玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"Phew! That\'s delicious," Lyan uttered in satisfaction as he put the empty glass of wine on top of the table.

His expression is of someone that has just experienced the bliss of a satisfying meal and wine, there is no sign of him getting affected by the situation around him.

Even though the people in his surroundings are ready to fight with each other anytime they could, it doesn\'t seem to have crossed his mind that he might get caught up in the fight as well.

"I don\'t know whether you\'re a fool or you\'re just very confident of your strength, but I need to commend you for your bravery, mercenary, Evocatore," The duke\'s words are words of praise, but it could be seen that he\'s slightly annoyed by Lyan\'s behavior that seems to be underestimating him.

Of course, Lyan knows that the people around him are strong. But the reason for his confidence is not because he thinks that he could defeat them easily.

The duke and the crown prince have great strength, it\'s obvious from their presence alone, and he knows that the crown prince still hid his strength back then in the goblin king subjugation. Not just them, but the people brought by them are also the elites of their ranks.

Lyan noticed the peculiar mana aura of the captain of the royal knights, Julius, and the crown prince\'s loyal personal guard, Vilgira. Their strength is not to be underestimated, but the duke\'s men are also the same.

"Seems like you\'re not even slightly feel threatened by all of us here. But do you think that I will let you go that easily, Evocatore?" The Duke emits a dangerous amount of bloodlust. It\'s a bloodlust oozes by a person that has gone through wars, kills lots of men, and boasts victory from various battles. Even some of the royal knights that the crown prince brought with him visibly get threatened by the bloodlust the duke is emitting.

With Lyan\'s current body, he still could not muster enough strength of his former incubus strength to defeat the people around him. Sure, if he summons all of his monsters he has a high chance of winning, and if he summons all of the high spirits, his victory is undoubted.

But his confidence is not because of the existence of the strength of the summoning grimoire of love, but it\'s because of another thing.

"There is no need to get so offended, Duke Ravindor. But shamefully, no matter if anyone inside this tavern currently tries to capture me with every inch of strength they have, no one would be able to succeed," Lyan calmly stands from his seat, and face the duke and the crown prince with a calm and confident smile on his face.

"Are you saying that even I could not do so if I try my best, Lyan?" The crown prince intruded in.

Different from before, Lyan noticed the dangerous glint inside his eyes. His words must have triggered the pride of the royalty before him. But even so, he remains indifferent, and responds with a shrug.

"Sadly yes, your highness," (Lyan)

"I know that I have been holding you in high regard, but it doesn\'t mean that you could underestimate me like that, Evocatore. Seems like you\'ve gotten too cocky and think that you\'re so highly of yourself. Julius, Vilgira. I permit you to unleash your full prowess," (Erich)

"A-Are you sure, your highness?" (Julius)

"Julius. This is my royal command," Erich emits his full mana aura together with his golden-red bloodlust, colliding with the bloodlust of the Duke.

"But your high-" (Julius)

"As you wish, your highness. Your will is my command," Julius\'s loyal personal guard, Vilgira, immediately responds to his command and unleashes his mana aura that he has been suppressing. A dense aura of fire could be sensed as the temperature around them noticeably rose.

"Tch! Sorry, Evocatore. But the crown prince\'s command is absolute," Julius grits his teeth as he unsheathes his sword and infuses all of his mana inside, unlocking the seal hidden within it.

*Whoosh!*

Powerful winds got unleashed as the unlocking process finished, sending the tables and chairs flung in all directions.

"Hm~ You\'ve got some fine subordinates there, your highness. How great it must be if I could have subordinates like them as well," The duke strokes his beard as he stared at Julius and Vilgira with greedy eyes. There\'s no hint of him being afraid or bothered by the mana and pressure emitted by the two of them.

"Don\'t even think of laying your hands on them, Duke Ravindor. Know that I\'m not the type of person to stay still when my subordinates get into danger," Erich glared at Duke Ravindor with a pair of cold eyes that he rarely showed.

"Heh! How rude. Danger, you say? Rather than danger, they will get even more prosperous and stronger if they are under my wings! But anyway, what will you do now, Evocatore? Looks like the prince does not have any intentions of covering for you anymore," (Duke Ravindor)

Following the Duke\'s words, everyone\'s attention gathered around Lyan that is still staring at them with a big smile on his face.

"Hm... Those terrifying surge of mana is sure quite scary, but well, there\'s no problem. I came here just to have a meal, and I have already achieved my objective. Now gentlemen, if you\'ll excuse me," Lyan made a single refined bow that is quite unbefitting the atmosphere, but then, a strange scene occurred in front of them.

Black and purple sands slowly fell from all over Lyan\'s body, revealing a whole different man with a black cloak. Slowly, he fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Looking at the man, Duke Ravindor\'s complexion changed.

With a frown, he snapped his fingers, and a single person with the same black cloak as the person lying on the ground.

"Is that one of our man, Crow?" (Duke Ravindor)

"I believe he is, your excellency. He\'s the captain of the 10th group," The cloaked man replied respectively.

"I see... Is it possession...?" (Duke Ravindor)

"It might be a certain power of a magic item, and a strong one as well, your excellency. It\'s unlikely for a person like him that excels not in mind and dark magic to master such a magic as well," (Crow)

"I see..." Duke Ravindor shifted his gaze to the crown prince, and saw that the rage because of his hurt pride has already gone from his face.

"Fufufu..." (Erich)

"Your highness?" (Vilgira)

"Hahahaha!! That Lyan! He always has a card hidden under his sleeves! No wonder he\'s so confident of getting away, he\'s not even here in the first place!! Vilgira! Julius! No, not just you two. Everyone! Sheathe your swords!!" In a good mood, Erich gives his command to everyone inside the tavern.

The royal knights immediately follow his words, while on the other hand, the Duke\'s men only sheathe their swords back after getting a single nod from the Duke.

"Looks like the both of us have gotten fooled by the same person, Duke. It\'s a rare occasion, and the both of us had already ordered our meal as well. It seems that the food did not get spilled because of the ruckus we\'ve done. How about having a truce and enjoying our meal respectively?" (Erich)

The Duke stared at Erich for several seconds before closing his eyes and nodding.

"You are right. Let\'s do so. All of you, return the tables and chairs you\'ve flung to their original place," (Duke Ravindor)

"All of you as well! Show that you\'re the knights that are worthy to support the kingdom and the people!" (Erich)

"""YES!!!"""

The knights and the Duke\'s men went to clean up the mess they\'d made, while the royal knights the crown prince tasked to protect the waitresses lead them to serve the food of the crown prince and the duke.

The waitresses could only stare confusedly at the spectacle of the knights and the Duke\'s men cleaning over the mess they own made.

"Hm~ This is quite a unique delicacy..." (Erich)

"Hm... Hey you, call some of our cooks to learn how to make these foods. Prepare the sum to pay for buying the recipe," (Duke Ravindor)

Of course, the two of them sits and eat at a different table. The both of them eat together with their own factions without paying any heed to each other.

While on the other hand, Lyan that is actually still inside his inn\'s room is laying still on the bed with a single knife aimed at his neck.

"Who are you?" (Lyan)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army