"Wow, so you're a hero!" A dignified lady exclaimed as stars shone in her eyes. This was the first princess Marie Astar of the Moonshine Kingdom and she was currently interacting with a very special guest.
"Well, yes, not to brag but I am here to save your Kingdom after all," He spoke rather pretentiously as he sipped his tea. But the princess didn't seem to mind.
She brushed back her light pink hair as she gave a gentle smile. The Hero seemed enraptured by the elegance she exuded.
"So, Sir Hero, could you show me some of your skills? I would just love to be able to witness your grace,"
"But of course, anything for such a pretty princess,"
Getting up from his seat, he moved a bit further from the garden pavilion, roses and other exotic flowers surrounding them.
Snapping his fingers, Yamada conjured the four fundamental elements and harmonised their essences making a small fireworks show of sorts. Crackling bits of essences formed various shapes and explosions of light.
"Wow! Amazing, to think you could harmonise the elements so well, as expected of a Hero!" Her eyes were practically gleaming, the first princess was always amused by any use of magic, though not anyone could just perform such a feat. Usually, mages would only specialise in one or two magics, three if they were pushing it. So suffice to say, that it was considered considerably talented to harmonise the four fundamental elements.
Indeed, it was true that Yamada did not get to this degree of skill on his own. He had to thank the Hero System for all his recent exploits.
Even at this very moment, he was completing a quest that would give quite the skill.
'Grade D Quest
'Impress the Princess!
'Impress the first princess of the Moonshine Kingdom,
'Reward: First Impression,'
At first glance, it seemed to be quite a basic quest, with rather pitiful rewards. However, that was far from the truth. First Impression was a skill that upped one's favourability with those he meets for the first time and increases the likelihood of befriending others and having other people more inclined to lend an ear to him.
Truly, this was the ultimate protagonist skill. And Yamada needed it!
*Ding!*
'Grade D Quest: Impress the Princess! Complete!
'Obtained: First Impression !'
Yes ! Yamada silently pumped his fist in the air.
Despite being called First Impression, it clearly still had an effect after first impressions, he fantasized of being like a shounen protagonist and crushing his enemies whilst having an army of 'admirers'.
But he was too weak now, he knew that, so with his Hero System by his side, it was without a doubt that he will eventually triumph above all and gain unimaginable strength.
Sitting back at the small table beneath the pavilion, he gazed at the princess that sat across him. He was quite fond of her and after chatting for a bit longer she parted to attend to other matters. This left Yamada alone, usually, he would head to his outrageously large room and train to get more status value points, but just recently he had completed the maximum payout the quest would give, ultimately finishing the quest. So here came the problem of how to spend his free time.
He could:
A) Try and flirt with the princess
B) Continue to train
or
C) Aimlessly wander around the palace
Considering he knew next to nothing about the place, and training wouldn't bring about any benefits, he could just exclude trying to flirt. That would be awkward at this moment in time. He chose option C, Aimlessly wander around the palace. Leaving the pavilion, instead of returning to his room, he took another path and wandered the wide corridors.
A pink carpet was laid out in the middle of the white corridors with paintings and mild decorations on the wall. It was probably an attempt to liven the place considering how large the corridors were and how little foot traffic there was, apart from the occasional guard which would patrol around. It would do no good if there the guards were on the outside but not the inside.
Yamada had little contact with the other people within the palace, so he would've been stopped and questioned by the guards had he not had an arm brace which signified him as an extraordinary guest, not to mention that everyone was already briefed about his presence. In fact, outside the palace walls, there were already rumours brewing up about the presence of an otherworldly hero come to save the Kingdom. This was no doubt disseminated by King Astar to boost morale on the tough situation the Kingdom found itself in.
"Oops sorry," it looked like the Hero bumped into someone as he studied the interior design.
"Hey, are you alright?" giving a hand to the pink haired girl he bumped into, she had a similar appearance to the first princess. Maybe, she was a relative?
…
Walking through the wide corridors she was currently on her way to speak to the head of the Night Knights to talk about the unrest in the Kingdom.
She was Kana Asar, the second princess of the Kingdom, the youngest of the four siblings. Two of them princes the other two princesses'. However, she was exceedingly mature despite her age being at a tender twelve, and would more often than not converse with those above her age, rarely interacting with her peers.
Caught up in her thoughts, she failed to avoid a person who was walking in an opposing direction to her, causing the two to collide into each other.
"Oops sorry," Looking at the person who bumped into her she found a rather peculiar face.
"Hey, are you alright?" With that, the person intended to grab her hand. In normal situations, Kana heavily dislikes being touched, in fact, she rather hated it. For all intents, she would've without a doubt withdrew her hand and back away from him. As all normal people would. As a princess, she was taught about the seriousness of stranger danger, and her mature mindset backed this up.
However, in this 'special guests' presence, she felt it fine.
"Yes, yes I'm fine," though she was still quite irritated by how he acted, she still kept her temper and quickly left. Mildly blushing.