The Kingmaker System-Chapter 477 - 476. New Patrons (3)

After an hour, Arian stood huffing while leaning over his sword, the blade was chipped by now and Ocean stood a couple feet away with his hands in the pockets of his coat and a small smile playing over his lips.

"You’ve improved, Your Highness." He commented and Arian got up to his feet, the determined look on his face far from gone.

He launched another attack which Ocean dodged fluidly watching as Arian swiftly turned, twisting his blade to strike at my abdomen while Ocean simply stepped back. The tip of the blade sliced just a inch from Ocean’s abdomen while Ocean swung his knee resting it into Arian’s side with controlled strength.

"You should stop now," Ocean advised.

Arian gripped his abdomen while spitting the bile that had crawled up because of the assault.

"Not until I’ve landed at least one attack on you," Arian firmly declared and Ocean smiled.

The physical movements and the rigorous exercise that Ocean was having at present made him momentarily forget about the spat that he had with Sol earlier and he was clearly enjoying himself.

"Wha... What was that curse though?" He asked while he continued attacking Ocean.

Ocean deftly dodged the attacks by simply sidestepping or jumping away.

"Like I said, it was just a spell gone wrong," Ocean spoke narrowly avoiding the blade that sliced over from close to his nose.

"But what kind of spell is out there that could turn a hu-Dragon into a cat?" He asked.

"There are some forbidden ones, I was playing around and got myself reeled into that mess." Ocean lied with the years of expertise.

"Should I ask what you actually were trying to do with those forbidden spells?" He asked and Ocean shrugged.

"I was studying something,"

Arian’s movements were starting to get more haggard and filled with openings as he grew more and more tired, yet he hadn’t managed to lay even a single blow on Ocean.

After another hour of attempting to land a blow on Ocean, Arian received a smack on the back of his head from Ocean making him fall to the ground face first. Ocean stood tall without even looking like he was out of breath.

Arian huffed loudly before he flipped himself and lay on his back looking up at Ocean.

"Glad... to see... that... you made it alive... That kid... he... looked like... he would collapse if you had croaked or something." Arian spoke among huffs and Ocean’s eyebrows twitched.

Ocean watched Arian for a moment as his chest rose and fell rapidly before he reached down to him. Arian took the hand and was pulled up.

Ocean didn’t comment anything about what he said but simply handed him a kerchief and then turned to leave.

"You should go catch some rest for now, Your Highness. Overexerting your body will bring you no good." Ocean advised but before he could walk away Arian called him up.

"Wait,"

Ocean half turned.

"You and a lot other guests are going to be invited for today’s luncheon." He said and Ocean gave him a blank look.

"Why?"

"Well," Arian said dusting his sleeves, "because of a certain someone a lot of important guests including the Queen of Mordino was absent from yesterday’s banquet, so, His Majesty has arranged a luncheon."

Ocean seemed to ponder over it for a moment before he sighed, "All right, I’ll be there."

With that said, Ocean started walking back towards the annex where the guests were staying. On the way, Ocean noticed the unread notifications from the system. He was still mad at the system but the present exercise had eased that anger a bit. Ocean opened the notifications and a barrage of notifications popped through.

The first notification was the one congratulating him on fulfilling the whole day as a cat before the notifications took a different topic.

[Dear Host,

You are hereby informed that due to the suffering you had to endure because of the negligence of your assigned Patrons, you are being transferred under the tutelage of new Patrons.]

"Say what?!"

[Goddess of Wisdom, Giver of Gifts and Defender of Divine Glory are punished for their act of prompting the candidate into choosing a risky reward and hence followed by the near death of the candidate. Thus, they are stripped off of their position as the Patron for one month and will not be able to exercise their power or communicate with the candidate.]

Ocean stared aghast, the confusion prominent in his mind but apart from that, there was anger.

"What kind of a BS is this? They egged me on but it was you who brought the shady Random Roulette for me, system!" Ocean exclaimed.

[The rewards are chosen by the Patrons. The Random Roulette was chosen to be your reward by your Patrons.]

Ocean felt the ache in his head because of the frustration before he spotted the next notification.

[Dear Host,

You are hereby notified that your new Patrons are The Preserver and The Eternal Ascetic. They shall serve as your temporary Patrons until Goddess of Wisdom, Giver of Gifts and Defender of Divine Glory serve their punishment period.]

Ocean could only stare at the news that he found ridiculous.

"Why would you assign me new Patrons? I don’t care what happened, if you’re feeling bad about nearly killing me and then let me beat the hell out of them why are you deciding these things on your own?"

Ocean’s face was a mask of blank expression as he walked back towards his room while internally he was red with anger and frustration.

[The punishment is only give by the law making officials, the candidate is not allowed to have any direct contact with the Patrons.]

"Then connect me to your law making officials, I’d like to have a talk with them."

The system went quiet for a moment before another notification popped up.

[The Preserver chuckled.]

"Huh?"

[The Preserver is happy to see you recovered and doing well.]

"My new Patron?"

[The Preserver greets you and expects a cooperative time till you work together.]

Ocean stared at the message, his emotions slowly settling before he said, "I want my old Patrons back."

[The Preserver says that you could have them back after their punishment period is finished.]

Ocean felt the exhaustion coming as he realised that talking to the system or the Patron was not of any use. What was done was done and his Patrons were punished for what happened so, there was nothing he could do.

"All right," Ocean sighed running a hand through his hair.

"I’ll co-operate as long as you don’t get in my way."

[The Preserver smiles.]

It seems like I’ve got quite an eccentric Patron this time, Ocean thought before he turned the corner and spotted three people standing in front of his chambers.

Ocean almost turned around to go back but then he knew he couldn’t avoid it, especially the questions of the one person there whom he would have to face sooner or later.

Ocean inhaled and exhaled deeply before he stepped towards the room and the heads turned in an instant.

Miri who was among them rushed over and threw her arms around Ocean’s neck, Ocean didn’t budge as she nearly slammed into him but just gently patted her back while looking at the wide amber eyes which slowly softened and then hardened.

"Master! How are you feeling now? And why are you out of bed? What about your injuries?" Miri started firing questions at Ocean without giving him a chance to answer and Ocean turned his head sensing another person walking towards him.

It was Zale Turquoise.

Zale also had an anxious expression on his face as he reached out and grabbed Ocean’s hand looking at him up and down.

"Lord- Master, how are you feeling now? I heard you were gravely injured! Pray, tell me, are you all right now?" He spoke and Ocean was now incarcerated in the grip of two monarchs of different countries.

The other two also approached and swiftly enough an arm shot out grabbing Ocean’s wrist and pulled him out of the grip of the two. It was Rune Aurelius.

"Your Majesties, Marquis Ocean might still not be feeling completely well, you shouldn’t pressure him like this." Rune spoke as he almost pushed Ocean behind him.

Ocean stared at the back of the pink head wondering how he was going to explain everything to this brother whose anger seemed to be barely concealed beneath his stern looking expression.

"B-Young Duke and everyone else, please don’t be worried. I’m fine now. It wasn’t anything serious." Ocean spoke and Rune turned his head.

The amber eyes seemed like frozen blades which were ready to impale, Ocean clamped his mouth knowing that an interrogation and most probably a little scolding was also on the way. Rune hated it when Ocean- Reina’s life was in danger and he wasn’t informed of or rather if he wasn’t there to help her.

Ocean placed his hand over Rune’s shoulder giving it a light squeeze before he felt another hand on his shoulder and Davian looked at him up and down.

"I’m glad to see that you’re all right but where did you go so early in the morning? The sun is not even up yet." He asked.

Exactly my question, what are you all doing outside my room at this time? freēnovelkiss.com

Ocean thought bitterly.

It would take some time to assure them that everything was fine but even more time to explain things to Rune in a way that he would believe. It wasn’t like he was annoying enough or blamed her for being in trouble but it was his deep concern and the anger towards not being there to help her that made him stricter at times. Reina understood that.

And she was glad that they hadn’t told her father about it or he would flip the palace upside down.

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