Black Shade Project

-- Monster Index Room --

The room looked like a large dome-shaped cave. The walls were made out of stones and the cave was lit up by shiny crystals embedded onto the top walls of the cave.

Near the walls were a few bookshelves, 2 wooden chests, and on the center of the room, there was an enormous and gigantic cage.

...

[Summon Purplescale Frost Python?]

Jay agreed to the prompt the moment he took out the monster essence holding the said beast. And the moment it got summoned, the beast was immediately suppressed and teleported inside the gigantic cage.

~Hiss...

The Purplescale Frost Python hissed before it started trying to break free from the cage. It slammed its heavy tail, it bit on the steel bars, and it even used a frost-breath attack. But no matter what it did, nothing happened to the cage or the surroundings.

It then spoke to Jay through Bestial Language. And for some reason, it had the voice of a matured woman.

"Damn you! Let me go! Why are you doing this?! I have babies to feed!"

~Hiss...

Seeing that the beast won't calm down in any way at all, Jay shrugged his shoulders and just took out 5 smaller monster essences that contained the Purplescale Frost Python's eggs and activated it.

"My babies! DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY BABIES!"

The beast started to get more enraged and kept on attacking the cage in any way possible. It got more and more frenzied as Jay caressed the eggs.

"Taming a beast is sure troublesome..." Jay thought to himself before he sent the eggs inside the cage through the magic formation in place.

"See you later." Jay said as he left the room and waved goodbye to the beast.

...

Outside the Monster Index Room...

"Now, next up. Time to store all of the stuff I do not need inside the guild storage." After Jay said this to himself softly, he went down the stairs and did what he was planning to do.

...

-- Guild Hall Courtyard (Garden Setting) --

While Jay was busy with that, the royal family of Wildergreene was enjoying the sights around. As for Prince Frederick, he was busy managing the things needed to be done.

"(Damn. I forgot to give Jay the treasures earlier.) Everyone, hurry up and unload the gifts you wanted to give. We still have to return to the city tonight!" Prince Frederick exclaimed as he helped the merchants move their stuff from their carriages to the empty space near the front door of the guild hall.

Then a few minutes after that, Jay finished placing almost all of the stuff in the storage orb and the silver storage ring inside the guild's storage. Jay immediately greeted Prince Frederick.

"Jay. Good timing. Here, this is the stuff from our family wanted to give." Prince Frederick said as he handed over a silver ring with a small gemstone embedded on its center.

The moment Jay received the storage ring, when he saw the contents, he was shocked and really speechless. There were a few equipment that had an Epic rating, some rare items, and a lot of precious crafting materials for auxiliary classes. After Jay finished checking the contents of the ring, he immediately thanked the prince.

"You're welcome. By the way, when will your guild officially join our kingdom? It has been a month and your guild stayed neutral." Prince Frederick said as he placed his right hand on Jay's shoulder.

"No rush, no rush. But even if we are in the neutral side, we will still be good friends and allies." Jay said since he still had no idea which kingdom the guild should join. Jay has even started to have a crazy idea of starting his own kingdom, but that's just too hard to achieve.

After that, Jay looked for Queen Auburn since he wanted to tell her about his encounter with Prince Alfred back at Bloomridge town. Luckily for him, it was the queen who approached him, due to unknown reasons.

"Jay, mind giving me a tour around your guild?" Queen Auburn said as she grabbed one of Jay's arms.

"Umm... sure. Why not?" Jay agreed to the queen's request since he can just talk to her anyways when they tour around the guild hall.

After a few minutes when both of them left and went inside the guild hall, Princess Auriel suddenly rushed towards Prince Frederick and started talking.

"Brother, do you think Jay will like it if I give him a present? I asked Hailey and she said that boys like it when girls give them gifts..." Princess Auriel said while she blushed and looked really cute.

"Well, it depends on the gift and the person you are giving it to. And if you are looking for Jay, mother asked him to tour her around the guild hall earlier."

The moment Princess Auriel heard this, her mood suddenly dropped and she asked herself, "Why? Is it because mother looks like a little girl? Does Jay have that kind of preference..."

After thinking of this, she just went somewhere else in the courtyard while thinking of many ways to get herself closer to Jay before they leave tonight.

...

Hub Center, 1st floor of the guild hall...

"As you can see, this is where most of the commotion happens around here..." Jay said to the queen while they passed by the crowd who were enjoying themselves.

"By the way, can we speak privately my queen? This matter I have to talk about is kind of important. I'll give you the tour later on afterwards." Jay immediately said since he started getting weird chills over his body as the queen pressed her body against him.

"Oh. Okay." Queen Auburn said as she suddenly distanced herself away from Jay.

...

Library, 3rd floor of the guild hall...

The moment Jay and Queen Auburn entered the library, Laelette immediately left the room the moment she saw the queen.

After that, Jay and Queen Auburn sat on a couch and Jay started talking with a serious tone.

"I've encountered Prince Alfred at Bloomridge Town before I arrived at the guild hall this morning."

The moment the queen heard this, her happy and lovestruck mood disappeared and she went serious.

"Jay, are you sure about this?" Queen Auburn asked since besides her and Prince Frederick, no one knows the existence of Prince Alfred. As for Jay, she knew that he was 'special' in some kind of way so she did not doubt his words. But she still asked anyways.

Jay started describing how Prince Alfred looked like and the events that happened to him back at Bloomridge Town. After a few minutes of his storytelling, Queen Auburn spoke up.

"Amanda... Alfred... Those two actually dare to oppose me."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped and Jay felt chills all over his body so he asked the queen if she needed any help.

"Sorry for ruining the beautiful day. But if what you said about those two is correct, and they are secretly plotting together, I have a pretty clear idea of what they want to achieve." Queen Auburn said as she cooled down and slouched on the couch.

"The Black Shade Project."

The moment Jay heard the queen say this, unlike the times before when he had knowledge about the matter, this time around, he did not have a single clue about what it is.

"Queen Auburn, what exactly is this Black Shade Project?" Jay asked since he was really curious what it is.