Chapter 144 Twists, Turns, Truth, And Story (2/2)

'This dude makes some valid points, but he is just testing me, I think,' Arkhen thought as he looked at Dirroth with a smile.

'What's the name of your Dukedom?' Arkhen asked.

'Lanker,' Meya answered.

"Then how do you explain this necklace in my hand? Moreover, my arrival was secret to everyone except for the royal family and the Lanker Dukedom," Arkhen said as he waved the necklace in his hand slightly.

Dirroth turned silent, but his expression didn't budge this time. He turned to one of his men and said, "Go to the pickup spot and be in constant communication with me. The amount and necklace will arrive there after five minutes. Let's see if they also have the necklace or not."

Gereld glanced at Arkhen, holding back his expression from changing. But his eyes still twitched slightly.

'Chill. Let me think of something,' Arkhen said with an inwardly rueful smile.

After a few seconds, he indeed thought of something.

'Reality motes… Velshi, can you erase the reality of that original necklace and make it disappear while whoever delivering that necklace is on the way?'

[My lord, I have a doubt. Can I spend 2 reality motes to clear it? It may prove to be beneficial].

'Do it.'

[2 reality motes deducted]

'So?'

[We actually don't need to erase that necklace's reality and make it disappear. Instead, I can forcefully bring it into your inventory. Spending those 2 reality points, I confirmed that the necklace and crystal are nothing magical. It's not a special item bound to someone].

'Oh...'

[It's a plain simple beautiful crystal necklace, which I can easily teleport. If it was a necklace with some powers and bound to someone, it would take many reality motes. But since it's a normal lifeless necklace with no powers or anything special, I can teleport it by spending 475 reality motes].

'475 reality motes…'

Arkhen looked at his current reality motes and fell into thought.

-[Reality Motes: 2104]

'The second way of escaping is kind of risky so I'll take this one. If they don't have the necklace, we can make the deal here with the real necklace,' Arkhen nodded. 'Alright, initiate the teleport of that necklace after two minutes.'

…

Soon, four minutes passed and Dirroth slightly frowned as he talked through the comm crystal.

"What? He wants to come here and hand me the necklace and money personally? No! This is our secret base. Tell them to follow up with the original deal. First of all, did you confirm if he brought the necklace?"

…

Somewhere in the kingdom, inside a mansion's backyard garden…

A man looking in his early thirties was sitting on a chair with a deep frown. A barrier surrounded the man while a comm crystal floated in front of him. This man was Raoth, Melioth's son.

"What do you mean the necklace suddenly disappeared?" Raoth asked as his frown thickened.

"I don't know. Dany told me that the necklace suddenly disappeared and told me to relay to you that you need to talk with Dirroth to save the deal somehow. Dany said he would try to buy some time meanwhile," A voice came out from the comm crystal.

Raoth cut the connection and called Dirroth.

After a minute…

Roath—, "Bull shit! What Ravenwolf prince? I didn't gift the necklace to anyone, and no such thing about Meya's engagement happen!"

Dirroth—, "Whatever. I just want the necklace and money. Tell your subordinate to follow up with the same deal. He said he want to hand me the reward personally, but I won't let anyone inside this base until we empty it. Most importantly, tell your subordinate to show the necklace to my man. I want to confirm if you have the necklace or not."

Raoth pulled his hair in frustration. 'Where the fuck did necklace go? Did that bastard drop it or what?'

Taking a deep breath, Raoth said, "Look, Dirroth. I will give you double the originally promised amount. Just empty your base while keeping those two and all others you captured there before telling me the location.

I promise I will give you the necklace after I take Meya and Gereld in my hands. You know what, kill the rest of the people except for Meya and Gereld."

Dirroth—, "Don't play with me, Raoth! Just tell me that you don't have the necklace! I have seen the true necklace in prince Arkhen's hands! Why should I go with the deal when you don't have the thing I want?"

Right after that, Raoth saw the comm link cut off.

"Arghhhh! FUCK!"

Raoth's face turned furious as he smashed the crystal into pieces with a punch and roared in anger.

"Who the fuck is that Arkhen?!"

…

"Take the amount and come back. Just tell him that we don't need the necklace and the deal is still on," Dirroth said to his man who was dealing on the spot, "that Raoth seemed frustrated. Do it quickly before his subordinate finds the truth.

"Humph, how dare they trick us!" Dirroth said before he turned to Arkhen and opened the prison cell.

"Give me the necklace. I'll let all of you go," Dirroth said as he stretched his hand towards Arkhen's hand, but the necklace suddenly disappeared.

"Unlock our handcuffs first," Arkhen said as he pulled out arms that held Meya between them and walked towards Dirroth.

"Fine," Dirroth said as he turned to his men. "Unlock all of them!"

…

In the cave, Dirroth, Arkhen, Meya, and Gereld sat at a table while other people stood on the cargo carriage, ready to leave when prince Gereld and princess Meya finished their business.

"Alright, I've informed the kingdom that we need assistance. They will come here to pick us up," Gereld said.

Dirroth nodded before he stretched his hand towards Arkhen, "Now give me the necklace, and I'll be on my way before Bariat kingdom's elites arrives here."

Arkhen took out the real necklace and put it on the table before asking, "How are you connected to Valiant General Synthia?"

Dirroth's eyes revealed complicated expressions. He sighed and said, "I am not exactly connected to her, but my wife is. She told me how powerful, brave, and kind her mother was. I've just listened to her stories but I respect her a lot for her deeds. Now… My wife is dying because of a deadly illness and her wish was to have the necklace of her mother's crystal, the Dawn of Synthia."

Arkhen, Meya, and Gereld were shocked to hear that.

"so she had a daughter? We didn't know that," Gereld muttered before he stood up and bowed with a somber expression. "You are a good husband."

Meya quickly nodded continuously as her eyes became teary.

Arkhen also nodded as he released a sigh. Standing up, he said with a wide grin, "Alright, I've decided. I will cure your wife of that deadly illness!"

"You what… R-Really?" Dirroth said as he stammered and became emotional. He still believed that Arkhen was a prince of that Ravenwolf kingdom and bloomed a hope in his heart that his wife could be saved after hearing Arkhen.

[My lord. Something bad is going to happen. Be careful!]

*Graaaaaaaa!!*

The giant troll's eyes suddenly turned red as he roared and smacked his club towards Arkhen and others who sat at the table!

Arkhen quickly activated his Draconic Armor and created layers of force-field around the table while Dirroth, Meya, and Gereld also used their powers to block.

Although everyone used their powers, Dirroth's single prism shield easily blocked the troll's attack first.

"Why did he go berserk suddenly?" Dirroth questioned with a frown as he flew up and waved his hand to conjure dark gray chains and bound the troll.

"Graaaaaaa!" The troll roared with red eyes as the runes on his body started shining.

*Crack…*

The chains broke instantly as the troll swept its eyes and released a dark red spiral laser beam at the table, super fast!

*BOOM…*

"Cough…" Arkhen flew away as more than half his armor's durability was instantly destroyed.

Gereld and Meya have also blasted away, but a barrier protected them as rings on their fingers shined, indicating that the rings were some kind of protective item.

'Fuck! The power levels here are so strong!' Arkhen cursed as he saw his armor's durability decrease drastically.

After all, his armor was in the upgrading process and reached EX-rank (First-class) today. Its durability went from the previous 10,000,000 to 50,000,000 after the upgrade!! But it was still reduced by more than half with that troll's laser attack!

Dirroth quickly started using more of his power and bound the troll such that it was unable to break free anymore.

The troll was 4th-class while Dirroth was near the peak of 5th-class. The difference was big.

"Wake up! What happened to you?" Dirroth said with a frown.

"Graaa!"

[My lord. That was due to your curse. The trolls have an innate trait where they can go berserk if they are enraged or have some other mental condition. That curse increased that probably and made it berserk by using the power of your curse].

'That's nasty. If I didn't wear this armor in time or didn't get this armor in the first place from the Doom Tower… I would be fucking dead.'

'Wait, if the curse is activated, then will it affect my roulette spins and give me trash items because of the misfortune curse?'

[No. The curse is not powerful enough to affect the system. It can only affect your surroundings or situation to create unfortunate events for you]

'I see…'

"Arkhen, and you all. You can go now since the elites of the Kingdom would be arriving soon. I will come to visit your Duke's palace in the capital later," Dirroth said as he turned to Arkhen. A pleading expression appeared on his face as he said to Arkhen, "Can you… can you really save my wife?"

"I promise you that I will save her, and you will live with her happily again," Arkhen said with utmost seriousness. He wanted to help this man, this was his desire and wish. And he will fulfill that! He had the power to change reality, and he would do just that to cure his wife.

"Thank you," Dirroth said with a grateful expression.

"Boss. We will terminate the contract early since our work here is done," one of the men said.

After saying that, the man turned to Arkhen, Meya, and Gereld as he threw a card with a tiny stone embedded in it towards them and said, "We are members of Dagger Tooth Mercenary clan. If you want our service, you can contact us."

...

Arkhen and Meya mounted the wolf while Gereld went back to the carriage as everyone left the cave and went to the main way.

Soon, they saw a big flying ship. Like old cool pirate ship-types but way more fantasy advanced and with curved designed wings made of some material.

"That's our ride back to the kingdom," Dirroth said as he came out of the carriage.