Death Ascension - Chapter 92

“Dame Nora, you have to come with us. there’s something I need to tell you both,” Deon said as instructed by Mikael who was busy drawing up plans inside the white world.

“I understand, your highness.”

Deon led the two of them through winding corridors, passing by servants and knights who whispered behind their backs,

‘The crazy almagi…’

‘The commoner slut and the cowardly prince…’

‘Hahaha! What an amusing bunch!’

Nora was very much tempted to kill them all– like how she did with her assassination targets, but Nora calmed herself down. She reigned in her anger as she gazed at the back of her soon-to-be master, Prince Deon.

‘My liege… why do you live like this? Why do you let them trample over you when your status is much higher than them?’

Nora thought that Deon really resembled her brother.

‘I could never understand why it is so easy for them to forgive and forget those who insult them…’

She thought there was no one in this world who’s as frustratingly pure and innocent as her little brother but Deon proved her wrong.

‘I might have failed to protect my brother, but I swear upon my life,” Nora clenched her fist in resolution, “I will protect you, my liege.”

After half an hour of walking, they arrived at a large, glass-domed building surrounded by thick vegetation. The building was supposed to be a greenhouse for magical plants but with Sir Finn’s sudden appointment as royal Almagi, the king decided to grant it as his personal laboratory, instead.

Deon brought out the keys handed to him by butler Sebastian and gave one to Sir Finn,

“Sir, there are only two keys for your laboratory. As your superior, I will hold on to the spare key so I can check on your experiments’ progress whenever I have time.”

“As you wish, prince…” Finn seemed quite unhappy about it as he said, “But please don’t come barging in with other people. I hate it when my work is disrupted.”

Nora’s brows twitched at Finn’s disrespectful response, “Sir Finn. Have you no manners? At least show our liege the basic courtesy.”

“Yes, yes…” Finn half-heartedly replied as he pushed the wooden door open.

Inside the laboratory were rows of workbenches topped with cauldrons, flasks, glass tubes, metal instruments, and a weighing scale. It looked like a typical chemist’s laboratory—except for the trays full of magical ingredients sorted on one side of the table and baskets of mana crystals with varying opacity.

To the right, serving as an office, was a large black desk with stacks of paper, bottles of ink, and quills. Behind it was a large, empty corkboard and a shelf half-filled with books on basic Almagology. To the left were leather couches arranged around a small table meant for receiving guests.

“Hmm… not bad…” Finn swept his gaze over his new lair, “but I need a bed. And there needs to be more laboratory equipment. We also need to procure more books and rare ingredients. The ventilation also needs to be upgraded. Seriously, who designed this place? Doesn’t he know that experiments on blood ink require a fume hood?”

“‘Not bad’ he says, but he sure has a lot of demands,” Mikael who was listening to Finn’s mutterings commented, “I told you he wouldn’t appreciate it, kid.”

Deon’s face became beet red when he admitted, “Umm… I designed it, sir Finn…”

“Ah! Is that so, your highness?” Finn’s attitude turned 180 degrees when he heard Deon, “Whoa! Look at all those mana crystals! Are those high-grade? Look at that shine!”

As it became glaringly obvious that the Almagi was just doing some obligatory lip service, Mikael got down to business.

“Kid, let’s switch now.”

“Alright, sir.”

<Skill: Full Integration Lvl. max is activated.>

When the prince’s eyes subtly flashed green, Finn immediately shut his mouth and creepily smiled. By now, Mikael was fairly sure that the Almagi had figured out their secret but he still had no intention of confirming Finn’s suspicions.

“Sir Finn, you can just write down a list of additional equipment and hand it to butler Sebastian,” He walked over to the leather couches and sat with his legs crossed, “Now, let us discuss your first task as my official subordinate. Shall we?”

Finn, sensing that he was about to hear something interesting, excitedly sat on the couch closest to Mikael’s while Nora remained standing like a stubborn servant.

“As you’ve heard earlier, Dame Nora needs to pass a test to officially join the Royal Knights Order. That test is a spar, scheduled 29 days from now, against three of the most talented junior knights in the order.” Mikael briefly explained before turning to Nora, “I know that Dame Nora is strong but I warn you, the junior knights are also plenty strong. They have been under rigorous training for years to become a royal knight. That’s why the Dame also needs to power up.”

“I see… but what does her test have to do with me, your highness?” Finn asked, a curious gleam shining in his blue eyes.

“Well… you have to give her an arm.”

“Huh? How?”

Finn and Nora were both dumbfounded. They couldn’t understand what the eccentric prince wants—that is until Mikael got up from his seat to grab a parchment and roughly drew a prosthetic arm.

As far as he knew, prosthetic arms have been used by earthen soldiers as early as the 1500s. In an era of warfare where knights often incurred heavy injuries, a blacksmith invented a functional metal limb that helped amputees to continue their military careers.

“If Dame Nora can have a mechanical arm made of metal with the functionality of an Almagi-produced artifact that can serve as both a shield and a weapon, I think she would have no problem beating up her opponents. No?” Mikael then turned to Finn, “How about it, Sir Finn? Do you think you can finish this before the spar?”

Finn, whose gaze was glued to the parchment, smiled like a child gifted with a new toy, ” Hehehe! I knew it! Prince Deon really is the best! How did you think of this, your highness? This is ingenious!”

“Ahh… haha… well, the idea just popped into my mind?” Mikael awkwardly laughed. he could not possibly tell them that it was a concept from another world where technology reigned instead of magic.

“So, can you do it?”

“Of course! I’ll work on it right away!” Finn shot up from his seat and snatched Mikael’s sketch with an ecstatic expression.

–Chapter end–