"Divide into position! Keep the goblins at bay!" Phil called out. Pointing his sword at the Orges ready to go into battle himself.

Suddenly, like a streak of lightning, Grandmother Mary was the first one to rush out with a thrilling war cry. Her grey hair trickled behind, her fierce gaze seemed to tear into the Ogre's body as if it was food.

"Grandma!" Phil cried out desperately. He fired arrows after arrows perfectly hitting the oncoming goblins. Each one of the arrows never lost its target, and even his sword sliced and diced the goblins around him. Like a war god out on a rampage, Phil killed without remorse.

I stared flabbergasted at what I just saw, Phil's grandmother was indeed a one of a kind. She bulldozed through the goblins like a bowling ball. Goblins flew left and right from a single punch from her gauntlet. The name Lioness of the Dragonia truly befitted her. She growled and struck with her deadly hands, each impact crushing or destroying the goblins. She fell thirty goblins in a matter of minutes, and she continued without stopping. For someone her age, the word monster was the best way to describe her.

All goblins trembled in fear when she approached them. The goblins that grouped up on her were quickly taken down, while the rest ran away in fear.  People gazed upon her with awe and respect, their souls fired up and filled with determination as they continued to fight on.

Bloodied with green and red blood, Phil's nimble feet carried him like the wind. He dodged and struck like a viper. With each hit, more and more goblins fell to his blade. While Phil disappeared like smoke, I  wondered where he had gone until he appeared from above in a tree. Don waited until they arrived towards him. He was very cautious of being overwhelmed.

With a quick sideway slash, the goblin that came jumping towards me was cut in half. Blood splattered onto the ice sword and onto my hair. I cringed at the splatter of blood on my body. Even though I had killed a monster, it was not something I got used to.

Rummaging through my pocket with my free hand, I pulled out three Level E Red Common Magic stones. Calling up magic was too much of a hassle, and it did take a bit of time to gather up a large amount of magical energy right this moment. I only needed to input a small amount of Magic energy to activate the stone itself. 

Throwing the Magic Stone into the group of goblins, I yelled. "Explode!"

A burst of fiery inferno that was equivalent to my fireball appeared. Burnt flesh and screams could be heard as the goblins were caught up in the blast. I was glad that I didn't code in so many words to say the activation key. Not only that, I made sure it wouldn't explode or activate without it being my own voice.

"Explode! Explode!"

One after another, I continued to throw it into the large group of goblins, causing them to die in the blast.

These Red Magic Stones were truly useful. I was extremely pleased with how quickly the stones were becoming effective against the goblins.

"Barrier!" I threw another stone this time blue into the air. A bright shining light erupted around me, creating a thin transparent shield. The goblins that came rushing towards me collided into the barrier. Small spider cracks formed from the impact, but the barrier still held on strong.

"Shockwave! Attack all goblins!" A yellow magic stone was tossed overhead. A stream of lightning erupted from the magic stone and went outwards. All goblins that were in the vicinity were electrocuted.

"Graaaaaaaahhhh!" An Ogre bashes his way through killing the goblins that were trying to control him with the drum. He swung his club side-to-side, causing the goblins to fly.

It ran towards me with full speed. Shit. I pulled out more barrier magic stones.

"Barrier! Barrier!" I frantically yelled. The club came crashing down and broke through the first, then the second, and temporarily into the third. Immobilizing the Ogre movements, I took this chance to take a swipe at the Ogre's arm. With a quick stab, a large wound was created on the Ogre's arm, causing the blood to spill into the barrier.

With a roar, the Ogre pulled back in pain. Part of its tendons were cut, making it impossible to hold onto the club. Instead, it angrily pounded down onto the barrier and broke through. My instinct kicked in at the last second, allowing me to dodge out of harm's way. My adrenaline was pumping throughout my whole body, causing all my senses to go into overdrive.

I couldn't help but thank Phil for teaching me how to fight. In times like this, that was what saved my ass.

Kicking off the ground, I rushed forward. Not giving the Ogre a chance to react, I thrust the ice blade into its side. Pushing it deep, the sound of ice freezing over the skin could be heard. A gush of cold air slapped against my face and made me feel a chill. I didn't understand how this ice magic even affected things around me, especially how it did not affect my hands at all.

Throwing its weight around, the Ogre twisted towards me. I held tight onto the blade, hoping that I would not be flung aside.

"What are you doing?"Phil appeared from the side. He climbed on top of the Ogre like it was a tree. When he reached the top, he slammed in a knife and twisted it.

The Ogre fell down, shaking the ground around us. A loud snap could be heard as the ice blade broke inside the Ogre's body. I couldn't help but silently cry. My kill was stolen.

"You need to move your body. What are you doing just hanging on? If you're not careful, you could die."

I nodded quietly. Phil is a kill stealer! Then it hit me. Why am I even thinking like that? This is not a game for crying out loud. This is real!

Bringing myself back to reality, I noticed Phil staring at me strangely. "You alright?"

With a swift throw of his dagger, it skimmed past my cheek, and I heard something squeal behind me. I turned around, startled at the noise. He killed a goblin perfectly through its skull. What the hell? Where did he hide that dagger? I swear he's like a modern-day ninja with all these mysterious gadgets popping out of nowhere.

"I'm fine. Thanks." I quickly replied.

"You should fight what you can, but that was a nice fight." Phil raised his fingers up into a thumbs up. Even his face was partially covered. Running back into the thick crowds of goblins, he continued his guerrilla warfare.

Women, children, and even elderly folks that took the initiative to fight battled furiously as their life depended on it. They could not escape the harsh circumstance that they were in and instead push forward.

People died left and right, but for the people who fell, three times more goblins were killed on the spot.

Bababbababooom!

The multiple sounds of the gauntlet hitting furiously in the stomach of the Ogre could be heard. I couldn't help but turn my gaze towards the sound, and when I did, I couldn't help but stifle a gasp. Each continuous pound of her fist caused the belly to turn purple. Her last final hit caused a silent impact that didn't seem to damage at all until three seconds later, the Ogre's back exploded into a million pieces. This was the perfect horror scene.

I gulped. I really didn't want to get on Grandmother Mary's wrong side. I could even see Phil sweating uncomfortably when he saw his grandmother knock out the Ogre as if it was nothing.

"The gate has opened!" Someone continuously yelled from the back. The people who were waiting for the gate to open rushed through in a panic.

Some quit and instead ran towards the gates. This caused the people who were fighting to have to face twice as many goblins.

"Shit!" Phil cursed. He was surrounded slowly by goblins all around him, and Ogre wildly swung its club. Dodging, Phil ducked underneath the Ogre's leg and sliced it open.

Don ran forward. Even though his skill did not compare to Phil's, he still dismantled the goblins around him. One-by-one, they fell down like flies.

"Jump to your left!" Don called out towards Phil.

Phil instinctively moves towards the yell of Don. Don threw ten throwing knives one after another, hitting or distracting the goblins that were focused on Phil.

Gliding his sword perfectly in an arch, Phil thrust in towards the Ogre's belly and sliced it open.

I felt bile rise up in my throat. Holy crap, it's like an R rated movie seeing all the gore around me. Even though I've fought some, I wasn't prepared to see body parts being severed or guts come spilling out like water of often and so many.

How is it that both Phil and Don don't seem to be affected by the horror before us? I turned my head away from the scene before me.

Feeling a bit wheezy, I didn't have the heart to kill the goblin in front of me. This fatal mistake caused the goblin's dagger to snake its way towards my arm. With a slash, a thin cut appeared, but at the same time, the dagger broke into pieces.

Jolted awake, I batted the broken dagger out of the goblin's hand and stabbed the goblin. What the hell, I'm getting used to this way too quickly.

"Everyone gets into the gates!" Phil yelled. He completely annihilated the Ogre with Don.

The goblins stared at him in fear as they dropped their weapons and ran. An angered shout and the dying of goblins being mercilessly slaughtered. In front of me, an oversized goblin covered from head to toe in thick bone armor appeared with an ugly mace in his hand.

"Wha-" I couldn't contain my surprise. These goblins were different from the ones we were just 

fighting. They even looked meaner and fiercer than before.

"Run!"

Without a second thought, I took Phil's advice to heart. I ran towards the open gates.

Clang! Clung! Cling! The heavy armor that these buffed up goblins were wearing were making loud sounds as they followed us. Passing through the open gates, I veered to the right.

Don and Phil followed closely behind. They were trying their best to halt the goblin from entering but failed. A loud rattling sound of metal chains could be heard as it pulled down the metal gates.

Kathunk!

The metal gates fell down harshly onto the ground, blocking off most of the goblin's path. Luckily, only five heavily armored goblins were able to come through, but even still, they took down a large number of people around them.

Phil rushed in with his dagger in hand. He slipped it, in-between the neck of the goblin. In that brief moment, the goblin tensed its muscles, making it difficult for the dagger to penetrate into the skin. Instead, he was viciously flung back and onto the wall.

"Phil!" I yelled. This was no walk in the park. These five buff goblins were a whole different class in their way.

"Explode! Explode! Explode!"

The sounds of continuous explosions from the magic stones resounded in between the three goblins as I threw magical balls at them. Smoke covered all three of them, and in an instant, a broad ax swung from the side, splitting apart the smoke.

"That wasn't strong enough!" Phil got up and knocked an arrow and fired. Each arrow struck a vulnerable spot that the armor could not cover.

The goblin screeched in rage and pounded its chest like a gorilla. Bulking up, the goblin threw the ax towards me. Just barely dodging the ax that was thrown towards my head, my feet slipped and got caught on a small hole in the ground.

Stumbling forward, I fell face flat onto the floor. "Ugh." I groaned. The pain shot through my whole body.

"Berry!" Phil called out in desperation.

I turned over, and a loud thunk was heard right next to my face. A large ax was embedded into the ground, and it sliced a bit of my hair. I gulped. Holy cow, I almost died there. This fighting business was definitely not my specialty, but that did not mean I would die here and now.

Pushing myself off the ground, I rolled away and avoided getting punched in the stomach. Each time I moved, I activated a barrier around me. Even though each barrier was broken quickly, it gave me a couple of seconds to dodge out of harm's way every time one broke.

Bloodied, Don leaped out from the side and pushed his dagger into the goblin's eyes. The goblin roared and thrashed around in pain. His hands swung from side-to-side in a desperate attempt to grab onto Don, but Don slipped out of the goblin's grasp.

Something unexpected happened before my eyes, Don's figure split up into multiple shadow bodies. I could feel the tense pull of magical energy around Don and the goblin. Each one of Don's clones jumped forward, slicing the goblin into little pieces with his small dagger.

I was shocked at how Don was able to use magic illusion. Then it hit me, maybe he too had magic of his own when he came to this world.

I don't know how he was doing it, but the goblin fell onto its knees. With a final turn, Don stabbed the goblin in the other eye. With a thump, the first of the five goblins fell down dead.

"How?" I called out, confused. It didn't make any sense. Was it possible for a dagger to cause that much damage?

"Poison and skill," Don replied, and he bounded forward towards the next goblin.

My eyes sparkled at the skill that was displayed before me.

"Move!" Phil growled.

I took a step back, and both the goblin and Phil came rushing by. They were fighting a heated battle among each other, trying hard to get the upper hand. Even Don was putting a couple of punches in as well when he got the chance.

Where was the other one anyways? I glanced around and saw the third one fighting with a group of women and children. They were easily battered away as if they were annoying gnats.

"No!" I yelled and threw a red and blue magic stone. The blue flew towards the grounded women and children while the red flew towards the goblin. "Barrier! Explode!"

Kaboom! 

The fireball was three times more powerful than a regular level E Magic Stone. It was a level D magic stone that I had saved for a special occasion.

Running over to check if they were alright, she noticed that blood was spilled all over them. They were heavily injured. Quickly picking out a level D magic stone, this time, a green-colored stone was in my hands. Squeezing it, I called out "Activate Healing."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

A bright flash of green light appeared around me. I did not have enough red potions to hand to everyone. I honestly only carried two. Warm light could be felt in the space inside the barrier that protected the people. I placed the magic stone in the hands of the child and turned towards the goblin.

The smoke cleared, and the muscular goblin wearily stood back on its feet. Horrible burn marks were left all over its body and face, but even still, it did not phase the goblin at all. Instead, it brought it into a full rage.

"Damn goblin! You are going to die today!" I ran out of the barrier, already ice magic was forming in both my hands into a claw.

I ducked the oncoming attacks from the goblin. I was not going to let this ugly goblin win. My life was at stake. No demon lord or a beefed-up goblin was going to kill me today. With my resolution resolved, I furiously dug my icicle claws into its side.

The claws finally pierced through the thick armor. The goblin roared and swung, its footsteps faltering, making it stumble sideways. When the goblin opened its mouth to screech, I spit out a red magic stone into its mouth.

"Explode!"

A loud explosion of fire burst in the head of the goblin. Black and green goblin blood splattered onto my face and on my hair. Yuck. I gagged and spat.

Pulling out my ice claws, the claws once again broke. Was it because the icicle claws and sword weren't sharp enough, is that why they break so easily?? I glanced down at my hands. I noticed energy slowly trailing from my body towards where the broken icicles were. It was already starting to form another claw-like weapon in its place.

Phil killed off the third goblin without much trouble, but he was finally out of breath. The battle was too intense for Phil to continually attack the goblin at his speed. He was lucky that he was able to slip his sword into the chink of the armor and kill the goblin in one hit.

Phil's grandmother was having a heated battle of her own. She was fighting two buff looking goblins simultaneously. With each strike she punched, a large dent formed in on their armor. With relentless attacks, she pursued her prey.

Ten strikes to the helmet causing temporary blindness from the rattling of their brain, twenty blows to their gut until they spew up blood, and finally with a single hit to their heart and the goblin fell over dead. That was indeed a one-sided battle.

"Sarah!" A hysterical mother ran towards the down child inside the barrier. The healing process was taking longer than I expected, but all the dangerous wounds were closing up nice and clean.

"They are alright," I called out towards her. Out of breath, I flopped down exhausted. I didn't realize how tired I was nor how much the magic stones consumed my magic. Even though it was a small amount for the Level E, but for a Level D magic stone, it took large chunks of my magic and mental fatigue.

"Sarah! Wake up!" The mother shook her and tried to move her out of the healing circle.

"Wait, stop! Don't pull her out of the healing circle!" I tried to get up but failed miserably. My legs weren't even listening to me at all.

The mother stopped and tearfully stared. "Is it true? She's being healed?"

"Yes. So please don't pull her out of the barrier. She's barely holding on." That was unexpectedly difficult to say.

"Are you alright?" Don came over with a worried expression. He was filled up with cuts and bruises.

"Yea, I'm just exhausted."

De bent over and scooped me in his arms.

"What!?" Shocked, I failed around in his arms. Never in my life have I been scooped up in a princess style before.

"I-I-I can walk."

"Bullshit," Don replied. "You were shaking. I don't think Coco would like to see you crawling on the ground, would you?"

"I-" My face was turning red like an apple. This was a whole different experience that I never experienced before. It wasn't bad. Actually, I quite liked it.

"Don't squirm so much. It makes carrying you that much difficult."

"I'm sorry." My voice became almost inaudible to hear.

"You should see what's happening beyond the wall."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

Don carried me up the stone stairs on the side. Looking over the walls, I was amazed to see what was happening before us.

Green foliage started to move like a snake. It snapped and wrapped around the goblins choking the life out of them. Carnivorous plants that I have never seen before magically appeared from the walls itself. They were three times the average size of a human, possibly even towering over Ogre itself. The plants continued to devour the dead and living without remorse as everything was cleared out. Not a single goblin was left alive.

Was this what you call a killer plant? I stared dumbfounded. Though the question was, what was causing the plants to magically appear like that?

"There are ancient magical symbols written on the walls." Just as if Phil was reading my mind, he answered my question.

"Magic symbols? That is what's causing the carnivorous plant to appear?"

"Yes. From the looks of it, it seems to be the same ancient writing and language that you've been teaching us, though it is more complex than I have imagined."

"What do you mean?"

"It's engraved into the walls. Just like your 'Rule' Stone, the magic symbol does not appear until something triggers it."

"Like?"

"You."

"Me? Are you sure?" I asked, unsure if what I heard from him was just a figment of my imagination.

"Why not. You are the only living dragon that I know of."

"Well...." Then it hit me. The message that briefly went through my mind, but I quickly dismissed what was it again? I groaned. I knew I brushed aside the message in the middle of the battle.

"See, look here."  Phil walked over to the stone wall. A strange sigil with a handprint was embedded into the wall. "They are some familiar lines. It's stating something about protecting, but that's all I can read."

"Um, if you don't mind," I asked Don sheepishly. Being carried in a princess style did have its embarrassing moments.

"Sorry. Sorry. You were so light; I forgot you were still in my arms."

That was the best line any female would love to hear. Not being told they were heavy. You truly made my day Don. I could feel a sliver of a tear coming out of my eyes. Quickly reeling it in, Don helped me back onto my feet.

Taking baby steps, I walked over towards the wall. Don lend me a hand so I would not collapse. I carefully examined the words on the wall.

"What does it say?"

"It says, Let the master of the land bring harmony to its people. No intruders that mean harm should cross this threshold. We shall protect against all foes."

"Well, close enough." Phil shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

He only read one word for crying out loud. How was that close enough? I shook my head in defeat. Raising my hands, I placed it on the same marking. At that moment, the whole wall glowed bright blue, showing all the language that was embedded into the wall. A blue screen appeared before me.

Wall of Carnivorous Plants. A new master has been confirmed. Wall of Carnivorous Plants will go into its second Tier stage.

The ground shook, and I stepped backward in surprise.

"Earthquake?" Don asked as he leaned forward in worry.

Even I could not help but think the same thought. All of a sudden, the stone walls magically changed into reinforced steel. The plants that were on the wall tore and fell off without any effort. The metal shot up towards the sky, bringing us up to higher ground. It made a large wall that was three times bigger than before.

"What the heck?" I could not contain my bewildered expression. "It was just a stone wall before."

"What did you do, Berry?" Phil asked, confused.

"I don't know."

"Wow, those walls remind me of a skyscraper back at home. Were you thinking of a skyscraper or something?"

"I....." Wait, now that I did think about it. There was a brief moment that I did imagine a tall solid wall that was like a skyscraper. Large monstrous plants appeared at the base of the wall. Even the vines that were snaking around the top looked dangerously evil.

"That's pretty cool," Don whistled. "That's going to keep the monsters at bay.

I look down at my hand. Did I do that? They were no other explanation. All of a sudden, a massive wave of mental fatigue hit me hard. I wavered forward, and the world turned black.

#####

Waking up, I look around, confused. Where was I? The last thing I remember was being on top of the wall. Instead, I was now covered in a blanket with a soft pillow under my head.

"Young mistress." Coco stared with a worried expression.

"Coco?"

"Yes, young mistress?"

"Where are we?"

"We are inside the Carnivorous Walls. Tart and Moca had pulled the remaining goblins away from us and will be arriving back in the afternoon."

I was glad to hear that both Tart and Moca were alive and doing well. 

"What am I doing on the floor?"

"You fainted, young mistress. You consumed too much of your magic ability, and your body collapsed. Please, don't recklessly give out your magic like that. You scared us all."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was doing that." I felt ashamed. Was I so useless that I fainted from using magic? All I could do was sigh with regret.

"Please, take care of yourself more."

"I'll try." I pushed myself up.

"Young mistress, there is something I must tell you."

"Yes?"

"I am glad to inform you that you are back to your original adult form," Coco spoke happily.

"Hey, sleeping beauty. You're up." Phil happily called out towards me. He squatted down and shove a piece of fruit into my mouth. "This tastes really good."

I crunched down on the sweet juicy taste of the fruit. It was a strange blend of grape and watermelon.

"I thought you would like it." Phil grinned. "Here have some more." He placed a sizeable grape-like fruit into my hands.

"Thanks." I continued to munch on the fruit that Phil gave me.

"I heard this grape should help you recover your mental fatigue. Even though I directly fed you the magic potion with my mouth, the aftereffect of mental fatigue will still linger around for a couple of hours. That was quite a scene." Phil chuckled.

"What!" My voice leaped up an octave from shock.

"Didn't Miss Coco tell you?"

I stared at Coco to confirm what he said was the truth.

Coco averted his eyes and blushed.

No, Coco, why are you blushing? That's not helping at all. My first kiss was stolen right before my eyes, and I didn't know it.

"M-m-my first kiss." I stuttered.

"It's not that bad." Phil stared at me with confusion. "It's just a kiss when you were sleeping."

"B-b-but."

Phil sighed. Popping in the grapefruit, he leaned over and gave me a sweet kiss. His tongue pushed the grape into my mouth and pulled back.

"That should help you forget." He gave a devilish wink.

What the hell just happened? My mind gave off a pop-like sound.

"Berry?" Phil quizzically stared.

"Kyahhhhh~" Coco squealed in delight. "This is the so-called kiss that I read about in a young mistress's library." She squirmed like a little girl that was caught up in a romance novel.

Coco squeal broke my stupor. Book? Was she talking about the romance mangas that I placed in the corner of the room? Was she a fan of Romance novels too?

"There we go. Berry is back." Phil popped a grape into his mouth and had begun chewing. "See now you're all better now."

I was mortified at what happened in a short amount of time. Phil supposedly gave me a direct kiss when I was knocked out and now gave me another with grapefruit. I could hear my mind pop again, and blood gushed up to my face.

Twice in one day! This was way too fast for my mind to comprehend. I raised my hand against my mouth, brushing it away like it was some kind of germ.

"W-why did you do that?" My hands were upon my lips, trying to hide it from him.

"No reason at all. I thought that it would help speed up the healing process." Phil innocently stated as if it was nothing. He didn't even seem phased by it at all. 

Is he a player? His transition into that kiss was way too smooth for even me to notice or react. He must be. Danger flags were popping up all over my mind. Phil was dangerous, especially for my heart, as it weighed furiously.

"L-l-let's g-g-et going." I pushed off the ground and walked away like a robot. 

Calm down. Calm down. That was just a kiss. 

The memory appeared freshly in my mind. 

Noooooooooooooooooo! Go away! I smacked my cheeks to bring me back to reality.

"Berry?" Don called out towards me. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" I squeaked and froze.

Don came over as he reached over and pushed my hair aside. The slight touch made me flinch backward.

"I'm alright! Thank you." I bowed in a hurry. "We should get going." I quickly stated, almost running away.

"We should." Phil turned away and had begun to get everyone up and moving.

Coco ran forward in her horse form and pranced around me. I swear she was enjoying this way more than I was. Climbing onto her back, the large group moved forward towards the Solitary mountains.

As we tracked forward, the land grew more open and spacious. There were fewer trees than I expected and made traveling much more comfortable. Tart and Moca came back around noon. Not a single scratch could be seen on either one of their bodies or faces.

"Young mistress!" Tart exclaimed in delight. He came running towards me in full throttle and almost tackled me. Coco stopped Tart in the air and head-butted him onto the floor.

"Why did you do that?" Tart was on the ground with a bruised cheek, scowling at Coco as if she had done something outrageous.

Coco neighed, and stomped on the ground a few times. She huffed and snorted in disdain, looking down on Tart.

"Just because a young mistress gets to get rid of your back doesn't mean you have to kick me down. I have every right to be next to her too!"

Coco stomped in disagreement. She didn't have it with Tart getting out of line. 

"Young mistress." Tart began to fill up with tears. "Didn't you miss me?"

I couldn't help but be swayed by Tart's cute behavior. "Welcome back, Tart." Reaching down so Tart could grab my hand, he grabbed onto it happily.

"Young Mistress, the promise!"

Ack. That. I furrowed my eyes. Well, it's better to get it over with. I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Young mistress, thank you!" Tart jumped around giddy and bumped into Moca. Moca stared him down and shook his head in disagreement.

With that ordeal over with, we continued forward until we reached the Solitary Mountain that tower above us high into the clouds.

The castle still looks the same, sitting majestically on the edge of the mountain. The one different thing was that there was another large gate at the foot of the mountain. I don't remember if there was even a gate there before.

With a mighty groan, the gates opened as they passed through. Finally, they were situated at the foot of the mountain. People were setting up camp from the long, tiring journey. I, on the other hand, wanted to get up to the castle as quickly as possible.

Warm water was calling for me to take a shower. The thick goblin's blood was heavily drenched on my skin and hair. The only clean thing was the clothes that I had on me.

Coco, Don, Sam, Sal, Terry, and Phil followed after, while the rest of the people stayed behind. Phil's grandma was taking care of the people. They did not follow and instead stayed behind to tend to their wounded.

"Where are we going?" Sal asked. "Are we going to the castle up there?"

I nodded.

"Is that your home?"

I nodded again.

"So, you are a noble."

"No. I'm not. That's just my home."

Sal and Sam stared at me strangely and dismissed it off as if it was nothing. I got the feeling that they still think of me as a noble instead of a commoner.

We finally made it to the entrance of the castle. A large metal door opened, drawing down its gates. Entering in, blue lights flickered on, showing the interior of the castle. How was there even a castle entrance in the first place? I cocked my head confused. The time I was living here, I was confident that there was no entrance, but now there was one. I really did not understand this magic castle.

"This way, young mistress." Coco waved me in, and we continued through the hallway.

"Wow, you live in quite a fancy castle." Terry's eyes sparkled at the sight of everything around her. "It's like you're a princess."

"Pfft." Sol coughed and laughed. "There, she goes again. Our Terry in her fantastical dream about princes and princesses."

"You're our princess Terry." Sam quietly replied. He fiddled his fingers, embarrassed at what he said.

Oh! Young love! I could see that Sam had a thing for Terry. His quick glances towards her were apparent for everyone to see except Terry herself.

"Young love is truly a bliss." Coco chuckled under her breath. I swear that she is probably cooking up something dangerous for both Sam and Terry. I was actually worried about them now.

"Is that what I think it is?" Terry ran around, looking at the Greek marble statues that were on display. "They have fantastic muscular proportions. 

Which artist did this?" She asked, turning towards me for an answer.

"I'm not sure. It's been here for so long that I don't even know."

"Oh?" Terry looked down and saw a white handkerchief like thing covering a private area of the statue.

"That's!" I fumbled and desperately reached over towards Terry, but instead fell forward towards her. Her hands reached out to stop me from the fall and caught me just in time before I did a faceplant.

"Are you okay?" Terry helped me up.

"Thanks," I replied with a sigh.

"That could have been a nasty fall. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. I was just not watching where I was step-" I stopped and turned. Geh- Turning red, I use my body to hide the naked statue from Terry.

"Please go ahead." I nonchalantly replied, trying my best to keep my voice from cracking in a high pitch. "Coco, take them to take a bath, will you?"

"Yes, young mistress." Coco bowed. "This way, please."

The rest followed behind her.

"Why are you standing there so stiffly?" Don peeked over behind me, trying to see what I was covering.

"It's nothing. Please go on ahead."

Damn it, where is the magic stone that I have created a while back? I rummaged through my pocket, furiously. I did not want Don to come any closer.

"You're acting strangely." He walked closer.

For crying out loud, does he not get it that I don't want him to be near me right this moment?

"Nothing. Just go. I'll catch up with you, okay?"

"Really?"

"Yea." I shifted side-to-side uncomfortably. "Activate Censor," I mumbled 

underneath my breath quickly.

With a snap of his hands, he pulled me forward towards his body. My heart thumped for a split second as I folded into his arms. The kiss with Phil went through my head, replaying continuously.

"Pfft!" Don held back a laugh, "Hahahahahahah!" He was reeling back, laughing so hard at what he saw in front of him. I peered over my shoulders and noticed a large black circle with the word in red Censored. 

Even the naked female statue a couple of feet away was censored the same way but in three places.

I burned red. My virgin mind was about to explode from complete embarrassment. This was the worst time for Don to see this, and at the same time, I was glad that the Censor Magic Stone actually worked.

"What the hell is this? Are you for real?" Don tried his best to hold back his laugh. "This is so like those rated R comics, but it's done in real life." He reeled over bursting into a fit.

I couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the ridiculous situation before us. "Um, if you don't mind." I coughed to get his attention.

Don glanced down and noticed that I was literally in his arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

"It's fine."

He let go, allowing me to take a couple steps backs. "Well, I should be going."

"Yea." I awkwardly stated. 

Don left, still laughing hard. I watched him go. Honestly, this was not my day at all.

Quickly I went to my room and grabbed a towel. If I remember correctly, the towels in the bathroom were not all there the last time I took a shower. I hope Coco did not wash every single one of them at the same time.

With a towel in hand, I headed towards the bathroom, where the spring water was at. I couldn't help but cringe from the awful smell my hair was giving off. The stench was putrid since it dried up. The thought of clean water made me excited, it has been three long days since we went on a straight hellish march to come here.

My body was aching all over from the fight, making it difficult to move. It's been a while since my body hurt so much.

Phil stepped out of the bathroom, partially wet with only shorts and flip flops. He stopped and turned towards me with dangerous gleaming eyes.

What? Did I do something wrong? I stepped backward in fright and was stopped short by a wall.

His figure towered over me as he glanced down towards me. His hands reached over my shoulder above my head. He pinned me against the wall, making it difficult to move.

"Yes?" I squeaked.

Slowly, he began to lean closer. I froze like a deer staring at the oncoming car. This was exactly like those romance novels. What the hell am I thinking?

No, it can't be, right?