The Princess and the Earl boarded a black and gold carriage waiting for them before the black and gold castle. Having the rare chance to travel, they are in no hurry to return to Saint Cadets Academy, and the two went to tour around the black and gold city, where everyone dressed in similar colours.
In just a moment, the two kids were speechless at how everything looked, but for the residents of this place, in the Southern border city, Doubloons, black and gold are as common to them as green fields and blue sky.
“Ah, I just remembered reading somewhere that pirates would fly black sails on their masts,” Kairos said with realisation.
“Then what about the gold?”
“Gold is the… symbol of the ruler… T...the… the pirate king … is the only one that can use golden masts… But it couldn’t be, can it?”
“Uncle Yue is the pirate king?!” The princess gripped Kairos’ sleeve and yelled.
“N…no way…… right?”
Relestia did not reply. Even she doesn’t know what to say.
Despite her status as princess and having seen or heard of incredulous tales, she found herself unable to wrap her head around the idea that the Duke of their empire has a double identity as the king of pirates.
The two toured around the city under the guide of Lord Yue’s men. Using his newly gained Dark Gods family emblem, Kairos and Relestia could purchase any services and goods and give the tab to the Duke. Without much concerns, the two started a spending spree.
“Pirates are rich right?” Kairos asked.
“Of course!” The little princess readily agreed. Given such a rare chance, it doesn’t matter if a pirate is rich or otherwise because this is the first time she was given the pass to splurge! Given how prudent her royal father was with their people’s money, she had to always restrain herself from wasting even a single cent.
An impish smile fixates itself on her face, and for certain, unknown, reasons, Lord Yue felt an unnatural chill down his spine.
After a scrumptious breakfast, the two went to see a show, avoiding the boring ones about cultivation or magic. Kairos preferred fantasy to realistic stories that could help him escape life’s never-ending struggles, and Relestia who hates the dry and tiresome training, quickly agreed.
In the end, they decided to see a musical relating a story of a boy who went back in time in a metal carriage created by alchemy to avert a disaster. They picked it because there wasn’t any cultivation in this or even Time Elemental Martial Arts that was involved, but plenty of strange whirling contraptions they had never before seen.
The two walked out of the theatre a while later, with wonder in their eyes.
“I can’t believe it! He used some kind of metal contraption that sends him back in time. What was that glass window he touched, the one he used to choose which date to return to? Having something like that sure is convenient!” Relestia chirped excitedly. These are the kind of things she would never learn staying behind the dusty old walls of the royal palace.
“They called it… touch screen. It’s running on something called program… This fantasy is too farfetched, how can someone imagine people soaring through the air in a metal box without any Ki? Let’s go grab some grub,” Kairos replied with a tilt of his head, he did not dismiss it is possible but is there a need to create such a thing?
A good artefact would work the same way, and there would be no need to sit in a small box.
After the show, the two continued their sight-seeing, and after they had their fill of fun, they decided to spend the night in Doubloons. They choose a grand suite with plenty of crystal lights, golden walls, free-flow of soft drinks, fruits, and food, and ridiculous amounts of viewing crystals with recorded musicals.
The next day, when the sun has reached its peak, Kairos smiled at the princess and told her, “It’s about time for us to go back. After yesterday’s fun, no doubt all the major factions already found out that the Snowdrifts have formed a partnership with the Dark Gods.”
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They had been using Lord Yue’s emblem throughout the city, and any proper spy would have sent the news back to their employer by now.
The two went to the Teleportation Station, and a few minutes later, they are back in Saint City.
When Kairos walked out of the station on the other side, he noticed with a smile that the crowd that was waiting for him had dispersed.
“Just as I thought, most of them have received the news. The Duke’s reputation is incredible.”
There is no way news would travel this quickly if not because of how infamous Lord Yue is. It is well-known that those who crossed the Duke's path had all regretted. When the Dark Gods emblem appeared on Kairos’ hands, the spies ran back with the information as though their lives are on the line.
Those people have been waiting since the boy entered the Duke’s manor, but they had not expected the Snowdrifts to agree to a partnership with a rival.
Since there are no more meddlesome people in the streets, they went straight to see Ling’er at the Snowdrifts business headquarters.
After telling the girl’s mother on what the princess could do, and even before there were any results, Xuan Xian already thanked Relestia profusely. They could see how much the little girl meant to her.
However, a sickness of the soul could not be easily recovered.
A soul is an indestructible thing. It can be shattered, crushed, dispersed, forced into an incredibly small area, but even if weakened till only a speck of soul dust is left, it can never be entirely destroyed. But along with being such an enduring thing, a soul is also nearly impossible to repair.
In all three realms, they consider a fractured soul permanent unless one could find a rare soul healer; one can see how valuable Relestia’s inborn talent is.
If she was born in the upper realms, she would have been a treasure, sought after and protected by the greatest gods.
Unfortunately, even the best soul healer could not help someone with Ling’er’s condition in a day or two. The name for this infamous ailment is called: Everfrost Soul when overwhelming Yin-natured frost took root within a child’s growing soul. A rare condition that only happens when a non-cultivator absorbed large amounts of Heavenly Energies.
After checking Ling’er, Relestia solemnly asked Xuan Xian and Kairos aside to speak to them.
The princess, a petite little girl who should be lively, acting so gravely, caused the two to fall into a pensive silence. She did not judge Relestia by her tender age if this is a person that their young master trusts, she will trust her as well. And, if Relestia told her that her baby girl is stuck with this condition for life, she doesn’t know how she could live on.
After all, she has learned from watching Kairos, that there are very remarkable people in this world whose young age does not properly translate to what abilities they should have.
Xuan Xian is already convinced with how exceptional Kairos is, and if he deems this little ten years old girl as a proper doctor, then she will fully trust in the person as well.
In a small room with only the three of them, the princess explained in a soft voice, “Ling’er’s condition is …”
“Is she incurable?” Xuan Xian interrupted apprehensively.
Relestia saw the older woman with her heart in her throat, and she gave her the most assuring smile she could manage before continuing, “It’s not incurable, but, it will take some time to heal her soul from the Everfrost.”
“H… how long?” Xuan Xian asked she does not know what the Everfrost is, but she is content as long as it is possible to heal her daughter, even if it surely take years.
“At least six months. And I will need to be right beside Ling’er this entire time,” the princess said causing Xuan Xian to breathed a sigh of relief.
“Six months… that’s good… thank you, your highness. Thank you so much, my family owes you this debt forever.”
There was steel in Relestia’s voice. She could already anticipate the resistance from her family with her decision to stay here for months, but nevertheless, she will not back down.
She could not bear to let a little girl, no bigger than six years old, suffer under the torments of the Everfrost continuously. In the first place, this was an ailment that should never have happened.
Only those so loved by the heavens were talented enough to naturally take in Heavenly Energy like what Ling’er did, but it can be dangerous to do so without guidance. Normally harmless, it could become tricky when the absorbed elements could not be refined and become overloaded, but even then if symptoms of soul damage were discovered early, it is still rectifiable.
For cultivation geniuses that had an immense natural affinity with the elements, they are snatched up wherever they go. Those are precious talents and rarely will there be one that was allowed to become afflicted. Cultivation is, after all, intimately related to a person’s soul.
Those that raise and become gods, and those that fall into madness and become monsters, are all because of how one cultivates.
Unfortunately, before her talent was realised, Ling’er was caught up by the repercussions of her father’s greed who for now has disappeared into hiding.
Xuan Xian and Kairos confidently left the six years old Ling’er in the hands of the princess who was barely older at ten.
Their decision would raise the eyebrows of any outsiders, but nevertheless, the two are overjoyed at the possibility to save the quiet yet sensible little girl.
Kairos stayed in his shop for a few more days, adjusting their business operations to suit their new partnership with the Dark Gods house, before returning in haste back to Saint Cadets Academy.
As a participant of the combat tournament, he still has a target to meet every week. If he does not defeat enough contestants, then he would have no chance to win the prizes, and there is no way he will easily give up on getting the Artificial Soul that is the reward for first place.