(Maia's Pov)
"Good work out there, 'blazing empress'"
With everything being done, we all went back inside the headquarters building, and there she was already trying to piss me off.
"Shut it. I didn't choose that nickname you know… I didn't even know it existed until a certain someone said it."
I looked at Sylara as she tried to avoid my eyes, while we all made our way back to the table we were at last night.
"It isn't a bad one though? I find it quite empowering-"
"Was 'blazing empress' really the best thing that came to mind though… people are going to actually take that as my official nickname or whatever now, you know?"
"I do Not see an issue in that though? For that matter, I had discussed it previously with Mio, and she approved of it."
"…"
"Pfft… hahahaah! I di-i didn't actually think that she'd use it… hahaha! Well, what can I say, Maia? From now on I guess I should also call you the blazing empre- ouch! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"What? I just fired a small fireball into your forehead. I didn't think that the almighty Mio would feel it though?"
"Like hell you didn't! I'm not some kind of God that doesn't feel pain, you gorilla!"
"My, are you sure about that? From the way you carry yourself around others may think you're a Goddess or something."
"Oh but I doubt that. Or maybe it may be true? But it just goes to show that one of us actually does hold up to their status when it comes to public appearances, no?"
"'Holds up to their status' my ass. You're still hiding yourself publicly, so what are you even blabbing about?"
"So what? Unlike you, if I don't hide my identity at least until I'm a legal adult I wouldn't even be able to buy a piece of bread in peace."
"As if you even need it to begin with. You can just make it, or change your appearance like you usually do."
"Sure, sure. Whatever makes you sleep at night, oh mighty 'Blazing Empress'. Shouldn't you be thanking me for that uniform instead?"
"I don't see why I should though? Sure, you made it… based on Nala's fashion sense. You just used my younger sister's prodigenial fashion sense to make it. Shouldn't you give her credits instead?"
It was a pretty high quality piece after all. There was a particular detail that I did find pretty awesome as well. Since the split ends aren't actually part of the coat, even if I remove it, I'd still have them down the back of my legs. Not to mention, the black sides and the golden center align well with my aura color, so overall this is as expected an insanely high quality design.
As I said though, she just did the same thing which she used to make her own uniform. Using Nala's knowledge from the past, and her general sense of fashion, she just recreated a design which would fit with her standards. Of course, I can't actually say that these are designed by Nala, and Mio did technically do it… but in principle, Nala does at least deserve inspiration credits.
"… That's a good point actually. You're right. I did design both of our uniforms myself, but they're inspired by what I know Nala would've approved after all. When we unseal her memories eventually I'll make sure to thank her properly."
I sighed in resignation. It seems like our friendly banter has finally ended. When I looked around us, I did expect to see the other sentinels sitting down, unlike me and her, but I was actually surprised to see what they were doing…
"You guys…"
They were all munching, and seemingly disappointed now that we were back to our senses."
"Is it already over?"
"I would've paid at least 2 million gold to see something as entertaining as this in a theater."
"Mom… you should really watch your expenses more often."
"Shut it, I don't want to hear that from you, Rosalie. Didn't you spend 3 million gold last week for a painting?"
"So what? At least I'm spending my money on valuable art, and it'll last a lot longer in my palace. You just spend yours on temporary entertainment, in that sense aren't you more irresponsible?"
"You just don't understand the beauty of theater I'm afraid… my poor illiterate daughter."
The 2 of them started arguing among each other, and while the other sentinels switched their attention to them, I had to ask Mio something that's been on my mind since last night.
"Say, Mio… just how rich are those 2?"
"Well, the blondies are both entrepreneurs believe it or not… even without their salary as a Captain and Lieutenant, they'd be the richest in the room besides us 2 and the elves."
"Is that so…"
It wasn't too surprising I guess, since they were clearly just top ranking among the richest kingdom on the continent, but their personalities were really not what you'd expect from someone of their caliber…
"Well, we can leave them be for now. Maia, we're going out for a little bit. Just the 2 of us."
"Hm? Is there something wrong?"
I asked as we started walking out of the room.
"Not really, but it is a little annoying honestly…"
"?"
"We have to pay a visit to a certain old geezer."
"Huh? What are you-… oh…"
Yeah I think I know who she's talking about now.
As we passed through the white marbles corridor, we eventually stumbled upon a large red framed wooden door. Mio was the one to open it and first go in, and I followed next to her… but at least now I understood why she said it would be a pain. There was a classic desk pretty much in front of the door on the opposite side of the room, with a few other things around the room like random paintings or storage spaces, but what was most relevant at the moment was the center of the room.
A table in the middle with 2 mini couches on 2 sides, and a single person sitting on the left side as we entered. He was a man, seemingly in his mid 60's? Dressed pretty flashily. But what stood out the most was obviously, the crown on his head… and the look of disgust he had on his face when he saw us open the door and walk in.
"Yo, old geezer. It's been a while."
"Tsk, you insolent brat… you really never learn to mind your manners, do you?"
I expected Mio to just have both of us sit across from him, however instead of that… she snapped her fingers casually while talking, and as we walked towards her desk where an extra seat appeared.
"Now, now. Let's not get too hot here, shall we? I even agreed to go through protocols and introduce you to my amazing Lieutenant."
Mio's casual but taunting smirk was something I was more than used to seeing. If anything, it felt comforting to see that she was still sane enough to be the same Mio I remembered. The king however clearly didn't like the fact that instead of sitting across from him, we both sat at the desk though. After all, it meant that he'd need to turn around if he even just wanted to look at us.
"Amazing? You really couldn't choose anything better than a filthy Ashf-"
But he stopped his sentence the instant she glanced over at her. I couldn't blame him though, after all besides Cael I'm the one who can read Mio the best. And at that moment, there was a pretty clear sentence written on her face. "Finish your sentence and you're dead." I have quite the problematic little sister, huh?
To try and minimize the trauma on the king, strictly out of pity however, I placed one hand on Mio's head. Ruffling up her hair a little was usually enough to calm her down. And as usual, she just took it with a little pout while crossing her arms, and looking away.
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. As you already know, I am the Newly appointed Lieutenant of our little Commander over here. My name is Maia Ashford. Would you care for a cup of tea?"
Well, I called her little since in my eyes she's my little sister, but she was in her grown form to be fair. But regardless, the king just uncomfortably nodded, and with that a cup of tea appeared on his table, and 2 on our desk 'out of thin air' as usual. She may be grumpy right now, but Mio wasn't actually that Ill mannered. Well, at least not if I took the initiative… but oh well, that's a big sister's or a best friend's job for you.
"Calm down, Mio. Let's not threaten him too much, alright?"
"… I know that already. But still…"
"It's not like I like him either, you know? But I'm sure you're already aware."
"'We don't know what he may do if we threaten him too much', huh? Yeah, I get that. But blatantly trying to insult my Lieutenant to my face? Did he forget who he's talking to…"
"Haha, it's fine. It doesn't bother me, so just go back to your usual cool and trustworthy self, alright?"
"Alright."
"Anyway. You happy now? You asked me to introduce you to my Lieutenant once she'd be publicly introducing herself; and here we are."
For some context, Mio didn't actually tell him that I'd be the one. It may seem like it was just a silly prank on her end, but she pretty much just forgot to actually inform him. She didn't really care too much from what I know at least anyway, so she just never bothered.
"You dare ask if I am pleased upon learning such disgraceful news? Not to mention, what in the world is this trial supposed to mean?"
"It means what I said it means. You and Maia's parents will fight in court for each of your agendas. I'll be the judge of Whether the Ashford family regains their status and power or not."
"Indeed, and precisely that is what's troublesome. What means do you possess of convincing me that you shan't be biased within your judgement?"
Mio sighed, waving her hand around while replying, clearly a little annoyed.
"Look, you old geezer. We both already know that I can end your career in a minute if I truly want to."
"You insolent-"
"And, as you can see, I clearly haven't done any of it yet, have I? I intend on being an objective judge, and take my duty seriously. It'll be live-streamed after all."
The king fell silent, while Mio continued.
"Not to mention, you just have to be confident enough in your arguments, and you may not make a total fool out of yourself. Any details regarding the trial are confidential to the Supreme Court however, so it isn't something a mere old geezer like you can know though. Worry not, putting it simply, you just have to try your best. You have around 2 months? To prepare."
He was still silent, clearly feeling the pressure on his shoulders. Of course, we didn't actually have any intention of publicly revealing any of their treason. All we wanted was to clear our name. However, I'm sure we don't need to tell him that if he oversteps his boundaries, we cannot guarantee a bright future ahead of him.
"This trial is needed. You've shamelessly engraved so much dirt on her family's name that we're risking a civil war even just from her standing next to me. I hope you haven't lost all traces of that small brain of yours as you aged."
Sighing, he gulped down in one go the rest of his tea, and walked towards the door, stopping right before exiting, but not turning around as he spoke.
"I understand… Great Sovereign."
Without any more fuss, he then closed the door behind him as he left. For instance, "Great Sovereign" is the title the kings of all kingdoms have to address the Sentinel Commander as. The reason should be pretty obvious, but I'll still explain it for the ones in the back that may uhm, not have the best reading comprehension.
Unless it wasn't clear enough, or you just never picked up a dictionary, a Sovereign stands above anyone within its range of authority. As you all know, the Sentinel's Commander has absolute authority over the entire continent, so the kings calling her "Great Sovereign" should be pretty self explanatory.
Though the king had left, we didn't bother getting up yet. The tea in our cups at least was pretty good, unlike the one that Mio made for him anyway. And for the record, she didn't make him a cup of filthy water, but it's just a very low quality one. Regardless, this was pretty relaxing honestly, especially after having to deal with that.
"Say, Mio."
"Hm?"
"Have you done that already?"
"That? … Ah. Yeah, I've already spoken to Layra as well. The carriage should be almost at the village by now. I've sent both the seal and letters as well so don't worry. All that's left is for them to get ready and go."
"Alright then. Thanks as usual."
"What's up with that? I don't think I need any thanks for helping my family out, you know?"
"…I guess you're right."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Cael's Pov)
Everyone was shook, which was understandable. However, it was in a positive way. I honestly expected people to try and talk to us when it ended, but instead I think they all mutually agreed on just leaving us alone to sort our things out.
"Say Aldric."
"What?"
"You remember a few years ago, we used to talk about it pretty often."
We were all still seated, but everyone else had already left.
"I guess so. To think that she wouldn't just join them, but actually rule over them though…"
"Yeah… I knew it would come, and in all honesty, Maia had already told me and Isolde about it. But it still feels unbelievable."
So they knew? Well, it isn't that weird I guess. It's none of my business whatever the eldest of us speaks with our parents after all.
"That means we should start preparing though, doesn't it?"
Mom didn't specify what for, but in this context it was pretty obvious. After all, we had a pretty long journey to take.
"That's true haha. It's been a while since the last time we went to the capital, hasn't it?"
"Ah, now that you mention it. Was it around the time me and Isolde got married? Or a bit before Maia was born? Hmm…"
"It was around 3 months before Maia was born. We bought supplies and clothes for her, remember?"
"Oh yeah, now that you mention it. Pretty sure Isolde and Lyanna had a blast while shopping… though I kinda just wanted to go home already."
"Agreed."
"Come on, Dear. You were also enjoying it. Not to mention, if it wasn't for Lyanna it would've only been me actively trying to buy clothes. You and Aldric got bored too early on."
"Early on you say… I recall that the first time either one of us complained was only around 3 hours in the same store going back and forth though?"
"3 hours is pretty short, you know?"
"No, no. 3 hours is plenty of time… Aldric and Lyanna can have 3 whole rounds in that amount of time."
"Bartholomew! What are you spouting in front of my little baby!"
"Haah? Little Lara probably can't even understand me yet. Not to mention, is it even a bad thing if she knows her parents love each other?"
"Mommy, mommy! What is daddy talking about? What 3 rounds can uncle Aldric and auntie Lyanna do in 3 hours??"
"My, My. You'll learn once you're older, Nala."
"Eeeeh? That's too long! Mommy, I want to know too!"
…have we always been this chaotic?
I sighed as everyone except me and Rune, oh I guess also except little Lara as well, just kept talking, and talking… and talking. He was kinda trying to calm everyone down a little, but given how he couldn't even raise his voice enough to be heard over all that, it was pretty futile.
I walked up to him, and put my hand on his head.
"Forget about them, Rune. Let's just go home and start packing first, alright? Who knows when these guys will stop talking."
He nodded, then got up. I did intend on just leaving everyone else here, but it seemed like that wouldn't be the case.
"C…cael…"
"Hm? Is something wrong?"
I stopped walking, looking back at him for a moment before directing my eyes towards where he was pointing at.
So that's how it's going to be, huh?
Honestly, I didn't think about it, but it is true that we didn't have any immediate ways of transport after all. It seems like Maia was fortunately already aware of that. Given the timing, and the number of carriages coming towards the village it was pretty clear what this was.
"Everyone, Look!"
Rune couldn't do it anyway, and it seems like if I didn't actually interrupt them, those carriages may stumble upon them arguing or just loudly discussing I guess? Whatever they were doing, I'd rather avoid that.
Stopping whatever they were doing, they all simultaneously looked forward, and dad was the first to quickly get up and walk towards us, followed by the rest.
"I guess we don't have to worry about transportation?"
"And from the looks of it, the few front carriages are prestigious enough to carry royalty in them too."
How can you even tell that much from just a look? They just seem like slightly fancy carriages to me…
There were actually quite a few of them though. 3 of them were leading, but behind those another 5-7 were following. The ones in the back were a little more shabby compared to the others, but it was pretty easy to assume that their purpose was for carrying luggage.
It took a few more minutes, but eventually they all finally reached us. The horse guider of the middle front carriage was the one to first approach, and dad walked out front to meet him.
"Would it be correct to assume you are Lord Bartholomew?"
"Though I don't know about the Lord part…"
"You are The Blazing Empress' father, and soon going to become the Ashford Duke, it is most fitting for me to address you as Lord."
Blazing Empress, huh? That's a pretty cool nickname, until I remember whose it is…
That being said however, it was a little weird. Not only did this man pay respect to dad, and address him as Lord. He also seemed to have absolutely 0 ill feelings towards him, or any of us for that matter. It wasn't the first time someone like that appeared, but it definitely was a little unusual. Dad sighed, reigning to his inevitable newly acquired Lord status.
"Well, whatever I guess… but you can speak casually to me. The previous Duke used to get insulted on a daily basis by his maids, you know?"
He seemed a little taken aback, but after clearing his throat with a little nervousness on his face he spoke again.
"I see… I'll do that then, Lord Bartholomew."
The lord stays though, huh?
"In any case, there are a few things I have to give to everyone here first."
Turning around, a few other guys came forward. 3 of them were holding what seemed to be letters, while another one had a simple wooden box in his hands.
"These are?"
"Letters from the Blazing Empress- he hem. Letters from her Greatness Maia, directed to: Lords Bartholomew and Isolde, Sir Aldric and Madam Lyanna, and finally one for the Young Lord, Cael."
Each letter was given to us in order, but before either one of us opened them, he continued.
"And lastly…"
The man with the box then opened it, revealing the single item inside. It was a purple and black Seal? Or at least it looked like that, but it seemed to be more like a necklace? Or I guess pendant?… what exactly is this? To be more specific, it was black with a purple crown-like decoration around it. There also seemed to be something written on it, but it was just "The Ashford Family" so I doubt it's a big deal?
Did Maia just give us a random Accessory or something?
But to my surprise, when the adults saw it… looking at the man with a wry smile, dad spoke.
"Is this… real?"
The man simply nodded, as if understanding their hesitation.
What's that reaction for?
"Uhm… is there something wrong with that pendant looking thing?"
"… I guess you wouldn't know, sweetie."
"Cael, this is far from just a Pendant."
"Alright, I get that. Can you please stop with the suspense build up and just tell me what that is?"
"Isolde, can you do the honors?"
Dad asked while picking it up. He then turned it around, and his expression intensified further.
"You see, sweetie. Every Sentinel, or Sentinel recruit has a special Seal. They can be given away to pretty much anyone they want, with no real limit. Their purpose is mostly for redirecting bills I guess you could say? For example, if you're buying something, and don't have money, or simply don't feel like paying, if you have a Seal, all you have to do is show it to them. The bill will then be sent to that sentinel or recruit, but it does also hold a lot more power."
My eyes widened as I finally realized what this meant. I quickly turned around towards dad, and he continued.
"Of course, there has to be a way for the staff to know who to send the Bill to though. Which is why there's a pretty easy to learn system for these. The decoration color aside, the main color of the seal itself indicates whether the seal is from a regular recruit if it's brown or a higher ranking recruit if it's silver."
"But that one…"
"Yeah, I was just getting there… It's not just recruits who can give seals after all. Each captain and Lieutenant have the same color, but it changes based on who's it is. For example, a green seal would mean that it's from the elven kingdom duo. A blue one would mean that it's from the Amphibian kingdom. A golden seal would mean that it's from the commercial kingdom, so on and so forth."
"All recruits can only have brown or silver colors regardless of their kingdom so don't worry about that. On top of the color recognition, on the back of each seal there's the name of who the bill will go to."
He seemed hesitant in continuing, but not in a bad way? It was more of a "seriously, give me a break…" expression than a "we're fucked…" one.
"…Then what does a black seal indicate?"
"Regardless of Kingdom… there's only 2 people who can have a Black seal."
Pausing his sentence, he then handed it to me. And while he continued, I slowly turned it around.
"There's a spell on each seal that prevents it from being used by anyone else other than it's said "owner" on the front. Not to mention, the sentence for salsificating one is as severe as life in prison, so I knew it wouldn't be fake right away, however I still had to ask purely out of denial. After all, a black seal can mean it's either from the Commander's Lieutenant… or The Commander of The Sentinels."
"From Mio To… The Ashford Family"
That's what the Seal read if you went from the back to the front.
"I'm sure she probably explained in one of our letters why we were given the commander's instead of hers, but we can honestly probably guess…"
Mom then continued where dad stopped, as if completing his thought trail.
"There may still be people who'd reject or cause a tantrum over Maia's seal for now after all. They probably wouldn't dare to do anything in person, but regardless even if we did have hers, she wouldn't be here. Using her seal before our name gets cleared would just send people to jail, or become a hassle to use in general for our journey. However, this one…"
"Is Absolutely impossible to deny." Is probably what would come afterwards…
I decided to just give it back to dad, then sat on the nearest bench to take a breath.
This is way too much power suddenly given to us, Maia…
I shouldn't be surprised since Maia herself now has the 2nd highest authority in the kingdom, but this was still just too much to digest in one go. After all, until yesterday we were still just your average fallen nobles living in a village peacefully, more or less.
Guess I'll go ahead and read this.
Taking out the letter from the envelope, expecting to see just a single page tiny letter, was probably the biggest mistake I had made today. After all, as my eyebrows twitched, the 5 pages letter fell from my hand. Seriously, please do your work instead of writing this much…
Well, I already opened it so I may as well. It's not like I had anything else to do anyway. So while imagining her voice, I began reading.
"Yo, Cael! Did you miss me? Because I suuuure did. In fact, I miss you so much already that I may just come home right now and live with you forever!… Well, anyway. I can probably guess what your expression is like right now, and you may close the letter if I go on longer than that about it, so I'll get serious from here, alright?"
Took you way too long to get serious…
"I'm assuming you're reading this after you guys got the Seal, and while I already explained it all in the letter to our parents, I'll tell you as well. Whether some folks are stupid enough to doubt or to reject my seal or not, I'd honestly rather not risk it for the time being. It seems like me and Mio get along pretty well so far, so getting the seal wasn't really an issue. If anyone ever says anything about her seal, and tries to doubt its authenticity for some reason, you can just say Something like "she's the one who ordered us to come, no? It only makes sense for her to finance our journey." ? It should probably work."
Yeah, I don't think anyone is going to try and doubt a seal with Mio's name on it…
"If you guys leave tomorrow morning, you should get here by like late January or just early February? Depends on your pace and all obviously, but honestly our village isn't too far so it shouldn't take longer than a good month and a week or 2. Since you're definitely going to arrive before the trial, you're all going to be staying at my place, so don't miss me too much alright?"
That makes sense honestly, it would probably be pretty hard to have an inn for us arranged where the people wouldn't look at us as if we're living trash. Can't really complain.
"I'll also be straightforward when I tell you this: I could've simply set up a teleport for you guys with someone, but I chose not to. I've already explained it to dad and mom as well, but putting it short, I think that the long journey is the best option for not just you, but everyone else. For starters, traveling is a big part of being an adventurer, the more experience you get there, the more comfortable you'll be when you're older. That aside also, it may not have been an issue when we were training, since we went home flying, but at night there are a lot of monsters around. Of course, nothing too dangerous is on the road, or at least nothing that dad can't take care of, but I already talked to him and told him to allow you to also get some training here and there."
Wait, seriously? This may actually be one of the nicest things she's done so far. I'm not hectic about the month-long journey during winter, but getting real life experience is insanely valuable.
"Also, I doubt that's the case, but if you ever thought something along the lines of "why bother with slow and realistic journeys when we can fly!", the answer should be pretty obvious. Unless it's a necessity, I think it's pretty normal and better for you to just act like a normal human being. You may get to a point where you can circle the whole continent in a second one day, but so what? Are you going to devote your life to running around, or I guess flying around? Or enjoy it slowly, but steadily? I'd say the latter is more enjoyable personally haha. But that's about all for now. Cael, I'll see you in about a month or so, but until then, I leave our family and Aldric's in your hands, alright?"
…What's that supposed to mean, you idiot…
You're putting way too much trust into me…
I crumbled up the letter and threw it on the ground, then wiped my tears with my arm. Whether I like it or not, it seems like she entrusted me with it, so I can't be wasting time crying, can I? So with a smile, I went on ahead first home, to begin packing my stuff.