Although the old man in front of him looked more of an erudite than a warrior having a calm face and aura, Daimon couldn’t help but admit that for the first time since that day when he fought against the manticore, he had that sensation of unawareness which meant he wasn’t sure to survive a direct confrontation.𝑂𝑣𝗅𝒩xt.𝗇𝓔t
Daimon didn’t make any try to hide the fact that he was evaluating the old man that was a few steps away from reaching them, at this distance it was meaningless even with the bracelet of the God of Mischief, he needed to reach the Lord rank for it to completely work against Emperors, like it does for Half Emperors.
A tall and bulky constitution, a middle sized gray beard and blue robes as well as a staff, which he was using to walk, although it was obviously not a need, but what mostly got Daimon’s attention was the fact that the world itself seemed to flow around the old man, giving it a strange calm but firm aura, like a river whose surface is calm but has strong streams coursing through it.
‘So, this is what an unrestrained Emperor ranked being looks like… truly a different level and yet the laws that surround him are barely above what Calvin’s grandfather has gathered if I say so myself’, thought Daimon.
It wasn’t a secret for Daimon, that the people from the tribes, the skelefiends and most of the mermen he has know don’t have the capacity to use mana sense, so Daimon’s theory was that those related to this magic ruin were lacking something.
The same happened with the Half Emperors, the queen wasn’t able to use space shift, which was probably related to the fact that she didn’t have space law around her, unlike Erin or Aura, though she indeed had mana sense.
And that made him consider how strong was the Emperor that invaded them back then, if the guy didn’t have the whole abilities that should come with his realm, that would explain why Magus Kings who were molded based on his remains, were considered weaker than Half Emperor, with a few exceptions.
This small interaction had already given Daimon a lot to think, but he decided to leave that for later, since the old man had arrived to their side.
“You are here early lass, here I thought you were going to make this old man wait hahaha!”.
Along with his calm appearance, the old man seemed to be in pretty friendly terms with not only the queen but even Mellie as he turned to see her after talking to Annete, with a warm expression like that of a grandfather who sees his grandchildren.
“It’s been a while little Mellie, here uncle has gotten you a little present”, as the old man finished speaking, he took out large thin white case and handed it to Mellie.
“Thanks uncle Vincent”, Mellie respectfully accepted the case and immediately opened it, her eyes sparkled after seeing its content, it was a fiddle’s bow, carved up in white and blue minerals and it had a pretty white string.
“What do you think, I casually found a Half Stellar rank catfish the other day, and that string was refined using its biggest whisker”, said the old man satisfied with Mellie’s happy expression.
The old man then turned to see Daimon, which rang both Rita and Horals alerts, but they were ordered to not act by Daimon.
“Although little Annete has mentioned you before, this is our first time properly meeting, Vincent Malleus, it’s a pleasure”, said the old man as he extended his arm for a handshake.
Let alone Daimon, all the other nobles were beyond words right now, being personally greeted by one of the pillars of the kingdom, it was an honor of the highest grade.
Daimon nodded as he accepted the handshake of the old man.
“Gabriel, the pleasure is mine”.
Vincent slightly smiled as he stole a gaze at Mellie.
“Thanks for making my little niece company, I’m expecting to see your performance”.
After saying that Vincent walked away, leaving an excited crowd behind, those who paid attention to Daimon earlier mostly did because he was travelling in the same carriage with a lot of beauties, but now they were genuinely intrigued on who he was.
‘This old man isn’t making things easy for me’, thought Daimon.
‘Well, you are flirting with his nieces, be happy he isn’t holding it against you~’, Evangeline said with a playful voice.
Daimon inwardly raised an eyebrow, he doesn’t remember doing something like that, when he complimented the queen, it was clear she understood it as a joke, and while he is in more friendly terms with Mellie now, it’s mainly because they have signed a contract.
“Mm?”, Daimon came out of his daze as he listened to trumpets suddenly echoing through the whole area.
“Look at that!”, one of the many nobles pointed at the sky where a large shadow was floating right now.
“Is that… a shark?”, asked Leslie.
That’s right, above them in the sky there was a huge shark floating, it’s size even surpassed Blacktooth’s for a dozen of meters, also it was of a completely different race, it was light blue on its upper and white on the lower part of its body.
For a moment Daimon thought it was a genuine White Royal Shark, in other words the origin of the lineage of the royal family, but it lacked the mark on the forehead and it was still too small compared to the one he saw while he was in trial of the lineage temple, also its body shape was different.
“A subspecies”, mumbled Daimon, which made Annete softly giggle and look at him approvingly.
“Yup, that’s the “guardian beast” of the royal family, a Half Stellar rank White Fang shark, the closest to the White Royal shark race from which the royal family descends~”.
Daimon could hear the naked disdain in the queen’s voice and it was clear she was holding a grudge against that magic beast, or perhaps against the royals themselves.
He also noticed, that old man Vincent blocked their surroundings while the queen was talking probably to not let those who were using that giant shark as a mount, hear her.
Daimon then looked at the sky, to see a group of people descend a few meters away from them, one man and three women who seemed to be in their early thirties, then there was also a group of people from the younger generation, three men and a girl.
The only grown man in the group, had blue hair and was wearing an incredibly detailed robe as well as a cape, judging by the big blue crown on his head, he was none other than Triten White, the current king of the Clear Water kingdom.
The adult women were all wearing veils, but since they had crowns on their heads, it was clear those were the wives of the king, that being said their crowns couldn’t compare with Annete’s in size and craftwork and barely surpassed the tiaras, wore by the princesses.
Speaking of the princesses, besides Mellie, there was now a second girl in the royal group, but this one was older than Mellie, as she seemed to be in her middle twenties, long dark blue hair and green eyes, she was wearing a black dress with golden decorations and had an overall elegant aura around her, it was the first princess Daphne Valas.
The next ones were the twin princes, both had short blue hair and were wearing some interesting clothes, considering the event of today, blue formal shirts and black vests, the one at the right had a tie and a serious face, while the one at the right was wearing a scarf and had a grin, Ryan and Bryan Keran.
Last but not least, the only one among the younger members of the royalty that was allowed to stand next to the king himself, the crowned prince Terry Malleus, Terry was tall and athletic, he had long light blue hair and eyes of the same light blue tone, he was wearing elaborated robes similar to those of a scholar decorated with many blue tones and ocean waves, besides that, he had what at first sight seemed to be a long blue mineral flute, but judging by the handle it was a sword of some kind.
As soon as they set a foot on the ground, the crowd of nobles bowed their heads and shouted.
“We greet his majesty the king and the honorable royal family!”.
The different members of the royal family had different reactions, the king nodded with a serious expression, his three wives stayed silently behind the kind and simply raised the sides of their dresses, the princess Daphne ignored them completely, Ryan nodded at the crowd while Bryan winked at some of the girl nobles he spotted, as for the crowned prince, he placed his hand on his chest and slightly bowed giving a full noble salute with an elegant expression on his face.
The group of royals then split, the king and his wives went to greet Vincent, while the members of the younger generation walked towards the queen.
“It’s been a while cousin, have you thought about it, you can join my team this year”, said Bryan with an expecting smile, which made his twin Ryan sigh.
But before Ryan could say something, Mellie answered.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m already in a group as you can see, so I will have to decline”.
Bryan’s smile froze on his face, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Aisha and the Risha sisters for a short period of time before he glared at Daimon.
“Oh, that’s a shame, that being said I must admit, cousin has found a pretty “decent” group, please go easy on me later”.
The twins seemed to have lost interest in the queen and Mellie, so they left to where their mother was.
The princess Daphne didn’t say a word but she nodded at Mellie and then slightly bowed towards Annete, before she also left.
Lastly the crowned prince who had a gentle and warm expression as he greeted them.
“Lady Annete and miss Mellie, please accept my mother and mine’s greet, I was also thinking on inviting miss Mellie but as it would be improper given the fact that she has a team already, I look forward to see the performance of someone personally chosen by Lady Annete”, said the prince as he looked at the ring with the dolphin emblem in Daimon’s hand.
Unfortunately for the crowned prince Daimon didn’t even nod at him, which made the prince slightly narrow his eyes but after excusing himself he left to accompany his mother.
The queen chuckled seeing that Daimon wasn’t flinching even in front of the publicly recognized number one among the young generation in the kingdom, giving him thumbs up in her mind.
What she didn’t know was that he was now more interested in the people that was arriving from the south side of the city, again the nobles looked at the sky but this time what appeared wasn’t a magic beast, though it could be considered one from a certain point of view.
“What is that?”, asked one of the many present nobles, just to be answered by another one.
“Humph bumpkin, that’s the Flying Citadel guarded by the family of the Shaman of the Elemental Sea”.
Even Daimon had to admit he was surprised this time, there in the sky there was a white floating city, decorated with what wings.
‘His system should be called Flashy idiot, instead of hero’, thought Daimon as he shook his head.