91 3.3 Back home - Part 3

"And you know girls, Nara can summon a demon," Arica said with a grin on her face. Even though she was telling that to Nina and Sistina, her eyes were fixed on me.

"What! A demon as a familiar?!" Nina said. Unlike her usual calm and composed self, her reaction when she heard this was loud. As for Sistina, she just looked confused.

It would have been great if Arica wasn't making it look like a big deal by revealing a piece at a time. But I guess it would be too much to ask of her, especially when it looked like she was having fun.

Nina and Sistina were constantly staring at me with a shocked reaction on their faces. At this point, it had started to look somewhat scary.

The atmosphere had somewhat returned back to normal after Miss Lilith assured us that Ronald was going alright now. It was a good thing that everyone was relaxing and getting along.

Even though being talked about while sitting right next to them felt weird, there wasn't much that I could do about this. So, I just stayed quiet and listened as the conversation progressed

"Oh yeah, and the best part girls, was the punishment that we gave him."

"A-Arica, why don't we go to the dining room? The dinner must be ready by now," I said in an attempt to divert the conversation somewhere else, but I was too late. Once a curiosity enters the girl's mind, they are never satisfied until they reach the bottom of it.

"Punishment?" Sistina asked in a confused tone. Unlike Nina, who was reacting to Arica's reveal of the information, she was barely keeping up.

"We all gave him punishments for keeping secrets from us. He fulfilled mine and Arica's, but he has yet to fulfill what others asked," Princess Anna said in a casual tone. It felt like I was being talked about and ignored at the same time.

I realized a dance with Princess Eliane and a date with Marina was still on my bucket list. The dance with Princess Eliane would need a suitable venue and time, but I could go on a date with Marina after our days go back to normal.

'Hopefully, it wouldn't be too awkward.'

"So, what were the punishments you guys gave him?" Sistina asked.

I could sense where this conversation was going, and right when I was looking for a way to divert it somewhere else, Sam came in and stood near the door. This was the indication that the dinner had been prepared. He was probably waiting for the suitable time to tell us that.

"Everyone is hungry right? For now, let's go and eat. We can continue this conversation during dinner," I said. It was way past dinner time, and on top of that, we hadn't eaten anything since this afternoon.

We all walked towards the dining room. While I was walking, I was thinking of a way to divert the conversation at the dinner table somewhere else. It was at that exact moment I realized something that Olive said, something about awaking Marina's element. I also remembered back when we fought Beelzebub, he told me that only those who are blessed by the Dragon kings can truly master their elements.

'If that man was the Black dragon king, and that woman was the Green dragon king then there must be more like them.'

For now, things were so unclear that even if told them about her, the result would only be more questions and confusion. But it wouldn't be wise to keep everyone in the dark, especially Marina.

After we sat at the table, Sam served everyone their dinner. But there was someone among us, who went unnoticed since they were too tiny. And knowing her, she would probably go on an outrage any minute now.

"Sam, can you please bring another plate with one-fifth of the food that I am about to eat," I said before she could turn our food into something else with her illusion magic. I wasn't sure how much she could eat, but that would probably be the right amount for her.

Right after I said that Lucy came out of Marina's hair. Normally, at this point, she would start bragging, but it looked like she was yet to get used to this new atmosphere. It could have been just me imagining it, but she somewhat looked nervous.

Sam's eyes widened a little, but he soon composed herself. Looking at his expertise in the way of nobles made me eager to say, "As expected of the perfect butler." But I realized it would come out as something odd since I wasn't used to the ways of nobles.

"Yes, master. Apologies for not noticing you earlier madam," Sam said while looking at her.

"You are forgiven. I am hungry so bring me food quickly," Lucy said. Even though her words sounded like her usual self, I could tell that she was nervous based on her tone and expression.

Sam did as I requested and brought her a plate of food to her. It could be considered a bad habit to sit on the plate while eating, but considering how tiny she was, she was excused.

"So, we were talking about some punishment, right?" Sistina said. As expected, she was too curious about it to let it go just because we changed locations.

"Yes, but there is something else that I have to discuss"—I looked at Marina— "Marina, are you feeling any different than usual?"

"N-no, Why?"

She was startled when I suddenly asked her that, but this was something important. There was a chance that ignoring something like that now may not end well.

"Okay, have you felt anything different when you use magic?"

"I don't think so…"

She looked confused as to why I was asking all that. Back then she was probably in too much panic to make sense of Olive's words.

"What's the matter, Nara?" Princess Eliane, who was sitting next to me, asked. Everyone, including her, was looking at me with curiosity.

"I think the person you and I saw in the cave was the Green dragon king. And she said that she awoke your elements."

Everybody's reaction when they heard this was predictable. But I ignored their surprise and continued. "If you think nothing's changed, then I think it's alright for now. But if you ever feel any kind of changes in your magic, please let me know."

"Okay," Marina said with a nod.

While everyone had stopped their spoons, Lucy was just eating without a care in the world. It looked like I was the one who made things awkward this time, so before it could get even weirder, I tried bringing everyone's attention back to the plate.

"It's just my guess. Even if it was true, nothing bad happened. Anyways, the food is getting cold everyone. Let's just finish this quickly and rest for the night. It's getting late already."

After hearing those words, all of them started eating again but the atmosphere didn't change much. And after everyone finished their dinner, we said goodnights and went towards our room.

: Master-familiar meeting