The door to the manor opens and Royce is greeted by a tall man with a muscular frame his commanding aura so powerful it could humble seasoned warriors
“Welcome dear nephew! I was wondering where you were”
The marquess introduces himself as Royce stands there impressed and mildly confused
“I am Korwes Rulgermor, the marquess of this domain”
Royce bows down and Introduces himself and Tori
“I’m Royce Eldermor, Prince of Gresha and This lady standing beside me is my master Tori Silverrose”
“It is a pleasure seeing you…uncle?”
Korwes laughs
“Ah yes, You haven’t met me yet”
“Your father and I are cousins”
“I’ve been protecting the front lines of our nation for over 20 years now”
“I can’t travel much because of our neighbors constantly trying to invade more and more of our land”
“So even tho I’m one of the more important nobles there aren’t many who have seen me”
Royce laughs
“Protecting the nation for 20 years? I see why I haven’t met you”
“It’s really been a pleasure seeing you uncle”
Korwes lets out a little laugh
“You must be tired after your journey”
“Let’s have something to eat first then you can rest”
“We can’t let the guests go to bed on an empty stomach now”
Korwes leads them to the dining hall for the dinner
“Might not be as grand as the Capitals Hall but the food here is as good if not better”
All of them sit down as the maids bring out the food and Korwes continues
“So how come you two came here on just one horse”
Royce sighs and tells his about what happened on the way here as they both eat
“Yea we just got attacked by a group of bandits and they killed the coachman and the carriage got destroyed also one of the horses ran away”
“But master saved me and got me here safely”
Korwes replies in disbelief
“You got attacked by Deathspire?!”
Royce continues
“Yea but how did you know”
Korwes sighs
“Well they are the only group of bandits in that have the balls to attack the Royal carriage”
“They often try to attack messengers and other nobles”
“As well as attacking the outer forest elf villages”
“We’ve been trying to pin down their hideouts but everything has just led to a dead end”
“I’m glad you are here safe… If they had gotten a hold of you I can’t even imagine the chaos that might’ve caused”
“I’m utterly grateful for your help miss Tori Silverrose”
Tori bows a little
“I appreciate that but do not worry, it is my job to protect prince Royce”
“And they weren’t anything more than mare flies trying to take down a dragon”
Korwes laughs
“Ah I see, So how long have you been teaching Royce for”
Royce replies
“From as long as I could talk”
Tori continues
“That’s almost 15 years now”
“Even without me you could’ve took those bandits down easily”
Korwes replies
“I see…”
“Anyway, Now if you’re done with your meal the maids will show you your room”
Royce takes one last bite and both get up to go to their rooms
After reaching the room Royce quickly falls onto the bed
“That was… Damn… that was fucked”
“And she said I could’ve taken those fuckers down…”
“Damn”
Sleep takes a hold of Royce and in no time the night passes and sun is up once again
The sunshine scattered by the curtains and trees slowly creeps up to Royce’s face
He opens his eyes slowly to the voice of swords clashing and marching footsteps
“The fuck…?”
Royce gets up and goes to the window to see what’s happening
“Damn… I thought the mansion was just some richman shit but it’s a whole ass training academy”
“Running, Sparring, Hand to hand combat, Sword fighting… Huh… there’s a surprising lack of magic here”
Royce looks around to see if there’s a magic training area
“I guess the marquees only believe in non m-”
His thoughts come to an halt as he hears a sharp scream followed by an explosion
He rushes outside his room and looks around to see if there’s anyone here
“The fuck?!”
“What the fuck was that…”
He goes outside to see Tori standing there with a burned down magic training area
“Ah-...”
“But who’s scream was that…”
Tori turns around and sees Royce standing there looking around for someone
“Heyyy Roycee! You woke up earlier than I expected”
Royce gets to Tori and replies
“Yea- I woke up to the knights training and heard an explosion so I rushed outside and there you were standing in the middle of training grounds as everything around you turns to ash”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Tori laughs
“Ah that-... The rookies said that they were better than a little old adventurer like me”
“So… I might’ve just gone a little overboard”
“Anyway wanna spar it’s been a while”
One of the trainees steps up
“Hah spar with you?! I don’t think this kid can even beat a flightless bird even if he tried”
Royce sighs and Tori replies
“Alright If you beat him in any single element duel with him not using any wands I’ll do whatever you say for the entire rest of your life”
“Does that sound good?~”
Royce quickly interrupts
“Wait wait wait! What did you just say?!”
“I don’t even know how this guy fights… moreover I don’t even know what his elements are… and he like… fights for a living?! You think I can beat him?!”
The Trainee laughs
“HAH! Seems like your little boy is scared~ like he should be of the greatest mage in the Academy of Parth”
Royce replies
“SEE?!”
Tori laughs and continues
“Have a little confidence in yourself you’re my student afterall”
“Now go get ready while we fix the training ground and meet us here in 30 minutes”
Royce quickly gets inside and gets ready
“What the fuckk… I can barely watch those bandits who clearly were in the wrong get killed… I can’t do this shit… It’s just training but still what the fuck?!”
In no time Royce is outside back again and standing there next to Tori as the training starts once again
“NEXT! ROYCE ELDERMOR AND GARVEY RANDHEL”
Tori taps Royce on the back as he snaps back to reality
“Your turn, Do me proud kiddo”
Royce looks at Tori and nods
“Alright, deep breath and don’t panic”
“Here we fucking go”
Royce steps into the arena followed by the trainee and the referee announcing
“THE SPAR WILL END ONCE I DECIDE IT ENDS”
“AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KILL EACH OTHER THOSE ARE THE ONLY RULES”
“NOW GO!”
Time slows down as Royce sees a fireball hurling towards him
“This fuckers really trying to kill me!?”
Royce dodges it and replies to him
“Did you prepare that before battle?”
“You’re a smart one hah!”
Garvey replies
“So you’re not that brain dead after all”
“And here I thought I could end this quick to have your ‘trainer’ all to myself quickly”
Royce clenches his fist his heart beat increasing with each word Garvey says
“I’d prefer if you stop talking now”
Garvey fires a volley of fireballs
“Or else what? you’ll cry?”
Royce dodges the volley with minimal effort and replies
“Or else there will be consequences”
Garvey stops in his tracks and bursts out laughing
“A puny kid like you can’t even to-..”
Royce rushes towards him with enhanced speed and in the blink of an eye he gets in front of him
“Looks like this puny kid just outspeeded the best this academy has to offer”
Garvey takes a step back and replies
“That doesn’t count I was di-”
Royce gets behind him in an instant followed by gravity magic to make him fall down on his knees
“Now apologize”
Garvey tries to get up as Royce intensifies making him fall on all fours
The effects shake entirety of the arena
“I said APOLOGIZE!”
Garvey looks Royce in the eyes
“To a puny kid? Hah never”
The referee raises his hand and is about to blow the whistle but is interrupted by Korwes
Royce brings his hand forward and the gravity increases even further shattering the arena’s ground
“I SAID APOLOGIZE!!”
Garvey falls flat on the ground barely able to move his eyes he looks at the referee
The referee removes Korwes’s hand and blows the final whistle
“THE WINNER IS ROYCE!”
Royce lets go of Garvey and turns around to leave as the other rush to pick him up from the ground
He gets to Tori and see her smiling
“Did something happen?”
Tori replies
“Well except you destroying the person who you thought you couldn’t, destroying the stage, shaking the entire arena you also managed to impress Korwes”
Korwes approaches the bunch
“Talking about me behind my back?”
Royce turns around and replies
“No no we were just talking ab-”
Korwes laughs
“I’m just joking little man”
“I just heard some commotion and then felt the arena shaking so came in to check”
“And there you were destroying my arena without any effort”
Royce bows down and apologize
“I went overboard and did this I’m really sorry”
Korwes sighs
“Alright alright, stop apologizing. You are a prince after all”
“Anyway I was looking for you before all this since your father asked me to give you this”
Kowres hands Royce some papers and a card
“I thought it would be harder considering you were a noble and all but they were pretty cooperative once they got to know you were Beth’s son”
“The best I could get them to do is make you an E rank but above that it’s a test so do what you have to rise up in ranks and read the papers”
“You’ll be stripped of your nobility while you are an adventurer and will not represent any country or kingdom… and many more but you will have access to every adventurers guild as well as all the info they have”
“Anyway I’d not hold you since they asked me to tell you to report at the guild as soon possible and make sure to get your photo taken”
“Also you can have your photo taken in a mask if you prefer to keep your identity a secret”
“Now hurry or you might be late”
Royce looks at Tori and she replies
“Wanna get a mask then?”
He nods and Korwes gives them the address of the arcane smith
“This guy will have everything you’ll need for this, just say Kowres sent you and show him the your insignia”
Both leave the mansion and gets to the shop Kowres mentioned for equipments
Royce opens the door to see an elderly couple working on the shop
“Ah, I apologize. We are currently closed indefinitely”
Royce replies while showing them the insignia
“Sorry but Marquees Kowres sent us here, He said if we needed anything you’ll have it”
The elderly man sighs
“That old bastard… Alright, come in say what you need kiddo”
Royce replies
“Uhh just a simple mask to cover my face”
The lady replies while dusting the shelves
“We don’t do simple things here kiddo”
The elderly man continues
“If you want something to hide your face you’ll clearly need something to hide your status screen from someone with insight”
The man slides forward a white mask with deep blue pulsating lines running down to the cheeks from each eye
“How about this?”
Royce uses insight on the mask
And a tab opens up
SAVANT’S VEIL (A CLASS)
Wearing this will make anyone with Insight Lvl.13 and below unable to see your stats.
The mask doesn’t come off unless the wearer takes it off himself.
Royce replies while trying to hide his excitement
“Yeah that’ll do”
“THIS IS SOO FUCKING AWESOME!!!”
Royce continues while pointing at Tori
“Do you also have a cape like the Lady over there”
The Elderly lady jumps in excitement
“Ah, I'm glad you asked! Let me show you something”
The lady disappears in the back room for a while before reappearing with two white capes
“One of these should do”
“This one is just your ordinary cape but it helps you recover from mana sickness quickly”
“While this one cuts your overall mana in half but prevents mana sickness entirely”
“They both also give you temperature immunity”
“So no temperature should feel uncomfortable, This does not prevent you from suffering the effects of the temperature though, so even if you don’t feel like it’s freezing cold you’ll still get frostbite if you don’t take preventive measures”
Royce looks at both for a while before choosing the second one
“I’ll take this one and the mask then”
The lady replies in surprise
“But that one’s not even a cape it’s just a way too big jumper with a hood and a cape in front and back”
“Plus it cuts your mana in half and it’s just a prototype I could make way better things if you give me a few week”
“If you give me just three no Two weeks I’ll make a one that looks good as well as something that doesn’t cut your mana that much”
Royce smiles and gives her 4 Gold peices
“I think this should suffice?”
The lady sighs
“Yea it’d be 5 gold coins but since you’re taking a work in progress and buying from us for the first time it should be enough”
Royce takes both and leaves with Tori
She looks at him and his new equipment
“Ooo~ Look at you taking an entire gold coin worth of discount from an elderly’s shop”
Royce sighs and replies
“Hey you clearly heard her saying it’s okayy!”
Tori laughs and replies
“Sureee~”
Royce replies annoyed
“You clearly heard her, stop!”
Tori lets out another little laugh before continuing
“So onto our next destination?”
Royce replies
“Yep, to the Adventurers Guild”