I was standing in what the people of the Royal Palace referred to as "corridor", but being a member of a middle cla.s.s family, my impression stated otherwise. The carpet was a dazzling red, and the walls were covered in various paintings, each one nothing short of a masterpiece. The s.p.a.ce along the walls were filled with pieces of furniture which were structured with the most expensive materials available.

Standing in such a place by myself made me a bit uncomfortable, but I had to endure because a certain someone was taking her sweet time to get here. The person who was about to arrive here was the one whose existence had shocked me the most. After finding the truth about her, the only emotion welling inside me was intrigue.

"Hey~ Sorry I am late~"

The person about whom my current views weren"t the most polite ones arrived while jogging lightly. Her hair fluttered, and so did her bosom. She was dressed in the same clothing as the gathering, a few drops of sweat could be seen acc.u.mulated along the smooth skin of her face, it was obvious that she arrived here as fast as she could.

"It"s fine. Now then, I think we need to talk, you old hag."

"Calling a 16-year-old girl an "old Hag" is just wrong, Toru."

She said so, and then proceeded to bend her waist at a certain angle so that her curves would be perfectly visible to me. Certainly, looking at her superficial appearance, one couldn"t describe her as anything but a refined and beautiful young lady. However, as they say, more deceiving than words can be a person"s superficial appearance.

"More like five-hundred-sixteen, Celice."

I said so indifferently, to which, her eyebrows twitched, and she inhaled a lot of oxygen to calm herself down.

"I don"t know what you mean."

I sensed her urge to retort at my take at her age, but she was able to maintain her poker face.

"Let me see… The third-strongest magician in the entirety of Dragon Order, Celice Von Aldrene, correct?"

At my words, her beautiful face lost its colour, and her expression turned anxious. She momentarily halted her mouth from opening, but when it did, the first vocals which were released formed an easily distinguishable sigh.

"Sigh~ So it was you, huh? All I heard was a pretty boy with monstrous physical capabilities annihilated the majority of a.s.sa.s.sin faction."

So information about the involvement of my servants is still unrevealed. Well, I did kill like forty of their members with my own two hands. It wouldn"t be surprising for them to be extremely wary of me, rather than those who surround me.

"I believe that introductions are in order, don"t you think so as well?"

She heaved an unladylike sigh yet again, and then began speaking in an unexpectedly dignified tone.

"Former Queen of the Kingdom of Aldrene, Celice Von Aldrene, at your service."

She said so and bowed while grabbing the hem of her skirt. I heard her full name from Jerich, but even he was in the dark about her past and her true ident.i.ty. He could only tell me about her abilities and position, her personal information was a mystery to Jerich as well.

If my memory serves me right, Aldrene is one of the nations which existed before the Holy War, and in addition, it was the most powerful of them all. If she claims to be the Queen of Aldrene, then that would mean...

"So, what you"re saying is that you personally witnessed the Holy War?"

I asked her with a voice of indifference, but I couldn"t hide the curiosity swelling up within me.

"I just told you that I am more than 500 years old, and a Queen on top of that... And that"s what you ask me? You"re surprisingly calm about this, aren"t you?"

"Well... Jerich told me that you have complete command over the time element, so the current situation isn"t that hard to imagine. Control over time element can help you overcome the barrier that is human aging, and can fundamentally result in immortality."

Listening to my words, her eyebrows twitched, and her forehead contorted into an obvious frown. Her refined and delicate atmosphere started dissipating, and what was coming forth was an enigmatic and powerful aura.

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Jerich, I"ve kept him alive for 400 years, and that"s how he shows me grat.i.tude?"

"Umm… Celice, your fake appearance is gradually deforming. Also, I wouldn"t blame him, he suffered a little too much before death, so forgive him."

"Leaving that aside, what do you want from me? If you want to fight, let me tell you, I have perfect control over three elements, while I can use six of them. If we fight, I don"t think your extraordinary physical abilities will help you much in the face of overwhelming magical power."

I have perfect command over all of them and an unlimited mana supply, I don"t think that it"d go that well for you.

"To be honest, this situation is nothing less of exhilarating. Manipulating everyone"s minds in the Royal Castle by using dark magic and acting as a spy for Dragon Order, now that"s interesting…"

I continued my words with an expression which clearly displayed my interest.

"...If you promise not to kill the people a.s.sociated with me, I couldn"t care less. In fact, why don"t we form an alliance? It will be mutually beneficial, we can exchange information and come to the aid of the other should the need arise… How about it?"

She gave it a moment of thought and then proceeded to fold her hands and tap her foot on the ground in a rhythmic manner.

"Alliance… huh. Says the man who destroyed almost an entire faction of the Dragon Order, the strongest independent organization in the world."

"I didn"t exactly destroy a faction of the "Dragon Order", you know? I heard that they were exiled from the organization and solely acted on the orders from Jerich."

"That may be true, but they still belonged to our organization. Well, whatever. So… about these "a.s.sociated people" you mentioned, I believe you just meant three people, right? Sylvia, and those two maids."

"You"re highly perspective Celice."

"Well… When you live for more than 500 years, you pick up some tricks along the way… Those two… they are your servants, aren"t they?"

"Yes, and may I also suppose that you were unable to ascertain their species?"

There was no point in deceiving her, if she was already suspicious about their existence, it was highly likely that she would"ve made contact with them in the near future. To be honest, I can"t imagine a scenario where two relatively powerful dragons would lose to Celice, but a single glance at her, and I can tell that she is much more powerful than Vernyx, the strongest person in Athena.

"And how what led you to that conclusion?"

"Intuition."

Well… considering that the two infiltrators are dragons, I can"t imagine Celice keeping quiet. She is a member of the Dragon Order after all.

"Is that so…? If I want to, I can easily conclude a beast"s species just by glancing at their aura. However, those two have camouflaged their aura so well that even I can"t figure out what they are."

Somebody thinks highly of themselves.

"So… Will you be a.s.sociating with your comrades? The ones who"ve arrived here officially?"

I asked her just in case. We haven"t talked about it yet, but I suppose she realizes the fact that I am aware of her position in her organization"s hierarchy. Celice is the leader of the magician faction, the strongest faction among the many that make up the fearsome organization known as "Dragon Order". There are only two people stronger than herself in the whole organization, fueling her pride and arrogance to the utmost limit.

"No… They"ve already been provided with their instructions. May I conclude that you"re already aware of what they are, and what is to befall this peaceful nation?"

She asked this in a more intimate and frank voice. Celice probably realizes the threat that I possess in the face of their plans, and is trying to warm up to me to take precautions against that unfavourable fate.

"Yes… It seems quite interesting. Listen, I have no real reason to interfere in your proceedings, but if my life gets disturbed because of your little skirmishes…"

My voice got colder, and the tone got lower. I fixed my sharp gaze at her face, and spoke in a voice which cleanly delivered my intent to threaten.

"... I"ll eradicate your entire organization."

The sound of her nervous gulp reverberated in the empty corridor, she struggled to form words, but she managed to regain some of her composure and speak in a convincing tone.

"Y-Yes, w-we will stay clear you and keep you out of our schemes… Hehe."

After that, we discussed about random things for a while as we made our way to the banquet hall. She inquired about my current views on the relationship I"ve built with Sylvia, but I was unable to provide her with a concrete answer as I am quite perplexed about that particular topic as well.

It is not that I don"t like her or anything. It"s just that her position as the princess, and her desires as a woman don"t seem to be in perfect sync. If I were to claim her for myself, the formalities and grudges alone would be a pain in the a.s.s to deal with. There"s no doubt that Sylvia is a genuine beauty, she"s far from perfect, and that just validates her humanity. I"ve told her brother that she belongs to me, but I am still uncertain as to my plan of action with her. There are also those other girls who seem to be genuinely in love with me. Considering polygamy is a thing, it won"t be weird if I were to just claim them as my own and strive to keep them happy, however, their status as n.o.bility is a troublesome issue. Well, whatever… I"ll leave all the serious thinking to the Toru of tomorrow.

"Wait, you"re not attending the banquet? Weren"t you personally invited by that sly kid?"

"Umm, Celice, please refrain from referring to someone ten years older than you as "sly kid"."

"Sorry, I guess I let my guard down around you. Don"t change the topic, tell me, what are you planning to do?"

"Nothing in particular. The Athena festival begins tomorrow, and so does the battle tournament. I believe that someone such as myself needs ample preparation, isn"t that so?"

We were standing in front of the huge door which led to the hall prepared for the banquet which commemorated the people of Hades. Majority of the crowd was already inside. From the little gap through the door, I could see Sylvia getting hit on by hordes of men. The men trying their luck on Sylvia were completely unrelated to the whole escorting thing, so I didn"t pay them much heed and decided to escape from this troublesome place.

"Yes, yes, I get it. Anything else?"

"Pa.s.s a message to Sylvia for me. Tell her that she is mine, and I am looking forward to her presence in tomorrow"s inauguration ceremony."

"So you finally decided to make her yours, huh? Well, good for her. The last lover I had was about three-hundred years ago. He was a good man, but he died in a quest which required him explore some ruins."

That"s just sad, how can you say that with such a maidenly expression?

"My condolences. Please pa.s.s this message on to Sylvia. I will be leaving. I shall see you tomorrow."

"Okay bye~"

She waved her hands in dejected motions, as if sad to see me go. However, I had to leave, there are many preparations I have to make for the coming festival. First, I have to go to the guild to get the money for my mission. Sylvia said that she could directly give me any amount of money I desired, but I politely declined. However, she was pretty adamant on helping me out, so I had to play the "I am a man" card on her.

Let"s just go to the guild for now, and then take it from there.