It seems my first bruh moment arrived, not expecting this notification to sound off inside my mind. Moreover the Gamer system gave me a hidden title, [Harem Seeker]. Seeing us not start the banquet yet, I decided to have a quick peak at this title.
[Harem Seeker]
Player Naoto has encountered three or more girls of Zemuria with strong fates attached to their soul. Due to Player Naoto's strong desire to create a harem, this hidden achievement has been locked. Grants the following perks:
-Favorability Meter (Active) - Lv1 - 0/100
-Friendship Up
So this title finally came...but I wasn't expecting to come this early. I guess the only conditions it had was for me to encounter three or more girls of this world with strong fates. That probably meant that they played important roles in the Trailsverse. I can already tell that's true. It was probably referring to my encounters with Elie and Estelle. As for the third girl, it seemed that the princess at the other end of the table was the last trigger for me to receive this title. That made sense, knowing who this princess was.
However, my thought was soon interrupted by the voice of Queen Alicia, who spoke out to all of us with a firm voice. Yet at the same time her voice sounded as if it was longing for someone.
"I thank you all for attending this banquet tonight. Normally under such circumstances, we will not hold one of these until our yearly Royal Assembly. However, due to the unfortunate tragedy that struck us dear to our hearts, the loss of the Liberl Crown Prince, I have invited you all here tonight in celebration. Tomorrow will be a day of sadness for us all, but tonight we will celebrate life. And to celebrate that my granddaughter, Klaudia von Auslese, escaped this tragedy unharmed.", Queen Alicia spoke out, letting her voice carry through the whole room.
"And through this came an unexpected blessing. I cannot be privy with you all just yet on the details, it will be revealed in due time.", Queen Alicia continued to say. It was at this time the princess, who the Queen introduced her as Klaudia von Auslese, smiled at us before speaking. She was able to form more complete sentences like me, instead of like Estelle's super friendly nature.
"I also thank you all for coming. It is sad that Father and Mother are no longer with us. I will keep them dear to my heart, and celebrate tonight with Grandmother.", Klaudia said, introducing herself to us as the princess. While she was not showing much through that smile of hers right now, no doubt she was feeling it, since she could speak like that. Losing one's own parents so early is rough.
At this time, Queen Alicia took her glass of wine, raising it up into the air.
"To my dearest son, Judis von Auslese and his wife! Cheers!", Queen Alicia announced, causing everyone to follow suit with their wine glasses.
""Cheers to His Highness! To Your Majesty and Her Highness!"", Everyone cheered out happily. Afterward, everyone gulped down and the banquet officially started, letting everyone dig into their assorted meals.
Seeing the several mayors in attendance, one of them particularly drew my attention. One of them was a middle aged blonde haired man. A little girl could be seen with him, similarly blonde haired. She appeared a bit older than us toddlers, more around four or five years old. She had a pair of turquois eyes, wearing an ash and red frilly dress. Her hair was currently tied back with a red ribbon.
This girl felt a gaze strike her. Placing her food down, she turned her head my way, looking at me with interest.
"Father.", The girl called out, which drew the middle aged man's attention. His head also turned toward mine and Giliath's way.
"It is rude to stare, boy.", The aged man said with a a stern remark to me. Giliath smiled hearing this and spoke out.
"Haha, please forgive my son's behavior. This is still a new experience for him.", Giliath said to the man, causing him to look at father.
"Your boy seems well mannered enough despite that, so I will forgive you. I don't recall having seen you before. Who are you?", The man asked who father was.
"Giliath Osborne. A high ranking official in the Erebonian military.", Father said, introducing himself to the man. "Still, my son has good eyes, for singling you out. I didn't think I would sit next to the Mayor of Bose, the trading capital of Liberl. You guys often trade with our country.", Giliath responded with a smile.
"Giliath Osborne...I see. So you're that monster that's been causing quite a ruckus in Erebonia lately. I didn't think anyone from Erebonia would come for this, let alone you. I am indeed the current Mayor of Bose. I'm Windolman. Like the others here I've come to pay my condolences to Her Majesty, as well as my daughter.", Windolman said, introducing himself as the current mayor of Bose.
"It's a pleasure to meet you two too. I didn't think there would be any little children besides me tonight so it's a nice surprise seeing you here. You can call me Maybelle. Some day, I hope to follow in my father's footsteps and become Bose's next mayor.", The blonde haired girl said, introducing herself as well.
"That's definitely a good goal to have, child. I hope Naoto here will strive for himself just like you are aspiring to be."
"Yes. It is nice to meet you. I'm Naoto Osborne, and as you see father and I are here on a trip so to say."
"Is that so? I hope we can get acquainted more in the future.", Maybelle responded to my introduction, causing me to smile as well.
I didn't think Bose's future and current mayor would sit right next to us as we dug into our food. Estelle and Joshua would get rather acquainted with her and her personality during the sky saga. She for one would not hold back voicing her opinions aloud the more and more Duke Dunan became unruly. Sure, Duke Dunan would eventually change for the better after the sky saga, but it was Maybelle who was willing to openly oppose him.
And if I recall, she was born five years ago, so that meant she was four years older than me right now. As father said, it would do well to get acquainted with Maybelle, she will become quite a handyman in the marketing business.
Following such, the four of us chatted for a while as we continued to eat during this banquet, talking about the current affairs between Liberl and Erebonia. Besides the Crown Prince's passing, not much was worthy for discussion. His Majesty's deathbed was currently kept wrapped in silence had he had yet to step on it, but if it was following the current events, the current Erebonian Emperor will pass away in roughly two years.
There was that private encounter with that woman dressed in knight armor, who received the name Arianrhod by that other woman. That was when she officially entered the ranks of Ouroboros. I was not sure she was directly promoted to an Anguis seat, but she will probably not appear for several years down the line. Not until the azure tree starts to form.
For now, I could only look as to what will happen in two to five years down the line. I do hope father will bring me to meet the emperor before he passes.
Knowing that, I kept eating my food and the banquet passed before we realized it. I also took note of Klaudia stealing glances at me. Probably was wondering who I was. It was weird for us to have the two same shades of purple hair after all. I did find it strange I haven't been looked at in such a way yet by the others.
Or perhaps they couldn't, knowing that Giliath was right beside me. Not everyone had surprised looks seeing him in the hallway earlier, and Maybelle's father being one such person. They also saw we were with Cassius as well, so they probably didn't dare to.
As we continued to dine, and let it be known I was only eating foods I could successfully chew as a toddler, the guest of honor, Queen Alicia, looked at her granddaughter's current behavior.
"Haha, looks like you have taken an interest in Naoto.", Queen Alicia said with a smile. Klaudia looked up and nodded.
"You know him, Grandmother? It's almost like I'm looking at a mirror...Why aren't the others questioning this?", Klaudia asked, uncertain. This earned another laugh from Queen Alicia.
"It's probably because those around us don't dare to do such a thing, knowing who Naoto is currently acquainted with."
"Is that so? And from the looks of it you know him too, Grandmother. Who exactly is he?"
"Do you remember how I often talked about my little sister?"
Hearing that, Klaudia became surprised.
"Auntie? Are you saying this boy is related to Auntie?", Klaudia said with a surprised voice.
"For now, you can call him brother. But how silly of me, I didn't ask General Osborne to see who is the older one of you two.", Queen Alicia retorted as she had another sip of her wine.
"Brother...", Klaudia responded in a soft voice, only to look my way again. I saw her stare, and it seemed her eyes was filling with more interest as the banquet continued. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, so I continued to eat with father next to me.
Before I knew it, this banquet ended and everyone retired for the night. Queen Alicia took this time to formally introduce her granddaughter to father and I. She was surprised to find out she had a relative still alive beside her father and mother who passed away. Once Klaudia and I were standing close to each other, i could tell both of us looked very similarly.
Turns out Estelle shortly fell asleep after the banquet ended, but Colonel Bright was still able to introduce his family to Queen Alicia before that happened. Estelle wanted to play more, but she was still a one year old child. I too was getting sleepy. Elie and Henry thanked us for spending some more time before they left the castle back to the place they were staying at. As for father and I, Queen Alicia allowed us to stay at the palace. This allowed me to spend some more time, conversing with Klaudia until the two of us slept. The Head Maid took Klaudia away to her private quarters while father took me to his guest room.
Before we knew it the next day passed. After a simple breakfast with Queen Alicia, all of the figureheads made their way down to the lake beside the castle. According to Queen Alicia, they have a tradition of sending off their departed ones on small wooden boats, lighting them on fire. We then lit lanterns, letting them float along the lake. This lake was called Lake Valeria, and it commonly went by the name the Pearl of Liberl, known for its glistening waters. The castle was situated right over this lake. I did see tears form in Klaudia's eyes seeing the flaming boat depart, until it was no longer in sight.
Today was where the atmosphere was gloomy, but it passed nonetheless. Our stay in Liberl was set to two days. Yesterday was gone and after the funeral of the Crown Prince was done, we spent the remainder inside of the castle, trying to shrug those feelings off. Queen Alicia did not invite anyone else to the palace. As such, we had to say goodbye to the MacDowell pair, as their flight left today. Estelle and her family stayed around, letting her cheerful attitude lift the atmosphere around the castle into a brighter mood.
Estelle truly was such a cheerful girl. She was able to make quick friends with the princess. It didn't take much for the princess to become friends with me, as well as seeing me as another one of her relatives. I wasn't sure what Queen Alicia said to Klaudia at the time, but Klaudia started to call me brother closer to the end of the day. Estelle shrugged it off, still calling me Naoto, but Klaudia was a bit different. Seeing how i behaved since we met, the way she addressed my status as a brother wasn't the typical 'onii-chan', nor 'aniki'. She addressed me as 'nii-sama', which was a bit surprising.
Either way, the just like how Elie quickly became friends with Estelle the day before, Estelle, Klaudia and I became quick friends, and father wasn't against it.
The night of the second day passed before we realized it, with the third day dawning. This day signaled our time to leave. Since we live in Erebonia, we do live quite a ways away from Liberl, so Estelle wouldn't able to see us too much, if at all really. She did become sad but she also promised that we would meet again in the future. We bid our farewell to the Queen's family too, and left Grancel City via orbal ship.
Upon our return to our villa in Erebonia, our driver remembered the time to pick us up. We had a smooth ride home with no happenings at all. My mother Kasia greeted me with a warm hug, knowing that I was safe during these two days. As for father, Giliath recounted what had happened during our stay, with Kasia opening her mouth with an 'O' knowing that I had become friends/siblings with the Liberl princess, Klaudia von Auslese.
Before I knew it, someone started to play the fast forward button as the four of us spent time together in our villa, with me playing a lot with baby Rean, despite being a toddler myself.
In a blink of an eye, two years have passed...
*
Favorability Meter is not a love meter. It will not tell you that someone loves you or not. It will only tell Naoto how much he is earning favor with them. The higher it is, the more friendliness they will show, which will in turn give him a better chance to confess his love (not for a long time into the future)
Just in case anyone got confused by this active skill (:
Drop those power stones and add to your collection!