As Grey predicted, just before his appetizer came, the waiter at the front called out loud for all to hear.
"Here comes the royal princess, Aurora Novis."
At his words, every restaurant-goer clapped an applause so thunderous Grey thought he might lose his hearing.
'Man, they love their princess.'
The waiter guided Aurora and her guard through the web of tables and elves, stopping before Grey who had his head down, trying to stay hidden.
He heard the scraping of a chair, and then the scrolling of a menu.
"Hello, Grey." A voice sounded.
"Hello, Aurora." He responded. His cover was blown. Not that there was much in the first place.
He looked up, only to be stunned by her appearance.
She wore a regular dress made of black fabric, one that clung to her body. There were no intricate designs, but they weren't needed. The dress matched her hair, and following the same pattern, ended with a deep green. It ruffled out at the bottom and, had he looked, Grey would have seen matching high heels.
He took a look at her for a moment longer than he would have liked to admit, something that caused Fallen Star to chuckle, but he easily regained composure.
'For once, the demon side's come in clutch.' He thought.
The guard by Aurora's side, another elf wearing full plate armor, coughed intentionally, warning Grey. At the sound, he remembered his manners.
"May I ask what brings you here tonight, princess?" He joked.
He received no response, however, so he spoke normally.
"How are you, Aurora?"
"I'm doing fine, Grey. How are you?"
"I'm good too, thanks for asking."
"Alright then, onto the important part. What are you doing here?" She asked, pressing the matter quite intently, letting go of her public Ice Queen image... slightly.
"Well, I received intel from a... reliable source, saying that I had to solve a problem you would be facing. Because of that, I flew over here, dealing with a terrorist on the way, and then decided to sightsee. I only learned you'd come here a few minutes ago." He knew that nothing more than the truth would work, as Aurora seemed to possess an uncanny intuition.
- Probably political schemes, who knows? -
"I see. Whoever your source is must want you to win the Royal Duels." Aurora stated calmly, although underneath, she was greatly intrigued by the source who was able to convince Grey, and by the fact that he came for her.
"Yes, I do. So, when I end it, I only ask that you deny the engagement for whatever reason." He spoke in the same tone as the one he used to describe his journey here; a flat one.
His words stung at Aurora, for some reason, maybe pride, but she relented easily. She had no reason to hold onto him, she was only interested in his mysteries, not him. She also didn't bother to ask the reason. He must have had a good one.
The guard, however, was shocked by his bold words. When her lady had suggested going to this restaurant, she thought nothing of it. When she met with a boy she knew, she was a little worried. However, after hearing that it was a coincidence, sort of, she felt relieved. Her relief skyrocketed hearing that he didn't want to be engaged to Aurora, but she too felt disrespected at that. Yet, she could look past it.
But mocking the elven talents, however, made her angry. This boy so casually disregarded the powerful elves that he had been birthed in the newest generation. She had to speak up.
"My lady, please take his words with a grain of salt. I'm sure that some of the better elven prodigies could easily put him in his place." Of course, the guard had no clue who he was. Besides your child's info, no one, not even the leaders of the Tri-Government had the right to see other student's data. Hence, the guard never learned who Grey was.
Aurora chuckled at her guard's words, not bothering to reprimand her. Grey's actions in the duels would be enough. She only gave a simple warning.
"Please, Anette, do not underestimate him. Even I would lose in a single turn."
Again, Anette was shocked. 'A single turn?'
A turn implied that they crossed weapons once, or fired one arrow, so to say that she would lose that quickly befuddled the guard.
"I see, my lady." She turned to Grey. "My apologies."
"No, don't worry." He waved off her worries, speaking to Aurora after. "Should we order?"
"We should. It would be terrible to stay here for too long. You have a long day ahead tomorrow, don't you?" She noted.
"It will cost a lot of Mana, yes." Grey uttered, ending the discussion.
They both skimmed the menu and called for the waiter.
The elf arrived in a heartbeat, panting upon arrival. It seemed that he did not want to disappoint the princess.
"I'll take the roasted prime ribs."
"I'll take the roasted prime ribs."
Hearing their choices, they turned to each other, surprised. However, the waiter took no notice of this, as he already left to tell the chef their order.
Soon enough, their food arrived, and they both dug in. The ribs were covered in sauce, each sporting its own flavor, and they fell apart in their mouths. It smelled amazing too, the smoky aroma of the meat wafting around the table.
Anette stood still, valiantly protecting her mark, however, even she soon succumbed to the smell. Aurora offered her some of her food and a chair, finding that the portion size was more than she could consume.
As they ate, Grey struggled.
- Oh man, this is so good! Grey, stop eating curry so much and eat more ribs. Oh my goodness. - Fallen Star wouldn't shut up. It was too deep into the flavor and texture of the meat in his memories to do anything else.
'Be quiet or I'll stop eating.' He threatened.
- Ahh, but you haven't even reached the hot sauce! - Fallen Star complained.
'...'
- Okay, I'll be quiet. - It relented.
The 3 finished their meal in record time, the only sounds as they ate were the chatter of other patrons.
They wiped their hands and left the establishment, ready to part ways.
Before they could, however, Anette asked the question on her mind.
"My apologies, my lady, Grey, but I have to ask. You mentioned that it would take a lot of Mana, but how much could you possibly have?"
Grey heard her question, and a smile bloomed on his face. He spoke the answer, enjoying the shock and horror on the faces of the 2 elves.
"I have..."
---
Grey sat on a bench in a small dark room, surrounded by barrels that contained an assortment of weapons.
Swords, axes, daggers, maces, polearms, bows, crossbows. Every weapon imaginable could be found in the barrels, even guns. Although much harder to use, because of Mana Infusion, they were still a viable, simple weapon in this day and age.
Grey, however, simply stared at them, not bothering to grab one. He planned to win as fast as possible and get back to training, so he would be using Magic.
'Ahh, what are the chants again?' Grey said, running quickly through his memory. Due to not needing High Elven, he didn't practice. However, his memory made the lack of practice null and void, meaning it had no impact on him.
'Whatever.'
Grey remained in the dark room, training. Just like before when he constantly practiced Mana Breathing, he was now constantly practicing Kim Jaehyun's Mana Breathing. It took a while to get used to, and the pain was there, but it was minuscule. The pain of making a Mana Body was much worse.
'I'm so glad that I made Mana Breathing the default. It's so much easier. Why doesn't anyone else do this?' He thought.
- Because you're the only one who can. - Fallen Star berated his bragging.
'Right, right. My bad.'
- Grey, you're getting cocky. -
'Ah crap, you're right. I was just thinking about how easy this would be and then got lost. Silly me.' Grey took a moment to calm himself and soon heard the voice of a man.
"ARE YOU READY LADIES AND GENTS, FOR THE ROYAL DUELS!? THIS TIME WE HAVE OVER 200 CONTESTANTS, ALL RARING TO GO!" The MC hyped up the crowd.
WHOOOO!
"IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE A STRONG CONTENDER FOR THE CROWN, THE SON OF DUKE BRIGHT, CARLIN BRIGHT! EVERYBODY GIVE HIM A CHEER!!"
The crowd went wild, what Grey understood was the cheer for the elf who was most likely leaving his room and entering the arena.
"AND IN THE RIGHT CORNER, AN UNKNOWN HUMAN CONTENDER. NOT MUCH IS KNOWN, SO LET'S SEE IF HE CAN GIVE US A GOOD SHOW! SAY YOUR CHEERS TO GREY HEART!!"
WHOOO!
The door before Grey swung open, revealing a short tunnel into the arena.
He stood up, rotating his shoulders in small circles, a smile on his face.
'What are my stats again, Fallen Star?'
Without responding, Fallen Star pulled up Grey's stats.
//
-- Grey Heart (Human, 17)
-- [STR] Strength: (SS) E+
-- [AGI] Agility: (SS) E+
-- [STA] Stamina: (SS) E+
-- [INT] Intelligence: (SSS) SS+
-- [CHA] Charm: (SS) A
-- Attribute: Light, Poison
-- [EFF] Efficiency: 33.7% (SSS-) C-
-- [CAP] Capacity: 18,487 (SSS-) C+
- Rank Calculated: (SS+) D (Anomalous [INT] and [CHA] taken into consideration)
- Brackets: Age group, No Brackets: Overall
-- Confirmed Kills: FWa-Bear x1, EWi-Tiger x1, DL-Bear x1
//