Reborn: I’m a Dragon Girl With An OP System Book 4

I am not exactly sure what was going on, but suddenly many barriers appeared around Fanmari and the announcer blocking my attacks. And before I could even get a grip on the situation, I was suddenly surrounded by many people. Each one had a sword drawn and were radiating killing intent.

"What do you all want!?" I yelled in anger. Yes, I was officially mad. I had not done anything that deserved to be targeted like this. I know I was stepping on a few toes but did I really deserve to be treated like I was some kind of huge criminal?

Seeing myself being surrounded on all sides, I extended my wings and intended to fly away up into the air, but before I could, a ten layered barrier suddenly surrounded my stage. Over thirty people of what looked to be highly skilled fighters stood in front of me.

"Faith!" I heard yelling behind me. It was Runa and Sei. It seemed they had run over. But they were trapped on the outside of the barrier. Unless someone can break the barriers, there was no way this was going to end well.

I took a deep breath before letting it out as I watched the people edging toward me cautiously. My eyes lit up as I whispered: "Confusion mist!"

A dense fog began to fill the stage. With my actions partially hidden, I took this chance to launch my attack. With my sword drawn, I ran into the fog and quickly found my first target. My sword flew through the air but slammed into something hard, causing my hand to shake due to the vibration. I looked up to see the man smiling at me with a wide grin and a semi transparent barrier surrounding his body. At this moment, I really wanted to curse!

I quickly retreated, but as I did, a shadow formed in the fog, causing me to lean back just in time to see a cold metal blade flying over my face. I ended up doing a backflip past the person only to have to quickly stick up another barrier with three layers as a clanging sound was heard. Looked down on the ground to see a bunch of needles lying on the ground surrounding me, causing my brow to furrow even more.

While confusion mist was blocking my eyesight as well, it was at least blocking some of theirs too. I quickly buffed myself with wind rush and colossal strength. I did a few more backflips to make some distance before surrounding myself with ice wall. I have a feeling these people are trying to dry up my mana, but sadly for them, my mana was infinite!

But I also had attacks that did not use mana either. With the ice wall blocking their view of me, I took a deep breath and held back the roar that was about to come out of my mouth as a stream of fire shot forward, instantly melting the ice in front of me and shooting across the battle stage.

This was no ordinary fire but pure dragonic fire breath. I turned my head left and right, filling the stage with my flames. I could hear some screams of agony as my flame hit some of the attackers. This was my first time actually using my flame breath in battle. But I had no choice. Each one of these attackers was definitely a professional, a step above a common soldier. If I did not turn it up a notch, then I would be dead for sure. One minor slip up means death for me. And I do not wish to die anytime soon.

My fire breath slowly came to an end as I looked across the stage. The fog has begun to dissipate. What was left in front of me were ten burnt corpses and a group of people hiding behind multi layered barriers. I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that my attack was actually blocked. While I did kill a few of them, there were still too many left.

As I was contemplating my next move, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud yell coming from above. "IIIIIIII ammm Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"

*Boom!*

The stage was suddenly hit with what looked like a talking sledgehammer with ears. "Owe, my butt!"

"You idiot, I told you not to try to dive down like that!" I heard another voice, this one was male.

As the dust settled, I saw a tall rabbit girl and another beastkin, a young boy with cat ears and two tails. But now that I looked at him, it seems I have seen him before. If I am right he was the beastkin with the hood on that I saw fighting. As I was trying to figure out if these newcomers were friends or foe, the young cat boy turned and looked at me. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get into battle position!"

"Huh? Oh yes!" I yelled out on instinct as I got ready for battle.

"To think the Kingdom of Lodina was here." A voice came from above this time, one I knew well. I looked up to see Sir Derek holding Sei and Runa like luggage as he dropped down from the sky. He landed so quietly on the ground that you would not think he had dropped down from up high. He dropped the two in his hands and turned to me with a big grin. "Reinforcements are here. Also, don't worry about the others. Thurul and Gesel, along with some idiot going on about being a hero, are protecting the others. But to think half the contestants were all assassins. But now the numbers should be even by a little, no?"

"Old man from the human kingdom, can you shut your trap? We are in the middle of a battle!" The young cat boy yelled out as he glared at Sir Derek.

"Haha! I guess you are right. Now then. Let's take out the trash, shall we?" Sir Derek suddenly pulled a huge sword out of thin air and rested it on his shoulder as he looked at the assassins in front of him. "If you wish to die, step forward. This old man will play with you all."

Chapter2 Prince Rythilin

Seeing everyone suddenly show up made me purse my lips. I wanted to scream: "I had this, you know!" But at the same time, my heart felt fluffy and warm. I had no idea who the beastkin people were, but Sir Derek, Runa, and Sei were all here to help me while Gesel and Thurul were protecting those important to me.

When I lived in the village with my family at the start, there were only a handful of people who were willing to even look my way. Now that handful has grown so much that now I have so many people who are friendly with me and treat me as a normal person. I truly feel blessed. I feel blessed for everything that has happened and the things that are to come.

The warm gaze that I looked at the backs of the people in front of me with, slowly turned cold as I looked at the group of assassins seemingly trying to assess the situation. I could see the Announcer gritting his teeth. I guess he probably never expected their barrier to be broken into. I guess the rabbit girl and cat boy are both very powerful.

"What is going on, are you not making a move now!?" The cat boy yelled out.

"Humph! Just because more people showed up does not mean you will survive. Fanmari!" The Announcer yelled to Fanmari before jumping back.

"On it!" Fanmari grabbed something from her waist before unfolding her fan and raising it into the air.

I did not plan to let them finish what they were doing, so because she could finish executing her attack, my eyes glowed as ten magic circles activated all at the same time. Spears of ice shot toward Fanmari but just like before, a barrier suddenly appeared blocking the attack, but that was all I needed. My eyes glowed once more, and another magic circle appeared within the area the barrier protective radius. Not even a fraction of a second later, a spear of ice shot out of it and pierced into the Fanmari's chest. Her gaze, which was full of confidence suddenly showed one of shock and surprise. She looked down at her chest to see a shard of ice piercing through it, then looked up at me. Her eyes locked with mine.

I really do not know what to say when I looked at the enemy I had just killed, whose eyes seemed to be full of regret. I was not a cold blooded person, so seeing such a thing really messed with my heart and mind. I am sure I will have nightmares about this later.

"Finish them!" I heard Sir Derek yell out. Everyone else charged at the enemy. Only Runa stayed behind as she ran over to my side. She was saying something, but I could not hear it. Those eyes were penetrating into my mind, burning themselves into me.

I felt dizzy. I felt sick. I think my stomach had already emptied a few times. This was much different than killing a soldier on the battlefield. Fanmari was someone close to my age. While she came here to kill me, it still does not change the fact that she was so young and had her life ahead of her. And that look of regret as if she regretted coming here. As if she regretted ever making me her enemy. What if I could have disabled her? What if I could have kept her alive so that she could do her time and turn over a new leaf? Why did I only think of killing her instead of just capturing her?

These thoughts plagued my mind and made me feel even worse. The world around me was spinning, and my eyes were starting to grow dark…..

I guess I passed out because right now, I was staring at an unfamiliar stone ceiling. My eyes blinked a few times as I looked around. I was lying on a cot, and next to me, with their heads resting on the cot, were Runa and Sophie. "You are awake."

I turned to see a young cat boy with two tails standing there staring at me with eyes that seemed to be judging me. "You are?"

"My name is Prince Rythilin, and I am the crown prince of the Kingdom of Lodinia." Prince Rythilin gave me a proper noble bow. Even Prince Lance never gave me such a bow before. At least, I do not think he did...

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Rythilin. My name is Faith Cyrilia. I hope you don't mind my discourtesy of not getting up." I bowed my head slightly to him. To be honest, I am not sure why he was here.

"It's fine. I am glad you are okay. I stopped in because I wanted to be sure nothing was seriously wrong with you. You gave many a fright when you suddenly collapsed." I see. Well, this is truly nice of him. Although why do I feel the way he looks now, and from when I first saw him, he seems much older than before? At least around my age.

"I thank you for your concern. It was more of mental fatigue than anything I guess you can call it." I said with a forced smile. I really did mess up back there. I let my emotions get to me, and now…. Luckily my mind seems more firm now. Maybe it was just because of the moment.

"I see. It does happen when you are overwhelmed. I am sure eventually you will learn how to deal with such things in the future. Oh, they seem to be waking up. Miss Cyrilia, I do wish to speak with you more. Are you free in the next few days?" Prince Rythilin asked.

I looked at him and thought for a moment. I saw no reason to turn him down, so I nodded my head. As long as he was not planning to ask me to do something strange, then I see no reason not to speak with him. "I should have some time before I move to my new place in the next few days after the tournament is over if it is still on."

Chapter3 Sly Cat

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know. Due to half the contestants being assassins, the tournament was canceled," Prince Rythilin explained, causing me to frown. I mean, I really wanted to fight the others….

"Anyway, I should take my leave. It seems both Princess Runa and your friend will pretend to be asleep until I leave. I will be in contact about our date." My mind suddenly went blank as I watched the smirking Prince walk out of the room.

I think I might have been hearing things, but did he just say date? I do not remember agreeing to anything like a date! "Oh? So Faith likes the overly cute ones." I turned towards the voice to see Runa giving me a teasing smile.

"Adel will be sad." Sophie's voice entered my ear from the other side.

I was starting to become flustered. "Hold on! I never said anything about a date. He only asked if we could talk more!"

"In the Kingdom of Lodinia, the way a man asks a girl on a date is by asking if they wish to talk more," Runa explained, causing my expression to turn black.

"How was I supposed to know !?" I yelled. "Forget it. Runa, you go."

"No, thank you! I do not wish to be hissed at by the Prince of the beast kingdom. His attendant and guard are very powerful. That rabbit girl only used three attacks to break all those barriers." Runa's words surprised me. Even I have a hard time breaking a barrier. This just goes to show how strong that rabbit girl is.

"I will send a message to Adel later… If she finds out about this from other sources, I think all hell will break loose." Sophie mumbled under her breath, but I heard every word of it.,

"Why would it cause hell to break out!? Sophie, you are over exaggerating things. Anyway, since I said I will go, I will go, but I am not going alone. I never intended for this to be some kind of date, so even if he doesn't like it, I will bring both of you with me." The last thing I wanted to do was get involved romantically with any kind of royalty from another kingdom. I would not and can not betray the kingdom I live in by doing so.

I will also not allow myself to become some kind of tool to be used to make ties with another kingdom. I won't change my current goals for anything. I was born in this kingdom, and I plan to at least do what I can for it.

However, what happened today really does still bother me. I mean those eyes…. Fanmari's eyes were still burning vividly in my mind, but it was not making me feel anything anymore. I guess my skills have taken over or something. Although, I am not sure if they are or not. But I am glad that it did not erase that image. While it will always haunt me, it will be a good reminder that this is what it means to live in this world full of bloodshed.

Sophie looked at me with a strange look before shaking her head and mumbling something else. I couldn't hear her this time because she spoke in such a low voice. "Anyway, you two are coming with me. Maybe Thurul and Sei as well…. And Gesel and Fred."

I really did not wish to be alone with Prince Rythilin now that he went and called our meeting a date. I would never have agreed if that was the case. I got too much going on to care about such things or time to deal with such headaches either.

"Haha! I can't wait to see how sour his face will be when he realizes that he will not be with you alone." Runa said while laughing.

"I guess you know Prince Rythilin?" I asked. As royalty, I would think she would know most of the other princes and princesses of other kingdoms.

"Mmm… Well, more like we got into a fight once. But that was when we were little. My father and mother took me over to their kingdom for a meeting between our nations to form a trade pact. It could have been left up to their subordinates, but my father was very curious about what a beast kingdom looked like at the time.

"Well, during the meeting, I was stuck with the Prince with nothing better to do. So I made him show me around the castle. We were in an area near a small man made pond, and the Prince decided to try to touch my ears. And well, I don't like it when people touch them as only your future spouse is allowed to touch them. So I kinda raised my foot and stuffed it in his face sending him flying into the pond behind him. Luckily it was not too deep, but as he was a catkin and well, he kind of got very angry and hissed at me before attacking me.

"Long story short, we both ended up with two black eyes and fat lips. We got a serious scolding that day." Listening to Runa's story made me laugh. I mean, just picturing the two fighting made for a funny image.

But something curious came to mind. "How old is Prince Rythilin?"

"I think he turned fourteen this year? His race ages very slowly physically. Which is why he looks so young. He is kinda like you. While he is a catkin, he is from the two tailed race, which is a long lived race while normal catkin has the same lifespan as humans." Runa's explanation explained it all. I thought it was strange how he seemed to have the demeanor of someone older. I guess this is why he seemed older when speaking to him just now.

"Well…. I give you permission to push him into a pond when we go with me to meet with him. He deserves it after tricking me into this date. Sly cat!"

Chapter4 The Plan Part 1

I ended up spending a day and night in the healing ward of the stadium. The healers wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with me before letting me leave. While the tournament ended before I could even get to fight Gesel and the rest, at least none of the people I cared about got hurt. I did, however, take a very big lesson from all of this. I should never react without judging the situation first. With my current skills and high intelligence, you would think I would already understand all of this. My analytical abilities were already very high, so I should have been able to judge the situation better and come up with a more appropriate way to deal with Fanmari.

While she may have been an assassin, she may have been able to live a life outside of such a dirty job with the right help after she had done time for her sins. Of course, I do know that such thinking is naive, to say the least, but I am someone who sees a young girl and hopes that maybe they can be saved from the life they were dragged into. I could be just sticking my nose into other people's business as well. I mean, she could have chosen the life of an assassin, or maybe she was forced into it, I do not know. I did not know her. I only knew the look in her eyes, those eyes that showed so much regret.

Even though she was here to kill me, I still think there could have been a better solution. I just never thought it would have affected me the way that it did. It seemed the difference between a soldier fighting a war and bandits who are doing dirty deeds compared to a young girl my age affected me much more than I would have expected. This was a major flaw and something I will need to work on. Not that I have a way to train it. It's not like I can run to a village and start slaughtering all the teen girls I see. That would make me the bad guy. And the last thing I want is to become the bad guy.

Because I am sure that damn hero idiot would suddenly show up waving his sword yelling: 'Die Demon Lord! I will banish you to hell!" Only to be slapped away by my second form. Then he would have some kind of magical breakthrough that would make my hp bar so low that my third form would kick in, replenishing my health. Well, maybe not, but the idea of it all sounds kind of fun.

But I, for one, do not plan to turn into some kind of strange monster that no one knows anything about. Fantasies aside, while things did not end the way I would have wanted them to, I still planned to thank everyone who helped me. And I just so happened to have a certain event coming up that would be perfect for a nice party with everyone. But first, before that, I needed to talk with Sei and Sir Derek.

---

A little while later, I was sitting in my living room. Annie had served tea and set down snacks. Sophie was sitting at my side while Sei and Sir Derek were sitting across from me. Runa, on the other hand, said she had things to do and ran off. She did, however, tell me she would be back to face off with the sly cat.

"So what exactly happened after I passed out?" I asked. I never got the chance to talk about this as it seemed to be something that was supposed to be kept hush hush. Even if it did cause an incident, it was not something the kingdom wanted everyone to know about, so the story was mixed up a bit and the assassins were blamed on the Norian kingdom.

"Well…. We took care of the assassins and had their bodies disposed of. All except the young girl assassin. We made sure she would get an appropriate burial. While the old guys mean nothing to us, we are not as heartless to send a young girl to lie in a nameless grave. Luckily we knew her name." Sei replied. I felt a little relief that she was able to gain a bit of peace after death.

"As for the ones behind it, well, it seems your good old friend the count is one of them as well as a few other nobles who all have connections to each other. It seems the assassins guild was given a high price of ten thousand gold for your head." Hearing Sir Derek reply with a chuckle and a look of approval about my current bounty, I am not sure how I feel about it. Ten thousand gold was like gaining a billion dollars for a commoner. It was no easy task, but for a bunch of nobles, especially those who dealt in dirty deeds, they could easily get that amount of gold.

"So I should expect more people to come and assassinate me?" I asked.

"This I can not be sure of. Sadly there was not enough evidence to single anyone out." Sir Derek gave me an apologetic look.

While I know there was not much I could do about it if they did send more assassins at this time, I was kind of hoping we could put some of them in jail. But I guess without proper evidence, there is no way to arrest a noble. I guess you could call them slippery snakes. I let out a sigh as I sat back with a cup of hot steaming tea in my hand and took a sip. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. "I will be making some barrier pendants for those around me, including my family. Sei, any chance you can get someone to send them over after they are made? One will be made for both Adel and Prince Lance as well."

"No problem! With a pendant inscribed with your barrier, nothing will come to harm them. I will show you how to make one that will auto activate when they are in danger." Sei replied with a bright smile. But her words caught my interest. A barrier that auto activates when someone is in danger? I had never even heard of such a thing before.

"Ah! You did it now, Sei. Our serious conversation is now ruined because you piqued her interest." Sir Derek said with a chuckle as he sat back and threw his hands up into the air.

I guess it only took one night at the camp fire to realize I will lose myself in magic. But I still pursed my lips and glared at him as I said: "We can finish our discussion first…'

Chapter5 The Plan Part 2

"Well, the gist of it is that we will be casting a net." Sir Derek's tone got very serious, so I knew now was no time to be messing around. Even Sei had sat up and was paying full attention. "The King has asked for my help one last time in dealing a huge blow to the nobles who think they can do as they please. But to do this, we will need not only your help but Adel's and Prince Lance's, and they have both agreed. They did so without any hesitation."

"Wait! You are not going to tell me you plan to use them as some kind of bait now, are you!?" What kind of person would put the Prince and Princess of the kingdom into harm's way!?

"It was Adel who came up with the idea. She even planned it out with Prince Lance, who did not wish to sit around ideally."

"And the King went along with it!? Is he an idiot!? What would happen if his kids were killed!?" I shouted. I know my words were enough to have my head cut off, but I couldn't help it. Just knowing my best friend was going to be put in harm's way made me angry. And Prince Lance, for all its worth, idiot or not, is still the Prince of this kingdom. His heart is there, but his mind is just lacking.

"It's good to know you care about my children. But saying that I am an idiot is kind of harsh, don't you think?" My whole body froze as it turned like a robot that had not been oiled for a few years and looked at the person who was standing there with a smile on his face. I could feel the cold sweat forming on my back. I was so dead.

"Haha! Now that is a look I never expected to see on your face!" The King of Gravos himself let out a hearty laugh at my expense. This old goat! I blushed and turned my head. I wasn't even going to apologize now. No wonder his son is an idiot! "Now, now don't pout."

"I'm not pouting!" I yelled.

"Haha! Fine, you are not pouting. But still, can you at least offer me a seat and some tea? I did travel all the way here." The King gave me a kingly smile which made me roll my eyes. This man does realize that I know what he is like when he is drunk, right? Should I spread it around that the King likes thighs? When he was drinking with Thurul, he was shouting about how he loved thighs. Thurul was saying something about the butt. It was a conversation I wished I had never heard.

"Please have a seat. I will even pour you some tea and only tea and nothing but tea." I had to make sure he knew there was no alcohol in this house!

"Tea is fine. Hmmm? Sei, Derek, why are you looking at me like that?" The King asked as he sat down.

"Umm, Sire, if I may, are you a fake?" Sir Derek asked. I looked up to see Sei holding her head and Sir Derek staring at the King in a strange fashion.

"What!? What is that look for!?" King Gravos yelled out in a huff.

"I am just trying to figure out where the King went. As soon as you came through the door, you started bantering with a child! Where is that imposing aura that you had in court?" Sir Derek got up and began pulling on the King's cheeks which left me and everyone else sitting there stunned, well except Sei, who was not even looking at what was going on... "Huh? Not a mask? Well, I guess we should replace you then since this King seems defective."

"You old bastard, do you want to fight!?" King Gravos swatted Sir Derek's hands away and yelled out while standing up.

"Haha!" Sir Derek let out a loud laugh as he patted the King's Shoulder. "You haven't changed. Even around your daughter, you change into another person. It seems you have taken quite a liking to Little Faith here."

"Of course! She is doing so much for my kingdom. How can I not like her? Anway, were we not talking about something serious!? Let's talk about that." The King seemed a bit flustered. I think I even see a bit of pink in his cheeks. For a moment there, I really thought Sir Derek had never seen this side of the King, but I guess he was just messing with him. Only someone very close to him would be able to do such a thing. But now that I think about it, did I not just do the same thing just on a milder level?

"Ahem…. Faith, the plan that my daughter and son laid out revolved around them being targeted next now that nobles' plan to have you assassinated failed. While they will probably keep trying, they will also make other more bolder moves. Like taking those who are close to you who have high value to get you or me to relinquish your hold over the slums." The King explained.

"If that is the case, would they not go for my father and the rest of my family instead?" If they wished to hold someone hostage, wouldn't my family make better targets? I mean, they are my blood related relatives, after all.

"It would take too long to try to make it to the border to even take someone from your family hostage. They would need someone close by who they can use as a bargaining chip now and not for later." The King explained.

"Do they not realize that by touching anyone close to me that I might accidentally set fire to each one of their houses while they sleep?" I mean, if we can not get any evidence on them. I can always make them live in fear by burning down their house. Wait for them to rebuild it before burning it down again. I will repeat the process until they finally go crazy.

Chapter6 The Plan Part 3

The King let out a loud laugh and patted my head, kind of roughly causing me to frown. It felt like my hair was going to fall out! "Little Faith, if you go burning down noble's houses, invite me. I am always up for a good lynching of wrongdoers!"

My mouth dropped to the floor in shock! Hey Mr. King, man! Why are you talking about lynching your own nobles!? But even if this King is somewhat weird, he is still a good man with the right kind of justice. "Okay, that is beside the point. Now, please tell me. What is going on with this plan? How are they going to even begin executing it in the first place? Are they going to ware signs saying, 'hey, come kidnap me'?"

"Hmmm… This is not a bad idea. I can even find out who the stupider noble is…." I watched as the King rubbed his chin and gave my wise remark a serious thought.

"Don't even think about it!" Why do I feel like I am doing a one man act with the King!? Your Majesty, please spare me!

"Haha! You must like yelling!" The King let out another hearty laugh while I wished I could kick him a few times to take out the stress that was building up. I could only snort out my anger while the King continued: "But no. They will be moving in with you in the new house."

"Wait! Adel is one thing, but why is Prince Lance moving into the house too? There will be no one but girls living there." I have never even held hands with a boy outside my own family. Why would I wish to live with one!? I am starting to think that maybe there was more to this mess than meets the eye. Let's hope the loveometer stays below the red mark and never ascends into dangerous territory. I mean, I have no choice but to accept this situation. It is not like I own the house in the first place, so whoever the King wishes to place there is not something I can control.

"It will be fine. While Lance can be an idiot at times and doesn't know how to properly court a girl, he is not someone who would cross any lines that would cause a misunderstanding." Umm…. Does the King know that his son is an idiot? No, wait, he does know! He just called him that, so how does he know his son won't cross that fine line? I guess I will be putting up barriers on all the girls' doors.

I could only sigh and wave my right hand off handily while I held my head with the other. "Alright, alright, it is not like I can say no. Just please tell him that if he does anything that remotely seems perverted, I will burn his hair off and make him crab walk naked out in the streets of the capital."

"Hahaha!" Sir Derek let out a laugh that echoed through the entire room. Sei was buckled over at the side, and even Sophie was giggling away at my words. As for the King…. Yeah, he was as well. His face was red, and he had tears in his eyes. I am starting to feel bad for Prince Lance.

But I guess it will not be too bad. I mean, I will be at the academy most of the day, so I will not have to deal with everything all day long. Not to mention I will be very busy with everything else I plan to do. I will be experimenting with magic, runic inscriptions, more magic, learning how to command armies, more magic, learning about ancient history, more magic…. Okay, so lots of magic. I had been thinking of modifying my mana shield so that it can be element based. So like, let's say someone attacked me with lightning magic, I can make my mana shield be water based, which will disperse the electricity so that it can not be used as non direct damage against me. The same would go for other elements and maybe even be able to negate attacks instead of just absorbing them.

Mana shield has a lot of potential, and only because of how it works no one has ever really looked into it. It can be used for many more purposes other than just a self shield. I plan to in the future try to inscribe it into a pedant and see if I can set up a link to it with my mana so that it can always protect my loved ones. It may take a lot of trial and error, but hopefully, one day, I will be able to use this experimentation to expand the lives of others. Besides that, I also want to finally finish my fusion magic so that it is useful.

"Haha… Ahh! That would be a sight to see. I will be sure to warn him well." The King replied while wiping his tears. Was it really that funny?

At any rate, the King's idea was not a bad one now that I thought about it. "So you want me to protect both Adel and Prince Lance?"

"Mmm… You understood my meaning well. I know how powerful you are, so to cast the net with a big piece of bait, the safest place for them would be near you. Like your name, I have faith in your abilities. While I know this is dangerous, I want nothing more than to have this all end without anyone getting hurt." The King replied. He was acting serious for once, and the gaze in his eyes showed his trust in me. Even if he did not ask me, I still would have done what he had asked. Adel, for one, is my best friend, while Prince Lance is her brother and my acquaintance.

"Then leave it to me. I planned to inscribe a few barriers anyway. As long as we can capture the one who is doing the kidnapping, I can get them to talk and bring the ones behind it to kneel in front of you to do as you see fit." I gave a firm answer. It would not be hard to make someone talk.

"Then I will leave it to you."

Chapter7 A Fun Time For All Except For A Sly Cat

Currently, I was sitting in a tea shop sipping on some very nice and expensive tea. To my left is Sophie, who looked like a small animal as she nibbled on a pastry. On my right was Adel, who showed up a day after receiving a letter from Sophie about today's date. She seems to have abandoned everything to come here to have tea with me. She is very sweet indeed. On Sophie's left was Thurul, who was sitting at the end of the long bench seat. While on Adel's right were Gesel and Fred.

Sitting at the opposite ends of the table were Sei and Runa and on the other side was, for some reason, King Gravos himself and also Sir Derek. Sitting in between these two men, who were both rather well built, was a certain catkin who was currently grinding his teeth and sweating bullets. "Ahem…. Miss Cyrilia, if I am not mistaken, I could have sworn I had asked if you wish to talk more."

Hearing these easily misunderstood words, I smiled brightly at the sly cat and answered: "But can't you still do just that? Talk with me? I mean, you did just speak to me. Is this not the definition of 'Talk more'?"

"This…." Seeing the little catkin stumped for words, I couldn't help but feel a strong sense of victory!

"It's good you were willing to meet up today because I just so happen to want to treat everyone as my way of saying thanks for all the help they have given me as of late. So please, everyone, order whatever you like." I really did wish to treat everyone to something. A day ago, the organizer of the tournament had come to personally apologize for what happened. He even gave me one hundred gold as a form of compensation. Not only to me, but every contestant who was not an assassin was paid one hundred gold.

This worked out well, and I was happy to gain so many funds. As Thurul was the one dealing with most of the things going on with building the factory, I handed him all of it but ten gold. I would be busy for the next few days as I prepared for the academy and would also be moving. I would not have time to head to the slums right now, so he would be managing it all for me. Between supplies and paying everyone who was working, a good sum of money was needed.

"Haha, Faith is so generous, don't you think so, Little Rythilin?" King Gravos looked at Prince Rythilin with a big smile causing the sly cat's frown to deepen even more. Maybe next time, he will try not to be so sneaky when he is dealing with me. I do not know what his final objective was by trying to ask me out on a date, but I will say that even if I did come here on my own without knowing any better as to what he truly meant, I would not be following him anywhere that is for sure.

"That she is. This tea and these pastries really hit the spot when you're as old as I am." Every time Sir Derek spoke, he would slap Prince Rythilin's shoulder, and it seemed like he was doing it pretty hard because Prince Rythilin kept flinching with each slap.

But now that I was thinking things through with the sly cat, I have come to realize something… First, he broke into the barriers and landed in front of me with his rabbitkin guard as if he was some hero saving a beauty. Then he was trying to be sly in how he asked me out on a date, using the traditional way beastkin in his kingdom ask people out. So I think this entire setup was just him trying to take advantage of the situation. So, in other words, he was a sly cat.

What I find funny is that King Gravos offered to come once he heard that I was going on a date. It seems he might not have given up on me marrying into his family just yet. I hate to disappoint him, but that will probably never happen in his lifetime or mine. But he is a good deterrent when it comes to dealing with sly cats. It is making for a good show, that is for sure.

And to my side, Adel, who is one hundred percent human, is growling and hissing at the catkin as if she was a catkin herself. But besides that, everyone else seems to be having fun. Gesel and Fred are happily chatting away with one another. Runa and Sei are stuffing their faces. I mean, they have a pile of cakes and pastries in front of them. It's like they will never get to have such things ever again after they leave this place.

And Thurul is sneaking some kind of alcohol in his tea every chance he gets. But he seems to be very content with snacking and watching the show with an amused smile. I have a lot to thank him for as he went out on a limb and decided to become partners with me, who was not even half his age. And thanks to Adel and also Grace Dollen pushing the pens onto the noble class, I already have a huge backlog of orders waiting to be filled once the factory is up and running.

Everyone here besides the sly cat has helped me in many ways, and I owe each and every one of them my utmost gratitude for the kindness they have given me. I hope to stay friends with each one of them except the sly cat and maybe one day repay the kindness they have shown me. While I know, they did not help me to gain things in return. I can not always be the one on the receiving end. I must also return their kindness as well.

Volume Five End!

--AN: The fifth volume is now over. I hope everyone has enjoyed the novel up to this point and hope you will continue to enjoy it for the many, many chapters that are still to come. I want to take a moment and thank everyone for supporting Faith on her journey. Academy arc coming next!--

Chapter8 A New Home Part 1

A flock of white feather birds is flying through the sky. Their wings flapping ever so gently as they used the currents of the wind to stay afloat as they glide amongst the clouds. The temperature today was not so bad. I could still wear a t-shirt even though cooler weather was right around the corner.

As of now, as I watch the clouds from up close while shading my eyes from the sun that was high in the sky, I was feeling a bit excited. In front of me, as I take in the sights around me, is a large metal gate much taller than myself. This would be the gate that I will be coming and going through from now on. This was the gate to my new home.

"Faith, get in the carriage. We still have a few minutes before we reach the front door." Adel yelled out. It was not just me who was moving in today either. There are another three carriages here lined up, one behind the other. One was mine. Another was Adel's, and the third was Prince Lances.

Sophie, Sei, and the maids also all came as well, but since I had my inventory, I just stored all our luggage in there so we could all sit in one carriage. This reduced the need for any more carriages.

I turned and looked at Adel, who seemed to be in a hurry, and sighed. I slowly began walking back to the carriage. "I just wanted to take it all in! You saw how small my home was."

"I know, but we have so much to do today." Adel was right. We still had a lot to do. Mainly Sei and I had a lot to do. Because I was in charge of protecting the only princess and the crown prince of this kingdom, I had to ensure the house and the property they lived in was thoroughly protected.

That meant creating many magical defense systems from barriers to other kinds of traps. While I really doubt anyone will be able to break through the barrier I planned to set up since it will be continuously strengthened with my magic as I plan to form a link to the core, but one can never be too careful. And I had quite a few traps planned out. Like using illusions to create pitfalls. A riddle maze where people will need to solve the questions in order to continue on.

One of those riddles I planned to put in was taken from a show I watched once back on Earth. I guess the host of the show was some famous chef, but he was quite funny when he got mad at people. The question for one of the riddles would show an image of two slices of bread, followed by the question: "What are you!?" I started laughing when I heard the answer

But besides that, I planned to do things like making a wash basin fall on people's heads. Logs that swing in from out of nowhere and the old trip line that blows everything up in the area when you trip the trap. You know the usual.

As the carriage pulled through the gate, what entered my view was a wide open front lawn or more like a meadow. There was a single large tree that sat in the middle of this meadow that had a bench swing hanging from one of its limbs that was big enough to fit five people. While it seemed peaceful, the coup de gra of the whole thing was the large brick and mortar style house that had an Earthling western style feel to it.

What amazed me the most about this place was that it had four floors, and this was just the above ground area. It made me wonder just how many floors were underground. I was kinda hoping for like two or three underground, so I could have a secret lab. You know, like in those fantasy novels where either the heroes or the villains had an underground base of operations to do all their experiments? I wanted something like that so I could train in magic that I did not want others taking notice of or even creating some kind of secret weapon. I was thinking of creating the ultimate idiot smasher. This way, when idiots appear, I can just smash them.

This came to mind when I remembered the rabbit girl that Prince Rythilin had at his side. She had a massive hammer that looked wonderful for smashing idiots. Luckily I did not have to go far to find an idiot to try it out on because Prince Lance was moving in as well. I am sure if I asked nicely, he would allow me to give him a few whacks. Of course, I am joking. If I ever did such a thing, he would be squashed like a bug. So Unless he truly did something that would be considered an idiot move, I will keep the testing to only the idiots that appear before me.

I do wonder, though, if the nobles will try to break into the new house or not. The whole plan was to use Adel and Prince Lance as bait which was why they moved in with me. While I still have my misgivings about this, I will do everything in my power to make sure Adel is safe and, if I have time, Prince Lance too. But I will say if something bad happens, I might lose myself to my ancient will if I get too angry. Such emotions as hate and sadness might just break it from its chains and send me spiraling down a path I can not return from. This thought alone scared me greatly to the point that I have been checking for any signs of my ancient will the past few nights since the King brought this all up. I still have the images burned into my mind since the fortune telling. The pain and sorrow I had in my eyes and the menacing smile I had on my face at that time. I do hope none of it will ever come true. While my life may be long, I do wish to enjoy the present with the friends I have made and cherish the time I will have with everyone.

Chapter9 A New Home Part 2

Now I know I should not dwell on the things that I do not know about, but sometimes I just can't help it. For now, I will just push it all back into the box that can not be fully sealed and enjoy exploring this new place I will call home from now on.

The carriage pulled up under the stone awning that covered the front entrance. I could tell right away this was definitely a luxury directly pointing towards nobles as they probably did not wish to run to the door when it was raining out. It kind of reminded me of those luxury hotels you could see online back on Earth.

With the large overhang so rain and snow would not get the people entering and leaving wet. But the hotels and stuff that had such hover hangs usually had someone parking the cars of the people arriving who would then get soaked. Makes me feel bad for them because I have no idea how much money they actually made. And now I was one of those people who had an overhang and would get to be dry while the carriage driver would end up getting wet. I guess I should make sure he is getting paid extra.

Oh, that was something else as well. The three carriages we arrived in are actually mine now. They were gifted to me by Sir Derek, who said I will need a nice carriage to go to the academy in. I guess he was worried that I would be looked down upon if I arrived at the academy on foot. But truth be told, I would not mind walking as the academy was not very far away. I could easily run there in ten minutes, and it would also be good exercise, but when I mentioned this to Adel, she thoroughly rejected the idea and told me to behave myself. So I gave up on the idea.

But now, I had a huge area to run around in and work out as I please. I can not wait to begin a proper morning routine. Of course, Sophie will be joining me, whether she likes it or not. I promised I would train her, and she will need to stick to a strict schedule. Sadly we have not had time to do much in the way of training as the company kinda butted into me getting a mission from the mercenary guild.

But everything will come in due time. I will soon be just as busy, so my training will be even slower. I will have to wait until we have our academy outings. From what I understand about these outings is that we venture into small worlds and will look to hunt for treasures which I am all for. I believe that we can keep the treasures we find, but if we hand them over to the academy, they will give us a certain amount of merit points.

I, of course, will hand what I find over as long as it is not shiny. I mean, I haven't really had a chance to get any new shinies since I left home. It's not like my big brother will suddenly show up and go here, Faith, I found this for you. Now that I think about it, it has been almost half a year since I left home. A lot has happened since then. I do hope everyone is okay. I hope Mother has not kicked Father out of the house yet. And I hope Big Brother is treating Rachel well. And I really hope that my little nephew Leo is as healthy and fat as when I left him.

I do plan to make a trip home the first chance I get. To check in and see how everyone is. Maybe by then, I will have figured out how to make a proper teleportation magic circle. Then I can set up a connection between my house in Cyrilia village and my home here. I think that would make for an amazing thing. Being able to have my Mother's home cooking whenever I want would be really nice.

"Faith! We can't get out if you are going to sit there and daydream all day. This is your home, to begin with, we are just guests!" Adel woke me up from my thoughts causing my cheeks to blush. I wonder how long I was out this time.

But Adel's words did sound funny. I do not remember gaining any properties. I was only told I would have a place prepared for me to live in. "Adel!" Prince Lance suddenly yelled out, causing Adel to quickly cover her mouth. Hmmm? Was I not supposed to know something?

Wait… As I got off the carriage, an older gentleman was standing there in a black butler suit and a monocle in his right eye doing a perfect bultlery bow. "Miss Faith Cyrilia, I presume. My name is Jeeves. I was hired to be the head caretaker of your new home."

I pursed my lips as I looked at Jeeves, who looked exactly like the butlers you would see in a movie back on Earth. He even had that prim and proper air about him. "Ummm… Thanks…. But may I ask a certain question. Not to you but to Princess Adel."

I turned and looked at Adel, who quickly averted her eyes. I guess she knew she was in trouble. Even Prince Lance was looking away. "Now, if I may ask. I thought I was only having a home prepared for me and not given to me to keep. So can someone explain to me when I suddenly inherited an estate!?" I walked over to Adel, who kept trying to look away from me, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me as I smiled brightly at her: "Adel? "

Adel pouted her lips as she looked like she was ready to cry as she said: "Well, you see, Faith… We wanted to give you a gift, and well, we figured... Hey! Why not get her a new home so she can do whatever she wants with it?"

I turned to look at Prince Lance, who was nodding his head like a newborn chick. But once I made eye contact with him, he froze and began looking everywhere except for at me before suddenly yelling out: "It was Father who decided on this!"

Chapter10 A New Home Part 3

I looked at the two, who were both nodding their heads at me, and sighed. "So this huge estate is now mine?"

Both the princess and prince nodded their heads like baby chicks at my question. "So if I were to tear it down and put up tents for everyone to live in, it would be okay?"

Once again, their heads nodded up and down. But I could have sworn I saw their eyebrows twitch. Well, not like I am really complaining. It was just unexpected, is all. I let out a sigh as I turned back around and gave Jeeves a slight bow. "I apologize for my rude behavior just now."

"Young Miss does not need to worry about this old man. I took no offense. I am sure the incompetence of the princess and prince who did not think to explain things clearly is at fault here." Ouch! Jeeves really slapped the two of them in the face. But this did tell me one thing….

"Just so I am clear here but do you by chance know the two of them well?" I asked.

"I was in charge of their care when they were younger. I have now resigned from the palace once I heard this position was opening up. I wished to work under someone who is so willing to help the people. I have heard many good things about you, Young Miss." It was not that I was ignoring how Jeeves went from calling me Miss Faith Cryilia to Young Miss. I had kind of figured it would happen since that is what Annie and the others call me. But the way he talked to me seemed slightly different, as if I had gained his approval just now.

"I see. Then I will be in your care from now on. If you need to, you can spank both of them if they do anything that angers you. They are…." I paused and turned to look at the prince and prince with a big smile. "Under my care after all….."

"Faith, I don't like the sounds of your words! Why does it sound like you will treat us horribly!?" Adel cried out in a panic while I was laughing on the inside. I was finding this fun since I had never seen Adel like this.

"Don't worry, Princess Adel, we will make sure to take very good care of you. Now, if you can just place your bags by the tree over there, we will be sure to send out some rope and a sheet so you can make some tents. As for how to prop them up…. Well, I am sure you will figure it out. Now then, if you will excuse me…." I turned and walked over to Jeeves, who smiled and led the way into the house, ignoring the prince and princess as if they were not even there. But I only got two steps towards the door when Adel ran up to me and grabbed my arm:

"Faith, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hide it from you. We were going to surprise you, I swear! Can you please let me off this one time? Can you go back to calling me just Adel?" I turned and looked at the eyes that were brimming with tears, and my heart dropped. I forgot Adel was someone who did not have true friends. Only Sophie and I could be considered as such. And here I was treating her as a stranger….

I reached up and wiped the tear that was threatening to fall from Adel's eyes and sighed. "Sorry, my joke went a little too far. Don't cry, Adel."

"Mmm….." Adel nodded while pouting.

"Let's go in and choose rooms. We can then have lunch before I get to work dealing with the estate's protection systems." I announced before grabbing Adel's hand and pulling her along. I know I shouldn't gab her hand like this as it might make Adel have other thoughts, but I did not wish to treat her any differently than before. Plus, I just almost made her cry which was not nice of me either.

"Ummm…." Another voice sounded out, stopping me once again. I turned to see Prince Lance still standing in the doorway, causing me to chuckle. "You can come in as well. You can choose a room after us girls."

"Right! Thanks!" Prince Lance put on a silly smile as he walked in and looked around. Sadly I couldn't help but think his actions just now were kind of cute. But that is it, only cute, nothing more.

The inside of the estate was not lavishly decorated, which made me feel at ease. While it still was furnished with high quality furnishings, they were not over the top and very normal. I can only think that Adel had a hand in the decor of the estate. "You decided on this?"

"Yep! Do you like it?" Adel suddenly perked up at my question. I could hear the pride in her voice.

"That I do. Not overly lavish, but not plain either. It suits my taste very much. Thank you. But this still must have cost a lot though, right?" I asked.

"Well, the estate was actually one of my father's old estates from before he became king. It was just sitting here collecting dust, so he decided to award it to you. In truth, this was supposed to be a thank you gift from not only me but my brother, father, and my mother, the queen. Faith, I do not think you understand the accomplishments that you have gained so far.

"You have many merits already stacked up waiting for you to graduate from the academy. Not to mention that there are many nobles who would fight against you becoming a noble yourself at this time. To keep the courts quiet for the time being while we flush out as many of the bad eggs as we can, many things need to be put on hold concerning you." Adel explained.

"I see. Well, it is not like I am in a hurry to become a noble. Although it would secure my future and is one of my goals, but I still have a lot to do and a lot to achieve as well. Plus, the things I have been doing are not to gain merits but to help those who I want to help."

Chapter11 Picking Rooms Part 1

"That sounds very Faith like." Prince Lance commented as he finally caught up to us. Although, not even a second later, I heard a disgruntled snort coming from my side. I just hope these two do not get into some kind of brawl while living here. I don't know how things are at the castle, but I do hope that they can get along while living under my roof. I kinda like that word 'My roof'. It has a nice sound to it.

"Well, I am me and am not able to be anyone else even if I tried." Well, unless I used my acting skill, but I do not plan to be anyone else unless there is a good reason for it.

"That is very true." Prince Lance answered, which resulted in another snort. "Adel, are you going to be like this every time I speak?"

And now it has started. The brother-sister feud. "I have no idea what you are talking about, dear brother. Maybe you should stop talking and see if I treat you better. While you are at it, you can stop breathing as well."

"I would die!" Prince Lance yelled out.

"Tch… Not as dumb as I thought he was." Adel muttered in a not so low voice.

"I can hear you, you know!" I was actually finding this quite entertaining. Does this make me a bad person?

"If the two of you can not get along. Then I will have to kick the both of you out of the house and go along with Young Miss's first idea and toss you some rope and some sheets to make tents. So either get along or sleep outside." Jeeves stern voice filled the air causing the brother and sister combo to quickly shut up. I guess this is what happens when you take care of the royal children and are the one to always dish out punishment. Maybe this was why Adel panicked so much earlier. Since I had suggested it, she knew Jeeves would carry it out. Maybe this was the real reason why Jeeves came to work for me.

Now that I think about it….. Who is paying his salary…. I was starting to sweat. I had no money! All my money went to the company. How was I supposed to pay for my staff? This was bad…. Really bad! "Ummm, Adel…. About Jeeves's and everyone else's salary…."

"Hmmm? Father pays for it. What do you mean?" Adel answered, seemingly confused. But I, on the other hand, was internally pumping my fists. I mean, we just walked in, and I already see like thirty people standing here.

"Now then!" Jeeves clapped his hands as we came to a stop in the hall entrance. All the staff members quickly gathered together and stood behind him. And before I could ask what was going on. Jeeves, along with everyone else, bowed to me. "Young Miss, welcome home!"

Their voices echoed through the estate, causing me to feel a little flustered. This was my first time being treated as if I was royalty. It felt strange, but I am sure I will get used to it. I just hope I do not end up turning into one of those rich snobby girls I saw at the tea party. "Please raise your heads. There is no need to bow to me like that. Just act yourselves, please."

"This is something that must be done, Young Miss. It is your first day in your new home. It should be treated as a grand occasion. Once you have selected your rooms, a welcoming party has already been prepared out in the back garden. I do hope you will enjoy it." Jeeves replied with a smile. I was actually quite touched, but I hope they do not bow like this to me every time I come home. I do not think I will be able to get used to that.

"I thank you all for your hard work. I am sure I will enjoy it." I said with a smile.

"Then allow me to bring you to your room Young Miss. As for the others, girls on the third floor and boys on the second floor." Jeeves suddenly announced, causing me to be a bit confused. I can see splitting the girls and boys up, but why was I the only one following Jeeves?

I turned and looked at Adel for answers. Adel chuckled at my questioning gaze as she explained: "As the master of the house, you will always have the top floor of the home as your place of residents. I worked hard on renovating your room, so I hope you do like it. I will take Sophie and Sei to go pick rooms on the third floor. Once we are done, we will come up to see you."

"I see.." I pursed my lips. While I would have been fine with a room like everyone else's, I can not let Adel's hard work go to waste. Plus, I was curious as to what it looks like. "Then I will see you all in a bit."

I waved before turning and nodding my head to Jeeves, who then told me to follow him. The main entrance was huge, and I mean huge. Like you could fit my entire house from the village in the main entrance alone, well maybe I am exaggerating a little bit it was still very big. It had a set of stairs that led up to the second floor that had red wood railings and stairs with a soft red carpet adorning the steps. The main entrance's floor was made out of what looked to be marble. But nothing too flashy, just a simple black with light gray swirls. Besides that, there were two doors on each side of the staircase that led to somewhere. I was not quite sure yet. I planned to take a tour later. For now, I was following Jeeves towards the left hallway. I did not get to get a good look myself when we pulled up to the estate, but I am really wondering just how far back the entire house goes.

Chapter12 Picking Rooms Part 2

I was brought to the fourth floor by a magical elevator that went between the floors. Well, they call it a lift, but to me, it's just an elevator. When it stopped at the fourth floor, we exited to stand in a small room just big enough for ten people. There was nothing else but four white walls.

"Young Miss, please place your hand on the wall here and inject your magic into it. It is already waiting for you to register with it." Jeeves explained, which made me nod my head. I guess this was what you call a secret mechanism that brought you to the real room.

I walked over to the wall Jeeves told me to and placed my hand on it, and began injecting my mana. All of a sudden runic letters began forming on the wall. They pulsated for a second before suddenly spreading out in all directions, making a unique pattern on the wall before a glowing light began connecting them together. I watched with great interest as they slowly began to form a magic circle that took up almost the entire wall. In the center, I watched as it started to slowly become transparent.

And what was revealed was a small garden within a room that had windows on the ceiling and walls. An indoor greenhouse is a good way to describe it, but only part of the rooms was like this, while the rest was more rustic and very familiar in a sense. It reminded me of home… I almost began tearing up. Adel really did put her heart and soul into my room. She made it feel like home before I even stepped foot into it.

I slowly walked through the opening in the wall, followed by Jeeves, and began looking around. My eyes shined as I saw the decor. "Adel really outdid herself."

"The princess had been here during the entire renovation overseeing every detail to the point that the contractors wanted to kick her out on her head. She was very nit picky if anything did not match the image she had." Jeeves explained. I turned to smile at him but was stunned when I saw him bowing to me.

"Jeeves!?" I stepped forward to try to help him up, but he seemed locked in place not willing to raise his head.

"Please allow me this bow. I must thank you. Princess Adel and Prince Lance have been like my own children. While the other princes were raised by their caretakers, I was in charge of the only princess of the kingdom and the crown prince. They have been under my care ever since the day they were born. And I know their personalities well. While they can be a bit off the wall, they are both good children. It's just before you came, Princess Adel seemed to always be down when she walked around the castle, and Prince Lance was always being taken advantage of.

"While they both have their good and bad qualities, they both have one thing in common. They are very kind children who love this kingdom very much. Princess Adel has not stopped talking about you since the day she met you. You have truly brought her out of her gloomy state. While some of her actions and obsessiveness can be over the top, she finds you to be very dear to her heart and would never betray you. So I do hope you will stay friends with her no matter how she acts.

"As for Prince Lance. While he is an idiot at times he is still a good young man and worthy of being king once he understands how to deal with people properly. Since meeting you, he seems to have changed and is now working hard to become a king worthy of your approval. This is something that His Majesty and I truly thank you for. So I do hope you will not shun him too much." Jeeves's love for the two he raised was clear as day. He may be old now, but it seems he really cared for both Adel and Prince Lance and still does to this day.

"Jeeves, please raise your head. I would not live under the same roof as someone I did not like. Both Adel and Prince Lance are good people and friends….. Well, Prince Lance is a good acquaintance. He still had a bit to go to be friends." Although I would not have been able to say no to His Majesty, I would have at least tried to make it so that only Adel came and not Prince Lance if I did not feel that he was a good person. I do have my own line that I would not want to cross. While I may joke about this and that about him, I don't hate or despise him.

"I thank you." Jeeves raised his head and smiled at me. His old age showing as his face wrinkled up. "I will now return to settle a few things. Please look around. I am sure Princess Adel will be up soon."

"Mmmm… thank you, Jeeves." After I saw Jeeves off, I started looking around my new room. The mid section was actually a large flower garden. The entire set up was self sustained which was truly impressive. I could see the runic inscriptions that made it so that the flowers would be watered at a certain time every day. I do wonder how long they will live for with such a set up. To the right of the room was a door that led to the rooftop. Even here, a magic barrier was set up to keep the rain and unwanted guests out. The area outside was huge, and I mean huge. You could easily hold a concert out here if one wished to.

Back inside, on the other side of the garden, was another door that led to a large living area that had a few couches and a fireplace that sat in the middle. All the furnishing kept the rustic decor of the room. Nothing was over exaggerated and was kept very simple. There were a few rooms off to the side of this that led to a library, a small kitchen, and an office with more bookshelves full of books, and within the office was another door that led to what looked like a lab of some kind. I think this was a magic lab because it was much different and had many runic inscriptions built into the wall for protection.

And lastly was the bedroom, which was overly huge. It had a door that led to a similarly large bathroom with a bath big enough to be a swimming pool. But what caught my eye was not the huge bed big enough for like ten people but the thing on the ceiling over the bed. "Why is there a huge picture of Adel on the ceiling!?"

Chapter13 Party In The Garden Part 1

I was currently standing in my new bedroom with my arms crossed in front of my chest while tapping my left foot off the ground, staring at a certain princess who was currently kneeling on the ground with her head lowered. "Care to explain?"

"Well, I thought that maybe you would like to wake up every morning to see me smiling back at you?" Adel answered while raising her head, but I squinted my eyes at her, causing her to quickly lower her head.

I really wished I knew what went on inside Adel's head, but this was just creepy! Who would want to wake up to a big picture of someone smiling back at them! While the picture was very well done and was at least proper in how it was painted, the problem was that it was huge and hanging over my head! It would give me nightmares! "Take it down!"

"But!" Adel seemed very reluctant about this, but I did not care!

"Take it down. Adel, you are a very good friend, my best friend at that, but this is just too much. I do not wish to have nightmares!" I'm sorry, Adel, but I had to say it!

"Nightmares!?" Adel looked as if I had just stabbed her in the heart, but what can I say? Even if it was a picture of my own mother, I would find it creepy as can be. Even if I was lovers with someone, I would never allow such a thing.

"Adel, you could put anyone up there in the same painting, and I would say the same thing. My mother, brother, or my father. It would all result in the same words coming out of my mouth. Take it down!" I hope, at least by saying this, she wouldn't be as depressed.

"Fine…." Adel pouted as she stood up and looked at the painting. "That was the best one too…."

I sighed and looked out to the living area and saw that the walls were quite bare out there. "Have them hang it on the wall in the living area."

"Okay!" Adel perked up very quickly after hearing my words. Seeing her smile made me feel slightly better. I know I was kind of harsh just now, but I really couldn't stop myself when something this was done.

Now that rooms were set, it was now time for lunch. As I walked out to the back yard, I noticed Sophie had her head lowered this entire time. "Sophie? Is something wrong?"

"Ahhh… No." Sophie shook her head as she raised it to look at me. "I was just thinking. This entire time I had been sleeping in the same bed as you and thought it would be strange to sleep alone again. That and I was wondering if it was okay for me to accept your kindness like this. I mean, my room is big enough for a princess….. As a commoner, I could stay in a small room made for servants. I do not think…."

"Enough of that, Sophie. I do not want to hear any more words about commoners. Don't forget I am one as well. We are cut from the same cloth. I am just a bit special because I seem to be overpowered. But nonetheless, you will be going to the same school as Adel and me. You will be walking the hallways with us, so you must never lower your head and give the snotty noble kids a chance to look down on you. We will show the nobles that even use commoners are amazing people who will do amazing things. And if they try to bother you, then punch them in the face like I did that one girl."

"Yes! Listen to Faith. You have the kingdom's only princess as your backer, so punch anyone you want except me, Faith, or the king and queen." Adel added with a proud look on her face.

"Wait, what about me and our brothers!?" I chuckled at Prince Lance's outburst.

"Huh? Why would I include you stinky brothers?" Adel asked with a look that said are you stupid? You are nothing. Go away.

"Alright, be nice. Sophie, only punch Prince Lance if he tries to hit on you. Or looks at you in the wrong way. Tries to touch any part of your body. Or even appears in front of you." I said in a teasing voice.

"Am I supposed to never leave my room!?" Prince Lance yelled out once more.

""That sounds perfect!"" Adel and I both said at the same time. We looked at each other and began laughing. Even Sophie smiled at this.

"You two! Don't gang up on me!" Prince Land huffed as he walked over to the table that was filled with food and sat down. He then grabbed a pastry from the table and shoved it in his mouth.

He was definitely an interesting character. Easily bullied by the girls around him. At least it will make for fine entertainment at home as long as things do not go too far. "Ummmmm. Can you all not forget about me? I am here too, you know!"

I turned to see Sei walking all alone as if she had no friends causing me to chuckle. "You were so quiet I forgot you were even here."

"That's because I couldn't say a word with how you all have known each other for so long!" Sei replied.

"That is true, but you have known Adel for quite a while, have you not?" I asked. I mean, she would always send messages back and forth and would go to talk with Adel personally, so I figured they were very well acquainted by now.

"Yes, but only at a professional level, not as friends… Every time we have spoken to each other, it was either about you or something important that related to the kingdom. Never anything personal." I see, so it seems Sei wanted to be friends with Adel as well but can't because of her status. I guess rank and duty does make things like that impossible sometimes.

"Well, forget about your duty from now on. You are now I, Adel Gravos's friend!"

Chapter14 Party In The Garden Part 2

I watched as Sei's smile brightened, hearing Adel's words. It felt nice that everyone was able to speak on equal terms without needing to worry about status, especially since we were all going to be living under the same roof.

We sat down and began chatting while we ate the food that was prepared for us. I looked over at Prince Lance, who seemed out of place as he ate his food by himself. In a way, I felt bad for him because he was the only boy here. "Prince Lance, I heard that you are really buckling down as of late."

"Hmm?" I watched as Prince Lance's cheeks turned slightly red as he explained: "Well… I have you to thank for that. The incident at the slums was an eye opener for me. I realized I was just skirting through life while people were walking all over me. I did not wish to become a king who was nothing more than a puppet. So in truth, I am very grateful to you and the fact that you are so outspoken. If not for that, I would still be a frog in a well. Only seeing a small patch of sky and never the world around me. Also…. Faith, if you want, you can just call me Lance from now on…."

I looked over at Prince Lance…. Or should I just say Lance and smiled at him. He truly has changed for the better, which is a good thing. "Then…. Prince Lance." But I still couldn't stop myself from teasing him. When I said these words, the look of anticipation turned to one of gloom, causing me to chuckle. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. From now on, I will call you Lance."

"Humph!" A perfectly timed loud snort by Adel seemed to try to mask out my saying his name. I looked over at her, only for her to quickly look up at the sky while eating a piece of meat as if she had done nothing at all.

I smiled and shook my head. Adel will always be Adel, it seems. When I turned and looked back at Lance, he had a silly grin on his face that was too funny not to laugh. But now that I pulled him into talking with us, he no longer seemed out of place.

We were all having a good time when Jeeves suddenly announced a newcomer: "Young Miss Dollen has arrived!"

Adel, who was stuffing her face with a pastry face suddenly turned sour. I looked over towards the garden entrance to see Grace walking over with a big smile on her face. Behind her, two maids were walking a few steps behind with two large boxes in their hands. "Faith! I'm here!"

I smiled and stood up to greet her. "Grace, it has been a while."

"That it has! I only got to meet with you once, but I did enjoy our time together. I do hope you forgive me for my unannounced visit. But when I heard you moved to the island, I had to come see you and give you a housewarming present." With that her two maids stepped forward with the huge boxes in their hands.

"This is?" I pursed my lips and looked at the boxes that were half as tall as I was. Her maids must be very strong!

"Allow me, Young Miss." Jeeves walked over and picked up the first box, knelt down to my height, and held it out in front of him. We had no room on the table, and it would be rude to place the boxes on the ground. All these noble etiquettes were taught to me by Adel. I did, however, feel excited to see what was inside. The first box was blue with a white ribbon holding the lid on. I reached up and pulled one on the ribbon so that it would untie before reaching up and pulling the lid off.

What I saw inside made my eyes glow with excitement. To some, it would just be a box of old papers, but to me, this was like a national treasure. The paper on top already told me what to expect in this deep box of papers. To be honest, I really wished to jump for joy. I did my best to compose myself as I asked: "Is this what I think it is!?"

"That it is. It is the complete set of runic equations for the airship. I went out of my way and made my father use one of his favors with the king to allow me to get a copy of the runic equations. There are several types of equations, from the most commonly used to the experimental runic equations that never saw the light of day. I do not know why but when my father said it was so that I could give them as a gift to you, The king happily sent all the documentation the same day. And that was just yesterday. " Grace explained. I really couldn't help but feel giddy. I mean, these were all runic equations that allowed things to fly through the skies. While I had the runes engraved in my mind, the problem was that I may not have been able to see all of them. There may have been some hidden.

"Thank you very much, Grace! I love it!" I said with a bright smile.

"And in this box, while not as extravagant as the first, I do hope you like it." This time Grace herself took the box from her maid and held it out to me. This box was much bigger, but from the way she lifted it, I guess it was pretty light. It had the same color ribbon, but the box itself was red.

I did the same as before and pulled on the ribbon to untie it. But this time, Grace set the box on the ground and lifted the top off herself. Inside was a huge stuffed animal. It was this world's version of a teddy bear, but the bear like creatures of this world had horns. I reached into the box and lifted it out, and hugged it tightly. It was very soft and warm. "Hehe… Thank you!"

I felt like a small child once more as I pushed my face into the large teddy bear. It was definitely a good present.

Chapter15 A Visitor In The Night

The party did not end until late due to Grace showing up. Jeeves had the house staff grill up all kinds of different things. It was quite fun. Something I haven't done in so long. Back when Cyrilia Village was established, Father used to have cookouts in the backyard. He would invite all the people who did not hate me, and we would have a fun time talking and eating grilled monsters. Some that tasted like ham and chicken, while others had tastes that were something I could not compare with earth standards. Although I guess using earth standards is something I should not be doing in the first place. I mean new world, new life, everything had its own name for each taste. But those were indeed good times.

I lay in my bed with my new giant teddy bear at my side, hugging it as I thought about the past. I guess this new home reminded me too much of my house back in the village… Well, I guess this is my home now, so I should just get used to it. I will definitely make sure to make a teleport though that will connect to the village. I do wish to see my family more often.

I will need to do proper defenses on the house tomorrow and then get myself ready for the academy test. I can't help but feel slightly nervous. I have met so many kind people so far, but I have also made many enemies, so I am expecting quite a bit of trouble.

"Let's just hope I have a future that is filled with happiness…."

---

The scent of blood fills the air. I am surrounded by people dying on all sides of me. The clash of magic and sword. Knights in armor are charging forward, killing the opposing side. Large monsters hover in the sky and send down large scale attacks on the ground below. Human versus human. Demi human versus demi human. War cries on all sides.

And I am standing in the midst of all of it. With a sword dripping in blood and blood splattered silver armor. "Faith, are you okay!?"

I turn my head to see a familiar face. Although she had blood smudged on her face, her beauty could not be hidden. The only difference was she looked much older. "Sophie?"

"Faith, what's wrong!? Is your ancient will taking over again!?" Sophie's words startled me as I looked at her as if she had three heads. I do not remember ever telling Sophie about my ancient will. How did she….

I looked down at my hands once more and realized they were much bigger than they should be. Even my chest was something to talk about. I was only now realizing all of this. "What… what is going on…."

"Faith…. Incoming!" Sophie yelled out as she stood in front of me with her arms open wide. I looked up to see Sophie forming a massive thirty layered barrier. But even then, each layer began shattering one after the other as if they were nothing but glass. On instinct, I raised my hand and cast a barrier in front of Sophie but to my surprise, even with all my magic power, the barrier shattered as well, and the next thing I knew… "Sophie! No!!!!"

---

"Hah! Sophie!" The images in front of me were now gone. I looked around to find that I was back in my new room. I guess I had a nightmare. One that was a little too realistic. Watching Sophie being penetrated by magic, punching holes into her body as he tried to protect me, was clear as day in my head. That was a Sophie I did not know. That was also a me I did not know. I looked down at my pathetic excuse of a chest and let out a sigh of relief. At least it was only a dream.

It was still early, so I laid back in my bed and looked up at the ceiling. Such a nightmare was something I had never had before. But it did remind me of the fortune that I got with Sophie. Let's just hope that things never turn out that way, or else I might end up destroying an entire country in anger. "Hmmm?"

I suddenly felt someone attack the barrier I put up around the house. It was a powerful strike at that. I got up and covered myself in a robe as I went to the window and opened it. I put my foot on the window sill and jumped out into the air, and looked around. A flash of light caught my attention at the peak of the barrier, causing my lips to twitch. "Did someone really have to show up on the first night? Could they not let me have at least a single night off?"

My body disappeared from where I stood, only to appear once more in the air above the intruders. When I saw the figures in the air, my lips twitched even more. "You damn idiot, do it quieter!"

"Your Highness, if I don't try my best, I will never break this barrier. Whoever cast it is insanely powerful!" A female with long ears whined as she raised her large sledge hammer again. The smaller figure who held on to her back, two tails, twitched back and forth as if he was angry.

"Strong or not, if you wake up, Faith, I will make sure you lose a month's salary!"The smaller figure yelled out in a hushed voice.

"You have to be kidding me!" The long eared figure replied once more. I could hear her anguish. I guess that means this would not be the first time she lost a month's salary.

I smiled slyly as I silently floated down and stood at their side. "Your Highness, here I go again!"

"Just be quieter!"

"Do you need some help?" I asked out of kindness.

"That would be very much appreciated…."

"...."

"Hi!" I smiled brightly and gave the two standing there with their mouths wide open. I gave them a welcoming wave before putting my hands behind my back and saying: "Fancy meeting you two here."

Chapter16 Beating Up A Stupid Cat

*Crack!*

"Ummm…. Miss Cyrilia, why are you cracking your knuckles?" Seeing the stupid cat slowly backing away from me with each step I took towards him made me smile brightly from ear to ear.

"Miss Cyrilia, your smile is scary! We can talk about this rig… OOOff!" Oh? Maybe I should have let him finish his words?

"Your Highness!" The rabbit girl looked to be in a panic. She was holding her hammer, looking at me, and then looking at Prince Rythilin, unsure of what she should do.

I sniffed the air and smelt something that smelt off. "I wonder…." I floated down and landed on the barrier where the stupid cat was on his knees, holding his face. Blood dripped from his nose.

I reached down and grabbed him by his tail, causing him to yelp. "Nya! My tails! Miss Cyrilia, please let go! You're going to tear them off!"

"I wonder, why do you have a sleeping agent on you? What exactly were you planning!?" I was mad. And I mean was really mad. This stupid cat had not only tried to trick me into dating him, but now he comes to my house with a sleeping agent!? I know of this sleeping agent due to my Father making sure I was prepared for the open road. So he had asked a merchant to pick up a few different kinds of questionable drugs and their antidotes that were legal but could be used for sinister acts. Between poisons and sleeping agents to aphrodisiacs. I had an understanding of what they smelled like. And with my dragon senses being sharper than a dog's, I could easily pick up on the slight scent. This specific sleeping agent would knock a person out to the point that they would not wake up for ten hours no matter what was happening to them. This alone was enough to disgust me. Never mind the fact he was trying to break into my house in the middle of the night.

"Miss Cyrilia, it's not what you think! I use this myself!" The stupid cat cried out without me needing to even get any evidence.

"Uhh! Miss Cyrilia, his highness, does use a sleeping agent to sleep." The rabbit girl behind tried to cut in and explain, but I was not having any of it.

"You are telling me you come to my house, trying to break the barrier I set up to sneak into my house with a sleeping agent that you use for sleep in your pocket!? Do you take me for a damn idiot!?" I swung the stupid cat by the tail before slamming him down onto the barrier. "Do you really think I will not kill you!?"

"Wait!" The rabbit girl suddenly appeared in front of the stupid cat with her arms stretched out to her sides. "Miss Cyrilia, if you continue, I will have no choice but to fight you."

"Oh? You wish to fight me!?" My lips curled up into a small smile as I stepped forward and appeared behind the rabbit girl and grabbed the stupid cat by his tails once more, and flung him into the air! "If I wish to deal with this stupid cat, I will deal with him. He has crossed a line that I will never forgive!"

"Miss Cyrilia!" The rabbit girl disappeared and caught the stupid cat before he flew into the sky any higher. My lips twitched as I looked at her. She seemed to be much more powerful than I thought. The rabbit girl looked at me as she stuck the stupid cat on her back and readied her hammer. "I beg you to let this end here and now."

"Let me ask you something. If you set up a barrier so you could protect your home from intrusion and someone comes and begins smashing it with a huge hammer with bad intentions, what would you do in a situation as this?" I asked. I truly wished to know how she would answer.

"I would probably smash them into oblivion so they could never return to try again." I chuckled at the rabbit girl's honest answer.

"I see…. Since you were following orders, I really can't blame you, so how about you hand over the culprit, and I let you go?" I asked with a smile.

"Ah! Right, okay…." The rabbit girl went to fly down towards me, but the stupid cat on her back suddenly came alive and smashed her on top of her head.

"You stupid rabbit, she was trying to get you to hand me over!" The stupid cat yelled out.

"But Your Highness, she made a solid point. Now that I think about it, we should never have done this. But as your servant, I can only follow orders. Just like how you always make me take a bat wit…. Mufo!" Right now, I was unsure what to say to this strange comedy routine. But it seems the stupid cat has officially stepped into the realm of perverted cat.

"Miss Cyrilia, it's not what you think! I only asked her once as a joke!" The stupid cat yelled out as if I cared.

"Why would I care about what you do with your rabbit girlfriend? What I care about is what you were planning to do after you broke my barrier? I will give you three seconds to explain. If I do not get an answer within three seconds, I will hit you for every second you do not tell me the truth." I actually meant this. While the rabbit girl was fast, I can say for sure that I could easily beat her in speed. But it did amaze me that she was using footholds to stay standing in the air. She is the second person outside my family who can use such magic. She must have very good mana control and lots of it since she has been standing here for a while now unless it is some kind of magic tool.

"What three seconds!? How am I supposed to do…. Ooff!"

"3!"

Chapter17 Sometimes Even Kings Can Roar

I hit him again. His whole body flung backward, causing him to fall right off the rabbit's back and towards the ground. Did I feel bad for this? Nope! I was already holding back, and every time I hit him, I felt much better. I think after maybe thirty more punches, I will let him off.

"Your Highness!" The rabbit girl once more chased after her prince. What is strange is I can see that the rabbit girl liked the prince much more than just as her master. What kind of like, I am not sure. "Miss Cyrilia, You have gone too far!"

I looked down at the bloodied face of the stupid cat and tilted my head. "But he only has a broken nose and a black eye? Nothing serious…."

"You have repeatedly hit the crown prince of the Kingdom of Lodinia! I can no longer sit by and do nothing!" The rabbit girl shouted while getting into a battle stance. I personally did not care about any other kingdom. I was not born or raised there. I only know the kingdom I am living in now. And if the crown prince is this piece of work in front of me, then the kingdom, even if it is a beastkin kingdom, must not be ruled well.

"You touch Faith, and my Gravos Kingdom will end all trade with Lodinia!" I heard a yell coming from below me. I look down to see both Adel and Sophie standing there in their robes outside on the lawn, staring up at the sky. With them was Lance, as well as Sei and Jeeves.

"Prince Rythilin. My sister and I have heard everything from your conversation. It seems you have come to our kingdom to commit an act of war. Do you realize what this means!?" Lance yelled out in anger. To be honest, it was my first time seeing him so angry. And for once, he seems to have a proper air of royalty.

"For once, I agree with my brother. Prince Rythilin. You may be an esteemed guest of our kingdom, but this does not mean you can do as you please. Now let us hear your explanation of why you are here." Adel turned on her royal mode and was even more overbearing than Lance, but I think it was probably because she seemed ready to attack at any moment. Sophie seemed to be restraining her.

"This… Fine…." The stupid cat reluctantly agreed.

I waved my hand and opened a hole in the barrier before disappearing and reappearing behind the stupid cat and kicking him straight through the hole towards the ground. "Ahhhh! Your Highness!" And the rabbit quickly followed after.

I know I probably just caused an international incident by beating up another kingdom's prince but look what he was trying to do? Am I supposed to let him off easy? I don't think so. I slowly floated down from the sky, passing through the barrier before sealing it back up. By the time I landed, the stupid cat was already on the ground kneeling in front of Adel.

"I have already sent a message to Father. He will be here soon." Lance came up to me and explained. "While I do not wish to bother Father this late, this is an incident of great importance."

"Stay away!" A small voice came from my hair. Bell seems to still dislike Lance.

"It's fine, Bell. Lance knows better than to touch me without permission now." I said softly.

"If Faith says so…. But if he tries….." Bell did not come out, she stayed hidden, and her voice was only loud enough for Lance and I to hear. But I must say that for a small spirit like Bell, whose voice sounds cute, her words were scary. Even Lance was starting to sweat at her words.

"No destroying the kingdom…." I said in an amused tone.

"If you say so…." Bell seemed very disappointed, but what can I do? I did not wish for Bell to go around destroying kingdoms over me. She was too cute for that. She should not be doing such things.

"So why are you here in the middle of the night!?" I heard Adel yell out, causing me to turn back to what was going on.

"Ouch! Princess Adel, please stop kicking me!" The noble princess facade that Adel had on was no longer there as she viciously kicked the stupid cat. Sophie stood behind her, trying to pull her back, but it seemed to be a lost cause.

"Huh? Kicking you!? Who saw me kick you!?"

"Ouch! Stop it!"

"Stop what!?"

"Adel, cut it out!" Lance yelled out, causing Adel to snort and step back. He then turned back to me and pointed toward the sky. "Faith, can you make an opening for my Father? He is here."

I turned to see what seemed to be a large flying bird hovering over the house. "A Fogmal!? I thought they were extremely hard to tame!"

According to the books I read about monsters. There were a few kinds of monsters that people would tame to use as a form of transportation. Fogmal's were one of such monsters. But they were very hard to tame, according to the books.

"It cost father a lot of money to get that fogmal." Lance whispered as I was making a hole in the barrier.

A majestic bird about the size of a small plane flapped its white feathered wings and lowered itself down towards the ground. It lowered its head to allow its passenger to get off. The King fixed his kingly robes and patted the fogmal on the head before walking over to us. "Lance, what is the emergency that you called me out here this late at night?"

"Royal Father, it's like this…." Lance began telling the King what had happened while I added in what I knew. The King's brow furrowed as he looked over at the stupid cat and took a deep breath before letting out a mighty roar! "Are you trying to start an international incident!?"

Chapter18 Punishment

Currently, we were all in a receiving room within the estate where one would receive guests. And besides myself, Sei, Sophie, Adel, Lance, Jeeves, and King Gravos, there were about ten knights of the Magic Knight division and the stupid cat and his guard, the rabbit girl whose name seems to be Sally. The Knights surrounded the two beastkin due to them being held under arrest at the present moment.

I watched as the King crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the stupid cat. "Now…. Prince Rythilin, explain to me. Why did you try to break into Faith's new home and, on top of that, bring with you a sleeping sedative that would knock anyone out for ten hours?"

"I said this before Your Majesty, but the sleeping sedative is mine. I use it a lot since I have a hard tim…."

*Bam!*

"Do you take me for a damn fool!? Do you think I do not know the movements of other kingdoms!? Do you not remember that you already failed to trick poor Faith into dating you!? Word travels fast! Word of Faith's prowess has spread far and wide. Many want to throw a damn collar around her neck and control her like a puppet. While others wish to marry her to their kin. I myself am also guilty of this! But I will never force Faith to do something she doesn't want. You tried to break into her house and were ready to put her to sleep so you can do what? Cook the rice and take her back as your wife!?" I blushed, hearing the King's words. I mean, while it was not a saying known around the world back on Earth unless you were from an asian country, the saying cook the rice was something one would learn from reading certain novels as it meant to take someone's virginity.

"That…." The stupid cat tried to speak up for himself but quickly slumped his head low. I really wished to hit him again. Just seeing his actions now was the same as saying he was guilty. Since he was caught red handed, I guess he had no way of saving himself. My disgust for this stupid cat has grown so much that I really wish to just kill him. While the rules of adulthood were different on this world and age varied between kingdoms, the fact of the matter was that he planned to do something so sinister in the first place. I feel like I am going to puke….

"You will be held prisoner until your father comes here personally to pick you up. Your attendant will also be arrested, and the two of you will be separated for the time being." The King gave his final order. "You better hope that your father is willing to take the time out of his busy schedule to come here. Otherwise, you will be stuck in prison until the day you die. I will say this now. Faith is like a daughter to me now, and I will not allow anyone to do anything that would cause her harm.

"While your plan failed, the fact of the matter is that you still attempted to do something so sickening! Faith is still a few years away from being of age, not to mention she looked younger than she is, but yet you….." The King's face turned red as she clenched his fist, "Take this little bastard away before I beat him myself! Make sure his attendant is put in another prison for those with strong powers. She and him are not to communicate at all, so make sure you strip the little bastard and check him for any magic communication tools."

I was truly touched by the King's words just now. Whether he said it on the spur of the moment or not, either way his words touched me. I wonder, if I called him papa, would he suddenly freak out? I better not. I could lose my head if I joked at a time like this.

"Royal Father, I would like to kick the trash over there at least one more time before he is tossed in a cell." Ah, Adel, the face you are making, and the royal way of speaking do not match. Please stop trying to kill the stupid cat with your eyes. You use a knife, the knights all seem to be carrying one. Okay, no, I would never tell her such things, but a girl can dream, right?

"Make it quick." I almost choked. Umm, Your Majesty, I know you are mad but wouldn't this make things harder when the stupid cat's father shows up? Not that I was one to talk now that I am thinking about it. I mean, I am the reason his nose is broken and probably why he is holding his sides. But I still held back my strength enough to not make his head explode! I am quite proud of myself.

"Ouch! Wait, you only said once!" The stupid cat yelled out. Well, I guess being punched in the stomach does not count as a kick, so she is safe!

"Humph! You make demi humans look bad. I hope you are stuck in prison until your hair turns gray!" Adel yelled in anger. Lance stood up and pulled her away. But he did not say anything, only glared daggers at the stupid cat while trying to calm Adel down.

The entire time Sally kept her head low, her ears flopped down, not daring to say anything. She shook like a leaf, though. Now that I think about it…. "Your Majesty, what will happen to Sally?"

"Her? She will probably be deported back to her kingdom to deal with. Although I can not count on her not being punished." The King replied. His answer made me frown.

"Then…. Can she make a magical contract with me and become my guard instead? Someone as talented as her should not be tossed away. In the first place, she was only following orders, right? If she is forced to do something even if she does not wish to, I think it could stand to say that she is an innocent bystander who was forced into the sinister plot of the stupid cat." I was having trouble trying to explain myself, but I do know that for a talent like Sally, it would be best to keep her and put her to work where she can make use of her talents.

Chapter19 Deal

"While it is true she was following orders. It is also the attendant's job to stop their master from doing anything stupid. She failed at this. But…. you make a good point that she does have talent, from what I hear. Alright. Sally, was it?" The King looked at Sally, causing her to lift her head.

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty," Sally replied, her voice shaking. I know she thinks that she will be killed. After all, an attendant isn't really safe under the laws of another kingdom.

"Then Sally, while you were following orders, it is still wrong of you to not stop your master. But this time, I will let it slide because Faith is asking me to let you go, but you will need to sign a magic contract with Faith and will become her protector. If you do not wish to abandon that little bastard, then you can live out your days in jail and hope your King will also try to take you back as well." I am not sure if I should say his words are evil or what but that was basically forcing Sally into doing the magical contract. He was using her fear against her. I am not sure if I agree with this or not. But at the same time, I could just be very naive about how the world works. Although, I do know that if we can pull Sally to our kingdom's side, then the kingdom would have another powerful soldier.

Sally looked at the King and then at me with a confused expression on her face. "Does…. Does this mean I will not be k-killed?"

"Hmmm? As long as you sign a magic contract with Faith and serve her faithfully. I will also arrange for you to join the Royal Magic Academy with Faith as well." The King was really thinking ahead. Just by having Sally take the test to enter, he can get a full understanding of Sally's strengths and what she is good at. To be honest, I never would have thought of that.

"Magic Royal Academy!?" Sally's eyes opened wide. I guess she never expected something like this. Her mouth hung open, and it seemed she had stopped breathing altogether.

"Sally, I think it will be well worth it. At least you wouldn't be forced to do things you did not want to do." I know I saw how she might have feelings for her master, but the fact of the matter is any girl who was being forced to do something like she was would not hold those feelings for long. Unless she was so used to it that it was normal to her. If that was the case, then there would be nothing I could say or do for her.

"As Faith said, it would be very worth it. I can promise you that no repercussions will befall you if you enter the contract. The Beast King will also not seek to punish you either." The King followed up on my words.

"I…. Will I really not lose my head? I won't be forced to do things I do not wish to do? I won't have to harm innocents!?" Sally suddenly lifted her head with tears in her eyes. Just seeing her like this made me wonder just what she had to go through as the stupid cat's attendant.

"I can swear upon my name and my family that I will never make you do anything that will go against your conscience." I did not mind making this promise as I would never want her to commit any acts that would make her do something that I myself would not do.

"Then…. I will accept…." Sally answered with slight hesitation before bowing her head towards me. "From this day forth, you will be my Master…."

"Let's not use the word, Master, please. Just call me Faith. It makes me feel strange being called master. If you must call me with some form of formality, then Young Miss also works as I am used to it now." I still get shivers when people call me Master or anything of that nature. It just doesn't sit right with me.

"Then, Young Miss." Sally finally formed a smile. But not even a second later, she was kneeling on the ground. "Young Miss, I still must apologize for what I did. I should have used my strength to stop Prince Rythilin, but I did not in fear of losing my head."

"Sally, raise your head. There is no need to apologize when you were just following orders. Plus, I feel that if the stupid cat did try to use that sleeping agent, you would have stopped him, no?" I asked this because of her reaction when I laid the situation out to her. She, without hesitation, wanted to hand the stupid cat over to me.

"I would have probably knocked him out and then would have blamed it on one of the guards after I took him away…." Sally replied. "It is true that Prince Rythilin uses the sleeping agent to sleep at night. He has always had nightmares since he was young, and only the sleeping agent allows him to sleep through them all. But he would never take it with him. Once he reached his destination. He would leave it in the place he was staying as he knew it would cause misunderstandings otherwise. So even I was surprised to know that he had such a thing on him."

"That's what I thought. I figured you did not know because the look on your face when I pointed it out was that of surprise, although the look only lasted for a second, and when I asked what you would do in my shoes, you immediately wanted to hand him over. But I must ask because I am not quite sure. You were not in love with Prince Rythilin, were you?"

"I…. I thought he was my world…. Since young, I have been the one to guard him while going through training. I have been by his side, but after tonight, after he basically confessed those feelings that were starting to rise within me are now gone…. Luckily I never…." Sally bit her lip as she clenched her fists. She did not need to finish her words for me or the King to understand what she meant. It seemed she was indeed a lucky rabbit.

Chapter20 Setting Up Defensive Systems Part 1

I got up and sat next to Sally and hugged her. I could see the tears that were about to flood out, and as soon as she felt me embrace her, she burst into tears. Adel also got up and came over, trying to comfort her. "As the princess of the Gravos Kingdom, I swear on my name that I will not allow that bast…. Ermmm idiot, to do any harm to you. In a way, you are lucky. You met Faith, who has the ability to help those around her more than she thinks."

I chuckled slightly, hearing Adel's fumble with words there. "And if for some reason that stupid cat does somehow get to you…. I will just destroy the beast kingdom…."

"Oi!, Faith, your words are a little much there!" King Gravos yelled out. I turned and stuck my tongue out at him. "I was just kidding."

"It didn't sound like you were joking!" Hearing his retort, I let out a laugh. I would never go as far as to destroy the beast kingdom, but to pull the tail off a cat and hang him from the tallest point on his castle, that is easy enough.

"I do not know about destroying kingdoms, but I will also stand at your side as well." Lance stood up and announced. I wonder if he took a liking to the rabbit…. Is it because she has big boobs? This may just be the case. I will be sure to double the protective barrier on her room in the house.

"Ahem…. Anyway, we will need to set up the magic contract. Faith, I will need you to come to the castle tomorrow, and until then, Sally, I will need you to be patient as we will be having you placed under house arrest for the time being at the castle. It will only be for one night, and then you will be following Faith from tomorrow on." King Gravos explained.

"By your will, Your Majesty." Sally wiped her tears as she got up and bowed to King Gravos. Her way of speaking was very knightly.

I had said my goodbyes to Sally, who I would see the next day, and headed back to my room. With everything settled, and after almost two hours of lost sleep, I finally got to go back to sleep. Although this time, I had two people sleeping on each side of me.

I woke up four hours later. I had already agreed to go to the castle around mid morning. Sophie said she would be staying as she did not feel comfortable going to the castle. So she would be staying at the house with Sei. Lance and Adel would be coming with me since it would be a kind of formal event. And also so I would not get lost in the castle….

And as for the reason why I woke up so early, well…. I planned to set up all my traps. I only have today to do it as I will be heading to the academy the next day to take the entrance test.

I was excited and nervous at the same time. But I do hope I can make some more friends. I couldn't even think what my life would have been like if I lived in a kingdom that enslaved demi humans. But I do wonder what my life would be like if the Norain army never invaded.

I wonder if I would still be able to meet the people I have met or even have a chance to make my way into the Royal Magic Academy. Would I have met Adel or Sophie? Gesel and Sei? Would their lives be much different than they are now?

As I was lost in my thoughts, I barged into Sei's room and dragged her out of bed. "Wait, no! Five more minutes! Faith! You demon!"

"We don't have time! I have to go to the castle in a few hours, and then I really need to get ready for tomorrow. And so do you!" I do feel bad for dragging her out of bed, but if I do not act in such a forceful manner, she will never actually make it out of bed. She will try to keep sleeping for many more hours if I do not drag her out of the bed like I am. I mean, water magic chilled with ice is not the best way to wake up.

Shivering, Sei gives me a dirty look while putting on some clothes. "One of these days, I will get even!"

"You would need to wake up earlier than me." I said while casting a drying spell on her. "I just wish you would learn this is not the first time I dragged you out of bed before."

"You only did it two times, including this time!" Sei yelled back as she buttoned her pants. "Alright, let's go. I want to get more sleep after you leave."

I smiled and followed her out of the room and down to the first floor. We had to create the core of the barrier and trap system first so that everyone in the house could get registered to the core before I left. This was the reason why I needed Sei here. I wanted to make sure it was done right because the last thing I wanted was for me to mess up something and someone getting hurt.

"Okay, like before, we will inscribe the runic equation telling the core what it will be doing. But this time, you will be doing the inscribing. You have more mana than me. One thing to remember while inscribing the equation is that you have to go into fine detail on every aspect of what you are trying to do. If a single detail is off, it will cause the whole system to malfunction.

"Like say you want to put up a barrier that repels attacks but also allows you to attack from the inside. And during the equation, you forget to designate which side of the barrier the attacks should be repelled on. You would end up having both sides repel the attacks causing you to attack yourself even if you set it up to have your attacks go through the barrier." Sei explained. It is for this reason that I have her here. Because I will have her read my equation after I finish it to make sure I did not mess anything up. In a situation where you only wish to harm those with ill intentions having two minds is better than one.

Chapter21 Setting Up Defensive Systems Part 2

The process of inscribing a core was much more difficult than I had imagined. Each stroke of a runic letter had to hold the same amount of mana as the last. And each runic letter had to be absolutely perfect without any defects, or it could cause the core's effects to weaken. I guess this was the reason Sei went into a state of concentration when she inscribed the core at the slums. It is indeed a delicate job. Just to write all the information and instructions about the magic circles, I was going to be connecting to the core took almost an hour and a half.

I wiped the sweat from my brow, and I looked at my inscription with a satisfied nod. "Very well done, but…. Faith, why a metal washbasin? Why pitfalls? Why a tree trunk that swings in and hits people!? What is this banana peel thing!? And seriously, what is a Truck-kun!?"

"Hmmm? Well, besides having explosive magic runes and the riddle maze, I was thinking of adding in a few extras. Also, do not look down on Truck-kun!" Yes, please do not look down on him, he can send people to other worlds. I have personally experienced it!

"I do not even know what a Truck-kun is!" Sei yelled out. She looked exhausted. I don't know why, though. At any rate, the Truck-kun thing was just a joke as it is impossible for me to make a truck appear out of thin air that is real.

Basically, I have the core set up to do two major things. The first is setting a barrier around the entire house that is basically an added layer to it. The people living here will be able to move around freely in and out of it without hindrance. I did not make a huge barrier as I did before because I wanted those nobles to try to sneak their way in. It would be counterproductive to have the entire property covered in a barrier because then no one could get in and actually allow us to catch them. Also, they would not be able to take on the second major thing.

The Riddle Maze! They will be placed into an infinite maze when they enter the property. Not only will they need to make it through the maze and answer riddles that they will never understand, but they will also need to deal with explosive traps, tree trunks, banana peels, pitfalls, and walls that will close in on them. Even the wonderful washbasin. The entire thing will be a real life illusion. In order to make everything a surprise so that things can just appear out of nowhere, I will use spatial magic and have all the objects randomly pop out and do their job.

Well, the banana peel will be an illusion since this world does not have such a fruit, and I have yet to see any replacement for it. So I will be doing a little trick. While the illusion will show a banana peel, I will use some slippery slime goo to make the ground slippery under their foot. Now that my brain is turning, I can actually make the truck kun thing works as well, but I will hide a giant boulder in the illusion of the truck….

"Faith, you have this strange smile on your face, and it is scary." Sei snapped me out of my thoughts, causing me to purse my lips.

"Since you will be home all day, I want you to go out and get me everything I need for the traps." Humph! Call my face scary. I will put you to work!

"What!? No, I wanted to sleep most of the day since I will not get a chance to anymore!" Sei immediately complained, which I knew she would.

"You will go get the items I need…."

"Faith, I wanted to sleep in…."

"You will go get the items I need…."

"I…"

"You will go get the items I need…."

"Fine, I will go get them! Stop repeating yourself. It is annoying!" Sei stomped her feet and gave me an aggrieved expression. I chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"I will go make a list now and also grab a few gold coins to pay for everything. Also, bring Sophie with you since she can use spatial magic. It will make things easier. But please protect her." I know that Sei would not let her guard down, but I still had to remind her to protect Sophie as Sophie could be a target for kidnapping as well.

"If I let anything happen to Sophie, I am willing to take any punishment you see fit." Sei replied with a knightly bow. Sometimes I forget she is a knight.

"I thank you. I will also give you an extra gold so you can get some food while you're out and keep whatever is left over for the trouble. Hopefully, by the time I get back, you two will have returned then I can quickly finish the defense system." The last part, now that the runic equation was already written, was to fill my spatial space with the items. Everything was connected to me, including the barrier. I was providing it with a small stream of mana. This little function I mixed into the equation so that it wouldn't be easily found. Otherwise, I am sure Sei would have picked up on it.

Now that the core was set up, I called everyone in the hose over to inject their mana into it. Only then would they be able to move around freely. This took another half hour to do because Adel was taking too long to get up, even with Sophie trying to drag her out of bed by her ankles. When everyone was finished registering with the core, we had breakfast and then got ready to leave. I was now off set up a magic contract with Sally so she could be my guard. I just hope she will find her new life fulfilling and will not regret her decision.

Chapter22 Assassin

The carriage rolled down the road at a very slow pace. Surprisingly enough, the area around the castle was always very busy, it seems. At least, this was what Adel told me when I asked about it. Lance also added in that during the lunar year festival that was held in the capital at the start of each new year, that the streets were so packed that driving a carriage was impossible. It was only during the week of the festival that all nobles would walk to the castle.

The lunar festival was the same thing as the new year celebrations you would have back on Earth. Only this was a new festival that the King came up with recently and had only been around for five years now. While it was popular with the nobles and others within the capital, it had yet to spread to the rest of the kingdom. Mainly because it would cost the nobles money to have their territories fund such events. Kind of a hypocritical way of doing things. While the King foots the bill for the capital and the nobles go to the castle with fanfare to enjoy the festivities, They ignore their own domains all because they're too cheap to spend money.

It took an hour to get to the castle gates. Luckily we did not need to wait in line as both Adel and Lance were in the carriage with me. I could see many carriages lined up, all fancy with different crests on each one.

From the castle gates to the entrance that was set aside for royalty only took another half hour. So in total, it was an hour and a half ride just to get here, and this was not counting the next fifteen minute walk I was about to undergo.

As the carriage came to a stop, the knight at the second gate walked forward and opened the door to the carriage. He then placed a stepping stool for everyone to use when they got off before stepping to the side and bowing. "His Highness Prince Lance, and Her Highness Princess Adellia, It is good that you had a safe journey."

I watched as Lance got off first. He did not even say a word to the knight. He just gave him an indifferent nod before turning around and reaching out with his hand. Adel was next as she took Lance's hand and lifted her skirt just enough to allow her feet to be free so she could step out of the carriage. Seeing these fluid noble movements of the two made me realize that they were indeed a Prince and a Princess. Sometimes I forget this fact because of how close I am to the two. We talk and joke around like we have been friends since birth, so it feels slightly strange when I see them acting this way.

"This way, please, Your Hingesses." The Guard bowed and went to lead the two away, but after taking a few steps, he stopped and turned around. "Your Highnesses?"

"We are not two but three," Lance said curtly. He seemed angry about something.

I went to make my way off the carriage when I heard the knight suddenly say: "Your Highnesses do not need to worry. I will take the demi servant to the servant quarters so they can get regis….."

*Slap!*

I was at the door of the carriage staring at Adel's stretched out hand when we both turned to look at Lance standing in front of the knight with his hand in the air. "Say that one more time!"

"Your highness!? What did I do wrong!?" The knight was confused and quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head. But I could see a bit of reluctance in his expression as he did so. It felt like something was off.

"Lance, get back here this instant!" I yelled out as I jumped forward while at the same time casting a barrier around Adel. I instantly arrived in front of Lance just in time for a dagger to lunge at me. I really had no time to think. I didn't even get to input up any form of barrier or mana shield. I only heard a cracking sound as the dagger suddenly shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. The knight was standing in front of me, still in the same pose he was in as he tried to stab forward with a shocked expression on his face. I guess he couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

""Faith!"" I heard two yells from behind me. Lance, who was directly behind me, drew his sword and chopped the knight's arm off that was still stretched out. Everything happened so fast that not even the other knights on duty had time to react. But now, they had run over and were pinning the bleeding man to the ground.

"Faith, are you okay!?" Lance asked. His eyes were full of worry.

"I am fine. Luckily I have a sturdy body." I said with a wry smile. I looked down to see a small nick on my skin. Luckily no blood was drawn. But the skirt I was wearing now had a big stab wound on it. I actually liked this dress too. It was a sky blue color with white frills at the bottom. It was not overly extravagant but simple yet good enough to wear in front of royalty.

But to think there would be an assassin here at the castle. Maybe it was a good thing that Lance and Adel were at my house. I looked down at the young girl who was currently giving my body a full inspection and sighed. "Adel, I am fine. I am a dragon kin, a simple knife will not do me any harm."

"I know but still…. Faith…. Thank you…." Adel said as she hugged me. "I may not show it but Lance is still my brother. I do not wish for him to die."

"Yes please allow me to thank you, Faith. You saved me just now." Lance bowed his head to me.

Chapter23 Something Off Part 1

"Lance, raise your head. You and I are friends first and foremost, so I would save you no matter what. Second, your father has also entrusted me with your safety, so even if I hated you, I still would have saved you. But for assassins to be able to get into the castle so easily…. We need to hurry to the King." I was worried for the King's safety. While I know he has many strong people around him, but by the fact that an assassin was able to make their way to the entrance where only royalty was able to enter through goes to show that this was definitely an inside job.

"You are right. Faith, can I ask you to help this man's arm and.…"

"Your Highness, he has already passed…." The knight that was holding the assassin on the ground frothed at the mouth, and his eyes had rolled up into his head.

"Damn!" Lance cursed. Something he does not do very often. "Bring him with us. I want his body searched for any clues as to what organization he works for or who may have hired him. Also, lock down the castle! No one is allowed in or to leave."

"By your word, Your Highness!" The night replied before turning and giving out orders to the other knights.

"Faith, how did you know he was going to harm Brother?" Adel asked.

"The way he looked as he bowed when being yelled at by Lance. When he knelt down, he showed signs of reluctance, and instead of admitting to his wrongs as a normal knight would, he went to question Lance instead and even raised his head. That was why I reacted as I did. But Adel…. I will say this once." I reached out, balled up my fist, and bonked Adel on the head with it. "If you ever leave a barrier I set up around you again, I will force you to eat all the green habbagins in the capital."

"What, no! Not those! They are sour and disgusting! Faith, I'm sorry! I just…. When I saw you get stabbed, I panicked and wanted to race to your side." Adel had tears in her eyes as she spoke, which made me feel slightly bad, but I had to stay firm on this. Whether she was worried about me or not, that barrier was there to protect her. If there was more than one assassin, she could have died.

"Even so!" I turned and looked her seriously in the eye. "Even if you were worried about me, never leave the barrier! That was a foolish thing. What if there were more assassins and the first was just a decoy? What then!? What if you got killed while I was saving Lance!? Do you really wish for me to live with that!?"

I know my words are harsh, but I have no choice. This is something that must be said. She had to understand that she has a whole kingdom on her shoulder. She is a princess who is very well loved by her people. Lance is also the next King who upholds the ideals of his father when it comes to demi humans. Even if I was seriously hurt just now, it would have been fine because I am a dragon. With my current stats, even a stab to the heart wouldn't kill me.

"I'm sorry…." Adel lowered her head, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Faith, That's enough. I think she understands." Lance spoke up, stopping me from continuing.

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on Adel's head. "As you worry for me, I worry for you. In a world where my kind is disliked, I have made friends with an incredible person who befriended me without discriminating against me. I do not wish to see you get hurt. Sorry for yelling at you."

"Noo…. It's me who should say sorry. " Adel shook her head as she wiped her tears. "You do not need to apologize. I was at fault. I should have more faith in my bestfriend."

"We were both wrong. Because I know you care about my safety as well. I should have been easier with my words." Life is hard sometimes. When you want to protect someone, and at the same time, they wish to protect you. I, for one, should have been more vigilant. But I was not.

"Let's go see father." Lance spoke up, cutting the silence that had filled the air. Both Adel and I nodded and made our way to King Gravos.

---

"I see…. I will have my people look into it. It seems it has come time to really do some house cleaning. If nobles think they can do as they please within my kingdom, then they have another thing coming to them." I could tell King Gravos was doing his best to keep calm. We were currently in the throne room with a few nobles along with the Prime Minister, whose name was Pholin Segri. To be honest, he was someone who did not give off good vibes.

"Your Majesty, I will make sure this incident has been thoroughly looked into. So please leave the investigation to me." The Prime Minister stepped forward.

"Pholin? Alright, you can do the investigati…." I for some reason could not stop myself as I stepped forward and said: "I object!"

Just call it a hunch but the feeling this prime minister gave me did not sit well with me. It was as if he did not want anyone to touch the case. But I guess my interjection was not welcomed because I soon heard the prime minister yell out: "Insolence! Who gave you the right to speak when the King is speaking!?"

"Who?" I tilted my head to the side and whispered: "Bell…."

"Faith you called!?" A little figure suddenly flew out of my hair and hovered in front of me with a sweet smile on her face. She looked very cute but at the same time the prime minister seemed to be sweating.

Chapter24 Something Off Part 2

"Why? Why is there a spirit here!?" The Prime Minister stumbled backwards with a look of fear on his face.

"Ahem…." King Gravos shook his head at me, causing me to purse my lips. "Pholin, you of all people should know that Little Faith here is not only my honored guest but also someone that I see as family. Why are you making a scene?"

"Faith?" Bell looked confused as she floated over and poked me in the cheek.

"Sorry, Bell, it seems it was a false alarm. Did I wake you from your nap?" I asked while petting her head. Bell was definitely cute.

"Mmm… But it's okay since it was Faith who called me." Bell said sweetly, causing me to smile. Even some of the nobles who were standing at the side smiled at her words.

"Sorry about that. Go ahead and get some more sleep. I will find you something good to try later." I felt kind of bad. I mean, I just used her as a means to shut up the Prime Minister. Sorry, Bell!

"Okay! I will be waiting!" Bell happily spun around before turning into a ray of light and entering my body.

"Ahem…. I apologize, Miss Cryilia…." The Prime Minister seemed to have composed himself and stepped forward and bowed. But as he raised his head before I could even say anything, he continued: "But what do you object about?"

"What do I object about? Well…. This situation should not be overseen by anyone but His Majesty and his most trusted people who specialize in investigation. But do not get me wrong, I am not saying you are not to be trusted, but I, for one, do not know you. The only ones in this room that I know and trust with my life are Princess Adellia, Prince Lance, and His Majesty himself. And because it involves the lives of not only royalty but people I care for, I would not trust anyone I do not know with any kind of investigation." I tried to explain in a roundabout way of saying I do not trust you through a hole in the wall. This involved an assassination, for one thing, so this was not something that should just be handed off.

King Gravos looked at me with a grateful expression. While it only lasted a second, I still caught it. But it seemed the Prime Minister was not very convinced with my explanation. "While I can understand your distrust in me, but I should mention I have been the Prime Minister for a very long time. His Majesty has trusted me this entire time, so would it not be beneficial for me to handle the affairs that should be passed on to someone else?"

"So you're saying that an assassination attempt on the crown prince of this kingdom is the same as pushing a file full of papers that deal with the budget!? That doesn't sound like someone I would trust. If you can not see the urgency in the situation, then I think you are not cut out for your job. Why sit and argue about such a thing when it is as simple as letting His Majesty handle the situation that involves his kids?

"While he is King and needs to draw a line on when he can favor his child, this is not one of those times. This is one of the times when the King should stand up to the injustice that was cast on the royal family and lead the investigation that deals with his own kin. Not pass it on. By passing it on to someone else, it shows he does not care for the Crown Prince and could sow discord in the court. Or is this what you were attempting to do?" Thank the gods for my addiction to reading!

I smiled as I saw the Prime Minister's face turn sour. I mean, what can he say? My play on words pushed the fact that if he tried to continue to take the lead on this case, he would be the one trying to sow discord in the courts which would cause the factions on each side to begin fighting. In fighting makes for an easier time if you are planning something. To be honest, I think some of my military tactics and acting skills kicked in there as well. I never really know since they are passives.

"Haha! Faith is always thinking about her friends and this kingdom. I will do as Faith says and handle this myself. Pholin, I appreciate your concern, but this is something I should do as King, just like Little Faith here said." I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard the King agreeing to handle things himself.

"As Your Majesty wishes." Pholin gave a noble bow which I almost snorted at.

"Pass down my order. Everyone in the castle is to undergo questioning under the black knights." King Gravos did not hesitate to use his own personal guard as the ones doing the investigation. This was good because from what I know about the black knights was that they were extremely loyal only to the King himself and would not take orders from anyone else. "Also… Faith Cyrilia!"

Hearing my name called out, I instinctively knelt down as a knight should do in this situation and bowed my head. All though I was not a knight, but still, I can act it out in times like this, no? "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Please raise your head." At his words, I raised my head and looked the King straight in the eye. But seeing that mischievous smirk hidden within those eyes, I have a feeling he is about to do something that will not make many people happy in the slightest. But it's things like this that make me kind of excited. So I can only wait in anticipation to see what he will pull out of his hat.

--AN: Hello everyone, it is your wonderful, amazing Author Invayne! Okay yeah, cringe but still... I have a new novel court called: I Became A Hero In Another World. (You will need to search for it by title as it is not approved by webnovel yet.)

It is my Webbnovel Spirity Awards entry. If you have the time, please give it a read and let me know what you think... Also, the MC may also become a dragon girl... Anyway, thank you all for your support!---

Chapter25 Contracts And Titles

I watched as the King stood up and pulled a sword from his side, and walked over to me. "On my name, William Gravos, King of the Kingdom of Gravos, I dub Faith Cyrilia as a Provisional Knight. And is granted the title of Baron!"

Wait a minute! Why am I suddenly getting titles!? Yes, I did want to work my way up to such a thing, but why now all of a sudden? I thought I would need to wait until I graduated! "Faith, you need to accept…."

My thoughts were broken by the King's words causing me to blush lightly. "By your will, Your Majesty. I swear upon my name Faith Cyrilia, to be my King's sword and protect the Kingdom of Gravos and the royal family from any harm."

"Mmm! Well said!" The King said with a smile. But I was actually quite nervous as I only knew these lines because Adel had told me them before when preparing me for anything that had to deal with the castle and nobles.

I tilted my head to the side because I thought I heard an extra word in there. Now that I am thinking about it, Provisional Knight? What was that? I looked up at the King for more explanation, but he did not seem to be wanting to explain himself. Instead, after he sat down, he continued: "Baroness Cyrilia, from this moment on, you will be in charge of the safety of Princess Adellia and Prince Lance."

"By your Majesty's command." I said while bowing my head once again. I had a lot of questions, but I guess they would need to wait until after everything is completed.

"Good! Now that this is over, it is now time to form the contract between Faith Cyrilia and And Sally." As the King's words fell, the doors to the throne room opened, and Sally was led in by two guards with her hands cuffed. When I saw her walking in like that, I frowned, but she gave me a small wave when she saw me, so I guess she is fine. I didn't see anything wrong with her, at least. I guess the King gave her special treatment.

"Sally, while I have asked you this yesterday, I will ask this again. Do you wish to defect to the Kingdom of Gravos and serve Baroness Cyrilia, or do you wish to undergo trial for the crime of trying to break into a residence that held two members of the royal family?" The King asked. I wonder how annoying it must be to have to ask all these questions even though he already knew the answer.

Sally seemed to be surprised at my new title. I mean, even I was surprised by it. But she quickly composed herself as she answered: "Your Majesty, if I am still allowed to serve Baroness Cryilia. Then I would like to offer up my life to her."

"Well said! Now, Baroness Cyrilia, Are you willing to take in Sally, who once tried to break into your house?" The King turned to me and asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Her talents will be very useful to the kingdom. I would be a fool to reject such a talented person." I answered in my best noble voice. Yay, acting skills!

"Very well! From this day forth, Sally, you will be under Baroness Cyrilia's family name and will take on the Cyrilia name. Both of you step forward and drip a drop of blood onto this magical contract that is imbued with your Mana. This contract will only activate if Sally Cyrilia tries to betray Baroness Cyrilia in any shape or form. The punishment for such betrayal is death." I was a little surprised at the conditions of the magic contract, but I guess this was to be one hundred percent sure that I will never be betrayed. As she has already betrayed her previous master, there is no way to tell if she would do it again or not.

As our blood fell onto the magic contract that was brought over to use by one of the court mages, the magic contract that was inscribed on some kind of special parchment began to glow with a bright light and split into two small balls of light. One flew into Sally's body, while the other flew into mine. I felt nothing as it entered my body, but I could feel a slight connection to Sally, which I guess meant that the contract was a success.

---

"Hah!" I let out a long sigh as I rested my head on the back of the chair in Adel's lounge room that was off to the side of her bedroom. Sitting next to me was Adel on my left and Sally on my right. Across from us was Lance. "That was nerve racking."

"I have to say you did very well, Faith. Especially your vow when you were knighted." Lance praised.

"Thanks, but what I am confused about is what is a provisional knight?" I asked as I sat forward.

"A provisional knight is someone with a temporary knight title. It is given to exceptional individuals who have yet to graduate from the academy. In truth, you would not have gotten any titles if not for the fact that you saved Lance." Adel explained. "Father had to reward you no matter what, as saving a member of the royal family could not be overlooked. And now that those nobles have started to move behind the scenes with the assassination attempt today, Father seems to not want to hold back any longer."

"I just wished he gave me a heads up! I was so nervous! I mean, come on! Why would he suddenly do that without warning? I thought I was going to bite my tongue." I said with a pout. I really wish I knew ahead of time before things like this were going to happen. At least then I could be prepared.

"Don't complain. Having the title of baroness is a good thing. Not only for you, but Sophie as well."

Chapter26 Arriving At The Academy Part 1

"A good thing?" I asked. I was not understanding why having a title now made much of a difference.

"Because you are now an official noble of your own house. You're Baroness Cyrilia, a noble with two people in your noble family. Sally and Sophie. Sophie is under your care. Father had given you guardianship rights over her. This basically makes her an adopted daughter. While I know this is not the case but it is how it will be looked at by other nobles." Adel explained. But her explanation did make a little sense. This would make Sophie a daughter of a low ranking noble which was much better than a commoner. I actually did not know how I felt about this. Would Sophie need to call me Mother now? No. No! NO! No, no! Okay, that thought is out of mind, out of sight.

Anyway, I can see this being good for us. And since Sally is my guard, she is under my last name as well. "I see… I guess this is a good thing. "

"Mmm… Also, you have the ranking of provisional knight. Which gives you a bit more standing as those of knight families with a noble title are more respected than a normal knight. I actually think you will be very popular with both boys and girls once you enter the academy. Which means I will have my work cut out for me." Hearing Adel's last words made me purse my lips. I wonder if she is going to turn into a cat again and attack everyone around her.

"Adel, no bullying people just because they talk to me." I had to make this clear now.

"But…." Adel gave me an aggrieved look.

"No! Bad Adel!" I was joking as I said this, but I made sure I said it in a serious tone.

"I'm not a dog!" Adel yelled out with her cheeks puffed out.

"No, you are a cat."

"You two really do get along like sisters." Lance said with a smile.

"No one asked you to talk, Lance. Go jump out the window and flap your arms. I wanna see if you can fly."

"Adel, we are ten stories up in the castle tower! I would die! Unlike Faith, I can't fly!" Lance yelled out.

"You won't know until you try, so shoo, shoo!" Adel really cracked me up when she teased Lance. They may not seem it, but they really do get along well.

In the end, the castle lockdown ended around evening, and we were finally able to go home. When I arrived, Sei reported that everything went smoothly and no one tried to harm Sophie in any way. This made me feel relieved.

After storing the items she brought me in my spatial storage for use with the defensive systems, I finally could relax. Tomorrow was the day that would be my start at the academy. In six months time, so many things have happened it has been quite insane. I never thought I would end up experiencing so many different things.

In my past life, I grew up in my family, spent my days reading and studying while talking while spending my days in school complaining to my best friend Jen about not having enough time to read. I had loving parents and a really good life, but it all ended when I was hit by that truck.

In this new life, I was reborn and was given a very loving family who cared for me no matter how I looked. I fought in a war and commanded an army of thousands. I killed so many people as if it was nothing. I met the leaders of the spirits for the Gravos Kingdom and made friends with little Bell. I met Adel, Sophie, Gesel, and many more. And now, six months later, here I am on the brink of entering the academy living in a fancy house with a new fancy title added to my name. I really wonder what the next six months will bring….

---

The next morning I wore my leather armor and fastened my sword to my side. Sophie was next to me in her own armor along with Adel and Sally. Lance and Sei were also getting ready as well. All five of us were about to climb aboard the carriage and make our way to the Royal Magic Academy.

In books of my past life, the Academy arc was like the relationship arc. Like the otome games. There would be many more romance targets. Let's just hope none of them rear their ugly heads.

We all got into the same carriage. This was an actual royal carriage. Lance said we would be using it from this day forth. It was to help show that the kingdom was fully behind me and those who were under me. While I do not like the saying it as such as if Sophie and Sally were lower than me, but as I was the head of the household, this was how society saw it.

It took an hour to get to the academy. The towering gates soon came into view which already had a line of carriages waiting in line. Because the academy was a place where status did not matter, even Adel and Lance will be forced to wait in line along with me.

Luckily instead of taking the test alone like I thought I would many months ago, I would now have four others by my side. This eased my nerves a little, but I was still not sure what was to come. What the test will be on this year was beyond me. I just hoped it would not be too hard.

As our carriage came to a stop near the gate, all eyes turned on us. While I had expected this, I still felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by so many, being judged left and right. Sadly I felt more gazes filled with malice than I did anything else. What that malice was for I did not know. But I think it had a lot to do with the idiot prince at my side. Like why is he standing so close to me? Shoo! Shoo! Your fans want to kill me!

Chapter27 Arriving At The Academy Part 2

Ignoring the possible fan girls who wish to kill me, I know not all these hateful gazes were about the prince. But I could care less if they hated me. Let them. They can hate all they want. As long as they do not try to do anything stupid, everything will be fine. But once they do something that will harm those around me, I will need to take action.

"Faith!" A yell came from the right. I turned to see Grace running over with a smile on her face. I forgot Grace was of age as well to enter the academy.

"Hi, Grace!" Why is it that I have only said two words, and the stares have become even more intense?

"Hehe, I am glad I ran into you all. I was nervous about taking the test all on my own." Grace said as she pushed by Adel as if she was air and reached out her hand. "Let me congratulate you on your noble title."

"Ah yes… Thank you." I took her hand and shook it. But that only lasted a split second before someone chopped both of our hands, breaking them apart.

"Grace, what is the meaning of ignoring me!?" Adel yelled out.

"Oh my!? I am sorry, Princess Adellia, I didn't see you there. Ho ho ho….. Anyway, Faith, or should I say Baroness Cyrilia, you are one of the youngest nobles here who is the head of their house. That is quite the achievement." Uhhh… Grace, Adel seems to be preparing some kind of magic spell. I would pay attention to what is happening at your side. I do not know why these two always fight when they are together, even though they can get along quite well at times.

"Both of you cut it out…." I said in a hushed tone. Adel, who was writing a spell in the air, stopped her actions while Grace folded her fan and bowed to Adel. "It is good to see you again, Princess Adellia."

This time Grace gave Adel a proper greeting befitting a noble. Adel only snorted in response, though. At least she was not getting ready to attack.

"Oh!" Grace suddenly turned back to me: "Faith, be careful. I have heard from my sources that there are quite a few noble families out to get you. I have taken care of a few that were of lower status, but there are too many. I am not sure what is going on, but there are enough noble houses wanting to tear you down than I can keep count of. And this all came to be since yesterday."

"I kind of figured this would happen but not so quickly." I sighed. It was probably the Prime Minister who I forced to concede in front of so many. If my thoughts are correct, he is the mastermind before everything that has been going on with the assassinations. I do not know exactly what he is planning, but at least for the time being, the King knows to keep an eye on him. He is a smart man, so I am sure he understood the underlying meaning of my words.

"You knew this would happen?" Grace asked, her voice full of curiosity.

"Let's just say I had a hunch. Anyway, any word on what the test will be?" I asked, changing the subject. Grace raised an eyebrow but did not try to push the issue.

"I could get nothing, and I tried every channel I could. But the Academy always keeps these things tightly sealed." Grace answered.

"Yeah, even Father would say anything when I asked." Lance added.

"I tried as well and even asked in a cute manner, but he only told me to wait until the next day." Adel said while pursing her lips. She seemed upset that her cute daughter act didn't make the old man budge.

"Not like it matters. Let's just do our best and try to get the classes we want." We would not all be in the same class, which would stink, but there was nothing we could do about it. We all had different interests. And we were coming here to learn our trades that we wished to follow upon graduation.

Like I will be taking every course I can in military and working my way up to becoming a magic knight. This was the goal I set for myself, and I plan to keep it. I also wanted to read every book in the library. Or, more like I want to skim through them so I can steal the contents and imprint them into my mind. One thing I love about photographic memory is that I will always remember it all.

"The gates are opening." Sophie whispered from the side. I looked up to see the colossal gates to the academy opening up. They had two carvings of knights holding swords carved into the double doors that stood so tall that I would have to crane my neck to look at them if I was standing much closer. Luckily I was standing further away at this time, so I could easily see what they looked like.

After the gates fully opened, a group of people who were walking on air appeared and passed through the entrance and stood up over all the examinees who were here to try to enter the academy. There was one old man in the front with ten others standing behind him, each varying in age.

Adel leaned over and whispered to me: "That is Aford Golorham. He is one of the strongest mages in the kingdom."

Strongest mage… I wonder just how powerful he truly is. I kind of wish to fight him. I wonder if this makes me weird…. Is it wrong to want to test your skills against the most powerful mage in the kingdom to see where you stand? I think it is actually a good way to rate just how strong a person is. But I know I will not be able to do such a thing any time soon.

Chapter28 Academy Tests Begin!

I watched as the strongest mage in the kingdom put his hands behind his back and began his speech. "To everyone here, I thank you for coming to take the test of the Royal Magic Academy. It is my pleasure to be able to see so many aspiring mages and knights wanting to make a name for themselves and serve their kingdom. You make me proud to be the Dean of this academy.

"While I wish that all of you could pass, I know this is not the case. For those who fail today, you will still have a chance next time as long as you have not passed the age of eighteen. You must understand that being someone who is to become a leader of this kingdom or their respective kingdoms, you must have the necessary skills from the start. We do not wish to see young ones lose their lives chasing dreams they are not deemed to see to fruition." I have to say this man had a way with words. He is not beating around the bush, yet he is not degrading the people who may fail either. He gave a good reason on why they do not accept everyone.

"While I know those who fail will be heartbroken, I do hope that in the future, you will find another path in life. Never give up hope and always look for the next best thing." The Dean paused for a moment before continuing.

"Now then. Let me explain to you what the tests will be this time around. The first part of the test will test your physical combat abilities to see if you are able to join any of the knight courses. The second part will consist of testing your magical abilities to see if you can join any of the mage courses. Those who pass both may freely choose courses from both sides, that is, if you are able to pass the last part of the test, which will be to venture into a newly discovered dungeon…." Now, this was new…. I heard about small worlds but not anything about any dungeons….

"I can see some of you are confused as to what I mean. As of late strange areas have begun to pop up around our kingdom and other kingdoms as well. These areas are now called dungeons and have new kinds of monsters inside. Some of which are humanoid in nature. Even if cleared out, unless you destroy the dungeon core at the end of the dungeon, the monsters inside will always reappear and will also never leave the dungeon itself. The dungeon you will be going to has many different monsters but mainly a new species we call goblins. They are humanoid and can use weapons and magic. But they are very weak.

"As you all know, to join our academy, you must sign a waiver in case of death. Starting this year, the waiver must be signed before you join in case you die during the test. We will begin with registration first, and then you will be led to a waiting area where you will be tested. Please make note that this may take a few days as we will be dealing with one examinee at a time, and once you enter, you may not leave until the end of the tests." The Dean explained. I was happy that I always had sleeping gear in my inventory. At times like this, it was very helpful. Speaking of sleeping gear.

I looked over at Lance and asked: "Did you bring a tent?"

"Ah!...." Lance lowered his head, his cheeks turning red.

"He can just sleep outside!" Adel said with a snort.

"No, he can't. But…. I do have a big enough tent for all of us so we can just share. Lance will just have to sleep on the far side of the tent." We already lived under the same roof, so sharing a tent with him wouldn't be much different. It's not like we would be taking our clothes off or anything.

"Faith, I don't think that is….." Lance tried to reject my offer, but I raised my hand, stopping him from speaking.

"Lance, what is my job?" I asked.

"To protect Adel and I…." Lance replied.

"Exactly. If I made you sleep outside during the tests, I would not be doing my job correctly. I was already stabbed once to save you. I do not wish for you to lose your life any time soon. As long as you do not get any funny ideas about Sally while we are all asleep, there will be no issue." I explained while still tossing in a jab at him, causing Adel and Sophie to giggle and Sally to give me a confused look.

"What!? What does Miss Sally have to do with this!" Lance yelled out in a cracked voice.

"Oh? I was only joking. Why are you suddenly getting all flustered? Did you fall in love with Sally at first sight?" I asked in a teasing manner, causing Lance's cheeks to turn red. Now, this was really entertaining. I nudged Adel, who gave me a nod and a knowing look and smiled. "Sally, what do you think of Prince Lance?"

Sally still seemed confused about the situation as she looked over at Lance, who was smiling at her with the same stupid grin on his face that he always had. Only this time, his cheeks were red, and his eyes held a bit of expectation. "He has a creepy smile, so I think he is a creep?"

"Pfft!" Adle spat out as she heard Sally's answer. She looked up at her brother and shook her head while trying to stifle her laughter. As for Lance, he lowered his head once more. The smile on his face also disappeared.

"I told you so!" I said teasingly. "Maybe if you get rid of that smile, maybe she will start to like you."

"Faith, did I anger you at all?" Lance asked with a pitiful look on his face. I sighed as I shook my head. "No, I was just making a point. Sally can not go against my commands, so if I ask her a question, she will speak the truth. Although I did not expect you to like Sally, I was only joking there."

Chapter29 Incident At Registration

"No, that's not it, I just…." I watched Lance become even more flustered, making me smile inside. This little brat likes to love and forget. I wonder if he will fall for some girl in the academy next.

"We need to go. They are forming a line. I, for one, do not wish to wait all day!" I said before taking Sophie and Adel's hands and pulling them along with me, leaving Lance behind.

One thing that was really starting to get annoying was the stares. I just wished people would stop being so concerned about us, but I guess there is not much I can do about it since I was with the prince and princess of the kingdom. However, I think most of these stares are not because of that but more because I have a big target on my back but whatever.

If they come, they come. I am already expecting it, so it is not like I will be surprised. But I guess this means that even if someone tries to be friendly with me now while I am at the academy, I will need to keep my guard up. It sucks, but it is a reality that I will need to accept. I sighed as I looked out over the line of people. Well, I guess I will have to see what the future holds. I was kinda starting to feel depressed. I mean, I did… I did wish to make more friends.

The long line continued until high noon. The sun was hot, so I was glad I brought a lot of water and ice cubes. I was quite excited about all of this, so I had Annie help me prepare everything that I might need. Annie went out of her way to make a lot of food and snacks.

Adel went ahead of me. She didn't even need to show any kind of proof of who she was. They let her go right through after she signed the waivers. Even royalty had to sign these waivers. This was a rule passed down tens of years ago, I guess. Adel told me that many years ago, a prince from another kingdom who was going to the magic academy had died in a small world, and they wanted to cause a fuss about it but were quickly shut down.

When it was my turn, I walked forward and handed the middle aged man my letter of recommendation. If I did not have this, I would need to pay the fee just to take the test. So the letter of recommendation was a free meal ticket, I guess you could call it.

"Oh?" The middle aged man took my letter and looked it over before looking at me as if I had done something wrong.

"Is there a problem?" I asked. I guess it was not just noble kids who were going to be giving me a hard time this year….

"Baroness Cyrilia…." The middle aged man began in a loud voice so that everyone around could hear him. "What is the meaning of you giving me a fake letter of recommendation?"

"Heh…." I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, really? Are you really saying my letter of recommendation was fake? How much of a fool can this man be?

"What's so funny? Do you know what happens to those who try to fake their way in? They get stripped of all their titles and imprisoned for life in the slave mines." The middle aged man spoke with all the righteousness one would need. I could hear the murmuring behind me, but I did not care. My hand moved faster than he could see and took the letter back before he could do anything to it.

I looked at the letter in my hand and then looked at him. "So a letter signed by King Gravos himself is a fake letter. Then who does my letter need to be signed by, God?"

"You! Give that back right this instant!" The middle aged man stood up and reached out, but instead of grabbing my letter, he got my boot to his face knocking him back into his seat and onto the ground.

"You seem to really want my letter. Is it because you do not want the proof that you are lying to be shown to others?" I asked with a mocking smile on my face. The man had stumbled backward and fell over his seat, so he was not looking all too good at this time.

"Faith, what happened!?" Lance ran over, followed by Sophie, Sei, and Sally.

"What happened? This idiot is saying the letter His Majesty gave me is fake. Lance, tell me, is your father really the king of this kingdom?" I asked with a smile on my face. But my eyes were burning with fire. I wanted nothing more than to shove this man's head up his butt.

"That is ridiculous! I was there when my father wrote and signed all the letters of recommendation this year! Who are you!? Who told you to do this!?" Lance asked as he walked over and grabbed the middle aged man by the scruff of his neck.

"What is going on here!?" A voice came from overhead. I looked up to see the Dean of the school walking down from the sky until he stood on the flat ground.

"I guess this man is a teacher at the academy, correct?" I asked. I know I should show a bit more respect, but sadly I am angry right now.

"That is correct? What has happened? Prince Lance, why are you holding him like that?" The Dean asked.

"Your teacher says letters I personally witnessed my father write and sign for recommendation are not real. That they are fake. Let me ask you, Dean, are your teachers not screened to see if they are working for others outside the academy? If I am not wrong, the academy is supposed to be neutral territory." Oh? I have to say, when Lance acts like this, he seems kind of handsome although I still wouldn't date him… Since I know the true Lance. But he does seem more Princey this way. So I will give him two thumbs up in my heart.

Chapter30 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 1

"Oh?" The Deans's eyes glowed as he looked at the teacher with cold eyes. "You dare help out outsiders!?"

A great pressure suddenly fell on the man as magic circle after magic circle began to form in the air around him. Seeing this, I couldn't help but be shocked. It was my first time seeing so many magic circles formed in an instant without a single one being written by hand, besides the ones I have created. I was truly impressed and kinda wished to sit down and talk with this old man about magic.

"Do you know the punishment for conspiring with outsiders!?" The Dean yelled out. I watched as the teacher was pressed against the ground. Blood began to trickle out of his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth.

"Dean! You shouldn't kill him! We need to investigate who he was working for." A young woman flew over and placed her hand on the Dean's shoulder.

The Dean's brow twitched, but the magic circles all disappeared, along with the pressure in the area. "Take him away. I want to know who is behind this by the end of the day. Once he is no longer needed, you know what to do."

"Yes." The woman bowed her head. She looked over at the man with a bit of disdain in her eyes. She then looked over at me and smiled warmly, which made me tilt my head in confusion. I wonder if she knows me or something….

"Continue with registration. Little lady and the three behind you with letters, please hand them to me." The Dean walked over and sat down behind the registration table.

"This is my letter of recommendation. And thank you." I handed the letter over and gave my thanks. It was the least I could do. After all, I wanted to become friends with this old man! And he did just help me. I am glad he was not someone who was also on the side of those who wanted to take me down.

"All is in order, Baroness Cyrilia. I do apologize for the lack of training of my staff. I do hope you will not hold it against the academy." The Dean's words surprised me. I did not expect an apology. It was not like he could control everyone here.

"No, it's fine. I did not plan to let the people who are trying to scheme against me get away with it easily. That was why I caused a fuss. I should also apologize for my rudeness earlier as well." I was quite rude. Hopefully, he will not take my rudeness to heart.

"It's fine you were angry. I would have snapped too. Once we figure out who is behind it all, I will call for you and let you know." The Dean waved the whole thing off, which made me let out a relieved sigh. "Just sign this, and you will be all set."

I signed the papers and said goodbye to the Dean before walking through the gates to the first testing area. I quickly found Adel, who was surrounded by quite a few guys. She had a look on her face that showed she was not happy one bit, but the people around her kept trying to suck up to her. I guess this is what it means to be royalty. People will always try to earn your favor.

I sighed and walked over and pushed the group of boys out of the way. "Who the hell just pushed me!?"

One boy yelled out. I turned to look at the boy with a mocking smile. "You! You're the new upstart! Do you know who I am?"

"A boy who yells a lot?" I answered in a matter of fact kind of way, causing the boy's face to turn red and the finger that was pointing at me to freeze. The other boys began laughing at him, causing his face to grow a deeper shade of red.

"Faith!" Adel yelled out as she walked over and took my hand. "I must go now. I need to wait for my other friends."

I said nothing more as I let Adel lead me away but stopped short when I heard someone speak under their breath. "Tch…. This bitch rather hanging out with upstarts. Let's see how well she will react when things happen later on."

"Adel, wait here…" The boy's voice was low, but I could not allow what was said to pass. I let go of Adel's hand and disappeared from where I stood, and reappeared in front of the boy with my fist already drawn back. "How dare you speak about my friend in such a manner!"

*Bam!*

I punched him directly in the face. While I was not using my full strength, he still flew quite a few feet end over end until he fell to the ground in a heap. My face was heating up. My anger was starting to take over as I stomped my way over to the boy. When I arrived in front of him, he looked up at me with fear filled eyes. But I did not care. I reached down and grabbed him by the neck. "What do you mean you have plans for her later on? What did you plan to do to Adel!? She is not only the Princess of this kingdom but also my best friend! Tell me now! Or else I will snap your neck!"

"Faith!" Adle ran over and hugged me from behind. "Faith, let him go. Or you will be kicked out of the academy."

"Adel, this jerk wanted to do something to you!" I yelled out, my gripping tightening on the kid's neck. He was clawing at my hand as his face turned purple.

"What happened now!?" The Dean's voice filled the air. I looked up to see the Dean landing behind the young man. He did not move to make me release him, he just looked at me with questioning eyes. "Baroness Cyrilia, what happened?"

"He spoke about planning something against Adel. I have no idea what it is but I heard him speak of it as we were walking away. My hearing is quite good after all." I answered honestly.

Chapter31 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 2

"I see… But we can not do things about words only. So please let him go. As it is a crime to plot against the crown even inside the academy, we will investigate what he planned to do. He will then be punished by the academy rules. Is that fine?" The Dean asked. His voice was calm. It seemed he was used to such situations.

"Yes…." I tossed the boy in my hand to the ground like tossing out a piece of trash. I then looked at the Dean and bowed my head. "I apologize for causing a fuss."

"It's fine. But I do hope you will not resort to violence right away each time." The Dean said sternly. I could only bow my head in apology. I kinda lost myself there when I heard the kid talking about Adel.

After the Dean left, I met up with Sophie and the others. We sat and chatted while waiting for the registration process to finish. Hundreds of examinees were being registered, so it took quite a long time before we were able to finally hear how the first test would proceed.

"Now that you are all registered, the first part of the test will now begin. In order to keep things flowing, tests will start now and continue non stop until each one of you has been tested. On this stage over here, you will all come up one at a time and fight against one of our instructors. Do not worry. You do not need to win to pass this test. It is just to see if you have what it takes to take the knight courses or not. You may also abstain from taking this test if you wish to wait to take the second test. I have said what is needed to say, so let's begin!" The Dean fished his words and flew off. I guess he needed to go deal with some things.

The first battle was a young man who looked around seventeen years of age. I can only guess he was a noble because his clothing looked pretty fancy. Well, fancy to me. I, for one, would never wear something like that to an entrance exam. To me, it did not make sense, but when I thought about all those who pay their way in, I figured this was probably the reason why. Even I and the others all have free passes and are only taking the exam for show. But even still, at least come looking like you were going to try….

Obviously enough, the young man didn't last long. And the next person up was another young man. But he was much different than the last. He had a serious look on his face. It seems he was not someone who could pay their way in. The instructor allowed the young man to charge at him. It was a swift charge, and he seemed to have a lot of power in his swing. He began attacking at an incredible speed as well. But sadly, the instructor stood there with a smile on his lips and one hand behind his back. Just seeing this made me want to make him use his other hand.

But I could tell one thing about this instructor. He was watching each and every one of the young man's moves, and even during the fight, he was giving advice on the young man's movements. He was someone who knew how to teach.

One after the other, I watched as people climbed onto the stage and either forfeited, pretended to fight, or fought with everything they had. Surprisingly the number of people paying to get in was quite few and most worked hard to try to fight as best as they could against the instructor. Some were even strong enough for the instructor to try to counterattack. As the day passed, at least one hundred people had already finished their test. Currently, I am surrounded by sleeping people. Adel and Sophie were using my lap as a pillow while Grace leaned against my back. Lance sat on my right side while Sei was on the left side. As for Sally, she leaned against her hammer, but she was wide awake, just like the other two.

"You guys can sleep, you know." I said to the three who were still up.

"Not a chance. Right now, we need to stay on guard after what happened this afternoon." Sei replied. She stretched her arms and looked up at the starry sky above. "Plus, I am used to staying awake for weeks on end. A few nights won't make a difference."

"I have also gone through some of the black knight training, and staying awake was one of the things I was well versed in." Lance stated proudly. Why he was proud about being able to stay awake, I do not know.

I turned and looked at Sally, who was nodding off, and smiled. "Sally, just take a rest."

"Must…. protect…. Young Miss...." Sally said in between dozing off. I waved my hand and cast a sleep spell on her causing her to fall fast asleep. With a bit of wind magic, I was able to gently lay her head down so she would not fall over and hurt herself.

"I will set up a barrier around us so we can all take a nap. We will probably be going up tomorrow with how fast these matches are going." I also wanted to rest, so the barrier I put up did three things. One was to protect us all together so no one could get near us. The second thing was that if someone attacked it, it would repel the attack back at the attacker with triple the force. And lastly it would wake us all up if someone did attack it.

The only reason I was willing to sleep was because there were still about two hundred people ahead of us. They were following the order of registration.

Chapter32 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 3

I was woken by Sei earlier in the morning. My turn was next after the girl on stage was finished. She only lasted a few rounds with the instructor before being knocked down. The look of disappointment on her face shows just how much she must have trained. She was not half bad from how I saw it. She was just too over eager to try to score a hit on the instructor and was not watching his reactions.

"Next! Faith Cyrilia!" I heard my name called. I stood up and turned to the two girls who were still yawning and half asleep. "I am off!"

"Mmmm… good luck…." Adel's voice sounded as if she was talking in her sleep.

"Good luck!" Sophie said softly in a louder than usual voice.

While I know I do not need to try hard during these tests, I want the academy to know that just because I have a recommendation letter, that I am not here just for a free ride. That I came to this school to work hard and learn everything I can while I am here.

I have so much I wished to accomplish here that I did not want to play around. So even as I walked up to the stage, I already had my sword drawn and was ready to fight. I stood in front of the instructor waiting for him to begin the match.

"Oh? Now, this is interesting. It seems you have been in a real fight or two." The Instructor said with a smile. His eyes seemed to change compared to how he looked at the other examinees.

"You can say I have been in a fight or two. I guess you haven't heard the rumors about me." I replied with a slight smile. I am not sure if he is playing dumb or just didn't hear about the war.

"Wait…. Faith Cryilia…. Ah! It's you! Hahaha! What a pleasure! I get to go one on one with the girl who wiped out an entire army, The Demon of the East, Faith Cryilia. The fairy who dances in the blood of her enemies." I think I just heard another really embarrassing nickname just now. I will ignore it. I do not want to hear all these strange names that people are pinning on me. "I hope you will give me a good fight. Please, you can go all out while fighting me but remember, no attack magic spells, only body enhancements."

"Alright. But I should ask. Can I put up a barrier just in case?" I did not wish for our fight to hurt anyone around us, so I figured at least a barrier should be put up.

"Yes, you are right. Can I ask you to do the honors?" The Instructor asked.

"Sure." I answered before writing a quick magic circle in the air. "Five layer barrier…."

Barrier five layers thick formed around the battle stage. I could hear the voices from below all cry out. Which is to be expected. I mean, none of the other matches needed a barrier, yet now one was being deployed and by the one taking the test. But this made things safer for everyone as I would not go easy on the instructor after he had asked me to go all out.

"Haha! Really good! I see you will also pass the magic ability test without issue. Before we start, let me give you my name, Demon of the East. You can call me Bill Reliks. It is a pleasure to have a match with the rising star of the Gravos Kingdom." It was nice that he introduced himself but did he need to call me the Demon of the East during his introduction?

"It is a pleasure." I answered back with a small pout. I really do hate this name.

"Then let's begin, shall we?" Bill smiled before charging forward. Since he started taking the test, he had not once moved from where he stood, but now he was charging forward to take the initiative to attack.

I smiled. My blood was starting to heat up. I had not had a real battle since fighting Gesel. I was getting very excited. I watched as he buffed himself up with speed and strength enhancements. I went ahead and did the same. As his sword swung down towards me, I swung mine towards his.

As the two swords made contact, it was as if no sound was heard for almost a whole second when a loud thunderous boom was heard, and a shock wave spread out in all directions. Our swords moved so fast that they broke the sound barrier, causing a sonic boom. The ground under our feet shattered and a huge crater formed in the middle of the stage. The entire stage began to crumble and fall apart.

But this did not stop us from continuously swinging our swords, meeting attack with attack. This was only pure swordsmanship, no attack magic whatsoever. With each clash, another sonic boom was heard, and the ground began to break up more. I had no idea what our battle looked like to those outside the stage, but my guess is that they were shocked at what they were seeing.

"Hahahahahaha! This is so much fun! Demon of the East, you really live up to your name!" Please stop with the name already! I wanted to cry. This damn name sucks!

But I could stop my lips from curling up and smiling as I continued my attack. My instincts were telling me to continue for as long as I could that this was where I belonged. Swinging my sword in the midst of battle. I have no idea if this was my dragon instincts or my demonic instinct or maybe a merger of the two that makes up my dragonic bloodline. I am not quite sure, but all I know is that I am having so much fun! "Hahaha! Come! Fight me with everything you have!"

The two of us were both smiling and laughing like maniacs as we attacked each other. We were just about to clash again for the umpteenth time when a voice rang overhead, and both our bodies were frozen in place. "What the hell are you two doing!?"

Chapter33 Mighty Sophie!

I shrunk back, hearing the voice up over my head. I have heard this yell many times. I didn't even need to look up to know that it was the Dean. Sure enough, the Dean landed in between us and looked at the destroyed stage and then back at us. "What is the point of destroying the entire stage!? This is a test, not some battle to the death!"

"Ummm… Dean, Instructor Bill told me to go all out." I quickly threw the instructor under the bus. I mean, he really did! I wasn't lying!

"Oi! What happened to buddies in arms!?" Bill yelled out. I just turned and looked away. Sorry Bill, but I have already caused a scene a few times now. If I get yelled at anymore, the Dean might kick me out!

"It doesn't matter who started it! This is just too much! Baroness Cryilia! Please keep things in moderation! Fix the stage and go wait for the next test!" After giving me my orders, he turned and looked at Bill. "And you! You are an instructor! What is with you laughing like a maniac while fighting someone who is taking the exam? People are waiting for their turn!"

"Dean, I just…. Sorry…." Bill lowered his head. He dared not argue anymore.

"Alright, get down and let Baroness Cyrilia fix the stage." I wonder if the Dean knows that there are two more people here who will be smashing the stage up as well. Awe well, not my problem….

I waited for everyone to leave the stage before putting it back together and getting down. After a ten minute break, it was finally Sophie's turn. I placed my hand on her head and smiled at her as I said: "Just do your best."

"Mmm…" I think Sophie wished she was Adel or Lance. The two did not even need to take the tests. Not even standing on stage. This was the reason why Sei woke me up when the girl before me went on since she was before Adel. And Adel's name would not be called. Although Adel did say she planned to go up on stage for the mage test.

Sophie, on the other hand, was different. She had a recommendation letter so she could give up, but I talked her into at least trying. She had learned a bit of sword during our time together. How well she could use it is another story. I do know she practices a lot now.

Sophie pulled her sword from its sheath and got into her fighting stance. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, the Sophie whose eyes were always gentle and lowered, not wanting to make eye contact turned sharp. She looked at Bill, who was standing back in his normal spot as if he was the demon king and she was the hero who had to slay him.

When Bill said begin, Sophie charged forward with some speed magic and struck out while at the same time tilting to the side and thrusting out another sword with her free hand. Seeing this fighting style, I was kind of confused because I do not remember her learning this. "This…."

"I taught her it. She came to me and asked me for a few pointers as she wished not to slow you down. She has been working hard in secret since we met." Sei's explanation left me stunned. I never thought that Sophie was secretly training! This sly little fox! Just you wait and see! I will fluff you so much you will die from fluff! Not really, but seriously I am very surprised. "To be honest, I was not expecting much with how docile Sophie is, but once she starts her dance, she is a machine."

I looked up at Sophie, who really did look like she was dancing as she attacked from different angles. Her body bent in unnatural ways as she kept Bill on his toes. He was even moving backward due to Sophie's onslaught of attacks. "Sei, did she really learn all this in such a short time?"

"Frankly speaking, she is a monster. A natural when it comes to dual swordsmanship. I do not know why but it seems all the monsters of the kingdom of the younger generation are all found at your side. You have Adel, Prince Lance, Sophie, Sally….. And m… oooffff! Why did you hit me!?"

"Because you tried to call yourself young!" I said while sticking my tongue out. But her words confused me. "What do you mean Adel and Lance are monsters?"

Sally, I could understand, but Adel and Lance…. I have never seen them use much magic or fight at all, now that I think about it.

"You will see. Lance is good at sword and magic. While Adel went strictly magic. Let's just say that Adel's magic is also a little weird. She has a strange affinity with cosmic magic." Sei answered. But I think I just heard a new kind of magic.

"Sei, what is cosmic magic?" I really have never heard of it before.

"It is a new kind of magic and named after the only person to acquire it. And that person is Adel herself. Although looking at her as she is now, you wouldn't think she was so capable. Nor a princess…." I looked over to see Adel with drool running down her chin as she used Sally's big melons as a pillow. The weird smirk on her face doesn't help her image much either.

"I guess I will need to wait and see then." I was now really looking forward to Adel's match during the second test. "But wait…. If it is magic, can't anyone use it?" It just dawned on me after thinking about it for a minute.

"That is what is weird. This magic seems to be only usable by those with the affinity for it. So there is no way to copy the magic. You can write the magic circle all day but you will never be able to activate it."

Chapter34 The Cyrilia Monsters

A magic that can not be cast like normal…. I never thought it was possible. But I wonder if it can not be cast by anyone without affinity for it, and Adel was the first person to have such affinity, how did she know how to cast it? How did she discover it? How do they know it is actually magic? I looked over at the girl sleeping on Sally's chest with a glint in my eyes. I mean, I kinda want to have her help me experiment with her magic. But if I was able to figure out how the spells work and how one can cast them without affinity, that would make Adel less special, and that would not be good. I guess, sadly, I will be skipping over this special magic.

"Why do you look so dejected?" Sei asked as she looked at me with a strange look.

"It's nothing. Let's cheer Sophie on! Goo! Sophie! Go!" The best way to forget about things I can not do anything about is to not think about them and move on. Plus, Sophie needs someone cheering for her.

The more I watch Sophie fight, the more I realize that she will be very powerful in the future, and now she was showing everyone what she was capable of. This was good. Less people will try to start with her if they know she is strong.

Another few minutes went by when Bill called the fight. He had a big smile on his face as he looked at Sophie: "Very good! Another diamond in the ruff. I can see why you gained your recommendation. Go rest. You will be taking the second exam soon."

Sophie climbed down the stage and ran over to me. Her smile was bright as her tail wagged back and forth with her ears twitching. And a very excited Sophie acted out of character as she excitedly said: "Faith! I think I did well! Ow! My cheeks!"

"Yes, you did. You really surprised me. To think you were getting secret training all this time!" I said with pursed lips. But still, I was happy for Sophie. It seems she had found her path.

"I wanted to surprise you," Sophie said while rubbing her now red cheeks. I pinched them pretty good.

"It was definitely a surprise." I said with a laugh.

"Sally Cyrilia!" Bill's voice fell over the crowd. I have heard some murmurs here and there about the Cryilia name seemingly being a hot topic at this moment. Namely because of my show of strength, and now Sophie displayed her swordsmanship. Next, it was Sally's turn. All three of us were carrying the Cyrilia name. I wonder if Father would be proud of me.

Seeing Sally walking up to the stage, a thought came to mind. "Sally, don't destroy the stage or crush the Instructor! Hold back!"

"Yes, Young Miss!" Sally yelled back, causing another wave of rumors to begin spreading. I saw Bill looking at me with a smirk. I then saw him say something to Sally with a mocking smile. But that smile quickly turned to shook after he yelled begin and Sally arrived in front of him in an instant with her hammer already barreling down on him. Wait.... "Ah…. Too much!"

*Boom!*

I felt a sharp jolt in my arm as I stood between the Instructor and Sally. The stage itself caved in from the impact. As the dust settled, I looked at Sally, who was looking back at me with tears in her eyes. "Young Miss! Sorry! He whispered something mean about you, and I kinda just…. Are…. Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine Sally, relax." It was true, I was perfectly fine. I only felt a sting in my arm from her attack. I turned and looked at Bill, who was looking up into the sky, whistling with his hands behind his back. "Why did you instigate her!? Are you trying to get me yelled at again!?"

"I wanted to see how strong she was! You told her to hold back! I couldn't resist!" Bill tried to explain, causing me to snort.

"She passes, right?" I asked sternly.

"Yeah… Everyone at your side is a damn monster. I want to fight with them later on." Bill said with a big grin. I could only let a long, drawn out sigh. He was an instructor, right!? Right!?

"Alright, then I will be going back down. Ah, right! I wouldn't try anything with Sei. She may just kill you…." I gave a fair warning. I did not know if Sei could hold her anger back or not. The last thing I want to do is try to explain that mess. Because for some reason, I feel the Dean will hold me accountable!

"Ahahaha…. Wait…. Sei…. That Sei!? What is she doing here!? Isn't she way too ol…. Hah! Peh! Peh! Damnit, what are you doing!? " I quickly kicked a ball of dirt into his big mouth.

"Shutting up, idiot." I said with a snort before pulling Sally off stage.

"Sally, don't let others anger you like that from now on. It will be bad if you do something you shouldn't do to the wrong person, that is only if your life is not threatened. But you can beat them up a little, just not full force." I was not saying to hold her anger in but dumb it down enough to only beat them mildly.

"Mmm... Sorry, Young Miss." Sally lowered her head. I turned and reached out and rubbed her head. "Thank you for getting mad for me."

"Mmm…." Sally smiled softly and nodded her head.

Sei was up next, and it ended before it started. It seems Sei's hearing was very good. She shot forward, and in an instant, she had already pinned Bill to the ground, asking what he was going to say earlier. It happened so fast that no one understood what had happened. But I guess this just goes to show what experience can do. I went back and forth against Bill but was unable to land any decisive attacks. But Sei, who has less power than me, was able to pin him to the ground with experience and technique. Maybe I should have her train me as well….

Sei came back and stretched her arms as she sat down next to Adel, who seemed to be still dozing in and out. It made me wonder just how bad of a morning person she was. It was now Lance's turn to go up. He walked up on to the stage with his sword still in its sheath. His aura had completely changed once he got on stage.

---An: Check out my second WSA entry: RE: My Dragon Girlfriend In The Dragonic Apocalypse. for the time being you will need to search for it by name until Webnovel approves it. Thanks for reading!---

Chapter35 The Show Off Prince

"Are you surprised?" Adel came up and sleepily asked.

"Mmm… His weird smile is gone." I answered lightly. Well, it was true. His stupid grin was replaced with a serious expression that was not something you often saw on him. But what was annoying me was all the fangirls screaming his name. Like, does it help if you scream his name? Do you win an award for being the one to scream his name the loudest?

I will never understand it. Why do girls get all giddy over a boy or any kind of lover for that matter? Although I am a girl myself, I still do not understand it. I shook my head as I turned my attention back to Lance on stage. He was staring at Bill with a small smile on his lips. Once Bill gave the go ahead, Bill charged at Lance which was a surprise to me. This was the second time he had charged at someone. The first being me. Lance only slightly moved as he brought his sword to his side and stepped forward, and struck out.

Bill sidestepped and swung his sword to block. But…. "Wait! What the hell are you doing!? Why did you fake like you were off balance!? Instructor Bill, don't be trying to throw the fight! Smash him hard! Knock him down a few times! Make him cry!"

I watched as Lance stumbled over his own feet and loud laughter came from my side. I turned to see Adel, Grace, Sei, Sally, and even Sophie all laughing really hard. Was what I said really that funny? I tilted my head to the side, trying to think of what I said, but nothing seemed funny to me…. I mean, well… Okay the last part about making him cry, but I was just trying to get my point across.

But now, I am also getting a lot of death glares. But as I scanned the crowd, everyone quickly turned and looked away. But once my eyes left them, they glared at me again! At least do it openly! Feeling a bit annoyed, I released some of my magic on the crowd to make them stop staring. I already get stared at enough that I do not need some giddy girls glaring at me too.

At least the fight on stage was now proper. The two were exchanging blows properly instead of Bill trying to throw the match all because his opponent was the prince. For one, I doubt Lance would want such a thing. Especially with how he is smiling. Ugh… I just realized that the two of us have something in common. We love to fight! Maybe I should take up flower arrangement and knitting….

After almost fifteen minutes, the two finally came to a stop. Bill seems to realize he was already taking up too much time. Luckily if anyone got yelled at this time, it would not be my fault…. I hope….

Grace forfeited her match since she was not going to try out for the knight course. But now that I was thinking about it…. Did Lance need to take the exams? "Lance…."

"Yes, Faith? Were you impressed?" Lance asked with his usual stupid smile.

"Ah… No, in fact, I was a little disappointed.... Anyway…. Ummm, are you not already in the academy? I could have sworn that you were….." I asked… I was not sure that maybe I was hearing things, but I think I did recall him saying he was in the academy before.

"Hmmm? I just wanted to fight an instructor and show you my good side." Lance replied with a smile.

"I see…." I only said these words before turning and walking towards the next testing area, not wanting to speak any more to Mr. Showoff. I heard a chuckle at my side, and as usual, Adel was laughing it up at Lance's expense. I can understand where she is coming from because I used to tease my big brother too.

The reason I was going to the next testing area now was because I did not wish to watch any more of the matches.I already saw everyone else fighting. I just can't believe that Lance went through all this trouble because he wanted to show off to me.

Testing for the second test began in the early evening. Standing up on a much large stage that had much more room for combat and many barriers surrounding it was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. I did not need to ask who she was as Adel leaned over and whispered in my ear. "She is the Dean's niece, Jasmine. And is the top mage of her generation."

I nodded and was about to ask what kind of magic she was good at, but Jasmine began speaking. "Welcome to the second test. This will test your abilities as mages. Those who pass this test will be one step closer to joining the mage course. If you pass all the tests, you can take up both courses and work hard to become a magic knight. But remember, very few ever achieve this.

"Let me explain how this all works. Just like the knight course test, you will come up one at a time and battle me. You can use all your strongest attacks. Well, except for one person. Baroness Cyrilia! You have to hold back!"

I choked on air being called out like that. Did the Dean say something!? It's not like I planned to use grand fall on her or something like that. I just planned to bombard her with a bunch of attacks. I pursed my lips as I locked eyes with the girl on stage. She only gave me a sly smile that said: I am watching you! Maybe I should just fling her out off the stage? My catapult magic would work well.

Would the Dean get mad if I sent his niece flying through the air like a bird? Well, now that I think about it, she can probably step on air as well. I guess I should come up with something else…. Maybe a catapult into a tornado? Is that too much? I will just need to see what everyone else does and go with that, I guess. I guess I can find an excuse to use it on Lance later, then blame it on Bell. Who would argue with Bell?

"Faith, you have this creepy smile on your face." Adel's voice broke my thoughts, causing me to accidently blurt out: "I was thinking of catapulting Lance later…."

"Oi!"

Chapter36 Ranting About Their Low Quality Magic

As I watched the fights one after the other, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed in the abilities they were showing as they fought with Instructor Jasmine. Basic fireballs and their equivalents with the other elements. Only a few used some higher forms of magic. Like barriers and magic spear type attacks.

Other than that, there was not much else worth to speak of. I could even tell that Jasmine was a little disappointed in the magic aptitude of those applying for the mage course. The face she was making and how her eyebrow kept twitching when people kept using the same spells over and over was eating at her. At least, I think anyway. She may just have an eye twitch problem. I can't really be one to judge.

Night fell once more, and my little group and I camped out together. The matches were much slower this time because there were more people trying out for the mage course than the knight course. The knight course was mainly for those who lacked magic abilities, but that did not mean all of them were bad at magic. Many applied for both courses to try to become a magic knight, the most prestigious kind of knight one can become. This was also my goal. If you combine it with a nobility title, it will help quite a bit when doing the things I wish to do. Right now, whether I liked it or not, the status of nobility was a major plus for me, as Adel said before.

The next morning when I woke up, it was the same thing all the way until noon time: more people slinging fireballs and taking almost the full five seconds to cast the spell. One thing I did not understand was why most of these testees were all proud of their magic accomplishments. It seemed strange to me, but maybe I should not be basing what is normal on my own abilities? But still, to be proud for casting multiple fireballs in a row at an instructor who is yawning at you and thinking you did amazing seems a little off.

"Faith, if you keep furrowing your brow like that, it will freeze in place, and then you will look that much uglier." Adel's voice came from my side. I turned to look at the princess with the teasing smile plastered on her face and pursed my lips.

"It's not my fault. Look at this! How are they so proud for casting a single fireball!?" I guess my words were a bit too loud because I got quite a few stares after I said this.

"Faith, you can't compare your abilities to normal people." Adel replied with a chuckle.

"But even my sister in law Rachel could cast a fireball at five years old. And she is a commoner! These kids are nobles, yet they are so proud of a simple fireball. Did they even train before coming here!?" I know I should keep my mouth shut, but when it comes to magic, I can't help but get angry. The current me is like the anime finatics who would fight tooth and nail when it came to their favorite waifu.

Once I start, I can't stop until I make my point completely. I remember a few times when I was talking to Jen about novels in my past life. I would be so into what I was saying that I would not even realize that Jen had walked away and end up standing there by myself talking to the ghost in front of me while people walked by looking at me strangely. At times like that, I couldn't help but pout.

This was why when I met Runa, I thought I met a kindred spirit. She was a magic freak just like me, and this really made the two of us click. Sadly Jen was never into reading much. Only once and a great while would she come to find a book that would keep her attention. But that was it.

Other than that, she was more interested in socializing and boys. Now that I think about it, why was she even friends with a weirdo like me? Sigh… I still miss those days….

"Next! Princess Adellia!" Instructor Jasmine yelled out. I looked up to see her now smiling. I guess she was looking forward to this fight. I was also looking forward to it, to see this cosmic magic for myself.

"Good luck Adel!" I said with a smile. I hoped that she would do well.

"Mmm… I will do my best. So watch me, Faith!" Adel said with a fist pump before walking forward. The look of determination on her face showed how serious she was about this test.

Adel stood on the stage. Her white dress armor fluttered in the wind. To be honest, she struck a gallant image as she stood there with her back as straight as a board and her hands resting in front of her in a noble lady like manner.

"Princess… I have been wanting to see your specialty magic for a long time. Sadly I could only ever hear about it through people who were allowed to enter the palace. So please do put on a good display for me." Instructor Jasmine had a small smile on her face and a glint of excitement in her eyes. I guess I was right about her being happy about facing Adel.

"Instructor Jasmine, I will do my best to satisfy your curiosity. But I also have a small vendetta with you. I mean…. You called out my Faith like she was some kind of monster. This is a no no." Ummm… Adel… you have a crazy smile on your face and a mean look in your eye. Please do not try to kill anyone!

"Oh, are you talking about my warning to Baroness Cyrilia.? Well, it was because my father told me too. Otherwise, I would love to see what she is capable of. Please do not take offense to it as I did not mean harm by it." I guess Instructor Jasmine is not such a bad person. She seems more humble than I had originally thought. Even her apology held sencerty to it. Although even after she apologized, Adel still looks angry.

Oh well whatever happens between those two has nothing to do with me…. I hope….

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Reborn: I’m a Dragon Girl With An OP System Book 4

Table of Contents

Chapter1 When The Odds Are Against You Part 2

Chapter2 Prince Rythilin

Chapter3 Sly Cat

Chapter4 The Plan Part 1

Chapter5 The Plan Part 2

Chapter6 The Plan Part 3

Chapter7 A Fun Time For All Except For A Sly Cat

Chapter8 A New Home Part 1

Chapter9 A New Home Part 2

Chapter10 A New Home Part 3

Chapter11 Picking Rooms Part 1

Chapter12 Picking Rooms Part 2

Chapter13 Party In The Garden Part 1

Chapter14 Party In The Garden Part 2

Chapter15 A Visitor In The Night

Chapter16 Beating Up A Stupid Cat

Chapter17 Sometimes Even Kings Can Roar

Chapter18 Punishment

Chapter19 Deal

Chapter20 Setting Up Defensive Systems Part 1

Chapter21 Setting Up Defensive Systems Part 2

Chapter22 Assassin

Chapter23 Something Off Part 1

Chapter24 Something Off Part 2

Chapter25 Contracts And Titles

Chapter26 Arriving At The Academy Part 1

Chapter27 Arriving At The Academy Part 2

Chapter28 Academy Tests Begin!

Chapter29 Incident At Registration

Chapter30 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 1

Chapter31 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 2

Chapter32 First Test: Battling Teachers Part 3

Chapter33 Mighty Sophie!

Chapter34 The Cyrilia Monsters

Chapter35 The Show Off Prince

Chapter36 Ranting About Their Low Quality Magic