An Unexpected Turn

Hours passed by after they crossed the borders of the Fiol kingdom, they were now entering the territory of the neighbouring kingdom, the Nile kingdom.

The Nile kingdom was part of the several kingdoms that resided within the Gaia Continent, there were a total of six continents in the world. The Gaia continent was filled with numerous livestocks, plants, herbs and as well as good soil which nourished the foundation of each kingdoms.

Legend has it that the goddess of the earth, Gaia descended upon the earth and nourished a large region of the earth as an experiment and test of her powers. Despite this being clearly false, this pre-assumed theory was based off ancient mythology.

In Greek mythology, the goddess of the land is typically associated with the earth itself, and the principal deity of the earth is Gaia. Gaia is considered the personification of the Earth and is one of the primordial deities. She is the ancestral mother of all life, including the gods, titans, and even humans.

"We're here." Hinata spoke softly as they arrived at the entrance to the Nile kingdom. It was at the moment of their arrival that Amelia finally regained her consciousness, she felt embarrassed about passing out from something as simple as shock in front of her most admired guild.

"Alright then, lets get down to it." Renji said as they all got up and alighted the carriage, Amelia instructed the horseman to take care of the carriage till she had settled her purpose of coming here.

Much like the Fiol kingdom, the Nile kingdom were rich in several natural resources with it's dominant resource standing alone at the top, gold. They utilized the excess gold they had in the production of golden weaponry, temples built in the honor of Gaia the goddess of the earth.

"Whoa..." Renji muttered in amazement.

"Beautiful right? I used to come here a lot just because of the scenery, in terms of tourist attraction the Nile kingdom surpasses Fiol as our main and dominant resources is secondary to theirs." It came as a shame to Amelia that they were not able to live here, but due to unknown reasons her father prohibited her from staying a whole day here.

"Right." While indeed the scenery was breathtaking, that was only half of the reason he couldn't hold back his amusement. The grounds, trees, forest and even the rivers all had high concentration of mana in it.

This theory confirmed the legend which stated that Gaia had descended from the heavens plausible, either that or there was another reason why this whole region was imbued with mana.

The carriage passed through the defensive gates of the palace and stopped right in front of the main doors of the Royal Castle where the king of the Nile kingdom and his family lived in.

"Come on, she must be waiting for me." Amelia said hurriedly as they walked up the beautifully decorated staircase of the castle. Guarding the castle doors with gold spears in hand were two muscular men who were no doubt listed under watch guard duty.

"Don't worry, they are my bodyguards." Amelia spoke almost immediately knowing what the guards reaction would be towards unwanted guests.

The guards granted them entrance into the royal palace, after all they were somewhat acquainted with Amelia due to her frequent visits in the past so there was no need waiting for confirmation on her identity.

As the doors to the palace opened up, they were all met with the elegant presence of the princess of the Nile kingdom herself. Princess Kiyomi.

"Your highness." Amelia spoke softly in a respectful tone as they all bowed to show their respects.

"You can skip the formalities Amelia." Princess Kiyomi giggled as she said.

Almost immediately, Amelia rushed forward and embraced Kiyomi warmly.

"It's so good to see you too Amelia, how long as it been?"

"Two years, five months and two days, unless you're excluding the day we got stranded." They both giggled momentarily before coming to their senses.

"These are my surbordinates, members of the Dancing Phoenix guild." Amelia spoke proudly, happily introducing her body guards to the princess.

"Wait, really!"

Both of them shared the same ideology about the Dancing Phoenix, moreover Kiyomi was a mage much like her friend except she wasn't prohibited from using her magic. They were both inspired by the Dancing Phoenix accomplishments and way of magic, as it stood she trained each passing day to become a mage powerful enough to join the guild.

"Oh yeah, pretty lucky right? Princess Kiyomi, meet Haru Shin, Hinata Anoha and finally Renji Storm of the Dancing Phoenix."

SWOOSH!

Instantly, majority of Princess Kiyomi's guards surrounded the members of the Dancing Phoenix Guild including her Magic Knights. Kiyomi's expression changed drastically, her eyes were lowered in hate, her blood boiled at the mention of the name Renji Storm.

They were all stunned, not just by the overwhelming presence of several Magic Knights, but by the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"K-Kiyomi? What's wrong?" Amelia was highly astonished, what on earth could have triggered her sudden change in mood?

"Amelia... Why is the person responsible for the death of my father acting as your body guard?" Her voice tone changed, transfiguring from sweet and cute to vengeful and dark.

"What?" Her eyes were widened in disbelief, her father's killer?

"W-what do you mean? The Dancing Phoenix weren't responsible for your father's death. It was the Phantom Pact!" She exclaimed in an attempt to defend them.

"That man is no member of the Dancing Phoenix Amelia, I remember his face clearly. The man who unleashed the storms that claimed my father's life, the Stormbringer of the Phantoms Pact, Renji Storm!!" She exclaimed with rage.

"W-what?" Amelia glanced upon Renji in astonishment. In the Fiol kingdom, Renji was popularly known as the Stormbringer of the Phantoms Pact so referring him to Renji wouldn't trigger any affiliations with him. Not to mention she hadn't seen him before as she was always stuck inside her mansion.

Amelia's expression immediately changed from astonished to hateful, not only did his presence ruin the reputation of the Dancing Phoenix even more, but he was responsible for killing her best friend dad.

"How dare you Stormbringer... How dare you! Not only did you kill my best friend's father and the king of the Nile kingdom, but you also dare to pose as a mage of a magic guild?" His presence was insulting in every way, the deeds his previous inhabitant performed were indeed horrible.

Renji however was not alarmed by this, he had expected such to happen but not in an explosive way, after all the Phantom Pact were the number one dark guild.

"Seize him." Kiyomi ordered as her knights swiftly approached Renji with the aim to take him forcefully.

"Beast Magic: Primal Fist!" Haru exclaimed as he punched the beautifully decorated floors of the palace, crushing it to nothing but pebbles and giving rise to a cloud of dust.

The knights halted their movements as they waited for the dust to settle down. As it did, they all found Haru crouching directly in front of Renji with his fist on the ground.

"Haru!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Just what do you think you're doing Haru Shin of the Dancing Phoenix?" Princess Kiyomi questioned with a dark tone, his actions amounted to treason.

"This isn't right..." He muttered softly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"This isn't right! Sure he may have committed a lot of crimes in the past but surely he deserves a second chance!" Haru blurted out in an attempt to defend Renji who was still trying to understand just exactly what his body had gotten him into.

"Does this mean that you are aware of his identity as the Stormbringer? Haru Shin."

"Yes.." He replied with a stern voice, Hinata gasped in disbelief.

"You were aware of the Stormbringer's identity and yet refused to bring him to justice, you are a disgrace to the magic guilds and the Dancing Phoenix. Get out of my way or you'll suffer the consequences." Kiyomi demanded with Amelia in support.

"Giving second chances to right your wrongs, that's the core values of the Phoenix. You are not qualified to join our guild if you cannot forgive one's transgressions when he's ready to turn a new leaf." Haru said as he stared directly at Hinata who was a loss for words.

"He's right." She said at last, even if it meant sacrificing her apartment she wasn't going to let her friend suffer when he's ready to turn a new leaf.

They had no chance at survival as they were all surrounded by S-class mages and Magic Knights.

"If turning a blind eye to justice is what the Phoenix is all about, then I have no intentions in joining such a guild. Guards, seize them all." She ordered as all her royal guards rushed forward to restrain them.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Renji asked questioning their mental health.

"Yeah.."

"You're a friend, we can't just abandon you." Hinata said warmly.

Renji smiled as the knights grabbed them in a flash, they couldn't see the knights coming due to the vast difference in speed and magic so they had no chance of escape.

"Lock them up!"

"Alright then." Renji murmured under his breath as he smiled smugly.

[Skill (Infinite Perception) has been activated]