Chapter 41: Other rewards
"They gave you an Armada? To an eighteen year old?" The moment Kiren asked that question, Lexie shot him a gaze that almost cut him in half.
"I-I mean! Can... can they do that? Give an entire fleet–."
"It’s not an item I can possess, Sir Kiren. They gave me the right to use the Sungrade armada once whenever I want." Kiren’s cynicism towards the news was valid, but then again, I was also just as surprised as him.
’The patriarch and the elders saw my performance in a brighter light than I had expected.’
Since my freedom wasn’t something that they could consider as an appropriate reward, the elders and father decided on some other rewards that they thought would please me.
The right to utilise the Sungrade fleet of three hundred ships, even just one time, was an excessive reward that didn’t really make sense to most of the elders.
However, since the patriarch himself presented this reward, the elders did not question his decision.
He was the only one that could authorise this kind of reward so, this was still alright.
He probably did that to test me once again, to see what I’d do with a reward that wouldn’t make sense to most of the people.
But for me, personally, this was something far better than most of the treasures that I could have asked for.
’He may have granted me something far more valuable than he realises.’
And if that wasn’t enough, the elders deemed it unfit as a complete reward and gave me two more things.
"Quiet now. Don’t tease him too much, Lexie. He was just asking." The first reward was access to the family treasury located in a secret location.
Only the elders know of this location so we will go to the treasury tomorrow. For now, we were looking at the last reward that I had received from the elders and my father.
"Are you certain this is the same plant?" Sitting before us in an ordinary looking pot was a flower plant with red flower buds growing inside of it.
"I’m certain, young master. This is a Hyperumbric Lily. People also call it a never ending elixir." Just from the tightly sealed buds alone, Lexie was certain of the identity of this special gift.
’A plant that was also an elixir.’
I would call it an exaggeration if it were any other kind of plant with medicinal properties but this flower was something I had only seen on three occasions even in my past life.
"They also call it the Devil’s lily, right?" These flowers grew primarily from the remains of a powerful demonic entity in a place that was saturated with demonic energy.
Most people had only seen this in the demonic forest. Our Sungrade ancestors were the ones to discover this plant in the first place.
However, even inside of the demonic forest, this plant was hardly ever seen in bloom.
"Yes... young master. They also call it the devil’s lily." Lexie was sad, almost bitter when she called the plant a devil’s flower.
In the first place, according to the original folklore famous among the common people of the south, the Hyperumbric lily only bloomed in the hands of a devil.
It required an absurd amount of negative energy to bloom, and getting that kind of energy was impossible by human means.
Still, once bloomed, the flower produced crystal like pollen particles that were as effective as a high-grade healing potion.
One could use a little of this pollen and dilute it to make a lesser effective but greater quantity of potions.
’In the entire empire, it is said that only one family has a bloomed Hyperumbric lily, and those damned Serulians had stolen it from us a long time ago.’
After that, Sungrade had tried blooming this plant for almost a century but it was all futile effort.
’Even right now, we have a bunch of these plants in different cradles, but none are grown.’
I’d say they are gambling instead of testing me by giving me this, but even if it is me, I don’t know what could possibly bloom this plant.
"Young master, you can still use it as a supplement for other potions. It has various properties-."
"I know what I can do with this, Lexie." I’ve worked with this plant before. I’ve worked with even the bloomed ones.
But, there’s nothing I could use this thing for right now. In its current state, this is merely a decoration to me.
"Ah... alright, young master." Lexie was fond of this plant for some reason. I could tell she did not like it when I called it a devil’s flower and even right now, she doesn’t like it and I am taking it for granted.
It was a reward I have earned for risking my life in the last battle, but I still cannot use it as it is.
"Chirp~! Chirp~!" But from the looks of it, only my dear Lexie and the little white bird are interested in this little plant.
"Fine then." I am looking forward to what we can get from the treasury and about the tests of the elders. So, for now, I don’t have to look after the little one.
"Can you two look after the pretty lilybud for me, please? Nyx? Lexie?"
"Chirp?"
"Young master...? You want us to look after this?"
The words sparked a little fire in her eyes, but she still couldn’t believe it.
The plant was a treasure worth hundreds, even thousands of gold coins. If something happened to it, even if they knew Prism wouldn’t mind, they wouldn’t like it personally.
Their young master was busy right now and they understood that much. So, even though this was a great responsibility, they saw it as a fun opportunity.
"Yes. I’d like that if you don’t mind. Ah, if you don’t want to–."
"I don’t mind it at all, young master!"
"Chirp~!"
Nyx was jumping with happy chirps while Lexie was motivated as well.
They were looking forward to this new, fun task. On the other hand, I was looking at them with a smile.
Felix and Kiren were helping me with my preparations right now in our new room.
Nyx and I had just finished the ’item’ that we blew up the last time, so we are going down to the training ground for a little stretching.
’Staying cooped up in this room for so long has made my body pretty sore.’
If I want to survive the tests of those crazy elders, I have to improve a lot more. And for that, I need to train.
"Let us go then. It’s time to have some fun." The rewards for risking my life were great and all, but they’d still be of no help if I didn’t sharpen my body and mind.
Items and techniques can help, but without a solid physical foundation, none of it could complete the wheel.
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