Chapter Six: The Mighty Mages
AFTER breakfast the next day, we girls had tea in the courtyard. That included me, Cita, Cia, and Julietta. The boys had gone to the chivalric order’s training grounds together. Custode and Squishy had accompanied them as well. All of us were in high spirits, this being our first girls-only hangout in quite some time.
“Have you started making your dress for our debutante?” Cia asked.
“Of course not,” I replied, my eyes widening. “It’s still the middle of summer. Our debutante isn’t coming up for a while.”
Cita’s eyes widened as well. “We only have three months left. You need to start making your dress soon. More importantly, your and Embert’s engagement announcement will coincide with the debutante.”
Yeah, yeah, I know, but it’s still kinda early to think about dresses, right?
Despite my mental protest, Julietta nodded along with the twins. She’d already ordered her dress for Bragioga’s debutante. However, she had another dress in the works for Gandolfin’s debutante. She planned on participating in Gandolfin’s debutante ball first. During the break, she would return to Bragioga and join their debutante ball as well.
“Lauris offered to give me a dress for Gandolfin’s debutante,” Julietta mumbled, her cheeks flushing.
Damn you, Lauris, I thought while holding back the desire to swoon. Why do you get to hog this sweet angel all to yourself?
According to the twins, their parents were providing their dresses. Meanwhile, Oreste and Rosario had offered to give them accessories.
“Have you talked about your dress with Prince Embert?” Cita asked.
I shook my head. Embert and I hadn’t discussed anything of the sort. After all, our engagement hadn’t been formalized until shortly before coming here.
“I bet Prince Embert will provide everything,” Cia said. “The dress, the shoes, and even the accessories. He’ll coordinate everything to match his hair and eye colors.”
“Probably,” Cita and Julietta agreed in unison.
I sighed. “Yeah, I can see that happening.”
As everyone laughed at my comment, a familiar man’s voice interrupted our conversation. “You girls seem to be having fun,” he said while walking up to us.
“Oh, Uncle Pieno…” Julietta greeted him awkwardly.
Despite his amicable grin, something about the guy still skeeved me out.
“I heard your pleasant voices while heading back to my manor,” Pieno said. “I never expected to find such beautiful ladies here with the holy woman.”
Cita and Cia looked puzzled, having never met Pieno before. On the other hand, Julietta seemed most unwelcoming towards her uncle. Of course, I felt the same way. Nevertheless, Pieno introduced himself to Cita and Cia.
“It’s nice to meet you two young ladies. I’m Julietta’s uncle, Pieno Cotarini.”
The twins’ eyebrows shot up for just one moment. Before long, however, they stood up and greeted him with smiles and curtsies. Afterward, we tried to resume the tea party, assuming the exchange was over. Usually, you would expect a man in Pieno’s position to say, “Well then, please continue,” and excuse himself. Yet, for some reason, he showed no signs of leaving. In fact, he appeared to be waiting for us to offer him a seat. Of course, we had no intention of doing anything of the sort. On the contrary, we practically radiated the sentiment, “Get the hell out of here!” Though Pieno must have gotten the hint, he shamelessly refused to leave.
Sensing my irritation, Julietta rose to her feet. “Well then, shall we head to the training grounds soon?”
The twins stood up as well, agreeing with the suggestion.
Finally, I rose and turned to face the royal prince. “We made plans to meet up with our other friends, so we’ll take our leave here. Let’s be on our way, ladies.” I curtsied and attempted to leave.
“Do you mind waiting a moment, holy woman?” Pieno asked while grabbing my arm.
I glowered at him. “You might be the royal prince, but it’s still rude to grab a lady’s arm, don’t you think?”
“Oh, my apologies,” Pieno replied, still not letting go of my arm.
Furthermore, he didn’t seem to mind my scornful glare. When I glanced at Julietta, she nodded as if to say, “Go for it.”
If I have her permission, I can give him a piece of my mind, right?
“Prince Pieno,” I said while donning my best villainess expression. “Did you forget Prince Embert instructed you not to touch me?”
Pieno didn’t mind my words. “Yes, he did mention something of the sort,” the royal prince responded with a mocking grin. “Yet no matter how much of a fuss you raise, Prince Embert isn’t here right now. It’s not as though I intend to harm you, either. I simply wish to invite you to have tea with me. Truth be told, my wife passed away before me. Won’t you humor a lonely man with conversation, lovely young lady?”
That’s your way of making a request? I wondered, barely containing my urge to hit him.
“You expect me to have tea with the sort of man who grabs a lady’s arm like this?” I asked. “I would refuse the offer of any such man, regardless of his status.”
Pieno tightened his grip on my arm. I grimaced momentarily due to the slight pain and pressure.
“You would refuse the request of a royal prince from a friendly nation?” he asked. “The man first in line for the throne? You might be a holy woman, but you’re also no more than the daughter of a duke. It seems you don’t grasp the power dynamics here.”
Yeah, I’m starting to get a little pissed.
“Certainly, you are first in line for the throne,” I said. “Only for a few more days, though.”
Those words hit Pieno where it hurt. He squeezed my arm even tighter, not bothering to hide the rage on his face.
“Impudent little girl,” he growled. “When I become king, I’ll make you my slave.”
What on earth was this old man saying? His statement caught me so off guard that I burst out laughing.
“Aha, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?” I asked. “You could never make me your slave. Do you want to go to war with Gandolfin, Your Highness?” I spoke the last part in a whisper, certain that would quiet him down. However, my words didn’t get through to him.
“Bragioga might be small, but we have powerful adventurers at our disposal,” Pieno said, an incendiary gleam in his eye. “Your kingdom might be the one to lose.”
This guy reminds me of Celette. That’s probably why he creeps me out.
“You seem to have made a grave misunderstanding,” I said. “The adventurers aren’t soldiers of Bragioga. Furthermore, have you forgotten about the divine beast you’d be antagonizing?”
Pieno burst out laughing. “Haha! Are you talking about that dragon welp? It may have spirit, yes, but our kingdom wouldn’t lose to such a puny creature.”
Okay, this guy’s officially an idiot. Your daughter was trembling beneath that puny dragon’s pressure, remember? This doofus will never be king in a million years.
“You think that’s his actual size?” I asked with a chuckle. “Have you never considered that he might be colossal in his true form?”
“Then, by all means, I would love to see your dragon’s actual size.”
Based on his expression, Pieno didn’t believe me at all. Moreover, he still held my arm in a tight grip. Irritated, I sent a jolt of electricity through his hand. Of course, I used a voiceless incantation to avoid detection.
“Ouch!” Pieno yelped.
As a crackling sound reached my ears, the royal prince finally released his grip. A faint bruise had formed on my arm, which I immediately healed with holy magic.
“Oh my,” I said. “Static electricity is unusual in the summer. We must be very incompatible. If we stay together any longer, you might suffer even more pain. I’ll take my leave to ensure that doesn’t happen. Good day to you, Prince Pieno.”
I led everyone away from the courtyard. Though I heard Pieno grumbling behind me, I didn’t turn around. While heading back to the castle, I stopped and looked at Julietta.
“Sorry about that, Julie,” I apologized. “I picked a fight without thinking.”
That sly devil might have been infuriating, but he was still Julietta’s uncle. When I offered a heartfelt apology, Julietta shook her head fervently.
“Don’t be sorry!” she exclaimed. “Uncle Pieno has always been like that. Honestly, I can’t believe he and my father are related by blood.”
Truer words had never been spoken. I’d met the king during my first day in Bragioga. He’d been a warm person, similar to Julietta and Giusto.
During this conversation, Lauris and the others hurried over to us with panicked expressions. Squishy happily jumped from Oreste’s head and into my arms.
“Is everyone okay?!” Oreste exclaimed.
Julietta and the twins furrowed their brows, not following the question.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I didn’t let him touch anyone else.”
The boys exhaled deeply, relieved by my answer.
“What about you, Ally?” Rosario asked while meeting my eye.
“I’m perfectly fine,” I replied with a wink. “I even got a little payback.”
Rosario laughed. “Of course you did.”
“You should’ve done more,” Custode said while hanging on Lauris’s shoulder.
I shut the tiny dragon up with a cookie I’d brought. Meanwhile, the other girls wore puzzled expressions.
Cia turned to Rosario. “Do you know what happened with the royal prince, by any chance?”
“Sure do,” Rosario answered.
The girls looked even more puzzled. Well, who could blame them? After all, how did the boys know about something that had just happened to us? By way of explanation, I took my smartphone out of my pocket. Yep, you heard me right. After giving the magic artifact to everyone, Severin asked me to name it. In the end, I’d landed on “smartphone.” Sure, I’d tried to come up with a different name, but at the end of the day, smartphone had the perfect ring to it.
Imitating me, Severin pulled out his own device with a grin.
“I immediately called Severin while everything was going down,” I explained.
As Severin fiddled with his smartphone, our previous conversation with Pieno played from it.
“When I received Ally’s call, the screen was dark, and I could only hear the audio.” Smiling, Severin shook his smartphone lightly. “I thought something might be up, so I recorded the conversation. Including a recording feature seems to have been the right call.”
That’s right. The person who received a call could also record it. Severin had begun recording when Pieno asked me, “You would refuse the request of a royal prince from a friendly nation?”
“Having evidence sure is important,” I said with a grin.
Lauris and Severin grinned back at me.
“Oh, but don’t let Embert hear this yet,” Lauris warned. “I have no idea how he’ll react.”
I nodded emphatically. That went without saying. As soon as Embert heard this recording, he would act without a second thought.
“Let’s use this recording as a last resort,” I said. “We still want to arrest Pieno as the mastermind behind Giusto’s assassination attempts. That’s our top priority.”
This recording was simply insurance to prove Pieno’s other crimes.