'It is with regret I must inform you that I failed to recover princess Harmony. I lost sight of her in Quarter town. Her current direction seems to the eastern border. I request that we strength boarder patrols and take other measures to prevent the thief from escaping.
It was evident that there is some sort of charm magic involved. Even if true mind control is impossible, the young princess who doesn't want to marry would find little resistance to most magics.
I wish you well and will not rest until I have recovered her highness.'
It was a short letter and probably lacking in terms of addressing royalty, but I'm sure someone in the palace will read it first and find away to break it gently to the highnesses. If not, the king would break down crying and I would have three brothers to deal with instead of one.
"Its going to be problematic if we cross the boarder together." I said to third prince. He was the youngest and thus had the most freedom to drop everything and chase after his sister.
"Father is negotiating to find them with the Princedom, and I should have no trouble crossing the border, I'm the prince after all." I think he failed to realize that would be the problem, generally countries get worried when heads of state travel around their territories.
I chose to say nothing, I didn't like the princes in general, they were always harassing the princess. It took them several tries before they realized that I would beat them if they did, and even longer to come to terms with that I would always do so. In a way I was lucky that I could exert influence on the princess, or else things could have ended badly for me.
It was both a benefit and a detriment that the whole royal family could ride horses. It meant that the prince was not dead weight, but it did allow for Lady Harmony to move easier. Leaving Vivaldi, we made our way to the boarder. It was a crowed checkpoint; large stone arches provide cover for those getting inspected. With my and the princes' seals we were speaking to the head official in record time.
"Well Sir, we did trigger an alarm for two individuals crossing over the fence, one male, one female. Heavy wind magic was used."
"That would be them, quick we have to catch them." Third was too eager to go and forgot that they couldn't just violate the sovereignty of another nation. I hated to go through procedures, but it was a requirement. I didn't like wars and I didn't want to start one.
"We need to put a rush on it, but we have to cross this gate to apprehend criminals of the crown."
Looking incredibly nervous, the officer in charge hesitated to speak. This may have been the largest checkpoint along the border, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be problems. It was a surprisingly clean building, functional yet clean and sophisticated. It couldn't be any other way with the number of high-ranking officials, nobles and merchants passing through.
"We can process you right away its just there's a problem on the other side…"
"Spit it out" The prince was not use to problems and took a cold authoritative tone.
"They won't allow Sir Xavier to come into the princedom." Blurting out the answer, I was really surprised. Even the prince seemed taken aback.
"I don't remember committing any crimes against the princedom, what's going on?" I asked in confusion. There hadn't been any major international incidences as far as I knew.
"Well…Its just you're on the watch list of do not allow entry. It lists the reason as 'We do not traffic in demons or monsters.'…Sir." He attempted to soften the blow with the respectful honorific. The Good lord knows what that skinny creep is tricking my princess into at this very moment and some pissant prince wants to keep me out? He could be saying 'ah' and making her feed him!
"Get me the person in charge of the other side." If it wasn't the tone, the burring magic of death and destruction that projected from me, it was the literal darkening of the surroundings. It had been a while since someone had fled in abject terror without me having to violence someone.
"What did you do when you spent those six months you spent on hiatus?" It was obvious that second prince was trying not to laugh.
"Well I left to visit a friend in the north, on the way I got sidetracked for the defenses of Manifold in the Leibniz kingdom. I destroyed that train after the bandits tried to rob it. Oh, I almost died when the mutated mana bear escaped, I won in the end though…sucker, heh." Each of those were once in a lifetime events, and that was just in a six-month window.
"You truly are a monster." The mirth had faded, replaced with some awe and a touch of fear. In a way I think Prince was relived when the head of the check point on Mercery's side of things.
"We need a boarder pass." I said shortly.
"As I'm sure your aware we can not allow you into the princedom." Despite his position I gave the man credit, he truly believed that he had a choice in the matter. As an older young man, probably late 20's, he seemed use to dealing with high-ranking nobles and other important figures.
"If you are watch listed, I'm afraid I simply can't let you to pass, those are the policies and rules." It was charming really that he held so much faith in his task of preforming things correctly by the book.
"Is there nothing we can do? We are here in an official capacity, this knight is an official escort, with the papers to prove it."
"This knight also constitutes a weapon of mass destruction and war, no different if I tried to bring a regiment of soldiers into your country." It was a flat, yet accurate assumption of my abilities.
"Well, if it can't be helped." The second prince snorted. "Master official please come with me I have a few questions for you and your workers."
For a moment the man from the princedom seemed relived that things were working out in his favor, until he saw my cold smile.
"This can't be legal!" You could hear his shouts below, as I stood on top of the overhang of the checkpoint. It was a solid stone construction, standing more than a dozen feet above the road below. With a solid stone archway, we were even higher.
"How's my border pass looking from down there?" Holding his ankle, I suspended him from the awning. He struggled but it was no match for my endless mana driven strength enhancement. I counted to thirty, ignoring his whimpers before throwing him up onto the archway. I let him recover, I hoped this would be enough, I didn't want to hurt the guy, he was just following the rules.
"Realistically, I'm going to win this, so why don't you save yourself I'm suffering?"
"I can't, as a citizen of Mercery this has to be an act of war." I consider that for a moment, he was probably right.
An image of Princess Harmony, giving the twig of a thief a back rub flited through my mind.
"I will not allow it!" Snatching him back up I once again tossed him over the edge. In honesty I didn't really mean to let go. Well, no sense letting this mistake go to waste. When it appeared that the head official of the princedom wasn't getting up, I jumped down. Landing softly, I yanked the second of command up the archway and given him the same treatment
"Ill give you a boarder pass!" The second in command of the princedom was much more agreeable, it was given since I had glanced at the third in command to let him know he was next. The fall had rendered the young old guy unable to speak. It was fortune that it was only minor injuries, and a simple poultice was enough to ensure recovery
"Shame I didn't get to hold you up for more than a few moments." I told him, I put as much sorrow into my voice as I could.
"Mabey I should let go?"
"Ill throw in a VIP pass!"
"No processing fees?"
"None!"
"All right but I'm still going to pay for the pass, we can't be rude after all." Once returned to solid footing, the man curled up and whimpered for a few moments, before he got it together enough to get our passes made.
"I'm no longer supprised that they call you the Gray Rose Reaper, or the Demon of Clarrie de Lune."
"Please I left them hardly worse than they were before."
"This is why us three brothers trust leaving our sister to you." I was certain what he meant by that, but we didn't have to much time to waste. It would be much harder to get information in a foreign country.
"We know that they are making way to the capital, we can stop by Quicksilver to see if we can pick up their trail."
"Mabey we are going about this the wrong way." The prince mused for a moment, I looked at him quizzically.
"He is a thief, brazen enough to kidnap a princess, what else might he try to steal?" After a moment the dots connected.
"Looks like its time to shake up the seedy underbelly of Ytterbium." I said with a shark grin on my face.