Rebecca was 'calmly' sitting on her cold, hard obsidian chair. She was drumming her long, sharp nails on the armrests, the sound echoing through the vast hall.
Her eyes were blazing with hidden yet intense and furious light that was directed at the empty space before her while waiting for that obnoxious brat who challenged her position.
All the young demons were waiting on the first floor, wondering why the trial wasn't starting already. Usually, it should have started by now while some of them were here to train before participating in the trial. But they can't enter their training rooms without the warden saying so. She was their mentor for this trial, who gave them tips on how to pass the trial.
Of course, those who get chosen by her get special training, but not all of them were lucky to get chosen.
However, they could feel the weight of their warden's aura and could feel that she wasn't in a good mood at all, even worse than ever. They didn't dare to speak for fear of incurring her wrath, but they exchanged nervous glances and fidgeted with their fingers.
The silence was broken by the sound of heavy footsteps echoing down the corridor, growing louder with each passing moment.
Rebecca's head snapped up, and her eyes fixed on the figure that emerged from the darkness. It was Asher, striding confidently towards her with a subtle smug smile hanging on his lips.
She inwardly scoffed, thinking he was putting up a facade of confidence just to fool her when in the end, all his vain efforts to undermine her would be for nothing. She couldn't wait to make him pay for causing pain to her poor son.
Asher's presence wasn't a surprise to the young candidates waiting in the hall. But they were surprised to see him walking towards the platform. They immediately bowed their heads deeply in respect and awe while none of them gave him any disrespectful glances.
Instead, most of them were feeling envious of him and wished they could become someone as fearless and charming as him. Some of them still couldn't shake off the sight of him defeating the legendary Hell Maiden other than her hot kiss with him.
"I wonder what caused you to be late, Asher," Rebecca stated with her arms crossed, her brows wrinkled in displeasure.
Asher gave an apologetic smile as he said, "Sorry about that, Warden Rebecca. I lost track of time while spending some time with my wife. I hope you understand."
The young demons gasped softly, hearing the royal consort casually mention the queen as his 'wife'. They weren't used to hearing such a sentence. They wondered if the rumors about him and the queen having affection for each other were indeed true.
'The cheek of this brat...' Rebecca knew he was purposefully taunting her by mentioning Rowena, especially before everyone else.
Still, she inwardly harrumphed as she got up and said with a curve of her lips, "Of course, I understand. But now that you are here let's get to business. There are 10 candidates who have yet to pass the trial. They will be one of the retake batches for this week. So we will be dividing these 10 candidates between us. You think you can train them and mentor at least one of them to pass?" Rebecca asked, her tone hinting at a strong sense of contempt and confidence.
The candidates were confused hearing her words. What was their warden talking about? What did she mean by dividing the batch between her and the royal consort? Why would someone as young as him mentor anyone? Not even seniors twice or thrice his age and experience would be a mentor in this tower.
Rebecca inwardly scoffed, seeing the confused looks of these candidates, and looked at them as she said with a sarcastic smile, "No need to look so confused, everyone. Due to his impressive and praise-worthy feat during his first trial, Asher feels that he is ready to mentor those who haven't yet passed the first trial. Of course, not everybody can be qualified to become an assistant mentor just because they passed the trial. However, that is why the Head Warden is giving him a week's time to gauge his capabilities. All of you will bear with this arrangement."
Asher inwardly smirked, seeing how she wasn't letting go of even the small opportunities to mock him, but he remained silent with a smile. He knew where her confidence was coming from, and it wasn't foolish for her to think so.
But how could she have any idea that he had taken more quests than her dear Oberon?
During the past month, he carefully studied the powerful people around him, especially the royal members of House Drake like Rebecca and Oberon, who were thorns in his path he had to pluck and destroy later.
As they say, "To underestimate your enemy is to give them an advantage; to know them is to disarm them."
Here, they were clearly underestimating him due to their lack of knowledge about him, especially his past life.
And as for him, by reading various books and talking with others, he had learned that nobles like Rebecca and Oberon spent most of their life not fighting but learning royal etiquettes, the rich history, and literature of this realm, various kinds of magic disciplines that ranged from potion brewing, forging weapons, enchanting items to constructing arrays using runes.
He was surprised when he learned that nobles, in general, would continue learning all this even if they had been learning for 10, 20, or 100 years or more. No wonder Darren told him why nobles loved to visit Honeyed Pearl since they could also show off their artistry to the women over there and earn compliments, especially from someone like Kira.
At first, he wondered why they would spend so many years learning these things instead of focusing on getting stronger. But the more he learned about this kingdom and the way of demons, the more he began to make sense of their ways.
Things like royal etiquette and courtly behavior can help nobles to navigate the social hierarchy of this society and increase their standing among their peers.
And by learning history and literature, it would help these demons gain a better understanding of their enemies' weaknesses and strengths while also helping them communicate more effectively with other foreign powers. But in Rebecca's case, he couldn't help but be skeptical about it.
As for learning art, it was a way of appreciating their rich cultural heritage, gaining more sophistication, understanding the art of other cultures for diplomacy relations, and creating art for their own pleasure or to express themselves.
However, all this also meant that people like Rebecca or any other noble level up leisurely, especially the geniuses who were confident of becoming strong enough by taking their own time.
They take their own time to make sure their combat skills were near perfect or good enough to slowly but steadily level up so that they won't die prematurely.
But for Hunters like him, it was the opposite. He had taken up so many quests by the age of ten in his past life, which would be equivalent to the number of quests someone like Rebecca had taken by the age of 50.
He also knew he probably failed more quests than any of the nobles like her because he could only prepare and learn so much in a short time span. The only way he learned a lot was by failing quests again and again till he knew what all he had to do to not fail anymore. That was his motto on his journey to become the strongest Hunter in the world.
But of course, there were always exceptions like Rowena, Silvan, and Jael Valentine, who leveled up way faster than their peers. Rowena had to do it due to being the only living descendant of the previous king. Jael Valentine was a battle maniac who didn't care about anything else as far as he heard. And as for Silvan, he seemed to be determined and focused on excelling at things, including becoming stronger, even if it meant risking his life even more.
This was why he felt Silvan was quite a cryptic character considering how the rest of his family members were. He also seemed to show great interest in Ceti, but Asher tucked away these thoughts for a different day as he saw these candidates looking at him with strange looks.
The candidates had their jaws slack upon hearing this announcement, especially the twenty-four candidates. They only had respect for the royal consort, but they knew he wasn't experienced or mature enough to mentor them. This trial was literally going to decide their life and death. So him being their mentor would be like entrusting their lives in his hands.
Even if Rebecca was a scary mentor, she at least knew how to guide them. In fact, they knew she was the second-best warden when it came to combat knowledge.
Asher also had no doubt of her capabilities, and he wasn't going to underestimate her in this matter. But that was why he already had another plan brewing in his mind.
Rebecca inwardly smiled, feeling satisfied with how he was making himself look like a fool before these juniors. As if to rub salt in his wounds, she said, "I am not going to pick anyone. Those who want me as their mentor raise their hands."
The moment she finished her words, eight hands raised immediately, making Rebecca smirk, though she felt piqued that two of them didn't and took note of who they were.
Seeing how those two were nobodies, she didn't pay them any attention.
However, the eight who raised their hands didn't look at the royal consort, hoping he won't take offense for not choosing him.
Asher wasn't surprised seeing how most of them wanted Rebecca as their mentor. In fact, he was surprised two of them didn't raise their hands.
He took a look at those two. One was a young man, and the other a young girl with similar-looking faces as if they were twins. Their skin was dark blue, with black hair and pale gray eyes. Their clothes were just a sleeveless thick blue fabric.
It was obvious that they were siblings, and he easily recognized their race since they were from a tribe of purebloods called Naiadon, who all lived near the waters. It was said that they could breathe underwater, and he could see the gills on the side of their chests.
One of his personal courtesans was from the same tribe.
They were looking at him with excited and anxious eyes as if they were looking at their idol.
Asher chuckled, thinking maybe they might turn out to be useful. He still would have to test them.
Rebecca let out a sigh of pity as she looked at Asher, "How embarrassing. Some of these juniors don't even have manners," She turned her head to look at the candidates and scolded them sternly, "How can you all be inconsiderate towards Asher like this? Now I have no choice but to send those two and three more of you towards him."
The candidates who raised their hands for her felt bad and lowered their heads. But how can they be blamed for looking after their best interests? However, each of the eight prayed she wouldn't send them over to the royal consort.
Asher felt like laughing at seeing this woman putting on an act. If he could give an award for acting, he would have already given it to her.
Rebecca knew which ones here came from good backgrounds. She cherry-picked the best ones and sent the rest three over to Asher.
Asher saw two young men and a woman coming over to him with complicated looks, their backs heavy with nervousness, disappointment, and worry.
The woman was coming from some goblin tribe, while the two tall and big young men seemed to be friends. Both these men were of the same race named Stoneborn. Their skin was dark, rough, and unyielding stone. Their stony skin was covered with lines and ridges that resembled cracks and fissures, giving their bodies a natural and rugged look.
Their eyes were deep-set and surrounded by a jagged bone structure that protruded out from their faces like a mask. Their hair was made of rough, black, and spiky strands that jutted out from their scalps like shards of obsidian.
Unfortunately for them, they were considered to be too slow to be good at anything due to their naturally heavy bodies.
Nobles considered them inferior beings who were only good enough for labor work.
It was obvious these two came to take the trial out of desperation, even if they knew they won't make it.
However, Asher felt that even a stone could be cut into a different shape, and for the first trial, he felt it was doable.
So he didn't complain and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Warden Rebecca," His expression suddenly changed as if he remembered something, "Oh, I forgot to mention that I had personally sent an invite to your son for the celebration since one of my incompetent servants forgot to send it. So my wife and I will be expecting you all," With a smile, he walked away as the five candidates followed him.
Rebecca's expression froze as she was this close to almost scratching off the smile on his face. But with great willpower, she suppressed her bloodlust as she took a deep breath and inwardly harrumphed, 'You won't be talking big for long.'
