He slowly approached the box while his eyes shone with unprecedented curiosity. But just before he reached it, the queen's voice resounded behind him.
"I prefer to warn you, this thing is impossible to open. In the past, I had tried all the methods to open it but it was without result." She commented.
But Alvine's interest was also still increased by hearing her words. "So in other words, you don't know what it contains, don't you?" He asked while taking the small box. 'Hm? It is heavy for its size. What can it contain? What can it contain? I can't see what it contains at all.' He said to himself.
The queen shrugged her shoulders accompanied by a head shake, answering Alvine. "Unfortunately, no. You may have already noticed, but this small box is made of the same material as the room door. Not only does it block my perception, but it is also very solid. It is black gold, the strongest matter; at least, to my knowledge."
"In this case, how did she land here?" He continued with his question in a placid but curious tone.
"Sigh, he had been with us since the former queen. But according to her, this box contains the treasure of the former king. She herself did not know what it contains, according to her, this box can only be unlocked with the blood of the former king. But I don't know which king she was talking about, since our race has been ruled by queens since time immemorial. According to our archives, there was indeed a king who governed our race, but this story became a fairy account because of the lack of evidence and the lack of information in our archives about him."
'Hmm... ancient king, huh? Is she talking about the first king of vampires to whom the system referred? Where does he talk about the vampire who is on the planet of the Punishers, Sabrina's butler, Sébastien?' Alvine whispered these assumptions to himself while being in his thoughts. But the most frustrating thing for him was that he could not confirm any of these assumptions.
"Is it a problem if I add this to my collection?" He asked with interest.
The reason for his question was that Liliana was doubtful from the moment he went toward this box. He could guess that it was a mysterious box that was close to her heart even if she was unable to use it.
"Sigh, I know that according to our previous agreement, you could take everything you wanted with you until the balance was balanced, but this box is the only memory left by the former king. It's a little too much asked to leave it in your hands." She politely refused Alvine's request with these words.
"Hmm, I understand." He said briefly in a disappointed tone by placing the box in its original location.
But it was only then that Sylvia's soft voice resounded in Liliana's head, suggesting the (best idea).
*Don't you think you're missing a crucial opportunity by doing this? Do not forget that he is now your fiancé, consequently, your future husband which gives him the right to be like the future king. I know that, unlike other races, vampires do not marry, heirs come only from men or the concubines they will choose to give birth to their future sovereigns. But since you are going to marry him, he will obviously not have the same status as the others. In my opinion, he deserves this box more than anyone else, and you can offer him as a wedding gift, right? As you can see, my master is rarely interested in common things. And since this box attracts his attention because of the mystery that surrounds it, I don't think you can find anything more useful than this one. *
After hearing Sylvia's words, Liliana's eyes widened with sudden awareness. 'It's true, sigh, I even forgot that everything here will soon be his. What's the point of clinging to something I wouldn't be able to protect in the long term?' She concludes with these thoughts by taking the box with her and giving it to Alvine.
"Hm? Do you plan to give it to me? I thought it was an ancestral treasure?" He asked with a suspicious air. But his hand instinctively moved towards the box by catching it in Liliana's hands.
"I know, but it will not be part of the objects of our agreement." She says in a murmuring voice.
"What do you mean by that? Do you plan to offer me this for free? I'm sorry but I don't intend to lengthen my debt slate."
"Not for free, consider it a gift from me." She continued while her cheeks began to turn pink.
Alvine raised his eyebrows. "In what honor? Since when have you become so kind?" He obviously did not intend to accept the gift from her. "Nothing is free in this world, if I accept it without knowing the valid reason, it is always a debt." He continued in an unwavering tone. Even if he was curious about the mystery of the box, he was not trying to accept another future debt.
"Sigh, very well." She sighed with annoyance at the sarcastic behavior of Alvine who saw everything in black and white. "I know it's a little very early, but consider this present on my part as a gift from our future alliance." She pronounced these words tactically.
But Alvine could clearly understand the senses. 'I almost forgot this little detail. Sigh, since I accepted that, this is not the time to hesitate about the things that come with it.'
"Very well, in this case, I will accept your gift with pleasure. Thank you." He briefly stammered these words after hearing the reasons why Liliana offered him the black box.
Sylvia who silently watched the scene as if she were watching a romantic movie with popcorns intervened to (appease) the atmosphere. "Hah~ How beautiful, love. I would like to find a lover too." She said with exaggeration.
"Sigh, who will want to marry an annoying girl like you? Not to mention that you don't even know your age." Alvine who knew her goal, was not allowed to be mistreated by her. He replied with sharper words for a woman.
"Fufu~ what is ironic, coming from someone who doesn't even know how many billions of reincarnations he had performed before being in the body of a kid in his twenties." She replied in turn.
"W-what?! Thousands? Aren't you exaggerating a little, old mama?"
"Humph, if not, then tell me the exact number?"
"Tsk, since when have you believed in the words of this annoying guy? Everything that comes out in his mouth is purely false!"
"Anything! We both know what is true or false. So don't look for excuses, grandfather!"
"...Sigh, I don't want to waste my saliva with you. Instead, try to see what's inside this box." Alvine finally abandoned a debate that seemed endless by giving her the box. As for her, she also did not insist on it, she grabbed the small box by instantly forgetting the little argument they had just surrendered each other.
"Based on my observations, I can't know what it contains." She says after a brief analysis.
"Hm? Do you mean that you can't see through this box too?" Alvine curiously asked as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Liliana had her jaw on the ground. There is no need to decide between them. They are as immature as each other. But how can they be so intelligent and be...so strange at the same time? More importantly, this guy is really in his twenties? I knew he was young but, to imagine he could be so young. Its level of cultivation and intelligence has nothing to do with this age. Rather, I felt like I was talking with someone older than me during our discussions. Sigh, and this story of reincarnation; even I can't know what they're talking about. Even in their fooling about, I always manage to learn things I didn't know; it's a bit like they were showing off their knowledge in front of me.' She was in her world treating every new information as insignificant as it may be with an open mind.
While she was in her own world, Alvine and Sylvia united to unravel the mysteries of the black box. Alvine had never expected even Sylvia, who was a primordial goddess, to be unable to see through the box. Is black gold such an interesting material?
"No, you don't understand the meanings of my words. What I mean is that this box and its contents probably do not come from vampires. It is necessarily something that was offered to the former king by a primordial being. Contrary to what the queen thinks, this box is not made with black gold like the door. But it is a completely different matter that forms in space after several millennia, the tears of void; that's its name. It is the only matter that is capable of blurring the perception of a primordial being." She explained to Alvine. But unlike Alvine who was slightly surprised, Liliana could not believe what she had just heard.
"The tears of emptiness? If I understood correctly, the spear you use is also made with this material, isn't it? It is a rare and highly coveted material even by primordial beings if I rely on Sabrina's previous lessons."
"Yes, but to remodel these materials into a weapon or artifact, only a high-level divine grade blacksmith is capable of it. That's why I think this box doesn't really come from the former king of vampires." She continued.
Then, she removed the pair of black earrings with shiny red crystals that were hung at the bottom of them from her ear and showed them to Alvine and Liliana. "These earrings are made of the same material as this black box. The two small crystals you see at the bottom of them, are called the pearls of Ifrits." She continued her explanation by taking the example of her two pairs of earrings.
"But what is the use of these crystals?" Liliana asked curiously to deepen her knowledge.
But instead of Sylvia, it was rather Alvine who gave her an answer. "If my memory is good, I think it serves to camouflage the magical energy of a mage; no matter the custody of his possessor." He explains with a sigh of relief. Now he knew why Sylvia had used her primordial energy without worrying that Garyth suspected her. She already had Ifrit's pearl in her possession.
There is no need to say, primordial beings are really rich. This Randolph I thought was charitable is actually more stingy than anyone in this universe. Tsk, a bastard.'
"Fufu~, I see that Lady Rina is at least useful in the field of learning, otherwise she would be useless if she had not taught you these basic elements. But the pearl of Ifrit has several other uses such as the restoration of energy, the growth of charm, and above all, the affinity of fire will be increased to the point of giving its owner an increase of 200%!" She says by wearing her earrings.
"Basic?!" A sweet taste rose in Lilliana's mouth when she heard Sylvia’s words. How she could say (basic) when she is Alvine are those who are not normal between them. She swallowed the blood that was stuck in her throat for fear that another white-haired guy would scold her because she was wasting the blood he was giving her. She was the only one to understand the hell she was going through right now, hence her pitiful look as she moved away from them.
"In short, you are at least able to destroy it to see what is inside, aren't you?" Alvine returned to the essential subject, namely, the contents of the box.
"No, it's a very bad idea. Even if I am capable of it, the tears of emptiness have their specialties. If I try to break it abruptly, it will explode and annihilate everything; including this planet and the contents of the box itself. That's why this thing is more annoying and safer than any of its pairs. That's also why my earring is with Ifrit's pearl, otherwise, it will be like carrying a destructive bomb with me." She continued her explanation by handing over the box to Alvine.
"Well, it promises to be exciting. A wedding gift that will be able to annihilate an entire planet? It looks like my future wife wants to kill me even before I marry her." Alvine sarcastically says these words by looking at Liliana in the corners of his eyes with a teasing smile.
Her mind emptied when she heard Sylvia's words. She did not currently care about Alvine's harsh words, she was currently bathed in cold sweats when she remembered the infinite attempts they had tried with this box to find out its contents. She had never been proud of her weakness except at this moment.
"Well, I'm just going to take two hundred Odin stones and borrow from you the golden parchment that is in the one hundred and twenty-fifth box on the right. The rest, you will see this with soul and mind strengthening techniques. What do you think?"? He asked for confirmation after having what he wanted. The more the artifact dangerous is, the more grandiose the reward becomes; according to his hypotheses.
"Not the slightest problem." Liliana felt like she had been the winner, once again. Several thousand divine weapons and artifacts against two hundred divine spiritual stones and parchment of cultivation and soul strengthening? She is logically the winner.
After recovering what he coveted, Alvine did not lose another minute and left the room with Sylvia, and Liliana who had locked the room behind her.