Uneasy Mera

Mera was with the princess learning a new spell called Fire Bolt. As for the Palm Shield spell, Mera had already learned how to cast it with no fail. That said, the strength of it left plenty to be desired.

Further training of her mystic medium will be required to make it stronger to at least block half of Vernon's true strength. Mera was often baffled that Vernon, despite being a commoner at birth, was powerful enough that he could match the strength of an elite knight.

Perhaps it would be because of his hard work when he was young, or he was blessed by the gods.

That aside, since Vernon was not a caster of magic, he wouldn't be able to help much in the spellcasting department. Therefore, it was up only for both her and the princess. Everything would have been less distressing if the princess wasn't acting so weirdly.

At the moment, they were outside the palace in an empty courtyard, no other personnel could be found here. This was around the eastern side of the palace, although a bit distant. In addition, the area the knights used for training should due south of here.

Under the shade of a building used for storage, although empty since it wasn't used much, Mera stood as she looked at the book atop the table, and beside her was the princess. Mera glanced at the princess and noticed she was acting tense.

Her fingers often shook as she laid them on the table. Mera felt even more uneasy about the situation, she could even feel Vernon's stare from behind her. Her heart throbbed hard as she felt a small sense of anxiety building up in her chest.

"M-Milady… is something a matter with me?"

The princess frantically turned towards her.

"N-No! No…. Why? Is something bothering you?"

"Um… no…"

"I see… So, Mera, have you understood how to do it?"

"I think so…"

The princess had begun to act a bit more normally than she was only recently. But Mera was still pretty disturbed.

As for the spell, in short, just visualize and imagine flames. At the same time, give it properties of heat, as flames originally were. However, it would need to be compressed so it would be truly a bolt of flame that it was designed to be. The hardest hurdle here would be shaping the mana into it.

Mera has yet to fully master tinkering with her mana. Like having difficulties putting a thread into a needle. Yes she may be able to cast a shield easily, however, she would be casting a new spell. And shaping mana into it would be different to making the shield.

She didn't know about the princess though. She was a bit afraid to ask at the moment.

In the open space, Mera did as what was instructed in the book. She held out her hand and concentrated on the flow of her mana.

She imagined and visualized flames.

Fire flickered in her palm. However, in a second, it vanished completely. She did it again and fire came forth flickering.

Mera glanced at how the princess was doing. The princess's brows furrowed a little, struggling to create her flames, they flickered around the same as Mera's.

About half an hour later, Mera had gotten used to it and a small ball of fire hovered above her palm. However, the best this could do was set afire a bonfire, or cause mild burns on a person.

She forced forward her mana, and the flames grew larger inviting a smile to play on her lips. After that, she took a glance at the princess. Her eyes froze at the princess's palm where a ball of fire hovered just above it. What caused her surprise however was that the flames were in a perfect ball shape.

The fingers of the princess motioned slightly, and the ball rotated around, as though the fingers were carving and controlling the full motion of the flames. However, the ball didn't seem to be compressed yet. Despite all that, Mera was impressed.

The princess was able to give a clean form of the flame, Mera was sure that the princess had such precise control of her mana. That being said, she wasn't sure how much level of preciseness that was yet.

"Fire bolt, it's not shot in a swinging throw… so…"

The princess murmured. Indeed the bolt was not thrown like how you would throw something from the shoulder forward. If one does that, one would need to focus more than on launching the bolt, but also timing it with your throw. In other words, it was faster and easier to launch the bolt yourself, like how a fire bolt should normally be used.

The princess held out her hand forward. The ball of fire turned slightly smaller. Then, it shot forward as though propelled by an invisible force.

However, a few steps of distance, it puffed away into smoke.

"Huh… it's not as easy as I thought."

The princess turned around towards Mera.

"M-Mera.... H-How is your progress?"

"... I am still trying to give it a form."

"I see...."

The princess cast down her eyes towards her palm, and flames came forth.

"Magic really is wonderful, one can easily cast fire. You wouldn't need to struggle in lighting a fire with this…"

The princess seemed to halt all motion as she observed the flames in her hand.

"I've been wondering for a while… Vernon."

She called Vernon. Upon her beckon, the old man approached her.

"Your highness?"

"Magic is a pretty, mysterious thing… In this world full of magic, there must be a number of manners of things which are quite mystical, am I right?"

"Of course."

"What… What sort of interesting things are out there? Creatures, places… what sort of things are there that resemble something mystical, and mysterious…"

The princess gazed up at the sky. For some reason, Mera could sense solemness in that gaze, mixed within were what seemed to be curiosity. A princess who had never seen much of the outside world, of course, she must be full of wonder of what could be out there.

"Well, for starters," Vernon said. "There are monsters… Which I think are pretty mystical, and mysterious. I mean, why do those savage creatures have to exist? Creatures that normal humans cannot even hope to match."

The princess lowered her gaze.

"I suppose horror exists in the world, no matter how hard you wish for it not to. But, there must also be beauty, is there?"

Vernon faintly smiled.

"There was a lake in the north, I went there with my old party once. The water was clear during the day. However, when night came, as the gentle moonlight touched the water, the lake shone with various colors. Then, small dots of light in the color of gold began to ascend from the water.

"When I reached out for them, my hand went through them. They cannot be touched, as though they were spirits… Of all the many beautiful places I came across, that place was the most memorable…"

"... Why?" the princess asked.

"That was the last day I was with my party."

Vernon had a look of nostalgia on his face, however, came along with it were eyes of sadness.

"I see… I'm sorry I asked."

"Do not be sorry, your highness. There is nothing to be sorry about."

The princess nodded.

"Vernon, please tell me stories of other places next time."

"As you wish."

"... Places aside, are there any creatures, you could say, the same as us? Sentient and almost resembled our appearance."

Mera and Vernon both had a puzzled expression. The princess was specifically asking after all.

"Why do you ask?"

"I am curious. I wondered if there are other living beings almost the same as us. Like a different race."

"Hm. There are demons in the south, beyond the southern shores."

The princess jerked her head and faced towards Vernon.

" — Demons?"

"Yes, demons. You need to cross the sea though, they are not exactly a kind you could easily be friendly with. Well, this is a continent ruled by humans, so I suppose that is to be expected."

"I see. But demons? Do they like to possess people or become invisible or haunt you or something, becoming spiritual?"

Vernon raised an eyebrow, baffled by what the princess thought the demons could be.

"Your highness, where did you get those ideas from?"

"... Just my imaginations."

"Hm. In any case, they are not like that. They almost resemble the form of humans. Well, almost, so there are conspicuous differences. That said, they are generally dangerous, so… be careful if you encounter one."

"I would unlikely encounter one in the palace anyway…. So, are there any others?"

"Others of?"

"Other races?"

"Ah, if you want to learn of other humanoid sentient beings, that which we can communicate like proper people, no, no other."

"Oh…"

The princess sounded disappointed. She returned her focus to the ball of fire on her hand. Then she raised her head and turned to ask Vernon again.

"Vernon, have you heard of elves?"

"Elves…" Vernon echoed.

Mera was confused by the term "elves". She didn't know what that was. Vernon also seemed to be in deep thought.

"Elves… I have heard of it, but barely anyone mentions that word."

"So… what are they?"

"They are only mentioned in non-popular myths."

Mera had realized why she never knew of the term. They were myths that were barely mentioned. Mera was not exactly a person that strives for information such as this, therefore it was expected she wouldn't know about it.

"Wait, myths?" The princess looked puzzled.

"Yes… Not much is known about them. Well, as myths there are, they likely never existed."

"So no one has discovered elves? And there is a chance that they never existed in the first place but merely works of fiction?"

"...Yes… but princess, where did you hear that word?"

The princess moved back her elbow, then instantly moved it forward vigorously. The bolt of fire launched forward with great speed, however, it didn't reach that far, just double the distance from before.

Mera was in awe of how the princess was able to achieve such distance already.

"Where did I hear it? You do know there are a lot of mouths around the palace, don't you Vernon?"

"I suppose."

Really? I never heard anyone talking about that…

Mera mused.

***

A couple of days had passed since the princess started learning her fire bolt spell. She had shown significant progress to the point that Vernon was wary to take it head on. For that reason, testing it to a person was not an option, not that it was an option in the first place.

Mera had also shown a lot of progress. However, her bolt was not as destructive as the princess who had a vast amount of mana.

Regarding the princess though, there was a concerning matter. She would often grimace whenever her bolt strengthened due to her damaged mystic medium which greatly limited her progress. But at least it was better than before.

Then at the end of that, the princess asked for a break. Mera understood why the princess would ask such a thing. The princess must have been exhausted, not only did she have to train but also endure the pain within her body.

The princess definitely needed rest.

Also, needless to say, Mera still received a cold treatment from Vernon, while the princess was still quite frightened, only a bit though since the princess had slowly warmed back up. Mera was a bit relieved about it, but she still had no idea at first why they were acting this way. And that only made her also more anxious as days went by.

At the moment, the princess was on her way back to her room earlier than usual along with Mera and Vernon.

Mera snuck a glance towards Vernon as they walked side by side behind the princess. She then returned her gaze forward as she resisted the urge to sigh.

After all the days that had passed, Mera had come to a conclusion. The princess and Vernon were definitely cautious of her for an ominous reason. It was as though they were suspecting her.

But could it be simple suspicions? Mera had a feeling that they already had a basis for their actions. With this realization, Mera hardened herself.

When they arrived at the third floor by the stairs, they found a man that Mera and the others recognized. He was walking from the far side of the hallway and was heading towards them.

Mera was puzzled as to what this man was doing walking around in this part. If he came from the prince's office, he wouldn't need to go through here just to go down. Surprised for the same reason, the princess stopped in her tracks as she gazed towards the man.

Mera and Vernon followed when their superior began to walk forward, and approached the man.

"Oryn…" the princess called his name.

"Your highness," Oryn bowed deeply with a neutral expression.

"It's rare for you to walk around here. What brought you here?"

The princess gazed innocently at Oryn with a blatant trace of cluelessness.

"I am reviewing the security within the palace hallways."

"...For what reason?" the princess asked.

"You knew of the information of a traitor within the palace, yes? If that is true, then it is essential to make improvements or check for errors of security within the confines of the palace."

"Does big brother know about this?"

There was a second of delay before a response finally came.

"... No… I was intending to check everything out first and formulate a plan before informing the prince. I hope that it would at least relieve him of some things to think about."

Mera understood and agreed with Oryn's intentions. Seeing how much paperwork the prince was working on, this way it would lessen the things that bugs his mind. Mera would have done the same for her superior.

"... And you left him, alone with his work…?" the princess asked.

Mera turned her gaze towards her. If Oryn didn't inform the prince of his intention, then how was he able to leave behind the one he was supposed to assist. If he suddenly left the prince, he was a failure of a servant. A prince full of work would not let his attendant leave freely unless with a good reason.

"His highness asked for refreshments, and I only took this opportunity."

Oryn gave his reason.

"I see," the princess's smile grew wider. "I'm glad someone is helping my big brother, please don't let him overwork himself too hard."

"Of course… By the way, your highness, aren't you a bit red?"

Indeed, a tinge of red colored the princess's pale skin.

"Exposing myself under the sun for too long isn't good for me. It's a bit painful."

Because of her snow white skin, she was very sensitive to the sun. Therefore, she would mostly stay under the shade whenever necessary. However, her training got more intense than before, and because of that, she exposed herself to the sun more than before. Which was one of the reasons why she wanted to rest for now and stay away from the sun's light.

Truth be told, Mera was a bit surprised that the princess lasted this long. After all, before this, she almost never left the palace and was barely exposed to the sun.

"I suppose magic training is going smoothly? May I ask what you are learning now?"

The princess pressed her index finger to her lips adorably.

"That's a secret, it would ruin the surprise of my improvement if I tell anyone now."

Oryn chuckled.

"I imagine the prince will be very pleased when you show him your newfound abilities."

"I hope so! Alright then, I will be going to rest, so goodbye for now, Oryn."

"Very well, your highness."

With that, they left each other and headed towards their own destination. After several steps however, the princess stopped and turned around. Puzzled, Mera also turned around towards where her gaze was directed at. And there she saw Oryn going down the stairs.

It only lasted for a second before they continued on their way.

Mera wondered why the princess looked back.