It was hard to believe we had been in Praecantio for over a week. Well a week by our time. Apparently a week in Acone was nine days not seven. In fact, there seemed to be several repeating patterns of threes throughout their measurement systems. Or at least that’s the way it seemed, I hadn’t gotten around to asking Perceval or Fiena yet.

In any case, today was the day I got to actually see Kaland proper. I was so excited I actually woke before Bella. Well at least before Bella knocked on my door.

I dressed in one of the nicer outfits traded to me by the tailor and prepared the sack of coins I received from Adekin for my ‘Earth money.’ I had also received a few silver pieces from the castle as a sort of allowance, but most of what I had went to Fiena to go toward supplies for the mana affinity training. I was really more of a window shopper anyway. Although I didn’t know where the princess might take me.

As I prepared myself, I heard a knock at the door. I guess I still wasn’t early enough to beat Bella. I was kind of hoping I would be able to wake her this morning. Oh well.

“Good morning Elliot,” she said with a half smile.

Her usual energy was just not there this morning. Maybe she didn’t sleep well or perhaps she had an exhausting day out with the prince yesterday.

“Good morning,” I returned, inviting her into my room.

She slowly walked by me and sat in my sitting area. “So what are you up to today?” she asked before I had the chance.

I told her she inspired me to go to the city, that I was hoping to check out the sights.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “That’s nice.”

It was not convincing.

“Is everything alright?” I asked sitting next to her. “you don’t seem your usual bright and cheery self.”

“No. No everything’s alright it’s just…yesterday was a long day. That’s all. Just a long day.”

Every day in Praecantio had been a long day, but I hadn’t seen her so distracted before. What happened?

‘Should I push the subject?’ I wondered.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” I said. “If there is something bothering you or if something happened.”

Bella gave me a sweet smile before shaking her head. “It’s nothing really. I just had a long day.”

Deciding not to push any farther, we discussed our upcoming day. She told me about the market and her souvenirs from Kaland. Expressing her love of the street food and her excitement to get back to training with Sir Larmambert, or Bert as she had taken to calling him.

It seemed pretty clear to me that she was leaving something out in her descriptions, but I decided to leave it alone. She would tell me if she wanted.

We were just getting ready to leave when someone knocked at the door. I presumed it was a servant, but they had never interrupted Bella and I before. Except to bring breakfast of course.

I opened the door to find the Prince.

“Good morning Your Highness,” I greeted him formally.

What was the prince doing here? And this early too.

Spotting Bella he cleared his throat. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“What? Oh no,” I said, a bit flustered by the situation. He might well have heard the rumors about Bella and I and this might have looked like confirmation of those rumors to him. “We just like to catch up in the mornings…please…please come in.”

Bella formally greeted the prince as he entered my room.

He acknowledged her greeting before turning back to me. “I understand you will be escorting Princess Alea into the city,” he said with just a hint of disapproval in his expression.

“Well, it’s honestly her who will be escorting me, but yes Your Highness.”

He released a clasp from his belt and removed one of the two sheathed swords from his waist.

For a moment I was worried he was going to challenge me to a duel or something. After all I knew there were rumors about me having intentions with his younger sister. If that was the case, I surely didn’t stand a chance.

Should I try and clarify my position? No I needed to wait to see his intentions.

“You should be armed if you are to accompany my sister,” he said handing me the blade. “Take this.”

Was Kaland that dangerous? Did I need to worry about muggers or something? If it was that dangerous then wouldn’t the princess have some sort of armed guar…wait was I her armed guard? That was a lot of responsibility. What did I get myself into?

“Please don’t get the wrong idea,” the prince said. seeing the concern in my face. “Kaland is a safe place. The sword is merely a precaution. Alea will be armed as well. Even I wore a sword yesterday when I took Bella to the city.”

I looked to Bella to see her with looking off to the side. Strange. What happened?

For now I could only focus on the sword being presented to me. It was standard precaution, right? Nothing to be concerned about, right?

Actually, given the recent death of Laeanna I can understand him being overly protective of Alea. Thinking about it that way, I’m almost surprised he wouldn’t insist on additional guards. After all, I am still new to swordsmanship.

I believed we understood each other.

“I understand,” I said bowing. “I will be certain to take caution as we enter the city.”

The prince thanked me with a slight smile and nod of his head.

“Bella. May I escort you to your morning training?”

“Um…yes,” she said with a forced smile. “I hope you and Alea have a nice day Elliot.”

As she left with the prince, I equipped my new blade. Wondering if this was a loan or a gift.

The blade had a simple handle and cross guard, a sleek blade and steel pummel. It was a sharpened two-sided edge which made me curious.

I ran a slight bit of mana through the blade to see the results. The blade glowed slightly. But not as much as the magic orb Perceval had me practice with. Then this was a low- or medium-grade magical sword. I wonder what kind of affinity it had…wait was that how it worked?

I didn’t have time to think it through. Dawn was breaking and I didn’t want to keep the princess waiting.

Making my way to the castle gatehouse I saw Princess Alea. In the morning light she looked…

I swear I didn’t have any intentions towards her.