The next day.
Liberl, Grancel Castle.
As a certain colossal airship decided to reside over the clouds high up in the sky for the remainder of the day, the next morning dawned before they realized it.
The sun's rays once again pierced through the gray clouds, quickly reaching their way toward the tall second floor of Grancel Castle, beyond the second floor garden terrace.
Royal Keep, Crown Princess's private quarters.
A rather fluffy and bright room could be seen inside the Royal Keep's private quarters of the Crown Princess. As the morning rays pierced the room, a violet haired short haired girl could be seen sleeping peacefully as her day has yet to begin. While this girl slept, a small figure, which had the figure of a bird, suddenly made an appearance on the veranda outside. Upon a closer look this bird seemed to be a very pretty white falcon.
"Schree~Schree~", The falcon happily tweeted as it flew around outside. After flying in a circle one or two times, the white falcon descended. Seeing the veranda sliding window open, the white falcon flew inside the violet haired girl's room.
"Schree?", The white falcon continued to say, tilting his head a bit as he saw the girl still sleeping. If one looked closely at the white falcon, one could see a small slip of white paper rolled up around one of his talons.
"Mmm...", The violet haired girl suddenly responded, letting her closed eyelids flutter a bit.
"Schree~", The white falcon happily responded, seeing a response from the girl. He started to fly around the room a bit. The flutter of the white falcon's wings created enough noise for the girl to wake up, slowly opening her eyes. Seeing the white falcon, the girl's eyes turned a bit wide in surprise.
Leaning upward, she placed her back on the inside wall with a pillow behind it while bringing her legs off to the side of the bed.
"Sieg? Is that you?", The violet girl said, rubbing her eyes a bit to wake up.
"Schree.", The white falcon responded in acknowledgment with a bob of his head. This bird was of course Sieg, a white falcon who was reared personally by the royal family and trained under the Royal Army.
Seeing the girl now awake, Sieg approached her and nuzzled his head against her arm.
"Haha. What brings you here, Sieg?", The girl laughed seeing Sieg do this.
"Schree.", Sieg responded as if he answered her.
"A letter? From whom?", The girl asked in wonder, before reaching down toward Sieg's talon, and removed the small rolled up tied piece of paper.
Next, the girl unwrapped it. After opening the piece of paper, all she saw was one line written on it.
"Did you miss me?"
Reading this single sentence, the girl's eyes became dazed for a moment. It didn't take long for her eyes to turn wide and she felt her heart thump a bit.
"This handwriting is...!", The girl tried to exclaim in shock.
As if on cue, loud sirens started to blare around her entire room. These sirens sounded exactly the same ones as if an intruder was making their way in, the same ones that sound off in Leiston Fortress. It wasn't just the Crown Princess's room either, these sirens blared throughout the whole Grancel Castle.
"What's going on?", The girl asked, quickly snapping out of her daze hearing these loud sirens continue. At this moment, several footsteps could be heard arriving in front of her door.
"Your Highness, are you alright!?", One of the figures said, quickly arriving into her room. She appeared to be wearing a variation of the Royal Army's green military uniform, which was a blue long coat. She even wore a blue beret over her head. A gold hilted rapier could be seen equipped at her waist. Several soldiers could be seen accompanying her. Even a couple maids, along with Hilda.
"Julia? And even you, Hilda?", The girl asked in confusion.
Seeing the Crown Princess unharmed and safely in her bed still, the girl named Julia let out a sigh of relief. She even saw Sieg and the letter in the Crown Princess's hand. Julia even let out a chuckle.
"Haha, it looks like we were beaten to the punch after all.", Julia said, shaking her said as her eyes laid on Sieg.
"Beaten to the punch?", The girl asked, even more confused now.
"Hoho, didn't I tell you, Julia? It looks like I won this one. I just didn't expect such grandiose. But considering that he's HIS son, it isn't out of the question I guess.", An older sounding voice suddenly struck the girl's room. It wasn't long until an older looking woman with aged white hair wearing a regal dress to walk in.
"Grandmother!", The girl said both surprised and happy, despite the ongoing sirens blaring loudly in the room. Yet at the same time, she realized she was still in her nightgown and lightly blushed before hiding in the covers again. This earned another chuckle from the old woman.
"Go freshen up and get ready, Klaudia. It is unexpected, but today will be an eventful day. The Crown Prince is returning.", The old woman declared. After the old woman declared that, the soldiers in the room saluted.
"So it really is Brother....", The girl said, who was of course Klaudia. The old woman who had just appeared was the current active ruler of Liberl, Queen Alicia II. As Klaudia uttered that to herself, Queen Alicia II turned toward Hilda.
"Make sure Klaudia is presentable in the next fifteen minutes, and bring her to the garden terrace after, Hilda.", Queen Alicia II commanded the Head Maid.
"Yes, Your Majesty.", Hilda responded with a bow, as did the couple of maids that followed her. Soon after Queen Alicia II, Julia, and the guards that accompanied her dismissed themselves from the room, leaving behind Klaudia, Sieg, Hilda and the maids.
By now, Klaudia's sleepiness was long gone and was wide awake, and the sirens didn't stop either. She was careful not to fumble out of bed as she got up, and thanks to Hilda's magic, the maids got busy, readying Klaudia for the day.
Fifteen minutes later, Garden Terrace, Second Floor.
Out in the open, as it was the wintry season again, snow could be seen lightly scattered throughout the trees on the open garden terrace. That didn't stop the several figures from doing their business though. There were several figures clad in green, and were soldiers of the Royal Army, lined up all the way going down to the first floor. Each one was equipped with a standardized orbal rifle.
More toward the upper area of the terrace, several key figures could be seen among the Royal Army military. Queen Alicia II was also among them. It didn't take long for a new figure to arrive, which was Princess Klaudia, donning a full dress with several maids behind her.
Queen Alicia II took the time to look over to the figure standing beside her, who appeared to be a middle aged man of sorts. He was not in a soldier's uniform, but a Bracer Guild emblem could be seen on his clothes. What stood out about this person was the small mustache he currently had.
"I'm surprised you were in town to see this, Cassius.", Queen Alicia II said a smile. "Are you sure you don't want to return to the Royal Army?", Queen Alicia II asked, ignoring the sirens, as well as the wind being blown around hanks to a rather large aircraft that could currently be seen descending from above the clouds.
"Haha, I thank you for your kind gesture, Your Majesty, but I won't be returning any time soon.", The middle aged man called Cassius responded.
"Well that's a shame. Guess only time will tell on that one.", Queen Alicia also responded with a chuckle.
After she said that, another figure popped out from beside Cassius. This figure appeared to be a girl of sorts, who seemed to be no older than ten years old, and had long brown hair that was tied in twin tails. She blinked on curiously seeing the descending aircraft. She both had surprise and shock in her eyes seeing how big it was, considering it was around one thousand feet in length.
"Daddy, what exactly is going on?", The girl asked, tugging at Cassius's pants as she did.
"Oh you'll know soon enough, Estelle. Why ruin the surprise now?", Cassius retorted, which caused the girl named Estelle to pout a bit.
At this time, the figure that came dashing from the Royal Keep soon came into view, panting a bit from running over here.
"Hah...", Klaudia said, letting out a sigh. "It seems I made it in time.", Klaudia continued to say, which brought another smile to Queen Alicia II. Seeing Klaudia appear, Estelle blinked for a good moment seeing her arrive next to them before she became happy.
"Kloe!", Estelle waved happily seeing Klaudia arrive.
Not expecting this voice, Klaudia blinked for a good moment before she saw Estelle standing next to Cassius waving her hand.
"E-Estelle? What in Aidios's name are you doing here?", Klaudia asked, only to look up and see Cassius as well.
"It's been a while, Your Highness.", Cassius responded with a smile.
"Mister Cassius too?", Klaudia asked in surprise again.
"Hehe the Queen invited us up here. I have no idea why though!", Estelle responded seeing Klaudia react like this.
After Estelle said that, Klaudia took this time to catch her breath. Higher up military figures could also be seen around them but they stayed quiet, only watching the giant red orbal airship descend. Well, it was more like they couldn't speak, as they had never seen a ship this big before.
Realizing what was going on, Klaudia also looked into the sky, and saw the Glorious for the first time, leaving her eyes wide in shock.
After a couple moments passed while the siren continued to blare, the Glorious descended enough to where its deck could now be seen.
On it stood several figures that many currently at Grancel Castle had no clue who they were, but both Queen Alicia II and Klaudia were able to spot two figures close by each other. One who was a plum haired girl of similar age to Klaudia who currently had a staff of sorts in her hand, as well as a violet haired boy dressed in his formal phoenix robe. This violet haired boy also seemed to be the same age as Klaudia, and the moment he appeared, he could be seen waving his hand to the giant crowd below him.
Before she realized it, Klaudia had a few tears form in her eyes seeing this violet haired boy appear before her once again, ever since he did nine years ago.
"It really is you, Brother....", Klaudia said, bringing a smile to her face. Estelle didn't expect Klaudia to react like this.
"Brother? Since when did you have a brother, Kloe?", Estelle tried to ask, confused.
But seeing Klaudia just stare up in a dazed expression at the violet haired boy further up, Estelle decided to trace Klaudia's gaze, only to look at the violet haired boy as well.
For some strange reason, the moment Estelle saw him, she received a sense of familiarity.
"Strange. Why is it that I feel like I've seen this person before?", Estelle uttered tilting her a head a bit in confusion.
Cassius saw this and inwardly chuckled but remained silent.
Seeing the violet haired boy on deck with everyone else, the violet haired glanced his eyes and quickly found Queen Alicia II amongst the crowd. Queen Alicia II also matched his gaze and the two nodded silently to each other.
As if the two knew what to say, Klaudia saw Queen Alicia II step up to a prepared pedestal and stood before everyone present.
Queen Alicia II even reached out one of her hands before she spoke out in a loud voice, addressing everyone.
"I stand here to you all today as acting Queen of Liberl, Queen Alicia II. I hereby declare that Liberl's Crown Prince has returned!", Queen Alicia Ii declared while raising one of her arms out.
Vol 3 FIN
See you all in Volume 4!
What? You expected this to be the end? Welcome to Trails in the Prologue.