Chapter 440: OATH

Chapter 440: OATH

The room Victor was assigned to was a small two-person room that had two wooden beds with two trunks next to them and a single table with two chairs to the side.

“Hello there!” Victor greeted as soon as he entered and noticed the slim-looking handsome young man sitting on one of the beds. Clearly, he was a noble from the way he dressed.

“Oh Hi!” the young man turned and replied as he gave Victor an inspecting look. “You were assigned to this room too?” he asked.

“Seems like it...” Victor replied casually as he sat on the other bed and appraised the young man.

; ;

Dario de la Topia

Class: Bard

Level: 49

Authority: 4

Abnormal Status: Lost Days Curse (9/17)

Bloodline: Human 100%

Fate power: F

Predefined Fate: Get Eaten.

GET EATEN? Victor sweated a little remembering what Lyra said about her sister's meal time...

“Ehm... You are here for the competition too?” The young man, Dario, asked after a brief silence. Starting a polite conversation.

“... Is there anything else worth being here?” Victor asked as his mind turned fast, was he signed up for a competition? What competition? Since when? For what? This definitely had something to do with Rosette, since Lyra brought him here. What was that lass scheming?

“True... Unless you are one of the few idiots who want to scam their way to meet Her Highness Lady Rosette and earn her favor using underhanded methods!” Dario said. “Are you?”

“One can never know...” Victor said in a joking manner as he secretly sweated. Why were people scamming their way to meet his stepmother and earn her favor? Was she some kind of a big shot now? Was his father's love life screwed?

Never mind that!

Now he knew why Lyra began acting like he was some kind of vermin the moment he mentioned Rosette's name. That girl must have thought he was a scammer!

“True!” Dario laughed. He was clearly a little nervous, but seeing that Victor was the friendly type who carried on with his joke he relaxed. “But at least we are doing it in an honorable manner!” Dario started smacking his bed mattress and confirming Victor’s assumption.

“YES!” Victor nodded. “My name is Victor by the way!” he added.

“Dario, Dario De la Topia!” Dario said proudly.

“Ah! A Real De La Topia?” Victor exclaimed as he nervously adjusted his posture to be more formal. He had no idea what De la Topia meant, but it sounded big, and he had to act accordingly.

“YUP!” Dario nodded, clearly pleased by the way Victor acted, but somehow he had something else in his eyes, a sense of shame! “What noble family are you from?” he asked as if wanting to change the subject.

“Ah... a Minor noble house by the name of 'White'!” Victor said.

“Never heard of it... Are you perhaps from Grovin?” Dario asked, clearly relaxing a little more.

“Not quite, my father’s estate is near there!” Victor said. He had no idea what he was talking about.

“So a frontline nobleman...” Dario sounded a little worried as he looked at Victor’s purple hair as if he had just found out the reason for his vulgar sense of fashion. “So... You must be a good fighter!” he said.

“...” Victor sighed. “I can manage a little... But I am not that good, my class is a Merchant!”

Hearing him Dario relaxed completely. “Oh... You guys are the only ones who happily declare their class!” he chuckled.

“We have to make a living, and a merchant's reputation is his main capital!” Victor said. That’s why he chose this class to begin with, it was weak enough, and people would not really think much of it being a known fact.

“ You plan to aim for the top prize?” Dario asked. Clearly joking again. No wonder he was a Bard.

“How could I... I just want to make a good impression...” Victor said. Pondering what kind of competition it was.

Dario smirked looking at him. “You are aiming To impress Princess Aerith, right?”

IMPRESS WHO? Victor had no idea. “A man has to grasp any opportunity that he might be presented with!” he carefully replied. He was pondering presenting Dario with some wine to milk some more info from him, but since they had a competition tomorrow, Victor doubted that he would willingly drink it... Maybe after dinner.

“True, birds die for food, man dies for wealth!” Dario nodded. “Or a pretty girl...” he smirked.

; ; ELVEN DEER VENISON, DWARVISH APPLE, DWARVISH CARROT, DWARVISH CABBAGE, SALT ; ; POTENT WINE AND POISON TESTING RING (ALL IN ONE), F

“Ahh... You mean Aerith...” Dario said with dreamy eyes. “She is Lady Rosette’s real only daughter, but only a few people ever saw her... Some say she is as beautiful as an Elvish Flower and as deadly as a Demonic Sword... If I manage to meet her and sweep her off her feet with my poetry, I am sure I will rise to the sky in one single step,” he spat, clearly the wine affecting him perfectly.

Time to strike.

“Oh... It is all for an Oath...” Victor said as if he knew what the fuck was that.

“Yeah!” Dario nodded. “It is all because of Her Highness, The Storm Lord’s blessing...”

“...” Hearing this Victor felt a shiver run down his back.

A LORD? ANOTHER FUCKING LORD?

So there was a Lord here too after all! Damn it... He should prepare another donkey just in case! No. He needed two, in case they got suspicious.

Victor considered asking Dario about the Lord herself at that moment, but decided not to break the current line of thoughts. He was sure, like Macil and Meril, Dario would know nothing about Lords, just the same garbage about being the protectors and all powerful leader's of their prospective races.

“The thing I don’t understand is why her lordship chose Lady Rosette, who came from an obscure noble lineage, as her ward instead of all of the great nobles around the empire!” Dario continued without taking notice of Victor’s intense reaction.

“Maybe she feared them getting too powerful!” Victor suggested.

“That’s what my father said too! Exactly so...” Dario nodded then shut up as if he began to think about something.

“Now, we all have to compete for Lady Rosette’s favor!” Victor sighed, pushing Dario to continue talking.

“Only if I had enough authority points! I wouldn’t have to come here and chase after women...” Dario said, smacking the table.

“Authority?” Victor perked his ears. What does this have to do with Authority?

“Yeah... Aren't you here for the same reason?” Dario frowned.

“You can tell?” Victor acted surprised.

“You don’t have to put an act of honor and valor like those commoners do... Most of the guys here are like us, here to get Lady Rosette’s favor and earn an Oath that will get them enough authority to level up again... ” he said with clear passion in his eyes.

“Ah... Yeah... No need to put an act in front of you...” Victor sighed. “It is just that I wasn’t really informed how this Oath thing worked... My father just kicked me out and told me to come here...” Victor said nervously.

“Oh... Well, if you come from an impoverished noble family, this is normal!” Dario sighed. “Listen up... As you might know, a person’s level is tied to his authority, so normally once a man reaches a certain level he won’t be able to level up unless he can increase his authority, which normally increases randomly when leveling up!”

“Yeah... This is common sense!” Victor nodded.

“Other than leveling up, there are five ways to increase Authority points!” Dario said.

“What?” Victor frowned. He only knew about four methods.

“The first is the Authority talisman, they are very rare and can be as expensive as fucking a 100 elven prostitutes at the same time. They usually grant people one authority point or two, so the noble families usually reserve those for their patriarch or very promising heirs!” Dario said. “Just the way they treat pretty elven slaves...”

Victor nodded, after reckoning he came across some records of those Talismans, huge fights were fought over them, a lot of blood was shed and many people who were once friends ended up as enemies because of that... The pretty elven slaves caused similar things, but to a lesser extent as many of the nobles feared their wives.

“The second way is artifacts, some exist that usually grant some Authority points to the equipper... But those are very rare... VERY... And other than the danger of getting stolen when they got carried around, they usually come with some strange conditions or nasty effects!”

Victor nodded again, remembering the pendant he got from Margret that day. It ended up in the hands of the heir of the Sword sect, who was at the moment Alex’s adoptive brother.... Never mind that.

“The third is stealing Authority from others...” Dario whispered. “But only demonic magic can do that!” he chuckled, shaking his head. ”People who make deals with demons never end up well, so that method is a no-go!” he added piously. "Though I wouldn't mind it..." he tailed off.

Victor nodded. His cauldron does seem to have a demonic origin. Maybe this was why he could use it so efficiently. "What about the fourth?"

“Ah... Right... The fourth method is as a reward for system missions...” Dario signed. “Like the ones in fairy tales! I have never heard of anyone getting those in real life!”

“Yeah...” Victor nodded again. After the reckoning, he only heard of five times when such missions were issued, and most of the time they were very dangerous and concerned the fate of the world. “And the last Method is the Oath?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Dario nodded. “It is the power of Her Highness, the Storm lord!”

“How does it work?” Victor asked.

“I am not really sure... But from what I heard, by swearing an Oath of allegiance to the lord or one of his wards, his faithful servants, you would be given quite a few authority points...” Dario said with clear desire reflected in his eyes. “Right now, there is only one known ward, Lady Rosette whom the lord announced her appointment all of a sudden 10 years ago!”

“Oh...”

“Ever since then, people have been seeking her to get her favor, so 8 years ago, she announced this competition, which she would hold in a yearly bases. Those who perform great in it would be granted a chance for an Oath with her!”