Chapter 4- Narto the Northern Empire Part 2

After Rose’s command, seven female guards wearing golden armour came in and brought with them two elderly people, a man and a woman, and a ten-year-old girl, who were looking sick. When they came in, Alfred’s countenance changed very visibly for some seconds, but only Elmesia and Rose noticed.

“Good evening, your highness.” Greeted the guards and the adults, the soldiers went on one knee while the parents and their daughter bowed down on both knees.

“Is it true that my son held you prisoners? Before you answer, I will tell you to tread carefully.” Asked the Emperor.

“Yes, your majesty, we have been held down there for seven days now, no food, and we had to survive on the water source when it was clean enough.” Replied the man, still face down and on both knees.

“Now, Alfred, did you keep those prisoners? I will say again, tread carefully.”

“Tsk- well, father, I did not keep them pri-”

BAAAAM…Thump

“Prince Alfred! Prince Alfred! Prince Alfred!”

Alfred was on the floor; he had not lost consciousness, but he looked as though he had been struck by lightning. He was immediately lifted by his guards. As he struggled to get on his feet two figures came out from behind the throne, a female elf wearing a white lab coat, she had her brown hair packed in a bun and her green eyes were fixed on the prince and a male elf wearing another lab coat, he had the same colour of hair as the female elf but had jet black eyes.

“Prince Alfred, please tell us the truth.” Spoke the female elf, her gaze still fixed on him.

“Who are you?”

“Who are they?”

The questions were asked simultaneously by Alfred and all the nobles, excluding the emperor, Elmesia, and Rose; the elves just stood there without answering.

“Alfred, I will ask one more time, do thread carefully. Did you imprison the ones who have saved my life?”

“What?”

“Elder Brother, in case you don’t know, they are useful to us, not to mention that my butler’s body is lying in my room, dead. Her body is covered in bruises and bumps from that drug you created that killed her.” From that point, tears started rolling down the cheeks of not only the princess, but of Aria’s parents and sister.

That news left the family in shock, the nobles too were left in shock, once again the room was left in a deafening silence which was broken not too long by an outburst of cries from Maribel the little girl, in her head all that was playing was her life with her sister and what life after would be like, she had experienced a lot of trauma from being arrested being thrown into the deepest parts of the prison and now her sister’s death.

“Alfred, now answer and thread carefully, I shall say the third time.”

“Fine, I did. It was only to get a closer chance at the throne, so what are you going to do to me? Guards!”

Thirty guards surrounded Elmesia and Rose, and another ten surrounded the Canutes. At this point, Alfred wore a wide smile on his face, which changed his cool, calm air around him to one of a psychopath.

“The throne is mine”, he said, bringing out his sword and removing his robe. His physique was like that of the head captain of the Imperial Forces of Narto, who usually would be standing beside Emperor Aries, but was not here.

“Prince Alfred, are you sure this is the path you choose?” asked Rose, drawing out her blade.

“What are you going to-?”

Zin…Thump…Dum…Roll

Thirty heads were on the floor, their bodies fell after, Rose now behind those at the Canutes. Alfred’s face had worry and surprise written all over it; his stance faltered, and now, before his eyes, fifteen more heads flew from their bodies, and the Canutes were blindfolded. The red carpet leading to the throne was now stained with blood; even the gold threads at the hem had some blood stains, and even Rose’s silver hair had some stains.

“Prince Alfred, if you want the throne, then defeat me, then you can kill the princess.”

“Hah… you think you can defeat me with those fancy tricks.”

He then brought out something that looked like a small golden bag. He opened it and poured a colourless liquid into his mouth. Afterwards, he grew a horn from his forehead, claws from his fingers, and he poured some on his sword, increasing its size. Rose just stood there unfazed and readied her stance, holding her sword in one hand.

“This is your response, fool.” Alfred’s voice had become more coarse and deeper. “Then prepare to meet the gods. This is the power of the Time Frame v2.”

Time Frame v2. Thought Elmesia. Isn’t that the poison from earlier, or is it a different type?

With that, he sprinted faster than the eye and closed the gap between them. He then swung his sword up, cleaving Rose in two…or that was what he thought. Instead, he saw his own body and his neck without a head; he realised his head had been cut off, or so he thought.

“What was that, a threat or…”

“What is it, Prince Alfred? Are you scared?”

He noticed he had come back to where he started. She was still there, the nobles were murmuring among themselves as the moonlight spilt into the room, casting a pale glow over the two warriors, complementing the artificial light from the inside.

“He went back without attacking?” said the nobles

“I will end it with this, Twilight Destruction, Sword technique, Blood Fallen.” The giant blade grew dark red, and it was swung at Rose.

Rose knew she could not dodge it or Emperor Aries would be killed, so she switched over to a different stance placing her sword in her left hand and letting the tip of the blade touch the carpet before swinging upward creating a slash which broke the slash of Alfred’s attack, a second slash which broke his sword and a third one which knocked him unconscious. The battle finally settled, and Rose stood victorious while Alfred was down with defeat.

“Why didn’t you kill him?” asked Elmesia while walking towards the victor.

“I swore an oath not to kill anybody in the royal family, well, not to harm except they try to kill you or the Emperor.”

*****

The aftermath of the day ended in the death of forty-five soldiers, five were injured, while the rest were okay. But for some reason, Elmesia was still confused about something. Alfred had stated the colourless liquid to be the Time Frame v2, meaning the Time Frame is more than a poison but a drug that can boost people’s power. As this was going through her mind, she and Rose, alongside some maids.

“Rose.”

“Yes, Princess Elmesia.”

“Stop calling me princess.” She said with a sad tone, “What do you think about Alfred’s drug called Time Frame?”

“It is useful that his level and stats went up by ten times, as his sword may be able to even increase max level like the heroes, but…”

“But?”

“Its drawback is that one’s lifespan is shortened by half, meaning that it is risky, not to mention that one who uses it may be addicted after using once to ten times. Either way, why did you ask?”

“That is what Aria was told to put in my tea, except I doubt it this version.”

“Oh.”

*****

When they got to Elmesia’s room, the maids opened the door to find a clean and arranged room. There was nobody in the room except Aria, who was cleaning the last tea stains.

“Aria?”

“I thought you were…”

Elmesia and Rose asked; they were both confused, considering that she should be dead. Rose then decided to check her stats. Her level was now level three, and her other stats were now five hundred; her power level also increased to three thousand.

“Good evening, Princess Elmesia.”

“Aria, how did you…?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I just saw myself gaining consciousness again, and when I woke up, I saw all my pain and injuries gone and decided to help clean the room.”

“Well then, for now all is well that ends well, right, Little Elmesia.” Said Rose, entering the room

“I guess so. But wait, you called me little.”

“You said I should not call you princess, so little is good enough, right, after all, I am in my early thirties…”

“And you are not married yet.”

“What was that, Little Aria?”

“Nothing.”

Elmesia went to the balcony to look at the moon, hoping that this would be the last time something like this could happen.

*****

“You may enter.” Said a guard at the courtroom door.

Standing there were Scott Canute, Vera Canute and Maribel Canute; they were summoned by the emperor to collect compensation for what Alfred had caused.

“Good morning, Emperor Aries.”

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“I summoned you for a short note to compensate you for everything that has happened this week.” Started Aries, “So for that, everything I will grant you in that paper, also two other things you should please not, Prince Alfred Cyrus von Narto is under interrogation and discipline so as to make sure he does not try this again, and my daughter has her own gift she wishes to give you.”

Sitting on a smaller silver throne is Princess Elmesia, who is wearing a white dress. She stands up and walks down the stairs towards Maribel, who is holding her mother’s hand and is sniffling. She reaches her and bends a bit so that she can speak to her.

“I want to let you know that your sister is okay.”

“Huh…b-but you said.”

“Forget what I said.” Elmesia says, standing straight again, “You can come in now.”

Then the doors open, and Aria comes in, wearing her usual maid clothing, and when Maribel sees her, she immediately runs and hugs her. Scott and Vera also run and hug their daughter; the family was reunited, and peace was restored on royal grounds.

“Rose.” Communicated Elmesia to Rose via her magic skill.

“Yes.”

“Please keep an eye on the hero; we may need to speak with him. He may have a way of helping me.”

“Roger. Keep you informed.”