Tale of Discovery

Chapter 209: Talk ; Practice

"Huh?!" I blurt out upon hearing Henrietta's proclamation.

Looking over at the three girls standing before me, I realize that I had been a little neglectful back in the academy.

According to what just Henrietta said, Tabitha, whose actual name is Charlotte, just so happens to be the crown princess of Gallia. The reason she is the crown princess and not Isabella is because of interest.

Now that Joseph is dead, a new ruler is required for the kingdom to be brought back on its feet. I can tell through the conversations I've had with Catherine and Isabella that neither of them wished to take over that role for some reason.

With them out of the picture, the only candidate to take over would be Charlotte, as she's the closest in line.

Leaving that aside, I'm more surprised about Kirche's origins. She is the heiress of a Grand Duchy from Germania that was sent here as a consequence of refusing to marry a partner chosen for her.

"I can understand Charlotte being a secret member of the royal family," I say in a dubious tone, "But Kirche being the heiress of a Grand Duchy?"

"Hey! What are you implying here?" Kirche exclaims.

"He just means that you're too childish," Louise, who's sitting quite a distance away from us and reading a book, remarks without raising her head from the book.

"You-" before Kirche can finish her piece, Charlotte taps her shoulder while shaking her head.

Seeing this, Kirche turns her head as a displeased expression covers her face.

Shrugging my shoulders, I look Henrietta in the eyes and ask, "Has the date for your coronation been set?"

Before she can respond to my query, Kirche turns her head to peer into my eyes as she teasingly asks, "Are you that excited to marry her?"

I blink my eyes several times before looking at Henrietta inquisitively.

"Ehm" she awkwardly utters, "I got a little excited and told them about it."

Hearing this, I continue to gawk at her for a few more seconds before a grin forms on my face as I say, "It's fine. They would've found out soon, anyway."

"If anything, I would be surprised if the news didn't reach them by tomorrow morning."

Henrietta nods her head as a small smile forms on her lips.

Hold on

"Say, does this happen to be the reason Louise has been acting so strangely?"

"Yes," Kirche responds, "She's just jealous that her dream man was taken away."

I see. Using Clairvoyance, I check Louise's face, only to find her looking at the book with a conflicted expression on her face.

She's overthinking this, after all, I wouldn't let her go after everything that has been said and done.

Shaking my head, I look over at Kirche and ask, "What about you? Aren't you displeased in any way by this?"

As if she had been waiting for me to say this, Kirche presses her hand against her hips as she confidently states, "As great as a man you are, I'm sure that you wouldn't be content with just one partner."

My eyes widen as I hurriedly glance over at Henrietta, only to discern that she is calm and collected.

"She's right," Henrietta states, "I would understand if you desired mistresses."

"And you're fine with that?" I assert, astounded by her words. Heck, I was sure that she would respond negatively to this.

"You're not the same person as the Wales that I once knew," Henrietta states, not explaining the intent behind her words.

"Do you hate it?" I ask with a wry smile on my lips.

Realizing what her words could imply, Henrietta quickly shakes her head while waving her arms in front of her and saying, "No! Not at all! You misunderstood me."

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, "Well, you're right. I'm indeed not the same person as Wales."

Upon hearing this, a wide grin forms on Kirche's face as she looks over at Henrietta and asks, "What if he returned to being who he once was and forgetting everything that happened during the period he had 'changed'?"

Right after that, Henrietta's expression changes to that of horror as she silently stares at the ground.

Well, that is just about what I expected...

---

It seems like everything is nearing an end. All that's left is for Henrietta to get crowned and the marriage that will soon follow that.

The matter with Gallia has been somewhat resolved without my presence, as Charlotte's return was quite a fortunate thing for the kingdom.

She's a smart child, so I'm confident in her skills when it comes to management.

Naturally, if she ever requires help, I will be the first one she can turn her head to. Especially if the matter is related to war and bloodshed.

Hopefully, once I access the Core, travel between the Rift and Sorcerers' Lair would be possible without any time delay.

If that's the case, then I can deal with all problems that could arise in the future while training the soldiers over here.

My thoughts are interrupted by a sudden gust of wind as something explodes to me.

I immediately move away using Godspeed before several more explosions occur.

"You were holding back then?" I inquisitively ask while tilting my head to the right.

"That's not it," Saturnus, who just missed my head by a small margin, says before stepping back a couple of times.

I turn around to face her properly before dashing right toward her, but before I can reach her, her body gets covered in yellow electrical currents as she speeds away.

This speed is too great of a change. Is it because of the strange matter she cleared using water? That doesn't seem to be the case, but I feel like it's somewhat related.

The next moment, Saturnus comes to a halt as she tightens her grip on her weapon before electrical sparks form on the sharp tip.

Once the electrical sparks go away, a futuristic-looking firearm is exposed. At first glance, one would assume it's a toy gun with azure glowing accessories added to its sides.

However, I know that's not the case. From my senses, I'm able to tell that whatever is inside the weapon can generate destructive heat.

Grabbing the weapon, Saturnus immediately points it at me and pulls the trigger.

Focusing on the beam of energy escaping the weapon, I create a reflective barrier in front of me.

Not even a second later, the energy beam contacts the barrier as it gets reflected without any issue.

I look up at Saturnus, only to see nothing other than space.

"Creator!" a loud voice reaches my ears from the right, causing me to look over just in time to notice something moving toward me at a ridiculous speed.

As a response to this, I instinctively raise my arm to block the attack, which results in the tip of Saturnus' equipment getting lodged into it as a surge of energy gets transmitted into my arm.

Fuck, not this again.

I directly use Holy Slash to cut my left arm off before the energy could spread any further.

As I retreat, I notice that my arm isn't regenerating. Why?

Raising my other arm, I release Flames of Devastation upon my missing arm, resulting in it to quickly get blazed to nothingness.

Strangely, I feel my energy increase as my arm grows regrows.

"As expected of the Creator," I hear Saturnus behind me, "You already found out how to deal with my Golden Caster."

Golden Caster? Is that what her strange equipment is named?

Anyway, that thing is one hell of a cheat item. Not only can it destroy objects by the energy contained inside, but most likely increase the speed of the user and create objects.

Saturnus' current parameters are higher than what's feasible for me in this Platform. We would have fought over at the Lost Continent, but I wanted the fight to be disadvantageous for me.

"Should we continue?" Saturnus suddenly asks with excitement apparent in her voice.

A smile forms on my lips as I nod my head and say, "Come at me with everything you got."