"Let's go have tea outside," Alfred replied calmly and dignified wearing a very expensive white attire with a blue ribbon and a brown mantle covering the shoulders to the waist.
The dark chocolate skin tone brown-haired maid inside a black outfit with a white apron containing a rose emblem on it, opened one of the doors that led outside while smiling beautifully, and everyone went through to the garden, they than us.
As Sylvia passed in front of us I stared at her body curious about what a strong woman's physique would look like, luckily for me, she was wearing a firm and light white dress that demonstrated the different marks of the muscles, especially the abdomen. A black hair long enough to reach the middle of the cleavage leaving only a bit of skin to see, my eyes then looked at her shoulders and arms that weren't large in width nor too muscled, the hands however had plenty of calluses. Once she passed through I noticed the rest of the backside noticing a silhouette similar to mother one, just a tad thinner as mother gained some weight and hasn't worked out as much as when I was learning with her. Alicia then passes in front of me smiling at me flicking my forehead softly holding her laughter inside as I was lost in her mother's figure.
We follow right after reaching the outside, thanks to the position of the sun and the mansion, it was currently filled with a pleasant shadow reducing the warmth of it, along with a delicate light breeze that didn't allow for any of us to possibly sweat from the heat.
We headed closer to the tea table, and then upon arriving close to it, Alfred stopped turning to us and spoke with a formal and serious tone.
"First of all, thank you for pleasing us with your company today, however, I expected four, where may the other two be?"
"Sadly the crown prince carriage had affairs with the father and Iris sister," Robert declared while bowing respectfully as he felt the gaze from his master falling on him.
"That's quite unfortunate but understandable nonetheless, perhaps another day we'll have such an opportunity."
"It has been a long time Rosaline," the mistress bowed lightly by pulling her dress softly, acting unbefitting of a noble lady in her rank towards a peasant.
"A very long time indeed lady Sylvia, I hope you've been well," Rosaline repaid in the same way while smiling happily.
"That's your childhood friend? The extremely talented swordsman you always talk about mother!? The one from the old beggar story and the strongest of the royal guards?" I shout energetically and surprised, startling everyone and making Alicia doing her best not to burst to laugh at how I just turned a serious meeting into a funny one.
Upon hearing that Sylvia chuckles unable to help herself, hiding her continuous laughter behind a fan that she quickly takes from the tea-table.
'Haven't seen mom laughing in a while, to think she knew Iris mother,' Alicia thought as she looked at her smiling happily.
"To think the person lord Alfred lost to was also the head of the royal knight, you never cease to surprise me lady Sylvia," Rosaline added holding the excitement and the big amount of happiness from re-encountering her friend after so long.
"Thank you for the compliments, you've matured delicately and if you may allow me to say, a few sizes," Sylvia said while checking her chest cleavage out which is fairly big, especially so after increasing a bit after having Iris," did you stop practicing swordsmanship Rosaline?"
"I've reformed as an adventurer, and I only teach a few kids back at Astia village while I work in an alchemy shop, where we sell potions."
"Please have a sit everyone let's drink some tea as we continue the chat," Alfred suggested while winking at Alicia.
After he did and we started seating, Alicia came closer to me and sat next to me.
"I'm happy to see you're doing well," I tell her in a low tone while smiling happily having missed her for a long time that almost felt eternal.
"It's good to see you again Iris, we ended up meeting earlier than I expected due to a report about your sister," she whispered while placing her hand in front of the mouth like kids usually do."
"A report about what?" I ask lowlily confused imitating her actions unconsciously.
"One of our assassins saw you two in Astia village and apparently she was scared of your sister, which makes no sense as she's seen death and killed plenty."
'To think we were being observed, it's a good thing we were careful about the grimoire transformations.'
'She's never used her dark element in the village, so it must've been that ominous aura that spreads from her whenever sister loses control.'
"Anything in specific?" I ask innocently trying to grasp which of the possibilities were perceived by their family.
"I'm not sure, my parents didn't give me the details, just something about her aura feeling deadly."
I raise my voice so that her parents can hear and say, "sister a bit special, she's been in death's door since she was born due to a sickness that waa recently healed two years ago."
Copying me and understanding partially Alicia says," I'm happy to hear that she's better now, how about you? What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?"
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you!" I laugh lightly interrupting the adult's conversation.
"Alicia if you and Iris would like, you can drink your tea while showing her the lake by the garden," her mother said softly which Alicia understood immediately that they were bothering her.
"Sure mother, that sounds like a wonderful plan let's go, Iris," she grabs my hand and we walk together through their garden while ignoring the tea.
"Guess you didn't want any tea," Alicia said after we walked a bit further from the table.
"Not really, I only came to see a friend, I don't care about those formalities, especially since they just want to use me to guard you in the future."
"Is that a bad thing? I'd be happy to have you as my future knight."
"I want to become stronger and not only with swordsmanship, I've acquired a magical class and I'm currently level 7, but even then I feel extremely weak, the other day I saw a level 20 goblin warrior."
"For real!? That's incredibly high for someone as young and small as you!"
"Yes! Hey! I'm still growing!" Alicia chuckled at my words, and I continued talking," the goblin looked very dangerous, but leveling up increases our status the way we want it to which makes adventuring worthwhile, you should try it someday milady," I tease her back making her chuckle once more which ends up in her poking my cheek lightly.
"I'm still level 1, but I've learned some skills with my father and Robert, so I'm sure I could try some quests, even though I do not have the freedom to do so."
"Being a noble sure is a little limiting but I do hope you're not stuck here forever, and what kind of skills do you have?"
"Swordsmanship level 50, sword mastery level 40, and some that I have to channel mana to do which are the trademark of my father style, weak versions of it for now."
"That's amazing my swordsmanship is like level 20 and sword mastery at level 10," I tell her while smiling realizing the great gap between us.
She smiles back and says, "you must've worked very hard, I have what I get from being taught for my entire life we could say by the best, so I'm sure you'll catch up in no time especially if you follow my house tradition."
"Mother did her best to teach me what she knew, so it works out, I also know a bit of magic, in other words, I'm balanced."
"Rosaline looks like a good mother, say would you like to see the family dojo as well?"
"Sure, show me the way!" I reply smiling while grabbing her hand as we head there after passing by the small lake that looks rather small in comparison to the river near my house.
A little earlier in the other carriage with Aurora and Luke.
"So my dear daughter now that we're both alone," father makes a serious expression as he looks at Aurora who in return stares back expressionlessly.
"Hum? What's wrong father?"
"I'd like you to be extremely obedient while we're in the capital, there're various groups and factions that could prove annoying to deal with otherwise."
"Ain't I always?" They smiled at each other.
"I can tell that you have a lot more life experience compared to Iris which enabled her to grow up faster, and honestly in this world we live in I'm truly grateful for it, there may come a day where the two of you will have to take care and protect one another as the war is coming and with it, we never know what it may devour in its way."
"I understand father, I promise to look after her and take good care of my little sister."
"Even then the person you're about to meet is someone very sophisticated, different than every other noble I've met, he is willing to listen to peasants, furthermore does not see us as ants as most of the other nobles do."
"For that reason, I'd like you to be yourself, but never use any type of magic in his presence."
"Alright, even though I wasn't planning to, already had my share with royalty in the past."
"No matter what happens, the royal guards are all monsters, they will not think twice in killing either one of us, and I can't protect us from any of them."
"I understand father."
"In the case, the prince likes you and sees worth in your person, he may get you an entry for the magic institute that you have interest in, or even for a job in a high position."
"I've never pried in either your or Iris past life memories because we're your family now, and because of that I don't know what kind of knowledge you could possibly have for you to back up your earlier statement," he gasps for some air and then continues talking.
"But you're my daughter and I believe in you, if you tell me you can somehow lead an army and again, somehow expand the territory, and even conquer other kingdoms, then I'll believe you and act upon that."
Aurora smiles kindly at those words.
Luke extends his hand and pats her on the head," do what you think is best for you and Iris, and listen attentively to any propositions the prince may do, it could be very beneficial for either of you in the future."
"I'll keep that in mind, I'm interested in the magic institute, but yesterday I saw something a lot more interesting that was able to captivate my heart."
"Something? What was it?" Luke asks filled with curiosity completely unaware of what it could be so amazing to make Aurora say such words.
She whispers to him," a skill that Iris got called magic analysis."
With a low voice understanding she wants to keep this matter secretive, Luke said," what does it do or what was it used for?"
"She was able to analyze the barrier from the ruins in the west forest, getting the attention of the god of chaos, and two titles related to it."
With a dumbfounded expression Luke said, "So, you're saying she was able to find out that the barrier is connected to him somehow?"
"Yes, she went as far as to say that it was created by him."
"You both truly never cease to amaze me, so what else did Iris find out about it?"
"That the barrier was made to protect what was inside of it some sort of portal in its deepness? It also kept the monsters from coming out of it."
"I've heard of heroes exploring ruins like that one, but they usually wouldn't go too deep due to the horde of monsters, or they'd get lost in it as they are mostly gigantic mazes."
"The one in the west, I saw it from above and it was gigantic, though I did see what looked like a tunnel at the end of it, so I believe there's something in there which could be this portal thing, or perhaps a hidden path to somewhere else."
"Even if the four of us went there, we'd most likely die since the heroes couldn't do it themselves."
"I feel like a hero is just a person that is granted one or two special skills no?"
"I believe the records do say that, along with the hero class given by the goddess and usually only one of the summoned people gets it."
"In other words, they probably were only able to go so far on their own, without relying on anyone to grow stronger faster."
"Because of the experience shared?" Luke asks thinking of the issues of partying with other people.
"Yes, I believe that's the reason since they usually would need to become strong fast to save the kingdom."
"Does sound like a possibility, they would end up avoiding the dungeons too, as doing normal quests or hunting in the borders of the kingdom grants the necessary experience, and ends up reducing the enemies they'll have to fight against later."
"At some point, they'd get tired from being on the ruins where it's dangerous, and train elsewhere instead is what I think would happen, or maybe even not know about them since they aren't born here."
"People who are summoned don't usually go to such ruins, the hero is usually trained by the king, and the rest are split by the factions, so questing is like something done at a later date, and there are no quests for ruins, so they not knowing about it turns to be a big possibility."
"The nobles rose families and the church was it?"
"Yes, that's right daughter."
'Meaning there's more than one possible annoyance coming into this kingdom at some point.'
"When is it?" She asks in a cold tone startling Luke who was caught off guard.
"When is what Aurora?" He replies calmly upon briefly regaining his composure.
"The summoning ritual," she clarifies with an even colder and lower tone.
"I'm not sure when the last one was, but it's usually 90 to 100 years between the last one so it could be at any moment really."
'If the sage and the hero from my past end up somehow being summoned into this world, I'll definitely have my revenge no matter what it takes, even if I have to wait endlessly once more.'
'Even though killing them could bring trouble to Iris whom I owe my life to, so in a way, I'll have to be careful at handling it.'
'I've come to really like her, but at the same time I can't forgive what they did to me.'
'Choices, choices, choices... To butcher the pigs or not to butcher them.'
"Let's go have tea outside," Alfred replied calmly and dignified wearing a very expensive white attire with a blue ribbon and a brown mantle covering the shoulders to the waist.
The dark chocolate skin tone brown-haired maid inside a black outfit with a white apron containing a rose emblem on it, opened one of the doors that led outside while smiling beautifully, and everyone went through to the garden, they than us.
As Sylvia passed in front of us I stared at her body curious about what a strong woman's physique would look like, luckily for me, she was wearing a firm and light white dress that demonstrated the different marks of the muscles, especially the abdomen. A black hair long enough to reach the middle of the cleavage leaving only a bit of skin to see, my eyes then looked at her shoulders and arms that weren't large in width nor too muscled, the hands however had plenty of calluses. Once she passed through I noticed the rest of the backside noticing a silhouette similar to mother one, just a tad thinner as mother gained some weight and hasn't worked out as much as when I was learning with her. Alicia then passes in front of me smiling at me flicking my forehead softly holding her laughter inside as I was lost in her mother's figure.
We follow right after reaching the outside, thanks to the position of the sun and the mansion, it was currently filled with a pleasant shadow reducing the warmth of it, along with a delicate light breeze that didn't allow for any of us to possibly sweat from the heat.
We headed closer to the tea table, and then upon arriving close to it, Alfred stopped turning to us and spoke with a formal and serious tone.
"First of all, thank you for pleasing us with your company today, however, I expected four, where may the other two be?"
"Sadly the crown prince carriage had affairs with the father and Iris sister," Robert declared while bowing respectfully as he felt the gaze from his master falling on him.
"That's quite unfortunate but understandable nonetheless, perhaps another day we'll have such an opportunity."
"It has been a long time Rosaline," the mistress bowed lightly by pulling her dress softly, acting unbefitting of a noble lady in her rank towards a peasant.
"A very long time indeed lady Sylvia, I hope you've been well," Rosaline repaid in the same way while smiling happily.
"That's your childhood friend? The extremely talented swordsman you always talk about mother!? The one from the old beggar story and the strongest of the royal guards?" I shout energetically and surprised, startling everyone and making Alicia doing her best not to burst to laugh at how I just turned a serious meeting into a funny one.
Upon hearing that Sylvia chuckles unable to help herself, hiding her continuous laughter behind a fan that she quickly takes from the tea-table.
'Haven't seen mom laughing in a while, to think she knew Iris mother,' Alicia thought as she looked at her smiling happily.
"To think the person lord Alfred lost to was also the head of the royal knight, you never cease to surprise me lady Sylvia," Rosaline added holding the excitement and the big amount of happiness from re-encountering her friend after so long.
"Thank you for the compliments, you've matured delicately and if you may allow me to say, a few sizes," Sylvia said while checking her chest cleavage out which is fairly big, especially so after increasing a bit after having Iris," did you stop practicing swordsmanship Rosaline?"
"I've reformed as an adventurer, and I only teach a few kids back at Astia village while I work in an alchemy shop, where we sell potions."
"Please have a sit everyone let's drink some tea as we continue the chat," Alfred suggested while winking at Alicia.
After he did and we started seating, Alicia came closer to me and sat next to me.
"I'm happy to see you're doing well," I tell her in a low tone while smiling happily having missed her for a long time that almost felt eternal.
"It's good to see you again Iris, we ended up meeting earlier than I expected due to a report about your sister," she whispered while placing her hand in front of the mouth like kids usually do."
"A report about what?" I ask lowlily confused imitating her actions unconsciously.
"One of our assassins saw you two in Astia village and apparently she was scared of your sister, which makes no sense as she's seen death and killed plenty."
'To think we were being observed, it's a good thing we were careful about the grimoire transformations.'
'She's never used her dark element in the village, so it must've been that ominous aura that spreads from her whenever sister loses control.'
"Anything in specific?" I ask innocently trying to grasp which of the possibilities were perceived by their family.
"I'm not sure, my parents didn't give me the details, just something about her aura feeling deadly."
I raise my voice so that her parents can hear and say, "sister a bit special, she's been in death's door since she was born due to a sickness that waa recently healed two years ago."
Copying me and understanding partially Alicia says," I'm happy to hear that she's better now, how about you? What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?"
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you!" I laugh lightly interrupting the adult's conversation.
"Alicia if you and Iris would like, you can drink your tea while showing her the lake by the garden," her mother said softly which Alicia understood immediately that they were bothering her.
"Sure mother, that sounds like a wonderful plan let's go, Iris," she grabs my hand and we walk together through their garden while ignoring the tea.
"Guess you didn't want any tea," Alicia said after we walked a bit further from the table.
"Not really, I only came to see a friend, I don't care about those formalities, especially since they just want to use me to guard you in the future."
"Is that a bad thing? I'd be happy to have you as my future knight."
"I want to become stronger and not only with swordsmanship, I've acquired a magical class and I'm currently level 7, but even then I feel extremely weak, the other day I saw a level 20 goblin warrior."
"For real!? That's incredibly high for someone as young and small as you!"
"Yes! Hey! I'm still growing!" Alicia chuckled at my words, and I continued talking," the goblin looked very dangerous, but leveling up increases our status the way we want it to which makes adventuring worthwhile, you should try it someday milady," I tease her back making her chuckle once more which ends up in her poking my cheek lightly.
"I'm still level 1, but I've learned some skills with my father and Robert, so I'm sure I could try some quests, even though I do not have the freedom to do so."
"Being a noble sure is a little limiting but I do hope you're not stuck here forever, and what kind of skills do you have?"
"Swordsmanship level 50, sword mastery level 40, and some that I have to channel mana to do which are the trademark of my father style, weak versions of it for now."
"That's amazing my swordsmanship is like level 20 and sword mastery at level 10," I tell her while smiling realizing the great gap between us.
She smiles back and says, "you must've worked very hard, I have what I get from being taught for my entire life we could say by the best, so I'm sure you'll catch up in no time especially if you follow my house tradition."
"Mother did her best to teach me what she knew, so it works out, I also know a bit of magic, in other words, I'm balanced."
"Rosaline looks like a good mother, say would you like to see the family dojo as well?"
"Sure, show me the way!" I reply smiling while grabbing her hand as we head there after passing by the small lake that looks rather small in comparison to the river near my house.
A little earlier in the other carriage with Aurora and Luke.
"So my dear daughter now that we're both alone," father makes a serious expression as he looks at Aurora who in return stares back expressionlessly.
"Hum? What's wrong father?"
"I'd like you to be extremely obedient while we're in the capital, there're various groups and factions that could prove annoying to deal with otherwise."
"Ain't I always?" They smiled at each other.
"I can tell that you have a lot more life experience compared to Iris which enabled her to grow up faster, and honestly in this world we live in I'm truly grateful for it, there may come a day where the two of you will have to take care and protect one another as the war is coming and with it, we never know what it may devour in its way."
"I understand father, I promise to look after her and take good care of my little sister."
"Even then the person you're about to meet is someone very sophisticated, different than every other noble I've met, he is willing to listen to peasants, furthermore does not see us as ants as most of the other nobles do."
"For that reason, I'd like you to be yourself, but never use any type of magic in his presence."
"Alright, even though I wasn't planning to, already had my share with royalty in the past."
"No matter what happens, the royal guards are all monsters, they will not think twice in killing either one of us, and I can't protect us from any of them."
"I understand father."
"In the case, the prince likes you and sees worth in your person, he may get you an entry for the magic institute that you have interest in, or even for a job in a high position."
"I've never pried in either your or Iris past life memories because we're your family now, and because of that I don't know what kind of knowledge you could possibly have for you to back up your earlier statement," he gasps for some air and then continues talking.
"But you're my daughter and I believe in you, if you tell me you can somehow lead an army and again, somehow expand the territory, and even conquer other kingdoms, then I'll believe you and act upon that."
Aurora smiles kindly at those words.
Luke extends his hand and pats her on the head," do what you think is best for you and Iris, and listen attentively to any propositions the prince may do, it could be very beneficial for either of you in the future."
"I'll keep that in mind, I'm interested in the magic institute, but yesterday I saw something a lot more interesting that was able to captivate my heart."
"Something? What was it?" Luke asks filled with curiosity completely unaware of what it could be so amazing to make Aurora say such words.
She whispers to him," a skill that Iris got called magic analysis."
With a low voice understanding she wants to keep this matter secretive, Luke said," what does it do or what was it used for?"
"She was able to analyze the barrier from the ruins in the west forest, getting the attention of the god of chaos, and two titles related to it."
With a dumbfounded expression Luke said, "So, you're saying she was able to find out that the barrier is connected to him somehow?"
"Yes, she went as far as to say that it was created by him."
"You both truly never cease to amaze me, so what else did Iris find out about it?"
"That the barrier was made to protect what was inside of it some sort of portal in its deepness? It also kept the monsters from coming out of it."
"I've heard of heroes exploring ruins like that one, but they usually wouldn't go too deep due to the horde of monsters, or they'd get lost in it as they are mostly gigantic mazes."
"The one in the west, I saw it from above and it was gigantic, though I did see what looked like a tunnel at the end of it, so I believe there's something in there which could be this portal thing, or perhaps a hidden path to somewhere else."
"Even if the four of us went there, we'd most likely die since the heroes couldn't do it themselves."
"I feel like a hero is just a person that is granted one or two special skills no?"
"I believe the records do say that, along with the hero class given by the goddess and usually only one of the summoned people gets it."
"In other words, they probably were only able to go so far on their own, without relying on anyone to grow stronger faster."
"Because of the experience shared?" Luke asks thinking of the issues of partying with other people.
"Yes, I believe that's the reason since they usually would need to become strong fast to save the kingdom."
"Does sound like a possibility, they would end up avoiding the dungeons too, as doing normal quests or hunting in the borders of the kingdom grants the necessary experience, and ends up reducing the enemies they'll have to fight against later."
"At some point, they'd get tired from being on the ruins where it's dangerous, and train elsewhere instead is what I think would happen, or maybe even not know about them since they aren't born here."
"People who are summoned don't usually go to such ruins, the hero is usually trained by the king, and the rest are split by the factions, so questing is like something done at a later date, and there are no quests for ruins, so they not knowing about it turns to be a big possibility."
"The nobles rose families and the church was it?"
"Yes, that's right daughter."
'Meaning there's more than one possible annoyance coming into this kingdom at some point.'
"When is it?" She asks in a cold tone startling Luke who was caught off guard.
"When is what Aurora?" He replies calmly upon briefly regaining his composure.
"The summoning ritual," she clarifies with an even colder and lower tone.
"I'm not sure when the last one was, but it's usually 90 to 100 years between the last one so it could be at any moment really."
'If the sage and the hero from my past end up somehow being summoned into this world, I'll definitely have my revenge no matter what it takes, even if I have to wait endlessly once more.'
'Even though killing them could bring trouble to Iris whom I owe my life to, so in a way, I'll have to be careful at handling it.'
'I've come to really like her, but at the same time I can't forgive what they did to me.'
'Choices, choices, choices... To butcher the pigs or not to butcher them.'
