Chapter 98: Astral magic

...

Oops, did I said that out loud?

When I saw the stiffened and even some angry faces of everyone around me, the thought that maybe I voiced my thoughts a bit too loud appeared.

"That... Bitch, you say?" The Saint, who had a gentle face until now, was now looking at me with narrowed eyes and an angry expression on his face.

 Yeah, I probably spoke too loud...

I just hope the people in this Kingdom aren't hardcore fanatical of their gods, like certain people from my old world were with their idols and celebrities. If that's the case, I will probably be hunted till the end of my days and burned alive for being a heretic that called their goddess a bitch.

Well, if it comes to the worst, then I will just steal all their treasures and then fabricate my own ship somehow. No need to stay in a place where they will try to kill me just because of my beliefs.

"Aspen, I know that you come from another place, but calling our goddess a bitch is a bit too much, don't you think?" The King, who saw the tension rising inside the room, tried to calm down the situation by making clear that he was not angry with my slip of tongue.

After all, if the King is angry, so do the people.

Fortunately, the comment seemed to have mitigated the effect somehow, as the face of the Saint calmed down a bit.

"I just have some grudges with her. But it doesn't interfere with my personal life... that much. Sorry if I said too much" I bowed lightly my head in apology, and then continued looking at the podium with an impassive expression.

They had their beliefs, and so did I. So, there's nothing for me to gain by pestering them for believing in that goddess.

It wasn't like they sacrificed people just because of gaining her gratitude.

...

Right?

...

Maybe I should consider making the plan of robbing all their treasures just in case... It may come in handy someday...

"Then it's settled. Aspen, you have been appointed as the Royal guard with the responsibility of protecting my daughter. Other than that, I wish you luck in the times that are to come!"

After that small mistake on my part, the King did that weird medieval thing with the fake sword touching my shoulders before he named me Royal guard, and after that, I was finally allowed to leave the podium and go back to my seat.

*Sigh...*

'Man, working sure is hard. I can't wait to go back to my disemployed life back at the Human territory...'

Whatever... a better job means more money, and more money means less time here. I might as well check the royal library in case there's any other magic I haven't studied until now.

Who knows when will they come in handy.

...

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-Royal Palace

Two weeks have gone by since my little accident at the church. Other than having those nuns and believers in the street look at me angrily, there was not such a big change in my life here.

You know, work, get money, study magic, sell potions, buy more ingredients, and enjoy the pleasures of the bed of a Royal Knight. Such has been my life in this place until now.

But man, seriously, I might steal one of their beds when they are not looking and bring it with me to my home. It's really much better than any other treasure this Kingdom might have in their treasury. I finally had some good rest that reinvigorated me completely by the time I woke up, and not to mention that for the first time in years, I felt that staying in the bed for a bit longer might be good!

Maybe I should take the one of the King, I mean... if the one I'm using right now is so fucking good, I can't even imagine how will the one used by the King be.

As for my job as a guard for the princess... Well, besides being a bit awkward, it hasn't been that difficult. She does seem to have some enmity with me for some reason, but as long as it doesn't affect me, I don't really care.

Right now, she was studying royalty things at the library, which I pretty much used to my convenience by investigating every other kind of magic book that there could be inside this library.

I managed to learn a few other types of magic, like sand control (albeit a very weak one), a more proficient way of using the mana explosion technique, and a few other types of magic that weren't that really worth mentioning.

I was kinda getting out of books to read, and probably because any other type of interesting magic had already been lost in time, together with the old civilization of humans that seemed to be at the peak of knowledge about this topic.

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

"Why are you so impatient, just so you know, I will do this every day for the next three years. So you better get accustomed to this by then..." Yuuki, who saw me tapping repeatedly the table while thinking about such topics, interrupted my train of thought and tried to make me stay silent.

"Say, why did your father make me your guard? I don't think the ex-strongest magic-user of this Kingdom really needs my help to protect herself..."

Hearing the ex-strongest magic-user title, Yuuki's eyebrow twitched a bit but she tried to dissimulate it rapidly.

During all this time I noticed that she tended to act like a lovely princess in front of the public. But whether she was at home, or in front of a familiar person, her personality could turn around completely, and she could become a rather strict and humorless person.

It was rather scary if you ask me.

I mean, how could there be someone that becomes so different depending on the situation?

What a strange person.

"Why should I know? I know that I can protect myself very well on my own. There wasn't a need for a guard" Thinking about our situation, Yuuki furrowed her eyebrows and looked at me defiantly.

"Hmm, Either way, I'm getting free money for doing this, so whatever..."

"You..."

I leaned back on my chair and yawned a bit as all this boring situation had made me a bit sleepy.

Yuuki just sighed in exhaustion and went back to read with her impassive expression on her face.

Hmm?

*Shiiing*

Above Yuuki, I saw a shadow pass by with a rather shining object near it. However, since I wasn't completely sure, I decided to use the nearby flowers at the window and move them slowly towards the ceiling to inspect. 

After all, after my small training with Evvie, now I could see and hear through plants easily. Albeit the images were usually a bit blurry, and the sounds a bit distorted, but it was still a useful technique nevertheless.

Unfortunately, I had yet to fuse with the plants and move through them like a dryad. Evvie told me that was an inherent ability of Dryads, as they in a sense were part of nature. However, seeing how far can magic go, I don't think it is impossible for me to do it.

 At worst, I will turn into meat paste by trying to turn myself into grass or something else. However, seeing the fact that I have to fight three or possibly more mechanical monstrosities with barely any good armor or weapon, I don't think turning into meat paste is that different from my current situation.

As my train of thoughts stopped, I finally connected my view to the small vine created from the flower and saw a very suspicious guy with a dagger on his hand, and dark robes that covered him completely.

The guy was walking above us without making a sound, and he was eyeing Yuuki with bloodshot eyes. 

Either he was very good at his footwork, or he was using magic to conceal the sound of his footsteps as I did previously on the mission at Areinia.

Soon enough, I noticed that the blade of the dagger was coated with a purple liquid, which I suppose is poison.

"Heeeh~"

"What is it?" Hearing my rather impressed voice, Yuuki raised an eyebrow and looked up at me with curiosity.

"Nothing, it just seems that no perfect job exists..."

"What-?"

*Thud!*

In front of us, the body of a man fell and hit heavily the table, on his heart, a bloody hole made by one of the vines that were under my control was buzzing with blood.

Luckily for me, the strengthening of plants does not only work on the herbs for potions but for normal plants as well. Making them either sharper or sturdier depending on my wishes or shapes I make them take.

Of course, there was a limit on how hard I could make them, but for the time being, it was still enough to take care of people like this with the simple vine of a flower.

"W-what is this?" Flustered by the situation, and by the fact that a dead body just fell in front of her, Yuuki stood up and called the guards that were standing out of the room.

They soon picked up the body and cleaned the table which was slightly covered in blood, before Yuuki had to go back to her studies. Although a bit more concerned than before.

"I will come back in a bit"

Meanwhile, I decided to roam around the room with the excuse of finding any other possible assassin hiding around, though I was just looking for another magic book that I hadn't read already.

Not like I'm neglecting my job, I also moved the plants in the surroundings to check every place in the library just in case there was another assassin hiding as I said.

"How to move the air around you... How to produce sound with your mana... How to pleasure your wif- Hmm, I've already read everything here..."

 Seeing that there was no other interesting book in this place, I decided to explore the old part of the library that no one visited. Either because the books there were boring as hell, or because the knowledge inside them was simply useless.

"Hmm?"

In one of the shelves, I noticed a book placed in the corner under the shadows. It had a certain title that interested me as soon as I saw it.

[Astral Magic: Learn the mysteries of the universe and control them to your whim]

Although the name Astral magic made me certainly curious, there was another reason of why this book called my attention so much.

It was the other type of magic besides the Nature control that this blessing buffed.

...

Jarron7

Finally Aspen finds the Astral magic! Did you remember that this blessing also buffed up this type of magic, or had you already forgotten xD?

Anyways, he better hurry up, as those mechanical bosses are on their way!

That's all for now.

Goodbye