Penelope had caught the sight of Ferdinand grovelling on the floor next to my feet, and I could see the confusion on her face. So to avoid any unwanted talks or gossip among the maids, I sent Ferdinand away with a smile.“It seems I have a guest in my mansion. Lord Ferdinand, we shall discuss this at a later date. Leave me!”“Of course, your majesty! As you wish!” he said then bowed in earnest, looking very relieved as he immediately left my chambers without looking back.Once he had left, Penelope asked me with concern in her voice, "Was there a problem with the lord chamberlain, sire?""Nothing, my dear. Just a dog finding another master.""Huh...?" Penelope was confused.“Now tell me, who did you say wanted to meet me?”“Oh yes, her royal highness, Queen Patricia Pecunia Gladia has paid the mansion a visit and demands to see you, sire.”"I see, then we must not make her wait then..." I said as I left the room with Penelope right beside me.In the dining room, I was seated there on

“How are you so sure of a dream? A so-called vision that you would even leave your daughter in someone else's hand!?" I asked with a look of disbelief on my face and a bit of rage in my tone.At the time, I wasn't sure why I had such an outburst, maybe it was because I had just recently lost my mother or because I felt sad about the child's fate. I was unsure at the time then and even now.The maid looked into my raging but saddened eyes, she took a moment to ponder and then explained everything to me with a pleasant smile, "I did what I did because of my family's aura bloodline.”“Aura bloodline?” I uttered.She continued, “Yes, sire. You see, in my family's aura bloodline, even though we may not be proficient in using aura, we were blessed with a certain miraculous ability or should I say skill.”“A miraculous skill, you say? I don't quite understand...” I said with a confused look on my face.The young maid continued her explanation, “Well, we were blessed with the passive ability

Some of the ancient beasts are surprisingly neutral towards others and prefer not to fight but once provoked, they won't stop hunting the person down no matter what.Some ancient beasts have been said to speak the arethian languages or read minds.Some have been said to even shapeshift between arethians of different races, like humans, or Demihumans such as beastmen, dragonfolk, merfolk, dwarfs, and elves.Their aura cores are always red in colour just like a ruby, because the volume and quality of the aura in them are always extremely high.They're also more powerful than a single aura king in terms of aura and raw power. It is said that hunting one would require at least three aura kings to capture it, and six to kill it.Hence, in terms of an aura bender to hunt and absorb aura from any of these aura beasts, one has to ingest the beast's aura cores raw. It's extremely bitter and cooling like ice once consumed, extremely painful once in the stomach of the aura bender depending on th

The widow had just said “Four months”. To think that the wet rot had been going on for this long, I was shocked at the integrity of the inn.“Four months?” I looked at her with a surprised look. I concluded that her husband must have been the one in charge of the inn, thus, the wet rot must have spread after his death.Also, it seemed that the widow didn't know of wet rot and its dangers to wooden establishments such as this inn.“Yes... sire?” she began to feel worried from the expressions I was showing her.I needed to confirm my conclusion so I asked, “Wait, tell me this, the...‘wet spots’ when did you first notice them in the inn?”What she said next sent shivers through my spine...“Well, I first noticed the wet patches a month before my husband passed away.”I stepped away from the pillar immediately. “A month? You're sure you had these wet spots a month before your husband died!? That's almost 5 months since your inn's been infested with wet rot? Do you not realize the risk you

Once I got to the door that had the wooden name tag 'Peter Williams' on it, *BANG* I broke through the door with my foot and a bit of aura, “Dash it!"The room looked deserted, the man and lady were nowhere in sight, almost as if they just disappeared. I would have found out if any traces of them or their aura remained, but I was too exhausted to use my WPS skill.Just as quickly as I had stepped in, without any hesitation, I rushed and stuck my head out the hall, hastily looking left and right down both sides of the hall.But there was no one on this fourth floor, even in the rooms opposite this one as I checked them by trying the doors to every room.I returned to Mr Williams' room, feeling exhausted and dejected, “Ha...! Ha...! Alas and alack, I've lost them...”I raised my head in confidence and told myself, “No matter... I'm sure I'll find out what those two were doing here. It doesn't matter where they hide, I'll eventually find them.”I took a white handkerchief from my pocket