Nera just left with her father to gather the city's official so that they can announce my 'surrender'. It would be nice if they could just explain that I was never an enemy in the first place, but most people would not believe that right away and they are all already prepared to fight, so the best strategy to avoid things escalating into a battle is 'surrendering' first and explaining later.
That said, I'm feeling very optimistic about this. With the king on my side, I should at the very least be able to stay in the Agua kingdom without having to worry about anyone going after me, that should give me enough time to clear all the misunderstandings about me.
While I wait, Nera left me with a maid of hers, she said her name was Mari, but she seems to be very nervous for some reason and is staring at me without saying anything. This is really awkward, perhaps I should say something to her.
"Hum... hello."
"H-Hi!"
"Is something wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"
"Why? Did you do something wrong?"
"Yes... I mean no! I... I don't know."
She looks like she's about to cry, did I do something wrong?
"Luna!!! Where are those fairies!?"
Oh, Arana is running towards me, she's dragging a large white ball behind her, what's that thing supposed to be?
Wait, now that she's closer I think that's actually Ranna, she's been wrapped in a ball of white strings and only her eyes are visible.
"Please... I promise that I'll be good... please let me go..."
Her face seems a bit pale, she looks like she just went through some traumatic experience.
"Ara... what did you do to your sister?"
"I just punished her a little for all the stuff she did. But more importantly, is what those fairies said true? Is Cureva really here?"
"You were listening to that?"
"Yes, I was, where are the fairies now?"
"They said that waiting is boring so they left. But why do you look so agitated? Is your sister really that bad?"
"She is! She is really REALLY bad! I was not expecting her to be here... I was sure that it would only be Ranna, why didn't you say anything about this?"
"I didn't know that she was here either, actually, she told me that she was not here."
"This is bad, we are not ready to deal with Cureva at the moment... Luna, we need to leave this city right now."
"What!? Leave? But the city is surrounded by soldiers, and they think that I'm holding the city hostage."
"Who cares about that? Let's just jump on Irvan's back and run away as fast as we can, if any soldiers try to get in the way you can easily push them aside. If you're no longer here, it won't matter if they think that you were holding the city hostage or whatever, they'll just claim it back and that will be the end of it."
When she puts it that way, running away really looks like it would not be a difficult thing to do... but from the way she talks it really doesn't sound like Arana thinks that this entire incident is a big deal at all.
However, I'm not willing to abandon the first opportunity to clear my name that I've been given so far.
"I don't want to leave without fixing the misunderstanding like I always do! This time there's a real chance that I can finally make things clear, Nera and her father are going to help me explain everything."
"You don't understand, we're not dealing with the type of villain who is just acting out of self-interest and can be anticipated. Cureva is completely insane, there's no way of knowing what she might do. And the world relic she's in charge of makes her even more dangerous."
"What relic is that?"
"One that influences people's perception, it can be used in many different ways, but the biggest one that you need to be aware of is that it can change her appearance to make herself look like another person."
"Oh, so she's like a shape-shifter?"
"No, her real form does not change, so it's closer to the illusion spells of wind magic. But with a normal illusion, there are many ways to see through it like with 'mana sense' or at least you might be able to notice that something seems strange, the use of her relic cannot be detected or dispelled. Actually, we should all use an appraisal stone just in case."
Does Arana suspect that I'm not really me? Well, it's not like using an appraisal stone is too much trouble... oh! I'm level 513 now, I wonder how high it'll get.
"Cureva's relic cannot deceive an appraisal stone at least, that's why I went and gathered a bunch of them."
"Oh, is that the reason why you have so many of those things? I've been wondering about that dor sometime now."
I'm starting to think that Arana is a bit too obsessed with that sister of hers.
"There are other limits to that relic, of course, it doesn't allow it's wielder to use skills or spells that they don't know for example, and it cannot give her the memories or personality of someone she's copying. If that relic was in the hands of a normal person it wouldn't be too bad, but Cureva is really good at acting and knows how to use it effectively."
That does sound troublesome, both illusions and shapeshifters have a lot of limitations, but if she can copy any person she wants at any time she wants then anyone I meet could potentially be her...
"Um... excuse me."
Mari the maid taps me on the shoulder.
"Everything is ready in the audience hall, you might want to go there..."
Oh, looks like Nera is finally ready.
"Sorry, Ara! I need to go!"
"Wait a moment! Luna!"
I somehow managed to leave Arana behind, I get that she's worried but I cannot let her mess with this announcement.
There's a lot of well-dressed people in this room, I don't want to be seen so I'll just listen while hiding in the corner, Nera and the king are standing on the other side of the room, there are some stairs in front of them so they're higher than everyone else.
"Is it just me or does the king look healthier?"
"Didn't the princess run away from home?"
"I wonder if they're going to say something about the queen of darkness."
Everyone is talking about all kinds of things, it's really noisy in here, but when the king raises his hand the entire room goes silent.
"As you all already know, I've been suffering from a strange illness for some time. None of the healers who came to the castle were able to do anything to help me, until now. It was my daughter who personally found the healer who finally cured me."
Hehe, that's right, I'm glad that I could help. It seems like now it's Nera's turn to talk.
"Recently I ran away from home to get away from my mother, but some of the guards that went with me attempted to kill me, and the one who saved me was no other than the woman you know as the queen of darkness."
"The queen of darkness..."
"Are the rumors true?"
Everyone has started to chatter again, it seems like they have all heard about me... but they should stay quiet and let Nera keep talking.
"Of course, at first I was absolutely terrified, but after spending some time with her I learned to see past my preconceived notions, she taught me a new way to look at things."
I was expecting them to go directly to the part where I announce my surrender, well, it's nice that Nera is praising me like that.
"Luna! Here you are!"
Someone taps me on the back and when I turn around I see Nera behind me... wait, what?
"Nera!? Why are you here!? Or rather, how are you here!?"
"That's my line! You said that you had something to tell me in my room but you didn't go there at all, how long did you want me to wait?"
"I never said that... but more importantly, who is that over there next to your father?"
"Eh!? Why am I over there!?"
She seems even more confused than I am, don't tell me that she is...
"She taught me what true power feels like, that a weak kingdom like this one means nothing next to her."
Oh... OH NO!
"And that is why, to earn my place at her side, I must show the proof of my loyalty to her."
Everyone in the room is left speechless, as they watch their princess take a knife out from her pocket and stab her father in the chest.
Question for author: it was mentioned that Nera can hear the fairies and such. What are the specific rules on fairies (who can and can’t see them, can fairies reveal themselves, are there different rules for different attributes, etc) with sight and hearing? It seems that at least for Luna and Arana, they are able to see and hear dark fairies (not surprised about Luna who is darkness incarnate and Arana is a Witch backed by the World so she is special too). Not sure whether water fairies are just picky or what?
The ones who can only be heard by Nera are the spirits, fairies are just a type of demon.
@forli Ok. I associated fairies with spirits in my head (little tiny flying person that is color coated for their attribute). Do spirits look like fairies (assuming one can see them? Or is it impossible and the most that can be done is hearing?) or do they not really have a physical form?
@Ediav42 I guess that they would look like fairies, but without the wings and more transparent.
"stab her father on the chest" -> in the chest
So now Cureva has stabbed the king, pinning the blame on Nera and Luna, and she's *going* to get away because that's just how these f****** things work. Luna needs to start taking things more seriously and she really should just f***** *crater* the room if she needs to to be able to kill Cureva *now*. She can heal/revive everyone else after Cureva is dead, but Cureva *needs* to be killed, the sooner the better. I fully expect the trio of idiot knights to show up at the worst possible moment, ruining whatever chance Luna/Arana had of stopping Cureva from getting away. I already want them punted into orbit for their stupidity, this will just make it worse
As for Arana-she really should know Luna better by now, she knows Luna *hates* all these stupid misunderstandings that keep painting her into a worse and worse light and Arana isn't helping by pushing her along and making them worse whenever she can. Well guess what Arana, mission accomplished-people are going to hate and fear Luna even more now and any chances of fixing it in the near future are completely ruined. Be careful what you wish for
Thx for the chap.
See Luna, that why you NEED to listen to Arana when she say you than a thing a REALLY REALLY bad. Like she find many thing just funny or easy to manage but here she is 'slightly' scared.
And Yes Luna can heal the king easily. She can heal her own cut head so just a hit on the chest ? Easy peasy.
MC can save anyone who isn’t dead. The key word being that they have to be alive. The only one who she can bring back to life is herself.
Now I wonder if MC and Nera running up will confuse people since “there are two of them!”
Personally, I don’t think having some drama is bad. It gives a comparison for other stuff and you can appreciate it more (day is loved as there is night to love too or something like that).
I'm sure luna can fix that stabbed in the chest thing
Well to be honest, I do not be reading this for the drama,so there's a chance I will be fast scrolling through all the drama stuff. I'll give it at least a shot though.
Ah snap0:
I hope this stab has no other curse for the wind attribute.
Since Cureva showed up and they don't know what shape the hat took. I think it would be nice if Luna binded to Cureva, eroded her mana and then stripped her of her disguise, clothes and equipment in front of the cameras, in order to separate her from the hat, right?
Thanks for the chapter
I don't know, I don't seem to be able to make it better than this and I've delayed this chapter enough already ...
Yes, there is, the chapter is somewhat compressed, it seems that you are missing events.[br]Next, I will try to help you with tips:
Also, I'm afraid that Luna could seem too dumb for not suspecting that Cureva could have replaced Nera at some point after Arana warned her,
Everything is in order, until this moment Luna led the life of a peaceful and quiet man in the street and it is quite natural that she could not even think about the possibility of such actions of her opponents.
first of all, introducing Cureva's power in the same chapter it gets used for a twist seems a bit clumsy
Cureva's is doing everything right, to you @forli her actions seem insane because you are not used to fighting a man in the street, while those who are accustomed to doing such actions take risky actions a natural way of thinking and behaving.
In this sense, Arana looks less natural, who, judging by your novel, has seen this more than once and should have treated Cureva's possible actions more rationally, and maybe even calculate the possible options for her actions, yet she is an experienced intriguer according to the novel.
I kept delaying this chapter because I'm afraid of writing this next part of the story, this is supposed to be a lighthearted story and I'm afraid that the more dramatic stuff here might end up feeling wrong, or that I might write it badly.
In the southern part of Russia there is a saying: "If you don't like it, then you can not listen, but do not bother to lying."
Do not pay attention to all sorts of genres and other restrictions and write whatever comes to mind, the only thing is, make sure that the elements and your character correspond to himself in the novel.
For example, Luna, by now, has become accustomed to magic fighting and is able to quickly apply spells, which means she must quickly bind Cureva with the help of 'Shadow bind' and restore the work of the king's heart using the spell 'Corpse puppet', of course this will not completely stop the bleeding, but it will prolong the life of a king, which will give Luna more time to find a solution.
Now about the solution as such: the element of darkness should be the element of darkness and therefore there should not be any spells that carry out healing as such (healing), since such spells ideologically refer to the element of light, but Luna can use mind manipulation magic on the cells of the heart and force them to speed up the process of natural wound healing, well, or just find a healer or a person who has a healing potion.
Of course, events may occur that will prevent her from doing this, or you can come up with the CIRCUMSTANCES due to which she will solve this problem differently.
In principle, in general, it may turn out that the king wore chain mail or cuirass under his mantle. (He is a smart guy and it would be logical if he did something like that, it would just be illogical if he did not wear something like that)
well, I don't know if its your first time writing a fanfic, however, I really like the history, so I don't mind you changing a little only be careful of the way you put the things. Did the Cureva put some magic to avoid the "healing magic from Luna?