I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 332: The Vanadir Coalition

XXXX Continent, Duvir Province, within the Astelia family household.

As the trio made their way out of the Astelia family household, the sight of Griselle walking side by side with the Ninth Prince and his royal advisor brought a ton of shock to them as they could not help but remembered their lady’s denial in joining his team. Who would’ve thought that in the span of one night, this would turn upside down, with their lady seemingly joining Vanadir’s team?

Noticing the gazes that were on them, Griselle told the two to stop walking for a bit as she turned around and told the servants to have everyone come at the entrance of the household, to which they hastily complied as they knew that Griselle was the person who held the most sway in the household other than the family leader. After doing so, she then told Vanadir through a strand of energy, knowing the question that was on his mind, “In order to make sure that the other members of the family don’t end up joining another prince’s team, I have to do this.”

With a slightly guilty smile, Vanadir responded as they continued to walk outside, “Although I wasn’t expecting you to do something like that, I definitely appreciate it. How about I ask Dane to give you some more time to mingle with him?”

“I’d actually love that!” Griselle hastily replied with glee, only to notice that response was a bit out of line. She then let out a light cough as her face gradually turned red, even though she and Vanadir were just talking through strands. “I mean, that would be kind of you, Vanadir.”

As Vanadir cut off the connection between the two of them, he could not help but let out a light laugh. As for Dane, who did not know of the conversation between the Ninth Prince and Griselle, he had a feeling that something bad might happen to him later on.

Eventually, the three of them finally arrived at the entrance of the Astelia family household. Surprisingly, almost all of the people that lived in the household were standing in front of them, gazing at the three with curious and surprised expressions. Knowing what she had to do, Griselle then stepped forward and cleared her throat, attracting the attention of everyone before saying.

“From this day forth until the end of the war for the throne, I, Griselle Astelia of the Astelia family, shall be a part of the Ninth Prince’s team. Under the rules of the family, once a family member of the Astelia family decides to side with a member of royalty, they would side with them until the end, so I would like everyone to deny all requests of entering another prince’s team.”

After Griselle was finished with what she had to say, all of the people in front of them lightly nodded in response to her words as it was indeed part of their rules. Of course, there were a few that could not help but have unsightly expressions as they were going to use this chance to side themselves with one of the princes and obtain an obscene amount of riches for doing so.

Taking in a deep breath, she then looked at the person to his right, beckoning him to step forward as she continued, “To officiate this matter, I would like Prince Vanadir Seraph to swear an oath in front of everyone here.”

“What?” Being made to swear an oath out of the blue, Vanadir could not help but feel perplexed until Griselle leaned into his ear and whispered, “Just say that you’ll protect the Astelia family from any harm and that you wouldn’t let us lead to downfall or whatever. As long as it has something to do with the family, they’ll definitely accept.”

“Haah…if you say so.” Letting out a light sigh only he could hear, Vanadir stepped in front of Griselle and mustered the most domineering voice he could force out. Taking in a deep breath, he then shouted, “I, Prince Vanadir Seraph, shall make sure that Griselle Astelia shall be well taken care of during the duration she’s in the kingdom. I will also make sure that her family would be protected from as much external entities as possible, while also giving them access to the contacts that I have in the economic sector to make their businesses prosper. From this day forth, Griselle Astelia is now officially a part of my, Vanadir Seraph’s team.”

Woooohh!

After Vanadir was finished with the oath he came up with on the spot, a wave of cheers and applause came from the people in front of them as they were glad that the Ninth Prince would be supporting them until the war for the throne was finished. As for Dane, who listened to the oath, he could not help but scratch his head before sending a strand of energy towards him as he said, “Your Highness, you do know you have to keep your words, right?”

“The sacrifices I have to make being a prince,” Vanadir let out a sigh as he replied. He then added, “Once we get back to the pavilion, give Griselle a list of my contacts. Of course, make sure that the list goes through me first, lest we want to her to find some contacts she wouldn’t want to see.”

“As you wish, Your Highness.” Dane lightly nodded before cutting off the connection between them. He then went ahead and grabbed two large mana stones from a rift he opened before clutching them with both hands. After that, he urged the Ninth Prince and Griselle to come closer to him as a magic circle soon appeared on where they were standing. In less than an instant, the three of them had disappeared from the sight of the people from the Astelia family as they made their way to Vanadir’s pavilion.

…

XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, at Vanadir’s pavilion.

“Is it possible for you to accompany me when we’re free, Dane? I have a few places in mind that I want to go to,” Griselle said to Dane, who was beside her as they got closer and closer to Vanadir’s pavilion. In response, Dane’s mouth twitched before lightly smiling as he responded, “I’ll tell you when I’m free, Lady Griselle. As you know, I’m an Instructor of the Arcana Tower, so I can’t just go with you on a whim.”

“I see…” Griselle said in response, slightly pouting her lips out in disappointment. Noticing this, Dane could not help but let out a sigh as he knew that he would have to accede to her requests. As for Vanadir, who was behind them all this time, he inwardly let out laughter as the situation in front of him was just too hilarious for him. Nevertheless, nothing happened after that, arriving in front of the Ninth Prince’s pavilion a couple of minutes later.

Naturally, the three of them made their way to the guest room since that was the best place to entertain the members of his new team. But just as they arrived, the three of them could not help but notice a black-haired woman sipping on a cup of hot chocolate as she sat lazily on one of the sofas. Recalling the other members on Vanadir’s team, this woman was none other than Valentia, the only healer Vanadir had on his team for now.

“Oh, glad to see you two back.” Valentia lightly smiled as she placed her cup of hot chocolate down on the coffee table. Just as she was about to stand up and bow in front of Vanadir as a way to keep up formalities, she then noticed the silver-haired woman beside them, prompting her to let out an excited shriek as she dashed towards her and said, “Griselle, I wasn’t expecting to see you here!”

“Valentia?!” Griselle, who saw Valentia getting closer to her, got excited as well as she opened up her arms in order to prepare for a tight embrace. While the two of them were in a tight embrace, Vanadir could not help but scratch his head, realizing that the two knew each other from how they reacted.

“Valentia, you should’ve told me that you knew Griselle,” Vanadir said with a light sigh. “If you did, then we wouldn’t have stayed there for over a day.”

“Well, you didn’t bother telling me that you were actually going to go rope Griselle into your team,” Valentia looked at Vanadir and replied, maintaining a tight embrace with Griselle as the two haven’t met each other in so long. Although it may not look like it, with Vanadir being Valentia’s cousin and Griselle’s childhood friend, it was no surprise that the two knew each other and have even kept in touch.

Fortunately, after some time, the two of them released each other from their embrace, letting out a light chuckle as they recalled what they used to do back in the past. Seeing that the two seemed to be finished catching up on old times, Vanadir then called the attention of the three as he said, “Since the four of us are here, how about we bring in the fifth member of the team and hold our first official meeting?”

“Dane, is it fine if you teleport Erea here?” he then looked at Dane and asked, to which Dane replied with a light smile, “It’ll be my pleasure, Your Highness.”

Whoosh!

And just like that, Dane disappeared from their sights, leaving Vanadir, Valentia, and Griselle alone. Not knowing who this Erea was, Griselle decided to ask Valentia about it, saying, “Who’s this Erea Vanadir’s talking about?”

With a light giggle, Valentia replied, “She’s a cutie, that’s for sure. Not only that, but she’s also an incredibly talented mage. Will you believe if she’s already a Rank 3 class wielder at the age of 15?”

“Seriously? Rank 3 at the age of 15? That’s faster than both me and you,” Griselle said in response to her words before looking at the man beside them and continuing with a grin, “And definitely tons of times faster than our Ninth Prince right here.”

Vanadir could not help but loudly cough in response as he let out an awkward chuckle. He then said in response to Griselle’s words, “I’m just making sure that my foundation is incredibly solid. Before the war for the throne starts, I’m sure you guys will be surprised to see me at the same rank you two have right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Vanadir,” Valentia replied to Vanadir’s words before letting out a peal of laughter. Soon after, Griselle let out some laughter as well, before being followed up by Vanadir. Seeing that it would take some time for Dane to bring Erea to where they were, they decided to catch up a bit more on their pasts, taking this time to clear up some past problems while reminiscing some of the good memories they made.

…

Eventually, after half an hour passed since Dane left the Ninth Prince’s pavilion, the sound of wind blowing throughout the surroundings spread throughout the room as two silhouettes appeared near the entrance of the pavilion. These two were none other than Dane and Erea.

Noticing that Vanadir and the other two were looking at them, Dane let out an awkward chuckle as he said, “I apologize for taking quite some time, Your Highness. Erea was too engrossed in learning a new spell, so I waited for her to finish before asking her to come with me.”

He then tapped on Erea’s back, which prompted Erea to respectfully bow in front of Vanadir and say, “I sincerely apologize, Your Highness.”

“Don’t worry about it, Erea,” Vanadir said in response to her apology, lightly grinning. He then pointed to the two girls beside her and said, “Come and introduce yourself to the two new members of the team, Erea. Get to know each other.”

Lightly nodding in response to Vanadir’s words, Erea was about to do what she was asked, only to be smothered in the feeling of softness from the front soon after as Griselle embraced her while saying, “She’s so cute!”

She then looked at Dane and asked, “Where did you find such a cute girl like this?”

“I don’t know if that’s the appropriate question to ask, Lady Griselle,” Dane said in response, scratching his head. Seeing that it would probably take some time for Erea to introduce herself to Griselle, and since Valentia already knew Erea, Vanadir decided that it was the right time to bring up a certain topic.

Standing up as he let out a light cough to catch their attention, he then told them, “Since the main members of the team are currently here, it’s time for us talk about something important.”

Sensing the seriousness of Vanadir’s tone, the others went silent as they listened to what he had to say. With all of them focused on his next words, he then took in a deep breath before saying, “We need to come up with a name for our team.”

“That’s all?” Valentia scratched her head, wondering if Vanadir was playing a joke on them. Surprisingly, Vanadir nodded with sincerity as he replied, “I mean it. Sure, you can laugh at me behind my back for bringing this up, but would you guys really want to fight under a team that has a bland name?”

“I don’t really mind bland team names, Your Highness,” Dane responded before looking at the other three. He then continued, “I may not be sure about the others though.”

“Well, whatever name works with me, as long as it doesn’t sound stupid,” Valentia said after Dane was finished talking, to which Griselle continued, “Same here.”

“Hmm…” As Vanadir lightly nodded at their words, he then pondered over a good team name they could use. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to come up with a good name as he looked at them with a grin and asked, “How about we call our team the Vanadir Coalition?”

“Too self-centered,” Valentia hastily replied.

“Definitely selfish,” Griselle followed up.

“I think it embodies the whole purpose of the team. I think it’s nice.” Surprisingly, Erea was not against the name. In fact, she was even fine with that being the name of the team.

“Ah! If Erea thinks it’s nice then I’m fine with it!” Listening to Erea’s response, Valentia hastily changed her opinion, which was followed up by Griselle saying, “Same here!”

At this point, Vanadir could not help but look at Erea with an expression of gratitude, though in actuality, Erea couldn’t care less about the name of the team. With the name finalized, Vanadir then announced, “From now on, the Ninth Prince’s team shall now be called the Vanadir Coalition!”

“…”

“…okay, now I see why you guys said it sounded selfish.”