Kuro
"Now! For the final item we have up for the lucky individual fortunate enough to acquire this!" The auctioneer's dramatic voice echoed from below as another cage covered by a silky cloth was dragged onstage.
Everyone in the room was still noticeably tense from the initial shock of an intruder, but their attention was now focused back onto the stage after Vincent announced he had been killed.
After a dramatic pause, the tarp covering the cage was removed, revealing a small feline animal the size of a large dog.
The auctioneer bellowed at that exact moment, "An infant world lion! For those who are ignorant of this magnificent mana beast, an adult world lion has the capability to at least become a B-class mana beast. I dare say that if taken care of well, this infant world lion could even become an A-class mana beast! Do you know what this means? Taking care of and treasuring this fine beast will allow its master to become a legendary beast tamer!"
The audience below us erupted into a frenzy as hands shot into the air, bidding without even waiting for the auctioneer. Unsurprisingly, King Glayder smacked the glass with his hand as his eyes stayed glued to the mana beast.
Having never traversed to the Beast Glades, we were intrigued by the cub as well.
Sebastian walked over to the edge of the room as well to get a better view of the mana beast currently on display. However, he merely let out a dissatisfied snort before walking back, getting another greedy eyeful of Sylvie.
I normally wouldn't have minded someone becoming jealous of the fact that Arthur had a bond, hell, even I was jealous, but it was obvious that Sebastian had intentions to try and take Arthur's bond away from him. Needless to say, my and Arthur's patience with his borderline perverted leering was growing increasingly thin.
"Now, now! I won't be able to start the bidding until everyone gets settled!" The auctioneer shook his fingers with a satisfied grin plastered on his face as he waited for the crowd to sedate.
As the bidders all reluctantly settled, the auctioneer finally announced the starting bid. "We will start at one hundred gold!"
I raised a Sound barrier once more around me and Arthur.
"You really need to chill it with that killing intent. I know I'm not one to talk, but you should really control your power." I said as the nobles began bidding crazy amounts of gold.
"Sorry about that. I only meant it for that asshole." He glanced momentarily at Sebastian.
"Understandable. I'd be pissed if someone tried stealing my bond. By the way, Blaine's gonna bid a thousand gold. Check it out." I let down the barrier just in time to hear his bellow through the voice-amplifying artifact.
"1000 gold coins!"
The crowd's incessant bidding immediately stopped upon hearing the King's voice. It was obvious that, while there were plenty who could afford to bid higher, they were more debating on whether it was worth bidding against their own king.
I'd sure as hell do it. What would it matter, as long as I kept my identity unknown. Regal's always available for a call.
Father walked up to the King with his hand held out. "Seems like no one wants to bid against you, King Glayder," he congratulated.
"One white-gold tablet shouldn't be too unfair, right?" the King joked as he peered back down onto the stage, obviously excited.
"Thank you for the consideration," Father chuckled in defeat. "What are your plans with the new royal pet? Will you use it for yourself, or perhaps give it to your son?"
"While tempting it is for me to acquire a bond, I'm thinking of giving it to Curtis..." he said casually. "Of course, that all depends on how he does," he finished, patting his son's head.
"D-Dad!" Prince Curtis, whose face had visibly brightened at his father's first remark, stuttered out in worry.
Queen Priscilla, adding fuel to the fire, added, "Curtis, I remember you've been slacking off on your sword lessons."
"Ah! Mom! That was supposed to be a secret!" The fierce-looking prince tugged on his mother's sleeve as his eyes switched been his mother and father.
"Mama, can I have a pet?" Eleanor asked Alice.
"Haha, I don't know. Mana beasts only want to be pets for nice ladies," she teased.
"Ellie is nice! Right, Brother?" She pulled on Arthur's sleeve, sending him out to battle on her behalf.
"Hmm? Who knows." He shot her an evil smile, placing Sylvie in her lap before she started crying.
The Tenth Anniversary event ended without any further commotion besides the one that Arthur and I caused, and the guards escorted all of us back downstairs.
Upon reaching the storage room behind the stage, Father came and handed Arthur a package wrapped in black cloth. The items that the King purchased were being hauled to the carriage by some of the workers.
"Thank you." He accepted it graciously.
"For everything you and your family has done for us, this is hardly enough," Father replied. "Arthur, we have some swords in the back if you want to take a look while you're here. They might not be anything special, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a solid sword to last you until your body finishes growing."
"Oh! Are you planning on taking lessons with the sword?" The King inquired, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "My boy has just started learning as well. Maybe you two can spar one day."
"Swords are merely a hobby for me, Your Majesty. I would never hope to amount to the same level as your son," he replied, turning back to redeem Father's offer. "However, Kuro might enjoy sparring with your son," he offered my presence in place of his, smiling evilly. This kid actually dragged me into battle himself.
"You did not just... Oh, I'm actually kicking your butt for that one." He stiffened at my words.
"Your Majesty, Prince Curtis would only become infected with bad habits if he began sparring with mere commoners," Sebastian's hissy voice rang.
As we turned back to retort, Reynolds and the Twin Horns came into view.
"Ah, you guys are here! How did you enjoy the auction!" He exclaimed picking up Eleanor after showing his respects to the King and Queen.
Reynolds pulled Father aside as he and the Twin Horns began debriefing him about the event.
"Your Majesty, if I may have a word with you," I heard Sebastian say as he leaned closely to the King's ear.
After a few moments, King Glayder shot his royal guard an irritated glance, but he let out a sigh.
As the two walked towards us, it was obvious what they had just discussed by the way Sebastian wasn't even looking at either of us, but instead, at Arthur's bond.
"Arthur," I turned to him. "You are not to get angry. I'll personally suppress you if I have to. I know you're going to use Static Void to break his leg, but I'm telling you to back off for now. I'll give you a chance for that in just a bit." I told him, smiling.
He didn't talk to Arthur though. Instead, he called upon Reynolds.
The King smiled at him, but his eyes remained stern. "I never did catch your name. You must be this boy's father, correct?" he affirmed rather than asked, the question directed at Arthur.
"My name is Reynolds Leywin and yes, that is the case. What might be the matter, Your Majesty?" he replied, lowering himself slightly.
"Sebastian, here, has been a royal guard for a while now and has helped our family an uncountable amount of times."
He stayed relaxed as he spoke to Reynolds, but the condescension in his tone was very much apparent. "For the exemplary services he has provided me, and therefore the country, I do feel the need to reward him at times.
You see; he has taken a fancy to your son's bond. I know it's not easy to sever a contract and I'm sure the boy has grown close to his little pet, but I would be more than willing to hire a mage to take care of the contract and compensate you and your family for the troubles."
"Y-your Majesty," he stuttered, caught by surprise by the severe request. Taking a glance at the visibly pissed Arthur, he turned back to the King. "I must apologize, Your Majesty. Neither I nor my wife had anything to do with my son's bond. He had acquired it himself, so I cannot speak on my son's behalf on matters of his bond."
"Hmm," the King turned his attention to our direction, regarding us, or Arthur, loftily, and I suddenly realized that he was returning his gaze. I realized, then, that for the entirety of their conversation, he had been staring icily at him and his guard.
"Boy. Didn't your father teach you to lower your gaze when speaking to someone of your superior?" Sebastian snarled in disdain as he slammed the end of his metal staff to the ground.
"You shut your mouth, guard." I glared at him before turning to Arthur. I grabbed his shoulders.
"Arthur, you are to calm down. I know you're pissed off. I know you wanna tear him to pieces. But just wait. I'm not gonna let him take Sylvie away from you."
"...Okay." He said, nodding stiffly.
I turned back around to the King, who was surprised at my action of subduing his guard. He was no longer than an arm's length away. Oh, how bad I wanna just turn his face inside out.
"Hello, boy," he ignored me, speaking to Arthur. "I'm sure you've just heard me speak to your father so I won't repeat myself. How about it? My royal armory would certainly have a sword befitting that of any aspiring knight."
"I apologize, Your Majesty. I'm afraid Arthur will have to decline. I'm currently required to speak for him since he is not currently in the best condition to talk with." I bowed.
"Like I said, Arthur is very thankful for your gracious offer but he must refuse. A simple sword could never replace Sylvie."
"How dare-"
"Did I say you could talk?" I said as I shot a fireball toward him, narrowly missing on purpose. "I'm talking to your superior, so you keep your mouth shut unless you are told otherwise, nothing more, nothing less. Do you understand?" I threatened, charging up a bright blue flame this time.
I released the spell. "I apologize. Please, continue."
After recovering from the shock of me firing a spell at his guard he spoke once more. "How about a trade then? The World Lion cub that I just purchased for his bond?"
"Father!" Curtis scurried over to his father, pulling on his sleeve. "I thought the mana beast was mine?"
Ignoring his son, the King waited for my response. But Arthur answered for me.
"I don't think Kuro made my answer clear enough for you to understand, so let me ask you this," he said. "How much are you willing to sell your children for?"
"What?" The King's expression was both one of anger and confusion.
"I said, how much gold would you be willing to sell your children for? You don't seem to understand the gravity of what you are asking of me, so I hoped to clarify using my question instead. How much money should I give you in return for your son or daughter, King Glayder?" he rephrased, without wavering even a bit.
Ah, shit.
I heard the sharp whistle of a sword leaving its scabbard. "Insolent peasant! You dare insult the King and his family?" One of the guards roared as he charged at Arthur before anyone had the chance to respond.
I pulled my sword from my dimensional storage, meeting the guard just moments before shit hit the fan.
"You are to stand down, guard. I won't reprimand you for drawing your sword or using mana, but I won't hold back if you touch even a hair on him," I knocked his sword back.
"Please re-educate your guards, Your Majesty. They seem to be very impulsive. Also, I don't think I need to readdress the point that Arthur and I have made. Unless you are to either pay or give an amount equivalent to the price you're willing to sell either of your children, I suggest you let this matter go."
"I-insolence!" Sebastian prepared to fire a spell.
Is he seriously going to do this again? Ah fuck. Whatever. Looks like I'm gonna have to deal with an unconcious Arthur.
A second later, Arthur was on the floor and Sebastian had a broken leg.
"Cover the kids' eyes!" I shouted, as they all covered their eyes without warning and I raised an Ice wall just barely in time.
Just when Reynolds was going to ask what happened, I looked behind the king and pointed to him.
"What just happened to him?" I asked myself, already knowing the answer.
"Pleaf helf me..." he muttered in agony, mouth foaming from the pain.
This was even more gruesome than I expected. His right leg was the other way around, to the extent that the bone had shone.
I momentarily felt the Dragon Will just a second before everything happened, so I knew what was going to happen, but I didn't expect it to be this crazy.
I could feel my mana welling up, and seeing the strained faces of everybody around me, it was quite the bit of mana leaking.
"I apologize, Your Majesty. It seems your guard and his mana has caused Arthur to fall unconscious. I'm afraid we must go and let him recover."
And just like that, I suppressed my mana, grabbed Arthur and we left the Auction House.
Arthur Leywin
I woke up to a throbbing pain in my head.
Ah, fuck! I went overboard again!
I pried my eyes open, trying to figure out where I was, but everything was blurry. As my vision slowly cleared, I carefully turned my head to the right and left.
"Kyu!" Sylvie woke up almost immediately and began licking my face. 'You're awake! You're awake!' she chirped, her tail wagging fiercely.
"So you're awake." Kuro walked into my room.
"Hmm? Oh, you're awake. The doctor said you be awake soon, but I didn't think 'soon' would be eight hours later." My mother stirred from her sleep, as she patted my head.
"Aunt Alice? Can I talk with Arthur?" he asked my mother as she stood up. I could see that disappointed gaze in his eyes.
"Sure."
"Thank you." She walked out of my room to leave us to our conversation, but he raised a Sound barrier for extra measures. "Now you. What'd I say? I said to stand down for the moment and wait for your chance. Did you perhaps forget not just about Curtis and Kathyln, but my and your sister and the fact that they were still around? You broke his damn leg and I barely had time to cover their eyes with an Ice wall."
"Sorry. I lost control when I saw him casting a spell, so I threw the two of us into Static Void and I went crazy on him." I replied, looking at my still shaking hands.
"I know you did. It doesn't matter if you can freeze time for what, five seconds. My senses alone are keen enough to detect the activation and release of your Dragon Will. Not to mention, this God body of mine and these two up here," he pointed to his eyes, "can see inside of you. I know you activated your Beast Will and fell unconscious because of backlash. You still haven't figured it out yet, but that's not the thing you're suited for. At least not yet." he finished.
Suspicious.
"In any case, I'm beating your ass for dragging me under that little bus of yours. Did you really think I would purposely lose in sword training against Curtis? Ha! Real funny.
Anyway, you'd better watch yourself. Keep training, because although I can't sense it completely, I can tell. You're getting close to unlocking Phase Two. If you thought Phase One would be draining, dream again. Phase Two's gonna be a monster ability. Here's a hint on how to take much less backlash.
Train your magic as much as possible. You need to have as much control over your two dominant elements and their Deviant's to avoid backlash as much as possible. Consider yourself dead if you don't. Good luck." After, he just walked out.
But I'm sure as hell gonna take that advice. I'm gonna train as much as I possibly can and unlock Phase Two of Sylvia's Will. I'll be sure to spend time with my family and enjoy life, of course.