Licht Eralith's POV
The news of Tess disappearing nearly sent everyone in the palace into a state of panic. She wasn't seen in or around the palace area. The palace guards were quickly deployed to search every inch of the capital. She couldn't have gone that far but there's always a nagging feeling that there is a chance that she is in some kind of danger.
"I will take a quick trip of the entire kingdom to see where she went off to." I urgently spoke, grabbing a broom for myself. "Just make sure to not let this news spread outside the palace."
If news of the disappearance of a member of the royal family gets out, it will be sure to cause panic among citizens. And this is no guarantee on who would harbor what kind of emotions regarding this news. Even if I did not want to doubt or suspect anyone from our own kingdom, this isn't the time to be pondering about all that. People are fickle minded and at times there are many factors that can change one's thinking.
"What are you taking the broom for?" My father curiously inquired,, after having ordered the royal guards to search in the vicinity of the palace.
"For flying.." With that said I stood on the broom before taking off to the skies from one of the windows of the palace hallways. Right now I was way too concerned about Tessia's whereabouts and well-being to even bother looking back at my father's jaw dropped expression.
"Ah yes, you are new to this.." Grandpa Virion pated his son's back before ushering him to go check on mother who appeared to be in more worry than all three of us. It is natural when it comes to mothers.
"You knew this. That our son can do what needs other mages to achieve the near-impossible white core and that too on a simple broom?" Father was still having difficulty in processing what he saw with his very own eyes. The shock was too much to even trust one's own sight.
"We can talk about that later Alduin." Grandpa groaned. "Finding Tessia comes first."
"Forgive me father. The shock was just too much." Father shook his head. Finding his daughter is the first priority. "it is just that sometimes I feel Licht hides a lot from us. But as his father, I want him to have trust in us and be free with whatever he has to say. I am ready to wait for as long as it takes for him to do that."
"I understand your worries. And I am sure Licht would one day open up to us." Grandpa assured. "We will just have to give him time."
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Five days went by and there was no luck, not even a single clue of where Tessia went. We search every corner of the kingdom with the aid of both soldiers and mages specializing in stealth so that the citizens don't catch the wind of the royal princess's disappearance. There remained only one place left to search and I hoped that I will be able to find her there safe and sound. And then once I find her, I will treat her to something even better than some pudding.
Everyone of us narrowed down the search area to Elshire Forest. That was the only place left to search in and since the forest covered a very big area, a detailed map of the forest was laid out on the table. Around the table stood me, father, grandfather, the Captain of the Royal Guards and Joshua, where father was assigning various areas of the Elshire Forest to the three of us to cover during our search.
In the past few years under mine tutelage, Joshua had grown into a fine mage. having reached Solid Orange stage at the age of fifteen, with an affinity for Earth Magic. Not to brag about myself but I think I really am a great teacher. With I was also able to experiment on whether it was possible to incorporate mana utilization techniques from my previous world to this world or not/
And it was a success. For instance, Joshua is the second mage among the entire population of mages in Elenoir or lets say the entire continent of Dicathen who is able to fly on a broom.
Just as we were about to head for Elshire Forest when suddenly one of the guards notified that the Palace Teleportation Gate had been activated. The other end of that teleportation gate was in Elshire Forest. This Gate was rarely accessed. It was only open when either Father or Grandfather or some of the noble family heads want to go hunting in the forest. After being given permission they were allowed to go through the Teleportation.
The chant to activate this Teleportation Gate was only known to the royal guards assigned for protection of the Royal Family, with each of them being on Yellow Core Stages and well-versed in the art of hiding their mana from leaking out. Other than them only us five Eraliths along with Grandma Rinia know the chant to activate the Gate.
'It must be Tessia!'
Mine and grandpa's eyes met before we nodded and sped off at blinding speeds towards the front yard of the palace where the Gate is supposed to be. Few of the Royal Guards had headed there much earlier than us upon hearing that the Gate had been activated.
Reaching there I saw the guards kneeling down in front of Tessia. Upon closer look, we noticed that she wasn't alone. Holding hands with her was a human boy whom I internally swore that I had seen him somewhere or maybe someone resembling him. I couldn't just pinpoint it at the moment. Upon seeing me and grandpa, the boy let go off Tessia's hands and pushed her forward.
"I am so glad you are fine Tess.." Without even wasting a second, I pulled her into a bone-crushing hug with no intention of letting go at this moment. Upon seeing this even grandpa's expression softened while Tessia had tears forming in her eyes. Kissing her forehead and relieved that she was fit and fine, I let go of the hug. "From now I am keeping a close eye on you and no pudding for a week. This is punishment for worrying us sick for five days."
Forming a pouty face, she headbutted me but it was all worth it. She had finally come back to us and it is all that mattered.
"Tessia! My baby!"
Mother's voice was heard from behind us. I turned around to see mother rushing towards us with father following behind. Her cheeks were lined with tears while father had a tensed expression on his face. It was easy to see that he was trying not to let his tears fall.
Giving Tessia a gentle push towards our parents, I turned to face the boy who had been looking at us for the past few minutes with a smile plastered on his face. He seemed glad that Tessia had reunited with her family, that's what I could infer from his facial expressions. If I were to guess this boy and Tessia must have ran into each other in the forest and then he accompanied her back home.
Though there were two things puzzling me as to how a four-year old human boy ended up in the Elshire Forest and secondly why does he seem all-familiar with 'those two' out of the blue. If I connect the dots, what I am thinking right now is definitely the case but it would be better to confirm it with proper proof.
"As the Prince of Elenoir and Tessia's brother I sincerely thank you for escorting Tessia back home and you may forget this unsightly appearance.." I pointed to my parents trying not to completely bawl their eyes out and Tessia having totally bawled her eyes out. "You must be tired from your journey so I suggest you take some rest in the palace. We can talk about what all happened after that."
"I humbly greet the Prince of Elenoir." The boy slightly bowed before continuing. "I would rather like it if you were to listen to what I have to say before resting. It is a humble request."
I was shocked at how well-mannered the boy appeared to be. Such mannerisms and etiquettes. Am I even making the right connection? From the way he spoke, it was akin to how Lumiere spoke with his own subjects. Like a King...Even if he was bowing in front of me, to me it felt as if we were of equal social status.
What even surprised me was that this boy had already awakened and was at Dark Red Stage. This gave rise to another question in my head which I preferred keeping to myself. Is this boy also a....or am I simply overthinking things..?
"If that's what you wish then please come along." I nodded, pushing the thoughts at the back of my mind.
Right after I said that, a blur of silver went by and Tessia grabbed the boy's arm with the biggest grin on her face I had ever seen. A look of surprise was etched on everyone's faces and even grandfather who remained stoic throughout the time frame had a look of visible shock on his face. It seemed the two of them had gotten close during their time spent in the forest. It really refreshed me to see that Tessia made a friend from outside the palace. I couldn't even care less if it were a human.
"Currently I don't trust the look you have on your face." I whispered to grandfather who had an amused grin on his face.
"Hush!" Grandpa quickly responded, giving me a light smack on the back of my head. His expressions then returned to his usual stoic one. "This boy is going to be an amusing one, I am sure of it."
"I will pray for the boy.." Rolling my eyes, I followed the others back to the Palace.
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It took us all a while before we all settled down in the rectangular dining room. Father sat on the far end of the table with the boy sitting opposite to him. Mother and Tessia sat perpendicular from father while me and grandfather sat across from them. Behind me stood Joshua while the captain of Royal Guards stood along with the soldiers from before right behind father.
"Child, we never got your name so you can start with that." Father spoke, his elbows resting on the table with his fingers intervened.
"Forgive me for my late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Prince, Elder and gentlemen.." The boy standing on the chair bowed to all of us before sitting down.
'I actually made the right connection for once! But what's with the mannerisms and etiquettes?' I thought to myself, doing my best to suppress a chuckle. Never in my life would I expect Rey to impart such manners on his kid. It definitely has to be Alice's handiwork.
"Are you really Reynold's son Arthur?" I couldn't help but comment on that. "If it were your father he would stutter a hundred times like how he did when asking your mom out on dates."
"Hehe I get that a lot.." Arthur sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck before realization struck him. He nearly slammed his tiny hands on the table, staring at me wide eyed. "How...How do you know my parents?!"
Even my own family was looking at me with similar looks like that of Arthur. They were all expecting an answer from me.
"Remember father, I told you about how I joined a group of Adventurers who even helped me rescue the elf slaves years ago?" Father's expressions changed as he was trying to put two and two together from my question.
"Prince Licht, are you talking about those nice humans that helped me out that time?" Joshua spoke up out of the blue, having clear memories of the events of that day. "You are saying Arthur is related to someone from that group?"
"To be precise he is the son of the former leader of that group, Reynolds Leywin.." I corrected before looking at the still shocked Arthur. "Ain't I right Arthur?"
"Huh..oh yes you are right Prince Licht...." Arthur was still at a loss of words. "But I heard only humans are supposed to be adventurers. Then how?"
"Simple I used a disguise.." I casually replied with a shrug. "Enough about that. Tell me how you ended up in Elshire Forest?"
Regaining his composure Arthur began narrating his tale on how after awakening as a mage at a very early age, his parents had decided to take him to Xyrus to get a good tutor for him and requested the Twin Horns to be escorts to which they happily accepted. Then he went on to narrate on how their group were attacked by bandits and he was separated from them. After that he spoke on somehow ending up in Elshire Forest and finding out the slave traders that had kidnapped Tessia and how he rescued her from them.
"I should have known it were humans!" Father slammed both his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a glare.
"They were slave traders. Them and bandits alike prey on not just elves but humans as well, speaking as a victim myself." Arthur corrected, not appreciating the racist remark thrown by my father.
This caused Father to back down with a small cough, surprised at his maturity.
"Excuse me. I never asked Tess--I mean the princess on how the slave traders got their hands on her in the first place.." Arthur curiously inquired while mentally reprimanding himself on calling the Princess by Tess in front of her whole family.
'Tess eh...' Once again keeping my thoughts to myself and signaling Grandpa to not open his mouth right now I spoke. "Well as to how she ended up in the forest.....it goes like this.."
"A pudding? That's the reason.." Even Arthur seemed clueless on how to process it after I finished narrating the reason for her running away. I noticed him glancing at Tessia for justification on this only for her to react with sticking her tongue out at him.
Not thinking much on that subject, Arthur moved on to how he saved Tessia from the slave traders. The details he gave off intrigued us even more.
"So a four-year old at dark red stage 'luckily' killed off four adults, one being an augmenter and you simply wave it off as no big deal, interesting.." Grandpa chimed in, leaning back on his seat. "Reminds me of a certain someone who used to swing swords at four.."
I did nothing but facepalm at that comment intentionally thrown at me.
"Yes. Two of them were asleep and the other two were simply not on guard so disposing them off wasn't much challenging." Arthur refuted.
To that grandfather simply responded with a lazy shrug.
With that done Arthur cleared his throat before speaking. "As I have mentioned, it has almost been two months since I have seen my parents. I do not plan to intrude in your kingdom for long as I wish to meet them quickly. So I was wondering if you guys had a Teleportation Gate that could take me to city of Xyrus or anywhere in the Kingdom of Sapin.."
"Are you going to leave already, Art?" Tessia shot up from her seat, face stricken with panic.
'Art?' Just by checking everyone's facial expressions, I can very well say we were thinking on the same wavelength. Especially me and grandpa Virion. The latter shot a snide grin at this and rocked on his chair, already in the process of scheming something.
"I don't think it is appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I am okay as well." Arthur responded with a sheepish smile.
"For saving our daughter and taking the trouble to escort her back home, you are really entitled to a reward as I cannot let you leave barehanded." Father spoke. "But unfortunately the Teleportation Gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens once every seven years for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last summit was two years ago, it will be another five years until the gate will function."
Hearing this Arthur let out a breath of disappointment. Father exchanged glances with me before I continued where he left off.
"But I am more than willing to accompany you back home as thank you for saving my sister. Also it has been a long time since I met with Reynolds and the Twin Horns so this will be a good excuse to do so." I said, flashing a brief smile. This was enough to lit up whatever hopes Arthur had lost for a moment back there.
"For now please make yourself at home here. We will have things prepared for your journey back home by tomorrow morning." Father continued. "I do advise you not to wander around the city as the hostility between the two races is still prevalent even after so many years since the war."
Father snapped his fingers and the elderly elf maid guided Arthur to the guest room of the palace.
"Say Tess, why don't you give your friend a tour of the palace?" Seeing her sad and pouty face, it was easy to guess that she was not happy about Arthur leaving so soon when they had just become good friends.
She sprang back to life upon hearing my suggestion and literally took off after the two.
"Full of life as ever.." Mother shook her head with a smile on her face. It was good to see her smiling again. Last few days were even stressful for her.
"I should get going as well." Yawning Grandpa rose from his seat with a mischievous glint in his eyes. It wouldn't take a genius to guess that he is plotting something.
"What are you planning to do to our poor guest now?"
"A simple test.."
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