115 Crier

Michael wakes up to the feeling of someone shaking him, instantly knowing that the only person who did this was his sister, Lillith. "Staahp... Five more minutes." he murmurs, turning on his side to get a couple more minutes of beauty sleep.

"Michael, wake up! The town crier has news on the war!" not-Lillith's voice says as she continues to shake him, causing his brows to furrow... Ah, right... Tiffania.

He rubs the sleep from his eyes and turns to face Tiffania, only to gape at her state of undress... The large shirt she was using as pyjamas had slid down her shoulders before reaching the impassable obstacle of her breasts. He couldn't help but to stare, wondering if he'd be able to catch a glimpse of her nip-No! Concentrate!

"Er, what was that Tiffania?" he asks after clapping himself on the face 'to wake himself up'. "Something about a town crier?" he mutters, only now hearing the faint sound of something ringing a bell.

She nods and gets out of bed to go look out of the window... But is stopped as he throws the bed cover onto her head to conceal her long ears... This also causes her to headbutt the wall but, beggars can't be choosers. "Ouch! What was that for?" she says while pitifully rubbing her forehead.

"That was for being stupid! Cover your ears before sticking your head out the window!" he states, causing Tiffania to blush in embarrassment at forgetting such an important precaution. She was happy to spend time in Chasata, so being run out of town for such a stupid mistake made her want to bury her head under a pillow.

Michael eventually gets out of bed too, going over to the window to hear what the commotion was about.

"Here'ye! Here'ye!" an elderly man shouts while loudly ringing his handheld bell. Gathering the attention of everyone nearby. "I bring news from the capital! Prince Wales had been captured by Lord Cromwell, and the war is almost at an end! In one week on the morn of Void's day, the Prince will be judged for his crimes in front of Londinium's Palace! All of Albion's peoples are invited to watch, a celebration will be held afterwards for the end of the war!" the man shouts, loud enough for the occupants of nearby buildings to hear.

With the man's message given, he walks a good distance down the street and rings his bell again, giving the same message... "Man, that guy's throat is gonna kill tomorrow." Michael mutters, getting a nod from Tiffania who looks somewhat saddened by the news. "Something wrong? I get Reconquista are a bunch of bastards but I didn't think you'd care about the war."

She frowns and shakes her head, "Prince Wales is my cousin. We never met but it's not nice hearing that he'll be gone soon." she admits.

"Er, you're royalty?" he asks, not having recalled such a fact from the anime.

She nods, "My father was the King's brother... Not that he acted like it, my uncle the one who had my mother killed." she solemnly states.

Michael lets out a breath and grips her arm while giving a sympathetic smile, "Sorry to hear that... At least he got what was coming to him though, right?" he says, but his words don't seem to provide her with any comfort. "About Prince Wales." he starts but doesn't know what to really say, unsure on what she wanted to do about the news of his soon-to-be execution. "I'd volunteer to try and help, but, I'm a bit wary of going against Cromwell again. As I said before, he's got this mind control ring that I have almost no defence against." he says as he habitually traces a finger over his lips. He knew that he'd still be enslaved if they hadn't made him use Dark Pact. And even now the thought of getting mind-controlled put him on edge.

"No, don't mind it. We never met, I couldn't ask you to risk yourself to save him." Tiffania says with a downtrodden expression.

...

Michael closes his eyes in thought for a moment, "Tiffania, I won't offer to save him, but, if you wanna go to the capital and see what's happening, we could do that... It isn't like we're going out of our way either, some of my targets will probably be present. So, as long as we avoid Cromwell, we should be alright."

...

Michael wonders if that was the correct thing to say... He'd basically just asked if she wanted to see her cousin get executed, which in hindsight, sounded pretty fucking stupid. Urgh! He wasn't good with this kinda thing!

Surprisingly though, Tiffania actually nods, "I-... I think I'd like that. Even if we can't help, I'd like to see him before..." the rest doesn't need to be said.

The duo gets dressed, and Michael stores all the stuff Tiffania had bought yesterday in his inventory before they leave. They still had a week until the event, so they were taking things relatively slow, especially since the capital was only two days of walking from Chasata.

They were both hoping that Tiffania would be able to learn a couple new spells before they reached the capital, hopefully some with utility, as there was simply no chance of them fighting all the forces in the capital.

Michael was one hundred and ten percent sure that Prince Wales scheduled execution was just a ploy to force any remaining rebels out of their hiding places. If the prince died then their cause died with him, so they'd have no choice but to spring him out of jail.

Hopefully, he and Tiffania wouldn't get caught before they could get anything done... His primary objectives for going to the capital were to find Baron Jargkon, Sheffield, and the other nobles that'd helped torture him. He'd stay way clear of Cromwell obviously, but everyone else was fair game.