The next day a somewhat unusual guest showed up.

I slept in a room next to the lounge, where Shelly was sleeping guarding me. After I woke up, I put on my clothes. I remembered the Grimoire having a function to do this easily so I’m looking forward to getting it back.

I went to the lounge and heard Shelly’s voice as well as that of another young woman. She sounded like she was my age, maybe a bit older, but it was also quite hysterical. I left my room to spy on them.

“No, I refuse to stay back and look at you doing your work. It may be your job, but it is also my honor that has to be defended,” that second voice said.

I quietly closed the door and leaned against it, watching the conversation.

“Of course, Princess. This is not to debate, but your parents would kill me, if they found out about you going on a mission and risking to get hurt.”

“They would kill us both if they found out, and that is exactly why they won’t! Trust me, I am in Year 3 of Ataraxia, and you know I have been trained in hand-to-hand combat since my body was able to hold itself. If there is something I am capable of, then it is surviving.”

Shelly was staring blankly at the desk she was leaning onto.

“I’ll allow you to join us, if you take full responsibility for yourself,” she finally said, her voice weakened.

“That is without question, of course.”

Shelly looked up, our eyes meeting. I was still leaning against the door, smiling.

“Nathan,” she said. That voice turned around as well.

“Princess, this is Nathan. His Grimoire was also stolen. He will be joining us on our mission.”

“Will I?”

“Of course. After all, I have to protect you. It could be dangerous to leave you here, alone.”

The princess caught my attention.

“My name is Princess Aurelia Béatrice van Carelis. The thieves also stole one of our family's grimoires. I suppose, you will be of great help during our mission.” She had a stern expression as she spoke.

Sh- Should I bow?

I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this situation. Meeting a princess goes beyond extraordinary, so I simply decided to just go with the flow.

“O- Of course!” I said, bowing.

“There is no need to bow.” I heard the smile in her voice.

I lifted my body and looked at her face. She was indeed smiling.

“Two things though: First of all, this is an informal meeting. You two are the only ones to know, I am here. Second, I am not very fond of people humiliating themselves simply because I was born into this family.”

“Ah.” I understood and decided to take her wish to heart. And maybe going overboard.

“So, what is this mission about?” I suddenly realized, I had absolutely no idea, what we were going to do.

“Finding the stolen Grimoires, of course. Well, that’s at least until Aster comes back. I ordered him to follow Miss Dementia and find some more clues as to their whereabouts. He should be here any minute now. In the mean-time … Princess Carelis, would you like a cup of tea?”

Princess Aurelia Béatrice van Carelis … What a peculiar name, even for a Princess. Though, something’s been bothering me about this name … Could it be?

“Princess … a … b … c?”

“Kya!” I heard this weird sound from the princess's direction. She appeared to have spilled a bit of tea over her brown cloak, that was hiding the rest of her body. Then she tilted her head 180° as if she were a Shaft anime production and glared at me.

“What?”

“Do not. Call me. That!” She got louder with each sentence and with each passing second, I felt like her face was getting closer to mine.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What, Princess Abc?” I asked, being really confused, but I guess she was thinking I did it on purpose.

Her face went white in an instant, and she looked genuinely creepy with her tilting her head, while still maintaining a perfect posture with her teacup and saucer in both her hands.

A split second later the mug crashed onto the floor next to me, and it only did, because I was somehow able to jump aside. That would have been fun! Going to hospital again because of burns!

“Shelly-ly! I spilled my tea, could you please hand me the tea pot?” she asked with the cutest voice imaginable, like nothing ever happened.

“So that’s how it is, huh? Princess Abc?” Needless to say, this time I was doing it on purpose.

“I guess you overheard I have been taking combat lessons my whole life?” Well, there’s the head tilt again. “I guess you are reeeaally keen to get some first-hand experience, yeeeees?”

“No thanks, I quit.”

“Goooood!” She tilted her head back another 180° carefully tending to her tea standing on the table, steaming.

She was still wearing that cloak, covering her entire back. She really looked like a mage.

I slowly moved towards the table and took a seat. She was blowing away the steam rising from her cup. From where I sat, I was able to see blonde-brunette curls spilling out from underneath the cloak. The color of her eyes I wasn’t able to determine, but they seemed to be a rather dark since I wasn’t able to make them out due to the shadow cast by the hood.

On my other side was Shelly. Her hair was rather dark. Actually, it wasn’t that far from black. Her sharp eyes were emerald-colored. It really made her look like a witch. And although her firm look was like that of an adult, her face appeared quite child-like. She was a bit taller than me, but that didn’t matter, as I was still growing.

Nonetheless, the people I was sitting together with were astonishingly beautiful.

Or maybe the girls I know from school were ugly.

“So~, what are we gonna do now?” I finally asked.

“We’ll wait for Aster,” answered Shelly.

“Was that the guy from yesterday, that disappeared after, like, a split-second? Who is he?”

“Yes, that was him. He is one of my … subordinates.”

“You’re starting to talk weird again.”

“Huh? Oh!” she blushed. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Well, you could call him a ninja assassin spy, or something like that?”

“A ninja assassin spy. That is ridiculous,” Princess Abc answered.

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure how to put it, so he’ll understand.”

“Okay, that was low-key insulting?”

“But yeah, he’s a spy and I call him a ninja assassin because he sometimes doesn’t exist, though most of the time he’ll be there, when you need him. Just like yesterday, when I ordered him to follow Miss Dementia.”

“Yeah, that actually was really cool.”

“I had no idea, he actually was there, so it would have been really embarrassing if I would’ve talked to myself.”

“Tchoo!”

I nearly threw over my chair. He really is there, without you noticing him. He might’ve actually sat there the whole time!

“It’s not really nice to talk about people who are absent from the conversation,” Aster said.

“Oh hey, you’re back!”

“Mission failed,” he said, giving us a thumbs-up. He had a Kakashi-esque vibe, only that he wasn’t covering his mouth, but his eyes instead, which wasn’t very comforting, since I wasn’t able to look into his eyes at all. How could he even see like this? You got it: Magic. (Probably.) He was also wearing a black scarf. (They are cool, aren’t they?) I was only able to see the upper half of his body, but his outfit looked like that of a certain tribe, out of a certain video game series. I’m really gay for him right now, excuse me.

His white hair was held back by the blindfold, hiding his eyes.

“I think they noticed me. I hid near their mansion, and when they came out, I followed them. And then they disappeared.”

“How?” Shelly asked.

“I don’t’ really know. They were heading towards the gate, then they turned around a corner, and when I followed, they weren’t there. Of course, I searched for them, but they were nowhere to be found.”

Well, you couldn’t expect someone with a blindfold to find … anything.

“But we know they were heading towards the gate,” Princess Abc exclaimed.

“Also, when I was attacked, they were coming from the city,” I realized.

“But that won’t help us at all. We don’t have any idea, where they could have been going, or why.”

“But there was also one thing I noticed,” Aster said. “I tried to use my gaze, to find them, and I was able to sense them somewhere. I think they were underground somewhere in the outskirts of the city. I wasn’t able to pinpoint their position, since it was too far away, and I thought it could be dangerous to search for them alone. They might have a hideout somewhere outside.”

“It’s okay. No, actually it’s really good this way. Aster, we have a team of four people. Which is you and me, Nathan, and the princess.”

Aster frowned. “The princess?”

“It is alright. I will be responsible for anything, that might happen.”

“Will I be of any use? I don’t have any weapons,” I asked.

“I might give you a wand later. Maybe, you’ll somehow be able to make use of it. I promised I would protect you, though.”

“A wand?”

“Haven’t you even heard of wands!?”

Yep, I’m driving her insane.

“I know what they are, they just seem kinda …” Clichéd?

“You should also grab a knife. If you want to be useful …”

If we’re going to fight, I will just be a nuisance. But hey, at least I think, I've got good chances to survive.

“Are we ready to start this mission?”

“Wait, what even is the plan?” I really was concerned. They had no idea, where our enemies where, and they planned to just magically stumble upon their secret lair or what? Does it even exist?

“To find them, of course.”

“Sure.”

I wasn’t hiding my enthusiasm.

There simply was none.