—Still in the Jaxith Family's crested carriage, heading straight for the family's Castle at the city center.
Athena was looking at the three Quantium ranked Hunters in the coach with her, apparently trying to convey something with her gaze. To some extent, it was more persuasive than an actual speech.
"…That's pretty na?ve. But if it was her, ah―"
"Hey, Moon, you do know what the boss would—"
"—Do, right?"
Athena's gaze had proved to be rather effective as she made the three Hunters seriously contemplate their decision.
"I'm aware, shut up. Still, I won't agree so easily, even if it's for her, no? After all, we need a certain amount of remuneration for this ― since we've been hired, we'll need a minimum payment. Besides, if we don't collect anything, it'll be bad for the others too. It'll also violate the Hunters' code. In addition, a price has to be paid for teaching skills or spells, secret techniques are out of the question."
"Well, I do agree with everything you've said, but I'm very sorry. The truth is, those shelters took more than budgeted so I don't have any money at the moment…"
Athena hung her head in dejection as she said that.
As the 5th princess of the Jaxith family not born with a decent potential and even failing to inherit the family's innate ability. The fact was that Athena held no true worth within the family besides her ability to extend the family's influence and bloodline through marriage.
As such, Athena held no stake in the family's finances besides her monthly allowances and could only afford the shelters thanks to her Elder brother's recent high evaluation of her intellect and advice. Hence why he assigned the task to her but unfortunately, he could not increase the original budget set aside from the war.
So naturally, Athena who had spent more than the allocated budget on the six shelters no longer has any money of her own. Not that this was a problem for her day-to-day lifestyle.
As someone that has spent the last couple of months by her side, Bam could easily feel her intentions through the armor he wore.
"Really? I would've thought all princesses live a life full of all sunshine and roses… then again, this is the demon continent. I'm surprised you don't have a leach on your boy toy over there."
Bam's brows twitched for a split second and his cheeks flashed red. Still, he could not disrespect his mistress by speaking out of turn in front of her guests. Even if they were rude guests. She clearly valued their opinions highly.
"Reality's hardly that nice, besides, Bam's not a toy so I'll appreciate it if you could please refrain from calling him that."
Athena frowned.
"Geez... my bad. I was only kidding. I guess you can't take a joke huh."
*Sigh... "Still, to your first point, we can't say there aren't any princesses like that on the demon continent. I'm sure all the Great Five pureblood Demoness live similar to that though, perhaps with a bit of thorn in their roses."
As he watched his mistress' expression turned serious when she spoke of him before her eyes lit up with admiration at her last statement, an emotion that he could not express with words welled up within Bam's heart.
His heart skipped a beat as he thought about how he would love to give a life of sunshine and roses to the one who was the most beautiful being in the world with a brilliance that overshadowed everything.
Just then, Athena turned her face, and her sparkling eyes met his own from the side.
"―Thinking of something?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing, my lady."
"Is that so? Well, if you think of anything, you should speak up. We need to help each other in tough times, after all. Also, don't let the words of Mr. Black Moon get to you, I don't consider you a toy you know that right?"
"Ah, yes! Thank you very much!"
Bam snapped into an upright posture as he saw Athena's eyes sparkle worriedly when she thought he was upset for a moment. His mind almost went blank as the words barely left his mouth.
"Err... Hate to interrupt this... Whatever this is but know I'm not planning on working for free even if she says so."
Bringing everyone's attention back to the issue at hand, Black Moon ignored his part in the current situation and made his decision as the sisters followed.
"Yeah, me neither."
"Me neither."
"I understand, I shall surely try my best to meet your expectations. It shouldn't be too hard to earn more money now that the shelters are up and running smoothly."
Athena said confidently with a smile on her face, making Black Moon sigh in resignation.
"Then I guess that's settled. However, finding highly talented kids among so many isn't impossible. Finding those with an innate ability is. There is no true method of finding out if someone has one or not. Much less what that ability is, so choosing kids solely based on magic Potential might not be the best approach."
"Although... It's not impossible to identify those with innate ability. I've heard the Great Five are capable of such a feat."
Athena spoke with a left hand on her chin as she contemplated on what she may have heard a while back.
"Yes, yes, it is barely possible."
"Really? Can you really test for that?"
"Well, I don't know what that sparkle in your eyes is for, but don't get your hopes up. This is anything like a spell or magic item like the Magic orb. Rather one just have to use various method to enable the target to sense if they have any dormant ability within them and that rarely works."
"Is that so…"
The light in Athena's eyes dimmed.
"Things like teaching them true meditation to deep dive within their inner world where the mana body is located is an option. Although a deep dive is not something just anyone can learn much less do. If they aren't careful their consciousness could get lost in the never-ending darkness within their soul."
"That sounds very unsafe."
"Right, the chances of success are incredibly low with that one. The other option is to have someone hypnotize them into a trance. If the person is unable to use it by instinct alone which is how most people learn about theirs in the first place. Apparently, it makes you sense your own innate ability, mixed up with something else. "
"Really? …Hm, is that really true? Hold on, do you have an innate ability too, Mr. Black Moon?"
At this, the uncharacteristically hitherto chatty Black Moon suddenly fell silent. It would seem he had heard something he wasn't comfortable talking about.
Everyone here fully understood what it meant to possess an innate ability despite how useful it may turn out to be. It was why the matter with the shelter had held any weight with the second Prince who had taken over the succession of the throne after the 1st son of the Jaxith family went missing in the war.
Bam also possesses an innate ability himself, one of the reasons why he had been able to crawl his way out of the depths of the slumps.
For Hunters and Magicians, these abilities were usually considered trump cards that may end up saving their lives and were considered a well-guarded secret as it was impossible to tell who possessed one or not. Innate abilities were even more coveted than unique skills.
Yet, his master was clueless enough to actually ask that question and even proceeded to press on.
"Could you tell me what kind of ability it is?"
This level of ignorance and insensitivity was not because she was being mean or wasn't smart enough to read the flow of a conversation. Rather, this simply displayed the results of growing up in a palace with a different set of common etiquette.
"What are you getting excited about?"
Black Moon finally spoke as he stared intently at Athena.
"There are very few people with such abilities around me, so I'd like to know what sort of ability you have. As far as I'm aware, they should all be unique abilities that were shaped by destiny or fate, so I am quite intrigued."
"Is that so? Well, since it's gotten to this, I might as well tell you. Scoot over."
Hearing that, Athena's face lit up with excitement as she scoot over to hear his words more clearly. However—
*Pong!
The wooden staff next to Black Moon moved as it hit Athena on the head with a slight bump before Bam could even react to protect her.
"Ow."
"Did you really expect me to answer that? You're lucky I don't hit you any harder."
"MR. BLACK MOON—"
Bam's words were cut short by the glare he received from the half-dark elf and the hand already reaching for his weapon froze. He already knew he wasn't a match for the likes of Black Moon and the others but his body couldn't help itself from wanting to protect his beloved mistress.
If someone like him was to be ranked according to the Hunters standard then he would be nothing more than an Orichalcum-ranked Hunter.
Being ranked that highly meant he was stronger than most of the Hunters registered in Radiance City. However, this only meant he was at least stronger than the average Hunter.
He couldn't even hope to contend with an Adamantine ranked Hunter and above. Much less challenge the highest-ranked Hunters like the members of Evident.
He had already been made painfully aware of the vast difference between them from his pathetic attempt at having a duel with them a while back and they were even graceful enough to give him pointers which made his loss all the more embarrassing.
Yet, those factors did not stop his body from reacting to protect his mistress the moment she was struck on the head. However, his movements had been far too slow and before he could even draw his weapon, his body froze from a single glance from Sigrun and Sigrid.
However, there was someone in this carriage that didn't seem to have read the situation at all.
"Help me Bam. Mr. Black is being mean to me. My head hurts."
The stunned Bam was immediately jotted back awake as Athena leaned over to hug him, as though she was a frightened child seeking protection from an adult.
Pressing her body against his armor caused Bam's head to instantly go blank as the adorable look on her face was almost too much for him to bear.
She looked up from his chest, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Tsk. Stop acting like a spoiled brat. I didn't even hit you that hard. You're a princess for crying out loud."
Seeing this annoying charade being pulled in front of him seems to aggravate Black Moon even more.
"Mr. Black Moon. Please reframe from hitting and insulting the princess. Even if it's you, I will not overlook it a second time."
Forced to his senses by Black Moon's words, Bam steeled himself for any consequences that may arise from his words as he could not help but defend his mistress.
"Oh... Is that a tbhreat? You've grown some balls, uh kid."
The air around Black Moon instantly changed as it intensified and was directly aimed at Bam. Such a staggering aura could even kill a full-grown man but Bam did not back down as he shielded his mistress with his body.
At this, even Black Moon was shocked. He hadn't planned on going this far but was pleasantly surprised by Bam and couldn't help himself. He also caught a glimpse of Athena mocking him with her tongue out and he almost increased his aura to dangerous levels.
"How annoying..."
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