Chapter 139: Unnamed

"Are you certain about this?" Seth asked as he looked at his father, standing by the window and gazing down at the City below.

The Grand Duke smiled as he continued looking out the window, but instead of replying, he asked a question of his own, "What do you see out there?"

Seth was a bit confused, but he still walked towards the window and looked outside before replying, "A peaceful dukedom."

"Hmm," Grand Duke Zephir nodded, adding, "How long do you think this peace will remain?"

Seth remained silent for a moment before answering, "A long time, I hope."

Zephir chuckled before nodding again, "So did I."

He continued looking at his people going about their day with smiles on their faces. By all means, the West could be said to be the most accomplished dukedom.

After all, Life carried on as though nothing could disturb it.

"But peace is a fragile thing," the Grand Duke quietly said, "It only exists because someone is standing between it... and whatever seeks to destroy it."

Seth frowned, "You’re talking about Lady Renelle?"

The Grand Duke turned away from the window, but instead of looking directly at his son, he looked behind him and said, "What do you think, Linda?"

Seth finally noticed his younger sister’s presence behind him.

"I think our world is changing," Linda calmly said, "and whether we like it or not, Lady Renelle and her butler are at the center of it all."

She stopped beside her brother before adding, "and father’s decision would ensure this peace is maintained, even if that means switching alliances."

Seth was silent for a while before letting out a sigh, "So you truly believe Lady Renelle can replace him?"

"I don’t know," the Grand Duke answered honestly, "She’s still young and inexperienced in many aspects."

His lips curled into a faint smile before he added, "But she possesses something that the current king no longer does."

"What’s that?" Seth asked.

"The resolve to act."

Unlike the King’s recent blank expression, Renelle’s eyes held the same fire as the Lightbringer’s previously did.

She also hadn’t begged for his loyalty, even though they might need the West.

She had simply stated what she believed needed to be done and accepted that he might refuse.

"She isn’t gathering allies for power," Zephir said quietly, "she’s gathering them because she genuinely believes Avera won’t survive otherwise."

Seth was silent for a while before nodding, "if that’s what the Grand Duke believes."

"Speaking of which," he then turned towards Linda and asked, "where’re our guests?"

"Well..." Linda seemed a bit hesitant before answering, "they’ve gone sightseeing."

***

"This is really good," Renelle muttered with her mouth full and a plate in hand.

Her other hand held what seemed like grilled shrimp as she moved it towards her butler’s mouth, "Try it."

Adrian calmly bit the shrimp before nodding in agreement.

He wasn’t a fan of seafood, but the grilled shrimp truly was good.

Renelle’s eyes lit up as Adrian accepted the bite.

"See? I told you it was good."

"It is," the butler admitted.

A satisfied smile spread across her face before she immediately reached for another skewer.

"This one too."

Again, he didn’t object.

Since they had promised to help the West get stronger, they might as well spend a bit more time in the capital.

Besides, it would take a while to get Alvíss here.

Well... given that he was about to get a few hundred lab rats, he would probably get here in a day.

Or perhaps even in a few hours.

Until then, Adrian would spend time with his lady.

***

The duo spent a while touring the city, and by the time they returned, the sun was already setting.

And just as Adrian had expected, Alvíss was already waiting for them at the Manor.

The old man was harassing one of the spirit mages that would very soon become his lab rat.

"Say ahhh," the old dwarf said as he forced the man’s mouth open whilst he looked inside.

This procedure was completely unrelated to whatever Alvíss was going to do to make them stronger, but he was having so much fun since the spirit mages couldn’t exactly deny his orders.

"You’re making them uncomfortable, old man," Adrian spoke up as he got close enough.

"I thought you’d be dead in the dungeon you’re searching for by now," the old man responded with a frown on his face as he noticed the butler walking beside his Lady.

"I take it you’ve met your experiments?" Adrian simply asked, and the old man turned towards the spirit mages gathered before him.

Alvíss placed a hand on his chin as he looked at them. "Unlike the boy, these are already contracted to spirits."

"So making them like Conan would be impossible," Adrian understood his words.

"Yes," the old man nodded, "but there’s still a way we can quickly get their spirits to Superior or Prime."

"I see," Adrian muttered, "and I’m guessing that requires a lot of cores?"

"Yes," the old man nodded, "I’ll ensure that they don’t explode during the process."

"That’s a relief," Adrian muttered without a change in his expression.

The spirit mages, on the other hand, felt a chill go down their spines as they heard that.

Perhaps this experiment to make them stronger, that they had volunteered for, wasn’t a good idea anymore.

Unfortunately, it was too late to back out now.

The Grand Duke looked at the old man’s interaction with the butler for a while before shaking his head.

As far as he had heard, this old man was the same one who enabled the other kid representing the Academy during the festival to use multiple elements.

Seth had also turned out to be very interested in that, so he had also volunteered to be part of the experiment.

Unfortunately, Alvíss had burst his bubble when he informed him that it would be impossible for him to use multiple elements.

Unless he somehow contracted a Prime spirit capable of wielding multiple elements, but the chances of that happening were astronomically low.

"Don’t look so disappointed, brat," Alvíss snorted as he noticed Seth’s expression, "your spirit is already excellent. Trying to force multiple elements onto it would be like trying to turn a sword into a bow."

"Sounds like a waste of a perfectly good sword, doesn’t it?"

Well....the old man hadn’t figured out how to make a spirit born from a specific type of mana use another; otherwise, their conversation right now would be quite different.

"It does," Seth nodded in agreement.

"Exactly," Alvíss crossed his arms as he nodded, "a spirit is born from a specific affinity; trying to make a fire spirit wield water is like trying to teach a fish how to fly."

He paused before muttering, "not that I haven’t tried."

"..."

Who in their right mind would even think of trying something like that?

He had assumed Alvíss meant finding a way for a Spirit Mage to safely contract multiple spirits.

Not trying to force a single spirit to wield multiple elements.

The more he listened to the old man, the more convinced he became that the dwarf’s mind simply worked differently from everyone else’s.

Not force a single spirit to wield multiple.

The more he listened to the old man, the more convinced he became that the dwarf’s mind simply worked differently from everyone else’s.

In other words, he was convinced that the old man was crazy.

The old man then turned towards the Grand Duke before saying, "We’ll get started when the cores are prepared."

Zephir placed a hand on his chin as he muttered, "Most beast cores we had in the treasury had been used for magic tools."

He then turned towards his spirit mages as he added, "So we’ll head out to hunt at dawn."

***

"The West, huh?" The cult master muttered as he rested his chin on his fist. "I wonder what they’re searching for."

"According to our source, it seems they’re looking for a dungeon," a man in a cloak responded with his head still bowed.

"Is that so?" The cult master muttered.

"Y-yes, master," the bowing man said, "but we still have no idea which Dungeon they’re searching for...or why."

"B-but we do know that before the dungeon, they’ll be heading out to hunt some beasts first."

The Cult Master slowly tapped a finger against the armrest of his throne.

"A beast hunt..." he murmured before a faint smile spread across his lips, "How convenient."

The kneeling cultist lowered his head even further.

"Master?"

"Dispatch a few pets to interfere with their hunt," the cult master said.

"R-right away!"

With that, the cloaked figure got off the ground and immediately rushed to fulfill his assigned task.

The Cult master silently continued tapping his armrest for a while before letting out a chuckle.

Adrian’s current plan of uniting Avera under Renelle’s rule would interfere with his, and h