After a serious conversation with Grandfather, I asked permission if I can go since I have some errands to do after, he didn't mind it after all as long as we can keep in touch. As I was at the doorstep, I saw Rebecca fuming with anger because of Leika, those two again, for some reason Leika teases her nonstop which made Rebecca punch him out of nowhere in the stomach, ouch.
"Ac-acccck, owiie, oyyyyyy, that hurts, Beccaaaaa"
"I told you not to call me that, asshole!"
"But it's too long!"
"So be it! Don't call me again or I'll add some more punches if Lady Cady saw u---"
"...….."
"She's behind me, isn't it?"
"...…uhhh, yeah, sure"
"......"
"Hehehe, my lady, uhm, is it over?" Rebecca stutters.
"..."
"..."
"....."
"M-y lady?"
"Study room, now." I immediately walk right past them, they seemed to be confused as to why I just did that. I dunno, I have nothing to say as I am tired of words.
The two quickly catches me up and followed me until we reach the room, I signaled Rebecca on what to do next, she seems to know that I liked snacks and tea, after all, she told the other maids about my request and went out of the room, I took a seat on a sofa near the balcony, the view here is good and its windy as well feels refreshing despite the cold and snow outside.
While I was waiting for the snacks to arrive, I took a glance at these people who are still standing in front of me, waiting for me to say something or less. I pointed to them both and the sofa beside me, both of them tilted at first but when they saw me still pointing on that comfy seat, they immediately went and just sat as if nothing happen.
"......."
"Uhm, Cady, are you okay?"
"..."
"My lady?"
"....."
"Psst, Beccaaaaa, do something! I'm scared of her looks"
"Shut up, stop saying nonsense to my lady!"
"...…"
"...….."
I saw them pinching each other for who will be the one to take the initiative to talk, I yawned after and then stood up, I went straight to the window for a few minutes, and both of them are still confused about my actions.
-*sigh*-
"Eeeeeeek! is Cady sick?"
"I-i-i-I dunno! Help me here, will ya?"
"...….."
After a while, the maids went in and prepared my snacks and tea, Rebecca seemed to know that I was having a bad day hence she signaled the maids to leave and not to disturb me until dinner. As for me, I went straight back to the sofa and took a sip on the tea that was already prepared by Rebecca beforehand, Leika on the other side, was still sweating from head to toe because of me.
"Hmm."
"My lady?"
"For the plan, I would like Leika to do some errands for me."
"Oy, finally!"
"Shut up!" Rebecca interrupted.
"Tsk"
"You have to find me a person who leads the illegal slave auctions at the north, I want it in 3 days, pronto."
"3 days! Are you kidding me? Going north will take you months, Cady!"
"I said 3 days, Leika, don't tell me you can't fulfill this easy task."
"No-o, NO! I can! Who do you think I am!"
"A bitch" Rebecca mumbled.
"What did you say, curly freak?!"
"Enough."
"Oopsies, my bad." Rebecca while trying to stop her laugh. I even heard Leika saying 'tsk'.
"But Cady, what will you do after that?"
"I have to buy some slaves"
"WHAT?!" They said in unison, hmm this is getting weirder and weirder, huh.
"Find me a merchant that has a list of those slaves that have twins on it."
"Oh, is there a significant reason for this?"
"...…" I took a final sip of the tea and sighed after which they get even confused more than usual.
"I'll tell you in the future, but for now we have to rest, Leika proceed with the plan, and start after 2 days."
"Roger that, I'll go ahead first, Cady, can I finally use my Uno? Haven't reached out ever since we came to the border. She'll kill me for sure since I didn't feed her much"
"Go ahead" I stood up and went to the balcony window and watched the view outside the castle despite the blizzard snow.
"Oy Leika, didn't you let her eat some monster meat after killing it? How come she doesn't have enough to make her this angry again?"
"I don't know, maybe she wanted more" Leika just shrugs.
Uno, our pet eagle, giant eagle to be exact, we got her since she was still in egg form, which Leika had it when he was still in the slums. Uno was our expert scouter and a messenger, while we are traveling, she was flying around the area to investigate and foresee if they are monsters ahead of us. Uno has these beautiful dark brown colored feathers, with a pinch of white at the end, she has these very sharp and strong claws that no one dares to touch, well except me and Leika, she handled us very carefully.
Looks like she will be used as a messenger again after a long time, she will be flying around the north, as I mentioned before, we have these bases of operations around without knowing who leads it in the first place. Leika is well known for this kind of job, so I'll just let him do it, we have some trusted people there to seek information regarding my requests so it will not take long for me to get the list.
Why do I need a slave? Well, in the novel I have read and where I was right now, The Chosen Love Rival, there is a secret shadow organization that was under the commands of the Royal Family, preferably there were only for the sake of that Female lead's protection, it was led by yours truly, the Crown Prince itself, of course, his 'route' at the game, they are also the ones who let me got killed when I kidnapped the Female lead, what an idiot cause.
Those people that I wanted, were the leaders of that shadow group, the twins, Xeno and Zero. These two were the expert in manipulating shadows and dark magic, hence they are very suitable for these kinds of things. Before they were slaves from faraway lands of the west, as they have no origin to start with, they were orphans at a very young age, but they were sold by that corrupt caretaker and taken to the north for auction.
As they were about to get sold, they were rescued by the Royal Knights, the other orphans that were saved were taken to the other orphanages handled by the Royal Family, but unlike the two, both of them got assigned to the Royal Palace to be the Knight instead as they want to repay them for saving.
While training, the Crown Prince saw the talents of the twins from afar in which he assigned them immediately under his wing afterwards, as he discovered that they can manipulate dark elemental skills, he took them by secret and assigned them to be his shadow knights and wait for the opportunity until he reached his age, since the Crown Prince was just 10 years old at that time.
From then, until she met with the female lead, he begins to order the two to secretly protect her, but unexpectedly the kidnapping happens while the Female lead was busy at her own home and it was quite a shock for the two that it was happened without noticing it, but they are lucky enough to detect the whereabouts of the Female lead and rescued it straight away, letting the accomplices into cold bodies and killing the Villainess by the Crown Prince's hands.
Xeno was the older sister, a shadow manipulator while Zero, the younger brother can control dark magic, these two can do everything as long as it is related to stealth. They are also can't be separated because they have had a great bond with each other since they were young and their mother left them out alone while they are still a toddler, when no one relied on or took care of them, they were handled to the orphanage that manages illegal things like selling children as slaves, toys, or even worse, as an experiment to some criminal organizations, that is a sad truth into this world.
Well, that was from the novel itself, I intend to change the story and make them mine, since they are talented twins, I'll rescue them instead and work under me. I will have to discuss this with Grandfather, I am sure that he will support me whenever I need something.
The same day up until a few days after, all I did was just read books regarding magical beasts, gladly, Grandfather had all of these books that don't even have in my previous home, these books are well taken care of as usual and all of the contents that I need are all in this Grand Library, as expected from the Archduke, if there is anything you need, he has it all, I guess.
While reading, I didn't realize that it was dark already, the maid called me out for a dinner, and she mentioned that the Archduke was waiting for me at the dining hall and need to proceed there as ordered. Realizing that Rebecca wasn't around because I was just looking for her, the maid told me that she had a message coming from Rebecca saying that she went out on her own to train at the Knight's Ground, where the Knights of the East trains, I see, so it seems that she is trying hard on herself despite on what happened before the border.
As I was walking to the hallway, the maids and the servants were bowing at me with respect, I nodded in response and continue passing them all until we reached the dining hall. Grandfather was there sitting alone at the end of the table, I sat down and greeted him afterward.
"I see that you are busy these days, Cadyssa"
"Yes, I have to report to you something regarding this, Grandfather"
"Hmm, alright then, let's hear it."
"I want to rescue someone and make them my people"
"...."
"Those two will bring good benefits into our family"
"By what do you mean?"
"Grandfather, as I am part of the Valente family now, the Bloodhounds have still no idea about it, and I will not appear in public until I reached my age of ceremony. I hope you understand that"
"Agreed, that I was going to discuss it with you after these days, seems to know what you are doing right now, my dear" He laughed.
"You are still young, it is not your time yet" He added while sipping his red wine.
"Yes, Grandfather"
"By the way, your aura is different from us, it is not normal, isn't it?"
"It seems that you noticed it, Grandfather"
"There is no way I can't, from the moment you arrived at this castle, yours is different from the normal ones, even from your mother who has two auras, it seems like a dark and dangerous one."
"...…."
"Let's test it out tomorrow morning, dear Cadyssa"
"Huh? With whom?" I stopped eating and looked at Grandfather with confusion.
"With me, of course"
I can't believe it, Grandfather challenged me to a duel, well, I didn't mind it though, of course, he is a War Hero from the past, Grandfather was only around 47 years old, he doesn't look old despite his age and didn't even have white hair, well his physique and stamina? I don't even want to question him, we'll know for sure once I confront Grandfather tomorrow.
Morning passed by, as expected from the maids who woke me up as per usual, I take a glimpse of Rebecca that was busy rummaging books around the room, I saw her bruises around her hands, seems like she was practicing swordsmanship these days. I told her to focus on handling the weapon well, especially daggers and small knives, she can't handle bigger swords as it was heavy for her and she will be at a disadvantage when it comes to close combats. For her skills, she is good for support and mid-range so that is why I recommend her to use lighter ones.
She told me not to worry about it as Grandfather recommended someone for her to train in these types of training, maybe some of his loyal subjects, I didn't mind it and told her to be careful all the way.
After some morning routines, I told the maids to hand me some training clothes and a wooden sword, I will not use my special customize sword as I will use them for different purposes soon. As I was about to get out of the room, the Head Butler greeted me and guide me to where Grandfather is right now.
We went straight to where the Training Ground for the Elite Knights of the Easts is, it seems that there are separate training rooms depending on what rank you are. I saw Grandfather from afar, wearing his special red and black light training armor, and has his sword around his waist, waiting for me to get inside the premises.
As he noticed me already at the entrance, he signals everyone to step aside, what I saw were his Elite Knights and his Head Chief Commander at the bottom of the stage, standing on their posts and looking at me with confusion, thinking that I am just a mere guest of the Archduke and why am I wearing training clothes?
Looking at the place, you can't believe that this was really the training ground in the first place, it was a big dome with a size of 7 fields, can you imagine this, I mean, there are a lot of complete training sets of weapons, armors, and even dummies! A good place to train, if you compare it to the normal ones, the size of it was just 2-3 fields at most.
As the Knights stepped aside and went on the spectator's lounge, Grandfather signaled me to come inside the dome and get ready, as I went inside, the Archduke laughed at my expression because it was my first time here at this place.
"I see to it that you are surprised at this place, Cadyssa?"
"No, Grandfather" What surprise? I didn't even express something, just a blank one, per usual.
"Well then, let's start, shall we?"
I took out my wooden sword, and went up to the training stage where Grandfather was at the center, I looked around to measure the distance and took a deep breath to focus on my mana core, this will be a good fight then.
"As for the rules, you just need to make me move some steps and completely out of this circle around me, do whatever you want, just no killing of course" He laughs as he mentioned the 'no killing' sentence. He already made a circle with a distance of two-step from the center
"Okay, Grandfather"
"Well then, let's start"
After that, as he set up for himself, he took out his sword from the sheath in his waist and positioned his sword towards the ground, doing the standing stance and waiting for me to take the first step. I positioned myself and did an attacking stance and concentrate on my sword, I can feel my aura being transferred to my wooden weapon, emitting a white light appearance.
As I was about to run towards him, he changed his stance into a defensive one, in which he positioned his sword at the level of his head to protect it, tsk, he knows that I'm targeting that head. I backed off after he swings back sideways. Since it failed the first, he quickly changes back to his standing position, where he put down his sword on the ground.
"What's the matter, dear, focus"
"...….."
I infused my sword with wind affinity and swing towards the Archduke, but it doesn't affect him as he just slashed it back, making the area filled with sand dust. I took the opportunity to run towards him and make an attack, but the old man kicked me in the stomach, causing me to stoop down to the ground.
"A-a-aacck, fuck."
"It doesn't affect me even it is on the blind spot, Cadyssa, I can sense your mana"
"Tsk."
I stood up and wipe my blood from my mouth, rusty as shit, I didn't expect that I'll be kicked by him, is he serious? Judging from his looks, he was just looking at me and smirked. I positioned myself and let a water affinity run into my sword, as I run towards him, I manipulate my water from my hands around him to trap him inside and released my lightning skill after and mixed up with the water, the discharges spread out, forming radiating branching cracks of air sparks across the water, this will affect the body when being touched to an electric current with water, it will paralyze the target's muscle, causing the body to drown while in the water.
The Knights were shocked since I released 3 different affinities, and can't believe what they saw on Archduke. They were about to stop us but the force on the ground was suddenly shaking, it's because the old man was using a Wind Force Barrier all along, causing the water orb to disperse out, as the effect of his skills takes place, I took advantage to use the Ice skill and made a pillar to step on. The old man was releasing his Wind Aura as a shield since then, so no wonder he got no scratches even once, this is getting annoying.
The Archduke released his Wind blade towards me nonstop, he wanted me to avoid his skills as fast as I can, but each of those blades made a scratch on me because of his aura, I see so that was his specialty.
When he emits his wind blade, the skill itself has another ability, in which it releases a tremendous amount of extended sharp wind around it, so even it reaches you by the distance of 3 inches even though you manage to avoid the skill, I have made a lot of wounds trying to figure this out.
After a few minutes and a few swings, I almost ran out of stamina, how long have we've been fighting? 5-6 hours? I don't remember it at all, the longer it takes, lots of knights from the different ranks are watching us from the side.
"Haa…Haaaa…. Ha" I was trying to grasp for more air, it's been a few hours trying to avoid his skills nonstop.
"That took longer than I expected, Cadyssa, you are the first one to discover my tricks after your mother after all"
"This is enough, let's try it again next time, keep i---"
As he was still talking, I jumped high and form an orb mixed with all of my aura affinities, causing them to create pressure, I focused on giving all of my wind magic and mixed it together with it, the ambient air pressure around creates a strong vacuum and absorb everything else around the dome and produced a powerful implosion, causing a black hole.
The Archduke was surprised to see the outcome since he was also using wind, his skill was also got sucked up by that dangerous orb, causing more power to it. He got no choice since it getting bigger. By the time he made a move, the black hole suddenly weakened and disappeared, as if nothing happens, when he turned around, the Archduke saw his reflection of his own sword and was even laughed at the end, that's because he was not holding it, it was me who pointed through his neck, like waiting for it to get slashed anytime.
"You moved out of the circle, Grandfather, I guess it's my win"
He was shocked to see his own stupidity; the old man didn't realize that he moved out of the circle because of the black hole skill, thinking he would get sucked out of it. He made a burst of loud laughter which was heard across the dome. The Knights didn't believe what they saw today, did the Archduke actually lose from a mere lady?
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, oh dear, my mistake, how can you do that?" He wiped out his sweat from his forehead and returned his sword to his sheath.
"I just did that for distraction, gladly it works on my end."
"You mean it's your first time using this? Alas!"
"Yes, Grandfather"
Moments later, a group of Knights went in a rush towards our direction, as the Chief Commander went in between us, he asked as to who is the lady beside the Archduke and even won against the undefeatable War hero itself.
"Oh? I would like you all to meet my Granddaughter, Cadyssa Von Valente. This is my Elite Knights under my command"
"The Elite Knights greet the Princess, the sole heir of the Valente household, we hear and obey!"
"Likewise,"
I bowed in return, as I turned around, Grandfather was waiting for me to follow, as the day went by, it was very tiring, the Archduke ordered me to rest for today because of the duel we had. As I went out of the washroom, someone knocks on the door, I let him in and sat on the chair at my dressing table.
"Cady, I got some good news for you."
"Speak" As I was drying my hair with my tower, Rebecca was preparing my nightdress and stopped to hear the exciting news.
"I have found your twins"