...
"Where do we start though.." Ivery thought out loud
"If their next target is allegedly Marquess William Ulstine, then that's our first and only clue." Luther said
"Oh yeah, you're right." Ivery smiled
"Let's not waste any time then." Ivery headed to the front door
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They left Ridgefall and sat in a spatial carriage created by Ivery, pulled by magical horses, but this time the magic horses had a solid physical appearance rather than a translucent one, so they wouldn't stand out too much. Sitting in the Carriage brought back memories of their journey to Ridgefall. Ivery could only smile, thinking back on it despite the many headaches that came with it.
As Ivery looked at the map they purchased that guided them to the Marquis's estate, she fidgeted a bit as she was once again made to sit on Luther's lap by his demand.
"Keep moving around like that, I'll lose the rest of the restraint and rationality that I have left." Luther lightly blushed and tightened his arms that were wrapped around her waist
"You're the one who wanted me to sit here!" Ivery exclaimed with a blush
"And?" Luther kissed the back of her neck
"Are you not satisfied from earlier?" Ivery felt a tingle go down her spine
"Of course not, I always want more and more of you, and I don't think I'll ever be able to get enough.." Luther continued to kiss her neck
"Don't you feel the same?" Luther asked
"I do, but if I let you have your way with me in the way you want, we'd never stop.." Ivery weakly said to him
"I can't deny that.." He smirked
"We didn't even get the contraception medicine yet, so we can't keep doing that so often.." Ivery said
"I'll procure it soon." Luther assured her
"How soon is that?" She inquired
"By tonight." Luther confidently responded
"That quickly?" She raised an eyebrow
"I have my ways.." He smiled
Ivery sighed, with a slight shake of her head.
...
After an hour long carriage ride, they had finally arrived at the Marquess's estate.
"Eness, you'll be staying in the carriage until further notice." Ivery looked back and told Eness
"But whatever for master!? I wish to go along with you!" Eness teared
"I need you to protect the carriage while we're away. Can you do that for me? It's very important." Ivery said to Eness
"Of course, master!" Eness happily nodded
"Thank you, Eness." Ivery smiled as Luther held her hand and helped her down from the carriage
Ivery and Luther walked to the estate's gate and were met by four guards stationed at the front.
"Identify yourselves!" The guards shouted out
"We're adventurers coming from Ridgefall, we accepted the job of finding the rouge group named the Justicar." Ivery answered
"Show your adventurer licenses." One of the guards said
Ivery and Luther both pulled out their licenses and showed them to the guards.
"C-rank huh.." The guards looked displeased
"This way." The gate opened as the guard gestured behind him
...
Ivery and Luther were guided inside the estate by the servants and were told to wait in the sitting room. Fresh tea was poured for them in the meantime as they waited.
"You know they're going to send us away because of our ranks, right?" Ivery sipped her tea and said to Luther, who sat beside her
"They won't be able to." Luther confidently said
"They won't?" Ivery inquired
"I'm certain of it." He smiled
"Hm.." Ivery continued to sip her tea
10 minutes later, a man with shoulder length long brown hair, dark brown eyes, wearing circular glasses, entered the room. He was dressed in a black and white butler's suit and clean white gloves.
"Good evening adventurers, I am Stanley, butler of Marquess William Ulstine. He has sent me here to meet with you. And my apologies for the wait." The butler bowed his head
"Will we not be meeting with the Marquess in person?" Luther asked Stanley
"Pardon me, sir, the Marquess is quite busy and his schedule did not account for anyone accepting his request this soon." Stanley responded
"So I hope I can still make arrangements for the two of you, even without the Marquess present." Stanley added
"...." Luther said nothing in response
"So we understand what the job entails, but since there was speculation that the Marquess was the next target, we came straight here since it was our only clue. Is there anything else that you can tell us about the Justicar?" Ivery broke the silence and asked Stanley
"Pardon me again, but may I see your adventurer licenses?" Stanley asked, ignoring her question
Ivery sighed and noticed that Luther was emitting slight murderous intent. She gently elbowed him, telling him to calm down.
The dangerous aura she felt settled down.
"Here you are." Ivery handed him both of their licenses
He looked at them and saw that they were C-rank adventurers.
"Apologies for my rudeness, but you two are aware that this job is to capture a group of dangerous S-rank adventurers that have so far killed everyone who's been sent after them, B-rank, A-rank, and even other S-rank adventurers." Stanley handed Ivery back their licenses
"We're aware, we know that we have low ranks, but we just recently started as adventurers, so we have to take jobs like these to quickly increase our ranks, do we not?" Ivery stated
"Yes, you are right, Miss. It was wrong of me to assume your strength based on your ranks." Stanley bowed his head again
"Pardon me, I'll return in a short moment." Stanley left the room and closed the doors behind him
"Luther, you can't get that upset every time someone does something you dislike. What if they die from that kind of energy you let out." Ivery said to him, knowing his murder intent alone could literally kill
"I know, I know." Luther sighed
"The audacity he had to ignore what you asked him irritated me." Luther said with furrowed eyebrows
"I feel the same way, but they don't know our statuses, we're coming here as adventurers, not the crown prince and princess of Fresia and Lilith, so we can't expect the same etiquette we normally get." Ivery rubbed his shoulder
"It's something I still need to adjust to, but I'm fine now, my love." Luther smiled and touched her hand, and held it in his
Luther never had to see through the eyes of a commoner as a royal, since he hardly associated with them. He understood how to operate the political sphere of his empire, how to deal with other kingdoms and empires, how to improve the economy for all, and how to end and settle wars, but as for social gatherings and public events, he barely attended them. His infamous reputation spoke for itself anyway.
There had always been rules in place wherever he walked, people always had to tread lightly and carefully when speaking to him, and there was no room for mistakes if you were even slightly perceived as rude. If it were known that Luther was sitting and waiting where he was, the Marquess would be in a pool of sweat, kneeling in front of him right then and there, spilling everything he knew himself, regardless of his schedule.
...
Five minutes later, Stanley came back into the room.
"Sorry for the wait, but unfortunately, we're going to have to decline your assistance for this job, my apologies for you coming all this way from Ridgefall." Stanley said to them
"I told you.." Ivery whispered to Luther
"Why? Has the job been handled already?" Ivery asked Stanley
"The Marquess has no need for adventurers under S-rank as of right now." Stanley answered
"Didn't we agree that our rank has nothing to do with our strength?" Ivery asked
"This is the Marquess's direct response, my opinion does not matter. I will see you both out." Stanley bowed his head once again
"We're here to do a favor of protecting the Marquess, and you'd send us away?" Luther asked
"No other adventurer would take this job, and if we were to leave and the Justicar come here shortly after our departure, would you all be able to handle them yourselves? Do you think yourselves to be stronger than a C-rank adventurer?" Luther stood up from his seat and asked as a slight glow appeared in his eyes
"I-" Stanley started to sweat from the pressure he felt
"Relay that to the Marquess and tell him that we demand his presence at once if he values his life in the slightest." Luther's eyes began to fully glow, and the lights in the room started to flicker
"Y-Yes at once s-sir!" Stanley backed away and walked out of the room with haste, forgetting to close the doors behind him
"We've wasted enough time just sitting here, when we could've been spending more intimate time together instead, tsk." Luther sucked his teeth in annoyance
"I need a break, you're too rough sometimes." Ivery blushed
"I'll behave from now on." Luther grinned
"Liar.." Ivery narrowed her eyes at him with doubt
"I'll prove it to you later then." Luther sat back down and said
"Later?" Ivery's eyes slightly widened, and she blushed harder
"I guess we'll see.." Ivery smiled
In only a few minutes, they heard footsteps and a tall man with short red hair, dressed elegantly in a dark purple suit made of high quality silk and fabrics, his green eyes looked at them both with irritation.
"You two dare to threaten me with my life? Mere adventurers?" The man scoffed
"You're the one who seems not to be aware of his position, you're the one who needs us, not the other way around." Luther smirked
Ivery blocked his view of Luther, so he couldn't even see who this rude common person was that would dare speak to him this way.
"I can have you arrested and charged for this kind of disrespect! Not to mention your adventurer's licenses revoked!" The man shouted angrily
"You can try." Luther stood up and walked forward towards the man
"Marquess Ulstine." Luther grinned at him
The Marquess immediately dropped to his knees and began sweating immensely, also making Stanley go into shock at the sight of it. His proud master was kneeling to someone??
"F-Forgive my impertinence, I didn't know you were here to help!" The Marquess bowed his head down, and his forehead touched the floor. He immediately noticed the distinct features that only run through the Fresia royal family bloodline, black hair and purple eyes. Not only that, he had met Luther several times before.
"P-Please s-spare my life Crown Prince Luther!" The Marquess started shaking in fear
"Get up and act befitting of your status, I'm not here to kill you." Luther looked disgusted at his pathetic display
Ivery continued to sip her tea in silence.
"Y-Yes.." The Marquess got up and dusted himself off
"Crown prince Luther...?" Stanley stumbled back and fell to the floor
"Of F-Fresia??" Stanley turned pale
"W-What have we done?!" Stanley shouted to the Marquess, even he knew who Crown Prince Luther was
Not only did they make him wait in the waiting room for over 30 minutes, the Marquess initially refused to see him and then tried to send him away. But how could they have known the Crown Prince of the Fresia Empire would become an adventurer!?
"C-Crown prince, may I ask why you are here as a C-rank adventurer?" The Marquess ignored Stanley and gently asked Luther
"My wife wanted to journey to Ridgefall, and we're adventuring for fun for our honeymoon, and we thought your request was the most interesting one." Luther answered
"Your wife..?" The Marquess looked at Ivery again and noticed her ruby red eyes
"Crown princess Inanna?" The Marquess nervously asked, gesturing to Ivery, who was still drinking her tea
"Who else would she be? Am I known to have taken another wife shortly after my marriage to the crown princess?" Luther asked
"N-No! Of course not, I am just still in shock that you are both here to help someone as lowly as myself compared to you." The Marquess explained
"Understandable, under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have come here, but I too am interested in this group called the Justicar. Now, tell us something about them that we do not know already, so we can take care of it." Luther sat back down next to Ivery
"And due to you being their next target, have a large room prepared for us to stay in for the time being." Luther ordered
"Anything you desire Crown Prince." The Marquess nodded and looked at Stanley with a serious expression
"Prepare the largest room we have for the crown prince and princess immediately!" The Marquess shouted to Stanley
"Right away!" Stanley got up and hurried off, and closed the doors behind him
"I'll tell you everything I know about the Justicar." The Marquess sat on the couch across from them
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