Operation Seduction
Edrick had not lied. He had indeed never seen a proper spell. What Ku Xing had once demonstrated to him was merely a crude blast of energy that one could perform after achieving a high level of cultivation. It was a handy trick, but not a real spell.
As for Luxuli, she was not yet proficient at spellcasting. Besides, what she did was a fundamentally different practice from cultivation. So Anoteros was feeling rather curious as to what this would look like.
The ambience stayed jovial throughout the entire dinner. Edrick was feeling rather confident in his chances concerning the two daughters. They both had traits and personalities that he knew how to use to his advantage. The eldest, in particular, should be especially easy to seduce.
Still, Milerva remained rather mysterious. Whether she liked or disliked him was hard to tell. Even her husband, Lord Galdon, was far easier to read than she. Lady Oie was indeed competent at maintaining a noble front.
She only showed clear emotions and reactions when it concerned her children, which could perhaps be exploited to learn more about the sort of person the mother of three was.
Once the dinner came to an end, he followed after Tylia, who was overly excited to show off to him.
“Mister Anoteros, behold!” after having reached the grassy backyard of the manor, the youngest daughter got into position. At the moment, she did not resemble a refined young lady in the slightest, not quite a tomboy, but close…
“Aherm, Tylia- Sweetie? Please do not destroy anything” her father reminded as he arrived, staying a fair distance away.
“Of course!” and with these words, the freckled young woman raised one hand, palm facing the empty area she was aiming for.
Around her, several large objects suddenly manifested, launching themselves forward with impressive speed, emitting a sort of whistling noise as they sliced through the air, one of them eventually smashing into a tree several dozen meters away, embedding itself through the trunk. It pierced the tree all the way through, but failed to come soaring out of the other side before being stopped and subsequently disappearing.
“That’s very impressive! May I ask how accomplished you are in this technique?” he didn’t even comment on the fact that the projectiles had been four huge feathers, probably goose feathers. Although unexpected, it was not too strange for the family that used a goose as their symbol to also cultivate techniques reminiscent of the animal.
A feather, even if half the height and width of an average person, sounded unimpressive. But there was no doubt that one of those would be able to stab right through him. After all, one of them managed to pierce through a tree after it had travelled through the air for several dozen meters, having lost both speed and power along the way.
Anoteros was genuinely intrigued.
The redhead puffed out her chest with pride.
“That is only a basic application of that spell, Mister Anoteros! Jania is even more talented than I!”
‘What a nice girl, propping her sister up…’ Edrick smiled.
“Is that so? Even then, the power of that spell is quite high... Not to mention that it requires very little wind-up to cast and travels quickly as well. Even if not flashy, it's a very good spell… And I would assume that the technique does not only contain a single spell, too…” he rubbed his chin, praising the technique whose name he didn’t even know.
And there was no need for him to feign interest or be deceptive in the least.
Anoteros himself was interested in learning some spell cultivation. Unfortunately, the Myriad-Arm Sect was not too keen on those sorts of techniques. Everything that remotely included spell-like manoeuvres came as a package with complicated weapon cultivation techniques, such as Lisha’s own, for example.
Although interested, he did not press further for information, knowing that no family would be willing to speak about the details of their unique techniques. In fact, he hadn’t even heard that the Oie family had any cultivation techniques that could be used offensively like this before...
They were obviously keeping the details of their techniques under wraps from the public. Apart from the crown and other great entities in the kingdom. Everyone believed that they were all about managing and overseeing the city. But clearly, if a problem were to arise, the city lord would probably be able to turn said problem into several slices of meat.
Discussions continued for a little while, and it was toward the end that Edrick decided to secure a way to complete the three quests.
“Miss Jania, we should discuss the path of cultivation again in the future. I am certain that we could learn much from one another. Would you be willing?” as he said this, Anoteros placed one hand behind his back, leaned forward, and used his other hand to gently lift the young woman’s arm.
Jania was a bit stunned for a moment. This was the first time ever that a man who wasn't from her family had touched her, and it wasn’t casual contact either.
There was a clear implication in the gesture.
A man was making a move on her? An Elt at that? This Elt in particular? With his incredible height, handsome face, majestic muscles that could be guessed even through the ample clothing, and to top it all off, it all came accompanied by a charming, charismatic personality? And on top of that, he was around the same age as her?
She needed a second to gather her thoughts. Were it not for her responsibilities, she would have agreed immediately, but since she was the successor to her father, Jania needed to act composedly and in a proper, noble fashion.
‘Father and Mother must think of him as a suitable man, right?’
“That would be greatly appreciated. You may come to visit whenever you see fit” she replied with a slight smile.
Edrick replied with a smile on his own and a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
“Then it is decided. Let us meet again soon, Miss Jania”
Anoteros bade his goodbyes to everyone. Once he was gone, Jania heaved a heavy sigh of relief. She had not expected this to happen today… Her father had said that she should be ready in case the Elt scion was the sort that looked down on them, so she had been completely unprepared when the total opposite happened!
“Jania”
“Yes, Mother?”
“You should be careful with the sort of language you use. Just now, you told him that he could come whenever he wanted. You should have been more conservative. Some might take this as an invitation to show up in the dead of night to have se-”
“Mother… I-I am certain Sir Anoteros wouldn’t take it that way…”
“Perhaps, but do be careful of what you say in the future, you aren’t yet lord, and your education is not over. It is not a good time to get pregnant”
“...Yes, Mother”