"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Rekka Wolford, I am Stella Ashvel." she said with a slight smile….
"Pleasure is all mine, but your Highness can just call me Rekka, I am no one of high importance." That was true, I may have the humanities largest merchant business under me and many princesses engaged to me but I myself didn't hold any title.
If anything, I am just an adventurer. So outside of human countries, there is no need to pay me too much respect.
"After all the power you hold, if you still think that way, then I wonder how you should address me. Apart from the Queen as my mother, I don't have any other achievements you see?"
The Princess said while chuckling… maybe me being the hero's grandson and her being the great queen's daughter are kinda similar that way.
"Then why don't I call you Stella you can call me As Rekka." she did get surprised hearing me but she smiled and nodded. I might be too bold in this case but that was just how I was. Formalities were too much of a hassle to me.
"I am Ridge, Nice to meet you too princess."
"Oh my, you must be the earth Pillar spirit, nice to meet you too, I have heard that you suddenly choosing a human partner was quite the shock for a lot of pillars out there.." the princess must have some acquaintances with spirits…
"Ha ha, he proposed to me when he was just a little boy, he was so cute I couldn't resist it you know? But now I guess the grown up is still irresistible.."
"Ridge, when I was a kid I didn't know that you were taking a proposal like that you know?" if I had known that I wouldn't have confessed like that to a mature looking woman looking like a kid…
"Ha ha, come sit, let's chat while having breakfast." At the princesses' words, we sat down and the maids came to serve the food.
"Rekka, I heard you like to have different types of foods. So I have prepared all the breakfast items we serve at the castle." no wonder the table was so full. Maybe the princess already knew I could eat a lot… seeing Selena and Selen, I think dragons eat a lot too.
"You didn't have to do all that… but thank you, I will not hesitate to eat good food." As I said, I took bread and a fried egg I think. As my first serving and started eating it.
"Rekka, you really ate it without any hesitation…" the Princess looked a bit surprised…. Did she expect some kind of special etiquette from me?
"Why? Is there something wrong?"
"No…. in foreign nations.. People tend to have their servants taste their food for poison."
"That's silly, I even ate a poisonous mushroom from the edge of the world and nothing happened, then I ate a poisonous snake too, not to mention I ate a bird that looked disgusting… whoever wants to poison me should get something better than that."
"... oh my… R-Rekka you seem to say all those things nonchalantly but why did you even eat those?" The princess asked me, looking bewildered… well no sane person would eat it I guess..
Heck, even I won't eat it if I were not to die. I still remember feeling numb after I had eaten all those, but I had passed that feeling off as being full and not hungry anymore.
"Well you see my body would die if I don't eat enough, other people's bodies would try to keep it alive with conserving energy but if I don't eat, my body will run until I eat or just die… so since there was nothing else to eat, I ate those anyway.. It is better to eat and die and not eat then die, I guess``
Maybe because I was talking and eating, the princess was looking at me with a freeze up expression. Talking about dying and eating doesn't compliment each other I guess.
"Princess, don't think too much about his sufferings, he probably thinks of those days as only normal adventures…."
"..... I see… I can hardly say that I can be that…. Strong willed…. But Rekka you really have gone through a lot.." the princess said with sympathy..
"Don't worry, It was hard in the early days but then it was better in no time." I said finishing off my plate and taking a new dish. It looked like a pie…
"Ooh I see, it must have helped if you started to find good food after adjusting to the place.." the princess said looking relieved…
"Good food huh….. Well, since I got used to the crude taste, when I was hungry, it did taste good…" maybe because the princess never ate disgusting food but her face got pale…..
"Princess, do you know when I first met him, he said that even after touching me he won't die, rather he said after nearly dying too many times, he got skilled in the way to avoid it." Ridge said from the side.
"That I sure did."
"I see… Rekka had a hard life, still I am glad that I could offer you good food at least…"
Like that our breakfast continued with awkward and unusual conversations. It seems that the princess was interested to know about me.
....
"Say Stella, all these foods… does it all cost a lot to eat…?" I asked. The food tastes great… too great if I say… I wondered if normal people can afford it. until now all the food I had and the food that was served here as leagues apart.
"Well, normal people can't afford it for sure.."
"I see…"
"Why, I heard Rekka has a lot of money." it was probably weird for me to worry about that.
"Well, I am searching for affordable foods so that I can increase the recipes we use. The more variety of things we eat, the less it is the case of people dying of no food.. Not to mention, the variety in flavour would get a boom in it's own way."
"That is a great way to look at it."
"Nah, I just want to find out what this world has to offer…"
With better wheat, we can have soft and more delicious bread, with better rice it will be fluffier and whiter. Not to mention with better quality base items, the food will taste even better.. If I can secure these things, we can look forward to making our foods even more delicious. not to mention with more spices we can work with, there would come more flavours and more technique.
"Ha ha you are certainly easy going… After the empire incident, I only heard bad things about you so I was a bit nervous…..`` The princess sounded a lot tolerant. I can't believe this princess is not a hot headed one. I thought I was going to meet someone like Alice.
"Well…. In the empire, I was strict… I didn't hold back anything… seeing the state it was in… I felt like why didn't I go there sooner…. So in my rage I did heartless things… that dragon that came to attack the empire, I could have killed it easily but I beat it down for an hour straight, not only that, I showed him the anger I held that time… I Let him go so he can come here to at least show his fear to you guys, it was a strict way where that black dragon died after a long painful season but I think that is why I am getting this type of warm reception here.`` Stella did not nod nor did her shake her head hearing me, but surely she understood my sentiment.
"I see…. Not many dragons think like me and Mother…. But they don't go and do things to make others' lives cruel… still you can say some are exceptions to that. Since that black dragon came back looking half dead, not to mention without his wings or tail, many were riled up and ready to attack… but the black dragon's dying screams did scare them from going on rampage…"
"Ha ha ha, Princess I like the way you put it.." The cursed sword of Destruction was nothing but the symbol of fear in this world. If I was able to scare even the dragons, it clearly meant I had reached that point. and only because of that did I get a chance like this.
"Well, let's forget that incident, I want to talk about our upcoming duel." Since we talked for a long time after breakfast, tea was already served. There were some cookies too, so I brought out the jelly I created after finding some fruits in Ashenberg.
"Here, try this with the tea and cookies. It will taste good." following the way I ate the jelly and tea then cookie, the princess did the same, so did Ridge.
"Aah… this jelly is purely fruit… Rekka, I love it!" Ridge, who loved fruit, hugged me in delight.
"Did it taste that good?" of course the mana in the fruit was quite something, just eating a small spoonful gave you strength. for Ridge who only needed mana to survive finding a food that served her mana was akin to finding gold.
"Rekka, it really does taste good. I wonder how you made it…." the Princess said while taking another scoop.
"I got the fruit from Ashenberg and made it on the way here." in the Ashenberg, I found some great grapes. Since the smell and flavour was perfect, I made jelly out of it.. there were grapes in the human lands too, but no one could have grapes that were this good, not only was it sweet, the aroma of the fruit gave raise to quite a bit of hunger.
"So something like this was under our noses… no wonder you're called the Life maker of food..."
"Wah…. that name looks like it's really gonna stick… I only removed the skin and mushed it together while removing water until it turned into jelly. there wasn't much to the preparation."
"It's amazing how you completely ignore just how good you are handling ingredients." Stella amazed after my process of making the jelly sighed and let it go.
"So Stella, you wanted to talk about our duel…"
"Yes, because of a lot of dragons' dissatisfaction towards what you did and how you did, I am to duel with you. Since I am the strongest dragon after Her Majesty, you can say that, it is the dragons' way of getting their pride back for the empire incident… but since, we have already gauged your strength so a duel to death can be avoidable and a normal duel can work too."
"I am sorry Stella, you have been kind till now, still I have requested a duel with no bounds and it is final." hearing my prompt answer silenced Stella.
"By the caliber of strength you have… I know that you see how strong I am… I may just win and you will get killed…."
"Yes, that certainly can happen." I said with the same intensity as her.
"Then why… after preserving your life all these years, even surviving out of the Edge of the world… why do you want to throw that life away.." the Princess looked angry for the first time now… she was strong…. The strongest I have seen in this world…. no matter how she hides it, the power that is in her is nothing like I have ever seen before.
"That is because nothing like that will happen." hearing my words and peaceful look Stella got surprised again….
"From the first time I met you, I felt that it was hard to understand someone like you Rekka… but now I truly can't understand you…" Stella looked hard at me….
"Stella…. I am not unreasonable, you know? I like peace too… but the peace I like can be a thorn to some, I would not like it if anyone thinks that since I am peaceful, they can do whatever they want. If you understand where I am coming from then…. Can you please accept this duel?"
"I…. I want to test my… strength… but if you are willing to risk your life… then consider regretting your words of this day." hearing her reply, I smiled a bit. She might like peace like me but seeing someone strong she shouldn't be able to hold back that rivalry feeling…
"Then let's test it to the death… at the duel." It's not like I don't value my life or am a battle junky but the others are, most of the dragons I have seen so far have only been looking forward to the fight.
Their ego was hurt when a human thrashed one of their own and then left to die. If I don't want that ego to rise again, I have to take the worst situation at hand and pulverize their standards.
"Besides, it's not a problem if someone strong gets stronger. but It is certainly a problem if a weak person shows strong power.. This may just be a duel in your eyes, but for me, I can see this as a stepping stone to a hassle free advertisement."
Maybe my comment made an impact on Stella, she became composed again. In her life, had she ever had to face someone with so much confidence to actually say this to her face? I hardly believe so.
"Well…. If you are ready to face death then as a dragon I must see that. ``In a duel to death a dragon will kill their opponent without any guilt, you could say that it was their way of living, thus the reason why many punishments for dragons ends with a duel to death. So her comment was true to her core.. Still, maybe me calling this duel a free advertisement made her a bit mad.
.....
After that talk with Stella, I really realized her power… man… that really was a dragon…
[She is strong for sure, compared to your physical might even with magic… you might struggle…]
"I know… I wonder how she got that strong… surely she didn't get that from the time she was born… the strength felt too refined to think it was just inherited…"
[So you getting cold feet?]
"Nah… everything should be fine… as long as I can beat Stella my way, I can have my request filled." as I said that, I put Amanori down. It had been a long while since I put her down from my back…
[You really gonna do it Alone huh…]
"Yeah, I wanna show my power, not your."
[sheesh… do what you want, don't forget that once you die that soul would be mine.]
"Ha ha ha, not even in a thousand years." As I said that, I readied for the duel.
This odd risky feeling that I felt creeping inside me… man.. This is the first time I felt like this after I got out of the Edge of the world.
...…..
In this world, there were Elves, Beastkin, Dwarves, Dragons, Spirits and let's not forget the demons… even though the demons were annihilated by my dear weapon, some still remain in small numbers.
Now, besides the humans, all of these Races were united into a single nation. Since only the humans were divided, to these races, we were more bothersome to think about. As that was the case, they all made a pact that until humans unite themselves they won't be entering any sort of relationships with them.
Still though, they all left us out because we practically couldn't do anything to them, we were behind in power, technology, food pallets and anything worth comparing, even our lands had less mana in them. But that's when my grandparents showed up.
The one who bested the former Beast king was my Grandfather Merlin. The whole history of the world changed at that moment, the line of Beast Kings boasted of having the strongest physical fighters in the world.
From then on my gramp's students became strong just like him and not to mention some of his students even surpassed him in strength using magic. You can say the humans suddenly had a change in their power leveling. One human found a path and the others followed.
If what my grandfather did wasn't enough, then came my Grandmother. She had a soft spot for hot and young girls…. Seeing that the elf nation was full of those eternal young girls, my Granny somehow got access and went there…
Not long after, news came out that the queen was molested….. Seriously, when I heard that my Granny was the one behind it…. I really wanted to get that memory out of me..
Anyhow, of course the elves went on full force and tried to kill my granny, but as it happened, my granny not only annihilated the elves' forces, she even got them to sign up a document saying she can visit them as much as she wants. My granny….. I will never make her my enemy. If there is an op protagonist, then she was one for sure.
The world was already damaged by these 2 humans' overwhelming power, so when the world got the news that they got hitched… well a foolish dragon went to see if he could make a name for himself defeating them…
By the time the fight with the dragon happened, my grandparents already had precious students in their care. So a war with the dragon will only harass their students more and not let them grow.
The human lands were only starting to get adjusted, at this point making chaos would only worsen the situation, so my grandparents fought. The dragon only got beat up to the point it ran with its tail between its legs… you can say the fight was a draw. Just the result my grandparents were looking for.
Thinking that these 2 humans could only be irregular existences in the world, the other races thought that they should avoid them until they eventually die…. At least that was the main idea. The world had started to think that after a long peace, maybe the duo had calmed down with their age… but then I came along, introducing myself as the grandson of these irregular humans
But before they could make any investigations, I had already devastated humanity's oldest country, the Therondia empire, not even giving them time to think, I even beat a dragon to death to the point that it had to crawl to it's home only to die out by my curse…. Unlike my Grandparents' case where they had a tie, I had thoroughly smashed the dragons and let it escape.
As it meant, it made the dragons agitated. Let's also mention that this dragon was also involved in the situation of the Empire getting even more barbaric every year.
It was apparent to everyone that I was angry now.
All the other races felt so much anxiety about my sudden existence that even the high ranking dragons panicked, they underestimated my grandparent's once, they would never do that again. The other races all excelled at their own individual points but all of them recognized the dragons as the apex in this world, they can live long, hard to kill, born strong, proud beings.… So what does the world do when they face the unknown?
Of course, they huddle behind the strongest. Some think that they should leave the unknown alone and watch it until it dies out but some think that they should defeat this unknown so it doesn't cause any problems in the future… because of all those varied thoughts and plans in the coming years, it would have to be one problem after the other for me.
Now, since that's the case, what should I do? Should I stay put and let the situation take its course? Or something simple like, Show them that I can do enough damage to make them avoid me? No, that was what my grandparents already did. Did that help? Maybe for a while… but what about in the long run?
As such thoughts came to me, I got to thinking that there was only one thing I could do. Let's challenge the impossible. Not with Amanori, it would be only me. As a gamble in life. I made a decision to face Stella. No matter what her power or capabilities were. I was sure I could survive through it.
With such pride forming in me, I prepared for the duel. Let's lay to rest the rest of the world's troubles and make our own troubles.
Tomorrow would be the duel, and the day that the world will see a human surpassing reality.