Chapter 73.2 – Delivering Princess Ebell 1.2

Shinatobe faced the screaming Mage and covered his mouth to stop the screams. “Your Guards, for as good as they may be at extorting information from a prisoner, lack experience and a strong stomach. I have no problem with cutting his fingers and making him eat them. He will speak in no time, won’t you?”

Shinatobe removed his hand, and the Mage Summoner almost screamed, “Long live ‘The Galtian Khaganat’! Soon, your pitiful alliance shall fall, and we will reign supreme once again!”

Shinatobe punched his head hard, knocking him out. Alex went to her and after staring at the fainted Mage, he faced the King. “How did this guy became a Royal Mage, King Zack? Because if no one checked his background, you should be very worried about all the Mages and Guards that are near you.”

Prince James gulped and turned pale when he recognised Alex while the King was slowly nodding. “You have a point, Mister Alex. Even I am surprised because Mage Gandil has been at my service for three years, and never once did he raise any suspicions about him. He joined my Royal Mages as a trainee, and through his skill with Water and Healing Magic, he gained a position with them. I am quite surprised to see you in this Party of Adventurers, because on the Quest Form that I got, there was only the name of the Leader of the Party of Adventurers that accepted my Quest, and there were no names or number of members.”

James Macdonald spoke in a serious tone. “That is the normal procedure, my King, when a customer requests absolute secrecy. Mister Alex is not an official member of my Party, but I hired his services for this particularly dangerous Quest.”

The King nodded and turned to Princess Ebell, who was staring at Mage Gandil, who was on the floor in front of her. “I am also surprised about you, Princess. I wasn’t aware that you were such a powerful Fire Mage. And judging by the surprise in my son’s eyes, he didn’t know as well.”

“I am not King Zack. Let’s just say I have a few tricks up my sleeve that were prepared to protect me after what we faced during our travel. We went against not only Monsters but also a group that tried to stop us from coming here, and some Dark Mages from the Consortium that weren’t supposed to exist nowadays.”

Hearing that dreadful name raised a bunch of scattered voices, and the King asked for silence because he wanted to know more. “What do you mean by that, Princess Ebell? The Consortium is just a myth now. They don’t exist anymore, for hundreds of years!”

“Say that to the Dark Mages we fought before crossing the border, King Zack. It seems their influence was spreading in secrecy, and since your Mage over here was sent by ‘The Galtian Khaganat’, it’s like Mister Alex told me, my presence here and my future marriage with Prince James to increase the bond between our countries is something that both the Consortium and ‘The Galtian Khaganat’ want to prevent from happening. Unfortunately for them, I am not so weak and unable to defend myself as everyone thought, and I intend to do my part to protect the alliance.”

All the Nobles stared at the Princess, not only impressed by her words but also by the Fire Magic that was surrounding her, making her look like a powerful and scary Mage.

She took a few steps forward and said, “Shinatobe, can I bother you by asking to interrogate this spy? It’s better if we find out everything he knows. If that’s okay with you, King Zack.”

While the King was nodding, Shinatobe grabbed the right foot of the fainted Mage and spoke, “As you wish, Princess Ebell. What about the other Mages and the Royal Guards that are still looking at us?”

“If they were not a part of this assassination attempt, they have nothing to fear, right? But if they helped him…”

While staring at the Royal Mages from behind her closed helmet, which left her mouth visible, Shinatobe spoke with a wrinkle on her lips, “I will make sure they regret it.”

She then approached the Princess’ right ear and whispered, “Don’t let Kagu-tsuchi influence you too much, Princess. You might get lost if you follow his guidance more than you should.”

The Princess whispered back, “I know, he told me to say all those things, and I am doing my best not to faint from nervousness!”

Shinatobe gently squeezed the Princess’s shoulder, made a slight nod, and went to the door with her captive.

The Royal Mages went to the left, standing next to the Royal Guards and Shinatobe spoke as soon as a servant opened the door for her, “Okami and Suijin, keep these Mages under close watch. If they try to move a finger or increase their Magic even a slight bit, kill them.”

She left with the fainted Mage, and as the door closed behind her, Okami and Suijin approached the group of Royal Mages and stood in front of them with a serious look and an immense amount of Magic around them.

James Macdonald made one step forward and took a piece of paper from the pocket inside his vest that he presented to the King. “My King, if you would be so kind as to sign the Quest Form, we will be on our way, because we have other matters to attend to, and we don’t wish to impose our presence any more than needed.”

“Nonsense! You are my guests! I want to know everything that happened during your voyage! I am sure everyone is eager to listen to everything that you faced to bring the Princess here!”

Alex made a slight bow. “I am sorry, my King, but the events we went through are not to be discussed in public. The Princess already spoke too much, but she may have her reasons for that. I can only warn her that some things are better kept secret instead of alarming the public unnecessarily, at least until it’s safe for everyone.”

Princess Ebell noticed the serious look Alex was giving her, and she immediately knew about whom he was talking about, and he continued when he saw her slowly nodding. “For the time being, I advise you to check all your servants, maids, Royal Guards, and Nobles that are closest to you, just in case another spy infiltrated. Perhaps another one exists, given that Mage Summoner has been working here for the past three years with no one knowing.”

The King nodded while grabbing the paper that James Macdonald had given him. A servant quickly approached with ink and a feather. After the King signed, the servant went to his place near a wall, and the King returned the paper to James Macdonald and asked while signalling with his head to Okami and Suijin. “What about them, Mister Alex? If your Party intends to leave, what will they do, considering that armoured woman said they should watch over my Mages?”

“They will kindly escort the Mages to the outside and wait for Shinatobe. If they are clear, they will be left alone and Shinatobe will apologize. If she discovers that one or more of them is a spy, she will make another round of interrogations, and I will offer her services free of charge as a bonus. Normally, I request a payment, but we all want to make sure that Princess Ebell will be safe without us around. Not that she cannot defend herself, as she so adequately demonstrated, but we will all sleep better at night, knowing that she is safe.”

The King gave a slight smile. “It seems you have a great regard for the Princess.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but she is definitely growing on me. I bid you farewell, King Zack.”

With a forced smile, Alex made a deep bow to the King and a slight bow to the table. “I leave the Princess in your care, Prince James. I hope you make her happy, or I won’t be very pleased with you. Princess Ebell, it was interesting, to say the least.”

The Prince nodded with a pale face. “I… will do my best, for sure, rest assured.”

Alex remembered something, and he took a box from his shoulder bag and gave it to the Princess. “I was supposed to ask the King if he wanted to buy this set, but I think this will be a good marriage gift. You may keep it or sell it, if you want.”

The Princess opened the small box and gulped. “This was made by Miss Aria Martin, right? So beautiful! Thank you, Mister Alex.”

The Princess suddenly hugged Alex with her free arm, breaking the Royal Protocol, and Alex whispered in her ear, “You just made a blunder that will make the Nobles around gossip for several days, you know?”

The Princess whispered back with a slight smile, “They will gossip a lot more when they see me wearing this, for sure! Thank you for everything you taught me and showed me, Mister Alex. I won’t let you down.”

As the others were bowing as well, the Princess smiled at them and wished them a safe journey back to the Guild, with a request for them to come see her again, so that they could be sure she was alright.
Okami and Suijin pointed to the opened doors, and the group of Mages went through them in absolute silence. Alex and the others followed them along the large corridor to the patio outside.

Along their walk, James MacDonald whispered to him, “I noticed your eye twitching every time you looked at all those Nobles, so I thought it was best if we left as soon as possible.”

“Yes, I saw them looking at us with a disgusted face the moment we entered that room. I can never get used to how proud most of them are with no reason besides being born into a Noble family.”

When they were on the patio again, Shinatobe was there, looking at a pile of mashed red flesh with a pool of blood around it. She faced the group of nervous Mages and said, “It seems you are all clear. A group smuggled him to Bouria over three years ago, but they are long gone. I hope one of you can use Fire Magic to burn his remains, or the stench will be unbearable in a few hours.”

One of the Royal Mages slowly raised his right hand, and at the signal of Shinatobe to approach, he sent a flush of Fire to the bloody mess at her feet, and in seconds, it was all turned into ashes.

She then turned into a tiny ball of light and went to Alex again, and he faced the Royal Mages with such darkness in his eyes that they all gulped. “I will leave you with a fair warning. It will be in your best interest to make sure Princess Ebell is safe and there is no other spy around. If I find out she was attacked again, I will go after all of you, and not even ashes will be left behind. Did I make myself clear?”

The Mages vigorously nodded, and Alex went to his horse that a stable boy had brought the moment he saw that strange group coming to the patio.

When everyone was on their rides again, James Macdonald signalled for them to follow him, and as they were trotting down the paved road again, one of the Mages spoke, “I still can’t believe that Gandil was a traitor. It’s probably better if we start with some checking of the staff, right?”

An older Mage spoke while staring at the Guards near the gate that were watching the Party of Adventurers leaving, “We need to make two groups, and while one goes to check the servants and maids, the other goes to the Guards. We all know how those knights can be difficult, but even the King needs to be reassured that he is safe because that coward attack against the Princess was a stain on us, Royal Mages. Gandil was so fast that I did not even have time to do a thing. If the Princess could not defend herself like she did, we would all be in a tough situation by now, or maybe even dead, because we failed to protect her.”

While the Royal Mages were getting ready for their difficult new task, Anika was riding next to Alex on her horse, and she was trying to make small talk, but he kept on nodding or answering with short sentences. She finally gave up, and rode in silence next to him when they were again on the main road heading to the ‘City of Keldunes’.