Valerian, The Legendary

44 Return.

Valerian came out of the woods when the sun was rising on the horizon. He was dressed in animal skin garbs, with his old clothes were held in his hands in neat folds. He squinted his eyes to look at the center of the city and found the flag of the princess still erected on the highest dome of the city palace.

That decided the boy started running forward. His speed was not something that the normal humans of his age could achieve, not even most of the warriors would be able to catch up with him. At this time, only a few of the people in the city were out and awake.

Valerian did not want to give them a scare so he moved around the streets a lot, after all, he had not cleaned himself up in the past two months, he smelled like a mix of sweat, blood, mud, and forest.

His shiny silver hair was dull from the dust they have accumulated, as he came in front of the City Palace door, he found two of the Princess’s personal guards standing there. He approached them and the guards immediately picked up their spears.

Valerian quickly used his hands to cast signs. The guards sighed and one of them said, “Kid, what is up with you, first you leave and make the chief whip our asses with fourfold training, then you come back looking like a savage. Can you do something in line with normality?”

Valerian just gave him an embarrassed smile. The other guard said, “Go in, and clean up before you meet Her Highness. And you wait till we camp at night, we will avenge the harsh beatings the chief gave us.”

The child chuckled and walked inside the palace through the front door, he made a beeline to the pantry, given the time, Quies will be found in the kitchen preparing food. He did not bother with the surprised and shocked gazes of the maids on the way.

As he reached the kitchen, he could hear Quies instructing the chefs about the menu for the breakfast. Valerian did not enter the place but stood at the door and knocked.

Quies turned his head to find a young savage standing in front of him. He said, “What are you doing here Valerian? Go to the bathrooms and do not come out until you are crystal clear.”

.....

He was a steward now, and he would see through his job with no corners cut. Valerian nodded and then raising his hand, he asked for a few things, like a bar of soap, a brush, and also clothes that could match his size.

Quies gazed at him from head to toe and nodded. He said, “You go ahead, I will have someone deliver the clothes to you when you are done.”

Valerian bowed slightly and went straight to the bathroom. He took off his beast skin armor and began to clean himself thoroughly. The news of his arrival has already been relayed to the princess and Rectus.

While the former let goes of a sigh, Rectus smirked and said, “See, how I will teach you now brat.”

He really wanted to beat Valerian to the pulp for scaring him in the forest. Priscilla was the one, who had gone to the market to buy him new shoes and clothes. After all, his old ones were done in a harsh environment.

She was capable of casting the spell to resize the shoes, well standard maid course education. What if the princess likes a shoe that did not fit her?

It took Valerian an hour to clean himself thoroughly and retain his charming appearance. When he was about to wrap a towel around his waist and go out to see if the clothes have arrived. The door was knocked and a familiar voice sounded, “Your clothes and Shoes.”

Valerian carefully opened the door a little and a slender hand extended him a suit. Taking it, the child hummed and the hand retracted. He quickly changed the clothes and came outside the bathroom holding the beast skin armor.

He found Priscilla standing there, looking at him with a keen gaze. He bowed in greeting, whatever equation they had in the past was not something he was going to drag now. He realized in the woods that these were not bad people. However, that did not mean he will let go of things completely.

Priscilla clicked her tongue and asked, “Boy, I am also your teacher, are you going to hold what happened with the Eldest Prince against me?”

Valerian cast a gaze at her face and then he nodded. She sighed and decided to let the nature take its course, she said, “What are you going to do with this beast skin? Let me dispose of this.”

Priscilla stretched her hand to him and Valerian shook his head, he raised his hands and said, ‘This is the skin of a magical beast I killed in the forest. This thing is equal to the armor used by the princess guards.’

His words shocked the maid. She did not expect him to have killed a magical beast, out of curiosity she asked, “What beast did you kill?”

Valerian replied, ‘War Bear.’

Priscilla sucked in a cold breath. She could not help but ask, “How did you manage to do it?”

She wanted to confirm that he was telling her the truth. Valerian also understood her motive and came clean about it all, he did not leave out the part where he was almost killed by the paw and explosions. Priscilla was in a little daze. Even as an adult mage, she did not have the courage to go against the magical beast recklessly, and then there was Valerian.

Valerian placed the armor on the floor and after putting on a pair of socks he put on the shoes that Priscilla had bought him. When he was ready, the maid said, “Her Highness is waiting for you in the study. We are returning to the Capital today.”

Valerian nodded and then followed Priscilla, on the way, they made a stop at his room, where he tucked away his old clothes and the beast skin armor in a trunk. When he came out of the room, he was fiddling with his claw knives.

Priscilla asked, “What are these? They look quite sharp.”

‘The claws of the war bear, they are good knives. Helped me a lot.’, said Valerian.

This was evidence enough that he had really killed the war bear, Priscilla gulped and took the mental note to never mess with this kid in the future.

The two people reached the study and after knocking on the door, the maid said, “Your Highness, Valerian is here.”

A soft voice sounded, “Let him come in.”

Priscilla pushed open the door and winked at Valerian. The boy nodded with a calm expression and walked inside. He saw Azula again after a whole two months, the princess was wearing a white dress, with her long azure-colored hair falling over her shoulders, she was the most beautiful woman Valerian had seen before he met Flos in the woods.

He bowed his head and said with his signs, ‘Greetings, Your Highness. I have returned.’

Azula smiled and said, “Raise your head, Valerian. I will not say that you did not make me upset when you left, but I am happy that you have come back. Are you ready to go to the capital with us?”

Valerian nodded. Azula nodded and said, “On the way, we will make a small stop in the City of Calix, the two daughters of the city lord have been selected to be my aides. We will pick them up.”

The mention of the City of Calix made Valerian release his battle intent for a moment, he recalled the arrogant Conixia, who disrespected his parents, but then he calmed down. Azula noticed this and she asked, “Is something the matter?”

Valerian shook his head and asked, ‘Your highness, have you appointed the officials to make sure that the city is governed fairly and smoothly?’

Azula nodded with a smile, and said, “Yes, I have. A supervisor from the capital will come over to make sure they do not go astray. This reminds me, you may not know, but I have passed the trial of freedom as well.”

‘Congratulations, your highness.’, Valerian smiled faintly.

Azula asked jokingly, “Just congratulations, no gifts?”

Valerian was surprised, then thinking about it, he took out a knife from the inside of his coat and said, ‘This knife is from the set of weapons I made after defeating a War Bear. It has saved my life on many occasions and is a good weapon. If you do not despise the crudeness and the status of this weapon, I would like to gift this to you, Your Highness.’

Azula stood up from her chair when she saw this. The knife was just a sharp nail, seven inches long, curved slightly, shiny black, but it was giving off a baleful aura. When she recalled that this claw nail belonged to a War Bear, she realized that the boy in front of her has returned stronger than ever.