Hazeel and I were brought into a large room. Its walls were adorned with gold, and a skylight had been installed overhead. The floors were made of the same material as the exterior of the tower, the scarlet red Akalite.

The room itself had two exits. The first, which was the door that our party had just arrived from, was connected to the throne room. The other door had a wonderful smell and smoke coming from it, so I instantly pinned it to be a kitchen.

There was a table in the middle of the room, with several sets of dishes lined up on top. Lu Minami took a seat at the head of the table, while Hazeel and I sat across from each other to his immediate right and left respectively.

A chef… or at least, who I assumed was a chef came out from the kitchen and bowed at Mr. Minami before turning and doing the same for Hazeel and I. “It’s our pleasure to serve you today. We have a seven course meal for you, starting with the first two that accompany each other. Your first dish, to your right, is a light sailfin soup. And to your left, the second dish, is rainbowscale dragoon meat. Your other five dishes include three main course meals and a palate cleanser before your desert will be served. Please enjoy yourselves.”

“Thank you Head Chef Sakaki. You are dismissed.” The man bowed once more before leaving the room and heading back into the kitchen. “Please, let us talk over this meal. Enjoy yourselves.” Lu Minami started cutting into his dragoon meat, and Hazeel’s mouth was watering at the sight. She gulped before looking at her own plates, torn between whether or not to start with the soup or the tender looking meat.

I picked up a spoon and started to eat the soup placed in front of me. It was nice and light, a clear soup with a few pieces of green meat floating inside of it. The meat itself was a refreshingly cool mint flavor, and made the soup’s heat stand out even more. The soup had a savory taste, one which continued to linger throughout my mouth even after I had swallowed the liquid.

Suddenly, I felt that same feeling of disturbance from the first time I met this man come over me. It was like… it was like he had no sense of urgency. “Is this a special ability?”

The man looked shocked that I had spoken, but smiled after swallowing a mouthful of meat. “I’m surprised. Not once, but twice have you come to break out of my aura, and even in the same day. For most, such is an impossible feat.”

“Is that what you call it? Aura?” I gesture towards the emperor-to-be with my fork full of dragoon meat to emphasize my point.

“Yes. Every member of the Golden Empire’s royalty has their own unique aura. While many of them vary in what they do, they all share certain similarities.”

“Such as?”

“They are all projected from within our hearts. When we are children, royalty gets an operation to implant some mana-conducive akalite into our hearts. We grow alongside the crystals, and as we grow in size, so does the akalite. We learn to channel the mana through our hearts, and expel it to keep the buildup from becoming harmful. How much is expelled and the strength of one’s mana determines how potent the effects of the aura are. In fact, at much higher levels , just constantly letting the mana seep out of us is enough to activate our aura.”

“That’s great and all.” I finish off the soup and move on to working on the dragoon meat. The meat itself was a deep shade of purple, with a pink gradation of color inside. It was garnished on top with several greens, and brown juices flowed out from under it.

“However, you still haven’t explained what your ability is or where it comes from.”I took a bite and smiled as the spiciness of the meat hit my tongue. It was heated all the way through, and had a very soft texture.

Lu Minami sighed and rubbed his temples. “Fine, but in exchange you have to explain your own powers to me. I’ve been curious ever since I’ve heard of them.”

I frowned, “Heard of them from who?”

The man to my right grinned. “You’ll find that out by the time our next course is here, but let me answer your first question. Auras are the combination of our personality, internal mana strength, and intent. For example, I am a relaxed prince, so that manages to translate through to my aura by having a calming effect on those around me. I have a large internal mana pool so I don’t necessarily need to focus on releasing my aura, it just comes out of me thanks to the training I received when I was younger. Lastly, my intent is to get along with you both, so the aura only makes you feel comfortable in my presence. Does that all make sense?”

“Yeah.” I grunt and finish off what was left of my steak. “So can you undo the effects on Hazeel and I before we properly speak?”

Lu Minami shook his head. “I would, but I don’t need to. Breaking out of the aura not once, but twice shows that you have built up a resistance to it. As for your friend…” We both looked over at Hazeel in time to see the wood elf licking her lips seductively after having finished the soup and everything on her plate. “She seems to be immune to the concept of auras altogether. Whether that’s an inherent trait of her race, or the result of some training, I do not know. However, the only other explanation I could think of would be-”

A knife flew from Hazeel and landed right in the middle of one of the crown prince’s plates, splitting it in two. “That’s enough from you.” Turning over to me, she continued, “We’ll talk about this afterwards. Please don’t let me distract you.”

Lu Minami gulped and snapped his fingers, prompting Chef Sakaki, along with several of his staff to bring out the next round of food. “Regardless of the reason, my aura probably won’t affect you any longer.”

I nodded as the servants left and Chef Sakaki came before us once more. “Thank you for waiting. The second part of your meal is ready. Your third course is sun-seared rice, complete with halla seeds. Your fourth course consists of pink-tailed kanji meat, pan seared with ruba sauce and an assortment of vegetables. Your fifth course is rowa wine, a traditional imperial drink that uses halla fruit as its base. Please enjoy yourselves.”

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Unsatisfied with the information that I had gotten, I set aside the tantalizing meal in front of me. “Please explain how you knew about Hazeel and I. I have a guess, but I want to hear the reason from your mouth.”

Lu Minami smiled and put down his own fork and spoon. “From your words it sounds as if you already know, but I will indulge your curiosity as promised. About ten days prior to your arrival in the Gold Continent, Queen Belladonna Clairborne sent a message to Scarlet Tower via crystal hologram. She let us know that a pair of travellers who had helped restore their kingdom to its former glory were going to be travelling around the world, and would need safe passage through the Golden Empire.”

“It’s hard to believe you would just let us come in for free… especially considering your Empire’s history of war with the Azure Continent.” I pick up my fork and dig into the cooked kanji meat in front of me the vegetables were savory and sweet, and consisted of what appeared to be this world’s version of broccoli, tomatoes, and celery. The meat itself was sweet as well, but with a bit of tang.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly charity work.” I had just finished my meat and looked over to see Hazeel literally licking her plate clean. I sighed, and looked back at the emperor-to-be to get him to continue.

“Queen Belladonna offered to release all the prisoners of war that the Azure Kingdom was keeping, as well as return a chain of islands between our two continents that they took control of before the end of the last war. Simply put, it was on offer we couldn’t refuse. Not to mention, because I was the one that she contacted, I got a huge boost in approval rating in the populace.”

He took a sip of the drink before him, and I eyed mine before deciding to do the same. It was sweet and tasted of apples and cinnamon. The heat of it spread throughout my body, and although it was scorching outside, the heat from the drink made my body ease up and relax.

Lu Minami smiled. As he set his cup down. “Any other questions for me, Leon?” I smiled to myself, noting that Bella hadn’t completely exposed us, or my real name for that matter.

“A few. Firstly, that doesn’t explain this reception. The definition of ‘safe passage’ is pretty loose. You wouldn’t need to even show yourself to us, much less get involved with us in any capacity.” I picked up my spoon once more and went to town on the sun-seared rice. It had a thick, meat filled sauce on top of it. The sweet sauce meshed well with the rice, which, true to its name, was little more that crunchy grains of rice.

I greedily devoured the entire thing, and Lu Minami indulged me, a smile still present on his face. “Did you never eat any good food in Songrande? I’m a bit surprised by how voracious you are.”

I lifted my face up from the now mostly empty plate. “Good food is different from the kind of food only royalty can afford. Stop trying to distract me though. You still have questions to answer.”

The crown prince’s smile never wavered. “As you wish. Truth be told, I was just interested in meeting you. I was thinking, ever since the message from Princess Belladonna, about what kind of person saved that kingdom from a surefire destruction at the hands of other countries. I imagined you as somewhat of a boisterous individual, confident in your abilities, and with multiple women on each arm. Imagine my surprise when you were but a soft-spoken individual with naught but good eyes and a good woman.”

Hazeel slammed down the mug of the imperial drink, and glared at Lu Minami. “As if I’d ever let some lascivious whores near him!” I did a double take at the language that was completely out of character for her, and looked at her drink.

“Mr. Minami… there isn’t anything in there that would affect wood elves, is there?” The princeling looked up in thought, stroking his smooth chin.

“Let’s see… Chef Sakaki!” The dignified chef walked back out and stood in front of the table before giving a 45 degree bow. “What are the ingredients you used for the rowa wine?”

The chef bowed once more before responding. “Yes, your highness. The ingredients were halla fruit juice, shorin, and grated dryad root.”

Lu Minami winced. “Oh, so that’s what did it. Thank you head chef. You are excused. Please bring out the palate cleanser and desert.”

“As your highness wishes.” Chef Sakaki bowed and walked back into the kitchen.

“Sorry, Leon. I think the grated dryad root did her in. That’s the ingredient that made the drink have a somewhat spicy taste."

Huh? So Hazeel was weak to cinnamon… I needed to test that theory when we go back to earth. I slightly shivered at my own train of thought. Were Dantae’s seemingly fruitless efforts in awakening my inner sadist successful? Now that was a scary thought. My heart felt a bit tight remembering her, but I had to remind myself that I would see her again soon.

Perhaps slightly fueled by my train of thought, I asked my final question. “I see. I’ll be sure to keep grated dryad root from her in the future. Well, lastly, can you explain where we can find one of the famed Divine Forges?”

The smile on Lu Minami’s face finally wavered as Chef Sakaki brought out the final two dishes and placed them in front of us. “Your final meals for the evening are as follows: a slice of pinec fruit to cleanse your palate, as well as a slice of our world-renowned Scarlet Tower Tiramisu. Please enjoy to your heart’s content, and thank you for dining with us this evening.”

Chef Sakaki gave a final bow and walked back into the kitchen. I started eating the pineapple-like pinec fruit as the crown prince started to answer me.

“I see… If I may be so bold, may I inquire as to what you would do with that information?” His fingers began to drum against the table, showing that he was clearly agitated.

I breathed in deeply and exhaled, trying to calm myself from the increasing unease in my heart. “I need to repair a blade.” There. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but neither was it the complete truth.

“May I see it?”

“No.”

My immediate response must have come as a surprise to the prince, whose eyes widened. Suddenly he laughed once more. “Of course! If one had a divine weapon they wouldn’t so easily show it to others. However, without seeing the blade, I cannot verify your claim, and thus, cannot allow you access to the forges.”

Before I could reply, Hazeel took the buster sword from behind her back and held it at Lu Minami’s face. Before anything else could happen, several armed women appeared around Hazeel. “Lower your weapons!”

The prince’s shout and mildly annoyed expression caused a few looks of confusion from his concubines, but they eventually relented. Not one to be outdone, I slapped Hazeel upside the head, causing her to drop her weapon on the floor.

“Whyyy?” She drunkenly whined, and I just motioned for her to sit back down, which she did with a modicum of remorse.

“Think of where we came from. I’m pretty sure it would be just cause for another war if people were to learn that two travellers with connections to the Azure Kingdom’s royal family held the crown prince at swordpoint.”

Turning back to face Lu Minami, I got on the floor and knelt. “I apologize for Hazeel’s behavior. Although she may be drunk because of your chef’s drink, that is still no excuse.”

“It is as you say, we are partially to blame.”

“Thank you for your magnanimousness. As for your earlier question, I just responded negatively out of reflex. I can allow you to see the sword, but no other may look, and you are not allowed to touch. Is that acceptable for your highness?”

Lu Minami’s smile returned as he said, “I’ll have servants take you to the armory in ten minutes! But first, Let’s finish off this cake.”