AnimeMan: The 13th Princess’s Overpowered Servant

He wiggled his finger, letting the plastic stone catch the light one more time. A very small, very subtle smirk touched the corner of his mouth.

"Well, look at that," Ken mumbled quietly to himself, his voice dropping slightly. "It turns out this ring is incredibly lucky after all."

He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his messy uniform and happily slouched his way out of the room to join his team, completely ready for his next lazy performance.

---

The streets of the city's black market were loud, crowded, and completely chaotic. Merchants were yelling from their wooden stalls, shady figures were whispering in dark corners, and the smell of roasted street meat floated heavily through the air.

Ken Eliot was dragging his feet, his scuffed shoes sliding across the dirty cobblestones. "Hey, Naomi," Ken complained, pointing a lazy finger at a food cart cooking some questionable meat on a stick. "Can we stop for just one second? That meat smells amazing. I think my stomach is actually crying. If I don't eat something on a stick right now, my legs are going to stop working."

Naomi did not slow down. She grabbed the back of Ken's dark blue servant jacket and practically dragged him past the food cart.

"We are not buying mystery meat from the black market, Ken," Naomi scolded him, her bright red hair bouncing as she marched forward. "We are on a very strict time limit. We are racing against two other Royal units, and we don't even know what we are looking for. You can eat when we actually figure out what the Core of Luminus is."

"You are starving a growing boy," Ken whined, slumping his shoulders completely forward. "This is a tragedy. Someone should write a sad song about my empty stomach."

Laxmi, walking right behind them, just laughed and shoved Ken forward playfully. "Keep moving, farm boy! You promised us your cheap little ring was going to bring us good luck. So far, the only thing it's brought is a lot of walking."

"The luck is coming!" Ken argued, holding up his hand to show off the shiny, cheap blue plastic ring on his finger. "You just have to be patient. Good luck doesn't like to be rushed."

Sayma walked at the front of the group with Princess Iris. Sayma was busy checking the street signs and comparing them to a small, hand-drawn map. "We are here," Sayma announced softly.

She turned sharply and led the 13th Unit down a very narrow, very dark alleyway. The noise of the market instantly faded away, blocked by the tall brick walls. The alley smelled like old cabbage and cheap tobacco smoke. At the very end of the dead-end alley, sitting on a cracked wooden crate, was a man.

He was a bald, skinny old man wearing a patched-up brown coat. He had a thick, unkempt gray beard and was puffing lazily on a wooden pipe. He looked exactly like the kind of guy who knew every dirty secret in the entire Belmontia Empire.

Naomi stepped forward, her hand resting casually on the hilt of her dagger. "Are you the informant? My family said you owed them a favor. We need information, and we need it right now."

The bald old man let out a raspy, dry chuckle. He blew a ring of gray smoke into the air and looked the elite girls up and down. He completely ignored Ken, who was currently leaning against a brick wall and yawning loudly.

"I know who you are, little knight," the old man croaked, his voice scratching like sandpaper. "And I know exactly what you are looking for. The whole underground is buzzing about it. The Emperor threw a shiny toy into the wild, and now all the Royal kids are running around trying to fetch it. You want to know about the Core of Luminus."

Sayma pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose and stepped forward. She didn't want to waste time playing games. She reached into her pocket, pulled out three solid gold coins, and tossed them accurately. They landed right in the old man's lap with a heavy clink.

"Skip the riddles," Sayma said firmly. "Tell us what it is, and tell us exactly where it is."

The old man’s eyes lit up greedily at the sight of the gold. He quickly snatched the coins and stuffed them deep into his coat pocket.

"Straight to business. I like that," the old man grinned, showing a row of crooked yellow teeth. "Alright, listen closely. The Core of Luminus isn't a weapon, and it isn't a battery. It is a natural cure. Do you girls know what Solurias is?"

Princess Iris stepped forward, throwing her dark hood back to reveal her silver hair. Her violet eyes widened. "Solurias? That is the toxic, highly radioactive magical mineral. The runoff from mining that mineral is what caused the terrible flesh-rotting plague ten years ago. It destroyed an entire village."

Ken stopped leaning against the wall and looked at the Princess. He knew she was thinking about Vane, the mutated gang boss they had fought yesterday. Vane’s entire family had died because the Empire dumped Solurias waste into their drinking water.

"Exactly, Your Highness," the bald old man nodded, taking another puff of his pipe. "Solurias is pure poison. But nature always demands balance. Wherever there is extreme heat and toxic radiation, the earth eventually creates an opposite reaction to cool it down. The Core of Luminus is the exact magical opposite of Solurias."

Zinia crossed her strong arms, leaning in to listen. "So, it's a cooling stone?"

"It is much more than that," the informant explained, his voice turning serious. "Luminus produces a powerful, absolutely absolute cooling effect. But more importantly, it safely absorbs and completely eliminates magical radiation. If you place the Core of Luminus into a poisoned river, it will completely purify the water in a matter of minutes. It wipes out the toxic plague. It is the ultimate cure for the Empire's dirty mining mistakes."

Princess Iris took a sharp breath. Her hands curled into tight fists. This wasn't just a random item for a silly scavenger hunt anymore. If she had that Core, she could actually fix the poisoned lands in the outer districts. She could save people from suffering the exact same horrific fate that Vane's family had suffered. This mission just became deeply personal for her.

"We have to get it," Princess Iris said, her voice filled with undeniable determination. "Where is it?"

The old man pointed a shaking, bony finger toward the far northern edge of the capital city.

"It was born deep underground, far away from the sun," the old man wheezed. "My scouts tracked the unique, freezing mana signature just this morning. The Core of Luminus is currently sitting at the very bottom of the Blood Fault Dungeon."

Luna, who had been half-asleep while standing up, suddenly opened her eyes completely. "The Blood Fault Dungeon? You have got to be kidding me. That place is terrible. It is damp, it smells like wet dog, and it is absolutely packed with giant, mutated monsters."

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