"No need. You have spent so much on my niece that this is something we should do." Henry gave Vance another look, and to his surprise, he saw Vance bow his head slightly. "Then I thank you. My parents' safety during the trip to the capital had been bothering me. Even if I wanted to and tried to escort them myself, I am sure that if we were attacked by a pack of monsters on the way to the capital that I would not be able to keep them safe alone."
"No! I would have gone with you if Uncle said no." Alice chimed in as she hooked her arm with Vance's.
"I can't risk you being caught on the outside either…." Vance, for one, did not wish to fail his quest, two, until this quest ended, he could not ensure her safety. If the guards or pursuers were too high of a level, then he would not be able to fight them head on.
Henry's eyes were burning when he saw his niece naturally hook her arm with the man next to her right in front of him! But when he saw the look in her eyes that showed she truly cared for this young man, he could only sigh. "Alice, what do you plan to do after this?"
"I want to renounce my right to the throne and give it to my younger brother. I am not cut out to be a princess or someone who is an heir to the throne. I only wish to live a free life away from all this political struggle. After all of this and meeting the person I wish to be with, I do not want anything more. I wish to live as a commoner and be happy." Alice's words held no hesitation at all. She knew what she wanted, and she would get it one way or another. She even continued by saying. "No matter what, I will leave with Vance once my elder brother is taken care of. This will be my last contribution as the princess of this kingdom."
"Vance, a word." Henry stood up and grabbed Vance, and pulled him away from Alice. The two went into the hall, where Henry stared Vance dead in the eye. "You hurt her... I will find you and kill you. Then I will revive you and then kill you again. My niece is a good girl who is kind to everyone. Do not take her kindness for granted."
Vance could only stupidly nod his head. He was not angry at all and actually found it was a good thing that Alice had people looking out for her. "Don't worry. If Alice decides to follow me, I will not let her suffer." This was one thing he could promise. With his knowledge of the game, he knew he could bring her to new heights if she followed him.
Henry gave Vance one more long look before nodding his head. "This is a promise among men. If you break it, I will kill you ten times over."
"I understand," Vance said nothing more as the two returned to the room to a very confused Alice.
"What were you two talking about?" Alice asked. She was very curious why her uncle wanted to talk to Vance all alone.
"Its men talk. Things that should be said but only between men." Henry explained lightly. Alice looked at Vance but only saw him smile and nod. She could only purse her lips and sulk. 'Fine! Men have secrets too!'
"Vance, tell me your parents' names and the village they are in. I will send a squad of my men to escort them to the capital. They will also be protected, so you do not need to worry about them coming to any harm. You and Alice work on figuring out what the hell that bastard is up to. If you can find evidence that he was the one who hired bandits to attack you, then we can use that evidence to take him down once and for all. The time is late, so I should hurry. Things need to be done, and I want my men to set out before nightfall. I wish you both good luck." Henry stood up and was about to walk out before stopping and placing a pouch on the table. "Some money for Alice. Make sure she is well taken care of."
"Uncle!" Alice's lips curled up into a blossoming smile as she got up and hugged her Uncle. Henry smiled and patted her head before pushing her off. "I must go. I have a lot to do."
After the door closed, Vance let out a sigh of relief. He was glad things worked out the way they did. He looked at Alice, who was still smiling while standing there with her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth, and smiled back. "What should we do? We still have a good portion of the day left. Shall we go out and get you some more clothes?"
"Mmm! But we need to get you clothes as well. Yours are starting to stink." Alice said as she walked over and picked up the bag of coins. She then handed it to Vance. "You will be in charge of the money."
Vance watched as Alice stuffed the bag of gold into his hands with a big smile and then sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. At the same time, a notification appeared in front of him.
[Acquired 100 gold coins]
Vance really did not know what to say. He went from having less than one hundred silver to one hundred gold and some change. He sighed and put it away. He would make sure to spend it wisely and mostly on the girl next to him. But the thing that worried him the most was tomorrow was the day the game would open up. The servers would go live, and players would start to stream into the game but the millions. This meant millions of new players would be entering the game at midnight.
When he thought about this, he realized he needed to work on a mid tier war spell to keep people from attacking him and Alice in their sleep. But he did not know if his mana would be enough to cast it. He closed his eyes and patted Alice on the hand before opening them again and getting up. "Let's go. I need to get a few other things just in case." Right. He needed to get some things to make a proper trap for his door and window.