Chapter 30: Help From Soron’s Finest

The royal gardens were quiet that afternoon.

Chirping birds, blooming flowers, and the beautiful fourth queen sitting elegantly a cushioned bench inside a white gazebo that made her raven hair and black dress stand out. Her ruby eyes focused totally on the man beside her.

Adonis sat with his back against the railing, one leg propped up, looking thoroughly defeated.

His hands were wrapped in clean white bandages.

Minerva held his right hand gently in her lap as her fingers traced the edges of the cloth.

"You really are careless."

Adonis sighed. "I’ve been told."

"By who? That barbarian woman?"

"Her name is Prussia."

"Hmph. I know her name. I simply don’t care to use it."

Far across the garden, standing just outside the gazebo’s steps like a guard dog, Prussia had her arms folded tightly under her chest with an expressionless face.

She’d been ordered to stay exactly twenty paces away.

By who else but Minerva.

"Twenty paces. Surely that’s not too far for a loyal guard?"

That’s what the queen said with her trolling, sweet smile.

Prussia had wanted to argue, but Adonis had given her that tired look, the "please don’t make this worse" so she’d swallowed her pride and stood at attention. Since when did she start listening to that man? She wondered bashfully.

Now she watched as Minerva unwound the bandages from Adonis’s hands.

Minerva examined Adonis’s palms closely and smiled.

"This won’t take long."

Just like blood magic can kill a man in seconds, she can also heal one in the same time. Soon, Adonis’s blistered skin healed and they looked as flawless as they’d always been.

Adonis flexed his fingers experimentally.

"That’s... impressive."

"Of course it is."

Minerva tilted her chin up proudly.

She reached for the buttons of his shirt.

Adonis caught her wrist. "Uh, Minerva—"

She shoved a grape into his mouth.

"Mmph—?"

"I need to check your chest. The explosion may have caused internal burns."

Pop, pop, pop... she undid his buttons.

Adonis tried to speak around the grape.

"I reawwy don’t fink—"

She shoved more grapes in his mouth.

"I’m telling you, I’m fi—"

More grape, more chew.

Adonis gave up and slumped back against the railing, chewing defeatedly as Minerva peeled his shirt open.

Her eyes roamed his bare chest.

The burns were mostly healed, just faint pink marks that would fade within days. But that wasn’t what held her attention.

Adonis was elegantly lean. Subtle muscles on a body that had been sculpted by genetics rather than training.

Minerva’s fingers traced a faint scar near his collarbone.

Mmm, blood. That’s what she wants to drink.

Adonis is young and charismatic. He’ll taste very nice.

She started buttoning his shirt back up with a soft smile that made her look ten years younger.

Prussia watched from afar with twitching eyes.

’Tch, that bastard. He didn’t even let me look at his wounds that closely. I’m the one who carried him out of the smoke, the least I deserve is a chance to see those scars...’

Again, she’s ashamed of her attraction.

Minerva finished with the last button and leaned back.

"So, why did you really come to see me?"

Adonis blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You could have gone to any healer in the palace. You chose me. An old, innocent woman who simply wanted a quiet afternoon. If you only came to use me for my healing... I’ll be quite hurt, you know. Tsk, tsk, using an old woman like that."

She placed a slender hand on her large chest, acting hurt.

Adonis stared at her flatly. "You’re not inno—"

She shoved more grapes in his mouth.

"Let’s agree to disagree, sweetie."

She looked up at him from beneath her lashes as her ruby eyes were filled with deep affection.

"So. What do you need?"

"You know about the project I’ve been working on."

"The weapon that keeps exploding, yes? You might as well build a bomb instead."

"Hah... so funny. Anyways, I need your help."

Minerva’s eyes brightened. "Money?"

"No."

"Emotional support?"

"No."

"Is it breastfeeding again? Oh, you naughty boy."

"Minerva, not that."

"Are you making armor, then? I could test its durability. I’ve been told I have quite the—"

"Minerva."

"..."

"I wanted to let you know... I’ll be spending a lot of time with Mariella. It’s possible you don’t care but I wanted you to hear it from me first and random mouths."

Minerva simply sipped her tea and remained expressionless.

"Fine."

Adonis blinked. "Really?"

"Of course. I mean, it makes sense. Mariella is one of the most accomplished researchers in the Duchy of Soron. She understands magical engineering. She can help your project far better than I ever could."

She’s smiling genuinely.

"If it helps you stop getting blown up and win that duel... I won’t let my jealousy get in the way."

Adonis grinned. "So you were jeal—" He hooked when he saw Minerva grabbing another handful of grapes.

...

One losing heroine accounted for.

Now for the other.

Adonis returned to his warehouse, he’d barely stepped inside to focus on his work when...

Knock-knock-knock!

He opened the door and saw Mariella standing there.

She was dressed in a traveling gown of deep blue silk, her golden hair pinned up in an elegant twist. Her charming blue eyes were full of soul as she looked at him. Very much unlike when Prussia and sometimes, Minerva, looks at him.

"Prince Adonis."

Behind her, two figures emerged.

The first was a bald old dwarf with a bushy white beard and eyebrows as thick as caterpillars. He wore stained dungarees and carried a heavy case in each hand.

The second was a beautiful elven woman. She’s tall, slender, with red eyes, messy blonde hair and round glasses perched on her perfect, small nose.

Mariella gestured to them.

"These are Garm and Geles."

Adonis offered a polite smile. "Thank you for coming."

"Do you have a workspace ready?"

"Yeah." He stepped aside. "This place."

"Good. Garm, Geles, bring the equipment."

The dwarf grunted and began unloading heavy cases from the carriage. The elf adjusted her glasses and gave Adonis a curious look.

Adonis noticed her looking at him. "Hm?"

Geles shoved her pretty face right into his, the noses and lips were inches from touching.

"Ohoooo, now I can see why Lady Mariella likes you more than her new fiancé. You look... well. Wow. Your beauty almost seems unnatural. Even the Elf God didn’t look this good."

"I’m... flattered?"

"Now I don’t get why Milady called off her engagement to you. It’s not like she even likes the Third Prince. She heartlessly ignores all his letters. And yet— one letter from you, and she travels immediately."

"Geles." Mariella’s voice was stern

"Sorry, Miss!"

The elf quickly shut up and flashed her innocent smile.

She stepped back and finally gave Adonis some breathing space. But then he noticed something else. Prussia was standing near the door, arms folded. Mariella was across the room, directing Garm. They were staring at each other.

Neither was smiling.

In fact, they both shared the same thought.

’It’s her...’

To kill the tension, Adonis clapped his hands together.

"Alright! Let’s get to work!"

...

The warehouse wasn’t much —— dusty floor, beat-up shelves, a few workbenches he’d cobbled together from scrap wood. And the grassy plains outside was the perfect testing area, but so far he hasn’t crafted anything worth testing.

Garm took one look at the space and grunted.

"Needs better ventilation."

Adonis nodded. "I’ll add windows."

Garm pulled a pipe from his dungarees and lit it.

"No. You need a proper exhaust system. If you’re working with volatile mana, you need airflow. I’ll handle it."

"Oh. Okay."

Dwarves are very helpful.

Geles had already unpacked several cases of tools carrying runic calipers, mana spectrometers, and a dozen instruments Adonis couldn’t name.

She looked up. "Where’s the core?"

Adonis retrieved the [Core of the Nereids] from a locked chest and placed it on the central workbench.

Garm and Geles’s eyes went wide.

"Wooow..."

"That’s... that’s a rainbow-class core."

The two of them devotedly stared at it like children seeing their first snowfall.

"...Oh." It made sense to Adonis now.

These two were this world’s version of geeks.

Mariella clapped her hands gently.

"Let’s begin."

Mariella was now the project supervisor so she didn’t waste time to start barking out orders. Garm’s job was to run a full diagnostic on core to know its output potential, mana signature, pretty much everything. Geles would handle breakdown of its enchantment layers to know how it was made.

For Adonis, she just asked to see his current designs.

He handed her the sketches of his failed prototypes.

She studied them for a long time. He didn’t need to ask her what she thought of his designs, the awkward look on her face already gave him his answer.

Mariella shook her head inwardly.

’How do I tell him these are garbage? Only an idiot would come up with these designs. No, no, no... I can’t embarrass him in front of everyone. I should be the one being embarrassed. Not him. Tch. He’s put me in a tight spot.’

She set the sketches down.

"These are... uh... quite interesting."

Adonis’s face flattened. "You think they’re stupid."

"Yes. Very much."

"Uh-huh."

Tee-hee! Mariella laughed with a hand over her mouth.

"You tried to channel rainbow-class mana through mythril wire? That’s like trying to funnel a river through a straw."

She giggled again.

Adonis sighed. "I realize that now."

"And your focusing array—" She tapped the sketch. "You can’t just repeat a single [Compress] rune in a circle. You need at least seven layers of interlocking runes to handle this kind of pressure."

She was smiling at him as she spoke.

Prussia quietly watched from across the room. Hmph.

[Notice! New Mission: Bond with Mariella Soron.]

[Host must convince her to propose to you within the next few weeks. This will spite the protagonist and build a relationship with the Soron family. Reward: Unlock the secret ’Immortal Demon Empress’ Route.]

"How is that even a reward?"

[Warning: This mission has high difficulty.]

"Eh? It can’t be that ba— Oh, I see."

How would he bond with a woman who got turned on by the idea of him ignoring her? Sigh.