Chapter 8: Whereabouts of the Amethyst
Meanwhile, as Rio was heading to Paladia Kingdom based on Nidoll’s information...
Christina was visiting Galtuuk, the capital of Galarc Kingdom, in order to give her salutations as the new representative of the Restoration. It was also so that she could give an apology and an explanation for Charles’ actions in deploying Beltrum’s army by the border. She was accompanied by Flora, Hiroaki, and Roanna. Once all the matters had been settled, it was finally time to return to Rodania.
Presently, Christina and her companions were on board an enchanted airship that was flying between two other escort ships.
Christina had been going over some important documents even after boarding the ship, but once she reached a good place to stop, she decided to have a break with Flora. There was no one but them and Vanessa in the room.
“Finally, we can go back,” Christina sighed tiredly as she sipped at her tea.
“Yes,” Flora replied, similarly tired from their stay.
“Shall we take a break once we return?”
“Yes!” Flora nodded happily.
“We may not be able to take that many days off, but is there anything you want to do during the break?” Christina asked.
“I’m just happy being with you... But how about a dinner party or tea party? Umm, and we can invite Sir Hiroaki and Roanna.” After replying with that, Flora watched for Christina’s reaction.
“Sure...” Christina nodded apprehensively. She had scolded Hiroaki after his mock battle with Rio for losing control of his Divine Arms and causing a disaster, so he was now completely aware that she wouldn’t be easy to deal with. She had tried to develop their relationship by hosting several events, but even if he attended, his curt attitude was glaringly obvious. On top of that, when Flora tried to tell him the reason why Christina was angered—
“Of course you’d take your sister’s side.”
Was what he had said before distancing himself from his fiancee, Flora, as well. These days, he was always with Roanna instead. His house arrest had been lifted, so he was able to go along to the Galarc Kingdom with them, but even now he had shut himself in another room alone with Roanna.
There was a limit to what could be forgiven, even for a hero. Forgiving an unforgivable act would only warp Hiroaki’s personality, so he had to learn this distinction before he ended up making more and more enemies.
That was the simple truth Christina wanted to tell him.
And yet even something so simple was difficult. She had tried to explain things as carefully as possible, providing real examples, but her words didn’t seem to reach Hiroaki. Perhaps her lecturing was an uninvited nuisance to him. She probably didn’t have the charm to pull it off in the first place.
There’s nothing to be done about that...
Christina sighed listlessly.
“Excuse me.”
The door opened without a knock.
“Insolent fellow! You dare intrude on Princess Christina and Princess Flora?!” Vanessa reflexively flew into a rage, reaching for her sword sheathed at her waist. Bursting into the room of a royal without knocking was more than just a matter of being ill-mannered.
“Yeah, I came in knowing that,” the man who came in said nonchalantly. On top of that, two more people came barging in behind him. The three of them were dressed in black robes with cloth masks, so their faces couldn’t be seen.
“Augendae Corporis! Who the hell are you?” Vanessa recited the spell to enhance her physical abilities before drawing her sword and demanding their identities. Christina stood between Flora and the men to protect her.
“No one’s stupid enough to answer that honestly, right?” the man at the front sneered.
“There should have been knights on board the ship,” Christina said, pushing Flora to stand behind her.
“Everyone we came across on the way has been peacefully sent to their graves. They were a bit too lax, don’t you think? Just because you’re on a ship doesn’t mean there are no enemies.”
The two others behind the man laughed mockingly.
“Princess Christina, Princess Flora. Stay behind me in the corner of the room.” Vanessa held her sword ready with a sharp expression.
“Come, Flora.” Christina immediately grabbed Flora’s hand and brought her to the corner, then made her stand behind her for protection. Vanessa promptly moved herself to the corner to stand as a wall protecting them.
“Ohoho! The standard response to being attacked in a room is to solidify your defenses, after all. Well, someone may notice the commotion if we take too long, so let’s clean this up quickly. Hey.” The man in the front gestured with his chin, and the two behind him split left and right to surround them. The man also drew closer to the girls.
“...”
Vanessa’s wariness increased, swiftly pointing the tip of her sword between the three men in a threat to take down the first one to move, even if it meant putting her own life on the line.
“Ooh, how scary,” the large man said mockingly.
Is the reason why these men haven’t drawn their swords because they’re after the princesses alive, not dead? Vanessa thought to herself, watching the men draw closer without drawing their swords.
“Christina...”
“It’ll be all right. I’ll protect you.” Christina gripped the hand that Flora had nervously clutched around her sleeve.
“Haaah!” The man standing at the front shouted, prompting the three of them to charge at Vanessa at once. She couldn’t deal with all three of their attacks at once.
“Ngh...” Vanessa adjusted her sword stance with minute movements, then swung her sword horizontally to mow the three of them down at once.
Her aim and timing were both perfect. The first person’s body was severed, the second person’s body got caught in the momentum of the sword and sent the third person crashing alongside him. That was what Vanessa immediately simulated in her head, but—
Clank! An unexpected metal sound could be heard instead.
“What?!” Vanessa gazed in shock. The man who had leaped from the right had drawn his sword and caught the blow of her sword.
“Well, leaping like this would obviously make you swing like that. Unfortunately, we’re rather experienced in these kinds of fights. We’re well-versed in how to handle them,” the man on the right chuckled smugly. With her weapon blocked, there was nothing to stop the other two from leaping at Vanessa.
“Go take a nice long nap with the others.” The large man stabbed the concealed knife he carried into Vanessa’s abdomen. He then twisted his wrist and yanked the knife out by force.
“Guh... Ugh...”
Vanessa fell to her knees, unable to bear the pain.
“There ya go.”
“Gah...!”
The other attacker kicked the side of Vanessa’s face. Her body was sent crashing loudly into the furniture. She must have hit her head, as she fell limp after that.
“Inpulsa Fluctus!” Christina held out her hand and recited a spell while the men were distracted. A magic circle glowed, firing a powerful electric shockwave in front of her.
“Urgh!”
“Guh.”
“Wh...”
The men drew their swords and immediately leaped back. However, the electric shock was drawn towards their swords, attacking the men.
“Photon Projectilis!” Christina then fired a consecutive attack of photon bullets at the men as they moved. Several of them made direct hits, blowing the men to the back of the room.
“You stay over there,” Christina ordered Flora, then fearfully approached the fallen men. She held her hand out in front of her, ready to activate a spell at a moment’s notice. However, they were completely slumped over with their eyes closed.
...Are they unconscious? Christina sighed in relief, releasing the tension she had in her hand.
“It’s all right now. Come here. This room is dangerous. We have to check on Vanessa’s condition,” Christina turned back to Flora and ordered, but—
“C-Christina!” The men that should have been unconscious all rose at once and started running.
“Wha...”
The man closest to her grabbed her from behind, while the other two in the room ran at Flora and easily restrained her from both sides.
“Well, well. What a violent princess you are indeed, firing such magic mercilessly,” the man that had captured Christina from behind said with a hint of exasperation.
Christina’s face twisted with detestation. “Of course. I activated the magic without a care for your lives... How did you survive?”
“Unfortunately for you, we’ve all enhanced our physical bodies with enchanted swords. We caught the first blow with our swords and offset the magic essence, then withstood the second shot by enhancing our bodies. Though it still hurt.” The man tightened his hold around Christina’s slender hands.
“Ngh... Unhand me, you lout!” Christina grimaced with pain.
“Nah, I’m afraid I can’t. It’d be a pain if you started attacking us again, so...”
Clack, went a certain sound. It felt like something had been pressed against her neck.
Magic-sealing shackles? Ngh... Christina frowned.
“If you still want to make a racket, we’ll peel off one of your little sister’s darling nails,” the man behind her said.
“Oww...” Flora made a noise of pain.
“Stop that!” Christina said in a panic.
“Hmm? What did you say?” the man behind her asked innocently.
“If you have to tear off a nail, then take mine. I won’t struggle anymore,” Christina replied weakly.
“Haha. How courageous. Our boss would definitely like you.” The man laughed mockingly behind Christina.
“What is your goal? If it’s abduction, then I should be enough...”
So don’t touch Flora, was what Christina left unsaid.
“Indeed. Which means the second princess is useless, so there’s no reason to keep her alive.”
“Wait. If you’re going to kill someone, then kill me...” Christina begged in a fluster.
Flora joined the conversation in a similar panic. “Y-You can’t! If one of us has to die, then I’ll—!”
“Heh! Bwahaha! Rest assured, if we were out to kill either one of you we would have done so already. We simply received a request to gather as many obstacles as possible. We needed the both of you to begin with—everything else was just a little payback for hitting us with magic.”
The man restraining Christina burst into laughter. Just how spiteful was he?
“Ugh, how disgusting...” Christina bit down her lip.
“It’s a relief to see the two of you have such love for each other. Do keep that up once you get to the other side.”
“Are you taking us somewhere?”
“Just to a certain kingdom. However, our plans are rather packed. There’s no telling what’ll happen to you after you’re sent to the designated location. Well, then—let’s send you on your way. I’m sure someone has taken note of the commotion by now. Come over here.”
The man yanked Christina by the arm and strangely dragged her not to the door, but towards Flora in the corner of the room.
“Aah...!”
Christina was shoved at Flora, making her let out a small shriek.
“Christina.” Flora hugged her older sister tightly. Meanwhile, the men were pointing their swords at them so they wouldn’t move.
“What’s the meaning of this...? Weren’t you taking us somewhere?”
Were they going to kill them both after all? After their nasty exchange earlier, it was more than possible. Christina felt uneasy at the sense of impending danger.
“Yes, we will. But, as I just said, our plans are a little packed, so there’s no telling what happens after you’re sent to the designated location. In other words, this,” the man said, taking out a red essence crystal from inside his robe. Then, he threw it at Christina and Flora and recited the spell for teleportation sorcery.
“Instans Motus.”
Immediately following, the space around the essence crystal warped.
“Huh...?”
They had no idea what had just happened. With blank looks on their faces, Christina and Flora instantly vanished on the spot.
“Let’s be on our way before Reiss starts doubting us as well. Instans Motus,” the man said, taking out another red crystal. He then recited the spell and the three of them vanished together.
“Hey! What was that noise?!”
Having shut himself in a nearby room with Roanna, Hiroaki heard the commotion and showed up immediately afterwards.
In the central northeast of the Strahl region was a small kingdom named Paladia. In a forest on the west side of this kingdom stood Christina and Flora, their dresses clearly unfit for their surroundings. They both looked around nervously at the gloomy forest, Flora stepping closer to her older sister in fear. They were on an enchanted airship just moments ago, so why were they in the forest?
There was no sign of anyone nearby. There was only the sound of the greenery being rustled by the wind, and the cries of wild animals far in the distance.
It was almost like they were dreaming. However, this was no dream: the metal collar around Christina’s neck was indication of that.
“...Where are we?” Christina placed a hand against the collar and mumbled in a daze, looking around at the forest.
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