In the third floor of the North Duke's mansion, two people were standing beside a bed where a woman appeared to be sleeping calmly.
The two people were obviously the Duke Kazuo and 'the oracle Aerich' and the woman who appeared to be sleeping was the Duke's second wife.
There was no one else in the room, but the Duke was staring at Ray with an intense glare, as if to warn him that if he made one suspicious movement, he would regret it.
Kazuo had first taken this so called oracle to a room alone to ask him what had happened to his wife, but he had insisted on seeing the person in question first.
He didn't know how oracles worked, but he seriously doubted this person. He really didn't want anyone he didn't know well near his wife's room, but he was out of options.
Under the intense glare of the Duke, 'Aerich' was unfazed.
Aerich, or rather, Ray was slightly disappointed in this Duke.
Sure, he might be extremely powerful and uphold justice, but he was a complete fool. Anyone could have impersonated as an oracle and harmed his wife who was completely defenseless.
'That is exactly what might have happened in my second life…'
However, now that he was in the room, he removed all unnecessary thoughts from his mind and looked at the woman sleeping on the bed.
She was without a doubt very beautiful. Smooth brown skin and lustrous black hair, this beauty would have easily riled up many people, but Ray didn't feel all that much. He had seen too many people, and the sight of one more beauty wasn't enough to cause a ripple in his 'calm' mind.
'Appraisal'
With a flash, a black window appeared before him.
[System: Magic Aid System (Uncommon)
Name: Yei Kazuo
Age: 56
Species: Human
Bloodline: Normal (F)
Physique: Mana Absorption (B+)
Mind: Trusting (D)
Disposition: Neutral Good
Title: Second Duchess of the Celestial North
Strength: (C+)
Agility: (C)
Intelligence: (C)
Charm: (A)
Dexterity: (A)
Stamina: (C+)
Mana Quantity: (S)
Mana Output: (D)
Mana Control: (B+)
Mana Purity: (S)
Passive Skills: Mana Purification (A), Mana Beautification (B), Precise Movements (C), …
Active Skills: Anti-Curse (A), Attribute Enhancement (B), …]
'What a bland system screen…'
Not a single skill fancied him.
Mana purification could passively convert the surrounding mana into a purer form, but Ray didn't want it because that would hinder him from controlling impure and undead mana.
Mana beautification would passively absorb surrounding mana to enhance his imperfections and upgrade his charm. This too was completely useless as his charm was already way higher than the skill's level itself and wasting upgrade cards and points just to look better didn't suit him. If he really wanted to he would look for better ways in the future.
And as for the other skills, he knew people who had better versions of the same for him to copy, why would he spend his time on useless skills?
'Anyway… show me if there are any special conditions…'
This was the sole reason he had bought the new function for his appraisal skill.
[Name: Yei Kazuo
Status ailment: Her consciousness is in a deep slumber. Both the physical body and the soul are completely safe, but the mind is in a deep sleep because of a masterfully crafted slumber spell.]
'…. a slumber spell? Someone specializing in sleep spells? Well that's rare.'
Ray wasn't really surprised. He knew that the Duke had invited people from all fields to inspect her condition but failed.
But there were a few types of skills that were very rare… soul, time, dream, space, life and death.
These six were probably the rarest type of skills that one could have. Someone had used a slumber spell on the duchess and put her to sleep.
In normal cases these spells were used by people to cure their sleep deprivation, sounds weird but these slumber spells were really not considered a strong skill.
However, upgraded enough times, such a skill could cause more than enough trouble as most people didn't have its cure other than the caster himself.
Just like in this case.
However, this wasn't a problem for Ray, but rather a boon because he had an actual dream spell, the real deal that was much stronger than those imitation sleep and slumber spells.
If Ray wanted, he could use his 'Dream Lord' skill to immediately pull her out of her sleep.
'But the thing is… I won't!'
Ray had successfully brewed chaos in the East, and now it was time for the North.
And why exactly would Ray instill chaos within his same empire?
To play both sides of course.
The chaos would cause the Dukes to focus on their own territories keeping them in check, and the hidden forces would suddenly face resistance from already secured fronts, disrupting their plans.
And finally, after enough observation when Ray would become the king, he would eliminate those that appeared evil to the public and sympathize for the honest and brave people who laid down lives for the empire.
With the 'patient's' condition determined, the oracle Aerich turned to look at the Duke solemnly.
"As I suspected, this is indeed a huge problem."
The Duke was surprised to see the so called oracle who was acting so disrespectful towards him turn to him with such serious eyes.
His heart shuddered fearing something incurable might have happened to his wife.
Trying not to show his emotions, he kept on a cold demeanor as he asked.
"What happened to her?"
'Aerich' shook his head and sighed.
"The duchess…"
*Gulp*
Kazuo was really on his nerves, this was far worse than facing a monster in battle.
"She is asleep!"
"What! She is asleep! Wait… she is… asleep?"
The Duke was so engrossed in the oracle's expression that he had exclaimed the moment he heard words come out of his mouth.
But after he registered what he just heard, his expression changed multiple times.
It was quite hilarious for Ray to see the Duke' cold face showing so many emotions at once.
From surprise… to disbelief… to questioning probably if the oracle was for real and then finally anger.
The calm aura in the room started riling up as Ray felt an intense bloodlust towards him.
'This is why you love manipulating muscleheads but hate having one for a teammate…'
"Are you joking right now?"
The Duke's voice was rising by the second.
"Are you really joking about my-"
But before he could finish, Ray interrupted him.
"Are you sure showing so much bloodlust near the defenseless duchess is a good idea?"
Suddenly a worried expression crossed the Duke's face as his bloodlust disappeared and he looked to see if his wife was fine.
There was no change in her expression as she stayed still without a care about the world.
Calming himself down, the Duke looked back at 'Aerich' with an extremely serious look.
"Explain."
Ray who had finally managed to get his full attention finally started speaking.
"You have already asked a lot of people about the duchess' condition and I am pretty sure all of them told you something similar…"
The Duke who remembered the recent conversation he was having before this man's arrival opened his mouth unintentionally.
"It appears that she is just sleeping… except that she is not..."
"Indeed. She is just sleeping, but not like a normal person would."
Kazuo was now listening to everything that the oracle said with an intent expression.
"Her consciousness has been suppressed by a spell and her mind will soon start removing all her memories… she will start forgetting everything…"
The Duke's eyes started wavering… he was trying his best to hold his expression but his nervousness and anger was visible.
'Who dared to cast such a spell on her? I have to investigate this as soon as possible!'
But he couldn't completely focus his anger on this damned person, as the consequence of this spell on his wife was much too serious for him to think about anything else.
Imagining the person who loved him so much lose all memory of him was too depressing to even think.
However this was a complete lie, her memories were in no danger, at least not with this slumber spell.
Ray had casually added a new clause due to two reasons. The first was to urge the Duke into making a decision soon and the other reason was…
"How do I cure her?"
"Royal Blood."
Immediately the Duke's whole demeanor changed as the suspicion in his eyes peaked.
'Is he a spy from another empire? Royal Blood? Is he asking me to harm the prince? How dare he!'
Seeing the suspicion and killing intent slowly appearing around him, Ray shook his head… this muscle head was jumping to conclusions once again.
"It's not what you think."
"Hmm?"
"You can just declare this problem to the royal prince and request some of his blood to solve your problem. Of course if you should be ready to follow some of his conditions…"
Realizing his misunderstanding, his suspicion disappeared.
Ray kept speaking.
"Royal blood, even if it's not the highest ranked, it has an extreme potency on people with lower bloodlines. It can forcefully upgrade their bloodlines or even their minds to an extent…"
The Duke of course knew this.
No one knew how the Royal bloodline first appeared, but ever since they did, the people with this type of bloodline were the target of many, coveted by everyone and highly protected.
In the history of the kings of the Celestial Empire, every king possessed this bloodline. No one knew if this was a coincidence or something entirely different.
Without stopping, Ray continued as he kept observing the Duke's expression.
"This effect could easily break any mental slumber spells that were in place…however you must be ready to pay a price if you want to obtain some of this blood…"
"…"
"How much you want to pay, it depends on you."
This was the second reason for Ray's lie.
From the Duke's perspective, if he didn't soon manage to get some of his blood, his wife would start losing her memories, which meant he would be willing to pay an extremely high price for just one drop of his blood.
Ray didn't know if he should feel pitiful for the man trying to save his wife, or laugh at his stupidity.
He could name any price he wanted and get away with it, but to cure his wife he wouldn't have to break a sweat.
What was it if not a complete scam?
'No, it's not a scam… at least I am curing his wife!'
At this moment Ray didn't know but a new word appeared on his status.
If he later opened it, he could see that his disposition had changed to neutral chaotic.