With the yeti dead, both Raymond and Ellen felt themselves get whisked away by some sort of magic.
Opening their eyes, they could see Killain Halu'an still garbed in his archer attire and looking as handsome as ever smiling brilliantly at them.
"Two days! That's how long it took you two to make it through all four arenas. I designed it so it would take around two weeks or so in order to test their survival skills but i don't think that will be necessary with you two! Amazing! Bravo!"
He showered them both with praise, but honestly Raymond just wanted to get it over with already. His stomach was hungry, his mana was low and he wanted to go to sleep. He was practically running on fumes.
Ellen seemed to be in a similar state to him as well. Although she had hid it pretty well throughout the test now that they were safe, her shoulder and posture bot drooped slightly as a sign of her exhaustion.
"Congratulations Ellen Grace, you have more then proven yourself worthy of my inheritance. As promised, i will give you everything that i have left behind."
Several items materialized themselves out of the air, floating in place before Ellen. These items were so iconic that even Raymond could recognize them.
Although Killian's original bow, the Logos, Pathos and Ethos bow which he was famed for wasn't here. Likely due to how he had brought it with him on his demon realm expedition that was the cause of his death. The Kairos bow which currently floated in front of Ellen was still an amazing genuine Grade 8 weapon.
For starters, the mana radiating off of this weapon was the purest that Raymond had experienced in this world so far. Its sleek dark purple design matched its name very well.
Kairos. The moment of opportunity, the timing for something before it is lost or gone forever.
There was a singular arrow next to it as well. Similar to the Kairos, it featured an elegant design with a wicked looking arrowhead adorned with a dark plume at the end.
Ellen sighed in relief as she picked up the Kairos and the arrow. These rewards more then made up for all of the struggle that they had went through.
"The arrow is imbued with my remnant mana, once you leave this space it will immediately activate and transfer all of my archery techniques, skills and most importantly my bow arts. "
"And as for you kid, originally i wasn't planning on giving you anything but seeing how you also tried to use a bow i can respect the effort. But i don't have anything useful to give you right now. Instead ill give you something more much valuable. The location of Xanther's personal garden. While im unsure of what the state of it is now, there should definitely still be a few valuables left there as long as it wasn't found."
Both Ellen's and Raymond's eyes widened. Xanther was similarly part of the party of heroes that Killian was in but Xanther was much more lowkey then the others had been. Although he was an alchemist, Xanther was still famous for his strength. If it was the personal garden of such a legendary alchemist figure, there would definitely be lots of goodies to take!
"Ah. But i have to warn you two, I wouldn't really recommend going there right now. Its his personal garden, not a testing space purposefully meant for weaklings like you guys. The presence of a few of the plants there would probably be enough to kill you two on the spot."
Nodding slightly, the two of them took his warning to heart. But they were still excited, especially Raymond.
He didn't really care about most items or techniques or arts in this world since he already had something better or they just weren't useful enough but if it was worth enough to be part of Xanther's personal garden then there was a high likelihood he could find something that actually benefitted him!
Ellen was excited as well, in her past life Killian had simply given her the Kairos, the arrow and his knowledge. Receiving a massive boon in the form of precious information like this was like a cherry on top. With this, she could grow even stronger even faster!
"Thank you sir."
"Thank you sir."
Ellen bowed her head, thanking Killian. Followed by Raymond soon after.
"Alright alright, I don't have anything else to say to you two. Go out there and make me proud! Although i won't be able to witness it since im dead and all."
Waving his hand again, the two of them felt the same magical sensation of being teleported. Opening his eyes, Raymond found himself back in the cave at the peak of the mountain. Next to him was Ellen, holding a bow and arrow in her hands.
The arrow which they had both grasped in order to enter the inheritance grounds was gone now, disintegrating into nothingness after fulfilling its purpose.
Raymond cancelled every spell he had activated, feeling the mana rush back into him. He sighed, at this rate it would take nearly 4 hours or so just to fully replenish his mana.
At least it was finally over, Raymond wanted nothing more then to celebrate that at least.
"Looking back on it, all those shield spells you asked me to cast for you were pretty useless huh? I mean we didn't even need to use them until arena 3! Were you just wasting my mana for fun?"
"I didn't think it would be so easy as well. Better safe then sorry i guess."
She shrugged her shoulders, truly this inheritance was too easy. No offense to Killian but as the Trifecta Bow shouldn't he have made his inheritance harder to obtain? Because what if some demon lackeys managed to obtain his inheritance, it would've been a massive loss for humanity!
Standing at the exit of the cave, both Raymond and Ellen stopped as they admired the view outside for a bit. It was nighttime currently, although the surrounding mountains and forests were dark only being slightly illuminated by the faint rays of the moon. From their point of view at the top of the mountain, they could see the capital city clearly standing out like a shining bastion in the dark.
The massive walls surrounding the city, the towering buildings that seemed to extend past the skies, even with how far away they were the hustle and bustle of the city continued even with how late it was.
"Such a shame what happens to the capital."
She didn't say anything, just merely nodded to what Raymond had said. According to the original timeline, the capital and its population of 10 million something would perish in a never before seen terrorist attack by the demons.
But that was for the future. Right now, the both of them simply immersed themselves in the sights for a little while longer.
...
"Raymond. I understand you're hungry but at least maintain some basic decorum. You are a part of the Grace family and also we are in public right now. Do you even know how many people are staring at us?"
Raymond heard what she said and chose to ignore it. Pulling another plate of food towards himself. He proceeded to absolutely ravage the entire meal, every grain, scrap and molecule.
Seeing Raymond blatantly ignore her, she set down her utensils and stopped eating for a bit.
"Raymond, i command you to stop eating right now."
His body froze mid chew, the food sliding off his utensils and onto the table. Immediately however, another command soon came in.
" Raymond, I command you to eat with proper manners."
Instantly, his body stiffened up as he sat up with his back perfectly straight. His grip on his utensils changed, from just clenching them in his fist to now holding it properly.
His mouth closed as his facial muscles relaxed. Chewing quietly with his mouth closed, his handsome looks combined with his current dining etiquette made him look like a noble. Far from his previous appearance of a starving barbarian who had never seen or used utensils ever.
"So you do know how to eat properly, and your manners are so good as well!"
Feeling the command loosen slightly, he opened his mouth after swallowing. His voice tinged with a subtle yet obvious rage.
"Ellen. I'm going to f*cking kill you if you don't release this fucking command on me right f*cking now. "
His voice was polite as could be yet his words were like a dagger laced with venom.
The command still forced him to act politely as they were still eating, and slamming his fists on the table and screaming at Ellen wasn't considered proper dining manners unfortunately.
"Woah! That's like the first time you've ever cursed seriously in front of me. "
She didn't seem to take his warning very seriously. Mentally adding this incident to his list, he swore to himself.
He would definitely get his payback for this!
Seeing his calm yet clearly angry expression, she smiled slightly.
"How about we go get ice cream after this then? My treat. "
His anger deflated slightly. Seeing it wasn't enough, Ellen continued.
"I'll get you as much as you want. I heard that there's a desert shop in the capital famous for its waffles and ice cream."
"..."
What a cruel world. Filled with even crueler people. He mentally shed a few tears, oh the things he was forced to do just to enjoy basic human pleasures.
Finishing his meal now, he carefully set down his utensils and wiping his mouth with a napkin delicately, he looked up from the table. Making eye contact with Ellen who was sitting directly across from him.
"lets go."
...
With a stomach full of actual food, and a second stomach filled with desserts. He decided to forgive her for this incident. The past incidents were still going to be revenged one day but this wouldn't be one of them.
Just to be clear, he decided to forgive her out of his generosity. Not because of the ice cream.
He sighed in his head, although Ellen hadn't exactly abused her control over Raymond. These sparse few moments had taught him a valuable life lesson that even his best teachers couldn't have taught him.
Actions have consequences. Make Ellen angry? Consequences. Laugh at Ellen? Consequences. At this point, he was starting to feel worried about how he would have to act like once they were in the academy.
Before leaving for the academy, Rayez had given Raymond a bit of a briefing on how to act as Ellen's shadow. Once he was in the academy, he would have to act like an extremely loyal guard dog for her. With an entire backstory of how he had been abandoned by his parents and raised by the Grace family to be Ellen's shadow.
At first, he hadn't really thought about it much. But now, Raymond was realizing that he couldn't be as casual with Ellen anymore. Before in the Grace mansion it had been fine since it was just the Grace family and they didn't hire many workers.
In the academy however, Raymond would essentially have to put up a front for the whole 5 years! How was he supposed to do something like that when he had never even acted before!
Just the thought of having to act all formal and practically worship the ground that Ellen stood on in front of everybody made his legs shake in fear and most importantly, embarrassment!