Carrying a bit of the child-like qualities in the voice, it must have come from the youth.
Rin immediately turned around like the natural reflex of a kitten sensing its owner’s return.
“Your Highness[3]! And Occhan[4]!”
“Stop the ruckus, Rin. You needn’t be that loud for me to hear you.”
Following her shout came the reply of a husky voice that seemed to come from an old person who stood in the shadows of the cloister. Due to the cloister’s shadow being cast over the features, it made it difficult to see the facial feature or even to make out the gender of the person and the only thing identifiable was that the person was considerably old.
The youth addressed as his Highness, with his shoes clacking on the ground, strode into the throne room to stop before Aura and Rin.
Looking about the age of ten years old with the allowance of one or two years on that number, the regal airs that were exuded from him matched the title they addressed him by: ‘His Highness’. However, the formal dress seemed to be worn on his body without much care about tidiness.
From his dress style and that unique trait of his white hair sticking up on both sides of his head, one could see the childish side to him.
While at the same time, the golden irises that gave off a glow of its own seemed to exude a sense of prudence that seemed to be a mismatch with his appeared age.
The youth who was addressed as ‘His Highness’ took a glance at the trio in turn to confirm the current situation.
“Aura, Rin. Have you heard of the game coming to a cease-fire?”
“Of course.”
“Then that makes things simpler. I want you two to take this opportunity to launch an attack on [Underwood] with the Titan tribes, so play it by ear. When the main force of the enemy is broken, find a chance to inform me. Any questions?”
“Me!”
Rin exaggeratedly raised her hand with her fingers straightened to emphasize her point.
Although it was his question that led to this response, His Highness seemed to be displeased as he furrowed his brows.
“……Rin. I don’t see how my brief on the battle operation has anything confusing about it.”
“Nn! I just wanted to confirm something. The battle operation that you just mentioned is along the grounds of [Breaking the main force of the enemy’s participants] right? If the participants did not disperse but fled together, then what do we do?”
His Highness gave a *Uu~* sound as he was momentarily stumped. Rin’s question had unexpectedly hit the mark and that gave him a surprise.
His Highness reflected upon his own mistake for having been unclear about his orders before continuing:
“Sorry about that, for it is my mistake for not stating it clearly enough. If there are participants who escape, let them be. Our main motive here is to disrupt the ascension of a new [Floor Master]. And hence it will be fine to just destroy [Underwood].”
“Oh I see! Then, what if the participants organize themselves to take on the Titans together?”
“Impossible.”
His Highness immediately replied. That unexpectedly quick reply caused Rin to blink her eyes for a few times.
But seeing how her master had answered with such certainty in his voice, Rin decided to give her own lively reply:
“Nn. Since Your Highness says so, I will just take you up on that.”
“Nn. Just believe in me.”
“But, I say… Why can’t I touch this blond haired girl?”
Rin pointed at Leticia while pouting in dissatisfaction. That expression of hers was just like a kitten that has its toy cruelly taken away from her.
His Highness shook his head disapprovingly and his white hair, which could be said to be his unique trait, had also swung with the movement of his head.
“Enough. Just don’t touch it and all will be fine. Haven’t you heard of the idiom of ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ before?”
“……Really? What a pity.” Rin chewed her finger as her shoulders drooped in disappointment.
Aura who stood to one side as she watched the whole banter between the two youths play out before her was suppressing her laughter as she opened her mouth to bring the conversation back to the main topic.
“Well then. Your Highness, Rin and I shall be going down to ground level. As for this Citadel, we will be leaving it to you and him---Graiya. Is that okay?”
“Nn. Gra-Ojichan[5], you should reply too.”
Under His Highness’s urging, Aura turned her gaze to the cloisters. And sounding from the shadows was a reply that was completely different from the husky voice of an elderly that had answered earlier. Sounding more of a low growl of a wild beast.
“I understand……But Your Highness, there’s something that bothers me.”
“What is it?”
“Regarding the [No Name]s that have defeated the [Black Death Demon Lord]……I heard rumors that they have the complete form of the [Genome Tree].”
Hearing that piece of news, the eyes of His Highness grew as round as saucers and his surprise caused him to be silent for a moment.
“……Is that source reliable?”
“It’s just a rumor I heard. But if it is the truth, then that will become quite a situation to reckon with.”
“So how do you intent to deal with that?” he added.
*Hmm~* His Highness went into deep thought as he placed his hand to the corner of his mouth to think for a while before replying:
“……No. Let’s not do anything about that for now. Even if that is indeed the real thing, the change of hands should only be in the recent years and it will not pose a significant threat for now. Moreover, the information is still unconfirmed.”
“Yes.”
“But in the case when the holder of [Genome Tree] appears before you, please give it your all to get it into your hands. In the worst case scenario, even if it means giving up on the battle plans, we must obtain it for ourselves.”
“Oh my. Is that really going to go well?”
“It’s okay. [Genome Tree] is definitely as valuable as that. In comparison to its value, one or two [Underwood]s wouldn’t even be able to match up to it. We must obtain it even if you have to kill the current holder.” His Highness gave the announcement with much resolve in his voice.
Aura’s mouth twitched into a stunning smile as she nodded her head.
“Yes sir. I’d also planned to try out the power of my little war trophy……Hehe, looks like I can have an experiment at this time too.”
“War trophy?”
Rin looked at Aura curiously as she took out a cyan colored Gift card to display the Gift that she had stolen from [Underwood].
“---[The Death Eye of Balor]. It’s said that this is the strongest mystical eye that holds the power to release a wave of death and is of an inheritance to the Titan race. So, let me use it to destroy [Underwood] for you.”