The matches were quickly wrapped up as we were given a show of exciting battles between peak rank S powers. At the end of all of it, the valiant mercenary I knew as Captain Ryner took the title. He stood on the empty arena as cheers erupted all around for the new guard of Princess Adelaide.
The Crown Prince rose up with a smiling face as he clapped, and turned towards his sister, as if he couldn't wait for the final part of the event to go underway. Two guards led the about to be initiated Ryner over to the elevated platform as he went to his knees and bowed down right before Princess Adelaide.
A golden sword appeared on the hands of the Princess as she rose up and her veil disappeared, her stunningly frozen face becoming visible for everyone to see. It was tradition to give at least this much respect to a newly initiated Royal Guard.
The disappearing of the veil caused the awes of many of the people clustered in this exquisite square field, with lustful eyes being extremely clear on the faces of the nobles sitting opposite to us that I watched using [Regal Archer's Eyes]. But none of their eyes had as much emotion as I observed on Crown Prince Aeneas's eyes. They shone with a dangerous glint as he looked towards his sister.
The golden sword in the hands of the Princess lightly tapped the shoulders of Ryner, and he then lifted his hands up to accept the sword. Thus, a new Royal Guard had appeared. Cheers broke out as a veil covered the Princess once more, and a fervent expression appeared on the new Royal Guard as he rose.
"Haha! Yet another pet in your collection little sister. I can't wait to see how you make use of all of them."
The Crown Prince made these his last words as his figure disappeared and reappeared atop his Gryphon, his EPIC ranked guard following right after. Throughout the entire exchange and the few hours that passed during this guard selection, not even once had any words come out of Princess Adelaide's mouth.
She looked to the retreating figure in the sky as I felt heavy emotions of rage almost spill out of her veiled figure.
With the finishing of the event, we didn't stay with the celebrating mercenaries and nobles, the princess making her way to the carriage that was surrounded by many Royal Guards as we made our way to another location
I heard the familiar voice of the princess ring in my ears as I followed the procession in the skies.
"We'll visit the castle where I can show you around for a bit."
Her voice was much colder than the one I had been hearing all this time. I placed the Crown Prince high on my caution list after this as we moved to the center of Snowy Peak, where a luxurious castle manor laid itself out.
Past the wide gates of the castle was a small garden of flowers and a water fountain in the center. It was a peacefully colorful sight as chirps of birds could be heard as they flew about.
The carriage stopped in front of the manor entrance as the princess stepped out. The Royal Guards spread out to the surroundings as they took their positions around the manor, with one guard walking and talking closely with the newly initiated Captain Ryner that was looking enviously at the two guards that had access to enter the manor as their doors closed.
With the covert rank S item and many hiding skills I had, I passed through the doors the same as the princess without any issues. The view inside the castle was even grander, with an enormous chandelier hanging in the ceiling as two sets of stairs snaked to the second floor.
The two guards that entered stayed at the bottom of each staircase as the princess made her way up, passing through a door that led to a large hallway. The door closed with a thud and Night revealed herself standing near the princess, with me deactivating some of the hiding skills and the veiled suit I had on
With a nod from the princess, Night moved forward and left the two of us walking across the hall.
"I know it may not seem like it, but my skill has confirmed it multiple times. My biggest enemy is my own older brother."
I thought of the EPIC ranked guard that was with him as I listened to this and asked
"I saw the powerful guard that stood at the entrance of Snowy Peak, is the guard he came with the one protecting Summit Peak?"
"Sadly no, and this is a point where I fell behind. There is an EPIC ranked guard protecting each of the four peaks. The guard he was bringing around was an adventure he found himself some time ago. His power continued to exceed mine after the addition of this one person"
We walked through the halls of the manor as the princess told me more information about the four peaks of the Frozen Kingdom and the surrounding lands, not questioning for a second why I seemed to ask so many questions. I wanted to put my plans into place as I waited for my skills to continue rising in proficiency, as well as quickly rise the proficiency of my offensive rank S skills by delving into dungeons where secrecy would not be an issue
"I want to go visit some of the dungeons in the surrounding areas to raise my strength a bit more after seeing the people you're up against."
The princess turned to me with that same beautiful frozen face as I said this, and a barely visible smile appeared as she said.
"Dungeons are a great way to go, and with how confident I am in my unique skill, I'm sure you aren't showing us your full power now. How about this, it's stifling to stay cooped up in this peak all this time, and I can't even recall the last time I went out of the kingdom. I don't know which part of the continent you hail from, but let me show you around the surrounding lands as you become more familiar with the dungeons and the people around here. With your strength, we shouldn't have anything to worry about."
The girl continued to place complete confidence in her skill that apparently told her nothing would go wrong with me around. I thought about the idea and went along with it, thinking it would be nice to learn more about this world while getting to know the person who wanted my corporation so much
My 'passive' skills continued to accumulate proficiency even now, so passing the time with a gorgeous lady while getting stronger by combining skills as the requirements were met was also not bad. I would also get the chance to enter the dungeons where I can spam the offensive rank S skills multiple times to raise their proficiency too, and for this I would go into the dungeon alone.
"Give me a few hours to send out some messages and put a few things together. We can leave early tomorrow morning while I gather the intelligence on the traits of surrounding dungeons you can go to."
I nodded as the princess continued to show me around her castle manor. She seemed to gradually be getting back that cheerful voice that still didn't match her face that didn't show much emotion the more she talked as the memory of the older brother from today faded.
The rest of the day was spent walking around the manor and being introduced to where I'd be staying. She didn't lie with her words from before, she really did show me a grand room right next to an even larger one where she'd be staying, where Night seemed to have prepared everything after she separated from us earlier.
The first ever S+ ranked skill also showed itself at this time with the addition of [Saint's Phantom] and [All Element Resistance] that reached the requirements. The new rank S+ skill was [Saint's Return- A long forgotten saint's shadow stands behind you and your allies, constantly healing and providing heavy resistance against your enemies]. The appearence of the first ever S+ skill made me feel a great achievement, while also reminding me of my rate of progress.
The scary rate of progress confirmed that I would definitely be able to combine an EPIC ranked skill some time soon. It was a much safer and possibly faster way to strengthen myself, making me think [Skill Combination] was just an extremely killer addition to my nearly endless mana that continued to make my speed even faster as time passed. The day ended like this, it was one of those peaceful days I hadn't had in a while as I enjoyed the company of new people and became stronger through combining skills.