The Mysterious Black Magician

When Rea and Yman arrived at the mansion, they heard a piece of bad news from the head maid.

"A village guard reported that the repeller herb was stolen?"

"Yes my lady," nodded the head maid.

Yman noticed Rea's expression was plastered with worry, and she furrowed. She glanced at him, but he shrugged his shoulder. Even he could do nothing about it. 

"Miss Nere, are they from the Red Gargantuan village?" Rea asked her head maid once again.

"Yes, My Lady."

He noticed she knitted her brows and bit her lips. "Those people had never changed," she bellowed under her breath..

"How about the Monster Repeller Perfume from last month?" She asked.

"Uhm, My Lady, the village chief reported that it would only last till next month."

Yman noticed Rea further creased her brows. He was currently standing beside her, in front of them was the head maid, giving her news to Rea, who was currently sitting on a comfortable sofa.

"I see, next month huh," Rea sighed and said dejectedly.

Yman and Rea did not stay longer in the mansion. The two went to the Empire's market.

After looting the core of Demonic Beast, Rea told him that there were many uses of it. Unlike the normal inner core from the low-tier monsters, the inner core from the Demonic beast was known as Demonic Core. And it comes from many uses. Rea did not recommend him to absorb it in his 5d-Seer because the buff effect will only be used inside the Virtual Arena.

She explained to him that he could identify the item in the Cauldron of Identification. But he needed to buy the cauldron first.

The cauldron and Demonic Core were new to him, so Yman had no idea about them. Thanks to Rea though, for explaining everything to him

They went inside the store. His first impression of the store was an antique store. But it was actually a normal store. If there was not normal in the store, it would be the sales. Most of them were magical stuff.

The store had a total of 30 square meters, and it was stuffed with different kinds of products. In one of the corners, they saw a row of cauldrons with different colors.

Yman took the cauldron with white color, but Rea stopped him. "Hm?"

"Every color has a different tier. The white one was the lowest. It also means that it had low chances that you'll get a better tier item. And it also has a great chance that identifying the core will fail. If it happens, it also means that you'll lose the core without gaining anything. Whereas the green is the second-worst tier. Next is blue then purple, and the best tier of all is this gleaming purple." Explained Rea as she was pointing at each of the cauldrons.

"I see. So it was varied by its color huh."

He stared at the cauldron where Rea was lastly pointing. It looks magnificent. But when his eyes landed on the price. He almost had his eyes drop on the floor.

"5 million gold points?!!!"

After buying, Yman and Rea left the store and went directly to the palace.

The Hell Chaser bird landed in front of the towering gate where two armored guards were standing at both sides. They greeted Rea when they saw her. And she returned the greetings.

Yman wasn't surprised that Rea was known by them. Since she was the niece of the empire's empress.

When they entered the towering gate, they were greeted by a group of silver armored soldiers. Wait, he remembered these soldiers. They were the soldiers who came together with Rea when he saw her first time in the adventurer's guildhall.

"Welcome back Princess Merea Ella!" They greeted in unison. Yman was taken aback by the combination of their voice.

She greeted back as well. 

"....."

Yman remained silent. However, he admired these people's patriotism in their duty, even under the heat of the burning sun.

Rea sneaked a glance at him when they entered the palace. Yman was amazed by it. It was his first time stepping into a real palace. He once entered a palace inside Rea's world in painting. But it wasn't real. And when he entered the place, it was littered with battle marks.

"Are you nervous?" He suddenly heard Rea's question while they were slowly walking the palace corridors. Probably, he noticed her unsettled eyes."Of course not," he replied. 'It was more of an ecitement than nervous.' He thought but did not voice out.

Before they arrived at the door, a woman in a maid outfit approached them.

"Princess, the empress is on the balcony," said the woman in a maid outfit.

"I see, thank you," Rea replied. Then she urged him to follow. Yman's eyes were still busy wandering around.

Rea glanced at him and knitted her brows. "Hey!" She called out. Yman blinked his eyes. "Sorry, this place was so amazing that I can't take my eyes away."

Yman said honestly. Inside the palace was truly a sight to behold.

Rea gawked for a second from his reply, before a chuckle escaped from her mouth. He stared at her. It was the first time he saw her laughing. Yman thought Rea looked so cute as she chuckled.

When they arrived at the balcony, he saw a woman in a sky blue gown. She was standing with her back facing them.

Yman strengthened himself, this woman in front of him was no doubt the most influential person in the empire, the Empress of Encantasia empire. He could not believe to see her in person.

He gasped in admiration when she turned around. She looked identical to Rea. Looks like the gossips were true. Royal family from the Mangrove Empire were truly exceptional beauties. And most of them were a little look alike to each other.

However, they looked more like sisters than aunt and niece. 

Empress Eleanna Encanta smiled at them. "Greetings," after saying it, she followed up by introducing herself. Crimson was surprised at the Empress's friendly vibes. Rea bumped on his side. Honestly, never in his wildest dreams he expected to find himself in the presence of a real empress in person. "Rea, Mr. Crimson, come join me," she beckoned them.

For some reason, he felt like the empress wasn't someone of an older generation. He felt like she was of the same age as them.

Yman noticed the crown on her head, the diamonds on it were twinkling whenever it was hit with lights. 

In any case, he wondered why the empress wanted to see him in person.