57 The Mission

I spurted my tea from the sudden announcement.

"What!" I yelled.

'Weren't wars really medieval? Even people in my past life acknowledged that war was something that was dehumanizing and a waste of human lives after learning from their mistakes. War was supposed to be an absolute last resort,' I thought.

Belle got a handkerchief from the pocket of her dress to wipe off the drops of tea that landed on the glossy wooden table.

"You know how there's a total of twenty countries in the fifth district right? The Great Estellion Empire, which is where we are right now, is one of the great powers of the fifth district that is planning to defend against the Crugren Kingdom. The Crugren Kingdom is about to wage a war due to the continuous poor harvest that has been happening in their most fertile lands for the last few years." Lucius explained to the group while glancing at me the majority of the time.

"That's why our mission is to prevent a war," Belle grimly added after she finished wiping the table.

"That doesn't explain how your house is part of the nobility in the fifth district," I accused Belle.

Luke sighed and Cillian shrugged as if everyone that were the elites of the first district were part of the nobility in the fifth district.

"We're also part of the nobility in the fifth district as the Roselia family is ranked archduke of the Great Weronberg Empire, which is the another great power in the fifth district," Luke explained.

"And the Auclair family is ranked duke of the Vensuella Empire which is another great power in the fifth district," Cillian added.

'So the elites of the first district weren't just elites in the first district but more so in the other districts,' I thought.

"Then who manages these properties when you already own so many in the first district?" I asked while tilting my head in confusion.

"Our parents do, it's just like managing a portfolio" Cillian answered as if this wasn't something unusual.

"I think I remember learning all these details in elementary school so it's pretty much common knowledge," Belle commented while flipping through the documents related to her mission.

It wasn't that I had bad memory. It was just that these kids had splendid memory. Each of the districts had their own history which made all this information hard to remember. The pathways that some districts took to became the way they were today were very similar to each other.

It was like reading thick history books about one country times a million from the amount of countries that existed in all the districts combined together.

All the districts had tons of countries within them with the exception of the first district that only had three countries. Currently, we came from the country of the 'Alliance of United Nations'. It took up 95% of the first district in terms of land and resources.

The other two countries weren't even considered to be a 'actual country', but research centers to increase the development of the already futuristic first district. Apparently that was the only way that the first district would never 'lag' behind the other districts.

"The teleportation gate will have enough energy to teleport you guys back to the first district about a week from now," Lucius chuckled.

"So try to stay in the castle until then," Lucius warned us in a serious tone while looking in my direction the entire time. It was like he knew what happened between Ben and I when Shelly and I stayed at his villa.

"Lucius is only like this because he's concerned about you guys being in the fifth district when the situation turned to be dangerous," Belle apologized for Lucius as she interrupted him from saying more warnings.

Lucius glanced away from Belle as he stiffly pretended to go through the stack of documents as Belle gazed at us wholeheartedly.

"Lucius and I can't watch you guys because we have to stay at the Emperor's castle for the next couple of days to advise him what to do. So you guys will have to stay at the castle alone," Belle explained why Lucius seemed worried.

"It's fine, we're not children anymore." I sulked to indirectly say that their worries were unfounded.

Luke, Cillian, Lucius and Belle suddenly all turned to look at me.

"It's ok, we'll take care of Rika!" Cillian reassured Belle and Lucius while placing his hand on top of Luke's shoulder.

"Lady Belle and young master Lucius, the emperor has called for you!" The head maid knocked on the door.

Belle and Lucius reluctantly left the room with peculiar eyes full of worry in my direction.

With no other purpose to continue staying inside the stuffy study room filled with mountains of documents, Luke, Cillian and I were escorted to each of our respective rooms by the servants of the castle.

"What outfit would you like lady Rika?" A servant that appeared to be not much older than I asked me.

I looked through Belle's closet again. There were countless uncomfortable looking dresses with frills, laces, jewels, and fancy embroidery that reached the height of my knees to my ankle.

"Do I have to change for dinner?" I asked the servant while lazily lying down on the guest bed.

"I will be scolded by the head maid if you don't lady Rika," the servant answered with great concern.

'Ugh! Why did people in the fifth district have to change clothes for each event of the day?' I thought.

I stared boringly at the knights' training session at the outer part of the castle.

There was absolutely nothing to do inside this mansion! After coming from the futuristic first district, I didn't know how the people of the fifth district passed their spare time other than changing outfits and going to parties.

I thought that Luke's mansion was bad when there were no gaming devices or televisions to be seen. However, I realized that at least Luke's mansion had a grand exercise room and a pool to go to when I got extremely bored as a last resort.

"Lady Rika, we must go to your room now to help you with your outfit for lunchtime," a servant came up to me.

I went back to my room with the servant as I noticed other maids already inside my room. The maids were busy, picking the accessories, dress, and shoes for me to wear. I sat down on my chair matching Belle's makeup table while the head maid tended my hair again.

"I'm so bored," I complained as I fidgeted with my hands.

Luke and Cillian were carefully watching my every move during the daytime as they helped with organizing the documents related to the mission of Belle and Lucius.

"I'm going to the garden," I let Luke and Cillian know as I felt tired of watching them go through the documents.

"Please attach a knight to Lady Rika," Luke immediately ordered the head butler.

The head butler nodded as he quickly called for one of the knights training inside the castle. A knight quickly came from the butler's orders to escort me to the garden.

"It is my pleasure to serve you Lady Rika, my name is Jim and I will be your guard for today." Jim kneeled down in front of me.

I walked to the magnificent garden that was well-maintained by the hard work of the servants inside the castle.

'More roses, tulips and lilies,' I thought as I identified the flowers inside the large garden.

I wasn't impressed since I was used to these impressive gardens from visiting Luke's mansion often. Seeing that there was no point in staying in the garden longer, I asked Jim, "Can we go outside the grounds of the castle?"

"I apologize but young master Lucius has ordered me to not let any family members leave the castle until he comes back with lady Belle," Jim hesitantly answered.

"Isn't just a few minutes ok?" I begged Jim with slightly pitiful eyes.

"I apologize but young master Lucius has strictly ordered every employee in this castle to especially not let you out lady Rika," Jim stiffly responded.

I sighed as my head dropped from extreme boringness of doing nothing inside the castle starting from yesterday.

'Maybe I should just run away from the knight and try going outside on my own since Cillian and Luke are busy with documents,' I thought.

I sprinted as fast as I could to the castle gates as Jim chased after me in confusion.

'Open!' I pleaded as the lock on the castle gate was sturdier than I thought it was.

"Lady Rika?" Jim stood right behind me.

"Don't mind me," I answered Jim while trying to break the lock.

"I've called for young master Luke and Cillian as you seem bored," Jim chuckled.

"Hah?" I shouted at Jim.

"What are you doing Rika?" Luke asked me with a stiff smile as Cillian rewarded Jim for his 'good work'.

"Nothing much," I pouted as I gave up breaking the lock.

"Lady Rika must have wanted to see the carnival that's happening this week," Jim derived a reason for my behaviour of wanting to go outside the castle grounds.

"A carnival?" I asked Jim in confusion.

"Yes, a big carnival starts today near the imperial palace. My niece gets very excited for the carnival every year," Jim wondered what my reason really was to go outside the castle grounds.

"I really want to go," I pleaded to Luke as I tried to look like the most pitiful person possible with my eyes glistening from the forming tears.

"Please escort Rika to her room," Luke disregarded my pleas as Jim pitied me while he started to escort me back to my room.

A fluffy red crimson dress that would reach the moderate height of up to my knees was held out in front of me by a maid after I was stuck in my room. The dress was decorated with ribbons with jewels and fine embroidery just like Belle's other old dresses.

"How about this lady Rika?" the maid asked me.

"It's fine," I indifferently answered as I got up to get changed when the head maid was finished with my hair.

"I heard you wanted to go to the carnival," a maid that retrieved my shoes commented.

"I do, but nobody lets me go!" I complained to the maids.

I pretended to look dejected until a maid spoke up, "We can sneak out together."