Lunaria, who sensed the magical signatures of several dragonkins entering the city, froze up. She certainly didn't expect to be recognising these magical signatures so early on, especially when she had just left home. In dragonkin terms, 6 months wasn't as long but it seemed like her family was here for the Moon Festival.
For Lunaria, who had no idea of this, it was like a bolt from the blue.
"Lunaria?" Kaze realized that Lunaria was staring into the sky. "Something wrong?"
"… I will be back," Lunaria muttered and teleported away.
When she reappeared, she was at the city centre where most of the activity commonly happened. From there, she jumped into the air and spread her wings, allowing her to quickly arrive where she felt the magical signature. Tristania itself was big enough, so flying was the fastest way to get around the place.
Sure enough, she saw two carriages that was obviously made of Aravelean technology moving along the streets while being surrounded by both dragonkin and human soldiers. Widening her eyes as she was able to determine the magical signatures as her family correctly, she swooped right in.
"Now… where was I?" Ethan rubbed his head gently. "This is a pretty fancy carriage you have."
"Thank you for the praise. It is the hard work of our citizens," Reginsleif accepted the praise happily.
Right now, Ethan was in the carriage with the two rulers of Aravel. The carriage was led by a few dragonkin soldiers, who were following the route directed by the other human soldiers so they could meet at the palace first. Since they couldn't allow the wyverns in the city, this was the only option.
Now that he was sitting opposite of Reginsleif and Laevia, Ethan was able to feel just how much power the two had. From sensing their magic capacity alone, Ethan knew instantly he would lose in a fight against them no matter how much he prepared.
They might have been rulers for centuries now, but that did not mean their fighting sense from back in the days had dulled. In fact, it had only gotten more refined based on Ethan's guess. The muscular figure that Reginsleif had might have been blocked by his official clothing, but there was no hiding from a master swordsman like Ethan.
As fellow rulers of different nations, it was clear that the difference between them was colossal. Ethan's mind flashed back to records of the old days when his father was still King of the nation itself. What that happened from the treaty between the two nations was something that deeply scarred Czech since it was their fault for causing all the uprising that happened. Ethan knew very well it was all the humans' fault, something that wasn't mentioned in history unfortunately. Due to political reasonings and all, it was covered up and the incident quickly disappeared.
Based on Reginsleif's reaction right now, he didn't seem to care about the past incident since nearly half a century had gone by since that point. Knowing there was a new ruler now, Reginsleif wanted to start on clean terms again, something Ethan was glad of.
"… Hm?" Laevia raised an eyebrow at this and glanced out the tinted window of the carriage. "Dear, please ask the carriage to stop."
"Alright," Reginsleif used telepathy to convert his thoughts, causing both carriages to come to a halt. "What's wrong? … Oh."
Ethan looked at the two back and forth politely, secretly wondering to himself for their reason of stopping. Turning to his magical senses, Ethan tried to see if there was anything weird around them, but nothing came up. Instead, the two rulers left the carriage after it stopped. Ethan followed them and saw a familiar dragonkin swooping in from above, causing him to smile.
"Father! Mother!" Lunaria cried in joy and snuggled the two rulers tightly. "What are you doing here?"
"It's so good to see you, Lunaria," Reginsleif chuckled, giving his daughter a hug.
"How are you doing?" Laevia smiled as she returned the hug. "You look better than the last time I left."
"Yes mother, I'm fine," Lunaria bowed lightly before turning around.
From the carriage behind, four more dragonkins spilled out and trampled their way over to Lunaria excitedly. Crying out their elder sister's name, they surrounded her and crushed her with their hugs.
""""Lunaria-nee!!!""""
"Mou… you all shouldn't have come."
Four girls of different hair colour gave Lunaria their love through their hugs before separating from her. With a sigh, Lunaria welcomed her sisters to the city of Tristania.
The dragonkin girl with flaming red hair and a stature like Lunaria, Lunatea.
The dragonkin girl with a quiet beauty personality and her overflowing pink hair, Lucentia.
The dragonkin girl whose height was comparable to that of a young girl and silver-white hair, Lunaea.
The dragonkin girl who was the twin of Lunaea with platinum blonde hair, Luniel.
With all four of them, the Rentaria royal family was complete. While all the sisters' hair colour deferred a lot from each other, it was clear they were all on the brighter side instead of dark colours. It was common for dragonkins in general to have different hair colour, but their shading wouldn't differ as much.
Naturally, the appearance of the mysterious guests from the heavily guarded carriages moving down the streets immediately attracted a huge crowd surrounding them. The guards were quickly to form a protective circle around the royal family, but that didn't stop the gawking eyes from seeing their first dragonkin royal family.
"Wow, this is… quite the interesting family you have, Emperor Reginsleif," Ethan stepped out of the carriage to quell the situation, switching over to formal words compared to the time they met privately. "Lunaria-hime, it's good to meet you again."
"Oh, Sir Ethan," Lunaria smiled when she saw the King himself stepping out of the carriage. "So, it was you whose magical signature I could not recognise for a second there. Good day to you."
"Lunaria-nee, you know the King?" Luniel asked with a questioning look.
"Yes, mother brought me to meet with His Majesty when we first arrived," Lunaria nodded. "If Sir Ethan is the one personally guiding you all, I feel at ease."
"You give me too much credit, Lunaria-hime," Ethan chuckled. "But I won't deny I have my best guards working on it. When your family showed up without notice, I thought we were under attack."
"Father!" Lunaria whipped her head to Reginsleif at this and crossed her arms across her chest. "You came here impromptu?"
"Don't worry, we already settled work back at Aravel and left it up to the council as usual," Reginsleif burst into laughter at his eldest daughter's reaction. "We wanted to surprise you, but I suppose there is no going by your excellent magic sense as usual. That was how you found us, right?"
"Yes, but I was at the festival and enjoying myself when I came over without letting Kaze- my friend know," Lunaria pouted. "Mou! I'm heading back."
With the group going back into their respective carriages again, they continued the rest of the road to the palace where they were officially welcomed. Due to the short notice, a grand entrance could not be prepared in time, but it was manageable. The presence of the royal guards lining up by the walkway with trumpets and declaration was enough to satisfy the royal family. Even though they might be dragonkins with proud characteristics, they were humble enough to know how to treat others like a normal person.
Despite Lunaria's words, she came along with them in the end due to being worried about her family's actions. She knew they would be fine, but it was the self-responsible part of her that wouldn't let this go so easily. After all, they were royalty so there was no way they could screw up a situation that much.
"Lunaria-hime, would you be so kind as to stay here with your sisters for the time being?" Ethan requested Lunaria as soon as they arrived at the front of his room. "I will speak in private with your parents."
"Yes, Sir Ethan," Lunaria bowed and led her sisters to a waiting room with guards.
Most of the dragonkin guards remained on guard outside along with the humans, something that was a rare sight. The guards also rarely saw dragonkins before, so it was even more baffling for them when they saw the unique armour of another nation's top security force. With their wings spread out unlike the royal family, it was likely to prepare for quick flight in the case of an emergency. As such, they could not stop glancing at the dragonkin guards while in duty.
"Please, Emperor Reginsleif, Empress Laevia," Ethan, now accompanied by his wife, gestured for the two rulers to sit.
The four sat in the couch opposite each other, face to face. It was like the last time Kaze came here, but with fewer and more important individuals instead.
"Let's drop formalities then, it's a pain to be doing so all the time," Reginsleif sighed and leaned back against the couch.
"Geez, you are acting so lazy, dear," Laevia giggled at her husband. "But I concur, if it is alright with Sir Ethan."
"Oh, please, by all means," Ethan quickly responded with Kathy agreeing. "I too find it a hassle to be formal all the time."
"Alright then, let's get into business," Reginsleif rubbed his hands together and started speaking. "First of all, I think we owe you an apology on arriving with such short terms."
"Please, you have already apologised enough," Ethan forced a smile, feeling guilty. "As such great rulers, I should be the one lowering my head for welcoming you instead."
"Ara, such kind words," Laevia giggled. "However, it is true that our purpose for coming is to only celebrate the Moon Festival since our eldest daughter is in your nation."
"Yes, it is as we have said," Reginsleif nodded. "Of course, we intend to compensate you for the troubles you have to go through for our sake."
"Ah, please leave that matter aside for now. I will ensure that you are being treated with utmost care and respect," Ethan turned to Kathy. "Kathy, do you mind?"
"Not at all," Kathy gave her husband a light kiss on the cheek before leaving the room to make the necessary arrangements for their guests.
As the trio continued their casual business talk within the confinements of the room, Lunaria was busy answering her sisters' questions in the other side of the room. Among the questions, there came one that she knew was unavoidable.
"Lunaria-nee, why do you have a guy's scent on you?" Lucentia asked, taking a light sniff at her elder sister. "It is considerably stronger than the other foreign scents on you."
"Ahh, that is one of my new human friends whom I'm closer with," Lunaria answered with a calm and composed manner, even if she was trembling with fear on the inside at the thought of what her sisters would do to Kaze once they found out about what the two had done thus far.
"I can vouch for that," Lunatea, who did not want Lunaria to suffer a similar fate after thinking about the consequences, nodded. "I have met him and the others that Lunaria-nee has lived with a few times. They are good people."
"Heh~?" Luniel tilted her head. "I want to meet them."
"Now, you know we can't wander around," Lunaria smiled at this. "Even with high-level illusion magic, we will cause quite the commotion from our parents."
"I stand by that. Luniel-sama, please reconsider your decision."
"Oh, it's fine isn't it, Shiina~? I really want to explore Tristania now that we are here."
One of the guards requested for Luniel to retract her statement while Luniel simply disregarded it with a bored sigh. The guard in question was Shiina, one of the commanders of the units that came along with the royal family to Tristania. Her sister, Sakuya, was also a commanding officer but stationed outside of the palace to ensure that order was maintained among her dragonkin soldiers.
The reason why Shiina was able to speak to the princesses was due to her being close with them. Even though they came from different backgrounds and one being the master, Shiina and Sakuya were both treated as good friends of the princesses once appointed to serve the royal family by Reginsleif himself.
With the entire royal family visiting Tristania, it was something new that even Shiina hadn't experienced before. She had quite the history of serving the royal family ever since she was chosen, making her military background even longer than that. However, she was only slightly older than Lunaria, which went to show that their paths were different.
"I have to go soon," Lunaria told the others. My friends are probably worried that I disappeared all of a sudden. Stay here and try not to sneak out of the palace before mother and father are done, alright?"
"Hm, I'm not so sure what Luniel and Lunaea would do," Lucentia pointed out. "But Lunatea-nee and I would be fine."
"Shiina… I will be counting on you," Lunaria sighed in exasperation.
"Y-Yes, Lunaria-sama," Shiina sweatdropped, understanding that her job was more difficult than expected after years of experience.
- - - - -
"Ah, there you are."
"Everyone was worried about you when Kaze told us you suddenly left."
"Sorry, something came up."
Lunaria found out that her friends had already regrouped by the time she was back at school. Her sudden departure made them a little worried, nothing more. Spending time with her family for that brief period was something she hadn't felt in a while, so she was grateful for it.
Moving to a secluded area outside of school where they wouldn't be overheard, Lunaria told them about the reason she left. The type of nostalgia that filled her when she least expected it was heartwarming, to say the least, everyone left with warm smiles after hearing her short explanation.
"I see, so the Emperor himself along with the rest of your family are here," Sera nodded. "I can't imagine the uproar this would cause when it is announced later."
"Yes, there is no point in keeping it a secret," Shoko agreed. "People must have already seen the carriages they arrived in."
"I'm just glad they didn't bring in the wyverns," Lunaria giggled at their remarks. "Can you imagine the panic?"
"You say that like it is something to laugh at," Yuuji gulped. "I would panic if suddenly a group of wyverns showed up with a bunch of dragonkin soldiers."
"Uwe… scary," Irene shuddered at the thought of it. "Chris, should we run away now?"
"Calm down. If Lunaria here said so, we can trust her," Chris chuckled at his girlfriend. "You know that Aravel works in its own ways. I am willing to believe that they have full control of their wyverns."
"It probably is because they rear the wyverns from young to old," Mitsui guessed. "Domesticating wild animals is not unheard of, but dragonkins are probably the only ones to be able to domesticate wyverns."
"How are your family, Lunaria?" Kaze asked her. "You must feel good to see them after so long."
"They are fine," Lunaria thanked Kaze for his concern. "It really isn't that long in dragonkin terms, but it sure feels like it."
"Would you all like to see them? I'm sure we are all very curious about Lunaria's family," Yuuji asked them. "I can try to get you into the palace."
"Ah, Yuuji utilizing his privileges as the prince in a right way for once," Mitsui smirked. "Count me in!"
"I do want to see how His Majesty is doing," Rena nodded.
"I wonder how your sisters would react to us?" Shoko giggled, hooking her arm around Lunaria. "Let's go."
"Are we going to skip half the festival?" Albert asked, feeling a little concerned. "I think we should wait for another time. They might still feel like they haven't quite gotten accustomed to Tristania yet."
"I don't think we will get another chance like this," Irene scolded Albert. "The festival or the royal family of Aravel? Your choice."
"It has not been decided that we are allowed, after all," Chris shrugged. "But with Lunaria and Yuuji's help, we might be able to get acquainted with them. This is something I'm not missing out."
"… While I don't quite like the fact that you all are treating this like some sort of rare exhibition, I get the enthusiasm," Lunaria heaved another sigh. "My sisters are fairly excited to meet you all too, I won't deny. They were already questioning me about my scent as soon as I met them."
"Ah, dragonkins have fairly sharp noses," Sera helped Lunaria to explain to the others. "Please, don't try to do anything funny to them. Even though Rena, Shoko and I know them, I can't tell how they would react to you all."
With verbal confirmation, the group left the school and headed over to the palace together. It was quite amusing for them to treat meeting the royalty of another country like they were on a field trip.
Reality soon dawned on them regarding the severity of the situation when they realized how many guards were stationed around the palace itself. With the two carriages parked inside, Yuuji and Lunaria were somehow able to get their group past the guards with some convincing. Even so, they had a few guards following behind them to ensure that none of them would try anything funny.
"Lunaria-sama," Sakuya, stationed outside of the entrance to the palace, immediately greeted Lunaria when she saw the dragonkin princess approaching. "I wasn't informed you had left earlier."
"Yes, I teleported," Lunaria nodded. "This is Yuuji, the prince of the nation. Both of us would like to bring our friends to meet with my family."
At her words, Sakuya physically tensed up for a moment but nodded in the end. It was clear that she was reluctant because of her orders, but decided to disregard it after giving the group a careful scan with her eyes. They didn't seem like the type to cause trouble in front of royalty, so she was going to allow it under the orders of the first princess herself along with the prince.
Following them along with a few other guards to the place where Lunaria's sisters were gathered, it seemed like the meeting hadn't ended yet. Lunaria could tell this based on the guards stationed around them.
Once they arrived at the room where the others were, Kaze and the rest were searched by individual guards and their weapons were temporarily confiscated. This was to be expected, since they would be meeting with the princesses as guests of the prince and princess themselves. Even so, they could not help but felt a little nervous from the security check alone. They even went as far as to cast magic on them to make a more thorough search like ensuring no one was under illusion magic or had concealed weaponry.
"You may enter," Sakuya confirmed with the group and the guards opened the door for them.
Shiina stepped in front of the doorway first and saluted, giving her deepest bow to Lunaria.
"Lunaria-sama, your friends may remain here for the rest of the time until His Majesty is finished," Shiina reported.
"Thank you Shiina. Yuuji and I are equally grateful for this," Lunaria smiled and turned to her sisters inside of the room.
Since each of them were as exceptional as Lunaria in terms of magic sensory, they could easily tell when Lunaria approached the palace minutes ago. They just weren't sure why she was bringing along several people with her after leaving, but now their suspicions were cleared when they saw the guests all wore similar uniforms.
Just like Lunaria from the individual examination, each of the dragonkin princesses wore their official outfit that had their own charm with slightly different designs. From Kaze and the others' perspective, their beauty was the first thing that stood out to them. Even though they had already seen Lunatea before, they were still attracted to her. This was also the first time they had seen Lunatea dressed up properly in her official outfit with her hair tied, so she exhibited a 'proper mature' charm compared to her 'cute and casual' beauty.
"W-Woah…" Yuuji gulped, trying his best not to be rude. "Lunaria, your sisters…"
"They are so pretty…" Mitsui's jaw slackened into a silly grin, her saliva almost drooling out. "Geez, Lunaria! This is so unfair! Why do you dragonkins look so good?"
"You are plenty cute yourself, Mitsui," Lunaria giggled and walked to her sisters' side. "But I won't deny that I feel blessed us dragonkins are generally birthed with great appearances."
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lucentia stepped up first and gave a polite bow. "I am the third princess of the Aravel royal family, Lucentia Unve Rentaria. Please, just call me Lucentia."
"Nice to meet you all for the first time," Lunaea gave a similar bow as well. "I'm Lunaea Seva Rentaria. Likewise, Lunaea will do."
"This is our first meeting together, I hope we get to see each other a lot more from now on as our first human friends from Czech," Luniel grinned. "Luniel Seva Rentaria, also to be referred to as Luniel."
"Prince and only child of Czech royal family, Yuuji Thros Bivel," Yuuji introduced himself first as the only royalty of the group. "I sincerely hope you will accept our hospitality."
"I don't believe we need to introduce ourselves," Sera giggled as she and the other two excluded themselves from the group.
Moving on from Mitsui to the other few, Kaze was the last to introduce himself since he was the one with the lowest ranking among them. This was the culture itself, after all, so there was no helping it.
"I'm Kaze, also one of Lunaria's friend," Kaze bowed politely. "Lunatea told me about her sisters before, so it is a pleasure to finally meet everyone."
When Kaze stepped up, all three of them suddenly changed their attitude towards Kaze. Before Kaze realized it, his body was frozen with magic and he was unable to move. Purple chains shot out from Lunaea and Luniel's hand, conjuring the magic chains to wrap around his body. To make matters worse, they were all Advanced-level restraining spells that neither one in the room other than the dragonkins were able to break out of easily.
Kaze's friends watched in pure terror at the actions of the princesses, with Luantea sighing as she already expected something like this to happen. Even Kaze himself was lost as he didn't know what he did wrong while the sisters turned to Lunaria.
"Lunaria-nee, explain!" Luniel demanded. "Why is his scent all over you?!"
"Among everyone else, his scent stood out the most," Lunaea confirmed with her twin's words.
"An explanation is needed," Lucentia glared at Kaze with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Otherwise…"
Lunaria, her jaw dropping as she did not expect her sisters to react so aggressively to Kaze, had a hard time convincing them to let go of Kaze so they could explain the entire situation.