Chapter 89 - A new look

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After they cleaned their bodies and changed in clean clothes, Vlad and Opheltius walked back to the wooden house.

As Vlad entered inside, he walked to the study room and caressed Sofiya's shoulder before saying to her.

"Love, can you help me out with my hair? I've cut it in a hurry when escaping some dangerous guys, and it's all a mess."

"Hmmm, what's wrong with your hair?" asked Sofiya while hearing Vlad ask for help with regard to his hair.

"Do you remember how you nagged me that I should cut my hair to look like a respectable nobleman, well you have the chance to arrange my hair to your liking, also grandfather's hair."

"So you call me a nagging woman now? I see. I will remember this. Go walk outside and build some scissors and a comb with your blood, I'll come take care of you after I finish this chapter."

"Fine. We'll wait for you then. Let's go grandfather, we can't do anything with her once she's hooked on those books of hers."

"Haha, don't worry child, we got plenty of time. With this occasion let me tell you some stories, about the main reason I sent Patrick away at that time."

The two young and old walked outside, leaving only Sofiya inside the house, with a smile on her face. Turning the page on the book, she said to herself.

"To think he would cut his hair, the one he said with that dull tone of his "That's the sign of nobility, my lady." hah, how things have turned now. Let me think about how I should cut his hair."

Meanwhile, Vlad, who was outside of the house, created a pair of scissors and a comb and took a seat on the grass.

"Lad, to think you would be with the duke's granddaughter, you sure are lucky." laughed Opheltius from the side, staring around himself.

"Ahh, lucky. Sure, you can call it luck however it's not entirely "lucky".

Also don't say that old man, while she looks like a goddess stranded to live on the earth, she can be at times really demanding. Now you saw her in her good moments, just you wait some months and you'll see what I mean."

But as he said that, Sofiya's voice was heard by the two.

"What are you telling grandfather about me? Stop lying or I'll make you bald while you're sleeping."

The two turned their heads and saw Sofiya's calm expression while she had a mirror in her hand.

"Now, since you're requiring my services. Who's first?"

Vlad and Opheltius looked at each other for some time, turning it into a stare showdown of who would take the first turn. Yet, this didn't last long because Sofiya pinched Vlad's skin before taking the comb and scissors from his hand.

As she took the scissors and tested its ability to cut on some grass, she grabbed Vlad's head sweetly, ruffling a bit his hair and saying while she was doing playing with his hair.

"I'll start with you dear. Have courage, it's not like I'll make you bald, haven't you seen Robert and the other kids, who do you think cuts their hair?"

"Fine Sofiya. Go ahead and do as you wish with my hair. It will grow back anyway." said Vlad with a slight annoyance in his tone.

Sofiya combed out Vlad's poorly cut hair, and after she was done with the combing, she began to slowly cut his hair.

While she was cutting Vlad's hair, Opheltius could see how Vlad was transforming right in front of his eyes. The slightly longer hair that was cut in all directions now turned leveled down, making his appearance even more presentable for a royal.

"Well, I think I'm done with you. Here look at this mirror and tell me if you're not looking better with shorter hair."

Sofiya placed the mirror she brought from the house right in front of Vlad's head as she commented with a pleased tone.

Vlad turned his eyes on the mirror and could see that his badly cut hair looked much better than when he cut his hair on the rush. The haircut received from Sofiya was really to his liking. It wasn't too short that he couldn't do anything with it. He still had enough volume in the hair to play around with it.

"Hmm, not bad. But I feel it is slightly weird, probably because I'm not used to short hair. Anyway, thanks a lot love."

He raised on his feet and gave Sofiya a kiss on the lips before staring at the old man and giving him a slight smile.

"It's your turn old man. Let's see how you look when you're cleaned up. Don't spare him Sofiya."

"Child don't you think I'm too old for those kinds of scare attempts? Wait, little girl, take me slowly."

"Sshh, grandfather Opheltius, don't disturb me or I'll miss my cuts."

Opheltius could only stay silent and stare at the hair that was being cut and that dropped on the ground. Slowly in some minutes, he too turned from the beggar-looking appearance to a respectable gentleman look.

Sofiya then placed the mirror in front of the old king and commented from the side.

"Grandpa, you're still looking good for your age. Even your hair looks in great condition. I hope you like how the haircut turned out to be. I thought of leaving your hair slightly longer and only cleaning out your beard. The people searching for you probably wouldn't even recognise you if they passed by you."

Seeing the reflection in the mirror, he could see the points Sofiya referred to. While his appearance aged, that didn't affect his looks.

"You two are really from the same tree. Well, I hope you like this new look grandpa because I will not change it anyway." laughed a bit Sofiya while giving Vlad a wink and passing the scissors and comb to him before walking to a large bucket with water to clean her hands.

"I have no problem with how you cut my hair little Sofiya, you did a fantastic job."

"I'm happy to hear that, now I'll leave you two to have some alone time since you got a lot to catch up to one another. Vlad, if you are going around the bazaar look around the book stalls and buy me another book since I'm close to finishing the one I'm reading."

"I understand my lady. However, take care of your eyes, I've heard from Faust that reading too much without breaks could be harmful. So try to take Elisabeth with you and the other girls at the orphanage and have some fun."

"Awww. I will keep it in mind. Have fun you two." said Sofiya before walking inside the wooden house, leaving only Vlad and Opheltius outside the house.

Following that, the two moved back to the district, where Vlad showed the old man around the district properly.

The first thing he did was to walk him around the University grounds, showing him around the building and observing the young kids seated around the classes with serious faces trying to listen to their teachers.

"Such a great idea to offer education to every citizen. I will keep this in mind child, but isn't it hard to find teachers to teach those kids?"

"Not really, we have established connections with Picodras, Esvir, Lathast and Calmaria, along with the islands neighboring the kingdom. There's also a constant flow of people inside the district coming from the other small cities or villages of the kingdom. Let's move to the next attraction while I explain to you how we search for capable teachers here."

As he said that, Vlad walked out of the school grounds and moved toward Marcus's place, eating there with Opheltius, before taking on the district's streets again. He showed him around the hospital and explained its role and effects. After that, he took the old man around some small manufacturing businesses handling fabrics coming from sheep wool and even silk from the worms inhabiting Esvir.

Following that, he walked toward the bazaar and began showing the products sold inside to Opheltius, who reacted as if he was a country bumpkin seeing for the first time civilization.

The atmosphere inside the bazaar was chaotic, but in the good sense of the word, all short of people competing to sell their goods made their existence here. Still, as Opheltius looked around their faces and clothes, he noticed that there was this spirit about them.

"Do those guys who manage to sell their goods are taxed in any form or shape?"

"From what my administrator told me, there is a monthly tax they have to pay to hold a spot in the market. So there's also room for profits for the simple merchant who dabbles in such trade."

Opheltius nodded his head and continued to follow around Vlad while staring around the stalls full of diverse goods with an impressed expression.

Then, after some minutes, Vlad arrived in front of a clothes shop where he entered accompanied by Opheltius.

"What would you like to buy sir?" asked a lady in her 40s when seeing Vlad and Opheltius enter inside her shop.

"Can you help us with some clothes for him? Something simple and comfortable." replied Vlad to the shop owner while pointing at the old man.

"Ohh, so it's for the old gentleman. I have to take his measurements, may I?" asked the lady approaching Opheltius and Vlad with a professional smile on her face.

The old man could only comply with the demands, nodding his head at the lady and as he nodded his head, he began seeing the lady take some short of tailoring meter and shortly after starting to feel her touch all around his body.

"Is this necessary young lady?" asked Opheltius, a bit uncomfortable.

"Just a bit more sir. If I don't know your measures the clothes will not fit you properly."

Then after some more seconds of moving around Opheltius' body with the tailoring meter, the shop owner went around the clothes in her shop and took some simple suits and white shirts, along with pairs of shoes.

Swiftly the lady guided Opheltius to a changing room and started showering him with all kinds of clothes.

After 15 minutes of constant changing, Opheltius and Vlad finally exited from the shop while having some bags in their arms.

"Come again sirs. My shop will always welcome you around." said the lady with a genuine smile on her face at the shop exit.

Nodding his head at the lady, Vlad moved to another zone of the bazaar, this time taking Opheltius, who now was wearing a pair of black trousers and a white buttoned shirt.

'Where is this boy going to take me next? Does he wants me to have a heart attack from all these new things I see?'

This time he saw nothing surprising, it was the part of the market where some guys were selling books. When they noticed Vlad and Opheltius, one of the older guys said while smiling at Vlad.

"Ohh, young Vlad I barely recognize you. Did your lady already succeed in cutting that long hair of yours?"

"Hehe, probably he did it to please her and mount her easily." commented another guy who laughed a bit by himself.

"Hmph, those are dumb jokes guys. I'm not a sex crazed idiot like you, do you think that a relation is only about intercourse? Sigh, that's why you're just some old bachelors, but enough with this conversation. Tell me guys do you have any books from that Jasson Glother, anything new he released or something that is similar to that guy writing."

"That girl should really change her tastes in books. Here take those books with you, since I don't have books from that guy, however those ones might be to her liking."

"Tsk, she will nag me again for this. Well,  how much for those books?"

"10.000 bellies and those books are yours."

"Sigh, 10.000 for some shitty books. Here take the money. Hmm, since I've got Sofi's books, can you help out with something you guys. I'm looking for some books about anatomy and the human body, or anything that goes in that direction."

Taking the money from Vlad's hand quickly, he started looking around his books with a serious face, and after more than 10 minutes, he turned to look at the other guys selling books.

"You guys got any?"

"Well, I got something that talks about blood, but is this something you need lad?"

Hearing one of those old guys say that, Vlad looked normal at the old man, masking his emotions, so the old fox doesn't get the chance of profiting over his head.

"How much?"

"35.000 bellies."

"Hmph, don't be greedy old man. Here take this money, in the future if you have any of such books you know where to sell them."

The old man took the banknotes in his hand, giving a sly smile and not long after that laughing a bit innocently, by the time Vlad and Opheltius walked away from this zone of the market, the sellers were having a small conflict between themselves.

"Man fuck you. How come you got that book and even got the luck to sell it to that lord. Doesn't that mean that if we want to make some profit we should also search around such books?"

"Hehe, sucks on you old dumbasses. I got plenty of money to drink myself to sleep for 2 weeks."

"Tsk, don't forget about us you old bastard." replied one of the old guys sealing books.

Meanwhile, when Vlad exited that zone of the market, he took a snail from his pocket and started forming a number.

*Puru-Puru * Puru-Puru* * Gotcha*

"Your Highness, is everything okay?" asked Aldenis with a surprised and worried tone.

"There's no problem Aldenis, are you by chance at the council building?"

"Yes, are you coming here to tell me what happened around the Dawn?"

"That's right Aldenis, I'll also bring someone along with me to meet."

"I understand, my prince. Then I'll prepare some coffee in the meanwhile." replied Aldenis in a short manner before ending the call.

*Gotcha*

Ending the phone call(snail-call), Vlad looked at Opheltius and told him with a casual expression.

"We'll now go meet with my administrator. He's called Aldenis, does his name ring a bell?"

"Aldenis. Yes, it sounds familiar. Could it be that he was one of my spies tasked with the nobles?

"Ohh, so you still remember him, that's good. We'll go talk some business with him before going back home."

"Sure child, I really would like to see Aldenis again. It has been 16 years since I've last seen him."

......

Inside a larger building that was called the Administrative Palace by the citizens, which held the council meeting room and other offices, Aldenis placed down the receiver of the snail and looked at the scholarly middle-aged guy next to him.

"It was his Highness Vlad? Did he solve the problem with Mayer?"

"Probably. He said that he will come here with someone else. So probably he finished what he intended."

"Heh, does this mean I get more funds for my projects?" chuckled Kavos a bit while looking at the old administrator.

"For that opera house project you've been telling me since yesterday, depending on how much Vlad managed to get from Mayer Loftso, you'll see your share. Most of it would go on building the fleet for Lord Patrick Cochrane."

"Tsk, that old guy from Picodras gets all the funds for his ships, isn't this unfair to me and my architects?"

"None of my business, I just follow the prince's instructions to the letter. If you have any problem whine to him."

"I'll better pass, I still remember that day from one year ago where he bathed the entire floor in blood."

"You're not the first guy to see that. Looking back at my first interaction with Vlad, I almost got killed by him for some misunderstanding."

"Haha, sucks on you old man. See what happens when you act like a smartass around him, you get yourself handed, just look at that guy Faust as an example."

When Aldenis heard about Faust, he began laughing heartily, even hitting the desk for a bit.

"That little shit, I still remember when the prince punched him in the face for acting like a retard around the dutchess."

"Well, let's not be harsh on him since he's around the prince's age, and Sofiya is a beautiful girl in her own right. I don't blame him for acting weird, but he really has to redeem himself with those ideas of his to have the courage to face his Highness."

"Right, soon he might come and ask me for funds for his crazy projects and to make it worse for myself, he even has Vlad's approval on those projects."

"He's a smart and sly kid, he knows how to sell a story."

Aldenis pushed a button under his desk as they were talking, and soon after, one scarred guy arrived inside the office with a calm expression.

"Pablo, can you see that nothing stupid happens around the Administrative Building for 15 minutes, His Highness will come soon."

Pablo, the scarred guy, nodded his head and walked downstairs, where not long his loud voice resounded in the building.

"YOU LAZY BUMS START DOING YOUR JOB SERIOUSLY."

By the time Vlad and Opheltius arrived around the administrative building, the two could see many guys patrolling around the building in a meticulous manner.

Entering inside the building, the scarred guy Pablo walked toward Vlad and stared a bit shocked.

"Lord, what happened to you!? Your hair…"

"Don't worry Pablo, I had some minor problems inside Dawn that required me to cut it down."

Passing by the scarred guard, he moved toward the building's upper levels, entering inside the largest room.

When inside, the people he saw were Aldenis and Kavos, who looked expectantly at him before their faces turned almost like Pablo, surprised to see him with short hair.

Walking toward a comfortable chair followed by Opheltius, he casually said to them.

"Good to see you guys. I'll make this meeting short because I have other problems on my head. Right, old man, meet Aldenis, my good Administrator and Kavos the Chief Architect who planned out the outline of the city."

Aldenis and Kavos smiling faces suddenly turned to shock, especially when Vlad told them that the old man next to him was his grandfather.

"YOUR MAJESTY OPHELTIUS, YOU'RE ALIVE!?"

The two who were on their feet wanted to bow down, but Opheltius grabbed them, stopping them from bowing to him.

"Don't bother with those formal things. I'm a failure of a king, how could I let you, good citizens of Kaysang ever bow to me."

"Don't say that Your Majesty, you tried everything at that time to appease the rebellious noble houses, and they took you by surprise." said Aldenis while looking at the old king aged face.

Kavos, who calmed himself a bit, took the old king's hands and shook them with some sort of excitement.

"Your Majesty, I'm Kavos. It's such a great honor meeting you. You don't have to look down on yourself, soon we will take back the kingdom from the dirty hands of the nobles."

"Sigh, young man, you don't know how much it means to me, to hear you say this. But, this time I'm just like you a helping hand for this grandson of mine. I will do everything in my power to see you citizens of Kaysang prosper. With everything I have. I promise you that"

Ended Opheltius saying that with great spirit in his dark-green eyes while he was looking at Aldenis and Kavos.

"Take it slowly old man we still have some things to settle down before confronting the nobles and assassins. Here drink some tea and relax."

Settling down Opheltius on one of the chairs around the round table, he also took a seat, followed by Kavos and Aldenis. After that he took a piece of paper from his pocket that he sent toward Aldenis.

"That's the legal part of transferring Mayer's businesses and fortune to my name. You'll have less resistance with this paper signed by Mayer if the guild leaders or nobles don't comply with his dying wishes."

Reading the paper with Kavos, Aldenis gave a sly smile while the middle-aged scholar was rubbing his hands in excitement.

"Prince there will be no problem with the guild leaders of Dawn District, I will make it sure this will not happen, but the nobles will for sure try something."

"Don't worry about them, if they are really insisting hard on getting something, give them some of the useless businesses Mayer had to give them a sense of security that they are still important."

"I understand. But who will be the one to administrate all these businesses? I don't think I can handle them since I already have the district."

"I thought of that problem, and managed to get a capable person to look over the businesses, he's Pholbor Novio. You'll have to draft a contract with him, and help him out a bit at the start until he gets the hang of the things."

"Now that I'm done with that. Let's tell you what happened to me that I even had to cut my hair."

As he said that, Vlad began telling Aldenis and Kavos about the silver masked assassins and the gold masked assassin. Told some things that took place in the fight in a simple manner that they could understand and then telling them the conclusion of the fight.

"The gold masked guy outclassed me in the fight. He knows to use haki and also has a good mastery of his devil fruit. So I tell you guys this, while I go train myself in order to awaken my haki, don't stir the pot too much inside the Dawn District, it's not necessary yet."

"Your Highness, we can only hope that you successfully awaken that thing you're talking about. We're not fighters so we can only support you with other things, but if anything happens we'll try our best to help you."

Nodding his head at the two while drinking his coffee, he talked for a bit more with them before taking his leave together with Opheltius and walked back to his wooden house.

Along the way, he was preparing his plan to try figuring out how to awaken the haki.

'Sigh, I know what haki is, I even saw its effect and power, but I just can't awaken it. If not even this new plan of mine work, I'll have to make old Nius a visit and train with him for a while.'

However, as he thought that, a cold voice resounded in his mind.

'Haha, master, you don't need any other power when you have me. Why are you trying to deny me while I'm right here with you since you walked on this foreign land. Forget about that thing you're calling power and embrace my power.'

'Can you shut up, parasite, for a bit? You've kept nagging me since you woke up so you better keep it lower with me here. I'm trying to plan out some things, so piss off with your cheap attempts at tempting me.'