//Okay. Let's begin the real novel then shall we. I'll do my best to bring quality. I hope you all enjoy.

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Shwoom. Shwoom. Shwoom.

Loud humming sounds pierced through the silence in periodic intervals, filling the ears of a lethargic Annabelle as she was forced to open her eyes. Turning over in her sleep, she reached out her arm and slapped at the levitating crystal responsible for the irritating noises interrupting her sleep. However, instead of turning it off as she intended, a small ding resonated through the area followed by a much quieter magical buzz.

"Lady Annabelle. Are you still slleeping? I must insist you rise from your bed. I have important matters for you to look over."

The young girl groaned, not bothering to move so much as an inch. "Five more minutes Lotis. Don't you know a woman needs her beauty sleep?"

"You've been sleeping for twelve hours my lady. You're a royal. Not a hibernating bear. If you please, we have much work to attend to. There was an incident in the RockLer Alliance, more specifically in Castle Oklaind. I think you'll want to take an interest in it."

Princess Annabelle Hresgeld let out a small huff of pure annoyance and discontent as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, dangling her legs over the side of her bed. Blue eyes furrowed as she glanced towards the full length mirror situated some ways in front of her, fixed to the wall next to the chamber doors. Even from here, she could see how much of a mess she was, with poofy blonde hair that had seen better days and drool caked to the side of her mouth. A part of her immediately wanted to plop back down and bury herself in the covers.

"Castle Oklaind? Run by the noble Earl Oklaind, correct?" Annabelle touched the bridge of her nose, trying to gather her thoughts. "That territory belongs to the nobles and the Alliance. Let them handle it."

"With all due respect my Lady, Oklaind expired some time last night." Lotis' voice seemed to increase in volume. "Normally, this wouldn't be a matter that requires your presence. However, I strongly believe you should be there."

"Nonsense. Such matters don't require the-"

"Reports say that your sister was there."

Annabelle halted in her tracks, words getting caught in her throat. Images of the past flashed through her mind. A young man with a brilliant smile lying dead with a spear through the chest, blood flowing from his corpse. A girl with brilliant red hair wielding a crimson longsword. A crying and broken individual covered in the blood of the one he called a friend. The incident from those years ago came raging back to life, as if they had never left in the first place. Without another word of complaint, Annabelle rose from her bed, annoyance now replaced with determination and purpose.

"I want all the information you've gathered thus far and have it sent to my Crystal." Annabelle quickly moved to her closet, picking out her battle outfit, along with her rapier. "Get ahold of Micelle and Ariont. I want their division saddled up and ready to ride out the moment I give the word. Any stragglers will be made to clean the War Horse stables for the next two weeks."

"Of course My Lady. I shall see to the arrangements."

The humming came to a complete stop, the Crystal Call coming to an end, leaving a changing Annabelle completely alone.

"I'll find you Itobake Granz. You'll pay for everything." The princess fastened her riding boots tightly. "This I swear."

Grabbing her weapon, Annabelle made one last checkup in the mirror. After ensuring she had everything, she hastily exited her room.

The Kingdom of Litezo wasn't particularly far from the RockLer Alliance, but they weren't exactly close to them either. From Capital to Capital, it would take about a months journey on even the fastest War Horse. From the edges of Litezo to RockLer, it was quite a bit longer than a few hours.

This disparity in distance was both a hindrance and beneficial to both parties, possessing its pros and cons like all things in life tended to do.

A good separation between the nations ensured that the other couldn't be easily attacked by the opposing side, a large scale army being near impossible to hide with the lengthy blot of mountains and forests in between. In times of war, the two powers often found themselves stagnated due the varying landscapes that existed, forcing them to either get creative or halt the ensuing skirmishes altogether. Due to this, Litezo and RockLer had a good relationship with each other and had even entered a treaty of their own to prevent future bloodshed, with the neighboring Frunctot Empire as its overseer.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

And then there was the downside, which was the same as its upside.

It was far.

The mountains, rivers, and forests made it difficult to cross on horseback and even longer to trek through on foot. If one wanted to get from one end to the other, it would take around three days if the group was kept extremely small.

That being said, there was another way to get there, a way only accessible to high ranking nobles and royalty.

A Teleportation Array.

This was the method that Annabelle and her Knights were going to take rather than waste the time and energy traversing the rugged landscape known as the Dragons Tail. Though getting to spot where the Array was positioned would take an hour or so on horseback, it was significantly less time than every other presented option.

After bidding farewell to her father and saddling up her own War Horse, the young princess made her way out to the front of Castle Hresgeld, where she was meant to meet up with the two Generals and their subordinates. Though they were Generals that belonged in her father's army, she often utilized them when they weren't on duty, mainly making them run errands or employing them as training partners. Micelle often complained and Ariont was far too serious but they were good men and she enjoyed being around them.

Though she never would admit such a thing to their faces.

A she approached the front of the Castle, she managed to spot Ariont's electric yellow hair near the front, a squad of six horse riders lined up perfectly behind him. Unsurprisingly, Micelle was nowhere in sight, though his subordinates, identifiable by their brown mole insignias, were in line and at the ready.

"Lady Annabelle. Good Afternoon. It's good to see you up and about." Ariont bowed slightly, or as best he could while on his horse. "I trust you are in good health?"

"As best as I can be, I suppose." Annabelle offered the man a small smile. "Where's your brother? Late as usual?"

"The last I saw him, he was flirting with one of the servants." The General gave a small shake of his head. "Though I admittedly could have forced him here, I thought it best to let him clean the stables. The War Horses could use a good a scrubbing."

Annabelle stifled a laugh, manuerving her horse to stand in between Ariont and where Micelle was meant to stand. "Oh. What a sight. The same man who spends every day attending to his looks, covered in mud and horse excrement."

"Truly. A nightmare."

The sound of hooves against pavement filled the air as a man rode into view. He looked almost identical to Ariont in every single way, apart from one key difference. Instead of the bright coloration of Arionts bushy locks, the new arrival sported a carefully styled head of fluffy brown hair. Clean, neat, organized, and wildly attractive to most women within Litezo Kingdom, Micelle was also the nation's number one womanizer and easily the laziest General in its history.

To this day, Annabelle questioned how the man still possessed a job, let alone the respect of the current king.

"Ah yes, the good-for-nothing approaches." Ariont watched as the brown haired General took up his position. "Well, at least he's alive."

"Just not on time," Annabelle added, though she didn't truly care. She had already been aware of the outcome long before arriving.

"Apologies my Lady." Micelle grinned. "There was an old lady crossing the palace-"

"So. Do you want to wash the stables or get sent to the edge to rout some Crestless?"

Micelled immediately fell silent.

"Anyways. For those of you not informed, there was an event that happened with Castle Oklaind. According to the reports gathered by Lotis, a number of intruders infiltrated the Castle via unknown means yet to be discovered and laid seige to it." Annabelle glanced from Micelle's group to Ariont's, turning her horse around to speak to them face to face. "The number of casualties was only reported to have been three dozen out of the two hundred Knights guarding it. It's likely it was an inside job. Be on your guard and keep a lookout. Question everyone and everything. Leave no stone unturned."

Turning back around, the princess flicked the reins to her War Horse, tapping it on its side with her heel. "We ride for the Array!!"

Without hesitation, each horse quickly followed her lead, falling in line behind Micelle and Ariont as they rapidly caught up with the speeding princess.

"I know it's a bit late to ask, but why are we headed to Castle Oklaind?" Ariont raised his voice a tad in order to be heard above the rushing wind. "Isn't that beyond the Kingdoms borders?"

"Alice is still alive," Annabelle replied. "She was sighted there."

From there, neither of the twins bothered to say anything, merely giving each other a glance as they dashed forward, War Horses speeding past the varying trees and shrubbery.

It took them three hours. Three hours to reach the Array and then take the Array all the way to Castle Oklaind. Even with teleportation, they still needed to travel past the realm of two other nobles in order to reach Earl's own comparatively small spit of land.

Had she not brought the added additions of the Generals and their men, Annabelle probably would've arrive much sooner, having slowed down substantially during the trip. However, the matter wasn't something she could do on her own not to mention that she absolutely needed the assistance of Micelle's Crest Ability. As much as she had wished for an earlier arrival, she had managed to bite her tongue for the entire trip and bare through the sluggish pace.

"So, this is Castle Oklaind. Haven't seen it in years." Micelle glanced over the towering grey walls, of which now appeared to be burnt in multiple places and even destroyed in others. "It certainly has seen better days. Place really took a beating."

"Agreed. It must've taken a small army to deal damage to such a large group of guards and Knights." Ariont slipped off his horse as the group moved unto the front entrances drawbridge.

"It was only seven of them actually."

The group of Knights slowly stopped where they were as an older looking gentleman clad lightly in blue armor made his way forward. He looked to be in his mid fifties with graying blue hair and light blue eyes, smile lines fixed permanently to his cheeks. Strapped to his sides were a pair of weirdly shaped daggers. Even sheathed, one could seen the faint glow of magic emanating from the very blades.

"Sir Erigol. My teacher. It's an honor." Annabelle slipped off of her horse, handing the reins over to one of Micelle's subordinates.

"No, my Lady Annabelle. The pleasure is mine." Erigol smiled warmly, giving the princess and the Generals a bow, of which they all readily replied to in kind. "How you've grown. It's truly a blessing to see you alive and well. I wish we could have met under better circumstances."

"I as well." The young princess placed a hand over the elders shoulder. "Now. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Why isn't Sir Manigol here to welcome us?" Micelle questioned as he walked up, taking a spot beside Annabelle. "Coulda sworn that guy was still stationed here. He still owes me 50 Deracle."

At the mention of Manigol, Erigol's smile slowly faded, replaced by a somber look. It was hard to mistake the look for anything else as everyone lowered their heads one by one.

"Tch." Micelle grimaced, turning his head away. "Damn."

"There are a number of those among the dead. However, for the most part, everyone seems to be unharmed apart from some broken bones and sprouting concussions." The old man immediately tried to shift the tone into a more happy note, turning around towards the Castle. "If you'll all follow me. I'll show you around the area."

"Actually, that's alright." Annabelle immediately shook her head. "I have other plans for the ones I brought with me. Micelle."

"My Lady?" The man in questioned stepped forward.

"I want you to scout around the area, analyze tracks and find out which way the intruders went. Send your men to work with your brother. Ariont, I want all of the Knights to start questioning every guard present. Get as many details as you can." Annabelle didn't even hesitate, leaving no room for questions. "I'll do my part and survey the area. Should all go well, we'll have our intruders in the deepest part of the Kingdoms dungeon tomorrow morning."