It was an early morning in the castle when the loud knocks of my maid Carli woke me up.
"Rise and shine, Princess. It's a beautiful day today!" said Carli from the other side of the door.
"I'm up…" I said, but my head tumbled back down towards my pillow.
Carli opened the door and began preparing my clothes for the day while I slowly settled my eyes to the brightness of the room.
After I was done getting changed and my hair was ready, I walked to the flower gardens to have some breakfast under the sun.
"Princess, have you still not decided on a magic tutor?" asked Carli as she served tea in my cup.
"No… Father tried putting Sage Johann as my tutor, can you believe that?"
"Well, Johann is the most powerful sage in the country, perhaps it isn't a bad idea?" said the maid.
"Ugh" I scoffed. "it's just… Too serious… Magic needs to be more fun, you know?"
While I was telling Carli my reasons for not wanting a magic tutor, I heard a commotion coming from inside.
"Is something happening today?" I asked Carli.
"I believe Your Highness was waiting for a group of merchants to arrive. They did tell you, but you must have forgotten, Princess..."
I tried looking to the side as if I had no idea what she was talking about, but she was right, I had been told that some important merchants were coming today, and I completely forgot!
It was a merchant called Banto, and he had just arrived at the castle, holding a cart with an offering to the royal family. Apparently, my father and mother had been waiting for this merchant to arrive for a few months.
"Ah, Melina! You are here too, perfect!" said father when he saw me approaching them. My little sister, Alexandra, was also there, but she seemed even more confused than me about the whole event.
The merchant then started unloading different bottled products from his cart.
"All of these goods come from a Master Alchemist that lives deep in End Forest! Take a look:" said the man as he passed the bottles around.
"This is shampoo! You put it on your hair and scrub it while taking a bath and it cleans your hair nicely, making it smoother, softer and brighter!"
"Shampoo? Why does that sound familiar?" I thought as I passed the bottle to my father.
"These are scented soaps! They work just like the ones we use, but they smell much better and leave your skin feeling softer." said the merchant as he gave us all a soap to smell.
I glanced at my mom, who had her eyes covered with a blindfold, and saw her smile after smelling the soap.
"As for the items you requested, Your Highness, here are the potions made by that same Master Alchemist, I hope they are of good use to you… Feel free to inspect them." said the merchant after placing 3 different bottles in front of my father, then bowing his head.
While my father inspected the strange potions that the merchant brought, I heard some of his companions talking in the back.
"Wasn't that same alchemist the guy that took down the wyvern that was going to End Town?"
"That's what they say… I wasn't there to see it, but the people were all convinced it was the same guy…"
"I heard he took down a goblin king a few years ago…"
"No way, you guys gotta stop believing everything you hear."
("An alchemist fighting a wyvern?") I pondered, when my father interrupted my train of thought.
"I inspected all of these products… Seems like they were all truly made by the same person. Banto, have you met this Ichiro guy? Can he be trusted?" asked my father.
("Ichiro…?")
"Well… no I didn't meet him, Your Highness. However, the person he supplies to directly, a man called Mr. Olliver, guaranteed me that we could trust in him…
If I'm honest with you, Your Highness, the people of End Town all seemed to love this man, going as far as to say that he had beaten a wyvern and a goblin king before…"
"I see, so the reports of the goblin king appearing in that area a few years ago weren't fake…" said my father with a somber expression.
"Again, Your Highness, these are just rumors."
"Hmm…" my father grabbed his chin as he pondered about something.
After Banto and the rest of his merchants unloaded the rest of the products that they were carrying, my father gave them a bag full of coins, and we all made our way to my mother's room.
I didn't know why they called both me and my sister, but it seemed like father had something important to tell us.
My mother sat at the foot of the bed while the rest of us, including maids and butlers, stood on one side of the room. That's when my father brought out one of the potions that Banto had sold him.
It was a light green potion that seemed to almost glow, then he called me to approach him.
"Inspect it…" he said as he handed me the strange potion.
Creator: Ichiro Potion that can cure any type of wound, illness or ailment effect. Can cleanse all poisons.> My eyes widened in shock. "T-This is…" I stammered. My father closed his eyes and nodded. "Let's see if this can help your mother…" he said before opening the bottle, grabbing my mother's hand and handing it to her. She didn't say a word, I believe she didn't want to give us false hopes in case it didn't work. After taking a big breath, my mother drank the potion in a few seconds, then slowly removed her blindfolds. It took her a moment to open her eyes, but once she did, they widened and sparkled with life as my mother smiled from ear to ear. "I… I can see!" she exclaimed as she jumped towards my father to give him a hug, then quickly glanced at both me and my sister, and jumped to hug us and shake us. It was like this "holy panacea" had not only given my mother her eyesight back, but her entire life energy had been restored. My father had a tear coming down from his happiness, even the servants were moved by the scene. That same day, we had a huge banquet where other nobles from the kingdom attended to celebrate my mother's recovery, which made me feel sort of conflicted. Even though I was a Princess, I absolutely hated any form of royal event where I had to act a certain way, especially around other nobles. The main reason I enjoyed talking to my maids more than other people, was because I didn't have to be that fake version of myself around them. Aside from the hassle of dealing with nobles, I was able to walk around the flower garden with my mother and show her my favorite flowers that had been growing ever since she lost her sight, which made me extremely happy. Truly, my family were the only nobles I could tolerate. After a long and happy day, it was time to sleep. I didn't feel sleepy since the euphoria hadn't died down, but as soon as my body hit the bed, the exhaustion set in. ("What did he say his name was…? Ichi-…ro-") I thought as I slowly passed out.