Beast Taming? Nah, Dragon Herding is Way Better!

Hearing the clear concern on the elven princess' voice as she asks him the question, the emperor-like young man starts thinking about the short period of time he had been to the capital, how his initial plan of laying low until he acquire strength enough to fend for himself was completely foiled, resulting to this current situation.

While still thinking in his mind that standing out like this would bring a lot of unnecessary trouble to him, Diluc realizes that there are also merits and benefits for standing out like this, for one, a lot of the missions that the Dragon Herding System is giving him appears to be missions that are more oriented on being high profile, another benefit to that being the fact that he easily managed to pull the attention of possible backing towards him.

Feeling a peculiar, curious and clearly excited gaze from the distance, a gaze with owner that seems to be all too powerful that he couldn't help but think that some sort of apex predator is eyeing him, Diluc couldn't help but smile helplessly as he thought of something.

'There's really no escaping that shorty monster after all…' he thought to himself while shaking his head, feeling like it is no better than having no backer and being eyed by the people who have history with his parents, such thoughts being ones that will probably make him end up in a vegetative state should its subject were to know of them.

Shoving this sort of thoughts to the back of his mind, the emperor-like young man then recalls the question of the young elven princess standing just right in front of him, her concerned expression as she stares at him causing him to smile in appreciation before he replies to assure her.

"That's in the past, now that they discovered me, ne way I am just going to let think I am a good for nothing, I'll show them the greatest legacy my old people left behind in this world" he said with a tone of sheer confidence brimming in his voice, not making him appear arrogant at all as his claims appear to be something that is only natural given how much talent and potential he had already shown during this competition alone.

Hearing the reply of the emperor-like young man, the only male they deem as truly their friend, both the young elven duchess and the elven princess smiles with a hint of pride in their face, their expressions as if they are telling the young man that they knew this is eventually going to happen, one way or another, and it is nothing but a matter of time.

"Hehehe~~~ I knew that you're going to be like that you monster, geniuses are bound to shine no matter how they want to hide themselves after all~~~" moving towards his side and wrapping one of her fair arms around his shoulder, the more open, and seemingly shameless Alfia said with a cheeky smile on her face, using her free hand to poke near Diluc's chest as her eyes look at him with a teasing gaze, her actions causing the elven princess standing just right in front of them to blush in embarrassment.

"A-Alfia… y-you shouldn't act like that… w-we're out in the public…" seeing that her closest friend, her cousin, is acting like that towards the young man she is really interested in, Alea couldn't help but reprimand, not with the usual strong tone that she uses whenever there is something wrong that the young elven duchess is doing, but rather in a weak and shy tone that made her all the more adorable in the eyes of both Diluc and Alfia.

"Come on Alea, it's just a little skinship between friends, and besides, this monster here doesn't seem to have any problem with it, am I right, D?" seeing the expression on Alea's face, Alfia realizes that this is a good chance to tease her quite a lot, even going as far as sneakily signaling towards the young man she is currently clinging on, winking as much as she can to ask him to join her on her teasing.

"That's right, Alea, there's not a problem here… in fact, you can join if you want?" deciding to agree with the young elven duchess' antics, Diluc added with a smile on his face, his words reaching Alea's ears making her feel all the more embarrassed, her head spinning as her face feels so hot that she felt like steam is coming on top of her from all of this.

It is not only Alea that is having steam come out on top of her head though as the frail-looking Michael also appears to be all too embarrassed hearing how shameless both Diluc and Alfia could be, his blushing expression making both the emperor-like young man and the young elven duchess speechless, the former due to quite the terror while the latter due to obscene images of two young men doing forbidden things popping in her mind.

'That would be really nice…' as she tries to do her best to prevent her nose from spilling blood, Alfia thought to herself as she starts to think more and more that their last member is definitely not normal, having those sorts of expressions and all whenever they are talking about Diluc.

"You're definitely thinking of something perverted, aren't you?" snapping her out of her daze, Alfia heard Diluc's voice having a clear trace of annoyance in them, something she doesn't really care about.

"Why the hell would you even think of me like that? I am a royalty of the elven race remember? Am I that sort of person in your eyes?" refusing to get caught, the young elven duchess fully denies Diluc's accusation on her, a claim that will just make her all the more embarrassed as the voice that speaks next points out all the evidence one needs to know to prove her claims to be opposite.

"You are that sort of person, Alfia…" looking at her closest friend trying her best to defend herself, Alea decided to retaliate from her teasing, revealing a mocking smile on her face as she signals to her, wiping below her nose with her fingers clearly telling the young elven duchess to do so as well.

Still a bit confused as to why her cousin would as her to do so, Alfia goes with it, causing her finger to feel a warm, slightly sticky feeling the moment that she comes into contact with her own skin, the sensation all too familiar to her that she doesn't even need to see it before she found out what this warm liquid is.

"T-this is just from defending myself!!!" feeling the blood coming out of her cute nose, Alfia said with a hint of panic in her tone, making Alea smile as she crosses her arms with a knowing smile on her face, a taunting smile on them making it all the clearer to the elven duchess that she lost this round.

"Yeah yeah, I know, this is from defending our… looks like we need to defend ourselves again…" as she waves her hands dismissing the defense of her cousin, Alea noticed a number of competitors approaching their location from the distance, still quite a few dozens of meters below them but are surely approaching their spire, causing her to warn them as she prepares herself for battle once again.

"Even after D managed to defeat everyone from those five, there are still quite a lot of ambitious people coveting this place huh…" stretching with a smile on her face thinking that they finally have some chance to show their talents, Alfia said as the smile on her face changes from the cheeky to a proud, brave one, all while an oppressive aura starts expanding with her at ethe center, making the void around her tremble from her oppressiveness alone.

"T-they must think that D-Diluc is already tired from dealing with those five…" finally having his chance to speak up as well, the frail-looking Michael pointed out, the usual timidness in his voice now gone as it is replaced with the tone of confidence, of unbending will possessed only by far too scarce amount of people.

"Are you three sure that you can deal with all of them?" being the one with the greatest detection range among every one in his group, Diluc asked as there are more than a dozen of people clearly trying to compete with them in order to acquire this place for themselves, such number making him worry as he knows that while they are still stronger than those approaching competitors, it is not to the point that they can easily suppress their upcoming opponent like how he suppress his.

"Give us a little bit of credit, will you?" hearing the concern on Diluc's voice, not only the two elven beauties, but also the frail-looking Michael, paused for a while as they turn their heads towards him, a smile of confidence filling their face as they said those words to him, before the mana in the air starts surging and dancing on the spot where the three of them are standing.