Onaia thought for a bit till she answered “We should bring her to our side, maybe make her a vassal and use her as a fail-save. Or we could influence her in many ways to bid our command.”
I shake my command; this really is a young demon. At least she thought of one right thing, but that was more because her race had expertise in scheming. “No, she has high light-affinity and is a talented mage, that means controlling her is difficult.
Even as a fail-save she is useless, it would be more appropriate to say you bring her closer to the prince that way, and if he takes fancy on her, who is to say he won’t just step in and take her for himself? He might even punish the whole family for your mistake.
With pests like her, you just eradicate them while they are young. Rearing talents will always go wrong if they don’t have a particular reason to be close to you, while it is wrong to kill any talent just because they aren’t part of your faction, you should kill any and all enemy talents. The risk is too high for it to be rewarding.
Kendrick, go and tell her father that I took fancy on her and would like to have her meet me in my estate. She will probably resist, saying she wants to enjoy her time or something. But don’t listen and look at the father, intimidate him a bit but make it seem like I really took fancy and am a jealous person that wouldn’t want any other person to take the chance.
That pest is not only talented but also scheming, she knows that the royal family values light affinity mages and plans to cause a commotion by accidentally releasing a large part of her energy. When she sees that escaping is no option, just resort to sealing her circle.
She only has one, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Seal her properly and have Keen take the baron and his daughter to the estate. He can kill the baron directly, but I need her alive. She is the main ingredient for the next ritual.”
I sneak a glance at Illic, who doesn’t seem to take my cruelty to heart. I can feel some fluctuations, so I tell him straight up “Illic, I know what I am doing is cruel and this will not be the last, not the worst either. I… I hope you can understand my… behaviour someday.”
He grabs my wrist, it seems he does so a bit brutally, but I feel it’s soft touch as he whispers “I am not well-versed with your magic, but I will stay with you, no matter how bad you are. If I married an evil person, then I shouldn’t lack behind too much, right? I… never liked the hypocritical way of the prince, but my father told me to act amicably with him, so I did.”
Nodding, I understand that it’s not just because I am slowly corrupting him that he acts like this, he has despised his father and family a lot for a long time, while the prince is only acting with a nice face when the kingdom also has many rotten sides to it.
Kendrick did as he was told and soon, it became obvious that he had to use his restriction magic. Kendrick scolded the baron silently for having his daughter cause so much of a ruckus, telling them that he would tell his lord to reconsider. When the baron became desperate, he took his daughter and said they would follow.
The daughter was about to refuse but wasn’t able to, her mouth sealed shut, her muscles not following her command. Alaric looked at Onaia, who was trying hard to not react, and told her “See? She is so unruly and tries very hard to cause a commotion to be seen, she wants the attention of as many people as possible, getting her the best deal for marriage.
People like this have to be killed if they stand in your way. In all honesty, if your goal wasn’t the prince, I would even say make her an ally, but the way it is, she is too much of a risk.”
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Onaia nodded, she would take the teachings of Alaric to heart. Although she could feel he wasn’t stronger than him, one of their tribes’ supreme elders, Oianon, had told her that the true name of this stranger was hidden and he couldn’t perceive it, even though the ritual went through. This only meant that either he had unknown means of concealment, or somehow, he had several true names, both cases meant a deep foundation, so it would be better to follow his advice.
She took it upon herself to treat him like one of the wise elders of her tribe. They were those that pierced into a sliver of truth even though their strength never reached godhood. All the elders except those that reached godhood would respect them, and in their expertise, there was barely anyone better than them. Although in total their strength wasn’t really much to speak of, their existence was essential to the tribe.
And this way of treating Alaric was right. Although she could see that the way he imparted his teachings was raw and not the way of someone experienced in teaching others, he still was wiser than her and able to teach her, so she would treat him with the given respect.
It was unusual for demons to behave that way, there were many that were arrogant beyond measure, some would instantly kill Alaric because he was smart and could be scheming, while others would try to use him to the fullest before discarding him.
That was why he chose the Seer Tribe, and Oianon at that. They were a neutral faction of the demon realm, which gave them the right to oversee the pacts. This in turn made them realise how big the world truly was, and how stupid it would be to be arrogant just because they had made great accomplishments in their field.
Because of the nature of pacts, they would often see ritual mages, and those were usually a very tricky bunch of people, even compared to the other kinds of mages. It was unusual to meet madmen among them. They would be incompetent in most aspects of a mage, but in some rare few ones, they have seen much more of the truth than any mortal of their level should be able to.
Of course, these truths were often the reason of their corrupted minds, and most of the time it led to their fall, but that didn’t matter. Oianon and other supreme elders of his tribe would record all these pacts, rituals and discussions with these people and play them in front of their descendants. This was in hope they wouldn’t grow arrogant in their lack of knowledge, and Onaia was one of the brightest of the current generation. If she managed to grab a foothold and part on her way to her children, there was no doubt in the tribe that their lineage would blossom.
The ball slowly came into full swing, higher nobles also started dancing to the rhythmic and slow music. Alaric went closer and close to the throne as he saw nobles talking to the king. This occasion was perfect for informing the king of good news, such as a pregnant wife, boasting of the talents of their children, talking about marriage arrangements and seeking approval.
This was entirely cultural and didn’t need the king’s sign, but his blessings and kind words would do well for them. Especially if their kid was exceptional and the king took interest, that might enable the kid to have a run at joining the royal guard or mage court.
Of course, that was something reserved for the lower nobles. The higher ones would only thank the king for his gracious presence and at most inform him of engagements and ask for blessings indirectly. They didn’t seek approval but actually used it as a way to show their force and the unity of the noble faction.
They might not be as strong as the king, but the northern duke leading the noble faction was still powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated.
House Violet was part of the neutral faction, which was what enabled them to be peaceful even after climbing the ranks. Both factions tried to win them over, this was also one of the reasons the prince tolerated Alaric in his friend circle, even though he wasn’t particularly close, this was enough for past Alaric to lose half his minds over it, boosting his ego.
In the book this didn’t go on for long, as slowly Illic lost his interest, while the northern duke’s son would invite Alaric for shady things, such as parties with a lot of questionable things happening, gambling, drugs and other things that slowly ruined the life of Alaric. The last string was pulled when the northern duke’s son intensified the image of Hinny in Alaric’s mind, making it a ‘must’ to possess her. With the false assurance of the northern duke having his back, he thought that the king wouldn’t go that far for the little girlfriend of the prince.
Of course, now, this wasn’t going to happen. Alaric went forward to the king as he saw that he was free. He was sure that if he waited any longer, another noble would come forward, and he’d have to wait another round, so he just went with Onaia and Illic to the king.