“Welcome, Alissa. Glad you could join us on this fine evening,” said the Fifth Princess as she gracefully lifted her tea cup with perfect noble etiquette.

“Enchanted to be in your presence, Your Highness,” replied Alissa with a slight polite bow as she approached the table the Fifth Princess was seated by. She had received an invitation to a “tea party for the girls” a couple days ago from said Princess and was rather at a loss on what to do with it, until some chats with Ethan made her decide to check it out. She had nothing to lose anyway, other than maybe some time if it turned out that the “tea party” was exactly the sort of boring ones nobles used as an excuse to “socialize” with one another.

There were only seven chairs set around the table, and six of them were already occupied. The Fifth Princess sat at the head of the table as the host, while to her right sat Moira and Maribel from the Royal Guards. To the Princess’ left was Bronwen, Silvia, and Leda from the Temple Guards, and as such Alissa struck off one worry that it would have just been a gathering of noble ladies gossipping with one another.

Since there were only the [Hero’s Companions] and [Associates] in the gathering, chances were the Princess intended to have some more serious talk.

“Oh, posh, please, just call me Nadine,” said the Fifth Princess in a friendly manner as she invited Alissa to sit. Alissa didn’t fail to notice that her seat places the royal guards to one side with the temple guards on the other side as well, the seating arrangement clearly planned out from before she came. “Also, now that you’re here, we finally have an excuse to do away with all these cow patties they called decorum and etiquette! Maribel, fetch the mead!”

“The term you’re looking for is ‘Bullshit’, Princess Nadine, and I do believe that Madam Ormont would have a heart attack if she were to see you talking in such an uncouth manner,” replied the curly-haired Royal Guardswoman with a grin on her face. She clearly had been acquainted with the Princess for longer, given the lack of shock on her features from the way the Princess behaved, whereas most everyone else around the table looked either shocked or downright scandalized. “Also, which mead? Want me to fetch the special barrel you’ve been saving up? Or just the usual ones?”

“Get the good stuff, no point in holding back now that the [Heroes] walk amongst us once again. Oh, and also Fuck that old witch Ormont,” replied the Fifth Princess. The way she playfully swatted at the Royal Guardswoman’s back as she passed by further hinted at how the two of them were closer than most had previously suspected. “Pardon my language.”

“Nothing to be… sorry about, I’d think?” said Alissa as she seated herself around the table. The wide eyes and dropped jaws around her hinted that whatever was going on was definitely not something that happened everyday in the Kingdom. “I would like some clarification on what you mean that we now have an excuse, though.”

“Right. I believe nobody has yet to explain that matter to you, probably because it wouldn’t be to their benefit to do so. Other than Old Inolet, I guess. He’s the one person I’d believe when he said that the matter simply never crossed his mind,” commented the Princess at length. “What I meant, Alissa, is that unlike us, you are not from this world.”

“That should be rather obvious, I thought, but do go on?”

“Your not being of this world brought several implications that the powers that be often didn’t like to contemplate about. For example, you are neither subject to the crown nor the church, if you get what I mean?” said the Princess further in explanation. “Meanwhile, at the same time, as a [Hero] you possess an authority that is not in the least subservient to that of the crown’s or the church’s.”

“So I’m a third party with authority to match the incumbent powers while being on neither of their sides,” said Alissa immediately, the meaning implied behind the Princess’ words registering all too easily as the situation struck a bit close to home for her. “Do they really have the time to worry about politicking while all this… you know, Hero business and war is going on?”

“Many don’t. I’d rather say that the majority will have their full attention on the war instead, but some people will worry more about personal benefits, and as you said it… politicking even while the war raged, regardless of the results,” explained the Princess. “You three are at this moment, the most influental people in this Kingdom, even above my Father the King and that old fart of a Bishop, and not even they have the authority to order you around, technically.”

“So me being here equaling an excuse…”

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“Means just that. If anyone were to barge in and call us out for behaving in uncouth ways unbefitting our station, all I have to do is say that you asked for such an informal gathering and nobody would be able to say a word against it,” replied the Princess with a mischievous smirk. “Just between us, but being a Royal isn’t all fun and games. People see all the glitter and riches, without noticing how it’s all just a gilded cage from the inside. I, for one, welcome a chance to just relax and not have to worry about how I’m holding a teacup, while maybe dropping a fuck or three while we’re at it. So do we have your approval, milady [Hero]?”

“Sure, why not, I guess,” replied Alissa with a smile on her face. “For some reason that lady you mentioned reminded me of one of my teachers from my younger days.”

“Old, cantankerous bitch that really needed to get laid but was far too repulsive for anyone to even consider that and took all their frustrations out on their students instead?” asked the Princess with a grin that was almost conspiratorial in nature. “Also nitpicky as all fuck and will cane you for the slightest mistake that might not even be something you did but they made up anyway?”

“Huh. Never thought that those types could even survive in this sort of world. I thought someone here would have ended their suffering by a blade to the gut or something,” replied Alissa with a smirk of her own in turn.

“Well, if they’re born a high noble, that kinda spared them getting knifed in the gut, most of the time,” replied the Princess nonchalantly. “I sure wished I had enough clout to do just that to that witch, though. Wait… I’m a [Hero’s Companion] now… surely they can’t punish me too much for gutting that old sow the way the world wanted…”

“C’mon now, my Princess, surely your time is better spent having fun amongst friends?” asked Maribel who just returned to the room with a couple of small barrels tucked beneath her arms. The curly haired woman gently set the barrels on a side table and started to fill some tankards she carried in her hand until everyone had a tankard of sweet-smelling mead in front of them. “Though I won’t deny that the idea of gutting that old witch like the pig she is would indeed be a rather fun time.”

“Thanks, Maribel,” replied the Princess as she lifted her tankard up in a toast. “Anyway, if possible, I would like that the rest of you, other than Miss Alissa, who I have no authority to bind, would keep what we’re about to talk about here a secret for yourself, please. I’m not asking this as the Fifth Princess of the Kingdom, but as someone who will be fighting alongside you from here onwards.”

“You have our word, Princess,” spoke Bronwen for the three Temple guards as Silvia and Leda nodded along with her and raised their tankards to accept the toast. On the other side of the table, Moira also nodded and raised her own tankard in turn. Alissa saw no reason to speak otherwise, and similarly raised her tankard and touched it with the others in a toast.

The mead inside the tankards were cold, smooth, and sweet, though the alcoholic kick came in the end and hit rather hard as well. There were already pastries of various kinds on the table, so Alissa also helped herself to some, which proved to be very good, especially considering the mostly medieval level of technology of the world she was in.

Then again, royalty likely had the money to spring for the good pastries anyway.

“Now, the main reason I invited you all to have this talk is because it involves… politicking that you might run afoul on during times like these, when we aren’t risking our lives for the Kingdom’s sake,” said the Princess openly as she addressed everyone gathered. “Why this gathering only had the people assembled here, is partly because I could not afford to have what I’m about to say reach the ears of people who aren’t either on my side or at least neutral.”

“What about Ethan? Or Joshua for that matter?” asked Alissa.

“Ah yes, the other [Heroes] would definitely fit that criteria, but it would also scandalize the whole Kingdom if they were to hear that I invited men to a tea party,” replied the Princess with a scoff. “After all, around here the norm is that this sort of social gatherings in private spaces are for the ladies, and inviting men into them has rather… unfortunate connotations, if you will. It’s the same reason I excluded Benedictus.”

“The Temple Guards have their loyalty to the church, and they do not meddle with the politics of the Kingdom,” added the Princess, to which the three Temple Guards present nodded in confirmation. “In a similar way, Miss Alissa as a [Hero] is about as close to a neutral third party we could get in this sort of situation.”

“What about the rest?” Alissa asked with some curiosity.

“Moira here is from an old lineage of Royal Knights. Her family serves the kingdom as a tradition, and they’re bound more to the Kingdom itself than to any particular faction. Old lineages like hers typically keep a neutral posture in any political issues of the royalty,” explained the Princess, punctuated by a nod from Moira. “As for Maribel, she’s probably the closest thing to a friend that I have in this prison of a royal palace.”

“I’ve been assigned as the Princess’ maid and companion since I was a wee toddler,” said the curly-haired woman with a slight accent to her voice. “Part of it is likely because my ma was a [Maid] in the castle and had been the Princess’ wet nurse, so we kinda grew up suckling on the same teats back then.”

“Anyway, I believe you are all aware of the old story of how my great-grandfather rose to the throne during the previous summoning of [Heroes]. His status as a [Hero’s Companion] who survived the war played a major role on his rise to the throne,” said the Princess as she continued. “As a [Hero’s Companion] myself, there are people out there who looked at me and feared the same case happening, even if it was still a distant possibility and hinges entirely on me even surviving this whole war at all.”

“Your elder siblings,” said Alissa as she caught on to what the Princess was driving towards.

“Exactly. Princesses like me rarely rose to become queens in the Kingdom’s history, as our society is more a patriarchal one. A Princess who was a [Hero’s Companion] however, carried far more importance than one who wasn’t. With the recent precedent that was great-grandfather, there was simply no way my elder siblings didn’t look askance at me once I was confirmed to be a [Hero’s Companion].”

“In their minds, I suddenly changed from the inconsequential tomboy of a little sister they could ignore in their machinations against each other for the throne, into yet another competitor, one that carried a far stronger claim for the throne, for that matter,” she continued. “Even if I were to proclaim that I have no interest in the throne, none of them would have believed me.”