The least expected - II

"That's simply ridiculous!"

Bang

The woman slammed her hands on the table while standing up aggressively. Her sky-blue eyes had visible hints of confusion and disbelief.

On the other hand, the person in front of her was totally unfazed.

With a dazed expression, the woman nodded her head in agreement with the statement. As unbelievable as it sounded, it didn't seem like she was lying to them.

The man witnessing the following scene stood frozen in his steps just in front of the door. Hearing the conversation those people in the room were holding amongst themselves, he felt surprised.

Not over the fact that they were holding a conversation, but because of what they were talking about. His astonishment soon vanished when he heard another voice from behind him.

"Lord Jaden, would you stop standing in my way?"

The only thing Jaden could do was flinch like a surprised cat and move out of Blaise's way. He walked in while holding onto a bundle of scrolls. What even were those?

It would've been a lot easier if he waited to hear Blaise's explanation a while ago. Yet there he was, standing clueless, eavesdropping on the chat after rushing to the spot.

Trying to understand the situation better, Jaden moved close to the table occupied by the group of three people. Sierra, for one, had a rather intense frown on her eyebrows.

Then again, was it Sierra's fault for being wary of the person sitting in front of her? Definitely not. Jaden could feel his right eye twitching when he heard the familiar voice.

"My lord..."

It was almost two weeks since he last saw that woman. Unsure of how to respond, Jaden let out a sigh before speaking up.

"What's going on?"

Saying that, he slowly walked close to the table. He could see her maid uniform being proper as usual. That woman was no one else, but...

"Rudia."

Rudia didn't respond for a while when she heard Jaden's question. She simply sat in her spot with a dazed expression. Sierra switched glances between the two before nodding her head lightly to herself.

As she did that, a wooden chair rose up from the wooden floor in the space that was open near the table. That chair was meant for Jaden.

He smiled awkwardly at himself, remembering the words he had heard a moment ago. According to Rudia, she arrived there after travelling for about two hours.

That's what didn't make any sense. The distance between the Sabbianyth Empire and Agustus Kingdom was two days on carriage and five days on foot.

'Is it safe to assume that she used her magic again?'

The short duration in which Rudia reached the Elven Forest was explainable only if the individual he was thinking about had a hand in it. A soft sigh escaped Sierra's lips, observing them.

"She has a message to relay to you apparently."

"Message from who?"

"Who do you think it might be?"

Jaden had a vague guess about who it was. A light smile glistened on his lips for a split second. There was only one person who could've sent Rudia to them.

Aliana Rosenstein. If she was the one who asked Rudia to pass on her message to Jaden, then it explained how Rudia was able to reach there in just two hours.

Jaden remembered how Aliana had used a sort of teleportation magic to escape the auction house in Dragonaria Kingdom. That was the only thing that looked sensible to him at the moment.

"So? What is it about?"

"Well..."

Fwip

Rudia swiftly pulled out a folded piece of paper from the pocket on her white apron. That was what she meant by the message.

Jaden had a feeling that Aliana would be asking him to do something ridiculous again. Every time his senses would tell him so, it was almost too accurate.

And this time again, it wasn't exactly wrong.

-Next destination is 'Aranthia Kingdom'. You know where that is. Head there along with...

'What-?'

He paused in the middle of reading the whole note. A confused smile lit on his face. He glanced between Sierra and a certain person standing nearby.

His eyebrows frowned with an odd uneasiness. The man didn't know why Jaden was glancing at him but knew that it had something to do with him himself and the message.

"Don't tell me that I'm somehow involved too..."

The man said with an awkward smile. To which Jaden replied with an odd silence. Seeing that reaction, Blaise swallowed his own saliva before speaking in a monotonous voice.

"Seriously...?"

------------------------

"So we are supposed to head there? Only the three of us?"

"That's what this says."

Blaise and Jaden stared at the paper on the table intensely. Jaden had no problem travelling to the Aranthia Kingdom, but it seems like Blaise was hesitating a bit.

It was a bit valid given how that kingdom was. They never let any outsiders visit them and rather preferred to be isolated from the world.

Then there was the most concerning and bothersome fact. All personnel from the magic tower were banned from setting a foot in that place.

That meant that Blaise, the Tower Master, couldn't possibly try to enter it. There was no telling what could happen if they were caught up in some absurd events.

The reason for such hostility against magic tower mages was mentioned in the original story Jaden wrote.

It was all because of a lunatic who tried to infiltrate the kingdom. He was a mage from the magic tower who got expelled later on. That story is meant to be for some other time, though.

'Now that I remember...'

In the original story, Lenon was able to enter the Aranthia Kingdom. But that was in the beginning part of the story.

The point of time they were at was far beyond that. That event, which gave Lenon a free pass into the kingdom, was a tale of the past.

'And either way...'

Managing to enter the Aranthia Kingdom was none of Jaden's concern. It was Aliana who had asked him to head there.

'Surely she has a plan...'

Someone like her won't ever act carelessly. Jaden had understood that much about Aliana after observing her during their travels.

He had no idea how correct he was, but it was a fact that Aliana always had plans prepared beforehand.

"Are we heading there right now?"

"We better hurry it up..."

Blaise could barely get himself together while rushing out of the door. Jaden was being reasonable at the moment.

Aliana sent Rudia to them as fast as she could. That's why he assumed that it was a sign from Aliana, asking them to make a haste.

But there was a thing he had overlooked.

-At Aranthia Kingdom-

Clankk

The huge door opened smoothly as someone walked through the dimly lit hallway. The faint rays of light fell out while widening through the gap of the door.

Countless white curtains decorating every inch of the room intervened with her vision. The woman walked through that narrow path, her gaze focused on the ground.

The light blue colour of her clothes tucked under the silver armour. The golden lines traced the edges of the silver metallic parts. It was a lightweight armour meant to not hinder the user's mobility.

The leather belt on her waist had a rapier hanging on it. The white pants she wore along with the metal boots were part of her uniform.

Thunk

She swiftly kneeled while touching her folded fist to the ground. The stairs in front of her became visible through the see-through fabric of the curtains.

"I greet you with honour and loyalty..."

Her golden eyes opened slowly as she raised her head. Her golden-silver hair glistened under the light illuminating the throne above the stairs.

The unwavering gaze fell upon the woman occupying the throne. The smoke emerged from the small pipe between her fingers.

"Your Majesty Acacia."

Acacia Aranthia. The empress and lone ruler of the Aranthia Kingdom. That's who the woman lying on her right elbow on the wide throne was.

The piece of cloth covering her face came into the sight of the knight kneeling on the ground. The trail of smoke rising from the smoking pipe became thinner as she moved it away from her face.

"Hast thou accomplished the duty that I did entrust unto thee?"

Her soft yet stern voice made a cold air brush past the knight's whole body. Despite the white gloves covering her hands, she could feel her palms go numb.

Then suddenly she felt something moving against her body, which forced her to stand up. It was vines of trees extending from behind the throne.

"Yes, your majesty."

"So? What news hast thou to impart unto me?"

"I have confirmed that the contents of the prophecy have changed. Reason behind it? Uncertain. "

The silence graced the whole room for a moment before a soft sigh escaped Acacia's lips along with the smoke.

"Finally..."

The massive tree behind Acacia's throne became visible under the sunlight falling in through the open space above it. The bright smile became visble on her lips as the smoke vanished into thin air.

"Oh thou child of prophecy..."