Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay in putting the next chapter of the story out there. Took some time off with family over Christmas and New Years and didn’t have enough time to write or chapters pre written. Thank you for the understanding and your support of the series! Things will get interesting very soon. 

Chapter starts below:

We took off in a mad dash out of the forest we were just in. We know that a party will be coming out of the capital to investigate the situation as Lumina is currently being pursued by the church for some reason. If we are lucky, maybe we will encounter a group of adventurers on the way back to the royal capital, Lastel, and get a much easier place to rest. 

The adventurers guild is a place where people accept quests, find new allies and get stronger. Each country has a guild in the capital of its nation. Adventurer guilds work independently from the government and are not (supposed) to be involved in any of the nation's needs. Adventurers are classified based on a scale that goes like this: stone, iron, silver, gold, ruby, sapphire, emerald. The last 3 are gems based on the founding nations in this world. Constella is represented by Emerald, the highest rank, as we are the strongest nation. It also helps that the royal families have features that align with the stone, like my emerald hair strands or eyes. 

We are feeling the breeze go through our hair as we run. The lush green forest is filled with many beautiful beings. Running through I can see the sunlight gently shining through the canopy of the trees. The grass is a wonderful shade of dark green and the flowers are in full bloom. The animals of the forest watch us zip by them even though our speed is not that fast. Lumina isn’t using her [special skill] so that I can keep up with her. 

“Stop running for a second and listen,” I call out to Lumina who comes to a halt.

“What do you want me to hear? I hear the birds chirping, the animals running and the plants swaying in the winds.”

“Shhhhh, listen deeper.”

The sounds of the forest echoed loudly in my head but I could hear another thing. Water, the sound of flowing water was the sound that I was faintly hearing. There was a river that flowed into the royal capital through the eastern entrance and out of the western entrance. We could use the flow of the water to determine which direction the capital is. The capital was built near the remains of a lake and based on geography, I should be able to determine which side of the river we are on and use that to lead us homeward. This was a crucial catch that could easily tell us where to go and prevent us from getting lost. 

“ I still hear nothing.”

“It’s the river, you know the one that leads into the capital?”

“Oh, right, Gyradon, the great river right?”

“Correct, let's start heading towards it.”

“Right,” she said with a nod. 

Then we took off back on our way. We will probably take a break once we reach the river as it will then be less likely for anyone to see us. We continued to run at full speed despite how tired my legs are feeling. Lumina has to keep constantly healing me up to take away the leg pains so I can keep going. This girl, I don’t know how she does half the things she is capable of. 

It did not take too long before we reached the banks of the river. The sun was beginning to set and at night there was only darkness. We have no moon or any light-giving source at night so we want to be somewhere safe by then. The river was, as expected, flowing towards the capital. It wasn’t that hard to tell as if you look down the river you can faintly see the outline of the capital on the horizon. Lastel is a huge city and it would be almost impossible to miss it. Someone would need to be more blind than that crippled wheelchair girl in that one tale where some guy rebels against his country. Or you are Lumina. She is looking around thinking there are other clues for us but in reality, she has no clue. 

“So the capital is over there, I guess we should go towards it, right Runoa?” Lumina called.

I stand corrected, Lumina does have a sense of sight at least. Why do I doubt her, she is incredible and my lifesaver. 

“Correct, Lastel is that way and so we shall head towards it. We will use the river as a guide and hopefully find a way in without being seen. 

“Right, we do stand out. The church knows who I am and you have a hairstyle that reminisces of the first prince of Constella. You also share his same first name for some reason.”

Do I tell her yet, about my identity and origins, or keep it secret? I still need a bit more time to trust her and for her to open up with me before I speak to her about it. I would not want her to be the one that sells me out to Egilion, especially if he thinks that I am dead.

“My family is in love with the royal family so when I was born they named me Runoa after the first prince and dyed my hair the same color as him.”

“There are a few families who do that actually so it's not as surprising as it may seem. The real issue is that no one has heard of Runoa after the King and Queens suffered a heart attack around a year ago.”

“What?! It has been that long! I was asleep for over a year. What the hell happened that night that my parents died, Egilion ascended and I was injured so badly I was asleep for a year,” I say as a clinch my fists?

“Say something over there?”

“It-It’s nothing. Don’t worry about me.”

“Alright, but we have another issue at hand.”

Good thing I kept my voice low when I was talking about myself. If Lumina had caught on who knows if she would stay with me, and she is keeping me alive right now. A whole year had passed from that night though, weird that I don’t remember anything.

“You listening Runoa? Take a look to left.”

“Rargh!” a Direwolf shouts as if scaring its prey.

“ Another one?! How many of them are there?” A man says while retreating from the Direwolf.

“I’m out of mana! I have used it all from fighting the rest of these things!” A girl says on a knee with an exhausted look. 

It has to be an adventurer duo fighting that wolf. The man was wielding a sword and had some lighter steel armor on. He has brown hair and a face that looks in his late teens or early 20s. The girl was a mage as she carried around a basic staff. She wore basic robes of a red color indicating she was a fire user. Her brown hair was disheveled from what looked like two twin tails. 

“ What should we do about them?” Lumina asks me while looking like she wants to fight.

“ I guess we should rescue them, maybe they can help get us into the kingdom easier. If not then we will kill them to keep our identities safe.” I reply cooly. 

“ I will only need one second to defeat that thing. [Special Skill: Advanced Agility]!” she yells before dashing off.

“Don’t overdo it Lumina,” I say quietly.

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Lumina POV. . .

I took off from where Runoa and I were standing and headed straight for the Direwolf. These were evolved forms of Irewolves specialized for the forest, but they were weak. I would only need to land a singular blow of magic to kill this thing. I don’t want to go overboard as I did against the church as that has put us in this bad situation. I’ll probably just use [Special Skill: Holy Ray] as it gives me access to potent holy magic that should easily be enough. If I use [Ultimate Skill: Smite of Vulmina] again or any other of the ultimate holy skills then Runoa will be mad at me. I need to gain his trust so that I can find out who he really is and his purpose. 

“ It’s over for you Direwolf, [Special Skill: Holy Ray]!” I say while leaping towards the beast.

The dumb animal never saw me coming until I was right next to it. By then the mana had manifested in my hands. I focused it and released the mana as a beam of light that pierces the Direwolf. Blood didn’t even have time to spill out from the creature as it evaporated from its core being destroyed instantly. 

“ Wheh, that was a tad more tiring than I would have liked.”

I looked over at the adventurer duo who were completely shocked by what they had just seen. Obviously, they would be; special tier holy magic skills are rare. Runoa was sprinting over as well to see the aftermath of the fight.

“ Thank you so much for saving our lives!” the duo immediately shouted at me while bowing down.

“It-It’s nothing! Don’t worry that much about it!” I replied awkwardly.

*****************************

Runoa POV. . .

Lumina had of course completely annihilated the foe again. Her strength is just unbelievable! I don’t know how anyone can stand a chance against her in battle. But she needs to learn to conserve her mana better on weaker enemies. If she would have used a weaker holy skill like [Normal Skill: Holy Ball] or something then we could have saved the core or body of the Direwolf and sold it for much-needed money to the guild.

“You made quick work of that Direwolf, right Lumina?” I said as I arrived on the scene.

I would have died to that Direwolf I think. I lost to an Irewolf which hasn’t even evolved yet so my chances against an actual Direwolf are slim. I am very weak still, but I hope that I will become stronger. That Goddess Luchira be right because storming the church is dangerous enough in itself. 

“ R-right. You are not mad at me Runoa?” Lumina replies cutely.

“You slightly overdid it but it’s fine, you accomplished saving these adventurers so don’t worry,” I replied gently to her, “Anyways, who are you two and what has got you so worn out of mana?”

“ I am Julius, an iron rank adventurer, and my partner is Flyre, a gold rank adventurer,” Julius says while extending his hand to me. 

So they were adventurers. Julius was a lower-tier warrior who seemed to be decently capable of defense but possesses little magic. Flyre is a high-mid tier adventurer who must possess good magic, probably a special tier skill and a few normal ones. She is out of mana so we will look into that aspect of her later. 

“I am Runoa, and my partner here is Lumina. We are not adventurers yet but we are heading to Lastel to apply at the guild,” I say while shaking his hand.

“So you were named after the prince I presume? You have the signature hair color of the royal family as well. Just one of those children whose parents wanted to have a prince, hahaha. My family almost did the same with me so I completely understand it.”

This is great. It seems that we can easily get along as he has no suspicions of being the actual Prince Runoa. Lumina’s name is luckily more hidden and few know how she looks so we should be safe. Now to see if we can get this man to bring us with him into the kingdom. 

“You would be correct for how I was named and my similarities to the prince. Anyways, why are you all in such bad shape? The monsters here are normally spaced out but today has been weird hasn’t it?”

I am hoping that this works. We overheard them shouting that they have fought so many Direwolves when we met them and that can’t be a coincidence. I have a good suspicion why the monsters are grouped up…

“ A bright light flashed for a second and, before we knew it, every Direwolf in the vicinity was running and we just happened to be caught.”

As I thought, it was Lumina who did this. When she used that stupid [Ultimate Skill: Smite of Vulmina] she created all this chaos. Why am I not surprised. But, maybe we can use this to our advantage. 

“ The same thing happened with us. We lost our money and track of where we were located. During the rampage, a Direwolf bit off my left arm as you can probably see. If it were not for Lumina here, I would be dead by now.”

“ I see. As thanks for saving us, we can get you all into Lastel with us. You can stay with us for a bit at the inn and we can get you started at the guild.”

Bingo! We got them to take us to Lastel and we don’t have to worry about finding a place to stay now. This all went perfectly, other than the fact that Lumina caused this. . .