Chapter 309: Punishment Time

It's time to meet old man Henry. And princess Julia should be there as well. Then I also have to get Celestine here with portal. Sonia has told her why I had her return back to Cassau this morning. It's all because of old man Henry.

I know that the truth will be revealed soon, but not this soon. Now I have to face the rage of two expert level mages. Or three if Veronica joined.

…I guess I can just call Celestine later after being scolded by princess Julia. That way I can endure being scolded in a one-on-one instead of those two going at me together.

Right! Let's do that!

And since Victoria is away, there's no one else who will scold me. Let's go!

I have to get there on foot since Spot is away with Victoria. I hope no one will notice me. Good thing it's already late.

With Air Steps, I approached the king's chamber, and landed on the balcony.

"Come in."

Just as soon as my foot touched the balcony, princess Julia called me in. She's an expert level mage so she can detect my presence as soon as I entered her range. And I have watched her from before that she's been waiting for me to arrive.

"…excuse my intrusion." I said politely.

Then, I was greeted by a princess with expression of anger on her face.

Well… here we go.

"I told Sonia so you will come with Celestine. Where is she?"

Eh? So, she's the one who told Sonia to inform Celestine?

"Umm… it's fine. I will still be scolded again later so I come here first, and then go get her later." I said.

"No. Bring her here right now!" Princess Julia said in anger.

…oh shit. There's no escape. I have no choice but to use portal to get Celestine.

Hmm… wait! Princess Julia hasn't seen me using portals yet! Once I show her my portal, she will be too shocked to continue talking. Then I should be scolded by Celestine only!

Let's do it!

With princess Julia and old man Henry watching, I opened a portal to call Celestine. Since old man has seen it before, he's not really surprised. But as usual, princess Julia's expression is something interesting to watch.

I was slightly satisfied when I looked at princess Julia's expression, but it all changed into a despair once I look at the other side of the portal.

There, Celestine is standing with a fierce expression. It's as if she's ready to kill me at any moment. But that's not the reason for my despair.

The reason for my despair is… everyone else is there! Kayla, Sophie, Candy, Veronica, Jewel, Lina, and even Shirley and Angela who were supposed to be in the capital of Tatrama were there!

With Celestine in the lead, everyone entered the portal. Afraid that there will be more people coming, as soon as everyone that I see through the portal entered, I closed it quickly.

"Roy. Do you have any explanation?" Celestine asked.

"…I'm just a coward. That's the only explanation I can give."

It's true. I'm a coward and always have been. Although I'm getting stronger and sometime my confidence gets me thinking that I can defeat everyone, my default personality is that of a coward.

I'm afraid of the cult. Afraid of what the future of the children who joined the cult will be. So, killing them is better than letting them be. That's my thought as a coward. Though if my head is clearer just a little, I can just ask for old man's help as soon as I noticed those orphans with explosive devices in their mouth.

Although he agreed to help me by asking his friend, I still think what would happen if I didn't ask for his help.

Oh, well. Let's accept their scolding for now.

"It has been a while, your majesty. If you don't mind, we'd like to give Roy a scolding before we introduce ourselves. Is that okay?" It was Shirley who asked old man politely. Since she's well acquaintance with him, she acted as the leader.

"Ah! Oh, it's been a while, Shirley. You can just call me old man like before. As for his scolding… Roy, make it so I won't hear you. I still have some works to do."

…and I have no ally right now. Well, it's all my fault. Let's do this!

"You asked me to return since your next targets are children?" Celestine asked.

"I'm sorry."

"And you even think of killing them?"

"I'm sorry."

With Celestine as the vanguard, everyone started to scold me. The others are scary, but the scariest ones are my own lovers. Kayla, Sophie, and Candy. As for Celestine, she's not my lover yet. And Lina, she just smiled and not saying anything. That's still scary. Victoria still hasn't returned yet. And Shelia doesn't know anything about this. She's in the Monsters World at the moment.

"Let's go to your punishment right away." This time, it's Kayla who spoke.

"I'm ready to receive your punishment!" I said.

"First, bring us all to a wide and empty area." Kayla said.

Then, I opened a portal connecting to the empty island where we get to know Spot before. I still have a Blobby there.

Everyone entered there. Including princess Julia. But the old man is too busy so he just waved his hand.

"Don't use your Aura to protect yourself. Endure everything with your body."

"…what?"

Before I could react, Kayla's kick hit me in the gut.

"You will receive on hit from us each. Whatever hit you, don't protect yourself with Aura." Kayla said.

…is this the day I die?

After Kayla's kick, it was Sophie's punch. After that, it was Lina's gentle slap. This one doesn't hurt at all. After that, it was Candy. Her punch struck my gut. Continued with Jewel knee to my nose. What a ruthless disciple. Should I be happy since she followed my teaching, or angry because she used it on me?

And… that's the physical punishment. The rest are… magical.

Started with Shirley who freezes my feet to the ground, then ice spikes from both Shirley and Angela. Hey, Shirley… that's two attack from you. Although the tips of the spikes are dulled, they still hurt.

After that, Veronica used her wind magic to blow me to the sky. Since I'm can't use Aura, I fell down to the sea really hard. It was painful.

"Julia, do you want to hit him?" Celestine asked princess Julia as soon as I returned back to the shore.

"Um… I think that's enough of a punishment?" Princess Julia said. You're an angel.

"Then that mean I got one from you. Now I'm allowed to hit him twice." Celestine said.

…fuck.

Without any warning, I suddenly got blown away to the sky once again. This time, it's because the ground was raised with Celestine's magic. And as I was about to fall to the sea, the earth under where I should fall raised from under the sea, and hit me back to the island. That one hurts me the most.

Knowing Celestine's adoration toward children, I do deserve that. But I hate it! I wasn't even allowed to use Aura to protect myself, so some of my bones are cracked. Then, Kayla approached me.

"Tell me where your broken bones are. They will be healed, but other wounds will not."

…since it was too painful to endure the cracked bones, I have no choice but to agree. I just hope old man can help me find a healer later.

Kayla healed my bones, and that's all. I'm still bruised all over my body.

"…you're all scary." Princess Julia said after witnessing my punishment.

Yeah, this is also the first time that they are truly angry at something. I guess children are off-limits from now on. I will never think of killing children again.

"Your punishment is over. I'm not satisfied, but let's go back." Celestine said.

While my body is still in pain, I opened a portal and we all returned back to old man Henry's chamber again. Though this time, Victoria and Spot were there.

"Welcome back." Victoria said.

"Roy! What happened!? Was it the cult!?" Spot asked me worriedly.

If I said I was being punished, since the others are not Aura users or used to be one, Spot might attack them. I guess I can't say that to him.

"I fell from the sky." That's the truth though.

"That's why you should just leave flying to me. Although you can do it, I'm better, faster, and safer." Spot said proudly.

"…I'll do that next time. Well, my punishment is over. Old man, these are my friends."

"I'll introduce everyone." Shirley said.

Since she's close with old man, I let her introduce everyone.

"I see. Nice to meet you all. Now, I will tell Roy about the orphanages… I guess everyone want to listen as well. So be it."

Hearing that old man is about to inform me about the orphanages, everyone listened carefully.

"They are normal orphanages. The ones in charge just don't care since all they need is feeding the orphans until they have awakened their magic to leave the orphanage. Until then, they just need to make sure the children are not starving. That's all. The three orphanages just let the orphans by themselves. That's why the orphans are easy targets. As for other orphanages, the caretakers are doing a good job. No one in the management of the orphanages are related to the cult. They properly guide their orphans to get proper jobs." Old man explained.

"What about the person who paid those bad guys to put explosive devices into those orphans' mouth?" I asked.

"I haven't found out anything about them. You're going to investigate it now, right? Can you do it? With those injuries?"

"…do you happen to have any healer… oh? Thanks, Kayla. I guess I'm okay now."

When I want to ask for a healer, Kayla healed me. I guess this mission is more important.

"This time, we're going with you. We have quite a number, so we can split up." Kayla said.

I guess I won't be alone again.

"Well, that's the case. Old man, if I find anything, I'll inform you about it. We'll be leaving then."

I used portal again to get everyone outside the gate. I hope we can find all trace of the cult.