Meanwhile, Damien and the others got off their carriage and were escorted by maids towards their quarters.
Farah and Kale separated from Damien's group of three as Kale insisted on staying in separate quarters. Kale especially, didn't feel good having his wife stay near Tristen for long. He felt as if there was something inexplicable happening between them.
Leaving Tristen in the room, Damien and Valentina decided to wander around and collect any information they could get about the kingdom.
They already knew some things beforehand, but there could always be more information to learn within the kingdom itself.
Damien walked around the palace, of course, only the areas where guests were allowed to walk.
He saw many nobles crowded together, and this was his first time seeing such a large number of them together in one place.
He could see by their mannerisms and dressing that they were from different parts of the Rising Sun Continent. Even the local nobles got outnumbered easily by these many outside contenders.
He knew that probably half of these nobles wouldn't even know what alchemy was since most of them were here to catch a sight of the First Moon Princess, which was the title people endearingly called her since she was said to be the most beautiful moon in the Gale Empire and Damien didn't refute this since he personally saw how unforgettable her beauty was.
"Hey, did you by chance get to see the Vanishing Sword Prince?"
"Of course not. Did he already arrive?"
"Of course, he did. Don't you know that he and the First Moon Princess share a close relationship? I heard that they have been meeting each other frequently over the years."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"No shit! Does that mean we or, in fact, no one else ever stood a chance before?"
"Wasn't that obvious when you heard the way this competition was announced? They said that the winners would be rewarded handsomely, but talks of any marriage completely depended on the princess, and in no way would the winner be entitled to obtain her hand in marriage. Tsk, tsk, you should learn to read in between the lines."
Damien was surprised to hear that the Vanishing Sword Prince's crush was Yuria. He wondered if things were really close between them, but then he couldn't see the point of keeping this alchemy competition unless it was just to increase the presence of their kingdom.
But Damien was curious as to who this Vanishing Sword Prince exactly was, especially when he was said to be well versed in the Way of the Sword.
Valentina was curiously observing the people around her and asked Damien, "So many people...is the princess really that beautiful? You saw her face, right?"
Damien nodded, "Hmm, the rumors are not false. But of course, my lovely Valentina is more beautiful."
Valentina blushed as she smiled, feeling good from hearing his compliment. But then she reverted back to her stone-faced expression since she was in public right now, especially in disguise.
The two went around visiting shops, and one fact they learned was that the Krisen Kingdom was an allrounder when it came to forging weapons, pills, armor, and so on. This made the Krisen Kingdom an excellent spot for traders and merchants, thus adding to their revenue.
Damien also heard a rumor that the reason the Krisen Kingdom was shooting up in power was mainly because of their business with the Lancaster Empire.
He wondered what the Krisen Kingdom would have to offer to the Lancaster Empire. After all, the Lancaster Empire was not bad at forging things or concocting pills.
He decided to make Tristen ask Farah Gale about the reason in case she was willing to tell, now that the two had a steamy relationship.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Hello, visitors from another land. Care to buy some earrings for the beautiful woman beside you?"
Damien turned towards the side to see a blind old peddler. He was confused whether that man was referring to him since Valentina was in disguise, and how could a blind man even know who was standing beside him?
Still, there was no other couple near them, and so Damien decided to entertain the peddler out of curiosity.
"Give me the best one," Damien said, and then he asked, "Since you are a local, what do you think about the ruler of this kingdom?"
The blind old man replied with a smile as his hands searched for an earring, "His Majesty is a very magnanimous and kind man. He helped our kingdom reach new heights and also treated his subjects well. I can't think of a better king than him. But the only weak spot of his that nobody should touch upon is his daughter. If one did, then he would be the most ruthless king you would have ever seen in your life."
Damien already knew that the Krisen King held his daughter in high regard. But hearing from a local about how protective the king was made him feel that he would have to tread more carefully around his daughter lest he creates any misunderstanding.
"But young man, you need not worry. The gods are in your favor. May the ethereal light lead you to what you seek," The old man said with a smile as he handed over the earrings to a confused Damien.
Damien simply nodded and left the shop along with Valentina, who took the red earrings from Damien's hand and closely inspected it.
Damien then turned around towards the shop again, only to see that no blind old man was sitting there anymore. Instead, a young man was sitting there with a bored expression, with a paper fan in his hand.
Damien was puzzled, and then he asked Valentina, "Did you see where that old man went?"
"What old man? Only that young man was sitting there from before," Valentina said as she closely looked at the young man, not understanding what Damien meant.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"What...haa, nothing," Damien didn't feel like it was just his mind playing tricks, but if Valentina didn't see him, it meant that what happened was beyond his understanding.
"Luna, you saw that old man, right?"
"Ugh, don't disturb this goddess' siesta. What old man? I was sleeping the whole time," Luna said lazily.
Damien shook his head in frustration, thinking why she only slept at convenient times.
Soon enough, Damien learned that all the participants had been requested to assemble in one of the halls in the palace to learn about the details of the upcoming competition.
He also heard that the king would be personally addressing them, and his daughter would be present as well.
This made all the participants rush towards the hall like a herd of sheep.
Damien and Valentina entered the hall along with Tristen since they had to keep up appearances.
The large hall seemed to be set up with elaborate pomp—with raised steps and large curtains on the sides.
On the left and right, there was a line of attendants ready to help out the guests at any second.
There were also statues of wolf beasts near the sides of the doorway, which gave a grand look as a whole.
But the innumerous number of seats that numbered at least a thousand was something that astonished Damien. He knew the invitations were only sent out to the best of the best, which meant that everyone present here were geniuses in their own right from their respective places.
Each noble was entitled to have two people accompany them, and additional seats were provided for the same.
However, the grand indoor balcony caught everyone's attention as they spotted a few majestic empty seats that they felt were reserved for the king and his daughter.
Everyone took their seats eagerly waiting for the arrival of the lady of the hour. Finally, silence descended when many attendants on the balcony formed an ordered line with their backs bent as if welcoming someone.
Damien shifted his gaze and saw a handsome middle-aged man with a horseshoe mustache coming out of a door. He was dressed in grand viridian robes with thin silver patterns embroidered on his robes.
His expression looked regal and serious, and one could feel intimidated just from his gaze yet feel comfortable with the subtle kindness hidden in his eyes.
Anyone could easily recognize that this man was the Krisen King.
But everyone's gaze immediately shifted towards the curvaceous figure behind the middle-aged man. A seventeen-year-old girl whose mystical countenance was hidden behind a veil, with only her beautiful pear-like eyes visible.
Still, her eyes themselves were enough to mesmerize the entire crowd gathered in the hall. Yuria felt shy when she felt so much attention on her, and her bashfulness was apparent by the blushing on her face, which made the men go dizzy because of how cute she seemed.
No matter how many times she was exposed to attention, she still wasn't used to it since rarely did she ever meet so many people at once.
The Krisen King saw his daughter feeling shy from all the attention and took a step back to cover her figure as if protecting her from some vile gazes he sensed from the crowd below.
There were other elders following the king and Yuria who took adjacent seats to the ones the king and his daughter sat on.
Yuria sat with a glazed stare, preparing herself to take a look at the crowd.
Finally, the king got up and walked towards the balustrade to address the crowd, and everyone maintained pin-drop silence.
