Chapter 57 Noble title (part 1)

—Oriana Mengral's perspective.

Oriana, as usual, was going through some papers on her desk. Throughout the year, she had been moving restlessly because of the many things that had happened on the continent. Between meetings, conferences and important decisions, she had barely had a moment to breathe.

Tiredness showed in his eyes, but he kept going. He finished reading the last document in the stack and placed it in the pile of completed files. He sighed and let himself fall back against the back of his chair, enjoying the silence for a moment.

As he looked at the order on his desk, something caught his eye. A different piece of paper, one he didn't remember seeing before, was right next to the stack. She frowned, intrigued.

"Mmm, I thought I was done," she muttered to herself.

She picked up the paper and began to read it carefully. As her eyes traveled down the lines of text, her expression changed from tiredness to surprise. Her eyes widened.

"So you're done," he said quietly, with a mixture of relief and anticipation.

The information in the paper was crucial, something he had been waiting for for weeks. He placed the paper aside, already thinking about next steps. He stretched backwards, feeling his muscles relax with the movement, and let out a deep sigh.

Rising from his seat, he headed for the door. He had an important meeting he couldn't postpone.

"I'll go wait for him," she said to herself, as she left the room with a firm step.

Looking all the way down the hallway, Oriana left her room and made her way to the outskirts of the castle, just outside the entrance.

Of course, the castle itself is very large, which will take her a few minutes to get out. As she walked, she was meeting maidservants, nobles and basically very influential people along the way. Compliments and cordial greetings were never lacking.

A bit annoyed, Oriana continued to the exit, but before she got there, a figure she knew very well was being greeted.

"What is the patriarch of the Merwin family doing here?"

Surprise came to Oriana; she never thought that the patriarch of one of the ten great families would be at the castle today.

Normally, patriarchs come to the castle at times when they are needed or it is something of utmost importance, but today was a day of no importance at all. Of course, for Oriana it was, after all, she was going to wait for someone she hadn't seen for a long time, but the patriarch of one of the ten families was here today.

Purple eyes and purple hair, a very well toned body with not so relevant but visible muscles, having an elegant white colored suit with a cape on his back that danced when the air came, the Merwin family patriarch's gaze landed on Oriana, who also looked him in the eyes.

They both looked at each other and then the man approached Oriana greeting her with respect as he bowed slightly with his hand on his chest. The man spoke.

"I didn't think Princess Oriana would come to me personally."

"Greetings to Princess Oriana."

Oriana looked at him as the man greeted her.

"Greetings, Patriarch Victor Merwin, I wonder what you are doing here today."

"Oh, my apologies, princess. I heard that a young man rescued my daughter and my son told me that he would be coming to the castle."

"So..."

"I must give something to the young man who rescued my daughter, do you know where he is and who he is?"

"As a matter of fact, I was going to look for him. He still hasn't arrived at the castle," Oriana spoke as she looked at the large gate that led outside the castle.

Victor Merwin, the name of the patriarch of the Merwin family, an elemental mage of lightning and air, and a ninth circle mage with a status almost as strong as that of a prince. Someone who has a great position, almost like that of princes.

Of course, even if they have a very high status, it doesn't mean that they disobey princes or princesses like Oriana and Gloriana.

"In that case, princess, you don't mind if I accompany you, do you?"

Oriana looked at Victor and then nodded.

"All right, follow me, patriarch."

Oriana, seeing that Victor didn't seem to have something hidden or a negative thought, agreed to let him follow.

Then, leaving the castle quickly, Oriana arrived at the castle gates along with Victor. The gates opened and revealed the entire city right in front of Oriana's eyes: a highly decorated, clean, cobblestone street that was a straight line from the castle gates.

At that moment, a young man about 5'6" or so in height began to appear in the distance from Oriana and Victor's view. Of course, Victor spoke after looking at the silver-haired, red-eyed young man approaching the two of them.

"Oh dear, my daughter didn't tell me he was one of the princes who saved her."

At that moment, Oriana looked at Victor and spoke.

"He's not a prince, at the moment he's a commoner."

Victor was silent, then spoke after a few seconds.

"I see, but status to me doesn't matter, you should know that, princess."

"I know that."

"But why are you waiting for him and why is he coming here to the castle, princess?"

"He is... my disciple, and I appreciate him very much. I've also been waiting for him for half a year, and tomorrow he'll be a nobleman."

"..."

"Then he managed to obtain the ten knightly achievements. That explains how he was able to save my daughter. He's a very interesting boy."

Turning from looking at Victor, Oriana fixed her gaze on Asher, who was also watching her. After a long time, the two would be talking once more.

"It's been a long time, Asher Frostblade," Oriana said the moment Asher arrived.

"I say the same thing... teacher..."

And sure enough, Oriana gave Asher a little poke with her finger on the forehead when he called her teacher.

"And they're supposed to be master and disciple," Victor muttered at the scene. At that moment, he approached Asher.

***

-Scene change.

-Perspective of Asher Frostblade.

Rubbing my hand on my head, I looked at Oriana. I hadn't seen her since the incident in the dry forest six months ago.

"So you're the young man who saved my daughter Emilia."

A tall purple-haired, purple-eyed man in a very smart white suit with a white cape on his back. I stared at him, confused, but instantly realized something.

"He is...the patriarch of the Merwin family." I held my surprised gaze at that moment.

I never thought I would meet someone so important from the mainland, and in fact, just such a person was right in front of my eyes.

"I would like to give you something, and thank you for saving my daughter Emilia."

"There's nothing to thank, I was there, so I simply saved her, but I don't expect something in return."

"Oh, wow, you're nicer than you look, then..."

At that moment, a small flow of mana coursed through a ring the man held in his hand, and out of a moment came a long box.

"My name is Victor Merwin, patriarch of the Merwin family, and this is a small gift for saving my daughter."

Victor, at that moment, handed me a black wooden box with gold edges. It wasn't that thick, but it was somewhat long, about half my height or so.

"Don't open it here. Then I'll say goodbye; I have to get back to the Merwin family home."

With a smile, Victor disappeared from my sight in the blink of an eye.

"How did he do that?" I wondered.

Then, directing my gaze to Oriana, she spoke.

"So, let's go inside and show me the ten achievements."

***

-Scene change.

On the way to Oriana's office/room, the people who looked at me next to Oriana were muttering things like:

"Who is he? I've never seen him before."

"He must be a high-ranking nobleman."

"Idiots, don't you see his hair, he's one of the princes."

Of course, the word "prince" was the most talked about as I walked.

I've been mistaken for a prince lately, and truth be told, I'm curious to meet one of those princes and see if I really look like them.

Arriving at Oriana's office, she sat right behind her desk. So, quickly, I pulled out of my pocket ten coins with a drawing in the center and placed them on the desk.

She looked at the ten coins for a moment and then looked at me.

"Well, that's all of them and they are also not fake."

What do you take me for? Fake I would never do that in this new life.

"I will deliver them to the king. Tomorrow you will stand before the king and he will knight you and you will have your noble title."

I felt a relief and a great happiness at this moment. After a long time, I finally finished my first goal in this world and truth be told, I felt great.

"Congratulations on getting the ten achievements."

Oriana looked at me with a smile.

I had never been praised by someone before, it's something I was very pleased with and to be honest, it's very awesome to be praised. After all, in my past life I only received assassination missions one after another and I didn't even get a word for doing something right.

This feeling of being praised, I will never forget; it's something I always wanted to feel and I finally got it.

"You remember where your room is, right?"

At that moment, I remembered the day I came to this castle and was given a very luxurious and comfortable room. The most amazing thing was that by just ringing a small bell, a maid would arrive instantly.

"That's right."

"Good, then go change your clothes."

Nodding, I left the room. Walking through the corridors, people occasionally glanced at me; some even greeted me very politely by calling out to me:

"Greetings to the prince."

Things like that they would say to me. At one time I was pleased, but I didn't deserve to be called or greeted like that; after all, I'm not a prince and those compliments they were saying to me on the way don't belong to me.

But despite that, I said nothing and continued walking quietly. I didn't want to attract attention either.

Finally I reached the room, opened it and, as usual, a big and comfortable bed, big windows with velvet curtains and a balcony with a great view, the floor made of marble and some chandeliers hanging on the ceiling.

"Mmm, that must be the clothes."

Looking on the bed in the room, there was a set of black colored clothes. Then I walked over and set down the box Victor had given me.

"I'll take a bath first."

Walking to the other end of the room, I opened a door where the bathroom was.

After several minutes, I stepped out of the bathroom and quickly changed into the new clothes. At first glance it is very elegant, as if I were going to a banquet where the most important people attend, but I looked more at the box that the patriarch of the Merwin family handed me.

"What is this?"

The box, black in color and with golden edges, at first glance is a nicely made wooden box.

I then opened the wooden box and what was in it surprised me.

"It's a sword and a dimensional ring."

Dimensional rings are used to store large amounts of stuff, basically it's like a kind of suitcase but with large space inside.

Of course, I instantly put it on my middle finger. The golden color seemed to be gold and it also had some inscriptions on it, maybe the name of the ring. Leaving that aside, I looked at the box where the sword was.

Deep black in color, the hilt gold like gold. I held it up and, to my surprise, it was so light I felt like I was holding a feather. The sword was long and thin.

"It's a good sword, it's made of molten mithril," at that moment Encrid spoke.

"Mithril, what material is it?"

"Mithril is like a type of iron. It's such a tough material that it's very hard to break it, but..." At that point Encrid paused.

"It's not just any mithril, this is an icy mithril. You can see it oozes an icy energy all over the blade of the sword."

Taking a better look at the sword, Encrid was right. I rubbed my hand all over the blade of the sword and, to my surprise, it was so icy that it even reached my bones.

It is a very strange material, but I liked its design very much. The black and gold color matched very well and its weight was not even felt, and above all, it is a sword with a very high resistance.

The perfect sword, although I don't think I can use it. After all, I will be entering the academy where there will only be magic everywhere and the sword would be of no use to me in a place where it's supposed to be for magic.

"You're lucky you were given this sword as a gift," Encrid spoke.

"But why would he have given it to me? It's a great sword, but..." I stopped thinking about it when a sound came from the door.

"Knock, knock."

So I walked over to the door and opened it, and it was then that two familiar faces stood together in front of me. Sure enough, those two were none other than Luna and Gloriana....