Chapter 40 - Chapter 6: Encounter #2

Chapter 40 - Chapter 6: Encounter #2

The dryad druid, Daphne.

She had been 17 in the Year 513. Therefore, in Year 512, she was 16.

She often frequented the Great Garden and Botanical Garden in the Demon King’s Palace.

Her hobby including sunbathing and all boys, girls, women and men considered her a beauty.

The vampire blood knight, Silas.

He was 17 years old. The areas he frequented were the training ground and art museums.

His hobbies were cleaning equipment and painting.

The high elf archer, Selene.

She was 14 years old. The areas she frequented were the stables, training centres and libraries.

Her hobbies included reading romance novels and taking care of horses.

When he thought of the names, he was reminded of their age, areas they liked to frequent and hobbies.

‘I must secure one of these three children of the concubines.’

When Knight Saga had first begun in Year 513, those three were definitely in the faction of a prince or princess. All three of them weren’t adults yet and they liked to go around alone.

'I met Nayatra for the first time outside the Demon King’s Palace, I can get Vandal if I am stronger than him and Sektum is wandering around the wilderness right now.’

Nayatra, the succubus, was one of Zephyr’s escort knights.

Vandal, the ogre, was responsible for being the vanguard of the team.

Sektum was called the worst necromancer.

In the case of Nayatra, he had met her at the underground slave market, so it was important to earn enough money before then.

‘It was completely lucky that I found Sektum in a random area... I will put it off for now.’

After thinking about his favourite subordinates when playing Zephyr, he came up with another influential person.

Gallehed, Caitlin’s true father and the strongest of the five captains.

‘He is on the same side as Caitlin, so I might be able to get along with him.’

He couldn’t think of a way to approach the other captains right now. Even when he had been playing Zephyr, he didn’t know them that well until Zephyr’s merit level was high enough.

'Okay, then Daphne, Silas and Selene are at the top of the list while I will ponder about the rest.’

In-gong finished thinking and nodded with a cheerful expression.

'By the way, where is this place?’

“We are here.”

Just as In-gong was about to check the mini-map, Flora’s voice stopped him. Carack, who was following behind her, let out a cry of admiration.

“Ohh.”

A picturesque house was literally right in front of him. A stone wall surrounded the entire mansion and inside was a spacious garden with a cozy looking two-storey mansion.

The mansions located on the east side went for practicality rather than glamour. The soft ivy coloured walls and red roof gave it a calm feeling.

The mansion would be his residence in the future, so In-gong was rather excited.

Once he entered the grounds of the mansion, he saw things that had previously been blocked by the stone walls.

On one side of the garden, there were items that seemed to be sent from the Merits Department for his achievements and a group of people was standing next to it.

"9th Prince, welcome back.”

Out of the group that seemed a little less than 10 people, one person stepped forward and greeted In-gong. It was a middle-aged man who gave off a somewhat relaxed impression.

"I received word that you were moving residences, so I packed up quickly.”

In-gong had never seen the face before but In-gong could guess his identity.

‘The people who serve Shutra.’

When he looked closely, the nine people didn’t belong to the same group. Six of them originally belonged to this mansion and the rest were people who used to serve Shutra.

‘Did they get the message that I was coming back?’

Come to think of it, he didn’t see any direct servants greet Caitlin and Chris at the transfer formation. Most of them were the children of the concubines and their subordinates.

In-gong smiled awkwardly and looked closer at the three men, beginning with the middle-aged man.

‘They’re not gandharva.’

Pure blood gandharva gave off a fragrant scent similar to a fruit. None of the three had a sweet scent coming from their bodies. In fact, two of the three people had blue skin, so they obviously weren’t gandharva.

In-gong felt uncomfortable about this point. No matter how much the population of the gandarva had decreased, did it make sense that there wouldn’t be a gandharva serving their prince?

It seemed like there was a matter In-gong didn’t know about. Shutra’s role in Knight Saga had been very small, so In-gong didn’t know a lot about the gandharva.

‘I’ll have to find out.’

He was currently Shutra. There was a need to learn properly.

"Welcome. Please look after me in the future.”

“I understand.”

In-gong introduced both Carack and Felicia. As expected, the six people standing beside Shutra’s old servants were those who belonged to the mansion.

After the introductions were over, the woman who seemed to be the oldest among the servants bowed.

“Your Highness, there are guests waiting inside.”

“Guests?”

He just moved, so who would already know where to find him?

‘No, is there anyone who would even come?’

In-gong hurried forward.

In the reception room located next to the mansion’s hall, there were two beauties sitting next to each other while drinking tea. In-gong knew their faces.

“Felicia noona? Caitlin noona?”

Felicia, who had disappeared with her followers, was here. Additionally, wasn’t he supposed to meet with Caitlin in the evening?

"Where have you been? Did you walk here?”

As Felicia said, people usually rode something instead of walking.

In-gong sat down next to both of them and asked,

“Why are both of you here?”

He was really curious about it, but Felicia sighed like it was rather absurd.

“Shutra, tomorrow is the first court gathering. It is also an official court gathering. Are you properly prepared?”

"Prepared?”

“Surely you don’t intend to go to a court gathering dressed like that?”

Felicia frowned as she looked In-gong up and down. He was still wearing the same attire worn through the Red Lightning tribe expedition and he had only taken off the cloak and leather armour.

“Uh, no?”

The clothing was a problem that In-gong hadn’t even thought about. Felicia covered her face with both hands, deeply sighed and rose from her seat.

"Tomorrow is your official presentation of your merits to the court. Then your merit for saving me will be announced! That can’t be!”

The 6th Princess, Felicia Doomblade.

Felicia, whose cheeks were red from shame or embarrassment, quickly waved her hands and said,

"There is no time to make new clothes, but it might be possible to fix already existing ones. It is time to get ready.”

“Huh? Now?”

Wasn’t he going to meet Daphne or Silas?

However, Felicia didn’t allow him to argue. She grabbed In-gong’s arm with a beautiful but scary smile.

"Now, let's get started."

He wondered what was going on. In-gong started sweating and looked hurriedly at Carack. However, Carack wasn’t free either. Caitlin got up quickly and grabbed Carack’s hand.

"Carack will get ready with me.”

“Uhh? I have to prepare as well?”

Carack asked In-gong with confusion. Caitlin laughed and nodded.

"We have to bring an aide to the court gathering. Carack is Shutra’s only knight. You have to dress up nicely.

“I am looking forward to it.”

Seira appeared out of nowhere and placed a hand on Carack’s shoulder.

&

There were two types of court gatherings at the Demon King’s Palace.

One was the informal court gathering while the other was the formal court gathering.

In the case of the informal court gathering, only the officials were gathered. However, a formal one was different.

All the children of the Demon King presently in the palace as well as the five captains under the Demon King would be gathered in one place. Many officials and nobles who wanted to shine would gather at the Demon King’s Palace to participate.

Although a formal court gathering wasn’t held every time a child of the Demon King returned, this time a great military suppression was completed and four children of the Demon King were involved. Therefore, it had been decided that a formal court gathering would be held.

‘The game and reality are different.’

He had participated in a few formal court gatherings while playing Knight Saga. However, this was a real situation, so one corner of his heart trembled as he stood in a waiting room.

'Demon King... the sura king, Mitra.’

A being seemingly oblivious to his children, including Zephyr, he was the strongest person in the Demon World; the ruler of the Demon World.

In-gong had to face him. Not only that, the gazes of many people would be turned toward In-gong.

“Prince, I’m nervous.”

Sweat flowed down Carack as he spoke. In-gong had wondered if there would be any clothes that fit Carack, but that was just a delusion. This place was the Demon King’s Palace. It was a place where all types of people gathered, so there were clothes suitable for Carack.

It was interesting to see Carack wearing a formal suit and red cloak, but In-gong couldn’t laugh. He responded with a stiff expression.

"Is that so? I’m also nervous.”

In-gong was wearing white clothes picked by Felicia. In-gong had silver grey hair that was close to white, so it was awkward to wear white clothes. However, he couldn’t refuse Felicia’s choices.

"It's okay. Both of you look terrific.”

"Time, just a little bit more time...”

Caitlin and Seira were waiting with In-gong and Carack, while Felicia was accompanied by Delia. Felicia had gotten to play dress up with In-gong all day yesterday but it didn’t feel like it was enough.

Caitlin and Seira were dressed in long blue clothes while Felicia and Delia weren’t afraid to wear purple swimsuit like clothing that was customary for dark elves. The parts that were usually exposed were covered with a black mesh.

Felicia was highly exposed while Caitlin gave off the opposite impression. Both of them looked good.

Chris was looking at them from where he was leaning against the waiting room wall. He then approached In-gong. Chris was wearing dark blue clothes instead of his usual bandit-like clothing.

“Shutra, this is your first court gathering. And I assure you... You are today’s hero.”

Chris and Caitlin had achieved merits many times. Felicia also succeeded in ruins excavation several times.

However, In-gong was different.

It was the first time and he gained so many merits the first time that it would be shocking.

Other children of the Demon King would be left alone, but he was different.

Some people would think he was just lucky.

However, everyone would be paying attention to In-gong. They would think again when looking at him.

“You will be shown off to everyone in the Demon King’s Palace.”

Chris said, staring into In-gong’s eyes. The time came and the door to the waiting room opened.

It was the beginning of the court gathering.