Chapter 18: Noble Introduction
Vespertine city, the royal capital of Varmon empire, certainly lived up to its name as a royal capital. When it comes to beauty and magnificence, even the archduke families have no choice but to admit defeat and can only sigh in amazement.
Today was a special day in Vespertine city, it was busier and noisier than usual, magerides of different colours could be seen everywhere, as the nobles and the rich merchants made their way towards a tall tower in the distance.
Suddenly, various extremely large objects blotted out the sun, they looked like airships but more massive with various emblems on them, they were mage airships and were used for long distance travels. However only the extremely rich or the nobles could own custom mage airships considering their high price.
These mage airships then positioned themselves at different entrances of a very tall and wide white tower as they all floated silently with booming hum sounds emanating from each of them.
Cain was in one of the three large mage airships which was very well decorated and fitted with different rooms, the space inside totally eclipsing what the airship should normally have, however since it was made by infusing magic stones and spatial spells, it didn't come as any surprise.
This was his first ever time coming to Vespertine City as he has only ever stayed in the Ashel territory. As he gazed at the city in front of him, even he was impressed and this is considering he came from a world where technology was extremely advanced
If he had one word for Vespertine city, it would be grand. The roads were smooth and extremely clean as it shone in black lustre, tall street lights powered by magic stones enveloped the city, numerous luxurious buildings of different styles could be seen as they were arranged neatly in every corner as far as the eyes could see and the icing on the cake was an extremely large and luxurious castle floating in the air, displaying its grandeur
He looked at this and sighed, it was really a beautiful city, as expected of the royal family, they were still heads and shoulders above the rest. Anyways, that was it for him, it was beautiful and nothing more. He was just here for one thing today, the noble introduction.
Just like the name, it wasn't anything overly special, but as something that happens once every year, it aimed to officially recognize the new noble mortals of the empire but its main aim was for these new rank one nobles to be formally introduced to each other, and also to the various wealthy merchants
Cain wasn't too enthused about this noble introduction, he considered it a waste of his precious time but he had little to no choice, it was a tradition and he didn't even have the power to refuse. Still, he didn't plan on staying too long and only leave after the most important part which he was only interested in
Soon, the door of the mage airship opened as Cain stepped out with a tall woman beside him, her smooth and long black hair flowing freely, her crimson eyes which held a sharp gaze behind them calmly observing the city, her light tanned skin was without blemish as her figure added finishing touches to her beautiful appearance.
She had a warm smile on her face with her dimples further enhancing her beauty as she looked at Cain and spoke with her silvery voice
"Little brother, this is your first time here, It's quite the spectacle isn't it"
Cain looked at her plainly, this was his sister, the first born daughter of his father and mother, Guinevere Ashel and a highly respected and feared demi-immortal bloodmage. He rarely saw her as she was always extremely busy with whatever she was doing so he was a bit surprised when he found out she would be the one going with him.
"Yes it is" replied Cain with no amusement or excitement on his face
Guinevere saw this and giggled, she didn't mind her little brother's behaviour, she was already used to his attitude just like the other family members
The entrances to the huge tower opened as Cain and Guinevere entered, the other noble families did the same as they all entered and were guided by several servants to a beautifully decorated hall which had a lot of nobles and rich merchants present.
After a while, a beautiful blonde haired woman with a sun carved on her forehead welcomed everyone and congratulated the newly advanced rank one nobles, as she proceeded to give a heartwarming and inspirational speech which filled these rank one teenagers with pride.
Cain just looked on calmly, he didn't even bother himself with whatever nonsense the woman was saying, he looked at these teenagers who had wide smiles on their faces and shook his head as he wondered why they were so proud just for being mere rank one bloodmages. Still, he kept his thoughts to himself, it was none of his business.
This noble introduction benefitted him as well, he wanted to make connections with some very wealthy merchants since this tied heavily with his future plans and what better place and time than now where all of them gathered together.
The woman's speech eventually ended as she proceeded to get on to the main point of this gathering
"...so I would like the following people to please step out when your name is called" said the woman as she paused and brought out a golden colored scroll and opened it before speaking again
"Raymond of the Brunhild family, age fifteen, kindly make your way forward"
Applauses could be heard as a green haired boy with purple eyes, wearing a simple suit and tie stepped out from the crowd and moved forward unhurriedly, he reached the woman and gave a polite bow as she smiled and nodded before he raised his head and stood there patiently.
The woman called out several more names with most belonging to the archduke families before she spoke once more
"...and lastly, Cain of the Ashel household, age five, please make your way forward"
Immediately there was silence in the hall, as everyone turned and looked at a boy with black hair and crimson eyes, wearing what looked like a black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bowtie as he made his way forward, his steady footsteps echoing in the silence with his hands behind his back.
Guinevere saw this and her smile blossomed once more, she found him cute despite the fact he tried behaving mature, the wealthy merchants most especially the women also shared her sentiments, only the archduke families looked at him with stern expressions.
Cain didn't care about what expressions everyone was having, he wanted this whole thing to be over, he reached the woman and gave a slight bow before standing on one side. Raymond quickly glanced at Cain with a cold gaze before looking elsewhere, Cain felt this and smirked
'Seems like Abigail's situation is quite severe' thought Cain briefly as he observed everyone present in the hall.
The woman spoke and broke the silence "these children are the pride and joy of our great empire, everyone please put your hands together and offer them a beautiful applause"
After the woman finished speaking, there was a little silence before loud applauses could be heard as they drowned whatever silence existed prior. The woman made another speech before allowing the teenagers return back to their families.
Everything went smoothly, merchants took the opportunity to introduce themselves to the new rank one nobles, majorly because of their potentials, after all they put business first and would only love to make profitable future investments.
Unsurprisingly Cain was swarmed by a host of merchants, there was no way they would let such a genius and a big fat sheep slip past them, but they were still extremely respectful considering who he came with.
Cain got what he wanted, his connections with these merchants will yield a lot of profits for him, he decided he had stayed long enough and informed Guinevere that he was ready to leave, he didn't even bother talking to the nobles, Guinevere who became bored quickly also agreed, she was tired of the continuous glances made at her by the men too scared to come speak to her.
They eventually left the capital as Cain sat silently in one of the rooms inside the mage airship as he closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought. After a while he opened his eyes and stroked his smooth chin as he stood up and made his way to the window, staring at the clear blue sky
"Alright, now everything is set, for the next few years I'll have to focus on myself"
***
Ten Years Later
A young looking boy with long black hair was busy swinging a sword in what looked to be a training hall with high grade training equipments. His upper body completely bare as it displayed his extremely toned muscles coupled with his height which was about six foot two made for a pleasant viewing for any female.
Swish sounds could be heard as the boy swung his sword, his sweat accumulating on his body as his movements were without fault. After a while he dropped the sword and faced a training dummy as he began to hit it in rapid motions, utilising every part of his body as a weapon.
He continued like that for more than two hours, as he kept switching between the sword and his body after which he sat down and rested before speaking in a deep voice
"Show me my dashboard"
[ Affirmative ]
[ Cain Ashel
Bloodline Content: Ashel (97%), Iron (100%)
Bloodline Purity: Ashel (61.9%), Iron (100%)
Power Access: Ashel (5), Iron (Max)
Rank: 1
Stage: Late
Spells: Black Funeral (Unique), Void Ceremony (Unique)
Skills: Encompassing Sword Art (Second Form), Dominion Combat (Third Movement)
Technique: Myriad Collection (Unique)
Element: Darkness, Blood ]
Cain who was now fifteen years old looked at his dashboard, he had been extremely busy during the past ten years, successfully creating his own unique magic spells and technique but his greatest boon were his skills.
After completely mastering the basic sword movements which comprised of different sword skills from earth and the few basics he got here, he finally extrapolated it resulting in a rather tyrannical sword art, the same applied to his hand to hand combat which he also extrapolated in the same manner.
His spells were still rank one spells in terms of power output, but what made it unique was, they were spells that could grow with him. Which meant that, immediately he became a rank two, they would also be elevated to the second rank
The elements weren't new to him, he knew his elements when he broke through to the first rank ten years ago but he was still stumped with regards to the blood element, normally only blood elementals like the vampires of Zelch continent should be able to sense the rare blood element, still he couldn't do much about it.
After checking the dashboard he went silent as he stroked his smooth chin, seemingly lost in his thoughts before he spoke
"I guess it's almost time"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Thieving
Thieving Hello lovely readers, I hope you liked the chapter.
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