Sakuya brought Kaze over to one of the smaller rooms at the side of the corridor they were in and threw him in there, literally. She still had the same glare on her face as she watched him retreating nervously, as if she was watching an insect covered in dirt trying to get close to her. It was terrifying, to say the least.
Kaze felt like he was going to get tortured by Sakuya from the way she stared at him. Glancing from her sword to her tail, he readied himself to submit to whatever Sakuya was going to do to him.
"… What are you doing?" Sakuya asked, feeling baffled by him staring at her. "Get your stuff. We have to leave before the guards come."
"H-Huh?" Kaze stammered, looking around him.
When he turned to face the wall, he noticed his outfit and sword were hanging on one of the hooks. It was likely a room to store the confiscated items from the prisoners, which explained a lot about how Kaze found the room he was in to be so secured.
Grabbing his stuff, Kaze immediately followed behind Sakuya, careful not to get too close to her in the event she really didn't like him. It was weird, thinking about how Sakuya's words didn't match her actions. On the outside, it reminded Kaze a lot like Lucentia when they first met. If anything, Sakuya and her twin sister, Shiina, would be the true ice queen from their appearance alone.
It was a stressful walk from where they were back up to the palace. When they emerged from one of the hallways, Sakuya stopped walking and closed her eyes. She was using her senses to tell if there was anyone nearby such as sound and magical perception. Being one of the royal guards of Aravel meant that she must be capable enough to do something like this.
"… Move," Sakuya muttered to him without turning around.
After a few more repeated actions, Kaze was convinced that she was actually a spy. While that was partly true, it helped that the sky was still dark and there was a lack of guards in the palace that helped them to progress quicker than expected.
It didn't take long before they arrived at one of the more heavily guarded areas. On both sides of a entrance stood two dragonkin guards. When they saw Sakuya with Kaze, they didn't react and simply allowed them to pass. Kaze didn't feel surprised seeing this, knowing that Sakuya must have been someone equivalent to their commander for them to not question her bringing a human wearing drags around.
"Oh, Kaze!" Lunatea's face brightened up when she saw him with Sakuya.
Sakuya brought Kaze over to where the Rentaria family were residing in the palace. Kaze felt a little more relieved knowing that it was under their order, likely by the Emperor Reginsleif.
"You trust me," Kaze hugged Lunatea tightly. "What did you…?"
"It was father's orders," Lunatea quickly explained. "He didn't want us to talk about bringing you out under the assumption that we might be monitored."
"Monitored? You mean they can hear our conversation?" Kaze asked.
"Yes, but it is not going to happen here," Lunatea nodded, looking at him up and down. "Mother had already casted an anti-sound barrier around us so even if there were magical devices hooked up to record our conversation, it wouldn't function."
"Kaze," Lucentia was the next one to approach him, giving him a quick hug too. "Thank god you are alright. I'm sorry I had to abandon you when the guards arrived."
"It's alright. You didn't have a choice," Kaze smiled wryly at the third princess. "I am sorry I couldn't make use of the advantage you have given me…"
"I didn't know there was more than one of them since the second didn't show up," Lucentia sighed. "It was my fault too. I should have foreseen that."
"Lunatea, Lucentia, give the boy some space," Laevia giggled at her two daughters, with Lunaea and Luniel grinning from afar. "He must be tired from being locked up."
"L-Laevia-sama?!" Kaze noticed the Empress herself and immediately got to his knee. "T-They treated me fine, Laevia-sama. Lunatea must have told you when she went to see me earlier with Reginsleif-sama…"
"Yes, I know, but I was referring to giving you care," Laevia gently pulled him back up. "Also, you don't have to worry about being formal when it's just the few of us. If it was in public, then you wouldn't have a choice. Feel free to call me Laevia, just like how you would with my husband."
"L-Laevia… I'm sorry I let your daughter go," Kaze looked at the floor, feeling the corners of his eyes watering up again. "I…"
"… Mm, it's alright. I don't blame you," Laevia gave him a caring smile and gave him a warm hug. "While we have only met twice, Lunaria has already told you a lot about you for me to know that you are someone we can trust. I believe you, Kaze. It does not matter what evidence they have against you. We will help you to the best of our abilities."
Kaze teared up a little more upon hearing Laevia's reply. If anything, he could feel what was best described as 'a mother's love' from her. It was weird, knowing that he was up against an Empress of another nation whom he was supposed to be more formal with. Yet here he was, embracing her tightly while she comforted him.
"Isn't this character development a little too sudden, mother?" Luniel asked with a cheeky smirk on her face. "You are treating Kaze like he is your own child."
"You know that that's not what I'm doing, don't you?" Laevia giggled at her daughter while stroking his head. "This poor boy has gone through so much already, just like we all have. I don't want to make it any worse for him."
"… Laevia-sama, can I call you 'mother'?" Kaze mumbled softly.
"Oh my, you will have to ask my husband for that," Laevia widened her eyes a little at his words. "I am fine with it though~ Lunaria has informed me that you are an orphan after all, it would be quite fun to have you around."
""Mother?!""
"Heh?"
"M-Mom?"
Lunatea and Lucentia exclaimed with a deep blush on their faces. Luniel's left eye twitched a little when she heard her mother's response while Lunaea gulped, looking timidly at Kaze. They all interpreted their mother's statement in the same way as being that she was willing to accept Kaze into their family, meaning through adoption or marriage.
"S-Sorry, I got a little emotional," Kaze quickly pulled away from the dragonkin Empress and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Laevia-sama, I mean, Laevia, you have quite the charm."
"Don't be. It's not everyday I get to see someone as sincere as you," Laevia giggled. "Besides, I also got to fool my daughters for once so I must thank you. Back to the topic, my husband was the one who planned for your escape."
"Oh… so it was really Reginsleif-sama," Kaze smiled a little at this. "But wouldn't this get your family in trouble if it was found out they released a suspicious person?"
"Please, do you really think they will be able to trace your escape to Sakuya?" Laevia gestured to Sakuya, who had already changed back into her knight outfit. "We are very careful when it comes to disposing of evidence, Kaze."
Kaze could only sweatdrop at Laevia's statement. She made something like breaking a criminal out of prison sound like a walk in the park. If Ethan learnt about the espionage limits that the dragonkins had, he probably would have a heart attack. The fact that Laevia could confidently declare the skills of her guard was something to take note of. Kaze wouldn't want to do something that would cause him to be assassinated by a dragonkin one day and brought back to Aravel for some cult sacrifice.
Of course, there was no evidence that Aravel was such a cruel place but it was merely Kaze's imagination going wild.
"Alright Kaze, it is unfortunate, but we don't have much time to continue chatting," Lucentia told him. "Strip."
"… Eh?" Kaze blinked, feeling like he heard her wrongly. "I'm sorry, can I ask you to repeat yourself?"
"I asked you to strip," Lucentia frowned. "You need to change, don't you?"
"O-Oh, but I don't have any clothes with me," Kaze looked at the overcoat he took back with him from the other room.
"Well, we do," Lunatea smiled, passing him a fresh set of folded clothing. "Use it. We need to get you in a different outfit from what you normally wear to reduce the risk of you being found out."
"… You all have really thought this out properly, huh?" Kaze smiled wryly at this and took it from her. "Thank you. Is there a room to change?"
"Oh, you will have to do it here I'm afraid," Luniel stepped up, voicing her opinion to him for once since he showed up. "It's the only way we can ensure your safety without being found out while we brief you on what we know."
"Huh???" It was Kaze's turn to blush when he heard Luniel. "But… I'm a boy? I don't think it is appropriate to change clothes in front of the royal family."
"We insist," she walked up to him and crossed her arm. "Don't worry, even if we do see you naked, there is nothing that is worthy of being seen anyway."
Kaze felt that his pride as a man had been destroyed in an instant by Luniel, hence the stunned look he displayed. Lunaea simply smiled at her younger twin's ruthless comment while Laevia gave a knock on Luniel's head as punishment for sexually harassing Kaze.
Even so, he knew that he couldn't refute her previous statement about safety and all. When he changed, everyone looked away respectfully, with Lunaea covering her cheeky sister's eyes so that she wouldn't make another comment about anything related to his 'size' or 'shape'. The only thing sparing him from losing his final piece of dignity was the cloth that covered his privates being the only thing not missing while he changed.
Once he was wearing a fresh outfit that was surprisingly tailored to fit a human, Kaze sat on the couch opposing the dragonkins and listened to what they have to say.
"Oh, it looks surprisingly good on you," Laevia clapped her hands once when she saw him wearing the new outfit. "We prepared it in a rush with some modifications, but I suppose I was worried for nothing."
"Thank you for making this on such short notice for me, Laevia," Kaze bowed. "It feels great to move around in it, perfect for fighting."
"Yes. The material is Aravel-only, with the fabric being magic-resistance and not easily torn. That should be enough to serve as a temporary fighting armour for now," Laevia nodded at her own words. "You have your sword, don't you?"
In response to her words, Kaze unsheathed his sword to inspect it and nodded. It seemed to be fine from what he could see, especially when it was something given to him by Ethan a few months ago. If it was broken before he could even use it in a real fight, Kaze was sure that Ethan wouldn't forgive him.
"Hmph, I didn't get to see him nude," Luniel puffed her cheeks in frustration. "I want to see how different a human's body structure is compared to dragonkins…"
"Are you sure you mean what you say, or are you just trying to make Kaze uncomfortable?" Lunatea smiled at her sister before turning back to Kaze. "Kaze, we suspect that the culprits who took Lunaria-nee are devils."
"Devils?" Kaze tilted his head when he heard such an unfamiliar term. "I don't think I know what that is."
"Devils are a race of beings that live in a small nation far from where Czech is," Laevia started to explain. "Unlike us or the humans, they have multiple classes that form their hierarchy, dividing them into sub-species. The ones whom you have faced a few hours ago with Lucentia, they are one of the higher ranked ones due to their human-like appearance."
"That explains why they are able to conceal their magic presence so well," Kaze absorbed the knowledge given to him carefully. "How strong are they?"
"It depends. We lack information to know about their actual strength, but our estimate is that if Lunaria was confident enough to take them on by herself and Lucentia was almost on par, the lowest we have to go is someone as strong as Frey," Laevia gave him a rough estimate. "We aren't familiar how the devils rank themselves, so we just made an estimate off people that you might know."
Kaze shuddered at the thought that one of them would be just as strong, or even stronger than Frey. When he fought with her, she hadn't even shown her serious form despite the dark magic armour so it made him really worried about how good the devils they were up against really were. The only bright side was that the other dragonkins didn't look as worried as he did, meaning they must be capable enough to be able to take Frey-level devils on properly.
They continued their discussion a little longer until they heard a light knock on the door. Kaze stood up, alarmed, but the others simply smiled. When he saw who it was, Kaze relaxed with a sigh.
"Your Majesty…"
"Oh, I see you made it safely. That outfit looks good on you."
Reginsleif returned from his meeting with the other human officials, smiling when he saw Kaze. Admiring the outfit he had on, the Emperor gave Kaze a quick handshake.
"Are you briefed already?"
"Yes, Reginsleif-sama. Laevia and the others were just finishing up with everything about the devils."
"Mm. Also, call me Reginsleif. I'm sure my wife already told you once already, but I won't force you if you aren't comfortable."
"Father, I think Kaze is a little intimidated by you," Lunaea giggled at her father. "He wanted to call mother as 'mother' earlier."
"Oh? Does that mean you intend on marrying one of my daughters?" The Emperor looked at Kaze after hearing so.
"N-No, Your Majesty. Laevia is simply very… welcoming," Kaze blushed and gulped, fearing for his life. "I'm sorry I said that."
"My wife must have been very hospitable if she made you say so, which I am glad," Reginsleif laughed out loud instead. "Jokes aside, you have to get ready for what comes next, Kaze. This is not going to be an easy fight for you."
Patting Kaze on the shoulder, the Emperor gave him a reassuring smile. Kaze returned it with a quizzical look, wondering why the dragonkins were treating him so kindly despite them meeting him only once before, now being the second time.
"Kaze, if you are worried about returning the favour, don't worry. We aren't into blackmail culture," Laevia smiled at him, holding onto his hand. "Much like Lunaria, we have lived long enough to determine if you are 'good' or 'bad'. I don't know how much you know of Lunaria's past, but that girl… she has suffered a lot. If she can trust you so much, based on her actions and words from our observation, then you have already gained half of our trust. The other half is gained from our earlier interaction and judging you for ourselves, both subjectively and objectively."
"Thank you for making my daughter feel like herself, Kaze," Reginsleif spoke softly, revealing his true emotions as a father whose love for his daughters became exposed. "I haven't seen her that happy in years. It really brings out a lost emotion from within Lunaria."
"That doesn't mean that I will allow you to call me as 'mother' though," Laevia teased him. "Try that again after you decide on whether or not you really want to give Lunaria a second chance in life… Oops, ignore what I just said. I forgot that girl hates it when we make assumptions."
"We don't know if you are the one yet, but please continue treating Lunaria just like you always have after we rescue her," Reginsleif chuckled. "I will leave what we said up to your own interpretation."
"Y-Yes, Reginsleif-sama, Laevia-sama," Kaze muttered, his cheeks burning up from their assumptions,
As dense as Kaze got at times, he wasn't dumb enough to understand what the implied meaning from their words were. It was also related to something he had been pondering for a while now, which only further fuelled his confusion.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," Ethan's voice came from the door.
Turning to the entrance, Kaze saw Ethan with a tired smile, probably from all the stress he felt over the past few hours.
"Don't worry, you don't have to hide," Ethan waved at Kaze when he noticed him being panicked. "Reginsleif here has already told me about your plans. I approve of it, so you have someone else to help cover your tracks."
"O-Oh…" Kaze sighed, allowing Ethan to approach him.
"… We both have it hard, it seems," Ethan muttered for Kaze to hear, both referring to him executing his duties as a King and Kaze failing at his task.
Looking at Reginsleif and Laevia for their signal, Ethan nodded in return and left the room again. He only came to check on them, to see whether they were successful in breaking Kaze out of the palace prison for the injured. They were going to start the next part of the plan, something that was only known by Ethan and no one else.
"We shall continue our little talk afterwards. For now, Lunaria takes priority," Reginsleif said, taking a step back to address his family. "Let's start."
- - - - -
One of the few guards who were on their way to switch shifts were greeted with the sight of their friends being knocked out, all sprawled on the floor in awkward poses with the door of the isolation room with open.
Dropping his coffee to the floor, the guard ran hurriedly to sound the emergency alarm throughout the palace. Their prisoner, whoever it was, had escaped.
Immediately, chaos erupted throughout the halls of the palace. Now that they were lacking in guards, it was going to take quite the hard work in order to search through the entire palace grounds for the escaped prisoner.
"Damn it, why at this time?"
"Do we have any details on the prisoner?!"
"How are we supposed to work when we are short-staffed?"
"When did the attack happen?!"
With everyone in full blown panic mode, it seemed to further prove their incompetency, sending the guards on a hyper mode. Combing through the palace was going to take forever.
At the same time, another form of dispute was ongoing between the royalties.
"Oh, father! I can't believe you are so selfish!"
"We are going to find Lunaria-nee!"
"Girls, please calm down."
"Mother?! Don't you care about Lunaria-nee anymore?!"
The dragonkin sisters were currently arguing with their parents. Their argument got so heated their voices were elevated to the point it could be heard by the guards nearby on duty. Combined with the information that they had an escaped convict, this only attracted even more of their attention.
At the scene of the argument, the room was in quite the disarray. Each of the sisters had their own point to argue while the Emperor himself had to defend with the help of his wife. It was quite obvious who was leading the argument at this point, judging by the sound of the argument from either side.
"Your Majesty, please calm down-"
"Your Highness-"
"Hime-sama, please-"
The dragonkin guards, who were trying to stop the royal argument, desperately pleaded from the sidelines. A few of them tried to approach time and time again, only to be frightened off by the ferocity displayed by the princesses. Even the Emperor and Empress seemed lost at how heated the argument had gotten.
It was quite the sight, to say the least.
"What's going on here?!"
"Your Highness, the Rentaria family…"
The cherry on top was completed when even Kathy herself showed up, being informed of the argument. One of the human soldiers who had been watching the situation unfold pointed it out to Kathy with a flabbergasted look on his face. No one would have expected a full-blown argument from the mild dragonkin royalties.
While the drama happened, Kathy had to force herself to hide her smile since she knew what was actually going on. She wouldn't reveal it, of course, because this was all meticulously planned out. If anything, she was impressed with how the dragonkin family was so good with their acting. It really was convincing, based on the reaction the soldiers had.
"Fine! I'm leaving," Lunatea growled, opening her wings and flying off.
"Lunatea-nee!" Lucentia looked panicked at this, immediately following suit.
For dramatic effects, Reginsleif pretended to cast a spell that was aimed at stopping his daughters, only for it to fail when Lunaea deflected it. With a frustrated sigh, Reginsleif let out a blood-chilling roar that echoed through the halls of the palace. His acting was really amazing, such that Kathy also got a fright from hearing it up front even if she knew it wasn't real. The guards nearby had already collapsed, with some leaning against the wall and others running away.
Meanwhile, Kaze rendezvoused with the dragonkin princesses at some place away from the palace itself. Since they flew off without anyone being able to follow after them, they easily made the guards lost sight of them. Reginsleif continued to rage on while Laevia pretended to work something out with her dragonkin guards, acting as a perfect distraction.
"Wow, I heard that roar all the way from up there," Kaze chuckled as Lucentia and the others landed in front of him. "That was amazing."
"Our acting skills are top notch~" Luniel puffed her chest out proudly. "Too bad you couldn't be there to watch it live."
Right now, Kaze had gathered at a small alley close to the palace as planned, but out of sight. How he managed to escape from inside was thanks to the help of Shiina, who took the chance from the distraction given to slip out without being spotted. The dragonkin sisters could tell where he was from sensing his and Shiina's magic signature, allowing them to leave the palace with the guise of the argument so they could move around to find Lunaria together.
"I pity Sir Ethan. He is going to have so much work to do," Lucentia sighed, knowing that it was going to take a lot of explaining to ensure the guards that Reginsleif wasn't going to transform into a dragon and tear up the palace or something.
"He volunteered. This is the best he can do to help when father and mother are unable to move around flexibly like us," Lunatea nodded and turned to Shiina, who stood next to Kaze. "Thank you for your work Shiina, you can return."
"Understood. May fortune be with you, Hime-sama," Shiina addressed all the princesses at once and took to the skies.
"How are we going to conduct the search?" Kaze asked them, now that they had the privacy needed.
"Simple. Lunaea and I will move together, Lucentia-nee and Lunatea-nee should accompany Kaze," Luniel delegated their roles. "Report to each other for any signs of suspicion as soon as we find them."
"Roger," Lunatea and Lucentia nodded, watching as their twin sisters flew off together next.
"They will take the skies, we will cover the grounds," Lunatea told Kaze, arming herself with magic covering her body.
"S-Sorry, that's because I don't have the mobility you girls possess," Kaze apologised, pulling up a mask to cover the lower half of his face.
"Don't be. We needed two teams to have better scouting abilities anyway, so it is perfect that we are together," Lucentia soothed Kaze with a pat on his shoulder. "Trust in Lunaea and Luniel, okay? They are very capable girls too."
"… Alright then, let's go," Kaze nodded at the two of them.
At the same time, another team of friends made their move as well. Despite being unaware of the other's wellbeing, both had the same goal in mind: to look for Lunaria.