Chapter 273 - Persuading a Noblewoman (1/2)
XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, outside the gates of the royal palace.
”Did you really have to give me that information, Your Highness?” Dane could not help but slightly complain as he was not expecting the two to have that kind of relationship. In response, Vanadir lightly grinned as he snickered, replying, ”Well, if you think about it, who wouldn't be attracted to a beautiful woman? I just said that to deter you from making any advances on her.”
”What do you mean by that, Your Highness?” Dane asked as he felt that there was something more to the Ninth Prince's words. ”Does she have a fiance or something?”
”Nope, none at all,” Vanadir responded as he shook his head left to right. Listening to his answer, Dane could not help but think to himself, 'If she doesn't have a fiance, then why deter me from doing so?'
”Then, is there a special reason as to why you're deterring me from doing so?” Dane asked after pondering over it for a bit, to which Vanadir responded with a light sigh, ”All I can say is that if you get too close to her…”
”Expect yourself to turn into a puddle of blood the next day if you two engage in those kinds of things,” he added, making Dane shudder as he did not expect such a statement to come out of His Highness' mouth.
Letting out a sigh of his own in response, he was now determined to only be cordial with Valentia since he did not want to end up as a puddle of blood one day. Thinking that it was not a good thing to continue on this train of thought, Dane went ahead and thought up of another topic as Vanadir asked him as to whether or not he still had more questions before departed.
After a few seconds or so, Dane eventually opened his mouth as he thought that her title was quite weird. He asked in a curious tone, ”Now that I think about it, why is her title the 'Healing Witch of the West', Your Highness? Is it because her class has something to do with healing?”
”Pretty much,” Vanadir said nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders. ”The 'Healing' part of her title was added just recently, to be honest.”
”Wanna know her original title?” he questioned Dane soon after, to which Dane lightly nodded after thinking that it was better to know more about his future team member.
Scratching his head for a bit as he recalled her previous title, Vanadir said, ”If I remember correctly, her previous title was 'Crimson Witch of the West'. The reason why she got that title was because she killed over a thousand people with a single strike. I forgot if it happened due to a small skirmish or due to a certain war.”
Hearing that his future team member had exemplary combat sense, Dane could not help but let out an inward sigh of relief as he thought that their current lineup was still biased towards the offensive side. Nevertheless, since this new team member of theirs also had healing capabilities, it was now part extreme offense and part endurance.
”Do you know what her class is, Your Highness?” Dane soon asked Vanadir, wanting to know her class so he could formulate strategies that would allow their skills and spells to synergize. Surprisingly, contrary to Vanadir's openness to answering his questions all this time, the Ninth Prince only let out a light giggle as he said, ”That'll be a secret for now. Don't want the other teams to know our members, right?”
”Ah…understandable,” Dane muttered as he thought over it for a bit, lightly nodding soon after. At this moment, he had no more questions to ask Vanadir regarding Valentia. With that, Dane asked the Ninth Prince if he was ready to depart, to which Vanadir hastily replied, ”Ah, please wait for a bit. I still have something to ask you.”
”What is it, Your Highness?” Dane tilted his head, curious as to what His Highness was going to ask him. Taking in a deep breath, Vanadir went ahead and questioned him, ”Before we make our way there, are you fine with following my every order?”
”Pardon?” Wondering if he had heard wrongly, Dane asked, prompting the Ninth Prince to repeat the question once more. After repeating it one more time after that, Dane could not help but ask Vanadir, ”Is there a reason for this kind of request, Your Highness.”
”I'm asking for your consent, just in case,” the Ninth Prince replied succinctly. He soon added, ”Also, the orders I'll give you are all orders wherein you'll benefit, so don't worry that much.”
”If you put it that way, then…” Dane pondered over it a bit more, eventually nodding as he muttered, ”I have no choice but to accept, no?”
”Glad to hear that.” Vanadir smiled in response before telling Dane that they should make their way towards the Arcenon household. Dane nodded as a response to the Ninth Prince's words before going ahead and summoning all of the energy inside his body, forming a magic circle that soon enveloped the two.
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, the two disappeared from the sights of the guards who were vigilantly guarding the gates. At this moment, they were now making their way to Telmerann Province, the place where the Arcenon family's main household resided.
Other than being the province where one of the Seraph Kingdom's noble families resided, there was nothing else that stood out from the province. At most, one would only be able to say that the Telmerann Province was a province that specialized in mass agriculture, employing mages and warriors to increase the province's crop exports.
Whoosh!
Eventually, after twenty minutes or so, the two of them had finally at their destination, being a few dozen meters away from what seemed to be a manor spanning a kilometer in terms of length and width. Its front side was covered in tons of foliage while a few teenagers dressed in slightly lavish clothes could be seen frolicking around.
”Haah…haah…” In contrast to the peaceful scene in front of the manor, Dane was panting heavily as he felt that the energy in his body was close to being dry. Vanadir, who was beside him, could not help but look at Dane with a gaze of concern as he asked, ”Are you alright?”
”I'm…haah…fine…” Dane eked out a response amidst the immense amount of exhaustion he felt from using a huge chunk of his energy in bursts. Although he absorbed energy from a few high purity mana stones along the way, replenishing his mana to acceptable levels, he still could not help but feel like a few boulders were stacked on top of his body at the moment.
Mustering all of the energy that was circulating throughout his body at the moment, he channeled it towards the tip of his right pointing finger, opening up a rift barely big enough for a small stone of mana to drop on his palm. Without hesitation, Dane absorbed all of the mana in that stone, which turned into a pile of dust not long after. Using the mana he had absorbed, he went ahead and summoned more mana stones, eventually returning to his normal and healthy condition.
Noticing Dane's now healthy complexion, Vanadir went ahead and asked one more time just in case, saying, ”Are you alright now?”
”I've never been better,” Dane replied with a light chuckle as he took a few steps behind the Ninth Prince. After doing so, he then said, ”Let us make our way to the manor, Your Highness.”
In response, Vanadir silently nodded as they headed towards the manor at a pace that was neither fast nor slow…to those who have ascended to their respective classes. In actuality, it only took them a few seconds to arrive at the area of the manor filled with foliage.
At the very moment they arrived, they were greeted with peculiar looks as the people who were in the grassy part of the manor did not recognize the two. In response, the two of them looked at each other for a bit before shrugging their shoulders, thinking that waiting it out would be the better option.
”May I ask what you two are doing here?” one of the guards of the Arcenon family, who was guarding the teenagers that were frolicking just a while ago, decided to come up to them and ask politely.
”Royal orders,” Vanadir lightly smiled as he responded before going ahead and exuding the aura of Seraph royalty. It was at this moment that everyone in the grassy part of the manor realized who they were looking at. In their minds, only one person would come to the Arcenon family under royal orders.
It was none other than the Ninth Prince, Vanadir Seraph!
Whoosh!
In an instant, the teenagers, as well as the guards, went ahead and kneeled on one knee as they greeted Vanadir with, ”We welcome Your Highness to the Arcenon family household!”
”Ah, there's no need to do that,” Vanadir said to them, feeling a bit embarrassed as he did not expect them to do such a thing. Nevertheless, the people continued to kneel on one of their knees, leaving the Ninth Prince with no choice but to let out a sigh. He then looked at Dane and asked, ”Do you think this is enough for them to notice we're here?”
”I think so, Your Highness,” Dane replied succinctly. Just as he was about to come up with more ideas as to how to attract the Arcenon family's attention, a middle-aged man dressed in servant clothes hastily made their way towards the two, prompting Dane to say, ”Ah. Someone's coming.”
Whoosh!