Chapter 232 - Gaining Enlightenment (2/2)

As for the guard who shouted at them a while ago, he scratched his face before letting out an awkward chuckle, responding to Dane's words by saying, ”I apologize for pointing our halberds at you, Sir Grossezauber. It's just that we haven't been informed of your sudden arrival.”

”I understand. You guys are just doing your jobs.” Dane smiled in response to the guard's words. ”So…could we enter the palace?”

”Please give me a second, Sir,” the guard responded to Dane's question as he closed his eyes for a bit, muttering a few unintelligible incantations in the process. At the very instant the guard opened his eyes, a light smile was plastered on his face as he responded, ”We've obtained clearance from the Ninth Prince. You two can head inside. We truly apologize for the inconvenience.”

”No worries, no worries.” Dane let out a light chuckle after hearing the guard apologize to him one more time. Telling Erea to follow him, the two of them eventually went inside the royal palace through the gates, which were hastily opened by the guards after confirming their intent.

Crash!

At the very instant the two of them were able to enter the palace, the large palace gates behind them were instantly closed, slightly startling Erea as she took in the beautiful surroundings of the palace as she followed behind Dane, gradually making their way towards where the Ninth Prince was.

As they walked along the official paths of the palace, Erea could not help but hasten her steps to be beside her mentor, before going ahead and asking him, ”Teacher, I've just noticed something. Why aren't the guards escorting us to where the Ninth Prince is? Isn't that their jobs?”

”Normally, that would be the case, Erea,” Dane instantly replied to his student's question before adding, ”I don't know whether or not you're going to ask that question to the Ninth Prince, but either way, it'll be a secret for now.”

”I see…” Erea muttered to herself as she listened to her mentor's words. After that, they silently made their way towards the place where the Ninth Prince was residing, a pavilion that was quite a distance away from the main palace, taking around half an hour to do so.

”Hah! Hah!” As they had arrived in front of the pavilion, the two of them could see a man assiduously slashing down a blade that exuded a terrifying aura of Wind. This man currently had no clothes covering his upper torso, allowing the two to see the streamlined muscles outlining his body, while the man's face, which had an earnest yet serious expression, could not help but radiate magnanimity as the man's jet-black hair and his yellow irises showed that he was a part of the Seraph Kingdom's royalty.

Looking at how focused the man was slashing his blade, Erea could not help but look at Dane beside him and ask him in a slightly hushed voice, ”Teacher, is that…”

”Mhm.” Dane nodded his head in response to her question before saying, ”That's the Ninth Prince of the Seraph Kingdom. Vanadir Seraph.”

”Ah.” Fortunately, just as Vanadir was about to continue slashing the blade he was wielding for a longer time, he noticed both Erea and Dane through his peripheral vision, prompting him to stop his training for now as he grabbed the towel that was hanging on a nearby tree, wiping off the sweat that covered his body. With a grin now plastered on his face, he directly looked at the two before saying, ”I apologize for not welcoming you two into my pavilion properly. Please head inside for now. I'll just and go rinse the dirt off my body.”

”Also, Dane.” He then focused his vision towards Dane before asking him, ”Could you brew the finest tea I have in the pavilion? Wouldn't want her to have a bad first impression of me.”

In response to his request, Dane let out a light chuckle as he responded, ”Alright, Your Highness. I'll go ahead and follow your orders.”

Nodding his head as he listened to Dane's reply, he then focused his vision towards Erea before giving a slightly apologetic look, saying, ”I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I'll go and rinse off as fast as possible, okay?”

Since it was the first time Erea was meeting up with someone from the Seraph Kingdom's royalty, plus the aura she felt from the Ninth Prince was slightly intimidating, she responded to the prince's words with her head down while slightly stuttering, saying, ”G-go ahead, Your Highness.”

Whoosh!

Hearing Erea's response, Vanadir unhesitatingly went off into the deeper parts of the pavilion to do what he needed to do, while Dane looked at Erea and said, ”Let's go inside.” After that, they then went ahead and entered the quarters of the pavilion that was meant for greeting guests, with Erea sitting on one of the chairs in this room as Dane went ahead and moved to the kitchen in the pavilion to brew some tea, just like the prince requested.

A few minutes after Dane was finished brewing the tea, the Ninth Prince finally came to the quarters where Dane and Erea were at, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and some stretchable pants, which did not seem like clothes that someone from the royalty would wear.

Sitting down on the chair opposite Erea and Dane, Vanadir went ahead and grabbed the cup of tea on the table on the center, unhesitatingly taking a sip out of it as he looked at Dane and said, ”Dane, you truly brew the best tea.”

”I appreciate the compliment, Your Highness,” Dane responded to Vanadir's words, taking a sip out of his cup of tea not long after. After drinking around half of the content inside that cup, Vanadir went ahead and placed his cup of tea down on the table before going ahead and looking at Erea, who was looking at him with a slightly afraid and shy gaze as she grasped on her cup of tea in a somewhat tight manner.

”Is this your first time meeting someone from the royal family?” Knowing that Erea was probably incredibly nervous, Vanadir asked her question. In response, Erea timidly nodded as she replied in a soft voice, ”Yes…Your Highness.”

”Dane told me that you were eager to ask me questions a while ago. Where did your confidence go?” Vanadir said to her not long after, letting out a light chuckle. Choosing her words carefully, she replied, ”It's just that…I have a feeling that some of my questions…might offend…Your Highness.”

”Offend me?” Vanadir chuckled as he repeated that string of words. ”I've gone through worse already, so how could a question that would offend me be any worse than that?”

”We're inside my pavilion, Erea. I would've told you to choose your words wisely if we were at the royal palace, but feel free to say whatever you want in here,” Vanadir said not long after. ”Of course, take your time. I'm not forcing you to try and become accustomed easily. Even Dane was like that the first time we met.”

”Your Highness, did you really have to say that?” Dane could not help but say after hearing the Ninth Prince's last words, feeling like he was wronged. In response, Vanadir let out a light chuckle before saying, ”My bad, my bad. Just wanted to reduce the tension, that's all.”

Surprisingly, through what Vanadir did, the tense feeling Erea had was lessened, giving her a bit more confidence to ask the questions she had in mind when she met the Ninth Prince. Noticing that the Ninth Prince was looking at her with a smile as he sipped on his cup of tea, while her mentor was looking at her with a gaze that shouted 'Good luck!'

Taking in a deep breath, then letting it out soon after, she then looked at the Ninth Prince in the eyes before asking him a question, albeit there was still a hint of nervousness in her voice.

”Although I joined Your Highness's team due to Teacher asking me to do so, I still have no clue what the war for the throne is,” Erea said to Vanadir, her voice slightly gaining confidence as she continued. ”This would be the first time I'm joining in such a large event like this, so could Your Highness tell me what the war for the throne is all about?”

”I see,” Vanadir muttered as he listened to Erea's question. ”An explanation for the war for the throne, huh.”

”Where should I start…?”