"It wouldn't hurt to tell you."
As Artoria spoke, small flames flickered at her fingertips. This was the power of Rune magic, something she occasionally practiced privately when she was alone.
She looked down at the flames at her fingertips, then said, "Recently, ghosts have often wandered around the royal palace. Some of them transform into human shapes and have harmed many people."
"Ghosts...?" Asher repeated.
"Do you find it strange?" She turned her head to look at Asher.
"No... rather, I'm used to seeing them," Asher said.
There were undead near the Land of Shadows. Some of them possessed consciousness, while others were just unconscious undead wandering around. Asher, who had been frightened when he first saw these undead, had now become almost accustomed to them.
Because Scáthach had told him before that some of these undead were warriors born in the Land of Shadows who, after death, turned into undead to guard their territories and protect their homeland.
Although their combat power wasn't as strong as when they were alive, if they formed an army, they were still a force to be reckoned with.
"Did ghosts only recently start appearing in your place?" Asher asked.
Artoria nodded. "Accurately speaking, two days ago."
"But at that time, they weren't as rampant as they are now. At first, Father didn't pay too much attention... or rather, because of my uncle's restrictions—" Artoria shook her head and fell silent.
It wasn't good for Asher to know too much. This was her country's affair, and it wouldn't be good if Asher got involved.
"Uncle..." Asher murmured, and a certain person... or rather, a dragon... instantly came to his mind.
The White Dragon—the Usurper King, Vortigern Pendragon.
He was King Uther's elder brother and Artoria's uncle. Vortigern's existence itself represented the will of Britain, because he was Britain itself.
However, in this world, Asher didn't know whether Vortigern existed as a white dragon or as a human.
Asher shook his head, no longer thinking about it.
He was too weak now. This kind of thing wasn't something he or the current Artoria could touch.
As for the undead Artoria mentioned, he also found it a bit unbelievable. Why would undead suddenly invade Britain out of nowhere?
Was it related to the Usurper King? Or perhaps, Big Sister Morgan?
Honestly, Asher didn't want to connect Morgan le Fay with the undead that had appeared in Britain this time. In the four years or so he had been in contact with Morgan le Fay, he really didn't think Morgan was a witch.
Because what currently resided in Morgan le Fay was the goddess of death. She was both Artoria's elder half-sister and the goddess of death. Although she always did things that were hard to understand and often teased him, he couldn't feel Morgan's malice.
If the witches of today were all such good actors, and had been acting for four years, then he had nothing to say.
"Are you listening to me, Asher?" Artoria frowned slightly, her gaze fixed on Asher.
"Ah? What's wrong?" Asher came back to his senses and asked.
"You really weren't listening, were you?" She sighed. "Sorry, forget what I just told you. The people in the royal palace will handle it. It's not a particularly troublesome matter."
"Mm," Asher could only nod.
"Then, I've explained my situation clearly to you. Shouldn't you also tell me what's going on with you today?" Artoria asked.
"Me?" Asher was taken aback. He thought for a moment, and since it wasn't a secret anyway, he roughly explained what had happened in the past two days.
"Black dragon essence blood?" Artoria's eyes widened a bit. "You and that Big Sister you mentioned went to the dragon's nest to steal the black dragon's essence blood?"
Asher nodded.
"Weren't you discovered?" Artoria said somewhat incredulously.
"We were discovered and chased all the way," Asher said. "But we still managed to escape into the Land of Shadows."
"You guys are really brave," Artoria praised softly. "You actually dared to steal something from a dragon's nest."
One had to know that a dragon's intelligence was no less than that of humans, and they valued their essence blood even more than gold and silver jewels. Yet this person had actually stolen the essence blood and was still alive and kicking in front of her. It was simply a miracle.
"Because that dragon was injured, and we only secretly went there after knowing it had left the dragon's nest. We didn't expect to be noticed immediately after stealing its essence blood," Asher shook his head helplessly. "If we hadn't escaped into the Land of Shadows in time, plus Shishou's help, you would probably be burning incense for me now."
Although there was a hint of a joke in his words at the end, Asher seemed to have lingering fear.
"What do you... need black dragon essence blood for?" Artoria suddenly asked.
"Didn't I say? My physique is naturally weak. To reach the level of a normal person, even with the help of the magic cauldron, it would probably take a year. But if I have black dragon essence blood, it should be able to shorten that time."
"Integrating such a thing into your body will be very painful," Artoria warned. "You must be careful. If it goes wrong, not only will you fail to improve your physique, but you might cripple yourself for life."
Artoria's birth was the result of Merlin and King Uther creating her. They combined the bloodline of the King of Britain, the form of the Red Dragon embodiment of Britain, and a female bloodline that perfectly merged the two—this was Artoria's genesis.
She was of the Red Dragon lineage, the chosen one born to inherit the throne. Because of this, Artoria was very clear about the terrifying power contained within dragon essence blood. The power of the Red Dragon was so astonishing that even the slightly inferior Black Dragon's essence blood was definitely not to be underestimated.
"I'll be careful," Asher said. "And with Shishou around, there shouldn't be any problems."
Artoria nodded slightly, not saying anything more. But when she saw Asher's trusting look, a faint smile appeared on her face. "You trust your Shishou a lot."
"Of course, Shishou is very powerful, and I trust her very much," Asher nodded matter-of-factly.
Yesterday, he had given the black dragon essence blood to Scáthach. This was what the latter had requested. She needed to confirm the power within the black dragon essence blood and harmonize it to a certain extent before Asher could use it.
While the two were talking, the water in the pot had completely boiled, and the aroma of fish wafted out.
After scooping a bowl of fish soup for himself, Asher then scooped a bowl for Artoria.
Artoria picked up the bowl and elegantly took a small sip of the fish soup, then started using her chopsticks.
Seeing this, Asher smiled knowingly. He just picked up his bowl, about to take a sip, when he saw that the girl beside him had already finished her fish soup.
So, with a strange expression, he scooped a second bowl of fish soup for Artoria. Then, he just took a sip himself, and over there, the "battle" had already ended again.
Asher: "..."
"What's wrong?" Artoria looked at Asher.
"N-nothing... just a little surprised..." Asher said.
So, why could she eat so fast while using such elegant table manners?! And she was only fourteen! How could such a small body fit so much food?
"Forget it," Asher sighed and moved the entire pot in front of Artoria.
The two looked at each other for a moment. Artoria frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"
"For you," Asher said. "Eating one bowl at a time is too slow. Anyway, I'm only eating this one bowl. You can take care of the rest of the pot."
Artoria was clearly displeased. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked at Asher and said, "Are you teasing me, Asher?"
After all, asking her to eat an entire pot of food by herself was too much.
"No, you train every day, so it's understandable that you have a bigger appetite, right? Eat quickly, eat quickly," Asher urged.
So, under Asher's kind gaze, Artoria lowered her head and began to eat the pot of fish soup.
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter