Chapter 37 – Current Situation

Afterwards, they decide to suspend any further conversation and focus on dealing with the aftermath of the attack. Senna's healing was extremely thorough and had already healed everyone's wounds. They simply had to deal with fatigue from the battle and bury their fallen comrades. At least that was the intent, but Senna offered to carry the bodies back and return them to their families. Many of the guards were reluctant to trust Senna, but it would be better than abandoning their comrades in the middle of the desert. Senna easily stored the bodies in her [Storage] much to their shock.

The steeds used to pull the carriages had luckily survived the carriage explosion and were also fully healed from Senna's treatment. The horses are from a magical beast species called Flame Steeds. They have a natural affinity for , but are unable to cast any magical spells. However, these steeds are useful for crossing the desert because of their resistance towards the sweltering heat. They are known to be extremely resilient with durable skin. Despite receiving damage from the explosion at point blank range, most of the damage was mitigated from their tough skin. Only a few pieces of wooden shrapnel pierced their skin and even then it did not cause serious injuries. The Flame Steeds thanked Senna by happily licking her face causing Mika to jealously glare at them.

A ripple of commotion ran through the group when Senna magically repaired the destroyed carriages. She disguised her spell beneath a healing spell creating the odd sight of the carriage being ‘healed’ back to normal. Commotion transformed into panic when she crawled under the carriage and removed the explosives strapped to the bottom. Under the Prime Minister’s carriage, she noted how the explosives had a protective wall to one side. The position and size of the explosives allowed the pudgy man to hide in one corner of the carriage and come out mostly unhurt.

With the excessive commotion, the Royal Guards decided to make camp immediately and allow everyone to rest. The Prime Minister and his guards were tossed and locked in their carriage. They planned to deal with them when they returned to Erein.

The brown haired maid, Irene, and the gray haired butler, Sebestian woke up during the cleanup. After learning what happened, they quickly found King Victor, Princess Liliana, Captain Lewis, Senna, and Mika near a campfire. Senna stood on an earthen platform cooking in a pot larger than her body using the platforms to provide some extra height. Mika sat on a nearby stone perch watching Senna cook. The King's group sits slightly away from them around a separate campfire.

"Irene! You're okay!" Princess Liliana jumps up seeing Irene wake up. She rushes over and clings to Irene's legs. Tears form in the corner of her eyes as the tension in her body fades.

"Yes, I'm alright." Irene pats the Princess's head before crouching down to get a better look at the Princess. "Princess, are you alright? I'm sorry that I wasn't able to properly protect you."

"I'm okay!" Princess Liliana wipes away her tears and gives Irene a bright smile to reassure her. "Miss Senna protected everyone."

"Yes. I heard about what happened from the guards. Miss Senna, thank you very much for saving the Princess." Irene courteously bows to Senna.

"I would like to give my gratitude too. Not only did you save his Majesty, you even took the trouble to save our lives." Sebastian adds, bowing to Senna too.

Senna jumps down from the earthen platform. The stew, inside of the pot, moves up to the rim of the pot before falling to the bottom resembling a waterfall. Not that anyone can see the odd movements from the ground.

"It's fine. Please don't worry about it. I just helped out a bit." Senna smiles casually waving off the praise. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Senna, a wandering adventurer. This one here is my contracted partner, Mika." Senna casually motions to Mika, who puffs up her body pridefully when she hears her name. The Princess giggles seeing Mika act so cutely.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Irene Stone. I am the personal maid to the second Princess, Liliana Erein." Irene bows again with her introduction.

"Sebastian Radcliff. Head butler and aide to his Majesty King Victor Erein. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Sebastian bows once again.

"If there's something I can do to repay you..." Irene adds slightly hesitant.

"It's fine. It's fine. Like I said it's not a big deal." Senna replies.

"We were about to start trading information. You can help contribute since that's what she wanted for her reward." Captain Lewis suggests.

"Okay… But is that really enough?" Irene asks.

"I would like to ask again. Are you really fine without a more material reward?" King Victor asks.

Senna scratches her head meeting his gaze. "If you're going to give me a reward, I won't refuse it. But regardless, I need more information about our current situation before I think about other factors. So let's discuss that first."

"Certainly, what kind of information do you need?" Sebastian speaks up.

"Let's start with location. Where are we? The nearby cities, the kingdom and continent we're on." Senna asks.

The others give each other a look before staring at Senna. She ignores it focusing on Sebastian and Victor's answer. "We were traveling from the Holy Capital of Finity and heading back to our Kingdom, the Capital city Erein. It's located on the far northeast of the Icen continent." Sebastian answers.

"...Do you not know?" Lewis asks unable to hold back his curiosity.

"No. Unfortunately not. I'm from the Lios Continent. By some bad luck, I ended up on the Chaos Continent and the two of us went through various troubles escaping. I never thought that teleportation circle would go out of control like that." Senna hesitates slightly with her answer, but decides to give a vague, yet truthful response. Internally, she's sighing and cheering at the same time. {Thankfully, it’s not the worst case scenario where I happened to get teleported to another dimension or anything like that. But it's going to be a long trip to see the family. I’m going to have to prepare far more supplies for such a long trip..}

"Teleportation circle? I've never heard of such a thing." Sebastian comments.

"Ah. So this region has never seen one either?" Senna asks. They all shake their head.

"No. Can you also find that on the Lios Continent?" Sebastian asks. His eyes shine with curiosity.

"Unfortunately not." Senna shakes her head. "It's a rare and costly tool from the Chaos Continent from what I understand."

"That's a shame." Sebastian visibly deflates from her answer.

"Sorry. Moving on, what's the currency for this area? I expect it isn't the Triton from the Lalfiya Kingdom." Senna asks. She casts a simple spell making every coin from Copper Triton to White Gold Triton float in the air.

"No. Our currency is the Erein coin or 'Coin' for short." Irene answers showing her some of the local currency from her bag.

Senna leans forward and examines each type of coin. "I see. I'm going to have to get some of the local currency then. How much is one coin to another?"

"1 copper coin is 1 Erein coin. 100 Copper coins is 1 Silver coin. 100 Silver coins equal 1 Gold coin." Lewis responds.

"For higher currency, 1,000 Gold Coins is equal to 1 Crystal piece." Sebastian presents a cylindrical piece of pale blue crystal. The size is about the same width as a normal coin, but has the thickness of three gold coins making it resemble a cylinder.

"Heee... Interesting. But you don't have a large version of each coin to represent ten smaller ones?" Senna holds a large Copper Triton coins in one hand and ten smaller copper coins in the other.

"No. there's no such system." Sebastian shakes his head.

Senna nods. "I see. Good to know. Then next... would be writing system." Her hand flips over as a book appears in her hand. She opens it to a random page. "Is it different?"

"Yes. It's different." Irene quickly replies.

"I haven't seen this system before. You really are from a distant location." Sebastian comments.

"With how fluently you speak, I expected your ability to read and write to be the same." Lewis comments.

"Ahh...That's different. My comprehension for hearing and speaking are abnormally fast. I still have to take the time to learn how to read and write normally. Plus there hasn’t been any chance to sit down and study." Senna replies. She inwardly gives a sigh. {No choice, but to start from scratch and earn money for the trip.} "Those were my most pressing questions I had. If you have something you want to know, please feel free to ask."

"Before that, is that okay?" Irene interrupts pointing to the pot.

"It should need a bit longer." Senna glances at the pot and smiles.

"Nee. Nee. What is Miss Senna cooking?" Princess Liliana asks restlessly. Her eyes sparkle as the scent of freshly cooked meat reaches her nose.

"You can just call me Senna. There's no need to be formal with a simple commoner. This is a simple stew made from bear meat and vegetables. It's simple food to make while I travel, so it's nothing fancy. I'm sure you've tasted far better things." Senna replies.

"Can I have some?!" Lilliana asks leaning in extremely close to Senna’s face.

"Princess, please calm down. I apologize for that Miss Senna..." Irene pulls the young Princess back.

"Senna. Don't worry about being formal." Senna interjects.

"...Senna. The Princess has been unhappy with the dried food prepared for the duration of this long trip." Irene explains.

"How can anyone eat such things?" Liliana crosses her arms pouting.

"Well I understand the sentiment." Senna awkwardly laughs. "Ahem. I made the food to share with everyone. I'm not a noble though, so I don't know how you perform test dishes for poison." She glances at Sebastian and the guards.

"I will certainly handle it. There's no need to concern yourself with it." Sebastian nods.

"Mmm. Then please wait a bit longer for it to finish. Ahh speaking of which, there is something that I would like to request." Senna abruptly shifts the topic when she glances at her hand.

"Oh? Please speak." King Victor gaze moves from the cooking pot and focuses on Senna.

Senna removes her leather gloves and reveals the bracelets on her hand. "These are magical restraints meant to suppress magic. Do you know of similar items? I wish to procure some."

"These are the types of bindings we use for vicious criminals." Sebastian mutters.

"Wait! Since when have you been wearing these?!" Captain Lewis yells jumping to his feet.

"When you ask?" Senna replies with a troubled expression. "I have been wearing these from the beginning. Before we met." Captain Lewis' jaw drops at her response.

"...That means to say that previously... you did not use your full strength?" King Lewis asks hesitantly.

"Something like that~" Senna smiles, but doesn't elaborate. King Victor's expression cramps at her response. Irene and Sebastian let out a gasp, while the Princess looks back and forth unable to follow the conversation.

"You said 'procure' meaning that you don't want to have them removed, but that you wish to purchase more. But …for what purpose?" Sebastian asks.

"To use on myself? Why else would I want one?" Senna tilts her head questioningly.

"I apologize...I'm unable to understand what you mean. Why would Miss Senna want to use more on your body?" Sebastian replies.

Senna gives a slight smile as she points at her sealing bracelet. "This is too weak. I want to request a crafter to make something stronger."

Not only Sebastian, but all of the adults gathered stare at Senna as if they were looking at a monster. Only the young Princess looks at everyone in confusion. "...For... what... reason?"

"I believe I answered that already. I want to restrict myself. There’s no deeper meaning to it." Senna smiles without elaborating further. Standing up, she walks over to the pot. She cuts the magic to the flames and plates the stew into several bowls. She slices a loaf of bread appears in her hand and slices it cleanly with a cooking knife. She places a slice on the bowl's rim to let the bread soak in the stew. "Food's ready~"

The wafting, savory scent of the stew makes their stomachs roar with anticipation. Knowing they can’t pressure Senna for more answers, they can only give up and focus on their delicious food in front of them. Drool starts to run down the corner of their mouths seeing the food lined up for them. Senna flicks her hand making the bowls float over to each one of them. A circular earthen platform forms around the campfire as the bowls land on the platform just out of arm's reach.

"Ohhh. What is this wonderful smelling dish?" King Victor asks gulping down his saliva.

"It's nothing that fancy. It's just a stew made from bear meat and some vegetables.” Senna replies.

"Bear meat? How could such a wondering smelling dish be bear meat?" Irene mutters to herself.

"I drained the blood I suppose." Senna shrugs. She turns to the knights approaching guards. "Line up if you want some! If you're not interested in eating, then stay out of the way for people that do." Many of the guards hesitate at first, but the most experienced guards gather up at the front of the line without another word. They end up spurring their comrades into motion as a mad scramble ensures to get some of Senna's food.

While Senna distributes the food, a calm silence fills King Victor's group. Sebastian pulls out silver needles dipping it into the bowls for King Victor and Princess Liliana. Letting the needles soak, he cleans off the needle and finds no signs of discoloration. "There seems to be no poison."

"Can we eat yet?" Princess Liliana anxiously asks.

"Not yet." Irene clamps down on the Princess' arm to keep her from rushing out.

"Why do we need to test for poison anyways? Senna made it right in front of us." Liliana pouts.

"It's for your safety. It's a bit rude to Miss Senna, but we can't risk anything happening to you or the King." Irene explains. Inwardly, she feels guilty for performing the test so brazenly in front of Senna after her acts of kindness. However, Princess Liliana's safety is more important to her, and the fact that Senna brought up poison worries her.

Sebastian scoops a spoonful of the stew and slowly brings it to his mouth. His body tenses up as the taste of the bear stew spreads through his tongue. The taste of the bear meat carries a savory depth that he's never tasted in wild game. A myriad of flavors fill his mouth, many of which he cannot identify.

"How is it?" Captain Lewis asks. A sense of worry passes through him as he sees Sebastian tense up, but the worry quickly disappears as Sebastian breaks out into a large smile.

"Amazing..." Sebastian's composure disappears as he grabs his bowl and starts to heartily enjoy the bear stew. King Victor and the others take up his cue and start to enjoy the food.

The guards heartily enjoy the dish praising the dishes while crying. Senna preoccupies herself with providing everyone with their portions. After serving seconds to everyone, they happily pat their stomachs completely satisfied.

"That was soooo good~" Princess Liliana wistfully mutters leaning against Irene.

"Indeed. A truly delicious meal in an unexpected location." King Victor answers. The others give similar affirmations of praise.

"Hey." Senna calls out rousing their attention. "What are you planning to do with those guys?” She points at the carriage with the restrained Prime Minister, his guards and the assassin leader.

“They will be interrogated and punished at the castle.” Captain Lewis replies.

“Since they have be fed and cared for until we get there, do you mind if I practice interrogation techniques on them? Non-lethal of course.” Senna asks pointing at the carriage.

“What did you have in mind?” Captain Lewis sits up immediately. The thought of Senna secretly killing them appears in his mind.

“Nothing serious. I just want to run a few tests. It won’t threaten their lives at all.” Senna shrugs.

"I believe that’s acceptable if you do not harm them." King Victor interjects.

"Great! It's rare for me to get some useful test subjects." A devious smile forms on Senna's face that sends chills down their spines. Senna stores the pot and Mika flies onto her shoulder as the two of them walk off.

"I might have made a mistake." King Victor mutters to himself. The adults nod in response.

“I’m coming too!” Princess Liliana jumps from her seat and starts to dash after Senna.

“No, you’re not!” With her experience, Irene restrains the Princess after the first three steps.

Liliana hangs her head at her capture. “Please.” She uses her best puppy dog eyes to coax Irene.

“No means no.” Irene sternly declares without budging. “You are much too young to watch someone being tortured.”

“Aww.” Princess Liliana loosens her body hanging like a ragdoll.

“I must agree with Irene. Miss Senna’s torture will most likely be quite ghastly. It’s not something you should see.” Sebastian adds.

“Hopefully, they will still be alive once the day is over.” Captain Lewis mutters.

“Mmm.” The other adults nod imagining the corpses that will shortly appear.

Author’s Note

Finally done with the chapter! Next one should be out next week. After that I’ll hibernate for 2-3 weeks to focus on cramming for my test on June 4th.

The pace is a bit slow at the moment, apologies for that. I’m just enjoying the moment of doing this and that with the story. After Chapter 38, they should get traveling again and probably get to the town in that time, I think. >.

Take care until next time~