"Little fella, you should eat more! The roasted flood dragon leg is just—"",
Shake. Shake.",
"Come on! Don't be so shy! Think of me as your grandfather."",
"…."",
"Aw, you poor thing. You lost your parents and grandparents to those scum humans. Even your brain took a big hit from the attack, right? Must be hard, unable to speak and all."",
Stare. Stare.",
"I get it. I get it. I won't remind you of those days…."",
Nod. Nod.",
"But eat just a bit mor—"",
Fierce shake.",
"Sigh…" Mendis' shoulders drooped as he glanced at the stubborn Varian.",
Varian glanced back with a neutral expression. But inside his mind, he was cursing this abyssal without stopping.",
'Even if I'm a level 7 body awakener, my stomach is about to burst! Did you find out my identity and try to kill me with excess eating?'",
If Mendis insisted, Varian would've really thought so.",
Thankfully, the archduke waved to the maids who cleared up the dining table and cleaned them up.",
"So, what do you want to do now? I'll support you as much as possible." Mendis patted his chest and gave a reassuring smile.",
Varian interlocked his fingers and put on a contemplative expression.",
Thankfully, he stopped himself from speaking or he'd have fucked up.",
Right.",
He learned something when Mendis dug through his 'files' in the demon abyss database.",
Apparently, the reason abyssal Var couldn't speak as he was attacked by a human mind awakener a few years ago.",
The damage remained and he had difficulty speaking, forming normal facial expressions, and connecting with others in general.",
Of course, Var himself didn't know much about this nor did many people around him in the Teran city.",
So, Mendis didn't suspect when the silent abyssal turned out to be a genius with so much power.",
With his mental condition, Var avoided interacting with others and thus, didn't get a chance to show his powers.",
Mendis thought that the boy who lost his family trained hard for revenge.",
That's why he was willing to support anything Var wanted to do.",
As if deciding his choice, Varian tapped his bracelet.",
[Hunting Xanders]",
"Xanders, no wonder." Mendis' eyes narrowed slightly and he chuckled. "They're the ones who made you orphans."",
"!"",
Was it a coincidence? Yes.",
Was it too good to be true? No.",
Since Var's parents were highly accomplished warriors, it was only natural that they fought the best warriors of the earth—Xanders.",
So, them dying to Xanders was a likely scenario.",
"Even though Xanders as a whole degraded, their geniuses are still one of the very best in the humans. It's going to be risky." Mendis tapped his chair like he was considering the decision.",
After a few seconds, he gave a slight but strong nod. "Blood for blood. Life for life."",
Varian sighed in relief.",
Mendis tapped his bracelet and instructed someone. "You can join the teams hunting Xanders. They'll be meeting up at the demon king's castle this evening. Good luck."",
Varian nodded and stood up to take leave.",
As he reached the door, Mendis' hesitant voice sounded.",
"There's a herb that can cure your condition, Galini, it works for even the worst of mental damages, but we only have one stalk per year. That kid, Ron will get it tonight."",
Varian's body stiffened.",
Galini…",
Come to think of it, that herb was also the cure for the condition of Kreo's daughter.",
Seeing Prince Var stopping in his tracks, Mendis thought he wanted the herb.",
"Demon king assigned it to him already. I'll get one for you next year. Maybe you'll have enough credit yourself already, haha." He said like it couldn't be helped.",
'…I need it.' Varian's eyes flashed and he nodded lightly before taking leave.",
Seeing Prince Var leave, Mendis sighed. "If only you were born on that side, you would've had the best training resource and had a hope to reach the Celestial Rank…poor thing."",
*** *** ***",
The gathering of the hunting teams was in one of the many meeting rooms of the demon king castle.",
Reaching the avenue early, Varian had been waiting for the teams to gather.",
The door creaked and Varian swiftly looked up. ",
It was an unexpected abyssal entered.",
"Var?" Ron smiled and sat beside him. "So, you're going to join the S-grade teams right away, eh."",
Varian gave a slight nod.",
S-grade were the top hunting teams.
The rest of the new princes were going to start from D. At best, it'd be C.