I got pretty sick, with various other things happening, and so ended up with such a long hiatus D: Sorry for not giving any notices, and not releasing any chapters or anything ;^; I hope you guys will forgive me and continue reading (if you're still here) QwQ~ Here's my first chapter in ages. My style probably has changed, and I don't know if my humor is as good as before... anyways, critiques and comments are welcome as always. Please enjoy u.u

~~~~~

I stared up at the sky. “It’s wide~” I said, as the blueness stretched as far as the eye could see.

“What is?” Ludan looked at me, his eyes hidden underneath his usual hood. Although I got the feeling he was wearing a different cloak and robe from usual. It was probably a bit more sparkly? Oh well.

“The sky.” I said with a smile, tugging down my hat as I looked to him. We were currently with the troupe as we traveled to the palace to perform for the second prince.

The daemon looked up. “There aren’t any clouds…” He muttered.

“None, huh~” I answered.

“What are you two doing? Hurry up!” Lennor called from behind, her outfit jingling with every step. Even the troupe leader was all dressed up. I looked down at my own outfit. It was fairly modest. I nodded. It was only fitting for a pure and beautiful maiden like myself.

I jogged to keep up with the rest of the group, and we arrive, caravans and all, at the palace gates. Guards stopped us in our place. They were similarly dressed to the guards at the Gold Phoenix, with their mostly bare chests. Showing off your abs, ooh la la. Well, granted, it was to be expected considering the heat.

“So what’s this second prince like?” I asked Ludan, who paused for a second to think.

One second passed.

Another.

A few minutes later.

“Lu- Mihai??” I waved my hand before him. He was still in a thoughtful pose as we had finished getting pat down by the guards. Having already entered the palace grounds, he still hadn’t answered my question.

“A weirdo.” He finally said, nodding in affirmation to his own words.

“A… weirdo…?” I tried to imagine it. A fat pig of a prince wearing a leather corset while whipping a poor maid. Or a fat pig of a prince in ropes and being whipped. I stopped myself from going further. Just thinking about it made me feel like my purity was being tainted.

Flash forward to the throne room, as we kneeled down before the King, Queen, and the princes and princesses of the country.

… They were all beautiful. What? What’s with this? Are they reinforcing the stereotype that royalty are all beautiful? Or rather, I was expecting ugly and spoiled brats. No, they may be ugly and spoiled brats on the inside. On the outside though, they literally, and when I say literally, I mean LITERALLY, sparkled. Can such sparkly people even exist?!

The rap- I mean, the assault- no, I mean- … there’s no way to word this correctly. The scene where Lucille had taken off Ludan’s hood came to mind. Yeah, at that moment he had been sparkling huh~ Oh, and the time when I first met Yun. Yun sparkled in a different sort of way though. Like the way the light had hit his hair...

… I know a lot of sparkly people, huh? But still, even beautiful, apparently the second prince is a weirdo. I pondered on the though.

“You may rise.” The emperor said, a playful grin on his face. Even though I heard from Lennor that the emperor was already in his forties, he looked fairly young and robust. His energy seemed limitless, and he was wearing a similar attire to that of the guards from the palace gates. He had an almost bandit like appearance to him. Not very kingly or majestic at all, save for his beautiful face and well muscled body.

“Father~ I especially scouted these guys out you know~” A frivolous looking man said, his playful grin different, yet similar, to the king’s. He had short golden hair and fox shaped eyes the color of green jade, his looks more European than the tanned Arabian appearances of the native people of Astarne.

Weird…? I studied him. His eyes met my own, and he smiled. Eh? Were those flowers? I rubbed my eyes, and the small five petaled flowers that had popped up in my vision disappeared. Ah, ah, I was just imagining things. Yes, that’s right, no real person can sprout flowers with a smile.

I had forgotten the fact that no real person could sparkle with each movement, but that was besides the matter at the moment.

“Alright, everyone, just like we practiced.” Lennor said, seemingly in full confidence of our abilities.

… Let us just mention that I’ve only practiced with the group twice. If I mess up, then that’s what they get for making me practice alone all this time!!

I was then pushed up to the front, while the troupe dancers took their positions behind me. All the stares were on me. Ahahaha~ Stop staring at meeeeeee. I cried inwardly, breaking out into a cold sweat. I took out a paper with the summoning circle drawn on it (the real one, this time), and my lips mouthed the word «Summon». A white light burst forward, enveloping my entire body.

When it died down, I was in the deep blue gypsy outfit the dancer’s guild leader had given me, and Khari was hovering an inch or so above my cupped hands, which were reached out in front of me.

Who knew I could change clothes while summoning. I only learned this when Lennor had suggested it. One wouldn’t be able to imagine the shock when it really worked. Like what are summoners, magic users or magicians…

I smiled brightly, making some of the men present blush. Muahahaha face the wrath of my sexy beam.

… I didn’t just think that. Erase it from your memory.

While I was inwardly cringing, we started. “«The Beautiful World»,” I said. This was a spell that locked everyone in it’s radius into an isolated space controlled by the user. I had practiced it just enough so that it could encompass the entire throne room.

With me at its center, a bubble expanded outward. The inside turned from a throne room to the glittering depths of the ocean. Unbelievably beautiful, and unbelievably realistic. My silk scarves began floating. Despite this, everyone could breath fine.

The Beautiful World

Beginner’s Lv.9

Requires high affinity with your familiar to activate

Costs 900 MP upon activation, and 5 MP/s until deactivation.

Creates an isolated space that the caster can control freely. Spells cast in this space by the caster and allies have: mana cost decrease -20%, effects increase +17%, cast time decrease -8%, increase duration of effects +12%, and attack increase +19%. Allies will also receive speed increase +20%, attack increase +20%, defense increase +20%, affinity increase +20%, and mana and health regeneration increase +20%. Enemies will receive speed decrease -7%, attack decrease -7%, defense decrease -7%, and affinity decrease -7%.

The dancers behind me started their routine, twirling as they surrounded me. Their movements made the best use out of the buffs that my spell gave, and their fluttering silks covered my vision.

“«The Children of Hakshyl»,” I said, my voice echoing pleasantly. In a flurry of sea foam, the dancers had turned into beautiful mermaids, their tails taking on the color that their gypsy outfits had been. They fluidly swam through the room, getting up close and personal with the audience.

The Children of Hakshyl

Beginner’s Lv.4

Requires above average affinity with your familiar to activate

Costs 300 MP upon activation, and 2 MP/s until deactivation.

All targets of the spell will be granted a momentary transformation into a mermaid or merman.

Even though we had only done this twice, they were pretty good huh~ As expected of professionals.

I surprised that fairies even had these types of skills though. I had spotted them when scrolling through Khari’s skill list, and so brought up the idea for this routine to Lennor.

Right about now should be when they switch out with the blade dan-

*BOOM*

“What do you think you’re-”

*BOOM*

Several loud sounds resounded through the air, shocking me. My spells unraveled, and the girls all dropped to the ground with a crash.

“What is going on?!” The emperor shouted, outraged.

The throne room doors burst open, and the corpses of several guards were thrown in. One slid to a stop by my feet. Ew, don’t throw this corpse toward me. How am I supposed to eat dinner like this?! I thought as I took a few light steps backward.

Several people walked in. The man in the lead was well dressed, his suit like one of those old Victorian era ones. He had a cane in one hand, and his short top hat in another as he bowed. His black, slightly wavy hair, was neatly slicked back, and his face was covered entirely by a pure white mask, like all the others who had entered.

“It is nice to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty. You don’t know me… but I’ll be taking your life,” He said. His voice was deep and seductive, like black velvet.

“Wha- you dare,” His Majesty began to exclaim, outraged.

The leader-like man snapped his fingers, and an glittering arrow of gold and jade green light flew at break neck speed straight to the head of the king.

“«Mirror of a Thousand Reflections»,” I said, backing up until I was just a few feet in front of the king. A force field of water appeared in front of me, in the shape of a circular mirror that one would find above their vanity.

Mirror of a Thousand Reflections

Beginner's Lv.3

Requires extremely high affinity with your familiar to activate

Cost 1000 MP

Creates a shield made from a thin layer of water that reflects physical and magical attacks to the caster. Will break if the sustained damage overcomes the amount of mana used in casting the spell.

This happened as several other mages began chanting spells, and the guards began activating skills.

“«Flame Wall»!”

“«Physical Reinforcement»!!”

“«Shield of Protection»!”

“«Tier’s Blessings»!”

The room burst into chaos. The arrow met my mirror, and disappearing into it, reappeared to shoot straight back at the person who had fired it. It almost hit the masked ranger in the chest, at least, until it was cut down by the one with the cane. A secret sword, huh.

“I don’t recognize that spell,” the man said, as he put his hat back on. He was the epitome of calm as disaster reigned through the room and his comrades cut down the guards that charged towards them. An invisible force field was surrounding him, absorbing any of the spells that had been fired toward him.

Yeah, because Khari invented it five days ago. I thought to myself, a frozen smile on my face. It had just been added to the fairy’s universal spell book the other day. Because, yes, apparently that was a thing.

Khari was not an offensive familiar. I reverse summoned her. My eyes quickly darted to where Ludan was. Not here, not there… Where are you?! I finally met eyes with him, who was wreathed in shadows and hidden in a corner. Yo. Yo! What are you doing!

My eyes darted back to the man who was slowly and calmly walking toward me. Uwaah, don’t come any closer!

Gilbert Sverhart

??? Lv.??? | ??? Lv.???

| Sword of Darkness | Light of Hope | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |

You freaking terrify me!

My eyes frantically darted to Ludan, hoping to make some form of telepathic conversation with him. His eyes met mine… and immediately turned away.

… You-!!

“«Contract Familiar»,” I said, my voice barely audible in the cacophony.

Contract Familiar

Intermediate Lv.1

Requires Summon Skill

Cost 600 MP

Contracts a new familiar of your affinity. Can now contract with a familiar of a nonopposing elemental affinity.

Invoking Contract Familiar Skill

Large affinity to all subjects detected

Which Familiar do you wish to Summon?

Demon

Fairy

Elemental

“Elemental.”

Large affinity to all elements detected

What type of elemental do you wish to Summon?

Light

Dark

Fire

Water

Earth

Wind

Hm, so there were six elemental types you could summon, huh? I thought it was only four, but I guess not. Wait, that’s not what I should be doing right now though.

“Water!” I said, and a million water elementals appeared. They all looked the same. Are you kidding me right now.

Okay, there were differences in their size, shape, and color, but many of them looked so similar it would be difficult to tell them apart.

Oh, wait, wait, that one looks cool! I thought, catching sight of a wolf shaped one the color of ice. There was a giant Eastern Dragon elemental above me as well, this one a sapphire blue. Ah, and lots of cute girls. Cute girls made out of water seem to be a must, huh?

But nah, I already have my adorable Khari. So it was down to the dragon or the wolf. Dragon or wolf. Wolf or dragon. Damn, I didn’t have the time to be debating this. I stared the wolf in the eye, but he didn’t move, frozen in time as he was. I tilted my head up to look at the giant dragon above me. Dragons were pretty OP, and flashy as hell, huh~

I pointed at the wolf.

“Summoner, call my name.” A deep voice that resonated through my soul said, and with a flurry and ice and water, everything disappeared, bringing me back to the real world.

Gilbert had walked to the halfway point of the room.

“«Vihar».” From my side appeared a man. A really handsome one at that, like I would hit on hi- not the time for that!

I thought Vihar was a wolf, why are you adding to my reverse hare- no, not the time for that either! Who are you?! The handsome man, whose thick and wild hair fluttered in the air (with a silky quality comparable to the locks in a L’Oreal commercial), reached the floor in front of me. What was L’Oreal? I didn’t know, but I guess it had something to do with hair, since that’s what came to my mind.

Just as his feet touched the ground, he turned into the icy blue wolf that I had chosen. Phew, here I had thought that they had sent me the wrong thing. I don’t mind getting hot people as gifts, but when you choose a wolf and get sent a sexy young man, it’s pretty lucky huh~ No, no, not. That’s wrong.

I reared in my inner straight man so that we could get this over with. With each step that Vihar took, the floor rippled like he was walking on water.

I brought up his skill list, not even taking a look at the descriptions and just going by my gut. “«Through the Looking Glass»,” I said. I felt like there was something I needed to tsukkomi about here, but I didn’t know what.

Through the Looking Glass

Beginner's Lv.1

Requires extremely high affinity with your familiar to activate

Cost 750 MP

Creates a portal on a liquid or solid surface to teleport large parties to a randomized location or any place that you have previously been to.

The floor beneath us rippled, and a foreign scenery appeared. It was of a- hey isn’t that Yun? I stared down at him, and he stared up at me. My purple eyes were wide in shock, and his blue eyes were wide in shock.

“Jump!” I said, and Ludan didn’t need anymore words, immediately taking a leap into the water like substance that the ground had become. I need to tsukkomi! My desire to tsukkomi was so strong at this moment, but I used my amazing self-control to keep silent. The other troupe members soon followed.

“Your Majesty, jump!” I said, and he stared at me. A moment passed by. The leader of the terrorists, or whoever they were, seemed to realize something was odd. He calmly raised his voice, and said something to his comrades.

The emperor grabbed his wife and jumped through the floor. The guards ushered all the other members of royalty and nobility through. Soon, aside from the guards, I was the only one left.

“This spell disappears once I go through.” I said, waiting for the remaining people to jump.

“Lass, just go. We have to hold off these bastards.” One guard said. He was bleeding from a deep cut on his arm.

I still hesitated.

“Go!” Another man exclaimed, pushing me through.

There was a splash, and bubbles, as I closed my eyes and entered the cool pool of water. Only seconds later and I was falling through the sky, not even slightly wet. I looked up. I could see the guards who had pushed me in as a rippling image in the sky. It soon disappeared. I then looked around. The people who had all jumped in appeared relatively safe, if not rubbing their butts from hitting the ground to hard.

That makes me think, my fall didn’t really hurt at all. Is this because I’m OP?

“Oi.” A cold voice sounded from beneath me.

…

………

I broke out into a cold sweat. My smile twitched nervously.

“Oi. Get off of me.” Insert internal scream here.

I immediately got off. The pissed Yun, who was looking snazzy in his military uniform, got up, dusting himself off. “You’re freaking heavy, you know that?” He growled, glaring at me with icy eyes.

“What?! Did you just call me heavy?!” I screeched. What person in their sane mind would call a slender and beautiful maiden like me, heavy?! Heavy! Me?!

He seemed to close his eyes and ears at my screaming. “You little! Take that back, I’m not heavy! Stop ignoring me!!”

The surrounding soldiers, who had become chaotic with the arrival of our group, whispered among themselves. “That girl sure has guts…”

“I can’t believe she’s screaming at the General…”

“That General is being screamed at? Am I dreaming?”

“Oi, shut up already. Your screaming is annoying.” He said, unleashing his killing intent. You little~~~!!! Just because I haven’t seen you in a while doesn’t mean you have a right to be so impertinent towards your senpai!!

I slapped him. Everyone stared in our direction in shock. The emperor who had been talking with some of the soldiers, the troupe who had gathered up together, the other people who had already been spectating our fight - they all stared at Yun and I. My hand was stinging, and his cheek was bright red.

“Is this how you treat your senpai after not seeing me in so long?!” I said, standing up and stomping my foot.

“Oi, I never acknowledged you as my senpai!” He stood up, glaring down at me. I was several inches shorter than him, so I had to glare up at him.

“Pfft, even if you never acknowledged it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still your senpai!” I said, laughing through my nose.

“... I’m your senior in the clan.” Wha- that was a low blow!

“... Vihar. Bite this guy!” The wolf, who had been lingering behind me, immediately pounced at Yun. I didn’t acknowledge that fact that my blow was “lower” than Yun’s (supposedly “low blow”).

Yun’s eyes turned sharp, and he crouched down, drawing his katana. It sliced through Vihar in a single move, breaking his shape and allowing the water to fall to the ground and disappear. He sheathed his sword again with smooth movements, whipping his sword through the air as the water on it fell away.

I gasped. “Murderer! I can’t believe you killed him!!” I exclaimed, right as Vihar appeared behind me again.

Yun rolled his eyes. “So, why are you here?” He asked, relaxing his position.

“His Majesty got attacked~ So I used a spell to bring us to a safe place~ Well, coincidentally it ended up here.” I said, laughing heartily.

“You mean that guy?” Yun looked to the emperor, who had already gotten friendly with a guy holding a fan.

“Yep! Emperor of Astarne, His Majesty Sharlne!” I introduced the man with jazz hands. It was slightly awkward though, since the man was quite a distance a ways from me.

“Yo, you’re soldiers aren’t very well trained though, are they~ I expected swords and spears to be pointed at me when I landed~” I continued, a grin on my face.

“That’s because I told them to stand down before you even got here. Be grateful, if not you’d be dead.” He replied with an arrogant tone of voice.

“Oi, aren’t you underestimating me??” I said with a huff.

“... You do realize you’re still level 7 right?” He said, staring above my head. That’s right. I hadn’t gained a single level since I left the Beginner’s Village. Although my skill masteries had increased, it didn’t have an impact on my own level.

I looked up at Yun’s level.

Yun Hua

Storm Dancer Lv.21 | Martial Artist Lv.13

Heaven’s Sky Clan

| Otherworlder | Dedicated | Martial Genius | Sword of Ice and Storm | Winds of Change | Fierce | Ice Heart | Poisoned Tongue |

… Ew. Why you be so high level, dammit. No, my low level can’t be said to be my fault, okay? It’s not my fault the city was stuck in a lockdown!

“Yo, the city was on lockdown, okay? What could I do?” I protested, and he shook his head in exasperation.

“Either way, it’ll be a headache bringing you guys back to the capital.” He grumbled, rubbing his temples. Ah, like I thought, teasing this guy is the best. His glaring face changing into a look of exasperation or frustration was quite satisfying.

“Now that I think about it, where are we anyways?” I asked, glancing around for real this time. Grassy hills and large green trees. Mountains in the nearby distance, and a forest some several tens of meters away to the upper left of me. Then behind us was a small town, and then beautiful yellow green flatlands beyond that.

“Estryl, a small town to the west of Suisen. It lies at the feet of the Mordein Moutain Range, which isolates Suisen from the other kingdoms and empires. It’ll take a caravan several months to reach the capital from here.” He said, pointing in the direction opposite of the mountains.

“What’re you guys doing here?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Patrolling the border, what else?” He answered, snorting, possibly at my stupidity.

“...” I slapped him again… only to be thwarted as he grabbed my wrist before my palm could meet his face.

“Tsk,” I spit on the ground, mildly pissed.

“Oi, slap me again and I’ll break your arm.” He said menacingly.

“Make fun of me again and I’ll castrate you.” I retorted. Collective gasps could be heard. Some of the people surrounding us even covered up their privates, wincing as I said “castrate”.

“Oh, you wanna go?” He snorted, clearly looking down on me as his hand rested on his sword.

“...” I backed up and grabbed a loitering Ludan, pushing him forward as I peeked out from behind him.

“Let’s go,” I said, a completely serious expression on my face. I could almost hear our audience face palming.

“Wait, no, Luna-!!” Ludan protested, sounding like a girl who was being groped by the magnificent moi.

This guy, why is he more feminine than me. “Man up and help me defeat the evil demon king!!” I said, scooting forward. Of course, with Ludan as my shield.

“You’re dishonorable, bringing a powerful third party into our dispute.” Yun said.

“Oho? So the arrogant Yun-sama doesn’t think he can defeat my shield?” I smirked. But the words lost all meaning considering the fact that I was still hiding behind Ludan.

His brow twitched ever so slightly. Eh? Was he really gonna be provoked with just that one line?

He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Ludan’s face.

What, really? He really got provoked that easily?

“I challenge you to a duel.” He said coldly.

“Wait, wait, Luna, and you too! You guys can’t be serious right??” Ludan said, looking between me and Yun.

“Totally serious.” I said, face still completely serious. Yun was silent, his face stone still and emotionless.

The crowd of people increased, a circle forming around us.

I gave Ludan a single push, retreating to the crowd.

“Good Luck~!!” I shouted with a wave and smile.

“Wait, you-” Ludan began, and a sharp slice from Yun’s sword went straight through him. He dissolved into shadows, reappearing behind the black haired man.

“Let’s calmly talk this out, okay?” He said, his hands up in surrender. Yun’s glare was enough to kill a man as he turned around, roundhouse kicking the daemon, who just dissolved into shadows again.

I cheered with the other men around me, collecting bets. Ufufufufu, ima be rich after this. I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face.

I suddenly felt a kick on my back and I left the crowd, hopping into the area where Yun and Ludan had been fighting in. I whipped my head around to see the cloaked bard with his leg raised. This guy! So he was capable of such treachery?!

He had on a sad, puppy dog like expression. Just because you look like a cute and pitiful puppy doesn’t mean I’ll forgive you!

I shivered, feeling a cold aura at my back. “Hiii!” I dodged the sword that came from above by a hair's breadth. That was close! That was so close!!

“Vihar!” I shouted, and the wolf materialized in front of me. A force field appeared, taking the sword strikes for me. In two strikes, it shattered into pieces, but had also harmed Yun. Lines of blood appeared on his cheek and left arm, respectively.

Thus began our game of tag. Of course, I got beat up though. I must say, it’s quite impressive I held out for longer than a minute.

My back was warm against the grassy earth, and I stared up at the sky. It was the same blue sky from earlier in the day. “It’s wide~” I said, arms and legs spread out as I relaxed. I could fall asleep like this.

“Oof!” I exclaimed as Yun hit my stomach with his sheathed sword. I writhed around the ground as I clutched my poor stomach.

“Get up already, we’re leaving.” He said. I sat up, watching as everyone was gathering up their stuff and walking to the village.

I looked to Yun, who glanced down at me. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said, smiling. The sky didn’t seem so wide anymore.