Chapter 44: Toll (II)

Toll here is referred to as a toll of a bell.

Magic Knight incoming?

Can't leave Vol 1 without a boss fight at the end (:

Don't forget those power stones!

*

"Umu. Let us proceed with the ritual to unlock your Mana Core, Naoto, Aurelia.", Roselia said, closing the door.

"What should we do first?", Aurelia asked, watching on. Roselia ignored her question.

Instead, Roselia walked to the opposite side of the room, next to the bed, slowly. Roselia walked up to the closed curtains of the window, before opening them. We were facing the rest of Heimdallr from this window, and were pretty high up in the Palace. Overall it was a rather breathtaking view, especially at night with all the orbal lights lit up. If I had to give a comparison, it would actually be similar to Paris from my last life, except a lot more red.

However it was at this point I felt Roselia's demeanor change, especially after moving her head up to look into the sky. Or more specifically, the glistening full moon.

"Ahh...basking in the moonlight is such a wondrous thing, isn't it?", Roselia said, musing to herself.

After she said that, Roselia slowly turned around, and revealed a grin. Both Aurelia and Prince Olivert turned wide eyed the moment they saw her eyes were now a deep crimson and slit-like, just like a cat's. But now, four fangs protruded inside of her mouth. One thing for sure was, she no longer appeared human looking like this.

"Y-You...you aren't human...", Prince Olivert asked, hesitantly.

"Well, you just answered the question of the day, little prince.", Roselia said, grinning.

"Which is why, starting from the two of you entering this room, I will be laying out a couple of ground rules. Failure to comply is not in option.", Roselia suddenly said, causing Aurelia and Prince Olivert to gulp a bit, but they nodded their heads. As for me, I just continued to watch on, enjoying how those two were currently behaving.

"First rule. No matter what you see or hear, it will not escape this room. Should tonight's matter be revealed in any shape or form, I will come hunt you down personally, and kill you. Your social status does little to me.", Roselia began to say.

"I swear upon Aidios's good name that I will abide by what you say.", Prince Olivert said, feeling determined. "I am curious to see how this will turn out. We may have not spent a lot of time together yet, but I have already shown Naoto to my family, I'm already starting to see him as a little brother of mine.", Prince Olivert continued to say with a smile.

"Seriously?", Aurelia retorted back at Prince Olivert. "Why do I feel there something underlying to what you had just said?", Aurelia wondered.

"Haha, then I will ask you this, Aurelia. What do you think of me?", I decided to play along, asking what Aurelia thought of me. She blinked again as she looked at me.

"A division commander's son who has those creepy eyes as if they saw right through me?", Aurelia retorted back, wondering herself.

"Ouch...", I retorted, hearing Aurelia say that without hesitation. Hearing that also caused Roselia to let out a rare laugh.

"Haha! That was well put, it does seem I was not wrong to choose you.", Roselia responded with a chuckle.

"...But there is something more to that, isn't there?", Aurelia decided to ask, shifting her eyes back to me. The moment she said that, I hopped off the bed, and approached Roselia's side, revealing a smile.

"As we are swearing an oath of secrecy here, I can do my part.", I started to say, letting Aurelia and Prince Olivert look my way. I proceeded to do a formal bow, one that may not relate to that of a division commander, but more formal along the lines of royalty.

"Naoto von Auselese. At your service.", I said formally introducing myself. Prince Olivert already knew, so it was Aurelia's turn to turn wide eyed at this time.

"Now I recognize that hair of yours. To think you would hail from the Auselese family...", Aurelia started to reply back, only for her to blink for a good moment, realizing once again where we were. "Wait, what in blazes is a member of the Liberl royal family doing here in Valflame Palace out of all places!?", Aurelia retorted.

"Hahaha! I wonder that myself." Prince Olivert responded with a smile. "Things aren't looking too hot between Erebonia and Liberl right now. And yet two princes of our respective kingdoms are here now, sharing one room together, could this be fate?", Prince Olivert mused.

"Fate my ass, I'm surprised Liberl isn't in an uproar yet.", Aurelia retorted back, only to cause me to laugh this time.

"Haha, you needn't worry about that part, Aurelia. Grandmother gave me the freedom to do as I see fit. My mother is Grandmother's sister, so while I do have a rite to succeed the throne, Grandmother made it as so. It is very possible she will pass it along to the princess, and not me. Only a handful of people know my actual background, anyways.", I said, shrugging my shoulders a bit.

"This is still a lot to take in...", Aurelia said, letting out a grown as she shook her head a bit. Roselia grinned seeing Aurelia behave like this.

"Just so you know, if you do decide to walk out of that room right now, I will have your memory wiped. It would as if this conversation just now wouldn't have happened.", Roselia spoke out to Aurelia and Prince Olivert, causing the two to gulp again.

"I already resolved myself to coming here the moment you came to me tonight, Roselia. This is such an opportunity to increase my battle strength if I can grasp magic. I will not hesitate to swear in Aidios's good name to not reveal tonight's happenstance.", Aurelia said, folding her arm over chest, giving a formal bow too.

"Excellent. And this will tie in nicely to my second rule, but this one is more tied to you than anyone else, Aurelia.", Roselia began to say.

"Me?", Aurelia questioned with interest.

"Yes. I will be tapping into your soul directly to unleash your Mana Cores. That is rather an excruciating process. There will likely be pain, and if you aren't successful, it may even lead to death. But like I said, this one matters more to you, Aurelia. I will not give a care in the world if you perish here. If that happens, then I will only blame your potential.", Roselia explained.

"I understand. My current master, Master Vander, says I have no equal. If my potential truly is the one thing that nips me in the bud, that would be such an ironic way to go, ha!", Aurelia responded with a laugh.

"The Thunder God truly said that about you, Miss Aurelia?", Prince Olivert asked with interest.

"He did.", Aurelia responded with a smile.

"Umu, and now, well this really isn't a rule but have you decided, Naoto?", Roselia said, shifting her hies to me.

"Hmm?", I asked.

"Well, we would have left this part the moment you would come to my village, but in actuality, this is the best moment to do it. Unlocking your Mana Core will be when your Mana is most pure, so creating a Familiar now is ideal. That will be dependent on your imagination, Naoto.", Roselia explained, causing me surprise this time.

"We are going be creating a Familiar along with the Mana Core?", I questioned.

"That's right. So I do hope you're ready.", Roselia said. After she said that, she looked toward Aurelia. "And by the way, you won't be receiving one. This is only for my apprentice.", Roselia explained to Aurelia, to which she was just blinking at her.

"A Familiar...", Aurelia tried to respond. "Are those related to magic again?", Aurelia wondered.

"Take it as you will. But there is one slight problem to the process I'll be doing.", Roselia said, only confusing Aurelia more.

"Even you have a problem, Rose?", I questioned myself.

"To explain a bit of what I'll be doing, Naoto and Aurelia, both of you are an outsider to my village. You are not bound by its rules, so you would be technically classified as a wandering witch. To ensure the quality of this process, I'll be inscribing the seal of the Hexen Clan on your backs. And as for you Naoto, I'll also inscribe my own seal.", Roselia explained.

"So I'll be receiving two seals while Aurelia receives one?", I asked.

"That's right.", Roselia answered, nodding her head. As she did, Aurelia and Prince Olivert looked at Roselia with a dazed expression now.

"I feel I probably heard something I shouldn't have heard...", Prince Olivert uttered. "I didn't think I would get to hear the name of the Hexen Clan.", Prince Olivert continued to say.

"As I recall, that name often appeared throughout our history right? I can't recall exactly what this clan did though.", Aurelia wondered.

"As much I would like to give you two a history lesson, time is of the essence. I would like to start the inscribe process, but I have one little problem.", Roselia said, shrugging her shoulders at the two.

"What would that be?", I decided to ask Roselia.

"You see, I am actually in state of recovery. I currently do not have access to my full strength. As such, doing this will tire me out greatly, so I need some replenishment to the Mana I am about to consume..", Roselia said, grinning her mouth a bit, only to brandish her fangs. She looked at me specifically, causing the other two to become confused.

*

Thicc Roselia incoming.

If you haven't guessed yet, Roselia is indeed a vampire. Both as the ancestor of her kind and the last one of her kin.