Chapter 21

Third Person's POV

The princess was satisfied with the food after the five finished eating the roasted bore pork that Ryan cooked on the bonfire because the pork meat was tender and delicious. Ryan added some spice ingredients to it to make it more flavourful. Emilia drank Caleb's water and looked at Zurk, still eating the pork and pecking the meat.

"Why don't you study how to become a human?" Emilia inquired of Zurk.

"I wanted to, but I need permission from my master first if I want to study to form a human body," Zurk responds, making the princess laugh.

"Really? We can explain to John why you study how to form a human body because he is a nice person," Emilia chuckled and suggested that Luke take a look at her.

"For what reason are you going to tell John?" As he interrupted the two, Luke was intrigued.

"First, I'll tell him that I've asked Zurk to study how to form a human body; he won't be angry, I'm sure, because we'll bring him the five stones," Emilia said, smiling at Zurk and Luke.

"If you say so, I'm willing to learn how to study a human body form. Thank you for giving me hope that I can do so," Zurk thanked the princess, who smiled back.

"Since we've all finished eating, let's get ready for our next destination," Emilia insisted as she stood up and picked up her belongings from her tent.

Luke took his sword from his tent and prepared his belongings, as did the three knights. He turned around to speak with Asha because they were going on their way to another location; as he approached Asha, the spirit human was perplexed.

"Do you want to say something to me?" Asha inquired as she approached.

"I don't think I need the green leaf; now that you have your new home, you should spend more time with it and be happy," Luke said, returning the magical green leaf Asha had given her.

"It's all right. I told the princess about the magical green leaf, and she said it was fine. I'll study how to form a human body soon, then practice casting spells like you so I can be more helpful to you without my home." Asha and Luke discovered that the spirit human could not leave her home's enormous tree.

"So, you can't leave the big tree as a spiritual human?" Emilia noticed the two talking and approached them after Luke clarified, and Asha nodded.

"What are you two discussing?" Emilia interrupts the two people's conversation.

"I'm wondering if she can't leave the big tree because she's a spirit human," Luke said to the princess.

"I want to know why you can't leave the big tree other than to be captured," Emilia said, and Asha tapped the princess on the shoulder.

"This big tree that has stood for hundreds of years has the power to kill me if I leave, so I need to study how to form a human body before I leave and thank it for taking care of me," Asha explained, and Emilia nodded.

"We're all set now, Luke," Ryan said.

"We're leaving now, Asha; thank you for your assistance; we'll see each other again soon; hopefully, you'll learn the human form soon," Emilia encourages. Asha smiled and nodded.

She enjoyed making new friends, and as the five left, she slowly returned to her new home inside the large tree. Someone attacked the five after a few hours of travel along the forest. It was a group of goblins led by a giant goblin in Eryen.

The goblins have a toad-like body covered with polypus as it changes colors. While the leader was speaking, the four knights could not understand its language, but Emilia understood because of her ability. The toad-like goblins are intelligent enough to craft their weapons and use them against the five. Because the eyes are smaller, they can detect body heat.

"Look! A colossal goblin! He possesses the second stone!" Sean pointed out the location of the stone on the leader of the goblin necklace, and Emilia examined it.

"There are many surrounding us; obtaining it will be difficult, so we must first devise a strategy!" Emilia drew her weapon, and one of the goblins swayed his weapon as the five jumped, and Zurk flew away to avoid injury.

"How can we plan a strategy when the goblins are already attacking us, my lady? There are so many of them!" Luke yelled and jumped into the air, landing on one of the trees because the goblin was attacking him.

"We need to think quickly and use our brain to figure out how we're going to defeat this," Emilia exclaimed. She quickly cast a chain spell to bind goblins and immobilize them.

But when the chain broke, the group of toad-like goblins became enraged. It attacked Emilia rather than Luke because they sensed the princess's power, which was the chain bine spell. When the goblin jumped and was about to take Emilia, she smirked, drew her sword, and jumped high in the air skywards.

"Let's hurry and help the princess! The goblin has her attention because she used the chain spell," Sean remarked, and Luke nodded as they drew their swords and quickly cast a spell on it to make it stronger when they attacked.

Emilia was still fighting off the toad-like goblins when she cast an illusion spell. Four knights appeared in front of her as she tossed the spell, and the illusion spell was cast on them as well.

"No!" Emilia yelled as the four knights were taken aback and slowly looked at the princess, only to see her vanish.

"Where is she?" Sean was perplexed and was looking for Emilia.

"What should I do? I cast the spell inconveniently because I didn't realize they were approaching." The spirit bird came to Emilia as she murmured.

"You need to calm down, princess; you should devise a plan on your own, and I know you can do it; I believe in your abilities," Zurk assured Emilia, and Luke quickly discovered Emilia's use of the illusion spell.

"The princess used an illusion spell to capture the toad-like goblin! So that she can get the stone without being seen," Luke depicts the toad-like goblin glaring at the four knights poised to attack; he roars and then attacks the four knights.

"Let's wait for the princess to devise a strategy; I know she can do it," Luke advised as they dodged the toad-like goblins' attack.

"Can you help me think about how we'll take the stone while the four knights are also under my illusion?" As the spirit bird chirped, Emilia inquired of Zurk.

"Let's go hide somewhere. It looks like they're fighting and buying us some time they don't see us," Zurk suggested. Emilia nodded, looking for a hiding spot first and going there with the spirit bird when she found one.

"I don't have a human form yet, but I wanted to help you right now. All I can do is guide you, but you will need to take the second stone without the four knights' help because they accidentally trapped on your illusion spell as well," Zurk explained. Emilia nodded because if she uncast the illusion spell, the toad-like goblin would be aware of Emilia's next attack.

"I know I can trust myself on this; the stone is in his toad-like goblin creature's necklace, and grabbing it will be difficult. I believe I may require the power of the yellow dragon." Emilia assessed while she pondered.

"Are you capable of controlling the power of the yellow dragon?" Zurk inquired, and she was aware of the yellow dragon's power.

"I'm unsure if I can because the scales spread on my arms yesterday but disappeared when the monster was already dead. Maybe it's triggered by the situation I'm in!" Emilia thought, and they felt the ground shake as the big goblin fell due to the four knights fighting him.

"If you can't control the yellow dragon's power, you have to trust yourself that you can control it now or never," Zurk advised the princess, and Emilia smiled.

"I'll try! Thank you for making me more reliant; I now have a plan." Emilia thanked him and returned her attention to the toad goblins, who were struggling because they didn't have Emilia fighting alongside them and were outnumbered by the toad-like goblins.

"What are you planning?" Zurk inquired.

"Believe me!" Emilia responded by running away from the toad-like goblin leader and landing on the top of its head.

Emilia quickly drew her sword again, releasing the power of the yellow dragon, the sword blade glowed, and the scale on her hand spread quickly. Emilia wounded the back of the toad's head, a goblin leader, and the four knights were shocked to see green blood splattered in the air and feel the princess's presence.

"It's our lady," Sean pointed out, and Luke smirked as he sensed Emilia quickly grabbing the goblin's necklace.

Emilia collapsed to the ground to catch her breath, she looked at the necklace, and the stone was inside the silver box. Emilia used her power to break the silver box, and the four knights decided to finish off the toad-like goblins. Even though they were outnumbered, they managed to kill every single one.

Zurk was surprised to see the princess with scales spreading in her arms, and he noticed the yellow dragon's eyes and her cheeks already had scales. Emilia screamed, and the yellow dragon watched her use dragon power.

"You're going to hurt yourself more if you keep using the yellow dragon's power," the yellow dragon grumbled, and Emilia shook her head.

"We need this stone so we can be paid for what we did," Emilia replied, breaking the silver box but collapsing on the ground.

The princess is staring at her hands full of scales that are now glowing; she lets go of the sword, and the scales are slowly disappearing; the illusion she cast on the toad-like goblin with four knights has wholly vanished; the four knights have also defeated the big goblin.

Luke was perplexed to see Emilia regaining her strength on the ground, noticing the scales on her cheeks.

"What exactly did you do?" Luke approached the princess, but she only smiled.

"The scales! What happened?" Sean was concerned as he observed the princess's condition.

"Don't worry, I used the power of the yellow dragon to hurt the goblin so I could take the necklace," Emilia said quietly. In contrast, Luke used his healing spell to help Emilia regain her strength faster.

"You did an excellent job; you trusted yourself when developing a strategy, and it worked well." Luke admires Emilia as she smiles, knowing that Luke is proud of her; she can't fully control the yellow dragon because she isn't of the right age. She has a lot to learn about managing her abilities.