The warm, roasted aroma of coffee filled the room.
Sitting comfortably at the sofa, Fainyx kept his violet eyes gently closed. While his golem Fain was there giving coffee to his two masters.
Yong then took a sip,
"As expected, I really miss your home-made coffee kiddo~ I've been traveling far and wide and never found anything similar to a coffee... It was a good thing I've met you"
"Thanks to the Aetherium I can make this."
Fain said while his real body was there drinking the coffee.
"I see, anyways how's your condition these days kiddo?"
"It's alright, thabks to the medicine Master Ruth gave me, and it's still expelling out sometimes..."
Yong took a sip of his coffee, leaning back in his chair with a relaxed grin. "Good. If that old lizard's medicine ended up poisoning you, I was going to turn him into a very expensive pair of boots."
"You are welcome to try, human," Ruth scoffed, not even bothering to look up from his teacup.
"Though I doubt your dull blades could even scratch my scales. You would simply break your wrists."
Fainyx smiled blindly at their usual bickering. He took a sip of his own sweet coffee before deciding to ask a question that had been bothering him for quite some time.
"Master Yong," Fainyx began asking uim using Fain.
"I have been thinking about it. You are an S-Rank adventurer who wanders the continent freely. How exactly did you become a Marquis of the Kingdom?"
Yong stopped mid-sip, lowering his cup. A wide, nostalgic grin spread across his face.
Ruth simply shook his head, a rare, amused chuckle vibrating in his chest. "Ah. Those days were quite amusing."
"It was actually surprisingly easy," Yong said, leaning his elbows on the table. "It happened about... uhh... ten years ago yeah I was already a very famous S-Rank adventurer at the time most of my Hundred years was mostly I travelled all over the places.
The Guildmaster well... the father of the current Guildmaster, actually. They look exactly alike in their prime gave me a highly classified escort mission."
Yong waved a hand dismissively. "I was hired to act as a bodyguard for a young Crown Prince. What confused me at first was that the Royal Family didn't send any elite knights or high-ranking court magicians with him.
Just me and a few other top-tier mercenaries. But it turned out, it was a secret trial given to the Prince by the King. The kid had to slay a wyvern to prove his right to the throne."
"And you fought it for him?" Fainyx asked.
"Nope. We helped, but the kid actually landed the killing blow," Yong said, sounding genuinely impressed.
"He was pretty strong for a teenager. But, of course, because he was still young, he wasn't anywhere near as strong as me."
Ruth scoffed loudly. "If a human teenager was as strong as you, we would have a severe problem."
Yong just laughed, ignoring the jab. "Anyway, as we were traveling back to the Capital with the wyvern's head, we were ambushed. It was an assassination squad from a neighboring nation. Four 4th-Circle elite mages, and one 5th-Circle High Mage, they immediately targeted the Prince."
"What did you do?"
"I let them attack the Crown Prince," Yong grinned wickedly. "I just stood back and watched. I wanted to see how strong the kid really was when pushed to his limits."
Ruth looked at Yong, his golden eyes filled with absolute disdain. "Ruthless. The boy was already exhausted from slaying a wyvern."
"Hey, I was just curious!" Yong defended himself. "Anyway, the Prince managed to kill one of the elite mages, but he was completely out of breath so I had no choice but to step in, hehehe I didn't even bother using magic to those weaker than me. I just drew my sword and killed the rest of them, they were incredibly weak to me, anyway heh."
Fainyx let out a quiet sigh. His master's standard for "weak" was heavily skewed.
"The Crown Prince survived and thanked me," Yong continued.
"When we finally returned to the Kingdom, he was so grateful that he immediately offered me the title of Duke, I refused it instantly of course, Dukes have too much paperwork. But he absolutely insisted on granting me a noble title as a reward. Kekeke I guess he just doesn't want me to leave and live in other kingdom so he's giving me a citizenship here"
Yong smirked, taking another sip of coffee. "So, I gave him my terms. I told him, 'Make me a Marquis, but I don't want a noble house, I don't want an estate to manage, I don't want a new family name, and I am going to continue working as an adventurer.' kekeke it was funny looking at his face."
Fainyx opened his eyes slightly, frowning at his master. He reached for his notebook out of habit, then remembered he could just close his eyes and speak. He shut them again.
"Did he actually accept that? Those are completely ridiculous terms for a high noble."
"He accepted them without a second thought," Yong laughed. "That Prince was wild. A few years later, he used the assassination attempt as 'casus belli' and started a ruthless, all-out war against the nation that sent the spies, and of course he won, obviously.
He's incredibly brave. Eventually, he was crowned King, and he became one of my regular drinking buddies!"
Ruth sighed heavily. "I recall drinking with the two of you a few times in the past. Your King is incredibly loud when intoxicated. If I remember correctly, his name was..."
"Clervaux," Yong supplied smoothly. "Clervaux de Eckart yeah that's his name. Hehe~ he was a really one of my good drinking buddy who never really cares about status at all and he disguise himself well. Not even his people except his wife and of course your Father knows about this."
Fainyx felt a massive headache forming.
"Clervaux de Eckart." He knew exactly who that was. It was the current King of the Kingdom, one of the most powerful and heavily guarded NPCs in the entire hardcore game.
To think his goofy, eccentric master was not only the King's personal savior, but his old drinking buddy. And the Duke of Nocte... Fainyx's father also one of his Master's drinking buddy...
'That's why he was accepted as his History Teacher...' Fainyx could only sigh into his coffee cup.
A few hours of easy chatting went by, and the time finally came to leave.
Fainyx opened his eyes and then he let Fain guide the two by the window. The grandfather clock in the hall indicated it was pass almost 4.
"Alright, kiddo, we're heading out," Yong said, stretching his arms. "And just a heads-up, we won't be visiting you at midnight tonight or for the next three days. You should probably just rest and take a day off studying. "
Fainyx tilted his head,
"Why?"
He let Fain asked that.
Yong groaned, reaching into his inner coat pocket and then he pulled out a pristine, heavy envelope sealed with a brilliant gold crest.
"Because I was officially invited to the Royal Banquet at the Emperor's castle... I threw the first invitation in the trash, but the King's personal messenger scolded me, so I can't refuse it again... I'll be stuck doing noble pity party for three days... Sighs..."
"And I..." Ruth added, adjusting his cuffs
"I have an urgent gathering with the remaining Ancient Dragons. It seems I am also required to be away for three or four days."
With their farewells said, the two legendary masters slipped silently out the bedroom window, leaving Fainyx alone.
Fainyx sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his identical golem, Fain, who was still perfectly just standing there then it let out an expression that he can't do.
" They are both gone for three days..." Fain said , his violet eyes gleaming with sadness but then he cover it up and Fain's face went back to his usual stoic face.
'I was planning to go to the Adventurer's Guild tomorrow... but since I am completely free right now, what if I go tonight?'
He looked at the golem. Fain was perfectly capable of mimicking his daily routine. He could simply leave the golem here to sleep.
If a maid or a family member entered the room, the golem's alarm system would instantly alert Fainyx's mind, giving him time to react. The only problem was the Duke's strict order...
'Do not leave this room, no matter what.'
Fainyx walked over to the window, peering carefully through a small gap in the heavy curtains.
Down in the courtyard, a massive, incredibly luxurious carriage had just pulled through the estate gates. Emblazoned on the side of the carriage was the unmistakable crest of the Nocte family.
It was his Uncle and Aunt coming into the mansion.
Fainyx frowned, he was genuinely curious actually.
Why had Adam and Liam reacted with such sheer panic at the mention of these relatives?
Why had the Duke ordered him to hide as if his life depended on it?
Fainyx looked back at the golem, and a brilliant, highly manipulative idea formed in his mind.
He didn't need to risk his real body to spy on them.
Fainyx closed his eyes and channeled his mana, shifting his active consciousness directly into the golem.
Operating the golem, Fainyx carefully slipped out of his chair then he tapped into his mana, weaving a invisibility and concealment spell entirely around Fain's body.
The magic was so dense and perfect that not even a high-ranking court magician would be able to sense the golem's presence or mana signature.
Perfectly invisible to the naked eye, the golem walked silently toward the bedroom door.
Meanwhile, Fainyx's true physical body sat safely in the corner armchair, eyes closed, completely hidden in the shadows of the room.
A small, cunning smirk crossed Fainyx's real face as the invisible golem slipped through the bedroom door and out into the hallway.
'Technically,' Fainyx thought to himself, thoroughly enjoying the loophole.
'My real body hasn't taken a single step outside this room. I am not breaking my promise at all~.'