Chapter 258 - The Storm Colt

Hearing the young lady's words, Cecil frowned and immediately replied, "He's not for sale."

"Oh my, are you sure~? I can provide a very wonderful proposition for you," Benedicia countered as she placed the golden rimmed card onto the table and pushed it towards Cecil.

Cecil's brow twitched in response to this. He smilingly pulled out a platinum-rimmed card and waved it in front the young lady.

"You see...I have no need for money. It's all just a number for me, and thus, my partner is NOT for sale!"

"!"

Benedicia widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the higher ranked bank card being waved at her. She blushed in embarrassment and quickly had the maid take her card back.

"Hmph... well, I see that you have no need for money... but are you sure—"

"Yes, I'm sure." Cecil replied curtly.

This caused the young lady to pout cutely at Cecil.

"Tsk, even though we're the same age..."

"Sorry, but I'm most likely younger than you. I'm 14."

"Tsk, no tact! You call yourself a noble, but you're comparing your age with mine?! I'm a lady you know!"

Cecil wanted to reply that he was not a noble, but that would probably cause problems. From what he could see from the way Benedicia acted, this girl was a genuine, spoiled young lady from an aristocratic house.

If she found out that Cecil wasn't an actual noble, he'll lose his current privileged treatment. Since he was being treated as nobility, then he'd squeeze out everything he could from this misunderstanding and strike a good deal for him and his party.

"Like I said, we came here to purchase the strongest battle pet your establishment has to offer. Like you can see," Cecil once more showed off the platinum rimmed bank card in his hand, "We have little worries in the financial department and let me emphasize, I want the strongest, not the most expensive, but the strongest battle pet. My party has no need for any of those 'pets' that are out on the grasslands."

"Hmph, fine, but before that, can you at least tell me who it was that raised such a fine wolf?"

"Didn't I already tell you? I'm the one who raised him," Cecil retorted.

"...I find that unconvincing," Benedicia countered as she skeptically looked Cecil up and down.

Since it was like this, he could tell that the young lady wouldn't drop it until he gave an answer that satisfied her, so he reluctantly began explaining.

"Me and Silver, that's my wolf's name by the way, have been together ever since we were young. I picked him up during my training and we've been together ever since. I raised and cared for him like he was my own little brother, so I have no reason to lie."

Sensing the unshakeable confidence radiating from the young man standing in front of her, Benedicia could only relent and take his words at face value. Like he said, Cecil had no reason to lie to her.

"Fine, I'll believe you. And since you've raised such a fine battle pet for yourself, I'll give you a nice deal~"

"Thank you."

"Hmhm~ I like people who treat their battle pets preciously, let's go shall we?" Benedicia stood up and gestured for Cecil and the girls to follow after her.

Benedicia began talking up Cecil on their way down from the mansion's top floor. Behind them, Lucia and Serilla followed after them. Lucia, who was quiet since earlier, couldn't help but whisper to Serilla, "Tch, that girl's been eyeing Cecil differently after he said he was the one who raised Silvy!"

"Hmm~ well, darling's grown to be the natural charmer~ but we're not gonna let him go and attract some random cat into the house anymore, right Lulu?"

"Yeah, the two of us are enough for Cel!"

Benedicia led the party outside of the mansion. They walked towards the forest at the back of the mansion and before they knew it, they arrived at a walled off area.

"Back here is where we keep our most precious battle pets. Because they aren't as tamed as the ones outside, we obviously can't have them roaming around freely."

Cecil nodded in understanding. It was odd to see no monsters acting violent inside a large establishment. There had to be at least one or two of those problem monsters that couldn't be tamed, but it turns out all of those monsters were cordoned off in their own area.

When Cecil and the rest stepped through the small doorway that led to the other side of the walled area, the ferocious howling and powerful roaring of numerous monsters bombarded their ears.

"Now this is more like it," Cecil said with a slight smirk.

He could feel multiple killing intents locking onto him and his companions. While he, Lucia, and Serilla had no problems coping with this meager amount of killing intent, it couldn't be said the same for Benedicia.

The girl was beginning to sweat and her face looked a little pale. She was obviously straining herself, however Cecil didn't see this, but Lucia and Serilla did.

"I'll call the warden, he and his team will—"

"Alright, let's head in." Cecil said.

"W-wha?"

Cecil ignored Benedicia as he used Nature's Shift to move past the tall iron fence barring them from going further into the area. He spread his Mana Sense and locked onto all the monsters around him.

Unlike, the outside where everything was all peaceful and full of rainbows, the cordoned area he was in right now was more like the normal forests that he would find in the wilderness.

It was literally like the difference between heaven and hell between this cordoned area and the outside prairie.

Being left behind by the boy, Benedicia could only stamp her feet in exasperation. "Hey, idiot!!! Do you even know what you're looking for?!"

Despite calling out to him, Cecil had already walked deep into the place and couldn't hear her over the sounds of the monsters roaring. Also, when she flared up like that, what greeted her in return was the ferocious howling of the monsters inside the area.

Benedicia paled at the roaring and quickly covered her ears with her hands. Lucia only looked at the girl and snapped her fingers. She sent a small wave of mana out and this immediately silenced the monsters in the forest.

"W-what did you do?"

"...Nothing, I just told them to shut up for a bit."

"...is that boy going to be alright?"

Lucia only glanced at her for a moment and shrugged in reply.

"T-then, shouldn't we call for help?! Those monsters aren't tamed yet! They're still feral and will attack him!"

"Heh," Lucia only responded with a light chuckle.

"Don't worry about Cecil, he can handle himself just fine~" Serilla said in reassurance.

"H-how can you girls be so laidback?! If he dies in there, it's on him! I'm not taking any responsibility!"

Lucia was a little displeased that this girl said her Cel would die to these low-leveled mutts.

"Hmph, just so you know, we're a Platinum-ranked party! Do you honestly believe that we should be worried about these pitiful mutts you call monsters? They're at best C-B ranked. They won't even count as warm up for us! Even if there was an A ranked monster, those could barely be considered a warm up!" Lucia scoffed and waved her adventurer ID card at the girl.

Benedicia couldn't help but be surprised when she heard this, however, she had to believe it because there was physical evidence of the girl's claim being waved right in front of her. She had only thought that these 3 were nobles playing adventurers, but they weren't just playing, they were the real deal moreover the 3 were high ranked even.

"I-if you're all platinum ranked...then surely you could go and catch a much stronger monster, why would you come here?"

"...Because it'd be a hassle to look for one, we're on the clock and we need one ASAP." Lucia replied.

"Uh...okay..." After giving that short reply, Benedicia remembered how rude and un-composed she was just now. She cleared her throat and apologized to the 2 young ladies. She invited them into the large house close by for a cup of tea while they wait for Cecil to come back.

It was the building for the warden and caretakers of this cordoned area that also acted as the waiting area for people like Cecil and the rest who were looking for actual battle pets.

When Benedicia walked in, the staff inside immediately greeted her politely. Lucia and Serilla saw that there were other people who appeared to be customers inside the building waiting for something.

Benedicia brought the two up to the top floor and they entered a lounge where the young lady's butler and maids began preparing tea and snacks for them. They had tea and chatted with each other for about 2 hours before Cecil came back with a large black stallion trailing behind him.

Cecil looked around and saw that the girls weren't there. He spread his senses out and found them in the nearby building's top floor. He turned towards the large horse next to him and plainly said, "Stay."

The horse only neighed before walking around and lying down near the edge of the iron fence. Cecil used Nature Shift to get back behind the fence before making his way to the building.

When he entered the building he found that it was somewhat quiet despite there being a lot of people who were obviously waiting for something.

Cecil didn't pay them any mind and proceeded to walk up to the second floor, however he was blocked by the guards waiting by the sides of the staircase.

"Sir, you can't pass here."

"Oh? Well, if I can't pass, can you please tell Lady Benedicia that I've already finished choosing the battle pet that I want?" Cecil asked in reply.

"Lady Benedicia?"

"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, she just came in here earlier with 2 of my companions?"

Remembering the two girls that Benedicia had brought up with her, the guard nodded in confirmation. Since this young man in front of him was a most likely another one of his Young Lady's esteemed guests, the guard politely asked Cecil to wait on the ground floor while he quickly made his way up and informed the young lady.

Cecil didn't have to wait for long before he was invited upstairs. He was quickly escorted to the room Lucia and the others were in and saw that the girls had somehow grown closer after his brief absence.

"So I heard you've already picked a monster?" Benedicia asked once Cecil sat himself in between Lucia and Serilla who had made space for him on the couch.

"Yes, it's a rather rare breed. Didn't think I'd actually see it here. It's a Black Tri-horn Storm Colt." Cecil said.

"Eh? One of the few A ranked monsters on the ranch...you want that?"

"Yeah, sure, it's already waiting down there for me anyway."

"What?" Benedicia immediately got up from her seat and looked out the window. Down below, she could see the large horse lying down in wait beside the iron fence.

"Y-you...how did you—"

"I just subdued him. It's the easiest way to tame a monster."

"S-subdued?"

"Hmm..."

Lucia and Serilla walked over to the window and looked down at the monster that Cecil had choosen.

"Oh! It's a black horse! Nice going darling~"

"Hmmm...Will it be strong enough to pull the wagon, Cel?"

"Yeah, it's more than capable of doing that. So Lady Benedicia, let's settle the bill." Cecil said as he pulled out his bank card.