With a twitch of the lip, I exhaled a sigh while making sure to carefully pick her up with my palm, don't want to squeeze too hard and kill her accidentally; I did just accept her as my follower after all. Arriving at my booth, I handed her over to Illumia along with another rejuvenation pill as I sat down on my throne while also consuming a rejuvenation pill.
'That was a very fruitful fight; not only did I gain a plentiful amount of fighting experience, I also acquired a follower, though now that I think about it, what am I supposed to do with her? I mean, just like Illumia said, currently, I do not require another subordinate; Illumia is already more than enough.' Thought Elif as he meditated on the throne while circulating the energy from the rejuvenation pill he consumed to his injuries.
Shortly after Illumia returned from setting Idonea down on the bed in the other room, I finished healing my injuries, and now there is only a faint scar where the cuts used to be, which should all heal by the end of the day since all of my injuries were merely shallow.
Checking the tournament rankings, there were only a few more matches before it concluded for the day.
"Illumia, you haven't done anything to those pests you talked about earlier, have you?" Asked Elif, slightly absent-minded, seemingly thinking about something else.
"No, I haven't, your highness; I still have them."
"Hmm, take them out; since I've accepted Idonea as my follower, she is now my subordinate, and as the Prince, I can't have random people attacking a follower of mine; that's pretty much the same as attacking me. I think?" Said Elif seriously, though he wasn't sure if what he said was correct since he's never done this before; however, he decided to commit to it since he's already spoken.
With a wave of her hand, a portal opened right before me, and then two bodies came flying out of the portal, crashing into the ground, only stopping when they were a meter away from the base of my throne. Looking down at them, I noticed one of them was a teenage boy looking quite distraught, though when he stood up, I spotted a medallion hanging from his waist that had the same emblem as the man who attacked Idonea; however, the second person was indeed just a random man, who looked to be drunk as well.
"Ha, there you are, you bitch! It's too late to release me now; harming a Noble is a Royal offense, punishable by death! Hahaha, that's right, I'll have you killed, you fucker!" Yelled the angry man as he ignored Elif and spoke directly to Illumia, though he seemed slightly smart as he didn't try attacking her.
'I can understand the teenage boy trying to harm Idonea, but what does this drunk fool have against Idonea?' Thought Elif, highly annoyed as he looked at the kneeling boy shaking in fear and the angry drunk man yelling at Illumia.
"Illumia, can you make the man sober?" Asked Elif, whose actions went completely unnoticed by the drunkard.
Again, with a wave of her hand, she sent a large blast of Qi toward the man, though the wave of Qi passed through him without hurting him one bit; however, I did notice his drunk facial expression instantly sobered up as he observed his surrounding in confusion before quickly detecting my presence and kneeling beside the boy in response.
"P-Prince Elif!" Said the man respectfully, though you could also hear slight fear in his voice.
"Alright, let's get this over with quickly; I don't feel like ruining my currently good mood on you two. Now tell me, why did you attack Idonea, and don't bother lying, Illumia will be able to easily tell if you guys lie." Said Elif, feeling annoyed as he looked down at the shaking boy and the now even more confused man.
"Excuse my rudeness, Prince Elif, but what does that useless child have to do with any of this." Asked the man in confusion, though his words peeved Elif.
"For your information, you fool, that so-called 'useless child' is now one of my followers, so watch your language next time. Now, the other one, tell me why you tried harming Idonea; make this quick; I'm getting annoyed." Ordered Elif as he tapped his finger on the throne's armrest while feeling Irritated at what the man said since calling Idonea useless is the same as calling Elif useless for allowing her to be his follower.
"Y-Yes P-Prince Elif. I-I attacked Ms. Idonea as I was given orders to do so by my father, and I was also angry at her for what she did to my younger brother." Said the boy, trembling in fear while stuttering his words.
Since Illumia did not act, everything he said was true, though that just caused me to get even more annoyed as that meant I had to deal with his father as well, which was such a hassle.
'Ugh, why did I have to spout that nonsense earlier? Now look what I've done! I should've just stayed quiet and let Illumia deal with them.' Thought Elif as he massaged the side of his forehead, starting to feel exasperated about the whole situation.
"Illumia, could you bring-"
"Here you go, your highness; Marquess Vann is here." Said Illumia, as she cut Elif off mid-way through speaking since she had already brought who he was going to request.
Marquess Vann was much brighter than both of them as when he was finished observing the situation he was brought into, he stayed quiet and kneeled beside his son, something that slightly eased my frustration.
"How may my presence serve you, Prince Elif?" Said Marquess Vann respectfully.
"I've accepted Idonea as my follower, so I'm sure you understand why I brought you here, so what type of punishment do you desire?" Asked Elif while looking down at Vann, who seemed to realize his situation entirely.
"Well, Prince Elif, seeing how you only now did this, I'm assuming you didn't accept her as your follower before I had my son attack her, and seeing how she was perfectly fine during the previous match, I believe my son didn't manage to harm her. So since nothing major happened, I believe we should receive light punishment." Answered Vann respectfully and calmly, though inside, he was slightly nervous.
Almost everything he said was correct, though his son did cause a fracture on the back of her skull, but since I'm irritated, I decided not to mention it and move on as I wanted this to be over quickly.
"Everything you said was true and reasonable, so for your punishment, you'll give me your dimension ring along with all of your valuables in it, and you'll be allowed to leave." Said Elif after some thinking, and it didn't seem like Marquess Vann disapproved either.
After Vann destroyed the imprint on his dimension ring, he held it out in his hand, which I then grabbed with a Royal Elf's Palm while also checking the contents of said spirit ring.
'Hmm, the contents are mediocre, and he has nothing I'm interested in; I guess I could just hand this over to Idonea; she might need some resources when cultivating.' Thought Elif as he rested the spirit ring down beside him.
"Alright, you two are free to leave, just don't do something stupid like attacking Idonea again." Said Elif, eyeing Marquess Vann and his son as they bowed to him before leaving the room through the door.
Releasing an exasperated sigh, I shifted my focus to who I assume is Idonea's father, and looking at him further annoyed me since he is part of the reason why my mood is now ruined.
"Now it's your turn, you fool, explain." Ordered Elif in an annoyed voice, causing the man to get even more frightened.
"Y-Your highness, please wait!" Said Idonea from behind, clearly not fully healed as she struggled to walk just a few meters.
Seeing Idonea walking in such a terrible state, I grabbed my forehead in exhaustion as I picked her up with a purple palm before setting her down beside her father.
"What are you doing, Idonea? You should currently be healing, not walking about." Said Elif, slightly annoyed at her actions.
"M-my apologies, your highness, I had woken up recently, but when I sensed this man was here, I couldn't rest." Said Idonea while kneeling with difficulty.
Seeing how she didn't even look at him while also not addressing him as her father was more than a big enough clue that Idonea didn't like him, which slightly piqued my interest in why she would even bother with speaking on his behalf.
"So then, do you plan to speak on his behalf to try and dissolve his punishment?" Asked Elif, though it was just a rhetorical question as he didn't believe Idonea would say yes.
"Yes, your highness." Said Idonea, causing her father to get happy, though her words took Elif by complete surprise; however, only when she continued speaking did he understand.
"If possible, I hope Baron Voyāge could receive no punishment for his actions, as I would like to personally punish him by getting my revenge for everything he's done to me when I become strong enough." Continued Idonea, which caused a smirk to form on Elif's face, while her father was shocked before turning angry.
"You little unfilial daughter, after everything I've done, this is how you repay ME!" Shouted the man in great anger, though he was quickly silenced by Illumia, who pressured him to the ground.
"Please tell me what have you done for me!? All you did was ruin my life at the age of four; everything I cared for was taken just days later, then you abandoned me, and I was forced to live in the streets and fend for myself, just knowing I have your blood flowing through me fills me with rage. As I said, I hope my request is possible, your highness." Said Idonea in anger as she looked at her father while releasing killing intent before instantly calming down and shifting her attention to Elif.
I didn't really care who or how her father was punished, so it didn't really matter to me if he stayed alive for a couple more years or whatever, besides someone like him doesn't deserve any of my time wasted on him.
"Sure, I don't mind, just know that since you asked for this, I won't be helping you with this." Said Elif, though while Idonea's expression didn't change, her father almost showed despair; however, before he could say anything, his body was whisked away into the same portal he had come out of previously.___
Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/WfKeVDU6 (Note: this link only lasts for one week)
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Elven Legacy (Chapter 165: Phoenix Clan) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 45: Sexy Lavender) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 71: Diddy's Corpse!?) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]