Chapter 56 - The Fairy Queen

A day quickly passed after our short date with the young Iona, as of right now, we are in the dining room wearing our summer uniforms as we ate our breakfast quietly with Iona, Alisha, and Iris along with her parents. It was a quiet breakfast, that was until Celeste broke the silence while smiling.

“We have a very intriguing guest later this evening, be sure to come home early. Okay?” Celeste said as she looked at us. Why do we have to join their meetings, I mean we are students here. We should spend our time wisely by playing around, of course, I thought before a loud hmph can be heard from my side.

“What’s wrong, Iona?” Alisha asked as she wiped Iona’s mouth using the handkerchief she carried around. How about me, do I have to become a little girl to have the same benefits?!

“The promise!” Iona said angrily while pouting as she ceased to eat her food. Oh, we have a rebellious child here. Speaking of which, I don’t remember entering a rebellious phase that people say, I was really obedient to my mom or so I think; and also, what promise does she mean?

“We can always go to the stalls tomorrow”, Alisha said as she patted the pouting Iona’s head. Why does she get a head pat, how about me; and also how do you even manage to remember the promise she gave, I never even thought much about it though.

“But– you promised!”, Iona said as Alisha sighed before looking at Celeste with a pleading face as the person who should be comforting Iona, giggled.

“Fine, you two can play around until the second to the last bell. Is that fine with you two?”, Celeste said as Alisha and I nodded before looking at Iona who after a few seconds, nodded.

“Speaking of which, who is the guest this time; is it the same as that annoying merchant a month ago?” Iris’ mother asked as Celeste shook her head before smiling at us. It seems like smiling is her habit, well it works since it conceals most emotions.

“This guest is infinitely more influential than the merchant and has a rather pleasant attitude, don’t worry”, Celeste answered before we nodded nonetheless since we could never argue with the strongest. I mean, her knowledge surpasses every single one of us in the room; Well, she hasn’t taught us in school yet, even Iris’ father who made a promise early on, had never taught us yet. I wonder if I should remind them, I thought as we continued eating before an hour passed as we cleaned up the dining room before we headed to the living room to do a final inspection on our bags.

“Is everything ready?” Celeste asked as we nodded before we wore our bags as our surroundings once again distorted before the scenery changed to the lobby of the academy. Her teleportation spell is really amazing. Soon after we arrived in the academy, we waved our goodbyes as we headed to our classrooms as class immediately started which lasted almost 6 hours; which gave us enough time to go around the stalls once Iona comes out from her class as her class usually ends 30 minutes to an hour after ours since they apparently have to discuss about the basics of mana which apparently takes more explaining while waiting for Iona, we toured around the academy once again since the academy had undergone an intensive change to accommodate plenty of new students which were common people.

After a while, we headed back to our waiting place where Iona was talking with another girl of her age before noticing us.

“I have to go now, Helen. Bye, bye!” Iona said as she waved her hand towards the girl before heading towards us. It seems like she acquired a new friend from her class, it’s always nice to have a new friend. Speaking of friends, I wonder where Amaryllis went. I haven’t seen her anywhere since the reformation of the kingdom, I mean her family was one of the few families that survived the reformation and was also the family that acquired 6% of the remaining 8% vote from the civilians which speaks of how clean their family is but somehow, she just disappeared. I wonder what happened, I thought before Iona ran up to Alisha and hugged her.

“Let’s go now!”, she said with excitement as she dragged Alisha’s hand to the exit as I quickly followed. I feel like I am an abandoned cat, it’s okay Althea. You will monopolize Alisha later, don’t worry, I thought to myself before we left the academy and headed to the center of the town which was illuminated in extremely beautiful antique street lanterns which used cheap but reliable magic stone which I suggested to Celeste after noticing how dark the cities are at night; soon, we arrived at the center of the capital where there were innumerable amounts of stalls with people flooding around to buy some.

“Where do we go first?” Alisha asked Iona before the excited little girl poked her cheeks before dragging us around plenty of stalls, the stalls here aren’t just food but also accessories and etc and they aren’t really expensive to Alisha and I who saved up a lot during the three years from taking quests; after a short while of running around, Iona was now tired and had to be carried by Alisha on her back since the girl in question is really picky and wants specifically Alisha who took care of her a lot during the three years to the extent that she can easily distinguish the two of us. Well, I wouldn’t say that taking care of Iona had no benefits to Alisha, rather it had plenty of benefits with the most important one was how Alisha matured and got rid of her old trauma which I plan to have her visit her old village for the last time but that will be for another story when we actually manage to acquire more influence, I thought as we walked on the street that heads to the mansion.

“Is this what you felt when you took care of me, Althea?” Alisha suddenly asked as she smiled at me with a nostalgic look. Don’t look at me like that, when you already know the answer, I thought as I smiled back without answering her before we soon arrived at the mansion where we were greeted by an unusual guest.

The guest this time was a tiny girl with wings that were extremely beautiful like a fairy. The girl was pink in color and had an antenna popping out of her forehead. To be fair, she looked like a grasshopper and a fairy to my eyes but still, her beauty isn’t something you can deny.

“Who?”, I asked as I took caution before Celeste came out from her back and signaled us to enter, which we did. Alisha went in first and placed Iona on the couch before combing her hair as we waited for Celeste to introduce us to the guest.

“Well then, now that everyone is here. I would like to introduce to you, our special guest. Latia Meishu, the current Demon King or rather Fairy Queen.” Celeste said which caused us to be surprised as our heart started beating fast. What did you say, the current demon king?!