The next day.

“Patricia!”

“Leona!”

The two childhood friends had a hearty reunion.

“The last I saw you was in your marriage and you are a mother now. Time’s passing by real quick.” Patricia commented as she embraced Leona.

“And you still haven’t found someone you like.” Leona complained. They were practically the same age yet one was a mother and the other was inexperienced even in the matters of love.

“There is someone I’m seeing these past few months so don’t you dare call me single from now on”

“Lies!”

The two of them went on to converse whatever they had on their minds in Leona’s room as Duarno sat with Vilvosa and Leonhard in the main hall of the estate, with peanut in his arms.

Leah was no more as scared of the duo as she was yesterday, probably because the grandparents behaved far more reserved in front of her today.

“That’s granny Vilvosa. And that’s grampa Leonhard”. Duarno held peanut the way Rafiki held Simba in the Lion King, albeit a bit lower. He introduced them to peanut who watched them silently with wide round eyes before randomly spitting out the pacifier that was in her mouth.

“Bleh” She lousily showed the tip of her tongue. Today’s peanut felt as if she was disinterested in anything she saw.

Duarno wiped the slight drool off her face as he finally kissed Leah on her cheeks after shaving off his beard. He actually planned to go for the clean shaven look, not taking any risks with Leah, but Leonhard insisted on him keeping at least the moustache so as to retain a mature look, which he too agreed upon.

That introduction surely shouldn’t have worked, but Leah soon accepted Vilvosa, more specifically the toys she had with her today.

To make sure that both of them won’t start fighting once again, Duarno had Leonhard accompany him to the training grounds and told him about everything that transpired the last few days, from the mighty ‘Daragoon’ to the [Hands of Corruption] he acquired from Thanatos.

Leonhard told him about the reports he received about the dragon too. His scouts informing him that the last citing of the dragon was near the city of Ondri, which was found to be under Thanatos’ terror.

They talked about the advances of the elves on the lands near Mergag and about the local devils over there losing their homes to outsiders.

“[Hands of Corruption]” Leonhard gripped the scroll Duarno had passed onto him. “Too bad, only someone from the royal bloodline can learn this skill, and I don’t want you to get into this mess.” He checked if Thanatos had tempered with the scroll as he commented, “It’s a one-way lane to misery.”

“Mikhael’s on his way here to retrieve this scroll for Jonas.” He passed [Hands of Corruption] back to Duarno. “As much as that thing is a boon to the devil kind, our deaths are a fact if Jonas gets this power.” Leonhard picked two wooden swords from the rack that was in the training hall, “We could barely stall Jonas in Buzrok for the last week. If not for fate favoring us, and elves trying an assassination of Jonas once again, it would not be Mikhael but him personally coming here.” Duarno caught the wooden sword that Leonhard threw at him.

“Choose wisely, son. Just know that if you wish to avoid all of this, I have a way. A few of my dwarven friends know a place where Jonas could never dream of reaching. The three of you would be safe there, away from it all.” Leonhard took his stance as he signaled Duarno to begin his offense.

‘[Winds of fury]’

Duarno covered the distance between them in a blink as he performed a [Vertical Slash] on Leonhard, which he dodged without batting an eye. He probably didn’t even use a skill to dodge it.

“Winds of fury? You haven’t improved a bit in that skill.” Duarno tched as he shook his head in disappointment.

[Dominator]

He tried restricting Leonhard’s movement using [Dominator] which didn’t completely immobilize him but successfully slowed down his movements.

[Sword barrage]

Sword strikes from all the sides started landing on Leonhard and finally made him use the sword he was holding idly until now.

“A new skill? Weak.”

A slight swipe with the sword and the sheer wind pressure it created blew away Duarno.

“Don’t ever use this skill against an elf. [Dominator] can restrict devil kind and cover up the openings you give away when using this skill but those elves would slice you in half the moment you use this skill.” Leonhard critiqued.

The ninth prince recovered quickly as he stopped his offense, donned a defensive stance and tried analyzing what he could do to turn this situation in his favor.

“You seriously thought I’d let you think amidst a fight?” The middle aged devil rushed in as he used the back side of his sword to hit the ninth prince in the stomach.

“Now this is [Winds of Fury]” Duarno didn’t even realise when he was on the ground, puking. The next thing he could remember was a hand extended towards him, a help to recover his ground.

“There is no meaning in the spar now. You need a lot of work.” Leonhard emphasized on the word ‘lot’ as he picked up Duarno’s sword from the ground, “Although you fought well for a level 19 fighting a level 54”

“54? Weren’t you 52 the last I saw you?!” Duarno was extremely shocked. “Show me your status.” The expression of doubt was apparent on his face. And it was justified. Levelling up took ages. Anything above level 20 was a demi-god to the common folk. And those very rare peeps who were above level 20, well they could spend their entire lives without levelling up even once. And yet Leonhard levelled up twice in just 5 years.

“Why not? Although it’s not something to be envious about.” Leonhard cleared his stance. “These levels are a product of the essence of the elves slain in the north.”

Character Screen

Name:

Leonhard

Age/Gender:

46/M

Level:

54

Class:

Sword Saint

Race:

Devil

Title:

Elven Nightmare, Prodigal Talent (7 more)

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Status

1) Abyssal Speed 2) Cursed to total oblivion 3)Loyal Subject (2 more)

“Although I have zero remorse towards those invading suckers. They have been doing the same to our men and women too.” He put the swords in the rack before he began wearing his robe once again.

Duarno thought that Leonhard might be waiting for an answer about the future path he would make so he tried giving a reply.

“I… wish to stay with Leah and Leona, but I don’t want to escape from my responsibilities either. I wish to shoulder upon my duties as a prince too. I want my citizens to live in peace too.”

“About choosing a path, I am still confused. I will think about it and decide before Mikhail reaches Et’thun,”

“Great. No need to feel pressured though, Mr. prince charming.” Leonhard patted his son-in-laws back as he called in a maid and gave her some instructions.

“Why not go on a drink with an old friend of yours and get rid of any stress you harbor?” Leonhard suggested.

“An old friend?”

“Yeah. He might be at Brady’s place right now. Why don’t you guys catch up while I make sure to stop Vilvosa from spending any more time with my granddaughter.”

** **

“Poligur!”

“Duarno? Holy hell! You will squeeze me to death, man” A devil drinking by himself shrieked when an arm tightened around his neck.

The gloomy expression on the face of the half-drunk devil somewhat alleviated when he saw Duarno but a question soonafter emerged from his mouth, “Your horn?”

Duarno shrugged in reply as he ordered a drink for the two of them. “Two southern dews here.”

“I heard on my way here that you were promoted and now lead a centurion. From 10 men to a 100! That’s a huge leap.” Duarno proudly boasted as if it were his own achievement.

“So why the sad face? It’s time to celebrate.” He questioned Poligur as he gulped down the jug he was handed over by the bartender.

“Celebration?! I lost 2 of my men out there, man. And I just went around returning their mortal remains to their families.” Poligur went on a drunken rant, “You know how heart wrenching of an experience it was?”

“I was supposed to lead them and keep them alive.” Self-blame oozed out of his words.

Whether it was the beer he was having or the resonation he felt with Poligur, the optimistic charade Duarno was trying to don, especially after having that conversation with Leona, wore off.

"This shmuck of a world! I wanna rip those pointy eared bastards." Poligur cursed at his situation as he took another gulp.

Duarno wanted to console his friend but had no courage to do so. What would he say? That everything would be fine one day? Poligur is probably more versed with the war so he would be fooling no one but himself if he said that.

In the end, all he could muster up was a sorry.

Poligur went on complaining to Duarno about how he could have saved them if he were just a bit more vigilant.

Duarno too joined in and complained about how the world itself is a problem and how destructive the war is.

The centurion commander passed out due to excessive drinking soon after, and the ninth prince had to carry him back to the inn where he was staying.

Duarno regained his senses even after drinking as much as, if not more than his friend, all thanks to the ‘Royal Blood’ that detoxified his body quicker than an average devil.

Character Screen

Name:

Duarno

Age/Gender:

20/M

Level:

19

Class:

Martial Swordsman

Race:

Devil

Title:

The youngest heir

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Status

1) Abyssal Speed 2) Cursed to total oblivion 3) Royal Blood

He left the room after writing a note for the now snoring Poligur, asking to meet him at the Duchess’ estate after he starts feeling better and left a way to contact him if he needs any help.

But before he could leave the place, a group of soldiers asking the receptionist for leftover food caught his attention.

‘Aren’t soldiers not allowed to ask or force citizens for favor? That’s a punishable offense.’

Sure enough, the soldiers realized Duarno’s identity and hurriedly rushed near him to pay him due respect as the prince.

Duarno avoided any fancy etiquettes whenever he could so he stopped them in their tracks before signaling them to not leak his identity to prevent any unnecessary commotion.

Upon inquiring about what was happening, he was made privy to the fact that Et’thun was faced with the sudden and large influx of migrants from the north. The tribes near Mergag had all been uprooted by the elves and Et’thun was lacking enough food to feed every survivor that reached their land.

“Hence, we were officially sent to collect food from whoever was capable and willing to donate.” The female soldier showed an insignia of the administrative body of Et’thun.

“Where are these refugees kept?” Duarno, as a prince, had a duty to take care of his subjects.

Furthermore, he wanted to know how bad the situation was, for them to resort to collecting leftovers.