could you save him then?"


    "His energy core had experienced a malfunction which led to his Ego Transplant to malfunction as well. We preserved his form inside the coffin and we''re currently building a new energy core for him," Desmond said.


    Desmond showed Gabriel the inside of the coffin and Gabriel was able to see Unit 04''s body currently inside with his chest ''opened''.


    Gabriel was able to see that the inside of Unit 04''s chest wasn''t that of a normal human being. Instead, the inside was filled with artificial organs, muscles, and tissues that were made from silver-colored metal.


    If it wasn''t because of the color then the insides of Unit 04''s chest were the same as a normal human being''s internals.


    At the location of where the heart should be, Gabriel saw a thumb-size light cl.u.s.ter rotating in the empty spot. It was growing bigger at a minuscule pace, but this light cl.u.s.ter was most likely the slowly forming energy core which acted as the automata''s heart.


    "My god...what did your creators do to all of you..." Gabriel mumbled in horror.


    Since they were created using humans as the base then it meant that these automata''s creators had replaced each of their organs with artificial ones created by some unknown material, and transformed their muscles and tissue using the same material.


    "Is something wrong, Commander?" Mary asked.


    Gabriel grimaced from his thoughts, but he lightly replied to Mary''s question as if nothing was wrong, "...It''s nothing...so how long will it take to repair Unit 04?"


    "It''ll take another two weeks or so at this rate. We''re collecting as much energy cores as we can that so it might take even less time."


    "Okay, then let''s continue clearing the factory of machinery."


    Gabriel took one last look at Unit 04 and closed the lid to his coffin and walked away. He then began coordinating the rest of the team so that they could clear the entirety of the factory by tomorrow.

 Chapter 443 - End of the Trial in Sight

    While Gabriel and his crew were clearing out the underground factory, Cecil and his group had been wandering around the fifth stage''s desert for a long time now.


    "W-we''re almost out of water...My mana is nearly dried up and I can''t create any more for us," Celestina wearily said, her head drooped down in exhaustion.


    "We''ve been walking for forever and we haven''t seen an oasis or anything... Are we just going to die here?" Karen asked drearily.


    "D-don''t give up...if we continue walking, I-I''m pretty sure we can find something..."


    The group had shrunk by a large degree. On the previous floor, they had to deal with the ancient monster''s attacks which overpowered their strongest member, Cecil, and were barely able to escape with their life once they passed through the transfer gate to the next floor.


    They all thought that their lives were saved but unfortunately for them, although they survived the fourth floor, the fifth floor was slowly killing them.


    They had lost contact with a few of their members as they were moving along the desert so now there were only a few of them left. If that wasn''t the worst thing that could happen, they had also lost contact with Cecil.


    There was a large illusion array on this floor which was the cause of the manaless environment. The array directly sucked all of the mana on the stage to function so it left nothing for the trial participants.


    Cecil had long been aware of this array and had set out to look for the core of the array to destroy it. He thought that this was the only way to clear the trials because after sticking with the group for so long and exploring the desert, they still hadn''t been able to find the stage''s transfer gate.


    It was on the third day that Cecil finally realized that they had been caught in the large array''s illusion and were only moving around in an infinite loop. He was able to quickly break out of the array''s illusion and with his help everyone else broke out of it as well.


    Cecil had decided to head for the array''s core by himself since the closer they were to the core, the more powerful the illusions. He didn''t want anyone to get caught in it again so he left by himself, but he didn''t think that the administrator would screw him over again.


    The administrator still needed some time to prepare his plan because Gabriel was doing something unnecessary at the underground factory. His factory ''cleaning'' was taking too long and the administrator had to keep Cecil and the rest from finding out that the transfer gate was located underground.


    So, the administrator amplified the effects of the illusion array which caused everyone to be swept into the illusion again. They did their best to stick together and not move around, but after some of their members began to disappear one by one, everyone began to panic.


    It became even worse when the monsters started attacking from under the sand. This made them move away from their location just to get away from the monsters, but this only served to split the group even further.


    Celestina, Karen, and a few others were together, while Cecilia, Ren, and everyone else was missing. They didn''t know how many from their group were still alive, but they could only hope that not many had perished in this desert.


    Their only hope now was Cecil who was going to destroy the illusory array.


    *****


    At the center of the fifth stage''s desert, there was an oasis. This oasis held the fifth stage''s massive illusory array''s formation core.


    Cecil had just arrived at this oasis. He had to break through numerous illusions and defeat many S-rank and above monsters to get here.


    He was a little haggard from the journey. It took him much longer to get here than he had expected. The biggest problem in the battles on the way here was that he had to minimize his mana usage.


    The illusion formation had changed halfway on his journey here and it was sucking out mana from his body to help power itself. His body was able to start generating mana on its own after the recent upgrade, but the illusion formation''s change sucked out mana at a rate that was nearly the same as his own mana regeneration.


    This forced him to use his mana sparingly. The change was the reason why it took him a few weeks to break through all of the illusions and monsters. Now that he was finally at the oasis, Cecil was able to locate the array''s core with his Mana Eyes.


    "Finally, this little thing was causing all of us so many problems...I hope the rest are okay..." Cecil mumbled to himself.


    Cecil was worried about the companions he had left behind. He was worried that they were caught up in the array''s illusions and something bad happened to them.


    The best way he could help them was to quickly destroy the formation''s core and go search for them right after.


    It would have been safer if he brought them with him on his journey to the formation''s core, but the problem was that he''d have to worry about them and the progress wouldn''t be as fast. With the progress slow, he''d have to worry about his mana consumption and their safety.


    The illusions of the array were so real that if a person with a weak mentality and mental force were to face the illusions, it would be very problematic for them. If they couldn''t overcome the illusion, their minds could be killed or trapped forever in the illusion.


    The illusion only served to be a slight problem for him since he could just break through it forcefully with his strength, but even that had limits. He wouldn''t be able to help his friends constantly break through the illusions forcefully like him if they were too weak themselves.


    With that in mind, Cecil decided that it was best if he went alone. It was to keep them safe and it was also for the sake of quickly clearing the stage.


    The illusion array should have been used to temper everyone''s minds and mental capacity, but the administrator''s meddling had destroyed the purpose of this stage of the trial.


    Cecil wouldn''t know the true purpose of the illusion array but if he did, he would have pushed Ren and everyone to head towards the array''s core area using their own strength to train and strengthen their minds. However, because he knew that the administrator was constantly trying to make things difficult for him, he didn''t even think about that at all and instead just brute-forced his way through every stage.


    If this continental trial proceeded as per the creator''s original intent, Cecil and his group would have come out with many leaps in their strength as well as having received many rewards. It was much different than the first continental trial he participated in, the World Tree''s Trial.


    Similar to the World Tree''s Trial, the Myriad Tower of Strife was supposed to test the younger generation of Midgard through a trial by fire which would either kill them or strengthen them depending on their performance.


    Rewards should have been distributed to the trial participants as long as they passed through each stage, but there was none of that here. The only rewards the trial participants received were the ones from the first stage. After that, no further rewards were distributed and this was because the administrator was too busy trying to screw Cecil over.


    For now, the reasons behind the administrator''s actions were still unknown, but Cecil had an inkling that he would find out why soon enough.


    Cecil walked straight to the middle of the oasis and he immediately uprooted the rafflesia-looking flower which was the formation''s core.


    "I got the core... let''s consider this my reward. I''ll research the array''s mana gathering formation then set one up back in the kingdom to help train our soldiers'' cultivation stages. It''s the strongest mana gathering formation that I''ve encountered up until now so it probably uses some of those ancients'' techniques."


    Cecil had long since noticed that the illusion array consisted of multiple layers of runic formations, but the one that intrigued him the most was the mana gathering formation. It had to be a very powerful one since it left the entire stage void of mana. It was even able to suck out mana from inside his body and store it inside the formation which was then used to power the illusion array.


    If he placed it within his kingdom''s lands and confined the mana in some sort of building or space, it would be a haven for all cultivators since the density of mana would be greater than anywhere else.


    If he could combine this new and powerful mana gathering array with his mana storage array, then he''d be able to create a self-sustaining mana battery. Well, at that point, it wouldn''t be called a battery but a mana generator.


    After putting away the flower into his spatial ring, Cecil used Blink and disappeared. He had left a clone with Ren and the others so he quickly headed in the clone''s direction. He flew in the air to avoid all of the monsters on the ground and under the ground.


    When he finally arrived where his clone was, he noticed that it was separated from everyone else.


    "Shit... how did they get separated?"


    Earlier, when he was suddenly subjected to a strong illusion while within the array, his split consciousness inside the clone was forcefully retracted because he couldn''t afford to have it split off.


    Due to this, he had to release control of his clone so although he knew its location was near his friends, he couldn''t control it to follow after them in the case they got attacked or wandered off due to the illusion.


    He dispelled his clone and was just about to go look for them, but suddenly, the ground began shaking intensely all of a sudden.


    "W-what the¡ª"


    The shaking continued to intensify and it caused the sand to shift around. It gradually became an earthquake and it wasn''t long before Cecil was able to find out the cause of the earthquake.


    From the center of the desert where he had just come from, something was slowly rising from under the oasis. A pointed spire emerged from under the water and it slowly began rising. Something was coming up and it wasn''t small.


    ******


    A few minutes before Cecil uprooted the illusory array that was on the surface of the fifth stage''s floor, Gabriel and his group had finally made it to the underground factory''s power station.


    Gabriel and the automata had cleared out all of the machinery in all of the factory''s districts and they had finished dealing with the machinery inside the power station as well. All that was needed was to activate the power station.


    "All I need to do is push this button...and the power station will activate and begin running?" Gabriel asked.


    "Yes, Commander," Hana replied.


    "There may be a time lag before it fully functions because it''s been turned off for so long and buried under all this sand. The power shield is still functioning well, so I''m guessing that the auxiliary power is still functioning."


    Desmond said before Mary added.


    "We did some repairs just in case but it should still run normally. You can activate it now, Commander."


    "Alright," Gabriel nodded and pressed down on the button, and immediately the power station came to life.


    It took a while before it began to fully function in earnest. As they were waiting for the power station to fully come to life, Desmond and Mary were moving around and checking some things around the main reactor of the power station.


    "Everything is in order it seems. Now, we can wait for the entire battle fortress to come to life," Hana said.


    Hearing her words, Gabriel couldn''t help but ask, "Battle fortress?"


    "Wait a bit, Commander. You''ll soon see quite an amazing sight," Hana said with a tinge of excitement in her voice.


    Gabriel immediately noticed the slight change in Hana''s tone and was about to ask for more, but suddenly, the entirety of the factory began to quake.


    "!"


    "Commander, hold on to something! We''re going to move out of the ground now!"


    ''Finally, we''re almost finished with this stage...''

 Chapter 444 - Not Over Yet

    As the large construct began rising above the sand, Cecil and everyone else who were scattered across the desert''s surface of the fifth stage braced themselves for what was about to happen.


    They didn''t know whether this new development was a good or bad thing but they prepared themselves for the worst.


    Thanks to Cecil, mana had returned to the stage and it was a lifesaver for those who were on the brink of exhaustion and dehydration. With the illusion array also gone, the scattered people began to reunite together since some of them were only moving in circles around the area where they were previously at or were just a few kilometers away from but still within visible distance of each other.


    "We really were caught in the illusion array after Cecil left...thank goodness the people who disappeared didn''t die or go missing... Celes, we need some water here!" Karen called out after finding one of their people collapsed on the sand just a few meters away from where they were.


    "Gather everyone over here! My mana is still recovering so it''s better for me to just cast one large spell than deal with everyone separately!" Celestina replied as she was moving a few others in the area and gathering them in one place.


    Karen complied with her words and began helping her out, but the two didn''t take their eyes off of the metal spike that had appeared in the distance. The rumbling under the sand was also a cause for concern but they could only wait to see what happens.


    The rumbling intensified as time passed but the two women were able to gather everyone around in the same spot and Celestina had already given everyone some water and had provided some first aid to the ones who were injured.


    With the sand shaking and overturning in some places, the monsters from underground also became restless and began to burst out from under the sand. Cecil who was flying in the air saw the numerous monsters bursting out and traces of mana fluctuation appeared within his Mana Sense''s range.


    "I bet the others are fighting right now. I should go help, but..."


    Cecil hesitated for a bit and decided to just send over 2 of his clones to go help the others. Right now, he would focus his attention on the thing that was trying to rise from under the sand. He was worried that the guardian of this floor was going to be as powerful, or even more powerful than the one from the previous floor.


    The monster from the previous floor was able to almost push him over the edge but luckily, he was able to escape from the fourth floor so he didn''t have to deal with the monster any longer. It was clearly much more powerful than him and trying to fight it would be foolish and reckless.


    Now that he was on the fifth floor, he was worried if he and his teammates were able to even clear this stage of the trial. It was much harder than he had expected it to be but this was only because the administrator was meddling in the trials just to make things difficult for him and the people associated with him.


    The other humans currently still on the second and third floors didn''t experience any of the difficulties that he had to go through and they received the clear rewards of the trial as per normal.


    A few moments passed as Cecil continued to wait and by now, the construct that was trying to rise into the sky from under the sand was partially visible now.


    It was like the entire stage had suddenly risen together with it. Cecil could make out the rusty but clearly modern roadways, the semi-broken buildings, and the highly developed structures that began emerging from under the sand.


    "Th-this...what is this?!" Cecil exclaimed in shock.


    What came out from under the sand was clearly a sky fortress, but unlike the typical sky fortresses he saw in the Machina Reggio Empire or the previous one on the fourth floor, this one was massive.


    It spanned the entirety of the fifth floor as it slowly rose from under the sand. The sky fortress was buried far beneath all of the sand, but after it rose, it covered the entirety of the trial''s fifth floor.


    The fifth floor of the trials was relatively smaller compared to the rest only being a fraction of the size of the fourth floor, but even still, the sky fortress covered the entire area of the fifth floor once it completely surfaced from under the sand.


    Cecil was amazed and the other people on this stage were similarly shocked by the sudden change. Buildings of foreign designs had suddenly popped up from under the sand and they were all now standing on a paved road that sprung up under them after the sand fell and cleared away.


    A whirring noise like that of an airplane engine was finally heard as the massive sky fortress finally emerged from underneath all of the sand. This massive sky fortress alone exceeded the size of the Silvaria Kingdom''s valley territory and then some.


    While Cecil was spreading out his Mana Sense as far as he could, he picked up 3 familiar mana signatures to the southeast.


    "It''s Gabriel, Angelia, and Kira!" Cecil exclaimed in pleasant surprise.


    *****


    Back at the power station where Gabriel, Angelia, and the rest were, the group had all walked out of the power station and observed the surroundings.


    Gabriel was immensely surprised when he saw that the factory district he was in was only a fraction of the entire sky fortress that they were on.


    Also, the factory district was at the center of the sky fortress and seemed to be located at a crucial spot on the flying fortress since the large energy shield that encapsulated the inner area of the sky fortress was covering the factory as well.


    Because of the energy field overhead, they didn''t need to worry about the falling sand and debris. It was all pushed away by the energy field and kept them safe from being crushed under the sand.


    Angelia was looking around in fascination when the whole sky fortress surfaced from under the desert and she couldn''t help but notice that there were people in the distance, and if her eyes didn''t deceive her, she thought she saw Ren.


    "Is that¡ªno way, it really is him!" Angelia cried out happily.


    "What''s up, Angie?" Gabriel asked from beside the now happy little girl.


    "I see Ren, big brother! Look, he''s over there!" Angelia answered while pointing over to a distant building''s rooftop.


    The factory district that they were on seemed to be built on a level of land much higher than the rest of the areas on the sky fortress so she was able to look down on the building that had appeared once the sky fortress surfaced from under the desert and could see the people looking around in bewilderment at the sudden change to their surroundings.


    On a particular building''s rooftop, Angelia was able to see the bewildered people and quickly notice that Ren and a few of her friends were among the group of people.


    "I see Xin and the others down there as well! How did they get in here?"


    "Careful, Angie, those could just be an illusion or a monster that could imitate people..." Gabriel warned while holding Angelia back from rushing over.


    He glanced at Hana and the automaton immediately stepped forward and looked down on the group below.


    "Scanning... 8 life forms detected! 5 humans and 3 high humans."


    "High humans? What are¡ª"


    "So they aren''t illusions?!" Angelia quickly cut in before Gabriel could ask.


    "Yes. They are not illusions," Hana quickly replied before immediately turning to Gabriel and asked, "Yes, Commander?"


    "Never mind, well, since they''re not illusions or monsters, let''s go to them then."


    "Commander, are they not hostiles?"


    "No, designate all humans as friendlies. Unless they try to attack you, leave them alone," Gabriel clarified and ordered.


    "Yes, Commander!" The automata replied in unison.


    Gabriel nodded at them and went to chase after Angelia who had already rushed over to Ren''s location. Only Hana, Pollux, and Helen followed them. The rest of the automata stayed behind at the power station as per Gabriel''s orders.


    However, those orders would be revoked in the next moment when suddenly, the building that Ren and the others were on suddenly began to crumble and break apart.


    Underground Sandworms had made a nest inside the building and after being exposed to the sunlight of the fifth stage, they began to grow active and rampage about.


    "B-big brother, we have to help them!" Angelia called out before she rushed forward on Mao. She had finally noticed that the manaless state of the fifth stage had disappeared so she was able to use her mana again.


    She quickly tried to summon Nessie and thankfully, the monster had recovered enough from its injuries received on the previous floor to transform into its battle form.


    "Nessie go! Target all of the monsters and try to keep the people on the rooftop safe!"


    Nessie released a loud cry before it began firing water magic at the building.


    "All automata, heed my orders. Engage the worms inside of the building and keep them away from the rooftop! All flight-capable automata are tasked with the retrieval and evacuation of the humans from the building''s rooftop!" Gabriel commanded.


    Even from afar, the automata were able to receive his orders and they quickly began mobilizing. Unfortunately, the building that Ren and the others were on wasn''t the only monster nests around.


    Almost every other building in the area was a monster nest and because of the commotion happening outside, they had all awakened. Once they smelled the delicious human meat nearby, the monsters began to stir and take action.


    The windows of a few high-rise buildings in the area shattered simultaneously as swarms of earthworm, scorpion, centipede, and other types of monsters began storming out and heading over to the location of the fresh human meat.


    Gabriel immediately noticed this and he quickly changed his orders. He had Pollux and Agenor go rescue Ren and the other humans from the rooftop while he commanded the rest to intercept the incoming monsters that were charging at them.


    "Crap! Just when I thought the trial was already within finishing distance, this had to happen, dammit!" Gabriel cursed.

 Chapter 445 - Golden Rain of Death

    On the building rooftop which was the nest of the underground sandworms, Ren and the others who had suddenly woken up from the powerful illusion that they were trapped in, had finally noticed the change to their surroundings.


    At first, they were relieved to see this because they thought that Cecil had finally dealt with the illusion that was interfering with their minds but they weren''t given any time to relax. Just as they were all about to plop down and rest, the concrete-metal foundation under them had suddenly begun to tremble and break apart.


    Through these cracks, a few medium-sized sandworms appeared and one of them had appeared below a member of their group and directly swallowed them whole. The person wasn''t even given the time to react because of how exhausted they were.


    Ren saw cracks appear below Xin who was nearby and he immediately rushed over and pushed her away before quickly aiming his rifle below him and firing in the next instant.


    His instinctual movement had paid off because right when the concrete broke apart and a sandworm emerged and were about to swallow him whole, his rifle''s laser pierced straight through the concrete and shot straight into the sandworm''s open mouth.


    The worm didn''t swallow but instead began screeching in pain before it waved its head around which allowed Ren to jump out of the sandworm''s mouth. He quickly raised his voice and ordered everyone to focus.


    "Don''t just stand there dumbly! Get ready for battle!"


    "Y-yes!"


    "Hurry, these aren''t the last of them! There''s probably more under this so be careful of your footing!"


    Everyone began gathering together and they cautiously stared down at the floor.


    "Try not to move around so much! Remember, these worms can sense the vibrations we make from our feet! That''s how they hunt, so try not to move unless you really have to!" Ren cautioned.


    Unfortunately, this was only the case during the sandworms'' hibernation period. Right now, after being stimulated by the light from the fifth stage''s sun, they had become active and would attack anything that smelt like food.


    This wasn''t knowledge that Ren or anyone would know so it was inevitable that he made the wrong call. However, the constant rumblings underneath them had alerted everyone else that them staying there was a bad idea.


    "Shit, they aren''t acting like before! We have to get off this roof!" Ren cursed.


    "H-How?! We''re so high up!"


    "We''ll have to jump! We have no choice we''ll all die if we stay here!"


    As everyone was contemplating on Ren''s suggestion, the sandworms began bursting out from underneath.


    A few small ones burst out before they were followed by even larger ones. Ren and everyone began sending attacks at the monsters and were able to quickly kill some of the smaller ones, however, even more, popped out from underneath and they began spitting acidic thorns at them.


    They dodged the attack but Ren and a few others were narrowly scathed by it. The acidic thorns melted parts of their clothes and armor while the ones that were hit directly on the skin wailed in pain as their flesh turned black due to the corrosive thorns.


    It was lucky that the thorns didn''t hit them directly. A graze had already resulted in their skin and flesh being corroded so if the thorn struck them directly then it would kill them without a doubt.


    "We have to jump! Now!" Ren yelled out.


    He was one of the few whose body was directly grazed by the acidic thorns. It wasn''t due to carelessness but because he had pushed away from the person behind him.


    However, just before they could jump off the building, a large tremor suddenly shook the building and in the next second, the entire space of the rooftop which remained intact suddenly burst apart, and a large mouth opened up from underneath.


    Ren and everyone was already caught within the jaws of the enormous sandworm. At this near-death situation, Ren was able to catch a slight glimpse of someone familiar reaching the rooftop on top of the head of a large creature that was also familiar.


    "Angie?"


    *****


    Angelia had just arrived when Ren and the others were falling into the large sandworm''s mouth. Her eyes widened in horror but she didn''t yell in despair. Instead, she ordered Nessie to quickly slice apart the sandworm''s head that was trying to eat up her companions.


    "NESSIE!!!"


    The connection between them had long since informed Nessie what its master wanted so before Angelia even yelled, Nessie had already sent a large water blade flying at the sandworm that just burst out from the building''s rooftop.


    The blade cleanly bisected the monster, but Angelia was still afraid. She knew how corrosive those sandworms were since she had plenty of experience and troubles dealing with them from her time on the fifth floor.


    Just being touched by the monsters'' corrosive fluids was deadly so even with the monster supposedly now dead, if her friends that were already inside the monsters'' mouth were to be doused in those fluids... she didn''t even want to imagine that.


    Thankfully for her, the flight-capable automata, Agenor, Hana, Helen, and Pollux came swooping in the next second and began using their weapons to slice apart the severed sandworm''s head and with quick precision began pulling out the humans, minimizing any further damage done to them from the monsters'' corrosive fluids.


    "Nice!" Angelia cheered.


    She then turned her attention towards the building filled with sandworms and mercilessly ordered, "Level this building and kill everything inside, Ness!"


    Nessie roared and conjured an enormous ice spear above the building. It hovered in the air for a moment before abruptly dropping down on the building. The building along with all of the sandworms inside was frozen and then crushed by the massive spear of ice.


    Hana, who was carrying a few people looked down at the destroyed building along with the massive ice field that was created in the aftermath of the attack and reevaluated Angelia''s danger threat in her database.


    "Update, High Human Female: Angelia Silvaria. Alignment: Friendly. Immediate Threat Level: B. Overall Threat level: EX2."


    After leveling the building, Angelia had to direct Nessie to go help with the others in defending the place and clearing away the monsters that were swarming at them.


    Angelia got off Nessie''s back and headed back to the power station where Hana and the other automata brought the people they had just rescued. Mary and Desmond were already working to heal them of their injuries.


    The corroded skin and flesh of the people that had unfortunately made contact with the sandworms corrosive fluids were slowly beginning to heal. Ren, who was affected in some spots, began to marvel at his saviors'' capabilities, but he also questioned their identity.


    ''Are they friendly? Well, I guess they should be since they rescued us...''


    The other automata had already left for the battlefield once they dropped the group of people off at the power station so once their injuries were healed, Ren remembered that he saw Angelia earlier and asked Desmond who was the one responsible for healing his corroded injuries.


    "Excuse me, but do you know someone called Angelia?"


    Xin was thankful that they were rescued. This wasn''t the first time she had nearly died while inside the trials so she was just about to plop down and close her eyes but they immediately snapped open after hearing Ren''s words.


    "Angelia? You saw Angie earlier, Ren?"


    "Y-Yeah, right before we were nearly swallowed..."


    "...Are you sure you didn''t delude yourself because you almost died? Man, our loverboy sure has quite the imagination~" Xin teased.


    "Th-that''s not true! I really did see h¡ª"


    "Ren! Xin!"


    Xin turned towards the source of the familiar voice and saw her friend running over to her.


    "N-No way? I-it''s true?!"


    "I told you!"


    Angelia quickly arrived next to them and pulled them into a tight hug.


    "I almost lost you guys!"


    The two returned the hug and said, "Thankfully, you came to rescue us!" "We were saved thanks to you."


    "Did you guys come to look for me? Also, was there anyone else with you guys?" Angelia asked after releasing them from the hug.


    Ren was the one to reply, "Only Master was the one that went to rescue you guys, but we were somehow dragged into this place. Our group was bigger, but we were separated because of an illusion. I''m not sure where everyone else is at the moment."


    "Big brother is here?"


    "Yes, but master went to destroy the large illusion array so we separated for a moment. I''m not sure where master is right now."


    "Well, if you guys have any strength left to fight, please come and help. The buildings around here are all filled with monsters and they''ve all turned restless and are now swarming at us."


    Ren was troubled when he heard this. If every building had monsters in them then the others in his group were probably in some kind of danger right now.


    "The others in the group are probably in danger..."


    "Who are the others that are with you?"


    "Well, Robin, Marylyn, and a few others from our kingdom are also here. Then there''s Matheus''s fiance, Celestina, and her sister who had brought along a group of holy knights and priests with her, and finally, Karen, big sister Fatima''s fiance''s sister and her group."


    "Come help us then, we have to¡ª"


    Before Angelia could say anymore, a large sun suddenly formed in the middle of the air just above the large sky fortress they were on. This sun rose high into the sky before suddenly bursting apart and raining down a shower of golden bolts of mana on the sky fortress.


    The golden shower of mana bolts obviously couldn''t cover the entire sky fortress but the location where Gabriel, Angelia, and the rest were was within the area that the golden shower covered.


    When the numerous golden mana bolts reached Angelia''s location, all of the monsters were immediately struck and killed by the mana bolts that indiscriminately rained down on them. The golden bolts of mana dodged all of Angelia''s monsters that she summoned out and even avoided the automata that were a new addition to their group.


    "B-Big brother..."


    "That''s master alright..."


    "Wow..."


    Everyone could only look up into the sky at the approaching shower of beautiful but deadly golden lights. In the next instant, the sounds of explosions rang throughout the air.

 Chapter 446 - Finally Reunited

    The golden shower of mana bolts was indeed from Cecil.


    From afar, Cecil had long since detected Angelia, Gabriel, and Kira. He also found his apprentice with them as well as a few other people, but the monsters moving to attack them ruined his chance of directly heading their way to reunite with them.


    The monsters were attacking any human within their immediate vicinity and with a few from his group still being unconscious due to exhaustion from being affected by the illusion array.


    He had to stop these monsters from hurting any more of his people so Cecil gathered his mana, used Hypersensitivity, and locked onto every monster within his Mana Sense''s effective range.


    Before, he was limited from adding the homing attribute onto too many of his mana bolts due to his mind''s capacity, but after his recent upgrade, his brain''s processing ability was enhanced and this kind of massive targeting ability was made possible.


    All he needed to do was add it to his Skyfall technique and this was the result, a massive-scale golden apocalypse that obliterated all of the enemies that he targeted. The only flaw of Skyfall had been corrected thanks to Cecil''s new built-in homing system.


    Now, he no longer needed to worry about accidentally injuring his allies which were within close proximity to his attack. Of course, it would be too much to ask them not to be affected by the shockwaves which were the by-product of the explosions caused by his skill, but at least now, no one would be directly hurt by his Skyfall.


    The previous incident when he and his team first subdued the Hydragon, Nessie, where his allies had to evacuate the area in fear of being hit by his powerful attack, no longer had to be repeated.


    "...This should clear most of them out, but I can''t be sure that I saved everyone since Skyfall''s range is limited and it can''t encompass this whole place..."


    Cecil spread out his Mana Sense once more to check on the situation before he flew towards his brother and sister''s location.


    "I can''t sense Kira... did something happen to him?" Cecil mumbled with a frown.


    *****


    As Cecil approached their location, the automata immediately detected him from afar. The absurd quality of mana and other sources of energy circulating within his body alerted them of his presence and they became wary.


    They, the automata, were actually afraid of someone right now. Even Hana couldn''t help but break her poker face and frown when she noticed Cecil approaching.


    All of the automata gathered together around Gabriel and waited for orders. If the person coming towards them showed any hostility, they all agreed to immediately evacuate their commander and attack without any hesitation.


    Gabriel noticed the odd actions of his automata but he didn''t feel like questioning them. He already knew that the massive golden shower from earlier that obliterated all of the monsters attacking them was from his younger brother, Cecil.


    "Hah, I can''t believe it took him this long just to find us..." Gabriel mumbled before sitting down on a block of concrete in exhaustion.


    The fighting from earlier although short, still took some stamina away from him. It had been so long since he actually had a good meal so he was thinking about maybe trying to fry those insect-type monsters. However, he had to shelve the idea because after he looked around, Gabriel finally noticed that there weren''t any intact monsters left for him to harvest their meat.


    "He sure did it pretty thoroughly. Did Cecil get stronger maybe? I remember that attack from before and it shouldn''t normally be able to do this..."


    Gabriel couldn''t find a better explanation for it, but his brother probably got stronger in the period of time that they were separated. He just couldn''t understand the power leaps that his brother would show from time to time within a short time period.


    It hadn''t even been a year since their family had reunited, but he still remembered the first time Cecil came back and drove away the Merkruz Army that was bearing down on them and saved them from a hopeless situation.


    Now, after nearly a year had passed, his brother''s strength had exceeded anything a human being could imagine. In fact, Gabriel felt like his brother was becoming more of a god than a human. Cecil''s power, if he chose to, was enough to change the landscape of any terrain that he struck with any one of his ultimate skills.


    It was dangerous but also a reassurance since Gabriel knew that his brother would always be on his family''s side and wouldn''t ever become an enemy. His brother''s power also doubled as protection against anyone that would eye their family or their kingdom in a malicious way.


    When Gabriel looked up in the sky at the fast approaching human that was flying straight in his direction at high speeds, his lips perked up into a smile and he stood up and waved at Cecil.


    Seeing the friendly gesture, the automata surrounding Gabriel relaxed a little. However, they remained vigilant. The person who had just landed nearby gave off a very dangerous aura and the vibe the automata were feeling from him faintly reminded them of their creators, the ancients.


    They weren''t loyal to their creators nor were they thankful. They only felt indifference towards them, but due to their strength they also subtly feared them. Hana was still clenching her fists hard as Cecil slowly approached them, or rather, their commander.


    "Gabe, it''s great to see you''re fine," Cecil said and quickly pulled his brother into a hug.


    "Who do you think I am? I''m not that weak that you need to worry about me," Gabriel replied and patted Cecil on the back.


    "Hehe, that''s true. Where''s Angie? Also, how come I don''t sense Kira anywhere?"


    "Angie is near the power station I think. As for Kira...I think it''s because he''s hiding behind a barrier."


    "Oh...is that so?"


    Kira was indeed hiding behind Desmond''s barrier back at the power station and he had been sniping down monsters from his vantage point. Cecil didn''t know about the barrier Kira was hiding behind so he was a little amazed that it was powerful enough to block his Mana Sense.


    He turned to look at the new faces around him and noticed the strained and tense atmosphere.


    "Who''re these people, big bro?" Cecil asked.


    He was rather intrigued by them. He felt that they were different in some way, but the thing he found most intriguing were the armor that the automata were wearing. He was able to recognize that adamantium was the basic material composition of the armor, but he knew at a glance that adamantium only made up one of the many materials that forged this peculiar armor.


    "Big bro, I''m guessing that these people are under you, right? That''s some nifty looking armor they''ve got!"


    "Eh? Well, yeah, I guess. I''ll tell you who they are later. For now, I think we should go to the top of that spire? The transfer gate to the next floor is up there according to the guide," Gabriel replied.


    "Yeah, okay. I''ll go round up everyone else who are scattered around this place."


    Cecil shelved his curiosity for now. There were more important things that he had to attend to. He quickly shot up into the air and spread his Mana Sense. After picking up on some people, he quickly flew towards their direction.


    "Agenor, Pollux, Helen, and Desmond, you 4 follow my brother and help with the retrieval of all humans within this... city," Gabriel turned around and ordered.


    The 4 nodded their heads before taking to the skies and chasing after Cecil who was already quite far away.


    "The rest of you, head back to the power station," Gabriel ordered the remaining automata before turning towards Hana and said, "Hana, walk with me."


    "Yes, Commander."


    Gabriel walked back in the direction of the power station. Angelia''s monsters, Mao, the triple-headed golden snake, and Nessie all began to retreat back to the station as well once they saw that there were no more enemies around.


    On their way back, Gabriel began asking Hana what was up with her and the other automata''s earlier behavior.


    "Why did you act so cautiously around, my little brother earlier? You already saw that he was a friendly."


    "Due to ''fear'', Commander," Hana flatly replied.


    "Fear? I thought you said that you aren''t programmed to feel fear?"


    Hana didn''t immediately reply but she thought about it for a moment before asking, "That person was Commander''s brother, yes?"


    "Yes."


    "The data from my scanning indicated that Commander and your, little sister, are both High Humans."


    "High Humans?"


    "Yes, High Humans. However, when I tried scanning the young man earlier who is your brother...I couldn''t do it."


    "You couldn''t scan him?"


    "Yes, and the only race of people I can''t scan are the ancients who according to the database, should all be dead by now."


    "..."


    "Also, the aura that your ''brother'' was giving off greatly resembled that of the ancients. I won''t say much about how cruel that race was, but I''m sure you can be the judge of that, Commander."


    Gabriel listened to her words before shaking his head and firmly replying, "It''s impossible that my brother is a part of that cruel race. We aren''t even originally from this planet to begin with so there''s no way that we have any sort of connection to those ancients!"


    "Not from this planet?" Hana questioned. Her poker face nearly broke when she heard this piece of news from her commander.


    Gabriel was able to understand that the automaton was curious about his origins but he shook his head and replied, "Once we get out of the trials, I''ll explain it to you. In return, you''ll have to tell me all about those ancients, what high humans are, and what this war and those Fallen that you were created to combat against are."


    "Yes, Commander, as you wish."


    "Let''s just focus on getting out of here. We should be near the last stages of the entire trial and with Cecil''s help, I''m sure we can complete the remaining stages easily."

 Chapter 447 - Sky Fortress Citadel

    Cecil had noticed that there were people following behind him as he flew through the sky towards the scattered groups of humans that came with him to the fifth floor.


    The 4 individuals following him were recognized immediately as those who were with his brother earlier. They had a somewhat peculiar vibe to them and there was also the fact that they seemed cautious around him, but Cecil didn''t pay it too much mind.


    They were his brother''s subordinates so he didn''t see any need to place too much suspicion on their behavior. At least, that''s what he inferred from them always referring to Gabriel as their commander.


    There were 9 of them in total and they all seemed very loyal to Gabriel. Earlier, when he had just reunited with his brother, he felt a strong sense of wariness from these new people, but he didn''t sense any hostility.


    It was mostly wariness that was directed at those who were much stronger than them. Cecil had scanned these people with his Mana Eyes and had long since noticed that they weren''t human, but he didn''t point that out earlier.


    Using his Mana Eyes, Cecil was able to see that all of the automata''s organs, muscles, and bones were artificial and were constructed using some kind of ancient metal that he didn''t recognize that was also mixed with adamantium. The ''blood'' flowing in the vein and artery-like wirings was liquid adamantium mixed with ancient dragon blood and something else, and in the place of the heart was something else that acted as both the heart and mana point of the automata.


    The automata had an artificial mana heart in place of their hearts which also doubled as a mana point. The mana heart greatly intrigued Cecil since it was very much similar to the mana batteries that he created, but not only did it store mana, it also pulled in mana from outside on its own to maintain a constant flow of mana going in and out of the mana heart.


    The mana replenishing efficiency was much better than any of his advanced mana batteries so he was very curious as to how the mana heart worked. Of course, he wasn''t shameless enough to actually ask Gabriel to let him probe someone''s physical heart just to satisfy his curiosity and urge. So he could only release a sigh and shelve the dangerous and inhumane idea.


    However, since he found out that it was possible to create something like this mana heart using magi-tech, Cecil decided that once he got back home, he''d focus his research into the creation of this heart.


    Mana was categorized as an energy source and there was literally an infinite amount of it present on Alterna. Having an infinite and clean energy source...this was something that even the humans from Earth were always in search of.


    Of course, no one on Earth had been able to find such an energy source but the scientists and researchers in his kingdom were already looking into Mana and have already deduced that it was a plausible and cleaner energy source that could replace fuel, electricity, and other energy resources. All it needed was for someone to create a vessel which allowed the people to harness and better utilize it for everyday life.


    Cecil had already created the mana batteries and let his kingdom''s people use it but this Mana Heart was something beyond that. He wanted to create it purely because it was better than his mana batteries.


    It wasn''t out of his sense of responsibility or camaraderie for his fellow humans nor was it for the ''good of all mankind''. It was mostly because of his selfish desire to create something that was unknown to him and he also wanted to provide his family with something that could bring more convenience to their lives.


    Once he was able to create this Mana Heart, Cecil didn''t plan on sharing the technology outside of his family. He wasn''t selfless enough to do that. He wanted his family, and only his family, to reap the benefits of all his ideas and creations.


    Cecil didn''t care about the ''greater good'' or whatever nonsense that was. His motivation in getting stronger and creating what he did was purely because he wanted to protect and improve the lives of all his loved ones.


    "I''ll be able to make it one day. I can just analyze these people''s Mana Hearts using my Mana Eyes once I get Gabe''s permission. I also have to ask him what these people even are. They aren''t humans though they look like it... I wonder what their race is..."


    ******


    After Cecil retrieved everyone in the flying fortress and gathered them at his brother''s resting spot at the fortress'' main power station, he finally noticed that not everyone who had come to the fifth floor with him were able to survive.


    He had only left them for a few days at most, but their numbers had dwindled, only a little bit of over half of the people were fortunate enough to make it to the fifth stage with him.


    The people from Karen''s group were already so little but they had lost a person or two. Then there were the priests and holy knights from Cecilia''s kingdom. They had lost quite a few priests from the illusions and assaults from the desert monsters.


    The Silvaria Kingdom''s people had also decreased by a few, but Cecil only cared about Ren, Celestina, and Angelia''s close friends. He was glad that they were all still alive and made it through this trial while he only felt a slight bit of regret and sadness for the other people who were lost.


    Cecil watched as the automata, Mary and Desmond, healed all of the injured people that he brought back and tended to their wounds and dehydration.


    They used magic in a peculiar way, reminiscent of how a monster uses it. There was no chant, but a magic circle would form before the spell was invoked. Also, the flow of mana from the Mana Heart during the spell activation was fluid and smooth.


    This proved that Cecil would be able to create a perpetual lightning spell using the Mana Heart which would be able to provide an infinite amount of electricity. He could also start creating devices that ran on mana or more lifestyle magi-tech, but that had to wait until after he successfully created the Mana Heart.


    Once everyone was fully rested, they all began their journey towards the spire located at the center of the massive sky fortress. The journey was wrought with many dangers because monsters of higher rankings and strength had formed nests closer to the fortress'' center where the main engine of the fortress'' float system was located at.


    However, thanks to the automata, the group was able to safely traverse through the complicated layout of the sky fortress and make it to the central spire after a week of fighting and walking.


    "Finally, we''re here," Cecil said as he looked up at the tower that stabbed high into the sky.


    During the past week that they used to make their way here, the sky fortress had continued to float higher into the sky until only yesterday it stopped moving and stabilized at its current altitude.


    The altitude that they were currently at normally would have strong winds which were enough to blow a human off their feet if they weren''t careful, but there was a super-sized energy shield encompassing the entirety of the sky fortress in a sphere that kept the winds out and protected the city in the fortress safe.


    This massive sky fortress was much more advanced than any sky fortress that the Machina Reggio Empire possessed. There were also many dormant weapons positioned at strategic points throughout the surface of the sky fortress and there were even more on the sky fortress'' lower half which Cecil found after he flew out and checked.


    "If we could bring this thing out of this place..." Gabriel mumbled feeling that it was a shame that he would have to leave this thing here.


    Hana heard his mumbling and she immediately said to him, "You can, Commander."


    "What?"


    "Sky Fortress Citadel, at least this is what this one is called, is supposed to act as the forward command post and base for our fight against the Fallen. We''ll naturally need to take this with us when we exit from this subspace."


    "O-okay, but how will we bring this with us?"


    "You don''t have to worry about that, Commander. The ancients designed the Citadel to be able to traverse across space so once we get out of this subspace, we can just summon the Citadel out with us once we help you get the Commander''s Authority," Hana explained.


    "I-I see... how can we get this authority?"


    "Well, first of all, the condition is to be our Commander. After that, we have to go to the central spire and bind your DNA to the central mainframe before the Commander''s Authority will be transferred over to you."


    "Let''s get to it then."


    "Understood, please follow me, Commander," Hana said before she walked over to the central spire, fiddled with something on the wall which then opened an access panel that she inputted a few codes before a large opening slid open on the spire''s wall.


    "W-what did you do, big bro?" Cecil asked after seeing the wall suddenly appear.


    He had scanned the entire spire already and saw the interior and knew that the place to control the sky fortress was located inside there, but he couldn''t find an entrance into the spire.


    He was about to smash a hole into the spire''s wall, but Hana, the girl that was constantly by his brother''s side had done something to the wall and a large entrance had suddenly appeared.


    "Cecil, I already took the time to explain everything to you before. These automaton know more about this place than any of us so it''s only natural that they''d know how to gain access to the spire''s interior," Gabriel explained. He had already seen his impatient younger brother take action by looking around the spire.


    Judging from his look, Gabriel already knew that this little brother of his was planning on doing something absurd if he couldn''t find a way inside. Good thing Hana had quickly opened the way up for them, otherwise, if Cecil had indeed blasted a hole open for them due to his impatience, who knows what kind of damages he could have done to the sky fortress''s central mainframe.


    "Don''t be so impatient next time, Cecil," Gabriel said and patted Cecil on his shoulder.


    "B-brother, did you actually think that I might do something?!"


    "Who knows, maybe you would, maybe you wouldn''t?"


    "Wow... have you so little faith in your little brother?"


    "I have faith that you''re impatient and that you''ll definitely ''open'' up a way for us if we couldn''t find one with your brute strength," Gabriel replied with a brow raised.


    "...you''re not wrong there..." Cecil mumbled in reply.


    When everyone got inside, they all noticed that the place was practically empty. There was nothing here except for a few hieroglyph-like writings on the walls, ceiling, and ground of the spire.


    "Nobody touch anything! We''ll let the automata guide us through this place!"


    Gabriel had long since taken charge of the entire group during the past week so they all nodded in compliance with his command. Cecil didn''t mind that his brother had taken control over the group since he knew that his brother was a much better leader despite remembering that he was quite the introvert when he was younger.


    From the center of the room, Hana called out to Gabriel urgently, "Commander, this is the central control panel! You can bind your DNA to the Citadel by placing your hand on it!"

 Chapter 448 - Two Transfer Gates

    The binding process didn''t last very long. All Gabriel did was place his palm on the control panel and the process was similar to the blood extracting process from when he first awakened the automata.


    Once his DNA was registered, the white lights glowing within the room changed into a blue color, indicating that the sky fortress was now registered under someone''s control.


    It felt a little bit anti-climactic but now that Gabriel had bound the sky fortress to him, a complete map of the sky fortress was transferred directly to his mind. In that map were the locations of not one but 2 transfer gates that looked exactly similar to the trial''s next stage''s transfer gates.


    "There''s two transfer gates," Gabriel informed his little brother after taking in all of the new information that was suddenly shoved into his head.


    Since he was now connected to the sky fortress, he was able to ascertain all of the sky fortress'' functions and capabilities. Many of which were quite militaristic. This was a given since the fortress was created and designed specifically for war.


    However, there was a function that enabled for fast transportation in the sky fortress that Gabriel quickly activated once he found it.


    "Since there are two transfer gates, the rest can stay here for now while I go to one of them and see where it leads while the other one you big bro can go to. Once we find the correct transfer gate, we can all just go to the gate together," Cecil suggested after listening to his brother and finding the exact coordinates of the transfer gates.


    They weren''t in any places that were too far away. In fact, one of the gates was actually on the top most floor of the central spire that they were currently in. While the other gate was directly within the interior of the sky fortress, in other words, this gate was directly below or underneath the central spire.


    One was at the top while the other at the bottom, the top gate was pretty direct, while the other transfer gate needed someone to navigate through the complex infrastructure of the sky fortress to get to. Luckily, they had Gabriel, the new owner of the sky fortress.


    Using the map and the fastest mode of transportation that the sky fortress had which was a floating gondola, Gabriel could probably get to the gate quite easily.


    Since it was decided, Gabriel would take a few of the automata with him to go to the sky fortress'' inner transfer gate while Cecil would just fly up to the top of the spire and check out the transfer gate at the top.


    Some of the others in the group, especially the leaders, didn''t want to sit still and wait for Cecil and Gabriel to bring them news and wanted to go along with them. The sky fortress was still teeming with monsters so it was safer, at least for Gabriel, if he had a little more combat power with him.


    Of course, the automata were powerful, but it was always better to have more people. Obviously, Cecil didn''t need this, but he let the flight-capable automata, that his brother wanted him to take, to come with him.


    The injured and exhausted members of the group naturally stayed back at the spire with the support model automata while everyone else set out.


    Gabriel called for a gondola and a large open platform suddenly emerged from the ground. Gabriel hopped on and the others that were going with him naturally followed him on it. Once everyone was on, a dome-like transparent barrier enveloped the platform-shaped gondola and the thing shot into the distance.


    Cecil had been observing the contraption and noticed that it wasn''t just barrier magic which was used, but even gravity magic was used to anchor the passengers to the gondola so that they wouldn''t fly off the platform when it shot forward with tremendous speed.


    After it flew forwards for a bit, Cecil was able to see that the platform suddenly stopped before it descended out of his line of sight.


    "Hm, I guess they''ll probably get there quicker and safer than I expected," Cecil mumbled to himself after seeing off his brother and his group.


    He turned towards the two twin automata that were waiting behind him and asked, "Shall we get going?"


    "Yes, sir."


    "Yes, sir."


    The two automata replied in unison and this caused Cecil to chuckle.


    "You two are really good children. It''s really sad that you two had to go through something pretty inhumane to become what you guys are now..."


    The two automata had a rather puzzled look on their faces when they heard Cecil''s ramblings so when Cecil saw this, he didn''t say anymore.


    He had heard about the inhumane way the automata were created and didn''t think that the technology and process used to create these human-based automata were so...evil. It couldn''t exactly be termed evil if viewed at an objective stand point.


    They were just the results of success from many countless failures which led to the process seeming to be evil. In a way, the creators had actually given these automata a very significant gift which could be used to defend themselves in this very cruel world and against the Fallen invasion which was inevitably going to happen.


    At least, it was better than leaving these people helpless and defenseless against those monsters. The ancients gave them a sword and shield for them to use against those monsters and although they seemed to be programmed specifically to fight these monsters, from what Cecil had observed for the past few days, they did have their own will, though they chose to listen to Gabriel for instructions.


    Their basic human nature hadn''t been destroyed, it was still there so once their objective have been completed, the complete elimination of the Fallen threat, Cecil was sure that they could live the rest of their lives as normal people.


    "Alright, why don''t we race to the top?"


    "A race?"


    The two asked in unison and then replying together,


    "That sounds boring..."


    "That sounds fun!"


    The two then looked at each other and the girl twin began pulling at the other twin''s hair.


    "Alright...let''s go?"


    Cecil said before immediately launching himself into the sky.


    "Hey! That''s cheating!" Helen cried before she quickly chased after him.


    Her body armor began changing and turned into its ''flight'' mode. At least, this is what Cecil called it.


    Helen''s brother, Pollux, only sighed and changed his armor before following after his sister. Cecil had been waiting for the two and was watching from high up in the sky how their armor changed.


    With his Mana Eyes, he saw a very complex runic array activating on the armor when it was transforming. This very runic array was something he had been able to acquire from Hana, the leading automata, after Gabriel asked her for the blueprint of the transformable armor they wore.


    It worked like an assault battle suit that he read from all of his brothers'' comics and from the TV shows he watched when he was back on Earth. There was a particular superhero show that he remembered watching as a kid and it featured something similar to this but it used technology and science instead of runes and magi-tech.


    The blueprints that Cecil acquired showed that the runic arrays on the armor were linked together to form a very complex interconnected network of arrays. The armor itself wasn''t that hard to make as long as materials or their substitutes were prepared.


    The runic system was the sole reason why the armor was able to transform not because of the armor itself. Although it did use a combination of materials that was unfamiliar to Cecil so that it could accommodate all of the transformations but without the runic system, the armor wouldn''t be able to transform.


    The creation of this runic system was much too complex and even for Cecil he had to admit that he wouldn''t be able to replicate the array with his skills. He would need to polish his artificing skills a bit more before even attempting to make it.


    The three quickly made it to the top of the spire in only a few seconds and they all landed on the platform floating just above the spire that held the transfer gate.


    "Hahaha! I win by 0.1928 mm!" Helen joyously cried out.


    "...wow, that''s pretty precise," Cecil said in amazement.


    He had tried to make it look like they both arrived at the same but it looks like Helen was quite adamant about determining a winner between them. Thankfully, she won, this way Cecil wouldn''t have to deal with a potentially saddened Helen.


    A few seconds later, Pollux arrived on the platform. Cecil noticed that this automaton had quite the lazy attitude which greatly resembled that of his brother who was also a twin. Of course, Gabriel was no longer his lazy self from the past.


    Thanks to the new world they were in, Gabriel had become a little bit more outgoing which was a good thing of course.


    Cecil looked around the platform and noticed that this transfer gate was inactive. He looked around and even scanned the gate and platform with his Mana Eyes but didn''t see any sort of mechanism that activated it.


    "Sir, there''s no power source for this one," Pollux spoke up.


    "It looks like this isn''t the transfer gate to the next stage. So it''s safe to assume that the other transfer gate is the real one?" Helen asked.


    Cecil shook his head and replied, "This gate is merely inactive so we can''t be certain that this isn''t the one. It could just be that we haven''t completed the task or quest that was given to us which will activate this transfer gate."


    Helen nodded while Pollux remained silent.


    Cecil turned to them and said, "Let''s go to where Gabriel is. The other transfer gate could also probably be the¡ª"


    He was interrupted by his MID in the next second. It was vibrating which indicated that someone was trying to call him.


    "Ah, this is probably Gabe," Cecil said and quickly accepted the call. "Big bro, did you¡ª"


    "Cecil!"


    The voice was definitely his brother''s but the urgency behind the tone alerted him.


    "Big bro, is something up?"


    The sounds of yelling could be heard from the other side and this caused Cecil to frown.


    "Gabe?!"


    "Cecil! We need help! The transfer gate here suddenly activated and it''s pulling people into its portal!"


    Cecil didn''t reply and instead hung up. He jumped down the platform in the next instant and flew straight down. He flew in the direction where he last saw the gondola his brother''s group was on and quickly found the opening which led down to the interior of the sky fortress.


    "S-Sir, wait up!" Helen cried out.


    "We need to get to the second transfer gate. You guys know the path right?"


    "Y-yes!"


    "Then lead on but make haste! They seem to be in some sort of danger!"


    "The Commander?! Brother!"


    "Let''s go."


    Pollux took the lead and shot into the opening leading to the sky fortress'' interior. Helen followed after him with Cecil in tow. The two automata''s armors began changing once again and this time, large openings formed on the backs and a few smaller ones formed in the front. Cecil saw it and likened the new additions to a jet engine. Then, the two automata''s speeds picked up and they accelerated forward, nearly leaving Cecil behind.

 Chapter 449 - Finally, You’re Here!

    Cecil quickly accelerated and followed after the two automata who were now rushing towards Gabriel''s location as fast as they could.


    Cecil was able to keep up with their speed and this caused the two automata to be quite surprised. They didn''t think that a mere human could keep up with their speed after they transformed their armors into their high-speed flight mode.


    He stably kept up with their speed and agilely navigated through the large winding route. Cecil was rather amazed that the automata could move so agilely at high speed using their armors. They were masterfully using the armor like it was a part of their bodies.


    "How much farther are we?" Cecil called out.


    "We''re about halfway there, sir!" Helen replied.


    "I''ll go on ahead! You guys catch up!"


    "Huh?"


    Cecil started spreading his Mana Sense out and within his range, he was able to find his brother''s location and quickly used Nature''s Shift to arrive at Gabriel''s location in the next instant.


    Seeing him suddenly disappear, the two automata widened their eyes and immediately began accelerating.


    Cecil knew that he should have used this method much earlier, but he wanted to make sure that the two automata were safe moving through the sky fortress'' interior. His worries were unfounded because the two automata moved at super-fast speeds which didn''t leave the monsters that they passed by with any chance to attack them.


    *****


    Once Cecil arrived at Gabriel''s location with his Nature''s Shift, he immediately noticed the turbulent mana wreaking havoc in the air. The cause of the turbulence was the black hole-like portal that was in the center of the large room he had just teleported into.


    He saw Gabriel and the few people that he brought along hiding behind a broken wall at the far side of the room located directly opposite of the only way in and out of the rampaging transfer gate''s room.


    He tried using Nature''s Shift to move over next to Gabriel but was surprised that he was unable to.


    "...It''s because of that portal...it''s disrupting any use of mana within this room!"


    Cecil clicked his tongue and began taking out a few things within his spatial ring. Fortunately, he had teleported into the room behind some debris that he could use for cover. The unfortunate part about this was that because before he could transfer himself next to his brother and the rest, the portal''s turbulence had forced him out of his Nature''s Shift prematurely and landed him a little bit off from their location.


    "Gabe! Everyone!"


    Gabriel heard his call and looked past the wall he was hiding behind.


    "Cecil, we need help!"


    "I know! Let me get to you first! I can''t use any mana so just wait a bit!"


    "Alright!"


    Cecil and Gabriel both had to yell to hear each other because the portal which was basically now a black hole was sucking in everything, the air, the mana, everything.


    Even the debris and the broken wall that Cecil, Gabriel, and the rest were hiding behind were no exception. If they didn''t act fast, they''d be in trouble real soon. No one, not even Cecil, knew what would happen if they were sucked into that portal. One thing was for sure, that portal wasn''t the portal to the next trial stage.


    Cecil had already pulled out a rope and a few other things from his spatial ring. He looked around and saw the exit was just behind him so he quickly moved to the exit and into the large corridor.


    He found a few pillars close by and began wrapping the ropes around the pillars. As for how there were even any ropes inside his spatial ring, even he didn''t know. He only remembered stuffing in whatever his wives gave him into his rings so thankfully, there were a few handy things inside such as the couple bundles of rope.


    After wrapping the rope around the pillars in the corridor, he began joining the bundles of ropes together. He was a little skeptical if the ropes would even hold up without snapping or breaking apart on the tied together area, but thankfully, a solution in the form of two automata arrived.


    "Sir, you''re already here!" Helen asked in amazement when she saw Cecil doing something just outside the transfer gate''s room where her Commander was currently trapped in.


    "Perfect, you two came at the right time. Can you do something with your powers to adhere together or combine these ropes?" Cecil asked while he showed them the long rope he had just finished tying together.


    "We can connect them and reinforce it with our armor, but it''ll leave us weaponless and defenseless with our armor not on us," Pollux answered.


    "Just do it. I''ll leave a clone to protect you two while you''re defenseless. This is for the sake of your Commander''s safety so hurry!"


    Helen and Pollux both nodded when they heard it was to rescue their commander. They put a hand on the ropes and their armor began melting off of the body and began moving to their arms and onto the ropes.


    The liquid metal armor began adhering to the ropes and reinforcing it. When they were done, a long metal rope was created temporarily.


    "This is great! Okay, just stay back and if you can, keep an eye on the pillars. Don''t let them break!" Cecil said to the two before he left behind a clone wielding his Serenity with them.


    He quickly rushed back into the room with the long metal rope. He braced himself and began running straight towards Gabriel and the rest who were hiding.


    "O-Oh shit!" Cecil cursed out when he felt his body being sucked into the portal.


    He thought that using mana to anchor his foot onto the floor was enough to get him by, but he had forgotten that mana was also being pulled into the black hole-like portal. Cecil reacted quickly by pulling out his gunblade and stabbing it into the floor.


    "Th-that was close!"


    He began slowly walking his way towards the group by taking a step forward pulling out his sword and stabbing it back into the ground to keep himself from flying away. He continued doing this until finally, he reached Gabriel and the rests'' spot.


    "You brought a long metal rope...are you going to tie us all together and pull us out?" Gabriel incredulously asked.


    "H-hey! That''s all I got! Unless you have a better idea!" Cecil replied.


    "Can''t argue with that, but I honestly thought you''d have a more creative solution, but is the rope safe? It won''t break from holding all of us together?"


    "It''s been reinforced by your automata''s armor. We have to hurry, I''m not sure if any monsters will come, but the twins said that they''d be vulnerable without their armor!"


    "Everyone, get in line. I''ll tie the rope around that broken pillar and use these to tie yourselves around the metal rope before you guys start moving slowly to the exit!" Cecil said while tossing out a few normal ropes to Gabriel and everyone.


    Celestina, Cecilia, and Karen quickly took a few and began distributing it to everyone else. They felt a little bit bad because they came intending to help Gabriel, but they instead only became a burden when they landed in some trouble.


    "I-I''m sorry Cecil. If we didn''t insist on coming, Gabriel and the others with him would have been able to easily get out of here..." Cecilia said apologetically.


    "Never mind that, it''s not like you guys could have predicted something like this would have happened."


    "That''s just the thing though, I can predict it, remember?"


    "Oh? Y-yeah, I almost forgot that you were a clairvoyant priestess..."


    "Muuh...well, I did predict it, but it was a little bit too late..." Cecilia said this and was quite downtrodden.


    Her future visions were always late or imprecise when it mattered most.


    "We can be all apologetic later. For now, just hurry up and get out of here. I''ll stay back and keep the rope in check."


    The others began attaching themselves to the rope and slowly began walking out of the room with their bodies attached to the metal rope, keeping them anchored and safe from the portal''s suction force.


    Cecil looked over at the portal with his Mana Eyes and tried to see if he could pick up what caused the portal to begin collapsing in on itself. However, when he used his Mana Eyes, he noticed something floating next to the portal without getting sucked in.


    It was a blob of light and he couldn''t help but notice that this blob of light seemed to be staring directly at him.


    "What is th¡ªHuh?!"


    Before he could question what that thing was, the blob of light suddenly shot towards him and in the blink of an eye, it was already upon him.


    "Finally, you''re here!"

 Chapter 450 - Disappeared

    The blob of light that suddenly appeared in front of him said those words and it immediately entered into his body.


    "What the hell?!"


    Cecil was surprised when he noticed that he somehow couldn''t control his body anymore. The suction force of the black hole also began to strengthen and he was slowly moving away from his cover behind the broken wall.


    Noticing his peculiar movements, Gabriel urgently called out to him, "Cecil, what''s wrong?"


    "B-Big bro, I-I can''t control my b-b-body!" Cecil said as he struggled to stop himself from taking a step forward.


    Whatever came into his body had somehow possessed him and he couldn''t control his body as he normally could.


    "What''s wrong?!"


    "H-Help! S-something dove inside me and I can''t move normally!"


    "Hana, Deuce, go help him!"


    "Yes, Commander..."


    "Roger."


    The two automata came over to Cecil''s side and were about to grab onto him but suddenly, Cecil began releasing a large amount of his aura that quickly repelled the two and nearly blew them into the black hole-like portal.


    "Cecil?!"


    "Th-that wasn''t me, big bro!"


    "Don''t play any games!"


    "I''m...not! I told you, I can''t control my body! S-Something''s inside of me¡ª"


    He immediately stopped saying anything in the next instance because he felt something trying to invade his mind.


    ''There''s no need to struggle. Your existence here will bring this world to ruin. I''m only going to return you to a place where you won''t cause any harm!''


    Hearing the unknown voice echo inside his head, Cecil immediately replied,


    ''Who the f.u.c.k are you?! Get out of my body!''


    ''You''re the harbinger of the coming calamity. It has already been preordained. For the good of this world, you can''t be allowed to stay here any longer!''


    ''What the hell are you talking about?!''


    Cecil felt that his control over his own body was slowly slipping away, however, just before the other entity that had invaded his body was able to thrust him into the portal, a long black tail suddenly wrapped around Cecil''s waist holding him in place.


    "!"


    ''What now?!'' The ominous voice echoed inside Cecil''s head.


    "Big bro, hold on! I''ll save you!" Angelia yelled out from across the room. She had already made it towards the room''s exit and had summoned her monster, Nessie, out in the corridor. She had Nessie extend one of his long tails out to grab onto Cecil before his body was fully exposed from behind the wall.


    Angelia was also rescuing everyone else from the room using her monster and it made things much easier. However, because Nessia was large, he had to anchor himself outside of the room with his other numerous tails to keep himself from being dragged into the portal.


    The portal''s suction force had grown strong enough to pull in large and heavy objects and for some reason, the larger the object, the easier it was to pull in. This was especially true for Nessie who was struggling to hold onto the pillars in the corridor to prevent himself from being dragged into the room and into the portal.


    "Nessie, hurry! Once you bring everyone out, you can return!"


    Nessie only roared back in response and began pulling out the rest of the people still inside the room into the corridor.


    Cecil was also being pulled out but before he even got out, a large explosion suddenly occurred on Nessie''s tail and the monster roared in pain, nearly loosening its hold around the other people he had in his tails.


    The tail that was directly struck by the explosion was the one that had wrapped around Cecil. The origin of the explosion was from the boy himself who was now holding onto his sword that was stabbed into the ground.


    "Big brother?!" Angelia yelled in shock.


    "S-sorry! I-I can''t control my body!" Cecil yelled out.


    "W-we have to save him! Big brother Gabriel, do something!" Angelia frantically called out.


    "I know!" Gabriel yelled in reply. He frowned hard after thinking of everything he could. Not everyone was out yet, and Nessie was struggling to even pull back the others it was grasping in its tail from inside the room. "Hana, are there any options?"


    Hana was silent for a moment before she answered, "There are no plausible courses of action to save Mr. Cecil."


    "What did you say?!"


    "The portal is experiencing its last phase of collapse, if we stay here any longer, we''ll be caught in the dimensional explosion and we will all perish."


    "D-dimensional explosion?!"


    "We may have to abandon the sky fortress, Commander. The dimensional explosion will engulf everything in the surrounding tens of kilometers. We have to evacuate immediately!" Hana said robotically. However, her tone held a sense of urgency.


    "S-so we abandon my brother?!"


    "..."


    "Shit! How do we destroy the portal before it collapses?"


    "Solution... we can try overloading the portal with mana. However, this will cause one of either two outcomes. One, the portal''s collapse destabilizes and it caves in on itself or two, the mana inside the portal compresses and implodes, destroying the portal and causing an even larger dimensional explosion than the initial one."


    Hana''s suggestion was basically a gamble. Cecil, who heard it from afar, already knew what needed to be done.


    "You guys go! Don''t worry about me! Gabe, make sure you take everyone and bring them far away from here! I''ll take the gamble and inject as much as my mana as I can into the portal. Hurry up and get out of here!"


    Hana turned towards Gabriel and said, "Commander, the mortal will explode in less than 15 minutes. If we want to evacuate everyone, we have to do it now."


    Gabriel frowned and turned towards Angelia, who was looking anxiously between him and Hana. He made up his mind and said, "Angelia, tell Nessie to hurry up and drag everyone else out. We''ll leave Cecil to take care of things here."


    "B-but¡ª"


    "Just listen to me, Angie. Please remember that your brother is probably the most powerful person on Earth, right now."


    "But we''re not ON Earth!"


    "Deuce, drag my sister out of here if she resists. Everyone, let''s go!" Gabriel decisively ordered.


    They had mixed feelings about leaving Cecil behind to take care of the collapsing portal, but if they stayed, it wasn''t like they could do anything for him. Also, considering that some kind of spirit had possessed his body, there wasn''t much they could do if he suddenly attacked them unintentionally.


    Right now, Cecil was already doing his utmost to wrap his fingers around the hilt of his gunblade while the administrator, who had possessed him, was trying to make him let go. The internal war going on between the two inside Cecil''s body continued for a few minutes.


    During this time, Gabriel had brought everyone away from the place and went to pick up the rest to bring them out of the sky fortress. If Cecil couldn''t do anything about the sky fortress, they might have to abandon it here on the fifth stage once it was severely damaged by the dimensional explosion caused by the portal''s collapse.


    Nearly fifteen minutes had passed and nothing happened, however, the suction force of the portal had expanded until it was far outside of the room where the gate is located. This caused even the ambient mana around Gabriel and everyone else to gravitate towards it.


    As time continued to tick away and the portal''s pull continued to strengthen. Angelia became increasingly worried because her brother still wasn''t out yet.


    "I-it''s still not gone? Big brother, we have to go save Brother Cecil!" Angelia said in distress.


    Gabriel was similarly worried but he could only reply with a negative to her pleas while keeping his emotions in check, "If we go back there, we''ll only cause unnecessary worry for him! Also, we''ll be caught in the dimensional blast if we¡ª"


    "Don''t say that! It''s like you''re saying Brother Cecil won''t be able to resolve this!"


    "..."


    As Angelia was about to argue once more, Hana who was next to them suddenly spoke up, "Commander, it appears that the portal has collapsed!"


    "What?!"


    "The pull from the portal is slowly dissipating. My scanners detected it. Sir Cecil was successful with the gamble!"


    Gabriel immediately called for a gondola and the group quickly got onto it and moved back to the room where they had left Cecil and the collapsing portal.


    When they got there, the portal was gone, the transfer gate was gone...and so was the entire room. It was like this part of the sky fortress'' interior was cut out from existence and only an empty area was left behind.


    "B-big brother...where''s big brother Cecil?!" Angelia cried out while frantically looking around.


    "Scanning...there are no life forms detected within a kilometer radius from this area, Commander," Hana coldly reported.


    "W-what? Then where''s my brother?!" Gabriel roared in question.


    "There are no life forms anywhere, Commander... we can only assume that Sir Cecil is MIA or...KIA..."


    "N-No...th-there''s no way that my big brother would die!!" Angelia cried. She unconsciously summoned all of the monsters she brought along with her and began scouring the place for her brother.


    Perhaps because the administrator was also not here or at least its influence wasn''t here any longer, Angelia, who before couldn''t summon all of her monsters because they were in some sort of deep hibernation, was finally able to.


    A large wave of monsters suddenly jumped out from all over her body and the small pouches she carried around with her. Inside these pouches were the small forms of the monsters Angelia was able to carry around and once they heard her call, they immediately roused from their slumbers and jumped out, quickly transforming into their battle forms.


    "Find my brother! Find him now!!!"


    This awesome display of might was laid bare for everyone to see. The little girl who they all thought was just a monster tamer turned out to be a monster queen. The numerous young S-ranked and above monsters marched on her orders and began scouring the area.


    Any hostile monsters that tried to come close were immediately obliterated by Angelia''s horde with Nessie in the lead.


    "Brother, what are you doing? Hurry up and find him!" Angelia turned around and glared harshly at Gabriel.


    It was Gabriel and Hana''s idea to leave Cecil behind so that he could handle things himself. Cecil did give them the go-ahead, and despite knowing that he was very powerful, Angelia knew that her brother was omnipotent.


    In the end, Cecil was still just her brother. He was still human just like them and it wasn''t like he was a god that could manipulate space and time on a whim to stop the portal from collapsing. He had his limits but it seemed that everyone forgot about all of that because he''s only been displaying powers that were far out of reach for them that made him seem omnipotent against all kinds of problems.


    "Hurry up! I won''t hear anything from you all! You better find him before the day ends or else none of you are leaving this place!"


    ******


    In the crack between the dimensions, Cecil was currently floating in the endless void, accompanied by a small blob of light that was yelling and cursing at him.


    "Blah blah blah, you brought this upon yourself! What kind of an idiot possesses another person''s body just so that they could kill them or banish them or whatever the heck it is you''ve been rambling on about?!"


    "I was only trying to return you stupid fool! I was trying to prevent you from bringing ruin to your own family and your own people! Why couldn''t you just listen to me and stop struggling?! Now we''re both stuck in the void because of your stupid and reckless action!!!"


    "You think you have the right to be angry?! If I don''t find a way back to my family, you can bet that I''ll torture you and when that happens, you''ll wish that you died back there in the explosion!"


    "F.u.c.k you!"


    "The f.u.c.k did you just say to me?!"

 Chapter 451 - A Cold Prison

    Within the crack between dimensions, Cecil was floating alone in the void accompanied by a blob of white light that was cursing at him. Cecil, naturally not wanting to take the one sided cursing, decided to curse back at...whatever it was he was cursing at.


    A few moments ago, before he was suddenly pulled into this void, he and the unknown entity which had tried to take over his body were currently having a battle of wits inside his mind.


    "Just get out of my body!"


    ''...''


    "Hey!"


    Hearing no response from the entity inside him, Cecil gathered his ether and tried to search for it. Earlier, he had tried scanning his body with mana but couldn''t find the bastard. Fortunately, his ether scanning worked and he was able to quickly find the ball of light that was inside of him. It was actually not in his brain like he had thought earlier but it was in the middle of his spinal cord


    "Found you!"


    ''What?! How can you use that?!''


    Seeing that it had been exposed and the abilities of the human he was trying to control was beyond his imagination, the administrator immediately tried to rush out of Cecil''s body.


    However, Cecil had already created a prison of ether around the ball of light and was able to isolate it. Once the isolation was complete, he regained control of his body. He thought about banishing the ball of light from his body but there were some unanswered questions that he had to ask. He had wanted to know why it tried to kill him by making him jump through the unstable portal.


    But as he was having his mental battle with the tower''s administrator, Cecil didn''t realize that the portal had destabilized until it had hit a critical level and was just about to explode.


    "Shit!"


    Even an idiot could see that if anything passed through that portal, it would inevitably be disintegrated into dust due to the spatial turbulence.


    Cecil quickly remembered what Hana, the automaton, had discussed earlier with his brother. If he was able to force an adequate amount of mana into the portal, he''d have a chance to stabilize it and prevent the collapse as well as the ensuing dimensional explosion that followed it.


    With his vast and dense mana pool, Cecil was confident that he could feed the portal enough mana until it became stable. He began firing off as many mana bolts he could into the portal and eventually, the spatial turbulence began dying down.


    "G-great!"


    Cecil relaxed for a moment after putting out the immediate fire in front of him, however, due to him exhausting his mana, the tower''s administrator took that chance to temporarily take over his body and force him to plunge through the portal.


    "What?! I thought I trapped you!"


    "Think again! You''re not the only one who can use ether!"


    "Ugh..."


    Cecil tried to take back control of his body, but his momentary lapse in concentration from having his attention diverted caused him to stop supplying the portal any of his mana.


    With the mana from him being cut off, the portal immediately began destabilizing at in even faster rate. Just before Cecil could do anything, the administrator had already forced his body to jump through the portal which was about to explode. The tower''s administrator was planning to get out of Cecil''s body during that time, but unfortunately for him, Cecil didn''t allow that.


    "Don''t think I''ll let you get away with this!" Cecil roared and imprisoned the administrator who was still inside his body inside an ether cage.


    ''Release me you fool! If you don''t let me go, the people in this¡ª"


    It was too late for him to say anything. Cecil, along with the administrator who was trapped inside his body, both passed through the portal. It seemed rather bleak for Cecil at the time, but thanks to him, his friends waiting for him far away from the sky fortress were exempt from experiencing a dimensional explosion.


    It had to be remembered that Cecil himself was an abundant source of mana. So when he passed through the portal, the portal had absorbed a large amount of mana just before it blew up and instead collapsed in on itself.


    A large area around the portal was caught in its implosion but the overall damage to the sky fortress was kept to a minimum, and this was the current space where Angelia and her group were searching for Cecil.


    Unfortunately for them, they wouldn''t be able to find his body because it was no longer in their dimension...


    *****


    Having passed through the very questionable portal, Cecil found himself in his current predicament of floating in a black empty space which the tower''s administrator called the gap between dimensions, a timeless and inescapable prison that no living being or entity would want to be trapped in.


    Having spent the last five minutes or so listening to the administrator''s ramblings and cursing, they were now brought to the present. The administrator was still yelling, blaming, and cursing at Cecil even now.


    "This is because of you! If only you hadn''t put up a futile struggle! I would have just sent you off to somewhere hospitable! Now you''ve gone and done it, we''re dead! We''re dead I tell you!"


    "Shove it, whatever you are. If you hadn''t tried to send me into that f.u.c.k.i.n.g portal, we wouldn''t be here in the first place!"


    "Bah! It was a necessary action to guarantee the future of that world!"


    Cecil had heard this stupid phrase for the tenth time already, he got tired of it and clicked his tongue before saying, "Tsk, stop complaining like a wimp and making excuses for trying to kill me!"


    "I wasn''t even trying to kill you!" The administrator countered.


    "Oh, yeah? It didn''t look like that from my perspective when you tried to force me through that collapsing portal!" Cecil said one last time before looking around and no longer paying attention to the white blob of light.


    "How do we get out of here?"


    "Didn''t you hear a single word I said earlier? I told you, we''re in the crack between dimensions, an inhospitable and ti¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah, I heard that earlier. Also you said ''gap'' the first time. Please be consistent."


    "Why you¡ª"


    "Anyway, my question is, how do we even get out of this ''gap'' or ''crack'' that you keep mentioning?"


    "You can''t," the blob of light glumly said.


    "...What?"


    "This place is a prison meant for those idiots who tried and failed to imitate the Great One''s abilities to jump between worlds and dimensions. Not even the Fallen, the universe''s enemies could imitate the Great One''s world traversing ability. The only outcome would be to fall into this prison-like space, and eventually die in here."


    "...You just said no one can imitate this ''world traversing'' ability of this so-called ''Great One'' that you keep worshipping... and yet you tried to send me ''off planet'', if I recall correctly?"


    "..." The administrator remained silent at his words and didn''t respond.


    Seeing this, Cecil grew furious and roared, "Asshole, you really were trying to kill me!"


    "No I wasn''t!" The administrator quickly refuted.


    "Then what the f.u.c.k do you call that?!"


    "I really was only trying to send you off planet using the failsafe that the Great One entrusted to me when I met the calamity''s harbinger."


    "...I really would like to kill you right now...and for the last time, I''m no harbinger!"


    "Hmph, save your breath, we''ll both die in here regardless so it wouldn''t matter if you killed me right now. However, I will return and become a part of the main consciousness of my main body while you will be dead."


    Cecil was just about to argue back when suddenly, he felt himself grow cold and out of breath.


    "Ngah...w-what? H-how¡ªdid you do something to me?!" Cecil turned towards the blob of light and roared.


    "I didn''t do anything. It''s just the effects of this prison."


    "Huh?"


    "I told you, we''re in the crack between dimensions, in other words we''re in a void space. There''s nothing here, no heat, no life, no water, and naturally...no air."


    Cecil felt it. He was slowly beginning to suffocate. Even if he was almost as powerful as a god back on the planet but here in this void space, which could just be considered the same as outer space, he would undoubtedly be helpless. He was still just a human after all.


    When he had initially arrived in this void, his energies were the only things barely keeping him alive. However, as time passed, his energy resources began drying up. Earlier, Cecil had already used a significant amount of his mana by channeling it into the portal and when he fell through it, the portal robbed another chunk of his mana again so by the time he got into this place, his mana reserves were already low.


    Only his Ki was supplementing the loss of his mana and keeping him alive, but now that his ki had also depleted, he was left with what little ether he had inside him. He had wasted a lot of time arguing and cursing at the trial''s administrator so now all three of his energy resources were nearly depleted.


    "A-Ack..." Cecil looked around frantically, trying to see if there was anything he could do.


    However, all he saw was the empty void. There was nothing around him that could give him hope of surviving his current predicament.


    ''F-f.u.c.k...I shouldn''t have wasted my time arguing with that stupid thing!''


    Cecil mustered up what little bits of mana, ki, and ether he had left and reinforced his internals and sensory organs. However, when he did this, frost began forming on his skin.


    "AH!"


    The pain was piercing but he quickly shut off his sense of feeling. Despite doing that, he could feel his body slowly stiffen from the 0 temperatures of this empty space.


    "It''s useless, you won''t be able to survive for long... it wasn''t the outcome I was hoping for, but in a way, my mission is complete. Although, it is regrettable that I have to die as well..."


    Cecil continued struggling. He wasn''t going to give up now and wait to die. He had a family to return to, they were all waiting for him. Also, he was mostly worried about the promise he had made with his wives that if he broke the promise, it would undoubtedly lead to dire consequences for him.


    He began pulling out anything inside his spatial ring, but it was futile. There was nothing on him that could help him in his current situation. As he struggled until his energy resources were finally depleted, Cecil fell unconscious.


    Earlier, he had been pulling out random things from his spatial ring and unconsciously, he had pulled out all 4 of his World Tree''s Thorns.


    When the trial administrator saw the 4 Thorns of his friend, the Old Tree, he couldn''t help but raise his voice in surprise, "That old twig! Is he out of his mind?!"


    The administrator moved over next to the four swords that were now slowly being covered with frost.


    ''He actually handed his precious items to the harbinger...? What could this mean then? Did he...hmmm''


    The administrator looked between the four weapons and Cecil who was slowly beginning to freeze over. There was only a sliver of life left in him and he clung to it tenaciously even though he could no longer breathe.


    ''If I use these 4 to tear a hole through the prison, I can get out, but the tear will also suck him out as well...''


    The administrator contemplated the choice for a moment, but he felt his life force slowly draining away. He promptly made a decision to escape from this place even if it meant dragging Cecil with him in his escape.


    Even though he was but an offshoot of the true Midgard deity''s consciousness, he didn''t want to die since he still had a sense of self.


    ''Let''s proceed with the original plan and isolate him on another planet. Even with his abilities, he wouldn''t be able to find a way back to Alterna.''


    The administrator manipulated the four wooden swords with his mind and arranged them in a unique circle and began using his mana to draw an array using the four World Tree''s Thorns as the crux.


    ''Quadra World Piercer Array, activate!''


    The setup of the array along with its activation happened within a very brief moment. The array''s activation caused the four swords to rotate above the array and it soon created a large black tornado which struck out into the emptiness.


    Cecil was barely awake when he heard a sound akin to glass shattering. In the next instant, he felt his body being sucked in by something before he lost control of his senses and couldn''t feel or hear anything again.


    ''S-shit...if I somehow survive...I''ll torture that stupid bastard first...''


    The administrator would resent the day he had decided upon this decision of his. It would have been better if he and Cecil died in this void than to have his future tied together with the human anomaly.

 Chapter 452 - Through The Void

    As the two passed through the hole in the void, the administrator immediately retrieved the World Tree''s Thorns but before he could grab ahold of them, he was uncontrollably sucked into the spatial tear.


    ''N-No!''


    The swords also fell into the tear but the black and chaotic tunnel that he was passing through made him lose sight of the Thorns. The administrator frantically looked around but could only find Cecil who was just ahead of him.


    His spiritual body wouldn''t last inside this chaotic tunnel, but the same could be said for Cecil. As his body was passing through the spatial tunnel, the turbulence struck and severely damaged his body.


    ''Damn, it''s better than dying when I''ve already made it here!''


    The administrator had planned to house himself inside another array created by the World Tree''s 4 Thorns that he had acquired from Cecil, but with the swords gone, housing himself inside Cecil''s body was the only way.


    The administrator made a beeline towards Cecil''s body and quickly hid inside it. Cecil who was nearly unconscious couldn''t feel the pain from the injuries he was acc.u.mulating because his senses were turned off and he had directed all of his power into maintaining his mind and his life, however, he immediately felt that something foreign had invaded his body again.


    ''You sick bastard... you really won''t leave me alone, huh?''


    Cecil protected his brain and heart by putting up walls made of what little energy he had left. He made sure to make them iron tight so that the administrator wouldn''t be able to snuff out his life.


    He maintained it for god knows how long, however, he didn''t let up his guard but for some reason, the administrator who had invaded his body didn''t do anything this time. It just isolated itself in one corner of his body, far away from where his heart and brain were.


    ''What''s this bastard planning?''


    Time passed. Cecil and the administrator were now just silently guarding against the other, but Cecil felt that the ball of light which had invaded his body once more was acting strangely. He had tried to probe the administrator with a small attack, but it didn''t respond to him. He even tried to speak to it but yet again, no response.


    ''What''s wrong with him?''


    Cecil had gained a little bit of mana from his natural regeneration which was now slowly coming back to him, but when he used it to scan the administrator, there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was like it just chose to ignore all of Cecil''s probing and not bother with him.


    ******


    The stalemate between the two of them continued, but even as time passed by, Cecil didn''t let his guard down. His Ki and Mana were slowly regenerating and he was using the new supply to restore his badly injured organs.


    His organs had been slowly deteriorating for a while before it suddenly stopped in the next moment. He didn''t know the cause but it was welcomed, especially since he couldn''t have any more of his body weaken if he wanted to survive.


    Cecil had protected his heart and brain first because if he lost either one of them, he would immediately die. Now that his mana and ki were recovering, he could now focus some of his energy on healing his other organs.


    ''Wait a minute... my Mana''s recovering? How? I''m pretty sure the void was sucking out all of my mana and I couldn''t even generate any of it earlier...''


    It was then that Cecil finally realized and questioned that his mana and ki were recovering. Before, they only continued to deplete, even his natural recovery couldn''t keep up with the depletion caused by the void he was in.


    He slowly released his consciousness back to his entire body and his senses began activating one by one, however, Cecil immediately regretted doing this in the next instant.


    "ARRRGHHHGGGRRRRHHH!!!"


    Cecil let out a pained roar and coughed. He immediately felt the pain from the severe damages done to his body and wanted to immediately retract his senses again, however, he knew that he couldn''t.


    If he left these injuries unattended, he would die sooner or later even if he tenaciously tried to cling to his life like earlier.


    He couldn''t even speak because the inside of his throat was frozen. All of the nerves on his body were frozen and slowly deteriorating, he couldn''t even feel anything else besides the numbing pain.


    "U-urgh...urk..."


    "Hello?"


    "Kurhk, grhk..."


    Cecil''s eyes were frozen shut but he could feel someone was nearby, he struggled to try and ask for help, but he couldn''t see nor hear anything.


    "Hello?! Are you okay?!"


    "Hrgph, hurrghh..."


    "Hey! We need a medic over here! Hurry!"


    *****


    Cecil felt his body being lifted and carried somewhere. He could feel people slowly try to pry his limbs from their stiff frozen posture, but they seemed worried that it might break due to having been frozen.


    In the next moment, he felt some heat, but it wasn''t enough to melt his frozen body. However, he felt the heat encapsulate him and slowly begin to intensify until it reached a comfortable level. Cecil felt relieved, wherever he was, he was getting help from some people.


    ''I don''t know when I got out of that void, but I think it''s thanks to the intruder?''


    Cecil directed his consciousness into his body and observed the silent and stationary ball of light inside his body. Even now, the intruder still hadn''t said a word or moved from its location inside his body.


    If Cecil wasn''t wrong, this thing was most likely the trial administrator from the Myriad Tower of Strife, the one who was constantly screwing with him throughout his time in the trials. However, he had a slight change of opinion about the fellow.


    For some reason, it had found a way out of the void and it had the decency to bring him with it outside of that godforsaken place instead of leaving him to die like it had ''originally'' planned.


    Cecil felt his body slowly begin to warm up even more and the pain from his frozen nerves began to fade away. His body had finally returned to normal but the problem was that his insides had received some severe damage.


    It wasn''t only damage from being frozen within the void of space, but because of the spatial turbulence, he had to tank with his body. Of course, he didn''t know about that since he wasn''t aware of it but the main point was that he was injured, severely injured.


    Even if he used his Ki and his healing arts to regenerate his organs, his energy circuits had all deteriorated and it was going to be tough to even circulate his energy inside his body. He struggled to circulate his energy, but a shock caused him to stop trying.


    He immediately opened his eyes due to the shock and tried looking around, however, the bright light that was glaring down at him caused him to groan.


    "Urgh..."


    "He''s conscious now, ma''am. His vitals look stable. I''m surprised we were even able to save him. His state was dire and he was no better off than a dead man," A man in a long white garb said.


    "Is that so...he suddenly appeared out of nowhere when the dungeon formed so it was a real surprise," A young woman replied.


    Cecil didn''t know whether it was because it was just bright or not, but the light in his eyes didn''t fade away. He was only able to see the faint silhouettes of the people talking but even then, he could only barely hear them.


    His nerves were still damaged so his hearing was a bit impaired, however, his eyes... everything was just bright and difficult to see. If his eyes were damaged, it would make sense that his sight would be black instead of being so bright like it was now.


    "Hello, can you hear me?"


    "Ahh, urgh, krrkk..."


    "I''ll take that as a yes."


    Cecil could only reply with some unintelligible grunts due to his still severely damaged vocal cords. Even making those sounds hurt him, but the pain was still bearable.


    ''Dammit, if only I could circulate my Ki...I''d be able to heal myself quickly!'' Cecil inwardly cursed.


    He tried to struggle and get up, but his body was weak so he could only fall back into whatever it was he was laying on. He presumed that it was a bed since it was rather soft and it didn''t hurt as much when he fell back.


    "You sure are a tough one. Even after being in that state, you were able to survive and now, you''re trying to get up!"


    "Keep an eye on him doctor. Don''t let him do anything reckless."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    "Make sure to treat him well, I have to go now."


    "Yes, ma''am, you don''t have to worry about a thing. A VIP from the Carnegie family will naturally be treated with great hospitality, but may I ask, what''s this patient''s background?"


    "...You do not need to pry into that, just make sure you take good care of him."


    "Yes, ma''am, as you wish."


    The doctor walked over to Cecil who was still trying to get up and injected something into the IV drip. Cecil was just about to reach out and grab the person who had walked close to him, but before he even could, he felt his body slowly become sluggish and his mind falling faint.


    ''W-what...did they do...?''


    "Ahh...urrghh...rhh..."


    Cecil''s struggles stopped and he fell asleep, not knowing what had happened.

 Chapter 453 - Stella Carnegie

    The young woman from earlier walked out of the hospital where she left Cecil behind at and walked towards the parking lot.


    She walked over to a jet-black car with a Ferrari logo on it, placed her hand on the window and after some sort of authentication, the door popped open and she hopped right in. Once she sat on the seat, the car''s engine came to life and the door automatically closed. She drove out of the hospital''s parking lot and headed straight to her university.


    On the way, the young lady made a call to someone. On the passenger side of the windshield, a screen suddenly popped up, showing a young man with green eyes and long silver hair reaching to just below his shoulders, on it. The lady, who was driving and was obviously of western descent, characterized by her bright yellow blonde hair and sky blue eyes, immediately spoke up and said, "Hey, Ulrich. How are you?"


    "Ah, well if it isn''t my girl, Stella. I''m doing great right now, what have you been up to, girl?"


    Stella kept her eyes on the road while she was driving. The car didn''t have wheels but instead it levitated above the ground and ran on a unique source of energy instead of gasoline. The car was basically flying above the ground as the young lady skillfully weaved through the roads and traffic.


    After stopping the car at a red light, the girl, Stella, finally replied, "Not much, but I have a job for you."


    "Ohoh, well, you know the terms, honey~" Ulrich, the young man on the screen said while rubbing his thumb against his index and middle finger. It was the universal sign for money.


    "I''ve already sent you the money," Stella immediately said after fiddling with her phone and accessing her private bank account which was separate from her family.


    "A private transfer? My, are you perhaps doing something shady that even you don''t want your family to know about?"


    "I thought it was your policy not to ask any questions?"


    "I''m just teasing you, honey. So, what''s the job?" Ulrich replied in an amused tone.


    "I need you to look up and investigate someone," Stella said.


    "Give me a name, and I''ll have it done in the next 6 hours."


    "That''s the problem. I don''t have a name."


    "Well, honey, you''ve gotta give me something to go off of. I can''t find someone in the vast billions of people out there if you don''t give me something~"


    "I have a picture. Will that do?"


    "More than enough. Send it to me!"


    Earlier at the hospital, once Cecil had been able to somewhat recover, Stella had taken a picture of him on her phone when he was unconscious. After sending the picture of him over to the young man, the person on the screen couldn''t help but squeal in excitement.


    "Oh my gosh, girl, is this your future husband or something?! He''s so hot!"


    "W-what?! No, you idiot! I only met him today!"


    "Oh really? Well, if he''s not yours then can I have him~?"


    "..."


    Stella immediately glared at Ulrich who was on the other side of the screen and admiring Cecil''s picture. Feeling the glare directed at him from the screen which transcended the distance that separated them, Ulrich stopped fooling around and replied, "Don''t worry, honey. I''ll immediately put this through a facial recognition device and have it search the whole world for this man''s origins. I''ll have it done within...5 hours or so~"


    "Three!"


    "Oh my, how harsh! Is it because of what I said?"


    Stella clicked her tongue and this caused Ulrich to chuckle but he still said okay in the end. Stella hoped that within the next 3 hours, she''d finally have the full background of the young man she had saved today.


    When Stella arrived at her university, she quickly parked her car and went towards her major''s department building. She majored in a new subject which had recently become popular on Earth and that was the study of inter-dimensional portals.


    That''s right. The world that Cecil had suddenly dropped into after traveling through the spatial tunnel was Earth. However, the present-day Earth was much different from the Earth that Cecil knew of.


    Many things had changed on Earth and one of the most major things would have to be that the Earth, at present, was bereft with many dangerous and unknown phenomena.


    Some odd things such as portals would spontaneously spawn without notice and from these portals, monsters, and races from other dimensions would come pouring in, laying waste to the environment and cities that were within the portal''s spawn area.


    The world changed and it naturally adapted to these changes along with the people. Right now, Stella was one of the few ''gifted'' people who were born or awakened with superpowers on Earth. These ''super'' people had only appeared after the first collapse which took place nearly 70 years ago when the world was engulfed by large portals which suddenly appeared without warning and wiped out a large majority of the world''s population.


    The humans of Earth now called this piece of history the Initial Collapse. And then came the dark times that engulfed the world after the Initial Collapse which lasted for nearly two years or so.


    During those dark and painful years, the people of Earth had to live in fear of the numerous monstrous creatures and foreign races that suddenly appeared on Earth through the portals that began massacring them for no reason who then started terra-forming and colonizing their lands.


    However, humans weren''t forsaken by the world. The ones who ended those dark years of Earth were actually the humans themselves. A few people who had manifested some sort of superpower took a stance and slowly began driving back and killing those monsters.


    This period of time was known as World War III, except this time, the humans weren''t warring against each other but had banded together to repel all of the inter-dimensional invaders that brought tragedy to their home and killed or enslaved many of their brethren.


    World War III, in a way, was both a good and a bad thing. During this time, the nations and people of the world had banded together with disregard to their ethnicities, race, and color, to strike back at the foreign invaders.


    The war lasted nearly 30 years. It was a long and arduous fight, but in the end, the humans won. They annihilated all of the monsters and drove back the foreign races from their home. Naturally, the humans couldn''t kill every last one of them, but they were able to subdue all of the foreign races that weren''t killed and re-established themselves as Earth''s dominant species.


    The monsters weren''t given any mercy and all of the past, present, and future monsters were promptly dealt away with. Unlike the foreign races, the monsters couldn''t be reasoned with so they were naturally taken care of before they became a large threat.


    After the long war, the world was naturally put back on its once derailed course, however, a new power rose up from within the ashes of the old world to take command of the present. The World Government, an organization formed by the many influential and powerful families and groups who took part in World War III and lived to tell the tale.


    Stella Carnegie was the full name of the young woman who had rescued Cecil when he had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. She was part of the Carnegie family, a rich and wealthy family that had a history dated back long before the Initial Collapse. The Carnegies were one of the 12 organizations that ran the World Government of the present day.


    Their wealth, power, and influence spanned across many sectors of the present Earth. They were a very powerful and wealthy family but even then, they were only ranked third on the World Rankings.


    The university that Stella Carnegie attended was an institute whose purpose was to train the next generation of gifted individuals as well as leading them to a career path that is related to things other than fighting monsters.


    Most of the world''s gifted people chose to become monster hunters for their future career paths. Monsters were always popping into their world from dimensional portals which the people now called Rifts.


    Becoming a Hunter was a good and profitable career path, but Stella preferred not to fight if she didn''t have to. She had the rare ability of Psychokinesis which was both a powerful weapon if used for attacking and a strong shield when used for defending.


    It naturally had other practical uses but the general public judged the gifted mostly based on how powerful their abilities could be when used in a fight. It was a pretty crude way of judging the worth of a gifted person but it was practical.


    The abilities of the gifted were divided into 5 ranks and 4 categories. The 5 ranks starting from the lowest was D, C, B, A, then S. There were ranks above that but those were only for specific individuals that needed a rank outside of the system due to the immeasurable nature of their powers.


    The categories were separated into Support, Magic, Attack, and Auxiliary. Some superpowers had more than one category, take for instance Stella''s psychokinesis. It fitted straight into 3 categories, Attack, Magic, and Auxiliary, depending on how Stella uses it.


    Stella''s psychokinesis was a rare S-ranked ability which in certain situations could be even higher than S rank. However, despite having such a rare superpower, Stella wasn''t keen on fighting and was more into collecting vast amounts of knowledge and saving it inside of her brain.


    Her psychokinesis naturally stemmed from her brain and in a way, it could be said that her superpower had somewhat altered her preferences in the way she did things. It wasn''t necessarily a good thing, but it wasn''t also a bad thing.


    Many superhumans in the present Earth had abilities that could influence their personalities, but whether it influenced their nature towards a good or bad side was dependent on the individual themselves.


    Stella quickly arrived at her classroom and sat herself down on the front seat of the class, waiting for her lecture to begin. She couldn''t help thinking about the young man she had left behind at the hospital who was lying injured in bed.


    She pulled out her phone and stared thoughtfully at his picture while thinking.


    ''Just who are you?''

 Chapter 452 - Crossing Worlds 1

    Back at the hospital a few hours after Stella had left, Cecil finally woke up after his body adjusted to the tranquilizing effects of the sedative which was injected into his bloodstream.


    He opened his eyes groggily before laying limply there on the bed without moving. He stared straight at the ceiling and thought, ''Dammit...what did they put in me? I was knocked out so easily...''


    Cecil began to look around and he noticed the unique apparatus and equipment around his bed.


    ''Who were those people? More importantly, where the hell is this?'' He thought.


    Cecil tried to get up but his body was still numb and weak. The sedative didn''t cause this weakness but it was due to his body''s severe injuries. It was hard to even move a finger but when he looked down at his body, it was all covered in bandages so he couldn''t inspect his injuries.


    His body''s energy circuits were ruined and it was hard for him to even circulate his mana so Cecil couldn''t use his Mana Sense to probe his body or inspect his surroundings.


    ''Dammit... It looks like I''ll have to focus on recovering first. Once I repair my circuits I''ll be able to check how bad my body''s state is in...''


    With no other choice at the moment, Cecil decided to meditate. It was better to calm his mind and let his body naturally heal itself. With the quality of his body, this kind of injury should heal in less than a day. At least, that''s what Cecil thought.


    *****


    It was only until the next day did Cecil roused from his meditation and find that his body was a little bit better. It wasn''t completely healed as he had expected, but the least he could do now was stand up and walk around. However, his vocal cords and many of his internals were still damaged so it might prove for him difficult if he wanted to communicate with those people from earlier.


    ''Was the damage from the void space really that severe that I haven''t fully recovered?''


    If he was able to scan his body with his Mana Sense, Cecil would find that his injuries were healing at a minuscule pace because there was a foreign energy in his body that was interfering with his natural recovery.


    The doctors and nurses were out when he had awakened so they weren''t able to stop him from getting up from the bed and pulling out all of the needles that they stuck into his body.


    Cecil wasn''t ignorant of these things but he felt that the numerous needles that were plunged into his body were a little overkill especially if he considered how great his physique was compared to an ordinary person.


    There were a few hospitals back in his family''s kingdoms and they used both the modern-day medical techniques supplemented with a little bit of magic. He wasn''t too familiar with them however because he never really needed to go to a hospital before.


    He looked around and didn''t notice anything too particular about the room other than it being a bit more luxurious with a few strange machines located here and there. Cecil naturally became curious because these medical instruments were something he''s never seen before.


    ''Did the portal throw me out of the trial?'''' Cecil thought to himself.


    Even though there were many things inside the room that he wasn''t quite familiar with Cecil could see that the equipment looked quite similar to the things he knew his family''s kingdom was capable of making. Only his Silvaria Kingdom was able to make tools this complex because they had the necessary materials, techniques, and craftsmen. The other Earth Kingdoms of the No-Man''s Land weren''t quite there yet so Cecil could only presume that he was back in his kingdom right now.


    ''It''s a good thing I''m back in the Kingdom... I wonder why Lulu, Seri, or any of my family isn''t here... Knowing them they''d throw a huge fuss if they saw me return severely injured!'' Cecil got up and tried walking over to the door.


    His legs felt a little weak so he was actually stumbling his way over instead of walking. Once he got to the door, he noticed that there wasn''t a doorknob anywhere. He tried to push or slide the door open but he couldn''t get it to open at all.


    ''What the hell? How do I open this door?''


    He struggled for a little bit longer, but eventually, he gave up after exhausting himself.


    ''Shit...how did my body become so feeble?''


    Cecil walked back to the bed and sat down. Just as he was about to think of a way to get out, the door to the room opened, and in walked the doctor from before and two nurses that he was seeing for the first time. The doctor and the 2 nurses were surprised to see Cecil sitting on top of his bed and just staring back at them nonchalantly.


    "Y-you, you''re not supposed to be up yet!"


    Cecil frowned because he couldn''t reply due to his severely injured vocal cords. He tried to gesture towards the doctor that he wanted to go outside, but the doctor only shook his head after he got the meaning behind what Cecil wanted.


    He grew quite furious in the next instant when he saw that Cecil tried to get off of the bed and walk outside by himself.


    "Hey you, at least try not to make my job difficult! The young lady told me to take extra care of you but if you continue moving around like that, you''ll either cripple or kill yourself!"


    Cecil tried walking past the doctor but was immediately blocked by the nurses.


    "Please behave and get back to your bed!"


    "Grrhhh, arrhhhh!"


    Seeing him begin gesturing to go outside again, the doctor finally grew tired of playing nice and was about to act forcefully. Just as he was about to grab Cecil, Stella spoke up from outside the door, "What''s wrong, doctor?"


    "Uh, miss Stella. I''m sorry, but the patient just got up again and is trying to get out."


    Stella walked in from outside and saw Cecil already up from the bed. She had arrived at the hospital not too long ago and quickly made her way to his ward since she had specifically timed her arrival to when the doctors would make their routine checkup on Cecil.


    Cecil eyed the young lady and thought, ''It''s that person from before... I think.''


    Yesterday, his memory was a little blurry and so was his sight, but from her presence, he could somewhat tell that this was the person from before. His Mana was still in a state of turmoil so it was hard for him to probe his surroundings.


    The moment Stella saw the severely bandaged Cecil already up from his bed, she frowned in discontent.


    "I thought I told you to keep an eye on him."


    "I''m sorry, miss. But the sedatives'' effects have probably just worn off. We were about to make our way here because of that, but the patient was already awake and out of his bed."


    "Hmm..."


    Stella grunted in reply before she snapped her fingers.


    "Urggh?!"


    Cecil immediately felt something wrap itself around him and lifted him from the ground.


    ''W-what the f.u.c.k?!''


    If his eyes didn''t deceive him, Cecil saw a blue aura suddenly appear around the young lady''s hand which suddenly shot towards him and lifted him from the ground.


    ''She used a spell without chanting?''


    Cecil''s immediate thought was that this young lady was a high-level mage. Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.


    Stella used her psychokinesis to move Cecil back onto the hospital bed forcefully. Judging by how he was acting, Stella knew that the easy way wasn''t going to cut it. She gently placed Cecil down on the bed when she remembered that his injuries were so severe that it was life-threatening.


    Even with injuries like that, she couldn''t help but wonder what kind of guts did this young man have that made him completely ignore all that.


    "You...you really have a death wish, huh? It''s not enough that your injuries are so severe, you want to make it worse by moving around when you''re not supposed to?" Stella said in a rather surprised yet seemingly taunting way.


    "Grrhh, hhhrgghhh!"


    "Tch, even your vocal cords were damaged. It''s this severe and just look at you making things difficult for the people who want to help you."


    "..."


    After being put back down, Cecil stopped struggling. He was handled so easily by the young lady that he felt a little bit depressed.


    ''Just how badly am I injured that I can''t even resist this kid''s magic?''


    Cecil looked down at his body and finally noticed the bandaging. He had been so out of it that he didn''t even take the time to visually examine himself. From how overly bandaged he was, Cecil determined that his external injuries were just as bad as his internal ones.


    When everyone saw him calm down a bit, the nurses and doctor tried to get closer only to see him close his eyes like he had fallen asleep. They couldn''t understand what he was doing, but in the next instant, Cecil''s wounds began bleeding and he spat out some blood.


    ''Shit, I still can''t circulate my mana?''


    "Doctor, do something!" Stella cried out once she saw Cecil spitting up blood and the wounds on his body opening up and bleeding again.


    "R-right!"


    The doctor and the nurses were about to approach him again but Cecil stopped them with a furious wave of his hand.


    "Graahhhh!!"


    They didn''t understand what he meant by that but they quickly stopped when they saw Cecil acting all hostile. Of course, with Stella there, it wasn''t like he could do anything to them.


    ''Do these people not know who I am? They actually just let this girl use magic on me! I can''t believe this. Also, this girl, this is the first time I''m seeing her. How could there be such a talented individual in the kingdom that I didn''t know of?'' Cecil thought to himself.


    He already tolerated their disrespect once but now they wanted to interfere in him trying to heal himself. That was not something he could tolerate despite him knowing that they meant well. Cecil decided that he would settle with them later once his family came back. For now, he had to focus on recovering his injuries.


    Cecil closed his eyes and this time, instead of moving his mana, he tried to move his Ki. The result was almost the same as earlier, but this time, he didn''t cough up blood due to his circulation going haywire.


    He didn''t try circulating his Ki but instead, he moved his Ki into his circuits little by little to slowly heal them. This was what he had been doing during his entire meditation but Cecil felt a little odd that the recovery rate was so slow.


    When the doctor and the 2 nurses saw Cecil just sit there cross-legged on the bed without moving they thought about approaching him again, but Stella immediately stopped them.


    "Wait!"


    "Miss, why? He''s bleeding out as we speak!"


    "Hold on, he''s doing something interesting."


    Unlike the doctor and the 2 nurses, Stella was a superhuman and she was able to detect the unknown energy that Cecil was trying to move inside his body. She wasn''t exactly sure what this energy was, but she could feel the healing properties it had and this led her to believe one thing, this young man was a superhuman just like her.


    "All of you get out. I''ll stay here to monitor his condition. It seems he does not need any medical help."


    "Miss Stella, are you sure?" The doctor asked.


    "Yes, this person is a superhuman like me. He seems to also have a healing ability so let him heal himself. I''ll keep my eyes on him."


    "...Okay."


    Once the doctor and the two nurses left the room, Stella pulled over a chair with her psychokinesis and sat down. She then turned her attention back onto Cecil and eyed him very curiously.


    "This guy...he''s actually a superhuman like me, huh? I wonder how he fell through that portal and ended up in this horrid state.???