Chapter 67: Henova
After he finished talking to grandpa, as a sign of apologizing Ares decided to cook for dinner. Since the Zanuki eats a lot and they even have Henova with them, Ares has to ask the cooks to help him.
"Woah these roasted turkeys looked delicious" Karin already salivating when the food wasn't even finished served in front of her.
Henova on the other hand sat quietly beside Karin. It was unknown what Karin did to him but he looked fine.
"Henova you have to eat a lot since today must have been a long day for you," Zen Zanuki said while patting Henova's back as if he wasn't the reason Henova felt his day was exhaustingly long.
"What kind of sweet words did Ares whisper into your noble ears that make you look like a father when his wife tells him she's pregnant?" Kara asked directly when she saw her grandpa had turned into his usual playful goofy old man that looked extra happy.
"Isn't Ares a sweet one? He even cook dinner for me so how couldn't I feel happy?" Zen answered Kara's remark with a wide smile.
Kara just made a slightly disgusted face as a response.
Not long after that, a mature-looking red-haired woman who looked like in her early 40s came into the dining room followed by two maids behind her.
"Oh is this my grandson's guest, Henova? Nice to meet you. I'm Ares's grandmother and I apologized if my grandchildren and my husband acted unsightly or treated you badly," Zanuki matriarch greeted Henova like they were old friends.
Realising who the woman in front of him was, Henova quickly stood up and bowed his head awkwardly, "It's nothing matriarch, they treated me well"
"You can just tell me honestly since these bunch of people are not the rule-abiding type of people, especially my husband who still acts like a teenager in his rebellious phase most of the time," Anith Zanuki said outrightly before sitting beside her husband who acted like he didn't hear anything.
Kara and Adrian on the other hand just listened to their grandmother silently while Karin kept on ogling the food like a starving hyena.
"Yes I will matriarch" that was the only response Henova could come up with.
He was currently thinking about whether he should sit somewhere else since he was sitting together at the same table with a noble family, eating the same food as them at the same time. He knew nobles can't eat with common people at the same table.
"Make yourself comfortable since you're our guest," Anith Zanuki said to Henova as if she knew what he was thinking about.
Not long after that, a young red haired lady wearing a simple thick strap midi black dress with a tight grey turtleneck shirt underneath it. The long straight red hair was tied into a simple ponytail. The young lady took her seat quietly beside Kara who was sitting opposite Henova.
"Eris, it's been a long time since I last saw you wear a style like this. Usually, you will always wear a formal white shirt and slim-cut black pants" Karin commented.
"It must be Ares who bought those clothes because I know how Eris chose her cloth," Kara commented.
"True" Adrian immediately agree.
"Good evening grandpa and Amma. Sorry, I'm a bit late," ignoring her cousins' teasing, she politely greeted her grandparents.
"It's ok. You're so pretty today my dear. By the way Eris, this is Ares's guest Henova and Henova this is Ares's sister, Zerisa" Anith Zanuki introduced the two of them.
"Thank you for coming," Eris said politely, still retaining a calm professional look.
"It's my pleasure, my lady" Henova replied as polite as he could since he could sense Zerisa was different from the others.
'No wonder she is the future matriarch' Henova thought when he saw Eris seemed abit different when compared to the others youngsters he have seen before.
Not long after that Ares entered the dining room while pushing a trolley full of food. He was wearing a grey turtleneck knitwear shirt with black pants.
"Hey, you're buying a couple cloth with Eris?" Kara asked right away after she realized it.
"It's a sibling matching cloth. You can try buying matching clothes with Karin," Ares replied nonchalantly.
"Urgh, no thanks."
"Why not buy matching cloth with me, Kara?" Adrian asked jokingly.
"If you can choose good clothes like Ares then I don't mind"
"Are you for real?" Adrian who just joking didn't expect Kara would agree.
Eris helped Ares to serve the food while Henova also helped along.
"Thank you Henova and I'm so sorry for troubling you," Ares said before he sat beside Henova.
"No, it's ok. Your family is interesting"
"Yes, they are," Ares said before he pulled open his face mask to eat.
"Eat, eat a lot! It was Ares who cooked today," Karin said excitedly.
"Kids please behave, we have a guest today," Anith tried to remind them but it was futile thus she just let it be when Henova didn't seem to mind.
"Is there something wrong Henova?" Ares asked when Henova kept on staring at him instead of eating his food.
"Err, your eyes. I just realized about your eyes when you sat beside me," Henova said in a low voice.
"Oh, I was born like this. Both my eyes are fine, they just have different colours that's all"
"I see"
In actuality, Henova was more shocked to see Ares's face than his eyes. The eyes were only Henova's excuse since he couldn't bring himself to ask things that he was curious about.
'Never expected I would see a face that almost identical to 'him'. Did that guy was related to Ares in some way?'
With such thought, Henova enjoyed the best dinner he had ever had in his whole life.
"Woah Henova sure eats a lot. Henova is one of us!" Karin exclaimed excitedly.
She had been conversing with Henova about weapons the whole evening before dinner time and Henova answered all her questions satisfactorily.
"Can you make a custom-made weapon specialized only for me?" Karin asked.
"I can but I needed to see your battle style and what kind of mana affinity you had and your aura. This is important since every individual is different thus I will create a weapon that matches you perfectly," Henova said honestly.
It was unknown why but Henova felt at ease with her as if she was his own daughter. Looking at Karin, Henova estimated that her daughter might be a few years older than Karin if she was still alive.
"Wow, that sounds cool," Karin was beaming with excitement.
Later she took out her spatial bag and showed Henova the weapons she brought with her.
"They are all good weapons but based on the damages on them, I don't think they could withstand your strength and would break after quite some time," Henova commented.
"Yes my weapons tend to break a lot, that's why I have to replace them every few months which is kind of a pain in the ass," Karin said without any regard.
"Karin can't you speak more elegantly. The way you speak doesn't sound like how noble speak," Kara interrupted.
"My sister Kara, most noble wouldn't go eat at weird places and like to eat street foods like you. Which noble like to eat *stinky tofu?" Karin replied to remind Kara that both of them were two peas in the same pot.
*(stinky tofu: Chinese form of fermented tofu that has a strong odor. It is usually sold at night markets or roadside stands as a snack, or in lunch bars as a side dish, rather than in restaurants)
Both of them weren't trained in etiquette rigorously like Eris and Ares. Their parents love to bring them to interact with the common people when they were snall thus that was why they didn't like to attend noble events too much.
Fortunately, Ares had taken care of the responsibility as Zanuki representative if Eris couldn't attend or he will attend it with Eris. This made Karin and Kara both relieved and grateful.
Adrian on the other hand naturally had a polite way of talking and was a social butterfly thus he could mingle easily with both the nobles and common people.
Henova just observed their interactions and process everything they said.
"If Ares talked a lot, you will realize that the way he talks is just slightly better than me," Karin still didn't want to admit defeat.
"By the way Sir Henova, Ares might want to recruit you. So can I come and asked you to make a weapon for me later?" Ignoring the bickering sisters, Adrian leaned toward Henova and asked.
"Young master, you can just call me Henova. I can make a weapon for you but young master Ares never said anything like hiring me"
"Hey Henova, if Ares doesn't want to hire you, I will. Please work here please," Karin suddenly said ignoring the still annoyed Kara who was ignored.
"But I have a shop in Herza City and the Zanuki can afford to hire someone better than me," Henova said out of politeness. He never thought he could serve a high-ranking family like the Zanuki.
"You're underestimating yourself. Ares is the pickiest in almost everything. That person make you his guest is a huge sign that he values you a lot. He doesn't even bring his friend the second Prince here," Adrian commented since he knew how peculiar his cousin was.
"I bet Ares is currently whispering sweet words into grandpa's ears so that he can hire Henova," Kara also chimed in.
"Don't worry Henova, even though grandpa seemed like he wanted to break your neck before, he never decline Ares's request," Karin said confidently.
'He wanted to cut my leg instead,' Henova thought but he just nodded his head.
That night after dinner, Henova followed Ares and a young butler beside him outside of the mansion.
"You must feel overwhelmed with what happened today and I aologized that I came a bit late but I promised you can sleep more comfortably tonight," Ares said while they were inside a car.
The car windows were fully tinted but Henova could see the outside scenery from the bustling street to a lonely dark desolate street.
"No, everything is fine for a commoner like me. I've eaten the most delicious food I've ever tasted," Henova replied politely.
"Truth to be told, I don't plan to hire you"
Hearing the sentence, Henova felt a thud inside his heart. A sense of disappointment started to bloom.
Ares continues talking, "However, I suddenly found a suspicious man. Wearing black robe, trying to recruit people using a shady method to entice them. He even want to recruit a 10 years old son of the staff that worked under me. That's why I interrogate him to know why he wanted to hire you. Unfortunately, a curse was put on him and he died without even telling me anything. I was almost inflicted by the curse but fortunately I'm fine."
"A robed man?" Henova quickly remembered the robed man that give him the Devil Core.
If that man could obtain a Devil Core, try to recruit children and even have a curse put on him to avoid him from spilling out his secret, he was indeed shady.
Henova was thinking deeply and Ares just let him be for a few moments.
"Then I thought maybe the same people like that man will try to force you to follow them even if you decline to work for them. That's why I thought it's better if I hire you and put you under my family banner"
"I'm grateful for you young master but I don't think I can do much for you," Henova still reluctant.
"What if I give you a task? The duration is three years from now. Create the best weapon for me before my coming of age ceremony and if you fail, I will fire you. How's that?"
He knew he couldn't use normal persuasion method with a man like Henova. He must make Henova felt a sense of urgency and lift his competitive sense.
"If you managed to do that, I will ask the intelligence agency I created to find out anything you wanted to know or maybe you prefer money?"
"Is any information possible?" Henova asked.
"Yes, and I'm currently expanding them internationally"
"....." Henova couldn't utter a reply.
"Don't worry Henova. I'm a flexible person. You can use any means possible, either using artifacts or the most expensive ingredient, anything is allowed to create the best weapon you ever made"
"What if I use a Divine artifact?"
"Sure. Even if you want to use some sort of demonic ingredients, I will allow it"
Ares is a person with a really deep bottom line. People like that could be considered merciless or immoral but Ares didn't mind.
"You can request any ingredients you want and I will try giving it to you"
"What if I said I wanted to use a Devil Core?" Henova tried to probe how deep Ares's bottom line was.
"Oh isn't that a metal from the Demonic realm? Sure, you can use that. I have collected blood from demonic monsters. I can also request blood from Djinns that have been imprisoned. You don't have to worry that I will disagree with you," Ares said while leaning back in his seat as if it wasn't a big deal at all.
Ares knew the Devil Core would need a large amount of blood especially demonic beings' blood to be activated.
'Did he really think of creating the best weapon using that thing? Not that I mind wielding a Demonic weapon but I hope it won't be smelly like in the novel' Ares thought while Henova remained silent.
"I will think about it," Henova finally uttered a response before he went to sleep that night
Seeing Ares slightly nod at him, Henova felt a portion of the burden on his shoulder had been lifted.
After spending almost a week in Soga Mountain, Henova went back to Herza City.
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