บท 3: Chapter 3
After they talked a bit, Alice looked toward Ace and asked Kaguya teasingly, "Who is this? Your boyfriend?"
Kaguya immediately blushed. Things involving Ace have always flustered her. "N-no, he is my younger brother."
"Hello, I am Ace Shinomiya. Nice to meet you." Ace greeted them with a faint smile, full of a gentlemanly aura. No matter how wretched his thoughts were, he was still a gentleman at heart, or so he thought at the very least.
"Wow, you are handsome little guy, nice to meet you too." Alice greeted back with a small smile, while Erina nodded simply in response.
Kaguya didn't like how Alice was looking at her brother so she didn't let them have a chance to talk further. "Alice, what are you doing in chef outfit? Are you going to cook?"
Hearing her, Alice took her interesting eyes off Ace and nodded. "Of course, do you guys want to try my special cooking too? I've learned now techniques and my skills has improved massively from the last time you tried my cooking. How about it?"
"I would love too." Kaguya nodded. She remembers that her cooking was even better than chefs at their household the last time she tried her cooking so she was looking forward to it.
"Alright, follow me!"
…
Twenty minutes later, food started coming out one after another, filling the room with a wonderful smell. The cuisines on the plate were like a piece of art, so much so that one mightn't want to ruin them.
Erina and Kaguya stopped conversing at this moment. Erina's sharp eyes glanced through the food as if she was judging them.
"Dig in, dig in." At this moment, Alice also came in and sat beside them, urging them to start with expectant eyes. She was sweating a bit because she was cooking a minute ago, but Ace was fond of her sweet fragrance.
Like a good wife, Kaguya gracefully served Ace with different dishes spread across the table.
"Thank you, sis." Ace smiled at her, causing Kaguya to blush again. He picked up his fork and dug into one of the egg dishes. The mild flavor burst into his mouth, almost giving him a foodgasm.
"Its amazing." He couldn't help but compliment her. Kaguya gave a compliment of her own too.
"Thank you, I am happy you liked it." Alice responded with a smirk and then looked at Erina, who was slowly chewing. Clearly, she cared more about what Erina thought.
"Hmm, it's much better than last time but there are still some unpleasant taste. For example, in this dish, the umami flavour isn't as strong as it could be, leading to a mild taste. And in this one…" Erina began slowly, somewhat harshly criticizing Alice but Alice didn't mind and listened carefully.
Ace thought that Erina was pretty strict but that was their affair, so he didn't intervene and watched curiously. From Erina's criticizing tone, one might think that they weren't close to each other but clearly, they shared a special bond.
"But other than these things, you have improved a lot." In the end, Erina complimented her, which caused Alice to show a big smile.
After that, they began eating while talking. The topics weren't something Ace could get involved with, so he ate while observing them. He wasn't in any hurry to seduce them.
At the moment, he was only a ten-year-old kid. If he tried to act extra cheesy with them, they wouldn't take him seriously. Like how if a younger girl tried to flirt with him, he would only think that she is cute, not take her seriously. His situation was similar.
It was better to take things slowly for now and aim for people who he can conquer even being young. For example, Kaguya.
"Bye, come back again!" They left Cuisine Pavilion under Alice's enthusiastic farewell.
…
"Huh, that is…" As Ace was about to board the carriage to go back, his eyes were drawn somewhere.
He saw a group of people in rags with fetters around their wrists and ankles walking behind a carriage in a line. They were in very poor condition, their bodies were as thin, clearly due to malnutrition, and their eyes were filled with despair as if they have given all hope in life.
"Oh, they are slaves, Ace-sama." Kaguya has already boarded the carriage, it was Ai who talked to him. "Rarely do this kind of sight appears within Inner Zone but since we are at the border…"
Ace heard her and nodded lightly. He has read that slavery was legal in this world and while other transmigrators might be repulsed by something like this, Ace was indifferent. If you didn't notice it till now, he wasn't exactly a nice guy.
What drew his eyes toward this group of slaves was one person. It was a young girl whose face was half burnt, giving her a sickening look. Her eyes, however… the gloomy and dark light in her golden pupils were truly captivating as if a fire was burning within them capable of burning everything to ashes.
Ace wondered what her story was? Out of curiosity, Ace used [Observe] on her.
…
Target: Artoria Pendragon
Race: Heroic Spirit
Age: 14
Level: 26 (Cursed/Sealed)
Affection: 0
Fetish: None
(A/N: I truly don't know, any suggestions?)
…
Ace's eyes froze. He rubbed his eyes and checked again. He didn't see incorrectly. Fifteen-year-old but her Level is 26?!
Then he saw her name and race.
'Artoria Pendragon… Heroic Spirit… is she really who I think she is?' Ace immediately thought of a certain blonde servant.
Heroic Spirits… this was a legendary extinct race in Grace Mainland. The people of this race were simply against the heavens. Aforementioned, one's mana core isn't really developed until they turn 16, this was an ironclad rule. Well, not for them apparently.
They were born with a mature mana core, allowing them to cultivate mana from an extremely young age! It could be said that every member of this race was a Magi!
Moreover, they had terrifying fighting instincts!
Just yesterday Ace read that this race got extinct in Antiquity Era, the era more than 10,000 years ago. How did she survive till now?
Ace stopped thinking as he saw the group of slaves going further away from his vision. He immediately instructed Ai, "Send someone to stop them. I have a business with them."
Though Ai was taken aback, she immediately nodded and instructed one of the guards to stop them.
(A/N: This is alter Artoria Pendragon. I like her more)
...
The weight of the name Shinomiya Households is astronomical in Human Realm, even more so in the Crimson Night Kingdom. When the slave trader heard that the heir of the Shinomiya Household has stopped them, he almost shit his pants and collapsed on the floor.
He immediately recalled everything he did these past days but couldn't ascertain what made the heir of a giant household like Shinomiya stop him.
With trembling feet, he stepped out of the carriage and saw a few young children surrounded by heavily armed guards.
"Can I inquire what brings the heir of Shinomiya to my doorsteps? Does he have something to discuss?" He lowered his head and tried to speak as politely as he can.
Ace didn't reply to him but whispered to Kaguya instead, while pointing at Artoria, "Sis, I think that girl is really pitiful, I want to help her."
Yes, he didn't know to make it seem like he was buying her but rather helping her out of pity. Another reason for not stepping forward is that he didn't want people to think that heir of the Shinomiya Household is lusting after a slave, even if that is the case.
If Kaguya buys her, then his name and reputation will stay clear. Moreover, he will become even more innocent and kind in Kaguya's and Ai's eyes!
Double kill! No, it's a triple kill!
Sure enough, when Kaguya and Ai heard it, their eyes melted slightly. They thought that Ace was too kind.
Ai looked at Artoria carefully. If it was some beautiful girl, she might have gotten suspicious that her Ace-sama has some crooked thoughts but seeing that the poor girl's face was burnt, she thought that Ace has kind intentions.
[+10 Affection with Ai Hayasaka!]
'Nice!'
Kaguya had different thoughts than Ai when she checked out Artoria. A guilty relief overcame her when she found that the girl was ugly. In that case, he won't be seduced!
To make Ace believe that she was reliable, she didn't hesitate to instruct Ai and settle the matter of buying Artoria.
The slave trader was quite relieved after knowing that they only wanted to buy a slave. "Rest assured Ai-sama, after training her and marking her with [Slave Mark], we will deliver her to Shinomiya castle!"
Ace didn't like this. "Sis, she may suffer more if we let her go back. I want her to go with us now. And she looks obedient, there's no need for [Slave Mark]."
He has seen [Slave Mark]. It is a permanent tattoo that is imprinted onto a slave's skin. He obviously didn't want Artoria's beautiful skin to be marred with something as repulsive as that.
Kaguya conveyed his thoughts to Ai and said that they want her now.
Apparently, the slave trader was quite a professional, he was unwilling to let an untrained slave be sold since it might ruin his reputation. But under the name of Shinomiya, he conceded and sold Artoria for 10 Gold Coins.
During all this talk, Artoria's head was hung down, as if it has nothing to do with her. Perhaps she wasn't even aware that the talk was about buying her.
Only when fetters around her legs and hands were undone making a clanging sound did her cloudy eyes clear. She looked up to see Ace looking at her with a smile. It was a pure smile, free of any malice and disgust that she was used to seeing.
"Hello, I am Ace. From this moments onwardly, you are free. You can choose to live your life by your terms or you can choose to follow me. What will you do?"
"I am free?" Artoria looked into his eyes and asked, her voice rough due to lack of hydration.
"That's what I said." Ace nodded and waited for her reply. Although she smelt really bad, he didn't mind.
"I…" offered with such a choice, Artoria was hesitant and confused. "I don't know what I want…"
Seeing her like this, Ace felt some pity. In the anime, she was a prideful and heroic woman, but now she looked broken. He really wondered what happened to her in the past.
"If you follow me, I can promise you that you don't need to worry about having food and shelter over your head. Furthermore, if you show talent, I can help you become stronger."
The last sentence was the hook, which Artoria quickly grasped, or should he say the hook grasped Artoria? In any case, the moment she heard it, flames burned in her golden eyes, causing Ace's heartbeat to speed up. Although her face was burnt and she looked ugly, her eyes were simply soul-stirring, captivating to no end.
"I want to follow you." Artoria took a deep breath and replied resolutely.
[+20 Affection with Artoria Pendragon!]
"Good! Let's go then." Ace smiled happily, grasped her wrist, and walked towards the carriage. Artoria glanced at his fair hands holding her and then glanced at his back, feeling a strange sensation in her chest.
"Ace-sama, do you want to her to travel with us?" Ai asked, seeing that Artoria was dirty and smelled bad. It's not that she looked down on her, rather she didn't want Kaguya to face inconvenience.
"Is there a problem? If so, I'll just go in other carriage." They had a total of three carriages traveling with them, so Ace didn't care which one he traveled in. Right now, the most important thing was to not let Artoria feel unwelcome. These small actions sometimes have lifelong impacts.
Artoria was indeed a bit taken aback after she heard that he was willing to compromise for herself. This moved her heart.
[+10 Affection with Artoria Pendragon!]
"It's alright, Ai. I don't mind." Kaguya's voice came from inside the carriage at this moment.
"As Kaguya-sama says." Ai opened the door right away, having nothing else to say. After that, Ace and Artoria entered inside, and she did too.
…
When they reached Shinomiya castle, the sun was already setting.
Artoria looked at the towering buildings and her small mouth opened in surprise. She has lived all her life in a remote village, when has she come across such luxurious castles?
"Surprised? You will live here from now on." Seeing her stupid look, Ace chuckled.
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