Royal Banquet

When Myra stepped into the reception hall of the palace, with Tia at her side, several eyes were looking at them curiously.

Some inspected her strange dress, made purely for this banquet as Myra was unlikely to own anything that was fitting for such an occasion, while others wondered what a young woman would be doing here.

Other than the nobles who had a residence at Silverspire, not many would know about her and even those who had heard about her name before, would not have seen her. Except for high ranking nobles and the guests from other kingdoms and empires not many people were invited.

Even still, with the large amount of different countries in the southern part of the continent and every ambassador or visiting noble bringing their own entourage of people, the place was still filled to the brim.

"What are we doing now?" Myra whispered to Tia as soon as they had entered. She didn't find anyone who looked familiar and was already lost.

"As the emperor is not here yet, you just take something to drink and do your best to find someone to exchange a few words with."

Myra looked around and then grabbed a drink, as did some of the other guests. She didn't even know what was inside, but it was unlikely to be poisoned, so how bad could it be?

"Alright, I found that something to drink, now let's find that person who would fit the 'someone to talk to' role."

Soon after she found her unlucky target.

--

The Duke of Heliphos was just discussing about a possible business opportunity with one of the visiting guests, when a lovely voice called out to him.

At least it did sound lovely before he realized not just who that voice belonged to, but also how that voice addressed him.

"Hi grandpa Pharrell"

The stilted smile that was on Pharrell's face froze and turned into a look that could be described as dread.

'Why is this girl here of all places?!' he thought to himself, before doing his best to let the smile return on his face. Not that he disliked Myra, she was a kind young woman who did not mean any harm, but she seemed like a calamity to him in this place.

"I didn't expect to see you here today your highness. It is nice to see you though. I heard you've been quite successful lately."

Myra was still holding her glass as if it was something to carry around like a pouch and not something she was supposed to drink, she had forgotten about it already.

"Oh, Celestial Armaments is doing fine. Magic thread seems to be quite popular for some reason, we even have an order from the Emperor to equip some of the army. Quite a lot of work, but it's bringing in a good profit, so I can't complain."

"Princess, let me introduce you to Advisor Rocart who came here from the Kingdom of Arbery. It's a place with a lot of history and well known for its skill of taming magical beasts."

"Advisor Rocart, this is her Highness, Princess Myra one of our Empire's greatest young talents."

With the introductions out of the way, Myra suddenly remembered that there was still a glass in her hand and took a sip of the contents.

It seemed to be some fruity beverage and she didn't like it much, but at least it gave her something to do other than talking about the color of the walls.

"Ah yes, a princess. I have heard of the Emperor's habit of keeping his offspring in such a peaceful environment that they all don't even want the throne. What a pity, I wonder if none of his descendants has the ambition to take the empire for themselves?"

Pharrell frowned, not happy at all with the nasty words. He might not be part of the royal family and would happily have their Heliphos family take over, but against some foreign influence, they would still be banding together.

In the end it was still their empire and they were part of it. Having someone denounce their royal family just wasn't something one should do. He just wanted to respond with some angry words when the young woman next to him decided to answer.

Myra, as usual, did take the Advisor's words just as he said them. That he really felt sorry for the lack of competition and that he was sad that they would not get to inherit the throne.

"It's alright Advisor, no need to be worried. I have no interest in the throne of Luminos, I'd rather expand to other places and find my territory there. We just get rid of some beasts and then there is more than enough room."

Duke Pharrell looked at her with a stunned expression and the Advisor's nasty smirk turned into an angry frown.

'Did I just hear that right? Did she just respond to that vicious remark of this Advisor with a threat of taking over their Kingdom?'

'She even said she would get rid of their beasts that they are so proud of to make room!' Pharrell still couldn't believe it, but he had to admit, this young woman wasn't easily intimidated.

'And she even said it with such an innocent smile, as if it was something she could do any day!'

Of course Myra was talking about the western border and a lot of ants, but neither Pharrell nor the Advisor had any idea about that.

"In that case, you better prepare a large enough army, because this place isn't as easily conquered as you might think!" the Advisor was obviously upset now.

Myra did her best to honestly reply. "It will be enough if I bring my personal guard. Just some insects, nothing much to worry about." She said all of this with a smiling and calm expression, wondering why the Advisor was so upset.

Tia even coughed to get Myra's attention but it didn't seem to work.

"I would very much like to see how impressive this personal guard is to achieve such feats!" Now all pretence was dropped and the Advisor just showed utter contempt.

"Sure, I can stop by when there is some time. I'm very busy in the following months though and still have to go to other places first, so you have to be a bit more patient."

The Advisor finally had enough, turned around without another word and left.

By now everyone around them was also listening to their conversation and whispering with each other.

"She still has to go to other places? She is really busy?" - "Who is this woman that she is busy with invading other countries?" – "Since when does Luminos have the power to go on the offensive?"

"Isn't it just some Empire that others are already targeting?" – "Did we hear wrong about their situation?"

Myra was just confused. She turned to Tia and Pharrell and asked quietly. "Is he really this upset just because I told him that I wouldn't be able to visit their place soon? Isn't he overreacting a little bit?"

Tia sighed and just wanted to explain the misunderstanding to Myra when they were interrupted.

"You girl! You seem to be talking real big!" A big muscular brutish guy with a shaved head and a rather crude outfit compared to all the other people here was stepping in front of her pointing a finger right in front of her face trying to intimidate her.

"Kids like you need a proper lesson to learn. Not everyone just runs away when you want them to!"

Myra might have a hard time with polite words and intrigues or with people who did their best to convey something through sweet words, but it was easy enough to recognize a threatening brute who was right in front of her.

She frowned at the guy, not liking his attitude at all. "Stop waving around with your finger in front of my face." she told him with a cold voice, totally ignoring his earlier remark.

"Ah, see, that's what I mean, not knowing when to shut your mouth! So what if I don't stop pointing my finger at your face?!" he didn't stop pointing with his finger and dared her to act instead.

Once he noticed that the guards came closer wanting to stop him, he smirked, as if he just waited for some excuse to start trouble. Soon an aura of a Hierophant could be felt and nearly everyone in the room was doing their best to avoid him or was cowering on the floor.

The guards were no exception. To his surprise though, Myra didn't move an inch, she didn't even change her expression.

"You can choose. Either you apologize to everyone here and stop pointing with your finger at me, or you take your pick of one of the windows." Myra still calmly said.

The hierophant in front of her started to laugh. "Well make me stop if you can, and why should I pick a window? What's there to see outside anyway?"

Myra sighed and released some of her own aura. First the brute in front of her stopped waving his finger around and looked rather stunned.

Then he started to tremble as if a huge pressure was pushing him down. At some point, the stone tiles under his feet cracked and splintered.

Before it got to the point that he would just cower on the floor, the young woman, barely half his height grabbed him at the front of his clothes with one hand and threw him out of a window.

The guests and guards recovered quickly from the unexpected event, but even though they were back on their feet and the pressure was gone as quickly as it had come, no one dared to say a word.

"You think it's true? They really want to invade the countries surrounding them?"

"Probably only if you antagonize them. Didn't you see that power? She could have killed him from the start for his offence, but she warned him twice and then just threw him out."

"They will have no problem destroying governments with just that girl alone! Who knows if her personal guard has more of such monsters?"

It was at this time the Emperor entered the room. How could he not notice the spike of power.

'Was Myra's sister here? I never really asked who she is exactly. If her adoptive parents live in Luminos, but her sister travelled from the Forbidden Forest, what is their relationship? I just hope no one angered that sister. It could have bad consequences.'

Before the guards and his own people could even tell him what had happened, the guests from other Empires and Kingdoms were already doing their best to flatter him.

"Your Majesty, our Emiros Empire had some differences with your Luminos Empire in the past, I hope we can find a peaceful way to resolve this. Be assured that we will compensate you for the difficulties we have caused."

"Your Majesty, we have always been admiring your policy of peace and kindness, I brought some gifts with me, I hope you can accept them."

Emperor Vandor was really surprised why everyone was suddenly doing their best to improve their relationship with Luminos, or try to resolve old difficulties.

It did not take long for someone explain the situation to him though and then it all made sense.

'No wonder they all want to curry favour with me, they are scared witless by an earthbound god's presence. Why Myra though? Shouldn't it be her sister who is so strong?'

The banquet ended in a lot of confusion and a lot of flattery. Myra left soon after the incident after Tia told her that Luminos should be fine now and that it might be better to quietly leave.