Chapter III - A New Life

"What are you doing, Captain?!"

Edward turned his back on me and didn't even dare to look at me again after that. I cried as the king's guards tried to force me away, but the harder they pulled on me, the harder I tried to break free. Their grips grew tighter and began to hurt.

"Princess, please stop struggling. You are only making your current situation worse for yourself..."

Every single word the king said made me feel more frustrated. I didn't care what he said. I just wanted to return to my family. I screamed and tried to fight back with all my might.

"Come on, princess, stop being so stubborn!"

The guard's behavior became more and more brutal and rude towards me. With every move of theirs, I felt cornered. An indescribable and burning feeling spread in my chest.

"Akayama, quickly calm her down!"

"Yes, you're Majesty!"

This aura... feels so... familiar. Yes, it's the same feeling as in my dream, but... this time, it's coming from me. A servant of the king approached me and cast a magic formula to numb my mind. But just before I lost consciousness, I felt the cold aura breaking out!

"Stay. Away. From MEEEEE!"

All of my negative thoughts and feelings were unleashed in a deafening scream so loud and powerful that the guards fell to their knees in pain, and all the windows in the room shattered.

"Damn it, too late! Akayama use a banning formula! Hurry!"

The king's servant, with a pained expression on his face, put his hand on my forehead and spoke an ancient formula, which even my earrings could not translate, but the longer he repeated it, the more the aura seemed to disappear again. Everything around me faded away in a matt black.

"Where am I?"

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a large bedroom. Although the room was furnished to a high standard, it was by no means one of the apartments of the country's royal family.

By the looks of it, I seemed to have stepped away for the night, as dawn had slowly set in and the city had turned into a sunlight-lit metropolis.

"What a nice view..."

Hold on, come to your senses, Amelia! I was put in this situation involuntarily, now is no time to admire the city of a possible enemy. First, I should find a way out of here and then preferably a way out of town. Suddenly I noticed a letter lying on the table in the middle of the room. Judging by the handwriting, the letter was written by Mother.

"Dearest Amelia, please forgive me that I could never be the mother you wished me to be. I know you will be confused and scared when you receive this letter, so let me explain why you had to travel to this far country in the first place. Our kingdom is about to be destroyed, and by the time you read this letter, the castle will have been taken by the enemy, and the royal family will have been wiped out..."

Wiped out?! No! That can't be... The letter must be a hoax to fool me! I felt tears running down my cheeks, and even though I didn't believe the letter's contents, I had an indescribable urge to read it.

"...I promised your father to tell you the truth as soon as you were ready, and especially now that I will meet him soon, I must keep this promise. Your father used to tell you stories about cursed people when you were a child. The imperium of Westphalia used such mutant humans as its forces to destroy their opponents. Amelia, you don't know yet, and I can't tell you even now, but you are special among everyone. Please save the other Kingdoms from this threat and learn in the Combat at the military academy in Shuto..."

A military academy? If something in the letter were to be accurate, then no military academy in the world would be able to prepare me. But the phrase that said I was "special" gave me shivers. Does that refer to this cold aura inside of me? I guess I had to read the letter to get more answers.

"...To protect you as the last remnant of our house, I asked the King of Asahi to accept you as an immigrant into his country and give you a new identity since spies and assassins will try to take your life as well as they did with us. At your birthday party, a counterpart of you will assume your role. Once you have read this letter, burn any evidence of the survival of the Princess of House Redmond."

"..."

I was speechless and could not believe the content of the letter. Suddenly I noticed a seal on the back of my hand. Unbelievable! It is true... The royal seal appears only on the rightful ruler of Central Vibritan. So everything that happened the last few days, according to the letter, was true? Just when I could no longer contain my grief over the loss of my family, I realized that my hair was no longer blonde but black as charcoal. I immediately looked at myself in the mirror, and sure enough, my hair was black. Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

"Miss Yamani? Are you awake?"

Yamani? Was someone wrong in the door?

"I think you are wrong. There is no woman named Yamani here."

The door opened with a loud creak, and in walked a young man with black hair and a kind of school uniform with the national colors of the country.

"Greetings, Mrs. Yamani. Please don't worry, the king himself sent me to you. I know about your identity."

He knew? So he couldn't be wrong in the door...

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sato Kenjiro, and I'm supposed to show you around the academy.

What a strange first name, but these seem to be common names here in Asahi.

"Pleased to meet you, Sato, but you don't need me to be so formal."

"Ehm, I think there is a misunderstanding, but Sato is my family name."

"Family name? But you said..."

"Oh, I forgot you're not originally from here. Well, here you introduce yourself with your family name first and then your first name."

This country is getting weirder with every second passing...

"Well, as I said, I'm here to pick you up to show you around the academy. Oh, and before we go, maybe you should get dressed. Or do you only go around in underwear in your country?"

"What are you sayi..."

Oh no! I'm almost naked in front of him. Why didn't he say something sooner? Oh god, this is embarrassing. I felt my face turning red.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

A few minutes passed before I calmed down and left the room dressed. My outburst left Kenjiro with a giant, bright red handprint on the left side of his face.

"Ehm, I'm sorry, Kenjiro..."

"It's ok. I could have said something sooner. Are you ready for the tour Amelia?"

Why is he calling me Amelia out here? Earlier, he called me Yamani.

"Kenjiro pshhht. You know I'm supposed to keep my identity a secret...."

"Don't worry. I'm aware of that. But why do you mention that? Isn't it the opposite of what you're trying to do?"

"You called me Yamani, so why are you calling me by my real name now."

"I think I understand your confusion, come with me."

Kenjiro pulled me into a corner and got uncomfortably close. Does he want to attack me?! I wanted to cuff him, but he just caught my hand without looking at it...

"Your new name is Yamani Amelia. You are the daughter of a concubine of a deceased shogun. Due to his actions and the king's generosity, you have been allowed to attend this academy. The rest of your little backstory is up to you. "

This boy... before he was so calm, but now his voice is so menacing

"Haaaaaah! What are you doing?"

Damned! A group of students overheard our conversation. But why are their faces so red? Do they think we made out?!

"Sorry, we ehm, we didn't see anything."

"Yes, exactly! Oh, Mao, we have to hurry to class!"

Before I could explain anything to them, they ran away with squeaky voices.

"Come on. You still have to speak to the principal and pick up your uniform before you can attend class..."

I could only guess, but I felt that Kenjiro had a negative impression of me. Best I try not to get him in any more trouble. On the way to the principal's office, we passed several classrooms where students were taught the basics of weapons and self-defense. When we got to the top floor, the corridor was filled with pictures of generals and kings of the eastern kingdom.

"All right, we'll be right there. The door in front is the principal's office. When we enter, only speak when someone asks you to do. Above all, you should refrain from such actions as in the king's audience room. You understand that?"

What's happening here again... Why is he suddenly so cold towards me? At first, he was friendly and charming, but now I don't even regret slapping his face. I just nodded at him hoping to see him for the last time today. Kenjiro knocked on the door, and a militant voice invited us both in.

"Ahh, Kenjiro, you're a whopping 2 minutes late! I don't know anything like that from you."

"I beg your pardon, ma'am. But our new contender caused a bit of a fu..."

What kind of crazy woman is that?! Did she seriously throw a cup at him?

"I told you before that if you fail, you should never blame anyone else. Take responsibility, damn it! Now to you, you're the newcomer at the king's behest? You don't look particularly strong, but I heard you should shine in magic."

"..."

"Don't worry. You won't get a smack in the head like that brat. I know you very well. If I may introduce myself, I'm the acting director of this academy. I knew your mother, so you can be frank when we're under us."

Wow, she's suddenly a completely different person.

"Well then, Amelia, you will be joining Unit C tomorrow, and you will study and improve your skills with this idiot over there, and once you graduate, you can do whatever you want. Unlike many other graduates from this academy, you will not be drafted into military service."

"One moment, please. Starting tomorrow?"

"Well, originally, it was planned you were starting today, but how should I put it...your position didn't make it as easy as initially thought."

"My position? What do you mean?"

"What she's saying is that you were scheduled to be in the Bravo unit, but due to your rank, that wasn't possible, so you were assigned to my unit."

His unit? They're not trying to tell me I need to spend more time with this guy, are they...

"What does he mean by my rank?"

"Well, Her Majesty insisted on promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant in advance. So this gives you some perks such as your own room, but it also means you become second in command in the unit."

"Ma'am, please remember that she's not from our country. Her military is still outdated, so she won't understand the different rank names. Can't you see how confused she is?"

At least I have to give that to Kenjiro. He has a good eye. I really did understand very little about these ranks. I only understood that I would probably be under Kenjiro's command for a very long time...

"Oh, is that so? Please forgive me, Amelia. This book contains the basics of our military, including their ranking. Please read it as soon as you find the time. But for now, it's enough if you remember the following: Besides Me, the teachers, and Kenjiro, no one is above you in rank. So you don't have to worry about being taken advantage of."

"Forgive the question, but what is Kenjiro's rank? I wasn't even assigned to him from the beginning, yet he knew about me straight away."

"Well, because of his accomplishments, Kenjiro acts as my bodyguard. In order to be able to do this, we had to give him some privileges, one of the rare exceptions at this academy. But to get an answer to your question, you should read the book and look at his shoulder tomorrow. To continue our conversation..."

In the next few hours, the director taught me the basic behavior and the lesson times at the academy. After we were done, she gave me the book she had shown me before and another more extensive package.

"Well then. You know the way back?"

"Oh, well, the way wasn't that complicated."

Are you kidding me? This academy is a giant labyrinth, but I don't want to spend more time with this sheet of ice. I hope he doesn't see through me again.

"All right, then, I wish you a good night. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 5 for the morning exercise." Don't oversleep again. Otherwise, you can experience something this time!"

"..."

Even though Kenjiro is a bit peculiar, the director still seems to put a lot on him. Maybe he's not such a bad guy as I initially thought. I should postpone these thoughts until tomorrow and should concentrate on finding my room again...