Reunion

Once we went into the study, the butler went back to Duke Pendel's side. The Duke started tapping on his desk and began speaking.

"The king wishes to apologize for this misunderstanding, I hope you won't take the princess's actions to heart. She does what she thinks is best for the empire."

"There's no need for apologies, my actions are misunderstandable."

"Since you understand, this matter can end here. The princess has returned to the capital and won't be able to give you a direct apology at this time. You are dismissed."

I turned my heels and walked away.

Once I entered my room, I couldn't help but sigh in sadness, there was no reward after all. I hoped I could've gotten a useful tool like a subspace bag, but I'm not disappointed. If I wasn't the son of a Duke who knows how long I would be in there. However, what infuriated me the most were my two big silvers. That bastard Saven said he'd give them back to me. I thought he would give it to the Duke for safekeeping but he ended up pocketing them.

I thought he was a good guy as well, I need to start second-guessing my judgment of people.

Although there was bad news, there was also good news. Judging by how I didn't see Kasa, she probably didn't leave her room for the past week. I wondered what she's been doing for so long, the last time this situation occurred was when she advanced from tier 1 to tier 2, but there's no way she's trying to advance to tier 3. The academy Kasa will attend has tier 4 as a qualification to graduate from the mage department. To get to tier 3 one year before the official enrollment date of the academy... that's a little too ridiculous, right?

'Well, whatever the case is, I'll find out soon.' I told myself as I started to think of other tasks. I have two main tasks, finding a place to bury Gruz's locket, and mastering Az.

Since he wants it to be buried in a nice area, I decided to explore the foresty area around that rundown hotel I lived in. I could probably find a clearing to bury it in. I didn't put too much thought into burying it in the Pendel property, I was planning on running away before Gruz got released.

Regarding Az, I managed to smuggle Gruz's notes out without being caught. I don't wish to talk about where it was hidden though. Now, all I need to do is practice it.

I didn't feel like visiting any prisons at the moment, I lived in one just a few hours ago.

The next couple of weeks, I spent my time visiting the forest and practicing Az. I found a few clearings in the forest, but none of them had decent scenery, Gruz showed his sincerity and I wanted to show mine as well.

On the other hand, I made some progress with Az but nothing noticeable. I didn't particularly mind my slow progress, this was more complicated than Tracking and I wanted to take my time understanding it.

I was about to continue on my usual visit to the forest but an unexpectedly expected variable, Kasa entered my room. I was a bit surprised, usually, she knocked on the door. Unlike her usual stoic self, she was bursting with excitement.

"Rorik, Rorik guess what I just did?"

"Did you learn a new spell?"

"Even better, I became a tier 3 magician, aren't I amazing?"

"Wow, that's incredible."

I was happy for her and surprised at how fast her progress was. I decided to ask her about it.

"How did you go from tier 2 to tier 3 so quickly?"

"I thought you might ask that, it's because of our talk that night."

I knew what talk she was referring to. It was her brief outburst after I came back from the party that day. But that raised another question, just what was she referring to? If I recall, the only thing I told her something along the line of "We can only trust each other". How did that cause her to get stronger?

"Kasa, how did that talk make you stronger?"

"I'm not surprised you don't understand, I'll explain it to you. We can only trust each other, but what happens if one day, there's a war or even worse, a beast tide. We would have to trust other people for our safety if I'm weak. So I just have to be strong and that problem is solved!" She exclaimed triumphantly.

I wasn't too sure how she came up with that, nor did I really want to question her logic. If it made her stronger then who am I to criticize it. However, I did want to talk to her about the concept of 'only we can trust each other. I was worried that it would cause some sort of incident in the academy, causing damage to her prestige. As someone who was going to rely on her prestige, I wanted to remove any incidents that have the potential to damage it.

I do realize it was entirely my fault she began this thought, so I needed to be the one to correct it.

"Wow, that makes a lot of sense. But Kasa, I think it's okay to trust other people. Not all people will treat you as poorly as the Duke's people."

The minute I said that Kasa's expression changed from surprise to shock to an expressionless face. I couldn't make out what emotions she felt. She stayed silent for a few seconds before she spoke with a slightly lower-pitched voice.

"But you said-" I stopped her right there.

"I know I said it, but I think we both know I was wron-" This time she stopped me.

"No! I thought the same thing as well back then, I just never said it. Why would you change your mind like that?"

So she had this thought in her mind before I said anything, in that case it's a good idea to correct it now.

"I realized there are lots of people in this world. In fact-"

"Who told you?"

"I-In any case what I'm tr-"

"I asked who told you? No, this is easy to figure out. It's that prison again wasn't it?" Her voice was noticeably deeper.

What did the prison do to her, why is she always trying to throw it under the bus?

"Of course not, why would I visit those criminals."

"Then who told you these lies? It had to be a prisoner, no one else would try to talk to you."

"No way, I haven't visited a prison in years, you should trust me more Kasa."

While it occurred to me that I was lying to a child, I didn't really have a choice here. I dug a hole with this lie before and I have no choice but to dig deeper. I knew I'd be caught at some point, but hopefully, it wouldn't matter by then.

"... You're right, I should trust you more. I'm sorry Rorik. But then how did you come up with this?"

Thankfully, she was finally willing to listen.

"I was thinking about it-"

Her voice started to lighten "Oh, you were thinking, no wonder you came up with something like that. I'll explain it to you. How many servants and brothers and sisters and Dukes are out there?" Without waiting for me to respond, she continued.

"There are many, but how many Kasa Pendel's are out there? One. How many Rorik Pendel's are out there? One. So we can only trust each other." When she finished her statement she smiled at me, as if she was saying 'Do you understand it now?'

To be honest, I don't understand it, there were too many flaws. As an example, there are many Dukes but there's only one Duke Pendel. As another example, there are many people out there who aren't brothers, sisters, servants, or Dukes. The Kasa I interacted with would never believe in an argument like this, yet she's the one making it now. I tried to point this out.

"Ka-"

"End of discussion, you'll understand better when you're older Rorik."

I tried to reason with her again, this time by stating the flaw directly.

"The fla-"

"I said. The discussion is over now. Do you understand?"

This time, she chanted something and a fireball appeared in her hand. On one hand, being threatened by a child made me feel bitter and I wanted to call her bluff. On the other hand, the fireball seemed more dangerous than the ones I remembered. Furthermore, I wasn't sure whether she would throw it or not, I haven't been able to understand her actions accurately recently.

"No questions."

"As expected, those prisoners back then knew how to make you listen. Anyways, never think like that again. I'll see you at my house later, I'll leave first to clear up some space."

After Kasa left the room, I couldn't help but wonder if I created a problem for myself.