SON OF THE HERO KING

"Nop, neither of the two. She is–a chimera from Gluttony Foss."

Sol's eyes opened wide at this revelation and he looked once more at the white-haired maid.

Chimera. They were the creatures created by Echidna Gula, the mother of a thousand monsters. Chimera by itself was not a race. The same way werebeasts had different sub-races, chimeras also had their own.

Sol never saw any chimera and they generally only left Gluttony Foss during war or beast tide. The last war, being the one that costs his parents' life.

"How did you capture her?"

He was a little uncomfortable with the notion of capturing someone to make them slaves.

In Lustburg, since Mars's reign, even though slaves existed, they were generally debt slaves or war slaves, or crime slaves.

Capturing a free citizen and treating them as a slave was forbidden. What's more, there were so many regulations for their protection that nowadays slaves were more like underpaid servants than anything else.

Of course, a chimera was no citizen of Lustburg and could even be called an enemy.

Theresa squinted her eyes at Sol's reaction. Once again she was reminded how different Sol was from his father. Back then, she knew that Mars had an absolute distaste for such a culture. If it wasn't because of his advisor, he would have simply abolished the slavery system rather than creating more regulations.

"Do not worry. Even though Greed Dike doesn't frown on slavery, I am not the kind to go capture people for entertainment. This girl was born from a fossilized egg I brought back from Gluttony Foss all those years ago during our campaign against Echidna. Back then, I thought that it was just a dead egg. So imagine my surprise when a few years later I got her. Hehe~!"

Even though she was laughing, Sol felt that she was still hiding something.

"Could you be a little more clear?"

"Well, I got this egg in a deserted part of Echidna castle. We were being chased down by one of the twelve constellations. Boy, you should have seen it. A giant humanoid spider running being us. The stuff of nightmares I say. So, I was running for my life when I saw this very shiny and round thing. Of course, as a dwarf, the first thing I did was to snatch it then continue fleeing."

He could feel an urge to slap his face as he heard this tale.

Still, to have the leisure to steal something while being chased down by one of the constellations.

"If it's a spider I guess it's the cancer constellation."

"Was. I don't know if Echidna created another one. But at least the previous cancer constellation got sliced off by Lilith. Hahaha~! You should have seen his face. He didn't even understand how he died."

The more he heard her speak, the more a yearning began to burn in his heart.

He also wished to go out and explore the world. To live through different adventures with trusted companions.

It might be a little childish and naive, but it was hard to discard such dreams.

"I get the situation now. So? You are giving her to me?"

"Yes. Her bloodline is without a doubt very powerful. I wanted to make her your partner."

"You do know that it's impossible to force a contract right?"

The contract system was under the direct control of the goddesses. A contract could only be formed between two willing parties without any form of coercion.

Jumping from her seat on his thighs, she turned to face him and gave an impish smile, "You are a Luxuria. I am sure you can do it." Saying so, she began to walk toward the exit, "Well, well, well. This is it for me for now. It's time for me to visit my old friends. Bye-bye! I wish you luck."

Without waiting for Sol's reply, she left the room with a laugh in her voice.

Now, alone with the cold faced maid, Sol began to observe her more carefully.

Long snow-white hair, deep red eyes, beautiful well toned curves, a young-looking face, a healthy and tanned skin and a short frame. This girl was the perfect definition of a foreign oriental beauty.

Letting out a sigh at how people seemed to only throw women at him, he relaxed in his chair and spoke.

"You have heard my discussion with Theresa. Before anything else, I think I must present myself. I am the crown prince of Lustburg, Sol Dragona Luxuria. How may I call you?"

The girl, who looked to be in her twenty even though technically she should be younger than Sol, stared at Sol in silence.

An awkward silence fell heavily once again between the two.

Sweeping back his hair, Sol sighed, "Let's make something clear. I do not particularly need you to be by my side. I already have one loyal knight who will follow me and if everything is alright, my first partner will be someone with limitless potential."

He had more important things to do than to waste his time discussing with a girl he just met and who refused to speak. Getting a powerful partner was without a doubt good news, but as the future king and with his capacity, the things he lacked the least were people wishing to form a contract with him.

The only reason he even bothered wasting his time with her currently was because she intrigued him a little. He could feel some sort of familiar energy flowing in her. He couldn't put his finger on it. But it was her.

Finally, after a short silence, "My name is Nuwa."

'Nuwa? Who gave her such a name? It's rather mighty.'

He already knew that for some weird reason gods and goddesses or mythical heroes names from his old world were used here. Still for one to be called Nuwa, the mother goddess in Chinese myths? His interest in her suddenly went up a notch.

"Nuwa, is it? Was it Theresa who gave you this name?"

"Nuwa is Nuwa. From the moment Nuwa was born, I knew I was Nuwa."

She continued to speak in the same monotonous and emotionless voice as if nothing interested her.

"I see. Then. You have already heard everything. What's your opinion?"

Lowering her head in a bow, she calmly said, "I do not care. From the moment I was born, my destiny had never been my own. Why should I begin to think now?"

"..."

'It seemed that this is going to be way harder than I thought.'

He sighed about this so-called gift. He was tempted to bring her in his mirror world just to see her act completely opposite to what she was doing now, but messing with the mind of people who did nothing to him didn't seem particularly interesting.

"Well, no matter. The time to contract is still far away. I guess I will give you time to think."

More importantly, he didn't want to contract with someone who might have another allegiance. He didn't want to distrust Theresa since she seemed to be a really gentle and loyal woman, but he didn't know her enough to give all his trust to her.

'Being in a position of power is really tiring.'

This was one of the few dissatisfactions he had with his current life. He could never truly believe anyone outside of a few people. Always had to analyze the situation. This would become even worse in the future once he really became a king.

He already knew that this wouldn't be easy. But it didn't matter. He didn't mind some challenges. Of course, living in easy mode was also interesting.

'I also need to ask Milia to keep an eye on her.'

Thinking so, he got up and walked toward the exit. This trip to Traver had been rather fruitful. He had already accomplished his goal and some more. Still, he needed to spend the night before leaving.

'I should walk out with Setsuna and Lilin tomorrow. If I am to end with Lilin, I must mend her relationship with Setsuna.'

This was giving him a headache. Whoever said that harem was a dream never really understood the reality.