The Divine Empress

Chapter 21

Kouen and Lucy were seated onto the side, next to the King, while Koumei sat alongside Nagi, Happy and Lily with him. As the King talked to Kouen, Lucy glanced back to look at Nagi, smiling as she did so.

I'm glad they're getting along, Lucy thought.

Catching the stare of Kouen, Lucy smiled back, causing Kouen to turn back to the King and chatting again. Lucy and them were free to get up whenever they wanted but none of them did. Noticing the spaciousness of the room they were seated in, Lucy couldn't help but think if someone else was coming.

"Your Majesty, pardon my interruption, but may I inquire something?" Lucy asked, stopping the awkward chat between Kouen and the King.

"O-Of course, Lucy-sama!" the King replied. "Please ask away!"

"Are there more people coming? With just this small of a company, there seems no need for such a big room. So I suspected that more will be joining us. Is that true?" Lucy asked, elegance and nobleness radiating from her.

The King smiled. "Thanks to everyone here, the Kouen-sama and Koumei-sama were able to come here with no harm. So, I decided to invite all of the guilds that had been called upon here," the King replied.

As he finished, there was a loud banging of doors and shouts. Standing in the doorway were their respective guilds' masters. Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus. All of the members had been gathered. The masters walked up to His Majesty and bowed.

"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty," they all said at once.

"Ohohohoho! It should be my honor after what your members have done for us!" the King laughed. "Please, enjoy the party!"

The masters looked at one another and smiled. "Of course."

"Listen up, you idiots!" Makarov yelled. "Don't you dare cause any trouble or destroy this castle!"

"Yes!" they all replied, saluting.

"Same goes for you Sabertooth! I trust you guys!" Jiemma said.

"Yes, Master!" Lucy, Nagi, Happy, Lily, and the others replied.

Kouen leaned in to Lucy and whispered in her air. "That's you Master? Looks rather gruff."

Lucy chuckled. "Though he may look like that, he's really nice and caring once you meet them. Same goes for Fairy Tail's Master, Makarov. He was like a grandfather that I never had."

"Hmmmm..." Kouen said, looking at the tiny old man.

Makarov saw Lucy and smiled brightly, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Lucy smiled in return. Jiemma noticed and they both came to Lucy with huge smiles.

"Well done, Lucy! I heard about what you did!" Jiemma beamed. "You guys did well, too!"

"I'm very proud of you, Lucy," Makarov smiled as he held her hand.

"I was only able to do what I did with the help of everyone," Lucy said, turning to look at her friends. Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Nagi, Happy, and Lily grinned.

Jiemma and Makarov soon noticed the stare of the person sitting next to Lucy. His sharp gaze looking right through them, as if already determining what kind of person they were. The two gulped as they stared right back.

"And this is?" Makarov asked, looking at Lucy.

"This is Ren Kouen. The Emperor of the Kou Empire. He's my childhood friend," Lucy replied.

"The Kou Empire's Emperor!!!" the two shouted. They immediately bowed to him, not daring to look at him.

"You may rise," Kouen said stoically.