BXBX NOVEL Chapter 180 A Princess Bodyguard?
After the whole fiasco, the princess arranged for me to have sleeping quarters in the castle. She announced she would personally lead me to the room after it was prepared. I assumed she was going to be alone once the guards left, but unfortunately for me, the wolf fishman I fought had [Auto Regeneration] and was back to full health in no time.
We were currently swimming through the hallways. They were large spaces that could felt a bit too big to be mere hallways. All around, there were corals erupt with glowing orbs fixed on them, acting as some sort of lightbulb all the while acting as surveillance cameras. The magic tool Magic Orb. A multi-functional tool that served various purposes depending on the situation.
In this situation, it was security detail as well as an aesthetic. A nice way to monitor everyone without their knowledge. Maybe this was why the princess wasn’t really scared about escorting me to the room without any more security detail. There were no guards on standby and barely any other noticeable features. No banners, no pictures, nothing.
A clean hallway made out of what looked like jade glass and pillars holding it up. Over the balcony one could make out the palace compound and its guards simply making rounds. I couldn’t identify any members who were training. However, there was the odd number of beautiful servants roaming about quickly. Whenever we passed by, they would bow down to the princess, but from reading their minds, all they felt towards her was contempt. They were all angry that she was even alive, meaning they were angry at the one who saved her.
Well, I guess with her attitude being the way it was, there was no way the servants who spent more time with her would like her. She could pretend in front of others who didn’t live here easily, although she didn’t hesitate to show me her bitchy-nature when we first met.
Also, there was the fact that all the servants and maids had the names Den Anon Yorul. Was it a common name in Atlantis? I wanted to suspect that they were siblings, but that couldn’t be right since she was a princess and they were all servants under her.
“So, have you thought over my proposition more?”
She asked me without even looking back at me. I wanted to ignore her, but the fishman at my back threatened me with his sword, putting it on my neck. I glared at him and he ever so replied in kind.
‘Yes. But I want my royal wish first.’
“Your royal wish?”
She sounded confused, but it was obvious she was lying.
‘Yes. The one you promised to give me for delivering you to Atlantis safely.’
‘Huh? They are having a conversation? That means this thing is a mind reader? You hear that?’
The fishman, Osveta has he was called, thought after hearing the princess speak out. Obviously, the one he was talking to was the other person inhabiting his body. He, much like me, had the [Multiple Mind] skill. Well, more like a variant called [Double Persona]. Unlike [Multiple Mind] which shared the same information, [Double Persona] required the personalities actually had to communicate information to each other.
That was an odd skill for one to develop, but according to Agent, it was akin to Multiple Personality Disorder from my knowledge. Meaning, he essentially had a second person living in him. I wondered if that was equal to having 2 souls and surprisingly, the agent wasn’t sure. That made me curious.
“Oh yes. That royal wish. I shall annul it.”
‘HUH?!’
She grinned maliciously at me.
“Certainly, you delivered me here safely, but your servant almost killed me.”
‘Kawaii did? I find it hard to believe that Kawaii failed to kill you.’
I retorted, but the princess gestured towards Osveta.
“Osveta appeared in the nick of time to save me from your servants wrath.”
‘My servant’s wrath? Kawaii isn’t capable of possessing emotions. Which means you did something that warranted her trying to kill you.’
I believed it was common sense that slimes had no emotions. Well, then again, I would have to investigate to see if there were slimes this deep in the sea. Maybe their bodies couldn’t take it and instantly went pop if they came close? Kawaii was a bit different from regular slimes, so her being here sort of made sense.
“Oh? What could warrant my death?”
‘I don’t know. Leaving her master to die for one. That would be a perfect reason for her to kill anyone.’
“You are still on that? I knew for certain Daxia would not kill you.”
‘Oh please, do tell how you knew that.’
“It’s a complicated plan. Too much to explain to you. For now, let’s get back to the main topic. Form an alliance with me.”
We arrived in front of a room. A servant twice as big as the princess pried open the door for us. Once he did so, he bowed down to her and clapped his hands. There was a large cluster of tiny mermaids that swam out quickly.
“The living quarters of your guest has been prepared. Also, your brother, his highness, is demanding an audience with you.”
The servant informed her, yet she walked through without giving any mind to that.
‘An alliance, eh? I see no benefits to forming an alliance with you.’
And I sure as hell didn’t see what kind of benefit she could derive from forming an alliance with me.
“Is that so? How about a royal wish for formi-“
‘I already have 1 royal wish with you and that, honestly, is all I need. If you refuse to give that to me, I guess I will leave, but let me warn you. I have information about this invasion you are trying to prevent and it is crucial to your victory.’
The princess, for the first time, looked flabbergasted. Her expression was so funny I almost couldn’t help myself.
“Information, eh? Alright then, how about this. You form an alliance with me, give me that information and you will be assured a royal wish once every year for as long as this alliance is in place.”
I looked at the princess intently. She was keeping her mind blank since she knew I could read minds. Thinking over it more logically, this was all too weird. A sudden alliance out of nowhere even though she knew nothing about the benefits she could get from me. It was too quick and out of place.
Thinking more over it, if I was in her shoes, what would I have done to me? The thought stuck me like a thunderbolt.
The princess was scared of me. She must have assumed that I managed to fight my way from Daxia or at least been able to trick her to escape. To her, I was probably a strange occurrence. Imagine having something like that as your opponent. Even I would be terrified.
‘Hehehe, finally! My time to shine has come!’
‘Muhahaha!’
‘Well, yes. We agree to this alliance on the condition that you will not cancel this alliance abruptly without any good reason. If I need your help you may call on me and if I need yours, I will call on you. The royal wish you owe me is not a part of this agreement, meaning I would possess 2 royal wishes this year. Is that alright for you?’
I offered my hand. She looked at it for a moment and kept her hands folded.
“It seems you don’t understand the sort of cooperative alliance I was talking about.
‘Huh?’
“I simply need you to ensure my safety till I inherit the throne, which shouldn’t be long now.”
She proposed something different from my expectations. Well, her brother wanted to dispose her in order to inherit the throne, so she wanting protection was completely understandable. And if the comments from the servants were any sort of prognostic, there was close to no one in this castle she could trust with her life. In that case, it would make sense why she would want protection from an external force.
Still, I wasn’t in the mood to play bodyguard for a princess.
‘This starting to get confusing.’
I thought to myself.
‘Yeah. Are we still helping her in the fight against the Exsuole empire?’
‘I-Isn’t that why w-we’re having this conversation?’
‘But… I suddenly remembered why I don’t like the princess.’
‘Come on, you wanted to find Minerva. This is the only way.’
‘What about her brother?’
‘We know close to nothing about him and if we ask her for any sort of information on him, she would definitely lie to us about him.’
‘Then again, the whole SharkFang has already gone to intercept the enemies.’
‘Doesn’t change the fact that there are still enemies present.’
‘Ah… just remembered that!’
‘You think this Osveta guy is one of them?’
‘H-He could be.’
‘Naah. No way. The princess seems to trust him more than the others.’
‘True. I guess the best option would be to work for her for now.’
‘Yeah, till we find the moles. Wait… how do I communicate with Daxia?’
‘Should’ve made her a member of your party.’
‘Shut it!’
“As proof that I have no ill intentions, here you go.”
The princess threw Kawaii’s core at me and I caught it easily. The crystalline ball was a pitch black, but it had only 45 minutes more till Kawaii would emerge from it. I decided to shove it into my item box for the main time.
Giving up, I shrugged and accepted her offer. This time, I got no system notifications or quests for agreeing to this.
DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS
[[Soul Orb] + [Blood Bank] was cancelled]
[3 goblins have died]
[100 giant spiders have died]
[90 giant beetles have died]
[87 giant bees have died]
[5 goblins evolved into hob-goblins]
[You have 1 pending message from the servant Ulva]
[You have 1 pending message from the servant Reiman]