*Slash* *Slash* *Stab*
"Huff! Huff! Your Highness, be careful."
"Hmph! Move aside."
And with a strong and prepared strike, the [Searing Smite] spell covered the elegant longsword as a young man horizontally struck through the centipede.
His swordsmanship was elegant, accurate, and extremely precise. A marvel in its own way as the Level 5 holder of the Blade Technique retraced back his movement as if going back in time to the position he took before landing the strike.
"Incredible work, Your Highness!"
And as always, he was showered with compliments, ones that he didn't care to appreciate even.
"That's the last of them, I assume. The rest will be handled by the mercenaries." Said the Royal Knight overseeing the Prince.
"Don't bother me again with such things or I will take your tongue." The Prince said in a cold tone and walked away from the fight.
"I am ashamed, your Highness. This shall never happen again." The Knight said as he bowed.
Prince Edward, one of the most talented if not the most talented students in the first year, was invited by the Knights to sort out the Red-eye Centipede issue. Due to that, they had to drag him out of his daily philandering routine.
In truth, the Prince was already past level 10 some time ago but he came along because all the girls he spends his time with have to come and try to break the bottleneck if possible.
It is a bit irritating but for those girls, he will do anything especially when they are standing behind them to watch.
"That was amazing, your Highness."
"It was cool."
"I am all fired up."
"Kyaaa~ I want to do more hunting too now."
Respectively; Justina Tenny, Rowena Vaughn, Andrea Bond, and Fawn Lowe were all cheering for him ahead of many other girls. If Leon was to see this scene, he'd recognize the four girls as the default matchup from his game settings since their stats fit with the Prince rather well. The first boosts his Magic and Speed, the second constantly heals him slowly but indefinitely, the third keeps the two safe and sometimes take the Prince's place in combat when he needs rest, and the last charges a ridiculous amount of Magic with some time to make one big AOE attack that makes everyone's job rather easy.
The Prince shook off the pursuit of the knights following him around and told them off in a strong language and an annoyed face before he looked towards the girls who walked to him along with many members of his fan base.
The way he treated men was direct, cruel, and cold but this Prince knew how to handle ladies. It has always been this easy thanks to his position, of course, but he likes to take things his way by proving he is more than just a privileged Prince.
He speaks with those ladies, lets away their slip-ups, helps them around on rather personal and intimate levels all before smoothly telling them to meet him alone under the starry heaven. He then proceeds to give them the best night of their lives in order to assert his masculinity and mark them as his females.
That's right, no matter how degrading it may feel, the Prince acts as the leader of a pack where he has to be the alpha male dominate the rest of the males by casting them out, taking their girlfriends or fiancées.
Simply the same as a Beast.
He enjoyed this kind of life staying on top unrivaled and always victorious. In terms of skill and ability, levels do not restrain him anymore as he's already on par with the Royal Knights who are around level 30. He worked mainly on raising his stats rather than just focusing on treasures and premium goods like the rich kids which was a thing to give the Prince justice in.
Still, he and most other students and knights were carrying these large devices on their backs which were strapped to them firmly. The item which the student carried was in some sort of T shaped artifact with the horizontal part of the T going in line with their shoulders and the vertical part in line with their spines. The version the knights wore was seemingly larger and had a lot of mass to it but it was very well hidden behind their capes.
Still, not all Knights had these things leaving it as mostly used by the Royal Knights.
"Your Highness, you could have really left some for us to level up with." Said one of the girls that flocked up to him.
He smiled warmly and teased her by touching her chin without replying.
"This is rather strange. Why would these kinds of monsters be around the outskirts so bluntly? I thought only Humanoid monsters can sneak out of the Pillars." A different girl said.
"You think so too? Can it be that one of them stopped working?" Another speculated.
"Hmph! Do you think such a thing is possible? Are you mocking the Holy Light?" The one who mentioned the pillars first replied with a cunning look on her face.
"What? How could you…"
"Ladies… you are troubling his Highness."
Yet as the two started quarreling, a girl walked to the crowd and spoke to the girls with an overbearing yet subtle smile. Many of the girls immediately reacted to her presence and between dejectedness and annoyance, they wanted to just bury her here and now.
"Nora, glad you are joining us." Prince Edward called out cheerfully
The sight of him putting his arms around the backs of the two girls following him around then retracted them just for Nora was infuriating both the female and male students around. To the boys, this is the ultimate harem the Prince made which they can't interact with any of its members else they will conjure the glares of the Prince to those who dare touch a piece of his collection. To the girls, Nora was the last piece of this collection and she has been on display for almost half a month now longer than most of the girls.
Envy and Jealousy surrounded both Prince Edward and Nora Frye, he is the womanizer prince and she is the one who started to go out with him right after her alleged boyfriend was beaten. Still, it will be sooner on later when she joins the rest of the collection and remains a trophy in a line of many girls whose purpose is to keep the Prince entertained and sexually content.
The implications of the patriarchal society in Amber weren't even that bad and the legal number of wives allowed is 1 according to both State and Faith but a nobleman can take as many concubines, mistresses, and lovers as he likes. The marriage age starts from 15 as the tradition but the Academy Students should not be married as the academic policies go.
Fun fact, none of the girls were threatened by Nora Frye securing the position of Princess Consort as it is already filled. Princess Consort Kate Walsh, the star that should have risen if not for a certain Prince jamming his man-part in everything that looks like a half tangerine.
Tired of the unending carelessness, the young maiden looked away from the crowd she chose not to mingle with, and at an instant when no one was paying attention to her, Kate Walsh walked towards the direction of the supposed Pillar. Everyone knows this kind of pillar is put in a place where the sun can reach and so, she activated the device on her back and kicked the ground to move silently through the air unhindered.
From the edge of her vision, Nora Frye spotted Kate leap away and with a slight puzzlement, she decided it is no longer time to dwell here much longer.
"Your Highness, I think the Mercenaries were summoned to clear the rest of the monster. They said that the Hall Master himself is on the mission." She said as the convoy of girls returned back to the academy camp.
"I have no interest in Mercenaries." The Prince replied uncomfortably trying to divert the subject.
"Is that so?" Nora clapped her hands, "But I think the headmistress has excused herself earlier to go watch the Mercenaries taking care of the centipedes. I think a professional monster hunter will be an excellent experience for our classmates to watch."
"I don't really…"
"Isn't that right, everyone?"
And exactly when the Prince tried to stay clear of it. Nora involved public opinion instantly.
Who wouldn't want to go watch the Mercenaries fight the monsters? Of course those aristocrat kids looked down on Mercenaries because even as kids, they have better upbringing thus higher individual power but the Mercenaries are still more active than knights for a reason. They simply have a solution for everything and accumulate a lot of experience in the field.
The voices of approval started rising as the Prince found himself cornered by the cunning Nora. He pushed his light blonde hair behind and took a deep breath before shrugging his shoulders.
"Alright, let's go see the Mercenaries."