Steps of hooves continued to move forth through the streets as other carts and carriages made their way around, the people on the sides were ever present no matter how many streets the white carriage carrying Mon’Ter passed.
“Sire, we’ve almost arrived at the Avian Deluxe Blossoms. The place that I told you about,” the coachman piped up to gain Mon’Ter’s attention. They’d spent the last near hour travelling from place to place until they finally wound up on this street that was in the more inner sections of the city.
“I see,” Mon’Ter replied with a monotone voice, not particularly caring for the information as long as he got what he needed to get, “that’s great then, thank you.”
Not long after that exchange, the coachman arrived near a large building with seemingly three floors. It had a large sign on its wall that was between the first and second floor, right amidst the two lines of w
Sereia Lioncrown Gaia was her name, and it surely did sound like a powerful name to Mon’Ter’s ears. He himself was a Were Lion after all, a beast with the same title. Thus, he did hold a certain amount of respect for anything hailing from that species and its name. Albeit, he called the unworthy ones as mere kittens. Such as the forest lord he’d killed the night prior to his meeting with Elyenora.“You look strong too,” Mon’Ter responded to the complement on being ‘mighty’, he then pointed to her blue blade and uttered. “That sword makes me interested, is it... Dwarven crafted?”As Mon’Ter asked the question, he thought silently in his head, ‘Was it called dwarven crafted or was it something else...? I think Ely said hers was a dwarven crafted one... Oh, well...”“Yes, it happens to be one such,” Sereia replied, grabbing her sheath and taking it out to show it up close. &ld
Mon’Ter walked out of the room with Sereia, satisfied by his soon to be purchase. He’d attained it at half the original price thanks to his new found acquaintance after all, and that made him pleased. It meant he was able to buy an even more expensive attire for the princess, and she had already asked for the most expensive one he could find and purchase with the amount of coins he’d had on his person.A great deal to be sure!“Sir Triston, your purchase is in this case,” the avian man walked up to the duo, handing Mon’Ter a case which was quite similar to the one which Sereia held. “I sincerely hope you’ll come by to shop in my humble business once more in the future.”“Of course, if I ever need to,” Mon’Ter smiled at the man. He then handed him the six golden coins needed to complete the purchase without hesitation, despite now being down quite a sum. But even still, Mon’Ter’s
Sereia and Elyenora stared at each other in relevant surprise while Mon’Ter stood in between them, turning side to side and not knowing what exactly was going on here.‘Apparently they already know each other? I guess...?’ the monster thoughts as the surprise factor between the three persons slowly faded away and conversation broke out.“Princess Elyenora, my father and the others have been waiting worriedly for the past days, hoping for your arrival...” Sereia spoke up, still not blinking as she watched the princess intensely. As if to confirm if she was real or not. “I... I myself was honestly skeptical if you would even make it here or not...”“I can understand that much... We really almost didn’t make it after all,” Elyenora said, then continued with a bright smile adorning her visage, “But, if you were expecting me, does that mean grandpa and the others have arrived already?”&ls
Elyenora made quick steps to the outside of the manor like hotel which she and Mon’Ter had become patrons of for a few meager hours. She’d wasted enough time on getting properly ready and wanted to go meet both her companions who are undoubtedly worried for her, as well as more importantly the city lord who was the goal of her journey thus far.Arch mage Randus Lioncrown Gaia, the guild master of the mages’ guild.“Are you headed straight for the mansion?” Sereia caught up to Elyenora down the hallway and asked, they kept passing by rooms every now and then as they moved towards the stairs leading to the lower floors of the hotel.“Yeah, well, since I have already met you Sereia, and I have my clothing all nice and ready. We might as well go now, no?” Elyenora spoke up in reply. “I don’t want to make you wait or anything.”“What about my bath?” Mon’Ter came in between them and a
Samuel launched himself towards Elyenora, filled with smiles and relief at seeing her. He wished to give her a hug immediately, he wanted to embrace her so that he knew the princess of Benulis kingdom, his cousin, and dear old childhood friend was safe and sound.And most importantly he wanted to prepare and tell her what had happened in her absence.But he never got to achieve that hug, a mere meter away from the girl and he found himself crashing down to the ground face first at terminal velocity. His handsome features were dug into the paved pathway like a pickaxe into stone.Elyenora stared absentmindedly, placing a hand on her mouth as she looked at the poor man. She then turned to the other and shouted with a tone of slight anger. “Mon’Ter!”The culprit turned to face the princess and quizzically asked, “What? He was going to... crash into you...”“Still... You shouldn’t have hit him that hard...&rdqu
The group walked into the large building of the mansion, the first sight that greeted them was an exquisite and obviously expensive interior. Filled with marble and gold were the halls, with armor stands placed in an orderly manner that begets a sense of intimidation to any persons passing through.Elyenora followed after Samuel’s back, he was silent throughout the whole way and didn’t even turn to look back at the princess. She even heard him gulp down on multiple occasions, it was obvious how nervous he was, but she had no way of knowing what his thoughts were at this time.Sereia herself was being rather awkward, avoiding eye contact and even distancing herself slightly away, as if feeling remorseful over something.‘Perhaps she knew what this is about, forgot to mention it and now feels guilty?’ Elyenora assumed correctly. What bothered Sereia was the fact that she failed to mention something this important to the princess. Honestly,
“Randus Lioncrown Gaia...” Elyenora mumbled under her nose. Her cheeks were reddened and soaked with tears still as she humbly rose to her feet.Humbly, as in, in a very, clunky, fast manner, unbefitting of a princess.“It is a pleasure... To meet you again, Sir Gaia,” she attempted courtesy, albeit it was a tad late for that.“Indeed, it’s been too long, hasn’t it?” Randus said nonchalantly, looking from Elyenora to Samuel, then finally glancing at Mon’Ter for a moment before continuing. “Come on. Let’s take this conversation elsewhere.”“R-right...” Elyenora agreed and proceeded to stand up back to her feet. She looked to the bedridden old man in the magically protected area, as well as the miasma emanating from him. It looked powerful, and painful.“Sir Gaia, may I ask about... My grandp- uncle... About my uncle...?” she couldn’t help but ask th
“F-father...! Y-you’ve been cursed...?” Sereia’s voice shook with fear for the old man, “But that’s not possible! You’re the greatest mage alive! How can a curse ever affect you?”“You’d be surprised what a well-designed curse could do. Adding conditions, like it had been done to the first one, only serves to empower the effect of these spells after all,” Randus gave a short explanation.“But...” Mon’Ter piped in, “You don’t have any trouble moving... And you don’t have that smoke coming out of you... Do you?”“Like my daughter just mentioned, I am one of the greatest still living magus in all the land. While I may not be immune to this curse, I can resist it fairly well for the moment,” Randus replied to the question, then added. “However, that’ll only be temporary. If I had to take a guess, then I’d say I have about six mont