The Fifth Volume: The New Possibilities

Teleportation circles, Valiyer Prefecture.

"YOUR HIGHNESSSSSS!" Dennis yelled from a hundred meters away as soon as he saw Lith and started waving.

His yell was loud enough for people to divert their attention to him. Thankfully, this was the teleportation area and people were used to loud greetings such as this.

"Oh, he's here." Lith said with a smile.

"As loud as ever." Ralph, who was already there, said while shaking his head.

"Is that your friend, little cousin?" Alea asked with a smile, happy to see more people join them.

Lith nodded. "He's a loud one, so don't mind him."

Dennis ran towards Lith and once he reached, he saw Ralph and a beautiful blonde elf standing close to Lith.

Surprised with the new addition to the party of three, Dennis looked at Lith and pointing at Alea, asked, "Your Highness she is?"

"Dennis, it's rude to point at someone." Ralph lectured.

Dennis put his finger down. "Sorry."

Lith smiled. "No worries, we're all friends." He then walked close to Alea and holding her hand, introduced, "Alea, that is Dennis. And Dennis, this is Alea."

"Hello~" Alea said with a happy smile.

Dennis did a curtsy bow and said in a more formal speech, "Greetings."

He had no idea who the person in front was, but he was smart enough to read the room and could tell that she had a close relationship with the Prince. Maybe she is his girlfriend? Who knows. Better to be safe than sorry, Dennis thought.

Lith and Ralph nodded simultaneously as they felt proud of Dennis. For once, he could read the room and tell Alea was someone important to Lith and wasn't informal.

Lith turned to look at Alea and said, "by the way, he's the son of the Draculas."

Alea seemed surprised with the introduction. "We have a Emperor Rank powerhouse's son joining us?"

Dennis rubbed his nose as he could feel the other party was impressed. He striked a pose, putting his hands on his waist and looking in the other direction, trying to appear as if he wasn't hearing the conversation.

'Come on, come on, keep the praises coming.' Dennis thought to himself internally.

Lith nodded. "Yes."

"Haww. The son of a sin and the son of an Emperor Rank isn't our little party very strong?" Alea assessed.

"Hmm, hmm." Dennis couldn't help but break character and nod his head repeatedly. "Lady, you're damn right. Our party is gonna be the strongest, haha!"

Ralph, noticing that Dennis was starting to become cocky, tapped his shoulder and said calmly, "you're right. Our party is indeed strong with the Vampire Prince and the Elven Princess in it."

"Yeaaaa eh? What?" Dennis immediately turned around to look at Ralph.

Ralph smirked in response and didn't elaborate further.

"What did you say, Ralph? Say it again!" Dennis put his hands on Ralph's shoulder and asked for an explanation.

Ralph smiled and refused to elaborate.

Dennis knitted his brows and holding Ralph's collar, shook him to and fro and asked again, "you cotton candy-haired sugar freak! REPEAT IT!"

Lith and Alea chuckled watching the fiasco whole Ralph was having a lot of fun looking at Dennis itch to know more.

"Alright you two, we need to leave now." Lith chimed in and separated Dennis from Ralph.

"But, Your Highness" Dennis protested.

Lith smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, she is the Elven Princess. Daughter of the Elf Queen herself."

"WHAAAAAAAAAA"

"Close your mouth, stupid. Your breath stinks." Ralph manually closed Dennis's mouth and commented.

Ralph then turned to Lith. "Let's leave."

Lith nodded and holding Alea's hand, the four people left for the teleportation circle.

Since everyone in the group was a big shot, there was no need for them to stand in queues and skipping it, they immediately got to their Circle and teleported to the Mermaid Islands.

Mermaid Islands were halfway between the gates they were supposed to go to and the Elven Continent.

It was a major tourist hub and people from all around the world arrived here during transit and enjoyed themselves a nice vacation with the seductive mermaids.

The mermaids were a major race, just shy of a Supreme Rank to be called as a main race.

Since the land was taken by many other races, the mermaids targeted the areas between two continents, that is, the oceans and islands in the middle.

Any person who needed to go from one continent to another had to be in transit in one of these islands of the mermaids, thereby bringing lots of revenue for them and expanding their wealth.

People could directly teleport to another continent, but it was expensive and going via the mermaid routes was usually cheaper. Plus, they get to listen to the melodies of the mermaids and be around them. It was a better option any day.

Lith and his group didn't have a choice but to arrive at the mermaid islands. The route to the gates was from this place.

Although Lith could ask any of his wives or maid to drop him to the location he wanted to go, it was a bit embarrassing as he felt like a child being dropped to the playground with his friends.

Better to spend some time and take a long cut than get embarrassed were Lith's thoughts. In any case, he would also get to hang out with his friends and future wife Alea so it wasn't a problem.

The four arrived at the mermaid islands and the sight that greeted them was thousands and thousands of mermaids roaming around everywhere, partying, hosting, working, and doing all the other odd jobs.

The tourists were enjoying themselves as well and no matter if you were a Vampire, Werewolf, Dragon, Elf, Human, or something else There was a little something for everybody.

"Hello, dear guests. Are you looking for a hotel?" No sooner did the four step foot outside the teleportation terminal, they were stormed by many mermaids asking for taxis, hotels, and whatnot.

Alea felt intimidated by the sudden crowd and Lith held her in his embrace and made the others leave them alone.

Ralph and Dennis helped him in this and after thirty minutes, they broke free from all the mermaids and found a secluded place to relax.

"Huff didn't know we would be stormed like that." Dennis lay on the grass everyone was sitting on and said with a tired tone.

"I expected something like this to happen, but it was even crazier." Ralph added.

Lith, hugging Alea in his embrace and rubbing her back, asked, "Ralph did you check the schedule? When is the latest teleport to the gates?"

Ralph took out his phone and surfing through it for a second, answered, "there's no teleports happening for the next three days. We missed the one that happened today by a few hours."

"Tch." Lith shook his head. "It's a pity. Now we need to spend time here on the islands."

"That's true." Ralph agreed. "I do have Space artifacts that can take us four to that place, but I don't think it'll be safe for us to just jump right in. Going via the normal route will give us an estimate of the dangers that lay ahead."

"Yup, you're right. I am sure we all have Space artifacts but it'll be dangerous to use them. Better be safe than sorry." Lith added. "Anyway, let's book a hotel room for us and stay there until the teleport happens."

"Alright." Ralph started typing a few things on his phone for a few seconds and as his phone chimed, he looked at Lith and said, "Done. Our hotel room is a ten minute walk from here. Let's leave."

Lith nodded and along with Alea, walked in the direction of the hotel.

"What? We're leaving already? Man we just sat down" Dennis complained.

Ralph shook his head and without saying anything, abandoned Dennis and went behind Lith.

Noticing this, Dennis immediately got up and cursed, "What the fuck!? Hey sugar freak, wait for me!"

The four soon reached their hotel and once they stepped in, despite the hotel looking grand, Lith found a few things suspicious.

The staff members were overly friendly, there were few people sitting in positions that clearly showed that they were spying.

"Yeah, Ralph, this isn't the best choice. Let's leave." Lith said and without arguing with him, Ralph and Dennis got out of the hotel.

Alea, being in a new environment, wasn't as carefree as before and stuck close to Lith, not speaking or doing anything. If it was the Elven Continent, she would be as free as a bird. But this wasn't her home ground and she was being careful.

"What happened, Your Highness?" Dennis questioned Lith.

Lith explained that he felt things there to be suspicious and understanding it, Dennis shook his head and said, "then where are we supposed to go now?"

"There's nothing to worry about." Lith said and fished out his phone from his ring.

He then dialed a number and in minutes, a black carriage pulled by sea horses arrived right in front of the four.

A mermaid wearing formal clothings got out of the carriage and bowing to Lith, said, "Our apologies for being late, sire. Please get on board and grant us permission to show our hospitality."

'What the hell!? Such extravagance? How did His Highness well, never mind. He's the Prince, he can do anything.' Dennis thought to himself and shook his head.

Lith and his party boarded the carriage and without making any noise, the carriage soon disappeared into the shadows, leaving behind a mark on the ground where it stood previously.

Four bandits immediately arrived at the place the carriage was and one of them said, "should we follow it and loot the people?"

"We should. We should. Those people look wealthy." Another bandit commented.

"Wait a second." The third chimed in and interrupted them.

"What?"

"Look at that!"

The bandits felt annoyed, but had a look at what their comrade was pointing at, only to feel a chill down their spine.

The mark the carriage left it showed nine roses arranged in a circular pattern.

"N-Nine Roses H-Hotel!?"