Chapter 9: Princess Gloriosa Litus Kawaka in Ostillian kingdom

Being born second princess of Sorcery kingdom, I, Gloriosa Litus Kawaka had always big target on my back. Be it scheming nobles or crafty brothers who tried to get rid of me for their fear of me taking away their position in the race for the throne.

Honestly, I don't care about it at all. All I want is to play with my summoned beasts. Yes, as one in one hundread million people, I posses rare Summoning magic.

Summoning magic, is also called Multi-familiar magic, that is becouse those with summoning magic can summon multiple monsters of many different classes. Said monsters are called familiars.

Everyone who posses ability to use at least intermediate level spell should be able to summon one familiar. But that's not summoning magic. Becouse everyone can only form one contract in their lifetime. Summoning magic have almost no restrictions on contracts. Only thing you need is enough magic power to make the monster you summoned follow you.

Summoning is magic as rare as Crimson magic and almost as powerful as that of dragons, such an amazing skill Summoning magic really is. Maybe that's why... I'm so lonely...

I looked out of the window of my cabin. On the other side, I saw tiny Flying sharks and other monsters of the seas. I once summoned one of those by accident, it was quite funny seeing father all surprised back then.

"The magic barrier of his majesty works remarkably well," my main guardian, Countess Maira, smiled seeing the sharks refusing to come any closer to our ship.

"It's powerful barrier, I guess," I said indiferently making the countess make an annoyed grimace.

"Anyway, we should arrive in Arterüze tommorow morning. From there we will continue to Melrose, city where acting lord is currently staying."

"I understand. What about guards from Ostillian side? Father said he asked for a Guardian knight."

"Yes. That man is named Leonard Hirano Dragonrose. Apparently he is accomplished space magic user, swordsman and also something called a 'Gunner,' but that term is new to me," countess bowed with the worst played apology I ever saw.

"[Gunner] is person who uses [guns] on profesional degree. Think of it as faster archer. But, it doesn't seem like father to accept some random powerful person. Do we have any information about this Dragonrose person?"

Father didn't gave me much informations except for him being trusted by the Ostillian royal family. I wonder... how's Tina faring, I haven't spoke with her since the Crystal ball incident... Gloriosa's face darkened a little.

"I see, that's how it is... Anyway, there is quite a lot of rumors about that sir Dragonrose. First of, he is son of duke Flik Netrose and his wife Sareen."

"If I'm correct, she's my aunt, right?"

"Yes, she is indeed daughter of the previous king and sister of your father. Anyway, I will continue with explanation about their son. Sir Dragonrose is always accompanied by two people. One is former priestess from temple of Water goddess named Tarumipemi Seadraga."

"Oh, so she's a noble too?"

"Aparently she recieved her title alongside sir Dragonrose. She's chevalier serving under him. The second person is Kiira Drakeena and that one is complete mystery to us. She is said to be his right hand, someone who is able to keep up with sir Dragonrose at all times. She was rumored to be half-elf, but it seems she evolved into High elf during her Warrior blessing ceremony when she was ten years old."

"Wouldn't that make her the fastest one to level up like that?"

"Not completly. Sir Dragonrose is rumored to be an unawakened majin with power rivaling his parents."

I swallowed involuntarily as I recalled stories about my aunt and uncle. Apparently during war with demons in former Mist kingdom, those two were able to hold back hordes of thousands upon thousands of various Gold and above ranked demons. And their son is as strong them? That's hard to belive. But if he is, then isn't he quite a monster too?

"Additionaly with only two other people he was able to take down Cockatrice before even attending the New year's debut. On said debut he uncovered plot to overthrow the royal family and was one of the main reasons for disbanding of said political faction."

"Wha–?! Is that true?!"

"Yes. This information was given to us from many sides. Also he found instigators of forced slavery and after being attacked by them, he took down the entire noble family that was backing it. Recently he captured all lower levels of Altera city's dungeon in less then half a year and was given Golden explorer rank. Now we finaly get's to why he was awarded with his title. On his way back from Altera city, he noticed carriage to be attacked by wyvern. He slew the wyvern and helped the carriage the rest of the way to Roseburg city. The person inside the carriage was princess Victina and her escort, the Sword saintess Lulunese Gen Seawed. While they were resting in the city, a Forest dragon awoken and caused a steampade. Sir Dragonrose send his guards to fend them of while he, miss Kiira, miss Tarumipemi and Miss Lulunese took down the dragon. Later it was revealed that the one who killed the dragon was sir Dragonrose."

I fell down to my chair as if all strings holding me up were suddenly cut.

"That... is he really same age as me? If he was well acomplished Adamantite blue ranked adventurer I could understand... but you're telling me he's my age?!"

"I understand your bewilderment. I too, don't want to belive it."

"From your figure of speach, I guess you started to belive?"

"Honestly, there is one more report."

"Tell me."

"Aparently, sir Dragonrose is also master of arts. Aparently he created a musical instruments called piano, quitar which is somewhat simmilar to lute and something called saxophone. Additionaly, he's a great cook who created many pasteries which are now considered the top of culinary world in the capital. That's the newest information we got this morning from magical comunication device."

So it's your sweet tooth again huh? I lost interest instantly.

It's been far too long since I visited the Ositillian kingdom... it will take at least two weeks to get to the royal capital from the port... I wonder, how's Rin and Tina doing...

"Princess?"

"Ah, sorry, it seems I got caught in my own dreams," I smiled innocently, hiding my true feelings.

Two days later our ship arrived at the port town. There, around fifty soldiers took out my luggage and that of my escorts. I was the last one to disembark from the ship. When I did, a carriage that was arranged for me by the city lord opened it's doors. Said city lord is apparently a servant of Netrose family and father of the Sword Saintess, the Baron Seawed. The diner at his house was for a port town extravagant, yet for royalty of kingdom on free-floating island it was passable at best.

The next morning, our delegation was surprised by something unseen. Fifty Sea dragonfolks on horses were lined up before the gates.

One of them, who looked like an elder, but was actually the youngest of the group, kneeled before me, the princess, before speaking very politely.

"We welcome princess Gloriosa Litus Kawaka of the Sorcery kingdom in Ostillian kingdom, my humble name is Modasi and I will be acting as a captain of sir Dragonrose's knights. We were ordered to take you to Melrose city, which is governed by brother of sir Dragonrose."

"Only there? Why not the entire way?"

"I was told to not disclose any information that is not needed, I'm sorry."

"Even though you are supposed to guard me?"

"We were ordered not to. And we can't disobay our master."

"Would you be punished by him if you did?" I hide my bewilderment behind my fan, trying to figure out what kind of perso he is.

"No, not him... but... young lady just might..." Modasi turned little pale as he remembered something from time of traning in one certain dungeon city.

And so, our journey went off. On our way, we were attacked by bandits, but the Sea dragonfolks took them down without even loosing a single man. And what to boot, all those bandits were captured alive and stored in special magic bag which was apparently enchanted with spell called Dimension home.

"Just what was that... if you wanted you could transport so many soldiers this way... how easy the wars would be..." Gloriosa held her head as her common sence was shattered with every new item and spell she withness.

This journey full of bewilderment ended in just two days, but to me it felt like just a single afternoon.

"It's an honor to finaly meet you princess Gloriosa," young man in his mid-twenties bowed his head at the doors of the mansion in the Melrose city. He was twice as old as me and had brown hairs with silver eyes.

"It's good to meet you acting lord Gavin Mikel Netrose. I've heard a lot of praise about your governance and the smiles on people in the town are proof of that," I bowed ellegantly.

"Your praise is too high, princess. This place recieved a lot of help from my little brother."

"Your little brother?"

"You certainly heard about him. He's Leonard Hirano Dragonrose. Your future Guardian knight."

This was new information to people of the Sorcery kingdom. While they knew sir Dragonrose was talented at many fields, there was no record about him doing anything with architecture.

"Ceartainly, the city looks cleaner now then when I was stopping here last time. It was five years ago right?"

"Indeed it is my lady," her main guard bowed her head, walking behind her.

"Please use these rooms for your stay. The diner will be served in two hours. If you need anything in the meantime, please ring the bell next to the coffee table and a maid will be dispatched. On that note, do you wish for something to drink? We have several different drinks always at ready," the maid bowed and proffesionaly added her own question.

"That coffee sounds interesting, what kind of drink is it?"

"Coffee is a slightly bitter drink made from bean-like seeds. The color is black, and some even experience energy boost from drinking it."

"I'm bad with bitter drinks, but I'm intrigued, is it possible to make it sweeter?"

"Yes, of course. Would you like sugar or milk?"

"What kind of sugar?"

"We have two basic varieties, one brown and one white. If you want to ask about milk next. We have three kinds. One from regular cows, one from Blade cows and one from Sand cows."

"We have Sand cows back home, so I would like to ask for Blade cows milk," I smiled behind my fan and rested my back on the sofa.

The drink, coffee, was really bitter, but the blade cow milk gave it soothening sweetness.

"Whoa, I actually like it. Is it possible to buy this 'Coffee' of yours?" Maira's eyes sparkled.

"Sorry, but we recieved only enough for our use and for our guests so we don't posses enough beans to sell it to you. But I heard that Sir Dragonrose will be opening shop in the capital soon."

"Ah, sir Dragonrose will," Maira tried to hide her anger as the name was coming up from almost every possible kind of conversation.

After that, we were lead to diner hall. It was beautifuly decorated room with a giant table. But something was wrong. There were too many plates. If the head of the city and his wife both had one set, I had another one, then why are there three more? Gloriosa thought.

"Princess Gloriosa, I beg your forgiveness for not being able to give you proper welcome, I had to go outside the city at the moment of your arrival."

"Do not worry, sir Netrose, I've been informed. There was a monster ourbreak in a nearby forest right?"

"Yes, we had found out that there were some Land Crabs so we had to exterminate them before they would become a threat."

"That must've been hard work," Gloriosa nodded to Gavin's words.

"Indeed, Gavin should try to take it easy for a while," a woman around same age as Gavin spoke up, and her gentle smile eased the hearts of everyone present.

"Mia..." Gavin got a little embarrassed, "You know good well I have to put in more effort."

"Well, your little brothers both gained their own title, I get that you would try to best them. But please take your time okay?" the woman, Mia, giggled with a warm smile.

I guess these sibblings get along pretty well, huh? Gloriosa got a little jealous.

"Ah, pardon my rudeness, princess. We got little off topic, but I should inform you that we will have one more guest today."

"Oh? We will?" I tilted her head.

As soon as those words left my mouth, a purplish black vortex opened up between me and Gavin. Maira jumped between me and the vortex, preparing herself for a combat. She didn't had a sword on her, but her fist were weapons too.

Not a second later, a man dressed in black uniform and army-like hat entered the room. He had brown short cut hairs and greenish silver eyes. While he was still young, a slight resembling to Gavin was clear. There was no doubt in my mind that this was Leonard Hirano Dragonrose.

"Good evening princess Gloriosa Litus Kawaka, I was ordered by his majesty the Ostillian king to become your Guardian knight. My name is Leonard Hirano Dragonrose," the man bowed.

The black uniform, it's sign that he's part of the Disciplinary comitee in the school. Moreover, those two golden chains on his left shoulder... he's a vice-captain.

"Apart from me, there will be two other people accompanying us."

In that moment two woman in same clothes, albeit blue, as Leonard's came through the black vortex and the said vortex collapsed afterwards. The two had a white armbands with letter S in black cicle, a sign of S class student.

"The one on my left is Kiira and the one on the right is Taru, you can think of them as my closest retainers," Leonard introduced the red haired elf and blue haired sea dragonfolk girl, who were matching the description we were given before.

"I understand. It's nice to meet you sir Dragonrose. It seems we will spend a lot of time together from now on," I smiled, becouse I came to learn one thing with my apprisal, the fact that rumors about sir Dragonrose being actually an unawakened Majin were true.

"Well, let's start the diner," Gavin smiled when Leonard stood up and they exchanged few words between each other.

Really... family that gets so well with each other... how enviable... Gloriosa's eyes darkened a little as she watched the two.

During the diner, they talked about various little details about school. Given that I already handed over her list of classes, I wanted to take, Leo informed me, who will be with me on which class.

Becouse I'm in pure magic user course, the most of the guarding would be done by Taru and Leo.

"Sir Dragonrose, could I ask you what took you so long until meeting me?"

"Yes, we had a little trouble with captain of our comitee, which resulted in me taking the position of vice-captain. We were also interogating the bandits that were captured by my soldiers that were accompanying you."

"And, you learned something?" I asked as I fought the urge to clench my fists.

At the same moment a wicked grins appeared on Kiira's and Taru's faces.

"Yes we did, but please let me refrain from telling you for now. I would like to discuss the information after we confirm it's truthfulness."

"That is understandible," I nodded and eased a little.

"Also, I would like for you to prepare for tomorrows audience with the king."

"T-Tomorrows?"

"Yes. I'm a space magic user. I can transfer from one part of the kingdom to another in matter of seconds," Leonard said matter-of-factly. I was probably looking completly dumbfounded, becouse when I looked at Gavin for confirmation, he only smiled and spoke up.

"My little brother have the highest magic capacity of all of our siblings. He could make round trip to capital from anywhere he already was and still be able to use enough magic to take on a dragon."

"Oh, come on brother Gavin, you know that that one was a close call."

"Yeah, becouse you burned down so much of the forests behind the city wall, that they are now used for fields that could feed an entire city for two weeks."

"And also used earth magic to create trenches to give everyone easier time fighting the steampade," Mia smiled warmly again looking at the two brothers.

"Well maybe I do have a little more magic then normal people."

The three of them laughed. The diner continued like this until late night when everyone broke off into their own rooms.

"Just what's his deal... he seems so relaxed... doesn't he realize I'm in danger?" I muttered into the cusion under me.

"I do, actually," male voice made me flinch and sit up straight.

When I did, I saw the three young people from the diner.

"Wh-why did you came to my room sir Dragonrose?"

"Well, I got the feeling that I may not be able to speak with you alone. That guard of yours didn't let her eyes off me even as she was stuffing her face with the meat. Also, if you don't mind, call me Leo. It's shorter and easier to say," Leo said with a smile.

"Fine, sir Leo, tell me what did you want to talk about alone?"

"Well, the thing number one is that the bandits were payed in currency of the Sorcery kingdom. Also, they weren't ordered to kill you but to kidnap you."

"Kidnap me? Why?"

"That's hard to say, but they knew that there will be fifty soldiers from your kingdom and fifty from our kingdom. Sadly for them, the fifty soldiers from our side were trained by me so the poor bandits didn't even stood a chance," Leo shrugged.

"We belive they wanted to use the kidnaping to tarnish the relationships between the two kingdoms. And to get some money," Kiira, the elf made a gesture for coins with her left hand.

"But weren't they paid?"

"The thing is, their boss disappeared with the money so they though that if they get you, they will be paid for returning you in one piece."

"I would belive it more if father came to the location and blasted them away with his magic though..." I made a sour expression.

"Hahaha, yes, I've heard from his majesty that your father have rather fiery personality," Leo laughed and stood up, "Now, let's speak little more calmly. The fact is that there are people who are after you. I don not know if the people came from ourside and used your country's money to make it look like someone from your side did it, or if it was done by someone from your side or some unknown forces, but that's not relevant now. I prepared few magic items for protection. Here. I tried to compose them into these small bracelets."

"Oh, they look really stylish on top of being functional."

"I made them with healing, barriers and stress call functions."

"Wh-what is that?" I got a little suprised. I mean, what does it even mean 'Stress call function'?

"The two with white stones can use healing magic. When the spells are used, the stones will turn black. The red stones are for barriers, same thing happens when used. Remember that the first two are magical and physical barriers, but the last one, the pink one is World isolation barrier, use it only if your life's at grave risk. Lastly wear the blue stone bangle around your ankle. If you pour your magic into it, I will be able to come to your aid even if I'm not in the kingdom."

"Wait, how's that possible?"

"It's enchanted with my original spells [Lock on] and [Satelite], so there's no way I could loose the track of you."

"Wh-what if they are taken away?"

"Heh, well, good question. I would like to see someone try," Leo laughed drily with an evil grin.

"Well, this is all for today, get some rest and tomorrow we will have the audience with the king. Good night," Leo bowed and disappeared.

After that, the elf girl, Kiira came closer to me looked me in the eye, smiled and with simple 'sweet dreams' teleported away.

"I better go too," Taru rised from her place, "we may look and sound weird, to you now, but trust me that when Leo promise to protect someone, he WILL do it with all his heart. Good night, princess," Taru bowed and disappeared just like the two before her.

"Wait... you all can use space magic? Isn't space magic supposed to be rare?" my mind was blown away by something completly different.

AN: Happy Chrismas to everyone