Chapter 991: New Faces, New Friends
‘Really? Just bad?’
‘There we go.’
=She’s not wrong though, milord. Are you sure it’s a good idea to bring them both back home?=
‘I can’t keep them cooped up in the library forever…that and I don’t want them influencing Jasper and Janice.’
<=Fair enough.=>
‘Besides, they might prove useful to the clan…maybe.’
…
“You know, as much as I love receiving your letters, it’s significantly sweeter being by your side.”
“Oh you!”
As the mid-afternoon sun beamed down on Stone Claw City, a couple of young lovers were walking down one of its avenues while enjoying the desert heat…as absurd as that sounded.
This particular couple was the First Mistress of the Zhen Clan, Zhen Yue, and her soon-to-be-husband, Prince Santiago Ecaredies.
The two of them had been exchanging letters for weeks on end, even when Zhen Yue was in Roaring Tide, and had steadily strengthen their relationship via this simple act.
Of course, a thousand written words were not the same as a moment of true conversation.
As the two lovers continued to walk and talk on their way back to the clan’s estate after a lovely lunchtime meal, the two of them began to discuss matters such as their wedding, their plans for the future and-
“Incoming!”
“Huh? Whoa!”
Sound of large animal bones impacting the ground.
Moments before entering the estate, a gnawed on bone the size of a log suddenly came crashing down from above and almost hit the couple right on their heads.
Thankfully, the two of them were peak Aether Masters, so something like a bone falling from the sky wasn’t enough to cause them any injuries. However, they were curious as to why this bone came falling from the sky in the first place.
And why it appeared several more bones were following it.
“Do you have a new guest over?,” Santiago asked Zhen Yue. “Or perhaps, a new beast in the process of training?”
“No to the former, yes to the latter,” Zhen Yue replied, “but last I checked, the new beast should be in Roaring Tide.”
“Huh…”
Curious as to why this phenomenon was occurring, Zhen Yue and Santiago made their way into the estate. Once they were inside, they could make out the sound of what sounded like a starving jackal eating something at least several dozen times it’s own weight.
Which wasn’t exactly wrong.
“I think it’s coming from one of the courtyards…over there!”
“I see, I…what the fuck?”
In the courtyard belonging to the Seventh Branch of the Zhen Clan, an unknown young man and a teenage boy were sharing a meal together…sort of.
“You know…they invented eating utensils for a reason…”
“Inefficient. HOCKA!”
“Fair enough…”
The older of the duo, a young man who carried himself with elegance and etiquette that one would associate with a higher status in life, was eating a steak of some kind with a proper knife and fork. Off to his left was a perfectly peeled orange.
As for the teenager, who was dressed in leather armor, appeared to be in the middle of eating large roasted lizard with nothing but their bare hands and teeth. Piled behind the teenager were the remains of other large beasts and a couple dozen or so fruit peels.
Neither Zhen Yue nor Santiago recognized who either of this young men were, but at the very least, they could make an educated guess that they were probably associated with Zhen Liu in some capacity.
Probably.
“Are they…friends of your cousin?”
“Maybe,” Zhen Yue shrugged. “Although, I’d be surprised if they were.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well, the last few times strangers showed up on our doorstep, they usually involved the presence of beautiful young women, who may or may not be romantically involved with my cousin. So either he finally made friends outside of the family, or this is his way of saying that he swings both ways.”
“Hey, just because I don’t have many guys friends, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to make them.”
“Bah!”
“Oh! Hello Zhen Liu. My sister isn’t with you today?”
“Nah. She and Alicia got invited by mother to attend a training session of some kind. I was afraid to ask what.”
“Huh…”
Surprising Zhen Yue and her fiancee, Zhen Liu had appeared behind them while carrying what appeared to be a tray of ice cream.
Well, technically Zhen Liu was in a wheelchair being pushed by one of his lesser puppets(zakos) while another one was carrying the tray of ice cream. He would’ve done both tasks by himself, but the aforementioned “puppets” had spontaneously appeared to assist him in the task, complete with servant outfits. They had apparently been hanging around Aranea (Arachnidame) for extended periods of time.
“Anyways, why are you guys just hanging around here for?,” Zhen Liu asked. “I thought you guys were out being adorable and in love somewhere.”
“We were,” Zhen Yue readily admitted, causing Santiago to turn beet red in coloration, “but we noticed a large femur bone fall out of the sky as we approached home?”
“Large femur?”
“No more meat. Yeet!”
Sound of an unusually strong teenager tossing a bone the size of baseball bat being tossed like a pebble
“Ah… I’ll see if I can get him to…not do that. Would you like to meet them.”
“Uh…sure?”
“Cool.”
…
“You gonna eat that orange? It’s been sitting there for a long time.”
“Yes…I like to finish my meals with a citrussy fruit. Helps to refresh the palette.”
“I get that, but isn’t the point of a refresher is to eat more afterwards?”
“…you and I have very different upbringings.”
“No shit.”
“Hey guys, I’m back and I brought ice cream.”
“Ah, Zhen Liu!”
“Ice cream!”
Hearing the arrival of their shared compatriot, Cornelius and Hakon got up from their table to greet him properly. Well, Cornelius did. Once Hakon heard that there was ice cream, he zoomed over to get it and brought it back to his eating spot.
Surprisingly, this was the one time he used a spoon.
As Cornelius stared at him in disbelief over his actions, Hakon explained himself with a single sentence.
“It keeps the ice cream from melting.”
“Ah.”
Cornelius and Zhen Liu watched with amused horror as Hakon consumed enough ice cream to cause his head to freeze over, until the sound of a clearing throat broke them out of their watching.
It was at this moment, Cornelius realized Zhen Liu was being accompanied by a couple, which consisted of a young Bloodliner sheep man and a woman that looked similar to Zhen Liu.
“Ah, sorry cousin. Cornelius. Hakon. This is my cousin, Zhen Yue, and her fiancee, Prince Santiago Ecaredies.”
“Ecaredies? Isn’t that the name of-”
“Yeah, this is her brother.”
“Oh!”
With that brief blurb out of the way, Cornelius exchanged handshakes with Zhen Yue and Santiago, showcasing a manner of etiquette and eloquence that made him click with the prince.
Then again, it also helped that the man had Hakon to serve as a sharp contrast.
When Zhen Liu attempted to introduce the voracious eater to his cousin and her fiancee, all he said was, “Sup”, before going back to his ice cream.
It was in that moment they all figured it was smarter to have their conversations exclude him for the time being.
“So, Cornelius…how do you know Zhen Liu, exactly?,” Zhen Yue asked. “He never mentioned you or Hakon before.”
“Oh! That’s because we’re new disciples of the Nowhere temple,” Cornelius smoothly lied. “Well, I am. Our master saved me from a rather tense situation and dropped me off here. Something about this place being unusually well-guarded by giant spiders?”
“That is indeed the case. Miss Aranea has been very crucial to that development.”
“Wait, then what’s Hakon’s situation?,” Santiago asked. “He looks a bit young to be a disciple on the same level as you and Zhen Liu.”
This would’ve been the part where Zhen Liu or Cornelius would’ve lied again and say the wild glutton was their junior, but the man couldn’t keep his newly learned mouth shut.
“Used to be in the Echoing Valley. Was a slave, got bought, got freed and now I feed.”
“Uh…huh…”
“Wait a minute, did he say Echoing Valley?”
Evidently, that sudden info bomb threw everyone who heard him for a loop, but Zhen Liu managed to get out of that awkward moment by pivoting the topic…that and he used a little [Chaos] to affect everyone’s thinking.
Just a little bit.
“Anyways, are y’all excited for your upcoming nuptials?”
…
‘Thank god for [Chaos Aura].’
=Pathos, we’ve been over this. It wasn’t his fault.=
