Curse 6: Kingdom of Credentes

Clip-clop! Clip-clop!

The noise of horses running through the forest filled the air.

Mirari had called upon a friend for a few favors. For one, she wanted to have two horses ready, speedy delivery style. And two, the horses must come with the magic devices that were made by Wizz Inc.

A small artificial magic crest that you could implant in the horses. The best part was that the horses wouldn't even feel the pain at all. It was like water that would dry into the air.

Mirari held on to an orange horse with a mane like red flame, her arms wrapped gently around its neck. I, on the other hand, clung to the saddle of a black horse with gray hair along its back.

"The Knights' selection will start in ten minutes, but with the rental horses—we'll be there in five!" Mirari grinned at me as she leaned forward.

"You mean to tell me that I could've had plenty of time if I kept going straight?" I raised my left brow. Of course, still trying to hold on to my dear life since I'd never ridden a horse before.

"Yuuppp!!! How's your first time riding a horse, Tristis?"

"Like I'm gonna die!" I answered honestly.

"... Well, that was dark!"

"Trust me, I had darker answers to give you if you didn't order horses that can read your soul with the magic crest you provided for them!"

"Aye! Magic crests are something, huh?! The horses can just feel your emotions and move at such a pace!" Mirari petted her horse's chin without scaring it.

I looked at my horse and held on to his neck with an apologetic look. "Look, I hope you understand that I don't mean to be awful to you and your wife over there. I'm just really nervous to head to the kingdom."

The horse grunted to me and shook his head.

"Wait. You're not gonna kick me out for implying that you're worthless, right?" I asked the horse.

The horse shook his head and grunted.

"Oh. You allow it for a pretty lady? Thanks, I guess..." I chuckled nervously.

Why do people keep thinking that? Do I really look that good?

Maybe it was just a way to make me feel better? But still—

I heard the other horse make a noise that sounded like an angry woman. Mirari petted her horse once more: "There, there! Don't you worry! Tristis is so dense that your love life is safe, okay, girl?"

Mirari's horse looked at Mirari.

"Yeah, I know. My same reaction exactly!"

I wasn't sure why, but I narrowed my eyes at Mirari in annoyance and pouted.

What the hell...

Why was everyone on my back today?

I didn't get it. I didn't get it at all!

***

We both made it to the entrance of the Kingdom of Credentes. Well, we were on the mainland anyway.

Or so I heard.

I petted my horse and looked at Mirari with gratitude. "Thanks again for helping me, Mirari!"

"Don't mention it!" Mirari beamed a smile at me. She then pointed at me with a serious look before speaking once again: "Seriously, don't mention this to anybody. Would be bad for business if word spread, you know?"

"Ah! I get it. Would be bad if your information business gets ruined due to rumors!"

"Not that. The owner of Wizz Inc. and I go way back!"

Mirari came towards my horse and offered it some carrots.

"It would be bad if anyone knew about this!" Mirari giggled.

"Then why tell me this?" I blinked.

Mirari pointed at me with a frown. "Because I get the feeling that the juicy reports from you won't be there for a while. So I'm planning on us building trust for that to happen!"

"... Oh. Well, okay then." I laughed.

Mirari made both horses follow with some more carrots.

"I'll be back later to hear your first report! You better head out now to do it~! Later!"

Mirari and the two horses started to head back to the path that we had just taken to reach the Kingdom.

I waved them goodbye until I couldn't see them anymore.

Once I confirmed that I couldn't see them anymore, I turned my head to the wall that was blocking the entrance to the Kingdom itself.

I inhaled, then exhaled.

"Right. I'll be fine! ... I hope."

I gulped and started to walk towards the gate. It seemed to be the only entrance to the Kingdom, too.

Ah! There are a couple of guards at the entrance!

With that in mind, weren't they a bit scary-looking?

Buff guys, wearing the latest customized armor to their taste, and axes for weapons in case they needed to fight. And worst of all, they'd spelled 'Credentes' as 'Credetes' on their armor!

You would think that the armor department would've checked their spelling...

No.

It was most likely that the guards had made their armor themselves. Still, I couldn't believe it...

I did two more steps before being in front of the guards.

The one to the left had short yellow hair and blue eyes, while the other had dark hair with gray eyes.

The one to the left had pale skin, and the one on the right had brown skin.

"Why, hello, beautiful! You must be new around here!" The yellow-haired guard leaned forward and placed his hand under his chin. The guard looked me up and down before chuckling. "Indeed. I've never seen such beauty in my life—"

Whack!

"Ow!" The guard got hit on the head by a fist.

It was from the other one. He had a serious face and then stepped forward to me. "Forgive my friend here. The guy fell head over heels for girls who looked beautiful in his eyes."

"It's no problem at all," I said, shaking my head.

"You don't seem bothered by that?" The dark-haired guard asked me.

"It's fine. Really!" I smiled at the guard.

"I see. But nonetheless, we've got a job to do, and I can't let that idiot get us fired."

The guard raised his hand at me.

"State your business here. Why do you want to enter the gate of Credentes?"

"I'm here for the Knights' selection," I answered honestly.

"I see." The guard nodded. "Well, just let me see your application, and we'll let you in."

"Ah." I was dumbfounded.

"Is something a matter?" The yellow-haired guard asked me.

"You do realize that you would need applications to show the entrance of the Kingdom, right?" The dark-haired guard narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously.

Oh. Right...

I facepalmed at that oversight I made. I was so excited about the clues and meeting up with my friends that I completely forgot to do mine.

Stupid! Why didn't you pay attention to your own words when you scolded Peri earlier!?

"Ma'am, if you don't have an application, I'm afraid that—"

"Good day, gentlemen!" I heard a familiar voice. A female one.

Tap!

I felt a hand lightly tap my shoulder. I looked back and saw Laetus and Sedatus. The two people I was supposed to meet with, along with Peri.

Laetus saluted the guards and raised a paper.

"This beautiful lady right here forgot her application at home, so I, her best friend, provide you with evidence that she was telling you the truth!"

"Another beauty!" The yellow-haired guard grinned excitedly.

"Get a hold of yourself..." The dark-haired guard narrowed his eyes at his friend in annoyance.

The dark-haired guard sighed and took the application from Laetus's hand.

"Hmm... seems legit," the dark-haired guard muttered. "However, how do I know that you didn't mark it yourself?" The guard waved the paper at Laetus. "For all we know, you three are criminals—"

"Excuse me, but are you guys really guards?" I heard Sedatus speak up.

"Huh?" The yellow-haired guard looked up at Sedatus and gave him a disgusted look. "The hell you say?"

Sedatus slowly walked next to Laetus with his hands in his pockets.

"The rules of Credentes clearly state that you must follow the guard's words no matter what. And you cannot question them, or you shall face the wrath of the King." Sedatus calmly stated.

"And why are you doing that?" The dark-haired guard asked, his brows furrowed.

Sedatus pointed at the guard's armor. "Because you two don't have the correct spelling of the kingdom. It's 'Credentes', not 'Credetes'."

Sedatus shrugged his shoulders.

"If you two can't even see that spelling mistake, then you both don't have the right to correct or even have any suspicion of other people. You're making the king look weak by doing so."

The dark-haired guard grabbed hold of the yellow-haired one.

"You bastard! I knew it was spelled with the 'n'!"

"I-I'm sorry! I thought for sure that it was spelled without the 'n'!" The yellow-haired guard apologized to his friend.

"Tch! Now that I know this, I'll have to call forth two more guards to take our place for a couple of days..." The dark-haired guard muttered.

He then handed me the application with a small smile.

"But you know, you could've mentioned that to me, miss. By then, I would've allowed you in despite my suspicion."

"Thank you. But why's that?" I blinked at the guard.

"Because we've got a detection barrier inside. Normally, we'd use it to stop troublemakers. But it's down for maintenance today—lucky for you." The dark-haired guard laughed. "Still, we have many guards around the Kingdom due to the Knights' selection being held in the stadium today. Best of luck to you!"

"Thanks!" I nodded to the guard.

Laetus grabbed my hand and did the same to Sedatus.

"Thankies! We'll be on our way now!" Laetus started to walk towards the gate.

"W-wait a second! We can't just go through on our own!" I complained, not wanting us to face the wrath of the king.

"Let it go, Tristis. It'll be over soon enough..." Sedatus sighed in defeat and let Laetus do her thing.

The gate opened for us, and we were let in.

Huh. So that's the automatic gates, huh. Wizz Inc.'s magical items are amazing.

Once we reached inside the wall, the gate closed behind us. Without the guards lifting a finger, too.

"Whoa!" I felt myself being moved by the sight I saw.

"Hehe! Well, Tristis?" Laetus let go of Sedatus and raised her hands at the Kingdom. "Welcome to Credentes!"

Welcome, indeed.

I didn't expect something like this.

The inside of the Kingdom was WAY bigger than I originally thought.

What caught my eye was the big castle that was in the middle of the Kingdom itself.

Walls that were painted like pearls. The windows and doors were much bigger than the description in the books. I couldn't really see properly from here, but I thought it had a garden as well.

Bigger guards that had animal features.

They looked like cats with a buff build. They had royal robes, though, unlike the guards from before. But that's all I could see from the entrance.

I looked to my left and saw more citizens who had animal features, too.

Some were dogs, more cats, a lizard, heck, even a wolf. But they were walking and talking like humans like me. I found that pretty amazing.

Oh?

I glanced to the right and saw elves just like my Mom! Some had short hair, some long, others didn't have hair at all. Not only that, but I also saw citizens who reminded me of trolls. And they weren't as scary as those horror stories I'd read as a kid, too.

There were also humans that had animal features. Like one woman had cat ears and a tail, but still looked human. A guy had dog ears and a tail.

Whoa!

Some even had the color of their features!

I didn't know the Kingdom was so diverse! And from what I could see, they didn't have any problems with one another. It was like back in the village...

"... Wow. I had been missing out." I felt my tears forming.

"Don't feel bad, Tristis." Sedatus wiped my tears and smiled. "I'm in the same boat as you. I don't like talking to anyone that isn't you, Laetus, or Peritia."

"Sedatus..." I giggled. "Thank you. You're so sweet!"

"Heh," He laughed.

"Just a moment!" Laetus pushed me away from Sedatus with a puffy face. "You can't do that, Tristis! How could you?!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" I blinked.

"You can't just throw compliments like that! You must preserve them! It's one of your weapons as a woman!" Laetus gave a cheeky grin.

"Laetus is acting weird again..." Sedatus sighed dramatically.

"Ouch! That hurt, Sedatus!" Laetus pouted at Sedatus.

"It's the truth. You're one weird woman, Laetus." Sedatus looked away, looking disappointed.

Laetus puffed out more like a balloon, cheeks burning red.

"Mm...!" Laetus formed both of her fists—

Huh?

Laetus suddenly hugged Sedatus, all clingy.

"Sedatus, you idiot! How dare you embarrass me in front of Tristis, you jerk!"

"Space," Sedatus commented, looking very bored and showing a hint of annoyance.

But honestly, it seemed like he was hiding his embarrassment.

They got awfully close.

I chuckled and smiled at the sight.

I'm happy for you, Laetus!

Good.

Laetus had moved on from Peri. And she'd found someone who clearly cared about her.

That just left Peri.

Don't worry, Peri! I'll find you someone perfect! I shall be your wingwoman!

I puffed out steam from my nose!

But first things first! We'd got to head to this stadium those guards mentioned before!

"But you sure have changed, Tristis." Laetus smiled at me as she let go of Sedatus.

"Hmm?" I tilted my head at Laetus.

"Yeah. Yesterday, you sounded a bit dead on the inside. Not wanting to leave your house." Sedatus added.

"... Really?" I scratched my head.

"Really! So what Peritia mentioned to us was true! The old you is returning!" Laetus gave me a hug and rubbed her face against mine.

"I see..." I muttered.

"Did something happen?" Sedatus pulled Laetus when he asked that.

I placed my hand under my chin.

Did something happen for me to act that way?

I tried to think of the time that made me act that way. But no matter what, I couldn't—wait.

If I recalled correctly...

"I guess... when Peri called me beautiful. That was probably when the change was starting, I suppose?"

"Huh?" I heard Laetus and Sedatus say in unison.

"And after that, I slowly felt myself motivated to come up here to meet up with everyone, ehehe!" I scratched my neck.

That, and the clues for the curse are drawing near!

I could feel the embarrassment coming once more.

"At any rate, we should get going!" I said excitedly. I took out my mirror to check the time. "It's almost time! Two minutes left!"

Laetus and Sedatus blinked at the same time.

And for some reason, they both smiled at me.

The two of them grabbed each of my hands and started to run with me.

"H-huh?! W-wait a second!" I felt my embarrassment rising.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Laetus raised her free hand.

"We can't have you be late for the tryouts." Sedatus sounded calm, yet excited for some reason.

Huh.

They both seemed very motivated, too.

Ah! They must want to see Peri as well!

Of course! That must be it!

And so, based on how smoothly they both knew where to go, maybe it was to the stadium! And if so, I could finally be there on time for the Knights' selection and find more clues about the dark petal!