10 Ch 9: Invitation (I)

It had been a week since the incident on Grineherd City. Lucius was currently sitting down inside the studies with a new companion at his side. After what happened to Lucius, Connor decided to stay and help Lucius until his injuries were all gone.

Unfortunately, Laurence has still yet to recover which forced Marquis Devinsworth to assign multiple people rather than one to take care of Lucius and his friend's personal wants and needs. Lucius just wanted to read in silence. Everyone agreed to have Lucius stay in the studies along with Connor. They both were reading ancient history books of completely different nature. While Connor was intrigued on the ancient kingdoms and empires, Lucius was focused on ancient legends, weapons, and monsters.

"Young master Lucius, what are you searching for again?" Connor lifted his head up from resting it on the wooden table.

"A skeleton, an undead king, or a great warrior related to necromancy and skeletons." Lucius replied blankly while placing another book he finished reading.

"I may found a clue. 'Deep within the ruins of an ancient cathedral lies a tablet of multiple catastrophe. All beyond the light of life and all within the shadows of darkness.'. Perhaps that's a connection to your answer?" Connor wasn't sure if what he had read was related to the being Lucius spoke off.

"Hmm... This ancient cathedral, where was it?" Lucius had his interest piqued.

"It was within the valleys of Vulgard which is beyond the eastern sea and Perlas ocean. Unfortunately it is on another continent." Connor read more to find any clue on the 'multiple catastrophe' but to no avail.

"I see. Well then-"

"Young master Lucius, young master Connor, i believe it is your time for meeting the young mistress for your scheduled departure." A butler at the side said while checking his pocket watch.

Lucius wanted to search more on what Connor has found but time was not in their favor. He planned to read more on the cathedral later but for now he had an appointment with his sister.

"It can't be helped. Return the books for now, Gascoigne. I'll see Connor off before meeting my sister." Lucius left with Connor. He liked Connor's company throughout his days of recovery. Although he may have been older in terms of mentality, he did find talking to a genuine friend pleasant.

They arrived outside the mansion to find a carriage ready to take Connor back to Earl Kalmuth.

"I'll be going now, young master Lucius. Please do take care of yourself." Connor gave a bow before entering the carriage.

Lucius snapped his fingers and a butler came to his side with a small box. He took it and gave it to Connor.

"Take this... It's nothing special. Just a token of our friendship." Inside the box was a necklace and a ribbon. It was a similar match to Lucius but it was a red ribbon and a necklace with a red jewel.

Connor was both delighted and ashamed. Lucius gave him a gift yet he couldn't give anything back.

Lucius knew what Connor was thinking. He has a similar feeling when being gifted or receiving anything from someone else. Lucius absolutely hated being indebt.

"You have already repaid me. Now focus on returning home rather than pointless worries." Lucius turned around and left. He didn't want to waste anymore time and delay Connor.

They said their farewells. Connor was smiling just before the carriage took off while Lucius was already back at the mansion halls.

It took he a full week to recover from his bruises and injuries even with the help of medicinal potions and healing magic. He had already accepted Lucia's invitation and planned to travel with her a week after talking and 'befriending' other noble children, but he did not expect to waste it all on recovering. Still he had to go since he didn't like going back on his own words.

Besides, he also wanted to explore the capital. The best place to find cure of boredom and to taste exotic delicacies from neighboring countries. Grineherd was best known for it's imports and exports while the capital was best known for it's high class establishments.

"Lucius, dear brother. Are you ready to set off? Hmm? Where's your little friend?" She had just left her room and was already prepared. She wore a white and baby blue dress and had a sky blue parasol by her side.

Lucius had already changed right after Connor left. He wore the same clothes from Grineherd City. It was his 'go to' whenever he went to different places.

"Unfortunately, he had to return home." Lucius replied.

"How truly unfortunate. I wanted his to accompany us on our little trip." Lucia had other intentions.

Lucius knew better that Lucia would tease and use Connor as to satisfy her own amusement. 'It was better that Connor left' Lucius thought.

****

It had been 3 hours since they left. Lucius was quite irritated for several reasons.

'I've been tricked, i've backstab, and i've been quite possibly, bamboozled!' Lucius inwardly roared.

The invitation was for a small party. A party dedicated to the second princess' successful engagement to the fourth prince of the empire. It was suppose to be only for those close to the princess since she wanted to assert her dominance against her circle if friends. From what Lucius have gathered. Lucia's circle of friends were both terrifying and wholesome. On one side they all had a goal on successfully being engaged to the person they truly have interest for. And on the opposite side was their spirit to crush the competition and flaunt their relationship to those that have yet to overcome their hurdles.

The more he asked Lucia, the more he became afraid of his purpose on coming to such event. When it came to scheming and plotting, Lucia always had an upper hand against him.

"Remind me why i agreed to this?" Lucius started to regret his decision.

"To make better 'connections', remember." Lucia had a face full of amusement. She played Lucius like a damn fiddle.

'Me and my big f*cking mouth!' Lucius mood turned sour. He chose to be silent and began to curse himself inwardly.

The entire party would be two days from today. The distance between the capital and Grineherd would take a day and a half on carriage, which is why their departure was two days early. Lucius hated several things in life. One of them was travelling. Travelling on this new world was both better and worse from earth. It was better since Lucius no longer had motion sickness, but it was also worse since the speed of transportation and better roads of earth made the new world's modes of transportation appear like trash.

'I wish i had my cellphone right now. I'd rather get rick rolled rather than die of boredom.' Lucius could only remember and enjoy his memes mentally.

****

Lucius had doze off to his dreams. He had not seen the pantheon again after delivering a strike on the skeleton. And he was thankful for it.

"Lucius, wake up. We've arrived."

Lucius was sleeping while sitting down having his arms crossed and his head down. The moment he raised his head and saw the view from outside the carriage made him speechless.

"Welcome to heart of Behellin kingdom, Qione Capital."

It was a view similar to his old life on earth. Except instead of large sky scrappers, they had a large castle. Perhaps it was feeling of experiencing something new that made Lucius admire the beauty if it. Whatever it was, Lucius had gained a new appreciation to architects.

The carriage was moving down the mountain path and Lucius could see the entire capital from where they were. The moonlight shined down on the city and clear plains bellow, hung lanterns lit up the street, patrolling guards roamed the top of the walls, and the castle in the middle of the capital stood illuminated with both light of the city and the light of the moon. As the stars shined along with the beautiful cosmos, It gave Lucius a sight to truly admire.

Lucius was still admiring the view even after reaching the city gates. This was the beauty of nature before the industrial age started, and it was beautiful.

They passed through the gates without difficulties and arrived at the royal castle. Both of them did not meet any other nobles and had chosen to sleep instead of wander the long halls. Besides, Lucius wanted to explore the city tomorrow before the party. Normally when someone was nearly assassinated, they would chose to stay in safe places. But Lucius had already understood from experience that if the attempt fails then they would likely stop their attack. Once the target is aware of their presence then the difficulty of their task becomes twice if not four times higher. His father had already placed 10 elder fangs and 20 fangs on each of the siblings shadows.

Hopefully he could escape the castle before his sister woke up tomorrow. He needed to sleep ahead of her, and that's what he did. His little adventure inside the capital was about to start.