13: Surt (1)

Ren felt a strange premonition after he saw the Erika step out of her carriage, leaving him alone.

"Are you done?" - Eric asked with a huge grin.

"We didn't do anything" - snorted Ren as he averted his gaze.

"Yeah, right" - replied Eric as he shook his head - "Putting that aside, what do you think of her?"

"She's perfect" - answered Ren as he let out a sigh - "It's like I finally found my other half, that special person, but..."

"Your fiancée" - Eric said with a frown - "I guess you're feeling confused?"

"Yes, my father engaged me to the princess of the kingdom of Braum, but I'm here feeling attracted to this woman I just met..." - Ren replied with a frown - "I'm not disrespecting my fiancée?"

"Ren, I'm just going to tell you one thing, follow your heart, you can't always be thinking logically because that might cause you to regret in the future not having done what you wished for" - replied Eric seriously.

Ren was silent for a few seconds before letting out a laugh.

"Did I say something funny?" - Eric asked as he cocked his head to the side.

"It's just that I'm surprised to see how much you've matured" - replied Ren as he wiped away an imaginary tear - "You grow up so fast."

Eric gave him a blank look before letting out a laugh - "It's good to see you're back to normal."

"Yeah, and I appreciate it" - Ren replied with a small smile - "I guess I'll have to make amends when it's time, because I don't plan on losing this woman who made my heart beat."

"And I'm going to support you" - Eric replied as he pounded his chest - "Not to mention that one more enemy won't affect us, not when we have half a continent against us."

"True, one more doesn't make much of a difference" - muttered Ren with a frown - "I guess it wasn't a good idea to hoard so many resources."

"We'll talk about this later, we still have to reach our destination and start the construction of our first base" - said Eric as he shook his head - "After that we can worry about political issues"

"You have a point, sorry for rambling" - sighed Ren as he looked out the window and noticed how Erika was helping the women prepare dinner, even though she was cooking in a single pot - "What are they doing? Are they isolating her perhaps?"

"Oh, I think she wants to cook something for you personally, what a good girl" - Eric said as he clicked his tongue at his friend - "I'd like Elisabeth to cook me something to eat, but she's a level 5 danger in the kitchen."

"True, it still turns my stomach when I remember those boiled eggs..." - Ren said as his face turned green - "I still don't understand how someone could make something as simple as a boiled egg end up being an attack against the royal family..."

"I have no idea" - Eric replied as he shrugged his shoulders - "Anyway, I'm going to go see what Elisabeth is up to."

"Send her my regards." - Ren said before watching as his best friend walked out of the carriage. He was left alone, pensive about what he would do now that he had made the decision to follow his heart as Eric had said, not noticing how his gaze began to follow every move Erika was making in the kitchen area.

The women began to laugh when they noticed his gaze, more so when they saw how the prince averted his gaze. They smiled happily because the prince was finally acting his age, something that excited them because he had too much on his young shoulders.

Erika gave him a smile when she noticed him looking at her, though she quickly lowered her head when she heard the laughter of her fellow cooks.

* * * * *

Two days had passed since Rhea and Erika had joined the trip, a time in which the relationship between the prince and the former slave had grown by leaps and bounds.

No one understood how two young people who had just met, seemed to have been in a relationship for years, even some married couples in the group thought those two were acting like a couple far more than they were.

"Impressive" - Eric said as he looked at the plans the prince had made in his spare time - "It's like your relationship with Erika has awakened something inside of you."

"I know, I'm surprised too" - replied Ren with a frown - "I feel as if using the [Tower of Babel] is much simpler, and not only that, the information seems more detailed"

Ren didn't hide anything from his best friend, his brother in everything but blood, after all, he trusted him with his life, something the young blond also shared.

The two were so close, that even some circles of the nobility seemed to treat them as a couple, which always brought an expression of disgust to the faces of the two boys, after all, this was a recurring joke on Elisabeth's part.

"What surprises me is that you would use the magical formulas on the walls to create a more advanced security system" - Eric said with a frown because despite not understanding what they meant, he understood that this was complicated - "As would be expected from the absolute enemy of the kingdom's magical community."

"Hey, it's not my fault that what those morons research for years, I can learn in a matter of seconds" - replied Ren as he clicked his tongue and folded his arms - "As for this application, it's similar to what the ancients [Magus] used in the creation of the magical core for the Golems, it's just that I'm using it as a method to distribute the energy towards these points."

"The watchtowers?" - Eric asked as he pondered - "Are you going to use magical armaments?"

"Yes, possibly a cannon at these points on the walls" - replied Ren as he pointed at different spots on the plans he had drawn - "These are the exact areas where the mana is concentrated at its peak, not to mention that I'm going to create a storage system at the bottom of the city right here."

"And where are we going to get the mana from to accumulate so much magical power, and not have it fail during a defense battle?" - Eric asked with a frown.

"I have it planned, this room will have at least 5 magic absorption seals" - answered Ren while making another drawing - "They will all be connected with an amplification seal, as for the walls, let's say we will create them with a special alloy consisting of a mix between mithril and obsidian"

"Mithril and obsidian?" - Eric repeated with surprise - "And where are we going to get those two rare minerals from?"

Ren smiled slightly - "Alchemy."

Eric gave his friend a blank look before giving up, honestly, he didn't know what else to say, after all, he should have expected such a stupid answer - "You know what, I'm not going to ask you anymore about the preparations, just give me my orders and I'll carry them out."

"You should have done it from the beginning" - Ren replied while letting out a laugh - "But speaking seriously, I'm going to use alchemy to get those materials, as for the base ingredients, we are "lucky" that these can be found everywhere in Surt."

"I feel like this is going to be a huge pain in the ass" - sighed Eric as he shook his head.

"Oh, it will be" - Ren's smile grew slightly.

* * * * *

"You don't know how much I hate you, Ren..." - Eric muttered with a pale face, after all, he was being trapped by vines that were wrapping around his body in a way he wouldn't like to mention.

"This is..." - Elisabeth muttered with a red face, although everyone could see how a line of blood was coming out of her nose.

"Stop looking at me and help me, Elisabeth! If this continues my ass is going to be on the line!" - Eric exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, that's what I'm waiting for" - replied Elisabeth as she pulled out some popcorn and started to eat it with a smile on her face - "Please, continue"

"Ren, I know you're listening, if you don't help me, I promise I'll tell Erika all your most hidden secrets!" - Eric exclaimed blue in the face as he felt a vine come dangerously close towards his buttocks - "I'm serious!"

"I know, I know, here I come!" - Ren exclaimed as he appeared from underneath the vines and cut them off with an incandescent beam - "Seriously, you didn't have to yell so loud, I already got what I needed!"

"Your ass wasn't the one in danger, you bastard!" - Eric roared as he let out a groan of pain, after all he had hit the ground - "Seriously, I don't understand how one of the ingredients is the core of the parasite vine..."

"It's because of the magical properties this core possesses" - Ren replied as he shrugged - "Now, be thankful that I saved you before that thing put its spores in your ass."