Chapter 311 - Towards Regulus

Back at the Silvaria family's estate, Cecil was getting his wagon ready. They weren't going to retaliate against the Regulus Kingdom's attack but they were going over to demand an explanation from them.

Rowan, Fatima, and Kaiser were also coming, along with a few members of the Kingdom's Council families. It would be a somewhat large entourage escorted by a small regiment of soldiers.

They had already sent a messenger to the kingdom to seek an audience with the King. They hadn't received a reply just yet, but it wasn't like Cecil was going to take no for an answer. If needed, he'd break through the city's gates and march into the castle. He was going to find the bastard who had tried to **** his wife.

On this journey, from his group only Lucia, Serilla, and Quinn were going to be coming this time. They had to make room for Kaiser, Rowan, and Fatima so Ren, Silver, and Yuna had to stay behind.

"Hmmm... this is a peculiar vehicle. Is this also created by magic?" Kaiser asked as he inspected the interior of the Wanderer.

On the side, the rest of the family also looked back at Cecil for an explanation.

"More or less, I expanded the interior's space using a high-leveled magic array that I was able to acquire and upgrade from Lucia's mother. Ren also helped out and we were able to expand the space even further after a few trials. The outside has been layered with a few defensive arrays and there are arrays inscribed in the interior and exterior that enhances the wagon's overall durability and sturdiness."

"Teacher, don't forget that about the Levitation array and Stability array that's used during its flight mode! The stability array keeps the wagon stable when it's in the air and it also acts as a shock absorber that keeps the wagon from experiencing too much shaking during aerial and ground travels!" Ren quipped up as he moved around the wagon and began inspecting the arrays.

"Oh yeah...there was that too," Cecil said. He was looking around the interior with his Mana Eyes and his father finally questioned him about it.

"By the way son, what happened to your eyes?"

"Hm?"

"I'm pretty sure my son's eyes weren't gold before..." Kaiser said. Now that everyone saw it, they finally realized that Cecil's eyes were indeed different than how it was before.

"It's stated inside the family's cultivation manual that I gave to Grandfather, but I will say this, not everyone can cultivate these eyes. One wrong move and you'll blow your eyes out along with your brain."

"...It's that dangerous?"

"These are called Mana Eyes. I'm sure Rowan knows what these are," Cecil said as he turned to look at Rowan.

"M-Mana Eyes? H-How?! Don't most children that are born with those die before hitting 12?" Rowan exclaimed in shock.

"Hm, that's indeed the case for most children, however, I wasn't born with Mana Eyes. I cultivated mine."

"I-Is that possible?" Rowan incredulously asked.

"For other people, it's impossible. Only my family can," Cecil replied. This was a lie. All the Earthlings could learn how to cultivate it, but if they did so recklessly, they'd only be met with a gruesome ending like those children who were born with Mana Eyes.

Cecil was a little bit lucky that he hadn't destroyed his vision and brain while cultivating the Mana Eyes. When he was turning the technique into a plausible cultivation art, he had stumbled upon many obstacles that he hadn't previously encountered before.

There were risks and dangers to cultivating the technique and it was fortunate that he was able to dodge all those risks and dangers during his childhood. Cecil had written down those risks and dangers he had found in the cultivation manual of the Mana Eyes which he had already given to his Grandfather.

He had also created cultivation manuals for his other skills such as the Ascending Blade, Flash Cannon, Barrier, Mana Burst, and Mana Sense. Since not everyone would be able to cultivate the Mana Eyes safely, they needed a guide. All those techniques were easy for Cecil to execute precisely because he had Mana Eyes. His control over mana was sublime that he could create his techniques by himself.

The risks to cultivating Mana Eyes were clearly stated inside its cultivation manual so probably not many in the family would think of cultivating the technique.

Kaiser couldn't help but click his tongue in displeasure. He also wanted to go cultivate the techniques that his son had given to them, but here he was busy with foreign diplomatic affairs.

"That old man..."

"You can cultivate those next time, honey. Just go and resolve this problem first," Anastasia quipped up.

"Yes, ma'am."

Next to Ren, Angelia was curiously looking around and couldn't help but quip up.

"So... Ren made this too?"

"Hm? No, I only helped Teacher improve it. I didn't do much and it was mostly Teacher that did everything..." Ren replied to the girl who was curiously looking at the Wanderer.

"Well, we should get going. We have school~" Angelia said.

"School... ugh, learning from Teacher is already enough for me...why do I have to go to school?"

"You can't say that! You'll grow up to become a useless person if you don't go to school!"

"U-useless person?!"

"Yup! Now, if you don't want to become a useless idiot, you'd better come with me to school!"

"...tsk, fine..." Ren clicked his tongue in displeasure but he reluctantly agreed with Angelia.

Ren walked over to Cecil who had just finished inspecting the wagon once more and said, "T-Teacher... I'll be going now..."

"Take care and pay attention to class," Cecil replied.

"Take care little Ren, make sure you get along with everyone at school!" Serilla added.

"Don't cause trouble Ren, you'll get a beating later if you do," Lucia said as she handed Ren his lunchbox.

"Y-Yes..."

Angelia also bade farewell to her parents and waited for Ren. The two walked out together from the family's estate and went to school. Normally, Angelia would ride on Mao to school, but she was being considerate of Ren so she decided to just head out early and walk to school.

"Hmmm, don't they make a cute couple," Anastasia said.

"Don't even think about it, Mom. That kid is going back to Machina Reggio after he completes his training with me. Most importantly, I won't let that little lecher get together with my sister." Cecil said in a flat tone.

"Oh yah, what's wrong with little Ren~?"

"Everything, he's my disciple and we practically treat him as our family's child. So think about it from my perspective. How could I let my 'son' date, my sister?"

"Oh yah, yah, well aren't you amusing, son? Rather than having an 'adopted' grandchild, when are you going to give me a few grandchildren?" Anastasia replied while looking at him meaningfully.

Cecil blushed and furiously replied, "M-Mom!"

"Don't worry, Mother, we'll give you grandchildren soon~" Serilla quipped up and grabbed onto Cecil's arm.

Lucia also agreed and grabbed onto Cecil's other arm.

"Yup~"

"Oh my, aren't you the fortunate one, Cel?" Anastasia teased.

Cecil only grumbled in response and quickly finished the preparations for the wagon.

"Already, we're ready. Get on and let's go meet up with the others who are waiting at the gates."

The members who were going quickly got on the wagon and the ones remaining saw them off.

Cecil was manning the driver seat and quickly urged Sleipnir to go. Once they met up with the rest of the entourage who were gathered at the gates, the group set off immediately.

"It'll take a few days before we reach the capital. For now, just relax and do what you want. Father, if you are impatient and want to learn about the things I gave to Grandfather, I'll help you with it now."

"Ah, now we're talking! Just sitting around and doing nothing for a few days would be pretty boring. How about we go and spar later when we stop to rest?" Kaiser replied.

"Up to you old man, but don't expect me to lose," Cecil replied.

"Heh, talking big now, are we? Don't regret it later when I beat you into the ground, you'll only end up embarrassing yourself in front of your wives!"

"Tsk, you think I'm still the same little kid as before, don't you?"

"Hmph, in my eyes, you'll always be that same little boy!"

Cecil shrugged and only nodded back in response. He was his father's son after all. No matter how old or how big he's grown, nothing's going to change in his father's eyes.

"I've been curious sine earlier, Cecil, but how were you separated from your family?" Rowan asked.

Cecil didn't turn around and simply replied, "I'm not sure either. When I came to, I was inside of a large forest and was soon attacked by a large Blade Ursa."

"So you weren't kidnapped or anything, huh?"

"Yeah, it felt like someone dragged me there through teleportation or something..."

"What a mystery, but it might have something to do with Alterna's guardian deities. They're the only beings in this world that are capable of doing that," Rowan said.

"Guardian Deities? Are they something similar to the World Tree?"

"The World Tree IS one of the deities. Most of them are sentient and can communicate with their protectors. In this case, the World Tree's protectors or caretakers are the elves."

"Do humans have one?"

"Well... we do have one, but I hear that it's lost somewhere in the No-Man's Land."

"I see..."

"It used to be impossible for anyone to inhabit the lands where your family's kingdom is located in because of the monsters roaming around the place, but now we have your kingdom in there so maybe we can start sending adventurers to explore the area."

"Adventurers huh... I don't like them," Cecil replied.

"Huh? Aren't you one yourself?"

"With my Kingdom in mind, adventurers aren't anything good. They come and go as they please and have free access to all of the Kingdom's lands. They kill monsters and take their materials and sell them only to the adventurer guild that pays a minor tax to the kingdom..."

"...I never thought of it in that perspective..."

"Hmph, that's because the adventurer guild has always been rooted in your kingdom from a long time ago. Don't expect them to build a branch in our Kingdom. I won't allow it," Cecil said.

"Is that how you see them, son?"

"The only reason adventurers are prevalent is because they are people who have no jobs or permanent places of residence... since everyone in our kingdom has a job and goes to school, we don't need them. If we do need a group of volunteers to explore or subjugate monsters, we can just have our kingdom establish recruitment orders or missions."

Kaiser nodded and began to contemplate deeply to Cecil's words. He had received a request from the Adventurer guild from the Regulus Kingdom to build a guild branch inside their land, but he had put it on hold because of the recent events.

Now that Cecil gave him his two cents about the Adventurer Guild, Kaiser was inclined to not permit them. He'd essentially be giving foreign people access to his kingdom and this wasn't something that he wanted.

There were many secrets inside his kingdom that he'd rather not have outsiders be privy to. Not to mention that most of the kingdom's residents weren't natives of Alterna.