While a few more hours of playing around with them, the clock has stricken 4, indicating the time to switch. At exactly 4, Ariel shows up with Gabriel and heads toward them. Ariel arrives before Azrael, he quickly scoops up Sakura and lifts her up high
"Hello! How is our most beautiful princess? Did you have a wonderful morning? Don't worry, uncle Ariel will let you have even more fun ok?".
The man was laughing and looking up at her in his hand, he didn't grab tight, nor was loose so her highness won't fall from his hands.
Sakura looks down in surprise because his actions was so abrupt, that she was a bit dizzy from the sudden lift, but when she looked around she can see even more of her surrounding, the man was as tall as Azrael, so it was easy to see how high she was.
'wow! It's like standing at the edge of a cliff in this child body, it's exhilarating yet frightening too.'
"Ariel, please be a bit more gentle, her highness is just a toddler and a young lady, her dress is puffed up, and you are messing with her hair by allowing the wind to blow it around, and what's mo-" before Gabriel can continue his nagging, Ariel starts running away with her still in the air, her arms spread out as if she was a plane.
"ARIEL!? Wait! Come back here this instant, you will end up frightened her highness!!." The last thing Azrael and Uriel saw was Gabriel running to chase a wild Ariel with their princess laughs filling the area.
"....As always, Ariel just does what he wants. They came like the wind and quickly drifted away as one," Uriel can only sigh and let out a weak smile when he saw this.
"... Would the princess like me to do that the next time I take care of her?" While Azrael thought of ways to make the princess smile and laugh the way she did while leaving in Ariel's arms.
"Ar-huff huff wai-wait a second Ariel, you know I haven't done any type of exercise in a while, huff-huff."
Gabriel seems to have reached his limit and was grabbing his knees, his breath coming and going with huffs and puffs.
Ariel glances back and laughs at his friends who looked as if he will collapse any moment, his face pale in his mocha skin. Ariel stops and brings down Sakura to hold her steady in his arms and turns back to stand before his friend.
"I forgot how much weaker you became after taking the position of head magician, you really need to start exercising more, rather than taking steady and long walks." Ariel glances down at his friend and advises him on muscle training.
"Haha, no thank you" his breathing became steady and he stand straight looking at his friend with a wry smile, " especially if it's any muscle training you advise me with, I still remember how sore my body was with each time you trained me."
They were discussing their days as Adventurers, but if you heard Gabriel's words out of context, another image started to appear in Sakura's mind.
'No! Bad Sakura! You know they didn't mean it that way, don't you dare head in that direction.'
"But thanks to all that experience, you were fit and were at least able to defend yourself if a sneak attack happens." Ariel jokes around with Gabriel, one arm swing around his shoulder, and the other holding Sakura. 'He really seems to have experience with kids, his body subconsciously already knows how to hold her so she is comfortable, but safe.' Sakura lays her head in his shoulder and let's out a small yawn, but both men noticed.
"It seems that her highness needs to rest, I don't think she had her nap yet." Gabriel turns to see her highness eyes drooping and trying to keep awake, Ariel agrees with him and starts walking, still having his arm over Gabriel's shoulder, dragging him with him.
Gabriel can only sigh and follow him. At the beginning when they were running around, Sakura hasn't noticed that they already arrived all the way to the other side of the palace to a separate building altogether.
In her sleepy mind she starts to remember that their the main headquarters of the battle knights, those who are trained for battle in wars or patrols around the border of the empire. Each knight are trained here and sent out to diffrent sections of the border to help protect its borders, as well as watch over the kingdoms inside of the empire, to make sure no king is planning to usurp their emperor.
The Eternity empire is ruled by one man, yet their is so much land, that he can't just leave it as towns and cities, there wasn't even enough nobles to help govern it, so all previous emperors till the present one made a type of treaty with the small kingdoms in his borders. That they will allow them to keep their power as king, however they have to watch over their people without abuse and as wise rulers, and they need to send information each 2 weeks of how their territory is, may it be mundane, attacks or famine, he only asked for that, and each year, the contract should be renewed, if a king decides to back off from signing the agreement, then he should give away his title, and if he doesn't do so peacefully, they they will attack him and collect his territory to spread around to other kingdoms.
At the beginning of the empire, it was as big as any other kingdoms, yet bit by bit they grew through battles and war, till they reached the point that not just one man and nobles can take care of their large territories, so they decided this approach, and it has been working well for 500 years. So if thinking about the structure of the empire, in a more simple way of how to explain its structure, it is like this.
Eternity empire:
8 kingdom inside it.
Each one allowed only 3 dukes; one governs their military power, the other their security and then the last helps the king with their political power. and few more of lesser nobles, each noble protects a territory in their kingdom, but they have to give a report to their king each month, and then the kings of each kingdom compiles the reports and sends it to the emperor each two weeks.
The emperor reads the reports and then compares it to any reports his general gives him that the knights and soldiers see in their patrols.
There is a headquarter in each kingdom with Mihkael's knights and soldiers, the are there as a warning to the kingdom, but as well to help if they need it, because in the contract, if anyone is being attacked by someone else outside their empire, then he will send them help.
It shows that her ancestor were thinking beyond just taking over territories, and of how it should be govern, so they made a peace treaty with other empires and few kingdoms outside their territories. But 500 years ago there was other factors of why it was filled with wars and bloodshed, but that's for another time to explain.
While thinking about the structure of the empire, Sakura ended up closing her eyes and dozing off in Ariel's arms, her breathing coming and going in steady breaths. Ariel notices and calms his steps, and lowers his voice.
".... when your son was 3, I remember he was shy and didn't like being with strangers, he was so closed up that I couldn't help but tease him till he had tears in his eyes."
"Yes I remember that as if it was just yesterday, actually even when he is 5 you still try to make him cry."
"Hey, I can't help it, his eyes tear up and his lips quivering while trying so hard not to cry is adorable, it's hard to resist teasing him, but let's talk about that another time, what I mean is, it took him a while to get use to me, right?".
"... I know what you are trying to say, but I just think maybe the princess is a bit different, it's not a bad thing."
"I know, but I've met so many children, yet none were that quick to follow a person like she did, she didn't cry or look one bit uncomfortable, I was even expecting her to bawl her eyes out when Azrael just stood still staring at her in the beginning, yet she calmly reached out to him, as if she knew without anyone telling her that she will stay with him."
"well..." Gabriel thought of Ariels words, and started to see Ariels meaning, he couldn't refute it and looked at the child sleeping so soundly on Ariel's arms.
'Would a child normally sleep so peacefully with a man she met literally 20 minutes ago, even if she saw him hours ago, she hasn't even talked to him.'
"I'm worried the princess may be the type who is easily gullible and wouldn't even notice someone kidnapping her."
"I wouldn't go that far Ariel, but I understand what you mean. But remember when she met Mihkael, she showed an expression a child would normally express to a stranger."
"Haha! True, that was quite the shock Mihkael suffered, but if so, the only reason she showed wariness is because she sensed Mihkael's mood, that he was anxious and stiff right? As if she knew his feeling were in turmoil because he was thinking of her. Yet when a scary serious looking man looks down at her, she didn't sense any type of fear or discomfort, as if she knew he wouldn't harm her".
"... let's just discuss this when everyone meets up later, I feel like it's best to have everyone's point of view on this, ok?"
Gabriel felt that his mind overflowing with hypothesis and theories, so he decided not to overthink it now, and worry about it later.
"Yeah... your right, it's too much for now, so for now lets just take care of her highness till we meet up with everyone else."
Even when Ariel was the one to bring up the topic, he easily brushes it off for later, as if he was tired of overthinking it too.
'Let everyone else worry about it rather than just me.'
He was a man who liked the easy way, yet wasn't lazy per say. He was easygoing and likes messing around, but he knew when to get serious and use his head when needed. He didn't become one of the high ranked military man, a general with just luck and connections, but because of his achievements and mind.
'But when people meet him, it's really hard to see the serious part, only the mischievous part.'
while thinking that, Gabriel glances at his friend, holding the princess in a protective embrace, his face painted with a lazy smile, who doesn't care much for appearance.
'He looks like a lazy and mischievous dog, but when provoked, becomes a wild and unrestrained wolf, out for his pray.'
While remembering their past in battles, he can only shake his head in trying to forget those moments.
'What you thinking about? Is it that I'm too handsome and you are trying to not fall for me?"
The sly smile and teasing eyes of Ariel showing he was messing with Gabriel.
Gabriel can only sigh and just play along.
"Yes yes~ your right, your right." He learn that the quicker you play along, the quicker his friend loses intrest.
"Man, you really are a buzzkill Gabriel."
"Haha Yup, I know." They continued their discussion all the way to the headquarters of the blue knights, govern by Ariel.