151 Changed our mind (1/2)
”She too didn't say anything?”
”No. She didn't. But luckily she has now calmed down and is now much more in control of herself. Most likely it wouldn't happen again, but you should still keep an eye out for it.”
Ivan nodded his understanding.
”Anyway. Do you already know when you will get your title?”, Key then changed the topic.
”No. But I guess it should be sometimes soon after Lara comes back.”, Ivan responded.
”I guess she must have already started to train you.”, he said with a smile.
”Yeah. Why the hell must there be so many weird rules?”
”That's the way it is. Although we aren't that strict here. I heard that some courts in the upper realm have so many rules, it is nearly impossible not to break at least one, whatever you do.”
”You haven't gone to the higher realm?”, Ivan asked.
”Nope. I never had much interest in fighting. And in that case, there is no reason to go up there. There it is always about strength and getting stronger. To me, living happily and freely is much more important.”
”So that's why you are leading such huge cooperation?”, Ivan asked jokingly.
”Of course. How else could I live freely? You know the most important thing in this realm is power and connections. And for that, what could be better than be a member of the royal family and the head of the Imperial Trust Fund?”, Key said while smiling happily. ”Besides I enjoy the feeling of being in control of so much money and power.”
”Well, that sure sounds like your true thoughts.”
They continued joking around until the three girls came back. They too were chatting happily with each other.
”So how did it go? Did you find something?”, Ivan asked Celine.
”Of course. This store is great. I never knew that there could be so much diversity. So many different materials and designs.”, she happily answered. ”And Cait was a great help.”
”I thought you wanted us to help select something?”, Key asked confused.
”Well, we changed our mind.”, Yevina retorted, sounding unreasonable, but then explained, ”We want it to be a surprise.”
”I can assure you that it will be a pleasant one.”, Cait chimed in as well.
”Great. Then if there is nothing else, how about we go home? And if you like you could come with us and we can eat dinner together. I'm sure Jane would be happy.”, Ivan asked, with the second question being directed toward Key and Yevina.
They simply looked at each other and then Yevina agreed, ”Sure, that would be great. I'm really looking forward to meeting her. After all, she will be my niece soon.”
”So you are planning to marry soon?”
”Yes. It will be at the beginning of the next year.”
When they were getting ready to leave, Ivan turned towards Cait and pulled out the only Blood Essence Crystal he had. It was from a weak snake, that he had fought back then when he had gone on an adventure in the wilderness.
”Could you maybe tell me how much this is worth?”
”Hm, a low-grade Bood Essence Crystal. If not for the monster being so weak, it would be worth a lot. But the energy content is only at about 20 nEU.”, Cait said after inspecting it. It seemed she was no stranger to those crystals. ”Still, since it has a great usage as a catalyst during pill refining it is still worth about 50 nEU.”
Although 50 nEu didn't seem like that much, in fact, it was a lot for Ivan. With around 1 billion gold for one EU, 50 nEU still meant 50 thousand gold.
”Wow, that's a lot more than I expected.”, he exclaimed.
”Well, they contain nearly all the energy of the monster it is from. And a lot of its price comes from the fact that it can help pills, of the same grade, achieve higher quality.”, Cait explained.
If not for it dropping only rarely and him needing the crystals to increase his strength, they could make a great source of income for Ivan. And even so, he could still sell them if need be, which was great news for him.