OK, guys good news and bad news. Good news is today is my birthday. Bad news is i'm leaving on Vaca for a week and wont be posting. On the other hand it is also sort of bad news for me as this is a family vacation in no relation to my birth day so my birthday celebration is getting pushed back a week.....so yeah. Anyway i am also making a slight change. I am putting the Ice goddess voice in Fraxia's head in blue while making all Mental Conversations like with her sister and the goddess in italics so there is no confusion as to who's talking to who. Also I am doing some edits to chapters to clean them up a bit which i have already started and will get back to when i get back from Vaca next week. Anyway

Enjoy

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I rushed through the capital trying to make my way back to the palace for the meeting with the princess. I made my way back through the streets and alleys i came down on my way here and i realized i forgot to look for an alchemy shop today. Finding it tomorrow shouldn’t be a problem but it all hinges on this meeting going smoothly. I’m running out of time so i skip past the carriage and kick my speed up a notch. Time to show what 184 points in AGI can do. I speed down the roads for what seems like a while in a blur rushing past carriages and carts that seem to be in slow motion.

For repetitive use a skill has been given.

Speed Boost LV1(Passive)

Huh i guess all that running from the boar yesterday finally pays off. Let's see what it does. I activate the skill and suddenly i am running so fast that i everything around me is turning to a blur. Not good, if i continue this pace i could run right past the palace grounds. I quickly put on the breaks and try to slow down when i trip and go skidding along the ground at breakneck speeds.

I hit something hard with an enormous crash and i feel rubble landing on top of me. Now under normal circumstances i would be injured but i have a high rank cloak on so the damage should be lessened, but still it fucking hurts.

“Uuhhhggg” i groaned.

I think i’m buried under just a few meters of rubble so i don’t think i collapsed a building or something but i doubt the princess is going to appreciate me defacing her capital city. I manage to get the rubble on top of me off and take a look see what's the damage. I’m in some sort of plaza as as far as i can see in the direction i came in there's a trench carved into the ground and paving stones strewn everywhere. Faes were blown aside and carriages crashed into each other leaving the roads completely inaccessible. The structure i crashed into appears to be a very large statue made of beautiful red stone.

"That was probably important." i mutter while looking at the statue that was probably spectacular when it was in one piece now in a pile of rubble at my feet. 

Considering i just ruined a statue of someone who hopefully won't be pissed and wrecked a lot of other stuff like traffic i better make myself scarce right now, but instead of running why don’t i take the initiative and try to acquire some assassin style skills while making my way to the palace. I slip away and see guards are coming this way so i rush into an alley and lie in wait, i think i am going to try something else i saw in a game. One guard walks by so i quickly reach out, pull him into the alley and break his neck. I grab his armor and equipment when i realize i’m too small for such an outfit.

“Guess they didn’t face this problem when in game.” i mutter.

Guess i’ll have to scrap that plan, but i still want to try out to what extent i am able to acquire skills. I search the guard to see if i can use anything on him and turn up with a dagger, 2 Yellow Magi Crystals and 5 White ones. I jump up to the top of the 5 story house next to me and start dashing across the roof. I don’t recognize where i am but the easiest way to find the palace is to follow the guards. I jump from roof to roof making every now and then looking down into the streets to find guards and follow where their coming from.

I can see the palace grounds in sight when i notice the clock tower in one part of the grounds. Its sign reads almost the 15th hour so i quickly speed across the grounds making my way for the main building. I can see the princess arriving in a carriage so I stealthily jump over walls and sneak around bushes until i’m in listening distance, i remember the time i asked Kyanu why people would suspect someone was lying or spying on them and she just told me people see and hear what they want. The princess is accompanied by two other fae one is a dwarf in heavy armor and the other is a gnome with a short white beard and brown tailed coat. and it appears they were having a very intense argument.

“Princess are you really going to make a deal with this halfling! We are better off taking her artifact and killing her. I beg you to reconsider.” said the dwarf.

“I agree, it’s not too late to wipe away any trace of her presence. I read the reports from merrick, Non-formation magic, High Armor abilities and those are the only known abilities that girl used. I had a talk with Yaggarm and according to him he believes that if he can study her artifact then he can replicate it.” said the Gnome.

“M’Lady giving the secrets of spatial magic to a Halfling Beastmen, much less a commoner! Please think of the consequences of your actions. If you do this and it gets out that the fae have had spatial magic that could have solved the dragons blockade the alliance and especially the humans will not be pleased. You know they are driven by their greed.” the Dwarf replied.

“No, If we were to take it by force she claimed to be capable in defending herself and i would rather not make an incident of this. If my siblings get wind of this they would take interest and we would lose any opportunity to work without disruptions.” said the princess.

Hate to break it to you princess but i think your siblings are probably gonna know something's up based on the giant trench now plowed halfway through your capital. I seriously doubt they are not going to start asking questions. Also i think i am starting to understand what kind of situation the princess has herself in. It appears she is the good natured person and those around her are the snakes.

“We are better off buying the services of this person and maintaining secrecy and then making a spectacle of it and losing the element of surprise.” she said. Well as expected you don’t become a politician without having some iron in your will.

“The lords won’t accept working with this silly child. M’lady your choice to support young master Mellock has already strained your relationship with the lords  with him being nothing more than some common brat--” The gnome began.

Careful Garion, While you are my mother's trusted adviser i however still have my reservations concerning this matter and no matter how much you talk you are still an adviser. I hope you take that into your calculations.” the princess now glaring at the gnome.

I run ahead of the princess's entourage and stealthily make my way back to the parlor where we had our conversation earlier. I hop onto one of the lounge chairs and just stay there until the princess walks in with her people.

“Ah Princess, i assume you have had time to consider my offer?” i asked.

“Right to the point then Ms. Fraxia, and yes i have.”

“And?”

“I personally would like to accept your proposal-” she paused while looking at her advisers.

“But others are not convinced of your power. Thus some have proposed a test. Please understand of course we would like to immediately employ you but circumstance prevent us otherwise.”

Sigh, well it was expected, but it looks like it's more the nobles decision than the princesses. I imagine dabbling with commoners is supposed to be above the likes of nobility. Pfft, fucking noble assholes. The princess is pretty much the only one in the nobility that i’ve seen yet to actually think about commoners.

“What kind of test?” i ask tersely.

“Ah, that would be my area of expertise.” Said the gone now coming into the conversation.

“It would be a test separated into two parts. The first is a simple arena battle to test your battle skills and the 2nd is a Test of stealth to see if you can reach a certain point without being detected.” he smiled somewhat creepily.

For a second i thought i could see a slight twitch in the princess's face at the mention of the test being in two parts.

“Alright, if it can’t be helped it can’t be helped. So let's just get this test over with.” i said. I really just want to get back to hunting for the supplies to make my new arm.

“Ah, i anticipated this so i already set everything up.” The Dwarf said him also joining the conversation.

The princess was now openly looking back and forth between the two who seemed to have conspired. The dwarf started giving some bullshit recount of the history of the Royal assassins.

“Well if i had to guess i would say they want to get rid of you. After all you seem to be a very unpredictable object that seems to destroy or ruin everything she touches. Probably a bad thing if your executing a plan that requires delicate hands.” said the goddess suddenly in my head.

“Hey, where have you been. You know i could have used a good warning about what would have happened when i used Speed boost you know.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Well dear mortal, because of you my power has dropped. DROPPED i tell you to no better than a--” Suddenly i interrupted.

“Like a mortal. Yeah well welcome to the MORTAL world.” I’m getting really tired of hearing the word ‘Mortal’ thrown at me as an insult. Really if this is how a Divine being acts on a regular basis i’ll stay mortal thank you very much.

“SO to fix this i have been using what little power i hold of the environment to gather magic power and pretty much anything that could be beneficial to me. Oh and by the way this boar meat you have in here is superb. I think i’ll eat some more after i finish purifying this magic. I’m going to be doing this for a while so don't disturb me.” i could hear her say with a huff

“BITCH, I worked hard to get that meat! Get away from it you little vulture.” i shouted back in my head.

Suddenly the princess started asking if i was listening.

“Of course, but i would like to proceed with the test. I don’t like to waste time.” i said, although i didn’t hear anything that the princess just said.

“Of course. We have an underground arena all setup and ready right now. After you little Miss.” the gone said standing up and opening the door. And this time it was pretty clear he was up to no good.

The Gone stood up and the princess opened her mouth to speak, but i spoke first.

“Alright let's go.” i said striding towards the door.

We journey deeper into the castle passing by reinforced doors and going down flights of stairs. We make it to an iron door where cheers and loud clashes.

“Sounds like Dirk is hosting again. He always brings out the liveliest fights.” The Dwarf said.

I wonder if the princess was aware that people had fights underneath her castle because she's looking pretty startled right now.  We enter through and find spread out before us a Massive circular arena at least 40 meters in diameter not including the stands which added another 10 to 20 meters at least. Inside fighting was a Dwarf and a Fae elite and it looked like the Dwarf had the upper hand. The Elite was backed into a corner and the Dwarf was swinging a massive war hammer round and round in a spin attack. The Elite was dodging the Massive strikes while trying to swing back with his dual knives, one red and one black with the fae runic language printed on the sides of the blades which after a second of remembering Kyanu's lessons i figured out the Red knife said Kiss and the Black one said Kill.

“Ah it looks like Rose and Jargon are going at it. You see Rose is the new Elite around here so facing the Dwarf champion should be a good way for her to learn how things work around here.” he said with a grin while looking at me. Creepeh mother fucker begone!

The Dwarf was standing over the Elite and gave a look to a man standing who was pointing his finger down. The Dwarf grinned and brought the hammer down but unexpectedly the Elite flew under his guard and kicked him into the corner. She was dressed in really revealing armor and had a look of amusement on her face. She had fabulous looks but for some reason was fighting in a sweaty arena which made me a bit curious.

Suddenly she looked up and we made eye contact. She winked and started walking towards me even and away from the fight at hand despite the objection from the umpire and her opponent.

“Oi, get back here ye bitch. I aint done with you.” said the dwarf getting up and grabbing his hammer.

“Oh but i am done with you.” She said.

She snapped her fingers and around the dwarf where the Elite had fallen appear countless red magic circles. She laid a trap, i thought. The ground erupted and a pillar of Fire exploded from the ground annihilating the Dwarf.

“Oh great it's her. Why is she here!” I could hear the Ice goddess saying in my head.

Suddenly i also got a notification.

The gods are watching.

...Wait don’t tell me!

She walked over this way and paid no attention to the princess or the people clapping and cheering for her Instant win against a ‘Superior’ opponent. She walked by me and briefly whispered in my ear as she walked by.

“I’ll talk to you after honey, Until then do your best and let's see if you can do better.” She winked and walked away.

“Oh i hate her. Why does she have to be here.” The Goddess complained.

“Who is She!” I demand but before i can the gnome and dwarf start talking..again.

“Oh ho, how exciting. A rising star amongst the Elites. I have a feeling this season will be good for the arena. Hey Bargen, prepare the arena with what i asked for will you.” he said while walking towards a prep room.

“Now my dear i suggest you get ready for combat. Don’t worry we have Medic fae on standby just in case so fight all out. We’ll watch from one of the balconies so give us a good fight, come princess.” he said leading the way.

The fact that you have medic fae on standby does not fill me with confidence. The princess looked at me a bit worriedly but in the end walked off with the others.

I head into the room and find swords made of glowing blue crystal lined up on one wall and pieces of mismatched armor all around the place. I pick up one of the swords off the walls and swing it lightly.

“What is this stuff?” i mutter to myself.

“Why don’t you use Appraisal.” The goddess questioned.

“Because i don’t have fucking Appraisal. That's a no-brainer.” i shoot back.

“I mean use mine. I wanna peel that smirk off that bitches face so where using my powers in this fight.”

“What are you talking about” I question

“We can share skill since even if i hate to say it..Pet.. you can access my skills. So Start using them you idiots.” 

I pause for a second. If i was a betting man i would bet every last gold piece i had on the Dwarf and the gnome playing underhanded. I can’t exactly use the Divine soul armor because...well it's a Divine item, the Dragon gods gift i definitely can’t use so i’m left with whatever magic the goddess has and whatever i have, but at least i have a weapon now unlike when i dealt with the boar. 

“Alright, what do you recommend.” I ask

“Not so fast, I want something in return.”

“Ugh fine what. And no i am not releasing you even if i knew how.” I said irritated.

“That's fine, but i want first crack at the bitch when we meet her again. You let me out and stay out of the way got it!.” she demanded

She sounds like she might help me based on her reaction, but in all honesty i really don’t have a lot of confidence in god's anymore. Whoever she is she is likely a god or something similar based on that creep message. Whatever happens between the two goddess i don’t care as long as it doesn’t involve me.

“Deal, but if you get in trouble i don’t know you and we never met.”