We turn down a small road and pass the busy storefronts and stalls. Within a few minutes we stop in front of a nice house with a large yard and a small stable. John dismounts and leads his horse into a stall. We unhitch the wagon and put our two horses next to John’s, the wagon is parked next to the stables. Rena whispers to her horse and it goes into a stall without her doing anything. John appears to get paler by the second but still refuses to admit that anything is wrong. A sudden cry comes drifts from the house.
“John… where have you been?” A woman’s voice said angrily
“Liz… It was a secret mission… I couldn’t tell you…” John said turning white as a sheet
Out of the house steps a very angry woman. She is a tall, fiery red haired, woman with glasses, she can’t be older than 25. She has a rather thin figure but she is quite attractive so I guess John must be doing something right.
“Oh… I see if it’s a secret you don’t have to tell your wife before you leave for a few months.” Liz said angrily
“Now, dear I am sorry but it was for work!” John said looking for an escape.
“Oh, warmth of the fire, burn bright! Fireball” Liz chanted
A large fireball appeared in the air and was flung at John. John tried to run and dove into the horse’s water trough. Soon after the fireball sizzled out as it struck the surface of the water trough. This heated up the water to such a degree that John was forced to jump out of his safe haven. Fast as a lighting strike Liz ran over and pinned him to the ground.
“Do you know how worried I was? Kira told me you went to get new recruits for your Guard but she didn’t even know where you went.” Liz said while pummeling John’s chest with her small fists.
“Sorry…”
“Jerk, Idiot don’t make me worry so much.” Liz said as she started crying
“I’m home, Liz.” John said pulling Liz to his chest
Rena and I gawked at the two laying on the ground. Tom, Elena and Kaya treated the situation as if it was a normal occurrence and had been waiting patiently for the two to stop fighting. After a few crying kisses Liz released her grip on John and stood up drying her eyes.
“I’m still mad at you…” Liz said stubbornly
“Hey, Liz what’s it been 8 years huh?” Tom said
“Tom, how have you been?” Liz said as she walks over and embraces Tom.
“Good, you remember Kaya right?”
“Of course, you’re as beautiful as ever sister!” Liz said releasing Tom and hugging Kaya.
“You’re just as beautiful you haven’t aged a day.” Kaya said as she receives several quick kisses to her cheeks.
“Mother, it’s good to see you as well.” Liz said bowing slightly.
“Where’s my hug?” Elena teased and was immediately hugged.
“And who are these two?” Liz said looking at Rena and me
Before I could speak up Tom interjected with a big smile on his face.
“Of course, that’s our son Aero, your nephew!” Tom said
“And this young girl is one of his future wives!” Kaya said laughing
“I’m Aero and this is Rena please ignore those two idiot over there. We don’t have that sort of relationship. It’s nice to finally meet you Aunt Liz. ” I said politely
“Yet…” The three idiots said together
Without thinking I dropped three large water ball on them. Liz looks extremely surprised but then starts laughing at the soaked figures of Tom, Kaya and Elena. She comes over to me and smiles.
“You’re quite something then. It’s nice to meet you finally nephew.” Liz said pulling me into a hug and reaching for Rena
“Don’t be so shy come over here too, Rena.”
Liz smells like fresh bread, it’s a good smell for an aunt. She releases Rena and me and smiles brightly.
“I bet you two are hungry from your journey. Let’s see what we can find while they unload the wagon.” Liz said happily
I looked at Tom who waved us off. Liz pulls us both inside and takes us directly to the pantry. Out of a cupboard she pulls out a small box and opens it. Inside are what appears to be candy and a sweet scent wafts from them. They are very colorful and shaped like trees or animals. It seems like something that Fi would really like. At the sight of them Rena’s tail perks up and a toothy smile appears.
“Can… we really have one?” Rena said looking at Liz with huge eyes
“Of course, but just one or it will ruin dinner. Speaking of, I need to get more food from the pantry. Go on and eat one.” Liz urged
Rena quickly popped one in her mouth with a look of sheer bliss on her face. I reach down and grab on as well and place it in my mouth. As I had expected it was something like the hard candy that my great grandmother always had around. After a few seconds the flavor changes to an apple and then to a few other fruits. I take it out of my mouth and notice that it has changed colors as well as shape. It’s a pretty cool piece of candy.
The others file in still pretty wet so I quickly dry them with warm air. Kaya goes off to help Liz with dinner and the rest of us sit at a large table. As always Rena plops into the seat next to be, with a look of bliss on her face as she finishes her candy. When she finished a look of regret crossed her face and stayed until I started scratching behind her ears. Kaya and Liz brought out a few plates of meat and a lot of bread and sat down next to their respective husbands.
“John, so why is everyone in our family here?” Liz asked as we started to eat.
“Honey, the secret mission was to get some strong assistance for the guard as well as a few playmates for the princess. I thought why not keep this in the family, people we can really trust.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“And we came.” Tom said with a mouthful of bread.
“Tom said that Aero was plenty strong enough to be of use so they all came along. Oh and they are going to be staying with us until we find them a more permanent solution.”
As John explained the situation I could see Liz getting angrier and angrier.
“Sweet husband, are you telling me that you and the king are using our family for guards?”
“Yes, but Liz at least I didn’t gamble away my paycheck this month.” John said while looking for an escape route.
“So, you’re going to gamble with your nephew’s life?” Liz said as she slapped John
“Now, Calm down Liz. We all decided that we would help out.” Tom said trying to calm her down.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I’m pregnant!” Kaya said obliviously.
“Really! Congratulations… You three are so irresponsible! Not only are you dragging two children into this but also one that hasn’t been born. Why didn’t you stop them, Mother?”
“It seemed more interesting but at least this way we will all be together with whatever happens.” Elena laughed
“Fine, do whatever. I’ll clean up after you all as always.” Liz said dejectedly
“It’s alright, Miss Liz, Aero and I are really strong!” Rena said proudly
“Oh, I’m sure.” Liz said as she ruffles both of our hair.
“No, seriously, Aero can use chant less magic. Rena over there is the successor to the Night-style.” John said nursing his cheek
“Dear, if you’re going to lie at least say something believable.” Liz said in disbelief.
“No, it’s really true, Aero show her.” Tom said proudly
I sighed as I summoned a small bird. I ordered it to fly around and land on my shoulder. Liz practically fell out of her chair with surprise.
“See, that is a normal reaction when you use magic without chanting.” Rena said trying to stifle her laughter.
“Anything else, Master?” The tiny bird asked
“That will be all, thank you.”
“Then, I’ll be off.”
And with a puff of smoke the bird vanishes.
“Wow, you really can use chant less magic. The only person that I have ever seen do that was the Master of the magic college but he died when I was younger. But how did you learn it?” Liz asked
“I think that those chants are sort of embarrassing and I just focused on the image of what I want and feed magic into it.” I explained.
“I see, well anyway you don’t have experience fighting with magic yet so are you sure you want to dive into this whole situation?”
“I have experience and I gave my word. I also sort of feel bad for the princess since that anyone who gets near her has their own benefit at heart.”
“It will take her a while to warm up to you two. She’s pretty stubborn and well, uncontrollable.” Liz tried to explain
“It will be fine, I don’t know how she won’t like Aero. After all he is great at petting your fur, so one pet and you’re his forever.” Rena said happily
“I don’t think that will work on her…” I said
“Why not?”
“Well, never mind…”
After dinner we all head upstairs and fall into a bed exhausted from our long journey. Rena quickly snuck into my bed and snuggled up to me.
“So, tomorrow we meet our princess. I hope we can get along with her.” Rena said in my ear
“You and me both. I don’t know what she’ll be like but it can’t be too bad. She’ll be sure to like you but as for myself I don’t know.” I said turning to face Rena.
“In my travels I heard about the princess… Apparently, she doesn’t pay attention in lessons and she doesn’t do anything except fight with swords all day.”
“That’s it?”
“No, she’s a bloodthirsty person who attacks random tutors and refuses to learn anything other than sword skills. She’s around nine years old but she still can’t read or write very well. A few tutors even gave up trying to teach her because she beat them so badly.” Rena said seriously
“Really, she sounds really strong headed but she beat her teachers?” I said in disbelief
“That’s not all, she has teeth like this and her muscles are huge so she can’t wear dresses.” Rena said laughing
“So, you actually have no idea what she’s like then?” I sighed
“Nope, I’m just going on rumor. Liz is one of her tutors right?”
“I think so, at least that’s what John said.”
“Then she’s probably not that bad and if she is I’m sure you’ll think of a way to become her friend. I’m rather hard to befriend but you did it really quickly.”
“But all I did was pet you?”
“But it is amazing that anyone would just start doing it.” Rena blushed
“Sorry, will you be alright though, making friends with the princess?”
“Hmm… probably.” Rena yawned
After a few minutes of listening to Rena’s deep breaths I too slowly drift off to sleep.
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AN: Hey It's the end of the second arc!
I am officially starting the once a week or twice a week chapter update.
I have a side chapter that I wrote for fun that will be Chapter 23.5 or I'll just use the title I came up with for it.
Also I have a side novel 'The World Changed' It's not a full project yet but I'll be switching between them if I get tired of writing one. I don't know if the link below will work.
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/5576
Also thanks for reading so far! I let out 24 chapters in one day!!!
(Don't expect that ever again I'll die!)