'His highness?' Acht frowned as he heard how the man addressed Tania.
Acht was being hit with new information one after the other as if it was nothing. Tania? Royalty? What are the chances?
Such questions confused Acht even more than he already was. However, he didn't lose his composure and kept his face fairly calm.
"Papa?" Tania muttered. Her eyes seemed to soften slightly when she heard her father mentioned. It was apparent she really loved him.
Even though she showed such soft emotions, she still shook her head and said.
"No… staying here."
Her hands automatically moved and grabbed Acht's left arm before pulling him closer to her. Unfortunately, there was no 'boing' from her action.
'I feel like this is going to be the biggest headache so far…' the boy thought as he didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his luck.
"Fear not, my lady. His highness also wants to meet Mr. Acht." The servant spoke as he eyed Acht with an extremely chilling gaze.
Acht flinched slightly from such a look and sighed inwardly. He was now targeted even by the bizarre servant.
'I knew this could never end peacefully. I want to curse you, Livia. But how can I even curse a god?' He thought to himself with a helpless look to the accursed heavens, or rather to the one who resides there.
The other two didn't seem to notice his troubled face as they only exchanged glances between them. The air around seemed to grow colder as Tania didn't waver in front of the monster that was her servant.
"My lady. Pardon my rudeness, but why are you touching him like that? Please release him immediately." He said as he squinted his eyes to the size of a needle.
"No!" Tania yelled quietly. She then tightened the grip around Acht's arm until their shoulders were touching.
She was being rebellious which showed her young age, something that could easily be forgotten due to her normal demeanor.
"My lady…" The servant seemed at a loss for words.
He didn't know how to deal with the stubborn side of his lady so he could only mutter her name.
"No! Acht is fine… Let him go." She shouted again, further tightening her grip on him.
His blood circulation stopped and his hand started turning white.
"Mm, Tania?" Acht whispered for the beautiful girl to leave his hand.
"No!"
'I didn't even say anything.' He sighed inwardly before deciding to take action.
He then released his hand with a little demonstration of power. Acht was way stronger than Tania physically so he easily did so.
After finally regaining control of his arm, he began to feel the numbness disappear. After shaking it a bit, he then looked at Winstor and asked.
"Why does her father want to meet me too?"
"His highness knows of your... *Cough*, friendship and he wants to know what kind of friend My lady made." Answered Winstor.
"And what if I refused to come?" He questioned.
"I apologize, but you have no choice in this matter. I will have to restrain you and drag you there by force if needed." He unleashed a small amount of his aura as he calmly threatened Acht.
"Winstor!" Tania stood in front of Acht with a searing look. She was now extremely angry because her beloved was being threatened by her servant.
"It's ok Tania. I will go with you." He said as he lightly tapped her shoulder.
'I have no other choices anyway. I will have to postpone my plan for a day or two.' He noted in his head.
As much as he hated to admit it, he had no chance in front of this servant. Even escaping seemed like wishful thinking.
'What kind of monster would her father be if this servant was this strong!' He shook his head as he decided not to think about it.
Tania was surprised to hear him agree and she looked at him worriedly. He saw that adorable look and he smiled slightly.
"Don't worry. He will only have a small chat with me, right?" He directed the question to Winstor.
The latter nodded in response before pulling out something from his pocket.
"Please follow me." He said as he started walking.
The two walked after him to a secluded place not far from where they were.
Winstor then checked if there was anyone nearby. When it was safe enough, he threw the object he had in his hand to the floor.
It was a circular object that resembled a pie, however it was made of some kind of metal with a fragile transparent piece made out of another material in the middle.
The moment the object touched the ground, it started shining with a blinding light.
The three of them closed their eyes and when they opened them again, there was a portal had appeared.
The portal was very similar to the one Acht saw in the second phase of the hunter exam.
'Portable portal? That's new.'
Winstor then turned around and bowed slightly.
"After you." He said.
The two walked to the portal and entered and Winstor then followed inside.
They were now in the middle of a big hall that seemed very unique.
There was a fountain in the middle of the hall with 5 crystal objects floating on top of it without anything to hold them in the air. Each object had some runes written on it and shined with a faint light.
"Welcome to the Translucent Castle." Winstor said as he stood in front of them.
Acht was impressed by the decoration but Tania wasn't as interested in this as her companion. She seemed to be still worried about Acht.
She knew how much her dad loved her and how overprotective he was.
It took her months to convince him to let her go to the hunter exam. He only accepted when she told him that he could have Winstor guard her from a distance. If things became really bad, he could intervene and save her.
She wasn't a na?ve girl by any means, so she knew how much her father would freak out if he knew she met a boy and became close friends with him.
'I must protect Acht… I won't let anyone touch him. Only I can touch him.' She resolved herself with a strong look swirling in her eyes.
As for Acht, he wasn't really that nervous for one simple reason:
'If this person wanted me dead, he would not go as far as inviting me to his castle. He could've killed me easily without making any fuss.'
Even though that idea put his mind at ease, it also scared him slightly. The fact that he could be killed easily by any powerhouse in this world if they wanted to wasn't something he liked to think about.
Winstor then led them deeper into the castle. Acht immediately discovered why it was called the Translucent Castle.
It was because most of the castle was made out of some sort of crystal-like object that made the whole place look shiny and translucent. Even though he couldn't see behind the walls, it gave the illusion that you could see beyond them.
As they walked in the corridors on the second floor, A sudden aura appeared out of nowhere. Before Acht could even sense it properly, the owner of the aura appeared beside them like a phantom.
"My dear daughter!" The man shouted with a worried tone.
He then hugged Tania tightly.
"I'm back… papa." She said as she tapped his back slightly.
"Are you ok? Did you get harmed? Is there anyone who annoyed you? Do you want me to kill them?" He said as he frantically checked her from head to toe.
Acht watched this sight with only one thought in his head:
'He appeared out of thin air! There was only one person who was able to do that to me.'
He then recalled the old man he met the first time he came to this world. He was the only person up until now to get through his senses undetected. Now, there were two of them.
"Papa… fine." She tapped his hands to ease his worries.
Seeing that she was telling the truth, he made a loud sigh of relief before finally looking at Winstor.
He didn't even need to talk to the servant to understand what he meant with that look.
"Nothing happened to My lady." He responded.
"Good… Now." His eyes were immediately drawn to Acht.
His soft look from before was nowhere to be found. Now, he was akin to a predator eyeing his prey, except his prey was also a predator in it's own right. Acht didn't flinch and returned the same look.
The last thing he wanted was to lose in a challenge like this.
"You are… Acht?" He said as if he couldn't recall his name, which must have been a blatant lie since he seemed to be glaring at him as if he wanted to tear him apart.
"Papa," Tania muttered his name.
"Yes, darling?"
"Stop." She added with a frown.
"I didn't do anything, my dear daughter. I was only trying to get to know your new… acquaintance."
"Papa… bad!"
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