Chapter 334: A Somewhat Covert Operation (1/2)
”Anyways, shouldn't we stop them from actually fighting each other?” Argentum then asked Rosalia, to which the latter responded with a question of her own. ”Why should we? They're both incredibly strong Pseudo-Animates, and I'm sure Eleanor wants to let out a bit of steam. They'll be fine.”
”I know that, but like…” Although he knew very well that Rosalia's words made sense, he just could not help but want to help Melzarin out in his adventure to win Eleanor's heart after realizing why he was acting like that. Just as Argentum was about to say that he wanted to help Melzarin out, Rosalia let out a light chuckle as she asked him, ”You want to help Melzarin out, huh? Is the reason why you don't want the fight between them to happen?”
”Well, yes…” Argentum replied with an awkward chuckle, though he wondered how Rosalia seemed to be reading his mind beforehand. In any case, they were now on the same page, so he was certain that Rosalia would help him out in whatever he wanted to do. Nevertheless, he could not help but wonder how it had come to this point, recalling that he was just doing his trials a while ago. Thinking about it, he could not help but think that he wouldn't even think of romance in his past life, or to be more exact, Aurus in his past life.
”Eh, it's not like it would hurt me in any way,” he soon muttered to himself before looking at Rosalia and asking, ”Before we help them out, might I ask how Melzarin had turned out like that? From his interaction with you and me a while ago, I could feel that his arrogance was somewhat…fake.”
”Oh? This is just the first time you've met him, but you've already noticed that?” Rosalia raised her eyebrows in slight surprise, not expecting Argentum to notice that. Soon after, a light smile could be seen on her face as she continued, ”I guess that's something to be expected from someone who's aiming to achieve Lesser Origin.”
”In any case, you're correct. Melzarin wasn't like that in the first place. I'm sure you were confused after you noticed the drastic change in his personality while you were talking to him through the mind and while talking to him a while ago,” she responded to his question before adding, ”Melzarin's a pretty mild-mannered guy. Although he's a bit calculative at times, he's pretty friendly. In fact, before the shift in his personality happened, he and Eleanor were actually good friends.”
”Hmm…” Argentum uttered in response to Rosalia's words, lightly nodding in the process. Not long after, he then asked her, ”So, what triggered the shift in his personality?”
In response, Rosalia let out a slightly awkward change as she replied, ”Ironically, Eleanor.”
”Huh?” Not expecting that answer, Argentum was left speechless for a bit as he tried to wrap his head around why Eleanor would be the reason for the shift in his personality. Considering his original personality, Argentum thought that Melzarin would woo her through kindness and perseverance, not through arrogance and pride like what he was currently doing. With that in mind, he then focused his sense of vision towards Rosalia, getting a hunch that she may have something to do it.
As if she was reading his mind, Rosalia scratched her head and said, ”I have a feeling why you're looking at me like that, and I'll just say that it might have something to do with me…”
”…and a being named Felix if you know him,” she continued, eliciting Argentum to let out a sigh as he said, ”Felix is also at fault here?”
”You know Felix?” Rosalia asked, to which Argentum replied with a nod as he said, ”Yeah. His inheritance is where I got my affinity with the Water element from.”
”I guess that makes explaining things easier from a certain perspective,” Rosalia said in response to her words as she shrugged her shoulders with a sigh. She then pressed on her temples for a bit as she recalled the incident where Melzarin's personality had shifted. Fortunately, it did not take a long time for Rosalia to recall everything as she took in a deep breath.
She then looked at him and started to narrate what had happened in the past.
”Well, the start of his change dates to about 10 to 15 thousand years ago. It was a time when the continent we're in only had one kingdom, and there were many skirmishes regarding territories for inheritances. Of course, me, Melzarin, Eleanor, and Felix were all owners of inheritances, so that meant we were fighting for territories as well. Since we were relatively weaker compared to the other inheritance owners, we decided to band together, considering that we were all at the same level of power. Well, to be more exact, four more people joined us in this party, but only us four had something to do with Melzarin's change.”
”Long story short, we were able to obtain a certain chunk of the continent's territory for ourselves, transforming it into the place where our inheritances would reside. Although mine was situated at the south of the continent, for us at the time, or even now, it wasn't a problem to traverse the distance within minutes. Oh wait, I'm going off track here.”
Clearing her throat, she continued, ”Anyways, now that we had obtain territories for our inheritances, we decided to celebrate, holding a banquet at Eleanor's territory since it was the closest when considering the locations of our inheritance territories. We all had a fun time during that banquet, eating and drinking to our heart's delight until…”
”While most of us were hammered from the drinks, though not literally since we could control the energy in our bodies to purge away the effects of alcohol, Melzarin decided to come to me and Felix, asking for tips on how he could win Eleanor's heart.”
At this point, Argentum had a bad feeling regarding the continuation of the story. Nevertheless, he remained silent as he started to circulate energy around his body. As for Rosalia, she continued with her story after taking a deep breath. ”Although we knew that Melzarin's feelings for Eleanor were sincere, we decided to mess with him, telling him that the best way to win her heart was to strut his stuff as much as possible. Brag as much as possible, make her feel inferior, and so on, and so forth.”
She then let out a sigh as she added, ”Of course, we said it in the most sarcastic manner we could, but who knew he'd listen to us and actually do it? Did he not remove the effects of alcohol in his body before asking us? If so, then that might probably be why he's still doing it…”
”Ah, I've gotten off track again,” she then said, only to look at Argentum who was looking at her with a slightly disappointed aura surrounding him. With an awkward chuckle, she then told him, ”We did say it in the most sarcastic manner possible. It's not our fault that he heeded our words.”
”As someone who's hundreds or thousands of times weaker than you four, why do I feel like you're acting like children?” Argentum could not help but say amidst a long sigh. In response, Rosalia shrugged her shoulders as she said, ”Gotta let loose every once in a while. The saying 'with great power comes great responsibility' is real for us, and it's incredibly stressful.”
”Although I want to say more things about you four, let's focus on what's important for now,” Argentum said in response to Rosalia's words before continuing, ”Would you help me out in this…uh…whatever it is?”
”Even though I'm somewhat curious as to why you'd help someone you've just met for the first time, sure. I'm all ears,” Rosalia lightly grinned as she replied to his question. With her approval, Argentum went ahead and channeled all of the energy he was circulating inside his body towards a certain point as a connection was instantly formed between him and another being.
”Oh? Argentum? Why'd you contact me?” Since Eleanor was already at the Desecrated Inheritance, then it was a no-brainer that he had contacted Felix, who was currently in his inheritance, concocting a batch of Heaven's Water Potions.
Taking in a deep breath, Argentum pondered over what he should say for a bit, responding not long after, ”Eleanor's in the Desecrated Inheritance. She already met up with Melzarin.”