The crowd in front of us instantly burst into cheers and applause as soon as we appeared. I never anticipated such a reaction. Seeing the massive crowd, I was almost overwhelmed by the mere thought that I would be leading all these people in the future.
Even Elysia and Clara had no idea how to react as they stared blankly into the crowd as well. I could see my father chuckling to himself though, no doubt amused at our reaction.
Looking further into the crowd, I was able to spot a few groups that didn't seem too happy. Just like my father said, it was the elderly people that didn't look too pleased as they directed their stares at Elysia.
Still, most people showed their full support of the royal family, ignorant of Elysia's heritage. There weren't many signs that could reveal it unless she used her magic or showed vampiric traits. The only thing they could go off was her perfectly black hair, which wasn't enough evidence as I could see many other black-haired kitsunes in the crowd.
'I just hope no one causes a scene. At the very least, anyone paying attention can see that Elysia is not like her relatives.' If they were reasonable people then we can just win them over time.
"Should we say something?" Clara whispered. Having stood there for a while, I couldn't blame her for becoming anxious. I agreed that we should, but I never thought this was how I would experience stage fright for the first time.
"M-maybe?" The words were not coming to me as what confidence I had was slowly slipping away. It didn't help that even Elysia, who always looked confident, was showing some nervousness.
"Introduce yourselves girls, hehe~." My father gave us the push we needed, but it was clear by his snarky tone he found this amusing. Seeing that we were about to speak, the whole city slowly turned quiet, waiting for what we had to say.
The pressure was immense, but if we only had to introduce ourselves I suppose this wasn't so bad. To help elevate my internal turmoil, I quickly grabbed a hold of Elysia and Clara's hands. I cleared my throat and stepped to the edge of the platform. Taking one last deep breath I tried to ignore the fact a thousand eyes were on me.
"Hello everyone! It is great to finally meet you! As you just heard, I am Shaman Shiroi, the next heir to the throne! Here with me are my two companions who have been with me through many troubles and which I plan to marry!" As soon as I stopped talking the silence that followed was deafening, making me question whether I screwed up. However, Elysia quickly picked up after me so there wasn't too much dead air.
"You m-may call me Elysia and it's my honour to be side by side with Shaman and be her trusted wife." She barely kept it together, her voice trembling as her hand held on to mine even tighter. Her face though said a different story as she beamed with excitement rather than nervousness.
"I am Clara, a demoness from the Demon Lands and it is great to see you all. It is also my honour to be with Shaman." Clara acted a lot more formal, even doing a small curtsey to the crowd.
Once Clara stopped talking, the city was once again filled with applause. In the distance, a strange bright light came from one of the taller buildings. I figured it was just a strangely strong light coming from one of the windows, so I didn't think much of it.
"Shut up!You are coming back with me." Flapping my wings, I flew back to the platform with the assassin dangling from my hand. It then occurred to me as I was in the air that I'm not supposed to be using my wings.
'Shit.' I vaguely remember Shaman saying something before I took off, but I was too annoyed to hear anything. I hoped no one saw them initially, so as a precaution I quickly covered them in a thin layer of fire. It should conceal them enough that nobody will think much of it.
<Shaman POV>
Emerging in the distance, Elysia came flying back with a person hanging off one of her hands. It surprised me that she was bringing back this person in one piece. I expected Elysia to rip them to shreds and bring back a bloody body rather than a clean one.
Besides that, I was relieved to see that she covered her wings with some fire. I might be overly cautious about hiding her abilities, but I didn't want to take any chances.
'I just hope no one noticed when she first took off.' It would have been hard to notice as Elysia was gone in a flash, but with this many people looking at us no doubt some people will be suspicious.
"Stay calm everyone! It looks like the assassin has been apprehended!" My father was diffusing the situation which worked as they all saw Elysia fly over their heads with the assassin in full view of everyone.
"Caught him~!" Elysia softly landed on the platform and threw the man at some guards. They instantly put mana-cancelling restraints on them and presented them to the crowd. Elanor was still holding Silver back, who was rearing to get a piece of this man that tried to kill me. Elanor though smacked him on the back of the head, straightening him up while my father began to speak again.
"Well this was an unexpected turn of events, but as you just saw my daughter has very capable people by her side, so I hope you can all accept her." My father instantly capitalised on Elysia's display and used it to gain favour for her.
People cheered for her, but I could tell some people were whispering amongst each other.
"We should head back to the palace for now and deal with this assassin. We will sort a house for you girls to live in later." There was a darker tone in my father's voice as he spoke to us. I imagined he was extremely frustrated with himself since he was unable to do anything due to his lack of mana right now.
"Thank you all for coming today everyone! There are more announcements to be made, but for now there is much for us to do, so if you have any inquiries please send them through the mayor's office." Putting an end to the whole ordeal, my father returned the platform to its original state as it returned to the office from which it extended.
"Guards!Take this piece of trash to the palace's prison."