Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 159: So many problems

As Ravian left in his carriage, Adrian and Evangeline entered the mansion.

Evangeline looked at him for a bit and then asked hesitantly.

"Should I... return to my mansion and bring my stuff? We’re leaving soon, after all."

Adrian shook his head.

"Just wait in one of the guest rooms until we are ready to leave. I have already sent a few servants to bring all your things."

She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Sure thing."

After that, she turned a corner, walking away in the direction of the guest rooms.

Now alone, Adrian walked through the hallways in the direction of his room.

’She is improving at an absurd pace.’

Ever since he started teaching her a year ago, Evangeline had improved significantly. Unlike him, who had reached the limit of his growth, Evangeline was not limited by anything.

’And compared to her, I... am stuck.’

Adrian had already mastered the third level of Greythorn’s Legacy—his infusion art. But it was not much help because of the crippling weakness of the space element.

The biggest problem was that the infusion art itself was trash. An infusion art is basically a combination of weapon arts and mana manipulation techniques.

Leaving the mana manipulation techniques aside, a weapon art—or in his case, sword art—involves moves, transition moves, footwork, and several other things.

But Greythorn’s Legacy had none of it. In the manual, it was described as an infusion art that focuses on mastery of basic sword moves instead of incorporating sophisticated movements.

But those were simply flowery words. In reality, the technique only consisted of basic moves like the different types of slashes and stabs. There were no transitioning movements between moves, let alone footwork.

’Whoever invented this infusion art was a complete and utter amateur.’

Moreover, Greythorn’s Legacy was only a five-level infusion art, which meant Adrian wouldn’t be able to use it after climbing beyond Phase Five. But this was the only space element infusion art known to the world.

Adrian couldn’t simply create an infusion art from scratch either, because creating them was much harder than creating spells.

He sighed.

’What a headache.’

There was something else, too. Having reached Phase Three, he could finally access a space element teleportation spell.

A Tier Three spell called Shift. It allowed the user to teleport to nearby locations, and it had an extremely low casting time, reduced even further by elemental infusion. This was the same spell he had used during the fight against the assassin to take out that servant.

Sadly, this spell also had a glaring flaw. It was utterly unstable, and the teleportation could malfunction, causing him to teleport to the wrong place.

...or crash into a tree, just like during the fight with the assassin.

In the end, using it in an actual fight was extremely risky and unreliable.

Adrian finally reached his room.

But unlike six years ago, two servants stood by his room’s door, one on each side. The first servant was Rue, his personal maid.

The second servant, meanwhile...

"Rue, Nelliel," Adrian approached them. "I have things to discuss with you regarding our departure."

His two personal maids nodded, following behind him as he entered his room.

After sitting on a cushioned chair, he calmly stated.

"The two of you will be coming with us to the imperial capital since you’re both my personal maids."

The two reacted to the news rather calmly, as though they had already expected it.

"As you command, Young Lord." Rue bowed.

"As you command, ’Young Lord’." Nelliel also bowed, following her. Though she added a bit of pressure on the ’Young Lord’ part.

Adrian then turned to Rue.

"Rue, I have a different task for you. Evangeline doesn’t have personal servants to bring to the academy, so I want you to serve her for the duration of our time at the imperial capital. Is that okay with you?"

Rue paused as she heard his command. She opened her mouth several times as if to speak but shook her head in the end.

"Yes, Young Lord, I have no problem with it. I understand your intention to take care of your fiancée and will do my best as Young Miss Evangeline’s maid."

Adrian nodded.

"Good, now go and assist her in organizing her things. She is in the guest room."

Giving him another bow, Rue turned around and left the room. And as she left, Nelliel swiftly locked the door and then jumped onto his bed.

"Yay! Soft and fluffy bed, I’m back. I swear to the truth, I really missed the sensation of lying on it."

After rolling on his bed and making a mess of it, she glanced at him.

"Brother, just how the hell have you managed to fall asleep in the underground settlement when you were used to sleeping on a bed like this all your life?"

"..."

"It still feels so surreal. To think that you had such a background. Just what the hell were you even doing in Feralscar alone?"

Having returned to the mansion, he introduced Nelliel not long after, telling his mother that this girl had helped him greatly during the five years he had been missing. And so, Nelliel was made‌ his second personal maid after a thorough background check.

’Of course, I had forged everything beforehand, so it went smoothly.’

She was like an assistant who delivered his orders to the cult, helping him operate it from inside the mansion.

"Nelliel, stop playing around and report."

She sat up straight and started speaking after clearing her throat.

"As you ordered, we have sent several priest candidates to search the entire area near the cult’s current settlement and secure anything valuable we could find. All the fragment relics in the cult’s treasury have been labeled in the format that you gave us."

Adrian nodded along as she continued.

"The report about the findings from the priest candidates should arrive by the time we reach the imperial capital. Moreover, all those who are part of the cult have packed their things. All the items related to the rituals and worship that can be moved are also packed. So, as you had ordered, the cult is ready to move to a different settlement the moment you give the order, brother."

Adrian paused.

"That quickly? I thought it would take more time."

Nelliel smiled.

"That’s the thing; I also thought the same. But everyone in the cult has been enthusiastic since they heard your speech a year ago. They don’t doubt your capabilities but wish to do their best to support you since you’re very young."

"I see..."

Well, it seemed that his speech had been more effective than he had expected.

Having become the leader of the cult, he wanted to make use of them as much as he could. But in its current state, the cult was not very useful. Leaving aside the priests and priest candidates, the rest of the people—the believers—were at most just a free labor force.

He wanted to have more than that. And so, he was planning to grow the cult into something he could make use of.

He turned to Nelliel.

"Anything else?"

She pursed her lips, hesitating. But soon, she finally opened her mouth.

"Actually, there is one more thing. A very small number of believers are worried. Oh! They aren’t doubting your leadership of anything; it is just that... they’re worried that we’re moving too fast."