Irnia clenched her fists. This was a chance.
One, the Labyrinth was in her kingdom, at least half of it, since it was on the border of the Belrik Kingdom and Torion Kingdom. According to the general consensus, dungeons and labyrinths belonged to those who owned the territory on which they spawned.
Others could enter by paying a price per entry, depending on the Labyrinth's rank and the entrants' rank.
Second, if this mysterious chef who received Arcane Blessing joined the Mistbound Magic Tower, she would earn more points.
Combining these two things, there was a chance the tower would help her kingdom defend against the wolf.
'I should tell Master about this kidnapping situation when she comes here.'
Irnia put away the crystal and removed the barrier as she looked at the group sitting at a table not too far away.
"Call those four parties, Duke Habort. It's time to go to the Labyrinth."
"Thanks for the food. That was supremely delicious," Lilian said before taking a sip from the glass of water, her lips parting into a smile of satisfaction.
"Indeed. To think it would be this delicious. It's easily comparable to Head Murong's cooking in terms of taste." Raashik wryly smiled.
"Aren't these buffs too good for someone your level?" Zeiling muttered. "What is your class rank, man?"
His tone had a clear shift after eating Ainen's food.
"My class rank? Secret," Ainen replied with a grin. Fresh chapters posted on novèlfire.net
"As expected. To be able to cook this food, it couldn't be lower than S-rank." Raashik laughed.
"Now that we are done, let's depart. We'll camp at the Labyrinth."
Ainen internally chuckled. Well, his class was SSS-rank, but he knew S-rank would work. After all, they didn't know what kind of class skills he actually had.
After arriving on the flying ship, Lilian looked at Ainen and said, "You don't need to hide those monsters. I can see they have bound with you, and with me here, no one will dare to take them away from you."
Zeilin looked at Ainen confusedly after hearing that. 'Monsters?'
'You heard that, girls.'
Ainen's outfit briefly glowed before the foxes appeared before him.
"This, how is this possible?" Zeiling was shocked.
"It's their innate talents. Am I correct, Madam Lilian?"
"Indeed. It's a Legendary talent of the foxes that not many can awaken. Moreover, they also have a hybrid bloodline of very high rank." Lilian blinked. "Now that I look at them clearly, I can't understand how these fellows ended up here. This bloodline…it's a bit familiar, like from the Southern Mountain's Nightrift Clan."
"What?!" Raashik was dumbfounded.
"Is that Nightrift Clan a big deal?" Zeilin curiously asked.
Ainen blinked, also curious. "I found them in the forest facing the Yurul Town. But they don't know where they came from."
"Well, since they are bound to you with their own will, it doesn't matter. If they are really lost from their parents, and they come back in the future, we'll deal with them at that time."
"Will they leave in the future?" Syl muttered in a sad voice.
Ainen smiled and patted the foxes after bending down. "If they want to go, I won't stop them. I don't have the right to lord over someone's freedom."
Saffa and the other two turned to him and barked, their eyes pure and stubborn.
'We will not go, Master!'
'That's right. We will stay with you forever.'
'Not because your food is delicious, okay? It's because we like to be with you.'
Ainen couldn't help but laugh with mirth upon hearing them.
"If that's what you want, then so be it."
"It looks like they like you quite a lot." Lilian smiled.
"Irnia. Maybe the Labyrinth spawned because of the spatial disturbance caused by that fox who teleported her cubs?" Crown Prince Maurin speculated.
"It's possible. What she used wasn't her own power, so it could have caused some disturbance in the atmosphere when the cubs teleported, causing a Labyrinth to spawn. We don't know how dungeons and labyrinth spawns appear, but they appear regularly at random places, and spatial disturbance is said to have affected their positions in the past, as observed multiple times."
Behind the Prince and Princess's carriage, there were two more carriages.
Naresh and Diana's parties sat inside one, and the other carriage had two other parties, in which there were stronger Adventurers overall. However, the leaders of these four parties were not too far from each other in terms of combat power.
Twenty minutes after they started the journey from Lainark Town, they stopped in the middle of the road as a large flying object arrived.
Everyone except Irnia was startled by their appearance.
They shifted from carriages to the airship and flew towards the Labyrinth, arriving there in a couple of minutes instead of the previously estimated two hours by the carriage.
Irnia stood beside a woman wearing a layered blue dress with black and gold embroidery pattern, and a shoulder cape with similar designs.
Yelvina Lorenos, a King-rank powerhouse, level 712.
"It looks like they are indeed at the Labyrinth." Yelvin's eyes flickered. "Good."
The airship soon landed not too far from Sacred Aurelian Magic Tower's ship at the mountain base where the giant Labyrinth gate had spawned, a hazy black veil covering its entrance.
Lilian and others had a large magic camp already prepared, which she took out from her storage ring and just put it on the ground. The group was sitting inside, telling Ainen about the Labyrinth, when Lilian sensed something and frowned.
"It looks like we have some unexpected guests. I wasn't sure at first, but that lass we saw in the town was really Irnia. She must have informed Mistbound Magic Tower about Ainen, so they are here to recruit him."
Turning to Ainen, she said, "You stay inside."
'Are they going to fight over me or what?'
'Possible, but it should be up to you on where you want to go,' Lord Black said.
Ainen walked towards the window panel of the camp and peeked outside.
Ron and Syl also squeezed in to watch outside while Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea lay on the ground, not interested.
Ainen saw two ladies approaching their camp as Lilian, Raashik, and Zeilin walked out.
"Great, I can hear them." Ainen started eavesdropping.
"I can't hear, brother."
"You two don't need to listen to them. Go play with Saffa and others."