121-130

"Yeah, we are fine. We can continue the battle." I did not wish for our battle to end like this. This was not a true battle. All I did was overwhelm her when I wanted to have a true battle with her.

"Are you sure?" The Announcer asked as he looked at Runa with a questioning gaze.

"Yes! I want to keep fighting her! You can name her as the winner, but we want to keep going." Runa said excitedly. "Although let's tone it down a bit…."

I let out a laugh. I couldn't help it. Runa was definitely a magic maniac. The Announcer looked at the two of us and sighed. "Alright, but keep the damage to a minimum. If you blow up the stage, fix it. I am sure you can do that, correct?"

The Announcer looked at me, which I answered with a nod of my head. " Easy enough." I mean, it was quite easy to modify the stage as needed. I had been doing it this entire time.

"Alright then. Battle stage seven hundred seventy seven, contestant number one thousand seventy two, Faith, winner!" The Announcer yelled out my win before hopping back up through the air towards his stage.-.

Once he was gone, I created a magic circle and began fixing the battle stage. After that, I took a deep breath and looked at Runa. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Hmm? Yep! Fine and dandy!" Runa said cheerfully, which made me let out a sigh of relief.

While she had acted all amazed by what happened, I still worried about whether or not she was okay. "Then shall we continue?"

"Yep!" Runa nodded and was already getting into a defensive position but paused and gave me a serious look. "I know I can not beat you normally, but I want to test my skills against someone of the same level as me. So would you mind matching my strength?"

"Sure." I nodded and smiled as I jumped back to my side of the stage with a single leap. "You can start!"

"Then get ready!" Runa yelled out. At the same time, ten magic circles appeared, and this time it was not fireballs but streaks of lightning. They charged toward me so fast that I was almost caught off guard. My mana shield went up quickly. But even with it up, as the lightning hit the ground, I could feel the electricity surging through the ground and into my body. I think if it was not for my stats, I might have really been hurt by such an attack. But I made sure to take note of the fact that lighting would travel into the ground and penetrate my mana shield. Direct attacks like fireball can not do damage like that. While I could feel the heat, the flames would be more around my body and not directly touching me.

"It seems barrier might be a better option during times of area effect spells. But what if I changed the shape of the mana shield?" I mumbled to myself as many more lightning spells came flying at me. I quickly waved my hand, creating a barrier to block the spell before sending out ten streaks of lightning myself towards Runa. I wanted to see just how she would deal with it.

But to my amazement. Instead of using a normal barrier, she created a dome of water around her which made the lightning spread out over the water and dissipate. "Interesting." I smiled before creating more magic circles. This time it was not lightning, but an earth spell called earth spike. It shaped large rocks from underground into spears that shot up through the earth. I hate to say it, but I was using Runa to learn proper combat with other mages. I just hoped she would not mind.

Normally such combat would be over in an instant. But since I was gunning to be a magic knight, it would be different. Battles would consist of both magic and sword. But going head to head with a mage that would not want to get close was a hard thing to do if they were competent. At least, this is my theory. While I may be able to overwhelm them, if I was attacked by surprise, I would need to be able to defend properly. Like mana shield and lightning are a no go. If I had not learned that just now, I would have been in a bad position if I had been ambushed by a few mages who tried to hit me with lightning. My little dragon butt would have been fried.

So this battle with Runa was very educational on many levels. Spell after spell was cast back and forth. I would switch up my attacks to try to fake Runa out, but she always seemed to have a proper method to block my attacks. I really have to say that Runa might just be peerless in her power range. Her knowledge and experience while battling other mages was very deep. I was kind of jealous. But then again, as an elf and a princess at that, she was probably trained in such combat since she was young. All my experience comes from what little training I had with my family. It was not much, but enough to survive against bandits.

While my current power was high, I lacked experience and knowledge. But I am in no hurry to learn it all right away. I will learn it all over time. It was just that right now was the best time to have a mock battle with the stage and all already set up for us.

We continued sending spells back and forth at each other until the Announcer announced that the third round was now over. "All contestants who have won will need to spend the night in the arena. Matches will begin before dawn."

I guess this was also normal for the tournament once the one versus one matches started. Now that I think about it, Annie and the other maids were all preparing a lot of food. Much more than normal, I guess this was the reason why. I scratched my head and looked over at Runa, walking over to me, and asked: "You staying as well?"

"Yep! I want to see how far you go. The next set of matches will be much shorter now that most of the weaker contestants are out. Looks like you won't be fighting Sei and the others until the day after though."

I looked up at the sky to see the new brackets. The numbers had already been whittled down to only a hundred people. It seemed there were quite a few double outs and contestants who gave up due to injuries. The name on the list for my first fight was no one I knew. "I guess I will need to wait until tomorrow to see who I will be fighting."

"Hmmm? You don't know? Fanmari is the girl with the big fan. I heard her name earlier due to her being close to my battle stage." Runa explained, which made me frown slightly.

"Then tomorrow's battle might be much harder than I expected." I guess I can only hope to win. I let out a sigh as I looked up at the sky. "Let's hope you are not one of the assassins." 𝑖𝓃𝓃r𝒆𝘢d.＆nbsp;c𝘰m

"Hmmm? Assassins?" Runa asked with a confused expression.

"Don't worry about it. Let's go eat. My Annie and the girls made a bunch of food earlier. We should get over there before Sei eats it all." I did not want to go into details about what was going on around me. I did not want Runa to get involved, and all of a sudden, an international incident was happening due to some stupid nobles.

Before we arrived at the stadium, Annie told me to meet her by the entrance after my matches. But as I arrived with Runa, I heard a Sei whining. "Annie, why can't I just have a sandwich now?"

"Miss Sei, I have told you many times already that you can not eat before the Young Miss. Only when the Young Miss is here and says you can eat can you eat. There is proper etiquette to everything." Annie's voice was stern as she scolded Sei, who hung her head in defeat.

Seeing the two going back and forth, I couldn't help but chuckle. After all, while Sei looked my age at this moment, she was, in fact, much older than both Annie and I. So seeing Annie handle Sei so well made for a funny scene.

"Young Miss! Congratulations on continuing to the next round!" Annie saw me and perked right up as she walked over and bowed her head to me in greeting.

"Yeah, well… I kind of went overboard." I said while scratching my head.

"No, you didn't. I am the one to blame for what happened. I truly got in over my head. Someone who can cast two high tier magic spells in a row would definitely be able to pull off some crazy things. I was too overconfident." Runa said as she cut in.

"Let's just say it was both our faults. Let's go eat. I am starving." I could tell if I tried to say it was my fault again, then Runa would try to say it was hers. I did not feel like going back and forth like that, so It was easier to just say it was both our faults. At any rate, I am really starving, and Annie's cooking is amazing.

"Finally, we can eat! Let's go!" Sei yelled out while grabbing my hand and Annie's hand and pulling us along. Today's battles ended on a good note but I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Our group got much bigger when Sir Derek and Gesel also came over to eat with us. Luckily Annie had expected as much, so she had brought more food than one would have expected. So in the end, it was Annie, myself, Rina, Brooke, Sophie, Thurul, Sei, Gesel, Fred, Runa, and Sir Derek sitting here eating around a small campfire.

While we ate, my mind was preoccupied with tomorrow's battle with Fanmari. I just hoped she was a normal contestant. If she were to go all out against me, to kill me, then I might have to take her down. To be honest, I really did not wish to kill anyone unless I am forced to, but if she pushes me too far, then I might have no choice but to.

"Little Lass, what is on your mind?" Sir Derek asked as he moved to sit down next to me, he had a cup of ale in his hand. My guess is that Thurul had brought some of his special brews.

"I was just thinking that tomorrow's opponent might be one of the people who was sent by the nobles. I highly doubt they would send anyone weak. Not with all the information about me circulating about." I explained honestly. For some reason, Sir Derek, although muscular and had a strong pressure about him, when he talked to me like this, seemed like a grandpa.-.

"Hmmm… That may be true. Nobles may act rashly at times, but they know to make sure to do things right. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get away with half the stuff they get away with. Just keep your guard up. If anything happens, I will be there to back you up. Normally I would not tell this to a young girl, but if you have to shed blood, then shed blood. Protect your life over everything else. The King has already tossed his support behind you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have a black knight at your side. Only the royal family has black knights at their side. Whether they are hiding in the shadows or standing directly next to them, they are always there protecting the royal family and the kingdom's interests." Sir Derek really had a way with words. It was able to make me relax a bit.

If I were to kill someone during an event like this, it would be blown out of proportion. The nobles could use it as a means to try to condemn me and put me in prison while they petition for control back over the east side slums. I know that with me taking over control of the area and more knight patrols has made it hard for them to continue their business, especially with the black knights giving the orders to those in charge of the knight's barracks close to the area.

And if you count me slowly reclaiming the slums back to make it a safer place for people to live and work, then it is basically stamping out any chance for them to do any dirty dealings in the city. They would need to try to transform another section of the city into a slum. But now that the King is paying much more attention to the city, there will probably be no chance for them to do that. The only thing they could do was set up some kind of outfit outside the capital but close enough to still be able to run back and forth.

I know I will never be able to stamp out corruption by doing what I am doing. But I never set out to do that in the first place. My only goal in this matter was to better the lives of the people living in the slums so that they could have a chance, a better chance at life.

I let out a long sigh as I sipped my tea. "I will try not to allow it to come down to bloodshed."

"That's the best course of action since it will save a lot of trouble. But just know the option is there and that you will not be held accountable. The King has long since learned of the plans these snake bastards have, so don't worry about the clean up. To be honest, with how young you are, I would never wish for you to be dealing with such things. But I still admire you." Sir Derek's words surprised me. I do not see what I have done that would make him admire me.

"Admire me?" I asked. I felt flattered but still. If anyone should be admired, it should be Sir Derek himself.

"Yes. You are so young yet more noble than half the nobles in this kingdom. You care for the people of this kingdom more than let on. No one goes out of their way to help the poor. No one goes out of their way to fight in a war to defend their homeland at your age. Especially not a little girl."

"But I only really went off to fight to protect my village. As for the other battles, that was…."

"Doesn't matter!" Sir Derek interrupted me. "What matters was that you jumped into the fire. Whether it was to gain a little bit of benefits or not, you still jumped in, and not only that, but you turned a losing situation around and gained the trust of the soldiers you commanded. It is not why you did something but what results you give. If you just jumped in and let your men die to win the battle, I would not be talking to you now. You did not do that. You stood firm in your stance of trying to keep as many of your men alive as possible. You were on the front lines and not hiding in some tent. You took a ragtag group of soldiers seen as misfits by our kingdom and made them heroes. Did you claim full glory? No, you did not. In my eyes, if that does not deserve admiration, then I do not know what does.

"Faith, take the meaning of your name and have more faith in what you do. You are going to go someplace in this world. Even though you are a demi human you are already standing higher than half the humans in this kingdom. I heard not only have you befriended the princess to the point that she is willing to steal the royal stamp, but you have even put the silly prince in a place where he is willing to work hard now. Do you know after his scolding the other day that he has begun hitting the books again? The King did not ask him to, but he said he needed to learn more and become someone who is able to truly run this country. He said he did not wish to let you see him as the idiot prince any longer.

"To be honest Little Lass, I think you stole the lad's heart. Haha!" Sir Derek let out a loud laugh as he took another swig of his ale.

But I couldn't help but furrow my brow. The prince was handsome, but he had so many faults. If he did fix them, then maybe he would be someone worthy of being the next King. And even a man worthy of someone to marry. But I, for one, do not think that it would ever be me. He would need to do a full one eighty in his personality before that would ever happen. But if he can become a good king, I will support him one hundred percent.

Plus, I can see the sibling rivalry if what the others said was true about Adel. But I would rather just be friends with them all and leave it at that for the time being. Now, why did Sir Derek have to go and remind me about such depressing things?

Once again, I was letting out a sigh. I have been doing that a lot as of late. If I keep sighing like this, I might end up growing so old that I will look like a granny by the time I reach eighteen. But I just can't help it. With everything that is happening, I can't help but feel slightly stressed out. I just want to settle into my new place and go to the academy and try to forget everything that is going on. Of course, I will need to make trips back and forth between the slums to check on things, to also see the progress of the factory and my new house, but at least I get to ride the airship more, which will be fun. I could always try to create a teleporter since I memorized the way it works, but I kinda feel nervous about using one I made myself. Maybe I could work out a teleportation magic instead that allows me to visit places I have already been.

At the same time, I wanted to build another place that would be a good spot for me to test out some of these runic inscriptions. I wonder if I can take a few classes on that when I get to the academy. There are other things besides barrier magic I would like to try using for inscription. And instead of wasting a lot of materials testing things out, it would be more wise to learn what I can and then try to put it to practical use. I have an understanding of the concept and can actually make my own barrier inscriptions, but this is different. Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if I can make a barrier that could be carried around. It would safeguard those that I care about…. This is something I should look into after I move….𝐢𝘯𝑛𝓻𝚎𝙖𝑑. ᴄ𝗼m

That night I slept out under the stars. It was not just me but everyone else as well. I had put up a barrier around us to keep any questionable people from being able to get near us so we could sleep peacefully at night. Sophie was very nice and allowed me to cuddle with her fluffy tail, or more like I kinda snuggled into it without asking first. But she didn't say anything, so I guess all was okay.

Sei and Runa seemed to have passed out drunk. Runa was not much older than me, but she still drank Thurul's ale like a champ. I never had alcohol myself, but I am not sure I want to drink any either. I feel I might become a different person if I did. No idea why I feel this way, I just do.

When I woke up in the morning, I couldn't help but shiver at the dreams I was having. Knight's on white horses saving a damsel in distress. Two, to be more precise. One was Adel, and the other was Prince Lance. It was a terrifying dream where they had a duel to the death, and in the end, no one won. For some reason, an even more terrifying person showed up. An idiot beyond idiots, the hero of Gravos! It was such a nightmare that I woke up feeling sticky from sweat.-.

It was all Sir Derek's fault for reminding me about all that love stuff. But I wonder why that idiot showed up in my dreams. He is already a walking nightmare during the day when I see him. I do not want to have him in my dreams. And for some reason, he kept yelling: "I have your money!" But in his hand was a bunch of rocks that you would find on the side of the road! Anyway, I am now awake and will hopefully never dream of such a dream again.

After some food for breakfast, it was already time to head to my stage. My opponent was already standing there waiting for me when I arrived. Fanmari, although she was cute, I could sense her trying to stare daggers into me. While I should just ignore it, I still couldn't help but ask: "Are you here for me?"

"Hmmm?" Fanmari looked at me with a raised eyebrow before lowering her head and tapping her chin with her finger. She seemed to have fallen into deep thought. A few seconds later, she raised her head at me and smiled. But that smile seemed to tell me a lot since it was filled with blood lust.

I really did not wish to fight this fight since I knew it will be a battle with my life on the line, but….. I will have no choice, it seems. While I could just give up here and now, I would look weak in the eyes of those damn nobles if I did that. I will need to show them my strength is not to be taken lightly. So I must apologize to this girl who I was about to fight with everything I had.

I gripped my sword as the announcer's voice rang through the air. "All contestants, get ready! Begin!"

It was then that Fanmari raised her huge fan and swung it at me. A gale of wind shot right at me, and within that wind, I could sense imminent danger. I wrapped my feet with earth using earth magic to keep me from being blasted away while putting up both a mana shield and a barrier.

Clanging sounds were heard as hundreds of metal needles slammed into my barrier and fell to the ground. I could smell a strange stench coming from those needles. They were probably poisoned. While frowning, I created multiple magic circles and surrounded Fanmari with earth wall. "We do not need to do this. If you stop now, you can walk out of here." i𝚗n𝘳𝙚𝑎𝗱. 𝑐𝗼𝒎

"I get paid for the job. Even we assassins have our own code of honor. We take a job, we finish it, or we die. It's that simple. One of us will be leaving here alive today. Which one of us it is, is still up in the air! Wind Destruction!" Fanmari yelled out, causing my earth walls to blast to pieces and fly at me. Luckily I kept a barrier up, so I was able to block all the debris.

I looked at Fanmari who was smiling back at me with a face full of killing intent, and sighed. I turned my gaze skyward before closing my eyes and opening them again. Since I have no choice, I will do what I need to do….

I raised my hand, causing the sky to darken overhead. Magic circles lit up in the sky and began to spin around. "Since you are not willing to give up and these damn nobles do not seem to understand who I am, then I guess I will display a bit of my strength. Meteor shower!"

"What are you doing!? Are you crazy!?" I heard the announcer yell out. I turned to see the old man suddenly charging over at me with a magic circle already active. Seeing the kind of spell it was, I couldn't help but feel even more depressed. "Even you are in on it?"

I got no answer to my question as I formed three barriers around myself along with my mana shield. It seemed the attack was a lightning attack. I guess this old man had been watching me from the very start trying to find out my weaknesses, and I allowed him to!

With another wave of my hand, hundreds of magic circles appeared in the air and surrounded the old man. "Don't blame me for this! Hells Rain!"

Fire and lightning began to shoot out from the magic circles toward the old man. But he only snorted and tossed up a few barriers to block the attacks. But luckily, it threw him off his attack route since he had to stop and defend. As for Fanmari, I saw her kneeling down using her fan as a means to block the incoming meteors. This was my slimmed down version of grand fall. Small meteors no bigger than my fist flying down from the sky.

I am not exactly sure what was going on, but suddenly many barriers appeared around Fanmari and the announcer blocking my attacks. And before I could even get a grip on the situation, I was suddenly surrounded by many people. Each one had a sword drawn and were radiating killing intent.

"What do you all want!?" I yelled in anger. Yes, I was officially mad. I had not done anything that deserved to be targeted like this. I know I was stepping on a few toes but did I really deserve to be treated like I was some kind of huge criminal?

Seeing myself being surrounded on all sides, I extended my wings and intended to fly away up into the air, but before I could, a ten layered barrier suddenly surrounded my stage. Over thirty people of what looked to be highly skilled fighters stood in front of me.

"Faith!" I heard yelling behind me. It was Runa and Sei. It seemed they had run over. But they were trapped on the outside of the barrier. Unless someone can break the barriers, there was no way this was going to end well.-.

I took a deep breath before letting it out as I watched the people edging toward me cautiously. My eyes lit up as I whispered: "Confusion mist!"

A dense fog began to fill the stage. With my actions partially hidden, I took this chance to launch my attack. With my sword drawn, I ran into the fog and quickly found my first target. My sword flew through the air but slammed into something hard, causing my hand to shake due to the vibration. I looked up to see the man smiling at me with a wide grin and a semi transparent barrier surrounding his body. At this moment, I really wanted to curse!

I quickly retreated, but as I did, a shadow formed in the fog, causing me to lean back just in time to see a cold metal blade flying over my face. I ended up doing a backflip past the person only to have to quickly stick up another barrier with three layers as a clanging sound was heard. Looked down on the ground to see a bunch of needles lying on the ground surrounding me, causing my brow to furrow even more.

While confusion mist was blocking my eyesight as well, it was at least blocking some of theirs too. I quickly buffed myself with wind rush and colossal strength. I did a few more backflips to make some distance before surrounding myself with ice wall. I have a feeling these people are trying to dry up my mana, but sadly for them, my mana was infinite!

But I also had attacks that did not use mana either. With the ice wall blocking their view of me, I took a deep breath and held back the roar that was about to come out of my mouth as a stream of fire shot forward, instantly melting the ice in front of me and shooting across the battle stage.

This was no ordinary fire but pure dragonic fire breath. I turned my head left and right, filling the stage with my flames. I could hear some screams of agony as my flame hit some of the attackers. This was my first time actually using my flame breath in battle. But I had no choice. Each one of these attackers was definitely a professional, a step above a common soldier. If I did not turn it up a notch, then I would be dead for sure. One minor slip up means death for me. And I do not wish to die anytime soon.

My fire breath slowly came to an end as I looked across the stage. The fog has begun to dissipate. What was left in front of me were ten burnt corpses and a group of people hiding behind multi layered barriers. I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that my attack was actually blocked. While I did kill a few of them, there were still too many left.

As I was contemplating my next move, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud yell coming from above. "IIIIIIII ammm Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"

<strong>*Boom!*</strong>

The stage was suddenly hit with what looked like a talking sledgehammer with ears. "Owe, my butt!"

"You idiot, I told you not to try to dive down like that!" I heard another voice, this one was male.

As the dust settled, I saw a tall rabbit girl and another beastkin, a young boy with cat ears and two tails. But now that I looked at him, it seems I have seen him before. If I am right he was the beastkin with the hood on that I saw fighting. As I was trying to figure out if these newcomers were friends or foe, the young cat boy turned and looked at me. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get into battle position!"

"Huh? Oh yes!" I yelled out on instinct as I got ready for battle.

"To think the Kingdom of Lodina was here." A voice came from above this time, one I knew well. I looked up to see Sir Derek holding Sei and Runa like luggage as he dropped down from the sky. He landed so quietly on the ground that you would not think he had dropped down from up high. He dropped the two in his hands and turned to me with a big grin. "Reinforcements are here. Also, don't worry about the others. Thurul and Gesel, along with some idiot going on about being a hero, are protecting the others. But to think half the contestants were all assassins. But now the numbers should be even by a little, no?"

"Old man from the human kingdom, can you shut your trap? We are in the middle of a battle!" The young cat boy yelled out as he glared at Sir Derek.

"Haha! I guess you are right. Now then. Let's take out the trash, shall we?" Sir Derek suddenly pulled a huge sword out of thin air and rested it on his shoulder as he looked at the assassins in front of him. "If you wish to die, step forward. This old man will play with you all."𝐢𝓷n𝗿e𝙖𝑑. 𝘤oｍ

Seeing everyone suddenly show up made me purse my lips. I wanted to scream: "I had this, you know!" But at the same time, my heart felt fluffy and warm. I had no idea who the beastkin people were, but Sir Derek, Runa, and Sei were all here to help me while Gesel and Thurul were protecting those important to me.

When I lived in the village with my family at the start, there were only a handful of people who were willing to even look my way. Now that handful has grown so much that now I have so many people who are friendly with me and treat me as a normal person. I truly feel blessed. I feel blessed for everything that has happened and the things that are to come.

The warm gaze that I looked at the backs of the people in front of me with, slowly turned cold as I looked at the group of assassins seemingly trying to assess the situation. I could see the Announcer gritting his teeth. I guess he probably never expected their barrier to be broken into. I guess the rabbit girl and cat boy are both very powerful.

"What is going on, are you not making a move now!?" The cat boy yelled out.-.

"Humph! Just because more people showed up does not mean you will survive. Fanmari!" The Announcer yelled to Fanmari before jumping back.

"On it!" Fanmari grabbed something from her waist before unfolding her fan and raising it into the air.

I did not plan to let them finish what they were doing, so because she could finish executing her attack, my eyes glowed as ten magic circles activated all at the same time. Spears of ice shot toward Fanmari but just like before, a barrier suddenly appeared blocking the attack, but that was all I needed. My eyes glowed once more, and another magic circle appeared within the area the barrier protective radius. Not even a fraction of a second later, a spear of ice shot out of it and pierced into the Fanmari's chest. Her gaze, which was full of confidence suddenly showed one of shock and surprise. She looked down at her chest to see a shard of ice piercing through it, then looked up at me. Her eyes locked with mine.

I really do not know what to say when I looked at the enemy I had just killed, whose eyes seemed to be full of regret. I was not a cold blooded person, so seeing such a thing really messed with my heart and mind. I am sure I will have nightmares about this later.

"Finish them!" I heard Sir Derek yell out. Everyone else charged at the enemy. Only Runa stayed behind as she ran over to my side. She was saying something, but I could not hear it. Those eyes were penetrating into my mind, burning themselves into me.

I felt dizzy. I felt sick. I think my stomach had already emptied a few times. This was much different than killing a soldier on the battlefield. Fanmari was someone close to my age. While she came here to kill me, it still does not change the fact that she was so young and had her life ahead of her. And that look of regret as if she regretted coming here. As if she regretted ever making me her enemy. What if I could have disabled her? What if I could have kept her alive so that she could do her time and turn over a new leaf? Why did I only think of killing her instead of just capturing her?

These thoughts plagued my mind and made me feel even worse. The world around me was spinning, and my eyes were starting to grow dark…..

—

I guess I passed out because right now, I was staring at an unfamiliar stone ceiling. My eyes blinked a few times as I looked around. I was lying on a cot, and next to me, with their heads resting on the cot, were Runa and Sophie. "You are awake."

I turned to see a young cat boy with two tails standing there staring at me with eyes that seemed to be judging me. "You are?"

"My name is Prince Rythilin, and I am the crown prince of the Kingdom of Lodinia." Prince Rythilin gave me a proper noble bow. Even Prince Lance never gave me such a bow before. At least, I do not think he did…

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Rythilin. My name is Faith Cyrilia. I hope you don't mind my discourtesy of not getting up." I bowed my head slightly to him. To be honest, I am not sure why he was here. 𝘪𝗻n𝑟e𝑎𝒅. 𝘤𝒐ｍ

"It's fine. I am glad you are okay. I stopped in because I wanted to be sure nothing was seriously wrong with you. You gave many a fright when you suddenly collapsed." I see. Well, this is truly nice of him. Although why do I feel the way he looks now, and from when I first saw him, he seems much older than before? At least around my age.

"I thank you for your concern. It was more of mental fatigue than anything I guess you can call it." I said with a forced smile. I really did mess up back there. I let my emotions get to me, and now…. Luckily my mind seems more firm now. Maybe it was just because of the moment.

"I see. It does happen when you are overwhelmed. I am sure eventually you will learn how to deal with such things in the future. Oh, they seem to be waking up. Miss Cyrilia, I do wish to speak with you more. Are you free in the next few days?" Prince Rythilin asked.

I looked at him and thought for a moment. I saw no reason to turn him down, so I nodded my head. As long as he was not planning to ask me to do something strange, then I see no reason not to speak with him. "I should have some time before I move to my new place in the next few days after the tournament is over if it is still on."

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know. Due to half the contestants being assassins, the tournament was canceled," Prince Rythilin explained, causing me to frown. I mean, I really wanted to fight the others….

"Anyway, I should take my leave. It seems both Princess Runa and your friend will pretend to be asleep until I leave. I will be in contact about our date." My mind suddenly went blank as I watched the smirking Prince walk out of the room.

I think I might have been hearing things, but did he just say date? I do not remember agreeing to anything like a date! "Oh? So Faith likes the overly cute ones." I turned towards the voice to see Runa giving me a teasing smile.

"Adel will be sad." Sophie's voice entered my ear from the other side.-.

I was starting to become flustered. "Hold on! I never said anything about a date. He only asked if we could talk more!"

"In the Kingdom of Lodinia, the way a man asks a girl on a date is by asking if they wish to talk more," Runa explained, causing my expression to turn black.

"How was I supposed to know !?" I yelled. "Forget it. Runa, you go."

"No, thank you! I do not wish to be hissed at by the Prince of the beast kingdom. His attendant and guard are very powerful. That rabbit girl only used three attacks to break all those barriers." Runa's words surprised me. Even I have a hard time breaking a barrier. This just goes to show how strong that rabbit girl is.

"I will send a message to Adel later… If she finds out about this from other sources, I think all hell will break loose." Sophie mumbled under her breath, but I heard every word of it.,

"Why would it cause hell to break out!? Sophie, you are over exaggerating things. Anyway, since I said I will go, I will go, but I am not going alone. I never intended for this to be some kind of date, so even if he doesn't like it, I will bring both of you with me." The last thing I wanted to do was get involved romantically with any kind of royalty from another kingdom. I would not and can not betray the kingdom I live in by doing so.

I will also not allow myself to become some kind of tool to be used to make ties with another kingdom. I won't change my current goals for anything. I was born in this kingdom, and I plan to at least do what I can for it.

However, what happened today really does still bother me. I mean those eyes…. Fanmari's eyes were still burning vividly in my mind, but it was not making me feel anything anymore. I guess my skills have taken over or something. Although, I am not sure if they are or not. But I am glad that it did not erase that image. While it will always haunt me, it will be a good reminder that this is what it means to live in this world full of bloodshed.

Sophie looked at me with a strange look before shaking her head and mumbling something else. I couldn't hear her this time because she spoke in such a low voice. "Anyway, you two are coming with me. Maybe Thurul and Sei as well…. And Gesel and Fred."

I really did not wish to be alone with Prince Rythilin now that he went and called our meeting a date. I would never have agreed if that was the case. I got too much going on to care about such things or time to deal with such headaches either.

"Haha! I can't wait to see how sour his face will be when he realizes that he will not be with you alone." Runa said while laughing.

"I guess you know Prince Rythilin?" I asked. As royalty, I would think she would know most of the other princes and princesses of other kingdoms.

"Mmm… Well, more like we got into a fight once. But that was when we were little. My father and mother took me over to their kingdom for a meeting between our nations to form a trade pact. It could have been left up to their subordinates, but my father was very curious about what a beast kingdom looked like at the time.

"Well, during the meeting, I was stuck with the Prince with nothing better to do. So I made him show me around the castle. We were in an area near a small man made pond, and the Prince decided to try to touch my ears. And well, I don't like it when people touch them as only your future spouse is allowed to touch them. So I kinda raised my foot and stuffed it in his face sending him flying into the pond behind him. Luckily it was not too deep, but as he was a catkin and well, he kind of got very angry and hissed at me before attacking me.

"Long story short, we both ended up with two black eyes and fat lips. We got a serious scolding that day." Listening to Runa's story made me laugh. I mean, just picturing the two fighting made for a funny image.

But something curious came to mind. "How old is Prince Rythilin?"

"I think he turned fourteen this year? His race ages very slowly physically. Which is why he looks so young. He is kinda like you. While he is a catkin, he is from the two tailed race, which is a long lived race while normal catkin has the same lifespan as humans." Runa's explanation explained it all. I thought it was strange how he seemed to have the demeanor of someone older. I guess this is why he seemed older when speaking to him just now. 𝙞𝚗𝓷𝗿𝚎аd. 𝙘𝒐𝚖

"Well…. I give you permission to push him into a pond when we go with me to meet with him. He deserves it after tricking me into this date. Sly cat!"

I ended up spending a day and night in the healing ward of the stadium. The healers wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with me before letting me leave. While the tournament ended before I could even get to fight Gesel and the rest, at least none of the people I cared about got hurt. I did, however, take a very big lesson from all of this. I should never react without judging the situation first. With my current skills and high intelligence, you would think I would already understand all of this. My analytical abilities were already very high, so I should have been able to judge the situation better and come up with a more appropriate way to deal with Fanmari.

While she may have been an assassin, she may have been able to live a life outside of such a dirty job with the right help after she had done time for her sins. Of course, I do know that such thinking is naive, to say the least, but I am someone who sees a young girl and hopes that maybe they can be saved from the life they were dragged into. I could be just sticking my nose into other people's business as well. I mean, she could have chosen the life of an assassin, or maybe she was forced into it, I do not know. I did not know her. I only knew the look in her eyes, those eyes that showed so much regret.

Even though she was here to kill me, I still think there could have been a better solution. I just never thought it would have affected me the way that it did. It seemed the difference between a soldier fighting a war and bandits who are doing dirty deeds compared to a young girl my age affected me much more than I would have expected. This was a major flaw and something I will need to work on. Not that I have a way to train it. It's not like I can run to a village and start slaughtering all the teen girls I see. That would make me the bad guy. And the last thing I want is to become the bad guy.-.

Because I am sure that damn hero idiot would suddenly show up waving his sword yelling: 'Die Demon Lord! I will banish you to hell!" Only to be slapped away by my second form. Then he would have some kind of magical breakthrough that would make my hp bar so low that my third form would kick in, replenishing my health. Well, maybe not, but the idea of it all sounds kind of fun.

But I, for one, do not plan to turn into some kind of strange monster that no one knows anything about. Fantasies aside, while things did not end the way I would have wanted them to, I still planned to thank everyone who helped me. And I just so happened to have a certain event coming up that would be perfect for a nice party with everyone. But first, before that, I needed to talk with Sei and Sir Derek.

—

A little while later, I was sitting in my living room. Annie had served tea and set down snacks. Sophie was sitting at my side while Sei and Sir Derek were sitting across from me. Runa, on the other hand, said she had things to do and ran off. She did, however, tell me she would be back to face off with the sly cat.

"So what exactly happened after I passed out?" I asked. I never got the chance to talk about this as it seemed to be something that was supposed to be kept hush hush. Even if it did cause an incident, it was not something the kingdom wanted everyone to know about, so the story was mixed up a bit and the assassins were blamed on the Norian kingdom.

"Well…. We took care of the assassins and had their bodies disposed of. All except the young girl assassin. We made sure she would get an appropriate burial. While the old guys mean nothing to us, we are not as heartless to send a young girl to lie in a nameless grave. Luckily we knew her name." Sei replied. I felt a little relief that she was able to gain a bit of peace after death.

"As for the ones behind it, well, it seems your good old friend the count is one of them as well as a few other nobles who all have connections to each other. It seems the assassins guild was given a high price of ten thousand gold for your head." Hearing Sir Derek reply with a chuckle and a look of approval about my current bounty, I am not sure how I feel about it. Ten thousand gold was like gaining a billion dollars for a commoner. It was no easy task, but for a bunch of nobles, especially those who dealt in dirty deeds, they could easily get that amount of gold.

"So I should expect more people to come and assassinate me?" I asked.

"This I can not be sure of. Sadly there was not enough evidence to single anyone out." Sir Derek gave me an apologetic look.

While I know there was not much I could do about it if they did send more assassins at this time, I was kind of hoping we could put some of them in jail. But I guess without proper evidence, there is no way to arrest a noble. I guess you could call them slippery snakes. I let out a sigh as I sat back with a cup of hot steaming tea in my hand and took a sip. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. "I will be making some barrier pendants for those around me, including my family. Sei, any chance you can get someone to send them over after they are made? One will be made for both Adel and Prince Lance as well."

"No problem! With a pendant inscribed with your barrier, nothing will come to harm them. I will show you how to make one that will auto activate when they are in danger." Sei replied with a bright smile. But her words caught my interest. A barrier that auto activates when someone is in danger? I had never even heard of such a thing before.

"Ah! You did it now, Sei. Our serious conversation is now ruined because you piqued her interest." Sir Derek said with a chuckle as he sat back and threw his hands up into the air. 𝚒n𝚗r𝗲𝒂𝗱. c𝑜𝓶

I guess it only took one night at the camp fire to realize I will lose myself in magic. But I still pursed my lips and glared at him as I said: "We can finish our discussion first…'

"Well, the gist of it is that we will be casting a net." Sir Derek's tone got very serious, so I knew now was no time to be messing around. Even Sei had sat up and was paying full attention. "The King has asked for my help one last time in dealing a huge blow to the nobles who think they can do as they please. But to do this, we will need not only your help but Adel's and Prince Lance's, and they have both agreed. They did so without any hesitation."

"Wait! You are not going to tell me you plan to use them as some kind of bait now, are you!?" What kind of person would put the Prince and Princess of the kingdom into harm's way!?

"It was Adel who came up with the idea. She even planned it out with Prince Lance, who did not wish to sit around ideally."

"And the King went along with it!? Is he an idiot!? What would happen if his kids were killed!?" I shouted. I know my words were enough to have my head cut off, but I couldn't help it. Just knowing my best friend was going to be put in harm's way made me angry. And Prince Lance, for all its worth, idiot or not, is still the Prince of this kingdom. His heart is there, but his mind is just lacking.-.

"It's good to know you care about my children. But saying that I am an idiot is kind of harsh, don't you think?" My whole body froze as it turned like a robot that had not been oiled for a few years and looked at the person who was standing there with a smile on his face. I could feel the cold sweat forming on my back. I was so dead.

"Haha! Now that is a look I never expected to see on your face!" The King of Gravos himself let out a hearty laugh at my expense. This old goat! I blushed and turned my head. I wasn't even going to apologize now. No wonder his son is an idiot! "Now, now don't pout."

"I'm not pouting!" I yelled.

"Haha! Fine, you are not pouting. But still, can you at least offer me a seat and some tea? I did travel all the way here." The King gave me a kingly smile which made me roll my eyes. This man does realize that I know what he is like when he is drunk, right? Should I spread it around that the King likes thighs? When he was drinking with Thurul, he was shouting about how he loved thighs. Thurul was saying something about the butt. It was a conversation I wished I had never heard.

"Please have a seat. I will even pour you some tea and only tea and nothing but tea." I had to make sure he knew there was no alcohol in this house!

"Tea is fine. Hmmm? Sei, Derek, why are you looking at me like that?" The King asked as he sat down.

"Umm, Sire, if I may, are you a fake?" Sir Derek asked. I looked up to see Sei holding her head and Sir Derek staring at the King in a strange fashion.

"What!? What is that look for!?" King Gravos yelled out in a huff.

"I am just trying to figure out where the King went. As soon as you came through the door, you started bantering with a child! Where is that imposing aura that you had in court?" Sir Derek got up and began pulling on the King's cheeks which left me and everyone else sitting there stunned, well except Sei, who was not even looking at what was going on… "Huh? Not a mask? Well, I guess we should replace you then since this King seems defective."

"You old bastard, do you want to fight!?" King Gravos swatted Sir Derek's hands away and yelled out while standing up.

"Haha!" Sir Derek let out a loud laugh as he patted the King's Shoulder. "You haven't changed. Even around your daughter, you change into another person. It seems you have taken quite a liking to Little Faith here."

"Of course! She is doing so much for my kingdom. How can I not like her? Anway, were we not talking about something serious!? Let's talk about that." The King seemed a bit flustered. I think I even see a bit of pink in his cheeks. For a moment there, I really thought Sir Derek had never seen this side of the King, but I guess he was just messing with him. Only someone very close to him would be able to do such a thing. But now that I think about it, did I not just do the same thing just on a milder level?

"Ahem…. Faith, the plan that my daughter and son laid out revolved around them being targeted next now that nobles' plan to have you assassinated failed. While they will probably keep trying, they will also make other more bolder moves. Like taking those who are close to you who have high value to get you or me to relinquish your hold over the slums." The King explained.

"If that is the case, would they not go for my father and the rest of my family instead?" If they wished to hold someone hostage, wouldn't my family make better targets? I mean, they are my blood related relatives, after all. 𝓲𝚗𝑛r𝗲a𝒅. 𝓬𝗼ｍ

"It would take too long to try to make it to the border to even take someone from your family hostage. They would need someone close by who they can use as a bargaining chip now and not for later." The King explained.

"Do they not realize that by touching anyone close to me that I might accidentally set fire to each one of their houses while they sleep?" I mean, if we can not get any evidence on them. I can always make them live in fear by burning down their house. Wait for them to rebuild it before burning it down again. I will repeat the process until they finally go crazy.

The King let out a loud laugh and patted my head, kind of roughly causing me to frown. It felt like my hair was going to fall out! "Little Faith, if you go burning down noble's houses, invite me. I am always up for a good lynching of wrongdoers!"

My mouth dropped to the floor in shock! Hey Mr. King, man! Why are you talking about lynching your own nobles!? But even if this King is somewhat weird, he is still a good man with the right kind of justice. "Okay, that is beside the point. Now, please tell me. What is going on with this plan? How are they going to even begin executing it in the first place? Are they going to ware signs saying, 'hey, come kidnap me'?"

"Hmmm… This is not a bad idea. I can even find out who the stupider noble is…." I watched as the King rubbed his chin and gave my wise remark a serious thought.-.

"Don't even think about it!" Why do I feel like I am doing a one man act with the King!? Your Majesty, please spare me!

"Haha! You must like yelling!" The King let out another hearty laugh while I wished I could kick him a few times to take out the stress that was building up. I could only snort out my anger while the King continued: "But no. They will be moving in with you in the new house."

"Wait! Adel is one thing, but why is Prince Lance moving into the house too? There will be no one but girls living there." I have never even held hands with a boy outside my own family. Why would I wish to live with one!? I am starting to think that maybe there was more to this mess than meets the eye. Let's hope the loveometer stays below the red mark and never ascends into dangerous territory. I mean, I have no choice but to accept this situation. It is not like I own the house in the first place, so whoever the King wishes to place there is not something I can control.

"It will be fine. While Lance can be an idiot at times and doesn't know how to properly court a girl, he is not someone who would cross any lines that would cause a misunderstanding." Umm…. Does the King know that his son is an idiot? No, wait, he does know! He just called him that, so how does he know his son won't cross that fine line? I guess I will be putting up barriers on all the girls' doors.

I could only sigh and wave my right hand off handily while I held my head with the other. "Alright, alright, it is not like I can say no. Just please tell him that if he does anything that remotely seems perverted, I will burn his hair off and make him crab walk naked out in the streets of the capital." 𝒊𝘯𝑛𝐫ℯ𝒂d. 𝐜𝘰𝓂

"Hahaha!" Sir Derek let out a laugh that echoed through the entire room. Sei was buckled over at the side, and even Sophie was giggling away at my words. As for the King…. Yeah, he was as well. His face was red, and he had tears in his eyes. I am starting to feel bad for Prince Lance.

But I guess it will not be too bad. I mean, I will be at the academy most of the day, so I will not have to deal with everything all day long. Not to mention I will be very busy with everything else I plan to do. I will be experimenting with magic, runic inscriptions, more magic, learning how to command armies, more magic, learning about ancient history, more magic…. Okay, so lots of magic. I had been thinking of modifying my mana shield so that it can be element based. So like, let's say someone attacked me with lightning magic, I can make my mana shield be water based, which will disperse the electricity so that it can not be used as non direct damage against me. The same would go for other elements and maybe even be able to negate attacks instead of just absorbing them.

Mana shield has a lot of potential, and only because of how it works no one has ever really looked into it. It can be used for many more purposes other than just a self shield. I plan to in the future try to inscribe it into a pedant and see if I can set up a link to it with my mana so that it can always protect my loved ones. It may take a lot of trial and error, but hopefully, one day, I will be able to use this experimentation to expand the lives of others. Besides that, I also want to finally finish my fusion magic so that it is useful.

"Haha… Ahh! That would be a sight to see. I will be sure to warn him well." The King replied while wiping his tears. Was it really that funny?

At any rate, the King's idea was not a bad one now that I thought about it. "So you want me to protect both Adel and Prince Lance?"

"Mmm… You understood my meaning well. I know how powerful you are, so to cast the net with a big piece of bait, the safest place for them would be near you. Like your name, I have faith in your abilities. While I know this is dangerous, I want nothing more than to have this all end without anyone getting hurt." The King replied. He was acting serious for once, and the gaze in his eyes showed his trust in me. Even if he did not ask me, I still would have done what he had asked. Adel, for one, is my best friend, while Prince Lance is her brother and my acquaintance.

"Then leave it to me. I planned to inscribe a few barriers anyway. As long as we can capture the one who is doing the kidnapping, I can get them to talk and bring the ones behind it to kneel in front of you to do as you see fit." I gave a firm answer. It would not be hard to make someone talk.

"Then I will leave it to you."

Currently, I was sitting in a tea shop sipping on some very nice and expensive tea. To my left is Sophie, who looked like a small animal as she nibbled on a pastry. On my right was Adel, who showed up a day after receiving a letter from Sophie about today's date. She seems to have abandoned everything to come here to have tea with me. She is very sweet indeed. On Sophie's left was Thurul, who was sitting at the end of the long bench seat. While on Adel's right were Gesel and Fred.

Sitting at the opposite ends of the table were Sei and Runa and on the other side was, for some reason, King Gravos himself and also Sir Derek. Sitting in between these two men, who were both rather well built, was a certain catkin who was currently grinding his teeth and sweating bullets. "Ahem…. Miss Cyrilia, if I am not mistaken, I could have sworn I had asked if you wish to talk more." 𝒊𝐧𝒏𝘳𝙚α𝙙. 𝘤𝗼𝐦

Hearing these easily misunderstood words, I smiled brightly at the sly cat and answered: "But can't you still do just that? Talk with me? I mean, you did just speak to me. Is this not the definition of 'Talk more'?"-.

"This…." Seeing the little catkin stumped for words, I couldn't help but feel a strong sense of victory!

"It's good you were willing to meet up today because I just so happen to want to treat everyone as my way of saying thanks for all the help they have given me as of late. So please, everyone, order whatever you like." I really did wish to treat everyone to something. A day ago, the organizer of the tournament had come to personally apologize for what happened. He even gave me one hundred gold as a form of compensation. Not only to me, but every contestant who was not an assassin was paid one hundred gold.

This worked out well, and I was happy to gain so many funds. As Thurul was the one dealing with most of the things going on with building the factory, I handed him all of it but ten gold. I would be busy for the next few days as I prepared for the academy and would also be moving. I would not have time to head to the slums right now, so he would be managing it all for me. Between supplies and paying everyone who was working, a good sum of money was needed.

"Haha, Faith is so generous, don't you think so, Little Rythilin?" King Gravos looked at Prince Rythilin with a big smile causing the sly cat's frown to deepen even more. Maybe next time, he will try not to be so sneaky when he is dealing with me. I do not know what his final objective was by trying to ask me out on a date, but I will say that even if I did come here on my own without knowing any better as to what he truly meant, I would not be following him anywhere that is for sure.

"That she is. This tea and these pastries really hit the spot when you're as old as I am." Every time Sir Derek spoke, he would slap Prince Rythilin's shoulder, and it seemed like he was doing it pretty hard because Prince Rythilin kept flinching with each slap.

But now that I was thinking things through with the sly cat, I have come to realize something… First, he broke into the barriers and landed in front of me with his rabbitkin guard as if he was some hero saving a beauty. Then he was trying to be sly in how he asked me out on a date, using the traditional way beastkin in his kingdom ask people out. So I think this entire setup was just him trying to take advantage of the situation. So, in other words, he was a sly cat.

What I find funny is that King Gravos offered to come once he heard that I was going on a date. It seems he might not have given up on me marrying into his family just yet. I hate to disappoint him, but that will probably never happen in his lifetime or mine. But he is a good deterrent when it comes to dealing with sly cats. It is making for a good show, that is for sure.

And to my side, Adel, who is one hundred percent human, is growling and hissing at the catkin as if she was a catkin herself. But besides that, everyone else seems to be having fun. Gesel and Fred are happily chatting away with one another. Runa and Sei are stuffing their faces. I mean, they have a pile of cakes and pastries in front of them. It's like they will never get to have such things ever again after they leave this place.

And Thurul is sneaking some kind of alcohol in his tea every chance he gets. But he seems to be very content with snacking and watching the show with an amused smile. I have a lot to thank him for as he went out on a limb and decided to become partners with me, who was not even half his age. And thanks to Adel and also Grace Dollen pushing the pens onto the noble class, I already have a huge backlog of orders waiting to be filled once the factory is up and running.

Everyone here besides the sly cat has helped me in many ways, and I owe each and every one of them my utmost gratitude for the kindness they have given me. I hope to stay friends with each one of them except the sly cat and maybe one day repay the kindness they have shown me. While I know, they did not help me to gain things in return. I can not always be the one on the receiving end. I must also return their kindness as well.

Volume Five End!

–AN: The fifth volume is now over. I hope everyone has enjoyed the novel up to this point and hope you will continue to enjoy it for the many, many chapters that are still to come. I want to take a moment and thank everyone for supporting Faith on her journey. Academy arc coming next!–