A journey date, part-1

"Listen Miyu."

"Hmm?", she looked at him, flapping her ears.

Even the simple flapping of her ears makes his heart melt.

"You wanna go outside with me?"

"Is that okay for me to go out? Won't I be executed?"

In his mind, he was thinking,

"Who the heck is going to execute such a cute girl like her? Forget the elf vs human war."

"Wait then, let me find something that will cover your identity."

"Okay."

It was morning. The sunlight was peeping out of the curtains of the windows. It was a clear day to go out of the palace. It's been like, three days that he didn't go out? Well, maybe a little bit more. That's because of the loads of work he had to do at the palace.

On the other hand, stood a green haired elf, under the sunlight. Satoshi noticed that her eyes are emerald green too. She was waiting for him.

"How long are you going to keep staring at me?"

"Sorry."

He went back and was searching for something. He knew he had that placed somewhere, but he didn't know where he placed that thing. Going through the mess of the wardrobe, he finally found what he needed.

"Yes! Got it."

"What's that?"

"A cloak. This thing will for sure give you the protection you need."

As she stood, Satoshi put the cloak around her and helped her wear the cloak. It had an emblem at the center, signifying that the person is from the palace and are directly under the royal family. So nobody would even dare to mess with them.

The cloak suited her perfectly. For now, the only thing that one could identify her as an elf was her ears. And none could see her ears because of the cloak, so it was all good.

"I have an idea."

"What?", she wondered in confusion.

"If you work under me, you can be saved."

"Me? Work under you?"

"Yes."

"What will I get?"

"Everything you need."

"Food too?"

"Of course."

"Im in!"

Surprisingly, food was her only concern. So once that was cleared, everything was okay. Well, it will be more of a date around the kingdom rather than a shopping. Maybe a shopping date?

"Well then. Should we go?"

"Yeah."

"Hold my hand."

He gently put his hand forward, hoping that she would take his hand.

At first, she hesitated a bit. But then, she agreed and took the hand. A strange circle engulfed both of them. She was scared.

"If you feel scared, then close your eyes."

The inside of the circle started shaking visibly. It was the first time she experienced something like this. Instead of closing her eyes, she just straight up hugged him.

It happened in the blink of the moment that Satoshi didn't even get the time to be flustered about this. After he used his ability, he saw Miyu already in his arms.

Slowly opening her eyes, she noticed that she was in the hands of Satoshi. She moved out a bit in embarrassment, but what she saw shocked her. They were now standing outside the palace, directly under the sun.

It was Satoshi's active ability, teleportation. It's known to be a very powerful weapon of destruction, and it's in the hands of the Rudy kingdom.

Looking to the left, she saw the gigantic palace where the royal family of Rudy lives. Its huge.

"Amazing! I have never seen such a big house let alone living in one!"

"Well, I live here everyday."

"I wish to live here everyday."

"What do you mean? Aren't you gonna stay with me?"

Her face glittered with joy as she heard him say those words. She was so overwhelmed with joy that she hugged him again, such that they both fell to the ground.

"Hey- what does this mean?"

"Sorry sorry. I thought that I have to live on my own from now on and you would just toss me away."

"What makes you think that? I am not so cold, am I?"

"I mean, a prince giving shelter to an elf that is going to be executed is... you know, unethical?"

"Calm down. And besides, I don't even know if those stories are real in the first place!"

"That's why I am overjoyed!"

Miyu started giggling after that, to which, Satoshi couldn't help but look at her. Her smile is so precious, why would someone execute such an innocent looking girl?

"Satoshii-samaaa!"

He heard a voice. They both stood up from the ground. Miyu fixed her hood so that her ears wouldn't be seen.

"Satoshi-sama! Where are you going?", asked the maid. Her name is Hina. She is an elderly maid working for the royal palace from Satoshi's birth. She loves Satoshi as her own child.

"Calm down a bit, Hina-san. I am just going out on an outing."

"Who is that person behind you?"

"Ehh?"

Before he realised, Miyu already took position behind his back. She was afraid.

"Oh, this is my personal assistant."

"I don't recon you had a personal until yesterday?"

"She is new."

"She? She is a girl."

"Umm... yes?"

Hina-san gave a confused look at Satoshi. She could feel something to be wrong. But he is the prince, so she can't argue about that.

"Well then, Satoshi-sama. Should I prepare a horse for you two? And also a sword?"

"Oh great! I almost forgot about those. Miyu, stay here."

"Okay.", said Miyu.

Soon enough, Satoshi brought back a pure, white horse. It had a black saddle on its back.

"It's my favourite horse. Meet Speed."

She was speechless seeing a horse. It was her first time looking at a horse in real life. It was bigger than she expected. Coming near Speed, she let out her hand.

Speed moved his head to her reach, where she could pat it. And Satoshi was just enjoying the scene and most importantly, her smile.

He was just standing a little far away, but Miyu noticed. She came to him and took him with her, holding his hands. She again pouted.

"What's wrong this time?"

"Why are you standing there far away from me?... I feel uncomfortable when you are not close to me."

Satoshi didn't see her face when she said this. But it's better that he didn't see. Because she was completely flustered about that.

With enough rambling done, they took on the horse and went out. Miyu sat in front, while Satoshi sat behind, holding the leash.

"Alright speed, are you ready? And GO!"

The horse rushed down the palace with an incredible speed, which gave an adrenaline rush to Miyu. It was the best feeling.

"Hold on tight, Miyu. This is only the start!"

"Amazingggg!"

The maid stood behind waving goodbye at those two. But something was going on inside her head,

"Personal assistant of Satoshi-sama, huh? I wonder how she did that. Satoshi-sama is very selective as to who he decides to befriend. He is a very careful man. It even took me six years to earn Satoshi-sama's trust. Well, Satoshi-sama chose her, so she must be someone special."

A gentle wind blew by, rustling the leaves. Hina decided to head back inside the palace.

"But a female, huh? Maybe he has taken a liking on her?", she giggled a bit as she thought of that possibility.

Meanwhile Miyu was enjoying herself to the most. And it was all thanks to Satoshi whom she had met.

Going down the palace, he slowed down a bit. Reaching the outer gates of the palace, he ordered the guards there to open those for them. He was carrying a pure white sword. Well, he didn't intend to use it, unless it's absolutely necessary.

As per the order, the guards opened the gates, letting them go out on their journey.

There was still some distance before they could enter into the city, so Satoshi gave her a brief explanation of the mapping of the Kingdom of Rudy.

The kingdom of Rudy is primarily divided into five cities. Those include the city of fish, the city of crops, the city of knowledge, the city of trade and the city of mechanics. Each city is divided into these sections based on the number of people of that occupation. These five cities are administered by five different ministries.

"Then what is your work as a prince?"

"I am basically the assistant head of the education ministry and the head of all the student councils of the country."

"Oow. That seems tough."

"It is. Well, maybe now my assistant can help me a bit."

"Well, I don't know much about this stuffs, but I will try to help."

"Just like that? No resisting?"

"Free food is all it takes."

He thought that she had finally accepted him, but seems like he was wrong.

"Satoshi! Satoshi! Look!"

"Yes. We are reaching closer to the city. This is the city of trade."

The crowd and the noise of the people soon came to a stop as they saw the Prince coming. Soon enough, only the sound of the horse's footsteps could be heard.

The villagers chanted,

"The Prince has arrived!"

Well, it has become a tradition to chant that when any of the royal family members came down, but Satoshi didn't like that. He felt a little embarrassed.

"Well well well. The prince is embarrassed."

"Stop it. I am still not used to this."

"If I were you, I would be proud of myself instead.", she grinned.

"Well that's because that's you."

"Was that an insult?"

"Yes."

"You are bad at insults."

"Did you really need to put salt onto the wound?"

"Hehe. Sorry."

The villagers soon made way for Prince Satoshi to go where he wanted to go. He was actually going to see Mr. Jun. He had been providing high quality clothes for the last ten years. So it is he whom he can trust.

Their house is directly in the middle of the shopping district. It too, was a very fancy building. Mr. Jun has the biggest market here.

"Umm, Is anyone here?"

"Oh, if it isn't Prince Satoshi himself! Thank you for coming here."

They took Satoshi and Miyu inside and showed them a couch to sit on.

"Prince Satoshi. What seems to be the problem? Aren't you satisfied with the new clothes we provided you this month?"

"No no. Those were good nonetheless."

"Its pretty rare for you to come here."

"I was actually hoping if you could choose something for her.", said Satoshi pointing at Miyu.

"Very well! Miss, please come with me."

"O-okay.", she agreed. But something is making her uncomfortable. But Satoshi came along,

"Don't worry. I will come too."

Upon hearing that, she was somewhat relieved.

Mr. Jun was a very well respected merchant whose birth was on the city of crops. But he wanted to be a merchant so he came and settled here.

Upon the wide variety of fancy clothes that Mr. Jun showed to her, one particular of them caught her attention. It was an emerald green outfit with golden outlines. She surely love that colour.

"Do you want this?"

She nodded her head,"Can I try it at first?"

"Sure Ma'am.", he said.

Satoshi patiently waited outside the trial room for her to change into the new clothes. In the meantime, he was thinking of the origin of elfs and what he could do now. If the people knew that she is an elf, then she would most probably be executed on spot. So what does he do to solve this issue?

While thinking of these things, the noise of the curtains opening was heard. As he looked back, he saw what he says, the most beautiful thing he saw in his lifetime.

"H-how is it?", she said, flapping her ears. But the flapping was covered by the cloak that he gave.

"..."

No reply. At first she thought he didn't like the outfit. She was a little embarrassed,

"Cute... very cute and beautiful. Its hard to express in words."

Soon, her embarrassment turned into happiness for the compliment he gave to her. She was kind of jumping around happily. She had matching outfits as her hair, and it suits her perfectly. Well, she was mostly happy because Satoshi liked it.

"Don't worry."

"About what?", she said happily.

"I will be making you a brand new cloak with my own emblem on it."

"You have your own emblem?"

"Yes. Everyone in the royal family has one. But I rarely have anyone under me, so mines practically useless."

"Then whose emblem is this that I am wearing?"

"Thats also mine, but I will be changing that. As the sore inheritor of the Kingdom of Rudy, I have to make something that represents my people. Something that they can be proud of."

"Sometimes you truly act like a ruler.", she giggled.

"Is that bad?"

"Nope. In fact, I like it."

He averted his gaze a little. Her complimenting him felt a little embarrassing, but he was happy nonetheless.

"Well, as your personal assistant. Would you hand me the responsibility of drawing the emblem?"

"Are you sure?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"I do."

"I am good at drawing. So I can make something decent, I guess."

"Okay then."

"I will start working on it after we reach the palace. Which reminds me, where would I sleep tonight?"

"With me?"

"Are you serious?"

"Just kidding."

"... I-if you insist. I w-would.", she stuttered while being completely red.

Satoshi didn't know what to reply so he just acted like nothing happened. An awkward situation grew between them.

The payments would be done by the palace, so he didn't need to pay right away. Wearing those new clothes and the cloak, she and Satoshi headed again for another journey. This time, it was to the city of knowledge, where he wanted to find books on elves.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the city of knowledge was kind of far away. They need to go through the entirety of the city of crops to go there. Well, that only counts as a fun journey on Miyu's part.

Safe to say, Satoshi was also having the time of his life. He never remembered something that travelling was so much fun until today. Meeting Miyu was the best thing that happened to him in these past couple of days.

Walking slowly through the paths, he let Miyu enjoy the scenery. Her eyes were glittering with joy and wonder.

They reached the border of the city of trade without even realising it. Now they have entered the vast city of crops.

This city is not actually a city in the most part. It was more of a village. The houses were separated by far and wide gaps, with croplands in between. The houses were not that fancy. There were a few windmills here and there. All of the carbohydrates of the country is provided by this city.

The city was not crowded, not dense and not noisy as the previous city. It was hard to imagine these two places belonged to the same country. The roads were wide open, with little to no people.

"I guess we should take a break under that tree.", pointed Satoshi at the big oak tree at the left side. Well, it was the only tree around, so they had to take rest there. They could also see some kids playing under the shade.

"Okay. I am also tired."

"Speed seems like he can't walk much more too. He needs water."

Water wasn't the problem here because water was abundant because of the irrigation facilities there.

Upon reaching there, they felt a sense of relief. Satoshi went down first and helped Miyu climb down, then he went and put Speed in a safe place.

The sun set its position directly under their heads. Which means it will be difficult for them to travel under the scorching sun. The break might be a little longer than expected.

As soon as Satoshi placed his foot on the ground, the children under the shade ran away. Maybe they were scared of the prince? Well, that's not the case. As other villagers started crowding that place soon after that. The children went to pass the information that the prince has arrived.

The villagers here also started chanting,

"The prince has arrived!"

But this time, the chant was a bit lower as the population was less. The children would often play with the prince. But this time, they were concerned about the new face that they were unfamiliar with.

As she tried to approach them, they quickly fleed to their mothers back.

"Hey. This is not appropriate behaviour to show to the royal family's subordinates."

"Its okay. They are only kids. Its better not to instil fear in them while they are young.", said Miyu.

She came close to one of them and sat down. Then she gently introduced herself.

"Hello. I am Miyu. Prince Satoshi's personal assistant. Nice to meet you."

"You have pretty eyes. Miss.", said the child.

"Oh my. Thank you."

They started to come close to her one by one, until she became quite popular among the children.

"Hey miss. How did you get green eyes?"

"I was born with it."

"The green hair too?"

"Yes."

"What about the clothes?"

"Well, this is bought."

"What do you do in your free time?"

"How are you so pretty?"

She was getting bombarded with questions. She was hardly able to keep up. And to add more, they were starting to ask some weird questions.

"Do you love Prince Satoshi?"

"Are you going to marry him?"

"Are you two getting engaged?"

"N-no. Its n-nothing l-like that.", she said, being flustered. Children shouldn't be asking these kind of questions.

At that time, came someone. Clasping his hands to grab the children's attention,

"Yep. Thats all the questioning you are going to get. Give the lady a room to breathe."

Upon looking up, she saw something fimiliar. It was a guy, around the same age as Prince Satoshi, wearing the same emblem she was wearing.

"Prince Satoshi. Long time no see!"

"I told you to let go of the 'Prince' part. But anyway. I know you wouldn't listen."

"I just can't disrespect someone who is going to be the next king. And you seem to have gotten a personal assistant."

"I will give you the details later."

"Alright."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about him, Miyu. He is my childhood friend and also directly under me, Haruto Shouhei. He went to train in the training course of swordsmanship in the city of knowledge. And now he's basically unemployed."

"That's rude.", said Haruto.

Miyu giggled a bit looking at those two,

"I could tell that you two are good friends."