บท 47: Grand Banquet [2]
Niveus arrived right on time.
He drank the potion before he exited the carriage.
He was feeling itchy and ticklish when his face was changing shape.
As relying on the carriage window could not clearly make out what his face looked like after the transformation, Niveus regretted not bringing a hand mirror.
But it was not time to fret about small things.
Niveus could learn about the effectiveness from people when he did take off his mask later and hoped for the best.
Adjusting his plain mask, which seemed out of match with his clothes and entire appearance, Niveus heaved a sigh. He reached for his hair, which he had recently shaved.
A Morpheal had another trait, which was similarly cumbersome as one's appearance was determined by other perceptions. One's hair (head) regrew three times faster, especially if one was exposed to divine power.
Although it was rather bothersome to maintain his hair in an appropriate length that wouldn't hinder him, it brought several benefits for Niveus and Glacend Fortress.
One of them was they could use Niveus's hair to replace animal or beast fur.
Niveus was clever in convincing Starling and the tailor in the fortress to use his hair instead of animal fur to produce warm clothes without telling them the truth.
He would shave his hair and store it in a dimensional bag to avoid decay, only to bring it out once his hair had regrown long again.
The tailor wasn't even aware if the 'fur' Niveus brought was human hair—or precisely Morpheal's hair, which had special fiber properties that allowed it to behave more like wool or cotton.
The fur material on his coat was, in fact, made from his own hair. He could feel the softness as if it was a cloud from above.
"Whew..."
Soon after the carriage departed, a voice was calling him from behind—or at least he assumed it was calling him since he spotted two figures walking toward his way in the direction where it came from.
There was no word more fitting for them than charming duo when they walked side by side. It was clear through their facial shape that they were twins.
Adorned in a black formal suit with red accents, they—a man and woman in their 20s—bore similarly striking appearances that easily garnered attention. Both possessed beauty that could make people fall over them. Their outfits were embellished with creative lines and frills—almost looking like gothic uniforms.
Niveus recognized them instantly after seeing their eyes and hair colors.
The man's black hair was neatly combed, and his deep ocean eyes gleamed with the sharpness of a dagger. Meanwhile, the woman, with similar hair color, let her hair flow down her back like a waterfall. Her striking sky-blue eyes glistened like a flicker of stars.
The twins were two of the potential romance targets in the game.
Niveus was not surprised to meet them here, knowing they were from another Duke House, Goetha. Indeed. They took inspiration from the name of the mountains near their territory.
However, Niveus could not help but feel devastated when he saw them.
Albus and Goetha had always been in a rivalry situation. They would compete for the title of the best Duchy in Chrysantheus. If not for the laws the Global Alliance had created, the kingdom would have an eternal internal conflict between its two Duchies.
Every time the grand competition was held, it was expected that there would be a fierce rivalry between them. Sadly, it seemed that in this year's event, people would not have been able to witness that.
'It's not because I don't want to. But I've got a feeling that 'they' will appear on the day of the competition...'
The 'they' Niveus referred to was the Quartzar—a race whose body was essentially made up of ore—that appeared in the novel he and his friend had written as the main antagonist group.
The end of the world, depending on the individuals, could be seen differently.
For the people of this world who had not known the concept of the expansive universe and that their world (planet) was only one of the trillions, might have viewed the world's end as absolute destruction to every lifeform.
But for Niveus, the end of this world that Nono said might as well be that the planet would have been conquered by the Quartzar and that the people were enslaved by them.
Just as written in the novel, Quartzar was a dominating galactic race that would create an event known as the Great Void if they were successful, so the protagonist—a regressed Quartzar's tyrant—wanted to avoid the same mistake in his second timeline.
To do that, the protagonist planned to establish an even more powerful empire, stop the Quartzar's domination, and stabilize his empire.
But what could Niveus do to stop the Quartzar from conquering Lunara? No, the first thing he needed to ask himself was why they would want to invade this world in the first place?
Quartzar would not have wasted their time with a worthless world to the point they had to use their 'parasite ring.' They used it only when they wanted to control the planet, which would be useful for them, whether in resources or combat powers.
Niveus had been questioning those since he realized Quartzar could exist somewhere beyond this world's veil and that they were targeting Lunara for an unknown motive.
What did they see from this world?
How big are their influences in this universe that did not seem to be the same as where Niveus came from?
Does Earth exist in this different universe?
His wildest thought was: Is this universe made up of fictional worlds that are written by different authors on Earth?
Niveus did not know, and he was not sure if he would get an answer to that question. Not until this world could repel the Quartzar somehow, at least.
"Hiding your ugly face with a mask, huh? Clever."
A mocking tone of a snooty-sounding voice pulled Niveus out of his thoughts.
The twins were standing before Niveus.
The woman, Seele Goetha, had her left arm resting on her waist after her other hand tapped the dark cane she held onto the ground. Her head was slightly inclined upward, showing her authority and pride.
The man, Kevin Goetha, acted nonchalant after he tapped the cane onto the ground. Unlike his twin sister, he seemed indifferent and uninterested in the situation concerning him, his sister, and Niveus.
"Looks like a cat got your tongue, Albus."
Niveus could only blink at that moment.
He was sure the twins were mistaking him for Edward Albus, Starling's biological brother, the second child of Albus's current head.
In the game, Seele and Edward were always competing with each other, while Kevin was being Kevin, uninterested and indifferent to everything except when his twin sister was in serious danger.
If the player went with Seele's romance route, Edward would try to win over the royal heir, and vice-versa.
However, if the player targeted Kevin, they would always end up with double partners in the ending, which was him and his sister, Seele. Some liked it, but some loathed it, making Niveus and the team allow players to romance only Kevin at the price of Seele's death.
Kevin suddenly raised an eyebrow after examining Niveus briefly. He tugged Seele's sleeve and leaned to whisper.
Seele was rapidly blinking while Kevin whispered to her. She would occasionally shift her gaze toward Niveus and glance back at Kevin.
Finally, after Kevin pulled himself from her, Seele shouted and pointed her cane at Niveus.
"You're not Edward?!"
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