After standing there in silence for a moment, Elias made his way back over to Felix, grabbed a plate, and piled on some food.
He still couldn’t wrap his head around why the two girls had done something like that, especially with how red their faces had gotten.
It made him think they were probably furious with him about something.
Elysia was still the lesser evil out of the two, at least she’d only kissed him, pressing her lips there with maybe a bit of suction involved.
At least she hadn’t gone and bitten him like Evelyn did.
“I’ve got a question. About what I just went through back there. I have no clue what they were actually doing, but I was genuinely terrified for a second. I thought that might’ve been the last time I ever saw you. Thank god today wasn’t my death day. Anyway, you got any theories on what they’re actually after?”
Hearing Elias suddenly rambling on beside him, Felix swallowed his food and turned to look at him with a bored expression.
“Sorry, who are you?”
“Oh, come on… Don’t start that again!”
“I already forgot the name of a certain traitor. Or maybe you’ve got me confused with someone else? Or maybe you’re just lonely. Ah, in that case, don’t bother venting to me, it’s pointless anyway since I’ll just forget it right away.”
“W-what? Felix. Are you seriously mad at me?”
“Hmph! I’m not mad.”
Watching Felix turn his face away while puffing out his cheeks, Elias suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit him.
‘Is he tsundere or something?
Gross!’
“Good grief, you’re still stuck on that! Didn’t you see what just happened over there? Even though I went along with everything they wanted, they still tried to kill me! What do you think would’ve happened if I hadn’t gone along with it? Honestly, it’s basically the same thing as just delaying my own death sentence, you know.”
Felix set his plate down and picked up his glass of something to drink, taking a sip.
*SIGH~
“Elias… I honestly can’t tell if you’re just dumb, or some brand-new model of dumb we haven’t even seen before.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Felix clearly knew exactly what those two girls had been up to.
He’d actually been watching them the whole time Elias was busy pouring his heart out at full volume earlier.
Besides, anyone with eyes could’ve figured out what the two of them were really doing.
As far as Felix was concerned, Elias was just an idiot so terrified of dying that he’d completely lost sight of everything else going on around him.
“Why are you just standing there? Spit it out already if you know something.”
‘Tsk…
If he actually showed some sign of realizing his mistake, maybe I’d tell him.
But you know what, I think I’ll just let this guy die of curiosity instead.’
“Get out of here and die, traitor.”
* * *
Some time later, the first day of the party finally wrapped up, and all the guests were free to either stay in the rooms Marquis Aurelle had prepared or head into the city and book a room at an inn.
Throwing a three-day party back to back was typically the kind of thing reserved for people at the very top, the emperor or thereabouts.
So the fact that Marquis Aurelle had the guts to run a celebration on this scale?
‘This guy’s clearly loaded.’
Once Elias made sure both girls were safely settled in their room, he headed off alone to the training field in the middle of the night.
A blue screen popped up in front of his face.
[Quest]
Attend Lady Seraphina Aurelle’s Coming-of-Age Party (1/3) This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Reward: 500 Exp, 10 Grade C mana stones, Complete Manual on Using Arcana
“Arcana, huh? Honestly, that just makes things harder for me. I’ve got Arcana, and I can turn Mana into Arcana just fine. I just can’t actually shape it into anything. Then again, I was able to channel Arcana into my legs and sword before. Was that just a fluke?”
Right as he sat there mulling over the whole Arcana question, a thought suddenly crossed his mind, that he could trigger an explosion using Arcana, and out of nowhere, an explosion actually went off right in front of him.
*BOOM!
“Wow… Am I a genius? All I had to do was think it and I could actually make it happen?”
The sound of footsteps suddenly approached from behind him, accompanied by a woman’s laughter.
“Goodness. My stomach actually hurts from hearing you call yourself a genius.”
When Elias turned around, it turned out to be Seraphina, walking toward him while wiping tears from her eyes.
“Greetings, my Lady. It’s pretty late, why are you out here? Did the sound of my explosion startle you?”
“Pftt… Bwahaha! Oh my god, please stop talking, I’m going to die laughing! Hahaha!”
Elias never would’ve guessed that someone as graceful as her had this kind of goofy side hiding underneath.
But why was she showing it off to him of all people?
All he could do was scratch his cheek, a confused expression plastered on his face.
‘And why is she laughing so hard?’
“S-sorry. It’s been a while since I laughed like that.”
“No worries, my Lady. I’m glad you got to laugh so hard. But… why exactly? Was something funny?”
“It’s because you actually think you’re a genius. I mean, I don’t really care about that part, but the bit where you said you just thought about it and made it happen— Pftt! Sorry.”
“Eh? So that explosion wasn’t me?”
“Nope.”
“Then who was it?”
“That’d be me. The gorgeous, graceful Lady Seraphina~”
Elias genuinely wanted to dig himself a hole and bury himself alive, completely cut off from the rest of the world, out of sheer embarrassment.
“Sorry for laughing at you like that. What are you doing out here anyway?”
“I’m practicing with Arcana, but I honestly don’t understand it at all.”
“Hoo~ where’d you even learn about Arcana?”
“I’ve never actually studied it, but I’ve used it before. I always use Arcana to make my body lighter, honestly.”
“Well, that’s not wrong exactly. But if you’ve never studied it, how’d you manage to use it just now?”
“Like I said before, though please don’t make me repeat it, it’s embarrassing. I just tried to picture the shape I wanted.”
Seraphina rested a hand on her chin, circling Elias and studying him closely before finally stopping in front of him and speaking.
“But… you’ve clearly used Arcana before. Not just Arcana inside your body, I mean actually using it for something else. Tell me, how’d you use it back then?”
“I only used it to wrap around my legs to boost my speed. Then I channeled it into my sword to land an attack on Lady Elysia.”
“W-what?! Why would you attack Elysia?! Are you insane?!”
“I-it was just training! Purely training!”
“Ah, is that so? So who won?”
“At first I was completely cornered, couldn’t land a single hit. Every opening I got, it either got blocked or missed completely. But on that last attack, I actually should’ve landed a hit on Lady Elysia, except for some reason Lady Evelyn jumped straight into the fight and stopped my sword without breaking a sweat.”
“Good lord… If it took Evelyn actually stepping in, that’s serious business. Were you trying to kill her or something?”
“I wouldn’t dare! Besides, I’m pretty sure that attack couldn’t have seriously hurt Lady Elysia anyway.”
‘Honestly, it’d be way better if I could just wipe out every threat around me.
But sadly I don’t have the power for that, so what am I supposed to do about it?
“Before that, I want to ask you something. Can you actually use mana?”
“I’ve got some knowledge about mana and magic from this book here.”
Elias pulled out the book one of the villagers from Valebrook had given him from his storage pouch and handed it over to Seraphina.
The moment Seraphina took the book and started flipping through it, her eyes went wide with shock.
“Where did you get this book?”
“That’s from one of the cleaning ladies in my village. Why, is something wrong?”
“This book is incredible. There are tons of methods here for using magic and releasing mana that prioritize efficiency over the usual process. What’s this person’s name?”
“Ah… I actually call her Auntie Centipede, since she’s got a centipede tattoo.”
“Centipede… Tattoo… Valebrook Village…”
Seraphina’s brow furrowed like she was trying to dig up some important memory, though it wasn’t quite coming into focus.
Honestly, Elias himself had no real idea where the people of Valebrook Village had actually come from.
Starting with the uncles who guarded the place and hunted up in the mountains all the time, they came across to Elias as basically barbarians.
Then there was Auntie Potato, who loved gardening and had this gentle disposition toward everything and everyone, always offering up some kind of blessing or prayer for whatever came her way.
Then Uncle Randolf, who supposedly used to be an imperial knight.
Elias never asked exactly what rank he’d held, but judging by his sheer strength, he was pretty sure the guy had been a lot more than just an ordinary imperial knight.
Then there was Auntie Centipede, who loved locking herself away for days on end just to study poison from bugs and animals.
And she wasn’t just skilled with poison either, she was seriously talented with magic too.
Elias had even studied magic under her a few times before, though the price tag was never exactly cheap.
‘I really should try every single one of her poisons someday.’
And last but not least was the village chief himself.
These days he looked like some frail old man who could get sent flying just by stomping his foot, but for some reason, whenever Elias found himself face to face with him, he felt fear and a strange sense of safety hit him at the exact same time, enough to leave him short of breath every now and then.
Like he could either die or live depending entirely on what he chose to do next.
‘What exactly is Valebrook Village, anyway.
And who are all these people?’
“Alright, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll teach you a few things about Arcana. But don’t go thinking I’m some kind of expert.”
“Eh, really? I can do that?”
“Hmm… How about you lend me this book for two days?”
Hearing that, Elias’s brow furrowed slightly as he thought to himself that if someone like Seraphina was this interested in his book, there had to be something genuinely special hidden inside it.
“Alright. But on one condition, don’t tell anyone what’s in that book. Not even if the Marquis and Marquise ask.”
“Hmm… Okay. I promise.”
“That puts my mind at ease, then.”
‘I don’t know for sure, but I really don’t want this turning into trouble for the villagers.
If someone from outside the village gets too interested in one of them, that’s not necessarily going to end well!’
A moment later, Seraphina tucked the book away into her storage ring before her palm began glowing with a massive surge of green energy.
The energy gathering there was so intense the air around them started to ripple.
“Alright then, let’s get started.”