Arc#4 Chapter 2: A Beautiful Morning (Patreon)

"Another beautiful morning."

Reivan stood by his chamber's window and breathed in the somewhat chilly spring air caressing his face. The sun had barely risen yet, so "chilly" was understating it, but his warbeast bloodline innately resisted the cold, so he couldn't tell how bad it really was. His hair was still a bit messy since he'd just woken up, and quite frankly, he didn't like how he could actually smell his own breath even when his mouth was closed, but that was fine. He was alone in his room in the palace, after all — not in the Serpent's Haven, where someone would pounce on him after just waking up.

'Oh. Well, I suppose that's not the case anymore.'

Ironically, Elsamina was the first among the rescued women to start an intimate relationship — but was the last to get married.

All of the original girls that he'd rescued were snatched up by rich Aizenian and had already quit working at the Haven. Although the establishment wasn't a whorehouse, it was unavoidable for men to dislike their partners working there — no matter how much they said they were fine with it. And so, as a man himself, Reivan had suggested for the girls to work at other establishments secretly owned by Ouroboros instead.

From a business standpoint, Reivan didn't mind it at all since new employees were flown in from Arkhan anyway. Their job posting over at Lageton had a surprisingly positive turnout and now they had multiple Havens all across Aizen. The branch in Starwater City was the biggest and most luxurious one, and it was also where all the best performers were transferred to.

Reivan was sure that a lot of the applicants were informants sent by Arkhan to spy on the kingdom more closely, or spies sent by other private companies to spy on Ouroboros, but Reivan and his retainers saw no problem with letting the spies do as they please. If Reivan's "rivals" were sending over talented, beautiful women by the dozens to work for him, then he wouldn't be the idiot who complained. Naturally, he'd make it difficult for any spies to obtain information that was too valuable though.

Or rather, Gwen would make it difficult for the spies to obtain vital information. She was good at it after all. Gwen was good at just about everything, Reivan was beginning to realize.

Besides, those spies didn't even know that they were working for Ouroboros itself. After all, there were two sides to the organization, and few people knew that there was an other side at all.

Reivan chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes, sat on the floor, and started his daily routine.

'Let's check my condition first...'

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Name: Reivan Aizenwald
Species: Hybrid
Realm: Mortal
Age: Cannot Be Calculated
Sex: Male
Might: 967

Special Abilities
[Supreme Insight]
[Indomitable Willpower]
[Essence of Falsehood]
[Drug Memorization]
[Glimpse of Eternity]

Extra Skills
[Chaos Origin]
[Paranormal Intuition]
[Taunt]
[Qi: Unleashed]
[Magic Resistance]

Elemental Affinities:
[Lightning]
[Chaos]
[Darkness]
[Ice]

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Reivan frowned as he noted how his Might hadn't changed since three days ago. But the irritation quickly died, replaced by reluctant acceptance.

'I guess I can't complain. Warbeasts have a higher growth limit than pure humans, but I'm nearing the human limit so slowing down should be par for the course.'

Furthermore, he wasn't even a full warbeast, so he may not have as high of a physical growth limit as them. Still, it was a bit of a disappointment considering how rapidly he'd blasted through to where he was today.

'Mother said that warbeasts grow in strength fast during puberty. But holy crap did I grow. Two years and I can mop the floor with Gwen without trying too much.'

His blonde secretary still had him beat when it came to pure technique and finesse, but he would overwhelm her with the gap in martial might. She didn't make it easy for him though, and Reivan had to use his [Beast Gate] to stand a chance. Even having [Formless Will] didn't make much of a difference since she just dodged the sixteen flying swords he controlled.

'Speaking of Gwen, I wonder when she plans to try for Ascension?'

Hopefully, not anytime soon. He couldn't live without her help anymore. There was that task that Roland gave him too, so Gwen's availability was a very big deal to him.

Reivan took a deep breath and temporarily threw aside his idle thoughts. As the air escaped his lungs, qi rose from the depths of his body and filled his muscles, mana surged through his veins, and his [Beast Gate] opened, unleashing his current maximum potential.

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Might: 967 → 3134

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His innate racial ability doubled his base physical prowess. Qi reinforcement added three hundred points, his [Soul Armament] added another three hundred, and finally, perfect magic power application boosted him by a further six hundred points overall.

Reivan emptied his lungs and took another deep breath, mentally preparing himself. He didn't think he'd reached his maximum potential as a mortal yet, so he wasn't supposed to try this method, but he found that it was actually the fastest way to reach said potential.

'Here we go. I hope I don't hurt myself today either.'

After he finished steeling himself, he let qi and mana combine as the armament energy in his body formed a pipe that contained it all just in case. As the two vital energies that mortal combatants used became one, the resulting energy transformed into something more — something beyond mortals.

Essence.

Primal Essence, to be exact. But few people called it that nowadays.

A thick essence flowed through his body like a Formula One car on a race track, following a path that Reivan had already paved for it. But just as on any other day, the essence simply wasn't compatible with his current vessel. And just as any other day, it tried to escape.

Violently.

"Ah, shit..." Reivan grimaced as sweat rapidly formed on his forehead and probably everywhere else too. He clenched his teeth, his focus intensifying with every ragged breath that escaped his lips. The ethereal shell of armament energy he formed to contain the essence in his body resisted, but it would not hold much longer — it never did.

When he finally couldn't take it anymore, Reivan slowly let the essence seep out of his body, dissolving into the air harmlessly.

Not one to waste time, Reivan groaned while standing up. He then took out some weights and strapped them to his torso. These were especially enchanted training weights that would grow heavier the more mana — or essence — their wearer poured into them. Reivan immediately infused them with his leftover essence and disabled all of his stat boosts.

'Today is leg day. Great...'

It was time to do some squats.

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After a shower and some freshening up to look somewhat presentable, the time was now eight in the morning — which also meant it was time for Reivan to come to his office and sit at a desk for an hour or so before Gwen nonverbally kicked him out with her impressive competence. Said work mainly constituted approvals and whatnot. It was boring work, but work nonetheless.

Someone had to do it. And that someone had to be literate, have decent common sense, and be from the royal family.

By process of elimination — and by the intensity of busyness — Reivan was perfect for the job. Of course, he wouldn't have had a choice in the matter even if he wasn't perfect for the job, since his father had assigned him these sorts of duties before the former king went off on a bit of a vacation.

Of course, it was a well-deserved vacation, so Reivan cheered him on. Rodin would be making a formal attempt at Ascension after the vacation was over too, along with Vianna, who would try to Transcend even though she still had no idea how. They both deserved some rest and relaxation before they were locked into self-confinement for who knew how many years.

"Good morning, Gwen. You're early."

"Good morning, Your Highness. You're late."

"Right. Sorry about that..."

Reivan sheepishly smiled at his aide-slash-secretary. He couldn't have helped it. Today was such a good day for a workout; he lacked the will to resist the temptation of attempting a new personal best record. Sadly, he had no gym bros to hype him up for his success and his secretary wouldn't care. So he stepped inside his office and sat behind his desk — just like he usually did.

"Gwen, I—"

"I've already completed the preparations for your departure to the republic." Gwendolyn walked over to the front of his desk and handed over some documents. "The details are stated here. Kindly review them and tell me if it's enough. If it isn't, then I'll make arrangements. Ideally, you can leave tomorrow."

"Wonderful."

Reivan wasn't offended at all at being cut off. This was an arrangement he'd repeatedly said was okay when in private settings since wasting time was, well, wasteful.

"I'll read it over right now. And how about those Pentagorian smugglers...?"

"They should arrive at Worgon tonight."

"It sure took them a while, huh? What the hell were those bastards even doing? Did they cruise around and enjoy the scenery first?"

"Their leader seems to be a surprisingly cautious man." Gwen sighed with a disgusted expression that made it clear how much she was also annoyed at the smugglers they were waiting to entrap. "According to the spy on board, their ship kept on making stops on their way to Lageton."

Lageton was the counterpart of the Worgon Outpost in the republic and similarly acted as a city of cultural exchange.

It was also huge.

Perhaps, Reivan had mused in the past, the republic was making some kind of non-verbal statement when they made the city thrice as large as Worgon.

Unfortunately, being a large city tends to have certain side effects — like having horrible security. That said, although its security was inferior to the general standard in Aizen, it was still relatively good as far as republican towns were concerned. But that wasn't as important as the fact that Ouroboros practically ruled it by now.

'My Elsa really did some work these past two years! She's amazing! I love her! Please have my babies!...Or not. Not yet, anyway...'

Now, Reivan essentially controlled a foreign town remotely. It wasn't like he could throw his weight around and literally change the color of the sky there or something, but Ouroboros and all the companies that it secretly owned had monopolies on quite a few sectors in the city. Plenty of land had also been bought up using numerous fake identities.

All criminal organizations had been devoured and absorbed as well, feeding Ouroboros and creating the giant it was now. Reivan now owned Lageton in all but name, but Arkhan didn't even know it yet.

"The leader of the smugglers also insisted on coming with the shipment so we couldn't just skim off what we needed from the top," Gwen remarked with a slightly creased forehead. "Now we have to arrange such a convoluted trap."

"It's not that convoluted, right?" Reivan chuckled. "The supplies just happen to be discovered by the peacekeepers. Peacekeepers then show up and raid the place. Simple."

"Anything more complicated than just taking the contraband is too convoluted for the likes of criminals." Gwen grimaced but soon returned to her usual, neutral expression. "They should just grovel on the ground and offer everything up. It saves us all the trouble."

'She really hates criminals...'

Which was ironic, since she was running half of a criminal organization. A wise man would not willingly point out such a contradiction in front of the person herself though.

Reivan shrugged with a smirk as he began poring over the documents he'd just been given. "We can't let Ouroboros' reputation fall. Honor among thieves, and all that. Stealing from our own subordinates will stain our prestige, but nobody will blame us if the esteemed knights of Aizen ruin one of our plans. A few compromised operations here and there is an acceptable business expense when you run a criminal enterprise."

"Indeed. But still. I find it unpleasant that some no-good fool from the middle of nowhere is wasting so much of my time with their useless caution. They are fish on a chopping block already. The least they can do is not flop around so we can fillet it easier."

"Well, I feel rather thankful, actually. This is good for my reputation." Reivan looked up and formed a square in front of him with his fingers. He spoke in a strange imitation of news anchors in his past life. "Breaking news! The second Prince thwarts foreign smugglers! Slaves? Saved! Contraband? Confiscated! Drugs? Destroyed! Hooray for Prince Reivan, the protector of Worgon~! Long live the royal family! Weeee!"

Gwen nodded and turned around to return to her desk. "It is as you say, Your Highness. In light of that, I've arranged for a nearby restaurant to give out free food in celebration of its owner's birthday. That will gather the people — the people who will coincidentally come over once peacekeepers swarm the smugglers."

"Nice. Thank you for the hard work, Gwen." Reivan slapped the sheaf of papers in front of him. "And these are fine, by the way."

"I see. I'll move forward with the plans then."

"Please do. Now I just need to decide who I'm bringing along."

Reivan leaned back on his chair and sunk into his thoughts.

'Hector won't want to come. And if he's not coming, Mimi won't come too. And so will my other subordinates...'

Thinking of his best friend made Reivan's thoughts drift over to his other best friend — who was trying her best to be more than a friend.

'Should I bring her? It's a long stay though... Oh, but I suppose it's not like they're forbidden from going back home for a bit.'

Reivan rested his chin on his palm, simultaneously drumming on his lips with his fingers. Maybe it was because of Elsa's absence and the lack of daily sexual partners, but he had been thinking a lot more about Helen. Usually, it was about how troubling it was to face the invisible pressure behind her gaze. But from time to time, as they went about their daily lives and hung out, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she'd become and how her presence comforted him.

'God. I think I'm just horny. That's definitely it. That's always it. It's always my penis' fault.'

Surely, when he visited Elsa in a few days, he'd get over whatever strange mood he was in. He would also get to soothe his lonely heart.

'Time's running out though...'

Even though he wasn't meant for the throne, Reivan still had duties to help keep the royal bloodline alive. He had been meeting with potential wife candidates on occasion, but everyone around him was pressuring him into marrying Helen as his lady — the main wife of the household. And lately, the pressure has intensified.

'It's all because she's become a half-ascendant...'

Helen had lived up to [Supreme Insight]'s judgment; she truly was perfection given form. Not even eighteen years old and she had reached her full mortal potential even though it was higher than normal humans. And according to her, she could ascend any time she wanted.

The only reason why she wasn't doing so, was because she wanted to give her future husband some children.

And that husband was supposed to be Reivan if her blatant intentions didn't make it obvious enough.

'Ugh. Maybe I should just give up and pump a baby in her... that'll surely shut her and everybody else up.'

Everybody was giving him pointed looks by now. Their engagement was something agreed upon by the royal family and House Mercer, but Helen had made it clear that she was perfectly happy with the arrangement. So quite literally everyone was wondering why the marriage was taking so long and why they didn't have a baby on the way already.

From everybody's point of view, Reivan and Helen were simply a match made in heaven. A handsome young prince and a fair young lady. Both were extremely talented and were meant for greatness. Both were of good temperaments and were also hard-working. To top it all off, they had grown up together and nurtured a strong bond over the years. Half of the pair even actively declared that she would marry nobody but him!

Most couples whose pairings were decided by their parents could not possibly hope for such favorable conditions. Usually, one or both would be unsatisfied with their partner but would live with it so their families or companies would benefit.

'And then there's me...'

Reivan sighed as he stood up. He didn't feel like digging deep into that can of worms at the moment. Even though he knew that it was his royal duty to make babies, Helen herself didn't seem opposed to it, and he could no longer deny that she was quite attractive, he couldn't bring himself to take that final step just yet. Maybe it was because Helen was his friend and he'd watched her grow up, but he couldn't just treat her as some kind of... breeding mare or something.

'Uh, breeding mare is a bit too much...'

But it didn't change the fact that it felt wrong to do so for him. That was just him with his modern Earth morals though. Nobody in this world would truly understand his internal conflict. For the upper class, marriage was a tool to join two families together or to strengthen inter-familial bonds. Even merchants had similar practices.

Hell, even the common populace sometimes got married so they could elevate their children's statuses — a few of his wife candidates had even made it clear that they were in it for the upgrade in lifestyle. Reivan actually found their honesty refreshing and considered them seriously, purely for the fact that they had no other, more complicated, motives. He would quite literally just give them a good house to live in and they would bear some kids for him. Everybody got what they wanted.

It was like surrogacy, in a way.

Reivan wondered why his father never did it. He didn't even need to have intercourse with the lady. Taking a few sperm cells, freezing them, and then injecting them into the woman through some tool would be enough — not that Reivan was all that informed about the process. He had been maidenless and an expert virgin in his past life, so he naturally hadn't bothered taking a deep dive into what surrogacy was and how it was done — he just had a general idea.

'Wait a minute... I don't think the first king's records said anything about surrogacy...'

They might not have even known that you could preserve sperm cells by freezing them.

"Gwen?"

"Yes, Your Highness?" Gwen looked up from her desk with a puzzled expression, having just finished arranging a particularly thick stack of documents.

"Does the first king's notes say anything about s—" Reivan was just about to ask his aide but stopped himself. "You know what? Never mind."

"Is that so?"

"Yes... Sorry for disturbing you. Carry on."

"It's no trouble at all."

Gwen turned back down to what she was doing and Reivan internally breathed a sigh of relief. He found it too embarrassing to admit that he was thinking about sperm cells while they were alone together. Explaining how he got to that thought would be annoying too.

In the end, Reivan decided to ask someone else if the first king had left such records behind. And if not, then he would try to come up with a way to introduce the concept naturally. He still wasn't up for the idea of outing himself as a reincarnator after all.

'I guess I'll have to make a short trip to the academy...Or maybe not?'

"Sorry about this Gwen," Reivan called out sheepishly, bothering his busy aide once again. "Do you know where professor whats-his-face is?"

"He should be in Grimharbor Penitentiary like usual." Gwen suddenly frowned, her tiny pink lips pursed. "Now that I think about it... I don't believe he's left in weeks. His family might start thinking he's dead."

"I'll drop over and get him out of there then. I just remembered I have something to discuss with him."

"As you wish, Your Highness. But please don't be late for tonight's appointment. Your presence is necessary so we can increase the impact of tonight's operation on the people."

"Got it. I promise it won't be long."

Reivan got up and stretched for a moment before opening the window and jumping out.

'Big guy! Come out!'

A gigantic serpent that was visible only to him appeared to catch his fall and Reivan felt his friend's aura wash over him, turning him nigh undetectable too. It burped a bit, signifying that it had a somewhat satisfying meal, then sent him its confused thoughts.

'You know where to go, buddy.'

Zouros nodded, understanding everything just from a single exchange. Its massive black wings flapped and a portion of Reivan's mind was momentarily alarmed at the notion of a few feathers falling to the city. It was lucky that they were attached to the wings quite securely.

'Let's go!'

At his mental command, the serpent flew off and Reivan didn't forget to send Valter a telepathic message to follow after him.