(Few hours before the opening of the Steel Chick)
"Welcome to Emir" said Joel, as he stepped out of the teleportation beam with Glacia and was welcomed by newly built houses and stores. The sun was directly above his head and showed no signs of rain whatsoever.
"This place looks empty" Glacia said as she studied the environment just like she was taught. The streets were empty just like Glacia said, to avoid any unwanted attention Joel and Glacia were teleported away from the castle and crowded places.
Also since Catalie warned something about teleporting into a building might cause some unforeseen consequences, Joel and Glacia weren't directly teleported into Warren's castle.
Unlike the capital of Emir, the streets Joel and Glacia walking were not crowded. After getting used to living in Everlight, Emir was like a desert to Glacia as this place seriously lacked in greenery. Glacia and her friends in Arrora's team would go outside of the training hall whenever they could and help Amaryll in the kitchen or the dwarves and elves in the construction works.
Everywhere she turns she could only see stones and wasteland and mountains, there was a small man-made way that led to what seemed like an entrance to the small town.
"There is nothing here except stones" Glacia kicked a pebble on the way.
"It's Emir, what do you expect miss Glacia?" Joel said with a small grin on his face and started to walk towards the small town.
"You can call me Glacia"
"You can call me Joel" Joel held his hand out to shake Glacia's hand which she did after a few seconds. When Joel shook Glacia's hand he couldn't help but notice that it was too soft and it was almost like touching a slightly cold fluffy cotton.
"Okay Joel, before we proceed I need you to do somethings for me so I can protect you when or if we face any troubles"
Joel was taken back by little surprise when he heard Glacia but he nodded anyway. Glacia pointed her finger indicating the number one
"First if we enter into battle hide yourself no heroics"
Glacia knew Joel was just a spymaster without special training in battle like herself. Although Joel was embarrassed by the point protected by a woman, he realized if he entered the battle that he would only be a hindrance rather than a help to Glacia.
Seeing Joel nodding his head Glacia raised another finger and said
"Do not eat or drink anything from anyone unless it's approved by me"
"I'm a spy you know that right?"
Joel was trained to professionally pretend to eat or drink in the events and didn't want Glacia to remember.
Galicia seemed to don't mind Joel's remark as she raised her third finger
"This is the most important one, DO NOT GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT ME" Glacia's gentle voice turned into a voice of domination when she said the last part.
"Anywhere?" Joel frowned and asked thinking about nature's call in his mind.
"Just tell me when you are going to the latrine"
Usually the girls he knew blush or shy away when talking something like this but Joel didn't see any shyness or blush in Glacia's face.
"Anything else?"
"yes, that's all I can think for now" Glacia gestured at Joel to walk as he nodded and started walking
While following Joel, Glacia was analyzing her surroundings and looking for places that could be used to set up an ambush. The tall mountains surrounding her were too far from them to be attacked unless the attackers were long-ranged combat mages, there were no trees or obstacles as far as Glacia could see enemies to hide behind.
"Relax this place might look empty but it's still a part of Emir, no one would attack us" after noticing Glacia scanning the place with her two big beautiful eyes, Joel felt the need to reassure her.
"You misunderstood Joel, actually I'm hoping that we get attacked"
"What the?" Joel clearly didn't expect this answer
"Since I begin my training I was only attacking dummies you know, it'll be great to fight with someone more alive and moving"
Joel stopped walking and stood there for a moment with an opened mouth and a widened eyes "What have they done to you?" Joel blurted
Glacia sighed softly "I know what you are thinking Joel, a cute bunny like me" Glacia grabbed her two bunny ears and shook them
"Talking about killing, but cute will only get me killed just like his majesty Knight said during our training"
"You are right " Joel was aware of what would happen to a beautiful girl like her who fell into the hands of those filthy nobles but the girl standing before him was a different girl from the naive weak girl he met first.
Joel continued to walk as Glacia followed him behind,
"So how's it feel to be a great master?"
"Not that great, I want to be like lady Arrora or his majesties Don and Knight" Joel noticed the sparkles in her eyes while talking about Arrora, Don, and Knight. At this point, it was clear to Joel that this bunny was thoroughly affected by the power-hungry syndrome.
"I don't know about that, I saw his majesty Don kill a bunch of guys like he was cutting vegetables and they were all masters. He was like" Joel imitated Don's movement of sending windblade as he swung his two fingers horizontally in the air.
"I think he must be at least a peak level great master or even more powerful. I didn't even see he cast a spell, just in a flash they were all dead"
Joel would still feel a chill running in his spine when he thinks about the moment that Don killed the Linus brothers.
Hearing Joel's story, Glacia silently thought about it for a moment
"Yeah he must be more powerful than a great master, lady Arrora once mentioned that his majesty Don could kill her without much effort"
While Glacia and her teammates were trained by Arrora, they were told that Arrora herself was trained by Don and she was still training under Don and she was unable to hit Don from day one of her training to now. Glacia and her teammates had to work and coordinate to the best of their ability to hit Arrora so they knew how hard it would be to hit Don.
"There's always someone more powerful" that was the saying Arrora used to tell her and her teammates during the training.
"I wish I could be as powerful as his majesty one day"
"Again I don't know about that but seeing what you've achieved in this short amount of time, I'm sure you will become a heavenly level mage "
Glacia was unable to grasp that Joel was encouraging her or the opposite as she nodded and continued to walk towards the town
"How much further to the capital?" Glacia asked after silently walking for minutes
"Just a few miles, I know a shortcut it'll be way quicker"
"Alright "
*******************************
"Princess, you should go to Gedora in case we don't get any help from King Warren" said the old man in a white robe. He had long white hair with not even a single strand of black hair, he was clean-shaven and six feet tall.
"Relax uncle, I'm a damsel in distress who wouldn't want to help me?"
The princess gave a helpless puppy look towards the old man.
"Princess! this is not the time to play. The marriage agreement for you and the agorian prince was decided by your grandfather and the late king of Agoria, breaking it was not a good idea"
"What do you want me to do? Marry a guy that I've never even seen or heard of. I want to fall in love, Uncle Steve I want to marry someone I could trust, someone who could protect me, someone who makes me feel I'm special"
The princess looked at the faraway sky from the balcony as she said.
The old man heavily sighed and eventually, his face showed a soft smile
"You are special, Princess Darlene. That's why the Agorian are going to be angry at us for breaking the marriage, we should have at least told my sis…" the old man paused for a minute "Queen Bella before leaving the kingdom"
The princess turned back to see the old man
"If we've done that, I would be still in my room like a caged bird"
"That's not my point Princess, the Agorian ambassador now probably knew that you ran away. What's going to happen when the Agorian King realizes his soon daughter in law violated the marriage union?"
"Well he should have known that marriage is not an agreement, my father too."
"Marriage is an agreement Princess, as a princess you don't have many choices in that matter. That's the way it is "
"I don't want anyone to decide my life but me, Uncle Steve. I just need time, in two months the Cold Moon Palace is going to take in disciples. when I become an inner disciple, no one not even my father can force me to do anything that I don't wish to"
Uncle Steve knew the Princess has what it takes to become an inner disciple at the Cold Moon Palace because he watched the Princess train since she was able to walk. She was the pride of Korrinth and she's the only one who entered the great master level before the age of eighteen. Now she was at the peak of the great master level with just a step away from breaking into the grandmaster realm.
With this kind of talent, it was guaranteed that she would enter into the Cold Moon Palace even the teachers of her current school were not her match.
"What's your plan here Princess?"
The wind made princess's blonde hair dance in the wind as she spoke
"I want the Everlight's King to pretend to be my lover for two months"