Palace Barriers

As Helena slept soundly throughout the night. Three maids entered her bedroom and tried to wake her with grace.

"Lady Helena, the crown prince strictly ordered us to wake you early in the morning."

Helena hesitantly opens her eyes and saw the maids looking at her worriedly. She signed and sat up, her palm placed on her forehead. 'That was a good sleep' She thought.

She remembered her deal with the crown prince about fixing the palace's barriers before dawn strikes. Since her mana was fully replenished, she had no intention of staying a day longer than she already had. "I'll be out for a bit, there's no need to assist me."

They nodded before leaving the room.

Helena walks to the tall mirror beside the bed and took off her clothes, the scar made by the holy sword palpitates. 'It must be because i'm near the sword, and my mana has been replenished." she touches it lightly.

She sighs towards the scar and turned away.

Helena goes to the bathroom and goes inside the tub filled by the maids earlier. She carefully washes her body, when a sudden presence outside the window alarmed her.

She was about to unleash her magic when she realized that it was the first knight.

"William?" she calls.

"..."

"I know you're there if you don't answer i'm gonna-"

"Lady Helena, it is not appropriate to talk to a man while bathing!" He says, his voice traveling through the window.

She sighs. "Do you really have to guard outside the window of a bathroom? and how the hell did you even get here."

"My lady's safety is my life's priority!"

"William." Helena warns.

"U-Umm at first i was gonna come in officially, but i noticed a tempting sight better than it. There were no barriers, it was so easy to infiltrate the palace."

She sighs. 'that's my fault.'

"Then why are you here?" She asks, continuing with her bath.

"The letter arrived last night by the crown prince and every captain was informed, i don't trust the crown prince that's why i'm here."

'pft you pledged your life to the crown prince in the past.' She chuckled thinking about it.

She didn't utter another word and finally finishes her bath. She wore the dress already prepared by the maids, before going outside the room. The maids then ushered her to follow them towards the crown prince's quarters, as ordered by him.

When she finally arrives, she sees the crown prince's back facing towards the window just beside his table.

The maids closed the door behind her.

"Your Highness." she greets. "may i know where the areas of the barriers are locate-"

her eyes widened as the crown prince suddenly punches the window infront of him. Helena takes a step back, fearing that the crown prince was in a bad mood.

"I found you, rat." The crown prince says.

To her surprise, the crown prince was only trying to catch something outside his window.

and it was William.

"W-WHAT THE?!" William tries to struggle as the crown prince's grip tightens around his collar. "LET GO YOU-"

"Your highness!" She steps forward. "Let go of him."

"You're telling me to let go of a criminal? Did you think you could sneak him in without the formal procedures?" He seethes, throwing William beside Helena.

"Of all people, you know William better than i do." Helena rolled her eyes.

He laughs. "That's right, he was my first knight back then."

William weirdly looks at both of them spouting nonsense. "What first knight?" he gets up and whispers to Helena.

"Then why did you have to humiliate him." Helena shot back.

"Regardless of past relationships, the imperial palace gives great importance to laws. i can't ignore a rat infiltrating the palace so easily." He says, taking off his gloves, he took a sit.

William glares at the crown prince.

Helena sighs. "William, stop being disrespectful."

William averts his angry gaze, composing himself, he stood behind Helena quietly.

"There is currently 36 barrier orbs in the palace, and you broke all of them." He starts.

Helena's sweat rolls down her face. 'Damn that's a lot.'

"Because of you, even the emperor was alerted for this matter. I currently have 6 meetings to attend because of you."

"What's the big deal.." Helena murmurs.

"Hah." The crown prince couldn't believe the archmage's attitude. "I don't know if you're just messing with us or it's just plain ignorance. But regardless of these, you should be aware that the 4th and 7th battalion rushed back to the palace due to low security reasons."

Helena's eyes widened. 'That happened last night?'

"Lady Helena, so you were the one who broke the barriers?" William whispers, before she elbowed him in the stomach.

William grunts in pain.

"Fortunately, i was able to send a report last night about a palace's drill. I explained in the report that i hired a group of mage to test the limit of the orbs. And i shall hold full accountability to the damages that have caused during the drill." He smiles at Helena.

Helena raised her eyebrow. "36 orbs? why not just hire a mage to plant a barrier? buying orbs is just a waste of money."

"The orbs were bought by the first emperor. No one knows where he bought it, but it surely is not from the tower. Giving the tower the opportunity to build our defense system is not a good idea, since the empire doesn't fully trust the tower."

"If you don't trust the tower then why did you say in the report that you hire mages? That's not a valid reason. The orb is just weak-"

"The orb was able to withstand the power of the first archmage, there's no way it was that weak. And to just inform you, the tower isn't the only place to hire mages" He clarifies, his voice stern. "If you read history, then you should be aware of why the tower and the empire don't trust each other."

Helena averts his gaze, remembering the history that she is very well informed in the past. "Well, then pardon my insolence."

The Abuneian empire and the Obsidian Nation wasn't a split nation from the start. The whole empire was built by a group of mage and one knight, it was called the Uglor Empire in the beginning. The First king, King Gregor established the tower of Goharith to aide the Uglor empire against other continents. Unfortunately, as the tower of Goharith grew stronger, they also became insolent towards the empire's laws, thus a civil war broke out between two factions. Years of wars eventually split the Uglor Empire in half. The Abuneian Empire and Obsidian Nation then became independent nations in the Uglor continent.

The only reason why there's transactions between the Abuneian and the Obsidian nation is solemnly because of the peace treaty that was made by the previous emperor of the Abuneian.

The crown prince opens one of his drawers and places a map on his table. "Here, the location and the enchantment code of the orbs in the palace."

"Crown prince, it's too time consuming to fix all the orbs, can't i just use my mana?"

He sighs. "You still don't get it? Don't you remember placing a high-quality barrier in the willow village? you do know that every barrier made by a mage is marked by their own mana. If you use your mana to place barriers, then they would immediately tell that you are the red magician. i don't wish for the emperor to place suspicions towards me, so just stop asking questions and do your job." He gets up and leaves the room.

"That cocky bastard." Helena says, irked. "He's definitely treating me like an idiot."

"Lady Helena, he has a point, they'll recognize you immediately if you use your mana." William says.

"Oh? you're treating me like an idiot too?" She smiles.

"W-What?! no! I'm just voicing out my opinions." William diverts his gaze in fear.

"I can't believe this, i'm being told by two knights." Helena says, stressed.

While Helena was fatigued just by talking with the crown prince, the crown prince himself wasn't prepared for the moments that was about to come. After leaving Helena to his office, he decided to have a walk.

As he walked towards the east wing of the palace, he was confronted by his adviser. "Your Highness, the great seer has arrived. She is currently staying at the west wing."

He nodded, before quietly following behind his adviser.

When they arrived, a bunch of knights was stationed outside the room, heavily guarded. He ignored the setup and went straight in, the seer sitting quietly at the couch.

Her eyes covered with a thin white cloth, her eyes closed, visible to the naked eye.

"Greetings your highness." The seer starts, standing up.

"You may sit down." He replied as he sits in front of her. "As the great seer received my letter, i presume you have the answer i am looking for?"