Ethan was currently in his office with the one and only Emperor of Aravel, Reginsleif.
With a glass of wine in hand and wife in the other, both rulers were leisurely chatting with each other over the events of the day.
By now, the two had become close acquaintance, not just because of they had a passion for fighting, but also because they had someone who could relate with them. It was tough being rulers, especially for someone like Reginsleif who lived for a few centuries by now.
"I have to say, Ethan, this is some fine alcohol," Reginsleif smacked his lips and savoured the amber liquid. "It was my mistake for not bringing over some of Aravel's products too."
"Haha, no need for that," Ethan, whose guard also dropped as they were no longer in public, smiled at the praise he received. "I am glad that you enjoy it. I was worried that you were already accustomed with the tastes of the world by now."
"Civilizations around the world change fast. Besides, I'm not one to say that I have explored every inch of it either," Reginsleif chuckled. "As the Emperor, you know how it is with travelling too."
"Yes, I agree," Ethan nodded. "What do you think about the fighting display put up earlier today?"
"Hm, I would like to hear my wife's honest opinion before I state mine," Reginsleif turned to face his wife, who was sitting by his side.
"It was great. I am glad to see the potential of the students being treated properly," Laevia commented after her husband requested so of her. "I am a little concerned about some of the participants though."
"Oh? How so?" Ethan raised an eyebrow at this, feeling concerned for her concern. "Is it with them being treated too harshly?"
"No, fighting naturally comes with a challenge, so that is normal," Laevia giggled. "I meant being forced to face the top 10… I understand it is to give perspective of the gap that the first-years have with the upperclassmen, but don't you think this will make some of them get in over their heads?"
"Ah, that might be true," Ethan smiled at her question. "Regarding that, we will have to discuss with the principal, Aldwolf, if you are that concerned, Laevia."
"No, no, just food for thought," Laevia shook her head. "Shall we have Kathy next?"
"It was rather entertaining," Kathy addressed her own opinions. "I'm not a big fighting enthusiast, so I can't give further comment."
"That's alright dear, I will take it from here," Ethan chuckled at his wife's response, as if predicting it already. "The fight wasn't by all means the best, considering it was the performance of just school kids, but it was enough to amuse me."
"Yeah, I'm going to agree on that," Reginsleif gave Ethan a knowing nod. "What was the best fight? I hope this doesn't come off as bias, since I'm going to have to pick my daughter's."
"Shoko's was pretty fascinating too," Kathy quickly added. "I love the display of magic during their fight."
"That much is a given, especially when it suddenly ended before we knew it," Laevia, who personally knew what Shoko was capable of, agreed with Kathy. "Lunaria's fight with the top of the school was great in the sense that she defeated her opponent without using magic."
"Really? I think she was just showing mercy. She would have destroyed the entire school grounds if she wasn't careful enough," Ethan suggested, causing Reginsleif to burst into laughter.
"How right you are! Come, let's drink to that," Reginsleif clapped, raising his glass to a toast.
At the moment their glasses clinked, there was a knock on the door of the room itself. In came one of the guardsmen, a look of worry on his face.
"Excuse me, your Majesties, your Highnesses. I will have to disturb your session," the guard royal gulped. "We shall guide you to your safety immediately."
"What's going on?" Ethan got to his feet, understanding the urgency of the situation.
"We are under attack."
- - - - -
Lunaria's ears were still ringing when Sera came to her side and shook her roughly. It was like she had entered a sort of trance that she couldn't break out of.
It all started when she went to the bar to get a drink. Even though she was a dragonkin who had more stamina, it was natural to be tired after multitasking for so many rounds of dances. She had to process avoiding Bryle while trying to make them move as elegantly as possible without rousing much suspicion. With so much brainpower consumed, Lunaria needed something to cool herself.
"Lunaria-hime."
"Ye-… oh, it's you."
Lunaria heard someone from behind and turned around to address the said person, only for her to frown once she found out who it was.
With a crooked smile, Bryle brushed off his earlier uneasiness as he caught up with Lunaria. Instead of focusing on Kaze, he figured it be best to explain the situation to Lunaria, who he knew was the one coordinating the dance.
"I would like to compliment your dance steps. They were… amazing," Bryle bowed lightly, a hand on his chest.
"… Thank you," she mumbled, expressing the disinterest she had in her tone.
"Oh, let me get that for you," Bryle quickly extended towards her glass on the counter and passed it to her.
With a suspicious look on her face as she accepted the glass, Lunaria conducted a detailed analysis of the contents in her drink to ensure he hadn't tried to spike it or mix anything with it. The only reason she was being so cautious was not only due to her identity as a royalty, but also due to not trusting Bryle in general.
Hence why she was quite surprised to find her drink was clean and took a silent sip from it. Lunaria's guess was Bryle trying to imply he meant no harm from his actions as he only wanted to talk.
"Are you free to speak for a little? I believe we got off the wrong foot," Bryle continued, carrying on with his calm demeanour.
"… Speak," Lunaria demanded softly, lowering her gaze slightly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I wanted to apologise for the conflict we had earlier," Bryle stated properly. "I did not mean to come off the wrong foot."
"You should have considered that the moment you went hostile on Kaze," Lunaria's sharp tone complemented her gaze. "At least you are willing to admit your mistake, but I am going to have to apologise because I am not the victim of the incident."
"Yes, I know, but I figured it would be important to clarify the issue with you first before I approach Kaze," Bryle sighed. "Otherwise, how else would I have tried to explain the situation?"
"… Carry on," Lunaria nodded at his words.
"What I would like to say is that I want to apologise to Kaze, but I need your help," Bryle gritted his teeth. "It is embarrassing in a sense… that I have to apologise."
"What do you mean? I don't understand," Lunaria felt confused by his contradictory words. "You want to apologise by you feel embarrassed to apologise?"
"Because… you know," Bryle looked away from her. "You have to apologise to someone who hates you?"
"Kaze is forgiving. He wouldn't mind if you came from the truth of your heart," Lunaria's gaze softened at Bryle's words. "So what help do you need from me? Do I need to be the mediator?"
"No, um…" Bryle turned back to her with a smile of relief. "I wanted to ask if you want to go out with me as compensation for apologising."
Lunaria went completely stunned at his words. Her brain failed to comprehend his intention with the sudden revelation of his thought process.
"You know, it should have been expected, right? Why should I, as a noble, have to go out of my way to apologise to someone like him?" Bryle made a small smirk at this, not noticing the blank look on Lunaria's face. "The house of Istenburgh does not tolerate signs of weakness. I feel like going out of my way to feel apologetic should come with some form of reward, so-"
Bryle wasn't even able to finish his sentence when Lunaria snapped. The glass in her hand shattered upon her anger suddenly shooting through the roof, her unable to control the strength of her grip. Quicker than he could process, Lunaria sent a beautiful slap right on the side of his face. This caused him to stumble backwards in confusion and pain as Bryle grasped his cheek that burnt from the sensation of her slap.
Everyone around them reacted to the sound of the glass shattering as it burst to pieces. When they managed to see what happened, all they caught was the sight that Kaze was able to see as well.
Lunaria's friends quickly came rushing up front as soon as they understood the situation. Sera and Rena ran up to Lunaria to control her, worried that she might suddenly conjure magic and attack or something.
As for Lunaria, she simply stood there silently. Her other fist was quivering with anger from how tightly she clenched it. The pain that came from her palm after slapping Bryle slowly came to her after she regained her senses once more.
For a moment there, Lunaria had leaked her killing intent unintentionally due to the sudden anger outburst. It wasn't spread out, rather concentrated on one single person alone. Still, it was enough to affect the area around her in a small radius from her bloodlust spiralling out of control. This was what brought the two elf friends of hers to their attention, for they feared for the worst.
Some of the students who managed to catch a breath after Lunaria retracted her killing intent collapsed to the floor. There were various forms of reaction from the students closer to Lunaria, such as rapid panting, gasping, dizziness and even fainting.
What Lunaria had essentially done was releasing a faint hint of a dragon's rage on the surrounding students, which was already enough to knock out a normal human. It was thanks to the training and fighting with monsters that the students close to her in the hall had that they hadn't all fainted yet, first year or third year alike.
As for Bryle, who was the main target of focus, he had already frozen on spot. Even though it only seemed like he was just stunned, he already blacked out while standing in that awkward position he was in. The brute force of a dragon's anger was simply too much to take, even if it was just a brief moment of exposure.
"L-Lunaria," Kaze stepped in seconds after her elf friends got to her, grasping her hand tightly. "What happened?"
At his voice, only then did Lunaria finally came to. She looked around hastily, realizing what she had done. Looking back at Bryle, whose friends were all crumpled on the ground in fear as well, she gritted her teeth and walked away.
Kaze and the others chased after her, with the students parting way for them to leave the hall. By the time the committee involved came over along with some of the top 10s like Frey and Yu Quan, who had sensed the killing intent from across the hall, they had already left.
Only Kaze, Sera, Rena and Shoko chased after Lunaria since they knew she wouldn't rage on them. In fact, Kaze was the only one among them who didn't know what Lunaria had done but still wanted to go after her. All he knew was that Bryle somehow made Lunaria snap, causing him to worry about what he said to her. It might have somehow triggered her past trauma unintentionally that caused her to react like such.
Lunaria only stopped once the sound of the merry cheers from the school couldn't be heard anymore. Standing in a small alleyway, she tilted her head to face the night sky while breathing slowly. She was trying to calm down, as if simmering her anger back to the first level. It wasn't until she found herself in control of her emotions once again that she decided to turn around and face her friends.
Kaze and the other three stood there silently, few metres away from her. With a small smile on her face, Lunaria completely erased any presence of her anger. They were reassured with her smile that she was alright now, even if the reason for it was a sad one.
"Lunaria… are you alright?" Sera was the first to approach her, giving her a tight hug.
"… I wonder," Lunaria muttered, burying her face in her friend's bosom.
"This is the first time I have seen you losing control," Shoko shuddered. "I don't even have to be there to know you were angry."
Rena simply patted Lunaria's head, feeling her friend's fragile self be exposed once more. The three of them were concerned if Lunaria was okay with showing Kaze this side of her, since they still didn't know that she had already shown her weak side to him before.
Watching the three friends sharing their moment together, it filled Kaze's soul with warmth. He couldn't help but smile at the heart-warming scene before him, knowing they cherished each other more than anyone could ever know. It almost felt like he was out of place, undeserving to interrupt them.
"Kaze," Lunaria called out to him just as he was about to leave. "You can stay."
Lunaria walked up to him and bowed lightly.
"Bryle was talking shit about you and that made me lost control," she admitted without holding back. "He wanted to apologise to you but in return wanted me to date him because he felt it ridiculous to make a noble apologise to a commoner. I'm sorry I lost my cool over that."
"O-Oh, you don't have to apologise for that. I am very happy you were angry for both my sake and your own good," Kaze quickly stopped Lunaria from bending any further, grasping the side of her shoulders. "Besides, I would have snapped at him too for making such a bold statement. Who does he think he is?"
"Hm, then that is justifiable," Shoko placed her hand on her hips and snickered. "Bryle deserved that."
"Kaze, are you… not surprised by Lunaria's display?" Rena asked, feeling surprised. "Normally, one would have gotten too scared to approach Lunaria due to the effects of her bloodlust."
"Hm? Not really," Kaze simply smiled at the question. "Facing my grandfather was much worse than Lunaria."
"E-Ehh?" The other three froze at his words while Lunaria simply giggled, knowing that Kaze was weird in that way.
"Kaze… I think you don't know what Lunaria is capable of doing, which is why you made such a statement," Sera sighed, feeling exasperated from the amount of surprises she was getting in a single night.
"Yes. Even as her close friend, you don't want to be near Lunaria when she is angry," Rena made a silent prayer as she admitted so. "You… just haven't seen it."
"I think I will take my chances," Kaze smirked at them, finding it funny to see them so terrified of Lunaria right now. "I'm also pretty pissed if Bryle thinks he can claim Lunaria for himself from a simple apology, it just goes to show he isn't sincere."
"Well, I don't think we can return to the event after that whole display of mine," Lunaria sighed, shaking her head. "At the very least, I can't."
"… I'll stay here with you," Kaze responded to her words. "Sera, can you and the others inform Yuuji that we will be heading back? I don't think Lunaria will be comfortable with returning."
"Alright," Sera made a smile in relief at this. "Rena, Shoko, let's go. We will entrust Lunaria over to her boytoy- I mean, her friend Kaze."
"You were just about to insult me, weren't you?" Kaze narrowed his eyes at Sera, who playfully ran away with her two friends.
Lunaria simply watched her friends moving away, possibly because they suspected that Lunaria wanted some alone time with Kaze that she never managed to get in the hall. It helped that they were actually being considerate, since in truth she did want to spend time with Kaze. No ulterior motive drove the intent behind her actions, for she simply wanted to be with him to further reaffirm her feelings.
"Alright, shall we go?" Kaze let go of Lunaria and smiled at her. "It has been a short night, but a fun one."
"With the dance, you mean?" Lunaria nodded in agreement. "Yes. Even though we were avoiding Bryle the whole time, it was quite the fun experience to dance with you."
"Hm, it was more of you conducting my movements though," Kaze chuckled. "You even swerved yourself at times and pulled on me to make up for my clumsy movements."
No further discussion took place between the two. With the occasional silence that was interrupted by the noises emitted from houses along the way home, they walked side by side.
In that sense, it was rather awkward since they usually talked about something when walking together. Now that they were aware of each other's presence with nothing much to speak of, Kaze felt a little embarrassed. The two were dressed in such prominent attires that it wasn't weird to think of them as couples, from the perspective of someone walking past them.
Lunaria, on the other hand, enjoyed the long silence they had. She hadn't had much time to think about her own feelings in the past few days, so it really helped that he was alone with her for this brief period. She found it comforting to have his presence next to her, accompanying her in a way. The previous cold and rage that build up in her chest had melted away with the flames of her feelings settling in place.
It still annoyed Lunaria to no end that people like Bryle existed. She knew it was impossible to correct everything bad in a nation, even though Ethan's effort could be seen. There was always something in place to keep the nation in balance, be it good or bad. There can never be too much of good with the exemption of bad.
Lunaria stole a glance at Kaze, her gaze slowly shifting down to his hand.
Her heart ached a little at the thought that Kaze got treated differently just because he was a commoner acquainted with a foreign princess like herself. Was it truly because Aravel was at fault for keeping their borders close that the fact she was a dragonkin became so important?
Lunaria wanted to, ever so slightly, be there for Kaze.
She longed to be someone who would find peace in herself and in the world. It all depended on where it started, or how it started.
Gulping nervously, Lunaria hadn't realized how she was matching her pace with his until now. She quickly faced forward once more, her gaze kept locked on her feet. Kaze didn't seem to know what she was doing, for all he cared about was getting her back where she could rest.
"K… Kaze…" Lunaria tried to speak, finding her voice stuck in the back of her throat instead.
Taking a deep breath, Lunaria was ready to try again. This time, she reached out to grab his hand to make her resolve.
Just as she was about to speak, the sound of explosions could be heard coming from afar.
"Hm?" Kaze stopped in his tracks, turning around to the sound of explosion that attracted the crowd around them too.
Following that, more explosions could be heard coming from all over the place. It was like they were randomly spread throughout the city in a coordinated manner, ready to attack upon order. Even if Kaze and Lunaria didn't know what was going on, it was clear this series of explosions that could be heard occurring all at the same time wasn't a coincidence.
With a knowing look, Lunaria abandoned all of her previous thoughts and focused on checking the nearest explosion to her.
"Go on, I will survey the air," Lunaria nodded to Kaze.
Spreading her wings, Lunaria took to the sky as Kaze ran off on foot along with some of the concerned people. She used her mobility to her advantage in determining the scale of the attack.
Soaring into the sky, she stopped at a suitable height and turned around. The night scenery of the city came into view at once. The glimmers of light and building was mixed with the scene of explosions taking place one by one. There was no specific concentrated area where the explosions happened, instead occurring at random.
Very quickly, she identified the area with the densest mana concentration upon focusing herself. Lunaria was about to soar towards the said area when something stopped her in her tracks.
She turned around and looked at an area isolated from the area of the attack, finding there to be something that bothered her senses. It was like a feeling of discomfort, something that attracted her attention. For Lunaria, it almost felt as if it was targeted specifically at her.
Without hesitation, she quickly arrived at the area itself.
Lunaria found herself to be close to a graveyard place, with several dilapidated buildings that were close to crumbling. Over at what seemed to be an abandoned church in the middle of the small hills of gravestones was where the malicious aura came from. Lunaria did an area scan with her magic senses and found it to be clean, which prompted her to move forward.
The door of the church gave way without trouble upon a single push. With its creaking sound, Lunaria was accompanied with the flapping of bats overhead. She advanced into the dark church without fear, taking caution as usual.
On both sides were chairs for sitting, some destroyed and others in decent shape. The building structure around her still looked find, albeit the cracks and dust all over. It so happened to be a moonless night, without a hint of light that helped to illuminate the corners of the building. Lunaria could only proceed with a flame generated in hand, ensuring that her each step was not an accidental trigger of traps or magic attacks.
At the very front of the room was an altar along with a broken statue of a nameless god, unidentifiable from the moss and missing structures all around. In the god's hand, there was an orb of sort that illuminated the only light in the area. It glowed an ominous purple, causing Lunaria to put up a more defensive stance in the case it was a trap that triggered from close contact.
Lunaria had personally never seen an artifact or object that was like the orb, even with her decades of experience. It was likely a lost artifact or something that was purposely created for sinister reasons, based on how she analysed the situation she was in. There was no reason to not suspect the orb had something to do with the explosions. Perhaps it was a communication device to coordinate the attack, meaning she was in the enemy's lair.
"Come on out, you're not fooling anyone," Lunaria growled, sensing enemy movement as soon as she was in front of the altar.
The men who had been hiding here appeared at her words. Each one of them looked staggered, as if they were not in full control of their body from the little twitches all over. Red veins coursed through their bodies, causing them to emit powerful magic from within. Lunaria could tell whatever happened to them was a forced process to get them to become stronger with a huge risk.
From the altar appeared a man who easily towered over Lunaria and the rest. His huge build and muscles were coursing with the same red veins in addition to his own prowess. Unlike the others, he looked calm and was able to control his own actions, meaning that he was in a different position who possibly received a higher buff to himself. This was easily proven when Lunaria noticed the battle axe he had been clutching this whole time.
"Iya~ and here I thought this was enough to hide them, but I suppose you can't conceal anything from an expert like yourself, Hime-sama."
A man in a suit stepped out from behind the huge person right in front of Lunaria. Unlike the others, he had concealed his aura and magical signature, so Lunaria had no way of gauging how strong he actually was. However, the fact that he was able to conceal so much information about himself from Lunaria was proof alone of his actual strength.
"Why are you attacking the city?" Lunaria asked, getting ready for a fight.
"Oh? I never said anything about attacking anyone though?" The man tilted his head at Lunaria's words. "What do you mean?"
"Hmph, still in denial even when faced with the truth, how stubborn," Lunaria grunted. "If you want to make it difficult, so be it."
Raising her hands, she generated a huge magic circle in an instant and caused the entire church to be consumed in a large ball of flames before exploding.