[8]

"Lady, welcome!"

I smiled a little and got off Lily's back. The white wolf snorted softly beside my ear before flying away again leaving me in the open yard. This time, the umpteenth time I visited Carl's house. The boy with white hair always looks happy every time I visit his house. Even though the training I gave him was quite heavy for a small child. I remember when Kris watched us practice, the old man said that my attitude was similar to Aldrich's. To be honest I don't understand the point but I'm not going to bother about it.

"You know? I always feel bad when I don't call you 'your highness princess'. It felt like I would be in prison the next day," said Carl warmly.

"Never mind, it's just a rank. Take it easy with me."

"Then let me call you master as my teacher."

"I have told you many times you are not my student. You are my right hand."

Carl showed a gloomy expression after hearing what I said. I don't know if my voice sounded too firm or what but I chose to ignore it. It would be bad to indulge the child too much by being gentle. After all, he was two years older than Valencia.

"Have you finished the task I gave you?" I asked.

"Yes, I managed to do it," replied Carl calmly.

"Show me."

Carl nodded in understanding and began to close his eyes. Now a burst of aura was flowing out of the boy's body. A wave of dark red aura like blood was raging so that it made the hair that I tightly tied seemed to want to come loose. And a moment after that the aura waves became calmer and gentler than before. Carl opened his eyes again and looked at me happily.

"How is it, lady?"

"Still very rough."

"Ugh, I knew you would say that.."

Two weeks ago, I asked him to pump up the aura flow in his body. At least apart from practicing the sword, the boy should be able to utilize the magic aura that was in his body. Before I asked him to pump up the aura, I did ask him to meditate like Venus and Reyna did in the palace. But who would have thought that this kid could already gather his aura flow at one point in his body in a day. Thus I asked him to pump the aura flow so that it developed from a single congregated point, into a large flowing aura wave.

But skills or magic chants will be more perfect if the aura waves have a very smooth and gentle rotating flow. Like a silk cloth that is carefully made to create high quality clothes. If the flow of the aura waves was rough, the chances of failing in spell casting or skills would be even greater. And that failure can turn into an accident for its users. That is the explosion of magic aura from within the body. Think of it like a heart that is not strong enough to withstand the flow of blood that is pushed too hard and rough. Of course it will disrupt the rhythm of the movement of the heart.

"It's pretty good though you could do it in two weeks time. You just need to smooth the flow," I said casually.

"Then for testing, you try to attack me," I begged.

"What? What if you get hurt?"

"Hah! You underestimate your master? Attack me!"

After hearing my snap, Carl took a ready position. The boy made a serious expression as he pointed his right hand at me. The wave of aura that was rotating around his body shot violently towards me. And an explosion occurred as I remained motionless with an aura barrier surrounding me.

"Not enough! Bring out all of your magic aura!"

Carl continues to attack me with that stream of aura from all directions.

"Weak! Is that all you can do?!"

"Cast properly! Unleash all your magic energy! Blast it at me!"

"What's this? How can I make you my right-hand man when this is all you can do?"

"CARL CHRISTOPHER!"

I continued to scream loudly with Carl who launched a barrage of attacks at me. To which point a system clink appeared in front of me which surprised me. On the other hand I feel Carl's attacks are increasingly causing damage to my magic shield. And right after the puffs of smoke from the explosion gathered, a huge orb with the color red of blood shot right in front of my eyes. I made my shield thicker than before.

[ A big explosion! ]

I groaned as I stomped my right foot hard on the ground. A huge deafening boom exploded right in front of me. I didn't even feel the roar that was raised from the dirt wall I made to surround us in the backyard of the house. Now only a puff of smoke that surrounds the yard.

Where's that kid?

I can't feel Carl's presence like I did earlier. A few seconds before the explosion I could still feel if he was still in front of me. But at this moment, my body reflexively jumps and rotates in the air. If I didn't jump at that time, maybe by now there would have been a lot of thorns that perforated Valencia's body. I chuckled in satisfaction when I found large, blood-red thorns pointing sharply at me from the ground. I planted one of my feet on one of the taller thorns after cutting off its sharp edges with the windswords.

"Nice job Carl."

I smiled contentedly towards the child who was currently looking at me with a tired face. I can tell that during the big explosion earlier, he moved behind me. I don't know how that kid was able to make my footing full of sharp thorns. More precisely, where did he come up with that idea to make a surprise attack on me. I think he could make good use of his two weeks.

"I created this skill while softening my aura wave flow."

"I know. Doesn't it hurt your star aura when it's still rough like that?"

"Instead I brought it out when my aura waves weren't as gentle as they should be."

"Damn it, be thankful the only aura star you have didn't explode."

"Then I have to ask you for help so that it doesn't happen."

"Do it yourself you idiot."

Instead of being sad or looking gloomy like before, the boy laughed as if my sarcastic words were a joke. I snorted in annoyance and chose to get off when Carl removed the sharp thorns.

"You know I'm not joking, right?"

"I understand, lady."

"By the way, lady was very good at bringing up a large wall just before the explosion occurred. To be honest when I saw that I was a little hesitant to attack you."

"It would be troublesome if you blew up your own house. You didn't forget that over there is your house right?" I asked, pointing at Carl's house.

"I didn't think you could make that big explosion either," I continued.

"You are amazed at me, aren't you?"

"Your head is growing fast huh?"

Carl chuckled softly by dropping himself to the ground. I had expected that kid to really give off all of his magical aura.

"Try to gather your aura back even if you're asleep," I said.

"I'm doing it."

I stared at my right hand for a moment in silence. I guess I got a skill in my head. I often use this skill in critical situations because it is very useful. But of course that required a high level of aura control. I guess I'm feeling a little doubt whether Valencia's body's current aura capacity can do it or not. I closed my eyes as I clenched my fists as hard as I could.

This skill was a simple skill, with a complicated magic chant. Its utility is very beneficial but can be deadly if it cannot be matched by the user's magical capacity. Perhaps, that's how it would be written in the magic book.

"Aura Tree."

A bright blue aura mixed with greenish gold swirled around my feet. I had expected that the aura my soul carried would meddle a bit regarding this skill. But of course I will leave the rest to the aura belonging to Valencia's body. The brown ground I was walking on slowly turned green with the appearance of grass. The grass was trying to grow taller with some small plants starting to appear around me.

"Did you mention something?" asked Carl who was already looking at me from his sleeping position.

I paused and turned to look at the boy. Carl turned his head around and looked confused by the several medium sized plants growing around his body. Until the system chime sounded and brought up several transparent white screens at me.

[ No injuries detected. ]

[ Recovering the energy of living beings around... ]

[ ?????j934 weak!! ]

Shut up if you can't speak properly, damn system..

[ ??? ]

I shook my head as the system screen spun again and disappeared. I had hoped during the previous warning, that the system had started better. But it turned out to be the same even though this time it was able to write the sentence correctly.

"What are you doing, lady?" asked Carl as he sat up straight in his place.

"Nothing, this isn't working."

Carl just gave me a questioning face. Before the boy seemed to remember something.

"Ah! Lady, I have something to say."

"Say it."

"Tonight, on the outskirts of the capital, there is a festival being held there."

"Festival before winter, huh?"

"Right! If you wish, I would like to accompany the lady to go there."

"You accompany me or I accompany you?"

The kid just scratched the back of his head and made a strange expression by sticking his tongue out at me. If that kid had made such an expression, then I guessed the other meaning of his words correctly. Such is this child.

"What festivals are held on cold nights like this?" I asked in surprise.

"I only read in the flyers that were spread around the capital that it was a local traditional festival. They serve a lot of food and various entertainment shows there."

I just heard that for the first time..

"Did you keep the flyer?"

"Oh! I keep it at home. Let me fetch it for a second."

Carl rushes to his feet as I nod at him. I guess the kid had recovered his magic aura a bit when I tried using the skill I was trying out earlier. You can see him running excitedly into his house.

Yes, I guess I should make this skill work well in the future..

Alright, to be honest none of the people in the palace had discussed the festival before this winter. Rasya, who often knows hot news in the capital city, doesn't say anything about festivals. I don't know the reason is that this happened in the outskirts of town or it's just a festival on a small scale.

"Here is the flyer, lady."

I took the little yellow flyer from Carl's hand. There was only a large letter above representing if it was a festival being held in the northwestern city. More precisely the city of Dhamfield, which is included in the auspices of the Marquess area. I've never known what kind of person who got the title of marquess in this country. In my opinion, the territory of the commander-in-chief of the royal knights will certainly be safe. But this is an area that is also dangerous for me. If I'm not careful, my identity as the princess who is running away from the palace will be discovered easily.

"You can decline if you don't want to go, lady."

I turned to look at Carl who was standing in front of me. I guess this kid read my doubtful expression. I chose to keep the flyer in my magic storage scroll.

"I have time. We can go."

"In that case, I'll prepare the horse," said Carl happily.

Yes, I think it would be fun to ride a horse.. but it's not efficient..

"You want us to get there at midnight?"

I raised my right hand up. And not long after that a soft, soundless gust of wind swirled above us. Just as a few strands of wing feathers fell, the flapping of the huge wings seemed to disrupt the rhythm of the previous gentle breeze. Lily flew calmly above us by placing her nose against my right hand, before finally placing her four feet together.

"My best friend is a reliable aviator," I said calmly with a faint smile.

✼⊷♛⊶✼

Dhamfield City. A city with a large sea route trading commodity in the Southeastern continent. Although not as large as the islands in the east, this city also includes islands on the coast that are blocked by sea straits. Its location close to the border of the western empire's land and sea routes naturally made it a high security city. That was why the one overseeing this city was this person who had the title of Marquess in this Southeastern empire.

With abundant sea wealth, the city of Dhamfield has more people who work as fishermen. Even so, the city of Dhamfield seems to be divided into two regions. And the majority of city dwellers prefer to live on the other side of the island compared to the big island of the Southeastern continent. This is because of the war factor that occurred hundreds of years ago. At least that's what the history books say.

Until now, the two cities are still one unified city. Because the previous king and queen decided to build a big bridge that connected the parts of the city that were separated by sea straits. One could say it was the craziest building construction ever since the great border wall was made. Development that took years with funds and an unreasonable number of workers. And to this day these buildings are still standing strong even though they are old.

If the previous kings and queens were interested in building skyscrapers, how modern would this country be with the help of magic huh?

"This is amazing.."

I glanced at Carl sitting behind me. It only takes 30 minutes to get to the city of Dhamfield by flying with Lily. Carl showed his amazed gaze as he saw the city lights that were starting to appear from above. Even though on the way earlier, the child kept muttering in fear. At least I understand why he's scared like that. Because for people who are not used to it, flying with Lily will take you at high speed. I'm not exaggerating but the height I mean is almost equivalent to an airplane. Luckily the kid didn't faint because I asked Lily to fly a little lower and a little slower.

"Who was crying earlier, huh?" I teased.

"I'm not crying, lady!" protest Carl does not accept.

I just chuckled and patted Lily's broad shoulder twice. The white wolf folded its wings, which of course made us free fall from a great height. Carl just screamed behind me, feeling quite satisfied to prank this kid. I patted Lily's shoulder again which made Lily open her wings again. Right near the high roof of the house, Lily took a step to jump from the roof of the house. And we're back at a good enough flying altitude to see the whole city view.

"...lady, ask your best friend not to repeat what happened earlier.." complained Carl.

"I asked her to do that."

"What?!"

"No need to protest, look ahead there."

Carl did sound like he was grumbling but I'm sure at this point the boy was silent when he saw the scene presented in front of us. Yes, that is the Dhamfield bridge I was referring to. Huge stone bridge standing over still water. Along the straight path of the bridge, lights are installed in neat rows. I had thought that the city near the sea would be dark but it was not like that. Even from a distance, you can already see the faint lights of the city lights on the island.

As Lily flew a little lower, one could clearly see small and large ships docking at the wharf. And you can be sure that what lights up the calm sea are the ships that are still sailing around the bridge. But still, even though it looks calm from above, the wide sails of the ship can indicate that the wind there is strong enough to move a large ship at night.

"So, where is that place?" I asked.

"Lady, look at those tents by the pier! I guess that's where the festival is."

I followed the direction Carl pointed at me. Indeed there were a lot of tents set up there and I could predict that the situation there would definitely be crowded with people. Finally I decided to get off at a location that was a little far from the cluster of tents. After Lily left, we rushed towards the festival site. I chose to keep my robe on, but this time I tried to change Valencia's brown hair and golden eyes to black. Think of it as a precaution.

"Lady, in the next practice please teach me also to change appearances like that," pleaded Carl.

"You still have a long way to go."

We entered the festival area. As you can see there are a lot of people who come here. Many people trade, and many shows are held. Near us, there was a show that interested me a little. It is a foot dance performance that evokes the rhythm of tapping shoes. Maybe the cool language is tap dance. A little different, they did it together with the transparent umbrellas they each carried. The umbrella was opened and closed while being rotated and even thrown and caught again.

"If you want to buy something, buy it, I'll be waiting here," I said.

"Should I leave you alone?"

"Buy something interesting for me, I'm lazy to go around."

Carl looked down in silence as I handed him the bag of coins. After I asked him to leave one more time he finally complied and went to look around. I know that my goal before was to accompany that child to come here. But I'm sure that kid won't get into trouble or even cause trouble without me going out with him in this crowd of people.

I can say I was too lazy to get too close to that sea of people..

I looked around me carefully. I found a balcony in one of the houses that looked dark without lights. I chose to jump carefully to the balcony of the house so that no one would see me when I jumped. When I got there, I only saw a door that was tightly locked from the inside with a cloth blocking the glass on the door. I think the owner of this house is not there because the outside light on the balcony is not working. I chose to ignore it and turned to watch the performance I saw earlier from up here.

A few minutes passed peacefully in the middle of this simple festival. Until my eyes caught someone who stood out a little among the crowd. The person was only wearing a hat and glasses with ordinary clothes. What was different was that what she was wearing right now was slightly out of step with the people of the Angelise kingdom. In my eyes it looks normal, but as if no one noticed that person's existence. Even his face darkened as the person seemed to be glancing in my direction. Whether he sensed someone watching him or what, what was certain was that by the time I blinked that person had disappeared into the crowd.

I.. can't see the flow of that person's aura..

In the midst of that bustling situation, an hour passed just like that. From the top of the balcony I could see Carl who was looking confused. I think that kid is looking for me right now. I chose to remain silent until the boy finally noticed me. He seemed to have a happy expression and immediately approached me by jumping onto the balcony. I can see that the child is currently carrying several rattan shopping bags in both hands.

Could it be that the person just now was a person from outside this country?

"You look like you're enjoying this, Carl."

"You should come with me around because I found a lot of interesting things earlier."

"I'm satisfied to see it from up here."

"Is it true? I thought you were bored here."

"Not really." Carl just chuckled when he heard what I said.

"Then let's return to the capital," I said.

"Ah wait, I already bought this for you lady. Even with lady coins, anyway.." Carl said while giving me one of the rattan bags.

"I'll check later in the palace."

We chose to return to the place when we arrived in this city. A place quiet enough for no one to see Lily there. As I was about to call out to Lily, I felt the back of my robe being pulled slightly. I turned around and found Carl who seemed to want to say something.

"I have something to say, lady."

"Say it."

"While walking around earlier, I met someone who gave me an idea."

"What's that?"

"Earlier that person asked me to ask him one thing. Then I asked the person what is the proper nickname for the person we respect. And that person answered in a slightly strange language."

Strange? What does it mean?

"That person somehow seemed to know and gave a word like 'nana' to me."

"Nana?"

"Right. It sounded like a melody to me. So if you don't mind may I call you that?"

"How can you call me by a name that is not sure what it means?"

But why do I feel a little familiar with those words?

Carl just chuckled softly by scratching his neck as if feeling embarrassed. I took a deep breath and shrugged my shoulders like I didn't care.

"Just do as you please. Then you will get additional assignments from me, how about it?" I said finally.

Maybe it's just a word from a region in this world..

"Okay! Then from now on I will call you Nana."

"I'm confused why you can be so happy just because of a call."

Lily came over and started to bustle herself rubbing her head in my hand. As usual, the wolf is always like this every time it meets me.

"Of course, Nana."

"Hah, now that sounds weird from a lady being nana."

"I'll get you used to it, Nana."

"Stop it."

Just before midnight, we finally returned to the capital.

✼⊷♛⊶✼