Raine's pov
This was supposed to be a house call between associates, how did it become the most embarrassing moment of my life. Like I said I had come to pay an official visit to see how no:3 was settling in I had also come to discuss the details of his inauguration and after being escorted in by one of his battle maids I took my seat in main parlor, I didn't know what to expect as I didn't really know the guy outside of official reports and when I sent people to investigate him no one from his place of work was willing to talk so I came here with apprehension and a little bit of excitement, but the moment he entered I had to stop myself from slicing his head off, he came in using "resonance" a technique where one fuses with their Arcanum to provide better movement and avoid blows, thanks to me he had to use it for both, my usual passive demeanor broke as I became a heap of apologies and ungraceful bows while he tried to pacify me
"and once again I sincerely apologise"
"and once again it's quite alright"
he said calmly
"now would you please take a seat"
"of course thank you"
I had come here with a full retinue, I had my guards along with 3 member of the 'four petals of the cursed rose' my special force by side but he sat in front of us with his legs crossed without a care in the world, on paper it seemed like he was being cocky bit I could feel it, just barely but it was there a mana room, a technique where one covered a space with mana that was connected to a person remotely so as to be able to tell the faintest movement's in said area the only way to escape its view was to constantly eject mana a the same density and frequency as the creator something that was dreadfully difficult regardless of who made the room, what was also strange was that when he dispersed the darkness that had been fused with him it didn't simply disappear, a moment of thought allowed me to realise that it moved towards the wall rather than simply disappearing, I slowly extended my senses and noticed it, this entire space had been isolated from the outside world and covered with pure darkness and if any of us made a wrong move he could extend it and attack us before I could activate mine, I shuddered at the thought as he asked
"is something wrong"
with his face expressionless, I had several things to say ranging from impressive to are you seriously asking that but decided to go with
"just a little mana turbulence, I've sorted it out now"
"are you certain"
his face that was expressionless before changed to one showing genuine concern, his eyebrows scrunched in such a charming way I almost believed he was oblivious to the fact that he caused my apprehension
"definitely"
we spent about two hours talking about the details of his inauguration, he seemed to want a low key event but Langris was adamant in making it public and as loud as possible he neither spoke nor gave any expression but I could swear I saw a vein spoke out of his head in frustration I was tempted to laugh seeing as this dreadful monster had some human elements after all buti couldn't risk finding out his countenance wasn't one for jokes, after a while a man wearing walked in mage robes walked in, it was the same man who was with him when we found and arrested him and he had been handling matter while he rested, I identified him as a God class mage and a powerful one at that.
All in all it was uneventful until he asked me that
"miss Raine if you don't mind me asking but why are you currently using a disguise artifact"
I almost choked on the tea I was sipping while surprised faces appeared on my entourage but when I looked to his side where Felix was standing he looked blank faced as if what Kalen asked was the most natural thing in the world
"and it seems the artifact's effects are limited solely to you're chest, it seems to make them look, smaller than what they should be?"
my face burned with shame the truth is my chest happened to be the envy of every woman in the continent that my rear and figure all came together in a deadly combination as such I used an artifact to severely lessen what others could see but at a high enough level the illusion could be seen through the only thing is that apart from Langris and very high ranking members of the Don's association no one had seen through it except now.
"but I might just be imagining things"
he said while looking down at the tea cup in his hand with a blank expression
"indeed maybe you are"
we sat in silence for a few minutes before I decided to leave bin case he found another way to embarrass me, as I walked towards the gates I took one last glance at the building one thought running through my mind
'he's going to be a hell of a guy to work with'
Felix's pov
"ok now can you tell me why you did that"
it had been a while since the second Don left, the maids had cleaned up the table and I and Kalen were having some lights snacks where they had their meeting,
"I was checking somethings"
"things like what"
"I wanted to confirm the kind.of people I would be working with"
"how so"
"well let's start with no:5 the simplest out of them all also happens to be a simple minded man, you know how he's descended from the founder"
"indeed"
Samuel Argus, the man who founded Trident city, he was a powerful Arcanum user who element happened to be water and his weapon a Trident, he was leading a group of refugees away from the skirmish between a human kingdom and an eleven one when they came to the place that would become Trident they found a desert that was rich in mines but lacking in land capable of sustaining food due to how dry it was so in the spirit of being dramatic he charged up his Trident and tossed it into the air, as it landed it infused his energy and turned the dry as sod land into a landscape that allowed the people to grow food instead of mining some gold and silver then using ot to trade for food, honestly maybe that's what he did and the history books just wanted to make him sound cooler.
"well he is of the opinion that since his ancestor created this city and he has the same Arcanum as his ancestor he's destined to rule it eventually"
"bullshit"
"yep his family thinks he's the reincarnation of the guy"
"hah"
I quickly suppressed a laugh, Don no:5 was from a noble house, and not just any house the oldest in Trident but over the millennia they had fallen into obscurity becoming nobles in nothing more than name his birth and ascension to power was a powerful boost to their status and they go around claiming its only about time that Trident returned to its rightful owners
"now that I a man with no last name and this specific Arcanum has not only come into power but also supposed their golden boy they will come after me, too bad all their power lies with the guy that's weaker than me"
I listened attentively to his analysis, he was always good at things like this if he wanted he could have become a general somewhere, no its more like he was trained to be a general, had his analysis and leading abilities honed through training.
"next is number 4, on the surface a simply man who is uninterested with the power struggle of the cities and simply wants to pursue the path he had undertaken since he was a child, poison"
"to have you're Arcanum match you so perfectly, it's like a one in a million chance"
I said
"indeed, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that he's waiting for something, what it is I don't know"
we paused for a minute at the thought of the oldest and most respected Don planning something we don't know,
"and then there's her"
his face scrunched in thought as he said her name,
"Raine Blossom"
"oh is the immovable Kalen finally taking an interest in the opposite sex"
he glared at me after I said that, that's when I realized he might not be as over what happened to Loraine as I thought
"I'm sorry"
this face calmed down as he said
"it's not you're fault, in the end its mine"
"are you, you know ever going to try and find someone"
even before his status upgrade I had received numerous request from high ranking clients bothe Male and female to 'introduce' him to them, hell whenever I'm broke I like to think back on how much I would have earned if I had pimped him out at every opportunity I had in the past year alone, the answer was enough to live like king and then some
"maybe, I don't really know, I know I didn't love her but with what happened I don't think I should be seeing anyone anytime soon"
"that's a shame"
"so about miss Raine"
"so what do you see when you look at the most beautiful woman in the world"
at one point in time I thought the title was just an exaggeration but meeting her for the first time changed that thought, if not for the peculiar mind one needed to practice the arts I would down right drool on her presence, hell she's caused stampede's by accident when found outdoors with her face opened amongst the commoners and finding out she actually uses an artifact to hide some of her more profound features would have immediately struck doubt in my mind had I not heard it from Kalen,
"I see a child who wants to save the world"
"huh"
"....."
"that's it"
"that's it"
".....care to elaborate oh wise sage"
he dropped the biscuit he was about to aleat and began
"she's young she talented but most importantly she's someone who has seen a lot of injustice"
"how can you tell she hide details about her private life like how the Don association guide's Don class artifacts"
"I see it in her eyes"
ah, he and Loraine were masters of reading people through visual contact it was especially useful since Kalen could look at his house burn and not show a twitch on his face
"her eyes are someone that would gladly take on the entire world if it would bring peace to one person and she constantly seeks the strength to do so what she doesn't know is that she doesn't need to do it alone"
"isn't that her whole thing, I'm a woman who doesn't need a man"
"then always are men in her guild"
"they're subservient"
"they're treated the same as the other members hell a man is on her special force, I mean he's gay but he's still a man, she gave him that position because she values ability, as she should and I looked at him from head to toe as well and the only thing I saw in his eyes was respect"
"doesn't that mean she has people she can trust people that can help her if so then she isn't alone"
"yeah but the people with her don't compare to the task she wants to accomplish"
there was silence between us once more before I asked
"are you going to help her"
he started at me for a minute before saying this slowly
"vice is a part of society, if someone's going to get rid of it, it isn't our generation"
"if you say so, now what do you have for the reason you're here right now"
naturally I meant the first Don
"that the thing I got nothing"
"huh"
"I said I got
"i heard you that's why i said huh, why don't you have anything"
"all I know is that don't trust the carefree and gentle persona he puts on he is dangerous"
"how dangerous"
"I would need to work with miss Raine on order to safely kill him, even then miss Raine might suffer irreversible injury"
I shuddered at the thought, from my perspective miss Raine was powerful, from what I had seen she was the only Don that if I came head to head with I wouldn't be able to escape, I couldn't defeat any of the but I'm confident in running from all the one I've met but her and Kalen
"but wasn't the word on the street that he went to beg her not to fight him"
"Felix, we both know there are a select thing I would like to you about, this isn't one of the and let me tell you this, if No:1 and miss Raine should go head to head today, the fight would end in the blink of an eye and it would be her loss"
"that big of a gap huh"
"yep,.... but that bring about the question, if he's so strong why does he ways play the fool?"
"if only I knew brother, if only I knew"