Chapter 101 - 97: Back
"Your Highness, I can teach you if you want," Rale suggested.
"Oh? That would be nice, but it's too much effort. I don't think I can learn 1236 languages. I might try learning the Ancient Elvian Language, though. If I learn that, I would be able to control the Guardian of the Lightning Valley more efficiently next time," Ryder replied.
"We can start with Ancient Elvian Language. You should be able to learn it in a few months if things go right. If you still want to learn more languages, I can teach you the dragon language after that. That's pretty incredible as well," Rale responded.
"I'll tell you later if I decide to start it," Ryder told him.
As they left the Lightning Valley, Rale and the others brought their wings out.
While Rale carried Ryder, the others carried those that couldn't fly.
"The way to go back is in the same place, right?" Ryder inquired to make sure.
"Yeah, it's right there, but it's closed at the moment. It will appear before you as long as you hold the key of the Space Tunnel high in the air and think for it to appear before you," Rale responded.
"That's nice,"
'Oh, right. I still didn't accept Shu's friend request. That guy called me so many times on my date with Alice about it. I'm back in the main game realm, so I should be able to use those options,' Ryder thought.
He opened the friend request screen and accepted Shu's request.
As soon as he accepted Shu's request, he got flooded with Shu's messages.
"Brother Ryder, You finally accepted my request,"
"Where are you now?"
"Want to go on a quest with me?"
"You can't imagine what I got. I found a silver grade weapon!"
"The rewards of this mission are even better than this. We can both get awesome rewards,"
"Reply,"
"What happened?"
"Are you sleeping in the game?"
"Wait a minute; how can you accept my request if you are sleeping?"
Ryder looked at all these messages with a wry smile on his face.
"Come on, man, at least give me time to respond," Ryder sent a message.
"As for the quest, what's the quest? I should be able to help you with that. I also want to see how your growth has been," Ryder replied to him.
'It feels like it's been so long since I last saw other players. It would be good to compare,' Ryder thought.
"It's a dungeon related quest. I'm in the Stech Kingdom. How far are you from here?" Shu asked Ryder.
"Stech Kingdom? You already left the Estella Kingdom?" Ryder inquired.
The Estella Kingdom was the first kingdom where players were brought to after passing the Novice Village. Although the Estella Kingdom was a kingdom, it was one of the weakest kingdoms in the game. Even the Royal guards of the kingdom were only as strong as a level 10-15 player.
As for why the developers made a kingdom as weak as this, even Ryder didn't know. Despite being so weak, the real powerful kingdoms never attacked them.
If a player attacked and killed a guard, they would be marked by the game. The mark will show above their head, which would be like a punishment.
If someone managed to kill that player, they would receive 3 times the experience that they would have received after killing the same level of a beast. The real problem was that even if that player died once, that mark wouldn't disappear.
This whole thing was so strange that he never understood, but that was why no player ever tried to attack the guards of Estella Kingdom even when they were stronger.
The Stech Kingdom was the neighbor kingdom of Estella.
"Alright. I'll message you with the details later," Ryder sent the message to Shu.
They got back to the Malta Valley.
Ryder raised the key and wished for the Spatial Tunnel to open.
The key started shining brightly, and a Spatial Tunnel opened in front of them, which they entered.
They got back to the Royal Palace and came out of the first Spatial Tunnel door.
"Your Highness, you're finally back! You need to come with me fast!" As soon as he came out of the portal, the maid Miku informed him.
"Why are you looking so worried? did something happen?" Ryder asked.
"Madam Duke is here. She brought a girl with her. She's been asking for you, but I hid the fact that you left the Royal Palace. She is getting impatient waiting," Miku replied.
"Oh, she's back. You did well by not telling her. One should always keep the secrets of their masters," Ryder smilingly said as he patted her head.
Miku lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Alright. Take me to her," he said after removing his hand.
He was brought to the main hall of the Royal Palace, where Devilia was waiting for him.
Rale was the only one following him as Rale sent the other guards back to train themselves.
"You're finally up! How long do you sleep?" Devilia said with an annoyed expression on her face.
"You're talking about me being late? Weren't you the one that told me that she would be coming back the next day?" Ryder chuckled as he sat on a nearby seat.
"Hmph, I'm only late because I had to deal with some business," Devilia replied.
"It's alright. I already guessed that. Anyway, where is she?" Ryder inquired.
"Your maid took her to her room, I suppose. You can ask her later," Devilia responded.
"How's life as a Prince treating you? You like it?" after a moment of silence, Devilia asked.
"It's been good and quite useful, I must say," Ryder replied.
"That's good. Have fun, and keep training so that you won't disappoint His Majesty in the future. I look forward to the time when you decide to complete the Kingship trials," Duke Devilia told Ryder.
"Hopefully, that will be soon, but I'm not in a hurry at the moment," Ryder replied.
"That's better. I'll take my leave now; I need to deal with some stuff. You can contact me if you need anything, or just visit my palace in the future," She said as she stood up and left.
Ryder watched her leave before he stood up and looked at Miku.
"Where is the girl that came with her?" Ryder asked Miku.
"I took her to the guest room," Miku replied.
"Alright. Take me to her," Ryder told her.
Miku nodded her head as she brought Ryder to the guest room.
Ryder opened the door and entered inside.