Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Six: Ballroom Secrets

Inside a meeting room…

Government officials, including Yonemura, Kamenashi, Yakamochi, Hachiro, and Ryuu, were overseeing the Masquerade on a large camera screen.

"Everything is going to plan," Yonemura remarked. "Perfect."

"What of the boy?" Kamenashi asked. "With him and the Royal Family in such close proximity, we need an army of guards to watch them."

"Do not fret," Yonemura replied. "Did you think this event wouldn't be heavily protected?"

The camera shifted to the outside and the rest of the castle, each of which was surrounded by hundreds of guards. Inside the Masquerade's ballroom was another line of guards, each of whom was armed with plasma rifles.

"See? And the other Generals should be attending as well. No harm will come to Dachii or the Royal Family."

"As it should be," Hachiro stated. "We all saw what happened in Batango. The gift we've been given, the power that boy beholds, we CANNOT lose it. Especially to THEM."

"We won't," Yakamochi affirmed. "The Royal Family will make sure of it."

Inside the Ball Room…

As the three different representatives lined up in front of the Royal Family, Queen Ayame stepped forward to address them.

"I'm so honored to have you all here. I'm glad you accepted my offer to expand our walls to the nations beyond."

She looked at Vashka first. "Vashka El'Keen. You have a very strong clan, and an even stronger daughter."

The orc leader and her accompanying orcs bowed. "Glad you pay attention, Queen."

She then turned her attention to Malkrith, who still had wary eyes staring at him. "King Malkrith. I'm surprised you showed up. It's my pleasure to have you here."

"I'm a man of my word," he replied. "Your kin and her friends passed my test, and here I am!"

Queen Ayame finally got to Alarax, who was fuming and appeared ready to attack, and Throme, who was doing her best to keep him calm.

"And I'm especially glad to see you two. I'm so relieved we can bury the bad blood between us."

Alarax opened his mouth to rant, but Throme spoke up before him. "Of course, we don't want to hold any more petty grudges. It would be amazing if we can move forward in peace, especially now that this special guest of yours has shown us the impossible."

Queen Ayame nodded. "Things have changed this past year. Things have never seen before. I just hope it's for the better."

"Me too, Your Highness," Throme agreed.

She bowed and led her brother away before he could cause any trouble. Vashka and Malkrith followed as well. Once they were gone, Queen Ayame and King Ayrad approached Dachii, and King Ayrad extended a hand toward him.

"Glad to meet you face to face, my dear boy!" King Ayrad greeted. "You've grown tremendously since I've first laid eyes on you."

"Oh," Dachii remarked. "Thanks…"

Queen Ayame put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Dachii, dear, is it okay if we call you Dachii?"

"Sure, ma'am."

"Great! I'm glad you accepted our invitation, despite the troubles you've gone through these past few months. My deep condolences about Morino, he was my favorite among the Generals."

"It's fine…"

She gestured to the ballroom, where many high-profile guests were casually interacting, drinking, and chatting it up.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Queen Ayame commented. "So many of the Voltian Elites under one roof, and better yet, now you get to be a part of this!"

"Uh-huh…?"

King Ayrad tapped his wife. "It's best to let the boy explore some, isn't it? We've already put him in the spotlight enough."

"Of course, of course!" Queen Ayame agreed. "If you do not mind, Dachii, would you be interested in joining us for the dinner later? I would love to talk about you, and your power."

"Why is that…?" Dachii asked, almost bored.

Queen Ayame clasped her hands together, attempting to find the right words. "Well, let's just say…anyone who has the power to destroy an entire district in seconds, has my full attention and curiosity. After all, the damage you did to Batango in that brief amount of time took MONTHS to fix."

She flashed him a smile. "Not even Fujii can do that. So, if you're willing, could we talk more about this soon?"

Dachii shrugged. "Sure."

"Perfect! As hosts, my kids will show you around. Enjoy yourself, why don't you?"

She gave him a pat on the head as she and her husband left the stage, leaving Dachii with Akari and Atomu.

"Well, shall we?" Akari asked Atomu.

"We shall," Atomu sighed. "Come, Dachii. It's best we give you the tour."

They led him off stage, passing by the rest of Squad S-1, who gave them mixed looks. Fujii stepped forward. "Well, well? Look who's upped their prestige! Where are they taking you off to?"

"A tour around the Ball Room," Atomu answered. "Mother's orders."

"It shouldn't take long," Akari added. "We'll catch up with you guys soon."

They continued on. Fujii smiled and shook his head. "They're so alike. No wonder they're siblings."

"Yuck," Aoki remarked.

"This feels weird," Marachii noted. "Why are they parading my brother around like a trophy or something, especially with all that's gone on?"

"That's a good question," Fujii replied. "Probably because of that not-so-subtle display of power. In this land, the stronger you are, the more eyes are on you. And these folks haven't seen anything as strong as THAT."

Aoki folded her arms. "They don't even understand it or him. Should we really let these upper-class toolbags pick and prod at him all day?"

"Hey! We can be very understanding," Hikari shot back. "I don't think they'll push him too hard. Think about it! If he snaps again, this time he'll destroy this CASTLE instead of Batango, with all of us IN it."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Fujii stated. "The rest of you, go enjoy the events! Don't go too far from each other, though. We wouldn't want you getting lost!"

Saori pointed to the bar. "Ooh! Ooh! I wanna visit that!"

"You're too young, sweetheart."

Meanwhile, Dachii was being pulled around by Akari, who took him on a tour of the Ball Room.

"Check this out. Do you see all this armor?"

She pointed to a section on the wall, which had various regal armor from different generations. "Do you see these? They're legacy armors, each from a different age of war from our past."

"Right, right…"

She pulled him over to another spot. "And look at this! It's a picture of me at last year's Masquerade!"

Atomu shook his head. "Akari. Please. No need to bore Dachii with all of this. I know Mother told you to give him special treatment but still…"

"This isn't me giving him special treatment," Akari replied. "It's simply acting as a great host."

"Sure. Very."

Dachii noticed a picture above the other one, which appeared to show the entire Royal Family, including another Voltian girl with green hair and green eyes.

"Who's that?" Dachii asked. "Some maid or something?"

Atomu and Akari immediately tensed up.

"That is our older sister," Akari answered. "Azusa. But we don't really need to get into all that. Let's go somewhere else, shall we?"

"Yes, we should move forward with this tour," Atomu said. "There's a snack bar if you're interested."

"The hell—-?"

They quickly ushered him away, but not before Dachii snuck one last glance at the picture.

"Are they hiding something?" Dachii thought. "Do they have secrets about their own family no one knows?"

They showed him to the snack bar, where elegant pastries and delicacies were on display. Akari picked up a large chocolate truffle. "Here, do you want this?"

"Uh, no thanks."

Before she could take him to another part of the Masquerade, a voice interrupted them. "Well, well! If it isn't you two?"

Akari whirled around. "Director Yoritomo?"

Yoritomo had a bunch of frosted strawberries in his hands. "Akari, Dachii! Long time no see. Glad you two are still representing Squad S-1 well!"

He gave her a polite hug. "And Prince Atomu! Or should I say, GENERAL Atomu?"

"Prince is fine," Atomu insisted. "I had no clue you would be here."

"Well, neither did I, but I guess directing a large-scale festival is a pretty important job to the ruling class of our nation."

He patted Dachii on the shoulder. "Sorry about your grandfather, kid. But on the bright side, you seem to be getting a lot more famous within these past six months!"

"Yeah, I see. I don't know why, though," Dachii said.

"You should know our people by now," Yoritomo chuckled. "When they see something they want, they go above and beyond to get it."

"So I've heard."

Dachii suddenly had a realization in his head. "Just like in Umego…but that was long before the events in Batango…what's really going on here?"

He scoffed. "Screw it. Who cares."

Yoritomo grabbed some more snacks. "Good seeing you guys again. Take care, and don't run into any trouble along the way!"

He walked off, leaving the three alone.

"Where should we take him now?" Akari asked, looking around.

"Hmm, there's still plenty of time before the big events start occurring," Atomu noted. "The other Generals haven't even gotten here yet. We should visit the Garden."

"Great idea, brother! Let's go."

They lead Dachii to the big doors leading to the outside of the Ball Room, where guards were lined up, protecting the door. With a wave from Akari, they opened the door and stepped aside.

Outside, there was a large garden, with a giant fountain in the middle. Most of the plants were the size of Dachii, some even taller. There were a few benches lining the concrete paths that spread out in every direction. There were already a few guests outside, admiring the plants and a few were even relaxing by the pond nearby.

"It's as beautiful as ever," Atomu stated. "Come. I'll take you to my favorite plant."

Meanwhile, inside the Ball Room…

Marachii and Luca were sitting by the bar, both of them watching as various couples danced around, singing and having fun.

"This reminds me of the school dances back home," Marachii said. "Me and Dachii used to sit in the corner, with no one to dance with."

"I can relate," Luca remarked. "When you're not of high status, you have a harder time getting attention. Even with my rare power, I still don't garner that much respect amongst my peers."

"Does your status matter that much here?" Marachii asked. "I know Fujii, Hikari, Saori, and Akari are higher class, but still!"

Luca yawned. "That's just the way it goes. Guys like us don't get the attention."

Hikari and Saori approached them, snacks in hand. Saori dumped some in Marachii's lap.

"Here you guys go! We brought you snacks!"

"Thanks?" Marachii said, confused.

"You guys don't seem to be having fun," Hikari noticed. "You two should follow us! They're playing games on the other end, it'll be exciting!"

"If you say so…" Marachii replied.

Luca stretched and got up, and Marachii did the same, as Hikari and Saori guided them to the other side of the Ball Room. But as they got closer, they had to push through a crowd, and an arm from the crowd grabbed Marachii, pulling him aside.

"What the—-?"

Before he knew it, he was face to face with Kiyota. "You? What do you want?"

Kiyota leaned into his ear, whispering. "I don't know if I need to tell you this, but you'd best keep your eyes peeled. You've noticed the difference in treatment between you and your brother, right?"

"Yeah?"

Kiyota's eyes turned dark, serious. "The Royal Family knows something the rest of us don't. You'd better inform your brother of the dangers that come from mingling around them. After all, they still haven't told you about poor little Azusa, have they?"

"Who's that?"

He pointed to the picture on the wall. "One of their princesses. Former princesses. They loved her, until her usefulness expired."

"Expired how?"

"Her MAGIC. She lost it. And thus, they lost all faith in her."

"But why are you telling me this?"

"Because if you're not careful, the same thing will happen to you and your brother. This masquerade isn't safe. Not at all."

Kiyota walked off, his words leaving Marachii stunned.

Meanwhile, in Arkendale…

Haruto was busy picking up trash off the streets when he noticed the door to Ayana's house open.

"She's still home?" he wondered. "I thought she'd left by now."

He approached the open door, peeping inside. "Ayana? You here? You'll be late for the Masquerade, you know!"

There was no response.

"Ayana? Wait, what's that smell?"

He fully pushed open the door, and he walked inside, a metallic smell greeting him. As he covered his nose, he looked around.

And then he saw a terrible sight.

"Gah!"

There was a dead body, a blade in its chest. The dead body of a Voltian soldier.

"Who? What? Why? What is…what is this doing here?"

There was a letter in the right hand. The outside of it was titled: "I know your secret."

"Secret? What does this mean?"

But a thud was heard behind him, and the door closed. Haruto froze up, slowly turning around. "Hello…?"

And once he did, the butt of a sword greeted him, knocking him out cold.

—-