玉蒲团之云雨山庄

Inside the royal chamber of the Astellia Kingdom\'s royal castle, a single maid with a neat low bun and side braided brown hair entered the royal chamber quietly.

As she walks in, a sigh left her mouth when she saw the figure sleeping soundly on the bed. Her eyes stared at the figure with mysterious eyes. It\'s unknown whether it\'s a happy, relieved, sad, or any other emotion that might be dwelling inside those eyes of hers.

At the first sight, people will question why she\'s inside without having any orders to enter. Was she an assassin that was hired to assassinate the person sleeping in the royal chamber? People might think so.

But rather than taking out a knife and approaching the bed or putting a poison at a certain spot that will surely kill the figure, the maid walks gracefully with her back straight and went to the window and-

*Whoosh!*

She opened the curtains of all of the chamber\'s windows forcefully and deliberately to make sure it makes a loud sound. As the bright light of the morning sun enters the room and lights up the room, a certain groan appeared from the bed.

"Arghh!!! No!!! It\'s not morning yet!!! I still want to sleep!!!!" The voice sounds a little bit childish, but it\'s obvious that it belongs to a woman.

"It\'s morning, your highness. Please cease your futile attempt to escape the reality and start your day. Your breakfast is already ready to be eaten, and your schedule for the day had already been set. Please start by separating yourself from the bed to make sure your entire schedule won\'t need to be rescheduled because of your laziness," Even though the way she talks is very polite and respectful, her tone holds no emotions, and her words are filled with sharp words directed in the person that supposed to be her master.

"Mary... Your words are merciless as always, I see... It\'s a shame even though you\'re such a great beauty," The princess uttered with a small pout as she glanced at the emotionless maid beside the bed. As the sight of the princess that is known and praised by the people and the nobles of the kingdom as the genius princess entered her vision, her eyes narrowed and another sigh left her mouth.

Princess Anastasia. A prodigy, a genius, a goddess in a human form, a great talent in a Millenium, and other glorious titles singing praises of her name also exist not only inside the Astellia Kingdom, but outside as well. It was said that she guessed the political course of not only the kingdom, but the kingdoms around the Astellia Kingdoms for several years ahead in her answer in one of her royal private exams, and was proven right.

It\'s not an exaggeration that her name has a great impact on the whole country, and all of the people respected her great name.

But right now, the genius princess is currently lying with a pose unbefitting a royalty and her rumor, and is making a lazy face while trying to appeal for more sleeping time with her eyes. Her gorgeous long golden hair has some of the strands messily sticking to her face, and Mary the maid feels like it\'s a waste for such beautiful jewels-like eyes given by the gods to be making such a lazy look by her master before her.

"I\'m well aware of my beauty even without your affirmations, your highness. Now please let me help you change your attire and proceed to have your breakfast," Mary reaches for the blanket and attempted to pull the sheet away, but she found some resistance.

"No!! First, you opened the curtains in one go and mercilessly bask me in the morning light!! And now you\'re going to forcefully take my blanket away from me!?" The princess pulled the blanket and hides her head beneath it.

*Sigh!*

"You leave me no choice, please excuse me," As the maid takes a rather deep breath, mana started to gather around her hands, and-

*Whoosh!*

"Ahhh!!! It\'s cold!!!" The princess\'s groan and complaint resounded as the blanket flew into the air because of the maid\'s doing.

"The hot bath had already been prepared, it will help you warm yourself up, princess," The maid uttered emotionlessly as she started folding the blanket neatly.

"Your brute force is strong as always, Mary, yet you don\'t want to be assigned as my personal guard or my personal knight rather than my personal maid despite of your talent in fighting. Are you sure that you didn\'t apply here just to abuse me?" (Anastasia)

"You\'re exaggerating, princess. As if I would go and work in this place if I know how troublesome the one I would be serving is. Now please, come to the bathroom and clean yourself up, princess," (Mary)

"Hey! You\'ve just called me troublesome, aren\'t you!? You might be forgetting it, but I\'m still your employer and your master, you know!?" Anastasia raises her objection, but Mary didn\'t even bother to look back and continue her steps towards the royal chamber\'s personal bathroom.

"Please move your feet rather than your mouth, princess," (Mary)

"Ugh! I know! I know! Geez, she\'s invincible as always," Anastasia unwillingly raise her body from the bed, stretches her body a little bit, and went to the bath following Mary.

************************************************

"Seriously, can\'t I at least get a single day off? I\'ve been working my ass hard here and even have to take the trouble to even disguise myself. Why should I get disrespected by my own maid despite all of my hard work?" A mutter of complaints silently resounded, but for the people in the distance, they could only hear them as indistinguishable mutterings.

After a short moment, the person that was complaining before realized that there is a man kneeling before him currently and cleared his throat.

"So you\'ve returned, Julius," A dignified voice sounded throughout the private office of the crown prince of the Astellia Kingdom. Wearing his dignified smile while his eyes shone with intellect and charisma, the crown prince address the kneeling knight before him.

"Yes, your highness. I\'ve returned after fulfilling your command," Julius kneeled as he answered the question of his lord with full respect.

"Raise your head," (Erich)

Following his master\'s order, Julius raised his head and the sight of his master entered his sight. While folding his hands in front of his mouth with his elbows on the desk, Erich starts his inquiries.

"Tell me, knight of the royal knights, Julius Tergimand. What is your task and what result you\'ve managed to achieve," With his eyes peering deep into his eyes, determined whether the words he uttered is the truth or falsehood, and whether the report he conveyed was full or was it just half of the story.

At that moment, the scene where he met Surena and the other valkyries, and the scene where he met the sworn enemy of Surena and the other Valkyries entered his mind.

Closing his eyes, Julius discard the thoughts as he convinced himself.

(My task is concerning Lyan the summoner, they are not part of my duty to report) (Julius)

"I\'ve met the summoner and sincerely ask for his participation in our great objective, your highness. It took quite a while to convince him, but I could affirm you that even though he did not give a direct answer of acceptance, it could be taken that he gives a good response towards your offer," (Julius)

As Erich peers deep into Julius\'s eyes, he could feel that he\'s not hiding something unwanted from him. His eyes are saying that his words are sincere, and he could see a certain hint of excitement from talking about the topic.

Looking at his eyes, Erich let out a small chuckle.

"Looks like you\'re quite fond of him as well, Julius," (Erich)

"To be honest, I do, your highness. Despite of his strength, he is not arrogant. He\'s not overly kind, but he never does any evil deed either. Even though he\'s hiding it, the sharpness of his mind and eyes could be felt, and his presence alone is enough to feel how a powerful force he could be if he\'s on our side. More importantly, he has a similar aura like you, your highness," Julius explained his thoughts excitedly.

"I see..." (Erich)

"But sure, it\'s just his personal opinions, your highness. We never know whether he will be an ally or an enemy in the future," Another sound suddenly appeared from the side of the room.

"Back to the deadlock between your two opinions, huh... Well, let\'s just wait and see, I guess. I wonder which of the two of you will have the correct prediction," (Erich)

​ ___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army