After a few more minutes of convincing, they were finally willing to let Kaze go. With the group now sitting around together in the room, they were in a slightly awkward situation after what the princesses did to Kaze.
Unlike the rest, Kaze was forced to sit next to Lunaria while being surrounded by the rest of her sisters. With his heart thumping loudly, he could only stare helplessly at his friends who were all glad they weren't in Kaze's shoes right now.
"Um… how do we start?" Lunaria glanced at Kaze. "Do you want to explain?"
"L-Lunaria and I, we met first before the others," Kaze gulped, wanting to save his own skin. "Yuuji and I were chosen to be partners with Lunaria's group in a combined class and from there we came to know of Sera, Rena and Shoko too."
"A lot more happened before we met everyone else, like with Chris and Irene," Lunaria helped to continue. "We only really met half of the group during the… centipede fight. It was the day of the individual examination, but Kaze knew Albert from the sword fighting club."
"Yes, I can confirm that," Albert solemnly nodded at this. "I have seen Kaze fight before, but never up close, until the examination itself."
"I met Mitsui randomly halfway through the exam, and we got acquainted," Kaze continued. "Turns out, she is Yuuji's cousin so that is a surprise."
"I see," Lunatea smiled at their words. "I only got to know Kaze accidentally when finding Lunaria-nee first, but we gradually became friends too. It is interesting now that you mention how you met. It was all because of the centipede huh?"
"Yes… I hope to never experience that again," Kaze shuddered. "Simply thinking of how evil and terrifying the monster was, I'm having nightmares about it."
The others also showed similar responses since they were the ones in the frontline of the battle. This only proved that the rest of the students who fought could also suffer from post-trauma distress from time to time because of the centipede.
After hearing their brief explanation, Lucentia, Lunaea and Luniel exchanged glances with each other. They were able to determine individually that their words were honest and there was no lie in them.
"… I see," Lucentia's frown gradually disappeared after hearing their testimony. "It seems like we were mistaken then. We are sorry for treating you too harshly, Kaze."
"Sowwy~" Luniel laughed nervously. "We were just worried Lunaria-nee had found a man for herself without telling us."
"You will have to forgive my sisters for their actions, Kaze," Lunaria grasped his hand tightly with both of hers. "It is a disgrace on the Rentaria family to act before understanding the situation first."
"It's alright," Kaze sighed, not wanting to see Lunaria acting like this. "I can understand that they care about you a lot, hence why they reacted that way. Besides, what do they mean by 'my scent'?"
"Um… the more time you spend with someone, the more their odour will linger on you," Lunaria explained, unsure of how to make the situation clear to him. "You won't be able to understand it unless you have noses like us dragonkins. We can distinguish the odour of someone based on close examination."
"Kind of like wolfkins, really," Lunatea added in. "Kaze, what they mean to say is that they detected your odour all over Lunaria's body, making them wary of you."
"Ah, that I can explain," Kaze heaved a sigh of relief. "That was because Lunaria was the one escorting me around the school festival, so it explains why my odour lingered on her for a bit. If you want to say odours are long-lasting, then I would have to say that is because she tutored me daily back at our house."
"They live together, by the way," Lunatea explained to her sisters. "All of them except Albert."
"So this is what you meant when you said Lunaria-nee lived in a dorm with good people," Lunaea smiled at the explanation.
"They are… siscons, whether you want to admit it or not," Lunaria muttered softly to Kaze in embarrassment. "Because of what happened to me in the past."
"That means they simply feel the urge to protect you then," Kaze nodded at her. "Don't worry, I understand the situation."
"Allow us to introduce ourselves again," Lucentia coughed. "I'm Lucentia. I take dancing and performing very seriously as compared to the others."
"Lucentia is like an idol back in our nation," Lunaria helped to add context to her sisters. "She is involved more into the entertainment side. However, she does train with the sword as much as I do."
Lucentia was the very equivalent of an 'ice queen'. From her outwards personality that she gave off to the others right now, she was a kuudere. Her lack of casual expression like the stony gaze she had on allowed anyone in the room could tell she was not someone to open herself to others very easily. While she might not uphold the definition part of an ice queen where she treats people with little respect, at least her personality part fit the bill perfectly.
"Do you want to show off a little?" Lunatea asked her sister. "Let them know of our Aravelean dance, at least."
"… Fine," Lucentia sighed and got up. "We don't have music right now, so judge me solely from your eyes."
When Lucentia began performing, it was like watching a flower bloom in the middle of winter. Her previously cold personality melted away from her passion for dancing, replaced with the persona of an incredible performer. Even with the absence of music, Lucentia was able to transmit her emotions over to the group single-handedly.
What's more, her outfit did not seem to slow her down. Even with her long sleeves and drapes behind her, she was able to manipulate them to her tune and guided them in a way that only further enhanced her dancing pattern. Taking a few more steps back and forth while waving her arms gracefully, she finally stopped in a gentle bow.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Irene was first to break the silence, clapping at the performance given.
"It was short-lived, but graceful nonetheless," Yuuji followed the clapping as well.
With all of them giving her applauses, a small smile appeared on Lucentia's face temporarily as she sat back down. Everyone, excluding her sisters, felt some sort of glory of being able to see such a dance coming from the third princess herself.
"What's going on? Why is everyone clapping?"
"Oh, father."
Reginsleif and his wife had just finished their short meeting with Ethan and left the room to find everyone clapping. Upon realizing who it was, Lunaria addressed her father and quickly introduced him to everyone else.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness," everyone else fell to their feet to bow while Yuuji simply gave the royal approach.
"Pleased to meet everyone," Reginsleif simply smiled and shook hands with Yuuji. "It was great talking with your father for the first time."
"The honour is ours," Yuuji tipped his head forward in response. "Thank you for visiting Tristania."
"Yuuji, why are your friends here too?" Ethan asked after stepping into the room from behind the two rulers of Aravel. "Don't tell me you all got curious?"
"Yes father, Lunaria had also given us her permission to see her family," Yuuji answered with a wry smile. "Apparently, the royal family of Aravel are interested in her friends."
"I see. Then, everyone is welcome to stay here for a bit," Ethan nodded at this. "But do remember to head back to school soon. I don't want the Rentaria family to distract you from the Moon festival."
The group all gathered in the room for some light talk with one another, despite missing out on the introduction by Lunaea and Luniel. It was more of a social event now instead of a formal gathering since they were using this chance to get acquainted with each other. All their guests from Aravel were more than happy to interact with one another.
Kaze didn't dare approach the two rulers yet, so he stuck by Lunaria's side and allowed her to guide him. He wasn't used to events like these, even informal, since he wasn't a noble. How else would he get to know all these high-status people? Lucentia was the first one he currently spoke to while everyone else was occupied.
"I would like to apologise for my actions before," Lucentia bowed politely to Kaze. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Kaze."
"It's okay… I feel bad for having a royalty apologise to me," Kaze nervously replied, unsure of how to speak with the silent beauty Lucentia was. "Y-Your dance was very charming earlier, I like it."
"Thank you," the small smile reappeared on Lucentia's face for a brief moment. "Kaze, right? I would like to thank you for taking care of Lunaria-nee all this time."
"No, no, in fact it was Lunaria who took care of me the most," Kaze laughed at her honest words. "She taught me a lot of things, even those non-related to school."
"… Oh," Lucentia widened her eyes a little at his words and a small blush appeared on her face. "D-Does that mean… you and Lunaria-nee are…"
"Yes, we are close," Kaze nodded, too innocent to understand what he had just said could be interpreted differently.
"Kaze… you idiot!" Lunaria, who was extremely flustered when she realized why Lucentia reacted that way, shook Kaze roughly. "Don't you understand what you just told Lucentia?!"
"Huh??? What did I do?" Kaze blinked, feeling his head turning to mush from how rough Lunaria was shaking him.
After a bit of explanation, Kaze's face gradually turned red as well. Thankfully, Lucentia seemed to be more forgiving than he expected because she simply giggled it off upon a very embarrassing explanation of his true meaning. It was even more convincing in that sense if Lucentia took his word seriously, considering that Lunaria's body was stuck with his odour too.
"Lunaria-nee, I rarely get to see you act so harshly on others," Lucentia commented while Lunaria lectured Kaze. "Did you change?"
"N-Not really," Lunaria pouted. "I just don't want you to mistake Kaze and I for being in an illicit relationship."
"Hehe, as far as we are concerned, the fact that his odour is stuck to you is already proof of your relationship," Luniel, who had hopped into their conversation, gave Kaze a light smack on the back. "I can see you train with the sword a lot."
Luniel could only be described as a ball of energy. Much like the energetic Irene, Luniel was someone who never seemed to run out of energy. According to Lunaria and Lunatea before, both Luniel and Lunaea were Aravel's technology and research experts since their field of interest was regarding more on exploring with mechanics and magic. Kaze found that Luniel did not seem like the research type at all, since she had such an outgoing personality.
"Yes. I typically train for 6 hours a day, but now it has been reduced to 4 after Lunaria made sure that I study more," Kaze could only chuckle at the comment made by Luniel. "I'm surprised you can tell."
"Hehe, your body doesn't fool my eyes. I can tell your muscle density and body mass does not correlate with the average teenager, meaning that you must have put on a lot of muscle that doesn't show on the surface," Luniel gestured, tapping his arm lightly. "Just by touching your arm here, I can tell that your triceps and brachialis are more developed. The bicep muscle is often easy to fool people, so I don't judge from there alone."
"As you can see, Luniel is very scientific by nature," Lunaria smiled at Kaze's impressed appearance. "Her and Lunaea are excellent researchers."
"But… the one thing that confounds me is your mana," Luniel murmured, taking a more serious approach at analysing him. "Are you perhaps not used to chanting spells?"
"Yes, I'm bad at magic perception," Kaze nodded. "I can only gather mana from the surroundings without channelling it throughout."
"By gathering outwards… you mean you can physically gather pure magic?" Luniel's eyes widened at his words. "I don't want to believe it, but I don't think you are lying. Whether or not you believe me in return, the mana within you that has been gathered hasn't been expelled in a while. It might be due to some mana entering your body from gathering pure magic."
"You seem to know a lot about pure magic," Kaze took great interest in this subject. "Can you-"
"Nope, sorry, I have to stop you there," Luniel shook her head. "I don't know much about it either. In fact, nobody really does due to the lack of material to help with the study, mainly a reliable method to gather pure magic."
"… Would you like me to demonstrate?" Kaze asked Luniel hopefully. "So as to prove that I am at least not exaggerating my statement."
"Maybe not in here. I don't want to risk there being a chance of explosion," Luniel giggled. "We might be able to put up a barrier, but pure magic might distort it and I don't want to risk blowing up the palace."
"Got that right," Kaze sighed, feeling slightly disappointed he still hadn't found a way to explain the pure magic.
"… But, if you ever do visit Aravel, I will help you with my research," Luniel stretched her arm outwards. "I promise on the name of Rentaria."
"I will take your word for it," a smile returned on Kaze's face at her words. "Let's shake on it then."
Moving on to Lunaea, Kaze found that Lunaea was a timid girl. In comparison with her twin, Lunaea was introverted and rarely spoke unless needed. This was rare, especially since she was a princess who needed to interact with people often. Perhaps it was in her nature since she wasn't comfortable with talking to strangers.
However, Lunaea was also a beauty of her own standards. With her attractive silver white hair and golden eyes, it created the image of Lunaea being someone so precious that he couldn't help but stare at her from time to time again. All of Lunaria's siblings were attractive in their own way, so it didn't help that no matter where he looked, he always found himself staring at one of the dragonkin royalty.
Finally, the time came where he would exchange words with the dragonkin rulers.
To say Reginsleif was intimidating was an understatement. The pressure that Kaze could feel from stepping up to the Emperor was tenfold the weight of what he felt when he first met Ethan. Perhaps it was comparable to when Ethan got serious during the fight, but that didn't help that it was supposed to be a casual interaction. Each step he took made him feel like he ran a mile instead.
"You haven't met before, Kaze. Kaze, this is my father, the Emperor of Aravel," Lunaria introduced the two. "Father, this is the person whom mother helped the last time she came over. His name is Kaze, he is an orphan from the north of Tristania."
"Mm, pleased to meet you, Kaze," Reginsleif shook Kaze's trembling hand. "No need to be so nervous. I still haven't thanked you for saving my daughter's life."
"T-The pleasure is mine," Kaze squeaked. "L-Lunaria is the one who saved me…"
Turning to Laevia, who stood by Reginsleif's side, Kaze felt like the pressure had disappeared suddenly. Laevia exerted a very motherly aura around her, at the same time showing off that she was someone who didn't match her age. While she might be the mother of five children and the Empress at the same time, her appearance matched that of someone entering their thirties. Was this the charm that Kaze only knew as 'Onee-san type'?
"Your Highness, I believe we met before, but please excuse me for not remembering you," Kaze bowed. "Lunaria informed me that you were the one who helped to tend to my body when I was severely injured."
"Ah, Kaze. It is so good to see you walking," Laevia gave him a light hug instead of a casual handshake, surprising Kaze at how open she was. "Yes, the doctors in the hospital were at a loss too. I can see why they were a little burdened by your condition since your mana flow has gone awry all over your body."
"It probably is due to interjecting the magic blast of the centipede head-on with pure magic," Kaze admitted. "This is the first time I have encountered that problem as well."
"Fufu, as long as you feel fine now," Laevia giggled. "Lunaria was very worried for you. She begged me and cried by your side…"
"M-Mother! Kaze does not need to know that," Lunaria's face blushed yet again but for a different reason. "I was genuinely worried that Kaze wouldn't wake up, that's all…"
"Your words are too kind, Your Highness," Kaze smiled at this. "I almost mistook Your Highness for being Lunaria's secret elder sister when you first came in the room."
"Ara, you have a way with words, Kaze," Laevia pretended to act bashful while she was actually happy to be praised too. "It's thanks to my husband for relieving me of the stress as being the Empress. I reward him well for it too~"
"Dear, not now," Reginsleif laughed out loud, acting somewhat similar with Chris in the sense that both of them had no humility. "You are going to let Kaze know what we do in our free time."
"I don't mind you know?" Laevia whispered into his ear as her hand moved to his back, probably touching his tail sensually. "I still haven't thanked you enough with simply dedicating my life to you~"
Kaze was a little embarrassed by how openly they were flirting with each other, but at the same time it sort of resembled Lunaria. Lunaria was also someone who didn't mind the stares they received when they walked together for the first few weeks. Not minding the public perception while being honest to themselves was something admirable, but they were also careful not to take things too far.
"… Kaze, I think you're staring too much at them," Lunaria sweatdropped, shaking Kaze lightly to get him to stop staring. "I know they are often like that, so please ignore them."
"Ah, my bad," Kaze quickly stepped back and bowed once more. "It was great to be able to meet with you, Your Majesty, Your Highness."
"Laevia-sama will do," Laevia smiled politely at him. "Please continue to be friends with my daughter."
- - - - -
After some time, the group eventually left the palace and returned to the school for the rest of the festival.
Since the royal family of Aravel couldn't simply walk around as they pleased, for the time being they would have to settle down first until further arrangements have been made. Even though it would be possible for them to walk around with illusion magic, it was still somewhat risky since spies could be around and the possibility of danger without additional security was always there. As such, Lunatea and her sisters had to wait until they were able to enter the city properly with Lunaria.
"Man, I don't think I can get over the fact we managed to meet with your family, Lunaria," Chris sighed happily. "That is an experience I will never forget."
"You can say that again," Yuuji completely agreed with Chris. "Even as a royalty, I appreciate this opportunity a lot."
"They seem happy to meet everyone, so hopefully father and Sir Ethan managed to work something out that will allow them to enjoy the festival as well," Lunaria accepted their praises happily. "In Aravel, this would never happen."
"This is probably because they arrived out of nowhere, so the King had no time to prepare for their arrival and visit," Kaze smiled wryly. "I do have a feeling your sisters will try to sneak out."
"I hope Laevia-sama will stop that from happening," Rena laughed along with the others at Kaze's statement. "I can't imagine the dragonkin princesses of a renowned nation acting so immature like sneaking out…"
"It probably happens more often than you know," Shoko answered. "I mean, just imagine of the things they used to do back in Aravel compared to when they are out of Aravel. They must be bursting with excitement to explore a foreign city not affiliated with Aravel."
"That is true," Sera nodded. "Well then, I'm feeling a little hungry after all that. Lunch, anyone?"
"Count us in."
"Mm hm, so we have…"
Lunaria turned around and began to see how many of them were already here, only to stammer when she realized for other people had joined their group before she knew it. The others also turned behind to see what made Lunaria so stumped, becoming stumped themselves at the realization of who the four were.
Undoubtedly, even under the guise of illusion magic wearing their school uniform being humans, their appearances were a dead giveaway to those who knew them.
"Lunatea… you do know that styling your hair differently won't spare you the shame of being recognised, right?"
"Too soon… I regret my words…"
"Ehehe~ Mother was fine with it."
Lunaria had a quick word with Lunatea as Rena grovelled on the ground, regretting her casual joke. No one in their group would have ever thought that they would be bringing all of the princesses of Aravel out for lunch in a school festival.
But that was only the start of their troubles for the next few hours.