The Theater spiel began, Eleonora and Drak sat in their prime seats while the Maids worked hard on refreshments.

Eleonora’s Maids worked on an iced fruit drink with exotic fruits already being sent to the small tray beforehand. Even Ice was already brought in and was being carefully crushed without a noise being made by the Maids themselves.

Raja had it harder as on their side was albeit water, there were no utensils to heat the water up. Maybe it was out of spite of the other Maids or they did not care about Drak’s Maids being able to perform, either way Seria was already in the supporting role with holding the pot in her hands to use Magic to heat the water, while Raja started her dedicated ritual for the Tea.

Alice and Celia decorated a table with cookies and small tarts to be presentable. Celia pulled out of her bag the pieces of sweets to put them down to create her cookie art while Alice adjusted them on the table just a little bit, making the sweets look way fresher than before she was touching them.

It was just to cater to their respective Masters, but right now behind Eleonora and Drak without their knowing a silent battle was fought of who can cater better. If Outsiders would see it they would think it silly, but scary in how much dedication and willpower was thrown through the air.

—

“Fighting against a Dragon to become King of the lands it holds as its own is so fascinating!”

“You sure? Dragons normally live on Mountainous regions. While there might be minerals, most of the time the Mountains have dormant Magma veins, as Dragons love the heat from below.”

“Shush! It is a great endeavor to beat a Dragon and for the sole reason of Love, it shows dedication!”

“Yes, for Love some people would pluck stars from the sky or go to hell and back just to see their significant other smile.”

“So you do understand!”

“I am not an idiot, just thinking of where I would do more logical steps to court the Princess. The rivals Kingdom is rather bleak and liberating them from that King might be a good Idea.”

“He would be an usurper then.”

“In the eyes of the Dragon he is one now. Also that Rival is not treating his people well. He had it coming.”

“Sure, but it should be by the law and not by regicide. Otherwise it would be bad for the justification of keeping him in power.”

“We are talking about a Fantasy right now. A commoner who beat a Dragon to become King is already a bit over the top, don’t you think?”

“It shows the possibilities of working hard to achieve their goal.”

“But still letting that corrupt King run unimpeded does not sit well with me.”

“Well… you have a point. Oh! He finally is at the Entrance of the cave! Will he directly ask for a Duel or maybe give him a request for its land first?”

“He would be stupid to announce himself to a being with so much pow-”

* groan *

Drak could not believe the show. He knew tactics would be needed for an enemy stronger than the person himself, but drak just started to shut down his brain lest he lose some intellect on the silly reasoning of honor against a fire breathing multiton scaled beast with more smarts than most humans.

“Do you want to taste my fruit juice? My Maids use exceptionally good fruits and ice from the frozen tundra for it.”

Giving some of the Juice in a glass made out of crystal Drak tasted it. It was not only sweet but permeated through the whole body with an icy shiver.

“Extremely refreshing. The taste is also great, I believe some of the fruits must be rather rare, am I right?”

“You are, but they are also hard to process. My Maids needed to study hard to peel them without injuring the flesh as it would otherwise make the taste bitter.”

“I see, they are really good at their jobs.”

Standing proud the two Maids radiated victory while raja noted down the specific Fruits used and conjectures the specific mix of which part of Fruit Juice is needed for a perfect combination.

“Do you want a tart? Celia has studied baking in more than cookies since coming to School, as she noticed variety is needed in Noble circles.”

The small tart topped with radiant fruits was decorated like a smiling kid's face. It already had a rather playful and uplifting effect before even biting into it. As Eleonora bit into it she noticed the sweet and sourness of the fruits combine with the mellow of the tart itself giving her a feeling of the tastes taking their turn to dance on her tongue.

“This is really a great cake. Ah, I meant tart. Obviously the decoration and combination of the different ingredients was well thought of. It feels like I am not eating something sweet but pure joy instead.”

“Yes, sometimes I believe Celia has some Magic she does not tell me about. Her baking gets better by the day and I already gave up to gauge how far she might still rise in perfection.”

Behind Drak Celia started to grin like the sun is shining through herself. Also the other Maids were proud of being with Drak and stood straight. Meanwhile the two maids were vexed and tried to conjure the specific recipe and used fruits on the look and smell they could glimpse at from their position.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Drak and Eleonora did not even notice the rivalry behind their backs and enjoyed the refreshments while down on the Theater stage a boy was fighting against a rather realistic looking mockup of a dragon. If not for the strings, people might believe it to be one, albeit only for a small moment before realizing.

—

“Drak, can I ask you something?”

“What is it, Elly?”

“You remember the day we were shopping? I suddenly had a vision. I never had a vision right then and there. Why was that. I just touched you, didn’t I?”

“Ah, that… You see there is something that being in touch with me does to some people. Not all have this possibility for it, but it seems you are one of them.”

“What is it?”

“Touching me enhanced your ability for a bit. Being in touch with me heightens the Magic inside some people and sometimes even lets them transform into something completely different.”

“Is that so? But why are you telling me that so openly, isn’t that a rather precious secret? I just thought I broke through some kind of barrier that stops scrying and got all at once.”

“Well we have countermeasures against scrying, but those are still bad for now. Why did I tell you that is because I trust you, as you are a Friend of mine, aren’t you?”

Drak looked at Eleonora and she slightly blushed. She remembered, she opened up to Drak and now Drak opened up to her. It is true, they are friends and seeing how he really believes this, she was moved and thought it was right to be honest with him.

“Yes, we are friends. I hope our Friendship will stay even after the School, as you are really interesting. If people knew you better, they would see how nice and fun you are, those guys ignoring you don’t understand at all.”

“Thank you Elly. I really am glad, you see me as a friend. You are the first friend I have outside the people I rescued.”

“Um, can I ask you for something?”

“What do you want?”

“Can I… Can I touch you and see how it improves my abilities? Maybe I can become someone the Empire can be proud of.”

“You can, but… No, it is fine. To explain, this only makes a temporary boost, so better not thinking you can get stronger without working hard and sacrifices.”

“Understood, I just want to really know about it. The last Visions were so strange I was rather perplexed. But with you here and me knowing about it, this time should be… Easier to fathom.”

“Just be careful, wielding stronger powers can be strenuous and sometimes have drawbacks.”

Slowly pulling off her long glove she was a bit hesitant. This would mean she had to hold hands with Drak and while she looked forward to seeing what would happen, she knew it was the hand of Drak and they were right now on something you can call a ‘date’. Now even touching might be seen as intimacy, where she just did it out of reflex the other day. Her cheeks did not stop to have a pink hue, as she was preparing to lay her own hand onto Draks.

Behind Drak the four Maids now looked at Eleonora with a look of rivalry and were not quite keen on seeing her holding their Master’s Hand. Celia even pouted and would jump right between those two if Seria were not holding her shoulder to keep her cool.

With a last breath Eleonora let her hand sink onto the back of Drak’s which was rather warm and a bit rough before she noticed everything going dark.

—

Dreams were always fickle things, being what they are, while visionary dreams are even more strange. Still what Eleonora saw in front of her made her feel like a deja vu.

Maybe her mind could not come up with a better analogy, maybe she was influenced by Drak’s Magic or maybe this is the only way to show their forms for her to understand.

Eleonora sat in her golden cage again. Seeing outside a slumbering mountain range of a Behemoth being surrounded by so many different and colorful birds. Some sang, some landed on the mountain like horns and groomed them by removing dirt, some scoured the grassy fields for scorpions and other dangerous beings and eliminated them but most of them (the most weak looking ones) surrounded the behemoths foot and lived a happy life like they were in some kind of shelter.

“Eight legs… Does he have eight hideouts to keep people safe?”

Noticing Eleonora the Behemoth opened halfheartedly one of his eyes and looked into her direction. More lazily as hostile, more like a warm greeting before closing his one eye again to sleep in the warm sunlight.

“No hostility like last time. More like… acceptance of me. He accepted me in his domain and made no moves to even hide anything. Rather trusting isn’t he?”

Seeing his warm demeanor she noticed the birds scouring and grooming the Mountain. Often their eyes land on her and watch her carefully.

“The birds on the other hand see me vigilantly. They seem to want to keep him safe, but if he is so powerful… No, I see it wrongly, they want to keep his peace. If someone knew about him they would harass him incessantly, and who knows how far it would escalate.”

While sitting in her golden cage she was a bit bored. Yes, she wanted to see a vision, but she was restrained and could not see anything else. It was as if something was heavily restraining her from seeing all of it.

Looking around she finally saw something glittering outside the cage. Not quite close but reachable, if she stretches her arm far out to grab it. It had a red hue and some glow to it, but as it was hidden in the grass she could not quite see it.

“Is this my tool to further my Vision? But those always lie closer, why is it so far away?”

Reaching out she could barely touch it, and the touch of the golden bars made her really uncomfortable for some reason. In her hand was finally a red ring, being like it was made for her. This red ring had a beautiful sheen to it where she can see the reflection of herself in it, but must be a bit less elaborate as she first thought as she could swear the golden bars in the reflection of the sheen were somewhat moving while looking at them with her own eyes, they were pristine and engraved with words of valor like always.

“A ring, and it looks like one of the ones the birds all have on their feet like an owner tag. Does the Vision want me to sacrifice myself to the Behemoth? I am ready for it, but that does not feel like it, rather it feels like I… I would betray something if I would really put it on my finger.”

She was pondering and somehow unsure what to do. Her feeling said she could trust the Ring and should put it on, but for some reason she heard a hissing like a voice in her mind telling her to uphold her integrity and honor as an imperial Princess.

“Isn’t my role being with the Behemoth? Why is it different if I have this Ring or not? What is the meaning of this? It feels like I am not allowed to use it but to just keep my distance and not even question me being in the cage. Last time the eyes were disappointed with me agreeing to the Cage. Is there something wrong with my thinking, maybe?”

While the hissing in her mind was getting louder and she got a headache she made her final decision and put the ring on one of her fingers, unaware how she put it subconsciously on the left ring finger, being watched by four rather envious looking mighty birds.

The sudden change was imminent, her clothes transformed into platinum blond feathers, her form was getting into an elegant swan-like shape and she was growing… a beak.

“I transform into one of the birds?!”

Shocked with her sudden transformation she was shocked for a second before noticing another change. Her Vision of the world also changed and she saw the Cage in a totally different form as it was earlier. Those bars of gold beautifully encasing her like a precious thing were now golden snakes entangled with each other and looking at her like their next meal.