"There is no way this girl is related to Amelia!" I blurted out loud. How is this girl related to the little gremlin?! There's like a total flip of personality!
"She is! Claire, introduce yourself!" Lilith waved at the girl. As the Blue haired girl walked into the room, she bowed.
"Sorry for the intrusion, but I'm afraid Lilith is correct. I am the older sister to Amelia Mallory. My name is Claire Mallory and I came to visit her." Claire looked at me in an apologetic way. I almost immediately forgave her before realizing again that she was related to Amelia.
"Ain't that cool! She was the one that got kidnapped by the Minotaur!" Lilith chirped in beside me.
"Yes, I came from our home kingdom Ozoth when I was attacked…I was almost sold off to be a slave to someone." Claire said sadly, clutching her chest harder.
"I…Didn't know about that. Well, thankfully you weren't sold off." I said. "Sorry for the…Rudeness of me."
"No problem. I understand your concerns when it comes to Amelia."
"…Huh?" My mouth went open in surprise. "You came in here already thinking she'd do bad here?"
"Is she not?" Amelia asked. "She was a sort of troublemaker in our family."
Understandable. First time I met Amelia, she wanted to duel me and she ended up having some sort of rivalry with me. Visiting our place only to have an argument with me. Blocking my view of Lilith when we do our fitness training. the audacity!
"Yeah, she's been a real pain in my ass if I was honest." I said honestly. Amelia frowned when I said that.
"Tsk, that doesn't sound good at all." Claire folded her arms. "I'll need to talk to her again."
"Again?"
"When Amelia was in our home kingdom, she was the biggest brat you'd know. Always wanting to pick a fight with someone, crying whenever she didn't get why she wanted. Telling herself as the best mage when she was with us."
"She isn't like that with me." Lilith frowned. "Amelia is usually very nice and kind to me. I only think that She's like that to others and Kota because they bullied her…And that Kota saw her panties." I felt a quick glare come from Lilith when she said that.
"Really?" Claire was taken aback by this. Looking at me with concern.
I found myself sweating now out of embarrassment and fear. Somehow I managed to make a very bad impression on this girl with my rude introduction and now she heard about an incident that was not even my fault! Do something, Travis!
"Ahem…uh, Amelia flipped herself up into the air when she dueled me. Which is why I accidentally caught a glimpse of what she was wearing, but it's not like I go around saying I did!" I tried to reassure her.
That seemed to have calmed her down, Claire sighed with relief and looked around the room.
"I suppose this is his room?" Claire asked. She was referring to Chris, who was still face down on his bed.
"Yep. You're in the Prince's room." I looked over at Chris. "Chris, you know you should apologize to her, right?"
Chris immediately pulled himself up from his position. Gasping for air and looking around. "Gah! Who throws someone like that?"
Lilith shrugged. "Barely even pulled him…"
"Hah…" Chris rubbed his neck, looking at Lilith. "But it's alright, Nothing the prince can't handle from a fine girl like you."
"Didn't you say earlier that my boobs were small?" Lilith narrowed her eyes. She then put her hand over her leather chest plate. "This guard outfit is just hiding them!"
Chris's eyes darted to me for a moment, a smirk formed in his face as he made another move. "Care to prove that?"
"Just ask Kota. We're in a hurry." Lilith said hastily. "Now apologize to Claire for touching her!"
Chris gave me another look of confusion. To confirm Liliths statement, I nodded. I've seen her without armor. Being here for some months, I've noticed my body and hers growing due to our age obviously.
Chris looked at me in defeat now, the look of "really?!" On his face. Seems like he was drawing farther away from getting to Lilith. Not that he really had a chance.
"Erm…Prince Chris." Chris turned to Claire. She bowed her head to him as she continued. "There is no need for an apology, it seems like you had only tripped on your way out and I was in the way."
"Wha-?!" Chris was caught off guard by her response. Or maybe he was just caught off guard as she looked back up at him, her boobs bouncing in front of him. "I-you…I must Apologize!" Chris jumped off his bed and landed in front of Clair, bowing his head to her. "Sorry! Forgive my non-nobles actions!"
Claire let out a chuckle, patting the boy on his head. "Hehe, I guess I'll accept the apology. Can't be completely mad at a young boy like you."
I can. First, he hits on Lilith and now he gets a free pass because he's young. The kid got a full hand on you and you still let him slide on it! I stared at the boy irritatedly when Lilith poked my shoulder.
"Hey, are you going to the university after this?" She asked.
"Yeah, gotta get back to my classes."
"Boohoo…" she pouted.
"You know you see me everyday, right?"
"Hmph." Lilith puffed her cheeks and looked away from me. "I'm just worried, that's all." Her eyes darted to my chest.
Ah. She's still worried about when I got a fist through my chest. I clutched my chest for a moment in response to her look, to which she eyed me again.
"Lilith, I'm fine. It doesn't hurt anymore, here." I leaned towards her. "You can feel it yourself, it's just a scar now."
"Hah!? W-well, I guess I'll check…" nervously, Lilith planted her hands against my chest and pushed on it. "Feel weird? Am I pressing too hard? Should I punch there?" She asked questions frantically.
"No punching. Seriously, don't. I don't feel anything except your hand." I said. I already knew she'd try to do that, and frankly I don't wanna be knocked out for the rest of the day. Her punches took out a Minotaur…so I don't think I'll live.
After a couple of seconds of Lilith touching me, Our little moment was then ruined by Chris who was under Claire. "Hey! No touching in this room! Especially if it's you two! Eugh!" He had a disgusted face as Claire was rubbing his cheeks. "No flirty touching!"
"Hmph, is that so?" Lilith removed her hand from me and looked at the table with the stack of papers. Chris stared at her, his eyes narrowing as she seemed to have eyed something now. When he realized what she was looking at, he tapped at Claire rapidly to let him go.
"Unhand me! She's touching sacred text!" He yelled, but it was too late. Lilith looked at the top page of the sheets and grabbed it. As she turned around, I could see the unamused look in her amber eyes. They slowly then turned to disappointment as she looked at it more.
It was the same page I read.
"Chris…" Lilith said, smiling at the boy. It was a smile that hid a much more sinister feeling to it. Her hands gripped the page extremely tight as she turned to the boy. "What is this?"
"Uh-I-It's…Something that Kota wrote as he was teaching me magic." Chris' eyes darted to me, he couldn't look at Lilith directly as her eyes pierced in his way.
I can't really help the kid here. First of all, he shouldn't have done…whatever the fuck he was writing here. Second, he just tried to have me take the blame. He's on his own.
"No, I didn't write that. Not sure why I'd write…"I looked at the page Lilith held to remember what was on it. "…about how I died and had you and Lilith kissing."
"Gotta be someone who's asking to be thrown out a window and have his senses knocked back into place!" Lilith crunched the paper in her hand, Her left eye pulsing red for a moment.
"Woah! Haha! Alright, understood!" Chris held his hands up in a panic.
"You're lucky we have a guest here, I Would've-"
"Would've what?" A voice came from the entrance of the room. A blond haired man leaned against the doorway. It was Kale. "What were you planning on doing?"
"I…uh…Hmph." Lilith folded her arms and annoyingly moved across the room. Grabbing Claire as she walked towards Kale. "Nothing."
"Sounded like you wanted to throw the prince out a window…" Kale stopped her from moving out of the room. "We already talked about this, you can't be rude to the prince."
"He drew me kissing him!" Lilith stomped her ground. "It was gross!"
"…Alright, maybe that is gross. But still, you have to follow that rule." Kale insisted, though his face looked quite uncomfortable with what he was told. "Look, The king wants us to see him. Even you, Kota." He pointed at me.
"What? Why me?" I was confused. Why would the king want me? I have no correlation with what was happening, I've literally just been teaching Chris magic.
"You'll find out. Might even be of interest to you." Kale waved at me as an invitation to join them. I let out a sigh as I quickly realized that there was no real way out of this, I'd have to take a moment to find out what the king wanted to say.
"Fine. I'll come along. But this better be fast as I'll need to head to the university!" I said, moving towards the door.
"Don't worry, we'll be heading there too! Got an important person to escort!" Kale chirped.
As the four of us gathered to leave the room, I saw Chris looking at us. The boy looked like he was going to cry again.
"M-my page! My drawing!" He whimpered.
"Ah, you should probably not draw those again. Better yet, burn those pages-Hey! You can try using basic Fire spells on the stack of papers! Let this be one of my homework for you to do when I leave!" I said.
Lilith turned around and peeked behind me, with an angry look on her face. "If I see you draw another weird thing, they won't know what'll happen to you." And then she quickly walked off out of the room with Kale and Claire.
"Hah…" Chris sagged to the floor, looking defeated. "I've moved farther away from her today."
Should I feel bad for him?…Nah. I quickly made my way out of the door and slowly closed the door, watching Chris mumble to himself. He'll still need to get ready for his classes, I'll have to make sure I tell Richard that he'd be late. For now, I should catch up with the others.
***
The throne room was on the first floor of the castle. Right past the kitchen and the stairs to the second floor. As we entered, I saw the king in his chair. We walked on the blue rug for a moment before Kale held his hand up.
"King Lucian. I'm back. This time with Kota."
King Lucian stood out of his chair, looking at us with intrigue. "I see. Well, let us begin. Business first, as always." He began to slowly descend the stairs that his chair was at. "Kale talked to me about an issue that has arisen for quite some time in the kingdom. Now to be quite honest, I was hoping this would be kept under control by our Guards. But having one of our guards attacked by these said kidnappers is proving to have possible negative effects on our business here."
Uh…Business? Oh, yeah…Business comes first. Actually when I wrap my wad around this, King Lucian hasn't once asked about the progress of Chris's learning ever since he hired me. Only person who's been asking was Richard's. I guess Family comes second to the business too.
"This slave trafficking will surely put a stain on us. I'm certain of it." Lucian made his way to the four of us, eyeing Claire. "Young girl. you are from Ozoth, correct?"
"Y-yes. I am. Claire Mallory of the Mallory family." Claire bowed respectfully to Lucian.
"Hmm…Nobles. Tell me, where do you rank in Ozoth."
"H-high. Our family has influences in Trade goods and magic."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing, Amelia being a part of a high class noble family? She didn't act at all like a noble. Actually I've never heard her mention being in a Noble family.
"Mhm…very impressive. I'm sure your family has some influence in politics there as well."
"Yes, my…Our family does." Claire vaguely said. "What are you getting at?"
"Nothing, just wondering. Here in Prusha, not many families get much power here besides my family." Lucian said. "Besides that, I am truly sorry for what happened to you."
Lucian bowed at Claire. As he did, he slowly pulled a letter from his sleeves. "I might ask though, have there been any cases of kidnappings in Ozoth?" He presented the letter to her.
Claire pondered for a moment. "…Yes, Several. In recent weeks or months, there have been many." She took a look at the letter. "Is this..?"
"I would assume this was the letter to confirm your kidnapping into slavery, yes. Made by one of the families here in Prusha…" Lucian tapped at the insignia. "This belongs to the Demont family. They aren't one of the biggest noble families here, so I'll have no problem dealing with them. Rest assured that we'll have justice served."
Kale looked at Claire. "We already have guards checking in at their estate to see if there is any more evidence."
"Indeed. Now the question is, ``Who is doing the kidnappings." Lucian folded his arms, his beard twitching. "I would assume that they are near Ozoth as most of the cases are from there. I haven't heard much about missing people in Prusha. Though I'll have the guards do some sort of report on that. And the letter does say specifically to find someone from Ozoth. Very specific."
I began to ponder myself as Lucian and Kale thought and gave their theories. Somehow I'm invested in this now. Claire said there were cases of missing people in recent times from Ozoth, herself being one of them now. I, myself, am not sure if any of those cases are connected. Maybe they are, perhaps from the same person? Maybe once they find info from the Demont family, they'll find out who they asked.
But somehow…I have a very strange feeling about this. The occurrence got more frequent very recently. And also recently…Arael separated ways with me. I can't really shake the feeling this could be her doing, I wouldn't even know the reasons why she would start doing kidnappings. Maybe for shits and giggles? She has the motivations of experimenting and playing in this world, so that might be possible. But still…I need more concrete evidence for that.
"Well whatever we can find in the Demont's home will help us." Kale finished his sentence. I must've missed out on it all as I was in my own head.
"Yes, this will take some time for us to look into it." Lucian grumbled. "In the meantime, feel free to look around our market District. We have plenty of options for you."
"I-i see…I'll need to book a room at an inn then." Claire seemed dismayed. "I still need to see my sister as well."
"Of course! Hmm…" Lucian's eyes trailed onto me. "The young boy here goes to the university. I'll have him show you the way there."
Great, now I gotta go see Amelia…
"Actually, another topic has popped into my head. It concerns you." Lucian said to me. "With Prince Chris reaching the age of eight, he'll need to understand what goes on in the world. Now I would do this myself, but it's been quite hectic for me ever since…Well, you know."
He was referring to his assassination that Emmit managed to kill. He's probably more concerned about his life if he's on the road than he ever was before. Staying in the kingdom would probably be the safest bet for him, I guess.
"So…Considering this slavery issue has been brought up, I propose something that'll perhaps interest you and the girl."
"I'm…all ears." I nodded and said.
"With the issue at hand, I'd personally go out to Ozoth to handle this with the king there. Unfortunately with my situation, it'd be best for me to stay out…However, I think this would be good for Chris to learn about being a king. So here's what I came up with. How about you escort Claire back to Ozoth with Chris, and also see into the situation in Ozoth?"
"By myself?"
"Nonsense, With Lilith and Kale. Kale would be the lead on this escort, I just assume you'd be interested in following along. Ozoth does have a vast library with them that I'd think you'd be interested in. Spells, history, all those things."
"Hm, tempting. But I don't really find myself digging into that sort of thing." I said honestly. Sure I like reading a book once in a while, but going just to see a huge library seems like a no go for me.
"Kota." Lilith whispered to me. "If we go, we'll see Your parents. Don't you want to see them? Plus, we'll be able to actually go out for once!"
Ok, she has a point right there. I haven't seen Gerald or Synthia for some time now. I'm pretty sure they are anticipating visiting me once Synthia gives birth…or maybe she did? It's been how many months since she was pregnant? I feel like I've lost track of time since I've been here…Then again, I was never the person who really kept track unless it was for myself.
And I guess she's right about not having gone out for some time. I mean, we haven't gone outside as much even when we got our ID's at the bounty hall. Almost feels like a waste that we got them since we've been too heavy with training and studying. We've only gone on one bounty too. Some point we'd need to go out and explore the rest of the world, and that'll come with its own unique dangers.
Hm, guess we'll need to go. It's a learning experience for everyone. Yeah, learning experience…
"Fine, I'll accept the proposal."
Author note: Hey all! Back again this week with two chapters! Might need to go back to some of these chapter to look for errors in grammar and spelling, just in case! Other than that, it's been pretty smooth! I have a lot of ideas that come to mind in this volume, particularly in the action scenes…been somewhat influenced by jujustu kaisen and now Chainsaw man, so…keep that in mind. Hope you enjoyed the two chapters! See you guys in two weeks!