CHAPTER 70 **Cuddling, Pills and Currency**

The emperor, on the other hand, had also given thought to this Young Miss.

Now that he had a decent night’s rest, he had seriously thought about the marriage for the Second Prince and was almost impatiently wanting to know about this ‘Divine Healer’.

Having not seen Matthew until court this morning, the emperor had wanted to bring up the subject of the Thirteenth Young Miss afterwards, but his son had disappeared!

Only able to be on a silent standstill with his thoughts, he wasn’t going to accept anything about Miss Haves yet!

The Empress had lightly brought up Miss Haves once again since the day before, and again the emperor did not make an official answer.

What he wanted to know, before making a decision…Is if he could know who this ‘Divine Healer’ is. If they are connected to the Thirteenth Young Miss, then he will let Matthew marry her, if they weren’t, he would prefer his son to marry Miss Haves. He remembered his son stating that he would choose his own Princess, but…

The emperor did have thoughts that he could marry both, but that were his thoughts…He was sure Matthew was like his late brother, who would only have one wife.

Being an Emperor, he didn’t have much of a preference to any one woman and thought that with only having one woman, it would be a weakness.

If he had only one woman, that being the Empress, he wouldn’t have his son Matthew, that could become the Crowned Prince…And that was just one weakness, another is an easier target. The emperor sees most of his women and wonders if that is the reason that there are less deaths…Perhaps not. But he still thought that it was a weakness.

Thinking of this, the emperor thought that if things become a mess, he will bestow marriage to both of them. Then his son will have more of a chance to create an heir.

But, until he found out the news of the ‘Divine Healer’, that he wanted to hear impatiently, then he will not give a firm answer about marriage. Especially if the ‘Thirteenth Young Miss’ isn’t associated with the ‘Divine Healer’ at all, he would much prefer Miss Haves to have the Princess position.

Having thought of the positives and negatives on each Young Miss…This was his decision…

And, once again, patience is something he would need to make the best choice.

***

Matthew stood at the far side of the General’s estate…Having the usual of a short and light sleep the night before. Matthew had come here, remembering the day previous of his deep sleep. He knew that he didn’t know her well, also that he was the cause of her being kidnapped…But he couldn’t stay away!

With Band One by his side, also because Band Two was still recuperating, Matthew felt like it was okay to just stand here, on the beginning of the General’s estate…

Band One knew of his affections for his Princess, but Matthew had not spoken much about them. Band One was his old friend, and he was glad that he was by his side, but for some reason, all Matthew needed from his friend right now, was his presence and understanding.

For half an hour, he saw nothing, and finally one of the General’s men had seen him and told the General. After being told, Shaun was seen in the distance, running over to his friend.

“My boy! You are late!” He spoke.

Matthew frowned, “Late?”

“I wanted to fight after the little woman left, but you only turn up now!” The General said, pouting again. He’d been pouting all day…

“You want to fight?” Matthew asked, letting a chuckle out.

The General pulled his sword out of his scabbard and nodded, “I’m ready.”

Matthew looked into the distance, at the newly fixed stable, “I…Should go.”

“Why!?”

Matthew sighed, “I can’t be here at the moment.”

Frowning, the General finally remembered something, “Little woman said that you can come back.”

Widening his eyes, Matthew looked back at the General, “Sahara…Sahara said that I could come back?”

“Yes!”

Without another word, Matthew raced over to the stable, making the General run after him.

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When Matthew saw that she wasn’t there, he turned to Shaun, “Where is she?”

The General looked back to where they were yesterday and tried to remember, “Ah! She said she was going…Somewhere…”

“Shaun!” Matthew growled. “Tell me what she said!”

The General sighed, “Ah! We…I asked…And then…Outside of Green Haven…Present! She’s giving me a present!”

Matthew went silent, he hadn’t missed the words the General had seemed to neglect earlier…

“Why is she going outside of Green Haven?” Matthew asked, both the General and himself.

“Ah, this one doesn’t know. She said that in a couple of days she’ll have a present for me!” The General put his sword away, getting the idea that he wasn’t going to fight…

Matthew didn’t know if he could be happy or not…

She said that I could come back, but she’s not even here…What does that mean?

Finally, Matthew had a slight glimmer of hope.

“She said that she will be fine, Golden Eyes went with her.”

Matthew looked at the General and found himself both unhappy and happy at the same time. “I will return at a later date then.”

I can’t give up! But…I guess I just have to wait. What happened to her wasn’t something simple, perhaps this time away, will be good for her. Please, my Princess, take good care of yourself, and come back soon.

Feeling slightly better, Matthew smiled and patted Shaun’s shoulder, before taking big jumps away from the estate.

“Fine…I’ll go see if my son wants to fight…” The General stomped inside and went straight to get wooden swords.

“Leon! Come and fight with your father!”

Down another courtyard and to the left, the General’s wife sighed, she had to already take the General’s mind of fighting twice, since he had gotten better. It will be another hour and she will have to do it again…

Another yell for her son was called and she smiled, “Call for me when you’ve had enough, my dear.”

Leon smiled at his mother, “Yes, mother!”

***

Over the next few days, Sahara had spent time looking for foxes, that seemed to be further in the vast land area, in which they had to travel further into. She made pills, many, many pills, and Steven and Naruto both helped her ‘train’ two new beast foxes, when they had finally found them.

When she had found a fox, Sahara grabbed it and shoved it into Steven’s hands, telling him that he can’t let it go for a whole day, even if it ‘wees or poos’.

Steven had been stomped and had no words…

After seeing his strange and still stance, Sahara had told him that’s what she did with Naruto, and he slowly nodded…But didn’t look like he was very enthusiastic about it…

By this time the fox was already made pretty small, so that it’s claws didn’t do much harm, but not too small so that it would escape too easily.

Steven had been very uncomfortable at first, as the fox did try and get away, but he had done what he was told and kept…Cuddling this…Thing.

After half a day, he saw Sahara with another little fox and that she was comfortable, he really tried to copy her movements. He put the fox to his neck and patted it softly. He didn’t really want to speak to it, but after a while he gave in and left the immediate area, to do it in private.

It had felt silly, for most of the time, but after having the fox in his hands for nearly a whole day, he got strangely attached to the little thing…Except for it’s mouth, it had bit him a few times but…Otherwise, the little fox that had even slept for a small amount of time gave him something he’d never thought to achieve by a beast! It felt so strange to have a beast start to trust him!

Seeing the other fox had done the same to Sahara, and that she was sleeping, as it cuddled up to her side, he was wondering if he could let it do the same…

After pondering a long time about this, Steven just ended up staying awake until the whole day of cuddling the fox had passed before he slept.

Naruto, on the other hand, had been jealous…So, Sahara told him to go and hunt and come back later.

She wasn’t completely worried about him, he was initially a fourth ranked beast, and he was quick. Sahara was sure that he would just run like the wind if he got into trouble.

So, while Steven was sleeping, and Naruto was away, Sahara let the small little fox lay in her lap, while she took out a big plaque from ‘storage’.

It was time to read up on ‘Sum’!

There was only one type of shop, that specializes in sum. And that was the ‘Spirit Convert Association’.

‘Sum’ is something that goes into an ore, called ‘The Cache Mint’, or a ‘Commoner Cache’.

‘The Cache Mint’ was specific for someone’s own spiritual essence, you could probably say that it’s a selfish ore. There was no reason to steal it and without the owner’s consent and spiritual essence, the Sum is unable to be taken. If one is from a rich family, most females only obtain one when they are married, and males obtain one in their teens.

The ‘Commoner Cache’ doesn’t have the specific spiritual essence that has to be supplied. It is a lot easier to steal the ‘Sum’ because of this. The ‘Commoner Cache’ is still useful, though, for the rich, if they go to the black market or have dirty deeds to accomplish…

These two ores are only obtained at the ‘Spirit Convert Association’.

Obviously, it is a lot better if one is able to cultivate, as they are able to obtain ‘The Cache Mint’ ore, if they could afford it’s doubled price of the ‘Commoner Cache’. If one doesn’t cultivate, the best they can obtain is the ‘Commoner Cache’ and will have to use the people in the ‘Spirit Convert Association’ for them to help them use their spiritual essence to transfer Sum into silver or to another person’s ore.

When one first gets ‘The Cache Mint’ it is pure white, stating no owner and sum. It’s like jade, nice and smooth and when you insert your own spiritual essence, it connects to your body. You can make it into a bracelet, a necklace or have it as a ring, as your spiritual essence can make the ore change shape and form. This reason is why this ore was chosen to be used to hold ‘Sum’, as it was very obedient to spiritual essence and its owner.

It is also still reusable, when the owner’s spiritual essence dies along with the body, the ore will blink for two days before going back to white. In those two days, the sum inside the ore has to be transferred through any other spiritual essence or if it doesn’t get taken out, the sum just disappears when it turns back to white. That is the only time another’s spiritual essence will work on ‘The Cache Mint’. All ores are then turned back to white after these two days, with no ownership, so they could either stay in the family or are brought back to a ‘Spirit Convert Association’, to be sold for half the price, then they are nearly immediately put on for sale again, at full price…This is how it has always been…

Mmm, so I want this ore…But honestly…Is sum not even something you put in your hand?

Sahara was pretty confused…She was used to having notes and coins, yet, by the looks of this type of…Currency…It was all in the ores.

Where does that type of stuff come from then? Is sum made from nothing?

Sahara blinked several times and put her head to the side…