Alia POV
The insolence of that boy! She angrily thought to herself.
Alia had wanted nothing else than to absolutely brutalize that disrespectful brat. How dare he treat Reinera in that manner.
The only thing that had prevented her from smashing his face into a pulp was that she was supposed to be hidden and Princess Reinera wouldn't appreciate her coming out of hiding to beat on the boy.
Alia had been by Princess Reinera's side for most of her life and had dutifully protected her from many dangers along the way. The past few years have been exceptionally difficult, there have been no less than a dozen attempts on her life.
Thankfully, the Houses and groups that have been after the princess have only sent people under Tier 5 so far. Granted, most Tier 5 and 6 individuals didn't care about Princess Reinera, they had more important things to care about. Still, that left a lot of greedy individuals looking to take advantage of Princess Reinera for their own ambitions.
Though, Alia was very wary of the boy for so reason. His aura was only Tier 2 and he had so sort of item that shrouded his aura, which often denoted a lack of practice and control. So he shouldn't be a threat, especially considering she was a Tier 4 herself. All it would take was a single poke and she could pop him like a mosquito.
So why did she have such a reaction when she looked at him?
A main thing that caused her suspicion was the fact that he had looked directly at her, even though she had been using [Mist of the Ethereal] to shroud her presence. A skill that other Tier 4s who had an epic-ranked perception skill would find challenging to see through.
It was only just a second, and could easily be ignored as a coincidence. However, she knew what she saw. Was it a coincidence? Or perhaps was it sothing that she should be wary of? He hadn't acted like she was there, but there was always the chance that he had, but had chosen to ignore her instead.
Another thing that sparked her caution was the conjured furniture that was around the boy. They were made entirely of mana, very high quality, and dense mana at that. Not only that but there was sothing else infused within them. It was very difficult to sense even with her abilities, but it spoke of sothing beyond what a Tier 2 could create.
Alia had seen so amazing and breathtaking items created by masterful craftsn. Many of them had been contracted to build things for the royal family. And an item that was able to create furniture constructs of that quality was undoubtedly very expensive. Not to ntion, the contacts needed to find such a crafter would be just as difficult.
That wasn't in itself very surprising. After all, this was Goldencrest at the end of the day. Many influential Houses and Families sent their scions here to study and learn to fight. Alia was aware that there were the young prodigies of the Abrams and Zenith households here as well.
No, what bothered her more than all of that, was his treatnt of the Imperial Princess. They had disguised her in order to allow her to walk around freely and enjoy so peace and quiet Goldencrest had to offer. Still, it was appalling that anyone would let her sit on the dirt like so average commoner.
He didn't even offer her a chair. A chair that she had no doubt was within his item's capability. Even if he didn't know Reinera was a princess, he should have the chivalry and offered it to any woman, regardless of status.
Yet, Princess Reinera didn't take any offense. She had taken up the dirt without complaint. Alia knew that the princess had a weakness for sweets and other food-related delicacies. So she wasn't that surprised that she had been drawn into the cake. It did look pretty tasty if Alia was being honest.
She would have to look into where the boy had found it so that she could get one for the princess to enjoy later. It definitely seed like the princess had enjoyed it very much.
Alia hadn't been worried about the cake being poisoned either. For one, they had gone to him, not the other way around. Maybe if he had invited her over for cake, Alia would have been more wary of a possible poisoning.
Also, Princess Reinera had many enchanted items on her person that specifically tested for poisons in her vicinity. It wasn't a failsafe thod, but it helped dramatically when it ca to assuring her food was safe. Furthermore, she had many dicines that would have helped her once she showed signs of being affected by a substance.
"You should have tried it, Alia."
Alia broke out of her thoughts and turned to Reinera. "That wouldn't be possible, I am supposed to be invisible, princess."
"It would have been worth it. Seriously, I can't believe I forgot to ask him where he got it," Reinera said frustrated at her failure.
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Alia removed her invisibility and appeared next to the princess. Unlike the princess's disguise, she had golden blonde hair and a lithe figure. "He did ntion that he had found it in town. Perhaps, I could send soone out to find it if you are interested."
"No, that would defeat the challenge of finding it on my own," she argued. "I was thinking we could go and search for it tomorrow if there's ti."
"I don't think that would be safe, princess," Alia respectfully pointed out.
"Argh, what's the point of getting sent all the way out here to Heston if I am even more confined than I would have been in the Capital? I also have this disguise thanks to Uncle, so I should be pretty safe," Reinera said.
"I don't see why there's a need to take a chance," Alia refuted.
"I agreed to co all the way out here because I thought I would finally have a chance to be a little more free. Not to just be further away from my family while still in chains," Reinera stated.
"You ca out here because it is safer for you," Alia corrected her. "Only the most desperate parties will co and try to kill you in a place like Heston. The others will be too worried about the possible consequences of breaking the long-standing peace here."
"So you are telling I still need to be locked up like a little bird in a cage?" The princess asked sarcastically.
"Don't try and play that card. You have more privileges from your so-called 'cage' than ninety-nine percent of the people in the Empire," Alia chastised the princess. For a mber of the royal family, Reinera was quite well-mannered and kind. However, she had the unfortunate problem of not having the proper perspective of her position and took so of her liberties for granted. She had no idea how bad so of the people had it. Or just how many people were oppressed by those who controlled their region.
"Also, this weekend is not the best ti to go exploring. Apparently, several high-ranking dignitaries and other influential people are coming to Heston for negotiations. It will already be quite a stressful couple of days," Alia added.
Reinera grumbled unhappily and tried once more to convince Alia. "Please? If there is so much attention on the other parties, then would our actions go unnoticed?"
Alia paused at that. It was difficult to admit, but Reinera made a good point. With all of the noise, they could easily slip around Heston without anybody the wiser. It would most likely be the best ti to explore the city.
Reinera must have seen the unwilling admittance on her face because she pressed forward. "We can even go disguised like we are now. I don't mind having escorts and a few other guards around either. But can we please do it? I didn't get to see the rest of the city because there was such a crowd of people before."
Alia watched as Reinera gave her best puppy eyes.
She sighed defeatedly. "Okay. But there will be strict conditions. And I expect you to follow them without question, understood?"
Princess Reinera squealed in joy and jumped up in down in excitent, hugging Alia tightly. "Thank you, thank you!"
Alia just shook her head. She had a very busy day she had to plan out before tomorrow. She would have to figure out the layout of the city, and which part they would be traveling to. She would have to schedule duties to the other retainers and guards. It would seem that she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.
"Huh, I just realized it. But I never caught that boy's na," the princess said more to herself than anyone else.
Alia got interrupted as she was already planning the next day's events. "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that I never got that nice boy's na."
"You an the boy who didn't even lend you his chair to sit on and made you eat in the dirt?" Alia said annoyed.
"We did interrupt him during his dessert. Not to ntion that he did share with and that it was an amazing cake. I can't expect him to give up his only seat. Maybe if the cake 'tasted like dirt' I would have been more upset," Reinera defended him.
"It doesn't excuse his rudeness," Alia comnted.
"I'm not going to hold it against him. Furthermore, he might have not been able to create another chair for . It was already a pretty impressive work of mana construction, so I wouldn't bla him if he couldn't create another."
Alia swiftly turned her complete attention to her. "You think he created the chair and table himself?"
Princess Reinera shrugged her shoulders. "That's what it felt like to . You thought differently?"
Alia nodded her head. "I thought it was an item."
Reinera frowned. "I don't think it was an item. I felt like he had more of a personal connection with it than sothing conjured with the help of an item. A connection that is more consistent from a skill in use. That was actually what made go over in the first place. The cake was just a happy coincidence."
Alia went deep into thought. She knew very well that Princess Reinera had generational talent which included incredible mana senses ever since she was a babe. Alia's own talents didn't revolve around mana manipulation and other mana constructs. She was good very good by normal standards, but nothing compared to Reinera.
Therefore, she trusted her opinion more than her own. If Reinera believed that the boy created the constructs through one of his own skills, Alia was positioned to believe her.
"How did he manage to create sothing so dense and intricate on his own?" She asked the princess.
"I don't know. The constructs had multiple complex arrangents. When I was eating I was eagerly trying to figure out how he did it. He sohow was able to condense a bunch of fire mana enough to give it complete physical form and then on top of it, add elents of softened mana to it. There was so other stuff that I couldn't make out, but it was certainly impressive. Most likely it was the use of several very good mana skills, " she said appreciatively.
That changed a lot of how Alia viewed the boy now. She placed him higher on the list of people she would have to keep an eye on. She hadn't heard of anyone with his description yet, so he couldn't be a known scion from a powerful family, but he was soone with at least so level of skill if he impressed Reinera.
The princess wasn't easily impressed by anything. Especially anything revolving around mana.
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