There was a small ceremony for Bel’s and Alexia’s knighting followed by an announcement for it including them being assigned as my personal knights. It took most of the remaining school year to get enough of my special magic metal. I decided to call it Aterium because of its black colouring. I tried making a rapier for Bel only using Aterium but it turned out to work worse for her than when I was using an Adamantite core. When I tested it out myself I didn’t have the same issue so I theorised that since the magic metal absorbed my mana it’s attuned to my mana specifically. It’s still usable as a blade for other people but they can’t get any increases in magic strength. It’s a shame really because for me personally it’s essentially a better version of Adamantite. I don’t think I’m quite ready to craft a scythe for myself out of it but I have enough material by now and until I’m confident I’m using one the blacksmith who taught me made. I also learned that after the interrogation of the prisoners we took back from the village that the soldiers were indeed from a neighbouring country. The Stovaria Empire to be precise.
We have a fragile peace with them, mostly because we have a stronger military force. In the Empire commoners have little to no rights and they care way too much about one's Talent. It’s kinda ironic because our military is stronger than theirs because commoners have similar rights to nobles and the commoners with powerful Talents get discovered easily and nurtured. Since the Stovaria Empire doesn’t care much about commoners they also have a lot of them fleeing to us once they realise their child has a ‘weak’ Talent in order to avoid the horrible treatment. This is another reason the Empire dislikes us but things got a lot worse when grandma became the queen. We thought Emelia taking over might improve things since her Negotiation Talent is quite rare but it seems we were wrong. I’m currently in the strategy room with mom, grandma, Emelia, a few advisors and of course Bel and Alexia. We are planning for upcoming diplomatic talks with the Stovaria Empire.
The main problem we are facing is that we can’t send Emelia because she is pregnant, mom is too big of a liability, sending grandma is risky and having too many guards accompany her would just make them look down on us even more, so the only real option is to send me since I could handle myself in an emergency and since Bel and Alexia are strong enough they would be enough as escorts.
The advisors aren’t really fond of sending three 18 year olds on what could be a dangerous mission thus discussions are still ongoing 3 days later.
“Your Majesty, you can’t be serious about sending your niece into enemy territory, they already tried to kidnap her once! This is too dangerous!”
“Did you forget she and her friends already took down an elite group from there? They can handle themselves.”
“That was a surprise attack, fighting a real battle, especially at a disadvantage, is a completely different story!”
This back and forth was more or less all everyone talked about the past 3 days but mom speaks up for the first time.
“Enough of this! Lucina, how long do you think you need to finish your weapon?”
“I’m pretty confident in my blacksmithing now so I think I should be able to finish it within about a week.”
Everyone but Bel and Alexia stare at us while we have our conversation and grandma is the first to ask, “Eliza, Lucina, care to tell us what you mean by that?”
Mom looks at me and I give her a nod, “As you might know Lucina made a new magic metal that specifically increases her strength. She found her compatible weapon during the village incident and she finally has enough of that metal to craft a weapon made completely out of that metal.”
“Your highness Eliza, we understand that having a compatible weapon can make quite a difference but I don’t think that will be enough.”
They do have a point, except something like that doesn’t apply to me since not having a compatible weapon or a weapon that can actually withstand my full power has been holding me back significantly.
Mom takes something out from her backpack and places it on the table. “After she found out what her compatible weapon is I asked her to have a duel with me to confirm. This is the armour I wore during that duel, which she won in a single move.” They look at the dented armour with wide eyes. I’m still a bit surprised mom didn’t get injured with how dented the armour is. “So unless you think someone who is stronger than me is too weak to take care of herself I say this discussion is over. Also just so this is clear, her compatible weapon is a scythe and the one she used in the duel wasn’t meant to be used in a battle, unlike what she is about to create herself.”
The whole room goes silent until Emelia speaks up, “Well, I was already in favour of sending her and I take it there are no further objections?”
No one answers.
“Good, then let's start preparations to depart in 2 weeks.” She looks at me, “You said it’s going to take you about a week but it’s better to take your time than risk making a mistake. We trust you to make the right decisions as our representative but don’t forget our priority is to not start a war.”
One of the advisors mumbles, “If they didn’t force commoners to fight we could have overthrown them a long time ago.”
Emelia shoots him a death glare but grandma just adds, “We also can’t just attack them unprovoked because that would make us the bad guys no matter our intentions.” Grandma then looks at me, “But remember, you are there as the first princess of the Gairyn Kingdom so don’t let them push you around. We hope we can resolve this peacefully but we trust your judgement if that isn’t possible.”
“Your Majesty, we can’t go to war over something like this!”
“I disagree. They attempted to kidnap the princess and if we take this lightly they might get cocky. We need to set an example and show there are consequences.”
And with that the discussions came to a close and everyone started preparing.
Emelia was right in giving me more time to finish my scythe because it took me 2 days longer than expected. I could have finished it within the 7 days I initially said but I added a few modifications to it like it being able to fold into itself making it easy to carry around. It requires mana to activate so nobody but me is able to use it and I added a spell that lets me teleport it back into my hands. I used the remainder of the days to prepare things I might be able to use either during the trip or once we are in the Stovaria Empire.
And like that the day of our departure arrived. While I understand why my carriage is extravagant I still feel embarrassed as I enter it. Bel and Alexia are on horses together with the rest of the soldiers accompanying me. They all wear shining red armour with a phoenix symbol on it, the symbol of the newly created knight order Ales Lux who serves under me and is led by Bel as the captain and Alexia as the vice captain. It’s really embarrassing that they use the symbol I used because I thought it looks cool as the official coat of arms for the knight order. They did say they chose that because they think it’s fitting and not because of that but I don’t know if I should believe that.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Because we travel with carriage and horses, and the knights insisting we stay at an inn for the night, it takes us a bit to arrive at the border.
I grumble, “We could have been here a day early if we camped out instead of staying at inns.”
“Your highness, this is an official diplomatic trip, it would be unbecoming of the princess to camp out in the wilderness.”
I let out a sigh, “I can understand doing that in the Empire but no one would know while we are in the kingdom.”
“You never know who is watching so it’s better to be on the safe side.”
One of the border guards comes over to where me and Bel are talking. “Your highness, you are cleared to pass. We also prepared an escort for the rest of the way.”
“Let’s go then.”
It didn’t take us as long for the second part of our journey, according to Bel our escort wanted us to camp out instead of staying at an inn but they reconsidered their decision quickly after Bel threatened them with us turning back because of the inhospitality. We finally arrived at the Empire’s capital and they made a big deal out of our arrival but when I looked outside the carriage window the state of the people was very disappointing. Most of them looked afraid to the point of hiding their children.
“Welcome your highness, I hope you had a pleasant journey.” An official looking man approaches me, I think it’s one of the ministers.
“Quite. It took me a bit by surprise that the escort you provided wanted me to camp out instead of providing an inn though.”
He looks surprised by my words but I’m not sure if it’s because he didn’t order them to do so or because I called him out on it.
“I’m terribly sorry you had to go through that, your highness, I will personally see to it so you rest in only the best inns on your way back.”
“You have my thanks. The journey has been long. Could you please show me to the room that is provided to me and my guards?”
“Of course, please follow me.” He leads us through the castle towards a more isolated part and stops in front of a room. “This is your room while you stay here, your highness. Please tell me if there is anything that isn’t to your liking.”
I enter the room and look around. It’s a lot smaller than the one I had at the academy, only having a bed, a couch and coffee table, a desk with an uncomfortable looking chair and barred windows. To be honest it looks more like a fancy prison cell than a room for a visiting princess but that might be to my advantage.
“And the room for my guards?”
“We prepared the room next to this one for your guards.”
“Thank you for your consideration. If you don’t mind, I would like to rest for a bit. The journey was very tiring.”
“Of course, your highness. Please rest well.”
The man leaves and before returning to my room I turn to Bel and Alexia, “Please make sure no one disturbs me for the next 2 hours.”
Bel shoots me a suspicious look before answering, “Of course, your highness.”
I close and lock the door behind me and then grab a cloak out of my backpack. It’s one of the magic tools I made in preparation for coming here. It holds a special magic that changes my appearance using illusion magic. I tested it on Bel so I know it works. I put on the cloak and grab my scythe that is folded down to about the length of an arm and teleport into a dark sidestreet a saw on the way to the castle from the carriage. I learned how to teleport soon after the incident at the village. I can’t take anyone else with me but it’s perfect for sneaking out. It’s my first time in a different country and I want to explore at least the capital without everyone recognizing me and treating me differently because of it.
I walk around for a bit and the further away from the castle I get the more run down everything looks. How can things be this bad in the capital? I don’t even want to imagine what the situation looks like in more rural regions. The further I go the less adults seem to be around as well. There aren’t many people here to begin with but it feels like there aren’t enough adults around for how many children there are. I approach an older man on the side of the street. “Excuse me, where are all the adults?”
He looks me over for a moment. “You must be living under a rock to ask such a dumb question. We are preparing for war. They say they are going to capture the princess that’s visiting and hold her hostage. Everyone they consider expendable is being drafted without any consideration for their situation.”
Figures. I thank the man for the information and hand him some money and while he is distracted by it I teleport back into my room in the castle. As soon as I arrive I go to the door and open it. Alexia and someone else from the knight order is outside guarding.
“Alexia, I need to talk with you and Bel.”
She gives me a nod and walks over to the room assigned to my guards and a short moment later returns with Bel and another guard. She turns to the guards, “Don’t let anyone enter until we are back.”
They both nod and take position on each side of the door and we go back into my room. Bel rubs her eyes, “What did you call us here for Lucina?”
“I may or may not have sneaked out and found out that the empire is preparing for war and are planning to keep me as a hostage.”
“Well that’s stupid.” Alexia shoots a death glare at Bel who still looks half asleep and then turns back to me with a scary smile, “Care to explain how you ‘may or may not’ have sneaked out? We were standing guard ever since you entered and no one left or entered this room and the windows are barred so that isn’t really an option either.”
“It’s a secret, also I have a plan and I need you to increase the guarding of my room. Don’t let anyone enter while I tell you. If they ask, give them an excuse like I’m making a magic tool and can’t be disturbed or something. You are allowed to use force if necessary.”
““Understood””