The mont the words left his mouth, his eyes widened in fear. He hadn’t ant to say that out loud!
"...What did you say?" Elion asked slowly.
Alexander panicked instantly.
"Nothing!" he tried to say quickly.
Too late. Elion already had him trapped under his arm. A few solid punches landed on the prince’s head in quick succession.
"Ah—! Stop!"
Elion only stopped once he was satisfied, and the exchange earned a chi of giggles from Isla.
Alexander could only bla himself for being reckless. Still rubbing his head, he decided to continue anyway since the damage had already been done.
"Not every ruler is as magnanimous as my father," he warned quietly and stopped talking entirely. He didn’t want to shoot himself in the foot any more than he already had.
Of course, Elion understood what he ant. He had only been joking after all.
"How many of them are there anyway?" Elion decided to ask.
Each of the entourages had arrived earlier that day, though Elion hadn’t really bothered joining the welcoming party.
Alexander thought for a mont before replying.
"Including my father, there should be four.
"However, I noticed the dwarven ruler didn’t make it."
His expression turned slightly thoughtful.
"Either he’s still on his way, sothing happened... or he isn’t coming at all."
He continued walking as he spoke.
"The vampire monarch, Noctis Chronos, and Miss Fenrir, leader of the collective beastn clans, are the pair who managed to arrive, along with their escorts."
Elion nodded lightly. The nas checked out. Alexander’s eyes sharpened slightly.
"Either way," he said quietly, "it looks like things are wrapping up soon."
Elion glanced at the prince’s side profile.
He looked... oddly serious.
’The war must have been weighing on his mind to so extent.’
Elion could understand that much. What he didn’t understand was whether there was sothing deeper behind it.
Sure, there were the obvious reasons: the loss of life, the destruction, and the pressure of being royalty during warti. But sothing about Alexander’s expression made it feel more personal than that.
Elion stayed silent for a mont as they continued walking through the halls.
He had also heard stories over the days about demons appearing far away from the battlefield itself in scattered groups with the aim of bringing ruin to isolated places, villages on the outskirts, and small settlents. Mostly places with no real protection.
Apparently, no one knew how they managed to make it to these places without being spotted imdiately.
They would raid, kill, rape, and massacre entire communities. It was tragic. Elion paused internally.
’Wait... Now that I think about it...’
The old man had once told him that Resden, the village he ca from, had once suffered one of those attacks centuries ago.
According to the stories passed down through generations, the village had briefly fallen under demonic control during one particularly brutal incident.
Of course, Elion had no idea how accurate any of it really was. History passed down through word of mouth had a tendency to beco distorted over ti.
The thought lingered quietly in his mind as they stopped before a heavily guarded room.
"Guarded" wasn’t exactly the right word. It looked more like these people were waiting.
All of them stood silently outside the ornate doors before them, no doubt escorts belonging to whoever was currently inside.
Elion’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Vampires stood on one side, beastn on the other. Alongside them were a pair of armoured palace guards stationed near the entrance.
What all of them shared in common was the suffocating pressure radiating from their bodies.
’I can’t even trust Discerning Eye here...’ Elion thought inwardly.
As curious as he was, there was a reason people said curiosity killed the cat. Though admittedly, part of him wondered if they might simply kowtow and let him off once they learned he was a hero.
’...Not taking my chances though.’
Elion already had a decent enough gauge for strength even without actively using any skills.
And from what he could tell, every single person standing here had to be at least an Arch mage, perhaps with one or two Grand Mages among them.
Among them, however, there were two presences that stood out far more than the others.
That vampire woman was standing calmly with her eyes closed, and the wolfkin man who was beside the beastn delegation.
The pressure both of them emitted far surpassed even so Grand Mages that Elion had encountered before.
It was strange, though. The blatant display of power. People at that level should have been perfectly capable of concealing their presence if they wished, especially while visiting an allied nation.
But judging from the way one of the beastn was glaring daggers at a vampire who completely ignored his hostility, the two parties clearly didn’t think very highly of each other, but since none of them seed willing to address it, then it had to be fine.
"Your Highness."
The pair of palace guards bowed lightly as Alexander approached.
The vampires and beastn alike montarily stopped glaring at one another and acknowledged the prince’s arrival. It seed none of them were foolish enough to disregard the undisputed future king of Veloria.
After all, no one wanted to earn the resentnt of a future monarch. But they didn’t go overboard with it either. They settled for simple greetings and brief inquiries about his health. That was enough.
To Elion’s surprise, Isla received the sa level of respect.
’...Maybe they really are trying to curry favour with Alexander,’ he thought.
When his turn inevitably ca, all he received were simple nods and nothing more. Not that he minded, he returned the sa energy he received.
He had expected Alexander to at least introduce him. But judging from the look the prince kept giving him, perhaps Alexander expected him to introduce himself instead.
Alexander subtly motioned toward the two groups with a tilt of his head. Elion simply shrugged. His aning was obvious.
’If you’re not going to do it, neither am I.’
Alexander sighed quietly in defeat before shrugging as well.
"We are ready to head inside," he told the armoured guards.
"Of course, your highness."
The guards nodded, briefly taking out so sort of communication device before speaking quietly into it. A mont later, they nodded again and motioned for the doors to be opened.
Alexander stepped forward, with Elion and Isla following closely behind.
However, they were imdiately interrupted.
"Excuse my forwardness, Prince Alexander."
The voice ca from the curvy vampire woman who had previously been standing with her eyes closed. Now, those crimson eyes were fixed directly on Elion with visible wariness.
"But who is this plebeian?"
Elion raised a brow slightly.
The woman looked like the youngest mber of her delegation, so perhaps her youthful appearance had betrayed the calm and composed impression she initially gave off.
From her perspective, Elion’s appearance truly didn’t look befitting of soone important. He looked completely unbothered with his hands in his pockets, and hair slightly ssy and unkempt, having grown longer recently.
Nothing about him scread power or status.
The woman continued calmly,
"You can understand my concerns. It would be incompetent of and my companions to allow an unknown variable near our monarch without understanding at least that much."
Alexander nodded lightly.
"I understand."
His tone remained perfectly even.
"It is my fault for not making proper introductions sooner. I assud the news would have already reached you by now."
He paused before adding calmly.
"Apparently not."
The vampire woman’s brow twitched faintly. If she was offended by the disrespectful comnt, she didn’t show it.
But Elion couldn’t help but inwardly approve of Alexander’s response.
The prince had subtly shifted part of the bla away from himself and redirected it toward her lack of information without openly insulting her.
’...Perhaps he only suffers under my hand,’ Elion thought with amusent.
He had already noticed how composed and overbearing Alexander beca whenever politics or diplomacy were involved.
The boy truly was a capable heir for lroy.
’Definitely an upgrade from the old man.’
Elion briefly recalled the boisterous king’s personality and nearly snorted. Once Alexander made his point clear enough, he finally gestured toward Elion.
"This here is the Fourth Hero, Elion Nova."
Elion felt every gaze shift toward him. So it seed he wasn’t as ignorable as they initially thought after all.
"I see you are as ignorant as always, Morgana."
One of the beastn imdiately took the chance to throw a snarky remark toward the vampire woman. Unfortunately for him, she ignored him completely once again.
"Tch."
The beastman clicked his tongue in annoyance, though one of his companions quickly urged him to calm down. After that, the delegations greeted Elion properly.
Clearly, they had already heard of his feats on the battlefield. Any assumptions based on his plain appearance had imdiately gone out the window.
After all, they had all learned not to judge strength by appearance alone firsthand just now. With that done, it was finally ti to enter.
The massive doors creaked open slowly.
The guards announced them loudly.
"Crown Prince Alexander Starhaven!"
"Princess Isla Starhaven!"
"And finally.... The Hero, Sir Elion!"
Alexander stepped inside first. Isla and Elion followed side by side behind him.
To Elion’s shock, the sight that greeted him was sothing he absolutely had not expected.
’...This is the council chamber?’
Why did it look like an indoor garden?
Flowers, greenery, and small trees. Natural light spilling across polished stone pathways. And more importantly, why did it look like the six or so people inside were casually having a tea party?
For a mont, Elion’s brain genuinely failed to process the scene before him. However, that confusion vanished almost instantly.
Because the mont his eyes landed on the gathered figures, he froze slightly.
’...Is this heaven?’
It was a lineup of so of the most beautiful won he had ever seen!
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