As a mature lady of the House of Vars, I am fully aware of what I have done, and as such, I am willing to accept any punishment at the time, anything, anything.
"GROUNDED" [Nar]
Anything but that! It's unfair! Basically, I am saving Saintess Maria from becoming something no one wanted to see. I don't know what their original intention was, but it couldn't have been good.
(Well, they obviously wanted to resurrect her, but for what?) [Diana]
On the good and bright side, detention also means that I skipped school, at least for one day, when they forced me to go to school, and either Nar and Sas or both will pick me up when school is over. To make matters worse, every day they will be accompanied by a knight from the Special Knight of Amleth, and they sure know how to make the whole situation worse by asking things like "Have you learned your lesson for next time, don't act so carelessly". Worse, Sir Arthur and the centaur Asterion laugh in my face when they know I have been grounded. I, a fair lady of the House of Vars, would not accept such humiliation!
"Frost dogs! Bite them!" [Diana].
"Ouch! Help me!" [Asterion]
"Nice trick" [Arthur]
"Grrrr...! Don't you dare evade my cute puppy spell!" [Diana]
"Hey! Don't bite me!" [Arthur]
"A bite should be aimed at the neck for a killing blow" [Sas].
"Don't encourage her!" [Nar]
When I attack the two special knights who accompany my brothers today, the other students are confused. Dana, seeing that I am attacking Sir Arthur, stands there confused, but
"Poke him in the eye. That way he won't know your next move" [Dana].
"Thanks for the tip" [Diana]
"Good tip" [Sas]
"Don't encourage her!" [Nar]
With the adventurers of Amleth, led by Sister Khamisah, already back from their long and difficult mission, I feel that the overall security of Amleth is improving. Of course, that's not the only reason.
"Alright, calm down, we are here to pick you up because Cardinal Davis requested it" [Arthur].
"Being grounded is much better... I want to go home" [Diana]
"Agreed... I'm tired too..." [Sas]
"Me too... Hey! Wait a minute! Believe me, I'm sure he just wanted to formally thank you for retrieving you know what..." [Nar]
"I read the report... I couldn't believe it myself..." [Asterion]
"Me neither..." [Dana]
"Report? What report? Can I have it?" [Diana]
"For what?" [Nar]
"I want to give it to the Elder Giant, I promised him." [Diana]
"Ah, that, I already did it myself. I couldn't miss the chance to meet such a powerful person" [Arthur]
"Really! Thank you, so I'll just pull out a hair for revenge instead of burning it" [Diana]
"Hey!" [Arthur]
I thought Cardinal Davis wanted to meet me at the church, but instead it's at the Round Table of Amleth, where he's going to thank me. Great... Just great... He might as well execute me in public... I'm sure he'll nag me all the time for not getting the left arm of Saintess Maria back... Even I feel bitter, but
"You have my thanks for what you did" [Cardinal Davis].
"Is that all? No scolding? Phew..." [Diana]
"Oh... But there will be... For starters... Where are your manners?" [Cardinal Davis]
"The demon is here!" [Diana]
(Diana... Don't make this worse for yourself...) [Kara, Mara]
While the others just watch the intense nagging session, I feel like my ears are filled with nails and screws... It hurts... While he genuinely thanked me, BUT, because of me, their plan to scoop out all the members of The Illumination in Amleth went awry, mainly because they were alerted to what I had done, so the members of The Illumination tried to search for me instead of going about their usual routine and falling into the traps set beforehand. Both fortunately and unfortunately, since many of their members have been captured, many have escaped, but the few that remain are the hardest to find and will be the most poisonous thorn on our side.
"That's not the worst of it... What is worse is this Valdrid, or should I say the now unofficial king of Gastrium" [Eisheth].
"As much as I hate to confirm your report, it's true. The Boar Beastman from the Adventure Guild report suggested the same" [Akela].
"I was also contacted by my soldier, and I personally spoke to the Bear Captain of Gastrium... This is a pain..." [Aeron]
"Huh... Did I hear that right..." [Diana]
Apparently, this Valdrid infiltrated the royalty of Gastrium and somehow gained the influence needed to rule Gastrium from behind the scenes. Whether it's through hypnotism or sheer power remains unclear, but he alone restored the barrier that had been tampered with, tamed all the strange black goo monsters surrounding Gastrium, and even made a "peaceful" negotiation with the Empire force that had infiltrated his country... He even won the support of the local church...
"Wow... So he really is an unofficial king... Must be because of THE THING..." [Diana]
"I think so. It's pretty obvious" [Merlin]
"I should have tried harder to purify THE THING back then..." [Diana]
"It's not your fault, frankly, I should have decapitated him instead of leaving him limbless. Fatal mistake of mine..." [Alaric]
While I munch on the cookies with Kara and Mara, Auntie Amleth talks about what to do with the King of Gastrium, who is coming to the conference in Amleth. For now, they agree to just accept him and see what can be done from there, but surely this Valdrid guy will cause trouble at the conference.
For now, they just hope for the best.