"I hope you didn't feel offended by my actions earlier, Prince Elif; however, holding onto such a disastrous item like an Immortal pill required every bit of secrecy possible." Said the Human woman calmly after having scanned the dimension ring.
"Understandable, just curious though, who are you really? Because even if you are a manager of a Realm Auction house, seeing a low-Immortal spirit stone is incredibly rare, let alone thousands of mid-Immortal spirit stones." Asked Elif, curious at the identity of the human before him.
"Well then, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Aria, the second disciple of the founder of the Realm Auction house and the current chairwoman of the Realm Auction house." Said Aria as she greeted Elif while removing her veil, allowing Eyvor, Birger, and Elif to view her face.
"Hmm, she's quite beautiful." Muttered Birger to himself, though not quiet enough considering everyone heard him.
"I must agree with you; her beauty is almost comparable to an Elf's. Well, now that my curiosity has been put to rest, we should return to the palace, as I'm sure our parents must've finished their talk by now." Said Elif as he stood up, followed by Eyvor and a slightly embarrassed Birger.
"Before you leave, here's a crystal ball; with this, you can contact me wherever." Said Aria as three small crystal balls appeared in her hand.
"No offense, but I don't see myself ever needing to contact you in the future." Replied Elif as he rejected her offer, though everyone except Illumia twitched from how blunt his rejection was.
"W-While that might be true, Prince Elif, the future is unknown; maybe my help could be useful?" Said Aria, slightly taken aback by Elif's honesty.
She's not wrong, though; I still find it hard to see myself ever contacting her over father and mother. I mean, I'm the prince of an Immortal Empire; what could the Realm Auction house possibly have that my Empire doesn't already have or couldn't easily acquire? Still, I figured having more connections could be a good thing; there was nothing wrong with getting to know more people.
"Hmm, I suppose you're right, so I'll take you up on that offer." Said Elif as he, along with Eyvor and Birger, all grabbed a crystal ball before storing them in their dimension ring.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Prince Elif, Prince Birger, and Young Mistress Eyvor; I will leave first as I still have important business to take care of. Till we meet again." Said Aria as she put on her veil before vanishing from the booth.
"Let us head back to the palace then." Muttered Elif as the three began walking toward the exit of the Auction house while conversing about the events that transpired during the auction.
Once we made it back to the carriage, we all got inside and sat down before the carriage began moving, though while the carriage was traversing through the city, I noticed a carriage in the distance with the crest of the Eve family. Ordering the Unicorns to head toward the carriage, I had the carriage park directly next to it when we arrived.
"Sarah, what are you doing way out here?" Asked Elif after having slightly opened the window.
"Ah, your highness, what are you doing outside? Is it not her highness's birthday? You should be there celebrating her birthday rather than roaming around outside!" Reprimanded Sarah after opening the window, allowing Elif and her to communicate easily.
"For your information, some important guests arrived, so I had to entertain them while they were visiting. Besides, you know how much Elaine wanted to cultivate, so now that she finally can, do you think she'll do anything else?" Said Elif, removing the curtains blocking the window, allowing Sarah to view Eyvor and Birger sitting across from Elif.
"Hello Sarah, I'm Eyvor, heir to the Divine Fairy Clan. Nice to meet a friend of Elifs." Announced Eyvor as she waved at Sarah with a slight smile.
"And I'm Birger, Prince of the Divine Druid Kingdom. Nice to meet you as well, Sarah." Announced Birger, though, the way he looked at Sarah was quite special for some reason.
"Ahh, It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Birger and Mistress Eyvor. I'm the daughter of the current patriarch of the Noble Eve family, and you already know my name, so I don't think I need to repeat that." Said Sarah, sounding much more confident than when she first met Elif a couple of years ago.
"You never answered my question; what are you doing way out here?"
"Obviously, in search of a gift for her highness." Said Sarah as she held up a gift already boxed up for Elif to see.
"Well then, I suggest you hold off on gifting those to her until tomorrow, as I'm sure she is still in her room attempting to cultivate." Advised Elif, still wondering why Elaine got resources to help sense Qi while he didn't.
"Ok, also don't tell her highness, I have gifts for her; I want them to be a surprise!" Said Sarah while setting down the box and putting her finger in front of her mouth as if to silence Elif.
"I didn't plan to say anything, to begin with. Anyways, we must get going; I'll see you tomorrow." Said Elif as he closed the window and curtains while ordering the Unicorns to continue heading toward the palace.
"Alright, bye, your highness; see you tomorrow." Replied Sarah, doing the same thing as Elif, except her carriage went in the opposite direction as his.
While the carriage began heading toward the palace again, I noticed Birger had been staring out the window in the same spot Sarah was previously positioned in and hadn't said a word since then.
"Everything alright, Birger?" Asked Elif as he covered the bottom half of his face with his quạt tay to the hide smirk that had formed.
"Ah, yes, everything is fine; I was just thinking, that's all." Said Birger, slightly startled at having been broken out of his thoughts.
We didn't speak much for the rest of the journey and sat in silence, all of us seemingly thinking about something important as we only spoke once we had arrived back at the Palace.
"We've arrived at the Royal Palace, Prince Elif." Said Mandy from outside the carriage.
"Hmm, let us go and find our parents now." Muttered Elif, Eyvor, and Birger, agreeing with him as they all got out of the carriage.
Once we got out of the carriage, we walked through the hallways while conversing until he arrived at the room where we met each other first; luckily, our parents were there too. However, contrary to the serious and heavy atmosphere I was expecting to walk into, it was actually quite joyful and friendly.
"Father, mother, we've returned. Have you finished talking yet?" Asked Elif, walking inside with Eyvor and Birger following right after while Illumia waited outside.
"Ahh Elif, yes, come in. We've been finished for some time and were casually talking." Said Marcus, as he, Maria, Aasveig, and Nerthus were all in a pleasant mood.
"It seems like you three have gotten comfortable with each other, so how was exploring Yggdrasil?" Asked Maria as she watched the three sit down on the couch together.
"Well, we didn't really explore Yggdrasil; all we did was go to the Realm Auction house for a few hours before returning." Said Elif as he grabbed the bowl of lighting cherries that was on the table.
"Still, it was quite an enjoyable time, Empress Maria; Birger and I had managed to acquire some valuable materials and witness representatives from the six other Immortal Hegemonies." Stated Eyvor respectfully.
"Then I guess it was quite the fruitful experience." Said Maria as she sipped her tea.
"Now that you three returned, I think it's about time to get going; we don't wish to take any more of your time on such an important day." Said Aasveig as he and Nerthus stood up and set down their tea cups.
"Are you both sure? Elaine is still inside her room attempting to cultivate, so it's not like we're missing anything by hosting you guys." Said Marcus as he and Maria stood up as well.
"We appreciate the hospitality, but even so, it's the principle that today is an important day, and intruding any longer would make us feel uncomfortable." Declared Nerthus, not budging an inch.
"Well, if you two are so adamant about it, then alright, we won't stop you; just try not to visit unannounced next time." Said Maria as she began walking them out.
"I had a great time Prince Elif, and when you visit my Kingdom, I'll make sure to host a large banquet." Said Birger with a smile as he stood up and shook Elifs hand.
"I'll take you up on that offer, though really all you need is some lightning cherries, and that's good enough for me." Replied Elif, reciprocating Birger's handshake.
"I, too, had a wonderful time, Prince Elif, and the same offer extends to you as well; I would love to have you visit my clan as a guest." Said Eyvor with a charming smile and a light blush on her transparent cheeks.
"I see no reason to refuse such a good offer. Meeting both of you was quite enjoyable, and I look forward to next time." Said Elif with a smile and a wave as he watched them leave the room with their parents and Maria.
"So, now that it's just the two of us, mind informing me why you thought it would be a good idea to battle with the newly arrived guests I told you to host?" Asked Marcus as he grabbed Elifs shoulder, preventing him from escaping.
'Ugh, now I know why I've had such a bad feeling.' Thought Elif, mentally sighing at the situation he's arrived in.