21 (Ch 21)Envy

The royal procession was nearing its destination, all demons bowing as they saw the exodus insignia coming through their humble estates, no doubt heading towards the familiar forest where some had even sent their own children there.

It didn't take long for the procession to reach their destination. It was a field that had long since been cleared out with droves of children under the age of ten and their parents waiting patiently for their rulers to arrive.

Faith looking out the window while still be deadlocked to his mother's noticed that the residents didn't seem restricted to just demons, no there was an entirely different race there too.

'They have bronze skin, long pointed ears and all seem a little cranky… Dark elves? If I check with mana sense I mi-.. HOLY SHIT, THESE GUYS ARE LIKE WALKING NUCLEAR REACTORS' - Faith thought, looking at the sheer amount of mana they all had.

It far surpassed the normal amount of even a demon, making it look like the northern lights had just taken place in Faith's mana sense.

'But why are they here too?' - he wondered.

"Hey mom, why are dark elves here?" - Faith asked, still confused.

Eshir wasn't surprised her son had been able to recognise the other attendees of today's event. Dragons were naturally curious creatures and Faith spent almost as much time in his library as he did with Ervis.

"Yes little one, they've agreed to take the familiar test along with you since it grants them another chance to improve their status among the race's of Dark-light" - Eshir answered, right before they arrived.

'ohhhh.. wait what?' - Faith thought

"Wait what?"- he then asked

"Basically if their heirs can tame familiars while ours cant it means they're better then us. Status and what not. Nothing you have to worry about" - His mother reassured with a smile

When they arrived they were, of course, the last to get out as the other members of the royal family, nobles and Eshir's generals were all waiting at the ready. Following His mother up a Stage like creation that looked ancient as if it'd been in use for thousands of years Faith many things. Like how some of the less well-dressed demons and elves seemed excited, while the better-dressed ones seemed nervous.

'Familiars must really hold a big sway on one's status if they're that nervous. Maybe it's like an eternally credible reference on your resume' - Faith wondered as he went higher and higher up that stage.

'If my reasoning is correct it should be that the lower status members will be affected a lot less if they don't get one but will flourish if they do, while the higher status are worried that not having enough heir's talented enough to get familiars will lead to a fall in status. Ruthless, yet effective. It encourages those of lower status to aspire for something while forcing those of higher status to use their resources for training and strength rather than sitting on their asses. Brilliant. Whoever came up with this is brilliant' - Faith couldn't help but think in awe

Reaching the highest peak of the stage made out of something similar too marble Faith couldn't quite identify, he found that only he and his mother were still climbing. Even sapphire and the other royal family members had stopped at the previous stage.

'I guess this is the ruler's stage then, huh?' - he reasoned, before being picked up and plopped on his mother lap.

It should be mentioned that there was a seat there was a smaller seat for Faith right next to Eshir's but his mother simply didn't care. Faith had the only opinion she cared about in the first place.

"Greeting Lady Eshir, it seems you're doing quite well arriving late as always" - Spoke the resident of the only other seat on the stage of equal size to Eshir's, holding engraving of gemstones in certain spots as well as rune formations for enchantment purposes.

The venom in her voice was evident as the bronze-skinned elf spoke to her equal on this festive occasion was evident as a basilisk. She carried the grace all rulers should with eyes holding a glare sharp enough to match even Eshir's, her deep purple hair and smaller stature didn't subtract from the pressure she radiated at all as her purple iris's tainted with a hint of inky black surveyed her rival.

"A pleasure as always, Dirias" - Eshir replied, unfazed by her long considered rival within the races of sin.

Faith, however, was very, very Fazed by Dirias's presence.

'THIS LADY HAS A DARKNESS AFFINITY TOO!!' - Faith thought, ecstatic to have met someone who shared his element.

Throughout his time in this world, Faith had only ever met one person with an element even close to his own and that was Ervis who carried the light element. But now he'd finally met somewhere who shared his affinity, the dragon equivalent of meeting someone with the same hobby as you.

'FRIIIIEEENDSHIIP!!!' - he internally screamed as he pushed with all his might towards the Dark elf in question, who was both surprised and flustered.

Eshir wasn't having a hard time keeping Faith seated in her lap, at least until the little demon started using shadow magic to pull himself forward with the shadows of the chairs, which caused the dark elf ruler, even more, interest and envy.

Dirias had practised the darkness element all her life and even though she was young she held many accomplishments, especially in the field of darkness magic her race was known for. Like normal elves who carried far more light magic user than any other race apart from spirits and dragons, Dark elves carried an enormous amount of darkness mages compared to any other race.

They had accomplished things in this field of magic that other races were still struggling to understand and many shadow magic users, one of the highest conceived fields of darkness magic applications, were dark elves.

In return for their more common affinity towards dark magic, and just magic in general they had rather weak constitutions leading to most of their forces being purely external magical users, instead of aura use.

Aura was powerful but it couldn't fix a problem encoded into a races genes.(AN: Aura is what internal magic is called A.K.A physical enhancement magic. in case you were wondering)

It was a rather big kick in the ass for Dirias's to see her rivals son accomplish something that every member in her race strived for as if it were nothing at all, even more so when you considered how darkness magic and dragons didn't match in the slightest.

Yet as normal Faith was a quite special case.

The envy that filled Dirias though couldn't even come close to the simple intrigue she felt as an advent magic-user, seeing her craft at its highest level in front of her. She so desperately wanted to throw away her pride as a ruler and mage, simply to ask the little devil how the hell he was doing it.

Even if Dragons broke the normal rules of magic she could still gain insight just from asking Faith how he did what he did, or the core basics of shadow magic.

'The runt sure knows how to tempt you into both ripping his head off and asking for a favour at the same time. Sneaky little devil takes after Eshir I guess' - Dirias thought to herself, gaining insight into Faith's character… just in reverse.

"Seems you've got quite the little prince, Eshir. Never would've taken you for the mother type of person. More the die alone sitting on the bodies of your enemies kinda girl" - Dirias spoke low enough so no one other then those on stage could hear her.

She thought by doing this she might gain Faith's childish anger for insulting his mother but far from that Faith just seemed to not care. Dirias wanted Faith to attack her as even that would give her a lot of insight but the latter just kept reaching for her

'Read her like a book' - Faith thought still stretching for his mother's rival even with Eshir pulling him back like he was a hell hound being held back by his owner. (AN: both close and far from the truth)

It was only then that an arrogant yet childish snicker could be heard as a child about 3 years older then Faith reared his head to face them from his seat, which was opposite to where Faith should've been sitting.

The boy looked like a replica of his mother with his purple hair reaching his shoulders as he proudly looked at the feral friendship hound know as Faith exodus.

"And what kind of prince, future ruler of possibly both demons and dragons, sits on his mother lap like a baby without a will of his own" - the arrogant, prince of dark elves asked flicking his hair back as if he thought himself the most beautiful thing in the world.

'This dudes got a complex, what a pity. Hope he gets help' - was all Faith thought before replying "The kind that loves his mother and also breaks beds by accident"