"Ohh yes, the author of the future I saw," Maddie replies calmly, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips. "How can I forget about her? But I didn't know she could see the past as well." She said it so casually, as if they were discussing the weather, not a supernatural ability that could change the course of history.
Meanwhile, Maruti looks between Esdeath and Maddie, her eyes wide with confusion. "Huh? I thought my acting as a saintess was over. Do I still need to act all charlatan?" she thinks to hersef.
"So... what did you wanted to discuss?" Maddie changes the subject to the main topic, her voice firm and business-like.
"It's that the time is near," Esdeath says, her voice serious and low. "You two must be ready to depart in a few weeks. So take care of any urgent things as queen and be prepared." She looked at Maddie, her red eyes intense and unwavering.
"You sound quite confident, like we are going to win for sure," Scarlet says from behind, her voice muffled slightly by her helmet, but the skepticism in her tone was clear. Although the armor hid most of her facial expression.
Before Esdeath could reply back, Maruti immediately added with a noisy confidence, puffing out her chest a little. "We'll win," she says, her voice full of a conviction she didn't really feel.
"How so?" Maddie repeats, her eyebrow raised, a challenge in her voice.
"Because I'm saying it," Maruti replies back, acting all mighty and charlatan.
"Well if we do lose, they won't be alive to complain about it anyways," she thinks to herself, smirking a little.
"Still, we are putting our life on the line," Maddie replies, "If it was just about stealing something or rescuing, then I might have accepted it with the current offer. But literally fighting a deadly battle with one of the kings of hell? No thanks!" She shakes her head, her tone was felt very familiar to a modern way of talking instead of the tone of a queen. She sounded like a mercenary, not a monarch.
"Then you could've told us sooner," Maruti sighs, her shoulders slumping in frustration.
"This is how it works, idiot," Maddie thinks to herself, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "Once the deadline is near, the contractor becomes desperate and pays more. My adventuring days sure come in handy."
But outside, she only kept her calm smile. "You should've seen this future," she saysm
"I can't just see anything," Maruti narrows her eyes, leaning closer a little, her anger starting to bubble up. She was getting pissed by Maddie's teasing.
"It doesn't work like that," she adds, her voice low and threatening.
But Esdeath immediately intervenes, her voice calm and steady, cutting through the tension.
"There's no need to argue. I already expected this, thus I brought a gift for you two as well," she says, as if she was offering them a piece of candy.
"A gift?" Scarlet repeats, her voice filled with confusion, She didn't see them bring anything here at all.
At that moment, Esdeath casually slips her hand inside her pocket and takes out two essence stones.
The moment they come out, the whole room feels with a dense aura. It was like the air suddenly became heavy and thick, making it hard to breathe. Even Penetrator, who was busy reading books, gets his attention overtaken and looks towards them for a second, his head turning with a soft whirring sound.
Maddie immediately stands up from her seat, her eyes wide with shock and fear. "Whoa... whoa... whoa... Scarlet, prepare the barrier, hurry!" she shouts, her voice urgent and commanding.
Scarlet nods immediately, her hands moving in a complex pattern, a soft, yellow light glowing from her palms. A shimmering barrier appeared around the library, sealing it off from the rest of the palace, preventing the powerful aura from escaping.
Meanwhile, Esdeath just sat there with a serene expression, as if she was just showing them a couple of pretty rocks.
Only after the barrier was done, Maddie exhales in relief, her shoulders slumping. She looks at Esdeath, her lips twitched in annoyance and surprise.
"Who just casually roams around with two rank A essence stones in their pocket?" she thinks to herself, clearly surprised and impressed by Esdeath.
Maddie takes a deep breath, the air still feeling thick and heavy despite the barrier. She slowly sits back down in her seat, her eyes glued onto those two Rank A essence stones that Esdeath was holding.
"First one is scales of mountain turtle and second is earth fetus," Esdeath says, her voice calm and clear. She then explains their uses, how the turtle scales could create an almost turtle scale shield, and how the earth fetus could actually as buffer and enhancer.
After listening to her, Maddie nods in understanding. Well, there was no point in arguing anyway. Maddie would still have taken them. Having Rank A essence stones was a national treasure, something that could start a war. She would welcome them no matter which type they were.
"You both can have whichever suits you," Esdeath says casually, as if she was offering them a choice between two different types of candy.
"I'll take both of them," Maddie answers, her voice firm and decisive. "As a support type S rank, they both will be very useful to me." She carefully takes both of them, the stones feeling warm and heavy in her hands. "It'll take a few weeks to refine them. Perfect timing," she mutters to herself, a small, satisfied smile on her face.
Now she understood why Esdeath personally came to her. It wasn't just to inform her about the departure. They could've just sent letters for that. The main reason she came was to give them this gift, a down payment for the dangerous mission ahead.
But Maruti freaks out for some other reason. "Support type S rank? What kind of bullshit is that?" she asks, her voice full of disbelief. She looked at Maddie as if she had grown a second head.
"Me and Scarlet are a duo," Maddie answers, her voice calm and confident. "My capabilities are that of Rank A on my own. But once we fight together, even two S ranks will get pale in comparison." She said it with a quiet pride, a testament to their years of training and trust in each other.
Maruti just rolls her eyes, the look on her face clearly said she didn't understand anything at all. But it was not like she was interested in the technical details of their fighting style, so she didn't say anything at all, just shrugging her shoulders.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" Maddie asks, turning her attention back to Esdeath.
"No," Esdeath lightly shakes her head, standing up in one smooth, fluid motion.
Maddie stands up as well. "So you are going back right now?" she asks, a little surprised.
Esdeath shakes her head once again. "No, I'll be staying here for the next few days. So can you prepare a room for both of us?" she asks, her voice polite but firm.
"Yes, of course I can do that. You are our honoured guests," Maddie's tone changed quite a bit after receiving Esdeath's gift. It was warmer, more welcoming. She was no longer just a queen fulfilling a duty; she was a host who had been generously compensated.
They both shake their hands, a formal but friendly gesture. Then, later on, Maddie prepared a double size bedroom apartment for Esdeath and Maruti just besides her own apartment room in the same building.
But before that, they had some nice lunch together with some friendly chat, the tension from earlier melting away over good food and light conversation. After getting the keys, Esdeath and Maruti arrived in front of their temporary room.
Esdeath uses the keys to open the door and enters the room. Maruti immediately follows her from behind, and the first thing she does was to jump on the double bed, bouncing a little on the soft mattress.
"I thought you'll leave immediately to meet M.A.L.I.C.E," Maruti says in happiness, her voice muffled by the pillow. "Now I can have some days to look around how the wealthiest kingdom looks like." She was excited to be a tourist for a few days, to see the sights and experience the culture.
"I had my reasons," Esdeath says, taking out several essence stones from her storage type essence stone and casually dropping them on the bed. They clinked together, a soft, musical sound.
Maruti stops jumping around and looks at the essence stones. All of them were to enhance the body's capabilities, which Maruti had already done.
"With this new body, I need to absorb these essence stones once again," Esdeath says, sitting at the edge of the bed.
Unlike before, there were several Rank B essence stones of the same version which she has absorbed previously. She was making sure her physical growth should be far better than before.
"So you are gonna boil yourself again?" Maruti asks casually.
"Yes," Esdeath replies, her voice as calm as if she were discussing the weather. "Maybe break my bones and muscle tissues as well. So I won't be able to move for the next few days." She says it so matter-of-factly, as if breaking her own bones was just another item on her to-do list. "That's why don't just fuck around for the next few days and make sure that nothing happens while I'm paralysed," she adds, her eyes locking with Maruti's, making it clear that this was not a request, but an order.
"Why me?" Maruti sighs, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Her expectation of touring around the kingdom for the next few days was immediately broken away, like a glass shattering on the floor. She felt a pang of disappointment, a childish pout forming on her lips.
"Shouldn't you have done it already? Why wait till now?" Maruti asks, her voice whiny and complaining.
"Lortell might not have let me do it, knowing it's painful even after using pain killer essence stone," Esdeath says, a hint of something soft in her voice, a rare crack in her icy facade.
"And my heart aches every time I refuse her. I can't just refuse her every time," she sighs, a sound so quiet it was almost a whisper.
"Yes, Miss Lortell's puppy," Maruti mocks her, a smirk on her face. She knew it was a low blow.
She sits down on the bed, exhaling deeply, knowing this type of mockery wasn't going to have any effect on her.
Esdeath looks at her bored expression, like a kid who just got his favorite trip cancelled.
"Well, it's not like I'm completely forbidding you from going anywhere," she says, her voice back to its usual calm and commanding tone. "Just be sure to put a barrier before going. Don't go too far away, and come back before 9 PM. You understand?" she says, laying down the rules with the precision of a general.
Maruti's face immediately lights up, her disappointment vanishing in an instant. "Yes, mommy," she says, saluting her in a sarcastic way.