Suddenly, a hand tapped my right shoulder, made the blank space crumble, and I backed to reality. I could hear Louis's voice from my right side.
"Your highness??"
I looked at it "ah…It's you Louis.."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine…How about the table?"
"What's the table, your highness, talking about?"
I was confused by Louis's words, "The table that I have bumped into."
"I think there is no such thing as that; how about your highness look around?"
When I looked around, there was no table I bumped into and glass that fell on the ground, and people were not talking about me or staring at me at all. Was it just an illusion? Or just my imagination?
"Hehehehe…Maybe it was my imagination that I bumped into it."
"Why did your highness come here?"
"I heard some noises and woke up, so I came here."
Well, I just woke up for some reason.
"Well, it is an inn and tavern, so it must be noisy, especially this time when it is packed with people; it must be hard for your highness to sleep."
"By the way, are you alone here?"
"Me? I am not alone; there was everyone in here except Cail. He is still a young boy, so he is already asleep. I believe he is one year younger than your highness."
"His appearance is still that of a young boy, but what I saw was different from his appearance, that he is a capable person with his intelligence."
"Well, that boy is special... How about your highness joining us?"
"Sure, thanks for the invitation."
Louis led me to the table in the corner. I saw everyone, and their faces' seemed surprised by me.
Aldea was the first to talk about me "Your highness…why are you here?"
"I saw her highness here and invited her to join us." Louis answered.
"I see…"
I sat beside Louis and Zoe, and in front of me was Aldea. Darryl was beside Louis and Elpis beside Zoe.
Zoe asked me "It seemed your highness and sleeping beauty were disturbed."
"Well, you are right…"
Aldea answered, "It is an inn and tavern after all; of course your highness's sleeping beauty got disturbed." her tone became more sarcastic "It's not like you are a mere assassin that can sleep anywhere and anytime, your highness is a royal, sure, it needs some calm and quiet conditions."
Zoe was a little bit agitated by Adelia's words, "Yes, I am a former assassin; it is way better than you....."
They started exchanging words with each other in front of me.
I looked at Louis, and he looked back. I waved to him to lean on his left ear, and I whispered, "Is this okay.."
He just looked at me and was smiling; it seemed everyone was enjoying that Aldea and Zoe were arguing with each other. There was a point at which the argument attracted me.
Zoe argued, "At least, I am doing a real deal and dealing with a real thing, not just like you, an adventurer, dealing with some imaginary monsters."
"What do you say about some imaginary monster? Do you not see the beast that her highness brought from the woods? If that beast is a real thing, the story that I told all of you must be the real deal."
I whispered to Louis again "What's this Aldea's story?"
The whisper went to Aldea's ear, and suddenly her face was in front of me. "Your highness never heard it; how about I tell it to you now?"
Everyone's faces seemed frowning, especially Zoe "Here we go again, the story of Aldea, the great adventurer in this kingdom." Zoe said.
Aldea was a little bit angry. "Shut up you.." and she started to tell her story "When I went to my first task in the kingdom of south, I encountered a white mythical beast that I have never seen before in my entire life. The body was full white. This beast was as large as a horse , even stronger than a horse, had strong muscles and four legs…"
Zoe interrupted, "Everyone knows a horse has four legs; you don't need to tell it to her highness."
Aldea was a little bit agitated, but she continued her story, "This beast's size was bigger than a normal horse, and the muscles were bigger too. When I observed this beast closely, I noticed an important thing about this beast, that it had a horn in its head…."
I was surprised by the story, especially the horn's part. Immediately I thought it was an unicorn.
"It had dark blue eyes, and I saw the horn; the horn was pure white; the upper part of the horn was so sharp and had a vivid crimson in the tip. When I wanted to get close to the beast, it noticed me, and it ran away from me immediately. Unfortunately, there was no one beside me, so everytime I told this everyone didn't believe it."
A white beast like a horse with bigger size and muscle, especially with a horn in its head, was like a unicorn to me, but in my previous world, long ago, people mistook a unicorn for a rhino. it was a common sense of west European people that every day they saw horses, and they saw a rhino in southeast Asia, but they never saw it, which made the European people assume it was a horse with a horn. After all, I was in a fantasy world; it must be a unicorn.
Zoe provoked Aldea "Of course, everyone didn't believe it, because it was impossible for a horse to have a horn in its head, right, your highness?"
Immediately, I said, "I believe it is a real beast…"
Everyone was surprised and shocked by my words.
Zoe unbelieved and said, "Your highness, forgive me about my word, but is your head okay?"
"Zoe, be careful of your words, and her highness is a smart one, so she will believe my story." Aldea replied to her.
Louis looked at me "What made your highness believe Aldea's story?"
"The presence of Geri that I took from the previous wood should make some mythical beast story make any sense."
Zoe kept insisting "But your highness, this is a horse with a horn; there is no such thing as that."
"It's a mythical one, so the creature will be beyond our common sense. Let me ask you, What is this mythical beast? First, Aldea, because you were an adventurer."
"Like your highness, said the creature that beyond our common sense, like the name, it can come from the myth, folklore, and monster, the appearance of it is so rare, that makes people like Zoe not believe the existence of this creature." Aldea explained.
"What about you, Zoe? What is a mythical beast?"
Zoe answered with relaxedly "I don't know, because I have never seen it."
"Like she said, the people have never seen it, so they don't believe these creatures, Aldea. Is there any historic information or appearance of these creatures in books or scriptures?"
"There is, but it is based on legend or myth, so it's not a living proof of the existence of the creature in the book."
"So it comes back to the reader, will they believe it or not? Is there any type of beast besides the mythical beast?"
Elpis answered my question "Yes, there is, your highness."
"What is that?"
"Does your highness refer to the magical beast?"
Aldea suddenly said, "That's the type of beast that I'm not believing in."
"Ho, you believe in a mythical beast but don't believe in a magical beast; tell me about this magical beast, Elpis!"
Elpis started to speak about the magical beast
"This magical beast is almost familiar with mythical beasts; the magical one has magic and the ability to communicate with their master. According to books of myth and legend, the mythical beasts are only obeyed by the strongest or smartest, so they will acknowledge them, maybe because they move with instinct. The other one is that magical beasts are only obeyed by the person who has great determination, wisdom, and some aspect that the magical beast thinks the person is capable of being their master.
I was confused by the Elpis explanation; from what I heard, it was still the same between mythical and magic beasts.
"So, are they the same?"
"No, your highness... A mythical beast is a wild creature with only an instinct; they can be tamed with fear, so the beast obeys their master because they are afraid. A magical beast is a smart creature; they can be tamed if they acknowledge a person as their master. There are a lot of myths and legends about mythical beasts as wild creatures, not smart creatures.."
"Is the presence of the magical beast recorded in some books like Mythical Beast?"
"They are…But the book is older than the mythical beasts; their record is almost ten thousand years old, but there is a rumour that the neighbouring empire has the magical beast."
Aldea suddenly said, "That's just propaganda from the Empire.."
I was curious about this Empire "What is this propaganda about Aldea?"
Aldea explained at me "Well, your highness... The Empire claimed they had a magical beast, that they swore to protect the people, and unleashed the magical beast if there was disaster in The Empire…And their people just blatantly believed them…Of course, people outside in The Empire didn't believe them…"
"Does the Empire show their magical beast in public?"
"I believe not…"
"So what is this empire?"
Louis beside me was surprised by my question, "Your highness..You don't know about the Empire?"
"Hmmm…I believe…I believe not…or maybe I forget about it…"
Louis started to explain it to me "Let me explain it then…The Empire consists of four kingdoms. These kingdoms submit their royalty to the ruler. The ruler of the empire itself doesn't have anyland except the capital of the empire…The name of the empire itself came from these kingdoms…They named it Holy Imperium, which means Holy Empire…It was named Holy because the ruler was called The Holy Mother…The appearance of her is so sacred, so she doesn't appear in public, even all the kings of 4 kingdoms never see her face; they just hear her sound..The rumour about the magical beast is focus on the holy mother…The Holy Mother has 10 subordinates, like her own finger…2 stayed in the capital of empire, 2 stayed in each kingdom; The subordinate's job is stabilize the presence of the holy mother…People believed these subordinate had two magical beasts, each one to escort them…But the magical beasts don't show themselves.."
"Hmmm…so that's why Aldea said propaganda…"
Aldea cheerfully answered, "Right…your highness is a smart one…Of course she knows that it is propaganda."
Zoe was giggling and said, "Yes..your highness is a smart one, but it is a shame that the subordinate is not that smart."
"What you said!!"
They started to exchange some words..
I needed to see Geri to know about these things, and I whispered to Louis
"Where is Geri?"
"Geri is in the backyard ranch with the horses."
"Okay…" I spoke to others, "I need to excuse myself…"
Everyone just nodded, and I walked out from the table, towards the ranch.
….
…
..
.
When I almost reached the rench, Geri already looked at me. It seemed she knew I would be coming; I saw her lying on the ranch.
I appeared in front of her, and she suddenly spoke without telepathy "Your aura seems different than before.."
I sat in her belly and laid in there, looking at the sky. "You don't need to speak to me with telepathy."
"Alright then…"
"And ... what do you mean by my aura that seems different?"
"I felt you saw something or were approached by something that made me feel different from you."
I thought she referred to the phenomenon I faced. "In the tavern, I have faced someone, I couldn't see his face, but I just saw his eyes; they were bright red, and suddenly I was so scared by him, not by his physicality but by his gaze. When our eyes met, he seemed to want to kill me on the spot. He just passed me and walked out; my vision was just a void of blank space, and suddenly a boy passed me…." I stood up and sat in front of her face, looking at Geri "What the hell is that? Geri, do you have any idea?"
"Well, it was a weird one…"
"Right…"
"I believe you met someone like you.."
"Someone like me?"
"Yeah…Like you…a messenger…and the phenomenon you faced is his ability…or I could say it is his spirit's ability."
"So he is like me…" I looked at her fiercely. "You said it was his spirit's ability, right!, when I could learn it from you."
She tried to avoid it "When I wanted to…"
"What the hell is that? ... .It's actually a bit amazing; a spirit ability can make a person down in illusion.."
Geri's head stood up "Maybe it was a spirit from demon kin.."
"Demon kin?"
"Let me explain about spirit. There are 4 spirit kin; I am from the beast's kin. The spirit's kin has abilities different from each other…What you faced was spirit from the demon's kin; they usually handle illusion ability; it can make enemies' behaviour do what they want, and they can make them invisible. From kin, there is type; there are a lot of demons with different types or species, but their ability is about illusion.. There is Wood's Kin; they usually handle alteration, which is about altering the laws and physics of the world..They can detect any life, alter the body, alter the enemy body, etc. I have met some types from Wood's Kin. They are Dryad and Elf, maybe there is another type or species......"
I was surprised by Elf.
"You seemed surprised when I said Elf…whatever…the next one is a beast's kin like me…we usually handle destruction, which is about destroying anything…We only have offensive magic…Our species are creatures of land and water, like me, I am a wolf..and I have met a siren, it is a creature of sea. The next one is a human's kin…they usually handle about restoration…well there is only 1 species and that is human. So the difference between each other is their former job…the spirit of human's kin is a human who deceased…Usually they are a former hero, a former magician, and etc…the restoration they handle is healing, regeneration, shield, etc…That is the 4 spirit's kin."
"So that's the spirit explanation…... .In the tavern, everyone was talking about mythical and magical beasts. I want to know from you, what is the difference between them?"
"Mythical beast and Magical beast is a name by human itself…Mythical beast is a creature that humans usually never see, so they called it mythical because the creature is so different from other creatures in terms of size, prowess, or ability; basically, it's just a creature with an instinct.
"And this magical beast?? You said it was named by humans."
"A magical beast is a spirit, but a normal human could not comprehend what they were? Someone like you can understand who or what I am. Because you are the messenger of one of gods or goddesses, but for normal humans, it is a different case..they saw us as magical..there is no creature who has magic or the ability to talk, so they called us magical.."
"So what happens if someone sees a spirit from a demon's kin, a human's kin, or wood's kin? They are not beasts, so what do they call them?"
"Nothing…"
"What the hell is that?"
"Human's kin has a body like a human, so they appear in front of people as human.. Wood's kin has the ability to transform like a human, for example, Elf…the difference between an elf and a human is the beauty of elf, and the ears. Elf are physically the same, so they can easily transform their ears and become humans. For the demon, they are moving in the shadow of their master…So basically, normal people didn't know the existence of these 3 kin; they only knew the existence of the beast's kin."
"Wait a second….you have the ability to shrink yourself, right??"
"Yes…"
"Why don't you shrink yourself to the size of a normal wolf or a puppy? So everyone did not accuse you of being a mythical beast.."
Geri took a deep breath and suddenly shouted in front of my face, "BECAUSE I HAVE A PRIDE.."
"Pride?"
"You remember what I said when we first met, I was the greediest one…No fucking away, I will become a puppy or normal wolf, and human looked down at me…" Geri looked up arrogantly. "Those weak eyes stare at me like a weakling; I chose to die rather than shrink into puppy size or normal wolf size.."
"What a stubborn beast, Does your kin like you so stubbornly or arrogantly?]
"We believe we are strongest, so we have pride.."
"Well, sometimes pride can turn life upside down, especially your stubbornness."
"Keep talking; I will keep my pride…"
I remembered the conversation about empire…and I told geri about that…
Geri was surprised by my story about the empire…
"They are so proudly telling people that they have magical beasts, what an arrogant move!!"
"Look who's talking…"
"Cut it…"
"So what do you think about it?"
"You are asking me about what I am thinking about this rumour?"
"Yes…There is no other thing than you who knows better about magical beasts.."
"For now, I think there is nothing that I can tell or talk to you.."
"What does that even mean?"
"It's just a rumour; even if the rumour is true, I believe it's better to know if you encounter another spirit than me."
I asked her why…she just ignored me, and I asked her again…she kept ignoring me..I
I walked back to the inn, immediately walked to the second floor, and went to the bed…