As the beast kin group departed the audience chamber Alex relaxed and reverted to the normal Alex everyone was used to, he glanced over at Kayla, "Sorry for interrupting your fight, I was kind of ticked off", he grinned.
"No problem", Kayla smiled back, "it was just beating down some scum plus it means you pissed off the king not me", she joked.
Alex snorted, "If his son acts like this I don't hold much hope for the king".
The Queen chimed in from her throne, "Don't underestimate the beast kin's king, he is not only one their best warriors he is also quite shrewd, sadly he is also quite the womanizer and has a lot of women in his harem and a lot of children as a by product so he pays little attention to many of them letting get away with things you just saw", "Oh and good morning nephew".
"Good morning Aunty, did you enjoy the show?", he grinned at her.
"Passable I guess, would have been better if you were topless" the Queen grinned back.
They all laughed finally relieving the tension in the room.
It was at that moment Alex hunger hit him and his stomach growled loudly eliciting another round of laughter while Alex looked somewhat abashed.
"I guess I should get some food in me" Alex chuckled.
Vale who's swelling was already receding thanks to Lily's salve grabbed his arm and started dragging him out, "let's go make you some food then".
Anna, Lily and Kayla followed after them, even the Queen started getting up until a hand clamped down on her shoulder, she looked up to see her new aides serious look, "Where does your Majesty think she is going?".
"The Queen looked up at her aide "With nephew?".
The aide shook her head, "You can play with Lord Alex later you still have two more audiences before lunch".
"Boo"
Alex and the girls headed to the kitchen, as they walked Alex asked how long he had been asleep from, he was somewhat surprised to find he had been out for two days, they had been worried until the guardian dragons had come to check on him and said he was fine and to let him sleep.
"Two days huh, that would explain why I'm so hungry", Alex grinned.
They entered the kitchen area, it was only shortly after breakfast and a number of hours before lunch so the place was empty, the girls sat down Alex at a nearby table and quickly prepared him a simple meal. Alex just sat there as he watched the girls bustle around in the kitchen a sense of warmth in his heart at the scene as he imagined this but in their own place with kids playing. The girls walked over with the food.
Seeing Alex seemed to be thinking something Kayla quipped, "Penny for your thoughts".
"I was just thinking about the future", Alex said a warm smile on his face as he looked at them all.
"What about it were you thinking?", asked Vale curious what had caused such a look of pure love and warmth from him.
"The future I hope to have with all of you".
The girls all blushed, as Alex tucked into his food, "Mmm this is good, I didn't know you all could cook".
"Maybe in the future you can cook us some food" said Anna.
Kayla burst out laughing while Alex looked somewhat abashed, "I wouldn't eat anything Alex cooked that's if the kitchen didn't just explode, our Alex maybe good in a lot of things but cooking is not one of them, even the simplest things end up a disaster".
The girls all giggled at this small revelation. Alex refrained from make comment as Kayla was quite right at his apparent inability to cook anything no matter how hard he tried.
After eating they headed to one of the studies and started to discuss their plans. Vale wanted to start some combat training, Lily and Anna wanted to study under the guardian dragons and Kayla wanted to unlock her mana so I could teach her internal magic.
"Sounds good, well Kayla could you start Vale training while I source an affinity tester, Anna and Lily can study with the guardian dragons" said Alex.
"Why don't you just head to the adventurer guild for the affinity tester?", asked Kayla.
"I'm such an idiot I didn't even think that there would even be a guild here, I should have remembered every country has at least one guild building". Alex facepalmed at his own stupidity.
Kayla smirked at him then kissed him on the cheek, "Its ok dear we still love you".
"Ok then a trip out to the adventurer's guild for me and Vale at least, anyone else want to come", all the girls wanted to come in the end. Luckily the guild wasn't too far from the palace so they just chose to walk there rather than take a carriage.
Meanwhile in the beast kin quarters.
The leader of the group sighed at the mess the idiotic prince had generated for him, he was under orders to invite Alex to visit the beast clans from the king himself. The king had heard of Alex from Lady Melliandra when she returned to the beast tribes a few months ago, it hadn't taken long to put together that it was the self-same Alex they had heard of from Valent who was called Spellblade and Bladedancer, Lady Melliandra had told the king that when she last saw him 5 years ago he couldn't match up to her on a purely physical level but when he combined his magics with his martial prowess he became a true opponent. She had no idea how much better he had become in years she hadn't seen him but seemed quite eager to see her student again. Thus the king had sent him to invite Alex hearing that he was heading to the elven kingdom from their contacts.
He heard a groan coming from the nearby room, looks like the idiot prince is up he thought to himself, a figure stumbled into the doorway clutching his side and his face still badly swollen from its impact with the ground.
"Ugh what hit me", he mumbled.
"Alex is what hit you", snorted the leader.
"That bastard, I'll kill him", he growled then winced in pain.
The leader snapped "Is your brain made of dirt, he was the undefeated champion of the Valent arena, from our sources he also fought in four underground deathmatches with the last one being so gruesome that no one dared challenge him again plus he only needed two blows to knock you unconscious and you're going to kill him?" he was practically roaring at the end.
"You know what he said after I informed him you were a prince of the beast tribes he said he didn't care who your father was if you tried anything he would kill you if you tried anything", he snapped at the prince.
"Now get your ass back into the bed and heal, if you try anything at all I will tie you up myself so grow the hell up and stop acting like a spoiled child".
The prince just stared at the man unable to say anything in the face of the tirade. He simply nodded, and returned to the room, he had a lot to think about.
The adventurer guild.
Alex and the girls arrived in front of the guild after a about an hour walk from the palace, during the trip people were looking at Alex with looks mixed with awe, reverence and fear. It made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
What's with all the looks I'm getting, normally it's you girls getting started at", he asked the them.
Vale responded, "You're somewhat famous now Alex, the man who set fire to the sky and the saviour of the elven kingdom are the two most common ways of referring to you.
Alex looked somewhat embarrassed with this news, then shrugged choosing not to worry over something he had no control over. They entered the guild.
Inside was close to a replica of the one in Valent, but it was much quieter only three people around at all, an adventurer looking at the job board a man behind the bar and a clerk.
Alex's group walked up to the counter and greeted the clerk.
"What can I help you with sir" inquired the clerk.
"I would like to make use of the guild facilities if that isn't a problem Alex pulled out his ID and activated it for the clerk to see".
The clerk maintained a professional appearance even in the face of a class A adventurer, "Certainly sir what do you need".
"I need to do a few affinity measurements if that isn't too much trouble?", replied Alex
"Not a problem, please follow me and I'll show you the way", the clerk led them out back to a room containing an affinity tester, "Once your done sir feel free to ask for anything else".
Alex gave his thanks as the clerk left the room, turning to Vale, "You're up first Vale just place your hand on the orb and let it do its thing, you will feel a pinch just ignore it".
Vale did as she was told and felt something pinch her hand but she ignored it as Alex advised, Alex checked the readouts and noted down the info for Vale.
Valeanaria
Race: Elf
Age: 17
Mana capacity: Moderate tier Lower bracket.
Elemental affinities:
Water Moderate
Earth Moderate
Fire none
Wind none
Space none
Lightning none
Draconic none
"Looks like we might want to make you a mage Vale, you have two moderate affinities and a decent amount of mana", Alex smiled at her.
Vale smiled at him, "I still want some combat training, but knowing this then yes learning magic will be more productive".
"Ok settled then, my turn"
Lily looked at him curiously, "Why are you testing Alex?".
Alex winked at her, "Hopefully you will see in a minute, if you would do the honours and record the results Lily".
Alex placed his hand on the orb and let it do its thing again.
Alex
Race: Human/Elven (Dragon)
Age: 17
Mana capacity: High tier Lower bracket.
Elemental affinities:
Water Low
Earth Low
Fire Master
Wind Master
Space Moderate
Lightning Low
Draconic Low
Lily looked at the results in stunned silence before showing it to others, they all turned their eyes to Alex who gave them all a cheeky grin, "Not done yet", and he changed into his demi dragon form, and placed his hand on the orb again.
Lily again noted the results
Alex
Race: Dragon (Human/Elven mix)
Age: 17
Mana capacity: High tier Lower bracket.
Elemental affinities:
Water Low
Earth Low
Fire Master
Wind Master
Space Moderate
Lightning Low
Draconic High