The Young Master in the Shadows

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.

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.

“...” Victor smirked too. Pretty?  “Since when were you here?” Victor asked, trying not to reveal that he knew nothing. 

“Oh… Just arrived yesterday,” he replied, clearly lying. “Still tired from the journey, hopefully this will not affect my performance tomorrow!” he sighed. 

Victor raised one eyebrow. Dario was cursed a week ago, that’s when he should have arrived… This guy was clearly the kind who would study the entire week before an exam, then on that day, he would lie to his friends, claiming that he never even touched a book, in fear that they might ask him to help cheat. 

“So we are the same!” Victor finally sighed as he relaxed on his bed.

KNOCK KNOCK…

A knock on the door made the two young men look at the door as it opened and a short dwarf woman entered with a trolly full of dishes which she placed on the table next to the door.

“This might be your last meal… Eat it with dignity!” she said, giving Victor and his purple hair a disgusted look before walking out as she scratched her beard.

Last meal? Victor didn’t think so, but regardless.

“Let’s eat!” Victor said as he jumped from bed and hurried to grab a dish.

Dario was clearly not in the mood for food, but after thinking for a moment he also approached the table.

The dishes were simple yet luxurious. They were some kind of meat mixed with vegetables.

His appraisal slowly revealed the ingredients.

Elven deer? Victor quickly imagined a deer with long ears…  He had no idea what that was. But it was another world, so some strange flora and fauna was a must. 

“This thing is not bad…” Victor said as he took a first bite. “But it needs some wine with it…”

“We can’t drink before the competition!” Dario said. “You might not have heard, but in the competition three years ago there was an incident where the son of a baron got drunk then tried to assault one of the maids… Ever since then, the maids all became dwarves and no drinking was allowed!” Dario sighed.

“Oh….” Victor sighed, looking at the door making sure it was closed. “Well… I don’t think anyone will know a thing if we keep it moderate and say nothing,” Victor said, grabbing a bottle from his storage space, and faking it as if was taking it from his ring before setting it on the table. He took a glass and poured himself a little.

“This?” Dario swallowed, noticing the wine’s clear sparkling engraved bottle.

“Elvish wine!” Victor lied. The bottle was something he took from the ring of that Elven Alchemist, the wine in it was not.

Dario swallowed.

“Care for a glass?” Victor asked. “Drinking alone is not a good thing..”

“Ah… I will take just a little to taste it,” Dario, who was having difficulty swallowing his drool, said after some hesitation. Elven wine was a delicacy. A top delicacy.

Victor quickly poured him a cup.

Dario grabbed it, and then smelled it, Secretly tilting it a little to make a single drop of the wine seep from the side of the cup and touch a ring in his finger.

The ring turned red hot immediately after coming in contact with the wine, but Dario, who never realized that this happened thanks to Victor already disguising it, waited for a moment, then drowned the cup after making sure it was safe.

“Do you know what to expect tomorrow?” Victor asked as they wrapped up their meal, finally the time to get some info. His participation in this ‘Competition’ would depend on that. He didn’t want to reveal a lot of his cards at this point after all, not until he got a complete picture of the situation.

“How could I…It is all a secret! They change it every year…” Dario looked at the ceiling hesitating about asking Victor for another cup. “But I bet there will probably be some kind of confrontation with one of the princesses…” he said. 

“Hopefully not that Lyra…” Victor quickly said, refilling Dario’s cup.

“Yeah…” Dario said nervously as he looked around, making sure no one was listening. “That bitch is a real pain in the butt!” he whispered as the soul wine began to take effect.

“What kind of an upbringing would make a girl like that… Seriously!” Victor sighed.

“A commoner is a commoner…” Dario said, lowering his voice “She is not Lady Rosette’s real daughter, I heard that she was an orphan whom the Lady adopted…” Dario spat. 

“This explains her manners…” Victor nodded with clear disgust on his face.

“I know, right! I heard she used to be alright until that idiot duke's son scammed her wanting to get an Oath from her adoptive mother! He planned to fake an accident and get rid of her as soon as he had his fill!” Dario sighed. “He had a point… Although Lyra was noble in name, she is of a filthy commoner bloodline! How can a nobleman live his life with that kind of low-birth slut as his main wife… I even heard that she wanted to be his only one… The absurdity!”

“Oh… What happened next!”

“Thankfully, that idiot got drunk and spilled out his plan before anything bad could happen… If he succeeded, I would have died of envy…Seriously… How could he think of that!” Dario spat. “Too bad that ever since then, the princess got more skeptical, and no nobleman has been able to enjoy his wine peacefully!” he sighed.

“What about the other princess?”

“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!”