Chapter 48: Found Young Black Witch

Chapter 48: Found Young Black WitchAs if satisfied by his response, the elf finally bowed to him. "High Elf Yorian greets Your Highness Prince Arlan."

"Yorian? Nice name," Arlan casually complimented as his keen gaze studied the elf. "Welcome to Griven, Mister Yorian."

"Thank you, Prince Arlan." He lifted his gaze to observe this mysterious prince who seemed to be hiding himself deeper than he initially thought.

Arlan didn’t mind his curious gaze as elves are supposed to be like this and said, "I hope you enjoy your stay in Griven."

"I will," the elf replied.

Arlan moved his attention back to his friend. "Shall we go?"

On approval from his friend, their group left on carriages towards Selve Estate where Drayce and his royal entourage were arranged to stay as guests.

The royal cavalcade was a majestic sight to see for the folks of Selve, the flags of both the Royal Families of Griven and Megaris lifted side by side, with uniformed royal knights of both kingdoms marching one after another. Their stern expressions and synchronized movements gave off an imposing atmosphere that caused all the onlookers to hold their breaths.

They reached the Selve Estate unimpeded where the entire House of Selve warmly welcomed their arrival. Given Arlan’s prior instructions, the royalty of Megaris was arranged to stay in the same guest mansion where Arlan was staying.

As the King and Queen of Megaris retired to their chamber, being tired of long journey, their retinue also dispersed to their own assigned quarters. Rafal personally guided the knights from Megaris towards the knight quarters, giving them time to rest while the guards of Duke Selve temporarily took over the security of the guest mansion.

The barracks were shared quarters, four beds in a room for the normal knights, while the captains and vice-captains had individual rooms.

Just as the royal knights from Megaris entered the common hall, the noise inside subsided, especially when they saw who Rafal was escorting.

At the lead was Calhoun Sanders, the youngest commander of royal knights in history. More commonly known by his moniker, ’Slayer’, the common-born knight in his mid-twenties rose to prominence due to his achievements in battle, a role model for all knights.

"Sir Sanders," Imbert greeted him as he shook hands with the young commander. "The journey must have been exhausting. Your knights get the rooms on the left barracks."

"Nice to meet you again, Sir Loyset."

"Sir Loyset, nice to meet you again as well!" a bright voice followed. It was a knight standing right behind Slayer, similar to the age of his commander. His name was Azer Brayden, the vice-commander of the royal knights of Megaris.

"Sir Brayden."

Imbert shook hands with him, his cold face not changing expression even a bit.

As their lieges were best of friends, the knights from both sides were quite familiar with each other.

After exchanging pleasantries, Imbert then left the common hall, unaware a certain pair of eyes were following his departing figure.

Slayer lightly hit Azer in his stomach with his sword pommel.

"Ah, Commander..." He looked at Slayer with a wronged expression on his face.

"You don’t smile that wide when you see me," he said before heading to his assigned room.

Azer rubbed his stomach as he caught up to his commander. "I admire both of you, but I see you everyday, Commander, unlike Sir Loyset."

"You better behave yourself. I don’t want my vice-commander to be beaten up."

"I-I will," he said and mumbled, "Why would he beat me?"

Slayer closed the door of his room, but his voice could be heard from the other side. "I see you giving him reasons to do so."

"Hmm?" Azer felt confused, but in the end, he was too tired to think and went straight to his room.

That evening, Arlan leisurely invited Drayce and Yorian to drink in the lakeside gazebo at the rear of the mansion. Rather than talking about politics or affairs of the kingdom, the three men chatted about things that piqued Arlan’s curiosity.

Supernatural beings, goddesses, and myths of old...

And at the center of this intrigue was Drayce’s wife, Seren.

Arlan could not help but find it funny, how much his battle-obsessed friend had changed in a span of months since meeting this purple-eyed woman.

After talking about Drayce’s matters, the young king had to leave for a while to attend to his wife. Arlan and the elf Yorian, were left alone inside the gazebo while enjoying the drinks

"...So Prince Arlan, from what I understand, you have never tried wielding your power?" Yorian asked, as the two enjoyed the fragrant local liquor in front of them.

"There was no need to use it. It is enough to deal with human problems the human way, you know?" the Prince casually replied, while holding that small cup of wine in his hand, which he emptied down his throat with relish.

The elf raised a brow. "So you never use it?"

"Sometimes, I guess, when there is a necessity for me to cross a long distance—"

Yorian grumbled as he too downed his drink. "Then don’t say you don’t use it..."

"I don’t use it against humans, that’s what I am referring to." Arlan smirked as he looked straight into Yorian’s eyes. "Going to meet a far away friend and being spotted by an ancient elf does not count."

Arlan had recently gone to visit Drayce and for that he used his powers to reach there quickly as it was something urgent about his dear friend.

Yorian let out a playful grin, understanding that Arlan must have also spotted him in his most recent visit to Megaris. "Sharp sight, I must say."

"Not quite, just enough for that spell of deceit around your cottage to not stop it," Arlan countered. "But, I must say, I liked your pets. Do they have pups?"

"Both of them are males, and even if I give you newborns, it’s hard to raise them into spiritual creatures with intelligence," the elf boasted.

"Is that so? I should visit them once. Who knows they might want to change masters, hmm?"

"Animals are more loyal than any other creatures, Prince Arlan, but yes, you can try your luck."

As they exchanged light banters, Drayce returned to the gazebo and the two men looked at him with easygoing expressions. Arlan poured liquor into Drayce’s cup, and the young king did not hesitate to drink it in one gulp.

They resumed their talk. Arlan leisurely observed the serene surroundings, idly thinking about how the moonlight reflecting on the pond water sets the mood. It somehow reminded him of someone but he shook his head. He needed to divert his mood.

"What else do we have to talk about?" Arlan asked.

"Black Witch," Drayce answered.

"Isn’t she in Thevailes at the moment? What about her?"

"It’s not that old Black Witch but another one, a young one at that," Drayce explained.

"Young one? Where did you come across her?"

Arlan felt it was kind of funny how Megaris seemed to be teeming with supernatural beings, while he had not even seen a single one in Griven lately. "Is she a spy sent by that Black Witch who abducted your wife...?"

"Zaria Lynx, her name is Zaria Lynx," Yorian intervened. "Using her name will make it easy to know who you are talking about."

"Well, I don’t wish to but it seems like I need to," Arlan said. "So, what about this other young Black Witch? Where did you catch her?"

"In Port Hope of Azures Island. I came across her by chance and I followed her after sensing her powers, but I could not catch her."

"Oh? A mere witch managed to escape from the clutches of a mighty Dragon?" Arlan said in amusement, a devilish smirk hanging on his lips. "What an interesting Black Witch. Seems like I need to find her and reward her."