This seems like a good spot to remind you akk dear readers that I don't own Mobuseka.
A/N: Please think of Aaron as an OC with the same name as the LN character, they are not the same person, I could have made an OC, but he Aaron was there and I kind of forgot he has no knowledge about the game.
Now, without futher ado please enjoy
CHAPTER XVI.
Vince Rapha Redgrave smiled at the letter he received from his daughter, she was the source of whatever happiness he had these days.
Every so often a letter would appear on his room's desk courtesy of her husband's familiar, he had come to cherish every letter that arrived.
His first grandchild was born a couple months ago and was named Gilbert in honor of his own firstborn, a measure designed to give the impression Angelica was trying to curry favor from her brother, the future Duke, all a front of course, she still has his own favor in the form of her husband, of course appearances must be kept.
However Vince doesn't know if he would be able to take that baby in his arms as soon as he is in reach!
There was an impossibly detailed drawing of Angelica's family along with the letter, Angelica herself in a chair holding the baby boy with Leon standing right behind her and the commoner girl, Olivia, he reminded himself, standing at the Baron's right side, all of them with happy smiles that he hoped were not a touch of the talented artist.
But he was sure they were real, his own daughter's words backed this up.
Even if she doesn't say it, the way she talks about her husband reveals that love has blessed their marriage, and that Livia has become a good friend as well, and is eager to have a baby girl for their husband…
That's right, Angelica calls her, her sister-wife, the girl, Livia has completed the Academy curriculum in everything magic related, and her Holy Magic was so powerful her tutor has pestered them about for as long as she was with them.
Oliivia could be this era Saintess, if she was that good, she should be kept sheltered from the church and the kingdom, if not she still was a very powerful Holy Magic user… there were concerning rumors about the Lafan girl being the Saintes as well.
There was other news of course, no more attacks had been done on their territory to his relief and disappointment, that meant no more good ships at cheap prices for his vassals but of course, Angie's security override that disappointment.
Neither of the Bartfor Houses would send a champion for the National Tourney Frampton is promoting, that was good, he thought briefly of revealing Leon to win it all and ruin the Marquis party.
But he decided against it because the benefit was too small compared to Leon's relative anonymity, keeping his Ace under his sleeve would have an even bigger impact if his enemies considered him weak.
That anonymity was almost ruined when Gilbert got Spencer to write that article about Leon, it was a bold move, and he hoped it would work as intended.
They need Leon to be someone their allies at least recognize before they realize the utter terror House Redgrave is about to unleash upon the battlefield.
His political power was at an all time low, he had few allies, only one Lord would dare to speak to him openly, it is the Count Atlee.
The Atlee Lord does it partially because he was disgusted with Framptom's blatant support to the one who had humiliated his daughter, but most importantly because he works close enough with the crown to realize that the Holfort Dynasty must be ended.
Two disappointing kings in a row is simply too much!
Count Roseblade had expressed his support over the various correspondence they kept after their friendship sparked after the one time they met in person and their shared love of adventures had kept them friends ever since.
Both of them agreed that the once great Holfort Dynasty had lost their sense of adventure and produced only weak minded individuals who wanted to evade reality with their vices.
His own vassals had kept staunch and loyal thanks to the care Angie had shown for them in providing some cheap airships and armors, even those whose offsprings had to be disciplined after betraying his Daughter.
Those children were now their family's black sheeps. None of them were Heirs and therefore they were easily discarded, some had even been already set up into marriage for the benefit of their families.
This circus Malcolm is putting up to elevate his status will not matter, Nothing Framptom tries will.
That idiot was trying to accomplish in one lifetime something the Redgraves took several generations to set up.
Vince will show that upstart how easily his house of cards can fall, when the time comes he will see that military strength is not something that one should ignore.
On the other hand, this was his chance to meet with his little girl and his grandchild.
He had hoped Gilbert would give him a grandchild by now, but he and his wife had trouble conceiving.
Marrying him with a cousin of Mylene's was a bad idea, now not only he lacked an ally inside the kingdom but the woman could simply not carry a pregnancy to term. All his fault for counting the chickens before the eggs hatched, it wasn't pleasant for poor Miriam either.
0x0x0
Angelica happily pointed her flashlight in every direction available forward, she just couldn't believe she was here with her family… Minus baby Gilbert of course, he was sleeping his dinner with Cordelia and Nicks.
She was really here!
She managed to convince Leon that she was healthy enough to be included in this expedition after giving birth!
And it was thanks to Olivia and Miss Joan, without their Holy Magic and their reassurances she would have so much more trouble convincing her Husband!
Everyone in the kingdom was talking about the oncoming National Tourney, but Leon had decided to finally infiltrate the historical ruins in the elven island, it was the perfect opportunity, everyone else would be focused on preparing their knights to notice them!
The Partner has a stealth function? Luxion no one cares just lets find a treasure!
They were here trying to find Luxion's lost partner, another familiar that he had called AI Cleare, sure Olivia thought it was romantic they were looking for her, and that was the only thing that mattered to Leon too, but… there could be undiscovered treasures here!
"Angie, this is a beaten path, no one missed a treasure here!" Leon teased her and she blushed but in the darkness no one would notice so it doesn't matter, besides, they have been walking for hours now and according to Luxion they were getting close, that meant that something here was not noticed before!
Luxion himself was quite the treasure, loyal, efficient and with the capacity to control multiple bodies. And this Cleare was of the same species so she could be just as valuable.
"Angie, look, there is another of these things in the door, I wonder if they were used to bless newcomers!" Livia was just as excited as herself but about the historical value of these ruins so everything for her was just like treasure, this could very well be a walk in a museum for her.
"It's a lock" Leon deadpanned, he had always given different theories about how these artifacts worked, but she liked Livia's theories more.
"There is no keyhole" Livia pointed out with glee, and she was right, if there is no keyhole it is not a lock.
"Livia, you just want mundane things to be magical" accused Leon but he didn't try to fight Livia's argument.
"Point for Livia!" She said earning a pout from her husband and a smile from her sister-wife, according to her own count the score was twenty to zero in Livia's favor.
"We are here" Luxion mechanical voice alerted them.
"Where to now?" Asked Leon looking at the round, floating object.
"I can summon her from this terminal" the familiar got closer to a wall and fitted into a round shaped section of the wall, almost as if it was made to fit him… did that mean that this Cleare was a small round object as well?
After a few seconds of nothing happening Luxion left the wall and floated closer to Leon "Master, please insert the avatar into the socket" he instructed with… was that joy? Probably, this was probably his mate… right?
Leon put another small round object into the wall, this one had a blue eye though.
A second later the blue eyed round object floated out of the wall and danced around Luxion as if greeting him, it was kinda cute seeing Her? So excited.
"Is she your wife Luxy?" Livia dared to ask what they both wanted to know.
"No." both round objects said at the same time, well, that was disappointing, "We are Siblings" they kept synchronized.
"That is nice and all but we better get out of here or dawn will come and we will still be here" Leon said with exasperation, he was right, but she felt like they didn't even do anything other than walk a lot!
"But there is still so much to see!" she wanted to see more, she knew this wouldn't be a real adventure but she still wanted to believe it was, it was not fair that Leon got to see uncharted ruins! She will always be jealous of that,
"I'm pretty sure, it's all the same to the first four floors" Leon said trying to get her to leave, she knew they had too, but well she was just being childish, she started walking the way they came, it was more boring than she expected, maybe someday she will get a real adventure.
"AI Cleare, right?" Livia asked the blue eyed round object.
"Please, just call me Cleare Mistress" the blue-eyed round object told her in reply, floating up and down in what Angelica thought could be the equivalent of a curtsy.
"Are you like Luxy? I mean do you have to register us too?" it was a valid question, Luxion registration ritual consisted of giving him a hair and putting their hands on a rectangular glass thing, it was far simpler than she expected.
"That will not be necessary, I have imported all the relevant data from Luxy" Cleare's voice was a bit more expressive than Luxion's and right now she could interpret she was teasing its sibling with the cute nickname Livia referred to it. Luxion did not react though, he was probably the older one. Then Cleare turned to her and asked "Is it true that Lady Angelica has given birth to Master's firstborn?" she sounded eager.
That question put a smile on her face, sure giving birth was a long painful process but it was worth it when she could finally hold the red eyed baby with Leon's features all over his face.
"Yes, we named him Gilbert, like my brother" she answered, reaching for the floating sphere trying to pet it.
Cleare floated to her hand and spoke again "It's wonderful, I can't wait to meet the little one!" she could only keep petting Cleare after such enthusiasm for her son.
Once they arrived at the Partner they introduced Cleare to the rest of the family. After meeting the adults she made a beeline towards the sleeping baby Gilbert and just stared at him for a while and then she finally said "He is perfect."
The proud parents stuck out their chest in pride for their little one and Cleare had won both Nicks and Cordelia by her high evaluation of their nephew.
"I told you so" Luxion's mechanical voice chastised as if he was feeling outragedshe had to check for herself.
It was good to be surrounded by friends.
Angelica knows that soon she will be exposed to her enemies once again when they assist to the National Tourney, but she finds comfort in the knowledge that her family is strong.
That was the last night the historical ruins in elven island stood, they inexplicably collapsed much to the wrath of a certain faction within the island.
0x0x0
After Angelica had left, some of the female students thought to occupy the void she left in the hierarchy.
But they were quickly crushed by Marie, either using the political power of her lovers or physically by the blonde midget herself in the dorms when some girls tried using their exclusive servants to get rid of her. That girl was scary in close quarters despite her size.
She was smarter though.
She was Stephanie Fou Offrey, the daughter of Offrey House and she would get to the top by using all means necessary and make that midget pay!
Right after Angelica left she tried contacting the other discarded fiancees but found two of them had never cared about their fiances to begin with and the last one was a broken mat.
Clarice just lowered her head and tried to go unnoticed by the Prince and his entourage.
Angelica's fate had those cowards shaking.
But she wasn't like that, she wasn't stupid either so she laid low looking for her chance and passing her time with her personal servants in the meantime.
She even acquired a couple new servants, a catboy and a dogboy.
These are trying times, she had even tried to vent some steam with Angelica for causing so much ruckus, everything would have been fine if she just pretended to not notice Lafan in the first place, she would have been Queen eventually, and who cares about some man love anyway.
She had sent a letter to her parents asking for assistance and had managed to secure a couple of small time pirate ships and their crews to ambush the disgraced daughter of the Duke.
For weeks she had waited for the news about Angelica's fate, maybe she would have died in a pirate attack, or maybe she would have been alive maimed and abused…
Instead she heard through one of her lowest ranked subordinates that attended the regular classes that some upstart Baron had fought and defeated some pirates and captured their ships.
She had written to her parents again asking for a bigger force to be sent but was denied this time; they didn't think Angelica was worth so much effort when she was already out of the way.
They were right of course but she still wanted some revenge on her. That's when someone pointed out that Angelica's sister-in-law was bragging about her brother's victory and how much they gained from it.
For a while she targeted this Jenna Fou Bartfort and it was a nice way to pass the time, she didn't have to do much because there was another group of girls after her already and her boasting had given them the last push to start harassing her.
Graphitis in her room, burned textbooks and physical abuse soon plagued Bartfort and she enjoyed scaring her potential suitors and her best friend, who had easily abandoned her once she provided help courting a future Viscount.
But then some Baron from the boonies started courting her and that bug started playing matchmaker and then she became untouchable too!
Meanwhile she had finally executed her plan to get rid of Lafan and sent her on a quest to rescue a poor family of baronets from a menacing band of pirates.
That had failed.
After all the time she put into getting her family's support set the ambush Marie had bulldozed through it using her five lovers' strength to overpower the pirates and even keep the pirates treasure for herself.
The blonde midget seemed quite pleased with a fine jewel pendant that she had kept as her trophy.
At least they hadn't linked her to the pirates so she was still safe thanks to that idiotic girl… Kara? Katherine? Carla?
Something like that, it's not like she mattered anyway.
She heard that she was executed on the spot by Jilk.
Life wasn't fair.
At least she will have a good time watching her father's new knight destroying everyone else in the Tourney