'Your Majesty.....' Nu called out inwardly, gazing at the state Ivan was in. He was in the same state as he was from the moment she jumped out of his shadow, tired.
Yes, Ivan was extremely fatigued but he wasn't showing it on the outside, considering his character, it wouldn't be weird if he wasn't even thinking about it, but Nu could tell.
Ivan was extremely tired and would very likely fall asleep the moment he found a safe and comfortable place, but the new planet they had arrived in didn't give them the leisure to rest as they intended to. At least, not until they hadn't completed with what they had to do.
It was situation where Nu could do nothing but girt her teeth in helplessness.
'I may be overstepping my boundaries, but.....' Nu thought as she scooted towards her left, where her King sat straight with a pondering expression on his face.
"What is it, my sly maid?" Her King asked in a low voice, noticing how he was still calling her how he used to, Nu's heart warmed, but
'I have to do it!' Nu resolved her will and bowed slightly, before voicing her thoughts. "Your Majesty can rest assured and take a rest, I shall protect you to the best of my abilities." Nu said in a whisper, with her head still bowed. In response to her concern filled words, Ivan smiled wryly, and spoke in a whisper.
"It is alright for now, and I need the information I'm currently gathering, it will be useful as the days pass, and...."
Ivan glanced at Nu from the corner of his eyes and smiled gently.
"I'm resting right now.... the position I rest hadn't once mattered on the Warfield, and it won't be any different even now." Ivan said and continued on with what he was doing, as Nu bit her lower lip as her heart clenched.
'He wanted to rest from the Warfield, yet he had merely returned to another!' Nu muttered inwardly.
*
As Ivan was pondering over the exclusive skill that seemed to have been with him since birth, he noticed Nu scoot over, and after his conversation with her,
'Being with those who know me, strangely puts my heart at ease.....' Ivan thought, as he was thankful for his maid's concern for him.
He was tired as she had understood, due to everything about "him" being sealed by the [System] that saw him as a threat. But, he still couldn't afford to show any of his current state without even knowing who was a friend and who was a foe. Thankfully, due to his state, there weren't any beads of sweat that could display his state.
He could trust his back to Nu and Zilla with 100% assurance that no harm would come to him, but his pride wouldn't allow him to be weak in front of his subjects, it wasn't how "he" was.
DING-!
[To Grow Stronger (#1 Chain-Quest)]
[You have endured [Tired] status for [00H: 30M: 00S]]
[Reward: 1 Free stat point]
"?"
'What is a [Tired] status?' Ivan muttered inwardly.
DING-!
[You are the first one from the [Gate-5] to learn about the [Hidden] function of the [Status Window]]
[[Status] function has revealed itself]
====
[Stats] [Profile] <[Status]>
==
[Cursed], [Tired], [Weakened], [Sealed], [Protected]
====
'Wow.....' Ivan was amazed to learn that the [System] could even perfectly gauge the state he was in, though he was confused with the [Protected] status.
DING-!
[Stats: Stamina, Tenacity, and Intelligence increased [Forcibly] by 0.25]
"??"
'What's going on with this....' Ivan thought, as he felt a subtle increase in his "stats" which forced him to focus on his status window that was buried behind the ridiculous amount of notifications.
But,
DING-!
[[System]'s state of [Protection] has ended!]
[Disabling [Status Window]]
ZZUP-!
"....." Ivan gazed at the [System]'s status window interface that had disappeared, but the notification interfaces continued to linger around in front of his eyes.
'Wha....'
"Status window!?"
"System!"
"Stats!?"
"S-status!!?"
...
....
"Wha-what is going on?"
"Why did my status window suddenly disappear?"
"State of protection?"
"What is this bullshit?"
Chaos ensured as soon as the system's notification interface that had continued to linger in front of everyone even after they walked into the [Gate-5] disappeared, leaving everybody dumbfounded.
"Oh, I forgot to mention! The system ceases its protection after its child leaves its nest." Velor announced with a face that indicated that he purposefully didn't inform them about it. But, Ivan could notice a strong tremor in Sir Velor's emotions which ended with Velor biting his lip in regret that was masked extremely well. The abrupt surge of various emotions confused Ivan, but his confusion got cleared by Velor's next course of actions.
"You, you, you son of a b-"
BAM-!
A rogue-looking man stood pointing at Velor, and just as he was about to curse at Velor, he appeared in front of the man in that instance and punched at the rogue-looking man, straight at his face, with a bluish spiral hue surrounding his arm, which busted the man's head like a watermelon, while the flesh chunks of the now dead man's brain matter and blood splattered every where.
"Hold your tongue, big guy, who gave you the permission to curse at the [Commander Of The Silver Knights Order]?" Velor spoke with a threatening glare, directed at the slumped headless body of the dead man.
After a moment of deafening silence,
"Argh....blergh...."
"Aaaaaaaaa!!!!"
"Huckh...."
"Blergh!!!"
The weak willed hurled at the sight, as those who were used to blood scattered with terrified howls, while four people stayed gazing at Velor and the slumped body in front of him without a change in their expressions.
Of course, it was Keith, Zilla, Nu, and Ivan.
"Listen here, this isn't a world that is even similar to that of your, no, our previous world. Here, death of the weak isn't even spared a glance, and currently, you guys are weak and insignificant, you guys are merely bugs that could be squashed at a sight by the stronger ones that can easily get annoyed at a sight of insignificant people like yourselves, if you want to survive, keep your head low and get stronger, or prove your worth, only these conditions can help ease the way to walk your way up." Velor said as he kicked off the ground and jumped back to the middle of the training hall, where two knights were seen standing a few steps away from each other with their swords pointed at each other.
"Watch the battle, pick a [Blessing], and follow the mage, who'll lead to the [Worlds Academy]." Velor added.
"Then, begin!"
‡‡‡
[AN: Novel's schedule update!! Three chapters a week: Mon, Thur, and Sun! Extra chapters at the end of the week, if the goal is fulfilled of course.]
Then,
[Peace]