Melinda was mostly enjoying the on-the-job training course more than she could imagine. For the past four days, she has been shadowing an instructor in charge of the batch of the youngest candidates, and it has actually been interesting. There were no purely theoretical lectures as the knight training facility had more of a hands-on approach, making it much more engaging than any lectures in the Academy that almost never strayed off the dry examples from the books.
Additionally, Melinda convinced the instructor to help her devise her own training regime, which she immediately began implementing during her free time.
In secret - although not actually since it was still happening on the facility's grounds - some of the trainees approached the gold-haired girl and asked to be allowed to participate in her training on top of their normal one.
Zane, regularly keeping in touch with Melinda via the message scrolls, was bitter about other men spending more time with his beloved, and promised to start showing up at night, but it appeared that some trouble arose and he was unable to keep his word.
The situation must have been dire, as the monstrous man had not contacted the gold-haired girl since the previous night, leaving her rather sulky.
That's where the -mostly- part of her enjoying the course had come from.
As the official activities for the day came to an end, Melinda was moving between the buildings of the facility with a handful of documents she organized, thinking about whether her own training should increase in difficulty…
…when it happened…
*WOOM*
In a flash of a blue light, Lazurii Fenrioette appeared right next to the gold-haired girl, grabbing her arm, and as she winded back one hand, clenching her palm into a fist…
*WOOM*
The two of them disappeared in the burst of the same blue light, leaving no trace behind.
*****
"Understood. I will convey your message to His Majesty."
The Diamondium Kingdom's Royal Magician nodded towards Duke Brynhild Fenrioette while under the scrutinizing glare from the Fenrioette's Guard Captain, Beo.
"Putting him aside, I'm happy that you managed to have a talk with your daughter even after His Majesty's rash command that exposed her to the demonic threat."
"..."
The perpetually grieving man added, easily enduring the furious glare from the stylish halfling who seemed to be barely holding himself back at that point.
"Sir Oalc, I was under the impression that His Majesty believes my daughter's jab at me about her level is merely that. A threat from a naive adolescent girl."
"Would you like me to affirm that adorable belief?"
Brynhild put his hands together and looked at the Royal Magician who asked back with no change to his voice or expression.
"That would be for the best. Oh, that's right, Beo, you came here without officially ending the meeting introducing the new recruits. Go and put them at ease and send them to their posts."
"...at once…"
The gold-haired man leaned back in his seat and gently tapped the guard commander's shoulder, making him look away from the Royal Magician and move to the door.
"Stop."
Suddenly, before Beo could even touch the door handle, Lord Oalc raised his hand and commanded, activating a strange amber-like barrier within the office walls.
"Lord Oalc?!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK…!?"
Both Brynhild and Beo called out in shock and agitation - with various intensity - when…
*WHAM*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
With the sound of the deafening explosion, the windows shattered and the walls cracked before most of the floor and the room as a whole crumbled down, leaving only the inside of the amber-like barrier intact and levitating above the rubble of over half of the Fenrioette mansion.
"!?!?"
With the dust being blasted away by the shockwave in the first place, the trio had a peculiarly good view of the scene of complete and utter carnage.
Around half of the length of the training grounds behind the mansion, the earth suddenly ended, falling hundreds of feet down the cliff of the newly created valley.
Although a valley or a crater might not have been the correct name.
For the tree spectators, it appeared as if the ruins of the mansion were situated on a cliffside of a steep mountain, and the flatlands of leveled soil were stretching almost to the lines of horizon… maybe even farther than that - after all it was yet to be confirmed...
At the very edge of the cliff stood an extremely furious-looking girl with fluffy gold hair dressed in a bright dress on the modest side.
From her stance, especially her fist extended towards the mansion, the only logical conclusion was that she was behind the unprovoked attack.
"LAZURII FENRIOETTE! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! I WILL PERSONALLY CHECK HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TO HIT YOU BEFORE YOUR MANA COMPLETELY DEPLETES!"
The gold-haired girl stood up straight, unsuccessfully trying to slick back her fluffy hair that simply sprung back up, and roared.
"It seems that the future head of the Fenrioette family acted on his own."
The royal Magician gulped down his saliva and pointed out while motioning at the gold-haired girl with his head.
"...I thank you for creating this barrier, but release it, please…"
"I would prefer to wait until she calms down a little bit. I don't want to mess up my clothes with a nosebleed."
Brynhild took a deep breath before nodding at the magician, who ended up shaking his head in refusal.
"Her aura is a bit too threatening. The guards at the front gate all lost consciousness, similar to all the good people in the city. Her Grace is… terrifying… even for my standards."
The Royal Magician added with a little shaky smile, unable to take his eyes off the infuriated girl.
"..."
"...!"
Since the main culprit of Melinda's sudden appearance didn't show up, she gritted her teeth and began scanning the area with a hateful glare. She laid her eyes on the levitating barrier, making two of the three people inside flinch.
"..."
Her gaze lost some of its intensity. She looked over her shoulder and then down at how far and deep the chasm she had created stretched.