Chapter 11: Chapter 10: The Royal Family And The Magic Woman
-Reyha Kingdom; Gallo City; Royal Palace; King's office-
The King of Reyha is once again in his office, looking through different documents and trying to think of the best way to deal with the matters present in them or simply giving his approval or rejection of the new projects being suggested.
His focus was such that he forgot the world around him and his expression showed that. Without him noticing Diego the royal adviser came in and waited for his presence to get discovered since he believed it was better than interrupting King Faroz, after all, the King was not very fond of being disturbed.
Some time passed and Faroz finally saw Diego there, then he started speaking. "What do you have to report? Did something unexpected happen?... I couldn't calm my nerves after 'the Hero Summoning Ceremony'. If those damned Grydolians didn't have the support of those overly evolved homunculi, we wouldn't be facing such a dangerous situation."
"Your Majesty, I have bad news and not so bad news, I wonder which I should report first?" Diego asked with a rather troubled expression and a tone full of hesitation.
"Just tell what's going on! I don't have time for this if it isn't urgent!" Faroz didn't give Diego any space for him to calm his nerves and just demanded an answer.
"Your majesty, the convicts on the male side of the Reyha palace dungeon all escaped and the runic seal was weakened, but fortunately it was just that and we still have time to reinforce it before it breaks. Also, we managed to recapture a few of the prisoners." After taking a deep breath, Diego reported everything in one go.
"..... This is exactly what I didn't want, but at least the damage didn't reach the worst possible scenario we considered. Talk to Commander Lilico and move as many troops as you can to capture as many of those traitors as possible. Honestly, it would be better to leave something like this to Rana, but he has his hands full right now. Is there anything else or is that it?" Faroz's expression was that of disappointment and frustration, but he soon sighed and give out his orders while making sure there's nothing else going wrong.
"No, your Majesty. This is all... oh and just before I got here I received a report from the Reyha shadows tasked with observing the heroes stating that they are doing decently and don't seem to have any crazy ideas just yet. Their training today went well and Commander Rana seems satisfied with them, and even said that the Slime was surprisingly competent." Diego calmly gave his response until he remembered a report he got not long ago that ended up buried in his memory with everything else going on.
"Let them have their freedom and just keep observing. If that's all, you may leave." King Faroz declared and went back to reading the documents and giving them either the seal of approval or rejection.
Diego left Faroz to his work and went to talk to Commander Lilico.
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-Reyha Kingdom; Gallo City; Royal Palace; Inner Area-
Since the training was over for the day, Fritz was walking through the corridors of the castle with a frown before taking in a deep breath and sighing as he continued to stroll while looking around in a stroke of luck, he found princess Merilyn sitting on a stone bench in the mid of a flower garden, but she wasn't alone as there were two other people with her.
Seeing this he moved closer but made sure to keep some distance as he heard in on their conversation hiding behind some bushes covered in flowers.
"You have to learn to conform yourself to your position and the fate that comes with it. We were born royalty and must abide by the responsibilities that it brings. You should already know this, living in denial will not help you. This foolish fantasy of yours should have died a year ago, have you learned nothing from mother?" A young man with blond hair and blue eyes with similar facial features to those of Merilyn scolded her as he looked at her with not a hint of emotion or care, looking almost as bored as Chago.
"Ionis! You're too mean! Big sis Merilyn is trying her best and even did the Hero Summoning Ceremony! It's really hard you know! Say sorry!" A much younger-looking little miss with canary curly long hair and yellow eyes yelled as she looked at Ionis with a disapproving glare and her lips curled up.
"Shiveria, silence yourself before I do it myself. The grown-ups are talking and you should just watch and learn, just like your big sister over here." Ionis patted Merilyn on the head as he spoke without looking at her or noticing her slightly trembling at getting touched as she lowered her head and dared not to utter a single word.
Shiveria was about to say something in response but Merilyn grabbed onto her hand without saying anything or moving anymore, and just by feeling her trembling hand she stopped herself from saying anything and just looked at Ionis making it clear to express her disagreement with his words.
Ionis simply gave her a last glance before turning to Merilyn who froze in response and said. "Be good and do your part, because it would tear my heart to have to dispose of my own sister... My twin no less." After those words left his mouth, he stood there for a few seconds as if to let it sink in before leaving without saying another word.
Once he was gone, Merilyn took deep breaths before letting go of Shiveria
"Why is big bro Ionis so mean?" Shiveria asked legitimately curious.
"I don't know... He's been like that since the first time he... Let's not talk about that." Merilyn was still slightly trembling but it slowly reduced from how it was when Ionis was still present.
"But I wanna know." Shiveria insisted.
"Ok, I'll tell you when you're older... But now, I want to know what you learned today. You said you could already say the name of all the kingdoms close to Reyha." Merilyn smiled as she changed the subject and leaned in towards Shiveria.
"Yeah! I know them all! Sas- Sastia! Dekel, Gurndi, and Griidul!" She announced with a big smile as she held both her arms in front of her chest with a determined expression.
"Yes, you're right, but that's not how you say their names. It's Saustia, Dekvel, Guande, and Grydol." Merilyn replied with a smile seeing Shiveria's cuteness.
"That's what I said!" Shiveria retorted as she puffed her cheeks.
"Ok, ok fine. Since you're so smart, let big sis reward you. Let's go to your room. Today I'll play with you. We have to be fast, I'll have some lessons in a while." Merilyn declared with another smile.
"Finally! Let's go quickly!" Shiveria immediately got up and pulled her sister along as they left.
From a distance, Fritz slowly left having witnessed and heard the whole conversation. He couldn't help but smile awkwardly as he headed to the male living quarters.
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-Grydol Kingdom; Silver City; Silverheart Manor; Office Room #6-
A room that's not too big nor too small, it has enough space for 10 people to stand tightly, and what occupies it is a wooden desk, a mini table, and a single sofa. Sitting on a chair and writing on some parchment on the desk is a woman with pink hair and eyes, which now has her eyes brows together while her free hand is rubbing her forehead.
"Why did something like this have to knock on my door now? Right after I accepted King Faroz's invitation... I don't think I have that much luck left after all these years." The pink-haired woman said with a tired voice, and leaned back on her chair with her face now facing the roof.
"Mom! Mom!" The sweet voice of a child could be heard calling for the woman with pink hair.
A child with white wavy short hair came and purple eyes in with a smile and ran towards the woman with pink hair.
"Lillian my love, what is it?" Said the pink-haired woman as she looked at the pink-haired girl with a smile on her face.
"Hum.. I want to learn magic, please!" Lillian said with the eyes of a little angel glowing with hope and happiness, and a smile that would melt even frozen hearts.
"No, I told you before that you're too young to learn magic." The pink-haired woman said maintaining her smile while saying so.
"Why?! I don't want to wait." Lillian said in response with the biggest 'puppy eyes' one could possibly make.
"A no is a no, believe me. When you're older you'll thank me for this, it's for your own good my little fairy." The pink-haired woman said with a slightly more serious expression seeing Lillian's persistence.
"But I just want to be a great mage like you!" Lillian yelled.
*sighs* "Do you want to hear a story?" The pink-haired woman sighed and asked a question to Lillian.
Lillian was confused when she heard that, she expected her mother to say no again but instead got offered to hear a story, and she was very curious to see what exactly this would lead to.
"Yes!" Lillian shouted excited and curious to see what kind of story she would get, she even almost forgot the reason she came here.
"Ok, let me get the book, I'll be back in a bit..." The pink-haired woman was saying but then she looked at her desk and. "You know what, it's best if you come up with me." The pink-haired woman said as she changed her mind.
Lillian nodded her head and she followed her mother, they both headed to a big room that has multiple shelves, and The pink-haired woman walked to one of them and pulled out a relatively small book.
From the way it looked, it seemed like a children's book with a simple draw cover with a blond boy in it.
Then both The pink-haired woman and Lillian sat on one of the sofas in the room. Lillian was shaking herself nonstop and humming while she waited for her mother to start.
"Once upon a time..." The pink-haired woman started the story and Lillian attentively listened.
The pink-haired woman calmly told Lillian the story of a boy that just wanted to use magic just like her, and just like Lillian the boy was told that he was too young, however, the boy was also told that if he conquered the challenge of the three guardians of magic, he would be able to use magic despite being too young.
The boy after hearing there was a chance to learn, was very happy and hopeful, so he traveled to the waterfall where the 3 guardians were said to live, and he faced many trials and dangers to get there and then when he got there, he was immediately met with a dragon that looked like a giant snake, it could fly and even speak.
The snake dragon said to the bit that he had to chose, between living the perfect life in a dream world and go inside the waterfall to pursue magic. In the dream world, he would never have to worry about anything and could just live free of worries and problems forever. But the boy was strong-willed and refused the dream world.
The boy advanced and meet two other trials which he passed and in the end, he got magic just how he wanted, but soon discovered that magic was not exactly as magical as he initially thought.
He could do the things he wanted but only for a limited amount of time, he still had to study and try hard to live to learn each spell, and he could no longer sleep peacefully because his young body couldn't properly handle magic and he ended up getting Sleep casting, which is a magical condition, where a magic caster under the age of 10 will cast magic spells while asleep and it can lead to death in worst cases. Only those who start casting magic before the age of 10 can contract this.
"So, what do you think my angel? Isn't it a nice story?" The pink-haired woman said with a smile once she was done telling the story.
"I don't like it! It's a bad story." Lillian said with an unsatisfied expression on her face while crossing her arms.
"Oh really? Why is that?" The pink-haired woman asked seeing Lillian's reaction.
"The ending is sad." Lillian said in response.
"Maybe, but not all stories have a happy ending." The pink-haired woman explained to Lillian.
"Why not?!" Lillian asked.
"Because sometimes bad things happen, now I have to go back to work. Don't stay all grumpy, your face might get stuck like that." The pink-haired woman said with a victorious slight smile as she left the room with an unsatisfied Lillian. At least her daughter no longer seemed to want to learn magic right now.
Soon the pink-haired woman was back in her office and began thinking about the situation.
"... I guess I don't have much of a choice... I would love to send Shelia on my behalf, but she can't use magic... So, I'll have to ask Naila instead... But that girl's always shut in her room trying to get better at magic... Will she even want to go?... God... Did all my daughters get cursed to be obsessed with magic in some way because of my status?... Anyway, I better start convincing her, the faster the better." The pink-haired woman decided before getting up and leaving her office once more.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone