“Ah, isn’t it Cassius and Cain? You seem out of breath, did you run from something?” The said with a big surprised face.

“That maid of yours, the one with glasses and twin braids. She has some impressive aim.” Cain sat on the ground, on their way here they were hit with the slippers twice.

The king started laughing, “Well of course she is, she gave us a lot of troubles before. No wonder Cassius is such a troublemaker.”

“The way she raised him was harsh, I can’t fault her though,” Cain remembered that Cassius had raised vultures.

“I can hide here for a while, she will catch me tonight though.” Cassius sighed.

“I will talk with her, for now, rest here.” The king smiled and Cassius sat on one of the chairs.

“Say Baltos, do you have any MP potions on you? I do need some quickly.” Cain said, his MP was quickly being drained by Isbert who just woke up. The total consumption now was faster than his body’s MP regeneration.

“Of course. Guards, bring us a full box of the finest potions.” The king ordered and the guards saluted him and rushed inside. They all knew what kind of monster Cain was, they also knew he was their princess’s only hope, and they were going to risk that.

“I rarely see you exhausted, injured maybe.” Chad who was silently sipping his tea smiled.

“I get exhausted all the time, but I admit that I rarely run out of MP.” Cain stood and took a seat beside his father.

“Can you fight?” The king asked.

“Want to know if you can kill me in such a weak state? Sorry, you can’t as I can still fight.” Cain smiled.

“I will never think of killing you,” Said Baltos with a joking face. “I was just looking for some perks to draw my daughters’ attention. But just in case, is there a way to kill you?”

“Anything less than incinerating my whole body will just fail. But even if you did, this kingdom won’t last a day after the fact.” Cain said with an evil smile, there is still his father, wives, and even the whole elvish kingdom.

“You’re pretty tough for how you look then, I expected you to be a fragile glass cannon.” Baltos smiled.

“I’m more of a cockroach, hard to kill and annoying to fight.” Cain smiled.

The four of them kept talking for about an hour, and the conversation between them never ended.

..

On the other side of the castle, Sofia and Alice were walking down the castle hallway with one of the maids. She was supposed to lead them to their rooms.

“Isn’t this a bit too fancy for guests?” Alice said looking at the maid and the whole hallway.

“His majesty ordered that you be treated like the princess, you’re getting rooms in their quarter.” The maid replied with a smile.

“Why do I have a strange feeling?” Sofia asked Alice with a puzzled face.

“I agree with you, there is an ulterior motive to this, especially since Cain is supposed to spend the night with us,” Alice replied. This place was dedicated to the princess, men were especially forbidden from entering for obvious reasons.

“Well. Father is trying to tie one of us to the white mage. The fastest way is to throw him into our personal space.” They heard a voice behind them.

When they looked behind, it was the eldest princess.

“Princess Sara, did we disturb you?” The maid apologized.

“No, I was just walking around to stretch my back. It’s been hurting lately.” Sara replied.

Alice could tell the reason at a glance, “I bet it’s those two.” Alice said what was in her mind pointing at the princess’s chest.

“There is a price for everything great, scared I might snatch him from you?” Sara smiled.

Alice glared at her, this princess was about to get on her nerves. Especially since still hasn’t opened her eyes.

“I bet you will be surprised with what he will say. I won’t say I know him well, but I can guess what he will say if you asked him.” Alice said with a proud face, Cain wasn’t going to fall quickly for such an attempt.

“Are you sure?” Sofia poked Alice’s side.

“Yeah, it would be funny to see.”

After that, the maid guided them to their room, Sara in tow.

..

Outside in the guards’ training area, Zaleria and Selena were playing around. Zaleria has been the center of attention as the forces who saw her burn down the orcs have returned. They couldn’t believe they were seeing such a powerful dragon just sitting with them. Selena on the other hand was chasing some butterflies around without a care in the world.

“Would you care to spare with us?” An armed soldier approached Zaleria with a smile.

“Of course, just be aware that you might have some bruises later,” Zaleria warned him, no matter how much she held back, the difference was still large.

As the two started fighting, the other guards stared at Selena playing in the background. They knew she was one of the white mage’s wives. Asking her for a sparring match could cause a war, and she didn’t seem like that strong of a fighter.

“Hey Selena, want to fight them? I’m afraid I will kill one eventually.” Zaleria called her, the soldier she was fighting has broken his arm.

“Of course-nya.” Selena left the butterfly alone and walked toward the ring. The soldiers exchanged glances, could she really fight? They still preferred to have Zaleria train with them.

“I will do it, don’t worry I will make sure not to hurt you.” The archer unit commander, a woman in her forties approached Selena with a smile.

Zaleria sighed, “Don’t make a mistake, those who did ended up in pieces.” She warned them. Selena was a real, man-eating monster if she so wished.

“Let’s see then.” The commander thrust her spear at Selena, she might be an archer but that didn’t mean she can’t use other weapons.

Selena out of nowhere bite the spear and used her neck muscles to pull the commander toward her. In a quick move, she kicked the fast approaching commander sending her flying. Those moves were similar to that Reith was using.historical

The soldier gasped as the commander rolled away, did they just see Selena anchor herself to the grown with claws? Did she just catch a spear with her mouth, and even pulled a fully armed soldier?

They could hear a faint growl coming from her, she was no human, nor a cat girl. She was a monster just like Zaleria.

..

At the guild, Hati, Mary, and Nemmoxon finally had some time to rest. After hearing that the guild master was controlled, the entire guild kept showering them with questions about the matter.

“Can we get out? We finished gathering all the information in this place.” Said Hati looking at the pile of papers they pulled from the guildmaster’s office.

“Yeah, there is nothing left. But first..” Mary walked toward one of the guild staff that was obediently sitting on a chair waiting for them to finish.

“Stand!” As Mary said with a strong voice, the woman was jolted to life. “What are your orders?”

“We’re leaving, I want you to prepare a log of all the events of the past five years. All the adventurers, when they joined, died and how. The guild income and costs, everything. If I found anything missing, don’t blame me for what will happen!” Mary threatened her and the woman ran out to work.

“Now we can leave,” Mary said with a smile, those information can be useful later.