In the end, it took Justinian some cheating to actually beat his own stone guards; their durability was quite literally as tough as his walls.

Making a simple sword quite literally does no damage to them.

What Justinian did was simple; the instant his sword met the stone construct's body, he immediately dispelled his ability, creating the illusion of them being destroyed with one swing.

But in actuality, he couldn't even take them down with the equipment he currently had on.

"That was... tougher than expected..."

He laughed, the crowd already spreading the news of what had just happened.

"You didn't need to do that, you know? I'm pretty sure most wouldn't want to go to war with us already."

Cassia smirked. After the defeat of the Holy Allied Territories, there was no way anyone would dare to make another assault on him.

"Just think of it as an allowance."

Justinian dispelled his armour, fixing his hair as it was ruined from the fighting.

"You can really just create equipment out of thin air, huh?" Maria, beside Cassia, whistled, impressed.

"I was surprised as well, but now that I'm an arcanist myself, it wasn't that surprising anymore."

Cassia replied, showing off by summoning Winterfang out of thin air.

An action that definitely wasn't missed by the people who were still around.

"Lady Maria."

A paladin appeared, holding a piece of parchment and handing it to Maria.

She unrolled it, reading its contents, and what she saw was definitely not positive; her face quite literally turned into a frown the instant she saw it.

"Him again...?"

"What is it?" Justinian asked.

"It's Marquis Donovan... some men just can't take a no for an answer."

Cassia sympathised with her; she herself had a fair deal of annoying men to deal with before rumours of her being Justinian's lover were spread.

"Donovan...? I've gotten my fair share of offers from him."

"Really!? Then you should know how annoying it gets, and as a princess, I can't just outright deny him."

"I can fix that." Justinian raised his hand, smirking.

"I don't trust that look in your face." Cassia frowned, her arms crossed.

"W-What...?" Maria raised a brow.

Justinian was a man himself, and he knew full well how to stop a man from courting a girl, and how? Simply embarrass the man hard enough until he just gives up.

And in a feudal society, he had a bunch of ideas on how to execute that plan.

And besides... Marquis Donovan wasn't just a simple nobody; he had a connection with the novel that Justinian planned to take advantage of.

He was just lucky enough that Donovan came without needing an invitation.

Justinian explained his plan to Maria, including everything except his actual motivations for helping, and that was enough for her to accept.

And Cassia also looked very on board; she herself wanted to see the man who pestered her so much get a little bit of karma.

*** Guest Room

"Sorry for the wait, Marquis."

Maria entered the room, bowing.

Donovan himself was sitting on a royal sofa, a huge mahogany table in front of him that was already prepared with snacks and tea of all kinds.

Even some he hadn't tasted before, one of Justinian's own recipes, once again.

"It's no problem, Princess Maria."

Donovan himself wasn't bad-looking; he was quite the opposite. The problem, however, was that just being good-looking wasn't enough for him to get the love he wanted.

"A-And... Lord Justinian!?"

Donovan stood up he was complacent with the princess due to her kindness, but for Justinian, he was absolutely terrified of the man.

"I know you didn't ask for me, but if a marquis himself comes to visit my capital, then I should of course come to greet him myself, don't you agree?"

Justinian gave a sly smile, looking at the ring that Donovan wore in his left hand, a ring he needed if he were to become as strong as Julius.

The Ring of Wealth.

By its name alone, it was obvious it wasn't a normal ring; in fact, it was another arcanist artifact gifted by the gods themselves.

And who else than Mithral to grant it?

A ring that would activate its special effects once the right requirements were achieved.

An item strong enough to turn a literal village into a continental superpower, but unfortunately, it was in the hands of Donovan.

The ruler of a fairly average marquisate that wasn't able to use the ring to its full advantage.

'I wonder if I could just buy it off him...'

Justinian thought to himself, sitting down on the sofa opposite him, beside Maria.

Cassia, however, was nowhere in sight; her presence was not at all needed in an event like this, and... she had other stuff to prepare in the meanwhile.

"You can sit down, you know?" Justinian crossed his legs, amused at Donovan quite literally waiting for confirmation to sit down.

He might be a marquis, but to a duke, he was quite literally an ant.

"T-Thank you, Lord Justinian..."

He bowed, sitting down and trying to calm his nerves.

"A-As the letter had laid out, will you really not consider, Lady Maria?"

Donovan spoke, rubbing his hands together, his way of distracting himself from Justinian's presence.

But his action only made it worse, unintentionally giving focus to the ring on his finger.

'I need that goddamn ring.'

Justinian yelled out in his mind, his inner collector lashing out.

To him, it was like seeing a super-rare artifact in a game, but obtaining it required a very complicated process.

"Lord Justinian?" Donovan noticed Justinian's insistent staring. "D-Do you need something?"

This was Justinian's chance.

"That is an interesting ring you got there. Care to explain how you got it?"

Donovan smiled widely at Justinian's question, but it wasn't the reaction he was expecting at all.

"Oh! This little thing!?" Donovan tapped on the ring. "It was actually gifted by Mithral himself if you can manage to believe it!"

He shared in a tone that was like a child bragging to his friends about the new toy his parents bought him.

And Justinian couldn't judge him; what he had was quite literally a national treasure.

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