Just like I wanted, the princess gave into my demands. She complied surprisingly easy once I threatened her life, giving the impression that she was scared.
No. I couldn’t think that way. For all I knew, the princess had expected my patience to run out around this ti. If I made her out to be a master planner like Sunalla inford she was, my very thought process could have been calculated by her.
Yet, Sunalla also inford of an incident 5 years ago where the princess couldn’t calculate anything. Everything was a total ss to the point she lost it. It had sothing to do with a Hero.
It was terrifying to think about the fact that humans had already made progress to Atlantis before. And it was five years since then. Their silence and lack of communication with the Atlanteans was raising several red flags to .
Still, what was so special about the Hero? Maybe because of the usual Fate-defying quirks heroes possessed. Then again, a hero’s fate is always set in stone, isn’t it? You are born, beco the hero, defeat the big bad, then proceed with your life. What happens to you post your “big mont” is of no one’s concern. Be it your life is calm and fun or miserable as shit.
Well hot damn. I’d never want to be the Hero in any story. Imagine putting in your all just for ungrateful humans, only to have them repay you with more selfish requests and little to no true concern for your ntal well-being.
Well, not all humans were the sa, but the majority of them were like that. Selfish, brutal and unjust. Couldn’t be saving their asses all the ti.
“Oh, it’s you again.”
The one to say this was the brother I t earlier. The one who found my appearance appealing. Currently it was just and the princess in the room where all the court mages were, just like before. I left Kawaii with the others, hopefully they wouldn’t attempt anything stupid. I told her to send a ssage if she was attacked by a single one of them.
I’d drop every thing to go rescue her then return to the surface. If the princess needed for her plans, she wouldn’t allow that to happen. If he didn’t, then this was the worst gamble of my life.
“Not now.”
She brushed him off as we strode by towards the grand court mage’s chamber.
“Are you sure it’s nothing I can help with.”
He started following after us.
“Yes. You may return to your duties now.”
“Are you absolutely cer-“
“Nori, I believe that if I were to be in need of your services, I would search for you. Unfortunately, as of now, I have no reason to contact you.”
The princess tapped him on the shoulder and moved past him. I looked at him, all disappointed and an idea ca to mind.
‘Hey, why don’t you co along.’
I invited him to tag along. The princess looked back at with a confused expression.
“For what reason would you want him to tag along?”
She asked with an unfriendly tone.
‘Oh, nothing special. I just want him to.’
After hearing that, she clicked her tongue and moved even faster.
Bingo. She hadn’t planned for her brother joining us and was visibly irritated. From now on, I simply needed to do weird and unexpected things to piss her off and play her into my palms.
‘S-She wants around?’
He thought to himself and gulped nervously. I smiled at him and followed the princess, with him walking behind .
“S-So, um, what is your na?”
‘Hinotori.’
“Hinotori… curious na. What’s it an?”
‘Fire bird.’
“What language?”
‘This suddenly beca an interrogation.’
‘O-oh, was I too forward? Maybe I need to tone it down.’
‘Yeah, captain hormones.’
Sheesh, I couldn’t even talk to the girl I liked without help, yet this guy was straight out questioning the very aning of my na.
“Sorry, where’d you co from? I don’t believe I’ve heard that na from around these parts.”
I looked at his curious eyes then at the princess. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him that I wasn’t from the sea.
‘Hey princess, what should I tell him?’
She received my ssage and then there was a certain noise like tin foil being unwrapped.
“Tell him you are from the temple of the Sea Goddess up North. That will make him stop bothering us.”
‘So, I’m from the surface.’
“Oh, just like Hiro.”
‘Hero?’
“Gaah!”
The princess lost her shit when she heard Nori say that. She looked back at , but I ignored her and looked only at Nori’s face. He on the other hand felt his sister’s death glare and decided it was ti to leave.
“M-Maybe I’ll co back another ti.”
‘Oh? Leaving already? Co on, just stay a while longer.’
I pleaded with him using [Impish Gaze]. I heard his heart throbbing from within, then he sped off to go do whatever it is he was supposed to be doing, making get a laugh out of it.
“Tch, enjoying yourself a bit too much, aren’t you?”
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
We arrived at the door leading to the staircase. We descended down the staircase, where I felt sothing weird once again.
[[Shadow’s Crib] is stirred by the presence in the dark]
Once I got this notification, the presence disappeared. As if it was never there.
I looked at the egg in my item box. This thing ignored the creature the first ti, yet the very mont it reacted, the creature disappeared. Creepy.
Elriek knocked on the door and it opened with a big clank. I was dragged into the room without my permission once again. Standing in there with so jewels in his hand was the Grand court mage.
“Twice in one day? What an honour, your highness.”
He sarcastically said. Well, his tone was sarcastic, but internally he truly was happy she was here. What kind of tsundere did they have run all the magic of the kingdom.
“I need you to help search for soone.”
“Huh? That’s hardly a good use of my skill set. Go find an apprentice to help with that.”
He brushed us off. The idea of the most powerful mage in the kingdom having to search for one missing individual was so vexing he wanted us to leave.
‘We can’t.’
“Why not? A simple location spell wouldn’t take much.”
“Honestly, you should have told you wanted to find soone. I would have got this done much quicker were that to be the case.”
Even the princess said had the sa thoughts on the issue, though I doubted the last part of that sentence.
‘Except this won’t be simple. You think I didn’t already try soone else?’
“Then try soone else. Don’t bother the greatest mage this kingdom has known with your trivial issues.”
He put his hands on his desk, dropping the jewels to pick up a weird gadget which he broke into bits, leaving nothing but black ink and so broken pieces of rusty tal.
“Let us go, I will find a more suitable mage for this request.”
‘So, the greatest mage of the kingdom is unable to perform a simple searching spell?’
As usual, the plan is to play into their ego in order to get what you want.
‘Ah. You’re right. Even a four year old who can’t perform magic would have been a better choice than a lazy old man who clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing.’
I could see veins bulging on his forehead.
‘Greatest mage in the kingdom? More like Greatest…’
‘Uuhh.’
‘Turd? Yeah. Greatest turd in the kingdom.’
“What the hell is a turd!? Why the hell are you calling a turd?! How dare you call a turd!? You want to find this missing person? Fine! I’ll show you how easy it is for the greatest mage in Atlantis to find soone!”
He yelled angrily and plucked out a strand of my hair. It didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to. The princess had a disappointed, bored and disbelief expression on her face. Well, I would be giving those very sa expressions if I were in her shoes. For him to have been manipulated so easily, it was no wonder he was kept away from everyone else.
He led us to a desk that had a pile of orbs on it. After throwing so around in pursuit of a specific one, he pulled out a light green orb and smiled.
“Ah, reminds of the old days.”
He then cleared the table of all the orbs, carelessly throwing them away. That was when I noticed that the table had a set of magic runes inscribed on it. It was a big magic circle by default, just rotting away till whenever this old man needed it.
He applied so of his mana to it and the table glowed silver, highlighting three parts. The centre where he dropped the orb and two opposite ends. He went to one end and placed his hand on the highlighted portion.
“Well? What are you waiting for?”
He impatiently gestured for to go to the other side of the table. I went there and put my hand on it. It was weird, like touching a vibrating object that humd with power.
“Ok, now just think of the person you’re searching for.”
‘Minerva.’
I did as he said, but there was no reaction.
“Oh, co on. Do it like you an it. Think about the things you like or hate about the person. Monts with the person that will stick with you forever.”
‘Like I an it? Sigh, ok let’s try again. What do I like about Minerva? There’s almost nothing I like about her. Maybe her bluntness at tis. She can be so straightforward it’s honestly refreshing. Yeah, then there’s also her caring side. And the fact that she didn’t eat . I also like how cute she can be at tis especially when she’s being all tsun tsun. Then there’s when she’s clingy at tis. Always talking, sleeping or eating. She’s very strong as well. Yeah, she’d never let anything bad happen to . No matter how dire, I know that she’ll always be there for m-’
“Tch. I didn’t ask you to confess to , you idiot.”
I opened my eyes and saw that the table was glowing brightly, as was the orb. The old man had an annoyed expression on his face, like I just said a pile of bull. I looked at the princess and unfortunately, she seed to have heard my ranting.
I looked away and back into the orb. This never happened.
The light in the orb started to dim out, revealing two people travelling in a desert area. One of them was dressed in dirty black armour and he had the other person slung across his shoulder. Upon closer inspection, I found the other person to be a beaten-up Minerva who was still unconscious.
I was alard, thinking that she might be dead, but she was breathing, but barely and there was a lot of blood pouring out from her face.
“Is that the one you’re searching for?”
‘Y-Yeah. That’s Minerva. Where is that?’
“Let see.”
The mage started to adjust the orb’s perspective, attempting to zoom out. Just before he could, sothing odd happened.
The man in black armour stopped moving and looked back, as if he was staring at us. Because of his helt, I couldn’t see his actual face, but his golden eyes were glaring at .
No. I couldn’t say that. There had to be soone else there.
“You dare to spy on ?”
What?!
No. I had to calm down. There were probably so people tailing him. I looked at the old man, wondering why he wasn’t changing the perspective, but he seed to be struggling.
“W-What is this? I can’t control it?”
He muttered.
“You and… Vermillion? I warned you both before as I am warning you now. I shan’t forgive a third offense.”
As soon as he said that, the orb shattered before us and the table sent my hand flying.
‘Ow.’
I waved it around.
‘That was very odd.’
“Odd? Odd!? T-This is unfortunate!”
‘What’s that supposed to an?’
“There is absolutely no mortal who could have seen that, yet he did it so casually. He even went as far as being able to destroy the spell with a re gaze.”
‘What’s that supposed to an?’
“You have to give up on this person you’re searching for.”
‘Huh? Like hell.’
I refused his offer.
“This being is likely a higher being. We can’t trifle with them.”
‘So, what if it’s a higher being? They stole soone important from . I don’t care if they are a god or a spirt. I’ll burn them alive for this.’
[Many higher beings are agitated by your words]
I received a completely random notification.
“You still don’t get it, do you? This person is possibly a Greater god. They are just two steps shy of touching the Primordials who created this world. We, as mortals can never dream of even touching their toes.”
‘And you still don’t seem to get it when I say I don’t care.’
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