As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*****
Roselia departed from Princess Alfin's room, leaving slightly annoyed.
It was quite funny to see Lechter react like that the moment I dropped Roselia's true age on him. Sure, she may look like a kid in this form, but was anything but a kid. This current appearance of Roselia allowed her to conserve her mana. If she felt like spending a lot of it, she had an entirely different form she could change into. One that made her look like an actual adult. It was only shown off once or twice in the games, and I personally had only seen it once when Roselia first created my mana core.
Roselia had every right to call Lechter a brat. Hell, even fifty of Lechter couldn't hold a candle to Roselia's true age.
In a way, Roselia was a reincarnator like me. Her soul was the will left behind of the first Burning Sphinx. The first incarnation passed away, likely because of the clash against Lost Zem, and since then, she became Roselia.
The difference was, Roselia became the Burning Sphinx, while I reincarnated as a human. Imagine a world where something like this happened to my soul when it was brought into Zemuria. I could have wound up as a second incarnation of the Divine Wolf or something along those lines.
Roselia did express her interest in going to Crossbell with me. She will probably come across Zeit, the Divine Wolf I had just mentioned. He too, was another one of the Holy Beasts. Unlike Roselia, however, Zeit was a true survivor of the Great Collapse. As the original Demiourgos vanished alongside with it, Zeit was freed from his contract that bound him to the Goddess. He would continue watching over the land that existed before Crossbell City was built. Eventually Zeit would come across the SSS, assisting them as they took on work as detectives.
I, unfortunately, did not get to encounter Zeit during my previous stays at Crossbell. Perhaps this time will be different. I want to formally introduce myself to him, and not just him either. I also had intentions of meeting Ragnard, yet another Holy Beast the Goddess created. He was tasked with watching the Aureole, aka, the Shining Ring. This artifact still rested beneath Liberl, which was the focal point of the sky games. Unlike the other Holy Beasts, he was still bound by his contract to observe it. I think that was how it went, anyways. That will probably be what I focus on doing after my matters here in Heimdallr end.
Princess Alfin and I saw a silent yet dazed Lechter exit the room. Seems dropping the number on him split his head quite hard, not literally of course, haha!
"I'll...be sure to make your way at the airport in the morning, Your Highness. I wasn't expecting this chibi to be...you know, that.", Lechter uttered.
"Heh. Just be sure to make it. We'll ditch you if you're late by even a minute. You know how prompt Professor Schmidt is.", I replied with a grin.
"Right...", Lechter said back to me. He proceeded to close the door, leaving Princess Alfin and I alone.
Princess Alfin realized she still had her hands wrapped around my upper body. Her arms felt really soft to the touch and it was quite warm. Realizing she was still doing this, her cheeks turned rosy.
"You sure are enjoying this, aren't you, Big Brother? And is that little golden-blonde haired girl really that old? She showed up when we were down beneath the castle too. She noticed Emma right away too. Is she a witch like Emma?", Princess Alfin wondered, asking me.
"She sure is. She's THE witch of the witches. She leads them all as their leader. She rules the little village I keep having Lechter try to find but with no luck. After all, only people who are in-tune with mana and magic can detect the barrier that surrounds Eryn. You can call her Roselia. She is currently my Master too, having taught me how to use magic.", I said to Princess Alfin, explaining to Princess Alfin who Roselia was.
"So she's the leader of the witches then...", Princess Alfin uttered. "Do you think I can learn magic like you did, Big Brother?", Princess Alfin decided to ask me, showing much anticipation in her eyes. To be honest, I didn't expect Princess Alfin to express interest in wanting to learn magic.
"It should be possible, but without developing a mana core, you wouldn't be able to cast most spells, probably just the basic ones. You really want to learn magic, Alfin?", I asked with interest.
"Yeah! Magic looks like it's really cool to use. I can't help but be a little jealous of Emma for being a witch. I can already see myself using a staff, heehee!", Princess Alfin responded, releasing her hands behind my back. She happily clapped them together while she giggled.
"I'll see what I can do. She made a core for me and Aurelia, but hasn't done so for anyone else. Emma was a natural-born witch, she was born and raised at Eryn, so she had one since birth. Rose is my Master, so if it's a request from me, I don't see a reason why she wouldn't.", I answered, after pondering for a moment.
"Thank you, Big Brother!", Princess Alfin happily responded, giving me another hug.
"Heh, you should focus on your studies for now, Alfin. You return to school next Monday, right?", I asked her.
"Yep! Which is why I want to squeeze every minute out of what little time I can spend with you. Musse is out of the picture, and Elise went back up north to Ymir to spend the rest of the holiday with her family. There is Lif too, but I think she went back to Remiferia...", Princess Alfin uttered, wondering.
"Wait, Lif?", I asked, unfamiliar with that name.
"Oh yes. Do you not know Lif, Big Brother? I ought to introduce you to her sometime! We'll see if she returns from her holiday vacation.", Princess Alfin responded.
"That name doesn't ring a bell, unfortunately.", I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Maybe you'll recall the Bartholomeus name then?", Princess Alfin said, causing me to raise my eyebrows.
"You're not referring to the House of Bartholomeus, which currently rules over Remiferia, are you?", I asked with a surprised look.
"The very one! I met Lif when I was super young. I didn't think she'd turn out to be the first princess of Remiferia's royalty. She attends St. Astraia alongside Musse, Elise and I. Unlike us though, she's a bonafide foreign exchange student. She'll be super shocked knowing I'm now engaged with you, hehe.", Princess Alfin happily responded.
"I didn't think you'd be friends with someone all the way out in Remiferia. She sounds like a nice person to meet. Hopefully we'll have a chance to do so before your school starts back up.", I said. As we exchanged this, to our surprise, we heard a voice suddenly reach our ears from further inside the room. It came from the large, circular bed. At the same time, we heard the sound of bedsheets shifting back and forth.
"You really do know Big Sister Lif, Your Highness. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere...", Sherryl's voice called out to us. A look of worry immediately appeared on Princess Alfin's eyes as she dashed toward the bed, proceeding to check her body. I too headed toward Sherry as Princess Alfin made sure Sherryl was fine.
"You're awake! You're not feeling any discomfort, are you, Sherryl?", Princess Alfin looked on with worry. Minus very messy bed hair, Sherryl took a moment to check her own body, before shaking her head.
"To be honest, I feel quite energized now. How long was I out for?", Sherryl asked.
"Eight hours, give or take. You basically rested for an entire day.", I said, causing Sherryl's eyes to turn wide in shock.
"I slept for that long!?", Sherryl exclaimed, only to jump out of the bed altogether. She rushed toward the window and opened some curtains. The dark, night sky entered our view. No rolling snow clouds could be seen, and the stars came out to say hello.
"It really is nighttime...", Sherryl uttered. "And I take it, we're back in Her Highness's room?", Sherryl asked, turning her body back our way.
"Yep! We just got off a call with some friends Big Brother knows in Crossbell City. We had an early dinner before that. It's pretty late into the night now, and we were just about to go wash up and get ready for bed. After all, Big Brother is heading to Crossbell City tomorrow. It's a shame I can't go with you this time, but we'll have to make the most of the next five days after that!", Princess Alfin said to me, causing me to nod my head. Yet Sherryl just stood there, dazed the moment she heard that.
"Now wait a minute...Big Brother, you're going to Crossbell City tomorrow?", Sherryl asked with increasing worry in her eyes.
"Sure am. And you're invited, no questions asked, Sherryl.", I replied with a playful smile.
"E-Eh?", Sherryl asked. Both confusion and shock remained in her eyes, but before we could do anything, we all suddenly heard a loud growling sound reach our ears. Hearing this, Princess Alfin giggled while Sherryl's cheeks turned red.
"Seems like a certain someone is hungry. Why don't I go fetch a maid? I'm sure you must be starving after having exerted all that energy during your fight against Big Brother. We can take a bit before we wash up for the night right?", Princess Alfin asked.
"Yeah. We can head out in the morning. We just need to make sure we're at the airport by 7AM. We'll be gone for an entire day so I hope you won't be lonely, Alfin.", I replied with a smile.
"Oh please. I'll be fine. I have some items to discuss with Mother anyways. Go have your fun!", Princess Alfin said, showing a determined look. Sherryl and I saw Princess Alfin scurry off to call a maid so she can bring some food in for Sherryl. As she vanished from sight, Sherryl went into her thoughts.
"Crossbell...huh? Are you sure, Big Brother?", Sherryl asked, still showing worry in her eyes.
"Yeah. I think it's time. You'll finally get to see your big sis again.", I replied with my own eyes of confidence.
"Mmm.", Sherryl happily responded back to me with a nod of her head.
It was time for Sherryl to reunite with her big sister, Jillian, while I had a little reunion of my own.