True Love's Seventh Kiss

Ch.33 Sword Saints

Gurrand explained. "There is a certain nearly deserted monastery in the mountains of my territory. They still practice Ki martial arts and some archaic medicines. Nothing close to a miracle cure, but they cultivate this flower and process it as part of a cleansing ritual to flush the body of impurities. After some study and undergoing it, myself I think it can provide some temporary relief for your condition. And with more research it could be the key to a permanent cure."

Novak picked up the glass jar and examined the plant, "Do you really think it will work."

"It's the best I can come up with, when I heard there was a dragon in the area, I thought a dragon heart transplant would also be an effective solution. But I would say that is off the table at this point." Gurrand moved his arm so he could properly hold Delora's hand which caused her to blush slightly as she took a bite of some food on her fork.

"Mommy, is uncle Gurnand gonna to fix daddy?" Erabelle asked.

"He is going to try sweetheart. We are all going to try to fix daddy, just like Mary and Daddy fixed mommy." Irina said as she wiped Erabelle's face and then Stormy waddled up to her on to get the same attention, so Irina wiped the outside of his toothy maw as well. Erabella smiled brightly at her mom for taking good care of Stormy. Stormy saw this and smiled at Irina with its many pointed teeth.

Irina was charmed by how cute it was, in that odd way that some humans found pugs, Dobermans, or rottweilers cute while others found them scary, ugly, or threatening. Neither Marion nor Novak found the thing particularly cute like the girls did, but the monster had its merits. Since it did such a good job keeping Erabelle safe last night, both of them put the whole aesthetic argument aside and accepted that it had earned its place as the family guard "dog".

"She managed to make it hatch and it imprinted on little Belle. Storm Krakens are wonderfully intelligent companions if you raise them right." Delora explained as if she were talking about a puppy and not something that was going to grow to the size of... well a dragon if not bigger.

"I'm more concerned with where they got it." Gurrand said as Stormy waddled up to him. It flapped its wings cutely while examining him. It then looked very focused at the piece of meat at the end of his fork and licked its chompers with an overly prehensile tongue that not only reached across its "lips" but also over its whole eyeball. Gurrand grimaced at the reproachable eyeball monster but using his keen judgment decided that making a friend was better than making an enemy.

Gurrand held out his fork and the eyeball monster didn't hesitate as it ate the meat and fork together without any hesitation. It gulped both down, burped, licked its chomps and waddled back to Erabelle.

"Charming..." was all Gurrand managed to say as he looked at the part of his fork that had been sheared off by Stormy's teeth.

"He was a gift from the new patron god of the Cliffgards. I suppose that would make Stormy a type of divine beast." Delora said as she offered a forkful of food to Gurrand.

If you saw them flirting like this, you never would have guessed they knew each other for only a day. With one hand under the fork to catch any falling food Delora said 'ahhhh' to entice Gurrand to open his mouth and accept her offering. And from the dress she was wearing she was seducing him with no small amount of cleavage directed towards him for his eyes only.

Hiding the blood rushing to face he leaned over and accepted both the food and the treat.

He sat up and said. "That makes perfect sense to me," Gurrand said with his mouth full and a happy glint in his eye.

Under normal circumstances a person would have asked a few more questions but Duke Gurrand was surprisingly flexible. But Marion was pretty sure Delora helped the situation, and he seemed to be best friends with both his parents because they so easily teased the most predominant warrior and sword saint in the Empire.

Marion wasn't stupid, and his father had been thorough with his education. There were a total of six sword saints in the Empire. Duke Gurrand Highwall, Marquis Browning Westhold, Adventurer's Guildmaster "Big" Bertha Staton, Knight Grand Commander Colt Pacer, Lady Veronica Derringer, and "S" Ranked Adventurer Thomas Winchester. And the honorary seventh slot was reserved for none other than Novak Cliffgard. And that was because he was able to keep pace with Gurrand, Colt, Veronica, and Browning at the Academy all despite his body's conditions he gained their respect enough to sway public opinion. He also seemed to have ties with the others although the accounts differed wildly.

The "Generation of the Seven Sword Saints" was considered one of the greatest generations of geniuses since the war against the demons and the Founding of the Empire. It was not only because its previous generation produced no sword saints, it was also because of the "13 Archmages" that were produced as well.

In a similar fashion to Marion's father, Marion's Mother was also the honorary 13th archmage. But her situation was less endearing. Novak had earned the pride and respect from his peers, while Irina was infamous and had earned the fear of her peers. To the point of being called the 13th Witch, instead of the 13th Archmage.

This was in large part to Irina's peers being intellectuals with some combat prowess. While Irina was exceptional with her Combat prowess and intelligent enough to keep pace. It was this enmity with her peers that caused a rumor that she had been the victim of sabotage which is how she received her curse, but she had too many enemies and no evidence to narrow down the list.

"Marion, what are your plans for today?" Irina asked as dabbed her mouth with a napkin after she finished her sixth helping of breakfast.

Marion, who had just finished his eighth serving, let the maid take his plate but didn't request another. "Corsair gifted me a new sword style last night, I was thinking of getting some exercise and getting a feel for it."

"That sounds fun. I'm going to have some guests over so Delora and I will be busy and unable to entertain Gurrand much. You should invite Henrick over and have Gurrand and Novak show you boys that little game they came up with during school." Irina suggested. "And stay on the green by the west wing loft. That way I can keep an eye on your father to make sure he and Gurrand don't do anything foolish."

She stared down both Novak and Gurrand. Irina was probably the only woman in the Empire that could make them both pout like school boys.