Our eyes will be closed forevermore.

Our eternal sacrifice for being the chosen few.

From the darkness, we will perceive the world unseen.

Peering through the fabric of the countless planes and endless realities is our calling.

The amalgamation of the senses is our way.

Praise be to Paximillon, Lord of all existence, for this most exalted gift bestowed to his lowly followers

All glory and honor be to His most revered name.

Scryers’ Creed

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Aileen grumbled a bit and pulled her sheets over her head.

“Hey! I said I’m knocking!”

“Go away Jel! I still want to sleep!” She threw one of her pillows at the door.

Jel forcefully opened the door and came in. The lock instantly gave way to her immense strength. “I’m coming in!”

Aileen slowly sat up on her bed and rubbed her pale face. She saw Jel and Felixia stomping around her room, pulling the curtains and letting the sun inside. Both of them were still wearing their nightgowns. Did they rush straight to her room after they woke up? “I never said that you can enter. And you broke my door.”

“Good morning to you too. I’ll have someone fix the door,” Jel said. “I didn’t notice that it was locked when I opened the door. Sorry about that.”

Aileen just grunted, even if she placed enchantments on her door, Jel would still open it anyway. She brushed her wavy reddish-brown hair away from her face. Her nightgown has fallen off her left shoulder, which she adjusted before standing up.

“You look so harmless and innocent if you have just woken up!” Felixia jumped on Aileen and hugged her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She means that you still have not fully activated your psycho self since it’s still early in the morning,” Jel said. “You do look harmless. Even I rarely see you without any armor on. Oh, wait. Even if you have armor on you still look a bit harmless…but you’re really not.”

“I haven’t seen Aileen without her armor before,” Felixia said. “I can’t believe how slender she is! Aileen, you should just wear a dress if you’re not on duty so that you will look like a proper lady.”

Aileen glared at Felixia.

Jel laughed and then winked at Felixia. “She wears armor all the time to hide her delicate frame. That’s also the reason why she wants to be a warrior rather than a mage because she gets to wear that huge Powercore Armor of our family.”

She just pursed her lips in response while Felixia laughed her head off. “Ai, you’re more suited as a mage.”

“Her ultimate goal is to be a Devastator Knight, so that she can just hide inside the armor and no one will see her real body. No matter what she does she really can’t get buffed. Why do you want a large body anyway? To look tough? You’re plenty tough already.”

“Aw, why would you want that?” Felixia pouted. “You’re really pretty if you’re like this! So gentle and tantalizing, I’m sure many men would court you if you just wear a dress.”

Jel sniggered. “She will kill anyone who tries to court her.”

“All right, you guys had your fun. Please go out of my room now.”

“Hey! How about her boyfriend? He’s strong!” Felixia hugged Aileen even more. “You’re just so cute. You guys should go out on a date and you will wear a dress!”

“Let go, Felixia, or I’ll throw you out the window.” Aileen walked towards the window while Felixia was still latched on to her. “Oh wow. That’s a lot more people than we normally get.” Aileen saw the plaza in front of the outer temple overflowing with people.

Normally the lines for the pilgrims that want to go to the display of the claw chip of Emperor Krystfallen were just confined to the gate outside the courtyard. Today, several thousands of people formed incoherent lines everywhere. The city guards have already been dispatched to maintain order. All of the white golems of the temple were dispatched to scan the massive crowds for potential danger.

“It’s because of the miracle!”

“Felixia, don’t scream in my ear.”

Jel stood beside Aileen and whistled. “Yep, it’s a lot of people. The story about the miracle spread quickly.”

“Did a miracle really happen?”

“Dunno, I wasn’t there,” Jel said.”Darl said that when he saw the claw chip, it was giving off sparks.”

“Is he sure about that? I mean it could just be the shields reacting to the material of the claw chip?” Aileen then pried off Felixia’s arms and pinched her cheek. “You’re the one who should know how to be a proper lady,” Aileen said to her.

Jel frowned a bit then said, “That’s what Darl saw. It’s the church’s job to verify the miracle. I don’t want to go into the courtyard anyway, it’s packed with people. I pity the ones assigned there today. The priests are also going insane!”

“Eh, it’s probably just the claw chip giving off some dormant leftover energy. That thing is technically a magical item.” Aileen picked a comb from her drawer and combed her hair. “So what are you guys doing here?”

“We’re going to the opening ceremony of the fights in the main arena! The participants who have qualified will be there.”

“Your boyfriend included.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. And I know that we’re supposed to go there since the princess is going to open it but why are you here this early?”

“We’re just making sure that you wear a dress,” Jel said. “The princess is going to be there plus a few people from other martial noble families. Just wear a dress, please! It’s going to be weird if you go there wearing armor.”

“Who’s going to represent our family? This is quite an important event so I doubt it’s going to be just us. My father will arrive on the day of the coming of age ceremony itself. Are any of the geezers here?”

“Hey, you’re changing the topic!”

Jel patted Felixia’s frizzy head. “Uncle Matteo’s going to represent the Fahllyrs. I’m sure there’s going to be a bit of an excitement when the nobles and the officials know that the holder of Delphine’s left eye is attending a public event.”

“Oh, he’s here? That’s quite rare. I haven’t seen him around yet.”

“Well he’s always in his room at the top of that tall tower at the back of the temple,” Jel said. “And going back to the topic of wearing a dress; I’m not saying that you should wear an extravagant gown. It’s fine even if you wear a simple dress.”

Aileen sighed and shrugged her thin shoulders. “I’ll wear a dress. Father will get angry if I don’t dress properly for social events. You guys don’t need to worry about that. I’m not going to be happy about it but I don’t want father to be angry.”

Felixia shot her hand to the air. “Is your father the strongest in the kingdom?”

“If it’s single combat with no equipment then, yes, he is. However, one does not go into battle naked, so if with full equipment, he’s number three in strength.”

Jel asked, “Third? I thought that he was second.”

Aileen sat on her bed after combing her hair. “The matriarch beastmaster of the martial noble house Domino is second in strength. All of her beasts fully equipped, plus herself. Yep, that’s a cartload of high-end equipment but they can afford it. She has like four S beasts and there’s a rumor that she’s hiding a double S monster. She’s definitely stronger than my father if all of those things are taken into consideration. Just by going with the number of equipment she can field…”

“Wow!” Felixia’s eyes went wide in amazement. “She has many powerful beasts but still only second in strength?”

“The first one is obviously the leader of the Devastator Knights,” Jel said. “Although, I only heard rumors about him from the elders on the rare occasions they take time to teach me sealcrafting.”

“Yep, it’s him,” Aileen said. “My brother has mentioned him in passing… “The Bunny” I think. I don’t know why they call him that. My brother won’t tell me…so annoying.”

“I love bunnies!” Felixia exclaimed. “So why is he the most powerful? Is it because of the Devastator Armor? But your brother wears one as well. They are just the same right? And there are other Devastator Knights as well.”

“Yes, all of the Devastator Armors are the same. However, this person is rumoured to have has the strongest offensive power in all of Kryperia. Uncle Malachi said that even if father, the Domino matriarch, and the principal of Milla Lyceum combined all of their attacks together, they would barely equal his attack power.

“Calling himself a principal even though they’re not really a school,” Jel mumbled under her breath.

“Anyway, he has a very, very weak defense, based on what I hear from my brother,” Aileen continued. “Some kind of trade off magic boost, I guess. You know, those curse-yourself-to-get-crazy-strong-for-a-short-period spells. Maybe something like that? So when he received the Devastator Armor, the godly defense boost of that equipment means that he no longer has any weaknesses.”

Jel placed her hand on her hips and chuckled. “Nice job Ai. Steering the conversation away from dresses to armors. That is so you.”

“Felixia was the one who asked about my father!” Aileen then turned to Felixia, “Is your brother coming? Harvey will surely come since his dad is going to be there rubbing shoulders with everyone.”

“Uh…brother is working on…something”

“Something?”

“It’s sealcrafting stuff, Aileen. You’ll only get bored if we explain it to you,” Jel said.

“Anyway, I’m going to wear a dress. So, you guys can go now. I’ll meet up with you later.”

“No! We’re not going to leave you along until you are actually wearing the dress!” Felixia then rushed to Aileen’s closet to rummage around for something nice for her to wear. “What the… You put leather armor in your closet? Wha-! There’s even a cuirass hanging here!”

----------------------------------------

“A Saurianziir you say? A Roghinian, then a Saurianziir. If he’s a shapeshifter, then how would you know what he is?”

Lady Lantana sat on a luxurious chair covered in velvet. There were five chairs in the room but her four followers moved the chairs to the side and chose to stand behind her instead.

Bhorg bowed while he explained. “Lady Lantana, the scales on his hand when he transformed were certainly not fake. They were able to withstand the tremendous heat from my Moltencore armored arm. Having once fought with a Saurianziir, I have some knowledge as to the defence capabilities of their bodies. His scales also have the same color scheme as the elite shock troops of Surga.”

“Lady, if I may.” A man beside Bhorg spoke up. He removed his hood, revealing a heavily scarred bald head. His tattoos ran across the top of his head down to his nose, continuing past his mouth and chin. The scars looked like they have ruined the tattoo cuts on his skin. New tattoos were drawn over his battle scars in order to complete the formation that was disconnected.

“Speak your mind, Mert.”

“It is too convenient that at the time that our kingdom is having a crisis that involved exorcism, a high-level exorcist appears!” Mert snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”

“Indeed, it is too much of a coincidence. Are you suggesting this is a trap? We have talked about this before. Bhorg, what say you?”

“I used a portion of my inner flame to seek out and incinerate a part of his soul…”

“That’s quite a drastic measure just to test someone’s level in soul control. And then what happened?”

“Nothing, Lady Lantana. It did not affect him at all.”

“And now your hand is a stump. Correct?”

Bhorg did not immediately answer.

Lady Lantana gave a sigh and motioned for Bhorg to come closer. “Let me look at that hand.”

Rolling back his sleeves, Bhorg presented his right arm. He cut off his right hand that was crushed, searing the end of his arm with his flames.

“Our healing scrolls were not enough?” Lantana asked. “And Mert couldn’t do anything about this?”

“I apologize, Lady Lantana. There was nothing I could do since Bhorg’s soul was partially burned. The arm was dead long before he came to me.”

“All of my inner flames rebounded and attacked my soul.”

Raising an eyebrow, Lady Lantana asked Bhorg, “Was it worth? Losing your hand over this?”

Bhorg nodded. “I can confirm that he has a high level of soul control. Saurianziir, or Roghinian, or whatever he may be, there is no denying that he is an exorcist of the highest calibre.”

“Then if that’s the case, the chances of this situation being a trap is lessened considerably,” Mert said. “I cannot imagine how any of the clans will be able to obtain the cooperation of such a person as the one described by Bhorg. And for what? Just to trap us?”

“That is true.”

“Lady Lantana, with all due respect, that man was able to detect us watching him. If he was an agent of a rival clan then they could have just captured us and tortured us,” Ethani said.

“Ah, you reminded me that you let yourself got caught shadowing him.”

Ethani stiffened, looked at Bhorg and was about to stammer an apology.

“Lady Lantana, it shows how powerful this person is. He is not Roghinian, that much is certain. How can the other clans have someone like this in their employ? Our spies would have picked up something if the other clans are moving resources to pay a powerful exorcist.”

“I will agree with them, my lady. It seems absurd that another clan will hire such a powerful exorcist just to trap us. They could have just used him to heal the warrior-king,” Mert said.

“You are expecting that the clans, ours included, want the warrior-king to be healed.”

They all fell silent as they realized the implications of what their leader said.

There was a knock on the door as Bhorg was about to protest.

“That must be something from the seller. Rahab go look at it.”

The fifth member of their team who hasn’t spoken anything bowed and went towards the door. He returned carrying a silver platter with several wine glasses and a bottle of wine. There was a card placed on the platter which Lady Lantana read out loud. “Please enjoy watching the fights. My sons will be joining the competition, I apologize if I can’t join you.”

The card turned to ashes between the fingers of Lady Lantana. She looked at the black glass stretched in front of them. Waving her hand, the glass turned transparent, giving an excellent view of the arena below. They were inside one of dozens of special premiere viewing boxes floating around the arena.

“So, the sons of Baccarat will join the fight. He always brags about them. We will see how strong they really are. This is also a good opportunity to gauge the strength of the warriors of the empire. One day we might go up against them…”

“Lady Lantana, we should talk to the warrior calling himself BasketSlayer. If there’s a chance that we could cure the-”

She held up a hand to stop him. “If this person can actually cure the king, do you think the other clans will let us? Our attempts at curing the warrior-king might turn out to be the catalyst to start the civil war. Bhorg, we should be prepared for any eventuality. Baccarat has informed me that the shipment has already passed the mountain ranges. We will buy more to bolster the strength of our clan.”

“We are going to turn a blind eye to the cure…”

“Watch your tone Bhorg,” Lady Lantana said. “All the clans want to replace the warrior-king with their own representative…”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Ours as well?” Mert said.

“Yes. If the need arises. For the survival of all of Roghinia.”

“I know this man can cure the warrior-king,” Bhorg said with conviction.

“We will see. Let him display his power in this competition, and then we will see. However, we will continue strengthening our clan. Rahab, when will the next shipment be ready?”

“It is already ready, Lady Lantana. The delay is due to lack of accompanying security personnel. My understanding is that the adventurer team of Baccarat’s sons accompanied the first shipment.”

“And now they are unavailable,” Lady Lantana said while massaging her temples.

“I will find another team to accompany the shipment. I understand that we can’t use our own troops.”

“Lady Lantana-,” Bhorg started to say.

“Bhorg, if it turns out that this man has the power to combat the ancient demon lord, then what?” Lady Lantana continued before Bhorg could answer. “We need to get him to the warrior-king. Do you think the clan where the warrior-king formerly belonged to will let us? No. They want someone else from their clan to take over the throne Do you think the other clans will let us? No. They also want someone else to take over the throne.

“Right now, the clans are, more or less, against the clan of the warrior-king. If we present someone that could turn the warrior-king back to the way he was before, all of the clans will rise up. Why? Because this is the chance for them to take the throne. Do you think the royal sword will choose another warrior-king while hte current one is still alive? The royal sword doesn’t care that his brains were addled. It just chooses the strongest one among us.”

Bhorg bowed deeply and said, “I follow Lady Lantana.”

“Bhorg, I’m just one council member. I’ll say this now. There are many in the council of our clan that wants to take the throne.”

Her four followers stood in silence, their faces grim as they realize that there might come the time that not only will they be up against the other clans but they may as well fight against their own.

“We should wait and see for now,” Lady Lantana said. “Everything that I do is for the Venenum Clan. Place your trust in me.”

“We trust Lady Lantana,” the four replied in unison.

----------------------------------------

“I’m getting a headache from the noise of all these people.” Aileen slouched down on her chair with a grumpy expression. She had her hair done; large auburn curls bunched up to one side, a fiery bouquet of elegance. Her promise of wearing a dress was kept; a simple long dress with trimmings on the front. She sighed and said, “We should just come when the fights begin. It’s all just formalities and stuff now. Boring.”

Jel was grinning to her side. “Look at you! Dress and all!”

“So, are you going to tease me all throughout the ceremony?”

“That would be tiring. It would have been fun if Felixia sat here with us.”

“The martial noble houses get the viewing boxes at the top. We have a nice view of the whole arena,” Aileen said.

“It is nice. And we can zoom in if we want with these viewing crystals. Not that we would need to since we have superior vision anyway.

“Look, Felixia’s having fun with her family. She’s with us most of the time but she rarely has the chance to come home from the temple,” Aileen said while pointing at a lower floating box. 

“And you should be having a good time here as well. Your brother’s going to be here later. Let’s wave at him!”

“No! He will be guarding the princess, we should not bother him.”

“I know you miss your brother. You should let him see you in a dress,” Jel said while poking Aileen. “And stop slouching. You should take care of how you bear yourself. Let’s display your beauty for all to see. Who knows, you might get a suitor here. Your current boyfriend doesn’t meet with you at all. I’m going to find you another one!”

“Ugh, how I wish we’re inside those closed viewing boxes. I don’t want people looking at me…but I’m fine with people looking at me if I’m wearing an armor. Doing something heroic, maybe.”

Jel looked at the other floating boxes. Other than the boxes occupied by the nobles, the merchants, the officials, and other important people, there were closed rooms flying around with tinted glass.  “Those are the rooms for gamblers mostly. Some of them are people-shy, like you. But I’m sure most of them are gamblers.”

Aileen sat straight up and exhaled. “Plenty of money to be made in betting. I think it was actually a good decision that they legalized gambling during arena competitions. And I’m not shy…just uncomfortable-”

“Without your armor,”Jel finished.

Aileen was thinking of some witty retort when she picked up a sudden movement in her peripheral vision. She quickly gathered her dress around her, jumped back and landed on the headrest of a chair on the next row. Wind essences were rapidly gathering in her left while her right hand was poised to rip her skirt for mobility.

“Hey, Ai! Just relax,” Jel called out to her. She never left her seat and was looking at Aileen with a stern face. “And don’t even think of ripping that dress.”

“You call that a dress?” said the newcomer. She was standing on Aileen’s recently vacated seat, wearing a haughty expression on her face.

“What should I call what I’m wearing?” Aileen replied. “A blanket? You should probably get your eyes examined by a healer.” Nice comeback, she congratulated herself in her head.

The person who landed on Aileen’s chair was a young lady roughly the same age as her, wearing a haughty expression on her face. She placed her hands on her hips and sneered at Aileen. “Calling it a blanket is an insult to all blankets. I wouldn’t even call it a tablecloth.”

“I’m sure any tablecloth would choose to burn and then be struck by lightning rather than be worn by you,” Aileen shot back.

“Great. Two psychos meet each other.” Jel gave them a slow clap. “It’s really entertaining to see the two of you together. I don’t even understand what you’re talking about!”

“Lady Jel.” The girl standing beside Jel turned to her, gave her a brimming smile and curtsied. “Such a pleasure to see you this fine day, my regret is that we’re in the company of someone who has less refined tastes in clothing.”

“Nice hair,” Jel said, referring to the girl’s towering hairstyle, as if someone built an elaborate fortress made out of brownish blonde hair on top of her head.

“Hey, Diana. Want to go at it in the arena?” Aileen was fuming; she still hasn’t dispelled the magic ball on her left hand while conjuring another one in her right. “I doubt your beautiful dress will save you. Are you sure you’re a part of the martial noble family Hasta?”

Liquid silver poured out the fingertip of the Diana. It congealed and solidified into a spear. She charged her spear with blue energy and pointed it at Aileen.

“All right, that’s enough, both of you.” Jel jumped between the two girls on the verge of war. They both looked down and noticed that they were each stepping on a pentagrammic seal. “Diana, nice dress. There. I complimented your hair and your dress. What else do you want here? It’s annoying that the two always fight when you meet.”

“Thank you for the compliment. It’s made from the fur of the Red Emperor Boarbear. They’re exceedingly rare, nearly extinct actually. This dress is one of a kind, blending both beauty and elegance befitting a warrior lady like myself while having tremendous combat benefits.

“Of course, it is imbued with all the durability of the Red Crested Bear, and it has retained its magical resistance properties. I plan to wear this under my battle armor dress. It’s sewn from the iron threads of the Ironspinner Spider!”

“You’re going to wear a dress made out of metal to battle?” Aileen asked with an incredulous look.

“Ladies wear dresses, Aileen,” Diana said. “And I’m wearing both of them at the same time when I do serious battle. One for magic and the other for physical defence.”

“You’re going to look like a tent. A metallic tent.”

“Let’s see what you wear in battle then! Bulky unfashionable armor.”

Jel just looked at the both of them with a deadpan expression. She then looked at a floating square slab high above the arena, even higher than the special boxes of the nobles. It was starting to glow in pulses and slowly descended.

She held up a finger at each of the bickering girls and said, “Shut up now both of you. The princess is coming. It’s just a short ceremony. Fight each other afterward.”

Aileen and Diana dissolved their spells and straightened their dresses after shifting out of fighting stance.

There was a slight rumble as the heavy stone gates leading to the arena slowly opened. Trumpets sounded and the people stood up and cheered as the fighters who have qualified in the preliminaries walked into the vast arena. The cheering was deafening as people waved their banners and streamers supporting their favorites.

Aileen noticed something peculiar. Some of them were waving baskets. She felt that most likely she knows who these people were supporting.

“Ah, we arrived just in time.”

Aileen, Jel, and Diana turned and saw a group of people stepping out of the portal of their box. The group was headed by a wizened stooped old man who had his left eye closed.

The three girls acknowledged the presence of the old man. “ Adept Sealcrafter, Lord Matteo Fahllyr.” They curtsied in turn.

The old sealcrafter walked to the front row and sat on the middle chair. The people who followed him were also members of the Fahllyr family, from the branch families, some of them brought their children.

“Hey, Diana,” Jel said in hushed tones. “Go back to your own family.”

Diana bowed to the elder Fahllyr and jumped out of the floating box.

All of them took a seat and watched the parade of the fighters.

Jel nudged Aileen while stifling a laugh and said, “Hey, look. It’s your boyfriend.”

“Shut up!” Nevertheless, Aileen still looked. She spotted a familiar black robed figure amongst the throng of scary looking combatants. His ever present basket still hanging by his side. She should never have given him that basket, Aileen thought to herself.

She felt a bit of concern for him since he will be up against ferocious fighters who are staking their lives to win the competition. He was such a happy-go-lucky guy that he seemed out of place in the arena even though she knew that he was a strong warrior.

“Call out his name.” Jel continued nudging Aileen. “He’ll be happy to see you in a dress.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Aileen tried to discreetly push Jel back, but the elder Fahllyr noticed.

“You know that man?” Lord Matteo asked, looking at Aileen with one eye.

“Um…ye-yes,” Aileen answered sheepishly. She covered Jel’s mouth before she could utter some boyfriend nonsense.

“Where do you know him from?”

“He got lost in the temple and I found him. He’s an annoying guy.”

“I imagine so,” said Lord Matteo, nodding.

Jel was able to momentarily remove Aileen’s fingers from her mouth. “Aileen watches his fights! She also gave him food. I think it’s true lo-.”

Aileen used both her hands to cover Jel’s mouth. “He’s actually a good fighter. When I first saw him, I thought he was an idiot tourist. But he’s actually a fighter. One of the tons of fighters that flock to the city during this time of the year for the festival. Still an idiot though.”

“You watch his fights?” Lord Matteo chuckled while nodding his head.

“It’s not like that! I was just curious about him since he doesn’t seem to fight seriously but still wins.”

“How do you think he will fare in this competition?”

“I’m not sure…he fights well, but the contestants are the best fighters of the empire outside the military. I don’t really think he has a chance.”

“There are also many who come from countries abroad,” Jel said. “I’m not going to tease you, Aileen. Stop covering my mouth.”

“Well, many people are desperate to win this. I wonder what the prize is this time. It’s the five hundredth year celebration of the sacrifice of the First Emperor, the princess is doing her coming of age thing,” Aileen said, ticking off her fingers. “Oh! It’s also the upsurge of the mana node! Lots of important events. I’m sure the prize will be huge!”

Lord Matteo stroked his chin and then turned to the two. “Let’s have a bet. I bet that your black robed friend will win this tournament.”

“Really?”

“He’s an experienced fighter. But winning this? I think that’s way too much,” Jel said with a frown. “There are many sponsored fighters here.”

“Let’s bet Jel! We’ll never lose anyway."  Aileen then asked Lord Matteo, “What do we get if we get if he loses?”

“I’ll buy you both one accessory from the mana forges.”

“Any accessory?”

“Any accessory. If you lose, you will clean my whole tower without using magic.”

Aileen and Jel looked at each other. They were free to pick any magical accessory they want and Lord Matteo will buy it for it. They can’t help grinning from ear to ear. They were not listening to the consequences of losing. 

“We accept!”

The trumpets sounded once again, louder this time.

Glowing brighter and brighter, the square slab continued descending to the middle of the arena. The people who qualified arranged themselves into a wide circle around the slab, that was actually a stage.

With a bright flash of light, several people instantly appeared on the stone slab. Two dozen imperial knights, donned in their signature crimson and gold armor with a draconic design, fanned out and lined themselves along the perimeter of the square.

A Devastator Knight stepped out from the portal. The whole arena was abuzz, talking about the Devastator Knight.

“It’s your brother.”

“I know!”

“Elverius appears to be doing well. He never seems to leave the side of the princess these days,” Lord Matteo said while smiling. He looked at Aileen and winked his open eye.

Aileen sat straight up. “My brother and the princess?” she exclaimed, flabbergasted. “My brother is just doing his job!”

“I’m just kidding,” Lord Matteo said. “The princess is now arriving.”

“Wow. She’s so beautiful. You should get pointers from her, Ai.”

“Her hair looks very nice. I wonder what it feels like to have blue hair.”

The cheering of the masses for the princess was several times louder than the cheering for the fighters. Princess Adelind Melusine had an endearing atmosphere around her. Even though she was yet to perform the ritual required of the royal line, she has already taken an active part in making the empire a better place. She was well loved not just for her looks, but also because she was just a very nice person. Aileen thought that she wasn’t a bad match for her brother. If it came to that, anyway. But Aileen was not sure what she would do if she was going to be related to the princess by affinity.

Fireworks flew up and exploded, painting the bright sky with even brighter colors, forming swarms of flying rainbow dragons.

The princess raised her hand and the arena fell silent. She opened her arms wide and gave everyone her most charming smile.

“I welcome all of you…”

Aileen couldn’t hear the rest of the speech because the crowds erupted again. “Ughhh,” she muttered. “All these noise is giving me a headache.”