It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly up in the sky, only slightly dotted by the passing clouds. It wasn't too hot nor too cold, and the wind was gentle and refreshing. Everything was perfect.
It has been a couple of days since Grey and Yuna have enjoyed the day with Vanessa and the princesses. And ever since then, a lot of things have happened. Thankfully, the making of a new national holiday was not one of them. The Queen and the Crown Princess managed stop the King and Crown Prince's idiotic proposition.
But what did happen was that Grey and Yuna were able to promote their ranks in their respective guilds. Grey managed to get his Tier-7 Blacksmith guild card, while Yuna got her Tier-7 Alchemist guild card. It was good progress.
Other than that, they spent the days playing with Iris and the little princess, and also being bothered by Vanessa. And just like Eliza, the little princess has easily gotten attached to them. Now, they found themselves in quite a difficult situation.
"No! Shtay! Shtay wif Nalia!" ［Natalia］
The day of departure has arrived, and it is still early in the morning yet there is already a loud commotion in the royal castle. The little princess was refusing to let go of Yuna, tears trickling down her small face.
She was hugging Yuna's right leg tightly, not tempted even by sweets and promises the others offered. It was only to be expected of a two-year-old child. No matter how good of a child the little princess was, there are still things children refuse to do.
"Now, now, Big Sis and Big Bro will be visiting Princess Natalia every now and then. We're not going to part forever." ［Yuna］
"Big Sis is right. And we'll also be bringing delicious treats every time. We'll be eating together, alright?" ［Grey］
"Oh, will you be bringing treats for us, too?" ［Ernes］
"Respectfully, please shut up, Your Majesty." ［Grey］
The little princess' stubbornness wasn't the only problem. There was also the sudden interruption of the King from time to time, which only irritated Grey and Yuna. The Queen always scolds him but he never learns his lesson.
Ever since the difficulties they experienced because of the King's thoughtlessness, Grey and Yuna saw the King as less of a monarch and more of just an annoying old man. While they do still pay respect to him, it is at times such as these that they always snap back at him without fail.
"No! Sthay! Pway wif Nalia!" ［Natalia］
It was useless. No matter how much Grey and Yuna try to convince her, the little princess just wouldn't budge. There was one time where she let go of them, but it was only so she could switch from hugging Grey to Yuna. The person had changed, but the situation stayed the same. It was really useless.
There weren't any options left. They have used everything they could but the little princess was just too stubborn. Not even the Crown Princess could convince her. There was also the Crown Prince, but just like his father, he was a lost cause too.
"Hey, Natalia, Grey and Yuna aren't the only ones going away, you know? Uncle's also going with them. Why don't you come here and give me a hug?" ［Julius］
"Uuu... Uncewl, go! Yuna, Gey, shtay!" ［Natalia］
The sound of glass shattering echoed in the air, or rather, Julius' heart was broken to pieces with the little princess' words. He was frozen in shock, unable to respond as his mind stopped working.
It hasn't even been that long since Grey and Yuna met her, yet the little princess already prefers them over him, her very own uncle. His mind floated in space, in the void of nothingness, the deepest depths of the abyss. He was in despair.
"Why, you...! You little brat! Go on with Grey and Yuna then, I don't care! You can travel for all I care!" ［Julius］
"Um! Nalia, go!" ［Natalia］
"Oh, you're really testing my patience now, you little brat! Let's see how long you'll last without me!" ［Julius］
"Nalia, go! Nalia hathe Uncewl!" ［Natalia］
For the second time, Julius' heart shattered. Now, even harder and more painful than before. His heart which was already in pieces was now turned into fine powder after being crushed twice. Julius was utterly defeated by her two-year-old niece.
In the first place, it was only childish of him to fight against a toddler. And he lost too on top of that. There was no greater shame, but he didn't even care about it. He was just too depressed to think about such trivial matters when her lovely niece just told him she hated her.
Such a farce continued with Julius kneeling defeatedly on the ground, face pale as snow, the little princess bawling her eyes out, and everyone else wearing troubled expressions on their faces.
"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Lady Amelia von Redlocke has arrived."
The situation was only broken when a certain carriage entered the royal palace. It was adorned with the crest of the Redlocke Ducal Household. Soon after, a lady with red hair came down from it, wearing clothes fit for travel.
"Greetings, Your Majesty, Your Highneー Wah?!" ［Amelia］
She couldn't finish her words. Before she could even complete her greetings, the little princess suddenly rushed towards her and gave her a tight hug, embracing one of her legs with what meager strength she can muster.
Amelia was more than flustered as she tried to analyze the situation. She didn't know whether she should continue her greeting or tend to the crying little princess before her. It was totally unexpected.
"I'm really sorry, Amelia. You see, Natalia has been crying once she heard you were all going away on a trip. She has been like this since breakfast." ［Talia］
"N-No, it's quite fine, Your Majesty... Princess Natalia, can you let go of me for a quick moment?" ［Amelia］
"No... Mia, sthay..." ［Natalia］
Tears trickling down her face, the little princess continued her tight embrace of Amelia. And she wasn't the only one crying. Amelia's fiancé, Julius, was also crying too, thinking about why he was the only one the little princess won't hug.
"Good morning, Amelia." ［Yuna］
"Yo, morning!" ［Grey］
"A-Ah, yes... Good morning to you, too." ［Amelia］
There was a happy greeting but the atmosphere was still awkward. No matter what they did, it was hard to ignore the little princess crying. They really needed to solve the problem first before they could progress with something.
Grey has thought of a couple viable solutions, but they each have their own flaws. All of which involved magic, harmless ones, of course. After all, only psychopaths would dare use dangerous magic with the little princess involved.
First, there was using the harmless curse magic, "Sleep", to simply make her fall asleep, giving them enough time to escape and fly away. The problem was when the little princess wakes up. She would start crying again. The problem is still not solved.
Next was the use of illusion magic and creating images of them to distract the little princess. But then again, they'll only be still images. The little princess would be able to quickly figure things out and bawl her eyes out once again.
Thirdly, there was using the familiars to calm her down, but then again, another big but, they would need the familiars in the Labyrinth. They could also try summoning and unsummoning them, but the little princess might get shocked when they just disappeared suddenly.
No matter how much Grey thought about it, all his solutions had flaws. There was also the option of giving her treats, but it was already proven useless before. All he could see was a dead end in front of him.
"Uuu... Nalia go... Hic... Go wif you..." ［Natalia］
There was no way in hell Grey considered such an option. The Labyrinth was a place full of dangers and it would be unthinkable to bring a normal person, not to mention a two-year-old toddler. They weren't crazy.
『Grey, I have an idea, would you care listening?』 ［Yuna］
『Sure, as long as it stops the Little Princess' tears. I'm willing to help.』 ［Grey］
『Fufufu, thank you, Grey. Then...』 ［Yuna］
A high speed conversation took place in silence, not a single person noticing a thing. Grey and Yuna discussed things about how to stop the princess from crying, taking the little princess' personality into account.
In just a couple of seconds, Grey and Yuna thoroughly completed a plan. It was nothing too complicated, but the success would wholly depend on Yuna's skills in handling children. All they could do was hope everything works just as planned and they could convince the little princess.
『Hmm... I think that's enough for now. Do you want to add anything more, Grey?』 ［Yuna］
『No, I think it's enough.』 ［Grey］
『Fufufu, shall we then?』 ［Yuna］
With that, everything was ready. All they needed was permission from the parents whilst the little princess was still clinging onto Amelia. There wasn't much trouble with it. Both the Crown Prince and Crown Princess agreed to them quickly.
The parents' permission at hand, Grey and Yuna then stepped out to the garden and found a nice open place. It wasn't too hard to find. With how massive the royal castle was, it only took them a couple seconds, maybe even less.
"Sirius, come forth." ［Grey］
At Grey's behest, his shadow started to move erratically, and like usual, a little patch of darkness split away from it soon after. The patch then took a three-dimensional form, taking the shape of that of a little wolf pup. A little furball.
"Princess～! Can you look here for a little bit?" ［Yuna］
It was only when Yuna called her that the little princess finally revealed her face which was previously buried on Amelia's trousers. She took a little peek towards Yuna, showing her face, eyes a little red from crying too much.
"Puppy...?" ［Natalia］
A single word came of the little princess as she looked at the little furball standing out in the garden. Not only her, the others were also confused. Only Iris knew who the puppy was as she had met them before. Even then, she was still confused why the puppy was in the garden.
"Princess, do you want to see magic?" ［Yuna］
"Mashic?" ［Natalia］
"Un! I want to show the Little Princess something amazing, but first, you have to stop crying first. Could you promise Big Sis that?" ［Yuna］
"... Um! Nalia pwomish!" ［Natalia］
"Fufufu, our Princess Natalia really is a good child～!" ［Yuna］
It was as easy as that. The little princess quickly wiped away her tears at Yuna's request, trying to calm herself down as the latter patted her head gently. Now, the first obstacle of stopping the little princess' tears was done.
It was time for the hard part. Though they knew the little princess is more fearless than other children, they don't know until what extent such fearlessness was. Their plan could crumble to dust if they fail the second part.
"Then... In a one! In a two! In a three! Trans～form!" ［Yuna］
Light shone brightly throughout the whole place as Yuna ended her words, clouds of mist accompanying the light, spreading low and evenly throughout the ground. It was like a scene back on Earth where smoke appears on magic shows.
But in reality, none of it was actually Yuna's doing. All she did was give the signal, leaving the rest to Grey and Sirius. Grey organized the smoke and the accompanying elements, whilst the blinding light came from Sirius' transformation to her true form, the perfect illusion.
As soon as the light faded and the mist vanished back to the air, what was revealed was a massive and magnificent figure. That of one of the creatures who helped out during the garuda attack. Its clear eyes engraving awe into everyone's hearts.
"Oh my, how beautiful..." ［Talia］
"So this is one of the rumored 'Dragons', huh... Quite a spectacular sight." ［Ernes］
"Seriously... Just how did they get a familiar like this..." ［Julius］
Everyone gave different reactions as soon as Sirius unveiled her true form. But Grey and Yuna paid no heed to them. What was most important was the little princess'. They want to see what kind of face she's wearing with such a creature in front of her.
"Waah～! Big puppy!" ［Natalia］
But it seems there was no need for worries. If there was anything to worry about, it was about how fearless the little princess is. Not only kids, even elite knights would be scared of such a sight, yet she was only looking at it lightly, smiling even.
Thankfully, because of her fearless nature, they can smoothly progress to the next step of their plan. Now, all they needed to do was take the little princess somewhere and spend some quality time with her.
"Princess, do you want to go for a ride?" ［Yuna］
"Nalia can?" ［Natalia］
"Un, of course! Everything for our sweet Little Princess!" ［Yuna］
"Waah～! Yaay～!" ［Natalia］
The little princess' mood quickly brightened with Yuna's words. What was a face once full of tears was now painted with rosy colors and adorned with a beautiful smile which could easily melt anyone's heart. A true angel.
Carrying the little princess in her arms, Yuna gently leapt towards Sirius' back. Following her, Grey also leapt soon after. The little princess was on the very front, Yuna after her, and finally, there was Grey. Such was the positioning of everyone.
"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, we'll be taking a little flight with the Little Princess. We'll be back in an hour or two!" ［Yuna］
"Okay～! Just make sure Natalia's safe!" ［Natasha］
"Un! Leave it to us!" ［Yuna］
There wasn't any trace of worry on everyone's faces. Now that they see the little princess is already starting to smile, they only felt relief. They were very thankful for Grey and Yuna for taking great care of their precious child.
"Princess, are you ready to fly?" ［Yuna］
"Um! Fwy!" ［Natalia］
"Fufufu, hold tight then, and... Let's go!" ［Yuna］
An energetic voice echoed across the royal castle, followed by the howling of winds as Sirius flapped her wings. In just a quick second, they were already at an altitude hundreds of meters above the ground. It was only then that the King realized how real their claim of their familiars' speed was.
With another flap, Sirius soared through in a horizontal direction. heading towards a familiar place they had just visited a few days ago. The clouds were once again parted as Sirius paved her way through them, not even a single person noticing with Yuna's ability
"Waah～! Fwy! Fasther! Fasther!" ［Natalia］
They were already flying at insane speeds but the princess showed no signs of fear. Rather, she even asked for them to go faster. While it would still be safe because of the barrier they put up, the little princess was still too reckless.
Not long after they flew, a colorful field came into view, dominating the horizon. Leaves of green, flowers of red, white, and yellow, and butterflies of blue and orange. All colors could be observed in the vast and beautiful flower meadows.
"Princess, do you remember this place?" ［Yuna］
"Um! Wember!" ［Natalia］
Two syllable words really were the little princess' limits. She couldn't even pronounce the whole word "Remember" and turned it to "Rember" and combined with her baby talk, it became a nearly intangible word. Still, it was cute that she tried.
Softly, Sirius flapped her wings as she slowly descended from the sky. The gentle wind from each flap made the flowers dance, waves of colors spreading beautifully as far as the eyes can see, truly a sight to behold.
"Fowers! Fowers! Red fower! Yewwow fower! Vowet fower!" ［Natalia］
As soon as the little princess touched the ground, she then went ahead and rushed towards the flower fields, picking flowers one after another whilst naming their colors. After which, she then gave them to Grey and Yuna just like before.
It seems that in the little princess' mind, they were there once again to pick flowers for everyone. She really was pure and innocent, continuing her flower picking with such a bright and blinding smile on her small face.
"Princess, come here to Big Sis for a second." ［Yuna］
"Um!" ［Natalia］
There weren't many questions asked. Well, apart from the fact that she would have a hard time asking questions, the little princess was very obedient. Yuna only needed to call her once and she came running towards her, sitting on her lap afterwards.
"Princess, do you know what day today is? It's the day Big Sis and Big Bro would be leavingー" ［Yuna］
"No! Not wiev! Sthay!" ［Natalia］
As soon as the word "leaving" was mentioned, a strong reaction quickly came from the little princess, abruptly cutting Yuna's words. Tears once again started to form in her eyes as she looked at the latter.
"I know, I know. Big Sis and Big Bro want to stay too, but we still have work to do. That's why, in exchange, I want to make an oath with the Princess." ［Yuna］
"Oasth?" ［Natalia］
"Un! It's a promise that should never be broken. Otherwise, a scary monster will appear and tickle you in your dreams～!" ［Yuna］
Said Yuna as she tickled the little princess lightly, soft giggles resounding in the air as the little princess let out her laughter. At the same time, Yuna also picked a flower from what the bunch the little princess picked.
"My oath is that Big Sis and Big Bro will return before this flower wilts. Does Princess Natalia accept my oath?" ［Yuna］
"Nalia... Atshept?" ［Natalia］
"Un. It means 'saying yes'. If the Little Princess accepts, the oath will be complete and we will be bound to it. And if the Princess accepts, Big Sis here will make you lots of sweets when we return! I'll also grant you a wish if you behave like a good girl while we're gone!" ［Yuna］
"Waah～! Atshept! Atshept!" ［Natalia］
"Fufufu, then the oath is established!" ［Yuna］
Just like that, a silly little promise was made under the light of the morning sun. Yuna gave the little princess the red flower she picked and the latter accepted happily, not even doubting Yuna's words.
Of course, the flower was far from normal. Yuna had already enchanted it so that it would last longer, just enough time for them to return. With it, everything was settled, all thanks to Yuna's motherly skills in handling children.
"Now then, since the oath is finished... Does Princess Natalia want to play with Big Sis and Big Bro?" ［Yuna］
"Um! Pway!" ［Natalia］
The winds blowing gently, two figures ran around the flower field with smiles on their faces. Greh was soon called and the fun only grew. Such a warm scene played out for several minutes, a few rests in between.
It wasn't long before they headed back to the royal castle. Brough by fatigue from playing and running, the little princess had fallen asleep once again, holding the red flower Yuna gave her all the while. She was sleeping so soundly that it seemed like the whole world was at peace.
Just like how they left, Grey and Yuna also returned with the veil of "Nihility". Bursts of wind brewed on the garden as they landed. Soon, a platinum figure was revealed as the veil was lifted off.
The only ones present in the garden were the Queen, the Crown Princess, and Julius and Amelia who would be traveling with Grey and Yuna. The others already went back to their respective offices, performing their duties.
"Sorry for taking so long." ［Yuna］
"Fufufu, not at all. We also had our lovely time together while waiting." ［Talia］
"My, it seems like Natalia's fallen asleep againー Hm? This flower is...?" ［Natasha］
Everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the flower in the little princess' hands. They all tilled their heads, trying to figure out why she was holding it, so carefully as well. They were all puzzled.
"Well, that, you see..." ［Yuna］
As she handed the little princess to the Crown Princess, Yuna quickly explained the situation to everyone. It didn't take long for them to understand and gentle smiles bloomed on the Queen and Crown Princess' faces.
"Fufufu! So it's a promise, I see..." ［Natasha］
"Then it seems like we'll need a beautiful vase for it. I'll make sure to get the finest in the kingdom." ［Talia］
They both looked at Natalia with warm smiles as they said such silent words. They then looked at Grey and Yuna next, whispering their gratitude in the air, trying their best not to wake up the sleeping little princess.
The two replied in kind and just showed bright smiles on their faces. Soon after, both the Queen and the Crown Princess headed towards the royal quarters to rest the little princess on a proper bed, leaving only the four youths behind.
"Alright, we might be behind schedule already, but are two ready?" ［Grey］
"Is there even a need to ask that? We're also adventurers now, you know? This is what we're made for!" ［Julius］
"We'll be in your care, Grey, Yuna." ［Amelia］
"The same goes for us, too! Please take care of us!" ［Yuna］
The winds once again howled, even fiercer than before. Not only one, but two magnificent creatures spread their wings proudly atop the verdant grasses. Their platinum colored scales shimmering brightly across the sky as they soared freely.
In the hearts of the four, there was only one kind of emotion boiling aggressively, dominating the rest. It was excitement, the thirst for adventure which could only be quenched by journeying through the vast world. A world adventurers strive to conquer.
Next destination: The Empire of Valliarta!
CHAPTER 170 END