Chapter 10: Moving around the place (Part 1)

After making sure that my acceptence to the Disciplinary comitee was blessed by his majesty and principal too, I send fifty of my strongest warriors to Arterüze, a port town where the Sorcery kingdoms princess should land in few days. Following that I checked out few buildings in commercial district, previously selected by Setto and my fathers butler, and I ended up buying one on borders with residential district.

Yesterday I was informed by Taru that one of the Sea dragonfolk girls, Gamma is her name, have a lot of merchant type skills so I asked her to become the manager of my store. She got a little confused at first, becouse usually managers and owners of a shop are one and the same person, so I had to explain her my take on the company and stores (I copied it from earth actually).

Gamma will become shop manager, meaning she will be in charge of employment and I as the owner, we supervise her. In other words she became form servant, a direct subordinate, making her really happy.

I wanted to buy additional building I could remodel into a factory, but I would need to recieve a permission for that and I would most likely had to create it inside the slums. We don't want to spread the information too much so I asked father to make one factory in Roseburg for the meantime.

"So this is everyone?"

"Yes sir!" Lanlong saluted, her hairs tied into fine, side ponytail.

I noticed that her scales on her front and neck changed color from the usual and now was slightly golden. When Taru found out, she instantly used Scale cover to make sure she still had her white scales on her own body. Incidentaly, I couldn't shake her of from me for quite few days after that. Which made her look like a koala baby hugging it's mother, her puffed up cheeks even added a little touch to that.

Lanlong... or rather Lani, as she always urge me to call her, is usually really passive around me, but when she was with others, she was really assertive and outgoing.

Currently, I'm holding a cooking class with the kids I got from the slave auction. Most of them are humans so I was thinking that they could become clerks in the future too.

Today, we were making cookies. I thought about using chocolate for it too, but ultimately decided against it, becouse I am currently only one who can produce chocolate seeds and produce them into chocolate. I should hold back on it, I had a lot of tea parties comming up so I could use that to advertise my shop.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Great! Let's make some cookies!"

"Yeah!" Everyone got hyped becouse of a promise I made with them (that I would let them eat all the cookies they made) and we started the class.

All in all, everyone was really good, which just made Kiira and Taru look sad, becouse their cookies always turned into mass of darkness and death.

If they were a little sturdier we could use them instead of bricks though...

We were mixing the ingredience together and I was guiding the kids which made them really happy. The happiest was probably Lani who started shivering with happiness when I helped her prepare egg white.

"Like this, Master?" Lani asks as she whipped eggs into a cream on her own a little later.

"Yeah, it looks good. You can start adding sugar to it."

"Yes!" She smiled at me and I had a hard time telling her that she had some of the cream on her face.

"Leo, a letter came from the merchant guild."

"Really?" I took the letter from Kiira's hands and opened it.

My shoulders started to shake and a big smile appeared on my face. "Everyone! Our request to open a shop has been approved! This is the birth day of [Dragonworks]!"

"YEAH!"

We wraped up the cooking lesson in two hours after finishing the cookies with cream filling.

"So what kind of shop will it be, master?"

"Good question, Lani. I originally wanted for it to be magic item shop, but now I think I should make it into a general store."

"Um, In that case!" Kiira's hand shot up.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I was asked on quite a lot tea parties about what kind of soap I use for my hairs and I thought we could have a beauty corner where we would have cosmetics and such. It's quite a pain to always prepare them myself so I thought I could train some of the maids to help me."

No matter the world girls always wants to look pretty huh? I smiled to myself.

"That's a good idea, do you want to sell the shampoo and nail polish for start?"

"I have already gave Victina a bottle of the shampoo so if she asks for more I plan to take some sea dragonfolks to help me make it. About the nail polish though... I think we should start with general make up and then continue to finer details."

"I guess you're right about that. But still, nothing sells better then recomendation from a royal eh?" I smiled and gave Kiira a green.

Our shop was getting ready for opening when I recieved message from the troops I send to pick up the princess. They were attacked by bandits which were rare in that location so I went ahead and scouted the area ahead of them with «Satelite» spell and discovered about six more groups preparing an ambush.

That's too many to be alligned to just one group... maybe two or three... damn it princess you are making me work even before we met... I smiled to myself and after taking my [Kogane] outfit.

After that I proceed to capture every single one of the bandits along the princess' way and brought them to my hidden base, where Nina was already waiting alongside Alette. I let the bandits out of my «Dimension home» enchanted bag and while they were still unconscious, I tied them down.

"Alright, time to WAKE UP!" I added magic power to my voice to make the bandits wake up instantly.

"Huh? Where?! EEeeeeeek!!!!!" the bandits got frighten by the look at us wearing demonic masks.

"I'm glad you woke up so quickly gentlemen. Now if you wouldn't mind, I would like to know who paid you to attack that carriage, 'kay?" I smiled under my mask cheerfully.

"S-screw you!" one of the bandits stuttered.

"That's not nice, friend. Shadow five, would you mind helping me?"

"Always happy to help," Nina smiled, "«Nightmare»"

Spell Nina unleashed, was a psychic magic spell that let the target see it's biggest fear.

"No spiders! No! No! NOOOOO!"

"Ah! Don't touch me! I just might... ufufufufuuu," one of the bandits started breathing heavily.

"Urgh, is that guy for real?" Nina sounded so disgussed that I could imagine her sour face even through her mask.

"If you don't want the nightmare to continue, spit out what we want to know!"

"I don't know! That masked guy payed us up front to kidnap the kid for him and he said we can do whatever we want with the rest! But our boss escaped with the money so we thought that if we defeat that hundread soldiers, we will at least have chance to get some money from her parents!"

"I see, I see... Nina, Alette, please leave the room for a minute."

"Are you sure?"

"They have no information we would need, so they will not see another day," I took deep breath and used petrification gaze after the doors closed behind the girls. I turned all the bandits into stone statues and I smashed the statues into fine dust.

We have to meet with the princess today...

"Leo, your uniform just came in," Taru came to inform me so I collected the dust and warped to the mansion and took a look at the new uniform.

Just as any other Disciplinary comitee member, my uniform was as black as coal.

I placed some hidden runes on it and activated «Quick change»

In that instant the black clothes I had on me moved to my Item box and the uniform replaced it. From an outside view it must look like I peeled of a layer of skin and replaced it with new that was hidden under it.

♦

The day after we met the princess for the first time, which was suprisingly uneventful in my eyes, we were heading out. Soldiers of the princess were sitting on horses in two rows before the carriage. We said our good byes to brother Gavin and prepared for departure.

I helped the little princess to the carriage and with her looking out of the window near coachman seat, I stand before everyone.

"Alright Ladies and Gentlemen! Let's get going! «Gate»"

I opened a gate portal to outside walls of the Royal capital.

I lead all the people through the gate and we soon made it to Noble district of the capital. We continued our way to the royal palace, where we met up with Victina and Rinbell.

"Welcome back Leo!" Victina jumped up to my arms which resulted in interesting lookd on faces of the knights of the Sorcery kingdom.

"Sister, it was only one night. Please excuse her behaviour sir Dragonrose," Rinbell nodded appologeticaly to me and I nodded back in understanding.

It would be weird for a royal to bow to Count ranked noble after all.

"Geez, brother Rin is no fun," Victina pouted and we together walked to the carriage.

"Princess Gloriosa we've arrived at the royal palace, the reception is about to start," I said as I knocked on the doors.

"We really entered the royal capital..." the guard of the princess, miss sweet tooth, looked surprised.

"I've came again... Rin, Tina... thank you for having me," Gloriosa bowed lightly as she stood on the ground next to me.

Um, princess, this is the time you let go of my hand...

"Yes, welcome. Oh, just so you know, the spell Leo took you here was devised by me and Leo working together!"

"Oh no, no need to humble yourself Victina. You came up with the idea and created amazing base I only tweaked a little," I smiled.

"Always so humble, sir Dragonrose, there is no reason to be so reserved, when talking about magic research you two are deffinitely the birightest of our kingdom on par with our thirteen wands."

Well, I can't tell I just used my knowledge from my previous life as a base for most of my spells right?

"You honor me too much, your grace," I bowed lightly.

"Drop it, you can just call me Rin like sis and Risa," Rin waved his hand with a smile. This must've left a one of a kind impression on the Sorcery kingdom's part, but I decided to let it be. I bowed a little more deeply this time and we moved to the building.

There, already prepared banquet held by the royal family, was starting with princess Gloriosa as the guest of honor.

On both sided of us were middle to high ranked nobles. Victina and Rinbell were in the front followed closely by Gloriosa and then followed by me. We walked through the crowd and lined in a perfect line.

"Your majesty, I've came with the princess of the Sorcery kingdom Gantagi, lady Gloriosa Litus Kawada."

"Very well done, sir Dragonrose. This is definitely the fastest someone came from Arterüze. I'll look forward to your continuous work as Guardian knight of the Sorcery kingdom's princess."

"At your will, your Highness."

"Now, lady Gloriosa. I welcome you in name of Ostillian royal family in our kingdom. I hope your stay here will be filled by nothing but good memories," the king smiled with slight nod.

"Thank you for your kind words—"

'Clunk.'

A metalic noice ringed through the silent room. In the next moment everyone in the room was filed with two kinds of suprises.

First, that the princess was attacked in such a moment.

Second, that the attack was stopped so quickly. And to top it of, the dagger that was thrown was now suspended midair.

"Attacking with invisible magic when fighting against non magic users is certainly good idea," my calm voice turned everyone's eyes to me, "Sadly when fighting a magic user— and space magic user to boot —then you are practically asking to get caught."

"ACK!!!" suddenly a figure in black leather armor fell to the ground from balcony where it was hiding under invisibility spell.

"I've cought the culprit sir Dragonrose!" a masked man jumped down and took a knee.

"Great work, how was that mask?"

"Honestly, an item that allows to see the invisible..." the man took of his mask, revealing Idra's face, "...Is incredible, I belive this could be used to spot traps in dungeons right away."

"Th-That's the Blazing blade..."

"Idra Morante..."

"Didn't he went missing after the last war?"

"Wait, why is he serving Dragonrose?"

"Didn't he tried to kill his father previously? What is sir Dragonrose thinking?"

The nobles are noisy, is what I and the king thought at the same time.

"Sir Dragonrose, it seems like you expected this?"

"No, your highness. I knew that there were a lot of bandits aiming for lady Gloriosa's life on our way here and I belive that I cleaned them all up. Sadly there must've been some other people aiming to make a rift in relationships of the kingdoms through lowly means. But that should not be a theme of a party I presume."

"Heh, you are correct sir Dragonrose. Everyone! As you can see sir Dragonrose once again bared his fangs against enemies of peace! Let us cheer to continuous good relations of our two kingdoms and bravery of protector of peace sir Dragonrose! Cheers!"

"CH-CHEERS!!!" The nobles seeing what happened burst out in a loud cheer and I noticed new titles appearing in my status.

[Trickster], [For the peace], [Event orchestrator]

Oh, come on! I know that the knife was completly dulled down and there was no strenght or skill behind the throw, but still!

I walked out of the room letting Idra take all the fame and met up with the guards who took the attacker out of the room.

"«Quick change»" I used a spell on the attacker, making her swich her clothes with her usual uniform of Dragonrose Bodyguards (small army).

"Was my acting good?" Goli asked with a smile all over her face.

"Yeah, amazing really. That's the [Acting] skill for you," I smiled back and helped her on her feets.

"Well, I had to taste my sisters cooking and say how good it was, so of course the skill level went up."

Me and Goli laughed a little sadly as we were fighters of the same battlefield called Taru's cooking.

"Yesterday, my Iron Stomach skill ranked up to level 6."

"Six? I'm still at level four! How long am I going to suffer?" I hand to dry a tear at corner of my eye.

"Don't worry master, if my prediction is correct we both will have level seven by the end of this week. Recently, she started to try meat cusine," Goli nodded sadly.

"Uuuu... well, I beter return to the banquet now... What are you planning after this, Goli?"

"I'm going to train sir Idra... fufufu, it seems weird seeing our positions reversed," Goli laughed and we said our good byes for now.

I entered the hall and saw an interesting sight. Rinbell and Victina and Gloriosa were sitting with the king and the nobles were all around Idra.

"No, no, no, sorry but I cannot do what you wish for sir Lapuech. I owe sir Dragonrose more then my life could ever repay."

Is someone trying to steal away my subordinate? He wasn't cheep you know? Wait... I didn't bought him actually... not like it matters. I looked at the king and then back on the viscount.

"Sir Dragonrose! I'm sorry everyone, I'm going to my MASTER'S side," Idra bowed deeply and went to my side with hasten steps, "I hope I didn't make you wait sir."

"Oh, don't worry about that, you could speak with the ladies more if you wanted," I smiled teasingly.

"There is no way I would ever think of something so unbecoming as a servant sir," Idra bowed.

"Well, I made you assistant leader of my Bodyguards (small army) so you don't have to position yourself that low. Think what Lani would think," I pointed one finger upwards as I walked to my seat, that was sandwiched between Victina and Gloriosa for some reason.

"Nicname base... I see... good work my girl," and for some reason Idra's face turned super peaceful and he smiled as lovingly as his Dragonfolk face allowed him.

This guy really dotes on his daughter huh?

"I'm sorry for my late arrival, princess," I bowed and took my seat.

"Was that sharade really neccessary?" Gloriosa asked as she sipped her tea.

"Probably. I honestly can't tell myself," I sipped my tea and took a deep breath.

Most of the party going forward was peaceful and I had to dance with both Victina and Gloriosa, which give me envious looks from our same aged peers.

Come to think of it, most of these guys don't have fiancées right? Huh? Rin is dancing too? Heheh... I see you there Shizuko, lemme give you a push, hehehee...

As I was talking with Rin and Gloriosa who came from the parket, I whispered to Rin about Shizuko and he went right to her. Damn, he's fast! I didn't thought he would really go to dance with her after hearing those three words.

Gloriosa looking at Rin and Shizuko dance, made a warm smile. In that moment I felt a tug on my sleeve and noticed Victina standing there.

"Risa and Rin were engaged years ago, but after brother got cursed, the engagement got called off. Apparently the nobles of Sorcery kingdom forced the king into calling it off," Victina whispered to me while hiding her mouth cutely.

"I heard something along those lines, but what actually happened?" I whispered back.

"The Sorcery kingdom is strictly ruled by the strongest mage. They said that it would be best for the princess with a lot of potential like her to marry someone with high magic power and resistance. And when the curse on him made him weaker... they got all they needed."

If the curse was same like what Lani had, then it would be easy for me to extract it... but this curse isn't Soul power, or Skill based. The one who put the curse on Rin did that with some kind of magic item... It seems like the item uses grudges as a source to weaken Rin. Even now I can see a black cloud around him... wait.

"«Satelite» «Lock on» «Overseer»" I muttered under my breath three spells.

I closed my eyes and tried to locate the source of the grudge on Rin. So wexing... seems like I will have to expand my search area. It will burn magic power like crazy, but it has to be done.

I expanded the magic and I got a response from northern part of the kingdom. That's... margrave Varon's domain right? Well, no hard feelings but I gonna destroy the source of the grudge curse now.

"«Unseen javelin» «Flare javelin»" I muttered another spells that created javelins from distorted space and flames.

The spell took off and located the grudge curse. Not even a second later all responses I got from Satelite and Overseer vanished. I opened my eyes and my jaw droped.

Around the same time I fired off my spells, Shizuko confessed her feelings for Rin and kissed his cheek. And as she did, a light of broken curse shone in the room.

"D-did she... broke the curse?"

Oh crap... how am I gonna explain this... wait, should I even try to explain? No. Just smile and congratulate them. Yep, just smile and clap, smile and clap.

Um, your majesty I can feel your gaze... please stop.

The next morning the news about breaking Rin's curse were made public alongside his engagement to Shizuko. And I recieved invitation to have private audiance with the king.