380. Arrival in Alyras

Princess Rana Alyras wore white as the delegations from the Helbir Plains rode into the city. They’d arrived at daybreak, three days ahead of the scheduled meeting. This was for two reasons: firstly, the Helbir League was going to have their own conference to decide on their stance for the upcoming meeting between world powers; and secondly, it was for their standing— after all, the Helbir League wanted to impress themselves and their might upon the other nations and alliances that would be arriving in Alyras.

The palace was brimming with excitement. There was so much to do, and everyone had their own part to play. And Rana herself had one of the most important roles to play. As the princess and sole heiress to the king, her father, Artik Alyras, she had to maintain the appearance of nobility and dignity.

And that only made her more nervous!

Why was there so much pressure on her? The princess sighed as her shoulders sagged. She stood at the courtyard of the palace with a large gathering of the nobility of Alyras and the guests that had already arrived to greet the delegations from the Helbir League. Fortunately, there was a large crowd and no one paid attention to the princess at the very back. Their focus was fixed on the delegations— all except for one.

Sevika, Rana’s personal maid, snorted.

“That is not the kind of sound a princess should make, princess Rana.”

The princess bit her lower lip as her maid continued.

“And please stand with a proper posture. Back straight, arms loose. We don’t want our guests to think that our princess is uncouth.”

“Who are you calling uncouth?”

Rana sputtered. Sevika just gave her a flat stare. The princess hesitated, checking herself. She straightened and cleared her throat as her maid spoke simply.

“You need to behave at all times, princess Rana. Just look— you’re drawing attention to yourself.”

Sure enough, a few heads had turned at Rana’s outburst. The princess flushed and pretended like nothing had happened. She looked past the staring and ignored the whispers.

“This is your fault, Sevika.”

“Sure it is.”

“I—”

Rana was about to defend herself when she heard a susurration run through the crowd.

“Look—”

She heard the beating of drums. A group of [War Elephants] parted the crowd as trumpets played. Rows and rows of soldiers marched down the street as a war tune played. Rana blinked, and a man emerged from atop a glamorous carriage.

The crowd gasped, pointing at him.

“That’s Peris Dolonia— the Crown Prince of Dolonia!”

“Seriously? I knew Dolonia was sending a representative, but to think they’d send him!”

Peris Dolonia wore a charming smile as he faced the crowd. Waving a hand, he ostentatiously greeted the crowd as he threw pink flowers— solace orchids— in the air to mark his own arrival. He laughed cheerfully, spinning around.

“Yes, I am here! It has been a while since I last paid this city a visit, has it not?”

Then he caught sight of Rana. The princess froze. His eyes narrowed, even from a distance. A wide smile spread across his face as he waved.

“Princess Rana!”

He stood atop the carriage, shouting as the crowd turned their attention to him them the princess. Rana flushed and buried her face in her hands. Sevika spoke with a still expression.

“Princess Rana, your posture is slackening again.”

“I know, Sevika.”

“Haven’t you been mentally preparing for this for a week now?”

“I have. I just…”

She looked up. Peris Dolonia was grinning, excitedly leaning over the edge of the carriage as he waited for her to return the gesture. She did not.

Rana just turned around and left.

There were only four individuals in all of the Helbir Plains that were currently over Level 150. One was an [Architect]— the highest-leveled in the Human lands who had no affiliation to any state. Two of them were adventurers who had left for the Beastmen Plains a decade ago. And the last was calling out to Rana as she flushed furiously and rushed to escape the scene.

“Princess Rana— my beloved! I’ll see you inside, alright?”

Oh, he was also princess Rana’s betrothed.

“We’re here!”

I spread my arms wide as we reached the city of Alyras. It was just past daybreak— the sun had already fully risen from the horizon, and from what I could see, the city was already bustling with life. So it took slightly longer than Faith estimated for us to arrive.

But we were finally here. I beamed excitedly, turning to my companions. Daniel just rolled his eyes.

“...yes, we’re here. We can see that, Salvos.”

“What’s got you so excited, anyway? We literally just came from Alyras.”

Edithe raised a brow at me. I smiled at her and turned to Faith.

“That’s because princess Faith and princess Rana are finally going to meet!”

The two just sighed in exasperation. Princess Faith made it a point to pretend she didn’t hear that as she sat in her carriage. I looked back to my companions and hesitated.

I scratched my cheeks.

“Also, we took way too long to get here. Seriously! I could’ve just teleported us back— but no! We had to ride with the caravan for some reason.”

I harrumphed, turning to face the city. Edithe and Daniel exchanged a glance.

“It did take a while to get here— compared to your usual fast travel, at least. But it’s good to sometimes relax and enjoy the scenery. Plus, we were escorting Faith. You don’t want a princess to come into harm's way, do you?”

“No…”

I trailed off as I averted my gaze. My lips twisted, and I scowled.

“I wouldn’t have mind this long trip so much if I got to speak with princess Faith, though…”

“Well, princess Faith has other things to worry about.”

Daniel eyed the woman sitting in the carriage, sifting through sheets of documents and paper as she muttered to herself. I crossed my arms.

“She should be more worried about meeting princess Rana! She needs to leave a good impression! Rana’s very shy, you see?”

I explained Rana’s reticent attitude to my companions as we headed for the city up ahead. We rode past the various encampments set outside of Alyras. There had been two before I left yesterday morning— one for the adventurers and one for the Vampire families. But now there were three encampments.

I didn’t recognize the third one. It had a myriad of flags hanging from the tents— and there was a parade of people entering the city’s streets. They were flashy and gaudy and people cheered. I blinked.

“Who are those people—”

I started, only to be interrupted by a bright flash of light. An angry ball of flame whizzed over me. I barely ducked in time, but it came back around and stopped right before my head. I had thought it was an attack for a moment. My companions reached for their weapons as Faith’s bodyguards shouted in alarm.

But I blinked as I stared at a [Will O’ Wisp].

“...Willy?”

Willy floated right before my head, his flames burning a bright crimson. He flitted back and forth as fiery embers burned off him like teardrops falling to the ground. He spoke angrily.

“Left!”

“Left?”

I looked to my left and just saw a puzzled Daniel. I cocked my head, but Willy just yelled again.

“No! You!”

“Me?”

“Left!”

“Right. I see. Well, I’m sorry about that, alright?”

I nodded sagely. Edithe and Daniel stared at me. The redhead turned to the Human man.

“The fuck did I just witness?”

“I have no idea, Edithe. Absolutely no idea.”

I scoffed and explained the situation to them.

“Willy’s upset cause I left him— but I didn’t know he wanted to come with us!”

“What?”

Willy sputtered. He flew between me and the two Humans before they could even parse what was happening.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You didn’t ask!”

“No you—”

I argued with Willy as a cloaked figure appeared before Daniel. The Human man jerked back, but a woman’s voice just snorted.

“Did that seriously scare you, oh great [Hero]?”

“Amanda. What do you want?”

He glared at her. She folded her arms at him, then glanced over at the princess.

“Did you seriously leave Alyras quietly in the morning to go save a princess? How typical.”

“Ugh, I can’t deal with you right now. I’m tired and I haven’t gotten any sleep.”

“Too fucking bad.”

Amanda grinned at him, and he just scowled. But she wasn’t the last of the guests who’d come out of the city just to greet us. As I triumphantly defeated Willy in a battle of wits and Amanda continued to pester Daniel while we walked into the city, a man emerged from the gates.

I caught a flash of the blond hair— the charming smile. Hadrian, the leader of the Valiant Dreamers Company, waited there. He looked glad to see us, but there was also a hint of a soft and worried expression on his face.

“Edithe. Salvos. Daniel.”

He actually greeted each of us, even though I didn’t know him that well. He turned back to Edithe and she frowned at him.

“Hadrian. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the company—”

And she paused. He hugged her before she could continue. The redhead blinked a few times.

“...Hadrian?”

“I was so worried.”

He drew back and smiled. Edithe eyed him, perplexed. But he explained.

“I heard about what happened. You fought not just one Primeval Demon, but two of them in the Motharis Mountain Range. Helena Warshade told me everything.”

“Oh… that.”

She shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it earlier. But I didn’t know what Salvos was going to do, and I didn’t think we’d fight a [Hellabomination]—”

“It’s fine.”

He spoke over her, looking the redhead up and down in relief.

“I’m just glad you’re safe.”

I stared at the two of them just looking each other over for a good minute. Neither one said a word. Willy giggled at the scene, and I faced the [Will O’ Wisp].

“What’s so funny?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why not? Why are they acting so weird!”

Hadrian finally balled a hand into a fist..

“If anything, I wish I could’ve been there to help you. To think that you were there fighting against a Primeval Demon… and I didn’t even know…”

He trailed off as Edithe reached out, hugging him back. She smiled kindly at him as he stiffened.

“Thank you for worrying, Hadrian. Honestly, I should make it up to you.”

Hadrian quickly tried to protest.

“No, I—”

“How about some lunch tomorrow? My treat.”

She suggested casually. He stared at her for a moment. Then he laughed.

“Sure. But only because you went ahead and surpassed my level behind my back…”

They chatted casually, holding hands as we continued walking, staying far away from the rambunctious procession entering the city. We made a quieter entrance, returning to the palace.

It was not just Edithe, Daniel, and I. But Willy was there. And so was Hadrian and amanda. Princess Faith and all her bodyguards followed behind too. Waiting for us at the palace was princess Rana, Orgaf, and Saffron. Helena Warshade was there too, as well as all the Vampires and some other adventurers. And somewhere a hundred or so miles away was Jaakko, Zack, and Helen and a small army of adventurers made their way here.

So many people I knew were gathering here in Alyras. And that only made sense— after all, a super important meeting was going to happen— one that was supposed to decide the fate of the Human lands or whatever— and we were arriving just in time for it!

Honestly, I’d probably just skip it. Because it wasn’t like anything interesting was going to happen in it, right? It was just going to be another boring discussion… right?