Once we arrived inside the Pagoda, we saw the same plump manager from last time standing in front of us while rubbing his hands weirdly.
"Prince Elif, Princess Elaine, Young Mistress Sarah; Your presence alone fills me with great joy, and the fact that you three picked my restaurant to dine at causes my pride to swell!" Exclaimed the manager, smiling so big that it looked creepy, and coupled with him rubbing his hands together, only further intensified his weirdness.
"Brother, why is he acting so weird?" Asked Elaine, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the man's behavior.
"I don't know. Manager, stop acting like that; can't you see my little sister is uncomfortable?" Answered Elif before looking at the manager and reprimanding him.
"My apologies, your highnesses; my emotions got the best of me. Now if you three could follow me, I've prepared a banquet on the top floor for you all to enjoy." Said the manager with a bow before turning around and heading towards the spiral staircase in the middle of the pagoda.
Following behind the manager up the spiral staircase, we eventually reached the topmost floor that led to a set of doors at the end corridor; once we arrived at the doors, it was instantly opened by two servants standing beside each door. Even though the dining room was the same one I had eaten at four years ago, right now, it looked much more grandiose.
"Woah, it looks far more marvelous than the last time we were here." Commented Sarah as she looked around the room in slight fascination.
"Last time, you dined here without informing the Elven Cuisine Pagoda beforehand, so I couldn't fully furnish everything; but this is how it is supposed to look for beings of your status. I hope you enjoy it, and if you dislike anything, please inform me, and I shall have it immediately fixed." Said the manager with pride as he stood by the entrance like a servant.
Walking to the farthest seat by the large glass wall, I sat down while Elaine moved one of the thrones closer to me before sitting down; Sarah seeing this, just pouted as she sat on a throne on the opposite side of the table.
"If I knew you two were going to act like that, I wouldn't have bothered agreeing to come with you two." Said Sarah as she grabbed a plate and utensils before filling her plate with various fruits and vegetables.
"Don't blame me; Elaine is the one who moved the throne closer to me." Replied Elif defensively, as he also filled his plate up with food.
"This is my first time eating here, so I wanted Brother to help pick the best foods for me." Said Elaine innocently while looking at Sarah before asking Elif.
After filling my plate and Elaine's plate with food, we began eating while casually talking about random topics, and before we knew it, the atmosphere was filled with joy.
"That's not even the funniest part; he then again tried to-" Said Elif as he explained a joke while Sarah and Elaine were laughing; however, he stopped talking as he noticed the manager had approached him.
"I'm greatly sorry, and I hope you can forgive my intrusion, but several very important guests have arrived and would like to dine with you if possible." Said the manager carefully while slightly afraid of possibly angering Elif for interrupting him.
Usually, I would've dismissed the manager immediately while not even bothering to know who had arrived; however, since I was currently in a good mood, I decided to at least ask who were the so-called important guests.
"Who are the guests?" Asked Elif as he slightly calmed down before taking a sip from his silver cup.
"They are Young Mistress Kare, Young Master Maga, Young Mistress Alf, Young Mistress Starlet, Young Mistress Felecia, and Young Master Osborn." Answered the manager while bowing.
"Ahh, those six. Yes, why not let them in?" Said Elif as he ordered the manager to let them in.
A minute later, all six arrived in the room; they bowed slightly to Elaine and I before sitting in any open seats.
"There had been rumors among the nobles that the Crown Prince had gone into isolated cultivation. Were they possibly true?" Asked Osborn, igniting curiosity in the other five nobles, and just like his father, he is wearing weird attire.
"Hmph, I wished I had spent the last six months in isolated cultivation." Replied Elif while remembering his time in the spirit realm.
"Ahh, I knew you looked familiar! You're the one who hurt brother two years ago!" Exclaimed Elaine angrily as she stood up in her seat, causing all the attention to be focused on her while she pointed at Alf, and even though she was only four years older than Elif, her body had already developed to the point where her body unconsciously exuded a womanly charm.
"Yes, that is me, Princess Elaine. Is there a problem?" Asked Alf, though she wasn't that good when interacting with people, so she usually came off as rude.
"Tch, is there a problem? Well, there's about to be; come here, Women!" Yelled Elaine angrily, looking like she was about to jump towards Alf, though before she could, Elif grabbed her hand and pulled her into his embrace.
"Calm down, Elaine, it happened two years ago, and I've long since recovered from that fight; besides, it was a tournament, so there are no hard feelings between us, alright?" Said Elif as he affectionately rubbed Elaine's head, successfully calming her down.
"Hmph, fine, I won't punish her. For now." Said Elaine as a slight smile emerged on her angry face while Elif pampered her with head pats.
"So, Prince Elif, if I'm not overstepping my boundaries, where were you for the past six months?" Asked Maga, who had already filled his plate with food, while shifting the topic back to Elif's whereabouts.
"Well, it was nowhere interesting, but if you wish to know, I don't mind telling you guys." Said Elif as he once again explained his experience in the spirit realm while Elaine got comfortable on his lap.
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"Excuse my obtrusion, Prince Elif. But do you mean to tell me that this 'System' could improve one's cultivation by merely completing some missions the artifact assigns you and killing living beings!?" Asked Starlet, as she, along with the other five nobles, looked greatly flabbergasted.
"Hmm yeah. I also think that his specific 'System' could absorb someone else's Qi, which speeds up the process, but I'm not completely sure." Answered Elif casually as he ate his favorite food, lightning cherries.
"Excuse my words, Prince Elif, but if he truly had an artifact like that, I wholly understand why he lied to you. If word got out that all he had to do was kill people to raise his cultivation, people would hunt him down until the end of time." Said Felecia, as she would kill to have an artifact like that.
"Of course, who wouldn't wish to keep such an ability a secret?" Said Alf as she took a bite of some meat, and while Elves can eat meat, most Elves would instead prefer food like fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
"Hmph, you guys make it sound like that so-called 'System' was powerful; even if all he had to do was kill to raise his cultivation, he was still easily defeated by brother." Stated Elaine, who until now had been quietly lying in Elif's lap.
"But of course, Princess Elaine, how could someone from such a forsaken realm ever hope of defeating Prince Elif? We, however, do not mean to say that the artifact's owner was powerful, but the artifact itself was powerful." Explained Kare, who is currently in the process of filling her second plate of food.
"Just Imagine if the artifact was properly utilized by someone already powerful, like Marley or Prince Elif himself! Wouldn't their already fast cultivation speed rapidly accelerate even more along with a massive increase in strength?" Said Maga in amazement.
"It might have an effect on Marley, but I highly doubt it would affect myself, and besides, not only would it be useless to me, I would much rather not have some artifact fused to my soul. Also, there is no pride in having an artifact do everything for you." Said Elif, slight loathing in his voice when mentioning the system.
"I must agree with you on that, Prince Elif. I've worked hard to achieve my current power, and I would never trade that out for something like that." Said Alf in a prideful tone before taking another bite of meat.
"I can't disagree with you there, Alf, but I'm sure not everyone thinks the same." Said Osborn while also watching the dancers on stage.
Before someone could speak, the entrance door was practically busted open, causing everyone to look in that direction, while everyone except me, Illumia, Maxim, the dancers, and the manager showed displeased expressions.
"I heard the news that Prince Elif and Princess Elaine were currently dining at the Elven Cuisine Pagoda along with the other nobles, and to think that no one bothered informing me? Especially you, little sister; I'm quite disappointed in your actions; I might need to punish you later." Said the beautiful young woman, though her arrogant expression somewhat diminished her beauty.
"Ahh, Marley, I've been hoping you would eventually appear. Come, sit down, and join us." Said Elif while a smile appeared on his face.