Darius frowned when he heard Lord Spencely's revelation. "The Crown Princess is summoning ? For an audit? Does she have the power to do that?"
The City Lord of Listo sat back in his seat and stroked his beard. "Hard to say. This is the first ti any of us have heard of such a request, as this kind of matter is usually handled by the Kingdom Revenue Service. If anything, you shouldn't have enough assets to be formally audited under law. You haven't opened your shop, you haven't moved into your castle… heck, you still live in an inn!"
Nicholas removed his monocle, wiped it, and gazed at it quietly. "Nevertheless, it would be unwise to ignore the Crown Princess, unless you have very good reasons. As a new mber of the Equality Faction, she should know better than to try and harm your interests."
He then placed the glass accessory back onto his right eye while smiling. "Besides, you are an Adept mage. No matter how brave the Crown Princess might be, she wouldn't dare offend you so easily."
Nicholas began to rub his chin as he chuckled. "In fact, the Crown Princess actually turned 13 last month. As she is two years away from the age of marriage amongst royalty, she is expected to seek a suitable consort to beco her husband in the future."
Lord Spencely shrugged playfully. "Who knows, she might have already subtly made her choice."
Darius' face twisted after he heard Nicholas' speculation. Despite his overwhelming ntal faculty, he was unable to regain his composure in ti. It couldn't be helped in this case, because the whole situation was just too ssed up.
Just imagine, you are under pressure because soone has placed a gun to the head of your dad, mom, and sister/brother. You have to perform so actions - say, transfer your wealth over - to make the other party leave.
Suddenly your phone rings and you are told to answer it to prevent suspicion. The caller turns about to be your drunk ex who is trying to hook up with you. In that situation, what kind of face would you make?
Lord Spencely chuckled at Darius' reaction, especially at his attempt to play it off. He knew that the fellow had so urgent matters to settle with the Plains of Death, as well as the fact that Darius was the mission issuer.
He had kept that little tidbit to himself as it raised his evaluation of Darius, so he could partly understand why the lad would feel that way.
"Personally, I'd advise you to go. With your ability, it should be easy to reach the capital and return in a tily fashion. This so-called audit might be an excuse to just spend a day with you and evaluate your personality as well as talent." Nicholas suggested calmly.
Darius stood up and shook Nicholas' hands as calmly as he could. "Thank you for the advice, Lord Spencely. I'll definitely carefully consider my next step."
The City Lord of Listo was not bothered, feeling sympathy for Darius. Darius was not obligated to go in the least, but it would be wise to curry favor with the royals regardless, especially for sothing like this.
Unfortunately, Darius had his own matter to deal with that was far more important. Still, brushing off the invitation of the Crown Princess, especially one that was veiled as an official summons, could shake his weak foundation.
He was a baron, the lowest of nobles. Even the title was not hereditary, just that due to Darius' talent/value - at least in Listo - everyone treated him as if he was a Count and gave him the privileges of one.
If the royals interfered, all that could be taken away. After all, no matter how valuable Darius was, they still had Kubrick. Darius was an option, not a necessity.
Of course, Darius and Nicholas were assuming that the royals were sensible enough to understand what should be done and what should not be, but the problem stemd from the unpredictability of human nature.
Who knew if they'd cast common sense aside and find a reason to start a vendetta with him? This was what made Darius feel annoyed, because he hated dealing with those who were unreasonable, and judging by his experience, those in power tended to belong to that category.
Gunner tapped Darius on the shoulder lightly, taking his attention as they exited the town hall. "We can reach the capital today and inform that Princess that you have more important things you need to take care of, asking her to postpone her summons to after the month ends."
"If she says no, we leave anyway. What can she do to us? Nothing. We complete the Quest or die trying. If we succeed and she wants to start trouble, we leave this low-quality kingdom and head to better places. There is no sensible kingdom or empire that wouldn't take us."
Darius nodded. "Direct and concise as usual, Gunner. Let's move out then."
The duo headed to the eastern exit of the town. The capital city was 234 kiloters away to the southeast. At Darius' current blink distance/speed, it would take less than a day to get there, but he would need 2340 consecutive blinks.
At level 10, his Blink spell cost 2 MP, so he could cast it 500 tis. He would have to take 4 breaks to refill his mana unless he wanted to use mana potions on the way. Of course, Darius was not too pressured because he had other ans.
Darius took out the Short Warp Scrolls he had been keeping all this while, exactly 3 of them. Since each one allowed him to traverse exactly 25 kiloters, that would save them great amounts of ti and mana to get to the capital.
As such, Darius opened the first scroll, allowing the residents of Listo around this street to be shocked stupid when he and Gunner simultaneously disappeared in a flash of blue light.
25 kiloters and less than 210 away from their target, the duo re-appeared in the midst of so picturesque plains. Since there was quite a bit of distance between each town and city, they usually cultivated endless plains in between so that they could keep an eye for possible invading armies.
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