Chapter 28

House of de Florencio

Katarina observed the fight keenly, her lips slightly parted. She watched the crude movements of the girl and how she wittily handled her opponents. It was a great to behold, indeed. While Vlanca could be mistaken as an adolescent lass, she was still a nine-year-old child at best. Yet, her movements, reflexes, and battle instincts were topnotch.

The old woman wiped the sweats rolling down her forehead. Her lips remained locked and pressed together until she saw Vlanca feigned another attack. The girl then jerked her right leg and sent a massive kick on the kordova. Using the right amount of mana, Vlanca penetrated through its copper skin and crushed its head.

Katarina gulped mouthful saliva. “That was remarkable,” she whispered. “I didn’t realize that she was this talented...”

Now that three kordovas were down, the three remaining screeched once again. Their high and sharp sound echoed through the forest. In response, Katarina lifted her short staff and flicked her fingers as she recited a spell.

Several more words and she declared, “Metean Gowa!” An area around her with twenty meters radius briefly lit up. They heard the rustles against the dried leaves and grass nearby, and some buzzing noises, yet no additional kordova came out. The old woman smiled for a second, which immediately disappeared once the three kordovas began to escape.

It was understandable. After all, Metean Gowa was a protection enchantment that imbued fear to any monster inside or any monster trying to enter its area of effect. It was the same spell that actively protected her home. Not everyone could use it, however, as it demanded several conditions. One of which was that monsters had to have an inherent fear of the user. In her case, it was a borrowed power from something else far more powerful than her - a being feared by anyone in the forest.

Meanwhile, Vlanca, who saw the fleeing kordovas, jumped on instinct and readied herself to kill them one by one. Since they were overwhelmed with fear, their guards were down, making it easier to finish them off.

“Don't kill them just yet, Vlanca!” Katarina shouted as she mumbled a quick chant. The grasses on the ground grew into vines at an alarming rate and apprehended the fleeing beasts. They struggled but all their efforts fell short.

Katarina recited another spell and after a few more seconds, the vines let go of the kordovas that immediately readied themselves to fight Vlanca again.

“They won't escape anymore,” Katarina said, “so continue the training…”

Vlanca smiled and nodded, and thus, the fight began its third round.

***

“So where are we on this map?” asked Arthur as he looked back and forth from a rough world map illustration in the book and Duliri, who now resided in the serpent staff.

“I believe we are in that small island in the east called the Celure Island, my lord,” Hula answered instead through telepathy.

Arthur ran his fingers through the pages of the book. Once his eyes set on the term 'Celure Archipelago,' he read the only short paragraph below. “The Celure Archipelago was composed of a big island called Celure, and three smaller ones named Kaloa, Flosibo, and Undine. The archipelago remained unexplored up to this day. No traces of human or demon activity was ever found in the area…” Arthur raised an eyebrow, letting out a humorless laugh. “Period? Nothing more?” His palm clutched the stone tighter when its warmth almost faded away. “It basically says that we're in a secluded place with no human contact...”

Hula's human form inside his mind nodded. “Because we are, my lord. Except for you, Lady Katarina, and Vlanca, there were no other humans, demons, and demi-humans-”

“Why?”

“I don’t think you need to answer that question, Hula…” Duliri intercepted as he hovered in front of the boy.

Arthur grimaced while Hula spoke again, “That depends, Duliri. A single why is a very broad and profound question.” He then let out an amused laugh which made Duliri and the boy a little uncomfortable. “Why don't we begin on why we are in such a secluded place?”

The boy nodded silently, as Duliri warned, “I'm telling you, Hula, if you tell Arthur anything unnecessary, both of us will be in trouble. If her ladyship breaks me, you'll be a goner too.”

“I know what I'm doing, Duliri. Stop worrying about everything. Besides, you know what will happen if we don't tell the lord anything… He’ll just ask more and more questions.”

Duliri clicked his non-existing tongue, not saying anything anymore. He knew Arthur too well that he understood Hula's point.

“All right… Alright…Stop talking about a person right in front of him…” Arthur broke their chatterings, his lips curved awkwardly. “Back to the subject at hand, why are we on this island again?”

“Let me answer that, Arthur…” Duliri immediately answered, his tone reeking of 'if I'm gonna be in trouble, might as well seize all the glory' vibe. “That all boils down to her ladyship's origin. She already told you that she came from the Kingdom of Pendragon, right?” The staff move slightly, it's tip pointing towards a country northwest of Celure Archipelago.

He nodded.

“That country is also called Loya'Metea, which means Winged-Dragons. Including the royalty that governs it and many other noble houses, Pendragon is home to many Winged-Dragon Tamers-”

“Tamers?!” Arthur interrupted. “Does that include granny? Does she have a tamed dragon?"

“No, she doesn't have any contract with any Dragon, Arthur. Let me finish…” Duliri got down from the table and tilted his body so that the orb was placed in front of Arthur's face. “Lady Allegia was the third daughter of Countess Amira and Count Bertram de Florencio. de Florencio is one of only three matriarchal houses in Pendragon and unlike the other two, they specialized in Enchantment. You see, taming any monster requires a contract and any magical contract requires an enchantment. The de Florencio house facilitates almost all taming ceremonies, except for the royalties. Without their knowledge, many houses probably wouldn't be able to tame strong dragons…”

“But that's not all, my lord,” Hula interrupted. “Enchantment is also useful for the production of powerful tools like staff, wands, swords, spear, etc. They could even be used to create golems and moving armors like Pirro, Garo, and Servo.”

“To top it all off, all the children born from your house have a Gift related to enchantment.” Duliri snorted with a laugh. “Such a powerful house to exist… it’s almost too good to be true. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t know Lady Katarina.”

Hula nodded as Arthur listened attentively. “Given that much power, it would have been possible for your house to climb the ladder to Duke-ship or maybe, even take the throne themselves. So to avoid any internal conflict, the King from centuries ago declared a Royal decree stating that de Florencio could only reach as high as count-ship while giving them special rights."

“Yeah, special rights…” Duliri said with a slightly mocking tone. “Unlike any noble house, any family really, de Florencio couldn't inbreed-” He suddenly stopped, though still too late from realizing his stupidity.

Hula grunted. “That's not something you should tell a child, Duliri.”The boy squinted both his eyes. “Inbreeding? Like a family member marrying another family member? In the case of nobles, the do it to make sure that the wealth and power stay inside the family, right?” He said matter-of-factly. “l understand the concept, so tell me why they can't...”

Both Hula and Duliri stayed quiet, refusing to let out another word.

“Just tell me…” Arthur urged. “You already started anyway.”

“You tell him, Hula.”

Hula hissed in response, audibly annoyed. “I only said special rights to avoid unnecessary details, Duliri. You're the one who started it, so tell him.”

With a heavy heart, Duliri took a massive breath as though he needed it. “Well, I already said that the house of de Florencio is a matriarchal house, right?”

He nodded, anticipation flashed his eyes.

“There's one reason behind that. In that house, for some reason, only girls are born. No boy has been born for centuries-”

“But I'm a boy, right?” Arthur laughed grimly. “How am I alive then?” He immediately stood up and pulled down his pants and underwear. A breath of relief came out of his mouth once he saw his manhood still there.

“Stop!” Hula suddenly declared, not having his usual coolness. Desperation marked his voice. “How long is that, Duliri?”

“Forty minutes and twenty-five seconds,” Duliri answered immediately but his tone sounded very stiff as well. “Arthur, shall we resume your training?”

“No!” Arthur answered with a commanding voice. He pulled up his clothes and put the small stone on the table before him. He sat on his chair again, arms crossed. “Duliri, you should continue.”

“Honestly, we also don't know how you were born or alive or whatever so I can't answer that.” He said like he was about to cry.

“Okay, let’s pass on that.” A deep sigh left Arthur’s mouth open. He thought for a moment and said, “Back to de Florencio’s house… Since only girls are born in the family, they can’t do inbreeding, correct?”

“Yes.”

Arthur nodded. “However, since you mentioned the word and something called special rights, I would assume that they have other options to make sure that the power stays inside of the family. What is it?”

“There are two things,” Duliri began. “Usually, the eldest daughter of the family will be considered as the next head. Any child after her will be given two choices - to die unwed or to marry but her fertility sealed off with a special enchantment.”

Arthur's eyes widened. “You mean, they take away their right to bear a child?”

“Yes…” Duliri answered in a low voice.

Arthur remained silent for a moment before asking another question, “How come I exist though, you mentioned that granny was the third child, right? Shouldn't she be unable to give birth to my mother?”

An air of silence dawned upon them, a long and uncomfortable one. After accumulating his courage, Duliri finally replied solemnly, “I'd love to give you a definitive answer, Arthur. I promise, I do. But I also respect her ladyship. Any question about your mother is something I cannot answer. It's a promise made even before I met you. I guess, it's best to ask her ladyship or maybe, wait until she deems it's time to tell you…”

Arthur forced a smile. Even though he was curious about his mother, Arthur understood Duliri's point. After all, every time he tried to bring the topic, Katarina always shy away from the question or divert it to something else. He could force out everything from Duliri using the Absolution Enchantment, but he wouldn't because he respected her greatly too. And perhaps, just like him, the old woman was saving her courage to tell all the secrets she'd been keeping.

“Alright, I understand,” Arthur said, also knowing that the revelation had just begun. He was only glimpsing to the tip of an iceberg.