Chang Xiuying handed all the ores to Gaius and even gifted him a spatial pouch. Gaius was joyed as he accepted the gift from the female. He carefully packed the ores into the pouch, handling it gently.
"You don't need to treasure it that much," Chang Xiuying laughed.
"I keep on being indebted to you, Ying. If you can, please visit the castle."
Chang Xiuying lifted one of her brows and looked incredulously at the prince.
"I know… you are not in the state where you can visit the castle since you are considered a demon now. But I know my father will accept you!"
"It's a little bit more complicated than it seemed, Gaius. I can't just show up in front of the castle and announce that you are my friend or you called me."
"I can give you proof of the audience!"
"No… no, Gaius. I am a threat to the kingdom..."
[Actually, host, you can buy eye contacts and a limiter to suppress your power.]
"Alright. I'll come with you. There won't be any problems now," Chang Xiuying suddenly said.
"Master?"
"I take it back. I can still live in cities!"
How could she forget that she had the system's shop at her disposal?!
Gaius and Flora looked at each other then at Chang Xiuying's celebrating figure. It wasn't that bad, but the mood changed so drastically.
"I'll meet you in Lasirion then, Gaius," Chang Xiuying said. "Along with Flora."
"Yes!" Flora raised her hands as she jumped in joy.
"Can I just go with you two? I won't be able to catch up to those guys."
"Ah. Right. Then you go with Flora to prepare in the city---"
"Master!" Suddenly, there were shouts of multiple people.
"Eh?" They looked at where it was and saw that all of the ninety-nine people under Chang Xiuying appeared with their heavy luggage on their backs and hands.
"What happened?" Flora immediately asked as she received her own things.
"We were chased out of Avarice. They even demolished our building..."
"Master? Your eyes became red… and you have this oppressive aura around you. What happened?" One of them said, but neither of them were afraid of her. That made Chang Xiuying feel relieved.
"A lot happened… Now, we don't know what we would do," Flora said in the stead of Chang Xiuying.
"Let's see if we could take refuge in Aqueta."
"No. I'll take you to Lasirion. Live there from now on," Gaius interjected.
They all looked at the prince and then looked at themselves. Their heads nodded in agreement.
"Gaius," Chang Xiuying called, "What if news came to Lasirion and we can't go in?"
"I'll use my authority."
Chang Xiuying sighed. "You can't do that."
"I can."
"Look, we don't want to tarnish your reputation as a prince more than it is, Gaius. We can live outside Lasirion if you still insist."
"That would also be fine… alright."
Chang Xiuying smiled then patted Gaius' head. Surprisingly, the male liked it.
"Can you do it again?"
"What is?"
"Pat my head again."
"Weird guy," she said but complied to the weird request. However, Flora glared at them and was waiting for her turn. She grabbed Chang Xiuying's arm then tugged it for attention.
Chang Xiuying looked at Flora and her eyes clearly portrayed that she needed attention too. In the end, both of her hands were occupied.
"We will go to Aqueta and gather provisions until we reach Fermanagh."
"Yes, Master!"
"Since we are already in Avira, let's hunt for food. Oh right. Since we're going to be independent from cities, I will give you all something nice."
They all tilted their heads, but they cheered anyway.
"Now, line up. All of you," she ordered. Once everyone was lined up, she explained, "I am going to give you guys Imperium Axis. A ring that would store items like an item box. I will register your Qi into the ring and make it only exclusive to each one of you. Understood?"
"Yes!"
Then she quietly handed over rings to the children as she registered their Qi into the ring. Once everyone got their own, they immediately stored their items into the ring.
"I want you to be my master too..." Gaius suddenly muttered.
"Well… I already gave you a high level spatial pouch. It is the same as the rings they have. Speaking of which, aren't you already my student when you decided to learn swordsmanship from me?"
"Ah. Indeed."
"Well then, let's put your skills to the test."
"... oh no."
* * *
As expected, news travels fast and Chang Xiuying and the others weren't permitted to enter Lasirion. A letter arrived, attached on the foot of a huge Eagle-like bird, and the receiver alerted the King. The letter contained a projection of Chang Xiuying's face along with the people with them.
The King issued a ban to those people and it immediately spread throughout the royal city and other cities and towns and villages.
At the eastern gate, a lot of knights were stationed and they immediately readied their weapons to Chang Xiuying's group. They couldn't feel any oppressive auras, but they knew their orders. Do not let those people enter the city.
The general, Algredo, approached the group and grabbed the hilt of his sword in case the targets showed signs of aggression.
"Release the prince at once!" He said.
Chang Xiuying remained calm and softly pushed Gaius out of the crowd. "You heard him. Go now. We'll just be outside. You don't have to worry about us. Also, don't do any funny business. We'll be alright. We promise."
Gaius glanced at her then walked towards Algredo with his chin up.
When Chang Xiuying turned around, she heard Gaius' voice. "Those people escorted me to safety. I will not come to the castle once they are properly repaid."
"But your highness---"
"Once again, I am not coming to the castle."
Gaius faced his back against Algredo. However, the man unsheathed his sword and was prepared to fight. Then, Chang Xiuying immediately caught the sword that was about to cut Gaius into two.
Gaius' eyes went wide as he saw how Chang Xiuying took the sword out of Algredo's hands then kicked him on his stomach. He flew and crashed on the wall of the city. It was also a considerable distance from where they were.
"... Ying..." he mumbled.
The guards saw that Chang Xiuying attacked first and they all unsheathed their weapons to fight back. However, Chang Xiuying raised her hands in surrender and never attempted another move. She also made sure to those knights that she had no weapons.
But those actions only put fuel to the fire.
They ran and brandished their swords at Chang Xiuying. She sighed then said to the others, "Back down or escape. I'll take care of this."
They all fell back and entered Avira.
"You're going to fight?" Gaius asked.
"No. I'm going to protect you," then she diverted their attention to her, but some ran towards the prince with their swords. She figured it all out now. Everyone that came to meet them was here to kill the prince. But it might be a farce… she had to be sure about it.
She single-handedly fought the knights that came towards her. Their weapons couldn't even put a scratch on her.
Thankfully, Gaius protected himself as he waited for Chang Xiuying to come. It only took a few seconds until the knights on Chang Xiuying's side were knocked out cold on the ground. She went to Gaius and knocked those that attacked him.
"You good?" Chang Xiuying asked.
"Yes... I'm good. Ying… how did you catch the blade without even a scratch?"
Chang Xiuying checked her arms and body, and there was a thin protective layer of Qi on her skin.
"It's the perks of a transcendent, I guess… anyway, I have to protect you from now on. After all these matters are done, like you being killed, I'll remain in your shadow."
"You… you can use shadow arts?"
"I can manipulate the dark energy," she confessed.
"I… never mind… everything around you is peculiar. Now I understand why I don't need to use you as a standard."
Chang Xiuying scratched her head then said, "Can you come first? I need to take care of my people for now."
Suddenly, there was an influx of knights just at the other side of the gate. Chang Xiuying clicked her tongue and immediately hid in Gaius' shadow.
"Your highness!"
"Adel!"
"Are you okay?!" Adel looked around and saw his knights knocked out on the ground, and Algredo was leaning on the wall with blood coming out of his mouth. It seemed that he had broken bones and punctured organs.
"What happened, you highness?"
"Algredo attacked me and someone took care of it. It's all right now. Why are you out here though? Did something happen to Father?"
"His Majesty is all right. Though… he had to be protected with his trusted aids."
"How about Mother?"
"Her Majesty is in her room. She refused to go out and we are guarding the door to her quarters."
"What happened when we are out of Lasirion?"
"A feud broke out. Then there was an attack on the carriage that you were supposed to be in. Thankfully, they all returned safely. Though their materials were taken."