Valerian, The Legendary

She was the one who shunned away those bullies. Valerian remembered her stature to be very righteous but watching her curled up in a dark corner of the cave, he was shocked. He turned to look at Priscilla, who said, “When I arrived here, I saw these four guys pushing themselves on her.”

Valerian’s gaze turned cold and he looked at the young men who were laying down on the ground, unconscious. He nodded and said, “You did well.”

That said, he walked closer to Grace, who was cowering in fear. He did not say anything to startle her, as she had buried her head in her knees and cast a healing spell, Sanatio Lucis.

The reason he did not break the silence was that the girl was still in a state of shock and any sudden noise, might startle her. The healing spells also had another passive effect that could calm down one’s state of mind. Also, Valerian saw that the exposed legs of the girl were bruised in different places, and the spell would cure them as well.

Then he gazed at Priscilla and gestured for her to approach the girl. She was a female and it would be easier for her to get closer to a fellow woman. Valerian cast his gaze onto the four people and fell into deep thought, he was not sure what to do with these guys, but letting them off easy was not even considered in his mind.

Priscilla crouched in front of Grace and said, “It is fine now, see I am here to help you, sister.”

She spoke gently and then she reached out to pat the girl on her head softly. Grace had calmed down but the shock in her mind was still apparent, and she shivered and yelled, “No, spare me, please.”

Priscilla quickly hugged her and as Grace struggled she patted her back and said, “It’s okay, it is all okay now.”

.....

Valerian had no idea how to deal with this sort of emotional outburst and that was why he called for Priscilla to intervene. After a few minutes of crying out her grievance, Grace calmed down, she looked around to see the four imbeciles laying on the ground, while a big Leopard stood at the entrance with a young boy with silver hair.

Valerian had grown taller and his face had become slightly more refined, but he was still not unrecognizable. Grace mumbled, “Valerian?”

She had not seen him in a whole year, and this time, when she was almost pushed to the edge of despair, someone came to rescue him, and she did not expect the one who helped her was the guy who had helped her in the past.

Priscilla knew that Valerian knew this girl but even the girl knew him, this stoked the fire of curiosity in her heart and she asked, “Miss, do you know our prince?”

She deliberately addressed Valerian as the prince. Grace was surprised and confused and said, “I know him as I used to be from the same orphanage as he was, but why do you call him the prince?”

Priscilla nodded and said, “You might not know, but about a couple of months ago, the royal family of Lumen Empire, the Verus household, adopted him as their son. He is now the fourth prince of the empire and a battlemage with enormous talent.”

Grace was shocked, she did not expect something like this and opened her eyes wide. She wanted to ask Priscilla about the matter in detail but she was interrupted by a calm voice, “Priscilla, if Lady Grace has calmed down, bring her over, she needs to decide what to do with this scum of humanity.”

Priscilla chuckled and said, “Your Highness, are you very angry? You could have killed them directly, you know?”

Valerian rolled his eyes at her and said, “It is not that I do not want to kill these guys, but it will just raise too much trouble for Lady Grace, after all, we still do not know what the exact situation is, how can you encourage me to act recklessly, see if I complain to my sister.”

Priscilla stuck out her tongue and helped Grace stand up and led her to the mouth of the cave. Grace had her eyes locked on to Valerian’s face, she was shocked to see him speak. When the two girls came closer, the young prince said, “Lady Grace, we meet again. I wonder if you still remember me?”

Grace was in a daze and did not respond, Valerian thought she forgot about him and said, “A year ago, I was leaving the orphanage in the town when you helped me from humiliation at the hand of the other children. I have yet to express my gratitude to you properly.”

Grace woke up from her stupor and frantically waved her hands as she said, “You think too much, you do not owe me anything, Val... no, Your Highness. I only did what I could to try and return the debt I owe you.”

Valerian was surprised and asked, “What do you mean?”

He did not even remember meeting Grace before the encounter at the doors. The lady thought for a bit and after organizing her thoughts she said, “Your highness, when you were two years old, Mother Diligentia asked me to look after you, at that time I was eight years old. It was just before the oracle visited the orphanage that I was adopted. My father is the mayor of the town, when he heard about the prophecy, he decided to take me to a oracle in the woods near a border City in Sapientia.

That oracle was wise and he had long gave up on the secular interactions. When father found him, the old sir said that it was not that the child’s misfortune rubbed onto me, but the other way around. He predicted a few things that could happen to me in the future, and told me to accumulate merit by doing good deeds and even changed my name for Mellow to Grace.

However, no one knows better than me that despite all the good that I have tried to do, my misfortune still follows me, somehow I escape it, but today, I was caught up in it. It was also that visit to the old sir that made me realize that I was the cause of your predicament, and if not for my existence, your life might have been better.”

Valerian looked at her in utter disbelief, his gaze was complicated and Grace could not predict whether he was angry at her or not. She could not tell the emotions of this guy. Thinking about it she was about to kneel down when Valerian placed his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from kneeling as he said, “You think too much. Stand up first.”

Grace stood up and the boy continued, “I lost my parents before I met you, right? What could be a bigger misfortune than that? It is not you that caused me to suffer. Mother Diligentia always said that it was the greed of that Oracle that made me an outcast. You owe me nothing, and even today, you suffered not because you want it, but because this group of feral dogs lost their minds to lust.

Do not think too much, let bygones be bygones. Since you looked after me in the orphanage, that makes us somewhat of a sibling. I will address you as Sister Grace from now on, if you do not mind, now can you please tell me, who these boys are, and what is the reason that you are with them in the woods alone?”

Grace was surprised to see him being so open minded, she thought that someone who had suffered so much in their early life, would always hold prejudice against those who hurt them. Valerian’s open hearted action had just made her at ease but also guilty for some reason. She was now a twenty years old youthful lady, and her wisdom was high as well, but what Valerian said made her feel inferior.

She said, “These four people are all sons of the wealthy people in the town, they all suggested that the youth of the town came to the forest to explore and train themselves. They are all warriors of grade two, and we also have three mages in the team, along with four commoners. A total of ten people came in the forest, however, we suddenly came across a group of fire ants and separated. Just when I thought these people would help me, they cornered me and were about to force me when this lady appeared to my rescue.”

Valerian was surprised at this coincident and nodded as he said, “So what do you want me to do with them?”

Grace hesitated and said, “They are warriors while I am just a commoner, how can I do anything to them? My father will be put into a difficult position.”

Valerian thought about it and realized that not everyone was from the royal family or exceptionally skilled to be favored by the gifted, so he nodded and said, “Let us find the rest of your people and see what the situation is before taking any action.”

Grace nodded and said, “I will follow your arrangement.”

She did not ask him to prove his identity, because the clothes Priscilla wore had the royal crest on them. Not everyone could wear this crest, Valerian let out a low growl and Mathiyus walked closer to Grace, shocking her to death, when Valerian said, “Get on his back, but do not pull the fur. He will be angry. Let us go to collect some debt.”