Chapter 6

As we walk along the street towards the adventurous guild I take the first time in a long time to notice that my once beautiful outfit is now quite filthy and dirty with stains all over it. I look at where the gashes on my arm used to be and notice that someone has sewn up the cuts on my shirt and amongst the layers of dirt I can see your blood stains mixed in. I looked down at my pants. They are caked with mud and dirt and a few grass stains as well. My boots are also quite muddied up as well. I still can't help but think how stingy it was of the palace maids to keep the dress even if I did despise it. As we passed people on the street I noticed that many were pointing, talking about me no doubt. As we turn the corner I can see the adventures guild only a few feet away right next to an inn.

"Will get you a change of clothes first at the end then we can talk about our next plan of action" June said.

"We'll see you in a few minutes" Abigail said to the guys. So Leon, Zeke and Caleb went to the adventures guild while June and Abigail escorted me up to their room.

"We'll use my room, it's bigger" June led us upstairs. As June unlocks her door I can't help but feel the two of them looking at me

"So you like Leon, good choice" June said.

"Yah, he's a decent guy," Abigail said. Whatever you walk into June's room and close the door behind us I can't help but feel my face feel flushed.

" I have no idea what you're talking about," I said. I can see them emptying their item boxes of dozens and dozens of clothes for me.

"Don't play dumb it was obvious for us other girls to see that you like him" June said.

"And he's totally single," Abigail said.

"Ugh don't be ridiculous I'm a princess from another kingdom with important matters on my hands I don't have time to notice things like that" I say turning my head away pretending to be disgusted by the thought.

"Oh so that wasn't you riding horse back behind him noticing his muscular body" June said standing there with her arms crossed. I start scanning the piles of clothes on the bed trying to decide what I want to wear, while trying my best to ignore them.

"If it's us you're worried about us, don't.Abigail and Caleb have been together for 3 years now and I already have someone of interest in another kingdom" June said.

"Now why don't you wait here while we get you a tub to wash in. I can only imagine you want a proper hot bath" Abigail said. June and Abigail leave the room and I can't help but think about Leon again after what they said.I shake my head trying to forget thought and focus on the task at hand. I see dozens and dozens of clothes of all sorts of different colors, styles, button up shirts and jeans. I decided to go with something more casual instead of something fancier. So I went with a dark purple t-shirt, with fake Sapphire gems curling down the top right side, with gold thread weaving in between the fake gems. The shirt is a size bigger than I normally would wear but after stretching the shirt a bit I can see it's perfect for someone who uses magic and close combat so this shirt would be perfect when we leave. Next I choose a pair of dark blue jeans that fan out at the very bottom of the leggings. I hear a knock at the door as June and Abigail quickly come back inside. Abigail's holding a giant washing tub and June has a much smaller tub with a large magic crystal inside of it.

"This inn may not have the proper washroom but it does have plenty of washing tubs and large magic crystals so their guests can have a hot bath," Abigail said, setting the tub down in the middle of the room.

"Now while Abigail washes your clothes I will scrub your back while checking for any other wounds that I might have missed. We can have any wounds getting infected, it will be bad" June said. June holds the large magic crystal above the big tub and starts pouring magic into it. Very quickly the magic crystal started to turn the magic into hot water. As the tub starts to fill I take off on my clothes as well as my boots.

"Abigail, if it's too much trouble, can you wash my boots too and make sure that there's no scratches on it. Those boots are very special" I said.

"Sure no problem. Are the boots the hand me down from your mother?" Abigail asks.

"I know they were a gift from my father. They also have all kinds of enhancement magic on them. So it's very special to me and in more ways than one" I respond.

"They're a gift from your father but they look so stylish" June said in shock.

"Yeah I almost forgot that my father tried to put a lid on any private matters that's about our family so I guess anyone outside the kingdom wouldn't know that my mother had betrayed my father and tried to harm tons of innocent people including me. It's pretty much safe to say that my mother doesn't exactly care about me that much" I say aloud. As the tub finishes filling and Abigail throws my dirty clothes into the smaller washing tub I can't help but feel subconscious as both June and Abigail stare at me in utter shock.

"No way. I didn't know that about the Falsworth Kingdom's royal family" June said.

"But I don't understand how you, your father and your brothers can be so kind while your mother is so. Ugh you know awful" Abigail said.

"I guess it's just the Royal family's bloodline at play. When my father the King married my mother, who was no more than a commoner at the time, he had no way of knowing that her outer beauty was only skin deep. But that's not even the worst that my mother has done" I said. Slowly climb into the warm water in the wooden tub. The hot water feels good on my tired muscles.

"So threatening her own family and her own children wasn't the worst thing that she's ever done," Abigail said. I can see Abigail start washing my clothes as she makes light conversation.

"That my father the king is not my biological father" I say as June goes over my back with a sponge and soapy water.

"No way," they both said.

"The way we pieced it together is that my father, the King's bad older brother who was banished by my grandfather, had made his way back towards the capital and it was already a few years after the birth of my three older brothers," I said.

"At the time the King was away on the 13 Kingdom's peace meetings, by the time that he got back I was already a few months old" I continued on.

"And yet King Ryan still treats you as his own daughter" June said.

"And you're brothers as well," Abigail added. After about 50 minutes I'm dryer off and wearing a comfortable tee-shirt and jeans. June, Abigail and I make light conversation as we head out to the adventure guild next door. I put my hair up in a ponytail thanks to an accessory from June. As we walk past the adventurer's guild doors I am struck that it looks like a normal log cabin that's mostly empty. To be honest it looks kind of dull. I was expecting a little bit more. I can see Caleb, Zeke, and Leon are sitting at a table near the reception desk waiting for us. Leon then gets up and walks the three of us over through the reception desk while Caleb and Zeke remain seated.

"Katie we would like to register her as a new member" Leon said pointing me out.

"Okay as a new member to your party or as a new adventurer" Katie said dully.

"Both," Leon said.

"Okay here's paperwork for the team leader to make her part of your team and here's papers for you to make you a new adventure" She said. I can't help but notice that her standard uniform is nice and neat while her hair is a mess. She's chewing on some bubble gum and focusing more on her nails than she is on us. Leon and I stepped to the side as we filled out all of the paperwork.

"Here" Leon says as we hand back both of our papers.

"As a part of the new adventures initiation you must take the combative test. The competitive test will help us judge at what rank we should put you at when you're fighting against your proctor you should go all out" Katie says like she's just reading out of a pamphlet. "Wait here while I go get a proctor for you to judge your abilities."

"Is the introduction process supposed to be like this?" I asked Leon.

"No Katie hates being a receptionist for the adventurers guild" Leon said.

"One thing before I forget it, probably best you only show the proctor everything except fire magic and light magic. We don't want the guild finding out about all of your special talents and two it's best to stick to the story that with teamwork we brought the beast down which means not a whole lot of light magic was needed. Besides Abigail is our fire magic expert if the only attribute that she can use" Leon said.

"Good point, I'll keep that in mind during the exam" I said. An average looking man with shabby dark brown hair walked out. He was dressed like a bad Robinhood character. The exam went very easily, smoothly and quickly. All in all it was rather dull.

"My first time in a guild and it was rather disappointing" I said feeling let down.

"Yeah the Ballbout Kingdom's guild isn't exactly all that special or interesting to be honest. All of us can't wait to leave this place. The capital is great but the guild is let's just say the dead have more of a party than the guilt does" June said. Six of us have just stepped out of a guild building.

"If we're going to go around the kingdom making sure that everyone has gotten word and keeping an eye out for anyone else with special talents will need to decide where to go next" Zeke pointed out.

"I already decided where we should go next to the Ovarian kingdom. Ovarian Kingdom are close friends to the Falsworth kingdom so Amethyst can find out information about her family and two Ovarian Kingdom is the closest place with a Beast Contract Transportation company. Transportation fees you can travel across land and the sea still make it easier for us" Leon said. I'm taken back at his suggestion for the Ovarian Kingdom and one of the reasons is for me.

"The Ovarian kingdom is a very good idea with a riding beast we can easily get across the kingdoms faster" Abigail said.

"It's decided then. And if that's the case that's best that we do the shopping now while they're still daylight left" Zeke said. Zeke then turns towards Caleb.

"You mind helping me big guy your strength comes in handy with the shopping part" Zeke said. Zeke and Caleb then walk off towards the shopping district that caters mainly to adventurers.

"Have your magic levels come up yet?" Leon asks me.

"My magic levels are slowly rising. I should be at full strength by the time that the sun goes down" I said.

"Then ask girls to go shopping in the meantime, you can go with the guys. Unless you want to come along with us Leon" June said in a whine.

"No thank you I'll join the guys I heard of Caleb's story when you drag him along on one of your shopping trips. His arms were sore for weeks" Leon said, running off to catch up with Zeke and Caleb. I smirk at Leon's reaction as June pulls me along for a girl's outing. Despite the use of an item box for many people these days, many of the girls in the shopping area still can't help but carry out their bags.

"Umm June by the time the sun goes down I'll have the use of my item box again so I don't need to go shopping for more clothes since I have some" I point out as I see June and Abigail leading me to a nearby clothing store.

"Oh no no that's simply won't do. We must commemorate your time here with a few new outfits and a testament to our new alliance as a party and new friends" June said. I look at Abigail with a big smile on her face. Obviously she loves shopping as much as June does. Something tells me this will be a long day.

"Now why do I get the feeling that you're just trying to find an excuse to shop" I said. As we enter the shop I can't help but notice June for the first time in a while. Ignoring the fact that both Abigail and June are both wearing street clothes and I look at June and her fairly light skin, you can see how much time an adventurer spends out in the sun. She's not completely white but she's not completely tan either. But she has a bubbly personality. That same bubbly personality is bouncing all over the shop talking to all the other customers and to the workers. Such a happy and optimistic personality makes a perfect healer you're an optimistic person who will always try to save someone no matter how hopeless it seems and it's that characteristic that saves lives. Strangely enough June's adventure outfit looks no different than her normal street clothes. For healers they mainly stay in the background so they mainly just need an outfit with enhancement defense Magic just in case. Since the healer mainly stays in the back they don't need any heavy armor or anything like that and their weapon of choice is a magic staff. Although now that I'm looking at her I see that she's not wearing her normal street clothes that she was when I went to take the adventures exam. I can see that she is wearing a fairly long and bright blue dress with laced up black boots with a picture of a fire all over the bottom. I gaze over to Abigail who is looking at a pair of bracelets. Although June's hair is a bit longer than Abigail's, Abigail's hair is shorter and pointed outward with a small curl at the very bottom of her hairline. This nearly boy's styled hair almost resembles fire. I'm guessing it's to match her fire fighting style. I gave up trying to resist their persistence of shopping and decided to cruise around the store myself. My father gave my brothers and me a good amount of money for emergencies. I split mine in half. Half in my item box is half tucked away inside my boot just in case. Three of us spend hours hopping from store to store. After a few clothing stores, June and Abigail took me to a few stores that catered to adventure's outfits and other stuff. They helped me choose my gear and a couple of weapons. He stopped for a bite to eat in the shopping district center. There are lots of people here and tons of food stalls. We each split up and go to a different style. June heads towards a stall that sells different kinds of soups and fish from across the country. Abigail heads towards one that sells fried Chicken somehow it doesn't seem all that surprising to me. I decide to head towards one that has tables and chairs. The smell of their steak is too tempting to resist. After I have ordered and sat down by food, June and Abigail walk over towards me to join me at the table. I see June has ordered various kinds of sushi rolls and a small bowl of soup to go with it. Abigail has chosen a large portion of fried chicken and some fries. We sit there and eat and gossip in between. Abigail tells me of how her family comes from a long line of nights and Warriors of the like and that fire magic runs strongly in her family. Abigail apparently has been practicing her skills and abilities from a very young age. June then shares that she was an orphan and was sick until the orphanage got a big donation. Then she proceeds to drool on and about how no guys ever hit on her. June and Abigail ask me about how I know so much about an adventurous life and so much about life outside the castle. So I told them about the people that my father hired to train Us in combat and magical abilities. And how one of them used to be a former adventurer and took us on a quest with him most of the time. I told him how I got to see several small cities and villages far from my Capital home. I even told them about how he let me, and me, alone take down a monster bore by myself. June then goes on to dish about Zeke. Apparently Zeke came from a small village that was in between two kingdoms so the village had suffered through many wars and hardships so the land was quite barren and ruined. He apparently honed his archery skills to help out with the hunt so his people could eat. And when a team of adventurers passed by their leaders saw potential in him and offered him the opportunity to travel with them and to learn archery, Magic, and any basics to be an adventurer. Thanks to that he managed to send his small village a small amount of money on the regular so now their village is doing okay. Apparently Caleb came from a fairly big city and he'd always dreamed of being a strong adventurer so he worked hard and earned it. But shortly after becoming an adventurer his little sister fell ill. He took on many jobs and many loans to pay for his sister's health and rehabilitation. I asked them what they know about Leon's past but apparently he doesn't talk about it. For a long time they asked but after a while they decided to stop asking since it was pointless. After we finished eating we continued shopping. After several more hours it was finally getting dark and we headed for the inn. As we approach the inn, that's next to the guild building, we see all three guys slumped over and exhausted on the ground in front of the inn. As I look at them on the ground I notice that they are still wearing their adventuring outfits with armor and weapons minus Zeke's bow and arrows.

"You know it wouldn't kill you guys the dress more normally when you're going out shopping" June said standing there with her arms folded.

"What's the point of changing clothes? These ones are already dirty and if we change the new clothes we'll get dirty as well," Zeke said.

"Exactly how dirty do you think clothes will get on a shopping trip. And let's not forget you're still carrying your weapons" Abigail said.

"What's your point?," Caleb and Leon said together.

"Never mind we can split up the food and medical supplies in the morning right now let's get some dinner" June said.

"Come on Amethyst the guild's dining hall gets pretty dull but the dining hall at the inn gets really interesting" Abigail said. All six of us head inside the inn. We make our way towards the back of the building. After the hall opened up I was amazed at how big the dining hall and kitchen are. There are long tables lining the walls and circular tables scattered around the rest of the dining hall. The kitchen has a serving window much like a cafeteria would but you can see the inside of the kitchen it's big and shiny looking you can tell that they keep their building clean and neat. As we make our way towards one of the circular tables, June and Zeke are squabbling with each other. Abigail and Caleb are trying to break them up to no avail. I look at Leon, as he looks at me, and can't help but giggle and smile at their bickering. I am stunned as I realize it's the first time I smiled and giggled ever since my kingdom was attacked and I can't help but wonder if June and Zeke are fighting on purpose. As I open my eyes June and Zeke resume their fighting as if nothing had happened. I guess I'll never know if they were doing it on purpose. Leon acts as a true gentleman pulls out a chair for me to sit on and pushes me up to the table. As Leon sits next to me at the table I can't help but notice that the atmosphere of the dining hall is quite lively and cheery.

"Amethyst please choose whatever you want for dinner. I'll pay for it as my way of welcoming you to our party. Looking forward to the amazing adventures that we will have together" Leon said. With a big bright smile and sapphire blue eyes it takes all I have to not tear up although I don't understand why.

"Thank you, that's most kind of you," I said.

"Oh it's nothing just don't tell the others that I paid for your meal otherwise June will be expecting me to do the same with her" Leon whispers.

"It's not that I don't mind paying for my team members meal, it's just that I don't want to pay for their meal. You'd be surprised but even the ladies have large appetites sometimes I think they do it on purpose so that way they can save their money to buy more clothes. Of course June and Abigail keep arguing that it is because of their magic energy usage but I'm not so sure" Leon says as he leaves over with a wink of his eye. I giggle loudly enough that the other four have heard me.

"What's so funny over there?" Zeke asks.

"Are you making fun of me over there Leon you better not!" June practically shouts.

"Oh no no I would never make fun of you June" Leon says in a patronizing tone.

"Well I don't believe you"

"Calm down June, let's order something to eat already," Abigail interrupted. One of the waiters makes his way over to our table to take our order.

"My name is Tyrone and I'll be serving you today" Tyrone says looking at June to take her order.

"I want the firebird chicken salad with extra firebird meat and a glass of tea with ice," June said.

"And I'll have a salamander cheese pizza with an ice dragon milkshake," Abigail said.

"15 bore meat subs with an extra large helping of fries and one mug of beer please" Caleb said.

"The fungal soup surprised with grilled cheese and white wine," Zeke said.

"I thought the medium portion of steak that's well done with mashed potatoes with gravy and a small thing of mac and cheese with water and ice," I said.

"And I'll have the same thing but make my portion of steak large" Leon said. After the waiter wrote everything down he made sure that everything was right and walked off. Leon then proceeds to tell me how the inn obviously runs a restaurant and take-out in the back of its building. Apparently their food is quite delicious. As I look back over towards the kitchen I can see that there is a line for pickup orders so people can eat their food in their room or somewhere else. Apparently all people have to do is to come by and put in an order and what time they'll want it done by so that way all that person has to do is come by at that time and pick up the food. Quite ingenious so that the person can order their dinner ahead of time and continue about with other important things like shopping, work or even adventuring. This restaurant also has a dime in portion judging by all the tables and chairs. Leon and the others then proceed to talk about the times that they were in the other kingdoms. Requests, the food, and the people not to mention all the crazy things that happened on the way to the different kingdoms. Before I know it 37 minutes have passed and our food has arrived. So we all alternate between eating and talking. Granite most of it is about food and which they liked from where. They then ask me what the palace food is like and which I liked better, palace food or this food. They were quite surprised when I told them that my father has all of us cooking in the kitchen and only has the chefs cook our meals when there are events going on. June and Abigail demand that I share all the recipes I know with them. After everyone has finished their food, June, Abigail and Caleb proceed to mingle with the others in the dining hall while Zeke sits in a quiet corner and reads the book. I excused myself and headed back towards my room, room 315. As I proceed towards the lobby where the stairs are, Leon catches up to me holding two bowls of ice cream.

"After making sure that the others had paid for their meal I couldn't help but get bowls of ice cream for us" Leon said. Both Leon and I head outside to watch the stars while we eat our ice cream. I enjoy the shining stars, cool air and the silence as we eat our ice cream outside. Leon remains silent the entire time seemingly to understand that I want peace and quiet for a while. After we finish and head back inside he says that he'll take our bowls back to the kitchen for me and bids me good night as I head back to my room. After I make it inside my room I change into a simple t-shirt and shorts to sleep in and collapse on my bed. The day was long and tiring for what seemed like it's been days since I last fell asleep was merely one day. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.