The Ring and the Invitation

After confirming that Edward had dealt with the two Vampires, Princess Andrea finally relaxed. She ordered Reinhardt to dismiss the large contingent of City Guards behind them, and the four of them accompanied Edward to his living room.

The tension in their nerves eased, and they sat down on the living room sofa. Edward asked them to wait and went to his bedroom to wash up and change into formal clothes. The entire process took no more than five minutes, which amazed Alice, who was always slow with her morning routine. Edward rolled his eyes, thinking that girls were the same in all worlds, even needing to look beautiful before going out to fight monsters. He wondered how long she had taken to get ready that morning.

By then, Edward could hear the stomachs of the four people on the sofa rumbling. Princess Andrea even gave him a shy smile. He then tied on an apron and began cooking in the open-plan kitchen on one side of the living room.

The breakfast he made was very simple: five eggs fried on the griddle and the same number of sausages. He also heated up milk and bread, and thoughtfully prepared a large bowl of vegetable salad.

He made these dishes to cater to the tastes of people in this world, who favored Western styles from their past lives. He couldn't possibly serve Princess Andrea Chinese breakfast items like fried dough sticks and soy milk, or fried cakes and hot and sour soup. Perhaps Cantonese dim sum might suit their palate. He could try that next time, though it was too troublesome to make.

As Edward skillfully prepared breakfast, he explained the events of the previous night to Princess Andrea and the other three. They listened with exclamations of amazement.

Alice couldn't help but ask, "That was a Vampire Count, wasn't it? A monster equivalent to a Great Knight, even more difficult to deal with than a Great Knight. How did you defeat them so easily?"

"Please, make yourselves comfortable at the dining table. Breakfast is ready," Edward called them to eat, began plating the food, and replied, "It was mainly about finding the right method. The Vampire's weakness to sunlight is too obvious."

"Sir, do you also know our Holy Light Technique? As far as I know, only our Holy Light Technique within each Sect has an effect similar to sunlight against Vampires," asked the Baby-faced Pastor at this point.

"It's not the Holy Light Technique. As far as I know, the Holy Light Technique is a positive energy attack in magic. It has a healing effect on normal creatures, and a general attack effect on dark creatures. But the light I created is something that exists naturally in sunlight. It's only effective against Vampires. It might not be very effective against other dark creatures," Edward explained.

"I understand what you mean now. But isn't artificial light similar to sunlight? Why don't we see the light you're talking about?" Pastor Elvin, turning into a curious child, kept asking questions.

"Let's eat first. I'll show you after we finish," Edward picked up a piece of bread from the table and took a bite, starting to eat.

Everyone present had good manners and followed the rule of not speaking while eating, silently finishing their breakfast.

After Edward cleared the dishes, he led them to the north side of the second floor of his house, a corridor that was the only place sunlight reached.

He took out a piece of glass from his spatial storage. Without needing Alchemist gloves, he directly used Shaping Technique to turn the glass into a Prism.

"I'll show you a magic trick. Please watch," Edward rotated the Prism in his hand, found the right angle, and a rainbow projected onto the wall, greatly astonishing the four onlookers.

"You see, although sunlight is white, when it's refracted by this prism, it splits into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. In fact, besides these visible rays, there are two invisible rays. One beyond the red, I call it Infrared. And one beyond the violet, I call it Ultraviolet. Vampires are quite sensitive to Ultraviolet..." Edward began his science lesson.

"You can't see them, so how do you know about these two invisible rays?" Alice, the diligent student, was good at finding flaws.

"Uh..." Edward was momentarily speechless. He really hadn't thought about how to answer Alice's question. If he said it was from his education in his previous life, and if curious Mages found out, they might dissect him.

"Alright, Alice, don't ask so many questions. Some people are born knowing things we don't. That's why we call them Prophets," Knight Princess said, seeing Edward's embarrassment, and stepped forward to help him out.

Edward gave Princess Andrea a grateful smile. At this moment, the Prism in his hand was snatched away by Alice and Elwin, who were having a great time playing with it.

The handsome Captain of the Knights, however, showed no interest and left, citing official business.

"Edward, last time we had dinner, I left my armor that matches my dress in the guest room. Could you take me to get it?" Knight Princess said to Edward, who was escorting Reinhardt back.

"Please follow me," Edward led Knight Princess into the guest room where she had changed last time. The armor was still on the nightstand by the bed, clearly untouched.

Princess Andrea, who had followed them, glanced back at the beautiful Mage and Baby-faced Pastor engrossed in their play. Seeing that they weren't paying attention, she quietly closed the door.

Edward, seeing the young and beautiful Princess Andrea wanting to be alone with him, felt a flutter in his heart. He cleared his throat unnaturally. He wondered why he hadn't felt this way when she visited him late at night last time.

When Princess Andrea turned around, her expression became much more serious. She asked, "Edward, were those two Vampires the 'Hunters' that Monica mentioned? Will they come again?"

Edward saw that Princess Andrea wanted to talk about serious matters and blushed slightly. He said, "I don't know what Monica told you, but I can tell you clearly, this is definitely not them. They are just Vampires Monica recruited in Transylvania. I found out last night that the blood of 'Baptism' bearers is very useful to them. They want to use the blood of 'Baptism' bearers to resurrect Vampire Grand Duke Dracula. Also, the amulets I gave you cannot conceal your scent. They track their targets by smell. It's unlikely that any powerful Vampires will come again anytime soon."

"Do we still need to wear the amulets?" Princess Andrea asked.

"Definitely. The Vampires that can still move around now are at most Marquis rank. And due to the war on the mainland, they are guarding their own territories and rarely come out. Vampires of Count strength can be easily dealt with by you now. Just make sure those two youngsters are careful. But the real 'Hunters' are not something we can deal with yet."

"What exactly are 'Hunters'?" Princess Andrea asked curiously.

"I don't know... they might be human, or they might not be. All we knew then was that they were capturing 'Baptism' bearers everywhere. But I know for sure that they are at least Sky Knight level," Edward mused. "I only encountered them once or twice before. Back then, I was responsible for covering the retreat, and I only managed to escape by using some props to attract their attention. This time, Monica probably didn't attract those monsters' attention, otherwise, she might have been intercepted before reaching the New Continent. The war in Middle Earth is intense right now, and those monsters might be focused there. As long as the war continues, they probably won't notice the New Continent."

Hearing Edward's words, Andrea breathed a sigh of relief. "To be able to escape from Sky Knights, you truly are capable. You were just an Alchemist apprentice back then, weren't you?"

"It was just a bit of cleverness, not worth mentioning," Edward said modestly.

At this moment, Princess Andrea suddenly remembered something. She awkwardly took out a blue card with gilded edges from the gap in her chest armor. It was a bit crumpled from being squeezed. She handed it to Edward and said, "Edward, the New Year is approaching... This is an invitation to the Duke's Mansion New Year's Eve banquet. Please be sure to attend... I originally wanted to bring it to you this morning, but I received an urgent report and rushed here, so I brought it to you now."

Edward took the Invitation, still warm from Princess Andrea's touch, and carefully put it away. He smiled and said, "Yes, I will definitely be there on time."

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he continued, "There will be a surprise for you and the guests attending. Well, perhaps I should say, for all the residents of White Eagle City."

"What surprise?" Princess Andrea became interested.

"I can't say. A surprise is only a surprise when you see it. If I tell you in advance, it won't be fun. However, I will need you to lend me a troop of soldiers, and I'll need to use the fountain square for a while."

"Alright, it's a deal!" Princess Andrea readily agreed.

Edward suddenly remembered something else. He took off his old Spatial Ring and said, "I made a small fortune dealing with those two Vampire Counts last night, so I'm not short of money anymore. I also found a bigger Spatial Ring. I've already moved everything into the larger one. This smaller one, I modified it before, so non-spellcasters can use it too. I noticed you usually have Alice help you store things with a Spatial Ring. You can have this one to use; it's more convenient."

Princess Andrea blushed as she took the ring. She tested it with her spiritual power, then tentatively put the armor from the nightstand into the Spatial Ring. She asked in surprise, "How did you do it? Making a Spatial Ring usable by non-spellcasters is priceless!"

"It's not as exaggerated as you say. Those are inherited rings from big families. Mine just took a shortcut. I made a small modification." Edward said with a smile.

Princess suddenly remembered something and asked suspiciously:

"Usually, spellcasters think about how to lock their Spatial Ring securely. Why did you change it so ordinary people can use it? It doesn't seem like you made it specifically for me, right?"

"It's all because of Monica..."

Edward was about to blurt out the truth, but realizing his mistake, he abruptly stopped himself, regretting it so much he wanted to slap himself twice...