[Author's Note: Hey everyone! It's me, Damian. I am so sorry for the late update, classes are back in session so I won't be able to keep up with weekly updates anymore. Also, today's chapter might be shorter than usual, but I'll update the next one soon. Aside from that little sad piece of news. I have great news! Two pieces of great news, in fact.
1. This is the twenty-fifth chapter of the series, and we've reached past 15K views! *Applause*
2. After looking at my chapter release rate, I estimate that I'll be able to finish writing volume 1 and release its good copy on Webnovel somewhere between mid-October and early November! *Applause!*
To celebrate, I'll be hosting another vote for a special chapter! I'm afraid Izelia isn't among the candidates this time since I already focused a chapter on her.
So, the candidates for the next special chapter are Lilith, Helen, Isabella and Medea.
I'm personally leaning toward either Helen or Lilith since they made more appearances in the series so far than the other two. However, who knows!? If there are enough votes, I might write a special chapter about Isabella or Medea instead! Anyway, be sure to let me know who you want to see in the special chapter, and as always, thank you readers for sparing a bit of your time to read my novel. I've already talked long enough, so enjoy!]
*Crunch!*
*Crunch!*
The entire cafeteria was filled with only the noise of two young and beautiful girls who were savouring what appeared to be golden apples. One black-haired and one blue-haired.
They had expressions of pure bliss on their face as they munched on the golden apples.
Five minutes ago, they were slowly savouring the gold fruits but after they tearfully finished the last bite of the golden apple, they were offered more by Charles.
After confirming he wasn't joking, the two beauties decided to eat them with relish and gusto. The speed that they ate the apples with and the slight bulge on their cheeks made them look like a pair of cute squirrels.
A few minutes passed until the girls were satisfied.
Satisfied to the point that they refused to touch the meals they ordered.
"Phew! I'm stuffed!"
Lilith said while wiping her lips and fingers free of the gold juice that stuck to her fingers from the fruit.
Helen agreed with the black-haired beauty.
"I doubt I take in a single spoonful of soup."
With their stomachs full, the girls decided to kill off time by chatting with Charles.
More specifically, talking about what could be the reason why he was given so many Eternal Fruits that entire countries would go to war for.
Helen was the first to start.
"Sir Charles, do you know why you may have obtained so many Eternal Fruits? Each one is a sacred treasure nations would war over for."
Lilith joined in.
"That's right, the only possible way is if you were an elf/spirit/god or a good friend to these three beings. Otherwise, even if you somehow obtain the fruits, without the permission of one of those three beings or Yggdrasil, the Eternal Fruit would immediately wither away."
Charles, who was eating his steak, took his time to chew and swallow before giving an answer that surprised the girls.
"If those are the requirements for obtaining these Eternal Fruits, then I pass with flying powers. Not only am I blessed by the High Goddess Ishta, which elevated me to Demi-God status, my lover, or rather, soon-to-be wife is a High Elf."
The girls took several long moments to register what he said before both girls-
""WHAT!?! YOU'RE MARRIED TO A HIGH ELF!?!""
Charles, in the midst of taking a bite of the piece of steak on his fork, recoiled from the volume of the girls' voices and dropped his fork.
He internally thought to himself.
(What in Ishta's name is with the voices of these women!? I swear, they could all be opera singers and be able to shatter glass with that loudness of theirs!)
Charles rubbed his ears before turning his attention to the noisy duo, who were still asking questions non-stop.
He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and exasperation, slightly shaking his head.
Then he removed his hand and looked at the girls, asking them to politely stop talking.
"Will you pair of chatterboxes please calm down!?"
With such a direct and annoyed response, the girls stopped talking and looked away embarrassed by how they behaved like gossiping school girls. Well, they can't be held at total fault. Everyone loves a juicy rumour especially when it's about romance.
At an age as young as theirs, it would be more surprising if they didn't gossip. Although I have to be honest, I didn't picture Miss Helen, who usually appears so cold and calculating to be interested in others' love lives.
I suppose it's the ice queen aura that she exudes, just look at that permanent judgemental look in her eyes and the constant air of coldness she gives off. This is a good example of why you should never judge a book by its cover.
But personally, as a writer, I tend to find people will gravitate toward neat-looking books with nice covers sitting in the front window of a well-established bookstore rather than a tattered, dirty and cheaply bound book with a horse-skin cover with questionable stains on it.
It's a very unusual phenomenon. I once asked my old psychologist friend Lord William James Freud about it, quite a good friend to discuss philosophical and psychological matters with but has extremely controversial.
Apparently, he said that it had something to do with the vast majority of sentient beings often judging something by their outside looks at first glance if they are unaware of the said thing's contents. He called it the Halo Effect.
Freud's theory does make some sense but it's hard to agree with him when he also theorised that we humans were innately born with a lust for their mother and a hatred for their father.
It's ridiculous but he might not be far off from the truth. I've seen too many noble young brats with mommy issues and a rebellious attitude against their fathers.
I wonder if I would've been like that if my mother didn't get killed and my father stayed.
I'm still curious as to who he is, but even if I found out his identity, he would most likely be already buried six feet under. Either from old age or the devastating wars caused by Notoros.
Where was I going with this? I feel like I'm getting off topic.
Ah, yes!
Don't judge a book by its cover. Not the most accurate of figure of speech.
Wow, I really went around in circles with that one. I might need to get myself checked for any mental diseases.
Even if I'm getting older, my brain still processes information at a faster speed than others. A second of silence to a normal human would be worth a full minute to me. In that one minute, I could run over several dozen different scenarios on how a conflict between nations might break out and who the winner might be.
If you thought that was impressive, you should have seen me in my prime! I could've processed several hundred similar scenarios! Unfortunately, when I was young, I wasn't as wise as I am currently, so most of them tended to be inaccurate.
Goodness! I've been engaging in my inner-monologue for far too long! Anyone reading my thoughts would be bored to death by my ramblings! I should give my answer to the young ladies right about now.
I broke out of my thoughts and re-awoke to reality.
For the next few minutes, I entertained the young ladies with stories from Solaris, about my history and of course, most importantly, my relationship with Izelia.
Of course, I didn't divulge everything. A man with secrets draws women's attention and also because I don't have time.
I won't bore any of you with the conversations we had word-for-word but it essentially boiled down to this.
I told them of my background as the Supreme Commander of all of Solaris' armies, my epic battle against Demon King Notoros, how I was Lady Ishta's representative and my relationship with Izelia.
It was quite irritating to see how they hung on to every word I said about my love life but showed little interest in my heroic deeds of vanquishing (temporarily) a great threat to the universe or my status as a Demi-God.
After revealing my background, the two fair young ladies revealed theirs.
Lady Lilith's was as I expected from how everyone treated and regarded her, she was the heiress to a crumbling family who committed the grave act of insulting a god and had lived most of her life in misery.
Lady Helen was the first princess of the Beland Kingdom, one of the major powerhouses on the continent. She was the complete opposite of Lilith. Cold, calculating and born with an honourable lineage and a golden spoon in her mouth. There wasn't much about her life, attending balls, hosting social events with girls her age to build influence, learning how to run the country and training to be fit of the dignity and status of a royal.
There is one interesting thing of note about her. Although neither she nor Lilith openly talked about it, I can tell by their attitudes toward each other.
There's no doubt about it.
They used to be friends.
Although I haven't known them for long but I can tell from personal experience that these two were once friends who became estranged after a certain event that forced one to betray the other.
When I say betray, I don't necessarily mean it to be actually betrayal. It could be a mistake that cost the other greatly.
I still don't have the full picture. However, from what I can discern, Helen was the one who "betrayed" Lilith. Given Lilith's expression of fear and discontent when Helen offered to be her temporary guardian.
Helen was regretful of her mistake but Lilith refuses to continue to associate with her, due to having overcome her past trauma/bad memories of that fateful event.
I won't pry or try to resolve their relationship, that is something that is best left between the two of them to fix. Me trying to interfere might only make their current relationship sour further, but if they were to ask me to help them reconcile with each other, it would be a different story. For now, I'll remain an observer in their drama.
For the rest of the while, we engaged in idle conversation and ate our lunches.
Then the bell rang, signalling students to move on to their next class.
[Author's Note: If you want faster release dates, be sure to leave a Power Stone or a comment! They really help out a lot! Also, I've already gotten started on the next chapter which should come out in two to four days. Stay tuned!]