CHAPTER 89

THE ROYAL BUSINESS

  The atmosphere in Frozen Tooth was livelier than in the Reinhart duchy, thanks to the escort knights teasing remarks to the 'PERVERT' Knight. They were all cooking breakfast for the party while, Hans had already adapted himself as the highest-ranking figure ordering everyone around as he saw fit, occasionally glancing at the gloomy Delimira. He left her on her own since he lacked both the ability and the motivation to take care of her emotionally.

As the Parvians made the cave their base of operations, Hans suddenly had a thought and asked Arat,

"So, What brought you here in the first place?"

Arat fixed his eyes on the child's bright eyes, debating how much to tell him, "We came in search of the Greater Aqua Gem." he answered giving up on his reservation,

"Why?" inquired Hans as he could not make sense of Arat's reply.

Arat replied,

"That is a matter for the royals. I don't mind sharing the information, but only if you are willing to accept the throne right now."

  Hans retorted with the same tone as Arat, "There are no royals in your country..." but on seeing a wide grin on Arat's face, he took a step back, and Arat laughed at the boy's flustered expression. It was a pleasant sight to see the younger version of Samson, who was both mature and goofy at the same time. He reminisced the past when Samson had to grow up quickly due to many responsibilities waiting for him, and this was the reason Arat wasn't forcing Hans to leave right away.

Since Arat was in deep thought, Hans looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them. He then asked, jolting Arat out of his reminiscence of what he had been curious about since he heard its name, "What is the book 'Mandate' about?"

Arat replied,

"That's also Parvian royal business."

"Oh, come on," Hans pleaded, "throw me a bone at least."

"Very well, Your Highness," Arat explained, "it is called the 'Book of the Ruling: Mandate.' It's just a guide on how Parv can become stronger even without its king, in addition, it contains records of all the books and their holders. I know who possesses which book and which ones are still unclaimed. But apart from that, we also have the 'Book of the Hero: Prophecy,' which contains all the future events that are yet to happen, preparing one individual to take the helm of the world, including the fate of people close to Sam."

Hans became excited upon hearing another book's name and forgot what he was going to ask about the Mandate. He exclaimed,

"So it's basically a book of prophecies as its name, right?"

Arat sighed, shaking his head with a subtle anger rising steadily in his expression.

"Sadly, the book is sentient, and we are unable to break its seal since it was not meant for us but for someone undeserving,"

Despite seeing the hatred in Arat's eyes, Hans continued to pursue his curiosity and fired another question related to the book.

"Does it contain the fate of people, like death and all?"

Arat confirmed,

"Yes, and one of those fates has already been averted. - "

"Whose fate was averted?" inquired Hans with a serious expression.

"Your foster sister, Vanessa. According to the book, she was supposed to die. I heard she suffered from some strange ailment, but she is alive and well now."

  Hans suspected that Arat was unaware that Vanessa's strange illness was actually caused by a parasite that he had extracted. But Arat added, breaking his previous assertion as he said, "In the Book of the Hero, her death is written as murder, not illness though." Hans was taken aback and urgently asked, "Who?" He was deeply disturbed by the thought of his sister's impending death.

  The mere thought of losing her sent him into panic mode. He didn't know whether her fate had been altered or merely postponed, and the uncertainty only intensified his need to protect her. Unconsciously, his power of inheritance was superimposing his feelings, forcing him to take long breaths of anxiousness. Arat stepped in upon seeing the odd situation, and in an attempt to ease his worries, he offered to investigate the matter.

Hans asked in a worried tone,

"And what will you gain from doing that?"

Arat replied instantly,

"Your goodwill and trust, perhaps even the desire for revenge may spark within you."

"if that's all you want, then please do that for me", Hans sincerely asked Arat.

Arat nodded and said,

"I'll inform you when I find out. Don't worry. But what will you do when you find her supposed killer?"

"I don't know my father. But Vanessa is different. I can't take any chances while she is alive and well," replied Hans

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Arat was pleased with Hans's determination, as it aligned with his own plans. However, a troubling thought crossed his mind, causing him to become serious and ask Hans:

"You met Xandor, right? What did he want from you?"

Hans was taken aback by Arat's sudden change in tone but asked instead of answering,

"I heard he was part of Parv. What is his deal?"

"He is a dangerous man".Arat explained, "After the king's death, he refused to submit to anyone and declared he would create his own world. In simpler terms, he is a lunatic who you should avoid at all costs and he blames you for Sam's death."

Hans was perplexed and asked,

"Why?"

"There is much in the veil, my prince, and I do not know it completely either. However, Xandor is different. To him, Samson was his god, and he was the only one closest to him. So, be wary of Xandor." Arat emphasized, "Whatever he wants, just do not do it."

Hans wasn't typically one to trust his gut feelings, but he couldn't help and feel that Arat could answer his questions truthfully. So he decided to reveal the truth to him - that Xandor had taken the second book and demanded to exchange it for something called Rebellion

Arat's expression contorted in a mixture of anger and frustration as he exclaimed,

"Darn, that necromancer!"

Hans asked him,

"So what is Rebellion?"

"It's your father's cursed sword."

Hans furrowed his brow, deep in thought. "So the alliance treasury possesses both the Book of Power and Rebellion. They certainly do not disappoint," he murmured to himself.

Arat heard it well and grew flustered, interjecting,

"Who gave you that information?"

"I have my sources," replied Hans.

Arat continued,

"My prince, that Book of Power is just bait, supposedly containing all of Samson's power inscribed in words, but it does not actually exist. But why do you think it is in the alliance treasury?"

  Hans contemplated the question, but none of his thoughts provided a valid explanation. And Seeing Hans deep in thought, Arat elaborated, "When the world learns about the Books of Fate, the holders might become targets. So, Samson spread the rumour of his everything is inscribed in a book, ownerless, to create a wild-goose chase and provide breathing room to the holders until they fulfil their purpose. Every holder has a mission to fulfil. You and I are merely chess pieces that your father is controlling even after his death. Isn't it fascinating that whatever we are doing or will do, he has already calculated it in his plan?"

  Hans didn't share Arat's enthusiasm for being controlled by his deceased father and Arat was not some dumb old man who couldn't catch Hans's inner feelings. seeking the perfect opportunity he hammered the final nail in their conversation about Xandor, "Do not get involved with Eclipse and the Books of Fate. It's not meant for you."

  As Arat finished talking, Hans found himself nodding in agreement. He couldn't resist the sincerity in Arat's eyes this time, which showed that he truly cared for Hans's well-being. Though Hans didn't know what Arat ultimately wanted, besides waking up a god and destroying everything but Parv. As he kept looking at Arat's sincere gaze, he felt a similar vibe around this old man, similar to Rudolf and Sierra however there was something that he can't pinpoint so he just nodded.

Seeing him agreeing, Arat said in loud voice, alerting the escort

"Buckle up, we are continuing our search for the gem."

  Hans turned to Delimira and said, "It looks like we are going to be here for a while, Winters." However, Delimira did not share his enthusiasm, so he left her alone and joined the escorts in discussing their path forward. Hans asked them, "Do you have any idea where the gem is, or are we just brute-forcing the whole area?"

  A female mage, impressed with Hans's vocabulary, responded to his question, "We and the natives were both present when the gem surfaced, but we were too late to claim it." she said and added while letting out a sigh of disappointment, "so its with Evil monkeys.."

Hans asked with glee stretching in his face,

"So are we going to steal it?"

The mage corrected him like she was correcting a bad habit of a child,

"No, my prince. Why fight when we can negotiate? Everything has a price, after all."

Hans retorted,

"Yes, but a greater gem like that cannot be bought with money, especially from the natives of the Beast Zone where gold means nothing, Madame. - "

"Why would we offer gold to these primates?"Arat interrupted, "The artefacts to help fight the severe weather should be enough to negotiate."

Hans chuckled at Arat and added,

"You lack desperation, Prime Minister. Fine, but I will go for the negotiation."

The escorts immediately responded in unison,

"No, it's too dangerous."

  Hans smirked and confidently stated, "Don't you all want to see the capabilities of my Parvian blood?" He then turned his gaze towards Delimira and spoke louder so she could hear him, "If I didn't have all this baggage, I wouldn't have been caught by you." His words were meant to provoke a response from Delimira, hoping she would argue back and return to her former self, but she remained silent, struggling with a mental breakdown; she had never caused harm to anyone in her life but the disdainful looks from others kept piling up in her mind, and the attempted assassination was the final strike breaking her fragile walls.

  Her depression was not something that Hans's childish tactic could cure nonetheless he was trying to cheer her up as well as he could but his ways still were ineffective. Of course, the effect of his words on knights and mages of the escort was similar to Delimira's. So Hans added to provoke them, "So are you telling me all thirteen of you are not strong enough to pull me out of the danger from measly natives?"

  It was a challenge to the pride of escorts but they were not so foolish to get enticed by this level of mockery. Arat, on the other hand, wanted to see him in action so he readily agreed, ignoring the worried faces of the escorts.

  Hans got ready and Delimira was forced to follow them. They had already initiated the talk sometime before but Evil monkeys were not cooperating. Last time they were attacked by them and chased every last one of them to death.

Arat said to him,

"Let's see your ways with words, my prince, how do you plan to convince them to exchange?

  Hans reiterated his knowledge of Evil monkeys to confirm if that was fit with the current time or not, "These natives are violent primates with thick white fur and are intelligent enough to converse with us. They possess a variety of wide-range attacks strong enough to obliterate everything in their vicinity, correct?" he asked.

  Everyone nodded in agreement. they thought they had to debrief him about them since it was not common knowledge. Meanwhile, Hans thought about his sad wallet that always seemed to be empty, he had blown up all of his allowance on different books and this was the result of his splurge.

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